Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Ganesha Ecosphere Limited Q3 and nine- months FY 2026 post-results conference call, hosted by Antique Stock Broking Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Manish Mahawar from Antique Stock Broking Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Manish.
Yes, thank you, Moderator. Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to host today's earnings call of Ganesha Ecosphere. Today we have leadership teams represented by Mr. Gopal Agarwal, CFO, Mr. Prashant Khandelwal, Senior Vice President, Mr. Yash Sharma, Director of Ganesha Ecopet. Without any delay, I would like to invite Mr. Yash Sharma to start with opening comment, post which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to Yash.
Thanks. Thanks a lot, Manish. Good afternoon, everyone, for being here. I welcome you all to our post-results earnings call to discuss the Q3 year 2026 performance. This quarter has been marked by resilience and progress across our legacy operations despite sectoral headwinds such as the higher U.S. tariffs on Indian textiles. I am pleased to share that our standalone business has delivered a good set of numbers, with production volumes growing 13% quarter-on-quarter and sales volumes up by 7%. Revenue from the operations increasing sequentially and grew by 5.24% as compared to the last quarter, while the EBITDA has stood at INR 18.54 crore and PAT at INR 15.94 crore, surpassing the combined earnings of the previous two quarters. On a standalone basis, the capacity utilization has exceeded 100%, with production volume of 29,088 metric tons as against 25,689 tons in the previous quarter.
Sales volume at 31,107 tons made during the quarter was the highest in the last five years. The company earned a revenue of INR 272.95 crore compared to INR 259.35 crore in the last quarter, reflecting a growth of 5.24%. EBITDA per ton came in at 5,962 as against 2,812 during the last quarter. The EBITDA margins were at 6.79% of the operational revenue as against 3.15% of the last quarter. The raw material prices have been pretty stable during the quarter, in contrast to the high volatility we have experienced previously, which further supported the margins. We have continued to diversify our portfolio, reducing dependency on the traditional spinning sector, with over 35% of the sales volume being generated from the non-woven and the home furnishing segments.
On a consolidated basis, the performance was impacted by the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the draft notification issued by the MoEFCC, which delayed the integration of recycled PET into supply chains of beverages and weakened the demand for rPET granules. Overall, the steady business saw capacity utilization drop to 50% and revenues decline by 23%. Consolidated production has stood at 38,768 metric tons, with revenue of INR 357.22 crores, marginally lower than the last quarter. Of this, INR 272.95 crores came from the standalone and INR 84.27 crores from the subsidiaries. Quarterly, EBITDA rose by 37.67% to INR 30.73 crores, with standalone and subsidiary contributions of INR 18.54 crores and INR 12.19 crores, respectively. Consolidated EBITDA margins have improved to 8.6%, and the EBITDA per ton has climbed to 7,638 from 5,703 in Q2. Consolidated PAT was INR 4.74 crores. EBITDA of the subsidiary business has stood at INR 14.5 crores.
Although the much-awaited clarity on the draft notification would have benefited both the user industry and the recycling sector, its extraordinary delay has defeated the purpose. Even if the final notification is issued now, providing some relief in the 30% targets of mandatory use of recycled content, the packaging industry will not be able to meet such low targets within the remaining span of the current financial year. FY 2026 is a transitional year for implementing the PWM rules on mandatory recycled content, and the adoption was somehow challenging for the user industry and the regulator. We believe that the initial hindrances are being addressed and that adequate approved recycling capacities are now in place, which will make adoption much smoother from the next year onwards. Since the regulation mandating recycled content remains unchanged, the user industry cannot continue to be non-compliant anymore.
Overall, we are confident of achieving the desired performance for this business from FY 2027 onwards, albeit with a delay of one year. Our legacy business has regained sustainable momentum and recently announced reduction of U.S. tariffs on Indian textiles should provide an additional boost in the coming quarters. The B2B rPET business is also expected to perform comparatively better in Q4. In a recent development, our recycled filament yarn has successfully qualified with the leading global textile brand, improving the margin and volumes for filament yarn business. We are pleased to share that we have now become a regular supplier of our stadium-sized flags to the International Cricket Council directly, and where we are providing the stadium-sized flags of various countries as well as unity flags made with our recycled materials for the World Cup tournaments. This collaboration highlights the global recognition of our sustainable products and prowess.
