The Chatter: Tariffs & Tailwinds.
Edition #30
Welcome to the 30th 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 20 companies across 9 industries, along with some international features.
Software Services
HCL Technologies
Tech Mahindra Limited
Financial Services
HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd
Axis Bank
HDB Financial Services
SG Finserve
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company
Engineering & Capital Goods
KEI Industries
Cyient DLM
Elecon Engineering
Energy
Waaree Renewable Technologies
Media & Entertainment
DB Corp Ltd
Fertilizers
Madhya Bharat Agro Products
Tourism & Hospitality
Hotel Leelaventure Limited
Healthcare
Thyrocare Technologies
Chemicals
EPL Limited
International
Johnson & Johnson
PepsiCo
JPMorgan Chase
Delta Air Lines
Software Services
HCL Technologies | Large cap | Software Services
HCL Technologies (HCLTech) is a global information technology services and consulting company that offers a wide range of digital, engineering, cloud, and AI-powered services and products.
[Concall]
H1B visa dependency reduced to few hundred per year; company increasing local hiring and training in response to potential visa fee revisions.
“Over the years we’ve made conscious effort to reduce our reliance on visas by strategically strengthening our global delivery model. Our dependence on visa is now down to few hundred visas a year. In Q1 this year, Forbes recognized us as one of America’s best employers for new grads 2025, underscoring the success of our approach towards fostering innovation, career growth for early professionals and talent readiness. Overall, we intend to increase our local hiring and training to enhance our localization.”
– C Vijay Kumar, CEO and MD
Strategic shift from pure labor to people-plus-IP model; building enterprise-ready IP layer on top of foundation models rather than competing with OpenAI/Llama; open to significant R&D investments.
“We believe this industry will have to evolve from being a pure labor-based service provider to people plus IP and platform based service provider. And when you have the platform as a third party platform, I think there is very little leverage, very little stickiness that we can build. We believe we can really deliver very good quality vertical IP solutions which can be replicated across customers. So that is why we are investing. However, the investment that is required to create that intelligence layer that’s not something we are taking on ourselves. We are really leveraging the intelligence layer created by OpenAI and Llama and all the tech companies. We’re really creating IPs which make this intelligent layer lot more usable, scaling relevant for the enterprise. I think this is the sweet spot where we are focused on and everything goes through a rigorous kind of exercise and we are open to invest and we really don’t have a full picture on how much investments this will need but I think this is really required for the long-term vibrancy of the business.”
– C Vijay Kumar, CEO and MD
Auto vertical pipeline remains strong but decision-making delayed; stress in European auto sector is expected to eventually drive large outsourcing opportunities.
“Auto vertical pipeline continues to look very very strong but decision making is just not happening it’s taking its own time and some of the opportunities are kind of replacing incumbents and things like that. So they’re all taking a long time. But given the stress in the industry, it’s only a matter of time when we see some large outsourcing possibilities. But we have to wait it out.”
– C Vijay Kumar, CEO and MD
Tech Mahindra Limited | Large cap | Software Services
Tech Mahindra Limited provides technology consulting and digital solutions, including IT services, business process outsourcing, and network services.
[Concall]
H1B exposure minimal at under 1% of workforce and under 30% US visa dependence; three-pronged mitigation strategy in place.
“Under 1% of our global workforce is on H1Bs and our visa dependence in the US is under 30%. Obviously we’re working on a multi-prong strategy to make sure that even though our exposure is relatively low that we’re well prepared. That strategy really takes three shapes. The first is obviously to identify and firewall our key and core talent in the US because essentially a lot of the on-site piece hangs off this core workforce which I would assume would be about 25% of our workforce. So that’s the first piece. The second piece is to work even further on our US offer to the employees whether it’s in terms of savings or healthcare plans or training or learning to diversify further the sources that we use for US recruitment. And the third piece is to strengthen our existing capabilities. As you know we have a large capability to deliver from the Americas locally whether it’s from Canada, Mexico or Brazil.”
– Mohit Joshi, CEO and MD
Launched TechMorion agentic AI platform on NVIDIA with 300+ agents solving complex IT and business problems; includes marketplace ecosystem.
“I’m proud to announce that we launched TechMorion, our next generation agentic AI platform built on NVIDIA accelerated computing that enables intelligent autonomous execution of complex business workflows. TechMorion enables global enterprises to deploy AI solutions faster whether in assisted or fully autonomous environments while maintaining control and transparency throughout the AI life cycle. Our solution integrates AI agents across platforms, simplifies orchestration and enables scalability with our embedded assurance guardrails. Tech Mahindra also unveiled TechMorion marketplace, an agentic AI marketplace that offers a robust ecosystem of intelligent, autonomous and action-oriented AI agents that collaborate, evolve, adapt and scale. We have grown our agent base now to 300 plus agents and these are now able to solve not just simpler problems but actually fairly complex IT problems and also complex business problems like KYC.”
– Mohit Joshi, CEO and MD
Selected by Government of India for India AI mission to develop 1 trillion parameter sovereign LLM, among largest models globally.
“We are honored to have been recognized by the government of India as a key player in the prestigious India AI mission, aligning with the country’s objectives to bolster leadership in AI, foster technological self-reliance, and ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI. As part of this mission, we are partnering to develop an indigenous sovereign large language model with one trillion parameters, a significant technical milestone that places it amongst the largest AI models under development globally. This vision aligns seamlessly with the commitment to unlock transformation, drive productivity, accelerate innovation, and ensure assurance through our AI delivered right strategy.”
