Akzo Nobel India Limited (AKZOINDIA.NS) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 and FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of Akzo Nobel India Limited hosted by ICICI Securities. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you.

Thanks, Yasasree. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q3 FY '26 results webinar of Akzo Nobel India Limited, JSW Group Company. We have with us today senior management represented by Mr. Rajiv Rajgopal, Joint Managing Director and CEO; Mr. Krishna R., Whole-Time Director and CFO; and Mr. Rajiv L. Jha, General Counsel, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer. Now I hand over the call to Mr. Rajiv Jha to read out the disclaimer, and then we will hand it over to the -- Mr. Rajiv Rajgopal for initial comments. Post that, we will do the question-and-answer session. Thanks, and over to you, Rajiv Jha, sir.

Okay. So we welcome you all to this quarter -- third quarter and 9 months ended 31st December 2025 investor call. And as per our process, let me begin with the safe harbor statement that we usually that -- do this. This media release contains statements which address such key issues as the company's growth strategy, future financial results, market positions, product development, products in the pipeline and product approvals. Such statements should be carefully considered, and it should be understood that many factors could cause forecast and actual results or outcomes to differ from these statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, price fluctuations, currency fluctuations, developments in raw material and personnel costs, pensions, physical and environmental risks, legal issues and legislative, fiscal and other regulatory measures and approvals as well as significant market disruptions. Stated competitive positions are based on management estimates supported by information provided by specialized external agencies. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risk factors affecting our business, please see our latest annual report. And with this, I'm handing over to Mr. Rajiv Rajgopal. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Rajiv. Thank you to the ICICI Securities team and everyone on the call, wish all of you a very good afternoon. As always, every quarter, post our results, I think this has been a ritual for us that we sort of get to speak to you. We've loaded the investor deck onto the website. So as always we do, we will not run you through a canned presentation because we would like to leave more time for the questions you may have. I will begin by giving a short summary and will request CFO and Whole-Time Director, Krishna, to also just run you through in terms of any observations on the financials. Suffice to say that last quarter, if you really look at it, our revenue had -- was reported was INR 907.7 crores, which was approximately a 1% decline. However, I would quickly like to add that in the revenue, the stand-alone business, domestic business grew almost by about 2% and the reason -- 1.8%. And the reason for that is while you all understand that there are large parts of Akzo Nobel or there is a part of Akzo Nobel that got carved out, which is specifically the Powder Coating entity and the IRC business, our International Research Center. There are certain other elements of the business, which also got retained by the Akzo Nobel Powder entity -- Powder India Limited entity, which is an unlisted company by the parent, which includes specifically a couple of customers in the coil coating business. And also we used to export a lot of our Dramatone and now the Acotone, which is a colorant into parts of Southeast Asia and Middle East. And as a part of the deal for now, this has ceased since the early part of the quarter. So hence, like-to-like, the total amount that got netted off was approximately in the range of about approximately INR 200 crores. So roughly about INR 25 crores a quarter is the sort of impact that one would need to keep in mind other than the divestitures, which already have been shared with you, right? So hence, when you look at it, we had a volume growth of 6% blended for both Decorative and Industrials and a revenue growth of close to 2%. Decorative alone, I think it was fantastic news to see the volume coming back. We grew at 8%. I think the highlight was the fact that we started growing almost mid-single digit in the premium segment. Our challenge continues to be in, what we call the MEP, which is a mass economy and primer and certain actions have been put in place starting this quarter to look at really enriching some of our premium primers and also to fight the battle in a more strategic manner with some of the new entrants at reasonable margins, right? So that's the strategy that we've employed. I just want to highlight both across the paints and coatings with the new owner. And we -- one of the things that we've done is to really say that, look, how do we really play in India? How do we play across segments? How do we make sure that we are winning across our consumer bases, customer bases? And that's really been the mantra of saying how do we really drive revenue growth. And while doing so, make sure that we don't dilute margins in a huge manner. And we are doing it in a very intelligent strategic manner. We are not doing it just tactically. We are making sure that we use a lot of science in the way we play. I'll give you an example. When we looked at -- when -- with the new mandate, I think it's wonderful for people like us because we are quite enthralled to see that now volume growth and revenue growth is the first mantra in the business. Typically, it's not the same in an MNC business as many of you would agree. And one of the things that we looked at was to look at our pricing across our premium brands and some of our other offerings in the market versus some of the lead players. And we did see that we were hugely overpriced between 5% and 9%, which is what had led to volume erosion. We've addressed some of those, and we've also started looking at how do we really look at the whole franchise of the customer bases and where we need to play. So that's what I mean. We do price elasticity studies to see that if there is a price or what's the volume elasticity we get. And until we are certain, we don't take any actions. And it's been very limited, right? But we are seeing some early actions and also as we start going a far more disciplined way to sell in order to try and grow the business. Yes. So that's on the revenue side. Our coatings business, the challenge in the mix was that we grew faster in our coil coating business and in our automotive and specialty coating business. We had a bit of a challenge because of a high base last year because we had done many of the ships for the Indian Navy last year. So that is a onetime base correction, which will get restored back in this quarter. Suffice to say, that I'm fairly buoyant and confident as we progress into the last lap of this fiscal. And at this point of time, we are looking at various strategies and plans of really staying within -- now under the ages of Mr. Parth Jindal, how we can have a larger play. Let me just hand it over to Krishna to say a quick words on the financials, and then we will hand it over to Aniruddha for the Q&A. Krishna?

