Cloudtail India clocks Rs 11,413 cr revenue in FY20, net profits up 130%

Cloudtail India, one of the largest sellers on the ecommerce platform Amazon India, posted over two-fold increase in profits to Rs 67.5 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2020.

This is the second consecutive year of profits of Cloudtail, which is jointly owned by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and Amazon through Prione Business Services.

It reported net profit of Rs 29.3 crore in FY 19 as against a net loss of Rs 4.11 crore a year ago.

The company’s revenue from operations grew nearly 28% to Rs 11,412 crore during the reporting period, from Rs 8940 crore in FY19, according to regulatory filings.

Cloudtail reported expenses of Rs 11,313 in FY20, up from Rs 8900 in the previous year.

In February 2019, the company had reportedly suspended its operations for a week before aligning its corporate structure as per the latest ecommerce norms. In December 2018, the government had issued new norms barring marketplace companies from owning a stake in seller companies or control over their inventories.

Cloudtail India resumed its operations after Amazon reduced its stake by selling shares to its joint venture partner Catamaran Ventures.

Under the new structure, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s family office has increased its stake in Prione Business Services, the parent of Cloudtail, from 51% to 76% while Amazon Asia has brought down its holding to 24% from 49%. This makes Cloudtail a non-group company of Amazon, fulfilling a condition stated by the new FDI rules for selling on an e-commerce marketplace. 

Cloudtail India had posted a 27% increase in 2017-18 and a four-fold increase in 2015-16 in its topline.

Amazon reported a 37% revenue growth to $96.14 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. The net sales for cloud business AWS grew 29% year-on-year to $11.6 billion. 

Additionally, its international sales recorded a profit of $407 million for the period, compared to the loss of $386 million in the corresponding quarter last year.   

The company said that it will continue to invest in international markets, including India, that have shown profits for two consecutive quarters. 

The ecommerce platform saw the number of Prime subscribers in India double during its flagship Prime Day sale on August 6 and 7. It also hired one lakh seasonal contract employees in the country ahead of the six-day Great Indian Festival sale that began on October 17.