The Chatter: The Known Unknowns
Edition #19
Welcome to the 19th 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 the 18 commentaries across 8 industries:
Banking & Financial Services
ICICI Bank
L&T Finance
Engineering & Capital Goods
Polycab India
Havells
Ultratech Cement
Travel & Hospitality
Ixigo
FCMG & Retail
Eternal
LT Foods
Media & Entertainment
D.B. Corp
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
Dr Reddy’s
Software Services
Infobeans Technologies
Global
Meta
Microsoft
Alphabet
The Boeing Co
Spotify
The Coca-Cola Co
Netflix
Banking & Financial Services
ICICI Bank | Large Cap | Financial Services
ICICI Bank Limited is a leading private sector bank in India offering a wide range of financial products and services to retail, SME, and corporate customers.
The company signals a deliberate strategic pivot towards holistic customer engagement (“360-degree”) and targeted growth in micro markets and ecosystems, reflecting a move beyond traditional banking toward integrated financial solutions.
“At ICICI Bank, our strategic focus continues to be on growing profit before tax excluding treasury through the 360-degree customer centric approach and by serving opportunities across ecosystems and micromarkets... Maintaining high standards of governance, deepening coverage and enhancing delivery capabilities with a focus on simplicity and operational resilience, are key drivers for our risk calibrated profitable growth.”
— Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi, Managing Director & CEO
Management’s measured optimism about loan growth despite challenging external conditions reflects confidence in the bank’s positioning to capitalize on improved liquidity and policy easing.
“There have been a number of global events, which had some impact on the sentiment... but the substantial monetary easing that has taken place starting from Q4 and carrying through into Q1, will also have some positive impact hopefully as we go along. It’s too early to say; we will have to wait for another quarter to really form a view about how it is going to go.”
— Anindya Banerjee, CFO
The company reveals a clear strategic emphasis on expanding a high-growth, higher-yielding segment using technology and distribution advantages, balanced by proactive risk management. The business banking segment is viewed as a critical growth and profitability engine.
“It’s a combination of distribution, process and technology, the digital interfaces and capabilities that we offer to the customers and also a fairly tight focus on monitoring of the credit and managing the portfolio in a disciplined way.”
“One would expect the business banking piece to grow faster than the overall loan book and therefore that proportion should gradually go up.”
“Credit costs today are negligible. So, they may go up slightly. But the portfolio is granular and tightly monitored.”
— Anindya Banerjee, CFO
Management conveys confidence in the credit cost run-rate stabilization, supported by robust provisioning buffers. This presents a realistic and conservative credit outlook that should mitigate investor concerns about sudden asset quality deterioration.
When questioned about credit cost normalization and the impact of agricultural KCC portfolio slippages,
“We have always said that currently, the underlying level would be more like about 50 basis points. Can that inch up? It could, but I don’t see any major movement.”
“The total provisions other than specific provisions were 226.64 billion Rupees or 1.7% of loans. This includes contingency provisions of 131 billion Rupees.”
— Anindya Banerjee, CFO
L&T Finance Ltd | Mid Cap | Financial Services
L&T Finance Holdings Limited is one of India’s most valued and fastest-growing Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
The company quickly integrated Paul Merchants’ gold loan business—130 branches, 700+ staff, and ₹1,300 crore book—in just 2 months. Gold loans, being high-yield and secured, will strengthen its retail franchise.
“we had announced our foray into the Gold Loans business through the acquisition of the Gold Loan business of Paul Merchants Finance Pvt. Ltd. I am pleased to inform that the technology systems and people integration was achieved in a short timeframe of around 2 months, leading to an amalgamation of 130 branches, 700+ employees and ~Rs. 1,300 Cr of book. Gold loans, a high yield secured product will add significant value to our retail business franchise going forward”.
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
The company aims to boost gold loan growth using its 20,000+ field officers and plans to add ~175 branches in high cross-sell areas, targeting 300+ gold loan branches by FY26-end.
“We envisage that our field force of 20,000+ officers will multiply the gold loans lead generation process and direct incoming business to our branches. In the coming quarters we also plan on expanding our geo-presence through branch expansion with ~175 additional locations focused on areas with high cross-sell potential. By the end of FY26, we plan on establishing a distribution strength of 300+ gold loan branches.”
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
Karnataka’s credit situation is improving, with most macroprudential provisions this quarter tied to it. The company expects full stabilization by October 2025 and aims to minimize provision use,
"Karnataka is stabilizing fast...a large amount of the flow forwards that was accounted for by the macroprudential provisions this quarter came from Karnataka…I do believe Karnataka should have stabilized by October 2025…Our objective is to use as less as possible of the macroprudential provisions...We aim to get credit costs to about 2.3% to 2.5% towards Q4 of this year."
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
Project Cyclops, the AI-ML credit engine for two-wheeler loans, now upgraded to Gen 3 on Kubernetes, handles 100% of disbursements with strong results each quarter.
“Project Cyclops, our proprietary AI-ML based credit underwriting engine that was operationalized in Q1FY25 and implemented across 100% dealerships in the Two Wheeler Finance business has been upgraded to Generation 3, based on Kubernetes architecture. Today, 100% of our TW disbursements take place through this engine and we have been seeing very encouraging trends from this implementation quarter after quarter.”
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
The company reveals a cautious and disciplined underwriting stance aimed at managing credit risk within regulatory guardrails. It also highlights management’s strategic balancing between customer acquisition and risk mitigation during an evolving regulatory environment.
"We do not give more than one loan to an existing customer, and only after 9-12 months seasoning…The slight uptick in repeat disbursement is temporary and should normalize as new customer additions from new geographies increase…It is a strategic choice to maintain credit quality under MFIN guardrails."
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
The company reflects a conservative and disciplined lending strategy, limiting risk by allowing only one loan per customer with a seasoning period. The high share of exclusive customers (48%) highlights strong brand loyalty. The superior portfolio quality is drawing attention from competitors, suggesting both effective underwriting and valuable customer pools.
