Flipkart-owned Cleartrip spent Rs 988 Cr to earn Rs 97 Cr in FY24

While all online travel agents (OTAs) including MakeMyTrip, Ixigo, Yatra and EaseMy Trip have been profitable for past several quarters, Cleartrip has recorded over Rs 800 crore loss in the fiscal year ending March 2024, despite achieving 98% year-on-year revenue growth.

For background, Cleartrip was acquired by Flipkart in April 2021 for $40 million in a distress sale. Cleartrip’s net revenue from operations grew by 98% to Rs 97 crore in FY24 from Rs 49 crore in FY23, its annual financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show.

Focusing on its gross operations, Cleartrip collected Rs 369 crore in service charges from customers and Rs 240 crore in commissions and incentives in FY24. However, the company provided discounts totaling Rs 525 crore on its services and incentives, which was unexpected and brought its net operating revenue down to Rs 97 crore for FY24.

This covers the revenue side; now let’s look at the major cash burn for the Flipkart-owned company in FY24. Cleartrip allocated 40% of its total costs to employee benefits in FY24, which surged by 61.3% to Rs 400 crore. This amount includes Rs 180 crore in non-cash ESOP costs. Excluding ESOPs, Cleartrip’s expenditure on salaries and wages stood at Rs 220 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024.

The firm spent Rs 128 crore on advertising and marketing, while its commissions and brokerage costs amounted to Rs 70 crore in FY24. Cleartrip also allocated Rs 91 crore to payment gateway charges, which is notable given that its revenue stood at only Rs 97 crore

Its outsourcing, information technology, legal and other overheads took the overall cost up by 26.7% to Rs 988 crore in FY24 from Rs 780 crore in FY23. See TheKredible for the detailed expense chart.

Cleartrip refused to comment on queries sent by Entrackr.

The increase in overall cost outpaced the revenue growth which led its losses to increase by 18.4% to Rs 810 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 684 crore in FY23, while its EBITDA margin stood at-399%. In FY24, its expense-to-earning ratio was recorded at Rs 10.1 as compared to Rs 15.9 in the previous fiscal year.

On the competition side, MMT reported revenue of $792 million (Rs 6,650 crore) in FY24, along with $216.7 million (Rs 1,820 crore) in profits. Meanwhile, Ixigo, EaseMyTrip, and Yatra have recorded Rs 656 crore, Rs 590 crore, and Rs 448 crore in revenue, respectively.