Welcome to the 106th edition of The Chatter — a newsletter where we dig through what India’s biggest companies are saying and bring you the most interesting bits of insight, whether about the business, its sector, or the wider economy. We read every major Indian earnings call and listen to the interviews so you don’t have to.
We’re always eager to improve—please share your ideas on how else we can innovate “The Chatter” format to better serve your needs.
In this edition, we have covered an interview with Sunil Bharti Mittal and 6 companies across 5 industries
Interview
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Engineering & Capital Goods
Hitachi Energy India Limited
Titagarh Rail Systems Limited
Healthcare
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Consumer Durables
Wakefit Innovations
Trading
Redington
Energy
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions
Interview
Sunil Bharti Mittal | AI Bubble | 6G India
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has spent five decades building the group into a global telecom giant. Marking Bharti’s 50th anniversary on NDTV’s *Walk the Talk*, Mittal outlines Airtel’s next major pivot across sovereign AI compute, satellite connectivity guardrails, premium tariff repair, consumer lending, and professional governance.
Management is leveraging its massive telecom user base to pivot into financial services through a new lending business. This allows the company to use its unique customer data to offer credit to people who are typically ignored by traditional banks.
“Today, our core telecom business is settled, our balance sheet is strong, and cash flows are robust. Simultaneously, the technology landscape is shifting rapidly across space connectivity, AI, data centres, and data sovereignty. With 400 million customers in India, we are particularly excited about financial services. Having built a massive fintech franchise in Africa, and given that Airtel Payments Bank in India cannot lend directly, we launched our NBFC arm, Airtel Money. Because we understand our customers’ attributes and usage patterns, we can make far more informed underwriting decisions, especially for new-to-credit consumers whom traditional lenders overlook.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Airtel aims to become a top leader in India’s AI infrastructure by using its existing ownership of fibre networks and subsea cables. They plan to offer more than just storage by providing full-scale computing power while keeping Indian data within the country.
“Building an AI data centre requires three basic ingredients: land, buildings, and power. We do not claim any unique specialisation in acquiring land or constructing buildings—any real estate developer can put up a structure—and while we access power externally, one of our subsidiaries is evaluating clean energy generation. Where Airtel holds a decisive advantage is connectivity. We own massive terrestrial fibre networks and subsea cables that competing data centres themselves rely upon. Combined with our purchasing power for GPUs, our goal is not merely housing servers, but providing enterprise compute, inference, and token generation at national scale. India’s consumer data and digital attributes must remain within Indian borders and in Indian hands. That imperative will give rise to two to four major domestic AI infrastructure champions, and Airtel will be one of them.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Management believes the AI sector will face a market correction similar to the dot-com bust, which will eventually favour large, disciplined companies. India is positioned to benefit from this because it has invested less speculatively and can attract global capital as other markets face political or geographic limits.
“It mirrors the dot-com bubble—everyone warned about excess; it eventually burst severely, yet the internet itself only grew stronger. Similarly, artificial intelligence and superintelligence are permanent; once humanity accesses machine intelligence, it will not give it up. That said, there will inevitably be casualties along the way, particularly among intermediary neocloud players reselling capacity between providers and end-users. Once the froth settles, disciplined, large-scale incumbents will emerge much stronger, just as Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Apple did after the dot-com bust. Crucially, India is insulated from this bubble because our cumulative AI data centre commitments are still modest compared to the United States. In fact, a global cooling of speculative froth—combined with local political pushback halting data centre builds in parts of the US and geopolitical restrictions preventing Western firms from placing compute in China—will redirect serious capital and inference demand toward India.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
The company is prepared for competition from global satellite players like Starlink as long as all security and data control remains within India. Airtel’s OneWeb venture has already cleared these regulatory hurdles by building local ground stations that ensure government oversight.
“Satellite communications are essential for enterprise connectivity across remote oil rigs, forests, mountains, and maritime routes, as well as modern drone-centric defence warfare. Foreign satellite constellations can operate in India, provided the security kill switch, control centres, and lawful interception sit strictly on Indian soil. Our OneWeb joint venture has already built and received security clearance for two ground stations in Mehsana and Kochi, ensuring every signal lands locally without unmonitored inter-satellite links bypassing Indian oversight. Once those sovereign security conditions are met, commercial competition between OneWeb, Starlink, and Amazon’s satellite network is completely fine.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
The company plans to increase revenues by targeting wealthier customers with higher tariffs rather than raising prices for low-income users. By using 5G technology to create premium service levels, they can justify higher prices for those who use the most data.
“As for pricing, India offers the cheapest mobile data in the world at ₹7 to ₹10 a day, powering UPI, digital banking, and entertainment. Tariff repair does not need to burden entry-level users on ₹200 plans; rather, affluent consumers who effortlessly tip ₹500 at a five-star hotel should not be paying ₹500 a month for massive data consumption when they can easily pay ₹2,000. Using 5G network slicing, we can offer premium lanes while keeping our shared network accessible across every income tier.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Airtel is delaying massive 6G investment until it sees returns on its current 5G spending, with a full rollout not expected until 2030. When it arrives, 6G is expected to shift focus from smartphones to wearable devices that will significantly increase network traffic.
