LG Electronics India Limited ($LGEINDIA)

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the LG Electronics India Limited Q4 and Full Year FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [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, Mr. Joshi.

Yes. Thank you, Michelle. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we would like to welcome you all to Q4 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of LG Electronics India Limited. I would like to inform you that this call is being recorded, and the audio call and transcript will be available on the company website. First of all, I would like to thank LG Electronics management for giving us the opportunity to host the conference call. And now I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Aditya Bhasin, Head of Investor Relations of LG Electronics India. Thanks, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Anirrudh. A very good evening to everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Q4 and Full Year FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of LG Electronics India Limited. Hope you have gone through our earnings presentation uploaded on our website and stock exchange. I also want to remind you of the safe harbor. We may be making some forward-looking statements that have to be understood in conjugation with the uncertainties and the risks that company faces. We have our senior management here today being represented by our respected Mr. Dong-Myung Seo, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Sanjay Chitkara, Co-CSMO; Mr. Atul Khanna, Chief Accounting Officer; Mr. Gaganjeet Singh, Chief Manufacturing Officer; Mr. Gurpinderjeet Singh, Head Financial Planning; and Mr. Soonjoo Seo, Investor Relations Officer. Without further delay, I would like to invite our IRO, Mr. Soonjoo Seo, to share his opening remarks and take us through LG Electronics India's performance and strategic highlights for the quarter and the full year. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for FY '26 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Despite the challenging external environment, LG Electronics India has continued to deliver steady performance. In FY '26, we achieved meaningful growth together with our customers in India, driven by our strong market leadership in domestic market. Let me first walk you through the FY '26 fourth quarter. During the quarter, we faced temporary headwinds, including a delayed summer season, the U.S.-Iran conflict, continued depreciation of the Indian rupee and rising raw material costs. Despite these challenges, our business fundamentals remained strong. We are also firmly advancing our previously mentioned future growth strategic direction: Make-in-India, Make-for-India and Make-India-Global. In the fourth quarter of FY '26, we have achieved record-high quarterly sales, which is a significant achievement for LG Electronics India and a clear reflection of the strength of our business model. In particular, our export expansion direction aligned with the Indian government's export policy is gradually showing positive results. At the same time, our localized products such as the new Essential Series have been successfully established in the market, and we are seeing growth across all product categories. This reflects both the depth of our product portfolio and the broad reach of our brand. In addition, our non-hardware business, especially AMC business, continues to grow. It is becoming an important recurring revenue stream and is contributing positively to overall profitability for LG across multiple areas for LG Electronics India. Looking ahead to FY '27, we have established a clear road map for our future growth strategy. We call this strategy: XCEL. This stands for, X, export expansion; C, capability of new factory production; E, expansion of market leadership, brand and new business; and L, localization. Each of these pillars is already underway, and we will now walk you through the progress and future plans in more detail. First, let me begin with the most important pillar, export. As mentioned in our previous earnings call, we have already started the export of large capacity [indiscernible] aggregators for advanced markets in the first quarter of FY '27. At the same time, we have also begun exporting our [ SSC ] to neighboring countries. Going forward, we aim to expand our export destinations and distributors, diversify our export product portfolio, and strengthen our dedicated export organizations and infrastructure. These efforts represent an important step in our journey to transform LG Electronics India into a true global export hub. In addition, export groups provide natural hedging against Indian rupee depreciation and is expected to significantly contribute to improving our profitability by enhancing cost competitiveness. Secondly, the expansion of production capability at our third factory, third plant in Sri City is progressing smoothly and in line with our internal goals. Production of compressors in FY ' 25 third quarter and room air-conditions is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of FY '27, covering the January to March period. It's a total planned investment of INR 50 billion. Sri City will be established as a key manufacturing and export hub for the future. Third, our product strategy is based on a 2-track approach covering both the premium segment and Essential Series, which represents the mass premium segment. We are proud to maintain market leadership across all major product categories in India. Looking ahead, we will further strengthen our market leadership while continuing to launching differentiated products and expand investment in new business areas. Fourth, regarding localization, we continue to advance our localization strategy. This year, our localization rate has reached 55.2%, an improvement of about 1.4 percentage points year-on-year. We are targeting an annual increase of more than 1 to 2 percentage points going forward. We expect this to contribute to stronger cost competitiveness and more stable management of foreign exchange volatility. Looking at the first quarter of FY '27, sales performance in April and May has already been encouraging. For FY '27, we are targeting mid-teen-digit revenue growth and only double-digit EBITDA margins. Given the relatively low penetration rate in the Indian market and the strong demand for home appliance, we believe there is a significant structural growth opportunity ahead. We will capture these opportunities by listening closely to the voice of market and responding quickly and precisely, further strengthen our market position. Our goal is not simply to grow the business. We aim to deliver the best technology to homes in India, build world-class manufacturing capabilities in India and establish a platform that delivers the best products in India to global market through export, Make in India, Make for India and Make India Global. Now I would like to invite our CAO, Mr. Atul Khanna, to walk you through our financial performance.

