Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Polycab India Limited Q1 FY26 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on a touch-tone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. With this, I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gandharv Tongia, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Polycab India Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I hope all of you are staying healthy and safe. I'm Gandharv Tongia, Executive Director and CFO at Polycab India Limited. On this call, we shall discuss the Q1 FY26 results, which were approved in the board meeting held yesterday. We will be referring to the earnings presentation, financial results, and condensed financial statements, which are available on the stock exchanges as well as on the investor relations page of our website. Joining me today from our team is our Head of Investor Relations, Mr. Chirayu Upadhyaya. Let us now move to the business performance. I'm pleased to share that we have had a strong start to FY26. Our performance in the first quarter built on the solid trajectory we have maintained over the past four years and marked our highest-ever Q1 revenue and profitability in the company's history.
This achievement reflects both the underlying strength and resilience of our business model, as well as the relentless commitment of our team across all businesses and functions. The wires and cables business continues to be our primary growth engine, driven by robust domestic demand and supportive commodity price trends. On the activity side, we are beginning to see tangible outcomes from our strategic initiatives, with the business delivering its second consecutive profitable quarter, a positive step forward in our transformational journey. Looking ahead, we see strong tailwinds from infrastructure spending, improving private sector investment, and momentum in the real estate sector. Guided by our long-term roadmap under Project Spread, we are executing with greater focus, quickness, and ambition. We remain confident in our ability to sustain this momentum and create enduring value for all stakeholders in the quarters to come.
Moving on to the quarterly update, I will start with a high-level view of the macro environment, and then we will delve deeper into business performance. The past month witnessed heightened volatility in the global financial system, triggered by a sudden escalation in hostilities between Iran and Israel. The 12-day conflict had an immediate ripple effect across asset classes, pushing up oil prices and driving inflows into safe-haven assets. The brief but intense period of tension served as yet another reminder of the vulnerability of global trade and financial systems to geopolitical shocks. Thankfully, a ceasefire was quickly brokered, restoring relative calm and stabilizing investor sentiments. Meanwhile, global monetary policy remains a balancing act, with countries navigating diverse inflation and growth trajectories. In India, a favorable inflation outlook prompted central banks to front-load rate cuts, complemented by proactive liquidity measures and regulatory reforms.
Together, these have supported the economy's steady expansion, as evidenced by the strength in high-frequency indicators. Early data for Q1 FY26 suggests a gradual improvement in consumption demand. This is reflected in rising steel consumption, a pickup in electronic imports, and higher central government revenue expenditure. Services activity is also gaining pace, with encouraging trends in services PMI, vehicle registration, diesel consumption, e-way bills, and state-level tax collection. Monsoon progress has been favorable as well, currently tracking 15% above the long-period average, which bodes well for rural demand and agricultural output. On the ground, momentum is clearly visible. Digital payments continue to surge, capital goods output is improving, and auto sales are recovering. Manufacturing and industrial output rose close to 3% year-on-year in May, while steel and cement production remained resilient, growing 7% and 9% respectively.
Headline CPI for June declined sharply to 2.1%, a 73-month low, with core inflation also remaining well anchored at 4.4%. The real estate sector remains buoyant, albeit with some signs of moderation. Government CapEx too has gathered pace, with 19.7% of the FY26 budgeted outlay already spent by May 2025, marking the highest pace in seven years. While few challenges persist, India's economic foundation remains strong. With strong fundamentals, proactive policy support, and demonstrated resilience, we are well-positioned to navigate global uncertainty. I will now hand over to Chirayu to take you through the financial performance for the quarter. Thank you, Gandharv. Let me now take you through slide four of the earnings presentation. For the quarter ending 30th June 2025, we are pleased to report that our consolidated revenue, driven by a strong 26% year-on-year, led primarily by robust performance in our wires and cables business.
Our EBITDA for the quarter, driven by 47% year-on-year, significantly outpaced revenue growth. This was on the back of a 210 basis point improvement in EBITDA margin, which stood at 14.5% for the quarter. Margin expansion was driven by a combination of dynamic pricing actions, operational efficiency, and a favorable business mix. At the PAT level, the company delivered its highest-ever quarter-one PAT at roughly INR 6 billion, reflecting a 49% year-on-year growth. Our PAT margins improved by 170 basis points, reaching 10.2% for the quarter. Finance costs came in at INR 513 million, while other incomes stood at INR 799 million. A detailed breakdown of these finances is available on slide 17 of the presentation. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet, closing the quarter with a net cash position of ₹31 billion.
Our working capital cycle stood at 43 days in quarter one FY26, positively impacted by a temporary increase in payable days. We expect this to normalize and revert to a long-term steady range of 50-55 days in the coming quarter. Capital expenditure for the quarter was INR 4.1 billion, in line with our project spending guidance of investing INR 12 billion - INR 16 billion annually through FY30. On the advertising front, spend was lower during the quarter, largely due to limited promotional activity in the fans' business due to an early onset of monsoon, which impacted the seasonal campaign cycle. However, with the upcoming festive season, the advertising and promotion spend will start tracking towards a targeted range of 3%-5% of B2C top line. Moving on to slide number six. The wires and cables business delivered a strong 31% year-on-year revenue growth, supported by over 25% volume growth during the quarter.
