Cashfree Payments posted Rs 967.2 crore in operating revenue for FY26, a 52% increase from the previous year. The fintech's net loss narrowed to Rs 118.7 crore from Rs 154.7 crore, signaling a recovery after two years of stagnation caused by a Reserve Bank of India ban on onboarding new merchants.
The Bengaluru-based payment aggregator had been stuck in neutral since late 2022. In FY24, revenue grew just 4% to Rs 639 crore. FY25 was worse: revenue actually dipped to Rs 635.8 crore while losses climbed 14%. The RBI's year-long freeze on new merchant onboarding, lifted only in late 2023, explains most of that stall.
What drove the turnaround?
How to Improve Your ROAS in 2026 | Cashfree Payments
Higher payment gateway commissions from a larger merchant base powered the revenue jump. The company's EBITDA loss improved to Rs 90.8 crore from Rs 131.8 crore a year earlier, even as total expenses rose 38%. That margin recovery suggests Cashfree is finally converting scale into operating leverage.
Cashfree holds all three RBI payment licenses: Payment Aggregator, Payment Aggregator-Cross Border, and Prepaid Payment Instrument. That full stack positions it to compete with Razorpay and PayU across domestic and international transactions. Investors include Krafton, State Bank of India, and Y-Combinator.
New CFO, old compliance headaches
Earlier this year, Cashfree appointed Sameer Gandhi as CFO. Gandhi previously led finance at Visa India. The hire suggests the company is professionalizing ahead of a potential public market move or further fundraising.
But compliance remains a concern. In March 2026, RBI fined Cashfree Rs 3.1 lakh for making "impermissible debit" from an escrow account. Small penalty, but a signal that regulators are still watching closely.
Where Cashfree stands now
The company is not yet profitable, but the gap is closing. At Rs 118.7 crore in net losses against Rs 967 crore in revenue, Cashfree is burning about 12% of revenue. That is manageable for a growth-stage fintech, and better than the 24% burn rate it ran in FY25.
The real test is whether Cashfree can sustain this growth rate now that the post-ban merchant pipeline is normalizing. FY27 will show if 52% was a one-time catch-up or the start of a new trajectory.
Logicity's Take
Cashfree's FY26 numbers look good, but they are partly a rebound effect. The RBI ban suppressed two years of growth, and lifting it released pent-up demand. The more meaningful metric is whether the company can hold 30%+ growth in FY27 without that tailwind. For businesses evaluating payment aggregators, the competitive landscape matters more than Cashfree's P&L: Razorpay, PayU, and Stripe India all offer similar capabilities at comparable pricing tiers. The real differentiator is integration quality and support responsiveness.
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Source: Tech-Economic Times / ET
Manaal Khan
Tech & Innovation Writer
Produced with AI assistance and reviewed by the Logicity editorial team. Learn more in our Editorial Policy.
