Thank you, Lizann. Welcome all the participants to TVS Motor Company Q1 FY 20 23 post-results conference call. From the TVS management we have with us today Mr. K N Radhakrishnan, Director and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. K. Gopala Desikan, Chief Financial Officer. I'll now hand over the call to Mr. K N Radhakrishnan for the opening remarks, to be followed by question- and- answer session. Over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I trust all of you and your family members are safe. God bless all of you, and great health, lots of happiness, peace, prosperity. Definitely this year, Diwali season should be a good season for everyone. This quarter, Q1, company recorded the highest ever revenue, EBITDA and profits, despite many challenges, especially shortage of semiconductors, which has impacted the production and sales of premium two-wheelers. Our revenue for this quarter was INR 6,009 crore and EBITDA was INR 599 crore. PBT is at INR 432 crore. All of you know that Q1 of last year is not really comparable because last year we had the wave 2 .
When we look at the overall, Q4 of last year to now and Q1, both we have done extremely well given the challenges. We sold 5.65 lakhs as against 3.29 lakhs. This is in the domestic market. What is most important is as against industry growth of 53%, we have grown much ahead, 70%, despite the challenges in the semiconductor availability. Our international business has also done well. We did 2.96 lakh as against last year, 2.9 lakh. This is also faster than the industry growth. Overall, we did 8.61 lakh units against 6.1 lakh units against last year first quarter. Much better than the industry growth.
The iQube in this quarter we have done 9,000, but what is very good is month after month we are able to ramp up and the demand for this product is extremely good. Thanks to all customers. The three-wheelers we did INR 0.46 lakh as against INR 0.39 lakh during last year Q1 . EBITDA for this quarter is INR 599 crore as against INR 274 crore of Q1 last year. We registered 10% EBITDA. In the last four quarters, we posted operating EBITDA 10% despite various challenges of semiconductor, container availability, significant increases in the commodity cost.
I think this was possible only because of the customer base, the range of products what we have, our premiumization, our growth in the international market, and above all, the sustainable cost reduction. PBT for this quarter is INR 432 crore. Last year Q4 was INR 373 crore. Profit after tax is INR 321 crore as against last year's INR 53 crore. On EV, we are extremely happy that we launched TVS iQube in three variants that comes loaded with best-in-class on-road range of 140 kilometers on a single charge.
I think we are offering a host of intelligent connected features, including a 7-inch TFT touchscreen and lot of infinity theme personalization, voice assist, and the TVS iQube Alexa skillset, intuitive music player control, OTA, fast charging with plug and play. I think I can keep going on and on. I think Indian consumers are going to see a host of benefits, host of features, connected features, in addition to the biggest storage space of 32 liters. The response received from the customers are extremely encouraging. In Q1, we sold 9,000 EV scooters. In month of June, we sold more than 4,500 numbers.
There are supply chain constraints in semiconductor components, but I'm confident month after month you will see improvements in terms of the dispatch from the company. Demand is very robust, and we are currently taking bookings in 85 cities in India. The company has currently have a customer base of more than 20,000 happy customers of TVS iQube. Thanks to all of them. As promised, we will be ramping up very shortly to 10,000 per month and progressively moving to 25,000 per month. We'll be launching a series of new products focusing on different customer segments and with complete portfolio of offerings in the range of 5-25 kilowatts. We said this will be done in the next 2 years.
Our vision on electrification, we envisage a wide and reliable charging infrastructure for our EV customers. We have already partnered with Tata Power, CESL, and Jio-bp Network. I'm very sure this will sustainably enhance the customer convenience and experience. Overall, I think the progress so far has been as per plan. In terms of the new product launches, you would have seen very recently the TVS Ronin. It is a perfect combination of style, riding comfort, technology for those who live the unscripted way of life. I think it comes with a lot of world-class merchandise accessories, a configurator, and a dedicated experience program. It is going to create a new segment. I'm pretty confident about that.
In terms of TVS NTORQ 125 XT , we launched with never seen high-tech features like industry first hybrid TFT console, TVS SmartXconnect, and it has got 60-plus high-tech features, including smart talk, smart track. The scooter also features intelliGO technology. TVS Radeon now comes with the TVS intelliGO. Multicolor LCD screen displaying 18 different parameters and a charging port of USB. So overall, I think Q1 was a great quarter. When we look at Q2, we are extremely happy that the monsoon is satisfactory. We expect this year to have a normal monsoon, and this will definitely help the agricultural sector. The rural economy should definitely benefit from the global agricultural price trend, which promise encouraging returns for the farmer. I think we should all be respecting COVID.
