Matrimony.com Limited (MATRIMONY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the matrimony.com Q3 FY '22 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Antique Stock Broking. [Operator Instructions]. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Prateek Kumar from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. On behalf of Antique Stockbroking, we welcome today the management of Matrimony.com, Mr. Murugavel, Chairman and Managing Director; and Mr. Sushanth Pai, who is CFO. Without wasting much time, I hand over the call to Mr. Murugavel for his opening remarks, and then we will move to Q&A session. Over to you, sir.

Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. I hope all of you are continuing to stay safe and healthy. I also like to wish very happy and successful 2022. [indiscernible] quarter, we have reported a reasonably good growth year-on-year on billings and a double-digit year-on-year growth in revenue. This was due to strong execution of our strategic priorities backed up by investment in the right areas. In quarter 3, on a consolidated basis, we have achieved a billing of INR 107.4 crores, a growth of 0.5% quarter-over-quarter and 7.3% year-on-year. Revenue was at INR 108.5 crores, a decline of 1.3% quarter-over-quarter and a growth of 12.2% year-on-year. For Matchmaking, the key highlights are as follows: in quarter 3, the billing was at INR 106.1 crore, flat quarter-over-quarter and a growth of 6.3% year-on-year. Revenue at INR 107.2 crores, a decline of 1.3 percentage quarter-over-quarter and a growth of 11.4 percentage year-on-year. We added 2.15 lakh paid subscription during the quarter, a decline of 5.4 percentage year-on-year. ATV, average transaction value for the Matchmaking business increased by 12.2% year-on-year and also due to good growth in our premium services. We continue to track the impact we create for customers. We are happy to state that we have created 25,500 plus success stories in quarter 3. Now coming to the Marriage Services business. Revenue was INR 1.3 crores, a growth of 67.8 percentage quarter-over-quarter and 194.4 percentage year-on-year. This includes the consolidation of ShaadiSaga for a full quarter. Losses for the quarter was INR 2.86 crores against INR 1.5 crores in quarter 2. This was due to consolidation, the cost of increase. On the billing and revenue outlook for quarter 4, Matchmaking billing is expected to bounce back to a double-digit growth, both quarter-over-quarter and also year-on-year basis. Wedding Service expects to continue the current revenue momentum and losses should be in the range of quarter 3. Let me now pass on to Sushanth to comment on the key profitability highlights. Sushanth, over to you.

Thanks, Muruga. Let me also wish you a very happy and successful 2022. Due to subdued billings in September and October in Matchmaking business, our revenue declined marginally on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and therefore, this had an impact on EBITDA margins. Our EBITDA margin in quarter 3 was at 24.5% as compared to 29% in quarter 2, however, was better than 23.6% a year ago. Marketing expenses are at INR 41.6 crores as compared to INR 39.9 crores in quarter 2. Excluding marketing expenses, our margins in Matchmaking are at 63% in quarter 3 as compared to 66% in quarter 2 and 63% a year ago. The margins declined due to increase in employee cost and technology expenses. On a consolidated basis, our EBITDA margins in Q3 are at 18.6% as compared to 24% in quarter 2 and 19.1% a year ago. Apart from Matchmaking, Marriage Services had an increase in employee costs due to ShaadiSaga consolidation. On an absolute basis, EBITDA declined by 23.6% quarter-on-quarter and grew 8.9% year-on-year. Tax rate is at 25.3% for the quarter. PAT, profit after tax, excluding Astro, which is our associated company, is at INR 11.6 crores, a decline of 30.6% quarter-on-quarter and growth of 4.9% year-on-year. Share of loss from Astro is INR 15 lakhs. Our operating cash flow generation for the quarter has been robust at about INR 18 crores and our cash balance is at INR 318 crores. ROCE is at 18%. Outlook for Q4 margins, we expect EBITDA and PAT to be at similar levels of quarter 3. I would like to end with the customary safe harbor statement. Certain statements during this call could be forward-looking statements on our business. These involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update any such forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. Over to you, Prateek.

Hello, thank you, sir. Chris, you can open the line for question and answers.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Prakash Kapadia of Anived Portfolio Managers.

A couple of questions. If I look at the 9-month sales, they are up around 17% at INR 3.23 billion. Ad spends in the same period are up around 21% at INR 1.18 billion. So when does this change? Will it be more price increases going forward, absolute sales value decreases or there will be some reduction in ad spends, which could happen in the medium term? What is happening at an industry level, what are we sensing? Any visibility, clarity on some of the ad spends, which are still higher than what we would have wanted it to be. So if you could give some color on that?

