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Digital automotive marketplace CARS24 is working towards an initial public offering (IPO) that could be announced in the next 12-18 months, even as it navigates short-term policy-led disruptions and sharpens its focus on profitability, Shivanshu Makkar, CFO of CARS24, told Business Today<\/em>. \u201cThe IPO is in the works and will be announced in the next 12-18 months,\u201d he said.<\/p> Makkar said the recent GST reduction on new cars led to short-term pressure for the company as prices of new vehicles fell while CARS24 was holding inventory bought at higher levels. \u201cThe GST reduction was short-term pain for us because new car prices reduced and we were sitting on inventory,\u201d he said. However, the impact was temporary. \u201cDecember turned out to be our best month in terms of profitability.\u201d<\/p> Despite the disruption, Makkar said structural changes have begun in India\u2019s used-car market, with organised platforms steadily gaining share. \u201cDisruption has started to happen in the used-car market. Over the next three to four years, we expect to reach close to a double-digit market share. We are already the largest player in India today and are targeting around 10% market share in 3-4 years,\u201d he said.<\/p> The CFO added that while the overall used-car industry is growing at 10-12%, CARS24 is aiming to grow at nearly twice the industry pace, driven by retail expansion, financing, and operational efficiencies.<\/p> CARS24\u2019s focus on improving unit economics is already reflecting in its numbers. The company reported an 18% year-on-year rise in adjusted net revenue to \u20b9651 crore in H1 FY26, even as overall vehicle transaction GMV remained largely flat, according to its latest performance update. During the same period, adjusted EBITDA losses narrowed 36% YoY to \u20b9162 crore.<\/p> In H1FY26, CARS24 facilitated nearly 85,000 car transactions across India, the UAE and Australia, and the company is on track to cross 1.8 lakh car transactions in FY26.<\/p> Retail continues to be a key profitability driver. \u201cRetail margins have expanded by 3-4 percentage points year-on-year in H1 across India, Australia and the UAE,\u201d Makkar said. He added that investments in technology and artificial intelligence have helped the company reduce operating expenses by around 1%, even as gross margins continued to improve. \u201cThis quarter is looking profitable,\u201d he said.<\/p> Financing remains another strong growth engine. Loans disbursed through the platform rose 38% YoY to \u20b91,637 crore in H1 FY26, underscoring the increasing role of credit in driving used-car demand.<\/p> <\/div> Disclaimer: Business Today provides stock market news for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.<\/i><\/p> cars24, IPO, cars24 IPO#IPO #months #GST #cut #caused #shortterm #pain #usedcar #disruption #begun #CARS24 #CFO1768469647<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Digital automotive marketplace CARS24 is working towards an initial public offering (IPO) that could be announced in the next 12-18 months, even as it navigates short-term policy-led disruptions and sharpens its focus on profitability, Shivanshu Makkar, CFO of CARS24, told Business Today. \u201cThe IPO is in the works and will be announced in the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2934,2925,2926,2929,2935,2928,2933,2927,834,1915,2931,2930,2932],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-begun","tag-cars24","tag-cars24-ipo","tag-caused","tag-cfo","tag-cut","tag-disruption","tag-gst","tag-ipo","tag-months","tag-pain","tag-shortterm","tag-usedcar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}