Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Timken India Limited Q1 FY25 earnings conference call, hosted by Batlivala & Karani Securities India Private 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Annamalai Jayaraj from Batlivala & Karani Securities India Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Laila. Welcome to Timken India Limited Q1 FY25 quarter conference call. From Timken India Limited management, we have with us today Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Chairman and Managing Director, and Mr. Avishrant Keshava, Whole-time Director and CFO. I'll now hand over the call to the management for the opening remarks, to be followed by the question and answer session. Over to you, sir.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning one more time. So, the opening remarks, as we concluded our meeting yesterday, we had the best ever June quarter revenues of INR 784 crore. So best ever first quarter. It was driven by a higher volume in most of the front ends, and better in rail. Intercompany sales, which is exports, was flattish. And, you know, we still have those geopolitical situation around us. Our PBT margins were at 16.6% compared to 17.1% in the previous year period. So that was a declaration while the sales were up, and energy costs and transportation, because everything is going up.
We have really a debt-free balance sheet, strong cash results, and which are leading to strategic investments and, which will secure the future growth. As we are in the completion phase of building our new facility, greenfield project, which is on schedule in Bharuch. As we speak, our main shop flooring is complete. PEB, which is the building and the roof sheeting, is complete. Our health and development and training center is complete. Our first set of machines are already on the shop floor. Our 66 kV substation and switchyard is about to get completed, and hopefully by the end of this year we'll start the PPAP and pipeline, and then next year, early January, we'll start producing.
Major activity during the quarter for noting is that in Singapore, the promoters reduced their stake by 6.6% in the company by selling 5 million equity shares, so the promoters are now at 51.05%. Apart from that, we have some headwinds, which are, you know, soft headwinds, in this organization at stretch. With that, I would like to now move directly to the Q&A session and try to answer the questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Krupa Shankar from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. The first question is a boilerplate question. First off, can you just share the revenue breakup for the quarter, sir?
Yes, sir. So, Krupa, the breakup for the Q1 2024/25 stands that rail is at 24%, which is translating to INR 185 crore. Mobile, you know, everything which is on road, off road, the reach is 19%. Distribution is at 19%, process is at 19%, and the exports were 20%. That was the total breakup of INR 780 crore. Rail INR 185 crore, mobile others INR 145 crore, distribution INR 148 crore, process industry INR 149 crore, exports INR 153.5. Crore
Got it, sir. So first, taking up on export speeds of it, was there any challenges relating to the Red Sea issues, or given that, you know, some of the orders were delayed and due to which, export growth was relatively lower? Or, any any such one-offs to call out this time?
Yeah, you are right. The rental certainly is an issue which is adding to the cost, you know, that is adding to the transportation cost, and then also the container. That challenge is also happening. So definitely both in terms of inventory because now the export is more, more containers on the sea, and the challenge of you know, more days in transit and the cost going up. So that has been certainly a challenge in terms of cost and delivery. So that is not going away. We don't see that going away. Recently, you know, we see that even getting containers again, you know, COVID era, container, getting container was a challenge....
Even today, now, containers are becoming a little bit tight, and whoever is supplying to North America or South America et cetera has to take the longer route through the Cape of Good Hope Horn, et cetera, and that is adding cost and number of days as well. So that is definitely a challenge, and we don't see that going away in the near term.
Sure, sir. So, but, you know, when we were listening to the parent's commentary that the North American rail is quite optimistic, and with respect to growth prospects, and just wanted to get a sense that do you see, you know, the exports piece picking up in coming quarters, primarily led by the rail volumes? And how do you see the, you know, the other mobility piece of exports from India?
So definitely, both North America and South America rail is in a better shape. So that is definitely an uptick, and Timken India Limited is dedicated, almost a dedicated source for North America on the rail, both on freight and also on other areas. So that is going to be better than the heavy truck. Heavy truck is still not picking up that much, and hopefully post-elections, there is more uptick on that side. But rail, definitely, as I told previously, also in the last quarter, rail is definitely better, in a better shape. Both in India, India is better, even ASEAN is better. North America is better.
Obviously, we cannot export to Russia, so Russia is out there. China is not a market for Indian companies generally. But North America, South America is going to remain strong. And as we see that the cargo movement is also strong in those regions. So we see that it will carry that into the even going beyond this financial year and carry into the next financial year. The million dollar question is that is the other markets in North America going to be coming back post-elections or not? So that is to be seen.
