Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Jubilant Ingrevia's Q3 and nine-month FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. 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 call, please signal an operator by pressing Star, then zero on your touchtone phone. Please, this is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pavleen Taneja, Head of Investor Relations at Jubilant Ingrevia Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Taneja.
Thank you, Rio. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining the Q3 of financial year 2026 earnings conference call of Jubilant Ingrevia Limited. I would like to remind you that some of the statements made on the call today will be forward-looking in nature, and a detailed disclaimer in this regard has been included in the press release and the results presentation that has been shared on our website. On the call today, we have Mr. Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman, Mr. Deepak Jain, CEO and Managing Director, and Mr. Varun Gupta, CFO, Jubilant Ingrevia Limited. I now invite Mr. Shyam S. Bhartia to share his comments.
Thank you, Pavleen. We are pleased to share the financial results for the Q3 and nine months of this fiscal year. On a year-to-date basis, our specialty chemical segment has continued to fuel growth momentum, delivering revenue expansion and a robust double-digit increase in EBITDA. Our nutrition business has sustained a healthy trajectory of volume growth across all core products. At the same time, our chemical intermediate segment has successfully maintained its market share while recording a year-on-year volume growth. This quarter presented its challenges with softer pricing across all three segments. However, strong volume growth helped offset this impact, resulting in overall business performance remaining stable. EBITDA was maintained at 13%, same as Q2. Over the nine-month period, our volume growth in double digits, leading to revenue increasing by 3% and EBITDA rising by 8%.
And even after accounting for amendment to the Indian Labour Code and the associated one-time exceptional expense, our profit after tax registered an increase of 8%. We are pleased to announce that the board has recommended an interim dividend of 250%, translating to INR 2.5 per equity share. Markets update. Across the broader chemical industry, we are witnessing a steady recovery in volumes, even as pricing pressures continue to persist across segments. Importantly, while many global players are reporting deteriorating financials due to weaker demand, sustained pricing pressure, and elevated energy costs, our performance demonstrates resilience and strength in navigating these challenges. In the pharmaceutical end-use market, volumes have remained steady across segments, with particular strength in our core fine chemicals portfolio.
With recent signing of FTAs with United States and EU, we are expecting a higher degree of engagement and inquiries from customers in coming months. In agrochemical sector, we are witnessing a steady recovery in volumes, both globally in India, with pyridine-based products and the acetyles group showing consistent improvement. However, the demands supply imbalance persist, exerting short-term price pressures that we expect to ease in the coming quarters. We continue to advance our cost initiatives to ensure we can absorb this impact. In the nutrition market, niacinamide demand remains strong across key segments, including feed, food, and cosmetics. Pricing, however, has been under strain due to supply-demand mismatches, though we anticipate margins to improve marginally in the next quarter. Meanwhile, the demand for choline, vitamin B4, is stable.
While domestic prices are affected by global imports, we are encouraged by positive traction in the European market, supported by tariffs imposed on Chinese suppliers. Now, let me share a few details on our future outlook. Looking ahead to Q4 FY 2026, we anticipate sustained growth momentum driven by progress in our specialty chemicals and nutrition businesses, alongside a partial recovery in Acetyls portfolio. During the quarter, we commissioned a new boiler at our Bharuch site, which will further enhance our operational efficiency. We are also on track to commence delivery of major CDMO order in Q4 FY 2026, a milestone that will significantly accelerate our growth trajectory in the CDMO segment. In addition, construction work has begun on our new multipurpose plant in Gajraula, which will further strengthen our capacity and future readiness for upcoming CDMO projects.
With the latest FTA signed with Europe and EU, we expect to gain share in these markets in the coming quarters. With this, I now hand over to Deepak to discuss the business in detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bhartia. A very good evening to all of you. I would like to thank you all for joining us today for the Q3 FY 2026 investor call of Jubilant Ingrevia Limited. Over the past year, we have made significant progress across all pillars of our strategy, laying the groundwork for sustained long-term growth while ensuring stability in the near term, even amid current challenging global market conditions. These efforts are already delivering results, as reflected in our stable quarterly performance in our specialty and nutrition portfolio, overall margins, along with a substantially expanded pipeline of more than 100 new opportunities, including 16 wins in this year itself. In Q3 FY 2026, we further accelerated our Pinnacle journey , achieving important milestones that reinforce our momentum and strengthen our trajectory toward enduring value creation. Let me share the overall business update with you all first.