Within this, our domestic wires and cables business recorded an impressive 32% year-on-year revenue growth, driven by higher government spending, improved project execution, and the favorable impact of rising commodity prices. Notably, cables outpaced wires in terms of year-on-year growth this quarter. Both our distribution and institutional service produced a healthy performance, indicating broad-based demand momentum. From a regional perspective, the south led the growth, followed by north, east, and then west, reaffirming our strong Pan-India footprint. Our international business grew by 24% year-on-year, albeit on a low base, and contributed 5.2% to the consolidated revenue. On the profitability front, EBIT margins for the wires and cables segment stood at 14.7%, an improvement of 190 basis points year-on-year, supported by better operating leverage and strategic pricing actions. Moving on to slide eight for an update on the FMEG business.
The FMEG segment continued its healthy trajectory in quarter one FY26, registering an 18% year-on-year growth, despite seasonal headwinds from an early monsoon. In the fans segment, while overall sales were muted due to short-term summer, we made further inroads in our premiumization strategy. Our premium fans portfolio contributed roughly 25% of the fan base, underscoring growing consumer preference for feature-rich and aesthetically superior products. E-commerce is also gaining ground, now accounting for a mid-teen share of total fans' revenue, further supporting premium offerings through digital channels. The impact of premiumization is even more evident in the lighting category, where premium products made up over 35% of the sales during the quarter. This deliberate portfolio shift is helping us improve gross margin realization in this business. In switches, switch gears and conduit solutions, healthy demand from the real estate sector continues.
Here too, our focus on value-added offerings is showing results, with Levana, our premium switch line, now constituting almost 20% of the total switch sales. Similarly, in switch gears, the focus is on increasing the mix of RCCBs and multiple MCBs in sales. The standout performance again this quarter was our solar product category, which recorded more than 2X growth over the same quarter previous year, now emerging as the largest contributor within the FMEG portfolio. We expect this momentum to continue, backed by supportive government policies and rising adoption of renewable energy solutions. The continued focus on premiumization helped the FMEG business achieve its second consecutive profitable quarter. Margin expansion was driven by a better product mix and operating leverage from scaling efficiency.
We remain confident in the long-term potential of our FMEG business, continuing to align our efforts with project spend, targeting 1.5 to 2X of industry growth, and improving EBITDA margins to 8% to 10% range by FY30. Moving on to slide 10, which provides an update on our EPC business. During quarter one FY26, revenues in the EPC segment declined by 19% year-on-year to INR 3,474 million. Segment profitability stood at INR 268 million, translating to a margin of 7.7%. Our open order book remains healthy, offering strong visibility for future growth. We expect the annual sustainable operating margin to be in high single digits over mid to long-term in this business. That was the update for the quarter. Thank you, and we are now open for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session.
Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. So the first question is from the line of Shrenik B from Mahindra MM . Please go ahead.
Hi. Congratulations on the set of numbers. My first question is, can you shed some light on the expected markets, particularly in the U.S. geography, because of the tariffs that are going on there? And my second question is, can you shed some light on the growth outlook across the FMEG categories that we are working on?
Sure, Sridhar. So starting with the exports opportunity as you rightly mentioned, U.S.
is one of the largest consumers of cables and hence has been one of the larger contributors for our export sales. Definitely, the tariff situation over there is kind of an overhang, which kind of impacts the visibility in the near term. But in the longer term, as you are aware, it's a very, very big opportunity. If you look at the exports that we did in this quarter, roughly one-third of the exports were to the U.S. We had a good order book over there, and that is what we are executing right now. If you look at the current situation in terms of tariffs, India tends to be in a beneficial position. The other larger exporter to the U.S., which is China, has almost 55% import duties on them. Mexico, which is another large exporter, has 30% of import duties getting effective from 1st of August.
The other geographies of South Korea have 25%, Vietnam has 20%, Philippines has 20%, and India stands at 10% right now. So as of now, the situation is in favor of India. But this is an evolving situation, so we won't be able to comment very clearly on how this will play out. But irrespective, in the longer term, I think. Exports will definitely be growing, and definitely, U.S.A. will be one of the larger contributors in terms of the exports that we do. Coming to FMEG, FMEG, if you followed the company's trajectory over the last few years, we did witness a couple of years where the FMEG kind of flagged targeted roughly around INR 1,200 crore - INR 1,300 crore of top line. But since last five to six quarters, that business has again started gaining traction, which undertook a lot of tests to make sure that we.