Understood, sir. I have no questions. I'll get back in with you.
Yeah. Thanks.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Dipesh Agarwal from UTI Asset Management Company. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, sir. So my first question is, look at the gross margin. Three, four years ago, you were doing gross margin in the range of 44%-46%. Now, the gross margins has been gradually coming down. This quarter it was below 40%. So how should we think about the gross margin going ahead? Would we be see a kind of a bounce back as the demand revives in the exports?
So, obviously, you know, the margins are related to both selling price and the cost. So I will tackle the cost first and then the selling price. So on the cost side, we have gone through the cycle of the steel pricing going up and then down. But if you see in last three years, the steel price, if you take three years back story, the steel pricing in India have gone up by 35-40%. They have come down, but not to the level that what was available in, say, 2018, 2019. So the steel prices are certainly a source of, you know, making alloy steel. So steel prices are very important. So that is one topic.
While the steel prices coming down, I don't see them coming down to the levels that what was there in 2017, 2018 time frame. Then the cost of transportation like earlier you were asking about the issue on the export. So that geopolitical situations, container mix, these costs are obviously going up and up. On steel, we are mostly pushing our customers to accept, like the industry is pushing the customers to accept that increase. But on general increases of energy, electricity costs throughout India has only gone up and transportation costs. And then we have to keep on paying the cost of the people.
So these costs are there, and now how much productivity we are able to get and how much automation we are going to get is a question on which we are working. So while I would say that our endeavor is always to sell value, we do not, do not at all, do commodity business. We don't indulge in price wars. We try to give value to the customers, and we are successful so far. And relentlessly selling value is, you know, cost of use is our mantra, not the entry cost. And our customers from the world, and especially in India, be it rail, be it metal customers, energy customers are always who understand the application go for the Timken value.
The cost dynamics are there, the productivity there, the labor cost there, and countering by robotics, process automation, and the endeavor is going to be to you know make more profitable growth. Last quarter, we had a mix. Obviously, you know, there is always a mix issue. The mix always plays a role. Even within rail, the mix plays a role. I will not kind of you know divulge what kind of mix impacts what, but within rail also there is a mix which impacts the margin, which is obviously on the pricing side. And then, the cost parameter is there. So for cost, we are making efficient supply chain in Jamshedpur plant from steel melt to finish is within 20 kilometers.
But then we are growing, we are making more, more and more, and all steel cannot be procured from one source within Jamshedpur. So transporting steel from other parts of India has a cost attached to it, and then we value add the steel at different points. You know, we make forging in one area, we make heat treating in one area. So we are trying to make, you know, what they call circular supply chains and, you know, efficient supply chains, so that both in terms of sustainability and cost we get the benefit. So we have teams working on it. And this quarter, certainly mix was one of the, you know, one of the bad guides. The mix was not very, very favorable.
And the endeavor is to better the margins, which I see, you know, with all the work which is being put, should give some results, some better results.
Sure. Sure. Sir, also, if you can share your comments on the railway and the wind going ahead. In railway, last two years, we would have seen the wagon production going up, which would have helped us. So what is the roadmap ahead? Do you see the growth rate sustaining? And in wind, how much of the wind market, since it's arriving in India, Timken India is able to get that opportunity, or how much is done through the unlisted entity?
So, so whatever we sell in India, be it wind or rail, is all through Timken India Limited. The, the other entity produces, but we buy from them and, sell to the customers. Everything in India is, is, from, Timken India Limited. And we buy from China, we buy from, that plant in China, we buy from Romania, et cetera, et cetera. So rail is sustainable. Rail growth definitely is sustainable.
Government of India is serious about rail, and they have to get more serious, and from CII, American Chamber of Commerce and other related, we are continuously pushing from trade side as well, because definitely with the density of the passenger traffic, and the recent accidents which are happening, it is very important that the Dedicated Freight Corridor gather more speed, which government is agreeing and wants to do that. Metro, every city wants a metro, even now small towns want metro. So with transporting a lot of people, so mass rapid transportation is going to become bigger and bigger and bigger. The recent Bangalore Metro, Timken was the chosen partner as well, which got concluded recently.
So, rail is going to be sustainable for next 20-30 years in India, because we are not growing, you know, at a very, as I always say, it will be always better than the last year, but the growth will be steady. It won't be hockey stick, but this is a sustainable growth for many, many years. Not only in terms of just the freight or the passenger, but it is also going to be an area where automation, new age bearings with the sensors, and then also some kind of robotics, then the repair facilities, all this is going to become better and better and bigger.
