Bajaj Electricals Limited (NSE: BAJAJELEC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call dated May. 12, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Shekhar Bajaj — Chairman
Sanjay Sachdeva — Managing Director And Chief Executive Officer
Ellatch Prasad — Chief Financial Officer
Rajesh Naik — Chief Operating Officer, Lighting Solutions
Vishal Chadha — Chief Operating Officer, Consumer Products
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Natasha Jain — Analyst
Aniruddha Joshi — Analyst
Keshav Lahoti — Analyst
Praveen Sahay — Analyst
Dhruv Jain — Analyst
Naitik Mutha — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Sadies and gentlemen, good day. Hello and welcome to Bajaj Electricals Limited Q4FY25 earning conference call hosted by Philip Capital India Pvt Ltd. 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 charge and zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Natasha Jain. Thank you. And over to you ma’ am.
Natasha Jain — Analyst
Thank you Avirath and good afternoon everyone. I, Natasha Jain, on behalf of Philip Capital welcome all of you to the fourth quarter FY25 earnings conference call. From the management today we have Mr. Shekhar Bajaj Chairman, Mr. Sanjay Sachdeva, M.D. cEO Mr. E.C. prasad, CFO Mr. Vishal Chaddha, COO Consumer Products and Mr. Rajesh Naik, COO Lighting Solutions. I now request the management to give their opening comments post which we shall open the floor for Q and A. Thank you and over to you sir.
Shekhar Bajaj — Chairman
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Shekhar Bajaj here. Thank you for attending our Q4 earnings call. We hope you had an opportunity to review our financial results and earnings presentation which are available on the stock exchange. First, I am extremely delighted to welcome Mr. Sanjay Sajdeva into Bajaj Electrical Limited as our new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. She graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the IIT Delhi and later pursued his Master’s Degree in Management from the IIT IM Calcutta. He has joined us from Unilever where he had extensive experience to scale and lead successfully the consumer business in India, China, Brazil, North Africa, Middle East, Russia and finally Japan.
Further, he has consistently driven profitable growth in highly competitive environments, successfully turning around businesses across geographies, delivering strong business result in volatile market conditions and strengthening talent and organizational capability. His global experience will be of immense value to Bajaj Electricals. Given our vision of continuing to grow in India while establishing a strong footprint globally, I’m confident that with his experience coupled with the strength of our people, brand and cultural values, we will continue to drive sustainable and profitable growth. I extend my best wishes and I’m confident that he will adapt swiftly and begin contributing meaningfully to our strategy and vision.
Like we have mentioned in the past, Vishal Chadha, our Chief Operating Officer for Consumer Products and Rajesh Naik, our Chief Operating Officer for Lighting Solutions are driving business growth and we remain committed to continue delivering better results. On the macro front, headline inflation eased to 3.6% in February 2025 driven by a sharp decline in food prices. Further, as per RBI bulletin, recent tariff announcement by US Administration have heightened policy uncertainty posing new headwinds for global growth and inflation. While India cannot remain immune to these developments, the progress achieved on the disinflation front gives headloom to monetary policies to focus on balancing the growth inflation outcome.
The two consecutive RBI rate cuts will ensure liquidity for business in a time of uncertainty. Coming to the financial performance, it has been a strong performance in the fourth quarter with healthy revenue and profit growth. The company has achieved revenue from operation of 1265 crores as against 1188 crores, a healthy growth of 6.5% over the fourth quarter of the previous year. The company’s profit before tax has zoomed to 71 crores which is an increase of over 191%. Consumer product business has continued to show good momentum by delivering a revenue growth of 8.4% on a year to year basis even in a delayed summer.
The EBIT has jumped to 39 crores from 16 crore which is a jump of 138%. The EBIT margins have also improved by 210 basis point to 3.9% owing to a significant increase in gross margins. I would like to congratulate Vishal Chaddha and his team for this significant increase in gross margin and for the robust performance and look forward to continuation of this momentum over next year. While the Lighting solution business revenue remains flat, I’m delighted to see a strong double digit value growth in trade for consumer lighting. I now hand over to Sanjay Sanchadeva for his initial address and then to the CFO for detailed financial and operational highlights.
To Sanjay.