“-- first and foremost, we give only one loan to an existing customer. And that too after 9 or 12 months of seasoning. So, for us, that question does not arise. For us, one customer is one loan. It's very, very clear. The second thing that you should note in mind is that we have a very strong ‘only-LTF’ customer base, which is almost close to 48% right now. Now the fact is that
In the event that our portfolio quality has been outsizedly better than the industry, there is a lot of attention on our customer pools. analyse this shorter and better.”
— Sudipta Roy, Managing Director & CEO
Engineering & Capital Goods
Polycab India | Large Cap | Engineering and Capital Goods
Polycab India Limited is a leading manufacturer and seller of wires, cables, and FMEG under the 'POLYCAB' brand. They offer an extensive range of products including electric fans, LED lighting, switches, solar products, and more.
This reflects a strategic pivot emphasizing the transformation and profitability trajectory of the FMEG segment—historically less profitable—with wires and cables as the core growth driver.
FMEG: Fast moving Electric Goods
"The Wires and Cable business continued to be our primary growth engine, driven by robust domestic demand and supportive commodity price trends. On the FMEG side, we are beginning to see tangible outcomes from our strategic initiatives, with the business delivering its second consecutive profitable quarter, a positive step forward in our transformation journey."
— Gandharv Tongia, Executive Director & CFO
This shows management’s cautious view on margin sustainability, noting that current high margins aren’t steady-state, but exports and premiumization will help long-term expansion.
"While obviously, the cables and wires mix, if it goes in favor of wires, that can help your profitability. As the exports mix increases, that also helps the profitability. But parallelly, when you are investing a lot in terms of capacity expansion, that is bound to have an impact in terms of lower operating margins in the near to midterm... Over and above that, for the B2C business, we are going to be increasing our spends on advertising and promotion continuously every year. So, keeping all those variables into mind, our long-term guidance is 11% to 13% EBITDA margins."
— Chirayu Upadhyaya, Head of Investor Relations
This nuanced commentary provides a competitive differentiation for Polycab in exports, especially to the U.S. and Middle East where Indian products face lower tariff barriers and geopolitical support.
"Looking at the current situation in terms of tariffs, India stands to be in a beneficial position. The other larger exporters... such as China, has almost 55% import duties. Mexico... 30%. Europe is also looking at non-Chinese alternatives... In the Middle East... we are doing a lot of supply to Saudi Arabia, where India enjoys better tariffs. Australia... China has a zero tariff treaty. So, Australia is more price competitive for China."
— Chirayu Upadhyaya, Head of Investor Relations
The rapid growth and strategic prioritization of solar products due to PROJECT SPRING within FMEG highlights a deliberate pivot towards renewable energy-related electrical solutions, capturing high-growth adjacencies.
"Within Project Spring, we are targeting to grow the FMEG business at roughly 1.5 to 2x of the industry growth... The standout performance again this quarter was our solar product category, which recorded more than 2x growth... This momentum is backed by government policies and rising adoption of renewable energy solutions... solar is now the largest contributor in the FMEG portfolio."
— Chirayu Upadhyaya, Head of Investor Relations
This reveals management’s capital allocation discipline favoring organic, India-based capacity growth in core segments while delaying international footprint expansion until scale justifies it.
“A large part of capex... will be for the cables and wires business and remaining for backward integration and a small part for the FMEG business... In the near to midterm, we don't have any plans of setting up manufacturing plants outside India... We will continue to invest in capacities in the country itself."
— Chirayu Upadhyaya, Head of Investor Relations
This confirms Polycab’s leadership and continued expansion in a consolidating market, underpinned by scale, distribution reach, and product breadth—key competitive moats in a fragmented industry transitioning organized.
"Our market share in Cables and Wires put together was roughly about 26% to 27%... cables are closer to 30%, whereas in wires, we are in our early 20s... Both capacity, bouquet of SKUs and approvals, and movement from unorganized to organized have contributed to these market share gains."
— Chirayu Upadhyaya, Head of Investor Relations
Havells | Mid Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
Havells India Limited is a prominent player in the electrical manufacturing industry, producing a variety of products like switchgears, cables, lighting fixtures, and electric consumer durables.
This signals a clear strategic pivot towards renewables, supported by a major capital allocation that highlights Havells' intent to develop a meaningful footprint in solar.
“During the quarter, we invested Rs. 600 crores in Goldi Solar to accelerate our growth in the renewable sector. Through this investment, we target to expand Havells' solar portfolio by leveraging Goldi Solar's module manufacturing capabilities.”
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Management signals confidence in Lloyd’s margin trajectory despite one-off seasonal effects, but also clearly acknowledges above-normal inventories—providing an implicit warning about near-term margin or working capital pressure.
“Q1 can be seen as transitory. And we see that, structurally, Lloyd is on the right path to gain revenue growth as well as profitability.”
“We also have high inventories at our level... it might take some more time, maybe a few months for the entire supply chain to get readjusted.”
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Management gives an explicit operational explanation for elevated inventory—manufacturing cycles force inventory build—but also hints at potential for price discounting if inventory normalization takes longer.
“Lloyd inventory is definitely at a high level, because you know very well that we have production facilities which continue to run at full capacities from October... plants have to keep running. So, I think, if we really see from a season point of view, then it's not a very large inventory, but we are now coming into the upcoming low season for AC sales.”
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Concrete forward-looking guidance on solar revenue signals an internal target for segment expansion. It also illustrates management’s conviction in this being a new core growth lever.
“Last year, we did about Rs. 500 crores in the solar business. We definitely see that it could cross maybe Rs. 1,000 crores - Rs. 1,500 crores in the next couple of years.”
“So, I think we are looking at this sector for future growth opportunities. Renewables, I think, is something which we will focus on in the next few years.”
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Management takes a disciplined approach in contrast to possible industry peers pushing aggressive price cuts. This signals a long-term orientation, even if it comes at the expense of near-term volume.
“Havells is generally not a company who would take short-term decisions… I do not think on an unseasonal basis, they will be coming out with heavy discounting. That's not what has been a strategy
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Signals a move beyond domestic dependence—especially as new capacity comes on stream—and potential for margin resilience if exports/medium-high voltage products scale.
