Ajanta Pharma Limited (NSE: AJANTPHARM) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Jul. 28, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Yogesh Agrawal — Managing Director
Rajesh Agarwal — Joint Managing Director
Arvind Agrawal — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Tushar Manudhane — Analyst
Vishal Manchanda — Analyst
Bino Pathiparampil — Analyst
Rashmi Shetty — Analyst
Abdulkader Puranwala — Analyst
Amit Kadam — Analyst
Nirali Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Ajanta Pharma Q1FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in 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 touchstone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded with this. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Yogesh Agrawal, Managing Director of Ajanta Pharma Ltd. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Yogesh Agrawal — Managing Director
Thank you. Good evening and welcome to all of you. With me I have Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, our Joint Managing Director. Mr. Arvind Agrawal, our CFO and Mr. Rajiv Agrawal, our VP Finance and Investor Relations. The results are already with you. We will take you through the business wise performance for the quarter one current year along with the comparison of the previous year same period. The year commenced on a strong note. With revenue from operations growing by 14% and margins remaining resilient despite higher expenses, we remain committed to sustainable growth, strengthening every aspect of our business to create long term value for our shareholders.
Our financial strength continue to improve with ROCE at 33% and return on net worth reaching 26% at the end of June 2025, reaffirming our position among the best in the industry. Our performance resilience is further demonstrated by the strong cash conversion ratio of 80% and free cash flow to PAT conversion of 82% during the period. Let’s move to the business details. Let me take up the international business and I will first start with the branded generic business in Asia and Africa which contributed 41% in the total revenue. So let’s begin with Asia. Ajanta’s Asia business spans nearly 10 countries across Middle East, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
In Q1, the region delivered a sales of 304 crores, up 10% from 277 crores in the previous year. We are pleased to report the launch of 10 new products this quarter primarily in chronic therapies which further strengthens our portfolio in the high potential market. Our continued investments in both people and products reflect our strategic intent to scale this business meaningfully. This expansion reinforces our position for sustained growth in the current year and beyond. Let’s move to Africa. In Q1, our sales from Africa business stood at 228 crores, a slight degrowth of 1% compared to 230 crores in the same period last year.
As previously indicated, the Africa pharma market is Expected to see moderate growth in the current year. As also for Ajanta with the impact of high base in the previous year. Despite the short term headwinds, we continue to strengthen our presence in the region. With the launch of two new products further expanding our chronic therapy portfolio. We remain confident in the long term growth potential and strategic relevance of our Africa business. Let US talk about two other two verticals of international business. Now let’s move to US generics. US generic business contributed 24% in the total revenue during the quarter.
As guided the business performance has been excellent. With Q1 sales at rupees 310 crores against 228 crores. Posting a very healthy growth of 36%. This growth is attributed to five new launches made in the second half of the last year and one new launch in this quarter. We are expecting two to three more launches for the year. Our superior execution continues to keep us as a preferred partner of choice for our buyers. Let’s now move to Africa Institution. Africa Institution. Contribution from this anti malarial business is just 3% now with a revenue of R38 crores in the Q1 against Rupees 42 crores in the previous year.
Posting a degrowth of 8%. As highlighted over the years, this business remains unpredictable with its dependence on procurement agencies and we maintain a cautious outlook on the segment. Now I invite Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, our joint Managing Director to take you through India business. Thank you. And over to you.
Rajesh Agarwal — Joint Managing Director
Thank you. Good evening to all of you. FY 2026 indeed has started well for our India business. Few new initiatives taken in the previous year have started showing good signs coming to the performance. We continue to outpace the IPM, the India pharmaceutical market by 29% as per IQVMC June 2025 with Ajanta delivering an impressive growth of 10% compared to IPM’s 8% growth. Notably our value 70% by 46%.
operator
Sorry to interrupt.
Rajesh Agarwal — Joint Managing Director
Positive trend is.
operator
Sorry to interrupt, sir, but your voice is breaking.
Rajesh Agarwal — Joint Managing Director
Okay. Am I audible now?
Yogesh Agrawal — Managing Director
Yeah, yeah you are audible, sir.
