TTK Prestige Limited (TTKPRESTIG) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to TTK Prestige Limited Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call hosted by 361 Capital Market Private Limited. 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 call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Archid Shah from 360 One Capital Market Private Limited. Thank you and over to you sir.

Thank you, Tanya. Hello, everyone, and welcome to DTK Press Ltd. Q1 at 527 earnings call. From the management side today, we have Mr. Venkatesh Vijayagwan, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. K. Shunkurrence, Advisor to the Board, and Mr. R. Karendan, Whole-Time Director and Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to hand over the call to the management for the opening remarks, post which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Good evening. This is Saranjan here. Welcome you all for TTK 50's earnings call for Q1. Before I hand over the proceedings to our managing director, Mr. Venkatesh, I just want to remind the participants about the Safe Harbor class. The presentation, the discussion and the presentations today may contain certain statements which are futuristic in nature. Such statements represent the intentions of the management and the efforts being put in by them to realize certain goals. The success in realizing these goals depends on various factors, both internal and external. Therefore, the investors are requested to make their own independent judgments by considering all relevant factors before taking any investment decision. Thank you. Over to you, Venkatesh.

Good afternoon. This is Venkatesh here. As we get into the quarter call, let me take you through our view on general economy and then specifics of our industry and company. This quarter, again, we did face issues around the global uncertainties of Middle East political tensions and also higher energy prices as a fallout of that. Also in terms of higher commodity pricing in large number of industry segments as well. So overall, the quarter continues to be across industries, seems to be a little bit of uncertainty driven by global uncertainties. The Indian rupee weakening has its impact, and I think that's something that needs to be watched out for. And among this, I think we would say, and personally and also from a view of overall, I do believe that the country is certainly going through a little bit of turbulence from a global volatility, but is standing out in terms of its resilience and its ability to be able to sort of respond to some of these changes. And I think that sort of... August well for industry people and that we believe would probably continue to be a cornerstone for many industries and for us as well as we move forward. Specific to the industry, the quarter has been a good quarter for the industry. On the follow-up of what happened in Q4, Q1 has been a very robust quarter which has seen a significant demand generation for the industry and this has been across channels, across categories. It sort of has brought back a robust demand generation curve to the industry, and I hope this augurs well for the future as well. There have been challenges on the cost side, mounting pressures on commodity pricing and therefore input pricing, particularly in kitchenware, and also across some of the commodities in appliances as well. These mounting pressures are significant and would be impacting some of the cost structures. At large, I think the industry is passing on the cost increase to the consumers, and that's something that we've seen in the past, and I think that would sort of continue. The impact of that on volumes is to be seen, but the current quarter, if you were to go by, seems to be very robust on demand, partially driven by A situation where people have sort of upgraded their kitchen, gone for accelerated purchase of cookware in particular and appliances in particular. As appliances start getting sold more, I think the smartification of the kitchen continues to be one agenda that is strongly happening, followed by premiumization as well. That's from an industry perspective. Specific to the company, I think we've had a very good quarter. We've been able to capitalise on the opportunity of demand generated. And we do believe that we've been able to do justice to fulfilling the demand. And the work that we've done over the last two years in terms of process transformations, product transformation, also in terms of increasing our internal capabilities is holding us in good stead in meeting this demand surge. Very efficiently, and that's probably reflecting in the numbers as we speak for the quarter. So overall, the quarter has been a very good quarter, a very balanced quarter across categories, including cookers, cookware, appliances. Some part of appliances have seen a little bit of a muted growth, but that's quite natural given the way the categories are placed, but at last the growth has been significantly high. As a company, we've also seen that some of the benefits of the cost initiatives that we've driven in the last few quarters consciously are starting to yield results. We do believe the scale of which will continue to happen. So, on one side, while we have pressures on the cost because of input margins, we're sort of holding them to be able to work against them by our own internal cost initiatives across functions. And also be able to meet the demand with a robust supply chain transformation, and that's probably leading us to the growth as well. We do hope that this would continue. While we do believe that this is not a sustainable, consistent demand, the demand would probably settle at a slightly higher level than before in our view, and that I think would augur well for us and for the industry as well. So with that, I'll probably open up the conversation given that the numbers are available with everybody to read. We would probably take up the questions and answer some of the financial numbers also through the questions as well.

