Thank you, Shruti. On behalf of Nuvama, it is our absolute pleasure to welcome you all to P N Gadgil Jewellers Q3 FY26 earnings conference call.

From the management, today we have Mr. Saurabh Gadgil, Chairman and Managing Director.

I would now hand over call to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, Saurabh.

Thank you, Rajiv. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the P N Gadgil Jewellers Q3 FY26 earnings call.

I hope all of you had had an opportunity to review our financial results, our press release, and the investor presentation, which are also available on the stock exchanges and on the company's website. I would like to welcome Mr.

Deepak Vijay, who has recently joined the company as the Chief Financial Officer. Coming to numbers, this quarter, gold prices continued their upward trajectory, marking a rise of over 70% year-over-year and 15% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Despite the elevated price levels, the consumer sentiment remained resilient. The quarter witnessed strong momentum starting with Dussehra, gaining further traction during Diwali, and ending on a positive note aided by the wedding season.

Traditional gold jewelry remained the core focus, while lightweight jewelry continued its upward shift amid price volatility and shifting consumer preferences. We launched three exclusive company-owned stores during the quarter, marking our entry into Patna, Bihar, and taking our store count to 66 at the end of the quarter.

Starting with a strong presence in Maharashtra, PNG has steadily expanded its footprint to five states across India, with operations now spanning Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. We have also strengthened our brand and outreach across India by appointing Ranbir Kapoor as the new co-brand ambassador, ushering a new chapter of legacy and modernity.

Further, we have also onboarded Sara Tendulkar as the brand ambassador for LiteStyle, marking a key step in strengthening the brand's connection with India's future jewelry consumers. I will now walk you through the financial highlights for Q3 of FY26.

For the quarter, consolidated revenue from operations grew by 35.6% year-on-year to ₹3,302 crore. Gross profit rose by 98.2% year-on-year to ₹474 crore.

EBITDA grew by 109.4% to ₹271.7 crore, while net profit surged 98.6% year-on-year to ₹170.9 crore, with the net profit margin standing at 5.2%. For the 9-month ended FY26, the consolidated revenue from operations stood at ₹7,194.8 crore.

Gross profit rose by 86.8% year-on-year to ₹957.9 crore, with the gross margin standing at 13.2%, while EBITDA grew by 105.3% to ₹537.7 crore, with an EBITDA margin of 7.5%. Net profit for the same surged by 104.5% year-on-year to ₹319.6 crore, with a net profit margin at 4.4%.

The retail segment contributed ₹5,524.4 crore in revenue, a 34.5% year-on-year growth, and accounted for 76.8% of total sales, reinforcing the position as the company's primarily growth driver. E-commerce and franchisee segments also reported strong performances.

E-com revenue stood at ₹377.4 crore, registering a growth of 125.8% YoY, while the franchisee revenue rose to ₹864.8 crore, reflecting a 65.4% increase YoY. On the customer front, engagement continued to strengthen.

Our transaction volumes were up by 35%, with an average transaction value—that is, ATV—of 103.065—₹1 crore 3 lakh 65—sorry, ₹1,03,065. Footfalls grew by 33%, supported by strong conversion rates of 94%, demonstrating sustained consumer interest despite volatile gold prices.

Festive demand was a key growth driver in this quarter. Record-breaking sales of ₹190 crore plus on Dussehra and ₹606 crore on Diwali leading to the highest ever monthly sale of ₹1,800 crore in October month.

At the store level, the same-store growth continued strong, for the quarter was at 33%, and for nine months December ended 2025, average revenue per store stood at ₹109 crore. Revenue per square feet was ₹3,42,800 with a net profit of ₹4.8 crore per store.

We also witnessed a meaningful increase in the studded jewelry mix, which rose 52%, taking the stud ratio to 8.4%, reflecting a continued shift in consumer preferences towards studded jewelry. The inventory turnover remained healthy at 3.2 times, underscoring sustained operational efficiencies and profitability.

In the current quarter, we plan to add approximately 11 to 12 new stores comprising a mix of COCO, company-owned, and FOCO, franchisee-owned stores, across Maharashtra and Central India region, enabling us to reach our target of 78 to 80 stores by March 2026. Looking ahead, we're optimistic about sustaining this momentum with the ongoing wedding season expected to drive further consumer demand.

In summary, Q3 FY26 marked another chapter of robust and broad-based performance with strong festive momentum, healthy profitability, and expanding geographical reach. This concludes the financial highlights for the quarter.

