Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Hindware Home Innovation Ltd (NSE: HINDWAREAP) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 20, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Naveen Madik — Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Nirupam Sahay — Chief Executive Officer
Rajesh Pajnoo — Chief Executive Officer of Pipe Business
Sandeep Sikka — Group Chief Financial Officer
Yash Mantu — Unidentified Participant
Analysts:
Ronak Oswal — Analyst
Fennel Brahma — Analyst
Maitrey Shah — Analyst
Vinod Krishna — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, Good day and welcome to the Hindware Home Innovation Limited Q4FY26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Arihant Capital. 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 this conference, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr.
Ronak Oswal from Arihant Capital. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Ronak Oswal — Analyst
Thank you. Good evening and welcome everyone. On behalf of Aryan Capital we invite you to Hindware Home Innovation Limited Quarter 4 and FY26 earnings conference call. From the management side we have Mr. Meerupam Sai, CEO of and Consumer Appliance Business Mr. Rajesh Fajnu, CEO of Pipe Business, Mr. Sandeep Sikha, the Group CFO and Mr. Naveen Madik, CEO and CFO of Hindware Home Innovation Limited. Kindly note that some of the remarks or observations made during today’s call might be forward looking such as financial projection or statement regarding company’s plans, objectives, expectations or intentions.
The company does not have any obligation to revise this forward looking statement to reflect any further events or development. For a comprehensive disclaimer please refer to slide number two of the result presentation. With that I would now like to hand over call to the management for their opening remarks post which we will open first for Q and a session. Thank you and over to you Mr. N.
Naveen Madik — Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Good evening everyone and welcome to Hindu Home Innovation Limited FY26 in Quarter 4 FY26. Kindly note that some remarks and observations made during today’s call might be forward. These may include but are not limited to financial projections and statements regarding the company’s plan, objectives, expectations or intentions. The company does not have any obligation to provide these forward looking statements to reflect any future developments or events. For a comprehensive disclaimer please refer to slide number 2 of result presentation.
For FY26 the company reported consolidated revenue. Rupees 2,523 crore in FY20 EBITDA rupees 233 crore against 184 crore last year. The listing has or 27% with EBITDA margin at 9% compared to 7% corresponding period last year profit before tax and exception item was 40 crore compared to negative 28 crore 25 FY26. The reported consolidate revenue of 663 crore compared to 699 crore in quarter 4 FY25. EBITDA for the quarter stood at rupees 63 crore versus 51 crore last year up 23% year on year with margin at 9% compared to 7% in quarter for FY25.
Profit before tax and exceptional item for the quarter was shipping crore as against rupees two crore in the corresponding quarter last year. As communicated on our previous investor calls, in a strategic move to sharpen our focus on the kitchen appliances segment including chimneys, hobs and cooktops, the Board has approved the discontinuation of loss making product categories such as air coolers other than through the E Commerce channel ceiling and other fans, air purifiers, water purifier and furniture fittings.
Please Refer to note number 3B of published financial for further details. With that I now hand over to Mr. Nirupam Sahai to take you through the bathware and consumer business. Over to you Nirupam.
Nirupam Sahay — Chief Executive Officer
Thank you naveen for FY26 the bathware business reported revenue of 1520 crores compared to 1384 crores in FY25. Reflecting a year on year growth of 10%. EBITDA stood at 157 crores against 121 crores last year registering a year on year growth of 30% with EBITDA margins of 10.3% for FY26 compared to 8.8% for FY25, a growth of 160 basis points. Profit before tax was 48 crores in FY26 compared to negative 1 crore in FY25, a positive year on year increase with PVT margins at 3.2% for quarter 4 FY26, the business reported revenue of 397 crores compared to 360 crores in Q4 FY25 representing a year on year growth of 10%.
EBITDA for the quarter stood at 38 crores versus 38 crores last year with a year on year growth of 20%, an EBITDA margin of 9.5% in quarter 4 FY26 versus 8.7% in quarter 4 FY25. Profit before tax for the quarter was 11 crores as against 2 crores in the corresponding quarter last year with pbt margins of 2.9%. The financial figures quoted above are excluding other income and exceptional items as reported in the earning presentation uploaded on the stock exchanges. While the overall demand environment remained relatively subdued during quarter four amid macroeconomic softness and geopolitical uncertainties, the underlying trajectory of the business continued to remain stable.
Our sanitary wear and faucets businesses delivered healthy growth during the quarter. However, the tiles business witnessed temporary supply disruptions due to fuel shortages faced by our manufacturing partners. This in turn impacted product availability and consequently affected sales of tiles during quarter four. At the beginning of FY26, we had clearly outlined our strategic priorities for the bathware business and I’m happy to share that we remain committed to that roadmap. Throughout the year, the consistent execution of these priorities helped the business deliver steady growth and improvement in profitability.
