Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited Q1 FY 2023 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Jose Jacob, Chairman and Managing Director of Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to everyone present on the call. Along with me, I have Mr. Subramaniam, Group CFO and FCA, our investor relations advisor. I hope and pray for your continued safety, health, and security as well as that of your family. Our investor presentation is now available on the stock exchange and on the company website. Before I begin my comments on business performance, I would like to inform you that the Board of Directors of the company has appointed Mahendra Ananthula as Group President, effective August 16th, 2022. Mahendra has over 30 years of experience, mainly in the area of urban infrastructure, waste management, and water management business. Over the last few decades, Mahendra has gained extensive experience in corporate strategy, project development, sales, and business development and urban infrastructure space.
Earlier, he was associated with Feedback Infra, ICRA, and PATCO Inc., and more recently, he was with Suez, where he was responsible for sales and development of water and waste management business. He has an extensive experience with both the public and private enterprises. His appointment is in line with company aims to broaden and deepen our experience in the field of solid waste management and related and emerging areas of waste management as well. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sameer Kolte, who has decided to move on for personal reasons. During the period, Sameer has been instrumental in improving the process and streamlining the functionality across the breadth of the company. Coming to the business performance, it delights me to inform you that company has reported its highest ever operating revenue of INR 156 crores for the quarter.
Reiterating our view of a strong year ahead, the core revenue grew approximately 19% year-on-year due to increased volumes handled and waste processed. As a new contract ramped up and economic activity improved in the area we serve, as well as price escalation benefit in our tipping fee compared to the previous year. On to business-wise performance. Municipal solid waste collection and transportation projects. We have 13 such ongoing projects after having added the new contract for two zones in Nashik, namely Panchavati and Satpur. The project will handle 240 tons of municipal waste per year, per day. We anticipate that the project will begin operation on or before September 30th, 2022. Our MSW C&T business volume increased by 16% year-on-year to 0.40 million tons in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023.
Coming to municipal solid waste processing project. For the three months ending June 2022, we processed approximately 0.65 million metric tons of municipal solid waste in our processing projects, which included Kanjurmarg, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and the Greater Noida biomining project. The total tonnage processed during the quarter increased by 18% year-on-year. Despite heavy rains in June, biomining at our first site in Kanjurmarg is progressing very well. We are pleased to report that the site dispatched a record tonnage of compost and RDF in the month of July 2022. This comes on the heels of a record-breaking month for new compost orders bagged. The construction activity at the Pimpri-Chinchwad site are proceeding according to the plan, and we remain on track to begin operation by March 2023. On the sustainability front, we are making good progress on our ESG journey.
Electric and CNG vehicles now account for approximately 8% of our total fleet. Waste processing and converting the same into compost, power, and refuse-derived fuel help to in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the Kanjur site, approximately 85% of the total power consumed is generated from our bioreactor landfill gas engines. We will continue to implement sustainable business practices that will help us achieve our long-term goal of sustainability with growth. Our target would be a net zero company emission company by FY 2025, if not earlier.
We will continue to focus on contracting in newer municipal areas while adhering to our cluster-based tech strategy. Various municipalities are issuing tenders in the waste processing and MSW C&T segment, which will serve as a good growth opportunity from us, for us. This is it from my side. I now hand over the conference to Mr. N. G. Subramanian, our Group CFO.
Thank you, Jose. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter earnings conference call. I will share the highlights of our financial performance. The strength and resiliency of our business was clearly on display in the first quarter as we built on the growth reported last year. The momentum continued. Our teams remain focused on improving efficiency, which has reflected in record volumes being processed and handled. The inbuilt escalation clauses have also benefited the company. An inflationary environment and the annual salary revision for grade 1 to grade 5 employees have wavered marginally on our core EBITDA margins, which we believe can improve as we progress during the balance period of the year.
During the quarter ending June 2022, the company reported operating revenue of INR 156 crore as against INR 131 crore, growth fueled by project revenue inbuilt price escalations. Consolidated EBITDA has registered growth, which is primarily due to higher project revenue and related project costs due to the accounting standard, as mentioned. Core EBITDA margin is still lower on a year-on-year basis at approximately 23%, which is weighed down by higher O&M costs and also due to annual salary revision. Profit before taxes was INR 35 crore for Q1, which is up 23% year-on-year. Consolidated profit after taxes has risen to INR 29 crore from INR 22 crore last year, which is an increase of 30% year-on-year.
Profit to shareholders after minority interest stands at INR 23.6 crores versus INR 16.8 crores for the same period last year, which is an increase of 41% year-on-year, and sequentially, it is up 18%. The Municipal Solid Waste C&T revenue is up 21% for the quarter at INR 115 crores as compared to INR 95 crores for the same period last year. The growth was on account of increase in total MSW C&T volumes by 16%. Remaining for this June growth came 0.4x, total debt as of June 30th our total net worth including the capital work in progress as of June 2022 stood at 542 net worth employed currently our key business activity position in any economic environment. Our resilient business model is underpinned an essential nature.
The essential nature of our business and the annuity-like characteristics of our revenues are positive factors. We can advance our long-term strategy investing in technology that differentiates Antony with this and permanently reduces our core sustainability platform for future. That's all from our end. We can open Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may enter star and one on their touchtone telephone. If your questions have been answered and you wish to withdraw yourself from the queue, you may enter star and two. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. To ask a question, you may enter star and one. We have the first question from the line of Keshav from RakSan Investors. Please go ahead. Mr. Keshav, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello?
Yes, Mr. Keshav, please proceed.
Firstly, it would be great if you could help understand the DBOOT contract revenues accounting a bit. On the front of how it's expensed, what sort of margins you make, and also on the receivables that come with it, both current and non-current.
As for the accounting standard 115, since this is a DBOOT contract, the assets gets passed through our income statement since there's a charge mechanism, the right to charge issue. As and when the company incorporates any CapEx related with debottleneck project, we need to recognize the potential revenue which is based on the project IRR, which is very conservative number based on a G-Sec plus a spread of around 300 bps at the beginning of the project, which in our case we have taken it at around 10.2% totally. We kind of recognize that as a part of the revenue component and the actual cost, which is the contract cost is expensed out as a contract cost now.
