Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings conference call hosted by Craftsman Automation Limited. You may note that some of the statements which may be made by the management team during this conference call may contain certain forward-looking information which are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We encourage you to refer to the disclaimer in the investor presentation of the company. Further, the management will not be addressing any customer-specific queries owing to confidentiality obligations. We kindly request you to avoid mentioning any customer names in your questions. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone.
Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Srinivasan Ravi, Chairman and Managing Director of Craftsman Automation Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everybody. It gives me immense pleasure in welcoming you all for the earnings call for the quarter year ended 30th September 2025. Just a few headlines. The consolidated financial highlights for H1 FY 2026. Sales was at INR 3,786 crore against the previous year H1 sales of INR 2,365 crore. The powertrain contributing to INR 1,034 crore, aluminum products INR 2,275 crore, and industrial engineering INR 476 crore respectively. EBITDA stands at INR 582 crore, with powertrain contributing to INR 236 crore. Aluminum products contributing to INR 351 crore, and industrial engineering contributing to INR 32 crore. Unallocated expenses is around INR 37 crore. Now, on the financial metrics, the net debt to EBITDA on the consolidated basis is 0.94. The net debt to equity, I mean, net debt to EBITDA is 2.46, and EBITDA margin is around 15%. EBIT margin is around 10%, and ROC annualized is 15%. Now, I will leave the floor open to the Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We'll now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. We further request all the participants to ask a maximum of two questions at a time and allow other participants to ask questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Krupashankar NJ from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Good evening and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the Kothavadi plant. Can you give us an update on the plant and how is the order book looking there? Further to that, any update on the revenue target of $100 million in the next four to five years? Anything you want to add on that?
The Kothavadi plant operation is operational at phase one level, which is for engineering products. For the powertrain portion of it, which is the stationary engines, as I mentioned, the revenue stream will start in 2029. The order book is of the $100 million, I think $50 million of the order book is on paper, received with us, and products are under development. The rest of it is in the final stage of discussions. As you know, the lead time for development of these products and validation of the products is three to four years' time. We are on track for the 2029 numbers. We see a lot of traction in this business currently, moving to the no new capacities coming up anywhere in the world in general. Because we started this a little earlier, we got some head start on this business going forward.
Good, sir. Thank you. The second question was on the CapEx. Can you give an update on the INR 280 crore CapEx announced by DR Axion and when it will come on stream? This is for existing customers. Any guidance on total CapEx itself for the next two years?
This question is specific to DR Axion. And DR Axion, you know that the current plant capacity is full, and we have only three customers. The current customers have increased their order portion, number one. Number two is there is within the aluminum segment, we are moving into now more into cylinder blocks. We have an order on hand for which we need to do a CapEx. We have just taken a larger piece of land so that we have for the future. Chennai by itself is slowly becoming to be a global hub for the automotive, as you are aware that many other customers, including the American customer, have just announced large CapEx in that region. We are gearing up for the new requirements.
As far as we are concerned, I think this is the first stepping stone as far as DR Axion is concerned on addressing the global demands for the overseas customers as well as the growth in the domestic industry.
Any guidance you want to share about CapEx for overall CapEx for the next two years, sir?
See, overall CapEx for the next two years, you know very well the announcements are happening on a regular basis with multilingual customers. In certain cases, we are in discussion with them for years together without an end in sight about when the order is going to be placed, when it's getting ramped up. Of late, we see very intense engagements between all the customers and also new customers, including customers looking for export requirements who are North America to Europe, as well as they're setting up base within India for their sub-assembly or product export. As and when we are getting a firm requirement from the customer, then we are announcing the CapEx.
We check on the return of capital employed and the viability of such a project and whether we are technically capable of executing the project and whether the project is scalable or in line with our current strengths, what we have in the market. You can understand that we were looking back last year, whatever CapEx we raised looks conservative in the current circumstances. As I mentioned, also the aluminum product segment is still subscale in India overall, whereas the global tier one, tier two companies, the magnitude of those companies are at least three-four times of the Indian tier one suppliers today. We will take it as it comes on the CapEx.
