Jindal Stainless Limited (NSE:JSL)
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725.25
-6.85 (-0.94%)
May 13, 2026, 3:29 PM IST
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Q3 23/24

Jan 19, 2024

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Jindal Stainless Limited Q3 FY24 earnings conference call, hosted by Batlivala and Karani Securities India 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 after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phones. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rajesh Majumdar from Batlivala and Karani Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Rajesh Majumdar
Director Research and Head-East, Batlivala & Karani Securities

Yeah, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Q3 FY 2024 earnings call of Jindal Stainless Limited. We have with us today from the management, Mr. Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director; Mr. Tarun Khulbe, CEO; Mr. Anurag Mantri, ED and Group CFO; and Ms. Shreya Sharma, Head Investor Relations. And, first of all, congratulations, sir, on a decent set of numbers, steady and decent set of numbers. So without much ado, I shall hand it over to Ms. Shreya Sharma to take the call forward.

Shreya Sharma
Head of Investor Relations, Jindal Stainless

Thank you, Rajesh. Good afternoon, everyone, and a warm welcome on the call. Wish you all a very Happy New Year. We have shared our Q3 FY24 earnings presentation with the topic changes, which is also available on the company's website, and today's call discussion will be on the same lines. Please note some of the information on this call may be forward-looking in nature and is covered by the disclaimer on the slide 2 of the earnings presentation. Now, I would like to hand over to our Managing Director, Mr. Abhyuday Jindal. Over to you, sir.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you, Shreya, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Q3 FY 2024 earnings call. I wish you all a very happy and healthy year ahead. Let me first discuss the key business highlights of the quarter ending December 2023, following which Anurag will take you through our operational and financial performance. During the quarter, the global market saw muted demand, pricing pressures and destocking, coupled with geopolitical issues such as the one unfolding in the Red Sea. Despite these challenges, we managed to deliver fair volumes in the export markets. However, there is a slight dip in the overall sales volume on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This was due to a planned maintenance in the plant, aimed at upgrading the output for an enhanced product mix and a faster ramp-up.

Domestic demand for stainless steel continued to be on the rise, with the auto sector witnessing growth in all segments, government push for stainless steel in infrastructure, and robust growth in the pipe and tube sector. Thus, domestic market is expected to witness overall healthy growth, and with our agility to switch volumes between domestic and export markets, we are poised to deliver good sales volume in Q4 FY 2024. This is despite exports expecting to be subdued. I would also like to discuss the successful acquisition of Raviraj Vinimay Private Limited on an ongoing basis at the cost of INR 96 crore. Raviraj has a P&T capacity of 4,000-5,000 tons per month, and this acquisition will help us to penetrate deeper into the value chain. Further, I'm happy to share we have started production in Rathi Super Steel.

This will help us widen our product offering through an addition of long products, like wire rods and rebars, to our existing product portfolio. The operations will further ramp up in FY 25. To support the government's Make in India mission, it is our constant endeavor to substitute imports in critical areas. Our strong R&D efforts have created various grades to replace imports in important segments such as aerospace, defense, petrochemical, thermal power. On the import side, distortion in the level playing field between Indian manufacturers and subsidized foreign imports continued throughout the quarter due to high level of imports, majorly from China and Vietnam. Immediate focus on the government will be necessary to get the situation under check and help the stainless steel ecosystem in the nation reach its full potential.

Jindal Stainless is committed to help this ecosystem flourish, and we are taking constant steps in this regard under our Stainless Academy initiative. You might be aware that this initiative is aimed at skill building and awareness creation about the benefits of stainless steel. During the quarter, we have trained more than 4,800 people through 46 fabricator training programs conducted. On the ESG front, JSL showcased its decarbonization initiatives at the prestigious UN COP 28 climate summit for the first time. We also announced that we are set to achieve our midterm target of 50% carbon emissions reduction well before the target year of 2035. Our efforts towards sustainability and environmentally responsible operations were acknowledged at several industry forums. Jindal Stainless became a member of ResponsibleSteel, a global not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative. We released our sustainability report for FY 2023 last month.

