Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the UltraTech Cement Limited Q3 FY26 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as of the date of this call. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star 100 on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Atul Daga, Business Head and CFO of UltraTech Cement Limited. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Thank you so much. Good evening, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, a very warm welcome to yet another call on a Saturday evening for UltraTech for the third quarter results of 2026. Before I begin, let me assure you, we will not make this as a habit of spoiling your Saturdays, but this Saturday is worth spending time. Let me get on to the main core topic for discussion, which I have in mind today: demand. That is the most important aspect for our business. Everything else becomes secondary and falls in line. As we see the progress, government's focus on infrastructure is translating into a robust pipeline of new projects nationwide, with several marquee investments announced across every region, translating into solid demand.
You must have all read about it in the media at different points in time, but let me put a perspective together in one place: region by region. In the north, Punjab is taking extensive road development initiatives, spending about INR 16,000 crore in its markets. New corridors have been announced in Delhi Metro for about INR 12,000 crore. Uttar Pradesh is developing 1,575 km of metro network across major cities. Of course, that goes till 2047. It's a long horizon, multi-city infrastructure pipeline indicating sustained demand and significant opportunity for cement. Highway projects, continued investment in road connectivity, and logistics corridors across the state, like the Four-lane Greenfield Highway project between a place called Barabanki and Mustafabad. Let's go to West India. Maharashtra is seeing a significant pipeline of large transport and mobility projects, signaling strong multi-year demand for cement and construction materials.
Mega projects like the Uttan-Virar sea link, about INR 58,000 crore, Mumbai Metro expansions, Pune Metro multiple lines, and road concretization in Mumbai, central clearance of Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Expressway Highway spanning 245 km. It's a particular focus on improving connectivity for rural communities, nearly 350 km of state highways, 2,577 km of rural roads, slum rehabilitation initiatives. All of these are going to boost urban cement demand. Expressways and ring roads, Nashik, Vadhavan, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, etc., add to further boost for demand. Gujarat's nine high-speed corridors covering about 800 km are fast-tracking connectivity and will add further. Cabinet has approved two major highway projects worth INR 20,000 crore plus, Nashik, Solapur, and one more, signaling continued momentum in India's integrated high-speed connectivity push under the PM Gati Shakti.
Stepping down into South India, Bangalore is undergoing a major mobility transformation, with the metro network set to expand from 96 km- to 175 km by the end of December 2027. Karnataka government has unveiled an urban infrastructure program, which will have the longest 40 km twin tunnel, a 41 km double-decker metro, and 110 km elevated corridors. The center has approved a INR 10,000 crore expansion of four key highways, measuring about 273 km, which will improve connectivity across Telangana. New Mangalore Port has announced capacity expansion to handle 100 million tons by 2047. We can't forget the eastern corridor. West Bengal has its own challenges but is planning the largest road initiative, about INR 8,487 crore PMGSY, 15,000 km of rural roads, 5,019 km of urban roads. All this just goes to say that India is developing very fast.
Bihar is rolling out three major Ganga Road projects worth INR 70,000 crore: Digha-Sonepur, Bihta-Koilwar 35 km. Munger 42 km. Sultanganj-Bhagalpur 41 km. So I'm not advocating or speaking on behalf of NHAI, but this is what the story is surfacing. Chhattisgarh center has approved 774 km of roads covering 2,000+ km under the PMGSY. The state has already completed 8,753 roads, and bridges are also under the same phase. Major rail expansions across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and MP reflect the scale and diversity of investment underway. To give you a perspective, roads and highways require approximately 350-900 tons/km, with thousands of km under construction or planned across all regions. This is going to be huge. Elevated metro requires 11,000 metric tons/km. Underground metro requires anywhere between 17,000-19,000 metric tons/km. Railway is 9,200 metric tons of cement.
Ports and airports go up to 50 kg per sq ft. Housing, if I were to look at low-income housing programs, affordable housing, and rural connectivity projects, sustain steady demand. With a strong project pipeline, demand for cement will remain very continuous and as strong as possible. Infrastructure is seeing the next big wave of growth. What does that imply? More jobs, more demand for housing, and social infrastructure, i.e., schools, hospitals, commercial complexes, offices, etc. We are present across the country. Just to tell you about our RMC network, RMC network is about 163 cities which we are already covering and rapidly expanding. UltraTech is so sweetly positioned to meet the demand like nobody else. We are witnessing growth, unprecedented growth in new areas, new avenues like data centers, GCC, renewable energy projects. You name it, and things are happening. As somebody just said, India has arrived.
