Bajaj Auto Limited ($BAJAJAUTO)

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to Q4 and FY 2026 Results Conference Call of Bajaj Auto Limited. My name is [indiscernible] and I will be your coordinator. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anand Newar, Head Investor Relations from Bajaj Auto Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Yashashri. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the call today. Apologies for the slight delay today, [indiscernible] to Bajaj Auto's Q4 and FY '26 earnings call. On today's call, we have with us Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director; and Mr. Dinesh Thapar , Chief Financial Officer; we will begin the call with our opening remarks on action on the business and operational performance for the quarter, followed by Dinesh, who will take you through the financial highlights. We will then open the forum for Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Anand. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and our apologies for the late timing of the call for extra thanks to all of you for dialing in. I'll keep the remarks quick, so which means I'll do some speed talking and allow more time for Q&A. Foremost, FY '26 has been a defining year as you can see for Bajaj Auto, record performances through the year, delivering the best ever year driven by growth across all business units, combined with robust operational management. And this against the backdrop of uncertainty and volatility. Record revenues at INR 58,000 plus crores, record EBITDA, crossing INR 12,000 crores for the first time with margins at 20.5% and record PAT, which was INR 9,800 plus crores. Also a new peak. Quarter 4 was a standout quarter with revenues crossing INR 16,000 crores, EBITDA at INR 3,300 crores and margins at 20.8%. Total volumes reached a new high of 13.7 lakh units growing 24% year-on-year. Given that we engage on a quarterly basis, I'll focus on the highlights of Q4 FY '26 and not dwell much on the full FY '26. Export business unit, starting off with that. The BU crossed the 600,000 units marked for the second consecutive quarter, talking 25% growth year-on-year. This has resulted in the highest ever quarterly revenue from exports. In FY '26, we recorded our second highest ever performance in volume terms. But at USD 2.2 billion it was the highest ever performance in revenue terms. A special point to note is that this was achieved despite Nigeria, our largest volume market operating at 50% of its peak performance. Having said that, finally, Nigeria reach some stability in Q4, with volumes crossing 1 lakh units to deliver a full year performance in FY '26, which is equal to FY '25 while volumes remained below historical peaks, the recovery is encouraging. Our wide retail distribution footprint has given us a strong competitive edge, enabling us to maintain overwhelming market share of 50% in retail terms. Latin America continues to outperform delivering sustained growth for 11 consecutive quarters now and reporting another all-time high performance, driven by strong growth in almost each and every country. The region remains a key driver of our export performance in terms of volume, revenue and EBITDA. Asia also recorded double-digit growth, particularly due to Sri Lanka, Philippines and Nepal. This enabled [indiscernible] brand to deliver record export volumes for the quarter. Of the top 30 markets, which almost -- which account for almost 80% of the emerging markets industry, we grew at almost twice the rate of the industry growth in Q4. [indiscernible] motorcycles exports from India have revived after the disruption of the past several quarters. In quarter 4, KPN exports from India touched nearly 17,500 units compared to nearly a year ago. A quick word on Brazil. Sales cross 10,000 units during the quarter, supported by expanded manufacturing capacity, which has now increased to 60,000 units per annum, successful new product introductions like the 400 net and why the market presence with almost 70 top-class stocks. The business reached the #5 position in April in terms of share, and I believe we are the youngest company there to break into the top 5. The youngest company that you know that [ Barasat ] 80 years old. In fact, [indiscernible] celebrating 100 years on 11th of May. But in ethers, we are only 3 years old. Overall, the export business has established a sustained growth momentum. We are looking at moving the exports needed to 220,000 units per month. This quarter, up from the 200,000 levels. And this, despite the loss of business in the Gulf region, we are, of course, hoping that there'll be no further disruptions due to the geopolitical issues in the Middle East. Domestic motorcycles, the industry had a split trajectory in FY '26 with a muted first half followed by a strong recovery in the second half. This was driven by a strong festive season and GST rate cuts, resulting in a growth of around 11% for the full year. Growth continues to be driven by the upper half of the industry with the 125cc segment growing faster than the 100cc segment. And in particular, the 150cc plus men being the fastest growing. We now see a clear turnaround in our performance in the fourth segment, which is a 150 plus segment. Sequential gains in market share are being made month-on-month driven by the performance of our refreshed cancer portfolio. The new variants and upgrades have been introduced in the period of October to March, and they now contribute to 50% of our stake, which signals very good acceptance. The share gain over the course of the second half is remarkably secular each and every region or the in every state from G&K to [ Tamunadu ] and the Northeast to [ Rastan ] has grown faster than the industry growth in their respective region. This has been led by the end and NSC of culture, which grew at over twice the rate of the industry in Q4. We will continue to build on this momentum with further upgrades and intervention plan across the Pulse portfolio in the 125 and 150 plus segments in the coming months and do so in time to capture the surge in the festive season. Cobalt, which houses KTM and Tran brand. The business continued its steep growth trajectory during the quarter the KTM and Triumph brand delivered in combination of record domestic performance in quarter 4, with combined volumes of nearly 43,000 units, registering steep 43% year-on-year growth, making it the highest ever quarterly performance for the business. ATM growth was led by strong demand across the adventure and street portfolios. With June 250 leading the charge in the Street segment. The Adventure portfolio was further strengthened with the launch of the KTM 390 adventure or in January, the most as road capable adventure motorcycle in India. The more tax-friendly CPPCC variance have now been introduced. Triumph2 delivered its highest ever performance during the quarter. driven by the Speed 400. Since inception, the brand has now crossed the 1 lakh unit milestone in a short time of 2.5 years. We have now also expanded the portfolio with the introduction of the 350cc platform, enabling customers to avail the benefit of the lower GST and we have also launched the Cracker 400 in quarter 4. It is a model is, as we say, was born in the dirt but bike for the Street. We continue to invest in building the performance ports category with marquee events like a widely successful KTM cup the adventure ready for TTM and Epic rise and the world of Triumph exposed for the triband. Along with the [indiscernible] the KTM and Adventure buy achieved leadership share in the highly lucrative and growing Adventure segment during quarter. The rollout of our joint KTM and Tran showroom has progressed swiftly with 90 such showrooms already operational. The initiative is helping us drive reach while still maintaining a differentiated brand presence. In CPA, the electric scooter business in quarter 4 shape across the 1 lakh retail mark for the very first time in a single quarter. The highest ever quarterly details for the brand. March 26 was the largest month with retail touching 50,000 plus levels. Market share has moved up to almost 23%, a gain of 170 basis points sequentially. Consumer sentiment is again strongly shaping present for scooters. The e-segment scooter segment grew by 40% in Q4 and has continued to grow at an even higher rate of 60% plus in April, far outpacing the growth of scooters. A key contributor to the sequential share in Q4 has been the cat 325, our new variant launched to address specifically the needs of the youth of lighter, faster and easier last-mile mobility. The C25 has been received very well, combining everyday usability with the trusted durability and build quality that CPA has become known for. In FY '26 is across the flight in its mark and INR 4,000 crores in revenue. The reach of [indiscernible] stands at 500-plus exclusive CapEx stores, combined with almost 3,000 plus motorcycle stores, which are shared with Cape, and this presence has expanded to over 850 cities. This gives us network each, which is both wide and deep, but it continues to deliver the differentiated sales and service experience that the [ Bell ] brand is built around. And in Q4, Star also commenced its international journey with exports to Sri Lanka, Philippines and Nepal. The first step to what we believe can be a significant opportunity in due course. Commercial vehicles, there has been a landmark year for the business unit. For the first time in our history, the commercial rate business crossed the 5 lakh unit mark for the full year, a milestone that reflects both our ICE leadership and the scaling up of our electric portfolio. In Q4, the business delivered its highest ever quarterly volume growing 28% year-on-year. The franchise remains drop solid the share in the C&G segment is close to 90%. These strong positions signal a solid brand franchise and we are conscious of this equity of trust, even as we leverage it to build our electric [indiscernible] business in the rapidly growing e-segment we have maintained the #1 position in electric [indiscernible] throughout Q4 and in April in terms of registrations. Importantly, this scale-up has been accompanied by a healthy profitability, making E3 wheelers a strong contributor to both the top line and the bottom line. Highlights of Q4 has been the launch of [indiscernible] the largest electric 3-wheeler in the industry, powered by a 17.7 kilowatt-hour battery with advanced BMS regenerative braking. It delivers a Maha range of 296 kilometers, the highest in its segment. [indiscernible] the journey is progressing steadily with trends now in 100-plus cities. Though the [indiscernible] segment itself has slowed down due to enforcement of regulation on the streets, which is actually helping consolidate this industry in favor of the larger and better OEs. Even so at almost 30,000 units per month, it still offers a very large new business opportunity for us to be ceased by upgrading this segment on the basis of quality, reliability and a good ownership experience. In totality, our 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler electric business is actually now the largest in the auto industry. accounting for almost 20% plus of our domestic revenues and contributing double-digit EBITDA percentage. Finally, I must make a brief comment on our space business and highlight its record sales of INR 1,700-plus crores, registering a growth and delivering a record EBITDA margin as well. As you can see the FY '26 was the benchmark we are setting records in volumes, revenues and profits and business unit performance. Now we have to look forward in a changed scenario with some new challenges involved by the war in the Middle East as the operating environment is experiencing significant change. The demand environment, it has softened in April due to general inflation, increased prices of our vehicles shortages, manpower migration and the LPG shortage led effect on the consumer sentiment. This is bound to slow down the motorcycle category from its 20% rocking 20% growth in Q4 to we estimate 7% to 9% in the near term. So having said that, the great thing from our point of view is that we expect this growth to come almost entirely from the 125cc segment and even more so from the 150cc segment, which should grow at twice the industry rate. April outcome, actual outcomes point very clearly in this direction. Secondly, the electric category in both sweaters and 2-wheelers will witness not just continuity of growth but a and a further increase in growth. Therefore, the 150cc plus segment and electric segments, which are the absolute epicenter of our focus, mitigate the overall softening of the demand. Supply chain difficulties in terms of the LPG shortage, manpower availability and outbound logistics to overseas markets have impaired availability to service demand by about 10% to 15%. Hopefully, we will start to resolve themselves over a period of time. The cost environment is seeing a potential rise during the quarter of about 3% to 5%, driven by the metal complex. This has been partially addressed by taking up prices with effect from first April. And of course, the UG realization rate reaching 95% have been very helpful in us managing the cost side inflation. Keeping all the above in perspective and also actual April outcomes, we expect our growth tempo to actually continue in Q1 basis the strong competitive positions we enjoy in the key segments like the 150cc in domestic motorcycles, the EV business, both in 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers and the secured performance in large and stable territories like Lat Am and parts of Asia. Through Q1 and FY '27, the team will remain absolutely focused on the areas which I've highlighted earlier, gaining share in the 125cc segment, particularly in the 150cc segment riding the continued industry growth. And this will be done on the pieces of new product launches and brand development. In exports, pushing exports to the 220,000 plus levels on the back of leadership in the sports segment in Lat Am and a more aggressive outreach in gaining shares in commercial bike particularly from competitors originating in China. Super Premium Solar segment accelerated growth in both Triumph and KTM basis network expansion and the launch of the Board tax-friendly PPCC variants. In electric business, we will deepen our leadership position leveraging the wider product portfolio, which is solely there and some new launches planned and the expansion of an exclusive network. We will continue to support the management there in the turnaround, which is well underway to bring back KTN in due course of time to its regional performance. A key area given this environment will be to balance growth and profitability in the most optimal way through robust operational management. And finally, we will continue to build capability and now leverage scale in the gas auto credit to deliver an industry class-leading performance. With this, let me hand the session over now to Dinesh.

