Indian telecommunications mogul Sunil Mittal is reportedly looking to acquire a stake in Paytm by merging his financial services unit with the fintech giant's payments bank, according to reports.

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Mittal intends to merge Airtel Payments Bank into Paytm Payments Bank through a stocks deal and is also looking to purchase Paytm shares from other stakeholders. However, the talks are still in early stages, and a deal may not be reached, as per reports.

However, a representative for Paytm has stated that the company is solely focused on its organic growth journey and not involved in any such discussions.

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However, a representative for Paytm has clarified the matter, “We remain fully focused on our strong organic growth journey and are not involved in any such discussions.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Bharti Enterprises Ltd., controlled by Mittal, declined to comment on market speculation.

Paytm, formerly known as One 97 Communications Ltd., has recently shown signs of profitability and has rebounded about 40 percent from its record low in November. The company has narrowed its Q3 loss after focusing on customer acquisition, leading to a boost in revenue, it said in an exchange filing this month.

Despite this, Paytm's shares have never traded above its IPO price of Rs 2,150 since its listing in November 2021, and the company had the worst first-year share plunge among large IPOs over the past decade. Its investors include SoftBank Group Corp. and Ant Group Co. from China.

Mittal's six-year-old payments bank boasts 129 million customers and has turned a profit in the year to March 31, 2022, according to exchange filings.

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