Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q4 FY 2026 earnings conference call of Havells India Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference call over to Mr. Umang Mehta from Kotak Securities. Thank you, and over to you.
Thank you, Steve. On behalf of Kotak Securities, we welcome you all to Q4 FY 2026 and FY 2026 results conference call of Havells India Limited. We have with us today the senior management represented by Mr. Anil Rai Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Whole Time Director and Group CFO. Mr. Ameet Kumar Gupta, Whole Time Director. And Mr. Rajiv Goel, Executive Director. Now I hand over the call to Mr. Anil Rai Gupta for his initial comments, and then we will open the floor for Q&A. Thanks, and over to you, Anil sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining today's call. We hope you would have reviewed the results, and we'll now walk you through the key highlights. Moderate overall performance of the quarter, which is driven by a good start to the season. Momentum in industrial infrastructure categories remained strong. However, consumer categories missed c ost trends arising from recent global disruptions. We have stepped up our advertising investments and brand building, while still maintaining limited growth in overall spend. On the profitability front, margins held well except Lloyd, which was impacted due to lower revenues. We continue to navigate cost pressures.
Calibrated price actions have also been initiated. Our renewable energy initiatives continue to scale. As you were aware during the period where this investment allows us to leverage Goldi Solar solar module manufacturing capabilities to expand our solar portfolio. Additionally, during the quarter, mark-to-market fair valuation gain of INR 283 crore on this investment. The gain is reported under other income for the quarter. To position Lloyd, we have invested in setting up a new refrigerator plant at Ghiloth. During the quarter, the capacity was commissioned and a refreshed product portfolio was launched.
After a delayed onset of the summer season, we are now seeing signs of pickup in demand for cooling products. We remain optimistic on the revival of summer demand while closely tracking El Niño and its impact on consumption. We now move to Q&A.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star then two. Participants are requested to use handset for asking the question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Ravi Swaminathan with Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. My first question is with respect to the cables and wire segment. During the quarter, we had registered a 14% growth. If you look at the copper prices, I think year-on-year, it would have increased by a much higher number. Had we seen a decline in terms of volumes at the cable and wire segment level? If so, why was it so? Was it just related to dealer destocking alone or the end market was also on the weaker side? If you can give some clarity on that.
Yeah, thank you very much. Yeah. Overall we see the [audio distortion]
Sir, your voice is cracking a bit, sir.
Okay. I'm a bit surprised. Can you hear me now?
Yeah, it's better.
Okay. On an overall basis of volume growth the cables and the industrial cable segment has grown much faster than the domestic wire segment. During the quarter, there is destocking in domestic wire and very high base last year. If you remember, fourth quarter 2025 saw a major hike was seen in the fourth quarter. There was some amount of price correction in copper before the war, and hence overall volumes are down quarter-over-quarter. You see wire segment remained flat, but the cable segment has moved fast.
Okay. With respect to a couple of other segments, one was the AC and fans. How much amount of price increase we would have taken over the past few months to compensate for the raw material price increase in both these products, if you can highlight that? How much are we likely to take?
Price increases are continuing to actually sometimes also difficult to track. First increase happened due to the energy efficiency ratings change during the quarter. Of course, there are raw material changes which are happening. Toward February 2024, there is increase of raw material prices, including others, like aluminum. I would say start from February till April, there is calibrated price increases happening, not only in fans but in our other categories. This will give us the right to pass on the prices as and when.
Thanks, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Natasha Jain with Phillip Capital. Please go ahead.
Ma'am, I think, including me, there's people here, should we do on some other number or mobile? Or you can call on my mobile number.
Yes, sir. Just a second. I'll connect on that.
Okay.
Yes, sir. You can continue.
Yeah. Can you hear me better?
Yes, sir.
Should I go ahead with my question?
Yeah, ma'am.
Yeah. Thank you. Sir, so since your line was not clear, I'll just repeat one question I had, incremental. In terms of wires and cables, you mentioned that the volume has been flat, but margin increase has been very sharp. Could you point out what could be attributed to inventory gains and if there's any mix change that has led to such a sharp margin spike despite volume degrowth?
No, I think I would say rather than just looking at this particular quarter, because there is usually in this quarter year-end adjustments also because of the final dealer incentives and all. Overall, there were inventory gains because of copper and aluminum as well. Volume growth was only 6%. Not flat, but volume growth was 6%. We have seen slight degrowth in domestic wire segment, but much higher growth in the industrial segment.