It's the market with a population of over 1.4 billion people, youngest working class, and an opportunity across the land bank for development. At UltraTech, we are fully geared up to capture these opportunities. Our approach remains rooted in disciplined execution, advancing our next phase of capacity expansion while ensuring every investment is backed by rigorous cost control and operational efficiency. In our fourth phase of expansion, the large part of orders have already been placed, work has already commenced, and we will be on time. Importantly, we are funding all our growth through internal accruals, maintaining a prudent balance sheet and a healthy leverage profile. This, combined with our Pan-India network and deepening retail footprint, positions us to capture incremental demand at a very rapid pace while safeguarding our margins. You would have seen our average position this quarter-end.
On a consolidated basis, we are at 1.08x net debt EBITDA. I believe, and I'm very confident, that we'll reach the mark of 1x and be in 0.89x net debt EBITDA by the end of this fiscal year. Integration of recent acquisitions is progressing very well with rapid brand transition. Kesoram and India Cements are ahead of the initial plans, with brand conversion at Kesoram having reached 69% in December 2025. And today, if we speak, it must have crossed further. India Cements has already crossed 58% at the end of December 2025. For both these assets, we have begun our cost improvement CapEx program, which will result in benefits and will start reflecting in the P&L of January-March 2027. At Kesoram, we have already spent INR 263 crores, committed about out of the commitment of about INR 382 crores.
At The India Cements, we have committed already INR 601 crores and spent INR 144 crores on the program. Talking about CapEx, the other initiative, Cable & Wires, is progressing as per plan. About INR 500 crores' worth of orders have already been placed. We have spent INR 197 crores. 30% of the planned team is already on board. Civil work has started, and we are on schedule to see the launch of our product in the October-December 2026 quarter, as was committed earlier. Talking about our efficiency improvement program, we continue to deliver solid and measurable results. In fact, now I am very confident that we should be doing better than what we had committed. We shall give an exact quantification and financial impact with our annual results for the year. However, you would have noticed the lead distance has dropped to 363 km. The clinker conversion factor is improved to 1.49.
The most important factor, I believe, for us is to have a strong demand pipeline. You will notice that January-March quarter, God willing, we will operate at more than 90% of our existing installed capacity, clearly demonstrating growth in the trade markets as well as non-trade markets. If the demand is good, everything else falls in line. Ultimately, it is about the bottom line where it comes from. It doesn't really matter. Quite often, everybody is focused on cement prices, which had remained subdued post-GST change. Last week of September, October, November saw some softening prices. With growing demand, we are witnessing improvement in prices in all segments across the country. There have been cost increases in the cost of petcoke and coal. New labor code will have its own impact, repeat depreciation.
All these will have an impact on the cement industry, and obviously, there is reason to pass on these cost escalations into prices. We are very confident of a very bright future for the next quarter and after that quarter and after that and after that. That doesn't mean I'm restricting myself to fiscal 2027, but the story is far longer. As India embarks on the next decade of development, UltraTech is proud to play a pivotal role in building the nation's future. We remain confident that our strategic initiatives in building capacities across the country in critical market locations, coupled with sector's positive outlook, we will continue to deliver growth faster than the industry. We welcome all of you to participate in our journey. Don't miss the bus. Thank you, and over to you for questions.
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 the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants, you are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue forms. The first question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations, Mr. Daga, firstly, for a great result. I don't think anyone expected both volume and a margin beat, actually, which is quite heartening to see. Just on pricing, wanted to get a sense from you. There is a lot of industry capacity addition that is going to come through this year. What do you think, I mean, industry's stance will be in this kind of a high expansion scenario?
The reason I talked about all the demand footprint and demand new initiatives, I think cement will easily get absorbed. If the demand remains strong, we will not see any problem in prices.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Just also, on India Cements, so in Q3, I see that the EBITDA per ton was about INR 400. You had earlier guided for a INR 1,000 exit in Q4 2027. So most of this improvement will be through cost, or will there also be some pricing required to achieve that goal?
One second. Amit, so it was Q4 2027, not 2026.
No, 2027 only. I meant 2027 only. So one year down the line.
