Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Q1 FY 2025 Earnings Conference Call of Container Corporation of India Limited, hosted by DAM Capital Advisors Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in a listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Bhumika Nair from DAM Capital Advisors. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Yeah, good afternoon, everyone, and a warm welcome to the Q1 FY 2025 earnings call of Container Corporation of India. We have the management today being represented by Mr. Sanjay Swarup, CMD, and his entire team. I'll now hand over the floor to Mr. Swarup for his opening remarks, post which we'll open up the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I am being joined by my Director of Finance, Mr. Manoj Dubey; Director Domestic, Mr. Azhar Shams; Director Projects, Mr. Ajit Panda; and Mr. Harish Chandra, Executive Director Finance and Company Secretary. I will just give you a brief about the quarter, and then we will be taking your questions. I am happy to post 6% growth in our throughput in this quarter, which is in line with the growth of India's international trade. In this quarter, India's international trade has grown by 5.8%, sorry, India's exports have grown by 5.8%, and we have achieved almost $110 billion exports.
In this quarter, we have achieved an import of $172 billion, which is a growth of 7.6% year-on-year. Increase in EXIM market share for CONCOR has been 50 basis points in this quarter. Besides that, domestic stream has posted a healthy 15% growth year-on-year in this quarter. Our operating income growth has been 9.3%, PAT growth has been 4.6%, and another significant thing is the growth in double stack rates, which is 14% this year, in this quarter, year-on-year basis. We have added significant infrastructure to our network. We have commissioned one new high-speed rake, taking a total to 378 rakes. Besides that, we have procured 2,500 new containers, and our container fleet today stands at around 47,000 containers, which I should say, it's a very healthy fleet.
We have a CapEx budget of this financial year at INR 610 crore. In the first quarter, we have already achieved around INR 157 crore of CapEx. We will be conducting a mid-year review. If required, we will revise our CapEx budget. We have procured and deployed 100 LNG trucks for our first mile, last mile stream, and we are going for 200 more LNG trucks, which has been a proved to be a big hit with our customers. And one more initiative which has been welcomed by trade is the online booking of containers that we have started at all CONCOR terminals. So it's a very, big facilitation measure for the trade. We are not charging anything extra, so it's, proving to be a big marketing tool for the company.
The focus area for the company remain total logistic solution to customers, business solutions, including warehousing and first mile, last mile, and giving green and sustainable logistics to our customers. Guidance of the, company, I will, I am like, I would like to keep it unchanged. We are very optimistic that we will be able to achieve the, guidance that I gave at the start of the financial year. New initiatives and growth levers for the company in this financial year will be as under. First will be the bulk cement in tank containers. Second is, we are having a tie-up, long-term tie-up with shipping lines, which we'll be signing, in the month of September. Then, we are bringing Nhava Sheva also on double stack through Varnama, our terminal near Vadodara. We are quite strongly looking at DPD movements, from ports to hinterland.
Then we are going for additional business and new terminals, which is another growth driver for us. And lastly, we are tying up with big business houses, giving them total logistics solution, like just to name a few, like Vedanta, Jindal, Tata. We are in talks with them at advanced stages so that we give them total logistics package for their pan-India movement, utilizing our pan-India services. So this is all for my opening remarks. Now you can ask questions please.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Amit, from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity. I have a couple of questions. The first one is on the volume guidance, sir. Why you have kept it unchanged? But the EXIM growth rate that we saw on YoY basis in this quarter was only 3.3%. So just wanted to understand, I mean, what do you see going ahead, so as you have kept the volume items unchanged? That is the first question I have.
Yeah. See, actually, now the, there was a, this China to America circuit, which was a in which container, c argo was moving to a great extent. It was overloaded, till 31st of July, because, due to some duty issue, Chinese goods were being pushed to American markets. So now, after 1st August, that, overloading has eased. So there is a lot of, movement of containers and vessels in India, Western, Western countries, stream. This has resulted in the softening of, ocean freight and, more availability of containers and vessels for India. So this will be a major, reason for growth, in export/import from India. And softening of ocean freight means the low value, imports like, waste paper, scrap. This will be coming in a big way for India.
Exports also, we will get, w e are going to get very good exports. In fact, for the last one month, already, there is a good growth in, healthy growth in exports. So, and, one more thing is that, due to our services, service levels, we have increased our market share in EXIM at, Mundra Port and Pipavav Port. Both the ports, we have increased, significantly. And on pan-India basis, we have increased the EXIM market share by 50 basis points. And in the coming months, due to all these factors, I am very sure that, import/export will increase, and we will increase our market share also. So combination of these things, plus one more thing that I mentioned in my opening remarks, that we will be giving double stack benefit to, for our Nhava Sheva customers from NCR area.
