Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Patanjali Foods Limited Q2 FY26 earnings conference call. This call may contain certain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as of the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in a 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. Sanjeev Asthana. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, and good evening to everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Patanjali Foods Limited's call to discuss the results of Q2 FY26 and the first half of FY26. I am joined by the company's CFO, Kumar Rajesh, along with Mr. Priyendu Jha from the investor relations team and our IR team partner, Strategic Growth Advisors. We have uploaded the results collateral on the stock exchanges as well as the company's website for your reference. Let me begin by giving a quick snapshot of our performance. During the course of this call, we will be referring to standalone financials. This is the highest-ever quarterly as well as half-yearly performance for the company on revenue as well as EBITDA and PAT levels.
Our strategic focus over the recent quarters revolving around deepening our market presence, promptly addressing the evolving consumer behavior patterns, and brand building has translated into a healthy performance for the quarter and half-year performance. The revenue for Q2 FY26 stood at approximately INR 9,798.84 crore, with year-on-year growth of 20.95%. The total EBITDA came at INR 603.32 crore, translating into year-on-year growth of 22.17%. The total EBITDA margin was 6.13%. The PBT margin stood at 5.13%. In Q2 FY26, the PAT has partially increased due to the tax refund of previous years. In line with our strategic vision to position the company as a focused FMCG enterprise, we have restructured our segmental classification this quarter. The earlier food and the other FMCG and HPC categories have been consolidated into a unified FMCG segment to better reflect the integrated nature of our portfolio, operating model, and long-term growth priorities.
Our half-yearly revenue from operations reached INR 18,564 crore, with total EBITDA at INR 937.50 crore and PAT at INR 697.09 crore. The September quarter stood out as a transitional period for the FMCG sector due to GST 2.0. At an industry level, there was a short-term slowdown in consumer demand due to the GST rate revision. Wholesalers and retailers prioritized liquidating pre-GST inventory at higher prices, and consumers postponed their regulatory pantry purchases. To counter this, the FMCG veterans deployed focused trade promotions and incentive schemes, ensuring that we maintain the market presence and the momentum. While the transition posed short-term challenges, it has laid the foundation for broad-based consumption growth across categories, reinforcing our confidence in the sector's long-term trajectory. At a company level, around 55% of the FMCG portfolio had a positive impact. The GST 2.0 reform is likely to spur stronger volume growth, particularly across price-sensitive categories.
On the demand front, at an industry level, the rural markets continue to outperform the urban markets. However, there were some early signs of recovery in urban demand towards the end of September, which is likely to strengthen as the year progresses. On the cost basket front, the September quarter saw palm oil prices increase. All 35% on year-on-year basis and 20% on Q-on-Q basis, making palm oil more expensive relative to soybean oil. As a result, the palm oil imports fell to their lowest level since May 2025, while soybean oil imports reached their highest level since July 2022. Going forward, pricing pressure is expected to persist due to tightening global vegetable oil supplies and other geopolitical scenarios. Also, on the domestic front, the unseasonal rains have impacted the crops and price thereof. Our performance continues to be supported by various evolving consumption patterns across India.
Let me provide a detailed overview of our segmental performance for Q2 FY2026. For the edible oil segment, let me address that first. From a GST perspective, the rate for edible oils has remained unchanged, majorly being at 5%, which continues to account for approximately two-thirds of our current business. The segmental revenue was INR 6,971 crore, a year-on-year growth of 17.17%. One of the driving factors behind the surge in sales is strong brand building and deep market penetration. At 76% of the total edible oil sales, the branded edible oil continues to be the pillar for the segment. Driven by a strong marketing thrust and impactful brand endorsements, including that of MS Dhoni, our flagship brands Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh, and Sunrich delivered robust growth during the quarter. The EBITDA margin was 3.53% on the edible oil portfolio.
With year-on-year growth of 21%, the revenue for first half 2026 stood at INR 13,653.72 crore, with EBITDA at INR 364.89 crore. For the oil palm plantation business, I'll address this now. The quarterly revenue stood at INR 599.43 crore. In oil palm plantation business, and the margin was clocked at 24.16%. In the first half of 2026, the segment reported a revenue of INR 1,191 crores, with an EBITDA margin of 21.17%. We believe that palm oil cultivation will serve as the next major growth driver for the company. Consistent with this vision, we have strategically expanded our area under cultivation through ongoing plantation activities. As of September 2025, we achieved a significant milestone by crossing 1,000,000 hectares of land under cultivation. In fact, the exact number is closer to 1,040,000 hectares.
