Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Welspun Corp Q2 FY26 earnings conference call hosted by JM Financial. 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 press star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Anirudh Nagpal from JM Financial. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Operator, and welcome everyone to the call. I will first thank Welspun Corp for giving JM Financial the opportunity to host today's call. W ithout much ado, I'll hand over the call to Mr. Salil Bawa, Head Investor Relations, Welspun Group, to introduce the management. Over to you, Salil.
Thank you, Anirudh, and good afternoon to all of you. I welcome all of you to the Q2 FY26 earnings call of Welspun Corp Limited. Present along with me today on this forum are Mr. Vipul Mathur, Managing Director and CEO. Mr. Percy Birdy, Chief Financial Officer of Welspun Corp. Mr. Yeshwardhan Agarwal, Director of Fintechs. I also have Gautam Chakraborty, who heads Investor Relations for Welspun Corp. You must have already received the results and investor presentation of the company, which are also available on the stock exchanges as well as on the company's websites. As usual, we'll start this forum with opening remarks by the leadership team. Post that, we'll open the floor for your questions. During the discussion, we may be making references to the presentation which has been uploaded.
Should you have any queries that remain unanswered after this earnings call, you may reach out to any one of us. With that, let me hand over the floor to Mr. Vipul Mathur, MD and CEO of Welspun Corp. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Salil, and a very good afternoon to all my friends and colleagues. Welcome to our Q2 and H1 FY26 earnings conference call. I greatly appreciate all of you joining this call today, and I hope that you had a chance to look at our presentation, what we have uploaded, along with our results. I think so. It's a very comprehensive document which, as practice, we have loaded upon to the loaded so that all our investors have an absolutely fair insight as to what is happening in the company. But nevertheless, I would still start my discussion giving a brief key operational and financial highlights of the concluding quarter. The key operational highlights are our line pipe sales volume for India and U.S. stands at more than 250,000 tons. Our DI pipe sales volume stood at almost 80,000 tons.
Our SS bar and pipe sales volume at almost 7,000 tons and 1,700 tons, respectively. Our Sintex, absolutely on a growth path, recorded a sale of INR 150 crore for this quarter. I'm very happy to report that our consolidated order book stands at a record high of INR 23,500 crore, the highest probably in the last 10 years or ever. With this strong order book and the execution capability of what our company has demonstrated over Q1 and Q2, it clearly reflects and sets the ball rolling for the next two quarters. Also, this order book gives us a clear visibility for the next two years, at least more than two years in the American market, and almost more than a year for all our businesses in other territories. On Sintex, on the pipe side of it, we have successfully expanded our footprints in Chhattisgarh and Punjab.
I'm very happy to report that our Bhopal OPVC plant is now fully operational, and a lot of focus is being brought on brand building and channel expansion. We will talk about it a little more in detail in my subsequent conversation. The key financial highlights are our Q2 FY26 EBITDA, quarter two EBITDA, stood at INR 626 crore, highest ever quarterly EBITDA. If you would have noticed, we have been demonstrating a consistent growth over the last six quarters with improved margins, so quarter-on-quarter basis, if you see our EBITDA, you would have noticed the growth with improved margins. Our annualized ROCE, return on capital employed, also stood at 24%, and that also on a year-on-year basis is only going up. The PAT for the quarter stood at INR 440 crore, up by 53% on YoY basis.
Despite the CapEx spend of INR 950 crore during H1 of FY26, we continue to maintain net cash position in our balance sheet. That clearly reflects the financial prudence and the free cash flow our existing businesses are generating. On top of it, we have been also able to significantly reduce our finance cost, which has gone down by 41% on YoY basis. Our credit rating for long-term stands at AAA plus with a stable outlook. We are very much on track and aligned with our annual guidance. If you recollect, my friends, for FY26, we had given an EBITDA guidance of INR 2,200 crore, and in H1, we have already touched INR 1,186 crore.
With two more quarters to go, confirmed order book in hand, and our execution capability not being under any stress or under challenge, we are very confident to deliver and achieve, if not exceed, the guidance what we have given to the market. Let me also take you through the business involvement as to what, because there seems to be a lot of volatility happening globally, which all of you are noticing. I think so. We will deep dive into each and every region because every region is unique for us, and I would like to give our inputs and my thoughts to that. First and foremost, let me first cover America. At this point in time, as you know, we have a very, very strong order book in America.
I am very pleased to announce and report that yesterday we received two more orders from our two large customers in America, all totally amounting to more than $715 million. This is one of the largest orders we would have received in the last couple of years. This is a very clear indication that the American market stays very, very strong, buoyant, and being a local there, being one of the largest pipe manufacturing companies, we are getting benefited out of it. Primarily, if you see that there is a paradigm shift which is now happening in America. Earlier, we were all talking about the Permian Gas going to the Gulf Coast for LNG exports. We are now seeing a shift. Apart from that, what LNG exports are happening, we are also now seeing a shift because of mushrooming of the data centers, which is likely to happen in America.
