India's Delhivery says Q1 loss narrowed as demand rose, expenses fell

BENGALURU, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Indian logistics firm Delhivery on Friday reported a narrower quarterly loss helped by a rebound in demand for online shopping and lower operational costs.

Consolidated net loss for the first quarter ended June 30 shrank to 894.8 million rupees ($10.82 million) from 3.99 billion rupees a year ago.

A slight cooling in inflation in the months of April and May and increased economic activity in the country has revived some discretionary spending like online shopping, while lower fuel costs helped bring down the company's total expenses by 3% to 21.30 billion rupees.

Delhivery counts companies like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart among its chief clients.

Total income, including its revenue from contracts with customers, rose 13.2% to 20.31 billion rupees.

Analysts at brokerage Emkay Research said last month growing demand for app-based shopping and government policies to reduce inefficiencies in logistics will allow India's e-commerce shipments market to at least double by the fiscal 2026, helping companies like Delhivery.

Revenue from Delhivery's mainstay express parcel services grew 14% year-on-year, the company said in a statement.

Last month, rival Blue Dart Express reported a drop in quarterly profit while Mahindra Logistics also posted a quarterly loss hurt by higher costs.

Shares of Delhivery closed 5.7% up on Friday ahead of the results, after a nearly 15% rise during the June-quarter.

($1 = 82.8300 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Biplob Kumar Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)