Paytm to refocus on delivering sustainable, profitable biz model: Sharma

Paytm will refocus on delivering a “long-term, sustainable and profitable business model,” founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a letter to the company’s shareholders on Wednesday.

“After resolving many of the challenges that we faced, we are now refocused on our path to deliver a long-term, sustainable and profitable business model,” Sharma said. 

He highlighted that the last financial year was one of the most important learning experiences for the company, adding that the Noida-based fintech will focus on generating free cash flow for the rest of the year. 

In January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed crippling restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank citing ‘persistent non-compliance’ and ‘material supervisory concerns’. 

“In the last quarter, we encountered regulatory action on our associate entity Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), which presented significant challenges and provided us with many valuable lessons,” he added. 

In March 2022, the regulator barred the payments bank from inducting new customers. 

In the letter, Sharma added that the company would focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-led cost savings and build AI-first products to help small merchants and micro-businesses harness the power of technology previously available only to large enterprises.

He said that the firm identified significant savings through the use of AI and expanded in areas where “we see the future of technology heading”.

This comes after One97 Communications, the company operating Paytm brand, handed pink slips to employees in the March quarter of FY24.