Sanjay Sachdeva — Managing Director And Chief Executive Officer
Thank you Chairman for the warm welcome and kind words. I’m truly honored to join Baja Electricals as MD and CEO. I am equally delighted to connect with all of you for the first time since I joined the company. As you know, Bajaj Ethicals is a storied organization with a proud legacy and rich heritage spanning over eight decades. It is built on the foundation of trust, innovation and excellence. Its strong portfolio of trusted brands, deep rooted customer relationships and widespread distribution network are testaments to its enduring presence and impact across Indian households and industries alike. What particularly excites me is the company’s unique ability to blend tradition with transformation from pioneer advances in consumer products and lighting solutions to its agile approach in embracing digitalization or sustainability.
Having extensive experience to lead businesses successfully across the globe during my tenure at Unilever, I do see immense potential and possibilities in bringing These together to Baja Electricals as we chart out our next phase. I’m truly excited to be part of this iconic company and work alongside a team which I have already experienced to be talented, ambitious and portrays a spirit of excellence. Together with the strength of our people, the power of brand and deep commitment to our values, I believe we can shape a bold, sustainable future and create enduring values for customers, communities and all other stakeholders.
My initial four weeks at Bajaj has involved meetings with employees, associates, strategic partners, factories, R and D center and frontline teams. It reinforced my perception of the strength of the company, the brand and the rich legacy. We have a talented, vibrant and energetic team throughout the company. This strong fundamental reassures me of the immense potential as I said that Bajaj holds. As we move forward, it gives me confidence that the strategy decade of Bajaj Electricals is a winning strategy. This will unlock value and will continue to deliver strong results. We are strengthening our distribution and product strategy through focus expansion, R and D investment and premiumization.
As you know, initiatives like Project Predi is driving scale and success across markets. We are also enhancing brand presence with digital engagement. We are also driving cost leadership with projects like Mulya or Positioning a lightning solution vertical as a key growth driver. With a strong organization culture, a well defined strategy and a committed team, I am confident that we are well positioned to shape a bold and a future ready Bajaj Electricals. The performance of the last two quarters is a testament to of our capabilities. With this I now hand over to CFO for detailed financial and operational highlights.
Ellatch Prasad — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you Sanjay. Thank you Chairman. Good evening ladies and gentlemen and thank you for attending our earnings call. We hope you have had the opportunity to review our financial results and the earning presentations which are available on the stock exchanges. Coming to the overall performance at the onset, let me reiterate that we had a good quarter with a healthy revenue and profit growth. We delivered a strong profit before tax of 71 crores as against rupees 24 crores on a Y on Y basis which translates into an upside of 191%. We have picked up momentum in the second half of the year with our revenues growing 5.7% as against 2.2% in the first half of the year.
We are confident that we will continue the momentum going forward on an annual basis. We delivered a profit before tax of 170 crores as against 173 crores last year. However, please note that last year we had a one time gain of interest on income tax refund of rupees 41 crores and this year we have an exceptional net gain of rupees 21 crores. By adjusting these one time impacts we delivered a profit before tax of 148 crores as against 132 crores thereby resulting in a significant improvement of 12.4% which is commendable. Now coming to the Consumer products the consumer products business registered a strong revenue growth of 8.4% on the back of a good demand for domestic appliances followed by fans and continued trade revival.
Appliances continue to grow strong traction and grew by double digits within appliances, Domestic appliances have shown strong growth going to categories like coolers which showed high double digit growth. Kitchen appliances especially mixers continue to remain under stress even at the industry level, but with the expected demand uptick we are hopeful of better performance in the upcoming quarters. Morphe Richards continued to register high double digit growth. Fan showed a low single digit growth. Our CP EBIT margin has expanded to 3.9% as against 1.8% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The increase in margin is due to a strong expansion in gross margin of 3.6% which has been partly offset by operating deleverage on account of higher depreciation of molds for new products and various other projects for improving our operational efficiencies.
The brand investments were at 2.4%. Our transformation journey to address our product portfolio gaps including premarition of our portfolio is underway and is showing good traction. We continue to improve our logistics and manufacturing efficiencies by a few basis points. In our continued effort to improve our GTM we have created a BU structure for our fans business. This is to enhance our focus on this growing category including the new launches in the premium segment and this initiative is expected to yield results in the coming quarters. Over the next few quarters our focus will be to increase top line and improve the market share while continuing to spend heavily on the brand and other initiatives like revamped GTM, VAV digitalization, manufacturing efficiencies, etc.
