The Chatter: Echoes from the Boardroom
Edition # 7
Welcome to the seventh edition of The Chatter — a newsletter where we dig through what India’s biggest companies are saying and bring you the most interesting bits of insight, whether about the business, its sector, or the wider economy. We read every major Indian earnings call and listen to the interviews so you don’t have to.
In this edition, we have covered the 18 companies across 9 industries:
Chemicals
Mold-Tek Packaging
Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers
Financial Services
PB Fintech (Policy Bazaar)
Software Services
Matrimony.com
Protean e-Gov Technologies
FMCG & Retail
Bikaji Foods
Restaurant Brands Asia
Spencer's Retail
Arvind Fashions
Healthcare
Pfizer
Alcoholic Beverage
Allied Blenders and Distillers
Media & Entertainment
Saregama
Engineering & Capital Goods
HAL
KPI Green Energy
Premier Energies
Data Patterns
Textiles
Dollar Industries
Cantabil Retail India
Chemicals
Mold-Tek Packaging | Small Cap | Chemicals
Regulatory shift increasing mandatory recycled content in paint packaging to 30% will impact material sourcing and potentially costs for the industry.
“Now the current statutory obligation of RCP for paint industry is somewhere around 20%. But I think very soon, like June or July, statutory obligation is going to go up to 30%. So in the paint industry, already major players have started using 20%, even in the lube industry. And going forward, it may even become 30% in the next couple of quarters.”
– Lakshman Rao, Chairman & MD
Management on bullishness in their pharma packaging business as it breaks even and expansion is on the corner
"One of the greatest news for the quarter is our Pharma division, which has started barely a year ago, has crossed break-even in Q4 with a sharp turnover increase from a meager Rs. 2.5 crores in Q3 to Rs. 6.7 crores in Q4, resulting in company making profits for the first time in the Pharma division too. So, this will augur well for the coming years as the traction created in Q4 will continue into FY25, apart from additional new products being added in the pharma sector."
"Pharma division growth will continue to improve. Definitely, this quarter’s performance will become the base now. For FY25, we are looking beyond Rs. 30 crores. It can get even better depending on new pharma products we are launching. We have taken up a minor expansion—apart from six, seven machines initially, we are adding five more injection molding machines. A couple have arrived, three more are expected by June. Corresponding molds will also be ready by mid-June, further boosting revenues by end of June. Hence, pharma division revenues are expected to see two and a half to three times growth from Rs. 11 crores (FY24) in FY25."
"Our investment stance has shifted from cautious to more confident. Results are encouraging—our ability to develop new molds and products has attracted significant attention from the pharma industry. There’s a major gap in new product development in pharma packaging in India. Mold-Tek’s tool room and product development capabilities position us well to fill this gap significantly."
– Lakshman Rao, Chairman & MD
Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers | Micro Cap | Chemicals
Highlights favorable market conditions for Single Super Phosphate (SSP) due to DAP shortages and government subsidy, indicating strong demand potential for their fertiliser segment.
“Have we been seeing a larger adoption of SSP right now like since the government has raised the subsidy, I believe about 40% or so. So are we seeing that impact our demand? Definitely, Manan, because of the DAP is extremely shortage and let me tell you the phosphatic fertilizer, you know, across the globe is in deep shortage and the prices of like phosphoric acid and DAP has gone up tremendously. So I believe it's a good opportunity, you know, especially for the SSP business because of the increased in subsidy, there would be an increased demand also because of the shortage of other phosphatic fertilizer also. So I believe that there would be a good time in coming this season.”
– Punit Makharia, Chairman and MD
Financial Services
PB Fintech (Policy Bazaar) | Mid Cap | Financial Services
Explains the sharp Q4 contribution margin rise, attributing it to lower sequential call center investment growth after earlier build-up, alongside ongoing structural benefits from renewals.
“Now, the structural shift is that renewals keep growing on a consistent basis. And as they keep growing, your margins somewhat keep expanding. However, the core business, the core online business without renewals and without fresh health is not without profits. That also has a 20% margin and that also as it keeps growing, also keeps driving profits up. So if you ask me, about half and half is driven by, of the profits is and the margins are driven by these two: core online business and your, and that includes Paisabazaar as well, as well as your renewals growth. Now, the margin depleting part is actually your fresh health."
– Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and Group CEO
“That is because we were, been investing in the call center side for, in Q2 and Q3 especially. And that investment obviously came down in Q4 because we, you know, we maintained the scale of our call center. So that is the other reason why the margin has expanded, you know, because now the growth in call center cost was lower this quarter as compared to the first three quarters."
– Sarbvir Singh, Joint Group CEO, PB Fintech
Management believes its strong disclosure assessment and focus on claim settlement puts it in a better position to handle regulatory changes like 1/N and commission pressures in health insurance.
The 1/n rule in insurance refers to a regulatory requirement limiting an insurer's exposure to any single risk or client, typically stating that the maximum risk exposure must not exceed a certain fraction (1 divided by n, where n is the number of policies) of the insurer’s total portfolio. This helps diversify risk and prevent overly concentrated exposures.
“I think health insurance and health is a very simple area where the customer essentially pays a certain amount of money and he basically expects his claims to be settled. Policybazaar is in a phenomenal position there because we have done very good disclosure assessment at the beginning and it's always comparative, right? I'm not saying we are perfect, but we are much better than many of the channels in terms of disclosure assessment. And what that implies is our claims book is standing strong. And what that means is the insurers are not getting surprises as much as they may be getting in some other channels. And thus, we feel lesser pressure than maybe the market feels on both the claim settlement side as well as some of our, you know, payouts, etc., right? And I think one of the things is because over the last three years, we have worked so hard on ensuring customers get their claims, some of our own renewal claim ratios will also start to move upwards, right? Because, obviously, we were not able to put as much effort in in that. And we will be getting in the same range or maybe just lower, a tad lower than other channels because we are putting in that effort, but that is coming at a much higher claim settlement than many other areas. And that is what is, in my opinion, allowing us to attract more and more customers along with our better sales training and better advertising, etc.”
– Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and Group CEO
The UAE insurance business grew premiums by 76% Y-o-Y and has turned sustainably profitable, according to management, indicating successful international expansion.
