Paytm reports 39.9% dip in losses for FY17

One97 Communications, which operates India's largest digital wallet Paytm, on Tuesday posted a 39.9% decrease in net loss to Rs 899.6 crore for fiscal 2017.

According to a filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) accessed by business intelligence platform Paper.vc, the company had reported a loss of of ₹1,496.7 crore for FY'16.

Paytm's parent company also stated that its revenues grew 38.6% to Rs 828.6 crore during fiscal 2017 compared with Rs 597.8 crore in fiscal 2016.

The company's total expenses have increased 17.6% to Rs 2,088.1 crore for fiscal 2017 from Rs 1775.5 crore for FY16.

When contacted by DH, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the company will enhance its operational strength to become profitable going forward. "We are going through lots of learning curves and it will further help us to enhance our operational performance," he said.

Sharma said the company has already raised enough funds to fuel its growth for the next five-year period.

The largest digital wallet player Paytm, which has a reported user base of 218 million, recently hived off its business into two.

Paytm E-Commerce was incorporated in August 2016 and it acquired the retail marketplace business of One97 effective March 2017 for Rs 620 crore, as per the documents filed with RoC.

One97 had seen its losses increase five-fold between FY15 and FY16, from Rs 370 crore to Rs 1,548 crore, while revenue had also nearly tripled from Rs 324 crore to Rs 920 crore in the same period, stated a regulatory filing.

Paytm was founded in August 2010 with an initial investment of $2 million by Sharma. It started off as a prepaid mobile and DTH recharge platform, and later added data card, postpaid mobile and landline bill payments in 2013.

In May last year the company launched its financial banking business under Paytm Payments Bank which was fully operational by mid-August.

While Paytm E-Commerce showed losses of only Rs 13.63 crore in FY17, the Payments Bank showed losses of Rs 30 crore for the same period.