So what will happen is the brand conversion, which has already taken place, actually, had the brand conversion not taken place, the performance would have been not where it is today. Balance almost 40% or 45% of brand conversion has to be completed, and prices are going up in the southern markets as well. Further, as I called out, the CapEx program has begun for efficiency improvement. So we have to have all the players playing the match in a positive manner: prices, efficiency improvement, and capacity utilization. All of them will deliver as planned.
All understood. Lastly, just if you could give the CC ratio for the quarter.
Sorry, what?
The cement clinker ratio, what was it in the quarter?
1.49. Clinker cement ratio, no? Ha, 1.49. This quarter, 1.49.
Okay. That's all from me. Thank you, Amit.
Yeah.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Pulkit from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for taking my questions. I echo Amit's views that these are good numbers. On a lighter note, your opening remarks sounded a lot like the budget speech. Sir, I don't see the capacity addition plan by plan guidance for Q4 and for the next two years. Just the numbers around how much capacity would be added in Q4, how much in FY 2027 and FY 2028, that will be helpful.
We should have approximately 8-9 million tons more coming in this quarter. We balance, I think, 16, sorry, 12 million tons in fiscal 2027. Then balance remaining will be in 2028.
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Pulkit, I'm very well entrenched in the private sector. Not emulating anybody. All right?
Sure, sure. Thanks.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Jashandeep Singh from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on a great set of numbers, sir. I must start by saying that the information and detail that you gave on the project is much better than most of the department who are actually working on those projects, I must say. My first question is, you have covered most of the demand aspect in a lot of detail. Just wanted to shift the focus on rural demand. So how has rural demand recovered in third quarter? How are you seeing in the fourth quarter? And what are your expectations for the year ahead? Just related to that, any expectation from the budget for the cement sector or anything?
Okay. The last question first. I won't comment on that. That's the easiest answer. Rural demand, I think if a simple way to look at rural demand is look at our trade ratios. If our trade ratios remain strong, rural demand is equally buoyant. We are not witnessing any depression in rural demand. Q4 also will be solid is what my expectation is.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much for that. Sir, on the cost saving front, UltraTech has given a target of INR 300-INR 350 per ton over the next couple of years. How is it? I understand it's very difficult to tell the details quarter by quarter, but if you can give us the sense how much of this has been realized and how much of that will be coming in the coming quarters. Also, apart from the freight and fuel and diesel that you've already.
I'll forget your questions. Wait, let me address this question first. So you are asking two things in the same question. First, you are saying it is difficult to quantify, and then you are saying quantify. So.
Just a second, sir.
Please have mercy. So you will see, no, it's very difficult. It's not logical, Jashandeep, because July-September quarter will be weak, so costs can go up. January, March will show extraordinarily high delivery. So it is best to see the results on an annual basis. Now, to give you directions on how things are moving, and we had given our program with item details and with the targets. I recall we had mentioned with the base of 400 km of lead, a 25-km lead reduction, which would have taken us to 375 km. We have already reached 363 km. So it's not only the lead distance which helps. There is a lot of other initiatives which the team is taking which help to take efficiency improvement. Similarly, we had taken a target of clinker conversion factor of 1.54. We are moving on that direction.
In 1.54, we have reached 1.59. 1.54, we have reached 1.49. So you can see you can do your own math, but it will be best that we do this math at the end of the year. All I can say is we are moving in line with the target set. Last year, full year, we had delivered about on those quantified measurable targets, we had delivered INR 86 per ton. My guess is we should be crossing a INR 100 mark on those efficiency improvement programs in this financial year. Jamanjeep, you want to add?
Yeah. Yeah. I think the Atul has already explained because it's not item-wise. We have moved from clinker conversion from 1.45- 1.49, and we are still away from our target, actually. If you talk about the renewable energy, our renewable energy has gone to almost 41% kind of thing. And it is further likely to go to 60% going forward, actually. So I can say that fundamentally, we are by and large on track because quarter to quarter, yes, in one quarter, because of the cyclical nature of the industry, we may be up and down. But year as a whole, I think we are very much on the right track.
Thanks, Jashandeep.
Thank you, sir. Just one last, if I can squeeze in, any impact of increasing input cost you are seeing in fourth quarter?
