Main drivers for revenue growth were increase in subscription revenues due to growing number of payment devices, growth in bill payments due to growing monthly transacting users (MTUs), growth in disbursements of loans by partners through platform, and increase in Commerce revenues.

On a QoQ basis, revenues grew 9%, driven by new device subscriptions, utility bill payments, ticketing, and loan disbursements. The company undertook account level rationalization among online merchants to focus on profitable Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) (revenue impact of Rs 29 crore). During the quarter, the company did not record any government incentives on UPI transactions and there was pressure on advertising revenues due to macroeconomic factors.

The digital financial services firm which operates under the Paytm brand said its consolidated loss widened to Rs 644.40 crore in Q1 June 2022 from net loss of Rs 380.20 crore a year ago.

In Q1 FY 2023, the company's EBITDA (before ESOP cost) was negative Rs 275 crore compared with negative Rs 368 crore in Q4 FY 2022 (25% QoQ improvement).

ESOP charges recorded in Q1 FY 2023 were at Rs 359 crore, marginally lower than the previous quarter.

Payments revenue increased 69% YoY (3% QoQ) due to continued growth in subscription (and Merchant Discount Rate, or MDR) revenues due to ramp-up of our devices business and growth in bill payment use cases due to higher MTUs. Undertook account level rationalization among online merchants to focus on profitable GMVs (revenue impact of Rs 29 crore). Further, there was no UPI incentive recorded in this quarter. Average MTU stood at 74.8 mn for the quarter, growing 49% YoY and 6% QoQ.

Revenue in the financial services business was up nearly 4x YoY (increased 61% QoQ), and now accounts for 16% of total revenue (6% in Q1 FY 2022), driven by sourcing and collection revenues in the loan distribution business.

Loan distribution business has scaled up significantly over the last 12 months, seeing increased adoption by users. Number of loans at 8.5 million, grew 492% YoY, while value of loans grew 779% YoY to Rs 5,554 crore.

Commerce & cloud revenues grew 64% YoY, with significant growth in commerce revenues (168% YoY) due to higher ticketing sales on the platform for travel merchants, on account of resurgent demand and seasonal strong quarter (driven by big movie releases) for the entertainment merchants.

In Q1 FY 2023, Paytm's marketing costs (excluding promotional cashback and incentives) at Rs 175 crore increased to 10% of revenues from 9% in Q1 & Q4 FY 2022. On an absolute basis, these costs were up 127% YoY and 33% QoQ almost entirely due to seasonal sponsorship spending.

In Q1 FY 2023, the company's employee costs (excluding ESOP cost) at Rs 552 crore were 33% of revenues, down from 35% of revenues in Q1 FY 2022. On an absolute basis, these costs were up 77% YoY and 10% QoQ due to the impact of annual appraisals, and continued investments in sales channels to drive the penetration of our devices that have attractive economics and upsell opportunities; and product and technology teams.

In Q1 FY 2023, the company's software, cloud, and data center costs at Rs 162 crore were 10% of revenues down from 12% in Q1 FY 2022 and remained flat QoQ. On an absolute basis, these costs were up 53% YoY and 7% QoQ primarily due to an increase in cloud infrastructure costs, which are linked to transaction volumes and GMV, which have doubled YoY.

The company's net cash, cash equivalent and investable balance stood at Rs 9,411 crore as of June 22.

Paytm is India's payment super app offering consumers and merchants a comprehensive payment services. Paytm enables commerce for small merchants and distributes various financial services offerings to its consumers and merchants in partnership with financial institutions.