Good afternoon and welcome to the Q1 FY 2026 earnings call of Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited. My name is Manish Agnihotri and I'm the Company Secretary. I have along with me Girish Aggarwal , Managing Director, and Santosh, CFO. Before we start the call, I would request everyone to keep themselves on mute and only when you are called out to speak, you should unmute yourself. We will start with the opening remarks from Girish and then we will be opening the floor for Q&A. Over to Girish.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Our overall revenue this quarter increased by 2% year on year, largely because of robust growth of about 21% in the liquid business and 11% in the bulk business. Our container business broadly was flat or 0.6% lower. Overall, EBIT declined by 3% year on year with EBITDA margins at about 59%. This was largely due to one-off expenses of INR 25 million and higher repairs and maintenance costs. Excluding the one-off expenses, EBIT would have been lower by 1%. In terms of outlook, we believe liquid volumes will continue to grow at a healthy pace of about 20% this financial year and bulk by about 25% in this financial year. Because of various geopolitical challenges, we will maintain our container volumes to be flattish this financial year.
As we progress in the year, I'll give you more commentary on it as more clarity emerges on tariffs, etc. In terms of overall EBIT for this financial year, we expect a 5%- 7% overall growth on the EBIT year on year. I will pause here and take your questions.
Yeah, Deepesh, please go ahead with your question.
Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thank you very much for the opening remarks. Just had a question on the container outlook. If I recall, last quarter we were speaking in terms of 3%- 5% growth, but this quarter it seems like a downgrade in the guidance to flattish for the year. Maybe if you could help us understand what is driving this flattish growth outlook despite a very low base which we had last year.
Yeah, Deepesh, fair question. Essentially, it's on the basis of the geopolitics that we are seeing as well as the 50% tariffs announced. We believe the retail segment, the garment segment, at least at this point in time, will be negatively impacted, and hence we are kind of giving a muted guidance on the container volume. Let's see how this develops, and then maybe as we move forward in the year, we'll get more clarity. At least, you know, what we are seeing based on the 50% tariffs by the U.S. government, we believe it will have a negative impact on our retail garment growth export.
Export. On the same point, if you could clarify what is the kind of exposure which you have to the U.S.-bound trade or imports from the U.S. for that matter, basically the India-U.S. trade, what is your exposure to that trade lane for us to help us understand why this, how this plays out actually?
Yeah, so overall, I would say roughly 13% is something that is at an exposure based on the service. I mean, there's no commodity split that I can give you. I don't touch the exact commodity split, but if I look at the service split that we handle, I would argue about 13% of our volume is U.S.-bound. It's not all retail, right? It is a mix of multiple commodities. That, I would argue, at least at this point in time, is the exposure. Let's see what really transpires. Also, we must understand that this is more the retail season. This is where the contracting happens. This is where everything happens out of India. The timing is also not very good.
If I've heard it correctly, it is 13%, right?
Yeah, yeah, 13%.
Yeah, great. For the financial EBIT guidance which you mentioned, could you please repeat the numbers? The line was very distorted.
5%- 7% growth.
5%- 7%. Okay. Okay. The typical realizations which you guide or which you have realized during the quarter, if you could help us with those figures.
The realizations have stayed more on the same. For container, it is in the range of INR 9,000- INR 9,500 per TEU. For bulk, it is INR 550- INR 650 per metric ton, with INR 600- INR 650 per metric ton.
INR 600- INR 650 per metric ton. Okay. In terms of the raw volumes, I believe these are all export-bound. Are these also impacted by the tariffs in any way, or are these for different markets altogether?
Different markets are not impacted.
Okay. With respect to given that the container volumes are slowing down, right, you're looking at flattish volumes there, and liquid volumes are growing very fast. Does that mean that the margin outlook will also be under pressure, or is it that the weakness in container is offset by a very high margin liquid business?
Yeah, it's offset by both high margin business of liquids and RoRo .
Both. Okay.
I'll maintain a 60%- 61%. I mean, let's say 60%, 61% overall annual EBITDA margins.
Okay. Okay. Any color on the bulk volumes? How is that shaping up or how do you expect it to shape up?
Bulk, we are keeping a flattish summary. Essentially, this quarter was a little low. I mean, this Q2 will be good. This is the fertilizer season. We're seeing a robust fertilizer import. Overall, we're still maintaining a 2.25 million- 2.5 million metric tons of dry bulk.
Okay. Of dry bulk. One last question before I fall in the queue, sorry. The vessel positioning or the services calls at GPPL, right? Last year, we had this big impact of Red Sea capacity being pulled away from non-East, pulled away into the East-West routes, particularly the U.S. and the Europe routes. That led to some of the vessels calling less at your ports. How is that vessel call scheduling shaping up?
