Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Archean Chemical Industries Limited Q4 and FY2025 Earnings Call. 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 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 now hand the conference over to Mr. Ranjit Pendurthi, Managing Director, Archean. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. A warm welcome to all of you joining our Q4 and FY2025 earnings call. It is an active morning, so thank you for making the time to be with us today. On this call, I have the pleasure of being joined by our Executive Director, Mr. N R Kannan, our CFO, Mr. Natarajan Ramamurthy , and the SGA team, our investor relations advisors. I trust you have reviewed the financial results and investor presentation available on our website as well as the stock exchanges. I will begin with an overview of recent developments and business updates, after which our CFO, Mr. Natarajan, will present the financial performance for Q4 and full year 2025. To start with the market overview, the Indian chemical market continues to stand strong on the basis of innovation and diversity, with over 80,000 commercial products across various sectors.
The year gone by has posed several challenges for the industry at large, particularly due to demand variations from key global markets as in West Asia as well as Far East. However, amid these global headwinds, Indian chemical manufacturers have proven to be resilient and have demonstrated strength and adaptability. Along with many of our peer group companies, Archean Chemical has also managed to withstand the pressures and has improved its operational performance. This resilience underscores our strong foundation and agility in navigating a dynamic global environment. On a broader scale, we are beginning to see some signs of recovery in the global chemical industry. However, every day is a new challenge from a geopolitical perspective. Improving demand trends and more stable supply chains are helping a cautious optimism. While the recovery may remain uneven across geographies and sectors, the overall momentum for us is gradually building.
At Archean Chemicals, we are seeing clear and consistent traction in client demand for our key products, which proves to be an encouraging sign and that is reflected in our Q4 FY2025 performance as well. This reinforces our belief that sustainable growth is rooted in long-term thinking, strategic agility, and operational excellence, along with strong consumer and customer relationships. Coming to our segmental performance specifically, we'll start with bromine. Elemental bromine contributed approximately one-third of our total revenue during FY2025. We continue to focus on bromine, which is our strength, and we continue to remain India's largest exporter and manufacturer. Contracted volumes remain broadly in line with the prior year. For FY2026, we are targeting an increase in the total bromine volumes, including captive consumption, in the range of 22,000-25,000 tons for FY2026. Industrial salt.
Industrial salt, again, we are the largest exporter from India and have been so for many years. This accounted for almost two-thirds of our total revenue. We saw a solid recovery in Q4, with volumes reaching 1.3 million tons for the quarter. Operational challenges from earlier quarters, primarily around logistics, have been largely addressed. We have added our own fleet to help augment the logistics. With the commissioning of our additional washery and investment in the dedicated logistics fleet, we've expanded our capacity to over 5 million tons on an annual basis, and we expect the quarterly volume run rate to remain above 1 million in the coming quarters. This is also aided by the fact that our long-term relationships with customers allow us to have longer-term contracts, and these remain in force. Sulfate of potash. The trials are continuing steadily and continue to be very promising.
We have completed most of the trials at the test phase and at the pilot phase, and we are moving to demonstrate this at the plant scale in the next quarter. We anticipate meaningful contributions, as I've stated on earlier calls, from this vertical starting in the second half of FY2026. We remain one of the few manufacturers of sulfate of potash in the world, and it is a fertilizer that is not easily made elsewhere, and we believe the market continues to remain firm for this product. Bromine derivatives. Our bromine derivatives operations are up and running, currently between 20%-30% capacity utilization. Clear brine fluids and catalysts for purified terephthalic acid PTA synthesis contributed to Q4 FY2025 performance. We obviously expect the utilization to rise to more than 50% in the near term.
The products have been well received, and we have started exports of the same from the facility. Regarding the flame retardant bromine project, this initiative is being actively now pursued, and we will provide an update soon once we finalize the key arrangements at our end. To date, we have invested approximately INR 160 crores-INR 170 crores in the bromine derivatives platform, and this has started yielding results both on the top line and on the utilization rates. On Oren Hydrocarbons, this is the business, as you all may recall, we bought in 2024. We have made progress in reviving Oren Hydrocarbons operations of the four units. The two facilities in Andhra Pradesh are now ready, while the two remaining units in Gujarat and one in Tamil Nadu are likely to commence operations towards the latter part of FY2026.