The regulatory assets category gets reflected either as financial assets or as intangibles. The reason they have to split between them is as per the tender clause. If the tender clearly mentions that there's a minimum assured tonnage or a minimum guaranteed tonnage, that kind of an element gets recognized as financial assets. If the tender is slightly moot on that point and it's slightly ambiguous, then the entire CapEx of that activity gets recognized as intangibles. Both these items get amortized over the period of the project as per the tangibleness of the entity and as per the tipping fee that gets billed over a period of time.
We can ask our investor relations team to send you a note, a detailed note on how we pass these entries, how the same has been recognized in financial assets, either as current assets or as non-current assets. These would be as per the service concession agreement accounting norms.
Sure, sir. That'll be great. Secondly, the tonnage processed in the PCMC project will be a fraction of the Kanjurmarg one, right? Like from a contribution angle, it will have a fairly lower number compared to Kanjurmarg.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad waste to energy project has a capacity of around 1,000 tons per day, and that will not increase, unlike the project that we have in Kanjurmarg. The technology which we use in Pimpri is of waste to energy. There is a capping. You cannot increase the boiler capacity on an incremental basis. You need to set up a different plant completely for any enhanced waste that needs to be processed. We process around 5,800 tons in Kanjurmarg on a monthly basis on a ton TPD basis. That can go up to 7,500 tons per day. Yes. PCMC will be capped at 1,000 tons per day.
Sure. Sure, sir. sir, on the PET bottle recycling front, now, is it fair to assume that, post EPR in the areas of our presence for C&T, we should technically get the largest pie on the sourcing end because this kind of waste would largely be non-industrial waste or am I reading this differently?
Yes. We have, Keshav, what happens in India is there is a fantastic cycle of recyclers from all chains. Certain amount of plastic which gets thrown out from residential gets recycled through the housekeeping agencies thereabout. What we get at either housekeeping end or as a processing end is something that we have a very strong control on, and the company is already tied up with few companies in this aspect.
Sure, sir. Sir, just one last bit. With the EPR coming in, would the bottle manufacturers be responsible to use the recycled PET as the feedstock for making more bottles or the supply chain would differ? There's not much market yet in India for food grade plastic recovery. Why I ask this is to understand how value will accrue to us in, say, another four-five years. For example, there are firm commitments from the bottle manufacturers for food grade recycling, the supply chains and processing chains will get incentivized in a more sustainable way and more value might accrue to us as well as sources.
Right. This is, as you rightly said, it's a long term process. Even today, as companies and the operators are still finding their way around the most efficient way of recycling, collecting and recycling, distributing and segregating them to the rightful category shape. Till that time, segregation at source improves significantly. There will always be a gray area about whether a producer will be in a position to have access to the right quality of recycled product for him to tap into. Till the time the segregation is made mandatory at the generation point, this will take some more time for the policy to kick in. In three-four years' time, large number of plastics or the other recycling things will be adhered to and will be looked into.
Thank you for answering my question, sir. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may enter star and one. We have the next question from the line of Faisal Hawa from H.G. Hawa & Company. Please go ahead.
Appointment of Mr. Mahendra Ananthula as the President for Development of Operations and New Business. What exactly do we want to develop? Which vertical? Because most of our other businesses don't really need, you know, the existing businesses doesn't need a, you know, industry heavyweight like Mr. Mahendra Ananthula. That is one. What are the kind of KRAs that we have given to him? And are there any business targets or revenue targets given to him? That is one. And can you just elaborate on reasons on why Mr. Sameer Kolte has resigned from the company?
Sure.
I think this compost bit you know looks to be like a very good you know setter for the company's business. In the sense that if you can process the waste already lying in our concession land it would you know result in the revenues straightaway and you know even freeing up of the land at the site. How have we taken any steps to improve the production of the compost further? I know that we've already done the highest ever sales in this quarter of compost. Is there any more you know improvements that we can make? Third is the you know our project expenses have really almost doubled this quarter. I guess it is because of the PCMC project.
Can we not put this into, like, fixed assets instead of, you know, getting it directly to PNL? Or, and, what are your thoughts about it?
Hello, yeah. Regarding Mahendra Ananthula, one of the reasons is like, you know, we are focusing the growth on waste processing, municipal solid waste processing, and like waste to energy and having TPDs and growing this particular sector, like how we are finding Kanjur as well as waste processing in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Mahendra Ananthula has a big experience and the company he has worked in, Suez, which is predominantly into waste management, one of the largest French company. And they are into waste processing from waste to energy and all that. How to structure the bid process and how we can win where it is less capital-intensive and achieve those type of contracts, long-term contracts, which is 20-25 years.
That's one other important thing for waste processing or municipal solid waste. As far as collection and transportation, we are already good, but he has the strength in that particular segment. We have given him certain amount of targets where we have to achieve in next three years to take the company to a bigger level. That's one of the reason we feel he's very important for the growth of the company in a big way. As far as Sameer Kolte, when we hired Sameer Kolte, I know him for many years. He was a consultant.
He had very good experience in waste for creating right processes, improving the processes in all areas, like when we have lot of spare parts, procurement systems and HR systems and all that. His involvement really helped the company to create robust processes. Because without having robust processes, winning lot of contracts doesn't help. If you have processes in place, then winning contracts really helps. As I was saying, Mahendra Ananthula, Sameer Kolte felt that he has done whatever he can, and he has taken the company to the level as expert process guy. He wanted to carry on with his interest where he is really good at. That is the reason he left, admittedly.
He wanted to go with his interest. Yeah, on your point, with respect to compost sales, we have already started augmenting our systems to increase the production of compost without compromising the quality of compost. We are in the process of doubling our processing points wherein we can segregate or generate compost from fresh waste over and above the current limits. Yes, we have now understood that there is a market for it. Because in the past, over the four, five years, compost sales was something which was very skeptical and looked at like we couldn't understand whether such a market existed. Over the last three years, we have been able to monitor this industry closely.
Now we're warranted that we can definitely put in incremental CapEx because the returns would be positive. Yes, so the biomining activity is also started, which will also help us in generating higher volumes of compost. On your third question, sir, it's something we would definitely love to. I mean, but unfortunately, the accounting standard doesn't allow us to shift our. It's actual accounting standards that has been mandated by the regulators that all companies which are listed needs to follow India's accounting norms. If I was to be a private limited company, I would be showing whatever CapEx that I do as land and building, plant and machinery, and you can actually have it the old way of accounting. Since I'm a listed company, I need to adhere to the listed norms.
