JSW Cement Limited (NSE:JSWCEMENT)
India flag India · Delayed Price · Currency is INR
125.15
+0.62 (0.50%)
May 11, 2026, 3:29 PM IST
← View all transcripts

Q3 25/26

Feb 5, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the JSW Cement Q3 FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call hosted by JM Financial. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then 0 on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Dharmesh Shah from JM Financial. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Dharmesh Shah
Analyst, JM Financial

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of JM Financial, we welcome you to the JSW Cement Q3 FY 2026 result conference call. I will now hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks, which will be followed by interactive Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Kunal.

Kunal Mukherjee
Head of Investor Relations, JSW Cement

Thank you, Dharmesh, and good morning to all. I would like to welcome all of you to the Q3 FY 2026 earnings call of JSW Cement. I trust you have had the chance to review the financial results and investor presentations, which have been shared with the stock exchange and uploaded on our website. We are pleased to have with us today Mr. Nilesh Narwekar, CEO, Mr. Narinder Singh, CFO, and Mr. Hitendra Jariwala, Chief Marketing Officer. With this, I will hand over the call to Mr. Nilesh Narwekar for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yeah, thank you, Kunal, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to start by reiterating four key messages about the company. First is, with the total volume growth of 14% Y-o-Y in Q3 FY 2026 and a 12% Y-o-Y in nine-month FY 2026, JSW Cement remains among the fastest-growing cement companies in India in terms of sales volumes. Now, it is our goal, as we have maintained, to continue with this growth trajectory over the next few years as we build and ramp up our new capacities. The second message is our GGBS business continues to deliver exceptional results in terms of volume growth and momentum across all key customer groups. The third, along with strong volume growth, we are also delivering substantially improved Y-o-Y performance in terms of the EBITDA per ton and PAT, as we had highlighted to investors during the IPO.

Our cost-saving programs are on track to deliver the promised savings. The fourth message is we are continuing to deliver an efficient CapEx program while controlling leverage levels , as promised. Let me move on to list out a few key highlights for Q3 FY 2026. Our total sales volume in Q3 FY 2026 increased by 14% Y-o-Y to 3.56 million tons, which is significantly faster than the industry growth in our region, which we believe is around 7%. Taking this product-wise, now, cement volume sold was 1.89 million metric tons, increased by 7% Y-o-Y, and GGBS volume sold was 1.53 million tons, increased by about 17% Y-o-Y. Within cement, the trade mix was 72% versus 52% the previous quarter. This is primarily due to the strong demand from the institution channel for us. Revenues stood at : INR 1,621 crores, increased by 13% Y-o-Y.

Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR 285 crores, a 32% Y-o-Y improvement against last year. In terms of some of our key operational highlights, our clinker utilization in Q3 was 96%, and the grinding utilization was at 64%. Our clinker-to-cement factor was 52% in Q3 FY 2026, a slight increase versus 50% in the previous quarter. With respect to our two main products, cement and GGBS, cement realization for Q3 FY 2026 was INR 4,459 per ton, a decrease of 4% Q-o-Q. As all of you are aware, there was a softening of cement prices, particularly in the South and the East regions where we operate. GGBS realization for Q3 FY 2026 was INR 3,655 per ton, broadly flat on a Q-o-Q basis, with minor variations from market to market rather than any structural change in our pricing strategy. The lead distance reduced by 10 km to 273 km in Q3.

In terms of capacity expansion, just to reiterate, our capacity expansion plan will take the company to a grinding capacity of 41.85 with a clinker of 13.04 million, as is outlined in our investor presentation. I would like to provide a brief update on the North region. Our Nagaur integrated unit in Rajasthan is being set up in two phases. In the first part, in the first phase, we have a 3.3 million tonnes per annum clinkerization unit, along with a 2.5 million tonnes grinding. It's on track to be commissioned in this quarter. In fact, we've received the CTO as well. In the next phase, the WHRS and the additional 1 MTPA grinding unit will be commissioned. On the Punjab grinding unit, we have progressed significantly on the preparatory streams, including engineering and ordering of main packages.