Yes. Thank you for asking your question. In terms of the outlook on marketing, the marketing continue going to be at a higher level because this category, there is no stopping, no decrease in ad spend by the competitor. Because [ as it is the marketing spend ] is happening at a heightened level. If not for that, obviously, the marketing spend [indiscernible] level. So obviously when the competitors are spending at certain level [indiscernible] we need to step up our marketing amount. So if not, the coverage [indiscernible] at a better level. In terms of the growth, while we are almost last 5 quarters, we had a -- the last quarter, we had a continued double-digit growth. The last quarter was one of the quarter we had a significant growth. However, we bounced back to double-digit growth. This quarter, we expect our growth to continue on a double-digit basis. So we look at the continue to grow and continue to widen the gap between us and other players in this field. Probably maybe at a second level, the marketing spend may come down for [indiscernible]. But I don't know when. Because it is very difficult for us to say that in this category, whether today's heightened competitor spend that they would continue for the short term or long term, it is very difficult for us to predict. But however, as an organization, our outlook is good, our growth prospects are good. So we continue to [indiscernible], continue to build the growth and probably at a certain point of time the marketing spend comes down. It'll be good even otherwise, we continue to do the growth and over a period the margin continue to improve. So even if the marketing spend continued to remain at a heightened level. And again, it depends on some of the growth possibilities for us because the marketing spend can further move up also.

Okay. And we don't see a scenario of the earlier case of, say, absolute sales value increasing or pricing changes to negate or counter this higher ad spends.

Again, if you look at our ARPU, if you see that it has gone up by almost -- if you look at year-on-year grew by 12.2%. We continue to figure out what are the ways to optimize the price and all those things. So price increase is one thing. We have not done the price increase. We can look at the optimize various segments, continue to drive some other segments. So if you look at the various [indiscernible] ARPU. But yes, price increase is one of the main [ weapon ]. That's something if required we will do at a certain point in time [indiscernible].

Sure. That's helpful. Secondly, if I look at data since IPO in September '17. We've generated around INR 270-odd crores operating cash flow in the last 4 years. Currently, also on an annualized basis, we'll generate around INR 80 crores of operating cash flow. So that's INR 350 crores of operating cash flow in the last 4, 4.5 years since IPO, plus there is a cash balance of over INR 3 billion. But for some reason, our market cap is down 18%, 20% from IPO price. So why not consider a buyback and ensure value creation and showcase the market, there is a lot of value in our business. Why I'm trying to make this point here is unlike some of the new-age businesses, which have no cash flow, no earnings. We have a genuine business model, genuine cash flow, genuine profits over the years. And as a promoter, if you don't participate, your stake further increases. So that is just an observation.

That's a good suggestion. I appreciate that. You rightly said, this company is a strong cash flow generating company and [indiscernible] past. The entire entity was built with limited capital. So -- and again, the [indiscernible] our EBITDA to cash generation has been very healthy. We continue to generate cash. So as a company, definitely know that we are undervalued because the company, if you look at the Q4, we are talking about double-digit growth. That means we are getting almost like -- we got double-digit growth quarter-over-quarter, even year-on-year basis, almost talking about getting close to around INR 120 crores [indiscernible], that's a kind of building value. That means annualized the company is getting almost close to around INR 500 crores or INR 480 crores to INR 500 crores of that kind of run rate company, and we are talking about the cash balance and assets and all those things. As the company look at -- we're definitely undervalued, we know that. So -- but in order as a company leader in this space, we continue to drive and execute things and we've been started growing well this year. For the entire year, we have double-digit growth, both on the billing as well as on the revenue side. So we continue to grow and continue to drive cash, continue to improve our market share. And so we hope that at the second part, market realizes and the rewards us sufficiently. However, the question on the buyback and that the board asked to debate on what can do, Sushanth probably can share his views on the question raised by you.

Yes. So capital allocation is definitely that we would continuously consider along with the Board. So obviously, buyback, dividends, they're all form of capital allocation. And we'll have to evaluate at an appropriate time when the timing is right, when we believe it may be a good idea to do something like that. So that's the way to look at it.

The next question is from Vivekanand of Ambit.

Muruga, can you please talk about the market response to the new products that you launched as well as foray into new markets?

So it's still in a very early stage and both the larger new products, still very -- just a few months. It's too early to comment on those things. And Bangladesh, finally we're able to get the operation going and we launched -- just launched our TV promotions. So we just launched it yesterday. Again, both are very, very nice [ at this stage ]. So it may take some time for us to understand on how the work is going to pan out.