Thank you, Rakesh. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call and your patience with us this evening as we delayed it. Before I get in typically talking about the results commentary, let me inform you that the Board of Directors today on the recommendation of the NRC approved the elevation of Rakesh to the Joint Managing Director of the company from first of June. So he will effectively speak to you the next time we get together as the company is joint Managing Director, Congratulations to our itineration. Let me now get into the financials. I want to very outside call out what has truly been an exceptional quarter. Revenue at its highest crossed INR 16,000 crores. EBITDA came in at INR 3,323 crores and margins at 20.8% sustained despite challenges in the operating environment. When you step back and look at the breadth of this delivery, it represents a strong year-on-year performance with volumes growing 24%, translating into a 32% increase in revenues and strengthen further as we move down the P&L, with profits growing ahead of 36%. And reflecting in many ways, the underlying strength and quality of the business. With that said, let me give you a quick sense of the context from commodities and currency and then walk you through the numbers in some detail. On commodities, the quarter was, by and large, characterized by inflationary pressures across the basket. Within this noble metals, rhodium, palladium and platinum saw particularly sharp moves, filling up in the range of between 20%, 25%, accompanied by broader inflation across copper, aluminum and led as well. Commodities such as steel, ABS, nickel and natural rubber were relatively benign or stable for the most part of the quarter, though the started to inflate and firm up towards the end of the period as well. And we are now starting to see distinct signs of very steep inflation carrying into the next quarter, which I will touch upon when it comes to the outlook. As indicated in the previous call, we were expecting cost inflation to be in the range of between 50 to 60 basis points. And I then said that we would look to cover about half of it through pricing actions. As the quarter progressed, commodities came in line, by and large within that range that we had indicated. It could have been much higher given that inflation has started to settle towards the latter part of the quarter, but some very good work done by our purchase team. We were able to push that out and not let impact last quarter's results. And therefore, net cost inflation came in at about 40 basis points. This is after taking pricing. But a part of the pricing was also offset by the absorption of the full quarter's impact of the phasing out of the PME drive for electric 3-wheelers. Many of you would remember that at the end of quarter 3, the budgetary outlay for PME drive on electric 3-wheelers had run out. And what we did was the spirit of trying to push for competitive growth and market share gain. We absorbed the impact of that. It was felt for a brief period in quarter 3 and then we've absorbed the impact of that in its entirety in quarter 4. On currency front, the story was distinctly more favorable, the rupee depreciated through quarter 4 with our realized exchange rate coming in at 90.6% to the dollar for the quarter compared to $88.3 million for quarter 3 and 86.5% same time last year. The sequential and year-on-year tailwind provided support to the margin situation amidst the inflation. Turning now to the financial performance for quarter 4 FY '26. Revenues, building on the momentum of the previous quarter. The business continued to scale new highs with both volumes and revenues reaching their highest ever levels in a quarter. The revenue from operations came in at INR 16,006 crores, translating into a very strong 32% year-on-year growth -- but what I said particularly heartening is the fact that the growth in performance this quarter has been truly broad-based across each of our 3 business segments, 2-wheelers, three-wheelers and exports, volumes grew 20% each and revenues 30% each across all 3 of them. That's what good as it gets in terms of it being as broad-based. Revenue was further supported by a rich sales mix driven by a strong rebound in KT and exports, a higher contribution from commercial vehicles across both domestic and international markets and continued traction in sports motorcycles, all of which, as you'd be aware, are structurally revenue accretive which was further aided by favorable currency movements that I spoke about core. In addition, spares revenue, which has now been at a steady rate of between INR 1,700 cores to INR 1,800 crores provided a recurring support to overall revenues and profitability as well. Exports revenue for the quarter also reached a new high of nearly $600 million in this quarter. On EBITDA, the quarter delivered a new record of INR 3,323 crores, a robust growth of 36% year-on-year. Margins held steady at levels of 20.8%, and this marks yet another quarter of sustained delivery above 20% threshold even as we navigate various challenges. Sequentially, we look to hold margin flat. Essentially supported by favorable currency, richer mix and operating leverage. These tailwinds helped absorb the net commodity inflation that I just spoke about and higher discretionary spends notably in marketing and R&D. And of course, the absorption of the PME drives that I spoke about on electric 3-wheelers for the entirety of the quarter. On a year-on-year basis, operating leverage and cadence tailwind led the weight on delivering margin expansion of 60 basis points while managing cost inflation. Tracking revenue and EBITDA. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 2,746 crores, registering 34% year-on-year growth. The reported PAT includes an exceptional gain of about INR 35 crores arising on prepayment of deferral incentives and loans at the net present value. Looking ahead to quarter one, the commodity environment has moved to being sharply inflationary almost hyper, I would say. With the prospect of material availability on the aluminum alloys and polymer front also being very tight. That said, we are taking decisive actions to secure supplies. Significant inflation is now visible across almost the entire basket, but not just mobile metals, but also base metals like steel and aluminum participating more actively in this upswing that we are starting to see. Most of it, of course, event-driven leading to the supply shop that we are currently all aware of. The quantum of increases across key commodities has also stepped up materially compared to what we saw in the previous quarter. And to put that in some context, many of you would be aware from publicly disclosed numbers. Steel is almost up 15%, copper and 20%. Aluminum and Noble Metals all up ranging from 35% to 45%. So clearly, very, very steep almost unprecedented levels of inflation, but very volatile and dynamic without knowing how long this might last. Taken together, we are currently estimating a material cost inflation impact of approximately 3.5% to 4% of revenue. And this is from an overall portfolio perspective, it will, of course, be across models and segments. But this is based on the current outlook. And as you would imagine, it is very volatile and dynamic and the situation could change. So the 3.5%, 4% of revenue that I'm calling out at the moment is how we currently estimate it. Once again, we have taken very judicious pricing actions to offset about 40% of this impact so far. And given that the current situation is event driven, we are watching the developments very closely and we'll be acting dynamically to manage the P&L we're doing what most businesses would do at this point of time, which is to accelerate cost programs, optimization opportunities, be very mindful and judicious about discretionary spend and choiceful about what we spend and where we spend and of course, then decide if we need to look at pricing after that as well. But we're also very conscious about the fact that currency is continuing to merge as a tailwind and providing some cushion to this context. Since this is the time of the annual financial close as well, let me now spend a couple of minutes wrapping up what has truly been a landmark here for Bajaj Auto. Starting with volumes FY '26 close with the highest ever annual volumes for the company at over 5 million units, only the second time that we've delivered the last time was in FY 2019. This was achieved across both domestic and exports. And you may recall on the domestic side, the year saw a relatively subdued first half with growth accelerating in the second half aided by the impact of GST rate rationalization and a very buoyant festive season. Commercial Vehicles 125cc segment, KTM Triumph and [indiscernible] registered new highs in billing and retails. Export volumes ex Nigeria reached an all-time high as well and CV exports grew nearly 50% for the year. It wasn't by the numbers as the numbers would suggest the most comprehensive volume performance that we have delivered in a Revenue followed through at nearly INR 59,000 crores, up 17% year-on-year. FY '26 represented the new annual benchmark for the business. And importantly, as you would have seen in our press release, across every segment cut whether it was domestic or exports, two-wheelers or 3-wheelers, prices or electric, each 1 scaled to a new high. The revenue growth was primarily volume left with a meaningful contribution from a richer sales mix higher share of sports motorcycles and domestic, a sharp step-up in KTM and CV within exports and a growing contribution from the electric portfolio across 2 and 3 wheelers. Currency