Amazon India’s marketplace has delivered a fiscal year of ₹588.6 crore adjusted EBITDA in FY 2024, marking a strong reflection of the group’s continuing growth trajectory. The momentum towards consolidated lead over its closest competitor Flipkart got further strengthened with marketplace revenue crossing the ₹25,000 crore mark.
PC: Punjab News Express
Standalone financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies report the gross merchandise value (GMV) at Amazon India to have risen 14.5% to ₹25,406 crore for FY24 over ₹22,198 crore in FY23. Marketplaces continued to be the main cash contributor to the company, accounting for 82.4% of its revenue.
The remaining was coming from the services made available to parties related to it, including marketing and royalty fees. Apart from this, the company had earned ₹186.8 crore in terms of non-operating income. At the total level, the fiscal revenue of the company reached ₹25,592.8 crore for the fiscal year.
Cost control has been commendable leadership by the company’s financial management, though total expenses at ₹29,062.3 crore are 6.5% higher than ₹27,283.6 crore in FY23. Delivery charges continue to remain the biggest cost head accounting for 25.8% of total expenses, having risen by 9.1% to ₹7,487.9 crore. Sales promotions and legal/professional fees – second biggest overheads – amount to ₹3,586.1 crore and ₹3,530.2 crore respectively, both at 12% of the total.
Employee benefits were another sector where the company spent ₹2,771.2 crore. The amount included the share-based compensation or ESOP of ₹682.7 crore, but also noted was the encouraging expenditure on the workforce of Amazon.
The cost did not hinder the margin in cutting losses at a whopping 28.5%. This led to cutting losses to ₹3,469.5 crore in FY24 from ₹4,854.1 crore for the previous year. While Amazon India had positive operating cash flows at ₹724.1 crore, the negative cash flows were recorded at ₹1,542.1 crore in FY23.
One of the highlights of Amazon is adjusted EBITDA, which shows operational profitability if items such as ESOPs are excluded. Even though Amazon posted an EBITDA of ₹94.1 crore, in its adjusted EBITDA number, EBITDA margin improves to -0.37%. On a unit basis, for every rupee of operating revenue earned, Amazon spent ₹1.14, but in comparison with the same quarter last year, Amazon has improved its cost control efficiency.
While in stark contrast, Flipkart reported ₹17,907 crore in revenues, with 21% year-on-year growth besides slicing down its losses more than over 40% to stand at ₹2,358 crore in FY24. This competitive landscape throws up intense challenges before Amazon, though having large-sized revenues and a high market share.
Marketplace here is doing steadily well in the house of Amazon India, driven by a steadily increasing line of products and services, customer-friendly policies, and strategic investment in technology and logistics. Its significant strength in the evolving landscape of e-commerce operations in India will help it push growth to the next levels and continue its climb on the profitability front.
In summary, with its latest financial performance, Amazon India has underlined how viable and promising the future looks for the company as it could grow into a big enough player in one of the world’s largest e-commerce markets.
