Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on PI Industries Q2 FY 2022 earnings conference call. Today, we are joined by senior members of the management team, including Mr. Mayank Singhal, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Raman Ramachandran, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Rajnish Sarna, Joint Managing Director, Dr. K.V.S. Ram Rao, Executive Director, and Mr. Manikantan Viswanathan, Chief Financial Officer. We will begin the call with key perspectives from Mr. Singhal. Thereafter, we will have Mr. Manikantan sharing his views on the financial performance of the company. After that, the forum will open for question and answer session. Before we begin, I would like to underline that certain statements made on the conference call today may be forward-looking in nature, and a disclaimer to this effect has been shared in the investor presentation shared with you earlier.
I would now like to request Mr. Singhal to share his perspectives with you. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Thank you and welcome to everyone. Once again, thank you for taking time out on the weekend for our discussions. Once again, my heartiest compliments to the ongoing festive seasons to all of you and your families. PI has delivered a healthy performance during quarter two. Our revenue improved by 17%. EBITDA saw a 4% improvement, and our profit after tax saw a 6% improvement compared to last year. On the business front, our CSM exports continue to present an attractive runway of growth that we are scaling up existing molecules across innovative relationships. Q2 recorded a 24% growth. We saw an overall growth of 27% in CSM exports year-on-year as we saw one new MPP getting commissioned, whereas another MPP is slated to be opened in the third quarter.
We are looking at a target of 16 commercializing during the year. Most have already been commercialized next one, 22, and has been the trend. The funnel of inquiries and orders in hand have shown a good momentum in the underlying visibility, of course. On the domestic front, we could not be able to stem the decline despite global supply chain disruptions affecting imports and adverse weather events. In certain key geographies, further domestic operations saw healthy placements of new products at a rabi season, even late rains and adequate water levels at the reservoir. Growth remains an improving trend on back of high base last year. Whereas we continue to show leadership in the rice herbicide, and we are seeing a momentum of our AWKIRA adoption and scale up in the wheat herbicide segment as well.
We are confidently moving ahead with a robust portfolio offering in the horticulture segment with Jivagro. Measures taken to revamp the branding has been rolled out. Our team are specifically engaged and expecting farmer engagements via application services. These have been particularly tailored to utilize related technology and techniques of communication and convenience. During the quarter, we signed a technology partnership on the JV structure of biochemical space. A scale-up is expected to commence over the next 12-18 months. Apart from products, research continues with two promising leads, but addressing a sizable potential. Initiatives to create a better process and scale of novel bench technologies has continued. We have, after intensive internal exercise, developed the PI's new compass.
We define a clear purpose, a purpose of reimagining a healthier planet and also implementing a new operating model that enables us to accelerate the growth momentum in the current businesses, establishing new businesses, and also continuing to add new ideas, technology and scientific discoveries. This will augment a drive to embark upon rapid, differentiated, organic and inorganic growth with the resolve to be ahead scientifically and technologically. PI today is renowned and respected amongst innovators, not only for the sharp emphasis on execution, but also primarily, given its high corporate governance. Progress in our core objectives as we guide our intentions, we seek out the right partners and assets to help achieve our goals. In the coming years, we shall see an expansion of our footprint of addressability across a wider range of opportunities in the specialty chemicals.
Before I end, I take a moment to reassure all our stakeholders that PI remains committed to delivering and driving a sustained growth performance throughout its existing scope of operations, while also outlining a strong presence in adjacencies, including pharma. Our experience and advanced technology platform from digital backward integration for cost leadership and generate IP continues to underscore immense potential. Our aspirations are unchanged, and we shall seek suitable or inorganic options to rapidly commercialize opportunities in the field of pharma. The termination of the deal will not hinder us in any way. With that, I would like to now hand it over to our CFO, Manikantan, to share with you the highlights for the financial performance for the quarter and next one. Thank you. Over to you, Mani.
Thank you, Mayank. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'll be sharing financial performance of the company for the second quarter ended 30th September 2021. Please note that all the comparisons are on a year-on-year basis and consolidated in nature. For Q2 FY 2022, we demonstrated a strong revenue growth of 17% to INR 1,354 crores, steered by healthy expansion in export revenues by 24% to INR 993 crores, led by robust volume gains in three molecules. Domestic operations reported a moderate performance owing to global supply chain disruption impacting imports and adverse weather conditions in certain herbicide geographies, among others.
Domestic revenues were at INR 351 crore. Further, for the half year ended 30th September 2021, the company has achieved a revenue of INR 2,548 crore, a growth of 15% on YoY basis. On profitability front, gross margin improved by 90 basis points in Q2 FY 2022, which came despite significant increase in input costs and reduced export incentives by approximately 1.5%. This expansion was supported by favorable product mix. EBITDA increases by 4% to INR 292 crore, translating to an EBITDA margin of 22%. Margin moderation reflects the impact of higher input costs. Profit after tax enhanced by 6% during the quarter to INR 230 crore, and for the half year enhanced by 15% to INR 417 crore.