Rajesh Agarwal — Joint Managing Director
Positive. This positive trend is evident across most therapeutic segments in which we operate where our growth has consistently outpaced segment averages. We remain confident of sustaining this momentum in the coming years. In QY FY 2026, India business contributed 32% to the company’s total revenue supported by the launch of eight new products including one first time in the country. During the quarter, sales stood at 409 crores compared to 353 crores in the same quarter of the previous year. Registering a healthy growth of 16%. Our India business also includes revenue from the trade generic segment which contributed to crores in Q1 against 41 crores in the covered market.
We are fifth large in the IPM and among top 10 in our therapeutic segments. As for IQ, we are Mac June 2025 Cardiology contributed 37%, Ophthalmology 30%, Dermatology 23% with remaining 10% coming from pain in the branded sales. The new therapies of gynecology and nephrology are taking good shape and are expected to contribute meaningfully in the coming years. I now invite Arvind Agarwal, CFO to take over the finance to take you through the financial performance. Thank you and.
Arvind Agrawal — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you and good evening to all on this call. Our discussion includes certain forward looking statements which are projections or estimates about future events. These estimates reflect management’s current expectation about future performance of the company. These estimates involve number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. Agenda does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward looking statement whether because of new confirmation, future events or otherwise. We will look at the consolidated financials and provide year on year comparisons. The key financial highlights for Q1FY2026 are as follows.
Total revenue in Q1 stood at Rs.1303 crores against Rs.1145 crores posting a healthy growth of 14% which was in line with our guidance. Our gross margin stood at 79% in Q1, an improvement of 200 basis points over previous year. Improvement in margin was the result of better product mix and favorable API prices. Full year FY26 margin is expected to be around 78% plus minus 1%. Personal cost was at Rs. 303 crores against rupees 284 crores, an increase of 7% over previous year. Our R and D spend was at 4% of total revenue and and is expected to move to 5% for full year.
Lower expenses was due to non filing of ANDA during the quarter. In Q1 expenses were Rs. 56 crores against Rs. 51 crores. Other expenses in Q1 stood at Rs. 373 crores against Rs 263 crores, an increase of 42% from previous year. The expenses were higher due to our thrust on the branded generic business where we are consistently investing in products and people which will keep other expenses elevated in FY26 in mid teen range. The expenses also includes mark to market hedge loss of rupees 25 crores in Q1FY2026. Our EBITDA margin stood at 27% for Q1 against 29% in previous year.
EBITDA stood at Rs. 351 crores against Rs. 330 crores. A growth of 6% in Q1FY26. Higher personnel costs for EMR additions and selling expenses for addition of new therapies and divisions in H2 of FY2025 will keep EBITDA to be around FY25 range in FY26. In Q1 our patent margin stood at 20%. PAT was Rs. 255 crores against Rs. 246 crores. A growth of 4%. Mark to market forex loss stood at Rs. 25 crores. Excluding the impact of forex loss, EBITDA stood at Rs. 376 crores reflecting a 14% growth with an EBITDA margin of 29% which is equal to last year.
PAT grew by 12% with a PAT margin of 21%. If we remove the mark to market forex loss. Other income was at Rs. 26 crores in Q1 which includes forex GN of rupees 9 crores in Q1 FY 2026 income tax stood at 23% for Q1 and is expected to remain in the range in FY22026. We incurred capex of rupees 72 crores during the quarter and is in line with our guidance of rupees 300 crores for this year. Our cash flow from operation stood at rupees 282 crores for the quarter with cash conversion ratio of 80%.
Free cash flow generated was rupees 209 crores with 82% path conversion. This reflects our efficient cash flow management. ROC in RONW continue to improve and be comparable to the best in the industry. Roce stands at 33% and RONW at 26%. At the end of June 2025 with these highlights I open the floor for the question and answer. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
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 Touchstone 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’ll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Rehan Sayyat from Trinitra Asset managers. Please go ahead.
Rehan Saiyyed
Yeah. Good evening to your team and thank you for giving me the opportunity. Sir, I have a couple of questions. First on the R and D side like your R and D side is risen to a fixed product quarter. Could you highlight the three area to prioritizing in India and when we can expect meaningful revenue insect from this investment? Am I audible so?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, your voice is not clear. We are not able to clearly understand what you’re saying.
