Shares of One97Communications ended in the red on Wednesday as investors were unimpressed by the buyback programme, even though it came at a premium of up to 50 per cent. The Paytm parent ended at Rs 529.15 — a drop of 1.92per cent on the BSE, while it lost 1.78 per cent to settle at Rs 529.80 on the NSE.

Market participants expressed disappointment over the route adopted by the fintech firm for the share repurchase. In a late evening announcement, Paytm said it will buy these shares from the open market, instead of the tender offer route that was expected by the investors.

This would have allowed those who had purchased the shares at the time of the IPO to cut some of their losses. Paytm had set an issue price of Rs 2,150 per share and at the current market prices, the scrip is trading at a discount of over 75 per cent.

Moreover, the company has said it will purchase these shares at a maximum price of Rs 810 per share. At the maximum buyback price and size, it would repurchase over 1.04crore shares. While the company can buy these shares at a price below Rs 810 per share, Paytm has also said it will utilise at least 50 per cent of the maximum amount (Rs 850 crore) or shares worth Rs 425 crore. Under this, it will acquire at least 5.24 crore shares.