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1. At a Glance
Cantabil Retail India sells shirts, and has done since its first store opened in 2000. It now does so from 667 stores across 312 cities in 21 states. In the three months to June 2026 it sold ₹179 crore worth, against ₹159 crore a year earlier. That is a rise of 12.7 per cent. Management described the discretionary spending mood in July as “moderate numbers, not great numbers”.
Operating profit for the quarter was ₹59 crore, against ₹49 crore a year earlier. The operating margin was 33 per cent, against 31 per cent. Profit after tax came in at ₹16 crore, against ₹15 crore. Depreciation took ₹28 crore and interest took ₹14 crore. Together they consumed ₹42 crore of that operating profit before tax got involved. That is the arithmetic of a company renting 9.42 lakh square feet of shop floor. All of it is booked under Ind AS 116, the rule that puts leased space on the balance sheet.
Fifteen new stores opened in the quarter. Same-store sales, meaning sales at shops open at least a year, grew 4.04 per cent. The average bill moved to ₹4,616 from ₹4,174. The average selling price moved to ₹1,108 from ₹1,043. Both figures were higher than a year earlier.
Also in the quarter, ₹10 crore of a ₹25 crore loan to a real estate developer came back. Management says the remaining ₹15 crore returns before February, and that “obviously, this is not going to happen” again. The company was founded in Bahadurgarh and has been opening stores for twenty-six years.
2. Introduction
Cantabil Retail India was incorporated in February 1989 as Kapish Sales Private Limited. Vijay Bansal and his family set it up in New Delhi. The name changed to Cantabil Retail India Ltd in March 2009. The shares were listed on the BSE and the NSE in October 2010. The manufacturing facility came first. The first Cantabil-branded store opened in 2000, in men’s wear.
Product expansion followed a slow cadence. Women’s wear arrived in 2007 and men’s accessories in 2013. For a period the company ran separate brands for separate shoppers. Crozo covered women’s wear, Lil Potatoes kids and Kaneston accessories. All three were merged back into the flagship in 2017. Everything is Cantabil now.
The recent operating record is a store-count record. Exclusive brand outlets are shops that stock only Cantabil. The count was 447 in March 2023 and 533 a year later. It reached 599 in March 2025 and 652 in March 2026. By the end of June 2026 it stood at 667. Retail area moved from 5.26 lakh square feet in March 2023 to 9.15 lakh three years later. It was 9.42 lakh square feet at the end of June 2026. ICRA, a credit-rating agency, counts 621 outlets as of 31 August 2025, franchised stores included. It records Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Delhi each holding a tenth or more of the store base.
The board met on 5 August 2026, its 329th meeting, and approved the June quarter results. It recommended a final dividend of ₹0.75 a share on a face value of ₹2, for the year to March 2026. The record date was 28 August. Vijay Bansal was re-appointed Chairman and Managing Director, and Deepak Bansal Whole Time Director. Both terms run five years from 1 April 2027, subject to shareholder approval at the annual meeting on 8 September. An investor call followed on 6 August, and the transcript was filed on 10 August.
The stated destination is Vision 2027. It names ₹1,000 crore of revenue and 725 stores. The plan also covers 330 cities and an EBITDA margin band of about 28 to 30 per cent. EBITDA is profit before interest, tax and depreciation. Revenue for the year to March 2026 was ₹853 crore.
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3. Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
Cantabil designs, manufactures, brands and retails apparel and accessories for men, women and kids. It sits in the economy to mid-range price bands. Nearly all of it is sold through its own exclusive brand outlets. This is not a company fighting for shelf space in a department store. It builds the shop, puts its name over the door and stocks one brand.
The product list reads like a wardrobe audit. Men’s wear covers formals, casuals and ultra casuals. It runs to woollens and knitwear as well. Women’s wear, added in 2007, covers shirts, tops, leggings and kurtas. Kurtis, capris, pants and jeans sit beside them. Kids’ wear for ages three to fourteen covers shirts, T-shirts and denims, with tops, jeggings and shorts on the same racks. Accessories run to innerwear, belts, shoes and socks. Ties, handkerchiefs and deodorant are stocked too. The same shop sells a formal shirt and, at the counter, the deodorant to wear under it.
In the year to March 2025, men’s wear was about 81 per cent of revenue and women’s wear about 11 per cent. Accessories were about 5 per cent and kids’ wear about 3 per cent. ICRA, a credit-rating agency, describes men’s wear as more than 80 per cent of revenue through a single brand. It flags brand, segment and geographic concentration as a rating constraint. North India brought about 58 per cent of that year’s revenue and the west about 30 per cent. Central India was about 6 per cent and the east about 5 per cent. South India was about 1 per cent, and has so far been left largely to itself.
The manufacturing is deliberately partial. The Bahadurgarh plant in Haryana spans 2 lakh square feet and can make 18 lakh garments a year. It runs JUKI, Ngai Shing, Kansai and Pfaff machines, along with Macpi and Veit. Own production covers about a quarter of apparel sales volume. Job workers and fabricators supply about 35 per cent. The remaining 40 per cent is bought outright from traders. ICRA calls this an asset-light model that allows operating flexibility. In plainer terms, Cantabil makes a quarter of what it sells and shops for the rest.
Stores split between company-owned and company-operated outlets and franchisee-owned and franchisee-operated ones. In the year to March 2025, the company-run shops brought about 78 per cent of revenue and franchised ones about 22 per cent. Franchisees pay for their own store fitment. They also place deposits against the stock
