Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Ajanta Pharma Q4 FY 2026 earnings conference call. 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 and then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director of Ajanta Pharma Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Ajanta Pharma earnings call. With me, I have Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, our Joint Managing Director; Mr. Arvind Agrawal, our CFO; Mr. Rajeev Agarwal, our VP Finance and Investor Relations. I hope all of you have received the financial results by now. I will take you with our overall business performance first. It is a pleasure to share that Ajanta has achieved several important milestones in FY 2026, with revenue surpassing INR 5,000 crores and net profit crossing INR 1,000 crores. This marks a significant step forward in our growth journey. The year reflects strong, well-rounded performance across all areas of business, reinforcing the strength of our strategy and execution. Our revenue from operations grew by 21% while margins grew by 18%, reflecting strong operating performance alongside continued investments to support future growth.
All our businesses are progressing in line with our plans, giving us confidence in sustaining this growth momentum in the coming periods. This strength is also evident in our returns. As of March 2026, return on capital employed stood at 33% and return on net worth at 25%, underscoring our position among the best-performing companies in the industry. Moving on to the business details. Let me take you through our key business verticals, starting with the Branded Generic business in Asia and Africa, which contributed 38% to total revenue. We continue to invest consistently in people, portfolio expansion, and market development to support sustainable long-term growth. Let's move to Asia. During the quarter, the Asia Branded Generic business recorded sales of INR 274 crores compared to INR 303 crores in the same period, reflecting a decline of 10%.
For the full year, sales stood at INR 1,176 crore versus INR 1,191 crore last year, a marginal decline of 1%. While we had expected a recovery in Q4, geopolitical developments in the Middle East led to significant supply chain disruptions, impacting dispatches during the quarter. For the full year, the performance remained below our internal expectations, largely due to logistic challenges. We remain confident that the business will regain its growth momentum in coming quarters. During the year, we launched 15 new products, primarily in chronic therapies, further strengthening the quality and sustainability of Asia business. Let's move to Africa. During the quarter, the Africa Branded Generic business delivered strong performance with sales of INR 182 crore compared to INR 133 crore last year, registering a growth of 37%.
For the full year, sales stood at INR 861 crore versus INR 750 crore last year, reflecting a growth of 15%. During the quarter, we introduced one new product, taking the total launches for the year to eight, supporting continued expansion in the region. Overall, our Branded Generic business continues to progress in line with our guidance, and we remain confident of delivering healthy performance in the coming quarters. Let us move to another two verticals with our international business. U.S. Generics. As indicated, the U.S. Generic business delivered an excellent performance. During the quarter, sales stood at INR 505 crore compared to INR 325 crore in the same period, reflecting a strong growth of 56%.
For the full year, sales reached INR 1,557 crores versus INR 1,047 crore last year, registering a robust growth of 49%. This performance was driven by eight new launches over the past 15 months, supported by consistent execution and strong customer relationship. On the back of this momentum, the contribution of the U.S. Generic business to total revenue increased to 29% during the financial year. We continue to be preferred partner for distributors and customers, anchored in reliable supply, strong quality standards, and disciplined execution. We now move to Africa Institutional. During the quarter, the Africa Institutional business reported sales of INR 49 crore compared to INR 28 crores last year, delivering a growth of 71%.
For the full year, sales stood at INR 160 crore versus INR 147 crore, reflecting a growth of 9%. The Institutional business contributed around 30% to the company's total revenue during the financial year. At the start of the year, we had anticipated a softer performance. However, improved order flow in the second half supported a steady performance for the full year. Now I invite Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, our Joint Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you.
Thank you. Good afternoon to all of you. I will take you through the performance of our India business. We have concluded both the fourth quarter and the financial year on a strong note. I am glad to inform you that Ajanta is now among the top 25 companies in the Indian pharmaceutical market as per IQVIA MAT March 2026. Our ranking has improved to rank 24th against rank 26th last year. During the year, the India business contributed 30% to the company's total revenue, supported by the launch of 26 new products, including 5 first-time launches in the country. During the just concluded financial year, our revenue reached at INR 1,654 crores versus INR 1,452 crores in the previous year, registering a healthy growth of 14%.
