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Infomedia Press faces turbulence as total expenses rise to Rs 73.39 lakh
Mumbai: Even a lifeless ship weighs heavy on the ocean—Infomedia Press Limited, once a towering lighthouse in India’s publishing industry, now drifts aimlessly in turbulent financial seas.
For the half-year ending 30 September 2024, losses have swelled to Rs 193.90 lakh, deepening the shadows over its future. Despite unwavering support from its anchor, Network18 Media & Investments Limited, the company remains mired in uncertainty, its sails tattered and hope for revival fading on the horizon. Stakeholders, like distant watchers on a stormy shore, ponder whether this vessel can ever find its course again.
Infomedia’s Q2 FY25 results reveal a grim narrative, underscored by a loss of Rs 87.81 lakh for the quarter. This marks a year-on-year escalation from Rs 90.83 lakh in Q2 FY24, compounding the company’s cumulative losses to Rs 10,805.01 lakh. Operating income remained at zero, reflecting its discontinued business operations, while finance costs surged to Rs 73.31 lakh for the quarter, up 3.86 per cent from Rs 70.58 lakh in Q2 FY24.
Other financial metrics further reflect this decline:
– Total Expenses: Increased to Rs 73.39 lakh from Rs 70.66 lakh in the corresponding quarter last year.
– Earnings Per Share (EPS): Fell from Rs (0.18) in Q2 FY24 to Rs (0.21) in Q2 FY25, reflecting diminished shareholder value.
The company’s equity position continues to deteriorate, with a negative net worth of Rs 5,639.70 lakh as of September 2024, widening from Rs 5,448.47 lakh at the close of March 2024. Total assets marginally increased to Rs 961.45 lakh, driven by slight improvements in current assets. However, non-current liabilities, primarily borrowings, escalated to Rs 6,543.77 lakh, signaling greater reliance on external funding.
Operating activities generated a net cash outflow of Rs 82.11 lakh in H1 FY25, reflecting weaker operational performance. Minor relief came from financing activities, which infused Rs 81.75 lakh, primarily through increased borrowings. Yet, the company’s cash reserves remain fragile at Rs 2.28 lakh.
Infomedia’s plight is rooted in discontinued operations, which have eroded its revenue streams and strained its ability to cover mounting liabilities. Despite assurances of financial support from Network18, the absence of a concrete revival plan exacerbates uncertainty. The management’s mention of exploring new business lines provides a glimmer of hope but lacks tangible direction.
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