So this way, we will be able to give them the benefit of transit time as well as benefit of rates. So we are hoping for a lot of transfer of cargo from road to rail and into our port. So these three, four factors may result in a healthy growth in EXIM, and I am quite positive that we, I will be able to achieve the guidance that we have given at the start of the financial year.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for the comprehensive answer. The second question is essentially on domestic business. So if I see the domestic realization and profitability, both are a tad lower when I compare it with the past, you know, three, four quarters. I'm not talking about Q1 FY 2023, but Q2, Q3, Q4. If I compare it to domestic realization and profitability, both have gone down. So what could be the reason behind that? Is it that we are giving discounts or is it the empty running cost? Just wanted to get your thoughts on that.
See, domestic actually, despite posting a 15% growth, we could maintain good margins. And now we have identified the circuits where we are getting the return cargo also. Like, lot of containers are moving from north to south and even from western India to South India. Return direction, now we are getting good business of cement. So, and we are tapping other commodities also. So we are very hopeful that we will bring down the empty running. Already you will see in the running quarter that we are having now, Q2. So we are expecting good profit margins in domestic, as well as the top line and bottom line improvement you will see in the coming months.
But sir, talking about this quarter, you know, we saw that there was a drop in realization and profitability. So I just wanted to get, you know, your thoughts around that. So what you have mentioned is fine. We will maybe get back to our level of profits that we have shown in Q2, Q3, Q4. But in this particular quarter, what was the reason for the decline?
See, Q1, actually, normally Q1 is, because after Q4 of the financial year, it be Q1. Q1 is normally like that. Trend is similar, in every year you see. It is, there's no, not much difference in Q1. And, the surcharge that was, imposed on first of, October 2023 by Indian Railways, that also has a, some role to play in the profit margins. But now the trade has very well accepted that surcharge, and, we have also taken corrective steps. So, definitely there will be good improvement in both EXIM as well as domestic, as far as, top line and bottom line is concerned.
Got it, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Disha from Ashika Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Good afternoon. While you have already given the clarification as to why you expect a good growth in volumes for FY 2025 and are keeping the margin unchanged, it is quite difficult to understand. I mean, the EXIM volumes will have to grow at an average of 20% year-on-year, if you plan to keep the volume growth unchanged at 15% for FY 2025. So will this be achievable?
See, Disha, I am very optimistic person, so I definitely am very optimistic about it. We will be able to achieve it. Why we should not achieve?
Do you think the initiatives that you mentioned, that is the DPD movement, bulk cement, and the new initiative that is with large corporates, will help you in achieving that within FY 2025, or will it get pushed to the next year as well?
See, bulk cement in tank containers, as I mentioned, it will start giving us business only in Q3. Q2, we will not be able to get any business because the containers orders they have given, they are being manufactured. Of course, we have had a dialogue, detailed dialogue with the cement manufacturer. They are ready with the business, but the constraint is the supply of containers, which we are expecting they will be arriving in Q3. As soon as they arrive, the demand is ready. So Q3 only we will be able to get the benefit of transportation of bulk cement in tank containers. Other than that, all the other things are initiatives are being taken by the company, and results will be you will see in the next in this Q2 only, at the end of Q2 only.
Okay. Can you—I mean, my second question is, can you expand on what the initiative is that you are taking with companies like Vedanta and Tata, and Jindal?
You see, I can't tell you all the commercials, but all I can say is that we are having a long-term agreement. Already with Vedanta, we have an agreement for three years, which is going to expire next month, and we are in talks with them to further extend it for three years. That is a exclusive agreement. All of their business they give to CONCOR. In turn, we give them some assurance in terms of supply of containers, supply of rails, and we give them some special tariff for that. That is a agreement we enter for long term. So we get exclusivity. They don't give it to any other operator. That is that much only I can tell you here.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amyn Pirani from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, can you share the originating volumes which you, you know, give out every quarter?
Yes. Originating volume for EXIM is 481,912 TEUs. Domestic it is 124,844 TEUs. Total is 606,756 TEUs.
Okay. Okay. Thanks for that, sir. And, sir, when you were talking about, you know, getting into these, long-term arrangements with, some, business groups, and you also mentioned Vedanta. So, are you mainly referring to a renewal of these, engagements which are already there, or are you talking about getting into newer engagements which can add, you know, to a new business, going forward?
Yeah, actually, you can say a combination of both.
Okay.
Because, when we entered into an agreement with the Vedanta three years back-
Mm-hmm.
-they were not present at so many locations, and now-
Okay
we will be covering all the locations.
Okay.
Other than that, with Jindal and Tata. Jindal, we had a partial agreement, that is only for EXIM. Now we are looking for both EXIM and domestic. Similarly, Tata, we don't have any agreement, so we will be looking-
Okay. At the agreement. Yeah.
-so it's a combination of both.
Okay. Okay. That's good to know, sir. And sir, lastly, can you also help us with the empty running costs for the quarter across EXIM and domestic?
Okay. EXIM, it is INR 33.28 crore. Domestic, it is INR 86.91 crore. Total, INR 130.18 crore.
