Brands
Lessons in profit as Zee Learn makes the grade in December quarter
Education firm sharpens margins as costs cool and earnings stay on course.
MUMBAI: Report cards don’t usually come with punchlines, but Zee Learn Limited delivered one this quarter, posting a stronger showing for the three months ended December 31, 2025, as tighter costs and steadier operations helped lift profitability. For the December quarter, Zee Learn reported revenue from operations of Rs 45.67 crore, compared with Rs 44.35 crore in the same period last year. Including other income of Rs 1.48 crore, total income stood at Rs 47.16 crore, slightly lower than Rs 48.45 crore a year earlier due to reduced non-operating gains.
The real learning curve showed up below the line. Net profit for the quarter rose to Rs 4.20 crore, nearly doubling from Rs 2.16 crore in the corresponding quarter last year and sharply higher than the Rs 0.47 crore posted in the September 2025 quarter. Profit before tax came in at Rs 7.47 crore, reflecting a healthier operating mix.
Expenses during the quarter were kept in check at Rs 39.69 crore, down from Rs 45.72 crore a year ago. Employee benefit expenses stood at Rs 16.06 crore, while selling and marketing costs were Rs 6.79 crore. Finance costs, which had weighed heavily in earlier periods, showed a favourable swing, supporting margins.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2025, Zee Learn posted revenue from operations of Rs 158.66 crore, up from Rs 145.64 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total income for the nine-month period rose to Rs 164.72 crore, compared with Rs 155.17 crore a year earlier.
Net profit for the nine-month period stood at Rs 17.73 crore, an improvement over Rs 14.21 crore reported in the same period last year. Total comprehensive income for the period came in at Rs 17.84 crore, signalling steady momentum across the academic calendar.
For context, the company had reported a net profit of Rs 54.19 crore for the full year ended March 31, 2025, on total income of Rs 285.76 crore, setting a relatively high base for the current year.
With operations spanning formal education and allied services through subsidiaries including Liberium Global Resources, Digital Ventures and Academia Edificio, Zee Learn’s latest numbers suggest the company is quietly passing its financial exams, one quarter at a time.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
