Reliance Capital Sells Paytm Stake to Alibaba, Valuing Paytm at Over $4 Billion

Reliance Capital has sold its nearly 1 percent stake in popular digital payments firm Paytm for Rs. 275 crores to China's Alibaba Group in a deal reaping huge gains for the Anil Ambani-led group firm.

The financial services arm of Reliance Group had invested Rs. 10 crores for this stake in Paytm.

The deal gives a valuation of over $4 billion (roughly Rs. 26,655 crores) to Paytm, which is already backed by Alibaba group as a strategic investor.

Sources said that Reliance Capital has retained a stake in Paytm e-commerce, which it had got free of cost by virtue of the investment in the parent firm. In the latest fund-raising round, Paytm e-commerce was valued at $1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,663 crores).

A Reliance Capital spokesperson declined to comment on the deal while Paytm spokesperson also did not comment.

Earlier, Reliance Capital had said it would trim its proprietary investment portfolio as part of its plans to monetise non-core assets.

In December last year, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had sold 1 percent of his holding in One97 Communications, the parent firm of the digital payments firm, to raise about Rs. 325 crores.

This money was to be pumped into the group's payments bank operations, which are slated to commence soon.

Alibaba Singapore E-commerce, along with investment firm SAIF Partners, is also slated to invest $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,337 crores) in Paytm's online marketplace unit.

Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360.