Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Jyothy Laboratories Limited (NSE: JYOTHYLAB) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 04, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Jyothy — Chairperson and Managing Director
Pawan Agarwal — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Ashutosh — Analyst
Vishal Gutka — Analyst
Senthil Manikandan — Analyst
Akash Shah — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Jyoti Labs Q4FY26 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the lesson only mode. And that will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star Sense zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr.
Ashutosh sir from ICSX Securities. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Ashutosh — Analyst
Yeah. Thank you. Gitesh. Hello and good afternoon everyone present on the call. I, on behalf of ICICI securities, welcome you on Jyoti Labs Q4FY26 earnings call. I would like to thank the management to give this opportunity of hosting the call from the management we have with Ms. Jyoti Chairperson and Managing Director and Mr. Pawan Agarwal, CFO. I now hand the call over to Jyoti Ma’ am for her opening remarks. Thank you.
Jyothy — Chairperson and Managing Director
Thank you, Ashutosh. Good afternoon everyone and a warm welcome to the Q4 and FY26 earnings call of Jyotilabs Limited. Our financial results and investor presentation are available on our website and the stock exchanges. I trust you have had the opportunity to review them. Let me start with the broader environment. FY26 was a year of volatility for the SNCG sector. Urban demand was uneven for a large part of the year. At the same time, input costs remain elevated with a sharp increase towards the end of the year due to the West Asia situation.
Despite these headwinds, we maintained steady volume growth. This was supported by calibrated grammage actions and a gradual improvement in demand, especially in the second half of the financial year. Rural markets remained relatively resilient, supported by monsoons and government spending. GST rate cuts also helped improve demand, particularly in personal care segment. From the third quarter onwards. For the full year, our Revenues grew by 3.5% in value terms and 6% in volumes. Fabricare grew by 8% in value and 9.5% in volumes, led by strong growth in liquid detergents.
Liquids nearly doubled during the year. Dishwash declined by 1.3% in value despite 6% volume growth due to intense competition, price cuts and higher grammage across market. Personal care recovered well with Imago franchise growing by 5% in value and 1.6% in volumes. We expect FY27 to be a stronger year for this segment. In household insecticides our focus was on reducing losses and improving the mix. While HI sales declined by 1.3%, losses reduced significantly from 25 crore last year to about 5 crore this year.
Q4 saw a mixed demand environment. Consumption remained steady. Overall, we had started seeing early signs of recovery, particularly in the urban markets after the GST changes in September. That Trend continued into Q4 but towards the end of the quarter the situation became less predictable due to the developments in West Asia. While this region does not have any material direct impact on our revenues, the indirect impact through crude prices, packaging costs and currency movement is significant.
Crude prices moved up sharply and that has started reflecting in key inputs like lab, PP and PE. Packaging costs alone account for nearly 15 to 20% of our material costs. As stated earlier, around 50 to 60% of our inputs are crude linked directly or indirectly and therefore a sharp increase in the crude prices along with a weaker rupee has put pressure on the overall cost structure. Looking ahead, there is some uncertainty higher crude prices could keep inflation elevated and may affect consumer spending.
This is also a risk to rural demand if farm income gets impacted in the coming quarters. That said, demand conditions through Most of the Q4 remain stable and we saw gradual improvement in the consumption especially in urban markets. Fabricare delivered strong growth with 14.4% value growth and 17.8% volume growth. Both Mainwash and Post Wash contributed liquids continued their strong momentum while powders and bars also supported the growth. Our key brands Henco, Ujala, Mr. White and Morlite performed well.
Dishwash saw a 5% volume growth but value growth remained flat. This was largely due to price reductions, grammage increases and promotional offers. Competitive intensity remains high with several players reducing MRPs and offering more quantity at the same price. During the quarter we strengthened the Ekso portfolio with the launch of the bioenzyme based dishwash. Formats across formats. Personal care saw a strong recovery. The segment grew by 20% in value and volume in Q4. The impact of GST related disruptions seen earlier in the year fully settled and demand improved meaningfully from December onwards.
The Margo franchise performed well supported by both core variants and refresh pack for Margo original. This will help improve visibility and support future growth. Household insecticides grew by about 3% in value while coils continue to decline. Growth in liquid vaporizer more than offset this. The mix continues to improve with LV now about 55% of the portfolio compared to 50% last year. This is moving the segment closer to profitability. Channel trends remain consistent. Modern trade, E Commerce and quick commerce continue to grow strongly.