These data centers are energy guzzlers, and each data center requires a huge dedicated power supply, and that power supply requires a huge amount of gas for generating that power. So this is one major shift which is now capturing the American market, and I think so that this sustained growth of data centers coupled up with AI and the leadership which America wants to have in this particular field is giving us a sort of a clear visibility for the next three to five years, if not more. Conservatively, if we look at it, there are more than 250 data centers which are being discussed at this point in time. This is a very conservative estimate I'm sharing.
These numbers are varying anything between 200 to 1,200, but realistically, we feel that there are significant numbers of data centers which are going to come up, and along with that, there will be a huge demand for gas which is going to come up. We have to also understand that the energy grid system in the U.S. is not able to meet this type of requirements, which means that if these data centers have to grow and if they have to thrive and they have to deliver and perform, they are putting up their own captive power plants, and those captive power plants are completely dependent on gas, and for those gas to transport from Permian Basin, these lines are going to come up. T his is a new value chain which seems to be emerging into America and which is over and above over LNG export.
I think so these two streams of business, the LNG export and the pipelines carrying gas to the power plant for data centers, these two streams are now going to be the way forward in the American market for the next couple of years. As Welspun, we being the largest supplier of pipe and manufacturer of pipe, are definitely going to benefit out of the same. The orders what we have received, one of the orders what we have received which we announced yesterday, is for supply of pipes for that data center only. We, as a pipeline manufacturer, also are a part of that value chain. Earlier, we were a part of the value chain for LNG exports. Now, we are also a part of the value chain for data centers.
This is a major shift which seems to be happening in the U.S. market, and we have already made a beginning with that, with the large order what we got yesterday. There are multiple opportunities which are emerging even at this point in time, and I am very, very sure that in times and weeks and months to come, we would have much more opportunities coming up on the table. With this booking in hand, our Little Rock Mill is completely booked till FY28, and as I mentioned earlier, we are still seeing a continued demand. U.S. continues to be a very strong focus market, and we being one of the largest players, one of the most established and most credible players, I am sure that we will be able to leverage our position.
From the US, if we move on, let me also give as to the Indian market. First, let's talk about the Indian market, about water. The water sector in the Indian market has been slightly depressed over the last few quarters because of the fund crunch which we have been noticing. It appears that this fund crunch is now going to get over. We feel that starting next year or maybe the early part of the next year, we are expecting the funds flows to come into the system, and we would see the demand coming back into the market. There are huge projects which are being discussed at this point in time for the water. Primarily, they are more around interlinking of rivers and distribution.
We are seeing states like Madhya Pradesh, states like Maharashtra, and states like Rajasthan which are taking a lead in terms of capturing interlinking of rivers. All put together, the demand between all these three states put together could be in excess of almost 4-5 million tons of pipe over the next couple of years' time. T his is what with our presence, we have a presence in Gujarat, with our presence in Madhya Pradesh, and our ability to serve with Rajasthan from either of these states, I think so Welspun is very well positioned to capture this upcoming demand of interlinking of rivers.
Apart from interlinking of rivers, there is also a huge push which is going to come up for distribution across all these three states, and that is where we see that the subdued demand which our DI pipes have seen in the last one or two quarters is going to revamp. We are very hopeful that this Jal Jeevan Mission, the funding under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which got slightly stalled for certain reasons, will come back into the play, and we would see an uptake coming back into the domestic oil and gas, large diameter pipes for water transmission, and small diameter pipes, which is DI pipes for distribution. We are very confident that in the next few months, this water business will completely be back on track. As regards oil and gas for India, we are seeing a huge push coming up for development of natural gas pipelines.
We understand that the global price of natural gas is likely to go down over the period of time, which will be extremely beneficial for an energy-hungry nation like India. We are very confident that once those prices come into a very, very attractive range, which could just be a matter of time, there will be a huge demand for the gas pipelines and network which will be developed here in India. We are seeing a strong demand already in place for our small diameter pipes, which is the ERW pipes which are used for city gas distribution. We are seeing a lot of work happening at a lot of geographical areas. The pricing is attractive, and at this point in time, this will again be one of the growth drivers for our oil and gas business for India.
The third and the most important piece for our growth drivers in India is our oil pipes for export. We have seen a very healthy order book and, more importantly, a very qualitative order book for our oil and gas exports in pipes for India. If you see our performance, earnings performance, there has been a significant contribution coming up from India entity also, which is nothing else but from exports. T hat reflects both the quantity as well as the quality of the order books from our export business. This business is further likely to grow.
