India Can Expect 500 Mn Payment Customers Soon: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

In a letter to the shareholders, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that India can expect 500 Mn payments users and 100 Mn merchants soon.

“In India, we can expect 500 Mn payment consumers and 100 Mn merchants not very far in future,” said Sharma, giving credit to the government’s push for Digital India and enabling policy framework from the regulator (Reserve Bank of India).

“This is made possible by Paytm leading from the front, our government’s agenda to drive Digital India and the regulator’s encouragement to build an open scalable payment system. We are not only beneficiaries but also the biggest champions of government and regulator-driven Digital Public Infrastructure,” the Paytm CEO added.

According to the listed fintech giant’s annual report for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), Paytm had 82 Mn monthly transacting users (MTU) at the end of FY23, along with 68 Lakh merchant subscriptions.

Paytm, one of the largest UPI payments apps in India, behind fintech decacorn and rival PhonePe and Google’s Google Pay. Together, the three payment apps regularly account for over 95% of all UPI transactions in India. 

According to industry figures from July 2023, Paytm processed 139.37 Cr transactions worth INR 1.71 Lakh Cr, keeping hold of its place on the podium behind leader PhonePe and second-place Google Pay.

Shares of the fintech giant traded at INR 858.65 apiece at 11:40 AM on Tuesday (August 22), up around 2.5% compared to Monday’s close of INR 837.90.

Paytm’s consolidated net loss narrowed to INR 358.4 Cr in Q1 FY24 compared to INR 645.4 Cr in Q1 FY23. Helped by the growth in loan distribution and payments business, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led fintech player’s operating revenue jumped 39% to INR 2,342 Cr in Q1 FY24 from INR 1,680 Cr reported in Q1 FY23.

Revenue from payments services jumped 31% YoY to INR 1,414 Cr in Q1 FY24. The financial services vertical contributed INR 522 Cr to the startup’s top line, up 93% YoY. The company also saw its commerce and cloud services vertical contribute INR 405 Cr to its revenue.

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