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Vijay Shekhar Sharma steps down from Paytm Payments Bank board as RBI’s March 15 deadline nears

The development came days ahead of RBI’s March 15 deadline to shut it’s banking operations.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma steps down from Paytm Payments Bank board as RBI’s March 15 deadline nears

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Days ahead of the RBI’s March 15 deadline to shut it’s operations, Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) chairman Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Monday tendered his resignation.

According to a regulatory filing by PPBL’s holding company One 97 Communications Limited, the FinTech firm had also reconstituted it’s Board of Directors.

Former Central Bank of India Chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, retired IAS officer Debendranath Sarangi, former Executive Director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg, and former IAS officer Rajni Sekhri Sibal have been appointed as the new board members.

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“The company has been separately informed that Vijay Shekhar Sharma has also resigned from the Board of Paytm Payments Bank to enable this transition. PPBL has informed us that they will commence the process of appointing a new Chairman,” the filing said.

Sharma has 51 per cent stake in Paytm Payments Bank Limited, while the One 97 Communications Limited owns the rest.

The development comes days after RBI ordered Paytm Payments Bank to shut it’s operations by February 29 over persistent non-compliance. The central bank later extended the date to March 15.

“The comprehensive system audit report and subsequent compliance validation report of the external auditors revealed persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns in the bank, warranting further supervisory action,” the RBI had said in a statement.

The RBI said that sufficient time was given to Paytm for compliance and the regulatory action was taken after it failed to comply with the rules.

“We give sufficient time to every entity to comply and sometimes more than sufficient time to the entities for compliance. If they would comply, why would a regulator like us would have to take action?” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said.

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