Thank you, sir. I'll come back to you.
Okay.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead. Yes, Achal, go with the question, please. Hello, Achal?
Am I audible?
Yes, yes.
Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, just wanted to check, when you said market share for EXIM, you've gained by 50 basis points, is that YoY or QOQ? And would you be able to quantify what is the market share?
Actually, it is YoY.
Okay.
In last year, first quarter, it was 54.54%. Now it has become 55.08%.
Understood. The second question I had, you mentioned about the work, what you're doing with Vedanta. Vedanta earlier was only EXIM, now both. Did you say that it will, it is an exclusive arrangement, so they won't give any business to any other CTO? Have I understood right?
No, Vedanta actually was both EXIM and domestic, and Jindal was only EXIM.
Okay.
So this means, exclusive means they will give only to CONCOR.
Directly, right? Not through any associate partners, et cetera. Is that true?
Why do we want that detail when we are getting everything? That means exclusive.
Okay, understood. Sir, in terms of the, you know, the LLF, you had mentioned, you know, the cost will be around INR 440. Would you stick to the same number, or is there any change?
I will request my Director of Finance to answer this question.
I'm on that line. So, you will see volume went on Q1 around 1,064. So that will remain. And if, as you recall, in the last conference that we talked about the new regime where we are trying to say, if that materializes, then even lesser than what we are projecting.
Right. I wanted to check on that only, sir. In terms of any, any update on the decision to surrender TKD under new policy?
414, 414 are out of the mix on the normal rates of the old regime. If we are able to get that not for the new regime, then it is going to be quite lesser than what we are projecting.
Right. Sir, any update on the switch?
That will add to the margins in a big way, domestic and export both.
Correct. Correct. Just a clarification, sir. You know, with respect to the TKD terminal, the switch, by when do you think you will have the visibility clarity, sir?
So TKD, one thing has been done. As you can see that, we have booked letters in the last year due to the fact that 60,000 sq m we have already surrendered from fourth of April. So that itself has a very big impact, nearly INR 30 crore a year. And the other thing that I mentioned is already in pipeline, we are in the very serious discussion with railway, and we are hopeful that something will come out very soon. And the moment something comes out, it will be shared with everybody.
Got it. And just one last question, if I may, sir. With respect to first mile, last mile, what is the extent of revenue contribution from this particular line of business? And last time you had mentioned that it it will have the similar margin at company level. I just thought of checking what is the mix.
First Mile Last Mile has been a very big hit, in which, I can now share the volumes with numbers with you. In the first quarter, in First Mile Last Mile, we had an income of INR 82 crore, which is a growth of 35% year-on-year.
Understood. Understood. All right, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Keshav Kumar from Desvelado Advisory . Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So sir, I have a question related to the export-
Sir, can you speak a little louder, sir, please?
Okay. I have a question related to the export of non-basmati rice. We know that the ban has resulted in a loss of volume for the company, but there is a recent development in the situation, that three days ago, NITI Aayog member indicated the possibility of lifting the ban due to improved paddy sowing and comfortable stock. My question is, with indications that the ban may be lifted due to improved conditions, what strategy does company have to capitalize on potential export resumption and increased rice production?
That's a very good question. We are anxiously waiting for that, and we are fully geared up. We have sufficient inventory of empty containers. There is no shortage of that. So as you may be aware, it's mostly done from Nagpur terminal and even Raipur and Dadri also, even Ludhiana. So all these terminals are fully geared up, and we are anxiously waiting for the government decision. As soon as they come, we will immediately resume the export movement of rice.
Sir, one general question that I have is, as I can see, the company has also started a logistics app for providing first mile, last mile services. I wanted to know what strategies are being used to drive user acquisition for the app?
See, in that actually we are educating our customers also, because few days back, I was in Bangalore. I had a trade meet in which we demonstrated the logistics app and first mile, last mile through logistics app. It was... It has been very well received by our customers, and wherever we interact with our customers, which we do so very regularly, we keep it an item that logistics app we have to demonstrate to them. So it's a very good facility, and customers are quite enthusiastic. We are using social media also to tell our customers about logistics app, and it's very well received by the trade.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. This is all. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raj Shekhar from Vishal Portfolio and Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good afternoon, sir. Hello?
Yes, good afternoon. Please, go ahead.
My question is, recently, CBIC announced, GST exemption on, services provided by railways to SPVs. So my understanding is like a GST exemption on track access charges is there for 22?
That is, we get it. We are not into that business. We are, we are directly doing freight in terms of hauling charges. So there is no, revenue sharing between railway and us to provide apportionment of freight equipment. So we are not into that.
Okay.
It is only for DFCCIL impact. DFCCIL as a company will be getting benefited. Apart from that, many SPVs who are there in Gujarat area and Odisha area, they will benefit.
Okay. Okay. And, our railway fare charges in this quarter went up?
