Good day and welcome to the JSW Steel Limited Q1 FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference, please signal the operator by pressing star and then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwin Bajaj, Group Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Officer. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to JSW Steel's Earnings Call for Q1 FY 2026. We have with us today the management team represented by Mr. Jayant Acharya, Joint Managing Director and CEO; Mr. G.S. Rathore, Chief Operating Officer; Mr. Arun Maheshwari, Director of Commercial and Marketing; and Mr. Swayam Saurabh, the Chief Financial Officer. We will start with opening remarks by Mr. Acharya and then open the floor to questions. With that, over to you, Mr. Acharya.
Thank you, Ashwin. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the JSW Steel call. The global economy has been quite resilient, as you have seen, amidst the tariff and geopolitical tensions which are ongoing. The World Bank has revised its 2025 growth forecast by 35 bps to 2.9% versus its January estimate. Signing of trade deals will hopefully reduce uncertainty and improve the global growth outlook. In India, the RBI has maintained its growth projection for FY 2026 at 6.5%, stable versus FY 2025. Subdued inflation enabled RBI to front-load rate cuts, while the announcement of CRR cuts will help in further transmission of lower rates. This, along with comfortable liquidity and tax breaks, should support urban demand while the rural economy continues to perform well. Domestic steel demand continues to be good, aided by healthy CapEx by the government in quarter one.
India's finished steel consumption grew by 7.9% YoY to 38.3 million tons, while crude steel production grew by 10.4% to 40.3 million. While finished steel imports have moderated, exports have fallen as well, and India continues to be a net importer. Low-priced imports remain a concern, accentuated by changes in global trade flows due to rising tariff uncertainties. While steel production in China has fallen in recent months, the elevated Chinese exports continue to be a challenge for the global industry at large. Talking a little bit on our sustainability efforts, the transition to renewable energy remains a core pillar of our decarbonization strategy, and a 2.5 GW of renewable capacity which has been announced is on track. Around 800 MW is already commissioned up to quarter one, and further 200 MW will be commissioned in quarter two, which will take us to 1 GW of operational renewable capacity.
We will also remain committed to no net loss in biodiversity by 2030. Biodiversity management plans are already in place across all our steelmaking sites. Through afforestation efforts in Vijayanagar, we have created a positive biodiversity impact across 4,000 hectares. Our sustainability efforts continue to gain recognition. JSW Steel has been retained in the FTSE 4 Good Index series, and we have improved our score this year. CDP Supplier Engagement Assessment has included JSW Steel in the A-list for the 2024 disclosure cycle. We have been certified as a great place to work and recognized as one of India's Best Employers among Nation Builders 2025. Moving to our growth strategy, our JVML project in Vijayanagar is ramping up well and produced about 0.75 million tons in quarter one. We plan to commission the second converter in SMS in quarter two.
Subsequently, we will take the shutdown of our BF-3 blast furnace at Vijayanagar starting September 2025. This will upgrade the BF-3 capacity by 1.5 million tons. The Dolvi Phase III expansion from 10 million tons- 15 million tons is progressing well and on track to be completed by September 2027. We continue to enhance our downstream capabilities. In May, the board had approved two projects: one, a 0.6 million tons cold rolling complex at Khopoli, with capabilities to produce galvanized, galvalume, and zinc magnesium coated products for appliances, general engineering, and renewables. The other 0.4 million tons continuous galvanizing line in Vijayanagar is being ordered, capable of producing advanced high-strength steel for the automotive industry with tensile strength up to 1480 MPa. The board has now approved the setting up of a 0.55 million tons cold-rolled non-grain-oriented electrical steel facility in Vijayanagar.
This will cater to the rising demand for electrical steel in the country for generators, motors, etc. In the BPSL matter, we just wanted to update you. JSW Steel has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court on 25th June 2025 in respect of the Supreme Court judgment dated 2 May 2025. The CoC and RP have also filed separate review petitions. The review petitions will be listed in the Supreme Court in due course. The order of the Supreme Court dated 26th May 2025 in JSW's SLP directed status quo in respect of proceedings before NCLT for implementation of the Supreme Court judgment until the review petition is decided. We, along with our legal advisors, have analyzed the matter and are of the view that we have strong grounds to pursue the review petition. On our raw material security, we would just like to update.
For iron ore in Karnataka, we'll be commissioning the three mines progressively during the current financial year. In Goa, we plan to start mining operations at our Cudnem mine in quarter three of this financial year, while the Surla and Codli mines are likely to commence production in the H2 of FY 2027. The three Goa mines will cumulatively produce approximately 3.7 million tons as we have guided in the last quarter. We continue to work on our three captive coking coal mines in eastern India and our washeries at Parbatpur and Dugda. We have also now connected with a 5 million ton linkage from Coal India. We expect to secure usable coking coal supply of around 3.2 million tons- 3.5 million tons per annum from these domestic sources over the next two to three years. Let's now talk about our operational performance for the quarter.
