Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Indraprastha Gas Limited Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call, hosted by PhillipCapital Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. 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 would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Nitin Tiwari from PhillipCapital Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Manav. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of PhillipCapital India Limited, I welcome everyone to Indraprastha Gas Limited's first quarter FY 2027 earnings call. Today from the management team, we have with us Mr. Kumar Shanker, who has recently taken the charge as MD of IGL. Congratulations to you, sir, and our best wishes for your tenure at IGL. We also have with us Mr. Mohit Bhatia, Director Commercial. Pleasure to have you with us, sir. And Mr. Manjeet Gulati, who has recently been appointed as CFO at IGL. Congratulations to you as well, sir. I shall now hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks, which shall be followed by a question- and- answer session. Over to you, sir.
Yeah. Thanks, Nitin. A very good evening to all of you. I am Kumar Shanker. As Nitin was mentioning, I have recently taken charge of Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas Limited. On behalf of the management team of IGL, it's my pleasure to welcome you all for our earnings call on these financial results of Q1 FY 2026-2027. Thank you for your continued trust and support, and for joining us today. As you all know, the quarter was challenging due to the ongoing geopolitical situation in West Asia, which impacted the global energy markets and created pressure on gas availability as well as prices.
But despite these challenges, IGL continued to operate smoothly and ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to all our customer segments. You will be happy to know that about half of our gas requirement during this quarter also was met through domestic sources, which helped us maintain gas supply reliability. Our company has continued to demonstrate resilience through disciplined execution and clear focus on our long-term goals.
Before we begin the Q&A session, let me briefly share some of the key highlights of our performance during this quarter. With our continued efforts, we have achieved average daily gas sales volume during this quarter at 9.66 MMSCMD , as against 9.13 MMSCMD in the Q1 of the previous year. Our overall sales volume of CNG, net of DTC and DIMTS, had actually increased by around 11%, with overall 9% increase in CNG sales in Delhi, and double-digit growth in all the other remaining three states.
In fact, you will be glad to know that in recent days, we have touched the peak sale of up to even 58 lakh kg in a single day, which is not only among the highest for IGL in its history, but also definitely the highest in the country for any CGD company in the country. Also, you will be glad to know that during this quarter, we have achieved the milestone of the highest-ever quarterly turnover of more than INR 5,000 crore. As far as our CapEx, we continue to invest in expanding and strengthening our PNG infrastructure, and our domestic PNG customer base has already reached around 35 lakh plus connections, while industrial and commercial connections stand today at approximately around 13,600 connections.
With the planned expansion of our pipeline network and CNG stations through our ongoing capital expenditure, we believe it will support our company's long-term and sustainable growth. During this quarter, the company reported an EBITDA of INR 296 crore and a profit after tax of INR 186 crore.
Despite higher gas costs and supply challenges arising from the global situation, we remained profitable and continued to maintain stable operations during this quarter. We believe the long-term fundamentals of CGD sector remains strong. With our growing infrastructure, expanding customer base, and disciplined approach to our business, we remain committed to creating sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Now, I would like to invite our Director Commercial, Mr. Mohit Bhatia, to share his remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Kumar sir, the MD. Good evening, everyone. I am Mohit Bhatia, Director Commercial at Indraprastha Gas. I would like to, first of all, welcome all our investors, analysts, and the members of the financial community joining us today. Thank you for participating in our earnings conference call for the quarter ended June 30th, 2026. Let me get the opportunity and privilege to share the key business developments during the quarter.
First and foremost, to secure the proper, robust infrastructure in NCR and in particularly Delhi, pleased to inform that we have recently commissioned a new one more city gate station at Rohini, Delhi, which will improve the overall supply network and strengthen the infrastructure. We have already submitted our concern for the authorization for the remaining areas of Gurgaon and Faridabad, and have technically started the technical feasibility studies for the development of both these geographical areas.
We have also commenced the LNG operations, that is the first and the foremost in NCR region, in association with CONCOR, and had commissioned the newly operational CNG station at the prestigious Noida International Airport, along with the PNG in the forecourt area. Going forward, we are also pleased to inform that we have engaged with Indian Army in a nation building exercise to explore the opportunities to meet their integrated energy requirements in our geographical areas in their cantonments.
