Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to TTK Prestige Earnings Call Q3 FY 2025-2026. As a reminder, all participant lines will be on the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Yash Jain. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to TTK Prestige 3Q FY 2026 Earnings Call. From the management side, today we have, of course, Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Shankaran, Advisor to the Board, and Mr. Saranyan, the Full-Time Director and CFO. Thank you, and over to you, sir, for your opening remarks.
Good evening. This is Saranyan here. Welcome you all for today's discussions. Before I hand over to our Managing Director, Mr. Venkatesh, I just want to remind the participants that the discussions today may contain certain statements which are futuristic in nature. Such statements represent the intentions of the management and the efforts being put in by them to realize certain goals. The success in realizing these goals depends on various factors, both internal and external. Therefore, we request the investors to make their own independent judgments by considering all relevant factors before taking any investment decisions. Thank you. Over to you, Venky.
Good afternoon, this is Venkatesh. So let me start with sort of an overview from a global perspective and the industry perspective, and then zoom in onto our conversations around our company performance. I think the year that went by and the last few months have seen a little bit of turbulence as far as the global scenario is concerned, related to some of the economic issues, related to some of the policy-related issues at a very macro level. So despite, there's been a lot, in my, in our view, there's been a little bit of turbulence in terms of the global overview.
Not having much impact internally in the country, in our view, but I think some of these global unsettling issues are sort of leading to a little bit of slowdown, which probably would get addressed as we move forward. From an inflation perspective, I think that is something that starts to ease out over a period of time. That should help in terms of exports as we move in. From our country's perspective and some of the policy-related changes have had a bearing in terms of a few areas around exports, which we believe should get sorted out, and that should help as we move forward.
From a country perspective, we are quite strong, believing that country continues to grow on a strong path in the region of around 7.3%-7.4% GDP, backed by a strong demand and also in terms of both services and industrial activity, right? The Q2 FY2026 GDP, as we all know, is around an 8.2% eight-quarter high as well. This sort of zooms out well for us in terms of demand, in terms of a stronger, resilient industry, and that's probably also reflecting in a few areas in our industry as well, as we speak about the quarter that's just gone by. From an industry perspective, we believe that we're sort of bouncing.
In the last few quarters, we've been starting to bounce back, and industry as a whole seems to be stabilizing reasonably well across both the categories of appliances and kitchenware. We do, however, see that there are cost-related pressures that are coming in. Input costs have been drastically increasing in the last few quarters and months in specific, and this is where some of the global disturbances are also impacting us. That is something that we would be worried about, and that we believe would also continue into the reasonable future, and that's something that would get addressed as we move forward, as we discuss. For the quarter gone by, I think, we've had a reasonably good quarter, which has been supported by a very significant festive uplift.
We also are seeing a lot of premiumization happening, like we've mentioned in the previous discussions. We were seeing, we're seeing a very strong premiumization trend in certain geographies, and an equal volume growth led market growth in some of the Tier 2, Tier 3 towns as well. So I think a combination of premiumization and mass market growth is what we see sort of pushing the category, and we are well poised to take charge of this opportunity, and I think we're demonstrating that in the reasonable quarters to build that have gone by, and this quarter has been sort of resilient on that basis as well. In terms of channels, we see that there's been a strong growth push that's happened from quick commerce, e-commerce, and the large format stores.
Obviously, the growth of these channels are putting a little bit of pressure on the general trade as it has been in the past. But we do believe that there are some corrective actions that we could take to help sort of stabilize this growth as far as the general trade channel is concerned. Our own channel of PXL which is our own channels of retail stores that we have, have seen a reasonable growth, I would say, at an overall level. So overall, we do believe that this growth is balanced across channels, and there are certain growth engines as far as e-commerce is concerned and quick commerce is concerned, and as a combination, we are seeing an omni-channel growth happening across. So that's from a quarter perspective.
As we, as we mentioned earlier, there are cost pressures which are sort of getting addressed as we move forward, and they continue to remain for a reasonable future in our mind. We are buoyed by the fact that this growth is being pushed or sustained by a demand push across geographies, and it is across categories. We do, however, believe that there are a few categories where we are seeing pricing challenges coming in, as a combination of heightened competition, and also as a combination of a large number of new brands coming in as well. Some parts of appliance business are going through this pressure. We believe that it might be transient in nature and will get addressed in the right way, and that's the way we look at some of our appliance categories as well.
