Divi's Laboratories Limited (NSE:DIVISLAB)
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6,520.00
+87.50 (1.36%)
Apr 29, 2026, 1:01 PM IST
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Q2 25/26

Nov 7, 2025

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings conference call of Divi's Laboratories Limited for Q2 FY 2026. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. M. Satish Choudhury. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Satish Choudhury Meka
Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Good afternoon to all of you. I am M. Satish Choudhury, Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer of Divi's Laboratories Limited. I welcome you all to the earnings call of the company for the quarter and half-year ended 30th September 2025. From Divi's Lab, we have with us today Dr. Kiran S. Divi, Whole- Time Director and Chief Executive Officer; Ms. Nilima Prasad Divi, Whole- Time Director Commercial; and Mr. Venkatesa Perumallu Pasumarthy, Chief Financial Officer. During the day, our board has approved unaudited financial results for the quarter and half-year ended 30th September 2025, and we have released the same to the stock exchanges as well as updated the same on our website. Please note that this conference call is being recorded, and a transcript of the same will be made available on the website of the company.

Please also note that the audio of the conference call is the copyright material of Divi's Laboratories Limited and cannot be copied, rebroadcasted, or attributed in press or media without the specific and written consent. Let me draw your attention to the fact that on this call, our discussion will include certain forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other estimates about future events. These estimates reflect management's current expectations of future performance of the company. Please note that these estimates involve several risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. Divi's Laboratories officials do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of future events or otherwise. Now, I hand over the conference to Dr. Kiran Divi for opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Divi's Laboratories' earnings call for the second quarter of financial year 2025, 2026. Thank you for joining us today. We truly value the continued trust and interest you have placed in us, and I hope you and your families are doing well and in good health. I would now take you through the key developments across our business, including operational updates, strategic initiatives, and community impact. As we review the second quarter, I'm pleased to share that Divi's has continued to navigate global trade dynamics with resilience and has delivered value across all business segments. Our performance this quarter reflects the strength of our ability and adaptability to respond swiftly to evolving market conditions. Let me begin with an update on our generic business. We have maintained consistent volumes across our core portfolio despite ongoing pricing pressures.

Our backward integration model continues to enable us to manage input costs effectively. Our Unit 3 facility in Kakinada, which became operational earlier this year, is also supporting our supply chain by enabling in-house production of starting materials and intermediates. Moving to custom synthesis, we continue to see high engagement levels with a steady flow of RFPs and site visits from global innovators. We currently have multiple projects advancing through development and validation stages. A few of them are expected to move into commercial manufacturing over the next one to two years. Coming to our peptide offering, we are seeing a strong momentum in peptide synthesis. We have inaugurated our [Peptide Center of Excellence], where multiple projects of various customers are undergoing development. We are actively engaged with several big pharmas at various stages in their phase I, phase II, and phase III programs.

As these programs advance through regulatory milestones, we are prepared to further scale up investments to meet their demand. At present, Divi's continues to invest in large capacities both at pilot and commercial scale, where validation of fragments is taking place for several projects. This approach is in line with our long-term strategy of becoming a world leader in complex peptide manufacturing. Along these advancements, our nutraceutical segment continues to evolve as a key growth driver. With our manufacturing strength in carotenoids and other value-added ingredients, Divi's Nutra is well-positioned to leverage the growing global focus on health, nutrition, and wellness. On the technology front, we continue to expand our platform in flow chemistry, biocatalysis, and green chemistry, furrowing into commercial manufacturing with all three. These capabilities are increasingly important as sustainability and efficiency became three key priorities for our global partners.

We are currently executing three major CapEx programs backed by long-term supply commitments. These investments are focused on implementing new technologies, expanding capacities, and advancing key strategic projects. Finally, I would like to touch on our community initiative. Our education programs continue to reach thousands of students, and we remain committed to inclusive development through targeted interventions in nutrition, infrastructure, and scholarships. We are also deepening our efforts in providing safe drinking water and have already reached 8 lakh people, reflecting our belief that business success must go hand in hand with social progress. Thank you. I will now hand over the call to Nilima Divi, who will talk about the financial highlights.

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining the earnings call as we review Divi's Laboratories' operational and financial performance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, 2026. We appreciate the opportunity to provide an update on our activities during the period and value your ongoing interest in the company. The quarter has been marked by a complex global environment with ongoing shifts in trade patterns and geopolitical developments affecting supply chain. In this context, we have continued to prioritize disciplined execution, operational stability, and prudent strategic planning. Our established operating practices have supported continuity of supply, fulfillment of customer requirements, and adherence to our long-term objectives in pharmaceutical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients sector. Concurrently, we have pursued measured investments in process improvements, research and development, and capacity enhancement to address anticipated needs.

