Ladies and gentlemen, good day and Welcome to the HFCL Q1 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. 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 this presentation concludes. Statements made during this call may be forward looking in nature based on management's firm beliefs and expectations. They must be viewed in relation to risk that HFCL's business faces that could cause any future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from what is expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Investors are therefore requested to check the information independently before making any statements or decisions. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal our operator by pressing star on your touch tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr.
Mohit Lohia from ICICI Securities. Thank you. And over to you
Yes, hi. Thank you Shruti and good evening everyone. Thanks for joining us today for the quarter one Q1 FY 2026 call of HFCL Limited. First of all, I would like to thank management for providing us the opportunity to host the call. From the management side, we are Mr. Mahendra Nahata, Promoter and Managing Director, Mr. VR Jain, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Manoj Baid, Company Secretary, and Mr. Amit Agarwal, Head of Investor Relations. Without further delay, I would now hand over the call to Mr. Nahata for opening remarks.
Thank you. And over to you sir.
Thank you Mohit. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I extend a warm welcome to all of you on HFCL's earnings call for the first quarter of financial year 26.
I trust you have had the opportunity to review our financial results, press release, and investor presentation which are available on our website and the stock exchanges. As we said in financial year 26, India continues its strong momentum as a hub for digital innovation and self-reliance. The government push on artificial intelligence, 6G readiness, and indigenous technology development is rapidly reshaping the country's telecom and defense ecosystem. The Department of Telecommunications, in collaboration with academia and industry, is laying the groundwork for AI-native 6G networks which are poised to define the future of ultra high-speed intelligent connectivity. HFCL is actively contributing to this national mission by developing information technologies for 6G in collaboration with premier academic institutions. These initiatives not only position India as a futuristic digital powerhouse, but also reaffirm HFCL's commitment to being at the forefront of technological advancement.
India's 5G rollout has made phenomenal progress in just 22 months since launch. 5G services now cover over 82% of the population with more than 470,000 5G base stations installed. While 5G coverage is still in progress, India has already achieved near universal 4G penetration, including villages. This swift infrastructure extension is a testament to the sector's agility and commitment to digital inclusion. Quarter one of FY 2026 marked a strong and encouraging start of the year with healthy momentum across our key verticals: Telecom, optical fiber cables, passive connectivity solutions, and defense. Emergence of hyperscale data centers and the progress in the implementation of Bharat has opened up very encouraging new business opportunities for HFCL both for optical fiber cable and passive connectivity solutions and telecom players. Modernization of defense software will also lead to increasing demand for defense products.
After nearly six to seven quarters of subdued demand in optical fiber cable business, we are now witnessing a strong resurgence in global demand. This renewed momentum beginning in Q1 of FY 2026 has enabled our manufacturing facilities to operate at optimal levels. Increasing business activity has translated into consistent and efficient plant operations, making a notable improvement from muted performance observed up to Q4 of financial year 2025. The revival in demand has led to a notable increase in revenue contribution from this segment, further strengthening our growth. Adjusted in the connectivity domain, our optical fiber cable business continues to remain a key growth engine for HFCL. During quarter one of FY 2026, we secured extra orders for approximately INR 300 crore and achieved extra revenue of around INR 210 crore.
This quarter also marked the onboarding of several reputed global customers along with repeat orders, reflecting strong customer satisfaction and trust in our offerings. We obtained product achievements from many leading customers, further strengthening our global footprint. Additionally, our high value fiber products are gaining significant traction, particularly in European and Asian markets, which are known for their stringent performance standards and competitive benchmarks. The global demand for high capacity fiber infrastructure is entering a transformative phase fueled by rapid growth of hyperscale data centers and next generation digital infrastructure. These applications require scalable high fiber count optical networks. With unprecedented increase in hyperscale data centers, we anticipate a sharp surge in the requirements for high count fiber cable, particularly intermediately bonded ribbon cables over the next few years.
I am pleased to share that HFCL has already strong order book for high capacity IBR cables with a very strong pipeline of additional opportunities under discussion. With a sharp increase in demand for icon fiber, particularly IBR cables, we are significantly expanding our manufacturing capacity to ensure that we are well positioned to capture a significant share of this high growth market to further strengthen our leadership position and advance diversity technologies. The Board of Directors in this meeting held in July 2025 approved expansion of IBR cable capacity from 1.73 million fiber kilometers per annum to 19.01 million fiber kilometers per annum at our Hyderabad and Goa facilities. This will enable us to meet rising global demand, particularly from North America and Europe where we already have orders from major customers.
With this planned expansion, our total optical fiber cable manufacturing capacity will increase from 25.08 million fiber kilometers to 43.36 million fiber kilometers per annum, significantly enhancing our ability to serve both domestic and international markets. This enhancement in capacity will make HFCL one of the leading suppliers of optical fiber cables internationally. This enhancement in manufacturing capacity of IBR cables aligns with our strategy to diversify our cable portfolio and reinforce our position in high volume international market segments. With the strong traction we are experiencing, particularly from international customers, we are confident that our optical fiber cable business is poised to more than double its revenue in FY 2026 compared to FY 2025. This growth reflects not only recovery in demand but also a success rate in the global optical fiber cable landscape.
