Naukri's AI Products Hit Rs 60 Crore in Q2 as Oberoi Exits

Naukri's AI products generated Rs 60 crore in the quarter ended September 2026, CEO Hitesh Oberoi told analysts — roughly Rs 240 crore annualised, or about $29 million a year at current exchange rates. The announcement landed alongside news of his own departure. Oberoi steps down on December 2 after 27 years at Info Edge.

How big is the AI business really?

AI-first products now hold a "high-single digit share" of the recruitment business, Oberoi said. That business — Naukri, Coding Ninjas and Job Hai combined — posted Rs 632.3 crore in Q2 FY27 revenue, up 13% from Rs 558.2 crore a year earlier, with Rs 373.7 crore in profit. So the AI slice is real but modest.

The recruiter stack includes AI REX, an agentic talent-sourcing platform priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,500 a year, and Talent Pulse, an analytics tool covering salary trends and competitor hiring. Job seekers get AI mock interviews, an AI resume builder, and Neo, a seeker agent with a three-year roadmap.

Adoption is early. Just 2,000 recruiter accounts are trialling AI REX. Naukri has roughly 150,000 clients; at least 40,000 are large accounts renewing annually at high ARPU. "Theoretically, it should be possible to sell AI REX to all these 40,000 clients," Oberoi said. Theoretically. The company plans two years of adoption work before upgrades convert at renewal. Management claims AI buyers spend 10% to 15% more than non-buyers — a self-selected group, worth noting, since AI-product buyers may simply be the bigger spenders already.

Oberoi argued distribution, not code, is the moat: 150,000 paying clients across 80-plus cities and 120 million profiles, with around 20,000 profiles added and over 900,000 updated daily. Building AI software is getting easier, he conceded; scaling it is not.

Founder and incoming MD Sanjeev Bikhchandani claimed the AI lines add revenue rather than eat it. "It's not as if it's cannibalising existing revenue," Bikhchandani said. "We are back to the year 2000 when we were into creating a market, as far as AI products are concerned." No cannibalisation evidence was offered. The claim rests on management's word.

Can JobHai become India's Kanzhun?

JobHai, the blue-collar and gig platform, grew billings 86% YoY. That figure needs context: it exited FY26 at just Rs 15 crore in billings. Management targets 100% growth this year while holding cash burn near Rs 45 crore annually — a drag that shaves 2 to 3 points off Naukri's 59% operating margin.

Oberoi framed JobHai as a five-to-10-year bet, benchmarked against China's Kanzhun, which earns $1.2 billion annually from 7 million businesses. "You have to get in early like in every internet business," Oberoi said. "If you don't get in early, then you'll have other players who will take the market away from you." Capturing 20-30% of Kanzhun's scale is his definition of success. Break-even needs Rs 100-125 crore revenue, expected in a couple of years.

What is powering 99acres' turnaround?

The real estate arm narrowed its loss by 93% to Rs 1.6 crore, on revenue of Rs 134.3 crore, up 17% YoY; billings grew 21% to Rs 148.3 crore. Broker resale and rental listings rose 14%, owner listings 23%, and property enquiries over 33%.

Oberoi credited hyperlocal supply from 30,000 brokers. "At the heart of our strategy, 99acres, is our leadership in resale and in the secondary market, because that is a problem Google and Meta cannot solve," he said. Management puts revenue market share in core categories at 50%, while rivals' revenues declined. Rival Housing, sold by REA to Aurum, targets breakeven in four to five quarters. With ad intensity cooling, 99acres cut marketing spend 13% YoY.

A short-video product, 99acres Shorts, launched first in Delhi NCR and is expanding; management credits it with a 40-50% jump in buyer responses for new homes. The prize is a share of the Rs 6,000-crore new-projects ad market.

Where does AI hurt Info Edge?

Shiksha, the education arm, shows the other side of the AI story. Its billings fell 27.2% YoY to Rs 20.5 crore as Google's AI-generated search summaries diverted traffic. "AI-driven changes in search behavior have reduced the referral traffic Shiksha relied on, and this continues to affect delivery outcomes for clients," Oberoi said. "These changes require us to evolve the business model."

The fix: direct student relationships, AI voice-bot counselling, and study-abroad expansion into the UK, UAE and continental Europe. Whether that rebuilds the lead pipeline search destroyed remains unproven. AI giveth at Naukri; AI taketh at Shiksha. Only one side of that ledger is running at Rs 240 crore.