Understood. Okay. All right. My second question is on lighting. Now, revenue there again has been broadly flat, but margin has increased extremely sharply. Your contribution stands at 37%, and you've mentioned in your presentation that the long-term average is 30%-32%. Does that mean that there is some one-off even in lighting and that should normalize to 30% levels going forward?
Yeah. You can take that as well. As I said, during the year, sometimes in the fourth quarter, there are certain year-end releases, and that is for the entire year. One can say, on average, you can expect 30%-32%, but sometimes, the first three quarters releases also happen in certain cases. Sometimes it's the other way around. In lighting, this has happened. I would say our long-term would be 30%-32%.
This is even despite the fact that ASP decline has stabilized. That is what is mentioned in the PPT.
That's right.
Got it. Sir, one last quick question. In terms of Lloyd, fourth quarter, we understand that the summer was bad and in fact it continued probably till beginning of April. Could you throw some color on how the channel inventory right now is and little color on sell in and sell out both?
I think your analysis is absolutely right. The first half of April was also slow, so there was some channel inventories, but now it's evening out and South and West have started a good summer, and I think it's now coming in the North as well. Hopefully by the end of this month, there will be normalized inventories at the channel level as well.
Understood. Thank you so much, sir. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rahul Agarwal with Ikigai. Please go ahead.
Hi. A very good evening. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, couple of questions. Firstly, on outlook for fiscal 2027, both on volume and revenue growth, given that fourth quarter ended weak, my sense is should we expect double-digit volume growth plus some price hikes into FY 2027? Any outlook could you share, please?
In today's environment, what do you expect an answer from me? We are just looking at month-to-month. Who knows where the world goes? Okay, we are seeing sharp increases in prices for most of the product categories. How much will volume growth be? It is difficult to say at this point of time. I'm not even talking about the summer, but the kind of sharp increases in prices, hopefully it should not, but if it starts affecting the demand also, that's something which will have to be seen as we operate. See, maybe this is for other people's questions also. At this point of time, it is very difficult to say what the growth will be. We are very positive, hopeful.
The summer has started off at a good note. The demand is yet to be seen, and our focus will be to continue to strive towards getting more efficiency. If you will see, we have also continued to invest heavily on our brand-building activity, which clearly indicates that we are in here for a longer period of time, and it's very difficult to predict short-term ups and downs.
Sir, base case, even if you do mid-single-digit volume, along with the price hike, we should still reach mid-double-digit next year, right, in terms of value growth? Is that a reasonable assumption?
As I said, right now it would not be right for me to give any numbers.
Okay. No problem. Sir, secondly, on the margin side, given various amount of price hikes and what we are seeing on the RM inflation side, should we assume that whatever RM inflation, Forex issues, in terms of cost inflation we are seeing, most of that is actually passed through and the entire absorption is actually getting done from Havells' side. Is that understanding correct?
We are striving to do that. Again, we are in a competitive world, and we have to see how it holds up. We are striving to pass on the cost. Again, as I said, we have to compete in the market. Our focus will also be to retain or gain market share. We'll just play a balancing game here.
Got it, sir. Last question, sir, on the after-sales service. My sense is we've seen a lot of premium product launches across all segments from Havells over the last six months. When we look at your website, a lot of new products are actually launched. Just to understand that, I think from a technician perspective, whoever services the customer from an after-sales perspective is largely the same team for premium as well as mass segment products. Is it really possible to have a separate team for luxury and premium products so that the customer experience is not compromised? Any thoughts on this?
I think these are very operational issues which we continue to ensure that we will give the best service to the consumer. These are very operational issues and one part of the business that I think, there's no point of us to spend time on this call. What you are saying is, our objective is to continue to give the best service as well as best customer experience always.
Got it, sir. Thank you so much.
It's good to know that you noticed that Havells is coming out with premium products. That is a reflection of our continued investment in innovation.
Got it, sir. Thank you so much. I'll get back in the queue.
