Five stories from India’s consumer economy this morning. It is results week, and the quarter is doing the talking.
1. Swiggy’s two halves went opposite ways
Swiggy’s September-quarter net loss was Rs 922 crore, 16% smaller than a year ago but Rs 131 crore larger than in June. Revenue rose 36% to Rs 7,571 crore. Food delivery posted a record Rs 341 crore of adjusted EBITDA on a record take rate of 26.1%. Instamart grew gross order value 31.4% to Rs 9,230 crore and widened its adjusted EBITDA loss to Rs 895 crore, with contribution margin at minus 1.0%. Management says the losses have peaked and guided to 100 basis points of improvement in December. Break-even, on its own numbers, needs roughly 2.3 times current scale. (Indian Startup News)
2. Havells grew 34.6% and earned 11.1% more
Havells India’s September-quarter revenue rose 34.6% to Rs 6,417 crore while net profit rose 11.1% to Rs 353 crore. Contribution margin fell to 18.2% from 20.1%. Cables, the lowest-margin of the large segments, grew 47.9% to Rs 2,999 crore, close to half of all revenue; renewables grew 147.8%, switchgear 31.3% and Lloyd Consumer 28.4%. Across six months, revenue is up 26.7% and net profit is down 2.8%. Lower aluminium prices lift cable volumes, but much of that benefit passes through in pricing, which perhaps explains why growth this fast is producing less money. (Kotak Neo)
3. Colgate bought its volume growth
Colgate-Palmolive India’s September-quarter revenue rose 12.3% to Rs 1,705.8 crore and net profit rose 4.3% to Rs 341.6 crore. Operating profit grew just 3.1% to Rs 495.2 crore even though gross margin improved 40 basis points to 69.6%. The company reported high-single-digit volume growth in toothpaste, led by premium variants and MaxFresh. In a category this penetrated, that volume number is strong, since growth has to come from people trading up rather than from new households. But a 69.6% gross margin alongside 3.1% operating growth means the difference went into advertising and trade. (Business Standard)
4. KFC’s fastest quarter in four years
Sapphire Foods reported September-quarter revenue of Rs 888 crore, up 19.7%, with EBITDA up 23.5% to Rs 126 crore and margin at 14.2%. KFC revenue grew 26%, its fastest in 16 quarters, with same-store sales up 14% and double-digit transaction growth; dine-in and takeaway outgrew delivery. The group still posted a Rs 1.1 crore net loss, against a Rs 12.8 crore loss a year ago and a Rs 14.2 crore profit in June. Pizza Hut grew 7% with an EBITDA margin of minus 2.8%. The lever was the Rs 99 meal, which brought people in rather than making each one spend more. (IANS)
5. Tractor lending is slowing before repayment is
Mahindra Finance said tractor disbursements grew 13% in the September quarter, the slowest of its segments, against 22% overall, 28% in passenger vehicles and 32% in three-wheelers. Tractors were Rs 1,979 crore, about 12% of disbursements. Managing director Raul Rebello read the first ten days of Navratri as “maybe tractors have seen a little more decline than last year”, noting last year’s base was inflated by buying around the GST changes. The company names 282 drought-prone districts and has reduced funding in stressed locations. Gross stage 3 assets improved to 3.42% from 3.94%, so the slowdown is visible in new lending before it is visible in repayment. (Autocar Professional)
The full edition, with the deeper reads on each story and three quick briefs, is here: https://theinsightlabs.in/daily/2026-10-23
If one of these is close to your market, hit reply and tell me what you are seeing on the ground. I read every one.
— Satyam · The Insight Labs