Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Tata Chemicals Limited Q2 and H1 FY 2024 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gavin Desa from CDR India. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Vivek. Good day, good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Tata Chemicals Q2 and H1 FY 2024 earnings conference call. We have with us today, Mr. Mukundan, the Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Zarir Langrana, Executive Director, and Mr. Nandakumar Tirumalai, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to mention that some statements made in today's discussions may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. I now invite Mr. Mukundan to begin proceedings of the call. Over to you, Mukundan.
Thanks, Gavin. Good evening, and welcome to everyone to our Q2 and H1 FY 2024 earnings call. Let me start by first wishing all of you greetings for the festive season and Happy Deepavali. I'm joined by my colleagues, as mentioned by Gavin, Zarir Langrana and Nandu. I will start the discussion with key operational highlights across business and geographies, after which our CFO will walk you through the financial performance for the quarter. Overall, among the markets where we have sizable presence, India and U.S. were stable. There was softness in some segments of the market, especially in container glass. Our prices have remained subdued, with new supplies coming from China, or at least the new supplies being announced out of China. There's been a bit of a slowdown spill over from China into other markets.
Overall, in the medium term, we look, the outlook for soda ash remains stable, backed by demand from sustainability sectors like solar PV and lithium. As far as our company is concerned, we have maintained our market shares in key markets through active customer engagement. Our cash generation was better as with working, better working capital. Our focus in some of the markets, like in U.K., will remain that we focus on high value-added bicarb and pharma salt. And we will continue to focus on operational excellence to ensure our margins are protected. We have repaid debt of $120 million in the overseas units in the first half of the year. Our CapEx program will continue as planned for the projects which are already underway, and the future programs will focus on...
Focus, continue to focus on debottlenecking with a very high capital efficiency. Moving on to Rallis, their quarterly performance was better than previous quarter in spite of challenging environment. As compared to corresponding quarter last year, revenue did decline by 12% due to subdued performance of international market, but domestic market remained stable. EBITDA of quarter was higher by 14%, and Rallis approach to ensure right level of placements reflected in improved collections. To conclude, we believe core fundamentals of our main business, soda ash, continues to remain steady. We expect medium-term supply-demand/supply situation to remain stable. While we are scaling up capacities of our group, core business by almost 1 million tons, cost effectively, mainly through debottlenecking, we remain very much focused on, management excellence, debt repayment, and strengthening our cash flows.
Our endeavor is to maintain our customer engagements at high level to ensure market position, and continue to have steady contribution with focus on excellence. That concludes my opening remarks. I now hand over the floor to Nandu, who will take you through financial performance.
Thanks, Mukundan, and good day, everyone. Let me walk you through the financial performance, after which we'll get the Q&A. Starting with the headline numbers for the quarter, our revenue overall for the quarter was at INR 3,998 crore, down 6% compared to last year's Q2. Decrease in revenue was driven by lower soda ash volumes and contribution being impacted mainly in India and Kenya. EBITDA for the quarter was INR 890 crore as against INR 920 crore in last year's Q2, 11% lower.
PAT for the quarter was INR 495 crore, lower by 28%, compared to last year's Q2, which also has a INR 102 crore exceptional gain booked in the quarter on account of a reversal of provision on account of a long-pending income tax issue we had with the government. Moving to each business, starting with India, revenue for the quarter was INR 106 crore. Soda ash volumes were up 4% compared to last year's Q2. Pricing was lower, because of which we had lower revenues compared to last year's. Salt business performed well and crossed their steady volumes. Bicarb saw good volumes, too, as compared to last year. Moving to U.S., business continued to benefit from better pricing during the quarter. EBITDA margins was at 22% for the current quarter.
In the U.K. business, revenue was impacted as compared to last year's Q2 due to lower volumes and led by lower revenue of 7% in the current quarter. EBITDA was 19% for the current quarter. As far as Kenya is concerned, both the volumes and realizations were softening, which in turn impacted margins and profits for the quarter. As far as Silica and Nutra is concerned, both the businesses have growth, have a growth path in front of them. With time and investments, we expect both segments to clock in consistent numbers going forward. Moving on to Rallis, revenues for the quarter was INR 83 crores, 12% down compared to last year's Q2. EBITDA was INR 135 crores, 14% higher than last year's Q2. PAT INR 81 crores against last year's INR 21 crores, up 15%.
