Ecommerce major Meesho's consolidated net loss zoomed 13X to INR 490.7 Cr in the December 2025 quarter (Q3 FY26) from INR 37.4 Cr in the year-ago quarter.
On a sequential basis, loss rose 19% from INR 411.4 Cr.
Operating revenue grew 31% YoY and 14% QoQ to INR 3,517.6 Cr. While its marketplace brought in the highest revenue at INR 3,515.2 Cr (up 32% YoY), its 'new initiatives' vertical’s (financial services and low-cost logistics network) revenue rose to INR 2.4 Cr.
Including other income of INR 78.8 Cr, total income for the quarter under review stood at INR 3,596.4 Cr.
Meanwhile, total expenses increased 44% YoY to INR 4,071.3 Cr. The company incurred an exceptional loss of INR 3.7 Cr in the quarter.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter under review stood at INR 479.5 Cr, a jump of over 9X from INR 50.9 Cr loss in the year-ago quarter.
Operationally, annual transacting users (ATU) increased 34% YoY to 25.1 Cr, while deliveries rose 36% YoY to 69 Cr. As a result, net merchandise value (NMV) for the quarter stood at INR 10,995 Cr, jumping 26% YoY.
This was the first financial disclosure by the ecommerce company since its listing in December 2025. In the first half of FY26, the company had managed to trim its net loss 72% YoY to INR 701 Cr on the back of a significant improvement in its top line.
The loss in Q3 surged primarily due to the following factors:
- In a bid to fortify its AI and machine learning function, the company said it spent heftily on hiring more engineers. Employee benefit expense increased 19% YoY to INR 235.2 Cr. The company had spent INR 237.8 Cr under this head in the preceding quarter.
- Meesho said it increased its investment in advertising and sales promotion to build brand awareness, traffic acquisition and initial customer incentives.
- Front-loaded investments in logistics scale-up via Valmo led to short-term inefficiencies such as under-utilised routes and redundant nodes.
A key drag on margins during the quarter came from Meesho's logistics arm, Valmo. Rapid growth in FY26, coupled with consolidation in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, forced Meesho to scale Valmo aggressively during Q2 and Q3.
Meesho said that Valmo's platform-led model allowed it to respond quickly without heavy capex or long-term commitments, but the speed of expansion led to temporary inefficiencies such as under-utilised routes, redundant nodes and longer delivery distances.
These factors together compressed contribution margin by 1.1 percentage points in Q2 and another 1 percentage pointin Q3, including a one-time network restructuring cost. The company has since begun pruning excess capacity and optimising routes, with incremental costs expected to normalise over the next two quarters.
At the marketplace level, Meesho also stepped up investments in user growth. Advertising and sales promotion expenses rose to 2.4% of NMV in Q3 FY26 from 1.3% a year earlier. The company justified the higher spending by pointing to improving cohort behaviour, with newer users showing stronger repeat rates and lifetime value, prompting faster NMV growth and higher upfront investment.
Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey reiterated the company’s belief in strengthening its leadership in the Indian ecommerce segment. “We are India's largest ecommerce platform in terms of ATU. The opportunity ahead is larger than what we’ve built. India’s internet commerce penetration is still single digits. This is the opportunity we are building toward. Not to capture a larger share of existing ecommerce, but to expand what ecommerce can be in India,” he said.
Shares of Meesho ended today's trading session 3.39% higher at INR 173.95 on the BSE. The company released the Q3 numbers after market hours