So overall, it's been a reasonably good quarter for us, backed by sustained investments that we continue to make into our CapEx, as well as into our OpEx, to build capabilities, particularly on the R&D side and on the brand side. And we continue to expand our capacities both in cookware as well as cookers, and also have the capacities from our partners expanded in appliances as well. So we are well positioned also to be able to address some of these growth demands from a back-end perspective, including a supply chain, as we move forward. So all in all, I think a reasonably good performance from our side, a very confident position that we are in right now.
We do believe as we move forward, we would be able to sustain some of these opportunities that are available in the industry, and continue to grow. That from my side, overall. Open to questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sameer Gupta, from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, sir, and thanks for taking my question. Firstly, sir, double-digit revenue growth for past 2 quarters. Underlying, we are still seeing some subduedness in demand overall. I'm not talking about your company, but in general, across all retail channels. I understand that you wouldn't want to divulge details, but any sense you can provide as to how much of this growth can be attributable to the GTM changes that you would have done over these past few quarters? And what would be growth excluding these? Or simply put, what would be the consumer-level sales growth that you are seeing, or, secondary sales growth? Any number would be helpful.
I think it would be too early for us to comment on that, but I would give you the comfort saying that there is significant amount of GTM-related initiatives that are going in, and hopefully that will also reflect over a period of time in our market share movement. So we do believe that there is input on the GTM, particularly on channel-related initiatives that are going in. It might be too early for us to comment on this at this point of time.
Got it, sir. Just a follow-up here. If this is GTM-related, is it a correct understanding that post-anniversary of, you know, of these initiatives in Q2 of next year, it would be more dependent on, you know, end demand picking up, or it's a continuing ongoing thing which will, you know, last beyond the anniversary also?
No, we would like to believe that this is sustainable. These initiatives are not one-time corrective initiatives, but they are process corrections and efficiency corrections that we're also doing. Plus, also, we are doing a bit in terms of energizing some of the channels from our perspective, so we do believe that this is sustainable growth. Having said that, there is always the larger factor of demand that will always be there. Because at an overall level, we are better than the industry, or we would like to be better than the industry. I think from that perspective, I think some of these initiatives will help us stay ahead of the industry over a period of time, and sustainable over a period of time.
Got it, sir. Just a clarification here. The point I'm trying to make is that this 11%, 10% growth may not be completely reflective of the end consumer demand at this point.
I am still yet to see from a... You're partially right. Yes, there is an element of individual company performance on this, which I think we should be able to sort of work on that. But the larger point in terms of significant growth is also buoyed by the festive demand that we've had, so I don't want to sort of write it off completely. We do believe that there is demand resurgence or a festive demand that's worked in specific categories for us.
Got it, sir.
But there is the added layer of our own initiatives that have come.
Got it, sir. This is helpful. Second question, sir, is on the commodity. So aluminum prices are up 20% in the past six months, and I'm sure copper is also trending in a similar trajectory. I believe that it is yet to hit the P&L, given that you have a 70-75 days of inventory on sales. So firstly, what would be the salience of aluminum and copper in your cost basket? And are there plans to take price hikes in the immediate future to mitigate the impact, or we would look at other means?
It will be a combination of other means and also a price hike. We don't rule out a price hike. Like has been in the past, we would also evaluate price hike as relevant, but it would not be sort of, deviating much from the industry to that extent. We don't want to be a loner in terms of price strategy. I think the current scenario of cost warrants that there is a price correction across the board, and that should be visible in the coming months. Some of them have been initiated, some will get initiated. There would be price corrections that would happen basis the current cost pressures that we have. The only thing that we would like to be very clear is that we wouldn't be a lone ranger in this.
Got it. And the percentage of salience of aluminum, copper in our cost basket, sir?
It will be around 20%-30%, depending on the product to product.
Got it. And balance largely will be steel?
Yeah. Yeah.
Got it, sir. Thanks. I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups. Thanks for taking all the questions at home.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question, may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Rehan Syed from Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon to the team, and thank you for taking this question. So like, my most of the questions you have answered slightly, and like I have left with two questions. So first of all, I want an understanding regarding your modern play with e-com lead growth. So you have said that modern play that e-com is something to lead growth. So I want to understand how does profitability in these channels compare to general trade, and how are you managing discounting pressure in online platforms?
