Troubled Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) has witnessed at least two independent directors resigning from its board. Users and merchants using bank services are still not showing confidence in it.
Shinjini Kumar, former Bank of America and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) executive, resigned from the payments bank’s board in December, according to media reports. However, to meet RBI rules, she is said to have attended two of the company’s board meetings as a special invitee, reports added.
Kumar served as the chief executive of Paytm Payments Bank between 2016 and 2017 and is currently the Co-founder of Salt, a women-focused financial services platform.
Left With Only Three Independent Directors
Meanwhile, Manju Agarwal, previously the deputy managing director at State Bank of India (SBI), is reported to have resigned from the payments bank board. Reports surfaced that the payments bank required a higher number of independent directors than executive directors on its board. This prompted Kumar’s participation in a board meeting through a special invitation.
With recent changes, PPBL’s board now has three independent directors, including Arvind Kumar Jain, Pankaj Vaish and Ramesh Abhishek. As of now, One 97 Communications’ board includes Srinivas Yanamandra, Bhavesh Gupta, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Surinder Chawla.
After RBI crackdown on the bank, Governor Shaktikanta Das stated that the regulator would provide further clarifications. The RBI emphasises engaging with regulated entities and giving them time to take corrective action.