Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to United Spirits Limited, a fourth quarter financial year 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be no free 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. Now, in the conference, Shweta Arora, Head of Investor Relations, United Spirits Limited. Thank you and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, leader. Hello, everyone. Good afternoon and welcome to United Spirits Limited Q1 FY26 earnings call. Before proceeding with today's call, I would like to remind the listeners that during the call, there may be some forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our views and assumptions at this point of time. However, this is not a guarantee of our future performance and results may materially differ from those expected or expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. I request all of you to refer to our financial and press release posted yesterday. Both are available on the Stock Exchange and Company's website in the Investor section. Moving on, today on the call, we have with us Mr. Praveen Kameshwar, Managing Director and CEO, who will join us, and Mr. Pradeep Jain, Executive Director and CFO.
Praveen and Pradeep will take you through the financial and business performance for the quarter, followed by the Q&A session. Thank you and over to you, Praveen.
Thank you, Shweta, and good day, everyone. We'd like to begin today's call remembering and mourning the loss of our 11 beloved RPG fans in the tragic incident at the stadium on June 4 during the RPG team's felicitations event. This heartbreaking and gut-wrenching incident has deeply shaken us. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and the many who were injured. May I request everyone to join me in observing a one-minute silence in the memory of our beloved fans who lost their lives on 4th June.
Thank moment go a head .
Thank you.
As always, it's great to be joined by all of you today as we close the first quarter of the new fiscal fully of 2026. It has brought both challenges and cheer in equal measure. We are optimistic on domestic consumption with an upbeat monsoon and some early signs of urban consumption recovery, as is also evident from results of the broader SLCG and consumer sector. Starting with a quick update on macro and industry, discretionary consumption remains muted and perceived in late, particularly at the upper end, which is below the historical 2- 3 year momentum. While Alcobev continues to show relative resilience versus other FMCG categories, it's again marred by policy headwinds. The most notable and recent one being from the state of Maharashtra. Significant hikes in excise duties impacting biomethane have led to spikes in the consumer MRP almost in the range of 30 to 40%.
This is despite the company making some decisive and bold moves of not passing the complete burden to the consumer. In addition, the state has introduced something known as MML which is Maharashtra Made Liquor (MML). While this is not the first time that any state has made this move to encourage local industry, this step looks extreme and will potentially impact the consumer value propositions for the segment industry. Overall, Maharashtra as a consumer market is significant for us. Our national value salience in the trade hover in the mid to high teens or thereabouts. However, at this stage, it is too early for us to assess the complete impact of the announcement as there are many moving parts around the entry. Our initial read assessment, if I may say so, definitely suggests that the IMFL industry's contraction in view of the above-mentioned soft consumer price increases.
Considering relatively staying consumption habits of the carrying segment audience, we believe the contraction of the pie will not be as severe or proportional as a percentage of price increase we have seen. Early indicators, and I say very early indicators, suggest that the consumer trend is seeing mid-teen growth, which is very, very encouraging. However, we have to get to a 30 to 35% consumer spend growth to be revenue neutral. We'll have to wait and watch over the next couple of quarters on how this plays out. As all of you would already know, such experiments have been attempted in the past in some states, at least at a very low scale, and have met very uniform results. Having said the above, and as I spoke about Maharashtra, India is a portfolio of many states. I want to repeat what I said in the last quarter call.
For every headwind, there is a change wind as well. We're seeing progressive policy changes in some other states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, to name a few. These certainly will help us unlock healthy tracking momentum in the coming quarters. Moreover, as all of you are already aware, we expect great opportunities to unlock at the top end with the India-UK FTA implementation. Overall, in balance, we are cautiously optimistic. It's a muted demand environment, if I may say so. We've delivered a resilient quarter. Our overall net sales value grew 8.4% over prior year, same quarter, with Prestige & Above net sales value growth at 9% year- on- year. The current quarter is also lacking a high base in the prior year on the back of proactive actions taken by the company then to mitigate potential union relation led supply chain disruptions.
We can provide more color on the margin and cost environment. Broadly, I have to say we are doing well on that front in line with our stated ambition, carefully balancing growth and investments with profitability. In this evolving backdrop, our portfolio remains strong and resilient. Premiumization, innovation, and format-led recruitment continue to be our key growth levers. Quickly coming to key updates on our trade must. On upper prestige, Signature making high salients, Royal Challenge American Pride entered the CSD channels, boosting institutional access. In mid-prestige, Royal Challenge delivered double-digit growth and performed competitively led by cultural activations like bowl shaming and India's first Alcobev eSports campaign. Platform innovation on Royal Challenge has scaled effectively and is delivering healthy double-digit year-on-year growth across the launch phase. This is a pocket fact, and it's been very, very powerful. We are in the process of expanding its footprint.