"Our UAE insurance premium has grown 76% year-on-year, and there is a bit of a positive surprise there. That business has both turned profitable and I feel confident it's turned profitable kind of forever. Because, you know, you usually can't react to one month or two months, but now it's kind of steadily moving in that direction and I don't think it will ever go back into the red again. And that's a very interesting phase when a B2C business goes from, because that means it's kind of started making enough revenue to cover its fixed costs. And from there onwards, life should be a lot better."
– Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and Group CEO
PB Money aims to enhance credit underwriting via deeper customer data (income, spending) and will monetize directly through bonds/FDs and indirectly by improving unsecured lending growth.
“So on the PB Money side, see there are two reasons for why PB Money is, I think, critical from a business like credit. One, it allows deeper understanding of a customer's risk because of course, over and above bureau, you start getting data about the income of the customer and you can do sharper underwriting. And we've rapidly acquired customers on the PB Money side. That allows, of course, for, you know, more curated products and better risk. The other bit to this is that, I think savings is a large area. We do a lot of savings through insurance on the policy side. There is an opportunity to do savings on the Paisabazaar side through bonds, fixed deposits, mutual funds. So that's, that opportunity exists. And I think PB Money will be the backbone to use the data to advise customers on how to manage money better, and that should be a rapid area of growth for us this year."
"So monetization largely will come from selling, this year largely bonds and fixed deposits. And of course, it also helps indirectly in monetization because we have better understanding of customer's credit and hence it will lead to growth in some of our, you know, unsecured areas, lending areas. So that is a, I would say, a shadow way of monetization, but of course, direct monetization on bonds and deposits will exist."
– Santosh Agarwal, CEO, Paisabazaar
Management sees significant potential for AI (especially "man in the middle" models) to impact sales productivity and call center efficiency over three years, potentially moderating headcount growth.
"Yeah, so the way I look at it is that when it comes to the deep tech, as Yashish mentioned, there is a efficiency part and there is a risk part. But within the efficiency, we as a company, anything that we do can have three type of impacts, right? Either we can work on improving the revenue, or becoming efficient on the cost, or better customer service. The biggest impact of deep tech for everyone including us is on the customer service. Because that can be automated to a large extent as we look for next one, two, three years. This includes renewals, claim support, all kind of endorsements, all sort of service element. Sales, specifically in insurance, is a very involved process. There are some part of it which can be automated over time, but broadly that will remain, you know, very, very close physical contact with the customer all the time."
– Sarbvir Singh, Joint Group CEO, PB Fintech
Software Services
Matrimony.com | Micro Cap | Software Services
Acknowledges FY25 de-growth but highlights a positive turnaround in billing growth starting March FY25, continuing into Q1 FY26.
“FY25 was the very first year in our journey of 25 years where we had a de-growth. However, we started year-on-year growth from March onwards. Our year-on-year growth continues in April and May. With various initiatives and strategies, we are highly confident of continuous growth in the coming quarters and the years to come. We have decided to pause Wedding Notes as the conversions are not at the expected level, and we may revisit in the future.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
Outlines a shift towards consistent marketing visibility and leveraging community-specific platforms to gain share in the competitive North Indian market.
“So, yes, it is important that North India, other than North India market, we are a leader across India. So, North India definitely is a market we like to, you know, grow our market share and win in the long term. So we are, at this point of time, what we are looking at is that we are looking at having a continuous visibility because it was not the case last couple of years. So we optimized our marketing campaigns, strategies. [KEY REMARK] So, only for the last couple of quarters, we are having a, you know, regular visibility in the North India market. We intend to continue our visibility in the North India market so that we could, you know, gain market share in the long term. So it was not the case, you know, in the last previous years, it was more of on and off. Now, we definitely looking at regular advertisement in North India market. Apart from that, [...] we also, apart from BharatMatrimony.com, we also had our community matrimony as a strategy to grow in the North India market. We are looking some, you know, apart from BharatMatrimony, whether it could also promote a community matrimony in North India market.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
Management states they are currently protected from Google's billing policies due to regulatory actions (CCI, NCLT) and are not making payments under the disputed terms.
“No, actually, it's not the case because there's a CCI verdict against Google that the Google billing was abuse of dominance. And on the user choice of billing, again, CCI, the investigation is going on. There's a directive by CCI to the Google. And recently NCLT also upheld the Google order. [KEY REMARK] So at this point of time, so we are all protected, there's no issues, there's no payment to Google and so it's not required.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
Provides a timeline for monetizing "Many Jobs" (blue-collar job portal) and updates on "MakeMyWedding" traction, key for future growth beyond matrimony.
“So Wedding Loan, as I said, with the conversions are not at expert level, we decided to pause. And with respect to Many Jobs, so far we have almost invested in the last couple of years. And the monetization for Many Jobs will start very soon. So maybe next month or maybe subsequent month. [KEY REMARK] So we, we, we reached a desired level of registrations and the employers and and we intend to monetize in the near future. So so far, it's all investment mode. So with respect to wedding services, the initiatives on wedding, the MakeMyWedding, we expect to even 100 plus paid bookings.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
High marketing spends are a function of competitive intensity and investments in new brands like Jodii, not just for the core platform.
“[Analyst: Why spend so much on ads if not getting share/growth vs competition?] With respect to our marketing spend at elevated level, because there are other players as well. So at this point of time, the marketing spend is at, at an elevated level. If the competitive intensity reduces, you know, we will reduce the marketing spend. But at this point of time, if there are players spending at a similar level, it is important for us to spend at, you know, equivalent amount of marketing. [KEY REMARK] Plus, we also have the multiple brands. Now we also have the new brand like Jodii, we are investing behind those brands to gain, to grow those brands, Jodii as well. So, in terms of the growth, we now you see as I said, so while the last year was one of the year, the entire industry had some challenge in the profile growth. Now we see that the profiles are bouncing back.”