But having said that, we continue to remain focused on the two that are going to get operational soon and start contributing revenues shortly. Debottlenecking and refurbishment work has been going on all sides. We expect Oren Hydrocarbons to contribute approximately INR 150 crores in revenue during FY2026 on a conservative basis. On our new strategic initiatives, as you all may be updated, we have made investments in two areas for the future, keeping eye on the development across the industry, both from a domestic perspective as well as from a global perspective. The semiconductor manufacturing initiative, the land acquisition process for the project has been completed. The company is now working closely with both state and central government officials. As previously communicated, we have submitted our application to the Indian Semiconductor Mission and are awaiting approval.
The project has been approved at the state level in Odisha, and now we are waiting for the final approval to come from the center. On the energy storage battery business, the zinc bromide battery specifically, the company's planned investment in Offgrid Energy Labs, a U.S.-based zinc bromide battery innovator, is progressing well. The Offgrid team is currently advancing site identification and vendor selection for the pilot plant in the U.K., and we hope in the coming quarter this will be finalized and the startup will have begun. In summary, the company has maintained margins, expanded customer engagements, and advanced strategic initiatives in both the bromine derivatives business, semiconductors, and the energy storage business. We remain a net debt-free company supported by a strong balance sheet and disciplined capital allocation, which positions us well to pursue long-term growth opportunities.
The key being for us to be vigilant, agile, and be conservative in how we use our cash, but at the same time pursue opportunities that provide long-term growth for the company and for the shareholders. With that, I would now like to invite our CFO, Mr. Natarajan Ramamurthy, to provide the financial highlights for Q4 and FY2025. Thank you.
Thank you, and a very good morning to all the participants on the call. We are pleased to report a notable performance for the quarter gone by. To give a summary of Q4 FY2025 on a standalone basis, total revenue for Q4 FY2025 stood at INR 3,333.3 million. Our business mix was as follows in Q4: bromine contributed 24% of the total revenue, whereas industrial salt contributes around 76%. Sales volume of business was as follows: volume sales of bromine for the quarter four, 2025, stood at near 3,600 metric tons. Volume sales of industrial salt for the Q4 FY2025 stood at 1.3 million. EBITDA for the company stood at INR 1,011.2 million in Q4 FY2025, with a margin of 30.3%.
Increase in other expenses during the quarter was largely due to increase in operating expenses due to increase in salt quantity by 55% and year-end positions. Net profit for Q4 FY2025 stood at around INR 583 million. On FY2025 highlights, total revenue for FY2025 stood at INR 10,634.5 million. Our business mix was as follows: bromine contributed 35%, whereas industrial salt contributes around 65%. Export market contributed around 77%, and the balance 23% were contributed by the domestic market. Volume sales of bromine for the FY2025 stood at near 18,000 metric tons. Volume sales of industrial salt for the FY2025 stood at 3.5 million metric tons. EBITDA for the FY2025 stood at INR 3,721.2 million, with a margin of 35%. Reduction in employee cost was driven by use of utilization and the NED commission compared to last year.
Net profit for FY2025 stood at around INR 1,849.2 million. Net debt-to-equity stood at 0.03 level. We are delighted to share that both directors have recommended a final dividend of INR 3 per equity share of INR 2 each for the financial year ending March 31st, 2025. With this, we conclude this speech and open the floor for Q1 meeting. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone phone. 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. The first question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Sorry for the repetition. I know you said this earlier in your opening remark, but still, can you give me this quarterly revenue breakup between salt and bromine and bromine SOP?
Yeah. Okay. In Q4 FY2025, sales metric ton industrial salt was 1,270.035 kg, bromine 3,604 metric tons, SOP 46 metric tons.
26. Revenue?
Revenue, industrial salt is INR 245.4 crores, bromine INR 76.25 crores, SOP was INR 0.09 crores. Total INR 321.74 crores.
Got it. Got it. Now, what was the derivative? Because I guess there is a decent derivative sale even in this quarter. If I do consult in a standalone, almost INR 24 crores of derivative sales that should be assumed. So what is the derivative volume that's sold during this quarter?
Sanjesh, good morning. This is Ranjit here.
Hi, Sir.
Morning. Hi. So yes, you're right. We did start derivative sales this quarter, which is why I think I mentioned that we are quite well placed in the coming year. So we sold about close to 500 tons of product for the Q1 .
Okay.
Q1 , as in, of the operation, commercial sales, as in FY25 Q4. So we did sell about 500 metric tons.
