Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd Q2FY24 earnings conference call, hosted by Ambit Capital. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Virat Salvi from Ambit Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
To the Managing Director, Mr. Vikas Ahluwalia, full-time director, and Mr. Satbeer Singh, CFO of the company. I will now hand over the conference to the management team for their opening remarks, after which we shall open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
We have at Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd have announced our financial results for Q2FY24. During Q2FY24, the company has achieved a turnover of INR 901.55 crores and a PAT of INR 55.30 crores in comparison to a turnover of INR 622.84 crores and a PAT of INR 39.16 crores in Q2FY23. The company has registered a growth of 44.75% and 41.21% in turnover and PAT respectively during Q2FY24 in comparison to Q2FY23. EPS of the company for Q2FY24 is INR 8.26 as compared to INR 5.85 in Q2FY23. During Q2FY24, the company's EBITDA margin is 9.96% as compared to 9.93%, and a PAT margin of 6.13% as compared to 6.29% in the corresponding period. During H1FY24, the company has achieved a turnover of INR 1,665.16 crores and a PAT of INR 105.03 crores in comparison to a turnover of INR 1,232.09 crores and a PAT of INR 76.94 crores in H1FY23.
EPS of the company for H1FY24 is INR 15.68 as compared to INR 11.59 in H1FY23. During H1FY24, the company's EBITDA margin is 10.36% as compared to 9.94%, and a PAT margin of 6.31% as compared to 6.25% in the corresponding period. Net order book of the company is INR 12,062.20.
Sorry to interrupt, sir. Your voice is not audible. Management, your line is not audible. Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that management. Please stay connected while we reconnect to them. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. We have the management line connected with us. Over to you, sir.
Yeah, sorry, apologies, there was a glitch in the system. I will repeat part of my statement again. During Q2FY24, the company's EBITDA margin is 9.96% as compared to 9.93%, and a PAT margin of 6.13% as compared to 6.29% in the corresponding period. During H1FY24, the company has achieved a turnover of INR 1,665.16 crores and a PAT of INR 105.03 crores in comparison to a turnover of INR 1,232.09 crores and a PAT of INR 76.94 crores in H1FY23. EPS of the company for H1FY24 is 15.68 as compared to 11.49 in H1FY23. During H1FY24, the company's EBITDA margin is 10.36% as compared to 9.94%, and a PAT margin of 6.31% as compared to 6.25% in the corresponding period. Net order book of the company is INR 12,062.20 crores to be executed in the next 24 to 30 months. Total order inflow during FY24 till date stands at INR 5,259.50 crores.
At present, we are L1 in one project amounting to INR 2,840 crores. Over to you for questions now.
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. 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, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, and congratulations on a great set of numbers, particularly on the execution front. So just to revise the guidance, so we last time had talked about 20% plus kind of a number revenue growth for this year and 20% for FY25. So considering the 35% plus kind of a growth in the order book, so how much upward are we revising our revenue guidance for this year? And based on that, how much one can look at the FY25 revenue growth?
Thank you, Shravan. Look, our guidance remains the same. It will be 20% or upwards of 20%. We have to factor in the NCR and the NGT ban. Almost 18% of our order book is from NCR, and those projects, as you know, have been at a standstill now since before Diwali. And we do not know for how many more days the ban will be there on construction. So that is going to affect the run rate a little bit. So our guidance for both upside and margins remains what I gave last time.
So just to dwell further, so let's say for this quarter, third quarter, how one can look at in terms of the execution as the band is already there and one and a half month is already there. So how one can look at this quarter's growth?
Yeah, quarter in quarter, there will be growth, and we are hoping that post-Diwali, generally, in a couple of weeks, the situation should improve and we should hit the ground running as far as our projects in NCR are concerned. So that's why I said that we maintain the 20% or upwards of 20% guideline as far as our top line is concerned. Hello?
Yes, sir. Can you hear me?
Hello?
Sir, can you hear me? I can hear you clearly.
Beach way, आपकी आवाज चली गई. I can hear you now.
Yeah. Sir, I am saying that this quarter, in terms of the EBITDA margin, it has came down. So we were looking at 11% for this year and next year, 11.5%, 12%. So from the third quarter, can we look at?
