Paytm crisis: CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma told employees on the RBI order, “We are not completely sure of things…like what exactly went wrong."

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma assured employees that there will be no layoffs as the company continues to struggle after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted Paytm Payment Bank Ltd (PPBL) from offering almost all major banking services- taking deposits, FASTag, and credit transactions.

“You are a part of the Paytm family, and there is nothing to worry about. Many banks are helping us,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma said during a virtual town hall with employees of Paytm Payment Bank Ltd (PPBL) as he was joined by company's President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bhavesh Gupta, and CEO of PPBL, Surinder Chawla.

“We are not completely sure of things…like what exactly went wrong. But we will figure out everything soon. We will reach out to the RBI to see what can be done,” he said.

The company has denied facing Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe amid RBI action. The stock exchanges have cut daily trading limits for the digital payments firm to 10% from 20% after almost a $2 billion rout in the stock.

One employee said as per Moneycontrol that Vijay Shekhar Sharma took a “confident and assuring tone” to speak to the workforce.

“It was a morale booster call to cut the rumours of layoffs. The majority of the talk was around job security, and bank tie-up. No single name was taken, but we were told that a lot of banks have approached,” a senior employee who was a part of the call, said.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma also told employees that the “company will focus on being extremely compliant moving forward.”

Another executive working with the product team said as per the outlet, “People are not scared. We always expected RBI to say something but not outright ban. Changes have been going on for the past 6 months among teams to comply with norms. Like we separated PPBL and Paytm app logo."

Meanwhile, another employee said that respective team heads also met with their group of employees to discuss details about the RBI order.

“Friday (Feb 1) was all about closed-door meetings. Every team was asked to pull out every single data and information on current status around users, accounts, transactions, and report to the heads,” he said.

This comes as traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) issued an advisory asking businesses to switch from Paytm to other payment applications.

“The RBI has imposed certain restrictions, prompting CAIT to recommend that users take proactive measures to protect their funds and ensure uninterrupted financial transactions. Large number of small traders, vendors, Hawkers and women are making payments through Paytm and as such RBI restrictions on Paytm could lead to financial disruptions for these people," the CAIT said.

Source : Hindustantimes