Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Kalyan Jewellers India Limited (NSE: KALYANKJIL) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 08, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Rahul Agarwal — STRATEGIC GROWTH ADVISORS
Ramesh Kalyanaraman — Executive Director
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Subhanu — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Pallavi Deshpande — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Kalyan Jewelers India Limited Q4 and FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on a touch tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rahul Agarwal from Strategic Growth Advisors.
Thank you. And over to you sir.
Rahul Agarwal — STRATEGIC GROWTH ADVISORS
Thank you. Good evening everyone
Operator
And
Rahul Agarwal — STRATEGIC GROWTH ADVISORS
Thank you for joining us on Kalyan Dwellers India Limited
Operator
Q4FY26 earnings conference call. We have with us Mr. Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Mr. Sanjay Raghuran, CEO, Mr. V. Swaminathan, CFO, Mr. V. Sri Kumar, Financial Controller, Mr. Sanjay Mehrutra, Head of Strategy and Corporate affairs and Mr. Abraham George, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. I hope everyone had a chance to view our financial results and investor presentation which were recently posted on company’s website and stock exchanges. We will begin the call with opening remarks from management followed by an open forum for Q and A.
Before we begin, I would like to point out that some of the statements made during today’s call may be forward looking. A disclaimer to that effect was included in the earnings presentation. I would now like to invite Mr. Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers India Limited to give his opening remarks. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Rahul Agarwal — STRATEGIC GROWTH ADVISORS
Thank you. Good evening. And let me welcome everyone to the call. Q4 has been fantastic. The pickup in momentum we witnessed during the third quarter continued during the last quarter and we ended up the financial year on an excellent note. While consolidated revenue and PAT growth for the quarter have been 66 and 118% respectively. Standalone business recorded revenue growth of 68 and PAT growth of 97% respectively. For the full financial year we recorded a consolidated revenue in excess of 35,700 crores and a path of 1350 crores.
During the last financial year we launched 129 showrooms across Kalyan and Candir formats including the first Kalyan showroom in the UK. The year also saw reduction of debt in India by 360 odd crores in line with the already announced plan to pay down the non GML debt in India completely. Over the last three years we have reduced the non GML in India from 1300 crores to 300 crores. FY 2026 also saw Candir growing its revenue by 160% on the back of very strong same store sales growth and aggressive network expansion.
More importantly, Candir turned pat positive from the second half of FY 2026. Going forward, during the current financial year, Candia will focus more on driving SSD along with expanding its showroom footprint. In line with our announced dividend policy, Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of approximately 257 crores payout of around 20% of the net profit generated during FY 2026. During the ongoing financial year, we plan to open 150 showrooms across Kalyan Kandeer and the new regional brand.
And now talking about the ongoing quarter, we had an excellent start to the financial year. We witnessed strong growth in our Akshatrudiya sales this year and we continue to see encouraging momentum in consumer demand, especially around the vending purchases during the current quarter. Thank you and I will hand over it to Sanjay. He will read you through the numbers. Thanks Ramesh. Good evening everybody. I am happy to be talking to you all again. In this just concluded quarter, our company reported a consolidated revenue of 10,275 crores, a 66% growth over the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
Consolidated profit before tax was 539 crores versus 251 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. And consolidated profit after tax came in at 410 crores versus 188 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. A growth of 118% for the concluded 12 months of the financial year. FY26, we recorded a revenue of 35,740 crores on a consolidated basis versus 25,045 crores in the previous financial year. A growth of 43%. Consolidated profit before tax for the year came in at 1802 crores versus 960 crores, an 88% growth.
And consolidated profit after tax for the year ending March 26 came in at 1350 crores versus 714 crores for the previous year. Ending March 25, growth of 89%. Out of the free cash generated from operations, approximately 350 crores was used for debt reduction and approximately 150 crores was used for dividend payments. Talking now about the breakup of the quarterly performance between India, Middle east and the Candir business. So starting with the India business, the quarter just concluded. The revenue came in at 8,990 crores versus 5,350 crores.
And the profit before tax for the quarter came in at 495 crores compared to 249 crores when compared to the corresponding quarter the previous year. And profit after tax for the India business came in at 366 crores compared to 185 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. A growth of 97%. Moving on to talk about our Middle east business. Revenue in the Middle east came in at 1074 crores versus 784 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before tax came in at 20 crores versus 15 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The Middle east business posted a profit of 21 crores for the quarter compared to a profit of 12 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Lastly, moving on to talk about candir, the business posted revenues of 131 crores in the quarter versus 28 crores in the corresponding quarter the previous year. And in the just concluded quarter the profits came in at 3 crores for the quarter versus a 12 crore loss in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. With this we are now done with the summary of the numbers and we open the floor for questions.
Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue you may press star and two participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Nihal Mahesh Jam
Unidentified Participant
From hsbc. Please go ahead.
Operator
Yes, I came. Congratulations on the strong performance. I have three questions. The first is that there is a big divergence in the south and non South SSG not seen at least as you started reporting this data suggest. If you give clarity on what led to such a big divergence.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah, so south was lesser than non south and again it comes every quarter it’s a bit different. But this time it is having a significant change in the SSGs of South and North South. Maybe the base is also higher in South.
Operator
Sure. The other way to look at it is that for south it went from say 25 to 29. But in case of non south the acceleration has sort of been much higher. So any more color about maybe what led to that versus the Q3?
Rahul Agarwal
I think the shift is again further accelerated in the non south region. When compared to south and we have been seeing it from Q3 but Q4 again was non south was more interesting than the South.
Operator
Got it. The other thing is that generally because of the initiatives that we had started in Q1, you know, every quarter gross margins were improving. Given you said part of the sourcing that you know shifted to new set of vendors this quarter there has been a slight reversal to that trend. So any more clarity on the GM side?
Rahul Agarwal
Gross margins have been improving and it has been maintained also showroom level mix again south, non South. So you cannot compare a quarter to quarter. Q3 is always a better quarter in terms of standard etc. Again, non south revenue is also more in certain areas. So it is again depending on the type of product which is sold during Dantera’s Diwali is different from Q4 foco mix. So there are lot of drivers to your margin, right?
Operator
Sure. Ramesh, the last question was, you know, just wanted to understand you mentioned about Akshay being very strong for you generally. How have trends sort of been sustaining this quarter? Is it, you know, as strong as what say Q4 was for us? And as we look into the next year, given this has obviously been quite an exceptional year for the entire jewelry sector that would there be some moderation because of the highways that we’ll have of last year?
Rahul Agarwal
So last year also in Q1 only. No,
Operator
No, I was referring to the full of full. There were two parts of the question. First is that how are the Trends in the Q1/4 of FY27? The second question was that for the full year of FY27, giving 26 was such an exceptional year for us and the entire jewelry space that is there a case that we can continue to deliver our historical growth rates for next year also after such an exception year of FY26?
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. So again if you look at H2 of the of the last financial year, the base was higher and the current financial year H2 will have a base high for sure. But again if you it has been like that even in the previous year. But again we could grow so that we will not be able to completely tell you what’s going to happen. But as we speak, April has started off very well and even with high basis we have been able to grow. Thank
Operator
You. Next question is from the line of Gaurav Jogani from GM Financial. Please proceed.
Rahul Agarwal
Hi, thank you for taking my question. So my first question is with regards to the debt repayment. I mean you have so far, you know,
Operator
Paid approximately 500 odd crores of non GML debt and you’re planning to repay the debt entirely the non GML fees that is in FY27. Given the strong profitability that you have witnessed in FY26 is there a possibility that you might be able to pay that off entirely by. By H1FY27 end?
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah, so the. We want to make it a non GML debt free in the running financial year and yeah if things go really well we might do it by H1 itself. But we don’t want to guide you in that direction wherein when it’s possible it is possible. That’s it.
Operator
So one more question with regards to the new the third brand that you are planning and that’s how store was supposed to launched somewhere in Q4. So what’s the update on the same and is there any progress to it?
Rahul Agarwal
So it is on but the post election dust has not been settled in the state where we want to open our new brand. So we are just waiting for the dust to settle down and we start our campaign.
Operator
Okay, so it’s prepared just that the timing is to be. Yeah,
Rahul Agarwal
The timing has to be managed according to the situation on ground.
Operator
Sure, sure, sure. And just lastly one bookkeeping question that I had. You know we had seen that the debt coming down sequentially from sick in fact in from H1 to H1 that has only come down. However if you look at the interest cost both on the standalone and the the control basis it has moved up sequentially. So is there any one off kind of an adjustment there? I mean just wanted to understand what has really led to this moment. You have a number. Yeah, just a second. I will hand over to foreign.