“For telecom operators, 6G conversations are somewhat premature because the industry has yet to monetise the ₹1.5 lakh crore invested in 5G spectrum and network rollouts. Conceptually, 6G will be an ambient sensing network. Smartphones will become secondary devices like tablets, while smart glasses, rings, and earbuds continuously sense your surroundings, translate languages in real time, and support personal AI agents that generate 100 times more network traffic than human users. Early previews like Meta’s smart glasses point in that direction, and we expect commercial 6G rollouts in India around 2030.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
By starting its own lending unit (NBFC), Airtel will move from earning simple commissions to keeping the full profit from loans. This shift follows a successful testing period where they used anonymised data to prove they could accurately identify safe borrowers.
“Airtel Payments Bank has scaled into a profitable financial inclusion platform with 100 million customers, nearly ₹4,000 crore in revenue, and ₹4,000 crore in deposits, but regulations prohibit payments banks from lending. For over a year and a half, we operated as a loan service provider for partners like Bajaj Finance, earning distribution commissions. Crucially, we never hand over individual customer data; we share anonymised, white-label metadata cohorts indicating creditworthiness under strict RBI guardrails. Having validated that model, launching our own NBFC—Airtel Finance—allows us to capture the full lending spread on our own balance sheet, which we believe can scale into a substantial business.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Airtel’s major stake in British Telecom is a strategic value play focused on the UK’s massive fibre network expansion. The company expects significant returns as BT improves its cash flow and capitalises on much higher revenue per user compared to the Indian market.
“BT is a national critical infrastructure champion—a gem with a bit of dust on it. By next month, it will pass 25 million UK homes with fibre, generating ARPUs closer to $30 rather than $3. By supporting management in streamlining costs and achieving its £3 billion annual free cash flow target, we see tremendous value creation, much like other Indian groups acquiring industrial and port assets across Europe.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
The founder has completely decentralised financial decision-making, allowing professional CEOs to manage billions in annual spending independently. This governance model prioritises alignment between the board and management to prevent the type of conflict often seen in family-run businesses.
“Empowering professional managers has been an article of faith for me from day one. I stopped signing checks 40 years ago; today, our teams deploy ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 crore annually in India and ₹10,000 crore in Africa without a single rupee coming to me for sign-off. My role is to ensure leaders like Gopal Vittal, Shashwat Sharma, Sunil Taldar, and Allison Kirkby succeed—if they win, I win. When you pair empowered executives with a genuinely independent board, governance clashes do not happen; if a serious disagreement ever arises and management and the board are aligned, the shareholder must yield.”
— Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel
Engineering & Capital Goods
Hitachi Energy India Limited | Large Cap
Hitachi Energy India is a global leader in power technologies and grid solutions, serving utility and industrial customers. The company specialises in manufacturing and maintaining high-voltage direct current systems, transformers, and digital grid infrastructure.
Management attributes the recent margin pressure to upfront costs associated with investing in future capacity and market reach. Investors should expect profitability to improve as higher-margin segments like exports and services grow alongside revenue scale.
“In our view, the second quarter delivered a well-rounded performance driven by strong market momentum that propelled both order intake and revenue growth, creating a record order backlog. Hitachi Energy’s portfolio acts as a bridge between generation—including renewable energy—transmission, distribution, and end consumption, and all of these vectors are performing strongly. As a long-term player, we are investing ahead of the curve in market development and capital expenditure, which naturally brings upfront costs. As our revenue continues to scale, operating leverage will kick in, and combined with our strategic push into high-margin services and exports, we expect margins to normalise and improve going forward. While we do not issue explicit numerical margin guidance, our focus remains on sharpening execution capabilities, maintaining cost discipline, and driving top-line growth.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
The company is aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint with a large capital expenditure plan to support high revenue conversion. This strategy focuses on capturing new growth areas like battery storage and data centres to utilise the new capacity.
“I would answer that in two parts. First, we are currently clocking nearly ₹3,000 crore in quarterly revenue—₹2,996 crore in Q2—meaning we are rapidly converting incoming backlog into revenue through strong execution, a trajectory we expect to sustain. Second, we are investing ₹4,000 crore in capex across multiple brownfield and greenfield factory expansions. Expanding our manufacturing capacity to serve a larger market naturally requires higher order inflows. To capture that demand, we are expanding into new growth areas such as battery energy storage systems and introducing new offerings like our grid-to-rack solutions for data centres. Given current market momentum, we will continue pursuing strong order inflows across these expanding segments.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
The company is positioning itself to benefit from the massive scale-up of data centre power requirements across the Asia-Pacific region. The transition to multi-gigawatt campuses represents a significantly larger addressable market than traditional data centre projects.