During the quarter, we participated in the World Food India 25 event in New Delhi, which served as a platform to highlight our contribution, expertise in oil palm cultivation, and crop information. Coming to the reclassified FMCG segment, following the GST changes, nearly 85% of the portfolio is now in the 5% bracket, creating opportunities for stronger consumer traction and volume growth. The revenue contribution of the reclassified FMCG segment was 29.44% in Q2 FY26 and 27.10% in the first half of 2026. Our goal is to steadily increase this contribution and increase it to 50% of revenue in the next few years. Today, nearly 60% of our EBITDA is derived from this segment. With increasing FMCG revenue share, the EBITDA contribution is poised to rise significantly. For the FMCG segment now, in Q2 FY26, the revenue was INR 2,914 crores, marking a 34.3% Q-on-Q growth.
The segmental EBITDA margin stood at 12.28%. The quarterly revenue from biscuits stood at INR 499.91 crores, reflecting a growth of 16.47%, driven by healthy sales momentum for emerging channels. Doodh biscuits now contribute nearly 72% of the business segment sales. Our performance reflects the impact of sustained marketing efforts over previous quarters. We remain optimistic about the category's potential, reiterating our 10% year-on-year growth target on an annual basis. We recorded strong growth during the quarter following successful execution of revised strategy. The festive period provided a strong boost to category performance of dry fruits, spices, and condiments. During the quarter, revenue of textured soya proteins amounted to INR 159.42 crores. Nutraceutical revenue booked was INR 13.45 crores during the quarter. We encountered certain supply chain issues, which now have been resolved. During the quarter, we have collaborated with various influencers to promote our products.
Recently, we launched products in the renal care category. The initial traction is positive. We believe that nutraceuticals represent a significant growth category for the company. Coming to the comments on the outlook, the festive season began to build momentum towards the end of the quarter, signaling a positive shift in consumer sentiment. The direct and indirect taxation, coupled with government welfare initiatives and supportive macroeconomic trends, are expected to provide strong stimulus to consumption across urban and rural India. In light of the GST 2.0 development, we anticipate a 300 - 400 basis points increase in volumes over coming months, resulting in higher revenue. This creates an opportune moment for the company to accelerate its growth strategy by enhancing market penetration and expanding distribution reach.
Additionally, we aim to offer a wide variety of products across both mass market and premium segments, catering to diverse consumer preferences and strengthening our position across multiple categories. By leveraging these favorable market conditions, we are well-positioned to drive sustained growth and capture incremental demands across the country. I sincerely thank you for your continued support and trust in Patanjali Foods. With this, I conclude my opening remarks and open the floor for Q&A session.
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 the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use hands while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sucrit D. Patil from Eyesight Fintrade Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Good evening to the team. My question to Mr. Asthana is, I have a forward-looking question. As FMCG and food space gets more competitive, what is Pantajali doing to build a strong edge, not just through brand recall but through something deeper that competitors can't easily copy?
Sure, I think it's a great question. Can I answer that? Hello, am I audible?
Yes, yes. Yes, sir. Go ahead.
Yeah. There are two sides. One is the question is a very good one. Look, we have always maintained that Patanjali stands for certain values, which is around the natural, which is around healthy, organic towards wellness, Ayurveda, and everything that Indian stands for. We have two macro trends which are supporting us, and then I'll come to the specifics of what Patanjali, why we believe that not only will we sustain ourselves but will be able to grow and look beyond. One is that this entire campaign, as you are seeing from the Prime Minister of Aadh Nirbharta, of Swadeshi, and there is a big momentum that is gradually building up that we are witnessing has been very supportive of the overall platform that Patanjali has.
If there was one company which could lay a claim to say that this is as an Indian company, as the entire sort of policy-driven initiative, we are right up there. The second is as a right to win to all the five elements that I spoke about: health, and organic, and Ayurveda, and wellness, et cetera. Again, Patanjali stands pretty much on top of that chain in terms of the right to win. It's pretty much there. Specifically, what we have been doing is that, in terms of the time to market, in terms of delivering on product innovation, the research and development that we have, the growth opportunity that we see in the spaces that we operate in is humongous. Yes, there is a competition.