So you see the major reason for the increases the
Subhanu
Increase in the processing charges as well as some. There was some advance tax which we had to pay. There was some estimate. I mean the estimates we. Which we. Which we did for the full year we couldn’t. I mean possibly we couldn’t budget it correctly. So then there was a. There was an interest which we had to pay for the advanced tax. That is the major reason in the increase in the interest cost.
Operator
Okay, okay. So can you.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
One more point. During the
Operator
First half of the year our debt repayment had not happened for the year. So that debt level remained almost higher for high for the first half. And the gold medal on pricing also kind of tapered down by almost the first quarter. So that that reason along with the reason which mentioned
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
That there is a interest that we have paid for towards advanced tax payment Otherwise it’s mostly impact.
Operator
Yeah, so. So you know, that is what I want to ask. Basically if we adjust for that, what
Rahul Agarwal
Is the the real interest cost for so that we can build accordingly for the coming years? You know, in that context, Yes,
Operator
I would say about 20 to 30 crore. About 30 crore will be reduced from this number.
Rahul Agarwal
Okay,
Operator
So 30 crore. Okay, sure. Thank you. That’s all for me.
Subhanu
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Devanshu Bansal from MK Global. Please go ahead.
Operator
Congratulations on very strong numbers. I wanted to check on the supply side issues that are sort of there. Right. From Middle east pension perspective, a lot of gold is imported from that part of the region. And there was some news flow that renewal of licenses are also getting delayed. From the GFT’s perspective, do you foresee any kind of challenge from availability of gold as well as from the increase in maybe say interest rate on gold metal loans?
Rahul Agarwal
So there is abundant supply of gold in the country and we continue to receive regular inventory from our banks. So while the IGST notification for gold imports through the traditional bank the channel suspending qualified jewelers like US banks, importers are permitted to import gold through India International Bullion Exchange at Gift City, Gujarat.
Unidentified Participant
Okay.
Rahul Agarwal
So furthermore for our according to our knowledge the banks also procure gold from domestic sources such as samples and gold deposit scheme etc. So we don’t have any issue on the gold supply.
Operator
Got it. Got it. And secondly sir, you did provide some color on strong trends for continuing in April. I wanted to check since we our wedding salience is relatively higher and there is this extra month of inauspicious days in Q1. So will that for time being sort of lead to lower sales for us? That was part number one. And secondly Q4 has seen very strong growth. Has there been a preponement component also where say the Q1 weddings purchases related to C1 weddings got people into Q4. So I wanted to check on these two things.
Rahul Agarwal
Yes, Adikmaas is there. And again we have a good wedding share in our business
Operator
And
Rahul Agarwal
Business can get moved to either side of that month. Okay, but again it gets negates at the end of the day it can move into quarters but at the end of the day revenue comes to us. It’s not a loss of revenue.
Operator
No. Fair enough. I just wanted to understand from a volatility perspective. Obviously I understand that from a full year perspective that business will come back to you. But from a volatility perspective, can Q1 be a slower growth quarter is what I Wanted to understand
Rahul Agarwal
Now as we speak things are on track. It is more than on track but we’ll have to see what what plays out during the atik mass time. But yes, there is high possibility that those days can be slower than our usual wedding. But there are people who prepond their purchase also if there’s an Athimas. So that’s why I am not able to guide you clearly whether there can be a lot of revenue in this quarter because there can be some revenue which is prepond and comes in this quarter itself.
Operator
Understood? Understood. Sir, last question from my end. If we see the revenue mix for this year’s Akshay Chitya, how has been the competition between say coins, plain gold jewelry as well as studded? Because there are certain players who are indicating that gold coin sales were negatively lower this time around. So did that play for you as well in this current.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah, the coin sale were lower than estimated unlike Randeras where it was more than estimated.
Operator
Okay, so that should I believe lead to better margin performance. Right. So
Rahul Agarwal
Again too early now because it’s only one month. There is two more months to go. Again repeat, the first 30, 35 days have been very good.
Operator
Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.
Rahul Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Next question is from the line of Ashish Kanodia from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Yeah, thank you. So the first question again is on the specifically on the non south. So if you kind of split the SSG train between say the franchisee stores versus own stores, do you see any, you know, I mean is it broadly similar to what you have reported on our overall nonsout business? Because I think the non south could also be benefiting partly because of, you know, the franchisee store. So just wanted to understand when you look at the SSG nonsout focal versus cocoa, is the trend broadly similar?
