Orient Electric Ltd (NSE: ORIENTELEC) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 22, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Ravindra Singh Negi — Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Analysts:
Dhruv Jain — Analyst
Ravi Swaminathan — Analyst
Natasha Jain — Analyst
Anirudh Joshi — Analyst
Rachna — Analyst
Balasubramanian — Analyst
Keshav Garg — Analyst
Nirransh Jain — Analyst
Umang Shah — Analyst
Disha — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Orient Electric Limited U3FY26 results call hosted by Ambed Capital Private Limited. As a reminder, all participants Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Orient Electric Limited Q3FY26 results call hosted by Ambed Capital Pvt LTD. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your Touchstone code. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
Anna Hande Conference Utem Sadhruv Jain from Ambit Capital Private Limited thank you and over to you sir.
Dhruv Jain — Analyst
Thank you. Hello everyone, welcome to Orient Electrics 3 QFY26 earnings call. From the Management side today we have with us Mr. Ravindra Singh Neghi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Arvind Watts, Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Sambhav. Jain, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you and over to you sir. For your opening remarks.
Ravindra Singh Negi — Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you Dhruv and thank you Iqra. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for the Orient Electric Q3 FY26 earnings conference call. I appreciate your time and continued engagement with our journey of strengthening Orient into a more premium, consumer centric and future ready FMEG brand. We’ve been interacting with a lot of you over the course of last six months, updating on our progress of our strategy in action. Let me give you an overview first of the Quarter three from an industry perspective. Quarter three unfolded against a dynamics macro background. The quarter began with healthy festive momentum with signs of resilience in the domestic environment supported by steady GDP growth, improved liquidity and sustained consumer confidence aided by GST rate realization across various categories.
Even though OELS and FMEG categories were not impacted by this, but Q3 started on a positive consumer sentiment towards discretionary spendings. However, elevated channel inventory and muted demand in cooling categories tempered the industry’s overall growth trajectory. In parallel, the industry underwent a major regulatory transition from implementation of the ratcheting of new Be Star label norms for ceiling fans effective for January 2026. This triggered widespread channel destocking of older models causing short term rate dilutions. Additionally, a sharp rise in copper prices in commodities added further cost pressures. Despite these disruptions, Orient Electric delivered resilient performance recording 11% year on year revenue growth driven by a consistent emphasis on portfolio diversification through a multiproduct growth engine anchored in consumer innovation premiumization and disciplined execution.
Under our one Orient strategy Orient navigated the seasonal softness well and delivered a standout performance in the ECD segment with a revenue growth of 12.6% year on year and a strong 46.7 quarter on quarter increase. This growth was led by a strong double digit growth in appliances, especially the heating category, underscoring its central role in our diversification strategy. Balancing the seasonal dips and fans for our ECB segment, a prolonged and severe winters enabled significant market share gain in water heaters and room eaters. Supported by the launch of our World Flow Flow Fast heating range and a successful extension of the Fat SE Garan campaign in France, we delivered decent single digit growth demonstrating resilience despite broader industry softness.
Our premiumization playbook continued to gain traction with BLDC portfolio growing by over 30% and collectively premium decorative and BLDC models now contribute to about 30% plus of our domestic ceiling France mix. Our Mission Orange retail program expanded to 4,500 new outlets enhancing in store product engagement of our premium portfolio and improving conversion. We also successfully transitioned and stabilized the Pune market to the DTM model. MP and Chhattisgarh transitioned previously to direct service and it has now stabilized. We further strengthened our service infrastructure by implementing four hour service commitment in fans and water heaters across 18 major cities.
Another key growth engine Lighting and Switchgear segment sustained its growth momentum with a 7.1% air on ear increase in revenue in the consumer lighting. We continue to strengthen our market share with a single digit volume and value growth and a mix shifting towards luminaries which rose to 66% contribution versus 61% last year driven by cob downlights and panels. Plum lighting also grew in double digits. However tender business had a sharp one time re growth on the back of a higher base last year leading to an overall flatfish lighting revenue. A brand campaign for Lighting one brand void featuring Ms.