with a higher average dollar realization for the year added a further flip on EBITDA, we closed the year at a new high of INR 12,000, growing 19% year-on-year with margins at 20.5%, an improvement of 30 basis points over last year. Currency was favorable mix was accretive and operating leverage came through on a substantially larger revenue base. This more than offset the price versus cost equation that reflected commodity inflation through the year, most particularly in the back half of it. as well as the focused pricing interventions that we took and investments that we took to drive competitive growth. Underpinning the margin delivery was a significant development that we have made on our electric portfolio, which hit double-digit EBITDA margin in its entirety for the very first time in the course of this year. The improvements came on the back of rising scale of the very popular and profitable electric 3-wheelers and the improving unit economics of chip which have now reached EBITDA neutral as a portfolio. Profit after tax came in at INR 9,825 crores, nearly INR 10,000 crores, with a growth of 21% year-on-year, yet another record. Two exceptional items. The first was a charge of INR 58 crores that we took in our quarter 3 numbers arising from the reassessment of employee benefit obligations given the revised definition of wages under the labor court and the second is a gain of INR 35 crores this quarter from the prepayment of the sales tax deferral that I just spoke of. These 2, as you would have noticed, by and large, offset each other on the full year's numbers. Overall, it just wasn't the headline financial numbers. As you would have heard from Rakesh right now across all businesses, the year was marked by a range of records in stellar performance. Moving quickly to consolidated results. On a consolidated basis, our reported revenue came in at nearly INR 63,000 crores, up 23% year-on-year, while consolidating profit after tax way across the INR 10,000 crore mark. For the year, reflecting a growth of nearly 50%. Let me spend a quick minute on BSL and KTM. BSL, the business has had an excellent year. It has scaled up rapidly. The customer base now stands at approximately 1.8 million customers and is supported by a very wide distribution across almost 6,200 outlets covering nearly the entirety of the Bajaj Auto Retail network. On the lending side, the 2-wheeler business delivered robust growth with continued strength in core motorcycles and strong traction in electric vehicles and the premium segment, notably [indiscernible] trial. The 3-wheeler portfolio was a standout, recording nearly 49% volume growth for ESL, led by the significant expansion in the EV segment and the introduction of new business and refinancing models. Total income for BAC crossed INR 2,000 crores and PAT for the year came in at INR 665 crores compared to INR 58 crores in the preceding year, earlier 12x increase and the business now starts to hit meaningful scale. To give you attention numbers, AUM has reached nearly INR 19,000 crores, roughly double in the course of the year, and disbursement for the year were [indiscernible] on the INR 15,000 crores. In the last year, the business onboarded over 1 million customers and asset quality remains healthy. Capital adequacy ratio remained healthy at 19.5%, and the business is delivering industry-leading returns on equity of about 23% for this last past year. BSC has now moved to being a material earnings contributor within the group in a span of 2 years and is now firmly positioned to be a strategic enabler within the Bajaj Auto ecosystem. As you would recall from our last earnings call, Bajaj Auto to its wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands, BHPV completed the acquisition of 100% stake in Baja Auto Holdings , which was formerly called Pier Bajaj, which had turned held 75% stake in the now named Bajaj Mobility AgiListed Holding in [indiscernible] with the transaction completed on 18th of November, Bajaj moved from being a minority position to a controlling stake and BMA and KTM and now step on subsidiaries of the group. Before I get into the numbers, let me spend a moment on the accounting structure. There are a few moving parts here, and I just want to make sure that the context is clear. BHA, including the BMA and KTA Group, publishes its results on a half yearly basis in line with stock exchange regulations that are applicable to listed entities in Europe. What this meant in practice is that quarterly financial information was simply not available to us in prior periods, we could only access results as per that public in calendar in Europe. As a result, in the current quarter ended 31st March 2026, the group has accounted for its share of consolidated results of BMA DKA for the period of first July to 18th November, which is really the date of the acquisition of the controlling interest. To put this in context, the last time we accounted for KTM in our results was in quarter 2 FY '26 numbers published in November that we published in November, covering the period first Jan to 30th of June 2025. Prior to the acquisition, KTM [indiscernible] was accounted for as an associate under the equity method, and we recognized our share of profit or loss accordingly. Post the acquisition, which is essentially from November onwards, BMA and KMG has been consolidated on a line-by-line basis from that date through to 31st of December 2025. Going forward, it is our intention to move BMAC KTM AG to quarterly reporting as a voluntary action to align with Bajaj Auto reporting calendar and as a measure of good governance and transparency. Accordingly, the results of BMA and KTM will be consolidated into Bajaj's orders numbers on a quarterly basis, but with a one quarter lag. Now to the numbers in the current quarter, the group has recognized a net share of profit from the associate of INR 1,194 crores that you will see appearing on the model year of our results. This is essentially made up of 4 components, a share of the loss of INR 413 crores of KTM recognized it was just about starting up operations after the restructuring phase. And so our share of loss that we had to consolidate then was INR 413 crores for the period from first July to the Data acquisition. The second component is that we we've accounted for a gain of INR 953 crores on remeasurement of the investment at fair value on the acquisition date, essentially representing the fair valuation of the 49.9% stake that we'd already had in PBHE. The third element was a reclassification of INR 646 crores of the accumulated foreign currency translation gains from the FCTR reserve into the P&L as is typical in the course of accounting for such transactions. And the fourth element is a share of profit of INR 9 crores from the associates of BAI AG from the date of acquisition to 31st December 2025. Net-net, these results translate into a share of profit from the associate of INR 561 crores for the period of first of January through to the rate of acquisition, and this is what is reflected in our consolidated profit Colosa. The acquisition has been accounted for in accordance with Ind AS 103 on buses combinations and with the excess of fair value over net assets and purchase consideration recognized as a capital result in the other equity line. We have provided a detailed note on the transaction structure this time and the accounting treatment in the press release. For those of you who would like to go deeper into the specifics, I'm cautious, it is a very complex transaction. and the accounting may need some level of understanding. And therefore, the team have been suitably briefed and they would be happy to provide any additional clarity if you need on this off-line. As for KTM, the focus in 2026 continues to be to drive along with the Executive Board and through them the broad-based turnaround plan covering work teams on portfolio priorities, product development, go-to-market supply chain, including sourcing, organizational and structure simplification with a view to rationalizing fixed costs. I expect the results of this to start showing up in the latter part of 2026 itself. Quickly award on cash. We closed the year with surplus funds of over INR 18,000 crores after deploying capital on multiple fronts during the year, reflecting a strong and consistent cash generation. The year was approximately INR 500 crores, split equally between ICE and EV investments. We invested over INR 2,300 crores between ACL and HBV, the former to support the scaling of the lending book and the latter in furtherance of the KTM transaction. Free cash flow for the year was more than INR 8,000 crores, a reflection of very robust cash conversion on profit, and we returned about INR 5,900 crores to shareholders through dividends last year in July, which pertain to the previous financial year, consistent with our intention of rewarding the shareholders. Lastly, the Board of Directors at its meeting earlier today approved for a payout of 100% of the profits that we have made last year, in recognition of the 100 years milestone of Bajaj family in India and with Bajaj Auto being the selectship company that's starting in Poland. This will be split as follows: of final dividend of INR 150 per share that will aggregate to INR 4,192 crores and the balance of about INR 5,633 crores will be towards a buyback under the tender route at a buyback price of INR 12,000 per share. Overall, this reflects our continued commitment delivering healthy and consistent returns to shareholders commensurate with the growth and performance of that company. With that, let me hand the call back to Anand. Thank you. Over to you, Anand.

