MARICONSEQ2FY26November 21, 2025

Marico Limited

8,890words

106turns

10analyst exchanges

2executives

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Management on call

Saugata Gupta

MD & CEO, MARICO LIMITED

Pawan Agrawal

GROUP CFO & CEO -

Key numbers — 29 extracted

30%

ive step towards boosting demand and driving sustainable growth in the branded FMCG sector. About 30% of our India business have benefited from the GST revision. Consistent with the government's obje

ption across urban and rural markets. Moving on to the quarterly performance, we have delivered a 7% volume growth in India in spite of the disruptions in September. Our franchises continued to witn

95%

ruptions in September. Our franchises continued to witness healthy off-take growth with more than 95% of the business gaining or sustaining market share and more than 75% of the business gaining or s

75%

take growth with more than 95% of the business gaining or sustaining market share and more than 75% of the business gaining or sustaining penetration. Revenue growth in India business hit Regd.

60%

hute was muted in volume terms in the context of unprecedented hyperinflation in Copra prices and 60% pricing growth year-on-year basis. I have never heard of any master brand or power brand in the w

15%

st headwinds received over the next few quarters. On Copra prices, it has come down actually from 15% from the highs seen in July 25. Current forecasts and our crop estimate outlook suggest that Copr

150 bps

nd Q-com platforms. Value-added hair oils accelerated its growth trajectory. The franchise gained 150 bps in value market share on a MAT basis. The mid and premium segments of the portfolio continued to

Rs. 1,100 crore

r ahead on the back of strategic pivots over the last 9-12 months. The Food portfolio has crossed Rs. 1,100 crore ARR. Saffola Oats continue to gain market share while the Honey and Soya Chunks continue to scale

12%

ill continue to double down on the same. Having said that, you would have seen that we have grown 12% this quarter. Let me address upfront the reason for this. I think it is a combination of 4 reason

rs,

is also a base of Mayo, Peanut butter and Munchies in the base and lastly, for the next 2-3 quarters, we are now very focused on improving Plix profitability and mix. We will do these things over the

Rs. 1,000 crore

course of the coming quarters. The digital first portfolio exited the quarter with an ARR of over Rs. 1,000 crores. We are on track to reach 2.5x of FY '24 ARR in FY '27 in line with our aspiration. We remain sh

2.5x

first portfolio exited the quarter with an ARR of over Rs. 1,000 crores. We are on track to reach 2.5x of FY '24 ARR in FY '27 in line with our aspiration. We remain sharply focused on profitability a

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Guidance — 20 items

Saugata Gupta

opening

“I would like to start with a narrative on the operating environment during the quarter gone by, after which I will touch upon our performance and strategic objectives going forward.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“Further, the ongoing progress of project SETU continue to strengthen our distribution fundamentals with execution across markets.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We expect Parachute to remain steady and revert to growth as pricing and input cost headwinds received over the next few quarters.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We anticipate growth will gradually pick up over the course of the next few quarters as pricing volatility has subsided.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We remain on track to meet our aspirations over the medium term.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“I think it is a combination of 4 reasons and therefore we expect food to go back into higher growth trajectory by Q4.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We aim to invest in sustainable growth vectors across the course of the coming quarters.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We are on track to reach 2.5x of FY '24 ARR in FY '27 in line with our aspiration.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We remain sharply focused on profitability and aspire to achieve double digit EBITDA margins in this portfolio by FY '27.”

Saugata Gupta

opening

“We remain focused on executing our strategic priorities for the year and expect to sustain the positive growth momentum across India and overseas business in the quarters ahead.”

Risks & concerns — 10 flagged

See in Quarter 2 there was an impact of about 2%.

— Pawan Agrawal

But typically what we have seen is that once trade has destocked, it is very difficult to sort of bring it back to the old stock level.

— Pawan Agrawal

So, if the question is whether we will see a positive impact of 1% or 2% in Quarter 3, the answer is not really.

— Pawan Agrawal

Looking Q2 FY26, and just taking a context leap from FY25, despite significant gross margin pressure, you have particularly struck up your ad spends.

— Mihir Shah

Yes, so it is very difficult to allocate a growth, but I will give you what are the things we have done.

— Saugata Gupta

The question from my side, when you mentioned about the food part about Munchies and Peanut Butter, is it that these products have been discontinued just that the growth of this part of the portfolio was muted, which led to the overall slowdown?

— Nihal Mahesh Jham

As you know that any Nutraceutical brand can extend into 5 or 6 areas, which is basically weight management, heart health, gut health, bone health, sleep, stress, and diabetes.

