Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome you all to 4Q FY 2026 results conference call of Sagar Cements Limited. From the management team, we have with us today Mr. Sreekanth Reddy, Joint Managing Director; Mr. K. Prasad, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Rajesh Singh, Chief Marketing Officer; and Mr. J. Raja Reddy, the Company Secretary. I would now like to hand over the call to Gavin Desa from CDR India for his opening comments, post which we will hand over the call to management. Over to you, Gavin.
Thank you, Vibha. Just to add, we will begin this call with opening remarks from the management, following which we will have the floor open for an interactive Q&A session. I would also like to point out that while some statements made in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature, a note to this effect was stated in the phone call invite sent to you earlier. I would now like to hand over to Mr . Sreekanth Reddy for his opening remarks.
Thank you, Gavin . Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sagar Cements earnings call for the quarter and year ended March 31st, 2026. Let me begin the discussion with a brief overview of the market, post which I will move on to Sagar specific developments. As indicated earlier, overall demand during the quarter remained resilient, particularly in the first two months, supported by a sustained construction activity. Momentum moderated towards the later part of the quarter due to labor shortages during the festive season and the impact of the unseasonal rains. The pricing environment also remained stable, largely driven by improvement in realizations in the non-trade segment. Moving on to Sagar specific developments. During the year, we completed the minimum public shareholding requirement in Sagar Cements in Andhra Cements through OFS, providing added financial flexibility at the parent level.
We also closed the year on a strong note with volumes for both quarter and the full year growing by 8% and 11% respectively. Our total volumes for the year stood at 6.1 million tons, broadly in line with our expectation, reflecting steady execution despite a dynamic operating environment. Demand remained resilient across our key markets, particularly driven by sustained traction in infrastructure and rural segments, which supported the top line growth of 20% during the quarter. Revenue were also added by favorable pricing trends in the non-trade segment, leading to an improvement in overall realizations. Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the demand outlook across our core regions. Continued construction activity, supported by government-led infrastructure spending and stable rural demand, provides a strong visibility.
Based on this, we expect our volumes to be in the range of around 7 million tons for FY 2027. On the operational front, our EBITDA per ton for the quarter stood at INR 445 as against INR 218 per ton reported during Q4 FY 2025. Going forward, we expect profitability to improve, supported by structural cost efficiency initiatives. This includes benefit from WHRS, an increasing share of renewable energy through solar power, logistics optimization, and efficiency improvements from ongoing plant upgrades. Power and fuel costs stood at INR 1,422 per ton as against INR 1,406 per ton reported during Q4 FY 2025. Freight cost for the quarter stood at INR 848 per ton as against INR 822 per ton during Q4 FY 2025.
From an operational point of view, Mattampally plant operated at 59% utilization, while Gudipadu, Bayyavaram, Jeerabad, Jajpur, and Dachepalli plants operated at 84%, 69%, 95%, 44%, and 38% respectively during the quarter. During the year, the group opted to be taxed under Section 115BAA of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Accordingly, deferred tax assets and liabilities have been remeasured. The group has recognized the deferred tax asset on the carry forward business losses and unabsorbed depreciation in Andhra Cements Limited based on projected future taxable income, which provides convincing evidence that sufficient taxable profits will be available to utilize the losses. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 100 crore.
As far as the key balance sheet items are concerned, the gross debt as on March 31st , 2026, stood at INR 1,672 crore, out of which INR 1,379 crore as a long-term debt, and the remaining constitutes the working capital. The net worth of the company on a consolidated basis as on March 31st , 2026, stood at INR 1,861 crore. Debt equity ratio stands at 0.74 is to one. Cash and bank balances were INR 107 crore as on March 31st , 2026. On the CapEx front, the company has successfully commissioned 2.8 MW of the waste heat recovery system pertaining to the AQC boiler out of the 4.35 MW on May 12th , 2026.
The balance capacity of 1.55 MW relating to the preheater boiler is expected to be commissioned by end of June 2026. Our expansion projects at Dachepalli and Jeerabad are progressing, and we remain focused on executing these projects within defined timelines and budget. These expansions, along with our existing surplus capacity, position us well to capture the incremental demand. The Board of Directors of the company in their meeting on March 30th , 2026, have recorded in-principle approval of amalgamation of the Andhra Cements Limited, subsidiary company with Sagar Cements, subject to necessary approvals from the authorities concerned under Section 230 and 232 of the Companies Act 2013.
Further, the Board of Directors in the meeting held on May 13th , 2026, approved the establishment of a new division, the Superfine Building Materials, to capitalize on the growing demand for advanced, durable, and eco-friendly construction solutions. The division will focus on high-performance superfine materials derived primarily from our GGBS and fly ash, catering to precision construction and sustainable building applications. These products will support applications such as ultra-high-performance concrete, structural repairs, interior finishing, and cladding solutions. The initiative aligns with the company's long-term growth strategy and aims to strengthen its presence in advanced building materials segment. Overall, we are confident of sustaining healthy growth over the medium to long term, supported by capacity additions, operational efficiencies, and business diversification. That concludes my opening remarks. We would now be glad to take any questions that you may have. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who have the question can ask through raise of hand or through chat box. We will wait for a minute for questions to assemble. Meanwhile, sir, first question is from my side. Sir, can you please elaborate more on the expected cost higher impact that we can see in the coming quarter because of the West Asia crisis?
