South India’s disruptor jewellery chain opens its Rs 1,700 crore mainboard issue on August 17
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Ltd. (LJML), the operator of the ‘Lalithaa’ brand and one of the highest revenue-per-store organised jewellery players in India, opens for subscription on August 17 with the issue closing on August 19.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Ltd. (LJML) is one of South India’s more distinctive jewellery retail stories — a brand that has built itself around competitive pricing, in-house manufacturing and large-format stores in mid-sized cities rather than glossy metro locations.
The chain operates 61 stores across 51 cities in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Puducherry, spread across a combined 6,50,881 sq. ft. of operational area. The store strategy is a key differentiator.
LJML runs Large Format Stores (over 15,000 sq. ft) and Medium Format Stores (5,000 to 15,000 sq. ft), and in FY26, 51 of its 61 stores were larger than 5,000 sq. ft. This lets the company showcase the full breadth of its gold, silver and diamond jewellery under one roof — the kind of destination-shopping experience that customers travel for.
The Tier II and Tier III city focus is what really sets it apart. In FY26, 45 of its 61 stores — or 74% of the network — were in Tier II and Tier III cities, contributing 60.25% of revenue. This is where jewellery buying is highest per household relative to income, and where organised players still have room to displace neighbourhood jewellers.
The numbers back the strategy. According to CRISIL, LJML has the highest operating revenue per store among key organised jewellery players in India — Rs 410.23 crore per store in FY26. This is well above what Kalyan Jewellers, Senco Gold and even Titan’s Tanishq deliver on a per-store basis, and reflects the pulling power of the destination-store model in South India.
The product mix is customer-driven. LJML focuses on 18K and 22K gold jewellery in traditional South Indian designs, complemented by silver, diamond and studded jewellery ranges. Its in-house manufacturing at two facilities (Thirumudivakkam, Chennai and Maraimalai, Kanchipuram) helps control costs and offer competitive pricing.
The company’s savings schemes are a significant part of the model. ‘Dhana Vandhanam’ — a monthly instalment plan from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 — and ‘Free-yo-Flexi’ bring in customers on a repeat basis. On completing 11 months, customers get a 50% bonus on one month’s instalment and a 50% discount on value addition charges. As of FY26, 4,73,412 customers were enrolled in these active schemes.
These schemes are also a smart working capital tool. LJML had customer advances of Rs 5,042.75 crore in FY26 and Rs 3,145.41 crore in FY25 — the highest among key organised jewellery players in India, per CRISIL. These advances effectively fund inventory ahead of the buying, giving the company sales visibility and a lower need for external working capital.
As of March 31, 2026, LJML had 7,059 employees on its payroll — a large operational team consistent with running 61 large-format stores plus two manufacturing facilities.
Issue Details
| Particulars | Details |
|---|---|
| Issue Opens | August 17, 2026 |
| Issue Closes | August 19, 2026 |
| Listing | BSE, NSE (Mainboard) |
| Price Band | Rs 190 – Rs 201 per share |
| Face Value | Rs 5 |
| Issue Size | Rs 1,700.00 crore |
| Fresh Issue | Rs 1,200.00 crore (approx. 5.97 cr shares) |
| OFS | Rs 500.00 crore (approx. 2.49 cr shares) |
| Lot Size | 74 shares (multiples thereafter) |
| Min. Retail Investment | Rs 14,874 |
| Post-IPO Market Cap | Rs 11,249.54 crore |
| IPO Constitutes | 15.11% of post-IPO equity |
| BRLMs | Anand Rathi Advisors, Equirus Capital |
| Registrar | MUFG Intime India Pvt. Ltd. |
From the fresh proceeds, Rs 1,033.23 crore — the bulk of the fresh money — is earmarked for capex on fit-outs and inventory for 10 new stores. The balance goes to general corporate purposes. This is squarely a growth-funding IPO, with the new stores expected to expand the network by roughly 16%.
Post-IPO, paid-up equity moves from Rs 249.99 crore to Rs 279.84 crore. Employees get a discount of Rs 19 per share on the reservation portion of Rs 6 crore.
The promoter and selling stakeholder average cost of acquisition is Rs 1.25 and Rs 3.51 per share. This reflects earlier share issuances between Rs 375 and Rs 800 (between March 2007 and March 2024) and a 20-for-1 bonus issue in June 2024.