From an overall business perspective, we are pleased to report stable revenues and margins delivered despite challenging market conditions. This performance was fueled by incremental sales volumes across all segments. While volumes grew during the quarter, performance in our specialty chemical segment was tempered by pricing pressures across core products. Nevertheless, the segment demonstrated resilience, continuing to deliver margins above 25%, underscoring its strong fundamentals, even in a challenging environment. Our Pyridine and derivatives business continued to deliver strong volume growth on both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis, reflecting the robustness of market demand and reaffirming our competitive positioning. Diketone Derivatives maintained steady volumes on a quarter-to-quarter basis and demonstrated strong growth momentum year-on-year, reflecting consistent performance and clear market traction. In our CDMO business, we continue to see increased customer traction across pharma, agro, industrial, and cosmetics and nutrition segments.
The overall momentum underscores the strong demand and growing confidence in our capabilities. We continue to make rapid progress in our new growth segments, such as cosmetics and semiconductor chemicals. In cosmetics, our team is already developing multiple products, and we are getting good traction with several customers. Similarly, in semiconductor chemicals, too, the number of opportunities has increased in last quarter, and we are making significant investments in equipment and teams to accelerate our journey. In our nutrition and health solutions business, we delivered volume growth both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. Demand for feed-grade Vitamin B3 remained steady, with volumes reaching their highest level in past seven quarters. While intensified global competition placed some pressure on prices, the segment continued to demonstrate resilience. Cosmetic grade demand sustained its steady growth on both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis, with pricing remaining stable.
In food grade products, we observed marginal price softening, though demand trends remained encouraging and supportive of long-term growth. In our chemical intermediate segment, we recorded higher market volumes in the domestic market, supported by modest uptick in agrochemicals and paracetamol end-use segment. In contrast, Europe continues to face headwinds, with weak demand and plant closures weighing on the performance. While prices have remained subdued, rising raw material costs and positive momentum in acetic acid point toward an upward trend ahead. Importantly, our lean initiatives and cost efficiency measures have helped offset pricing pressures, reinforcing the resilience of this segment. Let me also give you a quick update on the progress made across our key pillars. Number one, driven by our customer-centric approach, our key account management strategy continues to deliver strong results.
In Q3, we expanded our opportunity funnel beyond 100 active opportunities, reflecting deeper engagement and growing interest across our strategic accounts. Collectively, these opportunities represent a peak annual revenue potential of INR 3,500 crores. Over the past year, we have secured confirmation for more than 16 molecules, with an estimated peak potential of INR 1,400 crore, and we are in advanced discussions on over 7 additional opportunities with a potential of INR 900 crores. From an operations and ESG perspective, we are seeing tangible outcomes from our sustainability initiatives.
The benefits of green power are evident, with power and fuel expenses reduced by 10% year-on-year and around 3% quarter-on-quarter, despite higher production volumes. This progress reflects the successful commissioning of renewable O2 Power at our Bharuch site, which has taken Ingrevia's renewable power share to 34% in Q3, as against 28% in Q2, a significant milestone in our clean energy journey. On the operational front, our INR 120 crore-plus annual lean savings program remains firmly on track, driving efficiency across the value chain. Complementing these efforts, our ESG initiatives earned significant recognition last quarter. We received multiple recognitions at the seventh South Asia ASQ Team Excellence Awards, and were also awarded as the manufacturing team of the year 2025, large category at the Manufacturing Today 13th Annual Conference and Awards. These accolades highlight our unwavering commitment to responsible practices and sustainable growth.
From a people and organization perspective, I'm pleased to share that we have been recognized among the top 50 best workplaces in manufacturing in India for 2026. We continue to strengthen our leadership bench with strategic senior talent additions. This quarter, we welcomed a new chief of manufacturing, further reinforcing our operational excellence. In addition, we remain committed to continuously strengthen our R&D and technology teams, through key hires in strategic growth areas such as human nutrition and semiconductors, positioning us for long-term success. On the innovation and R&D front, we continue to build a strong pipeline that supports our long-term growth strategy. We now have approximately 55 products under development across our business segments, reflecting our commitment to differentiated and value-added solutions. These innovations will further strengthen our portfolio and reinforce our position as a science-led and customer-centric organization.
On the CapEx front, we commissioned a new boiler at our Bharuch site in Q3 of FY 2026, further enhancing operational efficiency. We remain firmly on track for the commissioning of our agro innovator project, which is expected to begin dispatching volumes from March 2026. During the quarter, we also commenced construction of a new multipurpose plant at Gajraula, which will add significant flexibility and capacity to our CDMO and fine chemicals portfolio. Given the progress across our strategic initiatives, we remain confident in sustaining the expected growth trajectory in both top line and margins over the next three quarters. With that, I would now like to hand over to Varun to walk you through the financial performance of each of our businesses, followed by a consolidated financial overview.