Thank you, Mr. Soonjoo Seo, and good evening, everyone. It is my pleasure to take you through our financial performance for the fourth quarter and the full year of fiscal year '26. The fourth quarter, as guided, proved to be our strongest of the year, delivering the highest-ever quarterly revenue from operations. Revenue stood at INR 80.54 billion, reflecting year-on-year growth of 8.1% compared to INR 74.48 billion in quarter 4 of FY '25. Growth was broad-based, led by Home Appliances and Air Solution segment, supported by a strong summer season and a successful BEE transition. We continue to maintain market leadership across key categories driven by our 2-track strategy, that balances growth across premium and mass premium segments. Large panel TVs, French-door refrigerators and LG Essential appliances all contributed meaningfully to this performance, reinforcing both our brand strength and consumer trust. EBITDA for the quarter came in at INR 9.45 billion, with a margin of 11.7%. Net profit stood at INR 6.93 billion, translating to a PAT margin of 8.5%. Importantly, EBITDA margin improved by 7% sequentially, though year-on-year margins were impacted by rupee depreciation and elevated commodity prices. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to improve margins further, with a sharp focus on managing inflationary pressures and input costs. Now I'm coming to the full year performance. For the full year, LG India reported revenue from operations of INR 246.05 billion, reflecting 1.0% growth year-on-year. While the first half was impacted by GST transition timing, a cool summer than expected summer and geopolitical headwinds, our second half recovery demonstrated the underlying strength of our business model. Full year EBITDA stood at INR 24.08 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 9.8%. Full year net profit stood at INR 16.85 billion, with a PAT margin of 6.8%. Our B2B business has emerged as a growing contributor to our revenue mix in FY '26. We saw strong order inflows from government infrastructure projects, recovery in corporate and hospitality sector orders, and continued traction in our commercial air-conditioning business driven by IT parks, commercial real estate and institutional buyers. Our annual maintenance contract business is building into a high-margin recurring revenue stream that deepens our relationship with both B2B and B2C customers beyond the point of sale. Together, these streams are gradually shifting our revenue mix towards higher quality, more predictable income. As of 31 March 2026, our working capital stood at INR 22.73 billion. Inventory levels have normalized following the BEE transition, with channel inventory now healthy heading into financial year '27. Our cash and bank balance remains robust at INR 44.76 billion, providing us the financial flexibility to fund our Sri City manufacturing facility investment entirely through our internal accruals. Free cash flow for FY '26 was strong, further reinforcing our ability to support growth initiatives while maintaining balance sheet strength. Capital expenditure for FY '26 across our existing facilities amounted to approximately INR 5.51 billion, consistent with our usual annual investment range of 2% to 2.5% of total revenue. For the new plant at Sri City, we have committed a total investment of INR 50 billion over the coming years. By FY '26, around INR 6.57 billion has already been deployed under capital work in progress and capital advances for construction and machinery. Looking ahead, we have substantial CapEx plans for the Sri City plant over the next 2 years, which we will be fully funded through our internal accruals. Return on equity and return on capital employed for FY '26 have moderated compared to financial year '25. This reflects 2 factors. Our cash balance has remained deliberately high as we build reserves to fund our Sri City plant through internal accruals and first half profitability was impacted by the external headwinds, as discussed earlier. This moderation is transitory in nature. As Sri City capital gets deployed and starts generating returns and as profitability normalize in FY '27, we expect our return ratios to improve meaningfully. Our business fundamentals remain strong, our balance sheet is healthy, and our long-term strategy is firmly on track. With that, I would like to hand over to Mr. Aditya Bhasin, Head, Investor Relations, who will walk you through our segmental performance and outlook for FY '27. Over to you, Mr. Bhasin.