In the fourth quarter, our sales stood at INR 404 crore compared to INR 369 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting a growth of 9%. Our India business includes revenue from trade generic segment, which contributed INR 49 crores in Q4 for both years. For the full year, trade generics recorded sales of INR 188 crore compared to INR 179 crores last year. Let me now take you through Ajanta's performance as per IQVIA MAT March 2026. We continued to outperform the IPM by a healthy margin, with Ajanta delivering growth of 13% compared to the IPM growth of 10%. We also continue to lead in volume growth and new product introductions relative to the market.`
This momentum is visible across most of our key therapeutic segments, where our growth consistently exceeds the segment growth. The data variance in IQVIA for our cardiac portfolio continues for this quarter, and we are hopeful to get this resolved over time. We remain confident of sustaining our growth trajectory in the coming quarters. In the covered market, we rank among the top five companies in the IPM and feature within the top 10 across all our core therapeutic segments. cardiology contributed 36% to the India branded sales, followed by ophthalmology at 31% and dermatology at 23%, with the remaining 10% coming from the pain segment. Our new therapy in gynecology is progressing well and is expected to contribute meaningfully to our future growth.
During the year, we added around 300 medical representatives across our therapeutic areas, taking our total field force to approximately 3,750 MRs. The newly onboarded teams are being integrated with a clear focus on productivity and effective field execution. With this, I invite Mr. Arvind Agrawal, our CFO, to take you through the financial performance of the company. Thank you, and over to you, Arvindji.
Thank you, good afternoon to all. Before I begin, I would like to mention that during this call, we may make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. The company does not undertake any obligation to update these statements publicly. I will now take you through the consolidated financial performance on a year-on-year basis. Coming to revenue, total revenue for the fourth quarter stood at INR 1,422 crore compared to INR 1,170 crore last year, reflecting a healthy growth of 21%. For the full year, revenue reached INR 5,453 crore versus INR 4,648 crore last year, registering a robust growth of 14%.
Our diversified business model continues to support consistent growth even as certain market experience temporary variations which are part of normal business cycle. Coming to the gross margins, gross margins stood at 79% for the quarter and 78% for the full year. We expect gross margins to remain around 77% with a variation of ±1% in the coming year. Personnel cost. Personnel cost for the quarter stood at INR 341 crore compared to INR 280 crore last year, reflecting an increase of 22%. For the full year, personnel cost stood at INR 1,291 crore versus INR 1,090 crore last year, an increase of 18%. This increase was partially contributed by the addition of medical representatives across our branded generic businesses.
Also, during the year, the Government of India new labour codes became applicable, and based on our assessment, an additional provision of INR 9 crore has been made towards related liabilities. Coming to other expenses. Other expenses for the quarter stood at INR 443 crore compared to INR 310 crore last year, reflecting an increase of 43%. This includes a mark-to-market hedge loss of INR 42 crore. Excluding this, the increase was 29%. For the full year, other expenses stood at INR 1,583 crore versus INR 1,228 crore last year, an increase of 13%. This includes a mark-to-market hedge loss of INR 103 crore. Excluding this, the increase was 21%.
The hedge loss was on account of depreciation of the INR against the US dollar and euro during the year. The increase in expenses reflects our continued strategy of investing in product, brand, and people across the branded generic portfolio. We expect other expenses to remain broadly aligned with current trends. Coming to the R&D. R&D spend included within personal and other expenses remained at 5% of total revenue and is expected to continue at similar levels. R&D expenditure for the quarter stood at INR 70 crores compared to INR 63 crores last year, while for the full year it stood at INR 252 crores versus INR 224 crores last year. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 333 crores compared to INR 297 crores last year, reflecting a growth of 12%.
For the full year, EBITDA stood at INR 1,395 crore versus INR 1,260 crore last year, registering a growth of 11%. EBITDA margin stood at 23% for the quarter and 26% for the full year. Excluding the impact of mark-to-market foreign exchange movements, EBITDA margins remain aligned with our guidance of around 27% for the full year. The mark-to-market forex loss recorded under other expenses stood at INR 103 crore, while foreign gain under other income stood at INR 97 crore. We remain confident of maintaining EBITDA margin of 27% with a variation of ±1% in the coming year as well, while making further investment in developing our market.
Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 267 crore compared to INR 225 crore last year, reflecting a growth of 18%. For the full year, PAT stood at INR 1,056 crore versus INR 920 crore last year, reflecting a growth of 15%. PAT margin remained steady at 19% for both the quarters and the full year. Coming to the tax rate, the effective tax rate for the year stood at 23%. It is expected to increase in the coming year as one of our manufacturing facilities transition out of the exemption period. Capital expenditure for the full year stood at INR 330 crore, in line with our guidance.
As we embark upon new CapEx cycle to meet our continued growth requirements, we expect CapEx to increase to around INR 400 crores in the FY 2027, which includes INR 150 crore of maintenance and balance for new capacity expansion. Working capital, trade receivables stood at 125 days compared to 94 days last year, reflecting the shift from factoring to working capital loans, enabling better interest efficiency. This remains neutral to our P&L, supported by corresponding investment income. Inventory levels improved to 63 days from 72 days last year, reflecting continued focus on enhancing working capital efficiency. With this, we now open the floor for question and answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and then 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. Again, to register for a question, please press star and then one. Your first question comes from the line of Siddharth Meghani from CWC. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Congrats on a good set of numbers. Just wanted to ask questions. One, if you could share your PCPM in the domestic business. Second, if you could give some color in terms of how are you looking at the generic semaglutide opportunity, primarily from what I understand you're looking at this outside India and what's the update on that? Yeah, that's the two questions.
For the second part, generics, you are referring to the generics in the domestic market, the trade generics?
Generic semaglutide in outside of India is.
Okay. I will hand that over to.
Yeah. Outside of India, we are going to start our filing this quarter. Normally the approvals takes somewhere between 1.5 years to 2 years. As and when we keep getting approvals in various markets, we will keep launching. Yeah, I think it is work in progress. We'll see as the filing happens and what approvals we get, and then we'll keep launching them.
Got it. I'm assuming India is not as much of a focus market for semaglutide or is that topic?
India is also a focus market for us. You know, we are also in the race for sure. It's too early to comment on how it will pan out, but we are definitely one of the contenders. On the productivity, the PCPM for the last full year has worked out to INR 3.7 lakhs per man per month. Keep in mind that this is also after the addition of 300 more representatives that we have made in the current year and maybe couple of 300, maybe 200-300 more last year, which are yet to come to this level.
Yeah.
We have been keeping on incrementally adding to our field strength.
Therefore, it may seem, what it looks like right now.
Got it. That's helpful. If you could just give me a sense of, given that, given the significant additions to the field force or the mature field force, what's the average PCPM and how much is that higher by? Maybe that gives a sense of how that steady-state PCPM then looks like.
I think, INR 4 lakhs-INR 4.5 lakhs roughly is the steady-state PCPM we are looking for.
Got it. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Avnish Baramal from Waikeria. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. Sir, just your comments on the impact on the business because of the ongoing Middle East conflict. You can I mean, it will be great if you can divide it into how you are managing the cost in your domestic business versus the international business.
I didn't get your question. How are we managing what?
The increase in costs that you would have experienced because of the Middle East conflict, the increase in cost of either raw material or utilities.
Yeah. The freights have increased, both air and sea across geographies. It is not only restricted to the Middle East supplies, but the freights have increased in general for the air and sea. Since last quarter was only 1 quarter we saw the impact. We will come to know for the next full year how the cost will sit because it's still an evolving landscape where how long this war continues and whether it will better and after that what will be the cooling off. I think that is yet to be seen. We are seeing the increase in the RMPM cost also. Since last quarter we had inventory in with us, we did not see the impact of the same in that quarter.
Maybe the coming quarter also it may not be as impacted because there were some inventories and some old orders given. I think if the war continues, I think going forward, a quarter after probably we should start seeing some increase in the cost of the goods also, RMPM cost as well and the freight cost.
