Info Edge Q2 billings rise 12.8% to Rs 822.3 crore as recruitment and 99acres offset Shiksha slump
Info Edge runs popular online marketplaces in India — Naukri.com where employers pay to post jobs and search resumes, 99acres where builders and brokers pay to list property, Jeevansathi and Aisle where users pay for matchmaking, and Shiksha where colleges pay for student leads. On October 8, 2026 the company disclosed unaudited standalone billings of Rs 822.3 crore for Q2FY27, up 12.8% year on year, and Rs 1,559.3 crore for H1FY27, up 13.5% year on year . The takeaway is that headline growth understates the core, with management pegging underlying standalone growth at about 14% after adjusting for recruitment renewal timing, while faster 99acres and matchmaking offset a sharp fall in Shiksha .
What the update said
Standalone billings are cash collected for subscriptions in the quarter and lead reported revenue, which is recognised over the contract period .
| Rs crore | Q2FY27 | Q2FY26 | YoY change | H1FY27 | H1FY26 | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruitment Solutions | 613.8 | 545.0 | 12.6% | 1,166.5 | 1,015.3 | 14.9% |
| 99acres | 148.3 | 122.4 | 21.2% | 258.4 | 216.8 | 19.2% |
| Jeevansathi | 39.7 | 33.5 | 18.4% | 79.3 | 68.2 | 16.3% |
| Shiksha | 20.5 | 28.1 | -27.2% | 55.1 | 72.9 | -24.5% |
| Info Edge Standalone | 822.3 | 729.0 | 12.8% | 1,559.3 | 1,373.2 | 13.5% |
All Q2FY27 and H1FY27 figures in the table are from the October 8, 2026 update . The company said the numbers are unaudited and subject to review and approval by the Audit Committee, Board and Statutory Auditors .
Management added that adjusting for renewal timing differences in Recruitment, underlying standalone billings growth in Q2 was about 14% year on year . Combined matchmaking billings including Aisle grew 23.1% year on year in Q2FY27, with Aisle billings up 40.0% year on year .
Recruitment: reported growth dips, underlying trend improves
Recruitment is about three-fourths of standalone billings and together with 99acres accounts for around 90% of billings . Reported Q2FY27 billings of Rs 613.8 crore, up 12.6%, look slower than Q1FY27, when billings were Rs 552.7 crore, up 17.5% year on year . Management said the comparison is noisy because some clients renew early and others defer to the next quarter .
On its adjusted read, underlying Recruitment growth was about 14-15% in Q2FY27 against reported 12.6%, while underlying growth was also about 15% in Q1FY27 when timing lifted reported growth to 17.5% . Over H1FY27, where timing partly evens out, Recruitment billings grew 14.9% year on year to Rs 1,166.5 crore . Management has repeatedly said full-year and half-year figures are a more reliable read than a single quarter and that billings are amortised over 365 days into revenue .
The longer run shows the step-up:
| Standalone billings, Rs crore | Q2FY25 | Q3FY25 | Q4FY25 | Q1FY26 | Q2FY26 | Q3FY26 | Q4FY26 | Q1FY27 | Q2FY27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 650.3 | 668.2 | 983.8 | 644.2 | 729.0 | 747.2 | 1,057.1 | 737.0 | 822.3 |
| Recruitment Solutions | 492.0 | 494.0 | 740.3 | 470.3 | 545.0 | 548.3 | 810.7 | 552.7 | 613.8 |
| 99acres | 107.4 | 102.6 | 159.8 | 94.4 | 122.4 | 117.4 | 162.8 | 110.1 | 148.3 |
| Jeevansathi | 25.9 | 27.6 | 31.9 | 34.7 | 33.5 | 35.7 | 38.6 | 39.6 | 39.7 |
| Shiksha | 24.9 | 44.1 | 51.8 | 44.8 | 28.1 | 45.8 | 45.1 | 34.6 | 20.5 |
Q2FY27 figures are from the October update . History from Q2FY25 to Q1FY27 is from the Q1FY27 presentation datasheet, where 1 crore equals 1 crore . The Q4 peak each year followed by a lower Q1 and Q2 is the normal seasonal billing pattern, with deferred sales revenue absorbing the timing .
