VSS to be MD & CEO of Paytm😎, No plans to charge UPI💸, PharmEasy delays IPO💊

Vijay Shekhar Sharma reappointed as MD and CEO, No proposal to charge UPI payments, PharmEasy delays IPO, Funding Deals and more.

Rise & Shine ☀

Aug 22, 2022

Good Morning,

Start your day, the smart way!

1 Mail | 2 Minutes | 3 Stories

Vijay Shekhar Sharma reappointed as MD and CEO of Paytm🧢

Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been reappointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company for five years – from December 19, 2022 to December 18, 2027. According to news agency PTI, 99.67% of shareholders voted in favor of him.

The decision was taken during the 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of One97 Communications Limited (OCL) which owns the brand Paytm, India's leading digital payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR and mobile payments. This was the first AGM as a public listed company.

The development comes as three proxy advisory firms, Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IIAS), InGovern and Stakeholders Empowerment Services, advised shareholders to vote against reappointing Sharma as CEO and managing director.

No proposal to charge UPI payments, says FinMin💸

The Finance Ministry on Sunday said United Pays Interface (UPI) is a digital public good and there is no consideration in the government to levy any charges on this. This statement allays fear emanating from the RBI's discussion paper on charges in the payment system suggesting that UPI payments might be subject to a tiered charge based on various amount brackets.

Currently, there are no charges levied on transactions done through UPI.

"UPI is a digital public good with immense convenience for the public & productivity gains for the economy. There is no consideration in Govt to levy any charges for UPI services. The concerns of the service providers for cost recovery have to be met through other means," the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

Sunstone, an edtech startup that offers higher education programs, has raised $35 million in a mix of equity and debt in a round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital.
Pharmeasy and Spinny-backer Fundamentum launches its second fund after raising $227 million to back ready-to-scale Indian startups in consumer internet and enterprise software sectors.
Medtech startup Yostra Labs has secured Rs 4 crore in its seed funding round led by Indian Angel Network, Villgro Innovations Foundation, and centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms.

Funding Deals

PharmEasy delays IPO, targets Ebitda breakeven by next year💊

PharmEasy, which has decided to postpone its IPO plan to next year, is cutting its burn and is aiming for Ebitda breakeven in a year, people in the know said. Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, is a measure of a company’s overall financial performance.

In a letter dated August 19, PharmEasy parent API Holdings told shareholders it has withdrawn its draft IPO papers from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), citing “market conditions” and “strategic considerations”. Sebi had cleared its IPO proposal in February.

PharmEasy’s monthly cash burn is now down by around 50% to around $5 million. API Holdings is estimated to have closed the financial year 2022 with 50% growth in revenue to around Rs 6,400 crore.

The Mumbai-based firm is also stitching up private financing round through a rights issue, in which company founders are expected to invest personal capital, people in the know of the matter said.