You tell me where the dollar will be in fourth quarter. That is one. So it's very difficult, but I think we are managing our middle line very well. You would have seen our fuel costs have remained at 1.8 per kcal in this quarter. I don't expect the cost to go up. Raw material costs are already matured. These are the two big cost items. Maintenance costs, which spiked typically in July-September, will be normal maintenance costs in January-March quarter.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much. I'll join back again.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rahul Gupta from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Again, sorry to echo again a very good set of numbers. You talked about cost inflation and improved demand will support cement prices from here on. Now, it looks like infra demand is coming back, which should drive a low-pricing non-trade segment higher. Does that mean that even if cement prices move up, realization may remain under pressure over the next year or so? Any color on this will be very helpful?
So firstly, Rahul, I like the echo that you talked about. Always good to hear good performance from as many people. Coming to your first question, even if infra demand is going, non-trade prices will also harden. So I don't see any reason why there should be any problem. There have been, in fact, if you go back two or three quarters, the gap between non-trade and trade prices had narrowed dramatically. Rahul, are you there? Hello?
Yeah. Yeah. No, this is very helpful. Thank you so much.
Yeah.
I don't have any other questions. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Pinakin Parekh from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much, sir. Again, many congratulations. Very good numbers. We understand that demand and pricing both have improved in January. But to go back to what happened in the December quarter, now we understand that in the last two years, there have been multiple acquisitions done in South India from you and other industry players. Expectations of South India pricing seeing more stability with upward bias, but somehow that is not taking place. What, in your view, needs to change in industry dynamics in South for pricing to be more stable with upward bias?
More demand. I think demand is opening up, and I stand by my statement, South will be new North. That doesn't mean North is going away anywhere. North is stronger and stronger. South is witnessing large institutional demand. The Amravati City project, which is going at its breakneck pace, the IT complexes which are coming up, data centers which are coming up, which are so cementitious in nature, highways, etc., that we have talked about. And the young population in these IT hubs will demand more housing and more social infrastructure. So I'm not talking about one quarter Pinakin, but as we, as strategic players, are looking at a long-term stability and reliability of the sector.
Got it, sir. So just to follow up, in your view, and given what the position UltraTech is at, if finally the institutional demand, as you highlighted, starts coming up in a big way in Southern India, can 2026 see a break in terms of South India's historically volatile cement pricing? Or do you see this as something evolving more over the next two, three years?
I think 2026 will be a fabulous year.
Got it. Got it. Thank you very much, sir.
Thanks, Pinakim.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Ritesh. From Investec. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Good numbers. Congratulations. Sir, three questions. One is, would you be able to spell out industry demand growth for Q3 and nine months? That's the first one.
Don't hold me to it, but we would expect anywhere between 9%-10% all-India demand.
Sir, would you speak for Q3?
I was talking about Q3.
Q3. Yeah, yeah. And sir, for nine months?
Oh, 9 months. Math has to be done. Yeah. 2.5+ 5 for the year as a whole must be about 7.5 kind of thing. 6.5%- 7%, 9 months.
Sure. Sir, my second question is, basically, if you could provide some detail around sourcing of fly ash and slag. What are the sort of nature of contracts that we have on tenure? And how is the pricing? It's trending.
So one is there's enough new supply coming up. Power plant capacities are going up. Steel plants are coming up. And we have a mix of long-term, short-term, domestic and import sourcing. Fully secured.
Sir, so putting this demand aside, if we had to improve our clinker factor, is there any limiting factor?
No. No. None whatsoever.
Okay. And sir, when you say imports, it means imports for both fly ash as well as slag?
No. Slag.
Only slag. Okay. That's helpful. Sir, third question on India Cements. Anything on non-core asset sale? That's one. And any thoughts on merger, basically simplifying the structure, any timelines around that? That would be useful. Thank you.
Non-core assets. Land parcels. Essentially, we just sold off the coal mining company in Indonesia. The monies have been realized, and that's how you see the debts remaining under control. There are a couple of big land parcels which we are discussing with potential buyers. I would expect further generation of up to INR 500 crore minimum, which we should be able to get. We are now exploring the legal options in terms of there's an ED case which is attached to the company. Two assets of the company are also attached. There's a property in Hyderabad and some financial securities which are attached. We are seeking legal opinion what will be the implications of that case, and then only we'll take a decision further.
Sure. Sir, just a follow-up over here. I think just correct me if I'm wrong. For India Cements, you had indicated INR 144 crore spent out of INR 601 crore. Are those numbers right?
Correct.
Okay. Sir, when we say non-core asset sales, incrementally, it's INR 500. What has been realized so far?