Dhoni and Kusha Kapila in the podcast format with the tagline Fans Vale Orient Lights has resonated strongly across both trade and consumer segments. Our switchgear and wires business delivered well this quarter. Wires doubled tear on air although on a very small base supported by strong acceptance in trade and influencer ecosystems. Switches also posted high double digit growth supported by sustained electrician engagement initiative and effective cross selling through our fan slicing distribution ecosystem. This segment, though currently at a low base is a future growth segment for oel. E Commerce grew in high double digits fueled by improved assortment, positive reviews and strong performance Marketing push with a substantial part of our marketing investments now directed towards digital and contextual platforms we continue to sharper our sharpen our consumer centric communication strategy.
Exports also grew 40% strengthening our diversified international footprint largely led by fans. Across businesses we are increasing design differentiation, energy efficient technologies, richer aesthetics and category leading user experience, building a premium brand imagery and driving visibility in trade and E commerce. Moving on to the financials in Q3 FY26 Orion delivered a resilient performance building on the strategic levers, our revenue grew 11% year on year to Rupees 906.5 crores representing a robust sequential increase of 29% over Q2. This growth reflects our continued focus on market expansion and the success of our premiumization strategy across core and emerging categories.
Gross profit for the quarter stood at about 270.4 crores up 4.3% year on year. Gross margin was at 29.8, approximately 30%, slightly below our guidance of 32 to 34% primarily due to elevated commodity prices, especially copper during the quarter. To mitigate this, we have implemented a 3 to 3.5% price increase in January across main categories of fans, lighting and switchgear. Vias has been passing on the impact of the commodity increase now almost every three weeks for last few months. Despite margin pressures, I am pleased to report that our operating EBITDA margin remains stable at 7.5% supported by operating leverage and ongoing cost efficiency initiatives.
PBT before the exceptional item was 44 crores up 19% year on year reflecting strong underlying operational performance. PAT however, was impacted by one time statutory adjustment of 8.7 crores related to implementation of the new labor codes. This exceptional item, while non recurring in nature, temporarily weighed on reported profitability. Overall Q3 results highlighted the resilience of our business model, diversified multi growth engines and disciplined execution positioning us well to sustain momentum in the quarters ahead. Our focus remains clear build a more premium, more digital, more efficient and more consumer centric oriented with category leadership in BLDC luminaries, heating segment and build scale in B2B lighting, switch gears and wires.
Looking ahead, we believe that the new BE STAR norms effective 1 January 2026 will act as a structural catalyst for accelerated VLDC adoption with a strong and expanding energy efficient portfolio. We are well positioned to benefit from this shift combined with the expansion of our lithium footprint, strengthening digital reach and and disciplined execution across channels. We remain confident of finishing FY2526 on a better than industry note with sustained growth, improved profitability and continued progress towards a future ready operating model. With these remarks I would like to Open the floor for your questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may Press Star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Ravi Swaminathan from Avendus Park. Please go ahead.
Ravi Swaminathan
Hi sir, very good afternoon. Congrats on a good set of numbers. My first question is with respect to the fans industry. So any flavor on what would have been the volume decline in nine months in the fan industry and how Orient would have performed during this period.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Ravi, thanks. Thanks for the question and thanks for the compliment on the good set of numbers. If I were to look at it, I don’t have the final quarter three third party report but the volume degrowth and there are two sets that we need to look at when we look at volume degrowth. Volume at the ceiling fund level is more or less sustained but the degrowth largely has happened in the TPW segment. From an industry perspective that we’re saying if you look at our last three quarter results in YTD also we’ve done better than industry, better than peers, we’ve gained market share and that’s if you do any channel check would be very evident in the market.
Ravi Swaminathan
Understood sir. And within fans itself with respect to the BLDC fan, what is the share of BLDC in your overall portfolio? And you had a while ago mentioned that this be norm change would accelerate the shift towards bldc. Yeah. What one of the key reasons behind that happening.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So if you were to look at and you know, if I were to look at my YTD YTD almost at about 40% on the BLDC is what we’ve grown this quarter also 30% we’ve grown. Industry sits at about 17 18% of BLDC of the ceiling fan. We are for this quarter because obviously there was a one time be ratcheting and a lot of our equal and subsegment sales happen. But overall we are at almost 1/4 of my ceiling fan closer to 1/4 coming from BLDC and that’s been a very. It sits in well with our premiumization strategy as well as from a consumer optic perspective.
