One97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm, on Tuesday reported a profit of ₹123 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 (Q1FY26), driven by an increase in payment revenue and cost optimisation. The company had earned a loss of ₹840 crore in Q1FY25.
This is the first time the fintech firm has recorded a net profit backed by its own operations, an indication of which was given by founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma in the previous quarter (Q4FY25).
Paytm had earlier recorded a profit of ₹930 crore in Q2FY25, aided by an exceptional gain of ₹1,345 crore from the sale of entertainment ticketing business to Zomato. Being in black marks a recovery for the fintech firm following the RBI’s restrictions on its payments bank unit in January 2024.
“EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) and PAT (profit after tax) turned profitable at ₹72 crore and ₹123 crore respectively, demonstrating AI-led operating leverage, disciplined cost structure and higher other income (receipt of interest on tax refund in Q1FY26),” Paytm said.
The company clocked a 28 per cent growth in operating revenue to ₹1918 crore in Q1FY26 against ₹1502 crore in Q1FY25. The growth was driven by an increase in the number of subscription merchants, higher gross merchandise value and growth in revenue from distribution of financial services.
Paytm reported 27 per cent year-on-year increase in gross merchandise value to ₹5.39 lakh crore in the reported quarter. During the reported quarter, average monthly transacting user base reached 7.4 crore. The company’s merchant subscriptions were at an all-time high of 1.3 crore in Q1FY26 compared with 1.09 crore in Q1FY25.
On the cost side, the company slashed marketing and promotional expenses to ₹99.8 crore during Q1FY26 from ₹221.4 crore in Q1FY25 and ₹142.7 crore in Q4FY25.
Employee benefit expenses were ₹643 crore from ₹952.5 crore in Q1FY25. Cash balance is ₹12872 crore as of Q1FY26, compared with ₹8108 crore in Q1FY25.
“Our cash balance has increased by ₹4764 crore in the last 1 year on account of monetisation of two non-core assets for ₹4,386 crore,” the statement said.
