Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to INOX India Ltd. Q1 FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in 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 *100 on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Pari. Good morning. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I welcome you all to the Q1 FY 2026 earnings call of INOX India Ltd. Today, we have with us from the management Mr. Deepak Acharya, CEO, Mr. Pawan Lokar, CFO, and Mr. Sunil Lavati, Investor Relations. We'll begin with the opening remarks from the management, which will be followed by Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Mohit. Dear shareholders, investors, and our analyst friends, a very warm welcome to our earnings call for the first quarter of FY 2026 ended June 30, 2025. Our results, investor presentation, and press release are available on the stock exchanges as well as on our website. With the belief you had a chance to go through it, I will go through operational performance of the quarter in detail for all the segments which we are present in. My colleague and our CFO, Pawan Lokar, is with me on this call, and he will take you through financial performance, post which we will open the forum for questions and answers. As we have stepped into a new financial year, it is important tko take a moment and reflect on the remarkable transformation taking place in India's economic landscape.
In 2025, India proudly became the fourth largest economy in the world, a milestone driven by sustained domestic reforms and a strong global positioning under the vision of "Make in India Great for the World." We are now the world's fastest-growing major economy, with the real GDP growing steadily at 6.5%. Our nominal GDP has seen a remarkable rise for the last decade, underscoring the strength and resilience of our economic fundamentals. The momentum continues. India is projected to remain the fastest-growing major economy in 2025-2026, with expected growth ranging from 6.3% to 6.8%. Our foreign trade has played a significant role in this journey, depicting an acknowledgment for Indian business and their manufacturing excellence. Total exports have surged to 76% over the last 10 years, reaching $8.25 billion in FY 2025, led by robust performance in engineering goods, electronics, and pharmaceuticals.
In parallel, technological self-reliance is becoming a cornerstone of India's long-term strategy, a vision that INOX India is deeply aligned with and is actively advancing through its engineering excellence and manufacturing strength, while building a future-ready industrial ecosystem, proudly "Made in India for the World." Now, coming upon our quarterly updates, for the first quarter, we reported a revenue of INR 352 crore. EBITDA was INR 89 crore, while profit after tax was INR 61 crore, underlying a handsome growth of 16.7%, 19.4%, and 18.9% respectively. Coming to the segment-wise performance, I'll begin with our largest business segment, industrial gas solutions. We achieved a significant milestone with the dispatch of India's first ultra-high-purity ammonia ISO containers, specifically designed for the semiconductor and solar panel sector.
These tanks, two of which have been delivered to IAPL, are built to operate at a pressure rating of 19.69 bar, meeting the stringent cleanliness and purity requirements. This is the first of its kind project in India, and we are proud to be the only domestic manufacturer of such high-spec containers. The tanks have been certified by DNV as IMO ISO containers, and an additional 10 units are currently under construction. With a strong initial interest, we anticipate a healthy demand for these specialized tanks, both within India and globally. A key highlight during this quarter was the successful and unique development and launch of India's first CO2 battery storage application breakthrough in long-duration energy storage. This technology is a scalable and sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, offering superior value, reliability, and environmental performance.
The adoption of CO2 batteries is well aligned with the Government of India's initiative of "Make in India" and "Atmanirbhar" policies, providing significant acquired utilities for the existing industrial supply chain in India, not only for the domestic CO2 battery projects but potentially also for the global export markets. This order was received from an Italian company for a project in India. We also received notable orders for disposable cylinders from U.S. customers. What makes these wins particularly significant is that they were secured despite the recent increase in import tariffs, highlighting the strength of our value proposition and continued trust our clients place on us and our products. Overall, Q1 reflected steady momentum across our industrial gas solutions business, with a growing traction in high-purity applications, continued success in global exports, and proactive tariff management efforts underway to safeguard our market competitiveness.
Moving on to the LNG segment, we have successfully streamlined our LNG fuel tank production processes, enabling us to supply approximately 145 tanks to major OEM manufacturers during the quarter. This reflects both operational efficiency and growing adoption of LNG as a clean fuel alternative. We have a positive outlook for the year, and based on market demand and customer feedback, we are confident of continued strong performance in this segment. To support this growth, we are building capabilities to scale it to as high as 10X over the course of the next few years. To enable this, we have begun expanding our production shop, which will enhance our volume capacity and help us cater to the increasing requirements of OEMs and fleet operators. Importantly, regulatory support is also aligning with the industry trends. The Government of India has revised certain regulations.
