Paytm Sees Loan Disbursal Jump Fourfold In December 2022

Paytm, India's digital payments and financial services company, saw a fourfold jump in loan disbursals in December 2022, and the average monthly transacting number of users soared.

According to a regulatory filing, One97 Communications Ltd., which operates Paytm, disbursed 3.7 million loans worth Rs 3,665 crore in December, up 330% year-on-year.

"As a result, total disbursements for three months ended December 2022 was Rs 9,958 crore, a growth of 357% YoY," it said.

The number of loans grew 117% YoY to 3.7 million for December and 137% YoY to 10.5 million cumulative loans for the three months ended December 2022.

The company's monthly transacting users was up 32% from 64 million in December 2021 to 85 million in December 2022.

The gross merchandise value processed through the platform saw a 38% growth YoY in December to Rs 3.46 lakh crore.

"Our focus over the past few quarters continues to be on payment volumes that generate profitability for us, either through net payments margin or from direct up-sell potential," it said.

The Noida-headquartered firm, which is India's biggest fintech player, provides loans to customers and merchant partners, in partnership with non-banking finance companies Clix Capital, Aditya Birla Finance, Piramal Finance, Fullerton India and Hero FinCorp. It earns a commission based on the loans it issues to Paytm postpaid users and merchants.

There has been an expansion in the company's offline services as well. Paytm has currently 5.8 million merchants, who have subscribed to its payment devices and are constantly paying for the services. There has been a 190% annual jump in the number of total devices deployed by Paytm from 2 million in Q3 FY22 to 5.8 million, as of December 2022.

"With our subscription as a service model, the strong adoption of devices drives higher payment volumes and subscription revenues, while increasing the funnel for our merchant loan distribution," it said.