Som Distilleries & Breweries Limited (NSE: SDBL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Aug. 12, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Manoj Kumar Pal — Analyst
Mukund Agarwal — Analyst
Hiten — Analyst
Rudransh — Analyst
Prabhu — Analyst
Naagraj — Analyst
Mukund Agarwal — Analyst
Manish Gupta — Analyst
Ajay Mehta — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q1FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Soam Distilleries and Breweries Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing 0 on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference has been recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Dewakaran Surya Narayan. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you very much. Good afternoon all of you. A warm welcome to all of you on behalf of SOAM Distilleries and Breweries. Thank you very much for joining us today. It’s always a pleasure to connect with our valued investors and analysts. Q1 we experienced a significant drop in beer consumption led by unseasonal rains and higher excess duties in the state of Karnataka. Rains were across not just in Karnataka. Unseasonal rains. The unfavorable policy in Karnataka impacted our company. Also the volume to the entire industry leading to a decline of over 20% in Q1 versus Q1 last year.
@ an all India level as well the antigen of range of impact to the overall beer consumption. We estimate the industry to be down by around 2 to 3% in Q1 overall industry in the country Beer industry in this country. However, we expect reasonable recovery in industry and our own volumes in the coming quarters. The key highlights for the Q1 are that we achieved a 89 lakh cases volume that is 8.9 million lakh cases. Beer volume is 8.5 million cases. IMFL registered a 4 lakh cases and with a growth of 58% versus last year Q1 beer is down by around 2 and a half percent.
Mainly led by industry and some issues in Karnataka. In terms of policy and unfavorable policy for us Mainline brand hunter and powerful draw our growth in this quarter. We also launched Mahavit Whisky in the regular which is mid premium whiskey segment in Madhya Pradesh and that is receiving good response. As of now. Woodpecker Premium has been recognized as a raising star brand by one of the media agencies. In the last quarter year realization stood at 566 rupees per case up from 550 in Q1 FY25. And we expect our future outlook to be a little more better.
Much better than what we have done in Q1. We will recover volumes in coming quarters post partial rollback of excess duty in Karnataka. We expect to entrance further in markets like Tamil Nadu where we are beginning to do well. We expect to entrench with Mahavat in part of north markets in the coming quarters. We’ll continue to focus on growth drivers, innovation as a growth driver and both in IMFL and beer. We are committed to delivering sustainable long term value to our stakeholders. Over to Nakul for the financial highlights. Hi.
Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy
Good afternoon everybody. Thank you, Diva sir. It’s a pleasure to take you all through the financial and strategic highlights. For quarter one FY26, we reported a total income of 5301 million. An increase on year on growth of 3.2%. Our EBITDA for the quarter was at rupees 721 million with a margin of close to 13.6%. Furthermore, our net profit for the quarter stood at rupees 421 million with a margin of 7.9%. With these financial achievements for the quarter, we remain confident in our strategy and execution capabilities as we continue to build, scale, expand, reach and drive growth across our key markets.
Our gross debt stood at 1990 million and net debt at rupees 1800 million for the quarter ended June25. We are pleased to report that the phase one execution of our up project is progressing as per the planned schedule with a capital outlay of rupees 370 crores. All key milestones outlined in the project timelines are being met with no major deviation or delay. We expect the commissioning of the brewery to happen in the first half of FY26 27 as we enter the leaner season for beer. We are confident of posting encouraging results in the coming quarters, especially on the back of a renewed focus on our IMFL portfolio.
Our strategic focus will remain on Innovation Depot market penetration and portfolio premiumization, laying the groundwork for sustained growth and enhanced shareholder value. Before we proceed to the Q and A, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the stakeholders for their support and confidence in our endeavors. 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. Two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Manoj Kumar Pal, an individual investor. Please proceed. I would request Mr. Manoj to unmute and then speak.
Manoj Kumar Pal
Hello. Am I audible?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yes, you’re audible.
Manoj Kumar Pal
Yeah. Thank you, sir. Giving Me this opportunity and it’s a. Great, it’s a conclusion for, for setting. Up the new set of numbers. Sir, my question is are we going on some frequent premium product after the Mahavat?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Sorry, can you repeat your question please?