This revision now allows LNG to be used as a fuel for mobile pressure vessels in cryogenic applications, including LNG in accordance with the SNPB regulations. This change is expected to further accelerate LNG adoption, opening up broader applications and driving additional demand across the multiple sectors. We are also pleased to share that our efforts in this space have ensured external recognition. At the Financial Express Mobility Award, we received two prestigious awards, one specifically for LNG fuel tank applications for the automotive sector and another mobility award for environmental and sustainability, acknowledging our work in hydrogen and clean energy initiatives. These rewards enforce our leadership in sustainable mobility, highlighting the growing relevance of our clean energy solutions in India's transport landscape. Overall, our LNG segment is well-positioned for robust growth, supported by both capacity expansion and a favorable policy environment.
Now, moving to the cryoscientific division, I'm happy to share a significant development following the successful completion of our vacuum vessel thermal shield final work for the prestigious ITER project. Building on the success, we have now secured a major order for the cryostat thermal shield, valued at approximately INR 145 crore. Approximately 90% of the fabrication and assembly work will be carried out in our own facility, ensuring greater control over the quality and timeliness. The remaining 10%, mainly large panels, will be executed at site, managed by our dedicated team of around 25 workmen and technical staff. The project is expected to span nearly two years, so while there is no immediate urgency, it reflects a strong long-term relationship and visibility in our international scientific project pipeline.
Importantly, our proven track record and credibility at the ITER site continue to work in our favor, and additional work opportunities are being directly assigned to us, which we see as a very positive and strategic development for this segment. The beverage-tech division saw steady development across the geographies, supported by customer engagement, distributor expansion, and progress on key approvals. We are seeing a renewed interest and new approaches from global brewing giants like Heineken and Paulaner Brewery, as well as two companies based in Brazil, a positive signal for broader adoption of our beverage kegs solution. Importantly, we also secured global approval from Heineken, the world's largest brewery. This is a major milestone for us, and post-approval, we have started engaging with local players across the region, including South America, Australia, and South Africa, to further expand our footprint.
On the distribution front, we have appointed new distributors in the UK, Germany, and the US. These appointments strengthen our European and US presence alongside our existing distributors. We are also seeing growing interest in non-standard beverage keg formats, which suggests increasing customization requirements in matured markets. We have received an order of INR 6.4 crore in the quarter, against INR 2 crore in the previous quarter, which itself suggests a growth in this segment. We are continuing to work on product approvals with several major breweries. While we have already completed the approval with AB InBev and Heineken, new breweries such as Asahi and Carlsberg have scheduled their audit in the month of September-October, which we believe will further strengthen the case of ramping up of beverage keg volumes. We already received Q2 FY 2026 meaningful orders of INR 20,000 crore from the German company.
The German company, while actively on the beverage keg line as picked up, we acknowledge the current volumes are still below our internal expectation. However, with the multiple approvals in this pipeline, we remain optimistic about scaling the business in the upcoming quarter. Despite competitive pressure from Chinese players and Philippa in Europe, we continue to benefit from the anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese products, which help to maintain a level playing field. In terms of geography, South America remains a consistently strong market for beverage keg demand, and we will continue to build on that momentum. Overall, while we are in the early stages of ramping up of beverage keg volume, the approvals underway, strategic distribution appointments, and global endorsement give us confidence in the long-term potential of this segment.
We remain optimistic about our performance in the upcoming quarter, supported by strong customer relationships, growing demand across geographies, improving policy scenarios, environmental priorities, and continued execution of high-value projects. Coming to a few important quarterly business numbers, order backlog on 30 June 2025 was INR 1,457 crore, with 45% coming from industrial gas, 32% coming from LNG, and 23% coming from the cryoscientific division. Exports comprised around 63% of our total order backlog. In terms of segregation, 48% of the income has come from industrial gas, 29% from LNG, and 19% from the cryoscientific division. Total order inflow during Q1 was INR 415 crore, comprising 44% from industrial gas, 20% from LNG, and 35% from the cryoscientific segment. To conclude, following the strong startup of FY 2026 and a solid Q1 performance, we are encouraged by the momentum across our key businesses.
Backed by a diversified portfolio, global traction, and strong execution, we are also well-positioned to build on this foundation. We remain confident in sustaining our growth trajectory and are firmly committed to delivering long-term value for all the stakeholders in the quarters ahead. I would like to thank you all for your patient hearing. I now hand over to Mr. Pawan Lokar, our CFO, who will share financial numbers in detail with you. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Deepak, and good morning, everyone. I shall share summarized financials for the quarter ended 30 June 2025. Let me share the numbers for Q1 FY 2026. The total income for Q1 was at INR 350 crore, which grew by 16.17% year over year. The EBITDA was up by 19.4% to INR 89 crore. Our quarterly profit after tax grew by 18.9% to INR 61 crore. The total fund available on Q1 FY 2026 is INR 275 crore, which provides us a dedicated room to fund future growth expansion. That concludes my update on the financial highlights of the company. I shall now request the moderator to open the floor for questions and answers session. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Abhinav from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, what are our offerings in the mini LNG segment, and are you seeing a large pipeline developing in the medium term?
