Morning. Thank you everyone for logging in for Q3 FY 2022 and nine months FY 2022 earnings conference call of Adani Ports and SEZ. From the management we have Mr. Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director. Mr. Subrat Tripathy, CEO of the Ports Vertical. Mr. Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO Logistics Vertical. Mr. Sanjay Chauhan, VP, Finance, and Mr. Satya Prakash Mishra from the Investor Relations team. We would have initial remarks by the management team, post which we'll open it for Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Thank you . Welcome to the conference call to discuss the operational and financial performance of Adani Ports and SEZ Limited for the quarter and nine months ending December 31st, 2021. Let me start by wishing you all a very happy new year and a great year ahead. At APSEZ, we have laid strong foundations during the past two years for leapfrogging into a new growth trajectory, which is a key character of our growth story. Our strategy of expanding in the East Coast of India with a focus on higher growth regions, balancing cargo mix, expansion in the logistics business, rail transportation, and venture into warehousing echoes our transformation towards a transport utility business model. In 2021, recovering from the impact of the pandemic, global growth was higher than most people's expectations at 5.5% as per the latest World Bank report.
Global inflation during the period expectedly was high due to higher liquidity and due to disruption in the supply chain. During this period, India has managed a resilient growth turnaround in spite of a severe second wave early this fiscal. We are in the midst of a third wave, but the government has shown tremendous courage to ensure balance between life and livelihood with minimum impact to economy. Now coming to APSEZ. Last year, I have shared with you my vision of making APSEZ the largest port company globally by 2030, and the largest transport utility in India. In the past year, we have taken concrete actions to achieve this strategy. With one port on the East Coast, namely Gangavaram, and one port on the West Coast, namely Dighi, added during 2021, which will provide a much needed impetus on diversification and growth.
The under-construction port of Vizag, along with the new terminal at Colombo, will work in tandem as the new transshipment hub in Southeast Asia, providing multiple options to shipping lines for their transshipment trade while adding volumes to APSEZ cargo basket. Coming to the logistics business. To strengthen our hinterland network of logistics infrastructure for providing integrated end-to-end solution to our customers, we increased our rail rolling stock by 18% to 71 rakes. Commissioned Multimodal Logistics Park at Nagpur and ventured into Grade A warehousing, and increased warehousing capacity by 108%. Let me brief you on the status of Sarguja Rail Corridor and Gangavaram Port acquisition, which was announced in the current year, 2021. I'm happy to inform you that the merger of SRCPL is now completed and consolidated into APSEZ financials in the nine-month FY 2022 result.
With this, APSEZ will now consolidate all its rail assets under a single business entity, Adani Tracks Management Services Private Limited, creating a center of excellence under one entity and help create a strategic platform and considerable value for all stakeholders from day one, as it aligns with APSEZ's vision of being a leader in the transport utility space. APSEZ holds a rail portfolio of 620 kilometers. With acquisition of Sarguja rail, which has 70 kilometers of rail line will enable us to create a platform of owning and operating such assets. This will enable us to bid for expanding the network to reach its target of 2,000 kilometers of rail track network by 2025, by participating in PPP projects of Indian Railways and improving our hinterland reach. Coming to Gangavaram Port acquisition. Process for acquisition of 100% stake of Gangavaram Port is underway.
APSEZ currently holds a 41.9% stake in GPL. Balance 58.1% stake in Gangavaram Port is being acquired. The scheme of merger is now filed with NCLT, and we expect the approval in next few months. In nine months, FY 2022, Gangavaram Port handled cargo volume of 22.35 million metric tons, resulting in a revenue of INR 899 crores and an EBITDA of INR 598 crores, which is not consolidated. In our view, GPL will add revenue of approximately INR 1,200 crores and EBITDA of INR 800 crores in FY 2022, which will consolidate retrospectively from April 1st, 2021 after its receipt of approval from NCLT. APSEZ continues to work on ESG framework adopted by it with a focus on sustainable growth.
We are working towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2025. Some actions already undertaken and are in progress include electrification of rubber tire and gantries, electrification of mobile harbor cranes, purchase of electric internal transfer vehicle, and the ongoing mangrove plantation. APSEZ has significantly enhanced its ambition for mangrove plantation beyond its earlier announced target of additional 1,000 hectares. The company is now formulating its net zero plan, which will be announced in the second half of this year. This is in line with the commitment made for the Science Based Targets initiative. Let me now invite Subrat and Vikram, who will brief you about the operational performance of port and logistics vertical. Thereafter, I will run you through the financials.
Thank you, Karan Adani. Hello, everyone on the call. Greetings on behalf of the ports division of APSEZ for a wonderful 2022 and ahead. Let me give you an overview of the performance of the ports vertical. I will start with the cargo volumes. APSEZ continues to outperform all-India cargo volume growth. In the first nine months of FY 2022, it handled a cargo volume of 212 million metric tons, a growth of 22% as against 7% growth registered by all Indian ports. Our overall cargo market share stands at 28.1%, thereby implying a market share growth of 350 basis points, whereas our container market share has grown by 189 basis points to reach 42.2%.
Mundra Port grew by 8% during the period, while the APSEZ portfolio, excluding Mundra, grew by 42%. Non-Mundra ports in the portfolio, especially on the East Coast, are growing faster and have contributed 47% to the cargo basket, which is higher by 7 percentage points. Including Gangavaram Port on a pro forma basis, the number further improves to 52%. This growth is primarily due to our strategic focus on achieving East Coast, West Coast parity and diversifying cargo mix. With this, we are swiftly and steadily moving towards the balance between the West and East Coast, East Coast, which improves to 69% versus 31% from 76% versus 24% earlier. Our cargo basket continues to see all India growth and constitutes 43% container, 44% dry bulk, and 13% liquid cargo.
Other products like LNG and LPG that we have added to our cargo basket continue to add and spur growth. Let me share segment-wise cargo data. First of all, on the container cargo, during the nine months, APSEZ handled a total container volume of 6.2 million TEUs, a growth of 25% compared to all-India container growth of 19% on a year-over-year basis. While Mundra Port grew by 26%, Krishnapatnam Port grew by 58% with a volume of nearly 134,000 TEUs. Mundra continues to be the largest container handling port, truly the EXIM gateway of India with 4.9 million TEUs, which is 17% higher than JNPT.
