Q1 2027 Whirlpool of India Ltd Earnings Call

August 6, 2026

Speaker #1: Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the analyst call of Whirlpool of India Limited. We wish to inform you that all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.

Operator 2: Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the analyst call of Whirlpool of India Limited. We wish to inform you that 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 the call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhavin Kumar from Axis Capital Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Analyst Call of Whirlpool of India Limited. We wish to inform you that 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 the call, please signal an operator by pressing *0 on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhavani Kumawat from Axis Capital Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Speaker #1: Should you need assistance during the call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero, on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

Speaker #1: I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhavani Kumar from Axis Capital Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Speaker #2: Thank you so much, Rayu. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Axis Capital Limited, we welcome you all to the Whirlpool of India analyst call for the first quarter and Q2. From the management side,

Bhavin Kumar: Thank you so much, Rahul. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Axis Capital Limited, we welcome you all to Whirlpool of India analyst call for Q1 FY2027. From the management side, we have Mr. Narasimhan Eswar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, and Ms. Sweta Srivastava, Company Secretary, joining the call. We thank Whirlpool of India for giving us the opportunity to host the call, and now I would like to hand over the floor to Ms. Sweta for its opening remarks, post which we'll open the floor for Q&A. Thanks, and over to you, ma'am.

Bhavani Kumawat: Thank you so much, Rahul. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Axis Capital Limited, we welcome you all to Whirlpool of India analyst call for Q1 FY2027. From the management side, we have Mr. Narasimhan Eswar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, and Ms. Sweta Srivastava, Company Secretary, joining the call. We thank Whirlpool of India for giving us the opportunity to host the call, and now I would like to hand over the floor to Ms. Sweta for its opening remarks, post which we'll open the floor for Q&A. Thanks, and over to you, ma'am.

Speaker #2: Officer of the company, and Ms. Sweta Srivastava, Company Secretary, joining the call. We thank Whirlpool of India for giving us the opportunity to host the call, and now I would like to hand over the floor to Ms. Sweta for her opening remarks, which will open the floor for Q&A.

Speaker #2: Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Bhavani. Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Q1 Analyst Call of Financial Year 2026-27 of Whirlpool of India Limited.

Sweta Srivastava: Thank you, Bhavin. Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Q1 analyst call of financial year 2026-2027 of Whirlpool of India Limited. Please note that the call is being recorded, and the audio call and transcripts will be available on the website of the company. Also, the presentation to be made by the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer is available on the website of the company as well as the stock exchanges. Before we move forward, I would like to remind you of the cautionary statement that forms part of the presentation. During this call, certain forward-looking statements may be made. These forward-looking statements are based on certain expectations, assumptions, and other factors which may affect the business results. Please read the cautionary statement carefully, and the contents of this call should be interpreted accordingly.

Sweta Srivastava: Thank you, Bhavani. Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Q1 analyst call of financial year 2026-2027 of Whirlpool of India Limited. Please note that the call is being recorded, and the audio call and transcripts will be available on the website of the company. Also, the presentation to be made by the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer is available on the website of the company as well as the stock exchanges. Before we move forward, I would like to remind you of the cautionary statement that forms part of the presentation.

Speaker #3: Please note that the call is being recorded, and the audio call and transcripts will be available on the website of the company. Also, the presentation to be made by the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer is available on the website of the company as well as the stock exchanges.

Speaker #3: Before we move forward, I would like to remind you of the cautionary statement that forms part of the presentation. During this call, certain forward-looking statements may be made; these forward-looking statements are based on certain expectations, assumptions, and other factors which may affect the business results.

Sweta Srivastava: During this call, certain forward-looking statements may be made. These forward-looking statements are based on certain expectations, assumptions, and other factors which may affect the business results. Please read the cautionary statement carefully, and the contents of this call should be interpreted accordingly. With that, I would now like to hand it over to Mr. Eswar.

Speaker #3: Please read the cautionary statement carefully, and the contents of this call should be interpreted accordingly. With that, I would now like to hand it over to Mr. Eeswar.

Sweta Srivastava: With that, I would now like to hand it over to Mr. Eswar.

Speaker #4: Thank you, Sweta. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Narasimhan Eeswar, Managing Director of the company. I'd like to welcome you to this analyst call. Thanks very much to Axis Capital for making this happen.

Narasimhan Eswar: Thank you, Sweta. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Narasimhan Eswar, Managing Director of the company. I'd like to welcome you to this analyst call. Thanks very much to Axis Capital for making this happen. Thank you to all of you for taking out your time and joining us. I'll start with the update. I will do the first two sections. We go now to slide four of the presentation deck. I will cover the business overview and the strategic imperatives, and Mr. Aditya Jain, Chief Financial Officer, will cover the financial performance. Could we go to the next slide, please? If we go to slide number six, the business overview, let me start with the highlight of the quarter. Apologies for my voice, bit of cold flu. The first point really is that we've delivered a record revenue growth in this quarter.

Narasimhan Eswar: Thank you, Sweta. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Narasimhan Eswar, Managing Director of the company. I'd like to welcome you to this analyst call. Thanks very much to Axis Capital for making this happen. Thank you to all of you for taking out your time and joining us. I'll start with the update. I will do the first two sections. We go now to slide 4 of the presentation deck. I will cover the business overview and the strategic imperatives, and Mr. Aditya Jain, Chief Financial Officer, will cover the financial performance. Could we go to the next slide, please? If we go to slide number six, the business overview, let me start with the highlight of the quarter.

Speaker #4: And thank you to all of you for taking out your time and joining us. Now, I'll start with the update. I will do the first two sections.

Speaker #4: If we go now to slide four of the presentation deck, I will cover the business overview and the strategic imperatives. And Mr. Aditya Jain, Chief Financial Officer, will cover the financial performance.

Speaker #4: Could we go to the next slide, please? So, if we go to slide number six, the business overview, let me start with the highlights of the quarter.

Speaker #4: Apologies for my voice; I have a bit of a cold or flu. The first point really is that we've delivered record revenue growth this quarter. We've never achieved the revenue numbers we've done before in our history.

Narasimhan Eswar: Apologies for my voice, bit of cold flu. The first point really is that we've delivered a record revenue growth in this quarter. We've never done the revenue numbers we've done before in our history. We also delivered double-digit revenue growth. In terms of multi-brand outlet market share, which is where we compete with other people in offline, we continue to maintain our number two position in refrigerators and washers. We call it T2 in our internal language.

Narasimhan Eswar: We've never done the revenue numbers we've done before in our history. We also delivered double-digit revenue growth. In terms of multi-brand outlet market share, which is where we compete with other people in offline, we continue to maintain our number two position in refrigerators and washers. We call it T2 in our internal language. Refrigerators and washers, we continue to maintain our number two position in volume market share in multi-brand outlets. We also continue to hold our number one position in direct cool refrigerators in multi-brand outlets for volume market share, and that has been the case for the last seven months. We have been able to complete our entire sell-in, sellout, the phasing that we had to do of the old refrigerators and the new refrigerators.

Speaker #4: We also delivered double-digit revenue growth. In terms of multi-brand outlet market share, which is where we compete with other people in offline, we continue to maintain our number two position in refrigerators and washers.

Speaker #4: So we call it T2 in our internal language. For refrigerators and washers, we continue to maintain our number two position in volume market share in multi-brand outlets.

Narasimhan Eswar: Refrigerators and washers, we continue to maintain our number two position in volume market share in multi-brand outlets. We also continue to hold our numbe 1 position in direct cool refrigerators in multi-brand outlets for volume market share, and that has been the case for the last seven months. We have been able to complete our entire sell-in, sellout, the phasing that we had to do of the old refrigerators and the new refrigerators.

Speaker #4: We also continue to hold our number one position in direct cool refrigerators in multi-brand outlets for volume market share, and that has been the case for the last seven months.

Speaker #4: We have been able to complete our advanced selling sell-out. The phasing that we had to do for the old refrigerators and the new refrigerators was completed this quarter.

Narasimhan Eswar: That was completed this quarter, and that has also helped us in getting back some market shares, as I said last time. In front load washers, we had a triple-digit increase in market share. The same multi-brand outlet KPI volume market share, and that business is doing very well for us. Same with air conditioners, where we delivered a 50% plus revenue growth. Elica, we're very pleased to say, continues with a very strong performance. Revenue is up 26% and profits are up 22%. One thing in the quarter that did happen, partly expected, partly unexpected, was our margins were significantly impacted due to both the impacts of the war, basically in two areas. One is in anything that was influenced by crude oil, which obviously pricing went extremely high and continues to be quite high.

Speaker #4: And that has also helped us in getting back some market share, as I said last time. In front-load washers, we had a triple-digit increase in market share.

Speaker #4: Again, the same multi-brand outlet KPI: volume market share. And that business is doing very well for us. Same with air conditioners, where we delivered 50% plus revenue growth.

Speaker #4: Elica, we're very pleased to say, continues with a very strong performance. Revenue is up 26%, and profits are up 22%. One thing in the quarter that did happen, partly expected, partly unexpected, was our margins were significantly impacted due to both the impacts of the war, basically in two areas.

Speaker #4: One is in anything that was influenced by crude oil, which, obviously, pricing went extremely high and continues to be quite high. And the second part of it was all the energy changes.

Narasimhan Eswar: The second part of it was all the energy changes, regulatory changes, which included energy changes in e-waste. I had already highlighted at the beginning of the calendar year that energy changes would be a debilitating impact on this year's financials. The war impact was on top of this, which we did not expect at the beginning of the financial year. This, I presume, is true for the entire industry and probably the broader country as well. One critical thing is that in this business, the companies have not been able to recover the impact of the combined war and regulatory impact through pricing because of industry competitive dynamics. That obviously impacts the numbers of margins.

Speaker #4: Regulatory changes, which included the energy changes in e-waste. Now, I had already highlighted at the beginning of the year, calendar year, that energy changes would have a debilitating impact on this year's financials.

Speaker #4: Obviously, the impact of the war was on top of this, which we did not expect at the beginning of the financial year. And this, I presume, is true for the entire industry and probably the broader country as well.

Speaker #4: One critical thing is that in this business, the companies have not been able to recover the impact of the combined war and regulatory actions through pricing.

Speaker #4: Because of industry competitive dynamics, and that obviously impacts the numbers on margins. We have navigated the challenges on supply chain, which were extremely high in April, May, and June.

Narasimhan Eswar: We have navigated the challenges on supply chain, which were extremely high in April, May, June, whether it was availability of LPG or whether it was availability of oil-based products, whether it was availability of components and parts. There were a lot of challenges that happened because of this situation that we have in the Middle East. We were able to, in fact, I'm very proud to say, deliver record-breaking production numbers in our Faridabad plant, which makes all our, not all, most of our direct cool refrigerator business. I just want to recognize the great work done by our team to do this in spite of some days not knowing whether you would have stocks for next day's production. We did not have any stoppage because of that, and we were able to deal with it.

Speaker #4: Whether it was the availability of LPG, or whether it was the availability of oil-based products, or the availability of components and parts, there were a lot of challenges that happened because of this situation that we have in the Middle East.

Speaker #4: But we were able to, in fact, very proud to say, deliver record-breaking production numbers in our Faridabad plant, which makes most of our direct cool refrigerator business.

Speaker #4: I just wanted to recognize the great work done by our team to achieve this, even on days when you were unsure whether we would have stock for next year's production.

Speaker #4: So we did not have any stoppage because of that, and we were able to deal with it. Lastly, I would say on net working capital as well, we lived up to our promise that we made.

Narasimhan Eswar: Lastly, I would say on net working capital as well, we lived up to our promise that we made. We have a net negative net working capital this quarter, and all the investments we made in the last quarter in air conditioners have been fully recovered, as you will see later. We go to the next slide, please. This is the standard slide that I always show you. On the top, basically, you have the quarters, starting from October 2024 now to April to June 2026. The industry volume growth was again in single digits growth. Our actions this quarter, there were quite a few. One is we completed our entire refrigerator phase in, phase out. That was one significant thing we did. This was with those new regulations that we had to change all the refrigerators in all the stores.

Speaker #4: We have a net negative networking capital this quarter, and all the investments we made in the last quarter in air conditioners have been fully recovered, as you'll see later.

Speaker #4: We'll go to the next slide, please. Now, this is the standard slide that I always show you. At the top, basically, you have the quarters.

Speaker #4: Starting from October 24 through to April to June 26, the industry volume growth was, again, in single-digit growth. But our actions this quarter—there were quite a few.

Narasimhan Eswar: The industry volume growth was again in single digits growth. Our actions this quarter, there were quite a few. One is we completed our entire refrigerator phase in, phase out. That was one significant thing we did. This was with those new regulations that we had to change all the refrigerators in all the stores. Second, we were able to take up in April and May pricing, which partly covered the war-led inflation, and the regulatory inflation, but not fully, like I said, thereby impacting margins.

Speaker #4: One is, we completed our entire refrigerator phase and phase-out. That was one significant thing we did. This was because of the new regulations that required us to change all the refrigerators in all the stores.

Speaker #4: Second, we were able to take up pricing in April and May, which partly covered the war-led inflation and the regulatory inflation, but not fully, like I said.

Narasimhan Eswar: Second, we were able to take up in April and May pricing, which partly covered the war-led inflation, and the regulatory inflation, but not fully, like I said, thereby impacting margins. We continued to scale up both our air conditioner business and our front load washer business, where we have low volume shares and where we have significant opportunity. We also launched a few NPI, new products, including top load 11kg, getting into the top load large segment vacant space that we have. I am reasonably happy to see that our volume share was up basically by double-digit basis points, reasonably decent double-digit basis points versus year ago, as a result of all the actions and of the continuation of the phase out. Revenue up double digits, market share is up as well. Can we go to the next slide, please?

Speaker #4: Thereby impacting margins. We continue to scale up both our air conditioner business and our front-load washer business, where we have low volume shares and significant opportunity.

Narasimhan Eswar: We continued to scale up both our air conditioner business and our front load washer business, where we have low volume shares and where we have significant opportunity. We also launched a few NPI, new products, including top load 11kg, getting into the top load large segment vacant space that we have. I am reasonably happy to see that our volume share was up basically by double-digit basis points, reasonably decent double-digit basis points versus year ago, as a result of all the actions and of the continuation of the phase out. Revenue up double digits, market share is up as well. Can we go to the next slide, please?

Speaker #4: We also launched a few NPIs—new products—including the top-load 11 kg, entering the top-load large-segment vacant space that we had. I am reasonably happy to see that our volume share was up, basically by double-digit basis points.

Speaker #4: Reasonably decent double-digit basis points versus a year ago as a result of all the actions, and of the continuation of the phase-out. So, revenue is up double digits, and market share is up as well.

Speaker #4: We'll go to the next slide, please. If we go to slide 8, we are giving you a further breakup of what it is by category, like we always do.

Narasimhan Eswar: If you go to slide eight, we are giving you a further breakup of what is it by category like we always do. In direct cool refrigerators, like I said, we completed the sell-in, sell out, and we were able to actually grow our market share since last year by double-digit basis points. In semi-automatic washers, we are happy to say we were able to, for the Q2 in a row, grow the market share by more than 100 basis points versus the previous year. Similarly, in front load, of course, we continue to drive market share as we have done for the last two years plus. In no frost refrigerator, there were some supply-related issues that we had, which held us back.

Narasimhan Eswar: If you go to slide 8, we are giving you a further breakup of what is it by category like we always do. In direct cool refrigerators, like I said, we completed the sell-in, sell out, and we were able to actually grow our market share since last year by double-digit basis points. In semi-automatic washers, we are happy to say we were able to, for the Q2 in a row, grow the market share by more than 100 basis points versus the previous year. Similarly, in front load, of course, we continue to drive market share as we have done for the last two years plus. In no frost refrigerator, there were some supply-related issues that we had, which held us back.

Speaker #4: So, in direct cool refrigerators, like I said, we completed the sell and sell-out. And we were able to actually grow our market share versus last year by double-digit basis points.

Speaker #4: In semi-automatic washers, we are happy to say we were able to, for the second quarter in a row, grow the market share by more than 100 basis points versus the previous year.

Speaker #4: And similarly, in front-load, of course, we continue to drive market share as we've done for the last two years plus. In no-frost refrigerators, there were some supply-related issues that we had, which held us back.

Narasimhan Eswar: Also there is a gap that we have in the market, where we were not present at all in refrigerators above 500 liters, 600 liters, et cetera. I am just going to cover that a bit later. We are literally launching today our large size refrigerators, as I had promised all our shareholders that we would do it, and we are actually doing it as of today. We are launching our four-door refrigerators, which I will cover now. I hope that in the course of the next months, we will start seeing clearly, because we are filling up vacant spaces that we were not in across the next 12 to 15 months, we will start to see our frost free refrigerator shares go up as well. Top load washers has been highly competitive.

Speaker #4: And also, there is a gap that we had in the market, where we were not present at all in refrigerators above 500 liters, 600 liters, etc.

Speaker #4: And I'm just going to cover that a bit later. But we are literally launching today our large-sized refrigerators, as I had promised all our shareholders that we would do it.

Speaker #4: And we are actually doing it as of today. We're launching our four-door refrigerators, which I'll cover now. And I hope that in the course of the next months, we will start seeing clearly, because we are filling up vacant spaces that we were not in, across the next 12 to 15 months.

Speaker #4: We will start to see our frost-free refrigerator shares go up as well. Top-load washers have been highly competitive. And versus the growth of last quarter, where we grew double-digit basis points versus a year ago, this quarter was a bit of a decline.

Narasimhan Eswar: Versus the growth of last quarter, where we grew double-digit basis points was a year ago. This quarter was a bit of a decline. We have our new products, et cetera, that we are bringing in, and we have other plans as well that we're investing in to take it back. All in all, reasonably okay with the revenue growth of double digits as well as the market share performance with some opportunities to improve, but we have clear line of sight as to how to do that. Next slide, please. The other thing that is worth highlighting is after a couple of quarters in Q1 and Q2 of 2025-2026, where we were declining revenue. Q3 of 2025-2026 was up 4% on revenue on a standalone basis. Q4 2025-2026 is up 7%, and Q1 2026-2027 is up 11%.

Speaker #4: But then we have our new products, etc., that we're bringing in. And we have other plans as well that we're investing in to take it back.

Speaker #4: So all in all, reasonably okay with the revenue growth of double digits. As well as the market share performance. With some opportunities to improve, but we have clear line of sight as to how to do that.

Speaker #4: Next slide, please. So, the other thing that is worth highlighting is, after a couple of quarters—in Q1 and Q2 of '25–'26—there, we were declining in revenue.

Speaker #4: Quarter three of 2025-26 was up 4% on revenue on a standalone basis. Quarter four, 2025-26 was up 7%. And quarter one, 2026-27 was up 11%.

Speaker #4: And this is based not just on the industry growth—which was in the mid-single-digit range—but our market share grew as well, which adds a couple of points.

Narasimhan Eswar: This is based on not just the industry growth of mid-single digit kind of industry growth, but our market share grew as well, which adds a couple of points. Of course, the pricing across categories helps us. It also helps that we have aircon and front load basically driving this business, being high-value products. Next slide, please. As I said, margins were significantly impacted. We already knew that regulatory would impact the margins because we have the impact of the refrigerator and the AC, which is nearly two-thirds of our business, being impacted by significant regulatory changes. On top of that, you had the war impact. Obviously, there are two big impacts that happen from the war point of view.

Speaker #4: And then, of course, the upswing across categories helps us. It also helps that we have air-con and front-load basically driving this business, being high-value products.

Speaker #4: Next slide, please. As I said, margins were significantly impacted. We already knew that regulatory changes would impact the margins because we have the impact of the refrigerator and the AC.

Speaker #4: Which is nearly two-thirds of our business, is being impacted by significant regulatory changes. But on top of that, we had the war impact. Obviously, there are two big impacts that happened from the war point of view.

Speaker #4: One is the impact on crude and crude-related things, of which there are quite a few in our industry, whether it's washing machines or refrigerators.

Narasimhan Eswar: One is the impact on crude and crude-related things, of which there are quite a few in our industry, whether it's washing machines or refrigerators, whether it's MDI, polyol, EPS that we do for packaging, et cetera. There's quite a bit of it. Those costs have gone up significantly due to the war, because many of them are single-sourced for the industry and for India from certain places in the Middle East. The second part of it is the regulatory part, where there are two components to it. One is the big refrigerator. Sorry, I just skipped one point. The war impact has got two parts to it. One was the crude oil and the second is the Forex.

Speaker #4: Whether it's MDI, polyol, EPS that we use for packaging, etc., there's quite a bit of it. And those costs have gone up significantly due to the war.