On LNG, yes, we have very strong requirements over the globe and in India as well. As you know, we are one of the pioneers in the manufacturing of the entire value chain for the LNG system. We are into the variety of equipment manufacturing, especially for LCNG fueling stations, LNG fuel tanks, marine fuel tanks, small-scale LNG terminals. We have been doing the LNG small-scale terminals at Bahamas now, and we already finished at Caribbean LNG. Many such projects are coming up in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Andaman, and Nicobar. Many such opportunities are available for us in this sector, and we are building very carefully. As we have a successful track record of completion of these projects, I think we are very well placed in this sector.
Understood. Thank you. The second question is on the beverage kegs segment. We received an approval on the beverage kegs segment. The kegs segment. Okay. We received approvals from global breweries, and can we quantify the expected incremental order inflow for the next two fiscal years, and is it fair to build a 5% to 10% revenue in FY 2026?
Yes, we got the global approval from AB InBev and Heineken, and we are in the process of getting approval from Carlsberg and Asahi. These are the four or five major breweries in the world. Their process is like that. They have the auction or the tender, and on the tender basis, they normally qualify for the orders. Globally, they have many breweries. The breweries request the quotations from the suppliers. We are constantly in touch with all the breweries, and they do also qualify the product as well. That process we already started. We hope that the next season, whenever it comes now, we will have substantial orders in this segment now.
Understood. The final question is on the U.S. tariff. What is the impact on the disposable cylinder business, and how big was this segment in FY 2025?
See, normally, U.S. disposable cylinder is a very tricky situation for us. We are being very carefully analyzing our business and our offerings to this market. Frankly speaking, we are just maintaining whatever the share of market in this segment. Besides that, we have a very good situation this time because we have recently approved DOT 39 approval for A2L cylinders, helium cylinders, and R32 gas cylinders. This is an additional business for us, which will be like 500,000 - 600,000 additional cylinders required in this market. There are very few manufacturers in the U.S. In fact, even if there is a tariff imposition, we are not finding any much impact because we are regularly getting orders from the U.S. companies. Recently, what we have seen is that it is only the steel component that is getting impacted by the tariff.
For example, if your INR 100 is a cylinder cost, a price rather, and INR 50 is your, say, material cost, then the tariff is applicable only on the steel part, not on your overheads and margins and other areas. That way, though if it is like 25%, it comes to be around 14% to 15% for these products. Basically, there are very less manufacturers in the U.S. for these. There is one, I can say, manufacturer in the U.S. The competition is not there to that extent, and there is a shortage of cylinders in the market. They have to depend on Indian manufacturers, and there we are well-pressed.
Oh, thank you, sir. That was helpful. Thanks a lot.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prakash Kapadia from Kapadia Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions from my end. This quarter, we've seen only an 8.2% EBITDA growth, excluding other income, despite a gross margin expansion. Can you explain some of the front-loading of the cost, be it employee or some of the other expenses? Given the order book is at an all-time high, does the execution be better than the current run rate of 15% we've seen in Q1? Can we expect a step-up in execution in the rest of the quarters for FY 2026?
Yeah, definitely. Actually, you know, our target is there to have the turnover increase about 18% - 20% in this year. You know, EBITDA is definitely much higher than the growth. You know, we have the growth of 16%, whereas my EBITDA has increased to 19%.
That's because of other income, not sales.
Yeah, except other income. Other income is also part of our business only. This other income is also like any amount we are, like LD earlier we provided, and now it is already not paid to the customer, and we recovered it. It is indirectly from the business only. Otherwise, we have already very clear that we are keeping our fixed margin for any new orders which we are quoting. EBITDA will not increase too much like that. It is not possible. A lot of company worldwide competition is also there. We have a good image worldwide, and we have to increase our customer base. That's why we are keeping normally our margins. We are having fixed margins in all the new quotes which we are giving.
Sir, I totally appreciate the business mode, you know, which we have. What I was trying to understand is, are some of the costs one time or front-loaded, and will they normalize as we move forward? Because we've seen employee addition.
Yeah, actually, you know, we already recently started our travel project, right, and last year only. You know, all the expenses, all the new manpower has already joined in our travel unit. The travel unit performance is now, it is increasing. It is the new because it's a new property, new thing. It is just started. We are not getting 100% revenue out of it. As soon as it is stabilized, definitely my profitability will definitely improve from our travel unit. Whenever any new unit starts, it takes some time to stabilize.
Okay.
My keg business is also not so stabilized, which is now increasing.
Because of the keg business and, you know, some of the revenue being higher, some of these costs should get absorbed, right?
Yeah.
Understood. Any updates on, you know, what is happening on the LNG tendering stations and execution? What is the number government was looking at? Any update would have?
