RailTel Corporation of India Limited (NSE:RAILTEL)
India flag India · Delayed Price · Currency is INR
348.25
+5.10 (1.49%)
May 7, 2026, 3:30 PM IST
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Q3 24/25

Jan 28, 2025

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the post-results Q3 FY 2025 earnings conference call of RailTel Corporation of India Limited. 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 the star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Yeah, thanks, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the post-result earnings call with the management of RailTel Corporation. From the management team, we have with us Mr. V. Rama Manohara Rao ji, Director of Finance, Mr. Manoj Tandon ji, Director of Projects Operation and Maintenance, Mr. Harish Pawaria ji, ED Corporate Communication, and Mr. Harish Bhatia ji, who is Special ED Finance. So, as usual, we'll have a brief on the gone-by quarter from sir, and then we'll have a line open for everyone to ask questions. Yes, sir, over to you.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Hello to all of you, and a very warm good morning to all of you. At the outset, I wish you all a very happy 76th Republic Day. It gives me great pleasure to interact with you all on the RailTel's performance in the backdrop of Q3 financial results for Financial Year 2025, which were declared by the company on 27th January 2025. The highlights are as follows: the company achieved operating revenue of INR 768 crores in Q3 of Financial Year 2025, as against INR 668 crores in Q3 of Financial Year 2024, registering a year-on-year growth of 15%. The telecom segment contributed INR 338 crores, and the project segment contributed INR 430 crores in the company's operating turnover.

As regards the total revenue, the year-on-year growth is 16%, with INR 782 crores in Q3 of Financial Year 2025, as compared to INR 675 crores in Q3 of Financial Year 2024. The profit before tax in Q3 of FY 2025 is INR 90 crores, as against INR 84 crores in Q3 of previous year, with year-on-year growth of 6%. The profit after tax in Q3 of Financial Year 2025 is INR 65 crores, as against INR 62 crores in Q3 of Financial Year 2024, registering a year-on-year growth of 5%.

The company achieved a total income of INR 2,222 crores in nine months of this financial year, against INR 1,770 crores during the corresponding previous year, with growth of 26%. Profit after tax during nine months of Financial Year 2025 is INR 186 crores, as against INR 169 crores in the corresponding previous year period, with growth of 10%. Earnings per share for nine months ending on 31st December 2024 stands at INR 5.81, against INR 5.26 during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Now, as regards to some of the highlights to mention, I'm pleased to inform that RailTel has received excellent ratings from DPE for the Financial Year 2023-24. RailTel is providing video surveillance at eight major Mahakumbh stations, with video analytics and face recognition systems. Our order book is strong, with a value of about INR 5,280 crores, with opportunities looking up in railway signaling, smart city solutions, HMIS, data center, and other areas. Importantly, RailTel has inked a five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft to drive AI transformation in the public sector, to advance digital cloud and AI transformation in Indian Railways and public sector space. As part of this partnership, Microsoft will support RailTel in establishing an AI Center of Excellence, making RailTel an AI-first organization and a leading system integrator partner.

The partnership includes an organization-wide skilling initiative to train RailTel employees in next-generation digital cloud and AI technologies through Microsoft's AI National Skill Initiative and Enterprise Skilling Initiative. The two companies will co-develop AI solutions, with Microsoft providing technical guidance on product roadmaps and RailTel bringing public sector experience on board. As we are in our 25th year of our journey in the service of the nation, our progress has been steady and impressive, with consistent growth in operational revenue and profits, and we rededicate ourselves in the mission of making Digital India stronger. We remain committed to pursuing growth and creating value for our esteemed investors. We are also exploring new opportunities in order to realize our true potential. I thank you all for your trust and collective vision that drives the future of this company. Thank you very much.

