One97 Communications, the Paytm parent, will focus on attaining a profit after tax (PAT) instead of concentrating on operational profit before its employees stock option (Esop), founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Thursday.

Sharma was addressing shareholders of Paytm at its 24th annual general meeting (AGM).

“My board members suggested this to me, instead of talking about EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) before Esop as a benchmark number, you should talk about PAT. Now you will see that we are not just focussed on EBITDA before Esop.. because there is a large Esop charge. It is little bit of good indication, but not the perfect indication of the company. We want to be mature to deliver PAT profitability and that is our commitment. May be even before that we may start generating free cash. We want to be mature to deliver PAT profitability. With commitment to the core payments business, we aim to deliver PAT profitability,’’ Sharma said.

During the quarter ended June 30, Paytm saw its losses widening to ₹840 crore against a loss of ₹358.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Consolidated revenue dropped 33.48 per cent to ₹1,639.1 crore during the period from ₹2,464.2 crore in the year ago quarter.

Sharma, who saw a huge potential for artificial intelligence, said that Paytm is using it for “risk management, credit risk, future risk’’.