So far, everything looks okay. Again, with the tariffs, a lot will depend on how these tariffs play out, Deepesh. China is still, I mean, it's just got another 90-day pause. We see a lot of inventory buildup in the U.S., whether the U.S. will continue to buy out of China. Excuse me. Sorry, you are, I think, on camera. We'll have to do a little bit of a wait and watch here. As of now, I think broadly similar. We haven't seen any further impact of moving out of vessels.
Okay, that has stabilized at least for now.
Yeah, for now, right? Let's see. Now is the 50% of India and has to take pause in China. Let's see what happens.
Yeah, cheers. I appreciate the color you've provided. Thanks very much. I'll fall back in the queue.
Thank you, Deepesh. Mr. Ketan Jain, please go ahead with your question.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Am I audible?
Yes.
Sir, my first, I wanted to understand what would be the revenue share as per our current concession, which we pay to the Maritime Board currently?
We don't pay a revenue share to the Maritime Board. It is based on the volume handled and the way buckets are turned on commodity to commodity. It's the published number, and then there's a concessional royalty to us.
Can you just give a percentage, like out of the INR 9,000 realizations for a container, what would be the percentage just around?
I'm not able to give you a percentage by business stream, and it will not make sense also because metric tons is different, latent is different, 20-foot is different, 40-foot is different. These are published numbers on the web. I think by Gujarat Maritime Board, any which way you can figure that.
Understood. I just wanted to understand in the case of the concession extension, what is the more likely road still, the Maritime Board extend with a higher royalty or put the asset for rebidding? If it comes for renewal, how long do you think will it likely be extended for, 20 years or 30 years? Just some thoughts on these.
I don't know. I cannot give you any commentary on that. That will be left with the Government of Gujarat. We'll see as it comes out.
Gotcha. No estimates change or anything?
Yeah, there's always estimates.
We should.
There is no point in talking about estimates and our discussions that are happening. Those are all speculative in nature, at least at this point in time.
Gotcha. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Vilootpul Sawu, please go ahead.
Hello. Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes.
Thank you. Sir, my first question is with respect to liquids, the new jetty that is being constructed. What is the timeline you see when it can be commissioned?
November, December 2026.
Understood. AVTL has expanded the LPG handling capacity at your ports. Additionally, they have also announced an ammonia plant, and they are also building a railway gantry for liquids. Considering all of these, what is your outlook on liquid volumes for a slightly longer term, say 2027, 2028?
Oh, okay. This year, we will issue a guidance for this year, at least at this point in time, Nilotpul, which we said is roughly 20%. As we move forward, the capacity expansion for us and full VLGC handling capability will come to us by November, December 2026. I think you could expect, and this is a 3.2 million tons expansion, you could expect at least one-third of it to be operational, one-third to be in year one, and then expand gradually beyond over a period of time. You didn't also mention the Gorakhpur Kandla pipeline, Kandla-Gorakhpur pipeline. That also comes online within this year. I think overall, liquid will continue to see very robust growth.
Thank you, sir. One last question from my end. Can you give the CapEx guidance for this year and potentially for the next year?
CapEx guidance for this year, in general, overall, a large portion of expense of the liquid jetty, which we announced, $90 million will be expensed out this year. That's the max for major CapEx this year.
Okay, the major part of that will happen this year only?
That's in terms of CapEx, yes. Some part will be next year.
Understood. Thank you, sir. Those were my questions.
Thank you. Ajal, please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first question, if you could help us understand, I missed the initial couple of minutes. If you could talk about how the exim cargo growth has been for the West Coast, and have we seen a market share loss for the first quarter, sir?
West Coast, I think, has been a, I mean, the growth is largely in Maharashtra for quarter one, where GMPT has grown volumes by, I think, 6%- 7%. Gujarat overall volumes are sort of flattish. Overall, our share is similar in nature.
that you're saying from a YoY perspective or QOQ perspective, sir?
YoY.
YoY.
Okay. Understood. Given the number of what you mentioned in terms of our 13% of, I presume, container volumes you said from, you know, are exposed to U.S., is this a little higher than the peers according to you, or is this very much similar for the other ports on the West Coast?
It will be much lower. We have more import-heavy container volume. It will be much lower.
Okay. Got it. The other question I had, if I see from a container utilization perspective, you know, how do you see that going forward? I know you don't want to give a guidance, but broadly speaking, till the time you don't have a visibility on concession, does it mean that there won't be any further capacity addition likely on the container front? Is that a right understanding?
See, currently, we are not waiting for the concession to be extended. From an investment perspective, you already know that we are investing in a liquid jetty without any clarity on concession. Our priority one is to complete GP6, as we call it, which is November, December next year. After that, next year, as we get on with our analysis and assessment, we will try and understand how do we expand. There will be expansion on the container side, that's without a doubt. Whether it will happen before 2028 or after 2028 is yet to be decided. Our first focus is to do liquid jetty expansion. If it is needed, we will expand. We will not hold back CapEx as we have shown on the liquid side.
