Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to 2QFI26 conference call hosted by B&K Securities. As a reminder, all participants in the line will be in a listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rohit Nagaraj from B&K Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Danish. We thank the management of Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Nilesh Mehta, for providing us the opportunity to host the 2QFI26 post-results conference call. Today, from the management, we have with us Dr. Bir Kapoor, the CEO and Deputy Managing Director of Gujarat Fluorochemicals, and along with him, the senior members of the management team. Without taking further time, I would like to hand over the call to Dr. Bir Kapoor for his initial remarks, post which we can proceed to the Q&A session. Thanks, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Rohit. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to all of you for GFL's Quarter Two FY26 earnings call. For this call, I have with me my colleagues, Mr. Athil Jindal, who is Group CFO; Mr. Manoj Agrawal, who is CFO of GFL; and I also have with me Mr. Rajiv Rao, who is the Business Head of Battery Materials. The company announced its Quarter Two FY26 results at its board meeting held today. The results, along with earnings presentations, are already available on the stock exchange and on our website. I'll briefly highlight the key financials and then give you an update on business operations and outlook. I'm pleased to share that we delivered a resilient performance amidst significant global challenges in Quarter Two FY26, reflecting the inherent strength of our business.
Revenue for the chemical segment for the quarter stood at INR 1,210 crore, increased by 2% on a year-on-year basis. The uncertainty emanating from the tariffs imposed by the U.S. impacted sales during the quarter, which we expect to see easing off going forward. EBITDA grew by 26% to INR 381 crore in Quarter Two FY26, from INR 302 crore in Quarter Two FY25. EBITDA margins stood at 32%, standing by 608 basis points on a year-on-year basis. This improvement was driven by a better product mix and continued cost optimizations. Our EBITDA margins should further improve from the current levels on a long-term basis. The chemical segment reported a PAT of INR 198 crore, reflecting a 51% growth on a year-on-year basis. In our EV materials business, expenses, interest, and depreciation are being incurred, while revenue is expected to start flowing in from Q4 of this financial year.
This will begin contributing to both the top line as well as the bottom line, improving the margins and profitability at consolidated levels. Let me now walk you through the performance of each business segment for the quarter. The fluoropolymer segment revenue was up by 8% on a year-on-year basis. However, it declined by 4% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This was impacted due to the imposition of higher US tariffs. However, I believe that the second half of the year, especially Q4 and onwards, should witness significant pickup in sales. In our fluorochemicals business, the revenue declined by 15% on a year-on-year, mainly on account of the reduction in sales of R22 due to quarter reduction and seasonality. Further, R125 sales also got impacted due to market conditions and US tariffs. The specialty chemical segment remained stable during the quarter and is expected to see steady improvement going forward.
Our bulk chemical segment saw an increase in revenue, mainly due to higher prices of fluoromethanes, while the quarter-on-quarter growth was supported by both price and volume increase in fluoromethanes. In our battery materials business, LiPF6 prices have significantly moved upwards from around $10 per kg- $17 per kg, leading to a positive impact on our business outlook. We remain uniquely positioned as one of the only non-China integrated LiPF6 producers and are further expanding our capacities to capitalize on this opportunity. Our LFP CAM facility in India has been successfully commissioned, and post-stabilization, we will begin sending samples for customer approvals from the commercial plant. The qualification process for our binders is progressing well, with commercial sales expected to commence in the second half of calendar year 2026.
In electrolyte, we are actively engaging with emerging cell manufacturers across EV and BESS applications, supporting evaluations and qualifications through customized samples from our commercial plant. At Gujarat Fluorochemicals, we are strategically positioned to emerge as a global leader in the battery materials space. With our established capacities, ongoing qualifications, and early customer approvals, we have built a strong platform for growth. This marks a defining phase for our battery materials business, and we remain confident in our ability to capitalize on the expanding global opportunity. The battery materials segment is very promising given the recent surge in demand for BESS, which only augments the demand from the EV space. Many growth drivers, the likes of data centers, AI, and transition to renewable power, are driving the demand manifold for the BESS business in the coming years.
