The Delhi High Court has officially ordered the winding up of Paytm Payments Bank following the cancellation of its banking license by the RBI. Former SBI executive Girikumar M. Nair has been appointed as the official liquidator to oversee the closure process. This marks the final stage for the entity after years of regulatory scrutiny over compliance failures.
Detailed Coverage
The Delhi High Court has directed the formal liquidation of Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), ending the entity’s journey in the Indian banking sector. This judicial order follows the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision on April 24, 2026, to cancel the bank’s operating license. The court proceedings, finalized through directives on July 8 and July 22, 2026, set a definitive end to the bank's operations.
Transition to Official Liquidation
To manage the dissolution, the court has appointed Girikumar M. Nair, a former Chief General Manager of the State Bank of India, as the official liquidator. As of July 8, 2026, Nair has assumed the powers previously exercised by the board of directors of the bank. His primary responsibility involves overseeing the orderly winding-up process under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the Companies Act, 2013. This process aims to address the bank's remaining obligations while ensuring the protection of public interest, which the regulator previously cited as a core concern.
Regulatory History and Compliance Challenges
Paytm Payments Bank, which began its operations in 2015 as a significant player in the digital payments landscape, faced a series of regulatory interventions that restricted its business capabilities. The RBI first initiated restrictions in March 2022 by barring the bank from onboarding new customers. These measures were intensified in January 2024 when the central bank prohibited the entity from accepting fresh deposits, credit transactions, or top-ups in customer accounts, wallets, and FASTags. These persistent compliance failures eventually led the regulator to conclude that the bank's continued operations were inconsistent with banking regulations and detrimental to depositors.
For investors, this development represents the formal conclusion of the regulatory process that has impacted the broader ecosystem of Paytm’s parent company, One97 Communications, over the past two years. The liquidation process itself will be the next monitorable update, as the official liquidator works to settle claims and manage the remaining assets of the bank. Market participants will likely track any further disclosures from One97 Communications regarding the financial impact of this liquidation on their consolidated balance sheet and their ongoing partnerships with other banking institutions.