Just Dial now valued more than Flipkart?

Mumbai-based Just Dial Ltd, which runs the online business directory Justdial.com  saw its share price hit a new high on Friday which also simultaneously made it arguably the most valued Indian consumer tech venture.

The firm ended the day with a market capitalisation or market value of Rs 11,235 crore or $1.8 billion which in effect pushes it ahead of India's biggest consumer e-commerce venture Flipkart which was valued at $1.6 billion in the latest funding round.

However, Flipkart is a privately held firm and hence its current market value is not determined on a day-to-day basis and hence may not be directly comparable with Just Dial.

Just Dial stock price rose over 10 per cent in intra-day trades to hit a high of Rs 1,648 a share but ended the day at Rs 1603.5, up 7.3 per cent on BSE in a flat Mumbai market on Friday.

Just Dial stock has almost tripled from the price it set in its public issue in mid-2013. It is now valued more than the combined market cap of the two other significant listed consumer internet ventures from India—Info Edge (which runs Naukri.com, jeevansaathi.com, etc) and MakeMyTrip.

The firm has been looking at various ways to add new revenue streams to its business. Just Dial generated revenues only from ads and paid listings on its platform at the time of its IPO but has since then opened its platform for ordering food online. It is also working on a slew of other such monetisation plans, including online cab booking, movie ticketing and fixing appointments with doctors.

Last month it announced the launch of new services transitioning from being solely a local search engine in India to being a service provider facilitating transactions between consumers and providers of various products and services through an online platform.

It said it is launching a marketplace where it will facilitate purchase of various branded goods through its online platform. Such goods would include mobile phones, camera, etc. and the same would be sold by the neighbourhood stores participating through this platform. Other online services expected to be launched include ordering of flowers, groceries etc.

For the second quarter ended September 30, it reported a 98 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 28.66 crore with operating revenue rising 29 per cent to Rs 112.66 crore.

The share price rise means big moolah for its early backers SAIF Partners and Tiger Global which are sitting on unrealised gains of around 25-30x on their investment. Other investors of Just Dial include Sequoia Capital, SAP Ventures which invested much later but are also sitting on a neat profit.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)