Welcome to the 103rd 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.
We’re always eager to improve—please share your ideas on how else we can innovate “The Chatter” format to better serve your needs.
In this edition, we have covered 6 companies across 6 industries.
Financial Services
Bajaj Finserv Limited
Healthcare
Zydus Lifesciences
Defence
Bharat Electronics Limited
FMCG
Marico Limited
Software Services
Happiest Minds Technologies Limited
Tourism & Hospitality
Thomas Cook (India) Limited
Financial Services
Bajaj Finserv Limited | Large Cap
Bajaj Finserv is a diversified financial services conglomerate with major operations in lending, asset management, and insurance. It serves as the holding company for its key subsidiaries, including Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Allianz insurance companies.
[Concall]
Management is addressing the potential regulatory changes regarding insurance distribution economics that could disrupt current fee structures. They believe that while initial implementation might cause short-term volatility, the industry structurally improves after such reforms.
“However, as has been seen in the past, any large-scale initiative that aims to improve the customer proposition may lead to a short-term impact for insurers as well as distributors in this case. However, in the medium to long term, the sector only bounces back much stronger, as has been seen in the past in terms of GST exemptions, various changes in ULIP norms, or surrender value changes, and so on.”
— Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
The headline growth for the general insurance segment was weighed down by the company’s decision to avoid certain low-margin government tenders. The core retail business in health and motor is actually growing much faster than the overall market rate.
“GWP for Bajaj General grew 10% for the quarter to about 7,556 crore, which is marginally lower than the industry growth of about 12%. However, if we were to exclude the bulky tender-driven crop and government health business, GWP for the company increased by a very healthy 21%, which is significantly higher than the industry growth of close to 13%. This was primarily driven by the health and motor segments, which grew 31% and 18%, respectively.”
— Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
The life insurance division has successfully transitioned toward more profitable product categories, leading to significant margin expansion. This suggests the company is effectively balancing volume growth with high-quality earnings.
“VNB for the quarter grew 40% to 512 crore, and NBM was up at 21.6% for the quarter, as against 17.1% for the same quarter last year, an expansion of 4.5%. I am also happy to inform you that on a rolling 12-month basis, despite the impact of GST, our life insurance business has crossed an NBM of 20% and ended at 20.8%.”
— Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
Management has deliberately reduced exposure to non-participating products due to high pricing competition, favouring the annuity segment instead. This tactical shift has allowed the company to maintain a stable product mix and avoid low-margin business.
“We thought it was better to move to another space, and we found an opportunity in annuity. That was when we launched different products and pursued some new opportunities in annuity. That has held up since then. If you look at Q1 last year, our non-par was about 18-odd per cent and annuity was 5%, and in 2 quarters the mix changed to about 13% non-par and annuity at about 10%, plus or minus. I think that base has been holding up, so for almost a year we have seen our non-par and annuity running in this profile.”
— S. Sreenivasan, President, Insurance and Special Projects
While the company delivered a massive increase in margins this quarter, leadership is warning investors not to project this level of growth indefinitely. They are setting a more conservative expectation for margin sustainability going forward.
“The only thing is that we would not like to raise expectations regarding the expansion. The expansion has been very high in this quarter as well, which I believe not many people were expecting in our last call. The 4.6% expansion is very good, but I do not see this kind of expansion being sustained. So I would lower your expectations on that.”
— Tarun Chugh, MD and CEO, Bajaj Life Insurance Limited
Bajaj Finserv has a strong cash position of 4,700 crore and expects further capital release from new accounting standards. This liquidity is dedicated to funding new initiatives like the asset management business and reinsurance venture without needing external debt.
“Currently, we are sitting on a surplus of about 5,000 crores of capital, to be precise, about 4,700 crores. As you know, we have been receiving dividends from all the material subsidiaries, whether it is BFL or the insurance companies. That 4,700 crores plus the dividends should be sufficient to fund these investments going forward. We would be happy to have more surplus, and hence we will also have to wait and watch what IRDAI decides in terms of the surplus that will be generated upon the one-time migration to Ind AS.”
— Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
Healthcare
Zydus Lifesciences | Large Cap
Zydus Lifesciences is a leading global pharmaceutical company headquartered in India that discovers, develops, and manufactures a wide range of healthcare therapies. The company maintains a strong presence in the generic, speciality, and innovative pharmaceutical markets across India, the United States, and emerging economies.
