Paytm rejects report on China's Ant Group considering stake sale

Paytm on Wednesday refuted a report that said that one of the company`s major shareholders, Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group, is considering the sale of its 30 per cent stake in the Indian homegrown digital payments major. 

Paytm issued the clarification after a media report said that Alibaba-backed Ant is considering the divestment of its stake in Paytm mainly because of India`s strained relations with China due to prolonged border tensions.

Another likely factor could be increased competition in India`s digital payments ecosystem, said the report that cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Ant Group said that the report is based on "false information."

"The information is absolutely false and misleading. There has been no discussion with any of our major shareholders ever, nor any plans, about selling their stake or becoming the controlling shareholder," a Paytm spokesperson said in a statement.

"Our mission is to empower half a billion Indians with digital financial services and pursue the vast opportunity presented by the digital financial revolution in our country."

Paytm said that it is "seeing a dramatic increase in revenues and acceleration of our path to breakeven."

The report comes at a time when India has banned 267 Chinese apps in a span of about five months.

The banned apps include some from Alibaba and other Chinese giants such as ByteDance and Tencent.

India has also tightened rules for investment from China amid border tensions with the country.

Last month, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) postponed Ant Group`s listing at $37 billion, which would have been the biggest IPO ever.

The story has been taken from a news agency