IndiaMART 将内容移入登录墙，限制 Google 搜索与 AI 智能体访问

B2B classifieds platform IndiaMART has moved content behind logins, blocked unrestricted scraping of its website and withheld its proprietary data from both Google Search and AI agents.

On the Q2 FY27 analysts’ call, co-founder and CEO Dinesh Agarwal said the company was “okay to let go of 10-20% of its current unique business enquiries” to protect its data moat.

IndiaMART recorded 27 million unique business enquiries in the July-September quarter, down 14% year-on-year, according to its investor presentation.

Agarwal told analysts that unique business enquiries had declined 10-15% from their peak levels. He attributed the decline partly to buyers shifting to AI search and partly to IndiaMART restricting access to data that previously fed those searches.

1. Why IndiaMART is hiding its data from Google and AI bots

“Google AI Overviews had expanded from 10-20% to now 50% of searches or even higher. With so much of LLM-based agentic thing happening, everyone wants to protect their own data and unique advantage,” said Agarwal.

Consultants, including academics at leading universities, have told the management that its data is “very, very valuable” and that “AI and your IndiaMART data, if used effectively, can actually become a very useful force in protecting your turf and growing your turf.”

IndiaMART is open to licensing redacted, non-personal data for AI training, but only “if there is an opportunity to earn revenue”. However, access for retrieval and AI agents will remain restricted.

To recover its reach, the company is spending Rs 8-10 crore a quarter on performance advertising, targeting the top quartile of its roughly 100,000 categories. Paid channels account for approximately 10% of traffic, generating about a million targeted inquiries a month. However, Agarwal said that 20-40% of this traffic cannibalises organic results. He added that IndiaMART’s voice AI already serves 80,000-100,000 buyers a day.

2. IndiaMART rules out 100% marketplace model

One analyst pointed to a competitor that, under a new management team, recently announced plans to move all transactions onto its platform, shifting from a classifieds model to a full-fledged marketplace. The analyst did not name the rival.

“I will not jump to the conclusion that we aspire to do the complete transaction, means completely doing away from the listing model, going to the marketplace model,” Agarwal responded.

Citing IndiaMART’s previous experiments, Agarwal said, “We had done a Tolexo about a decade ago, then we had a payment platform which tried to complete transactions. We only closed the payment platform sometime around 2021-22.”

“Do we want to go closer to the transaction? Do we want to make sure that buyer and supplier fulfillment is better? Yes,” he added.

3. IndiaMART enters credit facilitation

As part of its efforts to get “closer to the transaction” layer, IndiaMART has begun facilitating credit.

The company is positioning itself as an intent and data layer for partner lenders. Agarwal said IndiaMART captures purchase intent “at the time where nobody has seen the transaction”, while its subsidiary accounting platforms, Busy and Livekeeping, hold “the actual account booking” data that lenders rarely see.

Chief strategy officer Prateek Chandra said a couple of credit-enablement pilots are live but remain at an early stage. It is unclear whether IndiaMART will adopt a fee-based distribution model, a first-loss default guarantee (FLDG) model or acquire an NBFC licence to facilitate credit.

“Currently, there is no significant amount of capital that has kind of been getting committed on these initiatives,” Chandra said.

Agarwal sought to reassure investors, saying, “Anything even to the tune of few crores a quarter, I will come and tell you first. Rest assured of any uncertainty that we will go ahead and take a huge risk.”

4. IndiaMART is experimenting with a paid, verified buyer programme

Taking a cue from Alibaba, which monetises buyers by charging an annual membership fee of roughly $20, IndiaMART is “experimenting” with a paid, verified business-buyer programme. The indicative pricing ranges from “Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 per buyer per year.”

“So in order to increase trust and repeat business, some point of time, we will have a verified business buyer program and a paid verified business buyer program. We are currently in the process of doing certain pilots,” said Agarwal.

According to the management, buyers are being verified through their PAN, GST and Udyam registrations. Purchases from TrustSEAL suppliers made through verified bank accounts carry protection of up to Rs 5 lakh.

When asked when will IndiaMART roll out this offering, Agarwal clarified, “I did not say I am planning to start. I am experimenting,” warning that “it is not easy to crack.”

If the experiment succeeds, the paid buyer programme could become a second monetisation engine alongside supplier subscriptions.

Meanwhile, Platinum and Gold customers, who account for roughly 50% of the customer base and about 75% of revenue, continue to show good upsell and retention rates.

Agarwal said the company was “not pressing the pedal on the gross addition” until Silver churn improves. He also disclosed that the 12-month retention rate among Silver suppliers is 10% lower than it was four to five years ago.

IndiaMART 将内容移入登录墙，限制 Google 搜索与 AI 智能体访问

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