Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4 FY 2026 results conference call hosted by Motherson Sumi Wiring India 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 pre-presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and then zero on your touchtone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. V.C. Sehgal from Motherson Sumi Wiring India Limited. Thank you and over to you, Mr. Sehgal.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today. Warmly welcome you to the Motherson Sumi Wiring India Limited results call for the fourth quarter 2026, and I'm thankful for continued confidence in MSWIL. I'm pleased to announce that the company has delivered best quality results and yearly performance has crossed INR 10,000 crore of yearly revenues for the first time. During the quarter we have seen copper prices rise significantly and expect to remain at elevated levels. As these are under pass-through arrangements with the customer, with the timeline, I say the impact on our profitability is transitional. Our greenfield facilities are progressing well and have commenced commercial contributing. We anticipate the contribution will further increase once customer volumes attain the projected levels.
I'm also pleased to highlight that MSWIL continues to maintain a three cases since inception, supporting our preparedness for the future. With a diversified powertrain book portfolio, disciplined capital and allocation and a steadfast focus on operational excellence. With that, I hand you over to Vaaman, Pankaj, Anurag and Gulshan who will be happy to address any questions that you may have. Thank you and over to you.
Thank you very much.
Back to you, yeah, thanks.
We will now begin with the que-.
Go ahead.
Sir. We will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and then 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. Again, to register for a question, please press star and then one. Our first question comes from the line of Raghunandan from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Good evening team. Thank you very much for the opportunity. It is good to see the strong revenue performance. On the demand side, can you talk about how has been the traction in terms of new orders? Has there been any new order wins lately? Do you see the need for adding more capacities in FY 2027? Can you talk about the CapEx plans for 2027, sir?
Sure. I think Anurag and Pankaj can take this question, please.
Sure, sir. As far as new orders are winning, we are winning the businesses in all powertrains, whether it's ICE, EV or even the hybrid also. As you have seen that, we have grown with around 33% on the sales revenue and the market has grown in the single digit for the whole year. Looking into the Q1 as we are talking right now, we think that this will continue in this quarter as well. Regarding the capacities, our existing plants, they are running around 80% of capacity utilization at this moment, and the greenfields are in the different stages.
As we have informed earlier also that as soon as we are touching to the 80% capacity, we started expanding ourself, but backed by the customer firm orders only. The way everybody has announced their expansion, the various OEMs, we will also be expanding in this year. So far, we have done the CapEx of around INR 190 crores in last year. For this year also, these numbers will be on the similar lines.
Thank you, Anurag. On the cost side, there is a 2.9% compression in gross margin due to temporary factors. The major one would be copper, where there is a pass-through which will happen within three to six months. I wanted to understand on the other costs. There is adverse currency impact also. Is there an increase in power cost, freight cost, insurance cost on imports? Is there a pass-through for currency and other costs to customers?
As far as currency is concerned, yes, currency is also as we have the back-to-back arrangement with the customer on three to six months lag. Major customer on the three months, the balance are on six months lag.
Got it, sir. On greenfields, what would be the current utilization level? The revenue performance has been good in Q4 at INR 443 crores. Maybe the utilization is at 75%. At what utilization levels do you see these plants contributing positively to EBITDA?
As far as capacity is concerned for three greenfield, like Kharkhoda is coming around 80%. Pune location, whereas the volumes has not gone to the forecasted number, so it is approximately 50%. The third location is in Gujarat, in Navagam, which is approximately 60% because as the one of the model is ramping up right now, in the Q1 also. This is the status of the capacity at this moment. As you rightly said, that INR 400+ crores is the quarterly turnover for these three greenfield. As we have projected earlier also, that it will be in the tune of around INR 2,000 crore on the annualized basis. We are going to touch soon if the volumes forecasted by the customer are to met.
We've got it, sir. Thank you very much. I'll come back in the queue.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Siddhartha Bera from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. First question on the revenue. Like we said that last quarter, revenues were really not fully reflecting the copper price increase. Dare to say that the current revenues will be fully reflecting the sharp increases in copper, we have seen in the last quarter.