Extra is actually almost like a CapEx we have made, but which is going to P&L.
Yes. The items that you look at as intangibles in the books, they are not copyrights or goodwill or trademarks. They're actually my material recovery facility. You can touch them, you can feel them, and you can hug them. I mean, it's as simple as that.
The compost sale could be like, you know, say 20%-22% of our total revenue. We're wishing for too much.
I would say, See, technically that will be high because good quality compost, I mean, if I process 100 tons of waste, I would be generating around 7 tons of sellable good quality compost. So if you're talking about 22% of revenue, then that will be the processing amount has to be significantly higher than what I intake it, and it's not in the vicinity. At the most, at the peak, you can look at around 8%-9% of the revenue to be from sale of RDFs and compost. So that's what the volumetric is, and maybe there is a price range and everything that comes in.
Today, there is a demand for compost, because the need of the hour is to enrich the soil condition across the country because of excessive usage of urea and NPK, the soil condition has taken a hit. Now, once soil condition improves and the moisture and that has established market for such compost, we will definitely hold on to the market share that we have got till now, and then we will also definitely improve on that.
We can, you know, supply that fuel we were supplying for boilers to RCF and IFFCO also. Do those sales also increasing in time to come?
Yes. We have been able to source and supply a higher amount of refuse-derived fuel over the years, and that percentage amount, though the base is small, we have been able to show at around 80%-120% increase on a month-on-month basis. That is another confident thing that will help us boost our other income and reduce our reliance purely on tipping fee. This industry is also new. This is the acceptance of the product is good. The calorific value is as high as that of coal. I mean, it's around 3,600 kcal today. There are negatives, the negatives being ability of these fuels to absorb atmospheric moisture. The transportation cost is high. Those are the risks and problems that any company in the waste management faces.
Under such you have a waste to energy plant set up as the processing unit. This will definitely reduce the kind of waste that gets recycled into the system today.
The various other measures that we are going to take, like e-waste, collection or dry waste collection from each and every home in Mumbai.
Right.
Have you made any kind of you know?
We have made some solid headways in the cities of Delhi for now, and we will be rolling out a similar activity in Varanasi and Jhansi. Establishing a system, getting the people to get used to this way of segregating waste and handing it out to suppliers and operators like Antony, it's a slightly long-term activity. We have definitely started work on that. Maybe by the end of the current calendar year, we will be able to showcase the kind of tonnage that the company has been able to recycle without the same ending in the landfill of that particular city.
Faisal Hawa, does that answer all your questions?
Very well answered. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Neerav Dalal from Maybank Investment Banking Group. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. I had three questions.
Mr. Dalal, I'm sorry to interrupt, but your audio-
Yeah. Now?
Yes, please go ahead. Thank you.
Yeah. I had three questions. First was, in terms of our revenue growth, what would be the contribution of the new projects or projects that have not completed 12 months of operations or stabilized? That is number one. Number two, in terms of the escalation clauses that were there, so have we been able to get a 100% benefit of that in this quarter? Because this would be the quarter wherein the fuel costs would have been very high for us. Number three would be any new initiatives in terms of adjacent businesses that you had talked about in the last conference call. Any headway in terms of any adjacent businesses that we are looking at entering or any plans on that?
Right. The new contracts, Mr. Dalal, that we have bagged, the revenue would be marginal. I mean, the Jhansi was one thing that we started, and the revenue contribution from Jhansi is not more than 3% of my consolidated revenue today. It's not significant, but we are definitely seeing a ramp-up happening because some of the assets which were to be procured by the corporation were procured in late June and the same has been deployed from July onwards. We are seeing a significant ramp-up in the current quarter. We expect that same to be reflected going forward. On your other question, escalations, approximately 40% of my escalation are of fixed nature and 60% is variable.
All the variable clauses are not, I mean, around 26% of the variable of the revenue is coming under the monthly clause. That is getting passed on. Bulk of it, I would say around 38%-40% of my revenue still has a variable, but they are either annual or half yearly. The benefit of the increase in fuel cost, we may be able to pass it or achieve in the later period.
Just to follow up on the first two things. Also we've seen that your number of vehicles has seen a large jump.
Right.
Is that to be a lead indicator in terms of even higher growth in the next, in the future?
Definitely. The more the vehicles, the more the garbage is collected. That may not actually translate into tonnage, the revenue that gets reported by the company because certain projects, like the ones in Jhansi, the ones in Varanasi, is based on the units of households or industrial units or commercial units that we cater to. When we report the tonnage, they may not show a linear increase to the number of vehicles, but the revenue will definitely reflect the core unit growth also. It's a fair assumption to say that the more the number of vehicles, the higher is the revenue potential, because normally the tonnage carrying capacity, we kind of try to maximize as much as possible so that we have efficient use of our fixed assets here.
Right. In the coming nine months, you will have the benefit of the balance of the variable escalations that would come in, plus any bump up in the volumes in the existing.
Yes.
Right. In terms of the last question, any new initiatives?
That's an ongoing process for us. We have definitely, in the last earnings call, we mentioned that we have bid for six contracts, three of them in the collection transportation and three in the processing. Slightly tangentially, a lot of corporations body, they are under election norm, so they don't have a ruling body today or the standing committees. The corporations like Navi Mumbai, MCGM, Nagpur, there are no elected members today. Even other corporations are in the same state. Once the elected bodies get formulated, there will be better traction in awarding the contract. We have bid for such contracts. It's awaited final decisions from the elected members if and when they get elected.
Till that time, the existing operator continues the work.
Right. Yeah. My question was more towards any new adjacent businesses other than municipal waste management that we are looking at. That was.
We are looking at construction debris processing. That's a large business in established cities. That is one area that we're definitely looking for, and we are already in talks with the technology providers and with the machines and in that aspect. That is one extension that we are looking at. Second extension is of course we have been internally looking at vehicle scrapping and related activity. That is something that we will definitely be entering into, given an opportunity and the size of the market and the economic viability of the same.
Right. Just one clarification. In terms of the project revenues, if I were to reverse calculate the project expenses, add the 10.2%, I would get the project revenues. Would that be the right assumption?
That would be a right assumption.