Manoj Kumar Pal
Sir, my question is are we planning something in future in the premium product. After the launch of Mahava which we. Have launched in this.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yes, yes. As stated in my brief in the beginning, we will continue to innovate and you know, play much more aggressively in the IMFL segment. Mahavat is just the beginning and we have a few more premium products in the pipeline including a single malt. And I think you know, that is where the growth is going to lie in the next 3, 4/4. So we will, we will be prepared for that.
Manoj Kumar Pal
Okay. Okay. And what will the timeline for that upcoming product?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
See, we want to now focus on Mahavat which is just about completed two months now. Right. And we are just in one market and we still have a lot of markets to cover with the brands and we don’t want to rush and you know, not focus on a particular. Particularly on the Marwat segment which is a big segment. Premium is of course in the pipeline and it has its developmental space and developmental time and we are focused on doing that also. But sooner than later I think you will get see that. Okay, sir, thank you.
That’s all for myself. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mukund Agarwal from BMC Advisors. Please proceed.
Mukund Agarwal
Good evening. Hello. And because like Q1 quarter, one of the best quarters, flat results. So going forward for the whole year.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. Nagul, should I take this question? You’re taking it.
Nakul Sethi
Sir, go ahead.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. So sir, you’re right. I mean very, very right. First quarter because of unseasonal rains and things like that. Plus the policy change in Karnataka has really put us down a little bit. But our expectation is that although we have said that 2022% is what is our expectation in the last quarter call. But I think we will be going towards between 15 to 16%. This is roughly about 60. 1700 crores is what we are expecting.
Mukund Agarwal
1600. 1700 crores is what we ARE expecting.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj. 1650 to 1700 crores is what we are expecting. Okay. They’re also majorly also into beer only sales increase. Aya or Ulokabi. Major market Kapi Mutlavaj.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year. Okay. Upland start hojaya. 1650. 1700 crores. Karnaga in line. And we are confident remaining part of the year.
Unidentified Speaker
Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone. Okay. Sales but standalone.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies. So in markets May broker for. Unfortunately because of that excise and rain factor the operations was hit hard in these subsidies.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much, sir.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Bangalore Airport.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. But like out of all the outlets it’s only available in one of the outlets. Like out of so many. You know. You know the.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
The way industry operates is that you know the. The big guys, the multinationals, you know try to block. We are trying to create a space for ourselves in that market.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much of the future for your stock. And the company looks very outstandingly progressive and like best of luck for everything. Thank you so much for answering all the questions. Thank you so much.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you sir. Thank you for your trust.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Hitane from Sequent Investments. Please proceed.
Hiten
Am I audible, sir?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yes. Yeah.
Hiten
So I have a couple of question. The first question is on this Karnataka duty hike. So can you quantify the impact on sales in this quarter?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
See you know the industry has declined by 20 odd percentage. Sorry, industry has declined by 20 odd percentage. Was the quarter last quarter last year? Quarter. Okay, so. And we. We are impacted a little more because our. Our segment was affected by the pricing. I mean the taxation policy.
Hiten
Okay. Okay. Assuming there was no such kind of problem in Q1. So can you assume our sales could be around 650 odd crore in Q1?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Sorry, please repeat the question.
Hiten
Sir, I’m assuming there was no any Karnataka duty problem in Q1. So can we assume our sales would come around 650 odd crores in current.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I mean Q1 like we promised in the beginning of the beginning of this year when we did the quarter four results and last year results we would have definitely crossed about 2025% growth and unseasonal rains. I mean rains. One is the taxation, other is the unseasonal rains. And Otis also got affected.
Hiten
Okay. Yes, understood. And so my second question is on the UP expansion. So if you can some give some data point. And what is the size of the UP market in terms of cases? The be a market cases as well as I assuming. I am assuming this capacity is coming in phase wise. So what would be the capacity in. Phase one and when Elite. Sorry. Yeah.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
So I answer in terms of the capacity then Diva, can I answer on the total size of the market? So we are coming up with a beer capacity of 1 crore cases per annum. Okay. And we expect that by the first half of 26:27 the the vehicle would be on stream.
Hiten
Yeah, but my question was more on the data point side.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Sir, the UP market, what is the size? I will answer. I will answer that. Yeah. See, the up market, as you know, you know it’s The UP as a state is the largest state in the country in terms of population. Although the per capita consumption is low, the size of the market is roughly about. Last year it was about 35 million cases. Right. And this year due to the policy change and then they have allowed to allow the retailers to sell beer as a composite license. Now earlier there was beer only and. And IMFL only outlets.