Can become one of the top three players in that segment across different product categories. And those tests are something which are now giving a positive trajectory for us. We believe, and what we are targeting within A&P spend is that we should grow this business at roughly 1.5 to 2X of the industry growth. Currently, the industry growth is hovering at around 8%-10%. We believe that the FMEG industry itself will see a pickup, largely from the real estate uptick that we have seen in the country over the last three to four years. Fans and lights are the largest category as far as the FMEG industry is concerned. That kind of sees demand towards the end of a real estate construction phase. And that is something we believe will see much better demand over the next couple years from now.
The other categories of switch gears, conduits, and wires are anyway seeing very good demand momentum. So we definitely believe that FMEG as an industry will start seeing at least double-digit growth from a year from now, and we should be targeting at least 2X of growth over there. So that is the target on the FMEG business for us. Parallelly, while we grow, we will also target to improve our margins within that business. Last couple of quarters is when we have again become profitable. And going ahead, every year you'll see our profitability improving and us reaching the 8%-10% targeted FMEG margins by FY30.
Can you please shed some light on the CapEx plans for the next year?
Sorry, what plans for next year?
CapEx plans. CapEx plans.
So again, within A&P spending, we have given a guidance that we will be spending roughly INR 6,000 - INR 8,000 crores over the next five years. That is roughly INR 1,200 - INR 1,600 crores on an annual basis. In the first quarter of this year, we've spent roughly INR 410 crores. So we are in line with our guidance. So we'll continue with that guidance. A large part of the CapEx that we'll be doing will be for the cables and wires business and remaining for forward integration or for some part for the FMEG business.
Great, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saumil Mehta from Kotak Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a great set of numbers. Two questions for the audience. First, on exports. Now, obviously, US is challenged as well.
We have some sort of issues given the higher tariffs. But outside of US, maybe in some other markets like the Middle East, Australia, and various other markets, are we seeing some sort of pricing aggression by Chinese players? And to that extent, are the incremental orders coming at pricing which is much lower than what we've seen in the past quarters?
Sure, Saumil. So let's go geography by geography. If you look at Europe, Europe's very akin to the US, is not very pro-China, and they are looking at alternatives away from China. So over there, even if the product available from a Chinese supplier is probably at a lower price compared to other suppliers, the end customers, they are still willing to pay a bit of a premium just so that they can have an alternative over and above China.
So we are not seeing that dumping behavior, at least in Europe. FMEG, again, by itself, has huge demand because of all the investments happening on the infrastructure side. So they are open to everybody. Depending on what the tariff situation is there in different countries, you are able to get a lot of orders. So for example, we are doing a lot of supply to Saudi Arabia, where we enjoy a better tariff situation. And hence, we are not seeing as much of a competition coming in from the Chinese players. If you come to Australia, Australia is where probably China has a bit of a match. They have worked a zero tariff treaty with Australia, and that is where most of the imports that Australia does have largely been from China, and that continues to be the case.
Probably that is a geography where we will have to compete effectively on pricing terms or on other servicing terms and so on and gain a bit of market share through that. But in other geographies, I don't see a dumping effect from China coming in and hampering our exports.
Sure. My second and last question is, obviously, this quarter will have some benefits on the election spending and the I mean, some slowdown in the previous years. But going forward, are we seeing some sort of a slowdown given at least some of the broader macro indicators in India seem to have slowed down marginally? So are we seeing some sort of impact in terms of ordering activity from the government, or does it seem as strong as usual? That's the question. Thank you.
If you look at the current situation, we are not actually witnessing any form of slowdown. If you look at the kind of spend that the government has been doing since December of last year, they have continuously spent almost INR 1.26 trillion on a monthly basis. If you compare that with the April 2024 to November 2024 data, it was roughly only INR 0.64 trillion per month. So we have definitely seen a lot of pickup in terms of investments on the government side, and that is translating into demand for cables. And obviously, it comes with a lag. It is not immediately, but probably it comes with a lag as well. And probably this sector is continuing to see very good growth.
Looking at the annual target that the government has taken for this year and whatever they have spent till now, they still have to invest roughly around ₹1 trillion per month in terms of infrastructure growth. So that will continue to translate into very good demand for cables. On the wire side, the residential housing piece definitely is continuing to do well. Obviously, we've heard a lot of commentary in the recent times in terms of a bit of a slowdown that we are witnessing in the top cities. But in parallel, what we are also seeing is that in tier three to five cities, where affordable housing was a bit slow till now, that is seeing a bit of a pickup. And that is translating into improved demand for wires. At our, we are focusing on both those opportunities.
For tier three to five cities, we have Atira brand, which is doing very well and is increasing its contribution to our wires. On metro tier one to tier two cities, we have the class three wires that we are focusing on, and that is also where we are seeing very good traction from our ranges of Maxima and Suprema, which we've launched. So we as of now don't believe that there will be any form of slowdown, at least on the cables and wires business. We believe that this year we should continue to see very good momentum, even in the remaining three quarters of the year.
