Emami Limited (NSE: EMAMILTD) Q3 2025 Earnings Call dated Jan. 28, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Mohan Goenka — Vice Chairman & Wholetime Director
Giriraj Bagri — Chief Growth Officer
Rajesh Sharma — President, Finance and Investor Relations
Vivek Dhir — Chief Executive Officer. International Business Division
Gul Raj Bhatia — President, Health Care Division
Analysts:
Percy Panthaki — Analyst
Abneesh Roy — Analyst
Harit Kapoor — Analyst
Tanay Gandhi — Analyst
Ajay Thakur — Analyst
Shirish Pardeshi — Analyst
Kunal Vora — Analyst
Karthik Kashyape — Analyst
Vishal Gutka — Analyst
Nitin Gupta — Analyst
Rahul Agarwal — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Emami Limited Q3 FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call hosted by IIFL Capital Services Limited.
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 the star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Percy Panthaki from IIFL Capital Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Percy Panthaki — Analyst
Hi, good evening, everyone. I’m delighted to hold — host the management of Emami Limited on the Q3 ’25 call. I have with me Mr. Mohan Goenka, Whole-Time Director and Vice-Chairman; Mr. Vivek Dhir, CEO, International Business; Mr. Gul Raj Bhatia, President, Health Care Division; Mr. Rajesh Sharma, President, Finance and IR; and Giriraj Bagri, Chief Growth Officer.
Over to you, sir, for your results presentation.
Mohan Goenka — Vice Chairman & Wholetime Director
Thank you, Percy. A very good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for taking the time to join us today for our earning call for the third-quarter and nine months ended 31st December ’24.
The macroeconomic environment presented a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities this quarter. Urban demand remained subdued — sorry, just a second. The urban demand remained subdued, impacted by rising food inflation and cash retail and wholesale trade. However, rural demand demonstrated resilience supported by favorable monsoons and a good harvest. That said, that said, delayed winter hurt seasonal categories, further adding to the complexities of the market dynamics.
Despite these headwinds, I’m pleased to share that we achieved a robust growth of 8.6% in our core domestic business with volume growth of around 6%. This marks the second-quarter of this financial year where our core domestic business has grown in high-single-digits. And this is after absorbing challenges in male grooming and king, which declined by 4% and 10% during the quarter. BoroPlus range demonstrated remarkable resilience growing by 20% despite delayed and mild wilters, primarily driven by strong performance of MTSeptic Cream. Our healthcare range delivered robust growth of 13%, led by 90% growth in Care, while both Navratna and pain management portfolios grew by 3% each.
After absorbing the decline in revenues by 13% in strategic investments and 3% in international business, our overall consolidated revenues for Q3 stood at INR1049 crores with a growth of 5% in Q3. As you would be aware, a significant milestone was the rebranding of fair and handsome to smart and handsome this month. The new identity will cater to a wider portfolio, emphasizing the brand’s holistic approach to male rooming, offering effective solutions for face, body and hair-care. We see a tremendous opportunity to address a broader spectrum of male rooming needs for today’s dynamic young men. The rebranding is a strategic decision driven by consumer insights that highlight a shift towards individuality, diversity and confidence focusing on natural skin health among today’s young men.
With exciting new product launches on the horizon and Kartik Aryan as the new face of the brand, we are confident that this refreshed identity is smart and handsome as a comprehensive grooming solution will further solidify our leadership in the evolving male grooming market. We also launched Total in the southern region in December ’24, positioned as an aromatic bomb addressing all types of body pain, leveraging the equity of Menthu plus pain bomb in the southern region.
On the distribution front, our organized channels continued to strengthen with modern trade, e-commerce and institutional sales now contributing to 28.6% of domestic business, an increase of 160 basis-points in Q3. These channels grew at nearly double the pace compared to overall business. Importantly, this quarter, we continued to deliver profit-led growth with improved margins across-the-board. Our gross margins expanded by 150 basis-points to 70.3%. EBITDA grew by 8% to INR339 crores with margins expanding by 70 basis-points and profit-after-tax also increased by 8% to INR279 crores. In nine months ended December ’24, gross margins expanded by 140 basis-points to 69.6%. EBITDA grew by 9% to INR806 crores and PAT increased by 12% to INR644 crores.