Fair point. Just last question, if I may, sir. In terms of the, you know, given the DFC connection is expected finally at JNPT by December or June 2026, how does it affect you? You know, what % of our services are also calling JNPT? If you could help us with that number, sir?
Yeah, I don't have that number handy. I can tell you the only services call both [Namasheva] and us. One of the WOC and vessels calls us and [Namasheva]. Some of them call, but the percentage, I don't have it on.
No, I'm just curious because once that is there, would discharging at or picking up at JNPT be a more lucrative or cost-efficient option given, you know, if these are destined for north?
Yeah, no, according to me, no, simply because the railway tariffs will be higher for [Namasheva] because the distances are higher than the north. If any exporter wants to discharge or, I mean, do imports export out of [Namasheva] and not us or Mundra, for that matter, it'll be more expensive for them.
Oh, I thought because of the double stacking, it will become a bit more cheaper than the, I mean, more optimal double stacking in JNPT.
We are also double stacked. There's no difference on that double stacking. All railway slabs are basis kilometers. If the kilometers increase, the slabs will increase, and one has to pay more.
Right. Sorry, I'm harping on this if I may, sir. I presume we are, like, you know, Mundra and Pipavav are unable to do the double stacking in the sense, you know, TEU on a TEU. Right now, it is FEU on a TEU as a double stack. Is that understanding right?
How does that matter?
In that case, the flexibility will be much higher to double stack all the TUs on TUs from JNPT.
I don't think so. I think you may want to check this understanding.
Sure, that's why I wanted to clarify, sir. No problem, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
[Deepesh], please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you so much for taking my question. My first question would be on the LPG expansion. When do we expect this LPG expansion by AVTL to complete, and then the rail gantry to come in? What I sort of wanted to understand is by when will we see LPG volumes picking up at our port? If you could also help me with the LPG volumes for this quarter.
Yeah. In terms of the gantry, etc., AVTL will be the best place to kind of answer that question. In terms of their cryogenic capacity, that has already gone live and commissioned, and those facilities are being used currently. They went live, I think, July. What's the other question? LPG volumes, right?
Sorry, the LPG volumes for the quarter.
Yeah, we don't really split between LPG and our liquids. The overall volumes are 417,000 metric tons for the quarter.
All right. You mentioned that you know it would be best to ask AVTL, but I just wanted to gain some understanding from you. Once the expansion is happening, only one of them is for rail gantry operational and then the pipeline connectivity to come in?
You broke up. I couldn't get your question.
Hello, can you please repeat your question?
Yeah, my question was basically that you mentioned that it would be best to, you know, consult with AVTL on when the capacities are coming online. I just wanted to sort of understand from a Pipavav perspective, once expansions do come online, how much time will it take for a rail gantry to be fully functional in terms of the construction portion and being able to get it up and running? Generally, what is the timeline that we can expect for this to follow?
No, no. Maybe the gantry will be built by AVTL. They are the best persons to answer that question. We only have to provide space, right? Please ask AVTL about this. I will not be able to answer a question on behalf of AVTL.
All right. Just lastly, on the pipeline, when do you think the pipeline should come online, the Kandla-Gorakhpur one, to come online and be up and running from Pipavav?
Our current understanding is Q3 this semester.
All right. Yes, thank you so much.
Thank you. Mr. Parimal Nathwani, please go ahead with your question.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, regarding your guidance, is it safe to assume that we'll be in a flat year? Will there be improvement in margins? Is it safe to assume that way?
Yeah. The guidance, at least where we are sitting today, I can surely state that our EBIT will expand by 5%- 7%. It should be growth on the bottom line. That's what our guidance is at this point in time.
Yes, sorry to repeat the same question. We've been asked a couple of times in previous calls. Regarding your agreement with Gujarat Maritime Board, I think it's now almost six, seven years. If you can throw out one certain status of this agreement because I think we've done a formal commitment in paper and all that. What is the real issue if you can just highlight? I know it's a ballpark. What do you think? Do you think we get the commission on time though? Because you're doing a CapEx, you're doing investment.
Are you talking about concession extension, Parimal?
Yeah, concession extension.
I can only say everything is going in the right direction and there are no red flags, right? I can only give a firm answer as and when I receive a firm answer from GMB . It is not in our DNA to go ahead and say something until I hear it from GMB , right? I can only assure you to say that all our discussions that are happening with GMB and other stakeholders are all going in the right direction. That is all that I can say at this point in time.
Okay, sir. Thanks. I'll hand it to you, sir. Thank you.
Okay. Anybody else has any questions? Mr. Ripple Kumar Shah, please go ahead.