Our consolidated crude steel production in quarter one grew by 14% YoY to 7.26 million tons, while our consolidated steel sales at 6.69 million tons grew by 9% YoY. Importantly, our domestic sales grew by 12% YoY, which was much higher than the industry growth of around 8% during the quarter. Our share of value-added and special products improved to 64% from 60% in the previous quarter. Our sales to the auto sector grew by 20% YoY, which were the highest ever. We also reported the highest-ever sales in the alloy-long products business, which grew 19% YoY, and our sales to the appliance segment grew by 27% YoY. Our inventories have increased during the quarter as we rebuilt inventories from the lows of March 2025 for better servicing of the customers. The fall in export volumes due to global challenges and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties has also led to inventory buildup.
Some inventories were additionally planned to support the ramp-up of our new capacities at JVWL. Moving to our financial performance, our consolidated revenues from operations were at INR 43,147 crore, with an operating EBITDA of INR 7,576 crore, with an EBITDA margin of 17.6% during the quarter. The profit after tax stood at INR 2,209 crore. Our Indian operations reported an EBITDA of INR 7,496 crore, with an EBITDA margin of 18.5% during the quarter. During the quarter, we benefited from steel price improvement from the low levels and an improved product mix, which we have seen on our VSP share. On the cost side, we benefited from lower coking coal prices. Our coking coal cost fell by $14, in line with our guidance in the last quarter. This was partly offset by increased coal consumption due to planned maintenance shutdowns at our operations for two blast furnaces.
Our captive iron ore consumption during the quarter was 39%. EBITDA was also affected by a forex loss of INR 343 crore on foreign currency loans due to abnormally sharp appreciation in Euro against the INR March versus June. At our overseas operations. The business has done quite well. The EBITDA performance at the plate and pipe mill in Texas improved quarter on quarter to $19 million on higher volume and prices. The Ohio operations also reported a positive of $1.3 million from a loss of $7.5 million in the previous quarter. The pricing environment in the United States has improved, and that has supported our overall operational performance. The Italian operations reported an EBITDA of EUR 1.33 million from a marginal negative in the previous quarter. Overall, our overseas operations in the U.S.
and Italy contributed to an EBITDA of INR 187 crore during the quarter compared to a loss of INR 39 crore in the previous quarter. Our net debt at INR 79,850 crore increased by around INR 3,300 crore quarter on quarter, largely on account of working capital buildup in the quarter. Our revenue acceptances as of 30th June stood at INR 2.11 billion, and our CapEx spent for the quarter has been INR 3,400 crore. JSW One platform, our one-stop digital marketplace for MSMEs in the manufacturing and construction ecosystem, continues to scale up well. JSW One is now a unicorn, crossing $1 billion in the recent funding round. The GMV for quarter one FY 2026 was INR 3,919 crore, up 1.5 times YoY. If we have a look at the outlook for Q2. We feel the demand in India. Is likely to remain strong for the year as a whole.
CRISIL has already forecast. Demand growth in the range of 8.5%-9.5% for this financial year. Steel prices, after increasing over March to May, have moderated in June and July. We expect coking coal costs to be marginally lower quarter on quarter, up to about $5 per ton of coking coal, while iron ore costs may see some decline. Overall reduction in costs due to lower raw material prices and better efficiencies will partly offset the reduction in steel realizations in quarter two. We also expect better volumes in the coming quarter. The quarter one also had negative impacts of the shutdowns, which had an additional cost, and the forex loss, which has been built into our operational performance of quarter one. At our international operations, we expect healthy performance at the U.S. operations to continue in quarter two, and our Italian operations should also see an improvement on better order mix.
Overall, the outlook for the Indian economy remains strong, supported by strong PMI ratings and benign inflation. Sustained government capital expenditure, a favorable monsoon outlook, personal income tax cuts, and the Reserve Bank of India's pivot towards monetary easing will drive consumption and private investments. On the back of these factors, we expect another year of healthy steel demand growth, and JSW Steel is well positioned to support India's growth. Thank you very much, and we are happy to take questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touchstone telephones. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question and to restrict yourselves to two questions only.
