ROUTE MOBILE LIMITED (ROUTE) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the conference call of Root Mobile Limited to discuss its Q4 and FY26 results. At this moment, all participants are in the listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have any questions, please raise your hand and we will unmute your line to ask questions. Please lower your hand after we have completed the question. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some of the statements made in today's earnings call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve certain risks and uncertainties. Kindly refer to slide 2 of the presentation for the detailed disclaimer. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vinay Binyala. Thank you and over to you.

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to RootMobile's Q4 and full year FY2526 earnings call. I am Vinay Binyala, Chief Strategy Officer and Investor Relations Officer at RootMobile. Thank you for joining us. We have a full house today and we appreciate the continued engagement. I would first like to introduce my colleagues at RootMobile who are joining us on this call today. Sachkan Arikan, Chairman of the Board Rootmobile and CEO of Proximus Global, Rajdeep Gupta, Managing Director of Rootmobile, Tushar Agnihotri, Chief Executive Officer of Rootmobile, and Rajgil, Global Chief Financial Officer at Rootmobile. Before we begin, a brief note on the format. We are running this quarter's call slightly differently. In addition to the usual financial results and business highlights, we are dedicating a significant portion of today's session to a strategy update. Given the evolution of our business over the past year, shaped by broader market trends and sharpened internal strategic focus, we felt this was the right time to share that thinking with the shareholders and the analyst community in some depth. We believe it provides important context for the numbers also. The structure for today's discussion will be as follows. Tushar Agnihotri, our CEO, will open with a business overview and the strategic direction we are pursuing. Sashkin Arikan, our chairman and CEO of Proximus Global, will cover RootMobile's role within Proximus Global and the larger Proximus group. I will follow that up with a walkthrough of the growth strategy and business metrics with Tushar adding color and context where relevant. Raj Gil, our group CFO, will then take us through the financial results and outlook. We will have time for Q&A at the end. Over to you, Tushar.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your time today. We've structured this session around four themes. I'll cover the business fundamentals, what root mobile is, how it's built, and where our differentiation lies. Seshkin will provide the Proximus global context, which is central to understanding the broader strategic picture. Vinay will then walk through the growth strategy in detail, and we'll run through the business metrics together. Raj closes out with the financial results and guidance. Let's begin. I want to use this slide to establish the framework for the details that follows. The straightforward message is the reset is largely behind us and the business that has emerged from it is structurally healthier. We say that with confidence and the numbers also reflect the same clearly. Cross-profit margins expanded in FI26 as relatively low margin ILD volume has exited the mix. What remains is more resilient, more defensible revenue base. And to put the numbers to that, FY26 was the first time that our annual gross profit crossed INR 1000 crores. They translated to a 22.9% gross profit margin for the year. The driver was exactly what I have described, the exit of low-margin ILB business, partially offset by the growth of higher-margin domestic revenues. It's a milestone that reflects quality of earnings, not just cake. Two growth engines are gaining real traction. One on the product side, RCS. WhatsApp and AI-enabled messaging have grown at 43% compounded annual growth rate over the period FI22 to FI26. That trajectory points towards where the channel mix is heading. On the MNO solution side, our firewall and network API products are building into a high margin recurring revenue stream that sits alongside the enterprise business. We have created a solid pipeline for the AI-driven A2P SMS and voice firewall solutions that we offer to MNOs, and this will reflect in revenue expansion from this line of business in the coming quarters. Two structural advantages underpin the whole approach. First, India as a global innovation hub, what we incubate and what we prove in India, we deploy worldwide. The Akash Education Network API deployment is the tangible proof point of that model. We developed and deployed a network API-driven silent verification solution for the client, which helps them address requirements such as tracking students' dropouts during the online registration process. Such solution can now be extended to customers across the globe. Second, Proximus Global, being part of the group, provides RootMobile cross-sell access to 900 plus M&O's relationship and a global enterprise space that no standalone CPaaS company can access. And we are being deliberate about capital allocation, targeted bolt-on acquisitions to deepen platform capabilities and meaningful returns of excess capital to shareholders. We have also defined robust frameworks to support build versus buy decisions when evaluating flood expansion or entering into new geographic markets. The reset was a difficult one. I believe it has made us more focused, more defensible business and one that is well positioned for the next phase. For those newer to RootMobile story, a quick look at the business fundamentals. 3,100 plus enterprise clients, 175 billion messages processed annually, 280 plus direct MNO connections across the globe, INR 4,400 plus crores in revenue for FI26. What distinguishes us as a preferred A-to-P SMS solution provider for global enterprises is a direct connect with M&O globalies. These connects are not routed through intermediaries and are direct agreements and platform integration built over two decades of partnership with such M&Os. Their depth of operator partnership is a genuine competitive barrier, and it's our customers' delivery rates and pricing that aggregate-only players cannot replicate. This position is as strongly as a partner for traditional A to P SMS solutions. We have been profitable since year one of operations and that discipline continues. In FY26, our cash flow from operations to EBITDA ratio was 100% plus reflecting a healthy cash generator business. I would also want to talk about our platform evolution story as it provides important context for where we are taking the business. RootMobile was built on A2P SMS that remains a significant part of a business today, but the platform has evolved meaningfully, and we now offer a unified, full-stack platform that encompasses all channels of communication that an enterprise could require across RCS, WhatsApp, Viber, Email, and more recently, Network API products that sit at the MNO's backend. Silent authentication, SIM swap detection, and device verification, amongst others. Capabilities that very few messaging platforms offer. This enables us to deliver cutting-edge, secure customer experience solutions to enterprises. The direction is clear from connectivity infrastructure and towards AI-powered intelligence at the enterprise engagement layer. As we move up this value chain, the margin profile improves and the customer relationship becomes structurally stickier. This evolution from pure connectivity to an AI-powered engagement platform is exactly what the growth strategy is designed to accelerate. Three things that differentiate RootMobile in the market. First, global connectivity. Being part of Proximus Global immediately expands our direct MNO access to 450 plus carriers. 280 plus direct connects to RootMobile and an additional 170 plus direct connects that picks as to the ecosystem. This is not replicable in a short time horizon and it translates into delivery reliability and pricing that aggregators cannot match. Second, a full-stack CPaaS platform, SMS, voice, email, RCS, WhatsApp, omnichannel, one single platform, one integration, with AI-ready capabilities embedded natively across the channels. Third, Proximus Global being part of a multi-billion euro telecom group gives RootMobile access to distribution and technology partnership that a company of R-scale simply could not access independently. Sechkin will elaborate on this, but I want to flag it here as a genuine structured advantage, not a financial characterization. A brief walk through the Root Mobile journey because I think the discipline of how we have built the business is relevant context for assessing the credibility of the plan ahead. We started with $2,000. We built direct carrier relationships systematically, country by country. We listed ourselves on BSE and NSE. We made targeted acquisition to add capability and enter new geographic markets. We transitioned from an aggregator model to a direct enterprise platform model. The acquisition of RootMobile by Proximus was a pivotal moment in that journey. It moved RootMobile from being a well-run regional CFAS company to being the enterprise connectivity and AI platform of a global B2B telecom group. The strategic and commercial implications of that are still playing out, and they are very much in our favor. The current chapter, which Vinay will take you through in detail, is about the next evolution of that journey. With that, let me hand over to Sechke.

