Secondary share sale to see Paytm valued at $10 bn

Paytm, an arm of One97 Communications Ltd, is likely to be valued at around $10 billion when some existing and former employees sell a part of their shares to new investors, according to a report by Mint citing sources.

The report suggests that the secondary share sale is expected to be in the range of $50-70 million.

The share sale will help cement Paytm's position as the second-most valuable Indian internet start-up after Flipkart, which is valued at $12.6 billion.

One of the One97 Communications-owned firm's new investors is Discovery Capital, the report added.

In August 2016, the company was valued at $5 billion and in less than a year it soared to $6 billion when three investors - Reliance Capital Ltd, SVB (Saama Capital) and SAP Ventures - sold their combined stake of about 4.3 per cent to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Ant Financial Services Group.

Investor interest in Paytm has increased after the government invalidated old high-value currency notes in November 2016, boosting digital transactions.

One97 founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was also one of 11 recipients of a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India in August 2015.

Paytm Payments Bank, which now houses the electronic wallet business, plans to roll out several financial services products.

The company has been growing steadily and currently houses four different products under the One97 stable - Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm Money and Paytm Wallet.

Paytm counts SoftBank, SAIF Partners, Alibaba and Ant Financial Services as investors.