Our strategy of providing multiple entry and exit points by diversifying our geographic footprint, single window service to the shipping lines, integrated supply chain solutions to end customers, along with partnering huge and large shipping lines through our JVs, enables and fosters continuous gain in market share. Our efforts to strengthen the position in container segment, add newer locations and offer unique solutions to shipping lines resulted in the addition of eight new container services, of which five services were added at Mundra Port, one each at Hazira, Kattupalli, and Ennore ports. These will contribute 230,000 TEUs of container volume per annum. Talking about dry bulk cargo, during the nine months of the year, the total dry bulk cargo handled was 94 million metric tons, which is a jump of 21%.
With this segment, minerals grew by 46%, coking coal by 34%, and total coal volume registered a growth of 18%. To enrich and diversify our cargo basket, we have added four new cargo types, namely sulfur at Dahej Port, dolomite at Kattupalli Port, gypsum at Krishnapatnam Port, and LD slag of the steel plants at Dhamra. Krishnapatnam Port, which was acquired in FY 2021, continues to see the adoption of the best practices of APSEZ. We are enhancing capacity by de-bottlenecking and mechanizing operations at a brisk pace. For the first time, limestone was handled through a mechanized conveyor, improving port productivity and efficiency, at the same time helped increase margin portfolio for the product. This is a first amongst all Indian ports. During the period, we have added 12,000 sq m of covered godown to handle agri products.
We continue to add new customers at Krishnapatnam Port, and this will go a long way towards achieving the full potential of the port. Moving to liquid cargo, APSEZ handled liquid cargo, including crude of 26 million metric tons, implying a growth of 22%. All liquid cargo handling ports registered double-digit growth, led by Hazira. This was led by higher volumes handled, especially at Hazira, as well as at Mundra ports. As part of a cargo diversification, we have added LPG and LNG into our portfolio. In the nine months, APSEZ handled 1.2 million tons of LPG and LNG. With the rise in demand for gas products as a greater source of energy, we expect to see volume growth in this segment also.
Coming to the performance in Q3 of FY 2022, cargo volume during the quarter saw a decline of 8 million metric tons, around 11% compared to Q3 of FY 2021 and handled 68 million metric tons. Cargo volume was particularly subdued on account of lower import of coal by key IPPs and lower trading coal volume, which was impacted due to higher commodity prices, disruptions in the supply chain, and incessant unpredictable rain in the southern and eastern ports of India. Of the 8 million metric ton decline in the cargo baskets, coal volume at the following ports declined by 9 million metric tons on a year-on-year basis. At Mundra, 6.4 million metric tons. At Dahej, 0.5 million metric tons. At Hazira, 0.5 million metric tons. At Krishnapatnam, 0.9 million metric tons.
If we look at key customers on account of whom the cargo volume declined, the key names are Adani Power at 4.5 million metric tons, Tata Power at 1.5 million metric tons, Concor at 0.8 million metric tons at Mundra and Krishnapatnam respectively. However, on a sequential quarter-on-quarter, the volume was flat. We believe with the revival of demand from coastal power plants due to increased power demand and softening of prices globally, coal volume in Q4 of FY 2022 will certainly improve and is already showing such signs. Now, coming to the ESG performance during the period. As emphasized by Mr. Karan Adani, we march firmly and steadily towards carbon neutrality by 2025. APSEZ has scaled up its ambition for renewable electricity beyond the earlier announced 100 MW generation capacity.
The company is now discussing the tie-up of electricity supplies from a renewable developer. We have now completed the climate risk vulnerability assessment of 13 ports to ascertain their exposure and sensitivity to changing climate so as to guide the development of an adoption plan for individual ports, particularly the ones with high sensitivity. To give you a brief about the ESG performance, as on the end of December 2021, APSEZ has managed to improve its energy intensity by 31% and reduce its carbon intensity by 29% from the 2016 base levels. I am sure and confident that this performance will further improve to lead to carbon neutrality vision by 2025. With this, I will now hand over to Vikram to update you on the logistics vertical. Over to you, Vikram. Thank you.
Thank you, Subrat. Greetings of the new year to everyone on the call. I am delighted to share that Adani Logistics Park at Nagpur was successfully commissioned in quarter three FY 2022. With this, we now have a strong central India presence and have six multimodal logistics parks. Furthermore, the logistics park at Virochanagar, [inaudible], and Panipat are under development. We are working in line with our vision to become an end-to-end integrated logistics service provider in India by creating logistics infrastructure, including multimodal logistics parks, warehouses, grain silos and complete rail solutions for container, liquid, grain, bulk and auto cargo. Speaking about logistics operation in the past nine months, Adani Logistics witnessed a 25% increase in rail volume as compared to last year. That is 2,84,477 TEUs versus 2,27,047 TEUs.
This has been achieved despite blockade of the Killa Raipur logistics park. Our operations at Killa Raipur, which resumed in December 2021, and we are working to regain our volume in Ludhiana. GPWIS vertical continued its growth trajectory, and with new circuits added from mines to power plants, the bulk cargo transportation is gaining momentum, and rail thrust achieved 86% growth in the nine months FY 2022. During the period, Adani Logistics handled 5.7 million metric ton against 3.08 million metric ton in nine months of FY 2021. We have also commissioned 11 new rakes during that period. With that, we have 21 GPWIS rakes in our stable. We have a firm induction plan to take the total GPWIS rakes up to 25 by end of this financial year.
Coming to Adani Agri Logistics, five projects of 250,000 metric ton capacity at Panipat, Dhanault, Damora, Darbhanga, and Samastipur are under construction, each having 50,000 metric ton storage capacity, which will increase the capacity by 30%. Two of these projects will be commissioned in quarter one FY 2023, one in quarter three FY 2023, and the rest in FY 2024. In warehousing, our new grade A warehousing facilities at Mumbai, Indore, Palwal, Ranoli, Kochi, and Virochanagar are under construction, totaling 4 million sq ft, which will be commissioned by Q4 FY 2023. We are also in final stages of signing LOI with clients for 0.5 million sq ft build to suit warehouses.