Balance sheet position further boosted during the quarter based on strong performance momentum. The company generated positive operating cash flow of INR 208 crores during the quarter FY 2022, and also maintained high, higher inventory levels to meet customer requirements to avoid supply chain disruptions. Before I close, let me quickly share some statistics around our capital expenditure. For the half year ended 30 of September , we have maintained under INR 168 crores of capital expenditure and remain on track to deploy further INR 105 crores for the remainder of the year. That concludes my opening commentary. I will now request the moderator to open the forum for Q&A. Thank you.
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 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. Reminder to the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from the line of Ritesh Gupta from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Just one is on the pharma side, now that Ind-Swift is not happening, I mean, what's the plan in terms of the overall ramp-up of the business? Do you still keep to your guidance that 20% of the business would be driven by pharma, let's say, four years down the line? That's one. The second one is that on this quarter we see an interesting thing that your gross margins have expanded despite all the raw material inflation that you talk about during the presentation and partly maybe because of product mix. Other expenses also shot up materially. Is it largely an impact of power and fuel and logistics costs or is there something else?
I think the question here is that, have you passed it on fully as of now, or is there a scope for the margins to improve in the subsequent quarters? These are the two questions from my side.
Yeah. Good morning, everyone. So Ritesh, you have two questions. Number one, pharma. Pharma strategy of PI is twofold. One is what we are organically doing in-house. That remains, you know, unhindered and intact. We are already progressing on several of these intermediates at our pilot scale and at different scale-up levels. That continues even for commercialization of those products where there is no need for GMP manufacturing facilities. We are already, you know, in the process of commercialization, modification of plant and all that. That continues the way it was planned. The second part is where we are requiring some GMP facility, and therefore, for that purpose, we will surely be looking at other alternatives of inorganic opportunities. We are already in that process of shortlisting.
There are several, you know, opportunities in the market. We are evaluating them. In fact, we were looking at them. We will soon kind of internally decide on what are the some of these opportunities fitting in our scheme of things and accordingly work on them. In the meantime, I mean, for shorter period, we can always look at outsourcing models to bridge the gap. That is the, in a nutshell, the overall approach on pharma. We remain confident on our plans, on our scale-up, and within next four years' time, our aspirations of achieving close to 20% or more than 20% of overall PI's revenue from this vertical remains intact. Your second question on gross margins.
Yes, in the CSM space, we have seen, you know, increase in input costs across the products and even services and even fuel costs. We have seen rise in fuel costs from, say, 30%-50% or even more than 50%. In many cases there will always be lead and lag, you know, in this price increase situation, input price increase situation. In many products it still continues, raw materials. Yes, I mean, in many cases, we have already passed through that and built in prices. In many cases, these things are still happening. Discussions are happening and still happening.
Yeah, I mean, this is the current situation, and we believe that with our understanding with these you know customers and global companies and our agreements and understanding, we shall be able to you know pass on these input costs to our customers and then optimize and maintain our margin. I hope I've answered both your questions.
Thank you. The current participant has left the question queue. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to rejoin the question queue. The next question is from the line of Vishnu Kumar from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for your time. Just going back on the margin question again. We see that your EBITDA margin has come down. Is there any one-off sitting in your OpEx cost this time around?
Actually it is, you know, it is the impact of both the fuel cost which appears in, you know, you see the overhead bucket. There is a lot of fuel or utility cost and all that, which is there. The inflationary impact of that is also reflecting there. Of course, there is one-off cost as well. Many of these strategic initiatives that we have taken over last one and a half year, two years, a lot of cost is also pertaining to those, you know, strategic initiatives and are of non-recurring nature.
Can you quantify the numbers or any non-recurring numbers?
Well, non-recurring would be, I think, INR 10 crore-INR 12 crore or something.
Something around this.
Sir, the pharma strategy you mentioned organically, various parameters you mentioned. Is there any CapEx that you would require to set up plants or until and unless you find an inorganic opportunity, would you go ahead and put or would you go ahead and invest any multipurpose plants, or can you do it in your agrochemical facility? Some broader understanding on this organically, how you can scale it up or what sort of revenues that you think can at least do on this side, if you could just help us understand.
Yeah. Wherever there is no requirement of GMP, yes, we can certainly, you know, invest. We can modify some of these available white spaces and use them, which is what we are currently doing. We can also, you know, add one multi-product plant where we can kind of manufacture many of these intermediates, you know, on a multiple basis. Yes, I mean, that is very much part of our plan. This will become part of our normal CapEx of, you know, INR 300-odd crore every year that we have envisaged.