We are seeing a huge traction for pipeline projects all across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and so these are the two key major markets we are seeing a lot of business still emerging, and with Welspun in the forefront, we will continue to be able to leverage this capability. A ll in all, India, if you look at it, we see the water demand seems to be definitely bound to come up. There is no doubt in our mind that it is just a matter of time, and the oil and gas demand is going to continue to be strong both from a domestic perspective and from an export perspective.
We feel that the next three to five years' time, beyond that, it is difficult to predict, but at least the next three to five years' time seems to be fairly optimistic for our business here in India. Let me also give you some flavor about Saudi because that's another third market where Welspun is heavily present. If you see under Saudi Vision 2030, the government is working to guarantee long-term water security through public-private partnership, large storage reservoirs, and integrated transmission system linking coast with inland cities. There's a huge desalination capability which is being developed. Those desalinated waters will be moved to feed into cities, and that is where large diameter pipelines are being used.
This has been the case for the last three years, and looking at the demand at this point of time, this will be the case for at least the next three to five years' time. A testimony to that would also be, I'm sure you would have noticed, with a very strong performance which our associate company, Eastpipe, has given. They have delivered the highest ever EBITDA in this particular. I'm sure my friends, you would have seen that. This is a clear testimony that the demand and the future what lies in Saudi Arabia with respect to water. When it comes to oil and gas, Aramco is on a major capital expenditure spree. They have already announced a $10 billion investment year-on-year basis for the next 10 years' time.
They are in the process of developing multiple offshore fields for which they will be requiring a hell of a lot of pipes over a period of time. That is the genesis of our investment in our longitudinal mill in Saudi Arabia. The theme still remains that they would like to use every gas for their domestic consumption and oil for exports. They are absolutely buoyant. They have very clearly stipulated their enhancement in their production level, and they are completely aligned to vision Saudi 2030, where they are committed to enhance their volumes. We will see a lot of development happening both on the onshore side as well as on the offshore side, as well as for development of new energy which is hydrogen and carbon capture.
All these businesses into this energy space, oil and gas space and energy space, are going with Welspun being going to be a local mill out there, we should be able to capitalize upon the same. We are very optimistic and buoyant about the Saudi market, and I am sure that in times to come, you would see the incremental revenues and margins coming into Welspun Corp balance sheet once we are fully stabilized there starting next year. As regards the DI pipes, the Saudi market, there is a huge demand which is currently being serviced, mostly from imports. Almost two-thirds of the DI requirements seems to be serviced through imports. With our DI plant now coming in play by the end of this financial year, we should be able to capture that demand, which will be catered more domestically rather than dependent on imports.
We are seeing a huge demand at this point in time. We have already very actively started our discussion with all the local players and all the local users, and I'm very happy to report the type of encouragement which we have been receiving from them. All in all, if you look at it, our foray into the Saudi market and our enhanced presence into the Saudi market will be the next area of growth which will come into Welspun Corp's consolidated balance sheet. Let me also cover our SS bar and pipe business, which is about Welspun Specialty Steel. Our quarterly pipe sales volume reached an all-time high. The bar sales volume for the quarter remained very steady. On the pipe side of it, we are seeing a huge traction.
On the steel side of it, we are seeing things slightly moderated because of the tariff conditions, but I believe that it will only be a matter of time when things will get rationalized, and even the stainless steel bar or steel business will also see a massive uptake as what we are seeing in our pipe business. Our EBITDA growth, both on YOY and quarter-on-quarter basis, stood higher than revenue growth driven by better operating leverage. We have added more than 20 customers during H1 of FY26. Our IBR accretion of alloy steel blast and tubes have progressed, and we are expected completion in the coming quarter. Our new bright bar project construction is in full swing, and the commissioning is also expected in this particular quarter.
Our key focus and the projected growth drivers shall be the sectors like energy, defense, space, oil and gas, petrochemicals, engineering, and public infrastructure. I'm sure all these sectors will stimulate the demand for the stainless steel pipes and bars. Welspun Specialty Steel remains committed to actively engage with these customers both in domestic and international markets and will maintain their operational performance, positioning the company for stability and further growth. This, as you know, friends, this is a very boutique company. We are the only one which is completely integrated, which means that we make our own steel, we make our own bars, and through those bars, we make our own pipes. This is the unique proposition what we have in this particular setup. The demand in India, both in defense and nuclear and the power, is going to go up exponentially.
All of us are noticing that, and these pipes will see a massive application in this particular area. So we are very, very confident about the growth of this particular company, and you would see that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, they have only been improving for the last four or five quarters, and I am very sure that they have a very extremely bright future. Coming back to our building material vertical, which comprises of two businesses, one is our TMT bars, and the other is our Sintex. In Sintex, on the water storage tanks business, we have continued to focus on our channel expansion, brand building, premiumization, and decarbonization. Our strategic shift towards secondary-driven steel to enhance visibility and demand generation. Pan-India basis, if you see, our distributors, retailers, and plumbers have gone up significantly.