Despite a challenging operating environment, our strategy remained anchored around premiumization, strengthening engagement with our weighted dealer network, expanding distribution across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, and deep engagement with influencers. During the year, we continued to make steady progress across each of these areas, further improving market penetration and strengthening our revenue mix. Both our institutional and general trade channels delivered growth during the year supported by expanding distribution reach and improving brand traction across key markets.
From a channel perspective, both institutional and general trade channels delivered steady growth during the year. Despite a challenging demand environment across parts of FY26, the revenue mix remains healthy with retail as a primary contributor and institutional business contributing 25%, with both channels delivering growth and supporting a balanced diversified demand profile. Alongside this, we continue to invest in the hindwear brand as part of our long term equity building approach. This is now translating into stronger awareness and improving consumer preference metrics across key markets with increasing salience relative to peers.
The business also witnessed continued cost pressures during the year, particularly in fuel, grass and other key input materials driven by geopolitical developments and commodity volatility. While we undertook calibrated price increases and operational efficiency measures, part of the margin improvement was offset by these inflationary pressures. Alongside growth initiatives, we also remained focused on improving operating efficiencies and strengthening the balance sheet through tighter receivables management, inventory optimization and supply chain efficiencies.
Working capital days improved from 103 days in FY25 to 89 days in FY26. The net bank debt also reduced from 308 crores to 234 crores during the year, reflecting stronger cash flows and continued financial discipline. Capacity utilization for FY26 for our sanitary ware plant stood at approximately 82% while the faucet plant operated at 89%, supported by improving demand and operational efficiencies. As we look ahead to FY27, we remain firmly focused on driving profitable growth across the business while continuing to strengthen execution across our strategic priorities.
We have started the year on a very encouraging note with healthy momentum across key categories and markets. Based on the business momentum we are witnessing over the last couple of quarters and improving market conditions, we remain confident of delivering growth in the range of 15 to 20% in FY27 along with an improvement in margins. Turning to Hinde Home Innovation Limited Quarter 426 revenue stood at 80 crores with an EBITDA of minus 7 crores. For FY26, revenue was 370 crores with a negative EBITDA of 20 crores.
As communicated during our Quarter 2 update, we had initiated a strategic portfolio rationalization exercise focused on exiting loss taking categories and sharpening our focus on segments where we believe we have stronger market positioning and sustainable competitive advantage, particularly in kitchen appliances and water heaters. Consequently, year on year comparisons are not entirely like for like. Given the discontinuation in FY26 of categories in general trade such as air coolers and fans, we continue to remain disciplined in executing the strategy through FY26.
Alongside this, we focused on serialization and new product introductions across the portfolio. As a result, the business is now witnessing an improved product mix and stronger underlying profitability metrics, the benefits of which are expected to become increasingly visible from Q1 onwards. The quarter witnessed operational challenges where input cost volatility and intermittent availability of key raw materials impacted sales execution. In addition, margin performance was partially offset by continued cost inflation across key input materials driven by geopolitical and commodity price pressures.
FY27 will be a year of sharper execution, stronger technology integration and focused category led growth. As part of the strategy, we are launching our AI enabled Chimneys range which reflects our focus on bringing smarter and more differentiated products products to consumers. Over the years we have built meaningful scale and leadership in the category and we see a strong opportunity to further strengthen this position through continued technology adoption. You will also see innovation across our kitchen appliances and water heaters portfolios.
This is aligned with our premiumization strategy as consumers are increasingly seeking design led, feature rich and technologically advanced products. We have started the new financial year on a very healthy note with encouraging performance in April as we continue to sharpen our focus on select high potential categories, improve product mix and drive operating efficiencies. We expect meaningful operating leverage to come through over the course of FY27 supporting a stronger profitability trajectory.
At the same time, we are seeing consumer purchase journeys evolve rapidly with customers increasingly researching products in this space online before making buying decisions. In line with the shift, we are strengthening our positioning as a digitally led consumer brand through focused investments in digital marketing, content consumer engagement and platform visibility. Alongside this, we’re also deepening our presence across modern trade, working closely with both national and regional retail partners to further expand reach, strengthen brand visibility and improve market penetration.
With that, I now hand over to Mr. Rajesh Bajnu to take you through the pipes and fittings business. Over to you Rajesh.
