Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal reportedly eyeing stake in Paytm

Airtel is the second largest player in the telecom market, with a considerable presence in other markets such as DTH and broadband. On the sidelines of its surge in 5G deployment, its billionaire owner is eyeing expansion into other sectors. According to reports by ET Now, telecom giant Bharti Airtel's founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal is trying to buy a stake in e-payment major Paytm.

The telecom tycoon hopes to roll Airtel Payments Bank into Paytm's Payment Bank through a stock deal. Paytm is currently the third largest player in the digital payment space, with a market share of more than 16 per cent. In the October-December quarter of FY23, it posted its first ever operating profit.

Mittal is currently eyeing Paytm stocks owned by other shareholders in the market. To tackle a fall in its stock prices, Paytm recently spent Rs 850 crore on a share buyback, to acquire more than one crore units. Last year Google picked up a 1.2 per cent stake in Airtel for $700 million, while it competes with Paytm in the e-payment space.

Sunil Mittal also has eyes on the satellite internet market in India, after the OneWeb launch backed by ISRO and SpaceX.