Loans Issued By Paytm Remains Flat In November, Average Ticket Size Rises MoM

Paytm issued 3.4 Mn loans worth INR 3,236 Cr ($392 Mn) in November 2022, the listed fintech’s regulatory filings with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) showed.

The filings, which reported the performance for the two months ended November 30, 2022, showed that Paytm’s loan disbursal amount grew 4.76X, compared to the year-ago period. The number of loans issued also increased 2.5X from October 1 to November 30, 2022, compared to the year-ago period.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the listed fintech major recorded a rise of around 6% in the value of loans disbursed, going from INR 3,056 Cr in October to INR 3,236 Cr in November 2022. 

The number of loans issued remained flat in November compared to October, as both months saw Paytm issue 3.4 Mn loans each. According to data compiled by Inc42, Paytm has disbursed nearly 31 Mn loans worth INR 22,692 Cr in 2022.

Lending Biz A Crucial Value Driver For Paytm

While it has been suffering on the stock market, Paytm’s lending business has been a crucial value driver. It will be interesting to note how the company’s lending business fares in 2023, given the increasing demand for credit within the Indian population.

One of the metrics for a lending business is the average ticket size, of which Paytm has seen an incline over the past 11 months. In November, the fintech major’s average ticket size hovered around INR 9,518, 6% higher than the last month and 96% higher than the INR 4,847 in January 2022.

In other performance metrics, the fintech major reported 84 Mn monthly transacting users (MTUs) in the two months ended November 30, 2022. 

Incidentally, for October, the number was the same. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that MoM growth has been flat. However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, Paytm’s MTUs have grown 33%, going from 63 Mn to 84 Mn.

The increase in MTUs propelled Paytm’s gross merchandise value (GMV) to reach INR 2.28 Lakh Cr for the two months ended November 30, an increase of 37% compared to INR 1.67 Lakh Cr during the year-ago period. 

The fintech giant also added 400K new point-of-sale (PoS) devices during November, taking the total to 5.5 Mn devices deployed across the country.

Following the announcement of the performance update, Paytm’s shares opened strong on Monday (December 12), reaching INR 550.95 during the early hours of the trade. However, the share price fell as the day progressed before closing at INR 529.60, down 2.75% compared to the previous close.

Recently, the fintech giant announced its intention to conduct its first share buyback since the IPO in 2021, with the fintech’s board set to meet on December 13 to consider a proposal. 

However, if media reports are anything to go by, Paytm would not be able to use the proceeds from its mega IPO to buy the shares. That means the fintech would use the pre-IPO cash for the buyback.

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