Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Kalyan Jewellers India Limited Q4 FY26 earnings conference call.

We have with us Mr. Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director; Mr.

Sanjay Raghuraman, CEO; Mr. V.

Swaminathan, CFO; Mr. V.

Sreekumar, Financial Controller; Mr. Sanjay Mehrotra, Head of Strategy and Corporate Affairs; and Mr.

Abraham George, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. I hope everyone had a chance to view our financial results and investor presentation, which were recently posted on company's website and stock exchanges.

We will begin the call with opening remarks from management, followed by an open forum for Q&A. Before we begin, I would like to point out that some of the statements made during today's call may be forward-looking.

A disclaimer to that effect was included in the earnings presentation. I would now like to invite Mr.

Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers India Limited, to give his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you. Good evening.

Let me welcome everyone to the call. Q4 has been fantastic.

The pickup in momentum we witnessed during the third quarter continued during the last quarter, and we ended up the financial year on an excellent note. While consolidated revenue and PAT growth for the quarter have been 66% and 118% respectively, standalone business recorded revenue growth of 68% and PAT growth of 97% respectively.

For the full financial year, we recorded a consolidated revenue in excess of ₹35,700 crores and a PAT of ₹1,350 crores. During the last financial year, we launched 129 showrooms across Kalyan and Candere formats, including the first Kalyan showroom in the UK.

The year also saw reduction of debt in India by ₹360-odd crores, in line with the already announced plan to pay down the non-GML debt in India completely. Over the last three years, we have reduced the non-GML in India from ₹1,300 crores to ₹300 crores.

FY2026 also saw Candere growing its revenue by 160% on the back of very strong same-store sales growth and aggressive network expansion. More importantly, Candere turned PAT positive from the second half of FY2026.

Going forward, during the current financial year, Candere will focus more on driving SSG along with expanding its showroom footprint. In line with our announced dividend policy, board of directors has recommended a dividend of approximately ₹257 crores, payout of around 20% of the net profit generated during FY2026.

During the ongoing financial year, we plan to open 150 showrooms across Kalyan, Candere, and the new regional brand. Now talking about the ongoing quarter, we had an excellent start to the financial year.

We witnessed strong growth in our Akshaya Tritiya sales this year, and we continue to see encouraging momentum in consumer demand, especially around the wedding purchases during the current quarter. Thank you, and I will hand over it to Sanjay.

He will read you through the numbers.

Thanks, Ramesh. Good evening, everybody.

I'm happy to be talking to you all again. In this just concluded quarter, our company reported a consolidated revenue of ₹10,275 crores, a 66% growth over the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Consolidated profit before tax was ₹539 crores versus ₹251 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated profit after tax came in at ₹410 crores versus ₹188 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, a growth of 118%.

For the concluded 12 months of the financial year FY26, we recorded a revenue of ₹35,740 crores on a consolidated basis versus ₹25,045 crores in the previous financial year, a growth of 43%. Consolidated profit before tax for the year came in at ₹1,802 crores versus ₹960 crores, an 88% growth.

Consolidated profit after tax for the year ending March '26 came in at ₹1,350 crores versus ₹714 crores for the previous year ending March '25, a growth of 89%. Out of the free cash generated from operations, approximately ₹350 crores was used for debt reduction and approximately ₹150 crores was used for dividend payments.

Talking now about the breakup of the quarterly performance between India, Middle East, and the Candere business, starting with the India business, the quarter just concluded, the revenue came in at ₹8,990 crores versus ₹5,350 crores, and the profit before tax for the quarter came in at ₹495 crores compared to ₹249 crores when compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit after tax for the India business came in at ₹366 crores compared to ₹185 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, a growth of 97%.

