Castrol India Q3 Results, October 24, 2026: Revenue Up 27% but Profit Falls 23%

Castrol India Q3 results came out on Saturday, October 24, 2026, and they tell a two-sided story. Sales jumped 27% from a year ago to ₹1,735 crore, yet net profit for the July-September quarter fell about 23% to ₹176 crore. The lubricant maker raised prices, and still could not keep pace with what it pays for raw materials.

One thing to keep in mind before comparing it with peers: Castrol follows a January-December financial year, so this is the third quarter of calendar 2026, not the second quarter of FY27 that most Indian companies reported this month.

Castrol India Q3 results: the key numbers

All figures below are standalone and come from the results filing and press release submitted to NSE.

• Revenue from operations: ₹1,735 crore, up 27% from ₹1,363 crore in July-September 2025. Against the April-June quarter’s ₹1,871 crore, it was down roughly 7%.
• EBITDA: ₹262 crore, down 19% year on year. That works out to an EBITDA margin of about 15.1% of revenue (our calculation).
• Profit before tax: ₹243 crore, against ₹308 crore a year earlier.
• Net profit: ₹176.37 crore, against ₹227.80 crore a year ago (down 22.6%) and ₹347.70 crore in the previous quarter (down about 49%).
• Earnings per share: ₹1.78 for the quarter, against ₹2.30 a year earlier.

Where the margin went

The press release itself flags “high double-digit commodity cost inflation” in the quarter. Managing Director Saugata Basuray described a quarter “marked by a sharp rise in raw material costs and adverse currency movements”. When the rupee weakens, anything priced in dollars costs more even if global prices sit still. We covered how currency moves show up in a profit and loss account in our piece on forex loss in quarterly results.

Castrol’s answer has been pricing. Basuray said price increases taken early in the year “helped moderate the impact on margins”. The trouble is that costs ran ahead of prices this quarter, so revenue climbed while EBITDA shrank.

Nine months still look healthier

Zoom out to January-September and the picture is calmer. Revenue for the nine months rose 20% to ₹5,151 crore and EBITDA grew 11% to ₹1,086 crore, a margin of about 21% (our calculation). Net profit for the period was ₹766 crore against ₹705 crore, up roughly 9%.

Put differently, the first half carried the year and the third quarter gave some of it back. CFO Mrinalini Srinivasan said the company expects the operating environment “to remain volatile and inflationary” and will use pricing and cost actions to manage margin pressure. So the company is not promising that this squeeze is over.

Distribution push and the industrial business

The release puts Castrol’s reach at about 1,67,000 outlets, 46,000 of them rural. The industrial arm added 700 new customers and, in Basuray’s words, delivered “another quarter of double-digit volume growth”.

Auditor change

The board also approved Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP as statutory auditor for five years, from the 49th AGM in 2027 to the 54th AGM, subject to shareholder approval. Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP stays on until the 49th AGM, which completes its second five-year term. This is a mandatory rotation under the Companies Act, not a resignation, and the filing says so.

What to watch next

For Castrol, the next few quarters come down to one ratio: how fast it can pass on input costs. Revenue growth is not the problem. If raw material costs and the rupee settle, the price hikes already in place should start to show up in margins. If they don’t, another round of hikes could test demand.

If you want a simple framework for reading filings like this one, start with our guide on how to analyse the quarterly results of a company, and compare it with another margin-squeeze story from the same day in JK Cement’s Q2 results. Company background is on Castrol India’s website.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice. Please consult a SEBI-registered adviser before making investment decisions.