RR Kabel Ltd.

RR Kabel Ltd.

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Nov 09Next Earn

Q1 FY2027 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 27, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference will begin shortly. Please stay connected.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference will begin shortly. Please stay connected.

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the RR Kabel Limited Q1 FY27 earnings conference call hosted by MUFG. 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr.

Chirag Bhatiya from MUFG. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Chirag Bhatiya

Thank you, Sumit. Good afternoon, everyone, and I extend a warm welcome to all the participants on the Q1 FY27 earnings conference call of RR Kabel Limited.

Today, on this call, we have Mr. Rajesh Kabra, Joint Managing Director; Mr.

Rajesh Jain, Chief Operating Officer; and Mr. Jigar Mehta, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin this call, I would like to give you a short disclaimer. This call may contain some forward-looking statements, which are completely based upon our beliefs, opinion, and expectation as of today.

These statements are not the guarantee of the future performance and involve unforeseen risk and uncertainty. With this, I hand over the call to Mr.

Rajesh Kabra ji. Over to you, sir.

Rajesh Kabra

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for RR Kabel's Q1 FY27 earnings call. I have with me Mr.

Rajesh Jain, our Chief Operating Officer, and Mr. Jigar Mehta, our Chief Financial Officer.

Let me begin with the broader business environment. The quarter continued to see volatility in metal prices and foreign exchange, along with uncertainty across global markets.

At the same time, the demand remains supportive. We continue to see healthy activity across infrastructure, construction, industrial projects, and power-related applications.

Against this backdrop, I am pleased to share that we have started FY27 on a strong note. During the quarter, we delivered our highest-ever quarterly revenue, EBITDA, and profit after tax.

Our wires and cables business continued to be the main driver of growth. The growth was not limited to one market; we saw growth in the domestic business as well as exports, even though we have a high exposure to the Middle East market.

The disruption in the Middle East was partially offset by other export markets. Further, we also saw shipment normalization and recovery for Middle East market in May and June.

However, supply chain-related issues still remain, but we are confident of overcoming those challenges. Overall, wires and cable volumes grew by 17% year-on-year, with similar growth seen both in domestic and export markets.

Cables grew significantly faster, with more than 25% volume growth, while volume growth in wires was approximately 10 12%. We continue to work on strengthening product availability, expanding our distribution reach, and deepening our engagement with dealers and distributors.

On the B2B side, our focus remains on building capabilities in project, industrial, and power cables. We believe this will become an increasingly important part of our growth over the next few years.

What is also encouraging is our progress in our FMEG business. The segment recorded a healthy revenue growth and reached break-even position during the quarter, compared with losses in the earlier periods.

We have been working towards this for some time, this is an encouraging development for us. FMEG revenue grew by approximately 28% year-on-year.

The quarter saw good growth in lights, appliances, and switches, while the fans business benefited from the improved realizations and better premium product mix. We will continue to focus on premiumization, selected product launches, distribution expansion, and tighter cost control.

The quarter's performance reflects the strength of our team, distribution network, manufacturing capabilities, and long-standing customer relationships. It also shows the operating discipline that we have been building across the organization.

Our progress remains aligned with Project Rise, announced last year. The first quarter has given us a good start.

We will, however, continue to look at the business on a full-year and long-term basis. Our long-term priorities continue to be the same: we want to grow ahead of the industry in wires and cables, improve our position in the cable and B2B businesses, and build FMEG into consistently profitable business.

We will remain focused on execution, customer engagement, and building the business for sustainable long-term growth. I will now hand over the call to Mr.

Rajesh Jain to take you through the financial and operational performance in more detail. Thank you.

Rajesh Jain

Thank you, Rajesh ji, and good afternoon, everyone. Let me start with the overall performance for the quarter.

Revenue from operations stood at ₹3,168 crore, representing growth of around 54% over Q1 of last year. Operating EBITDA stood at ₹285 crore, almost double the 143 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter last year.

