Hangzhou-headquartered Alibaba has exited from Paytm after selling its entire 3.4 per cent shareholding in the Indian fintech firm.
Stock exchange data reveal that it sold 21.4 million shares of Paytm on Friday at Rs 642.74 rupees per share at a block deal, liquidating its take for $167.14 million. Reuters reported that Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte bought 5.42 million Paytm shares at Rs 640 on February 10.
With this latest development, it is evident that Alibaba is exiting from India. Prior to Paytm, it sold its stakes in Indian food tech unicorns Zomato and BigBasket.
The Chinese ecommerce giant owned a total of 6.26 per cent shareholding in Paytm and in January, it sold 3.1 per cent stake in the company.
Recently the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm revealed its financial numbers for the third quarter of the financial year (FY) 2023. The company narrowed down its net loss to Rs 392 crore in Q3, FY23 from Rs 778.4 crore in the correspondent quarter, last year.
Paytm, a business built from scratch with conviction on Digital India.
— Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) February 3, 2023
From our first app release to becoming a verb in India to operating EBITDA profitability milestone - all in 10 years !
Super Proud of @Paytm team. 🤗
Thankful to all who have supported & cheered us along. 🙏🏼 https://t.co/h8AMTVw5wn
The company also registered a 42 per cent increase in its operating revenue. It earned Rs 2,062.22 crore in revenues in Q3, FY23. Last year, the firm generated Rs 1,456.1 crore in the correspondent quarter. It also witnessed a 137 per cent jump in its loan disbursal business.
The SoftBank-backed firm also achieved EBITDA profitability in the third quarter. It reported Rs 31 crore in EBITDA.
"I wrote to you on April 6, 2022, and set a target for EBITDA before ESOP cost breakeven by the September 2023 quarter. I believe the opportunity in our country for newer payment and credit disbursement solutions is huge, which gives us quality revenue and attractive profit pools to address. With our focus on growth and keeping a tight vigil on operational risk and compliances, I am very confident that we will soon achieve our next milestone of becoming a free cash flow generating company," Paytm CEO (chief executive officer), Vijay Shekhar Sharma wrote in a letter to shareholders, addressing the development.