That's a great start, actually. 500, even at this rate, we are talking about 6,000 metric tons already, right?
Yes.
So we guided 10,000 metric tons for FY2026 in the previous call. That still stands, or do you think there's an upside risk to that?
Sorry, Sanjesh, can you repeat that question?
You mentioned that for FY2026 in the previous call, we are looking at derivative sale of 10,000 metric tons. So with this 500 already being sold in Q4, do you think that 10,000 can be surpassed easily?
I think when we discussed this the last time on the call, I think we were having that projection, and I think that's what we'd like to target. But we also have to see with a lot of changes having happened on the geopolitical side. For example, I think, I mean, you know this more than anyone else, how the oil prices have come down from $70-odd to now $56-$60-odd. But having said that, I think the silver lining remains that the producers have increased the output, which means that the more they supply, the more they will need chemicals for the more they drill. So I think that's, I think, one green shoot that we see that will support demand and offtake.
And the second one is also, I think, with all that's going on in the U.S., there may be other opportunities also that may open up for suppliers. But on a volume basis, I think it's not incorrect to say that is it achievable or not. It is probably achievable.
Very good.
We'd like to see performance happen over the next couple of quarters and stabilize.
Got it. Next question on the bromine, 3,600 metric tons with prices going so sharply, I thought it is more demand-led, rather than the supply-led. The volume metric ton really is not encouraging for the Q4. Are we facing any capacity constraint, or how it is?
No, actually, I mean, we've always been in this position with bromine that the demand exceeds what we're able to supply for our own customers. But the reality has been that we've had an extended, I think, winter. So what happened in January and February, generally, Q4 is traditionally our strongest quarter for bromine also. But this year, with the evaporation rates staying subdued because of the extended winter, January-February, that caused lower concentration. But I think you would see the pickup happen through March. And as we are speaking, I think it's gone to a pretty healthy rate beyond what we actually budgeted as well. So the offtake, whatever we are able to make, we're able to sell.
But from the offtake perspective, I thought we have a lot of ponds which can be developed to meet this offtake. Practically speaking, what is the capacity which we can drive bromine out of the ponds which we have developed and the water resources we have?
From the infrastructure that we have, we can go in excess of 30,000.
That can be enhanced, or that is where we will hit the peak?
No, that can be enhanced. So I think we still have area to be developed. We still have brine efficiency management in the fields. That's an ongoing process. So I think those improvements are being done as we speak. So in terms of our ability to do more, does exist with not a large expenditure.
Very clear. And just last question, any comment on the Bromine pricing?
The bromine, I think the climb was steep. I think as the market may know, in the matter of, I think, a month, the prices almost jumped 70%. But also, like everything else, it comes down. We've always held a conservative view, you know this, on what the bromine pricing will be from a long-term average perspective. At the moment, it is higher than it was last couple of quarters.
The long-term contracts, they don't change, right?
They don't change because I think our reputation is what people come to us for. They expect us to honor contracts. And because it works both ways, we expect our customers to also honor contracts. So despite all that's been going on, the turbulence worldwide, our customers continue to honor their contracts as well for whatever they signed. So I think our customer engagement is very strong given our track record and history of working with them.
Very clear. Thanks for answering all those questions. And best of luck for the coming quarter.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Next question is from the line of Aditya Khetan from SMIFS Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. So my first question is, for the next two years, we had seen some major geographies, whether it is U.S., China, Japan, U.K., everywhere the growth is slowing down. And I believe for what guidance we have given for bromine in terms of volumes, that is surpassing 25 volumes, I mean, onto the growth part. So what is giving us the confidence that this stronger growth can be achieved? And any outlook or any sort of volumes you can share? So for the salt business in FY2026?
Thank you for the question. I think the reason why we feel that bromine is well placed is because there are only a handful of manufacturers who do produce bromine. The fact that we are one of the largest on a global basis as well means our customers come from a range of industries, right? We are not focused on any one industry. We have flame retardant importers. We have ag chem. We have pharma. That diversified industrial base allows us to be confident of being able to move the volume.
Talking about the growth of upwards of around 20%-25% in terms of volumes.
Yeah. So I think that's based on the contracts that we have and the visibility we have with these customers. Like I said, these are products that are needed. There's no substitute for them. So it's not that because the price has changed that somebody can swap out for some other input. So I think there's a base demand for it, and that base demand is still not being met. So I think that difference will allow us to keep moving a little bit more volume than we did this year, for sure.