The operating EBITDA margins improved to 9%, compared to 7% in Q1 FY26. Profit after tax stood at ₹205 crore, compared with ₹90 crore last year.

The quarter also included an exceptional item of approximately 14 crore rupees relating to reversal of the provision for the statutory impact of the new labor codes. Coming to the segment performance, wires and cable revenue stood at ₹2,880 crore, growing at approximately 57% year-on-year on the back of impressive volume growth, strong execution, and favorable industry dynamics.

Segment profit increased to approximately 285 crore from ₹139 crore in Q1 FY26. The segment profit margin improved to 9.9%, compared with 7.6% in the corresponding quarter last year.

Profitability improved due to improved product mix, disciplined commodity management, and operating efficiency. In the FMEG business, revenue stood approximately ₹288 crore, growing by 28% year-on-year, supported by continued demand for premium and new products across key categories, along with ongoing distribution expansion.

The segment reached an operational break-even position, compared with a loss of approximately 7 crore in Q1 FY26 and a loss of approximately 9 crore in Q4 FY26, making a significant milestone in the FMEG business transformation, driven by premium products and operating leverage. Lights, appliances, and switches recorded healthy growth.

In fan, volumes were broadly flat year-on-year, but revenue increased due to higher realization and a better product mix. Turning to working capital, net working capital days remained broadly stable at 50 days.

Our capacity expansion program is also progressing as planned, with new capacities expected to be added during the current quarter in Silvassa. Looking ahead, we remain positive about the long-term demand outlook.

Infrastructure development, housing industrial investment, electrification, and the shift towards organized and compliant products continue to support the industry. At the same time, we will remain watchful of metal prices, foreign exchange movement, inventory levels, and working capital requirements.

Our focus will be on maintaining healthy volume growth, protecting margins through timely pricing and procurement decisions, improving the product mix, and sustaining the progress made in FMEG. With this, I now request to open the floor for the question-and-answer session.

Operator

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

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.

Participants are requested to use 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 Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.

Dhruv Jain

Thank you so much, team, for the opportunity and congratulations on very good numbers. In the last three or four quarters, we've seen that cables growth has improved substantially.

Just wanted to understand, A, where is this market share gains that you're seeing coming from? Is it more distribution or is it more B2B?

B, where are we in terms of the utilization levels here incrementally, and how should we look at margins improving from here on the cable side? That's my first question.

Rajesh Jain

Thanks, Dhruv. When we talk about growth in our cable segment, as we explained in our earlier strategy also that our focus will be grow in B2B segment, more focusing on cable side of the business, and now when we are at execution phase, we see good growth coming from cable side, and majority of this is we are serving through our distribution channel only.

Of course, margins, as you can see, it's due to scale and improving product mix, and we are sure to maintain this kind of growth in coming quarters.

Dhruv Jain

Sure. Sir, just on that, right, I think in the last quarter you had mentioned that the full-year FY28 margin guidance for wires and cables segment was about 10.5%.

Now that you're close to 10% in this quarter itself, do you think that you'll have to upgrade your guidance or you still maintain that?

Rajesh Jain

We will remain there because while we endeavor to touch double-digit margins for the year, but since it is early in the year, we continue to maintain our overall margin guidance of 10.5% by FY28.

Dhruv Jain

Got it, sir. Thank you so much and all the best.

I'll fall back.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities.

Please go ahead.

Achal Lohade

Yeah. Good evening, team.

Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations for great execution.

Just two or three questions, if I may ask. First, on the industry growth, what is your sense?

I know it's very hard to call out for a quarter, but still in terms of the growth for wires and cables both, if you could call out what would have been the industry growth for the quarter in your best assessment?

Rajesh Jain

It may be tough to call out at industry level, but I think it may be around 10 between 10 to 12% at most.

Achal Lohade

Okay. Understood.