“That is a great question, and as I shared on our earnings call, Hitachi Energy India’s data centre focus is strictly India and the broader APAC region—including markets like Malaysia, Thailand, and parts of Australia—rather than the United States. I recently attended Data Centre World in Singapore, and discussions with hyperscalers and colocation operators confirmed tremendous growth appetite across India and APAC. Moreover, the power intensity of these facilities is scaling dramatically, with 1-gigawatt, 2-gigawatt, and even 3-gigawatt data centre campuses now being planned.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
Hitachi is targeting a structural shift in its revenue mix toward higher-margin exports and specialised services. Growing data centres into a double-digit revenue contributor will likely diversify the company beyond its core transmission business.
“Core transmission—including HVDC and renewable grid integration—will remain the solid foundation of our order book, while newer vectors expand their share. Data centres, which currently represent a low single-digit share, should grow into a double-digit contributor over time. Exports, currently around 25% of our mix, could move closer to 30%. Services will also be a major driver for both top-line and bottom-line performance. Historically underpenetrated, we have carved services into a dedicated business unit, and it grew substantially quarter-on-quarter as emerging industrial customers in semiconductor and battery manufacturing increasingly seek digital layers for predictive and preventive maintenance suites.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
Management explains that current profitability is being squeezed by external factors like shipping costs and inflation despite high demand. They expect that scaling revenue against fixed costs will eventually drive the margin recovery.
“We do not provide forward-looking margin guidance, as we are currently navigating two powerful forces: exceptionally strong demand on one hand, and geopolitical headwinds—including shipping bottlenecks, higher freight rates, inflation, and commodity cost pressures—on the other. Over time, operating leverage will support margin realisation as revenue scales against a steady fixed-cost base, reinforced by the growing share of high-margin exports and services.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
The company indicates that raw material and logistics costs have not yet softened as anticipated. This suggests that the cost-related pressure on gross margins may persist for a while longer.
“We have not seen those costs come down yet, though we expect some moderation going forward.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
This quote provides clarity on how quickly the current order backlog will translate into reported revenue. Investors can expect most of the non-HVDC backlog to be realised within a two-year timeframe.
“Revenue is recognised upon product shipment. Our order book blends long-gestation HVDC contracts—which typically take 40 to 54 months to execute—with standard product systems that convert over an 18-to-24-month cycle. Excluding HVDC, our broader backlog generally executes within 18 to 24 months, phasing continuously as fresh orders come in each quarter.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
The management expects its high capital expenditure to be very efficient, targeting an asset turnover of four to five times. This indicates high productivity for the new manufacturing plants once they reach full capacity.
“Because these are technology-intensive manufacturing facilities, there is naturally a brief stabilisation period after commissioning before reaching full utilisation. On a ballpark basis, once fully loaded, we expect these new assets to generate an asset turnover of roughly four to five times over time.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
Management expresses high confidence that their new investments will mirror the returns of current operations. This optimism is based on the continued strength of the power sector and emerging industrial markets.
“Absolutely. That outlook is underpinned by our strong conviction that core market momentum will hold steady while new industrial segments continue to scale.”
— N. Venu, Managing Director & CEO
Titagarh Rail Systems Limited | Small Cap
Titagarh Rail Systems is a leading Indian private sector manufacturer of freight wagons, passenger coaches, and metro trains. The company is strategically pivoting from a freight-heavy business toward high-value passenger rail, shipbuilding, and specialised engineering components.
Management intentionally slowed wagon production while waiting for new contracts but is now ready to ramp up significantly. This transition back to high-volume manufacturing by the fourth quarter suggests a recovery in the company’s core freight revenues.
“In the freight rail segment, Q2 wagon dispatches were slightly subdued, with nearly 1,200 wagons delivered. As indicated in our previous earnings call, we deliberately calibrated production while awaiting clarity on new tenders. Since then, new orders have materialised, providing clear visibility on our forward runway. We are now upgrading production plans to reach a run-rate of 1,000 wagons per month, a target we are confident of achieving by Q4.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
The company has achieved a critical production milestone in its high-margin passenger segment, which now accounts for a third of total revenue. This shift in execution capability is vital for investors as it proves the company can manage more complex engineering projects beyond standard freight wagons.
“Crucially, we reached a major milestone in our passenger coach business, hitting an annualised run-rate of 200 cars. We dispatched 51 metro coaches in Q2, up from 30 in Q1. The passenger segment now contributes roughly 30% to 35% of overall revenue. Including our joint venture share, our total order book stands near ₹28,800 to ₹29,000 crore, heavily weighted toward the passenger segment. Scaling up wagon production is straightforward given our order visibility and resolved supply chains, but the most important strategic achievement this quarter was successfully scaling our passenger rail execution.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
A large new wagon order has cleared up previous concerns about the freight segment’s pipeline and provided a clear production schedule for the coming months. Management’s confidence in structural demand growth suggests that the recent slowdown was temporary and not a sign of long-term weakness.