Regarding procurement and supply chain activities, raw material prices were broadly stable during the quarter, aided by reliable availability from our diversified supply base. We continue to monitor macroeconomic factors, including the effect of U.S. tariffs on suppliers from China and sanctions related to Russia, which may influence costs for certain raw materials, intermediates, and solvents. As a precautionary step, we have maintained appropriate inventory levels, expanded our sourcing options across regions, and progressed vendor qualifications where necessary. Our backward integration program, particularly through the Unit 3 facility in Kakinada, has supported supply security and cost management. This development has also released GMP-compliant capacity at our other units, facilitating timely validations and product introductions. I will now present an overview of our group financial performance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, 2026 and first half-year of FY 2025, 2026, which ended on September 30th 2025.

We have achieved a consolidated total income of INR 2,860 crore for the current quarter, representing a 17% increase from INR 2,444 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous financial year. Profit before tax for the quarter stands at INR 912 crore compared to INR 722 crore in Q2 FY2025. Profit after tax for the quarter is INR 689 crore, as against INR 510 crore in Q2 FY 2025. Material consumption for the quarter is about 39.5% of the sales revenue, consistent with our recent trend. Exports for the quarter accounts for 90% of the total sales revenue, with exports to Europe and the United States contributing a combined 74%. The product mix for the quarter is 44% generics and 56% custom synthesis. We recorded a forex gain of INR 63 crore for the quarter. On a constant currency basis, revenue growth for the second quarter has been 10.79%.

The nutraceutical business contributed INR 242 crore during this quarter. For the six months ended 30th September 2025, the consolidated total income rose to INR 5,389 crore, a 16% increase from INR 4,640 crore for the corresponding first half of the previous fiscal year. Material consumption improved to 39.6% of the sales revenue, as against 40.9% for the corresponding first half-year of FY 2024, 2025. Profit before tax for the current half-year is INR 1,645 crore, as against INR 1,326 crore for the corresponding half-year of previous year. Profit after tax for the current half-year is INR [1,234] crore. Exports for half-year is about 90% of the total sales revenue. Export to Europe and the United States combined are about 73%. Product mix for generics to custom synthesis for the current half-year is 45% and 55%, respectively. We have a forex gain of INR 102 crore for the current half-year.

On a constant currency basis, revenue growth for the half-year has been at 12.3%. Nutraceutical business revenue amounted to INR 492 crore for this half-year. During the half-year, we capitalized assets worth INR 463 crore, with INR 201 crore capitalized during this quarter. Capital work in progress to debt INR 2,030 crore. As of 30th September 2025, we have cash on book of INR 3,261 crore, receivables of INR 2,614 crore, and inventories of INR 3,433 crore. Thank you.

Satish Choudhury Meka
Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Thank you, madam. With this, we would request the moderator to open the line for Q&A.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on the touchstone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants are requested to limit their questions to two questions each per participant, and in case of any follow-up questions, you all can rejoin the queue. Our first question comes from the line of Amey from JM Financial. Please go ahead.

Amey Chalke
Analyst, JM Financial

Yes. Thank you for taking my question, and congrats to the management on a good set of numbers. The first question I have on the very important custom synthesis project, which has seen a patent expiry in one of the key markets in the U.S., there is also a patent expiry happening in the EU next year. Is it possible for the management to guide us how much volume which we are currently supplying would be linked to these patent expiry in two regions?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I'm sorry, I cannot comment on any specific product customer impact or volumes because I am bound by confidentiality. I do understand that you're asking us specific to a few things, but I am not at the liberty to speak about anything.

Amey Chalke
Analyst, JM Financial

Sure. Second question I have is on the API generic side. This quarter, the performance continued to remain weak with low single-digit decline in the segment. When can we see the revival happening in the generic side of the business, and is the pricing pressure still persist in the business at present?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, as I explained to you in the last few calls, okay, we are facing pricing pressure on generic molecules, although we have not lost a single customer or even any loss in volume. Okay, and the reason why we are able to manage this is because of our backward integration, where even the Kakinada facility has been helping us in manufacturing several of our in-house raw materials and our in-house intermediates, giving us an edge to further keep the product and the volume along with us. Again, to say that did we lose any volume? No, we have not lost any volume. We have not lost any customer.

Now, the pricing pressure, we do not have an idea how long will it be there, but we are hopeful, like I explained in the last call, we're hopeful in the next few quarters it may stabilize and things may come back to normal.