Over to 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 use answers while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Parth Soda from Trinitra, Asset Manager. Please go ahead.

My audible hello. Yeah, your audible yes. So, good evening and thank you for the opportunity. So, my question is like the company has over 870 crores of free cash despite ongoing investment. Beyond the announced cash, how should investors think about typical allocation over the next 2 to 3 years?

The last part, can you repeat the question, please?

Second. Oh, yes. So, the company has… Am I audible?

Yeah, yeah, you are. Please go ahead.

The company now has over 870 crores of free cash despite ongoing investments. Beyond the announced CAPEX, how should investors think about the capital allocation over the next two to three years?

Remember, one year back, we announced a total investment outlay of 500 crores, both on soft and hard expenditure. We have spent only one year of this till now. So, balance 300 crores plus will be spent over the next two years. Of course, help cash accretions also. And in these days, it's better to keep some cash free with this. The allocation will be on the items already referred earlier for about 500 crores.

Got it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Samir Gupta from India Info Line. Please go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon, and congrats on a very good set of numbers, and thanks for taking my question. So, I'll probably ask two and maybe park the rest in, you know, follow-ups. So, one, there has been a steady commodity inflation across the board. So, one, what is the quantum of price hikes that you have taken in this quarter? How much of this 33% growth is coming from price hike, and how much of the current inflation that you are seeing is already expensed out in the 1Q, and how much is remaining to be seen?

See, on the price hike, of course, we have done during this quarter, but impact is minimal during this quarter, primarily because though we did the price increase, the price price market only during the fag end of this quarter. So out of this 34% what you are seeing, it's only around 3% is actually the price hike, the rest are all the volume growth. That, again, across all the categories as well. Of course, there is some also due to the mixed change because we are also seeing some of the value-added products getting sold better during this quarter. That is also one reason for that. So, what is the second question?

No, no, this is part of the first question only. So, one, then how much total price hikes have you taken, like, even if it's only 3% for this quarter, but overall, what is the price hike quantum, and what is the kind of raw material inflation that you are facing?

So, it depends on the product to product, anywhere between 5 to 8%, it may vary, the price hikes, but it depends on the category, each category, it differs.

And the RM inflation, sir, your basket, overall?

The RM inflation is anywhere, average is around 8%.

Okay. And second question is, sir, on the growth this quarter. So, there has also been some specific categories which might have seen higher demand, which is very specific to this quarter given the geopolitical issues and LPG issues. So, if we were to, let's say, strip out those like induction cooktops, that's the only one that comes to my mind, but there could be more. If we were to remove that, what would be the revenue growth this quarter or any kind of general color that you can give on this aspect?

While I don't want to be very specific on that, I think if you want to look at the numbers, unlike the last quarter where there was a disproportionate growth impact because of induction, this quarter, the growth has been significantly distributed across categories. Induction cooktops, small domestic appliances, air fryers, cookware, cookers, it's been uniformly distributed across categories.

Sir, then is it a case of channel upstocking before the impending price hikes? Because there has been a sharp acceleration in the growth trajectory. And normally, unless, you know, exceptional circumstances like more people spending more time at home, like we saw in COVID, what should be the reason of such a sharp acceleration?

