Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call of International Gemmological Institute Limited, hosted by MUFG. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sumeet Khaitan from MUFG. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. I welcome you all to the earnings conference call, discuss Q1 FY 2027 results of International Gemmological Institute Limited. To discuss the results we have from the management, Mr. Tehmasp Printer, MD and CEO, Mr. Eashwar Iyer, CFO, and Ms. Natasha Kedia, Head of Investor Relations and Public Relations. They will take you through the results and business performance, post which we will proceed for Q&A session. Before we proceed with the call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. For more details, kindly refer to investor presentation and other filings that can be found on the company's website. With this, I now hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Sumeet. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today for the IGI first quarter FY 2027 earnings call. I trust you have had the opportunity to review our financial results and investor presentations, both which are available on the stock exchanges as well as our website. We have begun FY 2027 on a strong note, delivering Q1 revenue growth at 23% and an EBITDA growth of 29% year-on-year. This performance reflects the enduring strength of our core franchise and the disciplined execution of our growth strategy. Our momentum this quarter was broad-based, led by LGD loose stones, LGD jewelry, and increasingly by colored stone gemstones and other certification. Demand for LGD certifications remains healthy, supported by incremental growth capacity coming online. This structural expansion in supply, coupled with the rising consumer acceptance, continues to widen market for independent certification.
At the same time, natural diamonds remain our strategic priority. We are working to gain market share in natural diamond loose stones, winning new customers, and growing our share of wallet with existing ones. Consumer preferences is ever evolving rapidly. Consumers today are increasingly guided by contemporary design, everyday utility, self-expression, and transparency, trends that are reshaping the jewelry industry globally. As we have consistently maintained, the rise of the lab-grown diamonds does not dilute the case of certification. In fact, it reinforces it in the larger markets where more participants' trust and commercial confidence becomes more valuable and not less. We firmly believe that an IGI certificate that makes a lab-grown diamond a diamond. At its core, IGI's value proposition rests on two enduring pillars. The first one is trust, which is very important.
As an independent third party, we verify a stone's origin, its defining characteristics, that is the four Cs, cut, color, clarity, and carat, and increasingly, its traceability, provenance, et cetera. As consumer and trade place increasing importance on transparency and authenticity, independent certification becomes ever more critical. The second value is commercial value. Independent certification establishes a standardized objective assessment of a stone's quality, enabling efficient price discovery, facilitating trade across the entire value chain, giving manufacturers, retailers, and consumers alike the confidence to transact. As you know, earlier this year, we acquired American Gemological Laboratories, AGL, a leader in gemstone certification in the U.S. The consolidation of AGL is now beginning to contribute to our performance and reinforces our position as one of the few scaled global certification players spanning natural and lab-grown diamonds, jewelry, and now colored stone gemstones.
Colored stones expand our total and opens a new avenue of growth beyond diamonds, with meaningful opportunity to cross-sell and to extend AGL's presence into new geographies. Alongside the core business, we continue to invest in building the IGI brand and deepening consumer awareness and embedding artificial intelligence and machine learning across our operations to enhance service qualities, improve turnaround times, and drive greater efficiency. I am also pleased to share that we have been strengthening our leadership bench with the addition of senior leaders across various functions. Most recently, we have Mr. Manu Sharma joining us as the Chief Operating Officer, who brings over 20 years of leadership experience in retail, luxury, and brand management and business growth. He has served as a Group Vice President at Reliance Brands Limited, where he led a premium portfolio of global brands, drove strategic partnerships, and headed major expansion initiatives.
In conclusion, we believe IGI is exceptionally well-positioned to capitalize on these opportunities and continue delivering sustainable long-term growth given our strong global footprint, diversified segment presence, trusted brands, and expanding capabilities. With that, I would now like to invite our CFO, Mr. Eashwar Iyer, to take you through the financial performance for the quarter and the year gone by. Thank you.
Thank you, Tehmasp, and thanks everyone for taking the time. It is a pleasure to have you guys again on board for our quarterly investor call. As mentioned in the last con call, I would like to highlight that the company has transitioned its financial reporting structure from a calendar year to a financial year ending March. I will start with an update for the quarter. I am talking of the consolidated group performance for the quarter. Certification revenue for the quarter stood at INR 3,598 million, growing at 23% year-on-year, supported by strong volume growth of 17% on a year-on-year basis. This was primarily driven by strong revenue growth across all our core segments, namely LGD, which has grown at 25%, LGD jewelry which clocked 44%, and gemstones and other certification growing over 200%. The latter reflecting the consolidation of AGL.
