Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to JSW Infrastructure Limited Q2 FY2 5 earnings call, hosted by ICICI Securities. 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 phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Kumar.
Thank you, Shlok. Good evening. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to the Q2 FY25 earnings call of JSW Infrastructure. To discuss the results today, we have with us Mr. Arun Maheshwari, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Rinkesh Roy, President, Mr. Lalit Singhvi, Whole-time Director and CFO, and Mr. Vishesh Pachnanda , Head, Investor Relations. Without much delay, I will now hand over the call to management. We'll start with brief opening remarks by the management, which will be followed by Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Earnings call for the period ending September 30, 2024. As you know, this will be my last conference call with you all from JSW Infrastructure. I want to start by expressing my gratitude to each one of you and to the JSW management for this opportunity. Also joining us today is Mr. Rinkesh Roy, who will be taking over from me as the Joint Managing Director and CEO on November 7, 2024. Rinkesh has been associated with the Government of India since 1992 as an IAS officer, bringing over 30 years of experience in ports, logistics, railway operations, and shipping. He has held the position of chairman at major ports such as Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Tuticorin, and Kamarajar Port at various times. He has also served as the Chairman of the Dredging Corporation of India.
I firmly believe that his extensive and deep expertise in port, logistics, and railways will propel JSW Infrastructure to newer heights. Moving on to the operational and financial performance of the quarter, for the period July 2024 to September 2024, the total cargo handled stood at 27.5 million tons. This is 16% year-on-year growth. Our third-party cargo grew by 48% year-on-year to 12.7 million tons, and the share of third party increased to 46% in the overall mix from 36% a year ago. Total revenue for the quarter stood at INR 1,088 crores, reflecting a growth of 22% year-on-year.
EBITDA for the same period stood at INR 607 crore, which is 22% growth year-on-year, and net profit for the period was three hundred and seventy-four crore, a growth of 46%. During the quarter, 36 million ton per annum brownfield capacity expansions at Jaigarh Port and Dharamtar Port was approved by the board of the respective subsidiary companies. The total CapEx of INR 2,359 crore plan includes mechanical, civil, and electrical work for the new berths and additional infrastructure, such as railway siding for Jaigarh Port , to boost third-party cargo movement. The expansion at both ports is expected to generate an additional cargo handling volume of approximately 27 million ton per annum. Construction at both ports is anticipated to be completed by March 2027.
I am pleased to share that we have emerged as a winning bidder for the development of a greenfield port at Murbe in Maharashtra. The port is designed to be an all-weather multi-cargo commercial port. The proposed port is located near major highways, such as National Highway 8 and the State Highway Boisar Road, and rail corridors, such as Delhi-Mumbai Trunk Rail Route and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. On October eleventh, we successfully completed the acquisition of Navkar and assumed control of its operations. We are now in process of integrating the best practices, what we practice in our existing operations. At JNPA, we have received clearances from the relevant authorities to manage additional liquid cargo. This means we can handle more liquid cargo even while the pipeline work is ongoing.
Overall, we are making significant progress on our growth projects, aiming to increase our capacity from current 170 million ton per annum to 288 million ton per annum by FY 2028, and 400 million ton per annum by FY 2030. With this, let me hand over to Mr. Lalit Singhvi to take you through the financials and other details for the quarter.
Thank you, Arun, and good evening, everyone. In Q2 FY25, the company handled cargo volumes of 27.5 million tons as compared to 23.7 million tons in the quarter ended September 2023. This 15% cargo growth is mainly driven by the volumes at Mangalore Coal, Paradip Coal, and Ennore Coal, which grew by 87%, 17%, and 15% respectively on YOY basis, and the incremental volumes from the newly acquired assets, PNP and Liquid Terminal at Fujairah, UAE. Third-party cargo has increased to 12.7 million tons from 8.6 million tons, representing 48% growth, and the share of third-party volume stood at 46% versus 36% a year ago.
The growth in cargo volume resulted in an increase in operational revenue for the quarter from INR 848 crores to INR 1,001 crores, a year-on-year growth of 18%. The other income for the current quarter is 87 crores, as against 47 crores in September 2023, mainly driven by increase in income from fixed deposits and gains on mutual funds. EBITDA for the quarter ended September 2024 was at 607 crores, from 499 crores in the quarter ended September 2023, an increase of 22%. Strong EBITDA growth was mainly on account of increased revenue. Depreciation was 134 crores, and finance cost was 75 crores in the current quarter, as compared to 101 crores and 75 crores, respectively, in the quarter ended September 2023.