“We are building a new customer base as well as not only in India, but outside India as well. We are seeing good traction in the export markets and our growth in export markets are also quite decent for underground cables. And that will continue.”
— Anil Rai Gupta, MD
Ultratech Cement | Large Cap | Engineering & Capital Goods
UltraTech Cement Limited, a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, is a leading manufacturer and seller of grey cement, ready-mix concrete, and white cement in India.
This underpins UltraTech’s volume growth guidance and counters narratives of soft demand, reinforcing investment conviction on revenue growth and return expansion driven by government infrastructure momentum.
"The government capex program has shown a marked improvement...Mega projects like Vadhavan port, some dams... are starting off... This should be very good for cement demand." "Urban housing has been slow in the first half... but land purchases and number of deals suggest a rebound visible in future quarters."
— Atul Daga, CFO
The commentary reveals an emerging strategic turnaround in South India’s cement market pricing and demand dynamics, materially important because South has been a structurally weak pricing region for the industry. This improvement could enhance margin mix and overall profitability for UltraTech.
"South markets are consolidating and in good shape... mega projects and commercial segments are adding up... The South could be the new North."
"Prices... had been so low last year that the entire industry suffered badly... now supported by strong demand triggers and government focus."— Atul Daga, CFO
India Cements products sold under the UltraTech brand are accounted for through a tolling arrangement, with price benefits passed back to India Cements excluding a small marketing margin.
"Whatever output is converted to UltraTech brand... pricing benefits passed to India Cements less INR10 per bag marketing expense."
"Rebranding of India Cements will be complete by end of fiscal '27... in some markets, strong existing brand recall may slow transition."
— Atul Daga, CFO
UltraTech is pursuing capex of approximately INR 2,000 crores per quarter (INR 8,000 crores annualized), targeting efficiency and productivity gains including waste heat recovery system (WHRS), speed modification, cooler upgrades, and alternate fuel technologies.
"Capex programs... will be all funded with debt and internal accruals... expected to reach debt level of under INR 50 crores... with 21 MW of WHRS and 219 MW of renewable energy, raising green power quotient to 86%."
"UltraTech has close to INR10,000 crores capex for FY '26 with ongoing plans for future phases of growth including brownfield and greenfield expansions."— Atul Daga, CFO
They emphasized the strong seasonality of cement demand in India, where 40–45% of annual demand comes in the last quarter. The key selling and construction season starts post-Diwali through April-May when labor returns and conditions are favorable.
"More than 40% to 45% of demand is in the last quarter... real season starts post festivals, post Diwali... yes, we will grow much rapidly in the subsequent quarters."
— Atul Daga, CFO
Travel & Hospitality
Ixigo | Small Cap | Travel & Hospitality
Le Travenues Technology, incorporated in 2006 in New Delhi, operates the online platform www.ixigo.com and ixigo mobile app. The platform offers real-time information and booking services for trains, airlines, buses, hotels, and cabs, catering to the travel industry.
The company marks a clear strategic pivot positioning ixigo not just as a travel OTA (online travel agency) but as a technology- and AI-driven company aiming to automate and elevate the entire travel experience and internal processes
“Agentic AI may pose risks for those who don't adapt, but for us, it's a once-in-a-decade opportunity to leapfrog. We're not only ready for this shift, we've been building towards it for years. If you want to measure how good a company is at AI adoption for accelerating growth and efficiency, the best measures would be to look at their revenue per employee. For us, last quarter, we crossed INR 2.2 crores annualized revenue per employee in Q1.”
— Rajnish Kumar, Group CO-CEO
Ixigo’s commanding share in train OTA and rising share in flights and buses underscores its consolidating position as a dominant digital multi-modal travel platform in India.
OTA- Online travel agency
DGCA- Directorate General of Civil Aviation
“Outside IRCTC, train reservations via OTAs are about 20-21%, and in that bucket, ixigo controls 60%.”
“Based on DGCA numbers, we are growing nicely quarter-on-quarter in terms of market share in flights.”— Aloke Bajpai, CEO & MD
Investors should view ixigo as well-positioned to capture disproportionate growth in Indian travel sectors via digital penetration and multi-modal offerings, likely resulting in sustained Gross total value expansion.
“Half of the new flyers from our apps are flying for the first time,” demonstrating penetration into a new customer base.
“The proverbial pyramid will now become a diamond as middle-class India continues to grow... travel continues to be in the top three things people want to spend on to improve their lifestyle.”
— Aloke Bajpai, CEO & MD
This points to management’s growth-first capital allocation mindset while signaling investors should expect ongoing investment spending pressures. Transparency on ESOP costs also helps with financial modeling.
“Operating leverage is visible but we are reinvesting that into multiple areas... We want to continue to grow fast and seize on those opportunities."
“And the third is when, say, something like Zoop, where we have a choice to either decide to acquire Zoop and give them cash or give ESOP, because we feel ESOP is more aligned to the long-term vision for the company.”
— Aloke Bajpai, CEO & MD
FMCG & Retail
Eternal | Large Cap | Retail
Zomato Limited is a top online food service platform with core offerings in food delivery, dining-out, B2B services, and a customer loyalty program.
There is a major strategic operational shift from a pure marketplace to an inventory-led model in quick commerce, implying higher capital intensity but better control over fulfillment and margins.
1P model means the company owns the inventory and acts as the retailer itself.
"We intend to move most of our business on our own inventory. ... the margin accretion should also happen in that timeframe."
"Moving to 1P reduces the administrative burden, the licensing burden, all of that significantly for both us and the brands; operational metrics around availability, fill rates will improve."
— Akshant Goyal, CFO
This points to strong organic growth within existing markets, implying that market penetration, product mix expansion, or frequency are improving rather than growth relying only on territorial expansion.
"Most of the current growth has come from existing polygons(delivery zones)... less than 5% of overall growth came from new expansion areas."
"In a city like Delhi, which is fairly well covered geographically, we've seen a 70% year-on-year growth this quarter."