Now coming to the lighting solution. The lighting solution business remained flat due to degrowth in professional lighting which also had an impact on the operating leverage. Please note that even within the professional lighting there were some delays in order execution of urban rural bodies that has resulted in the degrowth. Otherwise, all other areas in professional lighting also witnessed a growth. Under our revamp GTM initiative we have delivered a double digit value growth in general trade for this quarter which was close to about 12 odd percent which is probably the highest in the industry. Professional Lighting contracted owing to a drop in outdoor lumineuse.
Our ebit was at 7.8% as against 8.5% reported during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The brand investments from this vertical will continue to be high for the next few quarters. In our endeavor to increase our market share coming to professional lighting the order book stays healthy at 248 crores and we are committed to growing this business. Coming to balance sheet and financial matrices, the balance sheet of the company continues to remain very healthy and strong. All the balance sheet ratios continues to be at a very optimal level because we continue to generate positive cash flow from operations of rupees 87 crores for the quarter.
We ended the quarter with a surplus funds of 509 crores. Now coming to the other strategic initiatives that we had highlighted in the last quarter with regards to our export strategy and with a view to expand companies international footprint and enhance business opportunities in the Middle east and other untapped markets. The board have already approved the incorporation of a wholly owned subsidiary of the company uae. The activity on this is on track and we will share updates with you as soon as possible or as soon as it materializes. Further on the proposal to explore the possibilities, opportunities and feasibility of setting up the company’s manufacturing unit at a suitable location in India.
The company has already commenced the evaluation and exploratory work. We’ll again share the updates with you as soon as it materializes. This all from our side and now we are happy to take the questions.
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 char and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue you may press char and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Hello.
Aniruddha Joshi
Hello, can you hear me? Yeah, yeah thanks. Thanks for the opportunity and a really great set of numbers. So two, three questions. First to Mr. Sajdeva. What are the top three priorities that you would be working on? Whether it will be branding or like the earlier there was a strategy of NIRLEP then Bajaj has one brand, Morphe Richards has one brand and there was one more premium brand the company was also working on. So whether the same strategy continues in terms of distribution what will be the challenges or changes you would like to bring in? Because Baja Stride a lot with Mahindra Logistics also.
So any any plan on that? That is question number one. Question number two is regarding Nashik VRs. Is it already over or it may continue in Q1 Q2 as well. And last question, in terms of like this quarterly results, is there any change in ad spend because we see 100 wips drop in other expenditure also and even the number is lower on a QQ basis as well. So is there any reduction in terms of brand building efforts or. So that’s it for my setting.
Sanjay Sachdeva
Thank you. Thank you. This is Sanjay. I’ll start answering and then I will ask DC to take the other two questions. So as I said, the strategy decade of Bajaj Electricals is a winning one and it’s showing results. I don’t intend to change it, neither the strategy nor the priorities. Of course there will be some tweaking but it will not fundamentally change the direction of the company. So this will be, you know, Bajaj brand Richard Murphy and next. This will. Be all the priorities which has been mentioned will continue and we will drive growth through them. So fundamentally the things will stay same.
Ellatch Prasad
So Anuruddha, let me answer the last three questions. One you mentioned about logistics. Yes, logistics cost continues to be high for us and we are working on it. We have achieved about 100 basis point reduction over the last one year or so. But having said that, there is a long way to go and we are looking at it both internally and if required even will take external help to get the logistics cost to where it should be. That is as far as the logistics is concerned coming to VRs. The VRs in Natick is over. Out of the 117 workers, 115 workers opted for the VRs.
So that is done with as far as the other overheads is concerned, the brand spend continues to be same as last year. So last year was 2.5% and this year it’s about 2.4%. But the overall reduction that you see is because of the operating leverage because the total other overheads remains the same at 205 crores. Last quarter was 205. Last year Q4 was 205 and this year Q4 is also 205 crores. Because we have been able to contain a lot of, you know, unproductive spends, et cetera. And because of the operating leverage kicking in, we have gained that 1% in the other overheads.
Aniruddha Joshi
Okay, understood. No, this is very helpful. Last question. The MFI issue that we were facing in terms of distribution. So is that resolved or now it is already in the base now.