We also bagged several prestigious awards, like the India Green Award 2024 for environmental excellence at the 23rd Greentech Environmental-Environment Annual Summit and Awards 2023, National Sustainability Award 2022, 2023 by the Indian Institute of Metals, Award of Appreciation for CPP at the Odisha State Energy Conservation Award 2023. With this, I would like to hand over to Anurag to discuss the operational and financial performance. Thank you.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Thank you, Abhyuday. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome on the call. I wish you a very happy 2024. As highlighted by Abhyuday, we delivered the consistent performance amidst the challenging global scenario. Let me discuss in detail the operational and financial performance during Q3 FY 2024. The volume increased by 28% on a YOY basis, with slight dip of 6% on a QOQ basis, as explained by Abhyuday earlier. The standalone revenue remained stable on a YOY to INR 9,720 crores, despite the 19% dip in the nickel prices. EBITDA and PAT increased by 8% and 41% respectively to INR 1,021 crores and INR 779 crores on a YOY basis.

The nine-month standalone revenue increased to 13% YOY to INR 28,835 crores. EBITDA and PAT increased by 30% and 52% to INR 3,208 crores and INR 2,554 crores respectively on YOY basis. On the subsidiaries and associates, associate side, we are trying to further simplify the group structure. In this regard, the board has approved divestment of 26% stake in JCL and, which is Jindal Coke Limited, and increasing the stake in Iberj indal up to 100%. Divestment in JCL will further support our ESG commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, by integrating the sustainability into our business strategy and operations to create value for all the stakeholders with minimizing the environmental impact.

I would also like to update that during Q3 FY 2024, the surplus available funds JUSL has also paid a dividend of INR 200 crore to JCL. I'm happy to share that all three credit rating agencies, CRISIL, India Ratings and CARE Ratings, have revised the JSL credit rating to AA stable from AA-. This change reflects our prudent capital allocation strategy for a strong business management. Despite engaging both organic and inorganic capital expenditures, our leverage ratios remain among the industry's best strength, with net debt to EBITDA at 0.7x and net debt to equity at 0.2x. There is another good development. Lenders have also approved the long awaited promoter pledge of all the equity shares of the company.

Now, all the shares earlier pledged with the lenders have been released. On the CapEx side, in our last call, we guided for FY 2024 CapEx of INR 3,300 crore. Now, additionally, we acquired Raviraj for INR 96 crore and expecting a preponement of the INR 225 crore Indonesia NPI tranche from FY 2025 to FY 2024, as project is running on a fast track basis. So we may have additional CapEx of INR 325 crore in FY 2024, aggregating to INR 3,600 crore versus 3,300 crore guided earlier. Accordingly, we were earlier anticipating closing net debt of INR 4,700 crore. Despite this CapEx addition of INR 325 crore, we expect March 2025 closing net debt level of INR 4,800 crore only.

On the demand outlook, we are confident that domestic stainless steel demand will continue to rise with robust economic activities and infrastructure supported, infrastructure supported demand. Major activities on process industry front will further strengthen the stainless steel ecosystem. With this, I would like to end my discussion and would request the moderator to open the floor for the Q&A session.

Operator

Hello? Sir, shall we begin with the Q&A?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Yes, please.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Thank you. We take the first question from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead, sir.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

Yeah, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations on good set of numbers. I have a couple of questions. The first one essentially relates to the loan that we have extended to NPI of around INR 384 crore. So just wanted to understand the genesis behind it and the key attributes of this loan, when it will be returned and what is the interest rate, et cetera. That is the first-

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

So, Amit, okay, so shall I, shall we answer question by question, or you want to ask all the questions? Okay, let me answer first question. Okay, so, this, INR 384 crore loans, if you recall, the NPI total investment was $158 million. And, there was a transit. So we have right now kept the flexibility of sending the while sending the money. It's been, right now, sent partial loans as this amount has been sent as a, as a included in a Singapore entity as a debt, but we have a right to convert into equity later stage. So we'll see the best, tax efficient capital structure at appropriate time, and then accordingly decide. But right now, this investment has been, done through a combination of debt and equity.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

The,

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

It's basically shareholder debt. No, not external debt.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

Okay. So just wanted to understand, because, you know, we have already, I would say, paid whatever was due this year. So what was the need of extending this additional loan?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

No, no, no. So this, this is a part of that. There's no additional loan. It is part of the same consideration of $158 million, let me tell you, right? The total outflow on this project till now has happened close to $121 million, which is around INR 1,000 crore of amount, INR 1,000 crore of amount, and balance amount is still due. So, the balance amount is due, which I'm saying, as I told in my opening remarks. Out of that, we are expecting $26 million may get preponed. Because the project is on fast track, it may get completed much earlier than what we were anticipating. If, because these are milestone-based terms, we may have to send another $26 million before March.

