Borosil Ltd

Borosil Ltd

236.20
INR
-4.90
(-2.03%)
5.85EPS
39.90P/E
27.98BMarket Cap
Nov 14Next Earn

Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptMay 22, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Q4 FY26 earnings conference call of Borosil Limited hosted by ICICI Securities. 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 * then 0 on your touchtone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr.

Manan Goel from ICICI Securities. Thank you and over to you, sir.

Manan Goel

Thank you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q4 and FY26 result conference call of Borosil Limited.

Today we have with us senior management represented by Mr. Shreevar Kheruka, MD and CEO, Mr.

Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary, Whole-Time Director, Mr. Anand Sultania, CFO, Mr.

Rituraj Sharma, President, and Mr. Dhaval Patel, Head of Investor Relations.

Now, I hand over the call to the management for their initial comment on the quarterly and annual performance. Then, we will open the floor for Q&A session.

Thank you and over to you, sir.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thank you Manan and ICICI Securities for arranging this call. Good afternoon to every one of you.

The Borosil team and me are delighted to be communicating with you once again. I'm pleased to inform you that Borosil Limited's board has approved the financial results for quarter 4 of FY26 and for the full year FY26 during our meeting held on 19th May.

We've submitted our results and an updated presentation to the stock exchanges, and they are also available on our company's website. Given that this is a year-ending call, before I get into the financial performance, I wanted to list out some of our achievements in the last year.

As you may be aware, we had announced last year on April 2nd that we were going to set up a manufacturing unit for vacuum insulated stainless steel flask at a cost of ₹65 crores. I'm happy to say that the commercial production from the first two lines is expected to commence in the next few days before the end of Q1 FY27, and the third line is expected to commence by the end of Q2 FY27.

The plant is completely ready and the trial production period will begin very, very shortly. In addition to that, on the marketing front, Borosil Limited was awarded a jury recommendation at the inaugural Economic Times Award for Design and Creativity in the most creative packaging redesign category.

The revamp focused on creating stronger shelf impact, clarity, and a contemporary brand presence across all customer touchpoints. The brand underwent a significant refresh with teams developing India's first color-coded, omnichannel first kitchenware visual identity system.

This strategic transformation strengthened brand distinctiveness, enhanced consumer navigation across categories, as we have multiple categories now, and reinforced Borosil's premium design-led positioning. In addition to marketing, the company's manufacturing facility was also awarded at the India Green Manufacturing Challenge 2025 by the International Research Institute for Manufacturing.

The award reflects the strength of our process optimization initiatives and [reaffirms?] our integrating sustainability with long-term operational and cost efficiency.

Coming to the HR front, Borosil Limited has continued to be certified as a Great Place to Work, reflecting its commitment to fostering a positive workplace culture, a high-trust work environment, and strong employee satisfaction across its operations. This recognition underscores the company's continued focus on prioritizing its workforce and building a collaborative and rewarding organizational culture.

On the balance sheet side, ICRA Ratings has reaffirmed our credit ratings to AA- with a stable outlook for the long-term facility, and A1+ for the short-term facility. This strong investment-grade profile reflects the company's solid liquidity and resilient operational positioning.

Coming back to marketing, to deepen consumer engagement and cultural relevance, the company also conceptualized and launched Borosil Kitchen Connections. This is a distinctive content-led property that revamps celebrity kitchens while extending participation opportunities to consumers.

By showcasing the Borosil product ecosystem within real celebrity homes through authentic storytelling, the initiative is building stronger resonance, relatability, and aspirational brand affinity among modern Indian households. Now moving on to the financial performance, I would like to say that Borosil has delivered a reasonable performance in FY26 with revenue from operations reaching ₹1,195.9 crores, up from ₹1,107.8 crores during the last year.

This represents an 8% year-over-year growth. This growth, if we look at from a product category perspective, although we don't share numbers at every level, is impacted substantially owing to the challenges we have faced throughout the year in our key category, that is Hydra, the vacuum insulated stainless steel flask bottles and containers.

The Quality Control BIS order was implemented in the financial year 2025, and the resultant supply chain challenges have impacted the company's financial performance both in terms of revenue and margins, and have significantly even impacted our shelf presence in this category. In FY26, the company achieved an operating EBITDA, before exceptional and one-time income, of INR 176.7 crores, as against 177.7 crores in FY25, which is basically flat for the year.