Thanks, Deepak. A very good evening to all of you. Starting with overall financial update, we achieved our second highest volumes in the last 12 quarters, with overall revenue at INR 1,051 crores compared to INR 1,057 crores in Q3 2025. Notably, volumes grew by nearly 9% during the quarter, despite macroeconomic headwinds and the typical unit price momentum across most segments in Q3 . EBITDA for quarter stood at INR 136 crore, reflecting an 8% year-on-year decline, primarily due to lower pricing across most segments. However, on a nine-month basis, EBITDA reached INR 436 crores, representing an 8% increase compared to the same period last year. PAT for the quarter, excluding the impact of amendments under the Indian Labour Code , stood at INR 60 crores with a margin of 6%.
The adjustment of INR 13 crore was recorded under the exceptional items and primarily related to provisioning of employee gratuity and leave encashment mandated by the new labor code amendments. PAT for the quarter, after accounting for exceptional items, stood at INR 47 crore, comparable to INR 69 crore in Q3, FY 2025. Consequently, the net debt to EBITDA ratio improved to 0.94 times during the quarter, compared to 1.24 times in Q2, FY 2026, based on trailing twelve months EBITDA. We have incurred year-to-date CapEx of INR 366 crore. The majority of this spend was directed towards the upcoming CDMO agro plant at Bharuch and the construction of our new multipurpose facility at Gajraula. These investments were largely funded through internal accruals.
Looking ahead, we plan to invest approximately INR 500 crores in 2027, which will also be supported by internal accruals. Specialty chemicals. In quarter three, our specialty chemicals segment reported revenue of INR 458 crores, compared to INR 468 crores in the same period last year. While segment revenues was impacted by pricing pressures across core products, this was partially offset by a healthy volume growth in our pyridine and diketone portfolios. Our quarterly EBITDA margin for the segment remains stable, sustaining a trajectory above 25%, with absolute EBITDA reported at INR 116 crores. This performance was supported by a favorable product mix, driven by higher optics in the volumes of fine chemicals and CDMO offerings, along with ongoing cost optimization initiatives.
On a nine-month basis, segment revenue stood at INR 1,421 crore, compared to INR 1,331 crore in the same period last year, reflecting a growth over 7%. With EBITDA margins remaining well above 26%, segment EBITDA for nine-month period was INR 371 crore, up from INR 293 crore last year, representing growth of 27%. During the quarter, segment revenue stood at INR 201 crore, compared to INR 190 crore in Q3 , 2025, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 6%. This growth was primarily driven by steady market demand, with the segment recording its highest overall volumes in the last 7 quarters and delivering the strongest ever volume growth in the Vitamin B3 portfolio.
Segment EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 23 crore, declining 10% year-on-year, with margin trending lower at 11%, primarily due to price declines across vitamin B3 portfolio and choline. However, margins are expected to improve in the coming quarters as prices recover and the share of cosmetic and food grade products increases in the overall product mix. On a nine-month basis, segment revenue for this, for nutrition remained stable at INR 560 crore, with EBITDA margins sustained over 12%. Segment EBITDA for peers stood at INR 68 crore. Chemical intermediate business segment. During the quarter, segment revenue stood at INR 393 crore compared to INR 400 crore in the same period last year. Also, on a sequential basis, revenue declined, primarily due to lower realization across our key products, such as ethyl acetate and acetic anhydride.
On a nine-month basis, segment revenue stood at INR 1,229 crores, compared to INR 1,237 crores in the same period last year. The margin decline in absolute EBITDA was driven by pricing contraction, along with the passthrough of lower input raw material costs in an oversupplied market, which also impacted overall EBITDA performance. Overall, the business delivered a resilient quarter, posting stable results despite a very challenging and dynamic market environment. We will now be happy to address any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Also, before we begin, a request to participants to please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have follow-up questions, we request you to rejoin the queue. We take the first question from Archit Joshi, from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Sir, good evening. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. So first question, I think, when looking at our comments from the last maybe two or three quarters, we have been continuously highlighting pricing pressure in most of the portfolios that we operate in. So is this supposed to be seen as price decline happening quarter- after- quarter sequentially? How transient would it be, in your opinion, if you can give your understanding on all three segments, specifically pyridine, B3, and in the acetyl business?
Thank you, Archit. Very relevant questions. And the answer, there are nuances by a business segment, so let me just cover each one of them one by one. So if you look at our specialty business, particularly on the pyridine and its derivatives, the pricing pressure has come in the last two quarters and particularly, let's say, second half of last calendar year. And the real big impact of that has been on the last quarter results, as we just described. The outlook going forward on that segment from at least our side, we are already seeing some uptick in pricing in certain derivatives.
And as you might be tracking, China has also announced some imperatives or some actions as part of their anti-involution strategy, which we are hoping will help in bringing the price back. But we can already see some uptake. So that's on specialty. Similarly, on the nutrition, particularly the Vitamin B3, which is a derivative of Pyridine value chain, we see the similar impact. In fact, in the last few days itself, we have seen almost a 7%-8% increase in price of Vitamin B3 feed grade, and we are hoping it will sustain in coming weeks. Acetyl is a different story, where obviously it's a commodity, and hence it goes through its own cycles. The price has been deflated for last couple of years.