Moving on to talk about our Middle East business, revenue in the Middle East came in at ₹1,074 crores versus ₹784 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before tax came in at ₹20 crores versus ₹15 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The Middle East business posted a profit of ₹21 crores for the quarter compared to a profit of ₹12 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Lastly, moving on to talk about Candere, the business posted revenues of ₹131 crores in the quarter versus ₹28 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

In the just concluded quarter, the profits came in at ₹3 crores for the quarter versus a ₹12 crore loss in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. With this, we are now done with the summary of the numbers and we open the floor for questions.

Thank you.

hi team. Congratulations on the strong performance.

I had three questions. The first is that there is a big divergence in the South and non-South SSG, not seen at least as you started reporting this.

Just if you give clarity on what led to such a big divergence.

South was lesser than non-South. Again, every quarter it is a bit different, but this time it is having a significant change in the SSGs of South and non-South.

Maybe the base is also higher in South.

Sir, the other way to look at it is that for South, it went from say 25 to 29, but in case of non-South, the acceleration has sort of been much higher. Any more color about maybe what led to that versus the Q3?

I think the shift is again further accelerated in the non-South region when compared to South. We have been seeing it from Q3, but Q4 again non-South was more interesting than the South.

Got it, sir. The other thing Ramesh is that generally because of the initiatives that we had started in Q1, every quarter gross margins were improving.

Given you said part of the sourcing had shifted to new set of vendors. This quarter there has been a slight reversal to that trend, any more clarity on the GM side?

No, gross margins have been improving, and it has been maintained also. Showroom-level mix again, South, non-South, you cannot compare a quarter-to-quarter.

Q3 is always a better quarter in terms of studded, etc. Again, non-South revenue is also more in certain areas.

It is again depending on the type of product which is sold. During Dhanteras, Diwali is different from Q4 FOCO mix.

There are a lot of drivers to your margin, right?

Sure, Ramesh. The last question was, just wanted to understand you mentioned about Akshaya Tritiya being very strong for you.

Generally, how have trends sort of been sustaining this quarter? Is it as strong as what say Q4 was for us?

As you look into the next year, given this has obviously been quite an exceptional year for the entire jewelry sector, that would there be maybe some moderation because of the high base that we'll have of last year?

No, last year also Akshaya Tritiya was in Q1 only, no?

No, I was referring to the full year.

Full?

There were two parts to the question. First is that how are the trends in the Q1 quarter of FY27?

The second question was that for the full year of FY27, given '26 was such an exceptional year for us and the entire jewelry space, that is there a case that we can continue to deliver our historical growth rates for next year also after such an exceptional year of FY26?

Yeah. Again, if you look at H2 of the last financial year, the base was higher.

The current financial year H2 will have a base high for sure. Again, it has been like that even in the previous year.

Again, we could grow. That we will not be able to completely tell you what is going to happen, but as we speak, April has started off very well, and even with high bases, we have been able to grow.

Sure, Ramesh sir. That was it from my side.

Wish you all the best.

Hi. Thank you for taking my question.

My first question is with regards to the debt repayment. You have so far paid approximately ₹500-odd crores of non-GML debt and you're planning to repay the debt entirely, the non-GML piece, that is in FY27.

Given the strong profitability that you have witnessed in FY26, is there a possibility that you might be able to pay that off entirely by say H1 FY27 end?

We want to make it non-GML debt-free in the running financial year. If things go really well, we might do it by H1 itself.

We don't want to guide you in that direction. Wherein, when it's possible, it is possible, that's it.

Sure. Sure.

Just one more question with regards to the third brand that you are planning. Their store was supposed to I think launch somewhere in Q4.

What's the update on the same? Is there any progress to it?

It is on, but the post-election dust has not been settled in the state where we want to open our new brand. We are just waiting for the dust to settle down and we start our campaign.

It's prepared. It's just that the timing is to be mapped.

Yeah. Timing has to be managed according to the situation on ground.

Sure. Sure.

Sure. Just lastly, one bookkeeping question that I had.