— Albinder Dhinsa, CEO (BlinkIt)
Food delivery remains a core part of the business but growth deceleration raises concerns. Management’s cautious optimism around improved customer engagement metrics signals potential return to growth but is early in the cycle.
"Based on what we have seen so far in the first three weeks of the quarter, the year-on-year growth has sort of bottomed out and we are now seeing better app openings and resurrection rates."
"The number of delivery partners is indicative. Log-in hours and delivery partner utilization continue to improve, making the business more efficient."— Akshant Goyal, CFO
Investors can regard this stance as a bet on convenience premium and brand differentiation, though it also means Blinkit perhaps cedes other segments to competitors. This focus can yield higher pricing power but also means vulnerability if consumer preferences evolve.
When asked about competitors offering slower but larger order deliveries (e.g., "MAX saver" equivalents), Albinder dismisses the opportunity for such a segment, emphasizing Blinkit's focus on true convenience through 10-15 minute delivery.
"We don’t see the opportunity there. That's why we are not doing that."
"Maybe we are not smart enough so that could be the possible reason."
— Albinder Dhinsa, CEO (BlinkIt)
Investors must be prepared for sustained margin compression or stable margins in exchange for top-line growth.
"While in the long term, margin expansion is possible, but in the near term, we are more focused on growth. Hence, the margins could remain around the mark they are today."
— Akshant Goyal, CFO
LT Foods | Small Cap | FMCG
LT Foods is a prominent player in the rice-based food industry, offering a variety of products such as basmati rice, specialty rice, organic foods, and rice-based convenience products.
The company’s issue represents a regulatory risk specific to a small part of the organic segment but does not threaten core business or overall profitability. Management’s confidence and active legal engagement indicate proactive risk management.
"We are taking all necessary recourse available to us under US law and we are very positive of the positive outcome... We don't foresee any material financial impact on the cash flow or future earnings of the businesses."
"The financial impact, if we have to come out of the business, is low. And it is limited to about INR4 crores to INR5 crores."
"We have engaged top U.S. legal counsels who are confident that a Department of Commerce interpretation can be effectively challenged."
— Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO
The operational presence in Uganda affords LT Foods a strategic advantage by mitigating regulatory risk exposure on Indian exports. It shows active geographic diversification.
CVD: Countervailing Duty
"We have two facilities for processing soya meal, one in India and one in Uganda. It depends from where we are competitive... CVD is not applicable on the Uganda facility; it is only from exports from India."
—Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO
Understanding that this is an industry-wide regulatory challenge but LT Foods’ specific 340% duty is a temporary punitive measure clarifies the company’s risk profile. It underscores that the company is navigating a common industry trade friction rather than an idiosyncratic failure or irregularity.
"Countervailing duty is imposed on the industry as such... They give every company a countervailing duty based on if they are getting any subsidies or not... In our case, they could not review the information, and that is why they have given an adverse facts available of 340%. After the review, they will come up with an appropriate duty.
— Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO
The company acknowledges a market slowdown due to Iran but views it as routine. Given LT Foods’ strong brand and favorable competitive positioning, they don’t expect any margin impact.
“No, we don't see any margin reduction. This is a regular thing. Because of Iran, you know, the market is a little depressed. But being a very strong brand and what we see the competitive landscape; we are hopeful that that will not impact any margin of LT Foods.”
— Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO
The management suggests that the reported other income figure in FY 2025 has a non-recurring component, which will disappear post-consolidation, with GOLDEN STAR resulting in a temporary boost to reported earnings.
“So, actually, that is another income(inventory management fees) that we charge to one of our associate companies in the US. So, that is the Golden Star. So, once it gets consolidated -- this year it will be getting consolidated and there will be line by line consolidation. So, this other income, there will be no other income this year and it will be getting in the normal course of the business. So, this is the income which we charge, the company charges from the associate company. That is shown in the other income.”
— Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO
Media & Entertainment
D.B. Corp | 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 management clarifies that election-related government advertising caused a temporary distortion, and the company sees a clear inflection point as this revenue normalizes. The emphasis on broad-based category growth reassures that demand outside government advertising remains firm.
"While the reported advertising revenue showed a year-on-year dip due to a high election-driven base, excluding election billing, we registered a decent single-digit growth... The government took a dip by almost 40%. So that's where the entire growth instead of showing growth became negative. But that is over now. I'm very confident that from quarter 2 onwards, things will further give us the impetus to grow."
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Digital is a key strategic pivot, evident by significant user growth and editorial investments. However, lack of clarity on monetization timelines or targets suggests digital is still an investment area with uncertain near-term returns.
"Our only focus is to provide the real content, the factual content, the ground content to our consumers. And for that, we are expanding our editorial team on the ground... Now when we will be able to monetize it 100% and when we will become the -- I think that's -- we have to wait for a few more quarters."
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Investors should expect revenue to stabilize at a lower government advertising share, which may increase the importance of other sectors and digital for growth and margin resilience.
"The government last year contributed almost 27% in this quarter... It has come down to almost 17%, 16% now... Generally, in an overall normal environment, the government stays in the range of 12% to 14%."
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Active promoter buying signals strong internal confidence in future prospects, offering investors a positive signal amid otherwise cautious macro commentary. Compliance with regulatory shareholding limits reassures governance standards.
Yes. So as you know, promoters as per the rule, cannot hold more than 75%. So based on that, we will certainly comply with the rule. We are complying with the rule. And we believe in the future of the company very strongly, and we believe in the numbers going forward. And hence, we are looking at this as an opportunity to buy. So one of our group company is buying the shares
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Clarified company’s strategic focus remains on core print and digital markets in regional languages without diversification into English print. Disciplined capital allocation emphasizing shareholder returns signals steady stewardship but may disappoint M&A-focused investors.
"We are not planning to get into English in the metropolitan cities ... No acquisition targeted as of now... We have been following a policy of giving out a dividend, which is a large percentage of our payout every year. The company intends to continue with that."
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Stable raw materials costs support margin recovery as pricing pressures ease, but uncertainty in Q3 introduces some operational risk.