... Our cash position, cash and cash equivalents was INR 1,701 crore in, in September. CapEx was INR 418 crore. Net debt was INR 4,347 crore on account of dividend outflow, CapEx, et cetera. With that, I close the comments and hand it over back to, Gavin, to open up for Q&A. Thank you.
Yeah, Deepak, please go ahead.
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 the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Vivek Rajamani from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the presentation, and Happy Diwali to you and the team. Two questions from my side. Could you just talk a bit about the U.S.? Volumes have not recovered back to the normal levels this quarter, and it also appears that the pricing for exports, which are more levered to spot, have corrected quite a bit. So could you just give us some color of what's happening there and how we should think about this going forward? And the second question I had was more specifically on China. Could you give us some color on, you know, what's the demand supply situation in China? I ask this because we did see a rally in spot prices in China a couple of months back, and recently we've again seen a very sharp decline.
Any color on what's happening on the ground would also be very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. I think let me first start with China. I think in China, the basic market issue was that there was a new supply coming in from Inner Mongolia, and which in anticipation of which many customers had delayed purchases, and they were hoping that prices would correct. But unfortunately, or let's say those disturbances did not happen in China. It seemed more stable than what the market participants would have thought should happen. The China inventory at very low level from approximately 300,000 tons, it has fallen down to something like 270,000 tons, and it is now up little bit. So really, the issue in China, in our view, is that Chinese market has remained bit range-bound.
And really the spillover in the international markets of volumes have not happened. That does not mean that it could not happen. We'll keep a close watch on this. And the other angle in China was about the demand situation within China, which has remained slightly soft. A lot of measures by government, and you would be reading this across sectors in the general news, too. And real impacts of that, we will wait and watch and see. If you look at broad numbers, we think China numbers in terms of volume compared to last year are about 3% up. That is the overall number which we have done the calculation. But reality is that we need to keep a close watch on China.
So really the news from China is the anticipated disturbance the market did not follow through. It was more soft than what we had thought it would be. In terms of the Your question was on the U.S. market volumes, right?
Yeah.
So in terms of U.S. market volumes, I think, in terms of domestic market share, I think we have more or less protected our domestic market share overall in the market. I think the pressure, as you rightly identified, was on the export market, where I think the prices have broadly tended down from the previous quarter. From previous years, the export pricing is more or less same, but from the previous quarter, they've tended down approximately by $50-$60 per ton, and we anticipate that will be the stable number going forward. So it is back to what it was, the previous year, same quarter. So I hope that sort of explains the current market situation, Ramesh.
Okay.
Vivek, sorry.
Thank you so much, sir. So just one small clarification before I rejoin the queue. Do you expect the volumes in the U.S. to go back to, you know, the 600 kiloton level, or you think this is going to be a more normalized number going forward?
Actually, the domestic market in U.S., it has been fairly stable, except for some softness in container glass. And, the real impact in the U.S. has been the export market, where I think the South American market we do expect to remain stable, but I think the big issue we need to watch out for is the Southeast Asian market. So I don't want to make an immediate commentary. We are watchful. If things turn out benign, then I think it'll be back to normal, the volumes we said. Otherwise, it will tend towards what we are having in this quarter.
Sure, sir. Thank you so much, and all the very best.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of S. Ramesh, from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, and thank you very much. So in terms of the Inner Mongolia capacity addition, what is the latest number we have in terms of some confirmed capacity addition this year? And will we see the entire 5 million capacity being added in the next few months?
...So the public news is that the entire 5 million net command stream this year. This, when I say this year, that is March 31st, 2024. But we think more realistically, it is likely to be close to about 3 million.
3 million, okay. The second thing is, if you see the India performance, the margins are under pressure. So what is the reason for the weak performance in India? Because rest of the world we can understand. But India, we, we thought the India segments, growing property and automobiles are doing well. So how much, and last time you told that there is a certain amount of overhang from increased exports from Turkey and the supply overhang in China. So, how much of that is still persisting in terms of channel stocks and weak consumption, and when do you see this recover?
So really, the issue in India is not so much the demand. Ramesh, I think you are, you rightly pointed out, India is actually probably the bright star in demand side. So Indian market, we don't think it is a demand—we don't see it as a demand issue. But certainly, Indian market has suffered from heavy increase in imports. Indian imports, which were broadly around, let's say, 14%, so 13% or 14% of the total sales, that has doubled to close to 27%-28%. So the real change has been the imports landing in India, mainly from Turkey, and that has impacted the pricing because they've landed at unreasonable, let's say, pretty low prices, and that has tended to pressure the market prices overall.