Close to INR 200-INR 250 crore. Close to INR 200-INR 250 crore. I'll give you an exact number. That's a very easy number. But INR 200-INR 250 crore. That will look at right from the beginning, Ankit. Yeah. If I can't give it on the call, you can reach out to Ankit later.
Yes. Yes. This is helpful. Thank you so much. All the very best. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Satyadeep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. Just one clarification question on the CapEx. Mr. Daga, you mentioned, I think, 12 million ton capacity balance in 2028. Just want to clarify the phase II, 2 million ton that you announced. All of that is likely to get commissioned in FY 2028, given you already placed orders?
Yes, please.
Okay. Nothing spilled. As of now, you're not expecting anything to spill over into FY 2029?
No, 2029 is too far.
Okay.
I would look at best a delay by a quarter. Some project will get preponed, and some project could push over to the next quarter at best.
Okay. So maybe in the next one, is it possible? Historically you used to have this quarterly projection for when you expect capacities to commission? For the next one that you have, since you already have volatility in the process.
Sure. Sure. Sure. We'll send it. We'll send it.
On the power cost, I see your captive power cost has been declining each quarter. Just what is driving that?
Sorry. Sorry.
Please.
That is the average cost of power. So captive thermal power, which has gone from 7.1- 6.5. No, fuel efficiency is the only reason which I could think of. Nothing more.
Yeah. And maybe minor, maybe some of the coal mix.
Fuel efficiency, essentially. Nothing specific.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening. Sir, my first question is, all the demand numbers.
My first question to you, Ashish, how are my numbers?
Numbers are fantastic, sir. A lot of people have spoken about this. I'll add everything in regards to that.
No, the numbers are fantastic, sir. Without a doubt.
Sir, so given most of the drivers you spoke about are all infra-led demand, right? So can we see a change in mix moving from PPC to OPC? You think that will happen in the next 3-4 years in the industry?
In fact, what we could see is infra demand converting to non-OPC also. There's a strong advocacy happening, and there is a gradual conversion. You will know that most of the institutional players do the conversion or mixing at the project site. So instead of they doing it, some of them have started adopting and accepting the product from the cement manufacturers. RMC, it's about 3% of our total volumes of cement and growing rapidly. Where it is getting consumed, a large portion goes to institutional markets. Bulk cement is going up significantly, which will help the institutional market, gives us better margins. Price remaining the same, margins improved. So that's very important.
Sir, sorry, but in fact, that was the context of my question. That, if on-site blending is going up, can it mean that the RMC supply?
No, no. It's going down.
Oh, okay. Okay. Because of RMC, I said. Okay.
That is what I talked about, advocacy, and there is a conversion happening. Slowly, it's happening.
All right. Okay. Sir.
Hello?
Thank you.
Are you there? I think he lost the connection. Take the next person, please.
We have the next question from the line of Indrajit Agarwal from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi. Thank you for the question. I have two questions, sir. Sir, first, can you highlight what is the spot petcoke price versus the booking levels in 3Q?
Around $118, $117.
$118, $119. Yeah. Ranging in the trend.
Sure. This is helpful. And second, in 3Q versus let's say 3% kind of price decline sequentially, how would you split it between trade and non-trade? Was non-trade drop much sharper?
Non-trade was sharper.
Sure. Thank you. That's helpful.
Yeah.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rajeev from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you. To just continue on the pricing question, where are we on pricing versus 3Q at the moment?
I think we are roughly INR 3-INR 4 on a net cement realization basis up. If net cement realization is up INR 3-INR 4, prices are up ex-mill around INR 6-INR 8. Go back.
Are you there?
Yeah. And I'm sorry. What I'm trying to get to is that you also made a comment, of course, on demand, but on that, we will be able to pass on the higher cost impact in the form of better pricing. So.
What I'm having is I'm sold out. What do I do? So obviously, if I'm in a sold-out position, I have to service my highest-paid customer.
Understood. Fair enough. Okay. Got that one. Then just again on the capacity, is it possible to just for India Cements capacity, what would be the number by the end of 2026, 2027, and 2028? I'm asking from the beginning.
17.8.
17.5.
Sorry. The full capacity.
One sec. One sec. 17.5 or 16.8?
17.5 in our 2028.
So yeah.
Sorry. I didn't mean India Cements. I meant your Indian capacity, not India Cements.
Indian capacity. Which year? 234 point something.