In fact, the operating EBITDA margin has reduced from 16.3% the year before to 15.1% in this year. As I'd mentioned before, the main challenge has been the lower sales of Hydra without its let's say reverse operating leverage, which has impacted us in this particular year thanks to the supply chain challenges for Hydra.

During the quarter ended March 31st, 2026, the production activities at the company's borosilicate glass furnace for pressware products and its opal glass furnace located in Jaipur were also impacted temporarily due to the restriction in supply of LPG arising from a force majeure situation caused by the West Asia crisis and its consequent impact on global fuel supply. Consequently, the operations and financial performance of the company for the quarter were impacted to that extent.

Coming to other operating income, that is INR 26 crores, which is coming from shared service support income, compared to INR 18.4 crores in FY25, with the related expenses reflecting under total expenses. As the result of that, profit before tax for the period was INR 100.9 crores, compared to INR 103.2 crores in the previous year.

FY26 includes a few one-time items, including expenses related to demerger of INR 7.2 crores, it's a reversal of the expense of demerger of INR 7.2 crores, but on the flip side, a one-time expense of INR 1.8 crores for professional fees, as well as income from investments of 4.3 crores and royalty income of 12 crores. Sorry for the lots of numbers there, but this will all be available when the printout is shared.

Compared to this, last year the company has recognized one-time income on account of transfer of tenancy rights of INR 13.5 crores and income from investments of INR 5.9 crores. The depreciation this year increased by INR 5.8 crores, while finance costs declined by INR 6.2 crores, primarily due to debt repayment in FY26 as compared to last year.

There was also another impact owing to the new gratuity and leave provision amounts on account of the new labor code, and that is about INR 4.0 crores, which is shown as an exceptional item in this financial year '26. As a result of all of that, profit after tax rose marginally from INR 74.2 crores in FY25 to INR 74.7 crores in FY26.

During the financial year '26, the company generated cash from operations of INR approximately INR 119 crores. As of the end of 31st March '26, at the consolidated level, Borosil Limited maintained a strong balance sheet with a net debt position of INR 49.7 crores.

All the points listed above were with respect to the entire financial year. Now, we'll come to the section on quarterly performance.

The company has achieved operating revenues of INR 284.1 crores in Q4 FY26, as against INR 270.2 crores, which is a growth of 5.2%. This is also the slowest quarter for most consumer business across India, and that's reflected in this quarter as well.

The EBITDA margin before exceptional and one-time items was 11.5% in Q4 FY26, as against 14.2% in Q4 FY25. PAT was INR 10.6 crores this year in the quarter 4, as against INR 11.1 crores in the year before.

Let's take a closer look now at our category-wise performance for the full year FY26. Borosil's consumer sales continued to grow across both glassware and non-glassware segments, barring the Hydra impact.

As well as our Opalware range also grew under the Larah brand. The Larah Opalware segment recorded sale of INR 411.9 crores in FY26, compared to INR 383.8 crores in FY25, which is a growth of 7.3%.

In our glassware segment, which includes borosilicate microwavable products, serving ware, glass tumblers, lunch boxes, we recorded a year-over-year growth of 17.3% in FY26. Revenue stood at INR 295.5 crores, compared to INR 252 crores in FY25.

Non-glassware segment, which encompasses a wide range of small home appliances, insulated bottles and flasks, cookware, and other kitchen essentials, posted a 2.4% increase in revenue, with the turnover reaching 463.7 crores in FY26, compared to 452.9 crores in FY25. As already mentioned, the Hydra bottle sales has come under substantial pressure owing to the non-availability of product owing to the BIS or the QCO implementation.

Our team has recognized these headwinds and is actively reshaping overall strategy to mitigate their impact. As a result of this, we had already, as mentioned before, we had approved the project for our upcoming manufacturing facility through our wholly-owned subsidiary Stelmac India Limited.

This project includes three double-wall production lines. As I mentioned before, two of these lines will be having commercial production by end of next month, and the third one by end of Q2 FY27.

This investment is being financed through a mix of equity, debt, and internal approvals. This expansion does reinforce our commitment to Make in India, and will also in the medium to long run enhance cost efficiency, ensure compliance with BIS, and strengthen our supply chain, which can deal with issues such as the West Asia crisis more effectively.

During the last year FY26, the company did strengthen its focus on cost discipline to improve operating efficiencies. Expenditure on advertising and sales promotion remained controlled with a marginal increase from INR 80 approximately 87 crores to approximately INR 88 crores.

