Paytm, a payments and financial services company, has filed its revised shareholding pattern for Q4 FY23 with the stock exchanges. The company has seen an increase in the shareholding of both domestic institutions and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
Domestic institutional shareholding has grown from 1.9 per cent to 3.2 per cent with mutual funds (MFs) and alternate investment funds (AIFs) increasing their stake.
The overall shareholding of mutual funds has increased by almost 1 per cent QoQ (quarter on quarter) with Mirae Asset's stake growing from 1.1 per cent to 1.8 per cent. Foreign institutional shareholding has seen a jump from 6.7 per cent to 11.5 per cent with FPIs increasing their stake in the company substantially.
FDI shareholding is at 60 per cent compared to 66 per cent last quarter primarily due to the stake sale by Alibaba. The Chinese e-commerce company has completely exited the company by selling its entire stake in January and February. Consequent to the buyback, even though its total number of shares had remained the same, Ant's holding in Paytm had moved up slightly to 25.47 per cent. Ant Financial has now come down below 25 per cent to 24.94 per cent by selling 3.3 million shares, which was expected as per regulatory guidelines.
However, on a QoQ basis, Ant's shareholding has remained constant (24.94 per cent on March 23 as compared to 24.86 per cent in December 2022). It is important to note that Alibaba and Ant are two separate entities with no material relation.
Paytm continues to show sustained growth across all its key businesses. While Paytm's Q4 results are awaited, in the last quarter, the company achieved its milestone of operating profitability, much ahead of its September 2023 guidance.
The fintech giant's EBITDA before ESOP cost stood at Rs 31 crore with EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) before ESOP ( employee stock ownership plan) margin at 2 per cent of revenues as compared to (27 per cent) a year ago. Paytm's income from operations increased 42 per cent YoY to Rs 2,062 crore in Q3FY23, driven by growth in its core payments business and sustained growth momentum in the credit and commerce businesses.