Antfin fully exits Paytm, selling final 5.85% stake for ₹3,800 crore
Paytm now has zero Chinese ownership; Elevation Capital remains key pre-IPO investor
Exit follows RBI’s tighter rules on foreign stakes and India–China tensions
Divestment may boost investor confidence and ease licensing hurdles
Ant Group’s Antfin has sold its entire 5.85% stake in One 97 Communications, the parent of Paytm, in a bulk transaction valued at approximately ₹3 800 crore (US $460 million) at a floor price of ₹1 020 per share.
Executed by Goldman Sachs and Citi, the deal marks the final step in Antfin’s phased divestment that began in 2023 and leaves Paytm free of any Chinese ownership.
With the exit of Antfin, Paytm’s pre-IPO cap table has seen a near-complete churn. Major early backers, including Alibaba, SoftBank and Berkshire Hathaway, have all exited fully over the past two years. Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) now stands as the only significant pre‑IPO investor still holding a stake of 15.4% as of June 2025.
The complete exit of Antfin, the last remaining Chinese shareholder, could potentially attract a wider range of investors who were previously cautious due to the Chinese ownership.
This comes after Outlook Business last month reported that despite Paytm’s efforts to reduce its Chinese shareholding over the past few years, the fintech major was still the listed new‑age unicorn with the highest stake held by the neighbouring country’s investors at the end of FY 25.
While Chinese investors owned 9.85% of Paytm at the end of FY 25, they held 4.4% of Swiggy, 2.12% of PolicyBazaar and 1.95% of Zomato.
Further open‑market sales in May 2025 cut the share to 5.85%, ahead of this block deal. The divestment responded to stricter RBI rules on foreign ownership in payments firms and heightened India–China border tensions.
Paytm’s Efforts to Offload Chinese Stake
At its peak, Paytm’s largest Chinese investor, Antfin, owned approximately 23.79% of One 97 Communications.
Paytm’s divestment reflects a wider pivot among Indian tech start‑ups to shed Chinese stakes amid tighter RBI rules requiring prior approval for investments from neighbouring countries. Following the 2020 border tensions, start‑ups such as MakeMyTrip, Zomato and Dream11’s parent Sporta Technologies systematically unwound Chinese holdings to streamline fundraising and avert regulatory scrutiny.
Freed from Chinese investor constraints, Paytm’s management will now focus on securing outstanding approvals for payment aggregation and payments bank licences.
