Whirlpool of India Ltd. — Q1 FY26 earnings call

​ Yes, again, very good question and obviously one that plagues us all the time. The price in this industry, I think, has been a bit different from many other industries in India, where they have priced, the other industries individually, obviously companies by themselves, have priced to account for the inflation of commodity pricing. That has not been the case, as far as I can see, in this industry based on market pricing that we observe. Now, there is always, as you know, a big tension between raising the prices and whether you are still price-competitive or not. If you recall in 2022, you know very well, I've explained to you before, that we took up the prices unilaterally, whether or not others would follow, because we thought it was the right thing to do, and that resulted in a crashing of market shares, that resulted in a lot of loss of customer confidence, consumer confidence, etcetera. So, the answer to your question is, the price increase that we can take is going to also at some point in time be not only based on what we want to take, but also what we are able to take. And if our key competition does not take the price increase, then it would be a bit foolhardy for us to just do that to recover margins, because in this business, having volumes does not guarantee you profits, but not having volumes almost certainly guarantees failure. So, so this is a very delicate balance. I am fairly, we, we keep, you know, as you know, prices change every month in this industry compared to other industries like FMCG, where I've worked in, which used to change once or twice a year. This literally changes every month. You could have different pricing for DC, we could have different pricing for FF, you could have different pricing for semi-automatic, every month. So, we are completely on top of that detail, and we will do the right thing for our business basically, always balancing between volume, market share, profitability. All of these have to be managed a little carefully. And at this point in time, our priority is to make sure we don't lose on all fronts. I think going forward, July, August, September, to answer your question, will continue to be very challenging, because very simply, we are a refrigerator, air conditioner company is more than two-thirds of our revenue. And this is the weakest quarter for refrigerators and air conditioners. But the commodity costs are very high. The forex is very high. Page 14 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 So, all the negatives will still stay, but the volumes in JAS will not be, you know, as strong as, nowhere as strong as the volumes we had in AMJ. It'll grow versus a year ago, for sure, but absolutes will be lower, right? So, I think it is going to be a tough quarter financially in JAS. My suspicion is it'll be tough for the entire industry, because everybody is more or less in the same boat, unless they're selling very different products. So, JAS is the weakest quarter typically for this industry. And then hopefully after that, I am genuinely hoping that there is some end to this, like all of us are, for humanitarian reasons more than financial reasons, there's an end to all of this and we can get back to our normal lives and hopefully normal costs pretty soon, which will help a lot. I hope I answered that question.

​ Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Agarwal. I'll try to answer these, and I'll defer to Aditya for the capacity for the capex budget question. Full-year revenue, sir, I at this point in time, it's so difficult. You ask anybody in the industry, so difficult to predict what the numbers are. Now, what I am really hoping is that we will be able to get good revenue growths, and hopefully market share gains across the year. That's what we are driving towards. But what the Page 15 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 market will grow at is very difficult to predict. Because of a lot of impacts, the impacts of all the cost increases is also on the common man. We cannot forget that that common man is paying more for many things right now. The government had done a fantastic job of reducing GST rates on consumer goods and televisions above 32 inches and air conditioners, and so on and so forth, quite a few. But then this stuff has come on top, which is obviously, you know, there was a help from one side and then a hurt from this ongoing stuff. So, I would say without exaggeration that even now, we are literally figuring out how to manage on a month-on-month basis in terms of production, in terms of availability, etc. We are not out of the woods as an industry on all of these things. Any mishap anywhere can actually make a huge difference. So, the let's say the accuracy of anything that I say would be close to zero. So, all I can tell you is to all our shareholders, we are focusing really hard on making sure the hard-fought gains we have on market shares don't go away. We're trying to do it in a way that's financially responsible, but it is not a great year for margins for the reasons that I mentioned. You hardly ever have the perfect storm of significant e-waste increase, massive refrigerator and air conditioner regulatory change, which costs crores and crores and crores of rupees, and at the same time, you know, these kind of impact on commodity prices and forex. This is like a black swan event in my view. And so, we'll have to just somehow tide through this black swan. But we need to keep our operating parameters, and that's what I would like to reassure you, Mr. Agarwal. We will keep our operating parameters, whether it's net working capital, whether it's our execution focus, whether it's our ability to take new products into the market strongly. We are going to keep extremely tight on that, so that when the bad times are over or the tough times are over, whoever has been very kind of disciplined, my experience across the world is that, you know, they benefit when those tough times are over. On your second point on GM, can we keep the op margin flat? I absolutely will not be able to comment on it for the same reason. If, you know, it all depends on when and how fast these issues that I spoke of, which are extraneous, solve themselves. Like I said, it will be a challenging year for all of us basically in the industry. And I don't see any immediate solutions because predicting this is completely impossible for anybody to do. On the capex budget, happy to, you know, Yes.

