The Chatter: Meesho, Marico, L&T, Bajaj & More
Q4FY26 | Edition #58
Welcome to the 58th 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 17 companies across 9 industries.
Retail
Meesho
Shoppers Stop Limited
Marico Limited
Godrej Consumer Products
Chemicals
Garware Hi-Tech Films
Financial Services
Punjab National Bank
BSE Limited
Automotives
Bajaj Auto Limited
Mahindra & Mahindra
Real Estate
Aditya Birla Real Estate Ltd.
Raymond Realty Ltd.
Energy
Adani Power
Healthcare
Dr. Lal PathLabs
Metal
Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd
Engineering & Capital Goods
Bharat Forge
Larsen & Toubro Limited
Polycab India Limited
Retail
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 anticipates that high inflation could act as a tailwind for value-focused companies like itself, as tighter consumer budgets generally lead to increased market share for affordable options, although overall spending might see some headwinds.
“Typically, if you look at times like these—and there is a fair amount of history from the 1970s until now—value-focused companies actually tend to gain share when inflation goes high because budgets are tighter for people across the board. That potentially is a tailwind. Now, of course, there might be a headwind in terms of the absolute amount that people are spending, and some of these might act in a counter fashion. We will see how this progresses, but a high-inflationary environment for value-focused players is generally a tailwind.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho Mall is strategically focused on serving “mass India” by offering value brands and packs to a broad customer base, rather than exclusively premium users, enabling popular brands to reach previously inaccessible online consumers.
“Yes, so I think we are scaling Meesho Mall for affordable brands, or I would say value brands or value packs of all the brands that you know. We have seen a lot of progress over the last 1 year. A lot of mass brands that are popular in India have scaled their selection on Meesho and they find that they’re able to reach a customer for the first time that they could not reach earlier and sell selection online for the first time that they could not sell earlier. Everyone is seeing a lot of potential there. So it is going to be a big focus for us. Meesho Mall is not just focused on the premium customer. It is going to be focused on anyone who cares about value.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Meesho emphasizes that contribution margin is the most relevant metric for assessing business trajectory, as a higher mix of prepaid orders, while reducing revenue per order, is beneficial due to lower costs and stable contribution margins.
“From our business standpoint, the right number to consider from a trajectory standpoint is contribution margin. As I was explaining earlier regarding prepaid versus cash on delivery orders, if you start getting a higher mix of prepaid orders, which is fundamentally good for the platform, you would see that the revenue per order would decline. But the contribution margin would remain the same because the lower cost of serving a prepaid order is what we pass back to our consumers in the form of lower pricing.”
— Dhiresh Bansal, Chief Financial Officer
Users who have been on the platform for three years or more tend to exhibit a significantly higher purchase frequency, typically making 15 or more orders annually.
“I don’t have the specific number of frequency off the top of my head but in general as users mature on the platform their frequency in a 3-year time period starts going up to 15 times or more, so I would suspect for the FY24 and before cohort it will be a similar number.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) has decreased due to technological investments and AI-powered product enhancements like the Vani voice agent, which effectively reduce user friction despite the challenges of acquiring customers in deeper Indian markets.
“The CAC reduction is happening due to the investments that we’ve done historically in terms of technology, in terms of improving the value proposition from a price perspective as well. In fact, as you go deeper into India, on a like-for-like basis, CACs only go up because you have to convince a certain user more in order to transact. But with the improvements in products that we’ve made through AI and otherwise, that barrier threshold has come down. Vani, for instance, our voice agent, or other investments we’ve done in terms of algorithms as well have reduced that friction between a user installing the app and placing their first order and that’s the reason why CAC continues to be in a fairly limited zone.”
— Vidit Aatrey, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
While BNPL is in its nascent stage, the primary driver for the reduction in cash-on-delivery (COD) transactions has been the increasing adoption of prepaid orders, supported by lower costs and consumer discounts, with BNPL expected to contribute more significantly in the future.
“I think BNPL is still fairly early in its life cycle. Right now the key initiatives that we’ve had within our prepaid products, which is payment before delivery, the cost of prepaid orders coming down and us passing consequently some of them back to our consumers with better prepaid discounts has been the driving force so far in terms of cash on delivery share coming down or prepaid share increasing. Going forward as we continue to invest behind BNPL and we’re seeing good early signs there, that will become a driver but at this point in time it is more direct prepaid share increasing.”
— Dhiresh Bansal, Chief Financial Officer
Shoppers Stop Limited | Mid Cap | Retail Stores
Shoppers Stop is a leading Indian retailer specializing in premium apparel, beauty products, and lifestyle accessories through its extensive departmental store network. The company also manages a high-growth beauty distribution arm and is expanding into the value-fashion segment via its InTune brand.
[Concall]
The core department store business has reached a significant revenue milestone while delivering its best same-store sales growth in ten years. This suggests a successful recovery and stabilization of the flagship format after years of stagnant growth.
“The departmental store business crossed 5,000 crores revenue for the first time, which is a big milestone for us. At the start of the year, we had given a guidance of mid-single digit LFL and I am very happy to share that we ended the year with 4.7%, which is our highest ever LFL in a decade, particularly after two consecutive flat-ish LFL sales for FY24 and FY25.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
The company’s top-tier loyalty program is seeing record high enrollment and extremely high retention rates among its wealthiest customers. This strong retention provides a stable foundation for future revenue and proves the brand’s resilience in the premium segment.
“The premium end of our loyalty, which is our black card program, has reported the highest ever 67,000 new recruitments and highest ever renewals of 66,000, with the renewal rate being an impressive 74%. Demonstrating deep value proposition from a customer perspective besides personalized service standards helped us to increase the loyalty base to 13.5 million.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
The beauty distribution segment is growing at an exceptional pace and has become a dominant player in the Indian market. This diversification adds a high-growth revenue stream that complements the traditional retail store model.
“Our beauty distribution business continued its strong growth trajectory, generating revenue of 426 crores, which is equivalent to 650 crores of GMV, with a stellar 81% growth year-over-year and delivering a three-year CAGR of 90%. This would make us the largest beauty distributor in the country.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Operational improvements and better inventory management have led to the highest cash generation in nearly a decade. This increased liquidity allows the company to self-fund its growth initiatives and reduce reliance on debt.
“I am very happy to state that because of strong operational efficiency, we were able to generate cash from operations of 301 crores. This is the highest in the last 8 years, supported by working capital optimization of 155 crores.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Management is balancing new store openings with the modernization of existing high-performing locations. The strategy focuses on maximizing productivity from current assets where they have already seen proven sales uplifts.
“We plan to add 9 departmental stores and 35 to 40 InTune stores in this financial year. This includes the renovation of marquee stores. We have seen with both Inorbit Malad and Juhu that once we renovate our marquee stores, the throughput really increases.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Management has set a high bar for sales productivity improvements before resuming aggressive expansion in the value segment. Investors should watch for this 25-30% productivity jump as a signal that the business model is ready to scale.
“In the case of InTune, as I mentioned, right now we are not looking at opening stores in H1. The SPSF should go up by another 25-30% for us to be confident. We need to see that over a couple of quarters rather than just one or two months.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Renovating major existing stores is yielding massive productivity gains without increasing the fixed rent or staff costs. This high operating leverage means that extra sales from these stores will fall heavily to the bottom line.
“We are seeing that once we renovate marquee stores, our sales productivity goes up 35-40%. Of course, because that cost is fixed. That is why we are excited about renovating our five big stores this year.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
The company is warning of potential stock delays in the second half of the year due to global supply chain issues. However, they believe their size and relationships with major brands will protect them better than smaller competitors.