Power and fuel costs saw sharp reduction, falling from INR 82.4 crores to INR 78 crores. The reason I'm saying that sharp is that's in spite of the high cost increases per unit which got impacted in the last quarter.

The company is further investing INR 75 crores towards setting up a 20-megawatt ground-mounted solar plant with a battery energy storage system, which will further reduce overall power costs, and the same is expected to be commissioned in this quarter, Q1 FY27. The phase three implementation of solar, which adds to the first two phases, will then take care of about 61% of the overall power requirements of the company.

In May 2025, the Government of India notified the safety of household, commercial, and similar electrical appliances Quality Control Order 2025, making a significant step towards enhancing consumer safety, quality assurance, and market regulation. Earlier effective 19th March 2026, this order mandates BIS certification for a broad range of electrical appliances, including coffee makers, cooking ranges, hobs, ovens, and similar appliances.

Recently, in QCO 2026, the implementation timelines have been extended to 1st October 2026 from erstwhile date, I think sometime in March. Accordingly, the company has built up advance inventory to mitigate potential sales disruptions, as non-certified products will not be permitted for sale in India beyond the prescribed timelines.

However, I don't think this QCO will have as much of an impact, or any impact, compared to Hydra because the company is very well placed to switch from imports to local sourcing for these product categories. Between FY18 and FY26, the company has delivered strong and consistent growth, with revenues recording a CAGR of 21.4% and EBITDA expanding at a faster 29.

29.4%. That's over a period of 8 years.

This reflects operating leverage and improved profitability. Since the acquisition of Larah in 2016, revenues there increased from INR 48 crores to INR 412 crores in FY26, translating into a 24% CAGR.

In parallel, the non-glassware portfolio has scaled from INR 23 crores in FY17 to INR 464 crores in FY26, achieving a 39.6% CAGR. Both of these points underscore the company's ability to successfully grow into new product areas and create long-term value.

India's shift from plastic to glass is not just a material transition, but a meaningful behavioral change driven by rising health awareness and evolving lifestyles. Consumers today are increasingly cautious about chemical leaching, hygiene, stains, and odors associated with plastics, especially for daily food consumption outside the home.

As a result, glass, particularly borosilicate glass, is becoming the preferred choice for office lunches, travel, fitness-led routines, and modern kitchens, due to its safety, non-reactive properties, and hygiene benefits. In this evolving category, Borosil is well-positioned, given its strong brand trust, glass expertise, and products specifically designed for everyday Indian usage.

A cornerstone of Borosil's long-term strategy is its strong Make in India commitment. In addition to operating Opalware furnaces of 84 tonnes per day and a 25-tonne-per-day borosilicate glassware plant, we are now starting a new facility for vacuum insulated stainless steel bottles, flasks, and containers, and also expansion of our injection molding operations for the plastic lids that go on our lunch boxes.

Last year, in the last quarter, the board also approved two further expansion projects. One is to expand our furnace capacity from 25 tonnes per day to 32 tonnes per day with the addition of a third forming line.

This will likely happen in the year 2027 or 2028, or depending on when the furnace life is over. The cost of this capex is roughly 50 crores, and this will help company remove capacity bottlenecks, and will further improve operating efficiencies.

It will also help further improve product diversification and portfolio expansion. The second capex was the glassware manufacturing at Bharuch, where the company will produce through its outsourced vendor drinking glasses, glass storage jars, jugs, and bottles, that is from the Borosil Scientific's Bharuch plant.

The company is looking at a high growth potential in these categories, and we expect this facility to be commenced by end of Q3 FY27, with a capex of approximately INR 42 crores. Borosil's strong omnichannel presence, spanning all the channels including trade, retail, modern retail, e-commerce, and B2B, have driven deeper market penetration, with availability in over 24,000 retail outlets.

We have built a well-diversified revenue base, serving both urban consumers and global markets. I remain very bullish on the organizational capabilities.

Last year was a tougher year on account of the impact of supply chain from Hydra, and then the last quarter the West Asia crisis further enhanced that challenge. However, these are short-term issues and we expect fully that our long-term growth trajectory as well as from a revenue perspective, as well as from operating profit perspective, will continue unabated as it has for the last 8 to 9 years.

With that, I'd like to now open the floor to questions that you may have.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press * and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press * and 2.

Participants are requested to use handsets 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 Mr. Jignesh Shah from [VVDI?]