Got that. I'll get back into the queue. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from the Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I see almost 500 vehicles added to our fleet. Just wanted to know, this is for Jhansi project, Nashik project? Because we were at almost 1,200 and now we are at 750 odd levels. Yeah, that is my first question.
The number of vehicles is not just at Jhansi or Nashik. Nashik is still ongoing, the procurement. This is also part of the smaller vehicles which have been procured at the NDMC contract, which we bagged and the corporation is supposed to provide it to us. That is part of it. The incremental increase in fleet is from NDMC, which is a model municipal corporation, the one in Jhansi, and there are very few vehicles of Nashik, which is in that number.
Okay. Fair enough, sir. Is it possible to share the cash flow from operations for this quarter?
We would share this. Can I get back to you on this number?
Sure. Sir, with respect to escalation clause, if the inflation eases, will there be a reversal? Say, for example, your inflation eases out and then will there be a de-escalation also to the contract?
Oh, no. If your tipping fee is fixed at the beginning of the contract, and that is the base price on which you get the increase on the escalation. There is no, if the diesel prices come down from INR 108 to say INR 100, what you're asking is, will my tipping fee go down?
Yeah.
Most of the contracts, it's a one-way tracker. If there is a fall in diesel prices, the tipping fee remains same as compared to the previous rate.
Oh, okay. Maybe we will see some sort of margin expansion if the diesel prices eases off.
Yes. If the diesel prices goes down, we can definitely have some benefit. I hope that.
Right. Sir, is it possible to give revenue and EBITDA guidance for FY 2023 and FY 2024? Broadly, your internal guidance.
We are tracking at least a 25% CAGR growth both on the top line. Our margins on core margins basis, I mean, because we should be tracking anywhere between 23%-25% on the core margins. We should be comfortable achieving that. The index factor kind of throws a spanner in the guidance. My core revenue has grown at 19% year-on-year for the first quarter. That is something that we can easily hold on to and actually grow. We are actually looking at 12% CAGR growth over the next couple of years at the core revenue front.
Right. Sir, on the contract revenue, if you could just share an example within PPT or externally also, that would be really helpful because that's complicated for everyone.
We have a note prepared on that. I will try to put it on our website.
Yeah, please. Thank you so much. That's it from my end.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Depesh from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, [N. G.] Sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you for taking my questions. So firstly, on the processing revenue, I think the incremental in the quarter-on-quarter number, if I see, is just INR 3 crore. Just want to understand how much is the Greater Noida contribution in this quarter?
The Greater Noida contribution in tonnage has been significant. I would say around 30,000 tons has been mined in that area. That is the number which we can give from a project-specific point of view. The total tonnage we mined would be around 60,000 tons, and we have achieved around one-third of that.
Okay. In terms of revenue, it will be like what? Less than like 2 cr? I think that is the number.
It's yeah, for the quarter, it's around INR 3.6 crores, I would say.
Got it. Full revenue potential of this project is around INR 24 crore. That is the potential.
Yes. When I say 60,000, that was planned for the first half of the calendar year. The total capacity is around 200,000 tons. We are planning to start drawing on the amount at a faster clip from now onwards.
Got it. Secondly, sir, on the, if I calculate, the underlying margin of the business, excluding these contract expenses, they seem to be around 23%, which is slightly lower than what our average we do around 25%-26%. If any one-offs, like, apart from fuel cost, any one-off that was like causing this margin pressure, and what is the guidance for the full year in the margins excluding the contract expenses or not?
Fuel, yes, that was one small, but that's a pass-through benefit, so we'll definitely kind of recover that impact. The two items that has eaten into our margins a bit has been, we had a increasingly higher repairs and maintenance cost, and it's also inflationary because the cost of our repairs and spare parts has increased on a year-on-year basis. That is one of the reason why we are seeing some slight increase in our O&M cost. Also the three other sites that we have, like the one in Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Noida, they are entering the third and fourth year of operations. We have seen that start, and we also have incurred certain pre-monsoon R&M.
That is also sitting in my Q1 numbers. Additionally, during the first quarter, we had an annual salary revision for our grade one to grade five employees. That has also been accounted for in this first quarter.
Got it. Sir, thirdly, like how much CapEx has already happened at Pimpri, PCMC project, and how much is remaining? I think in the beginning you said, right now the
Incrementally, of which we have done INR 61 crore till now, till Q1. The balance around, say, INR 110 crore will have to be spent over the next three quarters. That is the item. It is safe to assume that the entire incremental CapEx will be debt funded because the equity component has already been pumped in. We will see an incremental debt jump. Net debt will jump from INR 170 crore to around INR 240 crore.
Got it. Lastly, sir, any of the existing contracts which are expected to end in the next six- nine months? Any of the contracts that are already ongoing but,
One in Bangalore has got an extension till January 2023, so that is one. The other two contracts, one in Thane and the one in Navi Mumbai, they are due for renewals, but the tenders are not yet floated also. I mean, until the time the tender gets floated and LOA and everything has come out, I think safe to assume that these contracts will continue for at least another year. These contracts contribute to around 9% of my revenue today.
Right. These contracts may be a drag on the margin, right? Because they are on the extension period and that
Yes. They are actually yes, they drag, but it's a well-oiled machinery, so it's not that I'm EBITDA neutral. I'm making definitely a EBITDA positive numbers on that. Yes, I cannot invest more on the upkeep of the machine, and these vehicles are around eight-nine years old.
We have sir from the line of [Anurag] from [Roha Asset Managers] please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, for Nashik project, how much will be the initial CapEx we have to do on the vehicles?
We are estimating around INR 25 crore to be the CapEx based on the latest.
Okay. Sir, in terms of vehicles, all the vehicles we prefer to own or there are some part of the leased unit?
The tender conditions and all the primary and the secondary waste collection units need to be owned by the operators. When we are talking about a Tata Ace, kind of a mini compactors or a large compactors, those are owned by the company and, that's how it is. We also hire specialized equipment like the JCBs or Poclain and trucks and everything, which is high on maintenance, and it also has deadhead miles. In a collection and transportation, we also hire certain dumpers and JCBs on an as-needed basis. The tender clearly says the primary and the secondary vehicles should be owned by the operator.
Okay. Sir, in terms of project revenues, how much project revenues we can expect in the remaining three quarters? Any ballpark figure?
