Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has sold its remaining stake in Indian digital payments company Paytm.

The sale, reported by Reuters, is for about INR13.78 billion ($167.14 million) and took place through a block deal. The news comes days after Paytm posted quarterly operating profit for the first time as a listed firm.

Alibaba sold its 21.4 million shares on Friday at INR642.74, representing a nine per cent discount to its closing price on Thursday. News of the sale saw the stock price drop by 8 per cent to INR650.55, but this still represents an increase of over 20 per cent so far in 2023.

Friday also saw Morgan Stanley Asia buy 5.42 million shares of Paytm at INR640. The payments firm also has backing from the likes of SoftBank and Ant Group.

Neither Alibaba nor Paytm has commented on the sale, and it is not immediately clear why Alibaba has decided to exit the business. It previously sold a 3.1 per cent stake for $125 million.

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