Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to TTK Prestige Limited Q3 FY 2021 earnings conference call, hosted by Ambit Capital. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the 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. Dhruv Jain of Ambit Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Herman. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to TTK Prestige Q3 FY 2021 conference call. We have with us the management of TTK Prestige, represented by Mr. Jagannathan, the chairman; Mr. Chandru Kalro, director; Mr. Shankaran, the whole-time director; and Mr. Saranyan, the CFO. Thank you, and over to you, sir, for your opening remarks.
Yeah, good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for being here. We've had an excellent quarter, our best quarter actually, ever. We've reported all-time high sales and all-time high bottom line for any quarter ever. We had expected Q3 to be good, as we told you all earlier as well, because we expected all channels to be active only from this quarter. And luckily, the festival sales were excellent for our category of products. And, we're seeing good traction for the brand. The brand has made good strides in markets where we wanted to make good strides. We've not done any drastic reduction in any of our normal expenditure, and this bottom line is clean after all that, because we've decided to keep our advertising in full blow.
Our new products are doing extremely well, and we're looking good for the future. Open for any questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their 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. Anyone who wish to ask a question at this time, then please press star and one. The first question is from the line of Samir Gupta from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on a very good set of numbers. So I got two questions from my side. One is that there is steep inflation in almost all commodities, steel, aluminum, even coal prices have now started to move up, and there is also a disruption from Chinese imports. So in all this context, how do you look at your gross margins and EBITDA margin in tandem? So I know you have logged around 15% this quarter, which is actually very good, 17% this quarter. But for a sustainable basis, what kind of EBITDA margin are you targeting? And should there be a very steep inflation in commodities, how do you plan to manage that? That is my first question, sir.
Well, we pass on all cost increases, so if there's any inflation in steel, aluminum, crude oil, whatever you said, we pass them on. The EBITDA margin depends upon what top line growth is. If the top line growth is good, you will have an impact in margin. If it's poor, you'll have a lower EBITDA margin, but the gross margin we will remain intact.
Just a clarification, sir. So let's say the aluminum prices are up 50%-
Yeah.
You can't really price or pass on 50% price increases, right? Probably absolute amount we may still be able to pass on, and gross margin to that extent will see a contraction. Is that understanding correct?
No, that understanding is wrong.
Okay.
If margin that cost goes up by 50%, we pass on that and the margin on that.
Got it, sir. Agreed. Okay, that's very clear. Secondly, sir, looking at our working capital, 75 days of inventory, 50 days of receivables, just trying to understand, is this part of our business model and things will not change, or is there a plan to reduce this business mix? Any levers sort of, which will result in lower working capital going forward?
In my view, this is probably lower.
Okay, got it, sir. That's all for me, sir. I'll come back in the queue if I have more.
Thank you, sir.
Hello. By the way, your numbers on the working capital are wrong. Because our receivables has come down, because there is a third quarter number with you. Maybe you're talking about second quarter number. Third quarter numbers are far better.
Sir, I'm looking at FY 2020. Sorry.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay, then they're not comparable at this point.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations for the great performance. My first question is, you know, you kind of highlighted that in the press release with respect to supply disruption. So, you know, A, if you could talk about which particular categories did you face the supply chain where are B in terms of normalization? And, B, is in terms of the supply disruption for the period, and if you know what is the extent of revenue loss or lost sales according to us, because of the supply disruption for us?... Chandru?
Yeah. So, you know that we took a unilateral decision to stop Chinese imports of finished goods, way back in May of this financial year. And, we've been working very hard to move those supply chains into India, and we've been successful in doing a lot of it, in fact. But we would have still lost some sales because, some products could not be tooled up, fresh, on time. So my estimate is that the Chinese products that we couldn't move enough to India in terms of supply chain, we would have lost about INR 20-30 crores in turnover for the quarter. And, the other supply chain disruptions were not really disruptions because, in the Q3, we had good supply chain.
But the problem was the accumulated deficits of the Q1 and Q2, which meant that we did not have a surge stock available for this kind of a surge demand, which is what caused the problem. We will have no such problems in the going quarters going forward. The Chinese imports that have come in here, even those models, largely by the end of Q4 of this year, we would have stabilized on most of those products.
