Paytm Rallies 6% After Nod For New UPI Users, Q2 Profit

Shares of Paytm jumped more than 6% on the BSE in early trading hours today (October 23), a day after the fintech major received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to onboard new UPI users.

Buoyed by the company’s strong bottomline growth in the quarter ended September 2024 (Q2 FY25), the stock rallied to INR 729 apiece on the BSE.

However, the stock shed some of the gains and at 10:39 AM, it was quoting at INR 722.2 on the BSE, up 5% from the previous close.

In a big relief to Paytm, which had suffered a blow following the downturn triggered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against Paytm Payments Bank, the NPCI on October 22 granted the company approval to onboard new UPI users on the Paytm app

The nod is expected to help the company revive its declining market share and expand its user base. Until January, Paytm had a 13% market share in terms of UPI transactions, which slipped to about 7% in September on account of curbs imposed by the RBI. 

Despite the RBI crackdown, Paytm accounted for more than 100 Cr transactions in September and is the third largest processor of UPI payments in the country. 

Paytm reported a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of INR 930 Cr in the second quarter (Q2) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) compared to a loss of INR 292 Cr in the year-ago period. The profit was only thanks to the one-time exceptional gain of INR 1,345 Cr on account of sale of its entertainment ticketing business to Zomato.

However, revenue from operations declined 34% year-on-year to INR 1,660 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 2,519 Cr in the year-ago period. 

During the company’s post-earnings call, Paytm cofounder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma  said that the company’s first loss default guarantee (FLDG) approach would bolster its distribution-led merchant loan business.