These channels are becoming an increasingly important part of the portfolio. General trade also continued its recovery in Q4 with growth across regions. Let me now cover the financial performance for Q4. Revenue stood at 717 crore, up 7.7% year on year. Gross margin was at 45.2%, down about 400 basis points, driven by input cost, inflation and lower realizations. Employee cost was 11.9% of revenue. Other expenses were at 12.8% of revenue. A&P spend was 7% compared to 8% last year. EBITDA margin stood at 13.5%, down by about 330 basis points year on year.
For whole year, 2026, revenue stood at 200944 crore, up by 3.5%. Gross margin was 47%, down 300 and 20 basis points. EBITDA margin was 15.3%, down by 230 basis points. PAT stood at 333 crores. Net working capital improved to 15 days, a reduction of 4 days. We remain debt free with a strong cash balance of 1000 crores. The board has recommended a final dividend of rupees 3.5 per share for FY26. Input cost pressures increased sharply towards the end of the quarter. We have taken selective price increases in March and their impact will be seen in Q1FY27.
We may take further actions depending on how input costs move. However, given the current demand environment, it is difficult to pass on the full impact of cost increases immediately. This is especially true in lower unit packs where price points are fixed. As a result, margins are likely to remain under pressure in the near term. Also, there is typically a lag between cost increases and pricing actions. We will continue to manage the margin pressure through a mix of price, pricing, cost control, operating leverage and calibrated media spends.
Looking ahead, the environment remains uncertain. Input costs, currency movements and geopolitical developments will continue to influence the business in the near term. We expect the full impact of recent developments to be visible in Q1 FY27. Our focus remains on scaling recently launched NPDs, improving general trade productivity and sustaining volume growth amid price hikes while maintaining brand investments in a calibrated manner to support medium term growth. We remain cautiously optimistic about FY27 while staying watchful of the external environment.
Before I close, I would like to thank our teams for their commitment, our trade and distribution partners for their support, and our investors for their continued trust. With that, I conclude my opening remarks. We’ll now be happy to take your questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We’ll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the Touchstone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue you may press star and two participants are requested to use handsome while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen will now will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Vishal Kutka from Ask Investment Managers. Thank you and go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah 19. Congrats on a decent set of numbers. 3, 4 question from my side first is on the fabric care. Excellent numbers on the volume front around 18% volume growth and I think once in a lifetime opportunity is available with regards to conversion from powder to liquidity. What more can be done so that we grab hefty market share in the liquid detergent segment. I understand you’re doubled. What do you call the business size and first is on a lower base. What more can be done from here onwards? I think couple of products will launch that conditioner, young and fresh conditioner that you launch.
So I just wanted more insight from you on that. Secondly, second question on the dishwashing segment due to competitive pressures I think we have increased the grammage from the third quarter onwards the margins have collapsed out over here from 18 the margins are down to around 10% for the quarter. So what action can we take for that the margin gradually for. I understand there are challenges regards to competition with the inflation front. But one of the action that you have taken is launching launch of maybe Expo Liquid.
If you can elaborate a bit, what is the game plan? Because since you already have pearls in the basket. So how do you plan to scale up both the brands? Third question is on the hi. Yeah, third question on the hips. Now since you turned profitable on hi during this quarter, what’s the long term growth path as well as profitability path for the hips? From your own words and last question madam is on the cash balance that we have of approximately 1000 crore that we are holding. I think we’ve been I think scouting for acquisition for a while.
What is the hindrance or what is. What is what we call prevailing us from being an MNA and doing an MA activity. Thank you.
Jyothy
Hi Vishal. So Fabricare is the first question that you asked. Liquid detergent for us has done really well. It is also to note that that segment is growing and the detergent powder segment as such is seeing a marginal degrowth because you see most of the conversions from powder to liquid happening so that and we have grown healthy. So the thing is that We’ve been investing on the brands and that has helped us yield that results. And it’s not just on detergent liquid detergents. It’s across the Fabricare portfolio also.
Our young and fresh also has done really well. Our Dr. Wool, the liquid detergent for woolen clothes and special clothes that we introduced in the third quarter also has done well. So if you see Fabricare across we have done well and very happy to see the double digit growth also on that. And that will continue because that market is going to adopt. More and more people are getting into liquid detergents as it makes it easier for them to use. It’s also milder on the hands. So you will see a lot of action in the liquid detergent space and we are there to grow along with that.