Overall, Q3 FY 2026 reflects both the strength of our core operations and the long-term potential of our sustainability-driven initiatives. We remain confident in our ability to navigate the near-term challenges while building a stronger, sustainable business for the future. Thank you, everyone.
Should I begin with the question-and-answer section?
Yes, please.
All right. Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone 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 Achal Mehta from Bastion Research. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I want to ask that in food- grade rPET, earlier there were five to six approved manufacturers from FSSAI. However, as of September 2025, many new players have entered, taking it to 12-13. So has this increased competition for us significantly, and how does the Ministry of Environment see this? Do you feel there is enough manufacturing capacity in the industry now to fulfill FY 2027's demand?
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for your question. So yes, definitely, the number of FSSAI-approved players has gone up quite significantly, and there have been much newer capacities. Yes, certainly, because of that, there is obviously increased competition in the industry. So the increased competition is because of the reason that the uptake of the industry has not really taken off as per the volume increase that has happened and the capacity and supply available. Looking forward now, there is enough capacity available to meet the targets for the next year, and I think that definitely the industry is going to mature much more in a better way now.
My second question is, what is the export revenue for the quarter and for the nine months?
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. Sir, your audio is not clear. Can you speak through the handset?
Hello. Am I audible?
Sir, can you speak by the handset? The audio is still not clear.
Hello. Am I audible now? Hello?
Yes, it's better.
My next question is, what is the export revenue for the quarter and for the nine months?
On consolidated level, we made the export about INR 30 crore, and for nine months, we made the export more than INR 100 crore.
Okay. So why have we not been able to sell to Europe and U.S., where we have approval of there, and there is no tariff on our products? Considering on the ongoing days, they should have been able to offset the declining domestic sales demand.
So actually, the tariff is also applicable on our products as well. So when the U.S. tariff was implemented earlier in May, at that time, PET polymer or PET granules were in the exemption list. But on 2nd September, when the new modification of the tariffs and the exemption list came out, the PET was excluded out of the exemption list. So since 2nd September, the tariffs are also applicable on our product. So because of that, we have not been able to work out any supplies to the U.S. market because of the tariff conditions of 50% receivable tariffs.
Okay. And what is the broad range on volume and margins on our filament order?
It is very low at present, but we have been qualified with a global textile brand, and from the next quarter onwards, the volume would increase significantly.
Okay. Do you expect realization to uptick towards INR 1 lakh per ton level for the legacy business now that there are reduced tariffs on our end customer industry?
Yes, sir. Certainly, the volumes are very good in this quarter also. We have sold the 31,000-ton volume from our legacy business in this quarter, and definitely, it will be well above the 100,000 tons for the entire year.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dheeraj Ram from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking up my question. Two, three questions. So first one is on standalone business. Margins have been improved sequentially. So is it due to raw material prices? If it is, yes, then could you let me know the average raw material price of consumption during the quarter, and how do you see that in 4Q?
Yeah. Dheeraj, the raw material prices are quite stable during the quarter. The uncertainty which prevailed over the last two quarters is not there, so it helped us in margins improvement in our legacy business.
Okay. Any price that you want to quote, sir? Right now, how is the price trend?
So right now, the prices are in the range of the bottle prices are in the range of INR 46-INR 47 a kg.
Okay. Got it. And the subsidiary business, I feel it was really being impacted just because of the utilization. But how can we go about for 4Q and for FY 2027? How do you see the utilization levels for rPET, especially in subsidiary?
Is that so? For we are quite hopeful that the volumes would be better in Q4 than Q3. We are expecting the overall capacity utilization in between 70%-80% in Q4.
Understood. Can we take the same for FY 2027, sir, or do we take between 60%-70%?
No, so FY 2027 must be a good one and on the expected lines, which we have thought of for FY 2026. But because of the chaos on the regulation side, it could not happen in this year. So definitely, it would happen in FY 2027 when the regulation would be for 40%. And there is much clarity now over the rPET basis. The regulation is live and intact.
Okay. Great. Got it. And last question, sir. We had some outstanding to be received from the government authorities. Any progress on that, or is it still to be received?
Yeah. So we got the INR 70 crore from the government outstanding incentives, about INR 110 crore from the Telangana government for Warangal plant. The amount we have received is in January only.