Okay. I'm curious to understand this Jodii app, which is Tamil language app. And I know last time also you had said it was very early, but any color that you can provide? I guess it was launched in early November, so you probably are in the third month. How many -- are there any metrics that you can share? Or any sort of color that you can provide on the kind of traction that it is getting? And how are you promoting this? Are you -- are you aggressively doing TV ads in Tamil channels? Or is it primarily online marketing? What's the pathway for acquiring users in that app?

So I think it's still a few months only Vivekanand, because it's a November, basically 3 months. So still early. I'm getting the customer feedback, understand trying to get the product market feed and trying to kind of kept on doing things right. And in terms of the segment-wise break, the company as a policy don't give the segment-wise breakup because [ in the ] matrimony site, we don't give a breakup, we talk of overall consolidated Matchmaking business. And also the form of marketing, we do varied forms of marketing for all our businesses, TV, digital and other types of marketing. So as I said, still very early and we did launch a TV commercial in Tamil Nadu [indiscernible] 1 or 2 campaigns. [indiscernible] very early stages and so nothing specific to share at this point of time.

Okay. So next question is on the strategy that we had embraced say, end of 2020, which is segmented pricing which allowed us to pursue a lot more users to transact -- persuade a lot more users to transact. Are we kind of going back to the original strategy of premiumization now? I mean, we're seeing that the transactions on Matchmaking, the paid transactions, they have remained stagnant for the last 4, 5 quarters. So is there a change in stance as far as the segmented pricing strategy goes?

We continue to find various strategies and see what is the right mix of ARPU whether -- and the conversion. So we continue to experiment, continue to do those things. So we continue to experiment with [ multiple ] things. Continue to [indiscernible] experiment -- continue to drive one segment's pricing, other [indiscernible] to maximize. I think our strategy has been on both the sides. So there are quarter we see the ARPU moving up, there are quarter we see the volume moving up. We continue to execute those strategies to drive the revenue. The ultimate thing is about driving revenue.

Okay. And Muruga, what gives you the confidence of sustaining double-digit growth in 4Q and going ahead. What are you seeing in the market that convinces you of double-digit growth now?

We are in this stage. We continue to gain market share, continue to execute well, and we are definitely very confident of double-digit growth, not in this quarter, but continue to kind of progress in the double-digit growth.

Okay. Second set of questions for Sushanth mainly. So Sushanth, you said that 4Q EBITDA PAT will be similar to 3Q levels. Why this guidance given that there's a high chance of double-digit revenue growth. Are your costs going up? Can you give us some color on the AWS migration that you had done? Are those costs in your base? And how should one think about the fixed cost now?

Yes. So what has happened is there are 2, 3 factors. So one is, if you look at our Q2, right, the billings did slow down a bit in Q2 or rather Q3, I mean, so which is now, November, December sort of time frame, it did slow down. . And therefore, the revenue for that -- the GAAP revenue becomes a slightly smaller than expected when the billings slowed down the previous quarter, which is a quarter 3. So that is one reason why we have kept flattish EBITDA and PAT. The second thing is marketing may move up slightly, so that can also cause a bit of an impact from where it is. And the third is, yes, in quarter 3, I did allude to that the technology cost did increase a bit. That migration is going on, so that some more cost will come in Q4 as well because it's -- it accumulates over a period of time. So all 3 reasons. The quarter 3 billings, which did slow down a bit, which causes an impact on revenue for the next quarter, which is quarter 4, slight increase in marketing and as well as some expenses increase in technology cost.

Yes, just to add to what Sushanth said, if you look at the [indiscernible] billing with the revenue the difference will appear more than probably around $1 million or maybe some plus growth. That's the kind of difference also we expect that to happen in quarter 4 because the points Sushanth mentioned, so there's a gap of at least [indiscernible]. We see that's a possibility now. So that's the [indiscernible] billing and the revenue that see that quite a gap because of the reasons that Sushanth expressed. So that's one of the reasons of that.

Okay. So Sushanth, just to understand the margin evolution better, ex of marketing, will we get back to those 65%, 66% levels that we had reached quite some time. I mean, just recently, right?