“Second is on supply chain uncertainties. They may cause some intermittent disruptions in merchandise availability, particularly in H2. However, given our diversified sourcing and scale, we are confident of effectively managing and mitigating this risk.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Management is prioritizing overall profit over just hitting a specific percentage of private label sales. Their success with the new ‘InTune Girlz’ brand shows they can successfully compete with international brands in niche categories.
“We look at the profitability of the business rather than just private brand contribution. We just launched InTune Girlz, a private brand for the girls’ business, and it is doing really well. We started with five stores and expanded to 69, and the throughputs are higher than any of the international girls’ brands.”
— Kavindra Mishra, Managing Director and CEO
Marico Limited | Large Cap | FMCG
Marico Limited is a prominent Indian consumer goods company specializing in hair care, edible oils, and healthy foods. It operates flagship brands like Parachute and Saffola across India and several international markets in South Asia and Africa.
[Concall]
The price of coconut oil, a major raw material, has dropped significantly, allowing the company to lower prices for consumers. This move is intended to drive higher sales volume and gain market share starting in the next quarter.
“With copra prices having corrected by about 35% from peak levels and expected to remain range-bound from here on, we have passed on the benefit to consumers through some selective pricing actions. As pricing stabilizes, we expect a recovery in consumption with a pickup in volume growth, which will be evidently visible from Q1 FY27 itself.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
The company’s digital brands have reached a significant sales milestone and are becoming increasingly profitable. Investors should note the shift from high-growth spending to a focus on sustainable double-digit profit margins.
“The digital-first portfolio of premium personal care exited FY26 at a 1,100+ crores ARR. The scale-up of this portfolio is being accompanied by a structural improvement in profitability as we aim to exit FY27 at double-digit EBITDA margins and eventually mid-teen EBITDA margins by FY30.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
Marico is actively reducing its reliance on traditional commodities to protect itself from price swings. This portfolio shift aims to make the company’s earnings more stable and predictable over the long term.
“By FY30, we expect to have substantially transformed the portfolio, resulting in lowering the share of commodity-linked businesses from more than 70% to 50% over a decade. To sum up, we have delivered on our aspirations across key performance parameters while navigating a highly volatile input cost environment and strengthening the underlying growth drivers of the business.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
Management has set a clear target to reach 15,000 crores in revenue next year with strong profit growth. They plan to achieve this through technology investments and selling more high-end products.
“At a consolidated level, we will aim to deliver double-digit revenue growth to cross 15,000 crores in revenue and high-teen EBITDA growth, subject to stable macros. Over the medium term, our strategy remains anchored in driving profitable growth through expansion of the total addressable market, sharper portfolio choices, accelerated premiumization, and continued investments in digital media analytics, automation, and AI capabilities.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
The company’s recent acquisitions are already contributing healthy profits rather than burning cash. This immediate financial benefit supports the management’s higher profit growth targets for the next fiscal year.
“Two of the three acquisitions—Cosmiq and Skinetics—are profitable. Skinetics is in the mid-20s and Cosmiq is in the high teens. Additionally, Plix, a large part of our digital business, is experiencing an upward trajectory in operating margins.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
The company is focusing on traditional neighborhood stores (General Trade) because it is harder for competitors to enter that space. Strengthening this retail network creates a durable barrier that protects Marico’s long-term sales.
“We invested in Setu because GT creates significant employment and is a source of competitive advantage since entry barriers are decreasing in modern trade but remain in GT. This systematic investment helps our distribution partners and increases their viability, helping us grow consistently regardless of state-specific consumption.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
The company is intentionally cutting low-profit products in its foods business to improve overall health. This strategy prioritizes quality earnings and better focus over simply reporting higher sales numbers.
“Overall Foods growth was affected because True Elements was lapping a high base and we took SKU rationalization calls on low-margin products there. Additionally, Plix is pivoting toward personal care, so its contribution to Foods growth is decreasing. We expect teen growth in True Elements in FY27.”
— Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO
Godrej Consumer Products | Large Cap | FMCG
Godrej Consumer Products is a leading FMCG company with a strong presence across home care, personal care, and household insecticides in India and international markets. While the company delivered healthy volume-led growth in Q4, rising commodity costs and crude-linked inflation are expected to keep margins under pressure in the near term, making pricing power and cost control the key factors to watch ahead.
Rising costs for oil-based raw materials are making it difficult for the company to maintain current profit levels. This suggests investors should expect near-term pressure on margins until commodity prices stabilise.
“Commodity inflation and crude-linked input costs are expected to keep near-term margins under pressure.”
— Asif Malbari, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
The company is responding to higher costs by selectively raising product prices and optimising expenses. These measures are aimed at protecting profitability despite inflationary pressure.
“Management has taken calibrated price hikes and cost optimisation measures to offset inflation.”
— Asif Malbari, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
The home insecticide category continues to perform strongly, contributing meaningfully to both revenue growth and profitability. Management sees this segment as a key growth driver going forward.
“Home insecticides continue to perform strongly and remain an important growth and margin driver.”
— Asif Malbari, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
International operations are showing signs of stabilisation after a prolonged weak phase. Management expects overseas profitability to improve meaningfully in the next fiscal year.
“International business showed signs of stabilisation, with management expecting profit recovery next year.”
— Asif Malbari, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
Despite risks from inflation and weather-related disruptions, management remains confident about sustaining growth momentum across categories and markets.
“Management remains confident about growth despite inflationary and weather-related uncertainties.”
— Asif Malbari, CFO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.
Chemicals
Garware Hi-Tech Films | Small Cap | Chemicals
Garware Hi-Tech Films Limited is a manufacturer of specialized solar control films for architectural and automotive applications, paint protection films (PPF) for automotive applications, and high-end BOPET films for industrial applications.
[Concall]
The company achieved record-high profitability in Q4 FY26, driven by strong operating leverage, improved pricing, and a better product mix.
“Q4 was the highest-ever profitability quarter in our history. EBITDA stood at 157 crores, up 29% on a year-on-year basis, with margins expanding to 26.2%. Profit after tax stood at 108 crores, up 39.1% year-on-year, a clear reflection of our operating leverage, improved realization, and a stronger product mix.”
— Deepak Joshi, Director of Sales and Marketing
The company anticipates maintaining an export-heavy revenue mix of 75-80% exports to 20-25% domestic, despite domestic market growth, due to overall company expansion targets.
“While the domestic market will grow, it will ultimately be a ratio between 75-25 or 80-20 between exports and the domestic market. That ratio will continue because of the overall growth we are targeting for the company.”
— Deepak Joshi, Director of Sales and Marketing
Management sees a large untapped opportunity in architectural films, privacy solutions, and smart surfaces.
“The sky is the limit for architectural business… We offer safety, security, decoration, and privacy-on-demand switchable films… We want this technology in every standard home in India and eventually abroad.”
— Management
Garware’s presence across 90+ countries helped reduce concentration risk during geopolitical disruptions.
“Garware supplies over 90 countries. When the US is in trouble, Europe helps. When there is an issue in one region, another performs well.”
— Management
The MENA region is a key growth driver, with current sales of $15 million projected to grow at a 25-30% CAGR to $20-22 million this year, supported by a newly established subsidiary and dedicated team.
“We consider the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region a primary growth driver. Currently, sales there are roughly 15 million dollars. We expect 25-30% CAGR, targeting 20-22 million dollars this year. We have a separate team in the Middle East recruited from top competition. The subsidiary has already been completed.”
— Deepak Joshi, Director of Sales and Marketing
Sun control films are the company’s fastest-growing and largest revenue segment, with unique and advanced manufacturing capabilities providing a significant competitive advantage.