Today, as we speak, we have close to 500 distributors, almost close to 28,000 retailers, and almost close to 65,000 or 70,000 plumbers, influencers. This business, the B2C business, as you would know, is completely dependent on this value chain, and this is where we are absolutely focusing upon, and on a month-on-month basis, we have been gaining ground. On the plastic pipe business, we have launched our pipe business in Chhattisgarh. We have launched in Chhattisgarh and Punjab. We have got extremely positive feedback on the quality, the brand, and the differentiated offering what we are proposing into the market at this point in time. On the OPVC side of it, our Bhopal plant is now fully operational. I am happy to report that we have got all the mandatory and the statutory approvals and accreditations which are required to sell those pipes into the domestic market.
I am also happy to report that we have received multiple orders for this particular product, and starting next month, we would also see execution of these projects for the OPVC pipes. We are trying to scale up our operations to cover almost 80% on pan-India market, on an 80% market on a pan-India basis by March 2026. We are also trying and making our efforts that how can we deeply penetrate into each and every state, each and every district, and each and every consumer. There is a very clear, robust strategy which is being designed and being implemented to map and to make that impact fit. It is a work in progress. I am sure this work has to be built up a little painstakingly. B2C, you understand, takes its own time.
We are absolutely investing in its foundations at this point in time, and it is just, and I'm sure that these foundations will give us a benefit in times to come. On the investments, what we have done globally, I just wanted to update that all those investments, whether they are in India, Saudi, or in America, they are going as per the plan. They are all on schedule, and I am sure when all these expansions will happen, which would happen anything starting from six months to 12 months from now, the total addressable market is going to expand for Welspun, and which is going to get reflected into our volume, in our revenues, and in our earnings as well. I am sure that the performance over the last two quarters and during this H1 is meeting the expectations, and we are in a position.
We are delivering what we have promised, and I am sure that the next two quarters and the subsequent two to three years' time, we should be able to sustain this incremental growth. Last and not the least, we remain very strongly committed to sustainability, our people, and our desalination objectives, and ensuring highest standard of governance and transparency across the organization. With this, I would like kindly ask the moderator to open the floor for question and answer sessions. 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 handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, kindly limit the questions to two per participant. Should you have follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. Our first question comes from the line of Nishant Vass from 360 ONE Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on the good results. Just a couple of clarifications. Just on the data center piece, can you double-click more on the U.S. demand? Obviously, there are more and more data centers in the U.S. that are on-site natural gas generated from a power standpoint. A re you seeing that order come to you? If you can give more details in terms of what's the nature of this order that you received from data center as a direct order?
So, Nishant, thank you very much. First and foremost, this order what we have received is not a direct order from a data center. This order is an order to a midstream company. You have to understand the value chain. The value chain is that there is a gas which is there in the Permian Basin. That gas has to get transported to the consumption center through a pipeline. These pipelines, as you know, are being put through a midstream company. Earlier, those midstream companies were all focusing on moving that gas to the Gulf Coast for LNG export. Now, with this new demand coming up for data centers, they are also diverting these gas pipelines from Permian to wherever these data centers are coming, which is in Midwest or Arizona or in Texas or in Louisiana.
There is a huge shift or new pipelines which are getting created from the same source, which is the Permian.
Understood. S o just getting a better understanding of this because gas-based data center demand is going to be the primary driver of incremental growth, considering other segments take time in terms of ramp-up, potentially nuclear and other sources. On that account, considering you have a dominant position in the market, do you think this can be a significant source of incremental growth for you? If that is the case, then what are the thoughts in terms of capacity creation more for getting to supply for these data center demand?
First and foremost, we believe this is a paradigm shift which is happening within the market, US market number one. As you rightly said, we are definitely in the pole position at this point in time, being present there and having one of the largest capacities. Third, it is also very clear that this recent order, which is a testimony that this demand is actually not on a piece of paper. It is actually getting crystallized. This is happening on the ground. I think this is going to stay for a fairly, fairly long time because the type of data centers which are being discussed and their complete dependence on natural gas.
So we have to understand either they have an option to go through a grid, which is a very weak network, and which is not a very extended network in America and not too very reliable network. So they have no other choice but to go through this captive power plant, and those captive power plants have to be fed through this gas. The nuclear part of it, I think so it is still on a design stage. It is going to take some time. We have still not seen any prototypes coming up on the ground. I t is going to be a long haul before they will be powered through nuclear energy. T ill that time, which could be five, seven, ten years, we really don't know. Till that time, if this data centers' demand continues to go, they will all be powered through the gas.