Thank you, Atul-ji. Good evening once again. Let me now take you through our segmental business performance for Q4 and full year FY 2026. To start with Home Appliance and Air Solution, the H&A segment growth was driven by broad-based demand recovery and premium-led momentum following the BEE rating transition. Premium categories performed particularly well. Fully automatic washing machines, French-door refrigerators and 5-star rated room air-conditioners all delivered higher average selling prices, which contributed to a richer product mix. Our dishwashers business also emerged as an important growth driver this quarter, gaining meaningful traction as urban consumers increasingly embrace the convenience it offers. Segment revenue for Q4 FY '26 stood at INR 65.16 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 5.7%, with a sequential growth of 133.7% over Q3, reflecting the strong seasonal demand uplift. For the full year, segment revenue stood at INR 181.60 billion. EBIT margin for the segment was 11.9% for the quarter. Margins were impacted by rising commodity costs, rupee depreciation and strategic channel investments made for new product introductions. These channel investments are being made deliberately to build long-term distribution depth. Moving on to Home Entertainment segment. It delivered a strong Q4 with the revenue growing 19.6% year-on-year and 15.9% sequentially. Growth was driven by surging demand for large screen televisions supported by the Cricket World Cup, which provided a meaningful near-term tailwind. Our information display business recorded strong growth with healthy order inflows across commercial TV and signage from the government, corporate and institutional buyers. In the premium television segment, LG maintained absolute leadership with an OLED market share of 60.0% as of YTD March 2026. Segment revenue for Q4 FY '26 stood at INR 15.37 billion. For the full year, segment revenue stood at INR 64.44 billion. EBIT margin for the segment was 30.4% for the quarter, impacted by rupee depreciation and increased marketing investments to capitalize on Cricket World Cup demand, a deliberate and time-bound spend, partially offset by strong cost discipline and healthy contribution from our B2B business. Coming on to the market shares. Across all major product categories, washing machines, refrigerators, air-conditioners and television, LG India has continued and strengthened its market leadership. Our premium segment registered higher growth, reflecting the continued success of our premiumization strategy across categories. We are proud of the consistent trust that Indian consumers and trade partners place in our brand, and we remain firmly committed to protect and grow this leadership in every category we operate in. Talking about the Q1 FY '27 outlook by segment, starting with the Home Appliance and Air Solutions. We are now witnessing strong demand momentum in room air-conditioners and washing machines, supported by premium refrigerators, including side-by-side and French-door models. The Essential Series is well positioned to capture the summer surge with early sell-through data already encouraging and channel inventory remaining lean. Exports of the Essential Series and premium products to key global markets are expected to add an incremental growth lever. In system air-conditioner category, we are launching a new 5-star model, a critical enabler for government project bidding and institutional business growth. In Home Entertainment segment, new product introductions in larger screen sizes and premium offerings will sustain our market leadership. Our B2B business is supported by a healthy order pipeline. Under our Make in India initiative in the information display category, upcoming launches, including the electronic blackboard and the second-generation micro-LED magnet with meaningful cost reductions are expected to drive the margin recovery. Overall we enter FY '27 with a strong momentum, encouraging early sell-through data, with lean channel inventory heading into the summer season. And we are targeting mid-teens revenue growth in FY '27. On the margin side in FY '27, we are targeting improved early-teen EBITDA margins better than last year. Key levers for margin improvement includes continued localization improvement, operating leverage from higher revenue volumes, a richer product and segment mix and scaling up high-margin AMC and B2B revenues. Industry-wide price increases already underway will also support gradual margin normalization across the sector. Having said that, we remain watchful of cost pressures from currency depreciation and geopolitical risks. LG will constantly work on cost optimization, localization and better operational efficiency to navigate these headwinds. The market is recovering strongly with heat wave conditions driving compressor-based product uptake and GST cut continuing to promote premiumization and large screen adoption in televisions. Well, to summarize, in FY 2026, we faced external challenges with discipline and resilience. We delivered our highest-ever quarterly revenue in Q4, crossed the historic milestone of 1 million plus room air-conditioner sales, strengthened our market leadership across every major category, and laid a strong foundation across manufacturing, exports and new categories for FY '27. The fundamentals of our business are strong, our strategy is clear, and our organization is energized for what lies ahead. We are deeply grateful for the continued trust and support of our shareholders, our trade partners and, most importantly, the Indian consumers. With that, we conclude our prepared remarks and request the operator to operate the lines for the Q&A session. We look forward to your questions. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Siddharth Bera from Nomura.