Rehan Saiyyed
Yeah. I repeat my question again for you sir. This RND stand has risen to 15 crore this quarter. Could you highlight the key strategy areas you are prioritizing in or and when we can expect meaningful impact from these investments?
Yogesh Agrawal
When can we expect meaningful what?
Arvind Agrawal
Therapy focus in the R D. And is there anything which you know we will get from that?
Yogesh Agrawal
No. So R D. As you would see the expenses have been very much in control for the current quarter. In fact it has slightly dipped. Only it became 4% of the revenue as compared to the 5% for the previous year. The focus for the R and D remains in the same therapeutic segments where we are present in India and emerging markets and also for the US and continuously we have been given giving in our investor presentations. Also the number of new product launches which we are making in India and other markets. In my opening comments also I have mentioned.
So all these are outcome of our R and D only. It’s a long cycle. From the time we take the development of the product. Then it goes for the manufacturing generating the data then filing with the regulatory agencies for the approval and then launches. So all the growth which you have seen every quarter we have been giving the growth for the new product which is coming in. That is a result of our R and D only. So already the meaningful results have been seen for last two decades from the R and D output.
Rehan Saiyyed
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. And second on the working capital side sir, working capital efficiency has improved steadily in recent years. Like quarter on quarter. And so do you believe there is a still scope?
Arvind Agrawal
No, I think we have reached quite peak from here. We don’t expect any further, you know, efficiency in the working capital cycle.
Rehan Saiyyed
Okay. Okay. And so the last question on the. Capex that could be valid for the capex among this quarter and for going forward effort.
Arvind Agrawal
See for the capex this quarter we have spent about 72 crores rupees. And for the whole year we have given a guidance of about 300 crores. The normal capex which is the maintenance capex is something in the range of 150 to 200 crores. And balance is something which we are expanding the capacities in some one or the other plants. Like for example now the liquid plant is getting ready in the Pitampur facility. So those kind of additions keep on coming. But otherwise 150 to 200 crore is normal maintenance capex and balance will be the similarity.
It will not be more than this. It will be in this range only. Yeah.
Rehan Saiyyed
Okay, thank you. Thank you. That’s it for my.
Arvind Agrawal
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Tushar from Motilal Oswal Financial services. Please go ahead.
Tushar Manudhane
Am I audible sir?
Arvind Agrawal
Yes, yes, yes.
Tushar Manudhane
Sir. Just on gross margin like sequentially the proportion of the segmental mix has been largely stable or even on the year on year basis. So if you could just help explain the improvement in the gross margin for this quarter compared to fourth quarter. That’s my first question.
Arvind Agrawal
Okay, so I think I have mentioned it already and I will say similar, repeat the same thing that the product mix of course the revenue mix which you are talking about the branded generics and US generics that is something which has changed this time. But there is definitely an improvement in terms of the products which are giving the higher margin as compared to the normal margin. So that is something which is definitely there. And another aspect in this particular quarter is that we do the provisioning for the returns and the expiry. Now that is something which this quarter I got in one off here.
So that has added me almost about 1% improvement in the gross margin.
Tushar Manudhane
So that might be non recurring. So that, that’s why.
Arvind Agrawal
Absolutely that’s why we have mentioned that it will be about 78%.
Tushar Manudhane
We’re on the U. S business side while full year we have guided for 10 to 12 and hours but currently we have not filed yet in quarter till date FY26. So any color you would like to throw on that, Any revision in number?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, no. We are very much on track to deliver in that range. We are very confident of filing 10 the product which are manufactured bios are underway or they have completed. So we are very very confident of filing around 10 NDs plus minus 1 or 2.
Tushar Manudhane
And lastly if you could let us know how many misses we’ve increased in Asia region compared to last year.
Yogesh Agrawal
So as you know we don’t give the region wise breakup of the increase but in the emerging markets for the current quarter we have added only 40 misses. But for the rest of the year we are looking to add another 200. So for the whole year our strength increase will be about 250 people in the emerging markets. So from 2000 it will become 2250. About 10% increase will happen during the whole year.
Tushar Manudhane
Total. I missed the number
Yogesh Agrawal
last year was 2000. In the current quarter the increase is 40. For the entire emerging markets and rest of the year we are expecting another 200 to get added. So for the whole year we are expecting 250 new headcounts to be added. The field size for the emerging markets.