Yes, we have seen that certain players, both the startup mode as well as the organized players, they have been very competitively pushing it. Our belief is that two stated intents that we have declared. One is between 8% and 10% growth in the food business that we intend to not only maintain but consolidate and grow. Second is about 15% growth rate in the HPC businesses. The availability of the tailwinds for us, the headroom for growth is enormous in front of Patanjali. We feel not only pretty confident, we are also quite upbeat that we should be able to maintain the same trajectory as we go forward. We will continue to innovate. We continue to nimbleness of bringing the product to the market, which typically the startups tend to do better compared to larger companies.
We have proven through our backend, through the research, through the supply chain, through the distribution capacity that we can compete effectively, we can drive that growth, and we feel pretty confident about it. I hope I've answered your question in terms of what you are seeking.
Yes, thank you very much. My final question is to Mr. Rajesh. It's on margins and cost. As input cost and demand patterns keep on shifting, how are you planning to protect the margins? Which cost levers do you think will remain strong over the next few quarters? Just trying to understand how you are going to balance short-term volatility with long-term margin stability.
So. I'll just address the one part of it in terms of protecting the short-term part. We have two sort of cost structures, which are always an impact. The commodity prices have a huge impact on our portfolio. If you recall, in the first quarter, we had this challenge where in the series of products, like especially the butter that we use to make cow ghee, the veg oil prices I was explaining in terms of the palm oil versus the spread of sunflower oil and certain commodity elements like the rice, et cetera, where the government was pretty heavy on interventions in pulses and rice and a range of other areas. That has one clear-cut impact in terms of how the margins turn out for us. Now, towards that, we have followed multiple de-risking strategies for ourselves.
One is in terms of how much do we buy, how do we hedge, how do we maintain the inventory levels to a certain level that we are able to maintain the price points. Some products we are able to pass on the price increase to the consumer. In veg oil, for example, barring a one-week lag, we typically are able to pass it on to the consumer, a drop in price as well as an increase in price. In certain core FMCG product areas, that is not very straightforward. It takes its own time. That is always one part which is there. On the cost efficiency front, in terms of the operating costs, in terms of technology, there are massive investments that we are doing. For example, we are now getting the latest version of SAP. SAP HANA is getting implemented, that project now.
We have implemented an execution plan in terms of usage of AI/ML to manage the inventory movement to make it a lot more efficient. Inventory buildup, et cetera. We go through that series of exercises in terms of making it more efficient on the cost side. We are using renewable energy to cut down on the cost front. Both the operating and the manufacturing cost, the distribution cost, as well as the raw material cost, there is a serious amount of effort that we are able to directionally move towards a double-digit EBITDA and the cost optimization effort towards a double-digit EBITDA where we are able to bring it to a level where we are able to address this particular part of meeting the cost as well as this driver.
The company will continue to keep investing resources and manpower in terms of making sure that we have the right focus in maintaining our margins. We have the right focus in having the cost leadership and towards the premiumization side that we are able to address the consumer's requirement in an appropriate manner in that direction.
I think that's good guidance from your part. I wish the entire team best of luck for Q3.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Parth Vasani from KK Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you very much and good evening. I wanted to understand for the last few quarters, the share of edible oil has been upward of 70%. I just wanted to understand that by when do you think we will be able to achieve a 50/50 share between edible oil and FMCG business? If you can give a more definitive timeline around that. Also, of the FMCG shares, how much are you expecting that HPC category to contribute?
Let me answer the first question first. This is a stated intent that within four years' time, we'll be 50/50. The direction of that is, as I mentioned in my call just now, I think the edible oil part I missed out. We will continue to grow between 2% and 4% in the edible oil category. We'll grow at 8% - 10% in the food business and about 15% in the HPC business. Based on these growth numbers, we should be able to move there. One part which you rightly mentioned, that last few quarters, we took over the HPC business on 1st of November last year. We've done three quarters of the run where the veg oil prices had spiked.
Because of the percentage margin, for example, this quarter, if I were to do the maths and say that, okay, the prices should have been the same, would have remained the same of the edible oil, and our FMCG business, in the numbers that we've been able to achieve in the second quarter this year, was there, we should have been closer to 32%, and edible oil share should have been 68%. What happened was that our edible oil volume grew a little, and the prices were also on an uptick, with the result that it's about still 70 point some percent, and this is 29.77%. Directionally, we are reasonably certain that we are headed in that direction because the simple maths on the current basis were to look at, we should be pretty close to that number of 50/50 in four years' time. That is one.
