India Webportal Private Ltd*, which owns and operates websites like India.com, BGR India, Cricket Country, among others, has reported revenues of Rs 27.9 crore for the financial year ended 31st March 2014 (FY14), up 81.17% from Rs 15.4 crore reported last fiscal (FY13), as per the annual report filed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL). There has been a corresponding decline in losses, with losses down 48.53% to Rs 7 crore for the financial year, from Rs 13.6 crore in the last fiscal.
India Webportal Private Ltd is a subsidiary of ZEEL, which owns 51% in the venture. The remaining 49% is owned by Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC).
Two years ago (FY12), the company had reported revenues of only Rs 2.3 crore, and losses of 20.4 crore in FY12. The annual report makes no mention of additional investments India Webportal, though in the previous financial year, ZEEL had invested an additional Rs 9.2 crore in the business. Details of its revenues and losses were not available in the FY11 annual report.
The FY14 annual report makes no mention of Bollyvod.com, a joint venture between ZEEL subsidiary Asia Today and video service Voddler, which began a US rollout last month.
The joint venture between MMC and ZEEL had been inked in February 2010, while India Webportal had commenced operations in 2011. Apart from the generic horizontal portal India.com, it also runs a cars site OnCars.in, Cricket site Cricket Country, mobile gadget news site BGR India, education information site Prepsure.com (previously Indiancolleges.com), career counseling site Careerfundas.com, celebrity portal BollywoodLife.com, and an opinion site Voice of India (which, strangely, mentions the Ministry of External Affairs). India.com also hosts ZeeNews.com and ZeeBiz.com. The Zee group also owns the video app Ditto TV, which powers on-demand video for the groups DTH business.
Disclosure: India Webportal Private Limited is an advertiser with MediaNama