Yeah, like last time also we told you, almost like 45 stations are there, which are in operation now or are coming up in operation.
Right.
New tenders are coming from BPCL and a few private companies. Besides, there's no PSUs coming up for the tenders now.
Okay, that seems to be going slower than what I think the potential is.
Yeah, the government of India was also thinking in that direction. The truck people or the OEM manufacturers are using their very innovative methods. Like earlier, people were using 450-liter tanks. Now they prefer 990-liter tanks. Even some manufacturers are now putting two tanks on each other, which carries them to almost 2,000 kilometers. Even if the number of stations is less, they can manage very well within their limits. Many logistic companies are also now initiating their business, and they are interested to put the fueling stations at their premises itself. This is going to be a game changer, in my opinion. Nobody wants to wait for the PSUs and other things. The government of India has recently changed the regulations also. There was always a land issue, but now recently you must have seen that Nayara and Ambani have come together.
Whatever the petrol pumps they are having, they can be now converted to the fueling station as well. All these proactive actions by the government are substantially going to help us in this business. The corridors are now almost having like at a distance of 400 kilometers, at least one fueling station is available. People can very easily fill their tanks through these fueling stations.
Yes.
Rightly what you said. The growth or the number of fueling stations coming up is not that fast, but it is not hampering the OEMs for going ahead with these projects.
Okay. Okay. Understood. That's very helpful. Thank you. I'll join back with you if I have more questions. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Divyank Joshi from Pragma Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Hello, Divyank.
Yeah.
Am I audible?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you're on.
Slightly bigger, louder is better.
Yeah. My question is, what's the KPIs and timeline for the LNG fuel tank capacity expansion, and how are you mitigating the risk relating to that?
Actually, what we have done, we have already established a serial production line at our Kalol plant. We are augmenting this line to the extent of, say, around 500, 600 tanks a month, which will take us to like 5,000, 6,000 units a month in a year. We expect that in another three to five years, it will require at least 30,000 - 40,000 fuel tanks. For that context, business, we are anticipating that we will be putting up an extra facility. We are slowly and steadily reviewing this project. The expansion of our existing facility we have already taken up, and this will really improve our, I mean, revenue from the LNG fuel tank business perspective. The OEM manufacturers are also very positive in this business.
Because of this ESG and carbon emissions and all those things, many companies are now preferring LNG fuel trucks in place of a diesel fuel truck. That's the advantage.
Okay. Thank you. Also, I had one more question. You had a great order info from the CO2 battery storage application and ultra-high-purity ammonia ISO containers. Do they carry a lower margin or a higher amount of margin?
Margins are, yes, better than what we have normally we get, definitely because this is the first time of its products like that. These ammonia containers are specifically very high-tech containers, I can say, with very high finish and other requirements are there. Definitely, we'll get better margins. This CO2 is like a first of its kind order. This is basically a carbon capture mechanism they'll be using. They'll capture this CO2 and utilize it for energy generation or power generation. This is, again, an experimental work which is being done first time in India now. We hope that these technologies are going to be very useful to the country and to the world globally to reduce these carbon emissions and other things, and will be very well useful for the continuous supply of power.
Okay, that's it. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhinav from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity again. My question is on the ultra-high-purity ammonia tank container. Can you throw some light on how big the market size is for this product and any revenue targets that you have from this particular product?
This is, I'll once again tell you, the first of its kind product we have developed. This ammonia, as such, is not new to this country, and it is being used as a byproduct from the fertilizer companies for the last few decades. This ultra-high-purity ammonia, which requires a very high clean vessel, we have been manufacturing this for our customer in India, and we have got orders for almost 11 numbers. Two we have delivered, nine are in the pipeline. As the ammonia used in the country and abroad is going to increase, there will be very substantial requirements of these containers, maybe in the hundreds in the coming few years. We are already into that business now. Our tanks are performing very well. We don't feel any issue as such in this market.
As the market goes, we will be the first one to move ahead in this market.
Understood. Final question, when do we expect the Savli plant to stabilize?
Finally, if you see, last year we did almost INR 200 crore from that plant, and this year we have a plan of around INR 300, 350 crore. As we are improving our capacity over there and we are putting more manpower and other things, I think stabilization will take around six months to one year around that time. Gradually, we are putting the products, and as of today, more than 150 tanks are under construction at our Savli plant.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Mohit Surana from Monarch Networth Capital Limited. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity.
Yeah.
My question is with respect to the cryoscientific division. This quarter, we have received an order worth INR 145 crore from ITER. I think that's the largest from the scientific entity we have received so far.
Yeah.
Should we consider this as one-off, or even going forward, we can expect such kind of growth momentum to continue in this segment?
