Windlas Biotech Limited (NSE: WINDLAS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Feb. 06, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Omkar Sawant — Investor Relations
Hitesh Windlass — Managing Director
Komal Gupta — Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Aniket — Analyst
Dhuanil Desai — Analyst
Gautam Gosar — Analyst
Avnish Berman — Analyst
Deepak Kumar — Analyst
Vilay Rai — Analyst
Samarth Nagpal — Analyst
Ankit Gupta — Analyst
Kushal Goenka — Analyst
Sajal Kapoor — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 and 9 months FY26 earnings conference call for Villas Biotech 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 Star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Omkar Sawant from Stellar Investor Relations. Thank you. And over to you.
Omkar Sawant — Investor Relations
Thank you, Yashastree. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today to discuss Q3 and 9 months FY26 business performance. We have with us senior management team of Windlass Biotech Limited represented by Mr. Hitesh Vindlas, Managing Director and Ms. Komal Gupta, CEO and CFO. Before we proceed with this call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today’s call may be forward looking in nature and may involve risk and uncertainties. The company also undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect development that occur after the statement is made.
Documents relating to the company’s financial performance including the investor presentation and press release have been uploaded on the stock exchanges and company’s website. I now hand over the conference call to Mr. Hitesh. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Hitesh Windlass — Managing Director
Thank you Omka. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. For our financial results for quarter ended 31st December 2025. We have uploaded the press release and investor presentation on our website as well as on the exchanges. I hope that everyone must have gotten an opportunity to go through it. Initially I would like to discuss the outlook and way forward for Windlass Biotech followed by financial highlights for Q3 and nine months of the company which will be shared by our CEO and CFO Ms. Komal Gupta. India’s healthcare budget has crossed Rs. 1 lakh crore signalling stronger support for health infrastructure and affordable treatments.
Chronic and sub chronic therapeutic segments are expanding rapidly due to lifestyle shifts, dietary changes and rising medicine consumption. Our expertise in fixed dose combinations and modified disease formulations positions us well to cater to this growing demand and support India’s evolving healthcare needs. The Indian Pharma market grew 11.8% YoYo in Q3FY26 with volume growth of 1.6%. Against this backdrop of modest industry volume growth, Windlass Biotech delivered another strong and consistent quarter achieving record revenues with yoy growth of 19% in 9 month FY26 and 20% in Q3 FY26. We remained focused on creating value for our stakeholders.
For the first nine months of FY26 the company reported and earnings per share of rupees 24.02 reflecting 12% YoY increase. We continue to invest in strengthening our manufacturing infrastructure. Our injectables and Plant 2 extension facilities are paying off with rising contributions to overall growth and Plan 6 is progressing towards mechanical completion by end of FY26. Looking ahead, we remain focused on creating long term shareholder value through disciplined execution, diversification of our client base, operational efficiencies, talent development and expansion across dosage forms. I will now request Ms. Komal Gupta, our CEO and CFO to discuss the financial performance highlights.
Over to you Komal.
Komal Gupta — Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you Hitish. Good afternoon everyone. Our highest ever quarterly revenue streak hold steady for the 12th quarter. Company reported YoY revenue growth of 19% in 9 month FY26 and 20% in Q3 FY26 with revenues from operations of Rs. 666 crores and 233 crores respectively. This reflects our disciplined execution and robust performance aligned with stringent quality and regulatory norms. The budget reaffirms healthcare and pharmaceuticals as strategic national priorities and the Company is strategically positioned with our focus on quality, manufacturing and scale to leverage estimated sectoral growth opportunities. Generic formulation CDMO vertical grew 20% in 9 months FY26 and 23% in Q3 FY26 driven by expanding customer base, increasing wallet share and new product launches.
Trade generics and institutional vertical grew 18% in 9 month FY26 and 7% in Q3 FY26. We remain focused on delivering accessible, affordable and authentic medicines across our Target Geography of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Towns in India while also leveraging increased footprint of institutional purchase programs like Janwashal exports. Vertical grew 29% in 9 months FY26 and 36% in Q3 FY26 with increased penetration to row and semi regulated markets excluding the impact of ESOP expenses. EBITDA for NM FY26 was rupees 89 crores 13.3% of revenue and PAT rupees 60 crores 9%. While Q3 FY26 EBITDA stood at Rs.