“The recent order is an extension of our prior contract. We secured an additional 5,000 wagons valued at roughly ₹1,700 crore plus taxes. This provides immediate execution visibility for about 9,000 to 10,000 wagons while we await the larger upcoming tender. What is very encouraging is the underlying macroeconomic traffic growth within the railway network, which is structurally reviving wagon demand. We expect the recent aberration of low order flows to remain firmly behind us. For Q3, we anticipate wagon dispatches averaging 600 to 700 units per month, accelerating to 1,000 per month by Q4.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Management has outlined specific delivery targets for both metro and Vande Bharat projects for the next fiscal year. Meeting these timelines will be critical for the company to justify its valuation as a specialised rolling stock manufacturer.
“By FY26, we will be delivering both metro coaches and Vande Bharat trainsets. We remain on track to have the first Vande Bharat trainset ready by Q4 of the current financial year. According to the strategic plan outlined last year, we are targeting the delivery of roughly 240 to 260 metro cars next year. For Vande Bharat, speaking from memory, our target is to dispatch approximately 8 to 10 trainsets in the next financial year.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
The company is aiming for a complete reversal of its historical revenue mix, targeting passenger rail as its primary business driver. This transformation is expected to lead to higher entry barriers and more sustainable long-term profitability.
“Excluding joint ventures, our standalone order book is approximately ₹15,000 crore, of which ₹10,000 to ₹11,000 crore comes from the passenger segment and ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 crore from freight. Our strategic target is for the passenger segment to contribute at least 60% of our standalone revenue by FY28-FY29.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
The railway wheel joint venture is moving toward commercialisation, which will eventually contribute to the company’s bottom line without increasing direct debt. This backward integration into wheel manufacturing is a strategic move to secure the supply chain and improve margins.
“We remain largely within our original capex budget. Because this is a joint venture, revenues will not be consolidated; instead, our share of profit will be recognised on the bottom line. The current year is primarily dedicated to stabilisation and trial production. Meaningful margins and profit accretion will begin in the coming financial year. As our partners recently confirmed, the facility will reach full commercial scale, including Phase 2, by 2030.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Current infrastructure limitations in shipbuilding are being addressed by a new facility that will come online next year. This expansion indicates a secondary growth engine that will start contributing materially to revenue within the next 24 months.
“Scaling shipbuilding will take time. We are currently manufacturing vessels at our existing Titagarh yard, which faces infrastructure constraints, particularly regarding water and air drafts, as vessels must navigate beneath the Howrah Bridge. To resolve this, we are establishing a new facility in Falta, which will be operational by FY26, allowing us to build a wider variety of larger vessels. You will see a meaningful ramp-up beginning in FY26, with the business reaching its full potential by FY27 and FY28.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Management has provided a roadmap for the shipbuilding division to become a multi-thousand crore revenue business at peak capacity. This guidance gives investors a metric to track the success of the company’s diversification beyond rail.
“At full capacity, we target producing about 18 specialised vessels annually. Depending on the exact specifications, we estimate a ballpark revenue of ₹100 crore to ₹150 crore per vessel, translating to roughly ₹1,800 crore to ₹2,400 crore in annual revenue at peak potential.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
The company has completely cleared all financial and legal ties to its former Italian subsidiary, ensuring no future losses from that venture. This removal of contingent liabilities improves the quality of the balance sheet and reduces risk for equity holders.
“No, there is absolutely zero residual liability. We have fully provisioned for it and formally declared this in our March results. To clarify, the operating business and assets of Firema were successfully sold to the Italian State Railways; only the empty shell company was placed into voluntary liquidation. All necessary provisions and outstanding financial obligations were fully squared up and accounted for in our balance sheet as of March 31. Titagarh Rail Systems will accrue no further liabilities on account of Firema.”
— Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Healthcare
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals | Mid Cap
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals is a global research-led pharmaceutical company focused on generics, speciality medicines, and innovative proprietary drugs. The firm maintains a strong presence in dermatology, oncology, and respiratory therapies with significant operations in India, North America, and emerging markets.
The company front-loaded expenses in the first half of the year to build its sales force and scale its oncology division. This investment is expected to provide significant operating leverage in the second half, bringing margins back to the 21% to 22% target range.
“If we adjust for the licensing income and one-off items, our core operating margin this quarter was above 21%, which is nearly a full percentage point higher than the corresponding quarter last year. During the first half of the year, we consciously absorbed higher operating expenses to fund growth initiatives: we expanded our field force across India and emerging markets, and we are actively scaling our global oncology franchise. Those upfront investments will begin yielding strong operating leverage in the second half. Additionally, our upcoming US product launches—which have already supported over 25% US growth in the first half—will further consolidate our margins. Our emerging markets portfolio continues to fire, particularly in Russia and the APAC region across both dermatology and respiratory segments. We are now the sixth-largest player in the Russian dermatology market. Despite geopolitical challenges, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is showing resilience, and our recent launches across Latin America—specifically in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia—are gaining strong traction. Consequently, the operating leverage from our H1 investments will make H2 substantially stronger, keeping us firmly on track to meet our guided margin targets.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
Management is smoothing out the accounting impact of a large one-time licensing deal by recognising income in fixed quarterly instalments. This approach provides better visibility into core earnings and reduces the volatility typically seen in companies with licensing-heavy models.
