Indian fintech Paytm’s Q3 adjusted loss narrows sequentially as payments business recovers

India’s Paytm, on Monday, reported a narrower third-quarter adjusted loss compared with the previous quarter as its digital payments business recovered from the winding down of its payments bank unit.

The company posted a loss of 2.04 billion rupees ($23.58 million) before exceptional items and tax for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a 4.07-billion-rupee loss in the second quarter.

On a net basis, Paytm’s loss was narrower than the 2.2 billion rupees loss it posted in the year-ago quarter.

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In the previous quarter, it reported its first-ever profit since listing due to a one-time gain from the sale of its ticketing business to food delivery company Zomato.

Paytm’s revenue from operations rose 10.1% sequentially to 18.28 billion rupees, compared to a 34% sequential slide in the previous quarter when it reported a slower-than-anticipated improvement from the payment business wind-down.

The country’s financial regulator wound down Paytm’s banking unit in January 2024, citing persistent compliance issues, sparking worries about its digital payments business and leading to a near 60% drop in Paytm’s stock within two weeks.

Since then, however, it has received regulatory approval to run as a third-party app for existing digital payment customers and received clearance to sign on new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) users, helping the stock recover.