So, our belief is there is a minimal impact of upstocking. We are not saying that upstocking is completely ruled out. There is, but I think for the quantum of growth that we are seeing, upstocking is not the primary driver of growth. So, that's one thing that's very clearly coming in from the consumption pattern. Upstocking has not happened significantly high. There will be a part of this that can be attributable to that. I think what we believe is that the current scenario where consumers have walked in to buy more of induction cooktops, they've also looked at the new set of cookware, the new set of appliances. This has been a vibrant industry where one competitive industry is high. Second, a lot of people have started to get in new products in. Third, prestige after almost a very significant gap in the last one and a half years have introduced close to 400 to 450 SKUs. So what's happening essentially is I think the walk-ins and the searches have increased and this has led to more buying combinations of cookware and appliances to the kitchen. So I would tend to believe that this is a trigger, and one of the reasons that we believe this is happening is we do have partial visibility to the nursery trends that are happening in the market through our own stores. And that's been robust enough. So our belief is that while I mentioned that it's not a sustainable growth, this is something that has been triggered off with consumer behavior. And I think it's sort of a one-time effort that consumers have put in to refurbish their kitchens. What started as just the induction cooktop was probably spread across all categories. Having said that, we've not seen that in some categories which are not necessarily impulsive in nature. Those categories have not necessarily seen significant growth. So to that extent, I think this is something that has happened from a consumer-driven perspective rather than upstarking in our mind.

Got it, sir. I'll let others ask a few more, but I'll come back in the queue. Thanks all.

Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and want to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Praneet from SJ Investments. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So, I want to understand in terms of, you mentioned that there are a lot more products, there are a lot of sales, but what is the company exactly doing to get higher performance and higher visibility because we're going to see sometimes the visibility has suddenly increased, right? So, what are the examples companies have been putting to get that?

No, your voice is muffled. Your voice is a little muffled. We're not able to hear it properly.

Is it better now? As asking, referring to your answer from the previous pastime that you mentioned that there's a lot more visibility of new products, the consumers are increasing the amount of wallet spend they do at Prestige. That's the reason of most of the growth. Could you explain what costs this increase in visibility or increase in footfall into our stores or something like that? Is it the higher number of stores? I just wanted to understand what suddenly changed in the last quarter over last year that the visibility increased and all of that, because we've been introducing for the last two weeks, one, one and a half years, right? What changed in this quarter specifically?

So, I think I would not see this as a one-quarter blip. I would see it as a consistent effort that's gaining visibility given the quantum of growth right now. Two things that have been very clear from a company perspective, we've strengthened our counter shares across the large outlets. Where we were probably having a diluted presence in the past, either because of portfolio gaps or because of our own distribution gaps. That has got strengthened. We've increased our reach for a lot of categories. While cooker has been a well-penetrated distributed category, we've actually increased our reach of all subcategories in cookware and appliances using a cooker channel as well. So I think from a company perspective, that's the second one that we're seeing. Incremental reach that is sort of getting demonstrated as we move forward. The third, of course, like we said, is the full-fledged impact of the portfolio being made available across all these stores. Launching new products and getting them to be distributed across the length and breadth of the distribution chain takes a little bit of time. I think that's something that's now fallen into place as well. So internally, we do believe that our distribution initiatives have significantly borne fruit while we continue to be demonstrating robust growth in e-commerce and modern trade as well. So I think our omnichannel focus with a very specific ramp up across general trade has sort of helped us sustain this growth. And combine that with the demand generation that's happened, it's probably come to the benefit of the company.

Sir, but for the full year, where do you think you'll end up at in terms of volume and values in growth?

We don't want to give any forward guidance on that. We are confident of robust growth, but I think I would leave it at that at this point of time.

So would we continue the current trend of this quarter, or would it be a little lower?

No, I think, directionally, I would tend to believe that for the industry and for us, it would be lower, but I don't want to give any specific numbers. It should be better than last year. Yeah, but definitely better than last year.

Understood, sir. In terms of the competitive intensity in the market, so what are we exactly doing? Are we focusing on price or just portfolio at this point of time, in terms of competing in the market right now?

So, we are very clear. Our focus is very clearly on premiumizing our portfolio. We have sort of sharpshooted on a few core categories where we are either leaders or we are potential leaders. And we tend to focus on those six categories, six to seven categories, very clearly. And premiumization is the way forward that we are looking at from this perspective. Premiumization demonstrated by product portfolio, a new design. We are not looking at pricing as a very strategic lever from either a discounting perspective or scheme involvement perspective at this point of time.

Understood, sir. So a good metric to track is probably the growth instead of volume growth is the value growth also because we are teamingizing over the next few years.

