Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Ceinsys Tech Limited Q1 FY 2027 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Arihant Capital Markets. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Should you need assistance during this 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 would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Riddhesh Kadam from Arihant Capital Markets. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Hello, and good morning to everyone. On behalf of Arihant Capital Markets, I thank you all for joining me to the Q1 FY 2027 Earnings Conference Call of Ceinsys Tech Limited. Today from the management, we have Mr. Kaushik Khona, Managing Director, India Operations. Dr. Abhay Kimmatkar, Managing Director. Ms. Amita Saxena, CFO. Without any further delay, I will hand over the call to management for their opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Riddhesh . Am I audible?
Yes, sir, we can hear you.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you to this earnings conference call for the first quarter of FY 2026-2027. Let me first thank our host for today's con call, [Non-English content] Arihant Capital. In the interest of some of the people who may be new to the company, let me first start by giving you a brief overview of the company first, followed by the performance highlight for the quarter under review. Ceinsys Tech, which is rebranded to CS Tech AI, while the corporate name remains as Ceinsys Tech Limited. We are a leading technology solution provider in the IT-enabled sector, providing engineering and technology solutions in the infrastructure domain. We are acclaimed for our expertise in geospatial engineering as well as other engineering services and solutions.
We offer a broad range of geospatial intelligence services, including data creation, data analytics, decision support system, and enterprise web solutions. After the acquisition of mobility business of AllyGrow in 2022, we acquired a geospatial business of VTS in U.S.A. in 2024, which was majorly operating in telecom domain. Since then, we are identifying some more targets for inorganic growth, to expand our horizon into the domain where the company is already operating. That is the geospatial engineering services and the technology solutions, for which the company's already mobilized almost around $ 28 million. We serve prestigious global clientele that include large corporates, OEMs, asset management companies, and government bodies, highlighting its robust reputation in both geospatial and manufacturing sectors. With offices in India, in U.S., U.K., and Germany, the company combines local expertise with a broad international reach.
Additionally, the company has initiated and invested into a development of product solutions focused on infrastructure vertical and emerging technologies through a vertical focus on the artificial intelligence and machine learning and embedded electronics. This vertical emphasizes development of the AI and ML-enabled applications and solutions to enhance our delivery for the existing domains at the outset, and they're reflecting the company's commitment to innovation and maintaining a competitive edge in the dynamic technological landscape. Now let me come to the financial and operational highlights for the first quarter of the FY 2026-2027. We are going to discuss about the consolidated numbers. For the quarter under review, operational revenue stood at INR 158 crore, registering a marginal year-on-year growth of 1%.
EBITDA increased substantially by 27% on year-on-year basis to INR 39 crore, with EBITDA margins improving to 24.4%, representing an expansion of 505 basis points over the corresponding period last year. This improvement was supported by continued gains in the project delivery efficiency, with EBITDA increasing sequentially for the eighth consecutive quarter. Profit after tax stood at INR 31 crore, which was a marginal decline, while PAT margin stood at 19.6%, a contraction of around 59 basis point year- on- year. In terms of segmental performance, our geospatial engineering services revenue for the quarter increased by 30% year- on- year to INR 94 crore, while technology solution side revenue declined by around 25% year- on- year to INR 63 crore. For the benefit of all, the mix between the geospatial engineering services and the technology solution side keeps on changing based on the execution phase of each project.
As a theme, the company aims to enhance its technology services segment revenue and aims to go beyond 51% of the total segment revenue. Moving to our operational performance, the quarter saw continued momentum in our order inflows, with the company securing fresh contracts worth INR 143 crore during the period. Our order book stood at INR 990 crore at the end of quarter, providing a healthy base for the revenue visibility going forward. We continue to see encouraging tractions across our key business verticals. Our international geospatial mobility business showed a meaningful improvement during the quarter, with new business development opportunities and contract awards gaining momentum. This progress is encouraging as we continue to expand our presence across international markets and leverage our capabilities across geospatial engineering and mobility solutions. We are also taking deliberate steps to build capabilities in emerging technology areas.