“So, while the, in terms of marketing spend as a percentage of revenue, when the revenue starts moving up, the, the, the marketing spend as a percentage of revenue will come down. We don't see the marketing going to spend, you know, going to increase from the current level of spend at this point of time. [KEY REMARK] So the marketing spend will, will remain at this level, maybe or maybe at slightly at, at least level or maybe at this point we at similar level. So the revenue increases, then we see the percentage of spend on marketing will come down.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
While open to M&A;, especially in related/growth areas, no immediate acquisition targets are seen in the core matrimony space. Organic growth remains primary focus.
“[Analyst: Why not acquisitions with excess cash?] So, if there is any right opportunity, we definitely look into it. But we achieved progress, we continue to keep these options open in terms of any opportunity to acquire a company in a related industry. [KEY REMARK] We don't at this point of time, any opportunity to acquire in the matchmaking business, matrimony business. But if there any related or growth opportunity, we will definitely look into it. So that's something as we progress, we definitely, it's not looking only organic growth, we definitely look at inorganic growth strategy as well. So that's one of our growth initiatives. Maybe so far we have not focused much on, maybe in the coming years, we may look at opportunity to invest behind the company.”
– Murugavel Janakiraman, MD & CEO
Protean e-Gov Technologies | Small Cap | Software Services
Protean's bid for the PAN 2.0 project was not considered favorably; they’re seeking clarification from the tax department.
“We just wanted to take this opportunity to update you with regard to the update we had for the PAN 2.0 RFP, which had been put out by the Income Tax Department. Over the weekend, we received feedback that our current bid has been considered unfavorably at this stage. We have reached out to the tax department to seek further clarity. And while we are in the process of doing that, we wanted to just share with you that this is the status as of now.”
– Suresh Sethi (MD & CEO)
PAN 2.0 is a tech-stack project and doesn’t affect Protean’s distribution and processing of PAN card applications.
“The PAN 2.0 RFP is to do a tech revamp of that entire tech stack which ITD has. And that in a way is not directly linked to the entire distribution and application process for the PAN card. And therefore, we are saying that while it is a separate IT project, as of now as we see it, it does not impact the distribution and the processing part of it.”
– Suresh Sethi (MD & CEO)
Like Aadhaar, PAN card distribution is expected to stay with partners due to the need for physical reach.
“I don’t expect ITD to set up their own distribution network. So, this will always be supported by distribution because ultimately, it’s a citizen-centric service.”
– Suresh Sethi (MD & CEO)
FMCG & Retail
Bikaji Foods | Small Cap | FMCG
Provides an outlook on a key raw material cost, suggesting stabilization which supports the company's margin recovery targets.
“So if we talk only about edible oil, palm oil basically. So the peak of palm oil was close to 137... currently it's around 120, 125. We don't see that it will go beyond this. So 120 will be a new normal, that's what as an industry we expect from any year, from palm oil perspective. But yeah, overall this year crop has been very supportive and if this year crop is really monsoon is good. So what we see, uh, that overall this from gross margin and EBITDA lens, this this year when I say 25, 26 lens, we want to get our original gross margin by quarter two. That's what we have told last to last quarter and we are on track that this year at standalone level we are close to, uh, 31.8% uh, GM in quarter four. And that's, uh, our target was 32.5%. So we are on track to achieve that.”
“So from raw material lens, what we've seen and what we explained last time that this year, uh, all the pulses has been, in a good favor. Uh, are at a very lowest price which has supported us to improve our gross margin. And also, we have taken few price hike, uh, back-to-back in quarter three and quarter four, which has helped us in getting a gross margin back to close to 31%.”
– Rishabh Jain, CFO
Sets a clear long-term (4-5 years) profitability target, factoring in PLI benefits fading and operational efficiencies.
“So, it will be driven by multiple things, be it investing in branding, so it will help in, uh, commanding price from consumer, from consumer number one. Number two, of course product mix is the important thing because we are already focusing on few products which are high, high in gross margin, currently contributing close to 15-16%, target is to take this to 18-19% in next two, three years. Uh, investing in cost saving program within the organization at each level, be it production, logistics, or, or, uh, building strong trade schemes system so getting proper ROI of each, each investment what we do, be it in sales or everywhere. So, there are multiple things going on as an organization which would help us in, uh, help us in, uh, driving this 15% target. And this will offset PLI income and what we think that our steady EBITDA after four, five years should be around 15%.”
– Rishabh Jain, CFO
Addresses current logistical constraints with significant capex, aiming to improve production flow and sales fulfillment. No other major capex.
“On capex perspective, so, uh, so that, uh, we, we are investing in one big warehouse in, in Bikaner. So that, that investment will be close to Rs 65 crore and it will be part of CWIP what we have filed in, uh, in the, in March, in the numbers of March 25. So with this mega, big warehouse will come up in next, next three and a half, four months. So this will solve logistical issue. Currently we don't, we don't have space to keep stock more than two, two and a half days. So that's a lot of production issue coming keeping up. So that will solve this production issue and it will help in improving our fill rate and, fill rate and sales. So these are big investment coming up in, in this year. And there is no any other major, major capex addition. That's what we, it will be regular maintenance capex, that will be coming up in this year.”
– Rishabh Jain, CFO
Signals a strategic emphasis on strengthening the main Bikaji brand over rapid diversification through new brand acquisitions or aggressive QSR rollout.
“So, restaurant business, Avnish, as we spoke about that we will get into that stuff. So yes, we opened one, uh, store in Rajasthan. That's a, uh, so-called QSR stuff in, uh, in Sikar last quarter we did one. Uh, this year also, we'll add about four to five outlets. That's the, and this is what we had called out. So therefore, in our growth plans, QSR is not really adding up or we are not, you know, taking any, you know, large numbers on that, on that account. Certainly for next, uh, year, hereafter, is what we'll call out on our QSR strategy. So that's how, uh, uh, that's how the plans are. Other than this on the House of Brands if you look at so THF, yes, it's doing good, so which is a retail brand. The aggressive plans they have falling well in place. That's where it is. Bujialalji which was a small acquisition and that was clearly to play on the, on the modern trade and on the, uh, e-com platforms as a brand B strategy, that has also, you know, is falling on place. But going forward, what our plans are that we will not add, we'll try and con build Bikaji a even a larger brand. That's the strategy.”