Great, great.
Thank you. And all the best for subsequent quarters.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
So thank you for taking my question.
My first question is on margin. You said there are certain strategic initiatives. Is it possible to give some detail on what exactly does that mean?
So on the cables and wires side, what you mentioned is there are strategic pricing actions. By that, what I mean is if you compare this year or this quarter versus the previous three to four quarters, you would have seen that the copper price relatively is not as much as it was in the past. And the direction of it was in a particular direction. So for example, in the first five days of this quarter, while the copper was going down, but since then, we've seen it continuously moving in one direction.
Now, that is something wherein the pricing transfer for us becomes relatively much simpler, and that is where we can get the maximum benefit out of the whatever movement is there in commodity prices. So that was what we were mentioning in terms of strategic pricing actions. The other benefit that we had is obviously from scale, as well as the mix. At a company level, if you compare with Q1 of last year, we had higher. Contribution coming in from the EPC business, but this time around, EPC had a lower contribution, and cables and wires, which had relatively better margins, had higher contribution. And hence, that has at a company level in terms of margin profile. The other thing is on the FMEG business, where you are aware and as we have mentioned, across all the product categories within the FMEG business, we have seen gross margin expansion.
And that is what has helped the improvement in the FMEG profitability, and that indirectly contributes to the overall company's profitability improvement as well.
So this is clear. One connected question. I mean, we have been giving a guidance for margin, which is much lower than what we have been clocking, and we've been clocking it consistently. Now, given the fact that exports should increase from here on, given the fact that you have said for FMEG, your target is for margins to go up, I just want to understand what is holding the company back from actually resetting their margin guidance higher, or in a way, you're acknowledging that these margins are actually fairly high and not sustainable. Just wanted to get your thought. Delivering 14.7%, but still the guidance remains at 11% - 13%. What's the reason for that?
So Pulkit, as you are aware, we don't give near-term to yearly guidance. Our guidance is for the longer term. It is more like five-year guidance. And that is where we've given an 11% - 13% of a better margin in the cables and wires business as our guidance. When you look at the longer term, there are multiple variables that you have to look at and which will impact your profitability. While obviously the cables and wires mix, if it goes in favor of wires, that can help your profitability. As the export mix increases, that also helps the profitability. But parallelly, when you are investing a lot in terms of capacity expansion, that is bound to have an impact in terms of lower operating margins in the near to midterm.
So that will take a bit of a shake-off of the improvement in profitability that we might see because of the other two parameters. Over and above that, for the B2C business, which includes the wires as well, we are going to be improving or increasing our spend on A&P continuously every year. And that will also impact the profitability of the parameters. So keeping all those four variables into mind, our long-term guidance is 11%-13%. Having said that, in the end, we will obviously try to optimize on that. And whenever, in whatever quarter we can improve on that, the practice will be to improve on that. But otherwise, the longer-term guidance will continue to be the 11%-13% at the margin.
No, thank you. That's clear, and you guys have done very well on that. Thank you.
Thanks, Pulkit.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Renu Baig from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you and congratulations team for the strong performance. My first question is on the FMEG. Within the FMEG bucket, solar now is the largest category for you. Can you elaborate more with respect to how is the manufacturing product mix here with respect to in-house and outsourced product mix and any capacity expansion and localization plans from solar inverters? Also aligned with this, any insights that you can share on the market share for Polycab in this segment?
Thanks, Renu. So as far as the mix and the domestic or in-house manufacturing is concerned, as of now, as we've mentioned, this particular quarter, solar was the largest category as far as the FMEG business is concerned. The other categories are relatively pretty much equal in terms of their contribution.
As far as in-house manufacturing is concerned, except solar inverters, everything as of now is currently being manufactured in-house. We don't plan to do anything otherwise as of now. Solar inverters will continue to be outsourced in terms of manufacturing, and it will be status quo as of now. Sorry, the last question was in terms of the growth opportunities in FMEGs.
Yeah. And the market share for Polycab in solar inverter category for us?
It's very difficult to, as of now, pinpoint the market share. We are relatively a smaller player over there. Probably once we are. Of a significant size, then. We will start giving out market size numbers. But other than that, in other product categories for fans, lights, which is secured, our market share will hover anywhere between two to five percent.
Got it.
Secondly, within the cables and wires, what was the approximate mix of cables in the revenue mix for the quarter?
So cables will be close to around 73%, 74%, and the remaining will be wires.
Got it. And lastly, if you can share just the bookkeeping number on what was the order book in the projects business, and do we expect a bit more projects in pipeline, the order book to improve further as the year goes by? Thank you.
By projects business, are you meaning the institutional part of the cables or the EPC business?
The EPC business.
So in the EPC business, as at end of March, we had an open order book of roughly INR 70 billion. Post that, we won an order on the BharatNet project.