Understood. If you could talk about, you know, in terms of the growth in the e-commerce segment, what is the growth Y-o-Y and the mix for us for third quarter FY 2021, sir?
See, you must remember that e-com has grown well. It's healthy clip of 50%-60%, even in Q3. But clearly, it is not. We could have grown even more had we supplied more to the e-com channel, but we did not want to do it at the expense of the other channels, which were just limping back to normalcy. And hence, we played a more equitable role in making sure all channels were fair.
Understood. And what is the mix chart for the third quarter out of the total, revenue?
E-com came to around 16%, which was very much higher than the other two quarters at the beginning of the year. And it could have been better if I... As I said, but we- it could have been at the expense of other channels, which we didn't want.
Fair point. And just last question, sir. You know, given our 24% growth in the domestic market, you know, what is the underlying industry? Because I know it is hard to say, but is there a you know, a pent-up demand angle? Is there a one-time buying, which is played out? Yeah, you know, what I'm trying to look at is more of a medium-term growth. How do we look at this growth in the cooker, cookware, and the appliances segment, sir?
You see, they told us that Q2 results were good, and everybody said it's pent-up demand. Q3 is also good, and you can't just keep on having pent-up demand for 25 years.
Yeah, I think pent-up demand.
Yeah. But, you know, if I have to just see the industry growth, what is the growth one should look at and, you know, in terms of cooker, cookware, and appliances in general?
See, you are looking at a situation of a double-digit growth in most categories as we speak. But however, if you look at the next few quarters, it's all warped because last year we did not have a full quarter because of the lockdown. So it's not strictly comparable. You will have a much better growth on that because you will not have a disrupted March. Similarly, in the Q1 of the next financial year, you have a disturbed Q1 of this financial year, so growth is not comparable. Only after that will we be able to say whether growth is comparable or not. Currently, I don't think we should bother about it. There is good demand, even though we are, we are seeing even the month of January, we've had a good demand.
So therefore, I think we should say that the market is doing well, and it is going towards good brands.
After this budget, which is a very growth-oriented budget, I believe that the market will grow.
So is it fair, like earlier, I remember, sir, you talking about, you know, cooker, cookware are more of mid-single digit growth categories, while appliances is double digits. Would that, you know, assumption change, given what is, happened in last three, four months or what we are currently seeing?
It will change, if not because what has happened in the last three, four months, because we have launched new products, which have got very good traction in the market, so we've got good gains.
Thank you, Mr. Lohade. I request you to join the queue for any follow-up, as there are several participants waiting for their turn. Thank you. We'll move to the next question. That is from the line of Simran Bhatia from SMC Global Securities Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for, you know, giving me the opportunity. And first of all, congrats to your management for, you know, posting such an excellent result. So, there are two, three questions which I want to ask. First of all, is TTK Prestige is taking any advantage from this, you know, PLI scheme, which is, you know, announced by the government few months back? And secondly, I want to understand, what's your percentage of the, of the, you know, total revenue from the, from the non-South India. And, third, what is the percentage of the, you know, e-commerce, in the, in the total revenue? If you can give some figure. And-
Sir, do you know what the PLI Scheme is?
PLI Scheme doesn't apply to our category. It doesn't apply to pressure cookers and cookware or,
It applies.
Kitchen appliances.
Okay.
It is largely related to pharma and other sectors.
In electronics.
Electronics.
Yeah.
Okay, okay. Sir, what's your percentage of your total revenue from the non-South of the country? If you can give some-
It's somewhere about 48-52 kind of thing, South, non-South.
It moves between 48-52, depending on the quarters.
Yeah.
... Okay. And sir, third will be, percentage of the, you know, e-commerce in the total revenue. It is approximately 16%, if I'm not wrong?
Yes, around that. Yes.
Okay. And sir, my, you know, last question is, I mean, I mean, you know, what's the succession planning in the company going on in the future? Are you, you know, looking forward to something like that?
There's a robust plan always there. You can see our annual report this year. We will give much more details there.
Sure, sir. Done. Thank you, sir. Thank you, and, you know, all the best for the future. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Sheth from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on a really good set of numbers. Sir, my first question is, if you can give us some sense on what would be the nine months growth in each of our categories, and what would be our market share currently versus last year?