The good news is, there is no hospitalization. Practically, it is negligible. Thanks to the government, for the vaccination drive and the booster. Social distancing requirement is continuing. Definitely, I think this will help in growing consumer preference towards personal mobility. We are well poised with the kind of range of products, offering what we have. We are confident that this is going to help us, definitely better than the industry. We are cautiously optimistic about the international market because some of the markets, some challenges in terms of affordability and some areas we are seeing some depreciation of the currency and a little bit of inflation. However, with the kind of product range we have, TVS has got, we are pretty confident on growth even in the international market.
The demand for the premium products is growing. We are aggressively working with alternative sources on the semiconductor area, and we are happy that those efforts, whatever we have put, will see good improvement in Q2. Already it has, some improvement has seen in July, and we will see good improvements for Q2. Despite some challenges, what happened in Q1, we were very happy that the sustained material cost reduction and overall range and international business focus has helped us in achieving our EBITDA of 10%. As I highlighted earlier also, we will continue to invest in new product development and the technology and new features. We are planning a series of product launches in the coming quarters, both in ICE and EV.
We have a very strong portfolio of brands, starting from the TVS Apache series, TVS Jupiter series, TVS Jupiter 125, TVS Raider, TVS NTORQ, TVS HLX range, TVS Radeon, TVS King, and the recently launched new product, the TVS Ronin. We are very confident that our customer delight is going to help us, and the range is going to help us to grow ahead of the industry, both in domestic and international markets. The top line growth, increased premiumization, and the sustained cost reduction initiative, both in material cost and in the fixed cost, will confidently help us to lead a sustained EBITDA margin. Overall, this year, as you know, Diwali season is starting sometime middle of September and till end of October. We are very well poised for a good growth ahead of the industry. Thank you.
Should we open up for questions?
Please.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone wishing to ask a question may please press Star and 1 on your touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press Star and 2 . Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Pramod Kumar from UBS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks a lot for the opportunity and congratulations, sir.
Mr. Pramod Kumar, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Sorry, can you hear me? Hello, can you hear me?
Mr. Pramod Kumar, we are unable to hear you. Please go ahead.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Thanks a lot. Sorry for that. Congratulations, sir, for a pretty good set of numbers in a tough environment. My first question is on the results side. I do note that, based on the model mix data shared by SIAM, you did have a fair bit of constraint on Apache quarter-on-quarter in the domestic market because of semis, and even Raider did not do that well or contribute much to the production and dispatches. Despite that, you have seen a reasonably good traction on the ASP side. If you can just help us understand, is it led by a scooter pickup alone? Because that's the only category which has seen a marked improvement quarter-on-quarter.
Just want to understand how is the price and the premium mix in scooter working in terms of the variant mix. You did talk about NTORQ, some new variants and all. Just want to understand, is it just scooters which has helped you this quarter on a sequential basis, in terms of the price, in terms of ASP improvements, what you're seeing?
Always believed in scooter category to come back, Pramod. We have seen this quarter scooters are almost 32% of the category share in the Indian two-wheeler industry, which is a very good news. We have also significantly grown in the scooter category. Thanks to Jupiter 110 and Jupiter 125 and NTORQ. That is one of the categories which has significantly helped us in this quarter. These kind of challenges we have always faced in the semiconductor. I think we have taken some countermeasures, and that is going to help us in Q2. Equally, international business and three-wheelers also have helped us. What is most important on the EBITDA side is the sustained material cost reduction.
Thanks to our strong brands, we were able to pass on price increases to the market. May not be fully, but that has also helped. Overall, it's a combination of overall sales going up, scooters going up, international business doing well, and also the cost reduction, sustained cost reduction from the company side. On one side, the material cost reduction, sustained material cost reduction.
Sir, thanks for that.
We also took some because there were some challenges in availability of Apache and Raider, we also controlled the marketing expenses related to that. Overall, I think it was a very concerted focus and that has helped the company.
Okay. Related to that, sir, basic insights, you can share the breakdown of sales and international business in terms of revenues and the dollar rate what you realize for the quarter?
International, I think the dollar rate is 76.5.
Oh, 76.5. Okay.
What we have realized. Overall turnover from international, give me a minute.
Even spare, sir, if you have it handy.
Spare parts is about INR 620 crore.
There's no big sharp spike, because some of your peers have seen a very sharp spike in spares contribution to overall revenue.
Yeah. We are at the same level. International is about INR 2,174 crore.
2,174. Second part is related to the export business. You did talk about some of the macro getting challenging. But if you can just throw some color on your position because you've been gaining market share in international markets from export from India for many years now consistently. If you can just share how TVS is positioned amidst this more moderated demand environment and whether you see growth in the IB side or the international business side for FY 2023 from the company level. If you can just share and also some color on your inventory situation in these markets if possible.
