Paytm brings down losses to 40% by hiving off e-commerce business from One97

After hiving off its e-commerce business from payments, One97 Communications has been able to cut losses significantly. It has brought down losses by over 40 per cent to Rs 900 crore in the financial year 2016-17 from Rs 1,548 in previous fiscal, reveals a RoC filing.

The losses are slipped down because Paytm product-based e-commerce division - Paytm Mall had paid Rs 620 crore to the parent company for transfer of assets during the time of hive off.

Losses of one97 Communication jumped to over 4X in the fiscal year 2016 as compared to 2015. It recorded a loss of Rs 1,548 crore in FY16 from Rs 370 crore in corresponding fiscal. The development was first reported by ET.

Meanwhile, the company’s revenue also witnessed 3X up from Rs 324 crore to Rs 920 crore during the same period.

In late 2016, Paytm had to separate its e-commerce arm from the parent entity, following government regulations. The move was taken to ring-fence the marketplace business from the regulated business of financial services. It spun off e-commerce business from parent entity in August 2016. Later, Paytm mall acquired e-commerce business from One97 in May 2017.

Paytm Mall had reported a loss of around Rs 13.63 crore on total sales of Rs 7.35 crore in the year ended March 31, 2017. The total expenditure of the company stood at Rs 20 crore, while reserves and surplus stood at Rs 1,284 crore, the RoC filings showed.

The Paytm e-commerce platform had raised $200 million from China’s Alibaba Group and SAIF Partners in February 2017.

Paytm Payments Bank recorded a loss of Rs 30.7 crore between August 2016 and March 31, 2017. The banking arm incorporated in August last year, started operations from the month of May last year. It had an overall revenue of close to Rs 2.47 crore during the aforementioned period.