– Rishabh Jain, CFO
Highlights a strategic focus on leveraging small packs for growth, especially as the distribution network expands, complementing the existing strength in large packs.
“For us, large pack is equally important and that's what is one of our forte or the brand strength that in-home consumption, modern trade, you know, equity we enjoy more. However, what we see is that, uh, the small pack is the opportunity for us. So therefore, the focus would be on driving both these packs, the large pack and the small pack.”
– Manoj Verma, COO
Restaurant Brands Asia | Small Cap | FMCG
Provides new long-term store opening guidance and gross margin targets, extending the visibility horizon for investors.
The revised store opening guidance implies a slightly slower but more extended expansion phase, while the gross margin target signals continued focus on profitability.
“Our restaurant counts at the end of financial year '25 stood at 513. If you recall, our previous guidance was reaching 700 restaurants by FY27. We've revised that to a more longer-term guidance. We are looking to open 60 to 80 new restaurants every year for the next four years. This will take us to about 800 restaurants by FY29. On the gross profit margin side, we ended FY25 or the gross profit margins for FY25 was 67.7%. As Sumit mentioned on slide number 10 that we've increased our gross profit margin every single year that we've been there in the country. And we want to continue on this journey of increasing our margins. We are targeting an annual increase of 0.5 to 0.7% over the next four years. And this will take us closer to a number of about 70% by FY29.”
– Gaurav Rekhi, Head Corporate Development & IR
Signals a potential bottoming out of the Indonesian market post-geopolitical issues, with a significant 10% rise in Burger King's dine-in Average Daily Sales (ADS).
The 10% dine-in ADS growth is a strong positive for the struggling Indonesian market. Management's view that the market bottom is over is a key takeaway.
“We have seen some good recent, if you look at our business from November till April, we have pushed up our dine-in ADS by 10%. So, you know, things are changing there. And it's not just the Burger King business, if you look at the competition over there, the market in general is now turning. I think the bottom is over and everyone's on the climb back to what numbers they used to have pre pre geopolitical issues there. So good, good green shoots, very early time. There's a long road ahead, so I don't want people to jump to conclusion, but we have now seen a turnaround as we saw this uh dine-in ADS come back into our business.”
– Rajeev Varman, Group CEO
Value campaigns are proving highly effective, with the latest "2 for 79/99" driving an additional 9% traffic growth, layering on previous successes.
“So we saw dine-in traffic growth of about 9%. Uh, this is on top of our, you know, uh value campaign that we have started. So the previous year we had done a value campaign on uh uh the 99 rupees uh, you know, combo or the meal, uh crispy veg meal. And then this last year we did uh we did a 2 for 79 and 2 for 99 crispy chicken and uh crispy veg and crispy chicken. So uh the first campaign which is 99 uh value combo, we drove about 5.2% traffic into our restaurants in dine-in. And then this last year, uh, with the 2 for campaign, we drove another 9% on top of the 5.2%. So that continues to work well.”
– Rajeev Varman, Group CEO
Significant expansion of the cafe concept within existing stores, potentially driving higher average per customer (APC) spends and better asset utilization.
“We also continue to build our cafe pillar. In fact, uh, today we have 90% of our restaurants with cafes. Uh, that's up from where we were the previous year at 77%. So, we've pretty much put cafe into every restaurant that we wanted to put cafe. So that's uh continuing to to uh to build that pillar as well. The third pillar that you will see that we have been actually, you know, doing for the last couple of years, but you will see additional focus, a rigorous focus uh in this coming year is on the innovation.”
– Rajeev Varman, Group CEO
Tapping into the popular Korean trend with a new product line, aiming to attract younger demographics and drive incremental sales through innovation.
“I just want to share with the group that we recently launched a new range of Korean products on our menu with the Korean Paneer burger, chicken burger, uh, fried chicken, wings, and fries. This is obviously inspired by a massive trend that we are all seeing on Korean culture, Korean music, drama. So we took out a leaf from the authentic Korean cuisines and we innovated on the process. So we dunked our patties and chicken snacks in this delicious Korean sauce uh to give a very authentic, very high quality Korean flavor in every bite. The burgers were launched with a premium brioche bun, so we upgraded the product there as well. And we are getting fantastic reviews from food bloggers, journalists, and Korean fans across the board.”
– Kapil Grover, CMO
Spencer's Retail | Micro Cap | Retail
Jiffy, the quick commerce arm, is a key growth pillar with an ambitious target to double its scale in FY26, leveraging existing stores, not dark stores.
“And really, Q4 was setting up the Jiffy business for scaling it up in the current fiscal. Our ambition for the current fiscal is to double the scale of the business. What we've achieved in Q4 is impressive in terms of the traction. Currently this Jiffy proposition, which is a 30-minute delivery proposition, is there in Kolkata where we have a large density of stores. So out of the 42 stores which are there in Kolkata, 29 are equipped to handle e-commerce operations. [KEY REMARK] We haven't set up an extensive network of dark stores because with this footprint of stores, we can service most of the pin codes in Kolkata at a 30-minute delivery frequency.”
– Anuj Singh, CEO & MD
Highlights the top-line impact of store closures in FY25 but also shows successful cost reduction leading to improved EBITDA for the core Spencer's business.
“So, revenue from operations for Spencer's for FY25 was Rs.1,700 crores versus Rs.2,049 crores in FY24, which is a 17% decline. Margins were 80 basis points down, but again, this is largely attributed to the drop in margins which happened in Q2 as a result of the liquidation when we were shutting down 47 stores. We had to do a judicious liquidation of inventory which was there, rather than carrying that inventory and bringing it to the other regions. [KEY REMARK] So margins for Spencer's were at 18.1%. The expenses, which I had covered earlier, the expenses were Rs.76 crores lower in operating costs, which resulted in an EBITDA for Spencer's for the full year to be Rs.53 crores versus a break-even last year. So, I think this EBITDA represents about 3.1% of sales and gives us the confidence that that's the right trajectory for Spencer's.”
– Anuj Singh, CEO & MD
Arvind Fashions | Small Cap | Retail
Addresses challenges in the wholesale channel, outlining efforts to improve inventory and projecting a return to high single-digit growth.