We had seen that the debt coming down sequentially from H1 to H2, debt has only come down. However, if we look at the interest cost both on the standalone and the console basis, it has moved up sequentially.

Is there any one-off kind of an adjustment there? Just wanted to understand what has really led to this movement.

Sreekumar, you have the number?

Yeah.

Just a second, I will hand over it to Sreekumar.

Hi. You see the major reason for the increase is the increase in the processing charges, as well as there were some advance tax which we had to pay.

The estimates which we did for the full year, possibly we couldn't budget it correctly. Then there was a interest which we had to pay for the advance tax.

That is a major reason in the increase in the interest cost.

Okay. Okay.

Can you just quant-

Gaurav, Abraham here. One more point I want to add.

During the first half of the year, our debt repayment had not happened for the year. The debt level remained almost high for the first half.

The gold metal loan pricing also kind of tapered down by almost the first quarter. That reason along with the reason which Sreekumar mentioned that there's a interest that we have paid towards the advance tax payment.

Otherwise, it's mostly on track.

Yeah. That is what I wanted to ask.

Basically, if we adjust for that, what is the real interest cost so that we can build accordingly for the coming years in that context?

I would say about ₹20 to ₹30 crores, about ₹30 crores will be reduced from this number.

So ₹30 crore was the one. Sure.

Thank you. That's all from me.

Hi, sir. Congratulations on very strong numbers.

I wanted to check on this supply side issues that are sort of there, right, from Middle East tension perspective. A lot of gold is imported from that part of the region, and there was some news flow that renewal of licenses are also getting delayed from DGFT's perspective.

Do you foresee any kind of challenge from availability of gold as well as from the increase in maybe say interest rate on gold metal loans?

No, no, there's abundant supply of gold in the country and we continue to receive regular inventory from our banks. While the IGST notification for gold imports through the traditional bank channels is pending, qualified jewelers like us, banks, importers are permitted to import gold through India International Bullion Exchange at GIFT City, Gujarat.

Okay. Furthermore, according to our knowledge, the banks also procure gold from domestic sources such as temples and gold deposit scheme, etc.

We don't have any issue on the gold supply. Got it.

Got it. Secondly sir, you did provide some color on strong trends sort of continuing in April.

I wanted to check, since we our wedding-related salience is relatively higher and there is this extra month of inauspicious days in Q1, will that for time being sort of lead to lower sales for us? That's that was part number one.

Secondly, Q4 has seen very strong growth. Has there been a postponement component also where say the Q1 weddings purchases related to Q1 weddings got preponed to Q4?

I wanted to check on these two things.

Adhik Maas is there and again we have a good wedding share in our business. Business can get moved to either side of that month.

Okay?

Right. Right.

Again, it negates no, at the end of the day. It can move into quarters, but at the end of the day, revenue comes to us.

It's not a loss of revenue.

No, fair enough. I just wanted to understand from a volatility perspective.

Obviously, I understand that from a full-year perspective that business will come back to you, but from a volatility perspective, can Q1 be a slower growth quarter is what I wanted to understand.

Now as we speak, things are on track, it is more than on track. We have to see what plays out during the Adhik Maas time.

Yes, there is high possibility that those days can be slower than our usual wedding. There are people who prepone their purchase also if there's an Adhik Maas.

That's why I am not able to guide you clearly whether there can be a loss of revenue in this quarter, because there can be some revenue which is preponed and comes in this quarter itself.

Understood. Understood.

Sir, last question from my end. If we see the revenue mix for this year's Akshaya Tritiya, how has been the composition between say coins, plain gold jewelry, as well as studded?

Because there are certain players who are indicating that gold coin sales were relatively lower this time around. Did that play for you as well in this current Akshaya Tritiya?

The coin sales were lower than estimated, unlike Dhanteras where it was more than estimated.

That should ideally lead to better margin performance, right? So...

Again,

too early no, because it's only 1 month, there is 2 more months to go. Again, repeat the first 30, 35 days have been good, very good.

