Paytm Payments Bank Board In Spotlight After RBI Crackdown

The crackdown at Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. is likely to be a precursor to the Reserve Bank of India revoking its licence.

The RBI's fresh directions, including a bar on fresh deposits, came roughly two years after Paytm Payments Bank was asked to stop onboarding new clients. That suggests that all this while the bank was unable to take remedial measures.

And while that raises questions about practices at the bank, the RBI's action also puts the company's board in the spotlight. It includes experienced professionals from the finance and banking industry, a former bureaucrat and its first-ever CEO candidate.

"It is a tricky situation in that sense because an associate of yours has to make independent decisions," Madhur Deora, chief financial officer of parent entity One97 Communications Ltd., had said on a Feb. 1 call a day after the RBI's strictures. "But if those decisions and those actions then are found to be incomplete or wanting from the regulator, and obviously, it has reputational risk on all of us."

Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, a part-time chairperson at the payments bank, had a different opinion.

"I'm very happy to tell you about the amount of work that we've done in (the) payments bank, although it has not achieved the fruitful result like you and I are seeing today," he had said. "In one of the audits from the regulator, it actually was said that we have seen material improvements. And that was very humbling for me to hear."

Paytm Payments Bank has also seen frequent changes at its helm. Shinjini Kumar, now an independent director, was slated to be the chief executive officer but was replaced by Renu Satti right before its launch. Satti stepped down in July 2018, and was replaced by Satish Kumar Gupta, who left the bank in October 2022 and was replaced by incumbent Surinder Chawla.

Here's the list of directors on the board of Paytm Payments Bank:

Sharma is a member of the board and the part-time chairperson of PPBL since its establishment in August 2016. He also owns a majority stake of 51%, with the rest held by Paytm parent One97 Communications.

Chawla, managing director and CEO, has been on the board since February 2023. He was named the CEO in January 2023.

Chawla joined Paytm from RBL Bank Ltd., which he joined in May 2013. He last served as the branch banking head. Prior to RBL, he spent about 12 years at prominent banks like Standard Chartered, ABN Amro and HDFC Bank Ltd.

Gupta is a director on the board of Paytm Payments Bank since January 2022. He is also the chief operating officer and president of Paytm.

Gupta has been associated with major banks like IDFC First Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Clix Capital.

Jain has been an independent director on the board of PPBL since November 2023.

He served as an executive director at Punjab & Sind Bank till January 2017. He is also a director on the board of several financial entities, including non-banking financial companies, asset management trustee companies, insurance companies and venture capital fund companies.

Yanamandra has been serving on the board as a director since November 2023. He is also the group head–regulatory affairs and policy at One97 Communications.

Prior to this, he was heading the compliance function at Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank. He is also a qualified accountant who has worked with IDFC First Bank and ICICI Bank.

Kumar has been on the board as an independent director ever since its formation in August 2016, and is the longest-serving member alongside the founder.

She was also slated to be the first CEO of PPBL but was replaced by Renu Satti just as the bank was about to be launched.

Kumar is a co-founder of Five Salts, a women-focused fintech and has spent over 31 years in Indian financial services sector in senior roles across organisations like Citibank, PwC India, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and even the RBI.

Agarwal has been serving on the board as an independent director since May 2021.

She had been with State Bank of India for 34 years across roles, with her last assignment being the deputy managing director of digital banking and new businesses.

Agarwal has also served on the board of companies like the National Payments Corp., Jio Payments Bank and as an adviser to MasterCard.

Abhishek has been serving as an independent director on the board since August 2021. His last role was as the secretary at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade till 2019. Before that, he was chairperson of the Forward Markets Commission or regulator for commodities markets.

In his 37-year tenure with the Indian Administrative Services, Abhishek spearheaded a number of key government initiatives, such as Make in India, Startup India and Ease of Doing Business.

He led advocacy on intellectual property, industrial corridors, productivity and competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises, enhancing investments and large-scale business reforms.

Vaish has been on the board as an independent director since December 2023.

He is also an independent or non-executive director on the board of five companies, both listed and unlisted. Vaish is a founding member of Accenture India, having spent more than 28 years. He left Accenture as managing director in 2014.