Why is PayTM being promoted by the BJP despite Alibaba, a Chinese firm, being its largest shareholder?
I was listening to the latest speech of Kanhaiya Kumar about Indian Media. He was claiming that Government supporters encourage people to boycott chinese products and on the other hand Modi's demonetization policy compelled people to use Paytym. He further claimed that Paytm is a chinese invested company.After the note ban, PayTM usage increased by 400% and the app has now been downloaded on over 50 million devices. The circumstances in itself were in favour of apps like PayTM and Freecharge
China’s top e-commerce player and lead investor in Paytm, Alibaba, has bought a marginal stake held by Reliance Capital for $41 million in 2017. While the deal has meant a 27-fold return for the Anil Ambani-led firm, it has lifted the valuation of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, to an estimated $5 billion at a time when the e-commerce universe is facing severe markdowns.
Reliance Capital had acquired less than one per cent stake in One97 Communications for $1.51 million in 2009.
With this, the Paytm group has risen to the second position in the e-commerce valuation pecking order, if only companies with Indian founders are counted. Flipkart, whose valuation had risen to more than $15 billion a year ago, has gone through several markdowns.