Angul Sukinda Railway is an SPV of CONCOR.
Okay.
And that has gone operational. So this will also-
Okay.
-benefit to Angul Sukinda Railway, and to that extent, we have a small stake in that.
Okay. Okay. And this, when this DFCC JNPT port connection will get us?
The DFC to Nhava Sheva, only 100 km is remaining. And till now, we have officially come to know that by March 2025, they will be able to do it, which is a very, very optimistic target. But for the benefit of our customers, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we will be giving the double stack benefit up to a place called Varnama, which is around 400 km short of Nhava Sheva. So very soon we will be starting that movement.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhumika Nair, from DAM Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Sir, I just wanted to understand why, you did mention about export, import being disrupted a little bit, but if we look at the port volumes, particularly the key ports of JNPT, Mundra, et cetera, there was actually a very strong, volume pickup that we saw in the months of June, July. So if you can just talk about what is the rail coefficient, you know, how are things moving? Is the rail share not very strong because of the imbalance, which is where there is a disconnect between the rail, you know, the EXIM volumes and the port volumes?
See, I can't talk about July right now, but I have numbers till June. Till June, in fact, as a matter of fact, rail coefficient has come down. At Nhava Sheva, last year in first quarter, it was 16.6%, and now in Q1 of this financial year, it was 15.6%, so 1% down. In Mundra, it was 24.3%, now it is 22.5%. And Pipavav, it was 51.6%, and now it is 52.6%. So, at all the ports, it has come down, but at Mundra and Pipavav, as I told in the opening remarks, our share has increased, whereas Nhava Sheva, our share has come down marginally. Slightly it has come down. So, the probable reason is that they are serving the nearby hinterland, and that is viable by road only.
And second factor, as I told you, that when we will be connecting Nhava Sheva to NCR by double stack, then I am expecting some shift from road to rail. So maybe we will see some rise in rail coefficient at Nhava Sheva.
Right. Sir, I mean, you know, where this is, you know, coming from is that, you know, we've seen an improvement with DFC, et cetera. We've seen an improvement with our services itself kind of going up. So one had expected that, you know, the rail coefficient should kind of start inching up. But, on the other hand, it has, across all the ports, seen a bit of a decline, if you take a 2-3-year trajectory. You know, do you think there is, you know, scope for improvement in terms of the rail coefficient improving?
Yes, actually, I think definitely there will be a scope of improvement. In fact, if I tell you, if I see the numbers, the port volumes have at Mundra Port also have in Q1, there have been a very good growth of port volume. And if you see the absolute numbers carried by CONCOR and by private operators, there is a very good growth in absolute numbers. But as far as share is concerned, definitely, the rail share has gone down. There may be several reasons for that, apart from DFC. Of course, DFC connectivity has helped us to carry more volume, and with predictability in service and being economical from NCR area, definitely, volumes have picked up, if you see, from this area.
Maybe there are a lot of industries coming around the port, and they are being served by road only. Maybe there are some transshipment volumes also out there at the ports.
Understood. Sir, can I get the lead distances for both EXIM and domestic?
Yes. CONCOR lead distances for this year in EXIM was 716 kilometers. Domestic, it is 1,338. And total, it is 821 kilometers.
Okay. Just one last clarification on the LLF, which is INR 106 crore. This takes into account the reduction of the TKD of INR 30-odd crore that we are expecting. That is already visible in this current quarter, right?
Yes, please.
Okay. Okay. Please, sir, I'll come back in the question. So thank you.
Okay.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lokesh Garg from UBS Group. Please go ahead. Yes, Mr. Lokesh, you can go with the question, please. As there is no response from the participant, we'll move to the next. The next question is from the line of Mihir Parekh from Ashika Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my question is on the, initiatives in the domestic front. If you could quantify the growth coming in from the incremental team or throughput coming in bulk cement, initiative which we are taking, and also the Varnama terminal double stacking. So if you could quantify how much incremental volumes are we expecting from these two initiatives?
I will request my director domestic to take this question.
... And besides Mohammad Azhar Shams, the Director Domestic. Actually, with respect to domestic volume, what our CMD just underlined, that we are in talk to major corporate houses like Vedanta, Jindal, Tatas, and then even Reliance, to enter into long-term agreements. This is certainly going to add lot of volume. We can't quantify because things are at the, discussions are at the very initial stages, but, let us see how things roll out. But, with respect to Vedanta, we are already into an, into an agreement with them for the last three years, and now we are going to renew that. But earlier, we were in the plant, which were included, were only two, like, Jharsuguda Vedanta plant, and then, Korba there in Korba area.
But now we are going to add many more plants whatever they are having, like, Balli in Goa and then, Chanderiya in Rajasthan, and then ACIC there in Punjab. So I think both the volume with the addition of these new plants are going to increase in this new agreement. And whatever new discussions are going on, that those will certainly add making, we will subsequently explain to you or give the data when things are finalized. That is on the agreement front. Now, with respect to bulk cement, you know, that bulk cement is having a very huge potential, and we have placed 500 container bulk cement, this loose cement container order to Braithwaite & Co Ltd. It is a PSU of Indian Railways.
