Colgate Palmolive (India) Limited (COLPAL)
Mid CapFMCG stocks · Mid cap · NSE
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited is a leading consumer goods company focused on oral care, including toothpaste and toothbrushes, and personal care products like hand and body wash. It emphasizes driving category consumption, premiumization, and strong brand health through extensive distribution and R&D.
One read, four checks
75+ is strong, 60-74 is usable, 45-59 is mixed, and below 45 needs caution. These are research lenses, not buy/sell instructions.
Mixed fundamentals, management trust is supportive, price trend argues for patience, and recent execution is consistent.
Fundamental lens: valuation, quality, growth, balance sheet, and cash flow.
low confidence · 0/0 claims checked
Timing lens: price trend and sector relative strength.
Rolling lens: recent quarterly delivery, not the latest single-result score.
Quarter ended 30 Jun 2026
Bad · 22/100margin compression · Rev +12% YoY · PAT +7% YoY
| Metric | This quarter | YoY | QoQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₹1,603 Cr | +11.8% | +0.5% |
| EBITDA | ₹483 Cr | +6.6% | -5.3% |
| Operating margin | 30.0% | -200 bps | -200 bps |
| PAT | ₹343 Cr | +6.8% | -2.8% |
| PAT margin | 21.4% | -98 bps | -73 bps |
NDF means not disclosed in the current structured filing feed. It is intentionally not treated as zero.
Business & thesis
Growth engines, tailwinds/headwinds, and risk radar from management commentary
Business & thesis
Growth engines, tailwinds/headwinds, and risk radar from management commentary
Where growth can come from, and what can break the case
Q4 FY26 domestic net sales grew 9.2% YoY, showing significant acceleration after a flat full year. Gross margins remained strong at 69.6%, with EBITDA at 32.2%, despite increased brand investments and commodity/currency headwinds.
COLPAL's Q4 performance indicates a positive shift, driven by premiumization and increased brand investments. While full-year growth was muted, the sequential improvement and resilient margins are encouraging. The focus on driving consumption and expanding distribution, coupled with AI adoption, positions the company for potential long-term growth, though rural demand trends need monitoring.
Oral Care Premiumization
Accelerated investments behind Premium portfolio (Colgate Total, Visible White, PerioGard) showing significant elasticity on advertising.
Toothbrush Category Growth
Significant growth opportunity in India, playing across value, mid-tier, premium, and kids segments, with new brushes launched.
Core Brand Competitive Growth
Relaunched Colgate Strong Teeth with superior formulation (arginine plus calcium boost), Max Fresh continues to be the fastest growing franchise.
Personal Care Business
Palmolive Hand Wash and Body Wash growing strongly, Moments Range innovation, and a new digital-first approach for Body Wash.
Urban Market Recovery
Urban markets are now beginning to pick up in terms of growth, off a relatively soft base.
E-commerce Growth
E-commerce as a channel is growth-accretive, margin-accretive, share-accretive, and premiumization-accretive for the company.
Brand Investment Elasticity
Seeing significant elasticity behind increased brand investments, particularly on the Premium portfolio.
GST IDS Impact
The GST IDS impact will be an ongoing thing and will come through every quarter, affecting operating profit.
Commodity & Currency Challenges
Despite these headwinds, the company continues to deliver very good margins.
Rural Market Slowdown
There is a slight slowdown in rural growth, though it is still expected to grow faster than urban.
Market Distortion from GST
Value growth pickup in Nielsen will be quite distorted given that MRP pricing has actually gone down due to GST.
Translating Claimed Behavior
While claimed results for brushing habits are positive, only some of it will translate into actual behavior.
Management accountability
What management said, and what results must prove
Management accountability
What management said, and what results must prove
What management said, and what results must prove
Issuer guidance and extracted claims are tracked against later reported outcomes. Treat these as management statements, not IndiaPulse forecasts.
Q4 YoY growth shows recent acceleration, while full-year performance was flat due to earlier tough quarters. Sequential improvement in H2 over H1 indicates momentum, making both comparisons relevant to assess current trajectory and underlying business health.
Net Sales Growth (Q4 Domestic)
Domestic growth now at 9.2% YoY for Q4 FY26.
Gross Margins
Gross margins continue to be strong at 69.6% for Q4 FY26 and 69.3% for the full year.
EBITDA Margins
EBITDA margins at 32.2% for Q4 FY26 (includes 160 bps GST IDS impact) and 31.2% for full year FY26 (includes 80 bps GST IDS impact).
Brand Investments
Brand investments just under Rs. 200 crores in Q4 FY26, representing a 10% increase from the same quarter previous year.
Renewed Optimism
Entering Calendar Year 2026 with a renewed sense of optimism and confidence in terms of what this business can deliver.
Drive Category Consumption
Focus continues to be to build category consumption and therefore drive volume.
Continued Premiumization
Transformatively accelerate Oral Care Premiumization, which has seen a step change.
Leveraging AI
Using Google AI technology to drive effectiveness, efficiency, and capability across the organization, with near universal adoption.
Numbers and claims to verify in the next filings
| Checkpoint | Current evidence | What to verify next |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Volume Growth | Overall market is flat-to-increasing. | Need to continuously look at volume growth because value growth pickup in Nielsen will be distorted by GST impact on pricing. |
| Premiumization Contribution | Premiumization mix is up 35% over two years. | Monitor continued growth and margin accretion from the premium segment, especially with accelerated investments. |
| Rural Demand Trends | Rural markets seeing a slight slowdown. | Observe if rural growth picks up and converges with urban trends, and the effectiveness of rural consumption initiatives. |
| EBITDA Margin Calibration | EBITDA margin for Q4 FY26 is 32.2% (including 160 bps GST IDS impact). | EBITDA will be calibrated depending on advertising support and response; watch for sustained industry-leading margins. |
Verification checkpoints are IndiaPulse research interpretation, not investment advice.