We see a very clear directional shift which is happening into that particular market. A part from exports to LNG, this is going to be the new consumption driver. Coming back to our capacity, Nishant, as you know, we have one of the largest capacities, number one. In order, we are also capturing. We have already announced adding our capacity. We are putting up a new longitudinal plant out there, which we have already announced that. It is already going. It is already a work in progress. We should be up and ready sometimes next year. T his plant, over and above our existing plants, these two plants put together would be catering to this huge demand of energy, new energy, which is demand which is coming up into the US market.
Understood. O ne last question on this. From a profitability standpoint, I presume this also will be similar or better than the existing projects in the U.S.?
Fair assessment. Fair assessment. It's a very fair assessment to make that, Nishant. I think so they are. But profitability is also a factor of steel and this, that. But I would say that these are fairly profitable orders. M ore than the profitability, I think. So the trust what the customer shows onto us with respect to our execution capabilities, that is more important for us. I think so by getting all these orders of almost $700 million orders for, and largely one of them happens to be from a data center, is a clear testimony that Welspun is positioning into the American market.
Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you, Nishant.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Vikas Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, and congratulations on a very good set of numbers. My first question pertains to our guidance. Why haven't we increased our FY23 guidance, considering that the second half is usually pretty strong for pipe companies? Your initial commentary also suggests that. I s it because we would be expanding? Also, export orders from India would have been exhausted, and that's why we are expecting second half to be a little bit weaker this time?
Because guidance is a factor of our order book and its execution timelines. I may have orders expanding over a couple of years, but all those orders have to be delivered into a particular timeline. So when we factor all those things, which order, from which mill, from what location, to which customer, in what timeline, I think so all these components becomes the factor for our guidance, and accordingly, we have given the guidance. So you are right. The second half of the year is definitely historically has been better than the H1 part of it, and that is what gives us a reasonable amount of confidence that once we have already received, we have almost achieved our mid-year guidance. I am sure there is no reason that why should not we be able to accomplish or exceed the guidance given for the full year.
But are we going to change it drastically? The answer is no, because there are certain orders which have already been factored for, and they need to be executed in time. This question will become more relevant because for the next financial year, when we will sit down and finalize the business plan for the next financial year, keeping all the pending businesses in mind and how we are going to execute that. Second, by next year also, we would have additional capacities which will come on stream. T o that extent, as I said earlier, we will see a growth in volume, growth in revenue, and also growth in margins, which will mean growth in guidance as well. T hat is how we would like to play around with us.
Noted, sir. S ir, in terms of our split of the order book between India and U.S., just wanted to understand that U.S., we know that we have a visibility now till FY28. But how should we look at the India visibility if you could give us the order book split? And by when you are thinking that the market would start turning around the green shoots in the water space?
So right now, as I said, we have almost a consolidated order book of close to exceeding 1.25 million tons. T his is evenly split between India and U.S. F or U.S., we have a clear visibility for at least more than two years. And for India, depending on the various business, for the water businesses, typically the visibility is for, let's say, one quarter or more. But for our signature LSAW business, which is the export business, we still have a visibility of more than a year. W e have a very, very strong qualitative order book both in the water sector as well as for exports at this point in time. T o your third question, that the visibility also for our order book both for exports as well as for water, I am sure that it looks very promising.
Water, as I said earlier, we would see a lot of traction coming up starting the next financial year, because a lot of fundamental issues with respect to cash, trend funding, and this and that would have got sorted out. There would have been some very large projects in the water sector which would have got awarded. T he fund availability with award of large contract, I think so that fundamentally will take care of the water sector. O n the export side of it, which is where you make your maximum money, we are seeing a huge traction at this point in time. We already have a very comfortable order book. But as I see the visibility, the pipeline of the orders, as what my teams are discussing, it gives me a clear comfort that next year could be even better.
Noted. That's all from my side.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sailesh Raja from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, congratulations on delivering an excellent performance in Q2. Sir, with plant capacity addition in HFIW and the new LSAW mill in the US, so is this expansion decided by us initially primarily driven by seeing the long-term market opportunity or came from key customers like TC Energy and Kinder Morgan? The reason for asking this question, if there is a specific customer-backed demand, does that enable faster utilization ramp-up once these facilities are operational? S ince you have pointed out that we have received orders from data center segment that is 6,000 tons, and also I just wanted to know this is pertaining to which type of pipe, LSAW or Helical? Because if we do that calculation of 6,000 tons, it comes around 3.75 lakh tons. I just wanted to know if you can clarify on this.
Okay. T o your first question, what was the genesis for our HFIW and LSAW expansion? Sailesh, you have to understand that we are present into that market for the last almost 20 years now. We are one of the largest players in that particular market. We have an extensive relationship with all the existing customers, the midstream customers, what we have. We have been absolutely focused in terms of how is the growth coming, what is that we can do to capture that growth. At an appropriate time last year, we felt, we saw that there is going to be a huge uptick in demand, which is going to happen. The demand we knew will happen more in data centers, LNG, and LNG exports at the moment.