When I say the ratcheting, the ratcheting is making the norms tighter and hence consumers will be attracted to far more energy efficient product and it’s not just the energy efficient product, it’s the blend of technology and design is what we are delivering which is making our BLDC grow. That’s why we said the tighter the norms the adoption of BLDC would be faster in that segment. If you play a lifestyle design and a tech combination together, the chances for Orion gets far bigger and far higher than most of the other brands.
Ravi Swaminathan
Understood. And. In terms of profitability of bldc, we say are the other products, is there a big difference in it or is it like similar in terms of profitability at the gross and EBITDA level?
Ravindra Singh Negi
It’s high. It’s higher.
Ravi Swaminathan
It’s higher. Okay, and final question with respect to fans, once again, what would be the likely requirement of price increases that is needed to offset the commodity price going up? Like copper prices have gone up and rupee also has depreciated. So what would be the kind of price increase that will be required for that and what would have been the price increase associated with just the be nom change alone?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So we don’t. So I would not share the breakup between the two and it will all depend on brand to brand. A substantial part of my portfolio was already meeting the norms set by. Because we always focus on quality and we try and give the best to the consumers. We’ve taken a 3% price increase on 1st of January. We’re keeping a very close watch on the commodities if required. If the commodities stay at these elevated levels, we’ll revisit our need for another price increase.
Ravi Swaminathan
Understood sir. And my last question is on the lighting.
operator
Sorry to interrupt. Ravi, please rejoin the queue for more questions.
Ravi Swaminathan
Sure.
operator
Yeah. Thank you.
Ravi Swaminathan
Thank you.
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow up question, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from Philip Capital. Please go ahead.
Natasha Jain
Thank you. Good evening gentlemen and congratulations on a good set of numbers. First, in terms of fans. So you mentioned in your opening remarks that elevated channel, inventory and demand also has been tepid. Now, given that there will be cost hike as well, do you think that in 4Q the industry growth could be moderated as a factor of all this? And any good trigger we could only see from FY27 onwards.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Natasha, thank you. See you have to look at it when I say elevated channel, they’ve been destocking it. There was a because of poor summers that happened and we also have to keep in mind where did the impact happen more when there was a tapered summer. So ppw. And that’s what I said in the beginning to Ravi’s question, PPW got more impacted, ceiling fund got lesser impact. Now the racketing has happened in ceiling fan and not in the ppw. Given the fact that this year Holi is slightly earlier, we are expecting and very hopeful for a strong summer.
Then if the strong summer starts to happen in south first, that kick starts with PPW first and then it goes on to the ceiling fan. So very hopeful that quarter four Feb onwards on we should start seeing some traction here.
Natasha Jain
So that’s helpful. And my second question is in terms of lighting now, when I see your top line growth has been moderate but margin decline has been sharper and it is even sharper when I see it on a both on a QOQ and Y basis. So is it mainly because of the front buying and now we are getting impacted more from the cost or the pricing decline? And if so, can you call out what is the pricing decline in this quarter as well for lighting?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So in lighting also there are. So when you look at the results, it’s a combination of lighting switch gears and wires all put together. Wires. We were able to pass on the price increase literally every two, three weeks. Switch gear is where our price increase pass on to the consumer. Did not happen. It’s taken on 17th of January. So that has been an impact on overall lighting also went through a little bit of commodity impact there. Also we passed on the price increase on 20th of January of 3%. So we are hoping that the margins would come back and obviously we had spent a little bit more on lighting from a branding perspective, trade engagement perspective.
But and that’s largely our Q3 phenomena because that’s the time when lighting seasonality impact happens. We’re building up that category. We’ve taken the price increase and we’ve taken a price increase and in fact ahead of the industry. So that should bring back the margins in the lighting and switches.
