5 Info Edge apps delisted from Google Play Store, company tells bourses

Five apps from Info Edge --- Naukri.com, Naukri Recruiter, Naukrigulf, 99acres and Shiksha --- have been delisted by Google from its Play Store, the Indian tech giant informed the bourses on Saturday. This follows Google’s crackdown on apps from 10 Indian developers for not complying with its payments policy, and brings the total number of delisted apps to at least 26. HT had earlier reported that Naukri.com, Naukri Recruiter and 99acres had been delisted.

Info Edge’s other apps –- Jeevansathi, Job Hai, Job Hai Recruiter, Shiksha Study Abroad, and Tech News on the Go: Techminis –- were still listed on Play Store at the time of publishing this report.

“The removal/delisting of the company’s mobile applications from the Google Play Store comes as a surprise to the company, since this action was taken by Google without giving due and sufficient notice to the company. The company is reviewing and evaluating the next course of action and working with Google in this regard, to ensure that the company’s mobile applications are reinstated on the Google Play Store, in the best timely manner,” Info Edge’s communication to NSE and BSE said.

In Q3FY2023-24, Info Edge earned a revenue of ₹627.23 crore from its operations of which ₹469.33 crore, or 74.8% of the revenue from operations came from recruitment solutions which include naukri.com, “other recruitment related portals and ancillary services related to recruitment”. 99acres accounted for ₹88.76 crore, or 14.2% of the total revenue from operations. Recruitment solutions saw a profit of ₹259.17 crore before tax, while 99acres saw a loss of ₹14.71 crore before tax.

“The Naukri Gulf business, on the other hand, reported a growth of 28% during the quarter, primarily led by growth in new customers added to the platform. Other verticals like Naukri Fast Forward and iimjobs.com witnessed healthy billing growths of 19% and 22% year-on-year, respectively. The Naukri database now comprises 95 million resumes and continues to grow 9% year-on-year. Daily app installs on the Android platform grew by 10% and on iOS by 29% year-on-year. The overall app install base stands at 14 million,” Hitesh Oberoi, MD and CEO of Info Edge, had said during the earnings call on February 13.

For the last few quarters, Oberoi had also mentioned that when it comes to resale of properties, that is, the secondary market, 99acres has faced stiff competition from Google and Facebook. “[O]ur secondary business [resales on 99acres] is also doing well this year, by the way, it’s smaller than the primary business [direct sales from developers] for us, but it’s almost as big if you include rental, commercial, resale, and that business has been growing much faster than our primary business. In the new launch, there’s a lot of action and business activities, but we don’t really play a big role. And that’s something we want to correct going forward. That’s an opportunity for us. A lot of that revenue today goes to the Facebooks’ and Googles’ of the world,” Oberoi had said during the last earnings call on February 13.