“Our growth has been phenomenal. 50% of our revenues come from sun control, making it our number one product and fastest-growing segment. Building a sun control line is one of the toughest challenges. Our lines are so advanced that others cannot compete with our operations, which are built by our own team. We have unique operations with sun control machines that no one else in the world possesses.”
— Deepak Joshi, Director of Sales and Marketing
Garware has largely passed through raw material inflation, preserving margins.
“We discussed cost increases with our customers in a healthy and ethical way and were able to secure price increases… We have been able to pass on the maximum amount.”
— Management
Financial Services
Punjab National Bank | Large Cap | Public Sector Bank
Punjab National Bank is one of India’s largest public sector banks, providing a wide range of retail, corporate, and agricultural financial services. The bank is currently executing a strategic shift toward digital-first lending and high-yield retail and MSME segments to improve its margins and asset quality.
[Concall]
The bank is signaling a bottoming out of net interest margins after facing pressure from sticky deposit rates. This forward guidance suggests that recent loan repricing and mix shifts will drive profitability improvements in the coming quarters.
“We expect the margins to improve moving forward and our NIM to witness a Q-o-Q increase from the level of Q4 FY26. We expect our global NIM to remain in the range of 2.6% to 2.7% for financial year 26-27.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
Management highlighted that nearly 70% of the current loan book consists of newer loans sanctioned under stricter post-2020 underwriting standards. This significantly lower delinquency rate in the fresh portfolio supports a more stable long-term asset quality outlook.
“The outstanding in these loans as on March 31 is 8.75 lakh crore, which is close to 69.5% of our total outstanding loan book. The NPA in this book is hardly 5,034 crore, which is only 0.40% of the disbursed amount under fresh underwriting.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
PNB is successfully scaling its digital lending capabilities, with digital loans now accounting for a substantial portion of new volumes. This shift helps the bank lower its cost of acquisition while speeding up the credit delivery process.
“We have sanctioned and disbursed more than 20,873 crore through digital mode in Q4 to 4.8 lakh customers. Every third loan is being sanctioned in digital mode in our bank.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
The bank has proactively created a floating provision buffer to manage the transition to Expected Credit Loss (ECL) accounting standards. This financial preparation reduces the risk of a sharp capital hit when the new regulatory guidelines take effect.
“We have enough cushion to take care of any requirement that arises from the implementation of ECL from April 1, 2027. That is the first thing. Second, keeping in view the additional provision likely to come, we have already kept 2,045 crore precisely for floating provisions.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
The bank is deliberately pivoting its portfolio away from low-yield corporate lending toward the Retail, Agri, and MSME (RAM) sectors. This rebalancing is intended to enhance overall portfolio yields and improve interest income growth.
“We are doing these activities so that the dependency on corporate loans, which is currently around 46% to 47%, can be brought down to 40% in the long term, and 42% in the short term. We want the RAM share to reach 60% in the long run and around 58% in this financial year.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
PNB plans to completely phase out its Inter-Bank Participation Certificate (IBPC) portfolio, which has traditionally been a low-margin business. Replacing these assets with higher-yielding direct loans will contribute to the bank’s net interest margin expansion strategy.
IBPC (Inter-Bank Participation Certificate) is a mechanism through which one bank temporarily sells participation in a pool of loans to another bank for liquidity, risk-sharing, or priority-sector compliance purposes, with or without transfer of credit risk.
“We are going to replace all those low-rate IBPC assets. We expect a further reduction of 18,000 to 20,000 crore. We want to completely exit the IBPC business.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
Management noted that the incremental cost of acquiring new deposits has begun to trend downward. This reduction in funding costs is a critical lever for the bank to meet its margin expansion targets in the upcoming fiscal year.
“Since new deposits are being gathered at a lower cost, we expect improvements in our NIM during Q1 and Q2. I expect about a 5 basis point improvement in the cost of deposit.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
The bank highlighted a significant 145 basis point yield advantage in MSME lending compared to corporate lending. This data point reinforces why the bank is prioritizing MSME growth to drive better bottom-line performance.
“The corporate yield is 7.55% and the MSME yield is 9%. Our global domestic yield is 8.23%. The corporate loan book gives us a lower yield than the domestic average.”
— Ashok Chandra, MD and CEO
BSE Limited | Large Cap | Stock Exchange & Allied Services
BSE Limited is India’s leading stock exchange and the oldest in Asia, providing a platform for trading in equity, debt instruments, derivatives, and mutual funds. It also offers essential market infrastructure services through its subsidiaries, including clearing, settlement, and index services.
[Concall]
BSE has seen its derivative segment more than double in size over the last year as trading activity shifts toward its platforms. This high growth in premium turnover suggests that the exchange is successfully capturing a larger slice of the lucrative F&O market.
“The BSE index derivatives segment continued to demonstrate strong momentum in FY26 with average daily premium turnover reaching a record of 19,523 crores compared to 8,978 crores in FY25, translating into a robust year-on-year growth of approximately 118%. This sustained expansion reflects deeper market participation and improving liquidity.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
Management is expanding its product lineup with new sector-specific derivatives to attract specialized traders. Diversifying the product suite beyond broad market indices is a key strategy to increase the stickiness of its trading volumes.
“Based on market feedback, derivatives on the BSE Focused IT index will be launched from May 11, 2026, further expanding and strengthening our monthly derivatives suite. The launch of derivatives on the Focused IT index will provide participants an additional hedging tool to manage their portfolio risk effectively.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
Revenue from co-location services has more than doubled, driven by higher demand for high-speed trading and a new fee structure. This high-margin revenue stream provides a stable income base that is less volatile than general transaction charges.
“For FY26, co-location revenues increased to 171 crores compared to 74 crores in FY25, reflecting strong growth, healthy utilization levels in the country, and the benefit of the revised throttle charges framework introduced in July 2025. Co-location remains a strategically important part of our diversification agenda.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
BSE is moving beyond equity trading by launching a National Pension System platform to capture a wider range of retail financial savings. This shift toward becoming a ‘super gateway’ for wealth management opens up new long-term growth avenues for the company.
“We are evolving from being India’s senior mutual fund distributor into the country’s definitive super gateway for long-term wealth. With STAR NPS, we now capture the entire financial life cycle of the Indian investor from their first SIP to their final pension.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
BSE’s clearing arm has significantly upgraded its tech capacity to handle high-frequency trading with minimal delays. This infrastructure upgrade is crucial for attracting large institutional players who require high throughput and low latency.
“As far as ICCL, ICCL has been adding members, both big and small. I had stated that ICCL has significantly increased its technological capability to handle around 29,000 trades per second per broker and a peak of 59,000 with a small latency of one second, which is a big number.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
The company has cut its quarterly profit contribution to the Settlement Guarantee Fund in half after reaching safe reserve levels. This reduction will directly boost bottom-line margins and improve earnings quality for shareholders.
“We had initially decided that as BSE, in order to prevent any sudden jerks in the P&L, we would voluntarily contribute a specified stipulated percentage of our profits into SGF every quarter. At the point of time when we reviewed, we had already touched the threshold of more than 150 crores. We have crossed it and in this situation, we are reducing the contribution requirement per quarter from 5% to 2.5%.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
Management is maintaining a flexible approach to pricing, leaving the door open for fee adjustments based on market conditions. This optionality is a significant lever for future revenue growth as the exchange gains more market power.