Can you come back with the question? I didn't understand. What is the growth?
9-month market growth for the cooker, cookware, and appliances categories that we are in, and what would be our market share in each of these segments versus last year?
It's difficult to give you actual category growth because of the COVID. That is difficult to estimate these, and so we don't have those numbers. Neither do we have the latest market share numbers because they haven't yet come in for three quarters. I can tell you for the half of Q2, we have gained share significantly.
Okay. So, yes, basically, what I wanted to understand is that this large part of the growth, is it, I mean, market share, as you're saying, you've gained significant market share. But do you think, you know, this will be sticky or once this supply disruption and now part of the business comes back, you know, part of it might not sustain?
Our gain in market share happens when we have innovative products, and which is exactly how we gain market share, and that is sticky.
Okay. Okay. And, sir, could you give us some sense on the export side of the business? Are we seeing increased inquiries and, you know, because we are targeting a very ambitious INR 500 crore from exports. So how are things shaping up there?
Shaping up very well. We have grown quite significantly in the first nine months of this year.
Actually, we would have grown more, but we doubt if we're able to get container.
Are we seeing increased inquiries for exports, sir?
Yes.
Okay. And, sir, my last question is, you know, we are in appliances segment, we almost now INR 1,000 crore worth of revenue on an annual basis. So, what is the kind of growth that we can assume for sustainably for the next five years? Is a 15% category possible in this category?
Well, that's what we would like to achieve.
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much, and best of luck for future quarter. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Naveen Trivedi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, everyone, and congrats to the team for strong numbers. Sir, is it possible for you to share the what sort of price hike you have taken in the third quarter or any sort of price hike in the, in Jan also?
So we have taken, on a weighted average basis, close to 9% price hikes in the third quarter. That was over two tranches in some categories, and I don't see any price hikes happening in Q4 because we are quite happy with the prices we are getting.
Fair point. And any sort of like channel inventory level, because lots of cities and metros, we have seen a gradual revival in the 3Q. So what sort of channel inventory you have seen?
Channel inventories are at normal levels of under a month, because we haven't been supplying to that extent also. So they're very comfortable, which is why our receivables are also very comfortable. All of that is in good shape.
Fair point. And when you also talked about that 20% sort of a growth in January. So this growth basically like you also talked about the categories are also improving. So it can be a combination of both your market share gain and the categories are also improving. So are you seeing the things which you were talking about, the work from home and the convenience where people are spending money? So that will even that thesis will be there even in the near to medium-term timeframe?
I think so, because people now also, please remember that, they have been saving money on other avenues, and they would, they have been spending money on the home and home improvement and kitchen improvement. So I, I think this trend should continue for a while as we go along.
The work from home is here to stay. All big companies have now decided that the large part of their staff will work from home.
Fair point. And just lastly, also like your gross margin on a YOY basis is down, but are you seeing any sort of premiumization in your categories? Because if I look at your new launches, they all are in the premium segment, and you are saying that you are seeing good traction for even new launches side. So that way, are you seeing a broader level premiumization in your categories?
So, where did you get this gross margin is down from?
Yeah, exactly. Where did you get that information from?
Because my material cost as a percentage of sale is roughly the same as last year, Q3, and it is better than Q2.
... I'm saying on a YOY basis, your margin is slightly down by around 30 basis points, at a go, at a gross margin level.
50 point, 48.21-58.5. That's a difference between product or channel. It's nothing in by itself.
Yeah, that's, so that's what I'm asking, that, is the premiumization trend in your categories are like-- So that's what I'm more curious to know about, the premiumization trend rather than-
No, no, the margin is not because of premiumization. If I sell more mixies, the margin will come down. If I sell more cookware, margin goes up. It's all a matter of product. If I sell more to e-commerce, margin will come down. If I sell more to the retail trade, margin will go up.
So the product channel mix does have a big say, and I think this is quite stable. Yeah, we are, we have a very widely segmented brand across our categories, and we operate in a wide segment of brands, price points. So I don't see any problem there. It's quite stable.
Yeah, fair point, sir. Thank you so much and all the best, sir. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manish Poddar from Nippon India AIF. Please go ahead.