— Saugata Gupta

A very large part of the margin erosion is because of Parachute margin compression.

— Pawan Agrawal

It is difficult to give a guidance, because a lot of moving parts in terms of how the commodity cost will move, what impact will the pricing have.

— Pawan Agrawal

Volume growth in India was well ahead of the sector despite elevated pricing and transitory impact of the GST reform.

— Pawan Agrawal

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Q&A — 10 exchanges

Yes, hi team. I just had one single question on the GST transition, could you give us a sense on what could be your expectation of the impact and how long do you think it will take for this disruption to reverse?

Saugata Gupta

So, we saw some of this impact flowing into first half of October, but it is now more or less stabilized. And the quantum of the impact in your opinion, how much could it be on sales or volume, whichever way? You can take around 2% during Quarter 2. See in Quarter 2 there was an impact of about 2%. Now, it was led by destocking. But typically what we have seen is that once trade has destocked, it is very difficult to sort of bring it back to the old stock level. So, if the question is whether we will see a positive impact of 1% or 2% in Quarter 3, the answer is not really. But having said that

Thanks. Two questions. First is on the Honey and Soya Chunks, if you could tell us how much is the salience of Kirana in this part of the portfolio? And if you could talk about profitability, how is the positioning? Are you more of a price warrior or now you are charging almost parity to the market leader in these two segments?

Saugata Gupta

So, we will be a warrior, but not on pricing. We are a challenger. So, if you really look at it, two things we have to do, which is as far as Honey is concerned, we were over indexed in organized trade. And as far as GT is concerned, our weighted distribution was not that great, but there is a significant portion of Honey business that is on GT. We are beginning our initiatives on that. OT relies a lot on pricing and there is a lot of clutter. As far as GT is concerned, the number of players are far lower. And it is the same case in Muesli, also that the number of players in GT are far lower.

Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Looking Q2 FY26, and just taking a context leap from FY25, despite significant gross margin pressure, you have particularly struck up your ad spends. How should one think about ad spends going forward in FY '27? And is there a threshold of margin that you want to work with on the gross and EBITDA level that we should keep in mind?

Saugata Gupta

So, if you really look at it, our objective is to ensure that we continue to maximize growth and volume share while operating within threshold level of margins. What I see in FY '27 is the following, in terms of the raw material costs coming down, there will be an opportunity to get back some of the margins. Also, as you know that we started investing in the premium part of VAHO, we continue to invest behind the diversification and the premiumization. So, therefore, there will be margin improvement. But as I said that our main focus is also to ensure superior and top quartile volume growth as

Yes, hi team. Good evening. Just two questions of mine. If you could just explain the Copra price coming down by about 15%. How does the market competitive activity work? Is it that you need to make some price divisions, ml-age divisions or given that you are not passed on the full impact, you don't need to make any changes there? How does the Copra price movement at this price, how does it impact the market activity for you in terms of ml-age and price? That is my first question?

Saugata Gupta

So, at this current level, I don't see any reason for pricing action. We are very comfortable. So, the way to think about it is that this recent fall actually just plays out in terms of a slightly better margin profile going forward. That is the way to think about it? Regd. Off: 7th Floor, Grande Palladium, 175, CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz (East), Mumbai – 400098. CIN: L15140MH1988PLC049208. Email: investor@marico.com Marico Information classification: Official Yes. So, that is why we have indicated that we are a little more confident of trying to deliver double-digit EBITDA growth in the sec

Yes, hi, thanks for the opportunity. So, a few questions. Firstly, on the digital first portfolio, you already sort of are seeming to be clocking much higher than your aspiration. So, as per my math, you already probably would be in that Rs. 1,000 crores ballpark this year itself. So, any chance sort of, I think you already upgrade the ARR guidance to that extent, but any chance there you will surpass and which parts of the portfolio are firing here mostly? Can you give some granularity?