The freight and the insurance cost increase that you are witnessing right now, are you able to pass it on to your customers or are you partly absorbing it in your P&L?
It is absorbed by us in our P&L.
Okay. Just last question. Let's say the conflict lasts for longer than your inventory. In that case, the RMPM cost that is increasing, will that also be borne by the marketing company like yourself or is it like passed on through the entire supply chain, like the CMO partners and the customers? How does it happen?
No, it is absorbed by us only. It is absorbed by the manufacturing companies.
Okay, great. That was my question. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, on the EBITDA margin guidance, with FY 2026 we have ended with 27.7% EBITDA margin. Maybe Q4 is relatively weaker quarter traditionally. Just trying to understand why the EBITDA margin guidance is lower at 27% for FY 2027. That's my first question. Given that we have decent growth across the geographies.
Yeah, that is sure. The growth will definitely be there. However, as you know, we are investing quite a bit on the market in terms of drug registration, in terms of MR addition across the markets. All that investment is going on. That investment also is something which is tied to P&L. The we are also proposing to increase the filing across the markets, so that also will increase the R&D cost little bit. All these things will definitely impact the profitability. We are currently looking at all these aspects and then giving you the guidance of 27%.
Sir, how many MRs we intend to add in India for FY 2027?
About, I think about 5%-6% is something which we are looking at. In the range of 250-300 MRs. We just-
There is some disturbance on the line. Not able to hear.
That is, I'm so sorry to interrupt. This is the moderator. Tushar, sir, if you can mute the line when the management is answering the question because there is a lot of background noise coming from your line.
Sure.
Yes.
We are looking at an addition of 250 to 300. This is a very broad ballpark working. Of course, it will keep unfolding every quarter. This is to optimize the coverage as we go along.
This is for India market. For Asia, Africa market also, do we intend to add MRs?
Yes. We are intending to add MRs even in Asia and Africa also. 5%-6%. You can imagine about 130-150 people will be added there as well.
Sorry, coming back to India, market MRs. This would be largely spread out across the therapies or, this is more for specific therapy as far as FY 2027 MR addition is concerned?
Across all therapies, all teams.
Got it. Just lastly, how much would have been the inventory days for U.S. market?
We don't give out such a breakup of the inventories market-wise.
Broadly, not specific, but in general, how much inventory we carry for U.S. market?
Oh, that's right. Normally we carry about 3 months inventory. Yeah.
Okay. effectively, which is where we are concerned that Q1 presumably can be still okay in terms of execution.
Yeah.
this Middle East issue might Given that we are already sitting in May, so, you know, what kind of sort of visibility we have as per as two Q or maybe like the second quarter onwards, availability of material both in terms of raw material as well as availability of finished goods for U.S. market or for other geographies, if you can, you know, share your thoughts?
The guidance which we have given is considering all those factors. Considering what are the prevailing rates of RMPM, and if they will continue going forward, the freight rate, what are prevalent currently, they are going forward. Those are factored in into the guidance which we have given of 27% EBITDA. Any change, positive or negative in that, will have the corresponding impact on the guidance.
Understood. Just on the revenue growth, how, what, maybe I missed the guidance on the revenue growth for FY 2027?
Revenue. Yeah, go ahead.
No, go ahead, sir.
No, overall for the company, we are looking at the guidance of, Sia, could you have the figure?
High teens figure. High teens growth.
High teens. High teens. Yeah.
Yeah.
16%-18%, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Tushar, high teens is something which we are really looking at.
Got it. Thank you. That is it from me.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abdulkader Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is pertaining to your India business. This quarter as compared to, you know, the first nine months, we have seen some bit of a slowdown in the India business, where the growth has been 9.5%. If you could, you know, help us understand any market leading factors or, you know, we expect to bounce back from this current growth level in the coming quarters ahead.
If you look at the annualized performance, we have recorded 14% growth, which is significantly higher than the IPM growth rate, as well as the covered market and the subsegment growth rates. This one quarter has been an aberration due to inexplicable kind of reasons. However, if I correlate that with the SMSRC prescription data as well as the IMS secondary data, they are all very positive. So is our internal data. They will all fall in line. I don't see this to be any cause of concern.
