Paytm Q4 earnings: Paytm, a digital payments company, reported a nearly 3 per cent decline to Rs 2,267.10 crore in fourth-quarter revenue against Rs 2,334.50 crore in the same quarter last year. The decline was attributed to weaknesses in its payments and financial services segment following the closure of its banking unit by the Reserve Bank of India.

The digital payment facilitator has also reported a net loss of Rs 550 crore in Q4FY24 when compared to a Rs 219.80 crore loss in the December quarter and a loss of Rs 168.90 crore in the same quarter last year.

The central bank's directive to Paytm Payments Bank, an affiliate of Paytm, to cease accepting fresh deposits from March has raised concerns regarding the company's primary payments business revenue.

Merchant subscription revenue

The fintech major has reported an impact on the merchant subscription revenue due to lower new merchant deployment and lower active merchants for the quarter. 

Paytm’s active device base has declined by close to 10 lakh due to higher attrition in February and March with no merchant addition from February when the RBI notification was released. 

According to the investor release, Paytm’s merchant subscription revenue in Q4 was close to Rs 90 per device per month and it is expected to bottom out at Rs 80 per month per device in the next quarter. However, the company believes that this revenue can regain toRs 100 per device per month by the last quarter of FY25 as it plans to announce new products and “better distribution and service network”. 

“We recently launched two more “Made in India” soundboxes which are customised to the needs of our merchants, with louder speakers and longer battery life,” the BSE release stated. 

Future prospects 

Paytm is planning to improve governance by appointing subject matter experts and independent directors to prioritise regulatory compliance. 

The release stated that the monetisation efforts will focus on cross-selling financial services within regulatory bounds, expanding into insurance and equity broking. The company plans to achieve cost efficiencies through AI, organisational streamlining, and divestment from non-core businesses. 

The shares of the Noida-based fintech platform were trading 1.58 per cent lower at Rs 346.20 as of 9:40 am on Wednesday.