On dishwash, yes, the grammage reductions, the increases have happened and the price reductions have happened. So if you see compared to last year versus this year, that has been the trend. But we are happy to say that we have maintained the market share and we are growing in fact in many markets. So that’s good. And for some time it will remain especially because of the West Asia prices that will see. You know that will be there for some time. But we are doing well in the business. So no concern there on the hi
Pawan Agarwal
On. Hi.
Jyothy
As
Vishal Gutka
If you can just elaborate. What is the game plan? Because you introduced already the dishwashing with the branding already there. So now we introduce Exo Liquid out over there. Just wanted your thoughts. How do you. What do you plan to scale up the brand also?
Jyothy
Yes. So Exo is. Exo Liquid is quite differentiated compared to Prill was you set a premium and Exo will be in direct competition with the market leader. And we have bioenzymes included in the formulation. It makes the washing process easier. So that is one that is the differentiator. Our focus is also to grow because you see the dishwash liquid segment also growing. So across. If you see across formats the liquid segments are growing and we want to capture it in every possible way. So for a exo bar user, if you see it is.
You know there are no much so not being there in liquid but the bigger gap rather. So for any exobar user to upgrade, you know, it was high time to launch Exo Liquid. So that is one. Exo Liquid is antibacterial and it has bioenzymes. But it’s more on decreasing and on premium liquid segment. So that is the differentiation and we wish to see that both the brands grow. We’ll be investing on both the brands
Pawan Agarwal
On hie. Your specific question on the profitability and long term plan. So as we had stated some 3 4/4 before that we are working on a plan to turn this category profitable and that plan has started delivering some results. In terms of our focus we have been focusing more on liquid vaporizer and we have taken some aggressive price increases on coil segment. That of course meant some decline in volumes and value in coil but that has been more than offset by liquid vaporizer. Our NPD Maxo Aerosol is also is a profitable product and is doing reasonably well.
Although it’s too early to comment because there are only a couple of quarters. The product is available LV in quarter four. If you see the volume growth has been in high teens and for the full year. Also if you see we are almost touching double digits. So the strategy seems to be playing out well and we had indicated that by the end of FY27 this category will be profitable. But it seems that you know if the last two quarters are anything to go by I think we are on the right track and probably it can help us deliver the profitability target much earlier.
Your last question around cash balance of thousand crore. Yes, you are right and we have been, we have been scouting for right assets and very aggressively we are looking for right asset but as we have mentioned earlier we are going to pick up the asset which actually adds, you know adds to the overall shareholders value and we are in active dialogues with couple of them. Let’s see you know how it pans out. At an appropriate time we will let the street know about our acquisition decision. Thank you.
Vishal Gutka
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the insight. Just have a last question on the margins and overall margins and always highlighted uncertainty with regards to a lot of things. But madam, if you can broadly provide a guidance what F27 can we assume our margin band of 13.14 for F27. That’s the broader margin band that we’re targeting.
Pawan Agarwal
Vishal, your question is valid but at this point of time looking at the situation, you know we all, we are all aware, you know the way input prices and packing metal prices are behaving, the way crude is behaving. We are also taking price increases. All these factors put together. There is extremely high volatility at this stage. We will be constrained to give any guidance on margin front maybe once the external environment settles down a little bit. Hopefully it should in couple of quarters time then we’ll be able to guide the street on our margin target for FY27.
Vishal Gutka
Thank you. Wishing you all the best. Thank you.
Pawan Agarwal
Thank you, Vishal.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rishabh Shah from Berger Lock pms. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just to continue on the previous participant question. Fabricare, as we know, it’s a clearly make or break segment for the company. So how typically the pricing in the detergent category versus resource tied, are we at a premium or a discount? And also I had read somewhere that the prices of the liquid detergent have collapsed because of the new players who have entered the market. So how is Henko’s position out here and what steps are we taking to defend the market share in the Fabric Air segment?
And the same question would be valid for the dishwashing segment as well.
Jyothy
Yeah, so. Hi, Rishabh. Fabricare segment. All of our brands that are operating, it is not just Henco. We have various brands at different segments and all are, you know, priced same at parity to competition. In fact, in some markets we are at premium as well. So that said, I hope that answers your, you know, question there. And liquid detergents, yes, it has been competitive. The intensity was there from local players as well. But as we go along, you know, consumers also see where the quality is.
