Truecaller's India Revenue Growth Lags In Q1

Swedish spam protection company Truecaller AB continued to grow in its largest market, India, albeit at a slower pace than other markets.

The company, known for its platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication, posted a revenue of 427.2 million Swedish Krona, or about Rs 328.5 crore for the January-March quarter.

Of this, net sales in India contributed about Rs 243 crore, up 8% from about Rs 225 crore in the same period last year. In comparison, revenue grew 9% in the Middle East and Africa and by 24% in the rest of the world.

The company's average number of active users increased by 3.9 crore to approximately 38.4 crore monthly active users, out of which 27.2 crore are in India alone.

"India continues to remain one of the biggest markets for Truecaller, as the region accounted for 74.2% of the total net sales of Truecaller, owing to all three revenue streams—Truecaller for Business, premium subscriptions and ads," the company said in a statement.

The company's ad revenue grew by 5% as compared with the first quarter of 2023.

"Although the quarter started off slow, revenues gradually improved... While overall ad demand remains subdued, the timing of events like the Indian Premier League, which began in the first quarter of 2024 as opposed to 2023, also contributed positively to this quarter's performance," it said.

Truecaller said the expectation is that income from the full IPL season will be significantly lower in 2024, as compared with 2023, with revenue evenly distributed between Q1 and Q2. "This is in contrast to last year, when the majority of IPL-related income was almost entirely recorded in Q2," it said in its report.

In January, Truecaller also launched its call recording feature in the Indian market, which enables users to record and transcribe all calls, in English and Hindi.

Founded in 2009, Stockholm-based Truecaller's total profit for the quarter came in at Rs 102 crore, an uptick of 22% year-on-year.