Amey Chalke
Analyst, JM Financial

Sure. Just last question I can take on this custom synthesis. We are seeing a lot of RFPs coming to India, and many players have started participating in these quotations. Considering we have large capacities available with us, does it give us edge to compete in terms of pricing? Also, what other factors are involved when it comes to pricing? Is there a hurdle rate in terms of gross margin, etc., that we can meet? What are the decisions which go into deciding the price? Thank you.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, firstly, I would like you to understand Divi's has been in custom synthesis for several years since the inception. This is not something new for us. I mean, there are several players you're seeing who are entering the market now because RFPs are coming in. Divi's has an edge because we have a long-term customer relation, both in terms of proven track record, in terms of supply chain management, and their confidence in our deliverable execution. That being said, I cannot comment on what others are seeing, what price factors are there. We have a strong pipeline that is with us, which we are working on, and we would see the outcome in the next one to two years.

Amey Chalke
Analyst, JM Financial

Sure. I just had one follow-up. What I wanted to ask is, having available capacity, does it give us an edge to go aggressive on the pricing? Because earlier, 10 years back, Divi's was one of the few players to compete from India, but now we have several players who are competing for these same molecules. That's the reason I'm asking.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Yeah. So the reason is, you know, when you see multinationals or MNCs, right, they do not only look at price as the only factor. They look at EHS, they look at sustainability, they look at whether you are SBTi compliant. They have several factors before they even come to quality. Pricing is one factor. Capacity is one factor. Divi's always is one step ahead in terms of capacity, in terms of looking at forward thinking, in terms of creating capacity. That is not the only thing. There are several factors you have to look at. Unless you tick all the boxes, any multinational would not work with any firm. If that answers your question.

Amey Chalke
Analyst, JM Financial

Sure, sure. Thank you so much. I will join you.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict yourselves to two questions each per participant, and you may join the queue for follow-up questions. Our next question comes from the line of Kunal Dhamesha from Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. The first one on the CapEx. In quarter one, we had guided for around INR 2,000 crore of CapEx for FY 2026. If I see the cash flows, we already spent around INR 1,550 crore in the first half. Is second half going to be more or less muted, or are we going to raise the CapEx guidance further for FY 2026?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Can you please repeat your question?

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

Our CapEx guidance, ma'am, was around INR 2,000 crore for FY 2026. If I see the spend on the property, plant, and equipment for the first half, it's almost around INR 1,550 crore, right? Is there more room for us to do more CapEx in the second half? Would the CapEx be higher than INR 2,000 crore for FY 2026?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Yes, it would be higher in FY 2026.

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

What would be the new CapEx guidance?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, right now we are looking at several new projects, and we did mention earlier in the stock market to the SEBI release that we are getting into three new projects, and the CapEx is also being included for that. This is an ongoing thing wherein we would be creating capacity as and when needed.

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

Okay. These capacities, which plant would these capacities be focused on, these new capacities?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

It would totally be based on what is the stage at which the manufacturing is. They would be spread across all the three units. Not a single unit would be getting the entire CapEx.

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

Sure. One question for Kiran sir. You alluded to being a global leader in peptide manufacturing in coming years. What would it entail in terms of investment, capacities, differentiation from the longer-term perspective?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

To answer about peptides, right, Divi's has been in peptides since the last 20 years. We have been manufacturing protected amino acids, which gives us an edge in terms of supply issues, in terms of manufacturing, what you call consistency, and also impurity profile management. That gives us an edge to get into dipeptides, tripeptides, tetramers, octamers, different MERs which are required by several companies across the world. Saying this in terms of investment, I'm not at the liberty to talk because several investments are based on what customers require, and I'm bound by CDAs. We have opened our center of excellence for peptides, where we are developing several molecules for several customers, which we will be a part of their pipeline going forward. That is giving us a strong momentum in peptide synthesis.

Kunal Dhamesha
Research Analyst, Macquarie

Sure, sir. I have more questions. I'll join back with you. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Thank you for the opportunity, sir. This is the composition of generics and custom synthesis. It seems the custom synthesis business has scaled up really well over the last one to two years. Specifically, if I have to connect this to the gross margin, which has been pretty stable at 60% year on year or even quarter-over-quarter for 2026. Does it mean that we are broadly at a similar gross margin across both the segments, or am I missing something here?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

This would completely vary on product mix. You do observe for the last few years, if you see every quarter, there will be some quarters where the product mix would be slightly more favorable, and sometimes the product mix would not be that favorable. It is mainly based on quarter and quarter, like how the product mix takes place.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Okay. So 60% is something as a base case to assume, or there could be an upside risk to the gross margin?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I would say it would be continuing the same similar manner.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Okay. Secondly, just if you could also share the constant currency growth for us on a year-on-year basis.