The second is in terms of the exports, like Rajesh ji called out that exports grew at almost similar pace compared to domestic, despite the Middle East challenges. If you could talk a little bit more about this export aspect in terms of the key market, how are you seeing growth, what kind of mix are we seeing there, are we seeing improvement in the cables pickup as well?

No.

Rajesh Jain

As you are aware, we are geographically diversified company, and though there were disturbance from Middle East, but still the overall performance is based on other countries and other geographies were able to have higher growth or at par growth with our domestic market also. Particularly, since now we are focusing on changing product mix in export market, more focusing in cable side, where we see good demand also.

This is helping us to achieve higher growth in export markets also, in spite of so many global disturbance.

Achal Lohade

Any particular market you want to call out, sir, which has done very well and which is expected to do better? Secondly, in terms of approvals for the cables piece, where are we in that journey?

Are we more than midway through or it's still the beginning for us?

Rajesh Jain

Still, I will say it's just opening of our larger journey, and we are in way to execution of overall global presence also, and in many new geography and new product also, we are in the process to getting approvals. From new geography also, we are getting some good gains in export markets.

Achal Lohade

Got it. Thank you.

I have more questions, but I'll fall back in the queue, sir. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vidit Trivedi from Asian Market Securities.

Please go ahead.

Vidit Trivedi

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulation on pretty strong set of numbers.

Sir, last quarter you have mentioned data center as a medium-term growth driver. Just wanted to check, have you started receiving repeat orders from the segment or will it be fair to say that the opportunity is still largely at the bidding stage?

Rajesh Jain

See, data center still it is more on announcement phase rather than execution, and of course, we have started getting few orders, and it will be continuous process where we'll keep adding new customers in data center, and there we are supplying conventional cables, which is regular part of our product category.

Vidit Trivedi

What's the share of the overall data center cables in the top line? Oh,

Rajesh Jain

it will be very less. To be very frank, wire and cable industry as large, very big, and data center is one of the area where it applies.

Vidit Trivedi

Got it, sir. Sir, additionally on the exports front, with the rising investment in power infra and data center in the US, how do you view the opportunity there, and what approvals or investments are required to meaningfully scale your exports business?

Rajesh Jain

Of course, US is very big opportunity for Indian markets and for us also, and already we have few approvals. We are in process to onboarding few customers also.

As still things are not clear on tariff fronts and still people are not aware how these things will process, but definitely this will be one of the very big opportunity for us in future.

Vidit Trivedi

All right, sir. If I may squeeze just one more question pertaining to the FMEG segment.

Sir, which FMEG categories are witnessing the strongest traction, and if you could just call out the premium mix in all the categories?

Rajesh Jain

We have seen very good growth in lights, appliances, and switches. As already informed that in fans, we had a flattish type of volume growth, but at the same time, we were improve our realization and better premium product mix.

Almost 25% of our revenues are coming from premium product side.

Vidit Trivedi

Got it, sir. That's helpful.

Thanks a lot. All the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Umang Mehta from Kotak Securities.

Please go ahead.

Umang Mehta

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a good quarter.

My first question was on margins. If we look at the YoY expansion, I understand that base was slightly low, but is it possible to split the expansion into the buckets of mix, leverage, and adventitious gains?

Just wanted to kind of understand how much is mix contributing to margin expansion.

Rajesh Jain

Overall if you see, the biggest benefit or biggest contributor is scale because of scale benefits, we were able to improve our margins, apart from better cost absorption, and we are also taking many other initiatives to improve our margins. This is a result of combination of all these efforts and product mix and scale benefits.

Umang Mehta

Sure, sir. Second question is on pricing growth.

This 40% odd pricing growth which we've seen in 1Q, if spot prices sustain, should we expect pricing growth to improve further in second quarter or should it be more or less stable at current levels?

Rajesh Jain

If I compare with Q2 prices of last quarter and if we consider current prices to be stable in current quarter, then it may reflect around about 30% in terms of pricing or the rate fluctuation or rate hike in LME prices of raw material.