We can now open the floor for questions. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers. The first question is on gross margin itself.

There's a sizeable jump Q-on-Q and YoY. Rising gold price scenario, one tends to sometimes believe that this might reflect some kind of gold price gains as well in the inventory.

Can you help us understand better what drove this kind of gross margin? Yeah.

Thank you. See, the gross margins, we had also given projection at the beginning of the year that we'll see increase in gross margin.

Primarily, the first reason was that we had stopped the sale of the zero-margin refinery business. Now that was definitely a key factor which would have impact on margin.

Having said that, another focus area for us, which was the studded jewelry mix, that has shown a considerable increase. We have increased by 52% in value.

That has been of another contributor to the margin rise. Thirdly, our foray into the LiteStyle jewelry segment by LS by PNG, which is more of a diamond and studded jewelry category, is also yielding good results.

All this in combination has been able to give us a good margin increase. I think this is something which was also given to us as a guidance at the beginning of the year.

The first two aspects that you mentioned probably may not be as relevant simply because on a YoY basis, that part of refinery is already in the base.

No, the refinery was in FY24 25 26 for six months we had the business of refinery.

Yes. When I'm comparing YoY, I'm comparing Q4 FY25, Q3 FY25 had 9.8%, Q4 had 12%.

Last four quarters,

You're doing quarter-on-quarter, okay.

Okay, 12, and now 13.4%, and studded mix hasn't really changed much quarter-on-quarter. I'm really struggling to understand what has changed.

Studded mix has definitely changed. We have seen a quarter-on-quarter increase of 52%.

Okay.

LiteStyle, which was not there last quarter, LiteStyle today is standing at six stores. That also has added a higher margins to the entire business.

Okay. How much does that towards the overall sales?

Sorry? I said

how much does it contribute towards [unclear]?

I can't hear you. Can you speak a little louder, please?

How much does that LiteStyle business contribute to overall sales revenue?

LiteStyle is growing. LiteStyle is not a very big contributor, but LiteStyle, if you look at it, should be around 5%, 6% of the entire sales.

Okay. In your opinion, there's no aspect of gold inventory gains in this?

You're completely hedged?

We are fully hedged, there is no effect of the price increase on that. Like we had mentioned in the call before that, there's only a portion of silver which is not hedged, but that's not a big number.

The primary margin increase has been due to studded, LiteStyle, and due to a focus on operational efficiencies.

Silver price has gone quite substantial, and you're saying that's

unhedged. Silver is Q4, it's not in Q3.

Okay. Lastly, just on your experience in UP, Bihar, can you talk a bit more about it, and what are your plans there?

What kind of confidence are you getting in terms of expansion strategy?

See, the last conference call, we had mentioned that both the stores have started on a positive note. By that, I mean that the footfalls were encouraging and were exceeding what we expected.

Q3 has even we are seeing the same thing more amplified in both the stores, in Lucknow and in Kanpur. The inventory mix there is more inclined towards studded, more inclined towards fancy jewelry than what we used to see in Maharashtra here.

That another aspect also has added to the growth in the studded category. The response has been positive.

The footfalls are encouraging, and both UP and Bihar, both the states are emerging as good states for the brand. To further strengthen our positioning there, we have also signed up Ranbir Kapoor as a brand ambassador to take the legacy route and establish us as the premier legacy brand in the jewelry sector across India.

Right. The question is how many stores can be opened there over next few years?

Any plans? Is it firmed up yet, or are you still evaluating?

In this quarter, as we speak, next month, we will be launching two stores in UP. There will be one in Gorakhpur and then one in Banaras.

Post that, there's plan to also target more stores in Lucknow, Prayagraj, and other cities. I think UP as a state can accommodate around 8 to 10 stores is the short-term plan for the brand.

Great. Thank you so much, and all the best.

Thank you.

Hi, team. Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on good set of numbers.

Thank you, Yash.

My first question is, if I'm not wrong, in majority of our stores in Maharashtra, the reason for higher asset turnover is also because some big chunk of our business come from make-to-order, right? Mhm.

How are you seeing the same trajectory in the newer stores and in newer regions, like maybe Bihar or UP? Are we seeing similar trajectory for make-to-order business?

Are the numbers similar over there? See,

we had mentioned when we were in Maharashtra, the make-to-order had reached up to 40%. In those states, I think we would be around 25% to 28%.

