SS Retail Ltd

SS Retail Limited

SS Retail is a multi-brand mobile phone retail chain founded by Siddharth Shah in Kolhapur, incorporated in 2016 and operating 503 stores across 215 cities in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat as of March 2026. New mobile phones are ~86% of revenue, pre-owned smartphones ~7% and accessories ~4%. Maharashtra accounts for 458 stores and ~89% of FY26 revenue of ₹2,351 cr. It runs a franchise-led model, with ~83% of stores operated by franchisees.

Auditor : Manek & Associates, Chartered Accountants BRLM : Anand Rathi Advisors, Emkay Global Financial Services

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Executive Summary: May Subscribe for Listing Gains | Skip

SS Retail is a multi-brand mobile phone retail chain built by Siddharth Shah, who started selling phones in Kolhapur at 18 through a single shop and has taken it to 503 stores and ₹2,351 cr of revenue over 24 years. However, certain factors would keep us on the sidelines for now: -

• It is a distribution business with thin and tight margins. Gross margin is 11.6% and EBITDA margin 5.0% on a three year average, and would be difficult to stretch operating in mobiles alone.

• It grew on a strong regional presence, with 458 of 503 stores in Maharashtra contributing 89% of revenue. Expanding into other states could be challenging given local competition and the brand recall that has to be built afresh. Several large mobile chains share this same regional concentration.

• The growth has been also driven by mobile phone prices rising on the RAM shortage, and by aggressive store additions. Cash conversion is therefore low, at ₹29 cr of cumulative CFO over three years, as the money stays locked in inventory.

• At 53x P/E and 23x EV/EBITDA, the ask is on the higher side. It is being valued closer to the larger full-suite electronics retailers than to the listed mobile chains.

What kept us interested: -

• The company's operating margins and returns stand better than the listed pure mobile retail companies, with EBITDA margin at 5.0% and ROCE at 22.6% (3 yr avg).

• Store economics should improve as the newer stores mature. Revenue per store runs ₹10.3 cr for those over five years old against ₹0.55 cr for the newest, and half the network is still under 18 months old.

• The pre-owned phone counters run inside existing stores have also been pulling in more customers, and carry better margins since used handsets have no MRP cap.

We would skip this issue for now, and watch whether the company can expand into newer regions and products. 

One can expect decent listing gains as per current GMP ~35% (18 Sep 2026), provided the GMP sustains. However, it is important to note that GMP has been a poor guide of late and has been unstable. For example in recent IPOs: Skyways Air Services had a 30% GMP and listed 10% below its issue price, Symbiotec Pharmalab carried 27% and listed flat, and Annu Projects carried 8% and listed 24% below issue.

• The company was founded by Siddharth Shah in 2003, when he started selling mobile phones in Kolhapur at 18, straight after finishing Class 12. The RHP lists no degree against his name, only the Class 12 certificate. He gradually expanded to three stores in 2013, ten by 2016, fifty by 2020, 265 by 2023 (Indian Retailer) and 503 at March 2026. Funding the rollout meant going back to his parents, at one point wanting to mortgage their house to raise the money (Forbes India).

• In FY26 the company generated ₹2,351 cr of revenue across 503 stores, of which 458 are in Maharashtra. There are four promoters and they are two married couples: Siddharth and his wife Deepa, and Deepa's brother Harshal with his wife Bhavini. In June 2024 Siddharth put ₹18.97 cr of his own money into buying shares back from an investor and an earlier secondary buyer, which is why his average cost of ₹7.49 per share is more than three times his co-promoters'. He is selling ₹45 cr of the ₹140 cr OFS, after which his stake comes down from 51.0% to 43.8%.

• This is a distribution business where SS Retail buys phones and sells them to consumers at a gross margin of 11.6% and EBITDA margin of 5.0% on a three-year average, which leaves little room for margin expansion. Organised retail is 47% of India's consumer durables and IT market, moving to 52% by FY30 (The Knowledge Company Report, RHP). Mobile phone players have largely stayed within their regions and none has reached pan-India scale. Sangeetha has 785 stores and 764 of them are in the South. Poorvika has 450, of which 449 are in the South. Phonewale has 353 with 328 in the West. Umiya and Poojara have barely left Gujarat. MRP is brand-set and the handset is identical everywhere, so the customer's only real choice is which shop to walk into, and they pick the familiar one. Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are still at 22 and 17 stores, and everything outside the home state adds up to 6.4% of revenue.

• Memory chip costs have risen sharply on AI demand and handset makers have passed it on, taking Indian smartphone ASPs to a record ₹30,000 in the June 2026 quarter even as volumes fell 11.1% (IDC). So part of SS Retail's growth is price rather than units, and the company does not disclose units sold. Peer growth over the same period was also strong, with Fonebox at 34.1% and Jay Jalaram at 25.8% on a two-year CAGR against SS Retail's 39.6%, so the price move has helped the whole trade. SS Retail also expanded aggressively during this period, opening 183 stores in FY26 to take its count to 503, against 103 added by Bhatia, 32 by Aditya Vision and 29 by Electronics Mart.

• Store economics improve materially with age. Revenue per store in FY26 was ₹10.3 cr for the 85 stores over five years old, against ₹0.55 cr for the 101 stores opened within the last six months. Half the network, 264 stores, is under 18 months old and accounts for 23% of revenue, while the 85 oldest stores account for 37%. Should the younger vintages follow a similar ramp, the existing base can contribute to revenue growth on its own, with the return profile improving as they mature.