Sir, my first question is, while we have seen revenues growing at 8% Y-o-Y in the quarter, we have not seen any operating leverage play out, which has led to decline in EBITDA margins on a Y-o-Y basis. Can you please explain what is the reason for this? And how should we think about the coming year?

Thank you, Siddharth, for the question. This question will be addressed by our Chief Accounting Officer, Mr. Atul Khanna, after the Korean translation. Please hold on.

Thank you for this question, and this is a very valid observation. Despite of challenging global environment, our sales grown by 8.1% in quarter 4 '26, which provided some operating leverage benefit. However, the margin decline of approximately 250 bps, which was driven by a combination of a few factors. To start with, the raw material costs remained broadly at similar levels, but impacted marginally due to the pressure of commodity prices. However, the rupee depreciated almost by 5.6% year-on-year in this quarter, creating a meaningful headwind on our import cost. The single largest contributor was our channel promotion investments, which impacted margins by approximately 1.1%. These were temporary strategic investments made to separate our channel partners, drive sell-out, and strengthen our market position during this quarter and build confidence side-by-side among our channel partners. Currency depreciation was other significant factor impacting the margins again by approximately 1%. Electronic waste cost, which is a compliance cost, added a further impact of approximately 0.2% as our recycling targets were increased from 60% to 70% as per the government regulations. Looking ahead with the price hikes now in place across categories, promotional intensity rationalizing, hot summer going on, we are confident of recovering our margins for FY '27 and to deliver our early double-digit EBITDA margin for FY '27 full year. Thank you.

Sir, second question is on the outlook side, if you can clarify what is LG doing differently compared to peers which will help it grow ahead of the industry? And [indiscernible] to improve from the current levels as conditions normalize going ahead?

So this question will be addressed by our respected CFO, Mr. Dong-Myung Seo, after the Korean translation.

[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. As mentioned earlier, our confidence in outperforming industry growth does not rely on a single factor. It comes from our clear differentiation and multiple growth drivers. On the revenue side, exports are scaling up meaningfully. We are entering neighboring countries and key global markets through our Essential Series and premium product lines achieving steady growth beyond the domestic B2C business. The B2B segment is recovering strongly with [ ID ] recently achieving its highest ever quarterly sales. Meanwhile, the non-hardware AMC business, which generates high-margin recurring revenue, is expected to grow further in FY 2026 and serve as a stable growth engine. New product categories are delivering strong contribution to our revenue. Under our 2-track strategy, premium French-door refrigerators are gaining solid traction, while dishwashers have already doubled revenue this year. At the same time, we have launched new Essential Series products, allowing us to reach new consumer segments and attack geographies. Looking ahead, our entry into the segment of chest freezers will serve as an additional growth driver, further expanding LG's portfolio and strengthening revenue streams. From a margin improvement perspective, we see 3 clear opportunities. First, we have positioned exports as our core growth engine. This provides the most opportunity to improve profitability and enhance overall margin performance. Second, localization, which currently stands at 55.2% and continues to grow, is central to our Make in India strategy. By deepening local manufacturing, we're reducing import dependency, lowering currency exposure and strengthening our cost structure. Third, higher-margin businesses such as AMC and B2B are expected to account for a larger share of our revenue compared to our core B2C business. If the geopolitical situation in the Middle East stabilizes, lower oil prices and improved raw material costs are expected to follow. This, in turn, could drive capital inflows into India and support a recovery in consumer demand. In the consumer demand sector, we anticipate both revenue growth driven by stronger demand and significant margin improvement supported by cost optimization. To capture these opportunities, we will pursue a premium and mass premium portfolio strategy to enhance both growth and profitability.

The next question is from the line of Sonali from Jefferies.