EBITDA for the quarter ended September 2024 stood at INR 554 crore from INR 328 crore in the quarter ended September 2023, higher by 69% year-on-year. Similarly, PAT for the current quarter was higher by 46% at INR 374 crore, as compared to INR 256 crore in September 2023. As of September 2024, we have a net cash of INR 87 crore and one of the strongest financially in the sector. This, coupled with steadily increasing annual cash flows from the current asset base, we are well positioned to pursue a growth plan to enhance our present cargo handling capacity to 400 million tons by FY 2030 or earlier. With this, I request the operator to open the line for questions. Thank you.
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 touchtone phone. 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. The first question is from the line of Ketan Jain from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. My first question is on the Forex gain or loss item reported in the P&L. If you could speak about it a bit, like, how is it derived? And are we net long on USD or are we net short on USD exposure?
Sure. So we have our, you know, revenues coming in the dollar also, the vessel-related charges we get in the revenue. So this revenue is around 17% to 18% of our total revenue. And our foreign exchange, the foreign currency, the bonds what we have with us, so if you look at our net outflow versus inflow, our inflows are much higher than our outflows. So we have got a natural hedge because of dollar income. So we follow Ind AS 109 hedge accounting, wherein, you know, we account future cash flows which are discounted at forward interest rate, and then they are matched with the spot rate of dollar loans.
So with this accounting, every quarter, they are, you know, again, restated, and based on those, discounting rates, the amount goes to OCI instead of P&L. So this is basically accounting, where you will see that every quarter they are restated.
Okay. So every quarter it gets marked to market, and that comes to the P&L-
Absolutely.
From OCI.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Okay, okay, sir. My next question is on Navkar. From when are we going to start consolidating Navkar's financials into our financials?
We have taken over from twelfth of October, so from there to thirty-first March, it will be counted in our books.
Okay. Understood, sir. Thank you. I'll go back to the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Priyamkar Biswas from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity, and my first question is regarding, let's say, because you highlighted about the Murbe Port, so can you please share some details on what sort of ramp-up we should be expecting? Like, what should be the initial cargo, and what are the royalty rates for this, so if you can share some details?
So, this port is just about 100 kilometers north of Mumbai, and because we have our production units in Vasind, Tarapur, and Jaigarh and Dolvi. In addition to that, the hinterland is very rich. There are gas and pipelines running through it. As I said, you know, the western dedicated freight corridor and the national highway is also abutting that entire place. So overall, it gives a good potential because Mumbai is becoming more and more congested. Jaigarh is also reaching to, you know, its increasing capacities, and we see that future capacity enhancement can be done at a different port. So with that keeping in mind, we have gone for this port, and we look forward to develop this port in another four to five years' time.
We have applied for all the approvals, and now we are in the process of, you know, getting all the things in place. Initial capacity would be thirty-three million tons per annum. Overall, it would be, you know, the capacity can be increased further. So as we move forward, probably we can talk about it. The royalties are all subject to when we sign the concession agreement, probably we can come out in open, and we can mention about it.
... Okay, sir, if I may ask, like, this, like last year, you did something like INR 20 billion in EBITDA broadly. And you have a lot of growth projects that are supposed to come on stream, in late FY 2027 and over FY 2027 to FY 2030. So if I have to take the EBITDA potential for this project, so what sort of EBITDA can we be looking at, let's say, around FY 2028 or FY 2030? So if you can shed some color on that.
So, you know, see, any greenfield port, as you know, the ramp-up takes a bit more time, so it will be difficult to put a number onto the EBITDA numbers of FY28 or twenty-nine, when the first year of operation. But once we get all the clearances in place, once we have the concession agreement all signed up, thereafter, we'll have a realistic date of operations, and we can probably give a color to the numbers. So just bear with us for another one quarter or two quarters, by the time we get all the approvals in place. I think that would be more appropriate from our side to give a number by that time.
Sir, if I can just squeeze one more in.