I’m pleased to inform that the Board of Directors have approved a second interim dividend of 400%, translating to INR4 equity shares for FY ’24. This follows the first interim dividend of 400%, also amounting to INR4 per share declared in Q2. Cumulatively, we have distributed dividends of 800% equivalent to INR8 per share during FY ’24, reaffirming our commitment to maximizing shareholders’ return and aligning our dividend payout policy.
To sum-up, FY ’25 has been a positive year till now with our core domestic business delivering 7% growth, including 5% volume growth for the nine months ended December ’21, ’24. We are confident of closing the financial year-on a high note. Looking ahead, improving macroeconomic indicators and a sequential revival in-demand signals, a positive outlook for the FMCG sector. With the successful rebranding of Smart; Handsome, focused intervention for Kesh King and the anticipated turnaround in our international business, we are well-positioned for robust growth in the coming periods. Our unwavering commitment remains towards driving superior performance across all business segments, expanding market shares and creating sustained value through strategic brand-building, profitable growth and long-term value-creation.
With this, I would now like to open the floor for questions. 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 your touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
The first question is from the line of Abneesh Roy from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Abneesh Roy
Yeah, thanks and congrats on good volume growth and overall momentum. My first question is on the two segments, which have done well this quarter. One is BoroPlus 20% growth and healthcare 13% growth. That’s a good number in the current slowdown and late winter also. So is it because of some base effect, which is favorable or you have really seen market-share expansion or the new product launches which are doing well? And would you say that this is something which can sustain even Q4 because winter is still there and definitely that should further help because it’s a harsh winter, but then it becomes a bit late also in Q4, given when winter will withdraw. How do you see Q4 for these two businesses?
Mohan Goenka
So, Abneesh, yes, BoroPlus growth has been led by the core antiseptic cream, okay, where we have grown phenomenally in double-digits, more than 20%. So yes, I would say the base was also low, but even though even at a lower base, growth of 20% was — was really exciting. Yes, this momentum continues in this quarter also. It looks like because this month, BoroPlus has done exceedingly well, okay. So same is for healthcare. Healthcare is also for the last few quarters, we are continuously giving double-digit growth and — which is led by Zandu Care. And this quarter also, we expect a double-digit growth in both BoroPlus and Healthcare. So overall, yes, I think despite of challenges which I said in my opening remarks, overall some of the brands have done exceedingly well and we see a good momentum also in this quarter.
Abneesh Roy
Sir, and last question will be on the man company. So where do you see the recovery happening? I do understand the overall market, there is a challenge, but what are the steps needed here? Will it be more of a base effect when that normalizes, then the growth will come or something can be done before the base effect helps you? Could you talk about that?
Mohan Goenka
So, Abneesh, we have also this time Giriraj Bagri, who is our Chief Growth Officer. He drives all the new startups and new ventures, the man company, all the — so he is also on the call. Giriraj, you are there on the call, right?
Giriraj Bagri
Yeah.
Mohan Goenka
Yeah. So, Giriraj, you can take this on the man company. He drives all these strategic initiatives, yeah.
Giriraj Bagri
Yeah. Abneesh, thanks for your question and I’m glad to be on this call. As far as the man company is concerned, we are seeing a sequential month-on-month improvement in performance. And going-forward in-quarter four, we expect quarter-four to be significantly better than quarter three.
Abneesh Roy
Sir, but what exactly were the challenges? Was it just a discounting by peers which you have mentioned in the presentation, for example? So is it just because overall urban slowdown is there, that’s the reason, so or there were some any inventory pile-up which you had which is also driving this?
Giriraj Bagri
So there are two or three factors. One factor, obviously, last year if you remember, we had facilities over two months and we had facilities over one month. And therefore, all the activities of major platforms were compressed into one month. The second factor is that we have moved — a lot of the business is moving to and we have also started moving to commerce. We were getting delayed in our shift to quick commerce, but we have caught up with the rest of the market by the end-of-the quarter. So that is the second piece that we see. And obviously, the overall urban consumption, as everybody has been mentioning has marginally impacted us, but we are seeing a significant turnaround on that at this point in time.
