Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to KEC International Limited's Q4 FY 2026 results 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 conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. On the call we have with us today Mr. Vimal Kejriwal, Managing Director and CEO, and Mr. Rajeev Aggarwal, CFO. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vimal Kejriwal for his opening remarks. Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to KEC Q4 earnings call. I will begin with an overview of the operating environment, followed by our annual performance and update on each of our business segments. We have achieved our highest ever revenues, profitability, and order intake during the year despite a challenging operating environment marked by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East during Q4, labor shortages, and subdued order inflows in India. We successfully executed key strategic initiatives and developed niche capabilities across our businesses, positioning us for sustained growth and value creation. First, let me provide a brief update on the current situation in the Middle East. The region accounts for approximately 27% of our overall order book and L1 position, almost equally divided between Saudi Arabia and the UAE and with a small presence in Oman.
As on date, Dubai factory and the physical execution of all our projects in the region continues unhindered. Tendering activity remains strong across the Middle East, with new opportunities being announced across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait during and after the recent conflict. We have also been awarded a large order in Saudi Arabia after the conflict started. Cash flows remain stable, and the region continues to be a key growth driver supported by investments in grid expansion, regional interconnections, rebuilding initiatives, grid resilience, and renewable integration. The safety and well-being of our employees remain our highest priority, and we continue to closely monitor developments in the region. While the project execution on the ground in Middle East continues, the ongoing disruptions have resulted in supply chain and logistics challenges.
Shipments from Europe, China, and India to GCC countries are witnessing delays due to port congestion and continued disturbances, while freight costs, including war-related surcharges, have increased materially, particularly for ocean transportation. Lead times have also lengthened due to reroutings and port congestion alongside delays in supply of power third-party bought out items. We are in touch with our clients on these issues. The ripple effects are also being felt in India, where labor availability across project sites has been impacted due to fuel-related constraints and elections in certain parts of India. In addition, certain equipment and steel suppliers are facing operational disruptions and shutdowns arising from LPG shortages. These disruptions impacted operations during Q4 and are expected to continue affecting Q1 and potentially Q2 as normalization of the supply chain and logistics ecosystem is likely to take time. Now coming to the annual performance.
For the year, we achieved a record revenue of INR 23,506 crores, reflecting a growth of 8%, driven primarily by the T&D and cables and conductors business. In line with our strategic focus, the T&D segment's contribution to overall revenues increased to 68% compared to 59% last year. Operating PBT is at INR 848 crores, with PBT margins expanding by 40 basis points to 3.6%. Operating PAT margins have also increased by 30 basis points to 2.6%. We have achieved an operating PAT of INR 650 crores. As stated above, while the revenue has grown by 8%, operating PBT has grown by 21% and operating PAT has grown by 18%. PBT and PAT growth continues to outpace the EBITDA and revenue growth.
The tax rate for the year, particularly in Q4, was slightly higher due to increased tax costs in some of the international markets. The operating PBT and PAT numbers are excluding exceptional items of there's a provision of INR 59 crores made in FY 2026 towards the new labor code and an income of INR 24 crores from an arbitration award recognized last year in FY 2025. In Q4, we delivered revenues of INR 6,390 crores with an EBITDA margin of 7%, PBT margin of 4% and PAT of INR 193 crores. Our performance could have definitely been better, but for the following. Geopolitical disruptions in the Middle East led to deferment of revenues, while the labor situation had shown signs of improvement earlier, it deteriorated again due to the recent LPG related issues and elections in certain parts of India.
LPG issues have also impacted supplies in India. We adopted a calibrated approach in executing water projects due to continued delayed payments. Delay in legal closure of dispute settlements of claims in our transportation and metro projects. In terms of order intake, we have achieved an all-time high inflow of INR 25,280 crores. Notably, a substantial 70% of this order intake has been secured by our T&D business across India and the international markets. During the year, we sharpened our focus on enhancing the quality of order inflows by consciously shifting towards fewer but larger EPC orders to strengthen operational control and execution efficiency.
As a result, the average order size increased from INR 350 crores last year to over INR 500 crores this year, while the overall number of orders reduced by 25% despite higher order inflows.The strategic shift towards high quality orders will enable tighter cost control, superior execution, and better working capital. Our closing order book remains robust at INR 36,267 crores. We are happy that the order intake trend continues in FY 2027 with new orders of over INR 1,000 crore announced till date across T&D, transportation renewables, and cables and conductors. In addition, we have an L1 position of over INR 3,000 crores. The T&D business has secured a prestigious HVDC order from a reputed private developer. Our renewable business has expanded its presence in the wind energy segment with a repeat order from an existing customer.
The transportation business has reinforced its position in the technology-enabled automatic block signaling segment with two recent orders. With this, the current order book plus L1 position stands at over INR 40,000 crore, which gives us visibility for the next six to seven quarters. On the debt front, our net debt including acceptances is at INR 6,722 crore, marginally lower than December 2025. The debt could have been lower, but for the spillover of collections of INR 450 crore from certain large clients to the first week of April 2026. The debt levels could have been reduced further, but for the higher inventory due to delayed dispatches in Dubai amidst Middle East disruptions, strategic inventory build-up in cables, raw material, and steel owing to volatile prices. Due to the collection in the water business and increase in revenue-driven debtors.
Debt, we expect the debt to improve by Q2. While the absolute interest costs have remained flat despite the 8% growth in revenues, interest expenses as a percentage of revenue have reduced by 20 basis points to 2.8%. The board of directors have decided to recommend a dividend of INR up to 75%, that is INR 5.50 per equity share on the face value of INR 2 each. Coming to our specific businesses. Our T&D business has delivered an outstanding performance, achieving a milestone revenue of INR 15,883 crores. For the year, a remarkable growth of 24%. The growth has been delivered on the back of a robust execution across both domestic and international markets. Our unexecuted order book to revenue ratio is one of the best in the industry.
On the order intake front, the T&D business secured significant inflows of INR 17,700 crores across India, Middle East, Americas, Africa, and the CIS. In India, the transmission sector is witnessing a structural shift, with large intrastate projects, traditionally executed by state utilities increasingly moving to the TBCB route. This transition has also resulted in utilities and several new private parties participating in TBCB tenders as developers, resulting in several new players securing TBCB projects during the year. Consequently, the share of these players has increased significantly to almost 80% compared to 45% last year. In line with this trend, we continue to scale up our presence with private sector clients and have secured orders of INR 3,600 crores from private players and SPVs during the year. Additionally, we are today well-placed to secure further orders from private clients.
