meta: Meta India FY21 revenue up 41% on higher FB, Instagram usage
Written by Lucky Wilson | KGTO Writer on December 20, 2021
NEW DELHI: The corona lockdowns and stay-at-home phenomenon helped the Facebook group (now called Meta) record a massive surge in business in India as revenues grew 41% to close fiscal 2020-21 at Rs 9,326 crore against Rs 6,613 crore in the previous year.
The growth in social media and internet usage – aided by some of the lowest tariffs in the world – helped the American tech giant move up strongly in the year which was heavily impacted by the corona shutdowns and where education, work and entertainment happened from within homes.
According to the financial statement filed by the company with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), its India profit in the year stood at Rs 128 crore, a shade lower to the Rs 136 crore recorded in 2019-20.
The profitability was impacted due to the company’s spends in the country as it made a specific investment of Rs 17.5 crore on grants extended to small and medium businesses to help them overcome the impact of the pandemic. Also, the 2019-20 statement had benefits from a one-off reversal of a bad debt provision.
Business seems to be going strong for the company, not only helped by the lockdowns but by a general tendency of higher digital adoption and growing data usages.
According to a recent report by telecom network supplier Ericsson, Indian smartphone users will consume at least 50GB per month of data by 2027, led by low tariffs, higher data consumption and rollout of faster networks such as 5G.
While Facebook remains the dominant revenue grosser for the company, there has also been a spurt in the consumption of Instagram that benefited immensely from the ban on Chinese app TikTok, apart from growing organically. The ban on TikTok saw Instagram’s short-video format Reels get a massive leg-up with influencers and younger audiences jumping ship to the Meta-owned platform.
It is expected that the momentum will continue to stay strong for the company, something that Meta India MD Ajit Mohan had acknowledged in a previous conversation. “Last year saw an inflection point in consumers not just moving online, but also deeply engaging with businesses and brands online… Recognizing this, savvy marketers are shifting their spends online and this is driving growth in digital advertising in India,” Mohan had said.
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