Speaker #4: Because many of them are single-sourced for the industry and for India from certain places in the Middle East. The second part of it is the regulatory part, where there are two components to it.

Speaker #4: One is the big refrigerator—sorry, I just skipped one point. So, the war impact has got two parts to it. One was the crude oil.

Speaker #4: And the second is the forex. So, obviously, with the certain amount of components that we need to import, as does the rest of the industry, there's a certain amount—less than 30%—that we import.

Narasimhan Eswar: Obviously, with a certain amount of components that we need to import, as does the rest of the industry, there's a certain amount, less than 30%, that we import. That is obviously impacted by the dollar rate going up. The dollar used to be INR 88 last year, now it's sitting at about INR 95, INR 96, and obviously, that's quite an extraordinary increase. These two things basically have impacted significantly on top of the regulatory costs that I spoke of. Of course, we continue accounting for e-waste at the higher level. If you see the gross margin and the PBT margin are pretty much the same, which means the rest of the lines of the P&L, we haven't actually increased anywhere. It's like a straight flow-through. As we go forward, I'm sure there's a very big question on everybody's minds. What do we see going forward?

Speaker #4: And that is obviously impacted by the dollar rate going up. The dollar used to be 88 last year. Now we're sitting at about 95, 96.

Speaker #4: And obviously, that's quite an extraordinary increase. So these two things basically have impacted significantly, on top of the regulatory costs that I spoke of.

Speaker #4: And of course, we continue accounting for e-waste at the higher level. If you see, the gross margin and the PVD margin are pretty much the same, which means that for the rest of the lines in the P&L, we haven't actually increased anywhere.

Speaker #4: It's like a straight flow-through. As we go forward, I'm sure there's a very big question on everybody's mind: What do we see going forward?

Narasimhan Eswar: As we go forward, I'm sure there's a very big question on everybody's minds. What do we see going forward? I think the war-related impacts frankly depends on when this whole thing gets over. I think that hopefully is something that we are all looking forward to. What happens to the crude price and what happens to the Forex that will directly impact the P&L into the saving there. I think on the regulatory part, for this fiscal is here to stay. Next fiscal, obviously the anniversary, this fiscal.

Speaker #4: I think the war-related impacts, frankly, depend on when this whole thing gets over. And I think that hopefully is something that we're all looking forward to.

Narasimhan Eswar: I think the war-related impacts frankly depends on when this whole thing gets over. I think that hopefully is something that we are all looking forward to. What happens to the crude price and what happens to the Forex that will directly impact the P&L into the saving there. I think on the regulatory part, for this fiscal is here to stay. Next fiscal, obviously the anniversary, this fiscal. On e-waste, really look forward to and hope that we will come up with a solution that actually works for the entire industry because it is an industry-wide issue on e-waste, where we are accounting at a much higher rate than what can be commercially procured. That is something that we look forward to. Potentially the war ending is going to be a help to the entire industry and certainly to us.

Speaker #4: What happens to the crude price, and what happens to the forex? That will directly impact the P&L if there's a saving there. I think, on the regulatory part, the regulatory part for this fiscal is here to stay.

Speaker #4: Next fiscal, obviously, the anniversary is this fiscal. And on e-waste, really, really look forward to and hope that we will come up with a solution that actually works for the entire industry.

Narasimhan Eswar: On e-waste, really look forward to and hope that we will come up with a solution that actually works for the entire industry because it is an industry-wide issue on e-waste, where we are accounting at a much higher rate than what can be commercially procured. That is something that we look forward to. Potentially the war ending is going to be a help to the entire industry and certainly to us.

Speaker #4: Because it's an industry-wide issue on e-waste, where we're accounting at a much higher rate than what can be commercially procured. So that is something that we look forward to.

Speaker #4: So, potentially, the war ending is going to be a help to the entire industry and certainly to us. Similarly, e-waste—resolution, let’s say an equitable resolution at some point in time, would be very helpful.

Narasimhan Eswar: Similarly, e-waste resolution, let us say an equitable resolution, at some point in time would be very helpful. Next slide, please. The other thing that I would highlight is that our working capital continues to be a strong performance. As you can see in the last 8 quarters, we basically had 5 quarters with negative net working capital. The reason why September 2025 had gone up significantly on working capital was because of the GST change impact that happened. March went up because of air conditioner sales. If you see in June, we have recovered all of the aircon working capital, we collected the receivables, and therefore we go back into negative net working capital. We are reasonably happy with the efficiency of the operation itself. Next slide, please. Moving to the strategic imperatives. Apologies for the voice.

Narasimhan Eswar: Similarly, e-waste resolution, let us say an equitable resolution, at some point in time would be very helpful. Next slide, please. The other thing that I would highlight is that our working capital continues to be a strong performance. As you can see in the last eight quarters, we basically had five quarters with negative net working capital. The reason why September 2025 had gone up significantly on working capital was because of the GST change impact that happened. March went up because of air conditioner sales. If you see in June, we have recovered all of the aircon working capital, we collected the receivables, and therefore we go back into negative net working capital. We are reasonably happy with the efficiency of the operation itself. Next slide, please. Moving to the strategic imperatives. Apologies for the voice.

Speaker #4: Next slide, please. The other thing that I want to highlight is that our working capital continues to show strong performance. As you can see, in the last eight quarters, we basically had five quarters with negative net working capital.

Speaker #4: The reason why September 25 had gone up significantly on working capital was because of the GST change impact that happened. March went up because of air conditioner sales.

Speaker #4: But if you see, in June we have recovered all of the air-con working capital—the collectible receivables—and therefore, we go back into negative net working capital.

Speaker #4: And we are reasonably happy with the efficiency of the operation itself. Next slide, please. So, I'll move on to the strategic imperatives. Apologies for the voice.

Narasimhan Eswar: As we said, the imperatives are basically four in number, inspire generations with our brands, win with product leadership, building a competitive and resilient supply chain, and excellence in execution. We go to slide 14. This is just a reminder of what we have done in the past in terms of inspiring with our brands. As I have said before, we were the early pioneers in colors and finishes. We introduced pedestals, we introduced auto defrost in the Recool. We still have the first three-door refrigerator in Frost Free in the country. We introduced the Platina range, we introduced the first heater in top load washing machines. A pioneer in the Indian durables industry. Let us take a look at what we are doing now. Slide number I cannot see the number here. I am sorry.

Narasimhan Eswar: As we said, the imperatives are basically 4 in number, inspire generations with our brands, win with product leadership, building a competitive and resilient supply chain, and excellence in execution. We go to slide 14. This is just a reminder of what we have done in the past in terms of inspiring with our brands. As I have said before, we were the early pioneers in colors and finishes. We introduced pedestals, we introduced auto defrost in the Recool. We still have the first three-door refrigerator in Frost Free in the country. We introduced the Platina range, we introduced the first heater in top load washing machines. A pioneer in the Indian durables industry. Let us take a look at what we are doing now. Slide number I cannot see the number here. I am sorry.

Speaker #4: As we said, the imperatives are basically four in number: inspire generations with our brands, win with product leadership, build a competitive and resilient supply chain, and deliver excellence in execution.

Speaker #4: We go to slide 14. This is just a reminder of what we've done in the past in terms of inspiring with our brands. As I’ve said before, we were the early pioneers in colors and finishes.

Speaker #4: We introduced pedestals. We introduced auto defrosting with a cool—we still have the first three-door refrigerator, frost-free, in the country. We introduced the Platinum range.

Speaker #4: And we introduced the first heater in top-load washing machines, so a pioneer in India during this industry. Let's take a look at what we're doing now.

Speaker #4: Slide number—I can't see the number here, sorry.

Speaker #2: 15.

Ankit Merchant: 15.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Slide number 15. We are very, very happy to introduce to you Whirlpool Luxurian, which are the four-door premium refrigerators. We're introducing the 654-liter four-door premium refrigerator.

Narasimhan Eswar: 15. Thank you. Slide number 15. We are very happy to introduce to you Whirlpool Luxuria, which are the four-door premium refrigerators. We are introducing the 654-liter four-door premium refrigerator. These are several first fantastic products. This is India's fastest convertible in its class. It converts in less than 30 minutes from a freezer to a fridge, which is unmatched in India. This is the first time that we have something that we pioneered called the freshness detection technology. This has been developed by our engineers in India with the help of global technology, but really pioneered in India. The greatness of this, I will talk to you about a little later. This literally will tell you whether your fruits and vegetables are fresh or not, and if it is time for you to start consuming them so you eat healthy.

Narasimhan Eswar: Slide number 15. We are very happy to introduce to you Whirlpool Luxuria, which are the four-door premium refrigerators. We are introducing the 654-liter four-door premium refrigerator. These are several first fantastic products. This is India's fastest convertible in its class. It converts in less than 30 minutes from a freezer to a fridge, which is unmatched in India. This is the first time that we have something that we pioneered called the freshness detection technology. This has been developed by our engineers in India with the help of global technology, but really pioneered in India. The greatness of this, I will talk to you about a little later. This literally will tell you whether your fruits and vegetables are fresh or not, and if it is time for you to start consuming them so you eat healthy.

Speaker #1: These are several, several first fantastic products. This is India's fastest convertible in its class. It converts in less than 30 minutes from a freezer to a fridge.

Speaker #1: Which is unmatched in India. This is the first time that we have something that we pioneered, called the Freshness Detection Technology. This has been developed by our engineers in India.

Speaker #1: With the help of global technology—but really pioneered in India. And the greatness of this, I'll talk to you about a little later. This literally will tell you whether your fruits and vegetables are fresh or not.

Speaker #1: And if it's time for you to start consuming them, so you eat healthy. And this, I think, is quite a cool, revolutionary kind of development that we've introduced to India.

Narasimhan Eswar: This, I think, is quite a cool, revolutionary kind of development that we've introduced to India. We're also, in this range, introducing the first ever glass and steel front face. Half the refrigerator is glass, the other half is steel, and it looks absolutely fantastic. Lastly, we also, in this range, have something called Obsidian Interiors, very dark interiors with beautiful lighting. Your refrigerator literally feels like a theater. I'll talk more about this later. We are extremely proud that this entire thing is made in India, thought through by India, executed by India, and it's rolling off our Pune lines where we've invested INR 245 crores on this technology. Next slide, please. On the next slide, just show you some examples of the premium range. Starting from the left, to your left of the screen, is the mirror finish.

Speaker #1: We are also, in this range, introducing the first-ever glass and steel front face. So half the refrigerator is glass, and the other half is steel.

Speaker #1: And it looks absolutely fantastic. And lastly, we also, in this range, have something called Obsidian Interiors. Very dark interiors with beautiful lighting, so your refrigerator literally feels like a theater.

Speaker #1: So I'll talk more about this later. We are extremely proud that this entire thing is made in India, thought through by India, and executed by India.

Speaker #1: And it's rolling off our Pune lines, where we've invested ₹245 crore in this technology. Next slide, please. On the next slide, I'll just show you some examples of the premium range.

Speaker #1: Starting from the left, to your left of the screen, is the mirror finish. Next to that is a premium green finish called Crystal Overlay.

Narasimhan Eswar: Next to that is a premium green finish called Cristal Verde. There is the one with the water dispenser, steel finish. The one after that is something called Bianco Nero, which is white and black. The last one is the duo, the metallic and glass duo refrigerator. There are more as well in this range, but these are just an example just to give you an idea of the kind of premiumness that we are introducing into this market, the kind of features that we're bringing in. Next slide, please. Let me go through some of the really exciting things that we're doing in this. These refrigerators, the 64/644 liters Luxuria refrigerators, are the gold standard of refrigeration. Normally, a side-by-side kind of refrigerator, which you get for INR 30,000, INR 35,000, INR 38,000, would have one evaporator, which cools the entire fridge and freezer.

Speaker #1: Then there is the one with the water dispenser, steel finish. The one after that is something called Bianco Nero, which is white and black.

Speaker #1: And the last one is the Duo—the metallic and glass Duo refrigerator. There are more as well in this range, but these are just examples to give you an idea of the kind of premiumness that we are introducing into this market.

Speaker #1: The kind of features that we're bringing in—next slide, please. Let me go through some of the really exciting things that we're doing in this.

Speaker #1: These refrigerators—the 654-liter Luxurian refrigerators—are the gold standard of refrigeration. Normally, a side-by-side kind of refrigerator, which you get for ₹30,000, ₹75,000, ₹80,000.

Narasimhan Eswar: Normally, a side-by-side kind of refrigerator, which you get for INR 30,000, INR 35,000, INR 38,000, would have one evaporator, which cools the entire fridge and freezer. Because one machine is cooling the entire fridge and freezer, there is a challenge on evenness, and there is a challenge on how well the cooling is done. Now, the beauty of our system is that this is a triple evaporator. You can see there are three circles there, three blue kind of graphics. The top of the refrigerator is basically your fridge, and that's got one evaporator. At the bottom, you have two freezer zones.

Speaker #1: There would be one evaporator, which cools the entire fridge and freezer. And because one machine is cooling both the fridge and freezer, there is a challenge in maintaining evenness.

Narasimhan Eswar: Because one machine is cooling the entire fridge and freezer, there is a challenge on evenness, and there is a challenge on how well the cooling is done. Now, the beauty of our system is that this is a triple evaporator. You can see there are three circles there, three blue kind of graphics. The top of the refrigerator is basically your fridge, and that's got one evaporator. At the bottom, you have two freezer zones. Now, one of the freezer zones, the freezer to your left is a full freezer. Okay? It's always a freezer. Whether you want ice or you want your ice cream or you want to keep your meat or fish, you can keep that in that part, right? On the right-hand side is the convertible part.

Speaker #1: And there is a challenge in how well the cooling is done. Now, the beauty of our system is that this is a triple evaporator.

Speaker #1: So you can see there are three circles there—three blue kind of graphics. So, the top of the refrigerator is basically your fridge, and that's got one evaporator.

Speaker #1: At the bottom, you have two freezer zones. One of the freezer zones—the freezer to your left—is a full freezer, okay? So it's always a freezer.

Narasimhan Eswar: Now, one of the freezer zones, the freezer to your left is a full freezer. Okay? It's always a freezer. Whether you want ice or you want your ice cream or you want to keep your meat or fish, you can keep that in that part, right? On the right-hand side is the convertible part. This part, the right-hand side bottom, is basically a freezer that can become a fridge within 30 minutes. This was based on 1,000+ hours of research we did with consumers to understand what is the ideal product. It was very clear from our research that consumers really believe that the four-door is far more preferable than the side-by-side format. The features that we're talking about here, and what I'll talk about a bit more, they're all added based on consumer research.

Speaker #1: So whether you want ice, or you want your ice cream, or you want to keep your meat or fish, you can keep that in that part.

Speaker #1: Right? And on the right-hand side is the convertible part. So this part, the right-hand side bottom, is basically a freezer that can become a fridge within 30 minutes.

Narasimhan Eswar: This part, the right-hand side bottom, is basically a freezer that can become a fridge within 30 minutes. This was based on 1,000-plus hours of research we did with consumers to understand what is the ideal product. It was very clear from our research that consumers really believe that the four-door is far more preferable than the side-by-side format. The features that we're talking about here, and what I'll talk about a bit more, they're all added based on consumer research. The beauty of this is the fastest convertible, the flexibility to store large vessels, which would be difficult in a side-by-side because the fridge zone is quite small. Whereas here, as you can see, the fridge zone is quite large. You can put a patila or a big vessel where you've cooked dal or subzi or whatever it is.

Speaker #1: And so, this was based on a thousand-plus hours of research we did with consumers to understand what is the ideal product. And it was very clear from our research that consumers really believe that the four-door is far more preferable than the side-by-side format.

Speaker #1: And the features that we're talking about here, and what I'll talk about a bit more, they're all added based on consumer research. So the beauty of this is, it's the fastest convertible.

Narasimhan Eswar: The beauty of this is the fastest convertible, the flexibility to store large vessels, which would be difficult in a side-by-side because the fridge zone is quite small. Whereas here, as you can see, the fridge zone is quite large. You can put a patila or a big vessel where you've cooked dal or subzi or whatever it is. You can put it right in the refrigerator without having to worry about the size in the fridge part. The other beauty of this is because they are independent airflows, the smell from the freezer will not go into the fridge. As you can imagine, the airflow is within the evaporator section on that side, and therefore, whatever smell is in the freezer will stay in the freezer.

Speaker #1: The flexibility to store large vessels, which would be difficult in a side-by-side because the fridge zone is quite small. Whereas here, as you can see, the fridge zone is quite large.

Speaker #1: So you can put a patila or a big vessel where you've cooked dal or sabzi or whatever it is. You can put it right in the refrigerator without having to worry about the size.

Narasimhan Eswar: You can put it right in the refrigerator without having to worry about the size in the fridge part. The other beauty of this is because they are independent airflows, the smell from the freezer will not go into the fridge. As you can imagine, the airflow is within the evaporator section on that side, and therefore, whatever smell is in the freezer will stay in the freezer. Whatever smell is there in the freezer and convertible, which is the right, will stay there, and whatever smell is in the refrigerator will stay there. There's no transfer of smells between, say, your meat, which is in the freezer, and your vegetables, which may be in your fridge. Several more benefits of the triple cooling system, the three evaporators, but it's quite a cutting-edge technology. This would be tremendous value for Indian consumers.

Speaker #1: In the fridge part. And the other beauty of this is, because they are independent airflows, the smell from the freezer will not go into the fridge.

Speaker #1: As you can imagine, the airflow is within the evaporator section on that side. Therefore, whatever smell is in the freezer will stay in the freezer.

Speaker #1: Whatever smell is there in the freezer and convertible, which is on the right, will stay there. And whatever smell is in the refrigerator will stay there.

Narasimhan Eswar: Whatever smell is there in the freezer and convertible, which is the right, will stay there, and whatever smell is in the refrigerator will stay there. There's no transfer of smells between, say, your meat, which is in the freezer, and your vegetables, which may be in your fridge. Several more benefits of the triple cooling system, the three evaporators, but it's quite a cutting-edge technology. This would be tremendous value for Indian consumers. I do believe that we will start the shift to four-door refrigerators with this, because the pricing is very attractive for all of this. Next slide, please.

Speaker #1: So, there is no transfer of smells between, say, your meat, which is in the freezer, and your vegetables, which may be in your fridge.

Speaker #1: There are several more benefits of the triple cooling system with the three evaporators. It's quite a cutting-edge technology. Usually, compared to others, this would be of tremendous value for Indian consumers.

Speaker #1: And I do believe that we will start the shift to four-door refrigerators with this, because the pricing is very attractive for all of this.

Narasimhan Eswar: I do believe that we will start the shift to four-door refrigerators with this, because the pricing is very attractive for all of this. Next slide, please. I want to talk to you about four things in this Luxuria which make it simply peerless. The first is a technology I've not spoken about. This is something called 6th Sense AI. It truly is an amazing technology. It has never been seen before in India, and I dare say probably never in the world. This is something we've developed here. What is it? It's basically there are sensors that are calibrated to read the ethylene gas emission levels from fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables, once they are plucked from a tree, automatically start emitting ethylene gas. As they get riper and riper, tending towards spoiling, they emit more and more ethylene gas.

Speaker #1: Next slide, please. So I'm going to talk to you about four things in this Luxurian which make it simply peerless. The first is a technology I have not spoken about.

Narasimhan Eswar: I want to talk to you about four things in this Luxuria which make it simply peerless. The first is a technology I've not spoken about. This is something called 6th Sense AI. It truly is an amazing technology. It has never been seen before in India, and I dare say probably never in the world. This is something we've developed here. What is it? It's basically there are sensors that are calibrated to read the ethylene gas emission levels from fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables, once they are plucked from a tree, automatically start emitting ethylene gas. As they get riper and riper, tending towards spoiling, they emit more and more ethylene gas.

Speaker #1: This is something called Sixth Sense AI. So it truly is an amazing technology. It has never been seen before in India, and I dare say probably never in the world.

Speaker #1: So, this is something we've developed here. And what is it? Basically, there are sensors that are calibrated to read the ethylene gas emission levels from fruits and vegetables.

Speaker #1: Fruits and vegetables, once they are plucked from a tree, automatically start emitting ethylene gas. And as they get riper and riper, tending towards spoiling, they emit more and more ethylene gas.

Speaker #1: What this does is, this particular chamber of the refrigerator, which is just below, between the refrigerator and the freezer—this is called the Intelli CRISPR.

