Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Cemindia Projects Limited Q2 FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities Limited. I now hand the conference over to Abhinav from ICICI Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Abhinav.
Thank you, Trisha. Good afternoon to all. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I welcome you all to the Q2 FY 2026 earnings call of Cemindia Projects Limited. Today we have with us from the management, Mr. Jayanta Basu, Managing Director; Mr. Nitesh Sharma, the CFO; Mr. Rahul Agrawal, Head, Investor Relations. We will begin with the opening remarks from the management, followed by Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Abhinav. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the Q2 FY 2026 results conference call. This is Nitesh Sharma. Before I begin, the discussion that we will have in this call may contain certain forward-looking statements about Cemindia Projects Limited, which are subject to several risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those in such statements. Let me first start with the financial performance for the quarter and subsequently our MD, Mr. Jayanta Basu, will be taking you through the operational performance of the company. We are pleased to share that we have reported another quarter of robust performance in FY 2025/2026. I will brief about the quarter performance for FY 2026 first. The total operating income of INR 2,175 crores in Q2 FY 2026 against INR 1991 crores, which translates into a growth of 9% on year-on-year basis.
The EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 242 crores against INR 204 crores of the previous year corresponding quarter. Again, the growth of 19%. EBITDA margin was at 11.1% in Q2 FY 2026 against 10.3% in Q2 FY 2025. PAT of INR 108 crores in Q2 FY 2026 against INR 72 crores, a growth of 39% on year-on-year basis. I will brief you on the H1 performance now. For H1, the total operating income stood at INR 4,718 crores against INR 4,372 crores in the pre corresponding year quarter. Again, it is a growth of 8%. EBITDA of INR 496 crores in H1 FY 2026 against INR 442 crores, which is a growth of 13% on year-on-year basis. EBITDA margin at 10.5% in H1 against 10.1% in H1 of previous year.
PAT of INR 245 crores in H1 FY 2026 against INR 172 crores of the previous year H1, growth of 42% again reported. As usual, conservatively, we are financed with a net debt equity ratio of 0.25x. I will brief you on the order book position as on date. In the first half, we have secured order of around INR 6,189 crores. Post September 25, the new orders which we have won is close to INR 1,000 crores, and we are L1 in around INR 2,500 crores of order book. The total order book now stands at close to INR 9,700 odd crores. Now I would request our MD, Mr. Jayanta Basu, to take you on the operational performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Nitesh. Good afternoon to all, and welcome to Cemindia's Q2 performance for 2025/2026. I am pleased to share information about our performance, which is good in terms of profitability. As you can see, our EBITDA is more than 11% this quarter. As a common trend, the revenue is little down from the quarter one as because monsoon effect. Generally, if you see all the past years, it affects around 14%-16%, in that range. We get less revenue in quarter two because of monsoon. This year also not exception to that, but Q3, Q4 will definitely better than this. Profit after tax, around 5%. Historically, if we see the profit after tax two, three years back also, it used to be around 2%, 3%, 3.5% in that range. For a construction company, purely 5% PAT I think is quite good compared to any standard.
Profit before tax is 6.7% this quarter. The financial performance are quite okay. Indication is good. The major jobs which all of you know we have been discussing, the Ganga Expressway is almost completed. I must say it is completed. Udangudi, all completed. CMRL Chennai Metro, which we have started, it was a very tough job considering the geology. We could overcome those challenges and the TBM, I mean, the tunneling is almost completed or under control. Bangalore Metro tunneling is completed. That [Rohini] job which we have started in between, like Petronet LNG and Dahej for as a marine job, again, a very challenging place to work, but work is going on very smoothly. Project Varsha, which was a tough job to begin with, and if you know the history, it was a long history anyway.
