Shares of One97 Communications, the parent company of payment service provider Paytm, rose for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, July 16. According to BSE data, Paytm shares have gained nearly 12% in the last five trading sessions and are trading above its important psychological level of ₹1,000 for the first time this year. In intraday deals on Wednesday, Paytm shares rose as much as 2.5% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,013.75.
Buying interest in Paytm shares increased after reports that the stock would be upgraded to the MSCI Standard Index. According to brokerage firm Motilal Oswal, Paytm is likely to be upgraded from the MSCI Smallcap Index to the MSCI Standard Index in its upcoming revision due in August.
According to analysts, the revision in the MSCI index will lead to buying of Paytm shares by funds tracking the MSCI index. According to Motilal Oswal estimates, the potential rebalancing will lead to inflows of $212 million.
Meanwhile, Paytm will announce its June quarter earnings on July 22 and hold an earnings conference call for investors at 6:00 pm on the same day. In the first quarter of the current financial year, Paytm shares have outperformed the Nifty50 index and have risen 18% as against the Nifty50 index’s 8.5% rise.
In the fourth quarter of FY 2024-25, Paytm’s net loss narrowed to Rs 540 crore in the January-March quarter as against Rs 550 crore in the same period last year. Its revenue from operations declined 16% to ₹1,911 crore in the fourth quarter of FY2024-25 as against ₹2,267 crore in the same period a year ago.
Paytm reduced its indirect costs by 1% quarter-on-quarter to ₹991 crore, reflecting a 16% year-on-year decline. This was primarily led by a 36% year-on-year reduction in non-sales employee costs. The Noida-based company said the company’s EBITDA before ESOP (including UPI incentives) stood at ₹81 crore, while excluding UPI incentives, it increased ₹51 crore quarter-on-quarter to ₹11 crore, reflecting improved operational efficiency.
As of 1:58 pm, Paytm shares were trading 2.29% higher at ₹1,011.70, outperforming the BSE 500 index, which was up 0.11%.