We will be showing at least an incremental INR 110 crore from the Pimpri-Chinchwad project and incremental around INR 28-30 crore coming from our Kanjur project. All put together INR 140 crore of project revenue plus 10%. 140 is 90 point, it's 89.28%, you just flip it up. That is my project revenue component sitting in my books of accounts. Potential that is.
That will be for entire FY 2023 or remaining nine months?
No, this is for 2023 only. Because by the end of 2023, we would have completed the entire CapEx for Pimpri-Chinchwad. After that, there won't be any incremental CapEx to be spent at the site. The CapEx will be spent and capitalized till March 2023. That is what will be sitting as a project revenue from the Pimpri-Chinchwad side. The one in Kanjur is an ongoing project. As and when I start exploring my cell six and cell seven, there will be an incremental CapEx. But these are not large CapEx. They would be between around INR 15-20 crores each.
Okay. Sir, just last question. What would be our blended finance cost currently?
You're talking the cost of borrowing for us?
Yeah, yeah. Cost of borrowing.
Cost of borrowing is around 9% for us today.
Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Shwechha Jain from ANS Wealth. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for giving this opportunity. My first question is if you could give us the approximate daily tonnage for Nashik and NDMC separately, along with the tipping fee per ton on both of these sites, sir. Hello?
Yeah. The total tonnage at Nashik, we estimate to be around 240-250 tons per day. The rate per ton is something that we, you know, average blended rate will be around INR 1,600-INR 2,000. Around INR 2,000 is what I'm told.
Okay. The blended is overall, right? Not specifically.
For that we have two zones. One is Satpur and other is Panchvati. The rates per zone is different because the activity and the zone, the complexities are different. The blended rate will be around INR 2,000.
For sir, NDMC, if you could give the same tonnage and the tipping fee per ton?
The tonnage in NDMC at peak. Today it's just on the rollout zone, but at peak it should be averaging not less than 900-1,000 tons per day. The rate would be similar to the ones that we have bid in Nashik.
Okay. My second question is, in PCMC, we are also going to generate some power, right? If you could help me understand the total megawatt that we would be generating and, number of units of power that can be generated per megawatt is what I wanted to understand actually.
The total installed capacity is around 14.5 MW and the net metering after your auxiliary consumption and, we believe should be around 11.5 MW. That's the sellable unit. This would be sold at around INR 5, fixed for the tenure of the project, which is 21 years. On an average, we expect around INR 35-40 crore of revenue, depending upon the how less of the auxiliary power can we consume. That's the number we have. These are fairly conservative numbers. As and when the ramp-up happens and the PLF improves, this is assuming a PLF of just 85%, and this has been assured by Hitachi and NSEC. Based on their confirmation and numbers, this is what the numbers stack up today.
As and when the project initializes, the bottlenecks get removed and everything, our plan is to improve the PLF because the RDF quality over there is very high. The supply of waste is also high. The tender allows us to procure RDF from third parties also. My PLF can be maintained at a higher rate. We would be in a significantly stronger position to tell on this exact number that you're asking maybe by January 2023 when the fire-ups or the fire-up starts.
Okay. Number of units of power that can be.
The net that base unit.
Okay.
Generation 14 in-house consumption will be around 2.5 something, and saleable will be around 11.5.
Okay. Understood. Sir, in the PCMC, we are also going to sell the compost, right? If you could help me understand, you know, that potential, that the revenue that can be generated through the sales of compost and other things separately, if you could give, you know.
You know, compost normally should not be a significant amount because it's 1,000 tons per day capacity and we are currently generating around 10,050 tons per day. We don't foresee a significant contribution coming from sale of compost. Having said that, it should be in the range of around 2%-3% what we have witnessed historically in Kanjur site. It may improve, but there is a limitation there.
Okay. My last question is, sir, in FY 2022, our total project expense was close to INR 49 crore.
Right.
I believe the total project revenue for FY 2022 was close to INR 99 crore. What I understand is, our profit from the project was basically INR 50 crore. Is my understanding correct?
No, I don't think so. That is slightly out of whack because we had a project revenue of for last year, that is FY 2022, we had INR 49 crores of revenue. You need to add 10% of that to arrive at the contract revenue from that item. If you are seeing that it's a slightly bigger bump, then it also includes the revenue from power sweeping and other items with the other components. My contract revenue is not so high.
Okay. What I wanted to understand is there any other component of project expense built in other expense item or whatever we give, like INR 49 crores is the project expense?
No. Any and everything that we spend on the capital item sits in the project cost. It doesn't flow into my other expense set.
Right. What I'm calculating is roughly we made a project, you know, profit of close to INR 50 crores, approximately 40, 45 or INR 50 crores. Is that correct?
47 is the number.
What I wanted to understand now is actually, this project is obviously going to get over in FY 2023, right?
Construction phase is going to get over, yes.
The INR 47 crore of profit that we are seeing is not going to happen from FY 2024.
Let me rephrase this. What today you are seeing, assuming I'm spending INR 100 crore on CapEx. I'm showing INR 110 crore as contract revenue and INR 100 crore as contract expenses. You are seeing a INR 10 crore of EBITDA contribution coming from that.
Right. Right.
Now, after the CapEx is done, you will not have this INR 110 of revenue, INR 100 of your contract cost. This will be replaced with the actual core revenue around INR 65 crores in 58 into one.
That's what I wanted to understand. Is that right?
Yes. This will be replaced with the core revenue that will start generating. The CapEx which sits in my books as financial assets or intangibles, gets amortized and comes in the form of depreciation.
Right. INR 50 crores or INR 47 crores project expense what we are seeing.
Actually 4.7, if I'm not wrong. I think INR 47 million.
that will be replaced by the.
Revenue, yes.
From PCMC, right? Is my understanding correct, is what I wanted to understand.
Correct. Yes, the project revenue goes off, core revenue comes in.
Right. How much margin can we get on this core top line, say of INR 65-75 crores from PCMC, sir? Any guidance?
Normally, waste processing contracts are significantly more profitable than collection and transportation. My weighted average EBITDA should move towards 27%-28% just gradually on the ramp-up and my P&L improves.
This 27, 28 is just from PCMC, right? I want to understand.