The pace might not be like the Chinese rail pace, but definitely this area is going to be a growth area for India, for many, many years to come. And technology is going to play a role, not only, not only just the base bearings, but, you know, high-tech bearings, speeds going up, payloads going up, then the service part of it is going to become very prevalent, that these bearings need regular service, which in itself is going to be a big business in coming years, for people which are connected to this line of business. And then automation, and then sensor packs and all this, as the safety plays a big role now, and Government of India is very serious about it.
So you'll see this transformation, growth and transformation and value are all coming into railway. As far as wind is concerned, we only Timken India Limited sells in India. The wind, we still say couple of years back, most of the wind, was actually, for us, and most of the gear was, supplying to the, gear manufacturer who in turn were exporting it, et cetera, et cetera. So, now with the, with the, push for, wind energy locally, India was always sub megawatt, which was, you know, hardly anything. Now it is, becoming serious business and you see big players, now, getting into it, manufacturing in India for India. As we all know, that, the, Gujarat-Kutch coast, et cetera, has been identified very well for, for the growth of wind.
And Timken has the technology. We are serving globally all the major wind guys, and we have now even the Chinese players are making gearboxes here in India, NGC, for example. And then the Indian companies, and one of the companies you see, they are hitting the circuit every other day. So you can see that, that this is going to be a pretty significant piece. We have the technology. We have luckily installed base in India, though not directly, manufactured by TL, but we have an easy control on buying, producing and servicing the market. So both these markets are going to be wind-...
Domestic growth and still the export piece of it, through the gearboxes and domestically both gearboxes and main shaft bearings, which would require also larger bearings, which we don't yet produce in India, but that is an area to be explored, that can be done to you know service that market. We, myself and our global president are shopping in visiting the major major Indian companies headquarters, meeting you know proprietors, et cetera, in this month itself, so this is getting serious. And as I said, rail is definitely going to remain steady and solid and growing in India for many, many years. And also will change its nature and shape.
It will become more sophisticated, more technology would be required, and which means that the company which has the tech and the manufacturing capabilities would gain significantly.
Sure. I'll join back the queue.
Thank you very much. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Jain from AlfAccurate Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Sir, in railway business, we have seen a very strong growth on a year-on-year basis, it is around 31%. But if you compare with the last quarter numbers, it has gone down significantly. So, can we expect that going ahead, that mandate will improve? And just let us know what is the order backlog right now, railway division?
Yeah. Rail is down to the previous immediate quarter. But if you take an average of the whole year, you won't find it that bad. It is, it is down to the last quarter, and you know that last quarter for all companies in India is important. They want to maximize, maximize their order execution. So generally, rail in India, which is wagon build and et cetera, is always pretty decent in the last quarter of the financial year. So, so that is pretty much always happening. And, and rail generally remains strong. But if you see our this first quarter, we did INR 185 crore, and if you see the first quarter of the last year, it was only INR 144 crore.
So you can understand that, there is a significant jump in that. But yes, to your question, Mr. Jain, it is actually right to the immediate previous quarter, it is a decline. But, we all know that the last quarter is going to be a great quarter because everybody wants to, you know, push the limits here. So as far as, your question, on the order book, I think, we are working 6-18 ships, completely. And that, remains, our forecast for the whole year. As I said to the previous, question of, Dipesh, that, the outlook for rail in India, in North America, remains, okay. So, so this is, going to remain strong, and it will not remain only strong, it will remain strong for many, many years.
Now, obviously, you will have to take a, you can't take, rail is heavy infra, et cetera, so you have to take a holistic view, giving, you know, a sizable timeframe, but this will remain strong over the years. And, our current outlook of the forecast is pretty solid.
So is there any impact on the last quarter because of this elections and all?
North American elections do not have the impact on the production in India. I don't think, Donald Trump-
I'm talking about the domestic market, sir.
That's what I think. Donald Trump is not in Indian wagon business, not to him. I'm sure about that. He doesn't even know about them. So that impact is not here. The impact obviously is for companies which are exporting. So obviously, it would be synergies there, but not in rail. Rail, heavy infra is different to, you know, those bought by. But in domestic market, I don't see any impact whatsoever, whether it is Democrats winning or Republicans, or the election per se. But what is important is obviously the geopolitics of our surrounding countries. You know, God forbid, India gets involved in some war then, you know, then there is a problem, certainly, which I hope and pray it doesn't happen.
