Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the DCM Shriram Limited Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen- only mode, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Siddharth Rangnekar from CDR India. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Rayo. Welcome to DCM Shriram Limited quarter one FY 2027 earnings conference call. Today we have with us Mr. Ajay Shriram, chairman and senior managing director, Mr. Ajit Shriram, joint managing director, Mr. Aditya Shriram, deputy managing director, and Mr. Amit Agarwal, group CFO of the company. We shall commence with remarks from Mr. Ajay Shriram and Mr. Ajit Shriram. Members of the audience will get an opportunity to ask their queries to the management following these comments during the interactive question- and- answer session. Before we begin, please note that some of the statements made on today's call could be forward-looking in nature, and a note to that effect has been included in the conference call invitation that has been circulated earlier and is also available on the stock exchange websites.
I would now like to invite Mr. Ajay Shriram to give us a brief overview. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Siddharth. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to all of you. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the company's performance around the Q1 financial year 2027 results. I shall commence with views on the industry dynamics and our strategic direction. Following which, Ajit will share the financial perspective. Globally, this quarter was characterized by a complex wait and watch environment. The economic impact of West Asia conflict transmitted rapidly through energy markets and supply chain flows. This is embedding inflationary pressures, cementing expectations for a prolonged higher interest rate environment. Tempering global growth. On the domestic front, along with the West Asia conflict, we are navigating rainfall deficits induced by El Niño that has resulted in uneven regional distribution across key agriculture zones. This is understandably changing the agriculture patterns, straining rural consumption, placing upward pressure on domestic food inflation.
While kharif sowing is attempting a late catch-up as July rains improved, the initial lag has created a large void in sowing. Despite this combination of global friction and climate volatility, the broader Indian economy continues to demonstrate structural resilience. While rural markets face near-term pressure, strong urban demand and sustained public infrastructure investment, and prudent macroeconomic policies continue to provide a robust anchor for the medium-term growth. We navigated this dynamic quarter by leaning into our core strengths of deep value chain integration, stringent cost discipline, digital transformation, and execution agility. Financial prudence continues to be our bedrock. By maintaining adequate liquidity in our balance sheet, we successfully absorbed commodity shocks. Today, our strong operating cash flows are fully funding our capital investments while preserving our agility to capture organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Our commitment to environment sustainability remains integral to our strategy for future readiness and long-term value creation. In line with this commitment, during the quarter, we signed a definitive agreement with Serentica Renewables to source 58 MW of peak hybrid renewable energy for our Bharuch Chemicals Complex. Upon commissioning, our peak renewable energy capacity across Bharuch and Kota is expected to increase to around 176 MW, further strengthening our energy security, advancing our decarbonization journey, and improving long-term cost competitiveness. I shall take you through the perspectives of each of our businesses. First is chemicals. Globally, the chlor-alkali industry continued to operate in a challenging environment during the first quarter of FY 2027. Geopolitical developments in West Asia led to heightened volatility in energy and freight markets, impacting chemical supply chains and input costs.
Demand across several end user industries remained resilient, excess capacities in China continued to weigh on international chemical pricing across major chemical value chains. The domestic caustic soda market remained healthy, supported by steady demand from alumina, soaps and detergents, and textile industries. The new flaker facility commissioned last year has enabled us to actively export part of our caustic soda production, improving market reach. Capacity utilization during the quarter stood at 82%. This will improve further as our downstream projects get commissioned. Hydrogen peroxide continued to face oversupply conditions across parts of Asia, despite structurally growing demand from paper, water treatment, and electronics industries. The plant has delivered a healthy operating performance, with capacity utilization at around 85%. The advanced materials value chain comprising glycerin to epichlorohydrin to epoxy, including formulations, witnessed mixed market conditions during the quarter.
Glycerin markets strengthened, supported by biodiesel-linked supply dynamics and improving downstream demand, epichlorohydrin and epoxy markets experienced volatility owing to feedstock movements and geopolitical developments. Our epichlorohydrin and epoxy plants are currently operating at around 70% capacity utilization each, reflecting continuous ramp-up and stable operations. Our projects in aluminum chloride and calcium chloride at Bharuch are in the final stages of pre-commissioning, and commercial production is expected to commence during Q2, further strengthening our downstream chemical portfolio. The 68 MW peak hybrid renewable power project at Kota is currently under commissioning, with average power injection of 25 MW for the month of July. Our largest chemical site at Bharuch, Gujarat, was given the Lighthouse recognition by World Economic Forum. It was an honor for us and a testimony of our journey in using digital means for efficient operations.