Adani Logistics is on its trajectory to emerge as a leading company in Grade A warehousing with the commencement of new projects, while also focusing on strategic acquisition of warehousing assets. Alongside port business, logistics business is also successfully implementing low carbon solution in its business segments to reduce the emission profile of its customers. All ceramic goods transferred from Morbi in Gujarat are now transported through rail versus road earlier. The greenhouse gas emission reduction from this transition is estimated at over 50,000 tons in 2025, implying taking 20,000 cars off the road. Back to you, Karan.
Thank you, Subrat and Vikram. Now speaking about the financials, consolidated revenue grew by 35% year-on-year to INR 12,089 crore in nine m onths FY 2022. This is backed by 27% growth in port revenue, logistics revenue growth of 22%, as well as a higher SEZ and port development income. During the corresponding period, total EBITDA grew by 29% to INR 7,428 crore. Speaking about port operations, in nine months FY 2022, revenue increased by 27% year-on-year to INR 9,706 crore. EBITDA for the same period grew by 27% year-on-year to INR 6,876 crore, in line with the revenue increase, with Visakhapatnam Port contributing INR 987 crore to this number. Overall port EBITDA margin stood at 71%.
Speaking of the logistics business, in nine months FY 2022, revenue from the logistics business stood at INR 845 crore, a growth of 22% on account of improving container and bulk rail and terminal traffic, along with improvement in rolling stock for both container and bulk cargo movement. Our efforts to diversify by adding bulk cargo, elimination of loss-making routes and operational efficiency resulted in a significant increase in EBITDA and margin. While logistics business EBITDA grew by 32% to INR 214 crore, the EBITDA margins expanded by 179 basis points to 25% on a year-on-year basis. During these nine months, profit before tax stood at INR 4,776 crore and PAT stood at INR 3,762 crore.
In conclusion, as said earlier, India's story of becoming a second manufacturing hub and resumption of a virtuous cycle of investment in infrastructure, capital goods and booming consumption will lead to expected GDP growth of more than 9% in the next couple of years, giving a springboard flip to India's EXIM trade. We are ready to capture such growth by having a footprint in all key geographies of India's EXIM hub. Creating a strong network of multimodal logistics park and owning and expanding container and bulk rolling stock to reach the customer's gate will help us provide end to end integrated service as part of our customer centric business model. As the supply side disruption continues, we are integrating technology into our platform to provide tailor made single window solution to our customers.
Capture a higher wallet share of their supply chain. I am sure with all of this we are on right track to achieve our FY 2025 business growth target of reaching cargo volume of 500 million mark. Growing rakes count by over 3x to 200. Own railway tracks of 2,000 km, implying a growth of over 200% and build 15 MMLPs, which is three times the current count. Also, we have a target for warehousing capacity of 60 million sq ft by FY 2026. With this, the tapestry of our India story will be complete. I will conclude by saying that our effort to create the largest port company globally by 2030 and the largest transport utility in India, combined with a green and sustainable future, are key pathways to value creation for all our stakeholders. With this, we can open the lines for question and answer.
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 the 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. The first question is from the line of Atul Tiwari from Citi. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thanks a lot. Sir, my first question is on Sarguja Rail. So, it is being consolidated now, from FY 2022 onwards. I n which of the segments the numbers are there of SRCPL, ports, SEZ, logistics, or other?
We have consolidated the SRCPL numbers in ports.
Okay. SRCPL is a part of the port. J ust trying to understand that why, because it's like a rail link, and it is also not connected to any particular port of yours, right?
No. Because it is not just SRCPL, because after once this asset comes in under Adani Tracks, you will have assets of Dhamra, Mundra, Krishnapatnam and Behage, which will be coming in. You will have predominantly assets which are linked to port which will be driving. That's why we are consolidating Adani Tracks management under ports.
Okay, sir. You have revised down your revenue and EBITDA, et c., guidance down for this year. What is the new volume guidance for this year?
Sir, Atul, we are not giving volume guidance because, we are more focused on making sure that financially we are reaching the numbers at what we have guided. It's a little bit, let me put it this way, it's very difficult for us to give the guidance right now keeping in mind the whole scenario, what is happening.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Yes, of course.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumit Kishore from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the container volume growth dynamics. Could you elaborate on the, almost flattish growth that we saw in container volumes for Adani Ports in Q3? All India growth was about 2%. Typically, I know you've done better in the nine-month period, but, what is the dynamics there?
Subrat, do you want to answer this one?
Yes, I will take this. Thank you so much. See the container growth, as we have clarified, it is not about being flattish, it's about the emergence of Mundra as the preferred EXIM gateway. If you really look at Mundra at 4.9 million TEUs, it consolidates itself as the most preferred gateway serving the entire northwestern region of India, and therefore volumes have been growing significantly. If you look at Mundra itself, the growth at 4.9 versus about 3.8 last year is pushing a growth of about 26%. Now, in line with the pandemic and the automobile sector being a little depressed on the southern part of India, which is the automobile hub around Chennai. There have been a little depressed volumes.
If you were to pick it out from the western India, and which is truly where the EXIM trade of India is conducted, we see a very strong rally in Mundra. That is confirming also with the growth in volumes at the port, the discharges through the rail method, the growth in CFSs and the connect that we are establishing to each of the ICTs and the CTOs in Mundra and in northwestern India. We would like to believe that the container story is very robust, is very sound. Let me also further clarify. If you look at the nearest competitor in this region, both at JNPT as well as at Pipava. JNPT does register growth but is now clearly behind, which means Mundra emerges ahead in the race and consolidates position.
Just to clarify that container growth on a India basis may look to be flat, but our position consolidates truly ahead. That is the clarification we'd like to give.
Sure. Well, thanks, Subrat. Another question on volumes. Again, when we look at major port coal volumes for the December quarter, they were almost flat on a year-on-year basis. There was a decline seen in Adani Ports in Q3. I know a lot of it is attributable to the Mundra thermal power plant, but still, even excluding that there was a decline in coal volumes versus a flat outcome at major ports. W Hat is the difference?
