DB Corp Ltd (NSE: DBCORP) Q2 2025 Earnings Call dated Oct. 16, 2024
Corporate Participants:
Pawan Agarwal — Deputy Managing Director
Girish Agarwal — Non Executive Director
Lalit Jain — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Amit Doshi — Analyst
Rakesh — Analyst
Mohammed Patel — Analyst
Pranav Shrimal — Analyst
Sagar Parekh — Analyst
Janish Shah — Analyst
Krushi Parekh — Analyst
Mohit Saini — Analyst
Akash — Analyst
Rahil Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the DB Corp Limited Q2 and H1 FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
We have with us today the senior management team of DB Corp Limited Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director; Mr. Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director; Mr. Lalit Jain, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Mushtaq Ali, Senior Vice President, Finance and Accounts; and Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey, Head, Investor and Media Relations, who will represent DB Corp Limited on the call. The management will be sharing the key operating and financial highlights from the quarter ended September 30, 2024, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Please note that some of the statements made in today’s discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. Documents relating to the company’s financial performance have already been emailed to you and are available on the website of the stock exchanges and the company’s Investor section. Trust you have been able to go through the same.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pawan Agarwal. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Pawan Agarwal — Deputy Managing Director
A very good evening to everyone and thank you for joining the Q2 FY 2025 DB Corp earnings conference call. We begin the call by highlighting the key financial performance for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, followed by key operational updates. Starting with our overall performance for the first half of the year. We saw total revenue growth of 2% to INR11,988 million compared to INR11,755 million in the previous year. Our advertising revenue has increased by 1% to INR8,291 million, while circulation revenue is almost flat at INR2,367 million.
I’m particularly pleased to report that our EBITDA grew by 10.4% reaching INR3,351 million, up from INR3,035 million. This growth was driven by effective cost control measures alongside the benefits of softer newsprint prices leading to an expansion in our EBITDA margin from 26% to 28%. Our print business EBITDA margin expanded by 400 basis points to 32% for H1 of FY ’25. Our net profit also saw an increase of 12% standing at INR2,004 million compared to INR1,790 million last year. Radio business led radio industry growth with 11% Y-o-Y growth to INR801 million against INR720 million of last year.
Now coming to quarter two FY 2025 results. Total revenue was recorded at INR5,825 million, down from INR6,019 million in Q2 FY 2024, primarily due to prolonged monsoon and high base effect from last year’s election environment driven advertising surge. Advertising revenue stood at INR4,014 million reflecting the same trend. Circulation revenue was flat at INR1,175 million. Our EBITDA for the quarter was INR1,442 million with an EBITDA margin of 25%, down from INR1,676 million in the prior year. Net profit for the quarter was INR826 million compared to INR1,003 million last year.
In the radio segment, we experienced good growth with advertising revenue up 16% year-on-year to INR414 million compared to INR356 million. EBITDA in this segment grew by 22% to INR132 million from INR108 million. We are in parallel focusing on our digital business strategy and happy to share that our MAU has now reached to 19.6 million as on 31 August, 2024 and Dainik Bhaskar is the digital leader with the number one Hindi, Gujarati news apps.
With this, I would now request Mr. Girish Agarwal to update us on the operations. Girish ji, over to you.
Girish Agarwal — Non Executive Director
Thank you, Pawan, and good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I would like to build on the overview you have just heard and provide some further additional insight into our performance for this quarter. Frankly speaking, we were not able to meet our advertisement growth targets in quarter two FY ’25 due to prolonged monsoon and also a pretty high base of last year. However, if you see the last three years CAGR growth in revenue and bottom line performance, our advertisement revenue has shown robust growth over the past three years registering a CAGR of almost 20%, reflecting the strength of our business model and profit after tax has also experienced impressive growth of around 44% CAGR in last three years. This showcased our commitment to profitability. And good news, what I can share with you is that the newsprint prices for the next couple of quarters are indicated to be remaining soft as what we had experienced in quarter two this year.
In the first half of this financial year, we saw a slight year-on-year increase in advertising revenue, also supported by a strong performance in our radio segment. Our EBITDA margin expanded slightly largely driven by our effective cost management and favorable newsprint price. Our capital allocation strategy remains strong with our consistent approach to dividends. We have declared two dividends — interim dividends so far reflecting our financial health and commitment to returning value to our stakeholders. As a leader, Dainik Bhaskar is well-positioned for continued growth.