[Concall]
The company has achieved successful clinical trial results for Saroglitazar in two major liver disease indications, PBC and MASH. These results provide critical clinical validation and data to support regulatory approvals and market entry in the United States.
“On the NCE front, we presented new analysis for the Phase 3 clinical trial of Saroglitazar Magnesium in the PBC indication at the American College of Gastroenterology, or ACG, 2026 annual meeting. The analysis demonstrated consistent biochemical response benefits versus placebo across geographic subgroups, including both US and non-US patients. The findings build on the clinical profile of Saroglitazar in patients with PBC who have an inadequate response or intolerance to UDCA. We successfully completed the Evidence-IV global Phase 2b trial evaluating Saroglitazar Magnesium in the MASH indication. The study successfully met its primary endpoint, demonstrating resolution of steatohepatitis with no worsening of fibrosis at 52 weeks. We also observed encouraging improvements across several key secondary and exploratory efficacy measures.”
— Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director
The US business is rapidly moving away from standard generics toward high-value speciality products and biosimilars. The significant sequential jump in speciality revenue share shows that the company’s recent acquisitions and internal pipeline are beginning to scale.
“Our differentiated 505(b)(2) products, rare disease offerings, and biologics pipeline are creating powerful new growth vectors. Rolvedon continues to gain momentum, while the USFDA’s acceptance of the BLA for the Pembrolizumab biosimilar... represents a major milestone in our biologics journey. Alongside the upcoming launch of Saroglitazar, these catalysts position us for the next phase of growth. Notably, specialty products accounted for 16% of US revenues during the quarter, up approximately 550 basis points sequentially, underscoring the pace and success of our strategic transformation.”
— Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director
Zydus plans to launch its key asset, Saroglitazar, in the US market by March, incurring annual commercialisation costs of roughly $100 million. Investors should note the deliberate timing of the launch to avoid the year-end holiday period while managing a significant new cost base.
“We are looking for a March launch, and obviously we would still see hiring of the sales field force and other front-end teams continuing. So we expect our commercial expense to be around 100 million dollars every year. We are currently on track with our responses. November is our current GDUFA date and, as I said, our current expectation is to launch in March. Because obviously we are not launching in December. It is the year-end, and it does not make sense to launch at the end of the year.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
The company expects to consistently outperform the Indian Pharmaceutical Market growth rate by 2% to 4% annually. This sustained outperformance in the domestic market provides a stable, high-growth foundation for the overall business.
“The last 2 quarters have seen very strong performance versus the IPM. The IPM, I think, obviously had some base issues because of GST and other things. We still believe that the market will grow between 10% and 11%, and we will definitely grow 200 to 400 basis points consistently more than the IPM from a future point of view. Obviously, currently our growth trajectory looks faster, and I think we will see that momentum continue.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
Zydus faces a significant supply shortage in its transdermal patch business where demand exceeds current capacity by 50%. The company plans to double its production capacity within a year, which could unlock substantial revenue growth in this specialised segment.
“Right now, we are at capacity. We are selling as much as we can make. Demand in the market is 50% more than what is currently being served, so there is significant unmet demand. Obviously, no companies have the capacity to cater to it immediately. Building new capacity also takes time in transdermals. Currently, the market has more demand than actual availability. That is where we are. This business has also scaled up meaningfully for us, and we are doing well. With additional capacity potentially coming in 1 year, we could see it scale up further. It will take at least 1 year, but we could double our capacity.”
— Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director
Management is focusing R&D spending almost exclusively on complex and innovative products rather than standard generics. This heavy investment, set at over 8% of sales, is intended to build long-term competitive moats and protect future margins.
“Conventional generic programs account for only about 10 to 12 of the 30 products we file. Most of the products we develop are either first-to-file products, complex generics, biologics, vaccines, specialties, or NCEs. A large part of our development effort, and the growth in R&D, is coming from these areas. As a percentage, we have guided that R&D costs will be around 8% to 8.5%. We do not see R&D coming down for us, and it will continue to grow because we are investing heavily. The future of the company also depends on ensuring that we continue to have a differentiated specialty portfolio in both India and the US.”
— Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director
While the company is using cash flow to reduce debt, it remains willing to maintain a leverage ratio of up to 1x EBITDA to fund growth and capital expenditures. This indicates a balanced approach between balance sheet health and aggressive investment in manufacturing and R&D.