Now it’s a composite. So number of outlets beer is available now has gone up by about 2,000 or 3,000 outlets. Right. Therefore the market is growing very nicely and which is a very, very good opportunity for us soon. Considering that we are supplying from Madhya Pradesh today. Right. When we have our own plan next year the market size would have gone up to more than 4 crores or 4 and a half crores. So we have a big opportunity there is what we think.
Hiten
Okay. And just a follow up on that. So you mentioned the beer capacity of 1 crore cases per year. Right. So if you can break this up in phase one and phase two.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
This is the phase one. Phase two, we have a distillery coming up. Okay. See, one core itself is big. You know, it’s almost 25% of the market capacity. Plus we have. We’ll have the ability to service other markets which are close by. Okay. Okay. Okay. Sir. Yeah. Thank you.
Hiten
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Rudransh from MB Investments. Please proceed.
Rudransh
Hi, good afternoon. My question is sdbl, what is the company basically doing to improve its governance? To be very frank, the company is past has been not so good. What is the company doing in terms of, you know, improving the governance overall? The compensation of the director has also been. Which I feel is in a higher side. So if you could tell me about that. And I have a follow up question also.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I mean we are trying to work hard on the corporate governance, you know, issues which have occurred in the past. But it’s our endeavor to, you know, have good corporate governance. And we are working towards it. That’s why we have got. We’ve inducted a lot of independent directors who have got. Who have got good repute in the market. And slowly, and slowly I think we shall be there.
Rudransh
Okay. Also if you could, you know, tell me more about, you know, what’s going on in the sector and how is SDBL’s you know, personal philosophy in terms of tapping into the growth. What is, what are the you know, challenges immediate and long term and also what are the drivers that could, that could, that the company could tap in and you know, and that could turn into profitability and, and cash flows.
Nakul Sethi
Can you answer that please?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. Yeah. So you know, in the, in the. If you look at 24, 25 performance, you know we have been, we have been giving an exemplary performance for the past three years, right. And it’s all come from not just about going into new markets, it’s also coming from depth in the existing markets, right. Like in Karnataka, like in Odisha, like in Jharkhand, like in Delhi, like in Madhya Pradesh. Right. And also we have now expanded into, into Tamil Nadu, right. And markets like Telangana, which is a huge beer market which is almost, you can say 18 to 20% of the Indian market, we are still not available, right? That’s a potential that we see.
And if there is a route to market correction or the pricing, you know, freedom, corrections etc, that will be a market that’s good for soam. And so family is a beer market. I mean beer company, I mean 95 of our business comes from beer and Andhra Pradesh we are not there. And markets like Uttar Pradesh we are just scratching the surface as of now. So it’s a huge opportunity for us in terms of thing. And secondly in terms of growth, first of all the thing is about, about new markets and entrancing with our existing portfolio.
Then we have plans for our new portfolio and we are still on those innovation pipelines. So many brands are there and we are working on that. And so many opportunities we are looking at both in IMFL and beer category. That’s an opportunity we see. And of course premiumization, I mean in our portfolio if you look at, we are still almost 95, 97% of our volume is within the mainstream. From economy to mainstream, affordable to mainstream. We still have a big opportunity in terms of the premium segment which is growing at about 25% and that is where Woodpecker plays.
You see Woodpecker as a brand, we kind of launched it with many, many unique features and first time features in the country. And it kind of signaled a good progress in Bangalore and now we have put it in Delhi. And slowly and steadily we are going to go with that into the rest of the country. And we are going to do the same thing that we are doing with mainstream beer. Where we have taken in the market that we play, where we are taken more than 10 to 15% of the market share in the all India level.
We are capable of taking that even in the premium segment. So that’s an opportunity that we keenly are following.
Hiten
All right, one last question I have is how, how much time do you think Mahavat is supposed to take to come to fruition in terms of sales and where are we at with the Woodpecker? Is the company satisfied? You know how the Woodpecker brand is growing and if you could give, you know, what are the further plans to penetrate the market with brands like Woodpecker.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I think it’s too new for us to tell you anything and give you any forecast on that at this point in time. We have assessed the assess the market opportunity for that brand and we are playing in that mid premium segment and it’s a profitable segment and that’s a segment that you know, where not many Indian IMFL Indian liquor company play other than Delhi and a few other places that is dominated by multinationals. So it’s a profitable segment. I mean and therefore that will continue be focused on and probably in the next quarter or the third quarter result or something.