Narasimhan Eswar: What this does is this particular chamber of the refrigerator, which is just below between the refrigerator and the freezer, this is called the IntelliCrisper, and this is going to have a sensor-based AI system which will measure the ethylene gas that's being released by the fruits and vegetables, and based on database, which continuously refreshes itself. Just for perspective, every 10 seconds, the level of ethylene is checked. There are 8,000 readings a day to calibrate the system. The whole intent is that even before a vegetable starts spoiling, it will start emitting more ethylene gas. The system reads that, and before your vegetable starts spoiling, it gives a flashing light to show you that something could start spoiling pretty soon in your refrigerator, and you must ideally use it so that you can eat healthy.

Speaker #1: And this is going to have a sensor-based AI system which will measure the ethylene gas that's being released by the fruits and vegetables, and based on a database, which continuously refreshes itself.

Speaker #1: Just for perspective, every 10 seconds, the level of ethylene is checked. So there are 8,000 readings a day to calibrate the system. The whole intent is that even before a vegetable starts spoiling, it will start emitting more ethylene gas.

Speaker #1: So this system reads that, and before your vegetable starts spoiling, it gives a flashing light to show you that something could start spoiling pretty soon in your refrigerator.

Speaker #1: And you must ideally use it so that you can eat healthy. So, this is something that we're doing, which is based on consumer feedback.

Narasimhan Eswar: This is something that we're doing, which is based on consumer feedback. People wanted to basically get fresh fruits and vegetables, and we couldn't think of a better way to do this. Like I said, I don't believe that anybody else has this kind of technology, certainly not in India, and I doubt if anybody else has it in the world. We are extremely proud of this technology. If you go to the right-hand side, I have already spoken to you about the superior format of the four-door versus the side-by-side, whether it's the storage of large vessels, whether you can see everything at one time. Also, we genuinely believe the Indian consumer does not need half of the refrigerator, more or less, being a freezer. Therefore, we are giving more options for the consumer to have freezer space.

Speaker #1: People wanted to basically get fresh fruits and vegetables, and we couldn't think of a better way to do this. And, like I said, I don't believe that anybody else has this kind of technology.

Speaker #1: Certainly not in India, and I doubt if anybody else has it in the world. So, we are extremely proud of this technology. If you go to the right-hand side, I have already spoken to you about the superior format of the four-door versus the side-by-side.

Speaker #1: Whether it's storage of large vessels, whether you can see everything at one time. Also, we genuinely believe the Indian consumer does not need half of the refrigerator, more or less, being a freezer.

Speaker #1: And then, so therefore, we are giving more options for the consumer to have freezer space. If they want it, there's a significant amount at the bottom.

Narasimhan Eswar: If they want it, there's a significant amount at the bottom, but if they don't want it and want to make it a refrigerator, it becomes one within 30 minutes, and they can, of course, turn it back into a freezer again. If you look at the bottom-left quadrant, we are very proud of the aesthetics that we're bringing into the market. I talked to you about the glass door. I talked to you about the differentiated CFMs on the first page that I showed you. You can see here, the Obsidian Interiors. You can see that the interiors are dark gray, a very premium dark gray with fantastic theater lighting inside the refrigerator. You're going to have lighting inside the refrigerator, so you can easily see what product you have in your refrigerator. Right? It looks absolutely fantastic. There's Obsidian Interiors.

Speaker #1: But if they don't want it and want to make it a refrigerator, then it becomes one within 30 minutes. And then they can, of course, turn it back into a freezer again.

Speaker #1: If you then look at the bottom left quadrant, we are very proud of the aesthetics that we're bringing to the market. I talked to you about the glass door.

Speaker #1: I talked to you about the differentiated CFMs on the first page that I showed you. You can see here the obsidian interiors. You can see that the interiors are dark gray.

Speaker #1: A very, very premium dark gray with fantastic theater lighting inside the refrigerator. So, you're going to have lighting inside the refrigerator, so you can easily see the products you have in your refrigerator.

Speaker #1: Right? And it looks absolutely fantastic. So, these obsidian interiors have multiple finishes. There is a first-class metal. And lastly, if I look to the bottom right quadrant, this, like I said before, is the fastest convertible in the market.

Narasimhan Eswar: There's Obsidian Interiors. There are multiple finishes. There is the first glass metal. Lastly, if I look to the bottom-right quadrant, this, like I said before, is the fastest convertible in the market. In our entry-level, between 255 and 360 liters, we have the fastest convertible in the market. This is something that we're bringing to the large refrigerators as well. This was a must-do for us, and I'm so glad that we've been able to achieve that with the fastest convertible in the market in the large refrigerators. Next slide, please. We not only launched Luxuria, which obviously we're very proud of, but we also launched large size in excuse me, top-load BloomWash, which is our hero. We launched an 11kg with a completely new color, which is being quite well-received in the market. It's called Juniper Green.

Narasimhan Eswar: There are multiple finishes. There is the first glass metal. Lastly, if I look to the bottom-right quadrant, this, like I said before, is the fastest convertible in the market. In our entry-level, between 255 and 360 liters, we have the fastest convertible in the market. This is something that we're bringing to the large refrigerators as well. This was a must-do for us, and I'm so glad that we've been able to achieve that with the fastest convertible in the market in the large refrigerators. Next slide, please. We not only launched Luxuria, which obviously we're very proud of, but we also launched large size in excuse me, top-load BloomWash, which is our hero. We launched an 11kg with a completely new color, which is being quite well-received in the market. It's called Juniper Green.

Speaker #1: In our entry level, between 255 and 360 liters, we have the fastest convertible in the market. And so, this is something that we're bringing to the large refrigerators as well.

Speaker #1: This was a must-do for us, and I'm so glad that we've been able to achieve that with the fastest convertible in the market in the large refrigerators.

Speaker #1: Next slide, please. We not only launched Luxurian, which obviously we're very proud of, but we also launched large size in—excuse me—Topload Bloom Wash, which is our hero.

Speaker #1: We launched an 11 kg machine with a completely new color, which is being quite well received in the market. It's called Juniper Green. And what is really cool about this is that typically, if there's a quick wash cycle that other machines have—whether you put in a small load, a medium load, or a large load—typically, other machines wash it for a certain amount of time.

Narasimhan Eswar: What is really cool about this is that typically, if there's a quick-wash cycle that other machines have, whether you put in a small load or a medium load or a large load, typically, other machines wash it for a certain amount of time, for example, 35 minutes. This, we have done it in such a way because we wanted to add value to the consumer. The consumer sometimes uses small loads, sometimes medium loads, and sometimes large loads. Based on that, we have customized the amount of time that the washing machine will work for. Small loads are 30 minutes, medium loads are 35 minutes, and large loads will be 40 minutes.

Speaker #1: For example, 35 minutes. But we have done it in such a way because we wanted to add value to the consumer. The consumer sometimes uses a small load.

Speaker #1: Sometimes medium loads, and sometimes large loads. So, based on that, we have customized the amount of time that the washing machine will work for.

Speaker #1: So, small loads are 30 minutes, medium loads are 35 minutes, and large loads will be 40 minutes. It also has what we call Soft Sense.

Narasimhan Eswar: It also has what we call SoftSense, which is a system by which we, through the dispenser, automatically release the right amount of softener at the right time without you having to worry about how much softener to put in. It's automatic, and obviously, the CFM. Very proud of this SKU and look forward to its success in the market. Next slide, please. Slide number 20. As I said before, in semi-automatic washing machines, our Dynamic Dispenser technology, which I've explained in previous times, which is basically that we are able to guarantee zero detergent patches on semi-automatic washing machines using this technology. The reason we're able to do that is because it premixes, through a very efficient scientific system, water and detergent completely before it goes inside the washing area. We have now launched even 8kg capacity in the Dynamic Dispenser.

Speaker #1: This is a system by which we, through the dispenser, automatically release the right amount of softener at the right time, without you having to worry about how much softener to put in.

Speaker #1: So it's automatic, and obviously, the CFM. So, very, very proud of this SKU and look forward to its success in the market. Next slide, please.

Speaker #1: Slide number 20. As I said before, in semi-automatic washing machines, our Dynamics Dispenser technology, which I've explained in previous times, is basically that we are able to guarantee zero detergent patches on semi-automatic washing machines using this technology.

Speaker #1: And the reason we're able to do that is because it pre-mixes, through a very efficient scientific system, water and detergent completely before it goes inside the tub.

Narasimhan Eswar: The reason we're able to do that is because it premixes, through a very efficient scientific system, water and detergent completely before it goes inside the washing area. We have now launched even 8kg capacity in the Dynamic Dispenser. Now 50% of our semi-automatic washing machine has this Dynamic Dispenser, which is de-commoditizing semi-automatic washing machines. Semi-automatic washing machines for us is not just about price and capacity, which is what the entire category has been playing on, bring in larger sizes and cut the price.

Speaker #1: Inside the washing area. And we have now launched even 8 kg capacity in the Dynamics Dispenser. And now, 50% of our semi-automatic washing machines have this Dynamics Dispenser, which is commoditizing semi-automatic washing machines.

Narasimhan Eswar: Now 50% of our semi-automatic washing machine has this Dynamic Dispenser, which is de-commoditizing semi-automatic washing machines. Semi-automatic washing machines for us is not just about price and capacity, which is what the entire category has been playing on, bring in larger sizes and cut the price. We are actually adding value to this category by bringing in something like Dynamic Detergent Dispenser, which will help you have zero detergent patches on your clothes, which is what consumers really want, those who are using powder in semi-automatic dispenser. Next slide, please. Slide number 21. As I said before, our front-load washer business continues to accelerate. We grew about 80% volumes versus last year, with a triple-digit basis points in market share versus last year. This is a business that will keep thriving as we go ahead. Next slide, please.

Speaker #1: So, semi-automatic washing machines for us are not just about price and capacity, which is what the entire category has been focusing on—bringing in larger sizes and cutting the price.

Speaker #1: We are actually adding value to this category by bringing in something like a dynamic detergent dispenser, which will help you have zero detergent patches on your clothes.

Narasimhan Eswar: We are actually adding value to this category by bringing in something like Dynamic Detergent Dispenser, which will help you have zero detergent patches on your clothes, which is what consumers really want, those who are using powder in semi-automatic dispenser. Next slide, please. Slide 21. As I said before, our front-load washer business continues to accelerate. We grew about 80% volumes versus last year, with a triple-digit basis points in market share versus last year. This is a business that will keep thriving as we go ahead. Next slide, please.

Speaker #1: Which is what consumers really want—those who are using powder in semi-automatic dispensers. Next slide, please. Slide number 21. As I said before, our front-load washer business continues to accelerate.

Speaker #1: We grew about 80% in volumes versus last year, with a triple-digit basis points increase in market share compared to last year. This is a business that we'll keep driving as we go ahead.

Speaker #1: Next slide, please. And similarly, on air conditioners, our growth this quarter was 50% more than last year. In both these categories, our market shares are in the single digits.

Narasimhan Eswar: Similarly, on air conditioners, our growth this quarter was 50% more than last year. In both these categories, our market shares are in the single digits, and obviously, our intention is to try and get into double digits as soon as we can and get into mid-double digits, which would be a good achievement. The beauty is that these are high-value categories that premiumize our total business. Next slide, please. Excuse me. Slide number 23. We're bringing in new products in Elica as well, and you can see that in the results. Whether it is the slim BLDC filterless oil collector product with the slim design kitchen hood, or the plug-and-play kitchen hood, which is the Kitty plug-and-play, as we call it. It doesn't need an exhaust.

Narasimhan Eswar: Similarly, on air conditioners, our growth this quarter was 50% more than last year. In both these categories, our market shares are in the single digits, and obviously, our intention is to try and get into double digits as soon as we can and get into mid-double digits, which would be a good achievement. The beauty is that these are high-value categories that premiumize our total business. Next slide, please. Excuse me. Slide 23. We're bringing in new products in Elica as well, and you can see that in the results. Whether it is the slim BLDC filterless oil collector product with the slim design kitchen hood, or the plug-and-play kitchen hood, which is the Kitty plug-and-play, as we call it. It doesn't need an exhaust.

Speaker #1: And obviously, our intention is to try and get it to double digits as soon as we can—get into mid-double digits—which would be a good achievement.

Speaker #1: And the beauty is that these are high-value categories that premiumize our total business. Next slide, please. Excuse me, slide number 23. We're bringing in new products in Elica as well.

Speaker #1: And you can see that in the results, whether it is the slim BLDC filterless oil collector product with the slim design kitchen hood, or the plug-and-play kitchen hood, which is a Kitty plug-and-play, as we call it.

Speaker #1: It doesn't need an exhaust, or the Flexi Hob Top that we have, with full brass direct multiflame burners and cast iron pan support, as well as black toughened glass and auto ignition.

Narasimhan Eswar: The flexi hob top that we have with the full brass direct multi-flame burners and cast iron pan support, as well as black toughened glass and auto ignition. We continue to innovate on the premium end while driving the popular end as well. Also delighted to let you know that we've been able to get international accolades on innovation and design. The A' Design Awards are given by an Italian-based organization, and they are very prestigious awards globally. We're very proud to say that our products in Frost Free, whether it is Jade Marble, these are the glass doors in Frost Free that we introduced last year, or the 3D Protton NXT, where we have upgraded significantly our three-door Protton range. Both of these got silver awards on design. The comments that you see there are the words of the award committee from Italy, which basically talk about the sleek facade featuring marble patterns and gold accents, transforming the appliance into an architectural centerpiece. In the case of Protton, saying it distinguishes itself in a crowded refrigerator market by utilizing a three-door format that prioritizes better organization because of the fruits and vegetables having a separate drawer. Very happy with that. Next slide, please. Slide number 25.

Speaker #1: We continue to innovate on the premium end while driving the popular industry. Next slide, please. I'm also delighted to let you know that we've been able to receive international accolades for innovation and design.

Speaker #1: The A-Design Awards are given by an Italian-based organization, and they are very prestigious awards globally. We are very proud to say that our products in Frost Tree—whether it is jade marble, or the glass doors in Frost Tree that we used last year—have been recognized.

Speaker #1: Or the 3D Proton next, where we have upgraded significantly our three-door Proton range. Both of these got silver awards on design. And the comments that you see there are the words of the award committee.

Narasimhan Eswar: The comments that you see there are the words of the award committee from Italy, which basically talk about the sleek facade featuring marble patterns and gold accents, transforming the appliance into an architectural centerpiece. In the case of Protton, saying it distinguishes itself in a crowded refrigerator market by utilizing a three-door format that prioritizes better organization because of the fruits and vegetables having a separate drawer. Very happy with that. Next slide, please. Slide 25. We continue to really focus on excellence and execution. This has been at the centerpiece of what we do, whether it is with our customers, especially this quarter with our supply chain or with our service, which continues to operate at a very high level in terms of numbers. Next slide, please.

Narasimhan Eswar: We continue to really focus on excellence and execution. This has been at the centerpiece of what we do, whether it is with our customers, especially this quarter with our supply chain or with our service, which continues to operate at a very high level in terms of numbers. Next slide, please.

Speaker #1: From Italy, which basically talks about the sleek facade featuring marble patterns and gold accents, transforming the appliances into an architectural centerpiece. Or, in the case of Proton, saying it distinguishes itself in a crowded refrigerator market by utilizing a three-door format that prioritizes better organization, because the fruits and vegetables have a separate door.

Speaker #1: So, very happy with that. Next slide, please—slide number 25. We continue to really focus on excellence and execution. This has been at the centerpiece of what we do.

Speaker #1: Whether it is with our customers, especially this quarter with our supply chain, or with our service, which continues to operate at a very high level in terms of numbers.

Speaker #1: Next slide, please. As I then move on to what is at the core of our supply chain, we've got a robust P4G program. Firstly, talking about manufacturing—as I said, we are very proud that we started our new four-door premium refrigerators in the Pune plant in July.

Narasimhan Eswar: As I move on to what is at the core of our supply chain, we have got a robust P4G program. Firstly, talk about manufacturing. As I said, we are very proud that we started our new four-door premium refrigerators in Pune plant in July. It starts shipping out as we speak today to customers, the new four-door premium refrigerators we call Luxuria. We are also very proud that despite a lot of war-led supply constraints as well as wage code-led constraints that happened in Noida that affected a lot of our component suppliers in April and June, we were able to come up with record manufacturing numbers in our Faridabad plant in Q1. Very proud of our team for that. P4G, we continue to drive our robust P4G program to drive cost efficiency that covers all lines of the P&L.

Speaker #1: It starts shipping out, as we speak today, to customers. The new four-door premium refrigerators we call Luxuria. But we're also very proud that, despite a lot of wallet supply constraints as well as wage code-led constraints that happened in Noida, that affected a lot of our component suppliers in April, May, and June.

Speaker #1: We were able to achieve record manufacturing numbers at our Faridabad plant in Q1. I'm very proud of our team for that.

Speaker #1: P4G, we continue to drive our robust P4G program to achieve cost efficiency that covers all lines of the P&L. I will be honest, in this environment, all costs are escalating quite significantly, especially with respect to oil prices as well as forex.

Narasimhan Eswar: I will be honest, it is obviously in this environment where all the costs are escalating quite significantly, especially with respect to oil prices and as Forex. It is obviously much more difficult to control compared to what we have been able to do in the past because of the war efforts, the war impact, I should say. Thank you. Next slide, please. I am just going to hand over now to Mr. Aditya Jain, our CFO, to talk to you through the financial performance. Thank you.

Speaker #1: It's obviously much more difficult to control compared to what we've been able to do in the past, because of the war efforts—the war impacts, I should say.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Next slide, please. So, I’m just going to hand over now to Mr. Aaditya Jain, who will talk you through the financial performance.

Speaker #1: Thank you.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Mr. Eshwar. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Aaditya Jain, Executive Director and CFO of the company, and I'll take you through the financial performance of Whirlpool of India Limited.

Aditya Jain: Thank you, Mr. Ishwar. Good afternoon, everyone. I am Aditya Jain, Executive Director and CFO of the company, and I will take you through the financial performance of Whirlpool of India Limited. I am on slide 28, and on this slide, this slide talks about the financial performance of Whirlpool of India on a standalone basis. As you can see from the slide, we delivered a top-line revenue of INR 2,582 crore. This is the highest ever revenue for the quarter in the history of Whirlpool, which we have delivered, very pleased to announce that, and this is a double-digit growth of 11.4%. This revenue growth was driven by a multiplicity of factors. A, our industry, which is the refrigerators and washers multi-brand outlets volume grew in mid-single digits, which also helped us. That was not the only factor which drove our top line.

Aditya Jain: Thank you, Mr. Eswar. Good afternoon, everyone. I am Aditya Jain, Executive Director and CFO of the company, and I will take you through the financial performance of Whirlpool of India Limited. I am on slide 28, and on this slide, this slide talks about the financial performance of Whirlpool of India on a standalone basis. As you can see from the slide, we delivered a top-line revenue of INR 2,582 crore. This is the highest ever revenue for the quarter in the history of Whirlpool, which we have delivered, very pleased to announce that, and this is a double-digit growth of 11.4%.

Speaker #2: I'm on Slide 28. And on this slide, this slide talks about the financial performance of Whirlpool of India on a standalone basis. As you can see from the slide, we delivered a top-line revenue of ₹2,582 crores.

Speaker #2: This is the highest ever revenue for the quarter in the history of Whirlpool, which we have delivered, so very pleased to announce that. And this is a double-digit growth of 11.4%.

Speaker #2: This revenue growth was driven by a multiplicity of factors. A, our industry, which is the refrigerators and washers multi-brand outlets, grew in mid-single digits.

Aditya Jain: This revenue growth was driven by a multiplicity of factors. A, our industry, which is the refrigerators and washers multi-brand outlets volume grew in mid-single digits, which also helped us. That was not the only factor which drove our top line. On top of the industry growth, our market share also grew. We grew market share in double basis points across all the categories of refrigerators and washers, which helped our top-line growth. Third is in line with the strategy of premiumization.

Speaker #2: That also helped us, but that was not the only factor which drove our top line on top of the industry growth. Our market share also grew.

Aditya Jain: On top of the industry growth, our market share also grew. We grew market share in double basis points across all the categories of refrigerators and washers, which helped our top-line growth. Third is in line with the strategy of premiumization. Our premium portfolio, which is the front-load washing machine and the AC business, has done pretty well, which also aids, given that these are high-value products and higher AC products, aids in the top-line growth. Last but not the least, in this quarter, we took multiple price increases to combat or mitigate the impact of the war-led commodity inflation. As a result, in a combination of all these four factors, we delivered a record revenue and a double-digit growth of 11.4%. Quite happy to see the momentum on the top line and the market shares.

Speaker #2: And we grew market share by double-digit basis points across both the categories of refrigerators and washers, which helped our top-line growth. Third is in line with the strategy of premiumization.

Speaker #2: Our premium portfolio, which is the front-load washing machine and the air-conditioner business, has done pretty well. And which also aids, given that these are high-value products, and higher ASV products aid in the top-line growth.

