Eveready Industries India Ltd (NSE: EVEREADY) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Aug. 06, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Siddharth Rangnekar — Investor Relations
Suvamoy Saha — Managing Director
Bibek Agarwala — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Arnav Sakhuja — Analyst
Bhargav Buddhadev — Analyst
Apoorv Bandi — Analyst
Vikas Srivastava — Analyst
Vipul Shah — Analyst
Slade Alexander — Analyst
Priyankar Sarkar — Analyst
Girish Kumar — Analyst
Yash Jain — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen Katri and welcome to the everaddy Industries India Q1 FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will win 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 or later by pressing Star then zero on attached and phone. Please note that this conference has been recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sidharth from CDR India. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Siddharth Rangnekar — Investor Relations
Thank you Muskaan. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Ever Ready Industry India Limited Quarter 1 FY26 Earnings Conference Call. Today we are joined by senior members of the management team including Mr. Managing Director, Mr. Anirban Banerjee, CEO Mr. Vivek Agarwala, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Anirban Ghosh, GM Finance and Head of Investor Relations. Before we commence, let me share a standard disclaimer. Some of the statements that are made on today’s call could be forward looking in nature and actual results could vary from these forward looking statements. A detailed communication in this regard is available in the earnings presentation that has been circulated to you earlier and which is also available on the stock exchange website.
I would like to invite Mr. Saha to share his perspectives with you. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Suvamoy Saha — Managing Director
Thank you, Siddharth. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us on this earnings call for the first quarter of the current financial year. We have already circulated a detailed presentation on the company’s performance during the quarter and I hope you found the information useful. So I will highlight only the key points. First, I would like to quickly touch upon the operating environment that we experienced during the period under review. Consumer demand held on with urban consumption steady. Inflation was moderate. However, discretionary purchasing remained subdued. Rural demand showed a slow recovery. Zinc prices stayed rangebound during the quarter.
Given the tariff concerns and sluggish demand globally, we continue to exercise cautious hedging strategy to protect our profitability. We are now in the process of leveraging the advantages from a robust distribution system that got completed last year for our general trade channel. The rapid rise of quick commerce and continuing importance of E commerce has meant that we anticipate trends faster, replenish with greater efficiency and continue to innovate on products to retain and improve share spends on A and p stood at 8.3% 3.8% and campaigns were rolled out across media. Our revamped lineup in Alkaline is registering strong trends with market share during the quarter coming in at 15.3%.
Positive impact was also seen in the carbon zinc category translating into a dominant 59.1% share in flashlights. We made a number of new launches as we reclaimed momentum in the rechargeable segment. Let me now provide a quick segmental update. Batteries Carbon Zinc has shown growth in both volume and value supported by our extensive distribution network and brand equity. The category has seen moderate price increases in certain SKUs. We took long strides with our Alkaline portfolio drawing a growth of 50bps in market share quarter on quarter to 15.3%. As mentioned earlier, this was driven by performance LED positioning and amplified by advertising campaigns across multiple platforms.
The CD continues to outperform on both volume and value in this quarter. Revenue growth achieved was in excess of 50% year on year with similar growth in volumes, we held our market share steady in the overall consumer batteries market. The development of our greenfield facility at Jammu continues to be on target and will strengthen competitiveness as we seek to grow our share aggressively. Given the trends in zinc prices, we have maintained gross margins at a comfortable range through a combination of cost efficiencies and productions. Flashlights the segment has shown double digit growth led by our lineup in rechargeable flashlights where growth is 39% year on year.
Rechargeable have also seen better traction in modern trade and institutional channels. We expect that the BIS certification will drive consolidation in favor of brands like ours. Battery operated flashlights stayed marginally negative on volumes and value plans. The flashlight business continues to track premiumization in consumer preference and remains well placed to respond with feature rich models. Our distribution capability strength across tier 2, tier 3 and rural markets remain a strength. Lighting LED lighting has navigated a challenging environment marked by continuing price erosion which tends to mute value growth. Despite robust volume expansion across SKUs including emergency lamps, batons, panels all have shown volume growth.
Professional lighting also had healthy growth as we continue to build relationships with target light. The distribution strategy for lighting has evolved with a refreshed and better aligned network of around 250 active distributors. We continue to add adjacent products with this quarter seeing introduction of mcps. Let me move to the financial comments. Revenue during the quarter have shown growth in all categories except lighting remaining flat. The quarter ended with an Overall revenue growth of 7% contributed by strong trends in batteries and flashlights we continue to deliver a strong EBITDA profile at 14.3% thus aligning well with our intent.