HFCL is positioned well to link our passive connectivity solutions, which are playing a pivotal role in resolving last mile challenges faced by telecom operators. The offering includes integrated ready to deploy solutions for urban, rural, and enterprise networks. We are not only improving network efficiency and uptime but also depending on value across the entire connectivity ecosystem. On the passive connectivity solution front, we secured several orders across both domestic and international markets. As part of our long-term strategy, we're committed to have significant revenue from this segment of our product portfolio. HFCL is strongly focused on tapping the massive opportunities emerging from explosive growth of hyperscale data centers. Apart from icon fiber cable, we are also developing passive connectivity solutions specifically for data centers.
We expect to have significant increase in revenue from passive connectivity solutions business with data centers also, we also extended our cable reinforcement commission globally. We exclude orders from FRP rods to the U.S., Belgium, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia along with repeat orders for thermal FRP rods for international cable manufacturers. These components are critical in ensuring the structural integrity and durability of modern fiber optic networks, especially in challenging environmental conditions in the telecom equipment space. HFCL achieved a major milestone by successfully developing indigenous MPLS routers designed to support backbone for broadband and enterprise networks. The company is the only Indian manufacturer aside from Tejas to develop such routers. These next generation routers are engineered to deliver carrier-grade performance even under harsh environmental conditions, making them well suited for both civil including rural and defense applications.
We have already commenced commercial deployment of routers in a domestic market under real life traffic conditions, successfully validating their capabilities. HFCL has secured orders worth INR 650 crore for routers under the Bharat Safe Program and expect to receive significant additional orders as more states realize their implementation under Bharat program. While the domestic market itself presents strong growth opportunities, we also see immense export potentials for our routers given the global demand for secure, scalable, and self-reliant connectivity infrastructure. This reinforces HFCL's positioning as a technology-driven company. The robust future-ready product portfolio and our strategy to move up the value chain by offering smarter technology-led telecom products is showing strong results. We continue to expand our offerings across 5G and enterprise connectivity. Recently, we secured a repeat order of INR 175 crore for our indigenous 5G networking segment, underscoring our native India capabilities in the defense vertical.
HFCL made transformative progress during this quarter. We secured a landmark contract for thermal weapon sights for AK-203 rifles. This achievement highlights our R&D maturity, manufacturing capability, and adherence to stringent defense quality standards. Additionally, we are declared as L1 in a INR 90 crore tender for tactical cables which are deployed by army in battlefield conditions. These cables are a vital part of HFCL's high performance connectivity portfolio designed to ensure secure, resilient, and mission critical communication in demanding operational environments. We also signed three memorandum of understandings with UAV manufacturers to co-develop next generation unmanned aerial platforms with weaponized drones aimed at modern warfare, surveillance, and logistics applications. In parallel, we are developing a state-of-the-art blown detection radar with soft kill option which is expected to enter production phase within the current financial year. Trials of these products are currently underway with field plans expected to start shortly.
The product has already generated strong market interest given the rising need for autonomous aerial fleet management systems. Further, our electronic fuzes for artillery guns are also scheduled to undergo live testing in August by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) following the recent receipt of ammunition from Munitions India Limited. This marks a key milestone in our defense roadmap with production expected to begin soon after successful trials. We have signed three technology licensing agreements with DRDO, a compact Trans Horizon communication system, and multimode hand grenades, strengthening our role in providing high performance battlefield solutions. There also is advanced stage of securing technology transfers from DRDO for mechatronic fuzes, weaponized handheld thermal imagers, and contact airborne multi-sensor optical payload for UAV. We also applied for QATs for UAV, launched precision guidance missiles, and very short range air defense designs.
These developments reflect our deepening collaboration with DRDO and reaffirm our commitment to deliver scalable indigenous next generation defense technologies. The recent geopolitical conflicts and rising global security concerns have accelerated defense modernization efforts across the world. In India too, the government’s renewed focus on indigenization and advanced warfare capabilities has created opportunities for companies like ours. Our deep R&D capabilities, cutting edge technology solutions, and commitment to the requirements of Bharat mean we are strongly positioned to contribute meaningfully in the defense modernization journey and tap into the growing demand for defense products to further strengthen our brand and capabilities globally. HFCL showcased its defense portfolio at the 55th Paris Air Show, the foremost air exhibition in the world, held last month.
Our exhibits included artillery seizures, surveillance radars, thermal weapon sights, high-capacity radio relay systems, tactical communication and EWIS facilities, even witness significant engagement from global defense OEMs, delegations, and technology partners. These interactions have opened up several avenues for international collaboration and export opportunities in the coming quarter. Driven by these needs, our order book as of June 30, 2025, stands at INR 10,480 crore compared to INR 9,967 crore in the previous quarter and INR 6,776 crore in Q1 of FY 2025. Let me now highlight our financial performance. In Q1 of FY 2026, revenue stood at INR 871.02 crore compared to INR 870 crore in Q4 of FY 2025 and INR 1,158 crore in Q1 of FY 2025. EBITDA stood at INR 42.93 crore compared to -INR 22.33 crore in Q4 of FY 2025 and INR 185.37 crore in Q1 of FY 2025.
