Daily Investor Edge

Welcome to Investors’ Edge— your daily dose of business insights, trends, and updates that matter. In this space, we go beyond the headlines to explore the evolving world of companies and industries. Each day, we bring you thoughtfully curated insights, sharp observations, and key developments shaping the business landscape.

Whether it's a strategic pivot by a market leader or an under-the-radar company making waves, we break it down for you — clearly, concisely, and consistently.

Today we bring you great insights from multiple con-calls for Q4FY25 …

1. SJS
   Onboarding HERO of 2 wheeler industry:

   “So Hero has been the leader in the two-wheeler auto two-wheeler industry in India. It was on our radar for many years. Uh we were knocking patiently on their doors. Uh they had audited us in the past. They liked us but for certain reasons unknown to us. We did not supply for so many years. This time around hero came to us us uh in April uh uh last month and requested us to quickly ramp up for supplies. So we have uh been awarded businesses. We've got purchase orders and we have started supplies to hero. So this uh as you can understand opens up big doors for opportunity for us.
   
   I think uh there are virtues of being patient and uh being uh focused on what you continue to do. So we so we market our capabilities rather than worry about competition. ” -Sanjay Thapar, CEO

   SJS to get 2x the Industry Growth:
   

   “Overall, we expect the two-heer growth this year to be in high single digits and the passenger vehicle growth to be mid single digits. So that having been said, a key theme that we drive at SCS is premiumization. So what is very interesting to know is that within this mid- teen or high number, the premium products outsell the plain vanilla products. So at SGS, we target at premium products because those are beneficial for the OEM in terms of margins. They earn more margins there and at SGS also we earn our business is primarily addressed to that segment.” -Sanjay Thapar, CEO

2. AMI Organics
   US Tariffs and India opportunity:

   “For the chemical industry, a major factor will be the unfolding U.S. tariff framework. Everyone is watching which countries win preferential terms and how China, likely facing higher duties, will react. These developments will drive fluctuations in prices of both raw materials as well as finished goods” -Naresh Patel, Chairman & Managing Director
   
   “India is increasingly recognized as a viable alternative to China, strategically positioning us to leverage new opportunities. Pharmaceuticals are currently exempted from U.S. tariffs, but the U.S. has initiated investigations which may impact future tariff measures.” -Naresh Patel, Chairman & Managing Director

3. Aarti Industries
   Overcapacities in China:
   

   “I think there's a genuine demand supply imbalance issue for the agrochemical intermediates and downstream technicals. we are seeing volume recovery for sure but given the amount of over capacity that exists in China that incremental volume growth is also served by marginal pricing and that's where we are not seeing uptick on pricing/ margins at this stage. Um going forward especially with the with the US tariffs announcement And there are some movements happening in the overall agrochemical value chains. and we we expect at least from a downstream product flowing to US point of view there should be positive traction and in that context the requirement of intermediate from for for our domestic customers is expected to go up.” -Suyog Kotecha, CEO

4. Paytm
   AI is improving employee productivity
   

   “I don't have a percentage, but I do want to tell you that more and more automation is coming in. Overall at large, more productivity per employee is showing up. We are not replacing the positions that get, let's say, emptied. So we are clear about it that we will be not recruiting incrementally if somebody, let's say, goes out. So practically, it may not look like a drop, but it will continue to, as the cost of people decline, I do believe, because more and more productivity is showing up. And it is shocking to know what level of productivity can show up. I'm right now in Bangalore. We had a board meeting. I was yesterday doing my team reviews. It was shocking that level of insights, level of skill from a senior product manager that we typically expect. And here we had a global expert product manager. So it would be a dramatic improvement in the ability and capabilities of the company. So I do believe that cost will continuously reduce, but there is no sharp one-off, et cetera, kind of thing that we are expecting.” (Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder )
   
   “I just want to add that what I'm really excited about is that we have really leaned into this and we are doing a pretty good job of using AI's current capabilities. Of course, we can always do more. And obviously, the bigger trend is that AI also continues to get better. So whatever opportunities exist today to become smarter, more efficient, leaner, those opportunities will be even more six months from now, a year from now. So we just fully leaned into this, and that, I think, is what really matters.” -Madhur Deora, President and Group CFO

5. TCS
   Softness in Discretionary IT Spends:
   

   “In Q4, we continued to see softness in Manufacturing. Auto industry is facing uncertainties due to EV downturn and turbulence in the ICE market with the burgeoning inventories. Auto OEMs are experiencing pressure, and we are seeing weak demand and cuts on discretionary spending. The aerospace industry is seeing a surge in demand for new planes and engines are struggling in the near term due to supply chain disruptions. In North America, momentum is building for cost optimization initiatives as part of renewals, vendor consolidation and automation, including GenAI.” -K Krithivasan, CEO

6. Tata Consumer
   Potential softness in out of home consumptions is hitting growth in Starbucks:

“Starbucks, 6 new stores opened for the quarter. So, overall for the full year, we have opened 58 stores and now we are in 80 cities. We have tempered in line with statements we had put out in the middle of the quarter. Given the traffic movement that we were seeing, we have tempered our outlet opening a bit. But overall, we remain the largest coffee operator in the country and in the city of Mumbai, we now have 100 plus stores.”- Sunil D’Souza, CEO