At consolidated level. We normally don't give project specific EBITDA guidances. At consolidated level, what we are seeing today at around
Thank you. Before we move to the next question, we would like to request participants to limit their questions to two during the initial round. We have the next question from the line of Tushar Raghatate from KamayaKya Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, and congratulations for good set of numbers. My question is on the project for which you have bid. You said you have bid for the five projects. Sir, if I see the tonnage, it's near to 1,000 or so. It seems like, you know, the municipalities are big municipalities. Just want to understand, is it near the MMR region or, and what would be the timeframe like, to get update on the same? Like, can we consider one year or 1.5 year for that?
Few of the contracts that we've bid at stage. Some of the contracts we will be able to announce some clarity maybe by September or October. That's when we expect to hear from the corporations on the tendering process. Otherwise, the new contracts are anyway now coming up at a faster pace, so we will definitely be keeping the stock exchange and the investors informed on that part.
Sir, the tipping fee would be high on this, compared to a normal average tipping fee?
Tipping fee is reflective of the activity and the scope of the work. If the scope of the work is significantly smaller than what I'm currently doing in my existing project, then it can be even lower than what I'm doing. It all depends upon the scope of the work. It will not be. I mean, I will not be able to guide you on the rate per ton, but normally you always have a wage escalation coming in every six months. 62% of my operating cost is fuel and labor, and that has a northward trajectory, then the tipping fee will have a northward trajectory at the time of bidding.
Yeah, fair enough. On the competition front, the market leader, EBITDA margin is near to 30% range or so. Can we expect our margin going to that range in next coming two to three years?
The company is definitely working towards that. That is one thing. The industry leaders also have a product mix which is skewed towards more of a hazardous waste. That is an area that we Antony Waste Handling Cell today doesn't have a presence in. We are predominantly a municipal solid waste entity, and that is one of the reasons why we are looking at beefing up our senior management team with people like Mahendra joining us, who have got significant experience in the waste processing of varied materials and not just municipal solid waste, which are high CapEx and high margin business and with a lot of technological benefit being approved. We are definitely exploring this area, and we'll definitely keep you posted as and when things shape up.
Oh, fair enough, sir. Just one question. The Jhansi, Varanasi, NDMC, biomining and Nashik projects, what would be the potential revenue on annual terms?
We would not be in a situation to give you an approximate number today because they are all in various level of scale-up. It will be a fair assumption to say that going forward, these projects will be contributing to around 25% of my total revenue. The growth that they're assuming would be around 25% CAGR on a consolidated basis. That is something that we can state today. We normally don't give city-wise/corporation-wise revenue breakup.
Okay, sir. Fine. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Vikram from Maybank. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I don't know. Hello.
It's unlike your financial quarter ending. I mean, we have this, so from July 15th onwards, the monsoon starts, and that period goes all the way till the festive period, which will be November. It is, I mean, like, it's like a kharif crop and rabi crop. It doesn't fall in your quarter one, quarter two. There will be a spread between the quarters. But it's a very fair assumption to say it has a seasonality impact. 55% of my revenue will come in this 180 days, and 45% of revenue will come in the balance for 180 days.
Okay. My next question is you already said that, electric vehicles are some 8% of your fleet. Do you have an internal target as to where you want to reach with respect to that number?
We don't have an internal compulsory target to achieve, but we are definitely exploring the economic viability of the same and whether the same can be tweaked to enhance our count. One is they should be efficient enough to take the load and go into the dumping grounds where they are supposed to go. I mean, if there are significant operational issues, then I will be pulled up by my client. The vehicles that we have deployed currently are the primary collectors, which is like your small vehicles, like your Tata Ace kind of a example. We have yet to use electric vehicles or electrically modified compactors because we have not seen commercial vehicles come out which are economically viable for us to deploy today. Maybe tomorrow when the technology is better and cheaper.
It's like a solar panels.
Actually, that was going to be my next question, actually. Maybe you can answer it along with what you're already saying. Typically any electric vehicle that you order, so you are saying those are not tailor-made for you? Or do you buy it and then you make the changes? I just-
Yes, they are customized to carry garbage. I mean, there are certain companies which actually do this, but the tipper, basically if you look at the body, I mean the chassis remains the same, your power remains similar, but the upper body which you want, that has to be customized because it cannot be too tall, it cannot be too flat, it cannot have a flipping body. It has to have a certain non-corrosive material which adds to the weight of the machine, which it has to be able to manage, I mean, at the most 1,000 KGs. But a Tata Ace should be in a position to carry around 800 KGs of garbage, which has leachate, which is of corrosive nature, and which will seep into the machine, and which should not break down every two months.
Those are the working problems that we face.
I remember you saying these are not Indian OEMs, right? These are usually foreign OEMs we have to deal with for such procurement purposes.
EV options are now locally procured because there are a large number of local players. When we talk about compactors, the large compactors, we procure it from Heil, which is a Dover Corporation U.S., Fortune 500 company. We procure it, and we kind of have it fabricated on a Tata Motors or a
Yeah.
Only the small version is presently successful. A good part is it is we don't need fuel, so there's a huge cost saving. It's on experimental basis we are doing and we are finding some good traction in the northern region where there's less rain and it's dry. We are looking at the smaller, the primary collection vehicle, the small vehicles. The larger trucks, we have not yet planned to turn it into an electric vehicle because in India or worldwide, we don't have the heavy duty trucks with the EV model.
In waste management.
In waste. Because there it has to go to the landfill, you know, you need a huge amount of torque.
Yeah. Yeah. Just a last question, which is more of a broad-based one. Is there any one or two trend that is happening in some of the developed countries now, which you foresee with respect, obviously, waste handling, that you foresee that will start coming in in India, which is not there and which will obviously be a great opportunity for you? Is there any particular-
In India, it has started almost like in developed countries in terms of people collecting fees from the municipalities. A major chunk of money come from directly from the
Cities. Mm-hmm.
India, from the cities, from the citizens and the shops and malls and all. In India, the trend has come in and, like the one in Noida, which we have won the contract, there they have said, "Okay, you collect money individually from the citizens and malls and everybody, as well as you offset a tipping fee, you know. You plan how much you will earn from the city by collecting payments from the people, and thereafter you feel you need extra money to run the operation, so you can quote your tipping fee. The money which I have to charge from the citizen is already fixed. Like, you know, per household will be INR 50 or INR 30.
In developed countries, they fix it to a certain level where the municipality need not bear any money. It will be charged directly from the citizens. This type of trend definitely will help for us because there are some municipality where the city is very rich, people are very well-to-do, but the administration of that municipality is not efficient due to which their tax collection is poor and they are not able to execute such projects.
