The Chatter: Infosys, Adani Power, Indigo, Meesho & More.
Q1 FY27 | Edition #71
Welcome to the 71st edition of The Chatter — a weekly 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 12 companies across 7 industries.
Software Service
Infosys Ltd.
Energy
Adani Power
Aviation
InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo)
Fertilizer & Chemicals
Coromandel International
SRF Ltd
Financial Services
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited
Go Digit General Insurance Company Limited
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd
Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited
Suryoday Small Finance Bank Limited
Information Technology
Mphasis Limited
Retail
Meesho Ltd
Infosys | Large Cap | Software Services
Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, facilitating clients worldwide in their digital transformation journey. With over 40 years of experience, Infosys leverages cloud and AI technologies to empower businesses with agile digital solutions and continuous improvement.
[Concall]
Nandan outlined a structured succession plan under which Salil Parekh will mentor Ashish Dash for several months before formally taking over as CEO in April 2027.
“The board has appointed Mr. Dash as the new CEO designate. He will work with Salil over the next few months. For the next two to three months, he will focus on receiving coaching and training on being a CEO, and then for six months, he will work as a mentee under Salil’s leadership, who will groom him for the complex job of managing a $20 billion company during this transformational time. We are all very excited by this choice; it has received a very positive response internally and with customers. You will have the opportunity to meet him in a few months.”
— Nandan Nilekani, Chairman
Salil Parekh highlighted the rapid acceleration in Infosys’ AI business, saying AI has become a meaningful revenue contributor and is creating long-term relevance for the company’s services.
“We saw strong acceleration in our AI business, which I shared earlier, with AI revenues for the quarter at 8.2%. This has been growing at double digits quarter-on-quarter over the last several quarters. With this momentum, we see long-term relevance of our services for our clients. In terms of delivery, over 80,000 employees are currently working on coding tools such as Copilot or CodeX for our clients and internal projects. We saw strong traction across the six areas of growth in our AI strategy, Hexagon. We see client work, for example, in building agents for processes, data for AI, modernization, and coding tools.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Management showcased a real-world AI implementation in healthcare and explained how Topaz Fabric has become the centrepiece of Infosys’ enterprise AI strategy by enabling clients to deploy multiple foundation models while retaining control over their data.
“For a healthcare company, we implemented AI agents to automate Medicaid eligibility verification and operations support. This solution reduced eligibility verification time from approximately 6–8 days to 4 minutes. We are building a team of frontier engineers to support our client work, with a plan to reach 6,000 frontier engineers over the next few years.
We built a platform, Infosys Topaz Fabric, that allows our clients to gain the benefits of AI while maintaining sovereignty over their data and company knowledge. Our clients are able to work with any foundation model—closed, open-weight, on-cloud, or on-premise. Topaz Fabric provides a harness that enables clients to fully deploy the benefits of foundation models into their organizations. Our clients are also able to optimize their token costs by ensuring appropriate models are used for specific tasks. Overall, we see a good pipeline for AI services, which provides visibility for continued AI work with our clients.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Jayesh Sanghrajka explained why revenue growth fell short of expectations, attributing it to a one-off client termination, softer volumes, pricing pressure and increased client demands for productivity.
“Q1 revenue growth was lower than our expectation, mainly due to a one-off 50 basis point impact on account of program termination by an EURS client during the quarter. This was not factored into the earlier guidance. Volumes were soft and weaker than expectations compared to historical Q1 trends. Additionally, client expectations regarding productivity, along with high competitive intensity, are resulting in softer price increases compared to our expectations. Sequential revenue growth was also impacted by higher offshoring to de-risk our business model, along with lower revenues from a European manufacturing client as mentioned in the last earnings call.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management highlighted the quality of large deal wins during the quarter, noting a high share of net new business and strong traction from vendor consolidation opportunities.
“Large deal wins were strong at $3.6 billion with a high net new component of 61%, reflecting the relevance of our value proposition. Out of the 22 large deal wins, we had three deals worth $400 million each. We have been on the positive side of vendor consolidation, with 20% of the total large deal TCV coming from new vendor consolidation deals.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management described how financial services clients continue to prioritise AI, modernisation and productivity despite macro uncertainty, with AI engagement becoming broader across strategy, engineering and operations.
“In financial services, uncertainty and geopolitical instability are causing some client hesitancy, leading to a more cautious approach to spending. Client priorities are centered on efficiency, productivity, and modernization, with discretionary spend being evaluated more carefully. We see momentum across banking, payments, capital markets, and wealth management. AI adoption has been incremental and additive, with clients increasingly engaging us to support their AI journeys across strategy, platforms, engineering, and operations. This is reflected in our strong deal wins this quarter. With approximately $1 billion in net new large deal TCV, GCCs continue to expand, and we are partnering with our clients in both the setup and growth of GCCs.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management explained why manufacturing continues to remain one of the weaker verticals despite growing AI opportunities, citing client-specific issues, macro uncertainty and disciplined deal selection.
“Growth in manufacturing continues to be impacted by lower revenue from a large client. Clients remain cautious on discretionary spend and decision-making is elongated, especially in the European automotive sector. The impact of tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, and energy costs is keeping budgets tightly controlled. While AI adoption is creating new opportunity areas, it is also raising productivity expectations from clients. We are achieving better pricing on AI skills and consulting. We remain focused on supporting clients through digital, AI, modernization, and consolidation initiatives, while balancing growth opportunities with disciplined deal selection and sustainable pricing.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management highlighted how retail clients are increasingly funding AI investments through cost optimisation, resulting in new commercial models centered around AI-led productivity commitments.
“In retail and CPG, consumer spend remains muted and budgets are tightly controlled due to geopolitics, inflation, and tariffs. Spend is shifting toward AI modernization and productivity-led programs funded through operational efficiency and cost optimization. Clients are asking for AI-led productivity commitments, leading to new pricing structures. We are leveraging our native knowledge of client business processes and technology landscapes, augmenting it with AI. The large deal pipeline is healthy, but decision cycles are longer.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management discussed the revised FY27 guidance and identified the major factors that influenced the downgrade, including acquisitions, reduced client spending and a deliberate decision to avoid uneconomic deals.
“Considering lower-than-expected Q1 revenues and a revised view of the rest of the year, we are revising our revenue guidance to 1.5% to 3%. This includes approximately 1.7% contribution from recently closed acquisitions of Optimum Healthcare and InLogik. There is also a slightly over 1% impact from a large European manufacturing client due to reduced client spend, along with our conscious decision not to pursue certain deals that were not aligned with our return expectations. We also anticipate an approximately 0.75% to 1% impact from the shift toward offshore.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Despite lowering revenue guidance, management reiterated its confidence in the long-term business outlook, highlighting AI as the primary driver of future growth.
