SoftBank-backed auto-tech firm posts ₹20 crore adjusted EBITDA profit in Q4 as lending, retail sales and ownership services expand
Cars24 posted a profit for the first time in the fourth quarter of financial year 2025-26 (Q4FY26), a milestone for the SoftBank-backed auto-tech platform as it pushes to build a broader car-ownership ecosystem powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The company reported an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) profit of ₹20 crore in the March quarter, marking its first profitable quarter since inception, aided by growth across its core businesses.
For the second half of FY26 (H2FY26), Cars24 reported adjusted net revenue of ₹760 crore, up 37 per cent from a year earlier, while losses narrowed by 83 per cent.
Cars24’s profitability stems from a structural shift: From a transaction-led platform to an AI-native auto ecosystem. For most buyers, purchasing a car is not the moment of certainty, it is the beginning of responsibility. They are evaluating not just the transaction, but the years that follow: Documentation, maintenance, insurance, compliance, and eventual resale. One cannot solve a five-year ownership journey with a five-minute experience. The company said the only way to solve it is to show up consistently across those years.
“Profitability is a big moment for us, but it is not an accident. It is the result of the company becoming more useful to customers over time,” said Cars24 founder Vikram Chopra.
“A car purchase is not a five-minute decision. The anxiety is not only about getting the right car today, but also about support through ownership,” he said.
“That is the gap Cars24 has been built to solve. We are present at the point of purchase, but increasingly also through ownership, insurance, compliance, FASTag, documents, financing, and resale,” he said.
Today, over 38 million users engage with Cars24 platforms every month, with nearly 1 in 10 vehicle owners in India interacting with the platform for services ranging from insurance renewals to vehicle history checks. Over time, this creates a structural advantage. While individual features can be replicated, a system built on continuous engagement and trust over years is significantly harder to compress or recreate.
The company reported strong growth across its key businesses. Retail GMV rose 35 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and now contributes more than 60 per cent of the total transaction value. Loans disbursed increased 57 per cent from a year earlier to ₹1,789 crore, helped by deeper integration of financing services. Meanwhile, vehicle ownership services expanded 11-fold Y-o-Y, emerging as a high-frequency engagement layer for users.
Cars24 said its shift to profitability was driven in large part by its AI-native operating model. In H2FY26, revenue per employee increased 50 per cent, while core operations such as pricing, vehicle inspections, customer interactions, and risk assessment became AI-led by default. The company said the approach helped improve efficiency at scale while keeping cost growth under control.
Cars24 said it continues to focus on making car ownership more accessible and affordable for the next 200 million Indians. The company said three out of four retail buyers on its platform are first-time car buyers. It added that financing, vehicle inspection, and trust-focused services are helping expand access to customers who were previously excluded from the market.
After achieving profitability and scaling multiple businesses, Cars24 is now focused on expanding its ownership ecosystem, growing globally and building a unified car ownership platform. The company said AI is now central to its operations, helping drive a 50 per cent increase in revenue per employee in H2, with a target of tripling that improvement over time.
