Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Post Result Q1 FY 2026 Earnings Conference call of RailTel Corporation of India Limited, hosted by Antique Stock Broking. 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 has been recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please thank you and over to you, sir.
Yeah, thanks, Anushka. I welcome all the participants and from investors and this community for the Post Result Earnings call of RailTel Corporation of India Limited. I'd also like to thank the management for giving us this opportunity. The management team from RailTel is led by Sanjai Kumar, sir, who is the Chairman and Managing Director. V. Rama Manohara Rao, sir, who is the Director of Finance, and Yashpal Singh Tomar, sir, Director of Network Planning and Marketing. Apart from that, there are other members from the team also who have joined the management. As usual, we'll have a brief from the management on the bygone quarter, and then we'll have a Q&A session from the participants. Yeah, thank you, and over to you, Sanjai, sir.
Thank you, Vishal. Very good morning to all. It gives me great pleasure to interact with you on the company's performance in the backdrop of Q1 financial results of FY 2026, which were declared by the company on 28 July 2025. The company had a strong start to our financial year 2025-2026, having achieved operating revenue of INR 744 crores in Q1 of FY 2026, as against INR 558 crores in Q1 of FY 2025, registering the YOY growth of 33%. The telecom segment contributed INR 335 crores, and project segment contributed to INR 409 crores in the company's operating turnover. As regards the total revenue, the year-on-year growth is INR 31%, with INR 758 crores in Q1 of FY 2025, as compared to INR 578 crores in Q1 of FY 2025. The profit before tax - sorry, there's a correction - INR 758 crores in Q1 of FY 2026, as compared to INR 578 crores in Q1 of FY 2025.
The profit before tax PBT in Q1 of FY 2026 is INR 89 crores, as against INR 67 crores in Q1 of FY 2025, registering a gross YOY growth of 34%. The profit after tax in Q1 of FY 2026 is INR 66 crores, as against INR 49 crores in Q1 of FY 2025, registering year-on-year growth of 36%. Earnings per share in Q1 of FY 2026 stands at INR 2.06, as against INR 1.52 of Q1 in FY 2025, registering a year-on-year growth of 36%. Order booking during quarter ending June 2025 was to the tune of INR 721 crores, as against total order booked during Q1 of FY 2024/2025 of INR 218 crores. The company has a robust order book position of INR 7,197 crores as of date, out of which close to 500 crores are related to Kavach projects.
I'm happy to inform you that CAG has offered nil comments on annual financial results of FY 2024/2025. We remain committed to pursuing growth and creating value for our esteemed investors. We are also exploring opportunities in order to realize our true potential. I thank you for your trust and collective vision for the future of this company. Thank you. Jai Hind.
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 their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. I would like to request participants that you may press star and one in order to ask a question. A reminder to the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. We take the first question from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please proceed.
Yes, and thanks for the opportunity. Before the question queue assembles, I just thought to maybe ask a few questions. First, I think, sir, we have done a pretty strong set of stats for this particular year, doing a healthy 30% plus kind of revenue growth. And how exactly you are seeing things for the full year? I think we are already there one more month in the quarter two. So how things are? And for the full year, how do you see things? Any color that can you provide, sir?
So if we talk of revenue overall year, we would take somewhere around 25% growth if we take overall year. Since the base number is growing, so the overall growth, I would take around 25%.
Right, sir. Thanks, sir. And usually, we have already in this past also we have said that it will be more like a single digit for the projects, single digit for the telecom, and high double digit for the projects. So it's the same thing is expected to continue.
Yes. Telecom, the telecom market is not, I would say, in India. It has been a characteristic of the Indian telecom market. So telecom market growth is going to remain stunted. But the biggest advantage, which I always repeat, we being in the ICT and IT domain, telecom market acts as a catalyst for many of our project business income. So I won't say that it is not important. It may not be contributing. It may not be seen directly to contributing to the top line. But this being part of our portfolio certainly assists and helps us in getting many IT, ICT projects.
Got it, sir. Got it. And then in terms of our order inflow, we have seen a decent set of inflow. So in any particular sector, which is driving it, that is number one. And second, any green shoots or any emerging sector that you are seeing could drive our order inflow in times to come?