"We expect the newsprint price environment to remain stable in the coming quarters subject to currency fluctuations... Quarter 2 is very much under control... Quarter 3 we have to wait and watch."
— Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
Dr Reddy’s | Large Cap | Healthcare
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited is a leading India-based pharmaceutical company that started its generics business in India in 1986.
Management is subtly acknowledging a strategic inflection point in the US generics business: organic growth will likely remain constrained, and results increasingly depend on execution in new (often complex) launches.
Yeah. So, the base business in the US decreased. It's primarily timing. So, I will say, I don't see anything relatively special.
“Overall, the base business, the way I see, it's going to be flat to single digit growth, like we normally are discussing. It, of course, depends on the success in some product launches that we are planning.”
— Erez Israeli,CEO
Management signals near-term binary risk/reward tied to semaglutide—regulatory timing, launch readiness, and market sequencing in key markets are centerpiece drivers for FY26-27. The Canada-first strategy indicates tactical prioritization based on regulatory “white space” before India and other major markets.
[Semaglutide]“Assuming that this will happen, the launch in the rest of the countries during calendar 2026 will be in 87 markets overall... The key will be India, Brazil, Turkey, and countries like that will be after March of 2026. And Canada has an opportunity...to be before that.”
“...still planning and gearing to get approval of [semaglutide] somewhere between end of October to beginning of November...we can launch...at the time of the loss of exclusivity, in the beginning of January 2026.”—Erez Israeli,CEO
Management expects strong financial performance from semaglutide. They aim for gross margins above 50% in the base business, and even higher for semaglutide. EBITDA margins are targeted at 25% or more, consistent with historical levels.
“If we successfully launch semaglutide, we should be absolutely good in all the parameters that we are familiar with, meaning the EBITDA as well. So, we are aiming that the base business will always be north of 50%. And in semaglutide, it should be even more than that on the gross margins. And the EBITDA, obviously, like always 25, or north of it.
—Erez Israeli,CEO
Sales are concentrated this year due to early bookings and larger quotas. Expect similar pricing and volumes now, then a sharp drop next quarter.
“(Lenalidomide) We hope not. I believe not, because most of the booking was done already...when more companies came this year, they had bigger quotas, and they are trying to sell in fewer quarters. So, by design, it has created a certain density, versus the year before. It is all well anticipated...So, I believe, that what you should see from us, it's, give or take, a similar magnitude of pricing as well as quantities and after that, there will be a sharp decline in the other quarter.”
— Erez Israeli,CEO
Semaglutide’s initial supply is externally dependent, with Dr. Reddy’s internal capacity (Vizag) not available until FY28. This introduces operational and supply risk just as market demand surges.
“Yes. So, the launches that will happen in FY26 and FY27 will not be out of Vizag. It will be with our partner. And using our API, but with the partner. Which means that the capacity of FTO-11 will come from FY28 onwards. We are likely to have, in the beginning, with our partner, about 12 million pens in FY27. And if you like to look at calendar 26, because it's very relevant for the potential Canadian launch, it's about 10 million pens.”
Capex will be ₹2,500–2,700 crore, focused on peptides and biosimilars. Growth will come from baseline business, special products, cost cuts, and business development (BD). The company has $2–2.5 billion in financial capacity and is actively pursuing BD opportunities.
“So, capex this year, also, would be, more or less, like last year’s level...₹2,500 to 2,700 crores...a lot of investments is going for peptides and biosimilars."
“As you know, we are looking for BD (business development)...we have four levers of growth - the baseline growth, special products, cost optimization and BD. We believe, it’s not just this cash, we have also the ability to borrow and that we have $2-2.5 billion of financial capacity. And we are engaging, as we speak, with BD, and hopefully, will come, you know. BD, you can never guide, but, we are definitely working on it and we see growth opportunities.”
— Erez Israeli,CEO
Launch timing in Canada nearly certain (Jan 2026), but Indian launch subject to ongoing IP litigation; risk scenario well-defined.
“(Semaglutide) So, just to correct. There is no patent in Canada. What keeps the product from being launched is data exclusivity that will expire in January ‘26. There is a patent in India, that we are now litigating in Delhi High Court...we are preparing for that. And the second is that we need to get approval. If both happen, we will be good. I don't see an IP situation in Canada that will stop us."
— Erez Israeli,CEO
Software Services
Infobeans Technologies | Small Cap | Software Services
InfoBeans Technologies Ltd., incorporated in the year 2011, operating in the Information Technology sector. It is engaged in offering custom software services. This includes Big data, mobile apps, .net apps, and java apps.
The management reflects a deliberate strategic repositioning to focus on fast-growing, technology-heavy areas aligned with current market demand for AI and cloud-enabled services. The focus on BFSI and storage/virtualization sectors suggests targeting stable, high-value clients.
“We have been transitioning ourselves from a digital transformation company to an AI-led data engineering company... We are also focusing on two business verticals, BFSI and storage and virtualizations... We are investing in growth, investing in strategic leadership guidance, and we are building the business step-by-step.”
— Avinash Sethi, Co-Founder
The management underscores InfoBeans' strength in building sticky, strategic relationships that can sustain revenue stability and growth. Investors gain insight into the quality of revenue—less volatile and more predictable due to client loyalty.
“I'll try and explain. So repeat business means that 95% of our customers stick with us. More than 95% of our customers stay with us. As Avinash said, that we create a very strong bond. These customers stay with us for a very long term. So the customer churn is very, very less. And that is one of the key aspects of our success we have seen. We really believe in very long-term relationships.”
— Siddharth Sethi, CEO
The integration of AI accelerators and platforms as core sales drivers highlights an innovation-led competitive advantage. Growth in Europe diversifies geographic revenue, reducing reliance on the US market and mitigating regional risks.
“So InfoBeans in general, has pivoted to an AI first strategy. We have taken a very conscious effort in the last two and three quarters to make sure that our AI strategy, our AI implementations really take off not only to reduce cost which is of course a very primary aspect but also to help us increase revenue.