Got it. Great. Great. Last question, sir. How do you see this PWMR coming into effect in FY 2027? I understand that capacities are up and running now, and demand is meeting the capacity, and that's how you're guiding for FY 2027 PWMR. But how do you is there any chance to roll this forward to FY 2028?
So basically, as far as the PWMR is concerned, plastic waste management, we have to understand the chronology of this notification. The notification came into force in 2022, mentioning that every brand owner or plastic packaging manufacturer has to use a certain percentage of recycled content from 2025-2026. So it was 30%, and then it has to increase by 10% every year till 2029, up to 60%. If any shortfall is there in using this recycled content, there is a penalty provision. For the first year, it is INR 2,900 per ton. The second year, it is INR 5,800 per ton, and the third year, it is INR 8,700 per ton.
So because in the very initial stage, there was not much capacity available, there were stakeholders' representations for this with the government, and the government has assured everyone that they will look into it and will provide some relief if any capacity is not available to complete the 30% target for the first year only. In that case, the government may give some relief, and everybody was waiting for that relief the whole year. It is a relaxation because you see, even we are discussing as on date, the 30% recycled content consumption notification is there. Everybody has to use 30% recycled content. If any notifications for the relaxations come forward in the next two months because it is now irrelevant, because the whole year has passed, in less than two months, you cannot do much with your consumption or non-consumption.
But even if any relaxation comes in the remaining period, there will certainly be a big number of brands who are going to pay a penalty for the first year itself. So everybody will be in that category of the first year. Penalty of INR 2,900. From April onwards, they have to pay INR 5,800 if any shortfall comes in the next year. So it is intact. The notification is intact, and the implementation, as per our discussion with the government officers and the stakeholders from the government side, this notification is intact, and a lot of investment has come into this particular recycling field, not only in PET but also in polyolefins and other plastics. So there is not much delay, or any major modification is going to happen in the coming days.
Got it. Agreed, sir. Agreed. Just last question, then I will come back in the queue. This new client that you're talking about in filament yarn, when do you see the uptake going for this client, and how do you see margins and realizations for this, and what is expected to be the uptake for this?
The uptake will be started from February itself, and we are expecting that almost 20%-30% utilization of our capacity of the filament yarn is going to be increased working for our partnership that we have started with them. And the margins are quite good as expected on our lines for the filament project. Sorry, but we cannot disclose exactly the numbers for the particular product due to competitive reasons, but it will be good. Yeah.
Sure, sir. Great. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mehul Panjwani from 40 Cents. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, now that your legacy business is done well in terms of volumes, when can we comment on how soon it will take to be out of the woods in the non-legacy business?
So Mehul, we are expecting the uptake will start in the current quarter itself. We are expecting good demand, and we are expecting the good demand from April onwards. So FY 2027 would be the year which we are expecting from FY 2026, but definitely, FY 2027 would be the good year.
Sir, the government regulation which we are expecting, is it out, or it is yet not out?
The regulation is already there. One draft notification was there for giving some relief to the user industry, but that draft notification has not been finalized yet. Now, the current sanction is coming to end, so we don't think it will come now.
It won't come. So how?
This is the capacity available in the rPET in the Indian market. The government may also not provide the relief sought after by the user industry at the beginning of the sanction year.
If government does not expect to provide any relief, then our business will be significantly impacted, right?
No, no, no. This is the point. This is the point.
Notification has to come for the relaxation to the brand owner, not to the recycler. For brand owner, it is a 30% mandate, and it is intact for the year. If any relaxation comes, that, okay, instead of 30%, we will allow you 10% of this EPR content responsibility target to be transferred to the next year. So the brand owner has to get a relief. If relief doesn't come, then they have to use 30%.
Okay. So that is a benefit to us, that means?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
But the only thing is that it will start flowing into our numbers from Q1 of FY 2027.
Yes, yes.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. Participants may press star and want to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Bharat Gulati from Dalal and Broacha. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. Thank you for the question. I just had a question regarding our standalone business. In terms of EBITDA per ton, that has seen a significant degrowth year-over-year, and that's been on a downward trend year-over-year but has picked up QoQ So are we seeing this going forward to improve further on? And what will be the kind will we be able to reach back to our FY 2025 levels, or are we going to create a base which is lower than that and then sustain that? If you can help me understand what kind of EBITDA per ton we are going forward. Thank you.