There are only 239 companies worldwide and only nine chemical companies in the world with such recognition. Vinyls. The escalation of the Middle East conflict pushed up PVC manufacturing costs as well as prices. To safeguard from rising global prices, the Government of India granted a temporary waiver of basic customs duty on PVC, a measure that, combined with strong Chinese imports, led to a surge in imports into India and in turn weighed on sale of domestic PVC. On the demand side, uptake remained subdued through the quarter, weighed down by labor shortages, heat wave conditions, and cautious buying sentiment. With the onset of the monsoon, demand is expected to remain soft in Q2 FY 2027. Against this backdrop, a sustained pressure on domestic demand and realization, the government has now reinstated the basic customs duty on PVC imports.
Additionally, DGFT has notified minimum import price of $766 per metric ton on suspension-grade PVC for six months. These measures should support domestic PVC prices and augur well for domestic producers. Sugar and ethanol. The global sugar market is expected to shift into a deficit in the year 2026/2027 season, with demand projected to exceed production by around 1.7 million metric tons, compared to a surplus of around 2.5 million metric tons last year. Lower production in Thailand and Europe are expected to support global sugar prices.
For sugar season 2025/2026, India is expected to end the season with a closing stock of around 3.75 million metric tons, supported by production of 27.8 million metric tons after diversion of around 3.1 million metric tons to ethanol, domestic consumption of 28.7 million metric tons and exports of 0.75 million metric tons. Current prices are around INR 4,450 per quintal and are expected to remain firm.
On the ethanol front, installed capacity stands around 2,000 crore liters, while OMC allocations are around 1,060 crore liters, with sugarcane-based feedstock accounting for a low 28%. Policy developments during the quarter signal an intention to prepare for blending beyond E20. While these are useful enabling measures for the industry's long-term health, a clear implementation roadmap, balanced allocation across feedstocks, and periodic alignment of ethanol procurement prices with sugarcane costs will remain important. Fenesta Building Systems. Fenesta Building Systems continued to strengthen its position as an integrated building materials solution provider, driven by healthy volume growth across both retail and project segments, wider market reach, and continued expansion in installed portfolio. The business is setting up a facility to manufacture wooden doors.
Margins continue to evolve, reflecting the changing product mix and the upfront investments associated with scaling these newer businesses and strengthening the distribution network. Moving on, the agriculture inputs business portfolio comprises of Shriram Farm Solutions, fertilizer, and the Bioseed businesses. First is Shriram Farm Solutions. The SFS business delivered a moderate growth in the top line in Q1 FY 2027 over Q1 FY 2026, despite facing multiple headwinds in the current quarter. Performance was impacted by the delayed and deficient onset of the southwest monsoon, with rainfall remaining significantly below normal across several key agricultural regions that offset the underlying growth potential of the business. The crop protection and specialty plant nutrition verticals delivered strong margin expansion despite muted volume growth, supported by better realizations and an improved product mix.
As part of our growth strategy, the business strengthened alliances, launched four varieties from our in-house R&D pipeline, reinforcing our innovation-led growth agenda and creating a platform for further scale-up. In parallel, we rolled out digital marketing campaigns across strategic regions, strengthening farmer outreach and improving market penetration. Fertilizer. The Urea business witnessed a sharp increase in natural gas prices following supply disruptions arising from West Asia conflict. We remain focused on improving energy efficiency, maximizing Urea production, and maintaining strict cost discipline. Going forward, continued geopolitical uncertainties may impact LNG availability and lead to higher subsidy outstanding. Bioseed. Q1 FY 2027 has been particularly challenging for the Bioseed business as the kharif season is the main season for this business.
The current season has also been marked by delayed monsoon, resulting in an overall shortfall of 15%-20% sowing acreage in an all-India basis, and much higher in some of its markets. This has impacted volumes as well as margins. Further, significantly higher productivity during the seed production season of 2025/2026, owing to favorable climate conditions, are putting pressure on margins as well as leading to higher inventory. I will now request Ajit to provide the financial perspectives. Ajit, over to you.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I will now take you through the financial performance for Q1 FY 2027. Net revenues, net of excise duty for Q1 FY 2027 were at INR 3,564 crore, versus INR 3,262 crore in Q1 FY 2026, an increase of 9% year-on-year. PBDIT for Q1 FY 2027 was at INR 364 crore, versus INR 326 crore last year, an increase of 12% year-on-year. Chemicals. The business delivered a robust 33% year-on-year growth in revenue during the quarter. While caustic soda volumes held steady, realizations improved with ECU prices firming up by 7%. The advanced materials portfolio, spanning the glycerin to ECH to epoxy value chain, was a meaningful contributor to this top line performance. On profitability, PBDIT rose by 24% to INR 274 crore, aided by higher volumes and better realizations in the advanced materials, though partially offset by elevated input costs. Vinyl.