Trend score and candlestick chart
27Bearishfull bear SMA stack · SMA20 -7.8% / mo · MACD − · near 52W low
Technical chart
COLPALdaily · 1Y · AUTO-16.9%Daily technical trend read
Mixed signalsSignals are conflicting — long-term trend down. RSI 33. Wait for confirmation.
- Price < SMA20 < SMA50 < SMA200 — full bearish stack.
- SMA20 falling (~8.4% over last month) — short-term momentum negative.
- RSI(14) at 33 — rising, no extreme reading.
- MACD below signal but histogram contracting — bearish momentum easing.
- Within 5% of 52-week low — testing support.
Mechanical read from the price + indicator series above. Not a recommendation — technical setups can reverse without warning, especially around earnings and macro events.
Relative Strength & Trend Stage
- Price is 10.3% below the 30-week proxy.
- The 50-DMA is below the 30-week proxy and its slope is falling -1.4%.
- Both 3-month and 6-month returns are negative.
Valuation & score drivers
U-Score 54 · FAIR VALUE · pillar breakdown, sector model, fair-value anchor
Valuation & score drivers
U-Score 54 · FAIR VALUE · pillar breakdown, sector model, fair-value anchor
Fundamental score breakdown
FAIR VALUEWhy this score?
Top U-Score contributors and drags from the latest stored fundamentals.
Positive drivers
- FCF yield is supportive at 4.4%.
- Piotroski is strong at 8/9.
- Quality contributes 20/20 to the score.
Main drags
- Fair-value margin of safety is negative at -199.7%.
- Valuation is weaker at 1/30; verify the latest quarterly trend.
- Growth is weaker at 7/25; verify the latest quarterly trend.
Consumer valuation: PE/PEG and brand-quality premium
Consumer franchises can deserve higher multiples, but only when growth quality supports them.
Stored run vs live recompute
This shows the stored score trend when snapshots exist, and also compares the latest stored nightly score with a live recompute from current fundamentals and price.
Score history
12 stored score snapshots. Latest stored move: +4 points.
Factor attribution
Modelled fair value
Trust score
Does management behaviour match later outcomes? Claim delivery, forensic breakdown, evidence depth
Trust score
Does management behaviour match later outcomes? Claim delivery, forensic breakdown, evidence depth
Trust asks: does management behaviour match later outcomes? Higher is better, but confidence and evidence depth matter as much as the number.
Healthy Trust: Claim history is still being built. It ranks around the 95th percentile of the scored universe and 84th percentile within FMCG. No major sub-score weakness stands out.
High Trust Lite: Promoter pledge is zero.
Generally investable credibility. Look for weak sub-scores before increasing position size.
overall median 67 · FMCG: 84th pctile, median 78 · Mid: 86th pctile, median 76
65 documents have extracted text, but claim history is not strong enough yet.
0 claims extracted · No contradicted claim yet
How to read this Trust Score
Healthy Trust · low confidenceRead Trust alongside U-Score, result consistency, and technical trend. A cheap stock with weak Trust needs a larger margin of safety; a high Trust score does not make an expensive stock attractive by itself.
Forensic breakdown
Read low sub-scores as due-diligence warnings, not automatic sell signals.
Trust positives
- ▸Promoter pledge is zero.
- ▸FCF yield is positive at 4.4%.
- ▸12 years of positive FCF.
- ▸Debt/equity is 0.03.
Trust risks
- ▸No major Trust Lite risk flags.
Trust Lite uses financial behaviour only. Prefer claim-tested Trust when enough concall claims have later outcomes.
Financials
Full fundamentals table and 10-year revenue / profit / ROE history
Financials
Full fundamentals table and 10-year revenue / profit / ROE history
Fundamentals
Valuation
- P/E
- 36.40
- P/B
- 31.43
- EV/EBITDA
- 24.32
- Market Cap
- 49752.00Cr
Profitability
- ROE
- 82.70%
- ROCE
- 108.00%
- ROA
- 39.55%
- Dividend Y
- 2.62%
Growth (CAGR)
- Revenue 5Y
- 5.00%
- EPS 5Y
- 5.00%
- Revenue 3Y
- 5.00%
- EPS 3Y
- 8.00%
Balance Sheet
- Debt/Equity
- 0.03
- Interest Coverage
- 475.00×
- Altman Z
- 10.28
- Book Value
- 58.20
Cash Flow
- FCF Yield
- 4.38%
- FCF Positive Y
- 12/5
- OCF
- 1806.00 Cr
- EPS TTM
- 49.55
Shareholding
- Promoter Hold
- 51.00%
- Promoter Pledge
- 0.00%
- Momentum 52W
- 7%
Financial History
Updated 5/9/2026
Revenue
₹ CrNet Profit
₹ CrReturn on Equity
%Peers
Business-comparable names in FMCG, ranked by similarity
Peers
Business-comparable names in FMCG, ranked by similarity
Peers
Business-comparable peers in FMCG — ranked by industry, sub-sector, theme-tag overlap, market cap, and U-Score similarity. Green cells mark the best available peer metric in this table.