Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Matrimony Q3 and nine months FY 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Jayram Shetty from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I would like to welcome you all to quarter three and nine-month FY 2026 earnings call of Matrimony.com. From the company, we have Mr. Murugavel Janakiraman, MD and CEO, and Mr. Harigovind Krishnasamy, CFO. The call will begin with brief management remarks, followed by a Q&A session. I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Janakiraman for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Mr. Jayram Shetty. In our matrimony business, our billing continued to grow at a healthy rate on year-on-year basis. We have initiated a share buyback in January 2026, amounting to INR 58.5 crores to reward our shareholders. We'll continue to evaluate opportunity to reward our shareholders in future as well, subject to necessary board and shareholders approval. I'm pleased to inform you that Matrimony.com has officially been certified as a Great Place to Work for the second consecutive year by Great Place to Work India. This recognition based on feedback from all our associates, and we scored better than the previous year. This reflects our commitment to fostering a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration, complemented by dedication and contribution of our leaders and associates.
Our ManyJobs business has crossed 1 million app downloads and has more than 10,000 recruiters using our platform to the leading brands across the industry. Top-line operating metrics also have improved compared to quarter two. We have revamped our product offering for Luv.com, which aims to assist the customer build meaningful and lasting relationships. We have launched AI chatbot in our Matrimony business, and we continue to look at leveraging AI in all areas of our operations. Now, coming to the results. In quarter three, on a consolidated basis, we have the billing of INR 117.9 crore, a growth of 7.8% year-over-year, and a decline of 0.5% quarter-over-quarter.
Revenue at INR 113.2 crore, a growth of 1.6% year-on-year and decline of 1.2% quarter-over-quarter. Key highlights for the matrimony business in quarter three are as follows: billing at INR 117 crore, a growth of 8% year-on-year and a decline of 0.5% quarter-over-quarter. Revenue at INR 112.1 crore, a growth of 1.8% year-on-year and decline of 1.3% quarter-over-quarter. Active paid profile were 2.5 lakh at the end of quarter three, a growth of 3% year-on-year and 4% quarter-over-quarter.
ATV for the matchmaking business increased by 13.3% year-on-year and 4.57% quarter-over-quarter. We create about 25,600 success stories in the quarter. Now, coming to the wedding services and other businesses, billing was INR 91 lakhs, a decline of 2.6% quarter-over-quarter and 12.5% year-on-year. Revenue was INR 1.13 crore, a growth of 7.7% quarter-over-quarter, a decline of 15.7% year-on-year. EBITDA loss for the quarter was INR 3.2 crores, compared to loss of INR 2.8 crores in quarter two and INR 3.8 crore in quarter three of last year. The losses also include our newer initiatives.
On the billing and revenue outlook for quarter four, we expect a double-digit or high single-digit growth in Matrimony billings in quarter four on year-on-year basis. Let me now pass on to our CFO, Harigovind, to comment on the key profit highlights.
Thanks, Muruga. Good evening, everyone. Our EBITDA margin for the matchmaking business in Q3 is at 19.2%, as compared to 17.1% in Q2 and 18.7% a year ago. Marketing expenses for matchmaking in Q3 are at INR 43.9 crores, as compared to INR 45.8 crore in Q2 and INR 46.2 crores a year ago. Excluding marketing expenses, our margins in matchmaking business are at 58%, as compared to 57% in Q2. On a consolidated basis, our EBITDA margins in Q3 are at 11.3%, as compared to 10.8% in Q2 and 12.4% a year ago. Tax rate for the quarter stood at 22.1%.
Tax is at INR 8.3 crore, a growth of 7% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and a decline of 16.7% on a year-on-year basis. Share of Q3 loss from Astro-Vision, our associate company, is INR 4 lakh. Cash and investment balance flow, investment closing balance is at INR 345 crore. ROCE is 9.7% on an annualized basis. On the outlook for Q4 margins, we expect double-digit growth in operational profit on QoQ and YoY basis. 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 the 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.
Thanks. So we can now take questions, guys.
Okay, thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
The first question is from the line of Vasudevan from True Value. Please go ahead.
Good evening, gentlemen. Hello?
Yes, Mr. Vasudevan. Yeah, please. We can hear you. Go ahead.