As our Managing Director has highlighted some of the points related to geopolitical situation and also financial performance of the company, let me add some perspective from my side on the company's performance. Overall, the sales volume increased to about 6% as compared to the last quarter of the last year. If we look from the perspective of Delhi NCR CNG sales, yes, it has grown by 9%, as the managing director emphasized. Barring DTC and DIMTS volume, that is 9%. Whereas a healthy growth of around 27% observed in our newer GAs outside Delhi NCR.
On the overall basis, almost there is a 50% incremental sales, which is coming from the new GAs. In terms of infrastructure development, our steel network expanded by approximately 25 km, now further adding to around 2,600 km, while the MDPE pipeline almost increased by 500 km during this quarter. We have also added almost 1 lakh plus PNG customers during the current quarter and almost 530+ additional industrial and commercial customers, adding to our robust growth.
On the financial front, once again, pleased to inform that we have ever achieved the ever highest INR 5,028 crore of the turnover, which is almost 16% as compared to the same quarter last year. While the profitability is impacted by higher gas costs during the quarter, our focus remains on volume growth, customer expansion, and operational efficiency. During the quarter, we also had incurred a CapEx of INR 327 crore. We are witnessing a very healthy growth in the CNG vehicle segment.
Over the last six months in particularly, CNG vehicle additions and conversions have arranged almost to the tune of 27,300 vehicles per month, vis-a-vis 18,000 vehicles per month during the same quarter for the last year, which gives us an immense confidence that CNG demand will continue to grow in the coming quarters. On behalf of the management, I assure you that we remain focused on sustainable growth, expansion of our market presence, and delivering value to our customers and stakeholders while adapting to the changing business environment. With this, I welcome you once again and open the session for the question- and- answers.
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone 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. We have our first question from the line of Probal Sen from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Good afternoon, sir, and congratulations for the elevation for taking the new role for both of you. I guess my first question was with respect to the sourcing mix. If you can kindly give us a mix in terms of percentage or absolute volumes, between whatever was the APM allocation, HPHT gas, new well gas, and the mix between long-term and short-term energies, whatever it was for the quarter. That was my first question.
Okay. Thanks for the question. In the current scenario, if we see the breakup for the Q1 for this financial year, still we have around 48% coming from the domestic allocations, whether it is APM, new well, or HPHT. And around 52% is coming from the imported, that is through our long-term contracts and somewhere through the spot also, because of the force majeure issues happened in West Asia. If you see, we are selling around 9.5 MMSCM of gas. So 48% is coming from the domestic and around 52% from the imported.
Thank you, sir. Is it possible to share, of that 52%, what was the mix between long-term and spot, and also, broadly speaking, what was the effective price at which you could get spot LNG for the quarter?
See, if you see, because of the long-term contracts, already we are in place 100% of our sourcing. However, due to the force majeure issues and all, there has been some cuts. Yes, it is there. So almost around 4 million out of the 5 million sourcing which is being done from the imported. So around 3.9 million- 4 million is from the long-term contracts, and there was a government has supported during this quarter in terms of giving pool gas to the CGD sector, particularly as per the government notification.
So around 0.6 million- 0.7 million came through the pool gas, and spot, we had to rely around 3%, you can say. Roughly around 0.25 millio-0 .3 million per day was through spot. And markets range, you must have noticed that it varied from around $17, $18 to $21, $22. As and when it's required, we have to source it.
Got it, sir. Just in terms of how we are looking at facing going forward, what is the environment? Have you seen since the conflict has once again sort of picked up, have you seen a change in terms of LNG availability? Are we able to get a slightly more contracted LNG in the market today, or does it remain still a fairly tight market? What is your thoughts on this?
Very, very highly unpredictable and uncertain situation. You are aware of the geopolitical issues. We are in constant touch with our suppliers, the promoter companies also, and whatever best we could source it from the market. We are in constant touch, and some indications are there, whatever has been the cuts due to force majeure, because as globally, India has also gone to other geographies to source the gas. It has been there. Long term, yes, spot will be there little bit, but I think if we are able to get the gas from our long-term contracts, our aspiration, our vision is that. I think we are taking up with our upstream suppliers, and something should be better.
As we go forward, we are looking at HPHT as well. We are hopeful that we will be in a position to improve the overall share of HPHT as well going forward. About RLNG, already that commercial has already mentioned.