Total revenue from operations for the quarter stood at INR 3,708 million, registering a growth of 23%. During the quarter, ND loose stones grew 6% year-over-year, and ND jewelry saw a growth of 2% year-over-year. The audience will appreciate that the natural diamond vertical is a key strategic pillar, and we continue to put efforts to gain market share in the ND loose segment through new customer acquisitions and increased share of the wallet from existing customers. Work is underway to leverage the strength that IGI has in India, in the Indian domestic market. While we continue to focus on this vertical, we remain confident of the full year trajectory, with LGD segment continuing to provide the volume impetus. This quarter has also seen a strong performance from our subsidiaries. The investments in the U.S. organizations are starting to see some traction.
We also commenced operations in Italy through our Belgium subsidiary as we continue to explore geographical expansion. This, combined with strong growth in the subsidiaries under the Netherlands holding company, has enabled to deliver growth mirroring the growth in India. The AGL acquisition led to an incremental 3% revenue growth, with the base business delivering 20% revenue growth for this quarter. Reported volumes stood at 3.56 million reports, compared to 3.03 million reports for quarter 126, growing 17%. ASP for the quarter reported at INR 1,010, registering a 5% improvement versus previous year, with AGL consolidation giving three percentage gains and the base business ASP growing 2%. EBITDA reported at INR 2,238 million, reflecting a growth of 29% compared to the previous year. The AGL acquisition also contributed an incremental 2% growth to the EBITDA.
EBITDA margins for the quarter stood at 60.4%, an improvement of 270 basis points year-over-year. The sequential decline on EBITDA was largely due to the seasonally strong fourth quarter, resulting in improved operating leverage in that quarter. Therefore, the current quarter's margin is a more representative indicator of the sustainable run rate of the business. With the planned investments in brand building, marketing, and organizational capabilities, the company remains confident of sustaining EBITDA margins for Financial Year 2027, with operating leverage expected to support margins as volumes scale. The D&A step up is reflective of the incremental CapEx consistent with volume and business scale-up, with finance costs increasing as a result of increased rental payouts on additional office spaces that have been taken to support the business requirements. The company continues to be debt-free. Consequently, PAT reported at INR 1,657 million, growing 31% compared to previous year.
PAT margins were at 44.7%, an improvement of 260 basis points over the previous year. Coming to the India standalone results for the quarter, in terms of revenue, certification income for the period stood at INR 2,792 million, growing at 22%, supported by strong volume growth of 21%. This was primarily driven by strong revenue growth across our core segments, be it LGD growing at 30%, LGD jewelry at 38%, and gemstones, which grew at 135%. Total revenue from operations for the quarter stood at INR 2,862 million, registering a growth of 22%. ASP for the quarter reported at INR 870 versus INR 861 for the previous year quarter, as pricing continues to be stable. EBITDA reported at INR 1,970 million, reflecting a growth of 15% compared to the previous year. EBITDA margin stood at 68.8%. While the EBITDA margins are lower versus previous year, the group EBITDA, as stated earlier, improved 270 basis points.
The audience will appreciate that as our geographies scale up on retail engagement and influence markets to push for IGI-certified stones in India, there is a commission payout that is made from the India organization to other geographies, which is reflected in the increase in other expenses. Additionally, the quarter saw the impact of discretionary brand and marketing spends resultant of the IPL sponsorship
Which is largely front-loaded and investments on headcount. As the discretionary spends moderate, we expect the EBITDA margins to stabilize in the 70% range. Consequently, the strength of one IGI, where the manufacturing strength of India, combined with the retail engagements in the other geographies, has enabled the group EBITDA margins to expand versus previous year. Consequently, PAT reported at INR 1,546 million, growing 12% compared to the previous year. PAT margins stood at 54% for the quarter. Again, the India standalone margins need to be seen in conjunction with the consolidated results in line with the narrative on the EBITDA. Overall, we have started 2027 with a very strong first quarter performance. We remain confident to deliver the 15% revenue growth and 20% EBITDA growth guidance that we had provided earlier. With that, I conclude my remarks and open the floor for any further questions. Thank you, everybody.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Harish Advani from Axis Capital. Please proceed.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity and congrats on a great set of results. My first question was on the comment of the LGD production capacity expanding. As more growers come in, more jewelry retailers come in, how do we see the pricing per report shaping up over the years to come? Is there a pressure that with higher volume, we may need to forego some pricing? That would be my first question.