Largely, with respect to the previous quarter prices, that is there. For the quarter four, the lag, I mean, in terms of the pass on impact will happen in the next quarter.
Okay. Sir, because copper has been going up consistently in the last three quarters. If we look like from quarter one to quarter four, our gross margins have come down by close to 600 basis points. I mean, when this pass-through happens, will you be able to recover the entire sort of cost pressure? You think because there is a remunerated denominator effect, the recovery may not be able to fully cover up the levels that we were at operating at. How should I think about going ahead?
See, the cost will be recovered fully with the lag, and there will be a denominatory factor which will be there, right? There is no percentage increases. Whatever increase will be built in the sales, same amount will be built in the cost. Due to denominatory effect, some marginal dip will see in the EBITDA always. Just to add that it is pretty evident from the full year profitability, the cost rises in the first few quarters have already been passed on to the customers. Whatever dip is seen in the this quarter, it is not pronounced for a full year, if you just see.
Understood. Understood. Sir, last question on this greenfield plant. We discussed, we are already at INR 440 crore run rate quarterly. At what run rate do we expect the profitability to be similar to our existing business? Is there any sort of guidance you can give, given that we have continued to ramp up quite well in the last few quarters. Some sense, like how much is the fixed cost and by what utilization or revenue run rate we can sort of touch our company average margins will be very helpful.
Siddhartha, as I was earlier explaining that these plants are still under, you know, ramp up. Like Mandal and I was talking about, is still the volumes which has been come in the Q4 in one particular model, they are still ramping up. In Pune also, where volumes are not there. Those volumes are yet to come, which has been forecasted earlier. As soon as these greenfield will come to the complete capacity utilization and they will turn into the normal plant for like our existing plants, I think then we can see that, you know, that margins in totality will be give our total picture at the company level.
We are not going into specific to that and trying to just tell you that, you know, how once the volumes will get up and reach to that 80% capacity, then we can see improvement there.
Understood, sir. Thanks a lot. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Just a quick follow-up again on the copper side. Could you just refresh as to how much, about the proportion of copper in the raw material basket, or if you can share a number in terms of percentage of revenues? The typical pass-through, is it three months? Is it six months? Some color if you can give on that. You know, like similar to last quarter, you had quantified the impact of copper inflation that we saw in gross margin. Is it possible to quantify that for this quarter as well?
With respect to the copper prices, if you see, on a sequential basis, there's a 18% increase in the copper prices. If you just look at it the sales number and the increase on account of 2% just because of the increase in the copper prices. Firstly take that out.
Mm-hmm.
The remaining is pronounced with the growth volumes which we dare in the revenue. The second, with respect to the cost part, I mean, it's fairly in the percentages of, I mean, 24%-28% roughly, sitting in the cost.
Mm-hmm.
On account of copper. Right. Secondly, in terms of quantifying the impact, it would be very, very, very difficult considering the large set of components we have in the wiring harness. On a ballpark number, you can just put it around 2% - 2.5% on the bottom line effect on account of increase in copper prices due to some lag in the recovering from the customer.
Okay, we should, three months, six months, what's the typical, pass-through timeline?
Largely our customer falls in a three-month bracket, but there are few customers where the six-month arrangements are also there.
Okay, got it. I mean, looking at copper now, does it seem like we have the headwinds completely baked in in quarter four or you're continuing to see pressure in terms of going into quarter one as well?
I wish I could predict the copper prices, where it will be in the, in the future, but that's for sure. The increase which is there in the quarter four, we would be able to offset in the quarter 1 volumes. That's for the contractual terms with the customers.
Okay, got it. The other question I had was on the greenfield. I'm, like, little bit confused as to how to think about the profitability of these units, because you mentioned INR 440 crore revenue in this quarter, which is there in the presentation, and we, INR 2,000 crore is the annualized run rate that we sort of look at as revenues from these greenfield plants. I mean, INR 440 crore in itself would mean we are closer to 88%-89% of the revenue run rate that we are anticipating from these plants. You know, why are there startup costs then? I mean, is that the right way to think about it? I'm just little confused because it already reflects 90% of the revenue run rate now.
