Myntra’s FY26 loss puts marketplace economics in focus for smaller brands

Myntra began in 2007 as a personalised-products business before moving into fashion and lifestyle retail in 2011. Investor Accel lists Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania, Vineet Saxena and Raveen Sastry as founders, while WestBridge Capital describes Sankar Bora as a member of Myntra’s founding team. Their early work helped establish the business that subsequently became part of Flipkart.

The platform, operated by Myntra Designs and part of the Flipkart group, earns income through marketplace services, logistics, advertising and other operating services. Those activities create different relationships with sellers: access to customers, fulfilment and paid visibility. A change in one line therefore needs to be distinguished from a change in the value of merchandise sold by brands.

Its FY26 figures show why that distinction matters. PTI’s report on the regulatory filing puts operating revenue at Rs 5,242.5 crore, down from Rs 6,063.8 crore. Logistics and shipping income fell to Rs 1,119.2 crore from Rs 2,390.5 crore. Excluding that line, operating revenue increased 12% to Rs 4,123.3 crore. It would be misleading to describe every part of the business as shrinking.

Advertising income reached Rs 1,236.4 crore, up 35.2%, while marketplace and collection services increased 3% to Rs 2,657.3 crore, according to the same PTI report. Flipkart also said its FY26 consolidated group financials were reflected in Flipkart Internet following redomiciliation to India, and urged stakeholders to assess the group using those consolidated accounts.

Separately, exchange4media reported a Rs 579.4 crore net loss, against a Rs 548.5 crore profit a year earlier, and advertising expenditure of Rs 2,326.5 crore. The platform’s own marketing expenditure and the fees it earns by selling advertising are different activities. Comparing the two does not establish the profit or loss of its advertising-services business.

For an MSME fashion label, the useful takeaway is to measure the economics of its own completed orders. A campaign that increases orders can still disappoint if returns, discounts, fulfilment costs and advertising consume the margin. Equally, a platform-level accounting loss does not establish that every seller is losing money or that customer demand has collapsed. These are analytical distinctions, not findings about any individual Myntra seller.

The next useful evidence will be a like-for-like view of the business after restructuring, together with the experience of sellers over several trading periods. Until then, the revenue mix is more informative than a dramatic loss headline alone. The reported figures describe Myntra’s accounts; they should not be presented as MSME sales totals or proof of a change in seller payment behaviour.