Thank you to Sharf, and good evening, everyone. I'm Seçkin Arakan, chairman of Root Mobile's board and CEO of Proximus Global. I want to spend a few minutes on the Proximus Global context, because I believe it is important for understanding the full Root Mobile story. Proximus Global brings together three businesses focused on delivering communications and customer engagement services to global enterprises. We operate across three core businesses, BIX, our global connectivity platform, Telesign, our digital identity and communications API business, and RootMobile, our enterprise CPaaS and omnichannel engagement platform. Each fills a distinct role in the enterprise connectivity value chain. RootMobile fills the one that is most difficult to build. Direct at scale enterprise relationships across a platform that spans messaging, voice, AI, and network APIs. None of the other entities in the Proximus Global Group do that at the scale and efficiency that RuleMobile does, which makes it, in my view, strategically very important. Let me be specific about what Proximus Group membership means for Root Mobile in practice, because I believe it is sometimes underestimated. BIX has direct relationships with most of the mobile network operators globally. For Root Mobile, that is a commercial distribution channel. As we seek to expand our RCS delivery reach, we can leverage this mobile network operator access to accelerate our initiatives. When we develop a new network API product, a silent verification solution, or a fraud detection capability, we have an immediate path to those operators at global scale. That is an extraordinary advantage for a company of our size. Bix is also enabling a rapid pipeline development for the A2P SMS and voice firewall solutions that RootMobile offers to mobile network operators globally. Telesign has a deep and established enterprise customer base in the U.S. and the European markets. Many of those customers have requirements that RootMobile's omnichannel CPaaS platform is well positioned to address. The cross-sell pipeline is active and building gradually. RootMobile is not executing this plan alone, and the distinction matters significantly for how you assess execution risks. This slide illustrates the scale and the global react that Proximo Global has a group as a group, trusted by several Fortune 500 enterprise clients across the globe, ability to connect with 5 billion plus individuals worldwide, 200 plus billion messages processed annually, truly omnichannel CPaaS platform, ability to offer enhanced digital identity solutions that aim at fraud prevention. What I would like to ask you to note is the two-directional nature of this relationship. RootMobile brings enterprise relationships and CPaaS platform capability to the group. The group, through Bix and Telesign, brings distribution reach, operator relationships, and a customer base that amplifies what RootMobile can achieve independently. As the platform continues to evolve, Gen AI, firewall, network APIs, those capabilities enhance the value proposition of the entire Proximus Global Group for enterprises and operators alike. It's a cycle, and it's one we are investing in with conviction. To close, let me bring together the key reasons why RootMobile within Proximus Global is a compelling opportunity. Three reasons this is compelling. First, absolute operational strategic backing. Joint commercial programs are running with Biggs and Telesign. This is an active execution, not a future opportunity. Second, the cross-sell opportunity is near-term and measurable. Big customers who have never been offered CPaaS, telesign enterprise accounts who have yet not been introduced to RootMobile's omnichannel suite. These are real conversations underway. Third, Root Mobile is building an AI-native CPaaS platform at precisely the moment enterprises are accelerating AI adoption in their customer engagement strategies. The demand is clear. The platform is being built to meet it. With that, I will hand it over to Vinay for the strategy detail.

I want to address this directly because the credibility of our recovery plan depends on a clear-eyed account of what we experienced. Certain headwinds converged in the past 18-24 months. The most significant was structural. ILD A-B SMS, historically a significant revenue driver for us, is in secular decline. Certain large enterprises migrated to WhatsApp, RCS, and other OTT channels. This shift has affected every CPaaS business with material ILD exposure. The second was AIT, Artificially Inflated Traffic. An industry-wide cleanup triggered a significant decline in A2P SMS volumes globally. As an aggregator, RootMobile was exposed to that contraction. Third, Macro. Enterprise CPaaS budgets were cut as part of cost optimization cycles over the past few years in response to high A2P SMS costs in certain geographies. Discretionary communication spend was amongst the first categories to be reduced. Fourth, our new products grew at 11% year-on-year, but from a small base. At approximately 8% of total revenue, they are not yet large enough to offset the ILD revenue decline. And fifth, post-acquisition integration complexity added a layer of operational challenge that was not purely market-driven. We have spent the past 12 months understanding each of these precisely. The strategy I am about to walk through is a direct response to every one of them.

If I can add something here, when we looked at what happened, the honest conclusion was that some of the headwinds were genuinely outside the control. The AI to clean up, the macro spending cycle, but some of them, particularly the base of product mix transition and the integration complexities, those were things we could have moved faster on. We've been direct with ourselves about that. The strategy winner is about to walk you through reflects the candle. It's a specific plan, not a generic recovery narrative.

This is the playbook and before I walk through it, I want to highlight an essential fact. Execution is already underway across every element of this. This is not a forward-looking plan. It's a live program. RootMobile is making a deliberate shift to platform defensibility. The architecture has three layers. At the top, platform strengthening, two pillars. Elevate is about omnichannel platform, scaling RCS, WhatsApp, and Ocean, moving up the value chain, improving margin quality, deepening customer lock-in. Innovate is the AI and India innovation hub, GenAI ready CPaaS, internal AI deployment, and India is the product incubation center for Proximus Global Group. The middle layer. Near-term growth execution. Deepin refers to core market penetration. We have 3100 plus clients, majority using our solutions for a single communication channel. The wallet share opportunity within that base is substantial and requires no customer acquisition spend. Expand drives geographic growth backed by Proximus infrastructure and tele-sign enterprise relationships. The foundation layer is accelerated. M&A and Partnerships, AI-led acquisitions to compress the capability-built timeline, ISV and partner ecosystem to expand sales reach, and the Proximus cross-sell, which I would describe as the most structurally distinctive and underappreciated element of the entire plan. The five pillars reinforce one another. Deepening the core strengthens the positioning and validates the platform differentiation. Platform differentiation in turn enables geographic expansion. M&A could help accelerate all other initiatives. It is a compounding engine. That said, M&A will be driven basis a well-defined evaluation framework which helps determine whether build or buy towards the various initiatives, such as developing or acquiring certain specific platform capabilities or new market entry through organic setup versus a local acquisition.

I want to add one thing here. When you look at the architecture of this strategy, the thing that gives me personal conviction is that each of these pillars has a clear line of ownership internally and a set of active programs behind it. This isn't just a slide we built for this discussion. The M&A pipeline is already live and evolving. Piloting products in the India market and then taking them to global customer base is already in the works. The Omni Channel platform is being actively sold.