Understood, sir. Sir, secondly, on the Asia business, where I heard your commentary, you know, that the performance was not in line with our expectation. Any sense on, you know, what is the kind of standard inventory into the system and, you know, by, say, the first half or second half, you know, we should be back to delivering at least some sort of growth into this business?
We have seen that the logistics have been now streamlined. In a way, when I say streamlined, at least earlier, the inventory stocks which were on the high seas, they got stuck. They got localized at various places where they were in the transit and they were not moving. At least now the logistics have been sorted out, just the timeline has increased. The total transit time, because it has to be routed from multiple ports and somewhere it has to be then halt on the surface. You see that the slowly the logistics have been coming in place, just the transit time has increased. With this, we have not seen any demand challenge or the demand has not been impacted.
It was more of a supply chain you know, concern or issue. With that supply chain now getting streamlined, in fact, we are looking that in the next year our guidance for the Asia is in the high double digits. We should be able to deliver a good performance.
Got it, sir. Sir, just one final one, if I may. On your U.S. business, you know, again, a very stellar quarter on that front. But, you know, if you can guide us something on how that trajectory going ahead would be and how confident are we on achieving this over 500 crores of revenue, what we have seen in this quarter and going into effect 2027.
No, this whole year has been exceptionally strong, on back of various things which we have been giving the commentary in the earlier earning calls of number of products we launched, in last 15 months, increase in market share of some products. Also this quarter is also elevated because we have one seasonal product, which is for the flu. Typically we see the demand for that or sales for that happens in this quarter, somewhere slightly in December, but most of it happens in this quarter starting January. Generally, the quarters is slightly elevated, and this quarter also got slightly more elevated because of another factor which I just explained.
I think, going forward for the next year, we are looking at a mid-single-digit growth for the U.S. business, considering that for the whole year we have delivered an extremely robust growth of 49%. On back of that, the base is very high. On back of that, we are projecting to be a mid-single-digit growth for the U.S.
Got it, sir. Thank you, and wish you all the best.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Bino Pathiparampil from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. A couple of questions. One, how is the shipments to Middle East happening? Is it happening normally or is it stuck?
I just answered that a minute back, but I repeat. Earlier when the conflict started, the shipment got stranded at whichever place they were. Now they got rerouted and barring the air shipments when the things are, the conflict is on. Otherwise, we've seen that the sea shipments are kind of resumed. It's taking longer to reach because they have to be rerouted from different ports. Somewhere it has to be hauled through the surface. Overall, the supplies have, the logistics have settled. It is just, it is taking longer and cost has gone up significantly.
Got it. Second, your revenue guidance of high teen, does it take into account the depreciation in INR?
Sorry, the last line was not audible. Include in account what?
Take into account the depreciation in INR.
Depreciation INR.
Yeah, yeah. It is considered on the current exchange rate.
Current exchange rate. Okay. If I heard correctly, the raw material cost increases that are currently there, that has been built into your EBITDA margin guidance of 27%.
Correct.
Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you very much. I'll jump back.
Cost of RPM as well as the price, both are embedded in the guidance which we have given, increased costs and the price.
Great. Thank you. I'll jump back to you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rohan from Envision Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, this question was in regards to the U.S. FDA inspection that happened in our Paithan plant. Just wanted to understand, you know, what is the kind of impact this can have in our plants going forward and for the supply that we are doing today. Thank you.
No. The Form 483, as we have informed on the stock exchange, we have got the 5 observations for our Paithan facility. Observations means there is some what FDA wants. There are some procedural or some other kind of things which we have to comply meeting to the FDA requirement. We are moving forward to submit our response to the FDA as per the prescribed timeline. Yeah, that is the thing on the Form 483.
Just wanted to understand, you know, will this impact any of our filings that we've planned to launch or any of our existing products? I mean, just wanted to understand on that side.
No, no. The impact is what. Impact can be seen only if there is any elevated concerns.
Thank you.