Tushar Manudhane
And just lastly on cardiology as a therapy for us has been little soft for some time now compared to ipm. So if you could just elaborate on corrective measures or how to look at it in terms of growth over coming near to medium term.
Arvind Agrawal
I think it is an intensity way of competition which is increasing. But I think we already started working on it and we should be able to certainly come back to our normal IBM growth. So we will come back on that. It’s just that it is a time lag. Maybe in another 2, 3/4 you will start seeing the improvement.
Tushar Manudhane
Got it. Thank you. Thank you.
Arvind Agrawal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vishal from Systematic Group. Please go ahead.
Vishal Manchanda
Hi, good evening everyone and thanks for the opportunity with respect to the US number this quarter. So can we expect this run rate to in the upcoming quarters the run rate to remain at current levels or it can further ramp up from here?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, the run rate should sustain at the current level going forward. Yeah.
Vishal Manchanda
Are there any limited period exclusivities that we are running here?
Yogesh Agrawal
We have some products which are limited competition products and we believe that the visibility which we have, they should remain like that for the whole current year. We don’t expect any addition in that limited competition products. So we feel comfortable giving the guidance that the current run rate should continue for the rest of the three quarters.
Vishal Manchanda
Okay, and on the oral liquid plant that we are investing in, is that for the US markets?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, it is for the emerging markets row. So we have a very one of the oldest facility, we have very small capacity which now we are expanding. So at Pitampur we are putting, we have put up a brand new facility which is also global standard. So that is primarily to cater to our emerging markets.
Vishal Manchanda
Okay, so are we investing anything for the US market in terms of manufacturing capacities?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, because existing or plants which are there, they are only taking care of the requirements.
Vishal Manchanda
Okay. Okay. And one question with respect to India, like just wanted to understand we do not have very large brands in our portfolio. Any thoughts on that? Like.
Rajesh Agarwal
I think we have to learn good brand. Metexcel is a very large brand. If you take the full family of Metexel it is exceeding about 250 crores. So that’s a large 300 crores.
Vishal Manchanda
Okay.
Rajesh Agarwal
There is Synod range which is about 120 crores. Atorfit is touching 100 crores. Fabric is. There are quite a few good brands which are touching about 100 crores.
Vishal Manchanda
Got it. Got it. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. That’s all from me.
Yogesh Agrawal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to all participants. You may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Pino from Ilara Capital. Please go ahead.
Bino Pathiparampil
Hi, good evening. Your question on the Africa branded business in British terms it looks flat year over year but I believe that your billing for Africa branded business happens in euro terms and euro has appreciated by about 10% over rupee. So in euro terms the business is down roughly 10%. YOY is that the right way to look at it?
Yogesh Agrawal
The benefit for the euro rupee depreciation against the euro that is what we have pointed the 25 crores forex loss which we have incurred in the quarter where we have seen a sharp increase that was in a one month only. I think pretty much the the rupee have depreciated against the euro. So there has been very less impact of the euro rupee depreciation against the euro in the current quarter. So the forex loss mark to market 25 crores has come because of that only. So right now I think there is no impact of the euro rupee depreciation of euro in this current quarter.
Bino Pathiparampil
Okay. So the business is in local currency or whatever currency it is. It is roughly flat. Yui
Yogesh Agrawal
correct. That’s right. That’s right.
Bino Pathiparampil
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Yogesh Agrawal
Sure.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants. You may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Rashmi from Daulat Capital. Please go ahead.
Rashmi Shetty
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. One question on India. Your launch contribution, new launch contribution is also going up compared to the IBM. So in a doing new launches around seven to eight products you are targeting which therapies, I mean which therapies have you launched? This particular products.
Rajesh Agarwal
If I may answer. Yeah. Can you. Yeah, these are. Yeah, that’s correct. These are across all therapies and wherever we find the opportunities that is where the launches take place so few may be in cardiovascular, fewer in gynecology, some in pain and ophthalmology also.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. And you know the subsequent quarters, that is second and third quarters generally it’s very good for the domestic business and we have already reported 15.9% during this quarter. So you know what is the guidance on the India business? You know, is it, is it something that you know we would be in mid teens growth for India business this year in FY26?