EBITDA margin was 4.93% in Q1 of FY 2026, - 2.79% in Q4 of FY 2025, and 16% in Q1 of FY 2025. Profit after tax came in at ne -INR 29.30 crore compared to -INR 83 crore in Q4 FY 2025 and INR 110.65 crore in Q1 FY 2025. Freight margin skewed at -3.36% in Q1 of FY 2026 compared to -10.4% in Q4 of FY 2025 and 9.55% in Q1 of FY 2025. Telecom product segment revenue contributed 66.35% of total revenue compared to 76.33% in Q4 of FY 2025 and 61.42% in Q1 of FY 2025. Q1 FY 2026 has laid a solid foundation for what we believe will be a breakout year for HFCL. With order inflows, expanding global demand of our optical fiber cables and IBR cables, and strategic wins in defense, we are witnessing the early outcomes of our strategic high-tech value-added solutions.
Our continued investments in capacity expansion, product innovation, and global partnerships are positioning us at the forefront of next-gen connectivity and defense technology. Looking ahead, we see clear tailwinds with accelerated execution of 5G densification, rising optical fiber cable demand, and expanding opportunities in indigenous design manufacturing, all of which provide strong visibility and momentum. We have entered the second quarter of FY 2026 with renewed confidence, a very healthy order book, and engaging profitability. HFCL's fundamentals are stronger than ever and we remain fully committed to creating long-term value for our stakeholders. Thank you once again for your continuous support. Ladies and gentlemen, now the floor is open for questions.
Thank you, thank you very much. We will now begin 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 five moments while the question queue is assembled. The first question is from the line of Balasubramaniam from Arinant Capital. Please proceed.
Good day. Thank you so much for the opportunities. My first question regarding data center, I think data center networking total addressable market, it's more than $1 trillion over next, yes, frame. I just want to understand how we differentiate ourselves in terms of network data center networking compared to our competitors because one of our competitors already making more than 20% of revenue from data center side only, so if you could share more light on that industry side and our company capability side.
Thank you. The world market for data centric is very, very large right now with the kind of hyperscalers coming from all over the world, particularly North America and Europe. The unprecedented growth, you know, which we could not have imagined probably six months ago.
Now these data centers need different kind of products, you know, servers and those kind of large capacity switches which we don't manufacture, but we supply to them in high capacity fiber optic cabins and also the passive connectivity solution product procedure which we are building now. Revenue from them would start in maybe another quarter from now. Our expectation with this growth for connectivity solution as well as fiber optic channel high capacity, high fiber count is again long term because this growth for data center is going to continue for at least five years. We already have secured contracts for major players and for the purpose of commercial confidence, we can't name them. We are also in process of now getting our products certified for passive connectivity solutions at data centers from these customers.
Customers remain the same and we expect that this TCS solution, pricey connectivity solution, is also going to give us reasonably good amount of revenue for data centers in the next financial year. Of course, traffic connectivity solution for telecom asset has already started giving us revenue. Our targets for revenue from passive connectivity solutions for telcos, telecom service providers, and other operators is about INR 450 crores in the current year. The data center would be on the top of that, whatever we do this year. Our real expectation for data center is from the next year for the [pscl] issuance they are getting from various operators.
I think we showcased drone data center electronic users at that Paris TIA show. What is the commercialization roadmap and are there any pending certifications or approvals?
Secondly, we got around INR 90 crore defense order, especially for thermal weapon sights and tactical cables. Realistic revenue contribution timeline, and is there any technology transfer risk with partners like DRDO?
Look, you know, revenue as I said earlier also on my last call, revenue from defense will start in this current quarter. Thermal weapon sights, tactical cables that we have already started supplying. In fact, in Eastern Command there is another tender which we had won and we have started supplying this INR 90 crore tender which we had declared L1 ordering. Eighty-three chips should be ensured soon that as soon as the audiences will start supplying, thermal weapon sights will start possibly supplying within this quarter. There are a number of products, you know, which will start supplying this quarter.
Yes, a number of products are going to be getting a few, one possible limited this quarter itself, electronic changes for which we have been waiting for a long time because emulation required for testing was not available, which are manufactured only by the government. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, it for more than six months. Termination has arrived for testing and testing will be conducted by DRDO in August. If the testing is successful, for which we are really hopeful because there were minor defects last time, we extracted large number of orders, we already even were approved. We are receiving large inquiries for export for this product. You have a very high expectation from electronics users. Of course, the drone detection radar is now included with the soft kill option, detection and soft kill option.
It is almost at the end of the left trial and we expect that field trial would start sometime late part of August. When the field trial is successful, you would offer it for production, which I expect should happen in this current financial year. As you've seen, you know how drones are being used in the war this time, whether it was operation or whether Iran, Israel or Israel, Hamas or Ukraine, Russia, you know, drones are the main weapon of warfare nowadays. Equally, what you need is anti-drone systems such as drone detection radar and also the soft kill options rather than the bag. As a system, you know, when you fill it again, you expect good demand opportunity for this not only in India but internationally also.
Okay sir, so my last question.
What is the current scenario for optical fiber and optical fiber cable prices and what is the status of inventory liquidation at global level operators?
What was the last time?
What is the inventory liquidation status at the global operators?
Okay, okay. Now you know the fiber prices. The fiber prices are ranging between, you know, INR 240- INR 250 per km. Yeah. Depending upon this fiber and whatever you're copying, you gender D5 or what we call D5, or it is generally used to positive to 50 degrees per km. The fiber cable realization crisis, you know, again depends, you know, is between INR 850- INR 900 per km. The cable is between INR 850- INR 900 per fiber kilometer. And fiber gives the rare fiber INR 240- INR 250 per kilometer. That is the price number three.