Rahul Agarwal
It is looking more or less same but of course you know that the first year revenue growth for any store, be it franchise, be it non franchise, it has a better SSG than the showrooms which are more than five years, seven years because the gold savings scheme revenue also comes in and region wise there are changes in non South. Non south is not the same in all south markets. That’s what I’m trying to say.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Sure, got it. And second question on the coin sales part, I think you know, even if you look at the full quarter this the last say 40 days or so and compare it with maybe 3Q as well as 4Q have you seen that the overall intensity of investment led demand which is your coin sales have actually come down. And is it partly because, you know, when you look at the gold price movement, at least in the last a few days or a month or so, it has actually been on the lower side. Right. So is there a lower intensity of the investment led demand
Rahul Agarwal
The coins? We usually do not push coins and we don’t even sell bullion which you know, during Q3 some customers inquiry of gold coins we saw it higher than usual. So we had to keep more inventory than usual for gold coins. Otherwise it is a normal revenue which was there for coins. Still maintain Q3 was a bit abnormal, especially during the Diwali time.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Sure. And the next question is on the middle age. So if I look at the, you know, comment in the presentation, you have said that you have, you know, temporarily converted four focal showrooms to Cocoa as there is some discussion underway. So if you can throw some light like what’s happening there, what’s the plan on that part of the business?
Rahul Agarwal
I mentioned in the last call that we are trying to work with a few Arab investors who are keen to open focal showrooms of Kalyan and for which we had to temporarily convert the Foco to Cocoa to facilitate that so called process.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
So I mean just looking at something. So
Rahul Agarwal
It’s like it’s the franchisee model which we are working with Arab investors is not only to own or open only new stores, but also conversion of old stores and the ticket size is bigger. Again I did not give you any guidance on that because it has not happened. So better not to budget on it. But we are focusing on a major franchisee expansion in the Middle east through Arab investors but nothing has materialized. But it’s going the right direction.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Sure. And maybe just on the gross margin, I mean I think someone asked and I will just you know, kind of refresh that question. See when we look at the India gross margin, right now we know that because of the franchisee model normally we should see a Y wide decline on gross margin. And I’m talking about because quarter on quarter we will have seasonality. Right. So when I look at 2Q26 and I’m adjusting the base for custom duty etc, 2Q26 had a gross margin decline of 100 basis point but in 3Q the gross margin was broadly same on a Y O Y basis.
And the discussion was that, you know, you have tried the, you know, the paying the vendors a bit early which was giving you some benefit and at least in our mind it was that because you have just started in maybe 3Q or so it should continue for 12 months. So we should see that benefit coming in. But when we look at the 4Q gross margin it has gone back to the normal level where we were seeing 100 basis point decline because of the franchisee model. So is it, has there been any change in the vendor payment or is there anything which is changing this direction?
Rahul Agarwal
No. No. So if you remember well the pilot project we started partially in Q4 of last year so that is already embedded in the gross margin of the last quarter. So maybe that’s why you see this change.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Okay, got it, got it. And just last question is on the divestment of the assets. I see you know you have already secured the release of collateral for around 180 crores. So two parts. One, what’s the timeline looking like on the, you know, sale of this 180 crore and second on the balance release of the 200 crore. What kind of a timeline we are looking at?
Rahul Agarwal
So the timeline set for the set number one asset disposal was before September of this year which I think is going the right direction. And we have also started process to release the second set of assets from the banks which I don’t want to give you a timeline but I will give you more details when it reaches.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Got it, sure. Thank you and all the best.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Adarsh from INAM Holdings. Please go ahead.
Rahul Agarwal
Congrats on good numbers. Just from a cash flow perspective, can you
Operator
Please talk about the next couple of years? What do you do with the cash flows? Right. Strong profits, growing still with a lot of franchisee models. So if you can just elaborate a little bit on capital management. You did 1350 crores of profit this year. It will grow with your store addition. So just wanted to understand how you’re looking at, you know, capital post once you pay off your non GML debt.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. So close to 50% of the cash generated will be used for dividend and debt reduction, capex etc. Balance 50 we have to park some funds for Candier and the regional brand which I was talking about. Again we shall come back on the rest of the allocation in the due course of the year. And our expenses predominantly franchise which you know.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. Perfect. So that’s it from us. Thanks.
Subhanu
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Pritesh Chiddha from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead.