You may rejoin the queue for follow-up questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Amit Dixit from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, everyone. Congratulations for good performance. I have a couple of questions. The first one is on JVML Vijayanagar. So if I look at the EBITDA movement of this particular subsidiary, it has been quite sharp, of course, due to the increasing capacity utilization. Now, since the second converter is also going to be pressed and commissioned, what kind of EBITDA differential can we expect compared to Vijayanagar operations, considering that this might be a little bit lower on processing cost and all? On a sustainable basis, what kind of EBITDA differential can we expect?
So JVML operations, you know, if you recall, in the last quarter, also we had mentioned the overall operations will be more efficient because of the larger blast furnaces, the larger converters. Therefore, we do expect benefits on that, and that is partly what you have seen in the last quarter. Part of the benefit will flow into the next quarters. Ultimately, we expect JVML operations at Vijayanagar to be better from a standpoint of profitability versus the current Vijayanagar operations. Maybe we would see up to a INR 1,500 further improvement on the JVML operations quarter.
Okay, sir, that's helpful. The second one is on iron ore. I mean, while we are going to start Goa mines and ramp up two other mines, the quality of iron ore is a key suspect here.
So just wanted to understand whether we have imported any iron ore, and since we are going to increase capacity in the near future, what kind of, you know, how we are building the iron ore security, particularly of high-quality iron ore?
Hi, I'm Arun Maheshwari. So basically, iron ore definitely is there are quality differentials which are available within India, and Goa iron ore is offering inferior quality in terms of usage, but then we have developed the processes wherein we can use such kind of iron ore in its full strength. Also, this material will be going for our Dolvi usage. So far, as import is concerned, definitely for the bigger blast furnaces, we need a higher grade of iron ore. And to sustain these kind of furnaces and the processes, we do need a high-grade iron ore for which we go for imports.
If it is available domestical.ly, that is of preference. Otherwise, we have to go for imports.
Also, to just add, the Goa iron ore, which is of lower grade, as you asked, will go into the sinter plant operations mostly at Dolvi, where these are, you know, easily absorbed.
Sir, as I understand in the past.
You have done it. We request you to please rejoin the queue if you have follow-up questions.
Okay, sure. Thank you. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. Thank you for the chance. First is on prices. Is it possible to quantify? Are we at the early March level, which was the pre-safeguard duty? So are we looking at INR 1,500, INR 2,000 kind of a pressure on a sequential basis?
So the prices, you know, as you recall, have moved up in March, April, and partly in May. From the month of June, we have seen prices moderating. I think at hot-rolled coil level, they moderated by about INR 1,500 in June per ton. We see some softness in July as well. Primarily, these are because of the ongoing uncertainties globally. Some of the cheaper imports finding its way again into India. And the seasonal impact, basically, the monsoons which disrupt your infra and construction. Having said that, I think it will be difficult to give you a number as to what the final quarter two outlook will be.
But what I can, what we can say is basically that while the prices are a little softer, I think some of the costs which we explained, shutdown costs and our operational efficiencies which were impacted will partly offset these lower coking coal by about up to $5. We'll also see costs reducing. And iron ore also, we do expect some declines to come in. So they will partly offset the fall in realization.
Understood. Just a follow-up, sir. Do we have any contract resets, mainly from auto, which will provide some sort of support on the price?
Automotive, the prices for the quarter one are more or less, you know, they're finalized, and that has already been closed. So that was positive.
Automotive works on a, you know, formula basis, and basically, it will get reset again based on the pricing, you know, which is really crystallized for the quarter. So I think we will see that for quarter two, how it goes.
Okay, okay. So my second question is on the slurry pipeline, if you can give us some update as to when is the pipeline expected to complete and what sort of cost saving are we expecting? This is the one which is being executed by JSW Infra now.
So the progress is very well as of now. Out of total 300 odd km, it's almost 190 km already under the ground, and balance 110 km is under progress. It's all in as per the time schedule. We expect it to start by March or April 2027. So it's well in time.
So we don't see any unexpected delays over there or anything like that.
The cost saving.
Sorry to interrupt, Sumangal, we request that you return to the queue for follow-up questions. Thank you.
The cost saving will be up to INR 1,000 per ton, a we had guided earlier,
On iron ore?
On per ton of iron ore. Yes.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to delve a bit more on the auto pricing for the quarter. So just since you said that it works on a formula, so is it like a one quarter lag or like if you can just explain that a bit more, how does the formula work? Hello? Hello? Hello? Members of management?
Yeah, yeah. Sorry, we just lost you. Okay.
No, you were asking about the formula for automotive. How does it work, right?
Yeah, yeah. If you can help understand a little bit more on that.
Yeah. So basically, it works on the last quarter-based formula. So I think we will see a positive in terms of improvement. Marginal positive over quarter one and quarter two based on the last quarter lag.
