Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Limited

Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Limited is a prominent, vertically integrated jewelry retailer operating under the brand name "Lalithaa" across the southern Indian jewelry markets. Established originally in 1985 as a private entity and subsequently converted to a public limited company in January 2024, the company's core value proposition revolves around offering BIS-hallmarked gold, silver, and diamond jewelry at highly competitive prices. Its disruptive, high-volume business model focuses on passing cost savings directly to customers by combining massive procurement scale with in-house craftsmanship.

The company operates a B2C retail chain with a geographically concentrated footprint in South India, which represents approximately 40% of the entire gems and jewelry market in India. As of March 31, 2026, Lalithaa operated 61 showrooms in 51 cities across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The retail model is heavily geared towards Tier-II and Tier-III cities, which house 45 of its 61 stores and contribute 60.25% of the company’s operating revenues, highlighting its successful demographic penetration into high-growth suburban and rural markets.

A cornerstone of Lalithaa's customer-acquisition and capital-funding strategy is its structured jewelry purchase schemes, such as "Dhana Vandhanam" and "Free-yo-Flexi". These programs allow customers to make monthly deposits over an 11-month tenure to buy gold or diamond jewelry with full waivers on value-addition (making/wastage) charges. As of March 31, 2026, over 473,412 customers are active in these schemes, generating Rs 5,042.75 Crore in customer advances (which accounted for 20.15% of FY26 revenues), providing the company with predictable operational cash flows.

Lalithaa utilizes an asset-light, artisan-led production model and operates two specialized manufacturing and design facilities in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu. The primary, company-operated facility in Thirumudivakkam, Chennai spans 43,861.96 square feet and commenced operations in December 2024. The secondary 20,000 square feet facility is managed via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Asita Jewellery Manufacturing Private Limited, in Maraimalai Nagar. This integrated setup allows Lalithaa to manufacture, design, and source its products with minimal dependence on external trade intermediaries.

Because the jewelry manufacturing process relies primarily on handmade craftsmanship and skilled artisan labor rather than automated industrial assembly-line machinery, traditional manufacturing installed capacity and capacity utilization metrics are not applicable to the company's operations. To support this labor-intensive model, the company has engaged 816 on-rolls Karigars (672 at the parent level and 144 through Asita) under exclusive arrangements, supplemented by short-term non-exclusive contracts with 296 external Karigars as of March 31, 2026, ensuring highly responsive and culturally relevant design execution.

As per financial performance, Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Limited has posted total income / net profits of Rs 16,800.62 Cr / Rs 359.83 Cr (FY24), Rs 16,907.88 Cr / Rs 364.73 Cr (FY25) and Rs 25,039.80 Cr / Rs 1,009.82 Cr (FY26). So as per previous financials data, the company has shown consistent top-line growth and a significant net profit expansion in the latest fiscal, although total outstanding borrowings increased to Rs 1,238.10 Cr as of June 30, 2026, to fund its store network expansion. Company has an average EPS of Rs 13.73 and average RoNW of 30.55% for the last three fiscals. Based on the pre-issue book value, the issue is priced at a Pre-Issue P/BV of 3.43 as per NAV of Rs 58.60 as on 31.03.26. Factoring in the fresh issue proceeds, the Post-Issue P/BV stands at 2.72 (calculated on the expanded post-issue book value of Rs 73.79 per share). If we attribute the latest earnings of FY24, FY25, and FY26 to the expanded equity base post-issue, then the asking price is at a Post-Issue P/E of around 31.26, 30.84, and 11.14 respectively. As per RHP, a comparison between listed peers shows that peer P/E multiples range from Manoj Vaibhav Gems N Jewellers Limited at 7.12x to Titan Company Limited at 85.25x, with the industry average standing at 29.69x, making Lalithaa's FY26 post-issue P/E of 11.14x highly competitive.

On BRLM's front, Anand Rathi Advisors Limited and Equirus Capital Limited are associated with this IPO, and Equirus Capital Limited has handled 14 IPOs in the last three fiscal years. (as on 11.08.26)

• 1 M. Kiran Kumar Jain
• 2 Hemaa Kiran Kumar Jain