Operator
Yes sir. Just pardon my ignorance but you know when I was trying to listen to you and the presentation about the repayment of mgl when I go to the balance sheet, I don’t see it. So what is it that I’m missing? Actually
Rahul Agarwal
It’s non mgm. So it is non gml, not NGL gold metal.
Operator
Okay. So
Rahul Agarwal
Comes with a lesser interest rate
Operator
And the aggregate debt if you would have any comment there. So you give outlook on the non mgl reduction but aggregate debt and its intensity with the growth. How should we look at that number?
Rahul Agarwal
So far as the Middle east is concerned, the gold, the gml, the gold metal loan increases when the gold price goes up. Because there is no actual limit for a gold loan in the Middle East. But in India the GML we have a limit where banks can give us and we always maintain that level. But we will of course focus on somehow increasing the GML whenever possible.
Operator
Increasing the GML whenever possible. Okay. With your growth strategy of focal based growth and you have given outlook of 70 stores, you know, based on that, if I have to look at a two year out or a one year out absolute debt number, is it fair? Is it possible to share that?
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. So it will be what only the metal loan. Basically in India non GML will be 0
Operator
And the X the extent of total debt. So NGL plus GML put together
Rahul Agarwal
The non GML is 0. So the goal the GML which will be maintained the same levels unless until we get something more. But
Operator
If in case so far we are number four.
Rahul Agarwal
So far the focus have been. Yeah, so far the focus have been always on production of non GML in India. Going forward we will also focus on increasing the gml. But this will depend on the sanctions available from banks etc on the non. On the gml. So the easy answer for this question will be GML will be 0. Non GML will. Sorry, non GML will be 0. GML will be almost in the limit where we are.
Operator
So I’m just wondering in a focal expansion strategy what drives the. The GML loan? What are the, what are the, what are the drivers for a rise in a GML loan?
Rahul Agarwal
So GML GML loans comes with a very non very less interest rates. Okay. And it also comes with an hedging instrument embedded in it. So that is the advantage of gml. And usually banks keep a sanction limit for the same. We are, we will not be able to increase the GML like in the Middle east where Middle east is. There is no limit with the banks they keep on increasing GML when the gold price goes up. Not all banks in India also provide gml. That is the limitation of GML in India. But for expansion we don’t need Any capital because it is a franchise model.
Operator
Correct, sir. So then for. Why for. So basically then the GML loan should not go up, right? If you’re not expanding. What my question is, what is the driver for a GML loan to go up, if any? The
Rahul Agarwal
Only
Operator
Reason
Rahul Agarwal
Only when you need more pipeline inventory for focal or when you need to open what you call high format stores, where you want to stop your hybrid model on your franchise, etc. Where it is what they call a minor chance. But again availability of GM is also tough here so that is why we don’t budget for it.
Operator
Okay. Okay. And you haven’t opened any store of yours? When I, when I was looking at the presentation and I’m looking at the bridge you have given for 5 years foco store in our total store, it seems that you haven’t opened any single cocoa store. Right. In the last four years. Numbers that I see 23, 24, 25, 26.
Rahul Agarwal
So when we, when we would have opened an own store, we would have converted an old store, especially in the. We would have opened this own, but we would have converted an own into a focal. So the number of focal stores meaning the additional number of stores will be same as focal.
Operator
Yeah, the additional number of stores are same as focal. Only thing could have happened is your own store. You would have reopened our own store and a bigger store. That’s. That, should I put it?
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Yeah, that’s not, that’s called hybrid wherein we might have relocated our
Rahul Agarwal
Existing store to a newer location in a bigger format wherein franchisee would have allocated his capital and we would have maintained our capital. That’s called hybrid.
Operator
Okay, that’s a hybrid.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah,
Operator
So you would have. Okay. How many stores would have gone through that in the last four years where you would have relocated a store?
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
There are seven or eight hybrid stores.
Operator
Okay, five or eight hybrid stores. Okay. Would that entail incremental capital from your side in inventory?
Rahul Agarwal
No, it’s not incremental. What we do is when we reallocate relocate a store from a smaller premise to a bigger part of the investment will be the existing inventory which we had in the old store.
Operator
Okay.
Rahul Agarwal
And the franchise partner will find a partner will bring the additional incremental. Yeah,
Operator
So
Rahul Agarwal
Capex we share also.