We were able to deliver as per the client's requirement in the timeline, quality, etc. Bangladesh job, we faced some turmoil due to the local issues, as all of you know. But it is fully under control and within the schedule going on to receive payment as required, and there is no issue at all in terms of Bangladesh job. We have started a few new jobs. One is in Abu Dhabi for ADNOC, that is the AD Ports Group. We are just in the phase of mobilization. Other international job at Colombo is almost completed. Bangladesh, we have just said. In building, we are doing a unique project for IKEA at Noida, which has started very well, and hopefully we will be able to complete within the time. Few other buildings also we have handed over. So execution-wise, we are quite comfortably positioned now.
But at the same time, we have got plenty of opportunity going forward. As you have seen that our order book has gone to INR 6,000 crore-INR 7,000 crore already, which is almost equal to what we have done last year, whole year. There are a few jobs which are the lowest, our order is almost there. So if you consider that INR 10,000 crore order is almost there in our hand. There are a few jobs are in pipeline. Opportunities are plenty. We still maintain a balance between the segments. There is new segment as we have launched data centers. Have already secured a job and started working in one job. There is huge prospect in data center business. Similarly, there are kind of other avenues like large diameter tunnels, and we are focusing on that, airport.
So I think things are all okay, within control, and future looking good. So I think that's all from my side. Will be happy to have any questions on this. Please go ahead. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The first question is from the line of Aditi Loharuka from CD Equisearch Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir. My question is, what is your revenue growth target for FY 2026?
FY 2026, I think we have projected already around 20%, 22%. It's around 20%. Yeah.
Around 20%?
Yes.
How do you plan to achieve this target?
First of all, we have to secure the job to get the revenue, which we have done. Then execution we have to do, and we have our team resources available to execute those job, because, if you have to agree that you do a job of INR 1,000 crore and you are doing INR 2,000 crore job, you don't require much resources in terms of the management. You require more resources for the plant and machinery, which we have, and if we do not have, we can hire, we can buy. Everything is planned, and I don't see any issue on that as far as execution is concerned.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhananjay Mishra from Sunidhi Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Am I audible?
Yes.
Congrats on a strong operating performance. Could you provide the detail of the order we received in terms of which order we received in Q2 and also the INR 1,000 crore we have received in post 30th September and also alone position orders?
Yes. In the port sector, we received an order from JSW Infrastructure at Odisha, around INR 800 crores of job. Similarly, we have received from the group on Vizhinjam breakwater INR 400 crores, and this is in port sector. Abu Dhabi, as we have just mentioned, is also port job. It is around INR 700 crores. In the airport segment, we have received around INR 1,300 crores of job between Jaipur and Trivandrum. Underground metro at Calcutta, close to INR 1,000 crores, we received the order. In the power plant, we have received a job from the group, around INR 400 crores. Data centers, INR 1,500 crores. There is a small job in Khewra. Altogether, INR 6,100 crores of job we have received. We have got. There are a few jobs, INR 1,000 crore, which is in pipeline. Bulk of them is with Mundra Port, around INR 1,600.
Some berth job in Vizhinjam Port, around INR 1,000 crores of job. This is the more or less breakup of which we have secured.
About the L1 position, sir?
L1 position, we are in Pune Metro. We are L1. INR 1,700 crores. We are L1 in a project for Indian Navy, also close to INR 1,000 crores. So INR 3,000 crores. One more job, which we are not able to reveal the name, which will be around INR 2,000 crores, which is almost with us. Once it comes, you will know.
Okay. In terms of H2, remaining of five months, how do you see order inflows finalizing?
We still want to maintain the same guideline. End of the year, INR 15,000, INR 16,000 crores will be the order book, if not more.
Which all segment you are expecting these orders? Whether it is metro or data center or marine job?
All the three segments, as you have said.
Okay. Any airport order expected to be finalized from group company?
It depends upon how the project takes up, what time. Yes, opportunities are there, but it depends upon when they will start. Accordingly, whether this year or next year.
Okay. Lastly, sir, any legacy provision, we have written back in this quarter?