Yeah. We have a consistent inventory norm. We keep around 25-30 days of the inventory, plus the transportation time, especially in international. We have to provide the replenishment because the last thing we want is loss of retail. We never keep extra stock in any market because we believe that the customer should get a fresh vehicle. That philosophy will never change. Now, coming back to the international market, we have seen such challenges in some other markets even in the past. I'm pretty confident that this is only a small phase. Even some other markets in Nigeria or some other market in Africa.
I think there is a strong brand pull for our products, and I'm pretty confident that overall the range of products what we have, we will continue to grow ahead of the market. We are pretty confident even in Q2.
In a way you're guiding for growth for TVS in international business for FY 2023?
We will grow. We will definitely grow ahead of the market. I'm pretty confident. I think the kind of range of products what we have in terms of HLX series and HLX 100, 125, 150, plus our current models of Apache, NTORQ, Jupiter 125 and Raider. I think there is a huge pull for even Raider in the market. It's a combination of existing models doing well, customer satisfaction and also the new products, whatever we have launched. I'm pretty confident that we will continue to grow ahead of competition in the international market.
Many thanks. I'll come back in the queue. Thanks a lot, and best luck.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raghunandan N. L. from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Congratulations on good numbers. Sir, couple of questions. Can you talk about how much was the commodity impact in Q1, and how do you see the impact in Q2?
See, commodity for Q1, I think there is a carryover of about 1% and there is another 1%. There was an overall almost 2% impact in Q1. We have taken up prices almost 1.5%. I think, plus the product mix and the combination of benefits we got in sustained material cost reduction, I think that helped us to keep up our material costs almost at the same level or slightly better than last year in terms of Q4 to Q1. I'm saying Q4 to Q1. You forgot.
Sir. Commendable performance.
In terms of Q2, there may be small increases because there are some material which are going up. Overall, if you ask me a trend, I think Q3 onwards, you should see some softening in terms of material costs. Please remember that all these material costs are already at a very, very high level. In terms of the numbers, vehicles, I'm talking for the industry, not for us. We are still, you know, in terms of the numbers, we are at least 3 years, 4 years back. I am of the view that second half you will see softening of materials.
Got it, sir. Thank you. Sir, other income, non-operating income seems to be on the higher side this quarter. Is there any one-off or if you can elaborate on that?
Say it again.
Yes. The other income represents the profit on sale of our investments in Intellicar. It is another income, not an operating income.
Got it, sir. That quantum would be how much, sir, the profit on sale?
It's around INR 22 crore. We have not considered in our disclosures as the EBITDA calculations also. It's around INR 21.9 crore to be represented.
If you add that, it is 10.3%. We have kept it outside the EBITDA.
Thank you, sir. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks team for taking my questions. Just a couple of questions. Firstly, on the EV business ramp up, you know, could you just update us where we are in terms of the monthly production? Because last time when we had spoken about, we were looking at about 10,000 odd units a month. Where are we on that?
Yeah, we are, for example, June month, this quarter was about 9,000, but what is a silver lining is, month of June we were closer to that, 4,500-5,000, that number. I'm pretty confident that July will be a better number and August will be another number, better number. We are moving towards the 10,000. We also wanted to reach it to as early as possible because very good booking from the customers. As I highlighted, I think our endeavor is to, the pull for iQube, all the 3 variants are excellent, thanks to the kind of, features and the product, whatever we have delivered. I think month after month, I am pretty confident now.
Many of our suppliers, especially in the semiconductor area, is also supporting us. They understood the brand strength of TVS. I'm pretty confident that month after month you will see that going on.
Any order book that you can share that you have, you know, backlogs on iQube?
We have about 20,000 bookings.
Okay. The rollout across, you know, across.
Yeah, it is. We are now currently about 82 cities in India. 85 cities to be precise. Because our ramp up versus the demand, there is a gap. We are also cautiously going because we have to satisfy the customers. That is very, very important.
There was also this indication that, you know, you will look to raise money in this subsidiary to fund the expansion. You know, any update or, you know, when can we expect any progress on that front? Any color on that will help us.
We'll come back to you. Still, we are evaluating all options and definitely we'll come back to you on that.
Okay. Got it. The second question I had was on the shortages in the premium segment, because Raider, Apache is something that you've been calling out, has been, you know, have been affected. Are those concerns now behind? You know, in that line, if you can also share, you know, is there any shortage on these models at the retail end? I mean, just the inventory levels in the channel, if you can give some update on that.
Yeah. We definitely, the Raider and Jupiter did affect the Apache, did affect the retail also, the customer retail also. Unfortunately, we had three months, April, May, June, where we had serious problems in both these models. The good news is, we are having some alternate suppliers which have started supporting these models. With the current supplier and the new supplier, I am pretty confident that you will see a much better number in Q2.