32 crores 13.6% of revenue and packed Rs. 22 crores for 9 month FY26. Company reported EBITDA of 79 crores and packed Rs. 50 crores for Q3 of Y26 reported EBITDA was 24 crores and PACT was 15 crores. Our focus is on creating sustainable value for all stakeholders and by delivering affordable high quality medicines. We are committed to strengthening organizational capabilities that align manufacturing infrastructure, product strategy and high performing teams. We will continue to deepen customer partnerships, expand our product portfolio, de risk the business and reinforce operational and financial discipline. That’s all from our side. We can now begin Q and A session.
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 the 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. Will take a first question from the line of Aniket from CR Kothari Sons and Stockbroking. Please go ahead.
Aniket
I hope. Am I audible?
operator
Yes, please go ahead.
Aniket
First of all congratulations for such good numbers nine months. My question is. I have two questions. First one is I wanted to know much more about any upcoming capex which you guys are planning and related funding mix and what kind of number it would add to current revenue capacity which is around 1001100 crores.
Komal Gupta
Thank you Aniket. In terms of CapEx, our Plan 6 as you are aware we are about to complete Plan 6. Mechanical completion is expected to be completed by end of FY26 on which the expected capex is about 50 to 60 crores. Most of it is already incurred in coming period about 10 odd crores should get added. So other than that the maintenance capex of about 15 crores continues. So this is. With this we would reach 1000cr revenue capacity from all the plants excluding injectables and from injectables we are talking about 100 crores additional. Having said that there is also upside possibility through efficiencies like we have worked in past.
So these are the known capex right now. Beyond that as we approach good capacity utilizations in injectables we can. So we have decided by then either we get an acquisition opportunity or we start building on a new dosage form. So we would announce something once we have, you know once we start investing and spending money beyond this.
Aniket
Okay and my thank you for clarifying and my second question would be regarding are we expecting any like us FDA or EU GMP visits anytime soon for the plant 6 as it is already near mechanical completion?
Hitesh Windlass
No, as you know Aniket, we are not targeting the US market and even Plant 6 has been added to primarily support all three verticals and as you know, more than 95% sales we are doing to India. So the utilization of Plantix will also be more focused towards India and then it will gradually support the other verticals also. So no, no, we are not looking at us, FDA or Europe for Plant six.
Aniket
Okay, thank you so much for clarifying and I’ll join back to the queue.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that management is able to answer queries from all participants, we request you to restrict to two questions at a time please. You may join back the queue for follow up questions. We’ll take our next question from the line of Dhuanil Desai from Turtle Capital. Please go ahead.
Dhuanil Desai
Hi, good afternoon everyone and congratulations for very good execution and very good numbers. So my first question is, you know, on the thread, generic side I understand we can’t look at this from a, you know, QOQ perspective. Maybe more important nine month basis also it’s growing at 18% but you know we are in that 4550 crore range for last few quarters. So do you think we need to have a slightly different playbook to continue to grow at 25, 30% from here on? What are your thoughts on that and how do you look at this segment, you know, for next couple of years? You know.
Hitesh Windlass
Sure. See as you know we remain very positive about growth potential in TGX and institutional verticals in the long run. This is driven by, you know, several things. Macroeconomic factors, the patient level, economic because the savings that a patient gets, you know, when he looks at, when he buys trade generic products and Vindlas’s own strategy which we have talked about as authentic, affordable, accessible. So AAA kind of a strategy. And I believe that growth in this vertical is driven by geographic expansion, adding more products, portfolio expansion and addition of new institutional accounts with a strongly aligned sales force.
So we continue to consistently work on these fundamentals and chase our growth aspirations for this vertical.
Dhuanil Desai
Okay, got it. Second question is I think we have done very well on the CDMO and export side and you know, so two parts to that question. One, you know, injectable, you said that, you know, it’s been helping us in growing this segment, you know, so you know, how should we look at it? Should, should the utilization continue to improve and hence the CDMO growth should be, you know, slightly higher than 1415 that we have been doing. And on exp post approval from Philippines, how should we look at export growth going forward?
Komal Gupta
So Dhanil, as You are aware we refrain ourselves from giving future guidance either overall revenue wise or bottom line wise, or even vertical wise breakup. But we continue to stay positive on all three verticals and we see that there is growth opportunity in all of them. And we want to continue to focus on our efforts to open more horizons and to ensure better execution. And that is where we want to leave it. The results we believe must follow.
Dhuanil Desai
Just one request, ma’. Am. I understand you don’t want to give any quantitative guidance, but at least qualitative color on some of these things would be really helpful in, you know, getting better understanding. That’s the only request I have. Thank you and wish you all the best. Yeah, thank you. Go ahead, ma’. Am.