But this is all within this $121 million, which is a combination of this loan, as well as the money sent as an equity.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

Okay. The second question is regarding the couple of, you know, more new drivers, that is Rathi Super Steel and Raviraj. So what kind of ramp up should we expect on both of these operations? And what would be the ballpark EBITDA per ton that we could expect for maybe FY 2025?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

As Abhyuday mentioned, we just started the Rathi production. The expected FY 25, we expect to have a 70% utilization, so the capacity will depend with the combination of wire rod as well as the rebar. So overall, we are expecting 9,000-10,000 tons per month run rate in FY 25, so around 110,000-120,000 tons in FY 25 from Rathi.

On EBITDA side, I think on Rathi, right now we are guiding it in the range of because it's a start and initial product coming out of the mill, so 4,000-6,000 INR per ton of EBITDA in FY 2025. On Raviraj, we just acquired the plant. I think it will take some time for to start, so we are guiding that in H1 FY 2025, we should be able to start the plant. Initially, at the capacity currently is close to 4,000-5,000 tons per month existing. Eventually, we want to make it a 8,000-10,000-ton pipe and tube facility with the combination of decorative as well as industrial tube.

So we'll have to increase the capacity and also put up the functionality and some equipment for make it an industrial tube. So initial volumes, I think, for FY 2025, the volume may not be high because we will be starting the operations in H1 2025. Out of this current, because current plant, we will start with say 1,000-1,500 per month to start with.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

Okay, that's very elaborate. Any additional CapEx that we expect on both of these plants in FY 25?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Raviraj, approximate INR 75 crore CapEx to start the unit as well as to put up some of these decorative and industrial facilities. So initially, these are initial CapEx. It could go further up, but FY 2025, we are expecting next nine to twelve months, we are expecting seventy-five, around INR 75 crore to invest to start the facility. Rathi, we guided earlier up to close to INR 150 crore of the CapEx, which is there. Also, out of which some has happened, I think in next year, maybe around INR 75 crore-INR 100 crore CapEx will happen.

Amit Dixit
Former VP, ICICI Securities

Okay, great. Great. That's it. Thank you and all the best.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Thank you, Amit.

Operator

Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Bhavin Rupani from Investec. Please go ahead, sir. Mr. Bhavin, your line is on the talk mode, sir. Please go ahead.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

Yeah. Am I audible?

Operator

Yes.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

Yeah. So I just wanted to understand the significance of Spain operations, and also wanted to understand the reason for increase in stake, if it's just even though it's a loss-making entity as of now.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

So Bhavin, just, you know, loss-making has only been because of the temporary situation in the last 1.5 years, actually. 1.5-2 years, because that's a service center that we have in Europe, and it has been, in the history before that, been doing very well for us, and even in the future, we see very good demand. It is just because of the subdued demand that is there in Europe at the moment is why our Spain service center has been at loss. But definitely the European market will rebound, and when it does, we're very confident again, Ibérica should start performing better. And in FY 2022 itself, we did an EBITDA of almost INR 109 crore and a PAT of INR 80 crore.

You know, so it is only because of the market conditions in Europe why we're not able to perform. Otherwise, we're very bullish, and that is why we are also willing to buy back our partner's stake in the company. So it's only a temporary phenomenon. As soon as the European market rebounds, you'll see Ibérica performing very well as well.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

All right. Got it, sir. The second question is related to Jindal Coke. We intend to divest 26% stake. Sir, can you provide us with any negative valuations for it, and what is the current debt and EBITDA in it?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

I think, basically, the board has just approved it yesterday for us to explore the options of this. I think it's a bit early to say on the valuation side, that right now. On EBITDA side, last quarter, they did an EBITDA of INR 56 crore, and the debt in the entity is close to INR 450 crore.

