Microsoft’s FY20 profit jumps 62% in India to Rs 625 cr even as expenses increase nearly 19%

Microsoft India has reported a 62 per cent jump in annual profit and a 22 per cent increase in annual revenues for the financial year 2019-20 from the preceding financial year. The net profit was up from Rs 386 crore in FY19 to Rs 625 crore in FY20 while revenues increased from Rs 7,301 crore to Rs 8,883 crore during the said period for Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd, according to the financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. However, its total expenses also shot up 18.9 per cent for the fiscal year to Rs 7,967 crore from Rs 6,699 crore in FY19.

“We have nothing to share,” said Microsoft India in reply to Financial Express Online’s request for comment on the fiscal year performance.

Profit for FY18 and FY17 stood at Rs 357.9 crore and Rs 469 crore respectively. Expenses, on the other hand, have increased from Rs 5,646 crore in FY17 and Rs 5,802 crore in FY18. FY20 expenses included Rs 833 crore towards employee benefits, Rs 67.4 crore in finance costs, Rs 973.3 crore towards depreciation and amortisation while Rs 6,093 crore was towards other expenses.

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Microsoft had recently allowed its employees to partly work from home forever with a flexible work schedule. Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Kathleen Hogan in a blog post said that “for most roles, we view working from home part of the time (less than 50%) as now standard.” Hence, employees in roles and businesses, which are better suited for working away from the office, would be able to work from home or anywhere but the office for up to 50 per cent of their working week.

Hogan had added that with respect to work hours, which meant the hours and days when employees work, for example, workday start and end times, full- or part-time, work schedule flexibility is now considered standard for most roles. However, part-time work would remain subject to manager approval. According to Statista, Microsoft has around 163,000 full-time employees globally.

Amid Covid, the US parent had reported a net income of $11.2 billion for the fourth quarter ending June 30, 2020, on the back of Microsoft Cloud. On the other hand, revenue stood at $38 billion – up 13 per cent from the corresponding period of the preceding financial year. “The last five months have made it clear that tech intensity is the key to business resilience. Organizations that build their own digital capability will recover faster and emerge from this crisis stronger,” said Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft in a statement in July.