eClerx Q2 FY27: consolidated PAT dips 1.6% YoY to ₹180.6 Cr as margins compress

eClerx's consolidated Q2 FY27 revenue came in at ₹1,188.66 Cr, up 18.3% YoY and 3.1% QoQ — inside the ₹1,170–1,200 Cr range flagged in our pre-result preview. Consolidated PAT was ₹180.60 Cr, down 1.6% YoY even as it rose 9.96% QoQ from Q1 FY27's ₹164.24 Cr. No exceptional items featured in either the current or year-ago quarter, so the YoY PAT decline is on a clean, like-for-like basis — there is no adjusted-vs-reported distinction to draw here. The operating (EBITDA) margin came in at roughly 23.9%, just under the 24–28% band management guided for FY27, which the Street's pre-result read had explicitly flagged as the key swing factor to watch. The margin bridge is clear: employee benefits expense, the largest cost line, rose 21.5% YoY to ₹741.14 Cr — outpacing the 18.3% YoY revenue growth — and compressed OPM from roughly 26.7–27% a year ago to 23.9% now, with net margin falling from about 18.3% to 15.2% YoY over the same stretch. Sequentially the picture is better: OPM ticked up from ~23.0% in Q1 FY27, so the compression is a year-on-year phenomenon tied to cost inflation rather than a deepening sequential slide. The standalone (India) entity posted PAT of ₹135.18 Cr on revenue of ₹811.84 Cr, broadly mirroring the consolidated growth and margin story with no material standalone-versus-consolidated divergence this quarter. Against management's own prior guidance — FY27 EBITDA margin of 24–28%, sequential Q2 revenue growth, and reaffirmed top-quartile growth — the quarter is on-track on growth (18.3% YoY, 3.1% QoQ both delivered) but lands just below the guided margin floor. No company press release was available in the record to cross-check management's own framing of the quarter's drivers. H1 FY27 consolidated capex of ₹103.95 Cr already represents roughly two-thirds of the ₹130–150 Cr full-year guide, pointing to either a capex overshoot or a deliberate slowdown in H2 spend. Street coverage (10+ analysts, consensus Buy, target range ₹1,520–2,370) had centred the debate on GenAI integration and BFSI-vertical health; this quarter's margin softness tracks to cost inflation rather than any visible demand weakness, since revenue growth held up. Going into Q3, the swing factors are whether OPM climbs back into the 24–28% band, whether employee-cost growth (21.5% YoY) decelerates toward the revenue growth rate, and how H2 capex paces against the full-year guide given the front-loaded H1 run-rate.