Yeah.
So for the second half of FY 25, so that is this year, how do you see the volumes panning out? So seasonally, 2Q is weaker, but then how do you see the volumes ramp up, and specifically at which ports? If you can shed some light.
Yeah, Mr. Vishesh, thank you for asking this question. See, typically, as you rightly said, quarter two is generally weaker, but, fortunately for us, this year, quarter two has been very, very strong, very good as compared to, you know, previous years. So the overall growth guidance, I believe for the year, if I have to look at it, it'll be around 10% on the volume front, and similarly, the revenue and EBITDA and everything flows through that. So I think for the year, we can consider the guidance about 10% on the volume front, and similarly, we'll get adjusted.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alok Deora from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir, good evening. Just a couple of questions. So first is on Jaigarh and Dharamtar Port. So, you know, we were expecting some improvement on a QOQ basis, but it still is kind of subdued. So any thoughts on that? Because this was something which was quite weak in the first quarter, and just a minor improvement we've seen in the second quarter. So how... Is it like a normalized growth rate from here on in these two ports?
Thank you, Alok. I believe in the first quarter results we had given, we had explained that time because there was a quarter one drop was there on the volume as compared to the previous years.
Right.
That was largely because of there was a planned shutdown of JSW Steel at Dolvi Works, which had impacted the volume at Jaigarh as well as Dharamtar. So that was a quarter one impact, which cannot be recouped, because once the production loss is there, it is a loss. So that is having an overhang on the quarter one performance, H1 performance of Jaigarh as well as Dharamtar Port. Going forward, because this largely handles about 90%, Dharamtar or 85% handles, captive cargo, and Dharamtar is 100% captive cargo. So, the growth which is coming at JSW Dolvi plant will have real impact on this growth volume, for which the capacity enhancement work is going on. So recently, like the board has approved an investment of close to about INR 2,400 crore on both the ports.
That is largely to increase the capacity at these two ports to support the expansion of JSW Steel at Dolvi Works, which will essentially happen in FY 2027 or somewhere around the middle of FY 2028. So that's where the real volume of... The physical cargo volume, we expect about 27-28 million tons flowing out of that expansion. So that will be the real growth, and in between, we will have an LPG terminal starting, which we had stated at time of IPO . That will be additional volume. We also expect LNG terminal to start operating, so physical volume will start flowing in. So far, as we are getting the revenue out of those terminals, but the physical volume will start flowing in the moment the LNG terminal starts operating from that. So these are the upsides available.
Another upside is that, the sugar, export, which was discontinued last year, will also likely to start this year, so that will be additional flow of cargo. So we see overall a decent growth. The guidance, remains intact for overall as a company and, Jaigarh and Dharamtar as a port individually as well.
Sure. And sir, if I just see the 2030 roadmap. So now with Murbe Port also, you know, we getting an LOI, and so we are pretty much, we are pretty much identified or rather kind of we have the LOI for a lot of these expansion plans in place, right? Except for that 49 million tons of potential projects which will come by.
Yeah.
This number of 400 should be pretty achievable.
Yeah, yeah. So, so if you look at that presentation, out of which 288 million tons by FY 2028 is all the construction is going on, all everything is in place. From 288 to 400 million ton journey, Keni is already signed, for which the land acquisition and all the approvals are getting in place now. On top of it, Murbe, we have now got an LOI, so that approval process will get into shape. The identified project of 49 million ton, which are defined and identified, which will come to the market and give the details about it, as and when it gets signed or gets into paper somewhere.
When we are mentioning 400 million ton, it is very much in sight, and we don't see any ambiguity or anything which we will not be able to achieve 400 million ton. Which is apart from that, any bidding comes into the government terminals, which we have not considered in this, or any acquisition happening throughout. Those two elements would be on the upside over and above 400 million ton by FY 30.
Got it. So anything comes up now, which, so this two eighty-eight could also be higher, or this is like whatever project now come?
If we successfully bid any of the terminals or we acquire something in between, that would be over and above this. So these are all defined and identified projects for which we are working on. The construction is going on, all the approval processes are in the process and all the stuff. So we don't see any uncertainty in this four hundred million ton journey. It can only improve from here on.