Aditya Jain: Our premium portfolio, which is the front-load washing machine and the AC business, has done pretty well, which also aids, given that these are high-value products and higher AC products, aids in the top-line growth. Last but not the least, in this quarter, we took multiple price increases to combat or mitigate the impact of the war-led commodity inflation. As a result, in a combination of all these four factors, we delivered a record revenue and a double-digit growth of 11.4%. Quite happy to see the momentum on the top line and the market shares.

Speaker #2: And last but not least, in this quarter, we took multiple price increases to combat or mitigate the impact of the war-led commodity inflation.

Speaker #2: And as a result, in a combination of all these four factors, we delivered a revenue growth of a record revenue and a double-digit growth of 11.4%.

Speaker #2: So, quite happy to see the momentum on the top line and the market shares. But when it comes to profitability, it's been a challenging quarter for us.

Aditya Jain: When it comes to profitability, it has been a challenging quarter for us. The EBITDA came in at INR 120 crores at 4.6%, and we saw a squeeze of margins, wherein EBITDA margins were squeezed by 377 basis points. We delivered profit before tax of INR 120 crores at 4.6%. Again, the profit margins squeezed by about 320 basis points versus year ago. Why was there a squeeze on the profit margin? Specifically this quarter has seen unprecedented cost increases on account of the geopolitical instability and the Middle East war. As you would have seen, the crude oil prices, which similar time last year were operating at $67, are now operating at $97, at least in this quarter. Hence, there is a material impact of that on various raw materials and the components which are driven from oil, and that has impacted our cost.

Speaker #2: The EBITDA came in at ₹120 crores at 4.6%. We saw a squeeze in margins, with EBITDA margins declining by 377 basis points. We delivered profit before tax of ₹120 crores at 4.6%.

Speaker #2: And again, the profit margins were squeezed by about 320 basis points versus a year ago. Why was there a squeeze on the profit margins? So specifically, this quarter has seen unprecedented cost increases on account of geopolitical instability and the Middle East war.

Speaker #2: As you would have seen, crude oil prices, which around this time last year were at $67, are now at $97, at least in this quarter.

Speaker #2: And hence, there's a material impact from that on various raw materials and the components, which are derived from oil. And that has impacted our costs.

Speaker #2: The second big impact came from the currency. At the same time last year, we saw that over one year, the currency had depreciated by more than 10%. In a usual year, it would be around 4 or 5%.

Aditya Jain: Second big impact came from the currency. Same time last year, we have seen over one year the currency has depreciated by more than 10%, which in a usual year would be around 4% or 5%, and that has also led to a material impact on all the commodities. A, we buy less than 30% of our products or the raw materials which are imported, but there are a lot of components which are indexed to US dollar as well. Apart from these two things, there were other cost headwinds coming from the minimum wages revisions in Haryana, the labor cost inflation which happened in Noida, the diesel rate increase, and the war-led premiums, which we had to pay in this quarter to ensure that the supplies are uninterrupted. The LPG, et cetera, going up and all that kind of things.

Speaker #2: And that has also led to a material impact on all the commodities, because, A, we buy less than 30% of our products or raw materials, which are imported.

Speaker #2: But then, there are a lot of components which are indexed to the US dollar as well. Apart from these two things, there were other cost headwinds coming from the minimum wage revisions in Haryana.

Speaker #2: The cost—the labor cost inflation which happened in Noida, the diesel rate increase, and the war-led premiums which we had to pay in this quarter to ensure that the supplies are uninterrupted.

Speaker #2: And then the LPG, etc., etc., going up and all those kinds of things. And so these were all unanticipated or not projected kinds of increases.

Aditya Jain: These were all unanticipated or not projected kind of increase, and there was an anticipated cost of charges on account of the new energy regulations, which came at the beginning of the calendar year, which impacted our ref and air con portfolio. To mitigate this impact, we took a couple of price increases in the quarter, but the price increases were not sufficient enough to mitigate the 100% of all the cost increase, which was like a very different magnitude, which we saw in the quarter. As a result of this, there was a net under recovery and hence the squeeze on margins. Our P4G program continues to do well. That is our program wherein we look at cost productivity across all lines of the P&L, the design productivity, the negotiation productivity, or the indirect procurement productivity.

Speaker #2: And then, there was an anticipated cost upcharge on account of the new energy regulations, which came at the beginning of the calendar year and impacted our ref and air-cond portfolio.

Speaker #2: So to mitigate this impact, we took a couple of price increases in the quarter. But then the price increases were not sufficient enough to mitigate 100% of all the cost increase, which was of a very different magnitude, which we saw in the quarter.

Speaker #2: And as a result of this, there was a net under-recovery and hence, the squeeze on margins. Our P4G program continues to do well. That's our program wherein we look at cost productivity across all lines of the P&L.

Speaker #2: The design productivity, the negotiation productivity or then direct procurement productivity. So that efforts are on track. But that the impact of war and other items are significantly ahead to mitigate to be mitigated because of either the cost productivity or the pricing action.

Aditya Jain: Those efforts are on track, but the impact of war and other items are significantly ahead to be mitigated because of either the cost productivity or the pricing actions. Slide 29. On slide 29, this talks about our consolidated performance. On a consolidated basis, we delivered a top-line growth of INR 2,727 crores in this quarter. Again, a double-digit growth of 12.1%. We delivered an EBITDA of INR 139 crores at 5.1% and delivered a PBT of INR 139 crores at 5.1%. Again, on a consolidated basis, we saw a similar margin squeeze of about 300-plus basis points. The highlight on a consolidated basis is our Elica business. That continues its robust performance and delivered a double-digit, 26% revenue growth and a PBT growth of 22%. Thank you. With this, I will hand it over to Ms. Sweta for the Q&A section.

Speaker #2: Slide 29. On slide 29, this talks about our consolidated performance. On a consolidated basis, we delivered a top-line growth of ₹2,727 crore in this quarter.

Speaker #2: Again, a double-digit growth of 12.1%. We delivered an EBITDA of ₹139 crore at 5.1%, and delivered a PBT of ₹139 crore at 5.1%. Again, on a consolidated basis, we saw a similar margin squeeze of about 300-plus basis points.

Speaker #2: The highlight on a consolidated basis is our Elica business. That continues its robust performance and delivered double-digit, 26% revenue growth and PBT growth of 22%.

Speaker #2: Thank you. With this, I will hand it over to Ms. Shweta for the Q&A section.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Mr. Eshwar and Mr. Jen. I would now request the moderator to open the Q&A session.

Sweta Srivastava: Thank you, Mr. Eswar and Mr. Jain. I would now request the moderator to open the Q&A session.

Speaker #4: Thank you, Shweta. We will now start with the question-and-answer session. Participants present on the audio bridge who wish to ask a question may press the star and 1 on their touch-tone telephone.

Operator 2: Thank you, Shweta. We will now start with the question and answer session. Participants present on the audio bridge who wish to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. For clarity of questions and better audio experience, participants are requested to ensure that while asking their questions, they're using headphones to avoid background noise. Also, in the interest of time, we sincerely request the participants to limit their questions to two. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from Atul Mehra from Motilal Oswal Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you, Shweta. We will now start with the question and answer session. Participants present on the audio bridge who wish to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. For clarity of questions and better audio experience, participants are requested to ensure that while asking their questions, they're using headphones to avoid background noise. Also, in the interest of time, we sincerely request the participants to limit their questions to two. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from Atul Mehra from Motilal Oswal Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press the star and 2. For clarity of questions and a better audio experience, participants are requested to ensure that, while asking their questions, they are using headphones to avoid background noise.

Speaker #4: Also, in the interest of time, we sincerely request the participants to limit their questions to two. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.

Speaker #4: The first question is from Atul Mehra from Motilal Oswal Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Hi. Good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. So, just to begin with, I want to understand—with the recent refinancing that the parent has done—kind of taking care of their near-term 2028 liquidity requirements.

Atul Mehra: Yeah. Hi, good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. Just to begin with, just want to understand with the recent refinancing that the parent has done, kind of taking care of their near-term till 2028 liquidity requirements. What is the likely impact that it can have on us, if any, and any particular thought process on the remaining stake that they want to sell? Anything on these two counts that you can help us with from the perspective of parent balance sheet improving and consequently their thoughts around India.

Speaker #5: So, what is the likely impact that can have on us, if any? And do you have any particular thought process on the remaining stake that they want to sell?

Speaker #5: Is there anything on these two counts that you can help us with from the perspective of the parent balance sheet improving, and consequently, their thoughts around India?

Aditya Jain: Thank you, Mr. Mehra. I'll give you a very straightforward and honest answer to that question. I know as much as you do on this topic. Ever since the stake of Whirlpool Corporation went down to below 50%, they're at 39.75% now. This is for all our shareholders and investors to know. The way we are working is completely at arm's length. We do not report or discuss any business matters with them at all. The only forums that we have to have a discussion, the technical team does that, is a technology licensing forum where we look at new products that could be in the pipeline. Then we take a look at which of those new products could be interesting for us to take in the pipeline, which is part of the agreements that we have.

Speaker #5: Thank you, Mr. Mehra. I'll give you a very straightforward and honest answer to that question: I know as much as you do on this topic.

Speaker #5: Ever since the stake of Whirlpool Corporation went down to below 50%—it is 39.75% now—the way we are working is, and this is for all our shareholders and investors to know...

Speaker #5: The way we are working is completely at arm's length. We do not report or discuss any business matters with them at all. The only forums that we have to have the discussion, the technical team does that, is there is a technology licensing forum where we look at new products that could be in the pipeline.

Speaker #5: And then we take a look at which of those new products could be interesting for us to take into the pipeline, which is part of the agreements that we have.

Speaker #5: And the second is, we have a Brand and Quality Forum, where we give them an update on what's happened in the past in the brand.

Aditya Jain: The second is we have a brand and quality forum where we give them an update on what's happened in the past in the brand, nothing about the future. What's happened in the past with the brand in terms of are we following all of the technical guidances and the legal requirements and all of that stuff. Similarly, on quality, we just give them an update on if there's any major or significant issue that they need to know, because these are the only things that actually at this point in time matter to them as somebody who's given us their license. I honestly have zero understanding of the refinancing implications. Neither have I reached out, nor has anybody in my company reached out to understand that. Nor do I have any idea of what they are going to do, are they going to sell, not sell, et cetera.

Speaker #5: Nothing to do with the future. What's happened in the past with the brand, in terms of following all of the technical guidance and the legal requirements and all of that stuff.

Speaker #5: Similarly, on quality, we just give them an update if there's any major or significant issue that they need to know, because these are the only things that actually, at this point in time, matter to them.

Speaker #5: As somebody who has given us their license, I honestly have zero understanding of the refinancing implications. Neither have I reached out, nor has anybody in my company reached out to understand that.

Speaker #5: Nor do I have any idea of what they're going to do. Are they going to sell, not sell, etc.? I depend on the same information that you depend on, which is whatever is released in their quarterly—excuse me, quarterly reports by the global CEO of Whirlpool.

Aditya Jain: I depend on the same information that you depend on, which is whatever is released in their quarterly reports by the global CEO of Whirlpool.

Speaker #5: Got it, got it. That is clear. So, secondly, on one of the questions we have discussed in the past as well—on capital allocation—from the perspective that the cash we have on the books is slightly sizable.

Atul Mehra: Got it. That is clear. Secondly, on one of the questions we have discussed in the past as well, on the capital allocation from the perspective that the cash that we have on the books is highly saleable. If you can update us on any further developments, deliberations that the board will add on this particular aspect, given the quantum of money that we are sitting on the balance sheet is quite large. Any progress or any conversations that you can enlighten us with on this particular aspect, since it's an important aspect from a shareholder perspective?

Speaker #5: So, if you can update us on any further developments or deliberations that the board has had on this particular aspect, given that the quantum of money we are sitting on in the balance sheet is quite large.

Speaker #5: Any progress or any conversations that you can enlighten us with on this particular aspect, since it's an important aspect from a shareholder perspective? Yes, sir.

Narasimhan Eswar: Yes, sir. Certainly. It's a great question, and one that's been asked of me a few times. The board also is very cognizant of that. I can tell you that within the next 12 months, we need to have a complete blueprint, and that is what we need to do, of what we need for manufacturing capacity increases, what we need for manufacturing new products, which we are accelerating. Since all resources is basically local, and whatever else is contractually agreed with the corporation in terms of their support. We're increasing the speed of our pipeline. There'll be capital required for that as well. On top, automation in our plants, which is an area that we really want to invest in. That's on the existing business. New products, capacity increase, automation. On top of that, we are also looking at inorganic opportunities.

Speaker #5: Certainly. It's a great question, and one that's been asked of me a few times. The board is also very, very cognizant of that.

Speaker #5: So I can tell you that, within the next 12 months, we need to have a complete blueprint—and that is what we need to do—of what we need for manufacturing, capacity increases, what we need for manufacturing new products (which we are accelerating, since all resources are basically local), and whatever else is contractually agreed with the corporation in terms of their support.

Speaker #5: So we're increasing the speed of our pipeline, so there'll be capital required for that as well. Then, on top, automation in our plants—which is an area that we really want to invest in.

Speaker #5: That's on the existing business—so, new products, capacity increase, automation. And then, on top of that, we are also looking at inorganic opportunities. I will not be able to say anything more about it at this point in time.

Narasimhan Eswar: I will not be able to say anything more about it at this point in time. This is an area certainly of interest to us, because we do believe that we now have a very good pipe in terms of execution.

Speaker #5: But this is an area that is certainly of interest to us, because we do believe that we now have a very good pipeline in terms of execution.

Speaker #5: Our business is highly, highly competitive, and we're not complacent at all about our position. We are getting relatively stronger in terms of how we execute.

Narasimhan Eswar: Our business is highly competitive, and we're not complacent at all about our position. We are getting relatively stronger in terms of how we execute, whether it's in sales or in service or in production or engineering. Therefore, inorganic opportunities, the next 12 to 15 months would be absolutely the right time. I can openly tell you that within the next 12 months, I need to have a very clear plan on how we utilize the cash, including any other options, which I don't want to get into detail, but whatever I'm not able to use, then there could be other options for that as well. I hope I answered your question.

Speaker #5: Whether it's in sales or in service or in production or engineering. And therefore, inorganic opportunities the next 12 to 15 months would be absolutely the right time.

Speaker #5: So again, I openly tell you that within the next 12 months, I need to have a very clear plan on how to utilize the cash.

Speaker #5: Including any other options, which I don't want to get into the detail. But whatever I'm not able to use, then there could be other options for that as well.

Speaker #5: I hope I answered your question. That makes sense, sir. And finally, sir, we have done a commendable job on market share gains across categories.

Atul Mehra: That makes sense. Finally, sir, we have done a commendable job on market share gains across categories. As you mentioned, along the quarter, you are taking some price increases. Can you give us a little bit more in terms of thoughts on when do we fully be able to pass on these price increases so that the margin outlook improves from here on? Anything as a path towards that in terms of the management, how do you guys think about it and what are the further actions we are taking to improve the margins in conjunction with market share gains that we've already had?

Speaker #5: You said that, like you mentioned, along the quarter, you all have taken some price increases. So can you give us a little bit more in terms of thoughts on when we can fully be able to pass on these price increases so that the margin outlook improves from your end?

Speaker #5: So, anything as a path towards that in terms of the management—how do you guys think about it? And what are the further actions we are taking to improve the margins in conjunction with the market share gains that we've already had?

Speaker #5: Yeah. Again, very good question, and obviously one that plagues us all the time. The pricing in this industry, I think, has been a bit different from many other industries in India.

Narasimhan Eswar: Yeah, again, very good question and obviously one that plagues us all the time. The price in this industry, I think, has been a bit different from many other industries in India, where they have priced, the other industries individually, obviously, companies, by themselves, have priced to account for the inflation of commodity pricing. That has not been the case as far as I can see in this industry based on market pricing that we observe. Now, there is always, as you know, a big tension between raising the prices and whether you are still price competitive or not. If you recall in 2022, you know very well I've explained to you before that we took up the prices unilaterally, whether or not others would follow because we thought it was the right thing to do. That resulted in a crashing of market shares.

Speaker #5: Where they have priced the other industries individually—obviously, companies, by themselves, have priced to account for the inflation of commodity pricing. That has not been the case, as far as I can see, in this industry, based on market pricing that we observe.

Speaker #5: Now, there is always, as you know, a big tension between raising the prices and whether you are still price competitive or not. If you recall, in 2022—you know very well, I've explained to you before that we took up the prices unilaterally.

Speaker #5: Whether or not others would follow, because we thought it was the right thing to do. And that resulted in a crash of market share which resulted in a lot of loss of customer confidence, consumer confidence, etc.

Narasimhan Eswar: It resulted in a lot of loss of customer confidence, consumer confidence, et cetera. The answer to your question is, the price increase that we can take is going to also at some point in time be not only based on what we want to take, but also what we are able to take.

Speaker #5: So, the answer to your question is: the price increase that we can take is going to also, at some point in time, be not only based on what we want to take, but also on what we are able to take.

Speaker #5: And if our key competition does not take the price increase, then it would be a bit foolhardy for us to just do that to recover margins.

Narasimhan Eswar: If our key competition does not take the price increase, it would be a bit foolhardy for us to just do that to recover margins, because in this business, having volumes does not guarantee you profits, but not having volumes almost certainly guarantees failures.

Speaker #5: Because in this business, having volumes does not guarantee you profits. But not having volumes almost certainly guarantees failure. So, this is a very delicate balance.

Narasimhan Eswar: This is a very delicate balance. As you know, prices change here every month, this industry, compared to other industries like FMCG, where I worked in, which used to change once or twice a year. This literally changes every month. You could have different pricing for DC, you could have different pricing for FF. You could have different pricing for semi-automatic every month. We are completely on top of that detail, and we will do the right thing for our business, basically, always balancing between volume, market share, profitability. All of these have to be managed a little carefully. At this point in time, our priority is to make sure we don't lose on all fronts.

Speaker #5: I am fairly, as you know, prices do change here every month in this industry, compared to other industries like FMCG, where I have worked, which used to change once or twice a year.

Speaker #5: This literally changes every month. You could have different pricing for DC, you could have different pricing for FF, you could have different pricing for semi-automatic every month.

Speaker #5: So, we are completely on top of that detail, and we will do the right thing for our business, basically. We're always balancing between volume, market share, and profitability—all of these have to be managed a little carefully.

Speaker #5: At this point in time, our priority is to make sure we don't lose on all fronts. I think, going forward—July, August, September—to answer your question, it will continue to be very challenging.

Narasimhan Eswar: I think going forward, July, August, September, to answer your question, will continue to be very challenging because, very simply, we are a refrigerator, air conditioner company is more than two-thirds of our revenue. This is the weakest quarter for refrigerators and air conditioners. The commodity costs are very high. The Forex is very high. All the negatives will still stay. The volumes in JAS will not be nowhere near as strong as the volumes we had in AMJ. It may grow versus a year ago, for sure, but absolutes will be lower. I think it is going to be a tough quarter financially in JAS. My suspicion is it'll be tough for the entire industry because everybody is more or less in the same boat unless they're selling very different products. JAS is the weakest quarter typically for this industry.

Speaker #5: Because very simply, we are a refrigerator, air conditioner companies more than two-thirds of our revenue. And this is the weakest quarter for refrigerators and air conditioners.

Speaker #5: But the commodity costs are very high. The forex is very high. So all the negatives will still stay. But the volumes in JS will not be as strong—nowhere near as strong as the volumes we had in AMG.

Speaker #5: It may grow versus a year ago, for sure. But absolutes will be lower, right? So I think it is going to be a tough quarter financially in Q1.

Speaker #5: My suspicion is it will be tough for the entire industry, because everybody is more or less in the same boat—unless they're selling very different products.

Speaker #5: So, JAS is the weakest quarter, typically, for this industry. And then hopefully after that, I am genuinely hoping that there is some end to this—like all of us are—for humanitarian reasons more than financial reasons.

Narasimhan Eswar: Hopefully after that, I am genuinely hoping that there is some end to this, like all of us are for humanitarian reasons more than financial reasons. There is an end to all of this and we can get back to our normal lives and hopefully normal costs pretty soon, which will help a lot. I hope I answered that question.

Speaker #5: There is an end to all of this, and we can get back to our normal lives and hopefully normal costs pretty soon, which will help a lot.

Speaker #5: I hope I answered that question.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Before we take the next question, a request to participants: please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request that you rejoin the queue.

Operator 2: Thank you. Before we take the next question, a request to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the queue. We take the next question from Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset Manager. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. Before we take the next question, a request to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the queue. We take the next question from Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset Manager. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: We take the next question from Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Hi, very good evening to everyone on the call. Sir, pardon me that I have three questions, but very quickly—on revenue growth, double digit, good achievement.