“When we executed the ISB 2001 licensing deal last year, we adopted a policy to defer a portion of that income to align with the core accounting principle of matching revenues against corresponding expenses. Consequently, we are steadily recognising $17.5 million of that deferred income through the P&L every quarter. As we recognise this income quarterly, the residual portion sitting on the balance sheet continues to amortise down.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
Glenmark has taken direct control of its blockbuster drug Ryaltris in the US market to fix underperformance from a previous partnership. Investors should note the ambitious long-term target of $300 million in sales, which would significantly boost the company’s speciality revenue mix.
“Ryaltris is one of our strongest global brands, competing in a $3.5 billion global market. Across the first half, the Ryaltris franchise has grown by nearly 40% globally, and we expect to close the year generating more than $130 million from this single asset alone. While the product was performing exceptionally well in Europe and other international regions, its US trajectory was subdued under our previous external commercial partner. Recognising the asset’s potential, we repatriated the entire US marketing and sales operation in-house. That direct control is already generating strong traction, and we expect that momentum to consolidate further in H2. Over the next three to four years, we project the global Ryaltris franchise will scale beyond $300 million.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
After a period of stagnation, the North American business is entering a structural growth phase driven by direct commercialisation and new manufacturing capacity. The projection of 25% to 30% growth signals a major turnaround in one of the company’s most important geographies.
“Yes, it is sustainable. Until recently, our North American revenues were essentially flat. However, our renewed strategic focus—featuring a robust pipeline of new product launches, taking direct control of Ryaltris, and securing FDA clearance for our Monroe facility—has structurally altered that trajectory. Products manufactured at the Monroe site will begin contributing materially from FY28 onwards. We expect the North American business to deliver 25% to 30% growth this year, with further consolidation next year, firmly establishing a sustainable growth trajectory across the region.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
The company is pivoting toward a research-heavy model with a target to move one new proprietary molecule into clinical trials annually. This transition aims to build a recurring pipeline of high-value assets that can be out-licensed for significant milestone payments.
“Innovation is the cornerstone of Glenmark’s strategy to evolve into a global pharmaceutical giant, and we remain deeply committed to investing in proprietary R&D. While drug discovery is inherently a long-term journey, our pipeline is maturing. Following the ISB 2001 licensing deal, we are preparing the IND (Investigational New Drug) filing for our next major asset, ISB 2301, a penta-specific molecule. Moving forward, our target is to advance one new proprietary molecule into clinical trials every year from our innovation lab. We will maintain a dual strategy: advancing our own proprietary innovation—primarily through our Ichnos platform—while concurrently developing partnered assets. For instance, updated clinical data for ISB 2001 will be presented at the ASH (American Society of Haematology) annual meeting next month in December.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
Glenmark is advancing a unique multi-targeted molecule into human trials to treat solid tumours. Success in these early clinical stages would validate the company’s innovation platform and potentially attract global pharma partners.
“We will be filing the IND for ISB 2301 shortly. It is a highly innovative penta-specific molecule designed specifically to target solid tumours, which represents a highly differentiated and unique therapeutic approach. While we are very encouraged by the initial preclinical results, we must wait for the formal clinical trial progression to provide further definitive clinical efficacy data.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
The company is quickly scaling its oncology business through international filings and new product launches in over a dozen countries. Ranking as the fourth-largest oncology player in India demonstrates the successful execution of their specialised commercial strategy.
“We are advancing both strategies aggressively. On the partnered front, our oncology scale-up is accelerating rapidly. We have now filed for market authorisation in 13 countries for a key oncology asset and expect our first commercial launch within this financial year. For Envafolimab, we have filed in 24 countries, securing our first regulatory approval in one market alongside early-access named-patient approvals in nine others. Additionally, Phase III clinical trials for our Trusta asset in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer are actively running in India, and trial enrollment has been approved in Australia. Within the domestic market, the launch of our partnered oncology assets last year is performing exceptionally well. Driven by these innovative and differentiated products, Glenmark has now become the fourth-largest Indian pharmaceutical company in the domestic oncology space.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
Management highlights strong momentum across Russia and Latin America, particularly in core specialities like dermatology. This geographic diversity helps buffer the company against localised economic or political instability.
“Our emerging markets portfolio continues to fire, particularly in Russia and the APAC region across both dermatology and respiratory segments. We are now the sixth-largest player in the Russian dermatology market. Despite geopolitical challenges, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is showing resilience, and our recent launches across Latin America—specifically in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia—are gaining strong traction.”
— Anurag Mantri, Executive Director and Global Chief Financial Officer
Consumer Durables
Wakefit Innovations | Small Cap
Wakefit Innovations is a home solutions company that specialises in mattresses, furniture, and home furnishings. The company operates an omni-channel model with a significant presence in online sales and a growing network of company-owned retail stores across India.
Management attributed a temporary shift in festive revenue to the next quarter due to the timing of holiday sales events. This context suggests that the current growth rates remain fundamentally strong and aligned with the company’s long-term 18% to 20% annual target.