No, I think, we are mostly done with those kinds of provisions and this thing, because as you know, long time back, Delhi Metro and thereafter Bangalore Metro. So those big kind of things are behind us. While doing project, some job we will lose, some job we will gain. So some sort of things will be always there. There is nothing which is very significant to be discussed or reported.
Okay, sir. That is all from my side. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shreyans Mehta from Equirus. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Congrats on a great set of numbers. My first question is just on clarification. Order inflow, including L1, would be closer to INR 6,000 crore +, closer to INR 5,000 crore. So INR 11,000 crore is the number. Is this how we should look at things?
Yeah, if you see, the order what we have received officially is INR 6,200 crore till now.
Right.
That is up to September end. In October also, we have received the order of-.
INR 1,000 crores.
Another INR 1,000 crores. Order received is around INR 7,200 crores so far. Beyond that, few orders are just ready for us to be taken up, which is the L1 and other things all together will be around INR 3,500 crores.
Yes.
You rightly said that around INR 10,000 + crore- INR 17,000 crore order, you may say, practically with us in this year.
Got it. Sure. That clarifies the thing. Sir, secondly, in terms of our performance this quarter, the other income seems to be on a higher side. Are there any write-backs or anything which is exceptional for this quarter?
No, no write-back. It is only exchange gain is there in one of the overseas.
Interest on the FD.
Interest on the FD which have been drawn. No exceptional or no write-backs sort of thing.
No write-backs. Got it. Sure. Sir, third, in terms of the depreciation cost, if you see, the quarterly run rate seems to be going downwards as compared to last year. So we should be assuming this run rate, closer to INR 430 crore-INR 440 crore going forward, or how should one look at the depreciation run rate?
Depreciation, more or less, historically, the run rate has been like that only. But now, as Mr. Basu said that we are also looking forward for a job in different verticals of large TBMs and all. On success base, it may change because that may require a new capital equipment as per the project requirements. It is all success. Otherwise, historically, the range has always been into that, and this is the current order book position. It will be managed sort of thing.
Got it. Sure. And sir, last two questions from my side. What is the CapEx we have done till date and what is the target? Secondly, if you could help us in terms of split between the Adani Group or the parent exposure in terms of order book for 1H.
CapEx is around so far INR 50, 58 crores.
CapEx around INR 60 odd crores so far, and the expectation is close to INR 250 -INR 300 odd crores of CapEx to be spent in the full year basis. Provided, as I mentioned, that if there is a new requirement for large equipment, that will change the numbers.
Sure.
Your second question was something related to Adani order book. I just missed it.
Yeah. So mix between the parent and the outside the parent in terms of the order book.
Order book, around 25%-26% from the group company or parent company.
25%-26%.
Yes.
All right, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Sir, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, on the other income front, what could be a normalized number going ahead on a quarterly basis?
Sorry, can you say again?
On the other income front, on a quarterly basis, we can expect somewhere around INR 10 crore-INR 15 crore?
Yes. Quarterly basis, of course, yes.
Okay. Sir, secondly, what would be our Bangladesh project receivables right now?
Bangladesh project, actually receivable is within control. I mean, whatever we are supposed to get, we have already got it. But still, for the bookkeeping purpose, around INR 100 crore, INR 130 crore is receivable, which is a normal-
Normal receivable cycle.
Receivable cycle.
Yes, as per the contract terms.
Yeah.
What is the outstanding order value remaining?
To be executed, I think 50% almost, which is INR 600 odd crores we have to execute out of INR 1,400, INR 700 crores.
Incrementally, are you looking for any orders in Bangladesh or for now we will be only focusing on the current order?
Bangladesh, so far it is not in our focus because of some obvious reason. We are not so much focusing on Bangladesh right now.
Okay. Sir, out of our order inflow plus L1 position of around INR 11,000 odd crores, what would be the share of Adani projects?
Around 50%.
Yes.
Okay. Lastly, one bookkeeping question. What would be your mobilization advance and what would be the interest portion of that, interest bearing portions?
