Sharma meets Sitharaman, RBI officials

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Tuesday met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting fresh deposits starting March due to serious regulatory violations, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Mint.

- Rhik Kundu & Shayan Ghosh

Sitharaman met Sharma out of courtesy for the industry, the first person mentioned above said, requesting anonymity. "The FM made it clear that it was a regulatory issue, which the government can't help the company with," the person said.

When contacted, a finance ministry spokesperson refused to comment.

Earlier on Monday, Sharma, the founder and chief executive of One97 Communications, the parent of the payments bank, met officials from RBI, according to a person aware of the development.

Sharma, the person said, wanted to understand the way forward following RBI's decision to bar the payments bank from accepting deposits beginning 1 March. According to the person cited above, an emotional Sharma left without any change in stance from the banking regulator.