Umang Mehta

Got it. Just one last one was on channel stock.

There was some correction in commodity prices towards quarter end. Did we see any kind of stocking, destocking impact or would you say that your channel inventory is more or less normal as of quarter end?

Rajesh Jain

When we see on a very short span of time, you may say there are some reflection of stocking or destocking, but normally what we believe wire and cable is consume throughout the year or in every sector. There may be some impact in Q end of this last quarter also, but I hope in longer term we have to see this as usual in a longer-term timeframe.

Umang Mehta

Got it. Just to clarify, you mean positive impact as of quarter end or negative impact on volumes?

Rajesh Jain

If I consider only last part of Q2, then there was negative impact in volume growth.

Umang Mehta

Understood. Very helpful.

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

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone.

The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.

Natasha Jain

Thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on a great execution. My first question was, could you give us some color in terms of your domestic expansion?

We understand West is your strongest market, but how has expansion, say, the eastern, northern parts been for you? Any particular color which domains in India is doing better for you at this moment?

Yeah. If

Rajesh Jain

by large I see, we are making good progress even in south part of the country also, apart from already west and north where we are doing fairly good. East, of course, still we are not done that much kind of growth, but in south, we are doing better than previous times.

Natasha Jain

Sir, what about North India for you? Could you also give us some color in quantification in terms of the contribution geography-wise?

Rajesh Jain

I do not have exact backup, but north and west contribute almost 65% in our domestic revenues.

Natasha Jain

Understood. Sir, second question is in terms of working capital.

Is there any sign of stress in the trade in terms of payments?

Rajesh Jain

No, we have not seen any stress in working capital, and as you have seen in our receivables, we have done fairly well, and our days have reduced by 3 days in this quarter.

Natasha Jain

Great. All right.

Thank you so much, sir, and all the very best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhil Purohit from Fident Asset Management.

Please go ahead.

Nikhil Purohit

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a very, very strong set.

I have two questions. I joined the call a bit late, I'm sorry if these questions have been answered.

Sir, firstly, we had mentioned that exports would be impacted in quarter one in the last quarter we mentioned that. Can you throw some more light here?

The kind of growth that we saw, how were the margins here, and also what did the geographic mix look like?

Rajesh Jain

Though in earlier days of Q1, we were expecting there may be some disturbance, but thankfully we were able to achieve the similar growth in this quarter what we achieved in domestic also. It's overall almost 57% growth over previous year.

We were able to achieve it through other geographies in this quarter. Though there were Middle East disturbance in initial part of this quarter, but earlier it was offset by other export markets, and now we have also seen shipment normalization and recovery from Middle East market.

Nikhil Purohit

That is visible in this quarter as well, right, the normalization?

Rajesh Jain

Yeah.

Nikhil Purohit

Okay. Sir, secondly, generally H2 is stronger than H1 in the wires and cables industry.

Do we expect that trend to continue for this year also after seeing such strong number in quarter one?

Rajesh Jain

Normally, historically we have always seen H2 is always better than H1, we expect the similar thing in this year also.

Nikhil Purohit

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sandesh Shetty from HSBC.

Please go ahead.

Sandesh Shetty

Am I audible?

Operator

Yes.

Rajesh Jain

Yes.

Sandesh Shetty

Hello. Good afternoon, team.

Thank you, and congratulations on a very great set of numbers. Sir, my first question is on project execution, especially in power T&D.

We've seen some disturbances in execution due to Middle East crisis. Are you seeing improvement there now that things have subsided a bit?

Are you seeing demand inquiry better there in that segment?

Rajesh Jain

Middle East, as I said in last question also, that now it is becoming normal and we are back to normal situation kind of things and we are seeing recovery from Middle East markets. I think that now we are at normal levels in this quarter.

Sandesh Shetty

Okay. Sir, there has been a significant rise in other income.