“Wholesale channel has recorded low single digit in FY25. While the consumer sales had grown at a higher single digit level. We are encouraged by this tertiary sales growth of high single digit and we have continued to work hard including on cleanup of inventory management in FY25 to ensure high freshness index and meet inventory norms without any unnecessary buildup of stock in the sluggish condition. We have been maintaining strict hygiene norms and parallelly sharpening inventory management for higher metabolism in wholesale channels in the near future. We are confident that with improvement in market condition, market wholesale channel will go back to their growth levels in high single digit, while direct channels will take lead in growth thereby helping AFL meet its aspirations of 12 to 15% revenue growth.”
– Shailesh Chaturvedi, Managing Director & CEO
Emphasizes the success and continued focus on high-growth direct-to-consumer channels.
“Our focus has been on pushing revenue growth through direct channels of EBO retail and online B2C. Both these channels have grown handsomely in FY25. The retail growth in each of the last three quarters has been at a healthy teen percentage and this growth is likely to sustain and hopefully improve further. With good like-to-like growth of around 5% in the current market condition, a large square foot expansion of nearly 1.2 lakh square foot in full year, and around 20% growth in revenue from adjacencies category, and along with premiumization drive and high-quality execution of shopping experience, this retail channel of around 2000 crore value has very healthy momentum and is likely to grow at similar and higher pace going forward.”
– Shailesh Chaturvedi, Managing Director & CEO
Healthcare
Pfizer | Large Cap | Healthcare
Pfizer's CFO reveals the substantial Q1 financial hit from new Medicare regulations:
“If you look at Medicare Part D redesigned, in Q1, it dampened our US revenues by approximately $650 million as we expected. That dampening will lessen in the back half of the year as we continue to offset that a bit with incremental prescriptions.”
– David Denton, CFO
Pfizer discloses tariff impacts already built into their financial outlook:
“Included in our guidance that we didn't really speak about is there are some tariffs in place today, we anticipate those tariffs to be approximately $150 million for 2025. We are contemplating that within our guidance range, and we continue to again, trend to the top end of our guidance range even with those costs to be incurred this year.”
– David Denton, CFO
Two key cancer drugs could see their markets double in the near future:
“We also anticipate meaningful readouts this year for Padcev and Elrexfio. Padcev already is a core therapy in our Oncology portfolio. Padcev plus pembrolizumab is the most prescribed first-line treatment for locally advanced/metastatic urothelial cancer in the US. We are working toward more than doubling the total addressable patient population in the US for Padcev with potentially registrational interim data we expect this year from ongoing pivotal studies in muscle invasive bladder cancer.
“We are also working to reach a significantly expanded population of patients with multiple myeloma. We're anticipating a Phase 3 readout this year for Elrexfio in a study for double-class exposed relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. If successful and approved, this would more than double the addressable population versus the currently approved indication.”
– Albert Bourla, CEO
A single safety signal ended Pfizer's obesity drug:
“[Discontinuing] danuglipron was the right decision for Pfizer based on totality of data. And as we said previously, a single asymptomatic participant in a dose optimization study with rapid dose titration experience a potential drug-induced liver injury, which recovered rapidly after treatment discontinuation.
Although we're not 100% sure this is due to danuglipron, the risk was high enough for us to discontinue the program while still being committed to obesity and employing our global resources for other opportunities. Cardiovascular metabolic is one of our core strategies within internal medicine, an area with significant remaining unmet need. And just a reminder, for obesity alone up to 60% of patients discontinued current approved medicines after 24 months.”
– Chris Boshoff, Chief Scientific Officer
US policy has weakened domestic biotech while strengthening China's position:
“Biotech, it is dominant. The US has the dominant scientific position in biotech because we have created this ecosystem of biotech and pharma and academia and all of that. This is exactly what the Chinese have replicated in the last four years. And in the last four years, IRA was a significant setback for us that took down a lot of funding of the private sector towards biotech.”
“So the biotech is now currently, also because of tariffs but also because of the four previous years, they are at historical low. And as a result, there is very little money going to the biotech. That China is doing the opposite. And right now, they are having very, very good science.”
– Albert Bourla, CEO
Pfizer completes its strategic exit from Haleon:
"In January, we monetized approximately $3.0 billion of our Haleon shares and, in March, we monetized the last tranche of our Haleon shares, receiving approximately $3.3 billion in net cash proceeds. With this sale we have now fully exited our ownership in Haleon."
– David Denton, CFO
Alcoholic Beverage
Allied Blenders and Distillers | Small Cap | Alcoholic Beverage
Validates the core strategy of focusing on higher-margin premium products, with P&A (Premium & Above); volumes growing 13%
“These gains were made by multiple factors. Strong volume growth of 13% in P&A; segment. Sharp focus on driving profitable sales through our profit governance model. [KEY REMARK] COGS reduction through a rate reset, packaging efficiencies, and a disciplined control over operating expenses. We also enhanced our ANP (Advertising and Promotion) investment behind our P&A portfolio.”
– Alok Gupta, Managing Director
The upcoming UK FTA is anticipated to be a positive catalyst, enhancing margins for the company's imported Scotch and premium portfolio.
“UK FTA expected to be margin accretive as ABD is one of the largest importer of bulk Scotch. This agreement will also benefit our super premium and luxury portfolio by making it more accessible to the consumers”
– Alok Gupta, Managing Director
Management expects stable ENA (Extra Neutral Alcohol) (a key input) prices, crucial for cost control, contingent on the continuation of current FCI (Food Corporation of India) policies.
“Ethanol can be made from maize, broken rice, and full rice, whereas potable ENA is made only from broken rice. So it really depends on the FCI policy. 19 January, they had announced, access to full rice to the ethanol industry, thereby offering a better margin on ethanol produced out of full rice. [KEY REMARK] We, we believe that the policy has worked well to meet the ethanol objective. It has worked well for ethanol manufacturers. Therefore, we do expect this policy to be rolled forward. And if that was to happen, we expect that the commodity prices will remain fairly stable.”
– Alok Gupta, Managing Director
Details the typical 3 year timeline from concept to launch for new brands, providing context for new product development efforts.
