Gunjan Shah, MD and CEO, Bata India
Footwear major Bata India is aiming at volume-driven revenue growth over the next five years, sticking to its strategy of multi-channel model.
In the fourth quarter last fiscal, the company witnessed volume-led growth for the second quarter consecutively, led by franchise and e-commerce channels.
“We want, over the next five years, to make sure that it is a volume-driven growth trajectory overall. There might be some quarters that are up and down, but we want to make sure it is a volume-driven revenue growth trajectory,” Gunjan Shah, MD and CEO, Bata India, said during a post earnings conference call on Monday.
Net profit
The company last week reported about 28 per cent year-on-year decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹45.91 crore for the fourth quarter last fiscal, as its revenue from operations during this period fell amid sluggish consumer demand. Revenue from operations witnessed a 1.21 per cent fall to ₹788.21 crore in Q4FY25.
“There is a consumer cohort, a large part of our target consumers, who are looking for value propositions. And therefore, how do we make sure that we do it, not only in the short term, but also in the medium term structurally? We are working on it,” Shah said during the earnings conference call.
For the company, inventory tightening, both in terms of quantity and quality, has been a key focus area. Several initiatives were taken to improve stock turns and forecast accuracy to achieve an optimal level of inventory.
The zero base merchandising project was scaled to 146 stores by last fiscal. It is also helping the company improve revenue per square feet.
146 stores
“On the zero based merchandising, we are now at about 146 stores, so it is obviously a very large expansion from less than 40 or so in the last quarter. The pace has obviously gone up, as we have learned to do this much faster. Obviously, we want to keep on doing this much faster. This quarter also, it has to be a very large focus area. The number of lines in the store has dropped by almost 40 per cent and the inventories have dropped by about 25 per cent,” the MD said.
Notably, core working capital days reduced by 15 days in FY25, led by 12 days reduction in inventory days (85 days) and 6 days increase in creditor days (37 days) partially offset by 3 days in increase in debtor days (12 days).
Published on June 2, 2025