All the best. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Aniruddha Joshi with ICICI. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, thanks for the opportunity. Solar business, so we have seen almost 48% growth in other segments, and even the EBIT margin has also seen a good expansion. If you can share more details on the solar business, have reached a, in a way, normalized run rate, or there is a still good scope to potentially grow in this business? How long this growth rate can sustain, and again, margins of solar business, have they reached to an optimal level, or there is a still further scope to see margin expansion in solar business also? That is question number one. In terms of question two, as far as the volume growth in fans, coolers, as well as refrigerators. How it would have panned out, because probably there was no excess sale in December for these products.
Have they also seen some impact on volumes, or is there healthy growth in these products? Yeah, thanks.
In your first question on solar, I think most of the growth that you see in the other segment is coming out of solar. You see, the way to look at it is that we are building capacities both in industrial cables as well as solar. Solar through an investment in Goldi Solar. Because of the assured supplies, more capacity that we have, we are able to take advantage of the tailwinds that are there in these two segments. Going forward also, in the coming year also, we do feel that there is enough opportunity in the solar segment to continue to grow. We'll be also expanding our product ranges in the entire renewable space in coming times. Again, difficult to say about the margins.
One, of course, volumes will benefit, but it is a competitive space and we also need to see our market shares growing. Also, we'll try and maintain or increase margins through better product additions and expansion of the product range in the renewable space. That's what we're looking for. As far as the second question, I think in fans in the third quarter, there was a change in the BEE norms. There was some stocking in the end of the third quarter, and which impacted some volumes in the fourth quarter, but also the seasonality aspect also came in the fourth quarter. Hopefully we should be seeing better volume growth in the first quarter.
Sure, sir. In terms of monsoon, like last year also was impacted by monsoon. Logically, the impact of monsoon this year is probably less compared to what it was last year. On that favorable base, should all these segments report strong growth or still the impact is so high of monsoon this time also that we are still seeing some impact of monsoon?
No, it's difficult to predict what will happen in the monsoon. You are right, last year was a low base, so we should be seeing good growth in this year.
Okay. Any internal target estimate that the company would be working on the summer products that you can share with us?
I think we do not give any guidance on the numbers, and frankly, in this scenario, we are hoping for a faster growth. As I've already said, in summer products, last year was a very low base. We are hoping to get a good growth in this first quarter.
Okay. Sure, sir. Just last question, the weighted average price hike at the company level would be more than 10%. Is it a fair assumption?
No, I think we would like to see that in many product ranges, it ranges between 5%-20%.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question comes from the line of Balas ubramanian A with Arihant Capital. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, trade receivables have fallen drastically from INR 1,254 crore to INR 782 crore, almost 38%. Even debtor days, it used to be 20 or 21 range in last five years, but right now it's came to 30 days. I'm trying to understand, this is majorly because of faster collections or change in payment terms with distributors, and how do you understand in upcoming years?
Look, this is normally the last day. We are two channel partners, so this kind of fluctuation is nothing unusual to us. There is no structural change either in our payment terms or the billing. Depending upon the mix, sometimes these things happen, but I think you should keep them as a normalized anomaly and not take them as something you see which is exceptional happening in this particular March quarter.
Yes, sir, on the ECD side, in Q3, it's majorly described largely volume-driven, not price-led. In Q4, we saw volume decline, but there is no major price reversal. I'm trying to understand, if you could share volume growth or degrowth for fans, water heaters, and OFR for Q4. Volume details of...
Yeah. We don't give separate volume details for fans and water heaters. As I said, overall, there was a degrowth, in value terms, in fan segment, because of the initial push in the third quarter because of the energy efficiency bill and a delayed summer as well.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Siddhartha Bera with Nomura. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Sir, first on Lloyd, can you highlight broadly how much price hikes have been taken till now and how much is required to sort of go back to that double-digit contribution margin levels which we had last year?
Work in progress.
Any price hikes, sir, if you can quantify how much is more needed or how far have you taken?
Siddhartha, we have already said that there were quite a few price hikes, especially in case of Lloyd, because of the energy efficiency change, the star, five-star change. A lot of that happened during January to March. Now, because I said work in progress, because now we're really seeing the impact of the cost increases post-war. That is now being passed on. There is a work in progress, but it ranges between at least 8%-15%, depending upon the...
Okay. On the cable and wire side, what will be the utilization levels of the new cable plant which we started? I think phase two should come sometime this year as well. If you can just give us some color on that as well?
Right now, whatever capacity got added, we've been still operating at high capacity utilization, and more capacities will come up, as you rightly said, during this year. Hopefully by the end of this year or early next year first quarter, we'll be having the entire capacities which were planned.
