Info Edge has rallied by more than 10% since its Q4 update was announced on 8 April. While the latest rally was accompanied by enthusiasm around the broader sector, Info Edge has been outperforming the IT index since 2023. That’s when its real estate and matrimony businesses spurred investor hopes, while its other investments also picked up pace.

In this article, we shall delve into the factors that make Info Edge tick, and try to infer if the lead gained in the last couple of years can persist in 2025.

Naukri has led Info Edge from the front

Info Edge operates in four core businesses across various sectors of internet classifieds—recruitment with Naukri, real estate with 99Acres, matrimony with Jeevansathi, and education with Shiksha.

Three-fourths of its core operating billings in FY25 came from its mainstay segment: Naukri.com. But growth has been broad-based. Overall billings have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% between FY21 and FY25.

This has been led from the front by its recruitment segment, which grew at 27% CAGR during the period. The next largest segment, 99Acres, also grew at 25% CAGR, more than making up for the relatively mellow growth seen in other segments—Jeevansathi and Shiksha.

Growth picked up pace in Q4

The first nine months of FY25 had seen robust growth across segments, and the growth accelerated even further in Q4FY25. The latest quarter saw 19% higher overall billing year-on-year, head and shoulders above the 13.7% growth seen in 9MFY25.

Growth picked up pace thanks to Naukri and 99Acres, which contribute more than 90% to Info Edge’s revenues. At Naukri, growth accelerated from less than 13% on-year growth in 9MFY25 to more than 18% in Q4, while 99Acres saw 22% growth in Q4 versus 14.5% on-year growth seen in 9MFY25.

Diversification kept Naukri going from great to greater

Naukri can be argued to be the market leader among online job portals. It now boasts 104 million resumes and more than half a million job listings. It has added 19,500 resumes daily on average in Q3. Compared with Monster India, Timesjob, Shine, and Indeed, which collectively capture 25% of the overall traffic of job searches, Naukri alone commands 75% market share. While this industry analysis does not include LinkedIn, Naukri has maintained a stronghold on the market since 2020.

This holds particular relevance in an industry characterised by a strong network effect. In management’s own words, a virtuous cycle is created wherein higher traffic results in higher response, which brings in more clients and more jobs, which in turn, fuels traffic even further.

But almost half of Naukri’s revenues come from catering to IT jobs. As the pandemic’s digitisation boom has given way to a sectoral slowdown in IT, it has weighed on Naukri as well. That said, between FY22 and FY25, the share of IT jobs in Naukri’s revenues has declined from 49% to 45%. Meanwhile, growth in non-IT segments such as BFSI, Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Manufacturing has helped Naukri retain its dominance.

Dominance extends beyond the top line

While market leadership and strong network effect have ensured robust top line growth, Naukri’s asset-light model has allowed the dominance to extend into profitability and cashflows as well. It has zero debt and negative working capital requirements, thanks to its advance subscription model.

Furthermore, 90% of Naukri’s revenues come from business-to-business sales of data and services, including resume database access (Naukri + IIMJobs), response management, employer branding, application tracking via Zwayam, and assessment services using Do-Select. This has helped Naukri retain its robust operating profitability. Operating profit margin for Q3FY25 had come in at 58.9%.

Other segments approaching breakeven

After Naukri, 99Acres is the largest segment for Info Edge and contributes 16% to its revenues. As the digital share of real estate marketing by builders has picked up since the pandemic, 99Acres has capitalized on the tailwind by doubling down on its customer-centric approach, analytics-driven monetization, and persistent focus on the quality of listings.

It has overtaken competitors, MagicBricks and Housing, to claim almost 40% market share of overall traffic in real estate search. It also boasts of higher engagement as well as superior engagement-quality proxied by lower bounce rates. With scale, its operating losses and cash outflows have shrunk by 67% and 63%, respectively, in 9MFY25. It has also benefited from improvements in efficiency of its digital marketing spends.

Jeevansathi has continued towards breakeven as well. Despite intense competition wherein the top three players vie for larger shares of India’s online matrimony pie, a robust 36% growth in billings along with rationalization of marketing expenditure have enabled almost 89% reduction in its cash outflows in 9MFY25. Of course, the education business, Shiksha, has been struggling amid broader stress in EdTech. But it is a smaller part of the business, having contributed only about 5% to Info Edge’s revenues in FY24.

Strategic investments brighten fortunes further

Leaving aside acquisitions such as IIMjobs, AmbitionBox, and Zwayam, which fit into Info Edge’s core businesses, Info Edge has also made strategic and financial investments in 111 companies over 18 years. These investments, made on Info Edge’s own balance sheet as well as via a joint AIF with Temasek Holding’s subsidiary, amount to almost ₹4,000 crore as of March 2025.

According to the management’s letter to shareholders released last week, the fair market value of these investments has been pegged at ₹36,855 crore. This amounts to a gross IRR of 36% across vintages. In fact, these investments contribute 30-40% to the company’s value and are second only to Naukri.

Some of its most profitable investments include the likes of Zomato and PolicyBazaar, wherein Info Edge’s investment of ₹1,075 crore currently stands at more than ₹31,500 crore. The management is optimistic on the long-term promise of the remaining investments as well.

Risks loom

Despite strengths across the board, some risks loom large for Info Edge. For Naukri, risks of an extended slowdown in its bread-and-butter sector, IT, weigh on its fortunes. Of course, the pause in the trade war between the US and China bodes well for the US economy and, in turn, for Naukri. But which way the tide turns after the pause will need to be closely watched.

For 99Acres, more than 80% of listings are residential. As residential real estate shows signs of a slowdown, it can affect the growth at 99Acres. We are seeing early signs of this stress, as resale and rental listings grew faster at 20% on-year in Q3 against 9% growth seen in new project listings. It remains to be seen whether this trend continues in the Q4 earnings scheduled for the end of this month.

The value of its startup investments, as well as the trend of losses at Jeevansathi and Shiksha will also need to be closely watched in the coming quarters.

Ananya Roy is the founder of Credibull Capital, a Sebi-registered investment advisor.

Disclosure: The author does not hold shares of the companies discussed. The views expressed are for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult a financial professional before making any investment decisions.