Got it. So this spot pricing, which has moved from $3- $5 in a span of weeks only, any particular reason? And is the price so volatile that it can move from $3- $5 in a week's time only? And it can again come down to the same level. I believe so, what is the reason for this movement?
I think market participants and shareholders understand that supply shocks generally only lead to such a rapid increase in price, right? So I think that from West Asia, and I think that caused a spike. But in our conversations with customers and as well as we ourselves as a company knew that this spike won't last. So I think trying to plan on the basis of a spike is not, I think, realistic. So we need to keep our head down, understand the long-term trends, end-use industry trends, end-use industry prices, and then accordingly model ourselves into what prices we expect. So for the current prices that we're doing, we're happy. I think customers didn't appreciate that we didn't try to take advantage of this temporary spike. We honor our contracts, and I think that's what keeps our customers coming back to us.
Just to give you an insight, most of our bromine customers are more than 10 years old. So they don't expect us to sway as the wind goes.
Got it. Second, one last question. In Q4, the business mix tilted more towards the salt side. I believe from 50-odd % for revenue mix now, it is around 65%. So considering salt is more of a low entry barrier business, it doesn't have any sort of an edge. How do you see this mix moving ahead? Will bromine mix move up, or it will remain in this direction only?
So I think, see, we have to see the business holistically. While we are a specialty chemicals company with bromine and bromine derivatives that are our key products and key focus areas, right? Salt also is an important product. So we don't fancy one over the other. I think the first fundamental thing is both make money, both have a good, healthy contribution to the EBITDA and the business bottom line. Both do it. So I think I'm not going to choose one over the other, but at the same time, I will add this. Our intention is to keep growing the bromine and bromine derivative business because we see the future there and the distinction between us and many others coming from that strength. Salt will continue to be a product that we continue to sell because it is a large volume mover and has a healthy contribution.
So I think it will be an all-round performance. But our focus will continue to be on the bromine and bromine derivatives.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Archit Joshi from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So first question, again, harping a little bit on the bromine price trend. I believe a lot of our contracts have different time frames that we operate in. But would it be conceivable that the new contracts that will be repriced, let's say three, six, nine months down the line, would be at a higher price? Where I'm getting from is just to get a sense of how should we look at pricing of bromine in FY2026?
I think there are two parts to this, Archit. One is that today, I think we are amongst a few companies where we don't have a demand problem. I think we should be fortunate for that. The prices of the contracts we've signed, people are still buying and wanting. I think that's a good thing, which is why I keep saying our demand at the moment continues to be stable. The second one is on future pricing. I think given all that's happening, right, it is very dynamic. I think we'll be hazarding too much up against what's going to happen in six months' time or nine months' time. But having said that, I think the contract that we had signed towards, I think, Q3 or Q3 last year or Q2, Q3 last year, I don't personally see the prices being below that.
I think this is an observation we made last year saying that someone asked us, "Have the prices bottomed?" I said, I don't know if they've hit bottom, but I think there's no reason to think that they will fall any further. Similarly, I think there's no reason to think that the prices will fall when the renewal time comes. At the same time, is there an upside? I think there is an upside. Most of that upside, we would like to capture it through our derivatives business, not necessarily on the elemental bromine business.
Sure. That's my point. So second question, again, like you mentioned on derivatives, I think when we had planned this entire project of whatever investment we have done till now, INR 160 crores-INR 170 crores that you mentioned earlier, we were supposed to have a good 20%-odd value addition on the derivative space. I think a large part of it could have been driven by flame retardants because that typically had more demand visibility. And I think we stalled it. But would those economics still stand through even without flame retardants as we speak because we're doing about 500 tons, like you mentioned before? So any thoughts on that?
So I think our focus today is on ramping up the utilization of the plants. So I think once that happens, obviously, margins do move up. For this year, I think assuming a 20% margin would not necessarily be too true simply because the investment has to start paying off and the utilization has to move up. But going forward, I think the margin that we have stated earlier is possible to achieve. As we also change the product mix and as we keep moving between various industries, not just oil and gas, right? So I think our R&D team has done a great job. We have a few interesting products lined up coming up over the next two, three months. And so I think this will make us as a unique manufacturer of some of these products for end-use industries in pharma and agri-chem.
