Vakrangee, the Mumbai-based software player and white label ATM operator, which boasted of a ₹70,000-crore market-cap at the peak of the bull-run in 2017, has seen a severe downfall in its fortunes. The company that last year paid hundreds of crores in taxes, saw its net profit for the September quarter tumble by 99 per cent to ₹1.94 crore from the previous year’s ₹189.80 crore.
Market analysts say Vakrangee reported such ridiculously low numbers for the first time in years after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in September ordered a probe into the company’s accounts and its shareholding structure. The company has welcomed the probe to clear the air.
A logistics partner of Amazon India, Vakrangee’s revenue crashed by 80.8 per cent to ₹289.46 crore in the September quarter, from ₹1,550.78 crore recorded a year ago. The earnings per share stood at ₹0.02, down from ₹1.80.
Founded in 1990 in Mumbai, Vakrangee started as a technology consultancy. It started making voter identity cards in 1993 and was listed a year later. It then recast itself as a franchisee for making Aadhaar UID cards in 2010. Two years later, it pivoted to a new business model — a franchise network of ‘kendras’, or units, which perform a mix of tasks such as making voter IDs, registration of Aadhaar, operating white label ATMs. The Reserve Bank of India issued it a licence in 2014; it started handling e-governance projects. It later became a logistics partner for Amazon India.
Vakrangee’s downfall came after foreign research houses red-flagged around ₹200 worth equity investment by the company in PC Jeweller (PCJ), which was linked to now-absconding jewellery designer Nirav Modi. Vakrangee’s shares, which traded at over ₹600, crashed to around ₹50 within days. While Vakrangee bought PCJ shares, it is still not known who sold them. MCA’s probe of the deals involving PCJ shares could open further leads, regulatory officials say.