Rajesh Pajnoo — Chief Executive Officer of Pipe Business
Thank you Nirubhan Good evening and thank you all for joining us. FY26 was a challenging year. Raw material volatility, unseasonal rain, subdued infrastructure spending created a difficult operating environment across the sector. In Q4FY26, our revenue stood at 186 crores with an EBITDA of 10 crores and a negative PBT of 10 crores and for FY26 the company reported revenue of 673 crores, EBITDA of 41 crores and a PBT loss of 29 crores. The financial figures quoted above are excluding other income and exceptional items as reported in earnings presentation uploaded on the stock exchange in Q4 the industry witnessed a sharp increase in PVC resume with prices moving from approximately 68 rupees per kg to Rs.
114 per kg by March. This rapid escalation created a short term demand acceleration and pricing opportunity across the market. Over the last two years, the industry, including us, had largely been operating on lean inventory levels amid continued raw material price volatility. Our strategy remained focused on maintaining working capital discipline and minimizing inventory led risks during periods of sharp price correction. However, during the sudden spike in resin prices in March due to this geopolitical affair, players carrying relatively higher inventories were better positioned to capitalize on the surge in market demand and temporarily supply tightening.
While January and February witnessed healthy demand momentum, March was impacted by supply constraints and cautious channel behavior due to extreme raw material volatility. As a result, despite healthy underlying demand conditions, we witnessed a revenue shortfall during the month of March 26th. The limited inventory availability during this period also impacted operating leverage and profitability resulting in lower operational EBITDA and a PBT loss for Q4 on the operational front, as shared in our previous call, the Rudkey plant now became operational towards the end of January.
I am pleased to share that a ramp up is progressing as planned and the project remains firmly on track as we move through FY27. We expect volumes from Rudy Key to scale progressively with a more meaningful contribution anticipated in the second half of FY27 as utilization levels improve for Our business working capital has been maintained at 90 days and net bank debt has increased from 385 to 429 crores during the year. Primarily on account of the CAPEX expansion for the Roorkee plant. With the expansion phase now complete, our focus in FY27 will be on driving full utilization of this capacity, improving operational efficiency.
During the year, we also expanded our SKU basket and strengthen distribution reach in key markets. As we enter FY27 we are beginning to see early signs of stability returning to the market. April was a very strong month for us and we are seeing momentum gradually build. While we remain watchful of external factors. We are encouraged by the trajectory of demand and expect the second half of FY27 to be stronger than the first. On the strategic front, we maintain we remain focused on expanding our product portfolio, strengthening our manufacturing footprint and improving operational efficiencies across the business.
We believe the investments and initiatives underway today will further strengthen our competitiveness position and support sustainable long term value creation for all stakeholders. With that, I will now hand it back to the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you all.
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 their touch tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press STAR and
Fennel Brahma
Two
Operator
Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Maitrey Shah with Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Maitrey Shah
Yeah, hello. Am I audible?
Nirupam Sahay
Yes, ma’. Am.
Maitrey Shah
Yeah, hello, good evening. A few questions from my side. Firstly on the growth. So we mentioned that we are looking at a 15 to 20% growth in the bathware side. But our pipes business kind of grew this year. We are also. We’ve also added capacity there and we also exited a lot of the loss making side in the home innovation. So any kind of color on the growth we’re expecting in these two verticals.
Nirupam Sahay
In consumer appliances, we are also targeting 15 to 20%.
Maitrey Shah
Okay. And.
Rajesh Pajnoo
As regards pipes business, see now the prices which I was Talking about from 68 to 114 rupees they were stabilized at around 18 rupees. So we are looking out for a increase of around 15, 14 to 15% in volume.
Maitrey Shah
Okay. And could you repeat what was the price increase or decrease? I couldn’t hear you.
Rajesh Pajnoo
Yeah, it was around 68 rupees per kg. The raw material prices in January and By the end of March, it was 113.
Maitrey Shah
Okay. And on the home innovation side, when do you see this business turning a bit positive and then that positive what? At what scale of operations do you think this profitability would kick in?
Nirupam Sahay
Ma’, am, we expect it in quarter one, FY27 itself. And the full year will definitely be positive for all the actions we’ve taken. Rationalization of portfolio launch, of new products, premiumization, all of them are paying off already. We expect profitability in quarter one itself
Maitrey Shah
And any kind of color on how do you see the pipe business growing? Like any drivers, do you see for this 14, 15% volume growth or is it on the basis of new capacity addition that now we not constrained by capacity anymore?
Rajesh Pajnoo
See, ma’, am, as we said that till January we were doing fine. All these constraints came because of all these positions which are happening now around the world. And because of the raw material volatility. We weren’t able to catch up with this space in the month of March because of the low inventory. And if you see now what we said in my opening remarks, that all those orders which we are carrying, we’re just able to do 50% of our business what we did in last year, March. So we have done that in this April.
