Adani-Paytm Deal: Both One97 Communications and Adani Group deny reports as ‘baseless’ and ‘speculative’

• Adani Group has denied reports that it is in talks to acquire a stake in One97 Communications.
• One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm has also denied reports of a stake sale.
• Recent media reports claimed that Adani Group is looking to enter the UPI and e-commerce segments.

Gautam Adani-led conglomerate Adani Group has denied reports that it is in talks with Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, for acquiring a stake in the fintech company.

Amid reports that the Adani Group is looking to enter the UPI and e-commerce segments, a report by the Times of India claimed that the company is in talks with One97 Communications for a stake acquisition, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report claimed that Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had met Gautam Adani at its Ahmedabad headquarters on Tuesday, May 28, regarding the deal.

The report led to immense speculations across the business and political circles as expectations around Adani Group taking on the likes of JioFinance and Google Pay grew ripe. The share price of One97 Communications climbed 5%, hitting the upper circuit. The company’s share price reached INR 359.55.

The opposition party Congress’s leader Jairam Ramesh launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister, posting on X "Remember when Paytm was referred to as Pay to Modi? Prophetic words! Atmanirbhar to Parmatmanirbhar to Adaninirbhar!"

Adani Group issues a denial

The Adani Group has now come out and denied the media report. “We categorically deny this baseless speculation. It is totally false and untrue,” the Adani Group said in a statement.

One97 Communications also denies talks

In an official statement, One97 Communications denied reports of its talks with Adani Group.

"We hereby clarify that the abovementioned news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard. We have always made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015," One97 Communications said in an official filing.

Adani Group looking to enter the UPI and e-commerce segments

Earlier, media reports claimed that the Adani Group is looking to enter the UPI and e-commerce segments in India.

According to the reports, the Adani Group is reportedly considering applying for a license to operate on the country’s public digital payments network, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The group is also in talks with banks to offer a co-branded Adani credit card to its customers.

The group is also reported to be in negotiations to enter the e-commerce segment through the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

A deal with Paytm, which has several years of experience in both e-commerce and payments, could have helped the Adani Group establish itself in these segments and take on existing players such as Reliance Industries, Google, PhonePe and more.

Paytm has been facing several regulatory challenges in recent years, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordering Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop the bulk of its activities earlier this year. The action led to a whopping 50% drop in One97 Communications share price within two weeks in February.

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