235 by 28.
235 by fiscal 2028.
Indian.
India capacity.
Fiscal 2026 and 2027, if you have the number.
2026 should be 198, 199, and then 10 sorry, 12 more million tons in.
200.
27. Yeah. We missed that chart. We didn't calculate that chart separately.
Got it. Just on paper, in the second quarter, you had indicated the EBITDA per ton was INR 755. What is that number in this quarter?
Would be around INR 600 this quarter.
555.
600 bucks.
The full rebranding is still maintaining June 26? Okay. Now.
We should be doing it in time. Yes. Because we have already crossed the 70% mark for Kesoram as we speak. And India Cements also, we have crossed 55 or thereabouts. Don't remember the exact number, but every day is a new high.
Got it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
Thanks, Ash.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Siddharth Mehta from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for a great set of numbers. Sir, just wanted to understand, given the strong volume growth we've witnessed this quarter, what is your approximation of UltraTech's market share going for this quarter? And sort of where do you sort of aspire to be say two to three years down the line?
I wouldn't know a number on market share, but if you see that we have been growing or our capacity utilization has been higher than the industry, then obviously there is a gain in market share also. There's no published data available to capture that number realistically. Going forward, I expect to see the same trend. As for aspiration, there's no aspiration. I think we are looking at how India is growing, where the growth opportunity is, and we will keep growing with India's growth story.
Got it, sir. Just coming back to consolidation, do you think there are additional targets which you would want to sort of look at just from a consolidating point of view so that you have better control on perhaps the industry dynamics as well? Are there any potential opportunities still under consideration for the next year, 18 months?
It's highly opportunistic. We would love to examine opportunities if they come to the table.
Okay. But nothing is in progress, obviously. Okay, sir. Then that's it. Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Harsh Mittal from Emkay Global Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. My first question is that what has been the clinker capacity additions till date in FY2026, and what will be the addition in quarter four, this ongoing quarter?
Yeah. We have added 2 lines, actually. 1.
Maihar .
Is almost 10,000 TPD trains.
It is 3.5.
Yes. Translate into almost 3.5 million tons per year. And another one more line of 3.5 million tons in Rajasthan. So it affects.
It's 7 million tons of capacity.
Right.
And.
Maihar .
Sure.
Sir, second question is, what is your premium share this quarter? Not been there in the PPC.
Oh, we missed that. Premium share.
36%.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Andre Purushottam from Cognitive Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thank you. पहले तो अच्छे नंबर के लिए बड़ी-बड़ी बधाइयां। And I wanted to ask, when I was going through the presentation, I found that your EBITDA is up considerably, but your costs some have gone up, some have gone down, right? Your raw material costs have gone up, and your fuel and logistics costs have gone down. Now, given that your net realizations are also slightly lower, can one assume that the increase in EBITDA is almost entirely out of operating usage? And if that is the case, if you're adding 8 and 12 million tons capacity the next quarter stroke next year respectively, what can we see as the trajectory of and the effect of operating usage going forward? Could you just lend some color on that?
So operating leverage, obviously, will keep on playing a positive impact on efficiency improvement. Second point, or the first point that you asked, obviously, prices were a dampener on the profitability, but volumes, which gave me operating leverage and cost management, very efficient and tight cost management. Of course, you cannot manage all the line items of cost, but the management team's focus always remains on running a very tight P&L. So that's what is reflecting in the performance in the quarter. And the third one you asked about the raw material pricing, it's obviously the clinker conversion ratio is improved, so the raw material price will definitely increase, but the benefit you will get partially in the power and fuel side.
Okay. So we basically should see an increase in EBITDA per ton over the next 15 months. And is that?
Definitely. Without a doubt.
Would there be a numerical guidance that you would be able to provide in the range or that?
No. We don't give guidances.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Girish Choudhary from YES SECURITIES. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. Congratulations. This is a superb number, I can say, which is beyond market expectation. Sir, my question is related to employee cost. Is this a one-off for this quarter? And second question, can I expect 1,100-1,200 kind of EBITDA per ton for fourth quarter?
To your second question, we will do much better than what we did this quarter. Don't want to get into any specific number. 9% employee cost going up.
10% up.
Why? Okay. Why or why? Because what happens is our annual increases, compensation increases that take place would reflect.
New plants.
New plants, of course. New capacity getting added. That is what will reflect in this cost. What you ideally should compare, if you look at Q2, you will not see dramatic movement.
