Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Britannia Industries Limited analyst 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. And now I hand the conference over to Mr. Yash from Britannia Industries. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Peter, good morning everyone. This is Yash from the investor relations team. I welcome you all to the Britannia earnings call to discuss the financial results of quarter three for financial year 2025-2026. Joining us today on this earnings call is our CEO and Managing Director, Mr. Rakshit Hargave, Executive Director and CFO, Mr. N. Venkataraman, Chief Commercial Officer, Sales and Replenishment, Mr. Vipin Kataria, Chief Manufacturing and Procurement Officer, Mr. Manoj Balgi, Vice President Marketing, Mr. Siddharth Gupta, and General Manager Corporate Finance, Mr. Ramamurthy Jayaraman. The analyst deck is uploaded on our website. Before I pass it on to Mr. Rakshit Hargave, I would like to draw your attention to the Safe Harbor statement in the presentation. Over to Mr. Rakshit Hargave on the remarks on performance.
Good morning to everybody, and this is my first call with Britannia, so I look forward to engaging with you and also taking all the questions which you will ask. I will go through the deck slide by slide, and you can follow me there. If we start with the performance scorecard specifically for Q3 2025-2026, you would see that in terms of revenue from operations, we have clocked INR 4,885 crores. And if I try and look at how does it measure in terms of growth, you will see that on a 12-month horizon, we have grown at 9.5%, and on a 24-month horizon, we have grown at 16.5%. Consequently, the profit after tax at a Q3 26 level is at 13.9% of revenue. On a 12-month, it is growing at 16.9%, and if I take a two-year horizon, it has grown at 22.2%.
So you would see that the financial performance is very robust. If I go and look at a YTD basis, so from quarter we move to YTD, you will see that we have clocked till December INR 14,172 crore, which on a 12-month basis is a 7.7% growth, and on a two-year basis is a 13.1% growth. Similarly, PAT at a YTD level, we are at 13.1% of revenue. On a 12-month basis, we are at 14.6%, and on a 24-month basis, the growth is at 15.8%. Next, we take a view on something which is very important to us in terms of how are the commodity prices behaving. So you will see that generally, commodity prices have been stable for us. If you take a look at wheat flour, which is very important, it actually came down marginally in Q3 2026.
As we know, February, March are critical seasons for wheat, and based on this, we will see how it behaves going ahead in the future. But at the moment, it looks to be stable. Similarly, RPO has also in the last three quarters come down. Sugar is also kind of stable, and we believe that whatever information we have is that will remain relatively stable going ahead. Same with cocoa, which has also come down. Laminate price is also very stable, and milk price is also slightly stable. How milk behaves going ahead in the future is what we have to see. If I then take a look at some of the key five driving strategic priorities which we have mentioned, I would probably take them briefly one by one. The first one, which deals with our efficiencies in sales distribution and supply chain continues.
I think we are consistently striving that how do we bring more leverage in our sales and distribution model, and how do we juice more out of our supply chain, and that works like a good machine. The second one is about elevating brand experience and investment. So obviously, we have upped our investment on the brand, and this will continue going ahead where we want to build strong, sustainable modes with investment around all our brands. The third is how do we drive our innovation adjacencies, and I've also mentioned future platforms. So obviously, we will be working towards developing something which is exciting and something which is also relevant going ahead in the future. We've also put a section on focused intervention to fight regional competitors.
We all know that regional competition has come up, and they are doing their best, and some of them are also doing well. So we need an enterprising plan to fight them back, and we are putting specific resources to do that, which is why I have also put that as a strategic priority to be driven. And obviously, the fifth one, which is sustainability, which continues, which lies at the heart of many things that we do. If you also see this visual on the next slide, we've gone ahead with Britannia NutriChoice with a new campaign, and you would see that Aamir Khan is there on the campaign, and it has got good feedback. It's been there in the market, I think, on the media for about a month and a half.
Similarly, Little Hearts, which I call a resident jewel, is doing very well, and we are also supporting that. Also, Good Day Crafted, which are premium cookies which are getting a lot of focus in modern trade and larger GT, which is also doing very well. So Good Day Crafted also is on media. Similarly, if I take a look at some of our other verticals, so you would see that the cheese triangles from Laughing Cow, they're also on TV, and we believe that snacking is an opportunity where we can develop it significantly. Also, Rusk, Britannia Toastea, and also Britannia Cake, which are also evergreen additions to our portfolio since long, are also on media. I would also want to talk about a couple of new products and innovations which have gone on the market. So what you would see on the left is 50/50 cheese dips.