The inventory levels have now significantly almost finished. That is why you see this increased demand of fiber optic cables. Also, data center operators didn't have any inventory. They are all doing fresh processing. Telco's inventory is also almost finished now. There is a renewed demand has come up from Telco. As a matter of fact, we continuously receive more and more orders from our customers, which are, you know, the telcos or, you know, suppliers to telcos. Inventory levels are now gone
. Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Siddhant Singh from Green Portfolio Private Limited. Please proceed.
Am I audible? Can you bifurcate the difference order book and export order book out of total order book? Like how much is for defense and how much is for export.
Our export order book, just give me a moment. Our export order book today is here, just give me one second, about INR 400 crore. It's roughly about INR 400 crore. From different segments, it would be roughly about 10% of our total order book, which is INR 10,000 crore. The defense is about INR 1,300 crore, about, you know, give or take a couple of crore. For the finance, like which product is the highest contributing in order book and for which project we are taking highest order defense. You know, optical fiber, you know, sets for tactical cable is the highest portion.
Tactical cable followed by thermal weapon sights and operation and maintenance contracts are also there for the NFS work which we had, you know, done for the defense. We expect, of course, going forward with more and more products coming in our product portfolio, you really believe that, you know, these will really pick up for radars and figures and all those kind of things in next few months' time.
If we receive a very big order for any defense product, are we capable enough for delivery, like we have manufacturing capability categories to deliver huge number of orders right now, or we have to. We have put up a facility in Hosur for manufacturing defense products.
I think we are capable of delivering, you know, but we foresee the possibility of orders which we can get.
Again, you know, very large orders come all of a sudden, we are happy to receive. We can always increase our production facility. Anyway, for the foreseeable requirement, whatever we can get. You have a production capacity in Hosur. Certain things, you know, which we want to manufacture, furnish, we have applied for licenses and also we have got that for multimodal hand grenade, for example. That production will have to run at a different production facility because those involve explosives. For that, you require a large chunk of land and, you know, magazine and all that installed. For that, a separate manufacturing facility would be required. Let us first receive the clearances for that and then we will look at that. Yes, we are working on them and we expect good opportunities for ammunitions also, for which we'll be definitely establishing a separate production facility.
[For like we will start] getting revenue in FY 2027 only .
Look again. Let us assume that trials will be successful, which I hope August trial will be successful. If the trial of August are successful, then we can start getting revenue from the last quarter of the current financial year. Also because trial two or three months in starting production should not take two or three months also. Definitely if the trials are successful from the last quarter of this financial, we should start getting from three days. The orders are not going to be a problem, I can tell you.
One last question. We just like we right now announced that we are going to raise INR 700 crore.
Can you give the breakdown, like how much we are going to use as CapEx and where we will be going to use that? Second is that our promoter holding is decreasing every quarter. What is your take on that, like whether you are going to participate in those countries or we are going to dilute our ways?
First of all, you know, task, you know, you still not decided when to raise, how much to raise. All these things are still under discussion. It's just an enabling resolution. Now whenever we decide, you know, we would need of course to tap into the increasing defense opportunities, telecommunication opportunities, optical fiber cable opportunities. Majorly the major.
Ladies and gentlemen, the management line got disconnected. We'll connect them shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, the management line got disconnected. We'll connect it. Connect with them shortly. Please stay connected.
Sorry, the line got disconnected.
Yes sir, you can continue.
Yeah, next question please.
The next question is from the line of [Darshkar from Printer Capital]. Please proceed.
Hello, am I able to. Yes sir. Thank you so much sir. Just wanted to understand since you are saying that you know the demand is back again for the optical fiber cables. Where are these margins expected to be in the similar lines what we have seen in the last year which were around 14-15%. I just wanted your views on this from this quarter itself.
In fact, from July, which was the last month of the Q1, we started into that kind of a margin and for these margins with continuity of that level of roughly about 15% or so. Currently whatever orders we are executing, most of them are in that range of margin.
This margin reduction was purely due to the demand issue or was it something else also?
The decrease in margin was because of low demand.
Once your demand is low and the capacity utilization is lower with the manufacturer, they tend to start selling at lower prices, which is normal. It's a demand supply equation. Now the demand is up considerably. As a result of that, of course, prices have also gone up and buyers are also facing that capacity constraint in the sense for high quality cables or high technology cables. These are not, I'm not saying that demand has increased for run of the mill cables, which so many people manufacture. The cables which have been high technology cables, IBR kind of intermediately bonded ribbon cables as an example of 804 fiber or 728 fiber, not so many people are able to manufacture because they're highly critical in technology and quality. There the prices have gone up because the manufacturers are not so many.
At the same point of time, margins would also be better. Technologically these are different level of runs.
Got it. Sir, given the kind of capacity expansion also we are doing, looking at this demand which has obviously right now come up again, what is your view on these capacities that we are expanding and when these capacities will be, like this being this year or subsequent years?
Already in progress, there are a number of machines, for example, here buying 10 machines as an example, I'm telling you. What happens is they will come one by one being delivered. These are all current Austria. Austria, not Australia, Austria, Europe. They are coming one after another, one after another. Expansion is already in process, but it will be completed before the end of this financial year. It's not that capacity expansion will start one particular day.