We are hopeful of receiving the EC and the CTO this quarter, and thereafter, of course, we'll update you on the commissioning timelines. On green power, we're happy to note that we've added 6 MW of solar capacity in Nandyal, sorry, 8 MW of solar capacity across Nandyal and Vijayanagar during Q3 of FY 2026. Let me recap our plan for green power capacities. We started in FY 2026 with 27 MW of solar and 21 MW waste recovery in our existing plants across South, West and East. Our plan was to add a further 127 MW of RE power, of which 8 MW was commissioned in Q3 FY 2026, and we are on track to commission the remaining RE capacity in the coming quarters.

In addition, we are planning 60 MW of RE power at Nagaur plus a 19 MW waste heat recovery, which is a total of 79 MW linked to Nagaur operations. I'd like to comment briefly on ESG. We continue to have the lowest CO2 emission intensity in the cement industry, with Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission intensity at 270 kg per ton of cementitious material in Q3. Our RE share has increased from 21% in FY 2025 to 25% in Q3 FY 2026, and we're making all efforts to increase our AF alternate fuel usage further from the 13% levels we are at in Q3 FY 2026. We continue to have a strong focus on health and safety of our employees and continue to pursue community leadership as one of the focus areas around our plants.

Finally, on the industry context, cement demand improved in December 2025, supported by pickup and infrastructure activity after a relatively sluggish environment in October and November. Demand is expected to remain healthy in Q4 of FY 2026. While cement prices were weak in Q3 FY 2026, we have seen improvement in January, as all of you will also know through your channel checks. Pricing in the non-trade segment showed meaningful improvement in South zone and marginal improvement in West, which is the Mumbai market. The trend is expected to support the channel price increase in the near term. We expect pricing momentum in Q4 FY 2026 to remain stable and mildly positive, led by the non-trade segment recovery and the gradual transmission of this increase in price levels across the trade segment or the channel segment, as we refer to it.

The added impetus, of course, is the CapEx spend by central and the state government continues, and this will, of course, give sustained momentum to the cement institutional business and GGBS. We are encouraged by the announcement of the Finance Ministers in the recent budget that the central CapEx is moving up to INR 12.2 trillion in FY 2027 and increased 11% over the revised estimates for FY 2026, and we believe strongly that this will support the cement demand in the coming years.

Let me now hand over to Narinder Singh, our CFO, to walk us through the rest of the presentation . Narinder, over to you, sir.

Narinder Singh
CFO, JSW Cement

Good morning, everyone. I will add some points to the financial performance on Q3 as well as nine months for the year. In terms of Q3 FY 2026 financial performance, revenue was INR 1,621 crore. That's an increase of 13% year-over-year. Despite weaker pricing in Q3, operating EBITDA improved by 32% year-over-year to INR 285 crore. That's a very healthy INR 802 per ton for the quarter. Our operating EBITDA includes, sorry, yeah, our operating EBITDA margin was 17.6% in the quarter, which is a jump of 250 basis points over the last year, same quarter. Total EBITDA, including other income, was INR 371 crore, an increase of 51% year-over-year. EBIT stands at INR 184 crore in the quarter, including positive contribution of INR 15 crore from our JV operations in Fujairah. PAT for the quarter is INR 131 crore.

I would like to add two points out of the above, which are one-offs during the quarter. During the quarter, we signed an SPA with Nuvoco to divest our investment in Bhojraj Energy for a consideration of INR 191 crores. This transaction has been completed in this week, and we have received these sales proceeds. We have recorded a gain from this disposal of INR 53.6 crores, which has been shown as part of other income in the quarter and nine months also. To be clear, this item is not included in the operating EBITDA, and operating EBITDA per ton number, as I mentioned earlier, is INR 802. As a result of the new Labour Code , we have recorded an expense in respect of prior financial years of INR 33.7 crores, and this has been shown as an exceptional item in the quarter.

Note that we have already recorded INR 1,466 crores of exceptional expense, which was the fair value expense arising from the conversions of CCPS. This was recorded in the first quarter of the year. So for the nine months, total exception item expense is about INR 1,500 crores. In terms of the major cost elements during the quarter, raw material and power and fuel increased on quarter-on-quarter basis by INR 81/ton. Broadly speaking, this was due to three reasons: higher OPC volumes in the overall sales mix, higher volume of interplant movement of raw material, and higher clinker cost in the West region. This higher raw material cost was partially offset by lower power and fuel cost due to increased RE share, which is now 25% against 21% in the previous quarter. And of course, plant operating efficiencies did help in bringing down the power cost.