I think, thanks, Rajiv. We have uploaded the deck in terms of the details, and we've also given the like-to-like comparison of the exclude -- the results on a comparable basis, which excludes the Powder Coatings and International Research Center business. And Rajiv has grossed -- completely given a 360 degrees view in terms of what's happening in the business, and definitely it's an exciting journey for us in terms of how are we levering into the growth trajectory back and bringing back into the business. At the same time, happy to say that we did -- protected our gross margins largely and there is a sequential improvement of 80 basis points compared to the last quarter. And we -- as Rajiv alluded, we did deploy the royalty savings back into the business to support the growth initiatives and to move the revenue trajectory. And at the same time, we also maintained our double-digit profitability and EBITDA stood at around 14.9% before the exceptional items. As you might have -- most of you might have seen the notes to the accounts, there are quite a few exceptional items which has impacted during the last quarter. One of that is -- one among that which is a significant impact in terms of the impact of labor codes, which we clearly called out. Resultant excluding exceptional items, the PAT grew by around 5.9% on a year-on-year basis. With that, Aniruddha, I think, I'll hand it over back to you to see the question and answers.

[Operator Instructions] We'll take the first question from Abneesh Roy from Nuvama.

My first question is on the demand side. November, December, I guess, was much better than October. October, the rain season was there and early Diwali. So very little days to really paint house to capture the festival-related kind of a behavior. So how do you see Q4, because the other paint companies are seeing that Q4 is likely to be better than Q3 in terms of volume in terms of decor. Would you also share similar thoughts?

Yes, Abneesh, very much. Two reasons. One, you're absolutely right. I think in our view, for us, October was very muted. In fact, it was a decline. But we really bounced back in November, and we had reasonable growth in December, which is where we are when you take out the like-to-like business of what we don't now operate in, right? And our volume growth were pretty good because 8% in decorative, we are seeing it. And when you look at that it was fairly secular actually led by premium, we are pretty happy with what came in. Yes, in my view, this quarter, unless there are again any external events or hopefully no climate change impacts. But other than that, it should be a pretty strong quarter from a volume perspective, you're right on decorative paints.

One follow-up question on demand side. What is the gap you're seeing between the volume growth and sales growth?

See, from an industry perspective, we expect it to be between 5% and 6%. However, what's happening, Abneesh, is there are 2 reasons why you cannot exactly sort of pinpoint. One, because there is excessive discounting happening in the market, something that particularly in the mid economy sort of segments where we've not had great success, and we are reworking our strategies there. Second is, as far as we are concerned, as I mentioned, Abneesh, we did, as I told you, some of the conjoint pricing analysis and we took some actions given that we were at significant premiums to our market. So we will be at about maybe 1% or 2% a little higher in terms of the volume value gap for about a couple of quarters till it sort of post cuts.