Just to clarify, in this quarter, some of the greenfield was supposed to be ramped up in the quarter two, but somehow have not ramped up fully. First thing. The second is, in Navagam, the SOP was there for the one of the model in the quarter four only. They are in the process of ramping up. If you see quarter on quarter also, the profitability or the cost have improved. The performance of the greenfields have improved. Our loss has gone down. Probably in the Kharkhoda is going as per plan. Navagam is going as per plan. The volumes will be ramped up in 1.5 quarter.
Pune is the one thing where the volumes have not come up, and this is something we have been maintaining from the past two quarters as well. I think it will take, I mean, couple of quarters, the profitability will be there with respect. I mean, we will be able to compare with our existing plants.
This is just first quarter is what you're meaning. I mean, if you see the stabilized run rate of this revenue, we should suddenly see margins coming at parity to where the earlier plants were. Is that reading correct?
Absolutely. Once the volumes will be ramped up and if we are able to recover our initial ramp-up cost, obviously that will be there for the performance will be of the existing, performance of the greenfield plant will be there as per the existing plants. It will take some time, few quarters. Yeah.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Himanshu Singh from Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Please go ahead. Mr. Himanshu Singh, your line is unmuted. Please proceed with your question.
Hi. My questions have been answered. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Preet from InCred AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question would be line of what would be our gross margin in the greenfield plant in quarter four?
I think this is not the right time to measure the cost element by element with respect to the greenfield because there are certain level of optimization we do across the plants. We don't go plant by plant profitability in that way.
Right. Just to rephrase it, is my understanding clear that if copper prices impact would have not been happening greenfield, we would have been a bit of breakeven in this quarter?
Could be, could be. As I told, that there is some time where we are seeing improvements in the greenfield. Once this volumes will be ramped up, I think then we'll be breakeven and the profitability will start positive.
Sir, for full year, we have incurred around INR 127 crores of net cost for the entire greenfield. How much amount will be one-off in this that we will not be seeing in the coming years for one-time setup cost, something like that?
Could you repeat your question? Sorry, I didn't get it.
We had around INR 127 crore of net startup cost, from our greenfield plant. What would be the one-off in this, one-off or one-time setup cost in this, for this greenfield plant for full year or for this quarter?
Very difficult to break into the greenfield part. This is all the cost where we need to do an upfront loading of the manpower resources. We spent some, we will spend some costs on that part, but it is very difficult to put it in a number that is a one-time cost or one-off cost because all greenfields are in an operationalized mode. It is not like they are in a very starting mode or SOP has just announced. It is not like that. We have covered our journey in the greenfields also, and now in the process of getting. We reached a space where we see that there will be a stabilization in the greenfields.
Sir, if we stabilize our greenfield revenue and comes at the same capacity utilization of which our ex-greenfield is at, will we be able to maintain same kind of margin 11%- 12% what we do in ex-greenfield? Is that possible?
Possible. See, I think we have already maintained that, we don't go by margin. I mean, we are a growth-focused company, and we have been able to deliver consistently more than what the growth, is. Able to deliver that return, right? We don't go by that, plant by plant profitability. We always see at a community, at a company level.
Look, I think the are definitely all picking up in the Indian context. That is a very good sign. Also, if you see that, you know, as long as the copper prices don't continue to appreciate with all the volatility that's there in the market, you know, this should normalize and you would see that, of course, the plants are showing much better performance because of this. Couple of double hits in this quarter because of the rising prices. As the take on volumes and the price of copper stabilize, you definitely should see a much better delivery on those numbers. We are fairly confident that this should happen in the next few quarters.
Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. I'll join back in the queue.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Aashin from Canara Robeco. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. I had just one question regarding this INR 200 crore CapEx, which you were talking about next year. Could you please give us the nature of this CapEx? I mean, will it be a new greenfield plant or will it be capacity addition at our existing plants? Will we see again start-up costs if that plan happens?
