Online pharmacy 1mg has shown strong and consistent growth in FY23, and that too, without burning a lot of actual cash. Notably, FY23 was the first full fiscal year for 1mg under Tata Digital.
1mg’s revenue from operations spiked 2.5X to Rs 1,627 crore in FY23 from Rs 627 crore in FY22, according to its consolidated financial statements with the Registrar of Companies. To put things in perspective, the company recorded nearly 2x growth in FY22 from Rs 309 crore in the previous fiscal year (FY21).
The sale of products (medicines) accounted for 79.3% of the total operating revenue which grew 2.1X to Rs 1,290 crore in FY23 whereas services and other operations which include diagnosis, testing, consultation and others contributed Rs 337 crore to 1mg’s total income.
The company also made Rs 7 crore during the financial year ending March 2023 from interest on fixed deposits.
Cost of materials formed 41.1% of the overall expenditure which jumped 3.3X to Rs 1,188 crore during FY23. Its employee benefit cost and legal cum professional expenses increased by 61% and 71% respectively to Rs 354 crore and Rs 94 crore in the last fiscal year (FY23).
1mg controlled its advertisement spending during the previous fiscal which declined by 25% to Rs 135 crore. It spent Rs 35 crore towards IT cost which pushed its overall expenditure to Rs 1,088 crore in FY23.
Caveat: 1mg has recorded Rs 668 crore against net loss on remeasurement of financial liability designated at FVTPL which is a non-cash expenditure.
Even as the scale outpaced the expenditure, its losses jumped 2.2X to Rs 1,254 crore in FY23. If we exclude these expenses of financial liability at FVTPL, the profit and loss statement will appear improved. On a unit level, 1mg spent Rs 1.78 to earn a unit of operating revenue in FY23.
1mg was hived off from Healthkart in 2015 and became a part of Tata Digital in mid 2021. After acquiring a majority stake, Tata Digital infused around $40 million in the company and eventually helped it to become a unicorn. As per Tata Sons’ mandatory disclosure, the group spent Rs 720 crore to acquire a 62.97% stake in 1mg.
Tata Digital has three unicorns in its portfolio, including BigBasket and Cult.fit. Like 1mg, the other two unicorns are also bleeding money.
BigBasket’s B2C arm spent nearly Rs 9,000 crore in FY23 to achieve Rs 7,434 crore in revenue in the last fiscal year. Cult.fit also spent close to Rs 1,000 crore to achieve Rs 216 crore in revenue in FY22. The company is yet to file its audited financials for FY23.
1mg does seem the business most likely to turn a profit, or stop bleeding. To achieve that it will be helped by both the groups backing, as well as a market where competition is finally consolidating and weaker firms are getting weeded out.