Capacity utilization stood at 100% for Q1 FY 2027 versus 98% last year. Revenue moderated 10% versus last year as PVC volumes fell 25% year-on-year, despite prices rising 22%. Carbide volumes and prices rose 15% each. PBDIT improved 88% to INR 43 crore, driven by higher realizations, partially offset by elevated input costs. Sugar and ethanol. The segment revenues for Q1 FY 2027 declined 2% year-on-year. Domestic sugar volumes fell 8% on lower offtake, even as realizations improved by 2%. Ethanol volumes were flat, while prices were 4% lower, a result of change in sales mix. PBDIT came in at INR 22 crore against - INR 7 crore last year, largely due to a one-time provision for retrospective ethanol duty of approximately INR 36 crore last year. Sugar inventory stood at 20.8 lakh quintals versus 27.7 lakh quintals, valued at INR 3,907 per quintal. Fenesta Building Systems.
Fenesta Building Systems revenue increased 22% year-on-year, led by higher volumes across both the project and retail segments. On profitability, PBDIT for the quarter grew 13% year-on-year to INR 40 crores. The contribution from higher volumes was partially offset by a change in product mix, along with higher fixed expenses towards setting up new revenue platforms and elevated marketing spends. The order book, up 4%, continues to be healthy. Shriram Farm Solutions. Shriram Farm Solutions revenue increased 2% year-on-year to INR 357 crores Supported by higher realizations across all verticals, partially offset by lower volumes in the seed and specialty plant nutrient verticals. PBDIT for the quarter was higher by 22% at INR 30 crores, led by improved margins across verticals. Fertilizer. The fertilizer revenues for Q1 FY 2027 rose 11% year-on-year, with realizations up 19%, while volumes stayed flat.
PBDIT stood at INR 23 crores versus INR 38 crores last year, reflecting better margins from improved energy efficiency. Though the year ago quarter had carried a INR 24 crore one-time retention price gain. Outstanding subsidy on June 30th, 2026 was INR 292 crores versus INR 236 crores last year. Bioseed. The Bioseed segment saw a revenue decline of 26% year-on-year, largely owing to delayed rainfall, which led to reduced demand during the quarter. PBDIT for Q1 FY 2027 came in at a - INR 9 crores as against a + INR 42 crores last year, on account of lower volume in corn and paddy, along with lower margins in cotton. The company's PAT stood at INR 693 crores.
This includes a one-time tax adjustment of INR 474 crores related to earlier years and INR 79 crores on account of sale of surplus land and stake sale to form a JV in the polymer compounding business with U.S.-based Teknor Apex Limited. Excluding these one-time items, PAT was INR 147 crores, an increase of 28% over last year. The company's net debt is INR 1,649 crores as on June 30, 2026, as against INR 1,481 crores as on June 30, 2025. Return on capital employed for June 2026 came in slightly improved at 30.6% as compared to 32.2% for June 2025. As our major growth investment transition from execution to operations, our focus is shifting towards maximizing asset utilization, centering the value chain integration, and driving operational excellence.
Supported by a strong balance sheet, healthy liquidity, and disciplined capital allocation, we are well-positioned to navigate an evolving global environment as well as to explore growth opportunities in areas of core adjacent as well as new businesses. That concludes my opening remarks. I request the moderator to please open the forum for the Q&A session. Thank you.
Sure. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may press star and one on their touch-tone 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 questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the questions queue assembles. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and one. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may press star and one. Participants. The first question is from Prateek Tolia of Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.
Hi.
It's just a couple of questions. Firstly, on the caustic soda, sir, we have seen the prices are now normalizing. What is your expectation for this quarter and maybe for the near term, maybe for FY 2027? How do you see the prices moving? What is the chlorine prices currently? I'm sure it is negative, but how much is that, if you could help understand that?
Thank you. Actually, commenting on the prices going forward is normally quite difficult because there's so many factors that go into determining the price, including the global situation, which is quite unpredictable, especially today with the geopolitical situation. We normally don't make forward-looking statements, but we do expect the prices, current ECU is in the range of just below INR 30,000. We expect it to be in this range or higher. As for the chlorine price, currently it's in the - INR 7,000, -INR 8,000 range.