So this has been launched under the Britannia 50/50 platform. It's a very exciting product. It is getting rolled out nationally as we talk. This is basically a sweet cheese layer between two crackers. If you haven't tasted it, please try and taste it. So we will also have a caramel version coming out very soon. And then we also have fudge, and as you would see, that we will also be having vegetarian versions of the fudge cake, also layered cake. And also, we've launched what we call as Doodh Marie in select markets where Marie is strong, and there is a lot of equity for milk. So all these are actually entering the market as we talk. Similarly, on what we call our adjacency business, so there are new versions of cake. We've also relaunched our Sattvam Cow Ghee, which is getting a very good response.
Also, you will see that our Toastea, which is our rusk, where we are now having a campaign, Karo Karari Shurwat Toastea Ke Saath. What is interesting is that all these four categories, cake, rusk, croissants, and wafers, are growing in double digits. We can also see that the traction that we are getting in e-commerce is a lot more. They are literally about 3x of biscuits. While our cheese business is growing more, I would say, marginally, but the other businesses like milk drinks, and we are actually entering into the season of drinks because February is the month when people start building pipeline for Winkin' Cow, and ghee is growing much faster. Some points on our sustainability and ESG. Like we said, that building a sustainable, profitable business is at the heart of Britannia.
Let me take you through the progress on the ESG KPIs. We've had 5.7% reduction in specific water consumption, 2% increase in women in the factory workforce, which is now allowed even for night shifts with their consent. Britannia Nutrition Foundation continues to do good work, and there is a 27% increase in the beneficiaries through the foundation. Also in CDP, we've got a sustained B rating in CDP climate change and water security theme. Also, I would want to make a mention that the Britannia Nutrition Foundation work in terms of giving energy-dense food material to undernourished children has been recognized as the best CSR project of the year 2025 at the CSR Summit and Awards 2025 organized by the UBS Forum. Something towards which the company is extremely committed.
We will now run through the financial results, and maybe I ask Venkat to take this through.
Okay, so I'll take it. No issue. So like we said, as you will see, the trend that we clocked INR 4,885 crores this quarter. If you take a look at the last two successive quarters, we've been growing successively and I said that our 24-month growth is at 17% and our 12-month growth is at about 9%. Similarly, if you take a look at our key financial lines, quarter three, specifically at a consolidated level, sales 9.5%, operating profit at INR 895 crores at 17.4%, PBT at INR 919 crores at 18.1%, and PAT, which is our share at INR 680 crores at 16.9%. So you would acknowledge that these are healthy numbers. If you see the trending quarter-wise, you will see that we have been pretty stable.
And actually, in Q2 and Q3, we have moved ahead of Q1, which was a relatively lower number. Similarly, if you take a look at a YTD basis with the same parameters mapped on the YTD. So we are at about 7.7% in terms of sales growth. Operating profit is at 13.5%. Profit before tax is 15.1%, and PAT, our share, is at 14.6%. And here also, if you take a look at year-by-year trend, so 2024/25, it's 16.4% profit from operations, PBT at 16.7%, and PAT at 12.4%. And you can see the comparison with the previous years and make a note where we are as compared to the earlier year. So this was the brief on the financial lines. So this is what we had to share in terms of the output from the deck that we have loaded.
And I guess now we are ready to engage with you, and we are welcome to take questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking your questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, please press star and one to ask a question. A request to all the participants, kindly limit your questions to two per participant and rejoin the question queue for a follow-up question. The first question is from the line of Abneesh Roy from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks and congrats on very good set of numbers.
My first question is on the 3x data which you're given, that e-commerce, quick commerce for cake, rusk, croissant, and wafer is 3x of biscuits. I wanted to understand the reason and whether there's an opportunity to close this gap of 3x. Is the reason that the national players are much lesser in croissant and wafers? Because cake rusk, my sense, is fairly legacy business like biscuits. Plus, we have seen another foods company like Nestlé. Last two quarters, they have really ramped up on e-commerce, quick commerce. So is that an opportunity in the biscuit side of the business? That is the first question. Thanks.
Okay.
To answer the question, I think the fact that we are able to drive the adjacency businesses, which we talked about, at 3x should also be looked at positively because the fact is these are also more relatively novel for the consumers, and we have upped the investment. But at the same time, like you rightly said, it is also an opportunity for us to drive our mainline biscuits much faster. You would see that the way we treat e-commerce and the investments that we do will become much stronger because we believe that the opportunity in driving both our adjacency and mainline biscuits is far higher.
Okay. One follow-up there. Most of the legacy companies that are the category leaders tell us that e-commerce, quick commerce, at least on the profitability side, generally is higher than the general trade.
For you, at least for biscuits, rusk, and cake, is that true that e-commerce, quick commerce is now more profitable than general trade? That is my first question only. It's not the second question. Thank you.
It's more or less at the same level. So it's not that in some categories, maybe we are slightly less. In some categories, we are a bit better. But if you take a look at the overall portfolio, I don't think there is anything significant which is different.
