Ashok Leyland Limited — Q2 FY26
Ashok Leyland reported a strong Q2 FY26 with revenue of INR 9,588 crore (+9.3% YoY) and record EBITDA of INR 1,162 crore (+14.2% YoY), with EBITDA margin expanding 50bps to 12.1%.
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
67%Questions answered2Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Full-year outlook for MHCV and LCV growth, and demand pattern post-GST cut.
Asked by Kapil Singh, Nomura
Management gave qualitative optimism but no specific growth range for full year.
no specific range givendeferred to wait another month
Read the exchange
Question
My first question is just on your full-year outlook for MHCVs and LCVs. What kind of growth are you expecting for the full year or second half? If you can give a range, that would be helpful.
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
The MHCV industry grew by about 7% in October, and LCV was 15%. We remain optimistic about H2. We will say H2 will be much better than H1 in terms of absolute industry volume and also in terms of the growth rates that we have seen.
Partial answer
High priority
Drivers for margin expansion and discounting trends.
Asked by Kapil Singh, Nomura
Management listed initiatives but did not quantify contribution or discounting outlook.
no quantification of margin driversvague on discounting
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Question
The second question was on the drivers for margin expansion from here on. If you could just talk about whether we should expect, will it be more gross margin-led or operating leverage-led? How to think about discounting?
K M Balaji, President and CFO
On the margin side, I would say that, I mean, we continue, Kapil, with all the initiatives which we have been doing earlier on the price recovery side as well as on the material cost... You can expect the same kind of savings to come in.
Answered
High priority
Revenue mix breakdown of non-truck businesses and margin accretion.
Asked by Gunjan Prithyani, Bank of America
Management provided specific percentage breakdown of revenue mix.
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Question
Can you just give us a little bit of sense on how big they are as a percentage of revenues now, particularly looking at spares, defense, engine, exports, and separately LCV as well?
K M Balaji, President and CFO
Now roughly 50% of the revenue comes from the non-truck businesses, with buses about 13%, light commercial vehicles about 12%, spares about 10%, and exports about 7%-8%.
Answered
High priority
LCV growth outlook, product launches, and capacity.
Asked by Gunjan Prithyani, Bank of America
Management gave specific capacity numbers and expansion plan.
Read the exchange
Question
My second question is on the LCV business. You did speak about a pretty significant change post-GST there. Can you give us some color on what sort of growth are we looking at? There were a couple of product launches that we have been talking about. Also, can you cover a bit around the capacity?
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
Our current capacity is close to 80,000 units on the light commercial vehicles. We have already laid out a plan to increase this capacity to 110,000-120,000 units without much of an investment.
Answered
Medium priority
Saathi product sales percentage and sub-2-ton LCV launch timing.
Asked by Chandra Mouli, Goldman Sachs
Management provided specific percentage for Saathi sales and discussed sub-2-ton strategy.
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Question
Just want to understand what % of your LCV sales now is coming from the recently launched Saathi product. Also, in terms of pipeline, I think we have been working towards launching a sub-2-ton LCV. I just want to understand if you are able to share any color around potential timing of that launch.
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
Our average LCV sales is roughly in the 2 to 4-ton categories, roughly 6,000 units. Already about 22%-25% sales is Saathi now.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Other expenses control and other income sustainability.
Asked by Chandra Mouli, Goldman Sachs
Management gave qualitative explanation but no quantification of expense drivers.
no specific cost reduction drivers quantified
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Question
It looks like other expenses control has been pretty strong. We've had pretty good QOQ revenue growth, but other expenses have actually come down. I just want to understand what the drivers were there. Also, on the other income, looks like there's a pickup in other income this quarter.
K M Balaji, President and CFO
We have exercised control on all areas of expenses. All the expenses, I would say that be it the production, sales, and administration overheads, we have been having a tighter control on that, which is visible now.
Evasive
High priority
Discounting trends post-GST cut.
Asked by Pramod Kumar, UBS Securities
Management declined to give any indication on discounting changes.
deferred to futureno commitment on discounting trend
Read the exchange
Question
I wanted some clarification on Chandru's question on discounting post-GST. Was the response that we are using, discounting trends getting better post the GST cut, or the status quo remains on discounting?
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
It is too early to say. I mean, most of the orders that we had been fulfilling in October were actually frozen or dealt with prior to the GST effect.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Return ratios and cash levels.
Asked by Pramod Kumar, UBS Securities
Management gave last year's numbers but not current H1 figures.
no H1 ROC/ROE numbers given
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Question
If you can just talk about how are the financial metrics looking with the first half of this year in terms of ROC and ROE numbers, and where are we on the cash levels?
K M Balaji, President and CFO
ROC, I mean, return on capital employed, we are at about 34% last year, and return on equity is about 32.5%. These are all published numbers. For the first half of the current financial year, we will be tied low because 40% happens in the first half, and 60% happens in the second half.
Answered
Medium priority
Working capital increase and negative OCF.
Asked by Amit Hiranandani, Phillip Capital
Management provided specific reduction in receivables and explained inventory needs.
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Question
Anything to read into the working capital which seems to have increased, resulted into negative OCF?
K M Balaji, President and CFO
On the receivable side, certainly we have worked and we have reduced about INR 500 crore on the receivables alone when you compare it to the same period last year.
Answered
High priority
Exports growth outlook and share of revenue.
Asked by Raghunandhan, Nuvama Research
Management gave specific volume target and growth rate.
Read the exchange
Question
How do you see the growth now on a full-year basis? And share of exports has come to 7-8% of revenue in Q2. How do you see this share increasing over the next two, three years?
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
This year, we are targeting about 18,000 units in the exports. This year, Balaji told you that we have grown more than 35% so far in H1. Therefore, to achieve 18,000 units over a base of 15,000-15,500 should be achievable.
Answered
Medium priority
CapEx and investment outlook for full year.
Asked by Raghunandhan, Nuvama Research
Management provided specific CapEx range and investment guidance.
Read the exchange
Question
On the CapEx side, first half was INR 658 crore, and there were no investments in first half. How do you see the full-year number for CapEx and investment?
K M Balaji, President and CFO
CapEx, as we have guided earlier, it could be between INR 800 crore and INR 1,000 crore. That could be the thing. You can expect around INR 1,000 crore of CapEx, which is getting incurred.
Declined
Medium priority
Quantification of EBITDA and PAT for Switch business.
Asked by Basudeb Banerjee, CLSA
Management explicitly declined to quantify Switch financials.
refused to share numbers
Read the exchange
Question
If you can quantify the initial speech you said, which was EBITDA and PAT positive in first half, if you can quantify that.
Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO
Basudev, we don't normally reveal those numbers. I mean, let the company grow to a sizable volume on the top line, and then we'll start sharing those.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| MHCV industry grew 7% in October, LCV 15% | 7% | 9.3% | Understated vs filing |
| Exports grew 45% in Q2 and 30% in H1 | 45% | 9.3% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.