Got it. Thank you for answering my question.
Thank you. A request to all the participants, kindly restrict to two questions per participant, and rejoin the queue for a follow-up question. Next question is from the line of Mitul Shah from DAM Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for a very strong performance, strong top-line margins. My first question is on aluminum products. Margins have improved meaningfully. Apart from operating leverage, what are the drivers, and is there anything one-time or what can be considered as sustainable margins?
I'll answer, Mr. Mithul. I'll answer the second part of the question. These are sustainable margins. Earlier, the base was small when we tried to do the new Avadi plant, and the startup operations cost actually really affected the equation of profitability for, say, a couple of quarters. That is behind us now. Now, as we start the new project in Vasoor, we are more prepared, and the base is bigger. Whatever expenses or the startup costs which we are incurring, more or less, it is becoming smaller in the context of the entire aluminum business. The current margin trend you are seeing, this will continue in the future also. As we speak, the Vasoor plant also started operations, which we have already intimated the domain. I think the Q4 will see some reasonable sales. The phase one of the project is through.
We'll see incremental revenue coming quarter on quarter on the aluminum products as a whole, not only from the Vasoor plant, but also from the Avadi plant, as well as the original business of Craftsman, where some of the orders are maturing to higher levels.
The second question, can you help with some key ballpark numbers of the powertrain breakup between CV, PV, tractor, or highway, and similarly revenue breakup like Sunbeam, DR Axion, etc.?
It's already there. I mean, if I remember, I think it is we have put it up on the website in the presentation very clearly, the breakup between all the segments. I think I'll read out from that slide itself. I think we uploaded today.
If it's there in PPT, I'll take down note. No problem, sir. But Sunbeam, DR Axion, all these details are there, sir, in the presentation?
No, everything is there. The breakup between all the three is there.
Yes, sir. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Abhishek Kumar Jain from Alf Accurate. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity and congrats for a strong set of numbers. First question on the Sunbeam business. So quarterly run rate is now INR 330 crore. And I just wanted to understand that how is the progress in the EBITDA margin and what is your target EBITDA margin for FY 2027 in the Sunbeam business?
I think we are looking at double-digit EBITDA margin for the financial year 2027. We had the union settlement done only on the last day of May, that is May 31st. Really speaking, we started the restructuring of Sunbeam and all the shifting of the operations from the Gurgaon plant to the new plant in Avadi. All that was an ongoing process for three months. Now it is complete, but we have just started. We had the festive season going on, so we really did not concentrate on the cost reduction or rationalization of the operations. Now we started the operations, and it will take around the next two quarters, I would say, to come to a level of better operational efficiency. We will get the benefit for the full financial year.
We are expecting a 10% or plus EBITDA for the double-digit EBITDA for the next financial year, revenue being more or less around the same region what it is.
Okay. And your net debt has gone up to INR 2,800 crore. What is your plan to reduce debt as you are looking to sell some land and pay the debt of around INR 350 crore? What is your plan for FY 2027?
December 31 will be the last date of the closing of the plant in Gurgaon. We had to keep the plant because the overseas customers, mainly the North American customers of Sunbeam, did not have and could not do the validation at the new plant in a short period of time. We had to keep that license going. Now that it is over, we have vacated the plant in total. From January onwards, the land can be put up for sale. We are in contact with the key people, large organizations to look at the land sale. This will be a process which will take, it will go through the next financial year, more than through the middle of next financial year, and that will reduce the debt of Sunbeam and Craftsman Group as a whole.
Okay. So how much expected debt is in FY 2027, and it will go down to INR 2,800 crore to INR 2,200 or INR 2,300 crore?
See, the net debt to EBITDA currently is on H1. When you look at an analyst number, it's around 2.46 totally. So for the consolidation, I think we will be closer to the number of two net debt to EBITDA for the consolidation for FY 2027.
Okay. And my last question on the.