At the sake of repetition, the pocket pass is our triple benefit innovation, as we call it. Bright consumer penetration to convenience enables productivity realization and significantly reduces the carbon footprint, which is an ideal stack as we go forward. Coming to our iShot trademark McDowell's, our newly launched McDowell’s Double Oak Barrel has been very well received. The 180 ml pack format further supports penetration and trial. Consumer feedback on smoothness and premium value has been very encouraging. We intend to collectively roll it out to other states as well. McDowell's X series sustain this momentum, especially in the Eastern states, and share is helping us and helping us gain a share in the white spirits.
Our single malt Godawan, our India single malt Godawan, continues to register very strong growth, supported by the recent launch at the Delhi duty-free and some other markets and strong traction in the CSD channel. This UK debut included listings at Selfridges and Soho Square. With 100 plus awards, it continues to redefine Indian luxury malt and it presents a significant opportunity of export, which remains untapped. Coming to the white portfolio, our recently launched Burnout Flavors exceeded internal benchmarks across Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, so clearly it's exciting for consumers. Multi-genre-led precedents reaffirming our relevance among younger, bold, exploring cohorts in a flavor-led white spirits category. Don Julio recorded strong double-digit growth driven by synchronized Nao activation, high consumer affinity, and industry recognition for experiential excellence.
It remains a front runner in the fast-growing luxury tequila segment, and quarter on quarter, we are significantly improving our performance in this category. Another significant development during the quarter was the completion of Nao Spirits acquisition. It was always part of our portfolio. We clearly looked at it as we looked at the labyrinth in that category. We thought this was just the right time to scale up using Greater Than expertise and tap into the repertoire of local authentic stock-oriented brand consumption opportunity to now take us to our home. We are delighted that brands like Greater Than and Hapusa are part of our extended portfolio. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on our circle of control to navigate policy headwinds and challenging demand environment. Overall, we remain optimistic on the medium-term opportunity to lead India's Alcobev premiumization curve with differentiated and tailored possibilities.
Before handing over to Pradeep Jain to cover the financial performance, I want to take a moment to reflect on the broader impact of our business. An independent economic and social impact assessment by the PEN India Foundation has just been released, and the findings are both humbling and inspiring. We directly and indirectly enable employment for six and a half lakh people, 650,000 people. Our contribution to the Indian economy stands at circa INR 49,000 crore. We contribute over INR 20,000 crore in taxes annually. Beyond numbers, our operations create deep linkages with agriculture, logistics, community, and more. From using 98.6% renewable energy to positively impacting over 100,000 lives through our community programs, we continue to embed purpose in our growth. These outcomes reinforce a simple truth. when richness puts people first, economies thrive.
As India accelerates towards richest markets, we are proud to be more than just a consumer company. We are a committed partner in shaping an inclusive, progressive, and globally respected India by 2047. With this, I hand over to Pradeep for a quick update on the financial performance for the quarter.
Thanks, Praveen, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today on the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 earnings call. It's an absolute delight to address all of you. I will request all of you to refer to the financial and press releases from last evening, and I'm sure you must have already seen our preview released earlier this month. As Praveen mentioned earlier, we have delivered a steady quarter despite the demand environment being soft. Our overall portfolio NFP growth was 8.4% for the quarter, within which the P&A growth stood at 9%.
The quarterly growth number, excluding Andhra Pradesh, was 3.2%, both for the total portfolio and for the Prestige & Above segments. As the demand moderated at the top end and in line with seasonality of the business, our price mix was flat during the quarter. Price mix for the quarter, excluding Andhra, was 2.3%. Andhra, as all of you are aware, is primarily a lower prestige mass market. It is important to call out that book growth is lapping a high prior year base, driven by a combination of two factors. One, as Praveen has already mentioned, involved proactive actions to mitigate potential union election-led supply chain disruption last year. Another was a business as usual development invest, both of which had led to a favorable growth in the prior year's same quarter.
Therefore, as we had requested last year, I would again request all of you to look at the first half of the fiscal year 2025-2026 also as one consolidated block. Our inherent growth run rate is exactly in the same range as our two prior sequential quarters. On the cost side, input commodity inflation is under control, except neutral alcohol spirit, which remains structurally inflationary. All eyes will be on the ethanol blending targets in the ethanol supply year 2025-2026, as the government has not revised the ethanol blending policy for the last few years. The next announcement is expected around October-November this year. Glass inflation was mitigated through alternative sourcing, alternative packaging solutions, and long-term vendor contracts, and therefore contributed positively to COGS and gross margin.