​ And Mr. Agarwal, thank you for your question on capex. And as we've indicated in the past, given that the given the amount of cash we have, we have on the balance sheet, you know, so budget is not a constraint for us when we're taking capital decisions, honestly. What we're looking at is the right project having the right ROI and the right financials. Page 16 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 So, if there are projects which make the right financial sense, we're very pleased to go ahead with those kind of capex projects. So, hence, probably it's not the budget, budgetary constraint or a budget which drives us while taking capital decisions, but it's all about the right projects. Also, secondly, to your point on capacities, for example, as we've indicated in the past as well, our capacity on an annual basis across all products is about 70%, 75% utilization. So, there is no immediate requirement to put a large capex, immediate, I mean, the short-term, let's say, next 6 months, 12 months, to a large capacity capex, but we have a very stringent, very strong ongoing process wherein we keep evaluating our capacity requirements based on our estimates for the next couple of years, and that is a part of our normal planning and capital budgeting process, and that is a part of our run-rate capex, etcetera. So, our intent statement is, you know, as Mr. Eswar also explained, that we're looking at the full blueprint, we're trying to accelerate the new products or the innovations. For example, we've invested in four-door refrigerator, there are more models which are expected to come in the balance of the year, etcetera, etcetera. So, we are making sure that we are investing cash in capex in the right projects, without looking at any budget as a constraint. Hope that clarifies.

​ So, Mr. Agarwal, as you will appreciate that, we're constrained to give the exact numbers, you know, calling out the exact numbers. So, we're really constrained in sharing that piece, but just to give you comfort that, we'll be in line with the run rate is where it is, subject to the new products, etcetera. because that we are evaluating on a constant basis. If a new idea which comes right now to say that there's something which could be turned around in 6 months and it's a very valid, which is a very good idea from a marketing standpoint and makes a good financial sense, we're happy to take those kinds of calls as well. So, it's very difficult to pinpoint a number to say that this is what we're looking at from an exact number perspective. But yes, the base ongoing capex is about 100 plus, we keep investing based on specific initiatives, innovations, automations, etc.

​ Thank you, sir.