We see we have started gaining momentum in getting railway projects in recent quarters, and so we see that now we are getting, we started slow, but now we are getting a good number of projects from railway tenders. Of course, those are not nominations, so you must have seen that recently we got another Kavach order also. A few Tunnel Communication projects already there with us, some signaling, Auto Signaling, and EI work already we are doing. That is one sector where we are working, and many state government projects where we have been strong since beginning. We are getting good orders even now. Some smart city projects may come to us. Similarly, another third front is that international business.
We have started a very small beginning, and we hope that in the years to come, our international business, which will include not only IT and ICT telecom, but railways also, is likely to be part of that. But it will take time because we are starting, and starting international business requires, I think, different kind of efforts and energy. So we are getting experience in that.
Right, sir. Right, sir, so the key takeaway is, I mean, what I could gather is the railway order as a sector, which was a bit muted maybe six months back, so things are kind of picking up there, and within that, Kavach and plus signaling is something which is driving the traction. That's fair to understand.
Yes. At least in the short term, I can say yes.
Got it. Got it. In terms of, sir, pipeline on Kavach front, anything that you see here from the ministry that they want to award orders to this extent, at least for next six months or 12 months? Anything in that sense, sir?
This is very difficult for us as a bidder, as a service provider. It is very difficult for us, but these tenders are being floated by different zonal railways and units, and they are coming out with tenders as and when. I think now, apart from tenders, there's focus on delivery also, implementation also, so implementation also has to pick up.
Right. Right. Got it, sir. So, sir, I'll come back in the queue for more. Thanks for answering all the questions.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Sanwal from Niveshaay. Please proceed.
Hello. Mobile Audible.
Yeah.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of numbers and good start to be here. I have a couple of questions regarding Kavach, which the previous participant also touched upon. So you said you have already highlighted that we have already won two orders for Kavach. So I wanted to understand how is the execution on that part? What are the timelines for the execution? And are we starting to do the groundwork right now, or is it would be done maybe a few quarters down the line if you could highlight?
These projects are, of course, engineering-intensive, and you have to work along the track every kilometer. These will be going up to, say, 2027, 2027, 2026, 2027. Mostly the executions will happen. Some part of it may also be there in 2027, 2028 as well. These are long-term project execution timelines, 18 to 24 months.
So you're talking about the execution of the order we have already won, right? The INR 1,100 crore.
Yeah, I'm talking about that only, yes.
Have we bid for other Kavach projects lately, or are we expecting any bid results maybe one to two quarters down the line?
So we have already. There are a few tenders where we have participated bids. And wherever these bids are coming, there's no question that we will not bid. And we'll certainly try to win.
Understood. And also, have we—so we have already tied up with the OEM partner. So I wanted to understand how is the conversation with those partners? Have they received the certificate to execute Kavach orders, or how is the timeline over there if you could highlight something on that part?
Those certifications are, of course, lengthy and very detailed because it is related to safety. And right now, we see that we are going at the right pace, in the right direction. And therefore, we don't see any challenge on that front. But certification is yet to happen. It is underway. But there's a lot of field work required, which is going to take time, like laying of cables, say, about 1,000 km of cable, many towers that will be erected, many drawings, and those have to be approved with the railway. So that work is going to take time. So this certification will not substantially go into - is not going to affect our actual progress. This will happen in parallel.
So maybe our scope of work may already have been started in some sort of—you are highlighting, right?
Yes, we are all started on field, yes.
Okay. And also, understanding what is the approximate proportion of revenue of those projects flowing to us? Maybe an approximate percentage if you could highlight.
I told you those are close to INR 500 crore. Exact figures, I don't remember, both the Kavach orders put together, so that is what this year we might clock some revenue, but majority of revenue should come next year from these projects.
Understood. One last question. So from what we understand, we record the entire revenue of Kavach, and then maybe a proportion of expenses that is subcontracted is highlighted in the expense portion, right? Or we only record our portion of revenue?
No, no. This is total revenue.
Understood. So we would be adding the subcontracting charges to the OEM for the equipment that they provide. Is what the...
Order includes everything. Order includes complete supply chain.
Correct. Correct. So our portion would be around 60%-70%, maybe 50%-60% of the revenue of those orders?
No, no. Revenue is completely with us. It is going to add to our turnover only.
Okay. Understood. Understood.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Thanks for clarity and thanks for answering all the questions. Best.
Thank you. Before we proceed with the next question, I would like to remind participants that you may press star and one in order to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Mohit Mishra from ICICI Securities. Please proceed.
Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yeah.
