CE Info Systems Ltd Q1 FY2026 Concall Summary

Key Takeaways

• Strong Q1, broad-based growth: Revenue grew 19.8% YoY with EBITDA up 30.6% and PAT up 27.7%, driven by deepening automotive adoption and new enterprise wins.
• Automotive defies industry trend: A&M revenue rose 24.4% YoY despite low single-digit auto volume growth in India, powered by EV penetration and OEM platform ramps.
• IoT reset underway, not broken: The segment was flat as management deliberately cleaned up Gtropy's inventory, hardware mix, and cost structure; the contribution margin story remains intact and a turnaround is promised.
• Zepto deal opens quick commerce: A strategic agreement and INR 25 crores investment position MapmyIndia to capture a "pretty large" technology spend opportunity in a fast-growing vertical.
• What to watch next quarter: Whether the IoT cleanup translates to resumed growth, the pace of Zepto revenue contribution, and progress on the INR 1,000 crores FY28 trajectory as Q2 is seasonally softer.

Automotive & Mobility: Outpacing the Market

• EV adoption as a structural driver: All EVs in the Indian market already ship with MapmyIndia technology, and growth is broad-based across EVs, 4-wheelers, and 2-wheelers, not concentrated in any single segment.
• OEM ramp-ups adding scale: Mahindra, now the second-largest automotive company in India, and Hyundai are both ramping up their adoption of NCASE solutions, creating a compounding revenue base.
• HD Maps build future pipeline: The company is developing live high-definition maps for autonomous driving and lane-level navigation, moving beyond standard 2D and 3D definition maps to capture next-generation use cases.

Rakesh Verma: "What happens is when you work closely with a customer, you learn a lot - like I can tell you about automotive. The first customer we worked closely with was BMW. And we learned a lot of things there and then it helped us with regards to almost all the automotive companies."

IoT Segment: A Deliberate Reset

• Flat quarter by design: IoT-led business was largely flat because management transitioned Gtropy at the start of Q1 from the founder's approach to MapmyIndia's higher-margin, large-enterprise, fiscally prudent model, a consolidation phase before the next growth leg.
• Multiple cleanup levers at work: The decline reflects a conscious effort to improve contribution margin on hardware sales, run down excess inventory without hurting margins, shy away from low-margin hardware deals, absorb increased fixed costs from management changes, and clean up systems for secular growth.
• Opex model still winning: The hardware-on-rent business continues to perform well with multiple new wins, and management argues there is enough contribution margin in the business for operating leverage to kick in once the reset is complete.
• Stake increase signals conviction: The company is increasing its shareholding in Gtropy from 75.98% to 96.0%, with an optional right to acquire the remaining 4% over the coming four years.

Rakesh Verma: "And again, there's enough contribution margin in this business that the operating leverage will kick in. And you've seen that in the last 8-10 quarters of performance in this company, but there's some time when you need to consolidate a little bit so that you can orient the ship in a way so you don't again face issues every few quarters during that next phase of growth."

Quick Commerce & Enterprise: New Verticals Opening

• Zepto strategic agreement: In August 2025, MapmyIndia entered a strategic business agreement where its SDK and API will enhance Zepto's customer and delivery experience, with a parallel INR 25 crores strategic investment to deepen quick commerce capabilities.
• Opportunity described as large: Management declined to quantify but emphasized the opportunity is "pretty large" given Zepto's scale and growth trajectory, with diverse revenue streams spanning APIs, SDKs, analytics, and other solutions.
• Separate from the INR 233 crores win: The INR 233 crores e-commerce order announced July 1 is from a different customer and has already started contributing to revenues, demonstrating the segment's breadth beyond any single client.
• Consumer Tech & Enterprise grew 16.1% YoY: The C&E segment registered healthy growth, supported by meaningful progress in customer acquisitions and deeper engagement with existing clients across technology startups and traditional enterprises.

Rakesh Verma: "See the opportunities are diverse. There are so many different types of APIs and SDKs. When a customer wants to get something done quickly without developing a complete technology behind it, then they use the APIs SDK. It could be analytics also. It could be so many other things also. So let's not think that it is a small opportunity. The opportunity is pretty large."

Government & Defense: A Dedicated Focus

• Mappls DT operationalized: A wholly owned subsidiary, Mappls DT Private Limited, has been fully operationalized to serve digital transformation and digital twin needs of government and defense sectors, creating dedicated focus on a distinct customer set.
• Multiple new wins across tiers: The company secured new government wins spanning central, state, and local governments, including defense, covering Map-led, IoT-led, digital twin, digital transformation, and defense tech solutions.
• Back-ended revenue profile: Government business is particularly back-ended, with Q4 historically the strongest quarter, so the full-year view matters more than any single quarter's contribution.

International Expansion: Early-Stage, Multi-Pronged

• Southeast Asia gaining traction: MapmyIndia went live with a Tier 1 supplier to a major car OEM (distinct from Hyundai AutoEver), won an enterprise deal with an oil and gas company in Brunei, and is building maps for 10 large Southeast Asian countries through the TerraLink Technologies JV.
• TLT JV revenue timeline: The Hyundai AutoEver JV (60% owned by Hyundai, 40% by MapmyIndia) is in the build phase; revenues will start flowing "in a good way" from the start of FY27, with the anchor customer being Hyundai's parent company and conversations underway with other OEMs.
• International revenues already flowing: MapmyIndia International revenues have started and will increase over time, though management estimates it will take a year or two to become "sizable enough."

Margins & Financial Model

• Map-led margin at 54%: Management deflected on whether this is the new normal, urging investors to look at the full year rather than any single quarter; the margin is a function of product mix and scale, and the 46% overall EBITDA provides headroom to invest in growth.
• Full-year EBITDA guidance at 35% plus: Reiterated from the investor meet two months prior, though management added the caveat "guidance is a guidance."
• Growth is back-ended: Q4 is historically the highest quarter versus Q1, Q2, and Q3, so the nature of the business should be observed on a yearly basis rather than quarter-on-quarter.

Guidance & Commitments

Key Metrics