The total advance is around INR 900 odd crores.
Out of that, almost like 20% is interest bearing.
Okay. Thanks a lot, sir.
Yes.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddharth Shah from MK Ventures. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is on the data center business. Mr. Basu, Adani Enterprises have been very aggressively guiding on their data center business. They are planning to reach 1 GW capacity by 2030, and they have also kind of recently announced a tie-up with Google for almost $15 billion investment over the next five years in Vizag. These are large plans from the overall group level. What kind of opportunity opens up for our company in the data center business because of this, and how are we ramping up our system and our management bandwidth for this?
Yeah. We have taken it very seriously because opportunities are there. I mean to say that if you see the data center, it has got a civil component and the construction of the structure, and thereafter, the electromechanical part. On top of that, the design of the whole thing, civil and electromechanical part. So civil part, definitely we are interested, and we will be doing as much as possible given to us. We have already started work in Navi Mumbai. So whatever data center civil work is there, majority portion we intend to do, and there is intention, I hope, from the group company also, provided everything goes okay. But interesting part is that we are getting involved in the electromechanical part also, which is the bulk of the revenue. So we are building up our capability.
We are recruiting people, we are engaging with the consultants where we can cater to the requirement of electromechanical part as well.
Sir, that is very encouraging, sir. Thank you so much. Second is, sir, overall, with the order inflow we have in place as well as L1 position, we are almost at INR 11,000 crores till date. So the overall guidance of INR 15,000, is it very conservative because the way the ordering is yet to pick up and expected to pick up in second half. I understand a lot of projects, again, the group has won in Bihar and in the ropeway project, road project, a lot of projects they won probably. So maybe some of that will come up for execution to our company. Is this INR 15,000 a bit conservative or is it realistic?
What is your assessment?
My-.
Suppose for everything.
Pickup is yet to happen, so we thought H2 will be heavier than H1.
Yeah, I think INR 15,000 was projected last quarter. It will be definitely INR 15,000 or a little bit more. Let us see. I mean, yes, we expect to be a little bit more than INR 15,000 crores, but INR 15,000 compared to last year also is okay.
Yeah.
In terms of the order what we have secured last year, even second last year.
Right, sir. So great. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Sahu from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hi. Am I audible?
Hello. You are audible.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. I wanted to understand on the geographic bifurcation for order book, order inflow and the revenue. How much are we deriving it from the domestic market and international markets?
See, domestic market is majority, as you know, around 90%-93%. The rest is from the international market. Yeah.
Understood, sir. The bid pipeline. What would be our current bid pipeline?
Bid pipeline, you can categorize in three category. One is the bid which we have submitted. Another is bid on which we are working. Another is bid which is likely to come in near future. If you put in three categories, some of them, again, I'll repeat the same number, INR 90,000 crores ± should be the numbers.
Understood, sir. How much of it are you expecting it from the group entities and how much from the independent?
It is quite consistent in having 25%, 26% from the group.
Okay. Understood, sir. Sir, what would be the net working capital days for Q2, if you can help me with that for now?
It is, I think, 90 days.
It is 90 days. Close to 90 days now on Q2.
90 days. Understood, sir. I think the last time when we last spoke, we had some working capital limits, short-term limits at about INR 6,000 odd crores.
Yes.
90% utilization. Where do you stand now on that?
Again, we are at INR 6,500 crore odd of the overall limits available with us, and the utilization again is like 85%-90%.
Understood, sir. Thanks a lot for the question. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kedar from Congruence Advisers . Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. My question is specific to the new data center vertical that you announced. It is very encouraging to see order book of INR 1,500 crore over there. When it comes to the execution of this, as you recently explained to one of the other participants, it is going to be primarily civil plus EMP thrown in. Do you think the margin profile is going to be largely in line with what the business has been printing over the past four to five quarters, or do you think it is going to be on the lower side?
Because civil construction company, we have a standard margin profile.