The orders during the year in India include our largest ever domestic T&D integrated order of over INR 1,000 crores from a reputed private player for a 765 KV transmission line and a 765 by 400 KV AIS substation. We have also strengthened our position in the HVDC segment, securing 3 orders from Adani and PGCIL. We are currently executing 5 HVDC projects, having commissioned the first HVDC converter station project built by us in Maharashtra for Adani and Hitachi. On the international T&D front, we continue to strengthen and diversify our global presence with orders exceeding INR 11,300 crores, representing a robust growth of over 35%. A key highlight was the strong revival of order inflows from Africa and CIS, alongside sustained momentum in the Middle East.
Notable wins in the Middle East include our first ever 380 KV GIS substation order in Saudi Arabia, as well as our largest composite order in Saudi Arabia comprising transmission lines, substations, and EHV cabling. With these orders and L1 positions, our overall substation portfolio has expanded significantly both in India as well as in the international market, both in GIS and AIS segments. In SAE Towers, the business accrued profitable revenues of INR 1,800 crores for the year, a robust growth of 36% year-on-year. The business continues to witness traction in order inflows with inflows of approximately INR 2,000 crores. These orders for the supply of towers, hardware, monopoles, and engineering services span across the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil.
During the quarter, the business secured two large tower supply orders in Mexico and U.S., signaling a clear uptake in the North American market. The business now boasts of a healthy order book and L1 position exceeding INR 2,600 crores. We continue to reduce our debt levels in SAE. Capacity expansion initiatives are progressing well following successful capacity enhancements at our plants in Dubai, Jaipur, and Jabalpur. The expansion of our Butibori facility in Nagpur is expected to be completed within this quarter. We have also expanded our hardware manufacturing facilities in Brazil. These expansions will further strengthen our ability to cater to rising demand for transmission infrastructure across domestic and international markets. The outlook for the T&D sector in India remains highly encouraging, supported by a strong and sustained tender pipeline.
Peak power demand continues to rise, reaching record highs and expected to grow further, driven by economic expansion, a rapid electrification, and evolving weather patterns. Transmission is increasingly emerging as a critical bottleneck amid rising grid congestion, leading to a sharper policy and execution focus on strengthening infrastructure. Reflecting the accelerated pace of energy transition and rising electricity demand, the government has enhanced its non-fossil fuel capacity target from 500 GW by 2030 to 900 GW by 2035. This will drive significant investments in transmission lines, substations, green energy corridors, and interregional connectivity, translating into a robust multi-year opportunity for the T&D sector. On the international front, the outlook remains strong and well-diversified across regions. Despite the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, tendering activity continues to remain resilient and robust with substantial opportunities across Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Oman.
At the same time, we are witnessing a recovery in Africa with increased tendering activity post the COVID slowdown, along with expanding opportunities in the CIS region. In the SAARC region, improving political stability in Bangladesh and Nepal is expected to support a gradual revival in demand. The Americas also continue to present strong opportunities, particularly in Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S., driven by sustained demand for towers, hardware, and poles. Again, driven especially by the data center and AI boom in the U.S. market. With a strong order book and relevant position in T&D of over INR 25,000 crores, we remain confident of delivering sustained and profitable growth in the T&D business. In Civil, the business has strengthened its order book with multiple orders of over INR 5,000 crores, a growth of more than two times over the last year.
During the year, the business has secured orders across high-growth segments such as semiconductors, hospitals, thermal power plants, metals and mining, residential and commercial real estates. Some of the key highlights include the entry into the semiconductors EPC space, a large first-of-its-kind order from a new client. Securing our largest-ever commercial real estate order from a global developer. Winning an order for a tall residential structure to be approximately 80 floors from a reputed real estate player. A luxury villa development project from one of India's largest developers. Expanding into the thermal power segments with civil and structural work for a 150 MW plant from a prominent private sector player. Strengthening our presence in the healthcare segment with multi-specialty hospital projects from a renowned healthcare player. Securing five orders during the year from reputed metals and mining players.
The Civil business achieved revenues of INR 38,823 crores for the year. The revenues could have been higher, but for the labor constraints, delayed release of work front in some projects, and slower release of payments in the water projects. Given the current payment dynamics in water projects, we continue to follow a calibrated and cautious approach to execution. However, with the recent budgetary allocation to the sector, we expect collections to improve going forward. During the year, the business successfully commissioned the Bedin Water project in Odisha, supplying clean water to over 58,000 households, one of the largest projects to be commissioned in Odisha. The business also successfully completed three metro projects, two in Delhi and one in Chennai. The Delhi Metro projects were inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.
With the Tamil Nadu elections now concluded, we expect one of the Chennai Metro projects to be inaugurated shortly. During the year, we launched a transformational program in partnership with a global consultant focused on driving execution excellence in our Civil business. This initiative aims to significantly enhance operational productivity and accelerate project execution. The program has been initiated with select pilot projects within the Civil business and scaled up in a phased manner across other projects. While strengthening its presence in core segments such as building and factories, data centers and public spaces, the business has commenced bidding in new segments of urban infrastructure, including underground metros, stations, tunnels and pump storage projects, opening up a large growth opportunity. In parallel, we have further strengthened organizational capabilities in Civil business through strategic hiring at senior leadership levels.
With a robust order book and relevant position of over INR 10,000 crores, improving outlook on collections of water segment, expansions into the new segments and the ongoing execution excellence program, we are confident that the Civil business is well-positioned to turn around and deliver healthy growth in the coming quarters. Our Transportation business achieved a revenue of INR 1,555 crores for the year. In line with our strategy, we continue to remain selective and calibrated in this segment. During the year, we secured orders of INR 550 crores, including projects in the TCAS under Kavach in partnership with our JV partner, as well as a railway siding project from a private sector client.
The business has successfully implemented Kavach across 667 route km and is currently executing deployments across an additional 1,780 route kilometers of the railway network and over 3,000 locos. With the government's continued focus on railway safety, modernization and indigenization, initiatives such as Kavach are expected to witness wider adoption over the medium term. We remain well-positioned to secure further orders in this segment. We continue to bid for opportunities in technologically enabled areas of metros and tunnel ventilation. Our focus remains on fast-tracking project closures, optimizing working capital, and selectively pursuing domestic and international opportunities for growth. Our Cables & Conductors business has achieved record revenues of INR 2,217 crores, a strong growth of 23%. The profitability of this business is also witnessing consistent improvement driven by better product mix and cost optimization.