Vibha, as you would have seen, the petcoke and the coal prices are on a uptrend, which we did indicate in our presentation. Fortunately, in our case, the inventories of the fuel is relatively available till middle of Q2. We do not expect a significant cost increase in a short term, but on a medium to longer term, we have to see the outcomes of the war. As it stands, the petcoke prices are on a increasing trend. From what we used to be close to around $120 is already hovering around $136-$140 on a CIF basis. That should invariably add up another INR 200 up to clinker level.
At cement level, it should definitely add close to INR 100 to INR 150 on the current kind of a blend for us. We expect things to shape up better and fairly quickly, but we have inventories all the way up to middle of Q2, Vibha.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next question we have from Mr. Rajat Sethia. Sir, please go ahead with the question.
Sir, you were saying that we won't be impacted till middle of next quarter, like Q2. The prices that have gone up so far, the impact is INR 100- INR 150 per ton basis. Is that what you are saying?
On a cement basis, yes, Mr. Rajat Sethia. At the current price trends that we see in the market, where the petcoke landed cost and everything, we did indicate in our presentation. When it fully starts impacting us, I think that should be the net impact on us, too. We see that impacting us from middle of Q2 onwards, if prices don't come down.
Okay.
From here.
Have we started stocking up inventory at current levels or we are waiting?
Not yet, not yet. I think we are still in negotiation. We are switching to some amount of domestic coal, so we are still evaluating options to source mostly domestic. Our ability to switch to any of the fuels is helping us to focus more on domestic coal. How much of imported coal substitution would be known probably by end of this quarter itself, Mr. Rajat . We'll be in a much better situation to communicate exactly what the real impact is going to be for us by end of this quarter.
Okay. Sir, other expenses have gone up by 28% on QoQ basis. Is there anything that you can share to understand this?
Yeah. Prasad here, sir. I will update on that. There are one-off expenses for the quarter. There is a mine bearing lands as it's a close to INR 7.5 crore we considered during the current year. Also, there is one District Mineral Foundation, which is one of the subsidiary relates to one of the subsidiary company that is Sagar Cements Private Limited, is close to INR 3.24 crore we considered during the quarter. Both put together close to INR 10.5 crore one-off expenses we considered the current quarter.
That is the only one-off, but the overall other expenses, if you look at, they are 700 +. Even if we remove INR 100, you know, 10 crore, then the impact, I mean, the growth which has been 28% will come down to 26%. Everything else would you say is normal or?
Yeah, yeah. Rest all is normal in line with the operations. These two elements are the one-off expenses.
Okay. Has anything shot up in this quarter in terms of the prices and why that's why this is up so much? Even on a year-on-year basis, it is up 14%. I mean, just trying to understand whether this INR 700 crore of cost base is the normal cost base on a quarterly basis.
No, there are a couple of promotional activities we spent during the quarter. That's what it's a part of the other expenses. Yeah, I will give you in detail itself post this meeting.
Sure, sure. I mean, the idea is to understand whether the cost base at INR 700 crore is gonna sustain or how should we look at it. Second, if you can talk about how is the current quarter progressing in terms of the volume and the pricing?
Mr. Rajat , the current quarter progress on a volume front, year-on-year number is up of 7%. It's reasonably progressing in line with what we have indicated for 7 million for the complete year in terms of our volume outlook. There is some amount of slowdown because of the elections, where the labor out go and they coming back, we expect things to start stabilizing before end of this month. For that, we see a very strong demand outlook for the current year, for most of our operations, Mr. Rajat.
Sir, pricing compared to.
Yeah, price from middle of April to now, the prices have been stable. From exit of March to the middle of, or rather end of April, the prices picked up by almost INR 25 per bag, and more or less from then on, it has remained flat, in our case, Mr. Rajat .
Okay, thanks. Last one. Last couple of years, I mean, you must be seeing that the volume guidance that we talk about at the beginning of the year, we generally are not able to meet it, because of various reasons. Now that we are targeting 7 million tons, which is 15%, 16% kind of volume growth, maybe 15%.
Mr. Rajat , you should note, like last year, we did indicate close to INR 6 million. We crossed INR 6.1 million. We do expect, even in the current year, the INR 7 million target that we are trying to achieve is purely because of the ramp up. You should be aware that our Jeerabad plant is upgrading itself, and we are hopeful that before the end of this quarter, the plant upgrade would happen by additional 500,000 .
At the same time, the ramp up of Andhra Cements also is happening both in terms of capacity, but notwithstanding the capacity expansion, we do expect a ramp up at Andhra level. That is the reason why we are expecting a 0.9 million ton kind of an additional volume. Though the markets that we operate are likely to grow anywhere between 12%-15%, we did not pencil in the entire 15% growth for ourself in the region alone. There is an 500,000 ton, and for more than three quarters, the incremental 500,000 should be available in Jeerabad, where we have always been operating up of 90%, Mr. Rajat.