“Broadly, four or five critical phases.
One is really a desktop stage in terms of which segment, which price point, what margin, what's the right to win, what's the sort of concept that will work with a consumer. It could take anything between six months to a year. It's backed by research, it's backed by firsthand insighting, it's backed by getting a better understanding of what will get us a right to win.
The second phase really is packaging concept development, where it could take maybe up to another six months. Commercial production could take another three months. So pretty much, it could be between 18 months, plus or minus, from an idea to a physical form in which the product is available.
The third phase really is actual product testing. In parallel, of course, we are doing the blend development. The third phase is really product testing, both on blend, packaging, and additionally communication design and communication testing. These are three phases.
The fourth one that we follow as a discipline is we pick up two or three markets and we do a prototype launch, like we've done for Iconiq currently. As an example, with the prototype launch, we were selling it in Haryana, UP, and in a market in the East, and we like to build what we call a playbook. Essentially, the idea is to make sure that as we scale the brand, we are reasonably sure of return on investment. Once we believe that we have a playbook is when we start expanding into other markets, other core markets, which could take—depending on the label approval cycle because each state has its own requirement and some states' windows open at different times of the period—up to 12 months.
Then the fifth stage really is scaling up the brand. So broadly from start to finish, it could be about a three-year affair from the time you conceive an idea to the time you actually launch it and then scale it up. For that purpose, having a robust pipeline of new products is extremely important because the market or the consumer would only get to see it when you launch it, but for us to be able to come to that point of launch, it could take up to 18 months.”
– Alok Gupta, Managing Director
Media & Entertainment
Saregama | Small Cap | Media & Entertainment
Management acknowledges near-term revenue impact from music platform shutdowns/model shifts but views the industry's move towards paid services as a long-term positive.
“So yes, there has been a lot of pain over the last few quarters with multiple services shutting down, whether it was Resso shutting down earlier, now Hungama has shut down, Wynk has shut down, Gaana has gone behind the paywall. All this has been given short-term pain to us because our monies that were coming from the free services have stopped coming. [KEY REMARK] But in the long run, it's a very healthy sign for the industry's growth. On the publishing side of the business, the revenues continue to grow. Every major web show in India from Aashram season 4 on Amazon MX Player to a Kapil Sharma's season 3 and 4 on Netflix, or the IPL opening ceremony and Star, or it was with a big movie like Salman starrer Sikandar, or Balayya starrer Telugu movie Daku Maharaj, they all have one thing in common. They have taken a license for a Saregama song in the show.”
– Vikram Mehra, Managing Director
Outlines the J-curve for the video business: current heavy content investment is suppressing immediate profits, but a profitability inflection is guided for late FY26.
“We are in a transitional stage currently where the new content expenses are going up in a step fashion. Because if you see the chart which has been shared in our presentation, it will show you right now how steeply our content acquisition budgets are going up. Since the expenses are going up in a step fashion, the incremental revenue from this, the expenses are just about matching the charge-off that we people are taking. [KEY REMARK] As we move to the later part of financial year '26, you will start seeing the impact right now that the increase in revenue will also start having a direct impact on the profitability. At the beginning of the year, I had stated this that during the next, this is as of April '24, I had said it will take us for the next six to seven quarters, the top line is going to grow rapidly. The EBITDA is going to follow, but not that rapidly, and PBT will be growing at a slower rate. And the moment we come from us to the seventh or the eighth quarter, PBT will also start moving at a much faster pace.”
– Vikram Mehra, Managing Director
Carvaan's business model has been significantly restructured towards e-commerce with major cost reductions, aiming for profitability by end-FY26.
“This year saw the transition of Carvaan from being a hardcore retail store-driven product to now practically, for all practical purposes, a 100% e-commerce driven product. We are selling it from the big digital platform and some of the modern retail outlets only. We have scaled down our product portfolio and the entire infrastructure that we had got, had built to support the Carvaan business. The manpower that was supporting Carvaan has been brought down from over 100 plus at the beginning of the year to under 25 as we reach here. [KEY REMARK] We still believe in this product. We believe this product has legs there as long as we are managing it at a cost structure that makes sense. We will continue pushing it on e-commerce and we are fairly certain that we will start touching single mid-middle digit margins by the end of financial year '26.”
– Vikram Mehra, Managing Director
Highlights the interconnected strategy of using music IP to build artists, then monetizing them via artist management and an expanding live events portfolio, including new formats.
“Artist management, the newer vertical under music monetization, where an artist are made popular through our IP releases and then we monetize these artists by booking them for live events, weddings, and brand endorsements... As our investment in new content goes up, these artists are going to become bigger and bigger. With digital advertising growing at 17% per annum, we believe that the artists and the influencer economy will be the biggest beneficiary... As promised, after a very successful Diljit tour in the last quarter, that we will now continue building on the live events vertical. We believe this is a vertical which has got a serious amount of leg in the days to come.”
– Vikram Mehra, Managing Director
Claims industry-leading content success rates due to a data-driven acquisition strategy and predictive models, a potential competitive advantage in content selection.
“If we see the track record in financial year '24, we have the best hit rate ratio. I, yes, some of that is fate, I won't run away from it, but I give a lot of credit to our database acquisition approach that we people have been able to instill within the system. [KEY REMARK] This is good predictive models that is allowing us to buy the right content at the right pricing. This year, we also ended up acquiring 22 small music labels across seven languages with overall, they who controlled 2,800 songs. These relatively more smaller languages of the country. This costed us close to 17 crores and we believe all this is going to further strengthen our position as we go forward.”
– Vikram Mehra, Managing Director
Engineering & Capital Goods
HAL | Large Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Significant rise in inventory days explained by long production cycles and WIP buildup to meet delivery schedules for a large order book.
“The inventory holding, you may find to be at an increased level from 159 days to 263 days. We believe this is necessary considering the manufacturing cycle time of 18 to 36 months. The work-in-progress buildup is essential to meet the delivery timelines.”
– DK Sunil, Chairman and MD
KPI Green Energy | Small Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Clear target of 1.5 GW IPP (Independent Power Producer) capacity and shifting IPP mix to 25% indicates a strategic move towards higher, more stable margin business, impacting future profitability.