– Mohit Joshi, CEO and MD
Financial Services
HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd | Large cap | Financial Services
HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd. is a leading Indian life insurance company that provides a wide range of long-term individual and group insurance solutions. Its products include protection, pension, savings, investment, annuity, and health plans. The company offers these products through a variety of channels, such as agents, brokers, banks, and online platforms, to meet the diverse financial needs of individuals and corporate customers.
[Concall]
Five-pronged GST mitigation strategy: distributor commission adjustments, vendor renegotiations (non-commission costs are 50% of input tax), product mix optimization, new product launches, and volume growth.
“It’s not only the distributor. It is four or five things that we will do to neutralize it. And we have to be equitable between different stakeholders to be able to do it. You’ve mentioned distributors and I think given changed economics, some of that will certainly happen and we’ve demonstrated that with surrender charges also. At the same time we will be pragmatic about it. There will also be conversations with all our vendors because only around 50% of the input tax issue is due to commissions. There are others of outsourcing cost, technology costs and so on and we will have these conversations with those vendors also. Then we also have a focus along with the distributors not only about commercials but also on what product mix is something that we can jointly focus on and even more so than what we were doing perhaps before GST. We will also look at new products. There might be some new to market products that can also get us that fillip and the last point is an overall on growth because what we’re missing in all of this is that growth comes in a big way.”
– Vibha Padalkar, MD and CEO
Tier 2/3 cities growing faster than metros; 70% of H1 customers are first-time HDFC Life buyers; renewal collections up 18% YoY.
“Tier 2 and three markets clocked faster growth compared to tier one cities reflecting our continued success in expanding reach beyond metros. Over 70% of new customers acquired in H1 were first-time buyers with HDFC Life, reflecting our ability to deepen reach and tap into new customer segments as we incorporate our learnings into our customer onboarding process, underwriting approach and product offerings. Business momentum was driven by a combination of factors i.e. higher average ticket sizes, sustained traction in ULIP and participating products and resilient demand across income segments. Growth in the number of policies remained at a healthy 2-year CAGR of 9%. Renewal collections grew by 18% year-on-year.”
– Vibha Padalkar, MD and CEO
Axis Bank | Large Cap | Financial Services
Axis Bank is an Indian multinational banking and financial services company that provides a comprehensive range of services to retail, corporate, and MSME customers. It is the third-largest private sector bank in India and offers products like savings and term deposits, loans, credit and debit cards, wealth management, and foreign exchange services.
[Concall]
Post-September 22 GST cut, auto bookings showed spurt; credit card spends jumped 18-20% over August, daily spends up 2.5-3x in last week of September driven by pent-up festive/e-commerce demand.
“The GST cut happened or went into effect on September 22nd. In some lines of businesses especially auto we’ve seen some spurt in bookings etc. post September 22nd after initial few days but these are early days. We think it could lead to good outcomes in general for the industry but we’re watching closely. On cards what we noticed was almost an 18 to 20% jump over August. We saw daily spends actually growing by almost 2.5 to 3x in the last week of September. The other point to also note is that because of the GST reduction a lot of festive sales were put on hold and actually the timing of the festive season which anyway shows growth in card spends along with GST came together. Yes there was a pent-up consumer spending especially in e-commerce sales that reflected in the card spend growth in the last week of September.”
– Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO
Crossed 15 million cards in force; UPI market share rose to 35%+ (both value and volume); Burgundy AUM up 2% QoQ and 5% YoY; won best private bank award.
“This quarter, Access Bank crossed 15 million cards in force and our UPI market share rose to 35% plus in terms of both value and volume, reinforcing our leadership as the top UPI payer. We continue to work on improving the granularization in our deposit book. So the strength of our deposit franchise continues to improve. The premiumization of franchise continues to progress led by 2% quarter-on-quarter and 5% year-on-year growth in Burgundy assets under management. Recently, Burgundy Private was named best private bank for high networth individuals India at the Asset AAA private capital awards 2025.”
– Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO
HDB Financial Services | Mid cap | Financial Services
HDB Financial Services is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) in India that provides a range of services, including lending and business process outsourcing (BPO). The company offers various secured and unsecured loans for individuals and businesses, and also provides BPO services to HDFC Bank and distributes insurance products.
[Concall]
Consumer finance growth was deferred awaiting GST cuts but early October retail momentum is strong, expects festive demand pickup driven by inflation easing and farm income growth.
“On consumer finance which is the third business line that we talk about, growth was moderate in Q2 due to demand deferment on expected GST reductions which have actually now come through specifically in some product categories like two wheelers and consumer durables and auto. This should help us pick up, there should be a pick up in demand in auto, two wheelers and consumer durables on the back of one festive season, two easing inflation, three better kharif crop sowing and growing farm incomes and that should be a positive for this segment going forward. We have already started seeing good movement in retail in the first few days of October which should reflect in the months ahead.”
–G. Ramesh, MD & CEO
Extreme monsoon events in North and East India (including 5-day Assam closure) created sector-wide recovery challenges for vehicle financiers, preventing customer outreach and collection activities.