I would like to now draw your attention to two notes in our published accounts. First, the Company has entered into a settlement agreement with RealTouch Finance Limited to bring closure to the arbitration proceedings related to certain claims. As discussed in our earlier calls, this dispute arose from borrowings taken by other entities under a facility agreement to which our company was neither a party nor a signatory, nor a beneficiary. However, we became entangled in arbitration from 2019 under the doctrine of the Group of Companies. Under the terms of settlement, the company paid rupees 15 crores to Real Touch and assigned its receivables from the concerned entities carried in our books at nil value along with associated rights and guarantees.
In return, all claims against the company will stand withdrawn. With this settlement, the earlier restrictions on asset disposal all capital restructuring imposed on the company will be lifted upon completion of the required formalities. Second, an exceptional charge of rupees 7.07 crores was incurred towards non recurring excretia payments to workmen as part of a separation exercise. This step was taken to enhance our long term cost efficiency. As for the outlook, we remain keen on delivering profitable growth across each of our segments and delivering a completed refill facility on time. Finally, I would say that everetti is armed with core strengths that are invaluable in the consumer products arena, setting the stage for business momentum.
With that I would like to invite queries from the partners participants and request the moderator to open the floor.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask question may press star in one on the touchdown telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from 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 is from the line of Arnav Sakuja from Amrit Capital. Please go ahead.
Arnav Sakhuja
Taking my question. So my first question is could you. Please help us with the segment wise margins? So. And you have the next question please. Yeah, sure. This quarter we had a relatively high. Other income of 2.4 crores. So what led to.
Bibek Agarwala
Okay, okay. So let me address your segment. Wide margin battery is around 19%, flashlight 13% and the lighting remains flat almost. And the 2.4 to other income having some refund or some custom refund and some tenancy surrendering. We have done some long term tenancy. We had so that is a surrendering competition we got. So going forward, can we.
Arnav Sakhuja
We can’t assume this would be the run rate. This would be more of a one off situation. Right.
Bibek Agarwala
This 2.4 is definitely a one off. One times one off efficient in Korea. Okay.
Arnav Sakhuja
Okay. Thank you for answering my question.
Bibek Agarwala
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of burger from Ambed Asset Management. Please go ahead. Speak little louder please.
Bhargav Buddhadev
Am I audible now?
operator
Yes, sir.
Bhargav Buddhadev
Yeah, yeah. So first of all, congratulations on a strong performance. My first question is that we had some embargo on current fusion on account of this KKR thing. So is it fair to say that post this sort of favorable decision are soon to be made, the embargo will be lifted and that could actually occur, well, forever.
Suvamoy Saha
So as I covered it in my earlier remarks with this settlement, the earlier restrictions, the embargoes were like this. There was restrictions on asset disposal or capital restructuring. So these embargoes would get lifted as soon as the formalities are completed in due course.
Bhargav Buddhadev
Okay. Secondly, sir, if you look at your rechargeable flashlight, revenue growth of about 37% it has been fairly impressive after a very long time. Now that the BIS has been implemented and we are doing a fair amount of new product launches, is it fair to say that we can grow in this segment in double digits for a medium term or maybe two to three years?
Bibek Agarwala
Yeah, I think that’s a fair assessment that you know, the outlook would be double digit in the at least in the medium term. And as far as, you know, the entire BIS implementation is concerned. So the first phase and six months of organizations about, you know, the large organizations have come under it. But as far as the small ones are concerned, 50 crores and below in terms of turnover, they have an embargo to be vis enabled by the end of the year. So it is only after January that we will see if there is a movement where some of our more competitive torches become even more aggressive.
But that being said, I think medium term double digit recharge is a. Yes. Yes.
Bhargav Buddhadev
Great. And sir, my last question is that the alkaline battery manufacturing plant is supposed to get commercialized maybe by the year end. But before that happening, we’ve been gaining steady market share from 9.6% in June to now 15.3. So what is driving? Because obviously we are yet to enjoy any cost advantages from the factory. But despite that we’ve been gaining decent market share. The factory commissioning obviously will become more cost competitive and that could accelerate the market share gain. But if you can spend some time on the key drivers for this market share gain. It would be very helpful.
And that would be my last question.
Bibek Agarwala
Yes, that’s a fair question. I think this entire movement towards drawing market share is also preludes the fact that there will be a factory by the end of the year and thus by the time we hit the later part of the quarter four except on that market share, we will have the advantage of local manufacturing. So our market share gains are also being pivoted one by the fact that there is a significant amount of segment growth in the alkaline and within the entire battery segment. Given that in Zinc carbon we send batteries in India and have distribution which is close to 4.5 million outlets where our batteries are present.
