{"id":55936,"date":"2024-05-22T06:22:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T06:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/22\/paytm-posts-wider-q4-net-loss-signals-job-cuts-and-asset-sales-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2024-05-22T06:22:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T06:22:07","slug":"paytm-posts-wider-q4-net-loss-signals-job-cuts-and-asset-sales-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/22\/paytm-posts-wider-q4-net-loss-signals-job-cuts-and-asset-sales-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Paytm posts wider Q4 net loss, signals job cuts and asset sales – Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paytm<\/div>\n
Paytm warned of job cuts and said it would trim non-core assets after reporting its first sales decline on record, reflecting fallout from a regulatory probe that curtailed much of the Indian fintech pioneer\u2019s business.
Once a role model for India\u2019s nascent startup economy, Paytm\u2019s net losses swelled several-fold to 5.5 billion rupees ($66.1 million) for the three months through March.The company known as One 97 Communications Ltd reported a 2.6% slide in revenue to 22.7 billion rupees \u2014 the first drop since its 2021 stock-market debut. Its shares slid as much as 2%.
Paytm, founded by then-celebrated Indian entrepreneur Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2010, is struggling to recover after a finance watchdog in January ordered a key banking affiliate to wind down. The restrictions dealt a blow to Paytm\u2019s reputation and prompted speculation that customers could defect to rivals such as Walmart Inc\u2019s PhonePe.
On Wednesday, Paytm said it was profitable before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and before taking employee incentives into account. It warned that revenues should slide further to 15 billion to 16 billion rupees in the June quarter, but expected \u201cmeaningful improvement\u201d thereafter. To get there, the company intended to streamline the organization, cut employee costs and \u201cprune\u201d non-core businesses, it said in a statement.
Paytm, which also competes with financial services offered by Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc\u2019s Google and billionaire Mukesh Ambani\u2019s Jio Financial Services Ltd, is trying to put its regulatory issues behind it.
Its shares have lost half of their value since the government ordered Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, which processed transactions for Paytm, to halt its key operations, citing non-compliance. The banking affiliate known as PPBL isn\u2019t controlled by Paytm, though it is part of founder and Chief Executive Officer Sharma\u2019s fintech empire.
Sharma has since moved swiftly to steady the ship by forging new partnerships with some of India\u2019s top lenders including Axis Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and State Bank of India Ltd. The alliances will help Paytm power instant money transfers for customers by linking banks with its fintech app. Paytm previously used its bank affiliate to run its digital wallets and payments traffic.
The firm is also using partner banks for clearing merchant transactions.
On Wednesday, Paytm said it lost about 4 million monthly transacting users during the March quarter. It disbursed 57.76 billion rupees in loans, down sharply from 155.35 billion rupees in the previous three-month period.
\u201cWe expect near-term financial impact to our revenue and profitability, due to disruptions faced in our business in Q4,\u201d Sharma said in a letter to shareholders. \u201cThis includes steady state impact due to pausing of PPBL wallet. We had also paused a few other payments and loan products to our customers during the last quarter, and I am happy to share that many such products have been restarted or in the process of starting soon.\u201d
What Bloomberg intelligence says<\/span>
Paytm is poised for a strong sales and margin comeback in fiscal 2026 from a past mired in regulatory woes, driven by a long runway and strong user-acquisition funnel from payments. Its share in Indian digital payments, albeit less dominant than Walmart\u2019s PhonePe and Google Pay, could remain steady, helping it reach its 500-million user target. Regulatory woes should ease with a new license for payments, its bread and butter, with the segment\u2019s margin set to widen on system optimization and its integrated offerings. Loan, insurance and advertising might catalyze sales for the Ant Financial-backed firm.
-Nathan Naidu, analyst<\/span><\/div>\n