But, the immediate geopolitical situation hopefully gets corrected, which is important for the nation and everybody involved in the manufacturing and selling business in India. But, that election, to your question, Mr. Jain, that election to the domestic market, is not really impacting in the short term. You know, obviously, it can have, you know, different effect if somebody with then wants to infuse a lot of money in the purchasing market.
Okay. And so on, other expenditure side, we have seen a sharp increase. Is it because of the increase in the export on a quarter-to-quarter basis, and the freight cost has gone up significantly? So what is the total contribution in other expenditure of freight and logistics?
It is my CFO, Mr. Avishrant, is saying it is 3%. Definitely the cost has gone up compared to, say, last year with now with six days more on the water, so that cost has certainly gone up. Overall, this is 3%, which is then, you know, in the bucket of cost increase, this is one of the, one of the, one of the issues, but it is not like a big needle mover that in itself it is. Yeah. And then also, you know, in exports, the customer has to pay a large, but, you know, booking of container size cost, but the real cost, freight cost, is definitely to the end user.
Okay. So what is with the normal other expenditure, percentage of the sales in the coming quarter, sir? Is that situation normalized?
The expenditure for the next quarter?
Yeah. Other expenditure.
I think it should, it should be okay. It should be same or below.
Same or below. Thanks, sir. That's all from my side.
Yeah.
Thank you very much. Next question is from the line of Mayank Bhandari from Asian Market Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. So, my first question is on the import from the Chinese subsidiaries. The number in your annual report is INR 359 crore, whether it's INR 246 crore in FY 2023. And you also mentioned that FY 2025, it could be 10% of total turnover. So I'm just trying to understand if the new capacity in Bharuch is coming online, won't this proportion of the import from the Chinese subsidiary should go down?
So, so my dear, we, we, we obviously we endeavor is to, produce, and sell locally or produce locally export. But, unfortunately or fortunately, the bearings are made from, 1 mm, 1 mm bore, and it goes into the dental surgical things, to, 3.5 meters bore. So the spectrum of bearing is huge and complex, millions and millions of sizes and parts. So we are making almost everything which is needed in India for truck business, for the tractor business, for the excavator business, for the dump trucks, for the backhoe loaders, for the rail, and rail is different versions in it. And then, one of the other, undisputed entity makes a lot of stuff for the wind.
But still, there is a consumption in India, which is a large bore, which is not produced in India, and you still get a very good cost for these bearings which are not made up in India from our Chinese counterparts. So that is there and will remain there, and over the years, when we localize more and more as we... You know, we are just to give you an example, Indian bearing market is only $2 billion currently. And the Chinese bearing market is $20 billion when it was at the peak, now it has shrunk. So with $20 billion, you can understand how many partners they have made over the years, extra, and that goes from small to the ultra large side.
So Indian bearing market is slowly getting mature. And as it gets mature and consumes more bearing, people will produce more likely, including us. And coming back to the question on the group, as we make the CRB and SRB up to 400 millimeters there, those obviously we make here and will not be not located. Rather, they will be exported to different parts of world and consumed in India. But still, I see that we have to keep on importing certain part numbers from China, Romania, et cetera, as the market demands. And as that critical mass becomes bigger and bigger, then there is a good business case to localize that as well.
Okay. So basically, wind is yet to be localized?
Which is it? Yeah. So, wind is like, you know, wind consumes one liter bearing kind of size. It consumes 300 mm, 400 mm, but right up to 1 mm. And as-
Okay.
- We start installing 5-megawatt windmills in India, it will need 1.5 liter, so but the critical mass and that will mandate everybody to invest locally more and more as that comes up.
Wind is part of process segment?
Then what?
It's part of process segment, I think.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Okay. And sir, another thing, is mentioned in the annual report that, we have made a JV with Cone Drive, and, we started slew drives in Bharuch. So any numbers you can give on how big is the market for slew drives in India?
Uh, yeah.
Um.
So, you know, in India, slew drives in China and in North America is a big market, a real big market because of the fact that they want, they are little bit advanced. They want to maximize the generation of the solar solar use of solar energy. So all their, all their panels move as the sun moves. In India, because of the fact that initially we had only fixed panels, and the fixed panels were fixed in one direction, and the sun would move. As the sun would start setting, then the rays, or that heat, that direction was not suitable.
