Paytm’s loan disbursements grow by 148% in April; number of loans disbursed rises by 56% YoY
One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand, said its loan payments grew by 148 percent in April 2023 at ₹4,115 crore (Rs. 1,657 crore).
However, the latest loan disbursement amount was below the March 2023 disbursement level of Rs.4,468 crore.
The number of loans disbursed for the month under review rose 56 percent year-on-year to 4.1 million, the same level as the previous month.
Paytm said, “Our loan distribution business (in partnership with our lender partners) continues to witness healthy growth with total loans distributed through our platform for the month of April 2023 increasing by 148 per cent year-on-year to Rs.4,115 crore ($503 million).” . in an operating performance update provided to the exchanges on Saturday.
“We continue to see growth in the distribution of term and personal loans. In merchant loans, demand remains strong, however due to a comprehensive upgrade of technology systems by one of our lending partners, we have had to temporarily stop distributing merchant loans through our platform to this partner,” according to a Paytm update.
While the distribution of new loans has been largely unaffected given that the company has multiple partners, Paytm said increased sales to that partner’s existing merchants has been affected.
“The system has now been upgraded and our partner has resumed commercial loan disbursement. While we continue to work with all of our partners to service strong demand for merchant loans, we believe some of the impact of April can be felt in merchant loan growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2024,” Paytm said.
Paytm, which has partnered with large NBFCs and banks, said it continues to focus on the quality of loans distributed through its platform.
She added, “We currently have 7 lending partners and aim to have 3-4 partners on board in fiscal 2024.”
The total value of the goods
The total merchant gross merchandise value (GMV) processed through the Paytm platform for the month of April 2023 was INR 1.27 crore, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 34 per cent.
GMV (cumulative for the quarter) for the quarter ended March 2023 was ₹ 3.62 lakh crores, up 40% from ₹ 2.59 crores in the same quarter in 2021-22.
“Our focus over the past few quarters has continued to be on payments volumes that generate profitability for us, either through net payments margin or from direct selling potential,” Paytm said.
Paytm sees continued expansion of consumer engagement in the Paytm Super App with Monthly Average User Transactions (MTU) for April 2023 growing 25% YoY to Rs.9.2 crore (Rs.7.4 crore).
The average MTU for the quarter ended March 2023 was Rs.9 crore, up 27% from Rs.7.1 crore in the March 2022 quarter.
The number of merchants paying subscriptions in payment machines reached 7.1 million, an increase of 3 lakh in the month of April 2023.
“Through our subscription as a service model, strong device adoption is driving subscription revenue and payment volumes, while increasing our merchant loan distribution funnel,” Paytm said in its latest operating performance update.
You might recall that Paytm reported an operating profit in the December 2022 quarter, three quarters ahead of its previous guidance to hit that target by the September 2023 quarter.
On Friday, Paytm reported a much narrower net loss of Rs.168 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023 compared to a net loss of Rs.761 crore in the same quarter last year.