While some sectors have faced challenges, others particularly automobile, real estate, jewelry, education are maintaining the momentum for the advertising. Our editorial team is dedicated to covering local issues that matter most to our readers and we are very happy to see positive engagement with our content. Our focus on our reader engagement, operational efficiency and market leadership continues to yield positive results for us and we remain committed to delivering value to our stakeholders you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Amit Doshi from Care Portfolio Managers. Please go ahead.
Amit Doshi
Yeah, thank you. Sir, just wanted to understand — I mean, congratulations on the continuous digital MAUs, sustainable numbers. But that digital growth, if you can elaborate, it has come from which region? I mean, is it coming from some new area that we were planning to explore or from the existing states that we are already present or any color on that?
Girish Agarwal
So as you know, in digital, there is no boundary. We are expanding all over India where all people can read Hindi and Gujarati. So the growth in Hindi has come from our state and also we opened up market of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and Uttarakhand for digital presence. And I think we have got a pretty sizable growth from there also.
Amit Doshi
Okay. Sir, circulation revenue has obviously degrown. So is it the number of copies have reduced by those 2%, 2.5%? And if not, then what is the reason? And if there is two mentions in the press release about some mega offer as well as some closed agency initiative. So if you can slightly elaborate on that?
Girish Agarwal
You are right, post-election, we have seen a decline of around 2%, 3% in our circulation and that’s a matter of concern for us. And that is the reason why we have been brain storming a lot from last almost a month to see how we can bring not only these copies back, go back to the growth trajectory. And we have planned some reader initiative and you will see lot many such activities happening from November itself post-Diwali.
Amit Doshi
Okay. And so this close agency initiative is part of that only mega offers, etc?
Girish Agarwal
Everything.
Amit Doshi
Okay. And sir, is this the reduction in circulation revenue, what is the industry trend while we know our numbers, but overall as an industry is also degrowing or what is it?
Girish Agarwal
Post-election, most of us — I think everybody of us saw a reduction in circulation because during election — Lok Sabha election in the month of — generally what happened, there was a circulation dip in the summer month. I think that dip got slightly postponed to the quarter two because of the election euphoria in the quarter one.
Amit Doshi
Okay. And sir, our dividend payout has been very good obviously even on the Q1 and Q2 both results. So our history indicates whatever 60% and so far we have already distributed 100%. So any change of plans for a dividend payout policy of the company?
Girish Agarwal
I think it’s a Board decision as and when they meet and they decide looking at the cash reserve company has and the requirement for the future. So I’m sure Board will continue deciding in the matter which is beneficial for these stakeholders.
Amit Doshi
Okay. Thank you. I’ll join back in the queue.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rakesh from Nine Rivers Capital. Please go ahead.
Rakesh
Hi. Am I audible?
Girish Agarwal
No, sir, you are not audible, sir.
Rakesh
Hello, thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Girish Agarwal
Slightly better, but still much to be desired.
Rakesh
So okay, is it better, sir?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir.
Rakesh
Okay. Thank you. Sir, other expense — we witness a sharp increase in other expenses in Q2 versus last year. Any reason for that?
Girish Agarwal
Multiple things in that thing. Some of the expenses which we were delaying from last one year as you would appreciate lot many things for the staff, lot many things for the market need to be done. As in digital also, we are looking at newer geographies and all that. So all these expenses put together, we saw that increase over there.
Rakesh
Okay. And that is sustainable or that will remain like that in the coming quarters or it will increase further?
Girish Agarwal
Why because see next month onwards, we are trying to do some circulation drive, some leadership promotion scheme. So there may be some impact over there. I really can’t quantify the number right now.
Rakesh
Okay. But it will be in line with the revenue growth.
Girish Agarwal
Certainly, yes.
Rakesh
Okay. And sir, coming to your first question with respect to the revenue growth. This quarter revenue growth was impacted, one reason was monsoon and second reason was the election that was there in the last year same quarter that is in the MP as well as Chhattisgarh. So if you look at the full year, what type — every year quarter there will be some election in some states. So for the full year, what kind of revenue we are looking at, growth in the revenue?
