Airbnb India witnesses marginal decline in revenue and profits

Hospitality firm Airbnb’s India arm saw a drop in revenue, profits and expenses during FY19 when compared to the previous year, indicating a decline in overall activity. Airbnb India witnessed an almost 7% drop in its revenue from Rs 34.76 crore in FY18 to Rs 32.36 crore during FY19, according to its regulatory filings. 

Meanwhile, expenses also dropped at the same rate, amounting to Rs 29.4 crore in FY19.

While the company continued to make money clocking a profit of Rs 1.75 crore, its 15.45% less than the profit of Rs 2.07 crore clocked the previous year.

Marketing expenses also show a sharp decline of 21.08% to Rs 1.46 crore from Rs 1.85 crore last year. But even as overall expenses dropped, the employees benefit expenses increased by 37.41% to Rs 7.97 crore from Rs 5.80 crore in FY18.

Moreover, keeping in mind the future growth prospects and expansion plans of the company in the coming years, there has been no dividend distribution, as per the filings.

The company’s muted movement in the financials could also be a sign of being cautious ahead of its IPO next year. 

Airbnb forayed into India in 2016. Even though the financials are unclear on the firm’s plans for India, it considers the country to be one of its top three emerging markets. It has around 54,000 listings spread across 110 cities in the country. 

The company was recently in the news for having the 300-year old City Palace of Jaipur to be listed on its platform for booking.

The main entity Airbnb was launched in 2008 and has raised a total of $4.4 billion, valuing the firm at around $35 billion. Earlier this year, Airbnb invested around $150-200 million in India’s hospitality chain OYO.