Operator
So the business per se wouldn’t have needed incremental capital for you to deploy. Right. Since the last three years.
Rahul Agarwal
No, but that will be needed because we not only not only do this, we also renew it and open stores where the market has expanded and our stores have a scope of Better revenue growth wherein that would not have been converted. We ourselves renovate the stores and add inventory there. With such high SSDs some showrooms will need additional investment also inventory.
Operator
Okay so when you mention the 50% payout number. 50% payout and debt repayment number. The residual 50%. Should we say that it’s going had gone or will be going into reinventorization of your existing store. Higher inventory in existing stores. Some of
Rahul Agarwal
We have budget. We will have to budget some portion for additional inventory in stores where we need to add inventory. But usually what happens is the saving scheme also the SSGs are high. So the money which comes in from the gold savings scheme usually we allocate for inventory increase.
Operator
Okay. Okay. And you did you mentioned that the reduction in interest cost for FY27 is just is 30 crores. Is what you mentioned from the base of effects.
Rahul Agarwal
30 crore interest. Yeah. Because 300 crore is what we have to now reduce the non GML. So 300 crore if you put an approximate it’s 30 crore.
Operator
And in the 430 crores that you reported in 26 you mentioned some element of interest on tax. On tax, advance tax or something. That’s what you mentioned right in the. So is there any app. Is there any one off in a 433 crore interest which needs to be looked at?
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. Yeah. 20 crore.
Operator
20. So 20 is one of and 30 is reduction next year. So then the. The reduction is 50 crores.
Rahul Agarwal
Correct. You are correct.
Operator
Okay. Okay. Thank you
Rahul Agarwal
Sir.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Pallavi from Samiksha. Please go ahead.
Pallavi Deshpande
Yes sir. Thank you for taking my question. Just wanted to understand on you know what would be our. Are we seeing a lower competitive intensity because of which our acts spend increase have seen generated in the current environment. And what would be our strategy going ahead given you know the influx of these digital only players like Bluestone etc. Do we. How do we plan to tackle that?
Rahul Agarwal
So I think somewhere I missed your question. Can you repeat the question?
Pallavi Deshpande
I just wanted to understand on the. You know the. It’s been a good year. So wanted to understand how much of increase in the gross margin would have you would have benefited from the. The silver price and platinum increase if you can give us amount so that we can better model this for next year.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. So there has been some advantage because of the platinum and silver margin which again cannot be sustained for the next financial year. Again the the inventory procurement pattern which we changed also already is there in the last financial year which again is not going to come for the next financial year. But going forward other things remaining the same. We can expect gains from operating leverage and the interest saving which we just discussed. But again of course lot will depend upon how the year will unfold.
Pallavi Deshpande
So I was trying to understand on the gross margin side, right. Should we factor in a decline of 30 days for this gain that you would have seen from silver and platinum this year should be factored in a year on year decline for next year for 0.2
Rahul Agarwal
Points. Yes, there has been some portion which has come from silver and platinum. Again everything cannot remain the same for the next year. Meaning running here there can be change in standard ratio. There can be change in product mix which we are selling. So this 0.2, 0.3 etc it’s very tough for us to earn budget. But operating leverage will come in and 20 odd crores is what Silver meaning it’s not too high. Right. So yeah,
Pallavi Deshpande
I know, I understand we can make it up in other areas. My second question was just on overall just trying to understand this employee expense. So we when we had the franchisee we just gave him one employee, right? First two from our side. And so why is there. You know I thought more operating leverage will play out on that front. So I just wanted to understand.
Rahul Agarwal
Can you repeat the question? Franchisee. We actually
Pallavi Deshpande
Give them one person. I understood. First store.
Rahul Agarwal
No, no, no, no. We meaning all the employees are done from Kalyan. We manage the store.
Pallavi Deshpande
Right. Okay. One
Rahul Agarwal
Employee is again maybe some franchisees employee accountant who are outside the store or inside the store but that’s also very rare. Otherwise all the employees are done by us only.
Pallavi Deshpande
We have achieved our guidance for on the PBT size. You know I am looking at India standalone of 5.5.5%. So any new guidance for the next year on this?
Rahul Agarwal
So now if you look at this financial year meaning the previous financial year the PBT India has been in the range of what 5.5, 5.6.
Pallavi Deshpande
I think
Rahul Agarwal
That that is. That is here to stay. And some again I told you some operating leverage can come in and stuff.