“The overall business environment remains volatile. The lower end of the guidance assumes further deterioration in the macro environment. The top end assumes an improvement, though less than what we had assumed in our April guidance. Financial services and EURS are expected to grow higher than the company average. The underlying fundamentals of our business remain strong, and we continue to see healthy client engagements leading to a robust pipeline. We are taking decisive actions to capitalize on opportunities, especially across the six identified AI value pools. Spending is shifting toward areas with clear business cases such as AI-led modernization, cost transformation, cybersecurity, cloud optimization, and vendor consolidation.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management detailed the assumptions underpinning its unchanged margin guidance, explaining how productivity initiatives and currency benefits are expected to offset wage hikes and acquisition-related costs.
“As we look at the rest of the year, we remain confident in our strategy, disciplined in our investments, and focused on delivering stronger performance. Margin guidance is maintained at 20% to 22%. This assumes headwinds from wage hikes, productivity pass-throughs, AI investments, and a 50 basis point impact from acquisitions. These headwinds will be partly offset by initiatives under Project Maximus and currency benefits.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management explained that the guidance cut is not attributable to a single factor but reflects multiple headwinds, including weaker volumes, client productivity demands and pricing pressure.
“Typically, whatever happens in Q1 has a cascading effect on Q2, especially if volumes have been softer through Q1. This explains the guidance change. The multiple reasons for the change include the one-off situation with the EURS client, softer volumes, the demand for productivity from clients, and increased competitive intensity in pricing. Furthermore, we expect our onsite mix to be lower by roughly 0.75% to 1%, which impacts year-over-year comparisons. We previously called out a 0.75% to 1% impact from a European manufacturing client, which is now clearly above 1% as we have progressed on other deals. All of this is baked into the revised guidance.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management reiterated confidence in maintaining margins despite wage hikes, acquisition costs and other headwinds, citing multiple structural offsetting levers.
“We have given a guidance of 20% to 22% and remain confident in it. We will have headwinds from acquisitions, including amortization of intangibles and retention payouts. However, we have tailwinds from currency and Project Maximus, which provided 70 basis points and 20 basis points of tailwinds respectively this quarter. We also anticipate a 0.75% to 1% reduction in onsite mix. Balancing these factors, we are confident in maintaining our margin guidance.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management discussed how AI is fundamentally changing commercial models in IT services by increasing productivity expectations, even as Infosys continues to win new AI-led business.
“Large deal terms have not increased; they still average between three to five years. While mega deals can have longer terms, most of our current deals are under $500 million, including three between $400 million and $500 million. We must remember that renewals usually involve productivity asks. With AI, there is additional ‘AI-led deflation,’ which is a headwind. This is being offset by the net new business we are seeing.”
— Jayesh Sanghrajka, Chief Financial Officer
Management said AI-driven productivity demands are no longer limited to contract renewals and are increasingly becoming part of ongoing client engagements across industries.
“Demand for AI productivity is across most industries, particularly in telecom, financial services, retail, and utilities. The discussion often starts when new AI foundation models are released, and while it definitely comes up at renewal, it sometimes appears mid-contract as well.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Management dismissed concerns over hyperscalers expanding their consulting capabilities, arguing that Infosys’ client relationships, domain expertise and scale provide a durable competitive advantage in enterprise AI implementation.
“I see hyperscalers launching services practices as a positive, as it confirms the long-term relevance of the work we do. We have over 300,000 employees and deep context for our specific clients, which is necessary for complex AI integration. A few thousand consultants from a hyperscaler cannot match the scale of Infosys.
Regarding talent, we already have people operating at the frontier engineer level. We are building programs to elevate them and training graduate recruits. We will look externally, but our primary method is hiring from colleges and upskilling internally.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Management outlined how enterprise clients are increasingly optimising AI costs by choosing different foundation models for different workloads, with Topaz Fabric enabling model orchestration.
“Large enterprises are becoming more sensitive to which foundation model is best for specific tasks. They may use a smaller, less expensive model for simple tasks and a high-end model for complex ones. Our Topaz Fabric allows clients to manage this efficiently. We are currently working with 15 different models in Topaz Fabric, and we can help clients decide which is most efficient for their needs.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Management said AI is changing workforce productivity but does not expect it to reduce hiring, as expanding demand is creating new opportunities that require continued recruitment.
“We recruited 20,000 college graduates last year and plan to recruit 20,000 this year as well. We have already recruited over 4,000 in Q1. While AI allows the same amount of work to be done with fewer people, there is also more work being generated. We don’t have an exact end-of-year headcount figure, but we expect headcount to grow as revenue grows.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Management explained that Infosys is pursuing an AI transformation through reskilling rather than workforce restructuring, while identifying the areas seeing the strongest client demand.
“On the supply side, we have not done staff restructuring; we have focused entirely on reskilling. College graduates are coming in with a native understanding of AI, and we train them on Topaz and internal tools. We will use lateral recruitment for some niche skills in short supply, but we largely rely on our long-duration training from the ground up.
On the demand side, we see scaling in process AI, AI engineering, and the data layer for AI. Substantive work in building agents, coding, modernization, and data is scaling well.”
— Salil Parekh, CEO & Managing Director
Adani Power | Large Cap | Energy
Adani Power Limited (APL) is India’s largest private sector thermal power producer, operating across multiple states. The company focuses on leveraging technology and innovation to make India a power-surplus nation, ensuring the supply of quality and affordable electricity nationwide.
[Concall]
Management explained why it believes India’s recent power demand validates the need for large-scale thermal capacity additions, arguing that geopolitical uncertainty and extreme weather have reinforced the importance of reliable baseload power.
“As we begin this new financial year, one thing is increasingly clear: in times of geopolitical uncertainties and extreme weather events, a nation needs abundant, reliable and domestically available energy. As India’s economy continues to advance, the importance of reliable baseload power to the country’s growth story has become even more evident.
During the quarter, India experienced a hotter than usual summer with sustained heat waves across most regions. Due to these high temperatures, peak demand shot up to a record high of around 250 gigawatts in May 2026, while overall energy consumption rose by 8.4% year-on-year to 485 billion units for Q1 FY27. This has also put to rest concerns over any demand slowdown that arose in the previous year.
Thermal power was once again the mainstay for fulfilling the nation’s electricity needs during this period of surging demand.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management outlined Adani Power’s strategic direction beyond thermal power, confirming its intent to diversify into hydro and nuclear while continuing to anchor India’s long-term energy security.
“Looking beyond the horizon, we are entering new and exciting territories as we expand our thermal base. We are also diversifying into international hydropower projects and preparing ourselves for new opportunities in the nuclear power field. We are strongly committed to helping India meet its long-term development goals with the supply of reliable and competitive electricity.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management said the newly acquired Jaiprakash assets provide meaningful long-term optionality, not just through existing generation assets but also through strategically located land banks suitable for future thermal and nuclear expansion.
