Brokerage firm Macquarie on Tuesday downgraded Paytm (One97 Communications) to Underperform, slashing the target price to Rs 275, the lowest amongst all other brokerages. Remember, Macquarie had downgraded Paytm and cut its target price on the day of listing too, driving the stock price lower on its listing day as well. Shares of Paytm ended at Rs 422 on the NSE on Monday. However, the Paytm’s stock has delivered a negative return of 40% in the last one month after the RBI crackdown.
Macquarie in its latest note said that post the recent diktats, Paytm faces a serious risk of customer exodus which significantly jeopardises its monetisation and business model. They have further increased their loss estimates by 140% for FY25e and 40% for FY26e, factoring 60-65% decline in revenues due to lower payments and distribution revenues.
“Our channel checks with some lending partners reveal that they are re-looking at their relationship with PayTM which eventually could lead to a decline in lending business revenues in case partners scale down or terminate their relationship with Paytm,” said Macquarie in its note.
On Monday evening, the RBI governor in a joint press conference with the Finance Ministry had also said that there is no room to review the deadline or decision taken on Paytm.
