Spinny recorded over ₹6,000 crore in revenue for FY26, surpassing Cars24, as the two companies adopt different strategies to capture India’s used-car market. While Spinny focuses on scaling its full-stack inventory model, Cars24 is shifting toward a commission-based approach to improve profitability. Both firms are preparing for potential public listings in the coming years.
The competitive landscape for India’s organized used-car market has shifted as Spinny and Cars24 pursue different strategies to achieve growth and profitability. In FY26, Spinny reached a revenue milestone of over ₹6,000 crore, reflecting a 28% year-on-year growth. This performance has placed it ahead of Cars24 in top-line revenue, which reported an operating revenue of ₹5,092 crore for the same period.
The difference in their revenue numbers stems largely from their business models. Spinny continues to operate on a full-stack model, where it buys, refurbishes, and sells cars directly from its own inventory. This approach allows for greater control over the customer experience and vehicle quality but requires significant capital to manage inventory and storage. As part of its growth plans, Spinny has converted into a public limited company and is engaging with bankers for a potential IPO targeted for 2027.
In contrast, Cars24 has seen an 18.3% decline in reported operating revenue, which is primarily due to a strategic shift away from inventory-heavy operations. The company is now focusing on a commission-based transaction model and ancillary services like financing and insurance. While this change makes its topline growth harder to compare with its previous inventory-heavy figures, the company has shown progress in bottom-line performance, narrowing its net loss by 18.8% to ₹441 crore in FY26. Cars24 is also in the process of moving its corporate domicile from Singapore to India, an organizational change that often precedes future public market plans.
Despite the growth of these platforms, the broader sector faces a structural hurdle. Approximately 79-80% of used-car transactions in India still take place through unorganized local dealers or peer-to-peer sales. For both Spinny and Cars24, the ability to gain market share depends on convincing more consumers to shift from these traditional channels to organized online platforms. This transition requires significant investment in building trust, standardizing pricing, and providing financing options.
Investors looking at this sector should note that the capital intensity of the full-stack model remains a risk factor, as inventory management and refurbishment costs can exert pressure on profit margins. Conversely, the commission-based model relies heavily on transaction volume and service uptake. The success of both companies in the coming quarters will be measured by their ability to balance growth with sustainable profitability, and how effectively they navigate the competitive, price-sensitive nature of the Indian used-car market.