Indifi scale goes past Rs 300 Cr in FY24; stays profitable

MSME lender Indifi Technologies continued its strong financial performance, posting over 60% year-on-year growth for the fiscal year ending March 2024. This follows an exceptional FY23, during which the company doubled its scale, and turned profitable.

Indifi’s revenue from operations surged to Rs 317 crore in FY24 from Rs 198 crore in FY23, according to its consolidated annual results accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Indifi offers loans for small businesses across travel, hotel, e-commerce, restaurant, trading, and retail sectors which have limited credit access from financial institutions. According to the company's website, it has disbursed over 1,00,000 loans, partnered with more than 80 active institutions, and serves businesses across 400+ cities.

Indifi's revenue primarily came from processing fees charged to borrowers on loan disbursals and service fees collected from lenders for bundled services such as loan origination, servicing, and collection. Additionally, the company earned Rs 24 crore from interest and other miscellaneous sources, bringing its total revenue to Rs 341 crore in FY24, up from Rs 213 crore in FY23.

Indifi also participated in co-lending arrangements with banks and NBFCs, making interest cost its largest expense category. This cost surged by 62.1% to Rs 107 crore in FY24 from Rs 66 crore in FY23, accounting for 32% of the company's total expenses. Its employee benefits grew 28.6% YoY to Rs 72 crore in the last fiscal year.

With the increase in scale, Indifi’s cost of bad debt written off surged 2.1X to Rs 45 crore in FY24. Rising expenses in advertising, legal, IT, and other overheads pushed total expenditure up by 65%, reaching Rs 335 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 203 crore in FY23.

The increase in bad debt expenses and employee benefit costs outpaced revenue growth, causing Indifi’s profit to decline to Rs 2.7 crore in FY24, down from Rs 5.1 crore in FY23. On a unit level, the firm spent Rs 1.06 to earn a rupee. By the end of FY24, its total current assets stood at Rs 1,169 crore, including Rs 232 crore in cash and bank balances.

Indifi has raised over $80 million to date including its $35 million Series E round led by ICICI Venture and with the participation of existing investors. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the CDC group is the largest external investor in the firm followed by Accel and Omidyar Network.