Natasha Jain
So what would be a B2B B2C split in lighting.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Largely I’ve given a guidance earlier also it’s currently 75 25. Ideally you know, we should move towards some of the industry leaders of 6535. So we’re building our capabilities on B2B and side mode.
Natasha Jain
Got it. Thank you so much Sara on the mail.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you, Natasha.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anirudh Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Anirudh Joshi
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. And sir, congrats for great set of numbers given the macro conditions. So, two questions. One, now, as per the new norms, even the star rating 2 can be only BLDC fan and means if somebody launch, say induction fan, he cannot get a star rating 2. Also. So is that a fair understanding? So if that is the case, eventually the entire industry may shift pretty fast to BLDC only is that one fair assumption? Second question is now earlier induction fans required a lot of commodities like copper and aluminum. Whereas in case of BLDC, the major cost is PCBA electronics, which is almost 50% of the cost. So the increase in commodity prices will literally will not at all impact or will impact very negligible to BLDC fans. Again, is that fair understanding? So means basically the gap between BLDC and induction may reduce and it may push for more premiumization.
Right.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Another. Thanks. I think let me just first address your first assumption of saying, you know, the star rated 2 will be BLDC. I think it’s a wrong assumption. What government has simply done is they have service values defined and at a service value earlier was a 4.1 service value for defining as a, you know, one star. Now they’ve made those service values go up. Government simply say at this service value, whether you make it through induction or a bldc, if you’re delivering that service value, that star rating gets applied there. Okay. So currently theoretically you can do a five star both on induction as well as on bldc.
So it’s just, it’s a factor of service value. And two star doesn’t mean bldc. Typically everybody is giving five star on BLDC because you are able to bring the consumption to anything between 28 to 32 watts. Okay, so that’s one on the other. Factor of saying yes, there is the commodity consumption that starts to happen very differently. But its PCB is not the 50% part of the overall COGS. It is lesser than that. And there are different variable components of making a plan where there is an elevated price increase. So we passed on, I wouldn’t say category to category, but it’s been far more secular when we pass on a 3% price increase. So there’s a cost increase in impact which happens across categories. Right. Now.
Anirudh Joshi
If the commodity prices increase, will it require same price hike in BLDC also or induction France also?
Ravindra Singh Negi
No. So ideally it will require slightly more in induction than bldc. But currently given the price increase and everything, it’s impacting both sides.
Anirudh Joshi
Okay, okay. Surely Surely, sir. Understood. And this last second question, it seems that we have gained market share in three months or nine months. So if you can indicate what would be the gain of market share and if you can give more color like which region we would have gained east face, north, south or urban versus rural. Any, any details on that will be helpful.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Yeah.
Anirudh Joshi
Also if you can share the market shares in BFPC versus the Inductions also. Yeah, thanks.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Typically we don’t share market shares and I’ll refrain from sharing that. But yes, there are third party data which is available and to most of the people who subscribe to it, we’ve gained shares across different categories, different markets and different channels also. So we track them separately. The reports that we have third party indicate that we don’t share the data, but we seem to be moving in the right direction on the market share gains. Difficult for me to, you know, even give you region wise. I hope that. Satisfied?
Anirudh Joshi
Sure, sir.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Sure.
Anirudh Joshi
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you sir.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Rachna from sample. Please go ahead.
Rachna
Thank you. I have few questions within other appliances in ECD which has seen strong double digit growth, did the heating category in Q3, FY26 grow at a rate of 20% year on year? Some color, quantitative color specifically on the heating category.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Our heating category has done extremely well and that’s the qualitative number that I can give you. We don’t share subcategory wise, but when I look at appliances, given the fact that there’s been good winters especially in north and east and there were parts of even south where heating category did grow well. So we’ve seen a growth that happened. And water heaters as a category is something that we’re doubling down. We’ve got new models, we’ve expanded our distribution, we’ve expanded our channels. That’s showing a good traction every single.
Rachna
Even if you could give a ballpark figure if is it grown higher than the ECD category or some range to give specifically color on the heating segment.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So that’s why we’ve grown ECD by 12 and a half percent. And when I’m qualitative saying that you know we’ve done high double digit, you can understand that we’ve grown higher than the ECB overall.