So we do think this is a phenomenon which is, let's say, very specific for this market. We do think that over a period of time, it will correct itself. If you ask me, has it reached the bottom? In my view, whether we've reached the bottom or not, very clear to me, but we are, we are very close to bottom.
If I might squeeze in a last question on U.K. and Kenya. Kenya margins have really come down sharply. So is this the margin which we can expect going forward, or is there some scope for recovery in the Kenya margins and similarly in U.K.?
I think, in Kenya, you, the way we would certainly say that, the current margins which are trending would probably be the normal margins, going forward. Because the bulk of the exports is to India and Southeast Asia, and those numbers more or less would tend to be around the same figure going forward.
Okay, thank you very much, and join the queue.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor, from Kapoor and Co. Please go ahead.
Yeah, Namaskar, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, as earlier alluded by you, that U.K. will be moving to now the part and profitability structure. So current numbers for U.K., can we penciling in, this is now the new normal for the U.K. numbers, or what should be our understanding?
Certainly, I, I would say in bicarb and in salt, these numbers would be themselves. In terms of soda ash, while we have tended to maintain constant margins, and that probably will hold true for Q, Q3 of this fiscal year and Q4 of the calendar year. You're going to wait for a commentary from us exactly where the margins will settle for us the next, contract period next year. So we are still in the process of going through the negotiation. So I'm not able to sort of comment whether it will remain stable or move around a little bit, up or down, but we'll come back to you on that. But bicarb and salt will remain more or less stable.
It is really the Soda Ash one which we need to sort of manage for the new contracting period starting from January 2.
Sir, for the CO2 program, which we have conducted through the aid of the U.K. government, the benefits of the same are now fully accrued, and this is going to be pertinent now?
Yeah, I think the bicarbonate plant actually completely utilizes the carbon capture unit. In fact, it is a zero, really close to net zero kind of a situation for our bicarb production. So it is a green product, and it is finding very good customer traction.
Sir, as you mentioned, rightly, that the contracts will be renewable, the annual contracts for in the next month. So the outlook for U.S. also, you would be able to share post the Q3 numbers. That will give us an an assumption how the next year is going to shape up. If that would be a better understanding for U.S. market also, since there is a lot of volatility currently in the soda ash market. So that will have an impact on our contracts with annual contracts for U.S. also?
Correct. I think we'll be able to share with you in Q3. I can only tell you that the teams are working hard to close out all contracting, and it is moving in the right direction.
Okay. So last point was on the global conference on soda ash that happened in the month of October. If you could enlighten us with what is the global scenario shaping up currently, and what is the feedback in terms of the demand outlook globally? If you could give some more color on the same, and then I'll join the queue, sir.
I think one big theme from all customers in that conference was from the focus on sustainability. I think all customers are looking to the carbon reduction program, the big ones, the global ones. I think that, that's one of the key themes running. So, the chemical companies which are able to demonstrate a move towards a lower carbon footprint will continue to benefit with greater customer traction. To that extent, our units in U.S., which has a lower carbon footprint, as well as the one in U.K., do benefit. Kenya has also very low carbon footprint. It is in India, we need to address that by, you know, by what we have committed, which is 30% reduction. That's one broad trend right across.
The second trend is there is a continued belief and bullishness about the applications like solar and the lithium carbonate. They're gonna continue to be the drivers of growth. The other traditional sectors, I think we have to wait for the macroeconomics to correct. So fundamentally, how the real estate market behaves and how the, let's say, the automotive sector behaves, which will drive the flat glass. In terms of container glass, it has been a bit of a surprise for all of us that the market demand has softened. Traditionally, this segment has held up.
So we have to wait and watch what has led to this, especially in terms of both wine and beer consumption, usually should hold up, but it is seeing, it's seeing there, there's been a reduction in the container glass demand. But we don't have a clarity on what's the way it will trend, so I think we will want to watch very closely. So these are the broad lessons to glean from the soda ash conference. Certainly, I think so in terms of supply side, all the companies are focused on improving their core offering to customers by reducing carbon. And most companies are also focused on making sure that their cost competitiveness continues to improve more than last. That is what they are focused on.