Notably, it has also achieved its highest ever profitability during the year. The business continues to witness steady inflows of orders for supply of cables and conductors. We commissioned our aluminum conductor plant last March, making an important milestone in strengthening our manufacturing capabilities and expanding our product portfolio. During the year, the business successfully supplied aluminum conductors, including ACSR and AL conductor to various customers across India. On the new product front, elastomeric cables are slated to commence production in Q2, followed by the commissioning of the E-beam plant within the same quarter. Our renewables business has achieved revenues of INR 516 crores. In a significant development, the business forayed into the wind energy segment with two orders for 100 MW wind projects in Southern India from a renowned private developer.
We successfully commissioned a record 1,000 MW of solar capacity across Rajasthan and Karnataka. These projects are among the largest tracker-based installations in India. We continue to pursue selective opportunities in both solar and wind segments and are well-placed to secure additional orders in the near term. Our oil and gas pipeline business has achieved revenues of INR 258 crores for the year. The business secured two orders in Africa and Middle East. Marking a key milestone, the business entered the GCC region with a composite station works project, unlocking a large and attractive growth market. Geopolitical developments in West Asia are expected to accelerate investments in energy security, creating additional opportunities in pipeline infrastructure. The business remains focused on expanding its international footprint. In ESG and sustainability, we continue to make significant strides across the organization.
Some of the key initiatives and development during the year include increased solar footprints across our factories to 39%, up from 22% last year. All 5 plants in India are water positive with positive water index of 1.48. Our people-centric agenda focuses on fostering happiness aligned with our brand tagline, Hello Happiness, which is a core aspect of RPG Group's philosophy. This year we saw our happiness quotient reaching 85%. We have now onboarded an external consultant to advance our Scope 3 Inventorisation and Net Zero Strategy. Our sustained progress in ESG and sustainability has been well appreciated, which is reflected in the improvement of our ESG ratings by key agencies such as MSCI, S&P Global, DJSI and Morningstar Sustainalytics. Additionally, KEC International has been ranked 19th among BW Businessworld's most sustainable companies 2024-2025.
In conclusion, while the operating environment, supply chain and logistic ecosystem remains uncertain, however, supported by a strong and diversified order book, plus L1 of over INR 40,000 crore and a robust tender pipeline exceeding INR 180,000 crore, particularly across the T&D and civil business, we are confident of continuing our growth. Thank you very much. We are now open for questions.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. The first question is from the line of Jainam Jain from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, out of the total order book, how much order book is on a fixed cost basis? How are you looking the margins to shape going forward in this year upon the escalated commodity value?
If you look at our order book, roughly I'll say 50% or so would be on fixed and the balance would be on variable. Okay. When you look at fixed also, what happens in that is if you look at T&D, 30%-40% would be on base metals, which typically is also hedged. What you are exposed to on these orders would be escalation in steel and maybe labor.
Is there any sort of guidance which you would like to give for this year in terms of margin?
It's too early, I think right now. I think we'll wait for the workstation order to settle. Maybe when we finish Q1 or earlier, whenever we have a better visibility, we will do it. Today it's a bit difficult to give.
Okay. Sir, are we seeing any improvement on the collection from the JJM side?
Last year we got around INR 800 crores. This year already we got around INR 50 crores that we got this quarter, this April. Last year we got around INR 800 crores, and this year till now we have got around INR 58 or 60 crores. This is in line with what we received last year. We have not yet seen any improvement because if you look at what the cabinet approval talks about is they need some framework to be put in place. They want the JJM Mission 2.0 to be launched. There are a few conditionalities attached before the central government actually starts disbursing its full quota. I understand they have disbursed some amount, but what has exactly happened is still a little bit difficult or not yet understood by our teams.
The expectation is that there will be some improvement. What has also happened, they wanted to do audits. All those audits have been completed, et cetera.
I think it's a matter of time that the payments start getting released.
Okay, sir. Sir, our receivable days have increased from 88 days- 101 days, but we have recovered INR 450 crores as part of our state award. Still, adjusting to that working after the receivable days still tends to continue at a high level. Is there any stress which you are seeing from any specific customer end or like how are you seeing it?
Yeah, the line is very disturbed. Whatever I could understand on that, you're talking about the receivables. I think major reason was there was a spillover, as I had mentioned earlier, of almost INR 450 crores. If you bring that in also, then I think the numbers would be a little bit better. Also, our Saudi business has got 20% retention, and we have got a lot of large Saudi contracts around two years back, and they are now heading into completion. I think in the next two quarters, we will receive a lot of release of retentions also. We expect the receivables to be normalized going forward.
Okay. Sir, my last question is on the HVDC line. Are you expecting any projects or ordering in this year?
There is a talk of two new lines being ordered this year. Okay. I think 1 is very close to getting ordered in the sense that I think it's very advanced. There could be a second line also coming up. Overall, we are talking about some seven projects to happen. eight projects, sorry.
Okay.
Overall, I don't know by what time it will happen, but one is in a very advanced stage, a Barmer complex.
Super. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Amit Anwani from P L Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.
Hi, Amit.
Hi. Hi. Sir, just wanted to understand what is the guidance now for this year in terms of revenue, EBITDA and also for the order intake?
As far as revenue is concerned, with as I said, we have an order book plus INR eleven or forty thousand crores. We've been talking about anywhere between, let's say, 12%-15%. I'll say, honestly, Amit, we'll have to wait for some time. Looking at the order book and the way things are happening, I think we should be able to achieve for the year around 12%-15%. With the problems which we are still having in Q1, Q2, how it will pan out over the first quarter may be a bit difficult, but annually we do expect that. As far as the order intake is concerned, we did around INR 25,000 and odd crores this year, so we expect that we should be touching around INR 30,000 crores of order intake for the year.
On the margin guidance, I think right now it's a little bit too hazy for me to give a guidance. Maybe in a month or two once the things clear and once you see the reaction of the clients and what is happening and how the prices stabilize, I think give me a month or two, we'll come back to you on the margin front.
Right. Second, you highlighted, because of the elections in four, five states, we had a labor issue, plus, obviously, a lot of geopolitics which we are seeing. What is your understanding in terms of pipeline conversion in India? Are you sensing that there could be delays in pipeline in terms of conversions or the things are taking longer than expected in terms of orders converting? Any sense since a lot of things have changed in past three months, and you also highlighted the LPG shortage is also impacting indirectly your business. Just wanted to understand on that front.
Amit, whatever we could see, I have not seen any major or any significant delays in pipeline conversion, at least in India, definitely. Okay. Middle East, while the pipeline is pretty strong, I think conversion has been taking place a little bit slower than what we would have liked it to be, to be very honest. There's a strong pipeline, and we have had repeated meetings, and we've been called by the client saying they are going to order and, you know, you need to strengthen and we are going to have rehabilitation and redundancy jobs, et cetera, coming up. That part has been a little bit slow in terms of conversion, not in terms of pipeline.