Understood. Now a final question. In terms of the new player, Birla Opus, we saw a very minor hike of 1% to 3%. When you see the raw material side and when you see the heightened promotional intensity in industry and the new player has also reversed 10% extra in the 4-liter pack. Would you say that worst of the promotional intensity, competition intensity is now kind of at the fag end? Or do you think that this can continue at least in the next few quarters, this remains as high as to the peak level?

Firstly, what I would love to believe is that the worst is behind us. But I think what the reality of the picture, Abneesh, is that I think it will still take 2, 3 quarters for it to really play out, right? Because at this point, let's understand the math. I mean you're talking of a new entrant, which has come at prices which are anywhere between 12% -- up to 12% lower than the prices at which we operate in addition to that additional discounts and then there was a 3-liter, which while it's -- you say it's been called off, it's still there in a few markets still running pretty much. right? So you're talking of a band between 12% and 18% lower pricing, which is not a small sort of negate, right? And what we are seeing is, see, pricing as a lever in this industry works to a point. The problem is if repeat demand doesn't come in at that pricing, it will be very difficult for the new player, any new player to take up the margins, right? The sort of cost cutting, et cetera, that one will have to do is going to be immense. We've seen it. I mean we've seen it being relatively -- I'm saying when I joined the company in 2013, you'd remember, Abneesh, the Akzo India profit was less than INR 80 crores. I mean, look at where we are. It's taken a huge amount of effort, a lot of work on cost, structural cost, procurement, raw material, logistics. We put a new route to market using the distributor, which we went through a lot of banks when we did it, right? So I think it will require out-of-box thinking. It's not just going to be cyclical. I do expect the competitive intensity to continue for a couple of quarters. But hey, I think we are in it. And now as a part of the new group, I think the mantra is very simple, Abneesh. You would see us definitely. I mean now as JSW Group in the paints business, I think we are already #4. I think Parth has given us a very clear intent and signal that we should get to #2 in 3 to 4 years. I mean, we would want it even faster perhaps. So we've got a very clear plan. I think what we are doing is really focusing on our executional excellence and looking at our innovation basket to see how we can sort of get products, which will be slightly different from what we've been able to craft in the bat. Yes. Dulux, as you know, enjoys a huge quality advantage, Abneesh. And that's what we are relying on to take us through.

We'll take our next question from Manoj Menon from ICICI Securities.

Team, just ensuring that I'm audible, right? There are some challenges on connectivity. Yes.

We can hear you.

Yes. Rajiv, good performance, I must say, in the context of the market and also the maybe rationality in parts of competition, et cetera, plus the transition. I've got a few things, but the most important thing comes to my mind is the revenue synergies, right? So if you could just talk a bit about whatever you can talk in a public domain, in the public domain, subject to confidentiality on the revenue synergies, let's say, Dulux brand gaining from the JSW Paints distribution or vice versa or both, right? Or just that you've got a far bigger scale today, your ability to accelerate numeric. So just please talk a bit about revenue synergies would be super helpful.

Thank you, Manoj. And I think it's a little too early for me to talk to be very honest, not for any other reason because everything is in scope right now, and there are obviously certain elements of confidentiality that I'm bound by. So if you permit, I think the appropriate time would be to talk about it. But at a very high level, if you were to ask, look, obviously, if you look at Dulux, right, Dulux has got markets where we've got greater than 10%, 15% market share in different states, right? We've got -- whether it's Bengal, parts of Gujarat, right, we've got multiple states. And in JSW Paints, I think the team has created a very good presence in the southern markets and a few other markets like West Maharashtra, et cetera. I -- so we need to look at in terms of what the combined offering will bring, and we need to create those value propositions, which will make sure that the dealers -- wherever there is a third brand in the outlets, which have a higher shop share for either one of the 2, we have a clear strategy for it. So that's broad thinking, Manoj. Also, there is a lot of synergy and there is a lot of -- in our industrial business, there are obviously scopes really on our coil business and a little bit in our protective business. So those are the areas where synergy will really pan out. But too early. I think it's not appropriate because work has just started. And maybe at a later stage, Manoj, I think it will be more apt for me to talk about.