Good evening, sir. I have three questions, sir. All small, shorter one. Your marriage services revenue has been dropping every year, sir, and because of this, losses are also increasing, increasing. It would be viable to close this business so that our bottom line will increase, sir. This is dominated more by offline model than online. This is my first question. The second question is: Why invest in Bharat Ek Khoj last quarter, sir? Is it for the integration with our app? Please throw some light on that. Third, Astrotalk revenue is more than INR 1,000 crore. Though our company has Astro division, it is in the sleep mode. Any update, sir? The company refuses to plug this low-hanging fruit, sir. That's all. Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you, Mr. Vasudevan, for asking this question. Marriage services, we continue to figure out what is the best way to take the business forward. As we speak, we're exploring how to capture the opportunity in front of in the wedding services. I think we believe that we are able to identify how we want to take the business forward. Probably in the coming year, we'll have a better visibility and clarity on wedding services. We believe that approach what we are taking, we probably may move into maybe the commission-based model rather than subscription-based model. We are experimenting certain things. Probably in the coming year, we'll have better clarity on wedding services.
But having said that, as a company, we are not averse to closing down things which are not working very well. But however, we definitely feel wedding service is an opportunity we could be able to maximize it. And so that's something we feel we are confident of it. And then coming to the regarding investment into the entity, which is more on the company, the startup. We are into the AI astrology space because, you know, the AI making inroads into various categories. This startup we found it interesting, and we are investing in that company that they are working on AI astrology. That's point number two.
When it come to Astrotalk, we spoke about here, they are the large player in this category, and the company what invests in Astro, Astro-Vision, and is more of, we are using their product and services, and they are one of the early movers in the space, but obviously they are not really scaled up, the way the other astrology company has scaled up. So it's more of for us, it's that investment into a product which we are using it also, and while one of the early movers, for whatever reason, they were not able to scale up. We continue to figure out how to maximize our investment in that astrology space. And we also the Astro free chart, the app what we have. We are also offering AI free AI astrology chart using AI.
So leveraging the investment what we made in Astro-Vision. So some things are happening on astrology space. Having said that, there are large players, we'll see whether or not, how we can, leverage this, our investment or, or it is something also we're trying to explore also.
Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jay James, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Jay, you can go ahead with your question. As there is no response from the participant, we'll move to the next question. The next question is from the line of Palak Desai, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello? Am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you. Yes, you are.
Yeah. Yeah, so the marketing expenses remain elevated at about INR 451 million in quarter three of FY 2026. So I wanted to understand if there's any scope for operating leverage if billing growth sustains double digits.
Thank you for asking the question. Look at the marketing spend on matrimony business. Look at last. It's been continuing to kind of go down. So from quarter one, from 46.7, now it's become 43.9. So the marketing spend has come down, and we continue to look at the opportunity to optimize the marketing spend, but it's on the downward trend, and but obviously, we have to still continue to invest, because that category is still, you know, operating at a stay, you know, increased marketing level. So having said that, we continue to optimize, continue to reduce the marketing, because some markets, we see the marketing spend getting softening. So wherever we see the scope to reduce marketing spend.
On one end, we were able to optimize. On the other end, wherever we see that softening, we're able to reduce the marketing spend as well. So definitely, marketing spend on the downward trend of the matrimony business.
Okay, got it. And also I wanted to understand that if billing grows double digit in quarter four as guided, so what is the expected EBITDA margins for FY 2027?
So the thing is that while the billing is going to grow, but the revenue still be there, the gap between the billing and the revenue. So we see the benefits of the increased billing for FY 2026, we see it start happening because of the one-year package that we included at the beginning of the year. We get the full benefits happening in quarter one. The full benefits will happen in quarter one only, while definitely the billing growth happening in quarter four, some increase in the revenue will happen. But having said that, full benefits happen only in the quarter one of the coming year.
Okay, got it. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Premalal Kotha , an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Sir, good evening, sir. Hello?
Yeah, sir. Yes, please, please go ahead. Yeah.
Yeah. On a yearly basis, when you remove other income, hardly net profit is INR 10 crore only. So but you are spending INR 180 crore on advertisements. That is the one question. It's not about; it's a, for several years you are spending 40% or something on advertisement and job portal, right? Another question is job portal, when it is going to monetize? That's all on my side, sir.
The marketing spend, definitely, as I said, it has come down. You know, we continue to figure out a way to reduce the marketing spend. And also investing big in the newer opportunity in the matchmaking space. You may know that we launched Luv.com. It's a serious relationship app. So look at the market, Luv.com was not even there, so one year ago. So now a new product has also been launched. The product has come out very well. So the overall marketing spend also include the matrimony business, include the newer initiatives, which include Jodii.com, which also include Luv.com. Some of the initiatives we are investing now, the benefits of the investment happen in the following years. In terms of Jodii, already we are monetizing.