“As far as the cost is concerned, we always believe in charging appropriate amounts at appropriate points of time considering multiple factors including the volumes that we are making, the cost of trading, the affordability, and what will be easy for the members, etc. These are subject to revisions and review and as and when we feel the appropriate time has come for either an upward or downward revision, we will consider doing it.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
The exchange is focused on shifting trading volume from high-risk daily expiries to more stable monthly contracts. Success in this transition will lead to more sustainable and predictable revenue patterns for the exchange.
“In the coming months and years, I see that more such participants who have a long-term view on the market will be participating in an even bigger way with Sensex contracts, which will bring in those types of monthly volumes which we are looking forward to. One of the recent contracts introduced is Bankex, which as you would be seeing is showing some traction with respect to monthly contracts.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
BSE is currently exploring a new strategy for entering the commodity derivatives market with a unique value proposition. While not immediate, this expansion represents a major untapped market opportunity for the exchange’s next growth phase.
“We want to create a value proposition for the market by thinking about some unique selling proposition, not just the expiry day alone as a differentiator. Do we have anything immediately on our mind and on the cards to implement? No. But some thought processes are on and our sincere wish is that very soon we should be able to come out with consolidated views and take the commodity agenda forward.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
The growth of BSE’s cash market share is currently being held back by a lack of progress in automated order routing across exchanges. Investors should watch for regulatory shifts here, as a breakthrough could unlock significant volume gains for BSE.
“But unfortunately, what we are understanding is that the applications for Smart Order Routing (SOR), which people send to both the exchanges, while we have cleared them, are still pending for more than 6 months at the other exchange. Because of this, Smart Order Routing has not taken off and clients are not able to be exchange agnostic and take the best prices available at BSE.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
BSE is aggressively targeting foreign institutional investors to close the participation gap between it and its competitors. Higher FPI participation is critical for improving market depth and the overall quality of trading volumes.
“Our FPI count has grown from 100 to 520, which is commendable, but we have set a target for ourselves of around 800 FPIs. We are already at around 5-6% while in the market generally we find the participation is around 9%. So that is a target for us to reach around 9% of FPI participation.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
BSE is productively deploying accumulated cash into significant capacity increases (500 crores gross block) and rapidly growing technology investments, noting that the technology budget might need to double due to rising hardware costs.
“The accumulated cash is being used productively. In the last 2 years, we have built a gross block of around 500 crores for capacity increases. BSE is a rapidly growing company that requires significant technology investment. The current year’s technology budget appears underpriced. We set 300 crores, but with the global situation, the price of memory and hardware is increasing; the investment requirement to ‘keep the lights on’ and grow is almost doubling.”
— Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD and CEO, BSE Limited
Automotives
Bajaj Auto Limited | Large Cap | Automobiles - Two & Three Wheelers
Bajaj Auto is a prominent Indian multinational manufacturer of motorcycles and three-wheelers, ranking as one of the world’s largest in both categories. The company operates across diverse segments including mass-market commuters, premium performance bikes, and an expanding portfolio of electric vehicles.
[Concall]
Record export revenues highlight the company’s ability to drive high-value growth even when traditional volume peaks in markets like Nigeria remain under recovery. This performance provides a significant hedge against domestic market fluctuations and improves overall dollar realization.
“Exports business unit: Starting off with that, the business unit crossed the 600,000 units mark for the second consecutive quarter, clocking 25% growth year-over-year. This has resulted in the highest-ever quarterly revenue from exports. In FY26, we recorded our second highest-ever performance in volume terms, but at USD 2.2 billion, it was the highest-ever performance in revenue terms.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
Management is targeting a 10 percent increase in monthly export volumes as demand stabilizes across Latin America and Asia. Investors should monitor geopolitical stability in the Middle East as it represents a primary risk to achieving this upgraded target.
“Overall, the exports business has established a sustained growth momentum. We are looking at moving the exports needle to 220,000 units per month this quarter, up from the 200,000 levels. And this is despite some loss of business in the Gulf region—we are of course hoping that there will be no further disruptions due to the geopolitical issues in the Middle East.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
The rapid success of new Pulsar variants confirms that management’s aggressive product refresh strategy is effectively defending and gaining market share. High consumer acceptance of these variants suggests strong pricing power in the critical 150cc plus motorcycle segment.
“Sequential gains in market share are being made month-on-month driven by the performance of our refreshed Pulsar portfolio. 10 new variants and updates have been introduced in the period of October to March and they now contribute to 50% of our sales. It signals very good acceptance.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
The electric vehicle business has reached a significant scale where it contributes nearly one-fifth of domestic revenue with healthy profitability. This transition indicates that the company is successfully pivoting away from internal combustion reliance without sacrificing its margins.
“In totality, our two-wheeler and three-wheeler electric business is actually now the largest in the auto industry, accounting for almost 20%+ of our domestic revenues and contributing double-digit EBITDA percentage.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
Management anticipates a sharp deceleration in domestic motorcycle growth due to multiple external headwinds affecting consumer sentiment. The focus shifts to premium segments, which are proving to be more resilient than the entry-level mass market.
“The demand environment has softened in April due to general inflation, increased prices of our vehicles, LPG shortages, manpower migration, and the LPG shortage-led effect on the consumer sentiment. This is bound to slow down the motorcycle category from its rocking 20% growth in Q4 to an estimated 7-9% in the near term. But having said that, the great thing from our point of view is that we expect this growth to come almost entirely from the 125cc plus segment and even more so from the 150cc plus segment which should grow at twice the industry rate”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
Achieving double-digit margins in the EV portfolio is a critical milestone that addresses long-standing investor concerns about the cost of electrification. The profitability of e-three-wheelers provides a financial cushion while the Chetak e-scooter reaches a break-even point.
“Underpinning the margin delivery was a significant development that we have made on our electric portfolio, which hit double-digit EBITDA margins in its entirety for the very first time in the course of this year. The improvements came on the back of rising scale of the very popular and profitable electric three-wheelers and the improving unit economics of Chetak, which has now reached EBITDA neutral as a portfolio.”
— Dinesh Thapar, Chief Financial Officer
Management warns that mandatory price hikes are eroding the benefits of previous government tax cuts for consumers. This price sensitivity could further pressure volume growth if inflationary trends persist into the upcoming festive season.
“What this means is that depending on the product group, the benefit which the GST rate cut had given to the customer—almost 30-40% of that could get rolled back. So obviously, it will have some impact on the demand. Secondly, there is already some adverse sentiment which has set in.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
Demand for Chetak scooters is currently outstripping the existing supply chain capacity. A planned massive expansion in manufacturing capacity signals management’s confidence in long-term EV adoption and their intent to capture higher market share.
“Yes, with Chetak we have not been able to fulfill the demand that has been there for one reason or the other. ... We are taking steps, there is some serious work going on to see how and where we should expand capacity in a quantum manner and once we are done with that exercise we’ll be happy to talk to you guys about it. But yes, we have now reached a position where we think a substantive increase in capacity in Chetak is needed.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
The strategic decision to lead with premium models in Brazil aims to build brand prestige before pursuing mass-market volumes. This high-margin approach should lead to better long-term profitability as the company expands its manufacturing footprint in South America.
“Regarding Brazil, it has done quite well. At this point of time we are so small in Brazil, which is a very big opportunity as a very large country. We have taken a top-down approach; our approach has been to keep the brand forward rather than volume forward and the way it’s manifesting is that we have launched our highest-end models over there first.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
Structural changes in Indian mobility, such as increased inter-town commuting and road network expansion, are driving high demand for larger-format three-wheelers. This trend turns a traditionally slow segment into a major growth driver for the company’s commercial vehicle division.