Sure. Sure. Good luck. And the second and last one for today is that, Rajiv and team, again, if you could talk a bit about the integration aspect on the people side of it, the culture side of it. And are you -- I mean, where are we currently. I know that it's a work in progress, right, kind of, look, but yes, talk about the people and the culture side of it.

Look, I think for people, I think there will be -- there is a reality check in terms of the fact that people have been used to working in a particular way of life in an MNC organization when you move to an Indian organization, but bulk of us, people around the table, amongst the leadership have worked in both. We worked in Indian business houses and in MNC. So I think the nuances, if you were to ask me, first and foremost, I must say this, Manoj, that we've been given a very warm welcome by Mr. Sajjan Jindal, Mr. Parth Jindal, and I think Parth in particular, has been very caring in terms of making sure that right from the word go when the leadership team came to JSW Center. And by the way, we are in JSW Center Mumbai today, right, taking the call, that the team is really welcomed and there is a very clear ways of working. Of course, there would be like in any business when a business gets acquired, there will be some challenges. I think the key for us as leaders is to make sure there are key talent, key people are retained and value propositions are there on both sides because I think JSW Paints has also got a very good set of team members. So I think that's the thing that we will start doing. Again, as I said, Manoj, it's very early days. I think these are questions, it's just like -- it feels like we just got married and entered and you are asking me how is it going to be 2 years from now. It's a difficult question to answer. But my answer to that is, look, I think in Indian customs, the first thing you do is to make sure you come in and be a part of the family, and that's what we are trying to do.

I like the analogy, Rajiv, and good luck, team.

We'll take our next question from Lakshminarayanan Ganapathi from Tunga Investments.

Yes. I hope I'm audible.

Yes.

Yes, please go ahead.

Yes. So Rajiv, I think there are 2 or 3 number questions and one is very conceptual question. So first is I just want to understand from a decorative volume growth, 9 months to last 9 months like-for-like, what has been the volume growth? Second question is that what is the cash levels we actually carry right now approximately? And the third is, you talked about royalty. I think royalty was around INR 140 crores or so. So how does the company intend to use it, whether it will flow to the bottom line or you would actually use it for business expansion? How do you think about it? These are the 3 questions from a number point of view. Conceptually, I just want to understand looking out 3 years, if you want to -- I mean, if you are saying that, look, what will you call as markers of success for you and the management? It could be market share, it could be revenue growth or it could be margins or ROCE. When you say that, look, we were -- we are successful 3 years out, what are the 2 or 3 markers to like to use and say, okay, we have done well. I think these are the questions, Rajiv.

Sir, you're not audible.

No, I'm done. Sorry, I have closed my question.

Yes. Yes. You are -- yes. We could hear you. Krishna sir, if you're speaking, we are unable to hear you.

I think that should answer your clarification in terms of the royalty.

Sorry. We didn't hear.

I'm sorry, sir, you are not audible. Can you repeat your answer, please?

Okay. So as far as the royalty is concerned, there are 2 portion of royalty. One is pertaining to the decorative paints and second is pertaining to the industrial coatings. In the month of June 2025, we acquired the Decorative IP and the Dulux brand is now owned by the Akzo Nobel India Limited listed entity. So the royalty cease to exist, which translates to roughly around INR 60 crores to INR 65 crores depending on the revenue trajectory. And that amount, as Rajiv alluded in the initial comments, we are committed to redeploy towards the growth initiatives and to gain the market shares. So that explains, and as far as the industrial coatings is concerned, Akzo Nobel continue to be the technological partner and we continue to pay the royalty as per the previous agreements. Hope this will answer the royalty question. Coming back to the cash position, it's -- ballpark is roughly around INR 200 crores to INR 225 crores of free cash is available in the balance sheet, which is earmarked for the growth initiatives and the CapEx for the near future.

And volume growth on decoratives like-for-like for the 9 months?

