Exclusive: Paytm's payments bank VP Vikas Purohit quits

Vikas Purohit has quit mobile wallet and e-commerce firm Paytm's upcoming payments bank barely seven months after joining as vice president, a person familiar with the development told Techcircle.

Purohit's last day at the company is this week, the person said, asking not to be named. The reasons behind Purohit's resignation couldn't be ascertained.

Paytm, India's largest mobile wallet company, didn't reply to an email query seeking comment.

Efforts to reach out to Purohit over LinkedIn didn't succeed till the time of writing this article. A second person familiar with the development said that Purohit likely quit to float his own entrepreneurial venture.

Prior to joining Paytm, Purohit worked with Amazon as the director of the fashion vertical. An IIT-BHU and IIM-Bangalore alumnus, he has also worked with Tommy Hilfiger and Reliance Brands in the past.

At the time of his appointment, some media outlets had reported that Purohit would be leading Paytm's payments bank. But in February this year, Paytm hired former Reserve Bank of India executive Shinjini Kumar as the CEO of its payments bank. Noida-based Paytm has also hired several other executives for its payments bank, including Saurabh Sharma from Bharti Airtel Ltd, Krishna Hegde from Barclays, and former RBI deputy general manager Vipin Surelia.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm's parent One97 Communications Ltd, was one of 11 applicants who received the Reserve Bank of India's in-principle nod to set up a payments bank in the country in August 2015. The company, which counts Alibaba's Alipay and SAIF Partners as large shareholders, will put the payments business under a new company called Paytm Payment Bank Ltd in which Sharma will own 51% stake.

Paytm Payment Bank earlier planned to roll out its services in August this year but recently said it would launch its business "before November". It also said that it was recruiting 3,000 people and that it hired consultancies EY (formerly Ernst & Young) and McKinsey to help launch operations.

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