Okay.
That way we our type of industry will evolve from being totally dependent on municipality. We will have another stream of collection from the directly from the citizens.
All right. Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rishikesh from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, I missed your revenue and EBITDA margins guidance. Can you please repeat it?
We are looking at a 25% CAGR over the next two years on our core revenue. Our core margins should be tracking around 23%-25% comfortably.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but participant, there is disturbance in your line.
I'm saying even I'll.
Please go ahead. Sir, please go ahead.
We are looking at a 25% CAGR growth for our core operating revenue to sustain over the next couple of years comfortably. The margins should track once my CapEx and everything related to the DBOOT project is over, should track upwards of 25% comfortably, if not better.
Okay. Sir, if you could also provide a debt outlook.
My incremental peak debt, based on the current projects that I have, should be around INR 280 crore is what we presume as the max range based on the current outlook and the projects that I have in the pipeline. My net worth today is around INR 520-odd crores or thereabout. Pretty much in shape. We internally looking currently are at around net debt to equity is around 0.4x. We might go all the way up to 0.7x is what we estimate over the next. By the end of 2023, maybe with the first quarter of 2024.
Okay. Sir, once the CapEx is over, if you could please share what is the revenue potential that the company will have?
The lion's share of the CapEx is going into the Pimpri-Chinchwad waste to energy project. The incremental CapEx from that project would be around INR 65 crore at a very conservative PLF assumption of around 75%-80% today. I mean, there is a potential that this might improve, but currently this is what we are forcing the incremental core revenue incremental jump to come in after this CapEx is done.
Okay, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Sandeep Salaria from UST Global. Please go ahead. Sandeep, your line has been unmuted. Please proceed with your question. If you have muted the line from your end, please unmute and speak.
Yeah. Hi. Am I audible?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, and thanks for the opportunity. Great set of numbers. I'm a visual investor, and firstly, I'm delighted to partner with such a great team and intend to continue this association for a long time to come. I have joined late, so pardon me if this question has already been asked. Now the question is, there's a significant jump in the project expenses year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Could you please be kind to explain how the contract revenue and project expenses move? Since there are massive variations between quarters that there's a big impact on EBITDA and margin gets affected. It seems like the project margins are very less and this has an effect on EBITDA margins and causing overall margins to fall.
As the share of project revenue increases in this quarter, it's like around 35% as seen my total revenue, so our margins will keep on going low, lower. Do we see this trend to continue going forward? Please help me to understand the move between contract revenue and project expenses. Explain it like you would to a five-year-old. Thank you very much and good luck.
I will try, Sandeep. The project revenue and project cost, I mean, is related to the CapEx which is ongoing at our Pimpri-Chinchwad and at Kanjur site, which are DBoot projects. As and when we incur the CapEx, the same gets reflected into my revenue and contract cost heads. As and when we incur the CapEx, you will see an increase in the revenue or some numbers getting momentum. We are forcing around 110 incremental CapEx to come in over the next three quarters to make the Pimpri-Chinchwad project complete. That is the kind of revenue that will come in my project revenue line. A similar cost will be sitting in my project cost head.
Once the CapEx item is done, you will not see the project revenue or the project cost line items. The same will be replaced with core operating revenue and the operational expenses of that related activity. We had discussed during the beginning of the call that we, the company will be sharing a note on the accounting standards, which gets reflected into this kind of numbers coming in. We'll share the same through our investor relations people with all the attendees to the call, and we also have the same note prepared and shared on our website.
That is certainly helpful. Thank you very much, and good luck.
Sure.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rajesh Jain from NB Investments. Please go ahead.
Good evening. I have three questions. What is the status of the Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal project? Is it expected to be commissioned by March 31st, 2023?
Yes. The construction activity is going on, as per schedule, and we are tracking the same. The commissioning date should be March 31st, if not before.
The second thing is, in the last call you had mentioned that we had, you know, bid for six total projects. You had mentioned that due to the, you know, elections not being happening, so it may take for a while to get these projects, you know, decided. Does it mean that any chance of getting any new projects during the current financial year is very low?
The current financial year, sir, we are just one quarter on. I seriously hope that the elections get over before Diwali. We hope to get some news before the calendar year ends. Fingers crossed, as I would say.
It all depends on the election that has to happen in the Maharashtra state, right? Maharashtra municipality.
In many places, not just Maharashtra, in many places. Because the tenure of the municipal corporations are normally around five years, and so a lot of corporations over and there's been change over there. Till the time they get elected, like Varanasi, for example, they're up for election. The elections are due in another four months.
Okay.
Bombay is still due.
Uh.
Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, I mean, you name it. Actually, we can talk about the cities that we operate in. That's the ongoing process. In cities that we bid for, we are keeping a keen watch.
Okay. Lastly, sir, regarding the price increase to get for the diesel price increase, you said, you know, only those contracts which are having a monthly pass-through, you were able to get maximum of that, and whereas the annual and the half-yearly ones, you are yet to receive that. On a consolidated basis, is it possible to know how much percentage of this diesel price increase the company has already received?
We would say around 27% of the increase in the fuel cost is reflected in our escalation, sir. Today, I mean, every month, the monthly escalation which provides us a slippage in this. Approximately around 28% of my revenue. That takes care of my escalation part for both revenue. The other revenue line items, they get billed either on a half yearly or annual basis. You will see a staggered benefit coming in.
I know. How much percentage of the overall price increase we have got? You said 27%, that is for the monthly increase you are saying, right?
Right. If there's any increase in fuel prices say 100 INR becomes 110 INR, that is a 10% increase in the fuel cost. Now, the tipping fee is broken into three items. There is a weight assigned for labor, there's a weight assigned for fuel, and there's a weight assigned for miscellaneous items. If there is a 40% weight assigned for fuel and my tipping fee is say 100 INR, I will get 40 INR, 10% of the 40 INR will increase. That is, 100 INR will become 104 INR.
Okay.
27% of my revenue has already achieved this 104 as the tipping fee.
That means you meant to say the remaining, 73% or so is yet to get the price rise.
Is yet to get the price impact benefit passed on to the company. Yes.