We have approved an investment up to INR 25 crore in joint venture with AI Fabrik U.S.A. to be incorporated to create a sovereign AI neo cloud in India for Indian government, citizens, and companies focused on cybersecurity, services, and defense to offer GPU-as-a-service, model-as-a-service, and AI service to build or lease data center capacity. This initiative is aimed at creating capabilities in an emerging technology segment while complementing our existing technology strength. On the domestic front, our engagement with government-led programs also continues to strengthen. We have received a Letter of Intent from the Directorate of Urban Administration and Development, Madhya Pradesh, for the selection and appointment of a manpower agency for beneficiary-led construction vertical under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, with a total contract value of approximately INR 67 crore, which is going to be gained over the next three years.
This contract enables application of enterprise solutions based geospatial technology and also application of AI. We also strengthen our presence in water and smart city infrastructure segment. We recently received a Letter of Intent from Bhandara Municipal Council for a supply, installation, commissioning of a consumer domestic ultrasonic and electromagnetic AMR water meters under the AMRUT 2.0, with an order value of approximately INR 17 crore. This project is to be executed over a period of 12 months and further strengthens our capabilities in smart water management solutions. Our recent order wins also demonstrate the breadth of capabilities across our business. In the mobility segment, we have received an order of approximately INR 4 crore from EKS InTec India for design planning and simulation of four production lines to be executed over three months.
We also secured international order through our U.S. subsidiary, Technology Associates Inc., for the beta development of hybrid power transfer case for Emotiv Mobility, U.S.A. , valued at around INR 4 crore. The routine contracts for mobility continue, which are not billed in the order book. In our geospatial business, we continue to deepen our engagement with international customers. Our earlier engagement with T Second Inc. includes NVME drive supply as well as AI-powered building and road extraction, encroachment and asset monitoring through BRYCK AI platform, along with enterprise geospatial imagery repository and AI feature extraction capabilities. The aggregate value of these purchase orders was INR 30 crore. Our working capital cycle stood at 164 days during the quarter, broadly in line with the levels seen over the previous two quarters.
We have received recent government resolution issued by Maharashtra government towards allocation of funds for the dues related to IoT and other projects to support collections and meaningfully improve the working capital cycle over the next two to three quarters. Overall, we remain focused on converting our strong order pipeline into execution while continuing to diversify across geographies, business verticals, and emerging technology opportunities. With improving traction in our international businesses, a healthy order book, and new initiatives in AI and digital technologies, we believe we are building a stronger and more diversified platform for sustainable growth. With this, now I open the floor for question and answer session. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Deepak Poddar from Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Am I audible, sir?
Yes, sir.
Yeah. Thank you very much, sir, for this opportunity. First up, wanted to understand this around INR 1,000 crore order that we had. What would be the execution timeline, and what sort of order pipeline we have, and order inflow target that we are looking at?
I will just give you the breakup of the order book. As I said, we have around INR 990 crore order book. The execution timeline will be some orders have to be executed in three months, some six months, some 12 months, and some of them have a plan up to 18 months. There are certain orders which also have O&M, which goes beyond the CapEx position, which goes to two years or up to five years the O&M position. There are orders which have an execution timeline, which are different. On an average, the execution timeline weighted average will be between 12- 18 months. I hope I answered your question. As regards funnel, if Dr. Abhay would like to comment.
I am continuing with what Mr. Khona has said. We have the executions spread across next two, three years. The first 12- 18 months would be the CapEx, and then later we will have three or four years of the OpEx. That order book is going to get spread, and we will have that revenue coming in through those.
On the funnel side, what sort of funnel we have in terms of order book?
From now onward?
Yeah, going forward, yes.
Yeah, going forward. Next two quarters looks very upbeat, and as in last con call also, we said that we have a huge funnel. Still few of them we were asking L1. We are about to receive our orders. Funnel is pretty strong, and we will see. We are surpassing our last year's number, that is for sure. I will maintain it and reiterate it. We have a very strong funnel across our order book.
Will it be possible for you to quantify? What is the range of funnel that we are looking at?
Exact number I won't be able to tell you. I think Mr. Khona has indicated you the kind of funnel and number, but not exactly the number. We are surpassing already. He said that, and you also said that we have already crossed about 1,000 crore. We will be achieving the similar kind of numbers. I will pass this question to Kaushik.
