Want to make Paytm an Asia leader, says Vijay Shekhar Sharma after RBI's action on Paytm Payments Bank

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Bloomberg on Tuesday. In his first public appearance at a financial technology conference in Tokyo since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered his banking affiliate to halt certain activities, Sharma said, as quoted by Bloomberg, “The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that many times your teammate and adviser may not be getting it correct." “And it is important for you, yourself to be taking care of it versus just letting a teammate or a adviser suggest that what should it be (sic)." He resigned from the PPBL board in February after the RBI prohibited the bank from accepting new deposits in its customer accounts or wallets.

However, PPBL reconstituted its board following the regulator’s action, appointing four new directors. Sharma, who owns 51 per cent of PPBL, stepped down as a part-time non-executive chairman but continues to lead Paytm that he founded a decade earlier.

ALSO READ: FIU fines Paytm Bank ₹5.5 crore for PMLA violation The RBI had imposed the curbs on PPBL after years of warnings as the flow of money and data traffic between the tightly regulated bank and the rest of the Paytm universe created accounting and supervisory problems. The regulator directed PPBL to stop accepting fresh deposits from customers with effect from February 29 – a deadline which was later extended to March 15.

Meanwhile, Sharma said he values the role regulators play in creating a healthy environment for startups in India. “Things become very big and systematically important, very fast," Sharma said, adding, “We have been able to very happily see our regulator engage." Ever since the RBI imposed the prohibitions on the bank on January 31, shares of Paytm have plunged about 45 per cent.