Bata India Limited — Q3 FY26
Bata India reported a modest 3% YoY revenue growth in Q3 FY26, with EBITDA margin expanding by 200 bps driven by zero-based merchandising (ZBM) now covering 400 stores, elevated...
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.
58%Questions answered4Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
How do simplification initiatives drive double-digit growth aspiration?
Asked by Samir Gupta, Capital
Management listed initiatives but gave no specific growth targets or timelines.
no quantified growth driversqualitative only
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Question
how does this solve for growth or how do we reach that double-digit growth aspiration that we have laid out in recent quarters.
Gunjan (CEO)
the biggest one is elevating marketing investments... second is zerobased merchandising giving incremental benefit... third is product rationalization to get authority on product... expansion across channels.
Answered
Medium priority
Reason for sharp jump in key retail outlets this quarter?
Asked by Samir Gupta, Capital
Management explained the jump as cumulative effort and provided context on channel contribution.
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Question
there is a sharp jump in the key retail outlets this quarter... is there a renewed strategy towards this channel?
Gunjan (CEO)
this is cumulative of effort over last four quarters... we reach about 20,000 outlets in MBOs... key retail outlets contribute 25-30% of turnover.
Declined
High priority
Can you share 9-month growth numbers for brands like Bata, Hush Puppies, Power?
Asked by Samir Gupta, Capital
Management explicitly declined to provide the data during the call.
deferred to later
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Question
can you just share the broad growth numbers for different brands? Bata, Hush Puppies, Power, any other which is meaningfully large.
Gunjan (CEO)
I will need to come back to you on this in the interest of time.
Evasive
High priority
Has GST impact from Q2 been recovered? Will future benefit?
Asked by Korov Joani, JM Financial
Management did not quantify recovery or future benefit, only said momentum continues.
no quantificationvague on recovery
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Question
would it be prudent to say that the sales lost because of GST disruption has not come back entirely and could benefit going ahead?
Gunjan (CEO)
difficult to do complete arithmetic... some impact was channel, some consumer hesitancy... we do see momentum continuing.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Has GST rate reduction improved mass-end portfolio recovery?
Asked by Korov Joani, JM Financial
Management gave a qualitative improvement but no quantitative recovery data.
no specific numbers
Read the exchange
Question
have you seen more recovery now in this part of the portfolio?
Gunjan (CEO)
Not as much as I would have liked but yes better than what we have seen over the last seven eight quarters.
Evasive
Medium priority
Will ZBM delta of 5% grow over time?
Asked by Korov Joani, JM Financial
Management avoided predicting delta trajectory, instead listed other growth drivers.
reframed to other initiativesno direct answer on delta growth
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Question
would you say that this is very early stage delta and can grow bigger or you largely expect it to be around this range?
Gunjan (CEO)
delta is not the only relevant metric... product piece will add on... marketing investments will add on.
Answered
High priority
E-commerce contribution and margin profile?
Asked by Korov Joani, JM Financial
Management provided contribution range and margin comparison.
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Question
how the contribution for the online channel now has changed and also is it margin dilutive or margin accretive?
Gunjan (CEO)
mid double digits in terms of contribution... broadly at par, might be slightly lower than overall profitability.
Answered
High priority
What is the size of Hush Puppies business?
Asked by Dwan Shuans, MK Global
Management gave a specific revenue range and retail contribution percentage.
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Question
can you tell us how big is the size of Hush Puppies for us as in ballpark range?
Gunjan (CEO)
overall it's in the range of about 700 crores I would say and in retail stores it contributes to anywhere between 15 to 20%.
Answered
High priority
Steps to protect business from increased competition?
Asked by Dwan Shuans, MK Global
Management outlined specific strategies for both segments.
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Question
what steps are we taking to protect our businesses at both the value end and at the premium end?
Gunjan (CEO)
on lower end: value proposition and franchise expansion... on premium: expansion of Hush Puppies EBOs to 200+ and product authority.
Evasive
Medium priority
What export scale are you targeting over 2-3 years?
Asked by Dwan Shuans, MK Global
Management declined to provide specific targets, only qualitative ambition.
no numbers givendeferred to future
Read the exchange
Question
what kind of a scale are we targeting from an export perspective over next two three years?
Gunjan (CEO)
I will not be able to give you numbers but ambitions are pretty large... historically 700k to 1 million pairs, you will see a significant jump.
Answered
Medium priority
How many Hush Puppies stores currently and target?
Asked by Musana, Swan Investment
Management provided current count and near-term target.
Read the exchange
Question
how many stores do we have for Hush Puppies and how many do we aspire to grow in coming years?
Gunjan (CEO)
total of 160 EOS, about 125-135 COCO and 25 franchise... aiming for about 200+ in next 12 months.
Answered
High priority
How to address low brand recall among younger consumers?
Asked by Chetan Takar, M3 Investment Private Limited
Management acknowledged the issue and outlined specific actions.
Read the exchange
Question
when I look at the cohort which is in their 20s the recall remains quite low... what is your take and how do we address this?
Gunjan (CEO)
average age is early 30s... awareness is not a problem but relevance needs work on sneakers and digital presence... marketing spend moved digital.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce grew about 15% last quarter | 15% | 3% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.