Blended fuel costs for the quarter were stable at INR 1.49 per Mcal versus INR 1.50 per Mcal in the previous quarter. Our current fuel inventory is sufficient till March or April 2026, and we should see further improvement in power and fuel cost in Q4. Logistics: lead distance reduction by about 10 km quarter-on-quarter. However, the logistic costs were stable due to withdrawal of Railway Busy Season Surcharge and change in source mix. That is re-allocation of volume between plants. In terms of our 9-month performance, total sales volumes increased by 12% year-on-year to 9.98 million, with cement and GGBS volume increasing by 8% and 14% respectively. Revenue is at INR 4,617 crores, an increase of 13% year-on-year.

Operating EBITDA is INR 875 crores, a 43% increase, which equates to INR 877 per ton for nine months. Total EBITDA, including other income, was INR 953 crores. Adjusted PAT, which we define as PAT excluding the CCPS non-cash payment expense, is INR 306 crores in nine months. In terms of the balance sheet, net debt is INR 3,557 crores at the end of December. Net debt to EBITDA stands at 2.9x . Average cost of debt for the quarter is 7.8%. Happy to note that during the quarters, CRISIL upgraded the company's long-term credit rating to AA- stable from A stable. During Q3 and nine months of the year, the company incurred CapEx, including maintenance CapEx, of INR 491 crores. That is for the quarter and for nine months, INR 1,455 crores.

We will now be happy to address your questions. Thank you.

Operator

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 touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Hi, sir. Good morning. Am I audible?

Operator

Yes, you are.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Yes. Congrats on good set of numbers. Sir, my first question pertains to how you mentioned non-trade prices have improved and expectations of trade prices recovery. What is the overall demand traction in Q4 that you are witnessing across your market of operations?

Kunal Mukherjee
Head of Investor Relations, JSW Cement

Hello. Jariwala?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yes. Yes, sir. Please go ahead.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Hello.

Kunal Mukherjee
Head of Investor Relations, JSW Cement

Yeah, Jariwala, please.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. Okay. Let me come in.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yeah. Yeah, Jari. Go ahead, Your Honor.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Yeah. So I wanted to check how is the demand traction stepping up in Q4? How has it been in January in terms of industry-level growth?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yeah. Yeah. Before Jari comes in, Jari, are you there?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. Yeah. I'm here.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yeah. Go on.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

We are expecting a very healthy growth in terms of the infrastructure and housing demand in the South. The payments from the government departments also have been released in the month of October and November, which has given a lot of speed to the kind of projects which are going on, be it infrastructure projects, be it road projects. All these payments have been released by the government departments, and so we are expecting a very healthy demand from all these sectors. In fact, a lot of parts of South were also affected due to these intermittent rains in the month of October and November, which had not caught up speed for the projects. But in the month of December, we have seen a healthy trend.

January has been much better, both in terms of prices and demand, and we are expecting this to go on in the quarter four also.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Great. Great, sir. A few more questions. On the GGBS, we have seen steel prices witnessing a sharp recovery December onward. How does that impact your margins in the GGBS positively, negatively? What are your thoughts over there?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Sorry. We didn't catch your question, Rajesh. Can you repeat that, please?

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Yeah. GGBS, with the steel prices shooting up 10%-14% in this quarter, fourth quarter, December and January, we have seen strong price uptake. What is your thought on the GGBS profitability? How does that move along with steel prices?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No, no. GGBS and steel, I mean, we have a long-term contract, and the pricing is discovered annually. Not a discovery, rather annually, it's linked to the Wholesale Price Index of Slag Cement. So we are not impacted. Steel prices can move wherever. But for us, the price is locked unless there is a price escalation attributed to Wholesale Price Index .

