PhonePe losses surge to Rs 1,907 crore in FY 2019

Flipkart owned digital payment platform, PhonePe has reported a surge in losses in FY 19' to Rs 1,907 crore compared to a loss of Rs 791 crore in FY'18, according to (RoC) filings, accessed by business intelligence platform Paper.vc.

In terms of revenue, the company has seen a massive increase, reporting a net income of Rs 245 crore for FY'19, up from Rs 49 crore in the FY18. The firm has also reported a whopping 308% increase in its employee benefits expense in FY19. It stood at Rs 531 crore for FY 19 crore from Rs 130 crore in FY 18, the filings said.

The Bengaluru-based startup which competes with other products such as Google Pay, Paytm, BharatPe, and others also reported a 3X rise in expenses during FY19' with the company reporting expenses of Rs 2,153 crore in FY19, up from Rs 840 crore in FY18. Finance cost went down to Rs 20.1 lakh from Rs 5.6 crore, as per the filings.

Founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe offers peer-to-peer transfer, recharges, bill payments, gold purchases, among others. The company was acquired by Flipkart in 2016 and has gone on to be a super app which integrates many apps that includes major digital players such as Goibibo and OYO. A recent report by Morgan Stanley said that the company is being valued at about $7 billion. Earlier this year, Flipkart had reportedly given in-principal approval to its online payment subsidiary PhonePe to be setup as a separate entity.

Payment apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm are engaged in a battle to gain the top spot in an increasingly competitive market.