Yeah. So Bharatji, actually, this business was under distress since the last two to three quarters, three to four quarters because of the reasons already explained in various phone calls last year. So now, this business has come back on the track, and so the margins have started to improve. And we are expecting in FY 2027, we would be able to make the margins which we are earning earlier on our legacy business. It is in the range of around INR 9,000-10,000 EBITDA per ton.
It would be back to, let's say, our FY 2024 levels, which is of INR 10 per ton of EBITDA?
Yes, yes. We are expecting because of the demand, because of the recent U.S. tariff relaxations, we are expecting it would come back on the track in this fiscal year.
Got it. Got it. Okay. And just, sir, to understand our business, our rPET granules business in Warangal, if you can help me understand what kind of peak revenues can we get from that in terms of once utilizations will pick up next year?
Yeah. So next year, we would be operating at about 70,000 ton capacity of rPET in Warangal unit. So the peak revenue potentially is about to INR 700 crore- INR 850 crore.
Okay. And just to understand, the EBITDA per ton there also has gotten hit. So do we see that also coming back to normalized levels, or will that be in permanent pressures creating a new base because of the higher raw material cost that we are facing now?
You see, the EBITDA margins have been impacted because of the lower capacity utilization and also as the lifting is not there in the market, and so many units have gotten the FSSAI licenses, and so the supply side is more in comparison to demand. So the pressure was there in the prices also, margins also. But going forward, we see when the demand will pick up from the sector in next year, and this is the supply. So it will be matching. So the pressures which we are facing now must be relaxed to some level in next year.
Sir, could you just help me with the number of what kind of EBITDA per tons would we be expecting to do next year?
For the EBITDA, we cannot comment as of now currently because so many developments are there in the market in the current year. The market is evolving, and so exactly forecasting the EBITDA margins is not possible as of now. We will be able to comment in on next quarter itself.
Got it, sir. Got it. And just one last question, sir. In terms of Q4 for our business that focuses on the F&B segment, has that seen any pickup in terms of customers trying to fulfill whatever they can and reduce their penalties, or is it still in the same trajectory as it's been?
Yes.
Sorry, can you repeat the question again?
Sir, just trying to understand, has there been some uptake in demand from the F&B players, or is it been constant with how the previous two quarters have played out?
No, sir. Definitely, compared to the last quarter, there has been an uptake in the demand and consumption from the F&B players, but it is still not to the level that we expected that it should be. So yes, it has improved. Definitely, yes, but still not where it I mean, way lower than where it should be, actually.
Yeah. So basically, this is the current situation. We are expecting the capacity utilization of Warangal plant by about in between 70%-80% as an additional 50% which we have got in this Q3 quarter.
Got it, sir. Got it. Okay. That was helpful, sir. Thank you. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Darshika Khemka from AV FinCorp. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I had a couple of questions. Firstly, on the lines of the fact that two quarters of our FY 2026 year have been impacted by the MoEFCC notification, do you think that this is now behind us, or there could be a probability of the government giving this sort of relaxation once again in FY 2027 considering the fact that the 30% implementation would be difficult in Q4, and this would sort of be carried forward in the next year?
So unless the relaxation notification doesn't come, there is no carry forward. So this year, 30% convention was mandatory, and whatever the shortfall is there, the penalty would be levied. Penalty is levable. It depends. And for next year, it is 40%, and the relaxation notification was proposed basis the recycling capacity was not there in the beginning of the financial year 2026. But now, the approved capacity is almost 250,000-300,000 tons in between. And so it meets the requirement of the user industry for the next year. So we don't expect there would be any relaxation notification will come further for next year.
Got it. So considering this background, would we like to change our guidance for FY 2027 that we had given the last year both for the legacy business and for the consolidated business? And the legacy business, particularly around the fact that the raw material prices have now normalized, and you had expected 10% margin for Q4, FY 2026, and a slight improvement further towards 11% for FY 2027. Is that guidance intact, or are we improving it further? And also for the rPET business, what is the guidance that we are now giving? Is there any change?
