Mobikwik Q1 loss widens to $4.8m on lower revenue

Mobikwik reported a net loss of 41.92 crore rupee (US$4.8 million) for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

The loss widened from 6.61 crore rupee (US$756,549) in the same period last year.

The India-based fintech company saw its revenue from operations fall 20.7% year-on-year to Rs 271.36 crore rupee (US$31.1 million), while total income dropped 18.6% to 281.61 crore rupee (US$32.2 million).

Total expenses fell 9% to 312.81 crore rupee (US$35.8 million) but still exceeded revenue.

The payments business generated 213.1 crore rupee (US$24.4 million) in revenue, with gross merchandise value rising 53% year-on-year to 38,400 crore rupee (US$4.4 billion).

Revenue from financial services stood at 58.3 crore rupee (US$6.7 million).

🔗 Source: YourStory

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Growing transaction volumes don’t guarantee profitability in Indian fintech

MobiKwik’s paradox of record-high payment GMV alongside widening losses reflects a persistent challenge across Indian fintech companies.

Despite achieving Rs 38,400 crore in quarterly GMV, a 53% year-over-year increase, the company’s losses expanded sixfold, demonstrating how transaction volume growth can mask underlying unit economics issues.

This pattern has been consistent for MobiKwik: in FY25, the company reported a loss of Rs 122.6 crore despite a 34% revenue increase, and their GMV surged 203% to Rs 1,15,900 crore while losses remained at Rs 121.5 crore1 2.

The disconnect suggests that simply processing more transactions doesn’t automatically improve profitability, especially when customer acquisition costs and competitive pricing pressure remain high.

Even with improved gross margins in the payments segment rising to 27.9% from 16.1%, the company’s total expenses continue to exceed revenue, indicating that scale alone isn’t solving the fundamental profitability equation.

2️⃣ Fintech companies pivot to lending to escape low-margin payments trap

MobiKwik’s expansion into financial services like ZIP EMI reflects a broader industry strategy to move beyond low-margin payment processing.