Overall, we are well placed to capture growth across our business segments, largely driven by the surge in demand for fluoropolymer battery materials and R32. We remain confident in delivering sustained growth and creating long-term value for our stakeholders. Thank you, and I now open the floor for questions.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin with the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question 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 a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Sanjay Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, good evening, sir. Thanks for taking my question. I have a few of them. First, in the fluoropolymer business in India, now that there is an ADD on PTFE, how do you see the competitive landscape in India? There's another company who has come in domestically. In that background, how do you see domestic business shaping up from here, and should that help in the second half of this year in terms of shaping up the fluoropolymer business?
Okay. Do you want me to answer, or you said you have several questions? Shall I?
No, I will answer one by one, so.
Okay. Okay. Thanks, Sanjay. Thanks.
Thank you, sir.
Now, in fluoropolymer, anti-dumping duty has been recommended by DGTR. We expect it to be implemented, and that should have a positive impact on the business, okay? We are very well positioned to capture it because we have a very wide range of grades and PTFE, and we expect to see a positive impact of it, okay? As far as competition is concerned, I think it should not have much impact because of our large product portfolio in PTFE as well as the experience in the products that we have.
Just one add-on to the India import workflow: 7,000 metric tons of PTFE annually. How much of that are we eyeing straight away, assuming that there is an increase in PTFE modification?
Yes, Sanjay, we are quite positive about capturing a very large fraction of this because of ADD. The imports are expected to go down, and we expect to capture a very large percentage of that, I would say upward of 50-60%.
We have that kind of capacity to service.
I'm sorry, can you come up again, please, Sanjay?
Do we have such a spare capacity to cater to the growing demand in the Western market and the domestic demand?
Yes, we do have in PTFE because we have been—see, we have, as I said earlier also many times, that we have a large capacity available in monomer. In recent times, we are adding capacity on the polymer side as well. I think we are well positioned to capture it.
Got it. Now, another question on the fluoropolymer. Given the first-half performance, which appears to be much slower recovery than probably what we thought at the start of the year, would you still hold on to the 25% just for producing fluoropolymer for FY26?
We had guided earlier on 25%. Of course, there was a little bit of ripple, I would say, because of the global situation, particularly the tariff situations in the U.S. However, adjusting for that tariff part, I think if I look at the rest of our product portfolio, I think we are geared toward achieving the 25%. Going forward, I mean, we have been trying to focus on multiple markets and trying to readjust to this reality of tariff. See, one of the things that has happened, Sanjay, is that because of the tariff, a lot of decisions have been kept on hold because a lot of customers were expecting this to be reverted, so they actually put their buying decisions on hold. A lot of it we expect to streamline going forward. A few things.
First, from our side, we'll look at alternate markets and try to grow there. Second, if there are indications that this tariff may go away, then that should give us a further tailwind in terms of going and seeking the target that we have been talking about.
Assuming if tariff stays, then for new fluoropolymer, the U.S. will be a different market?
See, if the tariff stays, then obviously in the U.S., PTFE is exempted. You know that. And the new fluoropolymer is the one which is impacted, but we would adjust partly to focus into other markets to grow. We also believe that some of the decisions of our customers, which have been put on advance for now, will probably come into play.
Question one on R32. One, what is the overall take on safety? We have seen this incident happening quite frequently, which is hampering business confidence, even customer confidence, largely enough. Would that be that? And just due to how we see that, because I think with all of this incident, that's going to slow down. What is our plan on R32? We were looking at 20,000 metric tons by December. A related question is, sorry, a separate question is on the margin. What has given such a sharp improvement in gross margin? It went up from 67% to 72%. What explains such a sharp improvement in the market?
Let me first answer the R32 question. The incident, of course, Sanjay, is an unfortunate incident which happened. It does not change our plan. Yes, we are trying to learn from it, trying to strengthen our safety processes, safety systems. As far as the 20,000-ton target is concerned, we had indicated that target by the end of this financial year, which is March. We will achieve there. Right now, we are strengthening our plant system. We started at a very low capacity, so we are now looking at augmenting that capacity, strengthening the safety system, and coming back now at the target capacity that we had planned. The plan of R32 still remains intact. There has not been any change in that.