Thanks. One last question, if I may. Given the unpredictability, how should we look at the margins scenario going forward? Is there sort of a floor? Are we looking at further price increases to sort of shore up the margins if prices remain at the higher end of U.S., I mean, $15-$16? How are we looking at the margin environment for the next six, nine months?
Sir, actually, I would like to answer your query in two parts. Point number one is we have been always giving a guidance of a long-term EBITDA around INR 7 per SCM. Yes, there is a geopolitical issue across the globe, and margins are under the stress. Our still long-term guidance is similar, but in the subsequent quarters, it will be difficult viewing because we do not know what is the overall geopolitical impact on the country and in particular to the CGD sector. That is point number one.
Secondly, we have been always like a long-term guidance was there that we want to calibrate in terms of both the sales growth as well as margin. We are trying to maintain a good delta with alternate fuels, particularly petrol and diesel. Still there is a handsome delta with petrol, in particularly around INR 17. With the GST 2.0, it has become really conducive and favorable for the CNG automobile sector, and the tremendous growth has been witnessed. To further leverage, I think it is a time to seed the market to further strengthen and capture the volumes also.
I would like to add one more thing also. Margins, of course, is a function of the input gas prices, more so the current kind of volatile LNG market. Next six months, I believe, four factors we need to figure out how they will play out. First is, in general, there is a consensus that the U.S. supplies are going to improve. The expectation is that it would be kind of stable. The second part is, of course, geopolitics. Nobody is able to predict what is going to happen to the supplies from the Middle East.
Then about the kind of consumption pull factor from China, Japan, how it's going to play out, one needs to wait and watch. But the other aspect is how the European gas storage is going to be there, and the kind of winter. In all these things, there are also talks about whether this El Niño is going to become a super El Niño, and in case of that, then there could be a moderate winter. If you really see today in this wired world, how different factors are going to play out, it's right now quite difficult to predict.
But as our Director Commercial has just now mentioned, what we are focusing on is the segments that we are actually going to cater to. We have a reasonable belief that with the kind of leverage that we have, particularly with respect to petrol, diesel and all that, we should be able to keep it under balance.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate how challenging the environment is, and I appreciate your efforts to explain, to answer as best as you could. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants on the conference, please limit your questions to only two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the queue. We have our next question from the line of Yogesh Patil from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
As you mentioned earlier, that 48% of the gas sourcing is from the domestic fields or domestic side, like APM, NWG, HPHT. To our knowledge, earlier quarters, it was around APM, around 3.3 MMSCMD, HPHT was 0.8 MMSCMD, and NWG was around 0.9 MMSCMD. Just wanted to have a little bit granular understanding on this. How much you have received in a Q1 FY 2027, all these three types of the gases? And what is the current status of this domestic sourcing part?
There has been a little bit, I would say, reshuffling of APM and NWG in the last quarter and going forward also. As I mentioned, around 2.6 million last quarter average was APM, and 1.26 million was the new well gas. As compared to the previous quarter, you are right, it was NWG was less than 1 million. There has been some changes in the proportion because of the geological issues of the wells across the country. There has been some shift in the new well gas. Going forward also, likely to happen in this way only.
HPHT portion remains same, sir, 0.8 MMSCMD during the Q1 FY 2027?
HPHT was around 0.66 MMSCMD- 0.7 MMSCMD , and it likely to increase because we understand that certain contracts across the country are going to close, likely to be closed in September, and there will be some bids offerings coming in. We will be also trying to capture it aggressively going forward.
Sir, my next question related to the CNG consumption figures for the DTC buses, DIMTS buses in million kg, if you could provide. Additionally, please provide the total CNG volume for this quarter in million kg.
Okay. As we mentioned in our opening remarks also, DIMTS, DTC volumes are now almost zero. For last three months, if you see, it is almost now zero. Last year, same quarter, it was on an average of 1.5 lakh kgs per day. Now it is almost zero. However, secondly, if you see the DIMTS volumes, now as compared to the Q4 of the last year and in comparison to the Q1 for this year, the volumes are more or less same. It is maintaining at around 1.5 lakh kgs per day.
CNG volume in million kgs, sir, if possible. Total CNG volume in million kgs.
In terms of million kg, it is around 5.31 per day for the quarter ended June 30th.