Okay. So is it a one full quarter lag, or is it like, let's say, by the time the discussion is concluded, let's say, okay, now that the pricing is already down, maybe take a rolling three months or something like that, is it like fixed that it will work with a one quarter lag?
I think it is pricing is never an arithmetic. It works in discussion with customers. So the formula is a guideline, and therefore those are closed accordingly in discussion with customers.
So we don't see any unexpected delays over there or anything like that. The cost saving, sorry to interrupt, Sumangal, we request that you return to the queue for follow-up questions. Thank you. The cost saving will be up to ₹1,000 per ton, as we had guided earlier, on iron ore. On per ton of iron ore. Yes. Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to delve a bit more on the auto pricing for the quarter. So just since you said that it works on a formula, so is it like a one-quarter lag or like if you can just explain that a bit more, how does the formula work? Hello? Hello? Hello? Members of management? Yeah, yeah. Sorry, we just lost you. Okay.
No, you were asking about the formula for automotive. How does it work, right? Yeah, yeah. If you can help understand a little bit more on that. Yeah. So basically, it works on the last quarter-based formula. So I think we will see a positive in terms of improvement. Marginal positive over quarter one and quarter two based on the last quarter lag. Okay. So is it a one full quarter lag, or is it like, let's say, by the time the discussion is concluded, let's say, okay, now that the pricing is already down, maybe take a rolling three months or something like that, is it like fixed that it will work with a one-quarter lag? I think it is pricing is never an arithmetic. It works in discussion with customers. So the formula is a guideline, and therefore those are closed accordingly in discussion with customers.
I can't give a comment as to exactly how it will work, but that's the basic direction.
Sure, sure. Understood. Like it will be only, I mean. Only with auto customers, or is that contract also with some other customers in other sectors? Just wanted to understand how much of the volume is basically protected from the recent price decline?
Yeah. Basically, if, you know, there are quarterly customers where we have businesses again for a quarter, and they also have a preset floor, which may be a little different, but. Those are there. I think our monthly customers would still typically constitute a major chunk of our business. That's something which. You know, will play into the cost. Roughly, I would say 2/3 is based on monthly customers.
Sure, sure. Thanks. I will come back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question is from the line of Satyadeep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. First question is on CapEx or capital allocations. I wanted to understand, Dolvi. The orders were placed about one year ago, if I'm not mistaken. Where are we in the process? When do you expect packages to arrive? What is the expected capital cost for this project now, especially given. Safeguard duty? If safeguard duty doesn't come in the form of what we are seeing in the preliminary. Form provisional duty, what kind of flexibility is there? Because we keep hearing from industry that we need duty for CapEx, but the company is already ahead in this process. What kind of flexibility is there to adjust that CapEx in case you see something different compared to provisional? Tied to that will be India and U.S. CapEx. If you think demand.
All this protection in the U.S., when do you pull the trigger on? Because historically, there were plans to have $1 billion CapEx in the U.S. Is that something that's still on the drawing board, depending on how the situation is? Just two-part question on one, how do you see CapEx in India and then on U.S.?
Yeah, Rathore here. See, as far as Dolvi is concerned. It will be close to INR 20,000 crore investment, which is planned for phase III there. This whole project. Is on schedule. We have placed order, but we are getting ready for engineering done. There may be some more facility added because, like earlier, we did not plan sinter to be added. Probably we will add sinter and add to this cost of INR 20,000 crore. Now, as far as. U.S. investment is concerned for CapEx. Is also more or less on schedule.
Maybe if there are at all, if there is a delay, maybe two to three months of delay. It is on schedule.
Just to add on the Dolvi thing, the cost of INR 20,000 crores will be including the sinter plant, which was earlier about INR 19,350. On our Ohio operations, there is a marginal delay. Our Baytown operations, in terms of expansions, are on track. So Ohio, there could be two months or three months, as Rathore was saying, but I think otherwise we are good to go.
There was one more question. $1 billion in U.S., that's not part of the plan. So what we are doing in the U.S. is essentially, you know, quality upgrade of our plant, which allows us to produce better grades and helps with margin. But no further capital is planned to be allocated in the U.S. Yes.
We have already given our project cost earlier. I think those you can refer to.
But no expansion on plates maybe because I think two years ago, there was some possibility of expansion. But as of now, that's not on the drawing board.
No, that's not part of our capital allocation today.
Only the existing ones which we are doing at Baytown and Ohio, those will be completed. We have not planned any additional CapEx there.
Rathore, secondly on this new iron ore project beneficiation, what is the thought process there? Where is the iron ore coming from? What kind of, because we see INR 1,000 crore CapEx outlay, but maybe just if you can provide some details on what kind of cost saving, where is the iron ore coming from for this? This is going to be Vijayanagar. Just some more insight, please.
