Mobikwik to be profitable in FY24, says cofounder Upasana Taku

Mumbai: Indian payments service provider Mobikwik expects to report full-year profits at the end of FY24, as it looks to become IPO (initial public offering) ready, co-founder and chief operating officer Upasana Taku said in an interview on Thursday.

Mobikwik, operated by One Mobikwik Systems Pvt Ltd, on Thursday reported a revenue of ₹385 crore for the first half of FY24 and a profit after tax of ₹8 crore.

“We have grown 58% in revenues over what we did last year at this time. Last year, at this time we were reporting a loss,” Taku said.

The company reported a revenue of ₹560 crore and a loss of ₹80 crore for the full year FY23.

The payments service provider eventually wants to go public but has not yet started the IPO process as it is trying to assess the current market sentiment. Mobikwik had initially filed for a public listing in late 2021.

"We have a fully independent board. We put up our financials on our website -- we report our numbers publicly we don't need to, we're not a public company. But we do report them as we are very much aspiring to become a public company,” Taku said.

Mobikwik had initially filed for a public listing in late 2021. It received a regulatory nod but did not proceed with the IPO as planned.

“This time we want to make sure that we file it at the right time and we do a successful offer. And we are definitely working towards that,” she added.

The company has also expanded its bouquet of products over the last one year.

It is building towards offering a full digital banking experience to its customers and merchants.

Earlier this year, Mobikwik launched MobiKwik Lens, which it says is a data-driven tool to provide customers with data on their financial health. It has other products around loans, insurance, insurance and investments

"We're thinking of ourselves more and more now as a platform that offers a fully digital banking experience to our customers and our merchants, which means it will not be just one or two products, but whatever credit product, investment product, or insurance product-whatever they will need, in their small business or in their personal life-we want to offer all of that,” Taku said.

Taku said that, unlike its peers, Mobikwik caters to middle India customers earning between ₹25,000 to ₹50,000.

“The key thing here is that what people don't appreciate is that most of our peers are actually trying to cater to the top 10 15% of India. The top 100 million users who are in cities, who earn more than 50,000 rupees per month, bank with private banks. We are not trying to go after them. Nearly, 80% of our user base now is in tier 2- tier 4 cities. They are not salaried, but they are self-employed and earn between ₹25,000 and ₹50,000 rupees, and don’t have access to any financial product,” she said.