Asset Managers. Please go ahead.

Jeeval Shah

Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions from my side.

I just wanted to know that, in my view, borosilicate glass products are generally considered higher margin products. However, despite the ramp-up in the borosilicate glass facility, gross margins remained lower in this quarter as compared to Q4 FY25.

Could you help us understand the key reasons behind the margin pressure? See,

Shreevar Kheruka

as far as glass is concerned, there's a lot of dumping from China. China is dumping on virtually in every category.

While, of course, Borosil as a brand and as a product portfolio is able to charge some premium on the dumped prices, but end of day, it's not in isolation. That has been a challenge and continues to be a challenge.

I think, not withstanding that, with trying to improve our product mix, we're trying to fight that situation. That is an issue that unfortunately exists for us.

The other thing is, of course, with the West Asia crisis, the cost of gas and other inputs, which are in the raw materials and all, have gone up, especially in Q4, which has also impacted materially the margins. As a result of that, we had to take a price increase, but there's always a lag impact on the price increases playing out.

Jeeval Shah

Okay. The second one is, could you provide us some guidance on the expected cost savings benefit from the solar plant in FY27?

Shreevar Kheruka

I think the CFO can do that. Anand, can you take that question?

Anand Sultania

That is estimated to be about 28 crores at EBITDA level for FY27.

Jeeval Shah

That's right.

Operator

Mr. Jignesh Shah?

Jeeval Shah

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Mr.

Naveen from [i-Thought?] PMS.

Please go ahead.

Naveen Chandramohan

Hi. Team, can you hear me?

Operator

Yes, we can.

Naveen Chandramohan

Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Just wanted to touch upon the Opalware segment alone.

Just wanted to understand what kind of utilization we were working on, in expected capex and your general market outlook and all that stuff. If you can help me with that.

Shreevar Kheruka

Opalware look has been on a we're close to 100%, I would say 90 between 90% and 95% utilization, depending on the month. Now, given the category, last year has been a bit as far as Opalware is concerned, the market has slowed down and, in fact, there has been, I would say, less demand in the market or let me put it another way, the demand growth has not been as robust as it has been in the years prior.

Our lookout is for debottlenecking at the moment. We will be expanding capacity to some extent by debottlenecking some of our production processes further, as we have been doing over the last few years.

At the moment, we are not considering any major capex on Opalware, which meaning putting a third line or anything. Rather, there are other categories where we believe the growth can be much faster, and we would be focusing our attention on other categories for which already we have announced capex, which I covered earlier.

Naveen Chandramohan

Got it. I just wanted to understand, the category itself is 1,350 crores and we ourselves are nearly a third of market by top line, right?

Shreevar Kheruka

Yes, that's right.

Naveen Chandramohan

I just wanted to understand your read on the general space. Competition, outlook, how exactly do we see that?

Shreevar Kheruka

Frankly speaking, the product has been around for 10, 12 years, maybe 20 years. I think what we need to do more or better as an industry is to get something new and differentiated in the industry to create again a wow factor for customers that [kuch naya nikla hai?]

or something better has come. That's something we are working on with our R&D center.

Until that comes, I think overall in general there is muted customer sentiment across the board, and we're not just talking about kitchen. There has been muted customer sentiment.

There is crisis. I think unless we come up with something exciting, it's going to be challenging to spark a substantial growth in this category.

I'm just being honest here. We're working on that, but at the moment, for the next year or so, I think we're going to expect to see muted growth, and hopefully our R&D efforts will play off and lead to something nice which can then rekindle, ignite this category.

All right,

Naveen Chandramohan

got it. All the best for the rest of the year.

Thanks a lot. That's it from my side.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Utkarsh Nopany from Anand Rathi.

Please go ahead.

Utkarsh Nopany

Hi, good evening, sir. Sir, my first question is related to your glassware segment margin.

If we see gas prices in India has gone up by more than 2.5 times what it was there before the war, which we believe is not the case in China. Wanted to know whether our glassware margin is likely to remain under pressure till the time the gas prices remain high in India?

Shreevar Kheruka

Of course. 2.5 times is substantial.

I don't believe China has also gone up. I don't think it's not gone up, but it may not have gone up 2.5 times, but it's definitely maybe doubled.

I think the differential may be there, but may not be that substantial. I do believe China has to increase prices also.