Sir, just wanted to reiterate, we don't give the forward guidance because that's not within our policy. As Abhay already indicated, we have a strong funnel. In fact, the order book during this quarter, which is around INR 143 crore, also shows a substantial improvement from the order book as compared to the previous two quarters. As Abhay mentioned, there are a few opportunities where we already bid. We expect the results shortly. As you are aware, as and when we get the substantial orders getting awarded, we also publish it to the stock exchange, by way of routine declaration. We'll keep you posted about that.
Okay. Understood. Just one last thing from my side. In terms of growth, I think this first quarter, we didn't see much growth rate ? What efforts we are doing to kind of improve our growth and what's the growth we might be looking, right? I mean, we have seen last two years, very good growth in the range of 50%-60%. How should one look at this year and what efforts we are doing to improve our growth?
As I said, we are on the target to not only increase the growth of turnover, we are also on the target to increase the margins. You would have seen that, this quarter, the margins have shown substantial improvement. The growth obviously will continue, as the funnel is also getting built up. Some of the orders which I already mentioned, where INR 143 crore which was received, have the execution time within next three months, six months. You will see the growth in next two to three quarters. As I again reiterate, and for the benefit of all the listeners, we don't give forward-looking statements, and therefore we will be restricting ourselves to mention about the numbers, but we are sure to continue the trend of the growth, which we have seen in the last two and a half years.
Okay. Understood. That is very helpful, sir.
Thank you.
That would be it from my side. Would like-
Thank you.
to wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to ask any questions from the management, you may press star and one. We have our next question from the line of Madhur Rathi from Counter Cyclical Investments. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, firstly, I wanted to understand regarding our order book. Sir, last quarter our order book was INR 880 crore, and that has moved to close to INR 990 crore this quarter. But if I look at the order that we have received of INR 140 crore minus the order that we have executed of close to INR 148 crore, this number is not matching. If you could help me understand on the same.
Thank you for your time and this question. I would just again clarify, in the previous conference calls also we have clarified that not all the businesses go into the order book. There are certain run-rate businesses which we do not billed in the order book. For example, the mobility business we do not billed in the order book. For example, the OEM production services we do not billed into the order book. Therefore, there are certain business segments which do not form into the order book. And this quarter also, almost, I would say around INR 50 crore of the turnover was without the order book because they are the run-rate business. And this run-rate business will continue. There will be certain orders which flow into the order books and certain execution happens without the order book also.
If you want, I can make a reconciliation and then give it to the IR agency, who can then forward it to you. Opening balance of INR 880 crore.
Yes sir.
The question, just what needs to be understood is, during this quarter, even after execution of INR 157 crore, we have increased the net order book by another INR 110 crore, which I think is a phenomenal progress. Thank you for your question. I will pass on the information to IR agency.
Got it, sir. Sir, this non-order book business, at what percentage of our revenue was this number in FY 2026, and where do we see it scaling in FY 2027? Can this become like, right now it's close to one-third of our business. Can this become 40%-45% of our business during this year?
FY 2026, we had the business with, as I mentioned about the two segments, which are without the order book, was INR 130 crore, which includes mobility and the product solutions business. Besides, there will be some orders which is within the other existing domain, which are small run-rate business, which don't go into the order book. But out of INR 660 crore, which we recorded last year, I think more than 20%, 22% or 25% was without the order book, and which traction will continue.
Got it. Sir, just a final question from my end. Sir, this AI Fabrik partnership that we have created, sir, this INR 25 crore investment, what is this towards, and what will be the solution? Will we set up the whole cloud infrastructure for the government and we'll receive a payment for that? Or will we just become more of an EPC player for this sovereign cloud? If you could help us understand the direction in which you are planning to move.
Let me clarify. This is the initial phase of evaluating the business opportunity of setting up the AI cloud for the purpose of sovereign cloud for the government. This is basically going to cater to the defense requirement of the government, is our target. The proposed JV is between AI Fabrik of U.S. Inc. and we, with the contribution of 50% each. Present situation is where we are contemplating to incorporate the JV, which should be done in next one and a half months. After the JV is formed, the complete due diligence and the technical due diligence as well as the market due diligence will be carried out. Then the second phase of another investment of INR 20 crore from our side will be done. That's the kind of present traction. We don't intend to be an EPC company.