You’ll find, you’ll find us or hear us telling, telling you more about Mahvat Udpaka. We started in Bangalore. It’s received good response. We have placed it in about 700, 800 outlets. We are not in a hurry to go and place it in thousand outlets because most of the time when new beer comes, you know, it’s because of the dark market scenario. It’s very difficult to communicate with the consumer. So therefore we are slowly and steadily building the brand and we are seeing good results of good repeats. Same confidence is being taken to other markets and markets like Odisha.
We have not planned this year because of poor weather and probably end of October or end of November. I think we should be putting in that market as well. So there is opportunity for that brand. And like I said in the previous, answering the previous question of yours, almost 15% of the market, 12 to 15% of the market is growing at 25, 30%. And in that market is where Woodpecker is playing and it is dear to. Us and we will continue to.
Rudransh
Hello. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Prabhu, an individual investor. Please proceed.
Prabhu
A couple of questions. Sir. Out of the 370 capex you have planned for up, how much has been the capex outflow till now? Sir.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Close to about 55 crores.
Prabhu
Okay sir. Any IMFL is plan planned in there or only BS?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
We are setting up a bottling plant as well as a Distillery in the second phase.
Prabhu
Okay. Understand sir, some years before we tried to end the Telangana and that ended up with some opposition of political party and all. Are we seriously considering reentering? Because that. Like you said it’s a 20% market in India for. Yeah, it is in the cards. And we are constantly in touch with the government there and the authorities. Right. But in terms of priority, I would rather get into AP first than Telangana. Because Telangana continues to be not very profitable for. For the existing business and the new business. It will be really difficult for setting it up.
Okay. Understood sir. So one question about the bookkeeping. Actually we had on 12% reduction in the total income in consolidated level. But the state excise duties are almost 33% down from last Q1 around 50 crore down to 35 crore. Why is there so much less? State GST. Sorry. State excise duty we have paid this quarter compared to last quarter. Sir.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
It depends upon the composition of sales. For example Karnataka, you have got the excise duties has to be paid along with the dispatch from the plant. But so is not the case with Madhya Pradesh. Okay, so because there has been a dip in sales in Karnataka. That’s why you see that gross sales are lower as compared to the grosses of last year. Quarter one.
Prabhu
Okay answer. Ongoing quarter. We are seeing recovery for a legend in Karnataka. Legend Beer. Yes. Yes, we are. Yeah, we are seeing. You know what happened was in between this. Because of the taxation changes in the first two months of this quarter. The previous quarter which is quarter one, that brand also did suffer. Right. But however after end of June I think we have started recovering on that brand. It is beginning to do well. And definitely it will register a growth vis a vis. That’s also. That’s all the best for the rest of the year, sir.
Thank you so much. Sir. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Nagraj. An individual investor. Please proceed.
Naagraj
Good evening. And audible. Yes.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. Sir, my question is your up plant. You told first. First phase will start in first half of 2627.
Unidentified Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
Naagraj
The timeline. Timeline is not very clear to me. What do you mean by 2627 first half. Can you just send me approximately the month and the year.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I can tell you the exact month.
Naagraj
As of 23 months plus or minus. Sorry, you can tell me 23 months plus or minus. Because first off of 2627 is not quite clear to me.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I mean I cannot tell you the exact month. But we expect by August or September of next year it should be done.
Naagraj
August of September 26th.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. Yeah.
Naagraj
Okay. That is fair enough. And my second question is, do, do we have any plans to launch DRUM in Tamil NAD and FNA which is high consuming market.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Kerala? There could be a possibility. Tamil Nadu is the. Is quite too far because the policy there doesn’t allow us to import imfl brands into the state if the ex brew ex d price is below 3500.
Naagraj
We have some plans for Kerala, of course.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I mean there is. I mean we, we are looking at that. And first we are fixing the, you know, beer business properly. We want to make it as robust as possible so that our team can focus on imf. But it’s not. It’s not happening. It’s not going to happen during the year 2520.
Naagraj
Okay. Okay. My just clarification is can we expect INFM to contribute 15 of our revenue for this financial year?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Which financial year?