Yeah, sir, congrats on a great set of numbers. So, just wanted to understand, so let's say in Q4, would it be a fair assumption that this INR 200 crore revenue run rate, which you're having on a monthly basis, should easily sustain, given that, you know, there can be some sort of channel filling which can also happen at the year end?
We ensure that we do not fill the channels the way others do. I don't think that we would like to give a guidance on whether this 200 will continue at this point in time.
Online channel is consistently doing about 100 crore sales on a quarterly basis. So, you know, any sort of data which you all are collecting just to understand, you know, is this sales to, you know, exact, you know, completely new set of customers, or, you know, are these just, existing customers buying through another channel?
Sorry, come again with that question.
No, I'm trying to understand. Let's say now online, you all are doing about INR 100 crore of sales on a quarter basis for the last two quarters, easily. So, what I'm trying to understand is, are these new customers altogether for TTK, or you know, these are existing customers just buying through another channel in the interim?
It will be a mix of both.
We don't have the data.
Okay. Okay, fine. Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prashant Kutty from Sundaram Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congrats on a good set of numbers. The first question is on the margin. Apologies if this was answered before. You always highlighted that you would not want to cut back on your expenses or on your employee spend. But this time we've actually seen some of the best EBITDA margin in the last for a very long period of time. How much of it do you think would be sustainable going forward?
That all depends upon the growth. If the growth, market growth is very good, then we will, we will sustain the margin.
Okay, sure. Got your point, but what I'm trying to understand is, are we trying to say that... are we more confident of getting a 20% kind of a growth rate now, looking at the overall market scenario? Because if that is the case, then you are obviously looking at a higher margin structure as well.
That is true. If we get the 20%, we are looking at higher margin structure. That is true.
Okay. But is the market growth moving towards that direction, sir? Because value-
This quarter will certainly be 20%.
No, I'm asking on the market growth. Is the overall market still growing at that such a high rate?
Yeah, as I said, it's difficult to say. I mean, every time we've said it's pent-up demand or it is this or it is that, I think we're taking it as it comes. The brand is strong. As I said, we did not reduce expenditure on advertising. We wanted to make sure that the brand was as strong as ever. We've been feeding all channels so that we are available wherever the customer goes. That's been the philosophy, and if the market is growing, we will get that growth or better.
Okay. Any channel where maybe growth is still not up to your standards or where you probably would want to catch up?
So the last format, so some of them haven't yet come back fully. For example, Future Retail used to be our big customer, you know where it is. So there is some of these things, but Future Retail, some of that sale has been compensated with the other large format stores. Those are some things that wouldn't have come back fully.
The rural market has not yet come back fully.
Some of the MFI sales hasn't come back fully.
Okay, the MFI sales has not yet come back fully.
No.
Sure. And last point, sir, is on the supply chain. You used to highlight about that in the past. How is that situation at this point of time, as far as supply chain is concerned?
Now it is quite stable.
Okay, so you're not facing anything in that?
Yeah.
Okay. Thank you very much, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sanjay Satpathy from Ampersand Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. So congratulations on a good set of numbers. Two things just wanted to know that, for the last five, six years, we have seen that, while you have always aspired for this 15, 20% kind of growth annually, it has been pretty volatile. I don't know whether that volatility is going to go away or not. But is there any way that your product range will be so better that the volatility will be far lesser going ahead?
... Well, the volatility has got nothing to do exactly with the product range, and if anybody can predict this, then, we will go to him as an astrologer. I mean, whether it is, Apple or Ford Motors or Toyota or Samsung, nobody can predict volatility. I'm not talking about that.
We can ensure that our pipeline of innovation is full. We can ensure that our distribution is maximized. We can ensure that our brand is built to its level. We can ensure continuously investing in that brand. Beyond that, if there are market factors which are beyond our control, there will be volatility. And what can be volatile, I don't think we can anybody can predict.
COVID, for instance. COVID destroyed the market for three months.
So my, my other question relating to that is, that is there any big, product, gap or some category that you are really, targeting going ahead? And my last question will be on the China sourcing, shift that you are doing. Is that happening at similar cost or, or not?