What happens is the LGD jewelry as well as LGD stones is gaining wide increase in the consumer demand. Growers look at this growing demand, and that is basically because of the affordability. The affordability of LGD satisfies the desires of all the different consumers who couldn't afford natural. Now they are into the diamond segment, and the increase in the consumer base of LGD is fast increasing. That is the reason why growers are increasing their growing capacity and polishing capacity. Understand one thing, certification becomes central to LGD certification. Stones, diamonds. IGI certificate for lab-grown diamonds makes a lab-grown diamond a diamond. Otherwise, without certification, it can be considered just as a piece of glass. This is the most central importance point of IGI certification. Here, what we look at is the consumer demand, which is fast expanding.
We increase our capabilities in certifying huge quantities, larger quantities, increasing quantities, and that is where our strength remains. What we have to do is keep pace with the demand and keep on increasingly certifying the LGD stones, diamonds, which come into play, and this is for the confidence building for the consumers. Basically, certification is an essential part. Whatever is the price, the price determines the expansion of the consumer market. We as a independent certifying body, we specify the origin of the diamond and the four Cs, and that gives consumer confidence. We are in the business of giving consumer confidence and trust to buy a diamond. Harish? Are you there?
Hello.
Yeah.
It seems like the first line has been disconnected. We'll just move further with the next question.
Thanks.
We take the next question from the line of Harit Kapoor from Investec. Please proceed.
Hi, good evening. This is Harit here. Just a few things from my end. One was, on AGL, if you could just give a slightly medium to long-term thought process on this business, given the fact that it's been largely a U.S. business, and what are the opportunities here to expand geographically the business from a revenue standpoint, given the fact that it seems like a very high realization business as well, fairly accretive to the international business. Just some color on this would be great. That's my first question.
Yes. Harit, our acquisition of AGL is a strategic move towards expanding into the gemstone industry. We have always been in the diamond industry, but we are also now making inroads into the colored stone segment. Okay? AGL is very well recognized and appreciated in the U.S., which is the main buyers for colored stones. With the acquisition of AGL, we acquired the colored stone expertise, and AGL gets a global platform to go to. We are extended globally, we will take AGL globally. At the same time, we will increase our expertise in colored gemstones, which we need, we need something other than diamonds also. Today we have a plethora of gemstones within our reach, and we have the expertise, and we plan to expand into their colored stone segment.
Tehmasp, is there a kind of geographical expansion outside the U.S. thought process also?
Of course.
Markets of gemstones which are not kind of tapped by you yet?
Of course. See, what happens is, the gemstones is a very regional aspect, where gemstones come from Colombia, from Tanzania, from various other places. The main consumer is in the U.S. for the very high-end gemstones. What we plan to do is extend the AGL capabilities as a collection window as well as mobile laboratories functioning. To start with, we would start in Jaipur, and then extend it to other geographies wherever the relevance is. We want to bring AGL to the global market and expand its expertise across the globe. That is the main intention of our acquisition, because we didn't have the colored stone expertise. Now we do have the colored stone expertise, and we also have the global reach. We will extend AGL to the global reach.
Got it. The second question was on the ND loose bit. In the international numbers, which is like a consolidated minus standalone, you do see ND loose growth for the last three quarters actually now being double digits, I think 20%, 17%, and 12%. I'm just trying to understand, with all these initiatives that we are seeing that you guys are doing on the ND loose side that you spoke about, the U.S. business is also doing well. Do we see a further acceleration possible in ND loose here, given that it has the multiple impact of even on realization? Just some, because in India you're already strong, so just this outside, just wanted to get a sense on that.
Definitely, that is our main strategic point that we want to increase our market share in the natural diamonds. India, we are already very well covered, and we have the highest market share in India. Globally, we are fast increasing. All the increase that you see is from the global side. In the sense, what happens is, with the certification of lab-grown diamonds, and these are the new consumers who are coming into the market. These consumers are getting more and more exposed to IGI certification internationally, especially in the U.S. The consumption of natural diamonds certified by IGI is also on the uptick. You understand? Actually, lab-grown diamonds is giving a full new consumer base, which is fast increasing, and this consumer base also like to upgrade themselves and then get into natural diamonds, and they are already exposed to IGI certification.