Mr. Abhishek, can I request you to come back for a follow-up question, please?
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. A request to all the participants, kindly restrict to two questions per participant, and rejoin the queue for a follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Joseph George from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I had two questions. One is on CapEx, you mentioned that it is a fluid thing because new orders keep coming. Would you be able to indicate the CapEx grant for FY 2026, given that we are almost seven months into the year?
It will be around closer to INR 1,000 crore for Craftsman, and DR depends on how much land we buy. We're just waiting to see if any more new customers are willing to add up, whether to buy a bigger piece of land or a smaller piece of land. For Sunbeam, the CapEx is negligible.
Understood, sir. The second question that I had was on your ROC target. You mentioned that when you're taking new orders or thinking of investment into new plants, you have set some ROC targets, and based on passing that threshold, you think of further investments. Would you be able to indicate what is the minimum ROC threshold that you have in mind while considering new CapEx?
The new CapEx, the minimum threshold level will be a pre-tax ROC of 20%. We do all the vetting on this matter. Generally, there can be a possibility that the existing business may be slowing down or the models getting changed. We take that into factor, which may affect the numbers going forward. The new CapEx is based on minimum 20% ROC. Now, coming to when will you reach the 20% minimum ROC for the new businesses is on the automotive side, from the time the business is awarded to the investment to the time of the PPAP and to the actual revenue generation and the peak revenue generation, there is some lag of around three years totally from the start of investment to coming to a peak revenue generation is anywhere between three to four years.
What happens, new projects when you're growing at around 30% overall as a company, just when the Craftsman now standalone is at a run rate of very close to 30% growth. The new CapEx actually spoils the old return of investment. The new CapEx, when it starts to mature and we slow down investment, I think we will breach even the 20% ROC levels.
Understood, sir. Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next follow-up question is from line of Mitul Shah from DAM Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Sir, earlier I asked for that breakup. That was like a broader breakup is already there in PPT, which I have shown. My question was breakup within powertrain, if you can highlight that.
I think broadly, I think the commercial vehicle is around 46%, off-air 21%, tractors 19%, and others like passenger vehicles and SUVs around 14%. This is the broader breakup. It is almost in line with the previous years. Only thing, the CV has shown a decline, and the tractor has shown a small increase. Going forward, the tractor is having more traction now currently. When CV comes back, I think the numbers will also come back. Today, we are dependent less than 50% on the commercial vehicle segment, and within the country, it is also lesser now currently. I think the changes in the or the slowdown in the commercial vehicle segment is really not affecting us to a level where it affects our profitability.
Sir, how this compares with the last quarter? You want to?
Commercial vehicle from 49% as a percentage has declined to 46%. Off-highway has increased from 20% to 21%. Tractor has increased from 17% to 19%, and the SUV segment is flat at 14%.
The second question on utilization, if you can help with the various segmental utilization, this time seems to be aluminum must have improved significantly. How is the overall utilization for aluminum, for powertrain, and for others?
Aluminum is still, we are on the ramp-up phase in the Avadi plant, and the Vasoor plant is brand new, and we just started commercial production a week ago. These are two things which are changing. On the current capacities of DR, it has been stable. It is linked with two of the passenger vehicle manufacturers or three passenger vehicle manufacturers, which were various in public domain. On Craftsman per se, some export to Europe has increased marginally, yes. The capacity utilization has improved in the aluminum business. Whatever the new segments where we have invested, we are still waiting for customer approvals to ramp up.
The capacity utilization still, there is headroom, but it does not mean that we do not need investment because the capacities on one, say, one press size of press may be available, but some other size of press we might have received orders and more lines need to be set up. We cannot say that we will not need CapEx, even though there is some unutilized plant capacity. Sometimes the peak demand of the customers is also keeping changing on a seasonal basis. It is also depending on market share. Some of the customers whom we are engaged with in the aluminum business seem to be doing very well on both the passenger vehicle segment as well as on the two-wheeler market, and that shows a larger capacity utilization.