There was pressure, and it had bottomed out, as I explained in the last analyst call, also in the last quarter. And since then, if I look at the last two months particularly, we have seen already an uptick in acetic acid price, which we are hoping will gradually start to translate into our acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate prices as well. So, the different product categories are at different stages of the cycles, but one thing we can see, we have bottomed out. In the last six months or so, we haven't seen any significant further decline in price. In fact, in couple of areas, we have only seen a marginal increase.
So that's why we are hopeful that going forward we should only have upside on the pricing front rather than any further decline across the segments.
Sure, sir. Thanks for that elaborate answer. So my second one, a slightly longer question, given the data points from the presentation. So in the previous quarter, we were speaking of around INR 1,200-odd crore of net realizable value from, you know, a few products that we had mentioned. I think that number has jumped to INR 1,400 crore, so maybe an increase of INR 200 crore. On the same lines, even in the previous quarter and this quarter, we are talking about this INR 3,500 crore of net realizable value from peak potential of some of these 100+ products that we have mentioned. So, in line with that, if you can throw some light as to-...
Which application areas, which products, maybe the timeline in which we will be able to realize this benefit? Would this be in CDMO? Because, these are all, you know, products that we have been talking about for quite some time, and quite keen to understand how our CDMO journey is going to be, through these new initiatives that we have taken.
Yeah. Good. Again, good question, Archit. So, let me try to address each of your points one by one. Number one, I think from a pipeline perspective, we talked about these 100+ opportunities with a peak potential of about INR 3,500 crore. And, I think in the last analysis also, I explained that, generally the peak potential takes at least, at least three years, if not more, because it is linked to the pace at which the innovator are able to grow, their volumes, and our demand is a derivative demand of that. So we hope that for most of these, once confirmed, it will take at least 3-4 years to get to the peak demand.
Number two, what we announced on the la- in the last quarterly investor call was about 10 or 11 molecules with a peak potential of INR 1,200 crore. In last 3 months, as you would have seen in today's announcement also, we have added another 5 molecules, and the peak potential has reached almost INR 1,400 crore plus. So that is a moving pipeline, and we are getting the confirmation. And of course, we start counting revenues of those molecules as confirmed, as soon as we get our samples are cleared and the customers start giving us the first commercial order of these molecules. So all these 16 molecules, and largely in the last 10 or 11 months of this fiscal year, we have gotten our samples approved.
The customers have given the first commercial orders, which also means even in this fiscal year, we are seeing revenue and margins accruing to our overall P&L from these molecules. And by 2027, we will see a big jump because we have a couple of contracts which will be scaling up pretty quickly. And of course, the real peak potential of these already confirmed molecules, as I explained earlier, will take at least three years. Point three, there is another 80+, 85 molecules we are, of course, continuously pushing. Hopefully, we'll be able to expand the funnel by adding more opportunities. We'll of course lose some as well.
So it is a dynamic funnel, which we'll keep working on, and we are hoping as we move along in coming quarters, we'll be able to announce more wins. So I think I covered all parts of your question, Archit.
Yes. Yes, sir. So just I want to-
I think you know, you also had a question.
Yeah.
You also were asking about whether these are CDMO molecules.
Yes.
So like I explained in last call also, these are most of the molecules which are CDMO, belong to CDMO and fine chemical part of our businesses. And in most of those situations, we will have exclusive or semi-exclusive kind of arrangement with the customers, with the specialty chemical kind of margins. And you know the EBITDA margins that we have in our specialty chemical business.
Sure, sir. Understood. So just one more. If I just look at the total global landscape, or rather the Indian landscape of the CDMO players that we have in India, I think there'll be about two or three of them who are able to garner a critical scale and mass with regards to one product. So maybe crossing more than $50 million of revenues per year. And I think there'll be only about two or three products which might be able to do that in the current scheme of things. And the potential that we are talking about is with 100 products for INR 3,500 crores. So if I take a simple average, each product does about INR 35 crores.
So would our approach be as dilute as this much, you know, a product can do maybe somewhere between INR 50 crores-INR 100 crores tops at peak sales? Or do you think that there will be opportunities for us available in the agri space or the agri CDMO space for us to, you know, garner similar kind of contracts that we have had, the one that we are going to commission in Q4, which is about $60 million or so. So, sir, your thoughts on this, to understand the ramp-up in CDMO business for us in the next 3-5 years?