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Currently, the half year is about 10.79%, and we are assuming that for the rest of the year also, it would be around the similar number.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Understood. But ma'am, that also is not sort of helping to get sort of better gross margins?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, as I said earlier, this is all based on the product mix, and we cannot look at it quarter-on-quarter basis. We need to look at it at a whole year. If you see, historically, we do see ups and downs in every quarter, and there is a difference between generics and custom synthesis that does take place between quarters. My current assumption would be like, yes, my constant currency growth rate would be about 10.79%.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Understood. Just lastly on peptides, sir, we have been into peptide space for a really long number of years. If you could just sort of share your experience in terms of the changes that would have happened, let me put it this way, that the CDMO orders or the contract research orders as well have picked up significantly over the last three, four years. Is that understanding right, or this has been the case historically?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

No, I think the peptide synthesis and the peptide drug molecule and the drug product have been in the market for some time, but with several new therapeutic categories being available and then coming into the market, has spiked interest into several innovators where they have started doing their research, and we had the opportunity of being a part of their journey.

Tushar Manudhane
Research Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Understood, sir. Thanks, thank you. That's it from my side.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Surya Narayan Patra from Philip Capital India Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Yeah, thanks. Congratulations on the great set of the number on the custom synthesis front, sir. This quarter, we have seen the best custom synthesis.

Operator

That's it. We are unable to hear you.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Hello?

Operator

Could you please repeat? Your voice is not audible.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Sorry, sir. Just give me one moment.

Hello?

Operator

Yes, sir.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Yes. Yeah. I was telling that congratulations for the great set of numbers on the custom synthesis front. What I see is that this is the first ever, the best ever kind of custom synthesis revenue for a quarter that we are witnessing in Q2. Not only that, even in terms of revenue mix also, it is the highest ever. Given that, the same margin point comes here that over the years, three, four years, see, the gross margin or even EBITDA margin has moved from a certain level to around 40. Mentioned has moved marginally here and there, but in fact, the mix has significantly improved, almost like 15%-16% revenue mix in favor of the custom synthesis. Given that, is it fair to believe that the upside risk is limited in the overall business model we are currently having?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Can you be more elaborate in your question? The last part.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Okay. So we have seen there is a significant shift in the revenue mix for the custom synthesis from the level of 40-odd percentage over the years to now 56%, which is the highest ever. The margin profile remained in the around 32%-33% in that range. Is it fair to believe, ma'am, that the margin upside risk is nothing or limited? Because even if there is a rise in the revenue mix favoring custom synthesis, margin remained around that level. Is it fair to believe that this is the kind of sustainable margin level and scope of appreciation may not be there?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I would say it's mainly to do with the product mix. Though the custom synthesis has increased over the last few years as a percentage, we need to also remember that 45% is still generics where it is facing huge pricing pressures. When you combine both, the margins do look similar. Because that's where we are trying to sustain the generics business, the volumes, not to lose them, maintaining the kind of quantities and the capacities that we have with our customers. While maintaining that, we will see a hit on the margins there, which you see like a normal gross margin level across the entire product portfolio.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Okay. So then the growth will really drive the kind of volume growth will really drive the earning growth. That is the right way to think. Yeah.

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I think you still answered this question.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

You have to understand a few things, right? In terms of growth, we have both the generic side and the CS side. We also have products which are coming off patent that we are launching with our customers where, once the patent comes off, we will be getting into the market. There will be a certain amount of drive from there. There are old CS projects which have been there in the company for the last 10 to 12 years, which are matured. You also have to understand that Divi's manages a lot of late life cycle management for branded companies, which has a different revenue model. It is very difficult for us to justify saying the revenue growth comes from CS or from generics or from Nutra.

That's why we always say from the inception that it is the product mix that we have which drives the overall growth.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Oh, okay, okay. Got it, sir. Just one more point on the custom synthesis side. Obviously, the three dedicated projects which are likely to start possibly from the fourth quarter of FY 2027, which will drive growth. In the interim, what can drive growth for the custom synthesis business? Is it the peptide projects you have indicated in the opening remarks? That is the kind of near-term contributor to the growth for the custom synthesis business.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, all I can say is we have three active projects. Apart from the previous ones, we have disclosed to the stock exchange. All of them are either in the stage of validation. Some of them are being constructed for the customer, which will go into validations in the future, which are at various stages. It is very difficult for me, A, to put a date because it is subject to EU qualifications, U.S. qualifications. All I can say is things will happen in the next one to two years. It is a fair statement for me to give, provided all regulatory approvals are in place. These are CS projects. I cannot put a label saying this is API or peptide or some specific therapeutic category. All I can say is it belongs to our CS side of the business.

