Paytm Q1: Loss widens to Rs 838.9 cr, total income declines 33.5%

Hope to deliver at least one profitable quarter this year, says Sharma

Fintech firm One97 Communications (OCL), which owns Paytm brand, on Friday said its loss has widened to Rs 839 crore in the quarter ended June 30, due to the continued impact of restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO), however, said the company will deliver one profitable quarter in this financial year.

“I believe this is just the beginning of the end of the tough times. We are hoping and working on ensuring that we deliver at least one profitable quarter in this financial year as soon as we are able to see a lot more clarity coming our way,” Sharma said in a call with analysts. 

Paytm’s loss for the same period last year was at Rs 357 crore. Sequentially, OCL reported a higher loss from Rs 549.6 crore in Q4FY24. 

The loss for the Noida-based fintech company comes on the back of a contraction in revenue from payments and financial services for the company. 

The total income for the company declined 33.5 per cent on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis to Rs 1,639.1 crore in Q1FY25 from Rs 2,464.2 crore in Q1FY24.

Sequentially, the company’s revenues contracted with total revenues declining 31 per cent from Rs 2,398.8 crore in Q4FY24.  

Meanwhile, expenses for the company have declined 11.5 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis to Rs 2,476.4 crore in Q1FY25, down from Rs 2,800.1 crore in Q1FY24. 

On a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis, the total expenses have reduced about 8 per cent from Rs 2,691.4 crore in Q4FY24. 

Furthermore, Paytm has seen its monthly transacting users (MTUs) dip from January this year. At the start of the year, the company had about 104 million MTUs, which is down 25 per cent to 78 million at the end of June. 

Cumulative merchant subscriptions inched up 10.9 million at the end of the June quarter, up from 10.7 million in Q4FY24. 

In the last quarter of the previous financial year, the company had said about 1 million merchants had gone inactive. 

Meanwhile, on the financial services front, the company has terminated the disbursement of its buy now, pay later (BNPL) product; Paytm Postpaid, since Q4FY24. 

Since then, the total value of its disbursements, including merchant loans and personal loans have fallen from Rs 5,079 crore in Q4FY24 to Rs 5,008 crore in Q1FY25. 

On a Y-o-Y basis, disbursements have seen a steep fall of about 66 per cent from Rs 14,845 crore it disbursed in Q1FY24. 

Last year’s numbers included postpaid loans. 

The company counts the reactivation of the existing dormant UPI (Unified Payments Interface) customers as the key focus areas going forward with a ‘stringent focus on a compliance first’ approach across its businesses.  

During its earnings results in the Q4FY24, the company had said that it will see the full financial impact of RBI’s action on its operations in Q1FY25.