Ellatch Prasad
So Anandu, that continues. I mean we still have a issue on the. On the MFI funds. MFIs are still not started. You know. You know going on full steam as it was earlier.
Aniruddha Joshi
Okay. And any. Any expected timelines to see any resolution or something?
Ellatch Prasad
Not really. So unless there is a.
Aniruddha Joshi
You know.
Ellatch Prasad
You know RBI uses the. You know the limitations that they put on the MFIs. I don’t think that demand is going to come back quickly.
Aniruddha Joshi
Okay. Okay. And this will anniversaries in June quarter or it’s already done. Is the issue already in the base also?
Ellatch Prasad
I didn’t get that on.
Aniruddha Joshi
No, no.
Sanjay Sachdeva
Means.
Aniruddha Joshi
See like we are facing the problem since past four quarters are already. The numbers are.
Ellatch Prasad
Yeah.
Aniruddha Joshi
Oh no.
Ellatch Prasad
We. We face this the entire year of last year. And even in Q1 we are facing the same issue.
Aniruddha Joshi
Okay. Okay. Surely understood. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Thank you.
operator
The next question is from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Keshav Lahoti
Thank you for the opportunity. The congratulations on good set of margins. Working on the consumer lighting we have seen a healthy set of margins. So should we expect this margin to continue going forward? Secondly this quarter the revenue growth has been flat for this segment. Should we expect now upcoming quarter we’ll see growth in this segment.
Rajesh Naik
Yeah. This is Rajesh. If you remember we have been discussing about product mix being changed so that we can drive margins though the price version was there. So we continuously improve our first level margins with the product mix and which has helped us to improve that by almost 2.5% in the FLM itself which will continue. And we are driving the top categories or the product mix where higher margin products are being sold. That should continue.
Keshav Lahoti
Understood. How much was the ad spend as a percentage of sales in this year and what is the expected trend for next year?
Ellatch Prasad
For the full year.
Keshav Lahoti
Yeah, for the full year. And how you are forecasting for next year. As you have highlighted there’s a strong focus on brand investment.
Ellatch Prasad
Yeah. Yeah. Full year is 3% for the year. And next year we plan to take it up. Take it up. So somewhere between about three and a half. Four percent.
Keshav Lahoti
Okay. And this would be on with business side all across or specific for any segment. The higher one.
Ellatch Prasad
No, this is really throughout.
Aniruddha Joshi
Okay. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen Sahai from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Praveen Sahay
Yeah. Thank you for opportunity. My first question is related to the channel mix from the. You know the few quarters past few quarters we are giving A alternate channel. You know the growth numbers and definitely that’s export or government, even the you know modern format retail are doing very well. So if you can give some color on how is the alternate channel contribution right now for you and where you want to see this channel contribution in the way forward.
Ellatch Prasad
So. So yeah alternate channel is about somewhere between 40 to 45% and trade contributes the balance as far as the growth goes. I think E Com growth during the year has not been great whereas we continue to do well in the MFR and MFR and last year trade was a problem for us but this year trade has actually bounced back and trade is showing good growth.
Praveen Sahay
So this mix is you expected to be continue like a 4555 alternate versus GT to continue for the company?
Ellatch Prasad
Yes, it will be somewhere in the range of you know 6040 to 5545.
Praveen Sahay
Fine. Sir, the next question is related to the gross margin and in the note you had mentioned that’s because of a price hike and the the the initiative web initiative, the value analysis and the value engineering. So if you some more color on that your 280 basis point improvement in the gross margin how much is coming from the price hike and in the you know CP and the lighting where you had taken the price hikes.
Ellatch Prasad
So Praveen, I would not like to comment on that because it’s actually very you know confidential. But the assurance that I want to give you is that we continue to work on the VAV projects. Lot of VAV initiatives have been identified and you will see the margin improving continuously. So going ahead also you can expect about 2 to 3% savings coming from VAV and also about 2 to 3% coming from the price X.
Praveen Sahay
Okay fine. And question related to your one off there is a sale of a land you booked around around 30 odd crore. So is that over or something? Also you are expecting the way forward?
Ellatch Prasad
No, nothing as of now. So if there is something we’ll let you know.
Praveen Sahay
Right sir. And lastly on the lighting sir lighting you had a you know consumer lighting around single digit or double digit in the growth in the GT of consumer lighting. So is it possible to you know give some color on how much is the volume LED growth versus pricing.
