<p>Bengaluru: Paytm plunged as much as 20 percent on Thursday, its steepest decline since listing two years ago, as the digital payments firm will give out fewer low-value personal loans after the central bank tightened rules on consumer lending.</p>.<p>The non-bank lender said on Wednesday it will go slow on sub-50,000-rupee (about $600) loans but expand its portfolio of high-ticket personal and commercial loans.</p>.<p>The Reserve Bank of India tightened consumer lending rules in October, after a surge in small-ticket loans, particularly of those less than 50,000 rupees, and an increase in delinquencies.</p>.<p>Goldman Sachs on Thursday downgraded One 97 Communications, which owns and operates Paytm, to 'neutral' from 'buy' and lowered the price target to 840 rupees from 1,250 rupees.</p>.Paytm to give out fewer low value personal loans.<p>Paytm's plan to give out more higher ticket loans is not expected to fully offset a scale back of smaller-ticket loans, analysts at the brokerage said in a note.</p>.<p>The company's lending growth, a core driver of its profitability, is expected to decelerate, while payments, commerce and cloud momentum would remain strong, the Goldman Sachs analysts said.</p>.<p>Paytm's net income is now expected to turn positive in fiscal year 2025-26, a year later than previously expected, owing to slow revenue growth, Goldman Sachs said.</p>.<p>While some moderation in Paytm's loan disbursals following the central bank's measures was expected, "the quantum is ahead of our estimates," Jefferies said, while trimming the company's financial year 2024-2026 revenue estimate by 3 per cent-10 per cent and cutting its price target to 1,050 rupees from 1,300 rupees.</p>.<p>Paytm's so-called post-paid loans made up over half of the total loans issues in July-September.</p>.<p>The shares, last trading 16.5 per cent lower at 679 rupees, have risen nearly 28% so far this year, outperforming the Nifty financial services index, which has risen 10.5 per cent.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Paytm plunged as much as 20 percent on Thursday, its steepest decline since listing two years ago, as the digital payments firm will give out fewer low-value personal loans after the central bank tightened rules on consumer lending.</p>.<p>The non-bank lender said on Wednesday it will go slow on sub-50,000-rupee (about $600) loans but expand its portfolio of high-ticket personal and commercial loans.</p>.<p>The Reserve Bank of India tightened consumer lending rules in October, after a surge in small-ticket loans, particularly of those less than 50,000 rupees, and an increase in delinquencies.</p>.<p>Goldman Sachs on Thursday downgraded One 97 Communications, which owns and operates Paytm, to 'neutral' from 'buy' and lowered the price target to 840 rupees from 1,250 rupees.</p>.Paytm to give out fewer low value personal loans.<p>Paytm's plan to give out more higher ticket loans is not expected to fully offset a scale back of smaller-ticket loans, analysts at the brokerage said in a note.</p>.<p>The company's lending growth, a core driver of its profitability, is expected to decelerate, while payments, commerce and cloud momentum would remain strong, the Goldman Sachs analysts said.</p>.<p>Paytm's net income is now expected to turn positive in fiscal year 2025-26, a year later than previously expected, owing to slow revenue growth, Goldman Sachs said.</p>.<p>While some moderation in Paytm's loan disbursals following the central bank's measures was expected, "the quantum is ahead of our estimates," Jefferies said, while trimming the company's financial year 2024-2026 revenue estimate by 3 per cent-10 per cent and cutting its price target to 1,050 rupees from 1,300 rupees.</p>.<p>Paytm's so-called post-paid loans made up over half of the total loans issues in July-September.</p>.<p>The shares, last trading 16.5 per cent lower at 679 rupees, have risen nearly 28% so far this year, outperforming the Nifty financial services index, which has risen 10.5 per cent.</p>