No. So basically, our legacy business, we are expecting we'll come back to 9%-10% EBITDA margins next year. And for the rPET business, yes, we are expecting with the 40% mandatory use is intact, we would be doing much better.
Okay. And we had expected 65% of our revenue coming from rPET chips by FY 2028. That is also still intact, right?
Yes. Once the rPET starts, definitely, we will move on our capacity expansions.
Got it. All right. That's it for me. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavik Shah from Invexa Capital. Please go ahead.
Am I audible?
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Yeah. So my first question is, our realizations have actually not improved despite you mentioning the notification is still in place. So what is actually leading to that the companies are not buying in the volumes they require to fulfill for the year? One. Second is, then have we seen any traction in the last quarter currently in terms of, say, improvement in realizations?
So you see, basically, if you look at same as Prashant said, I had put in detail the chronological order. What happened is that the regulation for 30% uptake is live. But in June, the government came out with a draft giving some relaxation that, okay, you can carry because there is capacity shortfall to meet the target, you can carry forward to the next three years. Since then, there has been a lot of to-and-fro happening between the industry bodies and the government, and they are finally working with the final notification. Everyone is awaiting and postponing their purchases for the final notification to come out, which is with the relaxation, basically. And because of that, everyone has been holding off to do their purchases since December.
So if you look at the current situation, it is because the government has told everyone that we will be coming out with it very soon. So everyone has definitely started again the uptakes. Yes, obviously, it has not reached to the level that they expected, but since the notification is still not out, a lot of brands I mean, I would say 90% of the people have not really started the uptake in the right volume way, manner. And the realizations have also been very consistent. They have not improved because still, the capacity or the supply of the material is way, way more than the demand. So the realizations have not really improved any bit.
Understood. So basically, they are ready to pay the penalty of INR 2,900 per ton, but they are not willing to purchase the additional volumes, right?
You see, it's much more complex than that. You can say when it comes to bigger brands, paying penalties for them is a very, very big issue from their brand equity point of view. Second is that paying the penalty also does not absolve you of the requirement. It just carries forward the volume requirement to the forward years. And also, there is another EC clause, which is the Environmental Compensation Act, where they can levy a much more stringent penalty on you if you are not fulfilling the mandate. So paying penalty, it's not as simple as it seems like, but the problem is that they are awaiting the final notification, the relaxation notification from the government because of which they have been postponing the usage.
Understood. So when we say 9%-10% margins we are guiding for, can you just help us understand, do we expect our cost to be lower? Do we expect our realizations to improve to come to this margin, or what are we factoring in to come to this margin?
So, 9%-10% guidance is regarding our legacy business, the extended-run business of Ganesha Ecosphere. Basically, the stability in the raw material prices has been the key factor. With the increase in the volume and our shifting of our production, our dependence on the spinning sector, it will be driving the margins.
Understood. So just let us assume that this notification is there without any changes. So how do we see our volumes in FY 2027?
This relaxation notification meant only for the FY 2026. It has nothing to do with the FY 2027. The regulation of 40% for the FY 2027 is intact.
How do we see our volumes improving, sir, in terms of?
For next year, this is the regulation is intact for 40%. We would be able to utilize 85%-90% capacity utilization. Currently, we are and next year, we would be having around 70,000 capacity. We would be expecting a volume of around 55,000-60,000 tons, more than 50,000 tons for next year.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Avnish from Vaikarya. Please go ahead.
Hi. Am I audible?
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Yeah. Yeah. In terms of these F&B customers you have, the number of vendors they have approved earlier, has there been any change in that because a lot of capacity which has come in? Have they signed up or approved more vendors?
Yes, definitely. They are obviously working with more vendors also. And I mean, the bigger problem here is not that they are approving other vendors very well, it's that the volume uptake is not going up with the capacity increase that is coming in. That has been the biggest issue which has caused this kind of depreciation I mean, this kind of outlook in the rPET industry currently. And they will have to do that. They will have to work with all the recycling desks because the capacity needed to fulfill the mandate requirement is obviously currently still under it's almost matching. So obviously, the industry will have to work with the people who are also putting up capacities.
Right. And. Sorry, go on.
I mean, the bigger problem is that the number of players who are using the rPET currently has not gone up. We were expecting that as the mandate comes to finalize these things, the number of players should now start to increase. It's increasing, but not at the rate that it should, actually.