As I stated in my opening remarks also, today, 60% of our profits, EBITDA, we are deriving from the FMCG segment. About 40% is coming from the veg oil segment. The idea is that at 50/50 revenue, nearly 75% revenues or profits will come from the FMCG, which is a lot more predictable. The quality of margin is consistent and is pretty much there. About 25% margins will accrue from the veg oil segment. Gradually, that should go. Some quarters, you will find that, yes, because of the price spike or otherwise, it is not met. I believe that steadily, you will see that our share of FMCG will continue to increase higher and better compared to the veg oil as we go forward. That's pretty much there. In four years' time, we should be pretty much at 50/50 levels. Sorry. There was a second question that you had.
Close to in terms of the HPC business, 7% was the contribution in the overall revenues of the company. Otherwise, the HPC business overall, if I were to look at. In terms of the growth and otherwise perspective, we are pretty much on course for the business. That is pretty much there. For example, this quarter, we did a revenue in the HPC of INR 659 crore. The previous quarter, it was INR 560 crore. We are making a steady progress on the HPC front. For example, in the first half of this year, we have done about INR 1,200 crore of revenue in the HPC, which is almost nearly 25% of the 24% percentage. I think it will continue to steadily rise and will continue to grow in that.
Okay. That is good to hear, sir, and it was very helpful. Lastly, sir, if you could just help me understand the trends which were emerged during the festive season.
Sorry, what is that?
The trends which you saw, which emerged during the festive season.
Oh, yes.
If you could just.
Festive season was positive overall. I mean, we had a good, reasonably good uptake in the volume growth was about 5% we witnessed in the edible oil segment. That was a good growth we saw. We had an uptake in the food part of it. There was some uptake we saw which was there. I've always maintained that this growth in food overall and even the FMCG, I mean, non-food as well, will take a bit of time before this will start reflecting in the sales. Give it a couple of quarters. We have said that guidance is between 300 - 400 basis points. Exclusively as a reflecting the change in the GST rates, I think will accrue to the company. We are pretty positive about that. That should be accredited to the overall growth numbers of 8% - 10%. That's what we have said.
We should be able to reach that number.
All right, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you very much.
I'll just correct one quick number, which you said as a HPC percentage. The total was a little north of 25%. We did 659 out of the total FMCG business of INR 2,914 crore. We had a total of more to about 26% plus is what we did as the HPC share in the overall FMCG portfolio. 7% of total.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Kunal Shah from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Good evening. Thank you. My first question is on edible oil. Can you give us a sense of how branded volumes have done this quarter?
Kunal, can you speak a little louder, please? I'm just not able to hear you.
Hello, can you hear me now?
Now much better, yeah.
Yeah. My first question is on edible oil. Can you give us a sense of how branded volumes have done this quarter on a YOI basis or in absolute terms?
Much better than the previous quarter. The volume, the growth in the edible oil segment is that compared to the previous quarter, we did 4.59 lakh tons in the previous quarter. This quarter, we did 4.82 lakh tons. We grew about 5% on the growth side. 76% of everything that we sold was in the branded form. Pretty positive because we had dull Q1, was pretty dull. The demand was sluggish, and the Q4 of the previous year was also dull. Broadly, we have seen that the preparation for the festive season started to give some momentum. The demand was in an uptick. Volumes are improving now.
Okay. This 5% is on a YOI basis, right?
It's on a sequential basis, on quarter-on-quarter basis, it has grown up.
Okay. Okay. Understood.
If I were to look at YOY, if I were to look at it, it is actually negative 7%. There's some degrowth, as I was mentioning, because of spike in edible oil prices. Overall edible oil demand in the country, the overall imports in the country have gone down by 3%. That is reflecting back in the sales of every single company. That is there. Now I'm seeing that sequentially on Q- on- Q basis, we'll continue to see an uptick on the growth.
Understood. Very clear. Second question is on the palm side. This sharp jump which you have seen in first half, possible to give a split on, let's say, how much is increased production as your plantations mature and how much is higher prices? If you can give some sort of split on those two things.
Yeah. As I was mentioning on the oil palm plantation side, total revenue is about INR 600 crore. Part of that is our volume spike is continuous, what we are seeing right now, and it continues to grow. For example, in this quarter, Q2 FY26, the volume is about 2.74 lakh tons, which is what we did compared to 2.42 lakh tons in Q1, which is a 13% increase. Last year, the same time, the volumes were higher, but because of the harvesting, the sort of period change was there. Otherwise, our business overall is undergoing a very significant growth momentum in the oil palm plantation, as what we planted four years back continues to get into the fruiting stage.