Coming back to the margin improvements, we always guided that we'll probably be in the range of 30% or on the north of it. This time, there are multiple reasons, of course, because of the product mix. As we are going up in the value chain, the value-added product mix is improving our margin. There's also been an impact of the cost control, which is driven by the multiple factors, including the power cost, that also we had indicated that we are moving toward renewable, and we'll see more of it as we go along in the next few quarters. Finally, there has been some lift because of the currency, which we also expect to continue. This margin improvement, we see, and we expect it to be sustainable going forward.
Very clear, sir. Thanks for answering all those questions. Simply a specific for the comment.
Thanks, Sanjay. Thanks for the interest. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Ankur Agarwal from Axis Bank. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Continuing on the tariff side, just trying to understand the ongoing situation better. While the earlier tariff, as I understand, was largely passed through to the customers, how much of the revised, the incremental tariff has been passed on? Is it 100%, or have we also absorbed some bit of it?
Ankur, there are two things. First is when we talked last time in the last one call, that time 25% had happened, and it was a combination of pass-through plus, in some cases, we adjusted ourselves also. Now, the second one, the discussions are all on. However, one of the things which is very different in the second one is that it has impacted, there's a ripple effect because it's not only in India, it's on multiple countries, different kinds of tariffs. Because of that, there has been some sort of readjustments in terms of our customer supply chain as well. Because of that, there has been a delay in decision-making. Now, going forward, we expect this to be adjusted, okay? In some cases, some part will be absorbed by the customer, and some we will have to absorb. Okay.
We are trying to find a new datum as we go along, but it's a very large jump in tariff, obviously, and no one is prepared. Nevertheless, going forward, we expect some adjustments to happen in the US market with our customers. In some cases, as I had said earlier, we look at focusing and developing some of the other markets where we can capitalize on opportunities. At a global level, there are going to be some readjustments as it'll happen. Okay. Again, this is primarily in the context of new fluoropolymers, Ankur, because PTFE is not really impacted by this.
Yeah, yeah. Correct. Fair enough. Just trying to understand, pre-tariff, will it be fair to say that US will be making better margins in the US than, let's say, the rest of the world within exports?
Pre-tariff, yes, I think so. I think pre-tariff, yes, because the U.S. market, of course, is a good value, high-value market for us.
Sure. In the current scenario, which other markets are we focusing upon in terms of selling our products alternatively to those markets?
There are multiple opportunities because, as I said earlier, some of the new fluoropolymer are in the A space, like Semicon applications. And in case there is an opportunity available in Japan, in Korea, and some parts of Europe. I'm sorry, not Japan, Japan and Korea. I'm sorry. My bad. I'm sorry.
Sure. No worries. Fair enough. Second thing, on the LiPF6 pricing, which you alluded towards, $10 per kg increasing to around $17. Any thoughts there in terms of, let's say, any firm contracts that we have with us in terms of the supplies for LiPF6? At what pricing are we getting them incrementally?
Yeah, Ankur, it would be difficult for me to talk about the contracts and the pricing, but let me tell you the context why this is such a—see, so far, we have positioned ourselves as an alternate supply chain and also delinking to some extent from the price which is prevailing in China. However, if the Chinese price itself goes up, as what we said earlier, then our overall target markets and the opportunity become very big for us. Okay. Particularly, let's take an example of Indian customers, okay, who always have an opportunity to import from China, and that option is available for them. In that context, now, if the price in China has gone up, then obviously they are better off procuring it from a domestic supplier. That opportunity opens up. Otherwise, buying from an alternate source always is a strategic decision.