There are many brands, especially at the local level that, you know, they had hardly anything in the, in the product and the pricing was at a very low level. You know, end of the day consumers know what quality is and where, you know, which brand to be chosen. And there I think if it were to be that this thing, then people would have chosen only locals over branded players. But the thing that all the organized players are growing handsomely in this segment, which also means that slowly that trend will change going forward.
Consumers will definitely look for quality than just water. So that’s what I believe in. The same goes for dishwasher as well.
Vishal Gutka
Okay, since we talk about brand differentiation compared to the competition, so we said that what, what we offer is differentiated with what competition is offering. So my question is what, like when you say differentiated products, what exactly are we talking about? Is it only the effectiveness of the product or it is the branding differentiation? What are we talking about?
Jyothy
Yeah, it’s the positioning. Rishabh, I, I don’t think I can sit and explain each brand because there are many in the, in the Fabricare segment. Each one stands for a, you know, at a different question.
Vishal Gutka
This question is not just related to the fabric care, it’s the overall Jyoti Labs. And talking about,
Jyothy
Yeah, certainly what I’m saying Is each brand has a different positioning. So it’s what the brand speaks, is what the brand delivers. That is where it is. So we are differentiated. Now I cannot sit and explain on the call what each brand stands for, if you see. But whatever we speak on, whatever we, you know, the spends that we do, the communication that reaches the consumer, they are, you know, differentiated in terms of, compared to competition. Right. And at pricing, we are at a similar pricing to that of competition.
So hence there is, you know, we’ve been that way since quite some time and we have made our mark. So that’s what I can explain right now.
Vishal Gutka
And my second question is, suppose you do an inorganic acquisition. What are the things which you will investigate in terms of the work culture of the company, the profile of the customers etc and many other things. What things will you investigate in the company?
Pawan Agarwal
So there is a. The reason why we have not been able to announce any acquisitions so far is that is the robust screening process, you know, and we have a very robust and tight process through which we look at any potential opportunity. And there are various aspects to a deal. It is not just the cultural alignment, of course this is an important element. But there are other factors also. Your channel, the category, the price point, the consumer segment, the market, the, you know, the presence on, you know, organized trade.
All these factors we take into consideration while taking a call on a particular opportunity.
Vishal Gutka
Okay, last question is what we have seen that certain categories which reach, let’s say a penetration of 14, 15%, then the slow burn rate starts, then the incremental penetration becomes difficult and a fight with the competition. So what I wanted to know what is the thought process on rather or rather, what are the strategies lying on gaining incremental share in our categories alongside fighting with the competition?
Jyothy
The end of the day you will have to fight the competition reserve. There’s no escape from there. So the categories that we are present is very competitive in nature and I’ve explained in my previous this thing that we are differentiated, we’ll keep spending on the brands and our quality will speak for itself. Right. So those are the parameters where you can fight or. And if your consumer chooses you, it’s a win for you. So that’s all what I can explain to you on the call here.
Pawan Agarwal
Okay, thank you man. Thank you so much.
Jyothy
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Naveen from ITOT pms. Please go ahead.
Senthil Manikandan
I hope I’m audible.
Operator
Yes, you are.
Senthil Manikandan
Yeah. So I just wanted to understand one small thing about the margins. It’s More of a clarification than anything else. So I just want to understand if some lower priced inventory has helped us cushion the margin impact this quarter or if we’ve been like, you know, exhausted all that low price inventory and if they can had to buy inventory that these elevated prices as of March even so maybe just to get an idea regarding that.
Pawan Agarwal
No, there is no such advantage of lower priced inventory in this quarter. I think the raw material prices have been moving in upward direction. So not a material impact as far as the lower priced inventory issue is concerned.
Senthil Manikandan
Got it. Yeah. Thanks a lot.
Pawan Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yogesh Mittal from individual investor. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Thanks for the opportunity. So I wanted to ask about the divisions that we have. The fabricare, the dishwash, the purple care. We have our individual document business heads for them or how do we manage because they target to a different kind of the customer needs. Just wanted to understand this part. Thank you.
Jyothy
So the brand guys are different, that’s all. Rest of the supply chain, the rest of the team are all common Yogesh.
Vishal Gutka
So the business heads, do we have the business heads for each of the division or the segments as you call them?