Plus, of course, the rupee depreciation in that sense helps us because is also becomes substantially more expensive to import. Overall, yes, China is a major irritant and challenge because they routinely are selling products lower than the cost of production, and dumping because of overcapacity or whatever reason they may have.

That will over a period of time definitely cause some pressure on the margins. We can only keep working on innovation and petitioning the government to kind of create a level playing field, which we are trying to do.

Utkarsh Nopany

Okay. Sir, what would be the status of anti-dumping duty investigation which is going on borosilicate glass product category?

Can you give some rough timeline by when any outcome is likely to come on this front? Whether the investigation also covers the soda lime glass or it only covers the borosilicate glass?

Shreevar Kheruka

As far as our application is concerned, it's only for borosilicate glass. I do believe there may be something else in the market for soda lime, but that's nothing to do with us.

As far as timeline is concerned, I think Mr. Rajesh Chaudhary may have an update.

Rajesh, are you on the call?

Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary

It is with the Ministry at present and they are doing the investigation. Difficult to predict, but we hope that at least it will take 6 to 9 months from now.

Utkarsh Nopany

Understood. Sir, how is the competitive intensity in Opalware at the moment?

What we are hearing when we are talking to the dealers, they are saying that La Opala has become pretty aggressive in the recent past by coming out with a more aggressive pricing structure. Sir, whether this is likely to result into margin pressure in this category in FY27 over FY26?

Qualitatively if you can guide on the margin front for the Opalware segment for FY27, sir?

Shreevar Kheruka

Frankly, I don't agree with that view, primarily because there has been high competition in this sector for the last 10 years. Different brands get aggressive at different periods of time.

It's never a status quo, there's always something going on. I don't believe that there's any per se pressure on pricing.

There is pressure on cost, no doubt, and is again because of the abnormal increase in gas prices. To transmit that increase in cost onto the end customer will take a couple of quarters, at least one, maybe two quarters.

To that extent, there may be some margin pressure in the short run. I don't believe that that's because of competition per se.

It's more because to get customers to accept substantially higher pricing, let's say 8% to 10%, which is what price increases we've taken, that takes a bit of time.

Utkarsh Nopany

Okay. Sir, just continuing with this point, how much price hike we have taken in glassware and Opalware, and how much we should

Shreevar Kheruka

8% to 10%. and

Utkarsh Nopany

how much we should ideally take to cover that entire cost inflation pressure, sir?

Shreevar Kheruka

That should be enough to cover the entire cost inflation.

Utkarsh Nopany

Thanks a lot, sir.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to all participants, please limit your questions to two per participant.

Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Mr.

Bhavin Rupani from Investec. Please go ahead.

Bhavin Rupani

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity.

The first question related to glassware. Sir, how should one understand incremental growth in case of glassware from here on?

Since I understand that we have been running at almost 90% utilization and any incremental capacity is only likely to come after a year or two. I just wanted some sense on that.

Shreevar Kheruka

Glassware is a very vast category. As I mentioned that we have the project of bottles, jugs, and jars, which will be implemented by the end of this year itself.

That could aid reasonable capacity availability at least for the market. The other question on the pressware, when we started production, the sales were not as fast as the production capacity.

We do have reasonable amounts of inventory. If the market supports, we can grow even without growing the production for at least a year and a half or two because of the inventories that we are carrying today.

Glassware growth from a supply chain perspective are not a challenge. The growth only from a demand perspective is what we have to look out for.

If the growth happens from a demand perspective, then by the time we are kind of low on inventory, by that time we'll have the new capacity. We've planned it, I would say, relatively well, and I think we can deliver.

Just the market has to support.

Bhavin Rupani

All right. Sir, second question is related to capex.

Apart from incremental capex announced for glassware and Bharuch plant, are we planning anything in case of kitchen appliances because BIS is kicking in soon? Also, along with this, if you can call out FY27 capex number.

Thanks. Capex,

Shreevar Kheruka

these two capex which I already said earlier is about 90-plus crores. There's maintenance capex of roughly 20 crores, 25 crores a year, which will continue.

Then there's many capexes under discussion, nothing further which is approved. Although we can see in the non-glassware space more capex potential on the horizon, which can be reasonably sized, and like you mentioned, even potentially in appliances, because we see very good market prospects for the future in the non-glassware space as well.

I can only share that once it's approved by the board, but at the moment, I can only say there's quite a lot under discussion. Obviously in the short run, things have been a bit unstable, but we do expect things to improve, we will certainly be doing more capex in the future.