​ Okay. Thank you for that question, sir. Well, without getting into specifics, we are in some of these large chains. As you know, the whole process of listing and delisting keeps going on. That's something that chains also do as part of their work. And obviously, our intent is to try and be in all these, so long as it makes financial sense for us to do. So, one thing that we try to do is we don't try to just do pay whatever is required to go and get it listed. I don't think that's a very good way of working. So, where it makes commercial sense, then we will do it. And where it doesn't, we will keep discussing until it makes commercial sense to both parties, right? So, what we're looking for is a win-win, and not get in at any cost, because then there is a financial also to worry about. So, that process is ongoing, and we'll continue to do that. Like you rightly said, we are able to really get significant throughput increases on our front load, which is what makes us happy. Distribution increase is something that you can always get, you know, but in the places where you are, your throughput, that is, how much sells per display unit, that needs to increase. That's what gives confidence to our customer partners. There are actually parts of the country, and I don't want to go into the detail, where we are already at close to a 10% volume share. As you can imagine, we've got about a 5-odd volume share right now, but it's made up of some places where it's smaller, 3%, etcetera, and some places where it's close to 10%. So, we have the template, the KPIs, we understand what we need to do to make it happen, and like I said, it's always a question of doing the right thing commercially. Sometimes, the commercials do not work, and that is something that we don't like to compromise on. So, if we wanted to get 10% share at any cost, honestly, we could do that within a year's time. But I think the cost would not be a good cost to pay for the long term. So, we are pacing ourselves. Obviously, still with an aggressive bent of mind. It would be lovely to get to double-digit volume share in the next two to three years. That would be great. But let's see. Let's see. It's not an easy market. It's a tough market. Those who have the shares, obviously, hold on to it for dear life. So, it's very competitive and very exciting.

​ Sir, fantastic question, actually. And it shows great knowledge of the market. So, thank you for that. Yes, to some extent, the competition in top load, as you rightly pointed out, more players have come in, and very aggressively, to try and get some share, especially at the lower ends. Page 18 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 We are sticking to our strategy, and very simply, it is to make sure that we grow responsibly financially, right? So, the growth is not coming at the expense of financials. At the same time, we premiumized so that it's better value per unit for us and for our customers, and it's also a better margin per unit. So, we are definitely driving the premiumization through our High DC strategy. And lastly, I think what I'm most excited about is, as I have said before, the specialty, I think, of Whirlpool, which we are literally, let's say, rediscovering our mojo, is we don't just rely on great global innovation. Like I just said, we have obviously access to all the global innovation we need, but classic example, Dynamics detergent dispenser, is not available anywhere else in the world except India, right? And tomorrow, it could go to other parts of the world, but it was made in India. Auto defrost, made in India, made for India. The IntelliFresh Crisper that we've just built in on the four-door Luxuriem, made in India. And I think what I would love to say is that in the next 12 to 15 months, I am looking forward to some very exciting innovations that we're bringing in, excuse me, on top load, which will So, our answer is not to undercut on price and try to win, because that's a that's a mug's game. That is not, you know, good for the industry. Just like in semi-automatic, we de-commoditizing the business. Now, if new players are coming in at lower cost and selling at entry level, etcetera, we have to find a way to de-commoditize categories. That's what adds value to consumer, it adds value to our customers, and it adds value to our industry and to ourselves, obviously. So, we will absolutely do that in top load washing machines as well. So, there'll be some very cool stuff that will come out before, let's say, too long.

​ No. So, that's not a problem, and we do something called long-term capacity planning, which is a very structured program that we do, and we do that every year, and update it every six months if we need to. We are completely on top of what we need to invest in from a capacity point of view in all our three plants. We always look at, can we do it internally, can we do it externally, etcetera. As far as front load is concerned, we are quite cool. We are growing really fast, but there's still significant capacity that we have to utilize, and we don't even operate on three shifts. So, there's a lot of, let's say, space that's available to basically make it, you know, much bigger volumes. So, there's no immediate need for any capacity investment in front load. But we're always on top of that, sir, as you can imagine.