Yeah. Hi, Abneesh. Within this site, so see, on the first question, which is on the biscuits, see, so biscuits are a very, very large portfolio for us, and it's a mix of staples. Then there is indulgence, and there is impulse.
So what we have seen is that in the quick commerce today, because there is instant gratification, occasion-led consumption which is happening, there is a very clear acceleration which is happening on the indulgence and the impulse side, right? So let's say a Marie or a Good Day, the top end of Good Day is doing well, but the staple brands will take a while because the shopper mission is a little different, right? What has happened in croissant, wafer, cake also is that this entire wave of impulse and instant gratification has really helped us to accelerate our business. And like Rakshit is saying, that the intent is that even the other side of biscuit, which is more planned purchase, staples, right, starts moving up.
I think right now in e-commerce, we are in a leadership position, and that gives us confidence that by doing more investment, we will be able to accelerate the growth even higher. I think on the profitability side, we are today in a pretty good shape. The intent going forward would also be to launch a lot of digital-first brands where it will be margin accretive, adding to the overall profitability story of e-commerce.
Yeah. Thanks. My second and last question will be on the sales growth and competition. The 12% sales growth in November, December, any one-off effect of channel refilling, given GST issue, was behind? Second is local competition. Earlier, MD had said it was largely in Eastern India, and you have said that that is one key priority to take on some share back from local competition.
Is that because opportunity has arisen because of the GST rate cut, that compliance will now be more of a challenge for local players, or the local competition is a genuine problem in most parts of the country? That is the second question.
So Vipin, maybe let me make a few comments and that you can join in.
Yeah. So October was a transition month where we saw a bit of a dip. But I think in November, December, I don't think there is any impact of channel filling. This is routine business based on sellout and consumption, which has kind of stabilized. In terms of regional competition, yes, I'm aware that in the past, we have talked about regional competition in the East. The truth is that there are pockets of regional competition in regions apart from East also, and they are all operating like small, active small units.
I think our plan is to address that in a focused manner. While we are a large company, how do we really compete with them on even terms on the overall product and marketing mix? So I would say that while East is a hotbed of competition, regional competition exists in other clusters also, which, like you said, that we have actually mentioned as one of the strategic priorities in terms of how to address that.
Vipin, would you want to add more to it?
Yeah. So there is no impact of, let's say, inventory going down and inventory fill-up. So I think we have had a smooth transition for GST. So basically, we are focusing right now on increasing the transaction, which is the number of packs sold, because that is the most important for us to capture that shelf and market share.
See, on the regional player, there are two kinds of regional players that we see. The first one are the unlisted players, I would say, which are basically very, very localized players. And as the flour rates or the commodity rates are benign, these are players which will give extra value and trade schemes and therefore go up. Now, to counter them, we are building and increasing our investment in the brand, like Rakshit is saying. So that will be for the localized player. The regional players play on their strength of understanding of flavor, consumer, and they have created certain formats which are very good.
So I think our game right now is to make sure that we quickly adopt and adapt the manner in which these regional players are developing these flavors and formats and very quickly hit them in certain pockets of the market where we are getting a pushback.
Thank you. That's very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mihir Shah from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Hi, Rakshit. Congrats on your new role and the team for the great set of numbers. First question is on the demand environment. First, if you can, maybe just break up that 9.5% into volume value. The other thing is that the other large player, for most part of the third quarter, was seen to remain at the INR 4.5 and INR 9 price point. So did this have any volume pressure for you for the quarter?
Has all the industry now moved back to the INR 5 and INR 10 price point with higher gramage and the impact on volumes on the back of that in the coming quarters? That's my first question.
Okay. I think, Mihir, thank you for your comments. I think what you've asked is a relevant question. If you take a look, the overall value growth we have, so obviously, it is a mix of volume, and it's also a mix of the higher value realization because of the GST difference that has happened. As you would know, that when GST transition happened, Britannia being the market leader, we were the first company to transition. The way we addressed the INR 10 and the INR 5 price point is that we gave extra biscuits.
So the option was that you can reduce the price point to INR 4.5 and INR 9. So for a very short interim period to manage the packaging material, we did that. But we were first of the block moving to INR 10 and INR 5 with more biscuits. The implementation of this from the other companies has been staggered. So a couple of national competitors have moved fully, but some of them are still transitioning to the model where they will sell at INR 10 and INR 5. And some large companies have not started that as yet. Now, obviously, that creates a situation in the market, which I also mentioned in the release, that price points post-GST are still stabilizing.
So obviously, what is happening is that when you are going to sell the biscuit at INR 4.5 and INR 9, ultimately, the consumer is usually ending up paying INR 10 and INR 5. So this arbitrage is actually landing in the pocket of the retailer, which could mean that in certain sections and certain channels, there could be a diversion of some business towards these companies where the retailer is seeing the opportunity to create some temporary advantage for himself. And as a result, the volume growth would be slightly asymmetrical across these channels. But we also hope that this is something which is going to get corrected very soon. But at the moment, the market is still in a bit of flux because all companies have not fully moved towards the INR 10 and INR 5 price point.
