Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications Ltd reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 4,217.20 crore for fiscal year 2018-19, nearly three times higher than the previous year’s net loss of Rs 1,604.34 crore, according to the company’s annual report.
The consolidated numbers take into account businesses like Paytm Money, Paytm Financial Services, Paytm Entertainment Services and others. At the stand-alone level, One97 Communications posted net loss of Rs 3,959.6 crore in FY19 against Rs 1,490 crore the previous year.
Paytm’s consolidated revenue rose 8.2% to Rs 3,579.67 crore in FY19 from Rs 3,309.61 in FY18. At the stand-alone level, revenue growth was tepid at 2.8% to Rs 3,319 crore compared with Rs 3,229 crore in FY18.
Paytm attributed the losses to higher expenses in brand building and business expansions. The company’s total expenses nearly doubled to Rs 7,730.14 crore in FY19 from Rs 4,864.53 crore in FY18. Paytm said in its annual report: “The company has incurred huge capital expenditure in creating a brand and establishing its business activity. We have incurred a considerable amount in various capital and operational expenditures which resulted into losses during the financial year.”
Paytm said that it has launched a major drive to educate users on scanning QR code at outlets through their Paytm app for instant payments. The company’s senior vice president Deepak Abbot said, “Our latest innovation has enabled more such users to scan any QR code using the Paytm app for instant payments. This has resulted in an increase in the overall transactions for merchant payments and further acceptance in smaller cities/towns.”
Paytm is currently accepted at 14 million retail outlets across the country. It had earlier announced that, starting this year, it will shift its focus from peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to usage of digital payments at kirana stores, restaurants, commutes and other such daily spends. The company claims it has processed over 1.2 billion merchant payments in the first quarter of 2019-20 itself, apart from P2P and money transfer transactions.