Again, very good question. Yeah. Again, a very good question, Archit. I think, what you talked about, $50 million kind of opportunities, as you rightly said towards the end of your question, those kind of opportunities largely exist in agrochemical segment. And there have been a handful of such contracts in the Indian CDMO industry in the last few years, and we are lucky to have one of them. Having said that, if you just step back and look at our portfolio and our capabilities, our business mix is roughly 30% pharma, at an overall level, I'm saying, not just specialty or CDMO. 30% is pharma, about 20-25% agro, 15%-20% nutrition, now increasingly consumer about 10%, and some industrial.
So by nature, our portfolio or at a fundamental level, our portfolio is well diversified. What it means is we have access to customers across all these segments, and invariably, in each of these segments, we'll be working with most of the top 10 or top 20 customers because some of our products are being there. Moreover, we have 35+ chemistries, which cover a vast space of the products that new products that most of these customers will be working on. And hence, when we are going and speaking to them and then talking about...
First, we have the relationship with them, and second, when we present our capabilities to them, we are getting traction from them across these verticals... And with that, now if you look at those 100+ opportunities, and while we have not disclosed the breakup of that publicly, the mix of opportunities in terms of numbers pretty much reflect the mix of our overall portfolio. Which means we have opportunities from agro, from industrials, from cosmetics, from nutrition, and from pharma. And that's why when you do the average math, while the average is coming out to be INR 30 crore-INR 35 crore, there are opportunities which are worth hundreds of INR crores within that, and there are opportunities which could be even INR 5 crore-INR 10 crore.
Because if you look at the pharma opportunities or cosmetics opportunities, some of them will run into just INR 5 crore, INR 10 crore, INR 15 crore, while the agro could run into INR 100 crore, INR 200 crore, or even INR 500 crore as we have in our portfolio. So it's a spectrum. Given our strength, given our relationship with customers across these five key segments where we operate, we are able to get traction with the customers across the board and create the funnel. We have internally aligned ourselves to focus on each of these verticals. There are separate teams with the right kind of expertise and depth, not just from a BD perspective, but from R&D and-
Mm-hmm.
technical capabilities perspective, so that we are able to provide the right kind of support and respond to these inquiries, and which is reflected in the first 16 wins that we have announced so far.
Understood, sir. That's quite elaborate. Thank you, sir, and all the best. Thank you, Deepak sir. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is from Abhijit Akella from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sorry. Good afternoon. Yeah, thank you so much for taking my questions. First, just on the, you know, agrochemical intermediate project, which you stated in your presentation is to be, you know, start deliveries in March. Is there some, you know, meaningful amount of business that we could expect this year itself in fiscal 2026? And then, do you expect it to scale up to full potential in 2027 itself, or will it take a little bit longer? And if I may just add on one, you know, related kind of extension to that question, Deepak, would appreciate your outlook for how this year is going to end up overall in terms of maybe EBITDA or something, and then what you're expecting for next year as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Abhijit. On the first question, we remain pretty much on track. As we had announced, at the time of signing this contract, that by this quarter, the plant will be ready. The good news is, the plant is ready. We had our board, the whole board, visiting the Bharuch site yesterday. We had our board meeting there. So we showcased not just that plant, but the other infrastructure and plants that we have developed in Bharuch. And I'm, I'm happy to share that with all the investors and analysts, that, the board came back very happy, with the progress we have made, not just on that plant, but overall.
And the plant is already charged with the batch a few weeks back, and we are hoping that the first output, lot of output, will come within this quarter. Quantum-wise, we'll have to see, because obviously it's a complex molecule with multiple stages. We are trying our best to maximize the production within this quarter, and we already have confirmed confirmation from the customer to start dispatching as soon as we are ready. So that remains on track. The contract, and I think this question was asked a couple of analysts call back, that we get to full potential of the production as soon as we start. That is the understanding with the customer.
So far, they have given us visibility for first few months, which is what we are gearing towards and planning to start supplies of that, hopefully by mid and late March this year. So as of now, everything remains on track. The second part of the question, Abhijit, I think, as you can see, we have given a consistent EBITDA growth. Our business mix has been changing. We obviously, last quarter, there was some impact coming on the business because of pricing, which I have explained in response to Archit's question. The pricing gradually seems to be coming back.
So we are hoping that, if you take the average performance for this year, we will maintain that kind of run rate, and we'll continue to give the volume growth. The pricing as of now looks like we will, we have hit the bottom, and we'll see some recovery. So definitely, this quarter should be better than the previous one, in terms of both plan as well as whatever visibility we have right now.
Just to add to it, Deepak, Varun here, Abhijit. If you see our nine months, we have delivered an 8% increase in the EBITDA overall. And as Deepak mentioned, for the full year, we expect it to be higher than that. Yeah. So if that gives you certain outlook for the Q4 .
No, thank you. That's really helpful. Any thoughts, preliminary thoughts for fiscal 2027 as well at this point, or is it too early?