Got it. Got it. Got it, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you, Arun.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Paras Jain from HSBC Bank. Please go ahead.
Sure. Thank you, and Arun, all the best for your next stint. It was a pleasure working with you.
Thank you, Paras.
I have one big picture question, I mean, on your growth expansion. Is it fair to say that given the increased commodity prices, cost of capital, labor, all the future greenfield projects, all else being equal, would likely achieve a lower IRR than your existing portfolio? And how are you thinking of balancing brownfield and greenfield expansions going forward? Or given another billion dollar of share sale down, you will be more focusing on the greenfield expansion to deploy the excess cash flow that you have? Thank you.
Thank you, Paras. You have asked a very detailed question. I'll try to answer everything on that. So the projects which are coming onto stream are all very thought of. You know, it's a blend of captive, it's a blend of third party, it's greenfield, brownfield, terminal. It's a mixed bag of everything. So we don't see anything which is slipping out of our way. JSW, as a group, is also known well for its execution capabilities, and so far as we have delivered all our projects on time, whatever we have committed to the market in the last several years, we have done that. So we are very hopeful. That's why we in our presentation, we make it dark green, light green and gray color, so that we have our control on those projects.
I think we will be well on time in delivery. Maybe a quarter here or there could be a timeline shift. Otherwise, we are pretty sure about it. Coming to the total volume growth, I think 65%-70% is the general utilization in the port industry of the capacity. You can take an inference on the cargo with those capacity enhancement as and when we get it. This would be our guidance on this subject.
Just to follow on, is it fair to assume that IRR on those projects would be somewhat lower than your existing portfolio?
No, not really so. Generally, typically, greenfield ports are better in terms of IRR. It's only heavy on CapEx.
Utilization.
Because, as we do more and more utilization, the IRR keeps on improving, our ROCEs also goes up, for that matter. Typically, you know, as I said, you know, IRRs are better and all our approvals, internally, also, our guidance is 16% project IRR, what we consider. That is the guidance basis by which we pursue a project or we start going for a project. This has been a general guidance for us for any project which we take for execution.
So Paras, I would just like to add that whatever greenfield projects we are taking, where we have a cargo visibility. So that is our great advantage, whether in terms of anchor investor or any investor. So in our case, once the project is ready, our ramp-up is normally very fast. So once I reach the, you know, level of, say, 60% utilization, my ROC comes to around 18% or so. So ROC linked to the utilization, in our case, utilization would be quite fast because the locations what we identified will give us a fast ramping up.
Okay. That's very, very helpful. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Paras.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Nidhi Shah from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you so much for taking my question. I would like to ask mainly on the CapEx for the JNPA terminal, the Tuticorin terminal, the Jatadhar Port, and the slurry pipeline. So how much CapEx was undertaken in first half of the year, and how much we are planning for in the rest of the year for these four projects?
Tuticorin?
Yeah, Tuticorin, JNPA, Jatadhar.
Tuticorin will take 18 months to complete. JNPA CapEx is around INR 760 crore. JNPA CapEx is INR 100 crore, and it will take 12 months. Mangalore Container will take 6 months, and it is already under construction. Some cranes have already arrived, so its total cost is INR 150 crore.
I was mainly asking how much CapEx have you already incurred in the first half, and how much is yet to be incurred?
You know, what we have spent is mainly in the Mangalore Container ... where we have spent around 40 crores.
Four.
Okay. So total CapEx all put together, because that is... No, no, this is the total CapEx, what we have spent on all projects put together is around INR 383 crore.
Okay.
Okay, so this is not only Tuticorin terminal and container. There are other CapEx going on at our Jatadhar, at our Goa, you know, all these things, LPG, all put together in the first half, is close to say, we can say, INR 400 crore we have spent. And now what we are going to spend in the second half, major is, one we already spent, post-September, in Navkar, where we have, you know, already, paid around INR 1,000 crore to the promoters. And open offer is getting closed, although we have not received any major, response in that.
The slurry pipeline, you know, what we are acquiring, we are in the process of acquiring, where we expect to pay around INR 1,700 crores to JSW Steel, for the work already done, because they have already completed more than one-third of the project. Those things are, you know, lined up for the second half, apart from the regular CapEx, what we have, say, spent in INR 400 crores. Those type of spends will continue in the second half.