Three focus areas under the first pillar. Omnichannel scale, RCS, WhatsApp, and Ocean. This is a direct commercial response to A2P SMS decline. As enterprise clients migrate off SMS, we need to be the platform they migrate to. RCS and WhatsApp are growing. Ocean ties the channels together and creates the platform stickiness that makes customer relationships more durable. We are also witnessing that enterprises are leveraging different channels for different use cases. For instance, plane notifications are still being transmitted through SMS, whereas interactive customer support use cases are being supported over WhatsApp and RCS. Our Ocean platform addresses exactly this requirement by enabling all channels through a single platform, offering a one-stop shop to enterprises for all their customer engagement requirements. Next, GenAI enabled CPaaS. Enterprises increasingly want to deploy AI-powered customer engagement, intelligent chatbots, voice agents, personalized messaging workflows. We are actively enhancing the platform to be the trusted CPaaS delivery layer for that. CRM, ERP, and CDP connectivity, AI accelerated deployment pipelines. The development work is already underway. We support ready integration between our platform and several commonly used CRM, ERP, and CDP platforms. Firewall and network APIs is an extremely exciting component of our business offerings. Regarding A2P SMS and voice firewall for mobile operators, our AI-powered fraud detection and revenue optimization solutions create recurring managed services revenue streams for mobile network operators. And we are witnessing strong operator demand and pipeline buildup for these solutions. We are also leveraging Proximus Network API initiative Conera to offer differentiated innovative solutions around silent verification, SIM swap, and device location to enterprises. These solutions create high barriers to entry as they require integrations with mobile network operators. We are actively pitching these network API based solutions to enterprises. These are capabilities that make root mobile genuinely difficult to displace. I would like to highlight three active programs around this theme, which we are referring to as Innovate. The internal AI. We have a live AI program running across organizational functions, including customer support, engineering, and deployment. We are driving measurably lower cycle times, better support resolution rates, and faster product delivery. We are scaling this mandate aggressively across every function. Gen AI chat and voice solutions. We are building AI-native conversational agents for both chat and voice channels, not basic FAQ bots, multi-turn contextual AI interactions that meet the growing enterprise demand for intelligent customer engagement across chat, voice, and messaging. RootMobile is positioning as the CPaaS delivery layer for that demand. Network API Deployment The Akash Education Proofpoint We deployed a network ABIA-powered silent verification solution to Akash Education, one of India's leading largest edtech platforms. We are now ready to commercialize this solution across the Proximus footprint globally.

I'd add a thought on India specifically because I think it's worth understanding the philosophy behind India as innovation hub framing. India gives us world-class engineering talent at a cost structure that allows us to take fraud at risk that a Western development center simply can't. We can build, test, prove, and iterate faster. The Akash deployment took just a few months from concept to life. The velocity is a competitive advantage. And the Proximus global relationship means that once something is proven in India, we have the distribution to take it global immediately. The combination is genuinely unusual.

Next, let's look at cold market penetration, our highest ROI near-term opportunity, and it sits entirely within the existing client base. We serve 3,100 plus enterprise clients, the majority on a single channel today. There is limited to no customer acquisition cost required to capture this opportunity. We visualize three specific plays, key account management, For account deepening, focus on moving clients from transactional single product relationships to multi-year multi-channel platform engagements. The value uplift when clients go multi-channel is significant. Cross-sell and upsell to drive migration of SMS-only clients to RCS WhatsApp voice, delivering meaningful revenue uplift with minimal incremental sales cost. In most cases, this will lead to expansion of use cases that we support for the same client. Solutions-led selling, shifting from API connectivity to platform solution engagements, larger deals, longer relationships, and better margins to be driven. The base is there. The task is to deepen it systematically. Let's look at our geographic expansion plans. With a structural advantage that fundamentally changes the economics of entering new markets, we enter new markets which present higher than industry average growth opportunities. This changes both the risk profile and the return on investments related to such expansion. We have identified certain priority emerging markets, including Mexico and Philippines. These are high-growth, under-penetrated CPAS Markets. with a strong enterprise demand in BPO financial services and e-commerce verticals. These are also large markets for the OTT messaging solutions such as WhatsApp and Viber. In the US, Telesign's infrastructure gives us a lane into the world's largest enterprise messaging market. OneRootMobile has had limited direct exposure to historically. In Europe, GDPR-compliant messaging for financial services and logistics, where our compliance These credentials carry real weight with enterprise buyers. And overarching all of this, the Proximus network effect. Every Bix customer is a potential root mobile engagement. We are actively converting that opportunity today, especially on the mobile network operator solutions side of the business. The fifth pillar and the one that compounds the returns on all the others. Organic growth alone will not close the AI capability gap within the time frame the market requires. Our M&A strategy targets conversational AI and CPaaS adjacent capabilities, compressing a two to three year organic build cycle into 12 to 18 months. Our acquisition criteria are clear. AI native capability, a complementary customer base, and a credible path to accretion within two years of closing. These will be small to mid-sized acquisitions, primarily for capability and not necessarily for scale of the target business. We are also evaluating new geographic market entry through potential acquisitions. These will, however, be slightly longer drawn processes as the target evaluation would need to be more thorough in terms of immediate value add through the acquisition. Partner and reseller go to market. We look at expanding the ISV and system integrator Thank you. We also expand telco white label distribution. Scalable and capital efficient approach towards this initiative. We have onboarded certain large clients over the past year through our partner ecosystem and we believe this could be significant revenue driver if we leverage it in the appropriate fashion. And the proximus cross sell. Join go-to-market programs into Bix and Telesign enterprise bases. This will deliver high ROI and structurally unique solutions which Rootmobile can bring to the market. No standalone CPaaS company has access to this lever.

On Ebony, I'd be clear about our philosophy here because I think it's worth articulating for the record. We're not looking to make large transformational acquisitions. We're looking for targeted, capability-led transactions where the technology accelerates the roadmap and the customer base is complementary. The integration risks need to be manageable. The time to accretion need to be defined. We've been through the complexity of a large integration. The experience shapes how we approach this. Discipline, specific, and capital efficient.

Let me now run through the business metrics. The next four slides provide the quantitative picture that sits behind the strategy we've just covered. They cover the new product revenue trajectory, geographic mix, industry vertical breakdown, and the customer cohorts. These are worth looking at carefully as they explain both the headwinds and the early evidence of recovery. New products revenue is the most important forward-looking metric in these results, so I draw your attention to it. FY25-26 new products revenue came in at approximately Rs 3500 plus million. The 4-year CAGR since FY22 is 43%. Growth moderated to 11% year-on-year in FY26. The tougher comparative period and macro environment are reflected in that. As RCS, WhatsApp, and AI-enabled products continue to scale as a proportion of revenue, two things follow structurally. Greater revenue resilience and rapid growth. FY26 is a base we are building on, not a ceiling. On the geographic revenue mix. Two key observations here. India remains the largest termination geography, partially a function of the ILD domestic shift. As international enterprise clients reduced spend, we've grown the domestic business. New large domestic customers added and the revenue growth from existing. Two observations on the geographic mix. India remains the largest termination geography. ILD volumes declined but were partially offset by domestic volume growth. We added new large domestic customers and also witnessed revenue growth from existing clients. The reduction in U.S. headquartered customers' contribution also reflects the loss of ILD revenue, the same structural dynamic we have been discussing throughout. The geographic expansion strategy we have just covered is designed to accelerate the diversification of this mix over the coming years. Vertical breakdown. Useful for understanding where the headwinds were concentrated. Financial services remains the largest vertical, and we've seen good growth from domestic Indian FinTech and BFS clients. High frequency, high stickiness usage patterns, which is exactly the client profile we want to deepen. Digital native declined due to a specific US headquarter client migrating to alternate channels. E-commerce fell, reflecting the loss of ILD traffic from a global major. The common thread is the ILD and global enterprise exposure we've discussed. Domestic recovery is partially offsetting this and the product mix shift we are executing is designed to accelerate that recovery. This slide probably best explains the revenue dynamic for FY26, so it's worth a moment. Two things drove revenue decline despite relatively stable transaction volumes. First, customer mix shift. ILD revenue was concentrated in a small number of high-value accounts. The revenue was partially replaced by domestic customers, but domestic average revenue per account is significantly lower than ILD. The silver lining domestic clients carry relatively higher gross margins, so the profit mix is actually healthier, even as the headline revenue compressed. Second, pricing compression. ILD transactions command a structural pricing premium over domestic routes. The same transaction volumes processed domestically generate materially less revenue. This is a pricing dynamic, not a volume problem. And it underscores why the product and channel mix transition is central to the revenue recovery story.