The second part for this business is that the first half of the year is, in general, nearly 70% of the year in terms of both revenue as well as the profitability, or 65% - 70% typically is the range. Now we are getting into the leaner months in the balanced part of the year. As an overall, the growth momentum trajectory is very positive. As you do know, some bit of harvesting, etc., depending on the weather conditions, tends to get part of that may spill over into Q3 versus Q2 and occasionally happens. Typically, it's a very positive sign in the way it has grown in this quarter. We expect part of that to reflect back again in Q3, and we should end the year pretty robust overall basis on the oil palm.
Understood. Understood. Understood. Moving to oil margins, given this strong performance in the palm side of it, the overall margins still look a bit lower versus what they were, let's say, last year. Is it fair to say there's room for that to improve, let's say, in Patanjali Foods Limited?
No, no. You're absolutely right. It's correct because the oil palm was a major contributor to the profits. On the edible oil side, as I was mentioning earlier, the palm oil volumes dropped substantially in the previous quarter because of the price spike that we witnessed. Oil palm oil prices had gone up nearly 25% on a half-yearly basis. That had a big impact in terms of palm oil imports coming down substantially. That's one. Second is because of which the sunflower supply chain, I mean, soybean oil demand sort of spiked. Soybean in India was off-season entirely. The harvesting is happening right now. It has happened, which has had some dampening effect in terms of both the crush was off-season entirely. The edible oil refining business and the branded business also was pretty much off because of these price changes.
I'm anticipating that this quarter it should change, and we should get back to better performance on the edible oil, both for the next two quarters. The prices are looking to pick up. Our first one month, what we have seen today, we're done with the first month of this quarter, is we're looking pretty decent. I think we should be able to recover substantial part of our, what part of that, what we did not make as much, we should be able to recover in these two quarters. In any case, in the edible oil, more than 60%- 65% business gets done in the last two quarters. There's a bit of seasonality there because driven by festive season and winters and high demand, etc. More than two-thirds of the business gets done in this period. We should be able to fairly recover on that front.
Understood. Very clear. Moving to the foods bit, looks like a good performance after many quarters. My question was, is there any GST destocking impact, both, let's say, in here and HPC, which we should remember? I mean, negative impact of, let's say, destocking due to GST?
Partially. Initially, we had a bit of a challenge in terms of the destocking process. I think somewhere else just to today's sales that we saw a bit of stoppage where the inventory drawdown was happening by the retailers and distributors in terms of selling off everything before they were. They were delaying all the orders and declogging of the channel was happening. Now that it started sorting itself out, we've seen very robust orders which are coming in. I think that is nothing of the past. I think we should start to get an uptake in the demand also. The pipeline fill-up of the inventory is also happening pretty decently. We should be on good wicket now.
Understood. Is it fair to say that the foods should now grow YOY?
Yeah. So we're pretty much there. That's what we're projecting is we're pretty much on course. In fact, across the board, Kunal, we had very good growth in the ghee, very good growth in honey. Also, sequentially, if I were to look at certain other product categories which are large ones for us, in mustard, we had a very good pickup. Beverages side, dry fruits, shaved cash, etc., there are smaller categories. Across the board, for example, we've got a fairly good pickup. If I were to give you some specific numbers, just for the flavor, like ghee, we picked up pretty well from INR 257 crore in the previous quarter this year, Q1 of 2026, INR 2,448 crore, and nearly an uptake of INR 191 crore. If I were to compare with the same quarter last year, Q-on-Q, it's almost up INR 93 crore.
Honey, similarly, is up INR 78 crore. There's a heavy push which happened. The demand lag which was there in the system, which was there. Beverages came down because more on account of the weather change, etc., where the demand typically tends to take a lower this month. Dry fruits, we had a pretty good run, INR 33 crore plus. Shaved cash, we had a INR 10 crore uptake. Broadly, across the board, biscuits, we had a good pickup in demand of nearly 16% versus the previous quarter, Q1 of this year, 8% versus last year. Likewise, on the TSP side, the Nutrela, we had 21% pickup. Yes, it's across the board pickup. I think the momentum in the second half should continue. We should pretty much be able to recover what we lost out in Q1 last year. It should get picked up in the remaining two quarters.