It is already in process. The factory building is already there, space is already there. As the machines come here, sitting there, one machine is expected to arrive very shortly, maybe another two, three days or five days. These are continuous extensions, but still would be completed by March. Revenue will start appearing from these exclusives in the current financial year itself.
Final question would be on the number function. I have been hearing that we are doing a lot of things in defense with this new steel capacities also. Last quarter we have given somewhere 25, 30% guidance. Sir, where are we standing today and what kind of numbers will we see this year and the market?
I would still point, I believe that this year our revenue is expected to be 25%- 30% higher, about 25% higher than the last financial year.
As far as defense products are concerned, yes, some of the products got delayed, not for any of our fault. This was ammunition not being supplied by a government company, which is the only producer of ammunition of that kind today. It got delayed, otherwise revenue would have started appearing sooner. In fact, we have received LOIs for our products, also non-familiars, but they are not cumulating orders, which I expect to happen pretty soon. This is for export. Similarly, for multimode hand grenade, which we have got a technology from DRDO, we are in process of producing first hundred or so samples for qualification by DRDO and those are already under production. Once they are qualified, we expect to receive large number of export orders for multimode engineering also. Defense is a bit of a peculiar sector. Things take time.
If you get it, then you get continuous order. Similarly, as I can tell you, we have been shortlisted for upgradation of BMP-2, which is an armored personnel carrier.
Ladies and gentlemen, please stay connected. The management line was disconnected.
Hello.
Yes, sir, you can.
Madam, yes, hello.
Are you on the call?
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know up to what you heard. I don't know when it got disconnected. I don't even know till what time you heard
certain the LOIs that you had received from the.
We expect to receive orders very soon. What I was telling is, you know, defenseless time. Once it starts happening, it happens continuously, like [BNP2] orders. Tender has been postponed twice now. It is on 29th September. If it happened again and if we had won, we would have started seeing every chance. It's quite likely that once the order starts coming, then it's a continuous process. Correct?
Got it, sir. Of the INR 700 crore fundraise that we have enabled, will there be something for reducing the borrowings? Because right now interest, isolation, correct
current and details are being worked out. We will definitely let you know when we go to the final decision.
Okay, no problem.
Registration up to INR 700 crore, not for INR 700 crore. No problem.
We'll wait for your announcement, sir. Thank you so much and all the best for your subsequent workers.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is on the line of [Agman Shah from ISPN Ventures]. Please proceed.
Hello. Hi. Am I audible? Hello.
The line of management card disconnected. We'll be connecting them shortly.
Okay.
With the BFI network, it's getting connected and disconnected all the time, you know. I'm really sorry.
Yes sir, you can start.
Hi. I'm audible. Hi.
Yeah. Hello
. Yes sir. Am I audible?
Yeah, you're audible.
Okay. Thank you for having me this opportunity. I just had two questions. Sorry, I joined the call a bit late. I might have missed it. What's the capacity utilization of optical fiber?
We are operating, working at 100% capability for optical fiber. We are at 100% optical fiber cable. The capacity utilization has started increasing in the first quarter, particularly June month, and started May. June started improving. July the sudden improve and now reaching to almost 100%. Okay.
Thanks for last question. Just one day and station is based on Delhi NCR currently and the revenue potential from that. Okay,
Again I couldn't hear you.
Just wanted to know the progress on the Delhi NCR factory for terror and the revenue potential from that.
Okay.
We have already started producing. You know this, you know MW. The 5G FWT. We produced 16 integrated in there only which was ordered already. We have supplied roughly about INR 600 crore. Another INR 200 crore supply will start in another maybe three to four weeks. Router supply is out of production, has picked up from there, and supply would start. We had started in small lots already. The bulk production would start sometime in August. We will be starting bulk corridor. So router from that factory. The version is already on. Version is already on.
Okay. Okay, thank you. That's it for myself.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your question to two participants. The next question is from the line of Lakshmi from Kesma Wealth Private Limited. Please proceed.
Hi sir, I just want to understand what is the contribution of optical fiber in our total revenue mix and how much it is part of your order base.
As far as order this is concerned on the optical fiber, you have to understand they keep on coming. It never comes into a big number at once itself. It keeps on coming. We supply for INR 50 crore here, another order INR 50 crore on the same customer. It comes like that. In the capital products which we are making, total products, about 65% of the product revenue is the optical fiber cable of the product.
Understood, sir. My next question is you're talking about like passive solution for telecom and defense. Could you just expand on that? Because I'm not able to get that. What would be. Is it like optical or something like that?
What is.
What is passive solution? I could not understand. Yeah, yeah.
Passive solution for telecom. You're saying you guys are developing.
Oh, sorry. Yeah. Passive connectivity solution. For when you lay optical fiber cable, whether in a data center or in a telco network, you need refresh to lay down fibers. You need the joint inbox here.
If the manageable sign got disconnected, please stay connected. Connected.
This time I give my mobile number. She calls me on my mobile number. There's some problem with the BSNL online, you know.
Yes, sir, we have the management on the line now.
This passive connectivity solution is the material which does not need electricity but is necessary for keeping the optical network in place, like jointing boxes, the wind holes, manholes, optical splitters, and those kinds of things.
