India, May 18 -- MobiKwik's Q4 results at the tail end of last week brought up some interesting views over this past week, but our reading of the numbers raised a deceptively simple question: If payments GMV is growing 58% and UPI transactions are exploding 170%, why has payments revenue barely moved for over a year?

This contradiction sits at the centre of the company's entire story and could define the future for MobiKwik, which has painfully pieced together its fintech empire in the past year and a half.

On the surface, the quarter looked reassuring for the Delhi NCR-based giant. For instance, it turned EBITDA positive and PAT also recovered some momentum. As lending margins improved, management sounded far more confident than it did...