So there was a tender process under which the Andhra Pradesh government has come up with the bidding criteria wherein people can come and set up the beneficiation plant. It's a magnetite resource. There's a 5 million ton of ROM per year, which will give a produce of about 1.5 million tons. It can be upgraded up to 64% with a very low alumina and silica, which is very complementary. Like in the earlier question, we had said why we are importing material for the high grade. So this is a substitute to high grade material that we are likely to import. It comes up as a very attractive commercial. So this setup is for that. INR 1,000 crore is required for the beneficiation unit. It's a JV with the Andhra Pradesh government over there.
This will basically feed into our Vijayanagar plant, which is about 500 km- 600 km from there. That will supplement this high grade will supplement the Karnataka lower grade. That's the basic, you know, I would say, reason why we are into this JV.
Is there any maybe potential savings?
Sir, we request you to please rejoin the queue if you have follow-up questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, this quarter, is it possible to share how much blended steel price increase which helped us in this quarter? I'm talking about Q1 versus Q4. Secondly, you discussed about HRC prices coming down in June on some softness in July. Can you please give the similar color for rebar p rices?
Lastly, in terms of volume, I think you mentioned that in second quarter also, we can see marginal increase in volume quarter-on-quarter basis because maybe in first quarter, we have some shutdown.
On the right side, I think on a blended basis, we were able to get close to INR 3,300 on realizations, improvement similar to what we had guided. On cost side, we've already explained to you that we had a benefit on coking coal, and we had some outages on account of shutdowns that had played into our costs. Going forward, the volumes, I didn't say marginal increase, but I said the volumes would increase because the shutdowns are behind us and the JVML second converter will start. So the volumes will go up from the quarter one to quarter two. The third question you asked was, you asked three.
I was asking about. Yeah.
So on the team, so the rebar doesn't operate. Basically, there are no safeguards on rebars or long products. Right now, what you see is a seasonal impact of the market because during this time, the construction activity goes down. So you can see that playing out in the secondary market and therefore on the primary bars as well. So the prices during this period of time do go down. It's a seasonal situation which happens every seasonal monsoon quarter. Then again, after the construction activity picks up, it starts coming back.
So whatever demand.
Yeah. Okay.
So whatever price erosion which we are seeing right now, it's really seasonal. We are not witnessing anything which could be, you know, beyond seasonal also as of now at least.
So no, let me just put it this way for everybody.
I think that so quarter one to quarter two, number one positive is you will see volumes going up. Number two is that your shutdown costs in the range of about INR 200 crore, which we had an impact in quarter one, will no longer be there in quarter two. Number three is that INR 343 crore of impact on forex loss, which is a mark to market on our euro loans. That's a one-time abnormality. We don't expect this kind of thing to repeat again. It may vary a little bit here and there. So these two factors, if you were to add, is almost INR 800 per ton. INR 200 crore of this and about INR 343 crore of this. So that's a positive play. Plus, the efficiencies will go up. JVML cost will go down.
A little bit of cost on account of raw material will also play. So therefore, we will have these as tailwinds. The headwind is, as I said, in terms of price. So the prices are something which have softened. But we have these cushions to be able to, you know, mitigate some part of the cost, part of the profit realization.
Understood, sir. Understood. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ritesh Shah with Investe c. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is on the regulatory side. How are we looking at safeguard duties being reinstated or bumped up? What is it? How should we understand that? Secondly, there were several variables. Specifically from a mining standpoint. Cascading effect of royalties.
And I think the other one was retrospective taxation, specifically with respect to Karnataka. I think that's the first question with three parts to it, if you could please help. Thank you.
On the tariff safeguard side, I think the government is going to be reviewing and announcing the final safeguard duties within the period. Given, which is 200 days from the date of initiation. I think the investigations are on, so we will see the result by that time. Given the situation that the tariff uncertainty overall in the world has increased, and many countries have started putting barriers to trade, increased barrier to trade. There is more propensity for diversion of trade into India. We are seeing some of that happening. Lower priced imports are coming into India from other countries.
Which were not there for the recent past at lower prices, which is impacting the sentiment in India. Therefore, there is a case for the government to consider the safeguard duty favorably in terms of extension as well as in terms of the overall duty percentage which they have levied. There is not nothing much beyond this I can say. We will have to wait and see the final investigation. The second question which you had asked was about the mining bill. I think in Karnataka, that is not yet approved. We are option mine. For us, therefore, the impact is not going to be much as we had indicated last time.
Sir, the B part, cascading effect on royalties?