Is your question specifically related to profitability of these channels?
Yeah, yeah. Like I want... Yeah, that's it.
No, I, I think, we view e-com as a high-growth channel with reasonable profitability. It's a business model that, we have mastered over a period of time. I would say reasonably mastered over a period of time, despite competitive challenges that the channel might have. I think our belief was the e-com channel is here to stay. It is a high-growth channel. At a profitability level, we do not see too much of dilution at a channel level. I think there are some costs which are neutralized, there are some costs which are picked up. Net-net, I would say that it is a channel of reasonable profitability, and, a sustained growth in the channel would not impact our P&L. It would help us from a growth perspective.
The challenge is to make sure that the pricing across channels remain the same, and that's something that we have strategically addressed. We would like to make sure that general trade as well as the e-com channel, the pricing is maintained, and that's something that we've internally worked with our partners, worked with the e-com partners as well, to make sure the dilution does not sort of impact the growth. That is something that as a brand, as a company, we've had tighter controls over the last few quarters, and we do believe that we are in a reasonable place of exercising control there. The channel would continue to be high growth for us and would be reasonably placed for us on the profitability curve as well.
Oh, okay. Okay, it's a fair understanding. And last, one more question is regarding the, you have SKU slide, that you put 45 SKUs launched in quarter three and another is planned 40 in quarter four. So how do you balance SKU expansion with the need for inventory discipline and working capital efficiency for going forward?
No, I think so. See, new products in some of our categories that we operate, and largely in kitchenware and appliances, even if you were to look at, I think new products is definitely a lever of growth and consumer preferences in terms of aesthetics, consumer preferences in terms of new design, in the kitchen, making the good kitchen look much more beautiful. I think there is a continuous need for us to keep reinventing on some of these SKUs. The inventory management is a function of volume projection, is a function of very rigorous focus on low-volume SKUs. Some of them get phased out over a period of time, some of them get reinvigorated, and that's the way we manage.
So in my view, I think, the numbers that you're talking about is something that this category would continue to see for many more quarters to come. The nature of the product might change up and down, depending on the category, but I think at a company level, we would lay a larger emphasis on introducing new SKUs based on design, based on aesthetics, based on functionalities as well. And they get managed through a systematic way across different channels.
Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, thank you. I'll join back in the queue.
Participants who wish to ask a question, may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Shreyans Jain from Swan Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. So my first question is, when I look at the appliances piece of your business, the growth is largely, you know, below the overall company's, is 3% growth. And if I look at the last four years, you know, Q3, the proportion of sales also has come down, you know, 200 basis points, it has gone down. So what really is happening in this category, and why do we see such low growth rates in this category?
Yeah, like I mentioned, I think, I would see it as two parts. I think there is a very strong resurgence of the kitchenware category, which bodes well from an industry perspective and as a company perspective. I think there's reasonable, robust demand-backed growth in the kitchenware, backed by a lot of SKU introductions that are happening, material upgradation that's happening, geographical expansion that's also happening, right? On the appliance side, I think all of these are happening, but we've had issues around pricing. We do believe that there are pricing pressures that are happening in the industry today, and that sort of is leading to a deflation on value, and that's probably one of the reasons, the growth seems to be sharply, sort of reflecting what you had mentioned, right?
So the appliance category has sort of two challenges. One, there is a pricing challenge driven by a few set of channels. A lot of new brands are entering into these categories and sort of playing tactical pricing at this point of time. So my belief is that these categories, some of our categories will go through this pricing challenge. The only way that we would address this is by premiumizing and continuing to stay on our path of premiumization. We would also focus on introducing a lot of small domestic appliances, which we believe is also now sort of becoming an impulse category equivalent. Consumers are sort of testing out a lot of new categories of smaller value, thanks to quick commerce, thanks to e-commerce. That is something that we are focused on.
So we are taking a two-pronged approach. Appliances, we will continue to focus on premiumizing our portfolio, building our brand portfolio for Prestige. Second is to look at some of the smaller appliances of relevance to consumers and start sort of loading them. So it goes back to the previous question also. Therefore, you would see a lot more SKUs coming in, lot more of category, subcategory introductions that will happen. But in general, our view, I think the appliance business is going through a pricing war or a sort of a pricing aggression at this point of time. We do believe that it, it is transient in nature, and it should sort of play out over a period of time, and therefore, we don't want to abruptly respond to some of this.
