Vijay Shekhar Sharma has stepped off his position as a part-time non-executive chairman, as well as a board member for Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) according to an announcement on the BSE of One97 Communications Ltd (OCL).

Additionally, the company announced it has reconfigured the board of directors, with the appointment of the former Central Bank of India chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, retired IAS officer Debendranath Sarangi, former executive director of the Bank of Baroda Ashok Garg as well as the former IAS Rajni Sekhri Sibal. They have been appointed independent directors on the board, the company said.

"OCL supports PPBL's move of opting for a board with only independent and executive directors by removing its nominee... PPBL has informed us that they will commence the process of appointing a new chairman," the disclosure stated in the document [pdf].in pdf.

The decision comes just weeks before it was announced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a series of business-related restrictions for Paytm Payments Bank over non-compliance and regulatory concerns. The restrictions on business are designed to apply to Paytm's diverse business lines that relate to the bank's payments.

Since this time this central bank has taken some additional steps to protect affected customers' interests, such as giving temporary relief to the restrictions. It is reported that the RBI is extending the scheduled timeframe from February 29 2024 to 15 March 2024 for additional credits, deposits, or topping-ups to customer accounts and wallets, prepaid instruments FASTags national Common Mobility cards, and so on. The same timeframe extension is also available to banking services, such as the transfer of funds, BBPOU, and UPI facilities.

Recently, RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J explained that the crackdown against Paytm's payments bank wasn't a surprise, but was the result of several conversations, giving the company plenty of time to correct the issue.

"When constructive engagement doesn't work or when the regulated entity does not take effective action, we go for imposing business restrictions," Das was quoted as declaring.

Source: PayTM Payment Bank Press Release.