India, I think what is happening in the India piece is one is if you looked at the last year, H1, there was a slowdown in T&D at least. That has now been made up in H2 and with large HVDC projects which are spanning over 48 months, et cetera. People were not that quick in awarding. It has now started happening. Okay. I'm not seeing anything on honestly, any major change in the pipeline conversion. What we need to understand is the pipeline, if you look at civil, residential, we have not seen any slowdown. Right now we are negotiating pretty large numbers, large number of orders we are, tenders we are negotiating. Where we have seen a comeback has been on the automotive side. Okay.
We are involved in a large, with a large customer, I would like to say. We are discussing other tenders also and metals and mining. That has been the trend. Metals and mining was for the last one year. We have not seen any other major industry coming up. With private CapEx being where it is, I don't think we are seeing much impact on the conversion or the pipeline.
Right. Finally, on the 27% book exposure to Middle East, you said largely the sites are going. Just wanted to understand pre-war and now what is the productivity drop and what was the revenue loss we had because of this impact in Q4? Also, how are we, since the war is still on, how are we managing our supplies and the site executions? Some sense would help here.
Amit, we can divide it into various parts. First of all, site execution has not got impacted. Okay. Sites are all ongoing. Once in a while, I think our factories stop for one and a half day at the start of the war. Then it has been running. Same thing has been happening on projects. Off and on, we had some stoppages at the start. Again, last one month, I have not heard of any stoppage or anywhere in any of the pieces. That's as far as the physical part is concerned. I think what had got impacted severely had been the supply side of it. Steel was not available, shipments from China. I have a transformer stuck in China for last, three, I think about two months already.
You know, those things and even supplies from India were initially very badly affected. Now what is happening is that the shipping routes are slowly getting stabilized. Like, we have been able to send quite a lot of steel now from India, and it has reached the plant, whether through Fujairah or in Saudi it goes through the Red Sea and on the western side. Slowly, it's stabilizing. The timelines are increasing, the costs are increasing, but some semblance is coming. As far as the numbers are concerned, difficult to quantify, but I think we lost around INR 308 or I would say INR 380 or INR 400 crore of revenue in Q4 because of this slowdown. Also we were not able to dispatch a lot of material which was lying in our Dubai factory.
Which led to an increase in our working capital as well as on the borrowing side, which has part of it is gone, part of it is now going. There will be some impact. I don't think it should be as severe as Q4, but there would be some continuing impact definitely in Q1 also.
Thank you, sir. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thanks, Amit.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, on net working capital and debt, how are we targeting for FY 2027?
Sir. Excuse me, sir. Mr. Shah, may I request you to kindly use your handset, please?
Am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yeah, better, sir. Better, Vaibhav.
Yeah, yeah. Sir, on net working capital and debt, how are we targeting for FY 2027?
I think the way we have been looking at it, Vaibhav, is that, we are targeting an overall reduction of almost INR 1,000 crores in the debt. And the way we are looking at it, INR 500 should happen by end of Q2 and another INR 500 by the end of the year. That's the way we are looking at it. Rajeev, any views on that?
No.
Yeah, I think that's.
H1 should be around INR 6,000 crores.
H1 should probably be by end of H1 should be around INR 6,000 crores is what Rajeev is saying.
By year-end it will be around 5.5.
Five and a half, yes. Yes, absolutely.
Okay. Sir, on working capital days?
Rajeev?
110 days.
110 days.
If you mentioned that there were some delayed collections in the quarter. If we look at the current scheme of things, right now it should be somewhere around 130 odd days?
I think roughly around that, Rajeev.
Currently we are at about 165 days, sir.
Okay.
By H1, I think, we should come down to about 120 days or so. Another 10 days we will reduce in the H2.
Okay. Okay, got it. Secondly, on the civil side, we know that border execution has been impacted. Apart from border, also we have seen some weaker execution. What are the challenges we are facing and how do you see the execution improve in FY 2027?
Vaibhav, two things which I talked about earlier. One is labor availability has been a continuous issue. Okay. Labor will continue to be a problem. I think as I said, out of our 30,000, we had 12,000. Now they've gone up to 15,000-16,000 we expect. That's one challenge. Secondly, what we have also seen is that especially on the real estate side, there have been changes in plans and then there were new codes issued in the NCR which was withdrawn after three months. That led to suspension of some of the projects commencement, et cetera. Also on the industrial side, we keep on seeing changes happening. We had at least I'll say four or five projects where there were significant delays in revenue ramp-up.
Now those have been closed, so that should start. I think we will see a significant turnaround happening in the civil business, I think hopefully from Q2 onwards because the labor is now coming back. April, May will be a challenge, but by May end we expect the labor to be back. Now most of the, I'll say, projects have started where we are on hold for various reasons. Different reasons, but they were on hold.
we could see a 20% kind of growth in, civil revenue for this year?
More than that.
Similar to the FY 2025 numbers.
No, definitely. I think we are looking for more than that. We should have at least 30% or maybe more than that growth in the civil revenues.
Order inflows for civil?
Right now we are looking at around, if I'm not wrong, around INR 8,000 crores or so is the order intake target for civil. Against the INR 5,000 crores which we got this year and INR 2.5 Crores last year.
Okay, okay. Sir, lastly, what could be our JJM order backlog right now and outstanding receivables?
Sir, that's INR 1,400 crores. Receivables are around INR 800 crores.
Order book?
Order. I think sir order book is around
So it's a very important-
Order book is around INR 1,400 crores, receivables around INR 800 crores.
Okay. Okay. With that, those are my questions.
Thanks, Vaibhav. Thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, am I audible?
No sir, not clearly. Not clearly.
Not very clear, but I can at least hear you. Yeah, go ahead, Parikshit.
Yes.
Yeah, my question was, in this such tough environment, once one is the price increases and one is execution. If we execute, we lose on margins, and I think that is also preempting us not to give us any guidance on margins. How are the clients telling us? I mean, because are they ready, like, are the site clearances available? Do you think that are the clients are asking you to stop work or there is indecisiveness from the client side that you should execute? If you can help us understand on the ground what is exactly happening, which is not giving you confidence to give the margin guidance.
Parikshit, as far as on the ground execution is concerned, I don't think we have a single client, I'll repeat, a single client who has asked us to either go slow or not execute. That's number 1. Number 2 is on margins. I think the issue is slightly different on margins because as I said, there have been cost increases, et cetera, and we are talking to various clients. Unless and until you have a clarity on what will happen with all those. Let's say a freight has gone up. We are very clearly we are talking with all our Middle East clients and everyone else saying that, you know, this needs to be reimbursed.