Yes. So I think as we make up our plans for next year, I think we'll have a clearer picture on margins and profitability, because we need to look at the full year in the picture. But for the next quarter, I believe it will be at -- sort of similar sort of level because we had said overall EBITDA and PAT at similar levels than -- and its marketing a slight increase, which also means excluding marketing also will be a very similar sort of levels as per Q3. But how it will pan out for next year, we need to see the overall growth trajectory, what are the sort of investments that we will be doing and we'll have more clarity on this when we come back at the year-end results.

Well, I'll just add to -- definitely we will have better clarity next year. But again, the [indiscernible] because one is marketing is the biggest cost, definitely getting back to 66% and higher, the revenue increases that would happen automatically, nothing [indiscernible] because for other cost on this quarter [indiscernible] some costs are going up on account of AWS migration and other things. But I see progress definitely getting back to the margin of 66% [indiscernible]. For us marketing will be the single largest cost in the Matchmaking business. And I don't think -- while definitely the better clarity, better picture next year, but as we look at the outlook, definitely getting back to the margin [indiscernible] that can happen in [indiscernible].

Great. Just one last small data point. What's the cash balance, cash and liquid investments in the current quarter?

It's INR 318 crores -- 3, 1, 8.

And you have made all payments for the ShaadiSaga acquisition, right?

Yes. We have done all the payments.

The next question is from Khush Gosrani of InCred AMC.

Hope you guys are doing well. Just wanted to understand what is the quantum of price increase that we have taken in this quarter?

No, we have done any price increase. So some other questions whether [indiscernible] business, we are not in any price increase for the long time.

So will we be taking any price increases going ahead since the advertisement costs are inching up over the next few quarters as well.

Nothing on the cost at this point of time.

That's helpful. And in terms of advertisement cost, how do you measure that these increased costs is the is the ROI on the spend that we do?

See, the most of the advertisement is on our TV channels. And while we definitely see some impact of the profile depreciation going up and do the TV advertisement. But again very difficult to fully quantify the ROI on the TV advertisement. So TV advertisement is more of brand building and ensure that the brand has a continued visibility and also reaching the market. Also considering that the increased competitor activity [indiscernible] certain threshold of the marketing spend. And you know that some of the market are spending much more on what they record because the competitors in the market are spending much more than what we think it's recurring out. So something [indiscernible] about spending [indiscernible]. So TV advertising is more of brand building and sustaining and it does contribute to the profile appreciation to some extent. So if you take a pure ROI on TV advertisement, you cannot measure it that way. So TV advertisement is it necessary? Yes, it is important to have. Whether this amount of TV advertisement? It does -- it may not be the case but however at this point in time we need to spend [ that ]. But look at digital, we do measured ROI because digital is very easy to measure the ROI because we can directly link the result of the effect of the advertisement all the way. But TV is very difficult. We definitely can measure what kind of impact does [ it have ] but we can't fully [indiscernible] ROI with TV advertisement. TV advertisement is always brand building long term, not the particular quarter.

And could you also highlight in terms of the Wedding Services business, could we see your run rate now increasing to INR 1 crore per quarter post the acquisition as well?

Sorry, not -- it was not...

[indiscernible] can Marriage Services sustain the INR 1 crore revenue per quarter post the acquisition as well.

I think definitely it should move up. In fact, we have taken a goal of possibly [indiscernible] the goal you are trying to achieve [indiscernible]. A lot to be done on that space. And while the integration still happening, is not done, so post integration with ShaadiSaga, hope we'll able to drive better numbers as well.

And the license will move back to INR 2 crores, which we had INR 1.622 crores in Q2, am I right?

Yes. We have to get to that kind of number. We continue to drive the growth and Wedding Services should grow. We are [indiscernible] the goal is to get to INR 100 crores revenue [ in the next ] 3 years [indiscernible]. But again at this point in time still the integration is not done, and we just hired a National Sales Head of Wedding Services, who just joined us. And the both will able to continue to execute and drive on the segment. So we see definite opportunity. And we hope we're able to continue to [indiscernible] we're definitely able to maintain this kind of growth rate in wedding.

Next question is from Alroy Lobo of Kotak Investment Advisory.

Yes. My question is more to do with the growth of the industry. Everybody seems to be spending a lot on marketing. We've also seen recently, you had put out something on your annual metrics on what's happening in the matrimony market, everything seems to be moving in the positive direction. The market is pretty big, but yet the industry in terms of size is still in the region of around INR 700 crores, INR 800 crores. So I'm just trying to understand what is constraining this industry to grow at about 20% or 25% despite all the efforts made by all the players to step up marketing spend, what is constraining the growth of the industry being much higher than it is today?