Over there, it took both put together roughly the EPC part that we have to do, and the overall outstanding is around INR 80 billion. This excludes the GST part. The exchange notification that we had done included the GST, but if you look at whatever approval we will get, that is roughly around INR 80 billion, and that will be approved over the period of next three years.
Got it. Thank you and best wishes, team. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Charanjit Singh from DSP Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi Chirayu. Thanks for the opportunity. My question is regarding the market share in the cables and wires space, and I think you have talked about the market share gains. So just want to understand that is it just our capacity availability, product, or distribution reach?
What is driving this consistent market share gains in the cables and wires space? And are we gaining this more from the unorganized or there is also some gains from the organized space, which we are seeing in the cables and wires? That's my first question.
Sure, Chiranjeet. So I think that this will be a mix of both the things that you mentioned. Definitely having capacity, having the larger set of approvals, the larger set of the variety of SKUs in cables and wires, those are the parameters which have continuously worked for us in the past, and that too continues to work for us currently as well. Over and above that, the movement in market share from organized to unorganized, that has also picked up pace in the recent few quarters.
So both of them would have contributed in our market share continuously improving over the last few years and improving this quarter.
So what will be our current market share in the cables and the wires space?
I'll probably be able to guide you on our market share up to the end of FY25 because for this quarter, we are yet to have results from the other larger companies. But if you look at FY25, by that time, our market share in cables and wires put together was roughly about 26%-27%. This is the organized market share. We would have it a bit higher as far as cables is concerned, more closer to 30%, whereas in wires, we'll be in maybe early 20s.
Okay.
And just coming on to the BharatNet projects in terms of the opportunity pipeline, the margin profile of these projects, and the working capital requirements, if you can give more details. And how has been the competitive intensity in the BharatNet projects in terms of L1, L2 tendering? What has been the differential? If you can give some of those details.
So Charanjit, I'll probably stick to what is available. The information is available in the public domain right now. We have won two orders. Obviously, the 16 tenders which had opened, we have been awarded two of them. There are a few more tenders which will be opened up, which is the part two of phase three. And whenever that opens up, we'll try and participate as possible. But as of now, I mean, this is the information.
As far as the profitability is concerned, we expect to accrue almost 12% - 14% of margins in that order book as well, which is pretty much in line with what we're currently making. Working capital cycle, we have seen the receivable days in the historical orders that we have executed to be in time. We have never seen late payments over there. Overall, I think it should be a pretty good business as far as overall working capital cycle is concerned because of the fact that over here, there is an upfront payment of almost 10% of the order book that happens. So you can utilize that money and then continue to use that for your future expenses and running around. So I think in that way, I think it's a pretty good business, good margins led to working capital cycle business.
Okay. So that's all from my side.
I'll circle back into you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from Phillip Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations team on a very good set of numbers. I have two questions on wires and cables predominantly on the export side. In fourth quarter, I remember the commentary was that there was a decline in your export business by 24%. Renu, you mentioned that there would be a large rollover of an order to 1Q. Now, 1Q, the numbers kind of the growth numbers match to 24%. I just want to know whether the growth is because of that order which came through or is it an organic growth? First question is that.
Sure, Natasha. So the order which was rolled over, that has not been executed at one go.
That will be executed over a period of the entire year. And hence, it was not the single contributor of the export growth that we have seen. It is an organic growth, and it has been through the execution of multiple orders that we had across geographies.
And before there is a chance that we will see that order executing in the remaining part of the year, correct?
Yes, that's right.
Okay. My second question is more a broader-based question in terms of cable exports. Now. Understanding the big beautiful bill, there is an absolute cut on the renewables side in terms of U.S. Now, if I see larger players like KEI Industries, Nexans, Southwire, LS Cable, if I read any of their commentary, predominantly, they were setting up capacities to be exported to the U.S. Now that U.S.
has kind of shut markets for renewables for the time being, do you think these capacities, because they are fungible, they would dump into other geographies, which kind of gives competition in other geographies barring U.S., or is it. Or it may not happen? So can you please clear on that? Thank you.
Sure. So if you again, I mean, it will have to go product-wise and the business-wise. When you are thinking of renewable energy investment, you are setting up renewable plants, and then you are evacuating that energy to different geographies. So you are utilizing your normal. Voltage power cables, medium voltage power cables, as well as the entire EHV output. But the larger part over there is through the evacuation where you require EHV cables, and probably in the next part where you require higher setups, multiple medium voltage cables.
Now, if you look at the product portfolio of KEI, Nexans, and the other larger companies, they are more predominantly present on the higher voltage side. That is why their expertise lies and they focus on that category so as to get a margin amount in their overall business profile. So that is the capacity that they were developing. And in the next few days, we are actually launching a bit of a medium voltage cable. So largely, we were not competing more actively with KEI and Nexans. We were more aggressively competing with the Chinese players who are also into low voltage and medium voltage cables. The change in the outlook of investment towards renewable, I don't think it will have any material impact in that way in the kind of export that we were doing.