Understood. That's very clear. My last couple of questions. One is, you have typically disclosed the EBITDA splits across different segments: staples, biscuits, Indian ethnic. Would it be possible to do it, or since you have club now?
I think I can give you at a broader category level overall. Right now in terms of the numbers, availability right now in front of me, we can talk about that. Foods, we have done about 6.4%. In the biscuits, we've done 9.8%. In Nutrela, I mean the soy protein business, we've done 18.81%. Broadly, that is how the split is. In the non-food, we've done about 27.7%, so INR 659 crore of revenue. Based on this, on an overall basis, holistically, it's coming through about 12.
Understood. Sorry, I missed the non-food number.
Non-food was FMCG, HPC. I'll give you in one second. It is 27.7%, INR 182 crore EBITDA on a INR 659 crore revenue.
Okay, that seems quite high versus what that.
It's not high. I've spoken before also. We've done last quarter, Q1 this year, we did about 21.3%. This time, we had some gains on the uptake in the orders and otherwise. We should be pretty much going back to the regular course of 18% - 20% for the remaining part. From the initial cost structures that we had, there was a change. I think this may not get repeated, this level of gain.
Understood. Understood. Very clear. Last question is on the balance sheet. I can see a very large increase in gross debt and a commensurate increase in gross cash. Any specific reason why this has happened?
Can you repeat that question again, Kunal? Rajesh is the last.
Yeah, my question is on the balance sheet. There seems to be a very large increase in gross borrowings and also a similar increase in gross cash, I mean, or cash on books.
Yes. Kunal, basically, that is a withdrawal of working capital limits, LC.
Okay.
That is majorly on account of withdrawal of LC. LC and working capital demand loan, we have used this fund into the business and drawn from the banks.
Okay.
That's why borrowing increased.
Understood. Understood. Understood.
Yes. Yes.
That's all from my side. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Shirish Pardesi from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hastalaji, good evening. I have a few questions. I did find the press release. Can you provide the breakup of INR 2,914 crore? I could pick up biscuit is about INR 500 crore, ghee is about INR 448 crore, soy is INR 159 crore, and you mentioned HPC is about INR 659 crore. What is the balance?
Foods business, INR 1,583 crore. Yes.
Okay. You gave the HPC number as 659 and Q-on-Q growth against 560. What is the number last year?
Last year, we did not have this business, so we may not be able to exactly, I don't have that number right now, but I've happily done that. The business was sitting with the parent at that time. This is the available number right now. Last year's comparison is not available for Q2.
Okay. When you say you are at a 12.3% overall margin, can you break? I mean, because I've been following, so I know fairly well the biscuit. How is the margin moved, specifically operating margins for HPC in quarter one and quarter two and gross margin, if you can provide?
I told you that in Q1, in the HPC business, we did 21.3%, INR 120 crore of EBITDA over INR 560 crore of revenue. In the second quarter, we have done INR 659 crore revenue, INR 182 crore of EBITDA. On that basis, it has moved up. Some bit of lower priced raw materials, some bit of price benefit that we got in terms of price uptake that we took based on the advertisements and otherwise that we did. Based on that, that is the movement over the last two quarters.
Okay. In terms of biscuits, when we say that we have a sales of INR 360 crore for Doodh biscuits, which you are saying that you are targeting INR 1,000 crore, once we reach to INR 1,000 crore revenue or volume, what would be the margin change? I would assume that you have a better margin in that business.
In the biscuits, biscuits typically, I'll tell you, exist operationally.
Typically, Doodh biscuits.
Specifically, Doodh biscuits. Doodh is partially dependent. Doodh, as you know, is a fairly low-priced product, which is extremely popular and is very critically dependent on the pricing that we witness typically on palm oil, sugar, flour, and the packing material. Those four are big drivers of the final margin. We have got a threshold level beyond which, if we exceed that level, then the margins will continue to improve. Last year, we had almost 12% margin in the biscuits on an EBITDA basis. This year, the margin construct is overall, I'm just saying on the annualized basis. If I were to compare the first half of last year and H1 of FY2025, our margin in biscuits was sitting at nearly 14.6%.