Y ourself, the genesis of the answer lies in the way, as Karan guided. T he India story of coal now is a replacement of domestic coal from the Indian mines to within the coastal movement. Whereas the exim thermal coal, in which the dependence of the IPPs which have been established, especially Adani and CGPL at Mundra, where we have seen declines because of these two significant reasons. One is the disruption in the cycle, the high price arbitrage being demanded in the international market, and of course, the disruptions emerging out of Indonesia, especially in Q3. Now, this coupled with the fact that the Government of India's guidance is to shrink out dependence on imports and migrate to a little bit of coastal coal, especially in the eastern part, puts us in a very unique position.
On one side, we are seeing a booming trade of India on the exim volume. Indian trade volumes are at all-time high if you look at the guidance of government. The Atmanirbhar and import replacement, coupled with the price arbitrage and the disruptions in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, has thrown the situation where cargoes in eastern India, especially at Paradip and at Ennore have grown. All along, the dependence on thermal coal for the IPPs has reduced. The story is the same throughout in India. We have been particularly hit, as I have already clarified, at Mundra in terms of Adani Power and coastal power on behalf of Tata. That's how it pans out here.
Sure. Finally, on logistics, one question. In terms of the Q3 revenue growth of 15%, the commentary on rail volume growth, bulk volume growth has been pretty strong, warehousing capacity addition. H ow should we read the absolute revenue growth number for the quarter?
Okay, can you repeat this question the last time?
Yes. I meant there was a 15% revenue growth in Q3 for logistics, while rail volume growth for the quarter was up 30%, bulk volume growth up 63%. There has been warehousing capacity addition. Nagpur Logistics Park has come into the picture. Versus the volume growth number, the revenue growth appears a bit muted.
I think a number of actions have taken place over here. We have re-jigged our rail network. We have brought in new routes, stopped our loss-making routes, increased operational efficiencies, focused on train turnaround times. All these levers have been effectively used to get the results that we have got. That's how we have achieved these results and the growth that is seen over here.
Okay. Thank you so much for answering the question.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Swarnim Maheshwari from Edelweiss. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, Karan and team, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, when I look at Gangavaram projections, this implies that there is a 21% growth in realizations on a YOY basis. If you can just explain what is leading to such a sharp jump in the realization.
Subrat, you want to answer this one on the cost improvement that we have done in Gangavaram?
Yes. Well, if you see Gangavaram, typically, we are doing a repetition of the story that has been done with each acquisition. First at Dhamra, I'd like to put a little bit of perspective, so Swarnim you get it appropriately. We acquired Dhamra, we turned it around from EBITDA levels and take it to 70% EBITDA levels, bring in efficiencies, become a magnet for attracting cargo in the hinterland. We go into Krishnapatnam, do the same repetition of what is the best skill sets of APSEZ that is focusing on efficiency. extremely good control on our financial disciplines. We turn the port around and achieve EBITDA of beyond 75%, 76% the moment we step in. In line with the same , philosophy that APSEZ ports believe in, we've come into Gangavaram. We turn around the efficiencies. We improve the EBITDA.
We take out the otherwise inefficiencies which are ingrained in the system. We connect with the customers appropriately. We make an outreach to rail. We get in some amount of outreach to the GPWIS rails. We understand that Chhattisgarh, Western Odisha are deeply connected to the development of of Gangavaram Port, and we provide the proper solutions to customers, namely steel plants in these two sectors, as well as the steel plant which is right in our backyard, and this is the only steel plant and a port which live in conjunction. All this means that a virtuous cycle of which APSEZ is known to normally practice brings around the Gangavaram story.
We would have otherwise I would say that if the thermal coal story would have been a little more stronger, you would have seen that Gangavaram portfolio would be exceeding even better. Notwithstanding that, efficiency of operations, better control on financial discipline and eradicating otherwise inefficiencies which we have seen in the Indian ports, but which APSEZ is distinctly different brings the story of Gangavaram, please. Thank you, Swarnim, for giving me an opportunity to tell you the APSEZ story.
Right. Got it. Thank you. Subrat, my other question is on Kattupalli. Now I think it's a third consecutive quarter of a significant volume decline. In this quarter also there's a 30% a decline on the volumes. If you can just explain what is actually leading to such a sharp decline and when it is expected to stabilize?
Well, thank you. The first question on stability, we will be introducing a new service very, very soon. you have seen that the international supply chains, especially in the container trade in Southeast Asia and particularly focusing on the eastern seaboard of China, have gone for massive disruption. The fact that the pandemic has not led to a curve, a twist in the automobile sector. Besides that, we will be adding a service in Kattupalli, and it will be my pleasure and privilege to, when we do a year-ending and come back in the Q1 of the next year, that you will be seeing an added service. Let me also clarify. I would, as we have always guided, not like to look at Kattupalli in isolation.
Rather, we look at Kattupalli as in its own hinterland competitive as it were, along with Ennore Terminal and Kattupalli, which actually reside beside each other, and also Krishnapatnam, where you would have seen we would have grown significantly at about 134,000, thousand TEUs in this particular quarter. So if you were to look at Kattupalli and Ennore, and if you were to look at Chennai, which again has two terminals, we continue to sustain our market penetration and share of about 39%-40%. I t's not that Kattupalli in isolation gets down. Rather, the APSEZ portfolio for containers remains steady. Is that adequate? No. We want to build on, and as we clarified, a new service will be introduced in this quarter. It will be consolidated. A new service will also come into Ennore.
As you have seen, coming back to the first question that Atul had asked, when we had said that the growth of containers has been flattish, but you see at Mundra, which is a driving port, where we added five services, likewise, we have added a new service. It will start bearing fruit in the Q1 of the next year. Along with Ennore, Kattupalli, Krishnapatnam, I urge you to see this as a composite market. We retain our share, we retain our cutting edge over there. Yes, we wish to take Kattupalli portfolio even higher. Thank you.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much. I'll get back in queue.
Thank you so much, Swarnim.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, sir. First question is how the containers and bulk behaving, especially in the month of January 2022. Are we seeing the bulk coming, the coal coming back, especially in Mundra? Do you see any improvement in container vis-à-vis, other ports?
