Paytm continued to see strong growth in lending business, with the value of loans growing nearly five-fold on-year in October, and the number of loans more than doubling. Paytm’s loan disbursements in October rose 387% on-year to Rs 3,056 crore; the number of loans disbursed jumped 161% on-year to 3.4 million in October. The homegrown payments and financial services firm clocked merchant payments value at Rs 1.18 lakh crore in October 2022. The GMV has shown a 42% year-on-year increase from Rs 83,000 crore.

“In parallel, we are now scaling up lending distribution which can bring financial inclusion to hundreds of millions of people in our country,” said Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. “Due to the huge demand for lending in our country, our low penetration and the compounding nature of our lending journey, we are extremely optimistic about the prospects of our lending business,” he added.

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Paytm said, “We continue to seek growth and upsell opportunities as low penetration supports future growth potential”. Paytm Super App showed increased consumer engagement this month, with 84 million monthly transacting users (MTU), growing by 33% year-on-year. Over the past quarters, Paytm has pivoted to focusing on avenues that generate profit, it said. In the update, Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “We are now excited about the next year of our journey, as we get close to EBITDA profitability and free cash flow generation.”

Paytm stock debuted on the bourses almost a year ago, on November 18, 2021, with the issue price at Rs 2,150. However, the stock hit an all time high of Rs 1,961 before plunging, touching an all time low of Rs 510 a few months later. The company’s share value is currently down almost 60%.