Astral Limited — Q1 FY26
Astral's Q1 FY2026 was weak with flat pipe volumes due to low demand, early monsoon, and low government spending.
neutral
medium
✓ 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 answered1Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
CPVC resin plant margin improvement and capacity sufficiency
Asked by Sravan Shah, Dolat Capital
Management confirmed margin expansion but refused to quantify, citing market dependency.
no specific margin target givendeferred to market conditions
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Question
how one can look at the margin improvement? Currently, whatever 16.5% is there in the first quarter, can we see the margin moving to a 20% + once it will be on a yearly basis? That is first. Second is, why 40,000? Will this suffice the entire requirement by FY 2027 or FY 2028?
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
this margin expansion will definitely be there. Exactly how much will be there, the market situation will decide... Margins will be much, much better than what you are paying to expect. Regarding your second question, 40,000 metric tons plant will not be definitely sufficient for us.
Partial answer
High priority
Volume growth outlook and impact of ADD and BIS
Asked by Sravan Shah, Dolat Capital
Management reiterated double-digit guidance but avoided committing to a specific range.
no specific volume growth numbermultiple caveats listed
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Question
the quarter was muted... now July 30% growth that we are seeing... does that mean once the ADD will come, this double digit could be even 15%-20% kind of a number is also possible?
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
double digit can be anything. It could be 10%, also 12%, also 15%, also 20%. There are many different parameters at play. ADD is not the only parameter... we are confident that... double digit growth as per our initial guidance... we can achieve at the end of this financial year.
Answered
Medium priority
CapEx for Q1 and full year, including additional INR 120 crore
Asked by Sravan Shah, Dolat Capital
Management provided specific Q1 CapEx and full-year guidance, with clear explanation.
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Question
a CapEx for Q1 and for full year and maybe a next year if you can help because now the additional CapEx of INR 120 crore is there.
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
This year, we have guided around INR 300 crore kind of CapEx... In Q1, we have spent only INR 50 crore on the CapEx. Next year, I think the whole CapEx will be there because we are not going to expand any capacity for the next two or three years in the pipe category...
Partial answer
High priority
Volume growth lagging vs Supreme, weak overseas adhesive, paints, and declining ROE
Asked by Sujit Jain, Bajaj Life
Management addressed each point but attributed lag to external factors and gave qualitative assurances.
blamed competitor's growth on Jal Jeevan Missionno direct ROE improvement timeline
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Question
If I look at data for the last 14 consecutive quarters, our volume growth versus Supreme... we have lagged consistently. Overseas adhesive business... 7% growth... Paints... ROE has been consistently coming down. If you can address all of this, thank you.
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
The first comment on the volume comparison with our competitor, look at the competitor's number... major chunk of volume came from the Jal Jeevan Mission... Our presence was not there into that segment. Regarding your second question on paint side... we will be able to deliver 20% kind of growth...
Answered
High priority
Demand improvement details and CPVC resin procurement strategy
Asked by Sneha Talreja, Nuvama Wealth Management
Management gave specific geographic and timing details on demand, and detailed procurement strategy.
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Question
in your opening remarks, you mentioned about improving demand scenario. I wanted some update on that. Is it on the retail level, project level, building material side? ... Secondly, on your CPVC resin plant, I just wanted to understand your procurement strategy...
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
demand side, pan-India demand definitely has not opened up. It is certain pockets and geographies are doing better... we are confident of using different types of PVC grades as per our wish and desire... We are not limited to a single PVC supplier for our CPVC plant.
Answered
Medium priority
Reason for increased employee expenses and capacity by year-end
Asked by Praveen Sahay, PL Capital
Management explained employee cost increase and gave specific capacity addition number.
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Question
employee expenses for a quarter, which I can see has increased. What's the reason for that? Are we continuing to be at this level? ... By year end, how is our capacity going to be? Right now, it is 387,000 metric tons. Where are you seeing at the end of the year?
