Paytm's revenue up 38%, loss narrows to Rs 220 crore in December quarter

Paytm Q3FY24 earnings: One97 Communications, parent of fintech platform Paytm, announced that its loss has narrowed to Rs 220 crore in December quarter, from a loss of Rs 392 crore in the same period last year.

In terms of revenue, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-backed company recorded 38 per cent jump in revenue to Rs 2,850 crore. Its revenue in the year-ago period was Rs 2,062 crore.

Paytm attributed the revenue jump to accelerated growth in Gross Margin Value (GMV), higher device addition and growth of financial services business.

“This was partly boosted by the timing of festive seasons (online sales for the festive season were in Q3, whereas in the previous financial year it was largely in Q2),” Paytm said.

Segments

Paytm said the revenue from its payment services rose 45 per cent annually to Rs 1,730 crore on the back of festive demand.

The merchant paying subscription for devices reached 1.06 crore as of December 2023, against 57 lakh in the same period last year. For its financial services and other business, Paytm said its revenue advanced 36 per cent annually to Rs 607 crore.

In terms of loan distribution business across merchant, personal and postpaid loans, Paytm saw 56 per cent more loans distributed through its platform at Rs 15,535 crore, though the number was 4 per cent lower from the September quarter (Q2FY24).

“We are seeing good ramp-up in the high-ticket loan segment with a distribution of Rs 490 crore in the quarter. With more than 2 crore whitelist customers, we expect an acceleration in this business as we increase lending partners from 2 currently to at least 5-6 partners by Q1 FY 2025,” the company said.

Paytm shares ended 2.55 per cent at Rs 773.90 ahead of its earnings announcement.

The company on December 25 had slashed 1,000 jobs in operations, sales and engineering after implementing AI automation.