A report that Jio Financial Services Ltd, owned by Reliance Industries, is in talks with Paytm to acquire its wallet business has been refuted. This comes amid an RBI crackdown on rule violations.
The company stated in a regulatory filing late last night, “We clarify that the news item is speculative and we have not been in any negotiations in this regard.”
“We have always made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations,” the business stated.
The clarification came in response to reports from yesterday that said Jio Financial and HDFC Bank were the front-runners to acquire Paytm’s wallet business.
Following the report, shares of Jio Financial Services Ltd. increased by more than 15% yesterday.
A directive from the RBI last week prohibits Paytm from taking in new deposits or permitting credit transactions after February 29.
The RBI imposed strict limits on the company due to hundreds of accounts created on Paytm Payments Bank without proper identification, according to people familiar with the matter.
It was discovered that over one thousand users had connected their accounts to the same Permanent Account Number (PAN).
Both the RBI and the auditors discovered during the verification processes that the compliance that the payments bank had submitted was inaccurate.
According to sources, the RBI is worried that certain accounts may have been used for money laundering.