Any rough CapEx towards pharma organically that you're building in next year or this year, next year? Any revenues currently you're deriving from pharma at present?
Yeah. Around INR 75-odd crore is what we are anticipating at this moment.
Which is CapEx, sir?
Which is mainly towards the modification of some of the white spaces that are available.
Understood. Any revenue you are deriving now or maybe how much you expect to generate out of this INR 75 crore or next year or so?
Yeah. I mean, although these are all part of our planning process that is still going on. Yeah, I mean, we would surely be mid- to long-term basis, we will be able to certainly generate, you know, 1.5x-1.75x multiple of the investment.
Understood, sir. Thanks and all the best, sir.
Thank you. The next question is a follow-up question from the line of Ritesh Gupta from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Sorry, sir, my line got dropped. Just one other follow-up I had was on the domestic side. The domestic growth rates for some reasons has been fairly muted, if I strip out Isagro acquisition and its growth. Could you just throw some light on, you know, what could change? I know that industry peers also haven't done well, but you know, what could change the future of the business and what could help you drive growth at 8%, 10% or 12% also over next three, four years? If you could just in key one or two points which led to the domestic growth rates to still be muted over last three, four, five years.
Raman, would you like to take that?
Yeah, yeah. Thanks for that question. As you rightly pointed out, I think this year, despite the monsoon starting off well, and then there was a fairly long disruption followed by continuous rain. Agriculture and ag chem industry in general has been pretty muted, and we expect at best flat to maybe a single-digit, low single-digit growth at best in the first half of the year. In that particular context, given that we have had some supply issues from some of our key products from our global partners, which is related to various supply chain constraints that we are seeing globally, that really was one constraint that prevented us from growing more than what we have done at this point. I mean, we came in kind of flat in the domestic business.
That's one key factor. That's a one-time effect. With better planning, better communication, we are now adequately covered, you know, with our global partners for the rest of the year and going forward. The second where there was specific issues in the markets, for example, in Uttar Pradesh, which faced the continuous rains for a long period of time, our rice herbicide penetration was, you know, dampened. That's been an additional factor. These were a couple of the key drivers for the muted growth that we have seen. Added to this, we had also planned a couple of new product launches, both on our Jivagro, the horticulture side, and also on the PI Agri side. Due to regulatory delays, that did not happen. These are the three factors.
On the positive side, where we have not been able to sell because of market and weather conditions, we have proactively taken the product back. Sales return has happened. We are starting off the rabi season on a very sound note, with less inventory of our products in the system. Also, we'll be launching two new products in the rabi season. One is a rice insecticide and another one is a new biological fungicide for grapes, which is very unique because it does not have what is called as pre-harvest interval, so it can be applied all the way close to harvest, which is a great kind of a convenience that we will give to the consumers.
The third very positive aspect of our portfolio has been the wheat herbicide, which we launched about a couple of years. We are very happy with the kind of demand that we have seen in the market and the liquidation that is happening as of now. I mean, the answer to your question about the confidence about future really depends on is on the basis of the blockbuster new molecules that we are planning. The very focused go-to-market approach that we have for the row crops, which is dominated by PI and the horticulture crops dominated by our new go-to-market approach with Jivagro, combined with our digital and mechanization efforts. These are the areas which give us confidence that we'll continue to drive growth well above the industry.
Also to further add that we also have a few products which are coming for new in the next coming years in the pipeline, which is also strong to give us this confidence of driving far above the industry as well.
Got it, sir. That was very elaborate. I mean, just to conclude, I mean, we expect rabi season to be much better, thanks to the Pyroxasulfone launch in domestic market and lean inventory in the channel that you might have had. Is that the correct understanding?
Yeah. Also we have rice herbicide in the south and you know, the early kind of impact of the new molecules that we have.
Got it, sir. That's it. That's all of my questions, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Jhawar from Investec Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, if you can, you know, give us some sense on the CapEx intensity. What we are seeing that CapEx intensity has been coming down quite sharply. Is it that because we are intending to, you know, do some acquisition? If that is the reason that organic, you know, CapEx has come down. We understand that, you know, our order book has come down from 1.5 to 1.4. We understand that there is a strategic reason that we don't want to commit more feet on the ground. If you can directionally help us understand on the organic CapEx side, what is the thought process? That is the first question.
On CapEx front, there are two points, Aditya . One is that, as we have also explained in our previous calls, that over last 1.5 years, I mean, with the implementation of some of these, you know, process innovations and also engineering technologies, we have been able to substantially improve the plant throughput, you know. This is precisely the reason that you would have also noted that current year we are commercializing six molecules, and still we have not invested very heavily in terms of building new plants. This is one key reason that you see less intensity.