Yes, it will. I had mentioned this last time also that the last two quarters, the margin as well as the run rate will improve further.
Okay, okay. And in terms of the order inflow, so definitely including the L1, which is now INR 8,100-odd crores, so how much more are we looking at? What's the bid pipeline?
The bid pipeline stands at about INR 2,500 crores. We should, I think we are in a position to, other than the L1 orders, we should get orders close to about INR 1,000 crores. We are not bidding aggressively.
Yeah, yeah, that I know that we are in a comfortable position, and two aspects in terms of these two big projects, one is Gems & Jewellery , and the second is CSTM, Mumbai Railway Station redevelopment, so first, Gems & Jewellery , when the LOA will be there, and how much execution one can expect in this year and the next year, and the same for CSTM this year and next year, how one can look at the execution?
So, CSTM, since that project is in hand, we should be in the third quarter, and we should start our billing cycle. And we are expecting a billing of anywhere between INR 150 crore to INR 200 crore as far as CSTM is concerned. As far as Gem and Jewelry, this thing is concerned, we may do a little bit of billing in the last quarter. As far as, as we mentioned last time, they're looking to the bid, though we are clearly the lowest, we are looking to reduce the budget. The figure that we quoted is above their budget. So they're looking at redesigning a portion of the project. So I think it will be at least another month and a half to two months before it is awarded.
Okay, okay. Got it. And last couple of data points on the balance sheet front, mobilization advance, retention money, unbilled revenue.
Yes, yes.
Sir, we will take you through all those points.
This is retention money, 253 crores. And that was 686 crores, mobilization 435 crores, and cash balance 691 crores, unbilled revenue 430 crores. Cash position is at 197 crores and bank position 325 crores. And besides that, debt that is 32 crores.
Yeah, sir, that number we have because we have a balance sheet. Just to clarify, sir, this increase in the other current, sir, it seems to be primarily because of the increase in the unbilled revenue and slightly increase in the retention money. And also debtor days have also slightly increased, though it is still at a comfortable level. But how one can look at by end of March, can we see some more reduction in the working capital?
Yes, yes. Because we are expecting retention money realization also. Because that we are using INR 353 crores, that we are expecting to project realization, and that will come down. And also that unbilled revenue INR 430 crores also will be less because various projects are on the path of completion. So that's why we are expecting that will be reduced also.
Okay, okay. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may press star and one. Participant, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. Next question is from the line of Lakshmi Narayanan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. When you. Projects, right? Be it L1. What was the criteria used?
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Narayan, your voice is breaking.
Yeah, is it better now?
Yes, this is better. It is.
So my question is that whenever you take a project be it L1 or non-L1 in a private sector, what is your minimum threshold in terms of various things like margins or financial closure, etc.? And how do you think about it? What are the two or three qualitative or quantitative parameters you have? And has it changed in the last two, three years?
Okay. First of all, as far as the change is concerned, maybe you were there on the last couple of calls. We primarily were our order book comprised of public sector contracts. But we, over the last one year, have signaled the shift in our thinking. Now that the private sector is reviving, we want to maintain a healthy mix. That is how you see over the past couple of quarters, we've got orders from large private sector clients like DLF, Max, Bennett, so on and so forth, right? So that's been one change. Going forward, we want to maintain a healthy balance between the two. Today, the division in the order book is private sector is almost 30%, and 70% is the government or the public sector.
When we are bidding for a project, there is a template through which we rate internally the client in terms of and also the project in terms of its geographical location, client in terms of the financial stability, the past track record with large construction companies, so on and so forth. We are extremely wary of areas in which we are not going to areas where we are not geographically present, and areas which have a stable government, that is something that we look at. As far as private sector clients are concerned, having burnt our fingers during the last recession, residential private sector projects is something that we only do with a few developers with proven track records. Have I answered your question?
Yeah. In terms of margins threshold, what is the thing you actually look for, margins or returns?
So it depends. The margin also, it can vary when we bid a job within a narrow bandwidth, depending on the credibility of the client and the longevity of our relationship with the client. If we've been associated with the client for many years and we feel that the payments and the cash reserves of the client are good, we may agree to work on a slightly lower margin also. So generally, we try and factor in double-digit margins.