Yes, we would tend to believe that directionally, our value growth should be higher than our volume growth over a period of time.

Understood, sir. So, would the volume growth be in line with, let's say, our inflation numbers, or would it be more higher than that?

It would definitely be higher than inflation numbers, but I wouldn't want to give, like I said, specific guidances, but directionally, it would be higher than inflation numbers.

Understood, sir. So, when we are premiumizing, can we expect a higher margin than in the past? Probably, we've beat around 14-15%. So, is it possible, including few quarters, could we exceed that because we are increasing our premium portfolio?

No, I think I wouldn't want to answer that specific direction. We continue to invest in what we believe would be future accretive. So our focus currently is not so much on the profitability bans as much as on stabilizing the business, premiumizing the portfolio, and of course the portfolio gets its view from a profitability perspective. But our overarching principle is to invest in the right direction. Like Mr. Shankaran said, we continue to invest and give another one and a half, two years of investment that we do foresee that will happen.

Got it. And last question regarding our UK subsidiary. So what's our exact plans with that? Do we have any plans of growing or do we probably want to close down operations? Where are we at right now?

No, they are doing their best in the current condition, what UK and Europe it is in. They are expanding to other markets as well. So they are doing their best to do whatever the current condition. I can assure you that they are doing much better than many of the peers in UK. So at this point of time, there is no other thoughts at our end.

So, you'll see it based on how it goes. So, right now, there's no decisive decision on closing it down or doing it specifically.

No, no. They are doing their best. I think they are not taking away any resources from us. They are not spending any management. They are not taking away management time as well. These being managed professionally, professional team there, they are doing the best what they can do, and they will continue to do that.

And with regards to our kitchen business, sir, in India, like, how are we planning on scaling it? Do we want to scale it substantially or we'll just let it grow at its own organic taste? Like, do you want to put, like, further investment into it and grow it?

We will come back on this specifics a little later, please.

Understood, sir. Thank you. That's it, sir, from my side.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So just in terms of market share, where TTK would have ended the June quarter, will it be a significant market share gain and what will be the indicative industry growth in June quarter? Also, as far as July is concerned, whether similar trend has continued or you have seen some slowdown in the revenue growth, which was visible in, let's say, March to June kind of period. So that's question number one. And secondly, now with steep increase in...

So, our market shares have steadily increased. We do believe that this quarter also we would have gained market share in specific segments. So to that extent, I think it's been a robust quarter for us with gains from market share. We do believe that overall the industry has been robust. The extent of the industry growth is something that I can't comment on at this point of time. But it has been robust. In our view, it has been equally robust. So to that extent, industry has seen a positive growth. Like in quarter four, it's seen a positive growth in quarter one as well. We continue to gain market shares in very targeted segments and we are consciously driving market share as one of the cornerstones for us to make sure that we gain a fair share of the market as well. So that's broadly what I would say from a share perspective. The segments that we operate in, from prestige perspective, the segments that we operate in, we are seeing significant market share gains as a brand. And that's quite heartening for us to say. On the cost side, there have been significant bump-ups like Mr. Saranin had indicated. There is a 5% to 8% increase in the overall cost pricing that we would see, which is getting passed down to consumers in a phased manner. Some of the segments are able to absorb it. Some of the segments based past historic trends may not absorb it, but at an overall level, we believe that the industry is absorbing this. It might have slight impact on volume short term, but it should even out over a period of time because this large part of the industry growth is being driven by premiumization today and by upgradation of categories today. So to that extent, I think that should not dampen the volume growth at the segments that we are operating in. Having said that, we don't operate in deep cut price points, which may be the real mass market or the rural markets in a view. Prestige as a brand does not significantly operate in those markets. We operate in those markets at a slightly higher premium. So there probably some of the players might face pressure when they start passing on the benefits to consumers. Now that's an independent segment. Our view is that that segment probably would go through a little bit of volume pressure going forward. We are not playing aggressively in that segment.

Okay, sure, sir. And this trend has continued even in July month also?

No forward looking from that perspective, but demands have been robust. Demands have been robust than usual. It has been robust.