Okay. Sure. Sir, secondly, on your agri business. You briefly mentioned about your performance in the SFS, but I think your performance has been pretty decent considering the overall demand environment and also your peers also. If you could just help understand on the SFS part, your profitability is higher despite a flattish top line. Now if the monsoons are looking good, at least for July, we had a good monsoon. If monsoon remains strong in August and September, how do you see this profitability shaping up for this kharif season? What is the reason driving these kind of numbers?
I think in SFS, two, three things have been the focus area for the management. One is in terms of our farmer reach, it's been very strong. Second is our R&D activities are leading to newer products which give better value to the farmer. They are also happy to buy the product and carry it forward. Third is, I think that we've actually been able to, over the years, build up some credibility with the market, and they know that if Shriram Farm Solutions offers something, it will be good for the farming community. I think across the board, that way it's a good situation. Our R&D focus is now the key issue, which is going to be a major driver going forward, where there's a lot of stress from the management side.
Regarding the issue of how the future is going to hold or regarding the monsoon, as you were saying, you are right, July has been good. If one sees the map of India, it has been good in pockets. It has not been across the board. That is a big challenge. In the last couple of months, rain in some areas has been quite low, because of which the sowing of crops has been pretty low by almost 15%-20%, as with lower sowing, which means that the demand is also little low. We really don't know, based on the projection of El Niño, what's going to happen in August, September.
We sincerely hope that the rain is not going to be too short, but in case we do get balanced rain or adequate rain, it will be a very positive step, not only for the industry but for the economy and for the farmers. Most important for the farmers, as they are the ones getting short-changed by not having the monsoon coming in properly. To be honest, it's very difficult to give a projection of how things will evolve because of the external parameters. Our effort and focus is very strong in terms of making sure we are supplying good products, new products, and have a good relationship with the entire farming community to provide the right products.
Sure, sir. Got that. Sir, on the sugar business, we've seen it's been almost now three and a half , four years that there is no price hike on the ethanol side. You also mentioned about INR 2,000 crore of installed capacity. Sir, how do you see the profitability now moving in this segment? Are we now therefore going to divert more on the grain side instead of diversion of sugar? Of course, because now sugar prices are also far more remunerative. Would we be operating more ethanol plants on maize and keeping sugar for the actual sales?
Prateek, I think we have a defined capacity for grain, right, where we can go up to 250 KLD for grain. We will optimize wherever we get better margins. It is very dynamic because currently the margins in maize-based ethanol- Hello?
Yeah, sir.
I think currently the margins in maize-based ethanol are good and therefore it makes sense to optimize grain-based to whatever extent, up to 260. It'll depend how it pans out, what the government policies are. We don't plan to grow our capacity in any case.
Okay. Understood. Sir, just on this tax, there's INR 400 crore of tax reversal. I think some deferred tax has included. This will be one-time, I'm guessing. What was this whole thing about? Why did we have this?
This is essentially there was a difference in the way we were paying tax or filing our returns. In our books of account, there was a difference. There was some additional gain that we were factoring in when we were filing our tax returns. However, since that gain was not determined, we were not taking to books of accounts. Now, when there's a positive order from ITAT is when we decided that we should take it into our books of account. It's for a period of almost six years. This is cash. This is future cash because this is all MAT credit of INR 376 crore. We will get it over a period of time. What's happening by the result of that, there are two significant changes. One, we moved from last year, 35% tax bracket to 25% tax bracket.
On top of the 25% tax bracket, we've got this MAT. Effectively for, let's say anywhere between five to 10 years, at least five I can see in the foreseeable future, my effective tax rate will be 19%, or tax outflow will be 19%.
Okay. That helps. We should build in around 19-odd% as your effective tax for at least next five years.
In terms of the tax outflow, although in our P&L it still reflect at 25%, cash outflow will be 19%.
19%. Okay.
We'll be utilizing MAT. Yeah.
Understood. Sir, that's it from my side. Thank you so much, wish you all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants that you may press star and one to join the question queue.
The next question is from Abhinav Mandowara from Aequitas Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. My first question was regarding the sugar business. I just wanted to understand, I know it's difficult to predict, but the next year crushing outlook. Does this harvest also get impacted by rains sugar harvest?
Abhinav, it's a little early to really talk about, given the way the monsoon is progressing. It is too early to predict what the next year's cane harvest will look like.