Girish Agarwal
I think see, overall, we have to see how market is responding. So for example, if you look at the India’s GDP growth in the quarter one was 8.1% largely. While in July, it came down to 6.1% and August is 6.2% or 6.3%. So I think the overall country saw that the July and August were — or September was slightly subdued month. So that also impacted us. But in certain categories, we are able to see the growth. For example, automobile, now automobile is one category who was earlier not advertising much. But in this quarter, we have seen the automobile has shown a fantastic growth because automobile had stocks piled up and they need to liquidate that. So automobile grew by almost 50% in this quarter. Real estate saw a huge growth of almost 35% in this quarter, while government almost went down to half. So it all depends like lifestyle is still not kicking in. There is a decline in lifestyle category compared to last year. So I think it all depends how the market and the economy shapes up. Based on that, we are trying to do our best.
Rakesh
Okay. Sir, when I look at last three years performance, the economy has grown at 6%, 7%, but we have grown at 15%, 2 times versus 2.5 times of the revenue. Can we see the same kind of growth in the coming — this full year — for full year?
Girish Agarwal
To be very honest, 15% full year this year I don’t think that’s a number would be really correct to justify. But if I take the election revenue out of that, a strong single-digit number should be the one what we are aiming for and should be able to deliver.
Rakesh
Okay. Okay. That was very helpful. And secondly, with respect to the digital business. So we have seen the number of subscriber in the last two quarters increasing significantly from 14 million in March to 20 million at the end of August ’24. Just wanted to understand what has — is there any change with respect to the content strategy or the — if a new initiative taken by the management with respect to increasing that user base.
Girish Agarwal
Sir, whatever little I could understand your question since your voice is slightly blurring, you said there is a growth in the digital subscriber readers. So any reason for that? So let me explain you the reason is more about the content, the technical quality of the product and as well as the newer geography, which we are expanding on. See, advantage in digital is that I — since I’m already having a digital network, so I can expand to anybody who can read Hindi and Gujarati sitting in any part of the country can subscribe to me, can download my app. So I don’t have to set up a distribution system for him. So I think that’s the advantage we are getting furthermore and the quality of course.
Rakesh
Okay. So quality means content you are talking?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, quality is both. The technical — the technology and as well as the content, because if your technical — technology-wise, if you are weak, then obviously become irritating for anybody to download your app. At the same time, the content has to be fabulous.
Rakesh
Okay. So if I understand that point correctly, one is the quality of the content or the nature of the content as well as the user-friendly app that is helping us to better.
Girish Agarwal
Whatever I could make out of your thing, I would have to say yes only because your voice is totally blurred.
Rakesh
Okay. Sir, I’ll join back the queue. I think there’s some network issue. I’ll join back the queue. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohammed Patel from Care Portfolio Managers. Please go ahead.
Mohammed Patel
Hope I’m audible, sir.
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir.
Mohammed Patel
So can you be a bit more specific on what actual increase in the other expenses Y-o-Y?
Girish Agarwal
So other expenses had multiple things reaching out to the circulation agents to see how we can motivate them again to come in. Second, also had certain events what we did for the advertising revenue clients. That is also a part of it. For example, we do multiple awards, functions and all that. That’s a part of this. This also had some expenses for the advertising promotion like company does some engagement activity with the advertisers that is also included. We’ve been not been doing it last year. This year we did that. So multiple such expenses on that, nothing which is very extraordinary.
Mohammed Patel
And the same reason for quarter-on-quarter increase as well.
Girish Agarwal
No. I think next quarter onwards, some of this will go down drastically, which was done for the festival season specifically.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. And my next question is so how are you looking at the festival season? Are we seeing the revival at spends?
Girish Agarwal
So festival, so far we have just completed Navaratra days. I think it’s good and I hope this continues. Though let me put the rider there, it is not amazingly that I am already burning the crackers right now. It’s not that good, but it’s good and I hope this continues going-forward for the moment.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. What is the share of government in Q2 last year?