Our ability to push the alkaline segment, given the strength of our distribution and if you would look at over the last two years we’ve also been creating sufficient awareness for our alkaline battery which is better known as Ultima. So the combination of a mature distribution and a solid brand promise, both of them together have pivoted us to this kind of a market share which is, you know, we believe to be a good going given that in 18 months we would have picked up, you know, 15% of 15% share. And thus by the time our local manufacturing comes into play, I think that share quantum will be very helpful in translating into margins.
Hope that answers your question.
Bhargav Buddhadev
Yes, sir. Thank you very much and all the very best.
Bibek Agarwala
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Apoor from Whitestone Financial Advisors Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Apoorv Bandi
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. So my question is currently we are into battery flashlight lighting and then mosquito racket wires. Right. So do we have plans to enter any new segment in next two, three years?
Suvamoy Saha
So, you know, this is a continuing job of management to explore newer avenues for growth. You know, earlier we have articulated that our existing categories already offer us quite significant growth opportunities. And that is something that we need to really first leverage before we look into completely new categories. We are routinely adding on adjacent products, but in terms of getting into a new category altogether, okay, it is at the back of our mind, but nothing has been settled yet. And as I said, we would like to first exploit the growth opportunities existing within batteries, particularly in the alkaline segment, flashlights particularly, particularly the rechargeable segment and the entire vertical of lighting.
I hope that answers your question.
Apoorv Bandi
Sure, sir. My next question is how much percentage of revenue can we expect in wires and NCDs in next two, three years?
Suvamoy Saha
You specifically asking about wires and MCVs, right?
Apoorv Bandi
Yes.
Bibek Agarwala
So you know, specifically it is. You just started the journey on the MCB and the wire actually MCB and you know, this year itself we will. It is a, you know, highly competitive market as well. Right. And thus give some amount of observation in terms of the tractions that we get. So I am not immediately going to be pegging a number yet given that we haven’t done a full quarter of the MCP or the wire. That being said, our overall new products and by new products definitions, I mean products that have been completely new or refurbished in the last 36 months that typically would account for close to 15% of the revenues of the organization as we close the first quarter of the new financial year.
Hope that gives you some sense in the direction of where we are taking with some of the new products.
Apoorv Bandi
Yeah, sure sir. So my last question is on the like among all these categories. Right. I just want to clarify one thing. That only batteries we manufacture. Right. And rest of the things we do trading is my understanding. Is my understanding right?
Suvamoy Saha
No, I. That understanding is not right. We of course manufactured the entire range of batteries. We also manufacture flashlights, we outsource lighting products. One of the outsourcing partners is an exclusive vendor to us. So it is primarily an extension of ourselves. But beyond that vendor we also have other outsourcing partners who are not exclusive to us.
Apoorv Bandi
Got it, Got it. And in NCDS and wires it’s right now, as of today, it’s outsourced. Or maybe these are outsourced.
Suvamoy Saha
These are outsourced. You know, there are as anir my colleague was mentioning, we have a host of NPD’s which have come in over the last few months or maybe you know, a little more than that. And so this whole basket of new products is something that we by and large outsource. Be it a mosquito racket, beat MCB’s, you know, other accessories. So these products are outsourced, but they are as per our design.
Apoorv Bandi
Okay. And also one more question on the demo plant. I think the last con call you. Mentioned that the alkaline batteries would be not only for BTC but would be for only and B2D as well from Jammu client. So what do you mean by OEMs? Is it auto OEMs or something else?
Bibek Agarwala
So these alkaline the batteries have multiple usages, you know, so from high grain devices, whether they are medical devices, gaming consoles, you know, toothbrushes, electric toothbrushes and various other kind of hydrant devices, they are manufactured under various Brands by many kind of people, many kind of private sector companies. So anyone looking to sell those high grain devices will potentially work out and want to combine them with alkaline batteries. So our local manufacturing does provide great opportunity to, you know, provide our alkaline batteries to some of these manufacturers. It also provides us an opportunity of doing white labeling for some of the other, you know, users of alkaline batteries for their various kinds of devices and consumption.
The local manufacturing plant also proves to offer, you know, widely enabling opportunities for alkaline for outside the country as well. So there are, as you rightly said, other than the domestic consumption of our alkaline within our brand there is a host of other possibilities which is in the OEM sector.
Apoorv Bandi
One last question. We are the most growth in altern batteries, right? So is it that market is shifting from carbon Z batteries to alternate batteries or both? The markets are doing simulaciously.