“Whatever cash we generate, we will use it to pay down our debt, and it has come down versus the last quarter. Net debt has come down from 5,900 crores to 5,200 crores. That will obviously continue if we continue to generate cash. However, as I said, there is also an uptick in the capex cycle as well as in all the investments. We are building for future growth, and I think that is very critical for us over the next 5 years. We have always said that we are comfortable with net debt-to-EBITDA of up to 1 time, and that is what we are guiding.”
— Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director
Defence
Bharat Electronics Ltd. | Large Cap
Bharat Electronics Limited is a premier Indian state-owned company that designs and manufactures advanced electronic products for the defence and aerospace sectors. Its portfolio includes complex systems such as radars, missile electronics, communication equipment, and electronic warfare suites for the Indian Armed Forces.
[Concall]
Management is nearly certain they will secure the massive QRSAM order due to their decade-long development experience with DRDO. While private competition may emerge in the future, the company’s entrenched position makes it the primary beneficiary of complex system orders today.
“As of now, I am more than 99% confident that this program is coming to us very soon. In the future, if the government decides and the private sector reaches that level, there will definitely be chances of private companies receiving different types of orders. They may start with some missiles, as stated in some public statements, and later migrate to complex systems as well. If the private sector comes up, it will be a real win-win situation over a period of time.”
— Manoj Jain, Chairman & Managing Director
The company anticipates receiving roughly 20,000 crores in orders for the Next Generation Corvette program before the end of the fiscal year. This expected influx represents a significant portion of their non-QRSAM order guidance for the year.
“We are expecting orders worth around Rs.20,000 crore in a staggered manner, but 99% of them will come in this financial year. As of now, it appears that there will be no slippage of one or two line items. However, we had also hoped to receive the QRSAM order by March last year, but there were some slippages because of procedural terms and conditions, discussions, and so on. Therefore, one or two line items may slip, but as of today, it appears that we may receive orders for all the NGC line items before March.”
— Manoj Jain, Chairman & Managing Director
Management clarified that direct government nominations do not carry premium margins compared to competitive bids. Instead, these nominations are earned by winning initial competitions and proving the uniqueness of their home-grown technology.
“Whether it is nomination or competition, the margins will be more or less similar. In nomination, we do not receive higher margins. The way we win, or the reason we win, is based on the uniqueness of our product and the indigenization content developed over a period of time in our technology. That is what differentiates us from others. Let me tell you again that whatever nomination you see today actually began with multi-vendor competition. We became L1, and only when the product proved suitable for the next ship or the next order did they move to BNE, buyer nomination, or nomination.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
Focusing on missiles is a high-margin strategy because electronic systems, where the company excels, represent the majority of a missile’s value. This allows the firm to capture the most lucrative portion of the growing domestic missile market.
“We are definitely making missiles one of our focused areas of development because, as you may know, electronics accounts for 60% to 70% of a missile. Sixty to 70% of the cost of a missile goes into missile electronics. The remaining cost goes into 2 other major components. Therefore, the biggest component of missiles is electronics, and we have now demonstrated our strength in this area.”
— Management, Business Segment
Management has built significant manufacturing capacity for missile seekers, which are critical high-value components. The ability to quickly triple production without major new infrastructure spending provides a competitive advantage as domestic missile demand rises.
“We can easily manufacture more than 1,000 combined IR and RF seekers at present. If the need arises, we can scale this up by another 2-3 times. As you may know, seekers are similar to radars. An RF seeker is similar to a radar, and an IR seeker is similar to an IR camera. Technologically, they are more or less similar. We have a good technological understanding of this subject. Because we have large infrastructure for radars and IR-based sensors, it can be converted very quickly to meet seeker requirements.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
The company is successfully diversifying into civilian cybersecurity, which already has a 500 crore order book and a pipeline worth thousands of crores. This move into non-defence critical infrastructure represents a major new avenue for high-tech revenue growth.