Yeah, we are hoping that to be very close to the indicative target, Mr. Rajat. Last couple of years, as you know, the prices did not support us for volume growth. We usually don't want to lose cash for the sake of volume. We probably would have underperformed on the volumes purely on account of not wanting to lose money. We don't chase market share. We actually conserve the cash. That is our philosophy, and that remains. Given the current demand outlook and the current pricing, kind of a thing, we are more than hopeful to achieve 7 million tons, Mr. Rajat, for the current year.
Thank you so much and wish you all the best.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We will take next question from Mr. Raghav Malik.
Yeah, hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers. Just a few questions on the Superfine Building Materials division that we're setting up. I understand, you know, that might be a little similar to, you know, the one existing player that has started off with GGBS. Is there some sort of cost synergies we also have in this space? Like what is there some advantage to getting into this venture?
Mr. Raghav, good morning. It's an extension for our existing business because we are in GGBS space. We have been one of the old players in the GGBS space, but we are limited to only two of our manufacturing facilities, one at Bayyavaram, that is close to Vizag in Andhra, and Jajpur in Odisha. We have access to both fly ash as well as the GGBS. As I mentioned, there are advantages because we do produce GGBS and we need to invest a very minimal amount to separate super fines. You know, currently the GGBS is sub 4,000 Blaine on a fineness. With a minimal investment, we could separate the fines that come out of the production.
Our target is to look at anywhere between 10,000 - 20,000 kind of a Blaine separation for both fly ash as well as GGBS, along with micro silica. These products primarily cater to advanced construction material and also into the high-performance concrete. We are already in that segment, especially we do have a very strong relationship with the players who would definitely need this product going forward, especially into the precast segment. We are leveraging on our relationship, but at the same time, our target is to get into advanced building materials, which are very to the product range that we already have. We are also looking at some of the innovations and the technical solutions that we want to offer.
A part of that, this is the first step towards giving advanced solutions where we could definitely do a lot of value add to ourself as well as to our customers, Mr. Raghav. We would be more than happy keeping the stakeholders updated on the progress that we are making. This is only a first step towards getting into a much, higher end and technically advanced kind of solutions and the materials that we as a company we would want to enter, Mr. Raghav.
Sure, sir. Any kind of, you know, longer term maybe volume targets from this? Also, like, is there some indication of versus, you know, current products in the advanced space or, just cement, what would the kind of premium maybe be, in terms of pricing premium or discount, for some of these products?
I would not like to comment on the price premium because they are into very different segment. GGBS, as I mentioned, for a low Blaine, that is sub 4,000 Blaine, typically sells on an ex-works basis anywhere between INR 2,500 -INR 3,000 per ton. Whereas the Superfine sell above INR 30,000 per ton, Mr. Raghav. That's the delta. Volumes typically would be very low for these. These are more techno-marketing related, so this is not something which is sold like a commoditized kind of a product like cement. It needs team, it needs the technical capability, it also needs lot of R&D, which we are already into it.
We would want to come into that segment with lot of experience handling these materials even in the past. That's what I would like to highlight at this point of time. We would be more than happy to come back to all of you at appropriate time, and it's not too far. We would be keeping you updated from time to time about the progress that we are making in this particular product. It's not only this product, but also into the solutions.
Yeah, We have been engaged with some of the very advanced construction solutions, where there are not many players or no players in some of the activities that we have done, which is purely technical in nature, where we definitely like to add value to ourself as well as to the clients that we have been servicing, Mr. Raghav.
Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Rajesh Ravi. Mr. Rajesh, you can go ahead with your question.
Yeah, hi, sir. Good morning. Am I audible?
Yeah, very much.
Yes, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay, great, sir. Sir, first question pertains to with Jeerabad grinding expansion expected to come in Q1, would we be engaging in clinker sales in FY 2027 also?
I think.
Fully sustainable segment?
Yeah, I think in the current year, we do expect some amount of clinker sale. Quantifying that at this point of time is definitely going to be a challenge because, you know, the ramp up takes time. There is a possibility that we still might do some clinker sale, but it is subject to the price of the clinker. We never lost margin at the expense of the clinker. We do expect some amount of clinker sale as the grinding unit is likely to ramp up in a phased fashion.
Right.
During that time, we definitely would have some clinker sale, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay. sir, clinker margin would be at the EBITDA margin level would be similar to number which you have reported in-
Yeah, for that location.
Q4?
For that location, yes, sir. For that location as a margin, as a percentage.
Okay.
Yeah, we did not compromise in a big way because that location has its advantages, Mr. Rajesh.
Correct. Understood. Understood. Second, on the cost and exceptional items. On the exceptional items, in Q4, what exceptional cost line items are there in the operating cost, or one-off in nature?
Yeah. Mr. Rajesh, our CFO did update, but just for the clarity sake.
Yeah.
