One 97 Communications Ltd, Paytm’s parent, on Tuesday posted its first-ever quarterly profit since listing. The fintech company profit came at Rs 928.3 crore in the second quarter (Q2 FY25) as against a record loss of Rs 838.9 crore in the previous quarter. Paytm had reported a loss of Rs 290.5 crore in Q2 FY24.
The digital payment firm recorded an exceptional gain of Rs 1,345.4 crore due to the sale of its ticketing business. Paytm sold the said business to online food aggregator Zomato in August this year.
“During the quarter, we completed the transaction to sell our entertainment ticketing business to Zomato. The final price, after working capital adjustments, was Rs 2,014 crore, leading to gains of Rs 1,345 crore, which is reported under the exceptional items in the P&L. This transaction has resulted in further strengthening our balance sheet with a cash balance of Rs 9,999 crore,” Paytm stated in an exchange filing.
Looking at its loss before one-time gain and tax, Paytm narrowed its losses to Rs 406.5 crore in Q2 FY25, sequentially, from Rs 838.6 crore in the last quarter. However, it posted a bigger loss against Rs 273.3 crore in the year-ago period.
The company’s revenue from operations rose 10.52 per cent to Rs 1,659.5 crore, sequentially. But, it slipped by 34.11 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
“Our net payment margin increased 21 per cent QoQ to Rs 465 crore, largely on account of improvement in payment processing margin, better device realization and growth in GMV. Financial Services revenue was Rs 376 crore, up 34 per cent QoQ, on account of increase in collection bonus in merchant loans due to better asset quality trends, and higher share of merchant loans,” Paytm said.
On regulatory update, Paytm said, “The government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, vide its letter dated August 27, 2024, approved downstream investment from One 97 Communications Ltd into a wholly owned subsidiary, Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL). Post the FDI approval, PPSL has resubmitted its PA application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). While we await the RBI approval for onboarding of new online merchants, PPSL continues to provide payment aggregation services to its existing online merchants.”
The fintech firm has been under tremendous pressure since Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank’s operations last year amid persistent non-compliance and continued material supervisory concerns.
On the stock-specific front, Paytm shares were last seen trading 4.28 per cent lower at Rs 694.90. At this price, the stock has gained 83.98 per cent in the past six months.