Okay. Okay, sure, sir. That's very helpful. Many thanks.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pritesh Cheda from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead.

There is one question on, do you see continuation of footfalls on account of purchase of induction cooktops ongoing still? Because bulk of the, see, bulk of this whole demand push is also due to a fact that people were forced to go and buy induction cooktop. And in view of which they must have bought some other products. So do you see that it's still continuing?

So I think for the category as a whole, induction cooktop has seen continued robust growth. In fact, this last four-five months have become cornerstone triggers for the category, which otherwise was actually sort of growing, but not at a rapid pace. And the penetration of this induction cooktops in the country is low. So our view is that I think this has been sort of a cornerstone event that has happened. It will continue to propel the awareness of the category and therefore the adoption of the category. The induction cooktops is definitely becoming one reason, continued reason why consumers are walking into stores, walking into our retail channel, looking at e-commerce more robustly. Combine this with a very robust cookware. Category, category premiumization that's happening. I think a combination of that is happening today. I would say larger forces are working. The trigger being from induction cooktop but continued focus on other categories as well. That seems to be the trigger, that seems to be the growth trigger right now. And it would continue in our view. It may not be as robust as what this quarter is, but it will definitely continue to be pushing the walk-ins for sure. I think that's, that's the way we...

So it's actually become like, you know, a trigger point for consumers to be brought in to purchase. Yes. Usually one gives discount and they come in, this time it is an external event and they've been triggered to, you know, purchase it. Sir, the other thing is this price cut after GST and then this price rise because of the raw material costs. So now, the pre-GST and the current, what will be the pricing? Is there still a lower price versus pre-GST or we have largely recouped everything?

No, this will be the current price increase would have taken the price a little higher than the GST rate because the commodity increase has gone up by 8 to 10 percent average. So we are more or less at the pre-GST change.

So, for a customer, as a price imprint, it would not be a significantly higher imprint, right? He is used to a certain print pre-GST.

And that is due to the demand as of now. So, this is not that much price elastic product. Probably people, if you look at it, we are operating it not at the bottom of the pyramid. Operating above the bottom of the pyramid where these price increases are not, you know, that kind of a trigger to not to purchase.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal from 361 Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir, I just wanted to understand, you know, while this quarter definitely has some ablation, we've seen some consumer demand coming back, and we have also introduced 400 new STs over the last... You know, several quarters. So what is the steady state growth over the next, you know, probably year or 18 months one can look at because of all these tailwinds?

So we would be happy to keep sort of increasing and reporting some numbers like this, but I think we would leave it for the future. We don't want to give any guidance. Directionally, it would be much better than in the past. That's something that I would leave this. I think it would be better than single digits. And it would be better than single digits.

Sure, sir. I appreciate, sir, we are not giving any, but probably anything that we are working with in terms of, you know, will at least be, you know, growing at, say, 1.5 times industry growth or we are taking it more directionally.

So our endeavor, like I said, is strongly entrenched around gaining market share. So I don't want to put a number of 1.5 or 2 or 1.1 to it. I think our direction is very clear. Focus on the consumer. Focus on the consumer and therefore the consumer experience, which then is driven by clear premiumization of the portfolio, is driven by a wide range of choice available to the consumer omnichannel. It is driven by more innovative products across the 6-7 categories that you are bringing in. So when we do this, the combination of this and the very strong robust go-to-market that ensures that account of shares and account of presence is significantly enhanced. The moment we are able to do this, I think it will result in market shares and therefore a definitively higher growth in the market, which will reflect in the market shares as well. So we would believe that we will grow faster than the market and continue to gain market shares.

Sure, sir. And, sir, related questions, you know, when we say the share of degree of products, as we define it, how much would be that share, you know, as a percentage currently?

No, so prestige operates largely in what we do believe is a mass premium, premium pricing. What you would typically call as mass pricing, prestige contribution would be very less. And that's by design. The portfolio design and the pricing is in such a way that our presence in that is not very high. So we tend to focus on the mid-belly and the top end of the mid-belly. And that's something that we believe is at a premium to the market at this point of time. And even within the segments we participate, we are at a premium to some of the competition as well. And that we believe the brand can. So, grand is the power and the strength to sustain that. We will increasingly focus on also bringing in new product designs and new innovations that justify that premiumness as well.