“If you see this year, our total mix of revenue from IPP and CPP (Captive Power Producer) was, IPP was 13% and rest all, 87% was the CPP. And the margins have, you know, slightly improved compared to last year because of the. Now, as we go forward, you must have seen our presentation also that we are going to install 1.5 gigawatt of IPP capacity. Now, this will take a year or a couple of years. It will go in a phase-wise manner, so it will keep on adding to the IPP side. Our final goal is to, you know, at least take this to 25%, IPP portfolio to 25% and the remaining to a CPP portfolio. With that increase, naturally the margins will improve because as we all know that IPP brings in a strong EBITDA margin around 85 to 90% kind of margin it can reach up to. And the CPP brings around 20 to 22%. So the combined EBITDA margin would be around 32 to 33%. So, we, as we go forward, if we add more of our IPP, naturally the margin will shift to a stronger position.”
– Salim Yahoo, Chief Financial Officer
Highlights emerging BESS opportunities driven by grid stability needs and state mandates (e.g., Rajasthan's 5% BESS rule), positioning KPI Green for a new growth avenue.
“Now they are telling that whatever extra generation, that cannot be disturbed to the grid and you can store it in terms of battery and that battery storage should give the load pattern in sync with the demand of the distribution company. So that could be discharged at a particular time. For example, nowadays, every state, state government, because mostly projects are coming on the specific state demography. So now state like Rajasthan, they have come that all the solar projects should come with the 5% BESS mandatory. What that means what? So whatever the solar generation they can store and that's will be mandated and whenever peak time requirement, that battery can be discharged. So now this is coming a very mandatory kind of grid requirement where power can be generated based on the resource available and when the demand curve asking then that time it would be discharged. So like that BESS is coming very, very this upcoming technology which can be used for hybrid projects, both wind and solar just and together. So that is a mandate is coming for all the all state together. So that is what the future for that and every all the companies going for the BESS applications”
– Dr. Alok Das, Group CEO
Premier Energies | Mid Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Reinforces strong DCR demand visibility, supported by quantifiable government scheme targets.
“So, in terms of demand for DCR, the demand envelope remains very, very strong. Like we said in the presentation, there are three components to demand right now, namely the Suryaghar Yojana scheme, the KUSUM scheme, and the CPSU scheme. Between these three schemes, the total demand as per the government targets is about 65 gigawatts over the next two years. Even if we take a slightly realistic and more conservative number, there is likely to be very strong demand over the next two years.”
– Vinay Rustagi, Senior Director - Investor Relations
Clarifies that ALMM on cells will expand the addressable market for domestic cells beyond existing DCR segments.
“And then of course, with ALMM cells being implemented from June 2026 onwards, there'll be more market segments, namely the corporate segment as well as the IPP segment opening up in the next two years.”
– Vinay Rustagi, Senior Director - Investor Relations
Confirms timeline for a key backward integration project, addressing supply chain and de-risking from China
“So for ingot wafer Deepak, we have already announced our timelines for setting up the 2 GW wafer facility, which is in a JV with SAS of Taiwan. This is planned for commissioning in FY27. And we are seeing a very strong demand for non-Chinese wafers and ingot. And to answer your question on specs, yes, we are working with the government for subsidies through specs apart from state government subsidies.”
– Chiranjeev Saluja, Managing Director
Details the company's strategic entry into the BESS market with significant phased capacity addition.
“On BESS, we are getting into, to start with, a cell-to-pack manufacturing line along with EPC offerings to our IPP customers. We will be doing this in two phases. The first phase would come up in FY27 and the second in FY28. Each is going to be a 6 gigawatt hour capacity. And that's the plan on the BESS investments.”
– Chiranjeev Saluja, Managing Director
Clarifies current export strategy, prioritizing domestic market and cell exports to US over module exports to avoid client competition.
“So you're right that the CMMTV duties have opened up a big market for Indian players. But as we said earlier, we are committed more to first cater to the domestic demand. We have giving, we have always been giving priority to the Indian market, not now but from the last two years since we started making cells. So we, and as far as the, you know, for the US market, some of our peers are exporting modules. We as a company had a very clear strategy that we would like to restrict ourselves to exporting cells to the US because we do not want to compete with our clients in the US.”
– Chiranjeev Saluja, Managing Director
Data Patterns | Small Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Outlines a nuanced export strategy focusing on JVs and part-development for Western markets, acknowledging import controls, rather than direct full system exports initially.
“More and more you develop in India, the more you'll be able to address the requirements. Western countries have their own internal compulsions to build within their own supply chain, within their country. They normally do not import. Second, there are also many import controls we need to address with their government agencies.
So, it is possible to do part development in India for future requirements of their western system requirements. We are also in touch with one such company where we can do joint development of radars, where this will not only address requirements in India, but also globally. We can build systems together. So, we are in touch and working very actively. We expect that in these cases, we also want to co-invest to build world-class systems. This is how we want to go ahead.”
Explains high working capital is temporary due to developmental project cycles and expects improvement as production scales, addressing investor concerns.
“I think in another two to three years, when the development is lesser and production is more, the turnaround time will be faster, cash realization will be quicker, and working capital days will come down. So, this is a transitory stage. You need to give it time to see how this pans out. We are trying to scale the revenue as well as the bottom line, and we’re trying to do this very, very fast. When you do this, we need products to address the market, and they must go through a development cycle. So, that's why we are where we are. But I think this will improve in the next two to three years.”
Reinforces the strategic shift towards becoming an end-to-end solution provider, detailing progress and acknowledging the longer gestation period for full system orders
“See, getting into full systems is what we're attempting to do. We have done this successfully in some of our contracts. We've delivered the Precision Approach Radar to the Air Force and Navy. Another order came, and that also has been delivered. Based on that, we've developed a radar product for the international market. That has been accepted and delivered and is currently under installation.
So like that, we have started developing products. Earlier we were only making receivers for electronic warfare (EW). Now we are trying to do full systems with our own direction finder and other components, which can be integrated and vehicle-mounted. We've completed the vehicle integration systems and are taking them for demonstrations. Wherever possible, we are gradually adding onto existing competencies and product capabilities to complete end systems. However, translating these into end-system orders will take more time because all these products must go through demonstrations, trials, and only then can contracts happen.”