Understood, sir. Okay, thanks a lot. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Aditya Bhartia with Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, sir. Given that some of these price increase announcements for fans and room ACs could have been made by March end, did we not see any element of pre-buying given the sharp price increases that you would have announced? That's my first question. The second question is just on the other segment margins that we are seeing in the other segment. Is it operating leverage benefits that are now starting to help us? In that context, should we expect high teens contribution margins to be sustainable from here on?
On the first part, yes, there was some pre-buying in March, especially in the cooling products. Generally, that is the case also in most of the year because it's also the upcoming season time for April and May. That was also accentuated by the fact that the price increases were happening. Again, as I said, right now solar is a sunrise industry for us. We are evaluating this. Our major focus is to continue to gain market shares and get the tailwinds of this industry. Difficult to say what the final margins will be, but they will continue to improve, as you rightly said, about the operating margin, operating leverage.
Perfect. That's helpful, sir. Thank you so much.
The next question comes from the line of Renu Baid with IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good evening, sir. My first question is, you did allude to the fact that the current environment has been extremely difficult to predict, and you have been looking at the business on a month-on-month basis. Going by your experience of how consumption and consumer demand has been, given the steep inflationary pressure across board, across segments and categories, do you think consumer offtake in broad is likely to remain slightly muted in the near term, say the next couple of quarters? The entire thesis of expectation and recovery in consumption is getting prolonged.
Yeah. I've not seen this kind of a price escalation in the recent past, in the recent memory. Usually it happens, but it is not so steep and not across all product categories. Sometimes there are more fluctuations in the cables and wires. This time we are seeing across whether it's mixer or for UHD. While we are very hopeful of the overall structural things which have happened within India as well as within Havells, ultimately we are bound by the fact that the consumer offtake can get affected if the price hike is too high. Let's see how it pans out. Let's see how the war pans out, and hopefully we should have some respite in the coming months.
For us, the priority would be to ensure the market shares are retained or improved in the current environment, even if it remains slightly challenging.
Yeah, usually we have tried to be more efficient during these times, and more efficiency leads to market share gain.
Right.
Our investments continue to be there, whether it is in innovation, whether it is in brand building, distribution reach also. Our reach and all these things, those investments don't slow down during a tough period.
Got it. Secondly, yeah.
Which, Renu, if you've seen in the past, if it means some pain in the short term also. We are wanting to play a long-term game here.
Absolutely. Looking at the CapEx front, in the last couple of years, we clearly stepped up our investment plans across manufacturing facilities, particularly cables and wires and Lloyd. How should we look at the investment plans for FY 2027, FY 2028? Any notable segments you would want to highlight apart from the annual spend budgeted for the next two years?
Yeah, I think by FY 2027, FY 2028, major CapEx would go into cables and wires, which is already planned out, and I think a lot of that is happening in this financial year also, INR 800 crore. The rest, a big investment, is going into the new R&D center, and that will happen over the next two, two and a half years. There is no major new CapEx in the Lloyd segment.
Got it. Just lastly, linked to the cables and wires, we recently gathered that one of the large player with presence on the cement side who was foraying into cables and wires have postponed their entry into the housing wire market by a quarter or two. Do you think in the current environment where the market is struggling bit on the volume side, a large entrant entering in the space, could it put incremental pressure on the existing peers and the industry pricing trends?
Yeah, generally speaking, cables and wires, especially wires, there has been a lot of consolidation in the past also from unorganized or regional brands or small brands to organized brands. More and more, this industry has absorbed newer players, and I think going forward also, companies which should continue to invest in innovation, brand building, and distribution reach will be the winners in this segment. Hopefully new players will also come with the right investments. They'll definitely gain some market shares, but some resistance may happen within the unorganized or organized sector.
Sure. Last question, if I can ask, while you've always spent enough energies and money in terms of distribution reach across regions, North, South are broadly taken care of. How do you look to tackle the Western region in terms of penetration for Havells products, except cables and wires on the B2C side? Any particular areas you would want to highlight to fill the gaps?
I would say that Havells continues to invest not only in the Western region but also certain parts of the Southern markets like Tamil Nadu, where our market shares were lower as compared to other markets. Those investments are going both in distribution but also localized brand building as well. We are seeing good growth. If we actually break down this growth into those areas where we are investing heavily towards, we are seeing good traction in these markets, whether it's West or Tamil Nadu.