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Okay. Even your selling price does not change materially with steel prices movement, right?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Given that the prices.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

In fact, it's a good thing.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Yeah. Right. And given that the steel prices were to remain steady at the highest side that we have seen currently, are there a potential of the next year's prices for GGBS going up?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No. In fact, due to the rising demand in the infrastructure segment and with this recent announcement of a lot of packages of High-Speed Rail coming up, we are seeing a lot of activity in terms of construction in the railway segment where there is a good demand for GGBS and PSC cement. So that may, in fact, help us in marginal improvement of GGBS prices for the coming year.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Understood. And sir, in GGBS, until your next expansion, what is the growth opportunity you have available till you reach full utilization?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

This is likely to continue. This kind of growth is likely to continue. It all depends on which area. We are seeing a very healthy demand in the West with a huge number of infra projects being announced, particularly in the MMR region. We are seeing a healthy demand here. We are also seeing a very healthy demand in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh areas with this continuation of this Capital Region Development Authority project. We are seeing a healthy demand in both AP, Telangana, as well as in the case of the MMR region.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Understood. And lastly, on the cement business, North Plant Phase I is on the verge of getting commissioned. So what sort of market seeding? We are already doing that. And what is the thought process for FY 2027 in terms of volumes and in terms of trade non-trade mix on the first two years? Any direction on the same?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

To answer your first question, we are not doing any kind of seeding over there unless and until we get our own clinker. We are not going to give our product in the marketplace. Trade and non-trade demand will depend on the projections, will depend on the kind of demand we generate in that area.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

We have added a significant amount of network already onboarded, Rajesh, which has already come on stream. So they've already signed up with us. So there's a very healthy interest across the geography. Last count, I think we had already crossed 500 channel partners and close to around 37 people, RMC agents, in the next segment. So we're seeing a good amount of traction in terms of interest for us. And as Jariwala mentioned, only when we get our own clinker, which is just around the corner, we'll make the cement, and that's when we'll enter the market.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

Understood. Understood. One last clarification. There are two trades still.

Operator

I'll request you to.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

I'll just complete my--

Operator

Thank you. We move on to the next participant. That's Raashi Chopra from Citigroup . Please go ahead.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Thank you. Just on the point that you mentioned on GGBS, that infrastructure demand should help pricing. Last time, you talked about a strategy of trying to keep pricing more stable to get more favorable demand for GGBS. Is there any change in that strategy?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No. There is no change in that strategy. We would maintain that strategy of maintaining healthy realizations for GGBS segment one.

Narinder Singh
CFO, JSW Cement

The thrust is on increasing the volumes. We feel unless there is a drastic change in prices of OPC, we will continue to maintain the same prices.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Got it. And against that, I know you don't give the split between cement profitability and GGBS profitability. But is it safe to assume that given that GGBS pricing has more or less been stable and slag prices don't really change for you, the profitability should also have been mostly stable for GGBS and probably corrected a bit for cement in this quarter sequentially?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yes. You are right.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Got it. And then I think the last time around, you had spoken about your cost improvement, which was INR 200 still pending for cement and about INR 35 odd for GGBS. Any update on that, please?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. Rashi, we are progressing on all the levers. So as we've noted in our presentation, lead has reduced during the quarter. We have also commissioned some RE capacity, which has increased our RE share as well Q-on-Q. So I think it would be best for us to update you in the next quarter because we'll calculate that cost saving on an annualized basis. But we have made progress on the remaining INR 200 per ton saving as well.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Understood. Okay. And sorry, just one last question. In the nine-month, could you share the regional growth trends for your volumes between Southeast and West? For the third quarter.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Just one second.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Sure.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

We accept for Bihar, South Tamil Nadu, and South Kerala from where we have strategically withdrawn from a few markets. All other markets, we have grown. We've grown in the East. We've grown in the South. We've been stable in the West because we don't operate in many areas in the West. We are more or less stable in the West.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

This is for the nine months.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

This is for the nine months.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants, please restrict yourselves to two questions. If you have any more questions, kindly rejoin the queue. Our next question comes from the line of Siddharth Malhotra from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.

Siddharth Mehrotra
Analyst, Kotak Securities

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of results. Sir, I wanted to know what sort of volume guidance are we sort of building in given the fact that our major North capacity is sort of slated to come online this quarter? So on a blended basis, perhaps if you could sort of give us some guidance and color on regional volume growth for next year, that would be helpful, sir.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

So the target continues to be a volume growth of mid-teens, probably high teens. That's the target, and that's the guidance probably we'll be giving for the next year also. But let's wait for the performance for this year get over. We are seeing very healthy improvement in volumes, and we are hopeful we'll continue to grow at this pace. And when I say mid-teens, high teens, I am not factoring in the North into this. This is excluding. North will be over and above this number.