​ Yes. So, I'll give some perspective and then maybe Aditya can add on his perspective if there's something missing. So, on margin, if you see in the last three years, from '23 onwards at least, '23-'24, '24-'25, '25-'26, we have more or less been increasing margin all the time. The real margin impact, which has been quite challenging, has come in the last six months. And two major factors, like I said, fundamentally, one is significant regulatory impact, which was basically because of two reasons within that itself: one is the energy change on ref and ACs, which typically happens once in three years, right? So, this is the year in which it happened. And the second one is obviously e-waste. Now, very simply on e-waste, it's a question of when and how it's going to get resolved, which is not only up to us, it's the entire industry, it's actually more than one industry, that we need a solution to. And I don't want to go too much into the detail of that, but this is something that we need to and hope for an equitable solution, which is sensible for everybody, right? So, e-waste, I'm hoping, is a matter of time before we come up with something which actually works for others for us and others in the industry, and doesn't is not one-sided. As far as regulatory challenges are concerned, this will typically happen once in three years. So, technically speaking, if '26 January is the refrigerator one now, as per the calendar, the next one should be '29 January. So, other than that, we know we don't have, we don't expect anything else. But even that, I would submit, is quite a lot of change. Every three years to change energy, especially on refrigerators, where, by the way, I'm not sure if you're aware, but India is just behind Europe on energy in the world. So, our energy standards on refrigerators, especially in this category, are better than America, are better than South America, are better than Japan, better than Korea, better than China, better than Malaysia, Singapore, better than Australia. So, we're already at fantastic energy levels. So, this is part of the discussions we've been historically having with the Ministry as well, to say that we are already at a very high level. So, this is more of an industry-related issue that we need to deal with. So, two things are already dealt with. E-waste is something that needs to be sorted out between the government and the industry and the recyclers, and I hope we have some kind of solution soon. It's been a very long time. It's been like what, 18 months since we've been accruing the higher amount. And obviously, releasing that up would be a big benefit for people like us who are accruing at the highest value, right? And whenever that happens, you know, that will be a big Page 20 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 help for us. The as far as the regulatory is concerned, like I said, it's once in three years on refrigerators and air conditioners. But that's something that we need to continue to chat with the government and trying to come up with something which is more reasonable, keeping in mind that in refrigerators, for example, we are already at a very, very high level of energy efficiency. Lastly, the impact of commodity pricing, excuse me, commodity and forex, this is anybody's guess, you know, your guess is as good as mine. We all pray and hope that this gets resolved soon for the good of the world, and frankly, also for the good of industry. And that is something that we are absolutely unable to make a comment on. But hopefully it's not too far away, and it happens within this fiscal itself.

​ Thanks, Eswar. The only other point I would add is, for example, the fixed costs, and that is what we monitor and control very efficiently in our business, while we've also spoken about a P4G program, but outside of this black swan kind of events, which materially impacts the costs, but we have a very tight governance in monitoring and managing the operating fixed costs of the business, whether it be people costs, whether it be the operating expenses of the company. So, at least we make sure that while other things are happening and seeing a material cost headwind, but these costs are kept under control and under check to ensure that there are no other inefficiencies in the business while managing the whole lot of external environments. And our P4G program helps us do that, and we will continue to do that going forward as well, and ensure that our fixed costs and operating costs are under control, while we manage all the external environment-related headwinds as well.

​ Sir, so, firstly, on the first question, as you know very well, it is absolutely against the law for anybody to come together on pricing, which is why we decide what to do on pricing independently. Obviously, we check what's happening in the market, which is just basic market intelligence when consumers are being offered prices, obviously, you know what the pricing is. So, there is no, absolutely no chance of any industry-wide agreement on pricing, because that would be illegal, and as not just the head of Whirlpool, but as the President of CEAMA, I would absolutely discourage any such activity by anybody, because it's an offense, a criminal offense. So, the answer is no. Is it possible that different players at different points in time decide to incorporate more pricing into their business? Page 21 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 It would seem to me a logical thing to do. But then again, everything doesn't operate on logic. Some people might want to use the opportunity to get more market share, and therefore not take up pricing. These are things that happen every day, right? It's happening as we speak. So, somebody may take up the price, somebody may not take up the price. Then if you take up the price and others have not taken up the price, then there is a price that you pay for that, right? And the price that you pay will be volume loss. And is the volume loss worth it or not? So, we have a lot of sensitivity analysis that we do. Obviously, I'm not able to go into the detail of that, but we do a lot of work on this area, because it's quite crucial in this industry. You know, a 5% price difference could be a INR 1,000. And INR 1,000 is not a small amount of money for anybody. In more expensive products, 5% could be INR 3,000, INR 4,000, INR 5,000, or even more. So, my answer to your question is, every company will take its individual decision. I'm sure they will do what they need to do. Is the cost at this point in time very significant? Yes, absolutely, it is. That there is no doubt of. Have we been able to recover all the costs through pricing? No. That's a very straightforward answer. Everything that we do going forward will also depend on what happens in the market. If we see a competitive situation going in a certain way, we'll act in a certain way. If the competitive situation goes in a different way, then we'll act accordingly, always keeping in mind the balance between revenue growth, market share, and profitability.

​ Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Naushad. Much appreciate your question. So, firstly, I want to clarify that we have 100% ownership of Elica. 100% ownership of Elica, so there's no remaining stake. All of it is Whirlpool of India. Mr. Pralhad Bhutada, who is, I would say, the father of the cooking industry in India, for me, a phenomenal man, who built up multiple brands including Elica in India, he continues to run the business for us. But it's 100% subsidiary of Whirlpool of India. So, that's the first point. So, there's nothing left for us to buy. Second, I think Elica, there are three things that have been working very well for us on Elica this year. First is the market has been more responsive. There has been a good growth in the kitchen appliances market, unlike the refrigerator market, for example. Page 22 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 The second thing that's really worked is we've been able to focus on both ends. We've been able to focus on the lower end and introduce some very good products there to get more of the mass. But at the same time, we've been able to put in some very good, like I showed you, high-value products with great margins that have been able to counter-balance that from a volume and margin point of view. So, this double strategy is working really well for us in terms of the new products that we brought to market, obviously with a very efficient system. The third thing that has been very helpful, in Elica's case, unlike the refrigerator washing machine business, is that the pricing has more or less been able to cover the cost increases. Not 100%, but very, very close. So, very different kind of industry definitions there. So, these are the three reasons. What do I see going forward? We see Elica as a lovely jewel in our portfolio. We expect to see strong growth coming out of Elica, obviously always strong double-digit growth. We do expect that we will have to invest some of the margins into that. But even if we were to invest some of the margins, like say a couple of hundred basis points, we still think that it will be a significantly higher margin than the rest of the Whirlpool range, and therefore, will always be accretive, both from a top-line and from a bottom-line perspective. So, Elica is certainly a business that we are very proud of, we're proud of our team in Elica that's driving this business, and we will continue driving this business really hard.

​ Difficult to say, sir, again. As you know, it's very difficult to make such predictions. I don't like to make big statements like that. So, we hope to continue to drive the business strongly. Nothing will be spared to make it drive strongly. But also a lot depends on -- because it's not like we have a low single-digit market share, a lot depends on how the market grows. So, if the market growth continues to be strong, then we can expect some good growth. But if the market growth weakens, which is quite possible, given everything else that's happening around us, then maybe not. So, don't have an exact answer for you, but obviously, we'll try our level best to make sure our growth on Elica is strong.