Channel inventory, sir. That's the last one.
Channel inventory, we always believe in less than 25 days maximum to 30 days in any model. These models did affect, that's why I said that it, the stock levels were very low in the market, for these two models in April, May, June. April was okay, but May and June definitely we have suffered loss of retail as well. I'm pretty confident that going forward from July you will see improvement in that.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Chandramouli Muthiah from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Good evening, and thank you for taking my questions. First question is that despite a fairly challenging chip supply situation, TVS has been able to supply Jupiter scooters, I think 25% QoQ growth in volumes. Just trying to understand what are some of the measures that you've been able to take as a company to pull this off?
I think working closely with the suppliers because it's not that the suppliers also ultimately lose huge profit because premium products, you know, it's very, very critical. In the case of Jupiter, we were able to work closely with the supplier. Here also we worked, but unfortunately sometimes, you know, their tier one in certain locations had some problems and challenges. In the case of Jupiter, that did not happen. We work very closely with our tier one and some of the tier one also works very closely with the semiconductor suppliers.
Certain things did not work for us in April, May, but we were able to come up very quickly with alternatives for these two models, and that will definitely helping Q2. I think this is something we have to be constantly at it, because thanks to the EV sector, we are learning a lot on the semiconductor industry and what kind of challenges and the lead times. I think these learning helps us to prepare very pre-planning, you know. Practically you have to plan 52 weeks ahead. That kind of planning. I think that is the combination of this learning has helped us for Jupiter.
Got it. That's helpful, sir. Just as a follow-up, a few quarters back, you had given us some color on the number of pending orders for premium motorcycles, including Apache and Raider. If you could once again give us some color on those two products, especially what are the pending orders on those two models?
See, the pending orders normally we don't book. Only in the case of EV we book because this is a very new model and the new set of customers. Other models, normally we have very healthy demand in the market. Both Raider and Jupiter, I think, we have lost retail from mid-May onwards. I don't want to put a quantification to that because what is most important is taking countermeasures so that we don't lose the customers. Okay? There are some customers who are still waiting because they love this brand. Most importantly, what is liking to me is Apache and Raider customers still wait and we are fulfilling the demand this month. I'm very happy and thankful to those customers.
Got it. That's helpful, sir. Last question is on how management is looking at the future prospects of the moped category. Is there any plan to introduce electric mopeds also over time?
The person you are speaking with has put your call on hold. Please stay on the line.
Moped has got a purpose, and we are extremely happy the way moped is moving. I think these are set of customers really, bottom of the pyramid. They had lot of challenges. If I look at in the last two years, I think the biggest challenge was the lockdowns. All of us know that there were a lot of challenges in terms of as a category itself. But we should always remember, I gave the statistics. If I look at moped has declined by 38%. But if we look at the entry-level motorcycles, it is declined by 50%. It's not related to moped, it is related to the entry-level consumer not having ability to buy.
They had thanks to the lockdown, they are daily wage earners, they are self-employed. If they don't go out, they don't earn. I think thanks to again the booster and other vaccination drive, I think today the fear of hospitalization is slowly moving away in COVID. You will see the rural once the rural starts picking up, the bottom of the pyramid will start picking up. I'm pretty confident. This is 3%-4% of the category. Because they have a purpose. That purpose will continue to be there, and we will definitely fulfill that. That is the role of moped.
Got you. Just on electric mopeds, is that part of the company's plans over time?
Again, we have a range of products which we are planning to come back on EV. I don't want to specifically say these are the kind of products. I gave you from 5 to 25 kilowatts, and we have a very clear range. We are iQube now. iQube three versions are there. I think quarter after quarter, I think you can see something coming from TVS to delight the customers.
Thank you, sir, and all the very best.
Thank you. We'll move on to the next question. That is on the line of Mukesh Saraf from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question is again on EVs. This is more towards the slow speed EVs that we see getting imported from China. The question is basically we're seeing a lot of those slow speed EVs in the form factor of a moped. These obviously don't require any license nor do they require registration. Do you see that already back on moped or some kind of an entry-level segment for the industry as a whole? Or these are fly-by-night operator, you know, sellers, and they'll probably not survive for too long. What's your take on these slow speed segment as a whole?
See, these are products which we have to respect from the market side, the low speed. I think what is most important is the customer usage. We always believe that any product there is a particular type of customer usage. I don't think customers look at the technology. If somebody wants to buy a scooter, obviously he wants it to be going in good roads, bad roads. It should be able to climb any kind of flyover. It should be able to carry whatever required. Normally, typically, if you look at it, husband, wife, children or they should be able to carry whatever they require for the normal household work. I think somewhere if there is. Of course, safety and overall total cost of ownership.