Right. Right, sir. I'll join the queue. I have two questions. May I ask now or, sir, join the queue?
You can ask now. Yeah, you can ask now, yeah.
Yes, sir. Sir, for the finance costs, so we see that on a consolidated basis, our finance costs have gone up by INR 100 crore. Whereas, you have also alluded to the fact that we have reduced our debt on the U.S. unit by $100 million. So what's the debt on the U.S. counterpart currently, and why have the finance costs gone up?
Actually, the borrowing cost is almost the interest rates have increased dramatically. They've more than doubled. Nandu, you want to clarify?
Yeah. So you see, we have loans in the U.K., Singapore, and U.S. So all our U.K. and Singapore debts got refinanced about a year back in December last year, so those came at a much higher rate than what we took earlier. So last year, Q2 had an earlier rate taken a long time back at 1% LIBOR, so therefore, this rate difference of 5% on the loans in Singapore and U.K. is reason for the increase in interest rate. Otherwise, we're repaying debt, and therefore, that is, that is resulting in a lower increase over last year. So broadly, it is refinancing done bulk of our entire debt in U.K., Singapore last year in December, and the single rate will be higher.
So what is the debt on US currently after the repayment?
UK, US would be-
US.
200 and... Just hold on.
Sir, next point would be on sodium bicarbonate used on for flue gas treatment. What kind of incremental demand are we anticipating with this, with the implementation of flue gas treatment at the power plant? I think so Tata Power is also contemplating a lot of initiative on this basis. How is this going to shape up and the outlook on the same?
This is a growing sector, and we are very much focused on that sector, too. So do you want to add?
Yeah, I think you're right. Certainly in India, we've seen over the last 12 months, increased demand from this sector, primarily from one of the pan-India players. You're right, Tata Power is also looking at it. Our estimate is that it will continue to grow at about 10%-12% per annum, but in a phased manner as each utility takes up each of the plants separately. So it's certainly moved from a pilot phase to a commercial phase as far as the utilities are concerned.
On the previous question, in terms of the debt in the U.S., it's $258 million in the U.S. Overall, $728 million is the overall debt we have on the whole. $258 million is U.S., and GBP 150 million is in the U.K., SGD 182 million is in Singapore. Broadly, that's the breakout.
Right, sir. Thank you, sir. I'll join the queue, sir. Thank you, and all the best to the team, sir, and should be public.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Mithil from unlistedindia.com. Please go ahead.
Yes. So my first question is, like, for the additional capacity that's going to come on stream, do we have the contracts ready for it, like, to take away for the new stream?
Yeah, I think the first traditional stream is gonna come as the salt capacities are coming on stream. I think that more or less is fully booked with our contract with Tata Consumer. And on the soda ash, about 0.25 is 250,000 tons coming on stream, which we are very confident the Indian market with its growth would take that. I think we have a full confidence on that. The additional capacities we are bringing on in Magadi, about 200 odd thousand tons, and in U.S., about 400 odd thousand tons. I think those we are very confident because of the cost competitiveness of both these sites.
But they are about two, two and a half years away, and the current year, the capacity which is coming is only in India.
So my second question is on the growth front. Like, what is Tata Chemicals planning to be on a very high growth front, like our sister companies are Tata Power and Tata Motors? So if you see in soda ash and salts, the capacity expansion is also very moderate. So what is Tata Chemicals planning to, you know, grow aggressively actually?
Yeah. So in terms of the organic growth, Mithil, our plans are exactly what I mentioned, that... We will be bringing on about 30% more capacity in our silica unit, 300,000 ton, 3,000 ton. And it'll further go through doubling of capacity in phase two, for which we should start the process of construction in about a month's time, after getting the consent to establish from the Tamil Nadu government. As far as the soda ash is concerned, it'll go to 1 million ton in India, and the salt will go to 1.5. Beyond that, the next phase will take the salt capacity to 1.8 million tons, and also the soda ash capacity to 1.3 million ton in India.
That is about 2.5 years away. In U.S., about 400,000 tons additional, and in Kenya, about 200,000 additional. Those capacities will be also around 2.5-3 years away. We will be adding capacities in a lumpy manner, but they have to go through execution phase, and that's the way the business is.
Anything on the inorganic front as well? Because these numbers look very small actually in the overall context of things, that's all.
