New-Age Tech Stocks Dip This Week, FirstCry Emerges Biggest Loser

Continuing last week’s momentum, the Indian equities market gained this week as well. However, new-age tech stocks saw a decline, with 18 out of the 32 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage falling in a range of 0.49% to a little over 17% this week. 

With its shares plunging to an all-time low of INR 410 on Friday, shares of kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry lost the most in the run up to its quarterly disclosures. The company’s shares recovered a bit to end at INR 417.90, still 17.01% lower week-on-week. 

The major downfall in the company’s shares was triggered after it informed the bourses last week that it received shareholders’ approval to award its CEO and MD Supam Maheshwari 51.80 Lakh ESOPs out of the 99.33 Lakh options reserved for its management employees. 

The company disclosed its financial performance for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) on Saturday. 

While its consolidated net loss contracted 69% YoY to INR 14.78 Cr, its revenue from operations surged 14.3% to INR 2,172.30 Cr in Q3 FY25.

Shares of the second biggest loser this week, Swiggy, also touched a fresh all-time low of INR 374.80 during intraday trading on Friday on the back of weak financial numbers for the December quarter. The company’s shares ended the week at INR 381, down 12.47% from last week. 

Shares of EaseMytrip, Yatra, and DroneAcharya also touched fresh 52-week lows this week. Ola Electric, TAC Infosec, Unicommerce, and MapmyIndia were among the other losers this week.

Meanwhile, shares of 14 new-age tech companies gained in a range of 0.09% to a little under 21%. An upbeat Q3 show led to a bull run for logistics major BlackBuck. The company’s shares ended the week 20.63% higher from last week at INR 486.55. 

The second biggest gainer this week was Paytm, with its shares gaining 9.14% to end the week at INR 811.60. During the week, Paytm said it is acquiring a 25% stake in Delaware-based fintech startup Seven Technology LLC via its arm,Paytm Cloud Technologies. 

This came after the company said last week that it was setting up three new subsidiaries in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore through its cloud arm.

Amid the gainers this week was the latest addition to Inc42’s new-age tech stocks coverage, BSE SME listed company Veefin Solutions. The company’s shares gained 1.62% this week to end at INR 521. It has zoomed 505.46% since listing on the platform on July 5, 2023.

Last week, Veefin announced its acquisition of Dubai-based TradeAssets through its subsidiary Estorifi Solutions, its fifth acquisition in the past eight months. 

In the broader market, Sensex gained 0.46% to end the week at 77,860.19 and Nifty 50 gained 0.33% to end at 23,559.95. 

This week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% from 6.50% this week, marking the first rate cut in nearly five years. 

“The MPC was on reasonably expected lines on all counts – rate cut, stance and statement on liquidity measures. This decision in my view was a logical extension to the liquidity measures taken in January, along with clear assurances given by the RBI to support liquidity whenever necessitated going forward… (the) outcome sets the stage for rate cut expectations in April, unless inflation and global macro play havoc,”  Lakshmanan V, group president and head of treasury (treasurer) at Federal Bank said. 

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their relentless selling. They have sold equities worth INR 90,993 Cr since the startup of the year till February 7.

“Though the FPI inflows have still not turned fully green, the announcements made in the budget last week followed by the central bank’s policy release this week has brought India back to the forefront as the fastest emerging economies of the world. Despite macro factors such as fear of potential tariff and trade curbs to be announced by the newly elected US government, rising inflation risk, currency depreciation, and potential trade wars, India is well poised and self-insulated by strong measures and timely rate cut measures taken by the RBI,” said Manoj Purohit, partner and leader at BDO India.

In another pertinent development this week, the Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly elections in Delhi.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said that the victory is likely to have a positive impact on the market in the short run. “However, the medium to long-term trend in the market will depend on the recovery in GDP growth and earnings recovery,” he added.

Now, let’s take a deeper look at the performance of some of the new-age tech stocks this week.

The overall market capitalisation of the 32 new-age tech stocks under Inc24’s coverage decreased to $81.20 Bn at the end of this week from $83.77 Bn at the end of last week. 

Swiggy’s Loss Widens 

Foodtech major Swiggy’s consolidated net loss rose 39.1% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 799 Cr in Q3 FY25. 

While operating revenue also grew 31% YoY to INR 3,993.1 Cr, quick commerce expansion and rising competition in the segment hit its bottom line. Swiggy Instamart’s loss zoomed 70% YoY to INR 527.68 Cr during the quarter, while revenue surged 114% YoY to INR 576.50 Cr

Moving forward, Swiggy doesn’t plan to put a break on this expansion spree, with CEO Sriharsha Majety saying that the competitive intensity and dark store rollouts will remain elevated in the near term, impacting margins temporarily before they head back up. 

Out-of-home consumption vertical, which includes SteppinOut and Dineout, neared EBITDA breakeven, with an 82% YoY dip in net loss to INR 8.18 Cr

BlackBuck Shares Zoom On Upbeat Results

Logistics company BlackBuck reported a robust growth in its top line despite its loss widening due to one-time exceptional expenses in Q3. While the company’s revenue from operations increased 41% YoY to INR 113.98 Cr, its adjusted EBITDA zoomed over 459% YoY to INR 42.04 Cr. 

Net loss grew 145% YoY to INR 48.03 Cr on account of exceptional items pertaining to IPO related expenses worth INR 8.45 Cr and a share based payment of INR 69.44 Cr. 

JM Financial gave a buy rating on the stock with a target price of INR 570 by March 2026. 

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