“Regarding the opportunities for expansion at Bina and Nigri, there is a good opportunity because at both locations, a lot of land is available. Potentially, going forward, we will have this as a land bank available, whether we want to go for thermal expansion or nuclear.
In the case of Bina, we are also exploring the possibility of developing nuclear power, depending on whether the site is conducive from the point of view of various requirements for nuclear. We have not yet planned anything, but these are two sites where a good land bank is available, and going forward, these sites will obviously be available for any growth opportunities.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management explained that while it has set an ambitious nuclear power target, investments and technology choices will only be finalised after the Government notifies the enabling regulatory framework.
“The government has not yet come out with the rules under the Act. So, until we get clarity on that aspect, it would be difficult to decide on these things.
Nevertheless, we are evaluating both domestic and international technologies, and it will all depend on what is cost-effective in terms of cost per megawatt. End of the day, electricity has to be viable for Indian consumers and at rates affordable to Discoms.
We will make decisions regarding technology, domestic or foreign, only when the rules are in place. At present, we are waiting for the rules. As soon as that happens, we can move fast. We are keeping our sites ready from the point of view of their suitability, and various studies are being carried out.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management highlighted a significant improvement in collections from Bangladesh, stating that monthly inflows now consistently exceed current billings and should continue reducing receivables over time.
“For the quarter ended, the receivables are in line as we are getting payments on a regular basis. Last month, we received approximately $100 million. On an average monthly basis, we are getting $100 million in payments.
Specifically for the June quarter, our receivable is near about $400 million. We are expecting that every month, on average, we will continue to get about $100 million from the Bangladesh Power Development Board. This will be continued, and it will be slightly higher than our monthly bill.
We are expecting that the receivable position, liquidity, and realization will increase over time.”
— Management
Management said the company is already planning additional thermal capacity beyond its existing expansion pipeline because state-level resource adequacy studies point to a significant shortage of baseload power over the coming years.
“A lot of opportunities are arising because this summer has given a clear indication to policymakers that many thermal power projects and baseload capacity are required.
Obviously, many states are contemplating coming out with bids. If you see the resource adequacy studies of various states, every state has a huge deficit and requirement for the next five to six years.
We expect many more bids will come from the Discoms, and therefore we have thought that we will probably need to add more capacity. The current 24 gigawatt capacity we have planned is now tagged to specific locations. If any state comes with a bid that is specific to that state’s location, we have to tie up new capacity. Keeping that in mind, this additional 3 gigawatts is considered and planned.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management explained why Adani Power has increased its nuclear ambition to 10 GW, while cautioning that execution remains contingent on the Government notifying the operating rules under the amended Atomic Energy framework.
“You have rightly said that it will be dependent on government guidelines, and the government has not yet come out with the rules under the Act. So, until we get clarity on that aspect, it would be difficult to decide on these things.
Nevertheless, we are evaluating both domestic and international technologies, and it will all depend on what is cost-effective in terms of cost per megawatt. End of the day, electricity has to be viable for Indian consumers and at rates affordable to Discoms. The project cost has to be in that range.
We will make decisions regarding technology, domestic or foreign, only when the rules are in place. At present, we are waiting for the rules. As soon as that happens, we can move fast.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management explained that the company has deliberately planned an additional 3 GW of capacity because state-level power deficits are creating a much larger opportunity pipeline than previously anticipated.
“A lot of opportunities are arising because this summer has given a clear indication to policymakers that many thermal power projects and baseload capacity are required. Obviously, nuclear will take some time, even if we get the rules in the near future. Any nuclear power project is going to take seven to eight years from the stage of planning to commissioning. During this period, thermal would be the only source providing the baseload power.
Obviously, many states are contemplating coming out with bids. If you see the resource adequacy studies of various states, every state has a huge deficit and requirement for the next five to six years. We expect many more bids will come from the Discoms, and therefore we have thought that we will probably need to add more capacity.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Management reiterated that the strategic objective is to steadily eliminate merchant market exposure by converting open capacity into medium- and long-term PPAs, thereby improving earnings stability.
“Merchant capacity has reduced. As I mentioned, for our Butibori plant as well as our Tuticorin plant, those were previously merchant but are now under PPAs. Specifically for volumes, this quarter we had 4 billion units, while the same period last year was 6 billion units. There is a one-third reduction in merchant units, and there is a capacity reduction in open capacities.
...Some capacity at Raipur is also tied up under PPA with Karnataka. A lot of reduction has happened, and going forward, we would like to tie up almost everything through medium-term or long-term PPAs to reduce volatility from market prices.”
— Management
Management outlined the scale of thermal demand emerging across India, highlighting several large state tenders where it expects to compete aggressively for long-term PPAs.
“The bids under progress include Uttar Pradesh for 4,000 MW, Gujarat for 4,000 MW, Uttarakhand for 1,320 MW, and West Bengal for almost 3,800 MW. That is 13,000 megawatts of total bids. We expect to be the strongest competitor.
Beyond this, many states have deficits. Bihar has further deficits, and Andhra Pradesh has sought coal linkages for future bids. We expect many more bids up to 2032-33 based on resource adequacy studies.”
— S.B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
SRF | Mid Cap | Chemicals
SRF is a global leader in industrial and speciality intermediates, known for its strong R&D capabilities. It operates in Chemicals, Packaging Films, Technical Textiles, and Other Businesses, with a presence in India, Thailand, South Africa, and Hungary. The company is a market leader in several segments across multiple countries.
[Concall]
While acknowledging that the exceptional profitability in the Films business will moderate after Q1, management said the underlying earnings base has structurally improved because of value-added products and overseas execution.
“After this exceptional performance in Q1, which was aided by supply constraints and higher prices due to geopolitical uncertainties, we do see the performance of this business stabilizing to more normal levels in Q2. Having said that, we expect the baseline performance to be recalibrated at a higher level from here on.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management cautioned investors that Q2 is seasonally weaker for SRF’s chemicals business but emphasised that the record Q1 performance puts the company in a strong position to achieve its full-year objectives.
“It is important though to recognize that SRF’s business, especially the chemicals business, is highly seasonal in nature and has been, as has been the case in the past, we will see lower numbers in Q2 compared to Q1. Having said that, this exceptional outcome across all our businesses in Q1, which has helped us deliver a best ever quarterly performance, positions us very well to achieve our goals for this financial year.
This outcome is a strong testament to the resilience, maturity, and robustness of our business to convert adversity into opportunity and maximize outcomes while remaining strongly committed and steadfast in our efforts to ensure the success of our customers as well.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management said Speciality Chemicals is finally seeing the first meaningful signs of recovery after a prolonged downturn, with both volumes and pricing beginning to improve, although the recovery remains gradual rather than broad-based.