Two price points on the packaging still exist, which is a bit confusing. Vipin, would you want to add something on this?
Yeah. So see, the cornerstone of this entire GST transition, which is mandated by the government, is to pass the benefit to the consumer. And therefore, like Rakshit said, we were first in the block to move, right, give that extra gramage and value to the consumer. But what has happened is that others have decided to stagger it because of certain tactical gains. And I think that's been a difficult phase, but we have kept our focus in terms of increasing our distribution, our transactions. And that is what has really helped us. I think as we speak, a lot of these regional players and national players are going back to INR 5 and INR 10.
I think by the end of this quarter, most of the price points would be the round price point, passing the entire benefit to the consumer. But yeah, in the interim, I think the trade has gained, and basically, people have played that tactical game.
Yeah. So Mihir, ultimately, this GST move by the government is a very good move. And we are extremely confident that in the medium to long term, this will be very beneficial to consumers. But I think there is this period of transition which is going to have a few issues. But hopefully, we are confident that it will get sorted out very soon.
Understood. Very clear. Thank you for that. Second question is on the margin profile. Gross margin seems to have done quite well. RM prices, the way we see it, continue to remain benign.
The new innovations appear to be gross margin accretive. Can one expect the overall gross margin profile to go back to the 44% levels that we had seen two years back? More near term, sequentially, can one expect margins to improve from these levels on a quarter-on-quarter basis? That's my other question.
Mihir, we know that the margins that we've had are very good. A lot of factors are at the moment favorable. You likely said that the commodity prices are stable and maybe on the lower side. While we won't want to make any future forward-looking commitments, but a couple of reality points are that, yes, we will be upping our investment on the brand. I believe that we need to do more. But at the same time, there are multiple factors. There are modes.
I think our attempt would be to balance out the margin and to kind of deliver something which is exciting. But yes, we will be increasing our investments on the brand. On the historical point, as you said, Venkat, would you want to add something on that?
On the historical margin a few years back, which Mihir was asking?
Mihir, can you?
So Venkat, gross margin had gone to 44% levels, and we had seen some quarters going to EBITDA margins of 20 levels. So while you've come back to 20% EBITDA levels, can we expect gross margins to further improve from here? Or do you think any investments will be put in back? And the sustainability of the 20% EBITDA margin, if you can throw some light on that one.
Mihir, we don't give forward-looking estimates.
Yeah?
But you also know that some of the crop seasons start by March, April. Flour, for instance, the crop season is March, April. The initial estimates are that the acreage under cultivation is significantly better. Subject to other things being there, we are hoping that flour prices will continue to be favorable.
Yeah?
On RPO, there has been volatility that we have seen with government intervention on duties, etc., on imports, which again has come down. We need to see what happens to that. And similarly, on sugar. But fundamentally, we believe that the key commodities seem to be stabilizing than, let's say, in the last couple of years. Right? We really need to go forward and see what happens. But essentially, as we look at it today, this is how it looks. They're looking reasonably stable. Things can change, but yeah?
Got it. Thank you very much.
Wishing you all the very best, gentlemen . That's it from my side.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Vivek from Jefferies India. Please go ahead.
Hi, Rakshit and team. Good morning. Two questions. First, Rakshit, for you, now that you have taken charge as the CEO and have been around for some time, what are your identified top one or two areas that you want to focus on, let's say, in 2026 or maybe in the next couple of years?
Yeah. So Vivek, thank you for asking this. So like I said, we are doing a few things. We will be rolling out a strategic plan which would address both the near term and medium term. Maybe at the moment, I would want to highlight on the following things.
If you take a look at these strategic priorities, apart from the fact that we want to drive efficiency on sales, which is a continuous program, and Vipin and team are doing a good job along with replenishment supply chain, you would have noted that we have talked about working on brand Britannia. You would have heard the announcement that we've hired a new CMO who's going to be the CMO for all the businesses except dairy and international business. So obviously, the idea is to bring a refreshed part of Britannia and the products upfront, to look at them in a manner which leverages on the legacy strength of Britannia but still presents ourselves as a new modern company. And how do we elevate brand experiences?
The other focus area would be, I think, where we need to do more work and where we haven't done maybe in our assessment work is to create the category of functional foods. So you would have seen we've talked about future platforms. So we would be working towards we have a great brand in Britannia, NutriChoice. So we would be making plans in terms of, "How do I really expand our portfolio into a very relevant and focused portfolio in this segment where Britannia starts to play much more seriously?" And we would want to act on that very soon. Apart from that, also, there would be certain initiatives. But I think one is to continue working on what has worked well for us and how to develop the brand salience of Britannia in a much more bigger and modern manner.