It's too early, but-
Too early, but, but I think we have given a multi-year guidance anyway in last year also, that we, we hope to continue to grow, if you take a multi-year average, our EBITDA at least at 20%, CAGR. So that's the trajectory. Now, one particular year, there's so many factors, Abhijit, but that is the aspiration and that is what all of us are working towards.
So, Abhijit, maybe in the next board call, in the next week, once we conclude, we'll be able to throw more light on the year, after we have presented it to the board. Yeah?
Sure. Perfect. Appreciate that. And just one last quick one from me. Any deferrals of any shipments that happened in this past quarter that may spill over into the next quarter?
There are always, see, Abhijit, our portfolio is so, so wide and diversified, there are always some order, some orders which move up and down based on the customer's requirement and, and sometimes even, let's say, the availability of, ships. But there was no major change, but at the same time, because there were some uncertainty, particularly in this, FTA that was to be signed with the U.S., which now is signed, couple of customers had slowed down the booking of, our new orders, which now, obviously, that now that the FTA is signed and that uncertainty is gone, we are hoping, those, customers will go ahead and confirm the orders, which anyway they had given the visibility of.
No major movement, but at the same time, I'm hoping that the pace of booking and the quantum of booking from some of the customers on the back of the 2 FTAs, which have been signed in last couple of weeks, will help us accelerate the momentum.
Thank you. Thank you so much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Nitesh Dhoot, from Anand Rathi Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, team. Thank you for this opportunity. So my first question is on the CDMO, part. So our CDMO customer has guided, you know, for continued pressures in its, FMC diamide portfolio and, you know, modest volumes for CY 2026. So how does that translate into, you know, into the minimum offtake, commitments or the volume visibility for Jubilant under this, CDMO arrangement?
Nitesh, we never disclose the names of our CDMO molecules or customers publicly, so I will not be able to answer this question in the specific context of what you referred to. But as I mentioned in response to Abhijit's question, our CDMO contracts and the delivery against what we have agreed with the customer stays on track, and we don't see any lack of visibility there, at least for the first few months, even for the big contract, we have already gotten visibility from the customer, and we are planning to start dispatching late March.
Sure. So in case of any, you know, any resistance, or any regulatory tightening in certain geographies, you know, we are insulated contractually, or does any of the volume risk sit partially with us?
See, for the, as you would be aware, the typical construct in CDMO industry is to have commitment from both sides, for some minimum volume offtake. So, we have covered our risk, by having similar arrangements, with wherever we have invested heavily. So, and of course, that is a typical nature of the CDMO industry, particularly on the agro side, as you know. So we have followed a similar norm, and we are well covered there.
Sure. So just one last on the FTA, on the India-EU FTA. So as I understand, I mean, on the US part, I believe there not be too much of an incremental benefit, you know, from this reduction, because we are not any which way impacted significantly. So but on the EU trade deal, you know, I mean, which are the products, you know, or the areas where we expect, you know, significant gains coming, coming through, in terms of market shares?
Yeah. So, Nitesh, I think, there is of course, I'll answer the direct impact of it, but, as I was mentioning, because of the uncertainty created by, let's say, delay in particularly the US FTA, some customers had become tentative, even on the products which were not coming under any duty regime or tariff regime, because there is a long exemption list, as you know, in Annexure Three. But the indirect impact, and that is true for both US and European FTAs, is that, we are hoping now customers, that tentativeness will go and the pace, and the quantum of order booking will increase.
In terms of direct impact, I think you're right on the US, in a call a couple of quarters back, I clarified, only 2% of the overall portfolio was getting directly impacted. Now, that is gone, and that will... We are hoping that with increased competitiveness, we'll be able to increase volumes there. On the EU side also, right now, there is duty, or tariff of about 6%-7% for a bunch of our products, and like it is for China as well. As those duties go away next year, hopefully, our level of competitiveness will increase, which we are hoping to leverage, to get some volume and hopefully even price upside, starting next year.
The exact quantum will depend on a case-to-case basis, of course, because in many of the customer or product categories, we already have a very high share in those products. One example, by the way, is Choline, where as soon as we had a favorable tariff structure vis-a-vis the Chinese competition, our share has already started to increase, and we have started to book volumes in European market. We are hoping a similar kind of upside will start to come once the EU FTA is executed, hopefully early next year.
Great, sir. I think that's very helpful. Thank you so much, and all the best. I'll get back in touch with you if I have more. Thank you.
Thank you, Ritesh.
Thank you. The next question is from Siddharth Gadekar from Equirus. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. So first, coming to the specialty chemical business, if we look at our EBITDA for the last five quarters, it has largely been range-bound at INR 115 crores-INR 130 crores. Now, can you just quantify how much of this would be we had a positive volume gain, and how much would be the negative pricing impact over the last five quarters?