Yeah. As far as the approval is concerned, yeah, our product is approved from almost all the big brands.
Right. No, I meant to say your customers, let's say, earlier, working with the two recyclers, now they now have approved three, four, or five recyclers because more capacity has come in.
They have. Correct. Correct. Absolutely, they have. Yes.
Got it. And let's say, as you mentioned, some of these global brands, if they have to be really, really careful about breaching the norms, will they have even if the notification comes in February or March, they don't have much time. If they have to fulfill this 30% irrespective whether relaxation comes or not, they need to decide whether to pay penalty or offtake, right? Or they can offtake, let's say, just in the month of March, can they offtake enough quantity to meet this guideline?
No, definitely, you see, it's please, go on, sir.
So I think, you see, the 30% mandate is there. If any relaxation, let's say, let's presume whatever was in the year, a 10% relaxation comes for the current year. Even if 10% relaxation comes, you are very correct that most of the brands are going to pay penalty for the first year. And the first-year penalty of INR 2,900 is only for the first default. Once a first default has been done, the next default has in case of next default, you have to pay a penalty of INR 5,800. And in case of third default, there will be a penalty of INR 8,700. Over and above this, there will be environment compensation.
So if any relaxation comes for the first year because the government has been represented by all the brand owners, many of the brand owners, that not enough capacity is available for the first year, so they were seeking some relaxation in the percentage for the first year. So for next year, there is a mandate of 40% which has to be fulfilled by the brand owners. And looking to this 40% number, there will be good demand. And Ganesha, as the largest capacity holder, is well placed for taking that demand in the business.
No, I was trying to understand, let's say, this is a relaxation of 10%, and they have to fulfill this 20%. Somebody who does not want to be in this part of not being compliant, will they have this one month when there's so much material that they can meet this 20%, not just with Ganesha, but across the industry, when that availability is so high that they can fulfill this in one month? Otherwise, they will be in they can pay penalty and all, but still be having that challenge of not meeting the norm, right?
Yeah. So in any case, if any relaxation comes out of the business, so it is sure that you will not be able to fulfill it, even the lower targets.
They will not be able to fulfill it. Okay. The second question I had was on the export side. Now, as the tariffs are reduced to this 18%, so your product will be covered with the 18%, would you be looking at exporting opportunity, or do you think that 18% is also too high to make this export viable for you?
You see, the market is currently very, very evolving across. Definitely, we are currently in discussions with the consumers there. We will get to know about this only with time of what kind of volume and business is possible.
Okay. Great. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhirendra Patro from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is that based on CapEx, can you provide any color on CapEx plans, brownfield and greenfield, in FY 2026, FY 2027, and FY 2028 in terms of investments and metric tons?
We are already implementing a brownfield project. Brownfield project should be operational by March and April. It incurs capex effect around INR 130 crore, which has been largely incurred so far. For the next leg of expansion, greenfield expansion or the brownfield expansion, as per our plans, around INR 450 crore is to be invested in next two years.
Okay. So INR 130 crore of brownfield, that was around 22,500 tons of rPET in foreign land, right?
Correct. Correct.
So, if I heard it right, you said 4Q, we would be able to do 70% utilization in the subsidiary business. That 70% is including the brownfield expansion?
Correct. Correct.
Those are my questions. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Atharv Said from SmartSync Services. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. This is my first time ever I'm attending your phone call. So sorry if I have some basic questions. But I wanted to understand, do we have any seasonality in our business? So can you please explain the seasonality in our business?
So, seasonality, in case of a legacy business, the seasonality is largely from the raw material side. So, in case of Northern India, in winter season, the raw material availability reduces somewhat. And in the summer season, the availability is superior. But from our finished goods side, there is no such seasonality in our legacy business. And for our new bottle-to-bottle renewal business, yes, there is a seasonality. Though it is a very new business, so it will be more comprehensive in next financial year. But certainly, the user industry is having the seasonality when there is a winter season. And from August to September onwards, they reduce their production. And the production is again geared up from January onwards.
So basically, the main seasonality which we have in our legacy business because of raw material prices, right?
Correct.
What are the measures we are taking to mitigate this risk, mainly raw material prices risk?