Beyond a certain threshold level, and if the price is attractive on the raw material side, we typically would be able to pretty much make margins upwards of between 10% and 12% and could be higher as well. Doodh biscuit automatically tends to limit our margin construct at sub 10% - 12% because of the very nature of the product work we have. There's a lot of work which is happening on the premiumization side, the launch of the products that we are doing. There's the premium cookies and rucks and cream crackers and others are getting sort of, there's a manufacturing plant that's coming up at Noida, which is our own facility. We're working on launching newer products at a high-end premium level.
The idea being that if we can get an uptake upwards of 15% - 18% growth category, which cannot come purely on Doodh, but it will have to have a very large proportion of the premium biscuits and cookies, which will drive that growth. That is the work which is going on right now by us.
Okay. My second question on the edible oil, you mentioned that the price increases in the import prices has gone up. To what extent have we passed on and do we have any benefit on the existing inventory?
As I mentioned, the second quarter was, in general, the price of A, that there is not much that you can hold on to. You can do that. You can work it out in such a way that typically the price benefit, you cannot hold for long. There's just typically not more than three, four, five, six days of lag that you can get the benefit. Unless there's an event-based benefit that you get gain on the inventory, that is a one-time gain. That duty structure will change, something happens, government sort of regulates the importance of refined oil vis-à-vis the crude palm oil. That crude oil, that is one impact which we see. The second is that if suddenly there's a spike in prices, that's a gain. Typically we get.
I don't think that those are the events which happened in the second quarter, in Q2 this year, this quarter. On an overall basis, I'm seeing some bit of demand uptake as well as the price increase. There's almost nearly 65%, two-thirds of the business gets done in the demand peak demand period now, which is unfolding in front of us Q3 and Q4. We should be able to, part of that, we should be able to recover back in the margin construct of the business.
Okay. I was just trying to look for some reason because we have reported a growth of 17%, and you said about 65%, 76% business is branded. Is this growth will continue and then there is a price change which will also happen or not?
No, it will not. It will not. It will not. Our volume growth will be pretty much, as I mentioned, will not be exceeding 3 to 4%. Even right now, also compared to last year, as I mentioned, the demand contraction has happened in India. We are 7% lesser compared to the Q2 of last year versus this year. It's a lower volume. This demand contraction is a very structural contraction which has happened on accounts of the compression in the imports. I think that is going to be a bigger driver in how this is going to change. I think we will not see exponential increase in. If at all the revenues happen much larger, it will happen a lot more driven by the price increase. Our volumes will not be an uptick at that level.
Okay. Last two questions. On the GST front, what % of our portfolio is impacted because of change in its size?
I mentioned that about 55% portfolio is at 5% right now of the FMCG overall. Edible oils, veg oils were already at 5% prior to that. Right now, almost 85% of our portfolio is at 5% level. Basically, 85% on overall basis and about 55% of the FMCG segment is at 5% levels now.
To what extent have we executed? The reason why I'm asking, when do you think the normalized behavior from the retail trade will happen? Will it take substantial time? I don't have a number. What is the inventory? What is the inventory lying in the system?
No, it will take time. It's not that straightforward that reduced GST is instantly leading to an uptake. Our estimation is that we should be between 300 - 400 basis points is what we should have a demand uptake. That may take several months before it takes ground. Especially in consumer products, which are very low price points, I'm not anticipating any immediate uptake on that count. Yes, fundamentally, we see that demand uptake is going to be there, and we should benefit from that.
Okay. Wonderful. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. The next question is from the line of Sumit Mathur from Yashwi Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes, sir, go ahead.
Yes, am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. My question is, on a balance sheet side, we noted that there is an increase in borrowing. Can you explain me about this?
Sorry?
Sorry.
Can you repeat?
My question is on a balance sheet side. There is an increase in borrowing, significant increase in borrowing from INR 780 million to.
Yeah.
INR 289 crore. Can you explain?
This is primarily due to working capital loan and development of credit facility from the banks for the business.
Can I further explain this, sir?
So further. Yes, sir. See, this is increased by INR 2,108 crore compared to March 2025, primarily on development of working capital loan of INR 1,376 crore, buyer's credit from SBI London of INR 367 crore, and unsecured working capital loan of INR 360 crore.
Okay. Okay.
These all are basically borrowing from the banks for the working capital facilities, fund-based and non-fund-based.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Is it clear?
Yes.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. I repeat, participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjeev Asthana for closing comments.
Thank you very much for all the questions and this call. We look forward to hearing from you. We are available as a management. You have all the coordinates. We look forward to meeting you all in the next quarterly results. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Patanjali Foods Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.