We will take a call as we move forward and see a few more, or maybe a couple of quarters before we really sort of change, if it's required. In comparison, the demand seems to be small, lesser for appliances compared to kitchenware.
Okay. So my second question is: can you help us with the channel mix for us? You know, why I'm asking this is because, as we expand our TTK Prestige EBOs, you know, how do you sort of compete with the GT, you know? Because typically, our business used to be heavy on the GT, and now when you go out and open EBOs, isn't there a channel conflict, you know, the GT guy saying cannibalization of sales happening? So how do you sort of balance that between your EBO strategy as well as the GT?
It's not a new strategy. I think, see, we've over the years, we've built 100 stores, right? And we are, we are accelerating the pace of that growth as we move forward. So as a fundamental philosophy, we believe that the two channels are not cannibalizing each other. There might be some structural cannibalization, but, given that we've operated these stores over the last, so many years, structurally, I think they talk to two different sets of consumers, one. Second, I think the product portfolio, we see very clear differences. And we do believe that they coexist, and they complement, and they don't sort of necessarily cannibalize in our view. In our view, it's a good strategy that has played out for the success of the company in the last few years.
We are sort of becoming more aggressive in this channel as we move forward, placing our confidence in the channel. So the two channels in our mind don't conflict each other in terms of consumer preference, in terms of type of consumer profiles that are getting addressed, and also to a large extent, the portfolio sales that happen as well. I think it works well in our mind.
Is this EBO channel slightly more profitable for you?
I think they are more or less, more or less the same between general trade and Prestige Xclusive.
Yeah.
Because there are some things... Like I said, each channel has got its own dynamics in terms of the ways that we spend money. But having said that, I think each of the channels today are reasonably well-placed from a profitability perspective in our mind.
And so just the mix of channels for us.
It will be roughly general trade will be around 40, our EBOs around 15. The large format and the e-commerce will do around 32 to around 30, 32%. The rest will be the institutions and others.
Okay. Just the last question. You know, we've seen strong growth in Judge portfolio. Just trying to get some sense, is it just because of some internal changes that we've done, or you think that price point, the market seems to be picking up, and the whole market has sort of turned for the better? Can you give us some sense there at those price points, what is happening actually in the industry?
So, like I said, I think we are seeing growth across price points. In some of the higher price points, it's being driven by value upgradation. In the lower price points, it's being driven by volume growth. So Judge is playing in the mass market pricing, driven by volume growth, and I think it's a combination of the two that's working. So Judge play is at large around the growth that we are seeing from the mass market price point and the mass market expansion in terms of Tier 2, Tier 3 towns.
Got it. I have one more question. Can I ask that?
Totally. Yeah.
So, one question I had was, you know, the cooker and cookware, you know, have seemed to have done well, and you also mentioned in your commentary that slightly because of the GST impact. So can you just quantify X of that, what would have been growth rates for us in Q3?
That will be very difficult for us to, quantify and mention that.
Got it.
Yeah, I would say the narrative would be larger than I think it's being boiled down by demand. There is a certain impact of GST, but I would not place a very large impact on that. I think it's been a sort of a demand regeneration and upgradation is two key levers for growth in this category.
But do you see this sustaining? Because the last three years, the whole cooker/cookware category, sort of, you know, didn't do that well. So do you think, this, this actually sustains going forward? Obviously, last two quarters we've done well, but, do you think the next two, two, two and a half years, this category and overall kitchen should do well for the industry?
The growth rates may not be similar. It can be a little bit up and down. I don't want to hazard a guess on that. But directionally, I do believe that the category's got enough headroom and enough opportunities that are sort of pushing the growth, compared to what the last three, four, three years would have been.
Can you call that out? What specifics are you seeing?
So we are very clearly seeing. Like I mentioned, we are very clearly seeing value upgrade. Value upgrade is being driven in two forms. One, material upgrade from aluminum to stainless steel, triply, cast irons of the world, from a cooker/cookware perspective or a cookware perspective at large. Second, I think, it is also we are also seeing a lot of premiumization happening around the form factors in terms of aesthetics. That's also helping us drive some of the value up. So I think there is a very clear, demarked performance as far as premiumization is concerned in the top towns, and as far as the volume growth is happening in the tier two, tier three towns. So I think these two trends continue to be mega trends that are driving this growth.