Jyothy
No, not as a business, this thing. But yes, it’s. It’s only in one certain department that you have that way. But as a business we combine and we give the results. Yeah.
Vishal Gutka
Right. Okay. Right. Thanks for this. And just one thing. Wanted to ask one thing more. If I can squeeze in for the personal care, do we intend to go in the beauty segment as well? Because soap and this as such in case like some BP segments or products which you are thinking of coming in?
Jyothy
Not currently. We’ll see if possible in future.
Vishal Gutka
Right, thanks. Okay,
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sonal presents Cap. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
I hope I’m audible.
Pawan Agarwal
Yes, you are.
Vishal Gutka
Thanks for taking my question. The first question was with regard to the dishwash segment. Just asking subjectively, have you seen the competition become less intense as we speak in the month of April and May? And more sensible in terms of pricing and volume balance. Any directional data that you can give.
Operator
Sorry to interrupt, sir, the voice is muffled. May I request you to use your hands in.
Vishal Gutka
Sure. I am asking the question, is it better now?
Operator
Yes sir, it’s better now. You can continue. Thank you.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah, yeah. I was asking, have you seen competition become less intense in the dishwasher segment in terms of pricing or damage? Anything you can share there?
Jyothy
No, not right now. It’s. It’s the Same. It’s continuing the same way.
Vishal Gutka
Got it, ma’. Am. Second question. With regard to the difference between the volume and the value gap between last quarter and this quarter, the gap has widened a little more by a percentage point. Wanted to understand for next year, do we see the convergence directionally? Anything if you could share.
Pawan Agarwal
Yes, you are right. Going forward with the price increases that we are taking, I think the gap between volume and value growth would narrow down and slowly it will converge.
Vishal Gutka
So for next year we should assume that by the later quarters the numbers should be in sync in tandem basically.
Pawan Agarwal
Now, as I said, giving any kind of guidance at this stage is difficult. But you know, the actions that we are taking right now in the near term this gap should reduce is all I can tell you.
Vishal Gutka
Got it, sir. That is good enough for me. My last question is with regard to the retail footprint of Jyoti as a brand, just wanted to, I think between last year and this year, just picking up data from your deck, you seem to have added a lack outlets overall. Just wanted to understand if there is order guidance on states where your footprint is less, regions your footprint is less and you intend to have a plan of how many retail outlets you need to add to expand and pull the gap in those areas.
Jyothy
So we’ve been adding almost 50,000 to a lakh of retail outlets every year and that is what will continue and that is across the country. There’s no particular geography or things like that. So it will be an across GP increase in outlets.
Vishal Gutka
Got it. All right, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Sonam from clsa. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Hi, good afternoon and thanks for the opportunity. Can you give us a sense on market share how you particularly soaps and liquid vaporizers for insecticides. If any sort of sense you can give, that would be very useful. In terms of differentia, how are we different? So your voice is breaking.
Operator
Can you just come a little bit closer? Yeah,
Vishal Gutka
Yeah. On liquid detergents we are seeing a huge amount of competition coming. How are we seeing, how are we grow in. In this competitive environment?
Pawan Agarwal
So we do not give the detailed brand wise or category wise market share data. But on an overall basis we have protected our market share or improved it across various categories is all I can tell you. And in liquid detergent also specifically we have done really well. Our market shares have improved,
Vishal Gutka
Understand and any sense on competitive positioning of the products? I mean how in terms of price points or where you’re seeing the most demand at what price points any sense Will be very useful.
Jyothy
So we have different segments, Aditya, that is you have your premium, you have your mass, you have your mid. And we are priced at par with competition. And like Pawan said we have either retained the market share or have improved that across brands.
Vishal Gutka
I understand. No, no, I know about the different price points. What I wanted to understand also a little bit more is you indicated that we are seeing a shift from powder to liquids. Is this being also driven by being sort of more aggressive on pricing on liquids? One of the things I am seeing in my checks is that price per use on liquids has now dropped below powder for equivalent brands. So would that be sort of a strategic choice?
Jyothy
Yeah. See if you see a few years back when liquids were introduced in the country at that time it was at premium to powders. It is just to induce trial that players have, you know to make it more affordable to have more to see the benefits of liquid that such competitive pricing has been introduced in the market. And that has continued, you know for some time. Maybe after, you know, couple of years things may see a different picture in that segment. But otherwise for now, yes, it is very competitive.
Vishal Gutka
Understand, very clear and thanks.