See, marketing is just one of the levers for the growth. Marketing, sometimes -- marketing alone cannot drive the growth. This year, we're getting to annual basis INR 42 crores on billing and on revenue side, our endeavor is to move to a much higher growth. As you progress, we'll definitely move to consistent double digit growth, and we are working towards taking too much higher growth. We believe that as we progress, we'll definitely be able to move to a much better growth in terms of growth of niche. So because -- it's not with marketing, we continue to execute well on various dimensions, conversion and other things. So we believe that as an organization as we progress we'll be able to move to a much higher growth percentage.

So do you envisage that in the near future, you could actually see growth rates being much higher than what you're reporting right now, at least moving up like a hockey stick? Or is it going to be more gradual in terms of the scale up in terms of growth rate? Because whenever we look at this industry, the opportunity seems to be pretty big. And also you're seeing significant amount of Internet penetration. I think these days, even the youngsters want to choose their own partners. So everything seems to be moving in favor. So I'm not able to understand why this industry can't grow at about 20%, 25%. And what efforts, being the market leader, have you made to grow the market?

Yes, definitely. We continue to make efforts and taking steps to definitely move to that kind of growth rate. Whether that happens immediately or as we progress. But definitely, we are in the right trajectory, okay, because it seems to be definitely there for long year. I don't see 1 quarter suddenly become an order, but I definitely see that -- as a direction, I see that's happening, okay. Whether it will happen in the coming quarters or maybe a couple of quarters down the line. But definitely, we see that as a growth trajectory at this point seems to be pertaining towards a better set of the double-digit growth, and I'm talking not about Q4. Q4 will definitely get a double-digit growth. We definitely tend to move in the direction. We definitely will see that as a company as -- the direction, we see that we'll move into the much higher -- as a higher growth percentage.

Also one of your competitors have recently got private equity investment. Do you see any behavioral change in terms of pricing that has happened because of that? And given the fact that your other competitor is also bleeding, when do you think pricing is going to move up because everybody, except yourself, is basically not making money in this business. So are we at an inflection point where you will see players yielding and prices going up?

We look at our pricing that we are not except some market where we are sort of due to some better discounting and other things. I think our pricing has been sort of independent of the competitors because in the majority of the market, we have strong leadership. And we don't worry about -- much about the competitor's price model because we have a strong reach, strong intake effort, strong brand and marketing. Look at our ARPU also instead of -- consistently has been moving up all the way. We do offer some discount on some segments. So in fact, our pricing is independent of competitor except some markets like North India where we have to -- just have to some bit of discount in that part -- with competitor. But North India is one part of the market, but again, they are also gaining a market. So as far, as a company, the way our outlook is there, we continue to see that our growth momentum will continue, continue to look at our gross margin excluding marketing. We continue going [indiscernible] also for the type of growth, that's set we are looking at. And so we're not -- we got to focus on our growth, our outlook, our future. And yes, continue to widen the gap between us and other players. And that's how we are seeing our outlook, Alroy.

And the last question I have is on the NRI market. When do you think that you will achieve leadership in that market? I think one of your competitors is ahead of you? And how big is that market right now?

NRI market is a certain percentage because India is obviously much bigger market. NRI market, yes, it's a market -- very large market. However, the NRI market, I don't -- the market is divided. For South India, a certain market. We are -- obviously, South Indians also some extent in this. Even amongst NRIs, we have a strong leadership. Only for North Indians, the Gujaratis, Punjabis, there are other competitors, other offers in the North. So net-net, I think NRIs, we may be equal level of the other player as far as -- it's not that we'll be -- it's more like certain segments, we are probably strong reach, certain segments, obviously, the competitor in the NRI market has a much better reach now. But net-net, I think NRI market, we are not big than anybody else now.

The next question is from Mohit Motwani of HDFC Securities.

I have 2 questions. So one is on the ad spend. So we are doing about INR 160 crore annual run rate ad spends, right? So you mentioned that most of the spend is on TV channel advertisements. Now I just want to ask like what are your thoughts on shifting the budget towards digital channels where most of the individuals are, especially considering that the young individuals are spending more time on smartphones and social media? So do you believe that if you deploy the strategies like influencer marketing, for example, do you believe that you will shift to that strategy and increase your spend on that front? That is my first question.

Yes. So definitely, directly the budget kind of is sitting towards the digital set. However, at this point of time, TV constitutes large segment or large percentage of our ad spend. So TV at this point continues to be the major part of our marketing spend. However, if we look at a year-on-year basis over a period of time, definitely we are increasing spend on our digital set, which has been growing at a much higher certainty compared to the money what we invest in the amount of TV set. So basically still from -- large from marketing spend. However, digital, the growth on marketing, we are now digitizing much higher percentage. So we will continue to shift our budget over digital spend.

