Paytm's payments vertical its core and is profitable

Paytm, the first to introduce India to mobile and QR payments, on Monday reported 56 per cent year-on-year jump in revenue growth in payment services and an increase of over 400 per cent in its net payment margins for the second quarter (July-September) of the current financial year 2022-23.

The company's sustained growth in payment services reflects the strong foundation it has in its core business.

Paytm's net payments margin, payment revenue plus other operating revenue less the payment processing cost, grew over 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 443 crore, the firm's second-quarter earnings report showed.

It attributed the growth to improved device subscription revenues, accelerating monetisation and continued developments in payment processing charges.

Besides, the company's payments business remains profitable through services to both merchants and consumers.

In Q2FY23, Paytm's revenue in the Payment Services to Consumers business was Rs 549 crore, an increase of 55 per cent year-on-year.

This includes revenue from use cases such as bill payments and top-ups on the Paytm app. Paytm offers a wide range of comprehensive online and in-store payment acceptance services to its merchants. Revenue from Payment Services to Merchants includes revenues from MDR for cards, wallets, net banking payments, and subscriptions for devices paid by merchants.

Further, revenue from Payment Services to Merchants grew by 56 per cent year-to-year to Rs 624 crore during the quarter, the earnings data showed. The numbers were driven by strong growth in payments devices business, with over 3.5 million devices added in the last 12 months taking the total deployed base to 4.8 million by the end of Q2 FY 2023, leading to higher GMV and subscription revenues.

Growth in subscription revenues from offline merchants led by the ramp-up of Paytm's devices business and a higher GMV from online merchants in the payment gateway business has also boosted its revenue from payment services.

The company's GMV (or gross merchandise value) stood at Rs 3.2 lakh crore, up by 63 per cent year-on-year (8 per cent quarter-on-quarter) with sustained growth of 39 per cent year-on-year to 79.7 million in average Monthly Transacting Users (MTU). Its registered merchant base meanwhile expanded to 29.5 million.

Paytm's strong financials as reported in the earnings indicates it remains India's leading payments and financial services company, while its technology-led innovative and simple payments solutions will push more people to adopt digital payments, further driving financial inclusion. (ANI)