You know, this has always been one of the key strategic objective for us, that if we have to sustain the growth and, more importantly, profitability in this CSM export, we will have to substantially improve our capital efficiency. Then I'm happy to share with you all that we have been with the intense efforts from our research and engineering teams, we have been able to, you know, see the fruits now for last one year or so. That is one reason that the capital-
I must add here to say that, it really is very satisfying to see that how the investments in R&D technology are yielding us these positive outcomes.
Yeah.
Coming to second point, in terms of order book, yes, there is a marginal decline, but this is primarily coming from the current, you know, pricing scenarios that we are seeing in the market. As you can imagine that input prices are swinging here and there. In this kind of a, you know, scenario, I mean, we found it really difficult to kind of, you know, commit long-term prices and get into long-term agreements or something.
Therefore, and particularly when I'm talking about price trends and all, I'm more talking about the fuel and other inputs which are part of conversion cost, not so much on, you know, raw material front, because that in any case is passed through generally. Because of the current scenario, I mean, we thought it is better to kind of wait and watch rather than, you know, continue aggressively pushing for long-term agreement and order commitments and all that. This is precisely the reason for this marginal decline.
Yes. Thanks a lot. Had a great answer. My second question is that on the gross margin again, so we understand that, you know, there could be a favorable product mix change. But to better understand this, like, there is an element of increase in share of revenue from the CSM business. But, sir, within that, if you can help us understand that as the new molecules that we have commercialized the last few years, possibly they could be relatively higher stages of complex chemistry. Does that mean that as, you know, newer molecule contribution revenue would increase, that margin trajectory will continue to improve? Some color on what essentially you mean by favorable product mix change.
There are two elements to it. One is of course the business, you know, mix. As you would have seen the CSM export share has increased this year because of continued growth and you know little slower growth in domestic products and areas. One is that reason. The second is that since we have you know commercialized I think six to seven products in last one and a half years, I mean, those have also contributed in terms of improved margins. Obviously as these products will scale up going forward, because in the initial couple of years the volumes always are lower, relatively lower. As these products will get registered in different countries, these are mostly new products.
As these products will get registered in the newer geographies, the volumes will increase. Obviously, these will also contribute in terms of improved gross margins and profitability. Secondly, the scale will also increase and that will also bring in the operating leverage, you know, to the overall P&L. Yes, I mean, we expect that once these one-off kind of things are out, we see some stabilization in the input pricing. We have also made the right, you know, corrective measures on the pricing front due to this current wavering input prices. The margin should certainly improve.
Okay. Perfect. Thanks a lot, sir. That's it from my side. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya Patra from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for this opportunity, sir. My first question on the pharma side. Sir, obviously, we have been working on the outsourcing opportunities as well as the intermediate manufacturing opportunity. Could you share something on the customer acquisition front? Why? Because we know that is a bigger challenge in the pharma other than the capacity creation or capabilities build up.
I think that's a fair question. The customer acquisition side, once we've been able to establish the product and the technologies, we have a strategy to go out and work on those customers. We've already identified those areas. From the intermediate side, you know, there is a process of approval and regulatory requirements which may be required at different stages for different kind of products. Those are in plan, and that is what will be key thing of getting executable the next 18 months so that we see to go to the next step. Yeah.
Sure, sir. My second question is on, let's say you have mentioned about manufacturing fortifying for one of the electronic chemicals with the one leading global player. So can you talk something more about that opportunity that is focus area? And did you, during this supply disruptions what we have been witnessing, did you find any major long-term supply contract from global customer side?
Yeah. From the electronic chemicals, yes, we have got into the commercial manufacturing of the product. As we continue to look ahead, we really are getting into a long-term areas where we are in the various stages of approvals, and we do believe that, yes, this is gonna definitely land up in long-term contracts in the next couple of quarters. Yeah.
Okay. Well, sir. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Obviously, as you know, electronic chemicals is a new area where we see a huge potential and we are working those areas for now. Yeah. It's interesting and exciting path work that we have got into the commercial manufacturing, met customer requirements and approvals there.
Okay, sir, if you can just add on to even post Ind-Swift our inorganic initiative, having an experience with Ind-Swift, are changes to our M&A strategy for pharma or something like that?
No, not at all. In fact, as we mentioned earlier, I mean, that approach pharma strategy and our approach of expeditious scale up remains the same. Okay? We will work on both the front. Organically, what we had planned and what we are doing, we are, you know, expeditiously progressing on that. On inorganic front, again, as I said, we are, we will surely maintain the same approach. We'll look at several options which are there in the market and quickly move forward on that.
Sure, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. Just delving on the earlier question on electronic chemicals. I understand this is a growth opportunity even from China perspective. If you could just give us a little more color in terms of the opportunity size. Are we directly approaching the OEMs and whether it is a domestic-oriented business also which can be scaled up, you know, eventually, because I think we are still dependent on imports of these electronic chemicals, which are relatively high purity ones. That's the first question. Thank you.