“Monsoon accentuated matters as high precipitation in specific geographies of the country, that is north and east, impeded vehicle deployment with consequent impact on customer cash flows. Assam was closed for 5 days for certain reasons. The northern belt had certain challenges. So some of the expectations that we had in terms of bringing the book back in towards the second half of September actually faced challenges because circumstances didn’t help in reaching out to customers for a reason or the other.”
– G. Ramesh, MD & CEO
SG Finserve | Small cap | Financial Services
SG Finserve is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that provides supply chain financing solutions to businesses like dealers, distributors, and retailers in India. It uses a technology platform to offer financing to the partners of large Indian conglomerates, including vendor financing, retailer financing, and logistics financing.
[Concall]
New retailer financing strategy (one tier below current distributor financing) could expand NIMs by 200-300 bps at transaction level, 100-150 bps on average book; maintaining stop-supply arrangement plus FLG protection.
“Within the current ecosystem where we are funding a distributor of a brand A, now we will go one tier below where we will start funding the retailers of that distributor keeping his skin in the game. So once we start lending to retailers the NIMs will expand by 200-300 basis points and on average book our NIMs can go up by 100 basis points, 150 basis points. The program contours remain same. The stop supply arrangement will remain as it is. Over and above there will be FLG also because please understand that when we go one tier below to the retailers that is in the coordination and in agreement with the anchor, the distributor and SG Finserve. So all three will sit on the table and decide now for this distributor we need to cover 50 retailers, 100 retailers.”
– Management
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company | Midcap | Financial Services
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is a prominent life insurance provider in India, established in 2001. It offers a variety of life insurance, health insurance, and pension products through a wide distribution network encompassing bank branches, agents, and online platforms.
[Concall]
On Quantifying GST Impact
“On the existing book, as disclosed earlier, our estimated impact is at about 1% on embedded value. To mitigate the impact on new business profitability, we have multiple levers, such as renegotiating commissions with distributors as well as continuing to optimize operating expenses. In H1 2026, we saw a reduction in cost-to-premium ratio by 280 basis points year-on-year to 19.2%.”
– Dhiren Salian, CFO
Explaining the pitch to distributors during ongoing commission negotiations—that higher volumes from GST cuts will boost absolute commissions, offsetting any rate reductions.
“The key position that we have been making to our distributors is that the increased volumes that we expect, that should be clearly value accretive to distributors because end of the day, the commission percentage is not really the number people focus on, it’s the absolute revenue that they are able to garner on their P&L.”
- Dhiren Salian, CFO
Detailing significant mix shift driven by customer preference for locking in yields in falling rate environment and lapping very high base for market-linked products.
“The non-linked savings business grew by 11.9% year-on-year in Q2 FY 2026 and 15.6% in H1 FY26, as customers preferred to invest in non-par products to lock in high yields in the declining interest rate scenario. Linked business declined by 8.6% in Q2 and 10.7% year-on-year in H1 this year, on a high base of 40% growth in Q2 and 54.5% growth in H1 last year.”
-Amit Palta, Head of Products & Distribution
Clarifying that sharp 18% decline in high-margin agency and direct channels is due to lapping exceptionally strong growth last year, not a structural issue.
“Proprietary channels, which include agency and direct, declined by 18% YoY, both in Q2 and H1 FY26. The decline was primarily due to the high ULIP and annuity base of the previous year, wherein the proprietary channels had grown by 40% in Q2 and 45.8% year-on-year in H1. Two-year CAGR for the channel stood at 9.2% in H1 FY26.”
On Early GST Demand Signals
“With GST reforms, we anticipate volumes to go up. The early signs of which are already visible as we have witnessed increased traction from our customers, both in terms of leads and conversion of leads.”
Linking weakness in credit life segment to broader microfinance industry slowdown and providing forward outlook for gradual recovery.
“The credit life business growth has been impacted primarily due to slowdown in the MFI industry. With reforms being undertaken to spur business growth, we expect credit life business to gradually recover over coming quarters.”
-Amit Palta, Head of Products & Distribution
Engineering & Capital Goods
KEI Industries | Mid Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
KEI Industries manufactures and markets a wide variety of wires and cables, including power cables (Extra-High Voltage, Medium Voltage, Low Voltage), control and instrumentation cables, and house wires.
[Concall]
New geographies (US, Europe, Australia, Middle East, Africa) now contribute 25% of exports; US exports at ₹160 cr last year face tariff uncertainty; control & instrumentation cables for oil/gas major export segment.
“In export market we are supplying cables which is EHV, medium voltage, HT/LT cables and also low voltage cables and also one bigger chunk is for control and instrumentation cables which is used in oil and gas sector, fertilizer plants and process plants, chemical plants. So that is our big chunk segment of export. So from the new geography almost 25% of the total exports came in this year. Our exports are majorly going to Australia, Middle East especially Abu Dhabi, Kuwait etc. and all of the Middle East. Then we are exporting to Africa. We are exporting to now we have developed few customers in Europe as well and US. You know US we did last year around 160 crores of exports and we are sure that once this tariff matter is sorted, our export to US will recommence.”
– Anil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director
Data center boom driving cable demand across entire product range (EHV to copper flexible); cables represent 8-9% of total data center project cost creating substantial sector opportunity.