We intend to be the AI solutions company. That's the objective. We won't be catering to the EPC part, but obviously when we build up our infrastructure, some of the infrastructure will be kind of constructed through EPC contractors also. But our business will be AI solutions, not the EPC.
Got it. Sir, so will we be providing something on the geospatial lines only to the defense sector through this cloud that we are setting up for the government? Or will it be more like our data analytics or something on that front?
No. As of now, it will be a kind of technology platform which will integrate the geospatial as well as the satellite data, as well as the enterprise solution, which will be user-defined, custom-oriented based on the requirement of the customer. So right now, we are not expecting ourselves to be only data analytics company. It will be a complete solutions company. But as we progress, we will then keep on updating the investors.
Got it. Sir, just a final question from my end. Sir, how is the margin for our. Because our margins have improved, sir, what has led to this margin improvement? And sir, what is the margin for the order book business versus the run rate business from the mobility and product solution? So how does the margin differ for these two segments?
Margins are improving, as you see. That is because we are scaling up on the kind of maturity scale of the businesses. Earlier, before two years, we were into more of data acquisition. Now we are into more of enterprise solutions. We are in a scale of growth. If typically a business is measured on the platforms like it is a scale 1, scale 2, scale 3, scale 4, which scale 4 is the highest. We would say we are between scale 2 to scale 3 and going up. Earlier the margins were, let us say, when we began before two years, margins were around 15%-17%, and we are now going up to 24%.
Second issue is, before two years, we also enabled our technology solutions as a part of new domain where the margins are slightly better, and therefore the overall mix of margin will be improving. As regard the margin in the order book, obviously, they will be either the same or better because as we keep on executing, because of the improvement in the way we execute and the economies of scale, the margins are expected to improve. But as I said in the earlier question also, we do not give guidance about what will be the margin improvement. What was the next question?
No, sir. I think that answers my question. Thank you so much and all the best.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Pujan Shah from Molecule Ventures. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. My first question pertains to the previous participant. I just want to understand if you can explain in a very layman term. Let's suppose it's a 50/50 JV. We are investing INR 25 crore and additional we will invest INR 20 crore. That will be the infrastructure which we will be setting up. Now, want to understand on the second part is, after the setting up the infrastructure, all the data we have collected will be stored over there and then we create a. At a one type of SaaS model we have been planning to do, or we have been thinking of in terms of annuity stream which could help into increasing yield. What is our expectation in that form?
Let me again clarify. Right now, the board has decided and resolved to invest total INR 25 crore in two phases. First INR 5 crore towards the incorporation of the company, and second INR 20 crore once the due diligence of the business is done. The due diligence will include the technical as well as the market due diligence. What we have envisaged is to provide the solutions in the form of either the GPU-as-a-service, model-as-a-service or AI services. This will be based on the building up of the data center for the purpose of serving the sovereign defense purpose of the country. This is the right now objective.
As we progress, I think it's still little far off to right now comment on what will be the business model and how we will structure the business model, because the phase of due diligence, et cetera will take another three to four months, and by that time we will be able to freeze the business model. I hope I answered your question.
Got it, sir. We are eyeing it in FY 2028.
This message has been transcribed.
Right.
One moment while I notify the caller.
Hello?
You understood right.
Yeah. Okay, got it. Sir, the second question would be on the trade receivables. Just want to understand, we have seen a notification from the government and that they have released some payment from JJM perspective. What are the trade receivables we have been stuck in, and how much receivables we are expecting in a few months? How is the collection going forward from JJM now?
I would, first of all, answer the question on the overall parameter. If you see our working capital cycle this quarter is also 164 days, and the same previous quarter, previous two quarters, was also in the range of around 162, 164 days. So we have maintained the working capital cycle, which means that whatever billing is happening is being recovered. That is first thing. Second thing, I also mentioned in our presentation, which is posted on the stock exchange, that recently, I would say before 2 weeks, the government of Maharashtra has issued a GR where they have said that the majority of the funds which were stuck earlier, for the IoT related projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission, they have already resolved that the major funds will be disbursed.