Rajesh Naik
So just to give input we have been discussing, you must have seen that we have been discussing about volume growth which is coming in and the value growth was not there. But this quarter we were able to drive both volume as well as value growth which is a positive side and we will continue to drive that. To.
Praveen Sahay
Fair to assume that Whatever the price erosion was there in the consumer lighting that has over.
Rajesh Naik
We have been discussing this for last two quarters in lamps category as well as. Sorry in two categories it is almost at the bottom but there is one particular category which is ceiling lights where it will still continue for next one or two quarters so that for ice erosion is still the impact will be there for few quarters.
Praveen Sahay
Okay sir, okay, got it. And if you can give any color on the capex for this year would be helpful. Thank you sir. And that’s last question.
operator
Sir, are we still connected?
Ellatch Prasad
Yeah, we are connected. So yeah the normal capex will be close to about 100 odd crores but as you would have seen the last, I mean the budget board meeting we had said that we are also evaluating factory for which a principal approval of about 300 crores has been taken. So if that materializes the capex would be in the range of 400, 450 crores.
Praveen Sahay
Thank you sir and all the best.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from Philip Capital. Please go ahead.
Natasha Jain
Yeah, so I have three questions. First is in terms of depreciation. The depreciation has considerably increased on a yoy basis but your capex has halfened in terms of your cash flow statement. So what has happened here really if you can explain.
Ellatch Prasad
So Natasha, in last year although we spent about 130 crores most of the capex was in the CWIP capital work in progress because it was not used for, you know, production. So this year it has all come into the capex because we started making products out of these molds and hence the depreciation for the year is very high.
Natasha Jain
Understood sir. So my second question is in terms of channel inventory. Now if I see the season has not been encouraging and secondary sales are slow for all cooling products. Having said that, how do you see a first quarter panning out? Especially do you think that inventory will still continue to be high in the channel and therefore no pricing advantage.
Ellatch Prasad
The look firstly I wouldn’t want to give a flavor of the full quarter.
Vishal Chadha
Hi, this is Vishal here. I mean it’s early into the quarter so I can’t really predict or comment on how the quarter is going to proceed going forward. And from our point of view looking at the tertiary offtakes and how the offtakes happen over a period of time we calibrate our business and our sales into the channel accordingly. So we don’t see any different from what we have been doing in the past so far.
Natasha Jain
So my last question is for Mr. Sandra Sachdeva now. So if you see the consumer durable industry, it has been marked with very heightened competition. And because of heightened competition, the price hype has not happened in this industry for a long time now. I mean even the premiumization or the DLDC price has not been passed on to the channel. The industry is only moving towards premiumization with non premium products not really picking up. So given this background, you know, how do you lead this industry as and what are your broader level strategies to navigate? Thank you.
Sanjay Sachdeva
So first of all, I do believe that premiumization is picking up and I also do believe that price increases have been to some extent the norm. We have also taken the price increases this last year and as EC was saying, there will be, there will be maybe another price increase this year. So there will be therefore both premiumization and price increases to mitigate inflation will be there? Yes, of course it will not be, will not pass on entire inflation. Raw material inflation to consumers part we will absorb through savings but there will be some level of price hike.
Not to forget except for maybe fans where penetrations are pretty high, most of the category penetrations are low and therefore building category penetrations can be a big driver of growth. Replacement market is also pretty large. So therefore I can see many drivers, not only premiumization but also and price increase but also increasing penetration and therefore the market overall market size. So and then there are always the new categories of products which you know will, whether it’s, whether it is, let’s say coolers now or whether it is grooming. So across there will be many categories which will be taking off.
So there are multiple drivers as I said and we do see therefore a huge potential of fast moving FMEG categories.
Natasha Jain
Sure sir, that’s helpful. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhru Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Dhruv Jain
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I had a question on the gross margin. So you know, we’ve seen substance of gross margins quarter on quarter. How should we think about gross margin going forward? Is there any target that you’d like to spell out or you know, what are the levers in your mind apart from cost savings in terms of gross margin? If you could also spell out what’s your premium share? Do we classify it as a percentage of overall sales and is there any target that you’d want to give out going forward in the next two or three years?