Rahul Agarwal: Yeah. Hi, very good evening to everyone on the call. Sir, pardon me, I have three questions, but very quickly. On revenue growth, double-digit, good achievement. Lot of factors have driven that, as Aditya explained. For the full year, if I look at the full year, there are certain partial price hikes still to be taken. Is the full year revenue growth is looking at current 11% to 12% range, or it's going to be some 15% to 20%, purely because AC, Elica growing upwards of 20, and we'll also have to take some partial price hikes, if possible? That's question number one. Question two, related to the earlier question on margins. The way I'm looking at it is, of course, gross margin levels will be down on a YOY basis for the full year.

Operator: Yeah. Hi, very good evening to everyone on the call. Sir, pardon me, I have three questions, but very quickly. On revenue growth, double-digit, good achievement. Lot of factors have driven that, as Aditya explained. For the full year, if I look at the full year, there are certain partial price hikes still to be taken. Is the full year revenue growth is looking at current 11% to 12% range, or it's going to be some 15% to 20%, purely because AC, Elica growing upwards of 20, and we'll also have to take some partial price hikes, if possible? That's question number one. Question two, related to the earlier question on margins. The way I'm looking at it is, of course, gross margin levels will be down on a YOY basis for the full year.

Speaker #5: A lot of factors have driven that, as Aditya explained. But for the full year, if I look at the full year, there are certain partial price hikes still to be taken.

Speaker #5: Is the full year revenue growth you're looking at currently in the 11–12 percent range, or is it going to be more like 15–20 percent, purely because AC, Helicar, are growing upwards of 20?

Speaker #5: And then we'll also have to take some partial price hikes, if possible. That's question number one. Question two, related to the earlier question on margins: the way I'm looking at it is, of course, gross margin levels will be down on a year-over-year basis for the full year.

Speaker #5: But can we do some cost engineering, and can we have OPM—the operating margin—flat on a year-over-year basis? Six, six and a half percent, something like what we did last year.

Rahul Agarwal: Can we do some cost engineering and can we have OPM, the operating margin flat on a YOY basis? 6% to 6.5%, something that we did last year. Is that a possibility? Thirdly, on the CapEx side, as you said, you're planning to do your blueprint. Just in terms of capacity for refs and washers, what would be that at end of June? If you could just clarify that. What is the CapEx budget for 2027? In case if there is more capacity which is coming in for these products, how will Whirlpool India look like at end of March 2027 for refs and washers on capacity planning? These were the three questions. Thank you so much.

Operator: Can we do some cost engineering and can we have OPM, the operating margin flat on a YOY basis? 6% to 6.5%, something that we did last year. Is that a possibility? Thirdly, on the CapEx side, as you said, you're planning to do your blueprint. Just in terms of capacity for refs and washers, what would be that at end of June? If you could just clarify that. What is the CapEx budget for 2027? In case if there is more capacity which is coming in for these products, how will Whirlpool India look like at end of March 2027 for refs and washers on capacity planning? These were the three questions. Thank you so much.

Speaker #5: Is that a possibility? And thirdly, on the capex side, as you said, you're planning to do your blueprint. But just in terms of capacity for ref and washers, what would that be at the end of June?

Speaker #5: If we just clarify that, what is the capex budget for '27? And in case there is more capacity which is coming in for these products, how will Whirlpool India look at the end of March '27 for refrigerators and washers in terms of capacity?

Speaker #5: These were the three questions. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Agarwal. I'll try to answer these, and I'll defer to Aditya for the capacity and for the capex budget question.

Narasimhan Eswar: Thank you, Mr. Aggarwal. I'll try to answer these, and I'll refer to Aditya for the capacity for the CapEx budget question. Full year revenue, sir, at this point in time, it's so difficult. You ask anybody in industry so difficult to predict what the numbers are. Now, what I am really hoping is that we will be able to get good revenue growths and hopefully market share gains across the year. That's what we are driving towards. What the market will grow at is very difficult to predict. There's a lot of impacts. The impacts of all the cost increases is also on the common man. We cannot forget that that common man is paying more for many things right now.

Speaker #5: Full year revenue, sir, at this point in time, it's so difficult. You ask anybody in the industry—so difficult to predict what the numbers are.

Speaker #5: Now, what I am really hoping is that we will be able to get good revenue growth and, hopefully, market share gains across the year.

Speaker #5: That's what we are driving towards. But what the market will grow at is very difficult to predict, because there are a lot of impacts. The impact of all the cost increases is also on the common man.

Speaker #5: We cannot forget that the common man is paying more for many things right now. The government has done a fantastic job of reducing GST rates on consumer goods and televisions above 32 inches, and air conditioners, and so on and so forth.

Narasimhan Eswar: The government had done a fantastic job of reducing GST rates on consumer goods and televisions above 32 inches and air conditioners and so on and so forth. Quite a few. This stuff has come on top, which is obviously, there was a help from one side and then a hurt from this ongoing stuff. I would say, without exaggeration, that even now, we are literally figuring out how to manage on a month-on-month basis in terms of production, in terms of availability, et cetera. We are not out of the woods as an industry on all of these things. Any mishap anywhere can actually make a huge difference. Let's say the accuracy of anything that I say would be close to zero.

Speaker #5: Quite a few. But then this stuff has come on top, which is obviously—there was help from one side and then a hurt from this.

Speaker #5: Ongoing stuff. So, I would say, without exaggeration, that even now we are literally figuring out how to manage on a month-to-month basis, in terms of production, in terms of availability, etc.

Speaker #5: We are not out of the woods as an industry on all of these things. Any mishap anywhere can actually make a huge difference. So, let's say the accuracy of anything that I say would be close to zero.

Speaker #5: So, all I can tell you is that, to all our shareholders, we are focusing really hard on making sure the hard-fought gains we have on market shares don't go away.

Narasimhan Eswar: All I can tell you is that to all our shareholders, we are focusing really hard on making sure the hard-fought gains we have on market shares don't go away. We are trying to do it in a way that's financially responsible, but it is not a great year for margins for the reasons that I mentioned. You hardly ever have the perfect storm of significant E-waste increase, massive refrigerator and air conditioner regulatory change, which costs crores and crores and crores of rupees, and at the same time, this kind of impact on commodity prices and Forex. This is like a black swan event in my view. We'll have to just somehow tide through this black swan, but we need to keep our operating parameters, and that's what I would like to reassure you, Mr. Aggarwal.

Speaker #5: We are trying to do it in a way that's financially responsible. But it is not a great year for margins, for the reasons that I mentioned.

Speaker #5: You hardly ever have the perfect storm of significant due waste increase, massive refrigerator and air conditioner regulatory changes, which cost crores and crores and crores of rupees.

Speaker #5: And at the same time, these kinds of impacts on commodity prices and forex—this is like a black swan event, in my view. So, we'll have to just somehow tide through this black swan, but we need to keep our operating parameters, and that's what I would like to reassure you, Mr. Agarwal.

Speaker #5: We will keep our operating parameters—whether it's net working capital, whether it's our execution focus, or whether it's our ability to take new products into the market—strongly.

Narasimhan Eswar: We will keep our operating parameters, whether it's net working capital, whether it's our execution focus, whether it's our ability to take new products into the market strongly. We are going to keep extremely tight on that so that when the bad times are over or the tough times are over, whoever has been very disciplined, my experience across the world is that they benefit when those tough times are over. On your second point on GM, can we keep the operating margin flat? I absolutely will not be able to comment on it for the same reason. It all depends on when and how fast these issues that I spoke of, which are extraneous, solve themselves. Like I said, it will be a challenging year for all of us, basically in the industry.

Speaker #5: We are going to keep extremely tight on that, so that when the bad times are over, or the tough times are over, whoever has been very kind of disciplined—my experience across the world is that they benefit when those tough times are over.

Speaker #5: On your second point on GM, can we keep the op margin flat? I absolutely will not be able to comment on it for the same reason.

Speaker #5: It all depends on when and how fast these issues that I spoke of—which are extraneous—solve themselves. Like I said, it will be a challenging year for all of us, basically, in the industry.

Speaker #5: And I don't see any immediate solutions because predicting this is completely impossible for anybody to do. On the CapEx budget, I'm happy to… yeah.

Narasimhan Eswar: I don't see any immediate solutions because predicting this is completely impossible for anybody to do. On the CapEx budget.

Aditya Jain: Yeah. Mr. Aggarwal, thank you for your question on CapEx. As we've indicated in the past, given the amount of cash we have on the balance sheet, budget is not a constraint for us when we're taking capital decisions, honestly. What we're looking at is the right project having the right ROI and the right financials. Any project which makes the right financial sense, we are very pleased to go ahead with those kind of CapEx projects. Hence, probably it's not the budgetary constraint or a budget which guides us while taking capital decisions, but it's all about the right projects. Also secondly to your point on capacity, for example, as we've indicated in the past as well, our capacity on an annual basis across all products is about 70% to 75% utilization. There is no immediate requirement to put a large CapEx.

Speaker #3: And Mr. Agarwal, thank you for your question on capex. As we've indicated in the past, given the amount of cash we have on the balance sheet, budget is not a constraint for us when we're making capital decisions, honestly.

Speaker #3: What we're looking at is the right project having the right ROI and the right financials. So, any of the projects which make the right financial sense—we are very pleased to go ahead with those kinds of capex projects.

Speaker #3: So, hence, probably it's not the budgetary constraint or a budget which drives us while taking capital decisions, but it's all about the right projects.

Speaker #3: Also, secondly, to your point on capacities—for example, as you've indicated in the past as well—our capacity on an annual basis across all products is about 70–75 percent utilization.

Speaker #3: So there is no immediate requirement to put a large capex immediately—I mean, in the short term, let's say the next six months or 12 months—towards a large capacity capex.

Aditya Jain: Immediate, I mean the short term, let's say next 6 months, 12 months, to a large capacity CapEx. We have a very stringent, very strong ongoing process wherein we keep evaluating our capacity requirements based on our estimates for the next couple of years, and that is a part of our normal planning and capital budgeting process, and that is a part of our run rate CapEx, et cetera. Our intent statement is, as Mr. Ishar also explained, that we are looking at the full blueprint. We're trying to accelerate the new products or the innovations. For example, we've invested in four-door refrigerator. There are more models which are expected to come in the balance of the year, et cetera. We are making sure that we are investing cash and CapEx in the right projects without looking at any budget as a constraint. Hope that clarifies.

Speaker #3: But we have a very stringent, very strong ongoing process, wherein we keep evaluating our capacity requirements based on our estimates for the next couple of years.

Speaker #3: And that is a part of our normal planning and capital budgeting process. And that is a part of our annual capex, etc. So, our intent statement is, as Mr. Eshwar has also explained, that we are looking at the full blueprint.

Speaker #3: We're trying to accelerate the new products or innovations. For example, we've invested in four-door refrigerators, with more models expected to come in the balance of the year, etc., etc.

Speaker #3: So, we are making sure that we are investing cash and capex in the right projects, without looking at any budget as a constraint. Hope that clarifies.

Speaker #5: No, that clarifies. Actually, what I was asking was, obviously, it's not a constraint. We know that the balance sheet is supportive enough to incur the capex.

Rahul Agarwal: That clarifies. Actually, what I was asking was, obviously it's not a constraint. We know that your balance sheet is supportive enough to incur the CapEx. What I meant was, what is the cash outflow for CapEx budgeted for fiscal 2027? That's the number I was looking for. Second was just to quantify the ref number of units and washers number of units, which the company currently has across 3 factories. That's what I was looking for.

Aditya Jain: That clarifies. Actually, what I was asking was, obviously it's not a constraint. We know that your balance sheet is supportive enough to incur the CapEx. What I meant was, what is the cash outflow for CapEx budgeted for fiscal 2027? That's the number I was looking for. Second was just to quantify the ref number of units and washers number of units, which the company currently has across 3 factories. That's what I was looking for.

Speaker #5: What I meant was, what is the cash outflow for capex budgeted for fiscal '27? That's the number I was looking for. And second was just to quantify the refrigerator number of units and washer number of units, which the company currently has across the three factories.

Speaker #5: That's what I was looking for. So, Mr. Agarwal, as you will appreciate, we're constrained from giving the exact numbers—calling out exact numbers.

Aditya Jain: Mr. Aggarwal, as you will appreciate that we're constrained to give the exact numbers, calling out exact numbers. We're really constrained in sharing that piece. Just to give you comfort that we'll be in line with the run rates is where it is, subject to the new products, et cetera, because that we're evaluating on a constant basis. If a new idea which comes right now, to say that it's something which could be turned around in 6 months and it is a very good idea from a marketing standpoint and makes a good financial sense, we are happy to take those kind of calls as well. It's very difficult to pinpoint the number to say that this is what we're looking at from an exact number perspective.

Speaker #5: So we're really constrained in sharing that piece. But just to give you comfort, we'll be in line with the run rates—that's where it is.

Speaker #5: Subject to the new products, etc., because that's where evaluating on a constant basis. If a new idea which comes right now to say that there's something which could be turned around in six months and it is a very valid which is a very good idea from a marketing standpoint and makes a good financial sense, we are happy to take those kind of calls as well.

Speaker #5: So, it's very difficult to pinpoint a number and say that this is what we're looking at from an exact number perspective. But yes, the base ongoing capex is about run rate, plus we keep investing based on specific initiatives, innovations, automations, etc.

Aditya Jain: Yes, the base ongoing CapEx is about run rates, plus we keep investing based on specific initiatives, innovations, automations, et cetera.

Speaker #5: All right, got that. Thank you so much, and all the best for the rest of the year.

Rahul Agarwal: All right. Got that. Thank you so much, and all the best for the rest of the year.

Aditya Jain: All right. Got that. Thank you so much, and all the best for the rest of the year.

Speaker #3: Thank you, sir.

Aditya Jain: Thank you, sir.

Speaker #2: Thank you. The next question is from Rahul Jaa from Bohead. Please go ahead.

Operator 2: Thank you. The next question is from Rahul Jha from Bowhead. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Rahul Jha from Bowhead. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Yeah, sorry. Thank you for allowing me to question. So, my question is that we have done really well on the front-load washers, and this is despite us not being present in Croma.

Rahul Jha: Yeah, sure. Thank you for allowing me question. My question is that we have done really good on the front-load washers, and this is despite us being not present in Croma, Vijay Sales, and Reliance Digital with this project product, at least from what I have seen. Despite that, we have gained significant market share. My question is that how soon do you think we can enter with this project product in the larger chains, and what sort of timelines do you expect us to hit the 10% kind of market share for front-load washers?

Operator: Yeah, sure. Thank you for allowing me question. My question is that we have done really good on the front-load washers, and this is despite us being not present in Croma, Vijay Sales, and Reliance Digital with this project product, at least from what I have seen. Despite that, we have gained significant market share. My question is that how soon do you think we can enter with this project product in the larger chains, and what sort of timelines do you expect us to hit the 10% kind of market share for front-load washers?

Speaker #5: We just say it's an Alliance Digital with this project, product at least from what I have seen. And despite that, we have gained significant market share.

Speaker #5: So, my question is: how soon do you think we can enter with this project product into the larger chains? And what are our top timelines?

Speaker #5: Do you expect us to hit the 10% kind of market share for front-load washers? Okay, thank you for that question, sir. Well, without getting into specifics, we are in some of these large chains.

Narasimhan Eswar: Okay. Thank you for that question, sir. Well, without getting into specifics, we are in some of these large chains. As you know, the whole process of listing and delisting keeps going on. That's something that chains also do as part of their work. Obviously our intent is to try and be in all these, so long as it makes financial sense for us to do. One thing that we try to do is we don't try to just pay whatever is required to go and get it listed. I don't think that's a very good way of working. Where it makes commercial sense, then we will do it, and where it doesn't, we will keep discussing till it makes commercial sense to both parties.

Speaker #5: As you know, the whole process of listing and delisting keeps going on. That's something that chains also do as part of their work. And obviously, our intent is to try and be in all these.

Speaker #5: So long as it makes financial sense for us to do. So one thing that we try to do is, we don't just pay whatever is required to go and get it listed.

Speaker #5: I don't think that's a very good way of working. So, where it makes commercial sense, we will do it. And where it doesn't, we will keep discussing until it makes commercial sense to both parties.

Rahul Jha: Yes.

Narasimhan Eswar: Yes.

Speaker #5: So what we're looking for is to not get in at any cost, because then there is a financial aspect also to worry about. So that process is ongoing and we'll continue to do that.

Narasimhan Eswar: What we're looking for is in and not get in at any cost, because then there is a financial also to worry about. That process is ongoing, and we'll continue to do that. Like you rightly said, we are able to really get significant throughput increases on our front load, which is what makes us happy. Distribution increase is something that you can always get. In the places where you are, your throughput, that is how much sales per display unit, that needs to increase. That's what gives confidence to our customer partners. There are actually parts of the country, I don't want to go into the detail, where we're already at close to a 10% volume share. As you can imagine, we've got about a 5 odd volume share right now.

Speaker #5: Like you rightly said, we are able to really get significant throughput increases on our front load, which is what makes us happy. Distribution increase is something that you can always get, but in the places where you are, your throughput—that is, how much sales per display unit—needs to increase.

Speaker #5: That's what gives confidence to our customer partners. There are actually parts of the country—I don't want to go into the detail—where you're already at close to a 10% volume share.

Speaker #5: As you can imagine, we've got about a 5% volume share right now, but it's made up of some places where it's smaller—3%, etc.

Narasimhan Eswar: It's made up of some places where it's smaller, 3%, et cetera, and some places where it's close to 10%. We have the template, the KPIs. We understand what we need to do to make it happen. Like I said, it's always a question of doing the right thing commercially. Sometimes the commercials do not work, and that is something that we don't like to compromise on. If we wanted to get 10 share at any cost, honestly, we could do that within a year's time. I think the cost would not be a good cost to pay for the long run. We are pacing ourselves, obviously still with an aggressive bent of mind. It would be lovely to get to double-digit volume share in the next two to three years. That would be great. Let's see. It's not an easy market.

Speaker #5: And some places where it's close to 10%. So, we have the template, the KPIs, and we understand what we need to do to make it happen.

Speaker #5: And, like I said, it's always a question of doing the right thing commercially. Sometimes the commercials do not work, and that is something that we don't like to compromise on.

Speaker #5: So if we wanted to get 10% share at any cost, honestly, we could do that within a year's time. But I think the cost would not be a good cost to pay for the long run.

Speaker #5: So, we are pacing ourselves—obviously, still with an aggressive bent of mind. It would be lovely to get to double-digit volume share in the next two to three years.

Speaker #5: That would be great. But let's see, let's see. It's not an easy market—it's a tough market. Those who have the shares obviously hold on to them for dear life.

Narasimhan Eswar: It's a tough market. Those who have the shares obviously hold on to it for dear life. It's very competitive and very exciting.

Speaker #5: So it's very competitive and very exciting. Secondly, sir, on competition in the top-load washers category, we have seen some of the erstwhile players who did not have that category with them.

Rahul Jha: Second is, sir, on competition in the top-load washers category. We have seen some of the erstwhile players who did not have that category with them. They have also entered. Is that the reason, sir, we have lost some market share in the top load and despite losing some in the base quarter as well? Because top load used to be a very strong product from Whirlpool, at least that what the feedback is.

Narasimhan Eswar: Second is, sir, on competition in the top-load washers category. We have seen some of the erstwhile players who did not have that category with them. They have also entered. Is that the reason, sir, we have lost some market share in the top load and despite losing some in the base quarter as well? Because top load used to be a very strong product from Whirlpool, at least that what the feedback is.

Speaker #5: They have also entered. And is that the reason, sir, we have lost some market share in top load, despite having lost some in the base quarter as well?

Speaker #5: So, because top-load used to be a very strong product from Whirlpool—at least, that's what the feedback is.

Speaker #3: Oh, that's a fantastic question, actually, and it shows great knowledge of the market, so thank you for that. Yes, to some extent, the competition in top load—as you rightly pointed out—more players have come in.

Narasimhan Eswar: Oh, it's a fantastic question, actually. It shows great knowledge of the market, thank you for that. Yes, to some extent, the competition in top load, as you rightly pointed out, more players have come in, and very aggressively, to try and get some share, especially at the lower ends. We are sticking to our strategy, and very simply, it is to make sure that we grow responsibly financially, right? The growth is not coming at the expense of financials. At the same time, we premiumize so that it's better value per unit for us and for our customers, and it's also a better margin per unit. We are definitely driving the premiumization through our high-end strategy.