That said, we do expect some supply-related disruptions in the upcoming quarter on glass, owing to planned kind of shutdown from key suppliers both in the east and the west of the country. Block profit for the quarter was INR 1,121 crore with a gross margin of 44%. Dropping up for the one-off indirect tax expense of INR 40 crore, our underlying gross margin for the quarter stands at 45.5%, which is an expansion of 107 basis points over prior years. The marketing reinvestment rate during the quarter was 9.3% of net sales. While this may appear elevated for a seasonally low quarter, it's a conscious decision to build mental availability of our brands throughout the year. While seasonality may exist between the two halves of the year, we wanted our brand investments to be uniformly smooth to do.
This, however, does not change our full RE&P guidance of 9.5%- 10% and will sequentially step up as we approach the peak season of October-December to keep our virtuous growth cycle intact to drive consumer engagement and maintain equity of our trademarks. Reported EBITDA for the quarter stands at INR 415 crore. After adjusting for the INR 40 crore one-off, underlying EBITDA stands at INR 455 crore, almost flat year on year. The reported EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 16.3%, while underlying margin is at 17.9%. As always, our endeavors will be to continue our structural cost reduction initiative across the value chain and make right interventions to deliver on our top line and bottom line growth aspirations. Overall PAT for the quarter is INR 258 crore with a PAT margin of 10.1%. With this, we can now open the floor for Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use hands up while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The first question is from the line of Abneesh Roy from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. I have three quick questions. First is on your comment on Maharashtra. You did mention that the MML kind of strategy, Maharashtra Made Liquor, those equivalents, has been tried earlier in other states. If you could clarify a bit more on generally near-term and long-term, how does it pan out? We don't see that as a concern in most states. Does it mean that initially maybe it's introduced and then does get sidelined? If you could clarify on that. Second related question is, you did mention that you are absorbing substantially in some cases. I wanted to understand the 30 to 40% tax hikes. The absorption is sporadic or it is a bit more substantial? That is my first question.
I'll start with the first question and your whole question on which other states BPJs did introduce State Made Liquor. I'm told Rajasthan had it some years back. Much before that, Uttar Pradesh experimented with it. In both cases, they realized over a period of time that it didn't make any substantial impact, and it just impacted the taxes and duties and may completely change it over the next few years. See how many policy updates. It's too early to say what will happen in Maharashtra and how it will work out. That clearly shows that in the past it didn't work. On absorbing some, you know, not passing on the complete pricing. Look, I don't think there was a one-size-fits-all. It was different brands priced differently, and it was nicely laid out. If you see the little prestige level, we have absorbed significant sums of money.
At lower prestige, we've been marginal absorption, and that's not very big absorption in terms of absolute duties. At popular and below lower prestige, we pass on everything because that's what there was a minimum price requirement also, and therefore we have to pass on. It's being done differently across brands and across categories, but that's how we have done it. You've carefully created it so that the labyrinth continues in the category and the consumers in some manner are softened.
Maybe I'll just add a few to Praveen's points, that whatever we have consciously decided not to pass on, we are tasking ourselves to generate that productivity. A significant portion of it is from the Maharashtra uptake itself. Where we are not being able to absorb that completely in Maharashtra, we are obviously tasking ourselves to generate that from the rest of the board.
Understood, sir. One quick follow-up on this first question. Given your focus on premiumization, would you look to create an MML once the full policy clarity comes? A small bit on the pass on to customer. Are the other large players also behaving fairly similar? It's an industry-wide issue. Is there some irrational competition here that some small player or big player is trying to become extra aggressive or you are trying to become extra aggressive? I wanted to understand, is there some level of discipline here on the thought process?
We've seen a very balanced approach. I wouldn't see aggression from anyone till now. At early days, it has been us, you know, 30 days effectively gone to market, but we've seen a balance in the place. That's not really a concern. MML rules have just come out. These are all studies. What I'm told early, early weeds of it is we cannot participate. It's not about, you know, we can't, we want to or can't. We cannot participate, but we will go through it in great detail and see what the opportunity is. If there is an opportunity to participate, then that has its place in our overall segment.
In how do we structure it?
How do we structure it again .