We have grown in April last month by around 50%. We are still growing in this month YTD around 30%. So that’s why we are giving the statement that we are looking for a very positive area.
Maitrey Shah
We’ve grown in April by 50% to 50 or 155
Rajesh Pajnoo
0, 50%.
Maitrey Shah
Okay, that is correct. And we’re able to now pass on the cost. So there’s no lag coming in from there. Yeah, it looks
Rajesh Pajnoo
Now because we are now equipped with inventory also. So we look forward for a bright future.
Maitrey Shah
Okay, that is good. And we do see a lot of inflationary issues coming in and impacting the consumption of the buyers. So do you see that kind of hindering our growth for the home innovation and the bathware sector? Because we mostly catering to the retail side of both of these. So any sort of like headwinds we might face not achieving the growth.
Nirupam Sahay
So there are obviously some cost pressures in terms of gas prices, brass prices, etc. Raw material volatility. Having said that, we’ve taken price increases in both sanitary wear and faucets, both in January and then again in April, May to ensure that margins do not get hit. We have not seen a major impact on sales as a result of the price increases because it’s pretty much Happened across not only our industry, but across different industries.
Fennel Brahma
So
Nirupam Sahay
We. And with the growth momentum that we are seeing so far, we are confident of hitting the 15 to 20% growth number that we outlined earlier.
Maitrey Shah
Okay, that is great. And any sort of overall consolidated margin number you would like to target for FY27 and then post that for FY28.
Sandeep Sikka
Yes. We should be able to grow by somewhere in a range of like 5. Q4 was abnormal. Mr. Pajnu has already spoken about it. But our plan is to expand our overall margins from the business on a console basis ranging 1.2% systematically at least for the next two years.
Maitrey Shah
Okay. So 1.5 to 2% annually. We’ll be looking at a raise for the next two years.
Sandeep Sikka
Yeah.
Maitrey Shah
Okay, that is great. Thank you. All the best.
Sandeep Sikka
Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen. If you wish to ask questions, you may please press star and one on your touchdown telephones. Our next question comes from the line of Vinod Krishna with a vendor spell. Please go ahead.
Vinod Krishna
So my question is regarding the bathware business. So however, if you remember from we had a very dependent performance because of losing market share and not in a big way, but a good market share in both the segments. So how was the positioning now and if you can comment about the competitive intensity in terms of number of players, I’m not asking the name. And how is our portion in both sanitary and faucets? If you can go deeper in this, make us understand how the. Is there any new competition?
How is the growth and what is our aim? Like we used to say we want to grow 1.5 times the growth of the industry. So how are we thinking about these things?
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah. So we shared in quarter three that the bathware business grew at 14% and in quarter four we just shared we’ve grown at 10%. That 10% was tempered by the fact that we didn’t get suppliers of end of February and March. That would have added about 2 to 3% to the growth. Seems steady quarters now. And we that the overall that we have and therefore
Vinod Krishna
I don’t know if you’re. We’re not able to listen to you. It’s being cut. I don’t know if it’s the same for everybody.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, I’ll repeat. Yes. Can you hear?
Vinod Krishna
Yes, sir.
Nirupam Sahay
So in quarter three, FY26, the bathware business grew at 14%. In quarter four, FY26, we’ve grown at 10%. But that was affected by non availability of tiles from our suppliers in the end of February and March if we had got supplies as per plan, that would have been additional 2 to 3% of growth overall. We’ve had strong double digit growth in quarter three and quarter four. And like I said, we started this financial year well as well. So we have the growth momentum last year with the kind of growth that we had Overall, which is 10% for the full year, we believe that that is higher than the market growth rate and therefore we have gained market share in FY26.
With the 15 to 20% growth that we’ve targeted for FY27, we are again confident of gaining significant market share in this financial year. So the confidence is high. We’ve grown well in both sanitary wear and faucets and we believe that the growth momentum that we have going forward for this year, again in both sanitary wear, faucets and tiles is going to be in double digits. So we are very confident of the 15% to 20% growth that we’ve talked about. It’s underpinned by strong strategic plans and very strong execution on the ground.
So I think there’s full confidence on the fact that we will grow ahead of the market and therefore gain market share.
