Facebook India FY20 revenue up 43% at ₹1,277.3 crore, net profit doubles

Social media giant Facebook India's revenues grew 43 per cent year-on-year to about ₹1,277.3 crore in 2019-20, while its net profit more than doubled to ₹135.7 crore, as per regulatory documents.

Its total income was ₹893.4 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2019, according to Registrar of Companies filing - shared by market intelligence firm Tofler.

The net profit increased by over 107 per cent to ₹135.7 crore in FY20 as compared to ₹65.3 crore in the preceding fiscal, it added.

When contacted, a Facebook spokesperson said India is an important market for the company.

"...we are deeply committed to being an ally in the country's socio-economic transformation. We will continue to invest in our India operations while working with small and large businesses to help in their economic recovery post the pandemic," the spokesperson added.

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In November, tech giant Google had made a similar filing that showed its revenues from India had grown 34.8 per cent to about ₹5,593.8 crore in 2019-20 over the previous financial year. Its net profit was higher by about 23.9 per cent at ₹586.2 crore in FY20.

Facebook India acts as a non-exclusive reseller of advertising inventory to customers in India. It also provides IT/ITeS, marketing and other support services to the Facebook group.

According to the filing, Facebook's employee benefit expense grew 63.3 per cent to ₹299.3 crore in FY20 from ₹183.2 crore in the preceding fiscal.

The company paid an equalisation levy of ₹369.5 crore in the fiscal under review as against a payment of ₹118.2 crore in the fiscal ended March 2019. The Indian government charges a 6 per cent equalisation tax on gross payment received by global digital companies from Indian residents for online advertising.

Google India paid an equalisation levy of ₹611.1 crore in FY20.

India is among the biggest markets for Facebook, which also operates photo-sharing platform Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. Around 2.5 billion people globally use Facebook's family of apps daily, while there are over 10 million active advertisers across its services.