Bibek Agarwala
So there is and there will be some amount of cannibalization as, you know, one chemistry, you know, grows faster than the other chemistry. It’s also to do with the fact that, you know, your carbon zinc In India is 9 out of the 10 people are still buying carbon zinc and 1 out of the 10 is buying alkaline. And many other parts of the world alkaline has moved and become a more dominant shift. Now some of these is also to do with the stage in which the country is, when countries evolve and you have a deeper penetration of some of the high grain devices, as I mentioned earlier, you know, the smart reports, medical devices, gaming consoles, optical mouses, etc.
Etc. Then you require stronger batteries such as alkaline. And as penetration of that in India grows, you will have a demand for alkaline growing up. And at the moment the alkaline far outpaces the growth in the zinc carbon. So yes, there is a marginal cannibalization that is happening. But I think we will see how it pans out over the decade.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vikas Shivas from RBC Financial. Please go ahead.
Vikas Srivastava
Thank you. And great set of numbers. So I come back to my old question. Now that the settlement of the KKR debt is done, you know there are two things which were restricted. One was capital restructuring and capital raising and that was sale of real estates. Now have we as the management put in any thought or plan in terms of rationalizing selling assets? Because I remember we sold Hyderabad many years back. And my personal assessment, with Noida property in Mumbai, Bombay and other parts, there is property worth About a thousand crores or maybe 600 to 1000crores in every area.
Now that’s a very material amount. Do you have any plans? Because now it’s purely procedural. Once you have settled with the arbitration, you need to go to the high court and settle this. So. And how many is there a decision happening? How much time will it take? What kind of numbers or what kind of capital receipts after paying long term capital gains are we expecting in the company in the next three months, six months? That’s my first question.
Suvamoy Saha
Should we respond to that first?
Vikas Srivastava
Yes, yes, please. Mr. Saad, thank you so much.
Suvamoy Saha
Okay. So Vikashji, you know, this settlement happened just one week back. So it is still a little raw. You know, it has to sink in because, you know, the first attempt was obviously to, you know, it was a commercial thing that we needed to get out of this embargo, which we have done. So as we internalize this, you know, the sort of, you know, get settled down to this then will be the next question of, you know, what to do next, you know, in terms of. But you know, the respective. I think the figure is grossly overstated.
But thank you for that. That you hold our validation.
Vikas Srivastava
It is wrong. It is wrong. But I’m assuming there would be some parallel discussions and thought process while the arbitration is going on onto, onto what to do. What are the properties we have? You know, it’s, you know.
Suvamoy Saha
Because I must tell you, the management’s job primarily is to run the business in the best possible manner. Okay. We are, see, we are in no financial crunch that, you know, it was such a big priority that, you know, was driving us to sort of, you know, plan when to sell, what to sell, etc. It is a fact that we have surplus assets which in due course, obviously nobody wants to sit with idle assets. So it would, in due course of time something would happen. But as I said, our prime focus was to bring our company into a sustainable business environment, which we have done.
And now, you know, we were trying hard to get this settlement and it has happened. It will be. The next step would be maybe by end of the, in another couple of quarters, there would be clarity on this. If not in the next quarter. It is very difficult to say. But thank you for raising that question.
Vikas Srivastava
No, no, thank you. Because also the Debt is about 200 crores on the books. Other than that, is there a debt for the alkaline battery plant also other than about the 200 crores which we use? No.
Bibek Agarwala
No. So this includes the date for the Alkaline plant. Also the whatever dates in the book it includes include the around 115 crore that we spent for the alkaline plant. And this is this part of the overall date.
Vikas Srivastava
Okay, my next question was on the, on the, you know we talked about 1800 crores financial year 27. Last call you said it’s still a possibility. I do know that the management and non the investors call, you know we got a little bit of flak when our RTM didn’t work. But that’s the nature of the beast now we are not getting and I’ve been requesting this for the last many quarters that how is it looking now? What is a three year gold? Is 1800 crores on financial year 27 still in the realm of possibility now?
Suvamoy Saha
Because as we mentioned to you earlier also you have really very diligently sort of, you know, being interested in us and we thank you for that. Our plans on achieving a turnover of that size got a little bit of a setback when we tried to, you know, sort of restructure our distribution because we met with challenges which you can say it is ignorance or whatever else you can call it. We did not foresee some of the challenges as a result. As you know, last year was a flat year but we knew that towards the end of the last year itself we would start, you know, growing and which we did.
This quarter we have grown at 7% and you know, I think this is just the start of the journey. So if we can maintain this pace, you know, maybe FY27 is still too soon. But I think in the next three years the company should be in a position to get there. And that is the point that I was trying to drive at. The management is solely focused in making that happen rather than, you know, worrying about, you know, what I do. I said of course, I mean that will happen. I mean, you know, our CFO is sitting here here that certainly takes some part of his bandwidth thinking about, you know, how to restructure things.