We believe if all regulatory approvals and qualifications take place on time in the next one to two years, we should see commercial benefit.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Sure, sir. Just one clarification, sir. Now we are kind of scaling up our activities in the peptide side. Is it possible? Is it right to think that we can even tap the generic opportunities in the peptide side, including the GLP-1s? That is one. One more clarification, if you can give. Currently, what is the revenue share of the contrast media that we are having?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Okay. To answer your first half, right, Divi's has strategically decided that we will not look at generic part of peptide synthesis. We are right now fully occupied with the amount of CS projects we have. So we do not want to venture into that mode. Coming to your second point, which is in terms of.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Contents media revenue share.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Yeah. We cannot individualize each segment. We look at it as a total whole and a product mix.

Surya Narayan Patra
Research Analyst, PhilipCapital India Private Limited

Okay, okay. Sure, sir. Thank you. Wish you all the best.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict yourselves to two questions each per participant. Our next question comes from the line of Harshit Dhoot from Dymon Asia. Please go ahead.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Thanks for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on the great set of numbers. A couple of questions from my side. As you said, you are witnessing increasing engagement level from the clients, RFPs, site visits. Is it fair to assume that the incremental or the higher interest of the business is coming from the shift of China?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Could you repeat your last part, please?

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

The kind of increasing interest of the business that we are witnessing in the custom synthesis part, is it more a function of the shift of business from China, sir? Are innovators diversifying from China?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

As of now, to be honest, what we are seeing is a bunch of new RFPs, either phase I, phase II, phase III, like I mentioned during my speech. Also, we are seeing several interests that are coming from our regular customers who have been with us for a long time. For me, it is very difficult to say, is this something they brought from China, or is this an old molecule they brought in? Because most of them that we are working with them are either they are ready to launch, or it is in their new portfolio, or they are part of their existing portfolio. For us, we do not know.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Okay, sir. The other one, more from the Indian CDMO industry perspective, a few innovators are saying that they are looking for a big investment in India. Like Eli Lilly just recently said, they are looking for a $1 billion investment in India. Is it fair to assume that the CDMO industry of India is on the verge of a big CapEx cycle going ahead, if you think from the next three to four years' perspective, from industry perspective, sir?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, I cannot comment on the industry or what specific MNCs are planning to do. What we can say is about Divi's, we have a strong pipeline, and then we are looking at ongoing as and when our projects are coming into life, we will start investing. We see quite a positive outcome in the next one to two years.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Okay, sir. Let me ask another perspective. Last 10 years versus next five years, is the upcoming time more exciting for Divi's? Is it a fair understanding, sir?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

We are always hopeful that it has to be exciting, right? Because these are phase III molecules coming into life. We are also investing heavily with long-term sustainable contracts. I mean, it's always good to be hopeful to be positive.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Yeah. The last one, sir. The kind of the new business that we are witnessing, the phase III molecules and all, is it fair to understand that the new business that we are getting is a high-margin business?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Again, at this point, I cannot comment on that because I'm bound by CDAs. All I can tell you is in the next one to two years, once they come off—I'm sorry, once all the regulatory approvals come into place, we will start seeing the outcome of the results. Apart from that, also a few of our generics which are coming off patent will also come in. Based on this product mix, we will see how the future is as and when it moves on.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Okay, sir. Lastly, are you seeing any upside risk in their CapEx guidance or what we have think internally for the CapEx in next three to four years' perspective?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Can you repeat the question a little bit more elaborately?

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Yeah, sure, ma'am. So what we were planning for the CapEx internally from next three to four years' perspective, but with the increase in the interest, engagement, and RFPs, are we seeing any upside risk to our CapEx assumptions that we have built in internally?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I wouldn't say we are seeing any risk, but yes, we.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

I mean, upside risk. Are you seeing increasing expense towards CapEx that you would have think a few years before for next three to four years?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, for us, nothing happens overnight. It's a pretty strategically planned, taken decisions which are thought through, and where our strengths match. It's not like, "Okay, today there's an opportunity, so let's jump on the bandwagon and go." It's a thought-through process. Nothing is like that hasn't been envisioned and worked on. It has been a long-term planning that we have done over a period of time. We are happy that we have taken certain decisions because of which we are here today.

Harshit Dhoot
Investment Analyst, Dymon Asia

Okay, ma'am. Thanks a lot. Thank you for the opportunity, ma'am. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Yeah. Thanks for taking my question. Nilima, on the generic business, if we were to look at, let's say.

