Retail shareholding in Paytm more than doubles to 7.7% in Q4 Despite a free fall in Paytm’s (One97 Communications) stock since its listing, the retail shareholding in the company has more than doubled – from 3.49% in the previous quarter to 7.72% in the quarter ended March 31, 2022 – the updated shareholding pattern on the BSE showed on Thursday. Interestingly, anchor investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has increased its stake from 1.5% to 1.71% in the last quarter. Several mutual funds have added shares of Paytm in the last month. According to a monthly fund report by IDBI Capital, SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, LIC Mutual Fund, IDBI Mutual, IDFC Mutual Fund, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund and Edelweiss Mutual Fund are among the top fund houses that bought shares of Paytm in March. The stock currently trades 70.18% lower from its public offer price of Rs 2,150. The stock hit its record low of Rs 520 in March, which was a 75% decline against its issue price. On Thursday, shares of Paytm ended higher by 0.2% at Rs 641.25 on the BSE.
Logistics, good or bad, are driven by the states and the commerce ministry has a LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) report, based on perceptions. The 2023 version was released in December. Since states are heterogenous, in the reporting, they are divided into four groups—coastal, landlocked, north-east, and UTs. States that do well are called achievers. Nomenclature matters. Thus, states that are middling aren’t called average. They are called fast movers. States that are sub-par are called aspirers. Let me highlight coastal states, since 75% of export cargo is estimated to originate from them. Among coastal states, ones that do well are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The ones that lag are Goa, Odisha, and West Bengal. While India’s logistics performance may have improved over time, that’s not true of every state. Some have slipped. Most states have a state-level logistics policy, including Goa and Odisha. West Bengal, bottom of the pecking order in the coastal category, doesn’t have one. To quote from LEADS 2023, “Looking ahead, the State (West Bengal) could benefit from formulating a State Logistics Master Plan and State Logistics Policy to drive efficiency improvements and facilitate investments within the logistics sector and undertake consultation with the logistics stakeholders for educating and informing them about the initiatives State is undertaking for the development and improvement of logistics sector.”
Logistics has been talked about for a long time and India has also focused on improving performance. We are now getting some precise data on measurement and quantification. That helps.
Bibek Debroy, chairman, EAC-PM. Views are personal.