Got it, sir. Got it.

Thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you. The first question again is on the SSG specifically on the non-South.

If you kind of split the SSG trend between say the franchise stores versus own stores, is it broadly similar to what you have reported on a overall non-South? This is because I think the non-South could also be benefiting partly because of the franchisee stores.

Just wanted to understand when you look at the SSG non-South, FOCO versus COCO, is that trend broadly similar?

It is looking more or less same, but of course you know that the first-year revenue growth for any store, be it franchise, be it non-franchise, it has a better SSG than the showrooms which are more than 5 years, 7 years, because the gold savings scheme revenue also comes in. Region-wise, there are changes in non-South.

Non-South is not the same in all South markets, that's what I'm trying to say.

Sure, Ramesh. Got it.

Second question on the coin sales part. I think, even if you look at the full quarter, the last say 40 days or so, and compare it with maybe 3Q as well as 4Q, have you seen that the overall intensity of investment-led demand, which is your coin sales, have actually come down?

Is it partly because, when you look at the gold price movement, at least in the last a few days or a month or so, it has actually been on the lower side, right? Is there a lower intensity of the investment-led demand?

Coins, we usually do not push coins and we don't even sell bullion, which you know. During Q3, some customers' enquiry of gold coins, we saw it higher than usual.

We had to keep more inventory than usual for gold coins. Otherwise, it is a normal revenue which was there for coins, still maintain.

Q3 was a bit abnormal, especially during the Diwali time.

Sure. The next question is on the Middle East.

If I look at the comment in the presentation, you have said that you have temporarily converted four FOCO showrooms to COCO as there is some discussion underway. If you can throw some light like what's happening there, what's the plan on that part of the business?

No, I mentioned in the last call that we are trying to work with a few Arab investors who are keen to open FOCO showrooms of Kalyan, and for which we had to temporarily convert the FOCO to COCO to facilitate that so-called process.

Just looking at the

The franchisee model which we are working with Arab investors is not only to own or open only new stores, but also conversion of old stores. The ticket size is bigger.

Again, I did not give you any guidance on that because it has not happened. Better not to budget on it.

We are focusing on a major franchisee expansion in the Middle East through Arab investors. Nothing has materialized, but it's going the right direction.

Sure. Maybe just on the gross margin, I think someone asked and I will just kind of rephrase that question.

See when we look at the India gross margin, right? Now we know that because of the franchisee model, normally we should see a Y-o-Y decline on gross margin, and I'm talking about Y-o-Y because quarter-on-quarter we will have seasonality, right?

When I look at 2Q '26, and I'm adjusting the base for custom duty, etc., 2Q '26 had a gross margin decline of 100 basis points. In 3Q, the gross margin was broadly same on a Y-o-Y basis.

The discussion was that you have tried the paying the vendors a bit early, which was giving you some benefit, and at least in our mind it was that because you have just started in maybe 3Q or so, it should continue for 12 months, we should see that benefit coming in. When we look at the 4Q gross margin, it has gone back to the normal level where we were seeing 100 basis point decline because of the franchisee model.

Has there been any change in the vendor payment or is there anything which is changing this direction?

No, if you remember well, the pilot project we started partially in Q4 of last year. That is already embedded in the gross margin of the last quarter.

Maybe that's why you see this change.

Okay. Got it.

Just last question is on the divestment of the assets. I see you have already secured the release of collateral for around ₹180 crores.

Two parts. One, what's the timeline looking like on the sale of this ₹180 crore?

Second, on the balance release of the ₹200 crore, what kind of a timeline we are looking at?

The timeline set for the set number one asset disposal was before September of this year, which I think is going the right direction. We are also started process to release the second set of assets from the banks, which I don't want to give you a timeline, but I will give you more details when it reaches more closer.

Got it. Sure.

Thank you, and all the best.

Hello. Hi.