Yeah, we will continue to look for opportunities. If anything justifies, we'll come back to you. The sector is having interesting opportunities. We are on the lookout for those. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much again. So if you were to look at the current consumption, what is the current consumption in million tons? And what is the kind of growth you expect in consumption of soda ash over the, say, next, 1-2 years? And what is the visible capacity addition you expect in the next 1-2 years, other than the Inner Mongolia capacity?
So over 1-2 years, other than Inner Mongolia, we aren't seeing anything substantial on the horizon. Anything substantial that's been talked about has been talked about in the 2027-2028 time frame. So capacity-wise, we don't see too much coming up other than some usual debottlenecks. Demand side, historic global demand growth rates have been in the region of 2.5%-3%. Today, it's much softer. If the traditional sectors go back to their original growth rate, you should see those kind of numbers appearing once again.
No, yeah, if you look at... Yeah, if you look at the glass sector, like, Asahi Glass reported a very weak number. So is there a challenge? While you said that the demand is okay, is there a, you know, kind of softening of the trend in terms of container, you know, Indian glass sector? How is the demand trend in India?
Indian glass sector, I think the demand trend is good. Perhaps the domestic clearance are-
Ladies and gentlemen, please stay connected while we reconnect the management. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management line connected, so you can go ahead.
Yeah. So, Ramesh, I was only addressing the... I don't know whether you heard what Zarir mentioned, that, in glass, the main issue, volume growth is continuing. There is no issue on that. It's mainly the pricing pressure, and pricing pressure mainly coming from imports from China and from Malaysia. And you know, in, with Malaysia, India has a free trade agreement, and that does create issues for glass players from time to time.
Okay. And, lastly, can you give us the CapEx for FY 25 and 26 and 27, since you have lined up all the expansion?
Yeah. Just, just hold on. We'll just give you the number. Can we go to the next question? We'll get you the numbers, yeah?
Yeah, I am done with that one. Thank you very much, and have a good day.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from Centrium Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So first question is on-
Rohit Nagraj, we request you to use the handset, please, for audio quality.
Is this better?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So first question is on Turkey. So what is the differential in terms of the imports from Turkey and the local prices? And an allied question to that, given that China demand is relatively lower, so are there any exports happening from China? Thank you.
So let me, let me take your second question first. China was exporting till about four months ago. The market then suddenly tightened domestically, and Chinese exports came down. At the moment, it is not back to the historical levels, but as Inner Mongolia production starts appearing into the market and into the domestic market primarily to start with, you might see exports increasing out of China, but, we have to see how that plays out.
... The second question, the differential between domestic pricing and Turkish import pricing would, I think, vary market to market and customer to customer. Obviously, domestic pricing is at a premium to import pricing, and we believe that differential will continue to see.
Right. And, any specific reasons for, high imports coming from Turkey? I mean, are the, prices in terms of their energy costs, et cetera, have come down, dramatically, and or there is constraint from the economic side, and they are just pushing the volume. So any thoughts on this?
Yeah, I don't think energy costs have come down. In fact, energy costs may have gone up. I think really the large impact may be, we believe, due to the fact that some of their core markets in Europe, especially Southern Europe, have seen a decline in demand, and they are finding new home for product now.
Right. And just, second question on the, U.S. pricing front. So in your opening remarks, you alluded that, on a QOQ basis, the prices have gone down by about $50-$60. So, will these, prices prevail when it comes to the, renewal of contracts, in the month of January?
I think the market is still fairly volatile and in a state of flux. And as Mukundan mentioned, we'll probably get a better idea when we talk again Q3 as to, you know, where the prices might settle. But as he also mentioned, I think the team is today focused on making sure that all of the contracting is closed as soon as possible.
Right. And, if I can squeeze in one last one. In terms of, all the different geographies, which are the segments which are doing well, and which are the segments which are lagging behind?
So I think across the board, sustainability-driven segments like lithium, solar glass, are doing well and are continuing to grow, in fact, growing in double digits. Within the more traditional segments, I think the one that's been impacted is certainly Float Glass, primarily due to, slow housing and residential starts and construction activity in most of the geographies. And as Mukundan mentioned, there's been some recent softening in Container Glass demand, but that we believe might bounce back perhaps faster than what we've seen in the Float Glass segment.
Sure, sir. Thanks for answering all the questions, and best of luck, and Diwali wishes to the entire team. Thank you.