Yasushi with this, we can open the floor for Q&A. .

[Operator Instructions] We'll take our first question from the line of Kapil Singh from Nomura.

First of all, many congratulations to Mr. Sharma. We hope to see even better performance as you assume the new role.

Thank you very much, Kapil. This is a very, very big challenge which you have posted. I hope I can deal with it.

Sir, I just want to go back to the comments you mentioned about the price hike and related impact on demand. Could just articulate it a bit, are have you seen some impact of the price hikes on segment? The 7% to 9% growth is only for motorcycles. What do you expect for coaters in that case? And whether the price hike are happening in exports, and there also we could see similar impact because exports have been on a tiering growth. So is it the market doing well? Or is it Bajaj Auto gaining share across the board?

Well, there has been a decline in the motorcycle industry's growth between quarter 4 and April and there is, of course, first of April onwards, price hike being taken in different measures by almost all companies we had also taken a price hike of price hike on first of April. What this means is that depending on the product group, the benefit, which the GST rate cut had given to the customer, all the 30% to 40% of that is -- could get rolled back. So obviously, it will have some impact on the demand. Secondly, there is already some sentiment adverse sentiment which is certain people have become cautious. The whole LPG shortage has brought this crisis into the homes of each customer. And in such times, people then tend to postpone purchase. And already, we have seen, like I said, the 20% coming down to 9%. But when we unbundle this -- we find that the upper half, particularly the -- about half of the upper half is maintaining very strong growth. It just indicates that still the people with stronger wallets are coming in, and we've had a very, very good start to the mini season, which is led by marriages in the northern parts of the country. And we are seeing a fair amount of upgrading. Now we have to wait and see what happens to the fuel prices, what happens to our own material costs and how these play out in the market to see how the demand environment yet. But of course, the rocking growth, which we were seeing October onwards to now, that has sort of really come down. This is the domestic in the domestic modem lines. In the 3-wheeler segment, actually, the ICE segment has come down, but the electric segment. has seen very, very fast growth. Because you see LPG shortage has been there, there is a CMG issue there. There is a petrol price hike evident. All these things are sort of creating a consumer sentiment, which is really favoring the adoption of the electric segment. So that its growth has actually strengthened in, for example, April. So the 3-wheeler segment is still growing very, very strongly. Internationally, despite the environment, what has happened -- what we are seeing is that the currency led devaluation-led inflation, which is there in India to some extent. In many, many emerging markets, it has not yet appeared. Now we don't know how that will play out, but demand has remained very healthy, particularly in Lat Am. So the rapid growth, which you are seeing in the case of Bajaj Auto is because we hold a very strong position in Lat Am. And that has really helped us because LatAm has done well. And within that, the sports segment has done well. We've got great competitive positions over there, and we are seeing very, very strong growth. In addition, in Africa, like I said, Nigeria has finally come to even Stevens. It was on a decline trajectory. I will come back to come back, I would not say growth, but it is equaling last year. And we hold a 50% market share there, which is unlike our other competitors this 50% is the outcome of a very widespread presence over there through almost 800 retail level stores. A lot of the competitors do wholesale business. But for us, majorly, it is the retail business. So Nigeria doing well, expected to continue to do well. and some good advancements against the 125 cc bikes, which come from China and other sources has done well. So in Asia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, good markets for us, continuing to hold strong. So therefore, the near-term outlook of the quarter, we feel bullish about exports. But beyond that, let's see how the geopolitics sort of plays out.

