State Bank of India-backed online payments processor and aggregator Cashfree recorded 75.43% growth in its operating scale in FY23. However, its losses flew to Rs 133 crore in the last fiscal from Rs 3 crore in FY22 due to an over two-fold spike in employee benefits and payment processing cost.
Cashfree’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 614 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023 from Rs 350 crore in FY22, its consolidated financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies show.
The Bengaluru-based firm offers a bouquet of payment services to merchants such as payment collection services, auto collect, recurring payments, and verification services to banks.
Financials FY23
The commission charged from the merchants for using payment infra was the sole source of revenue for Cashfree which increased 75% to Rs 613.29 crore in FY23. It also made Rs 50 lakh from the set-up fees.
When it comes to cost, the payment gateway processing charges accounted for 59% of the total expenditure. This cost surged 2.1X to Rs 446 crore during FY23 from Rs 208 crore in FY22.
The Bengaluru-based company also doubled its employee benefit cost in the last fiscal year. Cashfree’s advertising cum promotional, domain, reseller commissions, legal, and other overheads took its total expenditure to Rs 750 crore in FY23 from Rs 354 crore in FY22.
Expenses Breakdown
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https://thekredible.com/company/cashfree/financials
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- Payment Gateway processing charges
- Employee benefit expense
- Advertising promotional expenses
- Domain Charges
- Reseller Commission
- Legal professional charges
- Others
Check TheKredible for the detailed expense breakup.
With an over two-fold increase in the total cost, losses of Cashfree spiked to Rs 133 crore in FY23 from Rs 3 crore in FY22. The firm claimed to hire 350 employees in FY23 to invest in R&D, product launches and market share growth which led to a sharp rise in its losses.
It’s worth noting that the company posted profits of Rs 25.2 crore in FY21. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -58% and -20%, respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.22 to earn a rupee in FY23.
FY22-FY23
| FY22 | FY23 |
| EBITDA Margin | 0% | -20% |
| Expense/₹ of Op Revenue | ₹1.01 | ₹1.22 |
| ROCE | -1% | -58% |
Recently, Cashfree received the final license for payment aggregator from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Moreover, the apex banking body has also allowed it to onboard new merchants. As per Cashfree, 8,000 merchants have completed their KYC formalities and are ready to go live on the platform. The move is likely to help Cashfree increase its revenue significantly in the ongoing financial year.
