Paytm IPO: President Amit Nayyar, Other Executives Quit Ahead of IPO

Some senior executives have left the company ahead of the $2.3 billion Paytm IPO. The people who have left includes Amit Nayyar, Paytm President, who has handed in his resignation.

Exodus Ahead of Big Paytm IPO

Sources report that Paytm's chief HR officer Rohit Thakur has also put in his papers. Nayyar, a former Goldman Sachs executive, came on board in 2019 to build the startup's financial services arm. He has been crucial in building its insurance and lending verticals. A source added, "the timing of Nayyar leaving Paytm (ahead of the IPO) is intriguing given that he came in as President. Only Madhur Deora now has the President tag in the company".

On the other hand, Thakur, who had joined in December 2019, quit in the first week of June. He has held the same position at Accenture earlier. The company hasn't found a replacement for him yet, another person said.

Notably, Nayyar and Thakur were from the new leaders that the fintech firm had hired after some senior executives left around a year ago. That time, executives including the head of Paytm First, Paytm Money’s CEO and Paytm Mall’s CFO had quit. Since then and now, only one major exit had happened, in Jaskaran Singh Kapany, the head of marketing.

Boardroom Changes at Paytm

The company, in its last board meeting, made several changes to its board of directors. Douglas Lehman Feagin, Senior VP at Ant Group has joined the board as an additional director. He replaces Eric Xiandong Jing, the CEO at Ant Group. Along with Feagin, Ashit Lilani, the managing partner of Saama Capital, has also joined the Board as an independent director. Also, Vikas Agnihotri of Softbank Vision Fund has joined as an alternate director.

On the other hand, Michael Yuen Jen of Alibaba and Todd Anthony Combs of Berkshire Hathaway have left, according to regulatory filings. Further, Ting Hong Kenny Ho and Guoming Cheng of the Alibaba Group who held the positions of alternate director have also seen their terms expire, according to filings.

Today, Paytm will have its extraordinary general meeting. Shortly thereafter, it will file a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The company will offer share worth around ₹16,600 crore (about $2.23 billion) in its highly anticipated IPO. The startup is valued at $16 billion, and is backed by Alibaba and SoftBank.