Twitter India earnings plunge 90% to Rs 3 cr

Fiscal year 2024 hasn't been kind to X Corp (formerly known as Twitter Communications India) and that’s despite the platform being still known and SEO-ed as Twitter India. With revenues plunging, it's safe to say that Elon Musk’s dream of transforming the platform into a money-minting machine is, well, still a work in progress.

As per filings, net profits plunged 90% to a mere Rs 3 crore from Rs 30 crore the previous year. Revenue also fell 90% to INR 21 crore from Rs 208 crore. Advertising contributes the bulk of Twitter's revenue in India where it has an estimated 25 million users. Despite the initial fanfare following Musk’s acquisition, X’s revenue slump in India reveals a deeper issue: the platform's declining appeal to advertisers, a crucial lifeline for any social media giant.

What’s driving this plunge? Let’s start with Musk’s strategy—or rather, the lack of one. Cutting thousands of employees and pushing for a subscription-based revenue model with X Premium seems to have left advertisers disillusioned. The aggressive focus on free speech, too, hasn’t exactly helped, with many brands wary of where their ads might appear. In India, a growing market for digital ads, these issues have magnified.

The real irony here is that while X India struggles with its bottom line, Musk’s attention seems to be elsewhere—namely, the 2024 US elections. With his eyes on becoming a key player in shaping public discourse during the election, it's almost as if the Indian market is an afterthought. In the grand scheme of Musk's vision, India seems to be a footnote. But perhaps, if the revenues continue to plunge, that footnote needs to come to the attention of its author/owner.