In some cases still we hear that we are not, you know, allowed the subscription to take place, which is also a reason why you're seeing a lower risk. Discussions have been going on, as I said, and some contracts we have clear force majeure clauses which allows us to pass on. You know, it depends upon the criticality of where we are. If the project needs the supplies to be done without delaying the project, those are being done and we'll take it up with the client later on. Where we have the luxury of, you know, holding it till the client gives it, you are holding at some places.
Coming back to the basic question, I don't think we have been asked to hold back any execution in any project I've seen, whether in India or international.
Okay. When you analyze your cost to completion on a quarterly basis or monthly basis, you would be budgeting and seeing and measuring the performance. If this situation persists at the current levels, largely on the steel and on the supply chain issues, what kind of currently, what kind of under absorptions or margins would be happening? Will it be 50 basis points, 100 basis points? Largely if this thing persists, what kind of impact do you think it can have on the margins on the order book?
Difficult to quantify, but as I said earlier, see, 50% of the orders are on price variable, where most of the cost increases will get passed on. Of the balance, some have base metals, some have steel and other different items are there. Let's take civil. Civil, 80% is steel and cement, and it's a complete pass through. It's only the labor and overheads. It will depend upon what we are able to pass through, what we are not able to. Now, whether the quantum will be 25 basis points or 50 basis points, difficult to quantify, which is why we are holding back. Do you expect it to be beyond 100 basis points? No.
Whether it will be 0 or 25, 50 or something, which is holding back, you know, from giving a number.
Okay. Within the segments, which segments like are impacted because of this? I mean, which will be more prone towards correction in margins if the things persist? Where are we most exposed in terms of the supply chain issues or labor issues?
Labor issues, typically it's the India civil piece which is more exposed. We have not seen a labor problem in the Middle East in spite of everything what is there. Okay. On margin front, difficult to say where you are more. I think it's almost I'll say evenly spread. Basically, if you look at Middle East has got more supplies. If the logistic costs or shipment delays and all happen, and if the client decides not to compensate.
There could be some impact because typically around 30%-35% of our revenues would be from supplies. Okay. If the freight cost and logistic cost goes up, there could be some impact on the Middle East margins. We have been discussing with most of our, in fact, all our Middle East clients, and there are ways and means which are being discussed as to what can be compensated. Like one client has said, "Okay, I'll pay you some additional cash straight away." You know.
Those things are getting discussed. Someone has said, "Okay, diesel price is government," most of our clients are government, "Any case the diesel price hike has gone to the government, so how do we put it back to you?" Those discussions are right now going on. How they will finally end up, I honestly do not know. Okay. As I said, impact, I don't see an impact beyond 100 basis points in any case. Whether it could be 0 or 25, I honestly, very difficult to guess today.
Okay. Broadly, if I compare, though you're not giving any guidance, last year we took 7.1% EBITDA, max losses that we could be muted or probably it could be somewhere in the range of 7 on the lower side to 8 on the higher side. Somewhere in between we could land up for the year as a whole. Right now the assessment?
Those are your numbers, not mine.
No, no.
Okay.
I'm saying up to 100.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thanks.
Okay, sir.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Ravi Swaminathan from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. If you can give the T&D pipeline commentary for both domestic and international markets, that would be great. Every year, you end up giving that.
Ravi, I could not understand anything. Can you repeat or something? I think the line is very different.
Yeah.
If you can give.
Yeah, now better. Much better. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. If you can give the T&D pipeline commentary, that is there both for international and domestic markets, that will be great. Every year you end up giving it.
The pipeline we have is for the next three months, which will be around INR 70,000 crores, divided equally between India and international.
Okay. How it would have been compared to last year, sir?
It's almost similar in that sense. You know, overall for the quarter it has been similar. Overall, it keeps on moving a little bit like one HVDC project will increase it by INR 25,000 crores. You know, that's the way it's happening.
Okay.
Saudi has got some large HVDC also. If they announce them, then the pipeline will move significantly.
Got it, sir.
Yeah.
A slightly long-term question on the India power transmission capacity. This is more like a layman kind of understanding that I from a point of view that I'm asking this question. FY 2026, around 50 GW of solar capacity would have been added, and that would have been one of the highest in the history. To achieve a target of around 300 GW by 2030, we need a linear addition of 40- 45 GW only. Is there a scope for transmission work to increase further over the next two, three years? Where is that calculation which will show the growth here?
No, you're absolutely right, Ravi, and you're not a layman. Let me just say one thing. There is a huge pressure.
If you look at the numbers, I think you have a Power Grid conference also after this. I think that there's a huge pressure on, first of all, on completing the existing projects. In fact, one of the reasons which I did not want to say, but now that you've provoked me into saying, is that a lot of our resources are all diverted towards completing lines to release the gridlock.
Okay.
Because of that, a lot of new lines where I would in the normal course would have started work are actually slight, I'll say, put on hold because the resources for clearing ROW and other things are limited from our side as well as the client side also. It's not limited to Power Grid. It also applies to all the private sector. We are doing work with virtually every large private sector client on the, in the T&D sector. This issue of ROW continues everywhere.
I think we are clearly seeing that transmission and with our discussions with the authorities is that with all the flak they have drawn on gridlock, et cetera, there may be some advanced construction also starting to happen where we start building in redundancies, especially in areas of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and now towards south also, Karnataka. I know, I think we are doing seven or eight projects in that region now. Clearly we are going to see a lot more work happening on T&D and also on the substation side for grid stability and the battery storage also. Because we are looking at INR 1, INR 1.5 tariff, you know, power price in the day and INR 10 stretching in the night. A lot more stability will also have to be built in the system.
Got it, sir. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ashwani Sharma from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Good morning, and thank you very much for the opportunity. My first question on the order inflow, and pardon me if I missed it. You talked about INR 30,000 crore kind of order inflow. Can you state it in terms of segments, sir? T&D, civil, and others.
What I said, Ashwani, was, you know, I can't give exact numbers of what is there, but out of INR 30,000, we have said roughly around 60% would be T&D. Around INR 17,000-18,000 is what we are targeting in T&D and around INR 8,000 in civil. The rest would be split between our civil business and renewable and rail biz. That's the way the broad breakup.
Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Secondly, sir, again, on the supply chain, you know, especially on the LPG side. On this side, are we looking at other alternatives, any other options, you know, just to continue the operations?