Yeah, there is an road infrastructure, as well as some DMF related expenditure at our Jeerabad unit, which actually needed clarity from regulatory, this thing. We did make the provisions. I think from here on, we accumulated for last many, at least three years, since we started the unit. From here on, it is going to be part of the operational income, and it's not very significant amount either way, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay.
It's compounded, it looks higher. From a spread perspective, from an operational impact, which we are going to make provision, on a month -to -month, on a quarter -to -quarter, it may not significantly alter in a big way, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay. In Q4, the number which you would have accrued, would that be the normalized number? INR 10 crore. That would be for multiple quarters, right?
Yes.
Yeah, it is for multiple years, Mr. Rajesh.
Multiple years.
Yes.
Want to remove the impact for, you know, preceding period, that would be how much?
Yeah, I think, Mr. Rajesh, we would revert to you with specific that information.
Sure, sure.
It spread over three and a half years, so we would again, it's a very volume specific kind of a number.
Right.
Limestone, we would be happy sharing that data offline, Mr. Rajesh.
Understood.
It's three and a half years spread, from a cost perspective, once we normalize it's not a very, very significant one. It should be less than INR 2 crore per year kind of an impact, if I may have to say. With increased volume of sale, I think, that number probably on a per ton basis is going to be well tapered out to a much lower number, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay. Okay. On the other income, there is a higher number, INR 11 crore. What is that pertains to? Is there any land monetization which has happened?
You're talking of interest, Mr. Rajesh?
Other income, INR 11 crore.
I think it's mostly to do with the incentives that we received, Mr. Rajesh, during the current year quarter.
Oh, that would be What I understand, that would be part of your revenues, right? The Jeerabad incentives.
Yeah. Rajesh, the other income is the income on OFS. Say we diluted stake in Andhra Cements. Other income is inclusive of that.
Understood. Okay. Understood. Lastly, is there any guidance on the Superfine business for, on revenue and EBITDA? I understand it will be too early, but any ballpark number you are working with for FY 2027, 2028?
Yeah. Mr. Rajesh, I think we would revert with very specific presentation pertaining to that in due course of time. Kindly bear with us. What we do expect.
Yes, sir.
Is above 30% kind of a margin as a minimum. In that business line. The top line and the bottom-line numbers, we would be happy to come back to all of you. Kindly bear with us till the next quarter end, please.
Understood. Lastly, on the operating cost, with the clinker unit at Andhra also stabilized, so, you know, excluding the fuel price increase and the packaging cost increase, have our numbers stabilized? Are there rooms for further reduction in the operating cost?
Hello? Hello?
Sreekanth, sir, we can't hear you.
Sreekanth, sir, Prasad, sir, we can't hear you.
Yeah. Yeah, Rajesh, I think there is some disconnect.
Okay.
Sreekanth, sir, will rejoin again.
Sure. Okay, so maybe if you could answer, you know, what sort of cost normalization which is still expected in, you know, on the company level, now because the, this is second quarter, your Andhra Cements?
Post commissioning of preheater at Andhra Cements, it is in line with the sector right now. Earlier it is close to INR 200-INR 250 per ton, higher when we compared with other units of ours and even in line with the sector. Now post commissioning, everything, the fuel related and all, it comes back to normal. Say today we are incurring around 700 kcal - 700 kcal per ton of clinker. That's what, earlier it is around 775 - 780. Once, now at clinker level, it is normal. Going forward, we are going to commission the new VRM for the cement grinding. That is going to be commissioned by September this year.
Post that, the overall whatever cost saving we estimated, we are going to achieve with that, sir.
Okay. Given the current scenario, any guidance on the margins, can we expect, you know, further improvement in margins from, you know, this quarter, margin performance, INR 430-INR 440 level or?
Definitely it is going to be in line with the sector right now. It is going to be in line with other units of Sagar. We have to see going forward based on the cost pressures, and again it is correlate even onto the cement price. Probably this year we were expecting it is going to be better than the last financial year.
Understood. Great, sir. Thank you. I'll come back in queue.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Satyam Kesarwani. Satyam, you can go ahead with your question.
Yeah. Hi. Hi, thanks for the opportunity. I'm audible?
Yes, you are audible.
Okay, great. My first question would be about overall market share. Overall in South particularly, if you could just tell us about the pricing trend, you know, across South region and overall for all markets as well. It'll be great, please.
We took the price increase during second week of April across all the regions.
Off from one-
Across all the regions. Yeah, we are able to achieve close to INR 25-INR 30 per bag, most of the regions.
Sir, let me-
Yeah, please address that.
See, the price that we have seen right now in Hyderabad, from a retail price perspective, we are close to INR 295, sir. Which was at INR 290, and the wholesale price was hovering at INR 225, which actually got increased to INR 268 by exit of April to even the current price. As I mentioned earlier, we did get INR 25 kind of per bag price hike.
If you look at Vizag, yeah, the current retail price is at INR 295, with the wholesale price reading around INR 265. Again, it's product specific. For each market, there is a specific product. For Hyderabad, it is PPC. Now you look at Solapur, the current price is at INR 288. Barabanki, the price is at INR 280-INR 295. Bhubaneswar is at INR 300. Indore is at INR 278. Bangalore is at INR 310. Chennai would be close to. Again, this is our for our product. We are typically in a B segment, B category segment. It's hovering anywhere between INR 290-INR 295, Mr. Satyam.