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I'm sorry, you are not audible. Very low volume.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Can you hear me now?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Yes.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Okay. Sorry about that. On the generic business, if we were to look at the last year, let's say, given our focus on volumes, what would be how much of the growth that we have seen would be driven by volume, and how much of that has been offset by pricing?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I would say as a volume, we have been stable. As a value, you would know how much it is based on the percentage and the revenue number that's there. As a volume, I would say we haven't lost a single customer, nor have we lost the production capacity.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Okay. Because if I look at our growth for the last four quarters, we've grown about 7% in the generic business. Would it be fair to say that the volume growth is 7% broadly that, or because otherwise we would have degrown this business, right, based on a stable volume?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I wouldn't say there's a degrowth in this business. 7% is the growth that we've seen on the revenue side. There have been pricing pressures which are increasing quarter on quarter. The volume also, the increase is there, but it's not visible or reflecting on the revenue as much as it would have, say, two, three years back.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

In the space of price erosion, is that slowing at all, or we have not seen any moderation in the pace of price erosion in the last few quarters, or let's say even recently?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, there is—I don't think I can foresee any, at least in the next two quarters, anything that is going to be in a better situation for generics than it is today.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Understood. I think.

Operator

Sorry to interrupt there. Nilima, may we request you to rejoin the queue for any follow-up questions, please, as there are several other participants waiting for their turn.

Neha Manpuria
Senior Analyst, Bank of America

Sure.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Shyam Srinivasan
Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Yeah. Good afternoon. Just the first question on—you talked a lot about peptide center of excellence, but I'm just curious, do you also have non-peptide GLP-1s in any of your projects?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

We have several projects in the pipeline, but I'm not at the liberty to talk about what category, therapeutic category, and segment, and then in what relation it is. What we can tell is we are quite active in the peptide and also in several APIs and advanced N-1 intermediates for CS projects.

Shyam Srinivasan
Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Understood. That's helpful. If you could highlight in terms of your current capacity for the peptides, is there any measure by which we could get the overall—I am not looking at individual project data, but what is the aggregate capacities in some form or measure for us to get to understand how much have the investments been in this?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I cannot give a specific number on this, but what I can tell you is we have a very extensive large-scale pilot plant which produces several hundreds of kilos of product based on requirement. Apart from this, we have multiple lines of commercial SPPS reactors which we have installed. This is in large volumes, and these are based on client requirements. I'm not at the liberty to speak about volumes and capacities and a few other things.

Shyam Srinivasan
Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Understood. My last question is on the generic API business, which we have discussed quite a bit, but I am excluding nutraceuticals out of it. If I were to see that number, and this is a little puzzling to me because some of the participants have said this has declined, but I still see growth. What has the generic API business done for the quarter? Has it grown or has it declined? Sorry, from the data, I do not know what the correct answer is.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

As a number and the volume for each individual product, it has been very stable. In terms of pricing, either you talk about naproxen and dextromethorphan from the—but here we have stable terms. A little extra shipments gone this quarter, a little less maybe next quarter. Year on year, we have been very stable. What we have is pricing pressure, and this we are able to stay because of our backward integration and preparing manufacturing our key raw materials, which gave us the edge to fight the market back and keep the market share.

Shyam Srinivasan
Research Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Thank you. Thank you so much and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Girish Bakhru from Orbi Med. Please go ahead.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Yeah, thanks. Actually, just taking on Shyam's question only on capacity and expansion in peptides, Kiran, can you also give some color on downstream? What have you invested in? What kind of capacities have you created for downstream [SPPS]?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Could you be more clear on the question, please?

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Yeah. I'm just mainly asking, can you also comment on the investments made on the purification side?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

As of now, Divi's is only manufacturing MERs fragments. We are not in the purification of the API. We are only manufacturing.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Okay. Does not require purification, is it?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Fragments are basically like four-chain amino acids, eight-chain, okay? They are purified, and then they are sent to the customer where he again links them and then makes a final drug product, which undergoes purification.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Yeah. I mean, I'm just asking because this purification is more of a bottleneck in the whole process, right, not the [SPPS] per se. For you, it's not a bottleneck, right?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Just to be clear, right, then in peptides, when people talk about purification, they talk about drug product purification, not tetramer octamer purification.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Okay. Okay.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Not the fragment purification. That is not a factor because you purify it in the SPPS. What the world is talking about bottleneck is on the drug product purification.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Understood. The second question, is it possible for you to split the cost of manufacturing? I mean, I know you had discussed amino acids or basic raw materials are easily available, but starting materials, solvents, reagents, I mean, how is the cost split across the whole process, ballpark? Where is the cost hungry?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I mean, you're talking about the peptide business?