Therefore, we expect as per the process which it takes, the time which it takes, we expect that in next two to three quarters, and obviously before 31st March, all the overdues of IoT project and other projects which are under the Jal Jeevan Mission will be cleared, which will substantially bring down the working capital cycle. So this is what we are expecting. However, as I already mentioned, whatever we are billing, we are collecting, so there is no additional buildup of working capital cycle. Amita, if you would like to clarify further.
We have IoT datas and receivables from IT approximately UBR of around total amount of INR 100 crore, and we are expecting to get these funds by end of third quarter, most probably. So we have that thing in mind, and we have the clarity from the government also that these funds will get released very soon.
And in terms of traction, if you can tell something.
If you look at our execution, and in the past two quarters of conference also, we have mentioned that, while Jal Jeevan Mission projects continue to be executed, the focus now is also going into various other domains. For example, transport or energy or other geospatial. Recently, if you see the wins which we have had, which is under the Madhya Pradesh Urban and Administration Development Department. There also it is more of a geospatial. We are taking conscious call to see that we have bid for those opportunities where there is more clarity of the funds, budget allocation is already there, and funds are already arranged for by the government projects. Earlier we had a setback for some time, till November 2025 for the issues of Jal Jeevan Mission.
But now since November 2025, we are not seeing any buildup on that and things are more manageable. I hope these things are clarified.
Got it, sir. I want to understand the AllyGrow business. How has it been panning out? What are your expectations in terms of growth and what is the current challenges which we have been facing over there?
I think it's been, at least from 2025, December onwards, we are seeing positivity in the mobility business. As you may recollect, AllyGrow was acquired and then it's already since merged with the company. So right now mobility is a division. The only thing which remains out of this company is a JV, which is AllyGrow, which is a JV with Grammer AG of Germany, where we are 70% stakeholder and 30% is Grammer. These results of AllyGrow are not consolidated because they are a JV. As regards mobility, things are looking better. In fact, Grammer also has seen that there is an improvement in the order book for the calendar year 2026, and that is a general improvement overall in the mobility business. So we are expecting some more traction in the mobility.
On the international side, I think the wholly owned subsidiary which has mobility as well as geospatial, we are seeing that there is a substantial improvement in this quarter as compared to the previous year's same quarter. Even the-
The top line has also increased for our overseas business in this quarter. Even the margins have improved in that business. So we foresee a good traction in the U.S. subsidiary also in this coming year.
Got it, sir. Last time in our conference, you have mentioned about the RFID on the transport which we have been planning to scale ramp up. Is that tendering being started or it's still under the approval from the government and it will start soon?
No. As regards the ITMS and the ATMS business on the transport, which is the Intelligent Traffic Management System, we have already gathered the capabilities. In some of the cases where we did not have, we already tied up with the partners, and we are already in discussion with the government for some more opportunities. We expect some positive developments in the next one or two quarters on the transport domain.
Got it. My last question would be, so recently we have seen our order book pipeline has also increased by INR 1,000 crore. While we, without our ordered reflections, it more or less stays around 20%-25%. Are we expecting a significant revenue in FY 2027? The reason being, first of all, our order book-based conversion is 12- 18 months and other than that, our order book page doesn't include 20% of the new orders in flow. Do you expect a significant INR 900 crore to INR 1,000 crore mark in FY 2027?
I would just refrain from giving any guidance for the future. But as you rightly observed, there is an improvement in the order book. There is execution timeline also of 12- 18 months in majority of the projects. We are trying to push the execution to increase the kind of level of execution to have the continuous growth as we have seen in the last two and a half years. We won't be able to give you guidance on what will be the turnover for 2026, 2027.
Got it, sir. Thank you so much. I will join the connect.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Rohit from MAPL. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My question will be on this growth side for FY 2027. So you mentioned INR 990 crore of order book we are yet to execute, right?
Yes, sir.
Sir, should we assume like 30%-40% of this order book will get executed because you have given a weighted average of physical 18 months? How should we think of execution of order book in this financial year?
