Paytm Losses Grow, Revenue Falls Amid Regulations

Paytm, the Indian fintech giant India Warn Parties to Shun Deepfakes in Elections, faces mounting challenges as its losses widen and revenue declines. The company’s ongoing struggles are exacerbated by increasing regulatory pressures

The company’s revenue decreased by 36%, and its loss doubled in the first quarter. According to a report released on Friday, it continues to struggle with a regulatory clampdown that has substantially reduced business at its payments bank subsidiary.

Paytm, previously the epitome of India’s startup ecosystem, experienced a $100 million loss in the first quarter of the year that concluded in June. Its revenue decreased from $280 million to $179.5 million from the previous year.

Paytm experienced a loss of $42 million in the first quarter of the previous year and $65.8 million in the fourth quarter.

The company’s revenues have experienced a substantial decline as a direct consequence of the Reserve Bank of India’s directive to suspend most operations at Paytm Payments Bank.

This subsidiary was responsible for processing a significant portion of the company’s mobile payments. This quarter, the complete impact of the RBI’s clampdown on Paytm’s business is evident.

Paytm’s Payments Bank was prohibited by the Indian central bank from providing various banking services, such as accepting new deposits and credit transactions, due to its “persistent non-compliance” with regulations.

Paytm was compelled to establish partnerships with other banks in India to maintain the provision of certain essential services.

Paytm’s shares initially experienced a decline of up to 4.4%; however, they have since rebounded and are currently up 2.2%, indicating that investors had already factored in the potential consequences. Last quarter, Paytm issued a warning regarding its revenue decline.

Paytm was the first to introduce mobile payments in India, attracting hundreds of millions of users to its wallet app and facilitating their first digital transactions.

However, the company’s financial performance has declined in recent years due to the increasing competition from Google Pay and PhonePe, which Walmart sponsors.

More than 86% of all transactions on UPI, a government-backed interoperable payments network, are processed by PhonePe and Google Pay. UPI has emerged as the most prevalent online transaction method among Indians, with over 11 billion monthly transactions.

The prevalence of UPI has had a detrimental impact on the relevance of wallet businesses and consumers’ dependence on card networks operated by Visa and Mastercard.

Paytm, heavily dependent on servicing merchants, including issuing them credit, stated that a portion of its business is recovering, “demonstrating our path to recovery.”

A company spokesperson stated, “This also shows the continued trust of our merchant partners and consumers in our platform, and we are appreciative of the trust of our stakeholders.”