Cars24 FY26 revenue drops 18% as core used-car business falls 23%
Cars24 India reported FY26 revenue of Rs 5,092 crore, down from Rs 6,223 crore a year earlier. Its core car auction and retail business fell 23%, while net loss narrowed 19% to Rs 441 crore on lower procurement costs. Ancillary services and vehicle-backed lending grew as the company prepares for an India IPO.
What happened
Cars24 India’s FY26 revenue fell 18% as its core used-car auction and retail business declined 23%. Losses narrowed through lower procurement costs and AI-led
Key facts
- FY26 revenue from operations: Rs 5,092 crore, down 18% from Rs 6,223 crore in FY25
- Core car auction and retail revenue: Rs 4,439 crore, down 23% from Rs 5,746 crore
- FY26 net loss: Rs 441 crore, down 19% from Rs 543 crore
- Car procurement costs: Rs 4,212 crore, down 24%
- Loans against cars disbursed: Rs 3,426 crore
- Ancillary automotive-services revenue: Rs 653 crore, up 34%
- Cars24 Labs AI commitment: $20 million
Why this matters
Cars24’s expanding vehicle-backed lending and ancillary businesses create partnership opportunities with lenders, insurers and service providers as it diversifies beyond volatile used-car sales.
What to watch
- Quarterly core auction and retail volumes, take rates and average selling prices.
- Gross margin and inventory-days trends, especially whether procurement savings persist.
- Ancillary-services and lending growth relative to declining vehicle-sales revenue.
- Loan-originations, delinquency/NPA indicators, funding costs and provisioning needs.
- Cash burn, adjusted EBITDA trajectory and any IPO filing, banker appointment or pre-IPO fundraising.
- Used-car pricing, new-car discounting and financing-rate trends in India.
- Reduce low-margin inventory exposure and concentrate sourcing in faster-turning models and geographies.
- Expand vehicle-backed lending, warranties, inspections and other ancillary products to raise revenue per transaction.
- Use lower procurement costs to protect gross margins rather than pursue broad price-led volume growth.
- Strengthen underwriting, collections and loan-book risk controls as lending becomes a larger share of growth.
- Frame IPO preparation around improving unit economics, reduced cash burn and a diversified revenue mix.