Orient Electric Limited (ORIENTELEC) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Orient Electric Ltd. Q4 FY26 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Ambit Capital. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Orient Electric's 4QFI 26 earnings call. From the management today, we have with us Mr. Ravindra Singh Negi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Parvind Vats, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Thambhav Jain, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir, for your opening remarks.

Thank you, Dhruv, and a very good evening to everyone, and a warm welcome to Orient Electric's Q4 and full-layer FY26 earnings conference call. Thank you for joining us today. I will begin by outlining the operating context for the quarter, followed by a performance highlight and key actions that we executed during this period. During the quarter, industry's operating environment was primarily affected by persistent commodity inflation, ongoing labor shortage, and gas supply disruptions, resulting from the West Asia crisis. Additionally, a softness in demand emerged, coinciding with the unseasonal rains, leading to a slow start for cooling categories. Elevated channel inventory prompted dealers to approach replenishment with caution. These challenges are expected to remain important factors to monitor going forward. Amid this unprecedented situation, we delivered a double-digit revenue growth in quarter four and further improving our EBITDA margins. Revenue from operations stood at 948 crores, up 10% year-on-year, supported by broad-based momentum across our portfolio. This performance reflects a disciplined execution of one-oriented approach, anchored in our three-world strategy, that focuses on multiple growth avenues while extracting synergies from an established ecosystem, underpinned by premiumization, innovation, diversification, and operational discipline. Importantly, our diversification engines continue to scale, improving the quality and resilience of growth across both lighting and ECD portfolios. Lighting and switchgear remains a structural growth engine delivering 16% air-on-air revenue growth, driven by distribution expansion, portfolio premiumization, and steady market share gains in consumer lighting. The consumer lighting business witnessed a double-digit growth with a meaningful improvement in volume-to-value conversion. Our share of high-value luminaries expanded to 68% versus 63% last year. Support by strong traction and key premium categories. Professional luminaries were largely flat this quarter. However, we continue to see a strong project inquiry pipeline across street lighting and facade projects. Our emerging growth engines, switchgear and wires, scaled well, delivering high double-digit growth. Wires doubled air-on-air, while switches in switchgear sustained a good momentum. As we accelerated our electrician engagement initiatives and leveraged our fans and lighting distribution ecosystem for effective cross-sell. In the ECD segment, revenue grew 7.6% earlier, despite softness across the industry. Growth was led by a strong on-ground execution in our DTM states, driving deeper penetration and market share gains. Fans delivered a high single-digit growth, outperforming peers driven by our distribution strategies and continued focus on premiumization and product development. Our BLDC portfolio grew over 50% year-on-year and now contributes 25% of domestic ceiling fans' revenue, while our overall premium mix increased to approximately 35% of domestic fan revenue, up from 30% in the previous quarter. Premiumization and innovation-led launches remain a core pillar of our growth. A key highlight of the quarter was the introduction of Aero O2, India's first oxygen-enriching ceiling fan, powered by advanced bio-oxy plasma ion technology. This breakthrough innovation goes beyond air circulations to deliver fresher, healthier air across all seasons. The Samvars platform, launched earlier this year, has further improved service delivery experience by enabling deeper consumer insights and faster issue resolutions. This also demonstrates our commitment to consumer simplicity, ensuring that customers receive prompt and personalized support at every touchpoint. Our appliances portfully sustain its upward trajectory. With strong traction in heating and garment care appliances and delivered high double-digit growth on our e-com platform. Our overall e-com business scaled with market share gains, delivering high double-digit growth, supported by a strong assortment, effective digital engagement, and healthy consumer traction. Quick commerce now contributes 10% of our digital channel. During the quarter, we scaled our presence on Big Basket and now covering all major quick-com platforms. Our exports business also grew at a double-digit rate, expanding our international presence across key markets. However, we are closely monitoring the geopolitical tensions in West Asia to manage any potential implications proactively. Operational discipline remains central to our approach. In the context of commodity inflation and the star rating transition, we implemented calibrated price actions of approximately upward of 4% in Q4. Our SunShare program continued to deliver tangible benefits, translating into 68 crores of cost savings during FY26, and supporting margin resilience. Gross margin for the quarter stood at 31%, impacted by commodity inflation. Despite this, EBITDA margins improved to 8.2, and absolute EBITDA at 77 crores, up 15.8% air on air. PACs stood at 40 crores, up 28.9% air-on-air, reflecting benefits of operating leverage. For the full year, revenue grew to 3,326 crores, up 7.5% air-on-air. EBITDA increased to 229 crores, up 12.4% air-on-air, and PVT before exceptional items stood at about 139 crores, up 24.2% air-on-air. Overall, our FY26 performance validates a long-term strategy centered around premiumization, innovation-led differentiation, and a structurally strong go-to-market and service ecosystem, supported by sustained investments in brand building and an accelerated digital-first approach. As we enter FY27, our priorities remain consistent around the three-wall strategy. which focuses on scaling our diversification engines, accelerate premiumization and innovation, deepen distribution and service capability, and drive disciplined execution to strengthen profitability. We will continue to drive mixed improvement, cost discipline, and execution rigor, while staying agile to commodity pressures and regulatory developments. We expect the demand to improve in Q1, supported by a forecast of a hotter and more prolonged summer, which could drive a late-season surge in demand across fan and cooling categories. We implemented a calibrated pricing action early in the Q1 quarter to address commodity price inflation, and we will continue to evaluate further steps to offset the impact of recent global disruptions. While cost recovery remains a priority, but we are conscious of preserving competitiveness. Our approach will, therefore, remain measured and responsive to market conditions, focused on protecting margins while retaining and gaining share. With these remarks, I would like to open the floor for your questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembled. Our first question comes from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity and congrats for a good set of numbers amid statistics volatility. So the price hike of 4% in France seems to be very low given the inflation in input prices plus the DE norm change. So, how much more price hike is required to pass on the entire incremental cost burden? Question number one, and secondly, you have mentioned about market share gains in France in the presentation. So, if you can give more color on that, means whether the market share gains are in... Uh, uh, like the ceiling fans or BLDC, uh, or, uh, Innovate DPW and, or, or overall and, um, any, uh, region-wise color also, if you can, either the, uh, direct market, uh, whether we have gained or other markets we have gained, so that will be helpful. Yeah. Thanks.

