PwC Resigns As Paytm's Auditor, S R Batliboi Appointed: Here Are Key Things To Know

Audit firm Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants has resigned as auditor of Paytm Payments Services Limited with immediate effect, according to a regulatory filing by Paytm. The digital payments platform has now approved the appointment of S R Batliboi & Associates as the statutory auditor of the company.

In its resignation letter, PwC has cited the change of auditors at the holding company level and Paytm’s practice to align the auditor of the holding company and subsidiaries to bring in synergies in the audit process.

“Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP Statutory Auditors of material subsidiary i.e. Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) have resigned with effect from August 7, 2023,” One97 Communications, which operates under Paytm brand name, said in the filing. PPSL has been barred by banking regulator RBI from onboarding new customers online till the time the firm is granted an Online Payment Aggregator (PA) license.

Key Points To Know

• PwC has not raised any concern or issue, says Paytm.
• “Consequently, keeping in mind your understandable practice to align the auditor of PPSL, being a material subsidiary, with the auditor of the holding company in order to bring in synergies and maintain consistency in the audit process of the Group, we hereby tender our resignation as the Statutory Auditors of PPSL,” PwC says in a letter.
• PwC has completed the statutory audit for the year ended March 31, 2023, and issued our reports on May 2, 2023. Further, we have completed the limited review on unaudited special purpose interim condensed financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, and issued our report on July 19, 2023.
• The company’s new statutory auditor S R Batliboi & Associates LLP will hold the office for a period of 5 years from the conclusion of 23rd AGM till the conclusion of 28th AGM.
• The auditor resignation comes days after One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent company, declared its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
• During the June 2023 quarter, the payments firm reported a 39.4 per cent growth in revenue even as the company narrowed its losses by 45 per cent to Rs 358 crore in Q1 from Rs 645 crore it had reported during the same period of last financial year.
• Paytm’s overall metrics seem to be improving better than expected with the net payment margin going up, owing to the increase in merchant subscription revenues.
• Its payment processing margin also improved due to non-UPI transactions such as card and EMI instruments growing relatively faster for the company.