Freecharge FY25: Revenue down 35%, slips into red with Rs 42 Cr loss

Axis Bank-owned digital payments and financial services firm Freecharge slipped into losses in the fiscal year ending March 2025, reversing its performance from a profit of Rs 79 crore in FY24. The loss came on the back of declining revenues and higher operating costs.

Freecharge’s revenue from operations fell 35% to Rs 297 crore in FY25 from Rs 454 crore in FY24, its financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.

The company generates income from technology service providers (TSP) and commission fees. Revenue from TSP fees, which contributed nearly 49% of its operating income, dipped by 16% to Rs 145.5 crore. The biggest dip in revenue was in the business support fee collected for providing financial and customer acquisition services to Axis Bank, which fell by 96% to Rs 6 crore in FY25 from Rs 163 crore in FY24.

Commission fees, however, surged 2.8X to Rs 111 crore. Freecharge also earned Rs 15 crore from non-operating sources, taking its total income to Rs 312 crore in the last fiscal year.

Employee benefit expenses accounted for over 55% of the total cost which rose 19% to Rs 203 crore in FY25 from Rs 171 crore in FY24. Service charges climbed 18% to Rs 115.5 crore in FY25, in contrast, advertising cost fell sharply by 87% to Rs 6 crore during the same period. Legal, professional, and other overheads added another Rs 32.5 crore.

Overall, Freecharge’s total expenditure increased 2.2% to Rs 367 crore during the last fiscal year from Rs 359 crore in FY24.

With falling revenues and slightly higher costs, the firm lost its profitability and posted a loss of Rs 42 crore in FY25 as compared to a profit of Rs 79 crore in the previous fiscal year.

Its ROCE stood at -17.96% and its EBITDA margin declined to -19.2% from 22.7% a year earlier. On a unit basis, Freecharge spent Rs 1.24 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in FY25, compared to 79 paise in FY24.

The company’s total assets declined to Rs 445 crore in FY25 from Rs 500 crore, while cash and bank balances increased to Rs 139 crore. As of March 2025, it had current assets of Rs 390 crore.

Axis Bank acquired Freecharge from Snapdeal in a Rs 385 crore ($60 million) deal in July 2017. Before that, Freecharge’s original founders Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon sold the wallet platform to Snapdeal for about Rs 3,000 crore ($400 million) in April 2015.