Yeah. As you know, if you have seen our past record, we have been working with ITER for almost more than 10 years now. Very often, we are getting, because of our good work and quality and timely deliveries of our products, we are constantly getting orders from them. Previously, we have seen that VVTS, we almost had more than INR 200 crore orders there. This also is a part of that project, which was, again, a failure from some other countries. They had some issues. They are relying on India to get it refurbished. Yes, you are correct. It's the one of its kind order because it is not going to happen again and again. Looking to our performance, ITER is very much interested to give more and more orders to us. You will see a few more orders in the next few quarters again.
ITER is very happy with our work. Whatever works are coming in during the election, commissioning, and the execution part of ITER's project, definitely India and INOX India will have a better chance to work with them.
Understood, sir. Sir, on this same topic, can you throw some light on the scope of work that you are doing for ITER? Because I understand the vacuum vessel thermal shield repair work is over. Now we have bought the order for cryostat thermal shield.
Yeah. It is very similar to vacuum vessel thermal panels only. The vacuum vessel thermal panels are very huge in size, maybe around 8 meter diameter dimensions, 10 meter dimensions. These other panels, which we have recently received orders, are not that big in size. They are smaller in size. We don't have any challenge in manufacturing at our place. There are a few panels which are very big in size, which they have requested, almost 8% to 10%, are bigger in size, which is difficult for them to transfer to India or transport to India. We will be doing at our site through our own manpower. We have already 25 to 30 guys there and a few engineers who are directly working at site for erection commissioning of this VVTS panel.
That way, we will be completing 90% at our factory, then dispatch it to ITER site and do the erection job. This is not so difficult job as compared to VVTS, I can say.
Sir, how many helium cryostat thermal shields are there in ITER?
Yeah, almost, yeah.
Will all of that require repair work?
Yes, yes, yes. The TTS is almost around 200 numbers, and we have already done 144 for VVTS. Around 315 numbers are around that number, approximately. These panels 100% have to go on repair bid.
How many cryostat thermal shields are there in Tokamak? I think there are three.
There are 355 numbers. Out of that, VVTS was something around 144 or 150 numbers. These TTS panels are around 200 numbers.
Understood, sir. Sir, while we are on this topic, can you also throw some light on future order intake potential from CERN and FAIR and ISRO?
Yes. On FAIR, yes, we are building for various projects, and we are very much well-placed, I can say. We are a very few competitors, maybe one or two only. As we see that our prices are very competitive as compared to European and U.S. manufacturers, we are hopeful that we'll get those orders. On the space side, the tender is not yet out. Most likely, it is coming up in December or early next year, and we'll get at least three months for bidding purposes. Hopefully, by the end of this year, something should come up for the third launch.
For the third launch, the total project order is environmental to INR 4,000 crore. How much can we expect for this new flow to INOX India?
I don't say INOX India. It will be like cryogenic contribution will be around 15% to 20%. We have a better chance because we have done the second launch path. We know the intricacies of this manufacturing and designing. We have a better chance into this.
Understood, sir.
I think 5-20% balance is civil work and many other, the mechanical part and other things are there.
Got it, sir. Sir, I have more questions. I will go back and ask later.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Bimal Somani, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning.
Good morning. Good morning.
Yeah. One is, what is our total CapEx for the current year? What segment will it cover?
Basically, for this year, we have targeted around INR 80 crore. It will come for some expansion of our Kandla facility because we are manufacturing very big vessels there. 1,500 cubic meter vessels are there. It requires some additional CapEx and some CapEx for our existing plant at Kalol and Savli now.
Okay. This LNG tank, what we are expanding, what is the CapEx on that?
We have already around for the present facility at Kalol, we are expanding around INR 5 to 6 crore for the additional capacity building for the LNG fuel tank. We are just evaluating the options of putting a very large facility. It is under consideration now.
Okay. What will be the output? Suppose we manufacture 5,000 to 6,000 tanks. What will be the output, you know, of that value of that production?
You can say a fuel tank is sold at INR 500,000, multiplied by 5,000.
5,000. Okay. Average fuel tank is INR 500,000.
INR 500,000, yeah.
Okay. Okay. Sir, on this CAG thing, now we are just starting out. From here, where do you see in three, four years, can we be two times, three times this size?
Surely, we have that vision that we are a better place because we are the Indian manufacturer with all our labor costs and other manufacturing costs that are much lower as compared to others. We are considered as a very good quality manufacturer as we have received the FSST approval, the FODA approval, and many other approvals which are required by the industry. When we did the Heineken audit, I was told it is very difficult to get this audit period. We are happy to inform you that INOX India has done it on the first go. Many big companies in the world had to go for two times, three times audit. Only then were they qualified. That shows our product quality and product reliability and our teamwork and the trained staff of skills we are arriving. I think our product is well-pressed to the industry as such.
We are just waiting for the orders to flow in. That should happen very soon now. We should have multiple opportunities in this sector now.
It will be three, four times the current size.