Over and above that, what you also have to keep in mind are two other opportunities. One is the kind of investment which will be required on the data center side because of all the investments towards AI, which are being done by the large corporations in India, that will require two sets of power cables as well as optical fiber cables, and that will continue to be there. Over and above that, the power infrastructure in the U.S. and even at the larger geographies like Europe, they are now almost 60, 70 years old, and they are required to be upgraded irrespective of whether it comes from renewable or traditional sources. So that too will require a lot of cables. So just because there will be relatively lesser investment on renewables in the near term, that doesn't take away the cables opportunity that is there in the U.S.
There are other types of cables which will be required, and we will continue to export those cables over there.
Got it. That's helpful. Just one more question related to that. EHV capacity is fungible, right? We can use it for low, medium, and high voltage if we do not manufacture EHV?
That's true.
Understood. Got it. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you, Natasha.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sujit Jain from Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I hope I'm audible. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. You explained strategic pricing decisions that help you get those margins and very superior margins. So that means that you kind of were benefited from the lower procurement prices. Is the understanding correct?
Sujit, the pricing will be pretty much similar for everybody because it is linked to LME. Obviously, to a certain extent. At what point of time during the quarter you place the order, that also plays a part. Probably that can also benefit to a particular player in a particular quarter. But on an overall yearly basis, then it averages out. What I was meaning in terms of strategic pricing revision is what I explained to KEI is because the trend of copper price was in one specific direction during the quarter and the volatility was not very high, we were able to swiftly pass on without having to take any impact on our profitability.
And so the earlier complete hedging policy you used to follow did not apply for this quarter. Is that the understanding correct?
Not really. I mean, we continue to follow hedging policies.
If you are aware, almost 90% of our sales are through distributors and 10% is institutional. When you are supplying to a distributor and you don't have an order book in place, you can't not have hedging in place. If you do that, then you are open to the. You are exposed to the commodity price shift. So we don't do that. We hedge our entire procurement that we do, and that is what is meant for selling to distributors. On the institutional part, it is back-to-back pricing, so it doesn't really have any meaningful impact to changes in prices. But on distribution, we do hedge the prices. So it's not just. But good margins are sustainable because of the other things that you spoke about, sales mix and as well as operating units. So therefore, C&W margins can be maintained broadly. Sujit, we have a long-term guidance in place.
And again, I'll take you back to the FY30 guidance that we have. In the longer term, 11% - 13% of our EBITDA margins is we will be able to generate irrespective of what happens on what type of business or procurement or commodity prices irrespective of that. In the near term, we will obviously try to maximize as far as whatever variables are presented in front of us. And hopefully, we should be able to maintain the margin profile. And one last question about your cable capacity being ahead of the industry in the sense people didn't have capacity when you had. That situation still persists or now capacities are catching up? Sujit, capacities have started coming up since the beginning of last year, and yet we continue to grow ahead of the market.
As I was mentioning previously, what is the most important part over here is while you might have capacity, what is the portfolio that you have, what are the number of SKUs, and what are your approvals? That is the biggest player and obviously the situation need. Now, those are the variables which we have worked on over a period of decades, and that advantage continues to be there with us. So while capacity will come up for the industry. That advantage will help us. Over and above that, the kind of investments and growth that we are witnessing from various bank sectors, that also helps in absorbing the new capacity which are coming up from other players. So both of them. Will continue to help us in terms of our outperformance over the industry.
Yeah, thank you. I'm all for that. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question. Chirayu, you highlighted that cables have outpaced wires this quarter. So just to give some color. Which are the categories of cables that have done well for you? Is it mainly low voltage or. It's the higher voltage sizes. That have done well? And what is your expectation for you to build your. Which subcategory could you have for you guys? That's my first question.
So, Dhruv, we are well aware that we have presence in low voltage, medium voltage, and high voltage. We don't have presence in extra high voltage. As far as the overall industry size is concerned, obviously low voltage and medium voltage are of the largest quantum. Since we have the maximum presence over there, both of those categories have.
Helped us in terms of the growth. And even at an industry level, those are the two particular. Segments of cables which have done very well. The other types of cables which are, let's say, control cables, instrumentation cables, optical fiber cables, or high voltage cables, their requirement. Is relatively much smaller. But whatever growth the larger players will be able to generate will be because of the growth in the low voltage and medium voltage cables. I don't see that changing very much in the near to mid term. Maybe in the longer term, when in India the demand for high voltage and extra high voltage is pretty high, probably at that point of time, the other type of cables can help in terms of our performance.
But otherwise, in the near to mid term, I think the low voltage and medium voltage cables will be the primary driver of growth for the industry as well as for the larger players.
Sure. And just one clarification. We've seen declining revenue in EPC segment. So just wanted to understand what's happening there.
