Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Jain Irrigation Systems Limited Q3 FY25 earnings conference call hosted by DRChoksey Finserv. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain in a listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Bhavya from DRChoksey Finserv. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Jain Irrigation Systems Limited earnings call to discuss the Q3 FY 2025 results. Today we have on call Mr. Anil Jain, CEO and Managing Director, and Mr. Bipeen Valame , Chief Financial Officer. We must remind you that the discussion on today's call may include certain forward-looking statements that may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, and must therefore be reviewed in conjunction with the risk that the company faces. Future results, performance, or achievements may differ significantly from what is expressed and implied by such forward-looking statements. Please note the results and presentations are available on Exchange and our company's website. I now request Mr. Anil Jain to take us through the company's business outlook and financial highlights, subsequent to which we will open the floor for questions. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. I would like to welcome everybody for this con call. We have just had a board meeting earlier in the day, and we have published our results. As some of you might have seen, I think overall results are good compared to the first two quarters, where we had a significant negative growth. This quarter, we have managed to do about INR 1,360 crore in terms of revenue, which is almost matching the same period last year. As that has improved compared to the first two quarters, I think we expect fourth quarter, compared to last year, we should be able to in fact have more significant positive growth.
Having said that, I think when we look at overall performance, what will come out quite well is EBITDA has been definitely positive and we have earned more EBITDA this quarter than the last year, even the margin is not very high. But I think consistently, if you really see over last few years and few quarters, consistently our earning quality has also been improving. When I look at individual businesses, I think the revenue which I talked about is almost similar to last year. Overall, Hi-Tech Agri division has added to the revenue. But the Plastic division, because of a low pipe demand in India reduced it and it kind of balanced. In Hi-Tech Agri, in fact, we have almost 19%-20% growth in this division.
But similar level of degrowth into the Plastic business, which I believe is seasonal, has maintained stable revenue, let us say. When you look at where did this EBITDA come from, and when you compare that with the same period last year, I think there is slight higher cost of employees. Gross margin is similar level, little bit lower. But we could manage and save a good amount of cost in terms of the discretionary costs which are there in terms of H&M and others, and that is how overall EBITDA is higher than the same period last year. What is more important, I think, that despite the first nine months being a little bit, markets not being that strong in terms of demand, our cash flows have been quite good.
In fact, if I look at the current quarter, we did create cash flow from operation to the tune of INR 218 crore. So that was significantly high than what it has been in the previous periods. And we have been able to also maintain a working capital cycle in terms of days outstanding against sales at a slightly improved level in terms of quarter three. When I think through the entire nine months, cash flow, in fact, has done very well. We have got cash from operations to the tune of INR 560 crore, and which has helped us to an extent reduce the debt as well, despite the weak P&L performance. So we have focused on cash flows and recoveries from the market in terms of receivable. That has definitely helped us.
And we have tried to manage operations in a manner in terms of product mix so that EBITDA is also maintained at the higher level a little bit than the same period last year. Now, because first quarter was significantly weak, we are trying to make up for the first half. So third quarter has been now stable and matching or doing a little bit better than last year. And fourth quarter, we expect to be definitely far more positive as we move forward. Also, what helped us during this quarter has been a good increase in the export business. Because as I think maybe we spoke in the earlier commentary, when you look at the global geopolitical events or what is happening with the rupee, we think export is a good bet.
And with our company's focus on quality and excellence, we have been able to push that button when the domestic demand was low to try and increase the exports. And I think over the next few quarters, we also see significant opportunity to focus on that part, while we also expect now the domestic demand pickup should be there, because monsoons have been good. Even though it rained heavily and there were excessive rains up to October, November. But I think thereafter, the crop scenarios look good going forward. The recent winter in January, late December, that is all without too many, I would say, climate change type of extreme weather events. It seems the produce coming out going forward over the next few months would be quite good from kharif as well as the rabi crop. And that augurs well for all our businesses, right?
Not only it creates more demand for irrigation of pipes, but also it would mean a good or ample supply for our food processing business. That seems to be going in the right direction as we speak. Another commentary has been, because of the central elections in May, June, and thereafter Maharashtra elections in October, November, there has been this less spend by the government on things like Jal Jeevan Mission, which had provided a lot of boost to the piping business over the last two, three years. That has been very slow. But now that is getting all the post new government, post the new budget and all of that. It is expected that over the next couple of months, that is going to get sorted.