Okay. Thanks for saying that fourth quarter we will be doing a very good EBITDA per ton. That's all from my side, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. And of course, congratulations on the robust volume growth that you have demonstrated. Two questions. One is your other operating income, just the difference between the net revenue and net sales that you report. Sequentially, it has increased by almost about INR 88 crore. And this was also the first quarter in the incentives would have likely dropped on a pro rata basis. In the sense, if earlier we got incentives at 28%, now we get at more like 18% on a base. I'm just comparing. So is there anything one-off that we got in this particular cost item? Sorry, revenue item?
So Navin, what happens is that new incentives kick in. Sometimes old incentives get exhausted. Case in point, our Dhar line one got exhausted. Whatever was the balancing quantum of money left and Dhar two kicked in. Then also a bigger thing and very difficult to show a trend line is volumes moving from the plant to which market. Depending upon the concentration of demand in the local market, the incentives will go up or down.
Helpful. My second question was on India Cements. Of course, the company has done a remarkable performance there on the cost front. This quarter in particular, the freight cost clipped, I would rather say plunged significantly, almost 27% plus quarter-on-quarter on a per ton basis. So wanted to understand, is this the new normal because a higher brand transition has happened so you can sell in a lower proximity catchment area, or this is anything one-off? That's the main question.
Yeah. So it's a combination. And obviously, when brand transition gets completed fully, you will see the real benefit.
New footprint.
Huh?
New footprint.
Huh? New footprint will also get captured. So this is not a one-off.
Normal.
Whether it will go down further, difficult for me to say at this juncture. Perhaps we will talk about it in April, June quarter.
Helpful. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Congratulations on strong volume growth. Most of the questions answered. Couple of clarifications and questions. First, nine-month CapEx, what was the number? And for full year FY 2026, 2027, 2028, previously we said INR 10,000-odd crore. That guidance remains intact?
7,200?
7,200 crores or INR 7,000 crores is a nine-month. And yeah.
9,500- 10,000.
Yeah. INR 2,000-INR 2,500 crore will get spent in this quarter. So anywhere around INR 9,500-INR 10,000 crore.
Okay. Okay. Got it. Sir, in the next year, FY 27, when we say 12 million tons we want to add, any ballpark idea in terms of 1H FY 27, will it be 5-6 million tons that we will be adding?
I'm sorry. What did you say?
In FY 27, our plan is to add 12 million tons capacity grinding level. So in 1H FY 27, is it fair? 5 million-6 million tons we will be adding?
You want me to tell you what date will we be commissioning and at what hour we will start the cement? Give us that flexibility to commission as fast as possible, Shravan. Don't hang me for exact number or exact period.
No, no. I'm saying 1H FY 2027 in the six months first. So in the first six months of FY 2027, will it be fair to assume 5 million-6 million tons we will be adding?
Yeah. It may be at least 4-5 million. Maybe around 4-5 million.
So if.
It all depends. Yeah. 4 million-5 million ton, but it all depends, as you know, Shravan, because there are multiple moving parts. So sometimes things get delayed and kind of thing. But yes, I can guess maybe 4 million-5 million ton.
Okay. In terms of the demand for fourth quarter of this quarter, FY 2026, will it be 7%-9% that we are expecting? For next 4-5 years, normally what we guided in corporate was here 7%-8%. That number remains intact.
That remains, Shravan.
And then for this quarter.
It remains intact.
This quarter, fourth quarter, would it be 9%-10% or 7%-8%?
No, no.
Even the.
No, I don't think 9%-10% may be a little optimistic, but difficult to say because the last year's base itself was, as we know, is a good base. But yes, in all, I think it is going to be the robust demand, actually.
Got it. And this 1.54 CC ratio target, that is by FY 2027, we are looking at?
2027, 2028. Yeah. In the middle of when we complete the previous phase of expansion between 2027, 2028.
The green share from currently 42%- 60% by FY 2027, we will be looking at.
Yeah. So yeah, 2027 or first half of 2028. So just giving us a flexibility of some delays.
Okay. And last clarification in terms of price, when we said INR 3-4, price hike would have already happened versus third quarter of average, though this is including trade non-trade put together.
Average, yes.
Okay. Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions from the participants, that concludes the question and answer session. On behalf of UltraTech Cement Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining with us today, and you may now disconnect your lines.