Yes. So 9 months would be between 1% and 2% approximately. I'll give you a range. So clearly, Lakshmi, 2 parts. First, of course, there's been a huge bounce back. And the reason for that is there were 2 issues. Of course, the July, August, September, as you know, once the announcement happened, there were a few challenges, which I mentioned in that quarter, in the call, where a lot -- particularly in the project segment in decorative, we faced a lot of challenges from repainting societies in terms of continuance of some of the various actions that we committed to in terms of warranties, et cetera, all of which has got addressed, right? All of which has got addressed, right? So I think now we are slowly bouncing back. On the decorative retail side, we are starting to do well and secular growth across geographies. Yes. Lakshmi?

Yes, yes, yes. I think that answers all the number questions. So can you just move on to the other one, which I asked in terms of what do you define success and what are the markers you would like to use?

So look, I think success for -- first and foremost, success is, look, for me is we are now thinking what's good for JSW is good for JSW Dulux. And as all of you know, we registered the new name of the company with the stock exchange. It's gone to all our shareholders, all of you for both. We hope you like the name. We believe that, I think it's the name for the future where it captures, as Parth rightly says, the agility and the nimbleness and the power and the strength of JSW and really the epitope and the entire premiumness, luxury feel of Dulux, right? So we are bringing Dulux right up there in the company. So JSW Dulux. Now I think in terms of goalpost, look, I think the first is obviously how over the next couple of years, we start integrating the companies. And while doing that, we make sure that the companies are really growing well and actually gaining from other players in the market, right? The larger goalpost, as I mentioned to you, we are clear #4 now with the combination. There's no doubt on that. And the quick clarity is to say that how do we quickly move to #3 and then beyond, right? So really, how do you really progressively start moving ahead. I think that's really -- in coatings, I think we've now got all the recipes to start moving towards first being #2 and then the #1 player. I think that's again the areas where we are, because I think now the mandates would be really how do you drive growth in India, for India and made by India, right? And as we do that also, we'll start looking at attractive opportunities that come our way. Lakshmi, hopefully, that addresses all the questions you asked.

Next question is from Pratik Gothi from HSBC. Pratik, can you please unmute your microphone? Yes, go ahead, please.

Yes, Pratik, go ahead.

Can you hear me?

Yes, Pratik.

Yes. So a quick question on the numbers. Employee expenses were down, I think, INR 55 million quarter-on-quarter. I think these are the continuing business numbers. So any clarification on that, please? That's my first question.

So if you roughly see, Pratik -- thanks for asking this question. As we clearly mentioned in the disclosures, the last year number is not comparable. And last year includes the Powder Coatings and IRC, you roughly see ballpark number is 12% lower, correct?

I'm sorry, sir. Quarter-on-quarter, Q2 versus -- Q3 versus Q2.

Q3 versus Q2. It's a combination of the attrition and then the refill rate of the company. And there is no structural change per se in that Q3 versus Q2.

Okay. And second question is, are we thinking about changing the business model to becoming a direct distribution play instead of a distributor play as of -- as we currently hold?

Pratik, I'll look at that. Look, I don't think there's a perfect solution. There will be markets -- let's go back, okay? Why did we move to distributor? We moved to distributor for 2 reasons. As all of you know, global companies measure themselves on EBIT percent margin and not on absolute EBITDA or absolute EBIT, and that was a bit of a challenge. And when you look at that model and look at in terms of service and when you want to have a vision of becoming a larger player in the country, we believe that distributor would have been it. And we've been now -- this journey started in 2013. We are in 2026. We've got 153 distributors and more than 85% of our distributors are more than 10 years old -- 82% of our distributors are more than 10 years old, right? So they've grown the business with us. Now obviously, what we will look at is there are certain markets where we still believe because of the fact that we need to further invest in the brand to drive offtake when you are starting to play the bigger players, we will need to look at being direct. So there will be a combination, and they will also continue to be our distributors. So our distributors will continue. That we will come back. We will take a couple of quarters to see what is the best model, and we will come back to you.