Komal Gupta
Yeah. In terms of qualitative color, it’s so there are few things d that we cannot cannot say because of the competitive reasons. And then there are others that we are working on which we don’t want to unnecessarily confuse our investors by mentioning them until we see the results coming in. Because yeah, honestly there are several factors in exports that we are working on, but the kind of results that we get are binary or time taking in that. So we might be at 70% and then we get to know this is not working out. And then there are others which we don’t expect and they happen earlier than expected.
In terms of exports and in cdmo, we have been mentioning that we continue to work on the long term growth strategy where we want to continue to increase our customers, we want to continue to increase the product portfolio, we want to look at the pipeline products and spend money there and we want to increase our business development teams to be able to execute much better. So we continue to do that. And the results might vary in a vertical or in a short period or in a quarter, but we continue to strongly work on the long term picture and we want to continue to focus on all the growth drivers, the ones that we have been mentioning even since before ipo.
So that continues.
Dhuanil Desai
Got it. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We’ll take our next question from the line of Gautam Gosar from Monarch aif. Please go ahead.
Gautam Gosar
Hi sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on good set of numbers. So my first question is on the CDMO business. So I think we this quarter we saw a strong growth in the CDMA business. So I just wanted to break down this growth. So can you help us understand the volume growth for the quarter as well as nine months? And majorly was this growth driven by higher contribution from the injectable Business or was it completely volume driven?
Hitesh Windlass
So thank you, Gautam. One thing that we can share, Gautam, is that most of our growth comes from volume. Right. Because we are a cost plus business and API prices are not increasing. So the growth is primarily volume oriented. And for sure there is improved contribution from our injectable facility as well as from our plant too extension which we commissioned in the early late last year. So definitely those actions that we had taken, the investments that we had made are lining up in the right direction. So this is something that we can share in terms of, you know, numbers and all those.
As you know, we have remained, you know, we have chosen not to give breakups on those because that tends to confuse rather than clarify a picture.
Gautam Gosar
Okay, but any number on the volume growth per se in this quarter.
Komal Gupta
Yeah, volume growth has been more than it was in the earlier in the. In H1. That is true. So. And volume growth is more than the revenue value growth.
Gautam Gosar
Okay. And my second question is on the plant six. So you said that the mechanical completion will get by FY26 from when can we expect the commercial operations of this plant and when the revenue flow will start from this plant.
Komal Gupta
See, like we did in plan to extension, we will start taking some benefit through in between fixes in terms of using the machinery required. Until we are clearly completely able to use 100% of Plant 6. There can be partial contribution already. You know, it can start coming in through various ways. But you know, NET.NET in first half of FY27. We should be ready to also do the commercialization. Exactly when is. What are, you know, figuring out?
Hitesh Windlass
Yeah, of course we are. We are always pushing for earliest rather than later. But the stages are mechanical completion and then quality systems validation and then finally customer audits. So all those three stages have to go for every new facility.
Komal Gupta
And we are trying our best to ensure that that does not become any constraint to our growth. So that we would ensure.
Gautam Gosar
Understood. And last question, that’s the bookkeeping question. What would be a net cash position on nine months?
Hitesh Windlass
I’m sorry, can you repeat cash flow generation?
Komal Gupta
Because the balance sheet is not, is not audited in limited review. We want to refrain from mentioning those numbers. But you know, There is improvement versus H1.
Gautam Gosar
Okay. Okay. Thank you. And all the best.
Hitesh Windlass
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Avnish Berman from Vikarya Change llp. Go ahead.
Avnish Berman
Yeah. Hi. Hi Kumar. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on a good set of numbers. My first question is on, you know, if you look at the IPM growth, December has been kind of a turning month. I mean we saw a very strong value and volume growth. December, can you qualitatively give your sense about why did that happen? And the volume growth, is it possible to split that into chronic versus acute?
Hitesh Windlass
See, I mean I think first of all, thank you Avnish. I think that in fact in our side we have been thinking why the industry volume growth has been so muted. Right. And we have been also discussing around whether the data capture is full around especially you know, government programs like Janoshadi and Ayushman Bharat related purchases. Is that even being captured by the industry data reporting agencies like IQBIA and aiocd. So I mean, of course, you know, and, but regardless, even if, let’s say the volume growth represented by the reporting agencies is, you know, has been what it is in the past several quarters, this has been in the negative.