I must say it's good to see a double-digit EBITDA margin, especially in the current uncertain macros and the cost headwinds. So congratulations to the team for that. I have 3 questions. The first, on the current industry scenario. You did mention that the demand is very strong. So can you please help us understand the channel inventory right now versus, say, a comparison at the start of the year? My second question is regarding the price hikes across all product segments. So we know broadly air-con is 12% to 13%, but across rest, washers and TVs as well. And do you think they are enough to sustain the margins or improve them going forward? Or should we take further hikes? And the third is regarding CapEx, the CapEx outlook for F '27 and also the update on the time lines of the new plant commissioning?

Thank you, Sonali, for the question. The first part of the question is related to the inventory, which will be handed over to Mr. Gurpinder Singh. He will give you the answer for that. For the second question, is about the price hike, which will be taken care by Mr. Sanjay Chitkara, who's our co-CSMO. And third one is the CapEx, which Mr. Atul Khanna, our Chief Accounting Officer, will do after the current translation. Please hold on.

Thank you for this question. This is regarding the channel inventory of AC. So basically, I would like to share that Q4 is a big period for AC business for us. 55% of annual business comes from Q4. And during this period, as per our strategy, we fill the channel with inventory of AC to make sure sufficient stock availability during summer season. Also, I would like to share with you that we have sold more than 1 million AC in Q4 financial year '26. Regarding channel inventory, if I talk about, AC industry entered Q1 financial year '27 with same inventory level as last year, and there was little stress due to spread of low temperature during March, which temporarily showed the normal sellout cycle. As a result, dealers were approaching the season with caution given the elevated inventory and slower start to sales. In LG case, on the contrary, our inventory levels are aligned with our planning and remain manageable, though we are closely monitoring the pace of sellout. Dealer sentiments have been steady, but like the rest of the industry, partners were watchful of how quickly demand picks up with the weather. Importantly, current sellout trend is very strong, supported by high temperature across all regions, helping us to drive demand and ease channel pressure. We have also supported our partner with timely product availability, including the launch of new BEE-rated compliant models, which has kept their engagement active.

Yes. So now, I'm Sanjay Chitkara, I'm Co-Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for LG. I will answer about the price increase. So we always approach our pricing increase very thoughtfully with our balanced decision, which are always guided by 3 key factors. First is our brand position. Second is our market competitiveness. And third and foremost is our profitability. So we do not take any pricing action in isolation and we take a very balanced approach for our consumer trade partners and our business. So for AC, we took a price -- calibrated price adjustment, we took in 2 phases. In first phase, it was clearly driven by a structural change of new star rating announcement. And that was required to make a meaningful upgrade for the product specification and delivering more energy-efficient standards to our consumers. The second adjustment was taken to protect our margin due to increased input cost and exchange rate movements. And once we took this decision, we were the first one to take this decision, this bold decision, and others also followed us. And that is why our competitive price positioning has not changed in the market. So we are also simultaneously working on multiple internal levers depending upon deepening our component localization, trying to reduce our dependency on currency fluctuation, and continuous cost optimization in our operations and actively improving our model mix also so that our premium market share go up and higher sales -- star rating products, we sell more and the profitability can be improved. Together these levers are giving us a sustainable and balanced path to product and improving our profitability and dependent upon the price adjustment. Furthermore, we should not forget that GST cut on [ RAC ] has been significantly benefit for the consumers, largely which is offsetting the impact of the price adjustment, and keeping our products accessible and more affordable. For the refrigerator and washing machine, we have also taken the similar price adjustments. Consumer and channel response have been encouraging, and there is no impact on our sale and targeted sale growth. As far as further price increase actions are concerned, we do not have any immediate plan at this stage, but we are very cautious and monitoring the situation. However, we'll continue to closely monitor the raw material prices, currency movement and market condition, and take a calibrated decisions as and when required.