Got it. Thanks much, and best wishes to you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Praveen Sahay with PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. First is, as you had highlighted, the investment focus area is towards the industrial, whether it's a cable or renewable. How we are going to see the B2B, B2C mix evolve for the company in the next few years?
I think in cables also, underground cables is something where we are investing, where we were, to some extent, under-invested. In the past, our B2C to B2B has remained between 75%-25% or 70%-30%. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, we should continue to grow even in the B2C segment, especially there you see a lot of growth opportunity in wired, ECD. So definitely, I think, there will not be a meaningful move from B2C to B2B.
Okay. The next questions are related to the switchgear. If I highlighted that the margin impacted because of a lag in the pricing of the cost, do we believe that in the coming quarters, it is possible that we'll go back to our 38% contribution margin?
Yeah. We are striving towards that. As I said, in certain cases, the cost increases are so high that there was a lag in passing on the entire price increase. We'll continue to strive towards moving there, but I also said that our eyes will also be on retaining market share. It's not only never forgetting. This is something which we have to see how it pans out.
Yeah. Why I'd asked that because that's the growth for the entire year for switchgear is also quite low. It's more focused on the growth the way forward or major target is to achieve our contribution margins?
I think it will always remain a balance between growth and profitability.
Thank you, sir. All the best.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Pulkit with GS. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for taking my questions. Anil, I have two questions for you. First is, in light of whatever is happening globally, can you just discuss any supply chain disruptions that you have faced or navigated? Secondly, is there a scenario right now likely wherein again, stronger companies like you emerge stronger given better supply chain controls, et cetera, in the current environment? That's my question number one.
Right. On the supply side, there have been challenges over the last couple of months, especially more on the production side. Those have been navigated and just not to go into each detail. Those have been navigated on the raw material side as well as on the production side due to the gas supply. Going forward, we'll continue to navigate those things. I think your question about whether stronger companies are in a better position to manage, not necessarily also in the supply chain, but also continued investments. That's what we'll continue to strive for. As I have already said, whether it's innovation, brand, distribution, we'll do that. Have a long-term thinking rather than a short-term thinking. I would rather say quarter-to-quarter thinking would not be in our mind. More of how do we continue to invest for the long term.
Sure, sir. My second question actually in relation to that only, which is, we have about INR 4,000 crore of capital now deployed in Lloyd, which at this stage is barely generating any profitability. If I was to look at this, say, for the next two to three years, what is going to be the strategy to get our returns higher in that particular segment? Is brand building going to be a continued focus? Is utilizing our capacities, the two factories that we have, going to be the focus? Just some thought process about how should we look at capital returns on what you've invested in Lloyd.
The biggest thing about any consumer-oriented brand builders, brand-oriented business is something where it's an easier answer that you can't really say, "Okay, if I have to fully utilize my capacity, I'll lower down my price and start selling more." It doesn't really happen, as you can very well understand. It requires long-term investment in brand building. Our focus in Lloyd will continue to be towards bringing out better products through innovation, which means improving image through brand building and innovation for a better margin, and utilize the capacities that have been created for better operating leverage.
That's where the profits will come from, on higher sales due to capacity utilization, brand building, as well as improved margins. Again, as I said, it's everything put together, but everything has to come together in certain period of time. It can't come in very quickly, and that's what we'll continue to invest for.
Sure, sir. Useful. Thank you so much.
The next question comes from the line of Mr. Achal Lohade with Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Two questions, sir. First, if you could give us some sense, if possible, on the full year growth in terms of fans, wires, water heaters, et cetera. Just trying to understand, if we have gained market share, we have seen some market share loss in any of the categories, if you could highlight that.
Generally, we don't give product wise growth rates, but fans we have de-grown in the entire year. That's fans, ACs and water coolers, there we have de-grown. That's what I can say. Talking about market share, we do believe that we've been able to at least retain, if not gain.
Any of the category where you think you could have lost market share?
I don't believe so.
Understood. Sir, second question I had, just a top-down thoughts. From a positioning of our products, would it be possible to get a sense in terms of the economy and mass premium and premium mix? And are we under-indexed in the volume segment where probably the growth could be better and premium is facing a challenge in terms of growth? Any color on the segmentation at a broad level, sir?