“We are starting to see volumes over a little bit through last quarter and this quarter as well. The trend is upward. So that is the first sign, and I think the second piece, which is probably one that has you more concerned, is around price. At least across key products at this point in time, we are finally starting to see the price trend marginally upwards in the right direction.
We’ve seen some volumes also... through this period in Q1, while there has been some opportunistic buying as well, across specific pockets where we have stayed by the customer’s side through this journey, we are starting to see support from them on the volume side.
We have seen uptake there. So I think that is the basis and genesis of my opening comments around volumes starting to look better. It is still early signs. It is in pockets, so I would not say it is a broad-based improvement just yet.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management outlined its long-term pharmaceutical CDMO ambitions, saying the number of molecules and customer engagements is steadily increasing, improving the probability of meaningful scale over time.
“In terms of pharma, we have a stated goal to be in the 20-30% range of revenue by 2030. We are progressing well on that journey. We’ve had a strong outcome the last couple of quarters in growing that share. It is baby steps, and in the larger scheme of the numbers, it does not show up just yet.
But to give you some more color on what is positive on that front through this quarter is that we are working on a larger number of molecules with a set of customers. The number of customers we are working with is also growing. When you put that together, you are in a matrix where the likelihood of your hit rate improving has gone up because you’ve increased both the universe and the number of molecules that you’re playing in.
When one of these come to fruition in terms of truly large quantities that matter, I think we will start seeing some step function changes.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management emphasised that SRF’s strategy during the agrochemical downturn was to protect market share rather than maximise margins. That strategy is now beginning to pay off as customers increase offtake and both prices and volumes improve.
“Through the last year, you heard the commentary from SRF being very clear around protecting share. That was the primary focus, and I think that’s paid off well over this time. It has been a very difficult journey as we saw the price destruction around us, but nevertheless, I think we’ve done a fabulous job of holding onto share.
...Across specific pockets where we have stayed by the customer’s side through this journey, we are starting to see support from them on the volume side. We have seen uptake there.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management believes the “time for refrigerant gases has arrived,” suggesting that this business has entered a structurally stronger phase rather than benefiting from a temporary upcycle.
“We’ve said this for a little while now, even though some from a market standpoint looked at it differently—the time for gas has arrived. I think what you’re seeing in our results is that part of the portfolio is truly shining at this point in time and delivering on a plan that we put in motion sometime ago. So that will continue to be a big driver.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management revealed that SRF’s packaging films business substantially outperformed competitors because its global sourcing model insulated it from the supply disruptions that affected much of the industry.
“In a way, the world had shut. The rest of the world was shutting plants and capacities were going off stream. Like I told everyone on the previous call, we were operating flat out at 100% capacity.
The fact that we operate in a DTA unit and source globally ensures that our raw material supply chains were very robust. That ensured we were operating right through this entire quarter... when you contrast us with the rest of the competition, we will stand out differently on that account.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management explained that the outstanding Q1 performance in packaging films was not solely driven by price increases but also by SRF’s ability to reliably supply customers during a period of panic buying.
“There was a period where there was a lot of panic buying by a bunch of customers... We’ve tried to manage this journey of price volatility effectively for our customers because we also realize that at some point it is going to correct as well.
The crux truly comes down to the efficacy with which we could operate and ensure we could deliver products to customers reliably, which was significantly impacted during this period.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management said the broader strategy for the Films business is to structurally reduce earnings volatility by increasing the mix of value-added products rather than depending on commodity film cycles.
“The broader strategy right now for the packaging film side of the business is really to de-risk ourselves from the volatility of film pricing.
Everything that we’re doing on every value-added play—whether that is on metallized products, coated products, what we’re planning to do on BOPA and capacitors, and even some of the new initiatives like the new capex the board approved yesterday—are all steps in that direction.
The reason we are embarking on this journey is really to de-risk ourselves from the cyclicality of polyester pricing.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Management said the recovery in speciality chemicals is expected to be gradual rather than V-shaped, with both pricing and volumes likely to improve steadily through the rest of FY27.
“Through the last quarter and this quarter, at least on the core set of products in the portfolio, we definitely have seen a directional shift in volume. I wouldn’t say it’s a step function as yet, but even in the sequential quarter, we are starting to see that trend get positive.
It is not only volume; it is both volume and price on those core types of products. Directionally at least on that front, it seems like we have scraped the bottom and are getting better from here.
Our view is that through the rest of the year, we will keep making steady progress. It is not going to be a hockey stick type of recovery; it will be linear and probably slow... As is typical seasonality in chemicals, we think H2 will be stronger than H1.”
— Sameer Kashyap, President & Chief Financial Officer
Meesho | Mid Cap | Retail
Meesho Ltd. is an online marketplace enabling small businesses and individual sellers to reach customers nationwide through a zero-commission, asset-light model. It offers affordable fashion, home, beauty, and lifestyle products to millions of users across India.
[Concall]
Meesho provides long-term guidance of 25% CAGR over the next 5 years, with growth expected to be higher in initial years and gradually moderate.
“We have a long-term growth guidance of a 25% CAGR over the next 5 years. This is obviously higher in the initial years and may be lower in the latter years. That is the baseline we work with.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho anticipates Q2 year-over-year growth rates to vary due to a shift in Diwali and annual festive sale timing from September (last year) to October (this year), but combined Q2 and Q3 growth should align with the typical trajectory.
“Regarding the Q2 and Q3 period, Q2 this year will be different from Q2 last year. Last year, our annual festive sale started in September because Diwali was earlier in the year. This year, with Diwali in November, our annual sale will start in October, which is a significant GMV-generating event. You will see variations in the year-over-year growth rate in Q2 versus our usual trajectory, but on a combined Q2 and Q3 basis, it will look similar to our typical trajectory. That is just a timing difference.”
— Dhiresh Bansal, Chief Financial Officer
Meesho’s primary objective is to continually reduce the cost per delivered order, and Valmo’s share in logistics remained around 50% in the last quarter, with no specific forward guidance on its share.
“The direction of the cost per delivered order will continue to come down. That is the objective function we work with, and hence, there is no specific guidance for the Valmo share at any point in time. In terms of quantification, the last quarter was about 50%, similar to the previous quarter.”
— Dhiresh Bansal, Chief Financial Officer
Meesho is developing localised supply chains to enable the sale of low-AOV products in categories like fresh grocery and ultra-low-priced apparel that are not viable on its national platform.
“A good way to understand this is through the grocery categories we do not serve today, such as fruits and vegetables, and apparel items with very small average order values, like sub-20 or sub-30 rupee products. We do not believe these can become viable on our core platform as it is hard to ship them nationally and make them available to consumers competitively. So we are building these localized supply chains so that sellers across grocery, apparel, and fast-moving consumer goods with very low price points can sell to consumers in a particular catchment.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho views competitive intensity as consistently high and unaffected by recent changes from other platforms, focusing on its own mission and vision.
