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MFs held 4.99% in Paytm for the three months ended December 31, from 2.79% in the previous quarter, the filings showed. This includes Mirae Asset Mutual Fund, which raised stake to 2.51%, from 1.47% in the September quarter, and Nippon India Mutual Fund, with 1.05%.
Domestic retail investors in Paytm increased holdings to 12.85%, from 8.73%.
Increased domestic interest comes even as the payments firm’s stock has been slipping after its withdrawal from the sub-Rs 50,000 personal loan segment amid regulatory strictures.
Foreign direct investment’s share also increased, by 5.56% sequentially to 45.08% in the period.
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It is also cutting costs; ET reported in December about Paytm laying off 1,000 over a span of a few months.
Meanwhile, SoftBank has reduced its stake in the company by 1.66% sequentially to 6.46% as of December-end. Long-standing investor Ant Group (formerly Ant Financial) held a 9.89% stake.
Founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s wholly-owned overseas entity, Resilient Asset Management BV, had 10.29% in Paytm as of December 31.
In August last year, Sharma entered an agreement to buy 10.3% in Paytm from China’s Ant. Post the deal, Ant has ceased to be the largest shareholder in the fintech payments platform.
Shares of Paytm closed 1.1% higher at Rs 692.2 apiece on the BSE on Friday. Shares have fallen steeply from a 52-week high of Rs 998.3 on October 20 after the company’s decision to exit small-ticket loans.
ET reported earlier that with the Reserve Bank of India increasing risk weightages by 25% against unsecured lending, the cost of funds for fintechs and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) is expected to rise, making small-sized lending increasingly non-lucrative.