Sir, I had a couple of small questions. In the telecom services, can you give the breakup of NLD, ISP, and IP revenue for the quarter?
Yeah, sure. So if we talk of NLD, it is INR 151 crore. ISP is INR 108 crores, which includes about INR 83 crores from RailWire and INR 24 crores from IP-1. And remaining about INR 51 crores, sorry?
Could you repeat the ISP, 51 crores?
INR 108 crores.
Okay. Okay.
About INR 51 crores is from data center-related business.
Okay, sir. Got it. And secondly, sir, I'm sorry, but I missed the order book number in your opening remark. Could you please repeat that number?
Order book number is 7197.
What percentage of that would be?
Sorry?
Okay. What percentage of that would be from the railways?
It is around 30%-31%.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much for answering my question. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ask a question, please press star and one. I would like to remind participants that you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please proceed.
Yes, sir. [audio distortion] .
Your voice is not audible, Vishal.
Yeah. Is this better now?
Yeah.
Yeah. So on ECL, usually we do provisions in our P&L. So anything that we have done for quarter one of this year, sir?
There is
A small reversal.
Yeah. There's reversal in this quarter. INR 3 crores, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Three crores.
Okay. Got it. So there is no any one-off, no major one-off there. It's numbers are recurring in sort of nature.
Yeah.
Got it, and I mean, sir, order book which you mentioned, what will be the share of Kavach in this, sir, the INR 7,200 crore order book?
Exact numbers I'll have to find out. It's close to INR 500 crore.
Okay. Okay.
Somewhere closer than INR 500 crore.
Okay. Usually, sir, in the previous presentation, we have given a further breakup of order book. You'll find in railway.
Your voice, can you please repeat?
Please. Yeah. Is this better now?
Yeah.
Yeah. Sorry. Sorry for that audio. Sir, in our previous presentation, we have given a breakup of the order book that is between railways and other sectors. So if one has to understand from a margin profile point of view, which segment gives us the highest margin, and then maybe which is kind of where the competition is pretty high, which gives a low margin? So can you give some color on that order book profile from a margin point of view?
I can give some clue whatever I have understanding. So railway projects generally are good margin projects with us. But otherwise, in general, IT projects' margins are really very difficult to have. Certainly, this quarter, we have slightly bettered ourselves, made our position better. We have 5.28% margin in projects. Otherwise, generally, 4%-5% is the margin. If we talk of sector-specific, it is very difficult to figure out one sector against the other sector. So it is mixed, I would say.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And then typically, I think from a number of players who are bidding, say, in Indian Railways project and then ICT, what will be the difference, sir? How many players bid in that railway projects and how many in that ICT typical projects, sir?
Again, this is sector to sector.
And if I can add, I think it's very difficult to generalize that way, Vishal. It all depends upon the project and its various other aspects and location in which this project is, how tough it is. So there are many other parameters on which the competition prevails.
Got it, sir. Got it. And in terms of data centers, I think one is like, I mean, in coming months and quarter, can we have a separate line segment in our telecom just to see how the traction? That is one. And second, I mean, can you give some color where we are right now and any targets or plan that we have one for our own data center? And second is the edge that is there. Edge data center, sir.
Edge. So if you talk of data center, so data center-related income, we are certainly growing comfortably around 15%-20% we take overall. But there are one-offs also, which is why. Because numbers are small, we are growing in this segment. So that is why we have not created a separate line segment now. Once it becomes a substantial number, certainly we will make it. Now, if we talk of edge data centers, so edge data centers, we should clock some numbers this year. I think last conference, I told you around INR 10 crores. And so I stay with that number if we talk of edge data center.
Okay. Okay. And in terms of our own data centers, sir, what is the capacity right now, and how do you see this going in this year and next year? Any plan around that?
So our own data center, which is, even these data centers are our own data centers. It is not, I would say, this is not debt per se, but they are not the technology partners. The ownership of these data centers remains with us. Turnover is also coming to us. These data centers are required because those existing data centers are almost working at close to capacity. So that is why we require this. We are also likely to start something with third-party data centers only as far as the infra, passive infra. So that line of segment is also likely to start this financial year. As you know, we have made some MOUs with third-party data center infra service. Only passive infra services will be taken from them. So data center, we see that this year is going to be really, I would say, we would be embarking on a new journey. And in the next financial year, these results would be certainly visible.