As the states get new allocations from the central government, that business should come back because overall central government is committed to ensure that this is going to happen. I think that part which was missing should come back. Weather being good and good production for farms should create good money in the hands of farmers to be able to start investing. When I look at individual places, in terms of, let's say, our drip irrigation business, et cetera, where we did okay in this current quarter, that overall, I think in Western India, our sales were good. We had even positive growth in southern markets. But Maharashtra, which is one of the important markets, we had a little bit of negative growth, but that was due to state-level elections we had. I think the fourth quarter should be stronger again in Maharashtra.
If I look at the Plastic Piping business, I think it had all around, most of the states, we were less than the same period last year. But we think current quarter, we start reversing the trend on the plastic piping business. We also recently got some orders for solar water pumps, and the payment terms there are good, about 30 days for 90% of payments. We are likely to complete the first lot of orders, I think to the tune of INR 100 crore over the next couple of months. That looks to be good because overall investment by the central government and state governments in KUSUM is on a right trajectory, so it will pan out quite well for the next year. That is a new growth possibility apart from the export markets, which we see.
Other thing for the next year and going forward, which looks good for us is that, we have successfully, in the December quarter, we did a very large project for supplying 2.5 m diameter pipes for a desalination project. There are another 14 to 16 such projects to come up in the next nine to 12 months across the country. We expect as we go along, as we negotiate and some of these projects get their closure in terms of all the approvals and permissions before they can start executing. Next year, that would also be a good area for the growth going forward. In terms of the other two businesses which we have as a company- The food and the plastic sheets.
The food, which is our subsidiary, that did not do that well because, again, last year we did not produce enough mangoes. Our overseas food company did well. In terms of revenue growth, we have managed about 3.4% growth in the consult performance of food. For the nine months, it has been more than 5% growth. Food has been in terms of revenue positive, but in terms of earnings, they have been soft. We think current year with the good onion season and good mango season, between March quarter as well as going forward June, September quarters, we shall see a better bottom-line performance. Also going forward, revenues would look good because of overall ability to process larger quantities would be there. In terms of overseas plastic business, I think it is similar as what it was on the third quarter basis.
If I look at really nine months, overseas plastic sheet business has grown almost 10% in revenue and at a similar, in fact, 17%, 18% growth, in terms of EBITDA, et cetera. It is profitable business, it is growing business. We are quite happy with that performance. In terms of revenue growth, if I really look at it, Hi-Tech Agri has done well this quarter with growing 19%, 20%. Plastic sheet business continues to provide similar level of business, but overall nine months it has done well. Food has been positive in terms of our revenue growth as well. One negative, as I said, has been the plastic piping business, primarily in India. I think that has been seasonal and we expect between now and September really strong business outlook on piping sector as well.
As I spoke about the operating cash flows, which has been positive, we have been able to reduce the receivable. We still have some more work to do to get some of those really old outstanding government receivables related to the EPC projects. Overall, despite that, we have been able to reduce the debt as well. All in all, when I look at everything put together, we have been optimistic always. When I think through timings between June, July through October, November, there were a lot of concerns because the business activity, the momentum was quite low. You might have felt that in our discussion and also in our commentary. As we sit here today, even though things have not really started flying like a rocket, we see that business has stabilized.
From here, we only see positive growth based on either exports or the solar or the orders for pipes for projects like desalination and others, and continued good growth in irrigation business, the Hi-Tech Irrigation and the Tissue Culture which we do. While South has reasonably held itself well and West, Maharashtra has been weak for us, which is otherwise very strong state for us. As Maharashtra now comes back, I think that would also add back to the momentum. Structurally speaking, as a company, as a management, I think we are looking forward to see that FY 2025 compared to FY 2024, overall when you look at for the whole year, in terms of earnings and cash flow. In terms of cash flow, it is definitely far better moving forward and what we did in nine months.
