Paytm, a leading Indian financial services company, has received regulatory approval to resume onboarding new UPI payments users, following an eight-month restriction on many of its operations.
UPI, which processes over 15 billion transactions monthly, dominates India’s online payments. Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay process around 87% of UPI transactions, while Paytm’s market share has dropped from 13% to 8% after this year’s central bank restrictions.
The Reserve Bank of India ordered Paytm to close many of the businesses at its affiliated payments bank earlier this year for repeated rule violations. NPCI, the regulatory body that oversees UPI, approved Paytm’s application on Tuesday.
Analysts at Bernstein and Goldman Sachs said the approval is a “significant” development that will help revive growth in Paytm’s transaction users. Paytm’s monthly transaction users fell to 68 million last month from 100 million in December.
Paytm on Tuesday reported revenue of $197.4 million for the quarter ending September, up from $178.6 million in the previous quarter, but down 34% from last year from $299.5 million. . Profits in the quarter rose to $110 million after taking into account a one-time gain of $160 million from the sale of the entertainment ticketing business to Zomato.