Thanks, Anurad, for your question. And let me just step back and tell you about the 4% that I spoke about is something that we took about 1-3% in January. Then we took another 1-1.5% in March. And in April, we've taken about close to 6% price increase. So that's how we staggered it. So the 4% or a little upward of 4% that I spoke about is only for quarter four. And if you look at it, while star ratcheting and other things had its impact, but for us, the incremental impact was slightly lesser than the industry because our products were slightly spec'd well. And a part of our portfolio didn't have to go much of a change. So that's where I will give the first part of the question. And I've already explained that, you know, 6% is something that we've taken. As an industry, I don't think so, because the situation is so volatile. The price, close watch on the price and commodity price inflation has been kept. And if there are any further actions that needs to be taken, we will take that. In terms of market share gain, we've gained about 30-40 basis points, and this is all a third-party report that we all subscribe to. This gain has been slightly secular for us. If you look at it in our portfolio and efforts, it's not that we've just driven BLDC in seeding plan, and we've not upgraded our portfolio on exhaust or DPW. So it's been slightly circular across different channels. Across different markets, there's been some up and down in the regions that you would say, but I would say by and large, it's a very consumer confidence which is coming across different channels, whether it's a digital or an offline channel, that we've seen. As we move further, we're launching some more products which are going to be industry first, like the Arrow02 that we've done. And this will give us further gains as we move forward in market share. Trust that answers your question, Anurud.

Yeah, sir. This is very helpful. Many thanks.