Now, you know, it's still in the very early days, so the benefits are allowed out for investment, happen in the subsequent years. In terms of the job portal we started monetizing, and currently you may know that it's currently only in Tamil Nadu. We want to reach a certain scale and size in terms of user base, recruiters, company, and the product wise, also want to continue to improve our product and service. Once we reach a certain level, then we have plans to expand across India. I don't know when that will happen, probably maybe sometime the coming year, maybe latter part of the coming financial year. We don't know. But at this point in time, we have certain metrics we want to hit in terms of operating metrics and business metrics. So we started monetizing.
The early feedback has been good. You know, over 10,000 recruiters are using it, and a lot of big companies also signed up, and we believe we're on the right track. But having said that, still in the very early days, and probably sometime later part of next year, we will, we'll know where we stand with respect to ManyJobs. But as overall, we believe that there's a product market fit, and there's an opportunity, and we believe we are going in the right direction.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harsh Mittal, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Good evening. So I have some, a couple of questions. So firstly, sir, post buyback, what is the capital allocation philosophy going forward?
Yeah, hi. I think from a capital allocation perspective, we are very clear. Our principals are very focused and disciplined. So in terms of the newer initiatives also, we invest in areas where we feel that we will make good returns when we scale. So that is number one. In terms of the buybacks or future opportunities to give surplus cash to the shareholders, you know that there is a statutory time limit between buyback. And post that, the board and the shareholders will continue evaluating, rewarding the shareholders on a long-term basis.
Okay, sir. Also, I have one more question.
Yes, please.
Yeah. So, sir, how much of Q3 deferred revenue converts into Q4 earnings availability?
See, earlier, you know, most of the product used to be, you know, the three-month, three-month package.
Yes.
Because of the, you know, introduction of the one-year package in the beginning of the year, you know, the, the, you know, if you see that over nine months, almost INR 20 crore of... Look at the nine months with the nine-month comparison. Last year, the billing versus the revenue is almost like, in fact, in fact, last year, the, the revenue was more than the billing was, it's got the preceding year revenue. So this year, almost a INR 20 crore are difference between the billing and revenue. So, so, so there is some amount of revenue getting pushed. But as I said, in the quarter one of the coming year, the FY 2027, where you get the full benefit of the one-year package that was included in the beginning of the year.
So we see that typically around 90%+ revenue gets put to the subsequent quarter. There is a 10% revenue difference on the package and all, put to the entire year actually. Yeah, majority of it is pushed to the next quarter, yeah.
Also, sir, just one more question. Sir, can we see more improvement in our average transaction values? Like, you have shown a really good growth in your average transaction value. So any more room for improvement in that?
We can definitely see that, you know, the ATV can continue to get better on account of if the high-end packages are, you know, we are able to make some progress. And also that, you know, again, you know, the higher value, the packages are, you know, now we're able to make progress on those things. Plus, also continuing figuring way to increase our output. The combination of these factors, we believe that ATV can continue to improve.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jimit Mehta, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Jimit-
Hi, sir.
You can go ahead.
Hi, good evening, sir. Am I audible?
Yes, you are audible.
Okay, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So given the long-term package strategy, should we expect the revenue growth acceleration in FY 2027 once the deferred revenue base starts unwinding?
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Okay, sir. And, like, I have, I had one question on the subscription. So the paid subscription declined 4.6% on a year-on-year basis, while the ATV grew around 13.3% on a year-on-year basis. Is the growth, like, entirely price driven?
No. Yeah, definitely, the one is about the, the combination of the high-end packages, plus also, one-year packages, so ATB driven. And also in terms of the volume growth, we expect the volume growth to also be not a one-year package is going to come for renewal as well. So the starting of quarter one of next year, we possibly see that, you know, the volume growth also moving up.
Okay, sir. Okay, and, like one... Hello?
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Is there any risk that continued ATV expansion could eventually impact the subscriber growth elasticity?
So basically, the thing is that the increase in ATV is a combination of we have the multiple packages, you know, that there are personalized services. The personalized services are, you know, much higher revenue, be it Elite Matrimony, be it the Assisted Service. In fact, those opportunities are growing at a much better pace compared to the overall growth. The combination of personal services growth at a better rate compared to the overall growth in the matrimony, and also the combination of one-year package. Plus also the way we are working on to improve that the average transaction value within the existing products, because so basically a lot of experiments are happening. So the combination of all these factors, we expect the ATV can continue to improve. That's the outlook what we have this point of time.