“And I’ve been saying even though it’s a humble vehicle, I’ve been saying that we are sitting on the threshold of very large growth in three-wheelers. ... This is being driven by people now wanting to travel between towns even for work to escape the rental requirements. It is now very possible for a person to stay in their hometown and work in the neighboring town and take a shared three-wheeler to commute.”
— Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director
The company is executing a large-scale capital return through a massive buyback alongside substantial dividends. This aggressive payout policy reflects a high degree of confidence in the company’s internal cash generation and balance sheet strength.
“Given that the buyback is now 5,600 crores, we will get started straight away with the process of seeking shareholder approval. And then this is essentially the process which will run now and likely culminate by the end of July with the SEBI filing. I would expect that payouts would essentially happen sometime in the second week of July, likely.”
— Dinesh Thapar, Chief Financial Officer
The company anticipates sharply inflationary commodity costs in Q1, with significant price increases across key metals and tight material availability.
“Looking ahead to Q1, the commodity environment has moved to being sharply inflationary, almost hyper I would say, with the prospect of material availability on the aluminum alloys and polymers front also being very tight... To put that in some context, many of you would be aware from publicly disclosed numbers, steel is almost up 15%, copper 20%, while aluminum and noble metals are all up in the range from 35 to 45%.”
— Dinesh Thapar, Chief Financial Officer
Mahindra & Mahindra | Large Cap | Auto & Auto Components
Mahindra & Mahindra is a leading Indian conglomerate with a dominant presence in the domestic utility vehicle, tractor, and commercial vehicle markets. The group also operates significant businesses in IT services, financial services, logistics, and real estate through its various subsidiaries and ‘growth gems.’
[Concall]
The group’s smaller and emerging businesses are contributing meaningfully to overall profit growth, helping Mahindra outperform despite slower growth in its core farm segment.
“If at some point in time I had mentioned to you that if auto profit growth is 33% and farm profit growth is 13% for the year, what number would you say for the Mahindra Group? I don’t think any of us would have said 35% at that point in time. But with auto at 33% and farm at 13%, the Mahindra Group is still at 35% for the year.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
Management highlighted that the group’s ‘growth gems’ are scaling rapidly and are now becoming meaningful contributors to both earnings and valuation.
“Our growth gems collectively have increased profit by 50% year-over-year. These are not small numbers now. They have to be larger, so if you look at the average of 35% with auto at 33% and farm at 13%, others have to contribute in a meaningful way.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
The company is using uncertainty as an opportunity to expand aggressively while competitors remain cautious, supported by a strong cash position.
“Our theme is going to be ‘Accelerate in Uncertainty.’ There is uncertainty, and we don’t expect that to go away. But we are best poised to take advantage of it with the talent we have, the foundation we’ve built, the strength of our businesses, and, of course, the cash that we have.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
M&M is quantifying the direct financial impact of artificial intelligence across multiple businesses, with AI expected to contribute meaningfully to revenue and lending growth.
“For FY27, we are tracking a delivery of 4,100 crores in terms of revenue impact from AI. At Mahindra Finance, we expect to have 10,000 crores more in disbursements because of AI. This reduces fraud and enhances revenue.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
Management laid out aggressive long-term growth ambitions across automotive, finance, technology, and real estate businesses over the next five years.
“Looking at the next 5 years, between FY20 and FY31, we expect Auto revenue to grow 8 times, Farm revenue 3 times, TechM revenue 1.5 to 2 times, and Mahindra Finance AUM 5 times. Residential pre-sales are expected up 14 times.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
The company is significantly expanding its SUV and EV manufacturing capacity alongside an aggressive new product pipeline.
“We will hit 60,000 ICE and 22,000 EV capacity by the beginning of FY28. The Nagpur plant is on track to start in mid-2028. We are planning 10 new LCV launches and 10 new ICE SUVs plus 6 new BEVs by FY31.”
— Rajesh Jejurikar, ED and CEO of Auto and Farm, Mahindra & Mahindra
Management indicated that demand remains stronger than production capacity in the SUV segment, reflecting strong pricing power and customer demand resilience.
“Capacity is a bigger constraint than demand right now. Regarding fuel prices, our customers at the 12-15 lakh price point are less sensitive to small increments in monthly fuel costs.”
— Rajesh Jejurikar, ED and CEO of Auto and Farm, Mahindra & Mahindra
The Aerospace and Real Estate businesses are scaling rapidly and could become major long-term value creators for the group.
“In Aerospace, we got a billion dollars of orders in the last 12 months. Our aspiration is to be among the top 5 aerostructures companies in the world. Real estate profit today is roughly 5 times the average of the last 10 years.”
— Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra
Real Estate
Aditya Birla Real Estate Ltd. | Mid Cap | Real Estate
Aditya Birla Real Estate is the real estate arm of the Aditya Birla Group, operating primarily under the Birla Estates brand. The company develops premium residential and commercial projects across key Indian markets, including MMR, Bengaluru, NCR, and Pune.
[Concall]
Management observes a divergence in the housing market where luxury homes are selling much better than affordable ones. This trend justifies the company’s strategic focus on high-end developments in major metro areas.
“The real estate sector continues to benefit from these largely supportive conditions, strengthening the sector’s long-term growth trajectory. In terms of industry performance, residential demand remained stable in Q4 FY26. However, the premium and luxury segments continue to outperform, while affordable and mid-income demand softened.”
— R. K. Dalmia, MD, Aditya Birla Real Estate Ltd.
The company is entering the Mumbai redevelopment market with a significant first project in a high-demand suburb. Success in this segment could provide a steady stream of high-value projects without the high cost of outright land purchases.
“We announced our maiden redevelopment project in Khar with a GDV potential of Rs. 1,700 crores. Discussions with several more societies are progressing well, and we remain optimistic about concluding additional partnerships in the months ahead. This segment will further contribute to our growth going forward.”
— R. K. Dalmia, MD, Aditya Birla Real Estate Ltd.
A major luxury project in Mumbai is facing potential delays due to the timing of regulatory approvals. Investors should monitor this timeline as the launch is a critical driver for the company’s near-term revenue goals.
“Regarding the launch for Birla Niara Tower C, it is really touch and go. We are pursuing the approvals very hard. We are expecting launch in the first half or H1, but it is possible that by the time we launch, it may spill over to Q3.”
— K. T. Jitendran, MD and CEO, Birla Estate
The company maintains a very liquid balance sheet with over 2,300 crores in cash and investments. This financial strength allows them to acquire prime land and fund construction without relying heavily on debt.
“For land acquisition, we have a very strong cash balance. Our operating cash flow is positive. We have almost 1,000 crores of mutual fund balances at a consolidated level and almost 1,300 crores of cash and RERA balances.”
— K. U. Shah, CFO, Birla Estate
The management has acknowledged that their long-term sales milestone of 15,000 crores might be delayed by a year. This transparency helps investors set more realistic expectations for the company’s growth scaling timeline.
“Looking at the current trajectory, it is possible that the 15,000 crore target might slip from FY28 to FY29. We will try our level best, but a slip to FY29 is a definite possibility for the reasons you mentioned. Our attempt will be to continuously stack up our pipeline and deliver.”
— K. T. Jitendran, MD and CEO, Birla Estate
Raymond Realty Ltd. | Mid Cap | Real Estate
Raymond Realty is the real estate development arm of the Raymond Group, focusing on premium residential and mixed-use projects across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The company leverages an asset-light model through Joint Development Agreements while developing its significant 100-acre legacy land bank in Thane.
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The company has successfully hit its diversification target early, reducing its reliance on a single micro-market in Thane. This transition to a more balanced portfolio across various Mumbai regions reduces geographic risk for investors.