Achal, look, the strategy of the company. I think the chairman just talked about how the long-term strategies are drawn up. I think looking at a very short-term lens, I think we can't decide about the brand positioning. You are aware we have REO, we have Havells. I think within those segmentations we'll play. Just because there could be volumes in the lower end of the market, and we even don't know. You see, the data is not really supporting that. I think it's a brand positioning which has been painstakingly built over decades, something you can't really tinker with based on particular quarter or a seasonality. This, I think, will continue to sort of support. Yes, there will be strategies how we play in every segment, but not necessarily it could be played with a single brand architecture.
That's something, in the market you are also aware how we are doing the same. Maybe more clarity in the future will also be coming through. We are also observing market very closely. Clearly there is a ethos which brand stands for, and I don't think that should be altered purely on some quarterly considerations.
No, understood. Just to clarify, Anil , the question was more from an annual sort of, medium-term perspective, not really quarterly at all.
I hear-
Yeah. I just wanted to clarify, given the positioning what we have, given the category, the sub-segment growth within the segment, within the category, is there a constraint in terms of growing at a higher pace, and there is a price difference gap between us and the other brands have widened. Is there a case for that? I was more coming from that perspective.
Yes. No, maybe you are right, but I hope you appreciate this is something what we do every day. Based on, as I said, brand ethos are built over decades. Even a year actually is nothing in the overall history of a business and a brand. Yes, I think your point, understood, but I think this is something we evaluate very closely. That much we can assure you.
Fair point. Just a clarification, Anil sir, in the past calls you did highlight there is a possibility of over two percentage point improvement in margin over medium term. Given what you have kind of highlighted in the call about renewed investments in the R&D and the A&P, is there a change in that particular thought or that remains as is?
No, that remains as is because we are continuing to wanting to be more efficient, get operating leverage out of better volume. See, the whole investment behind innovation and brand building would be to put in more innovative products at a premium to the consumer and hence get better margins for the company. Again, as I said, short term, there may be some pain, but long term, the whole idea is to have better growth and profitability. Through growth, also operating leverage will be coming.
Understood. Thank you so much for your answers, sir. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Pratik Singh with Helios. Please go ahead. Pratik, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Pratik Singh, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response, we'll move on to the next question. It's from the line of Natasha Jain with PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for the follow-up. Just wanted to check, you had said in terms of cables, the volume growth is 6% and the value growth is at 14%. Just trying to do the math here. Is it just 8% price hike that you've taken? I think relatively copper has substantially increased and even aluminum, if I see, even on a YOY basis.
No, this is what we are saying over the quarter-over-quarter. If you recall, there was actually a dip in copper in the month of February. The entire increase that you're seeing is post the war. That has actually started increasing. Yes, so overall, cables and wires, 6% volume growth and 14% value growth.
The 6% volume growth is year-on-year, correct?
Yes, that's right.
That would leave us with 8% price-
Blended for cable and wire.
All right, sir. Okay. Thank you so much.
The next question comes from the line of Ashish Kanodia with Citi. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, sir. The first question is again on the cost side and investment in talent and capacity building. When we look at the fixed cost, and this is across segments, while FY 2025, there was an increase in fixed cost as you were investing. In FY 2026, barring cables and wires, we have seen the fixed cost being broadly flat across all other segments. Cable and wires partly is maybe because of the capacity addition.
When you look at FY 2027, while as you said, it's really difficult to forecast revenue here, but from a cost point of view, do you see that FY 2027 is also going to be very similar to what we have seen in FY 2026, whereby fixed costs may be increased in cable and wires because of capacity addition, but other segments remains broadly where they are or maybe just in line with inflation? Or do you think that because FY 2026 have not seen major investments, so FY 2027 could see a bump up in investment across segments?
Yeah, there will be some investment across segments. This could be especially where the cable demand has seen the upturn or not. There will be a balanced approach across all segments. However, last year also we said this year also we'll try and get more operating leverage, which means revenue growth should outpace the expenses growth, except in advertising and promotions, where we are taking cautious decision to up our spends.
Oh, yes, sir. The current participant has been disconnected.
Okay.
Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference call over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you very much, everyone, for joining in to the investor call for Havells India Limited. Thank you, Umang, for organizing this. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Havells India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.