Many of India’s startups are battling crises at the moment and dealing with ED raids and delayed salaries, but one of the oldest names in the game is quietly making itself some serious money.
BookMyShow has turned profitable, and has reported a profit of Rs. 85 crore in FY23. In comparison, the company had reported a loss of Rs. 92 crore last year. BookMyShow’s operating revenue rose 3x from Rs. 277 crore in FY22 to Rs. 976 crore in FY23.
The rise in Byju’s revenue was largely because of a rise in online ticket bookings, which contributed to 63% of the company’s overall revenue. Online ticket bookings rose from Rs. 218 crore in FY22 to Rs. 613 crore in FY23. The company also saw an expansion of its live events business, which rose from Rs. 25 crore in FY22 to Rs. 237 crore in FY23.
This is a marked turnaround from just a couple of years ago, when BookMyShow was battling the Covid pandemic. As lockdowns had been imposed, its online bookings business had ground to a halt, and the company had been forced to lay of as many as 470 employees. But as the lockdowns have eased, BookMyShow has pressed home its advantage, and ended up in the black.
This isn’t the first time that BookMyShow has become profitable. All the way back in 2016, while other startups were mired in losses, BookMyShow had reported a modest profit of Rs. 3.1 crore. But as newer competition emerged, it found it hard to keep making money — around 2017, Paytm entered the movie ticketing space and threatened to take away much of its business, and BookMyShow ended up reporting a loss of Rs. 139 crore.
But the company has shown remarkably resilience, and appears to have now staved off both the Paytm and Covid challenge. BookMyShow should know a thing or two about challenges — it was started all the way back in 1999, and has seen everything from pandemics to economic downturns. And for the company to make a handsome profit after being in the business for 24 years would give hope to the hundreds of startups that are currently making losses — if you persist long enough, there could be light at the end of the tunnel.