Yes, Siddharth, you're right. I think, as I was explaining in response to the first set of questions, the price, of course, has taken off or offset some of the volume growth that we have seen. At an overall, if you take the last 2 years rather than this quarter, I think our specialty chemical volumes have grown at least at 10, 12% every year. But what is also true is in the last 6, 7 months, particularly, the pricing has come down, which, as I was explaining, in our view, has bottomed out, and we have seen already some uptick in price in some of the product categories. So on the back of that, we should hopefully be able to increase the absolute value as well.
What you should also see is that our margin has remained at 25-26%, despite all the pressure which is coming from pricing. Which has happened because of two reasons. One is, as we have been publicly announcing from time to time, we have taken a cost program couple of years back, and that remains on track, and we are actually still working on it. And even next year, for next year also, we are putting together a similar program, which we should be able to announce by next quarter. At the same time, the mix of our specialty chemical business is also improving because the share of fine chemicals and CDMO in specialty is increasing, and those are high-margin, growth driver segments for us, as we explained in last year investor call as well.
The hope is as soon as the pricing starts to come back, you will see a meaningful jump in the absolute margins as well, while we still maintain the percentage EBITDA at least at 25%, like we have done in the last five or six quarters.
Basically, I wanted to understand that because given we would have some cost savings also in this, so the pricing decline would have been much higher than the volume growth. Is that a fair understanding?
Yes, that's right. For part of the portfolio.
For specialty.
For specialty, yeah.
For specialty, Siddharth, Varun here, our volume growth and the mix is higher than the price decline.
Okay. Secondly-
For the first nine months. For the first nine months of the year, our. If I take it together to give you a more broader view, we have grown more than 10 double-digit in volume and mix for the specialty, yeah? And the pricing has gone back in the high single digits. That's why our specialty has grown, on a year-to-date basis, which we have mentioned in our notes also. So answer to your question is, pricing has come down, but not ahead of the volume and mix.
Okay. Secondly, in terms of capacity utilization now from here on, beyond the CDMO, can you give some color in terms of capacity utilization or what kind of volume growth can we see going ahead also?
So, if you just see, Siddharth, we announced a INR 2,000 crore CapEx program three years back, and all of that CapEx, with this new CDMO plant that we are constructing in Bharuch coming in, would be deployed. On the back of that INR 2,000 crore, we had expected about, let's say, INR 3,000 crore of additional revenue on the base of INR 3,000-INR 3,500 crore we had a few years back. So, of course, there is some price deflation which has happened versus the projection we had at that time. So, if you take that lens, I think we are pretty much on track.
Most of the new capacity we have created, including the one which we just are commissioning for the new agro project, we run at around 50-odd% capacity utilization. So we have enough growth room with the already invested assets, which we are hoping a significant portion of that will get capitalized in FY 2027. Because from the overall growth journey perspective, which we shared with the market also, FY 2027 is like a pivotal year, in which a lot of that capacity we are hoping to fill on the back of both confirmed orders, which we have announced as part of our pipeline, but also some of the new areas that we are working on.
Okay, got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from Avanish Burman from Lara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. Because this large agrochemical order that you have, I just wanted some color on the profitability. If I'm not mistaken, in the last call you mentioned, this is coming at about 20-25% EBITDA margin. I just wanted some understanding on... You know, typically, when CDMO players are working with innovators, the margins are typically higher. Why in this contract are the margins lower than what we typically see with some of the other players who are working with innovators?
So, Avnish, the first part of your question, as we have been consistently saying, every new project, every new CapEx that we take in our company, we keep at least a threshold margin of 20% EBITDA and a ROCE of 20%+. So the same is true for this project also. I won't be able to give the specific margins, but that will be north of that threshold for sure. To your second question, we need to just appreciate that this product is a generic product, and obviously, we have to. Ultimately, the key principle behind a CDMO business is also to support the customer to be competitive in the market.
So obviously, we worked together on it and got to a point where it felt like a win-win, and hence we have the margin. More broadly also, if you look at the agro segment within CDMO, a margin for most players will be between 20%-25%. Of course, pharma operates closer to the 30%, 25%-30% mark, but in agro CDMO segment, 20%-25% margins are not bad, especially when the products are much bigger and give a step change kind of growth to you.
Understood. Thanks. The second question is more of a directional thing. I mean, I'm referring to the set presentation that you made last year. Your FY 2030 guidance for Spec Chem also kind of indicated a 25% margin, which you have been maintaining in the last three quarters. The business seems to be stable at that margin. The growth from here on to FY 2030 seems to be driven more by fine chemicals and CDMO. And like you said, I mean, that improves the business mix. Then why is the guidance for FY 2030 not higher than 25%, and the same as the current business mix right now, which has a larger proportion of, let's say, P&P?
