iWorld
Spuul’s Bhojpuri bet for growth
MUMBAI: Every over the top (OTT) platform is raging about India’s diverse market and untapped opportunity. While others are testing the water with Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi apart from the regular fanfare of English and Hind shows, Singapore based Spuul is going the Bhojpuri way as well.
The platform already had some Bhojpuri content but about six to seven months ago, it felt the need to renew its attention towards this deprived market since rural audiences are warming up to video content now.
Spuul content head Girish Dwibhashyam also thinks that as a high number of people from Bihar migrate to other parts of the country, Bhojpuri content has a market across the country as well as within the state. Cheaper data, affordable handsets have made the digital video space class agnostic. “Consumption from the hinterland has multiplied in the last one and half years. Bhojpuri has assured viewership not only in Bihar but also across India,” he says.
Currently, the platform is only focusing on Bhojpuri movies starring popular actors like Dinesh Lal Yadav. Dwibhashyam claims that the movies they have are the most popular ones of recent past produced by renowned production houses. Aashik Aawara, Nirahua Chalal Sasural 2, Sangram, Rakhtbhoomi, Action Raaja, Nehle Pe Dehla, Muqabala, Jaanam are some of the most popular Bhojpuri movies streaming on Spuul. As the platform has a huge diaspora audience too, it might add catch-up content in certain markets. Initially, the platform has seen a lot of traction from tier II, tier III cities.
“Right now our ultimate goal is to be a place where Bhojpuri speaking audience can come and watch videos, not only movies but also other kinds of content going forward. But at least when it comes to movies we want to be top for Bhojpuri speaking audience for the content in the language they speak,” he comments on the objective of revamping Bhojpuri library.
When it comes to content curation, the team focuses both on external analysis and internal data. The popularity of stars, the popularity of the movie, box office collection are among the major factors which act as a catalyst for adding a movie to the catalogue.
“Couple of years back we had Bhojpuri movies. We have some consumption numbers on the actors who have done well on our platforms. We keep improvising and regularly track which movies are being consumed in what way. When we started out with the catalogue of Bhojpuri movies six-seven months back, first we did a lot of observation to which stars are doing well, which movies, what type of movies are doing well. Then accordingly, we have added new movies,” he adds.
It has competition because ZEE5 and ALTBalaji are both foraying into this market as well. Moreover, content king YouTube has hundreds of viral Bhojpuri videos which get good traction. Hence, to cope with the upping competition in this market Spuul needs to update its library continuously.
But Dwibhashyam believes the growing Bhojpuri market has scope for multiple players. In addition to that, differentiating content will also play a key role. According to him, the Bhojpuri OTT market has not reached that stage where competition will start affecting the players.
For promoting its new catalogue, Spuul is primarily emphasising on digital marketing only. It has done a large number of digital ads targeting certain geographies and native speakers along with consumer PR. Other than digital, he claims Spuul has been mentioned in local newspapers recently which helped it to create a buzz in the local market.
Dwibhashyam thinks it is in the right direction based on the promising initial response. In a bid to gain a stronger foothold across the country, the OTT platform will soon announce an important development for Bengali content too.
Gaming
Bluestone FY26 revenue rises to Rs 2,436 crore, turns profitable
Q4 profit at Rs 31 crore, full-year profit at Rs 13 crore vs loss last year.
MUMBAI: From sparkle to numbers, Bluestone seems to be polishing more than just jewellery this year. Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Limited reported a sharp turnaround in FY26, with revenue from operations rising to Rs 2,436 crore (Rs 24,364 million), up from Rs 1,770 crore (Rs 17,700 million) in FY25. The company posted a full-year profit of Rs 13 crore (Rs 131.79 million), a significant recovery from a loss of Rs 222 crore (Rs 2,218 million) a year ago.
Total income for the year stood at Rs 2,486 crore (Rs 24,860 million), compared to Rs 1,830 crore (Rs 18,300 million) in the previous year, reflecting both topline growth and improved operational momentum.
The March quarter, however, told a more nuanced story. Revenue from operations came in at Rs 681 crore (Rs 6,814 million), down from Rs 748 crore (Rs 7,486 million) in the year-ago period, though higher than Rs 461 crore (Rs 4,613 million) in the preceding December quarter. Net profit for Q4 stood at Rs 31 crore (Rs 311.81 million), compared to Rs 68 crore (Rs 688 million) a year earlier, but a clear reversal from a loss of Rs 51 crore (Rs 512 million) in Q3.
Margins were shaped by higher input costs, with raw material consumption rising to Rs 2,204 crore (Rs 22,043 million) for the full year, alongside employee benefit expenses of Rs 282 crore (Rs 2,824 million) and finance costs of Rs 210 crore (Rs 2,104 million). Other expenses came in at Rs 371 crore (Rs 3,715 million), slightly lower than Rs 393 crore (Rs 3,938 million) in FY25.
On the balance sheet front, total assets expanded to Rs 4,961 crore (Rs 49,610 million) as of March 31, 2026, from Rs 3,532 crore (Rs 35,322 million) a year earlier, driven largely by a surge in inventories to Rs 2,672 crore (Rs 26,718 million). Equity also strengthened to Rs 1,803 crore (Rs 18,030 million), nearly doubling from Rs 911 crore (Rs 9,107 million).
Cash flows reflected the cost of growth. Net cash used in operating activities stood at Rs 199 crore (Rs 1,990 million), while investing activities saw an outflow of Rs 239 crore (Rs 2,392 million). Financing activities, however, generated Rs 497 crore (Rs 4,971 million), helping the company end the year with cash and cash equivalents of Rs 108 crore (Rs 1,075 million), up from Rs 49 crore (Rs 487 million).
Earnings per share for FY26 came in at Rs 1.10, a sharp improvement from a negative Rs 79.74 in FY25, underlining the shift from losses to profitability.
With revenue scaling up, costs still glittering on the higher side, and profitability finally back in the black, BlueStone’s FY26 performance suggests a business mid-transition less about shine alone, and more about sustaining it.