Thanks, Anurud.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manoj Gori with Equitas Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question is on the direct distribution model where we have replaced super distributors or the master distributors and we are aligning our distribution model into those respective states. How the progress has been during the year? If you can quantify with few examples or a couple of states, how the growth has been versus earlier, and probably if you can highlight if the entire benefit has been seen or we expect some more benefit to kick in during SI27 also from this market. This is my first question.

All right. So, Manoj, let me just take that question, and as we said, you know, DTM or MD, these are two go-to-market models that we have, and unlike any other company, we have this whole advantage of toggling between any of the two models, which works well. For that particular market, what are we wanting to deliver? We are wanting to deliver a deeper distribution. We are wanting to deliver a better connect with the retailers. We are wanting to do premiumization. We are wanting to establish a better consumer service and a centricity, resulting in a volume, value, and a market share gain. So, wherever we are seeing this, we take a model, and that works well there. We continue with it. So, it's never going to be either a DTM or a MD. It's going to be a balance of both, provided either of the model delivers what the expectation on these few parameters that I spoke about. So, last year we did Pune and Vidarbha. So, that market has been doing well, and now, as we enter into the season, we'll see the real benefits of our DTM there. Otherwise, for all the markets that we've gone and done DTM, we've seen traction, and I said, you know, they've grown well in quarter four also. Also, we don't disclose market-by-market growth, but by and large, I can tell you that these are the markets where... We're getting market share gains, and we're growing faster than the industry.

Okay. The second question is, so even if you look at our discussion, it has been revolving around fans, lighting, which have been our core product categories. And historically, we have entered into many new categories like air coolers or even wires. or even appliances like mixers, water heaters and all. If we look at relatively, I am sure like even you would agree to that, that the progress has been relatively being slow as compared to the traction that we have built in fans and lighting. So, what are the plans, and probably this will be the categories which will be driving faster growth for the company. So, what is the thought process over there, and how we are targeting to scale up these categories?

So, Manoj, you know, I don't know whether we've met and I've spoken to you in person or not. We've always now said, you know, there is a three-wall strategy and a diversified portfolio approach. We are dialing up all parts of our business and looking at either the specifier or stroke or go-to market for that specifier, which could be a contractor, electrician, or architect or interior designer or end consumer. So we are looking at all three parts of the business. We start scaling up switch gears, switches, and wires, and we're seeing a large fraction there. We've spoken about high double-digit growth FTC. For us, we've simplified our portfolio in appliances, and we're very much focused on appliances which gel with our electrical trade. So we've grown by a very high double-digit gain market share across different channels in water heater, in heating categories, and some of the garment care categories. While we look at appliances at an overall value and then pass our judgment on it, but these are parts of those that we are driving well. So, from an overall perspective, We're taking not just one approach of driving fans only, or one demonstrated success that we've shown in lighting. We're saying different parts of our businesses will be driven because the end consumer or the link to the end consumer is different, and that's how we've been driving. So maybe in one of the conversations next time we meet, I'll explain to you in detail about our FreeWall strategy.

It's awesome. Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you, Anuj.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may please press star and one. Our next question is from the line of Love Gupta with Counter-Cyclical Investments. Please go ahead.

Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So, firstly, I wanted to understand why our working capital days have increased. It's gone up to over 30 days from 23 days last year. So, what was the reason for the same? And secondly, you know, we had guided for double legit margins over the next six to eight quarters, but we have been unable to achieve the same. So, what was the reason for the same and, you know, when can we expect to reach double legit margins?

