DIC India Q2 FY27: standalone PAT plunges 66% YoY to ₹1.99 Cr on raw-material cost spike

DIC India's standalone revenue from operations rose 22.8% YoY to ₹274.02 Cr (₹223.17 Cr) for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, continuing the topline momentum seen through the first half. But profitability told the opposite story: PAT collapsed 66.1% YoY to ₹1.99 Cr (₹5.87 Cr) and 86.1% sequentially from ₹14.27 Cr in Q1 FY27, with EPS falling to ₹2.17 from ₹6.40 a year ago and ₹15.54 last quarter. The divergence is almost entirely a raw-material cost story: cost of materials consumed rose to 80.3% of revenue from operations this quarter, up from 75.7% a year ago and 72.6% in Q1 FY27 — the single-segment printing-ink business absorbed a sharp input-cost squeeze that other expense lines (employee costs, other expenses, which were broadly flat to down sequentially) did not offset. Net profit margin compressed to 0.73% from 2.62% YoY and 5.0% QoQ, and operating profit before exceptional items/tax fell to roughly 1.0% of revenue from 5.26% YoY and 7.9% QoQ. There were no exceptional items in the current, year-ago, or preceding quarter, so the decline is fully operational rather than one-off-driven — unlike FY2025's full year, which carried a ₹2.36 Cr labour-code exceptional expense. DIC India carries no meaningful analyst coverage with published estimates — a web search turned up no brokerage preview or consensus figures for this quarter — and neither the company's records nor our prior-concall log hold formal guidance to grade this print against, so vsStreet and vsGuidance both read 'unknown'/'none' rather than a beat or miss. No press release or management commentary accompanied this filing beyond the standard board-outcome disclosure. The quarter did coincide with a cluster of tax and legal developments — a GST demand reduced to ₹1.28 Lakh, an ITAT order recall/rectification, a transfer-pricing adjustment cut to ₹3.74 Cr, an income-tax survey at the registered office on October 15, and Dispute Resolution Panel directions received on October 2 — none of which shows up as a quarter-specific provision or exceptional line in this result. Separately, the board appointed two new independent directors (Tony Sirohi, Shalini Kapoor) effective November 3 and accepted the resignations of two independent directors (Prabal Sarkar, Pritha Dutt) effective November 5 — governance moves unrelated to the financial print. Nine-month PAT of ₹20.49 Cr is still up 59.9% YoY (₹12.82 Cr) on 21.1% revenue growth, so the first half carried margin strength this quarter alone did not — making the raw-material cost spike and its reversal (or persistence) the key monitorable heading into Q3 FY27.