In terms of earnings and the revenue, we may be at par compared to where we were in FY 2024 because whatever we lost in the first two quarters, I think we would be able to recover in the remaining two. Jump up would then come mostly in FY 2026. For FY 2026, we are quite bullish. When I look at everything, again, in terms of a holistic manner and consolidated way, there are a lot of things which have happened which makes us believe that 2026 looks to be overall a good year. In terms of rupee depreciation, we have small amount of foreign currency loans out of India, so that impact is not much on the P&L. As we are gearing for more exports, if rupee does depreciate more, that should be beneficial.
In our food business where there are a lot of exports out of India, again, rupee depreciation on dollar areas would be helpful even though rupee has pulled back a little bit more on pounds and euro area, right? There has been a reduction there in that way. All in all, I think rupee depreciation shall be beneficial. It does increase some of the prices of the polymers though because all the polymer prices in India, even though we may buy in rupee, but they are linked to the dollar international prices. One has to see how that will go. When I look at and speak to our other people in other countries, I think India is still a brighter spot in terms of growth opportunity.
Some of our core businesses, while we are able to maintain growth in overseas markets, their local economies are still not growing that much. While India has slowed down a little bit, I think at any day, 5.6%, 6% GDP growth, in any other country in the world, they would happily lap it up. While we want to be 7%, 8% or 9%. As a company, we want to, next year onwards, start moving at the high teens, in terms of overall sustainable growth. That is what our focus is going to remain. This has been, again, a much better quarter than the first two quarters, and we are looking for even a better fourth quarter. With that, I would like to open the floor for questions, queries, comments you may have. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Rahul Kapoor from Goldstone Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, Mr. Jain. Am I audible?
Yeah.
My question is about the old receivables. In June quarter and even in September quarter, you spoke about recovering about crore in the second half of FY 2025. Any progress there?
The first part of your question, you are talking about the progress on recovery of receivables in second half?
Yeah. I am talking about receivables which date back to, I think, 2019, 2020. They are very old receivables and I think they are to the tune of about [inaudible] . There is a comment from you in the previous two quarters that we are likely to recover those receivables. Any comment on that?
Yeah, I think that comment stays. Overall, if you see in our overall last one year, receivables on a net basis are down by INR 200 crore overall. As I said, I think going forward this quarter, June quarter, September quarter, you will see even more substantial reduction. So we are on that path. It is already happening. First nine months it has happened, over the last 12 months it has happened. But as I said, second half, so we are still going through the current quarter. A lot of some of these government funds get released before end of March because of the fiscal year-end, their budgeting and all of that. So we are on that path. As I said, we already achieved some with INR 200 crore reduction, but some more already you will see in the March quarter.
Can you quantify what is likely to be received? I am talking about basically the old receivables. I am not talking about the current sales, but the old projects which were unfinished for whatever reason, and there was some talk of finishing those projects and recovering the old amount. So I hope we are referring to the same dues.
Yeah. So again, overall receivable, as I said, have come down and actually INR 120 crore receivables have come down in this third quarter. They come from various things. But fourth quarter, we are expecting another reduction of at least, I would say INR 150+ crore on net basis, including the new business, which we do for completion of project. On net basis minimum that level of reduction will happen in the current quarter. So structurally speaking, we had given time to ourselves that, by September 2026, majority of old receivables should be, sorry, September 2025, majority of the old receivables should be with us. So good amount will happen in the current quarter as well.
Okay. My next question is about any thought about selling the Rivulis stake because since 2019, it is almost six years since the shareholders, the company is in losses and essentially, what has happened is that the current level of EBITDA is not able to support the interest outflow and the depreciation. It has been a very frustrating hold for the shareholders. So finally, we have to think about reducing our debt levels. Though you do talk about increasing cash flows, but that is not going to be sufficient for us to earn some profit and give some dividends to shareholders. Any comments there?
Yeah, I think, if you go all the way back to 2018, 2019, company's debt was INR 7,000 crore. It is down to INR 3,500. So it is down by almost 50%. Out of that INR 3,500 crore debt we have, INR 3,600. About INR 800 crore is a 0% debt. So there is no interest burden on that particular debt. So that leaves about INR 2,500 crore of debt. Most of which in fact is working capital debt. So the term debt which we can repay to the banks is to the tune of about, sorry, about INR 2,000 crore is actually working capital. So INR 500 crore and so on. Every quarter we are repaying that debt. As we just said that this year we have repaid total INR 225 crore of the long-term debt already in the first nine months. So company is consistently reducing the debt.