All right. All right. Could you also give me the royalty for PNP Port? So how much revenue share would be paying on that?
It's around INR 40, INR 40.
PNP.
PNP, INR 40.
PNP, as per, yeah, as per...
This is as per the state policy, MMB, which is about INR 42-43 per ton of cargo. This is what we per ton of cargo share over there with the government.
All right, thank you so much. If I could just lastly ask one question, one broad-based question on what you think is the outlook this year and the next year for bidding in terminals and minor ports both?
So Nidhi, this is a difficult question to answer because, you know, we don't know which are the terminals would be coming up for, for bidding. But, as a company, we being one of the largest, terminal operators in India, we would continue to look for such opportunities where we can bid for more, cargo terminals, because we feel, this is a very good way of increasing our cargo profile and, reach. As and when any terminal comes up, we definitely look at it, and if it really makes sense for us in terms of IRR, in terms of, product profile and, geography, we would be participating in all such, opportunities.
As of now, we don't have any idea how many such terminals will be coming up for auction. But as and when it comes, we'll definitely participate in it, and we'll give a suitable guidance to the market accordingly.
All right. Thank you so much for taking my question and-
Thank you, Nidhi.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good, good evening, sir, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first question on Navkar. If you could give us some broad trends in terms of how do you see Navkar acquisition playing out, over next three to five years? What kind of thought process you have in terms of revenue and margins? What kind of business can we expect?
Navkar is definitely is one big step we have taken in terms of, you know, making it a complete port and logistics solution provider to our end customers. It's a step towards, you know, catering to the last mile connectivity to the customers, because it increases the stickiness of the, of the customer to the port. That is one thing. The way India is growing, the way India has a lot of movement of cargo is happening, and, probably we'll be going the way the other economies have gone, from four trillion to ten trillion. Definitely, you know, we'll have more and more cargo movement happening. And, we felt that, last mile connectivity, having a control on logistics will definitely give us an upper hand as compared to any other service provider in this industry on a standalone basis.
So this is one step towards that. We are likely to, you know, get into this area more and more deeper, more and more outreach, and not limited only to two or three locations. Our intention is to spread out, most of geographies of India. And, we have been actively scouting all those opportunities, and we have been assessing it. We will give guidance to the market, as and when any opportunity, fructifies in reality, and definitely we will advise, all of you. As of now, giving any guidance on the revenue and EBITDA on, on Navkar, would be difficult from this, table. But, we'll revert very soon.
Maybe, January, we will be able to give a fair color on that, because we just took over on eleventh October, and now our management is sitting there, and we are assessing all pros and cons and everything, what all we can do more about it than what we thought. Because we see this as a great opportunity, good location, and, very, very good, traction is what we are already getting a feel over there. So I think a fair assessment would be given by January.
Understood. And the second is in terms of the acquisition. So how do we see in terms of given the capital what we have, what kind of cash flows we will generate? You will be more inclined towards the port or the logistics, or what kind of... I mean, what are the differences between the two in terms of ROCEs?
So, ROCE is definitely a resultant at how well we utilize the assets and all, but currently, which is about 18% for us, whether to port or logistics, if your question is that, we would remain committed to both the verticals. Logistics is our new vertical, so definitely we would like to grow it as much as possible. And, we have a very clear roadmap how we want to grow it because of our outreach within India, how we want to spread out. Port remains a focus area because that's a base industry for us, and anything moves around port only for us, whether it's port connectivity project or last mile connectivity or anything. So, port, any opportunity coming into the port sector, definitely we'll be looking very closely to it.
Last mile connectivity or logistics will be moving around our existing assets, or any other value-additive assets which comes independently of it.
Understood. And just last question, if I may, with respect to the Fujairah terminal. If you could guide us in terms of how the scale-up has been, what kind of revenue, EBITDA we are generating out of this particular location?
So, Achal, we have, say, you know, fifteen tanks and all are rented, now full for full one year, and it has been much higher than what we had anticipated. So the rentals have firmed up, and then at a higher rate, we have locked in, say, for one year. So we spent, you know, on $187 million, and we are looking at EBITDA of $34 million. So, so that way it is giving us a good return. And the market is, again, very tight there. Very, you know, supply is less and demand is more. So we foresee that in the, you know, in four years in future, this, will continue to give us a strong result.