Is there a one-off in that or is it a normal run rate now?

Rajesh Jain

I will not say it is normal run rate, but since you have seen dollar was impacted in this quarter, and since we are export heavy company, we have seen good impact, but it is part of our business only, I will say.

Sandesh Shetty

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset.

Please go ahead. Yeah.

Rahul Agarwal

Hi, team. Good evening.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, two questions.

Firstly, on the capex side, you said Silvassa starts in the current quarter. Just wanted to understand if you could just elaborate a bit on what capacities are going to come on stream over the next 12 months and what are the products we're talking about?

Rajesh Jain

Yes. In this quarter, we are expecting new capacities to be added in Silvassa, which will be on wire side of our business, but at the same time, in this year, we will add few capacities at Waghodia also, which will be highly focused on cable side of the business.

Overall, our capex is planned in such a way that we will able to meet our projected growth or volumetric targets what we have set at the beginning of the year. This will be well-balanced among capacity addition and expected growth in my revenues or sales.

Rahul Agarwal

Got it, sir. Sir, could you highlight some new product development in terms of pipeline which will roll out over the next 12 months from the new capacities?

See,

Rajesh Jain

broadly it will be in power cable side where we are keep adding few capacities, but at the same time, we will focus on new industries also where we can have more share of the business, like in maybe specialized kind of cable or within power cable also till now we are in LV cable more and HV cable side still our presence is low, we will keep increasing our presence in HV cable side of the market.

Rahul Agarwal

Got it, sir. Last question was on FMEG.

If you could just share your thoughts on how do you think about in-house manufacturing, what are the products right now we're making in-house, and incremental thoughts on how do you look at manufacturing for FMEG overall?

Rajesh Jain

If we see our current backup, almost one-third we are doing in-house and two-third we are doing outsourcing, in which ceiling fan and switchgear category we are having in-house production. By large, we will maintain this kind of situation only because our focus will be more to increase market presence through better R&D and brand presence, and maybe manufacturing scenario will remain as it is what we have currently.

Rahul Agarwal

The lighting and appliances are all outsourced. Is that correct?

Rajesh Jain

Few part of lighting, like commercial lighting, we are doing in-house also, but largely appliances and lighting is outsourced.

Rahul Agarwal

Okay. Appliances include what products, sir, in terms of meaningful revenue?

Rajesh Jain

Appliances are contributing almost 10 to 11% in our overall FMEG revenue, which comes generally from geysers or coolers and small appliances.

Rahul Agarwal

Got it, sir. Incrementally, longer term, is the company thinking of getting into in-house manufacturing or is generally going to follow the same model right now?

Rajesh Jain

Generally, same model we'll keep following what we are doing as of now.

Rahul Agarwal

Okay. Thank you for answering my questions, and best wishes for the year.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tisha from Trinetra Asset Management.

Please go ahead.

Tisha Vora

Am I audible?

Rajesh Jain

Yes.

Tisha Vora

Yes. Thank you for the opportunity.

My first question was on the FMEG side where the break-even has reached recently. I expect that by FY27, we are on the track, the timeline has slipped a little bit.

What was the specific driver for this delay in trend? Was it the scale?

Was it distribution or was it the pricing competition?

Rajesh Jain

At the beginning of the year, earlier we were targeting to achieve break-even Q4 of FY26, but as there were very high fluctuation or increase in our raw material prices, we were not able to achieve that break-even, but now we are able to achieve, but on sustainable basis, we are expecting to achieve break-even on yearly basis in this year, and then we'll keep growing.

Tisha Vora

Okay. My another question was on the dealer distribution side, how are you doing the network scaling related to the revenue growth?

Is the channel expansion keeping its pace?

Rajesh Jain

Can you repeat, please? Your voice is not clear.

Tisha Vora

My other question was on the dealer distribution networking, and how is the growth of functioning in the channel and related to the revenue growth, is our revenue per distribution being increased?