Thanks. K.V.S., maybe you may want to respond to it. K.V.S.? Okay.
Hello?
I think for some reason he dropped off the line.
Yeah. Obviously the electronic chemicals opportunity is large. As you know, these are small volume, high value, complex chemistry areas, where there's a quick turnaround time. We clearly have our inroads with accreditations in the market in Japan and other parts of the world where we've been able to establish and make these entries. Having set these entries, we are working with the OEMs, which are in the chemical part of the business, and that's really we are working and looking to see how we would step-by-step go up to the value chain to the end game. That's really how we are taking this approach. There's another vertical approach where like we've been able to build over the years in the Agri CSM, you know, focusing in the pharma.
Sorry, in the electronic chemicals area. Yeah.
All right. Got it. The second question is, during your initial remarks and in the presentation, you have said that we have signed a technology partnership for a JV in biochemical space. If you could just give a little more color on in terms of what is the space, how synergistic it is with our current R&D program. In terms of opportunity size, what are we looking at over the next couple of years in terms of pilots and then scale up and commercialization? Thank you.
Yeah. This will add to our portfolio of technology basically, because so far our, you know, focus and effort of our existing resources and technologies was more on chemistry side. This will bring in this newer area, you know, biochemical, which we can certainly leverage both on pharma side as well as on, you know, agrochemical side, and that is the whole plan. As I mentioned earlier, you know, we have entered into a joint venture arrangement with the technology partner. We are expecting to scale up these technologies and processes across pharma intermediates as well as some of these e-chem intermediates over the next 12 months, 15 months time. Then we will be commercializing them.
Whatever regulatory processes are also involved here will also be taken up with the respective customers and then we will be commercializing these technologies.
Right, sir. That's helpful. Just one clarification in terms of pharma inorganic initiative, any timelines that we are looking at now?
Well, this is on tomorrow's business. That process is on, and we'll continue. We will surely expeditiously working on that project.
Thank you so much and best of luck, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumant Kumar from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. Can you talk about the growth in the new molecule we have launched in CSM in last three, four years, compared to the old chemistry, what we have in the portfolio?
Sorry, come again.
Say in H1 we have a 27% growth in CSM segment. Can you talk about the new molecule we have launched in last three, four years, the contribution, the growth contribution and the old chemistry growth?
Well, we'll not have this number in front of us, but I can tell you that, for example, I mean, we did some assessment. Close to 17%-18% of our revenue is coming from new products. You know, last two, three years assessment that we have done. Whatever products that we have launched in last three, four years, they are contributing close to 17%-18% of revenue. I believe that-
After three to four years of launch, four to five years of launch, exactly.
I believe this is going to be the trend for the next several years, as we are also continuing to launch newer or commercialize newer products every year.
Okay. Talking about the AWKIRA in the rabi season, what is your expectation? What is the outlook in this rabi season for the herbicide?
Raman, you may want to take this.
The expectation is that we would cover about 3x of the area that we had covered, more than 3x of the area that we had covered in the last year. As we speak now, we are very, very happy with the progress that we have made. We are on a daily basis treating what we treated in the first year of its launch. It's a very, very healthy progress and the demand has been extremely good.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohan Gupta from Edelweiss Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good morning, and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, a couple of questions. First is, sir, in last two to three years, our focus has been more on driving throughput, with the limited CapEx, but we have seen significant improvement in asset turnover. Definitely, sir, there is always a limitation on that. We have not been adding much amount on the growth or any larger, investment has been made in any greenfield or plant. Sir, with this limitation on further driving the throughput probably over the next two to three years, what do you see that, how much more asset turn we can generate or how much the total turnover we can generate from our existing assets and how much is for further brownfield expansion at our existing plants, sir?
Yeah, thanks, Rohan. Yes, you're right. I mean, as I was also telling earlier, for the last more than one and a half year, we have been putting focused efforts in this direction and we have achieved great success. That is the reason that for commercialization of several of these new products we were not required to put in four or five plants, you know. Otherwise, going by the previous pace, we would have invested at least in three, four plants. That is one.
Secondly, in terms of continued growth, or your other question on what kind of turn that we can get, I'm sure we can reach 2.4-2.5 turn kind of asset turn kind of figure in like six months, one year time as we are still optimizing some of these throughput in some of these plants. That process will continue and will give us a lot of efficiency advantage. In terms of our visibility for growth, that continues. I mean, we still maintain that we have close to 20% kind of growth visibility in the CSM scale-up and export.
Our current R&D pipeline, the pace of commercialization of molecules, everything is giving us confidence and also supporting this confidence that we have on the scale-up and sustained growth.
And anything you-
As we further continue to augment the investment in our resources in R&D in terms of human capital to manage more projects.