I have already mentioned that the majority of the orders have the execution timeline of 12- 18 months. I think as we progress, some of the orders obviously will get executed. Besides, I also mentioned earlier that some of the orders have the execution timeline of three months, six months, from the date they have been received. Obviously there will be execution within this year itself. To what percentage, whether it will be 30%, 40%, or 50% of the order book in this financial year, I won't be able to give you guidance. But yes, we are on track with all the milestones which are as per the order book. We are not behind any of the milestones. We should be able to progress as per the timelines mentioned in the order book.
Okay. Sir, on this drivers of this growth, which segment do you think will lead for us?
There are two or three major initiatives which we are seeing. One is the Geospatial Enterprise solutions, we are seeing good traction. In fact, in the buildup of order book of INR 143 crore, majority of the orders have come from the Geospatial Enterprise solutions. Besides, we are also expecting a traction in the transport domain because there we see a lot of opportunities, and we also kind of gathered capabilities to execute or bid for them. Therefore, these are two major domains. Besides, we also see the opportunities, the energy for which some of the opportunities we are also tracking, and the satellite defense-related data collection, analytics as well as the enterprise platform for those kind of services. So these are some of the tractions which we continue to monitor. As you already know, we are into all the infrastructure domain.
The opportunities in each of the domain continue to be tracked. I hope I answered your question.
Understood. And sir, on the margin front, will we be able to maintain this 22%-23% margin?
This quarter, we have clocked 24.4%. I guess we should be able to do that.
Understood. Okay, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Gunit Singh from Counter Cyclical PMS. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I have a question regarding the order book itself. In the last concall also you mentioned that we are L1 in three large orders whose values were around INR 350 crore-INR 400 crore, correct me if I am wrong, which is more than the total order intake last year. I just want to understand, are we on track for that? You mentioned by the end of Q2 or in Q2, we should receive these orders.
Yes, we are on track. In fact, one of the order which we already got was that INR 67 crore worth of order where we were L1, which we mentioned at that time, although we did not give the name. And we continue to have other opportunities apart from the two which are already in pipeline, out of the three mentioned in the previous call. We continue to bid for the new opportunities, and the funnel keeps on increasing. As and when the final orders are awarded, because if you can understand and appreciate the bid process itself, typically, once the bids are called for, invited, and finally, even if the bids are kind of registered, the technical evaluation, and the award of the contract typically takes two to three months. Sometimes it exceeds two to three months also. Therefore, we are on track.
We should be able to expect something more. Dr. Abhay, if you would like to add something.
Yeah. You rightly mentioned, last time also we had mentioned that we are L1 in three or four of those orders. Other one were very pretty small, so we didn't need any mention. But yes, one of that INR 67 crore had already come, and two more are in the offing. One of the order will come this quarter. Because there is a huge process, going to board and then giving the final order. There are a few more tenders. Just we got those opened. The commercials are yet to be open, another two orders would lined up probably in this quarter, if those goes well. We have very strong pipeline and strong closure and anticipating in this and next quarter. We will definitely surpassing those. And it's a pretty strong buildup for next two quarters they've already created.
Some of the tenders are going to get published. One tender has already got published. This is a strong pipeline. That's what I can update right now.
Got it. Based on this, we can assume that we can cross about INR 350 crore-INR 400 crore order book intake by Q2, if I understand it.
Sir, as I said, we don't give any guidelines, although the funnel remains to be substantially big. The finality of awarding of an order has a lot of process, so it will be wrong for us to give you any futuristic guideline because that's not as per our policy. But as I said, you can observe that from the last quarter where we had our order book closure of INR 880 crore, this quarter we have INR 990 crore after execution of INR 157 crore. So obviously there is improvement, right? We expect that to further improve. As we will keep on registering as and when we get the orders.
Correct. So, sir, in FY 2025, when our order book increased significantly, there was one large order worth INR 350 crore itself. I want to understand how is the bid pipeline currently directionally, are there such orders, are there such tenders floated currently, which have such large sizes? Or directionally as an investor, we would like to just understand, not an exact figure, but is the tenders currently which are floated right now, are they comparable to the demand environment in FY 2025 or a bit slower than that? If you can help us understand how the situation is.
Yeah. I will put some light on that. That one of the case, but we are building up such cases wherein we can see. Such cases takes more than one or two years buildup and get attending and everything approved. You need a national kind of program and those were JJM projects, so we could get that. However, after that we have built up some of the project, we have built capability and we may see such projects coming in next one and two years. We can anticipate to get one of those in this year, fingers crossed. I cannot put the number over there, but if not the fourth quarter, first quarter of next year, we will definitely have one of such kind of project.