If these criteria is not met, I think they will reject that category. That is our belief. That's why I always say that put the customer at the center and keep working on whatever is required for the customer. Whoever works for the customer and understands the overall total cost of ownership and the usage pattern, they will succeed in the long term. Otherwise, there will be many, many products which will be coming. This is not only applicable for two-wheelers. In my view, it is applicable for any category.
Sure. Are you seeing any impact at all, sir, from these low-speed vehicles on especially mopeds?
I told you about moped. Moped is a big problem in the bottom of the pyramid because of the last year and last couple of years of real you know COVID. Thanks to COVID, their income level got completely affected.
Okay.
They had lot of challenges and all of them are self-employed and you know lot of challenges. It is not only for moped. I highlighted the entire entry level. You look at the motorcycles.
Yes, yes.
Entry level.
Sure.
Moped declined only 38% and the entry level motorcycles declined by 50%. Please look at it in a greater perspective.
Got that. Again, I mean, on electric vehicles, sir, on electric three-wheelers, sir. What's the take there? Are we seeing enough takers for that in terms of the TCO? How are we looking at the electric three-wheelers?
Electric, this is going to be a key strategy of TVS Motor Company. We feel there is a great opportunity.
Mm-hmm.
I think our full focus is on giving the best to the customer in terms of usage. You have seen already in iQube. Now, the new three variants, I think, they will definitely delight the customer. It has got all the features what I explained, and there are three versions and I'm pretty confident that is going to delight the customer.
Sorry. My question was more towards three-wheelers. I mean, especially, you know, compared to CNG, how are we looking at that as a market?
Which one you are asking?
Electric three-wheelers, sir. Electric three-wheeler as a market.
Three-wheeler, you will be seeing our three-wheeler coming soon into the market.
Right.
I think the CNG three-wheeler is also very good in the market and also petrol. I think alternate fuel.
Yeah.
I think you will see, again, TCO. Customers look at the usage. They look at the TCO. I think whoever is able to manage that, whoever is able to satisfy the customer requirement, they will succeed.
Right. All right, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Siddhartha Bera from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the export market. You indicated that the outlook is cautious, but we still expect to outgrow the industry. Just some of your thoughts on which will be the top few countries for us and how we'll be positioned in terms of market share in those countries. Just to understand the scope of market share gains in some of these regions.
We are currently exporting to 80 countries and Africa, ASEAN, Asia, Latin, Middle East, these are all the countries. We have an excellent range of products, starting from HLX to the recently launched Raider. Please remember that we also export from Indonesia, our ViREX and HLX. Overall, the product portfolio is excellent and the customer delight is also excellent from these markets. Now, we have also seen in the past, currency challenges, availability challenges, depreciation challenges. Okay. Overall, there are some markets where we feel that there are some challenges in terms of little higher inflation and also currency availability. I think a couple of quarters it should ease out. Because the basic mobility needs are there. The purpose of these products for mobility is there.
African market predominantly is a taxi market. The need for taxis are there. Okay? Predominantly this is the mode of employment there. I think couple of quarters you moderate yourself and you can always. We always believe in very lean stocks in the market. We go by pull in the market. That is definitely helping us. I'm pretty confident that we will be able to do extremely well in coming quarters in IV.
Got it, sir. In terms of the currency rates, which you see currently, dollar INR is hovering closer to 70 and 80 levels. Do you think you will be able to retain the entire profit or you will plan to probably pass on to some of that to push demand?
I think these are strategies of the company. We constantly look at you know, what is most important is you have to give the value to the customer. The moment you give value to the customer and customer sees a total TCO superior to the competition, they will start preferring you. Okay. Each country has got their own currency, their own challenges. India has got our own challenges. I think these are all part of you know, day-to-day planning and overall strategy of the company.
Okay, sir. Lastly, sir, if you can share the CapEx and investment plan for the year.
This year CapEx is about INR 750 crores. This is on 2022-2023 CapEx.
The investment in subsidiaries, that will be how much?
Sorry, what's the question? I couldn't get you.
Investment in subsidiaries is one of the questions.
Yeah, yeah. See, we will, we have to invest in TVS Credit Services to maintain the capital adequacy ratio. We are in line with whatever we have done in the last year. For Norton, as we have explained, if they require, a CapEx program is happening, there will be investment. Other than that, I don't foresee any investments.
About TVS, here you want to highlight the resilience. They have done extremely well.
Yeah. TVS's performance has been extremely good. Their book size has crossed INR 15,000 crores now. We are at INR 15,400 crores is the book size. The gross NPA is at the lowest at 3.1%. The collections have been extremely good, better than the pre-COVID levels today. The profit for Q1 is PBT is INR 111 crores is the PBT. In all parameters, they have done exceedingly well.