“That is where we are focusing as an additional business opportunity. That is why we created a new SBU, Network and Cyber Security, as a separate SBU at our Bangalore complex around 2 years ago, or 2.5 years ago. It has started delivering very good results in the civilian domain as well, particularly in cybersecurity-related areas. We currently have good orders in execution. I think we are executing orders worth approximately Rs.400-500 crore in the civilian cybersecurity domain. There are also opportunities and strong leads in the pipeline that could convert into business worth thousands of crores.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
Management reaffirmed their full-year guidance for 15% revenue growth and 28% EBITDA margins despite the strong start to the year. The massive order inflow target of up to 50,000 crores remains the key catalyst for the stock in the second half.
“We are going to meet the guidance given at the start of the year. We are working toward that. We are targeting revenue growth of more than 15%, although there may be some positive surprises, as you have indicated. However, at present, we are confident that we will achieve growth of more than 15%. We are targeting EBITDA margins of around 28%. We are targeting order inflow of a minimum of Rs.25,000 crore excluding QRSAM and more than Rs.50,000 crore including QRSAM. We are targeting R&D investment of more than Rs.2,200 crore and capex of around Rs.1,200 crore.”
— Management, Executive Leadership
FMCG
Marico Ltd. | Mid Cap
Marico is a leading Indian consumer goods company specialising in health, beauty, and wellness products across domestic and international markets. The company maintains a dominant position in the coconut oil and premium edible oil segments while rapidly expanding its portfolio into digital-first brands and healthy foods.
[Concall]
Management has successfully upgraded its distribution network to increase direct reach and rural presence. This structural change is now contributing consistent incremental volume growth while reducing wasteful spending in the trade pipeline.
“Pivotal to this strong performance is our GTM transformation under Project SETU, which has given us a significant advantage in terms of better reach, assortment, rural distribution, and sharper execution. Our direct reach has gone up by more than 1.5x, while we have deepened our rural distribution by nearly doubling the number of stockists. We estimate that with SETU, we have been able to drive 1% to 2% incremental volume growth in the business over the last couple of years, with VAHO being the key portfolio benefiting from this, and now PCNO receiving some benefits. In addition, SETU has delivered a far better rhythm of business every day of the month, with significant savings in below-the-line spends and a very thin stock pipeline.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO
The hair oil business is shifting toward premium products that offer better profits and faster growth. Management intends to turn the Almond Hair Oil brand into a major market challenger with a significant revenue target by 2030.
“Value-Added Hair Oils delivered its sixth consecutive quarter of stellar growth, with 21% value growth and an 80 basis point gain in value market share on a MAT basis. This consistency points to a structural shift in the portfolio’s growth strategy. It is driven by our strategic pivot towards the mid and premium segments. This segment is both growth- and margin-accretive for us, and delivered mid-teens volume growth in this quarter. Our Almond Hair Oil franchise accelerated further. We remain on track to scale it to an annualised revenue run rate of over 100 crore by FY ‘28, with a medium-term aspiration of being a scaled challenger by building it into a 200-250 crore ARR franchise by FY ‘30.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO
The company has demonstrated it can acquire small digital brands and significantly increase their size and profit margins. This capability is becoming a core part of the company’s growth strategy as they integrate new acquisitions like True Elements.
“Over the years, our digital-first personal care portfolio has grown to about 1,150 crore, and we have built serious holistic internal capabilities to scale up digital brands profitably. Beardo perfectly exemplifies this. Since we took over the brand under Marico’s leadership in 2020, the business has scaled by more than 6x and is expected to cross 400 crore this year. At the same time, profitability has improved by 1,900 bps. Our recent integration experience with True Elements has also been very good. This is indeed strong proof of our ability to deliver sustained and profitable growth across the digital brands we fully acquire and scale up.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO
The company is making a major push into the protein market by using four different brands to target various consumer groups. They plan to repeat their success with oats by launching more expensive, premium versions of their basic soya products.
“If I look at protein, we see protein as a big bet, and we want to participate across different categories, across different price points, and cater to different consumer segments. Therefore, holistically, we will operate and participate in protein through at least four brands, which are Saffola, Cosmix, Plix, and True Elements. Our participation in protein is aggressive and broad-based, while ensuring that we address multiple consumer segments. Coming to the mass end, we obviously participate in soya chunks. It is nearly 100 ARR, but the question is—and you are absolutely right—that what we did with oats, we need to do with soya chunks. Basically, how do we premiumize that segment while participating in the mass end?”
— Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO
Strategic price cuts on larger packs have stopped customers from switching to cheaper alternatives. At the same time, a highly efficient supply chain has allowed the company to reach rural markets faster and with less inventory risk than competitors.