They will be reasonably consistent in this for the next few years to come, in my mind. I mean, will it be as high or will it be low? That I don't want to give a guess, but I think it will be a reasonable band of growth that the industry would see from this perspective.
Got it, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ensure management can answer all questions, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Resha Mehta from GreenEdge Wealth. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Sir, so, you know, just extending the previous participant's question on cookers and cookware. So, you know, the GST impact would largely, you know, the bump up in demand would probably, you know, would have settled by the end of December. So are we seeing, you know, similar kind of buoyancy continuing even in Jan? Just trying to understand whether, you know, structurally the demand for cookers, which is a mature category, looks robust, even after the, you know, GST changes would have settled, and even cookware.
Like I mentioned, probably I don't want to put a number to it, but yeah, it is reasonably better than in the past, I would say.
So for cookers and cookware, I mean, sustainably, is it possible that, you know, cookers grows in high single digits and cookers, let's say, somewhere in low double digits? Is, is that a cookware at low double digits, is that a possibility?
There's a little bit of disturbance on the line. We're not able to hear you fully.
Is this better?
Yeah, yes, please.
Yeah. So I'll just repeat. So is it possible that, you know, going forward, cookers continues, you know, can possibly grow at, you know, let's say 7-8%, because it's a mature category, while cookware can probably, you know, grow in the 10-12% range? Is that possible?
Yes. I think reasonably possible, and our belief is because of two macro trends. That's not very specific to our company, but from an industry perspective. I think there's a lot of replacements that are happening. The replacement-led growth in both these categories is fairly high at this point of time. I think it is reaching a critical momentum in terms of the portfolio that it would, it would help growth. So you're right, from a highly penetrated category like cooker, I would, I would see it very similar to some of the other categories that you would have probably seen in consumer durables.
This category is also going through a significant replacement cycle, driven by the need to make the kitchen even more beautiful, driven by the need to make kitchen smarter, and also in terms of being able to drive some of the new material innovations in the market. So I think that replacement cycle is what is driving. Between a new user growth and replacement cycle, I would place the larger emphasis on the replacement cycle. The cookware category, I think, the cookware category, on the contrary, has got the benefit of both. It is going through user growth expansion, and it is from unorganized sectors into organized sector. It is also going through a sort of a replacement cycle in terms of material upgradation that is happening.
So all in all, my belief is that when an economy of our size starts moving in a certain direction, and a part of our Indian economy will behave in similar manner, this category happens to be one of the categories benefiting from a macro trend of this nature, and I think we would see this happen for some more time to come.
And, you know, because of the muted growth in appliances, right? And you called out the high competition there, would you say that we would have lost some market share there in the last, say, one odd years?
No. So, we've not lost market share there. We've responded where need be. Like I said, I think we choose the battles to play. This is one place that we have probably seen it more from a perspective of category to category. In some categories, we've responded well, in some categories, we've reserved our sort of efforts at this point of time. But suffice to say that at a larger level, we've not lost, we wouldn't have lost market share in our core.
Which products come in the others category?
Others category would be largely around, your small items like, kettles. There could be smaller items like,
Sorry, others will have your kitchen tools.
Others, yeah. But that is a small portion.
Small, kitchen items, tools, accessories, et cetera.
These are accessories and small kitchen tools.
Gross margins, so, you know, you did speak about that, but typically, like, what is the, you know, how many inventory days do we hold for, you know, aluminum, copper, and steel?
That is a little more confidential. We don't want to reveal on that in the open forum.
Okay, okay. And, you know, this OpEx of INR 200 crore, which we had envisaged, when we began the strategic transformation, of that, roughly INR 90 crore is done. So, safe to assume that it's only the balance INR 110 crore is remaining here, or, you know, can we see, you know, some more, OpEx, going forward about, the planned INR 200 crore number?
So we have estimated close to around 300. That's more an estimate we have put in. I think we are in the process of assessing what is required and when it is to be deployed. This will happen over a period of three years. It may be around 300, or less than or more than, around that number.
But I think the OpEx was INR 200 and CapEx was INR 300.
OpEx was INR 200, and CapEx was INR 300.
You told it wrong.
You're talking about OpEx or CapEx? Sorry, I got it wrong.