Now it is coming to 1.6%. So I mean I don’t know if we can say that huge change is there right in Q3, but I feel that with rising income levels, with more lifestyle issues in terms of food consumption and also improving access, the overall consumption has to grow in volume terms. And it’s more a matter of probably when the data starts getting reported clearly or if it is real data then actually these things, you know, looking to look better. So I mean not a very clear answer but that’s, you know, my take on what the industry numbers are showing.
Avnish Berman
No, no, that was great. Thanks. Just one question for Komal. Komal, can you just tell us what are your top APIs? Let’s top four, five APIs in terms of volume that you consume.
Komal Gupta
Giving away names of APIs would be difficult but we can say that top 5 or in fact top 10 contribution overall in our purchases would not be more than 5%. So really it’s not and they keep changing. So it’s not valuable information from your perspective also.
Avnish Berman
Okay, just one bookkeeping question. When do we start seeing the depreciation coming in from plant 6 from which quarter and how much is it expected to increase by let’s say the current quarterly run rate of 7.6, 7.7 crores.
Komal Gupta
Exact timing as we mentioned we would. We are working on that. But in next year H1 sometime we expect the, the capitalization to happen and then the. So either you know, Q2 starts having the depreciation or Q3, I don’t know exact timing and about how much like it has happened in past with us initially our depreciation Levels are higher because we follow WDB method. So if you consider a 60cr capex accordingly you know how it works out in terms of breakup of plant and machinery and everything. We need to, we need to figure that out in detail.
But broadly you can consider maybe 6, 60 crore per annum into 60 cr into say 15 to 18% somewhere. I don’t know initially. That should be the number.
Avnish Berman
Okay, okay, I have a few more but I’ll get back into queue. Thanks.
operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Avnish Tiwari from Vikarya Change llp. Please go ahead.
Avnish Berman
Hi, this export business you have done very well. Is there any thing you noticed as a driving factor? Despite the fact that macro levels are uncertainties, although the FX is beneficial because. The rupee has appreciated. So just articulate what are the positives and negatives you are seeing. I mean with these deals, although they are US and Europe, but anything you find in your end market, what kind of experience you are having either positive or negative.
Hitesh Windlass
Avish. So the as you correctly mentioned and I want to just reinforce we have zero sales to US and zero sales to Europe. Right. So and of course also the tariff issues, pharmaceuticals or generic pharmaceuticals from India were exempted from there. So you know, but in the markets that we are operating in, which is the row markets which include Southeast Asia, cis, Africa, it has been business as usual. No real big changes have been happening. So the customers, the products, they are all working on a very long cycle time. So whatever you register, we register for, it takes a long time to get approved and then, you know, so the connection, the customer relationships as well as the product overall viability is not very short lived.
It is actually quite healthy. So. And we have not noticed any large changes or you know, things like that. Even the Forex rates have been changing. Yes, but. Cost plus in exports also so we have not seen much impact. Export clients also don’t go after immediate revisions of POS and things like that. They are quarterly base kind of, you know, orders and things like that. So nothing very consequential to really talk about.
Komal Gupta
Yeah, and in fact the positive results coming in are result of a few factors that we explained two or two and a half years back like getting South Africa audit clearance or starting having one customer there and things like these. So this is part of one of the few successes against a lot of efforts that have been going in.
Avnish Berman
Great. The second question I had was the growth you are seeing in CDMO space which is much higher than the industry volume growth of your end market. What is driving that lately especially is it that high end specialty kind of drug. These are the outsourcing or is mostly they are moving into more high end and they’re outsourcing more into the lower end side. And with this whole schedule M compliance use tend to gain because you are a better quality manufacturer or something any else you want to point out.
Hitesh Windlass
So I think avnish it’s a combination of the things that you mentioned. Schedule M compliance, better delivery on time, delivery to customers, greater business development team and alignment of that team, motivation of that team and our execution on supply chain manufacturing lead times. So it’s a combination of all these things and so hard to break it up into any of these. But for sure what I can say is that the alignment of all these factors has to is what we try to push for.
Avnish Berman
And typically outsourcing is at the low. End medicines or the high end medicine. Also you are seeing some outsourcing to you from these marketing companies.
Komal Gupta
We think it has always been both low and high end. We don’t think that there is a change in the pattern. But at least the top four, five CDMO players have been getting a combination of very complex and difficult to crack drugs as well as a few just volume products. We from our side, we like to have more complex ones in comparison to the simpler ones.
Avnish Berman
Okay, but there’s no change in mix. You are observing let’s say 9 months 26 versus 9 months 25 in terms of mix of these medicines into the complex versus the less complex ones.