Got it. Got it. And I think what I understand is the horizontal development versus vertical development. Horizontal development projects either have high interdependency with other agencies as well as the construction cost or the margins are lower than vertical high rises, right? So how do you think about it? Do you actually have a view that you would actually prefer vertical versus horizontal?
Not really. Over the years, we've built in-house capabilities to do disciplines other than core and shell also, like electromechanical works, plumbing, firefighting works, finishing works. And that has helped us as far as execution of EPC, winning and executing EPC jobs is concerned. Having said that, in residential projects where we see a lot of high rises now being tendered out by developers in different parts of the country, at the moment, our focus is only core and shell. Because once we start doing the finishing or other services work, we are dependent or we are made to be the last one out of the site. We are made to hand over to the end user. That is something which we feel drains ultimately hits our profit margins. So it actually varies from project to project or client to client.
Got it. Got it. And in terms of your growth, you have almost doubled your order book in the last four, five years, right? As an organization, how do you think about scalability of the management and how you think what are the areas where you are actually concentrating to ensure that you can deliver projects consistently at high quality and high return ratios, keeping the growth also intact?
So Mr. Narayan, I did mention this in the last call also. The company has embarked on a digital transformation exercise, which is being spearheaded by our director, Mr. Vikas Ahluwalia. And that is something which we feel now that the scale at which we have begun to operate, that is something which is now mandatory. It is a must. And not only are we totally transforming digitally, but we are also building in-house capability as far as sprucing up or creating a very strong design cell, utilizing technologies like Autodesk, BIM to ensure that the inefficiencies that are an inherent part of a construction project are minimized.
As far as scaling up our team is concerned, I did mention in the last two calls that our employee costs are going up a bit because we are continuously, even through the downturn, recruiting people, training people. Upskilling is an integral part of our day-to-day working now. We are recruiting close to 50-60 fresh engineers on a yearly basis from various campuses.
Got it. Got it. So one last question from my side. Last time you called out that election time creates some kind of tardiness in the tender scheduling, right? And therefore, how do you think about that from an order book point of view? Do you actually see it happening in terms of slowdown in orders?
Yeah. I did mention it last time also that since we are well stocked up and over the next couple of quarters, there would not be the same rapid growth in our order book. And that can be seen. The last couple of months, I don't think we've won any significant order. As it is, we are not bidding very aggressively. We are biding our time.
Got it. Thank you. I'll come back and check.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Parvez Qazi from Nuvama Group. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening.
Hi, Parvez .
Thanks for taking my question. I'm calling for the second number. So a couple of questions from my side. Did I hear it correctly? You said that in Q3, the revenue should be better than what we did in Q2?
I didn't say that. I said it would be better than the corresponding quarter of last year.
Last year. Okay. I just wanted to repeat.
Yeah.
Thanks. Second, in your reply while answering the previous parts, you mentioned that our share of private sector order book has gone to about 30-odd%. So are we okay with this figure, or do we want to take it up to 50-50? What is our thought process there?
I mentioned last time, I think 60-40. So what will happen in the short term? That is what we are striving for.
Sure. And how are the payments from the state government now? Have things become better or the same? How are things?
As far as Bengal is concerned, our exposure to state government projects is almost negligible now, and we've been able to get out most of our payments. Bihar, there is an issue on the state-funded medical hospitals project. There is a substantial amount of money which is stuck there. Himachal, the money is coming through. I don't think we have Haryana government, we have been able to, in the last quarter, get a significant chunk of our outstandings out. So I think the only problem that I see is with Bihar.
Got it and in terms of competitive intensity, how are things? While you did say that we are not bidding aggressively, but overall, how is the competition now?
High. High.
You expect it to remain the same after elections, or do you think there will be?
I think over the next couple of years, I expect it to remain high.
Sure. And last question, what is the kind of CapEx that we'll do in FY24?
I think I've mentioned about INR 120 crores in the last call. We have done a CapEx in H1 of about INR 54 crores. It should be there or thereabouts.
Sure. Thanks and all the best for today.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good evening, sir, and congratulations on another good quarter.
Thank you.
My first question is, sir, on the private orders, you did mention you're looking to maintain a 40-60-40 ratio. My question is that, are you getting private orders across the country, or is it limited to NCR?
