Mumbai, June 12
Shares of One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, fell by up to 10 per cent on Thursday, hitting a low of Rs 864.20 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
However, the stock recovered some of its losses during the intra-day trade and was seen trading at Rs 906.75, still down by Rs 53.70 or 5.59 per cent on the BSE.
The sharp fall came after the Finance Ministry strongly denied reports that the government was planning to reintroduce a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI payments.
MDR is a fee that banks or payment service providers like Paytm charge merchants for processing digital payments.
Currently, the government has waived MDR charges on UPI transactions to promote digital payments.
However, some media reports claimed that the government was considering imposing MDR on high-value UPI transactions. These reports caused panic among investors.
In response, the Finance Ministry issued a strongly-worded statement, calling these claims ‘baseless and sensational.’