Paytm shareholders approve re-appointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Shareholders of One97 Communications, which operates under the Paytm brand, have approved the re-appointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as managing director and chief executive officer of the company, according to the scrutiniser report filed by the firm on Sunday.

Investors advisory firm IiAS had recommended against the reappointment of Sharma and several other resolutions that were part of the agenda of the 22nd Annual General Meeting held on Friday.

IiAS had said Sharma made several commitments in the past to make the company profitable, however, these have not played out.

According to the scrutiniser report, 99.67% of votes were in favour of Sharma’s re-appointment while only 0.33 % voted against the resolution.

While shareholders approved the remuneration of Sharma as well as that of Paytm President and Group chief financial officer Madhur Deora but the support was not similar to the level seen for their re-appointment.

Around 94.48% of shareholders voted in favour of the remuneration for Sharma and 5.52% opposed it.

Similar voting was observed in the case of a resolution to approve the remuneration of Deora.

As many as 94.53% of shareholders supported Deora’s remuneration while 5.47% opposed it.

Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) had recommended against the remuneration of both Sharma and Deora.

It said that Sharma’s remuneration is higher than that of all S&P, BSE, Sensex companies’ CEOs and most of these companies are profitable.

“His (Sharma ) remuneration is fixed for the next three years without any annual increment, unlike the policy/practice applicable to all other employees of the company,” Paytm said in a statement.

Sharma, in his letter to shareholders dated April 6, 2022, had informed the public that his ESOPs will vest only when the market cap crosses the IPO level on a sustained basis.

The proxy advisory firm had opposed the remuneration of Deora as well calling it on the higher side and the payment will be made to him even if the company continues to report losses.

The Institutional Investor Advisory Services provides voting recommendations on AGM agenda to institutional investors. Institutional investors hold a 6.6 % stake in Paytm.

IiAS had also suggested against the appointment of Elevation Capital managing partner Ravi Chandra Adusumalli as a director on the OCL board as he has attended only 47 % of board meetings in FY’22 and contributions of up to Rs. 10 crore in charitable donations as the company continues to post losses.

Both the proposals were also approved at the AGM with 96.9 % voting in favour of the appointment of Adusumalli and 96.84 % voted for charitable donations, according to the report.