We are working in 16 states at the moment. And wherever we are, we are looking to take private sector orders provided the client passes through our template of due diligence or the factors in which we evaluate a client.
Understood, sir. My second question is on the station development. Do we have appetite to bid for more station development? And are there large amounts of tenders available for bid as we speak?
Tenders are there, but at the moment, no. We want to. This is a new client for us. We're doing two large stations. We want to achieve significant progress and then look at other stations.
How does he?
I don't think we will be looking to be more precise in the rest of this financial year. I don't think we'll be looking at any more station orders.
But how do you think the revenue booking in this particular station orders? Can you just give us some indicative idea?
I did. I answered this. I think the first question that was put to me. In CSTM, we should be logging about a billing of about INR 150 to 200 crores in this financial year. That means in the next two quarters because at the moment, there is no billing there which has happened. As far as Chandigarh is concerned, we should be doing a billing of about INR 100 crores.
Is there a slow-moving order in this entire INR 120 to 12,000 crore order?
12,000 crore orders, I don't think there are any slow-moving orders.
Okay. Understood, sir. My last question is, I think somebody asked you about the impact of election. Are you seeing the impact of election on the finalization of tenders or some impact on the scaling of the revenues?
I think as we come closer to December, January, or January when the elections are likely to be announced, the number of tenders which will start, it will reduce. We are already seeing some sort of an impact.
Is there anything on the execution, sir? Execution ramp-up?
Execution? Sorry. Execution ramp-up?
Yes. In the sense that the payments are slow, so you slow down the execution because the governments are busy in the election and there's less money available for XYZ reason. Yeah.
Generally, that happens maybe I don't think this financial year there will be an impact. That generally happens a month or two before the election date. Elections, in all probability, will be in May somewhere. So I don't think this financial year will be impacted as far as operations are concerned.
My last question was, sir, do you see more private orders closing in the next four months? I think the private real estate is buoyant right now as you speak, right?
Yes. We are out of the likely inflow of orders about INR 1,000 crores. About 50% should be from the private sector.
Understood, sir. Thank you, Mr. Ahluwalia. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ashish Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, just one question. Given the profile of some dictated orders like the CSTM or the Gems & Jewellery Park , do you think our CapEx intensity or working capital intensity will change materially from what it was in the past? So because we've in the past had a very lean kind of capital structure. So is there intensity of capital more in these projects?
As I said that CapEx, to some extent, as far as CSTM is concerned or the Chandigarh railway station is concerned, has already been done. And we've done a CapEx of INR 54 crores in the first half of this financial year. And we predicted about INR 120 crores. So we are more or less what we had said. We will remain within INR 120 crores, what we had said.
And then a few of our large orders are being completed also. Jammu, we should be completing by December, January. That before CSTM was our largest order. So a couple of other such large jobs are also nearing completion.
Actually, in terms of working capital, let's say in terms of the milestone payments, do you think that the milestones are longer or a little more different from what we have been operating in terms of our other orders? And hence, you may see some bit of a temporary build-up of working capital, or these are largely in line with the other orders that we have. Oh, you're right. There may be a temporary build-up because in item rate contracts, generally, whatever you execute, you build, and you get paid on a month-on-month basis. EPC, you're generally paid as per milestones. Payment schedules may not necessarily reflect the actual work done on the ground in the first half of the project.
Yeah, I'd say you're right. EPC job and existing new contracts, all of us, even the clients, are still sort of feeling their way around. Our past experience, not only ours, but other construction companies, giving feedback to the clients, going forward, the numerous contracts, the payment terms are becoming more equitable.
Got it, sir. Thank you for your responses. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Nikhil Kanodia from HDFC Securities. Please proceed.
Good evening, sir. I'm now audible?
Yes, you are.
Sir, firstly, congratulations on great set of months. So I had two questions on your 12,000 crore outstanding order book. So number one is, what percentage of it is on a fixed price basis?
24%.
24, right?
Yeah.
Okay. And sir, what would be the projects wherein you would have started to recognize the revenue, but the margin recognition threshold might have not been met yet?
Can you repeat that question, please?
Sir, the projects wherein the margin recognition threshold might not have been met yet.
So if I understand your question correctly, you're saying that the targeted margin is not met. Which are those projects? Is that what you mean to ask?