Thank you.
On the CapEx, broadly, just to address your question, which was there, beyond the current cycle, where what we mentioned, the expansion of soda ash from 1.5 to 1.8, broadly, we expect that number is about INR 400 crores. The soda ash number in India from 1 to 1.3 is about INR 1,000 crores. And the Kenya and US put together, which is broadly our 0.6 expansion million tons, will be about $200 million to broadly $200 million. So you could take all put together about INR 3,000 crores, spread over next three years for the expansion beyond the current cycle.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor, from Kapoor & Co. Please go ahead, sir.
Sir, as you mentioned that our contracts, we are working with the contract for the next year for both U.K. and the U.S. market. So taking into account the current average prices, which are prevailing the spot prices, and our contracted value for last year, what's the current differential between the two, and what can we read from this data?
In terms of the data, as Zarir has explained, I think the domestic contracting in the U.S. and in the U.K., I think it's more or less, I think, should be stable. That is what our conditions tell us. In terms of exports, there is a bit of volatility, which Zarir has explained, and the volatility is fairly more acute in Southeast Asia than in South America. On that, the contracts are still getting closed and getting closed underway. We do know that some of the low-end prices we've seen may not prevail in the market for these contracts, but where they will settle, we'll be in a better position to highlight to all of you in the next quarter when we come back for the results.
In the Indian operations, we are seeing there's this decline in margins and we are trending lower. So is this attributed mainly due to this unabated imports and lower realization only, or why are the margins trending lower for Indian operations now?
Yes, the main issue in India is not demand. The main issue is the high level of imports of low-priced material, which hopefully will abate and reduce going forward. But I think we have seen a major increase in imports, and as I said, the share of imports has jumped from broadly 14% to 28% over the last four quarters. And that, too, happening at a fairly very low price, and that has depressed the local market conditions. And we will have to wait and watch whether this will continue or we would claw back some of these changes.
Sir, do you have the import data for the month of October? I mean, this trend is continued for the previous month also?
...No, October month, it has reduced. Actually, it has come down by more than half. But you have to watch the trend, really going forward, whether this trend will continue or not. So it has come down, which is why we said it is trending down. But if for a couple of more months, the same trend continues, then we can say the pressure would have eased up. So it probably is closer to 14%, as we speak in October.
Okay. On the realization front, sir, how are the, I mean, price trends currently month-on-month for the spot market?
I think spot market, there's no change. I think spot market is continuing at the same level. I think if there's any change, you'll hear that through the circulars we send out to our customers.
Right. Right. Right. And lastly, on the solar demand part, sir, you were, you were alluding to some facts about the demand from solar and the lithium. So taking into account the solar manufacturing pipeline, the investment pipeline in the solar segment, what, what is the anticipated demand, especially from solar for domestically and also globally, globally? If, if you could give some color on that thing.
So I think if you look at while the segment is still small in India, it has seen 60% growth. And there are more investments lined up. As they come, obviously, they will need the soda ash. And I'd... Broadly, I would say that we expect at least 500,000 tons of additional demand coming through that segment over a period of time. But these are early days. As of now, this within India is one of the fastest growing sectors.
Correct, sir. And, sir, your outlook on this, our silica and other segments, currently, and how would that segment shape up for the next half?
We are very confident about silica. We are fully booked out. We are expanding. I think the market needs, so we will be expanding, bringing on a few thousand tons additional quickly. And then, that's the simple debottlenecking again. The next phase of addition of doubling the capacity will take 18 months, but we are doing everything we can to speed that up because market demand is good.
Correct, sir. Thank you, sir, for answering.
All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question of our question and answer session. As there are no further questions, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, everyone. As I, as we mentioned, that the market conditions, while they look challenging at the beginning of the quarter, there are some positive signals, but this is too early to comment about it. We do expect the medium-term outlook for this business, the soda ash business, to be stable. Our businesses in salt and bicarb are continuing to trend up. The new business in silica is shaping up well, and also Rallis' performance is back on the mend in the positive direction. With this, we remain positive about the strategic direction we've set ourselves, which is to focus on core and ensure that we have very capital efficient expansions going ahead, and continue to grow the business along with the market growth.
With this, I want to thank all of you and wish you all a very happy Deepavali, and see you next quarter.
Thank you. On behalf of Tata Chemicals Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.