“The most strategic milestone for the last year was the structural shift in our portfolio mix. We had previously communicated a target of a 50-50 mix between our own land in Thane and new JDAs by FY27. I am very happy to report that we have achieved this milestone one year ahead of schedule in FY26.”
— Harmohan Sahni, MD and CEO
The company’s expansion into Joint Development Agreements has created a significant revenue runway without requiring heavy upfront capital for land. This strategy allows for rapid scaling and presence in high-value markets like Bandra and Kandivali.
“Our JDA portfolio now comprises 7 projects with a combined revenue potential of approximately 17,000 crores based on current prices. This includes our most recent addition in Kandivali added in FY26. Our execution engine has been firing on all cylinders across the MMR.”
— Harmohan Sahni, MD and CEO
While initial reporting for new projects shows lower margins, the company maintains a strict 20% internal threshold for all new contracts. This suggests that the current blended margins are a factor of accounting timing rather than poor project economics.
“When we launch a project, the initial EBITDA margin is low. However, when we contract a deal, we do not look at anything less than a 20% margin. It may start in single digits for the first 6 months and then creep up.”
— Harmohan Sahni, MD and CEO
The company is prioritizing rapid growth and project acquisition over immediate cash retention, leading to expected negative cash flow in the near term. Investors should view this as a strategic investment into scaling the business for future earnings.
“For the next 2 years, we will likely be cash negative on an overall basis as we reinvest internal accruals to grow our portfolio. Growth has a price, and cash flow is that price, but you get it back through P&L and balance sheet growth.”
— Harmohan Sahni, MD and CEO
Despite high growth and significant project launches, the company is maintaining a conservative debt profile relative to its equity. Staying well below the 1:1 internal ceiling provides a safety buffer against market downturns.
“We ended FY26 at 0.6 debt-to-equity. We have an internal discipline not to exceed 1:1, and we will stay within that.”
— Harmohan Sahni, MD and CEO
Energy
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]
Adani Power has secured revenue visibility by tying up 95% of its operating capacity under long-term and medium-term PPAs, mitigating market volatility risks.
“Furthermore, we have ensured revenue visibility for our current operations with 95% of our operating capacity now tied up under long-term and medium-term PPA. This strategy provides stability and derisks our business from short-term market volatility.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Adani Power is expanding its focus internationally into thermal, hydro, and transmission sectors, including a new 570 MW hydropower plant SPV in Bhutan.
“We are expanding our area of focus beyond the Indian territory. We will evaluate internal projects in thermal, hydro, and transmission sectors and invest in attractive opportunities that qualify. We have recently incorporated an SPV in Bhutan setting up a 570-megawatt hydro power plant.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
The company is strategically positioning itself for future growth by exploring nuclear power projects in India, including site identification and necessary approvals.
“We are also aligning ourselves to the emerging long-term opportunities in the power sector, such as nuclear power. We have incorporated several SPVs in India for investment in nuclear power projects. We are identifying sites for these projects and seeking necessary approvals.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Outstanding payments from Bangladesh have decreased with regular collections, and an expert has been appointed to resolve the dispute regarding the undisputed amount.
“As regards to collection is concerned, the outstanding has gone down. And therefore, we are getting regular payments from the Bangladesh. As regards to the other issue probably which you are asking or seeking details about the undisputed amount and its regulation process. So as a part of the process, we have appointed an expert who is going to hear both the parties soon.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Adani Power is not facing domestic coal shortages, and while imported coal prices are impacted by geopolitical issues, the pass-through mechanism mitigates financial impact.
“So far, there is no coal shortage that we are facing, since the domestic coal supply is not directly impacted by the geopolitical issue and the production of coal in India is sufficient. So, we are not really having any issue as far as domestic coal availability is concerned. As far as imported coal is concerned, there is some impact on the price because of increase in bunker fuel, et cetera. The shipping cost has gone slightly high, but since it is passed through, we will not get impacted by that.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
There are significant PPA opportunities in the market, with approximately 13 GW of bids and an additional 4 GW recently issued by Gujarat.
“Upcoming PPAs in the market, we have almost 13 gigawatt. Particularly, it is from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Gujarat. There are PPA bids in the market for 13.8 gigawatt Further, Gujarat has also issued the latest bidding document of another 4,000 megawatts.”
— Dilip Jha, Chief Financial Officer
The company expects merchant power prices to decline with increasing renewable energy penetration, leading to a strategy of securing more long-term PPAs to mitigate this risk.
“But we feel, we are of the view that when more and more renewables will get added, the prices of merchant are bound to go down. So that is the risk which we are trying to mitigate by signing long-term PPAs more and more. So, risk is visible.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
Adani Power aims to achieve INR50,000 crore in EBITDA conservatively by FY 2031, potentially even by 2030 if current plans are executed without unforeseen challenges.
“So, Bharat Bhai, we should be in a position to achieve INR50,000 crore conservatively by FY 2031. If what we have planned today, if we could achieve that and let’s say, no issues arise during this period related to like what presently we have et cetera. In that case, we can touch this even in 2030.”
— S. B. Khyalia, Chief Executive Officer
The company sees significant long-term strategic opportunities in India’s nuclear energy sector, aligned with the country’s ambitious target to expand nuclear capacity from 9 GW to 100 GW.
“But strategically, if you see as a country target for nuclear energy going from 9 gigawatt to 100-gigawatt addition is there. So maybe we will have a huge opportunity of the area or the global scenario also, the things are in place, opportunity in the market.”
— Dilip Jha, Chief Financial Officer
Healthcare
Dr. Lal PathLabs | Small Cap | Healthcare
Dr. Lal Pathlabs Limited is a leading provider of diagnostic and healthcare services in India. The company operates a vast network across the country, offering a wide range of tests for patient diagnosis, disease prevention, monitoring, and treatment. They cater to individual patients, hospitals, healthcare providers, and corporate clients.
[Concall]
The Middle East war has not yet impacted raw material costs or availability due to existing inventory and long-term contracts, but potential supply chain impacts could arise if the conflict persists beyond 3-4 months.
“Bino, as of now, no, because we are, obviously, we have ample sufficient inventory for the next 3 - 4 months, and we have long - term contracts as well. Having said that, I cannot comment, I mean, what happens after 3 - 4 months. If this war continues, obviously, there will be some impact on our supply chain. I mean, because we import most of our reagents and consumables also, there are linkages with oil and all that stuff. But as of now, we are able to maintain. But yes, in the future, I do not have visibility right now.”
— Ved Prakash Goel, Group CFO and CEO, International Business
The incorporation of a Dubai subsidiary is part of a 3-5 year international expansion strategy, aiming for on-ground operations in new geographies, including the Middle East, beyond existing presence in Nepal and Bangladesh.
“As I mentioned on the last call as well that we are making inroad to our international expansion. It is not something immediate, but over a period of, let us suppose, next 3 - 5 years, we are looking to expand a few of the geographies. Right now, we have an on ground presence in Nepal and Bangladesh. But we are looking at some of the new geography on ground operations, including the Middle East. This incorporation is in line with that expansion plan.”
— Ved Prakash Goel, Group CFO and CEO, International Business
Delhi NCR’s sustained double-digit growth is attributed to strong brand equity, channel activation, improved service levels, added testing locations to enhance turnaround time, and a focus on specialized portfolios.