Okay. If I can squeeze in another question. So on decorative side, can you elaborate a little bit more on the competitive intensity? You talked about this higher discounting, but do you see competitive intensity in certain segments? Do you see higher competition in the economy segment, which where you are not especially strong, but say, premium segment, for example, is there more competitive intensity there or anything -- some color on that, please?

Yes. I think, look, I think where all the new players have been able to really impact is in the mass and the below, right, mass, primers, economy and in even some of the new categories, waterproofing and wood care, right? So that's where -- I think in premium, I don't think that the order is really reversed while people have tried. Reality is I just -- I can just give you examples that one of the fastest-growing newer emerging players when they got into the project business, started getting customer -- consumer complaints or customer complaints and we started getting some of those business back. So I think ultimately, look, I think what will play out is the quality of products, because paint, it's not like paint, there's a lot of engineering in paint. So there's a lot of -- and being a chemical engineer, I can tell you very proudly that there is a lot of engineering in paint. And so it's not that we create recipes and we start winning in the market. That said, to answer your question, yes, the competitive intensity is more in these segments of the market. But I would also suggest that, look, in the premium because everybody knows that, that's what gives them better margins, there will be a lot of action in premium too, though a little lesser than the other segments. Pratik, if I've answered your question.

Next question is from Mrunmayee Jogalekar from Asit C. Mehta Investment.

I hope I'm audible.

Yes, please go ahead.

Yes, perfect. Sir, so my questions were mainly related to the coatings segment. I think you did refer to the fact that you expect Q4 to be strong and you also expect to become the #2 player and then gradually #1 here on the coatings side. So first part of the question is, in the near term, what will really drive the growth? Is it broadly the industry-wide growth or you are seeing some kind of market share or some new products or something like that? And the second part of that is just on the medium term, what strategy you're thinking about from the coatings perspective?

What's the strategy, sorry, your last part wasn't clear.

The medium-term strategy when looking at the coatings business now going ahead.

So, look, I think in coatings, we've been playing largely in the premium space. While we entered the mid-market in each of the businesses, I think mid-market is a huge opportunity. Again, because of the challenges of being a part of Akzo Nobel, looking at margins, we never looked at it. I think that's one area where we are now looking at. And we're doing it in a very careful manner. It's not that we're just generally dropping prices. We're looking at whether -- are these sustained growth before sort of making those commitments, right? One. Two, obviously, our real focus is around R&D, ensuring technical expertise and really making sure that our products are going to be competitive in the mid-segment, right? So that's where the second leg is. Last but not the least, in all our coatings, B2B businesses, I think it's also understanding customer and consumer insights, really understanding how you can get in deeply into the business, understand the customer businesses. And that's what the team is right now getting into. So hopefully, I've answered your question.

Sir, about the near term -- yes, just on the near term, like the next couple of quarters, if you can just talk about -- because you did say Q4, you're expecting strong performance in coatings.

Yes. Yes. So look, I think, again, you've got to keep in mind the fact that coatings business has been an outperforming business for us over the last, if I take a 3-year CAGR, right? So yes, I think the key is -- we will obviously continue to grow. And in the near term, what we are trying to do is to win customers across different businesses and make sure that while driving growth, we are also able to keep an eye on profitability because that's also been a key lever in the coatings business and using technology as the sort of tool to drive that.

We'll take our next question from Aniruddha Joshi.

Yes. Sir, two questions. One, in terms of there are royalty savings. Secondly, over a period of time, may not be, let's say, in H1 FY '27, but post that, we may see strong synergy benefits. So also the company in its new avatar wants to invest more in brand building and overall growth of the business also. So how should we think about the margins? Means earlier, there used to be a band in which we used to look at the margins. There was a minimum kind of a band. So how should we think in terms of the margins? That is the question number one. And question number 2, in terms of new product launches. So how should we again see? Will the brand shift to JSW Dulux or it will remain Dulux because the company name is also getting changed to JSW Dulux? Yes, that's it from my side.