So now India, as India wants to obviously burn less and less coal, which is polluting, which is not sustainable, and want to go towards more green energy, which is solar and wind. So Indian companies have started installing and thinking about using these trackers. So this market is very nascent in India. Tata Solar is among the two, three companies which have started doing that. So this would become more mature in coming years in India. But the big ticket item is that the US market is huge, a really huge market. Now, from China, they have obviously the duty effect on America, so India would be a very nice natural choice.
But on the side of America, they have a huge, beautiful supply chain, so their costs are better there, in terms of manufacturing, but this is become a little bit of a problem for them to export to America. So, in India has partnered, and we are already supplying those small quantity. I think it is a couple of with Tata Solar. And we are looking at partnering with more customers in India, but the big ticket item would be exports. Certainly as our landing duty extra is favorable, but our cost is unfavorable because India supply chain is not yet developed for that, and we are working very hard towards that endeavor.
This market is going to be a sunrise market in coming times, but still very small in India.
Okay, sir. That's fairly interesting and explanatory. Sir, another thing, you mentioned that four additional mill sites. So any ballpark numbers for one mill site, what kind of revenue you realize?
It depends on the, you know, the mill to mill. Obviously, the upstream, downstream, cold rolling mills, hot mills, hot rolling, et cetera. So they have obviously a different promotion to it. So it is a little bit different, depend- And then also depending on the customers, how much they want to outsource. So our major touch is here, that we maintain the chocks, we maintain the bearings, so we chock mount and dismount, grind, and work around the clock in maximizing the value. So this is going to help the customer, obviously in terms of maximizing their upkeep.
And for us, I would say that, INR 3 crore-INR 4 crore, INR 3 crore- INR 5 crore, INR 3 crore-INR 6 crore, depending on the mill, would be from each mill, depending on how much they want to outsource and what kind of mill it is, you know, that is downstream or upstream. But anywhere between INR 2 crore- INR 6 crore, we generally have the yearly potential out of that. And this can increase as steel companies in India are becoming more mature, and they want to concentrate on their core competence and the area where they are not having the technology or needs to outsource it for better output. They are making their scope bigger and bigger.
Even, Steel Authority of India has Salem unit, so we are running one of their sites. And, this is going to progress more, though obviously, this is slow and steady business. But this is a business where, the value sell is pretty much the name of the game.
Mm. Thank you, sir. That's it from my side.
Thank you, Mike.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Bismit Nayak from RW Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Okay, thanks for this. Just to clarify, there was no impact of elections on the domestic business in Q1, and export will like, is likely to be under pressure going forward for the rest of the year as well?
So, this quarter, April, May, June, was our best first quarter ever in the history of the company. So, that was, whatever, you know, that is, but it was our best ever quarter. And the U.S., or if we are connecting it to the main market, I don't see there would be any direct connection. But obviously, the US markets, with the new regime coming in, how they invest, and how much they do is to be seen. But, in India, I don't see that having an impact is what I said.
Understood, sir. And, one more question on export. So if you can talk a bit more upon, on how gross, the mix and its impact on gross margin, what happened this quarter, and how, why do you feel that it will improve? How do you foresee that it improves in the coming quarter? Like, was there any drastic change in mix or something like that?
So you know, obviously, you have different customers, different playing field, rail, within rail there is locomotive, there is passenger, there is metro, and there is freight. All these four have different value add, different technology plays, and hence the mix impact is different. For example, if you sell more to passenger than freight, it is better to the bottom line, as tech is more involved there. And similarly, if you are selling more to steel industry in, say, MRO versus cement, it might have a different impact. So these mix change quarter to quarter will always be there.
If you are selling more to one-tonner, which is small bearing, versus 25-tonner, which is a larger truck, so the impact is different because of the fact that on a premium or a differential of a 49-ton truck has more value, hence has better price point, has better margin compared to a commoditized one-tonner truck, what they call a, et cetera, et cetera. So these mix will always be there, and we obviously don't play the low end of the market, which is like the two-wheeler, three-wheeler, passenger cars, unless it is a special FE, et cetera. So that market would, but still within the heavy truck, it has its own combination of mix, within the rail it has its own combination of mix.