Siddharth Mehrotra
Analyst, Kotak Securities

Okay, sir. Understood. This is very helpful. Technically, sir, I wanted to understand what is the strategic intent behind us setting up this grinding facility in UAE. So what I understand, our clinker is in a JV held in that geography. So I mean, we were supposed to service Dolvi from UAE. So with this new capacity coming up, what sort of timelines are we looking at, number one? And number two, why the strategic shift in terms of clinker utilization within UAE itself? What happens to Dolvi clinker now?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No. So our current capacity in Fujairah, clinker capacity, we are producing about 2.7 million tons a year. And this grinding unit is going to be 1.65 million . At a, let's say, 80%-85% utilization, we are looking at 1.45 million -1.5 million clinker requirement for this grinding unit. So we still have 1 million+ to feed into Dolvi, and that would continue. Dolvi requirement will be around that number only for a couple of years more. Now, regarding the rationale behind it, one, this plant will be coming up within 12 months. It's a very short construction period. So it should be up and running by April 27. And today, as you might be knowing, the market in UAE has been very hot last year or so.

The industry expects this to continue for the next five-seven years just because all the construction activity that is happening in UAE, primarily Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait is on a rebuilding phase or building phase after the 1991 war. So there is a very, very active interest from all our current customers if we can feed them cement. Most of the large builders out there, without naming any, I have met three of them, they are willing to do long-term agreements with us for cement supplies or concrete supplies. So we feel this is a very attractive business opportunity and hence the rationale behind putting up this unit.

Siddharth Mehrotra
Analyst, Kotak Securities

Understood. Understood. Just one small clarification. This plant is fully owned. Your clinker plant will continue to be owned in a JV. Is that understanding correct? Safe for the next two-three years?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yes. Correct.

Siddharth Mehrotra
Analyst, Kotak Securities

Okay, sir. Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity, sir.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Prateek Kumar
Analyst, Jefferies

Hello. Yeah. Good morning. Congrats for good results. My first question is on your North operations. When you say that you have channel partners, are some of these channel partners your steel business partners, or these are some of the other competition cement partners who have now come with you and?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

See, the majority of the dealers that we have appointed or we are on the process of appointing in the North, be it in Rajasthan or Haryana, they happen to be core cement and paint dealers, cement, paint, and hardware dealers. But we are surely getting a lot of support from the steel dealers that are there in our system. We are getting a lot of support from them also. But the total number as of now who have been onboarded is very, very low. It is very low. So it is majority of the dealers, I would like to say, close to about 90% of the dealers, 95% of the dealers are core cement dealers who are operating with other brands also.

Prateek Kumar
Analyst, Jefferies

Sir, does that answer your question? Yeah, that does. Also, now into FY 2027, what is your expectation for clinker that is about to commission from this plant?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Can you repeat, Pratik, please? We couldn't hear you.

Prateek Kumar
Analyst, Jefferies

Yeah. I'm saying, sir, what is the expectation of volumes in the year one from the North operation?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

So we expect about 50%-55% utilization in the first year, and this will gradually go up.

Prateek Kumar
Analyst, Jefferies

Okay. One separate question on GGBS. While we have been saying that the prices are expected to be stable, there is a mild dilution Q- on- Q again. Last quarter, you said that there is a change in customer mix, and that has reflected in this. What is the specific reason here?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No, the only reason is, see, we are running short of slag in Dolvi today. And we even have to move slag from Vijayanagar to Salem. That number is up in the current quarter. So this is a very good position situation to be in wherein we have almost exhausted all the slag that's available in Dolvi. And it would continue this way for another year or so till the next blast furnace is up and operational within the next few months. So it's only the cost which is impacting us because of the way we have started distributing the GGBS. Basically, there is no change in strategy. It is only that.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

It's a geography mix change.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. It is only a geo mix change. Nothing else.