There are no impact on the filings also. We continue business as normal.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Udhayaprakash from Value Research. Please go ahead. Sir, we are not able to hear you. Mr. Prakash, your line is very bad.
Yeah. Hello. Am I audible now?
This is much better, sir. Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah. I just have a couple of questions from my side, sir. The first one being, we have been pretty consistent in terms of new product launches in the recent years. If we could give a rough breakup on, let's say, over the last two years, what is the revenue generated by these new product launches?
Okay. That figure, we don't have it at hand at this moment. I would encourage you to email it to the investor relations team, and we'll come back to you. However, what I can share with you is last 12 months, the breakup composition of the 13% growth which Ajanta has registered as per IQVIA now, as per 2026. Our new product contribution within that is 4.7% out of 13%, as against the industry which stands at 2.8% out of 10%. Our new product contribution is significantly higher compared to the industry new product contribution to the growth.
Just to, you know the overall growth prospects in everything. Are we highly dependent on consistent new product launches? I get the new products have to be launched, but, let's say we go behind or, due to some kind of issue, we are not able to follow up on the target that we have set for new product launches. Will that have a material impact on revenue or, you know, existing products or older products will continue to grow at the same pace as they, as they did when they were launched?
Yeah. Interesting question. They are totally disconnected from one another. Our base volume growth is also much higher, 30% higher than the industry volume growth, right?
Yes.
My legacy brands, my larger brands such as Met XL, Cinod, the Atorfit range, triple combinations, and all of those are growing at a very healthy pace. While I deliver exceptionally well on the new products, I'm also able to build better than the industry in terms of the existing and the older brands. One. They don't, they are not interlinked as such, in best of my experience.
Okay. For the last question, I just want to get a picture of the promoter pledge level. If we look at the number over the last 1 year, it has rise a bit. I get that, you know, the pledge has to avail loan facility and everything, but since we generate adequate cash flow, we do not require much of a loan. What is the thought for this one? Is it for personal reason or is it purely for, you know, company loan facility? I just want to get a brief or overall picture on why shares have been pledged and why has it been increasing over the last few years.
I'll tell you. As far as Ajanta Pharma's promoters are concerned, there are four brothers who are owning the share. Out of that, two brothers, Mr. Rajesh Agrawal and Yogesh Agrawal, both of them are in the helm of Ajanta Pharma. There are two other brothers who are developing their new businesses. For their new businesses, they are pledging the share and borrowing for that. Nothing to do with Ajanta Pharma borrowing at all.
Okay.
Yogesh. Yeah. Sorry.
Yeah, yeah. It's cool. Please go ahead.
Yogesh and Rajesh Agrawal, they don't have any pledge at all. There is zero pledge from their side. It's only the other two brothers who are developing their new businesses, so they have pledged the shares to borrow the money.
Okay. If I could just maybe one last question. You had given a very strong guidance for Asia business for the next year. I just want to know what is the, you know, basis for the guidance in the sense that, are you expecting growth in any particular geography or, is it any therapeutic area or in new product launches that you are anticipating? I just want to get an overall guidance. I know that you cannot go into specifics, but still.
Yeah. I think it is basically on the back of the low performance last year because Asia has de-grown minus 1% in the last year. Naturally that lower performance was basically again because of the logistic issues which are there in Middle East. I hope we should be able to really recover that and should be able to grow in, at double digits.
Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Yeah.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to everyone, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next follow-up question comes from Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yes, Tushar.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Yeah. Now you are audible.
Just on the guidance again, where U.S. probably would slow down in FY 2027, India doing better than IPM, but IPM itself probably would grow at 8%-10%.
Yeah.
Asia, Africa would be the strong growth driver. In Africa also, we've already grown at 15% in branded generics for full year.
Yeah.
You know, factors will drive much higher growth in Africa market? That's my first question.
Africa also we are looking at a high double-digit growth. Africa also we should be able to perform well.
Okay. This is in a way semaglutide will actually contribute in any of these geographies probably FY 2028 onwards.