Sir, how is the competition is currently right now? Is like, why we prefer, people, like, the consumer prefer Matrimony, over, all the other competitors, sir?
See, the most of the market, one is about obviously we have the large user base and better than anybody else. And point number two is that in terms of the products and the offerings, that you know, the most credible and trusted platform. And so basically, the number of people who got married our service. So basically a combination of user base, product and offerings, service, trust and credibility, and the number of people who got married our service, which is really the more like virtuous cycle, you know, the more like more people, more data there is, more people getting married, the more word-of-mouth publicity they're driving more registration. It's a multiplier, more like it's a virtuous cycle.
So, you know, that's why the people prefer most of the market, because we are the large base, more chance of finding a right life partner, and also with a compelling product and offering.
Okay, sir. And sir, one last question. So, can you disclose the renewal rate trend over the last four quarters?
So we don't disclose the percentage, but one thing that, you know, the renewal numbers are started moving up because, you know, a few years ago, we had the profile grow, impact, that impact our first-time payment, that subsequently impact renewal payment. Last year, started growing on the first-time payment. We now see the growth happening at renewal as well. So basically, we are once again back on track with respect to the profile growth and with the first-time volume, renewal also coming back. So all these factors, which help us to continue to grow in the matchmaking business, and the deferred revenue will also contribute next year, the revenue growth. So, and the marketing investment level, we expect all the three benefits coming in the next year. So we don't share that, renewal percentage.
What I'm saying, the renewal numbers are, you know, started growing.
Okay, sir. Okay, understood, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. All the best for the future.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jay Jain, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello.
Yeah, please.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Yeah. So Marriage Services billing remain muted and structurally small. So what is, what is the long-term strategy intent for this vertical?
Yeah. So we believe there is opportunity, and we'll continue to figure out the reason we are not scaling up, investing and all. We want to get the, the product market fit strategy right. So we are trying something new. We are, you know, working with strategies. You know, we probably have a better clarity in the coming years... Once you're able to get that thing right, then you will invest and scale up the business. So we definitely believe such a company has the opportunity to make inroads into wedding services. We're currently figuring it out, but believe we are sort of getting something right. Let's see, in the coming year, a better clarity on the wedding services.
Okay. So do you have any breakeven roadmap for this segment?
No, there's a huge opportunity. So it's more like, rather than the breakeven, we are looking at, you know, it's a, it's a huge opportunity. We want to make it as a very large business, you know, few hundred crore business. So we want to get that, product market fit strategy and, execution right. So we definitely, we are confident that we could be able to execute to capture the opportunity in front of us. So, so definitely maybe end of year or something like that, we have a better clarity on wedding services roadmap.
Okay. One last question on the market share. So are we gaining any market share? Is the industry recovery-led growth? Is it recovery-led, led growth?
I think, you know, we continue to remain strong in most of the markets, strong market share, and we should be making some inroads in some markets also. So I'm not getting into specific markets, but, the profile growth are, is happening, and, so we are making good in some markets. That's why. So yeah.
Oh.
So-
Okay.
I want to say that, yeah.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Apurva Jain, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening. Am I audible?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
I have a couple of questions. First question is about, despite increased ad investments in North India, revenue grew last year. Have you gained measurable market share in North India over the past 2-3 years?
We don't get into a market-specific spend as a thing. Definitely, North India is one of the markets we want to make inroads, because that's the only market where I believe, you know, we have the opportunity to become a leader, because the rest of the market, we are a leader, okay? Only North India, we're not a number one player. So as far as South India, we need to make progress in those areas. We continue to figure out ways, strategies to penetrate in the market. But at this point of time, yes, we are... There's limited investment happening in that market, because overall, the marketing spend in North India for all the players has come down. We are not aggressively investing within North India at this point of time.
Okay, sir. Okay, sir. So my second question is, at what point would you consider structurally reducing ad spends to protect margin?
at what point is spending? Spending depends on one is that, you know, the market opportunity and also what the competitive opportunity. But definitely, we see that there is some bit of softening happening on the marketing spend, so that is sort of helped us to, you know, kind of optimize the marketing spend. You know, you see that the quarter-on-quarter, year-on-year, the marketing spend has come down. We believe at this point in time, we may be operating at the current level of marketing spend. Now, see, progress, we continue to evaluate. If there's an opportunity to reduce marketing spend, we reducing marketing spend.