7. BSE
   Strong growth was led by gain in equity derivative segment:

“As mentioned earlier, revenue growth in FY 2025 was led by strong volumes in our Sensex derivatives product as we expanded our client base and drove higher non-expiry day activities. Our equities and mutual fund business lines are on a healthy growth momentum with volumes doubling in the last 2 years. Our equities turnover showed stronger activity, especially in the first half of the financial year, resulting in average daily turnover of Rs. 7,766 crores for FY 2025 as compared to Rs. 6,622 crores in the previous year. The BSE Index Derivatives segment sustained its growth trajectory in the quarter with highest ever average daily premium turnover of Rs. 11,782 crores for the quarter. In the coming year, we will continue to move ahead with our efforts to increase market participation, product development and adoption, as well as investments in data center and enhanced connectivity options. At the same time, we will work closely with expert working groups set up by SEBI to recommend measures to strengthen equity derivatives market development. We continued our efforts to bring liquidity to single stock derivatives segment with 215 members having participated in single stock futures and 257 in single stock options. The total turnover since relaunch is Rs. 830 crores in single stock futures and Rs. 2,773 crores in single stock options.” -Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO

8. Bajaj Housing
   Impact on Loan Pricing and Yield Compression:
   

   “If we maintain as it is book mix, yes, you can see NIM compression of a 10 to 15 bps during the year because if we are saying 34-35 bps is what we expect, the differential in the cost going down and I said 45-50 bps on the yield impact which can be there if we take a 75 bps kind of a rate cut scenario. However, as you have only called out, there is a target type mix which is a play around for us available whether a developer finance book going up from 12.5% to 15% what we had called out in last year also which results in to compensating the increase of our non-top six markets which we have invested deep or increase of contribution from the SBU in terms of a near prime and there. We will target to cover a reasonable portion of that hit what we expect from the NIM. Of course, the pool cannot be covered because there is a larger book sitting there, but to the extent our intent would be to compensate or mitigate a larger part of the hit what is going to be there from the yield or a NIM compression in terms of a declining rate scenario.” -Atul Jain, Managing Director

9. Indian Hotels
   Strong Industry Fundamentals:

   1. “Driven by strong domestic demand, limited supply addition and favorable demographics, the hospitality sector continues to be in an up cycle. In FY '24-'25, demand represented by room nights sold grew 6% as against supply of room nights available, growing only under 3% versus last year for industry.

   2. Strong domestic business travel demand, coupled with mega events like Mahakumbh, International music concerts like Coldplay, and a strong wedding season were the key demand drivers this year. This trend, ladies and gentlemen, is expected to sustain in the mid- to long term, with India's continuing to be the fastest-growing large economy and the rise in disposable incomes, with the addition of new tourist destinations and evolving traveler behaviors.” -Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO
      

10. Titan
    Consumer Reaction to Rising Gold Prices :
    

    “As gold prices have kind of clipped up so sharply, we are seeing in the sub ₹50,000 price band, very specifically, more in gold and little bit in studded also, there is an impact on the consumer sentiment there. Now some of it is us vacating price points because simply gold price goes up, the same product goes into a certain higher price band. That is one part of the story. But there is continued, let's say customer sentiment in that lower price band where we are seeing some buyer being a little reticent. Second piece is yes, customers are more open to 18 carat gold, though we don't really have the full information as yet. We have just launched some collections in 18 carat gold in certain parts of the country for traditional customers as well and we hope that we will see good response. And I know that in CaratLane, we have launched something in 9 carats as well. So there is early traction and I think more and more customers are going to be open to lower caratage simply because the price point has become quite a bit. On the higher price bands, while there is buyer growth, we are seeing some of the customers actually scaling down the complexity of product they are willing to buy. So it means that if earlier they were open to buying a higher making charge product, they are sliding down a bit, but they are still buying a certain quantum of gold and a certain value. So there is some indications there. And if I were to answer your question on what are customers telling us in terms of our conversation, they certainly are feeling the pinch and therefore they are looking for solutions both on terms of lightweight jewellery, lower caratage jewellery as well as probably lower making charge jewellery. So, you know, they still want gold but they're looking at how they can manage it within their budgets.” -Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division at Titan Company Ltd

11. M&M
    Impact of Cannibalization between EV and ICE:
    

    “We were actually expecting more cannibalization than what we are seeing at the moment. It's much lesser than what we would have expected. So, it's a very low level of cannibalization at this point of time. We have, at least in the first way, many customers were buying the electric were non-Mahindra owners, and I'm sure you will pick that up anecdotally. I mean it's a very different target group that's coming in and they were not people who are buying Mahindra or even ever considering a Mahindra if I may you know, stretch the argument to say that. The reason we are optimistic on growth is for the full year is 2 things. Thar Roxx was not there for six months of last year. We will have a 12-month volume this year. So, we have to keep that at the back of our mind.” -Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director & CEO

12. CCL Products
    Coffee Market Dynamics in Developed vs. Developing Economies:
    

    “ The second question is about the profit penetration that you are asking about. You see, if you see the world into and if you were to divide the world into 2 parts, the more developed economies like the European economies and the American economies, we don't see much of category penetration being driven here because these economies are mature economies and coffee is very well penetrated here. Every single individual drinks coffee. But yes, in developing economies like India, China, Middle East, and these economies have been largely, you know, non-coffee drinking economies. Here we see that the category will be getting penetrated over a period of time, and these are the economies we foresee that will be driving coffee consumption in the coming decades.” -Praveen Jaipuriar, CEO

13. Asian Paints
    On Competitive Environment and Sustainability:
    

    "It’s not about one competition, it is about everyone really fighting for the same pie... When you look at fighting the competition on a certain pricing level, you would be very clear that you would go to a certain level which is sustainable, and you will not go to a level which is unsustainable. I don't think it is a year's game. It is a game of looking properly at the next three years as well... I think sustainability is more important." -Amit Syngle, MD & CEO