Also, the trend towards both on the passenger vehicle, but more so on the two-wheeler side, is to increase outsourcing rather than insourcing. What we see is in the future that customers will be outsourcing whatever they're currently doing inside the plant as they gain more confidence in the supply base.
On the powertrain side, sir?
Powertrain, more or less, it is the same. We have not added any product per se to the powertrain business. You're aware that each of the plants are having a set of customers in Jamshedpur, in Faridabad, in Pune, in Chennai, and also in Coimbatore? It is more of status quo. Nothing has changed there.
Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you .
Thank you. Next follow-up question is from Abhishek Kumar Jain from Alpha Accurate Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Sir, in data center, what kind of potential opportunity are you looking for your company? What is your plan for that?
I stick to the same number from India, $100 million going into 2030, as the case may be. It depends on product approval cycles. This is the first stage of revenue. After that, for this, more than 50% is orders on hand, and the balance 50% is already advanced state of negotiation with the customer. As I mentioned, it takes around three years from the time of order to seeing some revenue start. We are on track for the $100 million.
As you are mentioning, there are around INR 1,000 crore kind of the CapEx in the standalone business and INR 280 crore in the DR exons. When are all these numbers going to start to yield the results? I mean, to say that this INR 1,200 crore CapEx will be in FY 2027, and revenue will start from FY 2028?
Okay. I just want to step back a little. When we became a public company of revenue, now every year we seem to be looking at additional revenue equal to the number what we were at the time of the IPO. Today, we have to put in the investment much earlier when compared to the actual revenue generation. Today, land cost has slightly gone up, slightly gone up quite high. When the plant becomes saturated, we have to have a step change for the investment. The new campus will allow us to grow further with marginal investment going forward in the future. As you are aware, setting up any new campus for the infrastructure, not only land and building, but also other compliances is quite expensive. This is a step change what we are in current situation.
Okay. So the total CapEx will be around INR 1,400 crore? That will be on FY 2027 only?
No. I mentioned that the Craftsman CapEx is around INR 1,000 crore. All this will start yielding results two-three years down the line only. It is not the CapEx for the current situation. There are two options, whether to these customers are quite large in nature. When we commit for the orders and we quote for the orders, it is obvious that we are interested to invest and grow the company going forward in the future. We have not taken any large bets at all. More so, we shied away from most of the EV projects because we are unsure of that. Whatever we have taken is more solid in nature, and the revenue is pretty—we are very confident about the revenue coming in.
My last question on that, your total sales would be around INR 7,700 crore in FY 2026. In FY 2027, it is expected to cross INR 9,000 crore, as you are mentioning. I just wanted to understand what is your long-term plan for the long-term target for the revenue by FY 2030, including the data center and other revenue?
What we the whole global market, we are Craftsman is not an expert here, but I'll just touch upon that. The entire community is waiting for the inflection point of $4,000 per capita GDP, which is, according to all the experts, it seems to be not far off totally. After that, I think the growth will be sustained for a longer period of time, according to the data shown on all developed countries in the past. The government has announced first the income tax reduction, then the GST portion of it, and now the bank interest also has reduced, encouraging more debt to be drawn by not only the manufacturing community, but also the consumers are willing to take up higher-cost products because the more cash is available there. When this comes, we are seeing large commitments from OEMs themselves for new plants across the country.
I'm privy to certain discussions with certain customers because of confidentiality, I cannot talk about it. We are going to see the capacity of manufacturing with our existing customers growing around 50% in the next three years totally. Whether we are going to satisfy these customers with the number by also matching the investment or letting go new orders is a choice which we should not be taking the negative point that we are not willing to invest. This means that the end customer requirement, which drives the demand, we have to follow the demand. We are confident about a payback with the 20% ROC on a mature level. You are aware that when the aluminum business, when we started long back, it was showing a very minimum traction.