Okay, sir. If I could see one more question, sir. Basically, how much revenue are you expecting for this financial estimate?
Particularly revenue, I would say of the total order. We have got roughly about INR 5,000 crores, out of which about 30% of that. Here, I would say, but no, 30% cannot be. It would be about in the range of about INR 1,000 crores. Maybe it may be INR 900 crores, you know, something around that.
Okay, sir. You're talking about the night vision thing, about INR 45 crores, which you said supply will start in Q2 in previous one quarter. Is it going to happen for this particular quarter? Yeah.
We are trying our best that it should happen in this quarter itself. We are trying our best.
You got approvals done, sir?
All approvals done. All approvals done. And then all the other receipts. All approvals done.
Okay, sir. That's it from the sector. Thank you, sir.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Deepesh from Manya Finance.
Am I audible?
Yeah, audible. Right.
Yes, sir. Just one question. What is the succession planning?
Succession planning. That I am still young enough.
Yes, we hope that you know for the next many years. We feel, just as shareholders, just want to know about if there is any.
We want to completely professionalize the company. You know that it would run by professional CEOs and professional business heads already. You know, company is run by business heads for different business verticals. In future, we expect shareholders to just close a shareholders role and company run by professional CEOs. That is the way we are planning now.
None of the next generation of the Nahata families are planning to join the business.
They are planning to join the business, but from the perspective of a shareholder, not as a day-to-day running of the company.
That should be completely professionalized, you know.
Ladies and gentlemen, please stay connected. The line got disconnected. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the patience. We have the management connected.
Yeah. Now you are on the mobile. Hopefully, maybe this time it will not get disconnected. Now I'm not on mobile. Next question.
Yes, sir. Planning. I just wanted to understand, the next generation is actively part of the business or they just will be part of the business.
They will actually participate. Of course, they will actively participate. One is day-to-day operations. What is the production, what is the production value, what is the quantity, who has been delivered which, how much is purchased. Those should now be left in a professional field. The next generation should work focusing more on strategy, more on the policy, more on the outside environment, management, building relationships with customers, those kinds of things, not to handle the day-to-day operating issues. That's the way it is going to be.
Right?
Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. We hope to see you, sir, for a very, very long time. Yes, sir. Just one, if I can add this one question. Revenue degrowth actually end and when will you get the true realization of the huge order book which we are having
for the order book is continuing, you know, it's continuing. Of course, I think, you know, Q2 would be better than Q1. Of course, Q2 would be better. EPC revenue would go up, etc., revenue would go up, and revenue from optical fiber cable business will also go up. It's a more capacity utilization happening now. The original reaction is already there, but it is going to increase from in this quarter and the quarter next even further.
Now just wanted to understand how much your revenue degrowth actually end because it's the year on year average revenue.
Because.
This is a major region where the optical fiber cable revenue going down for last three years, you know, optical fiber cable revenue, what we expected to happen. It was 40% of that. Otherwise, the revenue would have exist like that was not easy. In our case, that happened all over the world. Whether you take Corning, whether you take GCN, OFS, whoever you take, everybody revenue has gone down the last week.
Okay, thank you so much sir for the clarity and all the very best to you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Pankaj Kapoor from Kapoor and Company]. Please proceed.
I was there in the queue. Maybe the queue is long and the intermittent discussion was also there. I don't know what has happened. Firstly, when we look at our consolidated revenue for the telecom product, although the revenue rises, there is a revenue increase by INR 92 crore. The contribution to the profitability is 30%. That is INR 29 crore. What goes into the telecom product specifically when we consolidate our numbers,
one is of course the fixed wireless terminal province, the animal which produce. These are some of the telecom products which produce. You have a lower profit margin. The profit margin fiber optic cable, which is also part of the product, only has been higher, much higher. United States about 15% or so. The telecom electronic products, the margin has been lower. This is how it is.
We have also seen the promoters' stake also coming down over the last two financial years. That is through the open market selling, especially through your entity. What should investor agree into the gradual reduction in your stake in the company? Again, we are coming with a QIP proposal. That will again further dilute our holding going ahead. What message are you giving to the investing community by these frequent—
First of all, yes, the QIP proposal is still—it's enabling. We are not deciding that whether we are going ahead with the number. If you look at some other states, if you look at in last few years, just don't look at one or two years, promoter check has gone down by 1 crore 92 lakh share, 47 crore of share, all share promoters hold, which is not a very big number.
Promoter also needs sometime money for personal use, including the social use also, charitable purposes and all that. Still promoter and substantial holding. Substantial holding is still there. More than 31% holding is there. Promoter always has the option to increase. Earlier we had the purchase chill from open market, which was of course informed the stock exchange. Whenever we did that, we subscribed to warrants also if we need to be. We can do that in future also. I'm not saying that we would do that or not. We can do that also. There is not a very substantial reduction. 1 crore 92 lakh here on overall basis data for last six or seven years is not such a big number. Money for personal purposes also.
As the market cap has gone down, the investor interest is also lower, and these all create depressions for the market because it takes sense from you when you up your stake at that time three years ago and today your stake from 35% to 31% in a span of just two quarters. Do speak volume, sir. This is my understanding, sir.
Not because of that,promoter has sold the share for the market. Share prices cal down earlier on, they did not sell it. You know, has got any relation to the market scam? I think so many companies' promoters in the country have sold their cake. Some stakes have been sold because if promoter needs money for some personal reason, what does he do? Where does he bring money from? I'm not going to send the money from the company or anything.