Congrats on good numbers. Sir, just from a cash flow perspective, can you please talk about the next couple of years?

What do you do with the cash flows, right? Strong profits, growing still with a lot of franchisee models.

If you can just elaborate a little bit on capital management. You did ₹1,350 crores of profit this year.

It will grow with your store additions, just wanted to understand how you are looking at capital once you pay off your non-GML debt.

Close to 50% of the cash generated will be used for dividend and debt reduction, capex, etc. Balance 50%, we have to park some funds for Candere and the regional brand which I was talking about.

Again, we shall come back on the rest of the allocation in the due course of the year. Our expansion is predominantly franchise, which you know.

Understood. Perfect, sir.

That's it from my side. Thanks.

Sir. Just pardon my ignorance, but when I was trying to listen to you and the presentation about the repayment of MGL, but when I go to the balance sheet, I don't see it.

What is it that I'm missing actually? It's non-GML.

It is non-GML, not MGL, gold metal loan.

It's not

non-MGL.

Gold

metal loan. Gold loan comes with a lesser interest rate.

The aggregate debt, if you would have any comment there, you give out a outlook on the non-MGL reduction, but aggregate debt and its intensity with the growth, how should we look at that number? No,

so as far as the Middle East is concerned, the GML, the gold metal loan, increases when the gold price goes up because there's no actual limit for a gold loan in the Middle East. In India, the GML we have a limit where banks can give us and we always maintain that level.

We will of course focus on somehow increasing the GML whenever possible.

Increasing the GML whenever possible. Okay.

With your growth strategy of FOCO-based growth and you have given an outlook of 70 stores, based on that if I have to look at a 2-year out or a 1-year out absolute debt number, is it possible to share that?

It will be what, only the metal loan basically in India. Non-GML will be zero.

The extent of total debt? MGL plus GML put together?

Non-GML is zero, the GML which will be maintained the same levels unless and until we get something more what, if in case. Yeah.

Far the focus have been always on reduction of non-GML in India. Going forward, we will also focus on increasing the GML, but this will depend on the sanctions available from banks, etc., on the GML.

The easy answer for this question will be non-GML will be zero, GML will be almost in the limit where we are.

I'm just wondering in a FOCO expansion strategy, what drives the GML loan? What are the drivers for a rise in a GML loan?

No, GML loans comes with a very less interest rates, okay, and it also comes with an hedging instrument embedded in it. That is the advantage of GML.

Usually banks keep a sanction limit for the same. We will not be able to increase the GML like in the Middle East where Middle East is there is no limit with the banks, they keep on increasing GML when the gold price goes up.

Not all banks in India also provide GML, that is the limitation of GML in India. For expansion, we don't need any capital because it is a franchise model.

Correct, sir. Basically then the GML loan should not go up, right?

If you're not expanding, my question is, what is the driver for a GML loan to go up, if any,

the only

reason, huh, sir? Yeah.

Only when you need more pipeline inventory for FOCO, or when you need to open what you call, high format stores, where you want to stop your hybrid model on your franchise, etc., where it is a what do you call, minor chance, but again availability of GML is also tough here. That is why we don't budget for it.

Okay. You haven't opened any store of yours, when I'm just looking at the presentation and I'm looking at the bridge you have given for 5 years of FOCO store and a total store, it seems that you haven't opened any single COCO store, right, in the last 4 years numbers that I see, '23, '24, '25, '26?

When we would have opened an own store, we would have converted an own old store, especially in the South India, where we would have opened as own, but we would have converted an own into a FOCO. The number of FOCO stores, meaning the additional number of stores will be same as FOCO.

The additional number of stores are same as FOCO. Only thing could have happened is your own store, you would have reopened an own store in a bigger store?

That should I put it?

That's called hybrid, wherein we might have relocated our existing store to a newer location in a bigger format, wherein franchisee would have allocated his capital and we would have maintained our capital. That's called hybrid.

That's a hybrid.