Vinod Krishna
So any comment on the competitive intensity, how many players across segments? If you can just, you know, because when we see, we see different regions, different players. So on the. At the national level, how many players do we compete with in bathware and sanitary and faucets? The number of players normally.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah. So at a national level there are five or six major players. So you have some regional players. But a large part of the industry is concentrated in the top five or six. So the real intensity of competition across the country is among the top five or six. You do have some regional competition, but not that significant. The good thing is the organized sector in this industry is fairly strong. So basically we do have a large proportion of the sales in the organized sector. And within that these top five, six players, I won’t name the players, but basically we have
Vinod Krishna
Five,
Nirupam Sahay
Six. But would we be
Vinod Krishna
In the top three, sir, in both sports and sanitary?
Nirupam Sahay
Yes, absolutely.
Vinod Krishna
And we are confident about. So you said you are confident about double digit growth next year. So in the next two, three years also double digit growth. And what are the factors do you think? Sir, if you see, is it distribution, is it what did we do or what are the tailwinds that we are seeing that we are confident about double digit growth next year? And can you comment about the growth in the medium term also or what are the factors driving like.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, so I’ll talk about what has driven growth over the last couple of quarters and what is going to drive growth in this year and that momentum will continue into the coming years because that strategy fundamentally will not change. One which I’ve talked about consistently is a focus on weighted dealers. So large dealers across the country, so city by city mapping of the weighted dealers, making sure that if we are present there we increase our share of wallet and if we are not there we enter those counters.
We did that very successfully in FY26 and we’ll continue that momentum. We’ve seen very high double digit growth from the weighted dealers that we focused on. So that focus will continue in FY27 and going forward. The second is in terms of increasing distribution in tier 2 and tier 3 towns. We focused a lot on that over the last year and we plan to continue that momentum. So that will help to drive growth as well by deepening our penetration in tier 2 and tier 3. The third is in terms of premiumization and new product introductions.
We’ve had a very successful of new product introductions in FY26 which are contributing majorly to sales and also contributing to the improvement in profitability that we are seeing of 160 basis points for the year. Also our. Yeah,
Vinod Krishna
Sorry. Good. Sorry sir. Go ahead sir. Sorry, sorry.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah. Also our efforts in terms of deepening engagement with influencers with plumbers. We are actually the only company which has 1 lakh plumbers registered on our app and the number of active plumbers on the app is increasing every month. So both in terms of absolute numbers and active which means actually transacting on the app that has gone up dramatically over the last six months and we’ll continue that momentum. We’re renewing our focus on architects both in the institutional space as well as through the general trade.
Focus on architects and tier designers is going to strengthen in FY27 and going forward. So through a combination of focus on weighted dealers, increasing our distribution in tier 2 and tier 3 towns, premiumization and launching new products to fill gaps either at price points or in terms of consumer benefits and deeper engagement with influencers. I think all of those have really helped us to grow and to grow profitably will continue this year and in the medium term as well.
Vinod Krishna
Sir, last follow up question. When will we get back to our mid teens margins, EBITDA margins that we used to do? Because we also, I don’t know, one year back in the Sandeep JI mentioned that there’s a huge gain we made in our manufacturing process in terms of reducing our Wastage or something like that. Maybe I’m wrong. Better throughput. So when will we get back to our mid teens or mid teens is not there. We should not model our medium term also EBITDA margin for bathware.
Nirupam Sahay
So the objective that we’ve set for ourselves and we are confident of delivering on is a 1 to 2% improvement in the margin year on year. So in this financial year we’ve already hit ebitda margin of 10.3%. We are confident of delivering about you know, between 1 and 2% improvement in the the EBITDA margin in this financial year and another 1 to 2% in the next year as well.
Vinod Krishna
So we will go to 15, 16 and stop there. That would be the peak. So can I. Or 14. So what would be our. Where will we go? And mostly
Nirupam Sahay
Right now, right now I’d like to talk about the outlook for the next two years and then obviously we’ll reevaluate where it can go after that. But yeah, so we will hint the teams within this year and next year.
Vinod Krishna
Can you
Nirupam Sahay
Like where are the margin gains coming? Sir, I
Vinod Krishna
Mean, thank you sir. This is the last question.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, so yeah, so manufacturing efficiencies, so better capacity utilization, operating efficiencies of the plants which we focused on and then launching a lot of new products at higher gross margins. The premiumization strategy that I talked about also helps in terms of profitability. So really focusing on our mid premium and premium ranges to improve the profitability mix. So those are the two primary growth drivers in terms of profitability.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you sir. Thank you very much.
Operator
Thank you. Participants, to ask a question, you may press star and 1. Our next question comes from the line of Yash Mantu, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yash Mantu
Hi, good evening and thank you so much for taking my question. Can you please talk about the industry size for both sanitary and faucet wear? Because I remember used to give that number in the presentations but I think you stopped giving that number. Can you please give that number?