“Thank you for having me. Yes, festive demand shifted into the third quarter this year because our festive sale commenced in the second week of October, compared to the last week of September last year, moving a portion of seasonal sales into Q3. While we do not disclose monthly targets, demand momentum since the sale began has been very strong, and we remain firmly on track to achieve our full-year FY27 revenue growth guidance of 18% to 20%.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
The company faced significant margin pressure due to rising chemical costs but successfully maintained absolute profit per unit through pricing actions. This strategy prioritises cash flow stability over percentage margins during periods of commodity price volatility.
“Gross margins were impacted by sharp volatility in raw material prices, primarily TDI and polyol, which is an industry-wide headwind. However, we have protected our absolute profitability by maintaining our rupee gross margin per unit through calibrated price hikes taken over the last two quarters. We prefer not to comment on further price adjustments given ongoing commodity volatility, and any future pricing decisions will depend on how input costs evolve from here.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
Wakefit has executed substantial double-digit price increases over the last six months to offset higher input costs. The ability to implement these hikes without losing unit-level profitability demonstrates a high degree of pricing power in the mattress market.
“We have implemented cumulative price hikes of around 10% to 11% across the last two quarters. Through these adjustments, we have successfully maintained our absolute rupee gross margin per unit at the exact levels we were earning prior to the geopolitical disruptions and commodity spike.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
The company reported resilient consumer demand despite taking significant price hikes, while also seeing rapid growth in non-mattress categories. Investors should view the acceleration in furniture and furnishings as a key driver for future revenue diversification and scale.
“We have not seen any demand pushback because our pricing actions were highly calibrated. Our priority has always been to balance absolute profitability with customer affordability, ensuring we never price out our core buyers. On furniture and furnishings, as a holistic home solutions company, we want both segments to scale alongside our core mattress business. In the first half, furniture grew by roughly 17%, accelerating to 25% in Q2, while furnishings grew by more than 40% sequentially in Q2 over Q1. Both categories are seeing strong traction, and once our jumbo store format launches next year, growth across furniture and furnishings will accelerate further.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
Management declined to provide specific targets for individual business units, focusing instead on the total company performance. This approach indicates a strategy of using the mature mattress business to fuel growth across the wider home solutions portfolio.
“We do not issue segment-level growth guidance, but at a consolidated company level, we continue to target 18% to 20% annual revenue growth.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
Operating expenses rose sharply due to strategic hiring for senior roles and front-end staffing for new retail locations. These front-loaded costs are intended to support future store expansion and organisational maturity rather than representing a loss of cost control.
“The increase in employee expenses reflects three deliberate investments. First, as we have highlighted previously, we are strengthening our senior leadership team. Second, as we rapidly expand our physical retail footprint and distribution network, we are adding store and field personnel ahead of scale. Third, this quarter reflects our annual employee appraisal cycle and salary increments.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
The company aims to maintain high double-digit same-store sales growth across its existing retail footprint. Sustaining this level of organic growth is vital for maintaining margins as the company continues to invest in new store rollouts.
“While SSSG naturally fluctuates from quarter to quarter, we have historically delivered SSSG in the high-teens to mid-20s range, and we endeavour to sustain that momentum going forward.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
Wakefit is expanding its retail presence through both a new large-format jumbo store and its standard store rollout, which is currently ahead of schedule. Exceeding store addition targets could provide a significant revenue tailwind heading into the next fiscal year.
“Work on our first jumbo store is progressing well, and we expect it to go live in the second quarter of FY28. Regarding our standard COCO (company-owned, company-operated) stores, we initially guided for 80 store additions for the full year. We have already delivered a major portion of those 80 stores and remain confident in achieving—and potentially exceeding—our full-year target.”
— Parul Gupta, CFO
Trading
Redington Limited | Small Cap
Redington is a global technology distributor providing supply chain solutions for hardware and software brands across India, the Middle East, and Africa. The company has diversified into high-margin segments like cloud services, enterprise software, and specialised data centre infrastructure.
While software’s revenue share appears lower, it is actually growing at a fast pace and being outpaced by temporary surges in other divisions. This vertical is a critical driver for future profitability because its margins are significantly higher than the company’s historical average.
“This quarter, our Software Solutions Group grew 39% year-on-year, and its share stood at 15%—compared to roughly 18% historically—only because our other business units also delivered exceptional growth across Technology Solutions, Mobility, and PCs. Over the next three to five years, the Software Solutions Group will remain one of our primary growth engines, compounding at strong double-digit rates. Segment margins exceeded 6% this quarter, well above Redington’s company average, which will make it a meaningful contributor to both top-line scale and consolidated profitability in the coming years.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Explosive growth in hardware sales and pricing is currently masking the underlying expansion of the software business. Investors should watch for software to gain more prominence once the current hardware upgrade cycle begins to stabilise.
