India’s digital payment firm Paytm has agreed to sell its shares in Japanese payment company PayPay to SoftBank for $279.2 million. This decision comes as part of Paytm’s efforts to offload non-core assets following a regulatory crisis earlier this year, according to TechCrunch.
Paytm acquired its stake in PayPay six years ago through a previous acquisition. In August, Paytm also sold its entertainment ticketing unit to Zomato for $246 million.
PayPay, Japan’s leading payment app, operates under the control of SoftBank and Z Holdings, the parent company of Yahoo Japan.
This share sale will boost Paytm’s cash reserves to $1.46 billion. Currently, Paytm is working to regain its lost market share in India’s highly competitive digital payment market.
Paytm’s banking subsidiary faced severe regulatory restrictions in January, prompting many customers to shift to competing services.
Since June, Paytm’s stock price has tripled after India’s payment regulator allowed the company to onboard new customers for its UPI services. In September, Paytm reported its first-ever quarterly profit, although this was largely driven by proceeds from asset sales rather than operational improvements.