Make-to-order business primarily works well in those jewelry categories where we have sizing problems: bangles, earrings, finger rings. These are two main categories where we do a lot of make-to-order, which also is the same policy there.

Like we have mentioned before, like we ship it from here to Nagpur, in the same way, we are shipping it from here to Lucknow, Kanpur, any other place. As the model has not changed, the volume there is a little lower than Maharashtra because there the state is more towards fancy jewelry, more towards studded jewelry where we do not do make-to-order.

Understood. Which means it is right to assume we can have 3, 3.5x inventory turnover over there after this rally of gold prices and everything.

That's right.

Got it. One more bookkeeping question: what is the current mix of GML and how we are planning to increase it going ahead?

See, there's GML, there is future options, and then there's the old gold. These three primarily are the drivers which are a part of the hedging mechanism.

Depending on the situation, we keep on shifting between these three variants. There is no fixed target as far as just GML is concerned.

Got it. What would be the current mix of these three as of today?

If you look at the total stock, old gold would be around 30%. GML should be another 20%, 25%, and F&O should be the next 15%, 15%.

Got it. Thank you, and best of luck for the coming quarters.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

Revenues for Q3 increased by about 38% year-on-year. I just would like to understand what percentage of this increase is on account of higher gold prices.

On higher gold, see, gold prices for the quarter have seen an increase. When you're looking at the total revenue, the revenue here primarily comes from the making charge income.

As long as we are able to generate that making charge income, that is what we target on the company level. When you have higher prices, you'll see a volume dip, and simultaneously, when prices go down, you'll see a volume hike.

All right, sir. I want to understand, for example, for the current quarter, gold prices have fallen by about, if I'm not wrong, 15%, 20%.

I just would like to understand that in a scenario where, say for example, gold prices fall by 10% or 20%, how is the revenue expected to be affected by this? Also, what would be the effect of fall of 10% in gold prices on our margins also, both revenues and margins?

See, our margins are not dependent on the gold price movement. Our income primarily from making charges.

We have typically seen when rates go up, your volumes will take an impact, but the margins will still remain the same because the value of the product is still there. I don't think it will have an impact on the margins per se.

If the gold prices get lowered, we will be seeing a higher volume, and that would compensate for the margins, in that scenario, we are kind of hedged.

All right, sir. Is our hedging 100% on gold price movement?

As far as effective hedging is 100%.

All right. Just to repeat what you said, basically, even if gold price remains at the current level or goes down further, our revenue as well as margin should not be affected by fall.

It should depend on growth in business or if in case we are adding stores, the revenue should go up even though the gold prices fall. Is that the correct understanding?

Absolutely.

All right, sir. Thank you very much.

That was all from my side.

Thank you.

Hope I'm audible. Thank you, sir.

Good afternoon. Sir, if I see our franchise segment revenue growth, only 12% year-on-year grew.

Why is it so?

Sorry, can you repeat the question again, please?

Why our franchisee segment revenue grew only 12% year-on-year?

Which

segment?

Franchisee segment.

Franchisee segment? Yes.

See,

franchisee is a business wherein we do outright sales. Franchisee has not expanded in the last year.

Our focus was more on the company-owned stores. The states outside Maharashtra who expanded, we were more on the company-owned stores.

That is why the franchisee business has not seen a growth as similar to what we have seen in our own stores.

Understood. My next question will be this quarter our revenue mix from LiteStyle forms 5 to is 5% to 6%, you mentioned?

LiteStyle business, because LiteStyle we have a format where we have exclusive LiteStyle stores, and we also have shop-in-shops in our big PNG stores. All in all, that business should be in the range of 5%, 6%.

Going next couple of year, next three, four years?

We definitely aim to increase that business because that's the business which is lightweight, it's impulse buying, and it's connecting to the next generation. We'll be happy if we can reach a target of 10% with LiteStyle.

Okay. My last question is what will be your FY27 store opening guidance?

FY March '26 we should be nearing around 80 stores, and I think FY27 we would be adding depending on the QIP when we do it, but at a conservative, we can look at around adding 25 more stores, combination of COCO, FOCO and a combination of PNG and LiteStyle.

20 stores we can expect FY27?

105 stores at the end of March 2027.

Okay. Thank you.

Best of luck.

Hello, sir. Congratulations for the excellent set of numbers.

Many of my questions have been answered. I have one question.

