Paytm claims there is no connection to Chinese merchants under scrutiny

Digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which operates under the Paytm brand, on Sunday denied any link with the merchants that are under the Enforcement Directorate scanner in the Chinese loan app case.

Paytm said that none of the funds frozen by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) belongs to it or any of its group firms.

“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,” Paytm said in a regulatory filing.

The ED on Saturday said it has conducted raids at six premises of online payment gateways, such as Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree in Bengaluru, over the alleged irregularities in instant app-based loans “controlled” by Chinese persons.

The searches that started on Friday as part of an ongoing probe are still underway, the agency said.

The federal probe agency also said that during the raids, it seized Rs 17 crore worth of funds kept in “merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled 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…