Jyothy
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Akash Shah from UTA mf. Please go ahead.
Akash Shah
Yeah. Hi. Am I audible?
Pawan Agarwal
Yes you are.
Akash Shah
Hello. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Just wanted to ask sir, how. How much has the price increase being taken in. In dishwash and detergent segment and how much inflation is there in the. In the raw materials. Just, just wanted to get some sense on how far are we now from taking the full price increase to offset the inflation.
Pawan Agarwal
Thank you. Thank you Akash. So we have, as I mentioned earlier we have taken
Jyothy
Pricing
Pawan Agarwal
Action to the tune of around 4% in the month of March. The result of which should be visible in quarter one to a large extent and full impact should be visible quarter two onwards. Second, on the inflation side our large part of our portfolio is impacted with you know crude or crude derivative inflation. So there the impact is higher and also in packing material we have seen in the last couple of months the crude linked HDP going up, prices going up significantly. So on packing metal side also there is a, there is an inflation impact overall pricing increase.
You know first action we have taken and if required will take subsequent going forward depending upon how inflation subsists.
Akash Shah
Sure. And sir, if I were to sort of assume that current prices prevail in terms of raw materials then sir, how much price increase will be required to offset that inflation?
Pawan Agarwal
No, it’s I cannot give that number okay, just now. But we are monitoring the price increases on the raw material side on a continuous basis. And depending upon, you know, the market situation and also the volume growth or ambition, we have to keep all the factors in mind while taking any pricing decisions. So we are taking calibrated steps and we’ll continue to do so, right?
Akash Shah
Sure, sir. And sir, this 4% price hike that we have taken, that is for both fabric care as well as dishwasher. Right.
Pawan Agarwal
At a. At a company level, I am saying across various band brand categories. Sku, it’s a mix. I am talking about the portfolio level.
Akash Shah
Okay. And sir, two bookkeeping questions. One is, sir, how much will be tax rate for us for FY27?
Pawan Agarwal
It will be. We will be going for 115B double A. So rate should be around 15, 25 to 26%. It should be hovering between 25 to 25, 26%.
Akash Shah
Right. And capex for 27, will it be I mean similar to previous year or a bit higher? Similar. It will be in
Pawan Agarwal
Similar range. Yeah. Thank you.
Akash Shah
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harith Kapoor from Investec. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah, good evening. Had a few questions. One was on the pricing that you just mentioned. So while you did give the weighted average number, I just wanted to understand that is this entire pricing in fabric, in dishwash or you are also have taken up prices in personal care?
Pawan Agarwal
No, as I said this is across all the segment categories. So the blended increase would be close to 4%. A little over 4%.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah, I get that. I just wanted to check whether there have been increases in soaps as well. That’s the question. Yeah.
Pawan Agarwal
We have initiated, as I said, in the month of March. We have initiated. The effect would be visible in quarter one, including Margo.
Vishal Gutka
Got it. Oh, okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. And the second thing was on hi, you know, if you could just help us understand this product mix or category mix, sub segment mix, whatever you call it in HI for the second half of this year. Just wanted to understand that at what. What level of mix you’ve been able to kind of achieve these breakeven numbers in terms of lv. Non LV basically.
Pawan Agarwal
Understand. Understand. No, what I’m saying is it is too early to draw any conclusion based on 1 or 2/4 number. While the LV’s sharing the total HI has improved. If you look at last 4 to 5, 6/4. It has improved slowly but gradually. Now it is at 55% and coil is 45% and also when I say LV, the new launches, for example aerosol and rackets, etc. I’m bunching together because the profitability is superior compared to coil. So these products are doing well and hence the ratio is tilted in favor of LV and others, whereas coil dependence is coming down.
Vishal Gutka
Got it, got it, got it. Third question was really on, you know, these price increases which have been taken by yourself in the market. You know, do you see have these been broadly in line across most like most players would have taken similar levels of price increases according your, you know, in your key categories. Is that what you’re witnessing or you know, there is, you know, players are using this as a mode to drive competitive intensity. I would assume not, but just wanted to get your thoughts on it.
Pawan Agarwal
No, you are right. Your, your assessment is right. It is in line.