And the third would be, "How do we really develop this new platform that we are talking about?"
Interesting. The third one is particularly interesting. And that was my second question for you, Rakshit. When we go to any Quick Commerce and we heard your comment on how you are also doing on Quick Commerce. But it appears that especially on the food side and maybe even in case of personal care, there is a fair amount of competition which has picked up. And there have been at least one company in the FMCG space which has been very systematically acquiring these small brands and early-stage franchises and have been able to scale up well. What is your thought process on build versus buy? Because brand Britannia stands for something which is great.
But then do you think there is a need to also have a few of these look at these franchises and, if possible, maybe acquire some of those?
Yes, Vivek. So like you rightly said, we believe that Britannia by itself can do a lot more things. And I gave an example. But we also believe where we have not taken off the blocks is that there are maybe attractive opportunities on the inorganic side. And Britannia would be justifiably evaluating them. So the idea is going ahead that, "How do you really make a composite portfolio?" And everything cannot be built from organic. So that door is also open for us.
Got it. Thank you very much. Wishing you all the very best, Rakshit and team.
Thanks, Vivek.
Thank you. A request to all the participants, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. And rejoin for a follow-up question. Next question is from the line of Arnab Mitra from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. My first question was actually on market share where you mentioned about the regional players. I wanted to just understand if there has also been any increased competition from the national players. And has Britannia been able to hold its market share relative to the other national players? And a related question is, if I look at a lot of the priorities which you mentioned, adjacencies, competing with the regional brands better, e-commerce channels, do you think you would have to significantly up your investments? And more in the sense that, would you be able to sustain your margins here? I think the previous question was more about expansion of margins. But I wanted to understand if all of these require investments which will have to ultimately come out of your current P&L.
Yeah. So, Arnab, did I get your name correct?
Yeah.
So Arnab?
Yes.
Yeah. So let me answer your questions in the sequence that you asked. So yes, against national players, we are holding shares. In fact, over a two-year period, we've actually gained share over national players. Now, the point is on market share. Like I said, there are two price points existing in the market on the packaging because many of the companies have not migrated fully to a INR 10 and a INR 5. And INR 10 and INR 5 are important because a large portfolio of biscuits actually sells either at INR 10 or INR 5.
So we are in discussion with Nielsen to really sort out the issue because at many places where the actual selling price should be INR 4.5, Nielsen is capturing it maybe close to INR 5. But that's a discussion that is ongoing. And I'm sure that it'll get sorted out. But at the moment, which is why I said that prices in the market are in a bit of state of flux. And the GST transition is still happening from that point of view. But we can see that more and more companies are moving towards the finalized packaging where they are declaring at 10 and five. So from that point of view, the market share still remains in a bit of flux.
Now, your next question, the fact that we are going to be fighting regional competition, we are going to be investing in e-commerce, yes, that will require more funds. We are committed to invest that. We believe that the opportunity for us to drive top line better is definitely there. I think we will be taking a very pragmatic view of that, that driving top line is also important because we can gather far more customers who consume Britannia and our other brands. What happens to our margin profile? Like I said, we will always keep it balanced under the check. But I believe there are opportunities where we can make a better play with investments. We will be choosing them very selectively.
On regional competition, the fact is, yes, we will work, as I said, small group of enterprising businesses and not treat them like national competition. So we will have a startup mentality to fight these people. We will make sure that the ambition that we have are more than the resources that we put. And we actually deliver it better. So we will manage the expectations accordingly.
Got it. Thanks for that detailed answer. My second and last question is more of a bookkeeping question. So you have mentioned this loss of state fiscal incentives to the extent of INR 65 crores for this quarter is what I understood. Also, there is a lumping up of other operating incomes you've got from one of the states.
So should one take as this quarter's other operating income minus that state one-time incentive you've got as more of the run rate going forward? And any discussion with the states of potentially making up for that or at least partially offsetting that loss of incentives?
Yeah. So you are right. The incentive that we got from the state of Bihar is something that accrued in this quarter. And therefore, it's very specific to this quarter. However, having said that, we also have, as you may have seen, provided for the labor code impact in this quarter to the tune of INR 48 crore. So in some sense, they neutralize each other. To your second question, in terms of have we reached out to the state governments?
We already have or in discussions with the state government authorities or providing us an alternate ways of providing the incentive that was intended originally. You're talking about converting this possibly into a capital subsidy or of extending the period of incentive or any other form that would be appropriate under the current circumstances. We are hopeful the government authorities are being very positive. We are hopeful that we should get some relief, not just for us. It's going to be an industry-wide requirement. It is also going to impact those who are going to invest in the future.
Got it. Thanks. That's it from my side. All the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Percy from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Rakshit and team. Just a question on this, yes, about 60% in price-pointed packs.