Just a quick one for Dinesh, sir. Sir, can you remind us how are we placed on the currency hedging Will be able to realize the full tailwind of the currency, which may help offset the balance impact of the commodities for the next quarter?

Yes, short answer to that, that we're not hedged, and therefore, we are realizing a market.

Take our next question from the line of Binay from Morgan Stanley.

Rakesh, congratulations on the joint MT role and also for the stellar earnings -- in fact, I think your comment is interesting. So is it broadly fair to assume that for FY '27, standing where we are exports will actually do much better than domestic? On volume.

First of all, thanks a lot. See most of the analysts and media people have failed to predict what is going to happen and we being on elections and all that are very difficult. There's a similar situation, very difficult right now to do some crystal ball gazing and say that this is how the whole year is going to pan out because there are so many variables over there. The logistics issue, there's a currency issue in so many emerging markets. There is there's a demand issue. Therefore, but I can say one thing that exports is on a very strong wicket because we are capturing a disproportionate share of the growth. because of our retail presence because of all the work which has gone in key markets and luckily, these key markets are bucking the trend. I mean, Mexico is doing very well, and I hoping of the U.S. Mexico FDA in June, July gets signed, I think we'll see a put growth in Mexico. And with our plant over there, which is only 3% duty and with our 30-odd stores over there, which is double that of any other competitor, including Japanese. I think we're in a strong position. And so the situation is, for example, in Colombia, in Argentina and Peru, we are recording higher service sales over there. So it's a combination of these markets. doing well. We [indiscernible] being present in these markets and having done some solid heavy lifting work in terms of building the brand channel system over there. And so it is in some markets in Asia as well. So therefore, I think exports will continue to do well. Like I said, in quarter 1. We definitely see it pushing the needle beyond 200 and hopefully beyond 20,000 units per month also. And domestic business, it remains -- whether exports will do better than domestic or not, I cannot say that. But I think if the current pattern of growth continues, which is the top half sort of getting almost being a little bit insulated right now from all the adversities which are there, then it's very good news for us because if this continues, particularly because our play in the last 6 months in the 150cc segment in the NS range has been very rewarded. And if that sort of continues like that, I think we are in for a good ride. But how exactly the chips fall between exports and domestic motorcycles is difficult to say. But we are optimistic that because of these reasons in both areas.

That is very encouraging to know. And then lastly, just on the cheek. We've been around the 30,000 run rate for a few months now. How are you looking at what steps are we taking to sort of take it to the next level? Could you talk a little bit about capacity, product action or any other plans to take it up from here?

Yes. TTEC has actually -- we have not been able to fulfill the demand, which has been there for 1 reason or the other are sometimes we also get exasperated that everything is not working in every department and every month. And therefore, we have not been able to reach our potential, which I think is much higher in terms of share. But things did come together to some extent in -- towards the end of the quarter 4. And we are looking at -- we have now a capacity of 50,000 units per month. I think we will max that. I'm only hoping that all this labor issue and the availability of fuel, et cetera, in the Tier 1, Tier 2 vendors doesn't play a boiler, and we achieve 100% utilization. We are taking steps. There is some serious work going on to see how and where we should expand capacity in a quantum manner. And once we are done with that exercise, we'll be happy to talk to you guys about it. But yes, we have now reached a position where we think a substantive increase in capacity in CPC is needed.

Next question is from the line of Raghunandhan from Nama Research.

Congratulations joint end and best wishes. Sir, on that happy note, can you provide some thoughts on the upcoming model? Can we expect the 125cc affordable motorcycle this year?

That's a good drive, but I [indiscernible] but not innate enough to start going the -- but I know that you have said that, I'll tell you that there's going to be a stream of new products and we are trying to advance their introduction so that we have got some good new refreshed portfolio in time for the season. We'll have a new range in both the 125cc and the 150 ccs rate. There will be -- hopefully, I think we will see these new introductions hitting the market as early as July. -- in the Ulta brand.

In the culture brand, the new 125 CC will come out? And what about the other cancers, the 125 CC affordable 1 you are not yet disclosing the date for that?

Yes. That was very much in the. But have a look at these new ones we pick up. They're really looking stunning. And we hope to change the game with this in both on 500 and the 125cc segment. And MS ranges, there have been introductions of the S400 upgrades and some variants, which have been hugely accepted in even markets where we don't enjoy a good competitive ratio like UP and all, we are getting very good traction over there. And that is why, like I said, the NMS range is growing twice the rate of the S1 towards the rate of this fourth segment growth. So yes, both these ranges will make their appearance in July.

Lastly, to Dinesh. Sir, if I understanding correct that on TV revenue of INR 8,000 crores, EBITDA margin is in double digits, and this is despite being EBITDA neutral for either and also, can you share the PLI incentive for the year?

Yes. So I think the first piece is I mentioned, Rau, that we've got to a stage of double-digit EBITDA margin which has been true for the last 2 quarters on our electric business. But remember, when I talk about this, it's always electric 2-wheelers plus 3-wheelers put together, in which the that is EBITDA neutral. So in many ways, the rising proportion of electric 3 wheelers is least leading to that.

PLI claim for the year, we still [indiscernible]

We're still aggregating it, but it is in the whereabouts of about INR 900 crores.

Very helpful.

We take the next question from the line of Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America.

[indiscernible] as on the standard room. Just 2 questions from me. Firstly, I think a bit of a follow-up on the export. When you said that Nigeria is almost there at last year's levels. I mean, can you give us a little bit more color on -- you usually talked about the monthly run rate of 25,000 there versus the peak of 500, where we are and do you think that we are on the scale up back to a higher level there. . And Brazil, again, a bit more color. It's been clearly a big positive surprise market for the last 2 years. How much more upside do you see? Where are your market share in Brazil using these 2 markets?

