New Delhi: Amidst all the controversies social media giant Facebook India’s revenues grew 43 per cent year-on-year to about Rs 1,277.3 crore in 2019-20. The net profit of Facebook India more than doubled to Rs 135.7 crore, as per regulatory documents. Its total income was Rs 893.4 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2019, according to Registrar of Companies filing – shared by market intelligence firm ‘Tofler’. The net profit increased by over 107 per cent from to Rs 65.3 crore in FY 19.
When contacted, a Facebook spokesperson said India is an important market for the company. “…We are deeply committed to being an ally in India’s socio-economic transformation. We will continue to invest in our India operations. We will continue working with small and large businesses to help in their economic recovery post the pandemic.”
In November, tech giant Google had made a similar filing that showed its revenues from India had grown 34.8 per cent to about Rs 5,593.8 crore in 2019-20 over the previous financial year. Its net profit was higher by about 23.9 per cent at Rs 586.2 crore in FY20.
Facebook India acts as a non-exclusive reseller of advertising inventory to customers in India. It also provides IT/ITeS, marketing and other support services to the Facebook group.
According to the filing, Facebook’s employee benefit expense grew 63.3 per cent to Rs 299.3 crore in FY20 from Rs 183.2 crore in the preceding fiscal.
The company paid an equalisation levy of Rs 369.5 crore in the fiscal under review as against a payment of Rs 118.2 crore in the fiscal ended March 2019. The Indian government charges a six per cent equalisation tax on gross payment received by global digital companies from Indian residents for online advertising. Google India paid an equalisation levy of Rs 611.1 crore in FY20.
India is among the biggest markets for Facebook, which also operates photo-sharing platform Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. Around 2.5 billion people globally use Facebook’s family of apps daily, while there are over 10 million active advertisers across its services.