“In data centers mainly it is a combination of cables right from extra high voltage cables which are required to feed incoming power to a big data center and then the medium voltage cable for mediocre level data centers. And inside the data center they are mostly copper cables which are mostly copper flexible and copper power cables as well as copper control cables. Generally the cost of projects of data center require around 8 to 9% of the wire cable cost and all this whole 8 to 9% products are available with KEI. I can say it is substantial and in data centers mainly it is a combination of cables.”
– Anil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director
Cyient DLM | Small Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Cyient DLM Limited is a leading provider of electronic manufacturing solutions for various industries such as medical, automotive, defense, and aerospace.
[Concall]
On Israel Geopolitical Impact
“I think it is important to note that Israel is a key market for us, and the geopolitical situation there has had a significant impact, both in the quantum of revenue and predictability of revenue. Where credit is due and thanks to President Trump, we now can expect stability to return to the region, which will also greatly support stability in our business, given the importance of Israel as a market to us.”
– Krishna Bodanapu, Non-Executive Chairman
Highlighting strategic shift towards higher-value, design-led “Build-to-Spec” projects offering long-term revenue streams and stickier customer relationships.
“We’re seeing strong momentum in build-to-spec orders and have secured prestigious awards from global OEMs. These design-led engagements are currently in development and are expected to ramp up to mass production in the coming years, reinforcing our growth strategy and further deepening our customer partnerships. The revenue potential for B2S projects is long and it is critical because it provides stability over an extended period of time.”
-Krishna Bodanapu, Non-Executive Chairman
Signaling entry into futuristic Urban Air Mobility market, showcasing advanced manufacturing capabilities and opening new growth vertical.
“I am pleased to announce a new logo to a BTS order from a Japanese electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) urban air mobility company, focused on the future of mobility. So this program is currently in the development phase and is expected to enter mass production in the coming years, reinforcing our global footprint.”
-Rajendra Belegapudi, Managing Director & CEO
On Managing US-China Tariff Impact
“Some customers want us to change the port of shipment to where their customers are, so that the product is prepared there. Some others are just paying the tariff right now from their pocket and they are waiting for some change to happen in the regulations. A few others are trying to see if we can route the products differently through different geographies. So, I mean, there is no one solution. Frankly, it’s very customer-specific and it depends on the usage of the part as well.”
-Sreenivas Kulkarni, CFO
Elecon Engineering | Small Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Elecon Engineering Company Ltd is a leading provider of power transmission solutions and material handling equipment. They serve various industries such as steel, fertilizers, cement, coal, and power stations in India and globally.
[Concall]
Providing specific timeline for next large, lumpy defense order—a key catalyst—expecting tenders in Q3 and finalization over subsequent year.
“The P17 Alpha project is just more or less about to get commissioned. Normally what happens is, the ships, once they are launched and they go through the exercise of trying out all the equipment and testing all the equipment, and once they are satisfied with the performance of the ship, after which they will normally go in for the active ordering of the ship as well as the equipment which will happen for the P17 Bravo. We are expecting, as of now, that in the third quarter of this year, the tenders would be floated for the ships. After which, once the shipyards get the order, they will then contact us for the requirement of the gearboxes.”
-Prayasvin B. Patel, Chairman & Managing Director
Strong 28% YoY order inflow growth, driven by both domestic and international markets, contrasts with weaker revenue execution and suggests strong future growth.
“The order intake for Q2 FY26 is Rs.688 crores, a strong 28% growth year-on-year. It is contributed by the domestic market (Rs.516 crores, up 32% year-on-year) and the overseas market (Rs.172 crores, up 18% year-on-year). This robust order inflow, along with healthy order enquiry levels, keeps us optimistic for higher growth in the second half of the year.”
– Narsiman Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer
Highlighting that domestic demand from core sectors is accelerating, providing crucial offset to international sluggishness and driving strong order intake.
“Domestic demand, too, is picking up meaningfully, particularly from the core sectors of power, steel, and cement. The domestic market contributed 79% to the consolidated revenue, while the remaining 21% came from overseas markets. The order intake for Q2 FY26 is Rs.688 crores, a strong 28% growth year-on-year. It is contributed by the domestic market (Rs.516 crores, up 32% year-on-year) and the overseas market (Rs.172 crores, up 18% year-on-year).”
– Narsiman Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer
Confirming near-term slowdown in sugar sector but pointing to strong inquiry pipeline for next crushing season (FY27), suggesting future recovery with orders expected to finalize soon.
“This year, the order inflow from sugar has been much less. It has been a bit dull. However, we see good number of inquiries which have come up for the next coming year, which means for the next crushing season which would happen in FY27. The deliveries would take place practically by September FY27. And we are hoping that we should be able to bag a good number of orders for that requirement, which would get finalized in a month or two.”
-Prayasvin B. Patel, Chairman & Managing Director
Energy
Waaree Renewable Technologies | Small Cap | Energy
Waaree Renewable Technologies Limited (WRTL) focuses on the solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) business and renewable energy generation. It provides consultancy services and develops, finances, constructs, owns, and operates solar projects for both on-site (rooftop and ground-mounted) and off-site (open access) installations. The company is also expanding into other areas, such as battery energy storage systems and green hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing, as part of the broader Waaree Group.
[Concall]
GST cut on solar modules from 12% to 5% will reduce capex and boost demand; O&M segment emerging as major growth opportunity.