One more dimension which you must keep in mind is that when we built a brownfield in 2019, the larger part of the infrastructure CapEx is done. The additional CapEx comes from capacity expansion which may not be as substantial as we see in at a certain peak at a point, and we still have potential to put another two multiproduct plants. The backend infrastructure is in place.
Yeah, because the common infrastructure is already invested, you know, three years back, two years back.
Sir, extending on the main, sir, answers only on that. You said that we still can put some more entities on our existing facilities and already covered with the infrastructure. Sir, on that only I want to elaborate a little, understand a little bit more elaboration in terms of how much money we can spend more on a brownfield, like, you know, INR 500,000 crore-INR 700,000 crore because we definitely will be facing the issue of land availabilities and a basic infrastructure because we are in chemical so there is only restrictions on how much capacities we can add on our existing facility. On a brownfield over next two year, cumulatively, how much investment these existing plants can absorb, sir?
Yeah. First of all, we do not see any limitation of expansion per se, you know. Like many industrial estates in different part of the country, fortunately we do not see that kind of a challenge in the industrial estate that we are operating. Okay? Availability of land, disposal of effluents, I mean these are the major reason generally in the industrial estates where the expansion is restricted. We do not see these challenges in Jambusar where we are operating. Okay? That is one. Secondly, the available, I mean currently available land, further land is also available so that's not a, you know, challenge. Even in the available land we can have another at least two, three multiproduct plants.
As I said earlier that the normal investment plans of, you know, INR 250 crore-INR 300 crore every year is what we can invest. Although a lot will also kind of, while we will be planning and, you know, finalizing these plans, a lot will also depend on what kind of inorganic opportunity we finally land in, because a lot of this CapEx will also kind of reconfigure with that kind of asset and plan. Generally sitting today we can say that close to INR 300 crore CapEx every year is what we can plan to meet the capacity requirements, to meet the pipeline of commercialization products that we have.
Okay. That's pretty helpful. Just the last question. Sir, on our pharma business, definitely we must be very aggressively looking now any pharma asset. We had roughly INR 2,000 crore raised from the QIP and has further added to that cash only because of the solid free cash flow generation. Sir, any thought process change in that because now you are sitting on a much stronger balance sheet than earlier. Almost INR 2,500 crore cash further going to add there. Are you looking at much larger assets now, asset base and again for the global acquisitions also you are open? Is there any change in thought process that now you are looking much larger scale or it is similar to what you have looked at thus far?
Well, frankly speaking, size is not the criteria for, you know, for us to. As a matter of fact, it was also not a, you know, limitation for us to look at something interesting which fits in our scheme of things. We are absolutely open, whether it is a smaller size, relatively smaller size, or whether it is a larger size. I think the important is that what we will be able to do with that, you know, option, in mid to long term is going to be the key criteria for us to, you know, go for that option. We'll be certainly open to look at all kind of options, you know, smaller, larger, variety of the revenue, variety of the assets, customer products.
There are several critical aspects, and we will be open to look at various options.
Sir, would you be able to put any timeline on that, sir? I know it's very early, but any-
I responded to the earlier participant on this, that this is on yesterday basis. We'll obviously we are working on this very expeditiously, and we'll see what best can be done.
Thanks, sir. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang. Please go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, please.
Good morning, and thank you very much, and wish you all the best of seasons. The first thought is, if you're looking at the first MPP coming in second quarter and another MPP coming in third quarter, together what will be the asset capitalization? And can we assume a factor of 2x, say, by FY 2023 of these two MPPs?
Well, your audio was not very clear. It was breaking. Can you please repeat your last part of your question?
Yeah. If you're looking at the two MPPs in the second quarter and third quarter, what is the amount of addition to the gross block on capitalization? Can we assume an asset turn of 2x on these, you know, once they are in commercial operation?
The capitalization is INR 150 crore during the first half of the current fiscal. We expect the same asset turn will continue after the period of six months from capitalization.
Okay. The second part is, I just want to understand what are the lessons you may have learned from the business transfer arrangement you had with Ind-Swift? How do you envisage you know overcoming whatever constraints you face in concluding that deal in whatever you know targets you're looking at in your current endeavor to make an acquisition in the API space?
Again, sorry, but your audio is breaking, not very clear.
Sorry. I just wanted to understand what are the lessons you have learned from t he BTR you signed with Ind-Swift and that we canceled as a result of some of the preconditions not being met. How are you preparing to ensure that you know, this such an impact doesn't happen in a future acquisition?
Yeah. I mean, I would say a lot of lessons. I mean, obviously the preliminary assessment about the company, about the reputation, about you know.
Value systems.
Value systems and various aspects, you know, that are important to kind of assess in the very preliminary kind of evaluation. Those certainly need to be taken into account. Obviously, as we have also said earlier, that just because we have to, you know, expedite the process and, you know, expeditiously complete the process, we certainly cannot compromise on
Values.