“I think, firstly, on Delhi NCR, I think it has a lot to do with maybe all the things that you said because we have got a very strong brand equity and presence. We have just tried to activate all our channels, including our own infrastructure, our partners as well as improved our service levels. I think I had mentioned in one of the previous calls, we have also added a few testing locations in Delhi NCR to improve the turnaround time. And a lot of work is happening on the specialized portfolio as well. It is an all - around effort, which is carrying on. And then we are seeing results and that is how Delhi NCR growth at double digits is getting sustained.”
— Shankha Banerjee, Chief Executive Officer
Despite 39% of revenue from Tier 3+ geographies, the realization per patient is not dilutive because the company employs a cluster-based pricing strategy, maintaining consistent prices within regions.
“I think this is a discussion we have been pondering in the last quite a few of these calls and you see close to 39% of our revenues is now coming from Tier 3 plus geographies, and we have a realization, which is in front of you. So obviously, it cannot be dilutive and I think I have tried to explain it in the past as well. The way we run our pricing is actually in clusters. So it is not as if I move from a city like Lucknow to, let us say, a city or a town, which is smaller nearby, the pricing is going to change. The pricing in that cluster is actually the same.”
— Shankha Banerjee, Chief Executive Officer
Metal
Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd | Mid Cap | Iron & Steel
Lloyds Metals & Energy is a major Indian iron ore mining and sponge iron manufacturing company. It is currently executing a large-scale vertical integration strategy to become an integrated steel producer while diversifying into copper and cobalt mining.
Management is seeing strong demand traction in both steel and iron ore markets, while guiding for a sharp increase in iron ore and pellet sales in FY27.
“Price inflation is there. In fact, the market is very, very steady upward. There’s a very good demand traction both in steel and therefore in iron. The projection for this year is around 27 million tons of sales around 7 and a half million tons to 8 million tons of pellet sales.”
— Rajesh Gupta, MD, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.
The company expects its steel plant to be commissioned by the end of the year, marking a major transition toward becoming a fully integrated steel producer.
“And to add to that, we will be having around 800,000 tons of DR sales as well as around 150,000 tons of steel sales. It will be commissioned by the end of this year.”
— Rajesh Gupta, MD, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.
Management highlighted that copper and cobalt assets could become meaningful long-term contributors as production scales up over the coming years.
“That’s right. Yes that’s right. We anticipate around 10,000 tons this year from the sura assets. And around which will be ramped up to 30,000 tons ultimately.”
— Rajesh Gupta, MD, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.
The company plans to continue aggressive expansion through large-scale capex while maintaining relatively controlled debt levels.
“We invested 8,000 crores this year FY26 and this year should be around 12,000 crores. Last 3 years we have invested around 30,500 crores. Our net debt is only 4,000 crores even now.”
— Rajesh Gupta, MD, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.
Management hinted at a potential future IPO for its mining and infrastructure business to unlock valuation upside.
“Being a more steady business we think that the valuation should be given a better multiple and at some point of time we would go in for an IPO. The detailing is yet being done and is on the drawing board but that’s not off the cards.”
— Rajesh Gupta, MD, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.
Engineering & Capital Goods
Bharat Forge | Large Cap | Auto & Defence
Bharat Forge is a global manufacturing and engineering company with leadership across automotive forgings, industrial components, defence, and aerospace systems. While strong demand in North American trucks, defence, and data centre-linked exports is driving aggressive FY27 growth guidance, the bigger shift appears to be the company’s push toward high-technology manufacturing beyond traditional automotive markets.
Management is projecting strong growth across both automotive and defence businesses, indicating robust demand visibility across core segments.
“I think the automotive segment, including the industrial segment, we are likely to see a growth of almost 25% plus. Including the industrial side of the growth and the defence business, we are likely to see a growth of about 50%.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
The company is seeing strong demand from the US truck market and rapidly growing opportunities linked to data centre infrastructure.
“As far as the automotive and industrial business is concerned, there’s a strong growth in the US truck market. That’s one part. Second, there’s a strong growth in the data centre business, especially for people who supply standby power equipment to data centres.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
Bharat Forge believes raw material inflation will not materially impact margins due to pass-through arrangements, while technology initiatives are helping reduce operational costs.
“As far as raw materials are concerned, it’s a direct pass through, so it’s not a problem for us, and our customers understand it. Using a lot of technology, including AI and digital technology, we are reducing our cost quite substantially.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
Management is targeting meaningful cost reductions through AI and digital technologies, particularly in defence product development.
“We are targeting by next year at least a 5 to 7% cost reduction. We are using a lot of AI and digital technologies to design our new product, especially in the defence sector.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
The use of AI in product development is sharply reducing the time required to design and launch defence products, improving speed-to-market.
“We are using a lot of AI and digital technologies to design our new product, especially in the defence sector. What normally would take two to three years to make, we are able to make it in less than one year.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
Management is actively exploring expansion opportunities in defence and aerospace while also building internal explosives manufacturing capabilities.
“We are looking at inorganic growth largely in the defence and aerospace sector going forward. We are setting up our own explosives facility.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
The company expects a new technology-led export business to become a meaningful contributor by FY27, reducing dependence on traditional automotive markets.
“Going forward for FY27, it’ll be roughly close to 100 million dollars in terms of exports of components to these companies, which we were not doing before, and I think this will only keep going up. We are trying to build a large technology-based component business going forward.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
Management emphasised that Bharat Forge is consciously diversifying beyond automotive into higher-technology manufacturing segments.
“We don’t want to be dependent only on the automotive market, although that’s a big market for us.”
— Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge
Larsen & Toubro Limited | Large Cap | Engineering & Construction
Larsen & Toubro is a leading Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and financial services. The company executes large-scale turnkey EPC projects and high-tech manufacturing across global markets, particularly in India and the Middle East.
[Concall]
The company maintains a massive 3 trillion rupee order book in the Middle East despite ongoing regional geopolitical tensions. This concentration highlights both the company’s dependency on the region for growth and its proactive management of supply chain risks.
“On the Middle East situation, we would like to clarify that all our project sites are functioning as of today. All our employees and workforce are safe and none of our projects have been cancelled. The Middle East remains a strategically significant market for Larsen & Toubro, and as of March 31, 2026, we have an order book of almost 3 trillion coming from the region. While we do anticipate some near-term impact on execution, primarily due to supply chain constraints, we are working closely with our clients on alternate routes and logistic arrangements to ensure minimal disruption.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
Project award deferments in the Middle East are subsiding as bidding resumes, and L&T is actively negotiating with clients to mitigate the material increases in logistics and insurance costs.
“While we did observe some deferments in project awards during the period when the conflict was most active, the bidding activity since then has resumed and we do not foresee cancellations of projects in which we are actively participating. In terms of input costs, the most significant impact has been in logistics and insurance, which have increased materially. We engage in active discussions with the clients to seek appropriate relief for such costs.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
High costs from finishing older projects dragged down margins in the energy division during the final quarter. Management anticipates a recovery in profitability as the portfolio shifts toward newer, more favorably priced contracts.
“The energy segment margin in Q4 FY26 is at 6.5% as compared to 8.2% in Q4 of the previous year. Cost overruns and close-out costs in legacy projects impacted the segment margin. As mentioned in the previous quarter, we expect the margin to improve in this segment after a couple of quarters.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
L&T is aggressively scaling its real estate business, which saw pre-sales double over the past year. The structural consolidation suggests the company is preparing this segment for a potential future value-unlocking event or independent listing.
“In parallel, the Realty business has also more than doubled its pre-sales to 94 billion in FY26, aided by successful launches in Noida and Panvel. The primary focus of the Realty business was to create a simplified and scalable structure through consolidation of all the group real estate undertakings under a single platform.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
The company is committing substantial capital to future-tech sectors like green hydrogen and semiconductors to diversify its long-term revenue streams. While these investments are large, they signal a shift toward becoming a technology-led industrial conglomerate.