So, hi. So, let me just tell you about the working capital. If you look at it, there's been a little bit of inventory that we've built up, and our favors have, you know, gone up a little bit. So, overall, if you look at it, that's where the reason for our working capital day is going up. Largely from a perspective that we were building up, we saw the disruption in supply. And that's why we were building up a little bit of inventory for us. So, that's on the working capital. The other is in terms of – sorry, can you just come and repeat the question? So, look, we've always given a guidance of saying 32 to 34% should be our gross margin, given the sudden impact of West Asia conflict. Given the sudden supply disruption and an immediate commodity price increase, we couldn't, and none of us in the industry could take a price increase in March, and all of the calibrated increase has happened in the month of April. So it's impacted our gross margin, I would say, about 100, 150 basis points. Overall, if you look at it, there's been a lot of effect on our... Cost measures that we've taken, our operating EBITDA has improved by almost 40, which is 0.28.2, and hence we are committed towards our paths to 10 double-digit margin. So that's what I can tell you. It's been a very challenging environment, but yet in that challenging environment, we've improved our EBITDA margins.

Can we expect... You know, to reach those levels once the situation starts to normalize and the supply chain is efficient again.

Given the commodity inflations to subside and supply disruptions to go, from a structural perspective, we are... Trending towards a double-digit margin, and our actions, our cost discipline, our execution rigor, our multi-engine growth, all that is sinking in well to take us there, provided some of these. Unprecedented, unanticipated surprises don't come in, hit the industry the way it has hit us, hit the industry now. But given that also, you know, we've improved our EBITDA margins by about 40 basis points.

And, sir, could you quantify what was the price hike taken this quarter across our portfolio, and if there are any further price hikes planned?

So I just said I responded back to Anirudh and we've taken about approximately 6% price increase in fans, about 6%, a little over 6% in lighting. So why not even in switch gears, we've taken about 6%. Wires is, you know, literally almost every 15 days. Three weeks that we've been taking price increase. So we are very conscious of the fact that beyond a certain point, there has to be commodity price inflation that needs to be passed on, and we've done it in a calibrated way. And lastly, just...

Sir, sorry to interrupt. We request you to please rejoin the queue if you have any further questions. Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Somil Mehta with Kotak Asset Management Company. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers, Mr. Nagy. A few questions from my side. In terms of the project Sanchai, obviously, we've seen significant cost benefits over the last two years. This year also, it's about 68 crores. Do you believe the large part of the cost efficiency is behind us, and within that 68, can you broadly classify how much is material and how much is outside of material in terms of cost savings?

So, Swamil, thanks. You know, we've started this Sanjay program about three, four years back, and the first year and the second year, we thought we've juiced it, maxed it out, but every time we look at it, there are opportunities that we find. This year, we've done about 68 crores. And then at the multiple levels that we look at it, there are VAVs that we do in the product, there are re-necociations that we do, and there are process re-engineering that we do. So I can't disclose what is contributing what, but there is a summation of all that that gets quantified at 68 crores. But as we move on, this is a continuous, so it's not a destination, but it's a continuous journey that we are on. Commodity prices go up. You look at different alternate materials. So that's, in a way, Sanchez keeps us committed to that double-digit EBITDA. Journey and keeps us on our toes. So that's a very structured program, reviewed at the highest level. Across the organization, there are people who are committed to delivering.

Okay, okay. My second question is with respect to the ECD. Would the contribution of fans in the overall ECD would have gone up, stayed flat? I am asking on a y-o-y basis from F526 to F525.

Would be by and large in the same range for ECD in the band.

Okay.

And would it be possible... We are dialing up the other part also. So we are dialing up the... So, water heaters, we're dialing up garment care, we're dialing up room heaters, and quarter four, a little bit of extended winters also helped in that case.

And would it be fair to assume that there would be a mid-single-digit volume growth in fans as well, or the number could be even higher to that extent?

Yeah, there is volume value, both that we got it, and largely, if you look at it, a lot of our efforts in terms of new product development, which now contributes almost 24% of our fans' revenue, and a real focus on premiumization that's helping us get the volume value synergized output.

Sure. And my last question in terms of the new series of FAN which we have launched, what would be the broad range pricing point, the starting pricing point, and which all key markets is where we have introduced as of now? That would be my last question.