Naagraj
The financial year 26. Since we have seen 26% growth. And. I am, since we are seeing 60 growth in IMFL in the first Q1, can we expect IMFL to contribute 15% of our total sales this financial year?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Wherever we are with IMFL we are growing. Whether it be Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand. I mean, sorry, Odisha, all these markets we are growing. Now Mahavat is the brand that we want to focus on and that will be, that will be reaching all these markets. I mean the northern markets first, Right?
Naagraj
Yeah. Yeah. Why I’m asking this question is at present IMS will contribute 10% of our total revenue.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah.
Naagraj
Can it increase to 15% this financial year?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I suspect it won’t.
Naagraj
Okay. Okay. And do we have any plans for raising the money through QIP for UP plant? Okay. Thank you.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mukund Agarwal from BMC Advisors. Please proceed.
Mukund Agarwal
Hello sir. Sorry. 2023 as a close career.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
But like I said, you know, UP is a big opportunity. I mean Nakul will be able to put a value to the whole thing. But I’m saying UP is a big opportunity. The entire north is a big opportunity. IMFL is an opportunity. Right. So we’ve still not even scratched the surface of those markets.
Nakul Sethi
Next three, four years are going to be pretty exciting for us. This is I think a lull before the storm.
Mukund Agarwal
Like you are excited about the coming time in future. Because as investors, we are not traders, we are investors looking to invest in our money for a longer period of time or either when the business grows, the investors make Money like so that’s the philosophy which we stick in. So that’s why these questions are coming in. When we have given such rapid growth, there is a year or two years which becomes a little constant. But then because of all these factories opening up again it starts giving a very linear line. Like in terms of the sales growth.
Are we expecting something similar coming?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
No, no. We are very much excited about the future, sir. And we have got a great team which is great at execution and we are pretty excited.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. So Bangalore airport T1 may Joe departure.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
But in the next three to six months because you know it’s all about visibility because there’s always an attraction. Like I went to the T2 recently. Like day before only I was there in the T2 and I, I checked around each and every counter and no one said that whether they were not aware. And then it gets easier, friendly kind of a thing. Thank you.
Mukund Agarwal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Manish Gupta from Equinos Investment Advisors. Please proceed.
operator
Yes sir.
Manish Gupta
Am I audible?
operator
Yes sir.
Manish Gupta
You mentioned about Karnataka excise rollback. Could you just quantify what was the initial increase in excise duty in Karnataka and what has been the quantum of rollback?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
See they had increased for the, you know what is called the additional excise duty. It has, it was a flat percentage for. Across all kind of years, all, all price points. But in January they had introduced something called minimum, right, Minimum excess additional excise duty. So that took up the price of affordable and mainstream beers very high. So which was 130 rupees per bulk liter or 195% of the declared price, whichever is higher. So the more affordable the beer is in terms of the price, the tax will be higher. For example one of our brands, the tax went up from the additional exchange duty went up from 600 rupees to thousand four, 1050 rupees.
Manish Gupta
Okay. Now they’ve rolled it back to about 750 800. So you mean to say whatever the price point of the beer was, the additional excise duty was not on a percentage basis but on a flat basis.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Which has been rolled back for us. Yeah, it has been not fully rolled back. It’s rolled back. But because they increase the excise duty, additional excess duty from 195 to 200. There is an increase in additional.
Manish Gupta
In the past we have been reading about Hunter being the largest selling bear in Delhi. So is that positioning continuing or how is it Hunter position now in Delhi?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
So we continue to hold the number two Position in Delhi. Okay. On an aggregate basis, you know, last year also we were number two. This year also we continue to hold the number two.
Manish Gupta
All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ajay Mehta, an individual investor. Please proceed.
Ajay Mehta
Yeah, Nakul sir, question for you. If I go to the Bhaka sir, on the pnl I see there’s an increase in the finished good, right. In the stock in trade around 224 to 48 crores. Does it mean that you are not able to clear this inventory because of the Karnataka excess issue? This is which pnl sir, in the. Consolidated PNL and the cost section I see changes in the finished goods inventory and stock and trade. Around 24 something number is there. Positive number is there which is adding to your cost and reducing the profitability. Was it an account of the increase in the finished goods which you were not able to book the sale for?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
It could be for all the three plants together. Not mainly because there is a slowdown in week. Also because. Standalone we have done very well.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. So we’ll be able to realize this the. The value the coming quarters. Because last quarter we had a negative impact profitability. Very confident to clear our inventory and finish goods and everything.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah, yeah, that’s already being cleared.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. Okay. My second question was there’s a increase in the debt levels. Is there a specific reason for that or is this a temporary thing?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Temporary because this increase was due to the higher cash credit utilization, the CC limits.
