CIOInsider India Magazine
Paytm Clocks in Net Profit of Rs 930 Crore After 34 Percent Decline in Second Quarter Operational Revenue
Indian fintech major, One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, clocked in a net profit of Rs 930 crore regardless of the 34 percent year-over-year decline in second-quarter operational revenue at Rs 1,660 crore due to the sale of its ticketing platform to Zomato.
Paytm has reduced its workforce and paid $244 million to Zomato Ltd. for the movie and event ticketing division.
The fintech major hopes to brew more efforts on matters involving cash-back, payments, and the distribution of financial services like loans, businesses that are critical to expanding its merchant base and boosting revenue, which includes that sale.
This year, it was able to receive the federal government approval of its investment in its main payments gateway division.
This investment indicates a step forward in acquiring a license as a payments aggregator since the Reserve Bank of India’s prohibition of the company’s move to add new online merchants two years ago.
Another initiated that contributed towards its upliftment is the efforts put by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who helped with the launch and operation of Paytm mobile wallets and later QR codes.
Fortunately, today, after the Reserve Bank of India ordered Paytm Payments Bank to cease offering banking services, the fintech major stated that it is now back to reviving the user base of the 135 million consumers who had UPI handles with Paytm but had been transferred to the four new banks.
In the past, Paytm suffered from a negative capital markets launch in 2021, which sent its stock downwards to up to 60 percent from its listing price.
There is also India's congested digital payments market, in which Paytm faces competition from billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services Ltd., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and Walmart Inc.'s PhonePe.
Then, the central bank-imposed restriction on its banking operations and its transition to a third-party payment application model, left a vast decline in Paytm’s user engagement.
Compared to 78 million in the prior quarter, it had 68 million monthly transactional users in the quarter ending in September.
Fortunately, today, after the Reserve Bank of India ordered Paytm Payments Bank to cease offering banking services, the fintech major stated that it is now back to reviving the user base of the 135 million consumers who had UPI handles with Paytm but had been transferred to the four new banks.
Paytm is expected to feel relieved that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has approved the company's onboarding of new UPI customers, provided that all procedural rules and circulars are followed.