That is the reason, key reason we went ahead, wanted to stay ahead of the curve, and went ahead with our expansion for putting up a new LSAW plant. What happens afterward, once these pipelines are being done, the large diameter pipelines are being done, the small diameter pipeline distribution network also gets created. That is the nature of the business. To that extent, keeping that in mind, we took a preemptive step of also putting up an upgraded HFIW mill in place. It was not a specific customer-backed demand basis which we took a decision. It was a fundamental shift which we saw, which is likely to happen on the ground, and on that basis we took that decision. I am sure that you will agree that the decisions we took in terms of expansion were the right decision.
Our capital allocation was very, very clear and judicious, number one. Number two, with respect to the new project, the new order what we have got, it is largely spiral pipe at this point in time, but it also has a component of a longitudinally welded pipe. A s our mill is going to come up there, we would also be able to service that requirement, this confirmed requirement out of that particular mill. So it is a blend of both at this point in time.
Sir, is it possible to give the mix? B asically, I want to know this LSAW will be operational by FY28. So how long it will take to fill the capacity?
LSAW will be operational by 2026, the end of next year. Who said 2028?
No, sir, Fi28. End of FI28.
Okay.
Yeah. So we take two years.
FY27, then FY28.
Okay. So we can fill it by FY28 or second half of FY29?
We see a demand. I mean, today, when we look at it, I think so the demand which is going to come up both from LNG as well as data centers and LNG terminals per se, and I'm not counting offshore for the time being at this point in time, so because from out of the four, I am only counting demand from these three functions, which is LNG export, data center, and the LNG terminals per se. I think so we are very confident that we should be this brings a very clear visibility, and we should be able to put maximum utilization to our DISA mill.
Okay. Okay. Because we are deploying around 11 delcos here. E ffectively, we can produce 2.6 lakh tons. Y ou always say that in the U.S., we do comparatively 250% of EBITDA. I f we back calculate, it gives only two, three years of payback actually, including working capital requirement. Is this right?
Sailesh, these back-of-the-farm calculations, you know you guys are good at that. What we see is the fundamentals of that. For us, fundamentally, that market is strong. It is going to grow. It is going to stay strong for the next couple of years, and we being present there, there is no reason that we should not be leveraging out of the whole situation.
Sir, by seeing demand, can we expect one more line of addition in LSAW in the next two, three years?
At this point in time, no. Sailesh, we have at this point in time, we have factored for the demand and what could be the share we would like to service from that. To that extent, we have already taken all the steps. At this point in time, we are not looking at anything beyond this.
Okay. Okay. My last question. When we commissioned the DI line, the strategy was to focus both domestic as well as exports market given our proximity to the port. However, we have not exported so far, and domestically, we are seeing deployment in government contracts. D espite this, we have been able to ramp up our volumes. If you see, one of our peers, they have curtailed the production because of delay in payments to the contractors. I n this context, in the worst case, if the domestic situation continues like this, so how do we plan to balance domestic and exports going forward? Also, along with our presentation, it is mentioned that there is an anti-dumping investigation initiated by the Saudis. W hat is our export strategy for DI and a broader plan for DI business?
So Sailesh, first and foremost, the DI market has been in the space. There has been no doubt about it. But we continue to have a very strong order book at this point in time. It is almost close to 300,000 tons of order book what we have. It's a confirmed order book. T o that extent, we do not see any sort of immediate pressure, at least in terms of volume. There will be a pressure in terms of pricing, but not in terms of volume, number one. Number two, the fundamental situation is not going to stay in perpetuity. We are very confident it is just a matter of time, a matter of one more quarter, and things have to improve, and they will improve. There is no doubt about that. Third, we have already started exporting DI pipes on a small scale.
The initial response what we have got from the markets in which we have already exported is extremely good. We will definitely ramp up our portfolio for exports out of India at this point in time and in days to come. We will have to first see that currently the percentage would be less because our domestic demand and order book stays strong. If for any reason it goes down, which I do not believe, then we have also parallelly started working to the export market, seeded there. If we have to shift, we will be ready to shift that. To your last point, KSA has started the anti-dumping duty investigation. That's a fair point. Yes, they have already started doing that. You also must keep in mind that Welspun's DI Pipe facility in KSA will also come up by March of 2026.
And these anti-dumping investigations will definitely be of significant help to our local entity, our local production facility which we are setting up in Saudi Arabia. W e are sitting on both the sides. We see a strategic advantage having with this investigation because it will help us stabilizing our Saudi entity much expeditiously and faster.
Okay. Just one thing. Morishya's entity is paying a lot of interest to current entity.
Mr. Raja, I'm extremely sorry to interrupt, but can you please rejoin the question queue for your follow-up questions?
