Castrol India Limited — Q4 FY26
Castrol India delivered a steady Q1 FY26 with revenue of ₹1,545 crore (+9% YoY) and EBITDA of ₹329 crore (+7% YoY), though EBITDA margin contracted ~170bps to ~21.3% due to curr...
neutral
medium
Financial stats pending filing verification
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.
71%Questions answered1Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedConsistentNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Impact of crude oil price increase on raw material costs and gross margin outlook.
Asked by Nitin Tari, Philip Capital
Acknowledged minimal Q1 impact but did not quantify gross margin direction or time lag for price pass-through.
no specific margin guidancedeferred pricing strategy details
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Question
So just wanted to understand that has that translated into our raw material cost as well in the in the uh January to March quarter or that flow through is yet to happen and uh secondly like you know therefore uh your direction on gross margin as well.
Mal (Management)
Given the inventory cycle, we saw minimal impact of these raw material increases into the costs that we reported in quarter one. ... Our strategy is relatively simple. ... we will have diversified supplier networks so that we can minimize you know supply gap.
Partial answer
High priority
Time lag for passing on raw material cost increases to consumers.
Asked by Nitin Tari, Philip Capital
Mentioned a price increase but did not specify the typical lag or quantify the pass-through timing.
no specific time lag givenvague on pricing actions
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Question
I just wanted to understand what is the typical time lag before um which I mean the price is actually passed on if at all to the consumers.
Mal (Management)
structurally the objective of the company is we want to maintain our structural margins in the medium to long term ... we have taken one round of pricing already end of March and we keep our structure and loss margin right in front of us.
Answered
High priority
Volume growth percentage and reason for operating cost increase.
Asked by Nitin Tari, Philip Capital
Provided specific volume growth (7-8%) and explained operating cost increase with one-time items.
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Question
So what is the overall volume in this quarter? Um and also like you know our operating cost went up um by about um 23% Q1Q and about 10% YI. So why was that?
Mal (Management)
Eight 7 to 8% volume growth is what we have delivered ... our overall expenses have grown 9% in line with the revenue ... there have been some one-time costs here, but structurally we've actually grown our gross profit by about 11%.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Quantum and nature of one-off expenses in operating costs.
Asked by Nitin Tari, Philip Capital
Identified the bucket but did not quantify the one-off expenses or provide specific details.
no quantum givenvague on nature
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Question
So you mentioned that there are some one-off expenses. You can highlight what what to be the quantum of those one-off expenses and what are the related to.
Mal (Management)
the onetime costs that I spoke about are more in the employee cost bucket which we don't which are not structural in nature and that should you should see them going down in the next few quarters.
Answered
High priority
Why not focus more on commercial vehicles given low EV penetration there?
Asked by Dal Pop, Choice International
Explained that CV is a significant contributor and that rural focus is complementary, not exclusive.
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Question
So why is management not really focusing or or is there a lesser focus on the commercial vehicle segment where there is no penetration of electric vehicle at all.
Shu (Management)
It's not that we don't focus on commercial vehicle. In fact, commercial vehicle is a big a significant contributor to our overall volume ... we have been pushing very heavily into rural India to build our distribution muscle ... that is reaping rewards for us in our motorcycle business.
Answered
Medium priority
Are base oil suppliers charging a premium similar to crude?
Asked by Dal Pop, Choice International
Clarified that contracts are index-linked, implying no additional premium beyond market indices.
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Question
do you guys also as does gestro also seem to have been charged premium to the bas oil prices that are available in Apex region or uh are we able to diversify it enough uh to keep the keep the premiums lower.
Shu (Management)
our term contracts are all indices driven and and as the market moves up and down we get benefit of that.
Answered
Medium priority
Clarification on volume growth: YoY or QoQ?
Asked by Sabri Hazarika, MK Global Financial Service
Provided clear clarification that growth is YoY.
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Question
So just a clarification on this volumes you mentioned 7 to 8% growth uh YI or is it Q Quarter 1 Q 1 Q versus 1Q?
Mal (Management)
1Q 26 versus 25 is 7 to 8%.
Partial answer
High priority
Margin guidance for the year given volatility.
Asked by Sabri Hazarika, MK Global Financial Service
Reaffirmed long-term range but did not provide specific guidance for the current year.
reiterated existing range without specific year guidanceacknowledged short-term volatility
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Question
So how do you see the margin scenario u in in the current year given the uh volatility in the global markets? ... do you have a guidance uh in for this quarter for this year as a whole?
Mal (Management)
we always have given the guidance of 21 to 24% will be our operating EITA margin range ... there could be some short-term uh volatility that we will see even in our numbers.
Evasive
Medium priority
Timeline and market size for data center business.
Asked by Nlesh Jen, Astute Investment Management
Declined to provide any timeline or market size, citing early stage and external dependency.
no timeline givenno market size provideddeferred to external factors
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Question
how does move then uh how does progress and uh when by when can we expect to at least start contributing to our business ... what can be the potential advisable market for us.
Shu (Management)
we can't make a guidance at the moment because this is not something we are uh driving in terms of the implementation of or the execution of the data center.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Price increase percentage and advertising expense as % of revenue.
Asked by Rahul Auja, Precient Capital
Refused to quantify price increase but provided ad spend percentage range.
declined to give price increase percentagegave ad spend range but not exact
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Question
what kind of price increase we have taken in Q1 to address the increase in cost. And my follow-up question will be regarding the advertisement expense in Q1.
Mal (Management)
I won't be able to specifically answer your price increase percentage question ... we've spent about uh 3 to 4% on advertising and a similar trend has been spent even in one.
Answered
High priority
Sales mix breakdown by vehicle type.
Asked by Kumar Sha, Sumangal Investments
Provided approximate percentage breakdown for two-wheelers + CV, cars, and industrial.
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Question
What is the contribution of two wheeler four-wheeler commercial vehicles? if you can break it down.
Shu (Management)
to together both of them will be about 60% of our sales. ... cars ... could be another uh 15 uh maybe 20% of our revenue and then the rest of it is the industrial part of the portfolio.
Answered
High priority
Which segment is growing slower and dragging overall volume growth?
Asked by Kan Ma, Boda PNP Paragan Mutual Fund
Identified commercial vehicle business as growing at high single digits, slower than double-digit segments.
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Question
However, at the portfolio level, we are achieving a 7 to 8% YI growth. So, which is the pocket which is probably growing slower and sort of impacting our overall volume growth?
Shu (Management)
the large commercial vehicle business ... is quite significant part of our portfolio. It is growing but not at double digit high single digits.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume growth of 7-8% YoY | 7.5% | 9% | Matches filing |
| Revenue growth of 9% YoY | 9% | 9% | Matches filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.