But you know, operations wise management is now confident. Having gone through all the challenges, we have sort of made those, you know, in the appropriate manner. The hygiene of the business is very high at this point. So again I’ll just come to the point that I think in the next three years it should be eminently possible. And thank you again.
Vikas Srivastava
Thank you. My last question was on the alkaline battery plant. I heard on the call a little earlier that we’re talking about when is the most realistic. Are we ahead of schedule? Are we behind schedule? When do you think we’ll be in commercial production on the alkaline battery plant?
Suvamoy Saha
We should be in commercial production by March. As we said end of this financial year, which is March. But internally our target is to meet by January.
Vikas Srivastava
Okay, so we could, we could advance that by about. So have we decided now to not give any. Sorry to interrupt. Two year, three year projections now at all after, you know, for the shareholders. Can we say that this is our goal three years from now? You know Mrs. Ha, you did give us a goal earlier and obviously you know, this is equity and this is the nature of the business that went wrong. Can you not go back even you know, to start giving some? Because many companies are giving their roadmap to three, five years and I’ve been requesting for this for the last two, three years. Is there, is there. Has the management turned to conservative or worried just because we went wrong once? Or are we going to now lay out a roadmap in terms of numbers, organic numbers at least.
Suvamoy Saha
We are completely on board with your thought. I mean management must, you know, think of the roadmap and we will share to the extent it is permissible under the regulations.
Vikas Srivastava
Okay, thank you Mr. Sa. And I presume this is your last investors call. So thank you for all your patience and where you brought this company. Hopefully you know, for a stage where patient shareholders like me are on the verge of a takeoff now. Thank you so much.
Suvamoy Saha
Thank you so much.
Bibek Agarwala
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ripple Shah from Ripple Weights Equity. Please go ahead.
Vipul Shah
At the outset sir. I thank Mr. Saha for ably guiding this company and you know, the turbulent times which you know we were facing both on the economic front and also on the, on the route to market changes. So I have only one question. There was a note to the account on some exceptional expenditure on 7.7 crores I believe on resubscribing of or paying some extra here. Is it possible for the company to state at which location was this paid?
Suvamoy Saha
So you know as I first of all thank you for the personal comment. As I covered in my earlier comments, this exceptional charge of 7.07 crores was incurred towards bond recurring expreshia payments to work and as part of a separation exercise and this step was taken to enhance our long term cost efficiency. This was across locations, it was not specific to one because this is a routine exercise that we had done in order to improve our efficiency.
Vipul Shah
Thank you sir, thank you. That’s all from my side and wishes company all the best.
Suvamoy Saha
Thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Slab Alexandra from Arca India Ventures. Please go ahead.
Slade Alexander
Yeah, thank you. Good evening. So firstly, could you please explain how exactly this case that was settled just now with Real Touch Finance, how exactly it was linked to the KKR matter that had been pending. If you could just provide some context there and then about the settlement. Can you explain? So the 15 crore settled, 15 crores that will be paid in cash. In which quarter will it be settled? And then the significance of transferring the loans which have a carrying value of nil. Like what exactly does that mean? So if we have written, if ever written them off as nil and then we are transferred to Real Touch Finance, Real Touch Finance were to recur or recover any of the repayments on those loans, will does everybody have any claim to any extent on those payments?
Suvamoy Saha
I have understood the gift of your questions. Let me answer this. Real Touch with whom we came to the settlement agreement is something we loosely refer to as the KKR method. Because Real Touch is one of, you know, assignee of the original, you know, loans provided by KKR to these entities. So it is the same topic that we are discussing. Real Touch is the kind of, you know, what we loosely used to keep stalking being. Now as I mentioned in the remarks that on account of the settlement, all claims against the company will stand withdrawn.
Also we can make the earlier restrictions on asset disposal and capital restructuring imposed. The embargoes which were imposed on the company will now be lifted once the due processes get completed. Now when this will be taken into our accounts, you would see in the note we have mentioned that the final arbitral tribunal order is awaited. It is only after that award comes and the shipment and other related adjustments, including that implications are fully reckoned, then we will be taking it into our accounts. However, we have also made a mention that we do not expect any additional charge from this settlement as far as the receivables are concerned.
These were written on Nil Act 2021 and they were being carried at nil value. So we have assigned these receivables, you know, as part of the settlement. And there is nothing that the company would get out of those receivables because they have based and assigned process is completed.
Slade Alexander
Okay, can you please tell me what exactly those loans and receivers were? From which parties are they?
