Paytm stock surges on strong operating performance

The shares of One97 Communications, the parent company of fintech major Paytm, surged 1.04% today after the payments aggregator reported about the distribution of 6 million loans worth ₹4,517 crore during July-August 2022.

On a year-on-year basis, the number of loans grew 246% and disbursements rose 484%, Paytm says in a stock exchange filing. The company recorded a total merchant gross merchandise value (GMV) of ₹2.10 lakh crore, marking a y-o-y growth of 72%.

The Paytm super app's consumer engagement recorded 40% YoY growth at 78.8 million during July-August. It said in the offline payments space, the company deployed 4.5 million devices across merchant stores in the country. "We continue to work with our partners to review the evolving macro environment and, accordingly, moderation may be expected in our growth," says Paytm.

The Paytm stock gained after two days of consecutive fall. It is currently trading at ₹714.15 from the previous day's close of ₹708.60. It touched an intraday high of ₹724.75 (2.28%). The stock outperformed the sector by 0.75%. The stock is moving higher than 100-day moving averages but lower than 5-day, 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages. With the current share price, Paytm's m-cap stands at ₹46,332.98 crore.

Paytm, which saw one of the worst performing IPOs in the past year, has wiped off 68% of investors' wealth since listing. The stock made its market debut in November 2021 at an issue price of ₹2,150 and successfully raised ₹18,300 crore. The stock hit its all-time high of ₹1,961.05 on its listing day on November 18, 2021, while it touched a record low of ₹511 on April 5, 2022.

The Paytm shares had fallen on Monday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week conducted raids at six premises of the fintech company in Bengaluru over alleged irregularities in instant app-based loans run by companies owned by Chinese nationals. However, the company refuted any link with the merchants that are under the ED scanner in the Chinese loan app case.

“As a part of ongoing investigations on a specific set of merchants, the ED has sought information regarding such merchants to whom we provide payment processing solutions. It is hereby clarified that these merchants are independent entities, and none of them is our group entity. We are and will continue to, fully cooperate with the authorities, and all the directive actions are being duly complied with,” Paytm said.

Paytm added that though the ED has asked it to freeze certain amounts from the Merchant IDs of a specific set of merchant entities, none of them belongs to Paytm or any of its group firms.

Apart from Paytm, the ED had also raided premises of online payment gateways such as Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree in Bengaluru in connection with a money laundering case, which is part of an ongoing probe against some unauthorised loan apps allegedly run by Chinese companies. The agency seized ₹17 crore in merchant IDs and bank accounts of entities controlled by Chinese persons under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.