C oal continues to disappoint because the issues around Indonesia have not been sorted out in conclusion. The disruptions and the regulatory interventions on behalf of Indonesian government have led to shipping line disruptions. We have not seen a rally that we were expecting to see, though the electricity demand as such is growing, and we were trying to build ourselves into the larger growth story of electricity demand which we are experiencing in other places. Container continues to drive. In fact, every second or third day, we have these minor records coming out of Mundra in terms of you would have seen we handled the biggest vessel to ever visit India in the month of January.
That was quite an event, not necessarily about the big vessel per se, but the fact that you are a chosen terminal for such a preferred gateway, and that you are able to attract as a magnet. Container volumes continue to be extremely bullish. Mundra is the magnet without a doubt. It has remained flat as such for various reasons because of the disruptions, but coal continues to disappoint. We are, however, expecting in line and in the lap of the gods. Budget announcement yesterday and focus on infrastructure and the fact that the EXIM rate is also booming high. We're expecting some rally in the month of mid-February onwards. That's the focus we are getting.
If you were to look at the coal otherwise, that is a portfolio of EXIM thermal coal, and if you were to look at otherwise into the coking coal story, that is extremely robust. That also contributes to the shift we are having and the parity between west and east is driven by the fact our ability to have better coking coal, the fact that India's steel production in 2021 at 118 million tons, a jump of 18%, means the driving forces of our ports in the east continues to do that. Along with the GPWIs, it is a virtuous cycle we could do. Otherwise, thermal coal in the west is disappointing, but we are expecting a rally from mid-February onwards. Containers booming every record, every day, big vessel, better discharges, highest number of trains.
My friend Vikram has been smiling with all the efficiencies we're bringing into the ICDs and the fantastic turnaround. We are having record dispatches from Mundra at the moment. Over to you.
Secondly, are you participating in the bids for the terminals in major ports? Have you won any concession agreements at Kolkata port?
Yes, without a doubt. Thank you for that. I thought I would save it as a crowning piece at the end of the report, and I would have left Karan do the talking. We have already won a bid to develop a bulk terminal at Haldia, and that is in line with the way that the eastern seaboard operates. By all accounts, we should be receiving the formal LOI in the first week of February. As I speak to you, in about next week, we should be able to have the formal LOI with us, which has already been indicated.
One terminal in the Kolkata port complex at Haldia Dock, the complex itself is already a part of the APSEZ, which means APSEZ is truly pan-Indian. There's no state on which we are not present. We are looking to also participate in other terminal developments which are coming through at JNPCT, which we are very eagerly looking forward to. Also in all the other major ports, including at Paradip, for bulk cargoes, including at Kandla, at the DPT for bulk and fertilizer cargoes. As a part of the basket diversification of commodities, identification of the best commodities at the best hinterland we are going to participate, and we are very confident, just the way we have seen our confidence materializing into actual, securing the tender in the Haldia Dock complex. W e wish to qualify, and we will be participating.
Karan, are we hearing more inquiry for our lands given the PLI is picking up? Can we expect some sharp jump in revenues from SEZ in FY 2023?
We are seeing a lot of traction on the land side. We are expecting land sale to happen in Q1 of next year for one of the refineries to set up their crude oil terminals. We are also in discussions for a petrochemical plant to be set up in Mundra. Apart from that, as you have seen, we have signed an MOU with POSCO for a 5 million-ton steel plant in Mundra. If everything goes through, we should be expecting that investment to come through in next 18 months. There are a lot of inquiries which are coming, and we are very hopeful that we should be able to fast-track some of our land sales not just in Mundra but even in Dhamra as well.
Understood. Thank you, sir. Best of luck.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ashish Shah from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. First question is on our volume numbers. I know you said it is difficult to give the FY 2022 volume number, but broadly, if I extrapolate the current numbers, it looks like we might be somewhere around 310, 315, including Gangavaram. You said by FY 2025 you want to get to 500. With this uncertainty on coal, how do you think this journey from 310, 315 on will happen to 500 in about three odd years?
Predominantly, growth is going to come from three big commodities. One is container. Second is gas business, so that is LNG and LPG. The third, which we expect growth to come out of, is of metal space. Whether it is bauxite, aluminum, steel products. Basically metal is another big focus area where we do believe that a large part of volume driver will happen. As we have always said that the coal, we are not very bullish on coal. We don't expect more than 1% or 2% growth on a CAGR basis, which includes cooking coal as well. Cooking coal and thermal coal together, we don't expect more than 1% CAGR growth over the course of next five years. But predominantly growth is going to come from these commodities.
Okay. The 500 number is organic, right? It doesn't include any acquisitions that we might do along the way?
No. This is just organic based on whatever assets that we have.
Sure. On the CapEx side, while this quarter we have not given any explicit number, but given that coal is a little bit of a problem, are we looking at slowing down the CapEx? Can our CapEx numbers for this year be revised downwards, as well as for 2023, or something like that?
No, most of our CapEx right now, which is going on is predominantly not coal related. It is predominantly container related. Whether you take Vizag Port, whether it is Colombo Port terminal, or whether it is expansion in Dhamra, these are not. Even the liquid tank farm expansion in Hazira. None of this is coal related. We don't expect CapEx to slow down because of coal. We expect CapEx to be in the range of INR 3,000 crore-INR 3,500 crore. Even for next year.
Sure. Just a last bookkeeping question. The tax provision for this quarter seems significantly lower than what we have seen otherwise in trading quarters. Is there anything particular we should note?
Sanjay, you want to take this one?
Yes, on overall basis, our tax position in the current quarter has been lower on account of the contributions that we see coming out from non-Mundra ports because we have got SEZ jurisdictions which are lower tax jurisdictions. On annual basis, we expect, assuming no forex adjustments, an annual average tax effect of around 19%-20%.
Okay. For FY 2022, after considering Gangavaram, we should have 19%-20% effective tax.
Yes, excluding FX adjustment.
Excluding FX adjustment.
Yes. FX adjustment gives, if there's a loss on FX, we have a better tax rate improvement because everything comes in 35% tax jurisdiction, which is Mundra.
Got it.