So, there's a series. I'll preempt a little bit because some of this has already hit the market. We've done a series of India's first innovation that we've done. So, Arrow O2. Which is an oxygen enriching, is in the range of about 16,000. That's gone to key metros and key TL1 towns. And that's a high-priced product. Then there is Aerosylent, which is India's most, or India's quietest fan, which is under 50 dB of. And the third is also what we've done, which is a great innovative and coming from a deep consumer insights and understanding is India's first inverter stroke a battery backup ceiling fan. It can give you a battery backup of almost six hours at a certain speed. So that also is getting rolled out. So some of this, plus we've got into PLDC and PPW, there's a huge range which is coming and everything will be at a different price range. But what we've done is that we've spent a lot of time solving for consumer problems, solving for consumer needs. And I think that's what is going to reflect not only our product listing, but also in the... Touch, feel, and the form factor that you'll see in our products. So, overall, the design language is premium. Overall, the consumer benefits are stemming from the consumer inside. So, a huge amount of effort which has gone in fans and in lighting also. And the similar thing that you'll see in switches and switchgear also coming in, a similar approach that you'll see in some of the products that we'll roll out in, say, water heaters or a room heater category. So you'll see a consistent brand synergy or a language, design language, an approach that will start coming in all of our products.

Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much and all the best for subsequent quarters. Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Rachana Kukreja from SIMPL. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. I have a few questions. My first question is, our ambition was to improve the mix of premium products as a percentage of domestic fan mix from 30% to 40% over a few years. And in FY26, premium products contribute 35%. Though the premium mix has improved by 5%, gross margins have remained stable in FY26 despite taking price hikes to offset inflation. So if you put... Provide work factors have restricted our gross profit margins improving despite the benefits from better product mix and price increases.

Yeah, Raktan, a good question, you know. I've said it, you know, I said it earlier also right now that the pricing or the calibrated price increases that we've taken, not only us, but for the industry that has taken, it is not offsetting the commodity or overall inflation that's hitting. The wild commodity becomes the headline inflation, but there are so many other inflation or cost increases that starts to come in. Shortage of labor resulting into low productivity is a cost inflation. You know, cash going up or the commercial LPT unavailability and the price going up is a commodity, a cost inflation. And then some of the other things that which impact the industry, a lot of our... For the industry, the supply ecosystem is in the north. Haryana increased the minimum wages by 35 percent. UP followed by 24 percent. That's the cost inflation that comes in. So while we keep looking at commodity and say, oh, commodity equal to commodity, the cost of running the business, the cost of production across categories, across the industries has really gone up. While you've taken calibrated increases, All of it by the industry has not passed on to it. It is, and if you look at some of the peer results and all, while operating EBITDA has dropped, it is actions like focus on premiumization, which is helping us improve our EBITDA, given the fact that we still have a gap between the cost increase and what we've taken from the consumer.

My second question would be if you could provide some color on the Hyderabad plant and its current utilization levels. Has it reduced delivery time and cover up any inventory constraints in south and western markets? And also, Hyderabad's plant had an idea of, you know, growing the export business, which has grown as per the investor presentation. And within export, how has that growth for TPW fans been? And has the mix of TPW fans improved for us? And correspondingly, has any growth in export contributed to our gross margins?

Okay, so too many questions rolled into one question. Let me just, you know, try and answer. So, largely, Hyderabad is now seeing traction and utilization because A large bit of our production of PPW is in Hyderabad. Currently, it's split between Kolkata and Hyderabad. We're seeing our PPW production going up. We're seeing early signs of PPW traction coming in south. South had good showing green shoots of good summer. So, too early to say. It's too early to conclude, but that's where we are seeing the traction happening. Exports have done well. We've grown by double digit on exports. PPW is a significant part of exports, but exports is also a large part on ceiling fan. So, and we do both from Hyderabad moving forward. It will be a good hub for us, you know. Continue to produce for export markets. So overall, we're seeing benefits of Hyderabad being there, the factory being in Hyderabad. It also solves for a large part of our logistics cost and speed to market much faster than having a factory either at Faridabad supplying or Kolkata supplying to South.

