Raw material expenses of listed manufacturing companies surged 18.3% year-on-year in the January-March quarter of FY26, highlighting growing input cost pressures amid global uncertainties. The raw material-to-sales ratio rose to 58.5% in Q4 FY26 from 57.5% in the preceding quarter, signalling that a larger share of revenues was being absorbed by input costs, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data released on Tuesday. The increase in input costs came despite a strong improvement in sales. Aggregate sales growth of 3,266 listed private non-financial companies accelerated to 13.9% year-on-year in Q4 FY26 from 10.1% in the previous quarter, while manufacturing companies recorded sales growth of 14.5%, driven by automobiles, electrical machinery and non-ferrous metals.