My second and last question is on the three cost items. First, of course, on the glass, you mentioned interesting and very useful comments that some planned maintenance is going to happen. Generally, planned maintenance is well thought through. Do you see this as a substantial impact or more of just a small and temporary impact on your costing on the glass? Second is, Q1, your other cost and AMP cost rose sharply. On a full year basis, given sir, you have now taken up the leadership as the MD, is there some thought that on a full year basis also these two line items would go up a bit versus last year as a percentage of sales?
Preveen let me take that, right? Praveen is smiling, right? He passed it on to me. For glass, you know, there are geo rights. There are these planned furnaces, etc. There is a little bit of cross-regional sourcing that happens, that there will see which leads to a little bit of an uptake of space costs, but otherwise, nothing structured. It will be temporary, exactly the way you have said, right? The second thing is, we've already covered that in our opening scripts. We don't expect the AMP investment to go up versus a full year guidance, right? This is more a quarter-on-quarter phasing issue, and therefore, not a full year impact.
Even other costs? Other costs have also risen sharply.
Other costs, okay. Other costs, all I can attribute that to is, you know, due to a bunching up of some of our old cases and legal issues, etc., right? Again, nothing structured, right? That again should be seen as a, you know, one-quarter issue.
Thank you. All the best from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks, Abneesh.
Thank you. Next question is from Avi Mehta from Atwater Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, team. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question was more on how to look at Maharashtra from a company level basis. Now, given the salience of Maharashtra and your initial read on how demand behavior is, do you see that at 526, Prestige growth may be lower than the double-digit growth that we typically look for?
In Maharashtra or across the country?
I'm more interested because, you know, typically, India has some pluses, some minuses. I just wanted to get more overall feel. How should I look at that?
Thanks. I think I made that point very clear in the opening statement itself. In balance, I think we are cautiously optimistic. Our mid-range, mid-term guidance is very simple. With a double-digit growth in P&A, I think we are completely committed to it. We don't see any of this changing in the short term at all .
Also, maybe I'll just add to what Praveen is saying, right? There have been, and you've been associated with the company for the past, right? I mean, you've seen Delhi happen. We lost about 6- 7 points of growth. We were immediately able to reallocate resources and punch our ways in other geographies, etc. That's what Praveen is saying. That would be our aspiration, right? We also have to wait for the peak season, right? I mean, once October, November, December, we go through the season, etc., then we will be in a better shape, right? As of now, we are not diluting our aspirations for a Prestige & Above double digit.
It's very clear, very clear. Thanks for my best place exclusively here . The other bit is, yes, if that is the case, and even though we are looking to use productivity to offset some of the tax hikes in the year, would it be fair to say you remain confident of existing growth being higher than sales growth?
It is moderate, as I've always mentioned, right? I mean, if you see that we've been fairly ahead of what we have committed over the last 2-3 years. As one had mentioned last time, it is going to moderate now, right? Like any forward-looking organization, we always try and extract the EBIT growth a little ahead of our revenue growth, right? That's a fair expectation. Keep us honest on that. That's what we strive for.
Last with your permission, just a clarification of the key things. Could you just explain what this indirect tax is actually about, why and how is it going to, and what is this related to? That's all for my set. Thank you.
First of all, I just want to dimensionalize the amounts, right? When the INR 40 crore number looks large for a single quarter, it's almost a five-year capture, right? That's our ongoing risk assessment. Our dispute resolution book is large, as you're aware, because of legacy issues, right? We keep assessing that depending on developments. On this one, we felt that it is better to kind of cover ourselves based on some trigger events that have happened, right? There is a much more detailed exposure on the issue in our integrated annual report. You will get a better sense. Broadly, what I'm saying is the annualized number will be in the range of about INR 6- 8 crore. On that, also, we are driving productivity interventions. Our intent will be to ideally completely neutralize, but there might be some spillover costs that come into our algorithm.
Sorry, this 6-8 crores, this quarter was INR 5.7 crores. You are including the interest, or are you talking just about the RN? I just want to clarify on that part because you saw an interest impact also, right, about INR 1.7 billion.
I'm keeping the interest.
If you can't authorize.
Yeah, I'm keeping the interest cost at INR 32 crore of 5, right? I'm just talking about the INR 40 crore that is into the operating result, right? That's what I'm saying. The annualized number will be about INR 6- 8 crore on an annualized basis of the five-year cash flow, right? Therefore, it's not very material. We are driving intervention to kind of, you know, neutralize that number also.
Thank you very much. That's all for my side. Thanks, alot.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question is from line of Percy Panther Ching from ISL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Because of the change of Maharashtra excise duty, was there any kind of early buying by the trade which you would like to call out in terms of benefit on the volume growth?
