Cars24 Trims FY26 Net Loss By 19% YoY To ₹441 Cr, Revenue Slides 18%

Used car marketplace Cars24 managed to trim its net loss for the fiscal year FY26 by 18.7% to ₹441.1 Cr from ₹542.7 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

The improvement in the bottom line came despite a dip in the IPO-bound startup’s top line. Cars24’s operating revenue declined 18.3% to ₹5,091.7 Cr in the fiscal under review from ₹6,233.2 Cr in FY25.

The startup’s top line from sale of products declined by 22.7% to ₹4,438.8 Cr in FY26 from ₹5,746.1 Cr in FY25. Meanwhile, revenue from services more than doubled to ₹205.6 Cr from ₹89.5 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue from other segments increased 12.5% to ₹447.3 Cr from ₹397.7 Cr in FY25.

Including other income of ₹128.3 Cr, the startup’s total income for the fiscal stood at ₹5,220 Cr. 

This follows Cars24, in May, claiming that it had turned adjusted EBITDA profitable for the first time in Q4 FY26, posting an adjusted EBITDA of ₹20 Cr for the quarter. At the time, It had attributed the improvement to AI-led efficiencies, growth across its core businesses and lending vertical, network effects and lower customer acquisition costs.

The FY26 numbers also revealed that CARS24’s cash and cash equivalents more than halved to ₹377.1 Cr at the end of March 2026 as against ₹860.8 Cr a year earlier. Meanwhile, its total borrowings, including current and non-current debt, increased nearly 17% to ₹958.6 Cr from ₹820.4 Cr.

Founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid, and Ruchit Agarwal, Cars24 operates an online marketplace for buying and selling used cars. It also offers financing, insurance support, warranties and other related services. It also entered the market for buying new cars last year.

It has raised over $1.3 Bn to date from investors such as SoftBank, Alpha Wave Global, and Peak XV Partners and was last valued at over $3.2 Bn. 

Its financial services subsidiary, Cars24 Financial Services, also reported improvement in profitability in FY26. The subsidiary’s turnover increased to ₹299 Cr from ₹264.5 Cr in FY25, while its profit after tax more than tripled to ₹21.4 Cr from ₹6.8 Cr in FY25.

The decline in net loss comes at a time when the startup is looking to go public soon. Earlier in January, CEO Chopra had said that the startup was planning to launch its IPO over the upcoming twelve months (January 2027). While he had highlighted significant improvements in the startup’s financial health, he refrained from delving into the exact particulars of the IPO.

Meanwhile, Cars24 has been aggressively doubling down on enhancing its AI stack amid a decline in its overall sales. It is looking to invest about $20 Mn to build AI-first products under a new initiative, AI Labs. 

Nevertheless, the startup claims to be leveraging AI to reduce inspection timing, conduct audits at its retail hubs and handle 15 Lakh+ minutes of calls per month across 7 languages. 

Zooming Into Cars24’s FY26 Expenses

The startup maintained a tight leash on costs during the fiscal under review. Total expenses fell 17.8% to ₹5,673.6 Cr from ₹6,898.4 Cr in FY26. It also incurred ₹7.03 Cr worth of an exceptional item expense in the fiscal. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: Expenditure under this bucket 33.4% to ₹806 Cr in FY26 from ₹604.1 Cr in the year ago period. This was primarily due to a 482% jump in ESOP expenses to ₹212.3 Cr from ₹36.5 Cr in FY25.

Purchases of Stock-In-Trade: This was the biggest cost centre for Cars24 in FY26. Expenses under this bucket declined 20.7% to ₹4,256.2 Cr from ₹5,369.1 Cr in the fiscal year ended March 2025. 

Advertising and Promotional Expenses: The startup also spent ₹105.4 Cr towards marketing and advertising in FY26, broadly flat compared to ₹106.1 Cr in FY25. 

The post Cars24 Trims FY26 Net Loss By 19% YoY To ₹441 Cr, Revenue Slides 18% appeared first on Inc42 Media.