ixigo’s Q2 PAT Halves To INR 13 Cr Due To Tax Expenses

Online travel aggregator ixigo’s consolidated net profit declined 51% to INR 13.08 Cr in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (Q2 FY25) from INR 26.70 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

The sharp decline in profit was largely due to the rise in the company’s total tax expenses, which stood at INR 5.26 Cr during the quarter under review. This number was almost nil in the year-ago quarter. 

ixigo’s profit before tax stood at INR 18.34 Cr in Q2 FY25, down 30% from INR 26.27 Cr in Q2 FY25. On a sequential basis, the company reported a 12% decrease in net profit from INR 14.85 Cr in Q1 FY25.

ixigo’s group CFO Saurabh Devendra Singh said that the dip in profit came as a result of the absence of multiple one-offs for the company. “Unlike the last few quarters, where I used this answer to identify some of the one-offs that inflated our PAT, this time these one-offs are not there and were more prevalent in the previous year’s comparable quarter. These one-offs are the reason for what looks like a dip in PAT,” he said.

According to Singh, the company’s profit dipped due to the following reasons: 

• Share of loss of associate increased from INR 0.75 Cr in Q2 FY24 to INR 1.93 Cr in Q2 FY25.
• On account of loss of control in Freshbus, the company had to revalue its investment. This led to a one-time notional gain of INR 29.7 Cr in the same quarter previous year and this was absent in the September quarter this year.
• The company’s tax expenses for the quarter zoomed to INR 5.26 Cr as opposed to being negligible in the previous year quarter. Singh said that the company has begun witnessing a normalised rate of taxation as it is now utilising its deferred tax credits created on past losses.

Meanwhile, revenue from operations rose 26% to INR 206.47 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 163.91 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year.

EBITDA surged 655% year-on-year to INR 22.40 Cr, while adjusted EBITDA (excluding ESOP expenses) rose 326% to INR 20.99 Cr from INR 4.92 Cr in Q2 FY24. 

Ixigo said that it witnessed a 40% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its gross transaction value (GTV) to INR 3,528.74 Cr in the quarter. In this, its bus travel offering saw the highest GTV expansion of 45.5% YoY in the quarter, followed by a 42.6% increase in flight GTV. Meanwhile, it also saw a 36% YoY growth in its train GTV expansion. 

“We are making constant progress in our efforts to convert more of our utility users and non transacting users who used to come to us for informational use cases, as we continuously innovate with product and usability enhancements. It was also aided by capacity additions by Railways which led to faster growth than last quarter,” managing director and group CEO Aloke Bajpai said.

The company said its active annual user base for the quarter ended September stood at 48 Cr.

Where Did ixigo Spend?

ixigo’s total expenses rose 13% to INR 191.46 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 168.79 Cr in Q2 FY24. 

Employee Costs: ixigo spent INR 38.65 Cr towards employee benefit expenses in the reported quarter compared to INR 35.92 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Other expenses: This number rose to INR 149.85 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 127.20 Cr in Q1 FY24.

Meanwhile, the company also announced an investment of INR 12.54 Cr to acquire a 51% stake in train food delivery platform Zoop Web Services Pvt Ltd. 

Shares of ixigo ended today’s trading session 0.57% lower at INR 149.10.