Operator

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. The first question is from the line of Manish Ostwal from Nirmal Bang Securities. Please go ahead.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question on the order inflow trend in the nine months versus last year of nine months. So what is the absolute order inflow this year? Can you give us the figure, and how do you see the growth in order inflow in the coming quarter and the next year, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

The order book has been consistent, and it is very consistent in the last nine months compared to the previous nine months. It is on the order of INR 1,960 crores. And previous financial year also, it was around INR 1,900 crores. So total order book is around INR 5,280 crores. And last year, Q4, we had received very good orders, and we are also expecting the same trend in this financial year. And to be specific, in this Q3, we received orders of around INR 790 crores.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

790 crores and the 1,900 crores in nine months, right, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

1,960 crores is nine months, yes.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

Very similar to last year, right, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

It's exactly almost similar to last year.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

Okay. The second question.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Maybe.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

Second question on the margin side. So overall blended margin has declined from 20%- 16.3% on nine-month basis. So when I look at our segmental reporting, the reason of the decrease is mainly because of the EPC margin has declined from 7%- 4%. If I'm not wrong, you have guided the EPC margin around 4%, 5%- 6% kind of thing. So any low quality of low margin work has been done in this quarter. That's why the margin is 4%. And what is your outlook in this line of business going ahead?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

As this question is often raised, and I mean, the management also has been responding almost in a similar manner, I will respond now. It is a question of the basket of projects in that particular quarter, which is contributing to the revenue, and if some of them are good revenue, good margin projects, then it will be giving a better overall picture, but we try to maintain 5%-6% overall guidance for the financial year because we are hoping that some of the profitable projects which are coming up in next, that is, Q4, will make good the entire percentage.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

And the last question on the progress on the railway Kavach program, and it is a very big opportunity for us. So what is the progress on that? Can you update us how things are moving, and when we see the big orders coming from that side?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

And we are happy to inform our community, industry community, and stakeholder community that we started participating in Kavach tenders in this Q3. And many of the tenders, I mean, almost we have written around INR 400 crores to 450 crores' worth of tenders. And the results are awaited. I mean, tenders are being evaluated by the Ministry of Railways and various zones and divisions. So I will not be in a position to comment upon the result, end result, but I can assure you that we are in the right track. We have participated in around INR 400 crores to 500 crores' worth of tenders in Kavach and signaling.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

What is the total value of the tender on the block by the railway? What is the total size?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

That will not be one single tender. It is across various railway zones and divisions. As and when the tenders are coming up, depending upon our suitability and other, I mean, parameters, so we will keep on participating in the tenders.

Manish Ostwal
Principal Officer and Fund Manager, Nirmal Bang Securities

Okay, sir. Thank you.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Yeah, good morning, sir. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations on the partnership with Microsoft. First question again following.

Operator

I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Sanjesh. Voice is coming very low.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Is it good now?

Operator

Yeah, yeah.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay. Thank you. Good morning, sir. So first question on the Kavach side. In the last quarter call, you mentioned that you are looking for another partner because Quadrant product is yet to be approved. Now that we have applied for INR 400 crores to 500 crores' worth of tender, whom have we partnered with this time?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, good morning, Sanjesh. And we have partnered with Quadrant only. And those approvals were in the final stages at that point in time. That's why we were not in a position to commit publicly. But as the days progress, the approvals have come in time, and then we participated along with Quadrant.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Quadrant, the POC and everything is approved, and that is exactly in line with the specification of railway?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes, yes.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay, okay. That's good. Second on the LTE rollout, is there any progress on that side? Because I think Kavach and LTE will go hand in hand for the signaling, right?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

The LTE rollout, I think various zones and divisions, they have to, I mean, float the tenders. Recently, we received, I think, one tender in South Central Railway for 523 route kilometers rollout. That is around INR 142 crores project.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay. And this involves.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Remaining, we need to wait for the rollout of tenders by railways.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

And this tendering is what? For putting out the network, equipment, and overall, right?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Exactly, exactly.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

This will be managed by RailTel, or it is a BOT you build and transfer to them?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