The prototype is in the manufacturing stage, and we are very hopeful that by beginning of the first quarter, we shall be getting first phase of those 500 containers. The volume will certainly pick up as that will be executing into the availability of the container. Demand is absolutely there. We are in talk to many cement companies, and we are having orders in that respect. The thing is like, when we start getting the container, so they have promised us, that the Braithwaite, they shall be offering 50 containers per month to us, starting from third quarter. I think in first month, only in September, we can be getting first break, and subsequently, after every month, every two months, we shall be adding one phase there.
So I think these are the, I mean, pipeline and then demand, and we are working on those front, and certainly volume are going to increase with these new initiatives.
So my question was, Thanks for the clarity, sir. Sir, the question was, if the 25% domestic goal, which we are expecting, if you could quantify how much of it would come from the Varnama as well, and, and this, cement as well?
I think that in the first quarter, the overall originating and volume has been around 20%. So this volume is certainly going to deliver to us, and we are quite hopeful that these new initiative and new discussions, whatever we are having, and the cement initiative from the third quarter, these two adding together will certainly be, will add up to 25%, because 25% originating we have had in the first quarter only.
Okay. Okay, thanks. Thanks for that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Sir, can you help us with port mix?
Sorry.
With the port mix, like, how much of the total volume came from JNPT, Mundra, Pipavav and so on, for this quarter?
Yeah. JNPT, 32.3%.
Okay.
Mundra, 38.8%. Pipavav, 9.7%.
Right.
6.2%. Chennai, 3.7%. Visakhapatnam, 2.8%.
This is percentage of the originating volume, I presume, right, sir?
Yes, that's right.
Understood. The second question I had was, you know, with respect to the, you know, is there any one-off in terms of expenses or employee costs in this quarter, sir?
Yes, there was one-off only, that, otherwise we will be maintaining that 5% rise in the coming quarter.
Sorry, sir, can you please quantify? I couldn't hear you clearly.
Oh, well, yes, there was one one-off in this first quarter for the staff payment regarding some additional payment that we did for PRP, where we had provision for very good, but we were rated outstanding by DPE. So that additional payment has been done. This is one-off only. From the next quarter onwards, you will find this 5% increase that is normally we do in Y to Y basis.
Okay. So 5% going forward in terms of YoY increase in terms of employee cost.
For the simple fact that number of employees are decreasing only, so whatever increase that we have, 3%, in basic and the D and all, that doesn't go more than 5% in totality.
Understood. The other question I had, if you could talk a little bit about, you know, particularly Ludhiana market, you know, how things are shaping up. You did mention in a passing remark, with respect to the low value, high volume cargo, which was kind of impacted, given the rate risk issues. So in terms of the overall growth, how do you see Ludhiana market, you know, moving from here on, and what is, you know, our market share in that particular market, sir?
Normally, we don't talk about a particular market in this conference call, but since you have asked the question, so I will give you a good brief. Ludhiana market, we are having a market share of around 40%, and we are getting this import to a big extent. We are, I think, the biggest carrier of waste paper imports, which is a major import in the Ludhiana market. Plus rice is about to resume. We are ready for that. And domestic also, we are getting a good business in the Ludhiana market. And we have a terminal at Dhandari Kalan. We have come up with a multi-modal logistic park at Kila Raipur, which is getting a good business in domestic stream.
Understood. Understood. And just one clarification, if you could, with respect to Dadri, you know, what kind of contribution are you seeing from Dadri at the moment, and how do you see it evolving? Can it take share from our TKD, ICD in order to reduce, you know, the cost?
See, Dadri has been a MMLP now, and it's well connected to DFC. So, and TKD, we are having a handling of TKD. Around TKD we have created terminals like Dadri and Kathuwas. At Barhi, that is Sonipat, we have created. Then, south of Delhi, we are going to just looking for land, almost finalized. We'll be making a terminal south of Delhi also. So the aim is to decongest TKD. So, Dadri has succeeded to a great extent. The business of Greater Noida area is now being catered to by our Dadri terminal. And Dadri to Mundra Pipavav, we are already running double-stack trains, and timetabled service to Mundra.
And once we start double-stack to Nhava Sheva from Dadri, we will run from Nhava Sheva also. So Dadri, in fact, we are aiming to have a 1 million TEU throughput at Dadri in this financial year. This will be first million TEU terminal in the country.
Perfect. Thank you so much, sir, for the clarifications. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rupesh Shankar from Avendus Capital. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question is more on a bookkeeping question. What will be the rail freight margins for the quarter?
Rail freight margin? That's inaudible. Rail freight margin is 24.36%.
