Paytm appoints senior lawyer Pallavi Shroff as board director

One97 Communications Ltd, which runs mobile wallet Paytm, has appointed Pallavi Shroff, founder and managing partner at law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, as a board director.

Shroff, who has more than three decades of legal experience, is also on the boards of other Indian companies including Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Apollo Tyres, Trident Group and Juniper Hotels Ltd.

"Shroff is one of the most distinguished leaders of the legal and corporate fraternity in India," said Paytm founder and chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma. "We are building our financial services business, and aim to provide access to lending, insurance and wealth management solutions to a large, under-served population. Her experience will be key to the next phase of our growth plans.”

Paytm had last month announced that it would be setting up an investment arm, Paytm Money Ltd.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of One97 Communications, it will build investment and wealth management products for its users.

Paytm Money's senior vice-president Pravin Jadhav had said the venture will target an audience segment untapped by existing players who focus on urban customers.

Paytm Money is One97’s fourth consumer brand after Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank and digital wallet Paytm.
“I am impressed by their [Paytm's] executive agenda of bringing financial inclusion," said Shroff. "I look forward to serving on their board, and guiding them on matters related to governance law and regulations.”

Paytm's other board directors include Kabir Misra, managing partner at SoftBank Capital; Joe Tsai, vice chairman at Alibaba Group Holding Ltd; former Google executive Amit Singhal; Mark Schwartz, vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group and chairman of Goldman Sachs in Asia-Pacific; Ravi Adusumalli of SAIF Partners; and Eric Jing, chief executive of Ant Financial.

Paytm's investors include Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, SAIF Partners, Alibaba Holding Ltd and Ant Financial Services Group.

In late January, Paytm's valuation jumped close to $10 billion (Rs 63,595 crore) after some current and former employees exercised their stock options.

Shardul Shroff-led Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co had last October become the country’s third law firm to cross the 100-partner mark.

The firm has more than 500 lawyers across seven locations and 10 practice areas.