Company. Correct. Okay, sir. Thank you very much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you, Mr. Jain.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Gaurav Gandhi from Glorytail Capital Management. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi sir. Congratulations on the good set of numbers. Sir, if the current government changes in 2024, central government I'm talking about, and if the Swachh Bharat Mission budget get reduced or the focus of the government get reduced, do you see any kind of business impact or reduction in number of tenders by municipalities?
No. See this, cleanliness has been a problem pan India, and I've seen every government. It's a big important issue because if the city is not clean, then there'll be more diseases and no government can survive. The cities collect their own taxes and they float their own tenders. Basically, they have to keep their city clean. We don't foresee any problems. That's it. No, we have always been neutral on this.
There are certain incentives, which are given by central governments or, you know.
There is a capital grant which we get. Like, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Swachh Bharat Mission, there's a capital grant given for procurement of trucks or anything to the municipalities. It's around.
I mean, in all, it won't have any kind of business impact even if the.
No, no, it will not. Because, see, this is an essential item like hospitals.
Right.
Uh, so, uh, you.
Actually, my point is we haven't seen that this kind of focus on Swachh Bharat Mission before 2014. That's why I'm asking.
Mr. Gaurav, if you look at the budgetary allocation of municipal corporations, if you can check on the budgetary allocation, there's always an allocation for the municipal solid waste department.
Okay.
That is actually I mean, that's always been stable as a percentage of total OpEx. That has never come down. What has added over the last couple of years has been a greater need to modernize and increase the processing part and the collection and transportation. The money that is being spent by the government agencies or the urban local bodies, as you call, has remained there. It's, we don't foresee a change in priorities having an impact on this industry per se.
Oh, okay. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Kaushal Kedia, an investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello.
Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. What I wanted to understand is which is your largest contributor of, in the revenue, which city? I assume it's Mumbai, right? Greater Mumbai.
MCGM. BMC is our largest client today.
What I want to understand is when is the contract expiring for it?
2036. That's it. We have collection and transportation work, and we also do waste processing at Kanjur. The waste processing at Kanjur is a 25-year project which gets over in 2036.
Okay. You're saying that waste processing, whatever the waste out there will get forwarded to the Pimpri-Chinchwad plant.
No, no. Those are different projects. Each municipal corporation has to provide a waste processing solution for the residents of that particular city. The waste from one municipal corporation cannot cross the municipal limits. I cannot take the waste of Mumbai and move it to Thane, Kalyan or Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation for processing. It has to be processed within that municipal limits today. That's the law.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad there's no one else who's processing waste, except you, right?
Today we are the exclusive guys who are setting up a plant. There is an open dumping ground in Moshi where the waste is currently being transported. That's the way it is today.
Okay. How dependent is the plant on you getting the contract for the Pimpri-Chinchwad area then?
Sorry, can you please repeat that question?
I'm saying how dependent is the plant for input, waste, on you getting the contract?
Contracts are exclusive in nature. The collection and transportation contract has nothing to do with the waste processing contract. Those are both exclusive contracts with exclusive tendering process and the tenure of the project is also different.
No, but that is what I'm saying. Say, suppose if you don't get the contract for the waste processing, then the plant will be idle, right?
No. No. If the contract allows that you can pursue RDF, the waste has to be processed. There are no additional waste processing sites in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Every municipality has their own waste processing facility. For which, presently all the Indian waste to date is openly dumped. Now they are floating tenders to process the waste scientifically. That is a separate business. Then already there is collection and transportation where you collect waste from households, which is also a separate business. Typically, collection and transportation business of a city is having a tenure of seven-10 years. Waste processing where the capital is high, typically the tenure is 21-25 years.
Okay, I understood.
Once we sign a waste contract, processing contract, whoever may be the C&T operator, he has to bring the waste to our processing center because that is the only place where he can dump. There is no other facility available in that limit.
Okay. How much does Mumbai contribute to the revenues? Mumbai collection and transportation and waste processing.
I would say around 35%-38% of my revenue comes from. Initially it was higher, now it is very little.
The Mumbai collection and transportation is due for renewal 2026.
The MCGM, yes. RCRN contract is due for renewal. It's a seven-year contract. It's due for renewal in 2026.
The waste processing for MCGM is till 2031 around.
2036.
22036. Okay. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Keshav from RakSan Investors. Please go ahead.
Sir, can you dissect the receivables? What are the receivable days currently? What fraction would be due for more than six months? What were the bad debtors for FY 2022?
The normal DSOs as the numbers that have been presented in the presentation is around 72.
77.
77. That is a weighted average. Some of our clients pays within 30 days, some of the clients pays on a quarterly mode. That's the number which gets generated on that basis. During the quarter, we didn't have any bad debts. We didn't have to because the payment had all been processed and accepted by the client, so we didn't have any bad debts. What we normally do is we normally have a general provision for debts which are under contingencies or under arbitration. Historically, I mean, we haven't created any specific line items for bad debts in the last FY 2022 number, but we have created a general credit provisioning in the past.
That is for amounts which is due under arbitration in various High Courts of the country.
Sure, sir. That will have an escalation component as well as the bad debtor, right?
These amounts are for old contracts which are already expired. All the receivables from current contracts are pretty much live and there are no bad debts to them.
Sure, sir. Sir, is there a scope to take a stake in Antony Lara further up from here, or this would be it?
Honestly, the company has never ventured into that area of buying out the technical provider because today Lara Central and Antony there is a lot of technological advantage that both our company earns and learns from this entity. It's a possibility that can happen in future, but for now we have not looked at it.
Okay. Sir, lastly, the total capital allocation for PCMC is INR 240 crore, right?
INR 240 crore, yes.
What will be the ROIC on that level for INR 240 CR?
Normally it should be in line with what we are doing across all our sites. I mean, when we bid for a contract, we look at, like, what will this earn over and above my existing site, or at least equal to what my other sites earn. My ROIC should be in line with what we have been generating.
That will be 30% plus if you can give me,
It could be. It won't be so high. It will be, we are maintaining around 20%-24%. That is something that we should be comfortable with. If not, work on it for making it better.
All right, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question, and we will now close the question queue. I hand the conference over to [Mr. N. G. Subramanian] for closing comments. Please go ahead, sir.
I take this opportunity to thank everyone for joining the call. I hope we have been able to address all your queries. For any further information, kindly get in touch with me or Strategic Growth Advisors, our investor relations advisors. Thank you.
Thank you, members of the management. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.