Bhavin Rupani

Got it, clear, sir. I'll fall back in queue.

I have more questions. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Resham Jain from [VVDI?]

Asset Managers. Please go ahead.

Resham Jain

Hi. Good afternoon.

I have a few questions. First is with respect to the thing which you mentioned about China pressure in borosilicate, is that correct?

Shreevar Kheruka

That's what I said.

Resham Jain

Okay. Even after 16%, 17% rupee depreciation you see that challenge or challenge because in last one year we have seen almost 16% rupee depreciation.

Despite that you are seeing that challenge now?

Shreevar Kheruka

The rupee depreciation cannot be seen in isolation. There's also been massive cost increases, and earlier somebody also asked about the of gas.

China is a fairly opaque economy, it's hard to know exactly what their costs have gone up. From my sources, my understanding is that their costs of gas per unit have not gone up as much as ours.

How much is the difference, I really don't know. China also has various other ways to kind of subsidize exports.

It's hard to understand whether the cost of gets passed on or not. Obviously the depreciation offsets this, but to what extent I don't know, because the pricing we are seeing in terms of imports in the market or from China is still quite low.

As far as dollar FOB, dollar terms are concerned. The rupee is benefiting us, but it's not to the 16%, 17% kind of level as you indicated, because our costs also have gone up a reasonable amount.

Resham Jain

Okay. The second question related question is with respect to gas cost.

Gas is out of overall power and fuel of 80-odd crores, I presume that gas cost will be like 20, 25 crores out of that?

Shreevar Kheruka

Anand, can you answer that?

Anand Sultania

One second.

Shreevar Kheruka

We'll just come back to you. It's roughly in that ball park.

Yeah.

Resham Jain

Yeah. That must have gone up by 30 crore extra.

Anand Sultania

That's roughly 30 crores. That's right.

Shreevar Kheruka

That's right.

Anand Sultania

For all the three furnaces together.

Resham Jain

Got it. Just the second question is from the working capital perspective.

Last year we said that our working capital has gone up mainly because we have kept higher inventory of Hydra range given that there was this Quality Control Order. This year also given that Hydra sales itself has not happened, I presume that you must have already consummated most of the Hydra inventory.

We see that overall inventory has further gone up and which is in a way impacting your overall ROCE, which you have mentioned in your presentation as well.

Shreevar Kheruka

We've had back-to-back, and also mentioned in the call, QCO implementations. For Hydra, whatever we built up last year is more or less all depleted.

On the flip side, we had to build up a lot of appliance inventory this year because of this QCO, which has come on a large range of appliances. In addition to that, as I mentioned before, the last two years we have been producing much more on our borosilicate glass furnace than we have been selling because the capacity of the furnace is large or the which we had set up.

That is a certain minimum size of the furnace below which it's not efficient. That's also contributed to the increase of inventory.

I think the appliances again is a one-off case, should correct itself. Glassware, if the growth continues or we are able to grow more the market, then we should deplete these inventories at some point of time.

At some point meaning in the near future hopefully. Obviously, if the anti-dumping comes from China, that will certainly improve our prospects substantially.

That's still to be seen. Either way, we have to be independent of policy from the government.

We have to work with expanding our product range and giving more options to the customers, which will hopefully consume that. Overall, yes, it's been two years consecutive of inventory growth, but I do see a stop to that hopefully this year itself.

Then from next year we should see a reversal of that, because being more Made in India should logically give us leverage to reduce our inventory, not have to increase it.

Resham Jain

Understood. Thank you, all the best.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Mr.

Jasdeep from Clockvine Capital. Please go ahead.

Jasdeep Walia

Hi sir, thanks for taking my question. Sir, what was the impact of furnace shutdown on sales on both segments of glassware?

Shreevar Kheruka

No, there was no impact, because we have enough inventory. The shutdown was for a few days, and we have enough inventory to kind of capture that.

There was zero impact of the shutdown on sales. There was an impact on costs and the fixed cost absorption when the plant was say suspended, but on the margin there was definitely an impact, but not on the sales.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. Basically, your glass inventory also went down, but still the you had to deploy more money into inventory for the year?

Shreevar Kheruka

Glass inventory didn't go down. It's gone up, because we've not sold the entire production capacity of the furnace.

Even with a small shutdown we had for a few days, we didn't sell the entire capacity of the furnace also.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. Shreevar, sometime back you told me that your company is the only company to have set up borosilicate manufacturing plant in India.

