Vijay Shekhar Sharma led company Paytm might be in for some serious trouble after a video surfaced of a sting operation in which Paytm officials can be seen talking about a shady deal. Given that the video is going viral on the internet since the last 24 hours, the Fintech company might lose out on a lot of credibilities since users have already started deleting the app. In a detailed blog post, the company has also issued a lengthy clarification about the video saying “nothing can be further from the truth.” They quoted in the blog post “We never share your data with anyone: any company/ any government or any country. At Paytm, your data is yours. Not ours, or of a third party, or of the government.”
The 13-minute long video which is in-fact a clip of a sting operation led by the investigative news-outlet Cobra Post shows some high-ranking officials at Paytm - Sudhanshu Gupta, who is the VP at Paytm and Ajay Shekhar who is the Senior VP at Paytm, discussing a deal with an undercover journalist Pushp Sharma, and disclosing that they were requested by the government to give user data. The sting which first came up from Cobra Post was named ‘Operation -136 II’.
After this revelation, a severe backlash was expected from the people on the internet, as was seen on Twitter. People took to the internet and started supporting campaigns like #DeletePaytm and Paytm means ‘Pay to Modi’.
In its blog post though, Paytm can be seen walking the fine line by carefully measuring its words. The company stated that its policy allows ONLY legally compliant data requests through a thorough process from the law of the land to get access to data for necessary investigations. The Vijay Shekhar Sharma led company also was vocal about the issue saying that any person claiming or talking otherwise is not aware of the policy and is not authorised to speak on behalf of the company.
They further put out a statement with a clarification saying “To further clarify, in the past, we have neither received requests nor shared any data without a legally compliant request from a bonafide agency and through proper process and channels. You can be sure, we have never shared, nor will share your data with anyone whom you never gave us permission to share with. This is the holy grail of trust between us.”
It’s no surprise that with investors like SoftBank and Alibaba on board, and with the whiff of shady news on Paytm’s behalf, this can be a definite cause of trouble for the leading Fintech company of the country. Also, with WhatsApp planning to enter the UPI based payment sector in India Paytm might find itself in a tough spot after