Financial Performance
| Particulars (Rs cr) | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Income | 16,800.62 | 16,907.88 | 25,039.80 |
| PAT | 359.83 | 364.73 | 1,009.82 |
| PAT Margin | 2.14% | 2.16% | 4.04% |
| RoCE | 30.44% | 25.58% | 42.60% |
Revenue was essentially flat between FY24 and FY25 — Rs 16,800.62 crore to Rs 16,907.88 crore — before jumping sharply to Rs 25,039.80 crore in FY26. That is a 48% top-line jump in the pre-IPO year, driven by higher gold prices, better store productivity and rising customer scheme participation.
The bottom line has moved much more dramatically. PAT was flat at around Rs 360 crore in FY24 and FY25 before nearly tripling to Rs 1,009.82 crore in FY26. PAT margin nearly doubled from 2.16% to 4.04%, and RoCE jumped from 25.58% to 42.60%.
Jewellery retail typically operates at low single-digit margins because it is fundamentally a commodity pass-through business — the gold is bought at market and sold with a making charge margin on top. Sustaining the FY26 doubled margin is the key debate. Higher gold prices have a mixed effect — they lift revenue but also compress volumes; only better making charges and studded jewellery mix can genuinely lift margins.
Average EPS over three years is Rs 13.73 and average RoNW is 30.55%. At the upper band of Rs 201, the P/E works out to 11.14x on FY26 earnings and a much higher 30.83x on FY25 — a very wide gap that shows how much the valuation depends on FY26 profits holding up. The issue is priced at a P/BV of 3.43 on pre-IPO NAV and 2.72 on post-IPO NAV of Rs 73.78 per share.
Listed peers Kalyan Jewellers, Manoj Vaibhav Gems, PC Jewellers, PN Gadgil Jewellers, Senco Gold, Thangamayil Jewellery, Titan Co. and Tribhovandas Bhimji trade at P/E multiples of 43.0, 6.38, 12.2, 20.2, 9.83, 43.0, 77.5 and 7.86 respectively (as of August 14, 2026) — a very wide range that reflects different sub-segments and geographies within jewellery retail. LJML’s 11.14x FY26 P/E sits toward the lower end of this range.
According to a note by SMIFS, “continued expansion of its store network, rising formalization of the jewellery industry, growing preference for organized players, and increasing focus on higher-margin studded jewellery and silverware categories are expected to support sustained growth and margin expansion.” The brokerage highlights “strong execution, industry-leading ROE and ROCE among listed peers, and a scalable business model” as the core positives, and believes Lalithaa Jewellery is “well positioned to capitalize on the long-term growth opportunity in organized jewellery retail.” SMIFS recommends subscribing to the issue from a long-term investment perspective.
Grey market interest has been muted so far. Lalithaa Jewellery Mart IPO GMP is around Rs 8-10 in the days leading up to the issue opening, suggesting an estimated listing price of around Rs 210 — a modest premium of roughly 4-5% over the upper price band of Rs 201.
This is a lukewarm grey market signal by mainboard IPO standards, and likely reflects investor caution around the FY26 profit jump and the recent softness in gold prices. GMP moved from a high of around Rs 15 earlier in August to the current level, indicating that early enthusiasm has cooled somewhat as invest
Risks to Consider
The FY26 doubled PAT margin is the biggest question mark. Jewellery retail is a low-margin, commodity-linked business, and sustaining 4%+ PAT margins requires either a sharp shift toward studded jewellery (which is higher margin) or continued gold price momentum. Any pullback in gold prices could hit both revenue and margin.
Regional concentration is a real risk. All 61 stores are in South India — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Puducherry. Any regional slowdown, cyclonic disruption or state-level policy change could hit the business more than a pan-India player.
Gold price volatility feeds directly into revenue and inventory valuation. LJML holds significant gold inventory across its 61 stores, and price swings can create paper gains or losses on the balance sheet.
Customer scheme concentration cuts both ways. The Rs 5,042.75 crore in customer advances is essentially interest-free working capital, but it is also a liability — customers can (in theory) demand refunds or shift to competitors. Managing scheme redemptions responsibly is critical.
The 10 new stores planned from the IPO proceeds will take time to ramp up. New jewellery stores typically break even in 12-24 months, and the near-term impact on RoCE could be negative even as the top line grows.
Contingent liabilities of Rs 56.04 crore as of March 31, 2026 are worth checking in the RHP.
The jewellery segment is intensely competitive. Kalyan Jewellers, Malabar Gold, Joyalukkas, Senco, Thangamayil and Titan’s Tanishq all compete for the same organised customer base, along with thousands of local jewellers below.