No, no. First of all, our operations have not been impacted in the sense our factories, if you're looking at that. Fortunately, we had multi-fuel and other arrangements, so we are okay in our operations. What I said was two different things. One was we are seeing some impact on the vendor side, which I think by now is now getting normalized. People have made other arrangements because I remember in March a lot of supplies got deferred because many of our vendor plants were having a problem in terms of hardware, in terms of insulators, which were dependent on LPG. People are making alternate arrangements, so it's slowly falling in place. The second major issue which we had was all the labor colonies which anyone has, whether we or anyone else, is always dependent on LPG.
There was major shortages of LPG resulting many workers going back. I think there, obviously, you are now shifting to electric. People are now shifting to wood and all that. Arrangements are being made, but obviously it is not as efficient or as environment-friendly at least for wood and all that. Slowly it's falling back. It's still a bit of a challenge to get this. Also added to that is a little bit of a challenge on transportation, diesel supply. Although in Mumbai and all that, we don't see that happening. If you go to distant areas, you do have, see queues of trucks and all that. There has been some impact on logistics, which I think hopefully will get settled.
Okay. Sir, finally, sir, if you can give me CapEx number for FY 2027.
2027, we should be, I think that will depend upon what is happening, but we had targeted around INR 400 crores. Okay.
Hmm. Okay. All right. INR 400 crore.
Yeah.
Yeah. Thank you very much, sir.
Thanks, Ashwani. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anuj Upadhyay from Investec. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. The first question is basically on the solar EPC side. You know, like last year, maybe there are 1 GW of an EPC, but currently, I don't see any kind of an order coming in from the solar EPC side. How has been our experience over there, and are we still active on the wind side? Recently we have done this.
Anuj, we are definitely still looking at orders in the solar. However, what has happened is that if you look at the last six months, with the IPO boom, there were too many solar companies coming into the market, and they have significantly. Significant undercutting of pricing had happened, especially on the government tenders like NTPC and NLC, et cetera, et cetera. Virtually, that market is right now shut for large players. Virtually, I'll say that the large market, because you have seen too many small time EPC players getting into that market. Basically our market is now focused on the private sector and the 2 wind projects which we announced, and we are welcoming some more orders.
They are more because on the wind side, if you look at it, there are not too many large EPC companies. Our focus has, in a way, shifted more towards wind. Solar, we have been bidding for and working with some private clients, and I think hopefully this year we will have some more projects coming in on the solar side also.
Fair point, sir. Similarly, how has been the experience on the wind? I know it's quite recent that we have done the base, but overall, if I see the wind market relative to the solar is much smaller. Even in wind we have two or three notable players who are actively getting with us or are present in the EPC space. How big this opportunity could be, and what could be the sustainable margin over here?
I think we are clearly seeing a lot more focus on wind. Okay? Otherwise, you know, for me to get a maiden order in wind would have been difficult because we did not have a prior experience. People are finding that wind, especially with, if you look at what is happening on the gridlock and the power situation, where in the night we have a shortfall, a shortage, and day we have surplus power where plants are being backed up, backed down. There is a clear view that many people who have burned their fingers, you know, on solar, where 60 GW of background, et cetera, is happening and wind is a more perennial resource. We are clearly seeing a lot of people now shifting to wind.
The other advantage in wind you have is that you don't need to have all your turbines, you know, adjacent to each other. In solar, your entire land block has to be en masse, one together, which is a lot of land acquisition, other issues are happening. Wind, in a way, you know, you put one turbine, the next turbine can be, you know, half a mile away, it doesn't increase your cost too much. Solar you cannot do that. I'm seeing that execution of wind and all that is relatively easier for the developer also. I think we are seeing a shift happening more towards wind, especially on the private side.
Got it, sir. Next is on the T&D side. You do mention that the ROW challenges will persist. While Power Grid in the last meet, they mentioned that the government has Certain of the state government has set up to them to procure land on a market basis, but there is a subsidy rate earlier. Post that in, has there been any kind of an improvement happening related to the ROW issues or the challenge still persist like what you have said?
I think the challenge still persists. Very clearly it persists, and I think you have to understand couple of things. One is, let's say you do a substation where you acquire the land and you pay the money and it gets closed. In transmission, you are still acquiring the right to use, and that is always relative. Saying how much money you want to pay, what is the right to use, because the land does not get transferred to the developer. The land still remains with the farmer. Although we are talking about market, but that's a moving target. What we have done is we need to form a committee where there is a village guy and other people and all that.
Unless the committee may or may not agree to a settlement, then it goes back to the district commissioner who then settles it, et cetera. It's a long drawn process and it is helping in resolving at the end of the day, not at the start of the day. After all the problems you have, you then get it resolved. Is it expediting the process? I am not so sure, honestly.
Fair point, sir. Lastly, on water collection, sir. Any states where we are seeing marked improvement happening? What are expectations on collection side?
We are in limited number. We are only in two states, Odisha and MP, and we have got reasonable collection from both the states. I think that way I would not like to say whether there is a marked improvement or a marked deterioration. Last two years or whatever we have been getting, you know, INR 50 crores-INR 60 crores per month is what we keep on getting. One month from Odisha, one month from MP. There's no either improvement or deterioration, let me put it this way.
No, fair point, sir. That's very helpful. Thanks for the opportunity.
Thanks. Thanks, Anuj. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sandip Sabharwal from asksandipsabharwal.com. Please go ahead.
Hi, Vimal Kejriwal, I hope you're doing well.
Yes. Good to see you. Yes. Yeah.
As you know, I've tracked the company for, I think, decades now.
I know.
The last three years, we've been seeing a scenario where, every year, beginning of the year, like this year, obviously, you're not giving a margin guidance. I know it's because of uncertainty. We've been looking at margin improvement, some historical projects getting over, deleveraging, et cetera. I think the debt levels are actually trended up and the margins have not improved. I think beyond this phase where, let's say, this Middle East crisis, when it'll end, your guess and my guess is as good as anyone else's. Subsequently, in a normalized scenario, like, when do we see the things actually moving towards a scenario where you move back to near double-digit margins and you actually have the deleveraging cycle play out?
Sandip, I think it's a valid question. If you look at what is happening, at a point of time, we had thought that T&D business will plateau, and which is why we wanted to have couple of other, you know, legs to stand on. That's where we had decided to focus on railways and civil. Civil, this is our sixth or seventh year. Okay. Now we have reached a reasonable size. I think there is a steep learning curve. Also, we decided to grow it organically rather than, let's say, spending INR 5,000 crores in inorganic growth. I think today we have sort of reached the end of our investment part where you are investing to get PQs, acquire capability, et cetera.