We are definitely building up this one of the project which can be really a game changer for us every other year, probably you may find such project coming in. We are having specialized team to carry out such kind of mission projects, wherein we can get good kind of revenue. Those are there definitely. It's not only one of the project in 2025 we got. We will have such projects coming in every other year. I hope I have answered.
Yeah. Great to hear that. Secondly, in terms of our acquisition, we had raised funds, I think two years ago for the acquisition. But it has been delayed since two years. I just want to understand, what proactive measures are we taking to expedite this process? Are we currently evaluating any companies for acquisitions or should we expect something in FY 2027 in this regard? Because it has already been two years since we have been trying to do this.
Yeah. I will just take this. When we talk about the raising of INR 238 crore for acquisition, it was not just acquisition, it was expansion, new opportunities, acquisition and all. One of the major kind of initiative which we recently took, which I also talked about, and where even the board meeting discussions were also posted in the stock exchange. We are evaluating to kind of set up a JV, which will be into the building of a sovereign AI cloud, where their primary purpose will be to go for defense contract with the government. If that fructifies, that also will have a large business investment opportunity which can be evaluated after the due diligence is already completed, which may take three to four to five months.
As of now, while that was one opportunity, we are also simultaneously evaluating few opportunities where we can get maybe a higher return than what we are already getting, and therefore it is taking time. We don't want to invest just for the sake of investing. We want to see that the investments are in line with what we are doing. Either it is vertical integration backward or vertical integration forward within our line of business so that it enables the margin expansion. We understand your question. We hope that we should be able to give you some kind of visibility about what new investments we are making shortly.
Got it. Sir, around INR 300 crore of funds have been lying idle with us since two years. If we look at our current share price, it is trading at very reasonable valuations. Why don't we just consider some capital allocation like a share buyback, which also shows our confidence in our own company and gives a signal to the market as well. Also for the long-standing shareholders, it will be beneficial because EPS will be increased permanently because of shares being extinguished from the market. Why don't you consider a share buyback? Because companies available at-
Sir, the solution which you are giving is a temporary thing. Share buyback generally happens when you have cash surplus from operations. Whatever funds we have is the promoters who are invested in the company because they are confident about the growth and the future prospects of the company. The funds which we have arranged is for the growth and development of the organization, rather than for this buying back of shares.
Well, but the funds have been idle since two years, and we have not been able to successfully allocate them.
We have been evaluating few opportunities, but you will appreciate that we don't want to invest just because we have funds. We don't want to invest into an opportunity which is not going to give us a margin or profit margins or something like that, which we are right now in. If the business which we were exploring, if that is going to reduce the overall margin of the company, we decided not to go for those acquisitions. We are looking for some good opportunity wherein we can sustain with our margins also, along with the investment.
Just to clarify, out of INR 230 crore, INR 130 crore has been received in March 2026. I mean-
Yes.
It is just for a clarification.
This is the last quarter only.
First INR 100 crore was received in September 2024, but I think the majority fund has been received now. But I think we are on track to see that they are properly used.
They are properly invested, and we can generate the revenue in long term.
Absolutely.
Over those funds.
Got it, sir. I hope that you make the best decision, and I trust the management to do that as well.
Thank you.
All the best, and thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and one. We have our next question from the line of Keshav Garg from Counter Cyclical PMS. Please go ahead.
Sir, I wanted to understand that if we look at our 31st March balance sheet, we have a huge unbilled revenue of around INR 320 crore, which is like 50% of our standalone revenue of last year. Sir, if we see in the first quarter numbers also, the standalone numbers, the revenues are by and large flat. When exactly will this unbilled revenue, will it be billed?
Sir, this unbilled revenue, major portion is of JJM things, which we have clarified in one of the calls. We have got the clarity from the department, and this amount will be billed in this next two quarters, and this unbilled revenue will automatically go down, in next two quarters once we have these funds from the JJM projects.
Understood.