Rachna
Okay, my second, okay, my second question would be for nine months FY26 did switch care and wires contribute more than 5%? And what could be the annual revenue run rate for switchgears and wires and will the contribution grow in the long term? And if yes, what would be the levers?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So we called out earlier also the switch gears and wires is a growth engine for us and that’s where there are tailwinds of infrastructure push and a development by the government happening currently it’s clubbed and obviously it’s clubbed because it’s less than 15% of the overall as and when we put these two as both different sectors we’ll give you far more detail consideration. Switch gears and why, what are the right to win in these segments. You know switchgears we’ve been doing, we have a good technology partnership. Our Eurotech is one of the better technology backed switchgear available in the market.
Switches also we’re gaining traction there and on wires our complete strategy has been saying where is my channel synergies coming in? Just to give you a little data point, 40% of the 40 to 45% of the fan selling dealers sell wires. So those are the channel synergies that we’re doing currently. We’re seeing as a percentage good growth but as a value we need to do a lot more. Given the opportunity and the size of the opportunity available as and when it becomes substantial enough we will share more details on switch gears and wires separately with all of you.
Rachna
Okay, so is it fair to assume it is around 5 to 10% of our lighting business?
Ravindra Singh Negi
Raskam, we don’t give a breakdown of that so I would refrain from answering.
Rachna
Okay, one data keeping question. Other expenses have decreased. Could you share which cost components have seen some control and whether it is likely to continue in the medium long term as well? Same for depreciation as well. There has been a slight decline. So both on these cost components, if you could give some color.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So firstly a slight correction. Our other expenses have not decreased. They’ve just gone up about 2.4% up. There are a lot of cost initiatives that we’re taking a lot of operating leverage that we’re trying to build in in the organization and we’ll continue to focus on this. What is not controllable in our factor is these commodities and the headwinds of regulatory and other things that we did. What is controllable in our with us is some of the structuring and cost and a huge focus on programs like Panchay that we do which saved till ytd about 43 crores for us.
So those are something that will continue to happen for us. On depreciation it’s hardly anything. It’s counting number that happens because of our investments earlier enough so it’s not much there.
Rachna
Thank you.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Dhruv Jain
Thanks for the opportunity sir. Had two questions. First is if you could just provide a update on the Hyderabad plant as to what is the utilization and you know from when should we start expecting some bit of gross margin expansion being driven from there.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Dhruv, thank you. On Hyderabad plant and I said, you know, if you look at the nine months and you look at what has impacted, impacted the industry it’s the decline has been the PPW segment far more than the ceiling plant. Our Hyderabad plant is primarily built for TPWE and as I also said, you know that February onwards we see TPW bouncing back and we are very hopeful that this summer starting from south would be better than last year. And if you read a little bit about it there is this whole El Nino which is building up again.
So that should give us a little bit of more hope. As you speak, utilization is low. This summer would be a full year, you know, for a full year for us to start beveraging the Hyderabad plant and that will have the impact on our gross market.
Dhruv Jain
Sure. And the second question linked to this on the margin side. Right. So you know, given how commodities have moved up there has been the aspiration that you guys have had with respect to touching double digit margins sooner. So does that mean that you know, we not see that number even in this year and get pushed out to FY28 or, or do you think that the price rises that you’re taking will be enough to kind of get you to that number assuming you grow at double digit from a top line perspective in FY27.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So Dhruv, a lot depends on the commodities and our assumption is that commodities should start softening from February onwards. If it doesn’t happen we will have to pass on the prices to the consumers and that we’ll do. What helps us is that if you for the last few quarters we’ve been building a very strong portfolio and a focus on premiumization. You are slightly better off when the price increases happen because the consumer at that premium end is slightly more inelastic to the price movement. And so hopefully that should help. We’re still maintaining, we’ll keep a close watch in Q4 and then only if there is any guidance and saying that if I have to shift my goal post on double digit I’ll come back to you.
But we’re hopeful and we’re pushing to move towards the double digit.