Put together, sir, the amount will be closer to INR 300-400 crore or probably more for this subsidiary.
Around that.
Yeah. Yeah. Around that number.
Thanks a lot. I'll come back in next.
Thank you. We'll move on to the next question. That is on the line of Amyn Pirani from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can hear you.
Yes. You know, I joined a bit late, so sorry if I'm repeating the question. You have invested some INR 114 crore in Roppen Transportation Services. What is this entity?
This is Rapido, yeah. This is Rapido.
Oh. Rapido. Okay.
Yeah. We have invested 2%.
Okay.
Yeah. As you know, they are. This is basically to leverage their synergies of their respective business in the fast-moving mobility market in India. This is going to definitely help us benefit for TVS Motor, also TVS Credit, because it will help us in the delivery of vehicles, also credit and financing solutions. I think it is going to definitely support overall TVS. That is why we have invested in Rapido.
Understood. To cater to this category, because you announced a tie-up with Swiggy also and now this investment in Rapido, will we be seeing a different kind of a vehicle compared to what you have in the iQube going forward?
Again, we always focus on the customer segment. You can definitely, whatever is required for the customer segment, we will invest behind that. That is the strength of TVS. We have a dedicated team of R&D, and we look at the customer segment, and segment by segment, we will give solutions to the customer so that they get delighted.
Sure, sir. Looking forward to that product, sir. Thank you. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Noel Vaz from Asian Markets Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yes, congratulations on the launch of the iQube. I just have one question which is relating to the new iQube launches, is how exactly does the company see the iQube and the investments and the whole EV charging network, how do they plan to exactly take it up going forward? That's my only question. Thank you.
One second. Can you repeat the question? One question is related to iQube, and second one is?
No. Actually, sir, the thing is that right now the company has launched the iQube on the product side. I presume that all the investments in Rapido and the tie-ups with Tata Power and the other power distribution companies is to build out the charging network, I suppose. Right, sir?
Absolutely. I think to start integrating the investments we have made in the charging infrastructure partners like Tata Power, CESL, Jio-bp, and product on the other side, I think you will be able to see how we are. We have a very clear strategy behind the product and also the infrastructure for supporting. Ultimately, we are looking at how do we enhance the customer convenience. How do we provide, depending upon the customer segment, you know, starting from home charging, fast charging to the public charging. I think there is a very clear strategy. As we go quarter after quarter, I think you will be able to understand what is the overall strategy of the company.
We are putting all the elements of the strategy closer to every product launch and these launches we will be able to share you more details.
Okay. From what I can understand is that maybe in the quarter from now we can expect more definitive milestones.
It is a part of overall strategy. It is thought through, very well thought through, and we are putting step by step in investments behind each of these partnerships also in the product and customer segments. Okay? That's why I said next 24 months are very, very important in terms of growth, customer segment, product delivery, and also the variants, what we will be giving it to the Indian consumers, and definitely leveraging these products for the global market as well.
Okay. Thank you. That is all from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ronak Sarda from Systematix. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. First question is on the electric vehicles production ramp up. If you can also help us understand, you know, how are we tying up on the battery cells, because I think that's even a more critical challenge versus semiconductors currently. In terms of new products, are there different technologies on the sales side which we are working on? Sir, that's the first question.
I think EV is a very, very important strategy for the company, and we are building up long-term relationships with many of these supply chain providers. More details I can tell you as we proceed quarter after quarter. As of now, we are moving in the right direction. Month after month, you will see the ramp up going up. What is most important is a very, very healthy booking from the consumer side. The 20,000 customers are giving very positive about EV's iQube, and you have seen the new three variants in the market. Again, you will see a series of products getting launched on one side. On the other side, we are very systematically working on the ramp up. Month after month you will see the improvement.
We are also having very good relationship, many of the new suppliers who are supporting us in the EV space.
Right. Sir, a couple of housekeeping questions. Can you share what was the export revenue last year same quarter, so June 2021? What was the price hike in Q2 in July, if any?
Last year, Q1 export was INR 1,830 crores. Price hike you are asking July.
Yeah. June. I think quarter one you had indicated.
Last quarter I said about 1.5%.
1.5%.
Q1 we took 1.5%.
Yeah. Anything in July?
July, I think you have to give me some time. Let me check.
Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you. We'll move on to the next question. That is from the line of Pramod Kumar from UBS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, thanks a lot for the opportunity. My question was related to Norton because you have talked about the launch on this side very soon. If you can help us understand when the launch is expected in the Fiscal 2023? And if you can throw more color on what is gonna be the volume strategy here in terms of what kind of volume levels are you looking at for these launches, what you're gonna do. Also related to that, is EV. Are premium EV also part of the pipeline for Norton for the future days?