Sorry to interrupt, ma'am.

We request you to please rejoin the queue if you have any further questions. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Natasha Jain from Phillip Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations, sir, on a good set of numbers, given an extreme volatile market. So, three quick questions. One, I wanted to understand, so, fans is not as much a seasonal product as, say, a room AC. So, on that line, could you help us understand what is the broader revenue split for fans on a four-calendar quarter basis?

Okay, so, you know, if you look at it, and you could look at this data from an absolute consumer angle first, and I think that's where we need to look at it, and not from a primary perspective, because those two could have a different cycle. From a consumer angle, about 45% of the offtake happens between 1st March to the end of June. That's the consumer cycle. 55% of it happens in the balance of the year, and it could vary, you know, from region to region. If you look at it from a four quarter, it is not a very uniform from a primary perspective because then you mirror the cycle of production, mirror the cycle of trade loading. So those may not be the ideal comparisons to do. In between, around the very time, you get a little bump in consumer off-take again, but otherwise, depending on whether you're doing a first-time buy or you're looking at the economy. Economy gets a little skewed related to season, but when you look at premium and into some of the categories like BLDC, they are far more linear, they are far more consumer, off-tech happens because of upgrades and renovation, so that is far more linear. But from a consumer angle, 45% happens between March to June.

That's helpful. So thank you. Second question, could you also throw some light on the channel inventory for cooling products? Given that summer has actually picked up only from say mid of April, are primaries as fast as the secondaries?

So, unfair for me to give you a real live quarter one update, but quarter four, obviously, you know, the buildup happened. So, there is a buildup that happened, but I don't think so the buildup happened dramatically higher than any normal there. So, so quarter four, the buildup wasn't. It was abnormal. It was a normal buildup. Quarter one, as we speak, there were a period of good two weeks where there was extreme heat in the north and the south. As we speak, there is south, which is going through heat, parts of west, which is doing, and for the last few days, north is a little cooler than what it is expected. But, you know, I won't comment on here and now data on primary and secondaries right now. But whatever we can read about Super El Nino, this could be, this could see a little late surge in summers also, and a little more prolonged summer that we can see. So keeping our fingers crossed, so hopefully should be a good summer.

Got it. And so one last question. I mean, given almost all industries are facing abnormal cost headlines, And summer also, you know, it was half there, half not there. Sometimes it rained and sometimes it didn't. So, is it fair to say that at least calendar 26 will be a year of, say, protecting margins rather than improving? And on that note, we closed FY26 at 6.9, consolidated EBITDA. Any kind of guidance that you could give us for 27 as well? Thank you.

Well, I would put, you know, if I... Twenty-six in two halves. The H1 was a real washout. Okay. I don't think so. The summers have been as weak as what it was last year. When I look at my H2 and my exit, I've exited H2 with an improvement on EBITDA margins. Yes, the challenges on commodities stay there, but all of us are putting our efforts to navigate these headwinds. Our entire focus is to make sure that we are in the premium category where the consumer is slightly more cocooned to the inflation and is willing to pay you if you provide it, you give him a value and a unique and an innovative product. And that's the entire effort for us this year. And as I said, you know, we are dialing up all parts of our business. Looking at the three wall strategy, delivering growth from all factors and not just one category. And that's the portfolio approach which will help us.