“Looking at the policy update, the recent GST reduction on solar modules from 12% to 5% is expected to result in decreased capital expenditure, making it a good investment opportunity, further reinforcing solar energy as the lowest cost of energy. Policy tailwinds and reduction in GST on solar modules, coupled with ambitious national targets of 500 gigawatt by 2030, are expected to boost a strong pipeline of utility scale and CNI customers. This will further drive the EPC demand. With growing solar installed base and projects executed by us, the O&M segment is emerging as a major growth opportunity for the company.”
– Manmohan Sharma, Chief Financial Officer
Company is pursuing 27 GW pipeline (7 GW government, 20 GW private); India adding 40-50 GW annually with strong order flow visibility.
“If you see that overall, government tenders are on a continuous basis, 6 to 7 gigawatt, plus the private players, C&I and IPP customers, is also around 20 gigawatt. So total pipeline which we follow is around 27 gigawatt. And as I mentioned in my previous question, we only won orders worth of 1.8 gigawatt during this H1. So we continue that the order flow will continue over a period of next few years. In fact, because the country wanted to set up green energy. So if you see that from the last 6 months itself, the country had added 21 gigawatt and remaining 6 months is still there. So every year 40 to 50 gigawatt is to be added in terms of renewable energy.”
– Management
Management sees strong BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) opportunity for grid stability; actively bidding on BESS tenders but no concrete orders yet.
“Every going forward, BESS should be one of the areas where we have an opportunity to do the EPC business. Because whatever solar power you are generating during the daytime, if you want to have it in the night time or maybe next hours, you need to have a storage system. So along with the existing solar, we see very good opportunity that the country will have BESS as a storage system. So we have opportunity as a company to do the EPC business of BESS. There are lot of tenders or lot of inquiries starting along with BESS. So we are actively participating in all kind of possible bids. And once something comes concrete, definitely we’ll announce through exchanges to all our stakeholders.”
– Management
Hired senior personnel to pursue data center EPC opportunities; India’s data center market expected to grow from 250-300 MW to 1+ GW in 4-5 years.
“With respect to data center which you have mentioned, we are actively looking. About six months back we have amended our clause and we are actively looking at any kind of opportunity which is coming in the form of EPC for the data center. As of now, there is no formal bidding happening for it. It’s bilateral discussions. We have hired senior level personnel to take care or to see the possibility of having data center as EPC in our business. Right now we are in the trajectory of around 250 to 300 megawatt worth of data centers that we have in the country. And if you sum up all the ongoing projects for which bids are happening, we expect over next four to five years at least a gigawatt worth of more data centers to come up in the markets.”
– Management
Acquired 3% stake in cooling solutions company to create synergy for solar EPC opportunities at large offices and factories.
“This cooling business, the company which we have identified and acquired around 3% stake, this company provides cooling as a solution. So like for the large offices and factories, they are providing the cooling. So we find synergy in our business because as a company we have opportunity to do the solar installation wherever they are approaching for cooling. We as a company can also have an opportunity to do EPC business for module installation also.”
– Manmohan Sharma, CFO
Media & Entertainment
DB Corp Ltd | Small Cap | Media & Entertainment
DB Corp Ltd is a prominent print media company in India with popular newspapers like Dainik Bhaskar and Divya Bhaskar. They also publish magazines and have diversified into the radio business with MY FM. The company offers advertising space in their publications and has a vast pool of advertisers.
Discussing sustainability of 12% YoY ad revenue growth seen in Q2 FY26 and guidance for rest of the year.
“With the GST-driven momentum, we’re confident that high single-digit growth should continue in the next six months. In Q2, the festive season started early, and the GST benefit also helped. The overall economic momentum in the country is improving, so we expect to close the year with strong single-digit growth.”
- Girish Agarwal, Promoter Director, DB Corp
Countering negative perception about print media decline by highlighting actual industry circulation data.
“According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, total circulation grew about 3%, with nearly 8 lakh additional copies added in the last six months. That’s a very positive sign. Contrary to perception, newspapers are stable and showing 1–2% growth in circulation.”
Managing expectations around Q3 Bihar elections, which traditionally drive political advertising.
“Not much. Bihar isn’t a very large advertising market, so we don’t expect a significant uptick from elections. But despite that, we remain confident of maintaining high single-digit ad revenue growth, supported by the GST-led recovery.”
Breaking down which sectors are driving advertising growth, with notable weakness in traditionally strong FMCG category.
“Growth is broad-based. Jewelry has seen strong double-digit growth, followed by real estate, healthcare, IPOs, and education. FMCG, however, remains flat.”
Explaining outlook for FMCG advertising recovery and identifying real estate as the key sector to watch for GST-driven growth.
“We do. Several FMCG companies have indicated that Q3 and Q4 should reflect GST benefits, which could lead to higher ad spends. But our biggest focus is on real estate, which hasn’t yet fully benefited from GST cuts. We expect that sector to pick up soon and drive incremental advertising.”
Clarifying the company’s digital-first approach prioritizing scale over immediate revenue generation.
“Our app currently has 20 million monthly active users. Our focus right now is user growth, not monetization. Monetization will come later once we have a larger base. Compared to other players, our app’s performance is significantly better.”