Understood, understood. Thanks for that, sir. Sir, is the price sort of, is it sustaining?
As I mentioned, sir, the price picked up primarily in an non-trade segment in the middle of April. Though we tried to increase at few places, price more or less remained where it was, without any kind of price increase, till 15th of this month, or rather, till 12th of this month. In some places, of course, we did see whatever we tried to increase, especially in the Eastern India and to certain extent in Indore markets, the INR 5 rupees increase that we attempted, we could not sustain. Prices more or less have been very flat, with slightly negative bias in the Central as well as in the Eastern markets for us.
Whereas in South, we could sustain the same price what we have increased middle of April. So far it is holding up. Though I have to admit that the additional price increase we could not get, but more or less, the prices remain where they are.
Understood, understood. Sir, my next question would be about the incentives. How much incentive did we book in this quarter and for the whole year? What are we expecting for FY 2027, if that could be given?
Yeah. Our incentives primarily receivables in Telangana remain where they are, so there has not been much. We expect some amount of incentives to be picked up, where we have accumulation of around INR 100 crore for last 10 years.
We have seen a small trickle down in Andhra. We are not penciling in either of them. The only incentives which we have been receiving consistently is from our Madhya Pradesh asset. We expect anywhere between INR 25 crore-INR 30 crore for the coming year, Mr. Satya, for the Madhya Pradesh asset.
Understood.
On account of the capital subsidy as well as some amount of electricity incentives that we have.
Okay, okay. Got it, got it. Sir, my last question would be about your sale mix across the state. What percentage did you sell across your-
I think we made it part of the presentation. If you look at our investor presentation, it's on slide six, Mr. Satyam. I think it is very elaborate. Rather than giving you a number, you need any further refinement to that, we would be more than happy to furnish, but we did indicate those in our investor presentation, investor and analyst presentation.
Okay. Sure, sure. I'll have a look. I'll have a look. Thanks.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Kamlesh Bhagwat. Kamlesh, you can go ahead with the question.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. One question with regard to your MP plant. Just wanted to know, like, how much incentives are available, like, say, for Will it continue till FY 2030, or how much we can expect there?
Mr. Kamlesh, the incentives there are to tune of around INR 171 crore so far. We are also eligible for the expansion project additionally. This INR 170 crore is spread over seven years. This is primarily on the capital subsidy, sir. Is the case with the electricity incentive. These are valid for seven years. Out of that, we are close to completing three close to three years now. They are available for next four years, Mr. Kamlesh. I am talking only of the first asset that we have built. For the expansion project, they would be available for next seven years, to be paid in seven equal installments for the overall kind of incentive.
We would revert to you once the CapEx is firmed up. There is a government sanction which we need to get for the expanded project. Once we get to know of the numbers, we would be happy to furnish it. The numbers that I've indicated is for the first investments that we have done.
In total, for the first phase, we are expecting INR 170 crore, and out of that we have already got roughly around INR 170 odd crore, like, say last year we had seen.
Close to that number, sir. Close to INR 65 odd crore we did receive. We have another INR 110 crore to be spread over four years' time. Added to that, we would also have an electricity incentive, which again is a performance driven, so we are not able to quantify that at this point of time, but that should be anywhere between INR 7.5 crore-INR 10 crore additionally over what I've mentioned, Mr. Kamlesh.
Lastly, sir, if we see standalone performance, our margins look to be very subdued, so like, say below 150 mark. Where do we see these margins? I do understand that prices are not under our control and we can work only on our cost part. Like, year after year, we are seeing this performance and on top of that we have seen a benefit of consolidation in the industry as well. Overall, the performance looks to be very subdued. What are our aspirations, like, say, over next one to two years, where do we see these margins going?
Mr. Kamlesh, I'm sure you would appreciate, I think the Andhra Cements has been a significant drag on us in terms of Andhra Cements. Fortunately, the CapEx and everything is working out extremely well. You'd have seen even in the last quarter, yeah, we are very close to the break-even. I think with the turnaround in Andhra Cements, I think from a cost perspective and everything, we are back to where we were once. For the pricing, on the cost front and all, we are back to a very good kind of a position. With Andhra Cements new preheater coming up, the efficiency of the new preheater is extremely good.
At the same time, our investments, which we have done over last three years, we are extremely confident on our margins going forward. Irrespective of the prices, I think we should start delivering the numbers from here on, Mr. Kamlesh.
Great, sir. Thanks a lot. Best of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from chat box. Mr. Shekhar Naipal wants to understand about the state-wise price hike and demand outlook for the state.
Yeah, as I've indicated, for most of the southern states, we did get INR 25 per bag on an average kind of a hike starting from middle of April. As indicated earlier, we are able to sustain most of it. The growth numbers from what we did narrate even during the previous call, yeah, we do expect a strong demand growth in both Telugu states of A.P. and Telangana. Yeah, we do expect anywhere between 5%-10% growth in Tamil Nadu. Karnataka, we expect a 5% growth for the coming year. Going back to Odisha, yeah, our, yeah, there has been a lag, but fortunately, the government spend has started picking up.