Girish Agarwal
Last year, government share was pretty high because of the local elections there and this year it has come down. As I told you, government revenue has come down by almost half compared to last year.
Mohammed Patel
Can you share the percentage contribution?
Girish Agarwal
You will appreciate because of the competition involved, we don’t give the number — exact number out.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. And what was the government share in the last year Q3 and Q4? So I was just trying to understand, can this impact the sales growth for Q3 and Q4 as well, upcoming quarters.
Girish Agarwal
Frankly speaking, upcoming quarters, I don’t think much of the government will impact, much of it. I don’t have the exact number right now. Mr. Prasoon Pandey can give you the details offline, please.
Mohammed Patel
Because last year Q4 should include central election as well.
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. So I’m saying Prasoon Pandey should be able to give you the exact details much more on that.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. And what will be our annual expenses on the digital business?
Girish Agarwal
If you remember, sir, we took the approval all of you and our Board that we will not disclose any detailed number of our digital business. So because of that, we are not giving out any digital specific numbers.
Mohammed Patel
Okay, sir. Thanks.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Pranav Shrimal from PINC Wealth Advisory. Please go-ahead.
Pranav Shrimal
Hello?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir.
Pranav Shrimal
Hello.
Girish Agarwal
Sir, can you use the phone directly rather than headphones?
Pranav Shrimal
I hope I’m audible. Hello.
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir, better. Go ahead.
Pranav Shrimal
Yeah. Just in case I missed it, sir, coming in the next Q3, where do we see the revenue coming from? Has jewelry and auto business picked up or is it still the same?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, I think your voice is not audible. I think you are using some instrument which is not having a clear transmission.
Pranav Shrimal
Hello.
Operator
Sorry to interrupt Mr. Pranav. If you’re using a handset, I request you to come a bit close to the handset and speak.
Pranav Shrimal
No, I’m not using the handset. I’m using my phone. Hello.
Girish Agarwal
Sir, I’m not able to hear you well.
Pranav Shrimal
I’ll join back the queue, sir.
Girish Agarwal
Please, sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sagar Parekh from One Up Financial Consultants. Please go ahead.
Sagar Parekh
Yeah, hi, sir. Hope I’m audible.
Girish Agarwal
Very much.
Sagar Parekh
Yeah, hi. So firstly on this advertisement, did I hear it correctly that you expect a strong single-digit growth for FY ’25 because H1 has been flat for us in terms of advertisement growth.
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. So I’m expecting single-digit — strong single-digit growth overall year minus the last year surge of the election point. So if I compare apple-to-apple, then I’m looking at a strong single-digit number.
Sagar Parekh
So last year FY ’25, your overall advertisement was about INR1,600 crores. How much do we have to, I mean, take it out, which was like a one-time election related surge?
Girish Agarwal
As of now, I don’t have the exact number, but our target is that if I take out, say, roughly whatever 5% of that or whatever number, if I take that out, then we should be able to deliver strong single-digit on that.
Sagar Parekh
Okay. So 5% was the broadly the one-time kind of surge due to elections.
Girish Agarwal
Whatever.
Sagar Parekh
Got it. And secondly on this newsprint prices, what is our outlook for that? So I think in the press release, it was mentioned that it’s likely to remain similar.
Girish Agarwal
Print there was 51,500 last year in this quarter and in this quarter, it is 48,000. I believe that the quarter three and four should largely be there itself, maybe 1%, 2% here and there.
Sagar Parekh
Right. Got it. And one more question is on this, if I look at our results, there is this line item called net impairment losses on financial assets. Every quarter there is like an item which is like INR5 crores, INR6 crores, INR7 crores kind of number. So last year was about INR35 crores. What exactly is this number pertaining to?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, Lalit ji, please explain.
Lalit Jain
And company has improved a lot so far as…
Sagar Parekh
Sorry, I can’t hear you.
Girish Agarwal
[Foreign Speech] Can you be louder please?
Lalit Jain
See, there is a substantial improvement in our collection of debtors and because of that, this year we need not to make so much provision.
Sagar Parekh
So this is provision of debtors.
Lalit Jain
Yeah, provision against the debtors as per the expected credit loss identified by the auditors. So there is a substantial improvement in the debtors collection.