Yes. So a, we're not talking a steady 35,000-plus last 2, 3 months. And a 5,000-plus in 3-wheelers. So that's very, very healthy. And hopefully, we will continue to grow. But I'm just sort of keeping a watch on area because Nigeria fuel prices have increased substantially. . So almost like 30%. Though there is, of course, the higher oil prices helps them because they get -- they are net exporter crude but they don't have refining and therefore, the oil prices, which affect the common man has increased. So these 2 things have to balance out. But for the moment, we are seeing very good traction in Nigeria. And we are in readiness for the season. We have stopped on the ground. We have salespeople who have got very strong engagement with the 800-plus retailers all across. So that's, I think, a positive going forward.

What was the second point? Sorry.

[indiscernible]

Yes. Present has done quite well. At this point of time, we are really not -- we are so small Brazil is a very big opportunity, and it's a very, very large country. And he has taken a top-down approach. Our approach has been to keep the brand for rather than volume forward. And the rate manifesting is that we have launched our high-end models over there first. Secondly, we have gone in for very exclusive high-end stores over there because we feel that the store experience and the whole imagery around the store is essential for brand development. And in the first phase, a peak for first 5 years, we will really want to build our brands of [ Pulsar and Dominars ] and establish a very strong customer franchise. And I think on that score, we are moving very, very well. We also get limited by the manufacturing capacity, which has to go through step changes because for every step the localization requirements are very different. They are different for 20,000 then the change up to 50,000, 60,000. And then beyond that, if you go, they again change and beyond 100,000, they gain change. So it's a step change which occurs. And right now, like I said, our capacity is closer to 60% usable. So we are seeing in the next 12 months, hoping to hit that kind of thing. And as we move forward and hit it by middle of the year, we will start looking at further enhancing our capacity in the year '27, '28.

Got it. And so most of the second clarifying more container availability issues because that's something that's been flagged in the market as well.

Yes. That's a big night pad, but this is where years of experience of the logistics team and the excellent work between the plant and the logistics team is really paying out. We export on container every 10 minutes. That's the scale of our operations, and we have to catch 4 ships every day. . And with all the kiosk, which is going all around, a lot of out of the box thinking has been done to find alternate routes, ensure container supply. And I can tell you that despite all these disruptions, just on the basis of logistics in exports, we have not lost any sale. Of course, we've lost in the Middle East because there's nothing going over there to the Gulf country, but that's 5,000, 6,000 units per month or the overall 200-plus but the team has managed the whole logistics complexity and volatility quite well. I think they are on top of the situation.

Got it. And my second question is to you around some of the comments you made around 3.5% to 4% impact and the netting factors being priced in currency. But there's still a reasonable gap to cover in terms of the cost headwinds we are seeing in the business. . So any thoughts our appetite to take more price hikes? And what is really the tolerance level when you think about the range of margin? I mean, is there a range of margin we sort of anchored around to manage this growth versus profitability. So some thoughts around -- how do we think about the net impact on the business? And more from a full year basis, not where we are not trying to understand because, of course, it's going to be a same.

Of course, once we get to full year basis, and when I mean full year essentially, once we get to steady state, we obviously the intention will be to continue to hold margins and drive margins the way we have. . But I think at this point of time, I must tell you that even though I'm telling you, and I know that there aren't many which have put out numbers as yet it is truly volatile. But I think it's 3.5% to 4% of turnover as commodity inflation today. That's our view here and now. But we've had 3 refreshes in the last 4 weeks on this front itself. And so it's quite a dynamic situation. Also, we're playing wait and watch because as I mentioned in my comments, a lot of the inflation is clearly event-led supply shock, right? And so don't know how the turn of events will play out for the rest of this quarter, a lot of negotiation and rate locking in with -- on supplies is now also moved to shorter frequency and not really to quarterly rates that might have been the norm in the past. So it's quite a dynamic situation. We are playing it truly month by month. Like I said, we've taken pricing to cover 40% of the inflation from first of April. We have taken a very, very hard look at all costs that we are spending in this quarter and typical of really seeing is it really needed being very choiceful about all discretionary spends at work. And that's clearly going to be able to mitigate some part of the inflation challenge. And then, of course, there is the currency as well because the currency has moved from -- if you see last quarter, we averaged out close to 91%, 90.6% million the currency is hovering between 94%, 95% as it were. So let's see how that moves as well. But we're clearly playing it month by month. And the intention will be to try and see how do we bridge pretty much as much of the material inflation through a mix of the pricing that we've taken I think next round of pricing will probably be the last of the recourse that we will take, if at all required, being very watchful of it. We want to also protect competitive growth -- but in the meantime, we want to be sure that we are losing out all cost opportunities, cost savings opportunities, and back of discretionary spend. And then after considering whatever is the currency tailwind, then see how do we need to manage that last bit. So very dynamic situation. Like I mentioned, the refreshes that are coming in far more frequently than they have ever in the past. Rate settlements and negotiations now happening at much shorter frequency than longer frequency. So therefore, that means that tomorrow, if things settle down, possibly some benefit of that construct translating into costs in the nearer term than much later on. But let me leave it at saying that quite dynamic, we are playing it dynamically our intention is to try and bridge as much of the impact as it currently stands.

Next question is from the line of Amyn Pirani from JPMorgan.

And yet another congratulations going on way back is. I have 2 questions. The first 1 is on the -- your comment on the moderation in the motorcycle growth so just to clarify, when you say 7% to 9%, are you talking about, say, what you are seeing for the next few months? Or is it for the full year? Because this year, we also have the problem of first year and second first half, second half looking very different in terms of growth. So just wanted to clarify on this comment of yours.

I would say, in the next few months. At this point of time, our own pagers are full year and you're very right, there will be a base effect, which will start kicking in obviously, we had a lower base in the first half last year and the second half failure. So there will be a base effect to contend with in the second half. So it all -- really a lot depends on how inflation and pricing impact, how much of the GST benefits will start to reverse. A lot will depend on that.