“Intensity of competition in our sector has always been there; I do not think it ever went down. Even before the changes you referred to, changes have continued to happen. People have launched sub-platforms to compete with us over the last many years. I would not say the competitive intensity has changed in either direction. We continue to move forward on our own mission and vision.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho is a primary source of income for over 50% of its GMV-contributing sellers, indicating strong platform reliance among its merchant base.
“That being said, whenever we have done surveys or internal checks, we see that for a majority of our GMV-contributing seller base, we are one of their primary sources of income. For more than 50% of our sellers, we would be a primary source of income.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho successfully absorbed fuel price and minimum wage increases in Q1 and even reduced cost per delivered order by 1 rupee due to efficiency measures.
“Yes, during the course of Q1, we did see fuel price hikes coming through on both the Valmo network and some of the other 3PLs, and equivalently there were also certain minimum wage changes that happened across the ecosystem. I think all of those have been absorbed in the quarter. From a timing perspective, some of these happened around May, which is when the fuel price hike was announced. At the same time, we have also been taking measures to improve the efficiency of our operations. As a result, in the data book we shared, you can see that our cost per delivered order actually came down even during this quarter by about 1 rupee versus the previous quarter.”
— Dhiresh Bansal, Chief Financial Officer
Mphasis Limited | Mid Cap | Information Technology
Mphasis is an information technology services company specialising in cloud, AI, application development, infrastructure services, and business process outsourcing. It serves global enterprises across banking, financial services, insurance, logistics, technology, and other industries.
Management is positioning the company as a transformation partner rather than just a low-cost service provider. This strategic shift is designed to protect margins and maintain growth even during periods of slow IT spending.
“We are operating in the same environment as everyone else, whether it’s macro conditions, AI disruption, AI deflation, productivity issues, or longer decision cycles. Despite that, what’s working for us is our forward-leaning approach. Whenever clients seek efficiency, we focus on transformation at the intersection of technology and business outcomes rather than just cost.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
The Mphasis Tria platform is helping the company capture more business from existing clients and enter new market segments. This indicates that the company’s internal product investments are successfully expanding its revenue potential.
“Mphasis Tria has changed conversations with customers, helped us gain wallet share, and allowed us to enter markets beyond traditional technology services. We believe the AI journey is only in its second innings.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
Enterprises are shifting from experimental AI tools toward building core infrastructure that delivers tangible financial results. This trend creates a long-term pipeline of high-value implementation work for the company.
“Clients are moving away from choosing tools toward building AI foundations that deliver measurable business outcomes irrespective of the underlying model. We believe the AI journey is only in its second innings.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
The company secured a major $100 million deal alongside several smaller foundational AI projects this quarter. A healthy mix of large and small deals provides both immediate revenue and a platform for future growth.
“We are seeing both large deals, including one over $100 million, and short-duration foundational AI engagements. These projects create the platform for multiple future waves of AI adoption, allowing us to participate throughout the enterprise AI transformation journey.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
Recent margin compression was driven by temporary factors such as acquisition costs and investments in new project setups. Investors should watch if these upfront costs lead to the expected revenue acceleration in future quarters.
“Our guided EBIT margin range remains 14.75%–15.75%, and we remain within it. Margin softness came from a strategic acquisition, investments for deal ramp-ups, lower utilisation, and hedge losses.”
— Aravind Viswanathan, CFO
Despite general caution in the banking sector, financial institutions are still prioritising high-value AI transformation projects. This selective spending helps protect the company’s largest and most important business segment.
“BFSI remains our flagship segment with strong growth. While banks remain cautious on discretionary spending, they continue to invest in strategic AI transformation programs.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
Mphasis aims to move up the value chain by becoming an essential partner for enterprise-wide AI deployment. Succeeding in this transition could lead to longer-term contracts and improved pricing power relative to traditional competitors.
“Companies that move beyond traditional IT services and become partners in enterprise-scale AI deployment will have the greatest opportunities. While banks remain cautious on discretionary spending, they continue to invest in strategic AI transformation programs.”
— Nitin Rakesh, CEO
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited | Mid Cap | Capital Markets
Motilal Oswal Financial Services is a diversified financial services company with businesses spanning wealth management, asset management, capital markets, investment banking, housing finance, and private equity. The company serves retail, institutional, and high-net-worth clients across India.
The company achieved record-breaking profits fueled by a mix of investment gains and underlying business growth. Investors should focus on the 14% sequential rise in operating profit as it represents the repeatable core performance of the firm.
“One of the highlights is that this is our highest-ever quarterly profit. We have declared a PAT of over ₹1,500 crore for the quarter. Though it includes around ₹900 crore of mark-to-market gains, the operating profit of about ₹600 crore is also an all-time high, up 14% sequentially.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
Asset management has become the dominant growth driver for the company, with profit growth significantly outpacing asset growth. This indicates high operating leverage and expanding margins within their fund management divisions.
“Among our four major businesses, asset management has led the performance. Our mutual fund and private equity businesses together have delivered strong growth. AUM has grown by over 30%, while profits have grown around 70%, including the unlisted business.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
The private equity segment is nearing a phase where it will realize performance-based fees from exiting investments. This points to a potential spike in high-margin income for the company over the coming year.
“Private equity earnings are fee-driven. Carry income depends on exits. We expect a carry event within the next 12 months as Fund II is nearing completion, although the exact timing depends on when the remaining investments are sold.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
Strong growth in fund management and housing finance is currently compensating for a temporary slowdown in the brokerage business. This diversification helps stabilize earnings even when capital market activity is soft.
“Despite subdued retail broking and wealth management, our asset management and housing finance businesses have grown by 30–40%, helping overall operating profit grow by 14%.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
The company holds a sizeable treasury while focusing on sustaining its core operating profit. Management’s confidence in maintaining the current run rate reflects a stable earnings outlook.
“We now have a treasury of around ₹10,500 crore. Operating profit remains the real indicator of business performance, and we are confident of sustaining the current quarterly operating profit run rate over the coming quarters.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
The housing finance business has stabilized and is entering its next growth phase with improving operating leverage. Management expects steady expansion in both assets and profitability.
“Housing finance has stabilised after the initial years. A new management team is in place, AUM is growing at around 25–30%, and operating leverage is improving. We are targeting 25–27% AUM growth and 30–32% bottom-line growth.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
The recent credit rating upgrade strengthens the company’s funding profile by lowering borrowing costs. This should support profitability across its lending businesses over time.