I'll close this session with a broader reflection. The metrics when I just walked through tell a consistent story. The challenges of the past two years were real and specific and the recovery is real and built in. Gross margins are moving in the right direction. New product revenue is on a clear upward trajectory. The domestic customer base is growing. None of those things happen by accident. They reflect the strategic choices we've made about to invest and where to hold the line of quality. The base we're building from is sounder than the one we started this research from. I'm confident in the direction. With that, I will hand it over to Raj.

Thank you, Vinay, and good evening, everybody. I'll quickly summarise our financial and operating performance during Q4 26 and for the full year. Then I will look to the future with our financial guidance and capital allocation plans, starting with Q4 revenue and gross profit. Our Q4 revenue from operations declined by 3.8% year on year, driven by the structural SMS market volume declines in ILDO as described earlier. This is partially offset by encouraging growth in our domestic business and non-SMS products. However, looking at the current quarterly trend, revenue grew by 2.2% sequentially to 11,309 million, supported by 45.1 billion transactions during the quarter. From a gross profit perspective, absolute margin grew 16.6% a year on a year at 2639 million. While the percentage margin increased to 23.3% as compared to 19.3% in Q4 last year, mainly driven by a shift from lower margin ILDO volumes, delivery of our routing and cost initiatives, along with focus on retention and growth of our high-margin existing customers. Turning to EBITDA and profit after tax. Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 increased by 11.9% year-on-year to 1343 million, while being lower in absolute than previous quarter due to seasonality. This represents a 10-quarter record in terms of adjusted EBITDA growth, demonstrating the ability to land the gross margin flow-through benefits, as OPEX is constrained to mainly wage indexation and receivables provisions. This all contributes to an EBITDA margin of 11.9%, which is higher than the 10.2% seen in the prior year. Adjusted profit after tax was $1144 million, which is up 34.6% year-on-year and 11.6% on a sequential quarter basis. The PATS margin has also increased to 10.1% compared to 9.3% last quarter and 7.2% last year. The strong Pats trajectory is mainly driven by higher gross margin, foreign exchange movements, lower financing costs, and a lower effective tax rate. I will briefly touch on the full year results before moving on to the final section. Revenue from operations declined 3.7% year on year to 44082 million. At the same time, gross profit increased by 5.9% year on year at 10073 million, and the margin increased to 22.9% versus 20.8 in the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 0.4% year-on-year to 5259 million. EBITDA margin expanded to 11.9% compared to 11.5% last year. Profit after tax, adjusted for exception items, is higher by 6.7% year-on-year to 3761 million, with PATS margin at 8.5%. Our cash position stood at around 1400 crores as at March 31st. This is our usual adjusted EBITDA and PAT walks, which we produce every quarter. So now looking ahead to future ambitions, the team took us through the strategy, growth opportunities, and positioning of RootMobile. So let's dive into what this means for the coming financial year. Revenue is expected to grow by mid to high single digit, driven by the exciting growth playbook and the tangible competitive advantage we see. Our laser focus on moderating cost of sales and driving AI-led OPEX efficiencies will continue to deliver stable margin performance. Therefore, we will deliver the expected increase in revenue while achieving an EBITDA margin of around 12%. It's worth noting we deliver a strong EBITDA to cash conversion, and this will continue in the coming year. Moving on to how this translates to our capital allocation strategy. We will adjust our dividend policy to return a higher portion of our available free cash flow while leaving room for value accretive initiatives going forward. Our regular dividend will meaningfully increase from 11 INR per share to a sustainable level of 16.5 INR per share, which represents a 50% increase. This will be payable each quarter as usual. Thank you all for your kind attention during the prepared section of this call. I will now hand over to the moderator for Q&A.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have any questions, please raise your hand and we will unmute your line to ask questions. We have the first question from the line of Kunal Ochiramani. Please go ahead.

I'm sorry, Kunal, there's some background at the end. Kunal, there's some background at the end.

We have the question from the line of Amit Chandra.

Please go ahead. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

Go ahead, please. Yes, Amit, please go ahead. Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity and, you know, thanks for the, you know, elaborate update on the strategy, which was actually missing. So, you know, firstly, sir, obviously, we have actually laid down the plan for growth in terms of recovery for the next year. But if I see, you know, the shift that has happened in the industry where, you know, most of the traffic has shifted from the traditional channel to the new channels. And a new revenue stream has been created over the last one year. If I see the competition, they have scaled up that WhatsApp OTT or that segment of the revenue pretty fast. And that has now become 30-35% of the revenue. But for us, it has been only 8% of the revenue from the new products. So where we have missed in terms of the cross-sell and identifying the new opportunity, Is it only related to the transition, you know, the transition related challenges or is there something lacking in terms of offerings to the clients? Because that was a big shift. And from here on, how do we see the new product revenue contributing to growth from here on? Because still, We are at a very smaller part in terms of the overall revenue mix. So that is the first question. And secondly, obviously, in the existing base, we have seen a decline of the ILD portion, which was earlier a major part of our total revenue. So, how this shift has been over the next two years and currently what portion of the revenue is from ILD and I also see the termination, otherwise the India portion has been coming down. So, this is only because of Did they drop in the idea of happiness or is it something else to it? Thank you.

Sure, Amit. So, we'll take those questions one at a time. So, I think the easiest one is on the product differentiation. So, I think when you look at the non-SMS product portfolio that we have, I think in terms of channels, our platform supports all the communication channels that an enterprise could look at, whether it is WhatsApp, RCS, in fact, Viber and certain Asian markets, email. So, I would not really say that the platform is, you know, falling short in terms of capability. In terms of scalability, also, we have serviced customers where, you know, we have supported significantly large transaction volumes on a daily basis for some of our customers on these channels. So, I believe in terms of technology and platform capability, we are pretty much there in terms of what the market needs. And also, in terms of what we are doing around the product, we are creating another layer on top of this, Where we will be able to address a lot of Gen AI and AI intelligence related requirements that enterprises are now adopting aggressively. So, Tushar, you would like to add something there?