Naturally, they will prefer to have an IGI-certified natural diamond.
Got it. Last couple of questions. One was, this initial 15% growth that you are expecting, sorry, you're guiding for, is that 15% plus, is that including the AGL acquisition? The second question within that was also, could you just explain this commission payout in standalone to subsidiaries? I didn't get that exactly.
Okay. I'll give that to you, to the AGL.
The AGL piece, I think from a guidance standpoint, yes, we can expect an additional couple of percentage points contribution coming in from AGL. We're talking about 15% on the base business. We can probably expect some additional flow-through because of the AGL acquisition added. To the second point-
The commission payout, yeah.
Yeah.
See, Harit, the thing is, we have our geographical locations all over the globe. While the main certification happens at the manufacturing end, which is India, the demand comes from across the globe. Now, take for instance, our office in U.S., in New York. They have a dual function. One is that they have a full-fledged laboratory which can certify all the diamonds or gemstones when it comes from the U.S. territory. However, the retailer and the chain stores in the U.S., they have specific demands. My U.S. office works as a marketing office. They are in touch with the retailer abroad. Or in, for that matter, in Europe or in the Middle East, wherever, and they give us the information of the requirements of that particular chain store, and we certify diamonds according to their needs. Obviously, the leads have come from these countries.
While we do all the work here, we also give them a commission for bringing these customers to us. That is the reason why we give the commissions to the geographies which have given us information and given us leads to certify in India.
Got it. That's all from me. Thank you. Wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Pallavi from Sameeksha. Please proceed.
Thank you for taking my question. Am I audible?
Yes, Pallavi.
Right. I just wanted to understand in terms of, you mentioned about the marketing spend for IPL, and that being front-loaded. How much would that be, if you could quantify that? My second question would be in terms of the number of employees. I think there's reference to an addition in that number. What was the addition to the number of employees?
See, we are now getting into our marketing aspects to the consumer. IPL has been our first major.
Area
Endorsement or sponsorship, where we have got a lot of viewership. We actually tied up with Gujarat Titans, who was a radical horse. They came up to the finals, but fine. They played a beautiful game, and they also promoted IGI on their apparel. We gain a lot of traction from them. We're continuing to do such modest marketing activity to the consumer. Most of our activities in the past have been B2B, from business to business. Now we are also looking into the consumer sector. The employee increase, see, what happens is, with the expanding number of certification that we need to do, we need to hire skilled or technical personnel in our evaluation model, and of course, in the process department. What happens is we cannot increase the turnaround time. We have to shorten the turnaround time.
We have to give a good service, and that is the reason why we have to increase the staff strength. Plus, we are also making inroads into AI and machine learning. All our data is also being fed into an AI model and machine learning is happening. We're trying to optimize the workforce that we have today into giving a better service to our customers.
Right, sir. Would it be possible to quantify how much is this marketing spend?
Eashwar,
Yeah
Give them the details?
I think we would've spent just under INR 5 crore for the quarter in terms of the marketing spends around the sponsorship events, et cetera. Obviously, to what Tehmasp mentioned, I think, and referencing to whatever you mentioned during the call, we're also making significant investments from leadership capability across the organization. A combination of those two have obviously had the impact in this quarter. Again, as Tehmasp mentioned, these are all for the long haul as we build greater credibility for the IGI brand to our engagements with the consumers, et cetera.
All right, sir. I agree completely on this, the long-term investment aspect of this. Thank you so much. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Shravan Vora from Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.
Yep. Hi, good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to check, first on the average realization per report. We've seen fourth consecutive quarter of improvement. How should we look at this number for the full year? How would mix play a factor into the realization? Could you just elaborate a bit on that?
Yeah, Shravan, good to hear from you. I think, see, we've been maintaining this narrative over the last couple of years in terms of stability on pricing, that continues to hold on as we speak. We also talked about a few percentage points improvement. I think out of the 5% improvement that you're seeing, 2% or 3% improvement is thanks to the AGL acquisition. The balance 2% is the base business improvement. It's more driven by the mix shift for the quarter. Underlying pricing has remained consistent or constant since the last time we did a correction, which was April, May of 2024 in terms of structural pricing on LGD. Otherwise, things have been stable for us.
