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One97 Communications—which operates Paytm—on Friday reported that its losses narrowed to Rs 358.4 crore.

The company had posted a loss of Rs 645.4 crore in the same period a year ago. However, the loss has widened when compared with Rs 168 crore reported in the preceding March quarter.

The revenue from operations of the company increased by 39.4% to Rs 2,341.6 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 1,679.6 crore in the June 2022 quarter. 

The company said that its merchant payments volume (MPV) grew 37% year-on-year to Rs 4.05 lakh crore in the April-June quarter of FY2023-24.

“Paytm’s EBITDA before ESOP margin stood at 4% on the account of consistent improvement in profitability due to strong revenue growth, increasing contribution margin and operating leverage,” the statement said.

Paytm said its indirect costs went up this quarter along the expected lines, up 22% YoY, due to increase in marketing costs related to IPL, impact of appraisals, and expansion of sales and technology teams.

The lending business continued to grow with Rs 14,845 crore loans disbursed via the platform in the first quarter, up 167% year-on-year.

Net payment processing margin for Paytm entered on the top range of 5-8 basis points on the back of increase in gross merchandise value (GMV) of its non-UPI instruments—like EMI and Cards—besides a lower interchange cost for its wallet, post interoperability circular by NPCI and Postpaid due to better portfolio quality.

Update on Payment bank

Sharing update on the RBI’s bar on onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm Chairman, Managing Director and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that the bank has submitted a compliance report to the banking regulator and the same is under review. 

During financial year (FY) 2022, RBI had directed the Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) to stop the onboarding of new customers with effect from March 1, 2022. 

During FY 2023, RBI appointed an external auditor for conducting a comprehensive systems audit of the PPBL. 

On October 21, 2022, PPBL received the final report thereof from RBI outlining the need for continued strengthening of IT outsourcing processes and operational risk management, including KYC etc at the Bank. 

“Pursuant to a supervisory engagement thereafter, RBI recommended remediating action steps (including fiurther steps to be taken by the Bank) in a time-bound manner.

“The Bank has submitted the compliance to these instructions of RBI and the same is currently being reviewed by RBI,” Sharma said.

(With inputs from PTI)