Sure, sir. Thank you so much, sir, and best of luck for the future part. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhat from Dallat Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. My question is on the CSD channel. So, have you seen recovery in the CSD channel as well? And what is the contribution of exclusive retail outlets to overall sales, and also the contribution of induction cooktop to overall sales?

On CSD, we haven't seen the demand come back, but it is sort of stabilized after a bit of a drop. So CSD as a channel is yet to sort of fully recover from the past changes that have happened, partially due to their internal restructuring in terms of supplies and other stuff. So to that extent, CSD is not yet fully come back yet as a channel. It is, however, not dropping any further. It is sort of stabilized. That's the way we would look at CLT. On induction and PXL.

Yeah. Sorry, your question is on the PXL. On the PXL, we have around 18 to 20% of our sales happens through the PXL. Our own stores. And our own exclusive stores. The induction, I will look at around 8-10% of our sales comes from the induction.

And so, what was this 8 to 10% contribution which is currently an induction? What was this earlier, like a year back?

No, it has, it used to be 5, it has gone to 8 to 10% now.

Okay, got it.

Thank you. Thank you. Reminder for all participants, please press star and 1 to ask questions. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and 1. The next follow-up question is from the line of Kamil Gupta from India Info Line. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir, and thanks for taking the follow-up. Firstly, there have been some minimum wage hikes which have been announced, and one of them are in the state of Karnataka. So I believe there is a decent exposure we have in terms of manufacturing. So what kind of impact are we seeing or do we foresee because of these hikes and not only reflective in staff costs, but also probably in the RM basket given vendor costs would also go up and how much of it is already there in the expenses for this quarter.

The minimum wages increase is not just restricted to Karnataka. This has been happening one by one in all the states. In Karnataka, we don't have any major operation, neither for us nor for our suppliers. But there are few states where we are present. Yes, the minimum wages has gone up and we have also increased our, it's primarily not to the permanent workmen where we are well above the minimum wages. Even in the case of contractors, we are well above the minimum wages, but unfortunately the wages increase has been substantial this time. We have corrected those wages wherever this has been implemented.

So we would tend to believe that this is something that state after state has been implemented now, and it would have an impact, but we are sort of mitigating them through our own internal cost initiatives and efficiency drive.

Got it. And a second question, sir, is there this quantum of 12.4 crore within other expenses? There has been a steep decline here. Is there a change in our strategy or is this more of a quarterly thing to offset the overall inflationary pressures?

The 12.4 crores, what they are referring to is strategic related expenses. This is what you are comparing?

Yes.

Yeah, that is not any fixed amount that we will be incurring quarter after quarter. So, this may go up and down during the quarter. So, depending on with whom, what support we are taking, what exactly we are doing. So, this is not a number that you can stick on quarter on quarter. The next quarter, it may go up or come down as well.

That's all for me.

Yeah, we are budgeted to spend around $200 in the three-year time. That's what is going on right now.

Very clear, sir. That's all from me. Thanks a lot and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Reminder for all participants, please press star and 1 to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Anand Mudra from Soorville. Please go ahead.

Good evening, sir. Congratulations on good results. We wanted to understand the breakdown of this 200 crore extra expenditure which we are incurring for 3 years. How much it will be routed through P&L? What is the capex out of this? And why it cannot be called as a regular routine expense? Why we are saying this as a one-time, sir?

Right, I think we have We have budgeted around 500 crores to spend across three years. This is primarily to strengthen the company for the future growth opportunities, which is what we had mentioned stock exchange also in January, February last year. Out of that 500 crores, 300 crores is towards CapEx, which includes improvement in the factories, automation, digitization, etc. Then the balance 200 crores is towards the OPEX expenditure, taking some external support to strengthen our innovation, go-to-market, the cost efficiencies, etc. So this we have planned to incur only for, this is not a regular expenditure, this is a one-time expenditure we will be incurring over a period of three years. That's one of the reasons. We are just calling it out as a note to our financials, saying that what exactly we have incurred against the 200 crores what we had mentioned to the stock exchange and to the investors.