If there's a gain, again, it is taxed at a higher rate. If there's exchange gain, it will increase the effective tax rate. If there's an exchange loss, it just reduces the tax rate.
Got it. That's helpful. Thank you so much. I'm done. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for taking my questions. My first question is more near term. I understand longer term growth for containers, et c. Given that we are seeing some bit of pent-up demand now go away with where logistics costs are, shipping costs are, is there a risk that for the next six months, even the general import volumes in India, particularly related to containers, might see some weakness relative to what we have seen in the last, say, 18-24 months? That would be my question number one.
O n a near-term basis, when I look at exim volume for containers, we are not seeing any slowdown. As the global demand increases and keeps increasing, we don't see any change in that. Actually, we are seeing a stronger demand coming in for the next year as well. I think one thing to keep in mind is that we do expect shipping freight to normalize. I would not say come down to the original level, but at least to come down from the peak and to normalize by October of 2022. We will continue to see. I don't see any indicators where we can see that the demand is going to slow down. As the production in the country keeps increasing, I think the import side of import leg is going to increase, in my view.
Sure. Basically next three to six months, we don't really need to worry about container volumes, is what you're saying?
No, we don't need to.
My second question is on classification of Sarguja Rail. As you said that some of the other rail assets are also classified in ports, is there a plan that at some stage, as this becomes sizable, this would be carved down and moved to the logistics business? Or the way we should look at it is that it would continue to be modeled within our ports business only, at least for the foreseeable future?
Today, Pulkit, even without the assets, let's say for example, Mundra rail asset, even with it is part of Mundra Port, and even today, that revenue from that asset is considered in the port revenue. That's the reason why we want to bring all rail assets under port itself. There is no plan to bring it under logistics. Because most of our even the future rail infrastructure that we are looking to bid out and to build will be linked to the port. It is very heavily dependent on how the port performance is going to be. We would be looking at building the strategic lines which will help make our ports more competitive.
Sure. This is clear, Karan. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parash Jain from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hey, Karan. Happy New Year. I have three questions, and one is housekeeping, but let me get off all three together. First of all, when we talk about becoming the largest port operator by 2030, it by default means that you have to very aggressively grow overseas. Is there any change in strategy or is there a strategy or it will still be hovering around South Asia, going from Sri Lanka on one end and probably Bangladesh on the other? Secondly, on the logistics front, are you still very keen to remain a B2B player or given the opportunity B2C is or potentially could be one of the areas that where the investments will drive or the growth will come from?
Finally, the housekeeping question is, when I look at share of profit from associates and joint venture, and your overall profit seems to be lower than your share in Gangavaram. Is it that rest of the businesses has some drawdown, or I'm just getting it wrong? Thank you.
Thanks, Parash. I'll answer the first two, and I'll ask Sanjay to answer the last one. I think when we are talking about being the largest port operator by 2030, our strategy internationally, our strategy does not change. I think we are very bullish on India, and we will be looking at increasing our footprint in India and in diversifying our footprint in India. try to connect our dots with the neighboring countries and the eventual goal is to make India a hub, logistics hub for our neighboring countries. I don't think that aspect changes.
Our firm belief is that if India is to grow significantly and with the growth rates that we are talking about, the trade in the country, you can't find a better geography in this decade than India. Our international strategy does not change, keeping this in mind. To answer your second question on the logistics front, no, we are still focused on B2B. B2C, yes, you're right, it is a potential area. But today, as of right now in India, it is still an operational loss-making business. I think we'll keep our eyes open for that opportunity. As and when in B2B that there is return to be made in that side of the business, and we would be looking at B2C as well. But right now it is predominantly B2B business model that we are looking to build out on logistics side.
Okay. Maybe Karan, before you go to the third question, just on the logistics front, given Vizag and Colombo, is the feeder service, is there an opportunity or you think that it's a broken business model far too competitive and you have enough supply and therefore there's little merit to control that part of the value chain while offering service to your client?
You're right, feeder for us to do by ourselves between Vizag and Colombo really doesn't make sense. I think there are enough players in the market, and there is enough assets in the market. The way we would look at is if nobody's willing to take a position, we don't mind taking a position in terms of guaranteeing the load. Owning the asset and running the asset is not our core competence. We would be staying away from it. As I said, if a client needs it and if nobody's willing to take a position, we don't mind taking a position by underwriting the capacity.
Okay. Yes. Perfect. That makes sense. Thank you.
Sanjay, you want to answer the last one?
O n the profit pickup from associates, I'd like to clarify that there are no losses that are getting consolidated or picked up from APSEZ's point of view. The two profit that we pick up is investments in Adani TotalEnergies JV, and the other profit we pick up is from Gangavaram. If you look at the Gangavaram numbers, if you arrive at the associate, there will be a difference. Essentially, we have done a purchase price allocation. The numbers which are looking here is a standalone pure profitability. We have INR 181 crore equity pickup for Gangavaram for nine months, which is adjusted by INR 58 crore on account of amortization of intangibles that we identified as part of the purchase price allocation process. There is no loss just an accounting adjustment.
Okay. Got it. Perfect. Thank you so much.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is regarding we have seen that the divestment target and budget seems to have come down. While it's not clear what will happen to Concor, what is the timeline, et c. That in reference, do you think that adding debt and cash to the balance sheet in second quarter would be too preemptive?
W e've not heard anything in terms of that Concor is not going to happen or the plans are shelved. I think we till the time we get a firm signal that it is not happening, we are assuming that it will happen next year. We keep our plans if and we work towards that plan of the acquisition. If for whatever reason it doesn't or if we do feel or if we do get a signal from the stakeholders that it is not happening, then the unwinding is, we will start the unwinding process.
Sure. Secondly, when we say that the container segment is doing very well and Mundra is setting records of all sorts, but last year Q4 had a record in itself in terms of absolute volumes, I think on a total basis as well as Mundra. When we now look at QoQ growth, are we looking to outgrow a very strong 35% growth which we saw in-
Well, we'll see growth in containers without a doubt. We've already said because of this little subdued demand that we are seeing in the thermal coal sector for the various clarifications that we have issued, it's a little premature to take a stand at the moment. Yes, to come back, clearly the container growth is certainly without a doubt, very, very bouncy. The Q4 that we are looking to, we should be certainly outperforming Q4 of last year. That's by all indications. We would look to be, as I clarified earlier in the call, that rally from the thermal coal, especially at the two major IPPs at Mundra, is what is going to tilt the balance.
