Focus is on payments, distribution of lending products: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Ltd., the parent entity which operates will sharpen its focus on payments and distribution of lending products, the company’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a letter to shareholders, as a part of its first annual report since going public in November 2021.

Sharma added that Paytm’s core business model is to acquire consumers and merchants for payments services and upsell financial services to them by leveraging its distribution, collections, transactional and behavioral insights. He added that the company’s focus also continues to be on buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and helping financial partners leverage credit distribution through mobile payments.

“We have sharpened our focus on payments and distribution of lending products and have prioritised these businesses in our resource allocation … Our focus is also on showing how creditors can leverage this mobile payments relationship for lending. BNPL, which allows our partner financial institutions to issue credit to consumers at the point of sale, has become a consumer favourite,” said Sharma.

The Paytm founder also reiterated that the company continues to be on track to achieve operating profitability by September 2023. He had written to
shareholders earlier in April, this year, stating that the company was targeting an operational breakeven by the end of September next year. He also added that his stock grants would be vested to him only after Paytm’s shares crossed the IPO price on a sustained basis.

“I believe that over the past year, our team has done a great job in massively improving our revenues and contribution profits, which allows for investments in our payments and credit businesses while at the same time reducing our EBITDA losses. We are seeing excellent momentum in our businesses and are on track to achieve operating profitability (EBITDA before Esop cost) by the quarter ending September 2023,” said Sharma.

One97 Communications Ltd., had reported a total consolidated loss of Rs 2,396.4 crore for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 (FY’22), up almost 41% from the previous fiscal. It had reported a total consolidated loss of Rs 1,701 crore at a group level, during the last financial year (FY’21).

As losses grew, the company showed a 65% growth in consolidated revenues standing at Rs 5,264.3 crore in FY’22, as compared to Rs 3,186.8 crore in the year ago period, it had informed the exchanges earlier this year. Revenue from operations for the company almost doubled to Rs 4,974.2 crore in FY’22 from Rs 2,802.4 crore in FY’21.

Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.