Their world
Paytm reached its first full year of profit the hard way — by taking cost out.
The instinct behind "Paytm Karo" — do the simple thing, at scale — now runs through the P&L. FY26 turned positive on discipline, not a demand miracle. The open question for a CFO is where the next tranche of efficiency comes from, and whether it can arrive without adding an ounce of regulatory exposure.
Their pressure
Profitability was earned on cost — while the regulatory ground kept moving.
- TurnaroundOne97 reported its first-ever full-year net profit of 552 crore rupees in FY26, against a 663 crore rupee loss the year before.
- HowEmployee expenses fell 651 crore rupees in FY25 through a 4,600 headcount reduction and AI-driven efficiency.
- DeeperNon-sales employee costs were cut 35.6% in a single quarter as part of the AI-led efficiency push.
- OverhangIn April 2026 the RBI cancelled Paytm Payments Bank's licence — a reminder that control, not just cost, is under the microscope.
The bridge
Take out more cost — with the audit trail already attached.
Meridian AI embeds with your team and ships production-grade LLM and agent systems — on your data, with human-in-the-loop controls — in six weeks, not six quarters. The next efficiency does not have to be another headcount cut. It can be bounded agent workflows in support and operations, where every action carries an audit trail and a human-review path, so cost comes out while control stays in.
One measurable metric — tickets resolved per agent-hour — is fixed before anything ships.
One proof
Every engagement targets one measurable operating metric per quarter — deflected support tickets, faster underwriting, lower onboarding drop-off — and we don't scale the retainer until that metric moves.
One working session
Pick one support or operations workflow and its metric.
Twenty minutes to choose one high-volume workflow, agree the metric it should move, and define the audit trail and review step before any build begins.
See the 20-minute teardown for Paytm