Saugata Gupta

We are getting significant growth in Beardo and Plix. And as you know, Beardo is around in the region of a double-digit EBITDA. Plix has already broken even and over the next 2-3 quarters we will focus on significantly increasing the EBITDA percentage in Plix so that we are on our way to our 10% target in 2027. True Elements has been undergoing the integration. As you know, we got 100% sometime in September. And therefore, our first task is to ensure that we integrate it well and also start our journey towards break even. And as we said in the last call also, our focus on Just Herbs and True E

Hi, good evening. And thank you for taking my question. Thank you. So, my question is on VAHO and VAHO clearly, the trajectory has changed. And it is sustaining and I think good to note that the higher margin part of VAHO is growing. So, Saugata, what I would like to understand is that can you give us a bit of a deep dive into how this change is happening? And is there a channel cut to it? And is there a brand cut to it? Clearly, if you could give us some sort of salience that is an MT GT or e-com, what sort of major transition has come and is sustaining? And then how to, is this now margin en

Saugata Gupta

The margin at VAHO level is higher than the company level margins, significantly higher and especially the things we are focusing in. So, therefore, it is a wish. Basically, what we are doing is a virtuous cycle of growth. Now, coming to what we exactly did in the past 2 years before we re-pivoted our strategy, it was a road to nowhere, which I call it where we went into a trade spending fight to win the sector and because of competitive action where ATL was withdrawn and put into BTL, we perhaps went into the trap or temporary trap. I believe that for a category to grow, you must invest behin

Hi, Saugata. Can you just give your estimate? Of course, there will be Nielsen figures, but I would value your estimate more. What is the industry growth of the VAHO sort of industry right now?

Saugata Gupta

If I have grown say 16% and gained share, you can derive a number. So, it should be in double digits, a little bit, entering double digits definitely in value. So, what really has changed here, because over the last 5 years, VAHO as an industry has been a very slow growing industry. And now it has come to a 10% growth at industry level, we have not seen any major recovery in macro consumption across many of the FMCG segments. In the past, we have held that VAHO will grow sort of or slow down whatever in line with the personal care industry. It is clearly sort of the growth or slow down at leas

Saugata Gupta

No, we have mostly discontinued it because, see, again, as I said that we talked about fewer, bigger, better, and anything which is not a significant opportunity, one of biggest learning has been that if you want to participate in food, scale and profitability goes hand in hand. So, therefore anything which you can't really make it big, let us not do niche things. We have Plix and True Elements, two brands to actually experiment with niche things and Saffola will actually drive scale. Because if I have to do Peanut Butter, I can do with True Elements. I don’t have to do it with Saffola. Unders

Hi, thanks for the opportunity. Actually, continuing on the earlier question on Plix, could you give us some color in terms of what are your top 5 hero products? What is the contribution of these products to overall sales of Plix? And over the past 2 years it has done phenomenally well. So, are your Hero products continuing to grow at the same pace at the overall brand growth? Or is it also driven by a long tail of new introductions product that you may have added? Any color Regd. Off: 7th Floor, Grande Palladium, 175, CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz (East), Mumbai – 400098. CIN: L15140MH1988PLC0

Saugata Gupta

In a lighter vein, I must say you are asking me due diligence questions almost, even more than a pitch document. So, let me just give you a broad strategic flavor to this. Plix has participants in Nutraceuticals where the hero product is ACV. Having said that, we are also looking at value- addition in that space. And there are flavors. There is no sugar variety. One of the biggest things we have done in Plix is staying two things, having hero SKUs contributing significantly and not growing with just mindless innovation, which I call spray and pray. Secondly, there is a significantly strong pro

Thanks for listening in on the call. To conclude, our performance has kept us well poised to advance on our key strategic priorities. Volume growth in India was well ahead of the sector despite elevated pricing and transitory impact of the GST reform. We continue to channel our efforts towards our diversification agenda and remain committed to consistent brand building investments. The international business has visibly accelerated its growth momentum and expected to maintain the same. Going ahead, we are fairly confident of delivering top quartile volume growth in India business. And with ear

Management

Speaking time

Saugata Gupta

Pawan Agrawal

Moderator

Anand Shah

Harit Kapoor

Nihal Mahesh Jham

Abneesh Roy

Jaykumar Doshi

Amit Sachdeva

Percy Panthaki

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Opening remarks

Saugata Gupta

Hi and good evening to all those who have joined the call. I would like to start with a narrative on the operating environment during the quarter gone by, after which I will touch upon our performance and strategic objectives going forward. We witnessed steady demand trends during the month of July and August before facing transitionary disruption in trade channels due to the implementation of the revised GST rates in the month of September. The recent GST rate rationalization is a positive step towards boosting demand and driving sustainable growth in the branded FMCG sector. About 30% of our India business have benefited from the GST revision. Consistent with the government's objective, we have passed on the benefits of the reduced GST rates to the consumers across relevant categories, either through price cuts or grammage increase in price point packs, thereby enhancing product affordability and accessibility. Further, the ongoing progress of project SETU continue to strengthen our

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