So, this 200 crore doesn't include any one-time advertisement expense?

No, no, no. This has nothing to do with the advertisement. These are all the external support experts that we will be engaging. We will be incurring some one-time expenditure to strengthen some of our processes. So, these expenses are towards that.

And how much out of this 200 has already been spent, sir?

We have spent close to around 120-130 crores in the last 18 months. Or the last 13-14 months, yeah.

And balance 70 will be done in the next 20 months.

We will be doing that, yes. It may go up and down. We are not saying that 200 exactly we will be spending our, we will restrict our spending to 200. That depends on what exactly is the requirement at that point of time. The indicative number is around 200 crores.

Okay. Amphir, what we would be achieving after spending this 200 crores? What is the target EBITDA margins or how the company will change? What would the benefit? Anything tangible you can share?

Internally, we have kept all the key KPIs, which we are working towards, but we don't want to share that in the call. What it used to be before, 13 plus percent.

Understood, sir. Sir, another question, there is an induction cooktop sale increase which has increased from 5% to 10%, but other products have also done well. One reason can be JST cut in cookers, so because of which unorganized to organized movement has happened. Any other reason which you see the spending has gone up in the last 2-3 years as compared to last 2-3 years and we have reported good growth in this quarter.

Now, all categories, particularly cookware and cookers, are seeing a shortened replacement cycle, and a lot of cookers and cookware are now getting on to stainless steel, tri-fly sort of material, which has been sort of impacting the replacement cycle, the shorter accelerated replacement cycle. That, therefore, is one of the triggers for the long-term growth of the category. In appliances, we are very clearly seeing there is a move to convenience, move to smartification of the kitchen, like I mentioned. So we are seeing a host of new appliances or appliance category penetration going up beyond the regular traditional mixer grinders or some of the other elements of appliances. So you see a combination of appliances, small domestic We have a few new appliance categories which help on convenience and smart cooking. We see a very clear accelerated replacement cycle of cookers and cookware, cookware driven by premiumization and aesthetics, cookers driven by material upgrades that are happening today. So, across categories, this is something that's driving the walk-ins and the growth, which got accelerated or compounded in the last quarter.

As far as our company is concerned, the general industry tends to ride on this wave. As a company, we are almost into 100-200 SKUs, which we are not in our portfolio two years back. The owner-event company is growing at a greater speed as compared to the industry.

So we've sort of ramped up our new product launches and that's also helping us. And we do believe the challenge of making sure that these continue to scale up is there and that's something that we will address through our go-to-market initiatives.

Noted, sir. Sir, one last question on induction cooktop. How do you see the sales growth going forward as the last part of the crisis is over, hopefully so?

I think it would be much better than what it was in the past. This particular four to five month trigger has sort of opened up the category awareness and hence also the need for induction cooktops of the household. The penetration curve of this category, in my mind, will start to accelerate, and we are leaders in this category. So we do believe that we will benefit as the penetration increases. We are also equally working on making sure that we accelerate this penetration curve as well. So we will continue to do this as we have done in the past. In our minds, the category should continue to grow well, not as aggressively as in the last 3-4 months, but definitely much better than what it was in the past.

Potentially. Indian cooktors would find a place in every kitchen who has already got a cylinder or a gas stove. So basically people now found there is utility for that. Whether the same facial cutting would not know, but over a period of time this could be one of the key product categories to watch.

This category would have a significant penetration drive.

Okay. Thank you sir. Thanks a lot sir.

Participants who wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you for a very engaging conversation. We are quite happy with the sort of results that we have been able to display, efforts that have sort of borne fruit through internal transformation, external consumer-focused initiatives. And a large amount of drive has happened in the go-to-market side as well. It augurs well, and we do believe that it will continue to be so. Thank you, and all the best.

On behalf of 361 Capital Market Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.