Field composites

Profile · Chief Financial Officer, Industrial Importer

Vikram 51 years · CFO · mid-cap industrial-intermediate importer

Manages ~₹2,800 Cr revenue with ~35% input cost from dollar-priced intermediates. Forward-cover policy: rolling 6-month hedges on 60–70% of expected dollar-payable. Comparable to Tata Chemicals' Rs 702 Cr forward-contract book at Mar 31 2025 (FY24-25 annual report). The headline says spot is ₹96.345. The landed cost — after rolling hedges struck at the previous quarter average, plus duty, plus freight — is closer to ₹98 per dollar of payment.

The friction Vikram is now modelling is the natural-hedge that isn't: the "natural hedge" — a fraction of revenue priced in dollars — covers ~20% of dollar-payable, not the 50% the deck assumed. Quarterly contract pricing means pass-through to customers lags one quarter; cash flows out at today's hedge cost, cash flows in at last quarter's price. Reported margin holds; the gap parks itself in working capital.

Profile: spot ≠ landed cost · hedge book rolling · pass-through lags one quarter
Profile · Treasurer, IT-Services Exporter

Priya 47 years · Treasurer · large-cap IT-services exporter

Runs a hedge book of Rs 66,475 Cr notional outstanding (TCS anchor, Mar 31 2026 disclosed; Infosys comparable Rs 33,045 Cr at Mar 31 2025; Wipro Form 20-F discloses USD 18 Mn USD-leg sell-forward + multi-currency book). Revenue is booked at the contracted spot at billing date; the hedge book locks the realisation 3-12 months forward (Infosys discloses forward and option contracts mature within 12 months).

The structural tension Priya navigates is the realised vs locked rate gap. When the rupee weakens fast (12-mo +13.09%, 24-mo +15.53% per FBIL monthly averages), the hedge book locked at last year's lower spot realises below the current spot for incoming receivables maturing this quarter. Constant-currency growth at TCS was +4.2% in FY25 (TCS Q4 FY25 press release) — but the realised rate on the hedge book trailed the headline by the hedge-maturity window. Companies disclose hedge notional and IndAS 109 hedge-effectiveness; they do not publish the realised-vs-spot delta by quarter.

Profile: revenue at billing · realisation at maturity · hedge book locks the upside
Profile · Chief Financial Officer, Consumer-Goods Manufacturer

Rohan 49 years · CFO · mid-large FMCG / consumer-durables manufacturer

Cost of materials runs ~50% of revenue (Marico FY25 anchor: Rs 5,388 Cr cost-of-materials / Rs 10,831 Cr revenue from operations = 49.7%); a meaningful chunk is dollar-linked (palm oil, packaging polymers, fragrance/flavour intermediates, electronics components). When the rupee weakens, input procurement cost rises in rupee terms within the same quarter; retail MRP doesn't move for 2-3 quarters because of MRP cycles, distributor contracts, and competitive pricing pressure.

  • The gap lives in working capital. Inventory carries the new FX-up cost; revenue carries the old MRP. Working capital expands first; gross margin compresses second; retail price clears third. None of these three rows appears as a single disclosed FX-impact line.
  • Typical first-quarter gross-margin compression is ~80-120 bps (MODELLED). Inventory revaluation hits before pricing clears. The compression sits on the income statement through the 2-3 quarter pass-through window — long enough to move the print, short enough to be paraphrased away in the management commentary.
  • The crude shock compounds: Indian basket $114.48/bbl in Apr-26 vs $67.72/bbl in Apr-25 (PPAC disclosed), OMC under-recovery Rs 30,000 Cr/month (Business Standard + Financial Express). For any dollar-linked input, the spot rupee move is layered on top of the dollar-price move — two compressions arriving in the same quarter.
Profile: input cost spikes Q1 · retail price moves Q3 · working capital absorbs the gap