AvenuesAI Q2 FY27: consolidated revenue up 47% YoY, PAT grows just 6% as margins compress

AvenuesAI Limited (formerly Infibeam Avenues; consolidated basis is the primary read) reported Q2 FY27 revenue from operations of ₹2,879.2 Cr, up 47% year-on-year and 7% quarter-on-quarter, but consolidated PAT of ₹71.7 Cr grew just 6% YoY and actually fell 15% sequentially from ₹84.8 Cr in Q1 FY27. The gap between topline and bottom-line growth is the story: net profit margin compressed to 2.49% from 3.41% a year ago and 3.13% last quarter, and EBITDA excluding other income (on revenue from operations) fell to a 3.43% margin from 4.90% YoY and 3.73% QoQ. More tellingly, the company's own net revenue (after the pass-through transaction costs embedded in gross revenue from operations) declined 1% YoY to ₹151.3 Cr even as reported revenue surged 47% — the headline growth is substantially a payments-TPV/pass-through effect, not a proportional increase in what the company actually retains. The driver is explicit in management's own commentary: the company deliberately priced competitively to deepen merchant relationships and grow transaction volumes, and the payments net take rate (NTR) moderated 46% quarter-on-quarter to 5.06 basis points even as TPV grew 19% sequentially to roughly ₹1.77 lakh Cr. That volume-for-take-rate trade-off is why PAT growth trails revenue growth so sharply and why margins are compressing on both a YoY and QoQ basis despite consolidated H1 revenue nearly doubling. Standalone (holding-company-only) numbers are far smaller and not the primary read: standalone PAT was ₹24.7 Cr on ₹2,730.5 Cr of revenue, underscoring that the bulk of consolidated scale and profit sits in subsidiaries (Rediff, CCAvenue entities, international units). No consensus estimates specific to this quarter turned up in available previews, so vsStreet is unknown. Against management's own FY27 guidance (consolidated revenue ₹11,000–13,000 Cr, 35%+ growth; EPS ₹8.75–9.5 post 10:1 split; EBITDA margin guardrail of 15% minimum), the company is tracking comfortably on revenue — H1 FY27 revenue of ₹5,559.6 Cr (+71% YoY) is running well ahead of the 35%+ growth floor — and EBITDA-ex-other-income against net revenue (₹98.9 Cr / ₹151.3 Cr, roughly 65%) sits well clear of the 15% margin guardrail, though that comfort is on a net-revenue basis, not the much thinner 3.4% margin visible on gross revenue from operations. The quarter's other developments: the company forfeited 69.4 lakh partly-paid rights shares (₹3.47 Cr shortfall absorbed against general corporate purposes), shareholders approved a 10:1 equity share consolidation (record date October 13, 2026), and the company acquired a 7% stake in Online PSB Loans Ltd (~₹65 Cr) and a 1.38% stake in Ratnaafin Capital (~₹34.5 Cr); separately, a fresh share allotment by associate XDuce Corporation diluted AvenuesAI's stake to 19.75%, after which XDuce ceases to be an associate going forward. Management's own framing (CEO Vishwas Patel) calls this 'a conscious decision to build transaction scale through competitive pricing,' consistent with the numbers, and points to H1 operating EBITDA up 19% and PAT up 24% YoY as the stronger half-year read versus the softer standalone Q2 print. The quarter confirms rather than contradicts the confident, optimistic tone management struck on the Q1 FY27 call, but it sets up the real test for H2: whether NTR stabilizes near 5 bps or keeps compressing, and whether a pending UPI MDR policy decision — which management explicitly flagged as subject to government and regulatory timing — adds a new variable to the margin trajectory.