Door-step service provider Urban Company has achieved profitability in the April-June quarter and expects an annualised revenue run rate of around Rs 1,140 crore in the fiscal year 2025, a top company official said on Thursday.
During a discussion on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report of Urban Company (UC), CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal said that the company has achieved revenue in the range of Rs 282 crore in April-June.
"This quarter (June 2024 quarter), we will be roughly around Rs 282-283 crore, which annualizes to Rs 1,140 crore," Bhal said. He said that this is the first quarter when the company has achieved profitability.
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"The company is now fully profitable at the company level. In April, we achieved this goal. For the April-June quarter, we are fully profitable. The 4 percent PBT (profit before tax) that we had is at the company level and not at the India level. India is obviously much higher. The second largest market outside of India is the UAE, which is almost on the cusp of profitability," Bhal said.
UC's revenue from operations in FY'23 grew by 45 percent to Rs 637 crore from Rs 438 crore a year ago. The company had posted a narrowing of its loss before taxes to Rs 308 crore in FY'23 from Rs 514 crore in FY'22.
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Amid Gig Worker Protests, CEO Defends Company Policies
Bahl stated, amid protests by gig workers, that local politicians and unions try to take advantage of these disputes and put pressure on the company. As per Moneycontrol, he said, “Sometimes there is pressure on us. Local politicians and unions get involved; some may seek political mileage.”
He further added that there is pressure on them to take back existing workers. However, that would be unfair for most hardworking partners and customers, he said.
Highlighting that they wouldn’t talk to people who are not part of the UC community, Bahl said that they would like to explain their rationale and be open to talking to partners one-on-one.
Why did the protest happen?
The company introduced new policies under “Mission Shakti," which was introduced last year.
Urban Company implemented an automatic work assignment system and a minimum rating of 4.3–4.7 as part of the new policy, reports MoneyControl. These changes also include limitations on cancellations per month that reportedly affect the jobs of the partners. The gig worker unions that joined the protests include the Gig and Platform Services Workers Union (GIPSWU), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and the All Indian Gig Workers Union (AIGWU).
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However, Bahl has defended the rating policy and reportedly said that the average rating of a service partner is around 4.83. He added that while this might seem high, most customers end up giving it 5 stars.
While speaking about the auto-acceptance mandate, Bahl highlighted that while the workers can take leaves and have their own working hours, they are expected to finish the orders during the required working hours.
As per the company's ESG report, the net earnings of partners working with the company are Rs 24,845 per month on average, and its top 20 percent earn Rs 42,792. The average hourly earning of male partners at UC is Rs 294 while that of female partners is Rs 363.
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(With inputs from PTI)
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