So Aniruddha, the brand work is just about to commence. The company name is JSW Dulux. In terms of brands, obviously, I think there's a lot of clarity that obviously Parth has made a significant investment to buy the brand of Dulux. So obviously, the endeavor will be to try and use it, but there are certain areas or segments where Dulux has not been very -- to be honest, we've not been able to stretch the brand enough, right? So to put it, right? And that's where, obviously, we've got a good brand in JSW Paints. So when you sort of look at it, we'll have to -- we are studying it very closely to see how the combination of the 2 starts really gaining significantly from the other players in the market. So that's one. Yes. Krishna, you want to -- on the EBIT, look, the guidance that I've given, my view is, as I said, as we enter the mid-market and some of it, you'd see initial slight erosion of about 0.5 point, et cetera. We are operating in the 14% to 15%, 14.5%, 14.8% sort of EBITDA margins, right? Our endeavor will be -- and I'm not talking any synergy. I'm saying whatever synergy will come, will come outside this and at an appropriate time, right? But without synergy, I think our endeavor is to be in that band of more towards the 15%, but the range I would give you is between 14.5% to 15% -- 14% to 15%, right? Yes. And then to take it up to 15% to 16% slowly. But at this point of time, I would say around 15% is where we really want to keep the focus. As I said, the first task is really driving revenue growth. And Aniruddha, you will agree, I think really driving growth ahead of competition is most critical for us at this point of time.

Yes, sure, sir. Understood. In terms of the actions -- some of the pricing actions, if you can indicate which we would have initiated in the market and how has been the trade response, because the transition is also underway, but we have seen decorative -- India decorative volume growth is pretty strong at 8%. So how is the trade feedback on the -- maybe means just initial 1, 2 months, but whatever you can share?

No, I think, look, this is something that the trade has been asking us for the last couple of years, which is that our ability to do that with Akzo Nobel was very difficult because Akzo runs on global pricing modules, right? So the response has been good. It's a bit across the portfolio starting from super premium right up to some of our mass. And the reason for doing that is because we were completely off in terms of market operating prices. So as I told you, we've looked at pricing elasticity studies, which we've done third party and also done a bit of in-house work to really look at what is the elasticity across different brands, across the segments of dealers, painters and consumers. So we've done it across 3 segments. And based on that study, have we started taking the decisions. Initial response is good, Aniruddha, but we'll have to wait and watch, because for me, I don't think -- see, pricing is something which is what I would call a good -- you need to be in a particular range versus competition and there's a certain price premium. But I think there are a lot of other actions which are happening, Aniruddha, just to say. Pricing is not the only driver of revenue growth.

We'll take our last question from Akshay Krishnan from ICICI Securities.

So I just want to understand, you clearly mentioned that you wanted to scale up the ladder on the ranking aspect. So what will be the guardrails that you will be looking at, let it be on the brand positioning or the pricing power or the channel economics, which means that you'll protect yourselves despite having a slower growth, even certain phases of your -- the entire life cycle?

So very good question, Akshay. First and foremost, I think to answer Aniruddha's one point, I think at least the start in January has been fairly good. So we are hoping that we continue. Second, I think it's a very good question. What are the guardrails? Look, ultimately, when you want to get into the top zone on growth, but you also need to maintain profitability. It's absolutely essential that your premium -- your luxury brands and premium brands also grow at least in line with GDP or outperform competitive landscape. So that's one. So you know what are the drivers for it. So I'm not going to enumerate that. But suffice to say, hence, brand, making sure that we are able to drive productivity on our tinting machines. We are able to make sure that we are engaged appropriately with our printers and our contractors, making sure that we are driving not just the width, but also the depth of share in an outlet is critical with distribution and depth both, right? So the guardrail would be to make sure that when we are over -- we are not dialing in into one area or one vector of growth. We are looking at playing it across the segments. That's one. The second is -- and the same thing both in decorative and in coatings, right, to make sure that we get a fairly secular growth across our businesses not -- and making sure that it's not the lowest margin business that grows the highest and hence our high-performing business are there. So that would be one. The second guardrail would be to ensure that, look, while doing this, we continue our focus in terms of innovation, right? We are entering into a period of integration, et cetera. So running -- it's like I remember an example when years ago that I was told that it's like making sure that you are -- you're still running the F1 race with a bit of a flat tire, right? So you don't have the luxury of getting out of the race and you've got to wait to make sure that you are able to change the wheels at the right appropriate time, right? Or you're in a house where you don't have the -- there's something which has got electric unit, you don't have the luxury of switching off the [indiscernible]. So that's the situation we are in. I think it's a very competitive market, but I also believe it's a very exciting market. And for me, I think the beginning of the new journey, the beginning of the family that we have entered gives me adequate confidence and backing to say that go for the moon. And that's the sort of thought that we are working with, Akshay. Hopefully, I've answered your question.