I think in normal course, next year we should bring down the debt by another INR 300 crore. As you know, the idea we have is that by, let's say, annualized in 2026 next year. At one time, net debt to EBITDA, we had some, it was 6x or 7x . It is close to 4x. In medium term, that is 12 to 18 months, on annualized basis, we plan to bring it to about 2.5x In terms of debt to EBITDA. As it goes down. Again, at one time, interest was INR 750 crore. It is down to about INR 375 crore now. It would keep going down every quarter. But as some of these majority government receivables come, it could go down even faster.
They would go to prepay the 0% debt, the NCDs because that is what the restructuring we had done with the bank. But despite that, with the true cash flow earnings in last, I think three years alone, almost INR 1,200 crore of debt has been paid by the company. So we have taken a lot of steps to reduce the debt. We are very mindful of that. We have changed the business model. Constantly, debt is going down, interest cost is also going down. In terms of selling real estate, we got into that March 2023, in terms of getting that done. So it has been one and a half. The right amount of value, et cetera. That is not something we are looking at right now. But as and when timing is right, valuation is right, we may look at that opportunity as well.
But keeping that aside for a moment, I think through improved working capital management, through recovery of the receivable, almost entire term debt in the main parent company, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., should get done, as I said, maybe 12 to 18 months. That is through our own normal business. Food business has a higher working capital requirement. It has its own trajectory. That's another business. Overall, I think we have taken a lot of steps, but I would not say we are complacent or satisfied. I think we are working hard to take it to the next level. We converted a loss-making company, which was in 2021, to profitable again. We are focused more on the retail market, and we'll continue to make these efforts to take it to the next level.
What kind of debt can we expect by March 2026? What would be your estimates?
I think by March, I can't give you a specific answer there, but I think as I said, we have, let's say, between now and March 2026, almost another INR 250 crore debt due to be repaid in terms of term debt on the main company. So March 2026, the entire term debt of the company will become zero, except the 0% NCDs. 0% NCDs will also come down based on this recovery of the government receivable, and I think they should be down by at least another INR 500+ crores during that period of time. These two things will happen and for the growth of the business, going forward, we don't anticipate to borrow because that growth will be funded through internal accruals as the remainder of the receivables also come through.
All in all, I think, we would talk a little bit more about the next year, March 2026 numbers in the post the March 2024, sorry, March 2025 number result time. That time we would give better, I think, projections for the March 2026. As things stand, this is what we can say.
We also need to take into consideration that even the debt levels having dropped down to about INR 6,500 crore to about INR 3,800 crore or so, still the company is not in profit. The shareholders have been waiting for some dividends and some kind of return from the stock price, and it's been extremely frustrating. We should, I think, high time that management thinks of selling the real estate and bring down the debt by about INR 1,500-INR 2,000 crore, plus other cash flows. That's something which we are looking forward to because it's otherwise not really adding any value in terms of the stock price or for us to get any dividends.
I cannot give you so much of debate right on this con call, but we can have separate calls and discussion. But as of now, we are open to listen to all the suggestions, all the comments, and we would look at it seriously. But right now, the focus on strengthening of the business and deleverage business at the same time. In terms of share price on dividends, I think under the restructuring of the banks, management is unable to give any dividends. But in terms of share price, if you look at five years, because shares had gone down due to the issues we faced in 2021 COVID, I think share price is up 700%-800%. So it has improved, but it has a lot more potential. We need to do a lot more work on that, and that is what we are committed to.
Okay. That also makes sense. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Gaurish from JHP Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I had a question regarding our different business verticals. Are we considering to demerge or hive off any of our business verticals?
I think as we are going along. As you see some of the data in investor presentation also. Today we have kind of three businesses. Food business, Plastic business, Piping and Sheet, and Hi-Tech Agri business, Tissue culture and Drip irrigation. Almost kind of coming like one-third each size. And based on the quadrant season, it may vary a little bit. But that kind of a proportion of businesses we have. And each business has its own unique cycle in terms of working capital, return on capital, the growth opportunity. Some of businesses kind of inter, like some of our pipes we sell also go to the same dealers or farmers who are also buying drip and so on. It is not that exact that everything business is very separate. Like food is definitely a very separate business than the input businesses we have, like pipe and others.
