 "Paytm Q3 FY25 results: Losses narrow to Rs 208.3 cr, revenue declines 36%")
One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, narrowed its losses to Rs 208.3 crore in the third quarter of financial year 2025 (Q3FY25), down from Rs 219.8 crore in Q3FY24.
The loss follows a profitable September quarter, when the company reported a profit of Rs 928.3 crore, driven by the sale of its movie and ticketing business to Zomato.
The Noida-based company’s revenue declined 35.9 per cent to Rs 1,827.8 crore in the quarter from Rs 2,850.5 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Sequentially, revenue rose 10.1 per cent from Rs 1,659.5 crore in Q2FY25.
The company has been cutting down on its expenses on a Y-o-Y and sequential basis. In Q3FY24, the fintech firm spent Rs 3,216.3 crore which came down 31 per cent to Rs 2,219.8 crore in Q3FY25.
“We are very close to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) before employee stock ownership plan (Esop) profitability. This is without UPI incentive. When we look at Ebitda to PAT, our interest income is going up largely because we have more cash than we did before. The gap between Ebitda before Esop and PAT is going down very meaningfully, and I think in two or three quarters, that gap will be zero,” said Madhur Deora, president and group chief financial officer (CFO), Paytm.
At the end of the quarter, the company had a cash balance of Rs 12,850 crore, an increase of Rs 2,851 crore sequentially, driven by PayPay’s stake sale and improving in working capital.
The firm’s employee benefits expenses, which includes share-based payments, declined 36.3 per cent to Rs 756.3 crore in Q3FY25 from Rs 1,187.2 crore. On a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis, this expense declined 9 per cent from Rs 831 crore in Q2FY25.
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During the quarter-ended December, the company’s wholly-owned Singapore entity sold its stake in Japanese fintech corporation PayPay to Softbank Vision Fund 2 for Rs 2,372 crore.
The firm saw its registered merchant base expand 10 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis to 43 million in Q3FY25 from 39 million in Q3FY24. Its payment devices, which includes soundboxes, grew 10 per cent from 10.6 million in Q3FY24 to 11.7 million in Q3FY25.
However, its monthly transacting users (MTU) declined 30 per cent from 100 million in Q3FY24 to 70 million in Q3FY25. The value of its personal and merchant loans declined 31 per cent from Rs 8,039 crore in Q3FY24 to Rs 5,577 crore in Q3 FY25.