Otherwise, we will be seeing, as I've already clarified, that there will be a very strong rally in the other segments, container throughput. Even in the south, we will see a revival. Yes, coal will be a little, keeping fingers crossed, on the thermal part of it. On the coking part of it, we are very steady. In fact, there will be growth without a doubt. By all accounts, we should be outperforming Q4 of last year, if any indications as it comes.
It seems like we lost the connection for the current participant. We move to the next question from the line of Jimit Zaveri from Ventura Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for giving me an opportunity. I want to know the reason for underperformance in Q3 in terms of the volume, where the all-India cargo volume has fallen by 8%, whereas our APSEZ's volume has fallen by 11%.
Well, thank you again to clarify. As we said, segment-wise, we are having this mixed story. There is huge growth on the container side. There is growth on the liquid side, as we have seen. It's only on the dry, and especially on the dry, if you distinguish one particular commodity that is imported thermal coal into India, and particularly narrowing down, as we've given in the earlier, clarified, it's at Mundra, where we are seeing a little bit of downward trend, especially in coal. If I take up, for example, if you see that APL Power, which at Q3 last year about close to 5 million metric tons, 5.20, this time it was only 0.71.
There's significant decrease arising out of these disruptions out of Indonesia, and that is what it has been. In Q4, as I clarified, we are hoping for a rally around the mid of February, and then we should be recovering. To answer specifically your question, Indian cargo has dropped everywhere except the coastal for coal. Likewise, at Mundra, despite our growth, which is outperforming Mundra on a portfolio to portfolio basis, if you look at the thermal coal segment, it is APL and it is CGPL, both have registered close to about against 5.2 last year for APL, we have done 0.71 this year. Against 2.27 for CGPL, we have done about 0.7. For both clocking close to about 86%, 68% drop.
That explains why there has been a drop. If you look at it again, let me get you back to a nine-month basis. There we see that we have been outperforming, and we continue to beat the all India growth significantly, certainly. These aberrations do happen and but on a year-to-year basis, when you look at it, the nine-month story is certainly far more robust and gives a lot of hope that the rally will be quite successful.
Okay. Second question is on the Hazira Port, where we can see the Hazira Port has posted a good revenue growth as well as the good jump in the realization also. What are the reason for this growth in the realization, and will it be sustainable for the coming two to three years point of view?
Hazira, like Mundra, emerges as the gateway for container exempt trade of India. Hazira, if you look at the geography of south Gujarat into the northern Maharashtra and part of it into the Saurashtra region across the Gulf of Cambay, it's the most prosperous part of India in terms of the pharmaceutical sector. Therefore, if you look at Hazira, its entire portfolio of liquid cargo, particularly chemicals, is truly the Indian port. Therefore, Hazira recording a very strong, robust liquid cargo growth. In fact, it spurs us for better capital expenditure over there, which we are going ahead, which in short we'll be also telling you subsequently. Sustains cargo growth, sustains revenue, because this is a high EBITDA margin cargo for us.
The fact that in and around Hazira, because of the industrialization, we are seeing record utilization of our assets over there in terms of berth utilization as well as berth productivity. It's my pleasure to tell you that as our utilization has improved, so also the team at Hazira has upped itself in productivity on all accounts, especially on liquid as on dry cargo, in particular in cargos like gypsum, et c. We're doing record work. That explains the growth. That also explains accompanying EBITDA growth that we are experiencing. To also finish by telling you. We see this to sustain.
In the next three or four years, we have a very strong reason to believe, and we are working towards that as with geographies, as with particular hinterlands, we will consolidate Hazira as the leading liquid cargo port of India, answering the entire needs of India in line with the manufacturing story that we want to do. Okay, and the last question is on the impact of Omicron on our volume in January, and what when we are seeing the revival for the volume. Omicron has absolutely no effect on our port operations or on volume. If anything, it is the regulatory and the dislocation in the Indonesian shipping cycle and the position the Indonesian government took regarding availability of thermal coal, that which has caused the disruption. Omicron per se has caused no disruption whatsoever in any of our ports or the logistics business for that matter.
Okay. Thank you. That is from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya from Kotak. Please go ahead.
Thanks, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity given. I had a few questions. I'll go with the first one. Karan, the question I wanted to ask you was that while what you are saying imported coal will not grow from here on, and that may be a drag. There's also a positive side of it which relates to the transportation of domestic coal as well as the handling of domestic coal at ports. I wanted to hear your thoughts whether that by itself can be a meaningful boost to your, let's say, port portfolio now that you have Sarguja also inside.
Subrat, do you want to?
Yes. Thank you, Karan . W hat I'll clarify, we are already in this particular quarter as in Q4 also. One of our key customers, NTECL, a JV between NTPC and Tamil Nadu government, which is the power plant present at Chennai at Ennore, hitherto was not taking as much coal through the Dhamra port. We are seeing sufficient volumes coming through and in line with the government's thrust that we do domestic coal production. You're aware that domestic coal production is well established, in the eastern part, especially MCL and all. We were hitherto not a part of it, but now we believe that we have to become a part, and we are seeing that emerging very strongly.
Secondly, at Krishnapatnam Port, where we have two major power plants nestled along the port boundary, Sembcorp as well as APGENCO, we are looking at record volumes in Q3, and we are also seeing volumes coming in Q4. Interestingly, these volumes are also happening both by what is called the rail cum sea route as well as an all-rail route into Krishnapatnam Port itself. The growth of the domestic coastal coal will happen and the ports that will participate quite strongly, and we see that emerging, would be Dhamra, would be Gangavaram when we link it to the mines at Ib Valley, would also be APGENCO at Krishnapatnam, Sembcorp at Krishnapatnam. Very recently, the south powerhouse of Andhra, which is Muthukur, has asked for a tender, and it will be routed through Krishnapatnam. We see opportunities, and we will be participating in those opportunities.