Prateek Kumar
Analyst, Jefferies

Sir, thank you. These are my questions.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shrey Mehta from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Shrey Mehta
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Hi, sir. Thank you so much for taking my question. Congratulations on a great set of results. Sir, just a clarification. When we say that we aim for mid-teens to high-teens growth, excluding the North expansion, is it fair to assume that the cement segment should be growing in tandem with the industry growth as we understand that GGBS will continue to grow in high teens?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

We are targeting similar growth for cement and GGBS. In fact, GGBS, we are targeting a much higher growth because of the acceptance in larger market segments. We are expecting a higher growth in GGBS. But yes, cement, we would like to get it in line with whatever we are doing as per the industry. We will definitely outperform the industry.

Shrey Mehta
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Sure, sir. And sir, with Nagaur expansion coming in Q4 and Punjab grinding unit and the Phase II coming somewhere in FY 2027-2028, do you see any competitive intensity increasing in the Northern region considering that bulk of capacities are lined up in the next 12-15 months?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

See, if you go through the kind of projects coming up in Rajasthan and Haryana and the NCR region, any kind of capacity coming there will definitely be consumed and absorbed in those markets. Additional capacities will definitely not be sufficient to cater to the kind of demand coming up over the next two to three years.

Shrey Mehta
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Got it, sir. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kunal Shah from DAM Capital . Please go ahead.

Kunal Shah
Analyst, DAM Capital

Yeah, hi sir. Congratulations on the performance. Sir, first question is on the non-trade pricing levels in South, right, the kind of levels we have seen during the third quarter. Now, would it be fair to assume that the OPC and GGBS mix during 3Q was at par or more expensive than the traditional mix at the RMC level?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Just one second . See, people are accepting GGBS at a particular price. Whatever pricing levels we have maintained, people are accepting at that. And we don't see any kind of threat with the ups and downs in the cement prices in non-trade segment. Though in the beginning of January, we've seen a little bit of improvement in the non-trade prices across all territories in South and marginally in the West. But that normally doesn't affect us because everywhere it is, majority of the places, the mixes are prescribed.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yeah. Kunal, this is Nilesh just to weigh in. Typically, as Jariwala mentioned, the customers run these fees on a design mix. They don't change it that often because they have to do the entire testing process all over again in the source team. So with the increase in January, while it will be a little more favorable in December, but I think it'll be back to being more favorable in terms of the design mix than the traditional mixes.

Kunal Shah
Analyst, DAM Capital

Understood. No, sir, what was interesting was despite the kind of cement pricing we've seen, and even if the mix was at par, we've still been able to get a 17% sort of volume growth. So my question was, is this more related to the product? Is it now entering into that stickiness phase wherein customers are even willing to pay that marginal premium or even at par at the RMC level? I mean, is this referring more towards that?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

We believe so, Kunal. We actually believe so. But I would like to see this play out for a couple more quarters. The hard work put in by the technical teams around trying to emphasize the green properties of GGBS and the quality of the concrete that gets made is nonetheless. So we keep doing more and more of it. So we believe that's what is causing it. I think the proof of the pudding would be once we see the performance in quarter four and thereon. I think that's when we can probably authoritatively say that, yes, it's a stickiness factor which is driving this.

Kunal Shah
Analyst, DAM Capital

Understood. And just to follow up on this, just trying to dissect it further. Now, this 17% growth, could you touch upon whether the underlying RMC demand was also this strong or the GGBS penetration within the RMC TAM is improving? I mean, I'm just trying to understand on the penetration levels here.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Definitely, the penetration levels have increased. We have reached a much larger number of customers in the last quarter and the quarter before that. We've seen a very, very healthy acceptance by both RMC and new infrastructure projects across our operating markets.

