Paytm may look cheap next to PhonePe—but that could be a trap
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Shares of One 97 Communications Ltd, parent of fintech firm Paytm, have been in focus amid news flow around the potential valuation of PhonePe’s upcoming public issue. The interest is understandable: Paytm is the closest listed comparable peer to PhonePe.
Both fintech firms began by facilitating consumer and merchant payments through UPI before expanding into the distribution of financial products such as loans and insurance broking. In a recent report, analysts at Macquarie Capital Securities said Paytm compares favourably with PhonePe as it is already profitable at the Ebitda level and could therefore see a re-rating. Paytm’s market capitalization currently stands at about ₹77,000 crore, while PhonePe is reportedly considering a valuation of $15 billion, or around ₹1.35 trillion assuming a dollar-rupee exchange rate of 90.
Since PhonePe remains loss-making at the Ebitda level, a market-cap-to-revenue comparison is more relevant. Annualizing H1FY26 net revenue (half-year ended September) implies an mcap-to-revenue multiple of about 10x for Paytm compared with 17x for PhonePe, a seemingly reasonable observation. Still, investors should weigh two key risks before placing their bets on Paytm.
First, the valuation gap between the two companies may not necessarily narrow in Paytm’s favour. A comparable example is Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd (Groww) and Angel One Ltd. When Groww launched its public issue, Angel One was the only prominent listed discount brokerage.
Yet, Groww continues to trade at a substantial premium to Angel One. Based on Bloomberg consensus estimates, Groww trades at 29x FY28 earnings per share compared with 16x for Angel One. Perhaps, the Street believes that
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