Well, the last question I answered, it is similar cost.
Yeah. The product pipeline, we can't disclose, obviously, for competitive reasons.
Okay.
But I can tell you we are working on several new products.
Okay. So essentially, the costing is not really an issue. It is just a matter of making it available in the right quantity. That is what this kind of strategy is all about.
Correct.
Thanks a lot, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nirav Vasa from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir, and thank you very much for the opportunity. My question pertains to the price hike that we have taken. You informed that you have taken a price hike of around 9% in two tranches. Would it be possible for you to bifurcate this price hikes into categories like pressure cookers and kitchenware, those kind of segmentations? Would you be willing to share?
We've taken in pressure cookers and cookware, we've taken price hikes of 5%. In some electrical appliances, like mixer grinder, it's as high as 20%, in gas stoves, it's about 12%, so on and so forth.
Varies.
It's a cost-based increase.
Get your point. So effectively, you are trying to say that the entire cost has been passed on, or entire commodity inflation has been passed on to the channel partners. Am I right?
So far, yes. Yes.
Great, sir. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Koundinya from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Hey, sir, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, just a couple of questions. So firstly, on the rural and the modern format retail side, so just want to understand, you know, few quarters back, we had problems, you know, on the rural side and also the modern retail format side. So can you speak a little bit about what we have done exactly to diversify our channel, and what's the current status on what is the current revenue mix from these channels?
So in terms of large format, we've obviously broad-based the number of accounts we are handling, which has happened. So as, but some of that sales, which is lost in the first two quarters because the stores were not open, is lost. The same is the case with the MFI-based business, because there was a moratorium, and you know that collections weren't happening, and only after the moratorium was lifted did they start lending again. And only after they lend will the MFI-based business come to us. Now, that business has started now, and it is coming up. It's getting to be a stable business as we are speaking. But there's no growth yet, so we are still at about 60%-70% of the overall pre-COVID level of MFI business that is there.
That also has moved from one category to the other and so on and so forth. Even there, what we are doing is trying to get more accounts so that we can come back to the same pre-COVID levels of the rural MFI sales.
Sir, personally, you did say that, you know, the direct retail channel is doing really well. So you mean the other channels than the MFI distribution, right?
Yeah, the other channels. Sorry, come again, what was the last bit?
In the press release, you did mention that the direct retail channel is recovering well.
Yes.
Can you listen? So is it a case where, you know, the MFI is lagging behind, but the rural channel has recovered completely?
Yes, our regular rural channel through our general trade has come back into a good rhythm.
Okay. Sir, my second question is a little bit on the market share. So if we were to compare ourselves with the other listed player in the cookers and cookware, since FY18, we are a little bit lagging behind them, and of course, we did well in the current quarter. So what is it that we, that we are doing differently currently to, you know, to grab the lost market share over here?
We launched a new product.
Sorry, sir. Please go ahead, sir.
We launched new products in the segment, which have received very good response.
You believe that trend will sustain going ahead, sir?
Yes.
Understood. Sir, if you can ask one more, one last question, you know. Going ahead, you know, in the existing categories that we have there, are there any specific product categories where you think we are doing really well and specific categories where we are lagging behind? And if yes, what is the strategy in these categories, and can you speak a little bit about the new categories that we enter as well?
So we are doing extremely well in pressure cookers and cookware and gas stoves. We're doing very well in some more electrical appliances, like mixer grinders in the open market.
Induction cooktops?
... and we're doing exceedingly well in induction cooktops. So these are things that we are doing very well. Can we do better? Yes, we could do better in kitchen hoods, for example. We would like to do better. We would like to do better in some more categories, like rice cookers, where there. But there, our supply chain was disrupted, so that is why this has happened.
Okay. Sir, if I were to ask you to pick two or three product categories which are going to be the growth drivers for us, going, say, in the next five years, what would that be?
I wouldn't want to tell you.
Thank you. Koundinya, I request you to join the queue for any follow-up. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jatin Damania from Kotak Bank. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Am I audible?
Yeah.
You are, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So first question is around the working capital in the e-commerce channel. Is it similar to the aggregate working capital or different?
It's similar.