Sure, sir. One quick last one. As we plan to resurrect the flame retardant capacity once again, anything with regards to timelines as to when that plant will be operational? And since we have already spent INR 160 crores-INR 170 crores, I'm assuming that there'll be common infrastructure, etc., involved in that already. So what will be the incremental CapEx output there?
So I think our overall project cost for the bromine derivative business was INR 250-odd crores. So at the moment, we are in the stage one and stage two included. So I think at the moment, the first phase has been completed under budget. So kudos to the team for doing that. But the additional CapEx should happen within that same INR 251, give or take a little bit given the inflation, etc., on certain things. But yeah, a large part of the infrastructure is already in place.
So incremental INR 250 crores or incremental INR 90 crores-INR 100 crores? I didn't get that.
No. The total phase one and phase II, including flame retardant, was 250, of which 160- 170 has been spent. So the balance, 80- 90 that's available will be what it will be used for the flame retardant project. So it's well within what we had estimated earlier.
Sure. And timelines with regards to the commissioning of the project? Anything that you could guide?
We probably will have a better update on the next call. Hopefully, we'll have made some progress, so there'll be something more meaningful to convey. But ideally, we would like to see if we can do it within this FY2026.
Sure, sir. That's great. Thanks. And all the best.
Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Resham Jain from DSP Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, Mr. Ranjit. So my question is with respect to the bromine prices. So one is your long-term contracts, if I'm not wrong, is largely for the export markets. And domestic, you have certain open contracts as well. Is that correct? And how does your pricing change in the light of this mix?
Yeah. Morning, Resham. Thanks for the question. You're right. The contracts for a longer-term tenure and price is for the export market. That continues. On the domestic side, we have a combination of those that are basically quantity-based or period-based for a certain quantity. I think when and where those have finished in the last couple of months, we have renewed them at better prices. That's on a rolling basis on the domestic side. We are seeing no issue on the offtake, and we are benefiting from an uptick in price on the domestic side.
Understood. Got it. And the other thing is, in your initial remarks, you mentioned that next year, you are budgeting for 22,000 tons of bromine. Is it production or is it sales? Because you'll be consuming a bit for in-house as well.
Yeah. So I think it is sales.
Okay. So 22,000+ , you will consume whatever bromine derivative you will manufacture, you will consume there as well. That will be how much quantum, approximately?
So we are looking at the reason I said in my initial comments between 22,000- 25,000 tons was sales. So in that, between 22 and 25, we anticipate that extra quantity will come from our captive consumption.
Understood. Okay. Lastly, if you can help us with the bromine derivative realization, for I presume there'll be different kinds of products, but on average, if you can just help with the realization of bromine derivatives.
Yes. Give us a second here. So Resham, I think we probably have to get back to you on that. If you don't mind, Mr. Natarajan, our CFO, will reach out to you because, like you said, we are doing multiple products, and some have a recycled component to it. So I don't want to give you an answer that's incorrect. But the data will be given to you post the call. No worries.
Okay. Because based on the data you have given, 500 tons and INR 24 crore revenue, it comes out to INR 480/ kg. I don't know whether that is correct or not.
Yeah, that's why I think we should be careful. The reason is the product mix. But definitely, we're not selling anything at low. We are making money for sure.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Krishan Parwani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. A couple from my side. First, your sales volume guidance for FY2026 is north of 4 million tons or what is it exactly?
Yes. Thank you, Krishan. So I think our volume, we expect an excess of four million.
Okay. So any estimate? It's more closer to five or four and a half or whatever because even the completion is 1.3. Yeah.
Yeah. So the completion of our washery, the second line, has added the capacity. And as I said, it has taken us to 5 million+ tons on an annual basis. So ideally, we should be able to use as much of that as possible. So I would say between 4.5 million- 5 million tons.
Got it. And secondly, on the bromine price, I know you've answered quite a lot. But just during the last cycle, we saw your peak bromine realization for $4.7 a kg, even when the spot price was $10, $12 a kg. So let's say what's the peak realization you think you can get if spot prices sustain at $4?
I think if spot prices stay at $4, endeavor would be to be as close as possible to that. You're obviously not going to get the spot price for a long-term contract, naturally. Those are all for people who are wanting to just do a month's export and just get some benefit out of it. But long-term, generally, if we take the hypothetical situation of $4 spot, I would assume long-term contract will be between $3.25- $3.4, $3.5 because there is a local duty element in China and all those things.