“I would say there are four drivers, besides the flawless execution we have done, which have helped Parachute sustain its performance. Coming to this year specifically, what worked for us was that we made selective price drops in loyalty packs, and that reversed the downtrading we had been witnessing last year because of inflation. We passed on the benefit in terms of adding volume in price-point packs, and the price adjustments were higher in the mid and larger packs, which are loyalty packs. We made one price change. Secondly, because of {? Setu ?} and our rhythm, and because we believe in doing 3.5% sales every day, our overall pipeline in trade and at the distributor level is thin. It is one of the thinnest in the industry today. Previously, by the time the price drop was executed, it used to take 4 weeks, or 8 weeks in rural areas. This has happened in record time. The third thing that has also helped us, while it has now reached VAHO, is helping Parachute immensely because we are going deep into rural markets with an increased number of stockists. We have increased our stockists to nearly 1.8 times the earlier number.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO
Software Services
Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd. | Small Cap
Happiest Minds is a digital transformation and IT services firm focusing on AI, cloud, and cybersecurity. The company serves global clients across BFSI, EdTech, and Healthcare sectors while transitioning toward an AI-first delivery model.
[Concall]
Management is targeting private equity firms to provide technology services to their portfolio companies during modernisation phases. This strategy creates a reliable pipeline of new clients who are actively seeking rapid operational improvements and cost savings.
“Our private equity ecosystem initiative provides another strategic avenue to engage PE firms and their portfolio companies, supporting their technology modernisation, operational transformation, and value creation priorities. Together, our GCC and PE initiatives represent important growth avenues, enabling us to engage customers earlier in their transformation journeys and progressively expand relationships across AI, engineering, and enterprise technology services.”
— Joseph Anantharaju, Co-Chairman and CEO
The company is winning major contracts by promising specific productivity gains through the use of AI agents in software development. This allows them to underbid competitors on fixed-price projects while still maintaining profitability through automation.
“The multi-million-dollar deal Joseph talked about has interesting AI productivity elements as key outcomes that helped us secure the deal. We committed to a certain AI productivity percentage as part of the transformation by agentifying the entire SDLC process by FY28. We talked about helps us gain higher AI productivity than using agents with foundation models. This allowed us to make more aggressive bids than the competition on fixed-bid deals. In Q2, we secured a deal with an Indian steel manufacturing company to build a unified digital planning and execution platform that could transform the entire production planning process from reactive to structured, transparent, and data-enabled.”
— Sridhar Mantha, CEO, Generative AI Business Services
Stagnant growth in the US market is largely due to a downturn in the American EdTech sector, where most of the company’s revenue in that vertical originates. To counter this, management is shifting focus to EdTech opportunities in other regions and splitting sales teams to target new logos more aggressively.
“In terms of the ups and downs of the US geography, and what has positively impacted it and what has been a little bit of a drag, I think our NN bookings have been positive in the US geography. As you know, we divided our sales team into NN and EN a year and a half ago, and I think, especially in the US, because we focus more on the US, we have seen good traction there. I think what has been a little bit of a drag is that most of our EdTech revenues, I would say 90% of our EdTech revenues, come from the US. The US EdTech market has been going through its challenges. We have discussed this in the last couple of calls. We are trying to address it in multiple ways by looking at the university segment, and we are looking at our own offerings, where we have focused more on the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.”
— Joseph Anantharaju, Co-Chairman and CEO
The company uses specialised export-related borrowing that appears expensive on paper but is actually offset by currency gains and interest income. This treasury strategy results in a very low net cost for working capital, protecting the bottom line from high domestic interest rates.
“The interest rate cannot be viewed in isolation because it is linked to the forwards that we take and the premiums we pay on them. The annualised premium on forwards is about 5.5%, but this works only if you are able to repay it on a particular date because of the contractual commission conditions. Over the past 13 years, we have developed a structure that has hopefully been streamlined, under which we borrow our working capital through EPC or PCFC. That is the borrowing that you see. However, from an accounting perspective, the benefit of the foreign exchange and the other income generated by the float is reflected in the other-income line and the revenue or operating-margin line, whereas you see only the interest cost as a single line item. Therefore, we are effectively looking at the net cost as a whole. Simply put, the net cost will be in the range of about 0.5% in the worst case, or 1% in the worst case, but in most cases it is actually beneficial to us.”
