New Delhi-based surfacing and substrate products manufacturer Greenlam Industries is entering the second half of FY26 with a strong operational footing, supported by broad-based growth across its laminate, plywood and newly scaled panel businesses.
Looking ahead, Saurabh Mittal, MD & CEO of Greenlam Industries remains confident of achieving its 18–20% revenue growth guidance for FY26 as demand trends stabilise and new capacities come on stream.
With exports contributing nearly 45% of total revenue and domestic demand strengthening across wood-based product lines, Mittal anticipates balanced growth across geographies. The company also sees further room for improvement in its working capital cycle as it continues to expand and streamline operations.
In the July–September quarter (Q2FY26), Greenlam Industries reported revenues of ₹808 crore, a profit after tax of ₹32.33 crore, and margins of 12.9%.
This is the edited excerpt of the interview.
Q: First half – 15% revenue the last time you joined us, you said 18% to 20% revenue growth for FY 26 with 11 to 12% blended EBITDA margins; you are there when it comes to the EBITDA margins. However, the second half, do you think you can make up for your overall target of 18 to 20% revenue growth for the year?
A: We should be able to make up. Last year, we had a weak H2 and with the way, quarter two has progressed for us, we are on with that 18-20% kind of a topline number for FY26.
Q: Just give us a sense in terms of what that is predicated on for the second half. If you had to break up the volume mix, the pricing mix and the segment growth that you are anticipating, what is going to be driving the growth?
A: If you see in quarter two, we grew across all parts of a business, the laminates, the core business is exceptionally well in terms of volume, value, cross margins, EBITDA margins. The plywood and allied category also did well with plywood and door doing very well. The chipboard business gained decent traction. We grew about 50% in quarter two versus quarter one and quarter one was our first quarter. Going ahead, each part of our business, we think will grow both domestic and international. There could be some gaps here in there, but largely, we expect growth across every part of our business.
Q: Specifically for the panel side of the business, I believe chipboard utilisation is at 36% where do you see that headed now, and what would be the peak revenues that one could see coming in from this business as well, in terms of contribution growth, what can we watch out for?
A: Quarter one like I said, was a first quarter for that business and progressively, we will keep winning more business, and which will help us increase utilisation, increase revenues. We had said earlier, year three, we expect full utilisation. At a full utilisation revenues would be something like a ₹725 to 750, crores that’s on the peak revenue. Moving ahead, we keep getting better from where we were in quarter two. Can’t give an exact number on every quarter, but I think this will keep inching up as you move ahead.
Q: Could you give us a sense on, the break even for your veneers business and the plywood business you had earlier indicated that it’s fairly near. Just wanted to understand on that factor and exports as well. What proportion are exports at right now and where do they stand going forward?
A: In the plywood category, we have plywoods, decorative veneer flooring and doors. The veneer business and flooring business have already achieved the breakeven in quarter two, like we said last time, we are close to it. The ply business obviously is a larger investment and there too, we are winning market share in the premium plywood category. Sales are going up. You can see in quarter two we did about, 45-50% of growth.
In the plywood and the door business also, door breakeven is just the corner. And ply we will have to still do little bit more numbers to get to a break even on the ply business. On the exports again, quarter two was very good for us. In exports, we grew about 10-12% revenues were good. Quarter one was a bit weak for us. So and exports about 45% of the total revenue of the company, and about 50-51% of the laminates business.
Exports too, we see decent traction in many markets. In fact, we have announced expansion for laminates in this quarter. We are adding two lines of laminates, which will be about 2 million sheets and boards, which will come up by quarter four of FY27. Exports too should do well overall. Some markets there could be some challenges, but largely, we expect decent growth on the export front too.
Q: So you are expecting maybe a 10 to 12% growth in terms of the export market to continue.
A: We could say that.
Q: Is that going to be the key driver going forward if you had to compare it to the domestic business, where are you sort of pushing your energies in terms of incremental growth and capex?
A: On, the growth the laminates business is like 50% domestic and 50% international. All the wood business, which is plywood, chipboard, veneer, flooring, door these are largely domestic businesses. As we move ahead, we expect growth in both domestic and international markets. The recent investments have been largely done on the wood category. We expect the domestic mix to improve as a percent of the overall revenue mix, but we will grow in both the geographies.
We have a very strong foothold in both international markets and domestic markets and, we will keep growing in both the places. The capacities we built in laminates are of global size and scale so that is a core strength of the company, and we expect growth.
Q: What would that mix be going forward then, if you expect domestic to pick up in terms of the mix there, what is the mix that you are envisaging, maybe a FY27 end what would we watch out for?
A: My sense would be 60% domestic, 40% exports as a company. But if you look at the laminates, maybe you still remain in a similar range of 50% each.
Q: How much more room do you have for working capital? Because earlier it was what 65-70 days, closer to 70 days. Now it’s come down sub 50 days, 47 as we move forward with more plants coming in, more products, more businesses do you think this is the best that we have in terms of net working capital, or at some point you will see further improvement here as well?
A: We have improved networking capital cycle to 47 minutes, is the best we have done. Having said that we still have the chipboard business, where the working capital cycle is still not as efficient as we want it to be, exactly. Likewise, in the ply business.
In addition, if you see quarter two of last year versus quarter two of this year, overall, revenues went up by ₹130 crores, and we could reduce net working capital cycle in value, and obviously in days also. It depends on how things go. However, my sense is, if we keep improving revenues, because our collection periods in the market is one of the best, net working capital cycle can still improve a bit. However, one has to see how this goes actually.