No, it is a kind of EPC, and after that, management part will be taken care of by railways.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay. Even tower will be transferred to them?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay. Got it, got it. Second question on the telecom revenue. In last quarter, also, you reiterated that we expect to grow that by 10%. This quarter, it appears to be muted. Any particular reason for that?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Always, telecom growth has been a challenging task. We are actually aspiring to maintain 10%, and sometimes we may be ending at 8%-10% kind of thing. Some of the, I mean, as far as the growth is concerned, we are better compared to the previous financial year, but we are not reaching to the level of 10%. That is subject to the market conditions.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

And this market condition is what? You are seeing more pricing pressure or spending from the customer is lower? Where is the pressure coming from?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

In fact, pricing pressure is one, very strong pricing pressure.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Okay.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Got it, got it. And on the margin side, even railway margin, telecom margin sequentially has fallen from 24.6%- 20.6%, almost 400 basis points lower. Any cost that has gone up significantly, which is driving this dip?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Not exactly. And actually, this telecom projects, telecom stream, we are actually incorporating the data center revenue also. Data center, there has been a good amount of investment and then maintenance activities in recent past. So that could be one of the reasons.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Got it, got it. Sir, can you provide us the breakup of the revenue between NLD, ILD, and IP-1 for this quarter?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, please. One second.

Operator

The next question.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

NLD, I'll be answering that question. Sanjesh, he's online, I hope?

Operator

Yes, sir.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Sanjesh, you asked for the breakup of NLD, ISP. NLD is Q3, INR 150 crores, and ISP is INR 75 crores.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

And this depreciation jump sequentially is also because of the data center, which we incorporated in this quarter?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

No, depreciation is not on data center. It is on telecom infrastructure.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

And what we did in that side, CapEx? Any particular CapEx we did in this quarter?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

I didn't get you. Could you come again?

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

The reason why there is a sharp jump in the depreciation, if you see, there is an 8.4% quarter-on-quarter growth in the depreciation. What led to this increase in the depreciation?

During the year, INR 156 crores of CapEx this year. That has the impact.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

The depreciation there was?

Yeah. The CapEx is during the year, as well as during the last year, has increased too.

I think the CapEx, I mean, I will ask my specialist to answer this question.

Yeah, yeah. Good morning.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Good morning, sir.

During the year, we had incurred INR 156 crores CapEx. So the impact of the additional CapEx during this year, as well as during the last quarter of the financial year.

This CapEx, and out of this CapEx, how much was data center, sir?

Data Center is during this year, INR 56 crores we have.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

In nine months, it is INR 56 crores.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

INR 56 crores.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Q3, INR 30 crores.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Got it, got it. And this is for the larger data center, not that edge data center, which we are doing with.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

No, existing data centers we have at Gurgaon and Secunderabad for them.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

For that. Got it. That's quite clear, and for the Q4, generally, we have a very large execution on the project business. That will sustain, right?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, it will be sustained, yes. And our, yeah, we are hopeful of sustaining that, yes.

Sanjesh Jain
AVP of Equity research, ICICI Securities

Understood, sir. Very clear. And thanks for answering all the questions, and best of luck for the coming quarters.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you, Sanjesh.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Rohan Vora from Envision Capital. Please go ahead.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Hello. Am I audible?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, please.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So, sir, just in continuation to the last questions on Kavach, while we've already applied for INR 400 crores-INR 450 crores, as you mentioned, so what would be our total addressable market in the entire Kavach program? Any ballpark numbers on that? And so what are the Kavach lined up for us in the pipeline for FY 2026? Thank you.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

The Kavach rollout is in the hands of the Indian Railways. I mean, how they are spacing the CapEx in the next coming two to three years is their internal understanding. We will not be having any clue, but as per general understanding, it is around INR 7,000 to INR 8,000 crores of Kavach, I mean, rollout in the next coming three to four years kind of thing, and coming financially, 2026 in the sense, now I mentioned about INR 400 crores-INR 450 crores tenders we have participated, and they are under evaluation. Once they are evaluated, in case the letter of awards are received, they might be in the last quarter of this financial year, so this will go into the execution mode in financial 2026, so it all depends upon the kind of winning, what we are going to achieve in this, I mean, the tendering activity.