Thank you for the question. Alongside we're getting some new offerings in the market, something we call Viz Feles Conera, which we launched a few months back in India. That's some intelligent platform we bring into the country, which is a generic category of network API, where we leverage our association with telecom operators. And give some solutions which will be novel to the market. We are testing these solutions along with tech goals in the market, and we're very hopeful that this will bring some new customer base and give impetus to our new product focus in the country.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. I think in my last call, I also highlighted about the telecom product, like telco and the enterprise segment. As I mentioned before also, I think the firewall piece of our business is growing very fast. In fact, I'm proud to say that last month, we have achieved the highest amount of revenue ever in our firewall business. Some of the contract which we are winning with the help of BEX is going to play a very critical role in overall growth of our I know the sales cycle for the firewall deals are longer, but recently, we have closed one large deal as a Claro that is live now. And we believe that the telco focus of our business with the help of Bex is definitely going to play a very critical role in coming years down the line. So that is one area where we all need to focus on AI native CPaaS solution is something which we are very serious about. And AI native firewall solution, especially the telecom fraud, digital fraud is the biggest piece where most of the telcos are looking out for a solution. And we as a company, 365 Square, especially focusing more on this AI native solution for the operated solution. And we have successfully implemented certain solution in some of the operators. And we are very much in talks with various operators and with the great support of BICS, we do see that business is going to grow multifold in coming years down the line.

So to address some of the other questions you had, Amit, regarding ILD and the India termination. So ILD, as you rightly pointed out over the last year, we did witness decline. But if you look at the last quarter, we have kind of seen that stabilizing now. So I think whatever decline we were expecting is now in the base. And even in the run rates, I don't think we are seeing any further threat to that segment of the business. In terms of total contribution to the revenue, I'm not 100% sure if we've discussed this in the public domain in the past, but it's around a quarter to one third of our revenue somewhere in that range. So that's where ILD in terms of our overall business stands. And India termination, I think you highlighted yourself that ILD, given the price point that it attracts per transaction, if there's a decline in ILD, it results in a decline in India termination. But that said, you know, we have also offset. Some of this ILD loss with domestic business wins, which we also spoke about during the presentation. So, we are seeing growth in domestic customers, not only in India, but in other parts of the world as well. So, you know, that's a big push, as Tushar also mentioned, you know, either with the new products and in some of the markets, we are still seeing SMS business grow. So, in some of the emerging markets, we are still seeing good growth around SMS. And obviously, we are pushing hard for the non-SMS components within our portfolio.

Yeah, and just to add, Amit, just to add one more point out here, Amit, I know most of this ODT players, they are trying out different channel of communication such as WhatsApp or RCS. We are definitely reaching out to them and giving these options to use our channel either on WhatsApp or RCS, and we have onboarded few large ODT customers who are testing our platform to move traffic from SMS to RCS, and that discussion is going on. We are very early stage, but yes, we started generating revenue from this OTT player on RCS especially and some of the WhatsApp use cases.

Okay. And, you know, so just a follow-up. So in the, you know, in the presentation, you know, the strategy of growth, pillar one, the platform and innovation. So obviously, you know, you said that firewall and network API is the focus area. And we have been, you know, growing fast there. So where is that growth getting reflected? So this 8% of the revenue, which is the new product, also includes the network API revenue? Or is it in, you know, extra of that? And it's, uh, and...

Yeah, so the next-gen products don't include that revenue because largely it is still related to SMS because, you know, there is a little bit of a voice firewall component to it, but largely it is A2P SMS firewall solution that we are deploying for operators. So that revenue is still being accounted under the SMS segment of the business. So the next gen that you see is largely channels like WhatsApp, RCS, email, and, you know, other OTT channels.

Okay, so any, any like number, what would be the contribution in terms of percentage to the, in terms of the mix from the network and firewall, and if you can just break up the, you know, the current revenue in terms of. The old age kind of services versus the newest services and in terms of the strategies that you have laid out, you know, firstly SMS, ILD, you know, AI native services and the firewall and firewall and like network API solutions. So, so, yes, the current revenue mix in terms of in terms of, you know, if you can give some idea, it will look better for us to understand how the mix will change maybe in the next one year.

So, unfortunately, we don't disclose that in the public domain. We will still, you know, evaluate internally and we can come back with communication to the analysts and shareholders around this. But in the past, this has not been public information. So, we'll figure out what's the best way to provide some guidance around this. But in terms of, you know, the non-SNS portfolio, as you see in the presentation, it's around 8%. And we are, you know, identifying ways in which we can grow that business significantly. And, on the AI, it is still kind of... A new new solution that we are bringing in. So in terms of revenue contribution, it will take some time. But what it will also do in parallel is it will drive adoption of the non SMS platform itself. So because the solution becomes more attractive for an enterprise, we will see the channel adoption and revenue around the WhatsApp and RCS channel also pick up when we deploy these AI capabilities.

And I think, sir, Amit, the more focus on AI coming forward at RootMobile is more mainly how we can enable a customer faster onboarding. And I think through AI, we are going to make certain changes in our platform very soon. And you will definitely see the outcome of those changes in coming quarters. Because as far as the platform is concerned, as Vinay has mentioned, we have everything what market needs. But there are certain AI capabilities required with current platform. I think we are definitely already have a plan to do that. And we already have some kind of engagement on that. And very soon you will see that impact of AI on our revenue as well.

Okay, last question on the guidance. So on the guidance, so obviously, you know, we are guiding from it to high single digit. So is it, you know, so this appears to a bit lower in terms of the kind of initiatives that you're taking. So in terms of the, you know, in terms of growth, what segments will drive this? And secondly, on the margins, you know, obviously, we are targeting around 12% and we are seeing a mix towards the higher margin. I know revenue streams. So if, you know, once we make changes, we, you know, the margin should have been higher. So why we are, you know, sticking around to the current goals, are we also planning to invest in the business?

Amit, I think last one year we have not given any kind of a guidance, if you remember, you know, like, and market was always expecting some kind of guidance. And we would love to be a little conservative in giving the guidance, but at least we are coming up with a guidance this year. And you are right, this mix will definitely add value to our overall growth and plus EBITDA margin as well. But yes, we are confident this year that there is a growth and there is a product mix. There is a market, new market where we are focusing on. We're talking about the domestic market setup as well. And I think all these things really give that kind of a confidence to the management that we need to give some kind of a guidance to the market, which we were not giving in the past, at least now we have started. And we will definitely try to overachieve our number. But on record, I will say the guidance which we have given, at least we are positive that there is a growth. And that's exactly how we need to look at.

Thank you, Amit. Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amit. We have the next question from the line of Shweta Sharma. Please go ahead.

Hello, hope I'm out.

Yes, sure, please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks so much, sir. Sir, could you please provide volume-wise breakup domestic and overseas?

Just give us a moment. I mean, we can do this.

I mean, can we take this offline? We can share the data. I mean, but we need to figure out. I'm sorry, but I just need to check if this has been discussed in the public domain in the past. I'm not 100% sure if this has been a metric which we disclosed only for, you know, competitive reasons. I mean, we would not want to hold back information, but for it opens up a bit of our competitive advantage in the market. So let me just figure out what's the best way to address this. We can take this offline with you.

Okay, okay. Sure, sir. My second question is, could you quantify the difference in gross margin between your traditional A2P SMS business and these new AI-driven solution? Also, what percentage of your 175 billion transaction are now solution-based rather than just delivery-based?

