Paytm Boosts In-Store Payments With 87 Lakh Devices Now In Use

Fintech giant Paytm has reported significant growth in its offline payment services. According to the Delhi NCR-based fintech unicorn, over 87 Lakh merchants are using its payment devices as of August 2023.

The firm has added 42 Lakh new devices in the past year, with a notable increase of 5 Lakh devices in August alone.

According to the company, this spike in device subscriptions elevates Paytm’s recurring revenue and fuels higher payment transactions. Furthermore, it enlarges the company’s potential clientele for its merchant loan distribution services, which have also seen robust growth.

In the last two months, Paytm’s loan distribution vertical has also shown a staggering 137% YoY increase in disbursements, reaching INR 10,710 Cr. The number of loans extended through the Paytm platform has also surged 47% Yo, amounting to 88 Lakh loans.

“Over the past several quarters, we have talked about our plans to calibrate growth to further tighten credit quality of loans distributed on our platform. We have been able to successfully demonstrate improving credit quality for Paytm Postpaid, where the ECL has reduced to a range of 0.65% – 0.85% from a range of 0.75% – 1.00% in Q4 FY 2023,” Paytm said.

In July and August, Paytm processed a total of INR 3 Lakh Cr Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) from merchants, with a 43% year-on-year growth. It claims to have witnessed a steady rise in GMV from payment methods other than UPI, such as EMI and cards.

“Growth in payments volumes drives profitability for us, through net payments margin and / or from direct upsell potential,” Paytm said.

On Monday, fintech giant Paytm launched a new device, Card Soundbox, to enable card payments. The Card Soundbox will enable merchants to accept both mobile and card payments across Visa, Mastercard, American Express and RuPay networks with ‘tap and pay’.

Earlier in July, the company launched two new variants of its popular soundbox device – Music Soundbox and Pocket Soundbox.

Meanwhile, Paytm said yesterday that its CEO and founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has become the significant beneficial owner (SBO) of the fintech giant after Antfin sold 10.3% of its stake to the CEO’s Resilient Asset Management B.V, taking his total shareholding to 19.42%.

Paytm reported a 44.5% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net loss at INR 358.4 Cr in Q1 FY24.