Nirupam Sahay
So the sanitary ware market size is roughly about 7 to 8,000 crores and the faucet market is roughly about 13 to 14,000 crores. So it’s a larger market.
Yash Mantu
Okay. Okay, thank you. And when you talk about a 15 to 20% growth in bashware, how much would that be coming from sanitary and how much would that be from faucet?
Nirupam Sahay
So sanitary wear will be in the early teens and faucets will be a few, 3 or 4% higher than that.
Yash Mantu
Okay. Okay. And anything, anything. Any comment about the volume growth and the price growth? Because I remember we have already taken a price growth in the last quarter.
Nirupam Sahay
Yes, we’ve taken a couple of price increases over the last four months. So we are looking at, because of the premiumization and the price increases, we’re looking at a volume growth which is marginally lower. So the value growth that we’re talking about, 15 to 20% will be marginally higher than the volume growth because of the premiumization strategy.
Yash Mantu
And can you please tell me about the customer base when we talk about tier one, tier two, tier three cities, how much would that be coming from tier two and tier three cities especially?
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, so we have roughly about 35% of our business coming from tier one, roughly about 35% coming from tier two and roughly about 30% coming from tier three.
Yash Mantu
Okay, okay. So actually I asked this because for about three years now our real estate absorption and new launches have been going down. Especially when we talk about homes that are priced lower than 1 crore. So how do you think that is going to affect our company in the near term?
Nirupam Sahay
So I think there is a huge amount of that is still happening in the metros and tier one and tier two in the metros, what we are seeing is that more of them are at the mid premium and premium. So a lot of the new launches are actually at slightly higher prices than they were two or three years ago. So the trend that we’re seeing in the industry is a move towards premiumization, people buying higher value products because I think the homes that they’re purchasing are at a significantly higher price than they were earlier.
So we are seeing that trend and therefore that focus on meeting that emerging consumer need of more premium products.
Yash Mantu
And is the company, I mean, I don’t want to name the competitors, but isn’t it true that some of the really premium brands are making inroads because of this premiumization in the real estate industry?
Nirupam Sahay
Yes. So thanks. In general, the premium ranges of most companies are increasing in terms of size. But in response to an earlier question, I talked about the top five or six players basically in sanitiware and faucets. I think the key is actually within these five or six companies. So we are focusing on a three brand strategy. We have Keo, which is our premium brand, Hindwear, Italian collection which is mid premium and Hindwear which is mass. So a lot of the focus is in terms of hindwear, Italian collection and Keo, both in terms of distribution penetration and in terms of the new product introduction.
I talked about the positive impact of that on gross margin as well. So that is really the focus is where the consumer need is actually coming.
Yash Mantu
And so just one last question from my end. We have been talking about this discount thing in the whole industry now. So do you think that that is something that we are going to get rid of in let’s say a couple of years or is that something that might go on for long term?
Nirupam Sahay
So discounts in general in this industry are not really out of line with what is there across different industries. So I don’t see a significant impact of discounts on overall profitability. It’s more or less in line with what is required. It’s not really difficult.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.
Nirupam Sahay
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Fennel Brahma with choice institutional equities. Please go ahead.
Fennel Brahma
Hello,
Operator
You are audible, you may proceed.
Fennel Brahma
Yeah, so you mentioned some of the price. Sorry, could
Nirupam Sahay
You just speak a little louder please? Thank you.
Fennel Brahma
Hello. So you have mentioned a couple of price hikes during the quarter. So can you share some, some more lights on that means the segment wise or how much price hike we have taken during the quarter and still we are expecting any price hike in Q1 or Q2. That is my first question.
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, so largely in line with the increase that we saw in the brass cost that we had. So mid January we took a 15% price increase in faucets because there was a substantial increase from about 600 rupees to about 800 rupees. So 15% hike we took mid January and then on the 1st of May we’ve taken another price hike of about 3%. So this is for faucets. On the 1st of February we took a 6% increase. And then gas prices obviously went up significantly in March and April. So mid April we took another 7%.
So these prices, price increases are to ensure that margins are protected. And yeah, I think they’ve been based purely on what we’ve seen in terms of gas prices and raw material prices. But we’ve taken steps at the right time to make sure that margins are protected.
Fennel Brahma
Okay. So whatever as of now the impact we have getting from the petrochemical price and all. So this price is sufficient to tackle those impact or we are expecting some more price hike
Nirupam Sahay
At this point of time they’re sufficient. If we see more volatility in the coming weeks and months, we’ll obviously have to take a call. For now the price hikes that we’ve taken are good enough.