Got it. Thanks for that, Eashwar. Just touching on the EBITDA margin bit, while you touched on it while making your opening comments. We've seen a deceleration this quarter YOY. For the full year, did you speak about maintaining it at around 70%? Just correct me if I got it wrong.
Yeah. That 70% was for the India business. As a consolidated group results, we are around 60%, 64%, right? 60% this quarter, after delivering a 61% for the full year last year. We should be able to probably hold or probably improve, because with a 15% revenue growth, we expect EBITDA to grow faster at the group level, which actually happened during this quarter. That trend should continue. For the next three quarters. Hopefully with the operating leverage that we get on this business, EBITDA margin should probably improve by 100 basis points, at least by the end of the year.
Right. Got that. Just one final question on the international bit. While you spoke about how the U.S. business has improved and your Italy and all your initiatives in international markets, even the EBITDA margin has seen a very sharp improvement in that business. Could you just talk about what's driving the improvement in EBITDA?
Yeah, I think, see, that's the point that Tehmasp was making in terms of a lot of customer leads now coming in from these geographies, consequent to which there's a commission payout that's happening to some of these geographies. I think as the business scales up there, again, it's again contingent on the capability that we have built in the U.S. business, the capabilities that we've built in Dubai and China, et cetera, which is enabling us to therefore reach out to large many more retailers out in those markets. With the brand salience that IGI has created over the last few years, I think the combination of all these factors is enabling us to therefore get into these territories at a much quicker rate than what we had actually expected at the beginning of this year. All of those have come into play in this quarter.
We hope that momentum continues for the balance of the year as well.
All right. Thanks a lot.
Again, it's very simple, Shravan. I think the operating leverage that is relevant for India also applies for the other geographies.
Yeah. Perfect.
If we are able to gain traction there, it just flows down into the bottom line.
Yeah. Perfect. Thanks a lot, Eashwar.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ali Sagar Shakir from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund. Please proceed.
Yeah, hi. Yeah, hi, Tehmasp and Eashwar. Fantastic set of results. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yes, Ali.
Okay. Just a first follow-up on this realization that previous participant was also asking. Just wanted to understand this bit little better. Now, you have said in the past that when there is any kind of scale volume that you get from vendors, there are some price negotiation that they do. Honestly, in the last three quarters, we have seen very steady improvement in realization. Can you explain how much mix is playing a role in this and, given the fact of how the mix changes, how much of the blended realization benefit you see because of the mix situation?
Do you want to take this?
Sure. I think there was a couple of percentage points that from a mix standpoint that we saw improvement in LGD, obviously consequent to what Tehmasp also mentioned in terms of expansion of capacity at the grower end. I think at the console level, obviously, it remained more or less constant at 58% this quarter versus the previous quarter. On a stand-alone basis, again, we have seen a couple of percentage points improvement from LGD segment. I think that's driven the realization improvement for the group.
Yeah.
For the balance of the year, because we also are expecting this natural diamond jewelry to start showing some traction. We had a decline in quarter four, and we're seeing some growth. I think it's a very small 2% growth in ND jewelry. I think as the mix pans out and again, we get into the Diwali quarters, et cetera, I think that mix play we are aware of. Last two years, we have seen that mix impacting the realization. I think the broader point here is, Ali, that the volumes continue to be strong. The growers are expanding capacity. With the brand salience that IGI has, I think we'll have to therefore ride the bandwagon on the volume to ensure that we're able to deliver strong revenue growth as well, together with EBITDA margins or EBITDA growth and EBITDA margin range.
Right.
I think that is overarching strategic imperative or the navigation that the organization therefore has to do as volume scales up. Building that capability, again, from an organization standpoint in terms of people count, et cetera. All of that work is going on. The good news is obviously, volumes have been extremely strong, and we hope to see that for the immediate quarters as well.
Got it. Just to understand this clearly, your average blended certification price, okay, compared to that, I mean, the LGD and natural diamond certification price is higher than the blended price. Is that understanding correct?
Sorry. Come again, Ali?
I'm saying that within the four or five category of certification that you do, the natural diamond and the LGD certificate price is higher than the blended price. I'm assuming that jewelry would be making lower for you. What drives the realization? I was just trying to understand that.