The second very important arrowhead for us has been ServiceNow and most of our European operations, European sales and revenues come through a ServiceNow first and AI first strategy.”
— Siddharth Sethi, CEO
The management portrays a shareholder-friendly capital deployment mindset balancing returns via buybacks and dividends with strategic investments in growth. Their measured M&A stance suggests prudence, reducing acquisition integration risk while keeping inorganic growth potential open.
“We returned about 10 crores of cash to the shareholders... We are cash rich... Our intention is to put that to good use internally and also to acquire... We are very conscious that the company we acquire has to be culturally correct... We have a team that continuously searches for the right company.”
— Avinash Sethi, Co-Founder
Management acknowledges past challenges but shows signs of revival through AI and diversification. Focus on long-term growth and strategic acquisitions adds credibility.
“We have sailed through that situation... We have emerged as a transformed company... With the results that we have delivered this quarter, we are going in the right direction... The trailing 12 months is already significantly beyond the 400 crore mark... Our journey from 400 to 4000 crores will not complete without acquisitions.”
— Avinash Sethi, Co-Founder
Global
Meta | Mega Cap | Global
Engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality and mixed reality headsets, augmented reality, and wearables worldwide.
This development of “super intelligence” signals Meta’s full commitment to AI as the core driver of its future growth, not just incremental innovation but a transformative bet with super intelligence at its core.
“Meta’s vision is to bring personal “super intelligence “to everyone so that people can direct it towards what they value in their own lives… We think super intelligence is now in sight.”
“There is no other company as good at taking technology and deploying it to billions of people.We are building several multi-gigawatt computer clusters, including the world’s first gigawatt-plus cluster coming online next year.”— Mark Zuckerberg, CEO
Sustained growth in engagement metrics reflects successful monetization potential and ecosystem vitality, essential for Meta’s ad revenue base. The increasing use of AI in content discovery strengthens Meta’s ecosystem reliance and user stickiness, especially with newer apps like Threads.
“Daily active users continue to grow across our apps, with meaningful lift in video engagement—Instagram video time up more than 20% year-over-year.”
“Over two-thirds of recommended content on Instagram in the U.S. now comes from original posts.”
“We are incorporating large language models to drive a meaningful share of recommendation-related time spent on Threads.”
— Susan Li, CFO
Reality Labs(a research unit of Meta) remains a capital-intensive strategic bet with no near-term profitability, testing investor patience. However, management’s conviction in glasses as the primary AI computing platform highlights a long-term shift away from traditional mobile devices.
“Ray-Ban Meta glasses sales are accelerating, with demand outstripping supply.”
“Reality Labs revenue grew 5% year over year but incurred a $4.5 billion operating loss.”
“We continue to invest heavily because we believe AI glasses will become the primary interface for super intelligence.”— Mark Zuckerberg, CEO
Meta is signaling a dramatic scale-up in infrastructure and talent investment as foundational to its AI-led growth strategy, acknowledging the significant near-term expense and capex pressure.
“Sharp acceleration in depreciation and infrastructure operating costs will be the largest driver of 2026 expense growth.”
“We expect to continue increasing server, networking, and data center investments to meet AI compute demands.”
“We are focused on recruiting leading AI talent and expect headcount growth primarily in these prioritized technical areas.”
— Susan Li, CFO
Increasing scrutiny and regulatory enforcement in Europe pose imminent risks to Meta’s revenue streams and monetization models there.
“Further imposed modifications to our Less Personalized Ads model could have a significant negative impact on our European revenue as early as later this quarter.”
“We have appealed the DMA(Digital Markets Act) decision, but changes may be imposed during the appeal process.
— Susan Li, CFO
Microsoft | Mega Cap | Global
Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.
Backed by Microsoft Azure (cloud computing), this signals a deliberate and deeply integrated AI-first approach, not just surface-level AI enhancements. Microsoft is betting on infrastructure dominance coupled with specialized cloud offerings to sustain competitive advantages, i
“Azure surpassed $75 billion in annual revenue, up 34% driven by growth across all workloads. We continue to lead the AI infrastructure wave and took share every quarter this year. We opened new data centers across six continents and now have over 400 data centers across 70 regions, more than any other cloud provider.”
“We stood up more than 2 gigawatts of new capacity over the past 12 months alone and continue to scale our data center capacity faster than any other competitor. Every Azure region is now AI first.”
“We are driving and riding a set of compounding S-curves across silicon, systems, and models to continuously improve efficiency and performance for our customers.”
— Satya Nadella, CEO
Microsoft is rapidly expanding its AI footprint, with strong growth in Copilot usage, broad enterprise adoption, and increasing healthcare integration. Its platform supports diverse AI models to meet varied customer needs.
“Our family of co-pilot apps has surpassed 100 million monthly active users...we have over 800 million monthly active users of AI features across our products.”
“Customers increasingly want to use multiple AI models to meet specific performance, cost, and use case needs... 15 models from OpenAI are shipped on Foundry this year.”
“GitHub Copilot enterprise customers increased 75% quarter over quarter, with 90% of Fortune 100 now users.”
“In healthcare, ambient AI solutions corrected over 13 million physician-patient encounters this quarter, up nearly 7x year-over-year.”
— Satya Nadella, CEO
The company’s capex is backed by strong customer demand, not speculation. It prioritizes scaling and backlog growth over financial ratios, while software efficiencies help protect margins.
“Capex correlates strongly with $368 billion contracted backlog — investment driven by confirmed customer commitments, not speculation.”
“Focus on building backlog and scaling capacity; not fixated on a capex/revenue crossover point.”
“Software innovation optimizes hardware utilization, enhancing gross margin despite heavy infrastructure.”
— Amy Hood, CFO
The engagement growth in social professional networking and gaming suggests robust monetization opportunities and platform entrenchment.
“LinkedIn has 1.2 billion members with sustained double-digit growth and increased engagement across comments and video uploads.”
“In gaming, 500 million monthly active users, top publisher status on console platforms, Game Pass revenue nearly $5 billion.”