I think, sir, earlier for FY26, we had targeted revenues in the range of ₹9,000 to ₹9,500 crore. I think we have already achieved ₹7,200 crore as of Q3.

Do we see exceeding or touching the higher end of our revenue target of ₹9,500 crore in FY26? Also, sir, I need to know your outlook on the revenue numbers or EBITDA margin profile for FY27, given the current gold prices, and how you see the volume growth panning out in FY27?

A

longish question. I think FY26 we should be closing a little higher than the guidance we had given.

Hopefully we should cross the 9,500, and we're close to be ₹10,000 crore is what we're projecting. The market looks good, and we are on a strong momentum.

That looks achievable. Next year, we don't know where gold prices are heading.

No one can take a call on that. I think next year, we should be able to have a 20% to 25% growth over this year.

Around ₹12,000 crore is what we should be able to target for FY 27.

All right, sir. Thank you so much, sir.

That's it from my end.

Thank you.

Yeah. Good afternoon, sir.

Am I audible?

Yes, you are. Go ahead.

Sir. I had a question on the sales growth.

While comparing ourselves with the industry peers like maybe a Titan or Kalyan Jewellers, overall industry growth was somewhere around 40% to 43% odd on the revenue front for Q3. We, PNG, being a little smaller scale as compared to these two companies, don't we think that the revenue growth could have been better as compared to on the league of a little higher than these big players?

Just wanted your insight on this.

I think I'm I can't comment on what the other players are doing. The We are sticking to our guidance.

We are sticking to what projections we had made. I think the store growth the volume growth is not just coming, just from the the same stores, it's also new store additions.

There's a lot of various factors. I think as far as we are concerned, we can talk on our company.

We we've had we have projected, if we are exceeding our projections, I think all I can say is that we're on we're on track to meet our guidance or to exceed our guidance.

Sir. Sir, can we get figures for the volume growth for Q3, in gold jewelry volume growth?

The volume growth for Q3 would have been in the range of around 25% plus.

Volume growth 25% plus. In

gold?

Sir, we, as far as we remember that we had a guidance to increase our stud ratio going forward. Any comment on stud ratio, on further improvement or the prospect how we can improve it from here on?

There's a improvement. See, firstly, the studded category has seen a 50% plus growth.

Secondly, we launched Polki and Kundan category. When you consider diamond, precious stone, Kundan, Polki, we would be close to 10% as of December end.

There is a continuously improvement on that front, and the company focus would still be to take this stud ratio to 13% to 14%.

In next two, three years?

Ideally, we should look at next three, four years.

Three, four years. Okay.

Sir. Thank you so much.

Hello. Am I audible?

You're audible. Go ahead.

Hi, sir. Sir, for the next year, you said the stores.

Can you give the bifurcation as well?

Bifurcation of?

Sir, for the LiteStyle and other stores.

For the next year, out of 25 stores which we have planned, it will be a half and half, 50% would be LiteStyle, 50% would be PNG is what the plan is. Again, in both the categories, it would be COCO and FOCO, a mix of that.

We have seen some reduction in the FOCO model, franchisee-owned, company-operated. Are we having plans to ramp up this process as other competitors which have done in the past going forward?

See,

our strategy in the neighboring state of India was first to have a proof of concept and have a company store. We've done that successfully both in UP and in Bihar and in MP.

Now in this coming year, we will be looking at expanding franchisee growth in those states. In Maharashtra, we think we kind of are the market leaders and we have tapped almost all the major markets here.

That is why we were not keen on adding more franchisees here, but in the coming year, you'll see franchisees coming up in all the states outside Maharashtra where we're already present. Okay.

Sir, last two questions. This year, we will do somewhere ₹9,000, ₹9,500.

Next year, we have any internal plans which we are targeting to implement next year?

Internal plans as in you mean the revenue targets,

or

mean by internal plans?

Yes, sir, for the revenue as well, and the EBITDA margins we are expecting or maybe sustainable going forward because we have better margins this quarter. Are these 8% plus margins sustainable going forward?

See,

if you look at the margins, EBITDA margins for the Q3 are always on higher side because of the big festive season Diwali, which is in that quarter. On the annualized basis, we had projected that we'll see increase in EBITDA margin, and that should be sustainable at 7%, 7% to 7.25% is what we feel.

PAT margin is around 3.75% to 4% is what we feel is sustainable in the long run. In terms of the target, we should be targeting around ₹11,500 to ₹12,000 crore for FY27 as of end of March 2027.