So basically, we try to make some inventory. Basically, you see, our raw materials is scrap. So it is not an ordinary business. It is not a standard material. So as the collection is going on, and you have to buy it, so you cannot stock it in too big quantity. But certainly, we try to maintain an inventory of around 30-35 days. And in summer season, we will try to increase the inventory by every four to five days, additional inventory stocking.
As you are talking about this draft notification, so can you please explain more on this? You are expecting the players expecting 10% relaxations also. Can you please throw some light on the draft?
Sorry. Sorry. Can you please come again? Your voice was not audible.
Hello. Now I'm audible.
Better. It is better.
Yeah. So just wanted to know more about the draft notification which you are talking because I joined late.
Yeah. So for the draft, basically, the regulation was implemented for 30% mandatory content of recycled renewals in the packaging industry, plastic packaging industry. And the regulation was implemented from April 25, April 25. But when the regulation was implemented, the enough capacity, recycling capacity was not available. And only around 70,000-75,000 approved capacity was there while the consumption was expected to be much more than that. And so the user industry contacted the Ministry, MoEFCC, for some relaxation. So in June, the government has come out with a draft notification in which they propose to allow them to make some relaxation in 30% target and allowing the shortfall for over next three years. That was the draft notification, which is not finalized yet.
Atharv Said, may I request her to join the queue for a follow-up question? The next question is from the line of Mehul Panjwani from 40 Cents. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you, sir. Thank you for the follow-up. So sir, regarding the preceding question, you said that the draft notification was for three years. So it has not come yet, right?
It is not for the three years. It is only for the FY 2026. But any shortfall was to be carried forward for next year. Suppose the 30% target is here and someone uses the 20%. So 10% is the shortfall. So 10% shortfall could be recovered over next three years.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And sir, my next question is, sir, can we expect that Q4 results will be better than Q2 and Q3?
Yes. Yes. We are expecting better Q4 than the Q3.
It will be mainly aided by the legacy business or overall?
Overall, both legacy business as well as our new business, our subsidiary business.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much for answering all the questions. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Siddhartha Barman from Sagun Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Very good afternoon. Am I audible properly?
Yeah. Yeah. You are. You are audible.
Yes, sir. I was just trying to understand what would be the kind of margin we would be looking at next year and forward. Any kind of ballpark figure if you can tell us.
We are not providing any guidance as of now because of the uncertainty prevailed in this financial year over the notification and the regulation. But we are expecting that uncertainty would not be there for FY 2027. Certainly, the margins would improve with the increased optics and volumes. But any margin guidance overall, we would be able to provide only in the next quarter.
Okay. Okay. So it will be same as the TTM, or we can expect at least a slight.
We are expecting much better than that.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Fine. Fine. Fine. Thank you. That's all I have to say.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Reuben Mathews from Equity Intelligence. Please go ahead.
Hi. I just wanted to know, which were discussions with these large branded players? How much are they right now? What is their percentage of recycled material that they are using for the B2B?
So see, it's very difficult to give the exact numbers because even we don't have the exact numbers. But it's fairly low. I would say that it's lower than 10%-15%, maybe somewhere in the ballpark. I'm just talking about the global big, big, big brands. But very difficult to come with the exact number.
Okay. So you're saying that they are right now at around 10%-15%. And with your recent discussions, do you see them ramping up to at least 20%-25% with the purchases that they are making, or?
So CZ, currently, they are not ramping up. But definitely, they would be post the government notification. Notification will be there.
Okay. Okay. And these expansion plans, you don't need to you already have funds for the expansion, right? There's no more additional funds required?
Yes. We are having the funds. Our leadership position is also very well comfortable. We manage from that.
Okay. And just to help me out with the average realization of your product, now, is it around INR 100 for the recycled plastic for the bottles? Because you are saying higher price.
Yeah. It's for the different product. Yeah. So it is different for the different products. So for the fiber, it is lower than the it is around INR 85, INR 84, INR 85. And for the yarns, yeah, yeah, of course, it is more than INR 95.
More than INR 95. Okay. Okay. And just one last question. Now, I'm just starting to follow this company. So now, you're looking at collection of raw materials, right, for the plastic bottles. Now, with all these additional companies setting up their capacities, do you see there being a shortfall in collection of these raw materials, or would you look at importing plastics maybe? How would you go about it?