Thanks a lot, sir. All the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and one on your touchtone phone. We have our next question from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. I missed if you have already shared the split of growth between Delhi and outside Delhi that you usually share in earlier quarters.
Just for your consumption, I will just repeat. Overall growth in CNG is 6% across IGL. If you see Delhi, barring DTC, it is around 9%, and barring DTC, entire IGL is 11%. If you see in particularly the outside or the new GAs, it is 27%.
Okay, got it. DTC, you said that now the volume for the buses is stabilized and there is no further decline that you are expecting on that count, right?
Yes, you are right. It has almost now come down to zero almost, maybe hardly 100 kg- 200 kgs per day. For practical purposes, we can take it as zero now, DTC.
Okay. Given that the vehicle registration is still going very strong, then the CNG growth now, can we expect to kind of get close to maybe double digits or go to maybe 12%, 13% rate also in the coming quarters then?
See, absolutely. If I tell you recently, you must have seen the ET Prime news also. In particular, if I share with you one of the July data. Almost around 4.6 lakh passenger vehicles were added in the month itself of July. Maruti, in particular, has claimed that out of the new vehicles which have been added, almost 42% of their vehicles are CNG-based.
Yes, you are right, CNG is expected to grow in a very aggressive way subsequent to these GST 2.0 cuts, and we are also witnessing the same in our outside years. It is growing at, say, 27%, very healthy. In Delhi also around 9%-10% barring the DTC. Although the base is very heavy, so maybe a percentage of growth you cannot correlate actually, but seems to be otherwise very healthy.
Okay. Understood. Just lastly, also on the various changes which had happened on the gas cost side, like the changes around the transmission zonal tariffs as well as the change in the Gujarat GST related changes. All those, the benefits are now in the sourcing mix, right? I mean, the current cost that you see on natural gas is reflecting all of that benefit in the numbers.
Yeah, that is right. But because of this unusual volatility in the light of West Asia crisis, that is bit kind of, what do you say, masked by the current situation, which we expect that once it eases out, the positive effects of that would be more pronounced.
Understood. Sure. That is it from me. Thank you very much, and best wishes.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Vivekanand from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Two questions. Number one is on the Delhi EV policy that was recently announced. Since this impacts aggregators, commercial vehicles, both autorickshaws as well as goods carriers and also school buses, how are you looking at the impact of this on your volumes in Delhi? Secondly, if you could give us some color on the split between these vehicle segments that are impacted or covered by the Delhi EV policy, that will be great. The second question is if you can just help us with the volume trends year-on-year numbers for MNGL and CUGL, and also absolute [inaudible] volume. Thank you.
Okay. Coming to the Delhi EV policy. Yes, you are right, that mandate has already come. So effective 01/01/2027 there will be no more three-wheelers in particular registration, and only EV registrations will happen. We have evaluated and analyzed, although we are doing our advocacy meeting Delhi government and other stakeholders also in revoking or continuing the CNG part. We do not see the much larger impact because only 1 lakh autos are there, three-wheelers in Delhi, and viewing the life of 15 years, I think phasing out every year, 5,000 to 6,000 will only happen.
As per our analysis, there will be a less than 1% impact in the overall CNG volumes in 2027. Going forward, the impact may be less than 3% by 2030. Similarly, on the commercial vehicles, yes, the new registration again will start from 01/2027. For school buses also, I think the mandate is by 2030, they have to switch over 30%.
Overall, we have evaluated the scenario of the sales volume being lost vis-a-vis being added through the natural growth, in particularly with a very strong segment from the passenger car vehicles, the expected growth is coming. By 2030, I think there will be impact of around 2%- 3% on the volumes overall, and we are not viewing any much of the impact.
To your second question on how CUGL as well as MNGL have been clocking the growth. First, on CUGL. CUGL has corresponding quarter-to-quarter growth in terms of CNG, they have clocked 8% growth from around 0.23 MMSCMD- 0.25 MMSCMD they have clocked. PNG, almost they have maintained similar volumes of 0.11 MMSCMD to just 0.12 MMSCMD.