I think that we believe at this point in time, this level of marketing spend may be required, but other expenses being remaining, it may remain at a similar level. So except, you know, next year, some increments, other infrastructure costs will be may come down a little bit because we are leveraging AI to optimize. So looking at AI to improve efficiency, we are also looking at AI to optimize costs. So while there is some increase on capital on account of AI may happen, but there'll be a reduction in some costs. We believe that matchmaking broadly may operate at the, at this level, for the coming year, but until otherwise, you know, something changes that may warrant us to probably invest more, but at this point, I don't see that happening.
We believe that we are at a stage where we believe that the matchmaking can continue at this level of operating function.
Okay, sir. So my third question is about, is the business model inherently dependent on high recurring brand spend, or is there scope for a more organic acquisition-led model?
So a lot of our acquisitions are organic. You know, it's a, you know, it's a very large part of our acquisition, organic. However, you know that Google is the gateway to the organic traffic, so it's not that it's organic. Still, you have to pay money to Google to get the organic traffic. So it's just something which are forced to invest behind the Google platform, because otherwise, if you don't invest behind your brand, there's a chance of, you know, that the other ads being shown up and all that. So I think the brand is a strong brand and a strong value, so most of the acquisitions are, you know, happening through the platform like Google, so obviously you have to invest money on those platforms.
So there is a scope to optimize the spend on account of how the competitors are spending or how the market is behaving. It's more like top of the funnel advertisement, be it TV, other things. If there's scope to reduce, we may reduce it also. That's why you see that the marketing spend did come down.
Okay, sir. So one last question: If industry advertising rationalizes further, what is the incremental margin upside potential?
Sorry, I missed the last part. Can you please repeat again, sir?
I'll repeat my question: If industry advertising rationalizes further, what is the incremental margin upside potential?
I think, see, even we believe that we could be able to operate at the current level of operating expenses of Matrimony business, sadly, in the coming years. That being the case, the incremental revenue largely can flow into, you know, into the operating margin, so it, it'll flow into the bottom line.
Okay, sir. That's it for... Thanks, sir.
...Thank you. The next question is from the line of Akash Mehta, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes, Akash, please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Actually, I just wanted to ask you, what is the internal capital allocation discipline for new initiatives, and when do we expect breakeven?
So we are not looking at the breakeven at this point in time. The way we are looking at Akash, we want to get, we are looking at all these opportunities, be it the wedding wedding services, or be it the ManyJobs. So all these opportunities, we are definitely looking at the INR 100+ crore revenue or larger also. So basically, for us, we want to get to the level where we feel that we are confident enough to invest and scale up further. So definitely, I told ManyJobs, we already crossed 1 billion downloads, and we have 10,000 recruiters in Tamil Nadu. We want to reach a certain level of usage and renewal and a certain benchmark before we decide to take across Tamil Nadu, then it can be a large business.
Same with the wedding services, while we are continuing investing, we believe that we are changing the model. We believe the current model, which we are trying now, can have the potential. Once we believe that, okay, yeah, this is the model to work really well, this is the model we want to invest. It's more of scaling the business to a large business and capture the opportunity, not we are looking at, let's make a INR 5 crore every month and make it breakeven. That's not what we are looking at. We want to create these individual opportunities, a much larger opportunity, at least a minimum of 100, 200, or even much larger also. But we are looking at achieving a profitability, you know, that level, not at a few crore level, we are looking at trying to make a breakeven.
The reason not investing, because so far we didn't get the time, but actually, still, we believe that wedding services, we are working on a model. We believe that model can be scaled up. Again, it's a couple of more quarter. Once we have the comfort, then we'll come back to you. And in terms of ManyJobs, I told you, probably sometime coming financial year, based on how the things are happening, we may scale up to across India. That point, maybe we invest further also.
Hello? Yes, yes, yes. That, that was the only question I had. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Daya Shankar Pandey, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yeah, thanks for your opportunity. So I have just one question, that what is your long-term strategy in terms of maximize paid subscriber base or, maximize monetization per user?
It's a combination of both, so it's not one at the cost of other. We are trying to do both. So both try to increase the conversion per paid monetization and also try to get at the best possible ARPU. Basically, offering the right package to the customer. So we'll try to do both.