No, no. There is no semaglutide which is factory rendered. This is from our existing business, addition of people which we have done over the last two years. Addition of people, not that many, that's 125 which will be done here. I think Okay, let's discount that. That may not contribute so much. All the new people, products which we have launched over last year or two years, that is going to contribute to this growth.
As far as CapEx is concerned, it's at the existing site, the growth CapEx?
Piyush, can I take that?
Yes. This will be on the existing site, because we have the extra land available within the existing site, so, CapEx will be there.
We are looking at about INR 150 crores of routine CapEx, maintenance CapEx.
Yeah.
INR 250 crores of CapEx for the capacity additions and expansions there.
Got it. Just lastly, how much effective tax rate for FY 2027?
We are expecting about 26%-26.5%.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of, Vamsi from AskIM. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations on the good set of numbers. So we have guided for a mid-single digit growth in the U.S. formulations business. Are there firstly any launches that you are scheduling for the next year? Is it going to be that the existing base business itself is going to kind of continue at that rate? That is my first question.
No, there are launches which are planned. There are about 4 to 5 launches which will be planned, they are all going to go towards the later second half of the year. There will be some growth coming in from there also. It is most part, first half will be existing products.
Understood, sir. also coming back to the semaglutide opportunity. While the filings are happening currently as we speak, how do you envisage the launches to happen? You know, at what point could it reach a material scale, maybe, you know, anywhere between INR 100 crores-INR 150 crores kind of a top-line contribution?
I think it'll be 2 years by the time product will get commercialized in various markets. I think the 3 years from, 3rd year from today, is when we should start seeing the revenues. Probably 4th year would be where we'll have launched, and we would have probably increased our penetration in the market and got some market share. I think 3 to 4 years is the time when we should start seeing this kind of, the kind of meaningful impact, in the space and profitability.
Understood, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next follow-up question comes from the line of Siddharth Meghani from CWC. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to understand, you mentioned high double-digit growth for Africa, right? Low double digit for Asia, mid-single digits for U.S. Assuming the same level for as FY 2026 for Africa institutions, India growth works out to be high double digits upwards of 20%. Even if I take the lower end of your high single digit guidance, which is 16% growth for the overall business. If you could just help us get some understanding of broadly what's the range at which you're looking to grow the India business. Considering the India business has higher margin that you mentioned earlier, you know, despite that, what's the reason for margins coming in around 27%? Yeah, that's my question.
First of all, I think Asia, you are seeing low double digits. Actually, it is high double digit again. That's what we mentioned. For India, we are talking of mid-single growth.
Got it. Thank you.
So, uh.
Yeah. On the margins.
Yeah. On the margins, I think, we never said India is higher or other markets are lower. Actually, the margins are quite well spread, and the entire branded generics business is almost at the same level. The only thing which is happening is that we are investing in the market simultaneously, you know, for the future growth. Product registrations, people additions, et cetera, is continuously going on. That is why And also we have factored in some amount of increase in the freight cost and the material price cost due to the war situation for at least about 2 to 3 months. All that has been factored in, and on that basis, we have given you the margin guidance.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Forum Parekh from PoB Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on the receivable days. We see significant jump in FY 2026. What is the reason for the spike, and how should we look at it? I mean, is 125 days the normal days that we should consider, or can it come lower?
I think, this is mainly because of the higher sales at U.S. As you are aware, the U.S. outstandings are little longer, and U.S. sales we have seen, you know, very, very high this year with 50% increase. That is the contribution which has come in. I think, at this point of time, I think we can consider this as a new normal now.
Okay. Thank you for that. My second question is on your strategic priorities that you have mentioned in the presentation, where one of the priorities is focus on digitalization. Just wanted to understand here, are we talking on the AI front? If yes, just wanted to understand how does adoption of AI actually impact our PNL. Basically on the R&D side, does it increase our R&D expense or it lowers our R&D expense? If you can just throw some light there.
No, we have embarked on the AI initiative, we are progressing well. We have formed a team in Ajanta Pharma, we've identified the areas. Yes, it is one of the priorities for us. We've been on this journey for a while. Not particularly AI. In fact, AI journey started, let's say about last three months or so, six months or so. We've been on a journey of the digitalization in all our verticals, whether it is sales and marketing in India, sales and marketing in overseas markets, whether it is our facilities. We have a heavy digitalization, which gives us a lot of rich data.
