The Indian digital payments and financial services company Paytm has reported a contracting net loss in the quarter that ended on December 31, 2022, while its revenue from operations in the period surged on a YoY basis.
Paytm’s net loss in the December quarter reduced to Rs 392 crore compared to Rs 778 crore in the same period last year and from Rs 572 crore in the September quarter.
Further, the company’s revenue surged by 41% YoY to Rs 2,062 crore in the quarter under focus.
Even though the financial company did not turn profitable yet in the third quarter of the financial year 2022-23, its founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma underlined that the company achieved a major milestone in 10 years, focusing on growth.
The growth in the company’s revenue on a YoY basis was affected by the timing of the festive season, along with the incentive of UPI recorded in the December ending quarter of FY22 (last year) compared to nil recorded in the same period this year.
“This has been made possible due to the relentlessly focused execution by our team. The team was asked to focus on growth with quality revenues that contribute to the bottom line.
We have achieved this milestone without losing sight on growth opportunities and keeping all compliances as well as risk factors under a strict watch,” said Sharma.
The company’s gross merchandise value or GMV witnessed a 38% rise on year in the December quarter at Rs 3.5 lakh crore, while the payment processing margin in the period lied within the range of 7-9 basis points (bps) of its GMV, compared to the same in December 2022.
The payment processing margin is expected to stabilise at 5-7 basis points in the long term as the UPI instrument appears to grow faster than other instruments.
“The promotional cash backs and incentives were Rs 91 crore (from Rs 191 crore in Q2). As per earlier arrangements with lenders, we were incurring incentives related to Paytm Postpaid as a part of this cost. From Q3 onwards, we have new agreements with lenders (where we were incurring interchange cost) which is included in Payment processing charges. As a result the costs were down,” the company’s management said.