Only second point, and my salary is not enough to take care of some of the needs which may be there. You know, what do you do? You tell only your kids to get money now, whereas you'll get money from.
When you say that this is a breakout year for the organization in your press release, you have alluded to the fact, written it, that HFCL, this will be the breakout year. What, what, what, what according to you is breakout year for an organization? In terms of profitability or revenue? Where are we?
Quarter on quarter, revenue will keep on increasing, number one. Number two, defense will start really showing revenue coming up, which we have been trying if you got three years. This year, now the defense has started showing revenue. Factory has been commissioned for defense products.
More number of different products we are adding in our portfolio, including technology transfer from DRDO. Maybe if we say, there may be some catholic task from some current partners also, maybe, so all this would really, really mean that new fields of revenue would start happening. Revenue pump data center, you know, which was never there, had started happening in optical fiber cable. They will develop revenue from data center for connectivity of the solutions also. New revenues in different services, new revenues in data center fiber optic cables. All this would make it a breakout year.
Lastly, sir, as you mentioned that revenue will grow, in the trunky context, can we expect now the losses to mitigate? In the last two quarters, our PGT losses have moved up to INR 100 crores.
Yes, yes, yes it will happen because you can see revenue particularly increasing. This is definitely going to happen.
Okay. As a year as a whole, what should we look, sir, for the company business performance? Please allow me to conclude. What I was trying to understand is for the year as a whole, company business, that is the EPC part, how will that be shaping up and whether the bottom line will be positive? Yeah,
Overall you can look for about 25% overall. That is what our best estimate is, that there should be 25% of the company in the current financial year. Now, how much you can bring in EPC, how much it will grow in defense or, you know, products, very difficult to say, but at least it will grow. Also, I can tell you fiber of the cable business, it will grow by 100%.
That is our current estimation. You know, last year it was INR 700 crore. This year we should be reaching to INR 2,400 crore. Okay. Okay. Expected revenue of optical fiber cable. In my opinion, more than 50% of that is going to be exports. Okay. Okay.
I had just one more part of the rights issue for Exicom, sir. So we will be participating? No, HFCL is a shareholder, HFCL, and we hold 36%. So we will be participating to the extent of our proportion to the issue.
No, no, we are, no, we have already said that we are not participating.
Okay, thank you, sir. All the best to the team, sir, going ahead. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhil Purohit from Fident Asset Management. Please proceed.
Hi sir. Am I audible?
You're audible. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, what is our defense facility utilization right now? What do we target by the end of this year?
You just started, so I wouldn't say there is any % to that, you know, it just started, you know, so Q1 we would be starting producing this, you know, thermal weapon sights are there. Multi mode had to be made. If you get order, we will not produce it there because right now we don't have license for exclusive. Once you get exclusive, like you will have to produce at a different facility, not existing. It is just charging. I won't put a number at this point of time to that.
Okay, not for the end of the year as well, right?
No, not at the end of the year, not at this point of time. Yes, in this quarter I should be able to give you some number.
Got it. Okay. Out of the INR 10,000 crore executable in, how much for this year?
This year in term, out of this particular INR 10,000 crore particularly I think INR 3,000 crore should be executable in the current year. More number of orders are being issued which has to be executed in the current year itself, particularly optical fiber cables, for example, where you see small orders like INR 40 crore, INR 50 crore, INR 30 crore and which we keep on executing. Out of this INR 10,000 crore, it should be around about INR 3,000 crore. INR 3,000 crore.
Okay, got it. What is the PLI we are expecting for this year?
We are not expecting any PLI.
I think Q3 FY 2025 we had talked about some PLI around INR 40 crore, INR 50 crore in FY26,
but we could not reach to that level of, you know, commitment we had made in terms of, you know, the revenue from indigenously manufactured products. We really could not reach to that level. It is a stage that we resisted high number in the beginning, we should be projected lower numbers. You would have got realized, you know, there no bar on projection, lower number we thought we should be able to do more but there was not so much of demand for indigenous manufactured income products and I is not a part of that PLI list. It is unfortunate that we did not get any PLI and nor do we expect anything in this confines here. Okay.
Okay. What will be the CapEx for this year?
For this year.
Give me a minute, I'll come back to you before we end this. Roughly I think currently about INR 250 crore. You know because about INR 130 crores going in IBR cable itself and something will go on optical fiber facility and probably about INR 250 crores in the full year.
Okay, got it. Just one last question. You mentioned INR 2,400 crores this year from INR 1,200 crores last year. Could you give an estimate for the defense sector as well in the defense segment? What revenue.
Maybe if my current estimation, if you pick from me, my best estimation could be leading to about INR 200+ crores. You know, INR 200+ crores, something like that. These are very much some of the head estimate I've given you because I must answer your question. About INR 200 I would say.
Okay, okay, we stick to the 15.
What's the margin guidance for you?
Margin?
No, overall. Overall.
Overall margin level here, it's in optical fiber cable I expect to be about 15%. In turnkey it is about 6% to 8% or sometime little bit more environment or you know overall 6% to 8% is the intensity. I would say those are the kind of margins, different product, product time to time, situation to situation. Like last quarter the C margin was very low.