Royalty on royalty? Is that what you're asking?
Yes, sir.
That is still subjective.
You know, in the court, what basically, I think there are different views of opinion actually from different stakeholders. That is something which is still subjective. We would, as of now, leave it at that.
Sure. And my quick second question for Swayam. We have seen cash tax rate actually bump up very sharply. For FY 2025, it was 34%. Versus the average of prior four quarters, which was 17%. How should one comprehend this? And does it have anything with BPSL by name?
Your question is on cash tax?
Yes. Cash tax rate, what we show in the cash flow statement for FY 2025, that number is 34% versus the prior four years, that number is 17%. Is there anything which has changed?
No, we'll come back to you on this. We think there is a misunderstanding. Cash tax rate.
This is cash tax paid from the cash flow statement divided by the PBT.
Yeah. It might. We will come back to you on this cash tax paid include what all taxes?
Directionally, our taxes have gone down.
Yeah, yeah. In this quarter. Our ETR is 28.4%. But our actual cash outgo is even lower. 25.2%, which is the ETR handle only.
Sure. Can I just squeeze in one more if possible?
Sure.
Yeah. Sir, basically, if you look at last six, seven years, the reported EBITDA what we see, we see around 10%- 11% of it is coming from government grants. It was nearly INR 950. My question is, the ongoing expansions that we have, do we have sustained incentives from the respective state governments which will ensure this INR 950 or INR 1,000 to actually continue going forward?
You know, today, the good thing is that every state wants to encourage investments and have rolled out policies for projects incentives. I think we see that continuing in the states in which we are investing. Yes, that would continue. The schemes may be different, but yes, that will continue in some way.
Thank you.
Thank you. Sure.
Thank you so much. All the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask questions, you may please press star and one. Our next question is from the line of Vikash Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. And thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question regarding this news talk about the zero for zero tariff on the steel product in India, U.S. Though it is not finalized yet, but just wanted to understand that. Have you heard anything?
And if it is 10% -1 5%, would it make feasible for us to export to U.S.?
It's too early to really comment on that. We also understand from the media what you are understanding. But. We will wait for the final deal to happen. But historically, our exports from India to U.S. in steel has not been much. And because you have, in addition to. These tariffs, you have safeguard duties, you have anti-dumping duties. And you have some CVD as well on product-to-product basis. There are very few products actually left. Where the advantage will be there. But yes, what you are asking is a relative disadvantage versus a relative advantage. I think once the duties are crystallized, we'll see. But I also understand that steel and aluminum is going to be treated a little differently in U.S. We'll have to watch out how that. Comes.
Understood, sir.
Sir, my second question pertaining to our volumes, basically. We met 21% of the overall guidance, and we are going to have a shutdown in September in the Vijayanagar. So how should we look at the is there any risk to our current guidance?
No, there is no risk to the volume there. Our shutdowns are already over. We have taken. Yeah, we've taken. Plan shutdown.
That is why.
Yeah, sorry. You asked about the plan shutdown. As far as the shutdowns of Dolvi and BPSL are concerned, which we took in the last quarter, they are over, and those operations are stable. As far as the BF-3 shutdown is concerned, which is in Vijayanagar, that is already built into our. Plan. Of whatever guidance we have given. We do not see any impact.
Understood, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
We have our next question from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. Sir, you know, I just want to understand on a consumption basis, what was the coking coal cost this quarter? Because is it closer to the spot prices now, or do we still have some scope for further cost reduction next quarter?
Yeah , it is. Closer. The. Number would be closer to $160 CFR basis. But I think what you need to see is that prices have become more or less stable in the last. Month or so. Maybe the benefit which will accrue in quarter two will be between $0- $5.
Sure. Maybe.
About $5 benefit we could expect in the quarter two versus quarter one.
Okay. And. This is.
Sorry, what we told you is about the blended one. But I think on a.
PLV basis, the prices have stabilized. The number which we told you at $160 CFR is on blended basis. All coals. Yeah.
And sir, on our captive coking coal mines, so especially the ones in India, what kind of timelines and potential cost savings can accrue from these?
We expect that both t he washeries and Dugda and Parbatpur should start operating in H2 of FY 2027. Somewhere around end of third quarter or beginning of fourth quarter is what we expect it to start. The total production we expect on a full-scale basis is about. 2.5 million-3 million tons to start with as a coking coal. And definitely, domestic sourcing always would be slightly more cheaper as compared to today's price regime as well. In any which case, it would be beneficial.
And this is including our three captive coal mines and the washeries put together, maybe we will.
Be slightly higher is what we are targeting. We will have to see how the yields. Play in after we start the washeries.