Yes, yes, yes. And we have many growth levers in the paint industry, let it be on the pricing or it be on the adjacencies or the distribution integrity and so on. So it looks very attractive in an isolation path. But how do you evaluate the second order effect of the choice when you make on brand equity or the channel distribution or the return of capital on a full life cycle? So what is the trade-off point that you're consciously looking on to accept in at today's point in time?

Yes, Akshay, I'll be very honest. The only reason I love this business because the business I was in earlier before I came into paints business was telecom and the company was Airtel and you know what we've created. I run the data business, 2G, 3G, 4G, launched 5G, and you've seen what that business did, right? So for me, I think cash is king. The reason Krishna and I get very excited about this business because this business delivers cash, right? And as a #4 player, we've been able to do it, imagine the power of what we can do as we scale up, right? So that's the most exciting part. That's a very cash business. It's a -- the brand has -- commands an equity. I don't think many players in the industry other than a couple, including the market leader and us and maybe compared to the #2 player are able to debit dealers, et cetera, for long in the market, right? We do that. We've consistently done that for now 14, 15 years of existence. So that tells you the strength of the brand that tells you the strength of the relationship. We are very transparent in the way we work, right? And I think where we lacked was firepower. In India, to win in India, you need firepower, you need a micro market battle strategy as Parth keeps articulating. Those are some things that we are fine-tuning and now really entering. And that's what I'm most excited about -- for me. This is really the excitement that we're really wanting to win in India, we are really wanting to be a part of the larger story. And I'm fairly -- I think let the performance speak, Akshay.

So post the merger, what do you think will be the most critical to get in the right -- to get in right at an early point in time? So is it more on the impact of the long-term growth valuation or is it more on the distribution aspect that you hold?

No, I think a combination of both because there is no long term without managing the short and medium term. So for me, I think managing all -- first and foremost, managing all stakeholders, yes, managing employee, our channel partners, our customers, I think those would be the critical part during the integration part, right? How do we together -- because remember that the 2 teams have been also in a way, not in a huge way, competing in markets, right? So how do you really bring the best of both? How do we really integrate into the families, the joint family now? And how do we really make sure that the 2 brands -- for me, it's today, I'm very clear in the role that I do. What's good for JSW is what's good for Dulux. I'm very clear, I mean, ever since I've sort of moved into the family from July. And so I think every -- as long as every employee understands that they are first thinking JSW, first thinking India, then thinking JSW and then thinking Dulux, I think we'll be on the right path.

Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference call to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

First and foremost, thank you once again. We are delighted and we know that we have each of your support. If you have any further clarifications, do reach out to Rajiv Jha, Company Secretary, and we would be happy to sort of engage. We -- one of the things that I'm most fascinated about is that engagement with all of you. Over the last couple of years, we've had the opportunity of also physically meeting some of you. And our Board yesterday in the Board meeting also encouraged us to continue that exercise. So we look forward to not just having these calls, but on a structured manner, getting an opportunity for you to also meet some of our leaders and at an appropriate time, also our Chairman, right? So I think we are quite excited. Everybody in the group, Board would like to thank each one of you for your incredible support. And as I always say, this is -- this industry is a very exciting industry to be in. And that's the reason why people like me have spent so long. I've completed 14 years in the industry now, time flies, right? So I wish all of you the very best. You can count on us. We are the sort of team that works 24/7. We understand that many of you made significant investments in the company on the brand, and you can be rest assured that that's what we will keep in our mind as we progress ahead. Thank you very much. Have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes today's session. Thank you for your participation. You may now exit the meeting.