“CRISIL has upgraded our credit rating from AA to AA+, improving our cost of capital. Housing finance AUM has crossed ₹6,000 crore and continues to grow steadily.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
Management expects current business momentum to translate into higher operating profits for the full year, providing investors with a clear execution benchmark.
“Even with two businesses facing headwinds and two performing strongly, we have delivered 14% operating profit growth. If this trajectory continues, operating profit for the year should be around ₹2,500–2,600 crore.”
— Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder
Coromandel International | Mid Cap | Fertilizers & Agrochemicals
Coromandel International is one of India’s leading agri-solutions companies with a diversified presence across fertilizers, crop protection, specialty nutrients, and rural retail. The company focuses on backward integration, capacity expansion, and technology-driven solutions to improve farm productivity.
he company managed to grow its top line significantly despite facing severe external headwinds like delayed rains and global supply chain disruptions. This suggests a resilient business model that can maintain operational stability even under difficult macro conditions.
“Just to correct one point, our revenue grew by 15%, while operating EBITDA declined only marginally by about 3%. It was a strong performance despite the delayed monsoon, the Middle East crisis, and challenges in the availability of key raw materials.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
The company is actively lobbying the government to update subsidy levels to reflect the higher costs triggered by Middle East instability. A favorable decision here is a key catalyst for margin recovery in the coming quarters.
“As we move into the second quarter, we have been representing to the Government of India and the Department of Fertilizers for a revision in subsidy rates, since these rates were announced before the Middle East crisis. The government has received our representation favourably, and we are hopeful of a revision.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
Management highlights that current government subsidy rates have not kept pace with the rising costs of essential raw materials like ammonia. The company is relying on its non-fertilizer segments to protect overall profitability while subsidy gaps persist.
“The sharp increase in prices of raw materials such as ammonia and sulphur was not adequately compensated through subsidies, which impacted fertilizer margins. However, Coromandel’s diversified business portfolio, including crop protection and retail, helped offset some of the impact.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
Coromandel’s investment in its own acid plants is providing a major competitive advantage during global supply shortages. This backward integration ensures they can keep producing even when competitors struggle to find raw materials.
“While the industry faced raw material shortages, our captive plant enabled us to continue production. We operated the plant at nearly 80% utilisation, ensuring uninterrupted fertilizer availability.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
A major production expansion is on track to go live by the end of 2024, promising volume growth in early 2025. The new specialty plant will also secure internal supply chains, potentially boosting margins in high-value product lines.
“Our 7.5 lakh tonne capacity expansion is progressing well and is expected to be commissioned by December, with the additional volumes becoming available during the fourth quarter of the current financial year. In addition, we are setting up a water-soluble MAP plant, which will ensure raw material availability for our specialty nutrients business.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
The company is aggressively expanding its direct-to-farmer retail footprint by adding hundreds of new stores this year. This expansion into new states helps diversify revenue and improves the uptake of their proprietary specialty products.
“We currently have around 1,200 stores, and we expect this to increase to around 1,400–1,500 stores by the end of the year. Retail performed well during the first quarter.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
Poor rainfall actually acts as a tailwind for the specialty nutrients segment because farmers rely more on controlled irrigation systems. This provides a natural hedge against the negative impact of a weak monsoon on bulk fertilizer sales.
“In specialty nutrients, demand generally improves during weaker monsoon periods because irrigation usage increases. We expect 20–25% growth in this segment as well.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
When rural income is squeezed by bad weather, farmers shift toward more affordable products like Single Super Phosphate. Coromandel is benefiting from this trend by capturing demand for budget-friendly alternatives when high-end fertilizers become less affordable.
“During periods of monsoon stress, farmers’ purchasing power tends to weaken, leading to higher demand for lower-priced fertilizers. We are seeing strong momentum in SSP and lower-phosphate fertilizer grades.”
— S. Sankarasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO
Suryoday Small Finance Bank Limited | Small Cap | Banks
Suryoday Small Finance Bank is a scheduled commercial bank in India that focuses on providing financial services to the unbanked and underbanked. The bank offers a diversified range of products including microfinance, commercial vehicle loans, and mortgage-backed retail lending.
[Concall]
The bank is shifting its core business from group lending to individual loans to improve stability and customer relationships. Using government-backed insurance schemes helps protect the bank’s finances against potential losses in these loans.
“At Suryoday, our strategic transition from the traditional JLG model towards individual loans and Vikas loans continues to gain traction. Importantly, our customers are returning to their normal borrowing behavior, reflecting improved confidence and stability within the portfolio. The CGTMU framework continues to provide significant support to the balance sheet with a largely covered inclusive finance portfolio, successful claim settlements, and improved provisioning discipline.”
— Bhaskar Babu Ramchandran, MD and CEO
While official bad loan numbers look high at first glance, the actual risk is much lower because of insurance claims the bank expects to receive. After accounting for these payments, the net bad debt is very small, suggesting a healthy balance sheet.
“ On asset quality, our GNPA stood at 6.5% and NNPA at 1.2% as of June 30, 2026. In absolute terms, GNPA stood at 931 crores and NNPA at 170 crores, against which 134 crores is receivable under the CGTMU scheme. Adjusted for this receivable, the GNPA and NNPA stood at 2.9% and 0.3%.”
— Bhaskar Babu Ramchandran, MD and CEO
Management is prioritizing individual loans over group loans to better understand their customers’ full financial situation. They expect their secured lending, like vehicle and home loans, to grow even faster than their traditional micro-banking business.
“Our key focus continues on strengthening the inclusive finance portfolio, which is our backbone and our core focus area. As you know, we have moved to individual loans, which enables us an opportunity to directly engage with the customer and assess not just their credit needs but their overall banking needs. The secured assets are focused on commercial vehicles and mortgages which are gaining good traction, and we continue to focus on having a growth rate in this portfolio that will probably be higher than the inclusive finance growth.”
— Bhaskar Babu Ramchandran, MD and CEO
New bad loans in the microfinance division have slowed down to a manageable level each month. This suggests that the bank’s lending standards are working and repayments are becoming more predictable.
“I think the good part to note is that if you look at our MFI business, our slippages have moderated significantly. Our slippages on a monthly basis are less than 20 crores a month. So that is one discipline we should continue to focus on.”
— Kanishka Chaudhary, Chief Financial Officer
Interest rates for fixed deposits remain high, making it more expensive for the bank to get funding. To counter this, the bank is adjusting its savings account rates to attract cheaper, more stable deposits.
“We continue to see pressure in the rates for fixed deposits; they have not really come down. What we have done as a bank is optimize our rates in the savings account across buckets. That is the kind of focus we will have for funding.”
— Kanishka Chaudhary, Chief Financial Officer
A new digital credit product is generating significant fee income but also requires higher spending to operate. This explains why the bank’s operating costs have risen, though the business itself remains profitable.