Now, in view of this pricing, it's not only strategic, but it's also an economic decision. That, I think, gives a certain lift and creates a much larger opportunity for LiPF6. Now, coming back to the contracts, we have discussions going on with a very large number of customers globally. We have certain agreements in place, but right now, it's going through the qualification process, which takes some time. As I said earlier, we have reached the benchmark quality, and now the sample from the commercial plant is being tested by our customers, and we expect the sales to commence very, very soon now.
Now, sure, Mr. Kapoor, just one follow-up here. From a timeline perspective, by when should we see, let's say, the first commercial sale happening here? Just next to it is which geography is probably—I am sure we will be looking at multiple markets, but probably which one or two geographies will be the bigger ones from your addressable target markets?
It should happen in the next few months, Ankur, as early as that, because we are very, very close. In terms of geographies, there are not that many places which manufacture battery. Of course, geographies are going to be mostly non-China. Okay. That's all I can say right now.
Sure, sir. No worries. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-on telephone. Next question comes from the line of Archit Joshi from Nuvama Wealth Management Limited. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi. Good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. First question on the battery side of the business. Given that all three growth engines within the EV product space are near to commissioning or, let's say, commissioned, and we might have all three lines open for doing business, let's say, in the second half fully of the next calendar year, any number that we might be working with here as to what we might achieve in FY27 in revenue terms?
At this point of time, I think we had given a very broad number earlier, Archit, if you remember, primarily based on asset turnover and investments. It would be very difficult for me to give a very specific number, as it's a business which is in a developing stage. This is a new business with a very, very high potential. It's a great opportunity, and there will be some time to build up this business, but at the end, we expect this to be at a full-blown, the number that I had indicated earlier, with asset turnover of close to 2 plus with a healthy margin. Do you want to add anything? Okay. All right. Let me tell you that now what we have achieved is very unique. We have a commercial plant now in LiPF6. Our commercial plant now is an operating LFP.
I think it's the first LFP plant in India, and it's the first commercial plant which is, in a way, outside China, which is operated by a non-Chinese entity. I think that's—and also, our electrolyte plant is now in operation. Now, the process is to develop samples which are commercial samples and go through the qualifications. Unfortunately, in the battery material business, the qualification takes time because there are a number of steps. Also, apart from the qualification, it's not only on the product, but also on our audits, on our manufacturing capability, our quality control tests, etc. It's an elaborate process that we have to go through.
Thank you very much.
Understood, sir. Sir, getting a little more nuanced here, given that we've seen some delays in battery manufacturers in India, to have seen some delays in their ramp-up of gigawatt factories, are we targeting more export markets in the beginning? Would it be fair to assume that our business mix will be oriented slightly more on the export side to begin with?
Okay. I'll let Mr. Rajiv Rao answer that. Rajiv, please go ahead.
Yeah. We are looking at global markets outside of China. Our initial business would be focusing on export markets for our products. As the cell factories in India kick in the next calendar year, then slowly the Indian part of the business will start increasing as a percentage of our overall sales.
That was, Archit, always our plan. When we started this business, we knew that the Indian demand would take some time to develop. That is why our focus primarily was export market, and we have tremendous experience and expertise in handling export markets through our experience in fluoropolymer. We started—that has been the plan, and that is what we are following up at the moment.
Sure, sir. A bit somewhere on the CapEx front, if I may, I think we've done INR 575 crore last year. This year, it's projected to be INR 1,200 crore in EV. One is how much would have we done in the first half? Any number for FY 2027 within EV in terms of CapEx, and where would it flow into in which of the three areas that you would target during the CapEx and FY 2027? Thank you.
See, the CapEx that we had planned on EV, I think, is progressing well, and we'll give you a better estimate probably at the end of next quarter. The focus, of course, has been primarily on the cathode and the solid side because those are capital-intensive, and that's what our focus area is to expand on those product lines.
Sir, on FY27, would we have a ballpark number to work with?
We have not given the guidance yet, but it'll probably be higher than 1,200, maybe more like 1,500 approximately. Because what we had indicated earlier, Archit, is that we'll be doing close to INR 6,000 crore of CapEx in four to five years.
Right, right, right. Of course.