Speaker #3: And very aggressively, to try and get some share, especially at the lower ends. We are sticking to our strategy, and very simply, it is to make sure that we grow responsibly, financially, right?

Speaker #3: So the growth is not coming at the expense of financials. At the same time, we are premiumizing so that it's better value per unit for us and for our customers.

Speaker #3: And it's also a better margin per unit, so we are definitely driving the premiumization through our high-Desium strategy. And lastly, I think what I'm most excited about is, as I have said before, the specialty, I think, of Whirlpool—which we are, let's say, rediscovering our mojo—is that we don't just rely on great global innovation.

Narasimhan Eswar: Lastly, I think what I am most excited about is, as I have said before, the specialty, I think of Whirlpool, which we are, let's say, rediscovering our mojo, is we don't just rely on great global innovation. Like I just said, we have obviously access to all the global innovation we need. Classic example, Dynamic Detergent Dispenser is not available anywhere else in the world except India. Right? Tomorrow it could go to other parts of the world, but it was made in India. Auto defrost, made in India, made for India. The IntelliCrisp that we have just built in on the four-door Luxuria, made in India. I think what I would love to say is that, in the next 12 to 15 months, I am looking forward to some very exciting innovations that we are bringing in on top load.

Speaker #3: Like I just said, we obviously have access to all the global innovation we need. But a classic example: the Dynamics Detergent Dispenser is not available anywhere else in the world except India, right?

Speaker #3: And tomorrow, it could go to other parts of the world, but it was made in India. Auto defrost—made in India, made for India.

Speaker #3: The Intelli Crisper that we've just built in on the four-door Luxurium, made in India. And I think what I would love to say is that in the next 12 to 15 months, I am looking forward to some very exciting innovations that we're bringing in.

Speaker #3: Excuse me, on top load. So our answer is not to undercut; that's a mug's game. That is not good for the industry. Just like in semi-automatic, we de-commoditized the business.

Narasimhan Eswar: Our answer is not to undercut on price and try to win, because that is a mug's game. That is not good for the industry. Just like in semi-automatic, we de-commoditized the business. If new players are coming in at lower cost and selling at entry level, et cetera, we have to find a way to de-commoditize categories. That is what adds value to consumer, it adds value to our customers, and it adds value to our industry and to ourselves, obviously. We will absolutely do that in top-load washing machines as well. There will be some very cool stuff that will come out before, let's say, too long.

Speaker #3: Now, if more players are coming in at lower cost and selling at the entry level, etc., we have to find a way to de-commoditize categories.

Speaker #3: That's what I value to consumers. It adds value to our customers, and it adds value to our industry and to ourselves, obviously. So we will absolutely do that in top-load washing machines as well.

Speaker #3: So, there'll be some very cool stuff that will come out, before, let's say, too long.

Speaker #5: One more question. If I can ask. So when do you plan to increase capacity on the front load washer? Because the scale that we are the growth trajectory that we have, we would be hitting, I think, capacity limits maybe next year and that.

Rahul Jha: One more question, if I can ask, when do you plan to increase capacity on the front-load washer? Because the growth trajectory that we have, we would be hitting, I think, capacity limits maybe next year in that.

Narasimhan Eswar: One more question, if I can ask, when do you plan to increase capacity on the front-load washer? Because the growth trajectory that we have, we would be hitting, I think, capacity limits maybe next year in that.

Speaker #3: No, so that's not a problem. We do something called long-term capacity planning, which is a very structured program that we do, and we do that every year.

Narasimhan Eswar: No. That is not a problem. We do something called long-term capacity planning, which is a very structured program that we do. We do that every year and update it every six months if we need to. We are completely on top of what we need to invest in from a capacity point of view in all our three plants. We always look at can we do it internally, can we do it externally, et cetera. As far as front load is concerned, we are quite cool. We are growing really fast, but there is still significant capacity that we have to utilize. We do not even operate on three shifts. There is a lot of, let's say, space that is available to basically make it much bigger volumes. There is no immediate need for any capacity investment in front load.

Speaker #3: And update it every six months if we need to. We are completely on top of what we need to invest in from a capacity point of view in all our three plants.

Speaker #3: We always look at, can we do it internally? Can we do it externally, etc.? As far as front load is concerned, we are quite cool.

Speaker #3: We are growing really fast, but there's still significant capacity that we have to three shifts. So there's a lot of, let's say, space that's available to basically make it much bigger volumes.

Speaker #3: So there's no immediate need for any capacity investment in front load, but we're always on top of that, sir, as you can imagine. And we don't even operate on...

Narasimhan Eswar: We're always on top of that, sir, as you can imagine.

Speaker #2: Thank you. The next question is from Ankit Merchant from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead. Ankit Merchant: Yes, go ahead.

Operator 2: Thank you. The next question is from Ankit Merchant, from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Ankit Merchant, from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.

Ankit Merchant: Good morning.

Operator: Good morning.

Operator 2: Ankit Merchant?

Operator: Ankit Merchant?

Ankit Merchant: Hello.

Operator: Hello.

Operator 2: Yes, we can hear you now. Please go ahead.

Operator: Yes, we can hear you now. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Yeah, so my question was on the margin front, right? So there’s been a lot, or five quarters, I think, for various issues. On a slightly medium term, right—what is the kind of volatility in the margin, in the last four quarters of margin trend, that we can see in the business? And when can we see some of these factors, especially relating to the energy efficiency or some e-waste provisions, kind of fall off, and then the margins can improve thereafter?

Ankit Merchant: My question was on the margin front, right? There has been a lot of volatility in the margin in the last four, five quarters that we have seen the various issues. On a slightly medium term, what is the kind of margin trend that we can see in the business? When can we see some of these factors, especially relating to the energy efficiency or some e-waste provisions kind of form a base, and then the margins can improve from there on?

Operator: My question was on the margin front, right? There has been a lot of volatility in the margin in the last four, five quarters that we have seen the various issues. On a slightly medium term, what is the kind of margin trend that we can see in the business? When can we see some of these factors, especially relating to the energy efficiency or some e-waste provisions kind of form a base, and then the margins can improve from there on?

Speaker #3: Yes, sir. So I'll give some perspective and then

Narasimhan Eswar: Yes, sir. I will give some perspective, and then maybe Aditya can add on his perspective if there is something missing. On margin, if you see in the last three years, from 2023 onwards at least, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, we have more or less been increasing margin all the time. The real margin impact, which has been quite challenging, has come in the last six months. Two major factors, like I said, fundamentally, one is significant regulatory impact, which was basically because of two reasons within that itself. One is the energy change on refs and ACs, which typically happens once in three years. Right? This is the year in which it happened. The second one is obviously e-waste.

Speaker #3: perspective if there's something missing. improve from So on margin, if you see in the last three years, from '23 onwards at least, '23, '24, '24, '25, '25, '26, we have more or less been increasing margin all the time.

Speaker #3: The real margin impact, which has been quite challenging, has come in the last six months. And two major factors, like I said, fundamentally, one is significant regulatory impact, which was basically because of two reasons within that itself.

Speaker #3: One is the energy change on graphs and ACs, which typically happens once in three years, right? So this is a year in which it happened.

Speaker #3: And the second one is obviously e-waste. Now, very simply, on e-waste, it's a question of. When and how it's going to get resolved, which is not only up to us, it's the entire industry, it's actually more than one industry, that we need a solution to.

Narasimhan Eswar: Now, very simply on e-waste, it is a question of when and how it is going to get resolved, which is not only up to us, it is the entire industry. It is actually more than one industry that we need a solution to. I don't want to go too much into the detail of that, but this is something that we need to and hope for an equitable solution, which is sensible for everybody, right? E-waste, I am hoping, is a matter of time before we come up with something which actually works for us and others in the industry, and is not one-sided. As far as regulatory challenges are concerned, this will typically happen once in three years. Technically speaking, if 26 January 2026 is the refrigerator one now, as per the calendar, the next one should be 29 January 2029. Other than that, we don't expect anything else.

Speaker #3: And I don't want to go too much into the detail of that, but this is something that we need to and hope for an equitable solution, which is sensible for everybody, right?

Speaker #3: So e-waste, I'm hoping, is a matter of time before we come up with something which actually works for others for us and others in the industry.

Speaker #3: And doesn't is not one-sided. As far as regulatory challenges are concerned, this will typically happen once in three years. So technically speaking, if '27, '26, January is the refrigerator one now, as per the calendar, the next one should be '29, January.

Speaker #3: So other than that, we don't have—we don't expect anything else. But even that, I would submit, is quite a lot of change. Every three years, to change energy, especially on refrigerators, where, by the way, I'm not sure if you're aware, but India is just behind Europe on energy in the world.

Narasimhan Eswar: Even that, I would submit, is quite a lot of change. Every 3 years to change energy, especially on refrigerators, where, by the way, I'm not sure if you're aware, but India is just behind Europe on energy in the world. Our energy standards on refrigerators, especially in this category, are better than America, are better than South America, are better than Japan, better than Korea, better than China, better than Malaysia, Singapore, better than Australia. We are already at fantastic energy levels. This is part of the discussions we've been historically having with the ministry as well. To say that we are already at a very high level. This is more of an industry-related issue that we need to deal with. Excuse me. Two things I've already dealt with.

Speaker #3: So our energy standards on refrigerators, especially in this category, are better than America, are better than South America, are better than Japan, better than Korea, better than China, better than Malaysia, Singapore, better than Australia.

Speaker #3: So we are already at fantastic energy levels. So this is part of the discussions we've been historically having with the ministry as well. To say that we are already at a very high level.

Speaker #3: So this is more of an industrial-related issue that we need to deal with. Excuse me. So two things have already dealt with. E-waste is something that we sorted out between the government and the industry and the recyclers.

Narasimhan Eswar: E-waste is something that can be sorted out between the government and the industry and the recyclers, I hope we have some kind of solution soon. It's been a very long time. It's been what, 18 months since we've been accruing the higher amount. Obviously releasing that up would be a big benefit for people like us who are accruing it at the highest value. Right? Whenever that happens, that will be a big help for us. As far as the regulatory is concerned, like I said, it's once in 3 years on refrigerators and air conditioners. That's something that we need to continue chatting with the government and trying to come up with something which is more reasonable, keeping in mind that in refrigerators, for example, we are already at a very, very high level of energy efficiency. Lastly, the impact of commodity pricing.

Speaker #3: And I hope we have some kind of solution soon. It's been a very long time. It's been like what, 18 months since we've been accruing the higher amount.

Speaker #3: And obviously, releasing that up would be a big benefit for people like us who are accruing at the highest value, right? And whenever that happens, that will be a big help for us.

Speaker #3: As far as the regulatory is concerned, like I said, it's once in three years on refrigerators and air conditioners. that's something that we need to continue chatting with the government and trying to come up with But something which is more reasonable, keeping in mind that on refrigerators, for example, we're already at a very, very high level of energy efficiency.

Speaker #3: Lastly, the impact of commodity pricing. Excuse me. Commodity and forex. This anybody's guess. Your guess is as good as mine. We all pray and hope that this gets resolved soon for the good of the world.

Narasimhan Eswar: Excuse me. Commodity and Forex. This, anybody's guess. Your guess is as good as mine. We all pray and hope that this gets resolved soon for the good of the world, and frankly, also for the good of industry. That is something that we are absolutely unable to make a comment on, but hopefully it's not too far away and it happens within this fiscal itself.

Speaker #3: And frankly, also for the good of industry. And that is something that we are absolutely unable to make a comment on. But hopefully, it's not too far away and it happens within this fiscal itself.

Speaker #2: Thanks, Ishwar and Doni. Mr. Ishwar and only the point I would add is, for example, the fixed cost and that is what we monitor and control very efficiently in our business.

Aditya Jain: Thanks, Mr. Ishwar. The only other point I would add is, for example, the fixed cost, that is what we monitor and control very efficiently in our business. While we've also spoken about a P4G program, outside of these black swan kind of events, which materially impacts the cost. We have a very tight governance in monitoring and managing the operating fixed cost of the business, whether it be people cost or whether it be the operating expenses of the company. At least we make sure that while other things are happening and we're seeing a material cost headwinds, these costs are kept under control and under check to ensure that there are no other inefficiencies in the business while we're managing the whole lot of external environment. Our P4G program helps us do that.

Speaker #2: While we've also spoken about a P4G program, but outside of this black swan kind of events, which materially impacts the cost, but we have a very tight governance in monitoring and managing the operating fixed cost of the business, whether the people cost and whether it be the operating expenses of the company.

Speaker #2: So at least we make sure that while other things are happening and we're seeing a material cost headwinds, but these costs are kept under control and under check to ensure that there are no other inefficiencies in the business while we're managing the whole lot of external environment.

Speaker #2: And our P4G program helps us do that. And we will continue to do that going forward as well and ensure that our fixed cost and operating costs are under control while we manage all the external environment-related headwinds as well.

Aditya Jain: We will continue to do that going forward as well and ensure that our fixed costs and operating costs are under control while we manage all the external environment-related headwinds as well.

Speaker #5: Yeah. My second question is, I just wanted your thoughts on this, that the entire industry is currently growing on single digits and we are making thin margins right now, right?

Ankit Merchant: Yeah. My second question is, I just wanted your thoughts on this, that the entire industry is currently growing on single digits and we are making thin margins right now. Is there a situation where in the next 12 to 18 months, all the players kind of come together and people decide that we need to grow profitably and pass on some of these additional costs on to the consumer? Can this happen in the next 12, 18 months? Is there a scope as well to, let's say, pass on a 10% price hike to the consumer? What will be the elasticity of demand if we do that?

Aditya Jain: Yeah. My second question is, I just wanted your thoughts on this, that the entire industry is currently growing on single digits and we are making thin margins right now. Is there a situation where in the next 12 to 18 months, all the players kind of come together and people decide that we need to grow profitably and pass on some of these additional costs on to the consumer? Can this happen in the next 12, 18 months? Is there a scope as well to, let's say, pass on a 10% price hike to the consumer? What will be the elasticity of demand if we do that?

Speaker #5: Is there a situation where in the next 12 to 18 months, all the players kind of come together and decide that we need to grow profitably and pass on some of these additional costs onto the consumer?

Speaker #5: Can this happen in the next 12 or 18 months? And is there also scope to, let's say, pass on a 10% price increase to the consumer?

Speaker #5: What will be the elasticity of demand if we do that?

Speaker #3: Sure. So firstly, on the first question, as you know very well, it is absolutely against the law for anybody to come together on pricing, which is why we decide what to do on pricing independently.

Narasimhan Eswar: Sir, firstly, on the first question, as you know very well, it is absolutely against the law for anybody to come together on pricing, which is why we decide what to do on pricing independently. Obviously, we check what's happening in the market, which is just basic market intelligence when consumers are being offered prices. Obviously, we know what the pricing is. There is absolutely no chance of any industry-wide agreement on pricing, because that would be illegal. As not just the head of Whirlpool, but as the president of CEAMA, I would absolutely discourage any such activity by anybody because it's an offense, it's a criminal offense. The answer is no. Is it possible that different players at different points in time decide to incorporate more pricing into their business? It would seem to me a logical thing to do.

Speaker #3: Obviously, we check what's happening in the market, which is just basic market intelligence when consumers are being offered prices. Obviously, we know what the pricing is.

Speaker #3: So there is no absolutely no chance of any industry-wide agreement on pricing because that would be illegal. And as not just the head of Whirlpool, but as the president of CIAMA, I would absolutely discourage any such activity by anybody because it's an offense.

Speaker #3: It's a criminal offense. So the answer is no. Is it possible that different players at different points in time decide to incorporate more pricing into their business?

Speaker #3: It would seem to me a logical thing to do. But then again, everything doesn't operate on logic. Some people might want to use the opportunity to get more market share and therefore not take up pricing.

Narasimhan Eswar: Everything doesn't operate on logic. Some people might want to use the opportunity to get more market share and therefore not take up pricing. These are things that happen every day, right? It's happening as we speak. Somebody may take up the price, somebody may not take up the price. If you take up the price and others have not taken up the price, there is a price that you pay for that. Right? The price that you pay will be volume loss. Is the volume loss worth it or not? We have a lot of sensitivity analysis that we do. Obviously, I'm not able to go into the detail of that, but we do a lot of work on this area, because it's quite crucial in this industry.

Speaker #3: These are things that happen every day, right? It's happening as we speak. So somebody may take up the price, somebody may not take up the price.

Speaker #3: Then if you take up the price and others have not taken up the price, then there is a price that you pay for that, right?

Speaker #3: And the price that you pay will be volume loss. And is the volume loss worth it or not? So we have a lot of sensitivity analysis that we do.

Speaker #3: Obviously, I'm not able to go into the detail of that, but we do a lot of work on this area. Because it's quite crucial in this industry a 5% price difference would be a $1,000.

Narasimhan Eswar: A 5% price difference could be INR 1,000, and INR 1,000 is not a small amount of money for anybody. In more expensive products, a 5% could be INR 3,000, INR 4,000, INR 5,000, or even more. My answer to your question is, every company will take its individual decision. I'm sure they will do what they need to do. Is the cost at this point in time very significant? Absolutely, it is. That there is no doubt of. Have we been able to recover all the costs through pricing? No. That's a very straightforward answer. Everything that we do going forward will also depend on what happens in the market. If we see a competitive situation going in a certain way, we'll act in a certain way. If a competitive situation goes in a different way, we'll have to act accordingly.

Speaker #3: And a $1,000 is not a small amount of money for anybody. In more expensive products, a 5% could be $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, or even more.

Speaker #3: So the answer to your question is every company will take its individual decision. I'm sure they will do what they need to do. Is the cost at this point in time very significant?

Speaker #3: Absolutely it is. That there is no doubt of. As have we been able to recover all the costs through pricing? No. That's a very straightforward answer.

Speaker #3: Everything that we do going forward will also depend on what happens in the market. If we see a competitive situation going in a certain way, we'll act in a certain way.

Speaker #3: If a competitive situation goes in a different way, then we'll have to act accordingly. Always keeping in mind the balance between revenue growth, market share, and profitability.

Narasimhan Eswar: Always keeping in mind the balance between revenue growth, market share, and profitability.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Mr. Merchant, we request you to rejoin the queue. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant.

Operator 2: Thank you. Mr. Merchant, we request you to rejoin the queue. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from Naushad Chaudhary, from Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. Mr. Merchant, we request you to rejoin the queue. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from Naushad Chaudhary, from Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: The next question is from Noshad Chaudhary from Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, firstly, on Elica business, I wanted to understand if you can give us some specific what exactly is helping this growth.

Naushad Chaudhary: Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, firstly on Elica business, wanted to understand if you can give us some specific what exactly is helping this growth and what should be the expectation for the full year and coming years. On the remaining stake, is there any plan to take it fully?

Speaker #6: And what should be the expectation for the full year and incoming years? And on the remaining stake, is there any plan to take it fully?

Speaker #3: Great. Thank you so much. Mr. Noshad, I much appreciate your question. So firstly, I want to so sorry. Excuse me. I want to clarify that we have 100% ownership of Elica.

Narasimhan Eswar: Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Naushad. I much appreciate your question. Firstly, I want to clarify that we have 100% ownership of Elica. 100% ownership of Elica, so there's no remaining stake. All of it is Whirlpool of India. Mr. Pralhad Bhutada, who is, I would say, the father of the cooking industry in India, for me, a phenomenal man who built up multiple brands, including Elica in India, he continues to run the business for us. It's 100% subsidiary of Whirlpool of India. That's the first point. There's nothing left for us to buy. I think Elica, there are three things that have been working very well for us on Elica this year. First is the market has been more responsive. There has been a good growth in the kitchen appliances market, unlike the refrigerator market, for example.

Speaker #3: 100% ownership of Elica. So there's no remaining stake. All of it is Whirlpool of India. Mr. Prahlad Bhutada, who is, I would say, the father of the cooking industry in India, for me, a phenomenal man, who built up multiple brands, including Elica in India.

Speaker #3: He continues to run the business for us. But it's 100% subsidiary of Whirlpool of India. So that's the first point. So there's nothing left for us to buy.

Speaker #3: Second, I think Elica there are three things that have been working very well for us on Elica this year. First is the market has been more responsive.

Speaker #3: There has been a good growth in the kitchen appliances market. Unlike the refrigerator market, for example, the second thing that's really worked is we've been able to focus on both ends.

Narasimhan Eswar: The second thing that's really worked is we've been able to focus on both ends. We've been able to focus on the lower end and introduce some very good products there to get more of the mass. At the same time, we've been able to put in some very good, like I showed you, high-value products with great margins that have been able to counterbalance that from a volume and margin point of view. This double strategy is working really well for us in terms of the new products that we've brought to market, obviously, with a very efficient system. The third thing that has been very helpful in Elica's case, unlike the refrigerator washing machine business, is that the pricing has more or less been able to cover the cost increases. Not 100%, but very close. Very different kind of industry definitions there.