Definitely.
At least. Okay. Sir, these nuclear reactors, SMB, SMR, what do you say? I mean, how are we looking at it? What is our scope there?
Yeah, we can manufacture the SMRs, small SMRs, which are built into the factories. We are working with the government and some other foreign companies as well to see how we can put such reactors in the market. This again is a very slow process as the nuclear project doesn't move so fast. We are working with some partners who can work with us on this segment.
It will take three, four years at least.
Yeah, it should. It should take that much.
Okay. Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Rohan from Envision Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Sir, my first question was on the industrial gas solutions segment. What you've seen is in the past two, three years, the first quarter has always been slow. That is what we've seen in this quarter also. Is there anything that we need to consider on that and in this scale-up from here for the next three quarters?
Industrial gas is a very steady business, I can say. Normally, the steady growth takes place in the first and second quarter, basically because the site work is very slow during this period of monsoon in India. Most of the sites work very slowly. Immediately after the share hour or so, everything picks up very fast. The projects are decided during this period, and it starts moving in the second or third quarter onwards. Otherwise, the healthcare sector, the steel sector, and many other fabrication industries, all that is a smooth selling. The MNC companies also, they take on a regular basis. Slightly, yes, the first quarter is slightly less as compared to other quarters for the IG sector. It definitely picks up in the balance quarter that we have seen for the last so many years.
Thank you, sir. The second question was on the LNG tanks. What we see is, you know, the largest LNG OEM in India today, we are not actively supplying to them. Any effort that we are putting in that direction, you know, to qualify with them and start supplying to them?
I could not understand your question. Can you come again?
On the LNG tanks, the largest OEM, you know, we are not supplying to that country today. Are we working in that direction? You said new energy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are we working with them to get qualified and, you know, start supplying?
Yeah, we are already qualified. We are already qualified, and we will be supplying a substantial amount of equipment this year. We have that arrangement made with them now. Don't worry on that. They had initially bought some tanks from outside, but we have given them ours, and they are now happy with our product, what we are supplying so far.
Great. Great. Thank you, sir. All the best.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jaiveer Shekhawat from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Sure. Thanks a lot. Sir, my first question is on your industrial business. When I see your order intakes on a quarter-on-quarter basis, I think there's been a decline there. I just want to understand, is it largely because of what has happened on the export side? Is there a decline on the export intake? Are there any specific segments that have taken a hit? You highlighted that you've still been able to manage notable orders for disposable cylinders as well from U.S. customers. Are there any specific segments where the order inflows come down on the industrial business specifically? See, the industrial gas sector doesn't go as fast as the other two sectors which are growing, like LNG and cryoscientific. It's a very steady growth of, say, around 8% to 10% is the conventional growth.
Maybe by addition of new products, what we are putting in, we get another 5% - 6% extra. Overall growth, what we are expecting in the IG sector is something around 15% - 17%. The growth of the standard products is very steady because the equipment are used in healthcare, steel industry, petrochemical, pharmaceuticals, and so many others. Recently, we have introduced products like this ultra-high-purity ammonia, hydrogen equipment, and even this now CO2 battery system. That adds to our revenue in a bigger way. As this market grows up, definitely, we will have a substantial growth in this segment as well. Otherwise, the conventional, the MNC people, they buy around 8% to 10% of their equipment every year for the replacement demand and for the new projects. These big projects normally in the rainy season are slightly sluggish in India.
I don't think that there will be a decline in our IG sales. It will definitely improve over a period of time because this is the major sector we are seeing. Almost every year, we are having more than 50% revenue coming from our IG sector. That will continue because the space sector, the defense sector, healthcare, steel industry, everything is in booming side now.
Sir, as you had already also guided earlier in your calls as well, I think you were anyway expecting around that range of 15+% on your industrial business, and the rest of the segments will grow faster. Do you retain your guidance of that 18%-20% revenue growth as you guided earlier?
Yeah, yeah. Basically, I told you because we are putting new products into a whole range like this. We are strongly working for all the opportunities which are coming up in this industrial gas solutions sector, and we are working on them.
Sure. Sir, lastly, on the LNG side itself, if you were to just crystal ball the amount of opportunity that exists across different types of equipment that you manufacture, all the way from LNG fuel tanks to fueling stations, how does that stack-up happen? Which are the largest opportunities and how much is coming from there? If you could quantify those, I think that'll be more helpful.
See, I told you about LNG stations and fueling stations. LNG stations are moving in a good way, I can say. Fueling stations, which the government of India has decided to go with 1,000 stations, have not moved to that extent because of some issues, especially from the statutory point of view. Recently, the Gazette publication has come from PESO that mainly what we have understood is that the fueling stations people were interested, but acquisition of land on the highways was always a problem. With this, the new rule which is coming up that you can put a fueling station next to the petrol pump station as well, that has really changed the scenario now. As you have known, Ambani and Adani have come together now, and they'll be leasing out their land for fueling stations. That should change the whole scenario.