We'll follow up that plan. Next year would probably be almost close to INR 1,500 crore, maybe higher. We'll give you a better indication probably in our next call.
Sure. Thanks. I'll come back in the queue for more questions. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Dhavan Shah from Alf Accurate Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. My question is on the gross margin side for this standalone business. If I look at the quarter-on-quarter revenue, I think there has been a decline for both fluoropolymer and chemical segment. Also, you mentioned that during the quarter, I think you supplied the new fluoropolymer for the Semicon. Is it fair to assume that because of that changes in the product mix, we have seen the gross margin improvement on the quarter-on-quarter basis?
Yes, Dhawan. It's one of the reasons. We already stated that earlier that there are multiple factors which are driving it. One, of course, was the product mix. The higher-value product, as it becomes part of our product mix, it leads to better margin. There has been an improvement on the cost side as well, primarily driven by the cost of power. Okay.
Understood. Going forward.
Value-added product, yes. That has always been, and we stated in previous calls as well, that our approach has been to slowly increase or improve our product portfolio for high-value-added products and then improve the margin. This journey we expect to continue.
Understood. So this is the minimum gross margin we can expect in the next few quarters, at least, because the scale would also be improved for the new fluoropolymer. Then your additional 10,000 tons of R32 can also come on stream. Is it fair to assume that the Q2 gross margin is the minimum that you can maintain for the next few quarters?
Yes. I think it'll be better than what we have, and I would expect it to grow further. Yes.
Understood. Understood. What is the status of the 10,000 tons of R32 right now after the fire? Is it more or less on stream, and by when are you going to start the production?
We said that it's going to be 20,000 tons because that was our target by the end of this financial year, and we are on target. Because of the incident, yes, it gives us an opportunity to revisit and strengthen our plan from the safety side. It also gave us an opportunity to augment our capacity, and wherever we thought there's work required to reach to the 20,000 tons, we have done that. We expect the plan to start probably by the end of this month.
Sure, sir. The last one is on the battery CapEx. You mentioned that maybe next year we can do roughly INR 1,500 crore of the CapEx, that is at the minimum side. What are the funding plans over there? How are we going to fund, and by when can we see another round of funding?
Yes, Dhawan, I'll request Akhil to take this.
Sure. We are fully funded up till now for the CapEx that we have incurred. In fact, we have almost another INR 200 crore of term loan that has yet to be drawn. All the figures are as of 1st of October. That is being utilized for the further funding. If we are expecting to close on some of the sovereign funds that we discussed with you last time, we are fully funded for another up to $125 million, which would be incurred over the next six to nine months, perhaps a year. We will be raising money as and when we need rather than just keeping the money and putting it into treasury. That way, I guess the funding will follow the CapEx need of the company.
Understood, sir. Will there be any equity dilution in the battery business going forward?
I just think there won't be any dilution. Of course, as and when the funding is done, that time we'll come back to you in terms of the exact proportions and ratios. Most of them are convertible instruments, so we would not see any dilution happening now. Perhaps just before the IPO or at the time of IPO, there would be some dilution. We'll give you the details as and when the fundings are frozen and the documents are signed accordingly.
Sure, sir. Yeah. That's all from my side. Thank you, sir.
Thanks, Dhawan. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Krishan Parvani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Two questions from my side. First, on the battery chemicals business. Do you expect EBIT break-even in FY27? If not in FY27, then by when?
Yes. I think we expect it to happen in FY 2027. We should be able to reach that break-even point, yes.
Okay. I mean, not on EBITDA, correct?
Yes.
Okay. Great. Second, on the ref gas, do you intend to increase your R32 capacity beyond 20 KTPA that you have already announced to utilize your R22 co-entitlement?
Yes. Our plan is to maximize and take up to the level of our entitlement, which is 30,000 tons.
By when can we expect that?
I think we'll take that call probably a quarter from now once we stabilize and commission our 20,000 tons.
Okay. That 20,000-ton stabilization should happen by Q4 of FY26. Is that correct?