Overall, from 0.34 MMSCMD- 0.36 MMSCMD they have clocked, which means 6% growth they have witnessed. When it comes to MNGL, slightly more encouraging numbers have been clocked. In CNG, MNGL has clocked 13% growth from 1.27 MMSCMD- 1.44 MMSCMD. When it comes to PNG, MNGL has clocked a very healthy, around 29% growth from 0.58 MMSCMD- 0.75 MMSCMD. Overall put together from 1.85 MMSCMD, they have clocked 18% growth to reach 2.19 MMSCMD.
This is primarily driven by corresponding quarters previous year and this year. Their Nashik GA has started getting direct gas supplies from the newly commissioned Samruddhi pipeline. Earlier, their Nashik GA was completely fed through LNG mode. So that had given them the good base. Now, with the pipeline there in place, the PNG growth is witnessing a very healthy trend. So yeah, they have clocked around 18% volume growth overall.
Right. Thanks for the color. Just one follow-up. As far as the Delhi EV Policy goes, there is no impact on the NCR territory outside of the national capital, Delhi, right? Is that very clear?
Absolutely. It is particularly for Delhi only. I do not think so there is any impact on Noida or maybe Gurgaon part.
Right. Just one last follow-up. CUGL-
As of now, yeah. As of now, exactly. Sorry?
Okay. My last question is, CUGL's volumes have been stuck in a rut even in FY 2023, 2024, 2025. The volumes were in the range 0.31 MMSCMD- 0.33 MMSCMD. Why is it that these markets like Kanpur, Bareilly, etc , where you would assume that CNG is under-penetrated, why are these markets not growing faster?
CUGL, in fact, they have clocked a reasonable 8% growth. Yeah, I agree that they do have potential for. I think, but yeah, with the improvement in the overall CNG ecosystem and the vehicles improving. I guess, and also they are coming up with more stations. I think in the coming quarters, I think we should be able to see more growth there.
Plus, the overall input gas cost and the gas price scenario also, those kind of places may be a bit more price sensitive when it comes to their industrial, and the tax structure also is adding to their woes. I think that could be one of the reasons where when it comes to their PNG growth, particularly C&I, the tax structure is not very favorable. But I think CNG, going forward, should be able to show some more improvement.
Okay. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Gagan Dixit from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question, sir. I have a question about, given the sharp gas cost spike, is IGL considering any hedging or long-term contracting strategy, I mean, to reduce this spot LNG exposure going forward?
Yeah, of course, like any other entity, we are looking at it. Yeah, we are in fact looking at hedging options as well. Particularly because Henry Hub now provides us with the opportunity. It's a bit stable right now. Yeah, we are looking at hedging as an important tool as a part of our overall strategy. In fact, in the month of May, we have already started because in the month of May, we did have some opportunity with reasonable price band available, so we have started doing that. Yeah, we will be continuing to do that.
Thanks, sir. My second question is, as the new geographies outside the Delhi NCR are still ramping up, typically, are the EBITDA per SCM slightly dilutive versus the mature geographies like Delhi NCR? Broadly, what is the typical difference between the new geographies and the mature geographies, broadly in the EBITDA per SCMs?
No, I agree. EBITDA per SCM, if you see the mature geographies, we are getting a slightly better EBITDA per SCM because of concentrated sales and better volumes. In terms of new geographical areas, actually, it more depends upon the taxation structure also to some extent. As and when they get mature and the sales start increasing, we find that economies of scales or benefit is coming to those areas. So those new GAs which have started maturing, like Rewari, we are getting a better EBITDA there. There is a conscious process. The more the sales is, the better the EBITDA will be.
Yeah. So that is my answer, sir. All the best, sir. Yeah, thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Saurabh Handa from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. This is a follow-up from a question by one of the other participants. If you can just give a breakup of your vehicle-wise sales of CNG, roughly how much comes from buses, private cars, autos, et c.
Yeah. I will give you. Just a second. Yeah. From the buses, okay. Buses, our volume is coming overall around 12%. Then commercial vehicles, it is around 19%. Taxis, it is around 14%. Three-wheelers, auto is around 7% - 8%, and primarily it is from the passenger car vehicles to the tune of around 48%- 50% out of our 7 million, you can say, the CNG sales, that way.
Okay, got it. On autos, when you said 7%- 8%, the Delhi portion of this will be 3%. Is that what you were trying to imply?