It is a combination of what you have said. Something will be obviously towards our greenfields because the customers have already announced their expansion plan. We need to cater that. Second is something will be towards automation and digitization also. The third will be a replacement CapEx also with in terms of existing plants. It will be a combination of the prominent combination. I think you already covered it.
Okay. This automation should help our margin going forward?
Yes, it should be.
Okay. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Bye.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Nandan Pradhan from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Hello. Can you hear me audible?
Yes, sir, you're audible. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Just a small clarification at my end, I think as a follow-up from the previous participant. We mentioned so 24%-28% is sitting in the cost due to copper. I mean, did I get that right? The question was around proportion of copper in the RM basket.
You're talking about cost or you're talking about the cost with respect to sales?
No. In the current RM basket, we've got about 70% is RM cost, right? Effectively, remaining 50% would be conversion cost and this 24%-28% would be your commodity cost roughly?
No. Commodity cost would be, approximately, I would say, in the range of 9%-10%, the increases.
Not the relative change, sir, the absolute. Within that 70%, how would you break that down into commodity cost and say conversion cost?
So, so, so if-
Hello.
That we have covered, I think, within the range of 24%-28%, in the RMC with respect to the copper.
Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Vijay Pandey from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question, sir. A couple of questions. One I wanted to check about the inaudible plan. When do you expect to see the volumes coming back from the OEM side? Do you expect to see this in FY 2027 or it might be like this calendar year or probably it will go to the next calendar year? Can you just tell us a timeframe for the ramp up schedule will be for the OEM plan?
See these customers bring a lot of variation into the volumes and they launch the new models as well. There is no as such fixed date if you're asking us as to when these volumes will be back. There are replacement models also, and there are, you know, new model launches also keep coming which takes care of these low volumes.
If the plan was delayed by the OEM, then probably you would have got it, whether it's delayed by six months or three months back. I was asking that aspect only.
Sorry, your question was not very clear. If you could kindly repeat.
I was asking in that aspect, that generally when a model gets delayed, customer OEMs, like if it is a for short duration delay then they provide, they tell whether it is three months or six months or otherwise if it is delayed for larger period then probably we may, we may not know. That is why I was asking.
I think what the management has been explaining is that those delays are over. The models have been launched. In certain regions the volumes have not achieved, volumes achieved are not what were forecasted at the beginning. We do hope as Anurag was explaining that customers do launch many variants over a period of time to also improve upon that, plus many new things happen. That's how he tried to explain for certain region. In the other regions the ramp-ups are still happening, which of course as you ask that, the expectation is that the market is growing within this year, those launches and the volumes should grow. Of course, market variables remain at play, so there are some pluses and some minuses. Some things click much better, some things do not click that well.
Those are the kind of market variables which remain.
Yes. Just wanted to clarify. I think you said that greenfield revenue target, revenue study, revenue expectation is INR 2,000 crores. Is it for the Kharkhoda plant or is it all three plants combined? Because we already have INR 400 crores quarterly run rate.
Sir, when we had mentioned this about some time ago, that was for all the plants put together. Around INR 2,100, that was our expectation at that time for based on the volumes and which were there at that time. It was not any plant specific. We do not give any guidance on any plant specific revenue, sir.
Has this increased over last two quarters, last two, three quarters or do you expect it to get to how the COVID was? This is now I think should be achieved next year.
Yeah. As you see in quarter four the revenue achieved from the greenfields is more than INR 400 crore already. If we extrapolate, the volumes are growing and Greenfields are doing much better revenues now.
Okay. Okay.
Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Sonal Gupta from HDFC Asset Management Company. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening and thanks for taking my question. A couple of questions just to follow up to the existing one. One is that in terms of you also have a fair amount of import content, which is I think yen-denominated and we've not really seen much, I mean while yen has also been weak like the rupee, it's not really been relatively we've not seen much depreciation of the rupee versus the yen. Would it be correct to understand that then that the rupee depreciation would not have impacted you other than the copper-related stuff, right?
There is a marginal impact with respect to the currency movement sitting in this quarter because if you have noticed that the JPY has depreciated, appreciated in this, in this quarter. We have a, we have a pass-through element for this currency movement as well which will pass on in the next quarter. Precisely it's not that significant, but some part is sitting in the current quarter profitability also.