Right. Right. And so if one understands, so one is the edge data center where, I mean, we have a revenue share sort of model. And then there is another, I mean, will the model be similar to revenue share or how exactly it is structured?
So see, it won't be appropriate to share all those models because we are flexible. Whatever suits to the benefit of RailTel, we will have that flexibility. So it may be revenue share. It may be leasing passive infra from them, depending upon the circumstances and the need of the project which we would be doing.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
We are not going to stick with one single line of this thing.
Got it, sir. And in terms of megawatt, any plans that we have, sir? I mean, in terms of what megawatt?
The Noida data center, where work is started already, Noida data center, that is going to be ultimately to begin with, we'll have 5 megawatts in the next two years, and then later on, we will upgrade it to 10 megawatts.
Okay. Okay. Got it, sir.
But in terms of
Yeah. Okay. And in terms of Edge Data Center, sir, any megawatt targets?
Edge data centers will be smaller ones, say around 0.2 kW. 0.2 MW. Sorry. And this year, we might think maybe four or maybe five edge data centers we should be able to begin.
Okay. Got it. And maybe one last thing, sir. In terms of our CapEx plan, how do you see what we have done in this quarter, and how do you see the full year? And third, maybe parallel to that, where exactly we are doing this CapEx , which segment we are doing this? Yeah. That's all from my side.
So this quarter, we have done around INR 66 crores. And we have planned already for INR 350 crores kind of CapEx for the whole of the year. Yeah.
Then which segment we are doing the CapEx, sir?
Mostly, it is going to data center and telecom. But there would be some smaller numbers like power plants, optical fiber, maybe some software. Generally, it is data center and telecom equipment.
Okay. And if one has to understand in terms of the maintenance and vis-à-vis where we are adding capacity, so how this split will be, sir, in the annual CapEx?
Maintenance will never come to CapEx. It is part of revenue expenditure. Maintenance is never part of CapEx. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. Sure, sir. I'll come back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parimal Mithani from Credential Investments. Please proceed.
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. I just wanted to know the guidance for the year, if you can just tell us.
It will be somewhere around 25% for the whole of the year.
Okay. And will we maintain the same margin, sir, for the year?
If we talk of margin range overall, this thing, so it will be around 11%-12%.
Okay, sir. Thanks. Thanks for the update.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rakesh Roy from Boring AMC. Please proceed.
Yeah. Morning, sir. My first question regarding the INR 500 crore Kavach order, sir. Sir, this order will execute by, sir, RailTel only, or you have any JV or any other company to execute this order?
There is no JV as such, but there are, of course, partners. See, we.
Okay. Yes.
Yeah. OEM is a partner, and then there will be partners who will do the field activities like cable laying and power erection.
Okay. Right, sir. Can you share the name of any company? Just last time I was reading one company, Quadrant Future Tek Limited, they have an MOU with your company, RailTel, to execute the Kavach orders. So can you highlight on this one, sir?
They are our OEM of Kavach equipment, Quadrant Future Tek. You are right, and we have an MOU with them.
Okay. And, sir, just you mentioned it takes time to get certification. So what type of certification takes time and how much it generally takes, sir?
I think you missed it. I have already answered this question very much in detail.
Yeah. Yes, sir.
This certification is done by railway organization because this is a safety item. And this is being deployed for the first time. This kind of equipment is indigenously developed by Indian companies. And so once it is approved, then it will not require every time. Then afterwards, it will require only inspections. So that process is going on for all companies. It is not only our partner company, but it is for all five OEMs whose one has already got, that is SPL, but four others are under approval. Yeah.
Okay. Right, sir. And, sir, this Kavach system is developed in-house by RailTel, or just how is it?
No. It has been developed by railway. There's a unit organization known as RDSO in collaboration with industry. So RailTel has not done anything to any contribution to this product development.
Okay. Okay. Right, sir. Right, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question on their touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Karan Sanwal from Niveshaay. Please proceed.
Sir, just one query. Sir, do we have this exclusive tie-up only with Quadrant that you just named, or would we be open to tie-up with other OEMs for execution of Kavach?
See, execution is a separate activity. As far as OEM for the supply of Kavach projects, Quadrant is our exclusive partner. The execution is being done by various other partners. Yeah.
Good. Thanks.
Thank you. A final reminder to the participants. In order to ask a question, please press star and one. As there are no further questions from the participants, thank you, members of the management. Thank you, everyone, for joining. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you very much.