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Yeah.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Divi's, the one unique thing about Divi's is we manufacture our own protected amino acids, which gives us both in natural and unnatural, which gives us an edge over everyone because we control the quantities, we control our costs, we control our impurity profile. As you control the impurity profile when you manufacture the FMOC protected amino acids, and when you go into further manufacturing of fragments, because you control the impurity, your cost of cleaning comes down, and you have better product that comes out. In this way, we were already manufacturing protected amino acids for several of the manufacturers who used to manufacture for the branded innovators. Now we found the opportunity of taking one step ahead, which is giving us an edge using our own product.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

This flexibility customer allows you to do, right, in changing the process a bit to get more yield vis-à-vis purity. Is that something right to?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

The FMOC protected amino acids are proprietary to Divi's process, so we manufacture and we supply either to the customer-defined places or in our in-house usage. Coming to fragments, these are defined processes given either by the customer who are the innovators anyway, and then we would exactly follow the recipe they have given us.

Girish Bakhru
Executive Director, OrbiMed

Understood. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Abdul Kader Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Abdul Kader Puranwala
Research Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is with regards to your investments and the gross block over the past and the asset turn. While I think we would have a gross block of somewhere around INR 8,000 crore-INR 8,500 crore, what is the kind of asset turn or where do we see in the next one or two years based on the opportunity we have in terms of overall utilization of that gross block? Any color on that would be helpful.

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

If you're talking about the asset turnover, we are looking, you are aware of the new opportunities that are there. Though we cannot comment at this point in time with a specific outlook, we would say in the next one to two years, we do see a positive outlook that's out there.

Abdul Kader Puranwala
Research Analyst, ICICI Securities

Okay. While in the past, we mentioned about an equal share of revenues coming from [generic] and the CS business, but clearly in the first half, the contribution has been a little skewed towards the CS. While the commentary also talks more about the CS business outlook, would it be fair to assume that for the next one or two years, at least, the customs business part would be something where we will get a majority of our revenues from?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Like I explained, if you look at CS business or the generic business, we look at an overall and product mix. Now, coming to generic business, yes, it is seeing a pricing pressure, but at the same time, we are seeing volumes being stable. Overall, the new portfolio of products coming off patent, which are going to be launched and they're adding volume in. Now, to tell you whether the pricing pressure will come down soon in the next quarter or the quarter after, we are hopeful it should be done as soon as it can, but we do not have any guidance on it.

Abdul Kader Puranwala
Research Analyst, ICICI Securities

Got it. One final one, if I may. In line with our broader aspiration to become one of the market leaders in peptides, what are the kind of investments you would have planned? Is there a plan to go beyond the current range of amino acids and fragments to upscale the offerings as well?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

As of now, we are concentrating on fragments, I mean, various lengths of fragments up to octamer, decamers, whatever the customer requires. We are going through several stages of qualifications with the customer. Based on their requirement, every customer has specific needs, specific design of their plant, and specific recipe of manufacturing. It is not that we can just build a few and just keep it ready like a general API plant and then assume they will come in and then they can use it. Based on our futuristic outlook and also on long-term contracts that we have secured with customers, we are going ahead and investing as and when needed.

Abdul Kader Puranwala
Research Analyst, ICICI Securities

Understood. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ranvir Singh from Nuvama Wealth. Please go ahead.

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Thank you for taking my question. Just to clarify, in the CMS segment, have you seen any significant changes within the CMS between commercial supplies and developmental revenues year on year?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Can you please elaborate on the question, please?

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Within a CMS segment, services income and supplies income related to commercial supplies for innovators. Do you see any changes there in revenue mix there?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

You do have to understand that from the space we are operating and the question being asked, we are bound by the confidentiality agreement wherein we cannot discuss all these in an open platform.

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Yeah. Broadly, I wanted to understand the trend because it has to do with the margin. As you explained, here we see pricing pressure there in the generic segment, and that is getting offset by what we are getting in the CMS. I thought maybe in CMS, within CMS, we have a different stream of revenues. Do we see there also some changes there, or is this continuing year after year? That was the intention to understand.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

I mean, in terms of contract manufacturing, your question is basically, do we have different segments in terms of qualifications, milestone payments, and everything? See, the thing is, when you do a CS project, you have milestone-based derivatives, which, based on a certain thing that happens, and then you do a certain project. Once you do qualifications, once you do validations, once you come into manufacturing, everything is milestone. We have several projects in line. Now, each project is at different stages and in different milestones. That is why Nilima was saying it's hard for us to tell which project is at which milestone and where it is. What all we can say is the company has a healthy pipeline. In the next one to two years, we will start seeing outcome of the pipeline.

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Understood. Second question, on Unit 3, we are supposed to shift Unit 1 and Unit 2 products to Unit 3. Whether that shifting is complete, and if this is complete, what is your capacity utilization there across units now?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

It's an ongoing process right now. We have completed the construction of six production blocks where we are making certain of our key starting materials, apart from also transferring few of the products in Unit 1 and Unit 2, emptying part of a little bit of the capacity. We have requirements of manufacturing several of our internal raw materials due to availabilities and issues. Apart from this, we are constructing another two blocks, which should be completed shortly, and that should give us more capacity to transfer products from 1 and 2. We do have another 200-300 acres of land, which is available as and when needed. We will go through internal approvals and then start building blocks.

