Synopsis:- In a year where volume growth could not compensate for stubborn procurement cost inflation, Dodla Dairy posted record consolidated revenue of Rs.4,125.2 crore for FY26 up 10.9 percent while EBITDA fell 19 percent to Rs.308.5 crore; reported PAT of Rs.267 crore includes Rs.58.7 crore in one-time tax credits, masking a sharper underlying earnings decline that investors would do well to separate out.
Shares of a South India-based integrated dairy company came under scrutiny after the company filed its Q4 FY26 and full-year investor presentation, revealing a year in which record topline growth came alongside the steepest EBITDA compression in recent memory. The filing also provided details of ongoing expansion across Maharashtra, Eastern India, and Uganda.
With a market capitalization of Rs. 6,010.46 crore, the shares of Dodla Dairy Limited were last seen at Rs. 996.30 per share, down 2.86 percent from its previous closing price of Rs. 1,025.6. It is trading at a P/E of 23.17.
The March 2026 quarter closed with consolidated revenue of Rs.1,074.5 crore, up 18.1 percent YoY, as milk sales volume reached a record 14.0 lakh litres per day, a 19.5 percent rise over Q4 FY25. EBITDA fell to Rs.53.8 crore from Rs.83.5 crore in the year-ago period, with margin contracting from 9.2 percent to 5.0 percent. The mechanism was blunt: milk procurement prices rose 9.7 percent YoY to Rs. 40.97 per litre in Q4, while realization prices moved up only 4 percent to Rs. 58.40 per litre. The company chose to absorb most of the spread compression rather than pass it on, a deliberate call to protect market share that cost it significantly at the gross profit line.
Reported Q4 PAT of Rs.69.8 crore appears relatively stable at up 2.6 percent YoY, but the number is distorted. The quarter benefited from a Rs.29.2 crore one-time tax credit following a favorable ITAT and CIT(A) order. Stripping this out, underlying Q4 PAT was approximately Rs.40.6 crore, a decline of roughly 40 percent from the Rs.68 crore in Q4 FY25.
Full-year consolidated revenue reached Rs.4,125.2 crore, the highest in the company’s history, against Rs.3,720.1 crore in FY25. The 10.9 percent growth was volume-led, with average milk sales rising to 13.2 LLPD from 11.6 LLPD. EBITDA fell to Rs.308.5 crore from Rs.380.8 crore, a 19 percent decline, as gross margins eased from 27.4 percent to 25.6 percent and COGS as a share of revenue climbed from 72.6 percent to 74.4 percent.
The full-year PAT of Rs.267 crore, reported as an all-time high, reflects Rs.58.7 crore in accumulated tax credits across the four quarters of FY26, covering income tax refunds and ITAT rulings. Excluding these credits, underlying PAT for the year was approximately Rs.208 crore against Rs.259.9 crore in FY25, a decline of roughly 20 percent. The “highest-ever PAT” framing in the investor presentation requires that context.
Expansion and Strategic Update
Capital expenditure in FY26 exceeded Rs.350 crore, part of a Rs.590-crore-plus plan covering FY26 through FY28. The Maharashtra greenfield dairy plant, with an initial capacity of 10 LLPD focused on SMP and butter, is on track for commissioning by end-FY27. The July 2024 acquisition of OSAM Dairy (HR Food Processing Private Limited) for Rs.271 crore added processing capacity in Bihar and Jharkhand, extending the company’s Eastern India footprint.
The investor presentation explicitly flags that OSAM’s EBITDA margins currently run below company-level margins, so the integration represents a near-term earnings drag with longer-term geographic optionality. Africa delivered better: Uganda and Kenya combined recorded 48 percent revenue growth in Q4, with Uganda achieving its highest-ever quarterly EBITDA of Rs.18.4 crore. A greenfield Uganda plant targeting around 2 LLPD capacity is slated for completion by end-FY29.
One governance signal worth monitoring: promoter holding has declined from 62.21 percent in March 2023 to 58.92 percent in December 2025, a cumulative reduction of 329 basis points over three years.
Business Overview
Dodla Dairy Limited, incorporated in 1995, is an integrated dairy company headquartered in Hyderabad with operations across South and Eastern India and Africa (Kenya and Uganda). The company procures raw milk from approximately 1.3 lakh farmers through 8,050-plus village-level collection centres and operates 18 processing plants with an aggregate installed capacity of over 28 LLPD.
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