Dhruv Jain
Just one question. Quantitatively, this industry over the last four or five years has seen a fair bit of competitive intensity, right? So in your mind is that competitive intensity across segments coming off or it’s still sort of the same as what we’ve seen in the past.
Ravindra Singh Negi
To me, I think the number of entrances slowed down but number of existing players getting into different sector is increasing. Unless you have a right to win and a synergy that you want to build up, each category that you do will have a value of debt. So you could probably, you know, if you get into fans, the value of debt could be about 200, 250 crores. Because post that your distribution, your brand, your service, your premiumization, your consumer pool starts to taken. So to me, I don’t, I think the number of new entrants would be not increasing much but the existing players would then get into each other’s categories far more.
Dhruv Jain
Got it. Thanks a lot and all the best.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all, if you wish to ask a question you may press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Bala Subramanian from Arihan Capital. Please go ahead.
Balasubramanian
Good evening sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. So currently premium mix of premium fan makes contributes nearly 30 percentage of domestic ceiling fans. And what is the target mix of XY27 and FY28? And how are you addressing affordability to drive further adoption?
Ravindra Singh Negi
Hi, thank you, thank you for the question. You know I had stated a couple of quarters back. For us the ultimate target is to move this 30% to a 45%. A huge amount of focus on BLDC. A huge amount of focus on getting the design language right, fit, feel, finish and a complete go market on selling the premium products is being worked upon. We strongly believe it’s a traction that’s we are on the right path. 45% is what we aspire to be. We are quite a distance away but that’s where we would be. We will have a milestone.
Balasubramanian
Okay, sir. From the export side, we have grown 40% year on year while many players are struggling on the export side because of the tariff issues. I just want to understand which regions are driving this kind of growth and what is the scalability of the export business.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So I’ll first tell you from an industry perspective, I won’t want to divulge my areas of where we sell. The industry sells largely the South, Middle east and Africa. Those are the areas which are not impacted by tariffs as of now. So, so I, I I think you know, there is still a headway for the industry to know keep going in those markets.
Balasubramanian
So my last question, DTO model I think we have added.
operator
Please rejoin the queue for more questions.
Balasubramanian
Yeah, okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
operator
The next question is from the line of Karma from ccipl. Please go ahead.
Keshav Garg
Sir, firstly, our working capital days have. Increased from 18 days in FY24 to 31 days. And sir, also are we on track to achieve 10 operating margins over the next six quarters? And you had told us and sir, also our stock price is at 2020. Covid levels and our market cap is almost equal to our revenue. So. And promoter holding is very low at 38%. So isn’t it an opportune time to. Do a share buyback to increase shareholder wealth?
Ravindra Singh Negi
Hi Keshav. Firstly I won’t comment on the stocks and the valuation and all that’s out of the purview of this call. Secondly, on the 10% guidance I’ve just answered, group on that we remain optimistic about it in spite and I said in the call that what is controllable if commodities and regulatory is not controllable. There is this whole focus on getting our cost structures, our operating leverage in and we are working on that. With. The one aim of getting on to the double digit growth margins there. Yes, our stock prices have come down, but that’s a larger impact of what’s happening at a global level. What’s happening with the fii, what’s happening with the small cap and overall investor sentiment.
Keshav Garg
Yes, sure, sir. Sir, I’m just saying we should make. Use of the attractive level of stock. Price to do a shared vaaba. Thank you.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Point. Point noted. Thanks for your suggestion on that Working capital, you know, which are largely our, you know, stock in the market, which leads to a receivable going up which is passive but otherwise there’s nothing there and which is also what we are building up. So there’s not much of a.
Keshav Garg
So what steady state working capital days are you expecting going forward?
Ravindra Singh Negi
We should be in the range of 18 to 2022 and that’s the number of days that we’ve always kept in.
Keshav Garg
Great. So thank you very much and best of luck.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Niran’s chain from BNP Pariba. Please go ahead.