It's end of this financial year,
so next four months.
Yeah. And just a clarification on that, or rather a comment if you can. What sort of utilization level do you see for this 20,000-tons plan in FY 2027?
We expect it to be quite high because there is a demand-supply gap in R32, and we expect the market for R32 to remain quite healthy. We expect that to continue. Yes.
Fair enough. Thank you so much, sir. I wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you, Krishan. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Kaitan Gandhi from Gandhi Securities and Investment Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Sir, any reason for LiPF6 price going almost doubling in the last three months? Because corresponding price of the lithium carbonate has not gone up that significantly. It has gone up by 10% only. Is it because of the anti-involution or demand-supply gap or what else? I mean, can you throw some light? I mean, your thought will be helpful.
See, the pricing, of course, depends on the demand-supply. There could be multiple reasons, but what we see, one of the potential reasons can be the demand side. There is a demand for BESS, which is going up, which is for the ESS application. I think that's going up. What we also understand is that some of the plants who have been operating at, they were not really economically viable, have closed down. I think a combination of these two has led to that's for our assessment at this point.
In your understanding, it could be the new normal, the pricing of between $15 and $20?
Yes. In fact, if you look at it, last several years, the prices were always high, and it just came down in the last maybe 18 months or so. It has been on the lower side. We expect because the prices that were there earlier of $8 or $9 or $10 were truly not sustainable for the industry to grow. Okay? These prices where they are right now, we think is probably more sustainable in terms of the long-term growth of this industry.
I'll put it something else. I mean, if this price can give us the desired margin which we are expecting around this level?
It's hard for me to say. Now you're trying to extract my pricing from me. All I can say is that it will definitely be a good margin. Obviously, when we do our pricing, we make sure that since we are building a business, we would like to make sure that our price points are sustainable for long-term growth. The pricing where they are, I think, is probably approaching that.
All right, sir. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Anwer Gheddai from Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Good evening, everyone. My first question is on the battery business again. We spoke about we'll be initially focusing on the export markets till the domestic market develops. Is this only pertaining to the salt business or for our LFP categorizing?
It's for all businesses except electrolyte, Arun. We have currently four streams of product. One is salt, binders, CAM, which is cathode-active materials, and electrolyte. Electrolyte is mostly for the Indian domestic market. All other three, we are focusing on the global markets. We are targeting global markets for the three products.
Okay. Because one would assume non-China, the US is the biggest market for these components. And will US manufacturers be eligible for 45X credit even if they buy CAM from outside the US?
Yes. As long as they are complying to this new bill, which is called O3B, or the Big Beautiful Bill, once and we comply to that. Our customers, we believe, would be eligible for that in the US.
Can you explain what do you mean by we complying to that bill? What are the conditions or preconditions for those compliance?
One of the big conditions there is that the manufacturer should not be the entity which is the prohibited foreign entity. That is called PFE, okay, or have any influence of PFE. And the PFE has been defined as producers from four countries, and they are already named those four countries. India is not part of that. I think we are clearly a non-PFE or a company which is not even influenced by the so either specified foreign entities or prohibited foreign entities. We are neither of the two. We qualify with respect to that.
Before the Trump administration came, there were several, I mean, CAM manufacturers were trying to put a plant in the US. So we should be able to compete against those local manufacturers as well?
Sure. You want to add, Rajiv?
Yeah. I mean, the CapEx efficiency that we would have for an LFP CAM plant in India would be superior to ones that could possibly come up in the US. Therefore, our ability to compete with any potential suppliers of LFP CAM coming up in the US, we will be very much well-positioned in that aspect. We are confident on that.
Okay. I mean, does it answer your question, Arun?
Yeah. I'll come back later. A few more questions, but I'll come back later, sir. Thank you.
Yeah. I mean, you can always contact our IR team, Arun, if you're not able to come back today. Thanks.
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Darshita Shah from DSP Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, team. My first question.
Could you speak up, please? Darshita, we are.
Is it better now?
Yes, it is better. Please.