We expect that we continue growth in the focus area of Central India as we have mentioned before.

Sir. That's all from my side.

All the best for the future. Thank you.

Hello.

actually my question was on EBITDA margin. The 7% which we achieved this quarter, which is a historical high compared to the last few quarters, this is sustainable for the coming quarter, right?

That's what I said. In Q3, the margins were much higher EBITDA margin for the Q3, but overall, if you see on annualized basis, 7% is what we feel is sustainable.

Right. Okay.

I just couldn't hear. You said franchisee stores in FY27, the mix of COCO and FOCO,

I was not able to [unclear]. No, no FOCO, it's only COCO and FOCO.

Franchisee-owned, company-operated.

Correct. Okay.

All right. Got it, sir.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We have very aggressive plans for store opening. Right now, we are having stores 67 as of today.

We are planning to have 78 to 80 stores by this financial year. How confident and what is our actual plan?

What is a reasonable number to reach by FY27, FY26? Also keeping the gold price rise in the view, are we seeing any volume growth in Q4?

The last question will be how confident are

you [unclear]? One by one.

You have asked too many questions together. I'll answer your first question in terms of number of stores.

We are currently at 66 stores as of December end. By March end, we already have planned, the work is going on, stores are finalized.

We are confident reaching 78 to 80 stores by end of March. 25 stores to be added next financial year, like I mentioned before, a mix of COCO and FOCO and PNG and LiteStyle.

The LiteStyle stores format are smaller store format, 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. PNG is around 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.

The confidence to achieve that numbers for March is almost there, and the work is going on. That should not be a problem as far as achieving the number is concerned.

To answer on your volume growth, as of Q3, we had seen a volume growth in gold of 25%. I think both in value and volume, there's been growth in Q3.

Q4 is going on, I can't talk on the current quarter as we speak.

Sir. Right now, sir, we are only left with 50 days in this quarter.

Are we seeing, sir, any spark of volume growth in Q4?

I can't give you anything which is on the current quarter, but all I can say, the momentum is strong and we should be able to meet our guidance or exceed the guidance what we have given for the year.

The last one will be, sir, on the gross gross margin, sir. The gross margin in this quarter stood at because it is a very good quarter, it is elevated.

What could be the reasonable gross margin for the whole year and going forward to look to look at?

We have always mentioned that around 13% to 14% gross margins is something which should be sustainable, EBITDA at 7% and PAT at 4%.

Okay. As now we are reaching to 4.4% PAT margin till 9 months,

Yeah.

We should target below this number? See, 4.4 is always the

Q3 is always the high one. I think when we talk of medium margin maintenance, I think 4% is what we should be able to maintain, which is quite a big increase over the last 2, 3 years.

Okay. Fine, sir.

Thank you very much, and wish you good luck for the future.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, sir. My all questions has been asked.

Thank you, sir.

Am I audible?

Yeah. Thank you.

Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, firstly, my question is on the side of QIP.

What are our plans over there?

See, QIP plans, like we have said, that we've taken the approval from the board, which is good till end of August 2026. Having said that, we have always mentioned that the QIP would primarily be to fund our expansion ahead.

We are right now looking at the geopolitical developments, the positives on India-US deal, India-EU deal are factors which are in favor. Let's see how things shape up.

Then once we're able to come to a conclusion, we'll be able to communicate better to you.

Understood, sir. Understood.

My next question is speaking to our guidance and we may cross our guidance of ₹9,500 crore, where is this growth coming from? Is this from the new stores or is this from the existing stores?

It's a combination. If you look at our SSG also, is upward of 30%.

The growth is coming both from the new stores and from the existing stores. Also e-com is doing well.

We are seeing sustained efforts being paid off in terms of right merchandising, right communication, and marketing. I think we are also able to garner a lot of share from the unorganized sector, which also is adding to the growth.

Got it, sir. Got it.

Understood. Lastly, any guidance on the volume growth?

How much can be expected? Anything on that front?

Volume growth, as of December, there was a 25% plus growth in gold volume. I really can't talk anything on this quarter yet because it's going on.

I think, like I mentioned before, volume and value play a interchanging role. When gold prices go up, volume decline and vice versa.

I think overall, we look to be in a good position to achieve our guidance.

Understood, sir. Yeah.

That's it from my end. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Thank you, team, for the follow-up.