Internally, we did pencil a 5% growth for the demand for Odisha. For Madhya Pradesh, we are expecting anywhere between 5%- 7.5% growth for Madhya Pradesh markets.
Thank you. Another question is from Mr. Maheen Bhardwaj. He wants to understand the expected cost increase. Like, INR 100-INR 150 per ton is attributable to petcoke cost, what about the other high cost, like for example, bags, et cetera?
I think bags there has been a taper down. From what we have seen, we were paying extra INR 5 to an average cost that we used to pay before. We have seen almost a INR 2 kind of a drop per bag, it has come down. But, you know, the real impacts of war, I think we just started seeing them. Given this scenario, what we have penciled in is almost additional another INR 100 on account of all the miscellaneous things that includes the bags and at the same time availability and also the pricing of explosives. There has been a INR 23.75 per liter hike in terms of commercial diesel, which has its impact on the mining.
We have penciled in almost additional INR 100. We are factoring around INR 225-INR 250 per ton kind of a price increase on account of both fuel and as well as miscellaneous expenditure. I'm talking this in general. It could vary on the inventory and all. That's what is what we have penciled over a period of time. Again, this is kind of a moving number. As it stands, that's what we have seen. If everything had to be passed on at this point of time, it is impacting almost INR 250 per ton on account of fuel and various other cost items that have gone up during this time.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Inderpreet Bansal. Inderpreet, you can go ahead with your question.
Sir, just wanted to know, actually, I have joined late. Sir, any update on the land disposable, the timelines on the land bank and when can we expect the proceedings?
See, you, I'm assuming that you're talking of the Vizag land of Andhra Cements.
Yes, yes, sir.
Yeah, we got all the approvals, so the government indicated that they are preparing a final Go, not for us alone, but in general for monetizing all the industrial lands which the grant has come from the government historically. Like in Telangana, where the government promulgated a government order, where, you know, there is a small fee which we need to pay to the government, and it automatically gets converted. Even Andhra government is contemplating similar kind of an act, GO. We are just awaiting for it. Some of the critical approvals have already we have received, primarily from GVMC, that is the Greater Municipal Vizag Municipality, and the Urban Development Authority. We did get the approvals.
The GO from the government is awaited. We were to receive the GO, specific to us, government wanted to come up with a generalized kind of a GO to get most of these conversions simplified. They wanted to come up with the GO. We are expecting any time it might come. At this point of time, it is still fluid, but we are more than hopeful that over the next six months we should have got the GO in place for us to monetize, Mr. Inderpreet.
Thanks a lot, sir.
Okay.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Rajat Sethia. Rajat, you can go ahead with your question. Yeah.
Yeah, thanks again. Sir, last year at the starting of the year, we had guided for a net debt position of around INR 1,300 crore, while we ended the year at almost INR 1,550 +. What really happened that, you know, we had to take more debt, and what gives us confidence that the number that we have put up for the next year debt, we'll be able to achieve it?
What you have to remember, Mr. Rajat, is this debt includes an unsecured debt from the promoter group for fulfilling the Andhra project. We were not wanting to draw the entire amount. If you track us, we were to do the rights issue for Andhra, which we could not do the rights issue, but we went for an OFS. That actually has elevated. We always have indicated that the debt levels would not be higher than what it is, so that we would not cross the current levels. At the same time, we did accelerate some of the solar investments and everything, which, where the payback period was fairly short. That is actually adding up to our EBITDA or rather cost level.
We thought that is more prudent than trying to keep debt at the static level. Having said that, yeah, from here on, we expect debt to be paid out fairly quickly with the operating income, Mr. Rajat.
Oh, thanks, sir. In terms of our EBITDA per ton, there was a time when we used to do INR 600-INR 700 per ton basis. Do you think we are in a position to go back to those levels in the next one, two years?
I think in the current year itself, we should be very close to INR 600 because the significant improvement for us has come from the cost itself, Mr. Rajat. The last year ended at almost INR 450 to INR 480, and we are more than hopeful that with the Andhra plant becoming as efficient with both the grinding plants becoming operationalized for us adding this INR 150 is not an external issue, it is more an internal issue. We believe that the current pricing may not deteriorate. That's the caveat that I need to put. Even if it doesn't go up with the current prices remaining flat, I think we should be close to that number, Mr. Rajat.
It's primarily on account of the savings that we are getting from the investments that we have made so far.
Okay. These internal investments that will contribute, the timeline-wise, by when they will start kicking in from Q2?
Sir, I think Andhra is already operationalized, especially on the clinker line. The waste heat recovery as well as the grinding capacity at Jeerabad should be completed before end of this quarter itself. Though three-fourth of the WHRS is already operational as we speak. Before end of the quarter, we are more than hopeful that these savings should start kicking in at the levels that I've indicated. Andhra's grinding capacity, which again should also save on the energy side, should be completed before end of September itself, Mr. Rajat. That also should start contributing for half of the year, half year for the current financial year.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Rahul Agarwal.