Dhruv, we have an order book in place in EPC, and that is something that we have to execute over the course of the next two to three years. During those two to three years, on a quarterly basis, there might be variation. There are different phases of execution of a project. In certain periods of time, you are supplying materials. In other periods of time, you are executing the plant. Whenever you are supplying, in those quarters, the. Margin profile will be relatively better. Whenever you are executing, it will be a bit softer.
So that variation will. Exist during the different quarters in a year. But if you take it more of an yearly number, we'll be able to relate pretty much in line with what we have guided in the last year. And overall, if you take near to mid term, the contribution for EPC business will continue to be in 5%-10% range, which is where we are holding right now.
Thank you. All good.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Archer Luhade from Nomura Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, KEI Industries. Thank you for the opportunity. So a couple of questions. One is in terms of the EPC, you said 5%-10% range, but with BharatNet, do you see that percentage going up for next year or you think that is already built in this number?
So EPC execution and BharatNet execution will begin from the second half of this year. That is when the revenue accrual will start happening. But again, over there, looking at the kind of demand which is there in your normal cables and wires business as well as the FMEG growth that now we are witnessing, I don't see the contribution of EPC going about 10%. In a quarterly basis, as I was mentioning, probably when you are supplying or when you are in a the execution is a bit high. Probably in a particular quarter, you might see the contribution go up a bit. But overall, on a yearly basis, I don't expect it to go above 10%. In the longer term.
Understood. But the margin should improve, right? Because this has a higher margin, as you said, 12%-14% margin for the BharatNet orders, right?
That's true.
So that will be something that will generate 12% - 14% of the EBITDA margin from the BharatNet piece. From the RDSS order book that we have, we'll be able to generate a high single digit of margin profile.
And what is the progress on the RDSS? Are we seeing further orders or they have shut down? Any update on the scheme?
So there are new orders, new tenders which have opened up and which we have bid for during the course of this year. Obviously, we'll be able to know the results of that. But the RDSS scheme is up to the end of FY26, so there are still a few more tenders which are yet to be opened up, and we'll probably try and participate wherever we are comfortable with. So the traction continues even in RDSS.
Got it. Just another question at the industry level.
In terms of capacity expansion. At the industry level, what is the extent of expansion in your estimate? Is it like 40%, 50%? Is it like 20% over next three years? What are the known numbers for known players here based on that? What is your assessment?
So I guess there are only three or four large listed players who will. Obviously give out those numbers, and that is the limited visibility that we have. But what is more important is not just looking at what supply is coming in, but also in what phases they are coming in. And against that, what is the demand which is upcoming?
Over there, we are very comfortable that the demand which we foresee in the near to mid term that will absorb the capacity which is about to come from all the announcements that you heard till date in the next three to four years. And that is where we sit pretty confident that there shouldn't be any impact in terms of industry growth or the growth rate for the larger players in the near to mid term.
Perfect. And just last question, if I may, what is the volume mix in terms of the. Copper stroke, aluminum for the quarter? Any ballpark mix?
It's largely the same. There is no material change over there.
Understood. Thanks so much. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. So.
You spoke about Atira brand. So what will be the, let's say, revenue share of Atira as % of. Total sales as well as the other premium brand which you had introduced home, HOHM? So if you can indicate both the. Individual revenue shares. That is question one. And secondly, as far as solar products are concerned now, that is a business which is going extremely well. So what are the. Individual products that the company is looking to. Enter, for example, solar pumps or, let's say, rooftop solar? Or what are the overall aspirations in this. Solar business? Yeah, that's from my side. Thanks.
So Aniruddha on the wire, where we introduced Atira. Home is not a brand that mainly wire. That was in a different category, which was in home solution.
Atira was specifically introduced for tier 3-5 cities, and the contribution from Atira would now be in high teens of the overall wire sales that we did. The other ranges that we introduced in wires on the premium side were Maxima and Suprema. Both of them, again, are in the bucket, close to around 20% plus in terms of their contribution to the wire sales. As far as the solar-related question is concerned, as of now, we are primarily into solar inverters, and we are not looking to expand into any other product category. Of course, along with solar inverters, we are also able to sell solar cables and switch gears. So that is something which we kind of try to club and cross-sell. But other than that, we are not looking at expanding into any other categories right now.
Okay. Surely. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Arshia Ghosla from NIRMAL BANG . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the question. Am I audible?
Yes, you are audible, Aasheer.
Yeah. Yeah. So my first question would be on the FMEG part of the business. So I mean, the solar has done very well for us. It's a 2x growth for us. Can you just specify the geography from where the demand is coming in from?
Sure, Arshia. So as far as solar is concerned, largely the demand driver has been because of the government rooftop solar scheme. Over and above that, there are certain states where they have also introduced their own rooftop solar incentivization scheme. So largely, the demand that we are seeing is from those states.
To name a few, I think Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and UP are a few of the states where we have seen very good traction coming in for the solar inverters, which is a part.