To further clarify, to make the puzzle more clearer, which you asked, look, with Sarguja, we are linking a mine deep inside into a power utility in Rajasthan. We are also looking, wishing to do this across India, and that's the story that which Karan was clarifying about SRCPL and our opportunities that we sense and clearly see in the domestic coal, scenario of India per se. A Lso, for example, we'll be linking all these coal mines to our ports and also from the landed coal mines to the power utilities inside the country. That's how the overall story of APSEZ will emerge, and that's how we will also fund in SRCPL into that.
Got that. Thanks for the answer. The second question that I had was related to just the quantum of opportunity that is coming up from the perspective of adding terminals inside India. How much can we expect to be bid out and let's say capacity or an investment opportunity within ports over the next two years or so?
I n line with the landlord model that the Government of India through the major ports desires to do, and first of the block will actually be JNPCT, which now you will see that JNPT will truly be a landlord with all terminals which will be run by a PPP mode, and we are looking to participate, and we are very buoyant on that opportunity. Similarly, in all the ports the Government of India would give a guidance on giving a longer concession period. There has been a slight change in the stance regarding the concession agreements that will be hitherto looked into so that it gives longer period of concession and an automatic renewal which was hitherto not a part.
Therefore, the Government of India understands that, A, it ought not to do its own investments within the ports. That, B, it should evolve the major ports as landlords, and therefore they have come out from trusts into major port authorities. C, that they will give a longer period of concession so that it is attractive to private capital and to build modern terminals. How does APSEZ see this opportunity? I told you about the Haldia, which you want to add to the value chain, and you want to play the game in Eastern India, you want to be in Gangavaram, as we have done, you want to be in Dhamra, which we are. We are looking at a very good opportunity at Paradip, and we have taken the opportunity at Haldia. We fit all this into one story.
Likewise Mundra, Kandla, which is Jindal Port, we look at these opportunities, let's say, fertilizer, if I want to pick a cargo. Here is Mundra, the fertilizer stability that Indian farmers deserve and need is answered by Mundra. That opportunity comes up in Kandla. We will participate as we are going to do. Each of these are good opportunities. To sum up, Kandla, Mundra will play the fertilizer story very well. JNPT and Mundra will play the story of containers. Vizag you saw, the state governments are very keen to bring about opportunities, and we're going to build what will be called a state-of-the-art terminal for transshipment. Kattupalli, in line with that, we have seen that opportunity coming. You come to, if you come out to Dhamra and Paradip.
We will be present in each of the geographies, in each of the ports, we will look to opportunities. In line with the government's vision, landlordism and private capital funding in together. That's the story.
Sure. That clarifies. The third question that I had was related to a comment made related to India, let's say, becoming a logistics hub for the neighboring countries. I wanted to get a sense of as in how far are we from seeing that effect being felt a lot more meaningfully in our numbers? Just to get a sense of whether FY 2025 is a good timeline or is it more long-term from the perspective of us benefiting from it?
No. B efore Karan clarifies, let me clarify. The fact that the Indian peninsula with its geographical structure and the subcontinent with its arms into Bangladesh, let me give you two things which have already emerged and have consolidated itself very strongly. Look, Bangladesh for various reasons cannot afford a deep port, but it is a consuming economy. It is an aspiring economy with a very good growth of GDP and steady. Since it cannot have a deep port, we play out what Karan has already told you in the call that we, when we become a logistics hub, we play out a story of, A, what is called an anchor and a tenant.
At Dhamra, we are seeing that the security of the gas cargos for Chittagong, for Mongla, and other consuming ports in Bangladesh is being provided from Dhamra. Today, we are doing what is called a ship-to-ship operation at Dhamra, and we are servicing the Bangladesh market, which otherwise cannot. We achieve economies of scale with the call of a mother vessel at Dhamra, and we run out a feeder vessel into Bangladesh. Reverse the story. When we do this for container, we will be taking in feeder vessels from Bangladesh, getting an amalgamation to our ports, and we are already building the container terminal in Dhamra and at Gangavaram. The other story, let me tell you, is what is coming in Nepal, a landlocked country, riparian, India's obligation to serve that.
Today, we have already had that Visakhapatnam Port is recognized through policy advocacy. Government of India has recognized, and they've already permitted. You see, hitherto, only Concor was permitted in the rail services agreement to service Nepal. That has been relaxed, so we'll be looking for ALL to make inroads into the Nepal market. With the permission to handle Nepal cargoes through all Indian ports, which the Honorable Commerce Minister has already declared should happen, we will be seeing cargoes for Nepal. These are two concrete stories that I can give you.
Further to that, I will see that, our belief, and I think Karan we will certainly clarify further. Our belief is that India, with its peninsula, its geographical structure, consuming market, manufacturing hub, route, makes its tentacles not just to South Asia, also to the larger part of the Middle East, where we'll be becoming a very important hub in running out these services, and that is how the Vizag story runs out very well. Each of them becomes a fulcrum. I hope I've clarified that.
Sure. As in again, if Karan want to add anything, but the way I summarize what you are saying is, Dhamra and Vizag can play their part in attracting cargo from both nearby geographies as well as Middle East over a period of time. The fact that geographically where we are placed and in terms of volume generator, generating country by itself, consumption and whatnot, it can be a meaningful gain.
Yes, indeed. Let me clarify, if you look at India's position today in the BIMSTEC, it has been very well thought out that the new political alignment through the BIMSTEC which comes in gives a larger foray for India to play in what is the BIMSTEC market, which is also servicing landlocked countries like Bhutan, Nepal. Bhutan is coming into the portfolio very soon, and the fact that it has a very good economy around agriculture, fruit and all, which the consuming markets in the world need. The BIMSTEC also goes into the Southeast Asian countries. We have these multiple structures, and the BIMSTEC particularly is a logistics hub that is going to emerge certainly.
Got that. Thanks a lot for your response. Those were my questions. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Harsha from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yes. My question has been answered. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we take that as the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, participants and investors for participating in the call and patiently listening to management's commentary on APSEZ nine months and Q 3 results. Our team are available for all of your further queries, so do not hesitate to write a mail or call us back. Thank you for participating once again.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.