Got it. So probably at a 20% discount, roughly. Give or take.
So spot price, yeah. I would assume that would be a safe thing to assume and then build your business around that.
Got it. Just last two bits. What's your CapEx stand for FY2026 and FY2027, considering investments for upgrade and derivative?
We'll revert back on that. But I think on salt, we don't have any outside CapEx other than just regular maintenance. On bromine derivatives, like I said a few minutes earlier, if we do the flame retardant as we plan to, it will be within that original budget CapEx of 250. So there's no new CapEx as such from that perspective. And on the upgrade this year, apart from the investment, we don't have any CapEx. And on the semiconductor project, I think any meaningful CapEx starts only next year. I think for this year, probably we may have 50 crores-60 crores at best. And we, of course, the only I think one that really is focusing on pure CapEx is the SOP plant startup, where we do obviously get the immediate revenue and cash flow and sales.
So I think will happen between now and September, October, that we estimate about INR 20 crores-INR 30 crores. So we don't have any large capexes as such. Oren is already underway. So we don't, again, it's within the original budget we've given last year of about INR 25 crores-INR 30 crores. So we don't have any large capexes planned outside of these. But to be more accurate, I think Mr. Natarajan will get back to you on that.
Okay. Got it. And last bit, if I may. So when do you expect, let's say, derivative business to be profitable on the PTA front?
On PAT?
Because I think there's a consultant manager scandal with INR 5 crore of loss, right?
Yes. So I think on a PAT basis, definitely, we want to see a positive figure end of this year, for sure.
Okay. Got it. Thank you for answering my question, sir. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. So first question is on Oren Hydrocarbons. What is the total CapEx, including the acquisition cost, that we are looking at? And you already mentioned that this year, we are expecting about INR 150 crores of revenues from this asset. What is the peak potential that we are looking at from the current investment that we are making or we have made? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. So I think we bought the asset for about INR 77 odd crores. And I think since then, we have spent about INR 10 odd crores on the refurbishment. As you know, these were running plants, but the last four years, they were shut. So it took more time than actual real CapEx, simply because we had to go in there, post the NCLT orders and all that, and look at what's not working and all of those things, long lead items, etc. So yeah, so that's all we have spent for the moment out of the INR 25 crores-INR 30 crores we had budgeted when we had bought the asset itself.
I think for peak revenues, before the company had got into trouble, I think they had touched almost close to INR 500 crore in top line when they still didn't have, I think, a couple of the plants operational. As a business, there's a lot of potential there. I think we are slowly climbing that wall. To start with, that INR 150-odd crore, I think estimate we have given is on that basis.
Yeah. This is helpful. The second question is on the industrial salt. So generally, how has been the trend in terms of pricing of industrial salt? And do we expect, at least, say, inflation-adjusted price increase in salt, or what is your estimate for maybe a couple of years from now?
I think a couple of years' prediction or prediction, I think, is very, very, I think, difficult. I think most industries are not able to predict what's going to happen next quarter. So I think I won't have a guess for two years for sure. But all that I can add and say is that, as you see, our volume, again, is back up over a million tons. I think the first objective is to touch what we have projected with the enhanced capacity for this year. That, I think, adds the contribution levels of what we got in Q4, and hopefully that continuing. The focus will be on moving that volume and having a tight cost control to ensure that the contribution level stays thereabouts what we accomplished in Q4.
So I think if that is achieved, I think we would have added a significant top line and bottom line from the volume.
Just one clarification. Generally, the salt prices do increase, or they have been largely stable, and there is marginal increase which happens?
They have largely been stable. There is, I think, maybe a drop of 5%-10%. But I think, like I said, I think the volume far more than makes up for that. And I think we are not overly concerned on our ability to be able to move to that 5 million mark for this year.
Got it. Just one last clarification on the lease. Any incremental update?
On that, I think it is continuously a work in progress. We are making headway. I think we are in touch with the authorities, and they were assured that they will move on this quickly because I think they will receive a large number of representations from many others on the same subject.
Thanks and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
So thank you, everyone, for joining us on this earnings call. We appreciate your time and showing interest in our company. In case of queries, you can get in touch with us or SGA, our investor relations advisors. We look forward to, again, meeting all of you over the next call. And meanwhile, be safe, and Jai Hind.
On behalf of Archean Chemical Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.