Yeah. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, another reminder to please limit your questions to two per participant so that the management can take up questions from all the participants in the conference. Our next question comes from the line of Sneha Talreja from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon, team, and congratulations on a great set of numbers. A couple of questions come to mind from OPVC and Sintex's angles. Would it be possible to share any order book number on the OPVC side? T hat's first. S econdly, what I want to understand is in the growth rates of Sintex, while you mentioned that you've done roughly about INR 310-odd crores on Sintex's first-half number, what is the growth target here? Because as far as I understand, last year was somewhere about INR 600-650-odd crores for total revenue size. Are we seeing any slowdown here? In case you can just quantify that, what's the growth likely to be this particular year only for the Sintex's overall division?
Sneha, thank you very much. First, on the OPVC side, as I said, that we have now achieved, we have started the commercial production. We have received all the statutory mandatory approvals and accreditations which are required to supply pipes into the domestic market. And also, we now have orders from multiple stakeholders on a pan-India basis, for which we will be starting servicing sometime later this month or from next month. At this point in time, I'm not saying that there are huge quantities of order, but there are decent quantities of order at this point in time what we have. But what is more important is that it is spread over at four or five locations, which means that the geographical acceptance of this pipe is what we wanted is now gaining traction.
At this point in time, what we are not following or vigorously pursuing is the volume part of it, but a wider gain and acceptance of OPVC pipes on a pan-India basis. I think so that's the strategy we have been working on. I think so to that extent, the efforts what have been made are showing positive results, number one. Coming back to your question on Sintex, I think our Sintex water storage division has been doing extremely good. As you know, it's a business all about distributors, dealers, and influencers. That brand, as it expands, the business expands on its own. The team, I think so, have been doing a phenomenal job in terms of making that expansion.
Further, we are investing a lot in terms of branding and marketing activities and taking it directly to the consumers, making them aware about the products, what we are bringing. I think so this expansion is gaining a lot of attention and attraction. The market has been, you know, slightly subdued in the recent past. There has been a fund flow crunch into the overall market. We are all privy and all aware of it. I think so to that extent, they are also slightly impacted. But it is just as the fund flow into the markets in the water sector, everything will get improved. I'm sure that this growth rate will further accelerate from here. Sintex is, as I said earlier also, Sneha, a work in progress. We are absolutely focusing on building absolute solid ground foundation.
We have no hurry that we want everything yesterday or tomorrow. No. We want to bring foundations. We want to make clear foundation with respect to the quality, brand, process, dealer, distributor, influencer, digital, everything. We want to change the game in this particular market. It takes its own time. We will be investing that particular time and energy behind it because we see that is what is going to create a long-term intrinsic benefit for this organization.
Well, that's helpful. The last thing you also mentioned about the SHL scheme coming back and AMRUT too. You've been really positive about government spending coming back. Y ou are also present into DI, OPVC, and all sorts of pipes, which is where you actually see the benefit coming majority too. Will it be DI? Will it be OPVC? Will it be HDP? Where do you see incremental flows of the water supply coming to? Any categories that you would want to highlight here?
Sneha, this will be across all the categories. See, HDP will have a role up to a particular size. OPVC will have a role beyond that size. And third, DIP will have a role where OPVC will stop. I f you see in the whole value chain, on the lower diameter, it will be HDP. In the smaller diameters, it will be OPVC, and in the medium to bigger diameters, it will be DIP. All three of them are part of the same value chain. W e being present into all three of them, we are covering the entire value chain. O nce the NELS scheme funding and AMRUT 2.0 funding will start trickling back, which is just a matter of time, we will see growth across all the three product lines.
Understood. Thanks. Thanks a lot, team, and all the very best.
Thank you very much, Sneha.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bhavin Cheda from Enam Holdings. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon, sir. Congrats to the entire team for the excellent numbers. Just a few questions. First, on the CapEx, so we have spent INR 950 crores in H1, and if I see your quarter one slide which you had given, so our two-year CapEx plan was INR 5,500 crores, so roughly, what would be the breakup? Second half, how much you plan to spend, and balance would be in FY27? That's how we should model it?
Yeah. Bhavin, hi. This is Percy here. I'll take that question.
Hi, Percy.
Yeah. So we had announced CapEx of about INR 5,500 crore. I t was spread over three, four years, starting from FY25. I f you know, FY25, we already spent close to about INR 1,000 crore. I n H1 this year also, it's about INR 950 crore. So dono mila ke about INR 2,000 crore is done. What is remaining is another INR 3,500 crore. I think in H2 of this year, it will slightly pick up the pace. A s our Saudi and US projects are moving fast at a fast clip, so you can expect another maybe INR 1,500 crore for H2. T hat means for this fiscal year, you can expect about, I would say, INR 1,000 crore plus INR 1,500 crore, so about 2.5.