That remains to be the case even now or other companies have That's a fact. That's a fact.

Shreevar Kheruka

That's a fact. We are the only guys, because I'm pretty sure certainly nobody has started production.

If somebody's planning something, I don't know, but nobody's started production.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. Basically, China is hurting the borosilicate glass market through brands which are sourcing from China instead of manufacturing in India.

Is that right?

Shreevar Kheruka

That's the right way to look at it. Exactly, yeah.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. Basically, the cost edge that you wanted to have by having your own manufacturing facility has not materialized.

In fact, it has become an adverse scenario for Borosil versus your competition.

Shreevar Kheruka

I can't say. It's always been like that.

It's not something which is new. By the way, this is the story in almost all markets where products are coming from China, where in the last couple of years, China has enhanced dumping, okay?

I guess it's widely available in the news, and it's not just for our industry, it's for almost every industry in India. That is a fact, and we would love that we get this support or let's say even playing field from the government.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. What was the increase in fuel cost that you have had to bear on account of this crisis?

Direct, as Anand

Shreevar Kheruka

as Anand mentioned, the direct cost is 30 crores or 30, 35 crores per annum. That's that Now, this is again a it's a evolving kind of number because it's changing every week.

If you extrapolate what is current, it's 30, 35 crores per annum. There's an indirect impact also, right, because say crude oil is used for packaging materials, or crude oil derivatives are used for packaging materials, so that's gone up.

Obviously, as diesel prices will go up, then that will impact more and more the freight inward and outward, and inflation, and, salaries, and so on. There's so many, second and third order impacts.

If you call direct impact, that's what it is.

Jasdeep Walia

Direct impact is basically your gas cost used to be 20 crores, that has increased to 35 crores. Did I get it right?

Shreevar Kheruka

50, it's increased to 50.

Jasdeep Walia

Oh, 20 crores has increased to 50 crores.

Shreevar Kheruka

2.5 times, 2.5 times [ho gaya na?] .

Got it.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. I thought you would use small amount of gas because most of your furnaces are electric furnaces, right?

Yes,

Shreevar Kheruka

20 crores not a big amount of gas.

Jasdeep Walia

It's just that

Shreevar Kheruka

the value has gone up because of the cost per unit has gone up.

Jasdeep Walia

Got it. That's all from my side, Shreevar.

Thank you. Bye.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thanks. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Anup Parakh from Anand Rathi.

Please go ahead.

Anup Rathi

Hi sir. My first question is, now that the bottles, vacuum bottles will be manufactured in-house, how much margin expansion are we expecting over the trading margins?

Shreevar Kheruka

See, it's not like a switch that you flip on, and the day you start manufacturing, the margin expansion happens, because it takes 6 months to 12 months probably to stabilize. Initially, your losses are higher.

Exact numbers, I guess, will be known later, but my sense is on the gross margin side, 10% at least we should get an increase. Otherwise, then there's no benefit of manufacturing in India.

I don't think that will be realized in the first couple of quarters.

Anup Rathi

Okay. Sir, in one of the interviews you mentioned that we lost 100 crore of Hydra bottles sales in FY26.

Is it correct that it was lost entirely in H2 FY26, because we had sufficient inventory in H1?

Shreevar Kheruka

No, even in first half there was loss. It may not have been so high because of the inventory, as you mentioned, but there was definitely some loss.

It may be more towards the second half of the year compared to the first half, but I can't say it was zero in the first half.

Anup Rathi

Okay. Sir.

That's it from me. Thank you.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sagnik Sarkar from SKP Securities.

Please go ahead.

Sagnik Sarkar

Thanks for the opportunity. I had couple of questions.

The first question is on the glassware business. Out of the 295 crore sales in the glassware business, what percentage would be our own manufacturing?

Shreevar Kheruka

Now, I mean see, it's if we define our own manufacturing as just pressware, it's roughly 2/3.

Sagnik Sarkar

If

Shreevar Kheruka

we define it including 2/3, 2/3 would be Borosil Limited manufacturing. Okay.

Sagnik Sarkar

Okay, 66% own manufacturing and 34% would be outsourced?

Shreevar Kheruka

Yes.

Sagnik Sarkar

Okay. On the capex front, like you mentioned about 90 crore of capex, for FY27, the capex numbers would be around 110 crores, is that correct?

Shreevar Kheruka

Yeah, 110, 115, broadly, yes. Yes, broadly.