Various vital necessities and critical aspects of a M&A. We would certainly want to, you know, get out of something rather than feeling sorry after the completion of the thing and then, you know, kind of keep explaining things to our stakeholders. That process, that approach will certainly continue. Yes, we have to expeditiously work on the inorganic thing, but without compromising on the value systems and governance and our approach of doing things.
Yeah. Appreciate your candid response to that. One last thought. If you look at the specialty chemical space, is it possible to give us some number in terms of what are the target opportunity you're looking at, and what is the additional CapEx to be requested in the next two years?
No, gentleman, your audio is absolutely unclear.
Hello? Can you hear me now?
Mr. Ramesh, we request you to please rejoin the question queue.
Can you hear me now? Hello?
Yeah, better.
I was just asking, if you're looking at the specialty chemicals opportunity, can you put a number to the kind of target market you're looking at in terms of revenue potential and what are the kind of additional CapEx you may have to incur to achieve that, say, over the next two to three years?
What you think fine chemical? For fine chemical you mean for CSM?
Yeah, I'm talking about the CSM opportunity in specialty and fine chemicals, yeah.
Yeah, this is what I answered to the earlier participant that, normally, I mean, INR 250-INR 300 crore is the CapEx that we are envisaging, in order to, you know, build capacities and also meet the, you know, R&D pipeline that we have or the commercial product pipeline that we have.
Okay, fair enough. Thanks a lot, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Sir, one more question on the pharma CRAMS, the pharma business. Now, sir, fundamentally on the agrichemical business CRAMS, historically, we focus only largely on the innovation part of the business, right? Working with innovators and doing custom synthesis. In pharma, even the ISL transaction was a buyout of a generic business. Why are we looking at pharma CRAMS, pharma opportunity a different way that we pursued agrichemical CRAMS in the past?
Didn't get your question very clearly again.
No, the audio is not good at our end. I don't know whether it is for everyone or only for us. But I'll request moderator to please see if we can hear clearly what is the question?
Sure, sir. Let me try to rephrase it and let me try if this works this time.
No, we are not able to hear your audio clearly. Maybe your voice, I mean, phrasing is fine, but the audio is not. Maybe try again, please.
Sure. Yeah.
Mr. Agarwal, please proceed with your question. Please use the handset mode.
Hello. Rajnish , is this better?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. I was saying, you know, on the CRAMS business, historically when we pursued our agri CRAMS, we typically stuck to approach of working with the innovators and working in the innovation value chain. But in pharma, are we adopting a different approach? Are we trying to participate in the generic value chain to start with and then sort of scale it up? How are we looking at... Are we looking at pharma CRAMS in a different way than, say, agri CRAMS?
As you know, the pharma CRAMS business is slightly different the way the agri CRAMS works, right? It is more asset and capability driven and credibility driven, which needs to be built through either structures of assets in generics, which we are looking at an approach, and eventually going into that space with a longer strategy, which could be much shorter in the past we have been that. Whereas the generics and the CDMO approach works a bit with the same organizations in many of these areas of the pharma CRAMS. Yeah.
That's a differentiated path to get there with the PI that are different in the business.
Yeah. I mean, just to also add that, you know, it took us close to, you know, or rather more than two decades to kind of get to the quality of CDMO that we are in today, okay? In AgChem space. What we said that, yes, I mean, we have to eventually get to the same level in pharma, but let's take a approach which can get us there maybe much faster and which is where, you know, while on one side we are working on technologies at our end, we have already kind of scaled up some of these technologies where we see a lot of potential in pharma.
In order to get access to the, you know, customer and also expedite this regulatory process of manufacturing asset and etc., we are taking this inorganic approach, whereby, you know, we can start with maybe a generic kind of a model where we get access to the customers, the assets, the regulatory approval, and then eventually change the quality of revenue and quality of portfolio over a period of time. In the end, we believe that this approach, this process will be much faster than what we have done in AgChem space. I hope this answers your question.
It does. If I can probably push in a little bit, probe that a little further. Sir, in pharma CRAMS, from a generic to a CRAMS evolution, I think that's been the standard model that most companies have tried to adopt. We've seen that it's not been an easy transition for companies to make, largely because for a generic pharma business, you cater to very different customers. The CRAMS and the innovative CRAMS are very different set of customers altogether.
The difference, you are right. Although the difference will be if you are a technology-based generic player or you are me too, one of the, you know, 20, 30, 40 players in those products. We are certainly not aiming for the second one. We are aiming for the first one, where we have our differentiated technology, which will be the key driver for us to engage with these customers with existing products, and then eventually gradually get into more kind of, you know, value-added and patented molecules with same or different set of customers.
Okay. I got it.