Okay. And the second question I have is, several initiatives were launched in Luv.com, ManyJobs.com, WeddingLoans.com, and AstroChat, but WeddingLoans.com has been paused. So what is the internal hurdle rate for these experiments?
So basically, we know some of the experiment we won't do for a long time. A Wedding Loan, what we saw was that we were able to generate a lot of inquiries, but the leads were not converting. So we believe that at this point of time, we didn't want to focus on, opportunities which are not, yielding the expected results. We decided to pause, stop that initiative. So we are, focusing on other initiatives. And we believe that, you know, Luv.com is a long term because it's a, it's a-- we believe there is a segment of users who prefer a sort of, serious relationship. There's small segments that, you know, but we didn't want to miss out on that opportunity, keeping long-term interests of Matrimony.com. So there the product has come out well. I think, we are all...
With that one, we have covered the entire spectrum of offerings in the matrimony and matchmaking space. Astro free chart is more of experiment. We said, AI is happening, why don't have a AI-based free chart? It's a more experiment. We know in the coming year where it goes, accordingly, we decide what to be done.
Okay, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press Star and One at this time. The next question is from the line of Palak Desai, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes, yes, please go ahead.
Yeah. So I had a follow-up question on competitive intensity, if it's leading to higher customer acquisition costs?
So the, you know, just in terms of, let's say in terms of there are two things, one is the top of an advertisement and the other bottom of an advertisement spend. So you know that, the top of an advertisement increases some market, you also need to step up to ensure that, the long-term interests are protected. So at this point in time, the way we see that is that, the market may continually operate at a similar level or there's a possibility it may further soften. So, so that's why we see at this point in time. So sometimes there's, you know, things changes, accordingly, we have to probably maybe step up also, but at this point, I don't see.
But we believe that at the similar level of marketing may be good enough to continue with our growth strategy. So we believe that in around 43 or 45 crore or 44 crore may be good enough from Matrimony business at this point in time. So that's what we foresee at this point in time. Again, it depends, if tomorrow there's something happens, probably we need to step up. But at this point of time, we see that it's sort of going to stay at this level for Matrimony. So the company increases, obviously, simply increases, there can be increase in the cost of acquisition.
Okay. And also, should we expect a sustainable double-digit billing growth over FY 2026, 2027, or is this a recovery-led growth?
I think we feel we can have that sort of similar level of growth in the coming year as well. So because as I said, we started all that in our first time payment, renewal also started growing, certain service also growing. So combination of all these factors, we believe we could have that, you know, the growth momentum to continue for FY 2026 and 2027 as well.
Okay, got it. Yeah, that's it from my end.
Thank you. Next, we have a follow-up question from the line of Premalal Kotha, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Sir, just in the balance sheet, INR 348 crore, after buyback the, after buyback INR 348 or, what is the...? Hello?
Yeah. That 348 will reduce by INR 58 crore, and the operational surplus will get added during the quarter. Once the regulatory formalities are done and account is like transferred, the amount is transferred to the eligible shareholders, that will get reduced from the closing balance of the investment.
So one more thing, sir, instead of buyback, acquiring the new articles and all, recently CarTrade has bought by OLX, after that accelerate, right, profits. So Mr. Murugan, can you answer on this? Because say, only net profit is hardly INR 10 crore if you remove other income and all.
So the thing is that, you know, this year there's also the difference between the billing and the gap revenue. So next year, we see the profits from starting quarter one of coming year, when we started getting the benefits of the billing and the revenue moving up on accounts of that one-year package. So profit also move up. So I think, quarter one of next year, where we see the benefits of this the one-year package fully getting realized. And the continued growth happening on the billing also reflecting that, you know, the quarter four also reflect in quarter one. But the next year, we expect that the profit will be definitely better on accounts of the one-time issue, seeing what happened in introduction of one-year package.
So in terms of the, as an organization, you know, what we did is, we are how to reward the shareholder. And one is about, you know, be it a buyback or dividend. We also look at, you know, opportunity to invest in that. So last year, investing in a company called AI Astrology. We continue to evaluate those opportunities. So these are some of the areas we continue to strengthen also. So at this point, we focus on growing our core businesses and then making the newer initiatives, the product market fit right. I think once you reach certain level of confidence on the new initiatives, once the profit moves up to a certain level, so our ability to access in some of these, you know, investment opportunity also may get better.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question from the participant. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you so much for participating, and I appreciate your support, and we'll see you again in the next quarter. Thank you so much. Have a nice evening.
On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.