Does it also present an opportunity to do any acquisition in this particular location, sir? Is there any opportunity available?
Yeah, yeah. So wherever we go, if there is an opportunity at a good price, we get it, so we can add up to, you know, to have a, you know, efficiency of scale, et cetera. So, as and when if anything comes up, we'll certainly have a look at that.
Understood. Thank you so much, and I will fall back in the queue, sir. Thank you.
Thanks. Thanks, Achal.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhananjay Bagrodia from ASK Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on the numbers. Wanted to ask you, what is the third-party revenue number for this quarter?
Third party for this quarter is 46%.
No, no, the revenue, not volume-wise, in-
Oh, revenue.
It's the INR 470 crore is the revenue from third party.
470, right?
INR 470 crore.
That is, that is close up in the proportion of the volume, sir.
Okay. So that means effectively... Okay.
Because our total revenue was INR 1,011 crore, out of which INR 470 is about 46%.
Okay. So that means effectively, our JSW group business has 0% growth this year, and this mainly because the steel volumes decreased, right? More or less.
Yeah, Dhananjay, your question is right, and we had given a guidance in the beginning of the year, if you were on the call-
-that, you know, JSW Steel is generally a lumpy growth. Whenever their, the project starts, there's where the lump growth start, happens. And we had mentioned that the third-party business would be close to about 50% this year.
This will remain 50% for maybe next year, or in fact, go slightly up next year. But the moment JSW Steel production starts happening a new project, then the captive cargo goes again high. It would range between 45%-55%, somewhere in between that, whether it's captive or third party. It will, you know, fit in that range. So JSW Steel captive cargo will see a jump in FY 2027.
Okay, sure. And sir, regarding the slurry pipeline, any further, like, what, how the numbers could look? Will it be completely captive, or do we have any other customer also there?
First of all, we are waiting for formal approvals from both the shareholder side. So once we get those shareholder approvals, then we'll get into those agreements. However, giving the color to it, this is a dedicated pipeline. However, we are allowed to do a third-party business on this because this is, you know, connecting mine area to the port area. We'll have to work on the nitty-gritty because such pipelines are very dedicated corridors, wherein the input and output points are very much stable. So how best to utilize for the third party is what we are exploring, and once we get a very stable buyer or a input provider or, you know, user of this pipeline, we'll definitely explore that part of it.
Okay. Sure then, I'm good with the question. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Dhananjay.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankita Shah from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, one quick question. Is there any kind of a slowdown in volume in the southwest port, or is it just seasonality?
No. So, yeah, Ankita, thank you for asking this question. See, we are in a capacity expansion mode at the Goa port.
We had given a guidance earlier this year that we are making a covered shed over there to increase the capacity from 8.5 million to 15 million tons. So while the time... Because it is an operating terminal, and we have to do the operation as well as do the construction, so we have to compromise on some of the volume. So this compromise of volume is largely to increase the capacity. So it was known at the beginning of the year that this is what going to happen. We are still doing better than the budgeted volumes. But yes, I agree, as compared to previous year, it has dropped, but this was a planned drop. It was to-
Got it.
Increase the capacity of this company.
Got it. Got it. Okay. And sir, wanted to understand this, larger thought process behind the Murbe Port, which is, you know, going to be very close to Vadhvan Port, both greenfield. So what is the thought process? Will it be, you know, competing against each other? Will this be 100% captive cargo or, or port? Can you just throw some light on that? Thank you.
So, yeah, I think, you know, this port has been on our wish list for almost seven, eight years. It's not today's development. So, which we have been working on it, and Vadhvan has been also there for fifteen, twenty years now, I believe, in the government mind. So these locations are so superb. Anyway, in any case, you know, we have two production units nearby to this port, and Dolvi is also there, which can further increase. And see Jaigarh, Dolvi, you know, this is a combination today. Tomorrow, we would like to have Jaigarh, Murbe, and Dolvi as a combination. On top of it, that port is very, very close to the national highways and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, as I said earlier, and that would be a deep sea water port.