Textiles
Dollar Industries | Small Cap | Textiles
Signals a shift towards asset-light expansion for EBOs (FOFO model - Franchise Owned Franchise Operated) and no significant new investments planned.
“No new capex is being planned, and for the next two to three years, we are not planning any major capex in the company.
For EBO, we don't require any capex because it is on FOCO model, franchise-owned company-operated model. Sorry, FOFO model, franchise-owned franchise-operated. With respect to repairs and maintenance, it would be very minuscule, 5 to 10 crores.”
– Ankit Gupta, President - Marketing
Premiumization strategy is showing traction, with these categories contributing nearly a third of total FY25 revenue.
“Dollar Protect, our rainwear segment, recorded an impressive volume growth of 40.3% year-on-year basis. Force NXT registered a 13.4% year-on-year volume growth, while our thermal segment grew 21% in volume over the same period. [The high margin and premium categories have contributed about 29% to our overall revenue in FY25.] This result reflects our strategic focus on driving growth through premiumization and increasing the revenue share of high-margin products, which is positively impacting our average selling price.”
– Ankit Gupta, President - Marketing
Modern Retail & E-commerce Channels Surge, Now 8.2% of Revenue
“Moving on to the channel-wise performance of Dollar Industries in FY25, [the modern trade and e-commerce channels demonstrated remarkable momentum with value growth of 63% and volume growth of 67% year-on-year.] These channels contributed 8.2% to total revenue as against 5.5% in the previous year, marking a 270 basis point increase. A key driver of this growth has been the quick commerce segment, which continues to open new avenues for consumer engagement. We remain highly optimistic about its future potential as well. Additionally, modern trade and e-commerce channels continue to enable us in expanding our SKU offerings, contributing to higher ASPs and supporting our ongoing premiumization strategy.”
– Gaurav Gupta, Vice President - Strategy
Expects stable raw material prices to continue, with potential for a slight 0.5-1% improvement in gross margins.
"Currently, the raw material prices are stagnant. In terms of gross margins, on a yearly basis, we are standing somewhere around 33.5%. And there might be improvement of 0.5% to 1%, but nothing more than that as of now.”
– Ankit Gupta, President - Marketing
Cantabil Retail India | Small Cap | Textiles
Q4 FY25 Same-Store Sales Growth (SSSG) was -1%, a key metric. However, April-May FY26 showing improvement signals potential demand recovery.
“SSG for this quarter was minus 1%, and for the year was plus 4%.
April and May is like, better than Q4. So, yes, there is a pickup in the demand and there is a positive sentiments and where is positive it is.”
– Deepak Bansal, Full Time Director
Indicates a modest price increase capability (Rs.20 ASP hike) while reinforcing its strategic positioning in the less crowded mid-premium apparel segment.
“So, ASP has increased by Rs.20 when compared to the last year. So, we always mentioned that our USP is our average selling price because we are into the mid-premium segment brand, and we are not value brand and not coming to the premium segment brand. Because this space at ASP of Rs.1060 is very less crowded. So, we plan to be in this space only in the future also.”
– Deepak Bansal, Full Time Director
Reaffirms commitment to a company-owned, company-operated (COCO) model for new store expansion, limiting franchise participation to around 10%.
“So, franchise, only total company proportion is right now 20% are the franchise stores and 80% are the COCO stores. But regarding the new stores, the ratio is further less. So, in the last year, we opened 66 stores. 61 were the COCO stores and the five were the franchise stores. So, approximately around 10% were the franchise stores. So, same kind of thing going to be there in future.”
Management observes a pickup in demand and positive consumer sentiment in April-May, driven partly by a good wedding season, which could support Q1 FY25 performance.
[Analyst: And sir, how is the consumer sentiment now? Last 6 to 12 months we have seen some slowdown, you know, in the consumer across the industry. But what we have been hearing was that this quarter is a very good wedding season. So how was your experience in April and May month so far? Did you see some pickup in the demand?] Yes, there is pickup in the demand and there is a positive sentiments and where is positive it is.
– Deepak Bansal, Full Time Director
New stores are planned to be larger (1700 sq. ft.) than the current company average (1300 sq. ft.), potentially impacting store-level economics and capex per store.
“So, last year our average size was 1635 square feet. So, it's going to increase a little bit till 1700 square feet per store for the new stores. And for the average store of company today stands at 1300 square feet.”
– Deepak Bansal, Full Time Director
That’s it for now! Your feedback will really help shape how The Chatter evolves. Drop it down in the comments below!
Quotes in this newsletter were curated by Kashish, Krishna & Prerana.
Disclaimer: We’ve used AI tools in filtering and cleaning up these quotes so there maybe some mistakes. Now, if you are thinking why we are using AI, please remember that we are just a small team of 5 people running everything you see on Zerodha Markets 😬 So, all the good stuff is human and mistakes are AI.
Introducing “What the hell is happening?”
In an era where everything seems to be breaking simultaneously—geopolitics, economics, climate systems, social norms—this new tried to make sense of the present.
"What the hell is happening?" is deliberately messy, more permanent draft than polished product. Each edition examines the collision of mega-trends shaping our world: from the stupidity of trade wars and the weaponization of interdependence, to great power competition and planetary-scale challenges we're barely equipped to comprehend.
The Chatter is run by the same team that creates The Daily Brief, Aftermarket Report, and One Thing We Learned Today.
The Chatter has become a staple for me to extract nuanced info about company operations. Would love for this section to keep going during ever concall season
I regularly trade in SME and some of the names I am interested in
HM electrotech
Tankup Engineers
Beezaasan Explosives
Readymix Construction Machinery
Yash High voltage
Jungle Camps India
Toss the coin
Rajesh power Services
Danish Power
OBSC perfections
Namo E waste management
Positron Energy
Atmastco
Sadhav Shipping
Of the above which ever might be possible.
Obsc perfections did a con call recently and 1 analyst pointed out that it's praiseworthy for doing Con Call since hardly any Sme does it.