Yeah, no, so I think in terms of mix, you are, you are right, Avanish. Of course, we made certain assumptions at that time. I do feel if we continue growing our fine chemicals and CDMO business at the pace at what we see with the pipeline building up, and particularly all the cost initiatives which we have taken, which, by the way, were not built into the five-year projection when we shared those numbers last year, I think we should hopefully be able to do better than 25% in specialty chemicals. But at the same time, right, FY 2030 is far away. There are so many factors which will have to positive and negative, which we may need to navigate through over the years.
But I think I would put it more like an aspiration that we need at least 25% EBITDA in specialty chemicals, which is what we have been maintaining. And, from whatever we can see, we should hopefully be able to do that, quarter-on-quarter, and year-on-year. We'll of course, try to do better than that with all the cost-saving initiatives, as well as some of the new projects that we are working on.
Just to add to it, Avanish, what Deepak just mentioned, we are also reinvesting it for the growth. The growing specialty chemicals remains the key focus area, and there is a reinvestment of incremental margin that will go in building the capability, both in R&D and in our technical teams.
Right. Makes sense. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from Gokul Maheshwari, from Awriga Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on the nutrition and the health business. When do you start seeing the benefit of improving margins, with the mix improving towards cosmetics and food, moving away from the animal feed?
Yeah. So, Gokul, actually, that has already started to happen implicitly. Of course, that is not visible to you based on the public number. But, because the impact of price decline in feed segment, which as you might know, if you're tracking us for a few years, is a very volatile market or cyclical market. The price decline in feed has kind of offset the positive impact coming from cosmetic and food segment growth, which we are hoping that as we grow, continue to grow, the volumes of cosmetic and food relative to feed will become more and more prominent. And like I was explaining in the last few days itself, we have seen price uptick in feed as well, which we are hoping will help us anyway counter the negative impact.
So the combined impact of both of these should hopefully start reflecting in this quarter and definitely next quarter onwards. And just to give you a sense, versus the peak volume we expected to get from the new plant that we commissioned last year, already we have reached almost 30%-35% of those volumes within the first year, despite the fact that it takes some time for the customers to approve the product. So we are hoping in FY 2027, we'll scale up the utilization and the volumes coming out of that plant even further, which will accelerate or help us in taking the margins up further.
Okay. And my second question on the large CDMO order, which we start from March, is the product largely going to be sold in India or will be exported across the world?
We are making an intermediate, and we'll be sending it to the innovator. They will convert it into the final molecule, and obviously, they can send in any part of the world. That is their prerogative. But they have told us where we need to send the molecule, where they will convert it into the final... Yeah.
Okay. It's largely an export order?
... our intermediate? Yes, is an exporter.
Yes. Okay, great. And lastly, just on the INR depreciation which has happened, does this really help us for where we have import substitution, for certain products, which helps in us getting better pricing versus, pricing, which was benchmarked to import pricing?
Yes, it does, Gokul. Obviously, there's been a lot of volatility in rupee. So whenever rupee depreciates, in the segments where we export a lot of products to outside markets and in import substitution segment, it does help us increasing the price, and we have margin increase the price there as well. But our overall portfolio, if you look at, we are naturally hedged because we also import a lot of raw materials, particularly on our ethical business.
Mm.
And even in specialty. So we have a natural hedge within the PNL. So at the overall company level, we are by and large agnostic to the rupee movement.
Okay, great. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Aetish Jain from Abakkus Asset Manager. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. My question pertains to the Agrochemical CDMO contract. I believe in the last con call, you had mentioned that the contract should start from about January onwards, which has now been moved to March. Now, I appreciate that it's a very slight delay, but if you could just help me understand the reasons behind it, or is it just to do with the delivery schedule of the innovator?
Aetish, this, I think we always maintain, we'll start the production process, the plant in January, so which is what we did. The first fifth of January, we did the, we did the puja at the plant and, commissioned, the first batch. It's a complex, multi-stage product, so the whole cycle of producing even the first kg of final product is at least a 6-8 week process because it goes through, the different stages. So there is no delay or, delay of production or even, or on placement of the order from the customer. It's just a process. And, we-- That's why I said by mid-March, we are hoping we'll get the first kg out and we'll start shipments in March itself. So, couple of weeks here and there, but, by and large, it's on track.
Okay, understood. Thanks. That was very clear. Thank you, and good luck for the forthcoming quarters.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference back to the management team for closing comments.
Hi, Pavleen Taneja. On behalf of the entire management team, we would like to thank you for joining the call today. We hope we've been able to answer your queries. For further clarification, I would request you to get in touch with me. Thank you once again for your interest in Jubilant Ingrevia Limited.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Jubilant Ingrevia Limited, that concludes the conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.