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Additional CapEx is related to construction of that.

Operator

No, sir. No, sir. May we request you return to the queue for any follow-up, please? Thank you.

Ranvir Singh
Associate Director, Nuvama Wealth

Okay. Okay. No, sir.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Damayanti Kerai from HSBC. Please go ahead.

Damayanti Kerai
Analyst, HSBC

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is again on Unit 3. Right now, you are using it for manufacturing key starting material, intermediate, etc. Can you update us on the GMP qualification for the facility? When do you expect that to come when you can do the regular GMP supplies from Unit 3 as well?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

See, right now, what we are doing is we are manufacturing starting materials, not key starting materials because key is under GMP. So making starting materials and intermediates required for our in-house APIs and several new projects coming in line. Apart from this, we will also start shortly qualification of some of our in-house APIs, which we can qualify, submit our drug master file, and then get appropriate qualifications. This would be in the near future, in the next few quarters, but not right now because right now, we have a need of several starting materials for our own products, both at the CS side and at the generic side, which the unit is now concentrating on.

Damayanti Kerai
Analyst, HSBC

Okay. My second question is actually a clarification. This peptide center of excellence, where does this sit? It's in Unit 2, 3, or where is it located?

Nilima Prasad Divi
Whole-Time Commercial Director, Divi's Laboratories Limited

It is spread across both the units, and I wouldn't say it is only at one unit or at, because historically, we have always made sure that all our units are equally distributed with our product.

Damayanti Kerai
Analyst, HSBC

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.

Nitin Agarwal
Managing Director, DAM Capital

Hi. Thank you for the question. Just one clarification. Of the three projects that you've announced to the stock exchanges, what would be the timeline for commencement of those various projects? If you can give us some reminders of those timelines.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

All the three projects are at different phases. Some of them are under equipment is still being installed. Some are undergoing qualifications. Some are undergoing validations. All in all, we expect in the next one to two years, we will start seeing revenues into our books provided all regulatory approvals are in place, and then there is no hurdles from any agencies.

Nitin Agarwal
Managing Director, DAM Capital

More like an [FY 2028] is where the impact should be seen for all of these things put together, assuming things fall in place from a regulatory perspective.

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Again, I cannot give a date. I'm hopeful, and we are targeting one to two years from now. What I cannot give is a date or a year because everything is based on regulatory approvals.

Nitin Agarwal
Managing Director, DAM Capital

Okay. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Abhigyan Srivastav from Marcellus Investment Managers. Please go ahead.

Abhigyan Srivastav
Analyst, Marcellus Investment Managers

Hello. Thank you for taking my question. I have two questions. The first question is, can you please help us understand how our contrast media scale-up is progressing and when our CSM gadolinium products should get launched?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Just one second, please. In terms of our contrast media, on the iodine-based contrast media, we have progressed quite well. We are working on validations, and there are only three or four big players in the world. We are working closely with them, and with some of them we are undergoing validations, like I told in the last quarter. Hopefully, we will commercialize soon. I would say at least in the four, we are working at least with one or two of them actively, and we are in good advancement. Coming to gadolinium compounds, we are working with several of the innovators on their phase III molecules, like I explained even the last time. These have to go through regulatory approvals.

They have to get approvals because once they submit, it has to go through different countries, and the whole process will take at least, I would say at least one year before we start seeing anything, even if the product is approved or not. We are active with several customers, and we are hopeful to see some positive results soon on the gadolinium side.

Abhigyan Srivastav
Analyst, Marcellus Investment Managers

Got it. Thank you, sir. My second question is that many pharma companies have announced U.S. CapEx, including CapEx for APIs. Does this news have any negative impact on Divi's?

Kiran S. Divi
Whole-Time Director and CEO, Divi's Laboratories Limited

So far, we haven't seen any negative impact for Divi's. I mean, why people are putting CapEx in the U.S. is something I cannot answer for, but we have not seen or lost any customer. Nor any of our branded customers have raised any questions about it. I cannot answer this topic.

Abhigyan Srivastav
Analyst, Marcellus Investment Managers

Got it. Thank you, sir. This was all I had. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take this as our last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. M. Satish Choudhury for closing comments.

Satish Choudhury Meka
Company Secretary and Chief Investor Relations Officer, Divi's Laboratories Limited

Thank you all for joining us today for the earnings call of Divi's Laboratories Limited. In case you need any further clarifications, please reach out to our investor relations. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. On behalf of Divi's Laboratories Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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