Thank you. Second question is more on, double stacking, from, Kathuwas. We have seen that we have, scaled the double stacking quite extensively. And, you know, given that we have started new, direct services from Dadri, to, Mundra, Pipavav and next week to Nhava Sheva as well, are you, seeing probably that the double stacking related, rate efficiency has already peaked out, or do you see further levers for, increasing double stacking in our entire operation, sir?
See, double stacking, if you see in this quarter also, there's a growth of 14%, which is above 30% that we had last financial year. So double stacking is definitely, there's a lot of scope. Now, we are running even, reefer double stack containers, in which the reefer container on top as well as the lower deck. Plus the, infusion of technology that our company believes. So we are having a 25-ton axle load per wagon, in which the scope of double stacking has increased because we can carry more weight per wagon, payload has increased. So, it's an ongoing process. Then, as I mentioned to you, Nhava Sheva also, we are bringing on double stack, so that will further add more double stacking.
So, there is a lot of scope for double stacking. Near Jodhpur also, we are coming up with a terminal at Salawas. That will also be a double stacking terminal. That way we will be able to capture a lot of business from Jodhpur area if we bring double stack. But till now, Jodhpur is not having a double stack facility. So there is a lot of future for double stacking in our country.
Understood, sir. Understood. And, also, you know, with respect to newer terminals coming up, is there any guidance you can give us as what are the number of terminals you are targeting for the current financial year, sir?
I will request my director projects to take this.
Yeah. We are now setting up two terminals. Already work is going on in advanced stage in one terminal at Mandalgarh, in Rajasthan. Then another terminal, we are just going to commence the work soon. We have already got the land from Northern Railway. It is at Haridwar, Pathri, a station near Haridwar. So these two places we are starting the work. And another near Amritsar, that Manawala land acquisition is complete by 75%. Once we come acquire the balance 25%, we'll start the work in this current year also. In addition to this, then we have got two more terminal works in progress. One, as already CMD has intimated, Salawas, near Jodhpur, we are acquiring land.
Then another will be near Ahmedabad, where we have identified a land where we'll do the double stack operation. Now, we are not able to do double stack operation in Khodiyar, where we are having the terminal. So we are acquiring another land near Ahmedabad, so that is also in process. Hopefully, these two, Salawas, Manawala and- ... they will also start the work in the current year. But, Mandalgarh and Pathri, we have already started. So these are the next five in line.
Understood. Understood, sir. In the past, we had expanded quite extensively in the southern region. We had set up a lot of MMLPs over the last 5, 6 years. Are you seeing traction related to, you know, volume pickup in those facilities, sir? And, what are the exact sort of, you know, clientele you're looking at? Is it domestic focused or is it export focused? Can you throw some light on that?
At the outset, I would like to clarify, we don't develop terminals region-wide. We go wherever there is a cargo. So, in fact, even in the eastern area like Odisha also, we have developed Jajpur, we have developed Paradip, which is in the last 2-3 years only. So this was a clarification from the management side. Second thing is that, wherever we are developing a terminal, we go for multimodal logistic parks. As you are aware, they cater to both domestic as well as export traffic. At the start, when the terminal is commissioned, we immediately start domestic business. But for getting clearance and notifications from customs, it takes some time, maybe 1-1.5 years.
So there's a gap, but that doesn't mean that this terminal will only cater to domestic traffic. After, say, a gap of 1, 1.5 years, we start export business also from there. All our terminals are fit for domestic as well as export traffic, and we don't develop region-wide.
No, sir, what I meant was the, it's about same thing on the Paradip terminal as well as other terminals which are, which you have started. Just wanted to take an update on, how is the volume traction in those regions, and have you started export operations in these locations?
At Paradip and Jajpur, customs notification is awaited, and it will not be possible to give us terminal-wide volumes in this one phone call.
Understood, sir. Thank you. Thank you for answering the question.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question was more linked to the reduction in modal rail share across the ports. Since it is across core ports, could we think through a reason why this is happening and whether it can potentially reverse? Is it linked to imbalance in any sort, or how to think through these numbers on an incremental basis?
One of the probable reasons could be the shift in the industry. Like some many industries are developing near the port, which are best scattered by road. We are not able to pinpoint the exact reason now, and maybe some transshipment volumes have increased at the ports. Because of that also, the volumes at ports we are seeing more volumes at port being handled. One of the reasons could be the some effect of previous seasons and charge also, which has made the, for lighter commodities, the rail movement may have become unviable. These may be some probable reasons.
Okay, sure. Could you also share with us the market share across ports, JNPT, Mundra, and Pipavav that you would be having?
Yeah, yeah. I will tell you. The JNPT market share was 56% for CONCOR, and out of the rail share, and Mundra it was 38%, and Pipavav was 49%.