So do you believe that this allocation, right, between TV advertisement and digital will change in the next 2 to 3 years, do you believe that shift will happen? Say if it is 60-40, will it become the other way around? Will it become more of digital in the next few years and you will be able to target more users via that?

Yes. Digital will continue to -- increase the spend on digital. However, it is very difficult for me to say at this point of time whether it's going to be -- will be other way around in next 2, 3 years. It all depends on how the world continues to evolve and how the competitors spend on this category. There are multiple factors going to take it. However, as I said directly, yes, digital is going to take more share of our marketing part. However, I see that in the coming years, TV continues to going to be last in our markets.

Sure. So sir, next question is on paid subscription side. So we are doing about 0.22 million of paid subscriptions in a quarter. I just want to understand if you can give us a sense of how many of these are fresh additions? What I mean by this is like for the sake of simplicity, if you assume 1 user -- 1 paid user coming in quarter 2 and taking a monthly basic package of 3 months. And if it -- he doesn't find a match, then he comes again and pays again for the third quarter. So he is actually a repeat customer of yours. So out of this 0.22 million in a quarter, how many of these would be kind of fresh additions who are paying for the first time on your platform? So if you can give us any sense of this.

It's actually between around 55-45, 60-40, that's a mix between the first-time payment and renewal.

So you are saying 60% would be like the first time paying and 40% are renewal kind of users, right?

Again, it's between, you can assess, 55% to 60% is first time payment and 40% to 45% renewal. That's a broad mix.

The next question is from Nilesh Shah of Envision Capital.

Just wanted to understand, you mentioned initially that billings were a bit soft in this quarter. Why would that be? Wouldn't this be like pretty much a normal quarter. There was really no significant disruption or anything in terms of socializing. So why would billings have been soft in this -- in the quarter gone by?

So there is a bit of inauspicious thing was there, end of short period, one thing, plus also that the festivals are an impact also, the Diwali and so the festive season. We definitely saw -- while the Q2 was -- normally Q2 is seasonally the weak quarter because of the inauspicious period and some bit of festivals in it and other things had an impact on quarter 3. Normally for us, Q2 -- Q3 has been normally related soft quarter. So Q4, Q1 are the best quarters for whole actually. While not too large, just the inauspicious period in quarter 3, but again, some markets, let's say, Tamil Nadu and Andhra, the December middle, the inauspicious period starts. It's called [Foreign Language] in Tamilnadu and [Foreign Language] in Andhra as well. So there is a bit of inauspicious period, certain festivals had impact. So Q2, again, is another -- so Q2, Q3 since that way were sort of little softer and Q4, Q1 are the best quarters.

Okay. Second is ShaadiSaga. You spoke about an aspiration to get to INR 100 crores of revenues in the next 3 years. Do you think by that point of time, ShaadiSaga would essentially be profitable by then? Or it would still kind of be in an investment mode and you wouldn't -- and it would still be incurring losses then?

We read that kind of revenue. I think hopefully it becomes profitable. And we always said that, Nilesh, it's an aspirational number, which is we think that in the next 3 years, we will get to the number. We've taken a direction to get to the number and chase aggressively to see that happen. Our revenue is -- you understand revenue, it's hardly INR 50 lakhs per month and all. So we definitely -- we are still a long way to go and to get to the number. But there is opportunity, and I believe that we're able to execute well and able to move to that revenue. And when reached that kind of thing, no reason we should be losing money. I'm sure that level of revenue should be profitable.

And do you think getting to this aspiration, we can do this organically? Or you think we'll still have to kind of pursue inorganic growth even to get to this first aspiration of INR 100 crores in revenues?

I think we can do it organically so -- because there has been ShaadiSaga integration has been incorporated with certain product because there is strength in the product team. I think we can be able to do that without losing.

Okay. And the last one is essentially what one of the participants mentioned about buyback, and I strongly urge you to basically consider a buyback, given the kind of cash that we're sitting on, the market cap that we have. The cash that we have is probably in terms of high teens in terms of our market cap. So I'd strongly urge you to consider that. You are the principal shareholder, you are the CEO, you are the Managing Director. I'm quite sure the Board is going to be guided by what you think and what you suggest. So I'd strongly suggest that we get there, especially if we don't have any significant plans for inorganic growth.