Rajesh Agarwal
No. You know, so two things. One is the quarter two for us has not significantly been higher because our product portfolio is not an antibiotic or a seasonal dependent product portfolio. It’s almost the same across all quarters. And secondly, if you look at the growth forecast, we would like to still maintain our original growth forecast which is growing at 2025% higher than the India growth rate IPM growth rate. So essentially if the IPM is growing at 8% then we are aiming in our aspiration to grow at 10% and above.
Rashmi Shetty
Understood. Got it. And related to your Africa branded business you this year you are expecting that there will be a moderate industry growth. But we are also doing lot of new launches and earlier also we have invested into the. So that would also bring some Mr. Productivity. So is this a one off quarter? And from the subsequent quarters at least we would be able to see some single digit growth.
Yogesh Agrawal
Last year we have posted a very robust growth growth in the Africa market we posted the growth of around 28% which was very robust which is significantly it’s 2x of the normal growth which we post normally we’ve seen our growth of 1314%. Against that we posted 28% growth and beginning of the year itself we had guided that considering those were very high base which has got created last year. The current year we would have the growth of the mid single digit. So we still are confident of delivering the same number for the whole year though the first quarter has been the flattish number.
But overall for the whole year we feel comfortable that we should be able to achieve the mid to high single digit growth for the full year.
Rashmi Shetty
Understood. And coming to Asia branded we would be again that 11 to 15% sort of growth.
Yogesh Agrawal
Correct. We have guided for the mid teens and I think we feel we should be able to achieve that kind of number for the whole year. For the Asia.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. And on operating margin front if you remove the forex this quarter we have done around 28.9%. Okay. And. And you have said that you know FY26 EBITDA margin should be equal to FY25. And whereas in last quarter you mentioned that EBITDA margin guidance would be 28% plus or minus 1%. So just need a little clarification. We would be improving on the gross margins. I understand that other expenses and R and D will be higher. But are we on track to achieve at least around 28% this year?
Arvind Agrawal
I think we will be comfortable at 27% plus minus 1%. So you know, you can always say it can be 28, 26 also. So 27% plus minus 1% is something which we will be more comfortable.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. And this is mainly because of increase in other expenses. What is outlook in FY27? Because most of the expenses will be done this year. So expansion in FY27.
Arvind Agrawal
Yes, certainly, certainly.
Rashmi Shetty
Okay. All right, thank you. That’s it from my side.
Arvind Agrawal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abdul Kader from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Abdulkader Puranwala
Yeah, hi sir, thank you for the opportunity. So just first quickly on your Asia business, so would you like to highlight why has that growth been slipped down to say mid single digit? I understand you have been guiding for this but considering the geographies we are into shouldn’t be growing at a slightly faster pace as compared to what we are growing now.
Yogesh Agrawal
As I said, I think we have given the guidance of mid teens and we feel that we are on course to achieve for the full year. So the export business, you have to keep in mind, I think the quarter to quarter numbers may not be the exact reflection. Sometimes the sales get preponed, sometimes get postponed. So inventory full year will be the right way to look at the export business. So 10% in the current quarter we have delivered to the Asia growth. But for the whole year we feel comfortable that we will be in the range of mid teens growth for the Asia.
Abdulkader Puranwala
Understood, sir. And second on the trade generic business. So I mean if we look at the segment, I think it’s growing slightly faster than our core branded generic business. So going ahead, you know, how should we look at this business? What are your growth and investment plans here?
Arvind Agrawal
I think this year, this quarter we have, we are almost flattish our almost degrowth by minus 6%. So it is not something which is very large. I think for the whole year we are expecting it to be around 10% growth.
Abdulkader Puranwala
Understood, sir. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Jitesh, an individual investor. Please go ahead as there is no response from the participants. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask a question.
Yogesh Agrawal
So if there are no more questions, I think we can then close the call.
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, we’ll take this as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Yogesh Agrawal for closing comments.
Yogesh Agrawal
Yeah, are there any further people, anyone wants to have any questions? Are there any calls? If there’s, I’ll be happy to take that. If not, then I’ll give my closing comments. So I guess there are no more callers. So thank you very much everyone for joining this call.
operator
There is one question, there’s one participant.
