Paytm Sees Net Loss Rising Along With Expenses

One97 Communications, which is the parent of FinTech Paytm, has said its net loss has increased 8.4% with the rising expenses, Reuters writes.

The company reported earnings publicly for the first time since its stock market debut this month, and it had a consolidated net loss of 4.74 billion rupees, or $63.2 million.

That’s compared to 4.37 billion rupees from the same time last year.

“We have maintained the growth momentum in our payments services business, expanded our financial services business aggressively and are on our way to pre-COVID volumes for Commerce and Cloud services,” Paytm said in a statement, per Reuters.

Paytm says it’s well-funded, and that it has a cash equivalent and investable balance of 110 billion rupees, including with the IPO.

Paytm’s commerce, cloud and financial services businesses have “huge potential” to earn more money, according to group chief financial officer Madhur Deora.

According to founder and chief executive Vijay Shekbar Sharma, the company’s business isn’t immediately set in stone, and some line items are “not just profit generating, but free cash flow generating.”

“Our revenues and contribution margins are growing on the back of payment and financial services business where payment itself is the primary driver,” Sharma said on a call for investors.

PYMNTS recently reported on comments by Sharma about Paytm’s public debut, in which he compared it to the early days of Tesla.

See also: Paytm Founder Says Company’s Public Debut Mirrors Tesla’s

Paytm shares collapsed earlier this month, making the listing valuation fall around $7 billion from its start at $18.74.

According to Paytm last week (Nov. 21), gross merchandise volume rose 131% in October year over year.

Paytm has also teamed with HDFC Bank, a private Indian bank, to work on financial solutions for customers and merchants.

Paytm boasts over 333 million users and 21 million merchants, and HDFC has over 50 million debit and credit card customers.