What do you think the current prices are around 40-50? Do you think it could be at that price, or it could reach somewhere higher considering the deficit?
It's difficult to say, but it should be firm.
Okay.
For next couple of months, yeah.
Next is regarding the urea business. Since the global urea prices have risen a lot, recently, again, the war has prolonged. What is your outlook on urea and margins in that business?
In India, any urea manufacture is governed by the Fertilizer Industry Coordination Committee rules of the Ministry of Fertilizers. We are there, where they come in and look at the details of all our elements of cost, then they work out a particular return. Frankly, the international prices do affect India as an economy because instead of buying urea, which was, let's say, delivered at INR 450, INR 500 per tonne. Two months ago, it reached INR 900 a tonne. The total subsidy amount Government has to allocate for fertilizer jumps up dramatically. For domestic manufacturers, I must compliment the Government where they have been quite up to date in terms of ensuring that the subsidy, which is paid to the farmer through the Indian industry, that they are paying the industry quite on time. Any international price will not really affect the domestic industry.
There can be an issue sometimes of cash flow because of the higher gas prices. That's really a pass-through, again, based on Government policy. Otherwise, domestic industry is not really impacted by the high international urea prices.
Okay. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Sai Rama, who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes. Please go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Yeah. Our focus is, what do you see the vision of our company for the next five years like? Where is the focus area of the company? Is it mainly chemical business or the other segments also? Because majority of our EBITDA is coming from chemical business and vinyl business. What is the plan company wants to take?
See, at a macro level, as we mentioned before, as a group, our objective is to grow consistently over a period of time. We have invested a lot in terms of growing each of our businesses, except two, which is urea and cement. All our other businesses we've invested money to grow them on a periodic basis based on the market demand. Secondly, our focus is very strong on value-added businesses, like we've done in our chemical business, where we've got into epichlorohydrin, hydrogen peroxide, now epoxies. We're looking at aluminum chloride, et cetera. We want to get into the value-added business. That's part of our strategy. That's the second part, which we'll continue growing.
Third, we've also been looking at how do we give strength and growth to our business by where possible, buying or taking a shareholding in companies which are affiliated to our businesses, either as supplier or as a buyer. For instance, you are aware in October last year, we bought an epoxy factory in Gujarat to add value to our chemical business. In our Fenesta business, we've already taken a shareholding percentage in a company called DNV, who make the metal parts for the hinges and handles, et cetera, for our business. We've already done that over there. We are continuously looking at growing our businesses across the board, and we are optimistic on the Indian economy.
We are bullish that with our population, with the awareness of the youth and social media, the aspirations of our people, we are bullish on the Indian economy and we'll continue growing at the rate like we've done over the last many years. Being in commodities, there are ups and downs. That's part of the business cycle. Our job as management is to be cost competitive, be world-class in our manufacturing process and costs, and have a happy customer. That's what we are focusing on.
In terms of cost of production, can you disclose what is the price of the power you are buying currently for caustic soda, all those things? That determines whether you are the lowest cost producer or the medium cost producer. So many new capacities are going to come up, like from Reliance or Adani Group. We are planning for caustic and PVC businesses. How do you see we land in that area? Are we in the middle or are we in lowest cost?
We are amongst the lowest cost producers, and we continue to work on seeing that how do we further reduce costs. See, for us, energy is the key cost for our chemicals and vinyl business.
If you see the trend of last few years, in 2019, we came up with a new power plant. In 2024, 2025, we again had a 120 MW new coal-based power plant, which was more efficient, and we would close down our inefficient plants. Now we're looking at 176 MW of renewable energy. More than half of it has already come in. It's like a continuous journey where we keep making our power cost more and more efficient and best in the industry. That's where we are.
Can you disclose what is the cost of power for us per kWh?
It's different for different sets, for renewable different, I don't think it is right to give that. For each location it is different. I don't think it is right to give a single number. It varies on each product and each location and each source.
No. Mainly for caustic business.
Yeah. There also, there are multiple costs depending on the source and the location.
Okay. What is the plan for more further utilization of chloride? Because that is reducing our EBITDA a lot. ECH realizations are lower for us. Is there any bigger plan like?
Could you kindly repeat the question, please? Excuse me, could you kindly repeat the question? We didn't get it.
Yeah, sure. What is the further plan of utilizing the chlorine which comes out of this caustic business? Put in bigger PVC plant-
Chlorine.
Yeah, chlorine. Bigger PVC plant, further utilize it to 50%, something like that.