Percy, sorry to interrupt you, but we are losing your audio. Can you please come in our better reception area, please?
Yeah. Just one minute. Is this better?
Yes. Go ahead.
Yeah. So see, about 60% of your portfolio is price pointed PACS, which are essentially close to a single consumption PAC. And in this, you have sort of given 12% extra gramage. So about 6%-7% extra gramage as a portfolio has gone through. And since the naturalization per kilo is unchanged, that would mean 6%-7% extra sort of sales should come through. In light of this, the overall sales growth of 9% is a little low. So what am I missing? What am I calculating wrong here?
So Percy, like you calculated, the 9.5% growth, I said, is broken down both into volume growth and growth coming because of GST. So when I say growth because of GST, it means about that would translate to about 4.5%. And the rest comes from because our products have also rolled into the market sequentially. So it's not that the full quarter has sold at the lower GST rate. But yes, you are right. So about half-half, 50/50, has come from volume. And half has come from value because of GST. So if basically the GST rate had not changed, does it mean that the sales growth would have been 4%-5% in that case? No. But you would also realize that because of the transition and the change, there was a challenge in the month of October.
So if the GST had not happened, we would have had a better October. And henceforth, the number would have still been more closer to what we have delivered than because of the factor that you are talking about. Yeah. So I think the underlying growth cannot be called out like that because, obviously, the environment in which we were operating in quarter three was very different, right, from the competitive scenario to the transition which was happening factory by factory, brand by brand. So I think it cannot be equated, Percy, like that.
Understood. So given the fact that these price cuts or rather volume increases were happening,
Percy, sorry. We are losing your audio again. Percy, can you hear us?
Because you have not implemented the extra volume for the entire quarter, would it be fair to assume that going ahead, the sales growth would be more towards the low teens kind of a number if the full quarter effect is sort of taken into consideration? And also given that the other competition is now moving from 4.5-5 or 9-10, etc.
So Percy, again, two points. We would not want to comment in terms of how we will deliver in the coming quarter. But like we said, Britannia has fully implemented the proposed government GST reduction and giving benefit to the end consumer. So we are fully on the table. The other companies are still doing so, which is why there is a bit of flux in the market in the channels. But we are hopeful of continuing good performance.
That's how we see it. But yes, it also depends on how the prices stabilize. Depends on the other people also as to how quickly they are able to change.
Understood. Second question is on gross margin. This quarter, we had a 530 basis points kind of gross margin expansion year-over-year. So just wanted to understand what drove it. And is this sustainable? Are you talking about gross margin versus the last year, same quarter, right?
Yeah, versus Q3 last year. Last year, Q3 was when the RPO prices started going up, if you will remember. Yeah? Q3 and Q4 is when RPO prices started shooting up. And then we started initiating the price correction activities from Q4 and Q1. Yeah? So it's a combination of two things.
And so, one, the inflation that happened and a delayed price increase with a lag of about 2-3 months that happened for us to initiate the price increase. So now, with the commodity prices tapering off and the margin stable there, you see that expansion of margins.
For anything. This is sort of a clean number.
Yeah. This is a clean number. Correct.
Okay. Okay. That's all from me. Thanks. And all the best.
Thank you. I request all the participants kindly limit your questions to group of participants. Next question is from the line of Nihal Jham from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, Rakshit, Venkat, and team.
Two questions, follow-up to the earlier participant, that in the earlier Q2 call, also, the earlier MD mentioned about the possibility of 15% top line growth, which is, say, the underlying 9% that the business has been doing and the potential sort of 6% coming from the gramage change that is happening on the back of GST. Given November, December are sort of clean numbers at 12%, just wanted to understand that is there a possibility that the growth can sort of uptick to that number in the coming months or quarters?
Yeah. So Nihal, like we said, we would not want to comment on whether we can move to 15%. But yes, November and December were clean months. And we saw that we delivered close to 12%. But like we also said, the overall market is also stabilizing. So we'll have to see how it moves on.
Sure, Rakshit.
Just one more question. You did highlight about all the initiatives that you plan to take in the coming months. Would it be possible to give some more granularity specifically on the adjacencies, just given all of these four categories are sort of very different and divergent? So just some quick thoughts about how you're thinking of each of them.
So at the moment, what I can share with you is that one of the changes that we are bringing on is that the CMO is going to be responsible for Brand Britannia under all the verticals, which also includes adjacencies, which basically for us is Croissants, Rusk, and Cake. Earlier, they were managed as a separate business. The marketing head was not directly accountable for that. So we expect to bring in synergies, common themes.
I have identified areas where there could be a multiplier effect because we treat them as a part of an umbrella family. At this stage, I can tell you that one of the objectives of bringing in a CMO for the overall business was to also bring about more relevance for this portfolio. That is one of the things. You would also see more innovation coming also on the mainline business and also on these. Obviously, we will accelerate. I think with a CMO, the ability to collaborate and work with R&D more proactively and in a more agile manner will also be better. That's what you will see. When we do more things, we will share them in the future with you.