In fact, there are many questions asked whether it's profitable or why we are investing in the aluminum business when powertrain is more profitable. The answer is now available that the aluminum business is growing multi-fold. The demand is only the tip of the iceberg on the aluminum business today. We are seeing traction that either we invest as Indian companies or we allow multinational companies investing into India for this sort of businesses. We are confident about our ability to deliver to the customer, and we are confident our shareholders will support this sort of large CapEx. I want to draw a parallel there. China is years ahead on the investment cycle, and we are only making a marginal investment. When you call China plus one policy without investment, we really cannot even think of even quoting for an order.
I think we have decided to take the growth path.
Yes, sir. That's all.
Thank you. I request all the participants kindly restrict to two questions per participant. Next question is from line of Vignesh from KSEMA Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes, yes.
Yes. I just want to understand how is the German subsidiary doing and any idea on how the European market is shaping up and opportunities from that?
The German subsidiary is catering 90% of the revenue towards large engines for the power generation, which is again predominantly getting into the data center business. Predominantly means majority. I will not say predominantly, but overall, the capacities in the segment as a supplier base, it is much lower than the actual demand. The plant is running very effectively, I would say. The order book is full. Even the revenue has increased. The Q2 revenue is around INR 158 crore, and we had an EBITDA of around INR 14.87 crore, EBIT of around INR 11.4 crore. Our PAT itself for the first half of the year is almost INR 8 crore totally on this matter. We see a trend like this going on for a few more years, surely, on this matter.
We are not seeing any challenges in the company as far as the order portion is concerned.
Any expansion plan in Europe as well, sir?
No. The teams of Craftsman Frohnleiten GmbH and Craftsman, the Kothavadi Foundry team, are working together with the various customers, which are common. Some customers are unique to, as of now, to Frohnleiten, and some customers are unique to Craftsman per se. All the development is now taking place in Germany mainly and some in Spain. It is coordinated with from Craftsman Frohnleiten GmbH. The parts will be proved out in the German foundry before it's shipped to us. The toolings are shipped to us in India. This is giving a lot of confidence to our customers that we'll get it first time right because the products are very expensive, and the data center customers are also very sensitive for any sort of quality issue. We are on the right track as far as that is concerned.
We have got into that league of the large engine block manufacturing, thanks to the acquisition of Frohnleiten and support from our customers.
Okay. So that's it. Sir, if there is any implication on the engine cost or something like that, how large it will be, the amount approximate?
Can you clarify this question once more? I didn't understand the nature of the question, please.
Just want to understand how large the engine and what would be the approximate cost? How much would it be?
I think the generators are a $1 million or EUR 1 million something. It depends on the size. It may be more or slightly lesser. It can be much more also depending on where it is, a 10 MW, 5 MW, 6 MW. It can be of different sizes. The technology of a normal generator and a generator or the backup generator or a main power source for a data center is totally different. It is very, very sensitive to quality of power. Any small fluctuation in the generator, which all the normal equipment run, even computers run, the data centers will not run. The technology of an engine, as well as the controls on the engine, only around eight or nine companies in the world have mastered it. Four companies are having maybe 70% of the market share.
We are with three of the four companies, at least. We are on the right track as far as this end segment uses goes on.
Okay, sir. Thank you for the help.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Jinesh Gandhi from Oakland Capital Management. Please go ahead.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, sir, Mr. Jinesh.
Yeah. First clarification on Kothavadi plant. So are we indicating that plant will start operations in FY 2029 and ramp up to $100 million revenue three years after that?
We have planned this business during the COVID time of 2020. In 2021, we started investing for the machine shop in the Arasur plant. From 2023 onwards, we started investing for the foundry in a small way. In 2024, there was the major investment where publicly also we said, "Yes, we are going to go into this market." The time taken for product development being so long, the phase one of the foundry has been more targeted towards industrial engineering products. The Kothavadi foundry, which is operational now, is for the industrial engineering casting segment of the business. What follows is the phase two, which is towards the large engine block manufacturing, which is work in progress.
Okay. So then phase two will start in FY 2029?