It would be like 18-meter, 20-meter kind of draft port. So, and the hinterland is also very rich over there. So it will be a combination of captive plus commercial port, wherein we will handle part of the cargo in the captive front. It will be liquid gas and other products over there. So Vadhvan is coming over there, which is a very, very ambitious project, and we really look forward to that kind of. Because that will further increase the ecosystem in that entire area. So I think these are two independent projects as what we look at it. We have our own rationales of making this port, and Vadhvan is largely for container or liquid gas, wherein we would also like to have some bulk cargo happening at these ports.
So we have to have our own supply chain control, and we want to have this port coming as early as possible. Vadhvan has taken quite a number of years before it got onto the approval side. So we hope that, you know, we'll be able to make this port well in time.
Got it. Got it. Great. Thank you and wish you all the very best and happy Diwali!
Thank you. Thanks, Ankita.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity. I think most of the questions have been answered, just a few bookkeeping questions. Could you give us a sense on the tax rates and where should things be stabilizing? Because it seems as in the last two quarters, the implied tax rates have meaningfully gone up.
Yeah, Aditya. So the tax rate, if you see, it is definitely, you know, effective tax rate is higher compared to what we had in Q2 2024. So this is mainly three things. One is your Section 80-IA, as I explained last time also. So Section 80-IA benefits are now coming down and non-Section 80-IA income is rising. And apart from that, there were one or two more things that happened during this period. One is you know can see that, our forex gain, 155 crores what we have shown. So that has, you know, that has affected the full rate of tax. It's a deferred tax, but that is also part of this tax. And, similarly, we have got, you know, other income, if you see 47 versus 86, this is again at a full tax rate.
These are the two things. Third is, you know, because of that, you know, some finance bills, which has affected some capital gains also, where this indexation benefit has been removed, so 15 crores is out of that. So all these things put together, the rate has come to 32% or so against the last year. But this one time will not be there at all, you know, in the subsequent quarters. But at the same time, since 80-IA income is coming down and non-80-IA is coming up, so the effective rate would be now will be going high only.
Okay. So is this 25% a good assumption to be making, or can things be higher than that as well?
Sorry?
Is 25% a good assumption to be taking incrementally?
Sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you can consider 25% rate.
Understood, and again, just to clarify, I somewhere heard 10% growth guidance. Just kind of double checking on that. I thought it was more like 13-14%, low teens or so, that was guided earlier. Just sort of clarify on that aspect, what should one be thinking through for volume growth for this year?
So the guidance was 10-12% of what we have been mentioning about it. And because of this shutdown, which Dolvi happened, that's why we have tapered it around 10%. So, I think we maintain our earlier guidance with a margin of about 1-2%.
Understood. That's clear. I also wanted to get a sense of, as in, a lot of projects are on the verge of starting, Jatadhar, Keni, and then Murbe. Specifically on Jatadhar and Keni, what is the status right now? As in, has the CapEx already started or is it completely yet to start? And how do we think through in that light, FY 2026, in terms of CapEx? And I'm asking so because it's important to set a benchmark for us to kind of see the progress of these projects that is going to be meaningfully built out over time.
... Keni is progressing extremely well, as per our expectations on our timelines. All the approvals and all those, you know, meetings are happening, and we expect we should be getting all the clearance within one to two quarters from today, and thereafter, the concession will start on that particular project. Keni is completely on as per the timeline as what we envisaged, maybe a quarter ahead of the timelines what we thought so initially. Jatadhar, all the approvals have been in place. There have been some delays in signing the concession agreement, which we expect it should be signed within November or so. This is what the expectations are, and I think we are all set to start the concession over there because this will be largely underground control, all the status.
All the approvals are already in place, whether it's environmental, forest or land and other stuff. So the moment it is there, our dredgers are ready, our, all the scheme of things are fully done over there. So, the first project to come on stream in terms of construction program, it will be Jatadhar. We are just waiting for the signature of the concession agreement, which should happen within this month or so, within the next month or so.
Understood. And just final comment from your side, given these sound bites coming from JSW Steel of some deferral in the CapEx of Vijayanagar, does it really impact us in terms of timelines for Keni or how should one think about?
No, no, no, no, no. No, that is, this is very independent CapEx to that, because, as such, Keni has a big hinterland. The total hinterland of Keni is about 65 million tons, and we are building this port of phase one of 30 million tons. Out of 65 million tons, almost 35-40 million tons is independent cargo as compared to JSW Vijayanagar. So we are completely nowhere dependent on Keni Port for JSW cargo in any which case.