Rajesh Jain

I got your question. From dealer distribution point of view, of course, we are increasing our retail presence all over the India.

Luckily, we have established all over distribution channel all over the country. The only thing, depth of our retail distribution maybe in some states we are doing very good, while in other market still we are fine.

At the same time, we have more than 1.5 lakh retail touch points, and it will keep growing so that our increase and we can achieve the expected growth in wire and cable as well as FMEG segment.

Tisha Vora

Okay. The last question if I may ask, what was the exceptional item of 14 crores this time?

May I know the reason behind it?

Rajesh Jain

Exceptional item, if you recall, in Q3 of last year, due to labor code, there was one exceptional loss of 19 crore, and since that time the rules and details were not clear, now as everything got cleared, there was reversal of ₹14 crore in this quarter due to change in labor codes and clarity on that.

Tisha Vora

Yes, got it, sir. Thank you so much.

Rajesh Jain

As salary restructuring happened after clarity of rules, this benefits have come in this quarter.

Tisha Vora

Okay.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone.

Reminder, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital.

Please go ahead.

Dhruv Jain

Sir, thank you so much for the opportunity again. Two things.

One is if you could just call out your capacity utilization and capex for '27-'28. How should we think of that number, and if you could break this down both from wires and cables perspective, what is the utilization?

That's my first question.

Rajesh Jain

If you see overall, we had a capex plan of around ₹1,200 crores, in which almost 80% is focused towards cable side of the business, out of which last year we did around 300 crore, and this year will major phase of that expansion will be executed and approx 600 to 650 crores will be deployed in this year. Again, major part is towards cable only where earlier we had capacity utilization of almost 90%, and even now growth is more expected from cable side of the business.

Dhruv Jain

Sir, what is the utilization for wires?

Rajesh Jain

Wires, it's around 65 to 70% we have. Okay.

Dhruv Jain

Sir, given the fact that you've done about 17% volume growth for this quarter, I understand that last year since the third quarter, your base was higher, but just from a FY27 perspective, what is the kind of volume growth team anticipate in this year? Given the fact that Middle Eastern exports will also come back possibly in the rest of the quarters.

Rajesh Jain

If you see our long-term guidance and even overall volume growth, we are expecting to achieve growth of around 18% year-on-year what we have guided at the beginning of FY26, and we are still hoping to achieve that kind of volume growth. This year also we are expecting around 18% volume growth.

Dhruv Jain

Sure. Sir, just one thing.

In your FMEG business, we've seen a couple of your peers actually, get into solar and renewables in a big way. Anything that you guys are exploring in that vertical?

Rajesh Jain

Right now, we do not have any plan in solar, but we will keep focusing on current product category and expand those categories.

Dhruv Jain

Sir. Sure.

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities.

Please go ahead. Yeah.

Achal Lohade

Thank you for the follow-up opportunity. Sir, if you could help us understand in terms of the dealer distribution count and the retail touch point, you said 150,000.

How was it, say, last year same time, if you could just call out what has been the growth there?

Rajesh Jain

Rather than growth, now it is dealer distribution is in consolidation phase where we want to increase the depth of my distribution and achieving higher revenue per dealer distributor. Our focus is on making balanced approach towards distribution and dealers' depth and growth.

Of course, it is continuous process where we keep adding few thousand retailers every year, and last year approximately we have added around 20 to 25,000 retail points.

Achal Lohade

Similarly, how much you've added in dealer distribution count?

Rajesh Jain

No, there I will say not maybe increased, but there may be some reduction in numbers overall.

Achal Lohade

Got it. Understood.

In terms of the price inflation, you mentioned 30% is basically the LME price increase YoY. Does that mean a 15% effective price in given metal is about 50 55% of the revenue?

Would that be a fair assumption?

Rajesh Jain

First, this 30% is about Q2 of current year versus Q2, but since apart from this, there was inflation in dollar price also, there may be net impact may be around 40% in metal price, and that may reflect to around 25% in overall product pricing. Understood.