Yogesh Agrawal
Okay, sure,
Arvind Agrawal
we can take that question. Yeah.
operator
So the next question comes from the line of Yogesh from increased equity. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you sir, for the opportunity. My first question is I wanted to understand on our progress on the new therapies which we have added gynec and nephrology, how are we seeing the growth? Whether it is in line with what we had anticipated. And second on the MRI addition front within the India business for the new therapies, last year we added 200 misses in the in these two therapies. Whether we are looking to add further more.
Arvind Agrawal
Sir, you would like to reply? Yeah. So as far as the India business is concerned for the new therapies, I think we will be able to comment on these therapies only after one year. Because it’s just less than one year that we have launched these therapies. So I think it will be good if we review them or look at their performance by this year end. In terms of BMRs, we have added about 70 people in this quarter for India business and we are expecting another similar number to be added in the rest of the year.
So hopefully about 150 people will get added in this current year.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you sir. That answers my question. Thank.
Arvind Agrawal
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Amit Kadam from Kanara Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Amit Kadam
Somewhere in the middle of the call you mentioned about some comments on the cardiac division. That about why our growth rate is lower than the ipm. I think you referred to some price related, pricing related thing. Can you just elaborate that particular part? What was why the division was lower than IP.
Arvind Agrawal
Cardiac. We have said that our performance has been little lower than ipm. But we are working on it and hopefully in coming quarters you will see the improvement coming in. It may take 3, 4/4 more for correcting that particular situation. But we are quite confident that we should be able to come back to the IPM growth.
Amit Kadam
Any specific category of products or any sizes in the market which led to that or some
Arvind Agrawal
not anything specific. It is just the competitive intensity which keeps on happening and it is cyclical thing which happens like what you must have seen in the past. Also there are some, you know, divisions or some therapies which have not worked well but is now picked up very, very well. So I think same is the case with cardio also. So hopefully it should also come back.
Amit Kadam
And according to you it will take two more than two odd quarters. Two to four quarters. What you are assuming that means this would resume or maybe start betting the ipm.
Arvind Agrawal
Yeah, I think we should be able to match IPM in over, you know, period of two to three quarters.
Rajesh Agarwal
Basically it is and we hope to reverse it soon.
Amit Kadam
Okay, so it’s a volume under performance. It’s nothing to do material with the price point or is it?
Rajesh Agarwal
Correct. There is nothing to do with the price point. Our price remains an optimum pricing. It is mostly the volume and some market share loss in some of the brands.
Amit Kadam
Okay, thank you.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press Star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, as the next question comes from the line of Aman Kumar Singh, an individual shareholder. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Good evening everyone. This question is regarding why we our. Profit after interest has been reduced, I mean has increased just by 4% but top line etc, we have done pretty well. So what was the main reason behind it?
Arvind Agrawal
As we mentioned, you see the other expenses has been the real growth which is there and Forex loss of 25 crores which is the major effect. If you remove the 25 crore loss the growth is almost 14%. So it just the forex loss which is the major contributor to that particular growth of 4%.
Unidentified Participant
So is it a one time loss. What we are expecting or it can. Be a concurrent loss?
Arvind Agrawal
It is one time loss actually because it is the sudden movement in Europe from 93 to 100 which has really caused this particular loss. Hopefully now Europe should not go beyond this level and because of that it will be a one time loss only.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, thank you.
Arvind Agrawal
Yeah, thank you very much.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press Star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Tushar from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Tushar Manudhane
Just one more follow up on us. Your sort of outlook for us is largely driven by existing lost products or do we have new approvals per se which will drive growth for FY26 and subsequently for FY27.
Yogesh Agrawal
So the US we have launched five new products in the last year second half and in the first quarter we launched one product and during the year all going well, we hope to launch three more products. So the last year we have seen some part of the five launches which we’ve done in the second and half some sales have come in but actually the full sales of that few five new products which we launched has started to come from this quarter. So that is where the you have seen and also there have been some increase in the market share in our existing product portfolio.
Also there is a combination of the new launches last second half which has blossomed full year in the current quarter some increase the market share on the existing products as well.
Tushar Manudhane
So this market share gain is on the back of some competitor moving out of that product or pricing?
Yogesh Agrawal
No, no, some competitors have moved out from the product.
Tushar Manudhane
And sorry if I may drag that but is it to do with their regulatory issue or more so from the just purely from the competition probably they are not into the market for that product.