Actually, not at all. We didn't get to, we actually seen the pipelines because we were very, very clear that we were moving to it. At that point in time, there was not enough clarity on various things. We didn't close the pipeline.
All within the quarter, right? Even if there was any trade would have taken something, it's all within the quarter, right? We're not carrying forward anything.
Understood. I also wanted to understand the gross margin expansion, 100 basis points YOY, especially in light of the fact that your price plus mix in the P&A segment is zero this quarter. Generally, we struggle to even deliver 100 basis points even with a pricing plus mix, and this time, that level is completely zero. Can you throw some light on this?
Yeah. Commodities have been fine this quarter, Percy, right? I mean, neutral alcohol spirit was kind and even glass, right, because we've migrated into PET. Mostly, the entire commodity portfolio was kind, right? Like I said in my opening script, neutral alcohol spirit structurally remains inflationary, as you are aware, right, because of ethanol blending. The policy has been updated for two years, so that will come in. It's more wait and watch as the policy comes in, companion October-November. As of now, it's been fine, right? That's the one that has given us the kick.
Understood. Just to get my figures right, did you mention that excluding AP, the volume is three and the price is two?
The volume is three and the mix is two.
Total growth is three, right? For the excluding Andhra, if you just strip out Andhra, our total NFP growth is about three and volume will be one, because the price mix is two. Should I get a question?
Okay. So basically, your total volume growth is 9% and X Andhra is 1%. Andhra is about 8% of the volumes this quarter?
On volume, yes.
On volume, yes. Yes, Percy. Absolutely.
Was it ever this high? Because my understanding was that it was more in the region of about 4.5% to 5% before all the problems in Andhra happened.
Yeah. Percy, value contribution was always in the 5% range, 4.5% to 5%. Volume contribution was always higher. Like I mentioned, it is a lower Prestige & Above market, right? So volume is higher.
Got it. Got it. That's all from me. Thanks and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Latika Chopra from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Let me just fix you a few things on Maharashtra. In your initial comments, you said the revenue salience for the state is about metro IP. I would assume the BIO or parts of the BIO portfolio have not been affected by the tax changes. If you adjust for this piece, would you say the impacted portfolio is a low double-digit kind of salience on aggregate revenue basis for you?
Yeah. Latika, you know, the BIO BIO portfolio is not a very large salience in Maharashtra. It's, I think Praveen was mentioning, I don't know, not in his comments, but somewhere else, right? It's largely a lower prestige and mid-prestige market, right? Therefore, yeah, I mean, it could reduce by a percentage point. By and large, it will stay in the same range of, you know, whatever Praveen mentioned in his opening comments.
All right. The other bit that I wanted to understand for you was, based on the prior episode of price increases, I'm sorry, we have not seen probably something to the tune of 30%- 40%, at least not to my immediate knowledge, but definitely probably we have seen in the range of 15%- 20% in the past. What kind of consumer behavior have you seen? There are also updates from how liquor from the neighboring states could come in, various consumer down trading. Any specific episodes or examples on the quantum of volume or value impact that you would want to share? Just to give us some context on how the purchase behavior has been affected in the past.
Thanks, Latika. That's a very interesting question. As I said, you know, alcohol usually shows a lot more resilience unlike some other categories. My whole FMCG category is a lot more sensitive to pricing. I believe alcohol is a lot less sensitive to pricing, and it's all in the nature of terms, I would say. That's the first thing I've said. I also, if I, you know, I don't know if I've said it, but I know I've done the market, I've done Maharashtra over the last one month. As we look at data, what we are seeing is that consumer spend is showing a strong double-digit growth.
Overall, consumer spend, if you went to the retail outlet and looked at what they actually saw in terms of retail sales in the month of April, May, or what they see after mid-July when the impact of the price increase, we've seen a strong double-digit growth, which tells me that it talks to the resilience of the category. That's the first thing I'd say. However, as I said, we took a 30 to 35% price increase. That is something we need to keep in mind, and it's very early days. What gives me comfort is the growth in consumer spend and the strong double-digit growth in consumer spend. That gives me some comfort. We still have a long way to push. There are many things we need to look at carefully.
Therefore, we will need to be agile as we go through the next few quarters as we reshape our labyrinth and segment the portfolio and see the brand into pack into price opportunity. That's what I can say. I can say the sticker shock is not half as bad as what I would see in other categories, and that's, to me, very, very positive. Does that answer your question, Latika?
