Paytm Reports Seeing ‘Green Shoots’ in Business After Regulatory Troubles

Paytm reported Friday (July 19) that its operating revenue slipped again in the quarter ended in June as it continued to deal with regulatory troubles.

The Indian FinTech’s operating revenue for the quarter was about 15 billion rupees, down from 19.8 billion rupees in the previous quarter and 23.4 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier, according to a Friday earnings release.

“The full financial impact of the recent disruptions was seen during this quarter,” Paytm said in a key takeaways article on its website. “With green shoots visible across — growth in merchant payment operating metrics, gross merchandise value (GMV), accelerated merchant reactivation and an expanding merchant base, coupled with our continued focus on cost optimization — we remain optimistic about our revenue and profitability improvement.”

Paytm has been struggling since January, when India’s banking regulator suspended business at Paytm Payments Bank — which had processed much of Paytm’s payments — after an audit uncovered “persistent noncompliances and continued material supervisory concerns.”

The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) followed two years of warnings about the questionable relationship between Paytm and its banking arm.

In its Friday press release, Paytm said the latest quarter’s financial results are in line with the guidance the company provided during the previous quarter and show a rebound in key metrics.

Paytm reported that the number of new merchant signups returned to January 2024 levels, daily average gross merchandise value (GMV) improved during the quarter and is nearing January 2024 levels, and overall GMV has been growing month-on-month.

The company also said that its monthly transacting user (MTU) base stabilized by the end of June and that Paytm expects further growth of its MTU base if it gets permission to onboard new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) consumers.

“We are seeing a rebound in our merchant operating metrics and stability in our consumer base, demonstrating our path to recovery,” a Paytm spokesperson said in the release. “This also indicates the continued confidence of our merchant partners and consumers on our platform, and we are grateful for the trust of our stakeholders. With Q1 illustrating the full impact of recent disruptions, we are confident in our trajectory towards sustained growth going forward.”