Ajay Mehta
So now we’ll come back to the normalized level in the coming quarters. I will stay at least these levels only.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
No, I think it should normalize now.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. Because invested a substantial amount in this quarter into the UP plant. Also.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
We are done through debt or through. We are done to debt basically through debt financing. That’s all through internal accruals only. We’re not taking any additional debt for the plant as such.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. Okay. And one more thing on the volume drop which has happened is causing a revenue to be flattish. So considering last time you also had said in one of the TV interviews that were explained 22% kind of a growth. Now considering we had just a 3% growth in this quarter June quarter. Will we be able to catch up in the coming quarters or will be at around 15 to 18% kind of a growth only for this year.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
I think now we are looking at maybe the range of 15 to 17%.
Ajay Mehta
But we’ll be able to maintain the margin.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah, we’ll be able to maintain the Margin. In fact post a higher margin as compared to last year.
Ajay Mehta
That’s how it looks like. And, and is there any further plan of promoter increasing their stake in the company? Because over the last two I think the other two quarters have seen 3% increase in the state. Is any further plan for the promoters to increase the stake in the company? Because today we, today we saw the stock price follow the huge volume. So are the promoters going to add further to their holdings today?
Nakul Sethi
No, I mean the number one, there is restriction for another two days but the promoters can’t buy from the market as of today. I think tomorrow also they any further. Plans, any further plan for them to purchase? Obviously this is a window period. If not buy say the target is to take their holding to about close to about 51%. They already had 40% now, so I think is to raise it to about 50, 51%.
Ajay Mehta
Okay, okay. Okay. And then another question about this volume drop which has happened on the beer segment on a quarter, on quarter basis. Obviously IMFL is doing good with the new launches and your existing brands. Also the beer volume drop. Should we see a, let’s say last year YTV Q2 to this Q2 uptick or a quarter uptick? Should we see or will be more flattish considering the seasonality or the July, the September typically being a rainy kind of an environment. What does. Do you guys have any forecast or any projections for it?
Nakul Sethi
Diva had mentioned that we definitely see a you know, upturn in the way Karnataka operations in the next coming quarters. So I think Q2 of this year should be better than Q2 of last year.
Ajay Mehta
Okay, okay. Okay. And you’ll be there, right, to celebrate the silver jubilating you finish. 24 years of service will be there, right? Sorry, I think your complete 24 years of service will be there for the 25th, right? On your single degree, right. To to see a good progress of the company.
Nakul Sethi
I have completed what. He’S saying, 24 years. Would you. Would you. I mean he’s saying he’s wishing you for the 25th year next year.
Ajay Mehta
Correct. Okay, thank you so much. And one question for you. Considering this volume drop and this thing, how aggressive are you going from a marketing strategy perspective? Right? Because obviously I think if you remember in our last investor call also I said, right. The brand visibility, right. How aggressively are we working to increase the visibility of this brand? Because as I said last time also, right. The. For example, the woodpeckers of this premium brand which is there of yours, right. The legend which is there. How. How how much marketing are we doing to make this brand more visible? But I’ll be honest with today, I tell my, tell my friends, my family members to drink this beer, but no one has heard about it.
So how much aggressive marketing strategy are we doing to popularize our brands which can help the company to increase the volumes? Specifically urban Bangalore areas or Delhi area kind of cities. Right?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. You know, see the way the, the category functions or the industry functions, you know, because of the dark market, you know, most of the actions has to happen in the channel. I, I think I explained this even last time. Channel is where we, our focus will be. It will be, you know, whatever limitations that we have or whatever restrictions we have. From the excise point of view, right after taking care of that, it will still be channel where our investments will be, whether it be for creating awareness or generating trial. And of course, I mean, for premium brands like Woodpecker, it’s very important.
