MobiKwik Q4 FY26: Profitability Returns, and the Next Growth Cycle Begins

MobiKwik ended FY26 with a clear shift in narrative. After a volatile FY25, the company delivered back-to-back profitable quarters, while still describing FY26 as an investment year. In Q4 FY26, total income came in at INR 296.0 crore, EBITDA was INR 17.4 crore, and PAT was INR 4.4 crore. Management noted that PAT included a one-time exceptional charge of INR 3.76 crore related to labour wage code changes. Excluding this, underlying PAT for the quarter would have been INR 8.1 crore.

The full-year picture still shows losses, but the direction improved materially. FY26 total income was INR 1,154.2 crore, EBITDA loss narrowed to INR 5.2 crore (from a loss of INR 79.4 crore in FY25), and PAT loss reduced to INR 62.1 crore (from a loss of INR 121.5 crore in FY25). Management described this as an inflection year and attributed the swing to tighter cost control and a recovery in lending profitability.

Payments: GMV growth continues, but monetisation remains the key question

The payments franchise remained the primary scale driver. Payments GMV in Q4 FY26 rose to INR 524 billion, up 58% year on year and 9% quarter on quarter, marking the 13th consecutive quarter of record high GMV. The company reiterated leadership positions in consumer payments, including being the largest wallet by GTV as of March 2026 and one of the fastest growing UPI apps.

However, revenue growth has not kept pace with GMV. Payments revenue in Q4 FY26 was INR 211.6 crore versus INR 211.6 crore in Q4 FY25, broadly flat. Management explained the divergence as a function of UPI-led mix shift and lower take rates, with UPI scaling faster than revenue-generating rails.

What changed meaningfully was profitability within payments. Payments gross margin reached 39.1% in Q4 FY26, up from 23.9% in Q4 FY25. This was driven by lower gateway costs and reduced user incentives. Net payments margin was 16 bps of GMV in Q4 FY26, holding above the company’s longer-term guidance of 12 to 15 bps.

Lending: quality rebuild shows up in margins

MobiKwik’s lending business, reported as financial services, delivered its strongest quarterly profitability profile in years. In Q4 FY26, financial services revenue was INR 77.2 crore and gross margin reached 59%. Net financial services margin was 5.39% of digital credit GMV in the quarter.

Management credited the improvement to a deliberate shift toward higher-quality cohorts and repeat customers. The company highlighted that super-prime share improved to 32% of disbursals, and repeat loans increased to 63.5%. It also stated that credit risk performance improved by around 35% versus the peak stress period.

At the same time, management was cautious about extrapolating peak margins. On the call, it indicated that while Q4 delivered 5% plus net margin, the more sustainable long-term range is closer to 4% to 4.5%.

Financial snapshot: Q4 FY26 and FY26

New growth engines: merchant acquiring, NBFC, and AI

Management framed the next two years around building four growth engines while keeping baseline profitability intact.

The first two are merchant payments. Offline merchant acquiring will be driven by QR, Soundbox, and EDC deployments. The company is targeting a roughly 5x device scale-up to enable 10x revenue growth by FY28, with EBITDA breakeven expected by FY28. Online merchant acquiring is anchored by Zaakpay, where management is targeting 10x GMV by FY28 and expects breakeven by FY28. The presentation also disclosed Zaakpay FY26 revenue of INR 47.2 crore and stated it is near breakeven.

The third engine is lending scale-up through a regulated NBFC structure. On April 27, 2026, the company announced RBI approval for its NBFC application. Management described the NBFC route as a move from distribution economics to ownership economics, enabling a broader co-lending universe, faster product velocity, improved own-book margins, and the potential to launch merchant loans using transaction data from the offline merchant network.

The company shared an operational timeline: 2 to 3 months to move the LSP business to a wholly owned subsidiary, 3 to 6 months to set up the NBFC as a separate wholly owned subsidiary, and 6 to 9 months to launch NBFC operations under a co-lending model.

The fourth engine is AI adoption across engineering, collections, and support. The company stated that over 80% of code is AI-generated, early collections are 55% AI-driven, and 86% of customer support is self-served by AI. It aims to be AI-first by FY28.

Capital allocation and cost outlook

FY26 also clarified how management intends to fund expansion. It stated that core payments and lending generated INR 50 crore of EBITDA, which was reinvested into merchant payments. The company quantified merchant investments in FY26 at INR 55 crore and indicated that a similar range may continue in FY27.

On the call, management discussed fixed costs trending around INR 115 to 120 crore per quarter and guided for a potential 15% to 20% increase over the next year as device deployments and distribution expand.

Working capital remains an important operational feature. Management stated long-term debt has been repaid, but working capital lines of INR 261 crore remained as of March 31, used primarily to fund settlements during holidays and long weekends. It also said net owned unencumbered cash was around INR 434 crore, though not all cash was freely accessible due to IPO proceeds drawdown mechanics.

What to watch from here

MobiKwik enters FY27 with two visible strengths: payments scale and a lending business that has moved back into a healthier risk and profitability zone. The near-term debate is likely to remain centred on monetisation, especially in consumer payments where UPI-led growth compresses take rates.

At the same time, management is explicitly repositioning merchant payments as the next profit pool because it operates on MDR, device and settlement economics. The stated goal is to keep the company baseline profitable while funding the buildout.

If FY26 was about proving the core can stand on its own, FY27 and FY28 will be judged on whether new engines like offline acquiring, Zaakpay scaling, and NBFC-led lending translate into durable revenue growth without eroding the hard-won margin recovery.