I'll start from the last question. I think EV is going to be across. I think we have to look at. That's why I said, there is a very clear segment-wise product strategy and, quarter after quarter you will see how company is, planning the investments and how we are planning to deliver the product. Now, Norton is a very, very special and a very, very premium brand, and a lot of work has happened and, in the new headquarters in Solihull, we have really made an excellent high quality manufacturing facility, assembly facility. I think a lot of work is going on there. I think you have to give me some more time. The strategy is very clearly worked out now, which product and which quarter.
I can assure you that there is an investment which you will see significant returns going forward. My analogy is always PT TVS Motor Company Indonesia. Okay? You invest, and we are very serious about these investments, whatever we make. We have to give some time because when you invest in the right segment and right business, and focus on the customer, we are pretty confident that we will deliver good performance in the future. That's exactly TVS has stood for. You have seen in TVS years, you have seen in PT TVS Motor Company Indonesia. Okay? Quarter after quarter, you can see our strategy. We are focused on the segments and we will invest behind the right thing.
Fair enough, sir. Second question is on EVs broadly. There were other couple of participants, including Chandu, who asked about the moped side. My simple question is, like if the customer do you see at the customer level if there's a demand for a sturdy electric cargo vehicle on the two wheel? Is that? If there's a demand like that, will you be kind of exploring that? Because you always say that you kind of look at what the customer wants and put customers at center of. I think I'm just trying to understand if for a lot of the urban, semi-urban and rural customers if there is a demand for low cost cargo movement on electric vehicle format. Is that something which you're open to as a company, as a product, which you can explore?
We have a very clear customer segment-wise product strategy.
Mm.
Okay? You will see which product, which customer segment. There is also a rationale on the sequence of these products. Okay? Closer to launch, I can share more information about which product, which segment, how we are planning to. Now you have seen, you know, we have three variants. I think at this point of time, I want to delight the customers who are booked and we have not delivered. Okay? What is most important is these are all concurrent. Okay?
Mm-hmm.
We have to concurrently work on the products. Okay? We have to keep delivering that.
Fair enough, sir. Related to that, on the 25,000 capacity you're talking about, this would be across how many? This, does it include three-wheelers and does it span across more than one model like iQube? If you can just throw light on what is the kind of segments you are trying to cater to with the 25,000 capacity over a year?
We are ramping up first step to reach 10,000.
Mm-hmm.
Go to 25,000 month after month. What is most important is we are delighted that the customers are showing lot of confidence in iQube.
Mm.
Okay? I think we are very, very focused on looking at month after month, delighting the customer, giving variants to the customer, giving the best features, best technology, and being standing with the customer.
I know you don't comment on initial launch response, but given the response to Ronin, how would that compare with your own internal expectations, sir? The response from dealers so far and the customers so far. If you can just say whether it's kind of tracking your expectations or is it something which can get better? If you can just share qualitative color on that. Because you talked about 10,000 number here per month.
Ronin is modern retro. It's a new category for us and the more new category for the industry. I'm pretty confident that the customer will be delighted. Okay? Again, we invest in the new products. We wait for the customers. Month after month, we see. All that what I can say is TVS will delight the customer.
Finally, two housekeeping questions for business. Any update on SEMG in terms of the financial performance? If you can share broad revenue numbers and the profitability numbers. Also there is a separate disclosure about divestment of shares in a material subsidiary in the U.S. side, which I think is related to your stake in the Sundaram Auto Components, the plant along with Sundaram-Clayton. If you can just talk more about that, whether it will be a cash transaction or will there be a share swap or something like that, sir? I'm just trying to understand a bit resulting cash exposure for TVS Motor. Thank you.
Let me try to answer the last question. Yes, there is a proposal for divestment of the investments in material subsidiary. The sale will happen to Sundaram-Clayton, which holds the balance 49.5%. By this process, Sundaram-Clayton will become a 100% owner of the Sundaram-Clayton USA company. It is a cash transaction, and the money will be received post the approval of the shareholders by the subsidiary of TVS Motor Company, namely Sundaram Auto Components.
SEMG, sir?
As far as SEMG is concerned, K N , would you like to say something or the company.
Yeah, SEMG, as you know, it's one of the leading providers of e-mobility solutions in the DACH region. Last year-
Ladies and gentlemen, the lines of the management has got disconnected. Please stay connected while we reconnect the management. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. We now have the lines of the management reconnected. Over to you, sir.
Yes.
Members of the management team, your line is in talk mode. Please proceed.
