Paytm quarterly revenue up 42%, posts surprise operating profit

Fintech company Paytm reported a 41.6 per cent rise in third-quarter revenue on Friday, helped by soaring loan growth, and said it achieved operating profitability three quarters ahead of guidance.

Paytm's parent, One 97 Communications Ltd, said revenue rose to Rs 2,062 crore in the October-December quarter from Rs 1,456 crore a year earlier.

The company posted its first-ever core profit before cost of employee stock-owning plans, or operating profit, of Rs 31 crore compared with a core loss of Rs 393 crore a year earlier.

However, it continued to post a consolidated net loss that nearly halved to Rs 392 crore from a loss of Rs 778 crore a year earlier, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company's fast-growing financial services business — primarily buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), personal and merchant loans — accounted for 21.6 per cent of the total revenue, more than trebling to Rs 446 crore from a year earlier.

Loan disbursement surged to Rs 9,958 crore, led by a four-fold jump in BNPL loans.

Revenue at Paytm's core payments services business - consumers and merchants using its eponymous app and merchants' device subscriptions - rose 43.2 per cent to Rs 1,599 crore, accounting for 77.5 per cent of the total.

The company's net payments margin, or payments revenue excluding processing costs, more than doubled to Rs 459 crore from a year earlier.

The SoftBank-backed firm has previously said it was aiming to turn profitable and become free cash flow positive in 2023. Operating profit margin improved to 1.5 per cent from negative 27 per cent from a year earlier

Paytm, which stores deposits and is allowed to borrow from the country's central bank, has been looking to lend money via its Paytm Payments Bank business.

However, the Reserve Bank of India barred the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm from taking on new customers in March last year, pending an audit.