Yeah.

Okay. How many stores would have gone through that in the last 4 years where you would have relocated a store?

There are seven or eight hybrid stores.

Five or eight hybrid stores. Okay.

Would that entail incremental capital from your side in inventory?

No, it's not incremental. What we do is when we relocate a store from a smaller premise to a bigger premise, our part of the investment will be the existing inventory which we had in the old store.

Okay.

The franchisee partner will bring the additional

incremental inventory. For his share.

Yeah. Capex we share also.

The business per se wouldn't have needed incremental capital for you to deploy, right, since the last 3 years? No, but

that will be needed because we not only do this, we also renovate and open stores where the market has expanded and our stores have a scope of better revenue growth, wherein that would not have been converted, we ourselves renovate the stores and add inventory there. With such high SSGs, some showrooms will need additional investment also, inventory.

Okay.

When you mention the 50% payout number 50% payout and debt repayment number, the residual 50%, should we say that it's going, had gone, or will be going into reinventoryization of your existing store, higher inventory in existing stores?

We will have to budget some portion for additional inventory in stores where we need to add inventory. Usually what happens is the saving scheme also the SSGs are high, the money which comes in from the gold savings scheme usually we allocate for inventory increase.

Okay. Did you mention that the reduction in interest cost for FY27 is ₹30 crores, is what you mentioned?

From the base of FY26? Yeah,

₹30 crore interest. Because ₹300 crore is what we have to now reduce the non-GML.

So ₹300 crore if you put an approximate, what, 9-10%, it's ₹30 crore.

In the ₹430 crores that you reported in '26, you mentioned some element of interest on advance tax or something. That's what you mentioned, right?

Is there any one-off in that ₹433 crore interest which needs to be looked at?

Yeah. ₹20 crore.

20. So 20 is one-off and 30 is reduction next year.

Then the reduction is ₹50 crores.

Correct. You are correct.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

yes, sir. Thank you for taking my question.

Just wanted to understand, are we seeing a lower competitive intensity because of which our ad spend increase seems muted in the current environment? What would be our strategy going ahead given the influx of these digital-only players like BlueStone, etc.?

How do we plan to tackle that? No,

I think somewhere I missed your question. Can you repeat the question?

Yes, just wanted to understand It's been a good year. Wanted to understand how much of increase in the gross margin we would have benefited from the silver price and platinum increase, if you can give us that outcome so that we can better model this for next year.

There has been some advantage because of the platinum and silver margin, which again cannot be sustained for the next financial year. Again, the inventory procurement pattern which we changed also already is there in the last financial year, which again is not going to come for the next financial year.

Going forward, other things remaining the same, we can expect gains from operating leverage and the interest saving which we just discussed. Again of course, lot will depend upon how the year will unfold.

Right. No,

I was trying to understand on the gross margin side, right? Should we factor in a decline of 30 bps, 20 bps for this gain that we would have seen from silver and platinum this year?

Should we factor in a year-on-year decline for next year for 0.2, 0.3

Yeah, there has been some portion which has come from silver and platinum. Again, everything cannot remain the same for the next year, meaning running year.

There can be change in studded ratio, there can be change in product mix which we are selling. This 0.2, 0.3, etc., is very tough for us to budget, but operating leverage will come in and what, ₹20-odd crores is what silver, meaning it's not too high, right?

Yeah.

Right.

I know, I understand we can make it up in other areas. My second question was just on overall just trying to understand this employee expense.

When we have the franchise, we just give them one employee, right, per store from our side? I thought more operating leverage will play out on that front, just wanted to understand

No. Can you repeat that question?

Franchise, we actually

In franchisee you give them one person, I understood, per store.

No, we meaning all the employees are done from Kalyan. We manage the store.

Right. Okay.

Right. That is Because

one employee is again, maybe some franchisees employ a accountant who are outside the store or inside the store, but that's also very rare. Otherwise, all the employees are done by us only.