Yes. You're absolutely right, that chlorine integration is very crucial for the chemicals business, especially in the Indian context. Over the last few years, we have actually strategically increased significantly our chlorine integration. After the current projects are completed of aluminum chloride, calcium chloride, et cetera, almost 50% of our chlorine will be captively consumed. In addition to that, we have strong partnerships with our customers through pipelines in our Bharuch location. There's direct pipelines and also we've done some tie-ups with customers in the region as well. If we add those also, then almost 85% of our chlorine will be tied up once all these projects are commissioned.
Thank you. Sai Rama, for further questions, we request you to rejoin the queue as there are several participants waiting their turn. We'll take the next question from Subhankar Ojha from SKS Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. Just quick question.
Hi.
Fenesta, the order intake for the quarter was just 4%. Is that slightly on the lower end of what we expected? What is the growth outlook of this business?
Could you kindly repeat the question, please?
Fenista
You can avoid that. Yeah.
Sorry, I missed it.
Could you follow what you-
Okay. No, I'm asking about Fenesta. The order intake for the quarter was just 4%. Is that slightly on the lower side, or is that what we expected around that level? Secondly, what is the growth outlook of this business?
See, this business has seen robust growth last year as well as in the current quarter. We believe the robust growth will continue. The total order book is close to around INR 1,000 crores, if I put all together. I think it is pretty robust. In terms of growth, yes, you can say it is a little on the lower side, lower than what we would have expected, but it's also because of the West Asia crisis. There are people who are delaying some bit of their decisions. We feel very strongly about the business. It is growing. It is setting up new platforms to ensure that we're not depending only on just one kind of a business to grow overall.
Okay. I missed the initial comments. Why has the overall debt level gone up in this quarter?
Why has?
The overall gross borrowing has gone up.
It has not gone up this quarter. That was a comparison for the entire year, from June 2025 to June 2026. Over this period, we have done two acquisitions adding up to close to about INR 450 crore. On top of that, there has been CapEx of close to around INR 1,000 crore. That is the reason why debt levels went up.
And-
Still our debt to EBITDA is close to about 1.1.
Now we don't have any serious CapEx coming up, right? I mean, not announced anything yet. Whatever ongoing CapEx is happening, is happening.
Yeah.
Finally, where do you see this overall net borrowing by the end of the financial year?
It should be around similar levels, not a significant reduction, because we do have CapEx of around INR 1,000 crore this year. Yes, there'll be some reduction by about INR 200 crore probably. It'll all depend how the sugar season pans out, how much it is inventory. There are multiple factors. What we ensure, Subhankar, is that our debt to EBITDA doesn't reach 1.5
We are more governed by that so that the financials remain healthy because having suboptimal debt also means that we're not growing in the right direction.
Got that.
Our credit rating at this level of debt also is AA+.
Yeah. Great. Thank you so much, Amit.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants that you may press star and one to join the question queue. The next question is from Sandeep Jain, who's an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.
Good evening.
I want to understand the status of the demerger plan which you had announced a few quarters back.
As a group, and as we've discussed with our board, we are clear that we do want to work with the demerger reorganization of the businesses. Having multiple SBUs within the business, there are certain issues which have to be sorted out. We are working on that very actively. We are clear we will move ahead with the demerger. It's difficult to give a timeframe right now because of the internal work which is going on, but we are definitely moving on it quite aggressively.
Does one expect this to fructify in this financial year?
The process itself takes time, but our objective is, yes, we make the application to the government in this financial year.
Okay. Second, I wanted to ask about the Bioseed business which has been significantly impacted due to the delayed monsoons. Now that monsoon has been decent in the month of July, do you expect some recovery in this business in the second quarter?
Large part of it is lost. Monsoon has been decent in the month of July, but as Chairman mentioned in his opening remarks as well, that it's patchy and in our region where we sell our products or our products are suitable for that region, there the sowing has been lower than 15%-20%. Overall, monsoon might have recovered a little bit, but still it has been very patchy. Excessive in some places, still dry in a lot of places.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and one. Well, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management team for closing comments.
Thanks. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in our earnings conference call. Even as the global landscape has become more complex and unpredictable, our conviction in India's growth story and in the strength of our businesses remains unwavering. In these turbulent times, resilience has become an essential competitive advantage. We are also leveraging digital technologies to enhance productivity, strengthen decision-making, and improve customer engagement. Thank you once again for your continued trust and support. Goodbye.
Thank you very much. With that, we conclude today's conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.