Blue Star Faces Margin Challenge Amid Commodity Inflation, Targets Volume Growth

Blue Star Managing Director B Thiagarajan told NDTV Profit that a poor monsoon is likely to hurt demand in Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns and offers little support to the cooling products industry, even as the company expects volumes to grow 18% in FY27 after reporting 21% year-on-year volume growth in the June quarter. He said profitability was hit by rising commodity costs and industry oversupply, forcing the company to pass on 5% price inflation to consumers, with another 6-8% increase potentially needed despite challenges in implementing further hikes. Thiagarajan added that restoring margins will remain a key focus, though delivering a 6.5% Ebitda margin will be difficult, while growth opportunities are emerging from the data centre and semiconductor segments.