Yogesh Agrawal
Very difficult to say, we don’t have such visibility on what would be the reason which could be there. So it could be capacity, it could be regulatory, it could be anything. Very difficult to comment on that.
Tushar Manudhane
Thanks. Thanks a lot.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next follow up question comes from the line of Yogesh from Incrid Equity. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thanks once again for the opportunity. My question is on the Africa branding business though this year we are seeing some moderation. What kind of collective measures or steps are we taking to resume faster growth in next year?
Yogesh Agrawal
So actually I’ll just once again roll back. As I said last year our growth was 28% which is 2x of our growth of 14% which we normally do. So if you take last year growth of 28% and this year we have guided high single digit. If you take a blended two year growth it will still be in excess of 16, 17% growth. So actually there is no such correction which is required. We are doing just fine. Just last year the base was built up bit high. That’s why we are seeing a slower growth in the current year.
But all the fundamentals are well in place to deliver the sustained growth. There is no such issue which we are facing or correction which is required. I think we should be able to be comfortable and current year as we said high single digit growth. Next year again we should bounce back to the double digit growth because the last year base effect should get normalized in the current year.
Unidentified Participant
Understood, sir. And one more question on the India business. If you could bifurcate India growth into value, volume and new launches.
Arvind Agrawal
So in terms of the volume it was 2.5% against the IPM growth of 1.5%. In terms of new launches we have done against 2.3 of the IPM we have grown by 3.3%. And the price increase was 4.2% for IPM whereas it was 4.4% for us. So practically we are ahead of the IPM almost in every aspect. From 8% of IPM we are at 10.3%.
Unidentified Participant
Understood, sir. Thank you for the clarification.
Yogesh Agrawal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Dikshan Gupta from Geodit pms. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yes, good evening sir. So my question was what exactly was the rationale behind entering the two new segments of nephrology and gynaps?
Arvind Agrawal
I think we spoke about it in the last call in the Q4. I will just repeat that. See nephrology was a natural extension for us because we were covering nephrology through our pain management segment. So that was a very natural extension for us. And gynecology is something which is growing quite well. And we felt that we will be able to add value there by giving lot of good products to the market. So that is where the consideration was. And both these segments are something which we will watch for in the next year.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir, thank you. That was my only question.
operator
Yeah, thank you. The next question comes from the line of Niralisha from ashika Stock Services Limited. Please go ahead.
Nirali Shah
Hi, I have one question. With 80% EBITDA to CFO conversion and 82% FCS to PAT, how are you thinking about capital deployment over the next 12 to 18 months? And would you prioritize scale up in India or Asia versus us or is any inorganic play being explored?
Yogesh Agrawal
So generally there’s no requirement of prioritization one geography or other. There are all kind of resources are independent on each of the geographies and they perform independently. There is no constraint on the resources for each of the geographies. There is no prioritization as such in terms of capital allocation. We will see how to go about it. Still the year is there. So board will make a suitable decision on what will be the payout for the current year and what kind of reserves we build for acquisition for the coming year if any. So we will see.
And in terms of inorganic growth, yes, we have been active on the lookout for finding the right asset and the right opportunity. But these are some things which we cannot force to make it happen. We will see what are the possibilities which are there and if there is anything which we can do on that front also. But actively, we are actively pursuing that avenue as well.
Nirali Shah
Understood. Any specific geography that we are looking for in organic? I am asking this to understand what kind of valuations are available, for example in India or probably any other geography. So what would be our focus? Geography?
Yogesh Agrawal
Our geography focus remains. First, primarily India for the acquisition. And second is Asia and Africa. So these are the primarily branded generic business. Whether it is in India, if India, we would love to do acquisition in India, which would have a synergy with us. Second is Asia and Africa also. We are will be very open to doing that. So these are the three areas where we are. Where we are actively looking.
Nirali Shah
Understood. Thanks.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press Star and one to ask a question.
Yogesh Agrawal
Okay. It seems there are no more questions. So thank you everyone for joining this call. If there are any further questions, please reach out to our investor relations team. They will do their best to answer it. Thank you everyone for joining the call.
operator
Thank you on behalf of Ajanta Pharma. That concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines. It.