Okay. Second question, Stove Kraft's RHP, you know, had Frost & Sullivan and Euromonitor data, more or less, you know, covers all the categories you are present in, and they seem to have given a 5-year, you know, category growth rate ranging between 8%-10% on an average. Do you concur with, you know, with that assessment of category growth rates in your relevant category?
I'd like to think it'd be better than that.
Okay. And since you aspire to, you know, north of that, you know, probably 15% odd, that figure and aspiration is well taken, but, you know, what would drive that? If you could give some idea of, how you want to actualize that aspiration.
As I said, do the basics right. Get the innovative products in, build your brand, get the distribution at the right place, and make sure that the customer is on your side.
Okay. And new products, pretty indicated, you know, are contributed to growth in this quarter. If you could give the addressable market size of those products and you know, some relevant competition, if you could share with us.
Sorry, come again. What was the question?
You indicated that you've launched new products, which has helped growth in this quarter. If you could give some idea of the addressable market size of these products.
So we launched some new casseroles, as I said, which was thermal, thermoware casseroles in stainless steel. We believe that that's a reasonably good market, which can give us about INR 30-40 crores of turnover in a year. In the next six or eight months, we should be at that kind of run rate. And then we've launched new stainless steel cookware, which is a larger market, and that addressable market there could be INR 200-300 crores.
Okay. And I think earlier in, in the year, you also, you know, entered the dishwashers category, and you also, started out, a distribution outlet in Bengaluru for, for chimneys and, built-in hobs and dishwashers. If you could give some idea of how, you know, that, that, those categories are panning out for you.
So these are new store formats which is where we've tried our hand at seeing how we can premiumize Prestige through high-end appliances, through specific stores like this, in this format. It's work in progress. Right now, we're just testing the concept out. We've only done it in Bangalore. We have done it only in the last few months. We need some more time to come back on that.
Okay. And Horwood has discontinued its JV. I, I don't remember the name of the company with whom the JV was, but you indicated, I think in a press release, that it will lead to significant overhead savings. If you could, you know, quantify that number?
Uh, Shankar?
Yes, sir. Sir, it was causing a dip of close to -3% on our EBITDA level. Our EBITDA level was dropped to, you know, 5% from the earlier 14% because of this particular line. Now we'll get back the amount we have-
Horwood.
Horwood. So the Horwood EBITDA now is close to 9%. After this segment, it will be close to 12% at, at our Horwood.
Okay, so that's material savings. Finally, the cleaning products category, if you could give us some idea of how it's evolving, how the growth has been YTD and, you know, what are your aspirations there?
So cleaning, we've done exceedingly well. We've been about 70%-75% growth YTD, though I think in the last couple of months, it's slowed down a bit. It's coming down to more stable levels. As soon as the lockdown opened, it was a very good unlock the category. Going forward, we expect it to give us significant growth from here also, because the base is still small and we are still adding new products there.
Thanks. That's all from my side. Over to you, Mr. Shankaran.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sanket Goradia from VEC Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello, team. Congratulations for the great set of numbers. Would it be, you know, helpful if you could, you know, give us, you know, what has been the volume growth category-wise? And-
Yes.
Secondly, you've mentioned that some of the new categories have done really well for us. Could you elaborate a little more on that, you know, in which space they lie and, you know, what is really fixed, in terms of the product launch? Thank you.
In terms of volume growth, I wouldn't want to give you the exact numbers on growth, but I can tell you they're significantly high in the double digits.
You have the value growth are in digits?
... Yeah. The value growth you are seeing in the list. So you are, you can see that is given quite clearly there.
Value growth is 24%, and on average, the price increase of 8%-9%, the volume growth should be around 16% on average.
No, no. Even the 9% growth was towards the end of the quarter.
So volume-
Volume could be very, very close to the value growth in terms of. So numbers are there indicative there.
Yeah. So you actually mentioned that, you know, some of the volume growth is led by new product launches. Could you speak a little more on, you know, what products picked for us this quarter?
So we've launched a wide range of pressure cookers, which was not done in this quarter, but it's been obviously started getting traction in almost all channels because of that. We've launched new stainless steel cookware, we've launched some new gas stoves and some new mixer grinder models, and a couple of wet grinder models.
And the casseroles.