Thank you for that. The second question that I had was on this import duty reduction benefits timeline. Any updated thoughts here on when we start to see some of that effect flowing through? Thank you.
Yeah. Latika, we believe it should happen in the April-June quarter, which is the first quarter of next fiscal. These products also have a long pipeline, right? At any point of time between the high seas and the stocks that we have across the country, there's a long inventory pipeline. We believe that will happen sometime between April and June.
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Latika.
Thank you. Next question is from one of Jay Doshi from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, again. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Some more numbers you can share on Maharashtra. First of all, are you seeing by any chance upgradation from popular to lower prestige or lower prestige to mid-prestige in Maharashtra, given that we've absorbed a larger part of, you know, tax increase in mid-prestige and then some in lower prestige and we've not taken even a cost on any? Are you seeing that trend and how big is the popular market? I know GST Black is a pretty large brand, but would really want to know, in terms of volumes, how big is the market and, you know, could this be opportunity in some form, in terms of relative market share for United Spirits Limited?
Jay, good question on how the segment. Very early days, you know, I don't think we have any ease on premiumization, as you call it, or we all call it, where people are getting ladders from popular to LP, lower prestige to mid-prestige. Look, the price difference between popular and lower prestige has significantly reduced. You're bound to see some upgrades. The price difference between a lower prestige and mid-prestige remains the same, but I think, you know, typically, there are some price points which seem a lot higher than they really are. We go through all of that. Too early to say, will there be upgradation and what is the percentage of upgradation? There will be some place. I think the biggest disconnect has still not come into place. This is Maharashtra Made Liquor (MML).
As and when it comes in, we will really read the market as to what is the laddering, what is the premiumization at their home, what is the upgrade, and where will the volume start aggregating. This is the way you can watch, and we are just carefully seeing the market. As we build trends, we will appropriately adapt ourselves to unlock potential.
Understood. Hoping is, you know, you still maintain an aspiration for double-digit growth in P&A. When I looked at the recent quarter numbers, X of AP, and AP will start anniversary I think from December quarter. I feel that X of AP and X of Maharashtra annual growth trajectory was market strong. With some headwinds in Maharashtra and AP anniversary, I don't know. Am I missing something? Are you, are there any tailwinds in other trades that make you confident, or is there a good chance that Maharashtra government may roll back or at least partially roll back the tax increases? We are hopeful that maybe in the second half, things could actually be better than what today mathematically appears to be.
The second part to the question is, will Maharashtra government roll back? I think I need to go to an astrologer. I'm not sure at all, okay, why they would roll back. The only reason they'd roll back is if they see drop in their duty collection over a consistent period of time, as I see. In my mind, as I see the consumer spend growth, I don't see that happening.
I'll give it a shot for at least some period of time.
Yeah, yeah.
For assistance.
That's the second part. The first part, as I said, my important thing is India is the portfolio of states in the markets which don't do well. We went through the same phase a couple of years back when Delhi hit us. There are sometimes headwinds, sometimes tailwinds, but even in that scenario, you overall manage to deliver double-digit P&A. Now, as I see, if I look at Uttar Pradesh, I've seen a very progressive policy. Outlets have doubled. Just giving you, there are lots of things which have happened, which give us the clear opportunity to unlock the category momentum. P&A, same way. Jharkhand, they're going to go through a new go-to-market in the next 30 days. I think there are states, and there will be, in my mind, more states which will open up as this is an early policy, and therefore, we've always seen a balance.
Therefore, our belief is that we will start seeing some of these builds gain.
Understood. Thank you. Wish you the very best in this role. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Christian from Nirmal Bang. Please go ahead.
I'm sorry, you just mentioned UP. What's your view on the development that has happened on the ground in the last five or six months? How much have you seen the NFL demand go up in the states because of practical, as you said, doubling of the number of outlets? A follow-up to that, would there be a need to relocate your capacities in the state and make substantial investments?
Okay. First, we have a lot of capacity because I don't see capacity being an area of concern at all in that state. The rollout happens in pretty much end April to end May. That's why I said it's, you know, the policy happened in March. The rollout happened in April and May. You know, the outlets are starting to come into play, and you're starting to see that build out. We've seen very healthy growth, very, very healthy growth in June and July in Uttar Pradesh. That gives us the confidence that that market is going the right direction. Overall, Uttar Pradesh policy is progressive, and we see that looking very good.
Would your NFC contribution from that stage be in the mid to high single digits, say, INR 25?
I wouldn't get into that because it's a collection of states. I would have said that's why I didn't want to get to earthquake discussion ahead of you states. I see that these states are reasonable. What I gave you was one state, given Maharashtra the significant change.