Speaker #3: We've been able to focus on the lower end and introduce some very good products there to get more of the mass. But at the same time, we've been able to put in some very good, like I showed you, high-value products with great margins.

Speaker #3: That have been able to counterbalance that from a volume end, margin point of view. So this double strategy is working really well for us in terms of the new products that we've brought into market.

Speaker #3: Obviously, with a very efficient system. The third thing that has been very helpful in Elica's case, unlike the refrigerator excuse me, refrigerator washing machine business, is that the pricing has more or less been able to cover the cost increases.

Speaker #3: Not 100%, but very, very close. So very different kind of industry definitions there. So these are the three reasons. What do I see going forward?

Narasimhan Eswar: These are the three reasons. What do I see going forward? We see Elica as a lovely jewel in our portfolio. We expect to see strong growth coming out of Elica. Obviously, always strong double-digit growth. We do expect that we will have to invest some of the margins into that. Even if we were to invest some of the margins, let's say a couple of 100 basis points, we still think that it will be a significantly higher margin than the rest of the Whirlpool range, and therefore, will always be a great input from both a top-line and from a bottom-line perspective. Elica is certainly a business that we are very proud of. We're proud of our team in Elica that's driving this business, and we will continue driving this business really hard.

Speaker #3: We see Elica as a lovely jewel. In our portfolio, we expect to see strong growth coming out of Elica. Obviously, always strong double-digit growth.

Speaker #3: We do expect that we will have to invest some of the margins into that. But even if we were to invest some of the margins, say a couple of hundred basis points, we still think that it will be a significantly higher margin than the rest of the Whirlpool range.

Speaker #3: And therefore, we'll always be agreed in both from a excuse me, both from a top line and from a bottom line perspective. So Elica is certainly a business that we are very proud of.

Speaker #3: We're proud of our team in Elica that's driving this business. And we will continue driving this business really hard.

Speaker #6: Could we expect 20% plus kind of numbers from Elica for the full year and in 2028?

Naushad Chaudhary: Should we expect 20% plus kind of number from Elica for the full year and in 2025?

Speaker #3: Difficult to say. Sir, difficult to say, sir. Again, as you know, it's very difficult to make such predictions. I don't like to make big statements like that.

Narasimhan Eswar: Difficult to say. Sir, difficult to say, sir. Again, as you know, it is very difficult to make such predictions. I don't like to make big statements like that. We hope to continue to drive the business strongly. Nothing will be spared to make it drive strongly. Also a lot depends on, because it is not like we have a low single-digit market share. A lot depends on how the market grows. If the market growth, excuse me, continues to be strong, then we can expect some good growth. If the market growth weakens, which is quite possible, given everything else that is happening around us, then maybe not. Don't have an exact answer for you. Obviously, we try our level best to make sure our growth story becomes strong.

Speaker #3: So we hope to continue to drive the business strongly. Nothing will be spared to make it drive strongly. But also, a lot depends on because it's not like we have a low single-digit market share.

Speaker #3: A lot depends on how the market grows. So if the market growth excuse me, continues to be strong, then we can expect some good growth.

Speaker #3: But if the market growth weakens, which is quite possible, given everything else that's happening around us, then maybe not. So don't have an exact answer for you.

Speaker #3: But obviously, we try our level best to make sure our growths on Elica are strong.

Speaker #6: On the AC business, I wanted to understand your strategy, your focus market, and in absolute terms, how big can it be for you in the next two, three years?

Naushad Chaudhary: On the AC business, I wanted to understand your strategy, your focus market, and in absolute terms, how big can it be for you in next two, three years? How are we going about it? If you can explain on that.

Speaker #6: How are we going about it, if we can explain on that?

Speaker #3: Sure. I think on AC, I would like to say again that what we want to do is responsible growth. So I just want to be clear again, at least the current strategy that we have, that obviously can always change depending on our discussions with the board, etc.

Narasimhan Eswar: Sure. I think, on AC, I would like to say again that what we want to do is responsible growth. I just want to be clear again, at least the current strategy that we have, that obviously can always change, depending on our discussions with the board, et cetera, is responsible growth, which means we'll not want to grow at any cost. In the last two years, we've been able to grow our business quite significantly, not 10% or 20%, but much higher than that, because we were coming off a relatively lower base. We hope to continue growing at a very strong pace, well above 10% or 20%. I think the reason why we'll be able to do that is because we have a very solid assortment, which is not over-proliferated, and therefore we have efficiencies in our business.

Speaker #3: It's responsible growth, which means we'll not want to grow at any cost. So in the last two years, we've been able to grow our business quite significantly, not 10, not 20 percent, but much, much higher than that.

Speaker #3: Because we were coming off a relatively lower base. We

Speaker #1: Hope to continue growing at a very strong pace , well above 10 or 20% , and I think the reason why we'll be able to do that is because we have a very solid assortment , which is not over , and therefore we have efficiencies in our business .

Speaker #1: We're able to manage our inventories quite well . We are obviously sourcing from outside sourcing from outside right now . We don't manufacture our air conditioners , but the design is basically ours .

Narasimhan Eswar: We're able to manage our inventories quite well. We are obviously sourcing from outside right now. We don't manufacture our air conditioners, but the design is basically ours. They're manufacturing to our specifications. We have a very strong plan for execution. Results have been very good. I think we are the fastest-growing, if I'm not wrong, we're the fastest-growing in terms of offtake AC. Of course, our base is small, but still, you can be small and not grow the fastest. We were the fastest-growing in offtake this year as well as last year. We hope to continue that growth, but we hope to continue that growth responsibly. The strategy really will not be to pump a huge amount of volume into the market and then hope for a good day.

Speaker #1: So the manufacturing to our specifications , we have a very strong plan for execution Results have been very good . I think we are the fastest growing firm , not one with the fastest growing in terms of offtake .

Speaker #1: AC of course , our base is small but still you can be small and not grow the fastest . But we were the fastest growing in offtake this year as well as last year So we hope to continue that growth .

Speaker #1: But we hope to continue that growth responsibly. So the strategy really will not be to pump a huge amount of volume into the market.

Speaker #1: And then hope for a good day We try to . Basically , as fast as possible , more than probably what the market does , stay closer to consumption in terms of how we ship .

Narasimhan Eswar: We try to basically, as far as possible, more than probably what the market does, stay closer to consumption in terms of how we ship. That's the strategy that we'll continue to do because we are very aware of the fact that if you overship and then the offtake doesn't happen, then you'll have a double whammy, which is you'll have to get rid of all the stocks that you have, by discounting, et cetera, which reduces the margin, which is what I would call not that responsible. Whatever stocks you have left, you have to do something about the disposal of those products as well. Responsible growth is what we'll be looking at. We've got a proper portfolio, whether it's 1 tonne, 1.5 tonne, 2 tonne. We've got a proper portfolio, 3-star, 5-star, et cetera.

Speaker #1: And that's the strategy that we will continue to follow because we are very aware of the fact that if you overship and offtake doesn't happen, then you will have a double whammy, which is that you will have to get rid of all the stocks that you have by discounting, etc.

Speaker #1: , which reduces the margin , which is what I would call not that responsible . Plus , whatever stocks you have left to do something about the disposal of those products as well .

Speaker #1: So responsible growth is what we'll be looking at . And we've got a proper portfolio , whether it's one tonne , 1.5 ton , two tonne .

Speaker #1: We've got a proper portfolio , three star , five star , etc. and we're going to go about it in a fairly structured and scientific way where it makes financial sense to us

Narasimhan Eswar: We're going to go about it in a fairly structured and scientific way, where it makes financial sense to us. Thank you. The next question is from Priyank Chheda from Valiant Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Thank you . The next question is from Priyank Chadha from Valium Capital . Please go ahead .

Speaker #3: Yeah . Hi , sir . I need to see piece of getting covered till N minus two and three are . Congratulations for that Just try to reconcile the revenue growth numbers .

Priyank Chheda: Yeah. Hi, sir. Heartening to see ESOP plan getting covered till n minus 2 and 3. Congratulations for that. Just trying to reconcile the revenue growth numbers, right? If ACs, say, contribute 10% of the sales, grows at 50%, that contributes to 5 percentage points to the overall growth. Which means the balance 7% is from washing machine, refrigerator, which again, if I have to link it with the GfK, looks like it's a pure volume growth. Is there no element of pricing contribution coming up for this quarter? Whatever price hikes you mentioned should be coming up for the coming quarter? That's my question number 1.

Narasimhan Eswar: Yeah. Hi, sir. Heartening to see ESOP plan getting covered till n minus 2 and 3. Congratulations for that. Just trying to reconcile the revenue growth numbers, right? If ACs, say, contribute 10% of the sales, grows at 50%, that contributes to 5 percentage points to the overall growth. Which means the balance 7% is from washing machine, refrigerator, which again, if I have to link it with the GfK, looks like it's a pure volume growth. Is there no element of pricing contribution coming up for this quarter? Whatever price hikes you mentioned should be coming up for the coming quarter? That's my question number 1.

Speaker #3: Right ? If AC is they contribute 10% of the sales growth at 50% . That contributes a five percentage points to the overall growth , which means the balance 7% is from washing machine refrigerator , which again , if I have to link it with the GSK , looks like it's a pure volume growth .

Speaker #3: So is that no element of pricing contribution coming up for this quarter ? And whatever price hikes you mentioned should be coming up for the coming quarter .

Speaker #3: That's my question . Number one .

Speaker #1: Okay . So thank you for that question . you're right about AC . I wouldn't say exactly on the 10% , but you're right about AC in principle that that growth is significant and certain amount of volume for us , like I said , source front load , if you see the market itself hardly grow .

Narasimhan Eswar: Okay. Thank you for that question. You're right about AC. I wouldn't say exactly on the 10%, but you're right about AC in principle, that that growth is significant and that's driving a certain amount of volume for us. Like I said, it's front-loaded. If you see, the market itself hardly grew. The mathematics, as you rightly pointed out, the market grew about 4%, 5% across refrigerators and washers. Our market share, as I told you, grew about 30, 35 basis points. If you take it on a base of market share, this will basically come to about a six and a half kind of number. Some amount of the pricing has come in because you can imagine the pricing starts increasing, but in GfK, the price that you see, excuse me, is the price that is offtaked out of the store. Right?

Speaker #1: So the mathematics , as you rightly pointed out , , the market grew about 4 or 5% across the fugitives and washers and our market share , as I told you , grew about 30 , 35 basis points .

Speaker #1: So if you take it on a basis of market share , this will basically come to about a six , six and a half kind of , , number So some amount of pricing has come in because you can imagine the pricing starts increasing , but if JFK , the price that you see , excuse me , is the price that is off take out of the store , right ?

Speaker #1: If I have shipped , it does not necessarily come JFK . So , , yes , we have taken up prices in April and May .

Narasimhan Eswar: If I've shipped it does not necessarily come into the GfK. Yes, we have taken up prices in April and May. As I said before, I'm not going to say exactly what the numbers are, but we have taken up prices two consecutive months because we had to. It was not fully reflected in April, May, June, but it'll be fully reflected in July, excuse me, July, August, September, and beyond. Thank you for the comment about the ESOP. Much appreciated.

Speaker #1: As I said before , I'm not going to say exactly what the numbers are , but we have taken up prices two consecutive months because we had to .

Speaker #1: And , , it was not fully reflected in April , May , June , , but it will be fully reflected in July .

Speaker #1: Excuse me . July , August . July . August . September and beyond And thank you for the comment about the use of .

Speaker #1: Much appreciated

Speaker #3: Sure .

Priyank Chheda: Sure.

Narasimhan Eswar: Sure.

Narasimhan Eswar: Did I answer your question, Mr. Priyank?

Speaker #1: Answer your question .

Speaker #3: Yes to . Whatever you been able to . Yeah . Thank you for that . The second question again on . Sorry , hopping on one of the only weakest link , which is the margins for our industry .

Priyank Chheda: Yes, to whatever you have been able to. Thank you for that. The second question again on, sorry, harping on one of the only weakest link, which is the margins for our industry, right? I mean, if Aditya can say, split out, say, 400 basis points of gross margin compression being contributed by various reasons. There are five reasons which you have mentioned in your press release, maybe a few large ones contributing to it, so that we can understand exactly where is the pain arising out for, and maybe other part, Mr. Yashward, in your assessment, the industry competitive dynamics are very high. Maybe the other players keep selling at lower prices to whatever categories they would want to. We've been industry leaders, number one in few, number two in others.

Narasimhan Eswar: Yes, to whatever you have been able to. Thank you for that. The second question again on, sorry, harping on one of the only weakest link, which is the margins for our industry, right? I mean, if Aditya can say, split out, say, 400 basis points of gross margin compression being contributed by various reasons. There are five reasons which you have mentioned in your press release, maybe a few large ones contributing to it, so that we can understand exactly where is the pain arising out for, and maybe other part, Mr. Yashward, in your assessment, the industry competitive dynamics are very high. Maybe the other players keep selling at lower prices to whatever categories they would want to. We've been industry leaders, number one in few, number two in others.

Speaker #3: Right ? I mean , if Aditya can say , , split out , say 400 bits of gross margin compression in contributed by various reasons , there are five reasons which you have mentioned in your press release .

Speaker #3: Maybe large ones contributing to it , so that we can understand exactly where is the pain , , arising out and maybe , , other part , , Mr. Ishwar , say in your assessment , the industry competitive dynamics are very high .

Speaker #3: , maybe the other players keep selling at a lower prices to whatever categories they would want to . But we've been industry leaders , number one , in number 2 in 2 .

Speaker #3: In others . If we don't take the price hike , or maybe we don't lead the price hikes , , why would say we expect a competition also to do the same ?

Priyank Chheda: If we don't take the price hike, or maybe we don't lead the price hikes, why would, say, we expect the competition also to do the same? I'm just taking a reference with the mobile phones with low volume growth still passes on the full price hike. The AC being one of the highest competitive categories, hardly barely we have seen any margin pressures coming up over there season to season. Just your thoughts on who would lead that price hike and lead within the competitive intensity. Aditya, if you can just help us on the gross margin breakdown so that we get to know the source of pain.

Narasimhan Eswar: If we don't take the price hike, or maybe we don't lead the price hikes, why would, say, we expect the competition also to do the same? I'm just taking a reference with the mobile phones with low volume growth still passes on the full price hike. The AC being one of the highest competitive categories, hardly barely we have seen any margin pressures coming up over there season to season. Just your thoughts on who would lead that price hike and lead within the competitive intensity. Aditya, if you can just help us on the gross margin breakdown so that we get to know the source of pain.

Speaker #3: I'm just taking a reference , which say mobile phones with no volume growth still passes on the full price hikes . The AC being one of the highest competitive category , are hardly barely .

Speaker #3: We have seen any margin pressures coming up over there . Season to season . So just your thoughts on who would lead that price hikes and lead the within the competitive intensity .

Speaker #3: And if you can just help us on the gross margin breakdowns so that we get to know the source of pain Yeah . So , .

Aditya Jain: Yeah. Thank you for the question. Getting to the exact numbers, probably we're constrained to share the exact numbers of the split of the factors impacting the gross margin. I would just give you a little bit of indication, at a very high level, let's say there are two big things which impacted us. A, war-related stuff, which is a combination of all the things between the oil prices, FX, and a lot of other things. The second big element, especially on the material or the gross margins, was on the energy regulation upcharges impact on ref and air con business. If I just split broadly, to say that, in the order of magnitude, the war impact was much higher.

Speaker #1: Thank you for the question . , getting to the exact numbers , probably , probably will constrained to share the exact numbers of the split of , , the factors in impacting the gross margin .

Speaker #1: But I would just give you a little bit of indication , , at a very high level , let's say there are two big things which impacted us a war stuff , which is a combination of all the things between the oil prices , FX , and a lot of other things .

Speaker #1: And then the second big element , especially on the material of the gross margins , was on , , the energy regulation upcharges impact on revenue business .

Speaker #1: If I just split broadly , , to say that , , in the order of magnitude , the war impact was much higher .

Speaker #1: So , , and then , , half of it was , , if the war impact was X , probably half of it less than that was the energy regulations impact , which impacted the overall gross margins .

Aditya Jain: Half of it was, if the war impact was X, probably half of it or little less than that was the energy regulations impact, which impacted the overall gross margins. Probably that's the best I'll be able to share at this point of time.

Speaker #1: , probably that's the best I'll be able to share at this point of time . And , , yeah , yeah . Your second question on .

Narasimhan Eswar: Yeah.

Aditya Jain: Yeah.

Narasimhan Eswar: On your second question on the price hikes. Well, as I said before, it depends on the industry. Have we led the price hikes? Yeah, we've taken two price hikes in April and May. We also need to watch what's happening in the market. That's what I was saying before. If the market responds in a different way, I cannot blindly do stuff. I have to protect balance between volume growth, market share growth, and profit protection. We have to do the right thing. Like I said, if your volumes crash, if your volumes go down, the numbers become far, far worse, trust me. This is not a business in which you want to drop volumes significantly versus before, because then nothing can protect your P&L. It's not a very low involvement business.

Speaker #4: The price hikes . Well , this , as I said before , it depends on the industry . So have we led the price hikes ?

Speaker #4: Yeah , we've taken two price hikes in April and May . , but we also need to watch what's happening in the market .

Speaker #4: That's what I was saying before . and if the market responds in a different way , then I cannot blindly , you know , , do stuff .

Speaker #4: So , , I have to protect the balance between , , volume growth , market share , growth , , and profit protection .

Speaker #4: , and so we have to do the right thing . Like I said , if your volumes crash , if your volumes go down , the numbers become far , far worse .

Speaker #4: Trust me . So this is not a business in which you want to drop volumes , you know , , significantly , , this is before because then nothing can protect your PNL .

Speaker #4: , because it's not a , it's not a very low , , involvement business . There's a lot of investment in Freedom Street .

Narasimhan Eswar: There's a lot of investment in feet on street, there's a lot of investment in stores, etc. Right. Therefore, I would say we will calibrate what we do on pricing. We will do the right thing for our brand, always keeping in mind that the right thing is not just to price up all the time irrespective of what the rest of the market does. We know what happens when we do that, and we learned that in 2022. We know exactly what will happen, and we've done a lot of analysis on that. This is something that we will continue to observe as we go along. Who does the pricing, et cetera? This is a good question. Sometimes we'll do it, sometimes some other big brand will do it. Typically, big brands are the ones that basically lead this.

Speaker #4: There's a lot of investment in stores , etc. . Right . , therefore , I would say we will calibrate what we do on pricing .

Speaker #4: We will do the right thing for our brand , but always keeping in mind that the right thing is not just to price up all the time , irrespective of the rest of the market .

Speaker #4: Does . We know what happens when , when , when , when that , when we do that . And we learned that in 2022 .

Speaker #4: And we know exactly what will happen . , and we've done a lot of analysis on So this is something that we will continue to observe as we go along .

Speaker #4: , and , , yeah , and food has the pricing , etc. , etc. this is a good question . Sometimes , you know , we'll do it sometimes some other big brand will do it , but typically big brands are the ones that basically lead this .

Speaker #4: If the seventh player or the ninth player takes the pricing , nobody really is gonna , you know , respond . So it's always the top 2 or 3 .

Narasimhan Eswar: If the seventh player or the ninth player takes up pricing, nobody really is going to respond. It's always the top two or three. We've done what we need to do, and we keep monitoring it very carefully. We'll continue to act based on what we see in the market, but always to be competitive and not be off our strategy.

Speaker #4: So , , we've done what we need to do and we keep monitoring it very , very carefully . , and we'll continue to act based on what we see in the market , but always to be competitive and not be of our strategy .

Speaker #3: So keeping in full faith , just last thing is gross margin is mirroring all the impact of war and regulations . , why , why is so that P4G actions are not being witnessed in the , in the delta change of gross margin fall , which is exactly the same delta change in the Ebit margin .

Priyank Chheda: Keeping in full faith. Just last thing, if gross margin is mirroring all the impact of war and regulation, why is it so that P4G actions are not being witnessed in the delta change of gross margin fall, which is exactly the same delta change in the EBIT margin? Maybe we would have expected, say, gross margin fall or maybe the EBIT margin fall to be lower than the gross margin fall because of the P4G actions. Just on that. Thank you.

Narasimhan Eswar: Keeping in full faith. Just last thing, if gross margin is mirroring all the impact of war and regulation, why is it so that P4G actions are not being witnessed in the delta change of gross margin fall, which is exactly the same delta change in the EBIT margin? Maybe we would have expected, say, gross margin fall or maybe the EBIT margin fall to be lower than the gross margin fall because of the P4G actions. Just on that. Thank you.