Yeah. I was answering about SEMG. It's one of the leading providers of the e-mobility solutions in the DACH region. This year there are some supply chain issues this year. Also there is a little bit of slowness in Europe as a whole. We are pretty confident that this product and the demand will be good. Already we are seeing some improvement in the month of July. We are very confident about SEMG doing extremely well this year.
Would you expect that they not on a quarterly basis, but on the longer term, they should hold that 8% PAT margin, what they had in the previous fiscal, or probably get better as volumes or revenues kind of rebuild?
I think these are investments into the complete category. I think
Yeah.
If you look at our investments, whatever we have done in the e-mobility area, especially in the e-cycle, I think TVS Motor has got certain products. This e-mobility is on the one side and the Norton on the other side. You are seeing a huge range of products for both developing and developed markets. This also gives us a great learning opportunity about Europe and the consumer in Europe. These are investments which are definitely going to yield very good returns in the future. I don't want to give any guidance on what exactly will be the kind of returns, but these are going to be the strategic investments which is going to definitely help the company in the long run.
Sounds great, sir. Thanks a lot. Thank you, sir.
Can we take the last question, please?
Sure, sir. We'll move on to the next question. That is on the line of Mihir Jhaveri from Avendus Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir, two questions. One is on the demand side, sir. Are you seeing are you witnessing the demand in terms of retail a bit of a slowdown and what's your outlook there? You said that you will be doing more than industry growth, but how are you seeing the coming quarters? For along with what is the inventory level in our system? Will you be filling up inventory channel for the festive season? That's my first question. Second question is on the raw material basket, you highlighted that H2 onwards, you will have the benefit. So just wanted to understand that is it safe to assume that from here on, there will be from the current levels quarter after quarter, we can see some bit of margin improvement?
Is that fair to assume? These are my two questions, sir. Thanks.
On the first question, with the COVID situation, what it is today, I'm pretty confident that this year Diwali season will be a good season. Rural, thanks to good monsoon, I think rural will do well. I'm talking about domestic, okay? Domestic market. I'm expecting that even now, thanks to the vaccination drive, I think the number of incidents, COVID is becoming like a flu now. Three days, four days and no hospitalization. Still, I think we can be a little bit more disciplined in wearing the mask and social distancing. I think it can help. I'm very positive about August, September, October this year because I think many of the areas there are no lockdowns expected, Number 1 . Number 2 , rural will do well.
Number 3, the urban markets will do well. Schools are open, everything is open. I told you that already scooter category is 32%, almost 32%, and scooter will continue to grow because of its own inherent benefits. The positivity, according to me, the bottom of the pyramid also will start seeing some traction because last two years they had very limited income and mobility needs are there. Thanks to the investment by the government on the infrastructure, there is definitely mobility needs are there. The two-wheelers will continue to do well. It may take the CAGR of 10%, what we have seen about 3 years back. It may take maybe another couple of quarters or 3 quarters.
Overall, I'm very positive about Q2 and Q3, you will see much, much better year overall. This is on the industry side. From our side, we always keep very lean stock, okay? 25 days to 30 days. Season, no season, we look at the retail. Again, from the customer point of view, you have to give the fresh vehicle. That is our philosophy. That philosophy will continue. All that what is required is we should not lose the retail, okay? That is the focus. For that, you look at the lead time. We have fortunately three plants, one in Hosur, one in Mysore, one in Himachal.
Between these plants, we look at what is the best opportunity to deliver to the consumer, to the dealer, and we make sure that stocks are available so that we don't lose the retail. We will never increase stocks beyond this 25-30 days, okay? Because that has been the philosophy, and same philosophy will continue even in the international market.
On the raw material front, sir, on the margin front, if you can,
Raw material we can only at this point of time, as I said, already it is in the peak. We have already seen Q2, maybe some more increases may be there. The Q3 onwards, you should see some settle, you know, the raw material to be stable or slight reduction. These are the things we are expecting in the market. We'll have to see quarter by quarter. We are not so much worried because this is something we have to go product by product, brand by brand. Thanks to the customer confidence on the brands what we have, we are able to pass on some cost increases. Some we are able to reduce through our overall cost reduction, sustained cost reduction. We are also focusing on premium category.
I think the range is helping us, the demand is helping us. Our overall approach of looking at giving value to the customer through features, attractive quality and total cost of ownership, I think that will definitely help us in going forward in growing ahead of the industry.
I think we are through now.
Thank you, everyone. I think the Q2 Diwali season, Puja season, again, the kind of products what we have, and I am very confident that we will be able to ramp up iQube much faster this quarter, July as of September. Overall, the sustained cost reduction, the focus of premiumization, international business and the range what we have, we are confident that we will deliver continued and sustained EBITDA improvement along with gain in overall growth ahead of the industry, both in domestic and international. Thank you very much.