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
because of continuous falling polymer prices, the top line is getting eroded... we have entered into multiple new businesses... I think another 25,000 metric tons kind of will be added in the Kanpur in the first phase.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Current CPVC procurement sources and captive consumption percentage
Asked by Pujan Shah, Molecule Ventures
Management named current suppliers but declined to estimate captive consumption percentage.
deferred quantification to post-commissioning
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Question
from where do we procure the CPVC right now? After the backward integration, what % of our total consumption will be used as captive consumption there?
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
Right now, we are procuring our CPVC from Sekisui Japan, and some from DCW at the local level... After this plant completion, it will be based on the demand scenario... we will be able to answer how much of our internal demand does this 40,000 ton resin suffice.
Partial answer
High priority
Pipe division volume growth for first two months and margin strategy
Asked by Keshav Lahoti, HDFC Securities
Management gave margin guidance but avoided monthly volume data; later Hiranand said they may sacrifice 1-2% margin for growth.
did not provide monthly volume breakdowncontradicted later by Hiranand on margin flexibility
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Question
as you have highlighted your adversarial four months growth, possibly can you do the same for the pipe division also? ... In June, the growth has changed. It is not at the cost of margin, right?
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
Margin is always of a priority to us. We are not going to cut for this type of growth... Whatever margin for the piping business, we have guided 16%-18%... we will stick to our guidance of 16%-18% for the annual basis.
Evasive
High priority
Reason for higher sequential revenue decline vs peers and CPVC price change
Asked by Utkarsh Nopany, BOB Capital
Management acknowledged price decline but refused to provide any specific numbers.
refused to quantify price changeclaimed no authenticated data
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Question
pipe revenue was down at a much higher pace on a Q1Q basis compared to our peers... I wanted to know whether this is because of steep decline in the CPVC resin prices... and if you could also quantify what has been the sequential change in CPVC resin prices in the June quarter period.
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
I think CPVC price was definitely down... What is the actual price had dropped from where to where, nobody is having the authenticated data... We don't share all this internal information that this much is down or this much is up.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Synergies from Al-Aziz acquisition and revenue target
Asked by Saniya Kothari, AUM Capital
Management described product synergies but refused to provide any revenue quantification.
declined to give revenue targetqualitative only
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Question
How will this product complement Astral's existing portfolio? What synergies are you expecting in the next 12-18 months? ... What percentage of revenue do you target from this acquisition, even FY 2026 and FY 2027?
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
Al-Aziz makes multiple products... We have good long-term plans with the fittings of Al-Aziz... It is very hard to quantify right now, madam, because we are only making fittings... It is very hard to quantify right now what percentage of top line this will happen.
Answered
Medium priority
Expected branding spend increase for new B2C products
Asked by Rahul Agarwal, IKIGAI Asset
Management clearly stated branding costs will not increase and are declining in absolute terms.
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Question
should we expect more spending into this line item and, you know, get further brand spend to further ramp up these sales?
Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO
we have given the brand Astral to them, which is already an established brand... our branding costs are not going to go up. It is going to come down... In absolute terms, we are spending less and less on branding than what we were spending two years ago.
Answered
Medium priority
R&D spend on CPVC project and request for standardized acquisition reporting
Asked by Sandeep Jain, Bajaj Life Insurance
Management provided specific R&D spend and agreed to create standardized acquisition reporting format.
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Question
Three-year R&D that you've done in the company on CPVC, how much is the total R&D spend? ... can you stick to a format... guidance for each acquisition in terms of sales growth, margin, cash conversion, and ROC...
Kairav Engineer, Executive Director
We have not done much spend. It is negligible. Maybe INR 4 crore or INR 5 crore at maximum we have spent in the R&D side... Yeah, yeah, we can definitely work on that. That is not a problem.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paint revenue target INR 240 crore this year | ₹240 cr | ₹1,361 cr | Understated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.