Speaker #3: So maybe we would have expected the gross margin to fall, or maybe for the margin fall to be lower than the gross margin fall because of the P actions just on that.

Speaker #3: Thank you .

Narasimhan Eswar: Sure. I think let me answer this because P4G as a program is basically most of the P4G numbers that come are basically on all the engineering work, design work, all of the BOM, the bill of materials cost, which is part of gross margin, supply chain costs, and so on and so forth. Our fixed cost has not actually increased as a percentage versus last year, right? All of the others, basically, we have done the P4G. The impact of the crisis that we've had, the black swan event, is actually very big in this industry. Like I said, if you're not able to cover that fully through pricing, then it's a very big number. We've been able to do our P4G like we normally do.

Speaker #4: Let me sure . I think let me answer this because P4G as a program is basically most of the P4G numbers that come are basically on all the engineering work , design work , all of the Bom , the bill of materials cost , which is part of gross margin , , supply chain costs and so on and so forth .

Speaker #4: So our fixed cost is not actually increased as a percentage versus last year . Right . But all of the others , basically , we have done the G , the impact of the crisis that we've had , the black swan event is actually very big in this industry .

Speaker #4: And like I said , if you're not able to cover that fully through pricing , then it's a very big number . So we've been able to do our P4G like we normally do , but also , please keep in mind that P4G is very much , let's say something that we need to do in times where it can easily be done .

Narasimhan Eswar: Also, please keep in mind that P4G is very much, let's say, something that we need to do in times where it can easily be done. If you come to a place where you're literally not able to get materials to manufacture, negotiation would become a very difficult thing to do. You see what I'm saying? If you say you want polypropylene, 100 kilos are available, who wants it? If you at that time, you want to make a, I'm just making it up, a 10% discount, you're likely not to get even one kilo. Like I said, it's a very unusual time, I would say, for our industry, because there is a lot of pressure on materials at the same time and supply, and at the same time, there's a lot of pressure on costs.

Speaker #4: But if you come to a place where you're literally not able to get materials to manufacture , negotiation would become a very difficult thing to do .

Speaker #4: You see what I'm saying ? So if you say you want polypropylene , , 100 kilos are available . Who wants it ? And if you at that time you want to , you know , make a just making it up at 10% discount , you're likely not to get even one kilo .

Speaker #4: So it's a very like I said , it's a very unusual time . I would say for , for our industry , because there is a lot of pressure on materials .

Speaker #4: At the same time and supply and at the same time , there's a lot of pressure on costs . And we are doing our p fog like we normally do with the same diligence or the same .

Narasimhan Eswar: We are doing our P4G like we normally do with the same diligence or in fact, even more, I would say, focus. There's only so much you can do in times like this because availability is also important. If you're not able to manufacture plants, then it doesn't matter what your gross margin declared is, you cannot sell any product. It's a very complex time for the industry with respect to this, because our industry depends a lot on crude-related, oil-related products. Like I said, there are many things that in our industry we require, whether it's plastics for washing machines or refrigerators, or whether it's EPS for packaging, which is quite substantial. There's tons of it. Whether it's products required for foaming. All of this is related to crude.

Speaker #4: In fact , even more , I would say focus , but there's only so much you can do in times like this , you know , because availability is also important .

Speaker #4: And if you're not able to manufacture plants , then it doesn't matter what your , gross margin declared is , you cannot sell any product .

Speaker #4: So it's a very complex , , it's a very complex time for the industry with respect to this , because our industry depends a lot on crude related , , you know , oil related products , , like I said , there are many , many things that , that in our industry , we require , whether it's plastics for washing machines or refrigerators or whether it's EPS for packaging , which is quite substantial , , , there's tons of it , whether it's products required for forming , , so all of this is related to crude .

Speaker #4: So we are absolutely doing that , but we are not able to get substantial , , savings to offset all the impact of this black swan event

Narasimhan Eswar: We are absolutely doing that, we are not able to get substantial savings to offset all the impact of this black swan event.

Speaker #2: Thank you very much . As we are nearing the end of allocated time , we will now take the last question from Manjeet Arya from Sameer advisors .

Operator 2: Thank you very much. As we are nearing the end of allocated time, we will now take the last question from Manjeet Boaria from Samaya Advisors. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you very much. As we are nearing the end of allocated time, we will now take the last question from Manjeet Boaria from Samaya Advisors. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Please go ahead , sir . Thank you for taking my questions . , the first .

Manjeet Boaria: Sir, thank you for taking my questions. The first one was in FY 2025, we had sale of services to Whirlpool Corporation, and I think entities controlled by it to the tune of about INR 250 crore. If you could share some details on whether this will continue going ahead now that they are not our parent, let's say beyond FY 2028. What was the sort of margin we made on that business? It was a services business, I just wanted to understand whether this was a very high margin business for us. That's question one. Question two was, on AC again, it's a very crowded segment and many well-run incumbents have also struggled to make a healthy ROI on a sustainable basis. They have good years, they have bad years, not very sustainable.

Operator: Sir, thank you for taking my questions. The first one was in FY 2025, we had sale of services to Whirlpool Corporation, and I think entities controlled by it to the tune of about INR 250 crore. If you could share some details on whether this will continue going ahead now that they are not our parent, let's say beyond FY 2028. What was the sort of margin we made on that business? It was a services business, I just wanted to understand whether this was a very high margin business for us. That's question one. Question two was, on AC again, it's a very crowded segment and many well-run incumbents have also struggled to make a healthy ROI on a sustainable basis. They have good years, they have bad years, not very sustainable.

Speaker #3: One was in FY 25 . , you know , we had of services to Whirlpool Corporation . And I think entities controlled by it to the tune of about 250 crores .

Speaker #3: , if you could share some details on whether this will continue going ahead now that they are not our parent . , let's say beyond FY 28 .

Speaker #3: And you know , what was the sort of margin we made on that business because it was a services business . So I just wanted to understand whether this was a very high margin business for us .

Speaker #3: , that's question one . , question two was , you know , on AC , again , you know , it's a very crowded segment .

Speaker #3: And , you know , many well-run incumbents have also struggled to make a healthy ROI on a sustainable basis . They have good years .

Speaker #3: They have bad years , but not very sustainable . So what gives us confidence that , you know , we'll be able to make a healthy ROI over here ?

Manjeet Boaria: What gives us confidence that we'll be able to make a healthy ROI over here more consistently? That's question two. Third was just a suggestion, sir. We are completely aligned with the management team getting ESOPs in the India business because that's what they are driving. I think these ESOPs vested face value. From a minority perspective, we would have thought if the ESOPs vested at close to current market prices when the scheme came in, it would have been more fair. If you guys agree with it's something that could be reconsidered by the team and the board. Thank you so much.

Operator: What gives us confidence that we'll be able to make a healthy ROI over here more consistently? That's question two. Third was just a suggestion, sir. We are completely aligned with the management team getting ESOPs in the India business because that's what they are driving. I think these ESOPs vested face value. From a minority perspective, we would have thought if the ESOPs vested at close to current market prices when the scheme came in, it would have been more fair. If you guys agree with it's something that could be reconsidered by the team and the board. Thank you so much.

Speaker #3: , you know , more consistently , , that's question two . And , you know , third was just a suggestion , sir .

Speaker #3: You know , we are completely aligned with the management team getting ESOPs , you know , in the India business because that's what they are driving .

Speaker #3: , but I think these ESOPs west at face value . From a minority perspective , we would have thought , you know , the ESOPs at close to current market prices when the scheme came in , it would have been more fair .

Speaker #3: So , you know , if you guys agree with it , you know , it's something that could be reconsidered by the team and the board .

Speaker #3: Thank you so much

Speaker #1: Yeah . So thank you , Mr. Manjeet . So let me take the first question . , regarding the sale of services . So , , this is the sale of services to Whirlpool Corporation , which used to happen in the past .

Narasimhan Eswar: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Manjeet. Let me take up the first question regarding the sale of services. This is the sale of services to Whirlpool Corporation, which used to happen in the past. There's an agreement as a part of the transaction, we have agreed with the Whirlpool Corporation that these services will continue until March 29. That's what is the agreement, which is also in the public domain. We have made disclosures because it is a related party transaction, and the margins are on arm's length basis, which is a cost-plus kind of a business. Now, what happens beyond March 29 is purely on the discretion of Whirlpool Corporation. If they want to retain the services

Speaker #1: , there is an agreement as a part of the transaction , we have agreed with the Whirlpool Corporation that these services will continue until March 29th .

Speaker #1: , so that's , that's what is the agreement , which is also in the public domain . We've made disclosures because it is a related party transaction .

Speaker #1: And the margins are on arms length basis , which is a cost plus , , kind of a business . Now , what happens beyond March 29th is purely on the discretion of Whirlpool Corporation .

Speaker #1: If they want to retain the services in India or with us , or how would they want But right now , our agreement for the services is till March 29th .

Aditya Jain: In India or with us, or how would they want to do it. Right now, our agreement for those services is till March 29, kind of at arm's length on a cost-plus basis.

Speaker #1: And at arm's length on a cost plus basis . Yeah .

Narasimhan Eswar: Yeah. Thanks, Aditya. On the AC point, you asked the question on healthy ROI. I think I kind of partially covered it previously. See, the AC business as we see it is a very interesting business, but in a way, it's a risky business. What is the risk in it is that if the summer season is fantastic, then your products sell like hotcakes and you're short of supply. If the summer season is not very good like last year, 2025, then you end up in a situation where you're sitting on tons of stock if you pre-produced. The way we try to keep a healthy ROI is very simple, like I said, responsible growth. We are not putting massive targets.

Speaker #4: Thanks . On the AC point , , you asked the question on healthy ROI . So I think I kind of partially covered it previously .

Speaker #4: The way I see the AC business as we see it is a very , very interesting business . But in a way , it's a risky business .

Speaker #4: And what is the risk in it is that if the summer season is fantastic , then your products sell like hotcakes and you're short of supply .

Speaker #4: But if the summer season is not very good , like last year , 2025 , then you end up in a situation where you are sitting on tons of stock .

Speaker #4: If you reproduced the way we try to keep a healthy Roy is very simple . Like I said , responsible growth . We are not , , you know , putting massive targets .

Speaker #4: For example , let us , you know , triple our business from this year to next because our base is small and produce a huge amount of product and then sit on it and don't know what to do .

Narasimhan Eswar: For example, let us triple our business from this year to next because our base is small and produce a huge amount of product and then sit on it and don't know what to do. We're calibrating our growth so that we grow responsibly. The AC business, de facto, is a lower margin business than refrigerators or washers because of the kind of comparative pressures that are there. If we can manage it in such a way that we don't have a lot of obsolescence and we don't have a lot of inventory sitting, which becomes an inventory carrying cost, or it'll have to be discounted and sold, then it is quite a reasonable business. Our interest would be in AC is to keep increasing the absolute margin per unit year on year as we drive this business.

Speaker #4: So we're calibrating our growth so that we grow responsibly . The AC business de facto is a lower margin business , and refrigerators and washers because of the kind of competitive pressures that are there .

Speaker #4: , but if we can manage it in such a way that we don't have a lot of obsolescence and we don't have a lot of inventory sitting , which becomes an inventory carrying cost , or it will have to be discounted and sold .

Speaker #4: Then it is quite a reasonable business . So our interest would be in AC is to keep increasing the absolute margin . Excuse me , absolute margin year on year .

Speaker #4: Right . As we drive this business and at the same time make sure that makes sure that your profit year on year is getting better on AC business .

Narasimhan Eswar: At the same time, make sure that your profit year on year is getting better on the AC business. At the same time, make sure that you're much better than 10% or 20% growth, in AC. We could go for another strategy that says let's go for 100% growth or 200% growth, but that will have its own risks. The way we make sure there is a healthy ROI is what I call the responsible growth strategy. We don't just go and list at any cost. We don't do that. If somebody says, "Yeah, list, but give me this percentage more," then we don't do it because it doesn't make financial sense for us long term. Once you agree a trade deal, then you're stuck with it for years. That's my answer to you.

Speaker #4: And at the same time, make sure that you have much better than a 10 or 20% growth in DC. We could go for another strategy that says, let's go for 100% growth or a 200% growth, but that will have its own risks.

Speaker #4: So the way we make sure that it's a healthy ROI is what I call the responsible growth strategy . So we don't just go and list at any cost , we don't do that .

Speaker #4: So if somebody says , yeah , list , but you know , give me this much percentage more , then we don't do it because it doesn't make financial sense for us long term .

Speaker #4: Once you agree to a trade deal, then you're stuck with it for years. So that's my answer to you. We try to do it in such a way that we increase the margin in AC year after year.

Narasimhan Eswar: We try to do it in such a way that we're increasing the margin in AC year after year. If this year the margin is X, next year it should be 1.1X, the year after that 1.2X, after that 1.3X, et cetera. That makes sure you're growing profitability. We make sure that we try to grow the business in a healthy way, utilizing our tremendous strength in both traditional trade and in organized trade, and not depending only on one channel. That is the answer to the question on the healthy ROI. Your suggestion, thank you so much for the ESOPs point that you made. I just want to highlight to everybody, that you talked about vesting at face value or vesting at market rates. See, we need to just step back for a second.

Speaker #4: So if this year the margin is X , next year it should be 1.1 x . The year after that 1.2 x after that 1.3 x , etc.

Speaker #4: . That makes sure you're growing profitability . And we make sure that we try to grow the business in a healthy way , utilizing our tremendous strength in both traditional trade and in organized trade , and not depending only on one channel .

Speaker #4: So that is the answer to the question on the healthy Roy , your suggestion . Thank you so much for the ESOPs . Point that you made .

Speaker #4: So I just want to highlight to everybody , , that you talked about vesting at face value vesting , , on , , you know , vesting at market rates .

Speaker #4: See , we need to just step back for a second . We had done an extensive exercise benchmarking a lot of recent , , Esop plans that were floated and approved in the market .

Narasimhan Eswar: We had done an extensive exercise benchmarking a lot of recent ESOP plans that were floated and approved in the market. Without mentioning names, a lot of strong companies have actually issued shares at face value, and that's been fine. We also checked with all the governance rules that are typically given by advisors on this, and their advice was, if you do it at face value, make sure it's very strongly linked to performance. I'll just explain. I'll take a few minutes to explain this. I'm sorry I will exceed time by about 3 minutes, but it's really worth it. We are linking it extremely strongly to performance. 100% of our vesting is based on performance. Okay? Just for you to know, previously, the same leadership team was actually getting shares from the Whirlpool Corporation, as I'm sure many of you are aware.

Speaker #4: And without mentioning names , a lot of strong companies have actually issued , , shares at face value . And that's been fine .

Speaker #4: , and we also checked with all the governance rules that are typically given by advisors on this and their advice was , if you do it at face value , make sure it's very strongly linked to performance .

Speaker #4: And I'll just explain , I'll take a few minutes to explain this . I'm sorry , I will exceed time by about three minutes , but it's really worth it .

Speaker #4: So we are linking it extremely strongly to performance , 100% of our vesting is based on performance . Okay . And just for you to know , previously the same leadership team was actually getting , , shares from the Whirlpool Corporation , as I'm sure many of you are aware .

Speaker #4: And in that case , half of the shares were based on time vesting , which basically meant if you had 100 shares , 33 would vest this year , 33 next year , 33 the year after that .

Narasimhan Eswar: In that case, half of the shares were based on time vesting, which basically meant if you had 100 shares, 33 would vest this year, 33 next year, 33 the year after that. This was half of the shares. The other half of the shares was cliff vesting based on performance. What we've done now is made 100% of the shares for senior management vest only after 3 years, which is cliff vesting.

Speaker #4: This was half of the shares and the other half of the shares was cliff vesting based on performance . What we've done now is made 100% of the shares for senior management , vest only after three years , which is cliff vesting .

Narasimhan Eswar: Performance.

Speaker #4: And completely based only on performance . Right . So this is a very big change already for for the senior management . And by the way , it was also being given at face value .

Narasimhan Eswar: Completely based only on performance. Right? This is a very big change already for the senior management. By the way, it was also being given at face value. From a senior management point of view, as you know, in terms of paying, we look at base pay bonus and long-term incentives for the senior management. Our base pay typically is not cutting edge, even with respect to the industry. It is just the bonus and the variable pay or the LTI, where we try to incentivize management to give us longer performance. That has been the philosophy historically. We are following through on that philosophy, but making the conditions even more stringent in agreement with the board before we present it to you.

Speaker #4: So from a senior management point of view , as you know , , in terms of paying , we look at base pay bonus and long term incentives for senior management are base pay typically is not , you know , cutting edge , , even with respect to the industry , it is just the bonus and the variable pay or the LTI where we try to incentivize management to give a stronger performance .

Speaker #4: That has been the philosophy historically. We are following through on that philosophy, but making the conditions even more stringent in agreement with the board.

Speaker #4: Before we present it to you . So like I said , versus time vesting for 50% , we are now only doing performance vesting , which is already a big change for the senior management .

Narasimhan Eswar: Like I said, versus time vesting for 50%, we are now only doing performance vesting, which is already a big change for the senior management. Right? Second, where it was vesting one third, one third, one third on time vesting, now it will all vest only after year 3. That's another big change. Lastly, individual performance, there was no penalty on the long-term incentives. Just to explain, if the company did its numbers globally, then you would basically get your long-term vesting. What we've now done excuse me, is to say, if 2 of the 3 ratings are inconsistent or let's say not good enough as determined by the board or by the leadership team, then the management even has the chance to get 0 LTI. If you get 2 out of your last 3 years, you've not got good ratings.

Speaker #4: Right ? Second , where it was wasting one third , one third , one third on time listing . Now it will all vest only after year three .

Speaker #4: That's another big change . And lastly , , individual performance . There was no penalty on the long term incentives . So just to explain , if the company did its numbers globally , then you would basically get your long term vesting .

Speaker #4: But what we've now done , excuse me , is , is to say if two of the three ratings are inconsistent or let's say not good enough , as determined by the board or by the leadership team , then the management even has the chance to get zero LTI .

Speaker #4: So if you get two out of your last three years , you've not got good ratings . The ratings are below average . You'll get zero .

Narasimhan Eswar: The ratings are below average. You'll get zero. That is a new condition. We've already made it much more stringent than what our current management team was actually getting to protect and safeguard our future. Lastly, if I may add, sir, and I wish to place it on record that we are not only the leadership team. There are literally six people on my leadership team, including myself and Mr. Aditya Jain, who are also individual shareholders of Whirlpool of India. With our own money, not ESOPs, with our own money, we've bought shares. We are as much shareholders as anybody else in the company. Our, let's say, personal stake is very much there. These are pretty big amounts for us. I hope that's a very straightforward and fact-based answer to your question.

Speaker #4: So that is a new condition . So we've already made it much more stringent than what our current management team was actually getting to protect and safeguard our future .

Speaker #4: Lastly , if I may add , sir , and I wish to place it on that we are not only the leadership team There are literally six people on my leadership team , including myself and Mr. James , who are also individual shareholders of Whirlpool of India .

Speaker #4: So with our own money , not with our own money , we bought shares . So we are as much shareholders as anybody else .

Speaker #4: , in the company . So our , let's say , personal stake is very much there . , and these are pretty big amounts for us , you know , , so I hope that's a very straightforward and fact based , , answer .

Speaker #3: No , no , that was very helpful . Really appreciate the detailed explanation . And also appreciate the hard work that has gone in over the last three years since this team really started the turnaround .

Manjeet Boaria: No, that was very helpful. Really appreciate the detailed explanation and also appreciate the hard work which has gone in over the last three years since this team really started the turnaround. Thank you so much.

Narasimhan Eswar: No, that was very helpful. Really appreciate the detailed explanation and also appreciate the hard work which has gone in over the last three years since this team really started the turnaround. Thank you so much.

Speaker #3: Thank you so much .

Speaker #4: Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

Narasimhan Eswar: Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

Speaker #2: Thank you very much . We'll take that as a last question . I would now like to hand the conference over to Miss

Operator 2: Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Sweta Srivastava.

Operator: Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Sweta Srivastava.

Speaker #5: Thank you , everyone , for call . With that , I would like with that , we would draw this call to a close .

Sweta Srivastava: Thank you everyone for joining the call. With that, we would draw this call to a close. Thank you.

Speaker #5: Thank you .

Speaker #4: Thank you very much . Thank you

Narasimhan Eswar: Thank you very much.

Operator 2: Thank you very much. On behalf of Whirlpool of India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.

Operator: Thank you very much. On behalf of Whirlpool of India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.

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Q1 2027 Whirlpool of India Ltd Earnings Call

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