Deferred revenue and customer advances

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Contract with Customer, Liability [Abstract]

Deferred revenue and customer advances

18.Deferred revenue and customer advances

Deferred revenue and customer advances primarily represent service fees prepaid by merchants or customers for which the relevant services have not been provided. The respective balances are as follows:

	As of March 31,
	2023			2024
	RMB			RMB
	(in millions)
Deferred revenue		35,350			37,142
Customer advances		39,505			39,745
		74,855			76,887
Less: current portion		(71,295	)		(72,818	)
Non-current portion		3,560			4,069

All service fees received in advance are initially recorded as customer advances. These amounts are transferred to deferred revenue upon commencement of the provision of services by the Company and are recognized in the consolidated income statements in the period in which the services are provided. In general, service fees received in advance are non-refundable after the amounts are transferred to deferred revenue. Substantially all of the balances of deferred revenue and customer advances are generally recognized as revenue within one year.