Abneesh Roy
Understood. That’s all from my side. Thank you.
Mohan Goenka
And transition also happened, Abneesh. So transition also impacted some bit of it. But now it is in-full control, you know, Giriraj has taken full control. Hopefully, things should improve from this quarter.
Abneesh Roy
Okay. Thank you.
Mohan Goenka
Yeah.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harit Kapoor from Investec. Please go-ahead.
Harit Kapoor
Yeah, hi, good evening. So just two questions. One was on Kesh King. Mohan ji, just wanted to get a sense of what changes now you’re kind of looking to make in that brand and when and if any and when do we start to see that play-out in the market?
Mohan Goenka
So, Harit, we have continuously been mentioning that BCG is on it, okay. You have seen a big change fair and handsome was also not going for some quarters, but we did a significant change in fair and handsome, right? Similarly, Kesh King is being evaluated by BCG. Let them come up with a robust strategy. Once they come up with that and we start implementing, I’m sure the brand should revive. I think it will take another one or two quarters, but then surely we’ll come with the bank.
Harit Kapoor
Got it. Just one question on that. Do you think it’s also a category issue or you think it’s more internal, which you can solve through the BCG changes?
Mohan Goenka
No, definitely category issue is there in the oil we are seeing. It’s not just Kesh king all the other oils are also, you know right now slowed down. So see, but we can’t wait for markets to, of course, market is one thing. If they revise, we will get extra benefit, okay. Whatever changes that needs to be done or for the brand, opportunities in shampoo and other hair-care, there are multiple opportunities which have been identified. And so as I said, a lot of working is going on. So hopefully in the next one or two quarters, you will see something.
Harit Kapoor
Okay, okay. And on smart and handsome, so if you could just give a sense of from going from skin care to overall male grooming, when do we kind of expect this entire rollout in the market? Have we already put it in the market, old stocks out, new stocks in? Just could you give us a timeline of how we look at it from the next quarter or two?
Mohan Goenka
Yeah. So, no, the transition has happened for the base cream and face wash. So it started about a month back. And now the product that you will see in the market is all smart and handsome. In fact, the new advertising has also started from 15th of January for smart and handsome, okay. And as far as the extensions or the entire mail grooming range is concerned, that we will start rolling out in the next three to four months.
Harit Kapoor
Understood. Any changes on the pricing standpoint or the pricing part as well or I think you maintained similar kind of pricing structures for the new launch?
Mohan Goenka
We haven’t changed the prices.
Harit Kapoor
Got it, got it. And lastly, Mohan ji, just on this rural versus urban kind of a mix. Could you just give us a sense of how — how — what is the kind of differential in rural versus urban for you in terms of growth over the — over last quarter or couple of quarters or however, you want to kind of quantify that? Just wanted to get a sense of how much faster is kind of rural growing for you if you could just help us understand that.
Mohan Goenka
So, Harit, BoroPlus is a mass brand, okay, and the growth where if BoroPlus has grown at 20%, of course, it is driven by the rural growth, okay. And so — and as I said, this month also, we are seeing good growth coming in for BoroPlus and some of the other brands also. Also Smart Handsome has revived because of the new launch. So we are seeing — I would say that, at least for us, there has been a improvement in the rural growth. I can only say that.
Harit Kapoor
Got it. I’ll come back for more, Mohan ji. Thank you very much.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question to the management, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Percy from IIFL Capital Services. Please go ahead.
Percy Panthaki
Yeah. Hi. I just wanted to understand the drivers behind the gross margin expansion given that there has been no commodity deflation. Is it a mix effect or have you taken pricing in some of the products, what is the story behind this?
Rajesh Sharma
Yeah, Percy. So, both the price hikes which we have taken or the realizations improvement which we have seen during the quarter and also lower input prices on some of the areas and some of the cost reductions initiatives which we have taken. So, all these put together has helped us to get this margin expansion on the gross margin front.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. Just a follow-up on that. The pricing that you have taken, is it a — in some specific categories? And secondly, you mentioned input cost deflation in a couple of inputs. So which are those inputs where we have seen a deflation?