Sir, I wanted to understand better on the style part of the business. Like you already alluded a good guidance for the expansion of the same.

Where are we planning? Which states or cities we are planning for this expansion, and how different the customer segment is compared to P N Gadgil?

See, LiteStyle as a category was primarily meant, like I mentioned in the previous call also, as a bridge between the PNG customers and the customers of tomorrow. LiteStyle is very design-oriented, high fashion, high glamour jewelry, but light on the pocket, and having around 35%, 40% studded in the entire merchandise.

Maharashtra is still quite open for LiteStyle because we have not really expanded in Maharashtra stores. The focus will primarily be on Maharashtra.

When we speak on Maharashtra, I think in the coming year, we will be looking at having more stores in the bigger cities of Maharashtra, like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Thane, Solapur, and these kind of places. Online also would play a very important role in LiteStyle.

Having said that, LiteStyle will also be into various malls in different cities. The year after that is when we see LiteStyle really moving outside Maharashtra and moving into the other states where PNG is present.

We feel that this is a brand which has huge potential. It is something which is in demand by today's consumer.

If you ask for the product, it's very differentiated. Designs in LiteStyle, the merchandise is completely different than of PNG.

You will not find PNG products in LiteStyle and vice versa. There is a separate design team, a separate merchandising team, a sourcing team for LiteStyle.

Got it. Thank you, sir, for the answer.

Hi, sir.

Am I audible to you? Tushar.

Go ahead.

Yes. Sir, I have two questions directed to retail segment only.

First is retail EBITDA margin excluding other income have increased from 6% to 7% in FY25 to 9% this year, around 8% to 9%, and similarly PAT margins has also increased. What are the key drivers of this sharp margin expansion in this segment that not include bullion business?

See, retail has been a focus area for us because after the discontinue of the non-margin refinery retail business, retail has been a major contributor for the entire sales drive at PNG. Two, three factors has been that the introduction of LiteStyle, which again is a high-margin business, our focus again on the studded category, addition of Kundan, Polki in the merchandise mix, and the movement to Central India in UP, Bihar where, again, the sales of studded jewelry is on a higher rise.

All these factors have been able to help us to increase our margin for the last quarter.

Okay. My second follow-up question on same retail segment only.

Like you said, sustainable gross margins are 13% to 14%, EBITDA around 7%, and PAT around 4%. What kind of sustainable EBITDA and PAT you think for retail segment only?

Additionally, could you please share the trend prior to FY25 of retail EBITDA and PAT margins? See,

retail EBITDA the sales should be around 8% to 8.25%. At a company level, we are talking about 7%.

I think this is what we feel is sustainable. Retail will benefit from the higher focus of studded, from the higher focus of lightweight jewelry.

As our merchandising also is moving more toward lighter weight, would also mean higher margin for the retail side of business.

PAT margin, sir, for this segment, sustainable PAT margin? The trend if we have prior to FY25, sustainable margin?

Prior to FY25, that data I will email to you because we don't have it offhand right now. If you want the previous data, we'll be emailing that to you.

Sir. Just the PAT margins for the retail segment, sustainable PAT margin?

Like you said, 8% to 8.25%

PAT margin, what are you asking for?

No, like you said, 8% to 8.25% are sustainable EBITDA for retail segment. Similarly, what kind of PAT are sustainable for this segment?

PAT for retail segment?

Retail, yes, yes, yes.

Retail, I think PAT in the range of 5%, 5% to 5.5% would be sustainable.

Okay. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you so much.

My questions have been answered. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, sir. Sir, question is on other expenses.

Other expenses have gone from ₹85 crore to ₹190 crore nearly on a YoY basis, right? Can you break that up, what's basically shooting this kind of surge?

See,

other expenses primarily that increase has been in the advertising expenses because the number of stores have increased from 47 to 66, expansion in newer states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, signing up of Ranbir Kapoor and Sara Tendulkar as brand ambassadors has been the primary driver. Again, increase in commission and brokerage from e-com also has seen increase.

As e-com sales have gone up, also the commission and brokerage also have gone up. This has primarily taken up the other expenses.

Having said that, we'll still be able to stick to the 1.5% level of marketing expenses of total turnover, as we had given guidance in the last call.

Sure. The other question is on the segmental growth.

E-com has grown by nearly 1 140%, right? My understanding is this is basically coin sale, and this is ideally a margin dilutive bit, right?