Okay. Just hold on. So the next question that I had was, you talked about, lower land license fee that can happen, for you as you change the regime. I wanted to clarify that if and when such a change in land licensing fee regime happens to 1.5%, would it not lead to a risk to your volumes because those terminals then, can then be classified as common use terminals, or is there a different way of thinking through?
This policy of migrating to 1.5%, that is Gati Shakti, is still being examined by Indian Railways. For the brownfield terminals that already we have, we have given our request to them. They are examining our requests based on the extent of policy that they have. So they have not come up with a final decision. As far as the common user thing is concerned, you are absolutely right. It will be a common user facility, and we will devise some strategy like by terminal extra charges and whatever we have to charge from the operators that come to our terminal. But our philosophy is very, very, very simple and straight, that customer should pay the same amount of charges, whether the container arrives by CONCOR train or it arrives by private operator train.
Charges paid by customer should be same. We should not be penalized either way. That is our philosophy, and we will stick to that.
Understood, sir. Sir, sir, this INR 80 crore first mile, last mile component, which has grown 35% YoY, is this concentrated in one of the two segments? And, and also wanted to kind of check whether the margins could be very different than the segmental margins.
It is, it is, in both export and domestic, and it is spread throughout the country. In last financial year, we had a FMLM of our total volume, 25% FMLM we could, we could provide. This year we have kept the target at 50%, and we are quite confident that with the launch of the app on pan-India basis and other measures that we are taking, like educating the customers of the benefits, so we will able, we will be able to achieve 50% FMLM.
So it's not having a detrimental impact on your margins at a segmental level so far?
No, not at all.
Sure, sir. Sir, the final question from my side, market share in JNPT, 56%, in this quarter was 60%, in the previous year, I think through the year it was 60% only. So in a quarter's time, what has changed, and can we kind of claw back these market share loss?
Yeah, JNPT, you are right. In the last year, in the first quarter, it was 59.6%, so there is definitely a drop of more than 3%. But Mundra last year it was 36%, this year it is 38%, so there's a gain of 2%. Pipavav it was 44%, this year it is 49%, so there's a increase of 5% market share. JNPT, definitely there is a drop, and we are examining the various reasons, and we will be taking the corrective steps very soon.
I'm sure, sir. Those are my questions. Thanks a lot for your response, and all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
So thank you for taking my question. I just have one question, and that too, a very high-level question. So if I look at the last sort of five odd years, our quarterly PAT has ranged between INR 250 crores and INR 300 crores. In this period, we've done multiple investments, lot of, lot of new MMLPs, lot of new initiatives, more containers, et cetera. I'm just trying to understand when does this trajectory of profitability move higher for us, particularly in light of DFC and all these investments that we have made?
See, Pulkit, you will appreciate that in logistics business, even maintaining a EBITDA of 24%-25% is, I think it's a very good EBITDA number, because, other logistics companies are able to maintain only single-digit EBITDA. So, don't you think it is good that we are able to maintain that level?
No, no, no, sir. I, sir, I appreciate your, you know, your cash profitability or EBITDA. I'm just trying to focus on profit growth in general, given the kind of investments that we have done. So. And I, I'm sure given all these initiatives on cement, et cetera, you talk about, they will add to that profitability. So just wanted to understand how is your view of that profit growth from these levels?
Definitely in the next quarter you will see more than INR 250 crores. My Director of Finance also wants to add something.
Okay. First of all, keep your records straight, last year, Q2, we put INR 357 crore. And last year, Q3, we also got INR 334 crore. So your, your basic assumption that we are hovering between INR 250 crore-INR 300 crore was broken last, last FY only. Q1 is subdued, as my CMD right now, in the beginning only has spoken about. So let's, let's, let's think about this, that whether we break this, this INR 350 crore, kind of thing to INR 400 crore or not, that would be the right question.
Answer to that, I believe, as the MD has put it in the right perspective, that the way things are moving ahead and the kind of levels that DFC will bring to the company, we are very hopeful that very soon our profits will be hovering between INR 350-INR 400 crore per quarter. I hope I'm making sense.
Absolutely, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit from Axis. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Apologies if my questions have been answered earlier, I joined a bit late. So, so just two questions. So CapEx okay for this year, and secondly, if you could, elaborate on what proportion of our volumes are exposed to trade with Bangladesh? Just two questions. Thank you.
One is the CapEx. On this year, we have made a estimate of CapEx. CapEx budget, in fact, is INR 610 crores. Out of that, INR 156.6 crores we have spent in Q1. As far as Bangladesh is concerned, then, Bangladesh, this year, in the first quarter, we have ran 2 trains to Bangladesh. Last year it was only one, so year-on-year it's doubled, you can say. But we are getting not much demand from Bangladesh, and because maybe some liquidity crunch is there, and with the recent political development, things are quite uncertain. But we are ready to serve Bangladesh. As and when there is a demand, we will be more than willing to cater to that.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Ohri from Progressive Shares. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Two questions from my end. The first one being, while we talk about increasing the size and scale of operations and giving value-added service to the customers, and, at the same time, the Government of India is also talking about certain tweaking in the shipping policies, and Container Corporation has come up with an MOU with SCI. So would you like to take us through the developments which are happening in this domain?