Shreya Sharma
Head of Investor Relations, Jindal Stainless

Net debt is INR 3.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Net, net debt is around INR 300 crore.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

Okay. All right. Got it, sir. Sir, is it possible for you to provide the breakup of CapEx for FY 2024 and 2025?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

25, I think it's a bit early, as we say, because we'll have to plan. Right now, I can tell you the typical maintenance and sustenance CapEx of annual INR 500-600 crore what we get, so that will be there in FY 2025. FY 2025 and on, beside that, there is, say, INR 500-600 crore current project CapEx, which may spill over to, not spill over, but will be, shall be due in FY 2025. But otherwise, there's no new CapEx which we have actually right now planned at this point of time besides this. FY 2024 CapEx, as I guided, earlier we guided for INR 3,300 crore, which has now increased to INR 3,600 crore, could go up to INR 3,600 crore because of two reasons.

One is the INR 100 crore of Raviraj investment, and second is this NPI tranche of $26 million, which is due in April, may get preponed in March itself. In that case, another INR 225 crore may come from the NPI tranche. So close to INR 3,600 could be the CapEx in this year.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

Sir, is it possible for you to give breakup of INR 3,300 crore? You mentioned about INR 325 crore, but what about the rest?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Sure, I can give you. So, okay, let me tell you. So I think, JUSL acquisition was INR 958 crore. RKEF, this NPI, we expected INR 1,000 crore, this year, so which has completely gone now. Maintenance and sustenance of INR 500 crore, ongoing CapEx of INR 400 crore, Rathi was INR 100 crore, the renewable power was INR 150 crore, and beside that, JUSL expansion CapEx of INR 250 crore. So that was INR 3,358 crore maths exactly.

Bhavin Rupani
Equity Research Analyst, Investec

All right. Got it, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Ketan Mehta from BOB Capital Markets. Please go ahead, sir.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

Thank you, sir, for giving this opportunity. I just want to understand from the perspective of the consolidated entity, they have contributed INR 225 crore this quarter. This is increased from INR 68 crore, quarter ago. So which are the main drivers to this contribution?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Sorry, Ketan, can you repeat your question? I haven't understood it.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

I was saying that when we look at the consolidated minus standalone EBITDA difference, that is INR 225 crore in this quarter, which is higher than the INR 68 crore a quarter ago. So just wanted to understand which of the subsidiaries are actually contributing to this increase in this quarter.

Shreya Sharma
Head of Investor Relations, Jindal Stainless

So there is, if you look at Ketan, there is a positive side on the global subsidiaries. So last quarter, there was a huge loss on Ibérica as well as on PTJSI. And this quarter, if you see, there is a EBITDA, it's a breakeven for Iberj indal, and the operations are... We have booked quite a you know loss to some extent, the valuation loss. So now, going ahead, we are not expecting on inventories, which is left there, to further continue loss on the that stock available over there. And-

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

What... Yeah, sorry.

Shreya Sharma
Head of Investor Relations, Jindal Stainless

Yeah. Anything more you want a clarification on?

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

In terms of, sort of, ongoing run rate for the operations outside JSL standalone, what should be the ongoing run rate for those businesses?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Uh, so-

Shreya Sharma
Head of Investor Relations, Jindal Stainless

For Ibérica, basically Iberj indal? PTJSI is already-

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

PTJSI, we are closing down operations there, and run rate, I'm not sure. However, typically, see, on an average, it used to do INR 600 crore-INR 800 crore of revenue. INR 600, INR 700 crore revenue, so basically, 6-7, 7-8 million EUR. Hopefully, that should have be the form of practice, but I think maybe it may take another quarter for them to come back to those type of profitability zone, because we still have most of the stock. So if you see last quarter, at least that gets neutralized. There's no loss in last quarter on a net basis.

Maybe we still have some inventory left of 5,000 tons in that entity, which may have some losses incurred, and right now, European markets are still weak.