Thank you. That's helpful. And secondly, on the CapEx part, we've already done a ₹4.1 billion CapEx in quarter one. So can you just specify which segment, large and majority?
Your voice is breaking.
Yeah. Am I audible now?
I could hear your question, Aasheer. You want the breakup of where the CapEx has been spent in quarter one, right?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
So it's largely on the cables and wires business, as we had mentioned. Most of the CapEx that we are going to do over the next five years is for the cables and wires business.
As of now, there is no immediate requirement for any incremental CapEx for the FMEG business. Probably it will be towards the end or the mid to end part of the next five years. So all of the CapEx largely that we do right now is either for the cables and wires business or maybe some for the backward integration.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen Sahay from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity and many congratulations for a good set of numbers. First question is related to FMEG only. So that's a clarification. This quarter. Especially the contribution of the solar products has increased. Otherwise, the overall fan and light contribution on the year-on-year basis, if I look at, that is on the higher contribution to your portfolio in the FMEG.
That's true, Praveen.
In this quarter, solar was the largest contributor. If you look at last year, and the light were the largest contributors, solar was the third-largest contributor in the FMEG top line.
So is it the solar inverter is quite related to the government solar rooftop. Scheme projects? Is it treated as a one-off kind of, or do you believe this to continue in the coming quarters as well?
We believe the demand is going to be very cyclical, at least in the near to mid term. The government scheme is there, and yet, I think only 20% of that. Has taken off. And over and above the fact that I've mentioned, there are various state-level schemes which have been introduced. Until those schemes continue, at least next few years, we are expecting continuous demand for the solar inverters. So that's the near to mid-term visibility that we have over there.
Okay. Thank you. And the second clarification related to the EPC, as you had mentioned, INR 80 billion order book, does that include your INR 56 billion of BharatNet order book?
The BharatNet order book is the INR 80 billion that I mentioned. Over and above that, there is an RDSS order book which is roughly around INR 38-40 billion.
Okay. And these are executable over how many years? Thank you.
Next three to four years. All of it has to be executed over the course of the next three to four years.
Okay. And the last question related to the wires and cables. As you have already mentioned, that's high voltage. You don't have much business for that. But the way forward. Can we expect that by 2027, we will see some contribution from the extra high voltage to come in for you?
So extra high voltage, as you'll be aware, is a tender-based business. So once the plant is up and commissioned, you'll have to go and bid for the tender. And if you win, that is when we start executing is when we start accruing the revenue. So probably any form of meaningful revenue accrual will only happen in FY28.
Okay. Thank you . All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vidit Trivedi from Asian Market Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Congratulations on the great set of numbers. Most of the questions have been answered. Just wanted to know on the solar products. You mentioned that this is now the largest category in FMEG. What's the scale of this opportunity and how is the product portfolio evolving?
So Vidit, we have the full product category, as I mentioned, solar inverters.
Obviously, there are requirements of various ancillary products as well as if you look at the overall solar rooftop opportunity. But we are not in that right now. We obviously are selling into solar inverters. And wherever solar cables and switch gears can be a part of that order, we will try to cross-sell that. As far as the opportunity size is concerned, I think we can just sum up the outlay that various schemes of the central government as well as state government have. And probably that is almost one-third of the overall cost of the outlay that happens on solar rooftop multiplied by three. And that is the overall opportunity size on the overall solar rooftop.
Got it. Thanks. And what's the margin contribution of solar products in the overall FMEG?
It will vary across product categories.
As I was mentioning, solar cables is what will have contribution in the wires and cables category. Solar inverters have now a contribution, a large contribution in the FMEG category. So it will vary. And obviously, I mean, we'll keep on changing over the next few, next nine quarters.
Got it. Thanks a lot. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Maneet Kodar from Invesco AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Congrats on the number. Just one question. So would you plan to set up a plant, let's say, internationally in the next 18 to 24 months? Just what are your thoughts around this? Thanks.
Thanks for the question. Very good question. In the longer term, yes.
If you look at the other larger global players like Prysmian and Nexans, etc., the way that they have looked at growing globally is setting up manufacturing plants in multiple locations. But as of now, we are not in that scale. In the near to mid term, we don't have any plans of setting up manufacturing plants outside India. The benefit that we have when we are exporting our cables is because of the low-cost manufacturing which is available in India. And that is where we're continuing to invest in setting up or expanding our capacities in the country. If you are thinking of more longer term, maybe next decade or couple of decades, probably that is where we will definitely have to think about going outside India, but not requiring the near to mid term.
Okay. Got it. Thanks.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take this as the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Gandharv Tongia for closing comments.
Thank you so much for taking our time and joining us for this call. We deeply appreciate and value your support over the period. In case if there are any unanswered questions or you want to share any feedback to us, please feel free to reach out to me or Aasheer Aili. You can also write to investors.relations@polycab.com. Thank you. Have a great day ahead. Bye-bye.
On behalf of Polycab India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.