— Satya Nadella, CEO
Alphabet | Mega Cap | Global
The parent company of Google, Alphabet is a multinational conglomerate focused on a wide range of industries including technology, advertising, artificial intelligence, and healthcare. It is best known for Google’s search engine, Android, YouTube, and Google Cloud.
Google is seeing strong momentum in AI-driven search, with AI Overviews boosting query volume and now running on its fastest model, Gemini 2.5. The new AI Mode, designed for complex queries, is receiving positive feedback and already has significant user traction in key markets like the U.S. and India.
“We know how popular AI Overviews are because they are now driving over 10% more queries globally for the types of queries that show them, and this growth continues to increase over time. AI Overviews are now powered by Gemini 2.5, delivering the fastest AI responses in the industry.”
“We also saw strong growth in the use of multimodal Search, particularly the combination of Lens or Circle to Search, together with AI Overviews. This growth was most pronounced among younger users. Our new end-to-end AI Search experience, AI Mode, continues to receive very positive feedback, particularly for longer and more complex questions. It's still rolling out but already has over 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. and India.”
— Sundar Pichai, CEO, Alphabet and Google
Google’s visual search tools like Lens and Circle to Search are seeing rapid growth, especially in shopping-related queries. Features are expanding from images to video with tools like Search Live, while new capabilities enable deeper, app-free exploration of complex topics.
“Google Lens searches are one of the fastest growing query types on Search and grew 70% since this time last year. The majority of Lens searches are incremental, and we are seeing healthy growth with shopping queries using Lens. And you can obviously take this to the next level by moving from image to video-based capabilities, like ‘Search Live’. And then there's Circle to Search, which is now on over 300 million Android devices. We've been adding capabilities to help people explore complex topics and ask follow-up questions without switching apps.”
— Philipp Schindler, SVP and CBO, Google
YouTube seems to have cracked the short-form video monetization challenge, achieving the same revenue efficiency as long-form content:
“We continue to see strong performance in YouTube, as well as Subscriptions, reflecting great momentum across these high-growth businesses. In the U.S., Shorts now earn as much revenue per watch hour as traditional in-stream on YouTube, and in some countries, it now even exceeds in-stream's rate.”
— Sundar Pichai, CEO, Alphabet and Google
The Boeing Co | Mega Cap | Global
Boeing is a global aerospace company that designs and manufactures commercial jetliners, defense, space, and security systems. It is one of the largest aerospace companies in the world, known for products like the 737, 787, and its advanced defense technologies.
Boeing's production increases are blocked by one failing quality metric - too much rework time per airplane.
“We do still have one KPI that is below threshold that we're still working. Not surprising. We know it's – the amount of rework hours we have on the airplane. So, we're working that down. And once we get that KPI where we need it, then we'll be having those discussions with the FAA. We said rate increases beyond that will go in increments of five, no earlier than six months. That doesn't mean it's on six months. It's no earlier than six months. We'll continue to do what we're doing right now.”
— Robert Kelly Ortberg, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director
Boeing had more 777 deliveries to boost Q2 cash flow, creating a $700 million headwind for Q3:
“Usually, we see six to seven 777 deliveries in a given quarter. We had 13 in the second quarter, which drove an incremental $700 million of positive free cash flow. Now as we think about the third quarter before we adjust for a potential one-time item, free cash flow, as I mentioned, is going to look a little bit more like the 2Q usage more or less.”
“And here are the things that are driving it. The benefit of lower interest payments will be offset by this 777 2Q reversal that I just outlined. On volume, 737 could be a bit better, and I think the 787 is going to be pretty steady. And there's a few hundred million dollars of unfavorable timing shift from 2Q to 3Q, mainly CapEx spend. On top of this, in the third quarter, there's a potential for a $700 million one-time payment related to the DOJ nonprosecution case. So that's the third quarter, which then sets us up for the fourth quarter to be positive”
— Brian J. West Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President-Finance
Spotify | Mega Cap | Global
Spotify is the world's leading audio streaming service. It operates under a freemium model—providing free, ad-supported access alongside premium subscriptions. Spotify has expanded into podcasting and audiobooks, aiming to become a comprehensive audio platform.
Spotify is seeing strong gains in user engagement as it integrates generative AI and personalization. Features like DJ, now interactive and live in over 60 markets, are driving deeper user connections. AI now allows users to express their preferences directly, going beyond passive listening data for more accurate and responsive recommendations.
“As we look to understand impact, user engagement is a critical metric for us….and as we rebuild our stack for the Generative AI age and bring personalization to a whole new level, we are seeing it improve significantly. For example, listeners have been telling us just how much they love Spotify’s DJ - and user engagement with DJ has nearly doubled over the past year. Spotify Premium users wanted more than a one-way channel with DJ - they wanted a dialogue. So we delivered….and now, in more than 60 markets, DJ takes music requests, serving up suggestions using AI and insights from our global editorial experts.”
“Previously, when we constructed algorithmic playlists for our users, we were confined to guessing the tracks the user would want based only on the user’s past listening, signals such as plays, saves and skips. With Generative AI, the user can finally tell us - in plain english - what they actually want, what’s on their mind, and even what they’re doing, right now. These are often things that would’ve been impossible for us to understand from listening data.”
— Gustav Söderström, Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Office
The Coca-Cola Co | Mega Cap | Global
Coca-Cola is a multinational beverage company best known for its flagship carbonated drink, Coca-Cola, along with a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages, including juices, teas, and energy drinks. It operates in over 200 countries and is one of the largest beverage distributors globally.
Early monsoons and geopolitical tensions hurt Coca-Cola's India business but maybe integrated marketing will help:
“In India, after a strong start to the year, volume declined, as our business was impacted by early monsoons and geopolitical conflict early in the important summer season. In response, we're engaging consumers with integrated marketing campaigns like Coca-Cola and Meals supported by execution in the QSR channel, Thums Up with Biryani, Sprite with Spicy Meals and Maaza with Festivals, and tailoring these activations to regional and local needs. Also, our system is adding customer outlets and recently surpassed 1 million customers on its digital ordering platforms.”