... But I think, next year, onwards, I think FY 2025 beginning onwards, we should start seeing that in a good positive development, as Abhyuday mentioned.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

Sure, sir. Just one more question in terms of the acquisition into the pipe and tube team. This is basically appears to be a forward integration. You previously maintained the position that we wouldn't want to sort of get into the space of our customers. So is there any change in the sort of, direction?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So, see, there is a very large market for pipe and tube in our country, and what we keep seeing is that when substandard material is getting utilized left, right, and center, then there has to be some stability, some kind of ask. So there, from a lot of fronts, we're getting asked that a good quality player is required to stabilize the market. This opportunity came in front of us. We felt that we were the best company in place to take this up, utilize the facility, and give the best in-class product in the market. So with that strategy, why we entered, and it is not going to be that we're going to eat into our customers' market. You know, we have a clear-cut strategy.

We will continue to support our customers who are in the pipe and tube sector. There is enough growth coming in, in our country, all across, there is only going to be push towards infrastructure, airports, railways. So there is enough, demand, and that's going to come. And with our good quality, we would like to showcase, that to India and to the world. So with that strategy is why we, went ahead with this acquisition.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

Right, sir. In terms of sort of if we look forward to next five years or so, how do we like this segment to develop from here? Like the entertainment in next five years.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

In the next five years, see, it's, it's definitely going to grow at a CAGR of almost 10%-12%. You know, with the infrastructure push that is coming in, so there is good and enough space for players like Jindal and for other entrants, new entrants to come in. So I would say in all sectors in this industry that we are operating in, I see a good growth of close to 10% in each segment.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

Right. My question was more from the perspective of for the pipe and tube segment, once we have sort of the, we have got into position, would we be growing the capacity at this stage and sort of enlarging, trying to sort of enlarge our market share in the segment as well? Does the company have the opportunity to offer us the downstream expansion at this stage?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So it will totally depend on a lot of factors. First, we would like to reach to the 100% rated capacity this plant has. Then we will take a call, depending on the market growth requirement, whether we want to further enhance and expand. So first priority is to get this plant 100% utilized, then only we will plan for future expansion.

Kirtan Mehta
Equity Research Analyst, BOB Capital Markets

Thank you.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Ritwik Seth from OneUp Financial. Please go ahead, sir.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Yeah. Hi. Good evening, sir. Sir, a few questions from my end. So first of all, on the Raviraj acquisition, is it fair to understand that this 4,000-5,000 tons of pipe and tube, the raw material will be supplied from our plant only?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yes. Yes, yes, 100%. There's definitely no one else's material we will use.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Basically, we can get another 50,000 tons of volume from selling it to our subsidiary only for next year, probably.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yes.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Right. And then you mentioned that, you're looking to expand to 8,000-10,000 tons.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Not from next year. You should not take it from next year, but because it's a journey, but yes, eventually we can reach that.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Right. Right. Sure. So, so you mentioned 8,000-10,000 tons you target over the medium term. So any timelines, and what kind of CapEx will be required, to double, this pipe and tube capacity?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So Ritwik, you know, I, like I just answered, first, because there's already a rated capacity of close to 4,000-5,000 tons, first, we would like to achieve that. You know, this plant was closed for three years, and by the time we start and everything. So first, we want to reach 100% capacity utilization, which we should be doing in about two years' time. Then, we will look at further expansion, if required. There's enough land available there for us to expand, so then we can look at that.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Okay. Okay, great. And, sir, how is the ramp-up for the brownfield expansion, which we completed six months ago?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

That ramp-up is progressing well already. That is one of the reasons why we took a minor shutdown in Q3, to enhance the productivity, product mix of our new expansion. It's coming on track, and we should see good volumes coming from there in Q4.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Okay. And what would be the utilization for the, currently for the new, brownfield, for the one in Jindal?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Time, volume increase we are seeing in FY 2024 of 20%-25%, 20% we can say, and a similar expectation is for next year, that we should see another 25% volume growth.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

... Okay. Okay, right. And, sir, my last question, similar to the previous participant, but, you know, you had mentioned in the last call that we plan to give an update for further brownfield expansion from 3 million-4 million tons. So-

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Absolutely, you're absolutely right. I, I did mention that.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Mm.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

You know, we are because of these few other acquisitions that have come up right now, we are still working on our plans. I would really like to give a very concrete plan to all our investors and not over-commit or under-commit something. So we are still working on it. Just give us a little more time. I know I did commit, and I am also pushing ourselves internally to come out clearly. But I don't want to over-commit, you know, something when I'm not confident myself. So it might take us another few months, but there's full work happening internally on that. So just

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Okay.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Give us a little more time for this.

