Flipkart-owned online travel aggregator (OTA) Cleartrip widened its net loss to Rs 804.7 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2026, up 28% from a loss of Rs 628.8 crore a year earlier.
Revenue from operations increased 21% to Rs 198.3 crore from Rs 164.1 crore in FY25, according to its standalone financial statements with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
However, the company spent nearly Rs 900 crore on discounts and cashbacks during the year to achieve this scale.
Founded in 2005, Cleartrip is an online travel management company that allows users to book airline tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, and hotel accommodations through its online web portal.
In 2021, e-commerce marketplace Flipkart acquired a 100% stake in Cleartrip to strengthen its travel booking business. As of March 2026, Flipkart has an 80% stake in Cleartrip, while Adani Enterprises owns the remaining 20%.
How Cleartrip makes money
Cleartrip generates revenue primarily from service charges and commissions. The platform charges customers a service fee for facilitating airline, hotel and bus bookings, as well as holiday packages.
Revenue from service charges rose 37.5% to Rs 702.2 crore versus Rs 510.7 crore a year earlier.
It also earns commissions and incentives from suppliers, including airlines, hotels, bus operators and travel agents, for facilitating the sale of airline and bus tickets and hotel bookings.
Revenue from commissions and incentives stood at Rs 378.4 crore, up 52% from Rs 248.4 crore in FY25.
Other operating revenue, primarily comprising advertising revenue, rose 14% to Rs 15.2 crore versus Rs 13.3 crore a year earlier.
However, Cleartrip doled out discounts and cashbacks worth Rs 897.5 crore during the year, which pulled its net operating revenue to Rs 198.3 crore.
Zooming into expenses
The rise in expenditure outpaced revenue growth. Total expenses surged 22% to Rs 1,045.9 crore in the financial year 2025-26, compared with Rs 858.2 crore a year earlier.
Here’s a breakdown of Cleartrip’s expenses.
- Employee benefits: Cleartrip spent Rs 258.1 crore on employee-related costs, including Rs 68 crore in employee stock option (ESOP) expenses.
- Commission/brokerage: Cleartrip pays commissions and brokerage fees to its network of travel partners, affiliate marketing websites and distribution networks that facilitate bookings or supply inventory on its platform. Spending within this bracket rose 33% to Rs 171.5 crore from Rs 128.8 crore in FY25.
- Advertising promotional expenses: Surged 31% to Rs 133.8 crore from Rs 102.2 crore.
- Payment gateway charges: Directly go to banks and third-party payment processors. This expense climbed 40% to Rs 110 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 78.7 crore a year earlier.
In March this year, Cleartrip, along with Flipkart’s other Singapore-based subsidiaries including logistics arm eKart, fashion e-commerce platform Myntra and fintech vertical super.money, among others, merged into Flipkart Internet, as part of the company’s restructuring ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO).
Overall, Flipkart Group posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 8,468 crore on an operating revenue of Rs 1.45 lakh crore in FY26.
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