Understood. That clarifies it. Thanks a lot for the responses. These were my questions.
Thank you.
All the very best to you. Yeah.
Thanks, Aditya.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shreyans Daga from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. I have one or two questions. So at Jaigarh and Dharamtar, brownfield expansion, can you mention what are the timelines and when are you expecting to complete them?
We are expecting these projects to be completed by March 2027, which is about 30 months from today. This will be in sync with the capacity ramp up by JSW Steel Dolvi. We are syncing it along with that. That project is going on a very, very stable pace. We are okay to go ahead with the production with the construction of the. The work has already started at our both the locations, whether Dharamtar or Jaigarh both. 30 months from today.
Okay. And how much CapEx is earmarked?
Close to about INR 2,200 crore is what the guidance and approval we got from the board. And, we expect to complete the entire project within that guidance.
Okay, thanks. My next question is, so at the time of IPO, the promoter shareholding was close to 85%, and you need to bring it down to 75% by next two years. So, I know you have previously guided two primary issuances, so are you expecting anything, you know, within FY 25, FY 26?
So we still have time. So it's one year is passed, two years are still left. So we have not yet decided about the timing part of it, because today we are already sitting on cash. So as and when, you know, capital need arises or within the timeline, we anyway have to do it, so it is yet to be decided.
Okay, thanks. That's it from me.
Thanks, Shreyans.
Thank you. We will take the last question from the line of Bharani from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yeah. Can you throw some light on the status of the Navkar deal? Like, how much have we spent, how much yet to be spent?
So Navkar, you know, promoter stake of 70.37%, we have purchased at, say, around, INR 1,000 crore, and EV value is INR 1,644 crore. So that is the total thing. And, out of that, open offer, we have not got any response as such, so it remains at that level only.
Okay. So we are expecting to spend for the open offer by end of this year?
Open Offer is already closed. That is, that was open for 10 days and just got closed on Friday. This is all over, and what we understand, that around maybe less than 2,000 shares have been given. Since prices are much higher than the Open Offer price, so it didn't elicit any response.
Should we take the final percentage stake in Navkar that we will end up with for this year at around 74%?
Yeah, yeah. So it remains same, you know, whatever we have purchased from the promoter, 70.37% .
Okay. Okay, my second question is on the performance of Navkar in the first half. Can you give some color on what is the revenue EBITDA path for the first half of FY 25 so far?
So, thanks for asking this question. I believe we had clarified in one of the questions earlier that we will come back to you with Navkar, because we just took the control on eleventh October. So we'll come back to you by January with a clear roadmap, you know, how we are looking at it. Because whatever we have thought, it looks better than that. So it's better to give a guidance with a clear thought and getting into the deep management. So January calls, probably we can give an update on this particular subject.
Perfect. So I was not asking for the full year number, maybe the first half number, which is, it's not-
We have taken over on October eleventh, so I think our management control starts from that date. So that is where we will-
So second half results will only be consolidated in our books. The first half, in any case, is, you know, not relevant for us.
Okay, no, I'm trying to understand the trend. This is the first half number that we are aware of, you know, I'm just trying to see how much we, in the full year number. That's the reason.
We are still awaiting those.
Bharani, see, Navkar is a listed company, so the results are already out in the public, right, for the first half, and we have taken control on eleventh October, so you know, let's... You know, we digest the information, and then we get back to you on the guidance.
Sure. Sure, no problem.
Thank you, Bharani.
Does that answer all your questions, Mr. Bharani?
Sure, sure. Yes, I'm done.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management of JSW Infrastructure Limited for closing comments.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you for reposing so much confidence in JSW Infrastructure and making it so interactive call. This being my last call from here, nevertheless, this is a festival season. I wish all of you a great Diwali, great festival times, and your continued support to Mr. Rinkesh Roy, who has a very extensive experience in this field, and I'm sure you will extend the same support and guidance to them.
Good.
Mr. Rinkesh Roy is here with me.
Good evening, everyone, I'm Rinkesh. Very happy Diwali to each one of you and your families. Wish you all the best. Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.