“Within new businesses over the plan period, we envisage a capital outlay of approximately 50 billion toward industrial electronics, 30 billion into the semiconductor business largely for proprietary IPs, 150 billion in green hydrogen, and around 100 billion toward the data center business. The pace and scale of data center investments may change depending on final partnership structures.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
L&T is actively managing supply chain risks and increased logistics costs by seeking customer agreement for reimbursements, otherwise slowing project progress, as alternative routes and declining costs offer some relief.
“The biggest risk is the supply chain, but it is continuously getting better. There are more movements now between the GCC countries and some alternate routes have opened up. Of course, the cost is high, so we are taking a very measured approach. If the customer agrees to the increased logistics cost to keep the project progressing, then we proceed. If not, we find other ways and we are carefully calibrating that. We are not going ahead and incurring the cost unless the customer is ready to reimburse; otherwise, we are slowing down and will move the material when the cost comes down.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
L&T is shifting toward a modular manufacturing model to reduce the complexity and risk of working at overseas sites. This strategy allows them to bid for global projects while keeping high-value engineering and fabrication within their controlled facilities.
“We will try to reduce site intensity, becoming geography agnostic by manufacturing items in our fabrication shops in India and the Middle East and shipping them globally. For example, we handled an EPC contract for a urea plant in Australia where most parts were modularly fabricated in our Kattupalli yard and shipped, with only commissioning work done locally.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
Management believes the period of margin pressure from old, low-margin energy contracts is finally coming to an end. The conclusion of these ‘legacy’ jobs should lead to visible margin expansion in the energy segment in the coming quarters.
“We have had legacy projects at terminal stages of completion. Most of these are nearly finished or in the handover phase, with only the defects liability period remaining. We believe those projects are concluded and we should not see further cost creeps.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
L&T is targeting the high-computing data center market by developing AI-enabled facilities for global hyperscalers and quantum computing clients, aiming for 200 MW capacity, rather than just traditional real estate development.
“There are two distinct business models for data centers. One is developing real estate and collecting yields based on tenancy, which we are not excited about. We want our data centers to be AI-enabled, with servers and GPUs to enable high computing. Global hyperscalers and quantum computing organizations would be our clients. The current thinking is to create 200 MW of data center capacity over time.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
Despite the focus on diversification, L&T remains heavily reliant on the Middle East to meet its double-digit growth targets. This region is expected to remain a primary driver of the company’s order book for the foreseeable future.
“International orders should continue to contribute around 50% of the total. Middle East will continue to be our core market. We cannot provide that level of growth without the Middle East. We are very optimistic about that region.”
— P. Ramakrishnan, CFO
Polycab India Limited | Large Cap | Electrical Equipment
Polycab India is the largest manufacturer of wires and cables in India with a growing presence in the fast-moving electrical goods sector. The company operates an extensive distribution network across India and exports products to over 90 countries globally.
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Management is moving forward with a massive investment plan to expand manufacturing capacity while maintaining a very strong cash position. This suggests the company is well-prepared to fund its own growth without needing to take on significant debt.
“We remain on track to execute our planned capex program of 60 billion to 80 billion rupees over the next five years, which will further enhance our capabilities, scale, and innovation. We have also strengthened our balance sheet with net cash increasing to 41.9 billion rupees, reflecting disciplined cash flow management.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The vast majority of the company’s investment budget is being funneled back into its core cable business. This focused spending plan aims to cement their market leadership while keeping small portions for developing their consumer goods division.
“Regarding capex focus areas in FY27, per Project Spring guidance, around 90% will go into cable and wire capacity expansion alone. About 5% will go into backward integration and another 3-4% may go into FMEG expansion.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The company is rebuilding its sales infrastructure in the U.S. to boost international sales and diversify its revenue away from the domestic market. Investors should watch for increased export contributions to help stabilize earnings during local slowdowns.
“Additionally, we have reestablished our distribution network in the United States, which we believe will enhance our reach and further strengthen our export business over time. EBITDA margin for the wires and cable business stood at 13.1%.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The company sees a wide range of industrial and high-tech sectors driving long-term demand for its core products. This broad demand base reduces the risk of being overly dependent on any single industry for growth.
“Sectors like utilities, metals, semiconductors, oil and gas, manufacturing, logistics; all of this is going to convert into strong demand for cable and wires. Also, there are new demand pockets which are yet to fully unfold or we are yet to fully exploit the opportunity there. Areas like defense and data centers are yet to pick up in a big way.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The solar products business achieved two-fold year-on-year growth, becoming the largest category in the FMEG portfolio, driven by structural tailwinds.
Polycab’s solar business provides integrated rooftop and distributed solar solutions — including solar cables, inverters, PV modules, and balance-of-system components — leveraging its electrical distribution ecosystem.
“Our solar products business was a standout performer, delivering two-fold year-on-year growth and emerging as the largest category within the FMEG portfolio.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
Polycab is currently using about three-quarters of its available manufacturing space while simultaneously building more. This strategy ensures they have the physical capacity to meet sudden jumps in demand without losing orders to competitors.
“In terms of capacity utilization, on a full-year basis, we were at mid-70s, around 75%. There is room for growth there, plus we are adding capacity. Looking at our capex guidance, we have already pumped 1,500 crore in this financial year, which will add to our capacity.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The company is entering the extra-high-voltage cable market, which is a specialized segment currently reliant on imports. Successfully launching this capacity will allow Polycab to compete for high-value infrastructure projects and improve margins.
“EHV is very much on track. Capacity is expected to come on stream by the end of this calendar year. In FY28, we can see some addition in revenue from EHV because it is a tender-based business and we see a ready market. About 50% of domestic consumption today is coming from imports.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
Polycab protects itself from supply shortages and cost spikes by manufacturing many of its own raw material compounds. This vertical integration provides a major competitive edge in cost control and supply chain reliability.
“We completely pass on all raw material prices, be it aluminum, copper, or PVC. There has been no challenge. Regarding the availability of XLPE and other compounds, thanks to our backward integration, we typically purchase only raw resins and do compounding in-house.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
The company was able to quickly adjust its sales prices to match the rising cost of metals like copper and aluminum. This speed in adjusting prices is crucial for maintaining stable profit margins when commodity markets are volatile.
“In the very first fortnight of January, we were able to pass on everything, so we were completely in tandem with the raw material price throughout the quarter. There is nothing we are withholding; we have completely passed it on.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
High raw material prices, like PVC increasing 60-80% in early March, and geopolitical conflict negatively impacted distributor lifting and primary sales, reflecting broader industry sentiment.
“Our business model is such that 90% of our business happens through channels. The trade sentiment itself, with all the raw material prices going up — even PVC prices went up by 60% to 80% in the first fortnight of March — plus the sentiment from the West Asia conflict, there was definitely some impact in terms of lifting from our distributors.”
— Shashank Jagani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations
Kyle Chan on China’s industrial power and entrepreneurship
If you’ve been tuning in lately, you’d know we’re hosting a lot more podcasts with experts we admire and read.
We recently spoke to Kyle Chan, one of the sharpest minds we read to understand China - we’ve often featured his insights on The Daily Brief. Our conversation dives deep into the dynamics that shape China’s manufacturing landscape. It goes into the nature of Chinese entrepreneurship, how China’s price wars affect innovation (and vice versa), why China’s policies are far less all-knowing than people assume, and how China wields its manufacturing prowess as a geopolitical power. Do give it a listen!
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 Meher, Shahid, Srusti & 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.
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