My question was on the OpEx. So what time period, how much time is left and, what-
We have, we have three years. That's what we have indicated. We have just completed in a year. It will be another couple of years, I think, this will continue.
Understood. You know, we've kept launching a lot of SKUs, new products, right? So if any metric you can share that, you know, let's say the products that you have launched in the last two years, how much are they contributing to our overall revenues? Or any color if you can provide on this.
No, that, that would be a little too micro in detail, I think. But suffice to say that these, the, in the new products that we're launching is also part of the reason of the growth that we are seeing today. I think they are clearly playing a accelerated role, and that is something that we can be confident about, and we will continue to stay invested upon. Very specific of contribution, I think we'll reserve our comments there.
Would it be like a single-digit number?
No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to sort of put a number to that, ma'am, right now.
Sure. Just a last question on the exports. In view of the U.S. tariffs, right, how is our outlook on the exports? I see that we've grown well. Any benefits, you know, from this India-U.K. FTA, that we are seeing?
There are benefits both in India-U.K. FTA, and also we expect that in the India-E.U. FTA as well. But that will take some time for us to get these benefits, because there are certain products to be exempted from duty when you are selling it from here. So some categories of items will get some benefit, but we have to wait and see how that's everything gets rolled out after. But we are confident, we are, that we will get some reasonable exports because of that, but we have to wait and see.
Sure.
The U.S. market remains challenged. U.S. market still is a challenge.
Right. Right. Sure. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sahil from Kotak Mahindra. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir, good afternoon. Hello.
Yeah, good afternoon.
Yeah, I have a question regarding appliance segment. So actually, we could see growth in cookers and cookware, but, among the newer appliance categories, such as, like, air fryers, chimneys, and hobs, could you highlight which products are currently gaining traction, and which ones have the potential to scale up materially over the next few years?
So, I think if you were to look at the appliance businesses, a reasonable set of growth is happening, like you said, from air fryers and hood and hob. We are also seeing growth offshoots in mixer grinders as well, driven by premiumization.
Okay.
We are also seeing growth on cooktops as well. So cooktops have been a little muted among all, but I think the growths are being driven by the mid-sized appliances in the kitchen. The pressure is coming on the smaller appliances.
Okay.
- which are low in value, but high in volume.
Okay, okay, okay, understood. So the highest, highest-growing product would be air fryers, hobs, and mixer grinder, right?
Yes.
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rama Krishna Neti from Zen Wealth Management Services. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you. I have a couple of questions. The first one is, like, in your opening remarks, you have mentioned that there has been pricing pressure and challenges because of onset of new brands and new companies. So just wanted to understand which are the categories actually that are seeing heightened competitive intensity, if you can throw some light on that?
... Second point is from a value migration perspective, like you were mentioning earlier, as part of answer to a previous question, that there is value migration happening from aluminum to steel. So, theoretically, just trying to understand, you know, the percentage composition between aluminum cookware or steel cookware, what was it a few quarters back and a few years back, and what is it now? So, if you, if you can just help us understand on these two aspects. Thank you.
Okay. Again, the numbers that I'm talking about is not about the company. I think at an industry level, if you were to look at, cookers are, cookers, the aluminum category for cookers at an industry level would be around 50%. So the balance 50% is a combination of stainless steel and triply. Growth in favor of stainless steel triply. That's for the industry, we see that clearly. In terms of cookware, we do see that the stainless steel triply bucket is growing faster. It could be in the region of around 35%-40% for the industry, and that's the point. In terms of brands, we are seeing a lot of brands enter into small domestic appliance based on China sourcing.
That is largely being sort of facilitated in the e-commerce channels at this point of time. So that's, that's probably where. In the mid-sized appliances and high-value appliances, we don't see this pressure. We see this pressure on smaller appliances, which are driven by pricing, which are driven by e-commerce channels. A lot of new brands have come in. Some of them have reasonably placed themselves. A large part of them are probably little bit of disturbance in the industry at this point of time.
Sure. Thank you. This helps. Can I ask one more question, if it's okay?
Please go ahead.
Yeah. So, just wanted to understand if you have taken any price hikes in the previous quarter?
We don't want to specifically comment on it, but price hike will be in the pipeline.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mustafa Khedwala from Cube Investments. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, in the mass and the mass premium segment, I'm assuming, sir, the pain that we are feeling in the raw materials, even our competition would be feeling. So, sir, if we are the market leader and we are not passing on the cost, and if we don't hike prices soon, how will this... I mean, the smaller players compete, I mean, won't they lose market share if they also don't raise prices?
