Airbnb India’s Revenue Drops By 7% Ahead Of Possible IPO Launch

SUMMARY

Airbnb India saw a 7% drop in its revenue from INR 34.76 Cr in FY18 to INR 32.36 Cr in FY19

The profit for the company also saw a dip of 15.45% from FY18

Airbnb was able to bring down its expenses from INR 31.8 Cr in FY18 to INR 29.4 Cr in FY19

Amid increasing competition from OYO and MakeMyTrip, US-based multinational hospitality company Airbnb’s Indian arm has witnessed a slight drop in its revenues for the financial year 2019.

According to the Ministry of Corporate (MCA) filings, accessed by Inc42, Airbnb India Private Limited, has reported a 7% drop in its revenue from INR 34.76 Cr in FY18 to INR 32.36 Cr during FY19.

Moreover, the profit for the company also saw a dip of 15.45% from FY18 and stood at INR 1.75 Cr. Notably, the Airbnb last year had reported a profit of INR 2.07 Cr.

Though the number for revenues and profits for Airbnb were souring, the company was able to lower down its expenses in FY19 as compared to last year. While in FY18, Airbnb’s expenses stood at INR 31.8 Cr, the company was able to bring them down at INR 29.4 Cr.

The reported numbers suggested that Airbnb stayed itself away from any experiments in India, which recently Airbnb’s global policy head Chris Lehane confirmed is one of its biggest markets.

It is also evident that Airbnb is planning to play cautiously ahead of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) launch, which is expected to come in 2020.

How Is Airbnb Performing In India

Founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb’s accommodation marketplace provides access to seven million unique places to stay in more than 100K cities and 191 countries and regions.

The US-based company, which started its operations in India in 2016, it has amassed about 45K listings in India with Goa as the company’s most popular market with 6K listings. The company claims that its business in India has doubled in terms of guests year-on-year, and so far almost two million Indians have used Airbnb since its launch.

Moreover, it has recently introduced Airbnb ‘Plus Homes’ in India, featuring homes that have high ratings. Last year in June, Airbnb within its Trips category launched ‘Experiences’ that offers travellers to explore unique destinations by offering handcrafted activities powered by locals.

To penetrate the Indian market further, Airbnb on November 4, announced that it is including Hindi and doubling the number of languages in which hosts and guests can use Airbnb.