Paytm Adding Products and People as it Achieves Operational Profitability

Paytm recorded 61% year-over-year revenue growth during its fiscal year 2023.

The Indian eCommerce and payment system and financial technology company also achieved operational profitability, Paytm said in a Friday (May 5) earnings release.

The company attributed its year-over-year revenue growth to payments monetization and the growing scale of its loan distribution business.

“Our contribution margin improved from 30% in FY 2022 to 49% in FY 2023, due to improved payments profitability, and growth in high margin loan distribution business,” Paytm said in the release.

Its achievement of operational profitability during the second half of the year is a trend it expects to continue, according to the release.

“We have made significant investments towards sales manpower, improvement of technology platform, marketing spends, etc., which will help us carry this momentum,” Paytm said in the release.

Looking ahead to its new fiscal year, the company said it expects continued revenue growth and profitability in both the payment and lending businesses.

In the payment business, Paytm sees opportunities in the growth of UPI and other mobile payment methods and said it plans to capitalize on them by launching new products, investing in consumer marketing and expanding its merchant acquiring sales teams, according to the release.

“With the addition of nearly 9,000 members, our sales team now has more than 28,000 members, and caters to nearly 550 towns and cities,” the company said.

On the lending side, Paytm aims to capitalize on opportunities by adding another three or four lending partners to the seven it currently has, per the release.

“In India, the penetration of consumer credit, especially products like personal loans, merchant loans and small ticket consumption credit (postpaid and credit card) remains low, providing us with ample opportunity for leveraging our platform by working with lending partners in distributing such products,” Paytm said in the release.

It was reported in February that Paytm has also been boosted by India’s ban on Chinese apps.

The country’s tech ministry issued an order blocking 138 betting and gaming apps and 94 credit services as relations between India and China worsened, Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 7.