Pallavi Deshpande
More or less we look to maintain it also it should be good. Yeah,
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. More or less it should stay in this range. Maybe
Pallavi Deshpande
Last part would be on this inventory. You know the high rise increase in gold price. Are we planning any other strategy to so that ROC can be taken up further in terms of like last time we did AMA lower than entry per store or something. I’d like more lightweight. Anything happening there.
Rahul Agarwal
So usually when the gold price goes up by May 100 rupees. We increase our inventory at the store only by 30 or 40 rupees. We reduce our volume at the store. That is how we take care of our oc.
Pallavi Deshpande
Right. Okay, I got that. Thank you so much.
Rahul Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Next question is from the line of Siddharth S from Nafa. Please go ahead.
Rahul Agarwal
Hello sir. I mean first of all, congrats on, you know, great set of numbers. So my main query is that I would just like to get a you
Operator
Know, hint on how the volume growth has been despite the, you know, I mean, you know, very positive rally that you know, gold as you know, currently delivery delivered. And if you look at the SSSG currently that the entire jewelry retailers demand, it’s been doing really great. And without factoring in the Akshay this quarter, we’ve done a really great job. So how would you like to give me a hint on the volume growth that has happened currently and going forward and what’s the SSS that’s poised to be or would we be able to sustain the same considering the Akshay sales have been, you know, quite well in few select retailers in their business updates.
So
Rahul Agarwal
Again, because you asked about the volume, I will tell you wherein customer comes with a particular budget. Customer cannot increase the budget when the gold price goes up. Gold price went up by what, 60, 70% of the last one year. Customer does not have the money to spend 70% more than what he budgeted. So customer comes with a particular budget wherein when the prices are low, the volume will be higher. When the prices are high, the volume will be lower. Some segment of customers have of course the ability to expand.
So we don’t even look into that direction because customer comes with inr budget rather than volume budget. And again we also try to push them to standard jewelry. We also do more of precious and cut etc. Again, we ourselves reduce the quality of gold from 22 to 18, 18 to 14. Everything will everything is done for customer to not to feel the pain of buying jewelry when the gold price are higher.
Operator
Okay, understood. So if you can, if you could give me some clarity on the SSS part as well in terms of know be coming up positive with Akshay Tripya 10 that would also be, you know, really helpful.
Rahul Agarwal
For SSGs. For Q4 you mean?
Operator
Yeah. So Q4 and going forward as an overall guidance on these healthy.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. So again SSDs have been behaving very, very crazily positive over the last two, three years. Okay. It has always been what 20, 30% now in last Quarter was very high. If you are trying to put a number for the next three, five years, we usually don’t guide more than 10% SSG for next three to five years. But I don’t have any justice to tell you why you should put only 10% when it has been 20, 30% over the last two, three years. Okay. Or more. But if you are trying to put a 33 to 5 year projection, I always recommend only putting a 10% SSD even though I don’t have a reason for it.
Operator
Understood, Understood. And my last set of question would be that we all know that south has been a major market. When we specifically talk about shelter, there has been a lot of store expansion. When we look at this quarter, if I could get a bifurcation of how much stores that has been expanded on net, on net basis towards south for this quarter and what region are you especially eyeing at going forward, that would also give me a helpful note and that would be my final question as well.
Rahul Agarwal
So Overall we opened 13 stores in South India in the last financial year. And the markets where we have opened are more into metros like Bangalore, Chennai where we want to add Hyderabad, etc. Where we want to add more stores in the metros where Kalyan is already present going forward also will be in the similar region.
Operator
Okay, so you would target, you know, India as a whole damn specific, you know, region wise classification. From my assumption it would be targeting the tire one cities again
Rahul Agarwal
South. But because in south you know that. Yeah, in south you know that we were already penetrated into tier 2, tier 3 markets. And outside south India our expansion is what more than 60 showrooms, 65 showrooms in outside south regions. South May we will restrict in 13, 14, 15 showrooms and which will be majority in the metros like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad.
Operator
Okay. Okay, understood.
Subhanu
Thank you and wish you all the best.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Jennil Barad from Prudent Corporate Advisor. Please go ahead. Jenil, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response from the current questioner. We’ll move to the next question from the line of Ashish Kanodia from Citigroup. Please proceed.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Thank you. The first question was on the Poco showrooms in South. I think last quarter there were 30 focal showrooms out of the 99. What is the number this quarter?
