Google's AI Search Just Took A Bite Out Of Info Edge's Education Business

Info Edge has built its reputation on platforms that dominate their categories, Naukri in jobs, 99acres in real estate, and Shiksha in education counselling. But the June quarter brought a reminder that even a category leader isn't immune to how the internet itself is changing.

Shiksha's billings fell 22.8% year-on-year to Rs 35 crore in Q1 FY27, while revenue dropped 11.9% to Rs 44 crore, according to Info Edge's own quarterly earnings presentation. Operating profit before tax nearly halved, down 48.8% to Rs 3 crore, and the business burned Rs 7 crore in cash from operations during the quarter.

The company points to a specific culprit behind the softness: AI-driven search experiences are increasingly answering student queries directly, cutting into the referral traffic that content-heavy platforms like Shiksha have long relied on to reach students in the first place.

Shiksha's response is to lean further into what search can't easily replicate, deeper student-friendly content and a stronger domestic counselling push, alongside continued investment in its Study Abroad arm. That overseas piece comes with its own shifting ground, interest in the US has cooled, while the UK, Australia and parts of Europe are pulling ahead as preferred destinations, a change that will likely reshape how Shiksha counsels students going forward.

Scale, at least, isn't the problem. The platform still lists over 68,000 colleges and 574,000 courses across more than 1,150 entrance exams, and pulled in 6.3 million annual registrations, 467 million page views and 228 million visits over the year to June 2026. Shiksha contributes roughly 5% of Info Edge's Rs 881 crore in consolidated operating revenue for the quarter, a business the group is now watching closely as the AI-search shift plays out.