Understood. On Maharashtra, just one clarification since you mentioned mid to high change sales contribution. Would Maharashtra be more profitable, and therefore, would the EBITDA contribution from Maharashtra be relatively higher?
Marginally, I would say, Krishnan, right, but not. I mean, there was a time six years ago when Maharashtra used to be dramatically profitable compared to the rest of the portfolio. Over the years, the gap has narrowed down significantly, right? It will not make a material difference to the national algorithm.
Understood. This is at an overall level, right? Because in Maharashtra, you continue to retain the popular segment, right? This mix to high change contribution would be at a total level or P&A?
Total level.
Total level.
Total level.
Value contribution?
Yes, total level.
Okay.
Excellent.
Thank you.
Hi, sorry. Just quickly, we move on now. Sorry, this is Amit. Before we move on, I just want to clarify on the volume question on there. The volume X18 on P&A is 1%. My total is 2.7%. Yeah, move on.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Manohar Kapoor, home in second West India. Please go ahead.
Yeah, I believe me. Just wanted to take a question on the broader competitive market environment. Some of your listed peers have seen very sharp acceleration in growth rates over the last two quarters. Andhra is obviously a factor for them as well. Just wanted to get your sense on this acceleration in growth, and at the same time, the market demand environment at the overall level must be so conducive. Just some comments on the competitive environment, some of the large Indian players going at a rapid pace, your costs.
Don't worry. Being, you know, a quarter here and there, you'll always see some acceleration and deceleration. Overall, we look at growth in India, growth by states, total growing up, and industry reports on an ongoing basis, on a regular basis. I can say with reasonable confidence, as you and I have seen them consistently, we are in the top tier of performance. That's the first thing I'd say. Also, one of the things, and I think Pradeep alluded to it in great detail, is that we need to keep our current quarter performance in context of a high base of the prior year and some other things which he mentioned.
Therefore, normalizing, and if I were to see our growth rates now, and if you were to look at it first half of the year, you will realize that we should be on the right side at the top tier of the performance. I feel comfortable. I also think that situation has been pretty consistent.
Fantastic. On the second point, you did mention about improving urban sentiment. I think you referenced the FMCG companies. Are you seeing that uptake going through the quarter, going through Q1 and into Q2 also, that on-ground demand sentiments for the sector or yourself in particular have seen some improvements, obviously exiting out the noise of Maharashtra being negative or Uttar Pradesh being positive?
Look, I genuinely believe there are early signs of recovery. I wouldn't say moving in from, as I said, Q1 to Q2. I think there are early signs of recovery now. Where we have seen things improve further is rural. I believe the monsoons, you know, pretty healthy monsoons will help us further. That has been a lot. We've seen early signs of recovery, which shows up in all the other FMCG businesses. I believe just this, I think momentum will continue. It will continue to improve. There will be the true test in my mind for all other categories and certainly for our category.
We wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from Anna Metra from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Let's take the top end of the P&A where you mentioned that the growth trends have been very tepid. I think our initial diagnosis for the core issue is the consumer is not spending there. We also have a slightly high base coming out of COVID. Now that it's continued for a long time, I was wondering what you think we need to do to get growth back there. Any changes in price laddering or marketing? Is anything happening on the competitor side that is constraining growth there? I think the main thing is to deliver on the top line, which is good. Just your thoughts on how to revive that part of the growth.
Okay, I'm going to build on that. Even last year, if you were to say, before I get into talking about how our brands are doing, even in the last year, the first quarter and quarter and a half was very, very good at the top end. The top end actually rates particularly during the festive time. Before, right up to January is, really excellent rates. That's when consumption bunches and spikes up. That's the first thing. We saw the same behavior last year. We believe we will see the same behavior this year. Festive is an important part of that. Second, if you look at our brands, our brands are doing extremely well. We look at our brand scores on a monthly basis. Each of our top 10 trademarks, especially Godawan, across its lines, is looking extremely strong and is bringing equity, growing differentiation.
That gives us reasonable confidence that we're doing the right things. Consumers are loving what they've seen. Consumers, the occasions of these are over-indexed during festives. That's when, hopefully, we will see this unlock. Right now, we don't see anything new or any big change required on what we are doing.
From the back end, in terms of affordability in the category, any challenges? That's one of the feedback. I don't know if in your consumer research that the price gap is quite large and that there's a sudden consumer upgrade that is not happening. You think pricing is something which is not an impediment in terms of getting the growth track here?