​ Sure. I think on AC, I would like to say again that what we want to do is responsible growth. So, I just want to be clear again, at least the current strategy that we have, that obviously can always change, depending on our discussions with the board, etc., is responsible growth, which means we'll not want to grow at any cost. ​ So, in the last two years, we've been able to grow our business quite significantly, not 10% or 20%, but much, much higher than that, because we were coming off a relatively lower base. Page 23 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 We hope to continue growing at a very strong pace, well above 10% or 20%. And I think the reason why we'll be able to do that is because we have a very solid assortment, which is not over-proliferated, and therefore, we have efficiencies in our business. We're able to manage our inventories quite well. We are obviously sourcing from outside right now. We don't manufacture our air conditioners, but the design is basically ours. So, they're manufacturing to our specifications. We have a very strong plan for execution. Results have been very good. I think we're the fastest growing, if I'm not wrong, we're the fastest-growing in terms of off-take AC, of course, our base is small, but still, you can be small and not grow the fastest, but we were the fastest-growing in off-take this year as well as last year. So, we hope to continue that growth, but we hope to continue that growth responsibly. So, the strategy really will not be to pump a huge amount of volume into the market and then hope for a good day. We try to basically, as far as possible, more than probably what the market does, stay closer to consumption in terms of how we ship, and that's the strategy that we'll continue to do, because we are very aware of the fact that if you over-ship and then the off-take doesn't happen, then you'll have a double whammy, which is you'll have to get rid of all the stocks that you have by discounting, etc., which reduces the margin, which is what I would call not that responsible, plus whatever stocks you have left, you'll have to do something about the disposal of those products as well. So, responsible growth is what we'll be looking at, and we've got a proper portfolio, whether it's 1-ton, 1.5-ton, 2-ton. We've got a proper portfolio, 3-star, 5-star, etcetera and we're going to go about it in a fairly structured and scientific way, where it makes financial sense to us.

​ Okay. So, thank you for that question. You're right about the AC, I wouldn't say exactly on the 10%, but you're right about the AC in principle, that growth is significant and that's driving certain amount of volume for us. Like I said, so is front load. If you see, the market itself hardly grew, so the mathematics, as you rightly pointed out, the market grew about 4%-5% across refrigerators and washers. And our market share, as I told you, grew about 30-35 basis points. Page 24 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 So, if you take it on a base of market share, this will basically come to about a six, six and a half kind of number. So, some amount of the pricing has come in, because as you can imagine, the pricing starts increasing, but in GFK, the price that you see is the price that is off-take out of the store, right? If I've shipped in, it does not necessarily come into the GFK. So, yes, we have taken up prices in April and May, as I said before. I'm not going to say exactly what the numbers are, but we have taken up prices two consecutive months because we had to. And it was not fully reflected in April, May, June, but it will be fully reflected in July, August, September and beyond. And thank you for the comment about the ESOP. Much appreciated.

​ Thank you for question. Getting an to an exact numbers probably were constrained to share the exact numbers of the split of the factors impacting the gross margin but I would just give you a little bit of indication at a very high level let's say there are two big things which impacted us a, war-related stuff which is a combination of all the things between the oil prices, the effects and a lot of other things and then the second big element especially on materials or gross margins was on the energy regulation of charges impact on refinery or con business. If I just split broadly to say that in the order of magnitude, the war impact was much higher. So, and then half of it, if the war impact was x, probably half of it or a little less than that was the energy regulations impact, which impacted the overall gross margins, probably that's the best I'll be able to share at this point of time. Yes.

​ On your second question, on the price hikes, well, this as I said before, it depends on the industry. So, have we led the price hikes? Yes, we've taken two price hikes in April and May. Page 25 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 But we also need to watch what's happening in the market. That's what I was saying before. And if the market responds in a different way, then I cannot blindly do stuff. So, I have to protect balance between volume growth, market share growth, and profit protection. And so, we have to do the right thing. Like I said, if your volumes crash, if your volumes go down, the numbers become far, far worse, trust me. So, this is not a business in which you want to drop volumes significantly versus before, because then nothing can protect your P&L, because it's not a very low involvement business. There's a lot of investment in feet on street, there's a lot of investment in stores, etcetera, right? Therefore, I would say, we will calibrate what we do on pricing. We will do the right thing for our brand, but always keeping in mind that the right thing is not just to price up all the time, irrespective of what the rest of the market does. We know what happens when that when we do that, and we learned that in 2022. And we know exactly what will happen. And we've done a lot of analysis on that. So, this is something that we will continue to observe as we go along. And Yes, and who leads the pricing, etcetera, etcetera. This is a good question. Sometimes we'll do it, sometimes some other big brand will do it. But typically, big brands are the ones that basically lead this. If the seventh player or the ninth player takes a pricing, nobody really is going to respond. So, it's always the top two or three. So, we've done what we need to do, and we keep monitoring it very, very carefully, and we'll continue to act based on what we see in the market, but always to be competitive and not be off our strategy.