Fennel Brahma
Okay. Okay. You also mentioned some new launches and all with the higher margins. So can you share, can you share some color on that? Like the revenue mix and the from which segments we are getting higher margins and from which region or from which market?
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah, so the couple of segments that we are focusing on which. Within Santiware we have smart toilets. So that is a category which is growing across the country and we are also growing ahead of the market. The other is thermostats. That is something that is increasingly being used in consumer homes now. So thermostats is another category where we are seeing good traction and higher gross margin then even the product ranges. There are products which basically have design and aesthetics which are significantly from what is available in the market, also using raw materials.
So we are launching a lot of those in faucets, particularly those also offer higher gross margins. So between smart toilets, between thermostats and between these better or differentiated design and aesthetic products, better raw material. These are the categories where we are seeing higher gross margin.
Fennel Brahma
Okay. Okay, got it. My next question is on a pipe segment. Okay, so what I what I observed that we, we had a negative price realization for the segment in FY25 26. Please correct me if I am wrong. And even though in FY24. So what is our expectation or management guidance on the price realization? The price will be on the same range or we we can expect some higher realization in the coming quarter or the coming year like for FY27 28. Hello?
Rajesh Pajnoo
Hello.
Fennel Brahma
Yeah,
Rajesh Pajnoo
Am I audible?
Fennel Brahma
Yeah, yeah, sure. Please go ahead.
Rajesh Pajnoo
So I’ll repeat again. The the output prices, the selling prices is directly proportional to the
Unidentified Participant
Input
Rajesh Pajnoo
Price, I.e. The raw material price. So the average selling prices last two years have been going down. ASPs are coming down. But there is a volume growth which is happening in the market now. What is happening is as I earlier said, from January onwards the prices went up from 68 rupees. And in March it touched around 114 rupees
Fennel Brahma
Per kilogram.
Rajesh Pajnoo
So and now it is sterilized somewhere around 85 rupees. So if it stabilizes at that, definitely we are going to see a surge in average selling price per kg of the raw material and the finished product. So we will definitely see some better margins in future. And as such, as I said, we have been already doing this very good last April and May. Now.
Fennel Brahma
Okay, so you are mentioning margin. So if I think the margin is around 10% as of now for pipe segment or pipe EBITDA per kilogram. So what we are expecting over there like from 10 to what we are expecting to 12, 15 or mid teen or what
Rajesh Pajnoo
What is the depends? Basically everything depends on what the. Where the raw material stay. Because if the raw material further comes down we cannot give any guidance. We can only give a volume guidance for that because the end product and their end selling price goes down.
Fennel Brahma
Got it, Got it. And my the second last question on the exceptional item which we have in this income statement side. So can you. Can you share some more color on that exceptional item or loss around 26 million and what is the management expectation on this for FY27, 28 or mid. Mid midterm. So it’s a one off or we are. We can expect further into FY27 as well.
Sandeep Sikka
So in Q4 when we talk about the exceptional items. So one big item is relating to impairment which is has happened in the. In the joint venture company which is Hintastica Private limited. So we had done a slump sale of this business from HHL to Hintastika way back in 2021. So there was a goodwill of odd 34, 35 crore around which has been impaired because of the reasons that you know the initial plan and the current plan which we are looking at that venture is losing money. Although there is a plan which we have now, you know to you know build faster turnover on that joint venture and make it profitable, you know in future.
So that is one. Another hit which we took during the year was on the you know, certain businesses which we shut down on the consumer side, you know which were more seasonal and they were losing and as a result of which you will see that the performance of the consumer business in terms of a substantial reduction in the operating losses is very visible in the P and L. So these are one off items I think to a large extent. If you see in last three, four years we had last few years I’ll say since 2015, 16 under the Hindwer brand we had launched certain new businesses.
I’ll say 60, 70% of that business is let it be pipes in terms of building the turnover, let it be consumer products in terms of building the turnover and even the expansion of our faucets business is there. So where we have not been successful in terms of ability to have create a bottom line although they were all successful on the top line was the seasonal businesses like you know we’re selling air coolers in the retail or fans business or and water purifiers and air purifiers. So which has been checked and now from the perspective of the business portfolio four key businesses sanitary ware or we call it as A bathware business which consists of sanitaryware and faucet business, vice business and kitchen chimneys.
And also these are four clear verticals where we, which we, which we have demonstrated a growth, you know and we continue to grow there and we’re given the guidances.
Fennel Brahma
Okay, okay. Not it. And and the last question on the losses from the JV which we have adjusted for our bottom line and that number is significantly higher for FY26. So any color on that and what we can expect for near term or next next two to three years.