Like I think before you there was another investor who was talking about it that we have to be seen in the right places with our brands, right. You know, like the airports and you know, premium lounges and things like that. So that is another effort that we are putting and we are strengthening that side of our organization as well. You know, where we are available in the national chains, chain of hotels and the airport chains and you know, the travel services, travel retail, etc. So that is one part, the second part is that digitally is something that we can do and there is huge restriction on, from ASCII on digital marketing, showing beer as a product.
Right. So it is, we have to find the right, you know, association and right opportunity to do all these things. So we have, we don’t want to rush into it and spend money and not, not require or be fined by, by the authorities. So we will go slow and steady and we will go market by market. And you know, like the way we have built our other portfolio brands, you know, we have, if you see, we have never gone overboard. Like our vessels come with deep pockets and spend a lot of money. They’re never gone like that.
I mean, it is. Our focus will continue to be a conservative focus, but steady and you know, robust growth will keep happening.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. Okay.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Ajay Mehta
I think this one observation in terms of corporate governance, Whenever see the PPTs and everything else, it’s always talking about quality. Right. It has all the details and all. So thank you very much. As an investor and you have a lot of insight, but this one thing on the corporate one, I just want to check with Both of you, last year was some child labor issue. I hope that those of things are sorted out. Right, Right. There’s nothing, no pending litigations or anything over there. Right?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah. So there’s number one, as we have given out press release also it pertained to our private limited company and I. Think. Nothing has come out of it. I think it was, it was. I mean we were unnecessarily targeted. So as of now there’s nothing about it.
Ajay Mehta
Okay. All the best. All the best team. So thank you so much.
Nakul Sethi
Thank you. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mukund Agarwal from BMC Advisors. Please proceed.
Mukund Agarwal
Hello. Long term intention. But can this also right now also can this be through preferential or no, like the only. Like what are the ways out? Like.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Every year so it may open the market operations.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
So it shall be either way it can be preferential also and it can be through open market also. So depending on circumstances. Okay.
Mukund Agarwal
Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Manish Gupta from Equinus Investment Advisors. Please proceed.
Manish Gupta
Sir, in the first quarter, as you said, Karnataka, because of the excise issue everybody, the sales were lower by volumes for all the players in Karnataka. So my question to you would be that what do you think Som Distillery would have gained market share in this period or lost market share in this period? What would be market share and have been in Karnataka?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
See, in a market which has declined by 20% and also affected by the pricing, I mean taxation policy of the government in the, at least for the first 60 days of the 90 days of first quarter, you know, we, we did suffer. We lost market share in Karnataka.
Manish Gupta
Okay.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
And when you compare after the price, I mean the tax reversal there rationalized the tax again by end of May, which you know, had some impact in the month of June and then from July, I think we have seen a gain in share versus June. So we are seeing positive. That is a positive signal for us and for our brands. And we hope that the quarter two will be better in terms of our market share vis a week, quarter one and thereafter we will pick up from there.
Nakul Sethi
So you expect by the end of quarter two you will have regained the share that you’ve lost or you would have kind of. Because we have lost some. But it’s not so easy to recover because the consumers have moved away and we have to get them back. We are doing our best effort in the channels to make sure the consumers are coming back to our Brands. And like I said versus June, we have gained a percentage. We expect that to keep going up in this quarter and probably by end of third quarter or beginning of fourth quarter you will see better in terms of market share vis a week quarter one.
Manish Gupta
So what would be the quantification of market share loss in terms of percentage, say, I mean, how much has it dropped and where do you see it in second quarter?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Yeah, we have roughly lost about 4 to 5% and we have recovered 1% of that. Okay. The trend is showing that 1% is possible to gain and 2, 3% is possible in this quarter, I think.
Manish Gupta
And what was our initial market shares and before this excise duty increase happened?
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
We were sitting at around 17.5 18%. We currently are at around 12.5 13%.
Manish Gupta
All right, thank you very much for the clarification and all the best.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Due to time constraints, we take that as the last question and would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Divakaran, sir, for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Diwakaran Suryanarayana
Thank you. It was a real pleasure talking to all the investors, taking their questions. I think all of us are very, very clued on and they are trust in us and our companies and our performance still continues to be there, which is a very nice thing to see. And we thank all the investors and all the analysts who have been on the call. Thank you very much. We hope to see you in the next quarter with much better performance. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. On behalf of SOM Distilleries and Breweries Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.