More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, May 27, 2025

By Arya S. Biju

MUMBAI – A double-digit decline in tax expenses and robust growth in billings across business verticals aided Info Edge (India) Ltd.'s earnings for the March quarter. The internet services company reported a double-digit sequential rise in the bottom line and a low-single-digit rise in the top line for the quarter but failed to meet the Street's expectations on both counts.

The company's net profit for the quarter rose over 27% on quarter to INR 2.55 billion, marking its highest quarterly bottom line since the December quarter of the financial year 2021-22 (Apr-Mar). However, it failed to meet analysts' expectations of a net profit of INR 2.65 billion. Having fallen 63% in the September quarter, the company's bottom line has now grown for the second straight quarter.

The company's revenue from operations for the March quarter rose a little over 2% on quarter to INR 6.87 billion, marking the highest quarterly revenue for the company since the December quarter of FY15, according to data available with Informist. Yet, it could not meet analysts' estimate of INR 6.98 billion.

Year on year, the company's net profit for the March quarter rose nearly 21% and revenue was up nearly 13%.

Shares of Info Edge, which were trading higher before the announcement of the results, fell over 3% to an intraday low of INR 1,425.00 on the National Stock Exchange after the announcement. However, at 1428 IST, the shares had pared some losses to trade only 1.1% lower at INR 1,458.00.

For the financial year ended March, the company's net profit fell over 7% to INR 7.73 billion. Its revenue for the same period was INR 26.54 billion, up over 11%.

On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit for the quarter nearly doubled sequentially to INR 4.63 billion and its revenue rose nearly 4% to INR 7.50 billion. For FY25, the company's consolidated net profit was INR 9.62 billion, up over 67% from FY24. Its consolidated revenue for the period rose over 12% to INR 28.50 billion.

Info Edge's operating profit for the reporting quarter fell 12.2% sequentially to INR 2.31 billion, but was up 3% on year. Its operating profit margin for the quarter contracted sequentially to 33.7% from 39.2%. As of Mar. 31, the company had a cash balance of INR 47.86 billion, up from INR 42.90 billion as of Dec. 31.

The company's billing for the March quarter rose over 47% on quarter and 19% on year to INR 9.84 billion. Billing in the recruitment business grew over 18% on year, while the non-recruitment verticals--real estate, matrimony, and education--recorded on-year growth of nearly 22%, 24%, and 16%, respectively.

The recruitment solutions business, the largest revenue-generating segment for the company, reported a revenue of INR 5.11 billion for the March quarter, up over 1% from INR 5.05 billion reported in the December quarter. The segment's operating profit for the quarter rose 7.9% on year to INR 2.78 billion. However, the segment's operating profit margin contracted to 54.5% from 57% reported in the year-ago period.

The company's recruitment growth was broad-based across information technology services and non-IT services, it said. The company provides recruitment solutions through its employment website Naukri. During the March quarter, an average of 22,000 resumes were added daily to the Naukri database, the company said, adding that the database now has 106 million resumes.

Revenue from the real estate segment rose nearly 2% to INR 1.06 billion, from INR 1.04 billion in the previous quarter. The company operates its real estate business under the platform 99acres. Billing growth in the segment for the March quarter was driven by improvement in both the number of billed customers and average billing per customer, Info Edge said. Its revenue from the matrimonial business, Jeevansathi, for the quarter rose 11% sequentially, and revenue from its education business, Shiksha, grew over 14% on quarter.

The company's total expenditure for the quarter rose nearly 12% sequentially to INR 4.56 billion, driven by a 9% sequential rise in employee benefit expense to INR 2.92 billion and a nearly 27% increase in advertising and promotion costs to INR 846.00 million. The employee benefit expense accounted for 64% of the company's total expenditure in the reporting quarter. Expenses related to advertising and promotions accounted for 19% of the total.

The company announced a final dividend of INR 3.60 per share for FY25. It has fixed Jul. 25 as the record date for the dividend. Shares of the company closed 1.4% lower at INR 1,452.50 on the National Stock Exchange. The company released its results during market hours.  End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.