Komal Gupta
So product mix keeps changing actually but it is less to do with how CDMO players are able to get the business from them instead of how they have changed their outsourcing pattern is what we are saying.
Avnish Berman
Okay. It’s up to your capabilities rather than their decision to decide the mix. Right?
Komal Gupta
Yeah.
Avnish Berman
Okay. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we request you to restrict to two questions at a time please. The next question is from the line of Deepak Kumar from Kalyani family office. Please go ahead.
Deepak Kumar
Hello. Yeah, congratulations on the wonderful result and thank you for the time for the question. So just one thing of course the management is mentioning that you should have a more of a longish term picture on the trade generics front. I just want to ask like I mean of course our growth was bit muted in trade generics in this quarter. So what were the reasons for that?
Komal Gupta
So if we, if we look at the last say 14 quarters since FY23 first quarter we have delivered yoy sales growth of you know the lowest has been 14%. And there has, there have also been quarters of 74% in various quarters. And you know, as we mentioned, that these quarterly variations are incidental and there is also a portion of institutional orders being lumpy in nature. So. But net net, we continue to be optimistic about this vertical and we believe that we are advantageously positioned in the marketplace. So not strategic or you know, a change, so to say, in long term.
Deepak Kumar
Okay. And also in the cash, I mean, of course the balance sheet is under limited review, but the, I, I presume the cash conversion cycle overall lies around the same range, like 14 to 15 days around which you operate.
Komal Gupta
Yeah, not, not mentioning the exact number, but there’s no, there’s no negative change, you know, no negative surprise by December.
Deepak Kumar
Okay. Okay, got it, got it. Thank you. I will rejoin in the cloud.
operator
Thank you. Next question is from Vilay Rai from Kamayaka Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Vilay Rai
Congratulations sir, on a great set of results. Sir, can you share some qualitative insights on how scheduled implementations are panning out? Although these are early days, but have we seen more inquiries from partner players and how do we see the consolidation of industry going in the future?
Hitesh Windlass
Yeah, sure. As you know, the new Schedule M was published almost five years ago and even when we were coming to IPO we were talking about it having a big impact on the industry. And the government has also had very strong enforcement of the Schedule M. So you know, any, all the companies above, I think 200 crore or 250 crore revenue were supposed to, you know, follow it already. And then the smaller enterprises were asking for increase in time to give them more time to comply. But even this, I think this last quarter was probably, I think maybe even October or some December time frame.
No more extensions were granted. Now everybody is expected to comply. So the government is very serious, regulator is very serious. A lot of inspections have been done, some plants have been given observations and closures have also happened. In the overall scheme of things, if you see just from the perspective of how many CMOs are needed to really handle this market, it’s certainly not 13,000 plus. There is no reason for the CMO industry to stay at this kind of a fragmented level. But what is required to actually excel is not just capital. Also, even if one is able to manage the availability of capital, you have to have the talent pool, you have to have the know how.
And this is where, you know, having strong multinational clients has benefited Windlass, because these clients have been working with us doing audits. We get almost 70 to 80 audits a year. So almost every week one or two audits are going on. So the compliance level automatically improves as a result of the.
operator
Sorry sir, you’re not audible.
Vilay Rai
Are you able to hear me now?
Hitesh Windlass
Yes sir, please go ahead.
Hitesh Windlass
So I was just saying that schedule M compliance is not just about capital access to capital. It is about know how. It is about talent and it is about systems. You know, how do we maintain whatever we. Even if you achieve it once, then how do you stay compliant? So you know, it is the overall organizational capability building and that is something that, you know, at least we are focusing on.
Vilay Rai
Just a follow up on that with this stringent resolution. Do you feel that will we see a greater consolidation of industry in next two, three years where smaller players will give in, there will be more shutdowns and players like you will come and cater to this market?
Hitesh Windlass
Yeah, I think that is a very valid thing. Any fragmented industry having a strong regulatory pressure, you know, it’s like a textbook case for consolidation. So how does it play out? We don’t know. But yeah, any fragmented industry with a strong regulatory pressure, quality or regulatory pressures is bound to have a pressure for consolidation.
Vilay Rai
Just one last question from Michael. Since you have already incurred ESOPs for employees this year, will we see a lower wage hike going forward in FY27 and FY28.
Komal Gupta
In terms of the accounting impact, are you asking?
Vilay Rai
Yeah. Like the cash impact, like employee benefit expenses, the base pay. Would we see a lower increment on that portion of the thing?