​ Sure, I think let me answer this because P4G as a program is basically most of the P4G numbers that come are basically on all the engineering work, design work, all of the BOM, the Bill Of Materials cost, which is part of gross margin, supply chain costs, and so on and so forth. So our fixed cost has not actually increased as the percentage was last year, right? But all of the others, basically, we have done the P4G. The impact of the crisis that we've had, the Black Swan event, is actually very big in this industry. And like I said, if you're not able to cover that fully through pricing, then it's a very big number. So we've been able to do our P4G like we normally do. But also please keep in mind that P4G is very much, let's say something that we need to do in times where it can easily be done. But if you come to a place where you're literally not able to get materials to manufacture, negotiation would become a very difficult thing to do. You see what I'm saying? So if you say you want polypropylene, 100 kilos are available, who wants it? And if you at that time you want to make, I'm just making it up, a 10 % discount, you're likely not to get even one kilo. Page 26 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 So it's a very, like I said, it's a very unusual time, I would say, for our industry because there is a lot of pressure on materials at the same time as supply and at the same time there's a lot of pressure on cost. And we are doing our P4G like we normally do with the same diligence, with the same, in fact, even more, would say, focus. But there's only so much you can do in times like this because availability is also important. And if you're not able to manufacture plants, then it doesn't matter what your gross margin declared is, you cannot sell anything. So it's a very complex time for the industry with respect to this. Because our industry depends a lot on crude related, oil related products. Like I said, there are many, many things that in our industry we require, whether it's plastics for washing machines or refrigerators or whether it's EPS for packaging, which is quite substantial. There's tons of it, whether it's products required for foaming. So all of this is related to crude. So we are absolutely doing that, but we are not able to get substantial savings to offset all the impact of this Black Swan event.

​ Yes, so, thank you, Mr. Manjeet. So, let me take up the first question regarding the sale of services. So, this is the sale of services to Whirlpool Corporation, which used to happen in the past. There's an agreement as a part of the transaction, we've agreed with the Whirlpool Corporation that these services will continue until March '29. So, that's what is the agreement, which is also in the public domain. We've made disclosures because it is a related party transaction, and the margins are on arm's length basis, which is a cost-plus kind of a business. Now, what happens beyond March '29 is purely on the discretion of Whirlpool Corporation if they want to retain these services in India or with us, or how Page 27 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 would they want to do it. But right now, our agreement for those services is till March '29 and at arm's length on a cost-plus basis.

