Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Paytm, said on Thursday that the company would focus on its core business of payments and cross-selling financial services as it works to achieve “profitability soon”.

Addressing Paytm’s Annual General Meeting, Sharma said, “The past six months have taught us many lessons, giving us the opportunity to thoroughly examine our business processes, compliance, and the way we operate from the inside out.”

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“I can now confidently assure you that we have adopted a compliance-first approach, ensuring our business adheres to every regulation fully, both in letter and spirit,” he added.

“With a commitment to the core payments business, we aim to deliver PAT profitability soon,” he said, referring to profit after tax.

Notably, the RBI in February ordered the payments bank subsidiary of Paytm to stop accepting fresh deposits in its accounts or popular wallets from March.

Paytm will apply to the RBI for a payments aggregator licence in due course, he said. The company recently secured foreign direct investment approval from the Indian government.

Paytm is using artificial intelligence in its products, business and operations. “Some of these technologies are so advanced that they could potentially form entire businesses on their own. However, we remain focused on our core payments business and cross-selling financial services,” he said.

The CEO said the company’s strategic initiatives include leveraging advanced technology to offer financial services like loans, insurance, and mutual funds, thus broadening its market reach and promoting financial inclusion.

Recently, Paytm received approval from the Ministry of Finance to invest in its payment services business.

Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) has received approval from the government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, vide its letter dated August 27, 2024, for downstream investment from the company into PPSL, Paytm said in its filing.

With this approval, PPSL plans to resubmit its application for a PA license. In the meantime, the company will continue providing online payment aggregation services to existing partners.