It can go up depending on more projects through the year, but at the moment, yes, that's correct.

Sagnik Sarkar

Okay. For the manufacturing percentage that you mentioned, 2/3, like what percentage it would be in FY27?

Like, if you could guide us on the percentage term.

Shreevar Kheruka

I don't know, I don't think that'll change much

Sagnik Sarkar

for

Shreevar Kheruka

this year.

Sagnik Sarkar

Okay.

Shreevar Kheruka

Like I said, if we get policy support, it will go up for sure. If we don't, then it may stay similar.

Sagnik Sarkar

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Amrish Kacker as an individual investor.

Please go ahead.

Amrish Kakkar

Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on debt.

Debt has increased about 60 crores or yes in the last two quarters to about 100 crores, and you've got some planned capex already approved by the board, plus potentially something more in the future. Generally, in the past you've been quite cautious on debt.

Just if you could share what your thoughts on fundraising are, whether it will be more debt for the time being or you might raise more equity? No, well,

Shreevar Kheruka

not much debt, right? It may go up in the short run, but I mentioned our operating cash flow was about 120 crores.

If you look at capex this year, we're looking at something similar. Plus, we should definitely draw down inventory of appliances and all, as mentioned before.

I don't see any chance. If in the short run there's some timing mismatch, that may go up in the short run, but we're so being, I think, very, very cautious as it is.

Even if it goes up by 100 crores, it's

Amrish Kakkar

Sure. That's clear.

We're mainly reliant on the cash flows for funding then. Second question, if you could just help understand a little bit our borosilicate glass manufacturing arrangement as with Borosil Scientific,

Shreevar Kheruka

as

Amrish Kakkar

mentioned in this presentation as well, that the new production will be done on a cost-plus basis by BSL. We already have some production which we have from BSL, which is probably equipment owned by BSL.

If you could just give us some overview on what is the arrangement on manufacturing for our Borosil?

Shreevar Kheruka

Firstly, it's an arm's-length basis. We have Chartered and Cost Accountants who look at the cost, and on a cost-plus certain percent which is approved by, I guess, as a related party transaction which is approved by shareholders on both sides.

We do that. That definition differs.

In cases, the assets are owned by BSL. In that case, the cost is factored.

In other cases, the capex is done by BL. In which case, the cost obviously is lower for BSL.

The auditors do that and as per say the accounting standards, they look into that. We arrive at a cost-plus formula.

If I'm not mistaken, right now it's cost plus 5%, which is the formula, but I may be slightly off, but I think it's roughly in that range. That's the transfer price at which BL buys from BSL.

Obviously that will differ if the asset's owned by BL or it's owned by BSL. The cost also may differ.

It's now fully audited and reported to the board or audit committee on both sides, and audit committee gets into the detail of it, and then finally shareholders pass it. That's the way we do it.

Amrish Kakkar

Is there a reason to maintain this sort of relationship, is it possible to make it cleaner in terms of just moving all the assets to BL?

Shreevar Kheruka

That will substantially increase the cost for Borosil Limited, that's the issue. We've thought about that.

Because the equipment in many cases is the same as already being used by BSL. We'll have to then double it and double the infrastructure.

It will not be an immaterial increase in costs. Believe me, we've debated this and it's in the interest of shareholders of both companies.

Specifically for Borosil Limited would have to, again, spend a lot more capex for actually very little return if we were to segregate it. BSL, they are able to sweat the same asset.

They also get the benefit.

Amrish Kakkar

Makes sense.

Shreevar Kheruka

It's kind of a marginal thing compared to the overall size of the business at least till now. If it's a large chunk, then we'll have to obviously get back on the drawing board and relook at it.

At the moment, it's less than 10% of the sales of BL.

Amrish Kakkar

Thank you. Thank you for that, and all the best for the subsequent quarters.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take this as last question.

I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Shreevar Kheruka

Thank you for all your interest in Borosil Limited. The last year has been a tough one.

I do expect the next quarter or two, with still raging, there to be some challenges in the short run. As I said, we are not stopping our growth and expansion plans because of that.

We are doing this for decades and not for quarters. We are as a team fully committed to enhancing the revenue by 15% to 20% year-on-year and achieving EBITDA of closer to 20-odd percent in the medium term, and we'll continue to work on that journey.

Thank you for your support and patience and also your continued interest. I look forward to seeing you next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference.

Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.