Sure, sir. This 2.5 million tons is clean coal?
Yeah. 2.5, it could be 3 million. Clean coal. Usable coking coal.
Sure, sir. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rajesh Majumdar from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. I had a question. You announced the acquisition of a company which owns land in Odisha. So can we get some color on the greenfield project in Odisha now in terms of timelines and what is the exact kind of investment that we are planning? Because we know it's 13 million tons in phases. So some color on that?
You're talking about the land which we have.
Yes. Yes.
Yeah.
So this is just land which we are purchasing, close to 900 acres of land in Odisha, which we are acquiring for any future expansions which we may have.
Yeah. I mean, your greenfield growth in Odisha plan. So is there some relation to this in terms of the land acquisition, and when can we see some CapEx announcement on this?
No, greenfield is already going on. Our Paradip project at Jagatsinghpur is already, you know, the slurry pipeline is on track. The pellet plants which are being put up there is on track. We will take up the next phase in terms of steel production. As we decide we will announce those. But those will come at the Paradip site. This particular site is a different site, and we were getting one 900 acres of clean piece of land.
So that is why we have acquired this for any future expansion which we may have. But nothing decided as of now.
Okay. My next question is on BPSL. Again, we know that these kind of judiciary acquisitions can take time in India. So will it hamper our CapEx in terms of our brownfield expansion in BPSL? Do you foresee any kind of delay in that going forward?
In our 50 million ton outlook which we have given of capacity up to 2030-2031, BPSL was not part of the brownfield expansion which we have taken into account. So therefore, it will not impact our targets which we have given.
The 0.5 million ton will be on track?
That 0.5 million, we will take a view. That is the only one which is basically to be decided after the Supreme Court decisions are behind us.
So if at all, there could be a slight risk of delay in the 0.5, nothing more than that.
That's all. Correct. You're right.
Thanks.
Thank you. To ask a question, ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one. Our next question is from the line of Vedant Sarda from Nirmal Bang Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead. Vedant Sarda, your line has been unmuted. You may proceed with your question.
Sir, am I audible?
You are audible. You may proceed.
Sir, I want to understand that in Q1 FY 2025, we have mining premium and royalties of INR 3,200 crores, and it is INR 1,860 crores in the current quarter. So the deviation of this, why it is like that?
Just one second, please hold on. There are two things in this.
One is that our Odisha volumes have moderated, and the second one is the surrender of the Jajang mines. If you recall, we have surrendered the Jajang mines, and therefore that MDPA was completed, and the production from there is stopped.
So that production would have been in last year base, consequently built premium also in last year base.
Mining premium have been decreased due to reduction in volumes?
Yeah. Reduction in volumes, one is much. Yeah. Basically, one is Jajang. Therefore, the volume and the premium both have gone down mainly because of Jajang. And secondly, some moderation may have happened in the other mines we are using to the extent we require.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to join the question queue. Our next question comes from the line of Satyadeep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you.
I'm [Jain]. Just wanted to ask on the product mix in the last bit of expansion in galvanized, we've seen expansion in volume and product mix improvement towards galvanized. So just where is galvanized going compared to stainless steel? I just wanted to understand. Also, how much in FY 2025 you would have sold for solar mounting structures?
So galvanized goes into galvanized. So the coated product basket is quite large. It includes galvanized. It has galvalume. It has got galvanneal in our basket. These are different. So galvanized and galvalume go for your various construction activities, solar activities. Zinc-magnesium is the other one which we have developed over the past few years. That also goes into corrosion-resistant areas. Galvanneal goes for automotive sector. So therefore, these are multiple users. I am just trying to simplify this for you.
We are expanding our lines on coated, as we have just indicated in our initial address on the call. So those will cater to one is the infrastructure construction general engineering sector in Khopoli. The other one will be for appliances in Khopoli. And the Vijayanagar line will primarily be for automotive up to a very high tensile strength, advanced high-strength steel for up to 1,480 MPa. These are the different usage in these different plants which we are envisaging in our projects.
Some of these products are also competing with stainless steel. So is it some kind of life cycle cost analysis? Why are these product finding applications, certain applications versus stainless? Just wanted to understand because they would be substituting certain applications.
Also, how much maybe if you can quantify of the total volume of how much did you how much did go towards solar mounting structure in FY 2025? Any material or not, just trying to understand.
We won't have the data offhand on how much went into solar mounting structures, but we are the largest supplier for the solar renewable energy side on the solar energy basket. On the stainless steel side, it will be difficult to comment, but I think what you would see is that stainless is also corrosion-resistant. Galvanized is a different structure. Zinc, aluminum, or zinc, magnesium coating also has a corrosion property naturally. The cost. And the pricing points for these are different. The applications could be different. So they go into probably different zones. If you want, we can have somebody from our product teams to have a call with you separately.