Sagar Parekh
But this — so like 34 — this H1 also is about INR10 crores, INR11 crores kind of number.
Pawan Agarwal
Yeah. Against the INR14 crores of last year, this was INR10.9 crores.
Girish Agarwal
That number has reduced over a period of time. Yes.
Sagar Parekh
But this is likely to like INR20 crores to INR25 crores we can expect every year to flow through to P&L basically because of this expectation?
Pawan Agarwal
Yeah. Roughly you can say.
Sagar Parekh
Okay, got it. And my last question would be on the digital piece. So I understand that we do not disclose anything yet, but when can we see like apart from monthly active users, any other data points which can help us gauge our digital business better? When can we see some like better disclosure or some increase in disclosure quality from your side?
Girish Agarwal
See. I can only assure you as of now that the team is working very hard on it and doing — and giving the results which nobody else in this country is doing and which is evident from the MAU itself. For example, we have a MAU of almost INR1,920 million. If you compare this MAU with any other news platform, which you can see from ComScore, we would be having in the language of Hindi at least five times higher size. So that itself speaks of the kind of effort which team is putting in the market. And as you know, as far as the disclosure quality is concerned, we always try to be the best and inform you everything possible. But this is a very competitive space. So that’s the reason we have taken the liberty from you and approval from all of you that allow us not to disclose the number. Otherwise, you know how the market is.
Sagar Parekh
But it will largely be a subscription driven business model going forward, right?
Girish Agarwal
It should be both subscription as well as advertising revenue also.
Sagar Parekh
Okay. Sure. Got it. Okay. Thanks. All the best.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Janish Shah [Phonetic] from JS Equity Investments. Please go ahead.
Janish Shah
Yeah. Am I audible, sir?
Girish Agarwal
[Foreign Speech] If you could, yeah, speak again, please.
Janish Shah
Is this better?
Girish Agarwal
Much better, sir. Thank you.
Janish Shah
Okay. Thank you very much, sir. Sir, again, dwelling little bit more on the digital piece. I just wanted to understand how are the markets reacting when it comes to the people consuming digital media as well as, I mean, through newspapers? Is there a cannibalization which is happening in the market right now or that is what you are — I mean, is there an impact which you are right now taking on your business and probably the fruits of that may get reaped in future? Is that the kind of a scenario which is there in the market? If you can help try and understand how is this two piece are balancing in the market and where do you — I mean, it may be a transitionary period, but if you can just give some understanding about how do you see the transition happening in the market over next two years, three years and maybe the monetization of this change? When do you see the inflection point coming in that will be helpful to understand the business much better rather than just tracking the quarterly numbers that will be helpful for the longer-term understanding of the company. Thank you.
Girish Agarwal
Sure. See, as far as the market is concerned, you will have to understand print has a particular number, a particular percentage of reach in the market. For example, a state which has a population of say 10 crores, in that market, let’s assume 10 crore population means almost 1.8 crore or say 2 crore households over there. And the number of people, those who can read say literacy of 70%. So it means almost 1.4 crore households could read a newspaper, then the poverty line and all that. So it still take 1 crore. But in that one state, the newspaper circulation would be in the range of around 10 lakh copies, 15 lakh copies, which means what? There’s a huge chunk of people those who were not reading newspaper even earlier for some reason, they were not because not inclined or convenience or expensive or whatever, what you wouldn’t call it.
Now through digital, I’m able to reach out to that audience also. So cannibalization is a very limited aspect to be very honest, because we are operating digital from last five, seven years on our app business very aggressively. And since 2022 to ’24, you have seen from 2 million, I have gone tenfold to 20 million. I have not seen any major cannibalization happening on the circulation front. But having said that, is there a cannibalization of single-digit? Of course, there is. But that should not deter me at all because even with that cannibalization of 5%, 7%, newspapers are thriving, revenues are growing. Markets are increasing for them also because they have also a huge untapped market to further grow and going forward, as you mentioned about these newer territories in digital have advantage in the market where I’m not physically present through my newspaper, I can reach-out through a digital market also. And going forward, the monetization, I think our focus is right now to acquire a customer, make him habitual to read my app and monetization will happen at some point of time. The market will shape up at some point of time. I hope I answered your queries.