First, I wouldn't want to say pricing is never an impediment. I believe I don't see where we are in terms of pricing. Depending on every state, it's a little different. I want you to know that there are extremes to extremes on what that pricing could be. I think it's reasonably well laddered. We're smoothly ensured. If you look at our overall segmentation and the way we laddered it, we got upper prestige. We got bottom in India, and that is our beginning of luxury. Then you've got this in luxury, which is BIO. It works very well. It's consistent. We don't see the health issues. We keep keeping it basis what we see, and this is where there are opportunities. I think we are in it was reasonably consistent.
Got it. Got it. Thanks. That's it from my side. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from one line of Pratash Kaparya from Kaparya Financial Service. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Just one question from my end. If you could comment on what we are seeing in terms of the state government's populism increasing. Clearly, alcohol and real estate seem to be the easy target. What I was trying to understand is, given larger states like Karnataka and Maharashtra are seeing uncertainty, disruptions due to policy changes, due to excise duty hikes far higher, and these at least historically were far more larger states for us. Is the offset by the newer geographies so high we don't see a major impact on sales for the balance of the year? What is likely to happen? You mentioned the consumer forgets about all of these things, and then sales just normalize, and there is no price impact, if any. In Delhi, how is the trajectory? Have things stabilized post-new policy? Those are my questions.
First, Delhi's new policy is still not in place. The new government has come in, and they are working on it. It's just continued with the old policy. We are hopeful sooner than later we'll see the new policy. That's the first thing. As and when the new policy could happen, that could be an opportunity. As I said on the first part, India is a portfolio of states, and we've learned over the last three, four years that we just need to be consistent and focused. There are going to be some headwinds. For every headwind, there's a tailwind. How do you balance that consistently and double down on the opportunity while mitigating the risk?
You don't really see much of an impact in what you are saying. It could be offset by some of the other states which we are focusing on.
You are so right. We are cautiously optimistic that we will stay true to our guidance.
Yeah. That will be our aspiration, right? Absolutely. That is our intent, and that is our aspiration, right? Now, obviously, as Praveen mentioned, the MML thing is yet to play out. We need to see that, how that plays out. It could be a positive. It could be a negative, right? We continue to flex, right, in terms of where we can extract growth in the rest of the country.
Yeah, sure.
Thank you.
All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. The last question is from the line of Karan Kanga from Soil Translational Equities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hosam Almeghi. Thank you for the opportunity. What I would like to ask you, Mayor, is how do you see the widespread space between Diageo and Godawan? Diageo has been on the rise and also required now space. Godawan has been performing really well.
Karan, you're not clear at all.
Karan, there's a lot of background noise.
There's a lot.
Very clearly, right?
Is it better now?
Hello?
Yeah, this is better.
Try to get it.
This is better.
Start over there.
How do you see the white spirits space as between Don Julio and Smirnoff Vodka? Do you see Don Julio outgrowing Smirnoff Vodka over the next four, five years? Now it's also been performing really well. About the white spirits space.
Look, there are the titles and share of in widespread. Tell you that Dhillon was the most high-performing state, and it grew rapidly over the last few years, if I may say so. Welka is seeing a resurgence. The titles, for us, it's a portfolio, you know, and we look at laddering and segmenting within the portfolio and build that out very, very consistently. We are committed and invested both in Dhillon and in Welka. I don't know what will grow faster or slower, but I can say as the category grows, we are very well positioned to unlock potential value.
Okay. One last question, if I may. As you said that Maharashtra is a headwind, do you see Uttar Pradesh becoming a tailwind in the future with a more modern policy and the increasing number of retail outlets? How much of a tailwind can it be for us?
It's just coming into play. As Maharashtra is just coming into play, Uttar Pradesh is just coming into play, but absolutely, it's just a tailwind.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you very much. Thank you, gentle man. That was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Shweta Arora for closing comments.
Thank you. Before we close today's call, I'm happy to inform that we have published our first integrated annual report. This shifts from our traditional annual report to an integrated one, marked more than a format change for us. It reflects a holistic thinking that connects financial outcomes with environmental, social, human, and intellectual factors, offering a unified view of our strategy, governance, risks, and opportunities. I request all of you to please do take a look, and we look forward to your feedback on the same. Again, on behalf of United Spirits Limited, I wish you and I wish everyone on the call a very happy Independence Day. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions. Thank you all for joining. Have a good evening.
Thank you all.
Thank you. Thank you all.
Thank you very much. Next is on behalf of United Spirits Limited, t hat concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and we will now disconnect the rounds. Thank you.