What drove Q1FY27, the last quarter with full detail, was broad hiring plus price and new products rather than one sector. Tech, IT and BPM grew 15%, GCCs 31%, other sectors combined 12%, while recruitment consultants grew 1% . Management said slightly more than a fourth of revenue comes from recruitment firms, where growth was just 1% . The 31% GCC print was flattered because large GCC renewals deferred from March into April, and on a normalised basis GCCs were growing 15-17% and were 17-18% of billing mix rather than the reported 23% .
Management split growth roughly in thirds — about a third from volume and better enterprise renewals, about a third from price increases, and about a third from newer offerings such as AI-Rex, Talent Pulse and employer branding like AmbitionBox . Billed customer growth of 4-5% did not drive much because new Tier-2 and Tier-3 and SMB customers start at lower average realisation . For FY26, billed customers rose to 146 on an index of 100 in FY22 while average realisation per customer fell to Rs 146,000 from Rs 152,000 in FY25, after deeper Tier-2 and Tier-3 penetration .
B2B AI products start to add to billing
Adoption of B2B AI products continued to increase in Q2FY27, with AI-Rex and Talent Pulse seeing growth in both new customer sign-ups and revenue contribution . The detail comes from Q1FY27.
As of end-June 2026, AI-Rex was live across more than 4,000 enterprise customers and recruitment firms, with over 10% converted into paying customers . In Q1FY27 the company sold AI-Rex to over 400 clients, plus another 300 odd in July, from 4,000 free trials, and then rolled free trials to 10,000 customers including some of its largest and highest paying customers . Paid customers were 400 plus in Q1FY27, with hiring mandates up 3.7 times between February and June 2026 and sourcing and screening time cut from 10-15 days to a few hours .
Talent Pulse served more than 600 paid customers in Q1FY27, later put at close to 600-700 including Salary Pulse, built on a pool of over 10 crore talent and over 2 crore platform actions daily . Commercial terms were Rs 3,500 per mandate for companies and Rs 2,500 per mandate for consultants as launch price, charged per mandate and often bought separately with upgrades, while Talent Pulse is charged on consumption by number of reports viewed across base, premium and enterprise versions .
Management estimated about a third of Q1FY27 growth came from such newer offerings and said these levers should help growth run faster than the underlying hiring market over time . The base was small — Talent Pulse did about Rs 30-35 crore in FY26 — with an aim to make a few hundred crores of incremental revenue from these offerings over three years . In Q3FY26 AI-Rex was still in experiment with close to 100 clients and over 20,000 mandates, with revenue to follow adoption .
The jobseeker side added pace. Naukri 360 billings grew over 35% in Q1FY27 at a healthy PBT margin of 63%, with paid subscribers rising from 1.3% to 2.6% of monthly active users over six quarters on AI offerings such as Jobseeker Agent Neo, AI Mock Interview and AI Resume Builder . Job Hai doubled revenue in Q1FY27 on a small base, off about Rs 15 crore last year with burn of close to Rs 50 crore a year, while NaukriGulf grew 12% in Q1FY27, below its prior 20% trajectory after Middle East disruptions, but at operating margins of over 35% .
99acres accelerates and moves close to breakeven
99acres billings grew 21.2% year on year in Q2FY27 to Rs 148.3 crore, faster than 16.5% in Q1FY27, while H1FY27 grew 19.2% to Rs 258.4 crore . In Q1FY27 billings were Rs 110 crore, up 16.5%, revenue Rs 130 crore, up 17.3%, and operating PBT loss narrowed 88.6% to a loss of Rs 2.1 crore, close to breakeven .
Drivers were traffic leadership converting into supply and enquiries. In Q1FY27 web time-share was 49%, app 55% and iOS 69% on SimilarWeb, with app daily active users up 38% year on year . Live resale and rental listings from brokers grew 30% year on year, new project listings 27% and owner listings 23%, while property enquiries across categories grew more than 38% year on year . For July and August 2026, web time-share was 49% and app time-share 59% .
Management said Q1FY27 growth came while optimising overall expenses including marketing, and that much of the deliberate FY26 investment phase to convert competitive position into leadership is now behind, positioning 99acres to sustain healthy growth while becoming cash-generative during FY27 . The Q4FY26 to Q1FY27 sequence was a loss of Rs 17 crore in Q4FY26 excluding a Rs 20 crore accounting adjustment, improving to a loss of Rs 2 crore in Q1FY27 . Revenue mix is about 45-47% primary, an equal amount secondary and 7-10% owners on a freemium model, with strength with channel partners and in secondary including Delhi NCR as the largest market . The new-project market was sized at over Rs 5,000 crore, with 99Shorts launched in NCR last year to be expanded to more cities .