See, again, natural diamonds, obviously, the realization will be higher than LGD for sure.
Correct.
Again, see, you also have to keep in mind that natural diamond, the stones that come to us are the lower carat weight stones. The realization obviously is also dependent on the carat size.
It's not just-
Correct
LGD obviously comes with higher caratage.
Correct.
That's the way the business has obviously evolved.
Correct.
The effective realization for both the natural diamond and lab-grown diamond will effectively be the same.
Got it.
Because of the-
Got it.
Carat per report.
Yeah. Got it. The realization is getting driven by not the mix you're saying?
The mix, if there's a significant increase in the jewelry mix, in that quarter, we have seen in the past, right, Ali? We have a small dip in realization.
Exactly. This quarter, if I see your LGD mix has increased, but still actually the realization is improving. That's the reason why I was persisting on this point.
Yeah. Again, it depends on the carat that come into our reports.
Okay.
On an average basis, I think probably there's a slight increment in the caratage as well.
Got it.
Is driving this.
Understood. Got it. Basically the concern that this pricing could be weak realization per report, despite whatever the pricing being, this can be stable. We don't worry the pricing coming down, right?
Yeah. Ali, see, again, from a wholesale standpoint, this pricing has remained stable in the last two years between the $80 to $120 range per carat.
Right.
I think that commercial model has probably been settled. These guys are anyway adding significant more capacity.
See, I think, sorry to interrupt, Eashwar, I think you're talking in terms of price per carat. Actually what you report is realization per report.
No, I'm talking price per report only.
Okay.
I'm saying the caratage that comes in per report.
That can probably move a little bit here or there.
Got it. Okay. The revenue will be stable.
Because we always report on a per report basis.
Exactly.
The underlying realization is driven by the carat weight, is the point I was making.
Got it.
Ali, what happens is, in the natural diamonds, we do a certification of more pointers, that is below a carat. While in the lab-grown, we do certification of more than a carat, and actually more than two carats. The size makes the difference. That is what Ishu was trying to convey.
Got it. Concluding point is that therefore realization should benefit because of the higher caratage of the LGD pricing.
Yes, that's correct.
Okay. Understood. Just last question is on the guidance. You have a guidance of 15% revenue growth, 20% EBITDA growth. Last three, four quarters, you have done much better. With this quarter, I mean, this year starting with 23%, 24% growth in revenue, if you're guiding 15% growth, is that conservative or that means there's scope for this upgrade of numbers because obviously you're starting with a much higher base?
Yeah, of course, Ali. We all hope for the best, obviously we remain confident looking at how this is panning out. Yes, early days, this is the first quarter, we'll continue to hold our guidance at 15% revenue and 20% EBITDA for the moment.
Understood. Okay. Very clear. Thank you so much for the explanation.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mansi Zaveri from Old Bridge AMC. Please proceed.
Hi, am I audible?
It's not too clear.
Mansi, can't hear you.
Yeah, not too clear.
Hello, how about now?
No, it's very low.
Oh, sorry. Just give me a second. Mansi, I would request you to please rejoin the queue. We'll just proceed with the next question till then. We take the next question from the line of Pallavi from Sameeksha. Please proceed.
I just wanted to understand turnaround time. By when can we have this turnaround time fixed, and what would it be in India right now?
Pallavi, what was your actual question? The TAT you're talking about?
Yes.
That depends on the volumes.
Right.
We have increased our capacity in technical side as well as on a process side. Plus we use AI to keep the turnaround time as minimal as is possible. Does that answer your question? I didn't quite get you.
What do we target in terms of the turnaround time? Let's say it's in India only.
A decent turnaround time of two to three days is acceptable. That is what we strive to do.
Hello?
Did you hear that, Pallavi?
Sir, do you want me to unmute her?
Yeah, I don't know.
No, I don't know.
We answered the question, you can go to the next person.
Yeah. Next person.
Okay, sir, no problem. Sure. We take the next question from the line of Shrenik Mehta from IndoAlps Wealth. Please proceed.
Hi. Congratulations for upgrades of the numbers. Two quick questions. One, you're saying the ROI for these LGD manufacturers is down to 6%-10%. At what stage do you think this will become a point of negotiation for the services that you're providing to them? It's only below the cost of their capital, are they not going to push you hard for a lower cost, lower price?
