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Deferred revenue and customer advances
12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Deferred revenue and customer advances  
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,

    

2021

    

2022

(in millions of RMB)

Deferred revenue

 

30,508

 

32,085

Customer advances

 

35,139

 

38,388

 

65,647

 

70,473

Less: current portion

 

(62,489)

 

(66,983)

Non-current portion

 

3,158

 

3,490

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.