Sorry to interrupt, sir, but there is some disturbance in your line. Mr. Kedar, can you please mute your line if possible?
Yeah. Margin profile will be quite okay, quite standard, whatever we have in civil construction around whatever we have. I do not know why you think it will be less.
Okay, sir. How big do you think this new vertical could be with, let us say, a two-year horizon? Do you think this could become something like, let us say, 10%-15% of the overall order book?
At least 15%.
Okay, sir. The final question I have is, sir, when it comes to the go-to-market model that you're supposed to have for this new data center vertical, will you be bidding for projects independently as well, or do you think the order flow will be primarily coming in through the promoter groups for this?
It has to be step by step. Maybe initial few years-.
Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Kedar, can you please mute your line?
Sure.
Disturbance.
Step by step, we'll definitely eventually go to the external customer. But initially, maybe one year or one year or so, we'll be living with our own promoter group.
Thank you, sir. That answers the question.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pritesh from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. From the group entities, if I have to identify the entities which are prospects for us in terms of business, I'm just calling out the businesses, and if I've missed anything, please if you could add. It is basically the airports business. Then it is the airports real estate development business. Then it is the ports, basically the ports business. Then it is data centers. It is all the industrial CapExes the group is taking in the form of PVC or anything where there is a scope for industrial building. Should one include Dharavi redevelopment as a scope for you, I don't know, and the roads business. Have I identified all the relevant group businesses as a prospect business for us, or anything which I've added or anything that you want to add?
Yeah, I think you have covered all. You have covered more because we are not there in Dharavi.
Okay.
Something that Dharavi is not a prospect to us.
Is Dharavi a prospect or it is not a prospect considering the businesses that we do today?
No, it is not a prospect considering the line of our business model. Dharavi is not a prospect to us.
Okay. Then, generally, from whatever the CapEx is that the group calls out, in your opinion, what should be the average civil component of those CapExes? Let's say in an airport, what should be the civil component? Then in a data center, what should be your exposure or a target CapEx component, if you could tell us. I am assuming that in ports it's a fairly high share because it's largely civil. I am not calling that out. But in these two areas, if you could call out.
I can tell you what is the present component of the job, what we have secured. But future, you have to ask our promoter what will be their plan, in which segment-
No, my question was generally a civil component or your area of interest component is what in a data center and it is what in an airport. If you could tell that.
Normally in data center, civil component is around 25%. Say 30%. The balance port would be around 50%-55% or even more than that. It is difficult to say in that manner because it depends upon I need to do a little bit of more homework on that.
Homework on that. Okay. Is it fair to assume that your company should have about 50% market share in the group's CapEx of the relevant components?
No. Because civil component will not be 50% of the CapEx. It will be much less than-.
No, as I said, 50% of the relevant component. So 50% of whatever is your civil component. Is it a fair assumption?
I will not be able to comment on that.
What will be your market share in whatever incremental orders that are getting issued, and you have started getting orders, what will be your market share?
I need to check.
Okay. No problem, sir.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mahesh Patil from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. My first question is on the order inflow. Given the order inflow of more than INR 6,000 crore in H1 and the strong pipeline, do we expect a strong H2 and are we revising our order inflow guidance for FY 2026?
We just discussed with some other system. I think we have mentioned around INR 15,000 crore. It will be around that, a little bit more than that. At this moment, we are not planning to have any new guidelines.
Okay, sir. My second question is on the thermal opportunity. Given the strong pipeline with Adani Power of around 23 GW of capacity, how much of this can we expect to come to us?
It depends upon our capability and our resource availability. Some of them already we have received, some of them we are discussing. I am not able to comment on how much is their total focus on the thermal. For us, it will be in the range of, say, INR 2,000 crore to INR 2,500 crore maximum in this year.
Okay, sir. My last question is on the pump storage capacity. The opportunity there, given that many of the developers, including Adani Green, is investing into pump hydro storage, how much of the prospect do you see in this PSP?
