Digital payments and financial services market leader PhonePe reported a drop of 44 percent in losses for the financial year 2021 (FY21) on a standalone basis contrasted to the previous fiscal year. According to regulatory filings by the firm, operational damages, excluding the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), reached Rs 888 crore in FY21 versus Rs 1,570 crore in FY20.
The drop in losses is attributable to the decrease in operational costs and a notable rise in revenues. The Bengaluru-based business’s revenue surged from Rs 372 crores in FY20 to Rs 690 crores in FY21.
The 85 percent year-on-year (YoY) revenue increase was driven by a sharp rise in transactions on the platform as the firm executed a dominating share of volumes on United Payment Interface (UPI) and Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
Gross margins rose from 60 percent to 84 percent (YoY). The Walmart-backed corporation also issued the highest ever ESOP to employees in the year at Rs 843 crore, up from Rs 206 crore in FY20.
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Loss after taxes and including ESOP costs stood at Rs 1,728 crore, a marginal 2.5 percent drop from Rs 1,772 crore in FY20.
The firm incurred total expenses of Rs 2,455 crore in the year, up 11 percent from Rs 2,202 crore last fiscal. Total income grew by about 70 percent to Rs 725 crore in FY21 from Rs 427 crore.
PhonePe goes up 45 percent of UPI monthly volumes and 47 percent of the monthly value of transactions. The recent data given by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on BBPS for August revealed that PhonePe heads the market with a 49 percent volume share.
Digital transactions also pulled up in FY21 as customers turned to online payments between the COVID-19 pandemic and following lockdowns. PhonePe became a chosen platform among users during this period and became a market leader in UPI payments in December 2020, beating Google Pay. In March this year, PhonePe displayed as the first UPI player to cross $1 billion in transactions in a month.