Kunal Shah
Analyst, DAM Capital

Understood. This is helpful, sir. Thank you for that. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Hi sir. Thank you. Sir, for CapEx for FY 2026, so INR 1,455 crore we have done in nine months. Last time, we said INR 2,300 crore for FY 2026 and INR 2,000 crore for FY 2027. So if you can again specify and even possibly for FY 2028 also, if you can, broader range would be helpful.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

So for next year, that is FY 2027, we will be spending about INR 2,000 crores. And for FY 2028 also, the number would be somewhat similar. And 2026, about INR 2,300 crores is what we are going to end up spending. So if you remember at the start of the few months back, we had given a guidance that we would be spending about INR 7,300 crores to complete all our projects. And we have just one addition into that. That's the Fujairah thing. That's about $39 million. So adding up all of these, I think we should be spending about INR 2,300 crores this year, INR 2,000 crores, and INR 2,000 crores in the following two years. That should be sufficient to complete all the projects.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. So for Nagaur, by March, how much or maybe till December, how much we have already spent?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Hello, sir. Please go ahead.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Just one second, sir.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Yeah.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

About INR 2,700 crore- odd has been spent.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Sorry, sir. I didn't hear, sir.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

About INR 2,700 crore has been spent till December.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. Out of INR 3,350 crores -odd .

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Correct. Because the project is nearing completion. It's only some payments which are pending.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Got it. Got it, sir. Sir, in terms of the timeline, if you can just specify the remaining 1 million tonnes Nagaur when it will come and this Punjab 2.75 million when it will start.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

So I think the additional 1 million should be up and running before September current year. That is FY 2026-- 2027, sorry. Yeah. So before September 2026, it should be up and running. Regarding Punjab, we are just awaiting the ECs and all. Anytime they are there, we should be starting the work because the land is in control with us. And from then, it shouldn't be more than 18 months. Of course, our target would be 15 months.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. And then Vijayanagar and Dolvi, 2 million Vijayanagar and 4 million Dolvi, when it will be coming?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

We are going to start both the projects in FY 2027. In the next call, we should be updating you.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. And lastly, sir, is it possible to share the RMC revenue and the clinker revenue for third quarter, I mean, third quarter FY 2026, Y-o-Y, Q-o-Q, and nine months also would be helpful?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

RMC during the quarter, we have done about INR 168 crores revenue.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

INR 168 crore in third quarter. Yeah.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

In third quarter.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Clinker revenue, sir?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Clinker revenue is about INR 36 crore.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

INR 36 crore. Is it possible for Q-o-Q, Y-o-Y, and nine months if you can share the number?

Narinder Singh
CFO, JSW Cement

We'll share it with you, Shravan, offline.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah. Good morning. And thank you for the opportunity. Just a couple of clarifications. In your opening comments, the management said clinker utilization is almost 95%-96%, if I heard that correct. And so is it only for the Indian market or the India-based clinker capacity that we are talking about? Because you also said that cement volumes without Nagaur can continue to grow in double digits, rather mid-teens, as you said. Just wanted to understand that?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

You're right. Nandyal and Shiva, that's India operations only, is at 96%. As regards Fujairah, that operates at more than 100%. But we have not considered in this calculation of 96%.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Of course. So if it's already the domestic capacity is at 96%, are we banking on a significant increase in blending for the cement volumes to grow in double digits?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

It is both. Currently, we are selling some clinker. This number of INR 36 crore revenue which I mentioned, that is the clinker sold to third parties. That will go off, which we are expecting in this March itself. So that clinker would be available. And of course, the product mix would change.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

This purchase of stock in trade, which is there in the P&L, is this purchase of clinker from Fujairah unit? Hello?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

This is more of slag that we purchased recently.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

That is slag. That is not clinker purchased from Fujairah.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Very small volume of clinker.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Understood. Understood. Understood. Just one more question, if I may. You mentioned 2.5 million tonne grinding in Nagaur coming in Q4, but there is one in Punjab, you said it's awaiting EC and 15-18 months thereafter. What about the 1 million tonne additional grinding unit in North? Is it at the same location? And what is the timeline for that?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Same location. And as I mentioned, that would come up by September 2026.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Understood. Helpful. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Jainam Bhatia , an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Yeah. Good morning to the team. Congratulations on the good numbers. I hope you are able to hear me.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yes.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Yes. Ask you about Shiva Cement or a separate phone call has been scheduled for the same? Hello?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No, there's no separate call for Shiva.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

So we can ask, right?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah, you can. Go ahead.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

All right, sir. Now, live on.

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

I'm sorry to interrupt, Jain. You're not audible. Could you please change your location?

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Am I now?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Your voice is breaking. Yes, go ahead.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Am I now audible?