Right. Okay.

Sir, we have achieved our guidance on the PBT side, looking at India standalone of 5.5%. Any new guidance for the next year on the PBT margin side?

Now if you look at this financial year, meaning the previous financial year, the PBT India has been in the range of what, 5.5, 5.6. I think that is here to stay.

Again, I told you, some operating leverage can come in and stuff.

More or less we look to maintain it at and that would be good,

yeah. More or less it should stay in this range.

Maybe some additional improvement of margin, yeah.

Last part would be on this inventory and all the high rise increase in gold price, are we planning any other strategy so that ROCE can be taken up further in terms of like last time we did on a lower the inventory per store or like more lightweight jewelry, anything happening there?

Usually when the gold price goes up by ₹100, we increase our inventory at the store only by ₹30 or ₹40. We reduce our volume at the store.

That is how we take care of our ROCE.

Right. Okay.

Right, got that. Thank you so much.

Hello, sir. Congrats on the great set of numbers.

My main query is that I would just like to get an hint on how the volume growth has been despite the very positive rally that gold has currently delivered. If you look at the SSSG currently, that the entire jewelry retailers' demand, it's been doing really great.

Without factoring in the Akshaya Tritiya this quarter, we've done a really great job. How would you like to give me a hint on the volume growth that has happened currently and going forward?

What's the SSSG that's poised to be or would we be able to sustain the same considering the Akshaya Tritiya sales have been quite well in few select retailers in their business updates?

Again, because you asked about the volume, I will tell you wherein customer comes with a particular budget. Customer cannot increase the budget when the gold price goes up.

Gold price have went up by what, 60-70% over the last 1 year. Customer does not have the money to spend 70% more than what he budgeted.

Customer comes with a particular budget wherein when the prices are low, the volume will be higher; when the prices are high, the volume will be lower. Some segment of customers have of course the ability to expand.

We don't even look into that direction because customer comes with INR budget rather than volume budget. Again, we also try to push them to studded jewelry, we also do more of precious and uncut, etc.

Again, we ourselves reduce the quality of gold from 22 to 18, 18 to 14. Everything is done for customer to not to feel the pain of buying jewelry when the gold price are higher.

Understood. If you could give me some clarity on the SSSG part as well in terms of the coming up positive Akshaya Tritiya trends, that would also be really helpful.

SSGs for Q4, you mean?

Q4 and going forward as an overall basis, I thought it would be helpful.

Again SSGs have been behaving very very crazily positive over the last 2-3 years, okay? It has always been what, 20-30%.

Now the last quarter was very high. If you are trying to put a number for the next 3-5 years, we usually don't guide more than 10% SSG for next 3 to 5 years.

I don't have any justice to tell you why you should put only 10% when it has been 20-30% over the last 2-3 years, okay, or more. If you're trying to put a 30 3-to-5-year projection, I always recommend only putting a 10% SSG, even though I don't have a reason for it.

Understood. My last set of question would be that we all know that South has been a major market when we specifically talk about jewelry.

There has been a lot of store expansions when we look at this quarter. If I could get a bifurcation of how much stores that has been expanded on a net-on-net basis towards South for this quarter and what region are you especially eyeing at going forward, that would also give me an helpful note, and that would be my final question as well.

Overall we opened 13 stores in South India in the last financial year. The markets where we have opened are more into metros like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, etc., where we want to add more stores in the metros where Kalyan is already present.

Going forward also will be in the similar region.

You would target India as a whole than a specific region-wise classification. From my assumption, it would be targeting the Tier 1 cities again.

In South. In South you know that we were already penetrated into Tier 2, Tier 3 markets, and outside South India, our expansion is what, more than 60 showrooms, 65 showrooms in outside South regions.

South mein, we will restrict in 13, 14, 15 showrooms, and which will be majoritarily in the metros like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad.

Understood. Thank you and wish you all the best.