No. I was trying to say that because the phasing out will happen in a span of 15 years, no more new registrations will happen. But the phasing out will happen because there will be a change of the permits also. Every year, 5,000 something vehicles will go back. They will be out of the system. By 2030, we are expecting around maybe less than 1% in particularly the auto sale. This 6%- 7% will keep on reducing after every five years, maybe 2%- 3%. It will be like that.
Okay. This 7%- 8%, would you have an idea how much actually is just the Delhi portion of it versus NCR?
Primarily, it is Delhi only. Primarily, you can say around 70%- 80%, it will be Delhi only.
Okay, got it. Thank you. My second question was on this Gurgaon, Faridabad. You made some comments initially on the areas that are not authorized to you. I missed that. Could you just elaborate on that?
We have been contesting. There is a litigation going on, but conditional part of the area which has been given to us by the regulator, we have already accepted and going forward for developing, because in the interest of the consumers, why to deprive them from the natural gas, whether it is pipe natural gas or CNG. That internally, the company has taken a call to conditionally accept and develop going forward.
Okay. Just to clarify, even the areas that are not, say, in Gurgaon, the areas that are not authorized to IGL, but you have got some conditional approval to even expand your network in these areas. Is that correct?
They were authorized to IGL, but we have not accepted in the past because of our litigation going on, and we have been contesting at various forums. But now, viewing the push in the natural gas, particularly in the pipe natural gas, as well as growth anticipated in the CNG, because NCR is also a very growth potential area. A conscious call has been taken, and we have accepted conditionally to move forward.
Okay. That means in the entire Gurgaon region now, you would be-
No, it is not entire Gurgaon.
No, I will make it clear. Actually, see, within the entire Gurugram, part of the area was already earmarked only for IGL.
Correct.
Earlier, that part portion was also. Our claim was that the entire Gurugram is for IGL. The part portions, the services were not commenced. But now, given the situation right now, why to deprive the people who are there in those part portions for their share of gas. That part portion, we have started commencing the services, but not the entire one.
Okay. That is clear. Faridabad, then-
Sorry to interrupt you, Saurabh. May we request you to rejoin the queue?
Sorry, it's just the same question. I'm just clarifying.
Sure.
In Faridabad, there was no part authorization, right? In Faridabad, it was completely out of IGL.
Yes. We'll be developing that. Partly it's with us, and majorly it is with somebody else.
Right. Nothing very different from what the situation was earlier. Just wanted to confirm that. I got it. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, please restrict yourself to only two questions per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the queue. Next question is from the line of Mayank Maheshwari from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for doing the calls. The question I had was more related to your growth strategy around inorganic growth. Considering the Delhi EV Policy and increasingly more focus on the EVs, how were you thinking about inorganic growth opportunities to consolidate the entire market?
See, inorganic growth, right now, CGD sector in terms of newer authorizations also, it's relatively new. As and when opportunity presents, we would be able to look at those other areas as well. But the general policy framework is still evolving, related to how they'll open up the other areas. One remains to see. But at this stage, we believe that even in our own newer GAs, there is a good scope, as you can see in the kind of growth that we have been achieving in our newer GAs. Progressively, their share is already improving. We are right now focusing on to expand our operations in newer GAs.
So sir, in terms of CapEx now going forward, if you can give us a guidance, is there a step change increase in CapEx because of this focus on natural gas and PNG, or you think the current run rate will kind of sustain?
You are right. I think first quarter, we have spent around INR 327 crore, and our plan or the aspiration, there are certain changes definitely because of the thrust on the PNG infrastructure development and going forward. So roughly around INR 1,800- INR 2,000, still our aim is like that only, and spending around INR 1,200- INR 1,300 or maybe maximum INR 1,500 on the core. And if we get some other opportunities for the business development diversification, so we will have another INR 500, INR 600 there also.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of E.A. Sundaram from Buglerock Capital . Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, there have been a couple of major developments initiated by the Delhi government, and that has caused some sort of apprehension in the minds of the investors also. One is the lack of registration for autorickshaws going forward. The second one was the moving of the DTC buses from CNG to electric.
My question, sir, is there any indication or any move that you are aware of that the Delhi government may employ a similar policy on four-wheelers also? Do you see any indication of that? The follow-up question on the first question is, sir, what is the proportion of CNG vehicles in the new four-wheeler registrations in the Delhi area in the recent months? Can you throw some light on that?