You can reach out to the investor relations. They can connect you.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Prateek Singh from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Just a bit more clarification on the beneficiation plant in Andhra. So what kind of capacity are we talking about, or are we still at the drawing board stage? Given that, as you mentioned earlier, we would be mining around 3 tons of ore per ton of high-grade ore. How are we looking at cost there and any technology partners that we have signed up for this?
So the total production of raw run-of-mine would be 5 million ton per year, and the output would be close to about 1.5 million ton out of this.
Overall cost and everything is being burned out, but then the initial process says that it's a pretty good project.
So what kind of timeline are we looking at?
The total timeline as per the agreement goes up to 900 days, but the initial timeline is 720 days.
So we have to put this to put it simply, we have to develop the mine along with APMDC, and we have to set up a beneficiation plant. It's a magnetite ore which will be enriched to 64 Fe. As Arun said, this would give us an output of about 1.5 million tons. As we understand today, it is linked to the IBM prices of that particular grade, so it will be cost-effective. Our idea is to take it to Vijayanagar plant, which will be the closest from a geo-logistics point of view, between 500 km- 600 km.
So it should be beneficial, is our estimate. The balance is going worked out. And we can update you once we are ready.
Sure. Thanks. The last question is on any sense on how HRC prices domestically are now versus, let's say, import parity from China? Because it seems that China export prices have strengthened a bit over the past week, and we appear to be at discounts. Any comments on that?
So the domestic HRC prices, as I said, have moderated in June and partly in July as well. So I would say that the prices are now very competitive from an import point of view. So therefore, the chances of more imports coming in from China would, therefore, to that extent, be lesser. Some low-priced imports have been seen from Russia, which we need to monitor how that develops.
Thanks. Thanks. Welcome on the list.
Thank you.
Our next question is from the line of Kirtan Mehta from Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for this opportunity. I believe you announced about the non-grade project earlier in this. Would you be able to shed more light around the capacity economics of the project?
Non-grade?
Yeah.
Oh, for electrical steel. The CapEx for this project, is that what you're asking?
CapEx as well as sort of the economics, how does it work out for the CRNO?
Economics, so first of all, the demand for CRNO in the country is quite good because the electrical steel going into various end users like generators, motors, where CRNO goes, that demand is increasing. We therefore feel the need. Our current line of 200,000 tons is already fully loaded. We still see the demand remaining strong. We have decided therefore to go in with capacity expansion.
The project we see has a very good IRR in terms of rate of return. Our CapEx in the CRNO project is in the vicinity of INR 4,600 crores for 0.55 million tons.
And the payback for this project is lower than four years. It's a very attractive project.
Thanks for this color. And in terms of sort of to maintain our downstream ratio at around 50% of our capacity for our plan of 50 million ton, what are the additional pieces that you would be looking forward? I mean, would we have further announcement on the downstream side?
I think it's value-added and special products both. Value-added is in the downstream space. Special products are emanating from the hot strip mills in itself. Various advanced high-strength steel which go for various applications in the hot form itself is also a part of that.
Our Dolvi facility, which will be a 2,600 mm kind of a mill, will be able to penetrate into the plate market with those kind of special products as well. You need to consider the VASP in totality. But we'll keep updating you on our downstream expansion as we do any. As of now, we are about 13.5 million ton of downstream, including our plate facilities, out of our 34.2 million ton capacity in India. But keep in mind that these are based mostly flat steel, whereas 34.2 million includes our long steel facility as well, which includes alloy steel, etc.
Right. Thank you.
Thank you. We have Rahil Bohra with SBI Pension Fund with the next question. Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, you are audible, sir. You may proceed.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Just one small question.
Could you please spell out the inventory number for the current quarter, the volume number?
Total inventories have moved up by about 400,000 ton on account of the reasons we explained in our. Industry call address.
This is quarter on quarter, right?
Yeah. On an overall basis, it will be in the range of 2.3 million, including our semi-finished goods, work in progress, and finished goods put together.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as our last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwin Bajaj for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Just to reiterate. We continue to remain positive on the outlook for quarter two with respect to volume, as the shutdowns are behind us and the converter to JVML will start operations.
Overall, for the year, we see a growth between 8%-9% in India. So the demand growth on a higher base continues to be strong. Basically, we see that JSW Steel, with its capacity, is very well positioned to meet this demand growth in India. We look forward to any kind of questions which you may have. You can reach out to our investors. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, everyone, for joining, and have a good weekend. Bye.
T hank you. On behalf of JSW Steel Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.