Potentially both on the gross margin and EBITDA margin side. This is basically growing faster than the company.

Can you explain that bit, why it does not hit the margin? Other part is, when you said 25% volume growth, this you are talking about putting all channels put together, right?

If I just strike out 25% from 36% number, ballpark, we'll get something like 10% growth on the pricing. The pricing is significantly more higher, right?

What am I missing here?

See, e-com, like we have mentioned before, the e-com sales driver is bullion, which have been also the state that the investment demand has gone up also on the physical side. E-com is not a margin diluter.

It's a net margin business for us. E-com, even the bullion business does a margin of around 1.5%, 2% on the bullion.

That's something which again is a margin business. The growth has been quite large there.

We also been able to grow on the jewelry side. Though the numbers would be small compared to bullion, but jewelry sales, gold jewelry, diamond jewelry, and silver jewelry, all have shown good significant increase in e-com.

E-com also is a tool for omnichannel where people browse online but buy offline. That's again a area which is of focus for us.

When you talk on the volume rate, 25% when you talk on the entire increase, so that's over the last quarter, talking about Q-o-Q, quarter-over-quarter. To answer your question, yeah, gold, this was in last quarter versus this quarter.

It's a Q-o-Q. We have grown 25% in volume over last quarter.

Oh,

can you call out what is the YoY volume increase?

YoY volume increase would I think be a single digit or maybe flat.

Okay. Because I thought the price itself is I think upwards of 60% growth, right?

Even if you adjust for mix, there should be a volume decline. No, but

we also added number of stores. Like I said, from 47 to 66 stores, we also added more number of stores.

Sir, I agree, but I'm saying the overall growth is 36%.

You see that the whole industry has seen volume degrowth. What is the industry focusing on are the margins being able to maintain.

The margins, as come from making charges. As long as your making charge income is intact, the margins would not be affected.

No, fair point. That's all from my side.

Thanks a lot.

Yes. Thank you for the opportunity.

You have given the guidance of around 20 to 25 store openings for next year, which is a very strong guidance. Your revenue growth guidance is around 20%.

Can you please elaborate are you seeing any slowdown in the market or what could be the reason?

See, when you say 25 stores, I'm talking of the PNG store and the LiteStyle store. The LiteStyle stores are smaller compared to PNG.

PNG store typically would have an inventory of around ₹50, ₹55 crore, ₹60 crore. A LiteStyle should be in the range of around ₹10 crore.

When you try to look at entire number, 25 stores would only mean around 12 to 13 or 14 PNG stores and the balance LiteStyle stores. That is why on a gross level, the revenue increase would be at least 20%.

Okay. Yes.

Got it. Thank you so much.

Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is regarding the QIP.

Could you please share us a timeline and how the fund are going to be used?

Like I mentioned before, we have not yet freezed on any timeline for the QIP. The resolution is effective till August of 2026.

We are still working on that, and once we're confirmed, we'll be able to communicate with you.

Okay. My next is some doubts regarding the LiteStyle store.

When we compare with your peers, like Kalyan and Tanishq, first they extended their core store pan-India before the lightweight jewelry format. Where we see the PNG, PNG is still at very early age, and they are seems like bit aggressive towards the LiteStyle because you're allotting 50% of the total stores for next year to LiteStyle.

When we compare the sales coming from the LiteStyle is around 10%. Do you think that it's still worth

to be See, I'll tell you it's a very seriously planned and discussed by the management. On one side, we're looking at higher gold prices, other side, we're looking at a lot of new generation customers who want jewelry not on an occasion, but for their own occasions.

We have always mentioned that PNG the demand driver is primarily festive and wedding, while LiteStyle will be more towards own occasions, personal, birthdays, anniversaries, gifting. This is a new trend which is emerging, and we want to be a part of this trend.

When you talk on expansion, we have done expansion which is not over-aggressive. The stores of PNG would be completely funded through internal accruals.

That's why we had given this guidance wherein we said that 25 stores, half would be PNG and out of that half would be franchisee. Whatever growth for PNG, it will be all through internal accruals.

We would not need any further debt to expand and to fulfill this growth. It's a well-thought strategy, and it's something which the company is confident about.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity.

I just wanted to ask you are planning to expand in other states and cities, are we seeing any dip in revenue per square foot or anything like that if you could throw some light?