Okay. And 2,000 is already spent last year, so 3 and a half, right? So pending would be INR 2,000 crores starting FY27, right?
But our goal is, of course, to monitor the CapEx very carefully and maintain our balance sheet in a healthy position by looking at the debt numbers, the net cash numbers as well.
Sure. Second question, just on the order book, because I think your slide says that the order book is updated till 25th October. So US order, which was received yesterday, should be added to the order because that press release also mentions order book at INR 23,500 crores. T here looks to be some confusion between yesterday's press release and today's presentation. W hat exactly is the order book number?
Bhavin, let me clarify. I think so if it has added any confusion, my apologies for that. The U.S. order book coincidentally came yesterday. We had a chance to update it. This INR 23,500 crore order book is inclusive of the recent order, the last order book received from U.S. My apology for this if it has created any.
So 23,500 includes all orders. And 1.2 is equally spread in volume-wise between India and U.S., right?
Totally.
Right, and this 23,500 doesn't include Saudi Arabia orders, EPIC orders, right?
It did not. It did not.
What would be the order book there?
They have an order book exceeding for more than two years at this point in time. I think so they make separate disclosures to that, Bhavin. I'm sure you are tracking that. They have a very, very robust order book exceeding two years' time and very profitable order book. You see their performance for the Q2. I think so that will give you a very clear difference as to where that company is heading for.
Yeah. Y ou had a share of associate profit of close to 96 crores. So that reflects very strong results from Saudi operations. S hould we expect this current momentum to continue over the coming quarters, or was there any one-off in that share of profit number of 96 crores?
My sense is that, A, this is a clear reflection of the mix of the order book what they have. See, it could be a slightly on and off on a quarter-on-quarter basis. But from a quality of the order book, what we see they have, it would be fair to assess that it would be somewhere in the similar vicinities. Should be. But of course, subject to what the product mix, if they keep on changing, you will see some operations coming up on the play. But broadly, I think so this is the way we should keep in mind.
Yeah. Thanks a lot, and best of luck. Yeah.
Thank you, Bhavin.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sunena Chabria from Chola Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Congratulations to the entire management team for a great set of numbers. The first question that I had was the line pipe order books that were given was India and US combined. Would it be possible for you to give any color on the breakup between this for India and US respectively? What is the bifurcation between the two?
I think so, Sunena, thank you for joining. I think so, I did mention that this order book of 1.2 million is fairly evenly split between India and U.S., which means almost close to 600,000 tons at both the locations. Is that what you're looking at?
Yes. Yeah. I'm a firm expert. Thank you so much. J ust my second question is regarding this wholly-owned subsidiary that is being set up in Saudi Arabia. What would be the business functionality of that?
Wholly-owned subsidiary which we are setting up, which we have already set up in Saudi Arabia, is for we are setting up a plant. We are setting up a longitudinal plant, and we are setting up a DI plant, and it is a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary of Welspun Corp. That's the whole purpose and the reason for which both these plants are being set up.
Okay. Any timelines you could possibly give about them?
About what? About the setting up these plants?
Yeah. About the commissioning and the operation.
If you see, Sunena, we have given a very clear project update. I think, so if you see that on the DI pipe side of it, Anjar DI pipe facility, we are still maintaining that it should be up and running by March of 2026. And for the LSAW plant, what we are seeing there is also a similar timeline. B oth of them seem to be the fourth quarter of this financial year.
Okay. Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, friends. Thank you very much for joining today's conference call. I just want to reiterate a couple of things. As an organization, as Welspun Corp, we have a fairly healthy order book. We are completely focused in our growth. You will see, we have seen a consistent growth over the last six quarters. I'm very sure that in subsequent quarters for the next two years, you would see both growth and improved margins. Our focus continues to be maintain profitability. You will see that we will try to maintain those above 23%-24%. We have a very healthy balance sheet at this point in time. You see our net debt to EBITDA are less than, they are almost negligible. Despite that, all the capex we are doing, we are trying to maintain a sort of a net cash position.
So from a growth perspective, from a ROCE perspective, and from a balance sheet perspective, your company is absolutely on the right track. From the business perspective, if you see, there is a paradigm shift, as I said, is happening both in the American market, in the Indian market, and going to be into the Saudi market. All these three markets are booming, are growing, and they offer huge opportunity. I am sure with our philosophy of core products and core geographies, by virtue of which our reach is increasing, our total addressable market is increasing, I'm very sure that your company will do extremely well in the next couple of years. With that, I would like to thank all of you once again for joining us.
If you have any questions, anything which we would have not answered to your satisfaction, or you have any afterthought about it, please feel free to reach out. We will be more than happy, in fullest transparency, to share that with you. Once again, thank you very much for joining us today. Thanks.
On behalf of JM Financial, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.