Got it. The arrangements would be similar, right? Like, I think three months for most customers, right?
Right, right.
Just another cost element was on the polymer side, right? Which you're using while making the wires other than copper. I mean, like, given the pet chem prices, et cetera, are all going up and PVC prices have also gone up. Will that How material is that for you? Could you sort of give a sense on that? Because that will again, start hitting us. I don't know if it's already started hitting us.
Yes. I think polymer prices, due to the situation, global situation, are growing. It's a very recent phenomena. Definitely it is not as big as a copper element, but then it will definitely have an impact. As you know, we work very transparently with our customers, so our working is very transparent. Anything which is happening due to the global scenario, which is beyond any one of us, we sit together and find solutions together jointly.
This would also have a pass-through element or this will have to go back and negotiate?
It will be something, as I mentioned, that we are quite open working together with all our customers. They do recognize when things which are happening for everyone, that we have to find solutions together. We are all in the same boat, let me put it like that.
Got it. Just lastly, I know there's been questions around what it looks like given that we already hit 80% in Kharkhoda and 60% in Gujarat, that those plants are probably. I mean, it's mainly the Pune plant which was started first, but given the volumes are not ramped up there, it's dragging the overall greenfield profitability. Is there, I mean, like, or are there any startup costs? I mean, like, you're still coming up the learning curve in Gujarat and in Kharkhoda, and that is why these plants are also below normalized profitability?
I think you're putting it very right, that, when new things happen and, totally brand-new plants ramp up, you know, it's a cost of growth. You've seen that Motherson has grown at a very fast pace, setting up these large plants. The last quarter saw the ramp up in the Gujarat plant for one of our customers, so it's a steep ramp up and, all these things, do matter. Once everything stabilizes, it gives us a much better result.
Just to add also that, in these plants, the customer has also postponed their project, launch also, model launch also. That's one delay. For us, as we said in the past also, that we have to frontload with manpower to make the skill and all that. You have to take that cost upfront. Maybe customer has delayed, but then these are the costs which are already occurring into these projects.
Got it. Just one last question, if I may. On the manpower cost, right? Like, so this year has been very strong growth in manpower. Obviously, that's also reflected in the strong growth on the top line. Like you said, we have to upfront manpower costs, so we've seen a very strong growth. I just wanted to understand, like, given next year's outlook, will we see more normalized growth? Or you see that manpower growth will also still keep, I mean, will it be keeping pace with the top-line growth itself? I'm just trying to understand.
Are you talking about the costs of manpower growing in line with the sales growth? Sorry, your question wasn't very clear.
This year, I think our manpower growth is probably in excess of 20%, right? Like, 25% odd, which is because we were obviously setting up these new greenfields, so we had to hire also a lot of new people. I'm just trying to understand, like now we have the manpower in place and the growth in manpower costs will be more normalized related to annual increments, et cetera. We still see that manpower we have to still, given our projects for next year, we need to hire a lot more people and therefore manpower costs will sort of continue to grow much faster.
Look, at least for the plants that have already, you know, started and ramped up, they are now in a good way and, you know, they should deliver better returns because they're being fully utilized and everybody has been trained over there. For some of the newer CapEx, the new expansions, of course, they will again, the same process will have to be repeated for those plants where, you know, at least for if it's a greenfield, they will take some time, but the brownfields will have a much faster execution and existing usage of the manpower that's already there.
Overall, like I said, I think, you know, this was a big spurt of growth for us in this year with multiple plants coming online at the same time and they have all now started to, you know, take, to ramp in a good way. We are really bullish on the market and think that sales will grow nicely in the next year, and that will even out this growth that we had in the cost side. We should perform much better. You should see definitely a lot more realization that's happening from these plants than the opposite effect. Also we're very hopeful of more growth and more orders as we're setting up more greenfield. It's a good thing.