Thank you for the opportunity. This is a continuation to the last participant's question. How much CapEx is pending for us to be incurred on both the Jeerabad expansion as well as on the Andhra Cements side, and how much will be incurred in FY 2027? By when do you expect both of these units to start commissioning?
I would appreciate if you could look at slide number 16 on the presentations that we have uploaded, Mr. Rahul Agarwal. Just for the convenience, the Andhra expansion, the pending CapEx is close to INR 140 crore, which we are likely to complete in the current financial year. Gudipadu is at INR 17 crore, and Jeerabad expansion, we have INR 33 crore pending. As mentioned, the Jeerabad expansion should be completed before end of this quarter itself. Is the case with the waste heat recovery at Gudipadu. Andhra's expansion should be completed before September, sir. This September.
Got it. Got it. Got it. On the Vizag land, you mentioned that a lot of clearances are in place and you’re still awaiting the final notifications from the government. As of today, what is your assessment of the market value of that land?
Again, I'm going with the reckoner rate, sir. Though there has been some increase, but I'm going with the old reckoner rate. It is at INR 4 crore an acre. Net of expenditure, we are likely to receive around INR 3.5 crore per acre. We have around 100 acres, so we were expecting INR 350 crore spread over two years' time. When the GO we get, gets received, in the first year we are expected to receive around INR 150 crore and the INR 200 crore over the next 12 months' time post that, Mr. Rahul .
Got it. One last one, sir. On top of the expansion CapEx that you highlighted earlier, is there any recurring maintenance CapEx that we need to do, and what is the quantum of that that you expect on an ongoing basis?
We did present part of our presentation, sir. Just for the convenience, at each location, the general maintenance CapEx across all the units should be around INR 50 crore, sir.
Got it. Got it. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from Mr. Parth Bhavsar.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on good set of numbers. Sir, I just had one question, which is related to balance sheet and more on working capital. Your working capital days has increased significantly, you know, from March to, or March 25 - 26, and this is largely driven by, you know, decline in payable days. Can you throw some light on, like, what happened during the year, and also how do you see this going forward?
I think when market situation is very, very difficult, sir, the credit days and everything gets extended. At the same time, as indicated, the fuel prices were at elevated levels, so when you stock up, you end up using higher working capital. I think by end of the year we more or less have reached true stability. I think going forward, yeah, we would like to minimize the utilization of the working capital. This happened because the business itself has expanded, sir. If you look at the working capital limits were very similar, even for a INR 5 million sale, but the sale got extended. Was for some of the clients, the credit days also got extended.
That definitely puts some amount of pressure on the overall kind of working capital utilization. We expect a moderation going forward. Please keep in mind that we are going to add another million ton sale into the overall kind of numbers what we have done previously. There is some amount of reassessment with the especially the fuel, with the increased price, for same volumes if we have to do, still, we need to put in more money. I think that's the scenario that we are in. With slightly better realizations and better margins, we do expect moderation in the overall kind of utilization of the working capital, Mr. Parth.
Largely payables is linked to basically your raw material stocking up, fuel stock up.
It's on either side, sir. One is the credit days-
Yes.
For the finished products, and at the same time, for the raw material, for the input-
In addition to that, in Q4, in the month of March, we secured close to 76,000 tons of U.S. NAPP coal, which is close to INR 80 crore worth of value. That we took based on the by sharing the foreign letter of credit, that is going to have 180 days credit period. That is one of the reason to reflect the higher numbers.
Okay, perfect. Got it, sir. Thank you so much for answering my question.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take next question from Mr. Rajesh Ravi. Rajesh, you can go ahead with your question.
Hi, sir. Thank you. My question pertains to your discussion on saying that audit numbers would largely remain flattish. Just wanted to understand first in the working capital report, is the incentive outstanding at the end of March 26?
Prasad.
Yeah.
Can you help me with that, yeah?
Rajesh, it's around INR 23 crore we have to receive incentives.
Oh, great. Most of the, you know, around INR 67 crore-INR 68 crore, which is accrued in P&L.
Yes.
A large chunk of that got received this year?
Yes, sir. Even this INR 23 crore we were expecting in second quarter.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Understood.
Yeah, since now the numbers are in place, so now we have to reach government to submit an application to get the money. That we are going to initiate probably in the next week. We were expecting somewhere in middle of July we can get the incentives.
Understood. Sir, when you're talking, this year we are talking of total CapEx of close to INR 300 crore-INR 320 crore, including maintenance CapEx. Interest outflow, if I'm not wrong, would be close to INR 200 crore. Somewhere north of INR 500 crore of cash flow to be required. If we assume all of that comes from EBITDA, we are talking about at 7 million tons, you know.
Yeah, Mr. Rajesh, I think, sorry for barging in.
Sure, sir.
I think you should understand that CapEx need not come from EBITDA alone, sir. Yeah.