All other unbilled revenue is already getting converted into billing and other things, and that cycle is moving. It is just because of JJM, which, last two or three quarters it is getting piled up. But then, as Kaushik-ji has already shared, we have clarity from the government. Now we can expect to have these funds very soon.
Yeah. Most of some milestones, usually, the UBR gets nullified in the last quarter because government gets funds and major milestone gets closed in those. So you will find the UBR getting majorly reduced in the last quarter. It's a historical figure. You can go and see that. Of course, government is going to release this JJM fund in this quarter itself.
Sir, now the second concern is that, sir, if you look at our standalone EBITDA last year, it was upwards of INR 170 crore. But if you look at standalone operating cash flow, it was a 10th of that, like INR 19 crore. If we look at the past three years also, the cash conversion from EBITDA to cash flow, it is very minuscule. Sir, though I understand the nature of the business is working capital intensive and the top line has also grown. After adjusting, sir, what is your view? Can we see some significant jump in operating cash flow in this year's balance sheet?
Sir, I think your observation is perfectly correct. I would say my general submission is that when a company is growing at the rate of 50% CAGR, and you rightly observed, because the working capital keeps on getting invested. Secondly, you just mentioned that UBR. So obviously when the UBR also gets piled up because of the specific reason, which are also getting addressed, therefore, the cash from operation was small. However, as our CFO, Amita already clarified, we expect this financial year to have a better, maybe how much better, obviously, we will not be able to pin down a number, but we should certainly have a better operating cash flow in this financial year.
Now, sir, I appreciate the answer you gave to the previous participant. Sir, even if we don't find a good acquisition opportunity, it is best not to do an acquisition, even though we might have raised capital for that purpose. Sir, now but the concern is that if we look at our stock price from April high of over INR 1,200, now it is below INR 800, whereas the general market trend is the opposite. Sir, so there is no smoke without fire. I'm trying to understand that at this market cap, the stock is trading at 7x EV/EBITDA. Now when we are looking to acquire any company, what is the EV/EBITDA that we are looking to pay for our acquisition target? Because our own stock is trading at 7x EV/EBITDA.
Now if we go and acquire some outside company for 15x, 20x EBITDA, then that is value destructive. Either we find acquisition target which is trading below 7 x EBITDA, then it will be basically value accretive acquisition.
No, I think it's a good observation. I would only submit that, first of all, there is no smoke and there is no fire. I don't think that analogy fits here. Maybe it's a good opportunity for somebody to buy in more. I'm not recommending that because I'm not in that official position to do that. Question is, at what rate of EBITDA we will evaluate? Obviously, we will evaluate based on what additional EBITDA percentage we are able to acquire. Most of these deals in this kind of segment of industry are driven EBITDA multiple or turnover multiple. Typically, the acquisitions, whether it is domestic or foreign, they have the EBITDA multiple ranging anywhere between five to seven to 10, depending upon what kind of phase of that company is in.
We will obviously evaluate how much that will add to our top line and bottom line, which should be incremental. We appreciate your suggestion, and we are perfectly going to ensure that the shareholder wealth improves as for any decision which we take.
Sir, lastly, if we see then in mid-November, Mr. Phaneesh Murthy resigned, and since then only the stock price has been into a tailspin. Is it a coincidence or there is something more to it? Why exactly did he resign within a year of getting appointed?
Sir, Phaneesh Murthy has resigned in the month of April 2026 and not November 2025. There is a correction in the date, and there is no relevance of share price and exit of Mr. Phaneesh Murthy. He has resigned because of his personal reasons. There is no correlation between November 2025 or share price going down. He has resigned in April 2026. If you can just go and check the-
No, madam. I am talking about April 2026 only. If you look at our stock price on 17th April 2026, the stock was INR 1,230. I believe Mr. Murthy resigned in 16th April or thereabout, basically mid-April. Maybe it is a coincidence. Maybe the dots do not need to be joined over here. Sir, I appreciate all your answers and, sir, best of luck to you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question of the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you all for participating in this earnings conference call. I hope we have been able to answer your questions satisfactorily. If you have any further questions or you would like to know more about the company, please reach out to our IR managers at Valorem Advisors. We would once again thank Arihant Capital for hosting this conference call. Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
On behalf of Arihant Capital Markets Limited, that concludes the conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you.