Analyst Concall
Info Edge says saw demand moderation in second half of Q1
This story was originally published at 19:18 IST on 8 August 2025
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Informist, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
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--Info Edge: AI initiatives leading company's growth across verticals
--CONTEXT: Info Edge management's comments at post-earnings analyst concall
--Info Edge: Many clients deferred purchases in second half of Apr-Jun
--Info Edge: 99Acres, Jeevansathi need more marketing spends in coming qtrs
--Info Edge: Will spend more than 10-12% of revenue on marketing in 99Acres
--Info Edge: To spend more than 10-12% of revenue on marketing in Jeevansathi
--Info Edge: Marketing spend in Shiksha low, could go up in future
--Info Edge: Have not seen material impact of AI models in Jeevansathi
--Info Edge: Have not seen material impact of AI models in 99Acres, Naukri
By Ashutosh Pati and Anand JC
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI – Info Edge (India) Ltd.'s business growth moderated across most of its verticals towards the second half of the June quarter due to a general slowdown in demand, the company's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Hitesh Oberoi said in a post-earnings call with analysts.
"We observed a trend of contract deferrals by some clients towards the end of the quarter, which is usually the peak period for closures. As a result, renewal activity was impacted, leading to a moderation in overall billing growth," Oberoi said. The company's billings grew 11% year-on-year to INR 6.4 billion in the June quarter. In comparison, the company's billing was INR 9.84 billion in the trailing quarter.
Even though some segments, such as global capability centres, technology companies, retail, and healthcare, posted double-digit growth, others like recruitment, consultancy, IT services, BFSI, and infrastructure experienced a moderation in growth to low single digits in the quarter ended June, Oberoi said. July started on a better note for the company as it was able to collect the pending contracts. "We were able to collect that money in the first 10-12 days of July," Oberoi said.
Oberoi said the company is using general artificial intelligence tools across its verticals to create content and a number of Info Edge's recent marketing campaigns were "generated in-house and driven by AI". The company continued to operate its database products in Naukri with AI and machine learning, which resulted in improvements in recruiter productivity. The AI initiatives are driving growth across all verticals, Oberoi said.
Oberoi said the impact of competition from AI models was limited to Shiksha and AmbitionBox, with Jeevansathi, 99Acres, and Naukri not seeing much negative effect from competition from AI-based search engines.
Info Edge's marketing expenses were higher year-on-year in the June quarter, mainly because of branding campaigns that ran in the Indian Premier League. The company's efforts to further strengthen its job seeker database, especially in emerging cities and non-IT segments, and increased investments in smaller businesses such as IIMJobs and Naukri Gulf, also pushed its marketing expenses. Oberoi said that these expenses are partly seasonal and expects the marketing expenses in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) to remain within a "few percentage points" of the expenses in FY25. The company had spent INR 3.12 billion in FY25 on advertising and promotions, nearly 12% of its annual revenue from operations.
The company plans to increase its marketing spend for Jeevansathi and 99acres to gain market share in these segments. Info Edge may spend over 10-12% of its revenue on marketing for these two verticals, Oberoi said. "We are trying to grow these businesses faster than the market and than our competitors," he said. Marketing expenses in the company's Shiksha vertical, where it currently spends little, could increase as it faces competition from AI models.
The company reported a net profit of INR 2.6 billion in the June quarter, up 12% on year and 2% on quarter. Its revenue from operations for the June quarter grew over 15% on year and 7% on quarter to INR 7.4 billion. Friday, shares of Info Edge closed 2.2% lower at INR 1,332 on the National Stock Exchange. The company announced its results on Friday during market hours. End
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Saji George Titus
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