Rahul Agarwal
Meaning there is no more additional focus.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Okay, so it’s the same. The second question is again on the Middle east part. So if I just, you know, do A simple exercise of your inventory console minus standalone which will largely be Middle east, some bit of other international market and some bit for candid but largely Middle East. And if I also look at the gold metal loan, so Middle east has give or take around 3500 crores worth of inventory and GML is around 2300 crore which implies you know like a capital employed of. And this is just purely your inventory related, not taking capex but around 1200 crores.
So I mean hypothetically is it fair to say that you know whenever this Middle east conversion happens where you kind of convert the 38 stores into franchisee stores maybe not 1200 because some of this will be with candy etc as well but broadly maybe 800 to 1000 crores worth of cash flow get generated?
Rahul Agarwal
No. So we have converted only four showrooms from CO to Coco. Okay, which can be what in the range of what 250, 200, 250 crore inventory usually when the gold price goes up. Okay, inventory also goes up but not to the same extent. But you should also note that we have opened two new showrooms there where the inventory went up which has not done a full year revenue and we also renovated five or six showrooms in that space into a bigger, bigger square feet with additional inventory.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
My question was on the, you know with the discussion you have highlighted that there’s a discussion for potential conversion. I’m saying hypothetically, I know like this is still underway but hypothetically if that conversion happens.
Rahul Agarwal
So hypothetically if the conversion happens big time of course cash flow should come. But again as is, I repeat we will come back to you when it is very close to the happening. I don’t want any budgeting from for this what you call the the project which we are trying to plan.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman
Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. Next
Subhanu
Question is from the line of Chan Palak from Vihang India Fund. Please go ahead.
Operator
Hello. Hi. Congratulations from a great set of great set of numbers. I want to ask about the revenue productivity of our franchisees. What is our plan to increase? Is there any plan to increase the revenue productivity per store of our franchisees? And do we see our Coco stores having better revenue per store than Coco and how are trying to bridge that or grow that?
Rahul Agarwal
No revenue per store will be better for Coco than Cocoa because all the owned showrooms in the initial times are bigger stores. Foco comes with a lesser basket size of inventory and lesser basket size of revenue. It is more of a stock turn and profitability which we will see for the franchisee rather than only Revenue per store.
Operator
Okay. And do we see the gap between us and the likes of Kanishk and other competitors decreasing from 50 crore per store to you know, to higher?
Rahul Agarwal
No. No. Can you repeat the question once more?
Operator
So the revenue per store of our franchises is about 50, 52 crore. And do you see that rising in the future by increasing their productivity?
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah. Sgs are there for franchises also. No. So the revenue keeps on increasing for them. Revenue keeps on increasing for our own store also.
Operator
Okay. Okay. Can you give an update on the the pledging unpledging of the pledge share?
Rahul Agarwal
Nothing has changed so. But it’s not the very right platform to discuss on the promoter pledging. But there is no change for the past what 15 months. Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Subhanu Bangalore from Three Head Capital. Please go ahead.
Subhanu
Yeah. Hello sir. Good evening
Operator
Sir. I want to tell bit more about Candia Scandia now profitable. And can you tell me a bit more about the margin profile for Candia?
Rahul Agarwal
Margins higher in candy? Yeah. Margins are higher in Candir because the standard ratio in Candir is more than 70%. So mid-30s are the gross margins in Candir.
Operator
Sorry, I missed the static profile.
Rahul Agarwal
The gross margin store level candir is in mid-30s because the studded ratio are more than 70%.
Operator
Okay. 70%. Okay. And out of your 150 store opening guidance in FY27 how, how many for our Candia?
Rahul Agarwal
So it will be in the similar line of the last financial year. 50, 55.
Operator
Okay. This. This quarter around we added God level 28 stores. But net level we close around buy or store what’s built.
Rahul Agarwal
So as I mentioned before, no it’s not kosher. It is relocating to a bigger premise. Yeah.
Unidentified Participant
One showroom
Rahul Agarwal
Got closed. It was a very small showroom. It was the first showroom in Madurai which was in the location where only two wheelers are allowed to enter. But otherwise there are no store closures.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Due to time constraint we will take this as the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ramesh Kalyanaraman for closing comments. Over to you sir.
Rahul Agarwal
Thank you very much and see you again in the next quarter.
Operator
Thank you sir. On behalf of Kalyan Dwellers India limited that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us and you may now disconnect your