Achal Lohade

Understood. Got it.

Third, in terms of the margins, sorry I missed that part, 9.9% margin for 1Q, there is no inventory gain or any inventory loss in this. It's purely operating leverage which is driving this margins.

Have I understood right, sir?

Rajesh Jain

Yeah. This is correct because inventory is continuous process which is continuous for every quarter, but this is purely organic-level margin improvement and growth.

Achal Lohade

Neither the inventory loss?

Rajesh Jain

No.

Achal Lohade

Got it. Great, sir.

Thank you, and wish you all the best.

Rajesh Jain

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Himanshu Singh from Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

Please go ahead. Yeah.

Himanshu Singh

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on good set of numbers.

I just had one question. In terms of the unorganized players, they would be facing working capital distress, and because of the elevated commodity prices.

How do you see the share from unorganized to organized in this quarter or maybe let's say last six months happening, and how has that helped you? See,

Rajesh Jain

there are not specific data that how unorganized doing, but based on my experience and what we have seen that maybe every year 2 to 3% market is moving from unorganized to organized, not only for this year, but overall larger period of time if I see. I think the journey is almost same and similar, maybe 2 to 3% yearly the market is shifting from unorganized to organized.

Himanshu Singh

Okay. Nothing major happened in the last six months, you're saying?

Rajesh Jain

No, I don't think so. Okay.

Himanshu Singh

Okay. Sure, sir.

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone.

Reminder, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Yash Mehta from SKP Capital.

Please go ahead. Hello, Yash?

Yash Mehta

Hello. Am I audible?

Operator

Yes.

Yash Mehta

Yeah. Congratulations on a good set of numbers.

I've got few questions. I wanted to ask, the wires and cable segment margin improved from 7.6% to around 9.9%.

Was this primarily because of product mix improvements, operating leverage, or better commodity management?

Rajesh Jain

This are mix of all initiatives. As earlier also I said that majorly if I see, the margin improvements are due to scale benefits and better cost absorption.

Besides this, there are many other initiatives we are undertaking to improve our margins. These are combination of all other things and able to achieve this kind of growth.

Yash Mehta

Okay. Got it.

Given the current business mix and execution efficiencies, should investors view the current margin profile as sustainable or was this quarterly exceptionally very strong?

Rajesh Jain

If you see our overall guidance, we had targeted to improve our margins by 100 basis points on year-on-year basis, and last year we were able to achieve, and even in this quarter, so as per our original business plan, we are quite confident to achieve those guidelines of improving margins by 100 basis points year-on-year basis.

Yash Mehta

Got it and understood. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vidit Trivedi from Asian Market Securities.

Please go ahead.

Vidit Trivedi

Hi, sir. Thank you for the follow-up question.

Sir, remember in one of your previous concall, you've said that the cables command a margin of almost 11-12% in the exports market, while on the domestic front they command 6 to 7% of margin. The case is completely vice versa in case of wires, while on the domestic they command 11-12%, on the exports they do 5% margin.

Sir, can you please explain why such a difference is there on the domestic front and the exports front in both the segments?

Rajesh Jain

If you see India is the only country where wire is sold as a consumer product and you get premium over your brand and brand value and presence in the market, while in global markets, wire is considered as a simpler product, which is a kind of simple with less investment you can make. In cable, you need precise manufacturing capabilities, some typical hard approvals also, and complex manufacturing process.

That is the reason. At the same time, I would like to clarify that our margins in domestic cable are in the range of 6 to 7%, but going forward and if we achieve the scale, improve the availability, then we are also will be in the range of 10 to 11% in domestic cable also, once we achieve the scale and a sizeable market share also.

Overall, of course, in export wire margins will be less, but in domestic wires we have higher margins, while in export cables margins are already good, but in domestic cable also our margins are improving in current phase.

