Paytm’s Surinder Chawla Steps Down as CEO of Payments Bank

A month, after Paytm’s basic services were restricted under instructions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Paytm Payments Bank managing director and chief executive officer Surinder Chawla, resigned from his post on Monday. The parent company of Paytm One97 Communications informed about the same to stock exchanges on Tuesday. Paytm Payments Bank Ltd’s (PPBL) services were disrupted from March 15, 2024, and the parent company also informed that all relations with PPBL have been stopped by Paytm. The new board of PPBL has been re-established with five independent directors along with an independent chairman after Vijay Shekhar Sharma stepped down from his existing position as Part-Time non-executive chairman and Board member on February 26.  

In his resignation on Monday, Chawla cited that he backed off due to personal reasons and that he wanted to pursue “better career prospects.” He joined Paytm on January 9 of last year and would be relieved from his duties on the business hours of June 26, 2024. Before joining the company, Chawla was earlier a part of RBL Bank, serving as the corporation’s head of branch banking. The company hasn’t announced anyone who would be serving as the successor to Surinder Chawla’s position. 

India’s central bank RBI on January 31, 2024, had asked PPBL to halt all of its operations by March 15 as a consequence of the invariant supervisory concerns and compliance issues instigating a downfall in Paytm’s stock price. This step included a stop to the acceptance of fresh deposits and allowing credit transactions after February 29. On March 14, the country’s payment corporation NPCI granted permission to One97 Communications to participate in a unified payments interface (UPI) as a third-party application provider;  and so Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and Yes Bank act as payment system provider banks to Paytm. 

With some top management executives leaving the corporation, Paytm’s market share on UPI has also seen a decline. As per NPCI’s report, Paytm revealed that it had a total of 1.2 billion UPI payments in March, which saw a slight downfall from the 1.3 billion mark in February and 1.4 billion transactions in January. Its contemporaries Google Pay and PhonePe have recorded steady monthly growth, whereas Paytm reported a less than 9% market share on UPI. The company’s shares are down by 50% since RBI ruled an order against its banking unit and on Tuesday, One97 Communications’ shares settled at 1.95% lower at Rs.404.30/piece on the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

About Payment

At the helm of the Indian Digital Revolution, Paytm became India’s leading Payments App, facilitating millions of users every day with numerous transactions and related services. Paytm was established in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma under the banner of One97 Communications, whereas Paytm Payments Bank Ltd., or PPBL was founded in 2017. Although many of its operations including wallet payments and payments bank got shut down on March 15, bank transactions of Yes Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank can be done along with other services such as bill payments, bookings, etc. 

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