MUMBAI — Shares in the owner of Indian mobile-payments company Paytm fell sharply on their first day of trading, after it sold about $2.5bn of stock in the country’s largest initial public offering.

Stock in One97 Communications dropped 27% from its IPO price of 2,150 rupees, the equivalent of $28.95, to close on 18 November at 1,564 rupees. The shares were prevented from falling further by a halt in trading before the end of the session. This time out, known as a circuit breaker, kicked in when the shares had fallen 20% from their opening price.