Actually, the coastal shipping is a very eco-friendly mode of transport, and we were doing that before COVID-19, and we had developed some streams, like from Gujarat to South. So now we have entered into a collaboration with the Shipping Corporation, and very soon we will be starting coastal movement from Gujarat to South India and even from south to eastern side of the country. So you will hear very soon that we are going to start the coastal movement.
Sanjay, you also spoke about certain industries developing on the coastal region as well as on the port side. So would you like to put some numbers in terms of the top line that we can fetch from this MOU that might come through maybe in Q3, Q4, as and when time comes?
Actually, it is premature to tell you the numbers right now, because we are also doing it, number crunching at our end. So, I don't think it will be possible to give any numbers right now.
Okay. No, not an issue. So my second question is related to the container procurement and the tank containers that we were in process of procuring. Would you like to share the total number of containers that we would actually want to have, and how much have we procured so far?
I will request my Director Projects to take this question.
Yeah. In the Q1, we have procured 2,497 containers. Our total container procurement so far has been 11,700. And considering the previous availability, right now, we have about 48,000 containers in our disposal. So we have also pending orders for around 5,000 more containers to be procured. So we are steadily getting supply of about 700-800 containers per month from the manufacturer. And soon we will be crossing the 50,000 mark of container holding by maybe end of this quarter.
So that is quite encouraging to hear, that we'll reach to this milestone number for the containers. So do you think that the CapEx number, which Sanjayji just mentioned, that has to be scaled up then, to-
Yeah, we have. We in fact had incurred a CapEx of INR 712 crore last year. And this year we have kept a INR 610 crore target. But we will review this after the second quarter. If required, we'll further increase the CapEx provision. So the INR 610 crore budget we have initially fixed, but we hope that we'll exceed it, so we'll revise it in due course.
That's quite encouraging, sir. Thank you. Thanks a lot for answering my questions. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhumika Nair from DAM Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. So just want to, you know, again, just talk about the rail coefficient aspect of it. If one looks at it, you know, the trade volumes on, you know, export, import is broadly growing at, you know, per se, at about 5%-8% kind of a range. And on the other hand, we are seeing a drop in the rail coefficient because of, you know, industries coming up closer to the ports per se. So what is giving us confidence that, you know, in the balance nine months, we will be able to grow, you know, despite all of this at about, you know, 18%-20%, to meet our annual guidance of 15%? If you can just, you know, give some more details.
Are you seeing some very sharp uptick in terms of bookings, very strong market share gains, et cetera, which will be required to, to kind of meet this number?
We are hoping the rail coefficient will grow in the coming months. There are some reasons for that. First is the rice exports, which is going to start now. It will be a major impact on rail coefficient in as far as exports are concerned. Then there will be growth we are expecting at Nhava Sheva as a result of double stacking benefit that we will be passing on by running double stack from NCR to Varnama. And, thirdly, lot of imports of such commodities which only move by rail, is now coming because of the softening of ocean freights that I mentioned in my opening remarks.
Uh.
These are low-value commodities, but heavy commodities like scrap and wastepaper, which are having low value. So when the ocean rates are softened, they become economical to import. So all these things will have a bearing on, definitely have a bearing on the rail coefficient.
Okay. So you do expect that this should kind of improve per se, and, you know, from a JNPT perspective, because of our Varnama double stacking, you know, where do you think we can possibly claw back our market share or rail coefficient can possibly improve? And lastly, sir, what is the status to the final connectivity of DFC to JNPT?
It will be extremely difficult to give a number, but I think you will see definitely an upward movement as far as rail coefficient is concerned. Number I will not be able to give right now. Second question is about the connectivity of DFC to Visakhapatnam. For that, DFC is still maintaining the target of March 2025, but I find it very challenging. Maybe let us wait for the update from them. They are the best people to tell the exact date of commission.
Sure. Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I think, one hour we have completed.
Do you want me to close this call, sir?
I think so.
Okay. So as that was the last question, I now hand the conference over to Miss Bhoomika Nair for closing comments. Over to you, ma'am.
Yeah, thank you very much, sir, for giving us an opportunity to host the call. Really appreciate it. Thanks to all the participants for being on the call. Thank you very much, sir, and wish you all the best. Sir, any closing comments from your side?
Well, I want to thank all the investors for having faith in my company. I, I just want to say that, our employees are very motivated to work hard, and, we have a robust, infrastructure and a very good demand from industry. There's no reason why we should not grow in the coming months. The company management and all the employees of my company, we are very, very positive and optimistic that, we'll be able to post very good, numbers in the coming months, which I will be sharing with all of you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. On behalf of DAM Capital Advisors Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.
Thank you.