Suvamoy Saha
So as I said that why did everybody get entangled in this occupation or truck is because of the application of Proctrine of group companies. So the company at that stage used to have certain entities as A group who had taken these loans, you know, from KKR and now, you know, through assignment. Real touch. So that is it. I mean we have nothing to do with really that borrowing because as I said, we were neither a signatory nor a beneficiary nor a party to that facility agreement. And you were mentioning about the receivable switch up come to meal value in Abir book since 2021.
Right. These were certain advances given by A.B. again, I think around the years of 1718 to the so called group entities which were, you know, an assessment was made and full provision was taken and it was thereafter being carried on at Neil Valley.
Slade Alexander
Okay, and my next question is, so now that the restrictions have been lifted, so is there any kind of capital raise like a right issue or anything that you are looking at in the near future? Because we looked at the cash balance of FY25. So it was with 2 lakhs on hand and then there were 48, around 48 lakhs in current account. So relatively the cash balance has been reducing. So are there any plans that are right to show something to raise?
Suvamoy Saha
As I mentioned to an earlier speaker, the order, the settlement came just about a week back. We are now in the process of getting things regularized because you know, we have to go to arbitral panel, they have to give an order and then there is a due process which will take easily another 2, 3 months. It is only after that or you can say that, you know, you did not wait till the final. That we’ll have to review. You know, what do we do with whether there is any requirement to raise capital? You know, this is still too raw.
I mean we are, I think it is at a very premature stage for us to sort of venture any kind of, you know, comment on this.
Slade Alexander
Okay. And so just one more question about the layoff that had taken place. So you had said it was across all plants, not like any one in particular. Yeah. Could you.
Suvamoy Saha
We have seven. We have six operating plants. So it was in more than one location where this exercise got taken. And you know, whatever was kind of found to be superfluous or redundant, that was taken out.
Slade Alexander
Okay, so can you provide a number, the number of employees that have been laid off? Would that be possible?
Suvamoy Saha
Roughly, I think, you know, roughly it is about 50. 50 odd. What, 55? Yeah.
Slade Alexander
Okay. So I think in yesterday’s call it had been mentioned that the ever Spark subsidiary is under review whether it will be discontinued. So were any of the employees from this subsidiary, was it anything to do with that?
Suvamoy Saha
This Subsidiary has no employees. It is, it is just, you know, a company that was created at one point or of time in order to facilitate imports from China. Currently you know, our CFO whether this is required at all. And you know, we’ll keep you updated in due course.
Slade Alexander
Okay. So you had mentioned earlier, you said that these layoffs are a routine exercise that takes place. So now they’ve been classified as an exceptional item. But will they be recurring? If it’s a routine exercise and then you know this amount of ex Gaussia payout will be happening often, how exactly will it affect the.
Suvamoy Saha
This is really one off and non recurring. However, I mean again, I mean whether we would carry out a similar exercise if the scope presents itself is something that you know, we need to, to take a call. But at this point of time that exercise which we had done is complete. But you know, it is a routine thing for all companies. They do, they keep reviewing from time to time if certain things can be avoided. And you know, then naturally certain things have to be avoided. There are separation costs involved.
Slade Alexander
Okay, so for this upcoming Jammu plan.
operator
I just request you to follow back the Q.
Slade Alexander
Okay, sure, I’ll join the Q. Yeah, thank you.
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please limit your question to two questions for participants. Do you have a follow up question? We request you to rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Priyanka Shakar from Square 64 Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Priyankar Sarkar
I hope I’m audible.
Suvamoy Saha
Yes you are.
Priyankar Sarkar
Hi sir. Good evening. So just three questions. I have one is that could you give us some details of the non core assets which we have and what would be the approximate value? Because I mean one participant mentioned about thousand crores and your is grossly exaggerated. So any broad number on that would be helpful. Point 1. Second question is I understand that you’re not planning to get into any newer categories right now. However, could you elaborate how you are thinking about it? Like any broad parameters would be helpful. Are you trying to use the same distribution for the new category or anything of that sort? That was my second question.
And the third would be any update on the CCI liability which is still sitting on our contingent liability. Rather any update on that.
Suvamoy Saha
Okay, so Priyankar, happy to interact with you again. See with regard to identification of non core asset, we have not done any such exercise yet. We are sitting on some idle assets. Now whether those idle assets will become non core or not is something that we need to take a call on depending on the business outlook. So to answer your question directly, we have not yet identified. This is a matter of speculation whether we are having thousand crore of idle assets or at this point of time. Really we cannot give any remark on that. So we leave it at that.
And in due course of time, as and when the time comes comes. Right. We will obviously keep you updated on the category selection. You know, you yourself have sort of given the needs, brand and distribution will certainly play an effective role in identification of a new category as and when it comes at this point of time. As I said, we have adequate growth opportunities in our existing business which we have not addressed yet. And we are addressing and I think that will take the company to much higher levels of growth that has been seen in the recent past.