Ritwik Sheth
Equity Research Analyst, OneUp Financial

Sure. Sure, sir, absolutely, point taken. Okay, sir, that's it from my side. Thank you.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Rajesh Majumdar from BNK Securities. Please go ahead, sir.

Rajesh Majumdar
Director Research and Head-East, Batlivala & Karani Securities

Yes, sir. So I had a couple of questions. The first on the NPI facility. We have seen that nickel prices are now literally back to $16,000, and there is a lot of talk on how much capacity Indonesia is putting up in nickel over the next one or two years. So in the light of that, I want to know the viability of the facility, even at $16,000 nickel, and what is your steady-state outlook for nickel prices?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Well, actually, this nickel price, rightly you said that it is at $16,000 level, but this keeps on... I mean, we all know that it go on changing. We had estimated that the payback for this capacity would be around 4 years, and 3-4 years, and we still believe that once the, I mean, because the way the markets are moving, eventually, I mean, we still believe that we should be able to reach it.

Rajesh Majumdar
Director Research and Head-East, Batlivala & Karani Securities

At $16,000, are we still viable in the project? That was my question, sir.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yes, project is still viable. Definitely, the kind of margin that was there as when nickel was $20-$21 has reduced. But because nickel being such a volatile raw material, and right now the whole Europe and China is kind of, there is subdued demand, and they're not operating at 100% capacity. So when the metal economy, the industry economy rebounds, nickel will also rebound, price will pick up. That time, the viability will again be higher. So even at $16,000, absolutely it is viable. There is no problem at all. But because of the volatility, we are still quite confident that within our four years that we've committed, the payback should be achieved.

Rajesh Majumdar
Director Research and Head-East, Batlivala & Karani Securities

Thank you, sir. Thank you. That was my question.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Jatin Damania from Swan Investment Managers. Please go ahead, sir.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Thanks for the opportunity. I just had a few questions. So one was with regards to the Rathi scheme. What is the capacity we are looking over and the incremental CapEx along with the timelines for it? And could you talk a little bit about the operating matrices in terms of EBITDA we are working at Rathi right now?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

So, Rathi, as I just mentioned that around FY 2025, we are targeting approximate 70% utilization, but depending on the combination of wire rod and rebars, so close to 110,000-120,000 tons of full year sales volume in Rathi. And EBITDA per ton, since it's a start of the product, what we said is that INR 4,000-6,000 per ton EBITDA range.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Got it. And incremental CapEx, if you could just talk about that.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Incremental CapEx, as we said, the Rathi what we mentioned was around INR 100 crore-INR 150 crore of the CapEx we envisaged, which is ongoing right now. Some of the has already been incurred, so we are in the journey of that.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Got it. Thank you. Second question was with regards to the European unit, Ibérica. What is the strategic fit to our business of it, and how do we see it growing there?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So, in Spain, it's our service center. We send our mother coils from India, and there we are servicing our customers just in time, you know, with the right sizing, with the right requirements that they have. So it has a huge value for us. Because of having this service center, we have long-standing customers in Europe, who even despite COVID or any kind of duty or fees are coming in, they're still going to be with us, because we are part of the end-to-end supply chain. So this has created tremendous value. We still are very bullish on our Spain service center, European service center. European market is also going to grow. And it's only currently right now, because of all the geopolitical situation and issues, Europe itself is not performing well. The minute Europe rebounds, IBER will also rebound.

It has huge potential for us. That is the only way customers will stay with you, whether you are there and able to support their supply chain. Through this, we are part of their total supply chain.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Understood. Understood. That was helpful. Thank you. And my last question is with regard to-

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Another point I can add is we also give a lot of quality support. So that is one major difference between Jindal Stainless and most stainless steel majors in the world, that we have very strong after-sales service and quality support. So we have strong quality people, technical people sitting in our service center. The minute there is any requirement, they travel, within a week to 10 days, and they're there across Europe. So that's another additional benefit we are able to give our customers. Yeah, your second question?