Yeah. It has to be driven and, backed by differentiated technology. This is the difference we are talking here.
Got it, sir. If I can probably just push the last bit on this one. When you say differentiated as a technology platform, I mean, if you can very qualitatively explain, I mean, how you think about that differentiation?
Yeah, I mean, I certainly cannot talk about those technologies here. Point is that one is that, you know, just to explain you the difference that there is X product and there are already 15 suppliers, and there is maybe a temporary vacuum in the market because of this global supply chain challenges. We kind of build a capacity, and we start manufacturing and supplying that product, which is whatever is the current process of technology which is available for all these 15, is one scenario. The other scenario is that you have done some process innovation and with this process innovation, you are coming up with a completely different approach of manufacturing the same product, which gives either the, you know, sustainable model from an environment or safety perspective, or it gives a completely different cost leadership.
Therefore, you have created a differentiated approach or technology to manufacture the same product. Obviously, these global leading players who are also now more and more inclined towards the ESG aspect of the business are keen on adopting and also aligning with the manufacturer who come up with such innovative and differentiated approaches of manufacturing these even generic products.
Got it, sir. Thanks. That's very helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bharat Shah from ASK Investments. Please go ahead.
If we take into account our portfolio of strengths, which is basically complex chemistry research, long-term view of the business, technology related to the chemistry activities and strong client relationship. If we look at the next five-year target of superior growth, which is something that we have articulated as being an agreement, what keeping in mind these strengths would you regard is areas that delight you and make you feel good about it? What are still the areas which probably are chinks in the armor? Or if not chinks in the armor, are the areas which need still significant address need to be done in order to achieve our vision of the long term?
Thank you for that question. I think it's an interesting question. I think we do believe those are our core strengths, and we have done and depicted and shown our performance in those areas in the AgChem space. We definitely need to constantly keep evolving and moving ahead and building capabilities to create further attractiveness and in different areas of application. As a matter of fact, we have proactively already over the last couple of years, proactively invested in the front end of the markets, like in Japan. We've added resources, capabilities coming from the pharma, the fine chemicals space and building the customer base. Obviously, the deeper insights have not been set up. As you would see, the COVID challenge has been there in building that whole relationship.
On the other hand, other parts of the globe, we started to build those relationships in those two areas by investing in them, by putting resources on the back end. I think technology is, if that is our core and that is our love, we constantly need to expand that horizon because they're constantly evolving and constantly changing, and we need to open new horizons. As you would see through our strategy, we've been constantly doing that. Technology, again, as you know well, at least in the chemical industry, at least when you look at innovation, is a three to four to five year game before you achieve any from concept to really putting it to work. A 10-year to 15, 20-year game after to make it really value created. That's really where we are.
We're deepening this by the technology capabilities to create a further deeper, stickier relationships. That is going to be answered by innovation. That's the area that we have already, as you would see, crossed 100 patents, which creates opportunities to create a little bit more stickiness and is embedded into the customer mindset, our capabilities from technology front. The value commitment which we have is obviously something which the customer appreciates while partnering with innovations. That's where we are.
Would it be fair to say at one point of time, probably we considered ourselves as a AgroChem specialty firm, research driven of course, but primarily an AgroChem, kind of a firm. Is that a subtle but clear shift in the mind that basically complex and innovative chemistry is our calling card and over a period of time, that is what we need to achieve as a larger objective?
I would not say yet. As I said, the new vertical, you know, second engine. Our first engine of agrochemical is our strength and continues to grow our strength, and we are leveraging that to create the next play and challenging at a global level of challenging innovation and new products. Continuing to make sure that becomes an engine by itself while the platforms are being put into the second engine. Clearly the technological research capabilities are the core competencies which were there, which are probably few. The world has seen it within applied within AgChem. Now we are applying it in other areas. Doesn't mean that AgChem we are not going deeper down the value chain from all the way back to research.
Just to retread on the first question, any areas of concern while there are considerable areas of strength which we have demonstrated, any niggling concerns, any worry, something which is still work in progress, and we are not clear whether we have crossed the hump? Anything that you think needs to be thrown light upon?
As you would appreciate, when you're challenging technology, you're always standing on your toes, right? Because innovation technology is always a path which you take, which is a high risk with a high return gain. In order to mitigate that, so there are many challenges and risks we see. In order to mitigate that, we have opened multiple frontiers, so at least even if a few succeed, we have achieved the objective which we actually laid out to play. That's really how we work with it. The idea here is how do we differentiate and how do we mitigate but achieve the path of innovation and technology, in order to deliver what we call the long-term sustainable growth for the knowledge and value add.
Now thank you, Mayank. All the best to you and the entire PI team.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing remarks.
Thank you, everybody, for taking the time out on the weekend to be here to participate with the PI management and wishing you all and your family a good weekend. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of PI Industries Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.