See, as we expand in new cities, definitely the break-even would take around 18 to 24 months. The revenue per square feet of established stores would always be higher than the newer stores.

Considering the update we gave right now of around 3 1/2 lakh for 9 months revenues total, this includes the company's old stores, new stores, everything put together. I think it's been one of the best numbers in the industry, and we are hopeful that we'll be able to continue with this trend.

Okay. That's it from my end.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking my follow-up question. We are having stud ratio of 8.4%, whereas our peers are having in double digit and some other peers are in high teens.

What is our plan to consolidate or take advantage of having greater

stud ratio? See, this is a good question.

Primarily, we were only in the state of Maharashtra, which primarily is a gold market. If you look at all the South-based players and Western India-based players, gold rules the roost.

The last 7, 8 years, the focus has been to increase the studded ratio, which has now come to almost 10% when you take Kundan, Polki into account also. Now, as we move towards Central and North India, which are typically more studded and diamond markets, this will see a natural increase also and a focus on the company, we will take it further.

I think we would also aim to be able to reach the numbers as other players have once we are able to go pan-India. Having said that, in next 3, 4 years, we are aiming to take this ratio to 13%, 14%.

That's it. Thank you very much.

That was from my side.

Thank you so much. Sir, I just wanted to understand the fact that our shareholding is still above the 75% benchmark.

Any plans for equity dilution in the upcoming year?

Like what I have said earlier, we have still not finalized the QIP plans nor the plan for any promoter stake sale. As and when something is finalized, we will get back to you on that.

Yes, as per the SEBI regulations, in the 3 years, we have to bring down the shareholding to 75% on the promoter group.

Yes, sir. Okay.

Hello, sir. Am I audible?

Go ahead.

Okay. Thanks for taking my questions and really great set of numbers.

My question is pretty simple. Have you seen any trend over the last six six months, over the two last two quarters, where the customer's preference is more for the gold bars or solid form rather than the jewelry just because there is such a surge in prices that people just want to hold gold rather than in the jewelry form?

See, definitely there's a shift in investment demand, which is further getting traction, and we are seeing a lot of newer players in the market looking at investing in gold, both physical or in the online format. That is definitely there.

As far as weddings, festive demand is concerned, jewelry is the only option there. Old gold, people are swapping old gold for new jewelry.

That trend has increased, and today, almost 40% of entire purchases are financed by old gold from people's household. Jewelry sales are there, jewelry sales will continue.

Weddings, festivities are days when jewelry sales are big. Investment demand as of now has seen a increase.

We've seen a ratio which would have been 15%, 18% bullion and the balance of jewelry, today it could be in the range of 25%, 26% bullion and the balance jewelry. Jewelry in India is different.

It's sentiment, it's part of festivity, part of our culture, and I think that will still remain the same.

It is. It's perfect.

Sir, just then on the similar lines, do we have any difference in operating margins for as you mentioned the percentage of ratio is increasing towards the bar side, are we expecting any change in margins because of that assuming the gold prices remain very high and the demand for the solid form is higher than the jewelry form?

I think I don't see bullion sales will further increase than what current ratio they are. I think it's quite a high number.

If two-third of the business today is still jewelry, I think margin should not be impacted. I think even if prices go higher, margin should not have a negative impact.

At least we should be able to sustain those margins, right?

That's right.

Okay. Sir, last question from my end: so how are we looking at the capex, sir, with this capex for store or the overall terms for the next 2, 3 years as we are expanding into different geographies?

Capex for us, PNG store is around ₹2 crore in terms of the store fit-out and around ₹70 lakh for the LiteStyle store. The franchisee stores, the capex is borne by the franchisee.

That is not a cost for the company. Inventory-wise, like I mentioned before, we need around ₹55 crore of inventory gold, diamond, silver put together for a company stores and for LiteStyle should be in the range of around ₹8 to ₹10

crore. We're not expecting any major change in these numbers going forward, right?

And Right. The capex remains standard, but that percentage is going to change when you open store, inventory requirement will go up, but that's a working capital, and we don't treat it for the capex in this business.

Okay. That sounds great, sir.

Thank you very much, and all the best.

Thank you, everyone. We truly appreciate all the participants for taking the time out to join this call and for impactful questions.

We hope to be able to address them to your satisfaction. If you have any further queries or would like to know more about our company, please feel free to reach us reach out to our secretarial team and for investor relations partner, Xponent Advisors.

Wishing you all a great day ahead. Thank you.