Infibeam Avenues Q1 PAT Up 69% To INR 23 Cr On Rise In Digital Payments

Digital payments solutions firm Infibeam Avenues reported a 69% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to INR 23 Cr in the first quarter of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) on the back of a positive momentum in shift towards digital payments.

The company had reported a PAT of INR 13.4 Cr in the June quarter of FY22.

However, on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, Infibeam’s PAT witnessed a 20% decline from INR 28.2 Cr reported in the preceding Q4 FY22 quarter. 

On the other hand, the company’s operating revenue grew both on a QoQ as well as YoY basis. 

Its revenue from operations rose 93% YoY to INR 418.3 Cr in Q1 FY23 from INR 216.4 Cr reported in the corresponding quarter last fiscal year, with the majority of sales delivered by its payments business. 

Infibeam’s payment business generated INR 378.4 Cr in revenue in the quarter as against INR 184.7 Cr in Q1 FY22.

On a QoQ basis, operating revenue increased 13% from INR 369.5 Cr reported in Q4 FY22.

“As per our internal data, the enormous rise in digital payment transactions was across all sectors,” Infibeam MD Vishal Mehta said. “High demand for goods & services from people has also propelled the demand for business credit from merchants…” 

The company registered a 77% YoY rise in its merchant lending business – Express Settlement, Mehta said.

Meanwhile, transaction processed value (TPV) grew 72% YoY to INR 87,218 Cr in Q1 FY23 from INR 50,651 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

On the expenses front, Infibeam saw a 90% YoY surge in total expenses to INR 390.8 Cr in Q1 FY23, with operating expenses being the largest contributor. 

Infibeam’s operating expenses jumped 109% YoY to INR 344.8 Cr in the June quarter from INR 164.2 Cr in Q1 FY22. Employee benefit expenses also increased slightly to INR 23 Cr in the quarter from INR 19.1 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of Infibeam closed over 7% higher at INR 15.96 on the BSE on Thursday (August 4).

Meanwhile, Infibeam is expecting a strong performance in the upcoming quarters as well.

“We rolled out our game-changing product CCAvenue Mobile App, an omni-channel payment platform with a built-in tap and pay feature that converts any NFC‐enabled Android phone into a POS terminal. With these developments and a steep increase in our total processed value of INR 87,218 Crore, we are looking at a stretch of healthy quarters,” Mehta said.

Founded in 2007, Infibeam provides comprehensive digital payment solutions and enterprise software platforms to businesses and governments across industry verticals. 

Currently, 6.4 Mn merchants are using Infibeam’s platform, with the rise in merchant base doubling from last year to an average of 8,000 per day in Q1 FY23, it said.

The merchant base is expected to grow significantly due to the mass adoption of digitisation, it added. 

Point of Sales (POS) and ecommerce are expected to contribute equally to digital payments value in the current fiscal. “This is where we are entering the offline payments market with our SoftPoS with tap-to-pay feature, that will be a game changer,” Infibeam Executive Director Vishwas Patel said. 

As per a recent report, India’s digital payments market is at an inflection point and is projected to grow over threefold to $10 Tn by 2026 from the current market size of $3 Tn.