Chingari’s operating scale declines 53% in FY25

Chingari saw its business shrink after pivoting to a paid, private live streaming model in June 2023, moving away from its short video-led approach. The platform posted a 53% year-on-year drop in operating revenue in FY25, while losses declined 62% to Rs 8.8 crore.

For background, in FY23, Chingari reported Rs 113 crore revenue from operations with a net loss of Rs 42 crore.

Chingari’s revenue from operations fell over 52% to Rs 44 crore in FY25 from Rs 92 crore in FY24, according to its consolidated financial statements sourced from Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Founded in November 2018, Chingari operated as a TikTok-style short video platform until its pivot in June 2023. Since then, it has repositioned itself as a paid, private live streaming platform. It enables 1-on-1 private calls between creators and users, where users purchase virtual “diamonds” to access these personal interactions. 

As per the company’s guidelines, the platform prohibits nudity and sexually explicit content. However, a review of the app and website suggested it operated as a softer version of OnlyFans. It recorded over 10 crore downloads on Android, as per the Google Play Store data.

Revenue from domestic users accounted for 28% of the total at Rs 12.2 crore, while the remaining 72% came from export revenue at Rs 31.3 crore, which indicates revenue from foreign users.

On the cost side, advertising cum promotional expenses were the largest expense centre for the firm, but they declined 46% to Rs 23.75 crore in FY25 from Rs 43.65 crore in FY24. Employee benefits expenses also fell 58% year-on-year to Rs 13.4 crore.

Information technology expenses rose 8.4% to Rs 9 crore in the last fiscal, while other overheads, including rent, legal and professional fees, and travel costs, took total expenditure to Rs 52.4 crore.

In line with the decline in operating revenue, overall expenditure fell 55% to Rs 52.4 crore in FY25 from Rs 116.3 crore in FY24, which helped the company narrow its losses to Rs 8.8 crore from Rs 23.3 crore in FY24.

On a unit basis, the Bengaluru-based company spent Rs 1.2 to earn a single rupee of operating revenue in FY25. At the end of March 2025, Chingari reported Rs 8 crore in current assets, which includes Rs 2.2 crore in cash and bank balance.

According to media reports, during its pivot, Chingari faced allegations that it was building an adult entertainment app through its paid 1-on-1 video call feature, which could involve explicit content. However, the Bengaluru-based company denied these claims. 

Either way, the firm seems to be on a faster than usual glide to oblivion, going by the numbers. Unprofitable, highly risky model with more than enough competition. Perhaps the firm could control more revenues by creating its own AI powered creators in the near future, but it's clear it can no longer run on the imagination of its users.