Mobikwik hopes to turn profitable in FY21, expects recovery in payments by end August

Mobikwik, which made a cash loss of ₹8.5 crore in 2019-20, hopes to turn profitable this fiscal.

“Last fiscal, there were some months when we were profitable and some where we registered losses. We are confident that Mobikwik will be profitable in the full fiscal 2020-21,” said Upasana Taku, co-founder.

In an interaction with BusinessLine, she also said the company expects to reach pre-Covid levels in digital payments by the end of August.

“Payments were hit by 30 per cent in April and May and because of the national lockdown. June has been better and July is even better. We expect that by the end of August we will be back to the normal numbers as of March and then we will focus on forward growth,” she said.

Slight recovery

She underlined that there has been a steady recovery in all categories in the payments business in both the wallet and payment gateway. "The only category trailing slightly is travel as the usage is still low. But all other categories are recovering quite fast,” she said.

According to its annual report 2019-20 released on Wednesday, Mobikwik’s net revenue grew 133 per cent year over year to ₹379 crore, while EBITDA loss was reduced by 63 per cent year over year to ₹45 crore.

“March 2020 was our best month ever – with net revenue of ₹38 crore and adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹8 lakh,” it said.

The financial services business had net revenue of ₹91 crore in last fiscal as against ₹29 crore in 2018-19.

Lending products

Taku said the company hopes to grow the business, which concentrates on credit, mutual funds and gold, to contribute about 40 per cent of the revenue in the next two years. At present it contributes 25 per cent of the revenue.

It is also planning to launch new lending products in the segment.

Mobikwik has been cautious on loan disbursals since the lockdown and expects a gradual pick-up with recovery trailing the payments business by at least a month.