- Girish Agarwal, Promoter Director, DB Corp
Fertilizers
Madhya Bharat Agro Products | Small Cap | Fertilizers
MBAPL, an ISO 9001:2008 Certified company, initially manufactured Single Super Phosphate. In 2004, it came under the management of Ostwal Group of Industries and expanded to produce Beneficiated Rock Phosphate in 2012. The goal of self-sustainability led to this significant achievement, reducing India’s dependency on imports for this critical raw material.
Discussing how the company is capitalizing on DAP shortages by positioning fortified SSP products as alternatives.
“It is noteworthy to mention here that the company has introduced various ranges of fortified SSP range including NPK 5:15:0:10 which is being positioned as a substitute of DAP in the market.”
- Pankaj Ostwal, Promoter and Director
Responding to concerns about competition from companies entering long-term DAP import contracts with Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
“Since Madhya Bharat Agro Products Limited manufactures less than 2% of the country’s total requirement, the import arrangements or long-term contracts by other manufacturers will not have any impact on our operations, neither on NPK nor on SSP.”
Explaining the company’s strategy to secure critical raw materials through long-term contracts.
“As far as our company is concerned about the raw material, we have already made an arrangement made with Jordan JPMC to import the Rock Phosphate. It is a 10-year long-term contract. And we are buying Rock Phosphate from Jordan and Egypt.”
Discussing the financial implications of the Green Ammonia procurement under the SIGHT Scheme.
“As far as the cost structure is concerned, still government and we as a buyer and manufacturer are talking on it. However, we expect the pricing to be broadly aligned with the current parity of imported ammonia.”
Explaining how the company’s backward integration and subsidy mechanism protect margins despite raw material inflation.
“Yes, Sulphur prices have indeed increased over the last six months, and consequently, Sulphuric Acid prices have also moved up. However, this increase has already been passed on through a corresponding rise in MRP. Additionally, we expect a revision in subsidy rates this month, which should further offset any impact.”
Responding to investor questions about potential merger between Madhya Bharat and Krishna Phoschem to create a unified entity.
“We are already examining the proposal for merger at our end, and we are talking to the various regulators to merge the businesses. And as soon as we get that comfort of merging from the prospects of regulators, then we can come forward with the plan of merging.”
Clarifying why delayed subsidy announcements don’t affect sales momentum, as wholesalers and retailers continue buying.
“The subsidy is disbursed after the fertilizer is purchased by the farmer, so the pending Cabinet decision has not had any material impact on sales or demand.”
Assuring investors about stable raw material costs despite global supply chain concerns.
“In the last six months, there hasn’t been any significant increase in Rock Phosphate prices. The fluctuations have been marginal, around 1% to 3%, mainly driven by changes in freight costs, since the material is imported from Egypt and Jordan. Due to these freight variations, the overall landed cost changes by about $1 to $3 per tonne.”
Confirming strategic decision to focus on NPK rather than DAP, with zero DAP sales continuing.
“Yes, we will continue with the NPK production and NPK sales because our NPK product is already established in the market. There is a huge demand from farmers coming in from various states. So, we plan to continue NPK production in the coming months as well.”
- Pankaj Ostwal, Promoter and Director
Tourism & Hospitality
Hotel Leelaventure Limited | Micro Cap | Tourism & Hospitality
Hotel Leelaventure Limited (HLV) is primarily engaged in the business of owning, operating & managing hotels, palaces and resorts.
[Concall]
Announcing Leela’s first major international expansion using an asset-light co-investment model with Brookfield, featuring highly attractive return metrics and quick equity payback.
“For a 25% stake, Leela will acquire an upfront capital investment of circa $49 million (Rs.437 crores). Brookfield will be acquiring the remaining 75%. This transaction is being done at an attractive entry multiple of 12.8x calendar year 2025 EBITDA, with equity payback for Leela in two to three years through the sale of branded residences. Our investment is expected to generate a 17% stabilized yield on cost, including long-term annual HMA fees of Rs.55 to Rs.65 crores.“
-Anurag Bhatnagar, Managing Director & CEO
On Industry Demand-Supply Dynamics
“The Indian luxury hospitality sector has strong fundamentals, with a forecasted demand-supply CAGR gap of 4.9% between FY25 and FY28, providing a robust tailwind for growth. With a strong pipeline of over 1,500 keys, we are well-positioned to capture this opportunity as we target approximately Rs.2,000 crores in EBITDA by FY30.”
– Anurag Bhatnagar, Managing Director & CEO
Challenging consensus view that IT sector slowdown would severely hurt Bangalore’s luxury hotel market, showcasing resilience and demand diversification with 71% occupancy and 16% RevPAR growth in Q2.
“There has been a considerable capex spent on Bangalore, and we have created a complete luxury ecosystem where rooms have been renovated, we launched Maharaja Ballroom, we had ZLB, now we are launching... we have launched the entire luxury retail club, and the Sukh also club has also been launched in Bangalore. In that market, there’s a literally zero luxury supply coming for me, and the demand is increasing. I’m investing in the asset, the corporate travel is increasing, and that hotel will in every quarter will keep improving in terms of the business performance.”
-Ravi Shankar, Head, Asset Management & CFO
Healthcare
Thyrocare Technologies | Small Cap | Healthcare
Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. is India’s first fully automated diagnostic laboratory with a focus on providing quality at affordable costs to laboratories and hospitals in India and other countries.