Yeah, I think that is quite a bit of prospects in general it is there. As you know that not only Adani Group, there are other promoters also entering into that. There is a good prospect available, and good thing about this pump storage package is the size of the jobs are quite big, big-ticket job. Even if you get one or two, that gives a big scale up your work in hand position. There is a good prospect in pump, this segment.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sunil Shah from SRE PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my question is slightly for a long term, that is like over the next three, four, five years or so. Sir, the entire initiative of the government to develop the shipbuilding clusters is coming up in future. Sir, do we see any such sense of opportunity of business there in that segment for us? Because even shipbuilding clusters would be associated very close to the port and building the shipyards, et cetera. My first question is, do we see an opportunity in that space? If so, if we have some rough ballpark estimate of how much can it be in terms of numbers? That is first. Second is, sir, our USP. What is it that we have an edge over competition in this entire marine business that we are doing? One more is, the Vadhvan Port, which is coming up.
This is one of the biggest port which is coming up in India right now as we are speaking. Any work where we are associated with that or anything that we foresee in the future. These are my questions that I need to understand from your side.
Fine. I think quite relevant questions. First of all, the shipbuilding opportunity will depend upon what opportunities are available. If you say our capability wise, per se, we will be very much there. First of all, you have to create the infrastructure more than the other part, the civil structure, which involves dry dock, wet basin, ship lift facility, slipway, and all these structures are very specialist and we are very good in that. We have done such kind of job in Project Seabird. We are doing at Project Varsha. We have done it in Jaigarh for Chiyoda. We have done at Garden Reach. We have done at ABG for DH. So we are very much in that in terms of our capability is concerned. As and when it comes, we will not leave them.
Now, I do not have the data now what will be the size in terms of value and all, but as you can see that if it comes, we are there. That is number one. Number two, USP of ours, how differentiate with the other contractor is that, see, this marine business we have started in the year 1989, and two good thing has happened. Those who have started working in marine division since 1989, they are almost all are there today in our company. There is hardly any migration of people. So the knowledge which is there, it is there. The specialist plant and equipment, which is there, which is already there, and the technology part. In marine, technology is very important because you have the design, you have the engineering, you have technology, then execution.
Before execution, the technology, each marine job is different, and you have to have some sort of innovation to cater to the job requirement. I think we are quite good in that, and that is what I think differentiate us with the other marine contractors.
Yeah.
Your last question was Vadhvan.
Yeah.
Vadhvan, as you see that it's a very big marine prospect, and for information, as you know that already the first project contract is with us, we have started the working there, and we hope that in future also we'll be there in some project, some concept.
Okay. Fine. Sir, given that size of opportunity is huge, I am just trying to correlate the way in which government intended to do on defense and on railways. Clearly, the roadmap is now on this shipbuilding thing. Do we see a shortage of quality manpower for us in the organization or any such thing which can act as a small bit of an hindrance given the size of the opportunity which is going to be there unfolded in the times to come? Anything, and are we preparing for those as well? Just if I can understand that.
Yeah, I think as you know that construction industry in our country is a few $100 billion and all. Compared to that, whatever we do, that is quite insignificant, even compared to some other company as well. We all know very well there are opportunities and there is a continuous process in-house to build up the capability in terms of manpower, in terms of management capability. Not only that, even to handle the logistics and other stuff. That process is very much there. If you see that plant and machinery, those are available. You have to go to Middle East or Europe or Singapore, you get the plant and machinery on hire, or you can buy them. That is not a very difficult task. But to have quality manpower, those who know the work, yes, that is a challenge.
But I think we have done pretty well in that and we are still working. Hopefully there we will be able to cater to that.
Fine. Thank you, sir, for making me understand this, and all the very best in the times to come. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Deekshant from DB Wealth. Please go ahead.
Sir, good morning. The core question is actually on.
You can continue, sir.
Hello?
Yes, please go ahead.