Like we would have some threshold wherein we would start to recognize the margins as well. Like for example, if we have a certain benchmark hurdle rate, suppose that the threshold that we have to recognize, we would have started doing that. So something on that front?
If this question is related to our billing, or you're talking about margins per se? I'm sorry, I'm not getting your question. So maybe what I'm going to say may partly answer your question. A, in projects, we do a monthly billing. The item rate contracts, as I mentioned earlier, whatever is physically built or executed, that gets billed based on the bill of quantities. In EPC contracts, the billing is given monthly, but there are monthly milestones based on which we bill. As far as margins are concerned, the targeted margins, there are maybe on an overall listing, a project we may have when we tendered out and done the job, if there is, say, a margin of 10%, in the first half of the life cycle of the project, the margins are lower. In the second half, the margins are higher. Am I clear?
Have I answered your question?
sir, regarding the second part, so the projects wherein that are not matching your margin threshold, like for example.
Okay. So overall margin that we had plugged in in a contract. Okay. What happens is, like we talked about CSTM, we talked about the Chandigarh railway station, right? Maybe we talked about the Bharti project, the AeroCity project. Since all these projects are in their some of these projects are in their infancy, there is in the initial phases of the project, they tend to take in more money, right? It's only as we move along, as we come to the second half of the life cycle of a project, we are attaining the run rate is going up. That is when the margins also go up. So some of these jobs, yes, CSTM, Chandigarh railway station, AeroCity, some of these jobs, the margins are lower at the moment.
Okay. Okay. Understood, sir. And sir, one last question that I have is, if I've heard you correct, the monthly run rate for CSTM project is around 150 to 200 crores that you have mentioned?
Monthly run rate in the last quarter would be between INR 75 to INR 100 crores, and which in FY25 will cross INR 100 crores per month.
Okay. And sir, similarly, if you could give those amounts for your Gems & Jewellery Park and for Tata Memorial project as well.
Gems & Jewellery Park, at the moment, since the job is yet not awarded to us, and as I mentioned, it may take another couple of months for it to be awarded, and the final budget will only be then known to us. It may not be prudent for us to give any run rate on that job. As far as Tata Memorial is concerned, in the last quarter, we should easily be billing in excess of INR 20 crores every month.
Okay. Okay. Thank you for your responses, sir. Those are my questions, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Deepika Bhandari from Phillip Capital. Please proceed.
Thank you. Thank you, sir, for taking my question, and congratulations on great set of numbers. My first question is, sir, you said on Bihar, we have substantial amounts stuck there, so can you just tell me Bihar receivable?
Bihar receivables are to the tune of about INR 175 crores.
INR 175 crores. Did we receive some payment post-Q2, say in October and November?
In October and November, yes, we've received some payment in October.
Okay. Okay, sir. My next question is, sir, as on last quarter, in Q1, around five projects were not I mean, I understand there are no more slow-moving projects in the order book, but in Q1, we have five projects that were not contributing in revenue. So during Q2, at the end of Q2, were there any projects that were not contributing in our revenue?
I did mention CSTM, Chandigarh railway station.
Mm-hmm.
No, that's it. That's it. I think out of our major projects, these are the two which are not contributing.
Tata Memorial, Hospital Dharavi, and NIT Patna were contributing because.
Yeah. NIT Patna, now we are logging nearly 20 crores every month. Dharavi is also, we are doing billing of 7 to 8 crores every month.
Okay, sir, and just last question, would you want to give us update on a few of our major projects?
I did mention earlier, Jammu is nearing completion. Most of the job will be completed December end, January. We should be in a position to start handing over. CSTM, I've already mentioned in the last quarter, we will start billing in earnest . Chandigarh, we've already started billing. The Veterinary Hospital and University in Bihar, which is an INR 890 crore project, we are already billing close to INR 15 crores every month. AeroCity, Bharti project, we are billing close to INR 15 crores, which post the NGT ban being uplifted, we hope to cross INR 20 crores every month. The retail development there only at the AeroCity, we have started billing there, and we should be billing in excess of INR 15 crores again post the ban being uplifted. NIT, I've already told you, we are billing more than INR 20 crores every month. So these are some of the major jobs.
Okay. Sir, that's it. Yeah, I got it. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir, and all the best for the future.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, how has been the execution in the Nepal Police Academy project in the first half?