Yeah, Shrenik, our reading of that margin structure is in the 5%-12% range, which is what we have been articulating over the last five, six quarters. I think the concept of negotiation is never ending. The more relevant point for us is to understand the wholesale price is actually moving, and that has remained stable in the $80-$120 range over the last couple of years. Our reading is a little different from what you're telling us, and that's remained stable for two years now.
Okay. That's good to hear. The 6%-10% ROC for the growers is something that is there in your presentation. The second question was about the additional other costs that you mentioned in the beginning of the call. What if you remove that other cost, which is the commission that you paid to the subsidiaries for the performance, then what would be the actual EBITDA and the PAT growth for the Indian subsidiary?
See, I think, Shrenik, this is something that we have been articulating in the past. The manufacturing strength of India provides us with an EBITDA margin of over 70%-74% over the last couple of years. That cannot be seen in isolation because we are still dependent on the retailer in the other geographies to push IGI into the international markets. I think the strength of, we call it the one IGI model within our organization, the strength of India's manufacturing capability or certifying capability, coupled with the retail strength of the other markets, is what makes IGI strong. I will request that everybody looks at the consolidated EBITDA margins and not see this business in isolation, because there are interdependencies there which provides us the leverage or the strength as a group, as a total.
Okay.
Eliminating-
Yeah
These are just mathematical exercises, but we need to understand the business model, and that's what Tehmasp mentioned.
Earlier
Earlier, in terms of what is at play. That is our focus, because the capability that we're talking of building in the U.S. or in Belgium, et cetera, is driven by that singular purpose of having a larger retail outreach so that people are actually coming to IGI.
Okay. What we should really look at is the incremental EBITDA that we could generate on a consolidated basis.
At a consolidated, absolutely.
Okay.
Okay. Thank you so much.
At a consolidated level, yeah.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Anand Shah from Axis Capital. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hi, team. Just one question. You've been indicating this incremental capacity additions that are happening on the lab-grown diamond side for manufacturing. Any numbers you can share on what is the current capacity or capacity addition plans for growers? Any numbers, so we can get that color as to what capacity growth is sort of happening.
Yeah. Hi, Anand. Good to hear you.
Hello.
Yeah, Anand, again, I think we've discussed this in the past, I think the previous call as well. I think when you speak to the growers, they're talking of doubling their capacity over the next three. Sorry, capacity is a wrong word. Doubling their business over the next three years. I think it is from that context that people are starting to add capacity. We do obviously track the number of machines, et cetera, but at a very macro level, these guys are talking of doubling their business in three years. Consequent to that is why you see volume propelling, thanks to the capacity additions that's been happening there.
Got it. It's basically the number of machines effectively that are being sort of doubling there. Got it. As markets, India, I'm assuming is still nascent and growing well, but is China also emerging as a big market for lab-grown diamonds now?
Yes. China is also a market for lab-grown diamonds.
Good.
That certification happens from our Shanghai and Shenzhen office. Yeah, it plays a significant role even in the China market.
Got it. Just the last part, just trying to get a sense that this doubling of capacity, from growers, you of course, will be communicating with them. Where is their optimism coming from? It is still more U.S.-led, or it is a wider adoption across geographies, or is India, China, which is exploding? Just some geographic sense is on the IGI adoption.
Mainly it is U.S.-led, but increasingly from India also.
Okay.
What is happening is, apart from the loose stone certification, we are increasing in our lab-grown jewelry business. That is increasing very fast. This is taking place even in the Indian continent.
Okay. Got it. That's all I wanted to know. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Yog Rajani from Omega Portfolio Advisors. Please proceed.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. My first question was in terms of the manufacturing side of it. How concentrated is that client base when it comes to manufacturers of lab-grown diamonds?
Most 95% of all diamonds, polished, cut, grown, is from India. India has the biggest pool of polishers of the world. You can grow your diamond, say, especially a lab-grown diamond, anywhere in the world, but you have to send it to India for polishing, because we have the largest capacity of polishers globally. That's why it's a known fact that 95% of all diamonds cut and polished are from India.
My reason for the question is I wanted to understand how concentrated is the customer base. If you could highlight any points regarding that.
Yeah.