The core question is on margins going forward. Since we have this exciting opportunity in front of us, and we also are one of the few people who are able to do this in India, don't you think that we have a good chance of accelerating our margins? Because I think 9%-10% margins has been are largely what we have done in the past.
Of course, who doesn't want to increase the margin? We all working for that. But this is a market-driven issue because you can increase your revenue, to have better margin, you can reduce your cost to have better margin. Both have got the limitations. If you want to increase your revenue, you cannot be competitive. If you have to be competitive, your revenue is restricted. To what extent you will reduce the cost because you have to deliver the job. So you have to live in this thin line of boundaries and still expect to do better. That's what my answer is.
Yeah, I understand, sir, and we have been delivering quality. That's why we keep on getting the jobs. But can you put a number to what our margin trajectory can be maybe the next two years, next year, and the year forward to it?
Well, I think the PBT of 6% which we have achieved, we are okay with that. EBITDA 10% + 11% is okay. PAT around 4%. It's very difficult to predict what it will be after two, three years' time. See, whole thing depends upon not only execution, depends upon the opportunity where the players are not there, green area. Many things make a factor. It's very difficult to predict what will be the margin. But our endeavor will be to have around 11% EBITDA, PAT close to 4%.
Okay. Basically, whatever margins are we having right now, these are, for the lack of better word, this is the worst margins we'll ever have, and from now on, we can expect an improvement at our margins in coming years or even quarters. Is that a fair assumption for us?
You can always expect, yes.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir. Wish you the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jayesh Shah from OHM Portfolio Equity Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Sir, thanks for the opportunity. Just a clarification. Your first half turnover is close to INR 3,700 crores or so, and full year should be around INR 11,000 crores. Is this normal that second half would be close to twice the first half revenues in terms of execution?
Actually, first half turnover is close to INR 5,000 crores. I think INR 4,718 crores.
Right.
Not 3,000. 4,718 to be precise.
Okay.
Historically, if you see, the second quarter is always much better than second half is always better than first half.
Right.
Yeah. You can put a number based on our previous performance.
Right. Sir, given the order book pipeline plus the orders that you have, it should be predictable that you should be looking to double your revenues in less than three years, in which case, the execution cycle per quarter has to go up meaningfully. Is that a reasonable assumption? I am not asking for a specific guidance, but I am saying is this possible given the order book and the execution timelines that may go along with it?
Yeah, I think I must say that is a reasonable assumption.
Right. In which case, because of the operating leverage, EBITDA margins can go to even 10%, 11%, or higher because the corporate overheads will get absorbed over a higher top line.
Well, I think already it is 10%+ . I mean, if you-.
I think that is 11% today.
If you see historically, it was 9%, 8%, but since last few quarters, it has been 10%+. So this quarter is 11%, yeah.
Okay. Are these large projects normally bid at around 10%-11% EBITDA range? Is there any segmental variation between, say, your ports, airports, civil and data center work and all? Or broadly, you do project bidding at 10%-11% EBITDA range?
Do you want me to say that what percentage of margin we will charge for bidding? I don't think that's a fair question.
No, I'm just looking at a normal range. Okay, so let me just ask you in a different way, are segmental margins different for different business?
Yes.
Okay. Can you at least rank them? I am not asking you to give a specific number as to which are most profitable and which are least profitable.
Rank them in the sense that we have mentioned underground metro, marine normally gives a better margin as compared to the other segments.
I see. Lastly on, whilst we have talked about Vadhvan Port, Vizhinjam Port also, I think you have received just a breakwater project.
Yes.
You should be getting more of that project as well since it is owned by the parent.
Yeah, the opportunities have to be there from parents also. As you can see, Vizhinjam Port, there will be future extensions, so you may get some order from them.
Okay. When would you then need to raise your working capital limits? Because if your execution doubles, I think your working capital limits will also need to be doubled.