— James Quincey Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
The company sees strong consumer demand for protein and views its brands like fairlife and Core Power as highly differentiated in the U.S. It’s exploring global expansion opportunities where similar benefits could offer a competitive edge.
“As you rightly point out, the structure of the dairy industry in the US is differential relative to other parts of the world. But protein is very on-trend. We know that fairlife and Core Power are strongly differentiated and preferred as products and brands. And we are, of course, looking to see if we can deliver those sorts of consumer benefits in other parts of the world in ways that we feel would give us a competitive advantage versus whatever is in the marketplace at the time. More to come.”
— James Quincey Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Coca-Cola is expanding its sweetener options, introducing a U.S. cane sugar Coke and using diverse sweeteners across its portfolio to match consumer preferences. It’s also experimenting with innovations like fiber-infused Coke, focusing on long-term brand building through trial and learning.
“As it relates to the cane sugar, yes, we're going to be bringing a Coke sweetened with US cane sugar into the market this fall, and I think that will be an enduring option for consumers. Actually, we use cane sugar in a number of our other brands in the US portfolio from lemonades to teas, some of the coffee stuff, some of the Vitamin Water drinks. So, it's blended into some of our other products. And so, we are definitely looking to use the whole toolbox, the whole toolkit of available sweetening options to some extent where there are consumer preferences. So, we will continue to do that.”
“And as we experiment, yes, with fiber – I think you're referring to the Coke with fiber in Japan. And so, that's been an interesting option, and we collected some valuable learnings for it. So, we just continue to focus on trying things, understanding it takes a long time to build a new franchise with consumers. But you got to try things, and we know our success rate is substantially above the industry. But it's still a question of whether it takes time and commitment to build something new.”
— James Quincey Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Netflix | Mega Cap | Global
Netflix is a global streaming service and content provider that offers a wide variety of TV shows, movies, documentaries, and original programming. It has revolutionized the entertainment industry with its subscription-based model and global reach across more than 190 countries.
Netflix rules out acquiring traditional TV networks and prefers building over buying:
“We've historically been more builders than buyers, and we continue to see big runway for growth without fundamentally changing that playbook. You heard a lot of that today. So we look at a lot of things. We apply a framework or lens to those opportunities when we look at, is it a big opportunity? Does it strengthen our entertainment offering? Does it strengthen our capabilities? Does it accelerate our strategy?”
“And we look at all of that relative to the opportunity cost of distraction or other alternatives. We've been pretty clear in the past that we also have no interest in owning legacy media network. So that also kind of reduces the funnel for us.”
— Spencer Adam Neumann, Chief Financial Officer
Generative AI enters the streaming business:
“The member experience is a place where we feel like there's tons of opportunity to leverage these new generative technologies to improve the experience. We've been in the personalization and recommendation business for 2 decades, but yet we see a tremendous room and opportunity to make it even better by leveraging some of the more newer generative techniques.”
“We're also rolling out, have piloted right now a conversational experience that allows our members to basically have a sort of natural language discussion with our user interface thing.”
— Gregory K. Peters, Co-CEO, President & Director
Netflix acknowledges free streaming services are growing but focuses on winning the most profitable viewing moments rather than all viewing hours:
“We also see free services as a form of strong competition. Free is very powerful from a consumer perspective so it's not surprising that some free services are growing in engagement. But I think Ted said it well earlier in the call, not all hours are created equal. And we have a different profit model from other services, a strong profit model. So we're going to compete to win more moments of truth for sure, but especially compete to win those most profitable moments. And back to your specific question, it's worth remembering there's about 80% of total TV view share that neither Netflix or YouTube are winning right now. We think that represents a huge opportunity for which we are competing aggressively and we aim to grow our share.
— Gregory K. Peters, Co-CEO, President & Director
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 Apeksh, Prerana & Kashish.
Disclaimer: We’ve used AI tools in filtering and cleaning up these quotes so there maybe some mistakes. Now, if you are thinking why we are using AI, please remember that we are just a small team of 5 people running everything you see on Zerodha Markets 😬 So, all the good stuff is human and mistakes are AI.
Introducing “What the hell is happening?”
We've been thinking a lot about how to make sense of a world that feels increasingly unhinged - where everything seems to be happening at once and our usual frameworks for understanding reality feel completely inadequate. This week, we dove deep into three massive shifts reshaping our world, using what historian Adam Tooze calls "polycrisis" thinking to connect the dots.
Frames for a Fractured Reality - We're struggling to understand the present not from ignorance, but from poverty of frames - the mental shortcuts we use to make sense of chaos. Historian Adam Tooze's "polycrisis" concept captures our moment of multiple interlocking crises better than traditional analytical frameworks.
The Hidden Financial System - A $113 trillion FX swap market operates off-balance-sheet, creating systemic risks regulators barely understand. Currency hedging by global insurers has fundamentally changed how financial crises spread worldwide.
AI and Human Identity - We're facing humanity's most profound identity crisis as AI matches our cognitive abilities. Using "disruption by default" as a frame, we assume AI reshapes everything rather than living in denial about job displacement that's already happening.
The Chatter is run by the same team that creates The Daily Brief and Aftermarket Report.
the part with the international stocks is brilliant. more power to the team.
The Chatter of date digs through what India’s biggest companies are saying and brings me the most interesting bits of insight.Today it enriched me with The Known Unknowns and how to tap into the unseen possibilities and greater market forces by using the Truths said by the CEO /Top Management of:
Banking & Financial Services:
ICICI Bank
L&T Finance
Engineering & Capital Goods:
Polycab India
Havells
Ultratech Cement
Travel & Hospitality:
Ixigo
FCMG & Retail:
Eternal
LT Foods
Media & Entertainment:
D.B. Corp
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals:
Dr Reddy’s
Software Services:
Infobeans Technologies
Global:
Meta
Microsoft
Alphabet
The Boeing Co
Spotify
The Coca-Cola Co
Netflix
I’m in AWE at the distillation of wisdom by The Chatter and admire The Chatter for not making any but/sell recommendations. How The Chatter does so much work is a Wonder.I assume ZERODHA has Brightest Talent.