Infibeam Avenues Q2 Results: Profit Surges 123% To INR 40 Cr On Digital Payments Boost

Fintech solutions provider Infibeam Avenues reported a 123% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to INR 40 Cr in the September quarter of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 18 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year as digital transactions surged.

This was also almost a 74% rise from INR 23 Cr PAT reported in Q1 FY23. 

Infibeam’s gross revenue rose 53% to INR 477 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 311 Cr seen in the same quarter last year, with its payment business contributing 91% to it.

The company generated a revenue of INR 434.3 Cr in the payment business alone, up over 59% YoY. Its core payment gateway business provides over 200 payment options to merchants by allowing them to accept payments through websites and mobile devices in 27 international currencies.

Infibeam’s net revenue stood at INR 79 Cr in Q2 FY23 as against INR 61 Cr in the same quarter last year.

Apart from surging payment transactions in India, Infibeam said it also witnessed a surge in its payment transactions from its international operations in the UAE.

“Our strong performance in the first half of the year gives us the confidence to deliver higher than our stated guidance,” Infibeam MD Vishal Mehta said. 

“The company plans to ramp up its offline business through CCAvenue mobile app (SoftPoS) featuring India’s first pin-on-glass solution CCAvenue TapPay, by penetrating the hinterlands of India as well as offering it internationally, thereby increasing the offline contribution to 20-25% of the INR 7.5-8.0 lakh crore Payments TPV (transaction processing value) by FY25,” Mehta added.

Infibeam’s total TPV grew 44% YoY INR 92,612 Cr in Q2 from INR 64,313 Cr in the same quarter last year.

The digital payments solutions firm, founded in 2007, provides comprehensive digital payment solutions and enterprise software platforms to both businesses and governments across industry verticals. It said it saw a record GMV of close to INR 40K Cr in the quarter on its government emarketplace (GeM). 

The GeM platform generates revenue from government buyers, integration of various ministries, PWD integration, among others.

Meanwhile, the company said its board is already in discussions to participate in the Indian government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) initiative. Along with payments, Infibeam plans to build buyers’ and sellers’ apps for various merchants across MSMEs, SMEs, large companies and Kirana stores and facilitate their integration with the ONDC.

“Infibeam Avenues will play the role of an enabler, where it will facilitate and ensure the merchants… get connected with the ONDC network and thus enabling them to expand further their business horizon for their imminent future commerce,” said Mehta.

Infibeam plans to offer ONDC integration services to its more than 7 Mn merchants, the company said.

The fintech company also registered an average increase of 8,500 merchants per day on its platform in Q2 FY23, which took its total merchants count to 7.3 Mn, doubling from last year.

However, the growing business also translated to higher expenses. Infibeam’s total expenses surged 54% YoY to INR 452 Cr in the quarter from INR 293.3 Cr reported in Q2 FY22, with operating expenses once again holding the biggest section in the pie.

The company’s operating expenses grew to INR 392 Cr in Q2 FY23 from INR 344.8 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year. Its employee benefits expenses also rose almost 41% to INR 28.8 in the reporting quarter.

Infibeam acquired a 50% stake in SaaS startup Vishko22 Products and Services for INR 12.5 Lakh during the year. Besides, on the business expansion side, the company also launched its payments business in Australia. It aims to offer its services commercially to merchants in Australia before the end of FY23.

“With additional growth drivers such as consistently converting EBITDA into free cash, debt-free company and a major capex cycle behind, Infibeam is charting a focused growth strategy for the next 3-5 years,” said Mehta, adding that 5G network introduction in India will provide further impetus to the payments sector.

Recently, Infibeam also received ‘in-principle’ approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator, which is expected to further enable its flagship brand CCAvenue to scale its offerings.

Shares of Infibeam ended 2.8% higher at INR 18.50 on the BSE on Friday. 

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.