CE Info Systems Ltd Q2 FY2025 Concall Summary

Key Takeaways

• Growth below the ask rate, but management unbothered: H1 revenue grew 13.5%, trailing the pace needed for the FY27-28 INR1,000 crores target, yet management frames this as a deliberate investment phase across consumer, IoT, drones and international markets rather than a miss.
• Hyundai JV opens a new geography and a new model: The PT Terra Link Technologies JV in Indonesia, with a \$4 million investment for a 40% stake, marks MapmyIndia's first international foray and brings a captive Hyundai Kia customer plus a platform to serve other OEMs and enterprises across Southeast Asia.
• Consumer business is the margin wildcard: INR5 crores in quarterly consumer spending pushed downloads to 2.8 crore, but management refuses to guide EBITDA margins for the year, explicitly tying the uncertainty to how aggressively it scales the consumer bet.
• C&E lumpiness is seasonal, not structural: A sequential revenue dip in the Consumer & Enterprise segment reflects fixed-price order book weighting toward Q1 and Q4; management expects recovery and warns of a possible Q4 jump.
• What to watch next quarter: Whether the Hyundai Kia domestic contract, now running at an INR20 crores quarterly average, sustains that level after its delayed September start, and whether C&E revenue rebounds as seasonality predicts.

The Hyundai JV: International Entry & Model Shift

• Structure and economics: MapmyIndia holds 40% of PT Terra Link Technologies, based in Indonesia, with a \$4 million (INR32 crores) capital investment flowing this month. The JV sources local maps, MapmyIndia processes them with its technology, and Hyundai Autoever contributes software; end customers belong to the JV, not to either parent independently.
• Revenue streams to MapmyIndia: The JV will outsource map-related activities to MapmyIndia as service revenue, the company will supply A&M and C&E solutions to JV customers for a top-line benefit, and MapmyIndia will book its share of JV profit to the bottom line. Order booking and revenue begin in FY26.
• Customer scope beyond Hyundai Kia: While Hyundai Kia vehicles using Autoever software form the captive base, management flagged that other OEMs like BYD could access MapmyIndia's software through the JV, and large C&E companies including Apple are also in scope.
• Cost-sharing logic: The JV model lets MapmyIndia pursue international expansion without bearing the full cost burden alone, a template management may replicate.

Rakesh Verma: "Think about this, our model in which we have successfully joined hands with Hyundai, whereby the cost burden was not entirely ours."

Consumer Business: The Investment That Swallows Margin Visibility

• Spend and scale: The company spent INR5 crores this quarter on advertising, marketing and cloud expenses for free apps, driving downloads from 2.5 crore to 2.8 crore. The stated ambition is to reach 10 crore downloads, which management calls a potential game-changer, though no timeline is attached.
• Monetization deferred: Management is experimenting with in-app advertising, Mappls Gadgets online subscriptions, and commission income from travel, but will not discuss transaction economics, revenue sharing, or Mappls Mall and Mappls Travel details for at least a year.
• Strategic rationale: A large consumer base is meant to create a flywheel: more users attract advertising revenue, convince enterprises that Mappls APIs are superior, and make automotive OEMs more likely to adopt the platform.
• Margin consequence: Management explicitly refuses to provide EBITDA margin guidance for this financial year, citing the consumer investment debate. Without consumer spending, B2B maps alone could deliver 60-70% EBITDA, but that path would not reach the INR1,000 crores revenue target.

Rakesh Verma: "From nowhere to 2.8 crore as of today, imagine the impact we could have if one day we were able to scale up to 10 crore."

A&M: Steady Wins, Delayed Revenue

• OEM wins and go-lives: New wins spanned 2-wheeler, 4-wheeler and commercial vehicle OEMs. Major go-lives included Hyundai Alcazar, Hyundai Creta, Kia Carnival, Kia EV9, Mahindra Thar RoXX, Mahindra 3X0, Ather Rizta, and JCB, which marks entry into the commercial utility vehicle space.
• Hyundai Kia domestic contract ramp: The new contract averages INR20 crores per quarter, up from the old run rate of INR5-6 crores, but revenue only began in September after a delay from the expected April start. Festive-season OEM volume uplift is typically split between Q2 and Q3.
• Fleet and govt wins: New fleet mandates include monitoring vehicles for an electric major, rake tracking for a cement company, and video telematics for auto carriers and heavy equipment. The Maharashtra state AIS-140 back-end went live, providing safety and emergency response for all commercial-use vehicles in the state.

C&E: Seasonal Lumpiness, Not a Structural Problem

• The quarter's softness: Revenue declined sequentially, which management attributes entirely to the fixed-price order book being weighted toward Q1 and Q4. Wins continued across e-commerce, QSR, delivery and mobility, with APIs used for location-based applications, personalization and address capture.
• Recovery signal: Management expects C&E revenue to come back and warns that a big Q4 jump is possible given current order book composition. No quarterly guidance is offered because customer-defined timing governs revenue recognition.
• No Google impact: Management confirmed the decline is not structural and not related to competitive pressure from Google.

IoT & Drones: Early-Stage Margin Improvement

• IoT margin turnaround: IoT-led business EBITDA margin improved from 7% to 14% during H1, a meaningful step toward viability after four quarters of investment.
• Drone progress: Five drones have been manufactured, three submitted for government certification, and the company has begun providing Drone as a Service to government and non-government customers. Investment amounts for drones and IoT were not quantified.
• Accounting treatment: IoT and drone investments are expensed under accounting standards, which depresses reported profitability. Management argues this is necessary to reach the INR1,000 crores revenue target and that optimizing for near-term margins would mean abandoning the growth plan.

Rakesh Verma: "If we had been doing only maps business, B2B, probably our profitability, EBITDA, you could have seen it rising to 60%, 70%. But it would not have helped us with the revenue growth target that we have tried to put on ourselves, INR1,000 crores in FY '27-'28."

AI Positioning & Long-Term Bets

• AI as a customer acquisition channel: Management frames MapmyIndia as a five-year AI practitioner, using AI for maps analytics and processing, and argues that AI companies will need MapmyIndia's data and APIs, making them potential customers rather than competitors.
• The 3-to-5-year horizon: Management explicitly asks investors to judge the business on a 3-to-5-year view, not quarter-by-quarter. The JV, consumer base growth, and AI opportunity are all framed as bets whose benefits may be immediate or may take years to materialize.

Rakesh Verma: "Now you hear all this talk about AI. Now very interestingly, we have been using AI for the last 5 years in our own company for our maps analytics and many things. But the interesting part is that AI companies will need us. And they are the potential customers for us."

Guidance & Commitments

Key Metrics