So this is Atul Khanna, and I will answer your third question on Sri City plant time line as well as the investment plan. So I'm pleased to confirm that our Sri City plant construction is fully on track as per our plan, and we remain committed to our INR 5,000 crores of investment road map deployed in a phased manner over the next few years, funded entirely from our internal accruals. Coming to the specific time lines, our air-con compressor production line is scheduled to commence operations in the last quarter of calendar year 2026, which is third quarter of FY '27, as communicated earlier, followed by air-con production line operational in first quarter of 2027, which would be quarter 4 of FY '27. Washing machine and refrigerator line will be added thereafter in a phased manner. Our next 2 years investment is majorly planned to cover our total INR 5,000 crores of investment. And currently till March 2026, we have done a INR 657 crores of investment already. From a people perspective, we have already initiated hiring for our key staff and other critical functions. This reflects our confidence in the construction time lines and underscore our commitment to ensuring full operational readiness when the plant goes live. By building capabilities ahead of schedule, we are derisking execution and strengthening our talent pipeline, a proactive step that supports seamless ramp-up once operation commence. This facility represents a strategic asset for both our domestic operations and expanding export ambitions. It will expand production capacity, enhance logistics efficiency, particularly in South India business, which contributes 38% to 40% of our total business and reinforce our localization road map. We see this as a key driver of sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value creation. Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Vishal Goel from HSBC Securities and Capital Markets.

I have 2 questions. First one is on exports. So your initial comments were very encouraging. But given the current global environment, do you still maintain your earlier export guidance of doubling the exports compared to last year? And my second question is on Essential Series. So I just want to check what is the response you are getting on the Essential Series so far from the market? And what are the products in this entry-level line you are -- which is scheduled for launch. So these are my 2 questions.

The first part of the question will be addressed by Mr. Atul Khanna, who's our Chief Accounting Officer. And the second part is about the Essential Series progress, will be addressed by Mr. Sanjay Chitkara, who is our co-CSMO, after the Korean translation.

So thank you for your first question. Let me address that about exports. Our export business is consistently delivering better margins, and we are expanding our exports going forward for FY '27, as you rightly mentioned. Under our Global South strategy, we are expanding our export base with a greater share of premium products. And as a part of this plan, we will be exporting high-value offerings such as side-by-side refrigerator and top freezers of 790-liter plus and front-load washing machines, which are duly manufactured in India to the developed markets, while also supplying LG Essential Series to other developing regions. This approach ensures a well-diversified export portfolio across geographies and price points, strengthening both growth and margins. So our clear guidance is to expand our exports very significantly considering our -- considering the situation of Middle East so far. As a part of LG Global Group, we benefit from our order executions from headquarters, giving us a clear demand visibility, a key advantage over peers. In terms of currency fluctuations, our export receivables naturally hedge import payables, creating a built-in currency buffer. As export scales further, this natural hedge will continue to strengthen our profitability, with our diversified portfolio across developed and emerging markets, reduces geographical risk. Through our Pune plant, we have already built on our premium product capacity, which will support our exports of premium side-by-side refrigerator, top freezer and front-load barging machine. And we are building our capability and capacity through our Sri City plant in FY '27, which boosts the capacity to double, will support our future export plans and increase our asset turn and margins for FY '27 onwards.

So I will answer about Essential Series response. The Essential series was a product lineup which we introduced on 14th of October of last year -- last calendar year. To launch this range, we actually visited 1,200 Indian households across Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns in India. So this series was designed to meet everyday needs with a strong emphasis on durability, functionality and same LG aesthetic appeal. it reflects LG's commitment to delivering the affordable premium offerings across both home appliances and electronics. Regarding the response of this product, since this range we're offering only limited SKUs on initial phase, but still the response is very encouraging. For the washing machine, we sold 1 lakh units in quarter 4 of financial year 2026. And the similar period, we sold roughly 80,000 of refrigerator of Essential Series. In the [ RAC ] front, we introduced less than 1 tonne capacity, which was 0.8 tonnes, and the sale was roughly touching to the 20,000 units. In near future, we will further expand this series in various capacities, various variants and color and design. We will also expand this Essential Series in televisions also. Currently, we are starting the export, as my colleague, Mr. Atul Khanna, also explained this. We are expanding the export of Essential Series to 22 countries.

The next question is from the line of Sanjeev Kumar Singh from Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

First question is in terms of demand. So you mentioned in your opening remarks that there has been a significant improvement in demand in April and May '26. So can you throw some light on how has been the industry growth rate as well as our growth rate in these 2 months? And also, you discussed about the price hikes in different categories. Are these hikes sufficient to offset cost increases which have been seen until now, or you need to take some more price hikes?

So both of these questions will be addressed by co-CSMO, Mr. Sanjay Chitkara, after the Korean translation.