Sandeep Sikka
So the higher quantum of loss is also on the bound of the goodwill which I spoke of, you know which is there. But going forward we are fairly optimistic that this business has good potential to grow the loss making activities like we had. We had set up a factory year which we disposed of in the month of December. So number of actions have been done. So you know wherever required you know we, we. We optimize our operations in terms of you know making the. The overall growth which we have achieved on the sales over the last so many years more profitable on.
On the bottom line also.
Fennel Brahma
Okay. Okay. That’s all from my side. Thank you so much and all the best for the coming quarters.
Vinod Krishna
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Vinod Krishna from Avendus Wealth. Please go ahead.
Vinod Krishna
So thank you. And sir, can you any guidance on debt and how it is going to pan out over the next two three years on both the segments combined like
Sandeep Sikka
On a combined basis we have a net debt of 708 crore today. A big repayment is happening this year of odd 145 to 150 crore. We feel that after that 50, 60 crores. So whatever is a accrual which we are generating is now going towards repayment of debt other than the you know small capex which we have to do in you know to further ramp up our manufacturing efficiencies and also you know the bottlenecking so we are generating will go towards the repayment of debt.
Vinod Krishna
So is there any target where we will go on stocks like at 300, 200 crore or we’ll make it debt free.
Sandeep Sikka
So I’m not saying we’ll make it debt free because in the in the next two to three years but definitely a substantial reduction by almost 30 to 40% should happen in next two years.
Vinod Krishna
All right. Thank you sir and all the best.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question you may Press Star and 1. Our next question is from the line of Aditya Banerjee an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Am I audible?
Operator
You are audible, so you may proceed.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. So I have couple of questions. So on the demerger side, sir, what is the progress with regard to the demerger and I? When do you expect listing of both entities?
Sandeep Sikka
So we had approved the steam merger the board had approved in March last year. Subsequent to which we got the stock exchange approval something in July. And after that there have been series of court hearings and the shareholders and the unsecured creditors has also approved the scheme in the meeting held on 7th March 2026. We already filed a second motion application with the Honorable NCLT of Kolkata for which the hearing has already happened. We have order reserved. We are waiting for the order and after that there are few more steps in the formalities as prescribed.
And as a law we feel that this may take another two to three months, you know, in terms of getting the final quote order. And after which we’ll approach stock exchanges for the listing which is another month one and month and a half process based on our past experiences.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And on consumer plan side, you guided 19 crore for Q4FY26 with 100cr by quarter one FY27 and quarter four came in at ATCR actually lower than quarter three. 81cr. So what drove this sequential decline? And is this 100cr quarterly run rate target still intact for quarter one FY27 or are you revising the timeline?
Nirupam Sahay
Yeah. So in quarter four there were issues in terms of raw material for a couple of our categories. So the coolers that we sell through E commerce and cooktops and hobs for example, there were issues in terms of supplies. It was more an issue around availability of raw materials for different categories which impacted that 8 to 10 crores which would have got us to 90 crores in terms of the target. Basically we will hit the 100 crore thing within quarter one and quarter two year. So we continue on that path of 100 crores in a quarter.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir. And we are targeting double digit margins over time under the outsource outsourcing model. So what gives confidence this business can sustainably achieve such margins in a highly competitive category?
Nirupam Sahay
We are targeting the 8 to 10% EBITDA margin in the consumer appliances business within these the next two financial year. So within FY27 and FY28 we should hit that 8 to 10% EBITDA margin.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, Sarah, and you mentioning supply side challenges in the tiles business during the call. So could you help us quantify the expected impact in quarter one specifically in terms of volume loss in millions square meter or equivalent units and revenue headwinds and any margin compression you are anticipating as a result.
Nirupam Sahay
So we have an impact in March of roughly about 10 crores in terms of non supply of planned material that we had for tiles. In quarter one of this year there has been improvement in terms of supplies in May. April still got impacted. So if I were to quantify the April plus may impact then it would be about 4 to 5 crores in terms of the non availability of material that we needed. We expect that situation to improve in the coming weeks or of May, the remaining nine odd days and in June for it to stabilize.
So we should get back to regular supplies from all our suppliers by June.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir, thank you. That’s it from my slide.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will take that as a last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you.
Sandeep Sikka
Thank you everybody who joined on the call. I think there have been set of questions which have been asked and I hope we have been able to appropriately answer your queries. Still open to you know, any further queries you can get with our. Get in touch with our investor relations agency and always happy to interact through them. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you on behalf of Arihant Capital. That concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.