At the right time, I think we are working with some external consultants also for the company to create a path for next I think five years. Between FY 2025 to FY 2030, where does the company go and how it should go? Because we see enormous opportunity in every single business. Because India is growing, and I think each of our business, whether irrigation business, tissue culture business, piping business, sheet business, solar business, food processing everything has the opportunity. So how to allocate capital, where to focus more, which would give a better return on capital which would allow us to strengthen overall ecosystem. Can we, for example, supply banana planting material, then buy banana and process banana, make banana puree and supply to either Nestlé or Unilever? Can we sell the fresh banana into retail markets?
So you complete ecosystem of a given value chain of a given fruit or a crop and whether the same thing we can do in onion or tomato or potato, et cetera. So that is what we are working on. So I think maybe on the next call, April, May, some of our internal work would have been done where we can share with you what we are looking for in terms of going forward in terms of structure of the company. In terms of these three different businesses, where they should sit and how that should be seen. But as of now as I said in answer to the earlier caller, the focus is on strengthening the business, improving the dealer network where we are already seeing benefits and reduce through collection of receivables or improving working capital, de-leverage.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one. Also, ladies and gentlemen, please restrict yourself to two questions per participant. The next question comes from the line of Rishikesh from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. In opening remarks
Your audio is not clear.
Just a minute. Is it okay now?
Yes, it is better. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you for the opportunity. What would be your revenue growth guidance, if I am not wrong, you alluded in the opening remarks around high teens. What would be your EBITDA margin guidance for FY 2026?
I think we will give more firmer guidance once the March quarter is over. But where we are as a company, we have underutilized production capacities, et cetera. So once the revenue growth happens in high teens, the EBITDA margin should be even better because you are absorbing some of the fixed costs and natural costs. Let's say if revenues grow 17%, it is most likely that EBITDA will grow 20% in that ratio. But again, we will talk more about FY 2026 in a more firmer tone post March quarter.
Okay. Regarding the EPC remaining execution, how much is done till Q3 and how much is pending yet?
On EPC you mean?
The pending projects that is left to be executed.
Yeah, I think at one time when we had all this issue, the total projects were some 7,000-8,000 crore. Most of it have been closed, some of them are working. But the total we still need to do to complete the project might be close to 250-300 crore. Once we do that much, let's say over the next few quarters, all projects would be closed. So in terms of percentages, I think we are kind of 90% done. In one project, water supply project, we have done 50%. That was in Pune, where we are laying drinking water pipelines. But except for that project, all other projects, we are 90% and above. So we are really getting into the last mile, last phases, to get it completed, and then get those funds in.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Praneet, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. I was interested with the working capital management of the company. I understand networking capital has reduced quarter-over-quarter, but in terms of inventory days, it has significantly still higher than last year's Q3.
Correct.
What is the reason for that?
Sorry. You said the question was inventory?
Yeah, inventory. Compared to last year's Q3, we are still higher than last year's Q3. I am curious about why has not the inventory gone down further? Because I know it is little lower than last quarter, but last year quarter Q3, it is not lower. So I am curious about what is happening with inventory there.
I think you would see a significant reduction on inventory in the fourth quarter, because as I said, we were hoping third quarter would have been better in terms of piping, but that did not really happen. That is why inventory remains slightly higher. But overall, last year, I think December inventory was INR 2,028. Now it is INR 2,129. So over a 12-month period, it has slightly gone up, and mostly into Hi-Tech Agri because this is the season. January, February to May, June is when we sell maximum amount. So slightly elevated because of that. If I see plastic inventory is almost same, which was last December. And also food is almost same. The only increase you see is in the Hi-Tech Agri division compared to the same period last year, 12 months ago.
I think you would see that good amount of reduction in the current quarter there.
Understood. In terms of the geographic contribution to the plastic business, most of the businesses are very region-focused, like most of the things we operate in. For Plastic business, which states contribute the highest amount of revenues for this business? Also, we had the idea of most of our revenues come from agricultural pipes in terms of plastic pipes. How has the progress been in onboarding different set industries for the pipes business? How does the company see the overall tailwind and headwind of the market, and how is it planning accordingly in terms of gaining market share? It is an extremely competitive industry where we are operating the Plastic Pipe business. How does the company see the industry outlook, and how does company expect to transform its business going forward? What is the contribution split between geographies?
