Shares of One 97 Communications, the parent company that runs Paytm, rose more than 3% in early trade on August 22 after the company’s shareholders reappointed Shekhar Sharma as the company’s MD and CEO.

The resolution to reappoint Vijay Shekhar Sharma as Paytm’s CEO and MD was supported by 99.67% of shareholders who voted at the company’s annual general meeting, One 97 Communications Ltd, the fintech’s parent company, said on August 21.

Paytm passed seven resolutions at its 22nd Annual General Meeting on August 19, including:

• To receive, consider and approve the company’s audited independent and consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, as well as the reports of the board of directors and auditors.
• Appoint a director to replace Mr Ravi Chandra Adusumalli, who has retired by rotation and is eligible for re-election.
• Approved the reappointment of Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma as Managing Director, designated as the company’s “Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer”.
• Approved the payment of the remuneration of Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
• Approved the appointment of Mr Madhur Deora as a full-time director designated as “Executive Director, President and Group Chief Financial Officer” of the company.
• To approve Mr Madhur Deora’s remuneration, a full-time director was designated as the company’s “Executive Director, President and Group Chief Financial Officer”.
• Approve donations to charitable and other funds.

As many as 99.48% of voters supported Sharma’s pay, Paytm said in a regulatory filing.

The company said in a statement that the vote for Sharma’s re-election “reflects investor confidence in the leadership.” It added that the vote also showed investors’ confidence in Paytm’s “growth and profitability targets.”

AGM is the first since a fintech unicorn was listed on an exchange last November. The company’s Rs 18,300 crore IPO was the largest in the history of an Indian company at the time.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance clarified that the government is not considering imposing any fees on UPI transactions, which may be another reason for the rise in share prices. Paytm is one of the leading platforms for UPI transactions.

“UPI is a digital public good that provides great convenience to the public and productivity gains for the economy. The government has not considered imposing any fees on UPI services. Costs to service providers must be recovered through other means problem,” the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

The shares were trading at Rs 786 per share on the BSE at 9.44 am, up nearly 2%, while the benchmark Sensex was at 59,153.66, down 492.49 points or 0.83%.