“It is difficult to pinpoint an exact percentage share because our hardware segments are also expanding rapidly right now. Our server and Technology Solutions business surged 90% this quarter on the back of CPU-to-GPU transitions and higher average selling prices, while the PC group grew 39% on higher ASPs and Mobility expanded through new product introductions, volume growth, and pricing. While I expect the Software Solutions Group to grow at roughly 40%, its revenue share will remain around 15% as long as hardware verticals sustain 40%-plus growth. Over time, however, as the current surge in hardware ASPs normalizes over the next few quarters, software solutions will naturally command a larger share of the overall mix.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Management claims that India is in the early stages of an AI infrastructure buildout, distancing the local market from global concerns about an AI bubble. This massive projected increase in data centre capacity suggests a long-term growth runway for the company’s enterprise hardware division.
“In our markets, we are nowhere near any AI bubble or demand slowdown. Within the enterprise segment, our current mix is still 85% CPU and only 15% GPU. Meanwhile, India’s neocloud and data center buildout is just getting underway, with installed capacity projected to expand from 1.5 gigawatts toward 7 gigawatts. Because our region is in the early innings compared to Western markets, we continue to see robust, uninterrupted demand across both on-premises enterprise deployments and large-scale data centers.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
The company’s core enterprise growth remains robust at over 30% even when excluding volatile large-scale data centre contracts. This indicates that the business has a strong underlying growth engine that is less dependent on landing massive individual deals.
“If you strip out the large data center deals from that 90% figure, our core business-as-usual enterprise server segment is growing at a sustainable 30% to 35% pace, supported by ongoing CPU-to-GPU migration rather than pricing alone. On top of that, we generated roughly ₹3,000 crore in revenue from Indian data centers this quarter and carry a healthy order backlog. Even though a higher base next year may moderate headline year-on-year growth from 90% to around 50%, layering data center expansion atop a 30%-plus core enterprise business will continue to deliver strong overall numbers.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Management is intentionally accepting lower margins on hardware to gain a foothold with enterprise customers. This strategy aims to create high-margin recurring revenue streams from software and services after the initial hardware setup is complete.
“Data center hardware certainly carries thinner gross margins—in fact, our consolidated gross margin this quarter would have been 5.14% rather than 4.88% excluding those large data center deals. However, winning the foundational hardware infrastructure creates a strategic entry point for our Software Solutions Group. Once a data center is deployed, we gain the opportunity to sell software licenses at roughly 6% margins, alongside professional services, managed services, cloud migration, and workload modernization at 20%-plus margins. Essentially, we use core hardware to establish customer stickiness and subsequently monetize the higher-margin software and services ecosystem around it.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Recent product launches by Apple were only partially reflected in the current quarter’s financials due to their late release dates. Management expects the full benefit of these high-demand premium products to bolster revenue in the second half of the fiscal year.
“On Apple, we captured only 15 days of sales from the new product introductions in Q2 because the launches occurred late in the quarter, so we will realize the full quarterly impact in Q3 alongside additional Apple product introductions slated for our fiscal fourth quarter. Early customer response has been very strong for the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the new foldable iPhone Duo, as well as the refreshed MacBook and iPad lineups. While higher price points may temper demand slightly at the margin, the strength of the product cycle leaves us very optimistic.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
The company’s negative cash flow is described as a side effect of its rapid growth, which requires more capital to fund inventory and receivables. Investors are being told that this is a normal part of the distribution business model during expansion phases.
“Regarding operating cash flow, as a technology distributor operating within a disciplined 35-to-40-day working capital cycle, rapid top-line expansion naturally absorbs working capital. Negative operating cash flow during periods of accelerated revenue growth is an inherent feature of our distribution model and not a cause for concern.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Operations in Turkey have been restructured to operate in US dollars to avoid currency volatility, but the business remains loss-making. The target to only break even by FY28 indicates that this geography will remain a drag on consolidated profits for several years.
“The second-quarter impact in Turkey comprised three components: roughly ₹35 crore in operating business losses, ₹40 crore in transition losses from winding down our Turkish Lira-denominated operations, and an intangible asset impairment charge. We have now completely exited the Turkish Lira business to operate exclusively in US dollars, though on a much smaller revenue base that requires rightsizing our operating expenses. While macroeconomic and liquidity challenges persist in the Turkish market, we have installed a new local leadership team and are hopeful of turning the operation around to break even in FY28, though achieving meaningful profitability will take additional time.”
— V.S. Hariharan, Managing Director & Group CEO
Energy
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions | Small Cap
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions is a leading Indian renewable energy provider catering specifically to the commercial and industrial sectors. The company specialises in hybrid solar-wind projects and integrated energy storage solutions, including large-scale green compute hubs.
The management clarifies that the Andhra Pradesh compute project is a firm contract rather than just a preliminary agreement. This provides investors with a concrete timeline for when this new business line will begin generating revenue.
“The good news is that the compute factory agreement with Neysa is already a signed customer contract, not merely an expression of intent. We have a committed customer and are targeting initial energisation and commencement of operations within calendar year 2028, driven by acute global compute shortages.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The Andhra Pradesh project is expected to double the company’s current operating scale through captive renewable energy supply. It also diversifies the business into power distribution and large-scale energy storage assets.