Our plan is to integrate that, take that data and apply a layer of AI on that and see how we benefit from all this data to make better decisions, sound decisions. That is going to be the next focus for the current year for how we're going to use the data and see how we can impact, how can make use of that for the benefit and building more efficiencies. I don't think on the R&D front there is any significant impact that will be there because of something like this, at least not in the near term.
Sure. Thank you for that. Yeah, those were my 2 questions. Yeah. Thank you.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ankit Shah from CRAMC. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yes.
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. My question pertains to the U.S. market. Are you seeing any stability in the pricing environment or any restocking demand because of the logistics disturbances in that market? Any comment on that?
No, I think logistics to U.S. is not impacted. Just costs have gone up, there is no supply chain disruption any which way. The market in U.S. continues normal. Whatever were the earlier factors of price erosion and things like that, they continue, which is the normal one. War has no impact on the U.S.
Got it. Got it. That's it from me. Thank you.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Yogesh Soni from Haitong Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. One question. I just wanted clarity, so clarification on whether our U.S. business margins have improved and whether they have reached nearer to our corporate-level margins?
We don't give out the vertical-wise margins. I think I'm sorry, I'll not be able to share those granular details.
One more question, if you could just help me understand how much is the chronic share in the combined Asia and Africa branded generics market? Because for the past few quarters we have been focusing on growing our chronic therapy areas in these markets. If you could help me with the numbers.
I think combined figures, we may not have that right now.
If you could broadly help me understand, I mean, how is the revenue split between chronic and acute in these two markets combined?
Broadly, I think, we can take, because some markets are chronic with 80%, some markets are with 30%. Overall, if you take, I think it will be 50% chronic at this point of time.
Okay. Okay.
Our strategy is to increase this chronic portfolio consistently going forward.
Understood. Sir, on the India business, it's been now 1 and a half years since we have entered into gynec and nephro therapies. If you could help us understand how the performance has been in these 2 new therapy areas, and how are we planning to grow these 2 therapies over the next 2 years?
I had a short reference in the opening comment also on the gynecology. The progress has been very encouraging. We have been received very well in the segment itself by the key opinion leaders in that sense. We are progressing very well in gynecology, better than what we were expecting internally. I see that to be contributing meaningfully in the coming 2 to 3 years. That is as far as gynec is concerned. We will also strengthen within gynecology by way of adding more MRs in the coming year. Nephrology, as we said, was a smaller task force, if you recollect when we entered the segment. It's a much more difficult segment to have a crack at. It will take some time, we were prepared for that.
But there are some positive signs, but it will take longer than what it is taking in the gynecology segment.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you for your answers.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Aditya Chheda from InCred Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Can you please break your India growth into price, volume and new product for FY 2022?
Overall, we've grown at 13.3%, 13.1% against IPM of 10%. Our growth breakup is as follows: 3.6% from the volume. Price growth has contributed 4.8%, and new product launches have contributed 4.7% to the total growth of Ajanta.
Okay, thanks. That was it. That's it. Okay.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Niharika Agarwal from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Given your increasing exposure to U.S. generics and Africa institutional, both of which are tender-driven and competitive markets, how are you managing price erosion risk at the portfolio level?
Can you come again, with your question?
Yeah. I was saying, given your increasing exposure to tender-driven and competitive markets, that is U.S. generics and Africa institutional, how are you managing the price erosion risk at the portfolio level? Both of them are, you know, highly competitive markets.
Yeah. No, we always build in the price erosion every year in the guidance which we give out. The current, forward-looking guidance for the next year also for each of these businesses we have given is considering those price erosions, calculations as well.
All right. Thank you. That is all from my side.
Sure.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Yogesh Agrawal for closing comments.
Okay. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining this phone call today. If there are any questions which got left unanswered, please reach out to our investor relations. Thank you for joining.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of Ajanta Pharma, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.