Structured even some of the energy-efficient projects through lease finance. Yeah, except for the spending, the three and the maintenance CapEx, the other projects are subject to the market conditions. At the same time, based on the payback, we would like to take a call with lease finance options that exist for us, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay. From a cash flow perspective for FY 2027, what CapEx outflow you are looking at? I understand you have few leased out projects, so.
Yeah, it is close to INR 140 crore-INR 190 crore is the total CapEx that is pending for three ongoing projects, Mr. Rajesh. There is undrawn credit.
Right.
Our draw plan is, whatever we would have repaid, that is what is required for us to implement the project. That is precisely the plan, and that's what we did indicate in, even in our presentation, Mr. Rajesh.
No, I was looking through your presentation where you mentioned INR 290 odd crore is what you're looking at?
Out of that-
INR 275 crore.
Yeah. There are three projects, which are subject to. The two of them are solar, both at Mattampally as well as at Jeerabad. At the same time, Gudipadu, in terms of optimization, sir.
Those are options which we would like to exercise as we would progress. Our interest is to pay down the debt, so we are looking at other alternatives to implement the project primarily on something like an equipment finance kind of an option or lease finance option is what we are pursuing.
Okay.
Mr. Rajesh.
So once you remove that-
Understood.
We should be sub, INR 240 odd crore. That includes the maintenance CapEx, Mr. Rajesh.
Okay. That would give you any land sale you're factoring in in your assumptions when you're expecting your net debt to be close to?
Yes, Yeah. We did penciling close to INR 150 crore for the current financial year.
Net of taxes?
Yeah, that is net of expenditures. Yeah, net of all the other expenditure.
Understood. That means you're factoring in close to INR 500 odd, you know, at EBITDA margin level.
Yeah.
Cost side, if I look at your Yeah, please tell me, sir?
Yeah. From a budget perspective, we have penciled in INR 580 crore, sir, which is INR 100 more than what we have achieved last year.
As I mentioned before, that INR 100 is actually coming from the overall savings that we are likely to receive in the cost optimization alone, Mr. Rajesh. What we have also penciled in is, whatever would be the incremental costs that are likely to happen from here on, we are assuming that it would be a pass-through where market should absorb them, Mr. Rajesh.
Understood. Correct. Correct. If I just want to understand the OpEx breakup between your standalone and Andhra Cements, they are at quite different cost levels. If I look at your, you know, operating cost for your standalone entity, that averages of close to INR 3,800 per ton and the Andhra Cements.
Rajesh, I'm sure you'll appreciate that is one of the reason why even in a difficult time we went with an investment, because whatever.
Correct.
We invested in Andhra has a very strong payback. Now, with the investment more or less, coming to conclusion, yeah, the gap between Andhra and standalone should be very minimal, sir. Because the gap again, very specific to Mattampally to Andhra, the gap would be only the waste heat recovery cost related issue. More or less, there is a complete alignment on cost. That's what gives us confidence that, from here on, our margins are going to be, I would not say very high, but healthier like how it used to be before. That is one of the reason why we aggressively pursued the CapEx even in a difficult time.
I see INR 1,000 million difference between both the entities on costing sides, INR 3,800-INR 3,900 versus INR 4,800-INR 4,900. Am I missing something? Andhra OpEx is close to INR 4,900 or on a full year basis?
Mr. Rajesh, again, it depends on what are all the line items that you're looking at, because the logistics cost could be very different because the market spread is very different. I think we would be more than happy to run through on an offline, Mr. Rajesh.
Sure. Sure, sir. Sure. Lastly, on the land sale, I understand the GR you're expecting from the Telangana government. In the interim, have you lined up or are you in some advanced stage of discussion with buyers, once the GR is out, you may be able to dispose off and generate the?
Rajesh, I think there has been an engagement.
Okay.
As you know, everybody needs clarity, right? we obviously-
Yes.
We have appointed a consultant who has helped us to reach out to few of them. Yeah, we are in discussion, but nothing is concrete till, you know, the timeline and everything gets evolved.
Absolutely.
That I think, yeah, and it should not be a big challenge selling a land in Vizag, though that size of land for Vizag is very big. With the activity that is happening in Vizag now, we are reasonably sure and confident of executing the transaction fairly quickly. Our idea also is not to sell it as a single block. The idea is to make it into viable blocks so that, you know, yeah, we don't have to break it down into smaller pieces, but some manageable pieces. I think sale should not take longer than two years, Mr. Rajesh.
That is the reason why we penciled in the entire INR 350 crore spread over 18-24 months, with bulk of it, around INR 150 to be received in the first year and the rest in next six to eight months, the balance to be received, Mr. Rajesh.
Yeah, that is all. Thank you, sir, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the last question from Mr. Rajat Sethia. Rajat, you can go ahead with your question. Rajat, you can unmute your line and go ahead with your question. Since there are no response, and as there are no further questions, we will request management to give the closing commentary. Over to you, Sreekanth, sir.
Yeah. Thank you again. Appreciate each one of you for joining on the call. I hope you could get all your queries answered. If not, please feel free to connect us at Sagar or CDR India. We would be more than happy to address them. Thank you again. Have a great day. Thank you.
Thank you. Now we will conclude the call.