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Yeah. This was with regards to JUSL, the Jindal United Steel Limited entity. How much volumes are being used for captive in JSL and the third party, and also with regards to, could you give some clarification with regards to the EBITDA sale?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Captive consumption is almost close to 80%-90%. 90%.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

What was it?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

JUSL.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

JUSL, yeah.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

90%, 10+, only our capacity utilization is there right now. What was your second part to it?

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

EBITDA margin of the same JUSL.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

EBITDA margin around,

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

On a standalone basis, JUSL, typically, it's a job work model, INR 4,000-4,500 of EBITDA per ton. What we said is that, if you convert on JSL volume, it adds up to close to INR 3,000 of EBITDA per ton of JSL guidance.

Jatin Damania
Senior Research Analyst, SVAN Investments

Got it. Thanks a lot, and best of luck.

Operator

Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Tushar Chaudhary from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead, sir.

Tushar Chaudhari
Lead Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher

Yeah, thanks a lot for the opportunity, sir, and good set of numbers. Congratulations. Sir, I just wanted to know, with the raw material prices are falling, nickel has fallen a lot, probably YoY basis, 40-odd%. Stainless steel prices are also coming off. So in this light, how are the other raw material prices moving, ferrochrome and ferromanganese? And, is there any change in our EBITDA per ton guidance over the next, let's say, few quarters?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So no, good question, Tushar. So firstly, yes, nickel, manganese have come down, but chrome has actually gone up, you know, so, and even scrap prices and all have not come down as sharply as nickel has. So, I mean, it's a raw material will always be volatile. What was your second part to the question?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

EBITDA per ton guidance.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

EBITDA per ton, we are still sticking to INR 19,000-INR 20,000. You know, yes, definitely there is pressure because of export not picking up and China dumping that is happening, but despite that, because we are so versatile and so spread across various industries, so we're able to maintain our EBITDA per ton between INR 19,000 and INR 20,000, and we see good growth and demand in the domestic market.

Tushar Chaudhari
Lead Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher

Okay. And sir, second question is on our 400 Series contribution. We were increasing it, so that is on track, right? And how much was it in the last quarter?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Every, every quarter by 2-3% it is increasing. I can tell you,

Tushar Chaudhari
Lead Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher

Okay.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

What is the figure in terms of... yes, so like, it has gone up each quarter. If you can say last Q3 last year was around, around 25%, you can say, but it is growing by 1, 2% every quarter.

Tushar Chaudhari
Lead Research Analyst, Prabhudas Lilladher

Okay, thanks. Thanks a lot, sir.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yeah.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Janvi Dudhai from Equitas Investments. Please go ahead.

Nishit Shah
Former Co-Fund Manager, Aequitas Investments

Hi, sir. Nishit here from Equitas Investments. Thank you for this opportunity. Sir, I have two questions. First one is, in your press release, you mentioned that there's sharp increase in dumping of 300 series by 73% from China and Vietnam. Can you share the quantum in metric terms? And second, what are we doing to protect our domestic market share?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Number, do we have that number? See, we would not like to exactly open to sharing these numbers, but definitely, see, now in terms of that is the whole game, the question that you asked. What are you doing to mitigate against China? That is exactly what over this, many years and months we have built an inherent strength. So we have a very strong distribution network. We have a very strong after-sales service. Our quality is considered to be anyway, much superior to any Chinese player. So these are inherent strengths. Being a domestic player, we get that benefit, you know, providing just-in-time. We have almost 12 warehouses across the country, providing, just-in-time services to our clients, maintaining their inventories for them, plus lot of other awareness and, R&D efforts are also keeping us absolutely, you know, competing with China.

It is only in the low-end segments, low, sector segments is where, competing with China only at price becomes a challenge. But otherwise, we are much better than, much better than them in any other, field, I can say.