Sure. So the margin difference depends upon the solutioning that we do around the channel as well. So typically if you look at the portfolio margin today, large part of that is obviously coming from the SMS business that we do. On the firewall, the margins are higher because that is more product-oriented business and we have customers where it is being used on a license basis plus the value add for the customer is significantly higher there. So, the firewall generates additional revenue for the operator where they are okay to share a larger part of the benefits with us. So, the margins there could be anywhere in the range of, you know, depending on the type of engagement, it could range from 30% to all the way up to 60-70%. So, that is on the firewall. On the channel side of the business, I mean, the portfolio gives you a good guidance of where we stand. But as we talk about AI and other solutioning around the channel, that could generate additional margin because some of those platform capabilities could easily generate, you know, significantly higher margin as compared to the portfolio margin. And so unfortunately, I'm not able to give you an exact breakdown of product wise margin at this point. Once again, you know, because you understand the market is highly competitive and you would not want to open up all of all of our cards in the public domain on product wise, geography wise margins that we generate.

Okay, sure, sir, no issues. Sir, if you're not able to provide the exact number, can you provide a breakup of growth like domestic and overseas in terms of volume growth?

Sure, so we have seen volume growth in India domestic business. We have seen volume growth in rest of the world domestic business. The only segment where we saw decline last year was ILD, the international traffic coming into India. So, and, you know, we're seeing similar kind of growth rates in India and non-India domestic clients. The only segment where we had challenges, which again, as I mentioned earlier, which have bottomed out and we believe is in the base now, is the ILD business, where last quarter we've seen no further drop in that business either. So we believe that is also in the base. So moving forward, I think, as we provided the guidance as well, we should start witnessing recovery in the business.

Okay, so if my understanding is correct, so domestically and overseas, when we see volume growth, it's the same as the last quarter, right? I mean, growth in terms of percentage, like it's the same in quarter or it's the same as YOY, what the?

Sorry, I don't think we've disclosed in the previous year as well, but I mean, we have seen consistent in the previous year, if you look at FY25. We still had a slight decline, I mean, a slight growth in the domestic side of the business, slight decline in ILD. So the trend is similar. But what we are saying is by the end of Q4, we are not expecting any further drop in the ILD business either, at least from the run rates that we are seeing and what we are hearing from the clients, I think we bottomed out there. And on domestic over the last two years, we've seen growth coming in. So the trend kind of remains where it is. Only moving forward, we should now see recovery in the business.

Okay, okay. Thank you so much, sir. That's all from my side.

Thank you, Shweta. Next question is from the line of Dipesh Kumar Mehta. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunities. I have four questions, so I start with one by one. First, I just want to understand what will be your organic CAPEX plan and M&A investment plan in next two to three years? If you can give some sense about how we are looking at some of these investments.

Sure, Diteshwar. Organic CapEx is not significant, as you've seen in the past also. So I think our internal budgets are around. Raj, you want to highlight that number on the organic CapEx?

Yeah, I mean, we do have some organic initiatives, but it's not a meaningful number. And pretty much a flat year on year. But we are looking at some internal CapEx developments to support platform growth and move to omnichannel products.

On M&A, we are evaluating couple of targets, and of course, we will be at the right time. We will share the opportunities.

Yeah, but just to add the page, any M&A, I think probably will do something in AI based.

I think in the couple of areas which you highlighted, the reason for asking this is about the case which we have on balance sheet, what we generate every year, and what is our payout. So if I look, our payout is roughly around 30%. Our case is roughly 40% of market care. A loan case is less than 4 percentage for us.

Now if I combine all this number capex which we is

roughly around 30-40 crore per annum. Dividend we declare 140 crore per annum kind of number. Last two year I am combining. So roughly around 200 to 250 crores we spend on organic capex we spend on dividend. In this two year if I combine the FCF which we generated is more than 1000 crore. Now, if we don't have NB charging any, let's say, very large equation, Then why we are equipping KSMB, let's say. That is what I try to understand. Even the payout which you indicated.

Dipesh, let's go one by one question. To answer your question, as I said, we are definitely evaluating certain targets for acquisition. We would definitely want to make sure that any acquisition which we do should add a value to our current existing portfolio. And something on AI, because AI is a need for the market today. And I think we believe that AI will add lots of value to our portfolio offering. And we are definitely evaluating some targets in this space. And very soon, we will announce that as well. As far as the cash is concerned, the management and the board is very much aware of this. We are definitely looking out various other options to deploy the cash. And we will definitely share in coming quarters what are we going to do with this cash. But as of now, we are very clear this cash will go, I think, mainly on... Some of the acquisition, which we are planning soon.

Sir, are we envisaging our MAD investment will be higher than our FCX and the cash on balance sheet in next three years?

So, Dipesh, the M&A acquisition sizes are not very large. So, you know, these are more capability add-ons. We are not acquiring for scale. I mean, we are not evaluating targets for scale. There are a few geography expansion targets, but as I think we mentioned in the presentation as well, the evaluation cycle around those will be more complex. But in terms of the product capability, there are a few ideas and areas which we are evaluating very closely, and those are not very large acquisitions.

Yeah, if you're focusing on the kind of cash balance at the end of the year, a couple of things. As you know, we do utilize some meaningful amount of cash on vendor prepayments, which is kind of a usual practice for which we get some really good commercial benefits. So that is always a good use of cash. And we did end the year really strongly in terms of cash collections. So a lot of focus internally on that. So it drove the kind of cash balance at the end of the year.

I understand. And what would be the reason for low yield on cash? Our yield on cash is meaningfully lower than, let's say, market rate. Can you provide some sense what would be the cash breakup and why it is lower?

Yeah, I mean, overall, the interest income is up year on year, but we are looking at moving all our funds into kind of higher interest bearing kind of fixed deposits. But again, the focus is on those other uses of cash. But yeah, we'll look at all of our kind of cash balances and optimize in the next coming quarters.

Sir, I yield on cash. We have 1400 crore cash. Other income in, if I exclude 4x gain, it is not even 3 percentage. If I look quarter, 400 kind of thing. And that's why I just try to understand if you can.

So, if you can give composition of the cash, where we deploy our cash.

So, Dipesh, we can get back to you offline on this, but I think what Raj is also saying here is that, you know, we can re-look at the treasury policy and identify what would be the ideal way to, I mean, the idle cash or, you know, the temporarily unutilized cash, what could be the best return on it? It will be a bit of a treasury decision which we need to re-look at. So, is that available?

Sure. Coming back to the new product side. I think if I look, let's say, our growth versus some of the peers which are distributed and reporting number, now we have capability. We have platform ready, but numbers are lacking in terms of last couple of years. Can you provide what kind of changes we are making now with whatever, because from technical capability, you said we are there. From platform perspective, we are there. We have more than 3000 enterprise client with us. Still, the traction is not visible. And I am referring to the last 2-3 years where WhatsApp has become a very sizable portion of some of our peers' number. Can you provide, let's say, what changes you are making, so now we can participate effectively?

So, Dipesh, just to add to your question, you know, like Rajdeep here, so we also want to make sure some of the deals on this. OTT channels are profitable to the organization. It is not just I want to follow the same SMS fundamentals on these deals. It is very critical for us if we want to sell a solution and we want to really solve the customer problem and customers paying for that solution in part. And we really want to focus on these kind of customers who are paying higher margin to our portfolio. It is not just a game of bulk messaging where I can just go and lower the price and win the use case. If that is the case, I could have grown multifold in the last few years down the line. We have taken a collective call as a group. We really want to sell our solution as a solution company, and we will solve the customer problem, and customers should value the solution which we are building for them. That is where I see its value. It's a long, sticky business model we want to create out of OTT channels like RCS or WhatsApp or email, and we will stick to that, and we will make sure. And I think one of the reasons if you see a growth in our gross margin is because of that we let many other small businesses to go where we were either bleeding or we are doing lots of small low margin games. If you onboard a customer at very large scale, trust me, you really need to spend lots of capex in terms of serving that customer. So there are certain calls is very, very important. Some of the use cases of Metro is a very classic use case, like we are deeply integrated with that entire platform of Metro ticketing, which where we are hardly getting replaced by anyone, but the margins are very high on those solutions. So I think end of the day, you need to see what you're trying to build and for the long term and how you're going to create value to your customer. So, it is not about winning more volume or increasing your revenue, but it is what kind of customer you are winning and what kind of margin you are making out of that customer is very critical for us.