Yeah. I will answer your question first, the second part. See, what data, what we have or what we have analyzed. The new registrations which are happening, particularly in Delhi, almost 42% of the passenger vehicles are being registered on CNG. This is in the current scenario. You can take it in the last six months or so. That is point number one. So overall, what data we have, if we see the entire vehicle population of Delhi and around, it is around 24%-25% on CNG.
Secondly, see, we have been advocating at various forums and what we understand, whether it is at the ARAI level, whether it is at ICAT level, whether it is at CAQM level, or whether it is with Delhi government. See, going forward, all the fuels are going to coexist. In the current scenario, viewing the geopolitical situations and all, energy security remains topmost priority, and there will not be a shift on a single energy fuel, whether it is conventional fuels, whether it is a CNG as a transition fuel, or it will be EV. So it will be a mix of all these fuels, and going forward, we are anticipating a very, very robust growth from PNG, particularly on the basis of the information or data which we shared with you.
Okay. The second question is, yes, of course, this war in the West Asia has caused some disturbance in your margin profile. But we are also seeing that after June, there has been a sharp fall in global natural gas prices. So can you share with us what is the average cost of gas per cubic metres that you had in the first three months of this financial year? What does it mean in July? What is the cost of gas that you are having in July?
I think it will be very difficult because these are some of the commercial terms. But just as a guidance, it is hovering around first quarter, around INR 40- INR 45 per SCM, you can say. July onwards, still the turbulence is there, and there has been some increase. Yes, it is. But it will be difficult to get into the nitty-gritties. We are viewing the commercial proposition, so it will be a little bit.
I am asking this because you were confident of returning to the EBITDA per SCM of between INR 7- INR 8. That is the reason I am asking you.
Sir, we had already mentioned, and I think it was a guidance for a long term, for the going forward. It is not in the immediate quarter or maybe like that. Yes, our aspiration guidance is always there, to be there. But in such an unpredictable and volatile situation of the geopolitics, it will be very difficult to comment for the quarter.
Okay. My other question, sir, is, we saw one report by PNGRB, where one of the recommendations of that report was that natural gas should be brought under the ambit of the GST. Is there any such move that you are aware of, which you can share with us?
Actually, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has consistently been supporting. Within the government setup, when the administrative ministry is strongly supporting for a particular cause, that's a good sign. But GST, as you would say, it also it's a both central as well as a state kind of subject. So it will be very difficult to make any second guessing on whether anything would come up. It's very difficult to say, because it's within the GST Council's prerogative.
Yeah, I understand that, but I just want to-
There is no such kind of available evidence to suggest that there's any big change is happening there.
Okay. See, my final question, sir, is about one of the points made in a previous question, which was made by the management some time ago. So-
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. Due to shortness of time.
Maybe we can just have this last question from the-- Yeah, please read your question, please.
Okay, sir. Okay. Thank you. See, my question is, it was mentioned that originally the entire Gurgaon was awarded to IGL, but then it went into some litigation. If I remember correctly, it was because of some valuation issues that it went into litigation. But now IGL has been awarded one third of Gurgaon. The other two parts of Gurgaon, are they still under litigation, or is there any chance that that part will come into IGL's ambit in the future? Is there any possibility of that?
Yes. See, it is like that still it is under litigation, and we are contesting, because initially, as per the central government authorization, it was to IGL, and we are contesting forwards. We have not at all surrendered as such.
See, but one point what we need to remember is, even the portions where right now it is disputed and the other party is operating, but the gas is still in a bulk basis, we are procuring it from IGL only. To that extent, the molecules actually still are going through us only. We need to understand that in future, from a strategic point of view, you start owning the retail consumer base. That is the thing that is going on. But you need to keep that also in your mind.
Yeah, but it is nothing like having the final-
Yeah, you are right. But just adding that point. That is how it is.
Okay. Thank you. For policy of time, I will stop here and allow the others to ask you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, that was the last question of the day, and participants whose question have remained unanswered may approach [audio distortion] of the management. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Good evening to all of you. I, on behalf of the IGL management, like to thank all of you who are participating in the earning call for Q1 2027. A special thanks to PhillipCapital and Nitin for organizing this for IGL. We will see you soon, shortly, somewhere in the next conference or maybe in person. So thanks all of you for joining.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of PhillipCapital Private Limited, that concludes the conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.