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Journalism of Courage
India’s Paytm reported a wider first-quarter loss on Friday, its biggest since it went public in November 2021, hurt by weakness in its payments business after the central bank’s directive to wind down its banking unit.
The digital payments firm’s consolidated net loss widened to 8.39 billion rupees ($100.3 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of 3.57 billion rupees a year earlier.
Earlier in the year, the Reserve Bank of India wound down Paytm Payments Bank due to persistent compliance issues, triggering a meltdown in Paytm’s stock.
In May, the company said that the June quarter would see the full effect of the RBI’s clampdown.
Paytm reported EBITDA before cost of employee stock options at a negative 5.45 billion rupees for the quarter. It had earlier estimated the figure at five billion rupees-six billion rupees.
Its revenue from operations fell 36 per cent to 15.02 billion rupees during the quarter, also in line with its estimates of 15 billion rupees-16 billion rupees.
Revenue from the payments business, which contributes roughly 69 per cent to the total, slid 39 per cent.
Paytm said it expects revenue and profitability to improve from the second quarter.
RBI’s restrictions also led to a number of lending partners halting loans given out via the company’s platform, leading to a 1.4% sequential decline in loans.
Revenue from its financial services unit, which comprises the loans business, also plunged 86 per cent. ($1 = 83.6360 Indian rupees)