No. phase two will start much earlier. The validation of the engine takes around one and a half years. When we supply the samples for the customer, they have to test the product because the million-dollar product, it is not as bad as defense, which takes almost 8 to 10 years for prove out. This is a three, four-year prove out. We are certain customers, we are halfway through the cycle, and certain customers, we're just starting now for their validation of the project. We are confident about the generation, which is coming.
The samples are going to be produced by 2029?
Yeah. Revenue, really speaking, this is one of the key entry barriers also for any supplier. It is not easy to start this business nor ramp up.
Right. With respect to industrial casting plant, which has started, how should one think about ramp up there and revenues coming from that business?
That is quite marginal. We have those customers like windmill customers, which are already there for us. This is the base business where we are looking at a foundry, which we are trying to broad base the new campus, which is quite having a large potential. It is not as remunerative as the high-end business for the engine block business. That keeps our foundry running and operational going forward while we continue to increase our capacities for the engine block manufacturing.
Got it. Lastly, with respect to our struggling business, can you talk about what were margins in Q2 and what it will take from our side for margins to reach double digit in FY 2027? Is it possible for us to take it to the level of margins in standalone and lignin business at Sunbeam?
Sir, unlike DR Axion, it is not a single plant operation. There are five plants which are there. The product is more oriented towards two-wheeler than the passenger vehicle, number two. Number three, the new business has not come in in the past few years because of their financial condition. We are starting with next year on the financial, sorry, the double digit EBITDA. With the synergy which is happening with DR Axion as well as Craftsman's business, we will be at some particular point of time on a level which is almost equal because we have shared resources. In fact, acquiring Sunbeam is also trying to help Craftsman to acquire more customers and also to reduce the overhead burden on each of the plants.
What were margins in Q3 for Sunbeam?
Around 6%.
6%. Got it.
This is for Q2, yeah.
Q2. Yeah. Got it. Great. Great. Thanks and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Shubham Bhatra from Ambit Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Congratulations on a strong set of numbers. Could you speak briefly on how the alloy wheel plant both at Avadi and Vasoor are ramping up and what kind of numbers will we see from them in the current year?
You're looking at revenue? I think we are not breaking the revenue on the alloy wheel. But the plant capacity, the installed in total will be 5.8 million between Avadi and Vasoor as of now. Another 2 million will go to phase two, which is to be installed in the coming couple of quarters at the Vasoor plant. With that, we are having order of the customers above 6 million, and we are putting capacity of 7 million because of the seasonality of the business. That will be in full operation by Q2 of next year.
Got it, sir. So currently, only Avadi is contributing to our top line, right?
Yes. We have started commercial sales only last week at Vasoor.
Got it. Got it, sir. Secondly, sir, I wanted to clarify, our standalone aluminum segment EBITDA margins, they have expanded quite a lot on a Q2 basis. This is largely because of the ramp up of the alloy wheel plant. Is my understanding right?
No, this is better operating leverage with better absorption of fixed cost. When we are having a campus, for example, at Avadi, it is not only we have shifted the Gurgaon facilities into Avadi. Sunbeam's plant is operational as one unit inside the Craftsman Avadi area. All this synergy is helping us to average our cost. The incremental revenue, the fixed cost does not proportionally increase. That is the reason we are seeing some margin expansion.
Got it, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Vinay Nadkarni from Hathway Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much. Just two questions from my side. One is on, can you give me between.
Sorry to interrupt you. Can you speak a little louder, please?
Yeah. I'm saying, can you hear me now?
Yes, yes.
Yes.
Yeah. Just wanted to understand from the four businesses, I mean, the four verticals that you run. Sector-wise, if I have to work out which sectors contribute to your maximum, say, 70% to 80% of your business? Your customer sectors, I mean.
Customer sectors, you mean? I think the automotive-related business is contributing to 80% of the revenue. It is quite obvious. On a consolidated basis, it may be even more, I think.
Okay. And secondly, this cost of your Kothavadi development that is going on, will that be expensed out or will that be capitalized?