Okay, okay, got it. Thank you. Those were my questions. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhishek from Neste Wealth LLP. Please proceed.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Just wanted to have your understanding. On last financial we did a revenue of INR 4,064 crore and this quarter we are at INR 871 or INR 869 crore, something like that. If we assume 25% growth rate, we have to do around INR 4,200 crore in this nine month period, which is approximately INR 1,400 crore per quarter. Are we on it?
Yeah, we are on it. I am not saying that the Q2 which is INR 1,400 crore, but Q2 would definitely be better than the Q1 and every quarter will be increased and I'm quite confident that 25% increase in the revenue would be here.
Looking at the orders of itself and the kind of orders we have achieved, we should be able to reach out of the INR 10,000 crore, INR 3,000 crore should be executable this year itself when there will be more orders coming up in the current financial year. I don't have any reason to believe that it could not increase by 25%
In Q2. Can we expect Q2 to be profitable or EBITDA positive?
At this point of time it's too early to say, but revenue is going to be definitely far better. With the increase in revenue, definitely marginal costing and overall overnight per unit of revenue goes down. I will give any guidance but yeah, it would depend on the current quarter.
Okay, thank you. Coming to the DRDO feed part.
If we are able to be the test and all the audio is able to be the test and best cost, how early can we have the order flow provide? Because last time you had mentioned that we had confirmed orders which were wanting certificate from DRDO
He had order of INR 700 crore for export. It was confirmed but the testing could not happen. It was not our fault because ammunition was not supplied by government and this order had to go and nobody would wait for us. Now you have got that ammunition testing is to take place in August and hope that would be successful. No reason not to be if it is successful here. There is plenty of orders will be there for electronic features although it's not going to be a problem.
If the taxi is successful, which again I believe we should dispose such a complicated product and technology from DRDO. There is a reasonably good demand. I don't know at this point of time, we have not gone to the market aggressively selling this product. We have got alloys from one or two countries for buying multiple handed grade. Once the testing is over, then I will.
Okay, okay. One more, one last thing on the DRDO, a few stress part. Let's say it doesn't come to the expectations of DRDO. How long will we have to wait for the next round of evaluation?
First of all, I don't think there is any reason this time that it will not come to the expectation of DRDO. Last time also, out of some, how many cases fired, only one type had one small problem.
There was a remark in the margin. We don't want to go with that remark to the market. I don't think there should be any problem this time in finally certifying the product. If it doesn't happen, this time emergency deliveries would not be sold yet. Two to three months' time.
Okay. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. That's it from the side.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of course from [Anders Asante]. Please proceed. Hello.
Hello.
Yeah, right.
Am I audible? Yeah, sure. So my doubt is
We can't hear you. Your voice is going up and down. You know, your voice is going up and down.
Hello, am I audible now?
Yeah.
So out of order report for INR 10,000 crore, how much is from EPC?
And just give me a check in out of that. About INR 6,400 crore will be for EPC. And how much are you expecting to convert into the realization in this year? Look, you know, out of this total INR 10,000 crore, I am seeing about INR 3,000 crore will be converted into this year. Now the EPC of INR 6,494 crore, I would say INR 2,008 crore, something like the INR 100 crore should be convertible.
Okay, so which means around INR 1,000 crore would be from our products.
So it
Are INR 10,000 crore, you know, but there would be more order filling it.
Okay, okay. And sir, on the, on the, on the optical fiber cable. So we are already around 100% utilization. When are we expecting to get the additional, additional this capacity as we are doing
Look, you know, additional capacity has already started coming in. Has already started coming in. When I say 100% capacity utilization, it has really started picked up from the month of July. You know, as I said, was better. July has even been better. You know, there are so many different kind of cables we produce. Not that every cable you produce is 100% of capacity, somewhere be less than 100% also. Overall, you know, we are reaching to. You know, again, you have to realize one more thing. You know, I am being never too technical.
Can you say 100%? There is always a variation between installed capacity and capacity which you can produce. Installed capacity, people come in, a same type of cable being produced continuously, which doesn't happen in real life because, you know, cables, customers, venue requirement keep functioning. The real capacity becomes about 80% of the installed capacity on the single cable basic. You have to take that 80% and 100% from where you have to go on. Right now in July month, you know, we should be, you know, receive about 80 of that 80% because that 80% is a real capacity thing. The expansion capacity has already started happening and it will be fully completed by March.
So we are confident that we'll be able to do INR 2,400 crore from the correct?
Absolutely, absolutely confident.
Fiber optic cable division with all its connectivity solutions and all put together would definitely expected to do INR 2,400 crore. You know, these are going to be a big kicker system. Fiber optic cable going to be doubled in last year. Defense production is going to start. We have got large orders from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. We have got started producing MPLS routers. We are the only second Indian company to do so after phases to produce routers indigenously. We got orders of INR 650 crore for routers. More orders are expected. You have supplied INR 600 crore worth of locally designed to produce 5G products unlicense radio. You know we have se half a million thing now not in this year but overall half a million. All these are big pickers this time in the current financial year for our company.
Thank you. Due to time constraint, that was the last question. Investors can directly reach out to the Investor Relations team for further questions. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you very much to all the investors and the participants on the call. I really appreciate your time and effort. You're amazing joining our call and thank you very much. Thanks alot
On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your line.