RIYADH: India’s fintech firm Paytm is likely to break even on operating profit by September next year, after revealing robust results for the first quarter of 2022. “I believe we should be operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization break even in the next six quarters, well ahead of estimates by most analysts,” said the startup’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. During the recently concluded quarter, the startup saw strong growth in its merchandise value to $34.5 billion and transaction volume reached almost 71 million users, according to a statement. It reached a new milestone in the lending segment, with the number of loan disbursals growing 374 percent to $474 million. Sharma highlighted it has been challenging for Paytm to win back investors since it raised $2.5 billion in India’s biggest-ever initial public offering back in November. Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of India barred the company’s lending arm from accepting new customers, Bloomberg reported. This, in turn, weighed on investor sentiment as analysts doubted the startup’s ability to turn into profitability anytime soon. In response to the CEO’s statement on Wednesday, shares soared 5 percent to 640.9 rupees ($8.5), after dropping over 70 percent from the IPO price of 2,150 rupees.