And the casseroles.
Sure. Thank you. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ekta Sanghavi from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. So, what could you give the number on a contribution of MFI sales to the total revenue currently?
Very small. I think it's between 3 and- it's about 4%. Sir, the prevailing before COVID, almost 4% were last year.
This is, this was pre-COVID?
Yeah. It's around 4%-5% of our total turnover, which is similar to what we had before, pre-COVID.
Okay. So now that your MFI issues have been resolved and it has started picking up again, would you expect, like, what level can you expect this to go at in the now next two years?
One second, one second. We had no issues with MFIs to resolve.
No, sorry. I mean, so you said, right, that it has, the MFI channel has just started and, because of the moratorium, there was-
That is correct. No, it's not issues with us.
No, no, I'm sorry for the words, but so what level could we expect this to go at in the next two years?
That would really depend upon our sales there.
Okay, what we like, we have been talking about direct rural in the past, which we are going through partly through MFI, other channels also. We believe there is a good future in this particular direct rural sale, given that the government is going to spend a lot of money on the rural sector for the budget. So it is going to be one of the growth drivers going forward.
Thank you so much. Currently, sir, what would be the contribution of revenue from urban and rural? Could you give a break-up?
We cannot give you that breakup.
We say direct rural is 5%, balance 95% can-
Yeah, exactly. And I don't know how much of e-commerce is going into the rural area, so how much of the tier four town sale is going into the rural areas. I'll never know that.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Srinivas Rao from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, thanks for the opportunity and, and congratulations on great set of numbers. So just couple of questions from my end on e-commerce. So you, you touched that about 16% of the company's revenue comes from e-commerce channels. So do you get to know, which area eventually this, product is going, like, at at least pin code level? Or it's just that, you're selling it to Amazon or Flipkart, and that's the only information that you get?
No, no. See, we have three ways of selling on the platforms. One is we ourselves as a marketplace account, second, from our website directly to customer, and the third is through the platform, through their firms. What they sell through their firms, they give us a broad outlook, we will not get an exact outlook. What we get through the marketplace, we again get some details there. But it is safe to say that the smaller towns have grown faster this year than the bigger towns.
Okay. Very nice, sir. And the second related question is, you have a large presence in E-commerce channels. So I'm just wondering, how do you see is the consumer behavior of an online buyer and an offline buyer different? I want to more answer from a two perspective in terms of, product buying. Is online more mass affordable product, while the offline is, more premium? And is the brand loyalty is less of a concern for online buyer compared to offline buyer? If you could answer that.
In fact, you know, I believe that the online buyer and the offline buyer are two same people. It all depends on comfort levels. Today, what is happening is most of the product research is not happening by browsing in the store, in the offline store.
Yeah.
That browsing is happening on the platform. If they are happy with the information they have and they don't need to touch and feel, they will buy it on the online platform.
I am buying both online and offline personally.
Exactly. So if you want to see that, "No, no, I need a touch and feel. I won't buy a shoe without seeing whether it fits my, fits my foot correctly," then you're not the kind of guy who will buy online. So I mean, it's all about personal habits. A lot of people buy online and offline, depending on the category that we are talking about. So really, I think it's the same customer. And these habits are starting to stick now because COVID has lasted for so long.
So my question, like, if you see reviews and some of the ratings, some of the brands which are quite small on the offline channel, but appears to get a lot of good reviews, as well as number of reviews are quite significantly disproportionately higher compared to a national player like TTK. So just, I wanted to understand, is the market, is the buyer extremely price sensitive on e-commerce? But you would say it's not that way.
No, it depends again on the customer, right? I mean, if there's a very price sensitive customer who doesn't care what the product is, and he says, "I'll buy it as long as it's personally okay," then that person will go there.
See, the reviews also keep changing, and you and I both know how reviews are managed.
Yeah. Okay. So not much to read into it. Fair enough, sir. Thank you for answering my question, and all the very best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks. Thank you, and over to you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for the keen interest shown in the company. We've genuinely had a good quarter. We're seeing good trends going forward. The brand is strong, and we've got many new products coming forward. So hopefully we'll keep up the good work as we've done in the last few quarters. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Ambit Capital, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.