Sure. Quick follow-up. Anything on distribution or pricing for these adjacent categories, which can potentially look better or different?
Maybe, Vipin, you would want to comment on this.
Sorry. I missed the question. Can you please repeat?
No. I was just checking. Rakshit mentioned about umbrella branding sort of for the adjacencies also. Incrementally, any changes on the distribution or the pricing structure for the adjacent categories, which can change in the coming months?
Yeah. So see, I think last year, which is the calendar year 2025, has been a little turbulent for us because we did some price changes because of inflation, which didn't go too well in the market, right? So we learned our lessons the hard way. And we came back with those very competitive price points. And as we exited calendar year 2025, our growth rates have been pretty good.
So I think whatever we had to do in terms of doing the right pricing against the local competition or national competition or driving distribution has been taken. And like Rakshit said, I think a lot of brand investment will start happening in some of these categories because Cake and Rusk are fairly large categories. They are bigger than even some of the biscuit brands. And I think a lot would be done on the brand side so that our offtakes, our pull, our repeats are good. And that is then augmented by good distribution both in urban and rural. And then what we have also found is that in modern trade and e-commerce, where you can build discoverability, where the conversion is more instant because you're doing activations on the platform, right, is again going to be a big focus area.
So therefore, the salience of these brands is increasing in these channels. And that's a very welcome change. So basically, going forward, omnichannel approach, very strong price points, pushing back local competition. And on the overall brand investment is what we will drive adjacency growth.
Good. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Harit Kapoor from Investec India. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning. Just one thing on this 12% growth in November and December. How much of this was volume-driven, both organic plus GST-led? And how much of it was the carry-forward impact of pricing over the last, say, three, four quarters, which we had done? I think we had done something in Q4 of last year. The reason I ask is we anniversaried this from Q4.
I just wanted to get your sense about how much of it is volume-led, GST-volume-led otherwise so we can get a clearer picture.
Yeah. So Harit, like I said, the 12% is equally divided between volume growth and the growth that we are realizing because of higher NSV realization as a result of rate reduction. So it's about 50/50.
Got it. Okay. Okay. So this is a kind of so-
One more dimension I would want to add is that the consumption, the way people consume our categories, also changes quarter by quarter, right? And therefore, to put any forward guidance on those numbers would be very difficult, I think, because, like Rakshit has been saying, there is flux in the market. And there is a consumption angle, right? So I think quarter four, what we will see is healthy growth but can't predict right now.
Understood. Understood. Good.
The second thing was for Rakshit. So there have been—you mentioned that team addition has happened. You called it out in a release yesterday. Just wanted to get your sense about whether you feel that, at least from a people perspective, are there other pieces that will get filled up over time? Is there need at all, etc., as you further this growth agenda?
I think there was a bit of disturbance on the call. Can you just repeat your question again, Harit?
Yeah. My question was regarding team additions. Do you believe, in order to kind of further your growth agenda, whether e-commerce or innovation or otherwise, you would need to kind of further add a team member, especially like you have announced the CMO addition? We will have a very strong—
Sorry to interrupt you. We lost your audio in between.
Can I request you to repeat, please?
You want me to repeat my answer or his question?
Yes. Yes. Your answer. Yes, sir. Your answer.
Okay. Okay. So if I'm audible now, so what I'm answering to Harit is that so obviously, we made an announcement yesterday. The way I would put it is that we have an overarching overall people agenda. And the people agenda means it's a combination of positions. It's a combination of our ways of working. It's a combination of creating a high-energy organization. And we've already been a very admired company. But we really want to take it to the next level in a very, very relevant manner for today's world. So I don't want to share more details on the people agenda right now. But you will see that we will move fast.
We will really do what needs to be done to make Britannia sharper, focused, and very relevantly aggressive.
Rakshit, wish you all the best.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Sachdeva from UBS Group. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. My question is on cheese categories. Obviously, this category was supposed to be the driver of your dairy or at least the bellwether of dairy foray and the value addition and things like that. But for some reason, the milk or the flavored milk has grown. And other extensions from dairy has grown. But cheese, which was supposed to be the bellwether for this initiative, has not worked and clearly for several quarters. And is there a thought process how and it's supposed to be high-growing as well.
What is the thought process here, given the investment that you've already made, JV, that you did? How cheese as a category will be resurrected? That's question number one. And I'll ask my second question later.
Okay. So yes, like you said, cheese has been a slow starter for us. And we acknowledge that. But let me tell you some of the things that we are doing to be able to correct that. As you would have noticed in the month of December, we also now have a new head for our dairy business who also is involved to head what we have is our cheese business, which is housed under Britannia Bel Foods, which is our JV with the French company Bel. So obviously, we are looking at cheese from all angles. So we know that we have capacity.