If you look at some of our competitors in this industry also, many of them have taken seven, eight years to, you know, reach a respectable level in the civil business. Okay. I think to me, civil is now turning around. We are beyond now. I think we are past the learning curve. What had happened was that we had picked up a few metro projects because that was supposed to be the thing at that point of time on the metro elevated projects. Fortunately, at least three out of the four are completed, and fourth one will get completed now, which will help us in working capital also.
To me, I think civil will now turn around this year onwards. I think we should be seeing some uptake getting contributed by civil, but it will also contribute a large number to the revenue, which will help us in managing our leverage. Railways was unexpected. We were expecting it to grow significantly, but somewhere down the line, someone took a decision saying that all the railway projects will now be done by the divisional railways, not the PSUs like RVNL or anyone else. Okay. Suddenly the bottom fell out. Now instead of having three clients, we ended up with 18 clients and then making them understand commercial terms, CPC terms, became a nightmare. Electrification was over, which was also our forte that time, at that point of time.
That business is getting run down except for a technological part where we're talking about coverage and signal and also on the tunnel ventilation and some part of metro. So that I think will probably take 1 year or so further to stabilize, and then we will take a call on what we need to do. Although we are now working on the international market. Coming back to your basic question, I think this year we'll have to see what happens on the West Asia and other pieces and all that. Next year onwards, I think we'll clearly see an uptick happening on the, on the margin side. When do we reach double-digit is a million-dollar question. I'll probably not be able to answer today, but that's also our ambition and our aspiration that we reach it as fast.
Can we do it next year? Looks difficult to me. Okay. Unless there is some major, you see, what also happens is that this business, most of the projects will be at, you know, seven, eight, six, seven sort of margin. You end up getting at least three or four very large projects with large margins. It is also a question that, you know, if you today get two projects which are difficult, but which are very high margin and you are able to execute, the entire margin levels gets pulled up. Maybe I think we will have to wait for another year or so before we look at double digit. Maybe FY 2029 or something or 20... I do not know. Very difficult to talk about it today. I hope I have been very frank and open with you.
Yeah, I understand. I think lot of things you have addressed. Just a point of view from my side, like maybe it's time to just focus on, not on growth per se, but on improving the balance sheet first. Then once that gets addressed, then I think the other things fall into place. Obviously, it's your business. You need to decide on how you need to proceed. Thank you.
I think, Sandip, that has been a question which is getting debated everywhere, including in our board on growth versus margin. It's a very tough decision to take. Okay. Earlier we had been doing that, and I think that's something which we are In fact, we had a board meeting day before, and this discussion also again happened. We are revisiting this part and saying that should we look at, you know, slowing down the growth. If you look at what I said at the start of the conference, saying we have changed our order intake, the way we are doing order intake. Like, we have stopped taking any order which has got any negative cash flow in our. Okay.
I'm saying in the life of the project. Okay. We have let go. That's why when you look at my order intake to execution ratio, it's one of the best in the industry. We are looking at very clearly focused planning. That thing is happening, so you don't see major growth happening in the order intake or on the order book. Revenue is growing. I think your point is well taken. We will keep that in mind. It's a point of discussion already with us.
Okay. Thank you.
Thanks, Sandip. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Arafat Saiyed from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking the question. Am I audible?
Yeah, Arafat, go ahead.
Yes.
Yeah. Every time you're supposed to give, let's say, order pipeline across the segment. Is it possible to quantify that?
I thought I gave the order intake pipeline, no?
T&D, yeah. I think you used to give, let's say, around INR 187,030 across segments. If you can quantify, let's say, apart from T&D, also on civil and other infra part.
I think, I don't have the exact number, but what Abhishek is saying is that almost INR 50,000 of the balance, INR 1,80,000 is on civil side. I'm not wrong, INR 25,000-INR 30,000 is on the renewable side.
Okay.
Railways. Railways, it's not I don't think we have a large order intake target also, so it's okay.
Okay. Sir, secondly, on net working capital days, I know it has increased to almost 110 days as of now, FY 2026. You also said that you're getting, supposed to get some money from the Saudi for the retention project, which is now they're completing. Any target in your mind that what would be your net working capital days by FY, by end of FY 2027?
I thought we said 110 days.
Okay. Okay. Lastly, sir, let's say, how you think, how you see the Middle East crisis now? I think it will get over in next quarter or two. Are you seeing, let's say, large trending pattern will start again from the H2 onwards, or it will remain, let's say, muted for some more time? I mean to say, how do you see that piece?
Arafat, it is not muted today. There's a large tender pipeline of almost INR 45,000 crore even today on this. As I said earlier, we expect it to go up because for most of these people, I am very clearly seeing that transmission is very essential. What cut down may happen could be on non-essential part. Also with oil at 110 and all that, they're all making a lot of money. Let me put it this way. Although the quantity has gone up, but the price has shot up. Also without discussions, the clients have called us in all the countries, Saudi, UAE, Oman, and they very categorically told us that the business will go up. Please ensure that you actually beef up your presence. See, one is rehabilitation, one is redundancy.
You know, there will be a lot of rebuild happening, data centers, et cetera. I'm very clearly seeing a lot of opportunity. Let's say extremely today, all the sanctions on Iran are removed, then Iran will become a very large market.
Correct. Thank you. That's all from me. Yeah.
Thanks, Arafat. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavin Modi from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for giving the opportunity.
Hi, Bhavin.
My first question is, out of the six segments, you know, in FY 2026, only the two segments, you know, showed the growth and the four businesses showed sturdy growth. Where can we see, you know, growth coming from in FY 2027? Can we, you know, safely assume from the civil and the transportation?
No. It will not be from transportation. It'll definitely be from civil. Transportation may grow a little bit, but I think it will not be material. I don't think we should assume any major growth in that. Civil, as I said earlier, will definitely grow by 30%-35%. That's what we are talking. Cables will definitely grow. See, cables is INR 2,300. It will grow at least by 15%, if not more.
Okay. Sir, since you know now the cable has, you know, almost touched INR 2,000+ crore , right? There's a growth that has been seen. Are there any chance to look for the strategic investment, you know, for value unlocking or something like that? Is there anything on the anvil?
That is definitely on the anvil, not in the near term. What we had said, Bhavin, if you remember when we desubsidiarized, we had said three years at point of time. 1st January 2025 around maybe 2028, 2029 is the year when we will look at it. I don't think right now we don't have any plans, it will definitely happen over maybe one and a half, two years later on.
Got it. Just last question is, in the civil business, you know, I, you know, assume, you know, there's this labor problem which is persistent, right? Q4 is the, you know, quarter where there's, you know, heavy execution, you know, takes place. Now in FY 2027, you know, we will see a, you know, huge election coming in the UP. How have you planned, you know, anything in terms of the labor?