— Venkatraman Narayanan, Managing Director
The company has successfully reduced its reliance on the struggling EdTech sector by growing its share of business in Healthcare and BFSI. This diversification within its largest accounts reduces the impact of sector-specific downturns on total revenue.
“As you have rightly pointed out, the top-five composition has grown. We have had a little bit of reshuffling in the top five, but not much. The top three customers earlier probably included two from EdTech, but right now the composition is quite well distributed and diversified. In the top three, we have one customer from the Healthcare space, another customer from the BFSI space, and a third customer that continues to be in the EdTech space. Rounding out the top five, there is one more customer in Healthcare and another one in the EdTech space. As you can see, the EdTech customer is facing competition from a customer in the Retail and CPG space. We have diversified well away from some of the risks we had in EdTech and into verticals where there are more investments, growth, and potential.”
— Sridhar Mantha, CEO, Generative AI Business Services
Tourism & Hospitality
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. | Small Cap
Thomas Cook (India) is a leading integrated travel and financial services provider offering forex, corporate travel, and leisure holiday packages. The group also operates a significant hospitality business through Sterling Holiday Resorts and global imaging services via DEI.
[Concall]
Management is balancing a strong recovery in domestic Indian travel against geopolitical headwinds in the Middle East that have impacted specific subsidiaries. Investors should note that while international exposure is still recovering, the direct impact of the West Asia conflict is showing signs of moderation.
“The quarter’s performance reflects 2 things. First, the strong recovery and growth in parts of our India portfolio. Second, the impact of the conflict in West Asia, which is largely limited to a few businesses with direct exposure to the region, namely Desert Adventures and DEI, and parts of our long-haul outbound portfolio. These businesses are still not where we would like them to be, but they are clearly better than they were 3 months ago.”
— Mahesh Iyer, Managing Director & CEO
Thomas Cook’s student foreign exchange business significantly outperformed the general industry trend, growing 33% despite a sharp decline in national outward remittances. This highlights the company’s competitive advantage in the education segment and the success of its specialised student products.
“The performance of our education business is particularly noteworthy when viewed against the broader industry environment. RBI data for April to August 2026 shows that outward remittances under the education category declined by 34%, while travel-related foreign exchange remittances declined by 1%. Against this backdrop, our education forex business grew by 33%. This reflects our ability to gain traction in a challenging market and leverage the strength of our distribution, our relationships with NBFCs and overseas education counsellors, and our student-focused product offering, our Study Buddy forex card, which is designed around the needs of students going abroad and remains an important part of our proposition for this segment.”
— Mahesh Iyer, Managing Director & CEO
Sterling Holiday Resorts reached a major capacity milestone by expanding to over 4,000 rooms through rapid resort additions. The simultaneous growth in occupancy and pricing suggests the business is successfully scaling without sacrificing its revenue per room.
“Q2 saw the highest-ever quarterly expansion in Sterling’s history as well, with 7 resorts opened during the quarter, increasing the portfolio to 83 properties and taking it past the key milestone of 4,000 keys as of September 30. Room nights sold increased by approximately 23%, while occupancy improved by about 400 basis points. Average room rates in our own leased portfolio also increased by approximately 12%. This has resulted in total growth of 12%, demonstrating improved revenue productivity.”
— Vikram Lalwani, Managing Director and CEO of Sterling Holiday Resorts
Tax rules now prevent the company from claiming certain tax credits on hotel rooms priced below 7,500 rupees. This regulatory change creates a high comparison bar for profit growth during slower travel seasons when prices are naturally lower.
“In a seasonally weak quarter, you do not tend to sell more rates above 7,500 unless you go empty or vacant. Therefore, while we premiumized, I still increased our average rates by 12% closer towards 6,500. So, for those rates that have gone below 7,500, you cannot get the benefit of an input tax credit that we received until September 23, 2025, right? So that is where the comparative statement is.”
— Vikram Lalwani, Managing Director and CEO of Sterling Holiday Resorts
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 Shahid & Srusti.
Join us on WhatsApp, where we share interesting soundbites from concalls, articles, and everything else we come across throughout the day. You’ll also get notified the moment a new video or article drops, so you can read or watch it right away.
Disclaimer: We’ve used AI tools in filtering and cleaning up these quotes, so there may be 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.