Nilesh Narwekar
CEO, JSW Cement

Yes. Yes, go ahead, Jain, please.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Yeah. Now, I just wanted to ask you about the grinding capacity that has come up in Shiva. What is the breakup of the revenue of clinker and cement in Shiva Cement?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Just one second.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

Yes, sir.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

For cement, the revenue is about INR 14 crores for the quarter. Clinker is INR 112 crores.

Jainam Bhatia
Shareholder, Private Investor

INR 112 crore. Now.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Raashi Chopra from Citi Group. Please go ahead.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Thank you. Just a basic follow-up. What is your green energy target for next year? Is it a 25% target?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. 63% is the overall target. Hopefully, this should be up and running by March, this March. We may slip very small capacities into the next financial, but the target continues to be 63% of the overall in the existing operations, excluding North. North will be a much higher number.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Understood. And in this quarter, what was the percentage of the premium cement?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

It was 60%.

Raashi Chopra
Analyst, Citigroup

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Rajesh Ravi
Analyst, HDFC Securities

I think my questions have been answered. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Yeah. Sir, just a couple of clarifications. When we said INR 7,300 crore is the total CapEx, so this is till 33.85 MTPA, which as per the presentation is, by CY 2028 we are planning to start, or if you can specify.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yes, that's right. It's up to calendar year 2028.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

MTPA, this is the INR 7,300 crore is the total CapEx. Hello?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

Yeah. So for the first leg, Shravan, as we've given in our presentation, so it's about 33.85 million, right, as per our presentation. It's up to that.

Shravan Shah
Director Research, Dolat Capital

Okay. Okay. Got it. Sir, is it possible to break it down to current 21.6 MTPA capacity? Out of that, how much is for GGBS and how much is for cement?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No, the capacity is fungible, Shravan. The same grinding unit can grind slag, and it can grind clinker as well. So there is no specific capacity split as such.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah. Thank you for the follow-up. My question was regarding this UAE facility. So you said it operates at 100% utilization, but entire volume is sold in that region only. We don't intend to bring it here because I thought initially maybe that was the plan to have those clinker imported on the West Coast and utilize it. So is it more remunerative there, and that's why we are not bringing it, or how should one look at it from a volume addition to domestic growth point of view?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

I mean, I'll break this up into what we sell there and what we bring into India. So our current capacity there, production, is about 2.7 million -2.75 million. And Dolvi requires slightly less than 1 million at the moment. So whatever Dolvi needs, we bring it here. And the balance is sold domestically. Now, today, we are selling clinker. It is more remunerative to sell cement because we have this surplus capacity. We thought we will put up a grinding unit to sell cement there. So what comes to Dolvi will continue to come. Dolvi's requirement would continue to be met from Fujairah.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Understood. That cost is captured in purchase of stock in trade, right, or in raw material?

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

No, no, no. That's in raw material.

Navin Sahadeo
Analyst, ICICI Securities

Understood. Then my second question was on the GGBS price. So I think in the previous call, you said because OPC prices were a little soft, that is why GGBS prices were a little under pressure. But in this quarter, then we saw a significant, your numbers itself are like a 4% sort of a decline, but GGBS has not seen a major decline as such. So is it fair to assume that the GGBS price, because there is some improvement now in the March quarter as we speak, as you said, so is it fair to assume that GGBS prices also have bottomed out and here to stay, or is there more dynamic pricing to it? It competes with other additives. And if that is the case, then is it project-based pricing? Is it like a contract, one-year contract, three-month contract?

How does this pricing, if it could just help us understand? Thanks.

Hitendra Jariwala
Chief Marketing Officer, JSW Cement

The way we look at it is we would like to hold onto the present levels of prices. But definitely, as you said, if any project is there of national importance, then we tie up with the respective contractor or the company to give them a long-term perspective or commitment on the price. But our strategy holds. We would like to maintain the prices or, in fact, go up but not go down.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks.

Kunal Mukherjee
Head of Investor Relations, JSW Cement

Thank you, everyone, for taking time to join our call. We look forward to staying engaged. You can obviously reach out to us if there are any further questions. Thank you, and good morning to everyone.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of JM Financial, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

Powered by