Thanks, I appreciate your suggestion.

The next question is from Sonal Minhas of Prescient Capital.

This is Sonal Minhas. I have 2 questions. First one was, I just wanted to get some sense from a 3-, 4-year perspective on the average age of a user on your platform? Which direction has this gone by to? And just wanted to understand that a little bit more. Secondly, on your marketing spend, I think gentleman before me have asked some questions. Just wanted to understand, as digital becomes more and higher percentage of your overall spend, do you see your marketing spend tapering? Do you see your overall spend tapering because it was a more performance-led and more directly attributable to the users, who sign up on your platform. So I have these 2 questions.

See, the average age -- if I understood your question rightly, the average age of male will be around sort of 26 to 29, that forms the major sort of users for the male. Female will be around say 23 to 25, that forms the large chunk of our base. However, if you see that in a growing economy, every 10 years or 15 years, the average age of people getting married slightly moves up because people tend to have higher priority towards their personal growth and all. That's normally -- that's a trend globally what you are seeing. As a country progresses, the people delay their marriage, that tends to happen. In terms of the spend, see, we see at this point of time that TV is continuing to going to be a large part of our marketing spend. Definitely, there's a shift slowly happening to the digital side, that growth is happening. Whether will digital is going to be a large part, it wouldn't indicate at this point of time. TV is definitely large part of our marketing spend. Again, the marketing spend today is not -- actually, again, in some markets, obviously, we have to spend more than what is required because of the competitors spending and all, more than what we think that is required to spend in all. But again, so sometimes we have to respond to that competitor marketing spend to ensure that we continue to grow and product our market. So again, if the competitor intensity reduces, obviously, our TV marketing spend, we wouldn't be spending so much. Look at 3 years ago, our marketing spend for the entire year was at the time of IPO was INR 50 crores. Now it comes to a stage almost like INR 160 crores for an year. So yes, today, actually, we are spending more than what is required, but that's an unfortunate situation. But again, having said that, we continue to invest and continue to grow. And maybe in the future some time, we see that the marketing spend reduces. But again, we may get the benefits of the reduced marketing expenses.

On a steady-state sale basis, like if you go back to time of your IPO or, let's say, otherwise, 15% to 20% of your top line spend on marketing was like steady state, stable kind of a marketing spend for this category? Just trying to understand that.

Actually for our -- this kind of -- it's a similar level of competition what we are at the time of IPO and what is equal percent. But I think, we can manage it, INR 100 core marketing spend.

Sorry, INR 100 crores, as of now.

Yes. Compared to INR 160 crores probably, maybe we can manage it with INR 100 crore now. That's an [indiscernible].

Understand that. And sir, just trying to understand the first part of the question. You mentioned that the average age of user is growing as with the economy. On your platform, have you seen -- like as the average rate has also gone up, the preference of users for a particular feature or for a particular aspect of service has also changed? I'm just asking from a longer 3-, 4-year perspective or it has largely remained the same? Just trying to understand what a consumer is needing as the age goes up basically on that. Do they need more physical interaction? Do they need better features? Do they need other data, about the likely partner they want to look at? What is it that is changing in terms of behavioral aspects there?

See, the core need is to find a life partner, get married. They have to see the right number of matches and connected. So -- but again, yes, we need to continue to innovate, continue to make it easy for user to discover and get connected. So the core Matchmaking platform continues to be going to be a part of large share of our revenue. And as I said, we recently launched Acceptable Matches. It's a patent-pending feature. We are the first one to launch it. It shows the people the most relevant matches. So sometimes online matrimony sites, people are bombarded with irrelevant matches. So this Acceptable Matches, though the number of matches may come down to the user, but the user ends up seeing relevant matches. So we continue to make progress, innovate, show that the people are able to see the relevant matches and get connected and get married. However, whether any preference question, 3, 4 years is too short period for any trend to be seen over this. Maybe as a continued process when people will become more and more busier and other things, probably maybe new for -- maybe the person can -- straightly can open up and other things. But again maybe not happen in the next 2 and 3 years, but again maybe in long run, possibly that may happen.

Last question is from Deep Shah of B&K Securities.

Sir, looking at the numbers of one of our other competitor, it seems here that even with these numbers, we have gained market share. So could you just elaborate a bit on what's happening in the northern market? And where do we see ourselves there? That was my first question. Sir, second question is, you earlier said that we are trying various strategies to mix pricing and number of transactions, but the transaction seemed to be flattish now for the 5, 6 quarters. So if you could give some more idea about what's happening on that front as well.