Rajesh Sharma
We have seen some on the packaging material mostly and also the pricing is mostly across. So not on the LUPs, but on the larger pack, some bit of pricing and on average 1.5% to 2.5% kind of pricing benefited there.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. Understood. Secondly, on Kesh King, we have already, I think put some initiatives in-place to improve the growth. Is there anything still in the pipeline, which is pending in terms of initiatives? I understand you might not be able to see what they are because it’s competitive in nature. But just wanted to understand if there is anything sort of pending in terms of actions from our side or whatever we had to do we have already sort of put in?
Mohan Goenka
So, Percy, as I said, we will have to wait for the strategy to be firmed up, then only we can throw some light, okay, because the category size is huge, opportunity is huge, okay. So — and oil is just one category in the king. Shampoo is another, plus there — plus there are many other categories that we can get into, okay, under this brand. So that has been worked upon. You will have to wait for another four, five months for us to get back.
Percy Panthaki
Sure. Sure. We can move on to the question.
Mohan Goenka
I can only say a lot of work is going on.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. Steve, we can move on.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tanay [Phonetic] from Investec. Please go ahead.
Tanay Gandhi
Yeah, hi. I just wanted you to shed some light on the international business. Are you all looking at new products? What is the reason behind the growth of the Board and just an environment perspective, if you said that kind of a bit more.
Mohan Goenka
Vivek?
Vivek Dhir
Good afternoon. International business, we couldn’t do much in Russia with the very-high interest environment over there and that is the prime reason. When you look at the quarter, we had a massive decline in that particular geography. But cumulatively for the nine months, still Russia has delivered double-digit growth. So that is one area where we had underperformed in this quarter.
The Russia, Ukraine, this business in this particular quarter goes up significantly as a contribution to the overall business and that is where the hurt has been. So Bangladesh by and large has been under control and many of the markets have been under control. So this area due to-high interest-rate environment, we couldn’t extend big credits into the market which usually operate. Usually that market operates between 60 to 120 days over there.
Tanay Gandhi
Got it. And how are we looking at this going ahead? Are you looking at expanding products in the segments or?
Vivek Dhir
Product expansion is happening with respect to different geographies. So we could manage to extend certain NPEs in Africa, especially in the East-Africa region. GCC Leanarism may continue to expand in portfolios of 21 and skincare. Most of them are doing well for us. Bangladesh, we attempted to expand our leading brand, this is oil into shampoos as well over there. A little bit of, I think, mixed response, certain pockets of success, certain pockets we couldn’t do much. Shampoos in Bangladesh. The bottom have fairly fared well over there.
It’s a mixed response in Bangladesh and the political incident in the Bangladesh also — we have gone through in launches and investments over there. We also are very conservative as a business. We were conservative in expanding any credit. We all operate on cash-in that market. So after national distributor, the market is purely on the cash basis. So that is how we are still we have been managed to deliver some growth in Bangladesh in this quarter.
Tanay Gandhi
Got it, got it. Thank you. But you would see some revival, I think…
Vivek Dhir
Yeah, that is almost in last five years, 20 quarters is one bad quarter due to very bad performance in Russia. We have been not been able to deliver the growth, but when we look at 20 quarters, we would have decent growth and we’ll see a good revival in-quarter four again. We should have good revival in-quarter four. So that’s more an aberration which is happening.
Tanay Gandhi
Thank you.
Operator
The next question is from the line of Ajay Thakur from Anand Rathi Securities. Please go-ahead.
Ajay Thakur
Hi, thanks for taking my question. So wanted to understand a bit more on the price increases. For the quarter, I believe we have like about 1% kind of a price increase. So the price increases which had been taken wouldn’t have been reflected in the price increases which we are there for the quarter? Will that be kind of a right assumption or how is it?
Mohan Goenka
Yes, Ajay. So there have been some price increases which have happened, which if the sales has happened in this quarter, it has come in this quarter, right? So not that every product price goes up at one-time. Some SKUs in some products, you know prices, it’s over a period. So some benefit has come in this quarter. So what understanding.