Ellatch Prasad
So Dhruv. Yes, you’re right. So a few of the levers through which we’ll be targeting the Gross margin. One obviously is the VAV exercise that we are doing and that will continue. Secondly, the price increases that Sanjay also mentioned of. And third is the premieration. So actually we are far behind the premieration curve. Actually if you look at, you know, the industry and our aim is to reach the industry standards in the next couple of years. So all of this will trigger improvement in the margins, gross margins, any target.
Dhruv Jain
That you would like to give out.
Ellatch Prasad
As far as gross margin is concerned? No targets please.
Dhruv Jain
Okay. So I had a question on the lighting side. So I mean you know, obviously you know we’ve seen that for an issue for the entire industry. But specifically you know, how should we think about growth going forward there? Right. So when do you see this whole realization issue sort of bottoming out and what is the kind of growth that we should expect going forward say in the next three years for the, for Bajaj Electrical in the lighting vertical?
Rajesh Naik
I will not. This is Rajesh again I will not be able to give the exact number what growth we are targeting. But one positive side. As I mentioned earlier there are two categories in consumer rating which has bottomed almost and only one category which is undergoing the price erosion. So I think in next one or two quarters that will also bottom up. And as we have seen in Project Rupdi our reach has increased, our top line has increased and our volumes are almost increased by double digit higher double digits. Which gives us confidence that coming quarters will continue to that journey.
Once that MFI things goes away in terms of another 2/4 MFI impact will be there. What we were indicating little while back. If that goes then we can see the good strong growth into consumer lighting. Talking about commercial lighting which. Sorry, you were saying something?
Dhruv Jain
No. So I have a question with commercial lighting only. So on commercial lighting you spelled out you have an audit book about 450 crores, right? So what’s the execution timeline there?
Rajesh Naik
So there is he mentioned about 240 crores is a order intake which unexecuted order book. The good part is that the same time when we exited last year it was almost half. So when we said that it is delayed execution of order that was because there were clearance which were delayed which means that we have good order book. And coming this particular next few quarters we should be having a good growth in the professional learning as well. May not be in this quarter specifically but because it is delayed we are getting clearances in this month and next month.
So maybe quarter to we should be having a better quarter.
Aniruddha Joshi
Sure. Sir, I had a question on the alternative channel. So you know, you spelled out that alternative channels will probably be between 40, 45%. So but I just wanted to understand if there is any difference in the profitability versus general trade that you can spell out.
Rajesh Naik
No, Dhruv, Generally no. So as we had mentioned earlier, also we don’t differentiate the prices on the alternate channel vis a vis the trade. So we maintain our pricing. So for us, I mean, even if there is a difference, there is a hard, I mean, very small element. But otherwise we don’t see a much difference between trade and old nature.
Dhruv Jain
My last question is that you had launched the next brand last year, if I’m not wrong. So just wanted to understand what’s the contribution of that in your overall mix and how’s that kind of shaped out.
Vishal Chadha
Yeah. So on the, this is Vishal here. Again, on the next brand, it’s going a little slower than what we had anticipated, but it’s still on the upward trajectory and we have expanded the portfolio by launching coolers under that brand. Also, we earlier only had fans that talked about it in the last quarter also we just launched coolers into that. Furthermore, Nix is a brand. When we did consumer research, it came out very clearly that the endorsement of the mother brand as Bajaj would be something that consumers would find, you know, more reassuring. So in communication, we are now calling it NYX as a Bajaj brand.
And it’s growing in line a little slower than our expectation, but still growing very well. And we are in this journey for the long run. We are not looking at it as short term. It’s still a young brand compared to a brand like Bajaj, which is 80 years old. So we have a long Runway for it and we continue to invest behind it disproportionately.
Aniruddha Joshi
Thank you so much. Those are my questions and all the best.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press Star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Natic from NV Alpha Fund. Please go ahead.
Naitik Mutha
Hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So my first question is, you know, what sort of growth are we envy starting in the consumer appliances business? And if you could specify, you know, which categories are you thinking will lead this, you know, growth for us?
Ellatch Prasad
So I think very difficult to answer because hypothetical, you know, you never know which way the market is going. But our aim is to better the market growth. So. And you would have seen, I mean, Q1 also we were aiming for, you know, good growth. But then the War like situation with Pakistan had an impact you know in the, in the, especially in the north zone and I don’t know how long the market is going to get close so so you never know. So but our, our aim is to ensure that we grow better in the industry.
