Articles by Fe Bureau

Business

Zerodha FY25 profit falls 23%

Online stock broking platform Zerodha’s profits fell 22.9% to `4,237 crore in the financial year ended March 2025 from Rs 5,496 crore last year as its revenue from operations fell 11.5% to `8,847 crore, according to Entrackr. Its return on capital employed contracted to 32% from 42% previous year, and operating margin improved to 63.78% from 55.25%. Meanwhile, its cash and bank balances surged to `22,679 crore from `10,211 crore last year. ALSO READGroww parent PAT rises 12% YoY, stock gains 58% over issue price FY25 Financial Contraction In a post on completing 15 years in August, its founder and CEO, Nithin Kamath, had written, “This year, we are seeing a substantial hit of about 40% in brokerage revenues in the latest quarter (June 2025) compared to the same quarter last year.” Regulatory Impact and Strong, Debt-Free Balance Shee According to him, as of that date, the assets held by Zerodha customers now account for about 10% of all retail and HNI AUM in the country. ALSO READOperating profit of OMCs to rise over 50% to $18-20 per barrel: Crisil “We have zero debt on the books, and as we are fully privately held, we have more skin in the game than any other broker in India,” he added.

Business

Groww parent PAT rises 12% YoY, stock gains 58% over issue price

Billionbrains Garage Ventures Limited, the parent company of discount broker Groww, reported a 12% year-on-year increase in its profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, to `471.3 crore. The company’s total income came in at Rs 1,070.8 crore, up 13% sequentially but nearly 8% lower year-on-year. Its average daily turnover for the cash segment rose from 17.7% to 25.8%, while that for the derivatives segment increased from 10.7% to 17.3% on a year-on-year basis. Groww, which got listed on the exchanges last week, had surged 31% on its debut day. The stock has since climbed 58%. Following the Q2 results announcement, it rose 7.5% intraday before erasing most of the gains to close 0.8% higher. ALSO READOperating profit of OMCs to rise over 50% to $18-20 per barrel: Crisil In its investor presentation, the company said it had invested in discretionary branding activities such as the Asia Cup and Kaun Banega Crorepati, adding that “in the absence of which our PAT margins could have been even higher.” High operating leverage drives profit growth “Our business model largely resembles that of a software platform, where most of the incremental revenues flow through entirely to the bottom line, with more than 90% of our costs not direct in nature. Whenever our revenue growth outpaces costs, our leverage improves, thereby leading to higher profitability,” the company said. User engagement and higher order value fuel revenue per order Active users grew 3.2% quarter-on-quarter, led by new customer additions and increased engagement across multiple products. In Q2 FY26, 4.5% of the company’s 13% incremental revenue growth came from newly acquired users, with the remainder driven by existing customers. ALSO READHealth insurers lose up to Rs 10,000 crore annually on fraud & abuse: BCG On the derivatives side, Groww said revenue per order declined year-on-year due to the true-to-label circular regulation, while the revenue per order for stocks increased. “This has been driven by two factors: higher average order value — 66% growth YoY to Rs 59,079 as compared to Rs 35,502 in Q2 last year. Pricing changes made over the past year have contributed to the rest of the growth in yield per order,” the company said.

World

Operating profit of OMCs to rise over 50% to $18-20 per barrel: Crisil

Oil marketing companies (OMCs) are expected to see their operating profit grow more than 50% to $18-20 per barrel this financial year from around $12 last financial year. This is driven by stronger marketing margin on account of stable retail fuel prices and favourable crude oil dynamics, Crisil Ratings said on Friday. OMCs earn from two businesses—refining and marketing. In refining, they earn gross refining margin (GRM) and in marketing, they earn from margin on petrol, diesel and other petroleum products sold. The Margin Shift: This financial year, the improvement in marketing margin will more than offset a moderation in refining margin owing to slow growth in global demand for fossil fuels as the world transitions towards cleaner energy sources, Crisil said. The resultant healthy accruals will support capital expenditure (capex) plans of OMCs, strengthening their credit metrics, it added. ALSO READAfter QCO withdrawal, India orders anti-dumping probe on polyester yarn variant An analysis of public-sector OMCs rated by it, accounting for nearly 90% of the sector revenue, indicates as much. "Over the past five fiscals, geopolitical uncertainties have impacted oil prices, while retail fuel prices have been rangebound. As a result, operating profit of OMCs has dipped to as low as $0.13 per barrel in FY23, when oil prices averaged $93 per barrel, and peaked at about $20 per barrel in FY24, when oil prices softened to $83 per barrel," it said. While annual margins have fluctuated, they have ultimately normalised to around $11 per barrel. In FY25, OMCs’ operating profit of around $12 per barrel was in line with the decadal industry average. With crude oil prices averaging $79 per barrel, GRM was $6 per barrel and so was marketing margin (Rs 3 per litre), it said . “This fiscal, crude prices, though volatile, are likely to soften to $65-67 per barrel. GRM is expected to remain modest at $4-6 per barrel as moderate global demand and energy transition trends weigh on refining spreads. Amid this, unchanged retail fuel prices will boost marketing margin to around $14 per barrel (around Rs 8 per litre), resulting in overall margin improving more than 50% to $18-20 per barrel,” said Anuj Sethi, senior director, Crisil. ALSO READBig step towards accelerating formal, high-productivity jobs: Experts Accruals and Capex The higher overall return will drive up cumulative cash accrual to Rs 75,000-80,000 crore this fiscal as compared to Rs 55,000 crore last fiscal, which will support the nearly Rs 90,000 crore capex plan of OMCs, largely towards brownfield capacity expansion. Notably, no major capacity addition is expected globally, except in emerging economies such as India and West Asia, it said. About 80% of the budgeted capex is directed towards addressing domestic demand for petroleum and petrochemical products, while the remainder is earmarked for product pipelines, marketing infrastructure and green-energy initiatives, it said. Joanne Gonsalves, associate director, Crisil, said, “While the industry’s capex trajectory continues, healthy profitability will limit reliance on external debt. Hence, the ratio of debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for OMCs in our portfolio is expected to improve to 2.2 times this fiscal from 3.6 times last fiscal. The credit profiles will continue to be supported by the sector’s strategic importance and benefits arising from government ownership.” Any significant production cuts or escalation in geopolitical uncertainties will bear watching as they could impact crude oil prices, thereby altering our expectations.