Paytm Q4 results: Revenue rises 51%, loss narrows to Rs 168 crore

Leading payments and financial services company Paytm, on Friday, posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 2,334 crore for the March quarter. This is a 51 per cent rise from Rs 1,540 crore in the March quarter of FY22, the company statement said.  The company’s loss narrowed to Rs 168 crore from Rs 763 crore in the year-ago period.

Paytm had achieved its operating profitability milestone in the third quarter, well ahead of its September 2024 guidance. 

The company achieved operating profitability on account of the increased pace of monetisation, better cost management, and higher operating leverage. In Q4, its EBITDA before ESOP costs, excluding UPI incentives, rose to Rs 101 crore from (Rs 368) crore in Q4FY22.

The company’s payments services revenue grew by 41 per cent to Rs 1,467 crore in Q4FY23. Excluding prior quarters’ UPI incentive, payments revenue grew 28 per cent YoY.

The company further improved its payment profitability with Q4FY23 net payment margin expanding 158 per cent YoY to Rs 687 crore while the net payments margin was Rs 554 crore, up 107 per cent YoY after excluding previous quarters’ UPI incentive. In FY23, the company’s net payments margin grew an impressive 2.9X to Rs 1,970 crore, demonstrating the profitability of payment business despite the higher share of UPI.

Its contribution margin stood at 55 per cent, driven by continued improvement in payments profitability and an increasing mix of high-margin businesses like credit distribution. Contribution profit improved from 30% in FY22 to 49 per cent in FY23 of revenue to Rs 3,895 crore, up 160 per cent YoY. Excluding prior quarters’ UPI incentives, the like-for-like margin increased to 52 per cent from 35 per cent in Q4FY22.

The user engagement on the platform continued to grow with average Monthly Transacting Users (MTU) for Q4FY23 increasing by 27 per cent YoY to 9 crore as the adoption of digital payments for consumers and merchants in India continues. Paytm’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) increased 40% YoY at Rs 3.62 Lakh Cr in Q4 FY 2023. With a focus on creating additional payment monetisation, the company’s subscription revenues continue to grow with 68 lakh merchants paying for device subscriptions as of March 2023, almost doubling its growth YoY from 29 lakh as of March 2022.

Paytm’s loan distribution business, in partnership with marquee lenders, has continued to scale. In Q4FY23, the total number of loans grew to 1.2 crore (up 82 per cent YoY) while the total value of loans amounted to Rs 12,554 crore, registering a growth of 253 per cent YoY, was disbursed through Paytm across its three product offerings — Paytm Postpaid, Personal Loans, and Merchant Loans. As of March 2023, 95 lakh borrowers have taken a loan through the platform. For FY23, the total number of loans disbursed grew 163% YoY to 4 crore loans amounting to Rs 35,378 crore, surging 357 per cent YoY.

With significant investments in sales, manpower, and improvement in the technology platform, Paytm said it expects the momentum on the growth and profitability across its diverse businesses to continue in the next fiscal as well.