Secondly, there was a regulation that maybe the pressure vessels, like maybe the cryogenic equipment, tankers, or maybe other equipment which carry the hazardous chemicals and other things, they are not allowed to use LNG as a fuel. That is also now given a clearance by the statutory authorities. There is a good demand of such equipment in the market. Many of the companies, because of this carbon capture or the carbon emission and ESG norms, and to get those benefits and to see that they are clean, they're using clean fuel. People want to go for it. We are in constantly touch with OEM manufacturers, and they see that there is a good demand in the market, even for the smaller vehicles as well now. The things are going to change very rapidly.
This is happening in China in the early few years before, and same thing will repeat in India. That is what our perception is.
Sure. Thank you so much. I'll possibly connect back to you offline. Yeah, thanks.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Bhatia from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Just extending to the previous question. In case of LNG, what is the kind of growth do you foresee in the next three, four years? That would be the first question. Secondly, also in terms of the keg business, now that we have global approvals from these larger players, what is the current volume do you foresee for this year? If you could guide something for the next one or two years?
Yeah. On LNG front, what you rightly said, yes, the growth is going to be more than 20%, around 20% or more than that because we are seeing a great traction, especially from the OEM manufacturers for use of LNG as a fuel. We have very good requirements from the marine equipment, the small-scale LNG terminal. All this is going to put a very good show in the coming few years. Whatever you have seen, the hydrogen is a futuristic fuel, but still, its commercial viability is a big problem. LNG is going to be a winner for the next 8 to 10 years, in our opinion. That will be a transition fuel over a period of time. INOX India has very carefully articulated its product to see that we are in the entire range of ecosystem of the LNG equipment.
We have an entire range of equipment, and we are also approved and certified by the global agencies for manufacturing this equipment. We are very well-pressed for LNG if it is booming. The prices of LNG are also very attractive now. The government regulations, which were earlier slightly a hurdle, I can say, are getting smoothened up. People have started understanding the advantages of LNG as a fuel from the cost economics point of view, from the clean energy point of view, from the efficiency point of view. With this, it's a success story now. When people were just watching because so many alternatives were available to the different OEMs, they have carefully evaluated for all the last, I can say, two to three years, the batteries, the biofuels, the LNG, and so many things. People are now convinced, yes, yes, LNG is the best bid now.
That is how everything is moving on that. On the keg front, yes, we have got the major approvals, but still two to three more approvals are required. Once these approvals are there, we will have a substantial increase in our revenue from the keg division. This year, we are targeting at least 100,000 keg fuel in selling. It will multiply over a period of time now.
Okay. Sir, finally, on this new business of the CO2 battery storage application, yeah, what is the kind of opportunity there? I understand you've received one order.
Yes, this is the first. This is the first order of its kind. When we were discussing with this company, they have at least a lot of such requirements not only in India, but the entire globe. This is basically, you can say, for carbon CO2 capture. You can basically, it captures the CO2, and then CO2 is utilized for power generation. This is, again, a very good way of helping for clean energy or fuels like this. Things are going to improve once this one project is successful. Definitely, people will come and join this area.
Sir, this order will be worth how much?
This order is not a so big order, but we have got 26 units, which we have to sell of 50 cubic meter tanks at 20 bar pressure. It's not a very big order in value-wise. Yes, this will give a very good push to the industry. If it is successful, then definitely bigger projects will come up in the future.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Kunal.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankish Kapoor, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my question is regarding how much those are we expecting in top line and bottom line for FY 2026, along with margin expansion.
Top line and bottom.
Again, just.
You wanted to know the top line and bottom line, what is the advantages?
Yeah, actually, you know, if you see our growth over the last three years, we feel that the growth should be similar only, and it should be even higher than the last three years' growth. Let's see how things happen. Yes, we are hopeful that if we go roadmap, we should definitely achieve it. Okay. I'm sorry, my second question is, how much are we going to impact on the, you know, the recent developments that your government has enforced the tariffs of 35%? I think tariffs will not change our business.
Tariff is a very tricky issue. Every day it is changing. It is very difficult to say what's going to happen. What I told you is that our contribution for the U.S. market on total revenue is almost 10% - 12%. The majority comes from our disposable cylinders. We are very well-placed in disposable cylinders. Basically, there is only a single manufacturer in the U.S. with a limited capacity. It is totally based on the carbon steel or the CRC material available in that country. There are very few manufacturers of CRC material in the U.S. The prices of TVs are increasing there. Inflation is increasing. Labor cost is increasing. Whatever delta was there earlier, the same delta will continue over a period of time. We are not seeing any decline in the orders received from these major customers in the U.S., right from April, then July, then August now.