You see, the collection is very, very good in the country as far as the PET bottles are concerned. The user industry is from the fiber, from B2B business. Certainly, the demand is much better than much, much more than the supply side. The fiber industry is trying to use some textile waste and other waste as in the PET bottle scrap. The industry is now moving from the PET bottle scrap to some other alternatives. It will release the pressure on the supply side for the PET bottle.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Fine.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Sebastian Spady from Manish Mundada and Associates. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Is my voice clearly audible?
Yes, sir.
Thank you. So my first question is regarding the competitive landscape. As I have heard from a media release, that Reliance Industries is also collaborating with Srichakra Ecotex to enter into the recycling PET business. So they are targeting to recycle around 5+ billion PET bottles. And in an industry where Reliance is going to enter, we can expect a stiff competition there. So what is your opinion and perspective on it? I want to know that. And I add on to it that Reliance is also having chemical recycling technology. As per my knowledge, we Ganesha Ecosphere is currently using the mechanical recycling technology. So I also want to take some what is your take on it? Actually, I want to know.
So yeah. Hi. Sure. So yes, you're right. So I think this news is not new. I think it's pretty old news. So basically, yes, Reliance and Srichakra are collaborating. But the collaboration is regarding the RPSF, the traditional, the legacy business that we have, Recycled Polyester Staple Fiber Business. That's the collaboration to do recycling of the PET bottle waste, basically. Reliance also has a capacity of its own to do RPSF. And they are partnering with Srichakra for building some more capacity of the RPSF product, which is our legacy product. And talking about competition, I mean, I think it's pretty clear that the recycled PET industry has always been very, very competitive, I would say very highly competitive from the last 25 years. And it remains to be so.
Ganesha has still been able to navigate and has maintained its position as the leader of the industry in spite of the industry condition.
Okay. And what about, sir, are we planning to set up any chemical recycling plant, or we are just planning to continue with our existing mechanical recycling facility?
We are basically into the mechanical recycling. As far as only the mechanical recycling is approved world over, chemical recycling is at a very nascent stage. Its cost is too high. Operational cost is too high. As well as the capacity is also too high. It will take time to be commercially viable.
Okay. And sir, are we having any plans to recycle HDPE and flexible plastic and other hard plastics in the future, or are we just going to focus on PET recycling?
Yes. Yes. We are also starting the recycling of the polyolefins apart from the PET. We are exploring that. Any concrete plan is not yet as of now finalized. But definitely, we are looking for it.
Okay. Are you planning to do some exports?
Yes. So we are already making some export around 9%-10% of our fiber volume has been exported. And because of the tariff in the U.S., so we have started the export of some of our rPET. But because of the tariff, it was stopped. Now, we are expecting it will again get some momentum.
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. You may join the queue for the next follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Dheeraj Ram from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking up my question again. Sir, for this rPET realizations, historically, I mean, in FY 2024 and 2025 around, used to be higher. And now, it slightly came down. And in FY 2027, do you expect it to go back to previous levels, or is it too much to go back to previous levels?
Basically, the realizations of rPET depends on the prices of the scrap bottles also. It moves with the prices of scrap bottles.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And based on the landscape of competition, what previous participant was asking, could you throw some light on this Indorama JV with Varun Beverages? If we consider that maybe coming in FY2027 or 2028, do we still have a shortfall of demand versus capacity of recycling?
Yes. Yes. Definitely. Definitely. So see, it's not about shortfall of demand or capacity. It's about managing the demand and supply. So what is happening now in the industry is that we are working together to establish a very coherent demand-supply situation for the industry to work in a better way, in a more efficient way. So what is happening what is now going to happen is that in the last couple of quarters, no new capacities are coming up or are coming up to be announced in the future because the industry is waiting for the demand to firm up and the numbers to stabilize. So even with this JV volumes which are coming in, we've already considered it in the current set of numbers. It will be almost at par with the demand and supply equation.
Got it, sir. Got it, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question of the day. Now, I would like to hand the conference over to management for the closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you all for joining today and for your continued trust in our journey. We appreciate your continued engagement and look forward to updating you on our progress in the next call. Until then, stay safe and stay connected. Thank you.
On behalf of Antique Stock Broking Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your line.