Paytm's Q1 Performance: Loss Narrowing of Rs 358.4 Crore and Soaring 39.4% Revenue Growth

Fintech firm One97 Communications, operating under the brand Paytm, reported a significant improvement in its financial performance for the first quarter of FY2023-24. The company's net loss narrowed to Rs 358.4 crore during this period, compared to a loss of Rs 645.4 crore in the same quarter the previous year. This reduction in losses can be attributed to a substantial increase in revenue from operations, which rose by 39.4 per cent to Rs 2,341.6 crore in the reported quarter, up from Rs 1,679.6 crore in the corresponding period of June 2022.

One of the significant contributors to Paytm's growth was its merchant payments volume (GMV), which saw a 37 per cent year-on-year increase, reaching Rs 4.05 lakh crore in the April-June quarter of FY2023-24.

The company also highlighted that its EBITDA before ESOP margin stood at 4 per cent, a result of consistent improvement in profitability driven by strong revenue growth, increased contribution margin, and operating leverage.

Paytm further explained that the improvement in net payment processing margin can be attributed to the rise in gross merchandise value (GMV) of non-UPI instruments such as EMI and cards, as well as lower interchange costs for Wallet, post-interoperability circular by NPCI, and Postpaid due to better portfolio quality. This has led to the net payment processing margin now being at the top end of the 7-9 basis points range.