Practically, we are receiving orders over everything. The impact of this tariff, yes, slightly will be there, but not substantial for our products.
Okay. Sir, any substantial gain are we going to see from this recently concluded India-UK trade deal?
Come again?
Are we seeing any substantial gain from this recently concluded India-UK trade deal?
Your voice is cracking. It's not clear.
Sir, my question is that are we going to see any substantial gain from the recently concluded India-UK trade deal?
India-UK tariffs, you're talking?
No, no. India-UK trade deal, I'm talking. Are we going to see any substantial gains from that deal?
I think we have to evaluate that. We have not done it so far. We will let you know.
Okay. That's fine. Thank you from my part. Thank you.
Free trade agreement with India.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Surana from Monarch Network Capital Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you again for the opportunity. My question is with respect to the H-Energy. We are already executing one project for the company. I think they have three to four more such projects in the pipeline which they have to complete by 2030. When can we expect more orders to flow from H-Energy to us?
I think it will take the beginning of the next year because this project we are delivering by the end of January or February. Once they have a better understanding of this one project, they have already started working on many such projects. At least four or five are there in the pipeline. Once we are done with the first project, I think by the beginning of the new year, they will be discussing for the new projects coming in all over the country.
Will we be the preferred supplier of these tanks?
Yes, so far, I can say because we have maintained a very good relationship with them. So many technical queries are there. We are resolving their queries from an engineering point perspective and manufacturing perspective. They have very high reliability in INOX India. We are trying to see that we have a good rapport with this customer because not only this equipment, but several other equipments will also be required in the future to grow. We will be very competitive. They'll be definitely working with us.
Understood, sir. The next question is with respect to refrigerant cylinders and stainless steel tanks. Sir, these are part of our industrial gas segment, right? Both disposable cylinders and stainless steel tanks.
Yeah.
Sir, can you share how much were the sales in INR terms as well as volume for this quarter for both products?
[Foreign language].
29.
Huh?
$29 for a disposable cylinder in the U.S.
How much is the volume? Around 500,000?
Exact number is not known, but around 500,000 to 600,000 is the business what we did. Around INR 300 million, you can say.
Okay, both consolidated, right?
Pardon?
Including both cylinders as well as stainless steel tanks.
No, no, no. Only cylinders. Disposable cylinders are coming in.
Okay. Sir, another question is with respect to the recent acquisition of Chart Industries by DataGroup.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, it's a global, I mean, this is something which indicates some kind of consolidation happening in the industry. The principle of your requested to take a resource using this petroleum emerging demand areas like aluminum and beta-silicate.
Yeah.
I wanted to understand where are we, I mean, do we also think that the industry is in the consolidation phase? What are the overlapping products that we can further get into, like cryogenic voids and pipes that Chart Industries makes and that we don't?
We are practically making all the equipment that Chart is making from the cryogenic side, barring the compressors and liquefaction plant and other things which we are not making. We are very hopeful that as Chart has merged with oil and gas companies such as Baker Hughes, I think they are offering maybe slightly on a wider basis, but their response to the customers will not be as smooth as earlier. Perhaps from the cryogenic front, we will be now sliding upwards because this company will be considered as an oil and gas company, not as a cryogenic company. We will have a better chance of winning the cryogenic products and going forward. That is what we pursue. It is too early to say because this deal has been recently done.
It will take six to eight months to really complete the final deal, and then the consolidation will happen. Actual results will come to know only after one and one and a half years now.
Understood, sir. Sir, any thoughts on improving our exposure to the data center demand sector?
Which sector are you talking about?
Data center.
Data center. Yeah, data center, we have pretty good opportunities, but we have not developed any products so far. Cryogenics is the main. Like in data centers for cooling purposes, the cryostats and other things are a major thing. We are evaluating these options and how we can enter into this business because we know the technology. We know the engineering point of view. We are quite familiar with these products. The real developing and discussing with customers will start now. This is a big opportunity for us going forward.
Understood, sir. All the best in that regard.
Thank you.
Sir, my last question is with respect to LNG. We have paid it for some projects. For Mini LNG terminals, any update on when can we expect some kind of an order close for those mini LNG terminals?
The new LNG terminal is a slightly bigger order. They take a little longer time because the approval process is there, financial closures are required, and land acquisitions are there. There are so many things, but we are very much, you can say, discussing with the majority of projects which are coming up. Hopefully, by the beginning of next year, something should happen.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand over the conference to management for closing comments.
Thank you very much. Thank you all the participants for your interactions, and hopefully we answered all your queries. If something is there which we could not have answered, you can write back to us. We will, to the best of our abilities and knowledge, provide you the answers. Hopefully, we'll meet again after the second quarter month. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye.
On behalf of ICICI Securities, this concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you. Bye-bye.