Paytm really needs to turn a profit by next September

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Editor's note: Last week, when Paytm released its earnings for the 2021-22 fiscal year, Pine Labs chief executive officer Amrish Rau couldn’t hold back a jibe. “What a liar,” he commented under Paytm’s official tweet announcing the results.  In its maiden annual financial report as a publicly listed company, Paytm’s losses widened to Rs 2,396 crore against Rs 1,701 crore in the previous fiscal, weighed down largely by marketing, promotion and employee stock option expenses, even as its revenue from operations grew 77% to Rs 4,974 crore. What triggered Rau’s tweet, however, seems to be a specific comment by Paytm while declaring the results: “With our continued focus on revenue growth & increased contribution margin, we are on the path to achieve profitability by September ’23 quarter,” the digital payments company tweeted late on Friday.   Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had made a public commitment in April to become profitable in adjusted EBITDA terms by September 2023. EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a measure of operating profitability; Paytm’s adjusted EBITDA measure also excludes employee …