That is what I am interested to know.
Yes. When I look at the pipe, we have an overall larger what we call plastic division. It has pipes and the sheets. First, talking a little bit about the pipes. We have two types of pipes. The PVC pipes which mostly go to the farmer side through our dealer network, where we are quite strong in, let us say, Maharashtra, Karnataka, MP. We are becoming much stronger in Tamil Nadu, AP, Telangana, as we speak. We have recently started selling more, let us say, in Rajasthan, U.P., in northern region. Some of the areas like Odisha, West Bengal, et cetera, we are almost non-existent. There is a market, and that is being served today. As we go along, and as we grow more in north, more in east, we strengthen furthermore in south. I think piping business will continue to grow there.
The second part of the piping, where we make large diameter pipes, specialized pipes which go into drainage, pipes which go into desalination, et cetera. There, I think we have quite unique position because some of the piping solutions we provide, nobody else in the country does provide, and there is going to be a lot more demand for those type of pipes. I think that sector will continue to grow. We do export some of the pipes globally, in terms of either water supply, irrigation, or for cable supply, et cetera. We are seeing some good traction on some of these export markets as well. Pipes will continue to grow there also. There is a different strategy for each particular application. Application on agriculture, the idea is to go more geographic within India and strengthen dealer network.
For application beyond farmer or irrigation, I think developing complete solutions which other people are not able to provide is what our focus is. Then going to the global markets, which again requires a level of excellence, ability to service those global markets, which we have built that ability over 10 years or so. That's where our focus is on piping. We are quite bullish about the piping business in terms of medium to long term. While last few quarters have not been great, I think that's a temporary aberration. For next few years, we are gung ho about piping business because with our capacity, the level of the, what I call, offering we have, I think we are going to be a very strong pipe player in India as well as outside.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sanjay Kohli from Goldstone Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity. My question was on there's a big difference in the standalone and the consolidated on the Losses from foreign exchange. Is it a result of some treasury operation or the loans have been repriced or these are hedges?
No, we don't have that kind of a treasury operation. We have very limited hedges per se.
The quantum is about, there's INR -6 crore on the standalone and INR -13.5 crore from the consolidated. So a net thing about INR 19 crore- INR 20 crore. That's quite a significant number. Do we have a large quantum of foreign currency loans still outstanding that we have made? Because there has been a depreciation in the rupee, but there's been very low volatility in the rupee, if we
Yeah
know, last three to six months if we've seen.
Overall, right.
That is what it is about. Yeah.
Rupee depreciation has helped the standalone company. For example, the food company we have, a lot of our exports are in euro and GBP. GBP was one time 107, and it has come down to INR 100. Euro also had gone up EUR 92, it is down to EUR 89.90. We had some reversal into the normal operating business due to the change in the currency of euro and GBP into the food, where we had a negative impact. Again, just to reconfirm, no treasury operation, nothing big on the hedging, et cetera. We do small amount of forward sales on exports, and our overall dollar loans are very limited as a company. This particular quarter, I think, with the U.S. dollar becoming strong against various currencies in the world, also rupee.
Rupee depreciation benefits some of our exports out of irrigation piping business, but dollar became stronger against also in euro and GBP. That impacted negatively in the food business. That is the difference you see between both in terms of the standalone and consol. There is nothing beyond to it.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ankit Bansal, an investor. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes, Ankit, please go ahead.
Sir, my question is, this is your strongest quarter, Q3 and Q4, yet you are delivering only flattish performance. Sir, what did happen in Q1 and Q2? There you have seasonal impact, all other impacts. Sir, why the growth is not coming? You have best micro irrigation company, second largest. What is happening, sir? Can you please tell? We are waiting so long. It's been 10 years, 12 years. Can you please explain, sir?
Yeah, I think, if you saw the result and what I said also, our Hi-Tech Agri business in India grew 19% this quarter, right? So that growth has come back. Where we got hit was the piping and the plastic business. Growth did not come through. And that, as I explained, right, we expect that to start happening in the current quarter, and going forward it will be even stronger. So overall, structurally speaking, I think, when I'm looking at revenue growth, profitability and cash flow, I think we have done very well on cash flows. As I said, INR 560 crore of cash generated from operations. In terms of revenue for the whole year, right, FY 2025 versus FY 2024, the first two quarters we were -25%. I think for the whole year, we are expecting that we would be almost same level.