See, working capital, revenue, cash in, cash out, all goes proportionately. The moment you have more revenue, you bill more, you get paid by the client. So automatically that part takes care. What happens is that you require to have some advance to start the new job before it converts to the running account bill. So that will be our endeavor to get advance as much as possible from the customer. Otherwise, working capital, if you see historically during last three years, there is marginal increment in that. So we don't think we are much worried about that. But as and when it is required, our team is working, our finance team, they will be able to arrange it.
No issue. Right. Lastly, on retention levels, what are the normal retention levels for all the projects and how long the retention levels are due?
Retention also varies customer to customer. Sometime it is 5% cash, sometime it is 10% cash, sometime zero cash and bank guarantee, only retention. That is how it goes. Today our retention will be around INR 600 crores out of business of year- to- year, around INR 10,000 crore business.
Okay. INR 600 crores of retention versus advance mobilization of INR 900 crores?
Yes.
Okay. Thank you very much and best of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shreyans Gathani from SG Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir. I had a couple of questions, sir. Sorry. The first one was on the interest cost. Since we have got rerated, our credit ratings have gone up, should we expect any kind of benefit in terms of the interest cost that we will be having here?
See, the financial institutions are not in our control, but definitely we will try our best. We have tried, and we hope, and we wish that interest rate will come down. Let us see.
No. The interest rate, I meant like since you have got a credit rating upgrade, does that have any favorable impact to your rate of interest?
Normally, yes. There are many factors which drives that.
Yeah.
That's not the only factor. But we are, as rightly said by Mr. Basu, we are working, and the endeavor is always to bring down the cost, yes.
Got it. The second question was on the data center side. This INR 1,400 crore-INR 1,500 crore order book that we've got. You said that 25% is the civil structure, so pretty much 75% is something that we'll be subcontracting to. With that much amount of subcontracts, you think we'll still be able to maintain that around 10% margin?
Actually, data center subcontracting means it is basically supply, and then installation. It depends upon you go to which category of subcontractor. You can give it to somebody like very big company, that entire thing they do it. You can divide them to small companies, that part of them done by some other company. And then you can even buy the stuff by yourself and put somebody to install it. So whole lot of combination has to be done. And yeah, that is a business. I mean, we have to do margin out of all this.
Got it. You said you are also working on the electromechanical side. By when do we expect more of an integration that we have on the whole chain of data center EPC?
The first job what we have secured, already have started working on that, including electromechanical. I think by another few months' time, the integration will happen.
Got it. What would be the timeline for the execution for this project?
Each data center civil part is around 16, 17 months, and thereafter, another six to seven months for the entire commissioning. So 2+ years - 2 years, you can consider.
Got it. Okay. Thank you. That is all from my end.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Maitri Shah from Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Yeah. Just on the previous participant's question on data center with electromechanical jobs, do we have a better margin compared to the civil side of this data center jobs?
Unless we execute, how do you know? We have just started. We hope to be better margin. Let us see.
Okay. Yeah, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bobby J from Franzi Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Regarding the data centers, isn't that more through PEB structures?
Well, generally, yes, PEB structures, but you can convert it to precast concrete items also.
Right. But you think precast will still be used? Because you read more and more of these being done through PEB. For example, for Adani, do they primarily use PEB or precast concrete?
Mix. It is not only PEB, it is not only precast, mix of them.
Okay. The second question is regarding the Adani Group. Whenever they have a project, and assuming you have the capability and the capacity to fulfill it, does it directly come to you or do you have to bid for it?
No. We are a listed entity, so it goes through a tender process. The normal process, what is to be followed before, same thing continuing. I have clarified it before also. It doesn't come to us automatically.
Okay, so it's just like any other tender?
Yes.
Copy. Right. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the follow-up. Only one question. In the other income, what is the portion of currency gain for Q2?
It is around close to INR 50 crores in Q2.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you all for the interest you have taken for our Q2 conference call of Cemindia Projects Limited, and hopefully we will remain connected and take more interest on our company. Thank you.
On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.