Ajay Thakur
So what kind of weighted-average price increase can we factor for the coming quarter is what I was trying to understand.
Mohan Goenka
It would be in the range of 1.5% to 2%.
Ajay Thakur
Okay, sir. Thanks. Secondly, wanted to also understand a bit more on the tax-rate of what would be the projected tax-rate for the current year and for the year going ahead for FY ’26?
Rajesh Sharma
So, Ajay, for FY ’25, I think the current trajectory should be there around 8%, 9% kind of tax-rate. And going ahead for next year also, it should be within the range of 10% kind of.
Ajay Thakur
Understood. Thanks. Thanks. That’s it my two questions. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Shirish Pardeshi from Motilal Oswal [Phonetic]. Please go-ahead.
Shirish Pardeshi
Yeah, hi, good evening, Mohan ji, Rajesh ji. Thanks for the opportunity. Just one broad question. When we look-back most of the FMCG companies, companies are struggling managing the channel conflict, whether it is quick commerce, modern trade, e-commerce. So I just wanted to understand, you have given me a number at 28% contribution, but if you can specify how this channel looks like the growth, the individual growth and how are you managing this conflict? Of course, we have been beneficiary because we have a very seasonality-led consumption, but I’m just more interested how you look at it.
Mohan Goenka
So, Shirish, definitely the channel conflict is not easy to manage because it still exists and — but these are emerging channels. So our presence is almost mandatory. Of course, there are different SKUs for different channels. For rural, they are — it’s driven by in modern trade e-comm, T-com, it is of course driven by large packs. And for GT, it is driven by emit packs. So this is one-way of managing the conflicts, but still there are some packs which also go in GT and MT e-com. So there the conflict is a little higher. We are trying to solve it, but we have solved quite a bit. That’s why we see this growth coming in these channels. So the only way is getting packs for individual channels is you can minimize the conflict.
Shirish Pardeshi
Just one observation. I mean if I believe what you said, the small packs has done better, but they still you have shown a good improvement in the gross margin. So is the broad SKU mix has remained stable standard or it is still tilted towards large pack?
Mohan Goenka
No, see, the margins have also increased due to the mix because antiseptic cream, the growth has been significantly higher, which is a high-margin product, okay. So due to that, we are seeing a significantly high-growth in margins.
Shirish Pardeshi
Okay. My next question is to Giri. Giri, hi, speaking to you after many years. On the man company, can you tell me how the distribution takes place today after when we changed the hand from the promoters? And which are the channels looks promising again? Yes, we know the modern trade is a bigger opportunity and e-commerce is doing well. But how you’re trying to manage the large accounts, say outlets?
Giriraj Bagri
Hi, Shirish. Good talking to you after a while. So as far as the man company is concerned, at this point in time, it still remains a dominant online play. We don’t have so much of offline exposure as many of the other brands might have though we are present in EBOs and certainly seen modern trade accounts. And fundamentally the way we look at it is that our share of the entire main rooming business is in low-single digits at this point in time as far as PMC is concerned. So from across the channel, I think we have a very significant headroom for growth as far as future is concerned.
Now that the transition in the management is complete and we are now trying to drive the whole business much more aggressively than in the transition phase. So I think we should see a very broad-based recovery as far as-is concerned.
Shirish Pardeshi
Giri, I’m asking this question from the context about two quarters before when we changed the hand, there was inventory and issue. I hope that is behind. So my question is that how much TT contribution over next one year we can see?
Giriraj Bagri
So currently, the broad split in the business is roughly around about 75% is online, 25% is offline and offline is all channels put together, including, EBO, a little bit of modern trade, the institutional channels, all of that. I think the ratio will probably be broadly similar you know as far as a few quarters down the line is concerned. In the longer horizon, obviously, as we start moving into more of traditional trade, then you may see a mix changing a little more in favor of traditional trade than in terms of new channels.
Shirish Pardeshi
Okay. Okay. But inventory should not be an issue going-forward. That’s what you’re consuming.
Giriraj Bagri
Yeah.
Shirish Pardeshi
Is it normal. Is it normalized now?