Okay. Obviously, there are obviously large players in the lab-grown segment. We have close to around 12 people or 14 people today at last count, in terms of doing probably 80% of the total stones that get grown in India as far as lab-grown is concerned. Obviously from that context, these eight, 10 guys probably will contribute close to 40%, 50% of our revenues.
Okay, that's great. Second question is, this is my understanding, India manufacturing is largely CVD-based, whereas China would be majorly HPHT-based. Given that India is growing as a market, in terms of manufacturing, do we see an increase in caratage over time for the lab-grown diamonds that we will be certifying?
Of course. What happens is HPHT is a earlier technology, CVD is the latest technology. India has taken lead in the CVD factor. We see CVD growers making larger diamonds than ever before. Last year, we certified a diamond of 75 carats, one single stone, which is a huge diamond. You know, these guys are increasing these sizes and increasing the quality also because they are in the higher end of the spectrum of the four Cs. Yeah, this is the way the market is growing.
Okay. That's great. I believe that would increase our average realizations over time as well. On top of that, I also wanted to understand because of, how to say, customer base is so concentrated, what is the negotiating power that they have that we might have to adjust to?
What happens is, it is concentrated within, say, 10, 12 large growers where lab-grown is concerned. Okay. They all have to be reliant on IGI certification. Because without IGI certification, the lab-grown diamond is a piece of glass, let me put it this way. Because it needs some authenticity. IGI gives the authenticity to a lab-grown diamond.
Okay. Fair. With the increase in manufacturing, is there actually
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Yog.
Okay. Thank you.
I would request you to join back the queue, as there are several participants waiting for their turn.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you so much. We take the next question from the line of Nitin Jain from Fairvalue Equity Advisor. Please proceed.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on a very good quarter.
Thank you.
My first question is, how exactly are we leveraging AI in our business? I mean, how does it help us? Is it revenue growth, or operational efficiency? Where exactly are we leveraging AI?
We leverage AI in efficiency. Turnaround time is the biggest factor which everyone looks at. We do AI and ML to decrease our processing time and give a shorter TAT to our customers. That is the main reason why we use AI.
Right. Does the shorter turnaround time help us improve our realization, or how does it help actually?
It's all about customer experience, right?
Right.
It's all about customer experience.
Better realization.
Better experience working with IGI and therefore better business. I think.
Okay.
Obviously, it is all cyclic.
Right. Thank you. That's clear. My second question is on one of the slides in the presentation, you have mentioned the CAGR for the number of reports you have done in the last three years and the revenue. There is a decent amount of 6%, 7% gap, in terms of the report CAGR as well as the revenue CAGR. If you could elaborate what is leading to this gap of 6%, 7%?
I think, this is obviously dated back to 2024, 2025 when we took the pricing correction on LGD. We had a 25% price drop on LGD realization in April, May, June of 2024. Consequent to that pricing correction, Jan to March quarter and April to June quarters of 2025, we were obviously cycling a higher realization. If you were to look at those numbers at that point in time, the volume growth was 20% and the revenue growth was around 10%. That is the context in which you have to read this CAGR. Post that, obviously, the pricing has remained stable and the last four, five quarters the revenue growth is mirroring the volume growth as well.
That's very helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, please limit your questions to one per participant to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants. I repeat, participants, please limit your questions to one per participant. We take the next question from the line of Rohan Picha from Dexter Capital. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hi. I just wanted to ask, can we get the carats graded in each category and the certifications in each category?
You need to be a little louder, please.
Rohan, we couldn't hear you properly.
Can you hear me now? Hello.
It's a little low, we can try.
I'll try to speak louder. I was asking, can we get the carats graded and the certifications done in each category?
I didn't understand this question, sorry.
Can we get a carat graded?
Sorry. The amount of carats graded in each category, that is ND loose.
No, I think, again, see, we don't provide this information for obviously competitive reasons. We are the only company listed in this space, these are important for obviously comp.
We're not sharing it with you, bro.
Yeah. I don't think we'll be able to provide that sort of detailing.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question for the day, would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Okay. Thanks everyone for taking the time. We really appreciate the time that you give us. Obviously, we've had a few more people wanting to ask certain questions, We are obviously available at any time for you to seek questions and for us to provide you with some updates. Please reach out to us. Sorry for having to cut out, We are running out of time. Thanks everyone for the time.
Thank you. On behalf of International Gemmological Institute Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, You may now disconnect your lines.