Let me address this question category-wise specifically. So first, let me talk about the air-conditioners. And we had a very strong last quarter and demand picked very well for air-conditioners. So India is a very diverse tropical weather country and where we have high ambient temperature long summer seasons. And AC has become a necessity now. Notably, the penetration of AC is very less. Currently, it is touching only 13%. So good demand is assured for mid and long term. This year, we prepared well for our AC products, and we launched early new star-rated air conditioners in the market. And we hit 1 million unit marks for air-conditioners in quarter 4, which is historically highest AC sale for LG Electronics, which is a proud moment for all of us. With the current summer trends and GST cuts, ACs are very well supported by the summer demand, and we will surely deliver a good growth over last year. For refrigerator, demand is steady and it is going as per expectation. Customers are choosing larger and energy-efficient model, which is a very positive signal for us because we -- it is healthy strong portfolio. Our French-door refrigerators, which are doing extremely well, we launched these products in the month of November and our market share jumped from 5% to 14% by March 2026, and we very soon will become #1 player for French-door refrigerator. Regarding washing machine category, it is also on track. Essential range is doing very well for first-time buyers. And it has been received -- very well received in the market. We sold -- as I mentioned earlier also, we sold nearly 1 lakh units in quarter 4 alone, especially in the smaller towns and cities. Regarding television, the demand is steady and customers are clearly moving towards the bigger screens, that is 55-inch and above. And we grew 47% in 55-inch segment. And now this portion has become 49% of our business. We achieved 20% plus growth in televisions in quarter 4, which is very encouraging. What gives us further confidence that India is still a very low penetrated country for home appliances as compared to other developed nations. So the long-term growth opportunity is very large. The recent GST reduction has also made our products more affordable for the customers. Putting it all together, we are very confident of delivering a strong double-digit, mid-teen-digit growth across all 4 categories for financial year '27. Regarding price increase, I have just answered the price increase question. And we are clearly vigilant and observing the currency movement. As of now, it is too early and too premature to announce the future price increase. Currently, we are focusing on cost optimization, operational efficiency and our localization rate to mitigate the currency fluctuations impact.

Sir, my second question is in terms of new product categories. So you have given a press release in the first week of May mentioning new product categories like chest freezers, fixed-speed room AC and large-size refrigerators. So can you throw some more insight on this, whether these are made for domestic market, exports, and what are the market opportunities?

So this question will also be addressed by our co-CSMO, Mr. Sanjay Chitkara, after the Korean translation.

So we are very excited about our new categories. which we are recently introduced or planning to introduce. First, I would like to talk about our French-door refrigerators. So we entered this category in the month of December 2025, and we have moved very quickly to capture this opportunity. As I mentioned just now that our market share is growing very significantly like our other segments. And we aim to become the #1 player in this category. These refrigerators are becoming very popular in India because it is designed for Indian kitchen needs. The layouts are very much suitable for Indian consumers. On chest freezer, this is entirely a new category for LG India, and we are launching a strong range for 5 models in upcoming quarter at a very competitive price. Currently, chest freezer market size is roughly INR 3,000 crores and it will create a new business revenue for us in near-term future. We are not present -- we were not present in the fixed ACs earlier. And this year, we introduced this missing segment in our portfolio, and we have now addressed it with more energy-efficient models, reinforcing our technology leadership even in the value segment. We have also introduced this year our Essential Series in air-conditioner, which is [indiscernible] capacity. Regarding the last and my favorite category, which is dishwasher, this has been a very strong success story for us. Sales have been growing significantly year in and year after out, and we have moved up to become -- and we have become now the #2 player in this category. And our ambition is very clear, we want to become the #1 player. Our new higher capacities and 2-stream wash models are the key driver for this moment -- to create this momentum. Recently, we have also started production of our double-door refrigerator of 674-liter and 790-liter of side-by-side refrigerator in our Pune plant, which is no one producing currently in India this size. It strengthens our commitment for making India [indiscernible]. We are also expecting the LG Essential Series with multiple new SKUs lineup across all categories. And we are confident with the help of all new segments, we will register a mid-teen growth over last year for sure.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aditya Bhasin for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you all of you for attending our LG Q4 FY '26 and Full Year '26 Earnings Call. With this, we conclude today's discussion. Should you have any pending questions or require further clarification, please don't hesitate to call me directly. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of LG Electronics India Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.