Janish Shah
Yeah. But is there any timeline or any kind of a, I mean, visibility which you can give, that will be helpful. I mean, at some point in time, it will happen, but I think whether — to just get some understanding whether it is like three years away or a five year away, how does like your assessment goes? I’m not holding on to the numbers, but in general, just to get some just, I mean, get some more data points or your understanding as to because numbers have grown quite substantially. That’s true. But where you see the manner to — it’s the right time to monetize or start monetizing on these numbers, it’s something which is very much — I mean, it’s a question which everybody would be interested to understand or know about in that sense.
Girish Agarwal
I can only say one word, have patience.
Janish Shah
Yeah. I understand your compulsions as well. But I mean any which way, I will leave it to you on that. Second, maybe I think if you can give a little bit more an update on the Googles and the Facebooks probably, I mean the law which can make them pay you for the content, where do we see in that journey and how far we are away from that piece as well in terms of a monetization perspective?
Girish Agarwal
Competition Commission of India is reviewing the petition filed by all of us for this issue of Google and Facebook. And since the matter is subdued, I may not be able to comment on that.
Janish Shah
Okay. And maybe the last question from me is, is there a consolidation post COVID, which is now done or it is still happening in the market, which you got like a substantial benefit of as a large player or if you can give a little bit of an understanding with that trend?
Girish Agarwal
The consolidation benefit came to us and it should continue to coming to us because of our quality.
Janish Shah
Yeah. But is it still like at the pace at which it is happening or it is slowed down in the sense that the smaller or the smaller numbers or smaller players are still able to survive in the market and they are still holding on to their places. Is that the case which is there, like how do you read that situation?
Girish Agarwal
Yes. Obviously the numbers have — the pace has come down, but I’m very hopeful that with the kind of quality journalism what we are doing, this pace will continue and will take a blip and jump in coming months, coming maybe whatever time, but it will.
Janish Shah
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much and best of luck for future results or future performance.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you and understanding.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Krushi Parekh from Pentacle Family Office. Please go ahead.
Krushi Parekh
Yeah, hi. At a very broader level, can you help me understand how are we acquiring the app users, which are the strategies, which are the tools that we are using?
Girish Agarwal
Very simple, sir, good-quality of journalism and fantastic technological support on the app so that when a consumer comes to my app through any kind of reference or promotion, you should feel that it’s worth it spending time over there.
Krushi Parekh
Right. So when you say references and promotions, so how are we promoting this, how are we incentivizing people to share the word about our app?
Girish Agarwal
We are not incentivizing anybody for this. We are simply using the whatever mediums available — normal mediums available in the advertising market, promotion market in a reasonable manner and I think it’s all about content. We all keep forgetting that no amount of promotion can bring a customer to you or make him stay if your content is not good.
Krushi Parekh
Absolutely, sir.
Girish Agarwal
Focus is on content.
Krushi Parekh
Yes, that was my question. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Saini, who is an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.
Mohit Saini
Good evening, Girish ji and team. Hope I am audible.
Girish Agarwal
Namaskar, good evening.
Mohit Saini
Yeah. Sir, can you just make me understand for the reason of top line fall this quarter?
Girish Agarwal
Sorry. [Foreign Speech]
Mohit Saini
The reason for the fall in top line this quarter like the…
Girish Agarwal
Since you came late, you may not have heard my earlier discussion. The top line fall actually happened because last year in this quarter, the advertising was impacted upward because of the elections in the market. So in MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, there was a government advertising and also government was spending hell of a lot of money in the market, which gave extra disposable income for a lot of people. So people were advertising and spending money on those stuff. So this year, because that is down. Also if you look at the GDP of the country that between the Q1 and Q2, there’s a difference from 8% it came down to 6.2%. I think that also impacted. And third was the prolonged monsoon this time also. So a little bit of impact because of that also. So if I take only election out compared to last year and this year, then which is minus 7% position for me, it almost gets reversed.
Mohit Saini
Okay, sir. Sir, also in the print circulation that in the last conference call you said we are planning to push for more print, selling newspapers to the dealers and just pushing it due to softening of newsprint prices, but that hasn’t not happened yet like in the numbers as I can see.