Thank you. The first question was on the FOCO showrooms in South.

I think last quarter there were 30 FOCO showrooms out of the 99. What is the number this quarter?

It's meaning there is no more additional FOCO.

It's the same. Sure, Ramesh.

The second question is again on the Middle East part. If I just do a simple exercise of your inventory consol minus standalone, which will largely be Middle East, some bit of other international markets and some bit for Candere, but largely Middle East.

If I also look at the gold metal loan, Middle East has, give or take, around ₹3,500 crores worth of inventory and GML is around ₹2,300 crore, which implies a capital employed of and this is just purely your inventory-related, not taking capex, but around ₹1,200 crores. Hypothetically is it fair to say that, whenever this Middle East conversion happens where you kind of convert the 38 stores into franchisee stores, maybe not ₹1,200 because some of this will be with Candere, etc.

as well, but broadly maybe ₹800 to ₹1,000 crores worth of cash flow get generated?

No, we have converted only four showrooms from FOCO to COCO, okay, which can be what, in the range of what, 250, ₹200-250 crore. Inventory usually when the gold price goes up, okay, inventory also goes up, but not to the same extent.

You should also note that we have opened two new showrooms there where the inventory went up, which has not done a full-year revenue, and we also renovated five or six showrooms in that space into a bigger square feet with additional inventory.

Ramesh, my question was on the discussion you have highlighted, right, there's a discussion for potential conversion. I'm saying hypothetically I know this is still underway, but hypothetically if that conversion happens

Yeah. Hypothetically, if the conversion happens big time, of course cash flow should come.

Again, Ashish, I repeat, we will come back to you when it is very close to the happening. I don't want any budgeting for this what you call, the project which we are trying to plan.

Sure, fair point. Sure, thank you so much.

Hello. Hi.

Congrats on a great set of numbers. I want to ask about the revenue productivity of our franchisee.

If there any plan to increase the revenue productivity per store of our franchisee, and do we see our COCO stores having better revenue per store than FOCO, and how are we planning to bridge that or grow that? No,

revenue per store will be better for COCO than FOCO, because all the own showrooms in the initial times are bigger stores. FOCO comes with a lesser basket size of inventory and lesser basket size of revenue.

It is more of a stock turn and profitability which we will see for the franchisee rather than only revenue per store.

Okay. Do we see the gap between us and the likes of Tanishq and other competitors decreasing from ₹50 crore per store to higher?

No, can you repeat the question once more?

The revenue per store of our franchisee is about ₹50-52 crore, and do we see that rising in the future by increasing their productivity?

SSGs are there for franchisees also, no? The revenue keeps on increasing for them, revenue keeps on increasing for our own store also.

Okay. Sir, and can you give an update on the unpledging of the pledged share?

Hey,

nothing has changed, but it's not a very right platform to discuss on the promoter pledging, but there is no change for the past what, 15 months, no.

Okay. Thank you.

Hello sir. Good evening.

Sir, I want to know bit more about Candere. Candere now profitable, and can you tell me a bit more about the margin profile for Candere?

Margins are higher in Candere. Margins are higher in Candere because the studded ratio in Candere is more than 70%.

Mid-30s are the gross margins in Candere.

Sir, I missed that, studded profile?

The gross margin store-level Candere is in mid-30s because the studded ratio are more than 70%.

Okay, 70% studded. Out of your 150 store opening guidance in FY27, how many for Candere?

It will be in the similar line of the last financial year, 50-55. 50-55.

Okay. This quarter around we added gross level 28 stores, but net level we closed around four.

Why four store was closed?

As I mentioned before, no, it's not closure, it is relocating to a bigger premise. Yeah.

Understood. Thank you.

Only one showroom got closed. It was a very small showroom.

It was the first showroom in Madurai, which was in a location where only two-wheelers are allowed to enter, but otherwise there are no store closures.

Got it, sir. Got it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, and see you again in the next quarter.