Paytm investing in AI to build Artificial General Intelligence software stack: CEO

Fintech giant Paytm on Monday said it is investing in AI to build an Artificial General Intelligence software stack.

In the annual report for FY23, the company's CEO Vijay Shekar Sharma said Paytm pioneered mobile payments in India and led mass adoption with innovations like QR Codes and Soundbox.

He said Paytm’s next contribution will be small mobile credit with high credit quality and fully compliant with the regulators guidelines.

“Expectedly this requires sophisticated capabilities in AI and other technologies. I am very proud of our advanced AI capabilities in use and how we are expanding. We are building an India scale AI system which will help various financial institutes in capturing possible risks and frauds, while also protecting them from new kinds of risks due to advancement in AI,” he said.

He further said Paytm is investing in AI with an eye on building Artificial General Intelligence software stack.

“We believe by building it in India we are not only making our country’s tech capability, also creating something that could be leveraged outside India,” Sharma added.

The company had earlier mentioned that it is gunning for cash flow positive as its next milestone. “In my opinion, in the next 3 years you will see some worthy numbers and results of hard work put in by the team. Our team remains committed to serve India and build a long term profitable business,” said Sharma.

The company continues its sustained growth with revenue from operations increasing 61% YoY to Rs 7,990 crore. For FY23, EBITDA before ESOP cost stood Rs (176) crore. Furthermore, the company has already achieved its operating profitability milestone in the third quarter, much ahead of its September 2023 guidance.

The company said this performance was driven by sustained growth in revenues on account of platform expansion and increased monetization, better profitability in the payments business as well as increased contribution of high growth, high margin businesses such as loan distribution, and disciplined cost management and better operating leverage.