Sure. And my second question was on 3-wheelers. If we just take a step back, obviously, we've talked about how ICE growth has been stable to slowing but EVs has driven the growth. . But if you look at the aggregate, I mean, 3-wheeler growth has actually surprised most of us. In fact, I think post covert has been the best-performing category within auto as a whole. And this is not something that we would have thought recover. So is there anything structural happening there? How should we think about the size of the category over the next few years? Because the growth overall we can, we may say, EV non-EV, but overall growth has been quite surprising.

Well, please go back and read my comments for the last 3 quarters. Some of you have asked that where you see growth coming from [indiscernible] And I've been saying even though it's a humble vehicle I've been saying that we are sitting on the threshold of very large growth in 3-wheelers. . And let me give you some numbers. The industry growth in 3 wheelers in quarter 4, total was 25% plus. In April, it was 25% plus again, and you are very right, a lot of this was because of the EVs, which approval. But consolidated -- this is being driven by the exploding requirements in the country, particularly in nonmetro locations in smaller towns. This is being driven by the huge spread of the road network. And this is being driven by people now wanting to travel between towns even for work. to escape the rental requirements. It is now very possible for a person to stay in his hard down and work in the neighboring town and take a 3-wheeler and a shared 3-wheeler and commute or to go to the main road in a 3-wheeler and take a bus and commute. They find it much better to do this rather than take a house on home on rental in the place of pork. The thing -- the women coming out in covering. These things are exploding the requirements of mobility. And there is simply not enough public transport systems. This is a phenomena which we have been witnessing for a few quarters now. And this is another area where we are now getting capacity limited, and we are working to expand the capacity. Particularly the larger 3 wheelers, the larger format, and if you see the way we have expanded our electric portfolio, we first started with a small 3-wheeler and some of our competitors are only in the small 3-wheeler. But quite rapidly -- we've gone to the 7 and the 9 series, which are larger 3-wheelers because all the growth is coming from not contracting market where people hire a full 3-wheeler but ticketing markets, which means people share a rewheel. So they will go from the railway station or patient to another point in a shared manner. And there, the larger format 3-wheelers work. So I think this will continue. This will continue. It's not stoppable. And this the role played by retail finance. Again, retail finance is enabling the people to acquire the asset and enhance their income.

Great. And just one follow-up on -- from in -- just a bookkeeping question. On your revenue line, the other operating income has seen a sharp jump in the last 2 quarters. Is there anything to call out there? Is it mainly related to export-related incentives or is something else going on there?

That line typically is driven by 3 pieces by the scale-up of electric and therefore, result in PLI recall had mentioned this the last quarter as a towards it, you start to move towards the higher slabs. So that's the first one. The second is obviously with scale-up of exports, there is clearly exporting sectors, which come in, which get reported on to that line. . And the third is, of course, a fairly robust growth that we are seeing on our BG or oils business and the royalty that we earn on that. These are really the 3 reasons why that line in place. there's nothing else which is of material significance that sits in those numbers.

Next question is from the line of Chandramouli Muthiah from Goldman Sachs.

Congratulations. I have 2 questions. So the first question is just a clarification on the 400 basis points potential impact as a percentage of sales that you mentioned. Is this sort of from first Jan onwards, first April onwards. Just wanted to understand what the time frame is for this observation of 400 basis points potential impact on margin growth from commodity inflation. The second question is just around the prepared remarks like Rakesh had made that you'd hope to grow faster than the 7% to 9% broader motorcycle industry growth outlook. Just related to that, you had mentioned that there is a 10% to 15% impact on ability to service demand because of the LPG factors and the manpower factors and the shipping factors. So I just want to understand, is that something that we were able to manage through and potentially grow beyond that 7% to 9% that you've guided for the broader market. I just want to understand that in better context as well.

Yes, the...

Sorry I'll give the first one quickly out of the way, [indiscernible] I think the -- when I mentioned that commodity cost impact on of about 3.5% to 4% of revenue and fundamentally talking quarter 1 over quarter 4. Yes. So effective April onwards.

Got it. And the quantum of price hike that's 40% of that 400 bps. Is that what we .

30% of that impact has been taken so far starting April.

Got it.

We are definitely looking at -- I mean, if the industry grows at 7% to 9%, which is what our current estimate is -- and this estimate is really based on the April outcome. It's not that one has anything, we tend to just take the most recent and try and extrapolate that. So it's on that basis. And like I said, within that, the segments we operate in are growing at almost 1.5x price, that's 7% to 9%. And there, we are outperforming the industry for the last months a 150 CC segment. So in that way, it's good news for us. April performance, I would say, was impaired by 10% to 15%, largely because of the availability of vehicles because the vendor system did face a lot and continues to face a lot of difficulties of manpower migration and fuel availability and stuff like that. But hopefully, the manpower migration would be to resolve itself now, and people will come back to work. Full availability the alternates like PNG, et cetera, the realignment of vendors, which is taking place. So hopefully, this will resolve itself over a period of time. So that should be out of the way. But yes, if this 10% to 15% impairment wasn't there, our performance would have been that much better because we've got a lot of spillover from unserviced demand of March and April.

Got it. That's helpful. And just a quick follow-up question on the buyback. So I just want to understand, at this stage, what are the milestones that need to be caused? And what is the time frame that you have in mind to execute the buyback?

So today is when we've announced the quantum I mentioned, the underlying it was to try and ensure that we pay out 100% of last year's profit of INR 925 million. So the buyback therefore translates to 56, 33. We get started straight away for a buyback of this order of magnitude. We need to go to seek shareholder approval because you might be aware that any buyback, which is in excess of 10% of free reserves needs to go to the shareholders. That threshold for us would have been INR 3,450 crores, INR 3,500 crores. So given that the buyback is now INR 5,600 crores. So we will get started straightaway with the process of seeking shareholder approval. And then this essentially this is a process which will run or right now starting now and likely culminate by the end of July with the semis. I would expect that looking at the fresh time lines, I would expect that payout would essentially happen sometime in the second week of July.

Makes sense. That's helpful.

Second week in July, and then, of course, dividend gets paid out after the AGM.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Anand Newar, Head Investor Relations for closing come .

Thank you, [indiscernible] and thank you, everyone, for joining the call. Good night. Thank you.

On behalf of Bajaj Auto Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.