China e-commerce giant Alibaba sells off its remaining stake in India's Paytm

Alibaba Group Holding has sold off its remaining stake in Indian digital payment platform Paytm in a block deal, according to a report by Nikkie Asia.

Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt Ltd offloaded 21.43 million shares of Paytm's operator One97 Communications, at 642.74 rupees per share and a total worth of 13.7 billion rupees ($166 million), India's National Stock Exchange shows.

Before this sell-off, Alibaba had sold a 3.1% of a 6.26% stake in the company in January, through a block deal worth $125 million.

While it was not immediately clear why Alibaba sold the stake, the exit comes days after Paytm posted its first-ever quarterly operating profit as a listed firm, nine months ahead of its own target.

Since its dismal listing in November 2021, its stock has declined around 70% and tumbled 60% in 2022, according to Reuters.

Alibaba's presence in India is now nearing an end after it had earlier sold its stakes in Indian food delivery company, Zomato and India's largest online grocery supermarket, BigBasket.