Understood, sir. This is extremely helpful. Thank you and all the very best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from Ikigaya. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good evening, Mr. Nagi. My question essentially is a bit long. It's long-range. It's been about two years you've taken over petroleum electric. I'm sure we have done a lot of changes we have noticed, you know, across new product launches, canary, you know, go-to-market, going to factor and stuff like that. You know, looking at 27, I think, is obviously challenging. Everybody knows that. But if we take a three-year view, right, inflation has been missing in this industry, right? And this question is more on industry and Orient as well. And that given that pricing is now coming back, though driven by inflation and... Whatever happens from the input cost perspective, a lot of other costs you've highlighted already. Ultimately, this pricing increase helps to absorb fixed costs. We have this Hyderabad plant sitting in the office as well here, where we need to get better summers, better export demand to utilize it better and absorb those costs better. We have this pricing highs happening. Volume growth should pick up purely because of You know, summer tailwinds. Last year, summer bad. This year, summer looks okay. Does it look like an inflection point to you? And the question is more from a fiscal 28-29 perspective. At 3,000 crores sales, 100 crores profits. Do you think getting back this pricing in the industry is very positive for everybody and Orient? And incrementally, double-digit growth with double-digit margins is something? We should now look at it much positively, or maybe, you know, timing is uncertain, but maybe three years out, fiscal 28, 29, you actually achieve it purely because now you have pricing tailbeats. So, just some context on this, please. Thank you.

Thanks, Rahul. And I remember, you know, two years back when we met, and you had a little bit of pressure with him, and happy to hear a little bit of optimism coming about or in from you, and that's helpful. Let me just reflect back on what you call as pricing power. I don't see it as a pricing power. I think it's a catch-22 situation that the industry has got into it, and I'm largely reflecting from industry perspective right now. It's a catch-22 situation. When the inflations go up, do you absorb? Do you don't absorb? If you don't, what do you do? If you do, what is that the market can absorb? So I think it's not a pricing power that is coming. It's the pricing action that has been taken by the industry, which I think is a good step, whether it was forced, not forced, but it is, I think, it was inevitable that nobody could observe that. When I reflect back on what a real pricing power is, the real pricing power is when you understand consumers very deeply. And you are able to give a value to the consumer for which he or she is willing to pay you. The effort in Orient over the last few years has been to understand consumers, become a far more consumer-centric organization, design, develop products, not just for basic functionality, but satisfy the need of a consumer for either a design output, which is... Taking care of the lifestyle needs or solve for the tech needs that the consumer has. So I think not just fans, across all categories, we've been able to do this. We should catch up and I should take you through our thinking on the three-world strategy. And hence, once you hear that, maybe you'll be far more optimistic about our journey towards 5,000 crores and a double-digit data there. But we seem to be on the right trajectory. But a lot more to do from our consumer expectations and fulfilling the consumer expectations, and a lot of white spaces to cover, as I can say this.

Got it, got it, sir. And to clarify, I mean, fiscal 27 margin retaining or increasing margin is going to be a function of a lot of things, which how things move forward. But currently, the price-backs you've mentioned are cross-categories. Are those enough to take care of the spot pricing of input and other materials? Is that, we should assume that?

It is not, and I believe very honest with you, the industry has not been able to do it. The industry has taken a very balanced view of saying, don't do anything which impacts the elasticity of demand. Because if demand goes down, to bring that up takes a huge amount of effort. So a huge amount of effort will go towards bringing cost discipline to offset that gap. And that's what I think over the last, if you look at our cost structures and cost movement, you will see some bit of cost discipline coming in our numbers. That's what we'll continue to do, but if the commodity continues to do this and we are forced to take a calibrated pricency, we will not shy away from it.

Go ahead, Mr. Negi. Thank you so much for answering this question and wish you all the luck for the rest of the year.

Thank you, Rao.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Love Gupta from Counter-Cyclical Investments. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity again. I just wanted to share that, you know, we have completed our Hyderabad KPEX. And, you know, do we have any plans for a shared buyback or something on those lines, you know, instill some confidence in the community?

No, right now, nothing of that said. Once we, if we have anything, we'll come back and talk about it.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as a last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you for taking your time out and joining us, and your questions keep us sharp on the toes and also gives us food for thought. So thank you for this and look forward for meeting some of you in person. Thank you.

On behalf of Ambit Capital, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.