Paytm rides out gaming ban collateral hit, bets on AI

A government crackdown on real-money gaming dented Paytm’s quarterly profit, but the fintech major’s broader turnaround stayed on track.

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The company took a onetime ₹190 crore impairment on a loan to its gaming joint venture, First Games Technology Pvt. Ltd, but the underlying profitability and growth momentum held firm.

At the company's September quarter earnings call on Wednesday, founder and chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma said: “Our future growth and bottom-line expansion will come from India’s financial services business, replication of our product technology globally, and our AI stack—from infrastructure to use cases.”

With the regulatory cleanup largely behind it and artificial intelligence-led tools being rolled out across its merchant network, Paytm is refocusing on scalable, compliant, and higher-margin growth engines.