• Mobile Exchange Wala is a pre-owned phone counter set up inside an existing SS Mobile store, in a marked-off corner rather than a separate shop. Used handsets carry no MRP cap and are bought cheap on customer trade-ins, so margins run well above new phones. Sales of these used phones have gone from 4.3% of total revenue in FY24 to 7.2% (₹169 cr) in FY26. The store-level effect is larger than that share suggests. Stores with a counter averaged ₹10.1 cr of revenue in FY26 against ₹4.1 cr for those without, and the two were at similar levels in FY24, so the counter appears to be pulling in customers who then buy new phones as well. That said, the company decides which stores get a counter and would favour the larger and busier ones, so part of the gap reflects store quality rather than the format. Three years after launch it is present in 71 of 503 stores.

• Among peers, Aditya Vision and Electronics Mart are full-suite electronics chains that sell mobile phones alongside other categories, which is why their three-year average gross margins of 15.7% and 14.6% and EBITDA margins of 9.2% and 6.7% sit above SS Retail's 11.6% and 5.0%. Against the three mobile-led chains, Jay Jalaram, Fonebox and Bhatia, SS Retail comes out ahead on both gross margin (11.6% against 8.0%, 10.2% and 10.0%) and EBITDA margin (5.0% against 2.2%, 3.4% and 4.2%). Inventory days at 53 are in line with the mobile chains. ROCE stands at 22.6% on a three-year average.

• The IPO is priced at 53.2x FY26 earnings and 23.4x EV/EBITDA, which seems a bit expensive against the multiples of listed mobile-led chains. The valuation sits closer to Aditya Vision and Electronics Mart, both of which are larger and sell across categories. Execution beyond Maharashtra, and beyond phones into pre-owned and accessories, is still largely untested.

• The business ties up most of its capital in inventory. At FY26 it carried ₹322 cr of stock against gross fixed assets of ₹75.2 cr. Supplier credit is close to nil, at one day of COGS in FY24 and FY25, so the company pays cash for stock and then holds it for 55 days. Over FY24 to FY26 it generated ₹29 cr of cumulative operating cash flow against ₹218 cr of cumulative post-tax EBITDA, with free cash flow negative in two of the three years. Of the ₹360 cr fresh issue, ₹241 cr is earmarked for working capital and ₹12.5 cr for store fit-outs.

• Rajneesh Gulati was appointed CFO on 5 September 2025, the day the IPO board was constituted, and resigned on 19 May 2026 without a stated reason. The seat was vacant until 24 July 2026, when Sagar Patil, an existing whole-time director, took it on alongside his board role.

Business

• SS Retail runs a multi-brand mobile phone retail chain with 503 stores across 215 cities in five states as of March 2026, up from 236 in FY24. It buys from brands and distributors and sells to walk-in customers, with no manufacturing. FY26 revenue was ₹2,351 cr at a gross margin of 12.2% and PAT margin of 2.5%.

• The business is concentrated in Maharashtra, which accounts for 458 of 503 stores and 89.1% of FY26 revenue. Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh together contribute 6.4%, and Gujarat opened only in FY27. Tier III and beyond cities generate 49.4% of revenue and tier II a further 21.8%.

• New mobile phones are 86.2% of FY26 revenue. Pre-owned smartphones, sold under the Mobile Exchange Wala counter inside 71 stores, are 7.2%, up from 4.3% in FY24. Accessories are 4.3%, other electronics 1.4%, and ancillary services such as protection plans, EMI kiosks and recharges 1.1%. Wholesale corporate sales add 4.7%.

• There are three store brands. SS Mobile is the flagship at 87.9% of revenue, The Mobile Space is a franchise brand for smaller towns at 7.3%, and Olineo, acquired in January 2026, at 0.3%. Stores run in three sizes and the mix has shifted towards small formats, which rose from 81 to 235 stores over FY24 to FY26.

• Procurement is from 28 brands and 62 distributors, with the top 10 suppliers at 79.1% of FY26 purchases, down from 88.4% in FY24. There are no long-term supply contracts and no exclusivity, with buying done on purchase orders. Pre-owned stock comes from customer trade-ins, verified by IMEI on the CEIR portal.

• Distribution runs hub-and-spoke from three warehouses in Kolhapur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar plus four third-party logistics providers, on an in-house ERP with IMEI-level tracking. Sales per sq ft were ₹1,46,347 in FY26, inventory turned 8.83x and net working capital was 46 days.

• 62.8% of stores are Company Owned Franchisee Operated (COFO) and 20.5% Franchisee Owned Franchise Operated (FOFO), with franchisees bearing part of the fit-out capex and, in FOFO, the store operating cost. Inventory at every store stays on SS Retail's books regardless of model. There is no online channel. Subsidiaries are Nexora (70%, accessories) and Olineo (51.04%, 34 stores), both loss-making.

Promoters and Leadership

• Founder Siddharth Shah is Chairman and Managing Director and has 24 years in the trade. The four promoters are two married couples, Siddharth with his wife Deepa and Deepa's brother Harshal with his wife Bhavini, and three of the four sit on the board.

• The board has eight directors, four executive and four independent. All independent directors were appointed on or after 5 September 2025, the day the IPO board was constituted. CEO Nitin Kumar Jain, previously with Samsung India, Idea Cellular, Bharti and PepsiCo, joined in July 2024, with a COO added the same month.

Financials

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