Nishit Shah
Former Co-Fund Manager, Aequitas Investments

... Mm, understood. And sir, second question is, because of this Red Sea issue, there is increase in freight rate. So are we able to pass on those increase in costs?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yes, absolutely. Not at the moment, I think, because we are just waiting and watching that it's going to be a short-term phenomenon or long-term. Short-term, we are not, but the minute it moves to long-term, we will be passing it on. But as of now, because it's a temporary issue, so we are not able to pass it on at the moment.

Nishit Shah
Former Co-Fund Manager, Aequitas Investments

Understood. Thank you.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Kunal Kothari from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead, sir.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. So my question is in regard to the Raviraj Vinay May Private Limited. So in that of nearly 4,000-5,000 ton month of the capacity, what percentage will be the decorative pipe and what percentage will be the industrial pipe capacity? And for that, we must- we will be using our own HRC, right? And so, what series of HRC will be used for the production of that product, 200 series or 300, 316 series?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Firstly, yes, 100% material will be Jindal Stainless material that we will use. At phase one, it's going to be 100% decorative pipe and tube, because for industrial, some minor CapEx and changes are required. So first we will start only with decorative, and it's going to be 100% Jindal Stainless material. The grade or the series is generally 50% 200 series, 50% 300 series. That is the way the whole domestic market works, so which is what also we are targeting.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

What margin and realization that we can look forward for this product?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So, margin, we are expecting close to INR 7,000-INR 8,000, INR 7,000-INR 8,000 per ton at this moment, which will further increase later on.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

Okay.

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

That's EBITDA per ton?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

EBITDA per ton.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

Yeah. And we can ramp up quickly in FY 26, at least?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yeah, by FY 2025 and 2026, we should be able to. 2026, we should be able to.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

To maximum level, like 90%?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Still too early to say because we have literally acquired it, you know, a month back, so still too early to give you a hard commitment, but looks promising and possible.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

Okay. And sir, any color on the industrial pipe segment also, that you mentioned that you want to get into that segment as well. So what timeline you see to set up that capacity and the CapEx that you see for the same?

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

So we're still working out those numbers at the moment, you know, which market we want to target and at what capacity. So that's why I said first priority is to start with decorative pipe and tube, till the time, we are working on our industrial strategy.

Kunal Kothari
Former Research Analyst, Centrum Broking

Okay, sir. Thank you so much.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Mudit Bhandari from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.

Mudit Bhandari
VP and Equity Research Analyst, IIFL Securities

Hello. Good afternoon, sir. Just one question. In JUSL standalone, what is the debt maturity? As far as I remember, it was just a single bullet payment maturity. So what is the timeline?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

No, it's not a single bullet payment in JUSL. It's close to a door-to-door maturity of 16 years, with average tenor of close to 10 years, 10 to 10.5-11 years.

Mudit Bhandari
VP and Equity Research Analyst, IIFL Securities

Okay. So, all equal payments of what rupees?

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

Sorry?

Mudit Bhandari
VP and Equity Research Analyst, IIFL Securities

It's

Anurag Mantri
Executive Director and Group CFO, Jindal Stainless

It's, as I mentioned, that it's actually more ballooning towards end, and we have also prepaid some of the installments for next 2 years. So that's the reason, if you see, the door-to-door is 16, but an average also comes close to 10.5, 11. So you can see that it's more rear-ended, gradual payments.

Mudit Bhandari
VP and Equity Research Analyst, IIFL Securities

Okay.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Yearly scheduled payments, Mudit, are there in our quarter presentation also, if you want to see it more details.

Mudit Bhandari
VP and Equity Research Analyst, IIFL Securities

Okay, okay. Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for the day. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Rajesh Majumdar for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Rajesh Majumdar
Director Research and Head-East, Batlivala & Karani Securities

Yes. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for a nice Q&A session. I would like to hand over the call now to Mr. Abhyuday Jindal for his closing remarks before closing the call.

Abhyuday Jindal
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless

Thank you, Rajesh, and let me thank everyone for attending this call. I would like to reiterate that strong economic activities are pulling up our core sector demand across segments in the domestic market, and we are trying to make the most of these opportunities. I hope that we have been able to answer all your questions in a satisfactory manner. Should you need any further clarification, or if you would like to know more about the company, please feel free to contact our investor relations team. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. On behalf of Batlivala and Karani Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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