With regard to cci, the matter is status quo. It is still at NCLEX awaiting the hearing process.
Priyankar Sarkar
Right, sir. And thank you Mr. Saha for handholding the company over the last three years. So wishing you all the very best.
Suvamoy Saha
Thank you. I appreciate that.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Girish Kumar from wellpro. Please go ahead.
Girish Kumar
Good evening, sir. So I have two questions. The first question is, given the rising demand for battery energy storage system in India, is the EVERID exploring any opportunity to participate in this space?
Bibek Agarwala
Yes, battery management systems and battery storage systems, you know, are going to be something which are important from a future point of view. But at the moment I will reiterate the fact that we have not yet saturated parts of our core. Right. So we are working on trying to ensure that the distribution that we have and some of the core categories that we work upon, they amalgamate very well, whether it is through new products in those cores, etc. Right. So as the management focus currently is very stringently on the core, and yes, there will be a time where we will focus into some of these emerging thoughts that you rightly said. But for the moment we are very much on the core.
Girish Kumar
The second question is regarding, again with the best, whether the EVERID is manufacturing or planning to manufacture lithium cells.
Bibek Agarwala
So we are not planning to manufacture any lithium cell. The only one that we are locally manufacturing are carbon zinc and by the end of the year we will be hopefully initiating the local manufacturer manufacturing of alkali. These are the two chemistries that we will manufacture locally and are mostly preliminant for home consumption. So lithium batteries currently are not, you know, very popular in home consumption.
Girish Kumar
Just one last question. This regarding a new facility coming up in Jammu di Chandra. Could you clarify the current state of this project and its product line.
Bibek Agarwala
So the plan in Jammu is. Will be mostly devoted towards, you know, potentially India’s only alkaline manufacturing for home consumption. And it might have a few other of our cores as well. But it is the driving factor will be alkaline. As I said, it is in the project is in line with our plans. And as Mr. Sahed earlier said, as planned, we will get started before the end of the financial year.
Girish Kumar
Okay. Right. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.
Bibek Agarwala
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash Jean from Ambed Capital. Please go ahead. Yes, Mr. Yash, go with a question please. Your voice is not audible. Yes, sir, go ahead.
Yash Jain
Sorry, sorry, I had some issues. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on the great set of results. Sir. I just wanted to get an idea. What other categories can we possibly get into? Going ahead with the recent launches this quarter, what other categories are we planning to get into?
Bibek Agarwala
So we are currently, you know, very true to our core. We believe that in our core categories of lighting and flashlight, other than batteries, of course, we have a long way to go in trying to leverage the distribution outlay coverage that we have for our batteries. While doing that, I think any categories for the future will revolve around the essence of the brand and some of our distribution coverages. But that being said, currently all our core and new products are revolving around leveraging the core. Hope that answers your question.
Yash Jain
Yes. Okay, thank you.
Bibek Agarwala
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Agna B, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Am I audible?
operator
Yes, sir.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is given, you know, the three categories or whatever NPIs that we have introduced all put together, we are at a 7% kind of growth rate for last three quarters. Do you see it staying at this level or do you see it accelerating going forward? That’s the first question.
Bibek Agarwala
So if you see that 7% isolation. Look, maybe not a great number for you if I understand. But if you see our journey over the last nine quarters, you know, we initiated the route to market with a certain expectations and probably we have underestimated the challenge. And so we learned a lot of things and quickly recover. And last three quarter we are consistently giving the growth. So if you see even the second half of the last year is a growth momentum. So the full year we turn out to a positive. Now the first quarter we are given a 7% growth and we hope that this growth momentum will continue and the hardening part carbon zinc which is core of our business.
It is showing the final growth and alkaline anyway going at superlative growth. You have seen that our presentation of percentage is 50 plus percentage. So combining we are looking forward all the three businesses high single digit growth. As you know the lighting industry facing a huge challenge of the value evolution. Despite we are continuously growing in the volume, the value is getting eroded. So that is the mixed challenge. But I should say if you add. The lighting battery and the there will be a good amount of growth coming there. So we hope to continue growth momentum ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. So probably saying high single digit digit is what we should factor in going forward.
Suvamoy Saha
Possibly we as a management aiming for that.
Unidentified Participant
Got it. Thank you sir. The second question is do you see any scope of operating margin improvement or this is the stable state very dynamic.
Suvamoy Saha
I know always there is an ask for a more operating margin. And just to tell you in this volatile commodity market where the zinc is our core commodity and which has a very sharp increase in their pricing compared to the last quarter last year, same quarter. But still we have been able to hold the margin that is a little bit improved. So we’re all focused to ensure cost leadership along with our revenue leadership.