The outlook language is for operating leverage if revenue grows 18-20% or more with costs controlled, with an ultimate goal of 30% margin or more, helped by easing competition after a rival burning Rs 250 crore a year was sold .
Matchmaking steady, Shiksha under AI search pressure
Jeevansathi billings grew 18.4% in Q2FY27 to Rs 39.7 crore and 16.3% in H1FY27 to Rs 79.3 crore . With Aisle up 40.0%, combined matchmaking grew 23.1% in Q2FY27 . That follows Q1FY27 when Jeevansathi grew 14.2% to Rs 40 crore and Aisle 44.2% to Rs 13 crore, for combined growth of 20.3% and a portfolio near breakeven on operating PBT . Jeevansathi holds more than 45% profile share in Hindi-speaking markets and leads on daily logged-in users, with focus on new paywalls and offerings around value, convenience and affordability plus AI in recommendations .
Shiksha moved the other way. Q2FY27 billings fell 27.2% to Rs 20.5 crore and H1FY27 fell 24.5% to Rs 55.1 crore . In Q1FY27 billings fell 22.8% to Rs 35 crore and revenue fell 11.9% to Rs 44 crore, while staying operating PBT profitable at Rs 3 crore .
Management links this to distribution it does not own. AI-driven search increasingly answers queries directly and reduces search referrals to the platform, hurting traffic and then client delivery . In Q1FY27 study abroad was soft in the US and Canada, with focus shifting to the UK, UAE and continental Europe . The business is adapting its model and introducing new offerings including domestic counselling and AI-driven voicebots to reduce dependence on search, but management expects the transition over the medium term and billings growth likely to remain under pressure in the interim .
Why billings lead revenue and what it showed for profit
Because subscriptions are collected upfront and recognised over the contract, billings lead revenue and the gap sits in deferred sales revenue . In Q1FY27 total billing was Rs 737.0 crore against revenue from operations of Rs 824.5 crore, so deferred balances fell, while in seasonally strong Q4FY26 billing of Rs 1,057.1 crore against revenue of Rs 805.1 crore lifted deferred sales revenue to Rs 1,498 crore at March 31, 2026 .
| Standalone revenue from operations, Rs crore | Q2FY25 | Q3FY25 | Q4FY25 | Q1FY26 | Q2FY26 | Q3FY26 | Q4FY26 | Q1FY27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 656.1 | 671.5 | 687.1 | 736.4 | 746.0 | 764.6 | 805.1 | 824.5 |
| Recruitment Solutions | 494.9 | 504.9 | 511.2 | 541.5 | 558.2 | 574.9 | 581.3 | 611.8 |
| Real estate | 102.0 | 104.2 | 105.8 | 110.7 | 115.1 | 118.6 | 143.7 | 129.8 |
| Matrimony | 26.2 | 27.1 | 30.3 | 33.7 | 33.9 | 34.7 | 36.0 | 38.5 |
| Education | 32.9 | 35.3 | 39.8 | 50.4 | 38.8 | 36.4 | 44.2 | 44.4 |
Revenue history is from the Q1FY27 and Q2FY26 presentation datasheets . Full-year standalone revenue was Rs 3,052.0 crore in FY26, up 15.0% year on year, against billings of Rs 3,177.5 crore, up 10% .
Profit in Q1FY27 showed leverage when topline grows in teens. Standalone revenue grew 12% year on year to Rs 824 crore, operating profit grew 33% to Rs 334 crore at an operating PBT margin of over 40%, and cash from operations grew 25% to Rs 225 crore, with cash balance of Rs 5,034 crore at end-Q1 including wholly owned subsidiaries . Recruitment operating PBT grew 25% at a 58% margin, or 60.8% excluding Job Hai, while 99acres, matchmaking and Shiksha together moved toward breakeven and cash generation . Management's rule is that if topline grows in teens margins should improve, but at 8-10% it would be hard, while it continues to invest aggressively in AI and in Job Hai .
Headcount excluding fixed-term and Aisle was 5,961 in Q1FY27, down from 6,174 in Q1FY26, with hiring continuing in Job Hai, AI with over 150 people in GenAI plus machine learning, and some sales, and AI driving 15-20% efficiencies across functions .
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