Girish Agarwal
So sir, we got some benefit out of the Lok Sabha election on that and we are almost on the verge of launching lot of reader scheme, promotion schemes post Diwali because what happened, anything you do in September because of monsoon was bad and October is a festive month. So better to avoid this month from the involvement point of view. So from November onwards, you will see a lot of things happening. And please wish us luck for that.
Mohit Saini
Yeah, definitely. Sure. Also, just a small question adding to that. On the ESOPs that we are providing, are there more in the pipeline for this quarter?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir, there’ll be some ESOPs happening because we firmly believe the people those who are working day in and day out for you, you better incentivize them either through salary or from the structure.
Mohit Saini
Okay. And one last question, sir, small that are we looking to top the last year quarter three INR640 crores mark in top line, can you just throw some light on that?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, we are trying our best, working hard for this. Let’s see how your well wishes impact us now.
Mohit Saini
Sure, sir. All the best.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Akash, an Individual investor. Please go ahead.
Akash
Hello. Am I audible?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir.
Akash
Am I audible? Okay. Thank you, sir. Sir, I wanted to ask what is the ad yield rates if we compare that to the pre-COVID level?
Girish Agarwal
Sorry, sir, what are you saying?
Akash
Sir, I’m asking what is the ad yield if we compare it to the pre-COVID levels?
Girish Agarwal
Right improvements are not much improvement because advertiser as you know trying to — always they try to push us down and we’ve been trying to push ourselves a bit up. So nothing worthwhile that I can gloat about.
Akash
Okay, right, sir. And sir, what is the print circulation this quarter, sir?
Girish Agarwal
Unfortunately, sir, compared to last year, we are down by 2%, 3% and we need to really work hard much more on that to see and we are planning a lot of things. So hopefully, we should be able to improve going forward.
Akash
Okay, sir. And sir, can you put the light on these are sectorial performance, like what are the contributions of the different sectors?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir. So education, if you see quarter-on-quarter, education was single-digit growth — not quarter-on-quarter, Y-o-Y. So education was single-digit growth. Government went down almost half. Automobile showed up 50% growth, real estate showed a good 30% growth. FMCG as a category showed a 20% growth. Lifestyle which is like clothing and shoes and all that, that category went down by almost 10%. Jewelry slight growth. Yeah, so that’s a mix of it, sir.
Akash
Right, sir. And sir, what is the major contribution, sir, like what are the contributions of these sectors?
Girish Agarwal
Almost same what they were doing last year barring the government, sir.
Akash
Okay. So okay, sir. So last year your copies were like 40 lakhs, so it is around like 39 lakhs odd.
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir. Yes.
Akash
Okay. Thank you, sir. All the best.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you, sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahil Shah from Crown Capital. Please go ahead.
Rahil Shah
Hi, sir, good evening. Am I audible? Hello?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, sir, you’re audible. Go ahead, please.
Rahil Shah
Okay. Sir, just one question regarding you’ve mentioned ad revenues, you expect single high digit growth, but I would also like to know your views and expectations for overall for the business for FY ’25. What kind of top line growth you expect? And also more than a month back in an interview you had mentioned that you expect margins to be around 29% to 33%. So do you still believe you can achieve that because this quarter has been weak?
Girish Agarwal
So sir, in this quarter, our margin came down from 28% to 25%, correct? But if you look at the H1, our margin are at 28%. So if I do my team which are working hard, I’m sure if they do something better, so we should be able to reach that 30s. It’s not a easy task, but it is not a like undoable task. We are working hard. If market supports us, India’s GDP supports us, I’m sure we should be able to do that.
Rahil Shah
Okay. And on the top line, like all businesses combined?
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. The top line grows, then only this margin will grow, sir.
Rahil Shah
So any certain percentage figure you have in mind, which you will be able to.
Girish Agarwal
So looking at single — strong single-digit growth there.
Rahil Shah
All right, sir. Okay. Thank you and all the best.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you, sir.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, we have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you, everyone, for your participation and time on this earnings call today. I hope we responded to your queries and we’ll always be happy to be of assistant through our Investor Relations department headed by Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey for all your further queries. Thank you and have a great evening.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]