Nirransh Jain
Yeah. Hi sir. Congratulations again on a really good set of results. Sir, my first question is again back to the inventory levels for the fans. So given that like this year anyway the issue was higher on the TPW side and like based on our checks also the inventory levels had been like little bit fair especially for the ceiling fans. And like in your opening comments you mentioned that there had been a further destocking that has happened on the older ratings. So is it fair to assume that the inventory levels are even below than the normal level especially for the ceiling fans? Or in other way like how do you see the current channel sentiment for the upcoming summer? Like do you see them stocking up or like waiting for the summer recovery?
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you for the question. So if you look at it, you know the split between the switch ceiling and TBW is about 70, 30 last year if you recall the average temperatures in February, March and 2025 were higher than even 2024. So huge amount of pent up demand, pent up buildup for the summers happened and it starts first with the south and south contributes to almost 60, 65% of the TPW. So huge amount of stock inventory has been been built up happened for the industry in the south which then again went through a very consistent crash in sales over the last nine months.
So I think that’s where I was mentioning saying look, the destocking happened from an overall ceiling plan perspective. The industry has been more or less flat on the volumes. But, but there’s been a, you know, I think there is because of the star ratcheting price increase, there’s been a little bit of towards the end of quarter for the industry, there’s been a little bit of positive sentiment that trade has shown in terms of this. A lot depends on how February turns out with summers in south. Given the fact that Oli is early this time, it also is a positive indication for north and east also.
So we’ve not got any negative sentiment from the trade as of now. And we’re very optimistic about the summer’s turning out to be much better than last year. And if you look at over the last 10, 15 years results of any cooling category, there’s never been two, two years of bad summers. Just a reference point.
Nirransh Jain
Sure sir. And sir, is it possible to call out the advertisement and the sales promotions for the nine months YTD?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So we are at about 4.2, 4.1% of our revenue there. We’ve always maintained that since we’re building up different categories, we will be higher than the industry at this elevated level of about 4, 4.5%.
Nirransh Jain
Right sir. Actually my question comes from the fact that if I look at last year also the ad spends grew by like 8%. So we have already started seeing some deceleration in the ad spends. Now obviously this comes as a broader strategy of like when the investments were front loaded and now we are seeing some moderation in there. But my question is that next year for example, if demand again recover, do we see these ad spends as percentage of sales going back to those four and a half percent levels or like, like how do you see the ad spends trajectory over over the next one to two years?
Ravindra Singh Negi
This quarter I was at 4.2% I have versus last year I’ve done a double digit spend on my marketing spend. So as I said, you know we will continue to invest because it’s not just one category. We’re building up a brand across different categories. So we will see slightly elevated levels and next is also we intend to spend because that’s where when you’re building up a brand standing for multi categories and a premiumization you will have to do. We will have to find the right and how are we getting the right results from those? Are we picking the right channels? And that’s why it’s not specified thing.
We’re picking up the right digital channel, we’re picking up the right connected TVs, we’re picking up the right segments. You know, go and talk about our brand and products.
Nirransh Jain
Right sir. And so lastly just one thing. Are we thinking about any other category specifically related to solar or like is there any thoughts behind that?
Ravindra Singh Negi
As soon as we finalize anything and we’ll come back to you guys.
Nirransh Jain
Sure sir. Thank you so much and all the best.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you very much.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Omangsha from Avendis. Please go ahead.
Umang Shah
Hi sir. First of all once again congratulations. I know you are tired of hearing this but but my question is more related towards our projections on premiumization. So that is one main reason why I think that we really love your brand. Orange has really worked very well. Brand exposure has worked very well. So going forward what do you think would be the additions in the SKUs that we will be looking at? Fans and lights both if you could comment on that.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So thanks for bringing out the brand and the color and the fact that you really like the premiumization effort that we’re doing. Premiumization, especially when you start thinking and keeping consumers at the core of it. It’s a long drawn process. We’ve been at it for a long time. As we move forward for the summers also you will see some of the innovation and premium products coming in both Categories of lighting and in fans. And moving forward, you will also see in some of the other categories of heating that we will have. So it’s a continuous journey.
Premiumization and innovation doesn’t stop off at one innovation or one product. You love to keep understanding the consumer, keep solving for the consumer needs and work very hard intrinsically. Your DNA has to become consumer centric to be able to, you know, anticipate the trends, movements and do that. As simple as that. You know, last year we picked up the trends and colors. We introduced about 40 colors which were very liked and appreciated by the consumers as well as specifiers. So some of those things, it’s a continuous journey that we are at it and we’ll continue to do so.
