Paytm parent’s quarterly loss widens as expenses surge

(Reuters) – India’s One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent of fintech firm Paytm, on Friday reported a wider fourth-quarter loss due to higher expenses related to payment processing, marketing and employee benefits.

The company had said in April it expected to be operationally profitable by September 2023, though analysts have raised concerns over its business model, with Macquarie Research saying Paytm “has too many fingers in too many pies”.

A regulatory audit at its payments bank has also pummeled its share price, down 57% so far this year.

The company, headquartered in Noida in the national capital region, reiterated it was “well on track” to meet its profitability targets.

Paytm, which competes with Google and Walmart Inc’s PhonePe in India’s digital-payments market, said revenue in the reported quarter jumped 89% to 15.41 billion rupees. The company reported a net loss of 7.63 billion rupees ($97.97 million) for the three months ended March 30, compared with a loss of 4.44 billion rupees a year earlier.

Payment processing charges for the company soared 52%, and employee benefits expenses surged 148%, driving total expenses up 78%.

($1 = 77.8266 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Mehr Bedi and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)