CarTrade provided its financial results for the first quarter of FY27. It showed stable business financial performance in its core activities. CarTrade witnessed an increase in operating income of more than 16%, as per the company’s unaudited financials announced on the National Stock Exchange. In Q1 FY27, the company earned operating income of ₹201 crore. The operating income was ₹173 crore in Q1 FY26.

Operational performance and non-operating income

In terms of the bottom line, the automobile platform also posted significant growth. For the first quarter of FY27, CarTrade’s profit surged by 21.3% to ₹57 crore from ₹47 crore in Q1 FY26. 

The sequential operating performance saw some minor changes. Net profit witnessed a fall of nearly 20% compared to ₹71 crore earned in the preceding quarter (Q4 FY26). Operating revenue also fell from ₹203 crore to ₹201 crore in the preceding quarter.

Consumer, Remarketing, and Classifieds are the three broad segments of CarTrade. The Consumer segment was the primary contributor to operational revenue at ₹78 crore during Q1 FY27. 

The second largest contributor was the Remarketing segment with revenue of ₹67 crore, followed by the Classifieds segment with revenue of ₹62 crore for the same period. These segment figures do not include an allowance for ₹6.4 crore for intersegment eliminations.

CarTrade also reported substantial non-operating income in the first quarter. In Q1 FY27, CarTrade reported a non-operating income of ₹29 crore. Total income for Q1 FY27 stood at ₹230 crore, of which operating income was ₹201 crore. This is a significant rise from the ₹199 crore in total income reported in Q1 FY26.

Detailed breakdown of expenditure and market valuation

On the income side, employee benefits remained the largest expense category for CarTrade, representing almost 55% of total costs for the quarter. The cost associated with employee benefits increased sharply from ₹75 crore in Q1 FY26 to ₹83 crore in Q1 FY27. Other operating expenses for the quarter accounted for ₹55 crore.

In the company’s cost structure, finance cost was reported at ₹3.2 crore and depreciation at ₹11 crore in Q1 FY27. In regard to expenditure, CarTrade has seen a year-on-year rise of 7%, from costing ₹142 crore in Q1 FY26 to ₹152 crore in the current quarter. The ongoing expansion in its business segments and the relative stability of capital spending heavily contributed to the company’s net profit rising to ₹57 crore.

The company has indicated a major strategic initiative in a separate regulatory filing apart from its financial earnings release. CarTrade Tech has partnered with Spinny to build the overall experience for the used-car buying and selling process on CarWale and OLX India. 

This partnership will enable CarTrade visitors on its platforms to witness Spinny’s used car listings and services that are quality vetted. CarTrade will utilize its AI-proprietary VAYA technology to successfully match and link consumers with relevant vehicle listings in real time.

With these financial releases and corporate announcements, CarTrade had shown that investors had noticed it on the stock exchange. On the day of the announcement, CarTrade’s stock was trading at ₹2,812 per share. The total market cap of the automobile classifieds platform stood at ₹14,187 crore at this trading price.

Conclusion

The Consumer and Remarketing segments contributed to CarTrade’s performance in Q1 FY27, reporting consolidated revenue growth and steady operational expansion with the Classifieds segment. The platform posted revenue from operations at ₹201 crore and total income at ₹230 crore, recording a 21.3% rise in profit over the previous year while managing expenditure growth in the double digits at 7%.

With non-operating income of ₹29 crore, continued cost management, and recent strategic developments including the partnership with Spinny for AI-enabled classified websites, CarTrade has firmly established itself in the automobile classifieds business and has a market cap of ₹14,187 crore.