Komal Gupta
Okay. So basically the ESOP have been given to a hundred employees and we have 1100 employees.
Deepak Kumar
Yeah.
Komal Gupta
So we are not sure that we would let the esop, which is a long term strategy for, you know, keeping the employees, not let them move out and motivate them for better results. That should affect the increments. Increment percent, which is a regular annual this thing. We don’t think that we would see reductions there and with the additional production, in fact, so we don’t expect employee cost per se to go down. What we try to do is look at the overall picture, try to see where we can bring in more savings, more efficiencies, operational efficiencies that we continue to do.
And that is why you know, even after. So the total ESOP increase is not really reflected in the overall EBITDA reduction for the.
operator
Ma’, am, you’re not audible. Thank you. Take a next question from the line of Samarth Nagpal from Suranu Family office. Please go ahead.
Samarth Nagpal
Hiitesh Kumal, congratulations on a very Stable set. I have only one question. So I think earlier we had a strategy or a long term aspiration to grow our different verticals by 2x, 3x and 4x. So looking at windlers we would hopefully be doing thousand CR by next financial year. So what is the long term strategy? If we look at three to five years down the line or something we have on that front.
Komal Gupta
So there is long term strategy internally we just stopped giving that outside the organization. So we continue to strive to have a very strong internal growth strategies for.
Samarth Nagpal
Okay, so. So just deliberating on that. I mean would we be looking at a faster pace of growth also after we do thousand crores and what the aspiration some color on that if you are able to provide. Otherwise it’s perfectly okay.
Komal Gupta
Yeah, we would rather, we would rather try to surprise you pleasantly. That is is the intent and that is the effort is what I can tell you how we are able to exit defense.
Samarth Nagpal
Okay so. So that’s it from my end. Thank you.
operator
Yeah, thank you. Next question is from Ankit Gupta from Bamboo Capital. Please go ahead.
Ankit Gupta
Thanks for the opportunity if you can. You know we were also looking at expanding the injectable plant. You know we are looking to put more flows on our existing injectable plant. So like we earlier deliberating that we might do that by end of this financial year or starting next year. So any updates on that?
Hitesh Windlass
No, actually. So what we had said was that you know, capacity expansion will follow the business need. Right. As we see utilization and as we see, you know, need for expansion, we have the space and we will do that. And I think that it will be the same for like even oral solids. That’s the way we are doing. And so injectable will also follow similar patterns.
Ankit Gupta
So given you know the utilization for injectable has been the, has been lower than our expectations. But let’s say by end of next financial year, let’s say end of FY27, do we expect to ramp up to you know, 70, 80% capacity utilization as of now? You have some visibility on that front or currently it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to achieve that.
Hitesh Windlass
So we have some internal thought process and understanding. But you know the capacity utilization number is a very competitive number. Right. Because when you disclose that your competitors understand how desperate and your customers also understand how desperate you are for business. So this is something that we have refrained from discussing on earnings calls.
Ankit Gupta
And. On the, on the trade generics front. You know the earlier participant also spoke about it. You know we see some of our peers who have almost two, two and a half times our size. They are also growing at a faster pace than us. So has there been an increase in competitive intensity in this financial year that you know, our rate of growth has reduced? I’m not talking about just this quarter. You know, this quarter we grew at 8% but even overall, you know, given our base is hardly, you know, less than 200 crore for the full financial year and we have grown at 18 for nine months and but even in, even earlier we used to grow at very high growth rates.
So what has been the reason for this lower growth and how should we look at this segment growth going ahead in FY27 28?
Komal Gupta
So we have been asked in past quarters also that if you know, in industry the other competitors are delivering such a low growth rate in this particular vertical and what are you doing? How are you delivering a much higher rate? And obviously that keeps changing quarter to quarter and there have been, you know, so honestly what a particular organization is able to deliver depends on several factors for that organization. So I wouldn’t really respond to the question of, you know, why somebody else is able to deliver a higher percentage in one particular quarter. But we continue.
So we have always consistently continue to say that we see a huge growth potential in this vertical and we maintain that and we strive and want to do everything in our power to be able to execute and deliver good numbers.
operator
But you know, Ankit, I request you to join back the queue please as we have other participants.
Ankit Gupta
That’s a follow up on what Komal said. If you can just allow me. Komal, over a longer term, let’s say over the next two to three years, can we expect to grow at 25, 30% or higher in this segment given a basis still very small compared to now?
Komal Gupta
Before asking this, you know what my answer is going to be. So I’ve just fall true to your expectations and say that I would refrain from saying anything about the future but we will try our best to deliver.
