India: Paytm falls for second day after debut debacle

Digital payments firm Paytm fell for a second session on Monday, shaving off $7.75 billion from its market value since its dismal debut in India’s biggest initial public offering last week.

Shares fell 17.78% as of 0733 GMT to 1,271 rupees compared with the offer price of 2,150 rupees. On the listing day on Nov. 18, they crashed more than 27%.

Paytm’s market rout has raised doubts around impending IPOs on the Indian market, including those of its smaller rival MobiKwik and hotel aggregator OYO as valuations come under investor scrutiny.

“IPOs have been running hot in India, so a correction in broader markets will hurt these stocks the most,” said Deepak Shenoy, founder and chief executive of Capitalmind in Bengaluru.

He said people will be reluctant to come in when conditions are not favourable, raising doubts whether the rush for new listings was slowly fading.

Meanwhile, Paytm said on Sunday its gross merchandise value, a measure of overall sales, processed via its platform in October was up 131% from a year earlier.

“Paytm stock is taking a beating at present, but their business update looks fine and their fundamentals have not changed,” Shenoy said.

Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2010 as a platform for mobile recharges, Paytm counts SoftBank and Ant Group among its backers and had raised $2.5 billion in its IPO.

It grew quickly after ride-hailing firm Uber made Paytm a quick payment option in India and its use swelled in late 2016 after India’s shock ban on high-value currency notes boosted digital payments.

Sharma, who cried with joy at the opening ceremony on Thursday, later told Reuters he was unperturbed by the slide and did not regret listing in India.

Separately, on the day when Paytm debuted, a working group of the Indian central bank suggested setting up a self-regulatory body covering participants in digital lending.

The move could lead to higher compliance-related costs for all fintech companies including Paytm, brokerage Macquarie Research had said in a client note on Nov. 18.