No, no. There's no more capitalization. Already, the plant is under operation now.
No. For the large engines, development that happens for the three years?
No. See, since the phase one of the plant is operational, we cannot be capitalizing anything. So we are incurring cost as of today, and we are expensing only.
The revenues will come only three years later, but the cost will be incurred during this period of three years?
No. Already, it has been incurred. Even last year, I think we have started to incur, and every quarter, we are incurring a few crore there. This is always the case when you are putting up a new plant. Before the plant started commercial production, we have capitalized a little. Once commercial production has started for the plant, we cannot do anything on this matter. This is the right accounting approach, and we follow that.
Okay. Roughly, it would be how many crore every quarter the cost on account of this?
No, that I cannot declare because the amount of overseas travel and the amount of samples being made, that it is quite very high on the prototooling, the communications, and hiring consultants for the technical evaluation of the products. It's all very high. I will not be able to break it down to that level.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question is from line of Chirag Jain from Emkay Global Financial Service. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir. Just wanted to clarify. You mentioned that some of your customers are looking to expand capacity by almost 50% over the next few years, and we may choose to expand our capacity. Do we see a possibility of further revenue, or do you believe that over the last few years, the kind of expansion that we have done, both organic and inorganic, we have a reasonable foundation in place to largely grow through organic efforts? I mean, any thoughts you can share on this point?
Currently, in the next 18 months, we are not looking at anything, any large inorganic subjects. It may be a few crore here and there for some slum scale for taking over some technological area somewhere. It can be possible. I would rule out any M&A in a big way in the next 18 months. I do not see any merit going forward because our traction on the standalone, as well as on a consolidated basis, we are seeing close to 20%, even more maybe, I would say, that the order book is showing CAGR growth of around 20% in the coming years. No need for any M&A going forward. Yes, looking at 2029 or 2028, there is always a possibility if something good comes up.
Understood. And this capacity expansion, you were largely referring to the aluminum casting business, or you see similar opportunity on the powertrain side as well on the domestic side?
Powertrain, there was a lull for two, three years, which I have been also vocally communicating, I would say. All the multinationals from Japan and Europe and the U.S. are setting up base here with the eye for export. Some have started to ramp up. Some are very slow in ramp up because they have shut down their plants in the respective countries. You are aware that Japan needs workers to be imported into the country. Otherwise, they do not have people to operate there. Similarly, the situation is the same for the other Asian countries like Korea also. Even in Europe, we are having a shortage of skilled manpower going forward for any large projects, which are not going to come. India is the best placed outside our Asian neighbor, large Asian neighbor, to really grow the business.
Outside China, I think India is very surely becoming the largest manufacturing hub with eye for the Indian market growth, as well as the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, the African markets, and South Indian markets, which are more or less similar to the Indian markets. For these markets, India is the right place to manufacture, and this has been recognized by all the multinational firms which are investing heavily in India. It has started a little way in tractors. You know the big names have come here. Also, the engine manufacturers have also come from Japan, who are also supplying engines for tractor. We are seeing two-wheeler export happening. We will have Japanese companies expanding their base in India for two-wheeler, as well as passenger car with the eye for export. The construction equipment manufacturers also are coming here.
Last but not least, even for the power generation, the American companies are thinking with the tariffs there, why should they, being a next exporter, why they should import products with tariffs into the country and export their products into other countries like the Middle East or even the African market and South American market. They are shifting their manufacturing base for the products suitable to India. This is the first shift which is visible now. What happened 15 years ago with our Asian neighbor is starting to happen now.
Understood. Thank you so much, sir, for the elaborate answer. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Srinivasan Ravi for closing comments.
Thank you very much for joining and also the confidence in the big step change we have done in the past one year. We are interested. We are in for a lot of challenging as well as exciting times. The opportunity for growth is quite phenomenal. We are getting very strong inquiries, and a lot of information is floating in the public domain also, with most multinationals expanding their base in India. We are very confident about the future of Craftsman. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Craftsman Automation Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.