My first question, or actually a clarification, was regarding the CapEx for the battery chemical business. The INR 1,200 crore CapEx is on track for FY26, and then you said that INR 1,500 crore or more than that will happen in FY27, right?
Right. Right.
Got it. Okay. Second, on the working capital days, we have seen a significant increase in our working capital days over the past few years, 120 days in 2022 to almost 182 now. What is the reason behind that? One, and two, by when do we see this settling back to that 120 days levels?
Yes. I'll request Manoj to take a break.
The increase in the working capital cycle is essentially on account of we are building various because we have taken long-backdated numbers. 120-180 days has essentially happened because we have developed our new fluoropolymers business. The inventories we stock at USA and GMBH, Germany and USA, and sell from there. That has increased the inventories. Secondly, the EV business also, we are continuously manufacturing and sending the samples for the approvals. That has also increased the numbers. 120 days is something which is an ideal number. We wanted to reach there, but it will take some time once the operations start for all the EV business as well as the new fluoropolymers business to the full volumes at the full capacity.
See, with the focus and large part of our business is export market, Darshita. Because of the business model that we are following, where we are maintaining our depots there to store material and supply on demand, because of our business model, this number appears to be higher for us than maybe some other companies who operate in chemical space.
Got it. At least for the fluoropolymers business, maybe this will sustain for some time, I'm guessing, given that this is the business model.
Yes. It also depends, Darshita, that as the domestic market develops, for example, we would see this number coming down. Or when we have a larger chunk of our product mix changing, for example, with more battery materials coming in. It depends on the type of businesses and the model that we have at the moment. Okay.
Got it.
From our side, of course, our effort has always been to bring it down. We had brought it down. In fact, the last quarter, it was, in fact, March, we had a very low number of days. It has come down. Now it has gone up in the recent time. A lot of it has to depend. The recent increase that we see of seven or eight days has a lot to do with the, because there has been a, because of tariff, some of the decisions of the customer got put on advance because of that, the inventories have gone up. Okay.
Got it. Given that, initially, we'll be looking at export market for the battery chemical business. Would the working capital day be in line with what we are seeing for the fluoropolymers business, or will it be better? Any sense on that?
I expect it to be better, Darshita, because part of it is that battery chemicals, the battery material business is normally on the long-term contract business where the material is supplied in at least the term that we are talking about with a lot of our customers is FOB. Okay? There we'll probably not be following a similar model like fluoropolymers where we maintain a stock in our regions, whether it's Europe or North America.
Got it. One last question on any incremental volume growth that we are seeing because of the legacy player exiting in the US market. I mean, have you seen the inventory that there was existing of the legacy player kind of dwindling down now, or is it the same as it used to be?
See, the growth that we have always been talking about, Darshita, accounts for exit of these legacy players. That was the basis of at least one of the bases of which we have been projecting 25% growth in our fluoropolymers business. That is still continuing because that legacy player that we talked about earlier, the stock is coming down. It is leading to impact on some of our new fluoropolymers business, yes.
Okay. Just one last question on the CapEx for the fluoropolymers business. Any guidance for FY 2027?
I think we can give that guidance probably in the next call after the three quarters for the next year. Right now, we are just in the middle executing what we have planned for this year in GFL.
Got it. Okay. Thanks. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Archit Joshi from Nuvama Wealth Management Limited. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the follow-up. I just have one question, slightly technical. The phosphoric acid requirement that we have for LFP or maybe even for LiPF6, is that fertilizer-grade, or is there a very high-quality phosphoric acid requirement? What are the sources if you can help with regards to P2O5? Thank you.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Archit. First of all, as far as LFP is concerned, we are not yet making FP, which is iron phosphate. We are importing iron phosphate, although we have a plan in the long run once we reach the critical volume is to do backward integration. The FP required there is not fertilizer-grade. It is battery-grade FP, phosphoric acid. Now, in LiPF6, we do not use phosphoric acid. What is used is BCL-5, which is a different route altogether.