Vishal Gutka
It is in line. Okay, got it, got it. And, and last bit was on, on the fabric care bit, you know, exceptionally strong volume growth. You know, numbers, in fact, not even quarter four, even quarter three numbers are very good. You know, while you’ve mentioned, you know, liquids is like 2x but I remember it being like a low single digit share of your mix. If I’m not wrong. Correct me if I’m wrong, please. But so obviously the growth there, it’s not really. While it has driven a part of it, it would not have driven it entirely if you could just give a flavor.
In terms of this acceleration in growth in H2, I don’t want a number, but would it be primarily, you know, mark, you know, penetration led or couple of categories like either premium detergents or mask detergents, you know, something doing much better than the other. Some color on that would be, would be very helpful.
Pawan Agarwal
No, I understand the from where you are coming, Harith, but overall the fabric care category has been doing well for us both in main wash as well as in post wash, you know, detergent powder, liquid bar soaps, our premium product, our flagship product, Ujala Supreme Fabric Whitener, fabric conditioner that we recently launched. You pick any product. I think we are doing a decent job across various products and categories within Fabricare.
Vishal Gutka
And sorry, one last question was that you know, any sense of apart from, you know, apart from premiumization, because there’s also a lot of volume growth. So apart from premiumization, you know, in terms of adoption, penetration, usage, overall category growth, have you also seen that lift up in the last two quarters? Like not for you overall, but just overall category growth, have you seen that pick up as well? Because you’ve definitely been gaining. But would you see category growth also being having really, you know, adding to that tailwind.
Jyothy
So that category is definitely growing compared to powders. Liquids are growing, that is what I can say. And that has been on a similar this thing through the year, this year, last year also. So. But yes, we’ve done well. The powders have started diminishing. That is the main thing. So
Vishal Gutka
Yeah, perfect. Thank you very much. Wish you all the best. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ahmed from Elara. Please go ahead.
Vishal Gutka
I said thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Pawan Agarwal
Yes, you are.
Vishal Gutka
Yeah. Just trying to understand. I mean on the pricing side, you highlighted the 4% price increase at a portfolio level. If I look at Q4 versus Q3, the price reduction or the difference between volume and value has further gone down by a percent or so. Is that largely to do with some of the mix or some schemes that you might be running? Is that the reason?
Pawan Agarwal
That’s a combination of a lot of factors, not just schemes, you know, your grammages or quantity then MRP cuts. It’s a combination a lot of factors across different segments and categories.
Vishal Gutka
And when you have taken price increase of 4%, have you reduced the schemes as well? Is the combination or you. When you say 4%, everything is included in that.
Pawan Agarwal
I’m saying Overall impact around 4% which we took towards second or third week of March. Large portion of it which should be visible in quarter one and quarter two at a totality level.
Vishal Gutka
That’s a combination of you might have reduced some schemes as well as ASP
Pawan Agarwal
Pricing action. You know, basically the net effect of pricing decision would be about focus.
Vishal Gutka
Okay. Okay. And sir, on the just to again on the margin thing, while I understand it’s a volatile scenario, but when I look at I mean current numbers and we would be carrying some bit of an inventory or which would be a whole stock inventory which would. And you indicated not much of benefits would have come. But if I think of from a 2/4 down the line, are we in a scenario where the inflation concern is has only reason while we do have taken price increase. So could there be a scenario in the near term that this exit margins of Q4 could be slightly lower in the near term is that directionally if you can help it will be much better for us to understand.
While I take your point on the volatility scenario, but to just to model it will be better for us.
Pawan Agarwal
No fair question. As I indicated, rather as Jyoti indicated in her opening remarks, near term we are seeing margin pressure. So quarter one definitely there is some pressure on margins but it’s highly linked to what happens on the crude and crude derivative prices which would have a bearing on our pricing actions. So for the current quarter there will be some pressure on margins,
Vishal Gutka
Sure. And lastly sir, is there any structurality change in the margin profile because of maybe liquids gaining significant traction in the recent times in the fabric category or competition is there in the dishwash but that was there earlier also. I mean this quarter saw a significant fall in the bit margin. So there is no otherwise a structural change which would probably result in a slightly lower margin profile. From here on one should expect excluding the crude scenario which we are seeing right now,
Pawan Agarwal
This margin drop that you are seeing is largely driven by the the crude or crude derivative prices. Structurally there is no major change in the business construct of the company.
Vishal Gutka
And lastly, sorry on the supply and sourcing side, I just wanted to know how are we positioned relative to some of the smaller players? Do we have some advantage over there? And you are seeing on the ground some market share gains as from smaller players, especially on the liquids, fabric or powder if you can touch upon that. And our ability to source it slightly better just on these points.
