One97 Communications Limited (OCL), which owns the brand Paytm, India’s leading payments and financial services distribution company and the pioneer of QR, soundbox, and mobile payments, has announced Q4FY24 and FY24 results. 


During the 2023-24 financial year (FY24), the company continued to build on its strong growth momentum across core payments and financial services distribution business with revenue from operations increasing 25 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 9,978 crore in FY24. GMV growth, device addition, and growth in financial services contributed significantly to the revenue push. 


FY24 has also been a landmark year for the company, marking its first full year of profitability since the IPO, with an EBITDA before ESOP at Rs 559 crore, up by Rs 734 crore from last fiscal. 


Paytm received UPI incentives of Rs 288 crore for FY24 (recorded in Q4FY24), as compared to Rs 182 crore in the previous fiscal year. Overall loss for FY24 fell by Rs 354 crore YoY to Rs 1,423 crore, on the back of improved growth and increased operational profitability. 


Meanwhile, the contribution profit increased 42 per cent to Rs 5,538 crore in FY24, led by growth in net payment margin and higher-margin financial services business. The company’s revenue from payment services grew by 26 per cent YoY to Rs 6,235 crore in FY24, while the revenue for the March quarter stood at Rs 1,568 crore, up by 7 per cent YoY. The overall loan distribution value was up 48 per cent to Rs 52,390 crore in FY24.


Paytm’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) increased 39 per cent YoY to Rs 18.3 lakh crore in FY24. With a focus on creating payment monetisation, the company’s subscription revenues continued to grow with 1.07 crore merchants paying for device subscriptions as of March 2024, increasing by 58 per cent YoY from 68 lakh as of March 2023.


However, in Q4FY24, the revenue declined marginally by 3 per cent to Rs 2,267 crore, impacted by temporary disruptions in business operations. 


“I am happy to share that we have successfully transitioned our core payment business from PPBL to other partner banks. This move de-risks our business model and also opens up new opportunities for long-term monetization, given our platform’s strength around customer and merchant engagement. It has been possible in such a short period of time with extensive support from the Regulator, NPCI, Bank partners and our committed team mates. The unwavering commitment of our government and regulator to support innovation and financial inclusion, keeps us true to our mission and committed to our long-term sustainable growth opportunity,” said Paytm founder & CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, in the annual shareholder letter.   


The company will see the full financial impact in Q1FY25, due to prudent operations risk policies and temporary disruptions, it is confident to see meaningful improvement starting Q2FY25.  Paytm expects EBITDA before ESOP of Rs 500-600 crore in Q1FY25, as it restarts certain paused products and achieves steady growth in operating metrics.


Highlights From Paytm Earnings


 


Focus on distribution-only credit disbursement model 


 


Paytm is also focused on driving credit growth through a distribution-only disbursement model, owing to a much bigger TAM (total addressable market), wider interest from large banks and non-banks, and easier tech integration and more regulatory clarity. The collections under this model will be managed directly by lending partners. The distribution-only loans have continued to scale well and the company has added more lending partners during the quarter, including pilots with banks.


 


Prioritising insurance and wealth to improve bottomline


 


In FY25, the company’s key focus will be leveraging significant consumer opportunities in embedded insurance and wealth product distribution. Tapping on the significant opportunity in embedded insurance, the company recently launched a unique health insurance product combining Healthcare, OPD, and cashless hospitalisation on a monthly subscription. With product innovation, leveraging data for underwriting and providing a seamless claims experience across automobile, health, shop, life, and embedded insurance. 


 


Emphasis on AI-led efficiency leading to savings 


 


Paytm's focus on AI-led efficiency is expected to drive operating leverage, with annualised savings of Rs 400-500 crore expected to materialise in due course. The user engagement on the platform continues to grow with average Monthly Transacting Users (MTU) for Q4FY24 increasing by 7 per cent YoY to 9.6 crore.