[Concall]
Record franchisee additions (10,100+) validate success of revised incentive structure, a key pillar for future volume growth and market penetration.
“It has now been two years since we implemented the pay-for-performance structure, which has led to renewed energy and motivation within our franchise network to move up volumes and enter higher slabs. I am happy to report that our franchisee base is at its highest ever, with steady growth over the last two years. Encouraged by this success, we have expanded both field and central teams to accelerate franchisee addition. This has enabled us to go deeper into India and open highly transacting stores at a much faster pace.”
-Rahul Guha, MD & CEO
Identifying rise of GLP-1 drugs as major growth catalyst for diagnostics and creating specific test packages to capitalize on it.
“I genuinely believe that is going to be a huge opportunity. For those who know my profile, I’ve spent almost 20 years in the healthcare industry. I have never seen a molecule or a brand reach Rs.100 crores in such a short period of time. And obviously when it comes to weight loss drugs, it has to be taken with caution and with regular testing to ensure that while you’re losing weight, your health parameters are all on track. So we have also, in the process of launching complementary packages with the GLP-1 therapy, both pre-therapy, during therapy and post-therapy.”
- Rahul Guha, MD & CEO
Quantifying significant 26% YoY drop in high-volume fever tests as headwind, but underlying core business proved resilient, showcasing fundamental strength.
“Fever-related volumes were muted this season, actually down 26% versus the same quarter last year, reflecting tremendous work by various government agencies to control viral vectors. But our core business remains stable, demonstrating resilience and customer trust. Our partnerships business performed exceptionally well on-boarding new HealthTech clients and growing existing accounts.”
Growth clearly bifurcated: core offline franchisee channel thriving in Tier 2+ cities, while online partners driving growth and gaining share in metros.
“If I look at my offline business, a large part of the growth comes from tier-two markets and beyond. Actually, if you look at the metro markets, growth would be in the single digits, but as you go outside the metros is where you start to see the real uptick in growth in the offline space. On the partnership side, which is mostly online players, most of them are metro and tier-one city predominant. And so you would see them expanding and taking share in the metro market. So if I had to break out the growth, online players largely metro and maybe a few tier-one cities.”
- Rahul Guha, MD & CEO
Chemicals
EPL Limited | Small Cap | Chemicals
EPL Limited, formerly Essel Propack Limited, is a global company specializing in manufacturing laminated plastic tubes for FMCG and Pharma sectors. They produce packaging materials like collapsible tubes and laminates for Beauty & Cosmetics, Health & Pharmaceuticals, Food, Home, and Oral care products, along with offering packaging solutions and ancillary services.
[Concall]
Demonstrating tangible operational benefits from strategic partnership with Indorama, de-risking geographic expansion and potentially accelerating future growth projects.
“As far as Indorama is concerned, you all know they came in as a 24.9% stake in the business. And I can tell you, we have leveraged Indorama fully to get our Thailand plant up and running in record time, in fact, the project that we planned a year ago has actually come on stream bang on time. I can say it would not have happened without Indorama’s support on the ground. And we are exploring further opportunities to leverage Indorama’s global presence.”
On Beauty & Cosmetics Mix Shift
“Our margins have expanded by nearly 500 basis points over the last 12 quarters and we have accelerated our growth, particularly in beauty and cosmetics. Personal Care and Beyond now contribute to over 50% of our revenue. And at the same time, we’ve expanded to new markets like Brazil, and most recently Thailand, as well as advanced our sustainability agenda with 38% of our total volumes now recyclable.“
-Anand Kripalu, MD & Global CEO
International
Johnson & Johnson | International
Johnson & Johnson is a global healthcare company focused on Innovative Medicine and MedTech. It develops and sells innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices to treat diseases and conditions related to immune disorders, cancer, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and orthopedic, cardiovascular, and neurological care.
[Concall]
CEO announces plan to separate orthopedics business (DePuy Synthes) addressing $50B+ market, sharpening J&J focus on six high-growth therapeutic areas.
“As you know, the healthcare industry continues to evolve rapidly and we are constantly evaluating our overall business and portfolio to ensure Johnson and Johnson remains best positioned to truly lead where healthcare is going. For our orthopedic business, the planned separation creates new opportunities. Operating as the DePuy Synthes and led by Nabil Nagwana, it would be the largest most comprehensive orthopedics company with leading market share positions across major categories and addressing a more than 50 billion and growing market opportunity. Following the completion of the planned separation, Johnson and Johnson will retain a leadership position in our six core growth areas across innovative medicine and medtech: oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, surgery and vision.”
– Joaquin Duato (CEO)
CEO commits $55B US investment over four years to manufacture all US-consumed advanced medicines domestically, adding facilities in North Carolina.
“We announced our plan to invest $55 billion in the US in the next four years which essentially is going to make it so that all our advanced medicines that are used in the US are going to be manufactured in the US. We have more manufacturing facilities in the United States than in any other country. In March, we broke ground at our Wilson, North Carolina facility. And in August, we announced a $2 billion commitment to further increase our presence in North Carolina with a more than 160,000 square foot dedicated manufacturing facility at Fujifilm’s new biopharmaceutical manufacturing site in Holly Springs.”