Umang Shah
Okay, and the other way. So what would be our DTM strategy now? Do we think that we have penetrated in the existing market and that we will start looking at different markets or we are still a long way to go for that?
Ravindra Singh Negi
No, we’ve always said that there’s always going to be a hybrid model of MD and btm. What are we wanting and solving for? We are saying any market where I am growing, gaining market share, improving my quality of distribution, both in terms of numeric distribution and weightage, premiumization and engagement with the retailer, that’s the market we continue to do whether and then the route and the model doesn’t matter and we keep evaluating that. So that’s the stance that we’ve always had. All the markets that we’ve done, we’ve seen attraction there in terms of all these parameters.
Umang Shah
Got it sir. And sir missed in between there were questions on water heater. So heating and cooling products. What is our strategy over there? What do you think is the optimal season that we should be, you know, aware in terms of seasonality for growth in revenue or something of that sort.
Ravindra Singh Negi
See, if you look at it in last few years, the weather conditions and global warming is becoming extreme. Either it’s going to be extreme summers or it’s going to be extreme winters. The consumers will pick for both conditions products and we would want to be aggressive, we would want to have the same presence in both categories and solve for consumer needs from harsh seasonal variances that we’re seeing, whether it’s summers or it’s winters. And we’ve seen water heaters could get good traction and good response. We’ve seen room eaters getting a good response and we were hoping that we’ll build these categories more and gain market share there.
There’s a headroom for us there in that category to gain market share as well as gain on the premiumization that.
Umang Shah
Just to continue on the last point, so what would be the optimal mix that we will be very happy with currently 5:30, where do we think. What mix is the optimal mix for us?
Ravindra Singh Negi
Sorry, I couldn’t get it, but I’m assuming you are asking what could be a B2C and a B2B mix in lighting that should be an optimal in.
Umang Shah
Our overall revenue where we will be very happy that 5050 fans and other products.
Ravindra Singh Negi
So for us, you know, the mix is obviously end product and a byproduct for us. The key thing is to see growth in my existing strong core categories much better than the industry, much better than the peers and for my newer categories a higher double digit growth that we would want. So we want to see ideally both the mix is a fallout and an end result of that. Our key purpose is to have a secular growth across all categories, driving all categories, being seen as a consumer centric premium brand across all SKUs that we do and across all categories that we do for the consumer mix is a resultant.
Umang Shah
Okay, got it. Very clear, Very clear, sir. Great. Thank you so much.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you, thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to all, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Disha from Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Disha
Hello.
operator
Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead.
Disha
Yeah, so my question is just on. The BLDC side, I think currently around 50%. Right. And you mentioned that we’re targeting to get this up to 45%. So what’s the timeline there?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So Shisha said, you know, bldc we’ve grown by 30% on the premium, which is a mix of BLDC, decorative and non BLDC premium. We’re currently at our greater than 30%. That’s where we’re looking at 45%. Obviously we want to do it as soon as possible, even at couple of. Years,
Disha
but any sort of timeline.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Take two seasons.
Disha
Okay, and what’s the this margin differential that we see? How like. Because this is on the premium side. So what’s the differential for the margin?
Ravindra Singh Negi
So we don’t declare that because that’s internal data. But. But it’s better on BLDC and premium and that’s for most categories. If you look at it, you don’t call any category or SKU premium if it’s not delivering a better margin than the average or the entry levels.
Disha
Right. Okay. Okay, that’s it from my side. Thank you.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen will take this as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Dhruv Jain for closing comments. Over to you, sir. Dhruv sir is not connected right now. We can close the call.
Ravindra Singh Negi
Yeah. So thank you, everyone and thank you for your time and for all the encouragement and the questions which looking forward, we are very hopeful for a good summers and a good Q4. Thank you so much for the time. Thank you. Have a good day.
operator
Thank you very much on behalf of Ambit Capital Private Limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us today. And you may now disconnect your lines.