​ Thanks, Aditya. On the AC point, you asked the question on healthy ROI. So, I think I kind of partially covered it previously. The way, see, the AC business as we see it is a very, very interesting business, but in a way, it's a risky business. And what is the risk in it, is that if the summer season is fantastic, then your products sell like hotcakes and you're short of supply. But if the summer season is not very good, like last year 2025, then you end up in a situation where you're sitting on tons of stock if you've pre-produced. The way we try to keep a healthy ROI is very simple, like I said, responsible growth. We are not putting massive targets, for example, let us triple our business from this year to next because our base is small, and produce a huge amount of product and then sit on it and don't know what to do. So, we're calibrating our growth so that we grow responsibly. The AC business, de facto, is a lower margin business than refrigerators or washers, because of the kind of competitive pressures that are there. But if we can manage it in such a way that we don't have a lot of obsolescence, and we don't have a lot of inventory sitting, which becomes an inventory carrying cost, or it'll have to be discounted and sold, then it is quite a reasonable business. So, our interest would be in AC is to keep increasing the absolute, excuse me, absolute margin per unit year on year, right, as we drive this business, and at the same time, make so that make show that your profit year-on-year is getting better on the AC business, and at the same time, make sure that you have much better than a 10% or a 20% growth in the AC. We could go for another strategy that says, let's go for a 100% growth or a 200% growth, but that will have its own risks. So, the way we make sure that it's a healthy ROI is what I call the responsible growth strategy. So, we don't just go and list at any cost. We don't do that. So, if somebody says, "Yes, list, but give me this much percentage more," then we don't do it, because it doesn't make financial sense for us long-term. Once you agree a trade deal, then you're stuck with it for years. So, that's my answer to you. We try to do it in such a way that we're increasing the margin in AC year after year. So, if this year the margin is x, next year it should be 1.1x, the year after that 1.2x, after that 1.3x, etcetera, and make sure you're growing profitability, and we make sure that we try to grow the business in a healthy way, utilizing our tremendous strength in both traditional trade and in organized trade, and not depending only on one channel. So, that is the answer to the question on the healthy ROI. Your suggestion, thank you so much for the ESOPs point that you made. So, I just want to highlight to everybody that you talked about vesting at face value or vesting on -- vesting at market rates. See, we need to just step back for a second. We had done an extensive exercise benchmarking a lot of recent ESOP plans that were floated and approved in the market, and without mentioning names, a lot of strong companies have actually issued shares at face value, and that's been fine. And we also checked with all the governance rules that are typically given by advisors on this, and their advice was, if you do it at face value, make sure it's very strongly linked to Page 28 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026 performance. And I'll just explain, I'll take a few minutes to explain this, I'm sorry, I will exceed time by about 3 minutes, but it's really worth it. So, we are linking it extremely strongly to performance. 100% of our vesting is based on performance, okay? And just for you to know, previously the same leadership team was actually getting shares from the Whirlpool Corporation, as I'm sure many of you are aware. And in that case, half of the shares were based on time vesting, which basically meant, if you had a 100 shares, 33 would vest this year, 33 next year, 33 the year after that. This was half of the shares. And the other half of the shares was cliff vesting based on performance. What we've done now is made a 100% of the shares for senior management vest only after 3 years, which is cliff vesting. And completely based only on performance. So, this is a very big change already for the senior management, and by the way, it was also being given at face value. So, from a senior management point of view, as you know, in terms of pay, we look at base pay, bonus, and long-term incentives for the senior management. Our base pay typically is not cutting-edge even with respect to the industry. It is just the bonus and the variable pay or the LTI where we try to incentivize management to give a stronger performance. That has been the philosophy historically. We're following through on that philosophy, but making the conditions even more stringent in agreement with the board before we present it to you. So, like I said, versus time vesting for 50%, we are now only doing performance vesting, which is already a big change for the senior management. Second, where it was vesting 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 on time vesting, now it'll all vest only after year 3. That's another big change. And lastly, individual performance, there was no penalty on the long-term incentives. So, just to explain, if the company did its numbers globally, then you would basically get your long-term vesting. But what we've now done, excuse me, is to say, if two of the three ratings are inconsistent or, let's say, not good enough, as determined by the board or by the leadership team, then the management even has the chance to get zero LTI. So, if you get two out of your last three years you've not got good ratings, ratings are below average, you'll get zero. So, that is a new condition. So, we've already made it much more stringent than what our current management team was actually getting to protect and safeguard our future. Lastly, if I may add, sir, and I wish to place it on record, that we are not only the leadership team, there are literally six people on my leadership team, including myself and Mr. Aditya Jain, who are also individual shareholders of Whirlpool of India. So, with our own money, not ESOPs, with our own money, we've bought shares. So, we are as much shareholders as anybody else in the company. So, our, let me say, personal stake is very much there. And these are pretty big amounts for us. So, I hope that's a very straightforward and fact-based answer for you. Page 29 of 30 ​ ​Whirlpool of India Limited​ ​ August 06, 2026

​ Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

​ Thank you very much. Thank you, Bhawani.