I think lot of things are happening on the labor front. Okay? One is, how do you keep the labor with you? The major thing is that how do you give them better facilities? What else should be done? Can you get permanent labor, build labor colonies? You know, there are a lot of things which are happening on. Plus, many of the clients are now willing to pay extra money for retention, et cetera. Clearly, one part which is happening is on how to get and retain more labor. The second part is how do you mechanize? Like today, we have started using plastering, automatic plastering machines. We are now getting robots for bricklaying, et cetera. Okay? How do you do painting by way of drones?
You know, I think the second piece is largely on how do you reduce the need or optimize the mechanization, optimize the amount of labor which you are hiring. The third piece would be on how do you get more or better homework which requires lesser labor, et cetera. I think lot of work is happening on that. The fourth piece would be on substantial skilling and training. I think we are working with some people. We are working with Power. We are working with lot of other people on trying to see how do you skill labor and, you know, upgrade the needs from just being an ordinary labor to a, you know, a mason or getting into from a normal carpenter into aluminum frame formwork, et cetera.
I think so on four or five different fronts, not only we, the industry and everyone is trying to work and see how can we retain labor, how can we mechanize more, what else needs to be done. I think it's becoming a burning issue. If you look at anyone, whether it is L&T or anyone else, everyone is facing this issue and everyone has been trying to tackle it jointly.
Yeah. Got it, sir. My question is, you know, when we say, you know, we see the growth in the civil. I assume, you know, we have almost, you know, factoring in case there's a labor disruption due to U.P. election. Secondly, sir, how we should look at, you know, data center business in the civil side, both internationally and domestically. Are we seeing a good traction coming in the DC side?
I think DC side, we have seen a lot of announcements happening, and that will slowly start getting converted into orders now. Okay. Like Andhra Pradesh, there was a large data center announced. Reliance has been talking. Many people have been talking about it. I think it's a matter of time that those start getting converted from drawing board into physical orders. People are talking. I think the orders will start coming in. As far as your question again on AOP and et cetera, I think I also talked about getting into a little bit of infrastructure where it's much more mechanized. You want to do an underground, you'll get a TBM, and really you don't need that many workers and all that.
I think the focus is also shifting on looking at what sort of business you can do with lesser labor. Third part, which we have not discussed earlier, has been that, you know, oil and gas, we're already in international market. We have been looking at something on international, especially on the waterfront, et cetera. That is also a part or some part would come in from there where we don't see a labor challenge.
Got it. Got it. Thanks.
Thanks, Bhavin. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor Company. Please go ahead.
Yeah. [Non-English Content], sir.
[Non-English Content], Saket .
Sir, to be very brief, as you spoke about the vagaries of labor and then upscaling from our side. Sir, [Non-English Content] new labor code implementation. How do we see the cost for us, for the labor, moving up? What should be pricing in terms of the incremental increase just because of that on a quarterly basis? How should that plan out?
Look, this year we provided around INR 59 crores. Okay. Which would provide for basically more for the managers than everyone. Okay. Now that too will not have a very long impact. In the case of workers, you were already paying them almost at 100% as salary. We have not seen any significant increase in the labor cost on account of them. The issue is where your basic salary was very low. Whenever the basic salary was let's say 20% of your CTC, and now gradually as accessing it should be 50%. On those places. It's more at managerial level where these salaries were structured. In the case of workers, if you look at our factories, 90% is basic wage.
I don't see a major impact on the construction side or that side. It will be a little, that will be absorbed in the contract price. Its major impact will be where your minimum wages increase. Its impact is more.
Okay, sir. Because of what we have seen is the unrest across many parts of the country, especially with the case at Noida that was just pertaining to this labor code issue. I think so. From that aspect, since we are labor intensive, does it create any hindrance or any risk for our margins?
Saket ji, my understanding is it was not from the labor code, it was basically on overtime payment and all that. Look, typically what happens is when workers leave, they want to get payment for 12 hours of work for eight hours. They don't go for eight hours of work. The money for those four extra hours should be doubled, it should be given at that rate. That is the way it continues. I think there the issue was that they were working. What I read in the newspapers, I don't know if it is right or wrong. You are working for 12 hours or 10 hours, but you didn't get the overtime money. That was the dispute. It was nothing to do with labor code and all that. That's my understanding. It happened in one or two other places as well.
Basically, what is happening with the workers is that they leave home and work for eight hours, but they have to work for 10 hours, 12 hours. Give the money according to that. That was my understanding of the whole issue. Labor code was what.
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been disconnected. Kindly stay connected while we try to reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. The line for the management has been reconnected. Over to you, sir.
Yes, Saket .
Yes, sir. Just to conclude, sir, two points. Firstly, on the EHV cable capacity addition, sir.
I don't think it has improved, Saket. The JJM continues to be where it is. The same INR 50 crore, INR 60 crore, INR 70 crore [Non-English content] we execute [Non-English content] . Receivable improve [Non-English content] government pays double the money of what they are paying today. I don't see that happening in the near future. [Non-English Content] . Sir, receivables [Non-English Content].
Thank you, sir, for answering those questions. We'll take the next question from the line of Mihir Vyas from 9 Rays EquiResearch. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity.
Yeah.
I just wanted to ask any update on the Power Grid issue. I mean, when can we expect the orders to start flowing in from Power Grid side?
We have the timeline, which I think is getting over in August or so. From September onwards or October onwards, we should start getting. Although we are still representing with them to reduce it, but as of now, I think the earliest we can expect would probably be October or so. You start bidding in August and you get the orders. Maybe a month or so more after that.
Okay. Any potential order book which we can expect from their end?
It's too early to say na. I mean, what tenders are open that point of time and all that. It would depend upon that.
Okay, sir. Sir, this, as you said, just steel and labor are the factors which shall affect the margin. Any as you have discussed a lot on the labor side, any same comment for the steel?
Steel definitely has gone up. I think what has also happened in the last one or two weeks, the steel prices started coming down again. [Non-English Content] We are seeing because ultimately we are all talking about [Non-English Content]. At the end of the day, once you are approaching near monsoon now, even automatically steel prices come down. The same thing will happen. I don't see steel prices being, you know, a major spoiler in the market. Also what had happened was that in many of our orders which we are now executing had been taken at a higher steel price.
What has happened is that although the steel prices have gone up, we are in many cases still within our tender estimates and all that, notwithstanding the increase. [Non-English Content]
Okay, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you for answering.
Thanks. Thanks, Mihir. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I now hand the conference back to Mr. Vimal Kejriwal for closing comments. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Thank you everyone for your continued interest in KEC. Thanks. Thanks, Michelle.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of KEC International Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.