Unidentified Participant
Got it sir. And the last question is the new products which will eventually take out, you know, bringing around 15, 20% of the overall revenue. What I understand is in battery and flashlight business you largely do cash business and not much of credit. I don’t know if lighting offers you such, you know, nice combination. But what is your take on the new products that you will initiate? Do you foresee higher capital requirement as you bring in those new adjacent products?
Suvamoy Saha
So as we said that the products are coming through the core adjacency and through our common distribution channel. So you know the channel when you go to the channel. Of course, our general trade channel. We are will have a one set of credit terms and the alternate channel which you talk about modern trade or the institution business, other set of credit terms. But the kind of product which we are bringing which are very highly consumer demanding product. And at this point of time we don’t see a much substantial investment from a working capital point of view on this new product launches.
Unidentified Participant
Excellent. Thank you. That answers my question and good luck for the next.
operator
Thank you. The last follow up question is from the line of Slider Alexandra from Artha India Ventures. Please go ahead.
Slade Alexander
Yes, thank you. So I just wanted to understand going back to the ex glacia payment that had been made. So you said 7 crores and this was for 50 employees. Right. So I just want to understand this roughly comes to around 14 lakhs per employee. And these were factory workers, right? This factory labor about 14 lakhs each. Is that correct?
Suvamoy Saha
Yeah, yeah. Mathematics says that.
Slade Alexander
Okay.
Suvamoy Saha
What is your question?
Slade Alexander
Yeah, so yeah, I just wanted that confirmed. So now if the new plant is being set up in Jammu. So will you be rehiring for that or will internal employees be moved internally across plants? So what is the point of laying off these employees if you are going to be hiring?
Suvamoy Saha
As you know, workmen usually are not people who are amenable to transfers. Okay. These people whom we have separated, they were surplus to our requirements. And the cost that we have incurred has a payback of three, three and a half years. At Jammu we will recruit fresh at costs which are, you know, perhaps much more competitive and as per the requirement of the plant. But the transfer of workman from say Mysore to Jammu does not arise. Or for that matter from Assam to Jammu it is not practiced.
Slade Alexander
Got it. Thanks. So just lastly. So now what exactly are the cost savings that you will be expecting after this payout of 7 crores? How much will then be saved by having laid them off? No.
Suvamoy Saha
So as already mentioned the payback is three to four years, right? So you can assume that per year if you multiply that, you know that could be equivalent 4 crore rupees could be the optimization on account of that which I am getting in the entire it is coming in the current year. The more than the cost saving is an efficiency and building the discipline in the plant. Location is also very important because otherwise you know the productivity parameter. There are many other parameters beyond only financial workman. So if you see the workmans are extra because.
Because product lines are not getting fully utilized. We have done a lot of automations. So we keep doing the separation of the people.
Slade Alexander
Okay, thank you. And lastly about the land that we have currently on the balance sheet. So it’s around 60 crores. So 24 fiole land and 36 site of use. So can you just give a breakdown of the location and size wise breakdown of the land parcels that have been held.
Suvamoy Saha
Because you have asked the question, sir. This is a lot of details but let us try to share if you can find out readily available.
Slade Alexander
Sorry. So will it not be available right now? You will share it.
Bibek Agarwala
No, no, hold on. Hold on. We’ll get it done. Hold on.
Slade Alexander
Okay. Okay.
Bibek Agarwala
So the 65 crore.
Suvamoy Saha
You are referring to that land value, right?
Slade Alexander
Yeah, that’s right.
Suvamoy Saha
So our lands are actually, you know, lease or land. And so it is across all the location. If you see that starting with our Kolkata head office, this is recently bought land. And Jammu, the shoulder lies. Then we have the value for Noida, Assam, Haridwar, all carry Lucknow. This carries some values. And that all put together with our 65 groups.
Slade Alexander
Okay fine. So it’s spread across all the locations then.
Suvamoy Saha
Yeah, it’s all across. Across eight. Eight. Eight locations.
Slade Alexander
And each one is being fully utilized. It’s not just a land parcel that may be disposed of or anything like that.
Suvamoy Saha
Each one is utilized.
Slade Alexander
Okay. Thank you.
Suvamoy Saha
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. As that was the last question for the day, I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments. Over to you sir.
Suvamoy Saha
Thank you everyone for taking time out to join us on this call today. I hope we have adequately answered all your questions. If you still have more queries, please reach out to our investor relations team and we’ll be happy to address those. Thank you Once again.
operator
Thank you on behalf of Everaddy Industries India. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.