Yeah, we are, we're constantly looking at ways that we can, you know, do more with the people that we have. There is also interesting developments in obviously in computers with AI agents and things like that. We're all looking at all those ways that we can develop faster, develop better, make people more productive. Of course, being sensible about it, where we can, you know, give our people opportunities of growth as well. We're trying to balance this whole thing out. I think it's interesting, very interesting time for us with lots of opportunities. The team is quite focused, and I think next year is really gonna be a strong year for us.
Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bhavin Vithlani from SBI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening. Pardon me if this question is answered. The 33% growth for the quarter looks strong, but we see your gross profit growth, which is revenues minus the raw material growth was about 15%. It will be helpful if you can break the revenue growth in terms of volume growth and the content growth. We understand that the pass-through impact of the commodities which you've outlined, that can be ironed out.
We normally don't do that because it's, you know, quite a fluid situation. To be looking at these numbers on, you know, what that thing is, and we know that we're gonna be compensated by the customer in the following quarter. We take your feedback. We will look at it and see if we can provide more color down the line. We have not done that piece yet.
Fair enough. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, while you answered that about 25% odd of the bill of material is copper and, I mean, if you could also help us, what will be contribution from aluminum and the PVC. These are the major commodities where the prices are moving and a lot volatile and that eventually is a pass-through for you to the customers.
No, we take your suggestions. You know, the complexity of multiple plants, projects, you know, to really get into these kind of details when we are anyway, you know, having those kind of discussions on a rolling basis with the customer, I'm not sure if it'll provide a lot of value. Like I said, we take your suggestion and we'll look into it.
Great. Could you talk about the growth, incremental growth from what we understand is that Aurangabad is going to be a very significant hub for passenger vehicles given that two large OEMs are setting shop there. Would MSWIL be a participant in that growth? What are your plans for capturing that piece of the market?
I mean, definitely, wherever our customers go and the best locations to support them from, we work together with them and decide our location of the plants. Sometimes some existing plants are used, and as the volumes grow, new plants come up. That's how we work together with the OEMs very carefully.
Sure. Just, I mean, just to clarify, the new plants of Toyota and BMW that we would be seeing over the next couple of years, would MSWIL be a beneficiary of that or are there, are those being taken up by our competition?
Sir, you know, we are not allowed to disclose the exact programs of our customers. I think you would have seen a slide where we are supplying nine out of the 10, the top PV. I think that should answer your question that, you know, if we are currently on the programs which are selling the most in the market, then of course the customer would like us to continue, otherwise we wouldn't have that position. You know, we don't buy land and then hope that the customer gives us orders. Of course, we are in very close contact with the customer. Wherever they want us, that's where we set up the plants. We don't set up plants without having the firm orders in hand.
We already told you that we're going to expand in CapEx, we're going to expand in greenfield, we're gonna expand in brownfield, and hopefully, you know, you know where the customer is also expanding. That should give you an idea that, you know, wherever the growth is happening, Motherson will definitely be a beneficiary of that growth as long as the customer continues to source us. That is the case right now.
Okay. Yeah. Thanks so much for taking my questions.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Neel Shah from Purnartha Investment Advisers. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Yeah. I basically just wanted the number on CapEx that you guided for in FY 202 7.
It will be largely in line with what we have incurred in the current year, approximately INR 200 crore.
Okay. Yeah. One of the previous participants asked about the impact on the sales growth due to copper prices. The year-on-year increase in sales is around 33%. How much of this was due to the copper prices, if you can quantify that?
Increase of, you're saying 44%, right? 43%, 44%.
The year-on-year increase for March 26th was 33% in the top line, right? How much of that came due to copper pricing?
Yeah. There is an increase of copper prices, quarter three versus quarter three this year is around 18%. That is the price which is the basis for the quarter four. if you see in terms of the copper prices, it contributes around 5% and the remaining is approximately 20%-29% contribute towards volume.
Okay. Can you do a similar analysis for the ingredient cost due to copper?
I think I have already told that the copper content is around 24%-28% sitting in the costs. I think it's fairly there. We are procuring copper at a like prices only, which is prevailing in the current quarter. That's there.