Yeah, sorry. The patient has said, you know, we are very carefully choosing our customers. We're actually trying to ensure that the platform we provide to our enterprises that fetches us money, then pure margin play and getting into a game of margins and dropping of prices. So our choice of customers is purely a basis, you know, what kind of bottom lines we can draw from them. And our focus is more forward looking. So we're building those solutions which will fetch us returns over a long period. And we are not going to get into a complete volume game here of creating margins by pure volumes here. So one is that, you know, of course, we are creating value-added in a platform to fetch us more monies. And alongside, we're focusing on new age products, you know, which is, which perhaps, you know, is available only with a couple of partners in the country. So the network API, which we touched upon, the Konera is something which we have unique, and we don't have much competition around that. And we're fairly hopeful the investments we're making there, along with the AI capabilities, which we are partnering with and building on a platform, will be going to fetch us good returns in the quarters to come.

What would be the market growth in this alternate channel? Can you help us understand and let's say whether you expect in next couple of years, we will reaching to market growth rate based on the strategy which we have laid out for us.

So if you look at market expansion by OTT channels, if you actually look at today, roughly 60% market is dominated by SMS, and we clearly see a shift happening towards RCS and WhatsApp, and all will depend how I'm able to orchestrate a customer journey on these channels, from the pure play, giving them options which are available with the brand, to concluding the sales over there. Now, this is evolving. You know, earlier it was purely a menu-based, you know, workflows which were there on the WhatsApp or RCS channel, which is clearly moving towards AI. And those are the capabilities which we need to work on and build on a platform so that we are future-ready. And that's where our focus is. We're keeping our focus and eyes there to ensure that we're ready and we scale at the right time. And with keeping, as I said, keeping margins coming from a platform and not purely from the OTT unit pricing margins in.

Fair point. I think broadly try to understand, let's say market is at 60 percentage, we are at 92 percentage, dependency on SMS. The segment which is growing, we are limited here.

And that's why I think there is a firewall revenue also, which is also calculated as a part of messaging. Okay, so which is different. So Your assumptions might be different, but again, I'm telling you as a growth trigger point, it is firewall, network API. OTT channels along with email is going to. Also, you need to understand we were from last two years doing this integration with Bix and Telesign, which is now completely over. And we do see a value in terms of how we can create a cross-sell, up-sell opportunity within the group. And that will also going to play a big role in upcoming quarters.

I have last two questions. Just give it right now and then you can answer. First is about the network API opportunity. You mentioned a couple of times. Just want to understand what is the size and scale of this opportunity in our next three-year perspective. India and then outside India and how you are looking across this market. And second question is about some of the financial data related to the indicated some kind of trade. You know. Notes without any 25 the number what was the number in quarter 4 and what led to it in terms of the return rate receiver and what would be the OCF EBITDA is expected for the year.

So, with the kind of prospect, yes, yes, yes, sir, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

So, I think the idea of network API, if you see, is a very early stage. You know, network API is a layer which is within the operator ecosystem lying from very long time. Because of the digital fraud increase in multiple reasons, I think network API is going to play a very critical role in terms of mitigating the risk of digital fraud. And I think that is where people started believing, most of the financial institutions, they started believing that OTP-less authentication could be the one right way to use network API. I think there are many other KYC use cases can be used directly with the operator infrastructure. It's a very early stage to quantify, but what we can see the value out of it is going to be phenomenal. In the coming quarters, you will start seeing some of the more use cases as what Akash education we have deployed recently. We are in talks with multiple customer as an initiative of Conera product launched by Proximus Global. So we may not quantify this point of time, but as far as the potential is concerned on network API is huge. That's what I can tell you. And on the other side, other question, Vinay or Tushar if you can just add.

Yeah, so on the financial receivables, Raj, you want to take that?

Yeah, look, I mean, in terms of receivables, I mean, the total quantum is less than 5CR, but it's a range of smaller customers, so no one big individual customer, but more of a cleanup exercise. I mean, I think an average is probably about 10 or 15 lakhs per customer, so a bit of a cleanup exercise there, so no big one item.

Yeah, it stands at, I think, 0.4% of revenue, so it's not significant.

Thank you, Dipesh.

Next question is from the line of Shubhamjain. Please go ahead. Hello, am I audible? Yes, we can hear you. Yes, go ahead.

Sir, I believe my questions are answered, but I just had a few small queries. Sir, firstly, you mentioned that the worst is behind us, but I don't see any sign of growth in your revenue. I mean, if we see Tanla as a peer, it has grown relatively better than us. What's the cause? And secondly, when we enter into partnerships with our global partners, what type of arrangements are we getting into? And so third is network.

Are you talking about the revenue or like what comparison you're doing?

So, from a revenue as well as a margin point of view, I believe they are in a similar...

But I think first you just correct your understanding on revenue side, because we are not here to talk about any other company. We can talk about Rootmobile. I think in terms of revenue, overall revenue, I think we are the largest right now in India. And we cannot comment on how others are growing and what we can talk about is Rootmobile in this call. So I request everyone, let's stick to rootmobile, any question related to rootmobile and our growth story, we are happy to answer those things.

Sure, sir. So, second would be that you have mentioned the worst is behind us, but the guidance that you have provided for FY27 doesn't really indicate any sign of recovery. I mean, from 11.9 to 12, I don't think that's even a growth or any... Please help me understand, I mean, what's happening inside the company or what sort of expectations do you actually have? Sorry, I'm just new to the business, so I'm trying to understand what's happening.

So let me take that and then probably Tushar Raji, please add in. But if you look at the numbers, you know, what we have been saying is that what has been what has gone out of the system was ILD revenue, which comes at significantly higher realization rates, which is being replaced by a domestic business in various markets. And in most of the markets, domestic rates are significantly lower than what ILD rates would be. So that means replacing a single ILD message is a significantly larger volume of So, you know, the growth rates will take some time to start looking like bigger numbers because the base effect will creep in. I mean, the basis base effect will start creeping in now. So, so that is where, you know. The growth rates for the next year are where we are looking at. And as Rajdeep pointed out earlier, the internal initiatives are designed towards ideally achieving something above those growth rates. So that is where we are targeting. But essentially, what we are saying is in the most likely scenario is what we've indicated in the guidance. And that is where we are driving aggressively towards.

Sir, and could you give us an overview of what was the product mix? Before all those headwinds arrived and... What has been the product mix currently and what is your expectation of it changing? Sure.