I'm Chair Ripple Shah. Am I audible, sir?
Yes. Yes.
Yeah, I joined the call late. What is the progress on the expansion of our liquid jetty? How much CapEx have we done on that jetty, and the schedule or timeline for completion?
We will complete our liquid jetty in November, December 2026. In terms of CapEx, most of the CapEx will be expensed between now and end of this year. Some parts or majority will be expensed this year. We expect to complete the dredging by January, and then some part of the CapEx will happen next year.
All of it will be financed through internal accruals only, right?
Yes.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Vilootpal.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity again. Just wanted to check with you on the railway coefficient. We have seen it declining on a year-on-year basis despite DFC. Can you help us understand the reasons for the same?
I mean, there's a minor decline. It also reflects a little bit more increase in road traffic, which is Gujarat market. There's a little bit of expansion there, but there's nothing much to read into at the fees at this point in time.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Aditya Mongia, please go ahead.
Thanks, Manish and team, for the opportunity. I just wanted to get a slight bit better understanding of the liquid business. The assumption should be that you would be adding about 3 million in terms of capacity, which will be one-third utilized in year one, and year one could be full year, could be FY 2028. Am I right in assuming what I'm assuming?
Yes. I mean, what conservative. Let me just put it. This is a little bit conservative estimate.
Okay. Could you also give us a better sense of what are the, let's say with the pipeline coming in, with the customer being there, how strong is our mood to kind of keep on doing CapExes beyond this one liquid?
Sorry, I didn't understand. How? I didn't understand the question.
Given that the pipeline is coming in, the customer is a growth customer over here, how do you see CapExes happening on the liquid side beyond this level of CapEx?
Liquid, specific to liquid? Your question is very specific to liquid?
It is specific to liquid, yeah.
I think our capacity will be about 5.2, which I think in the near term or medium term is good enough. We may have to, I mean, one jetty will be fully VLGC compliant, the new one. The other one is partial VLGC compliant. What we may have to do is ensure that we have two jetties which are both fully VLGC compliant. That's what we will need to do. My expectation is at least in the medium term, we will have two jetties of liquid of about 6.4 million metric tons capacity for fully VLGC compliant. That's how I see it.
Understood. And. Sorry.
Go ahead.
That answers. Thanks. Just a clarification. On the new CapEx and on the new capacity, would the realization for your value addition be any different, or should one just extrapolate the INR 600- INR 650 realization incrementally?
I think the realization is also based on our mix. I would argue that as we move forward, our LPG will grow as a percent compared to the others. The expectation is that our realization will also grow beyond INR 600- INR 650.
Those were my questions. Thank you for your answers, sir.
Thank you, Aditya. Mr. Ripple Kumar Shah, you have some questions? Mr. Parimal Nathan, please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello.
Yeah.
Can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Sir, I just want to understand the Kandla-Gorakhpur pipeline. At what stage is it currently, and when do you see the exact benefits going to us as well as the DMCC, the dedicated freight corridor? How do you see that helping us going forward?
Your first question is about the KG pipeline, right?
Yeah, sir. Yeah, sir.
I expect, you know, at least what we hear from NHP is around Q3 of this financial year. In terms of impact, I mean, it helps in evacuation, right, and opens up also some other markets, especially Central India. We do expect growth of the LPG volume, and that's one of the big bases why we are coming up with this new liquid jetty.
Okay. Sir, with the dedicated freight corridor, is it going to benefit us in terms of margin-wise since it's coming near completion?
No, no. For us, DFC has been completed a long time back. We've been on DFC, we were the first one on DFC. There's no additional DFC coming. That's the DFC that we are on.
Okay. Sir, you maintain the dividend guidelines, right, which you didn't pay out?
Yeah, we maintain. We've already in the last call told you about the board's recommendation. We have our AGM on 4th September, and that's when we hopefully, if approved by the AGM, then we'll be announced.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you and all the best, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you once again, sir, for the follow-up. Sir, I just wanted to check, in terms of our port area, how much is already utilized by us as well as the leads you have given?
It's a good question, Ajal. I don't have it handy.
No problem, sir. The second I have, in terms of our total revenue, how much will be dollar denominated or dollar linked? Would that be 60%, 65%?
That's right. That's right. Because the container business is dollar link, and you know marine services, so 60%, 65%.
Understood. There is no further price hike or tariff hike we have taken since January, right? January was the last one, if I remember right.
You're right.
Got it. Whatever realization increase, what we are seeing is largely stable, actually, on a quarter-on-quarter, QOQ, basis.
QOQ.
Understood. All right, sir. Those were my two questions. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you, Ajal. Anybody has any other questions? It doesn't seem to be the case. Thank you very much, and have a good day.
Thank you, everyone.