Giriraj Bagri
Yeah. Inventory is normalized.
Shirish Pardeshi
Okay. Last question. Gul Raj ji, congratulations, good number. Can you share how this growth has happened, maybe sub-segments like, Healthcare maybe what are the growth rates you have achieved?
Gul Raj Bhatia
Hello, Mr. Shirish, how are you? So…
Shirish Pardeshi
Good. Good.
Gul Raj Bhatia
Across-the-board, whether it is hair juices, cough syrup and vigorates, we’ve had strong growth including in our generics and ethical Medical business. So we had good growth across many of the brands in high-double digits. The only challenge has been so-far on where we had a challenge in terms of the growth typically. And we are trying to address this issue by way of looking at some new campaigns, both digitally and offline in terms of regular API.
We are also looking at modernizing the packaging, the — and making it more temporary, more scientific. So besides Pancharishta, all other brands have or all other categories have done well for us, including seven.
Shirish Pardeshi
Sir, last year Pancharishta or maybe after COVID, was a hero product for us. But is there — can you share little more thoughts? Is the profile of the customers is changed and that’s why we are struggling or is it that the change — new modern look something has to be done?
Gul Raj Bhatia
I think it’s a mix of everything. So as you said, during COVID, we had seen very strong growth for the brand. And post-COVID, there has been a decline. I think so there is a factor of the higher base of COVID, but it’s been now a couple of years after COVID. And from what I have understood of the industry per se, and I’m not just talking Pancharishta, which is called as has checked across companies. So this whole format is seeing a bit of a pressure in terms of volume growth across organizations, across categories. We also know that some other companies which have large brands in this format are also struggling.
So like I said, there is a certain challenge which we may be seeing from a consumer perspective in terms of the more modern, the more consumers not wanting to accept it and we are trying to address this issue also from a packaging and other perspective.
Shirish Pardeshi
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mohan ji. All the best.
Mohan Goenka
Thank you, Shirish.
Operator
The next question is from the line of Kunal Vora from BNP Paribas. Please go-ahead.
Kunal Vora
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to understand the base. You want to talk base total, but in the next two quarters, you have a high base due to good winter and good.
Mohan Goenka
Kunal, sorry, your voice is not very clear. Can you…
Kunal Vora
Is it [Technical Issues]?
Operator
The current participant has been disconnected. We will move on to the next question. It’s from the line of Karthik Kashyape from NSEC Securities and Finance [Phonetic]. Please go ahead.
Karthik Kashyape
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. I wanted to understand with the recent acquisition of by Dabur to strengthen their hair portfolio higher all portfolio, do you see any impact on Kesh King?
Mohan Goenka
Sorry, impact on thing from where, Karthik?
Karthik Kashyape
Like Dabur recently-acquired SESA to strengthen their hair oil portfolio. So I just wanted to understand how do you see that?
Mohan Goenka
No, we do — we haven’t seen any impact of that as yet, right? The cash king category was not going for some quarters. It has to do with the category itself, not just cash king category, but the entire oil categories, okay. So we don’t see a big threat from that.
Karthik Kashyape
Okay. All right. Yeah. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vishal Gutka from HDFC Securities. Please go-ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah. Hi, team. Congrats on a good set of numbers. Two questions from one my side. On BoroPlus portfolio, sir, sir, what exactly you have done that has led to this kind of growth despite winter being delayed. Definitely, you’ve change in packaging, product quality might, but might have gone up by notches ahead and distribution. If you can broadly elaborate what you have done that has led to this kind of growth?
And second question on the ethicals portfolio. As per my understanding, up from 1st April 2024, insurance policies have started covering medicine. So in that context, what are we doing to improve the of ethical portfolio? Thank you.
Mohan Goenka
Okay. Gul Raj, you can answer for the ethical portfolio.
Gul Raj Bhatia
Sure, sir. So as you know the — as you rightly said, there is in this move towards covering production insurance policies. So this obviously benefits inpatient departments in the hospitals. We are in generative over the last one and a half years tried to improve our presence and coverage in hospitals. So especially in the larger hospitals, we have more regular visits, we are doing more detailing, we are covering more doctors. And we have not seen much of a direct impact by way of the change in the policy in terms of our business volumes and it’s a bit difficult to quantify that also.