Sure, sir. I was also asking this, given that China is the largest producer of phosphoric acid, and it comes as a part of the foreign entity of concern. Does our supply chain, by any chance, get affected because of that? Or if we, let's say, continue to import any raw material, for that matter, required for battery chemicals from these four countries, does that come in the way of our compliance with the US being that being a bigger market?
See, as far as the North American market is concerned, and if you're talking about the new bill, the issue there is primarily related to control. As long as there are suppliers who are available from outside, and as long as there's no control from any prohibited foreign entity on our supply, there's a compliance thus point. The second point is there is, of course, another condition which is based on the material value-added, that how much % is coming from specified foreign entities or the PFE. Okay? So it's a complex value-added calculation which is done. At the moment, of course, as far as phosphoric acid is concerned, there are multiple sources which are available outside China. That's not a problem. Of course.
Even for battery-grade, outside of China, the battery-grade?
No. Normally, what is typically done is that phosphoric acid is taken, and then it's purified to battery-grade.
That we do in India, the purification process?
Possible to do. Whenever we set up our plant, of course, we'll have to do that.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. Sir, the iron phosphate, where do we source it from? Or that's also not a concern with regards to availability per se?
Right now, of course, the source of iron phosphate at the moment is China. There are, in fact, as far as we know, there are no large capacities outside China at the moment for FP. There is not large capacity of LFP also outside China, outside the Chinese companies. I think it will develop. As we reach a critical capacity, I think we will look into developing. There are some other players who are planning to come on FP. It will evolve over a period of time, Archit. It is a very early stage. Some of these FP plants may not be economically viable at the volumes that we have at this early stage.
Simply speaking, right now, us importing iron phosphate from China would not come in the way of the compliance that you'd require to be able to take the.
Not really. Yeah.
Yeah. Got it.
Not really. Not at least for the next few years. Because this bill that we are talking about, the condition becomes more stringent progressively, okay, in terms of the value-add terms. So initially, it is 60%.
60%.
60%. Finally, after four years or so, it goes down to 85%. This becomes more critical. The leeway to import or add Chinese material becomes less and less progressively. It is possible right now, but a few years from now, it will be difficult to do that.
Thank you, sir. Thanks for answering.
As of now, we would comply. That's the simple answer.
Got it. Got it. That was really helpful. Thanks a lot for answering all of them. All the best for the future. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks a lot, Archit.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Rohit Nagaraj from B&K Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Thanks for the opportunity. Two questions. One is on the battery chemical side. Given that progressively the plants are coming to fluorosein commissioning, as well as the validation is going on, and FY27 also, there will be a few projects which will get commissioned, would FY28 be a remarkably scale-up year from the revenue perspective of the entire battery chemicals business? Just a broader thought. I do not want to get into number specific, but your perspective on the same. Thank you.
Yes, you are absolutely right, Rohit. In fact, because there is some time to build up business capacities, get the qualifications done, and then we will have the contract in place. The way we are starting right now is the initial capacity is to get the experience of commercial production qualification, and then subsequently, the next 2026 and 2027, we will be building up capacities, and we will see significant numbers coming up in 2028, FY28.
Okay.
Yeah. You're right. Absolutely. That's how we are planning to build this business going forward.
Got it. Got it, sir. Second question, in terms of the INR 1,600 crore CapEx, would that be completed during FY 2026? The need of asking this question is, would the depreciation and interest will start flowing in from FY 2027, or maybe the second half of FY 2027? Thank you.
Yeah. The capitalization will be averaged out during the year. So there will be a 50% impact on.
Capitalization.
As against the total capital.
Correct. Correct.
Perfect. That's it from my side. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. Thank you, Rohit. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. As there are no further questions from the participants, I would like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. I really appreciate the interest in GFL. As I had said earlier, overall, we are very, very well placed to capture growth across our business segments, largely driven by surge in demand in fluoropolymers and battery materials, and finally, R32 as we go forward. We remain confident in delivering our sustained growth and creating long-term value for all our stakeholders. Thank you very much. Thanks.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of B&K Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.