Paytm’s Q3 Snapshot
Paytm is beginning to look like a profitable narrative that’s holding strong. The fintech major continued to stay in the black in Q3 FY26, buoyed by steady revenue growth, a tighter leash on expenses and key regulatory wins.
- Net profit stood at INR 225 Cr compared to a loss of INR 208 Cr in Q3 FY25
- Operating revenue rose 20% YoY to INR 2,194 Cr
- Total expenses declined 2% YoY to INR 2,175 Cr
- EBITDA improved to INR 156 Cr versus an EBITDA loss of INR 223 Cr in the year-ago quarter
UPI Tide Lifts Boat: Paytm’s core payments engine continued to demonstrate its resilience in Q3. On the B2C side, the fintech major’s AI-first and retention-led approach propelled a 35% YoY surge in UPI GMV, outpacing the industry. Simultaneously, expanding device subscriptions helped widen its base of recurring revenues and strengthened its merchant footprint.
Lending Glow-Up: Beyond simple payments, Paytm continued to nudge its user base toward higher-yield financial products in Q3. The fintech major saw robust growth in merchant loans and equity broking users, with the segment reaching 7.1 Lakh active customers during the quarter. However, the company took a calibrated approach to volumes under the default loss guarantee framework, which pulled down related revenues but also lowered direct costs.
Beyond Numbers: Paytm’s board approved transferring its offline merchant business to its wholly owned subsidiary Paytm Payment Services Ltd (PPSL). It also cleared founder-CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s appointment as PPSL’s MD and CEO for five years, signalling that merchant payments remain central to Paytm’s next phase.
With UPI share improving and device subscriptions climbing, the many pieces of Paytm’s profit machine are slowly coming together. While it remains to be seen whether the momentum will continue, here is how the fintech major fared in Q3.
From The Editor’s Desk
- In its Q3 FY26 results, Reliance claimed that JioMart was clocking nearly 1.6 Mn orders per day. The platform positioned itself as India’s second-biggest quick commerce player by volume, after Blinkit, and that too with a positive contribution margin.
- Reliance links JioMart’s growth to tight integration with its retail footprint, servicing 1,000+ cities through its network of 3,000+ stores. Its model relies heavily on repurposing retail stores as dark stores to reduce average delivery distance.
- However, experts feel that the next battleground in quick commerce may shift to tier II+ cities and basket mix, where an incumbent with sourcing and retail depth can potentially sustain better margins than pure-play dark store networks.
- The ecommerce giant has laid off 500 to 700 employees in the country as part of a broader retrenchment exercise, which primarily impacted the technology and HR teams.
- Amazon attributed the job cuts to reducing bureaucracy and increasing ownership, but the timing aligns with a broader enterprise shift to AI-led automation.
- The layoffs are part of a global restructuring at the company that aims to cut 16,000 roles. The retrenchments mirror big tech’s post-pandemic correction that has seen companies slash overlapping teams, simplify reporting lines and curb expenses.
- The foodtech giant’s operating revenue soared 54% YoY to INR 6,148 Cr in Q3 FY26, driven primarily by the core food delivery vertical’s higher order volume and soaring quick commerce demand.
- However, consolidated net loss widened 33% YoY to INR 1,065 Cr on the back of expenses soaring 49% YoY to INR 7,298 Cr and an exceptional loss of INR 10 Cr linked to the implementation of the new labour codes.
- Quick commerce vertical Instamart’s revenue grew 76% YoY to INR 1,016 Cr, but losses also expanded 50% YoY to INR 791 Cr. Swiggy’s quick commerce burn remained elevated as the foodtech major kept spending heavily on expanding its dark store network.
- The insurtech soonicorn has filed its updated DRHP with SEBI for an IPO, which will comprise a fresh issue worth up to INR 660.7 Cr and an OFS of up to 2.86 Cr shares.
- Under the OFS, cofounders Anand Prabhudesai and Dhirendra Mahyavanshi together will sell up to 43.2 Lakh shares. Early backers Nexus Ventures, Peak XV Partners and Jungle Ventures will also offload shares via the offer for sale.
- Founded in 2015, Turtlemint is an insurance distribution platform that connects consumers and insurers through its network of 5 Lakh+ advisors. The startup clocked an operating revenue of INR 462 Cr in H1 FY26 against a loss of INR 125.1 Cr.
- The latest economic survey has flagged that India’s ability to build large AI data centres is constrained by limited access to GPUs and supporting infrastructure.
- Tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament, the survey also called for a new framework to govern how Indian data is used, shared and monetised, without impacting startups and innovation.
- Echoing the sentiment of Andhra Pradesh and Goa governments, the economic blueprint also called on the Centre to consider age-based access for social media and other digital platforms.
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