But as we gradually move forward as a industry et and consumers and patients, we definitely see some patients getting admitted to hospitals. And that’s why not only, but even the generic portfolio will benefit because a large chunk of the treatment also involves the generic product. But that could be a gradual process. We may not see a dramatic or a change happening in the short-term.
Vishal Gutka
Got it.
Gul Raj Bhatia
For the industry, for the category as a whole.
Mohan Goenka
And Vishal, as far as is concerned, you know, this was of course, I will not say that the season was too bad for us because 20% growth can only happen if there is a good season. So this time the — whatever was the season was, it was good dry winter, I would say. And we were also aggressive in terms of advertising and some very, very focused approach we took in some key states. So that also helped the antiseptic cream to grow in rural markets. We also changed our trade scheme approach this year. So that also help some bit of it. So it was a combination of good dry skin and you know very aggressive focused approach in certain markets and change in our trade scheme.
Vishal Gutka
Got it, got it. Thank you, sir. I’m wishing you all the best for future quarters.
Mohan Goenka
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Gupta from Emkay Global. Please go-ahead.
Nitin Gupta
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to know like what is the salience of rural now given that we generate 29% from organized channels?
Mohan Goenka
Sorry, rural, is it?
Nitin Gupta
Yeah, rural, in domestic business.
Mohan Goenka
Yeah. So rural would still be — see, if you exclude that, if you take the overall business, it should still be about 53%, 54% of the domestic business.
Nitin Gupta
So 53% is rural and 29% organized channel and rest will be general trade urban. And when we include — when we call-out 29% organized channel, do we include CSD in this?
Mohan Goenka
Yes, we include the institution, yeah.
Nitin Gupta
And any sense like how much CSG would be now for us?
Mohan Goenka
Around 4%.
Nitin Gupta
Okay, okay. And second question is with respect to your opening remarks, when you have highlighted in urban, there is a cash trap in retail and wholesale. Can you throw some light into this?
Mohan Goenka
No. So see that has been there since COVID, okay, it’s — when the demand cycle is poor, then of course, you have to extend a little more credit to the trade. So that trend has still been continuing, you know.
Nitin Gupta
And this also has an effect in terms of when we are doing the trade promotion. Incrementally does the trade promotion look difficult?
Mohan Goenka
No, so trade promotion is different. It all depends on the focus what you have and you know it depends on the demand for the product but…
Nitin Gupta
Okay. Thank you.
Mohan Goenka
So, yeah, significant change [Foreign Speech].
Nitin Gupta
Sure, sure. And my last question is with respect to Smart and handsome and HE brand. So last quarter we have expanded the he brand offering and now with a name change, so like how we want to position both the brands? Will Smart and Handsome will focus only on the facial and he will look after the other male?
Mohan Goenka
Smart and is a widely distributed product. It’s a mass product. It is available in almost 15 lakh outlets, okay. The distribution channels are very different, okay. And so any product that will come under smart and handsome will be mass priced.
Nitin Gupta
Yeah, understood. In terms of category presence, I was basically wanted to gauge, will it be facial and like or you will look to extend this to other…
Mohan Goenka
We will extend it to many different categories.
Nitin Gupta
Okay. So he will be the premium end and Smart and some will be most of the mass product offerings in the similar categories.
Mohan Goenka
The pricing would be different, yeah.
Nitin Gupta
Sure. Sure. Thank you, sir.
Mohan Goenka
Yeah. Sure.
Nitin Gupta
Yeah. Thanks a lot. Thank you.
Operator
The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Rahul Agarwal
Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, one question was the press release talks about liquidity constraints in retail and wholesale trade channels. Just wanted to get a sense of what has been your experience in the quarter in terms of the channel behavior? Does that mean that the channel feeling was actually lower than what it should be, so the growth could have been better?
And secondly, second part of the question is, how will this ease out? Like do you think this eases out like in three to four months and then it helps growth ahead? That’s the first question.