Within distribution it is more, the MRO is different, impact on, margin in terms of steel versus, say, aggregates, et cetera. So the mix keep on changing. Sometimes we get a better mix, sometimes we get not so better mix, but it has to be seen. I think that, you know, year-over-year is a better way to see it. And our endeavor always is to minimize our tail like any good company. We don't want to have a bad tail, so that work always keeps on going.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Dipesh Agarwal from UTI Asset Management Company. Please go ahead.
Yeah, so thanks again. So in the last call, you highlighted that the Jamshedpur plant is operating 6 days, 3 shifts. The Bharuch plant is also nearly full. So what is the current utilization level, and what are your plans on TRB expansion?
So Dipesh, Jamshedpur, we have the rail. We make the rail bearings, we make the 0-8 bearings, and we make lot of rollers for export. So the rail is running 6 days, 3 shifts. The tapers are running 6 days, 3 shifts. The roller lines which are producing for the domestic consumption, which are the millions we make and also for export, that is underloaded. Rest of the plant, we say, if the total capacity just to simplify it, is 100, our 40 rail is fully loaded, the 40 is 0-8 state exclusive. The 20% which is, say, rollers, is not fully loaded because of the export piece of it.
Bharuch is also pretty much fully loaded, which is a combination of export and domestic, so that is also fully running. Now, there itself, depending on which market is better. Currently, for example, if the heavy truck makes more trucks, it becomes better in terms of mix. But if currently, in the Hub and Spoke, the spoke is doing better, which is the smaller vehicles, then obviously the smaller vehicle needs smaller bearing, and smaller bearing are little bit more commoditized, and they are little bit smaller and high, hence their price is also lower. So they are running full, but heavy truck has to take off, as it takes off, so obviously the impacts and the mix becomes better and better.
Yeah. So no plans of expansion in next 6-12 months of TRB?
So, on TRB, we are currently definitely looking at the capacity utilization and efficiency and incremental addition. So as we talk, I am looking at the blueprint what needs to be done to make sure that we don't lose either the sales. And obviously, you know, we don't want to import too much because our currency is also weak, we want to export more. So we are working on that, but we don't have an announcement yet on any expansion. But we are working towards more automation, which means more productivity, better productivity of the plant. So that is our first idea. And the second is to invest. Obviously, you know, we want to carefully invest so that we get the best bang for the buck.
So currently I don't have an announcement for the investment, but as I shared, we are continuously working on the blueprint and behind it. But we are pushing, pushing very, very hard on producing more, which is productivity. We are, you know, obviously investing a little bit on robotics and automation and things like that.
Sure. And so in the past, you have highlighted that Timken India may also look at non-bearing portfolio from parent in the future. So what is the progress or the plans out there on non-bearing portfolio, which you can bring into Timken India from the parent?
So, the endeavor is on, but again, no announcement or no firm plan, which I can say that, "Hey, next year we will do that." But yes, there is certainly a possibility. The parent has chains, the parent have belts, the parent have couplings, the parent has lubrication system. All this is there. They have the technology. India is a great place to source, so that discussion is relentlessly on, but the parent would obviously look at all forms and which is the best country, where there is less of tax terrorism and less of GST notices, et cetera, where they can, you know, have ease of doing business, so they are looking at all forms before they would like to do that.
We relentlessly make the business cases, but no announcement or no blueprint which I can share.
Sure. And, as one bookkeeping question, this quarter employee cost was quite low. Any one-offs here?
Employee cost was low.
In the last, last quarter, there were some adjustments for gratuity.
So there were some, as my CFO is telling, there were some adjustment for the gratuity extra.
Can you quantify it?
Overall, we have been seeing, but there are some increases. The increases on the net increase in the current quarter and offset by what we, you know, had issues from there.
Sorry, gratuity is a factor has led to a lower employee cost in this quarter, right?
No, no, no. The gratuity, we had an additional charge.
The question is that the lower employee cost is lower. What is the reason for that?
Gratuity.
Gratuity is the cost.
There are two components. One is the gratuity, it's last quarter was there, this quarter is not there. But in this quarter, there is an increase-
Gratuity last quarter was there, this quarter was not there. That is the short answer.
Understood. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that was due to time constraints, that was the last question for today's call. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Annamalai Jayaraj, from Batlivala and Karani Securities India Private Limited, for closing comments.
Thank you for taking time out of your call and after providing the opportunity to close the call. Have a good day.
Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. Thank you, everybody.
On behalf of Batlivala & Karani Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.