Ankit Gupta
Can we go back to our past growth numbers here?
Hitesh Windlass
I want to actually, you know, bring back the focus on the fact that you know, we have delivered 12 consecutive quarters of highest ever revenue and our, you know, also as a formulator who is manufacturing in CDMO tray generics and exports, we’ve also felt and stated also that you know, an evaluation that is longer term focused and also as a whole is a better evaluation because it doesn’t fall subject to, you know, un sort of maybe, you know, patterns which are maybe hard to Identify the root cause of.
operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Kushal Goenka from Mangal Keshe Financials llp. Please go ahead.
Kushal Goenka
Yeah, thank you so much for taking the question.
operator
Can you use your handset mode please? Your audio is not very clear.
Kushal Goenka
Yeah, hello, I’m in the handset motor.
operator
Yeah, please go ahead.
Kushal Goenka
Yeah, just a caveat before asking my question. I’m fairly new to this company so sir, I was just going through the 25 year journey of the company so from 2001 to 2025. So we started our plant one in 2001 and currently we are about to commission plant. Thanks. So I just want to understand your thinking behind the clock speed of our growth rate. Do you think the 25 year journey seems in a very good path or do you think that was more of a learning phase and how would you see say the next five, 10 years? And I’m like asking you because like for example if we want to reach say a 3 to 4,000 crore top line company so do you think that the addition of plants and different businesses should be fast as in the clock speed? And I’ll just add my second question to this because I think this is somewhat related.
So my second question is how does the management look at very heavy capex, a high debt? Not exactly a high debt but a good amount of debt because since we are a debt free company and also a big cushion greater than the cash that we have or do we always try to maintain a debt free company and not look at very heavy capex or acquisition? Yeah, that’s my question.
Hitesh Windlass
So you know, in answer to your first question about the long term trajectory or the arc of windless biotech’s birth and growth, right. I think that it is, you know the journey has, is probably most importantly defined by capability building because you know, when we are in a segment that is B2B and especially in a highly regulated industry with a lot of quality parameters changing every, you know, one has to focus on capability building, right? Whether you enter a new dosage form or whether you enter into a new geographical market or whether you enter into, you know, new kind of products that you’re dealing.
So my sense is that as an organization if we focus on capability building and our execution skills there is no upper ceiling on how we can grow, how fast we can grow. So there is no strategic cliff as such. What we have to do is execute. So that remains the challenge and that is why high performing teams, well motivated people, you know, everything is required to your Second question.
Komal Gupta
Even on the first one, I want to add that we want to. We have been always, you know, not being afraid of being the first movers. We were the first one to get a private equity investor in among Indian pharmacy DMO players. We were the first one to go public. And there are several other things that we take pride in in terms of going, you know, being the first one to offer ESOP to employees. So we keep pushing the envelope even sometimes before others, even the bigger players than us do. So we have been doing that and we continue to do that.
So we don’t see a limitation in terms of the kind of number that we can deliver and how early. So there’s no. That limitation does not exist because the biggest portion is oral solids in which we have been building various plants. Increasing the plant can never be a constraint. Bringing business is not a constraint because we have a very good relationship with the customers that we have been working with. And we are also very good in terms of adding the customers and in terms of bringing good people. We don’t think that that can be an issue because we also take pride in taking very good care of our employees in short and long term.
So net net, if you ask us, there’s no limitation in terms of what we can do in near future or in long term. And we consider ourselves in a very good place where, you know, growth cannot be a company for us. Number one, in terms of, you know, being a high debt or high cash company, we in all the departments there is literacy in terms of, you know, financial discipline. That is what we take pride in. And we like to be cash rich, but we are not risk averse. So in past we have taken several, you know, debts for working capital and for capex and for, you know, whenever we see an opportunity.
So like if I have to do an acquisition, it’s a very good strategic fit. I won’t be shy in using my cash and also, you know, taking a debt at the same time. If, you know, I’m not okay that for the regular business I lose control in operating monkey capital. That is how we go about it. In past we have done buyback where promoters did not participate because we saw an opportunity and we felt that, you know, this is a very good price for company to reduce the liquidity in the market. So every decision is a separate decision, not looked at wearing, you know, wearing the glasses of being very risk averse or you know, being okay, losing some financial discipline.
There is always this balance that we like to maintain.
Kushal Goenka
Just one follow up on the first one. So can we allude that the first 25 years was more like a learning phase and the economies of learning and compounding effect can be seen in the next five, 10 years and the clock speed and the rate of growth can increase.