“On the energy side, this project unlocks three distinct growth drivers for CleanMax. First, we will supply approximately 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy to the compute factory between 2029 and 2032—comprising 3,000 megawatts in Andhra Pradesh and 2,000 megawatts from neighbouring states—which effectively matches CleanMax’s entire current operating scale and creates highly profitable captive demand. Second, because hyperscale compute facilities require massive power loads, we are entering the power distribution business by operating our own dedicated distribution company for the park. Third, to balance intermittent renewable generation with round-the-clock compute loads, we will deploy sizable storage across both Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and a 1-gigawatt pumped hydro facility in Andhra Pradesh, scaling up from 2029 onward.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
Management explained their hybrid approach to energy storage, using pumped hydro for large-scale stability and batteries for smaller projects. The compute factory provides the necessary scale to make expensive pumped hydro infrastructure financially viable.
“Battery storage and pumped hydro are complementary technologies rather than direct substitutes. Pumped hydro is far superior for long-duration storage and functions as a multi-decade infrastructure asset, provided you have a substantial anchor load to underwrite it. Having a compute factory that can underwrite 700 to 800 megawatts out of a 1,000-megawatt pumped hydro facility makes the unit economics highly attractive. Conversely, for our standard commercial and industrial installations requiring 5 to 20 megawatts of storage, building a massive pumped hydro plant is unviable, making modular battery energy storage systems the ideal choice.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The company has already secured essential grid connection rights for two-thirds of the planned capacity in Andhra Pradesh. This reduces a major execution risk for the upcoming mega-project and improves long-term visibility.
“On project certainty, out of the 3,000 megawatts of integrated renewable capacity planned in Andhra Pradesh, we have already secured power evacuation rights for nearly 2,000 megawatts. While formal land allocation and government orders follow standard administrative processes, securing grid evacuation is the most critical milestone, giving us high visibility to commission that first 2,000 megawatts in calendar years 2029 and 2030.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
Management is being transparent about the early stage of the pumped hydro segment compared to their renewable energy plans. This admission suggests a cautious approach to large infrastructure where site feasibility is still being determined.
“Regarding the 1-gigawatt pumped hydro facility, it is fair to view that component with a pinch of salt until specific project sites are finalised; the MoU reflects the state government’s commitment to showcase viable sites from which we can select one or two.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The company is pioneering a strategy of building AI data centres directly at power generation sites to avoid urban grid congestion. This approach aligns with national energy policy and could offer a significant competitive advantage over traditional data centre models.
“What makes this compute factory novel is locating power-intensive AI infrastructure directly at renewable generation hubs rather than on the outskirts of congested metro cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, or Visakhapatnam. We are establishing our first facility in Kurnool, a major power generation hub in South India. Even the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has publicly flagged concerns over massive data centre loads straining urban grids, so migrating compute capacity toward energy generation hubs will undoubtedly define the industry’s future.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The leadership team is prioritising successful delivery of their first green compute hub over rapid expansion to other states. This focus on execution suggests a disciplined approach to capital and operational management.
“Given the scale of this mega-project, our immediate priority is disciplined execution rather than attempting to multiply the model fivefold before delivering the first facility. That said, multiple state governments have expressed strong interest in this concept.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The use of dedicated power distribution licenses is a key regulatory enabler for the company’s new business model. If other states adopt this framework, it could open up a significant new addressable market across India.
“What Andhra Pradesh has executed particularly well is insulating local retail consumers from grid strain or tariff inflation by permitting dedicated power distribution licensees within the compute park, which simultaneously gives compute operators speed to market and operational flexibility. As other states adopt similar regulatory frameworks, we expect this model to proliferate nationwide.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
Management has ruled out further equity dilution for the next two to three years due to sufficient current capital and strategic partnerships. This provides clarity on the funding plan for their massive ₹50,000 crore capital expenditure program.
“We are confident that CleanMax will not require any further public equity raises for at least the next two to three years. Following our ₹1,500 crore primary capital raise during our IPO in March, alongside our NCD issuance and project-level joint ventures where institutional partners hold a 49% minority stake, we have sufficient equity capital—paired with project debt—to fully fund our growth pipeline over the next three years.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
The company expects its new capacity to generate high-margin earnings, with every megawatt contributing ₹1 crore to EBITDA. This single project has the potential to double the company’s total earnings by the end of the decade.
“On profitability, because this capacity is an optimal wind-and-solar hybrid mix, every megawatt adds roughly ₹1 crore to annual EBITDA. Consequently, commissioning 3,000 megawatts of renewable capacity will generate approximately ₹3,000 crore in incremental EBITDA. To put that into context, our guidance for next year, FY28, is a minimum of ₹3,000 crore in EBITDA, meaning this single initiative effectively doubles our earnings base as it ramps up across FY29, FY30, and FY31.”
— Kuldeep Jain, Founder and Managing Director
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