PhonePe's full-year losses narrow even as costs rise

PhonePe on Tuesday said its full-year core losses have narrowed, thanks to strong growth across all its businesses.

Excluding ESOP-related costs, PhonePe clocked in a core loss (EBITDA) of Rs 671 crore for the financial year ending March 31, 2022, compared to a loss of Rs 789 crore the previous year.

Revenue from operations rose 2.3X to Rs 1,646 crore from Rs 690 crore in the previous year. PhonePe attributed the revenue growth to robust momentum across all its lines of business, adding that its contribution margin—revenue after variable costs—rose to 88% from 84% in the previous year.

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PhonePe moves all business from Singapore to India

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Marketing was a major cost centre for PhonePe in the last fiscal year, coming in at Rs 866 crore, compared to Rs 535 crore in the previous year.

PhonePe launched a marketing campaign during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2021 and IPL in 2022 to advertise its insurance distribution business, leading to higher marketing expenses, the company said.

Its employee costs also increased slightly on new hires as it added more product lines, including wealth services. Operating expenditures rose as well.

Recently, PhonePe moved all of its businesses from Singapore to India, largely to appease regulators, as per media reports. The pre-IPO company has also approved a new ESOP plan.

The Bengaluru-based fintech giant, which leads UPI payments in the country, was divested from Flipkart in 2020. Walmart-owned Flipkart is still the largest shareholder in PhonePe.

Founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe could seek a valuation of $10 billion in its initial public offering, expected as soon as next year, according to a YourStory source.