Mohan Goenka
Sorry, what was the second question?
Rahul Agarwal
When does this ease out? Like do you think there is timeline to this or you think it’s a general problem?
Mohan Goenka
No, no, it’s a — as I said, this is a problem which has been going on since many, many, many quarters. It’s not a new problem. Maybe we’ve just highlighted it in our con-call, okay. So that’s why the credit cycles and everything has been consistent since the COVID. So at times when depending on your strategy, we may increase a little bit or we are not seeing a room where we are able to decrease it. That’s the only thing.
Rahul Agarwal
Okay. So…
Mohan Goenka
Credit cycles are very consistent and at times you may have to increase it. That’s it. I don’t know when it will improve. I have no idea.
Rahul Agarwal
Got it, got it. So just to quantify this, maybe Rajesh, you can help. You know as of December balance sheet, like what is the receivable cycle right now?
Rajesh Sharma
Yeah. So Rahul, our receivables would be roughly around 16, 17 days, which is slightly improved from the last year period or March quarter. But still that’s what Mohan ji said is continuing for quite some time now post-COVID.
Rahul Agarwal
Got it. And could you help me with the operating cash-flow number for nine months, if that’s possible? Thank you. That’s my last question.
Rajesh Sharma
So if you look at our nine months profit is almost — EBITDA is almost INR800 crores plus and profit-after-tax would be INR640 crores. So the capex, there is not significant capex till December. So I think around INR500 — INR500 crores, INR50 crores INR550 crores kind of would be the operating cash flows.
Rahul Agarwal
Got it, sir. What I was asking was because of tax adjustment, but I get the answer. Thank you so much. All the best.
Rajesh Sharma
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Vora from BNP Paribas. Please go-ahead.
Kunal Vora
Yeah. Thanks. Am I audible now?
Mohan Goenka
Yes, yes. Please go-ahead.
Kunal Vora
So, you had a strong quarter. The next two quarters you have a like tougher base with delayed winter last-time and harsh summer. But do you believe this growth trajectory which you have right now could be maintained or even improved?
Mohan Goenka
So, Kunal, as I said, we have started with a good note. I don’t know-how the summer will pan-out to be. You are right. We have a good high base for summer products. We will have to wait-and-watch. But, but there is significant aggression in terms of new launches in distribution mixes. So SKU launches, so we will have to see. We can’t be bearish all-the-time. If the market improves, of course it will benefit us, but but the brands I feel most of the brands are under solid ground other than maybe, but hopefully we should do better than what we have done in this quarter. That is my expectation at least.
Kunal Vora
And second one is what’s outlook for urban GT now because that number is seems to be fairly small now below 20% for you. Is it still viable via distributors or are you having any issues retaining the distributors? How is it — how is the outlook of urban GT from here, especially as big commerce and e-commerce continues to rise?
Mohan Goenka
There is no challenge at all as far as retaining the distributors. So — sorry, are you expecting anything else?
Kunal Vora
No, no, I was expecting what’s the outlook? I mean, do you think it will grow, it will shrink? What happens in next two, three years for urban GT?
Mohan Goenka
No, so see the channel, of course does not change — the distribution does not change much. Channels may be changing. We may add some basket to our existing distributors even to cover modern traded e-commerce to make them viable, but nothing significantly changes.
Kunal Vora
I mean, like servicing the retail is still viable because their sales will like keep on shrinking and the Kirana sales could shrink. So is it still viable to service the retailers or direct reach could reduce?
Mohan Goenka
No, of course it’s viable to serve the retailers. Your business price is also increasing, yeah.
Kunal Vora
Understood. Okay. And lastly, a bookkeeping question, goodwill amortization, what should be the number for FY ’26 and ’27?
Rajesh Sharma
Yeah. So for next year also roughly 90 crores kind of amortization would be there, Kunal.
Kunal Vora
Okay, that’s it from me. Thank you.
Rajesh Sharma
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Rajesh Sharma
Thank you all. Thank you all for joining our Q3 conference call. And thank you, IIFL. Thank you, Percy, for arranging this for us. Good day.
Mohan Goenka
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. On behalf of IIFL Capital Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.