So, Shivam, on the product mix, there is one more point which I need to clarify, which probably missed out in some of the other responses earlier. So, on the product mix on WhatsApp, particularly if you look at it in India, we have seen volume increase happening for us. So, in terms of volume, it has gone higher in terms of contribution, but the pricing on WhatsApp itself was revised during the year. So, that is where the realizations went low. So, the revenue growth is not really reflective of the kind of business that we are winning on WhatsApp. So, that is one challenge in terms of that 8% of revenue coming from non-SMS products. Ideally, it should have been higher if the pricing had remained steady. And moving forward, I think we are not giving a product-wise guidance, but we are looking at good growth around those products, the non-SMS product portfolio. Okay, sir.

Lastly, what's our ILD exposure currently in the overall revenue mix?

So I think I mentioned it earlier on the call, it's around a quarter to one third of the revenue in somewhere in that range.

So is it bound to eventually reduce more?

So ideally, you know, we would want the contribution of other products to increase and that would automatically take ILD lower, but it will not be a one year or a two year outcome. Because the volumes are large, it will take time for that contribution to go down significantly. But because you are driving growth through other channels, you would expect that to gradually, you know, keep shrinking.

Okay, and so lastly, I believe I asked the question earlier on the type of arrangements that we have with our global partners. Could you elaborate on that as in from, I mean, from a how do we share our revenues? How do we pay them if you could help us understand?

Sorry, are you referring to, I mean, our go-to market partnerships that we have with other system integrators and ISVs or, I mean, sorry, I don't get which partnerships you're referring to.

I think proximity and all of that you have mentioned.

Okay, so those are clearly related party transactions which are defined through agreements at arm's length basis. So the way it works is, I'll give you an example of what we do with Telesign. So, TeleSign needs to send a lot of SMS traffic into India and other markets where RootMobile is able to provide them the best cost. So, we have our cost and we have agreements which define how much we can mark up those costs and we charge TeleSign and BICS when they send us that traffic. So, it's well defined in the related party agreements where and it is all transaction oriented. Per transaction, we charge them and we charge a margin on top of our cost.

Okay, sir. That's it from my end. If I have anything else, I'll get back to the call. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Shivam. Next question is from the line of Konal Ochiramani. Please go ahead.

Am I audible? Yes, Kunal, we can hear you. Please go ahead.

So, so, revenue per billable transaction fell from 29 Paisa to 25 Paisa, which is 14% decline in a single year. On domestic SMS engine pricing has come to 10 Paisa per message and operators are capturing 70 to 80% of messaging economics as source. So, RCS is being priced below SMS for some players to gain share which you also agree that is distorted pricing. So, my question is what exactly is the pricing floor for A2P SMS in India and do you believe that RCS will reprice upwards once operators set a floor or will it simply commoditize at SMS level and compromise your blended realization further? And also, just wanted to understand, when you say that you have an assumption that our revenue will grow at mid to higher single digit, what kind of pricing revenue per transaction we are taking for FY27 versus FY26? This is my first question.

So, Kunal, the RCS pricing you just touched upon is largely because there is no interconnect arrangement among the telcos. For the first year when Google launched the service, there was some unstanding, but they're still among the telcos when they terminate messages on the other network. There are absolutely no charges. For those reasons, there was some degree of flexibility on quoting the price into the markets. But I guess that's changing now. There is what we hear that there is some discussion which is happening among telcos, which will definitely take the prices upwards. So we're hopeful that this will help the market and this will not cannibalize, as you correctly mentioned, the A2P SMS market. And overall, whatever you'd like to add.

Sure. So in terms of, you know, the pricing that you mentioned, how have we taken it in the guidance that we provided? So Kunal, it is a little bit more complicated at our end, because India is one part of the business, but then we also have business in some of the other geographies. So the way we really do our planning is, you know, we have individual business teams that look at various markets, different categories of customers, and we do a bottom-up build-out when we look at a plan for the subsequent year, and that is how we have approached it. So it's a mix of various parameters, you know, insert. So it's basically looking at customer additions in certain markets, mix is also changing. So there are various moving parts there. But the basic way we've done it is, you know, certain customer volume assumptions and pricing for those customers. That's how we really arrived at the guidance.

And lastly, because the volume base is growing with domestic markets where when I earlier mentioned the pricing is is much lesser compared to the ID. So we do not expect a dramatic shift upwards in the unit pricing or unit realizations in on the dependent side.

My second question is our growth implies that we will again grow at mid to higher single digit while Indian CPAS. Market is essentially volume saturated domestically. Like every large enterprise is already using it. OTP growth is slowing as app-based authentication expands for non-financial use cases and new volume is only coming from geographic expansion or market share shifts. So given this, how do we see genuine long-term CAGR assumption for next five years? What percentage of growth will come from India and international?

As we have already laid down in our presentation, we are opening up new geographies. We are setting up a new office in the different locations. Different domestic market is going to be our new focus. Some of the product line which we just shared, whether it's OTT or SMS or email. I think we do have a plan in the firewall solution along with network API. All this, even if you see that there is a drop in SMS volume, but the digital use cases are increasing day by day in almost all the emerging countries. And we as a company already well positioned ourselves in most of the emerging countries, including the Latin as well. Right. So I think we do see potential in terms of overall growth, the way we are working on our strategy right now. There are certain markets in Latin America, like Mexico, Brazil is a big market where we're definitely trying to do something over there. Philippines is another market for us. Australia is going to be definitely a different market for us. So I think all these things will definitely add overall growth. So for us, Rootmobile is not an India-centric company. We always serve the customer globally, including Middle East, Africa, and we do believe that digital adoption in these markets are going to increase multifold, especially in Latim and Africa, and we will definitely get advantage of those growth in coming years.

So, and lastly, these questions have been pressed a lot of times by investors in previous calls also. Since half of our enterprise value is still in cash and we are generating some 600 crores operating cash annually. And if we are at the same run rate in next three to five years, our cash balance will significantly exceed our enterprise value. So, Can you tell us specifically, in order of priority, what would you intend to do with this capital, if M&A pipeline, what geographies, and if no M&A materializes in next 18 to 24 months, will board consider special dividend or buyback? And critically, is this capital allocation decision made by Root Mobile board independently or does it require Proximus Group sign-off, given their 75% ownership and they have a huge debt burden also?

No, no, not at all. Every decision is made by RootMobile board. And there is a representative of Proximus Global as a part of the RootMobile board. The RootMobile board is capable enough to take call on behalf of RootMobile. We have a very smart board members. They do understand business. They contribute to our day-to-day growth. And as far as the cash is concerned, as we already mentioned, and there are multiple discussions we are having on various, many times in a year that how to use this cash. Acquisition could be the first choice, but there could be all other discussion which you have shared. As and when we come to some conclusion, we will definitely come back to you. But if you read our update, I think from this financial year, we have increased our dividend to 16 rupees, 16.5 rupees from 11 rupees. So we are definitely trying to create value to our shareholders. And that is one of the priority for us in coming years down the line as well.

Understood, sir. Even after we are generating 600 crores of cash and as committed dividend will be 104 crores, we will still have some 4-500 crores operating cash flow or free cash flow every year after dividends. And this pie will eventually increase. So, I hope that board considers it and yes, definitely. Sure, sure. Thank you so much. This was very helpful. All the best.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That was the last question. This concludes our conference. Please feel free to share our unanswered questions to investors at rootsmobile.com. Thank you for joining us and you may disconnect your lines.