 "Paytm trims losses to Rs 290 crore in Q2, total income increases 8%")
One97 Communications, the parent company of fintech major Paytm, saw its net loss narrow to Rs 290.5 crore on a consolidated basis during the second quarter of the financial year (Q2 FY24) from a loss of Rs 357 crore in Q1 FY24.
The company had posted a net loss of Rs 571.1 crore in the second quarter of last financial year (Q2 FY23).
The Noida-based fintech firm’s total income rose 8 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis from Rs 2,464.2 crore in Q1 to Rs 2,662.5 crore in Q2. On a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, the company’s total income rose 32.2 per cent from Rs 2,013.6 crore.
The company reported a 7.6 per cent Q-o-Q increase in revenue from operations at Rs 2,518.6 crore in Q2 FY24 from Rs 2,341.6 crore in Q1 FY24.
Its expenses have increased 4.8 per cent Q-o-Q to Rs 2,936.7 crore in Q2 FY24 from Rs 2,800 crore. On a Y-o-Y basis, expenses rose 14.6 per cent from Rs 2,561.4 crore.
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However, the fintech firm has cut down on its marketing and promotional expenses. It spent Rs 252.8 crore in Q2 on marketing and promotional activities, a 4 per cent decline from Rs 265.3 crore in Q1. It saw a 22 per cent reduction in marketing-related expenses from Rs 327.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
One97 Communications registered a 41 per cent Y-o-Y increase in gross merchandise value to Rs 4.5 trillion in Q2 FY24 from Rs 3.18 trillion in the corresponding period of the previous year (Q2 FY23).
It disbursed loans worth Rs 16,211 crore in the quarter ending September 2023, up 122 per cent Y-o-Y from Rs 7,313 crore in the corresponding period last year. On a Q-o-Q basis, the value of loans disbursed increased from Rs 14,845 crore.
The number of loans the company disbursed inched up 3.1 per cent to 13.2 million in Q2 FY24 from 12.8 million in the previous quarter. During the year-ago period, it disbursed 9.2 million loans.
“With the onboarding of Tata Capital, we now have nine banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) as partners across all our lending products (including credit cards),” the company said.
Its merchant subscriptions, which include subscriptions from its point of sale (POS) devices and soundboxes, were pegged at 9.2 million in Q2FY24. This is a 91.6 per cent jump from 4.8 million devices last year. In Q1, the number of merchant subscriptions was 7.9 million.
Paytm’s suite of soundbox devices includes a card soundbox, a pocket soundbox and a music soundbox. These enable merchants to receive audio notifications for payments.
“These launches will help us in increasing the total addressable market (TAM), merchant engagement, and card acceptance,” it added.