Whatever the deficit was created in the first six months, I think should get covered in the second half. That is the target and the goal we have. That is where we are working for. As you saw, the irrigation business, you mentioned that we are a very large micro irrigation company. That did grow 19% in the current quarter.
Sir, my question is, are the government increasing steps in the micro irrigation field, carrying new initiatives like solar? Can you please explain that?
No. Government has new initiatives, right? But government has been delaying also the payment and the release of subsidies, et cetera. We are more focused on directly selling to the farmer, right, and recovering better working capital cycles rather than depend on the government. But in case of solar pumps specifically, it is not the direct government budget, right? These funds are available from central government, not the state level. Those are funds are also available with the electricity boards through the cess method where you have a targeted amount already existing into an account from which they will pay you. You are not dependent on a government budget.
Those opportunities where there is certainty of how fast we will get paid, I think we will work on those opportunities including solar pump because I think between 2015, 2016 to 2019, 2020, we di sell INR 600 crore-INR 700 crore of the pumps during that period of time. With the right payment terms and good level of profitability, that opportunity we can capture again. But larger, right, I have spoken that while first two quarters were negative, this quarter has been stable. Irrigation, we are already now positive growth. Fourth quarter should be a stronger quarter compared to the last year's same period. Going forward, right, FY 2026, we are quite bullish.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sumit Kumar, an investor. Please go ahead. Sumit, if you can please unmute from your end and proceed with your question.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, please. Go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity. I want to know, the interest cost has reached by, say, INR 10 crore quarter-on-quarter basis, and you were saying that the debt has gone down. So what is the reason for that?
I think normally interest cost is also finance charges or other charges.
Hello. Hello.
I think it is not linked to the cash payment of the interest. We have these 0% NCDs, which are taken at the fair market value in our books as per the accounting standards. In terms of time value, as we get closer to the repayment of these NCDs, some of the gains which were booked in 2022 get reversed. Every quarter, we have about INR 16 crore, INR 17 crore as a reversal, which comes as a finance cost, but it is not a cash being paid. Actual interest being paid is definitely less because debt is being paid. This we have explained, all this becomes clear. One of my team member can engage with you to give specific information. Actual cash interest outflow is low and is getting lower.
Sir, what has happened during the last four or five quarters, whatever we are earning, say, EBITDA, is being exhausted by paying interest or in depreciation. From what period we can expect the positive PAT?
Around INR 800 crore revenue, at the standalone India I am talking about, is breakeven. We did get a good EBITDA of INR 129 crore. Post the depreciation and interest, and including the book interest related to this issue, the PAT left is less. Cash PAT, I think this quarter would be normally INR 30 crore, INR 35 crore, even the normal PAT is shown to be INR 10 crore. As now we move forward, fourth quarter is going to be very strong and so on. Let's say this quarter we sell, just a hypothetical number, 40% more than the December quarter. All of that earning will straight fall to the PAT going forward. I think the momentum on PAT also we think is going to be positive from FY 2026, but already you will see the positive, I think, number in the current quarter. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for his closing comments.
I would like to again thank all the investors. I would like to thank patience of the investors. We really appreciate it. We as management, we are not literally leaving any stone unturned in terms of taking business to the next level in every possible way. Revenue, earnings, as well as cash flow, all three. I believe there is a very good opportunity in all our businesses in medium to long term. In short term, we have had weaknesses in the first two quarters, which we have tried to cover in third, and I think fourth would be even better. We remain very positive and optimistic going forward. But it is going to take a lot of work because things have been generally slow in the economy over last six months. One cannot deny that fact.
Then we need to work on the new strategies, new ways of doing, so that with a good brand, good quality, good service, we should score some more wins in the market. Hopefully from fourth quarter onwards, you would see that in our numbers. With that, and appreciating the support of all stakeholders, especially shareholders, we would like to thank you and looking for better days ahead. Thank you again.
Thank you. On behalf of DRChoksey Finserv, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.