Vidit Trivedi

Got it, sir. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vivek Gupta from Star Investments.

Please go ahead.

Vivek Gupta

Yeah. Hi.

Am I audible?

Rajesh Jain

Yes.

Vivek Gupta

Yeah. Hi, sir.

Sir, the wire and cable segment margins expanded about 9.9% despite strong growth. What were the key drivers if you could just break down between the product mix, export mix, or the operating leverage, or the lower competitive intensity?

Rajesh Jain

Overall if you see, in our volume growth, we have guided that in cables we will have higher growth in compared to wires because of our base or our presence also. Since we started our journey from wire and we have fairly good share in wire side, but in cable now we are improving, majority of the growth will come through cable side.

Overall also, if you see the way infrastructure development is coming in India, or green energy in wind and solar, or data center, or export opportunities, overall we see that cables may grow at higher pace than wires at industrial level also, and for us particularly cable growth will be more.

Vivek Gupta

Okay. Sir.

Sir, are you seeing any pricing pressures from the new entrants or the aggressive bidding in institutional and project business?

Rajesh Jain

Not really specifically, but competition is always part of our business and one have to be always ahead of the competition based on quality or availability and everything. We have not seen anything special in this quarter or last year.

Vivek Gupta

Okay. Sir.

Sir, which geographies contributed most to the export growth, and are there any regulatory or tariff-related opportunities helping Indian exporters to gain the share globally?

Rajesh Jain

As of now, biggest contributor in our export is Europe and Middle East, and it is going to contribute as usual at higher pace, but at the same time, US we see as a new opportunity and maybe once this tariff type of things settle, then we see good opportunity for us in US market also.

Vivek Gupta

Okay. Okay.

Sir, the FMEG business has achieved the operational break-even for the first time. What specific actions enabled this turnaround, and also is break-even likely to sustain every quarter going forward or was there any seasonality benefit in this quarter one?

Rajesh Jain

Of course, this was first time, though we are targeting our break-even at yearly basis, but we are happy to share that in quarter one itself we were able to achieve the break-even. At the same time, since this Q2 is relatively lower in FMEG side, this quarter may not be possible, but we will try to achieve, but on yearly basis, we are quite sure to achieve break-even in this year, and we'll maintain this positive side of.

Vivek Gupta

Okay. Sir.

Sir, given the strong demand outlook, what is the capex plan for FY27 and FY28?

Rajesh Jain

If you see our Project Rise guidance, what we have given in FY26, where we have a capex plan of ₹1,200 crores compiling FY26 to FY28, and we are on track of that. Already I answered that out of that, already 300 crores we have invested in last year.

This year it will be around 650 crores and so.

Vivek Gupta

Okay. Sir.

Thank you. That was all from my side.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sahil Sharma from DD Capital.

Please go ahead.

Sahil Sharma

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

I just wanted to ask, could you share which categories are contributing the most to growth, and also whether the premiumization is playing a larger role than before? As

Rajesh Jain

initially I informed that in FMEG, we have grown in lighting, appliances, and switches. In fan business, of course, our realization is improving due to better premium product mix, and almost 25% of our revenue is coming from premium product category.

Sahil Sharma

Understood, sir. Understood.

Now that break-even has been achieved, what are the next milestones for the FMEG business in terms of profitability and also the scale over the next 2 to 3 years?

Rajesh Jain

We are targeting growth of around 20% in FMEG business and also achieving break-even on sustainable basis first for this year, and then make this business profitable in coming 2-3 years on continuous and sustainable basis with top line growth of around 20% year-on-year.

Sahil Sharma

Sir. Fine, sir.

Thank you so much, sir.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rajesh Jain for closing comments.

Rajesh Jain

Thank you, everyone, for taking some time out to participate in this call. In case of any queries, reach out to us or our investor relation agency, MUFG Investor Relations.

We wish you all the best and hope to interact with you soon. Thank you so much.

Operator

On behalf of RR Kabel Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.