“ In this particular quarter, our convenience fee income from the CLOU business moved to 18 crores for the quarter. There is a corresponding increase in the CLOU related expenses of around 13 crores, which is why you see an uptick in the expenses. Apart from that, there have been some additional expenses in the technology infrastructure, but the main driver is the CLOU related expenses.”
— Kanishka Chaudhary, Chief Financial Officer
Management insists they are not using government insurance as an excuse to make risky loans. They are building the bank to survive difficult economic times on its own, treating insurance only as an emergency backup.
“ We are not looking at insurance as a shield for doing business. The insurance has to be seen as a last resort. We must be able to sustain a down cycle of 1 to 1.5 years ourselves.”
— Bhaskar Babu Ramchandran, MD and CEO
Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited | Small Cap | NBFC - Microfinance
Spandana Sphoorty is a leading Indian microfinance institution primarily serving low-income women in rural and semi-urban areas through the Joint Liability Group model. The company provides unsecured credit to support income-generating activities and is diversifying into individual loans and newer geographical regions.
[Concall]
The company is targeting massive, under-penetrated markets in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to diversify its regional risk. Doubling market share in these states would reduce concentration in existing core markets like Bihar and Odisha.
“Two states we really want to grow in the coming quarters are Tamil Nadu, where our share currently is just about 15 crores out of an industry of 38,000 crores, and Maharashtra, where we are at about 288 crores as against an industry of 24,000 crores. With a 1.1% share, we want to at least double it to a 2% share.”
— Venkatesh Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO
Spandana is launching a pilot for a more sophisticated individual loan product to move beyond the traditional group lending model. Success in this segment could improve customer retention and lower operational risks through better underwriting and digital repayment systems.
“The individual loan product is ready to be piloted in eight branches in Madhya Pradesh. We are putting about 8-10 people over the next 3 months to test it out because this is a completely different product, better underwritten with an ENACH facility. We want to check the initial acceptability.”
— Venkatesh Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO
Credit rating upgrades are enabling the company to access cheaper institutional funding and government-backed credit schemes. Bringing PSU banks into the lender mix is a key strategic move to sustainably lower the overall cost of funds.
“The rating definitely has a role to play, and any improvement there will translate into better pricing for the company. As we said, the borrowings under the CGS are also helping us keep the cost at the lower end of the spectrum. More importantly, as time passes, you will have PSU banks participating, which should also bring down the cost of acquisition.”
— Ashish Damani, Chief Financial Officer
Management intends to wind down recovery efforts on very old, legacy bad debts to focus resources on current collections. This transition marks the final cleanup phase of the legacy portfolio issues following the company’s recent restructuring.
“And please read my statement carefully; when I said this is the last year, there will always be a pool of 90+ days past due accounts. I meant that we will stop collecting on the much older 90+ day pool starting next year. The standard 90+ collections will always remain.”
— Venkatesh Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO
Expanding into high-potential states and improving employee retention are the company’s top execution priorities. Reducing staff turnover is critical in microfinance because experienced loan officers maintain better borrower relationships and collection discipline.
“Secondly, we have 65% of our business in six states, and I want to grow in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to make them as big as Bihar or Madhya Pradesh. Third, we are working on attrition to ensure we retain people, as productivity and reliability improve over time.”
— Venkatesh Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO
Go Digit General Insurance Company Limited | Mid Cap | General Insurance
Go Digit is a digital-first general insurance provider in India focusing on motor, health, and commercial lines. The company utilizes a technology-driven approach to streamline underwriting and claims processing while maintaining a lean operating structure.
[Concall]
Digit is intentionally shrinking its market share in specific car insurance segments because current commissions and rates are too expensive. Investors should view this as a proactive move to prevent losses in a highly competitive and poorly priced segment.
“The reduction in motor market share is primarily due to the corrective actions we have taken, essentially in private cars, both in the standalone own damage section, about which I have spoken in the past, and also non-new cars, where we feel the combination of commission and premium rates do not justify writing business in the same volume as we were doing earlier.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
The firm is cutting back on commercial vehicle insurance because claim costs are rising while government-regulated prices have remained stagnant for years. This highlights management’s skepticism toward peers who are growing aggressively in segments with deteriorating economics.
“Commercial vehicle business is something we have been giving up, and we gave up a lot of business we were writing in the first quarter. Personally, as an individual view, I cannot understand how some companies are being so aggressive in the TP business when there has been no price hike in the last 5 years and inflation increases claim severity.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
The company has significantly increased its investment in the stock market to boost overall returns. This shift shows a more active investment strategy aimed at growing the company’s asset base during favorable market conditions.
“At the time of the IPO, our equity allocation was 3.5%. We have since tripled that to 9.5% of AUM. We follow strict capital allocation discipline in investments.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
Digit relies less on selling stocks for profit to boost their earnings compared to their larger competitors. This suggests their core insurance profits are more sustainable and less dependent on stock market performance.
“Our dependence on capital gains is about 20% over the last 3 years, while for the top players, it has been 40% on average. We prefer to suffer the least if the current pain continues.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
The company settles the vast majority of third-party claims quickly through agreements rather than letting them drag on in court. This efficiency helps control costs by avoiding the extra interest and legal fees that come with long-running court cases.
“Since Digit started, we have settled 36,000 TP claims, 83% of which were settled through compromise. Early settlement helps us save on legal inflation and interest.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
The company is generating enough surplus to consider rewarding shareholders with dividend payments in the near future. This reflects strong capital levels and management’s confidence in the firm’s financial health.
“We are in a position to pay dividends on an I-GAAP basis and are waiting for the final RBC norms. We will discuss this in the board in the last quarter.”
— Kamesh Goyal, Chairman
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. | Small Cap | Small Finance Banks
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank is a leading mass-market retail bank in India focusing on financial inclusion through micro-banking and diversified retail assets. The bank has been strategically transitioning its portfolio toward secured lending segments like affordable housing, MSME, and gold loans.
[Concall]
The bank has successfully crossed a major milestone with over half of its loan book now consisting of secured assets. This shift significantly reduces the overall risk profile of the business compared to its microfinance origins.
“We are pleased to note that our progress towards diversification of our loan portfolio remains on track with more than half of the loan book being secured at 50.4% as of June 30. Following a strong performance last quarter, growth in our secured book has continued at robust rates and expanded to 21,638 crores, up 42.7% year-on-year and 7.8% quarter-on-quarter.”
— Carol Furtado, Executive Director
Gold loans have emerged as a high-growth vertical with the portfolio nearly tripling in size over the past year. High collateral margins provide a safety net while the bank aggressively scales this product.
“Gold gross loan book stood at 1,020 crores, up 248.6% year-on-year. This increased product penetration and tailored offerings resulted in disbursements growth of 183.9% year-on-year at 467 crores. Origination LTV for Q1 remained comfortable at 75%, while the book LTV remained around 56%.”
