Fintech company Pine Labs has posted a net profit of ₹26.1 crore in the first nine months of FY25, compared to a loss of ₹187 crore in FY24. The draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with SEBI comes ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).

Revenue during the 9MFY25 period stood at ₹1,208 crore – a 23 per cent jump from ₹982 crore a year earlier. The uptick was driven largely by increased transaction processing; growth in its device-as-a-service (DaaS) rental business, and higher traction for value-added services, the company said in its filing.

A key reason for the shift to profitability was the absence of share-based payment expenses that had weighed heavily on the previous year’s financials. In FY24, Pine Labs had taken a hit of ₹234 crore in ESOP-related costs.

Primary platforms

Pine Labs operates across two primary business lines. The largest, its Digital Infrastructure and Transaction Platform, which powers merchant payment tools, EMI checkout, loyalty programs, and analytics, contributed ₹1,149 crore in revenue — nearly 76 per cent of total income in the nine-month period. During this time, the company processed 3.97 billion transactions worth ₹2.85 lakh crore through 9.2 lakh active merchant points.

The second is its Issuing and Acquiring Platform that generated ₹428 crore – up 27 per cent from the corresponding period last year. This includes Qwikcilver, its prepaid card unit, which has now been fully integrated into the Pine Labs stack. The company issued over 474 million prepaid cards during the reporting period through more than 1.73 million digital commerce points.

CMD’s paycheck

Executive compensation also came into sharper focus in the run-up to the IPO. Chairman and Managing Director and CEO B Amrish Rau drew a domestic salary of ₹5.8 crore, comprising ₹3.8 crore in base pay and ₹1.9 crore in annual incentives. His total compensation rose to ₹9.5 crore after factoring in payouts from Pine Labs’ Singapore entities.

Notably, Rau received 2.3 crore stock options between January and June 2025 — the largest individual grant under the company’s ESOP 2025 plan — positioning him as the biggest beneficiary of stock-based rewards ahead of the public listing.

The IPO filing marks a critical milestone for the Temasek-backed fintech player, which competes with the likes of Razorpay, BharatPe, and PhonePe in the merchant payment ecosystem.

Published on June 27, 2025