Pawan Agarwal
Our volume growth numbers tell you the story. So we would not like to comment beyond that.
Vishal Gutka
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddesh Deshmukh from Iifil Capital. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi, this is Percy here. Just wanted to ask regarding your gross margin this quarter it was 400bps down. Just trying to understand the reason for this. Because the input cost inflated only in March and typically there is a lag between the crude prices going up and the derivatives going up. Plus there is a inventory or some kind of COVID that companies have. So why in this quarter gross margin has gotten affected by 400 basis points?
Pawan Agarwal
So our good question Percy. There are two reasons for this. One is of course some bit of inflation did hit us in quarter four. But on the pricing side overall lower sales realization has also impacted margin. As you know we have a typical two to three months of lag between the cost increases on the input side and the price action that we take on the sales side. So that has impacted the corrective action. The sale price increase decision was taken towards the end of the quarter while the lowering of sales average sales realization was happening through the quarter.
And hence you see some impact in gross margin in this quarter.
Jyothy
Also we have given gramages extra grammages and all that comparative to last year. So that Is also there perceived.
Unidentified Participant
So this extra grammages is something driven by competitive pressure or it’s something that like you have done even though the competition has not done the same thing.
Jyothy
No, no. So it is a competitive reaction also as we speak. So last year versus this year there’s a huge price reduction also that had happened. If you see quarter on quarter, last year’s price versus this is a huge difference. So even if we have grown by volume, the price, pricing action and the grammar, just these put together along with your other inflated raw materials, all of this together all converged in this quarter. So that is why you see that.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, because just trying to understand this a little bit in detail. One is of course there is some, in some categories there is a GST LED grammage and lower part price but detergents did not have that. So and if I’m also looking at HUL result, they have not seen a significant kind of margin pressure. So just wanted to sort of put across these data points and see what is happening. That I mean and see where I’m coming from is even if I see the last crude price cycle a few years ago, our margins had come down from 16, 17% to 10, 11% and EPS I think on a full year basis, not just for one quarter had fallen approximately 30% or something like that.
So just wanted to understand why, I mean why this kind of impact on bottom line happens to us much more than other companies even adjusted for the product portfolio. Like for example, instead of looking at HUL overall as a company, if I look at only the home care in the past cycles, we do not see such a big impact. Or if we look at other FMCG companies, we do not see such a big impact. So just wanted to understand what is different for us that we are sort of facing the brunt of this. Of course it reverses when the crude price goes down and the margin does come up.
Not denying that, but a few quarters can be very painful in the interim. And I was just trying to understand what is the reason for that.
Pawan Agarwal
No fair question Percy. As we have mentioned earlier, also about 60% of the business is linked to crude and crude derivative. And also if you look at the key raw material lapsa, the prices have gone through the roof in this quarter. If you look at January and if you look at prices today, they are up by 60, 65%. If you look at HDP PPE packing material item, which is roughly 15 to 20% of our product purchases, that has gone up by about 50, 55% and that has happened in March and April. So all these factors plus the average lower average sales realization has affected the margins.
And as I indicated, quarter one is also going to be some pressure while calibrated pricing action will be taken. But it is all linked to how input prices behave going forward.
Jyothy
Yeah. Another reason per SE is almost 70 to 80% of of our portfolio is into home care. And if you see while the rest have the other segments also. So hence you don’t see as much apart from that. The coil as a segment is also margin decorative. So that is an addition to us. But we have performed very well on liquid. So while we are trying to correct that segment as well as you see. So these are the factors which impact us more than you know, for others.
Unidentified Participant
Got it. Got it. But why not then take a higher price increase? 4% seems very low.
Pawan Agarwal
We are also keeping an eye on our volume retention because the volume growth momentum that we are maintaining while in the near term there could be some pressure in margin, but we want to retake volumes. So we have to strike a balance between the two. I’m not saying one versus the other. It will be a combination of both. But again it will 100%. The input price increase, as you know, cannot be passed on to the market.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, got it. Thank you so much.
Pawan Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. That was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pawan sir for closing remarks. Please go ahead. Thank
Pawan Agarwal
You. Thank you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate your interest, your continued interest in Jyoti Labs Limited. Thank you so much. Have a pleasant evening ahead. Thank you
Operator
On behalf of Jyoti Labs Limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.