Hitesh Windlass
So of course, you know, we would love that. And we are always striving for that, right? We are not setting in, you know, a target of growth and then shying away to exceed it. And what I feel is again that every company has to evolve from the place they are standing and the situations that exist at that point in time. So some of our competitors who are very large, they made the calls of investing almost close to a thousand crores at the time they entered into the CDMO business. So of course we will also have to evaluate our own trajectory.
Then going back to what Komal said, the only right way and the only judicious way to build the business is to neither be risk averse and neither be overly risk taking in terms of being callous about discipline. So we will stay balanced and we will continue to adapt, be flexible, be opportunistic while staying disciplined and balanced. That’s all that we can share.
operator
Thank you. We’ll take our next question from the line of Sajal Kapoor from Anti Fragile thinking. Please go ahead.
Sajal Kapoor
Yeah, thanks. Hi Hitesh and Komal, appreciate the clarity on separating ESOPs from salary increments while addressing the earlier participants question. Clearly they are distinct levers and not everyone benefits from ESOP scheme. It’s only hundred employees. So thank you for clarifying that. I have two questions. Given finite manufacturing and management bandwidth, how are you balancing efforts between onboarding new customers and deepening engagements with the existing ones? That’s my first question.
Komal Gupta
So thank you. Sajal. What we are actually, how we manage it internally is having two targets for everyone who’s part of the business development team. So we have organized them horizontally than vertically. So there are several teams who have only specific existing customers and new customers. And internally we have regular dashboards being circulated in terms of the number of customers outreached in the existing customer portfolio and the efforts taken on having new customers onboarded and the business brought in from those customers. In fact there is a third category of also the customers which are recently added in the last year.
So how the, you know, how the mining happening against the new added customers which are comparatively new.
Hitesh Windlass
And you know, there is, this is aligned with senior level, you know, management visits with key clients, you know, which includes visits and discussions by our joint MD Mr. Manoj Windlass who looks at handling the key client relationships, even our commercial head and down the level there is a, you know, we are very conscious that this is not just a transaction, there is a relationship building and you know, so based on the, there is sort of a beat at which each customer is looked at and different levels of people are making travel visits, con calls, performance review report cards.
Some of our customers are initiating performance review report cards on regular basis. So those are also places where we discuss how to smoothen things and how to grow further. So this is very much the regular part of business development, strategy planning and execution.
Sajal Kapoor
Reassuring. Thank you for that. Second question is on trade generics and institutional business. Right. I mean if you look at the long term CAGR which is there in the presentation as well as the annual report, it’s about 40, 41% which is about five years CAGR. Right. But the last three months only 7%. 18 months is, nine months is fine at 18%. But last three months what changed so dramatically? Is it just a major institutional order slipping into the next quarter? Please can you double click and help us understand the root cause of this significant slowdown in trade generics.
Hitesh Windlass
So Sajal, see one is that as we mentioned that in the past also there has been, there have been slow quarters and there have been strong growth. We have also discussed that, you know, from more and more people are jumping into trade generics. So you know, the competitive landscape is also there. And the third aspect is about the lumpiness of institutional business. Right. Some tenders get captured within the quarter, some don’t and you know, of course our own execution on the ground. So we, you know, that sort of set of things is what, you know, we have to, we have to play with.
There are not many more levers than that, you know, what geographies you operate in, what products and what client base you are working with. Because it’s a large number of SKUs being sold, right. So there is not really something that is further beyond that. So we have to just focus on execution.
Sajal Kapoor
Yeah, so what I’m hearing is that 40% is an aberration, but so is 7%. What is the more sustainable medium term CAGR then?
Hitesh Windlass
I think that, you know, so look, I mean the way from, you know, if you look at the largest company in this segment, Lee Ford, when they came into market they had a period of experimentation, they almost wrapped up and then launched again and then within 10 years built it into a 2000 crore business. So I think that really it’s not about whether I can retrospectively attribute a good CAGR to this Sahajalji. It is more about how my time to time actions are and how I reinforce this strong tempo and culture of building. And of course there will be always some challenges and we will have to figure out the new challenges.
So I don’t know if I can add any more commentary on the numbers specifically.
Sajal Kapoor
Sure, sure. No, that’s helpful. Thank you so much and all the very best.
operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We’ll take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you.
Hitesh Windlass
Thank you very much everyone. Looking forward to seeing you next quarter.
operator
Thank you. On behalf of Windlass Biotech Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.