– Joaquin Duato (CEO)
PepsiCo | International
PepsiCo is a multinational food and beverage company that manufactures and markets a wide variety of snacks, drinks, and other food products. Its portfolio includes iconic brands like Pepsi, Gatorade, Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, and Quaker Oats. The company’s business model involves the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of these products globally.
[Concall]
Global consumer showing stress with choiceful purchasing decisions; India growth continuing despite weather/competition, while Mexico/Hispanic US consumers impacted by remittance pressures.
The consumer is stressed all over the world. We see the consumer making very choiceful decisions in many parts of the world. In China for sure and China is a big market for us, not so much in India. We’re seeing growth in India. India was more impacted by weather and there’s some competitive situation in the beverage category that will impact the growth maybe for a few quarters but coming back strong. Eastern Europe better than Western Europe. Mexico is somehow connected to the US, And however the US goes that impacts Mexico quite a lot. Clearly the Hispanic cohort in the US is being impacted by all these decisions. And we see remittances impacting Mexico in a way and that will continue probably for the next few quarters.”
– Ramon Laguarta, CEO
Launching GLP-1-targeted Propel with high fiber and protein, plus removing all artificial ingredients from entire portfolio by end of 2026, including new “Naked” line without colors.
“We have a new development from Propel for GLP-1 consumers that will have a special type of electrolytes, high content of fiber and good levels of protein. So that in the protein space which as you know is driving a lot of growth. Now the move to no artificials impacting all our brands, Lays and Tostitos now but the rest of the portfolio throughout 26 and a new platform we call it Naked that will have no colors and no artificials. We’ll see how consumers react to the same great flavors with no colors. The customers are really very excited. We’re also excited. Let’s see if we can take consumers along in what would be a great development for the category.”
– Ramon Laguarta, CEO
Frito-Lay shifted summer promo strategy from deep discounts on select brands to everyday low pricing across portfolio, sacrificing volume for revenue realization.
“In foods, we changed the promo strategy in the summer. Rather than very deep on a particular brand as we did in 24, we tried to provide everyday low value or better value across all the brands. That impacted the volume, better revenue realization. So probably a more balanced growth of the category and our competitiveness in the category. So that explains a little bit the Q3 volume going forward.”
– Ramon Laguarta, CEO
CPG companies divesting $5B low-return businesses while investing in premium/functional categories, with fiber positioned as “next protein” trend and alternative oils expansion.
“We sold or exited businesses that generated approximately $5 billion of annual revenue. But these businesses were either not poor or did not produce high enough risk-adjusted returns over time. And we have targeted our investments in areas with higher growth and returns. Several of the businesses we have invested in are listed on this slide and revenue from these businesses alone increased almost $5 billion since 2019. We’re also innovating in new oils. Some of our platforms especially in potato you will see us coming with avocado oil versions and olive oil. We’re launching products with higher fiber. I think fiber will be the next protein. Consumers are starting to understand that fiber is a benefit that they need, is actually a deficiency in US consumers’ diet.”
– Ramon Laguarta, CEO
JPMorgan Chase | International
JPMorgan Chase is a global financial services firm involved in a wide range of activities, including consumer and community banking, commercial and investment banking, asset and wealth management, and payments and financial transaction processing. Its services cater to individuals, families, businesses, and large corporations, providing everything from credit cards and auto loans to strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising. The company also focuses on technology to create new solutions and invests in communities to promote economic growth.
CFO confirms $170 million wholesale charge-off from Trirricolor fraud case in Q3, but no exposure to First Brands.
“So let me just get one thing out of the way because you were sort of polite enough not to touch on it, but I already kind of disclosed it on the press call. We generally as you know Glenn are not in the habit of talking about individual borrower situations but given the amount of public attention the Trirricolor thing has gotten in particular I think it’s worth just saying that you know that’s contributing $170 million of charge offs in the quarter which we call out on the wholesale side. Also worth noting there’s been a lot of attention on the First Brands situation. We don’t have any exposure to them.”
– Jeremy Barnum, CFO
Delta Air Lines | International
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline in the United States and it flies to over 325 destinations across 52 countries on six continents. Its global network includes flights to cities in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
[Concall]
Airline industry structural shift over 10-15 years transformed premium seats from loss leaders to highest-margin products through pricing and distribution changes.
“I think you know when you think about what’s different and what’s changed over the last 10 or 15 years, the premium products used to be loss leaders and now they’re the highest margin products. That’s really the headline. And really in descending order of their premiumness is their margin. So the best margins are in the most premium products and you just work your way down. We as you know, following this industry for a long time, we were not selling premium seats 10 or 15 years ago, we were giving them away. The re-engineering of the whole purchase process where we made them much more affordable and much more attainable has allowed people to buy up into those categories.”
– Glenn Hauenstein, President
Delta refusing to deploy narrow-bodies on transatlantic routes (unlike competitors) to maintain product/brand positioning with Delta 1 suites on wide-bodies only.
“I think our product is best-in-class in the transatlantic. We’ve continue to monitor our relative performance in terms of net promoter scores and I think it’s got, it’s leading right now and it’s going to get much better as we continue to deliver new airplanes with the Delta 1 suites and with the enhanced Delta Premium Select and larger Delta Comfort Plus cabin. So, I’m really excited about the product that we’re putting in market. We’ve chosen not to fly narrow bodies in the transatlantic because of product and brand issues.”
– Glenn Hauenstein, President
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 Vignesh & Meher.
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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