— Carol Furtado, Executive Director
The bank is front-loading investments in technology and branding to prepare for future growth. Lowering the expected OpEx ratio suggests that management is finding ways to grow more efficiently than previously anticipated.
“The expenses planned this year for future capacity building started kicking in from late Q1 and the effect would be seen over the remaining quarters. Capacity building expense is of the nature of branch opening, branding, and tech and analytics capabilities. This deferred commencement of expenses coupled with ongoing efficiency gains will result in full-year OpEx being lower than earlier planned and would now be around 6.4% of average total assets.”
— Carol Furtado, Executive Director
Management is lowering its credit cost forecast due to better-than-expected repayment trends across the portfolio. This revision signals high confidence in the quality of new loans being disbursed and the stability of the book.
“We continue to witness encouraging trends in asset quality with credit cost at 0.9%, with absolute slippages during the quarter remaining lower than anticipated. Accordingly, we are revising our FY27 credit cost guidance to 0.9% to 1% of average total assets.”
— Carol Furtado, Executive Director
The bank is targeting specific urban and semi-urban ticket sizes to protect its profit margins from intense competition. Staying away from large metro areas allows them to maintain higher yields on home loans.
“A ticket size of 16 lakhs to 20 lakhs is the right mix we have found to maintain the yields we desire. We have been able to maintain yields despite some competitive pressure. However, we feel confident that in the markets where we operate, we should be able to maintain the yields.”
— Management, Senior Management Team
The bank intends to offer gold loans across a much larger share of its branch network by the end of the year. This expansion of capacity is expected to significantly boost monthly disbursement volumes by the end of FY27.
“We have a plan to take our active gold loan branches from about 430 to 440 up to about 575 by the end of this year. Therefore, we will significantly add capacity. The exit number for disbursement should be somewhere in the range of about 250 crores a month by March 2027.”
— Management, Senior Management Team
The bank is intentionally moving toward larger loan sizes in the MSME segment to improve operational efficiency. While this slightly lowers the interest rate charged, it reduces the cost and risk of managing many small loans.
“The increase in ticket size is both on LAP and working capital. LAP was around 58 lakhs to 60 lakhs; we are currently in the range of 80 lakhs to 90 lakhs. Similarly, on working capital, we were in the range of 70-80 lakhs and have now taken it to 1.1 crores to 1.2 crores.”
— Management, Senior Management Team
Interglobe Aviation Limited | Large Cap | Airlines
Interglobe Aviation Limited operates IndiGo, India’s largest passenger airline by market share, focusing on a low-cost carrier model. The company maintains a large fleet of Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft to provide extensive domestic and international connectivity.
[Concall]
The company secured a massive order for 1,000 engines to support its future fleet and internal maintenance capabilities. This move signals a commitment to aggressive long-term scaling and structural cost management.
“As we build Indigo for the long term, we have signed an MOU with CFM International for over 1,000 Leap-1A engines for our future aircraft deliveries. This MOU also supports the development of an engine MRO and long-term material services. It is a clear step towards gaining structural strength, investing ahead of growth and building the platform Indigo needs as we scale into a larger and more global airline.”
— Rahul Bhatia, Managing Director
Management is grounding older, less efficient planes to protect margins from high fuel prices and currency depreciation. This disciplined cost-control strategy prioritizes profitability over keeping the entire fleet in the air.
“In this environment, we have stayed focused on cost efficiency and levers within our controls to reduce the impact on margins. We are prioritizing flying our more fuel-efficient aircraft and not operating our older CEO aircraft wherever commercially appropriate. We have also tightened our discretionary expenses and deferred increments for senior-level employees.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
Management observes that industry-wide pricing discipline remains strong, allowing for higher ticket prices even during seasonally weaker periods. This trend suggests that the industry is prioritizing yield stability over filling every seat at a discount.
“As we are looking into Q2, we are seeing that the price discipline is still holding up in the market and as a result, the yields have been tapering upwards, which is why the guidance for Q2 is 25% and north of 25%. We are expecting the loads to be flattish or slightly down, similar to what they were in Q1, but that is largely driven by the fact that a large part of the capacity has also been reduced, which is typical of this quarter.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
Capacity growth for the current fiscal year is being limited to single digits due to external disruptions and fuel volatility. Investors should expect a return to more aggressive double-digit capacity expansion starting in FY28.
“Pulkit, we are holding to the guidance that we gave at the analyst meet. It is in single digits. It was already tapered down. Post FY27, we had also given guidance that we will be back to early double digits. Given the external factors, we are still holding to the single-digit guidance that we have given on capacity.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
The airline has finished using most of its temporary damp-leased planes and is now focusing on its permanent fleet. Parking older aircraft helps the company avoid the high operating costs associated with less fuel-efficient technology.
“The fleet strategy is on plan. The only tapering we have done is parking older technology CEO aircraft given the environment; with fuel levels extremely high, it does not necessitate operating those. Regarding damp-leases, we have returned most of them.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
Operations at six international destinations are being paused temporarily to manage the seasonal downturn in demand. This tactical suspension allows the airline to minimize losses during the monsoon and off-peak travel months.
“Q2 is a prudent call we typically take where we taper down capacity for off-season markets. We have already communicated that we moderated capacities and suspended operations at six destinations on the east side, such as Langkawi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai; these will restart in October.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
The company remains committed to its long-term target of having international routes account for 40% of its total capacity by 2030. This strategy is intended to capture higher-margin traffic and diversify the revenue base.
“The international side is going to grow faster because it has a lower base. We had touched close to 33% of our capacity in international and by 2030, we will likely be around the 40% that we guided.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
Indigo is currently testing the upper limits of passenger pricing to offset rising fuel and currency costs. The ability to maintain these price levels while preparing for future volume growth indicates strong brand equity and market leadership.
“We are experiencing a similar shift now with elevated fuel and currency depreciation. We are testing new levels of pricing. As things moderate, we will look toward bringing in more volumes, which is why we guide for mid-teens growth post FY27.”
— Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer
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Quotes in this newsletter were curated by Shahid, Meher, & Kashish.
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.
Hey there is a typo in the Adani Power part-
"peak demand shot up to a record high of around 250 gigawatts in May 2026", it should be 271 GW.
(https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/ADANIPOWER:NSE?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjazZ7mq-uVAxUuWXADHQeNDvgQ3ecFKAB6BAgdEAE&tab=earnings)
And thanks a lot for The Chatter series, I love it. It's so useful the way it narrates everything in a story format. And the fact that you guys cover 6-8 companies is just great.
https://substack.com/@earningsunwrapped/note/c-300090619?r=rer2b
Wrote about ujjivan a bit more in detail. Worth tracking their transformative journey towards Universal Bank Licence.