Paytm has denied any link with Chinese merchants, and said that the funds seized by the ED do not belong to the company. This comes after India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 3rd conducted search operations at 6 premises of Paytm as well as Razorpay and Cashfree Payments in Bengaluru.
ED said that it got information that the entities were doing their suspected/illegal business through various Merchant IDs/Accounts held with Payment Gateways/banks controlled/operated by Chinese.
ED said that Rs. 17 Crore was seized in merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities. Paytm said that ED instructed them to freeze certain amounts from the Merchant IDs (MIDs) of certain specific set of merchant entities.
That these merchants are independent entities, and none of these funds belong to Paytm or any of its group companies, added the company.
In an update with the BSE, Paytm said:
As a part of ongoing investigations on a specific set of merchants, the ED has sought information regarding such merchants to whom we provide payment processing solutions. We wish to clarify that these merchants are independent entities, and none of them are our group entities.
It may be noted that ED has instructed us to freeze certain amounts from the Merchant IDs (MIDs) of a specific set of merchant entities (as mentioned by the ED in their press release). It may be further noted that none of the funds which have been instructed to be frozen belong to Paytm or any of our group companies.