Yes. See, we are continuing to gain or grow across the market. Our growth is not limited to any particular geography or market. That's point number one. In terms of paid volumes, you know same it is because -- we definitely expect the growth momentum to continue. So when the growth momentum continues, obviously, it will reflect in either -- on 2 aspects, either the volume will move up or ARPU will move up. So we continue to drive both the things. So when the growth increases, definitely see they are reflected whether in terms of our volume moving up or our ARPU moving up. At this point, our current revenue, the current mix is, ARPU is certain percentage and volume is certain percentage. But the outlook for the coming years when they move up, obviously, we see that the volume to move as well.

Next question is from Sameer Pardikar of ICICIdirect.

Sir, what is the absolute breakup of our marketing spend on TV and digital? Is it 70% on TV, 30% on digital or is it higher percentage?

We have not given the absolute breakup, but the major part of spending is on TV, Sameer.

But any ballpark number would be really helpful.

So I think majority maybe around 70 percentage or something, 70%, 80% maybe on -- I don't know the exact thing, but majority is on TV.

Okay. Sure. Second thing is, sir, do we disclose any premium or paid subscribers for us in the quarter?

We don't do any premium paid subscribers. There's no -- we don't do it. But the only thing is we can say that one of the reasons for ARPU increases, we've seen good growth in the premium services segment as well.

Personalized services.

Personalized services.

Okay. And one of the competitors on the call said basically that consolidation is the way forward for the matrimonial market to grow in India. So any comments from your side?

So I think we are just focused on driving our growth and continue to widen the gap between us and other players. I think, yes, we are so focused -- super-focused on our growth. So if at all anything in the future, we may consider. In fact for us -- I think we can continue to execute our strategic priorities and the plans we have in front of us. I think we will be able to direct growth. If at all anything in the future, we may consider, but...

But anything on the mind for...

No. At this point of time, we are focused on our growth.

The next question is from Vivekanand of AMBIT.

A couple of them. So one, how much money have you earmarked for new product launches as well as investment in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Muslim Matchmaking, that's one. Secondly, we've seen that you invested in ShaadiSaga, you've invested in Astro also. And essentially, you've been making these small acquisitions in the last few years since you got listed. Are there similar such acquisitions available, which can supplement the current offering that we have where you would want to deploy your capital? Or given that now we are heading into a scenario where start-ups may not get funded as easily as they did in, say, 2021?

Yes. In terms of the -- any acquisition or other things, we'll continue to -- if there's any opportunity, which can add value to our offerings. So ShaadiSaga was definitely a good acquisition because it enhanced our capability on wedding services space. So definitely one of the offerings of matchmaking sites that have product, strategies and services of astro [indiscernible]. So we make a sort of strategic investment as well. So we continue to look for if there's any opportunity, we can strengthen our offerings and capabilities, we should do that. And in terms of the breakup of the spend wise, we have the overall marketing spend. We try to manage according to the need, we try to manage in the overall marketing budget because on some segments we see the traction, we invest more big in that initiatives. Again, we are almost at the fag end because [indiscernible] just launched TV campaign and other things are eventually added to it. Probably next year when we go to annual, we may have better understanding. However, again, we try to manage with overall today. And again, it depends on the need, it depends on the opportunity. We kind of allocate within the marketing part, so -- because the things are dynamic in nature. They're difficult to have that -- fixate the number for various segments as well. That's a broad number, but some of these tend to change, depends on opportunity, depends on the competition, depends on the how the other -- how the response for some of our offering happens. So lot of dynamics involved in some of the new venture. So it's very difficult to put a fixed number on various segments as part of it.

Okay. Okay. Understood. And just one last follow-up. So for the international foray, I mean, versus what you had outlined some time ago versus where you are now, I guess there are a few products that you are still to launch internationally, right? So by when can we expect you to do those launches in a full-fledged manner. I am referring specifically to the product on the Muslim match in international markets.

Muslim match already, there, we continue to make progress on that market. And we are definitely looking at some of their offering as well. So probably sometime this quarter, we'll be able to launch something for them, definitely.

So if there are no more questions, we can close the call, Chris?

Certainly, sir. We have no further questions. And I'd like to ask you to just make some closing comments.

Yes. So thanks, Prateek and Antique for hosting this call. Thanks, Chris. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us. Thank you once again.

Thank you for your interest in Matrimony.com, and look forward to getting in touch. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Antique Stock Broking, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.