Naitik Mutha
Right. And sir, with that we also expect margins in the segment to you know sort of have the margins to sort of reach say a 5 or 6% or you know how are we looking at this.
Ellatch Prasad
So yes, so we have aspirations of you know I think we have already given a guidance that would like to be a double digit EBIT business in the next three years or so and in the current year we will be targeting somewhere around 6%.
Naitik Mutha
So my next question is in terms of Capex you have taken board approval and if we go ahead with the plan the 300 crores that would be for which product line?
Ellatch Prasad
All across all the product lines.
Naitik Mutha
Right. Okay. That’s it sir. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen Sahai from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Praveen Sahay
Yeah thank you for the follow up questions. So first is related to the balance sheet and in the balance sheet there is one line item that is the investment in the GV and that’s related to the employee welfare trust. So welfare, Employee welfare trust is the joint venture investment. If you can explain why is it so like. Or is it norm.
Ellatch Prasad
So yeah so this welfare fund was established long back in 1981 and if you remember we had a you know demerger which happened with Bajil couple of years back. So at that point in time we were not quite sure under what ratio this entire welfare fund asset has to be divided. But now after that thing has settled down we have decided that the trust will also be bifurcated in the ratio of 60, 67 to 33% which was the net worth ratio of the. Of Bajal and Bell at that point in time. And since you have decided that we also had now have the number of trustees in the same ratio and that is why what led to the.
This disclosure and asset pickup in this, in this, in this quarter and it is a joint control.
Praveen Sahay
Okay, okay, got it sir. Second question is related to the consultancy fee. Is that over or still? It’s going on.
Ellatch Prasad
So probably a lot of the initiatives.
Shekhar Bajaj
Are still going on.
Ellatch Prasad
For example the vav it’s going to continue. We are having our GTM exercise which is continuing a lot of the things relating to the new initiatives like you know setup of subsidiary in the manufacturing. So yeah you will See the. You will see those expenses continuing for at least couple of years now.
Praveen Sahay
Right sir. And one follow up for the lighting, professional lighting, there is a degrowth. So what led to that degrowth in the professional lighting? Is that some project we had, you know, delay or something? What? Exactly.
Aniruddha Joshi
Yeah.
Rajesh Naik
So Rajesh, again I just mentioned some time back we had good order book. If you see our order book as CFO mentioned it is almost double than last year. We had orders in hand but deferred because of the clearances we didn’t receive from the end client and which we are receiving now in this quarter. Okay. Okay.
Praveen Sahay
Got it sir. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, before we take the next question we would like to remind participants that you may press char and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from Philip Capital. Please go ahead.
Natasha Jain
Thank you for the follow up. Sir, just two questions. One, can you call out the EPR amount you’ve taken this quarter versus last quarter same year. Sorry? Last year same quarter and FY25 and FY24 also.
Ellatch Prasad
So EPR for this year is about nine and a half crores. And last year also was similar. Going forward next year it will be a charge of about 18 crores.
Natasha Jain
So why double? Any specific reason or we just correcting.
Ellatch Prasad
It all depends on what we sold seven years back. So the. Yeah, so that’s how it is.
Natasha Jain
Got it. And in terms of consulting fees. So what is the hit that we take in our P and L every quarter?
Ellatch Prasad
Natasha? I don’t often remember it. So I’ll get good get back to you when we meet.
Natasha Jain
Sure. Thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. As there are no further questions I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Shekhar Bajaj
Sheikhar Bajaj, again most of your questions have been answered. I hope we are very happy with the performance and at least all of us are very very positive in terms of looking at the future. Let’s hope this war situation gets over and the market again picks up. But we are still hoping that we should continue to improve our bottom line, our profitability and our margins. As was mentioned by ECE that our margins should go up every year so that we should come to the level of double digit in next three to four years is our objective.
EBIT must go to double digit is. No longer being recorded. And so on. This is enough talk. Hello Natasha.
operator
Yes sir, I am connected.
Ellatch Prasad
Okay.
Rajesh Naik
Okay.
Shekhar Bajaj
So that’s it. So thank you very much all of you for participating and we’ll meet next quarter. Thank you.
operator
Thank you so much. On behalf of Philip Capital India Private Limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.