Okay. In Q4 the prices averaged around INR 30,800 for copper. Assuming that the prices continue to be in the same level in Q1 FY 2025, can you guide to the gross margin? Like, what would you expect the change in gross margin to be if the prices remain the same?
See, we are not a margin-driven company. These elements are the pass-through elements with our customers. If you look at the growth, we are a growth-focused company and we look at the growth for a year is already pretty there, close to 40% for this year as well. Obviously this have for some customer it will be a three months or some customers it will be six months. You have to look at us from a good amount of period to get the profitability which you want.
Okay. Actually, I was just having a bit of difficulty understanding the pass-through mechanism. That's why I was asking. If you can just again try to give me an insight, but if the copper prices remain the same, the margin should ideally bounce back a little bit.
Absolutely. If the copper prices will remain same as the base of the selling prices, obviously the margins will be back to the normal which were there.
Okay, fine. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Pranav Doshi from Baidekung. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for, thank you for taking my question. Just a couple of questions. One is that, sir in an earlier interaction we had mentioned that greenfield capacity is flexible and that, you know, IC engine business could be redirected to the EV plants. And especially if the volumes are delayed. Can you share any incremental progress on that front? Have we got any IC engine orders for which have been allocated for the Pune or the Navagam plants?
I think you're asking more of the customer information that, should be asked by you to the customer. I can't. We can't answer these questions here. It's basic here.
Yeah. No, no, sir. This was more on, let's say that if we are facing an issue with the EV ramp up. is it, like have any orders.
Sir, I can't comment about the customer facing ramp up issues on EV orders or IC engine orders or something like that.
Okay. Okay. No worries.
I can tell you about my products, but I can't tell you about the customer's products, about the customer's sensing.
Right, sir. Right. Okay.
No issues. I'll move on to the second, the next question. Just that on the greenfield startup costs. Now we've been impacted by those on the profitability front for almost two years. I just have two related questions on that front. First is that let's say we'll be approving more CapExes in the future. Like, are we looking for any firmer customer commitments before breaking ground given like the kind of experience that we've had for this round of CapEx? That is the first question.
Look, again, the CapEx is only based on getting firm orders from the customer. You know, we will not build a plant if we don't have the order.
Okay. sir, secondly, like, what is the plan B for the underutilized plants? like, let's say if the customer launches, they continue to be delayed even in the future quarters. like, do we have any plan B for that?
Look, we're always looking at bringing different customers into those locations, but we're overall bullish on the Indian automotive scenario. I think, you know, there could be hiccups of small, you know, here and there, but, you know, over the long term, the car penetration ratios, why are all the OEMs investing, you know, so much money in building new capacity? Because everybody sees huge potential in growth. Now, it might not happen, you know, equivalent in every quarter, but overall, if you see the growth over the long term, we believe that these plants will take up and we need to expand more with more orders that will be coming. So overall, maybe it's a, you know, breathe with the market sort of situation. If a quarter happens where certain volume doesn't do well, we of course try to diversify.
That's why no customer, no country, no component as a group philosophy should be more than, you know, a certain percentage of our overall sales, which we are constantly bringing down also every single year. We continue to do that even in MSWIL and try to onboard new customers and new products and go after, you know, even two-wheelers, commercial vehicles, all different types that we can do to diversify the risk. You know, it might be again, maybe brief and slow down maybe for a quarter or two, but objective of the entire team is to win new business and try to win new customers from that location.
Right, sir. Right. Got it, sir. Just finally, since I missed it earlier, I just wanted to confirm the utilization of the Pune plant. Currently at, what utilization are we operating that greenfield plant?
See this, obviously that, as we said in the earlier conversation also, that was coming around, 40%-50%. It, we have to see how, if the volumes comes up again from these customers.
Yeah. Right, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to Mr. V.C. Sehgal for closing comments.
Thank you all very much for your questions to try and understand our business. As it appears that you're trying to find out more and more about things that we cannot talk about because we are bound by the secrecy of the customer. Every customer is very important to us, so I hope you take that in the right spirit. Take care, and thank you very much for your questions, and have a good evening. Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Motherson Sumi Wiring India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.