Yeah. So Nepal is running slightly behind schedule because that being an EPC project and that being a project where both the Indian government arm CPWD is involved and the client is local there, coordination has been a bit of an issue. But that project is now moving. And we are about delayed by about two months there. But I think we are on track to make up lost time.
So how do you see the execution in the second half in the project?
Yeah. I think, as I said, execution is the way the revenue are the way our contract is structured, a lot of our inflows or our share of the inflows or profits are linked to the advances. So part of that advances come and our margins have also come. So we have actually insulated ourselves from delays in that project to a large extent as far as our margins are concerned.
Okay. Sir, secondly, you mentioned that we have around a receivable total of INR 175 crores from Bihar. So it pertains to the Bihar Animal Sciences University project largely?
No, no. Bihar Animal Husbandry project was a slow-moving project in the last quarter because there are a lot of old heritage buildings. It's a 400-acre campus. The campus already exists. Now this is being modernized. Old buildings are being raised to the ground and new buildings are coming up. So there was a delay in handing over the old buildings being handed over to us for demolition. So most of it is behind us. 60% of the area has been handed over to us. And whatever we build, the receivables are coming from that particular department. Most of these receivables that I said are from Bihar Medical, the two hospitals that we are doing, one in Chapra and one in Nalanda.
Okay. And sir, how would be the execution in the second half for the Bihar Animal Sciences University project? Can it cross around INR 60-70 crores per quarter?
Yeah, yeah. It will. It will.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Those are my questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Deshmeet Nagi from RW Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hello. If I understood it correctly, order execution will be slightly weak post-election. Is that correct?
Yeah. Slightly before elections also. It may be affected a bit and post-election also for some time, yes.
This trend we have seen in past two elections as well.
Yes, yes.
Okay. And if you can just talk about the margin expansion leverage, QOQ, from 9 to 10, around 10% to 11%, is it only coming from other expense operating leverage?
Sorry, come again. You're asking about the increase in margin that I'm projecting. Is that what you're asking about?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.
Yeah. Traditionally, the second half of the year, especially the last quarter, the March ending quarter is always the one which has the maximum run rate both for the top line as well as the margin. I feel that will be the case this year also, which will drive our margin upwards. Most of these jobs where a lot of expense has already been done, once the designing is complete, be it for CSTM and it is substantially complete for the Chandigarh railway station for NIT, now the run rate will increase, driving the margin upwards.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next follow-up question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. So I just wanted to clarify, sir, the third quarter, this running quarter, when you say it will be better on YOY, so the ban last year, if you look at in terms of the number of days that NCR policy banned versus this also, how many days last time that the ban was there? Because what I can see is even the last time also we have done a QOQ growth in the third quarter. And you mentioned that we can see a marginal growth on YOY and not QOQ. So that's the one I need a clarification on.
Yeah. Because Q2 this time we've achieved a decent run rate. So what I'm trying to say, that is why I said year-on-year there will be a growth in the quarter. It may be difficult to grow Q1Q or maintain the same run rate, especially keeping this 30-40-day break in mind. Another thing which is there in this quarter is even if over the next five-seven days the ban is lifted, there is Chhath Puja. Now the labor, almost all the labor has been disbanded. It has gone back to Bihar, to Jharkhand. As you know, 80% to 90% of skilled workforce comes from these two states. They've all gone back to Chhath Puja. So they will only be coming back maybe end of this month or maybe first week of December.
So that is a major hit that we're going to take.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And in terms of the fund-based, non-fund-based limit, so last time we were looking at to increase to INR 2,100 to INR 2,200 crores from INR 1,950 crores. So have we done it? And whatever the current.
100 crores more, and that's now 2,040, but the documentation is continuously.
Sorry, sir, INR 2,040 crores is the limit now?
Yes, yes. Right now.
How much is utilized?
This is around, out of this, we can say INR 325 crores unutilized.
325 crores non-utilized. Okay. Got it. And so it's that West Bengal land, standalone, is the same. So we want to monetize, but it will be post-general elections, I mean, FY25. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it, sir. And thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one. As there are no further questions from the participants, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you, everybody. Look forward to seeing you at the end of next quarter. Have a good day. Thank you.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Ambit Capital, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.