I think it's a very strategic question, which probably you will get to see our actions. I don't want to sort of preempt a conversation here on that. But I think the current round of pricing is very aggressive for all of us to respond. We, I don't think the... Like I said, we are also pricing is due. Some amount of pricing correction is due, so we will do that, right? So that is something that we would sort of respond to. There are some areas where I think we will need to take a call basis, how the category is looking at and how is it that we can respond. Directionally, there will be costing, there will be price increases happening.
Would that be more associated with the cooker cookware segment, or in the appliances, sir, you see where the need of a price hike is more?
In both categories, we see the price hike reasonably to be done.
Because they're not only just aluminum-
Copper.
It is copper, that is also going nickel in cases, some cases nickel is also going up. So the impact is across the categories.
Uh.
All right, sir. Actually, sir, in the starting statement, only you said that, you don't want to be the lone wolf in increasing prices, and you are also hoping that... So is that understanding correct, that you are looking for an industry-wide consensus before you raise prices?
No, no, no.
Because if you are the only player,
I think I would like to preempt that understanding, there is nothing that way. I think it is more about responding category. I sort of want to reclassify that, it is about responding category by category. It is so crowded, you cannot have a cartel.
Sorry, sir?
This industry is so fragmented with so many people, like, you cannot have any cartel or anything like that. I'm just on the lighter side.
No, no. My apologies, sir. I wasn't assuming that a cartel is in place, sir. What I'm coming from is, sir, that this competition, which is leading to this price erosion and less pricing power, if a large, the largest player in the segment, if they are not increasing prices and waiting for leadership from the smaller players first, I mean, that's the ambiguity that I can't understand, sir.
No, no, that-
So that means the largest player will take the price hike.
No, that is what I clarified. That would be category by category. So I think, probably if that statement of mine is sort of creating this ambiguity, we will do this category by category. There might be certain specific categories where we probably would be a little more later to respond, but I think price hikes will be taken.
Fair enough, sir. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Sheen G, from Geojit Financial Services Ltd. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello?
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, my question has been already answered. Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone phone. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone phone. Follow-up question is from the line of Mustafa Khedwala from Cube Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you again, sir. Sir, if you look at our performance, if you just look at the cooker and cookware segment, sir, post-corona, the high that we had in sales for the festive season, we have just crossed that, sir, this festive season again, sir. So, what is the reason for this, sir? Because when I compare it to your closest competitor, they seem to have grown in high teens versus our growth of, let's say, like 3%-4%. So, sir, what is the reason for this, sir, you would say?
No, we couldn't get your question. What was, I mean, if you could repeat the question.
Sir, in FY 2020 to 2023, sir, during the festive season of Q2, Q3, if you add up the sales, sir, our festive sale has barely crossed that level this festive season, sir. Whereas when I compare it to your competitors, they seem to have grown almost 18%-20% versus FY 2023. So, sir, I'm trying to understand, sir, what is the reason that we have been unable to grow in cooker and cookware segment as much as our nearest competitor?
I think the two periods are incomparable. Your question is not placed properly.
Sorry, sir, I couldn't hear you.
The two periods are not comparable, because that year there were several factors. The base cannot be right for me, and that is what. The base of somebody would have been lower, they say, therefore, they can show a better growth. My base would have been higher.
I think reasonably look at the last year.
You cannot see any quarter in isolation and then try to make a decision out of it.
Sir, I've taken Q2, Q3, which is the festive season, Diwali.
No, you were talking about,
COVID period.
COVID period. That is four years away. There, you know, much water has flown after that. So, COVID period, ignore. We have to take only what we are doing from last year to this year.
Actually, I think there's been falling, sir, so that's the reason why, I wanted to understand. But okay, sir, no problem. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
So thank you. I think, thank you for your engaging questions, and, it sort of encourages us as we see a lot more of these questions and interest. As we said, I think, we've sort of embarked on a journey, and the journey seems to be reasonably well placed in terms of, transition across the management and stabilization of that, and, some of the growth offshoots that we've seen in the last few quarters. And we do hope that we would consistently stay focused and on the growth path as we move forward. Thank you once again for all your questions and an engaging session. Thank you.
On behalf of Ambit Capital Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.