But I think to add that, there is work that is being done to make our cheese portfolio more attractive. There is innovation, which is happening. But mark my words, we are already the second largest player in cheese slices after the market leader. We have a reasonably good position in general trade and also in select modern trade. But we are looking at innovation. We are looking at price points. We have kicked off a much more solid relationship with our JV partner in terms of what we can do. So you will see initiatives on cheese and also working much more closely with some of the modern trade customers where we have not been able to make more headway. You will also see new propositions coming in.
So like we said, cheese is important for us because I think from a brand perception point of view, Britannia's domain connectivity with cheese and dairy is high. And we would want to really leverage that. So I could say that we are starting a new leap to be able to put a lot more focus here.
Got it. Thanks so much for that, Rakshit. And we look forward to hearing more on cheese. Second question that I want to ask is the quick commerce and e-commerce foray and how biscuit as a category has interacted with it. I think you can allude to it that there is an indulgence and impulse category, which is doing well. But my sense is the previous thought process was that e-commerce, on an aggregate basis, tend to be margin dilutive. And hence, it's a very selective play.
But given that the indulgence is growing, is it opening the opportunity for aggressive expansion in new categories or new extensions, maybe chocolates or something like that, which basically can help you exploit that opportunity better? And hence, we should see aggressive innovation exploiting that channel and also indulgence and impulse, which are some of the categories which are absent. And is there a thought process around how we should think about that piece?
Yeah. Yeah. So I will make a few comments. I will give it to Vipin then. Vipin made a point that we are now going to also look at e-commerce as a business unit where we will incubate some innovation, incubate new development, and be faster to the market. And I think that's the reality towards which we are committed.
As far as the business profitability, like we said, I think we are fairly well positioned on e-commerce. I think we are definitely going to drive it. Vipin, if you could add more color on the rest of the questions.
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Rakshit. So see, I think the opportunity which Q-comm and e-commerce present today, here from a category penetration point of view, is immense, right, because the category penetration is just around 20-odd%, right? So let's say out of the 100 consumers which are going on Q-comm, our category penetration is just 20. This also has moved very rapidly. As a market leader, as a brand, we would want this category penetration to go up. So therefore, our entire joint business planning with the Q-comm customers is basically, how do we expand or deeply penetrate in terms of categories?
Now, within the categories, there are staple categories. There are impulse categories. There are indulgent categories. And therefore, when I'm talking about this 20% kind of penetration, that's at an overall biscuit level. And therefore, there are a lot of layers which we can really unfold. And we can keep accelerating that category penetration, right? So therefore, the growth will keep coming from a category penetration point of view. The second, what's happening is that the density of the dark store is going up in the top 15 metros, right? So I think that's, again, a big opportunity. Today, Q-comm is going to 150+ cities, right? That's another dimension of opportunity. The fourth dimension of opportunity, what we call now is resident jewels, which is that while we have so many brands, but there are certain brands where we have underinvested. There is good margin profile of these products.
Therefore, let's invest rightly in these products, right, before we set up this entire business unit, which Rakshit just spoke about. So let's say Little Hearts in our portfolio is a brand which I think we have not invested enough. We have not focused enough. And therefore, there are those resident jewels which we will start focusing. And that's very apt for Q-comm and e-commerce. And therefore, what we have seen initially is very, very good growth, right? What we are also saying is that whatever investment that we do will also be synchronized on the platform so that what you see on digital, what you see on TV, will also come alive on the Q-comm and the e-comm platform. And therefore, there is a complete 360 experience, uniformity of experience that a consumer sees.
Then there is a fifth leg, which I spoke about, which is, how do you make sure that our margin profile keeps moving up, right? So therefore, what we are saying is that there are a lot of these resident jewels where the margin profile is already good. And then what we are launching specifically for Q-comm will give me a creative margin, which will ultimately start translating into good profit from operations. And we are already ahead of the competition, both in terms of our market share as well as profitability. So we are very clear and excited about this entire transition, which is happening, right? And that gives us an opportunity to give the right kind of assortment and the right kind of margin to the consumer.
Got it. Vipin, if I may ask, what is the current e-comm and QuickComm like a revenue salience for you?
And where do you see, say, a two to three-year view, where it could be?
See, so right now, it's high single. And see, we know that every quarter, this is moving up, right? So what we will end up with is a high single salience. I think this certainly will move very quickly, maybe to the early teens or twenties, right, is how we see this going forward in FY 2027.
Thank you very much, Amit, for your question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as a last question. I'll now hand the conference over to Mr. Yash for closing comments.
Thank you, everyone, for spending time with us on the call today. We look forward to interacting with you again. Thank you again. And have a good day. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. On behalf of Britannia sorry, so go ahead.
On behalf of Britannia Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.