We are hopeful. Say, around in addition to this INR 400-INR 450, we may be expecting to participate in another INR 500 crores in the next financial year also. So thereby, our order book, we are looking up around. I mean, order book might, participation into the tenders will be around INR 1,000 crores in the next coming one-year horizon. So the execution mode will depend upon how much we are going to win in these tenders.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Got it, sir. And, sir, while we have a partner on this, so what would be our share of the revenue if we win and if we start executing?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

They are our partners, and RailTel is forefronting, and they are our, I mean, OEM partners with us.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Okay. So we will be booking the entire revenue, and the components will be bought out. Would that be the right assumption?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

What would be the percentage of bought-out components?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

That also depends on the respective tendering part because it all depends upon, in a particular tender, in how many stations they are rolling out, and what is the component of the equipment, and what is the integration part in respect to stations. So it all bundle. We can say around what is the percentage we can

What is the percentage?

No, no. Equipment part, how much?

Equipment part around 60%.

That means equipment will be around 50%-60% kind of thing, and the rollout part will be, so the rollout part is our stake, basically, RailTel's prerogative, so we are experts in that area.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Got it, got it. So the 50%- 40%, so 40%- 50% of rollout is where we have expertise?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah. And remaining is equipment, which is OEM's equipment, yeah.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Correct, correct. And, sir, just if I may, the last question, the margins in line with our normal business in this?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, yeah. They are in the same range. Say around 8%-10% kind of thing.

Rohan Vora
Envision Capital, Investment Analyst

Okay, okay. Understood. Got it, sir. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you. Thank you, Rohan.

Operator

Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Harshit Nagpal from Yes Securities. Please go ahead.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Yeah. Good morning, sir. Just wanted to know the division for the order book between railways and non-railways?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Order book for Railways is around, I mean, total order book is 5,280.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

About that. And in that, 28% is from Railways, around INR 484 crores.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

How much?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

1,484 crores .

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right. And what would be the division for the project work services between railways and non-railways for this quarter?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Project railway, how much? This thing, 1%.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Railway contribution is around INR 393 crores.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Around 80%?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

18% on our turnover.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right. And, sir, we were talking about revenue projections of INR 3,300 crores for the year FY 2025. Are we still on track for that, or do we think that will be a little lower?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Could you repeat the question? It was not clear.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

I think, sir, the revenue projections for the FY 2025 were INR 3,300 crores. So are we on track for that, or do we think it's going to be lesser than that?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

No, we are on track.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right, and sir, the order book division for tender and non-tender, if you could please give that too.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah. That is also, I mean, tender is around 72% and 28% on nomination.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Okay. The next question on the edge data centers, we were talking about 8%-10% margin, and we'll roll out around 102 data centers in the next one and a half to two years. Is there a particular number that we've rolled out, or are we still in progress with it on how many data centers?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah. Actually, we have identified for immediate execution implementation around 20 locations. And in all those 20 locations, various activities like site survey and the feasibility reports, etc., they are on cards now. Right now, they are going on. And few of them are reaching a maturity of finality where we will be, along with the partner, we will be in a position to approach for certifications. So to roll out the data center, we need Uptime certification, which gives Tier III certification kind of. We are going to apply for Tier III data center, I mean, certifications.

So they also will take some time to, I mean, assess and then finally give the certifications, which will make the data center ready to go into business mode. So these are all actually taking slightly, I mean, they are all at different locations, etc., and a lot of coordination is involved. So initial level, it is taking longer time than expected. So we are now actively working on around 20 sites.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right. And, sir, we are not CapEx heavy in this, right? We'll be running the data center and maintaining it, right? That's what we are going to do. And the other partner is going to set it up. Is that what you're doing?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

You're right.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

For the railway revenue for this quarter, if you could.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

It is INR 490.496 to be specific.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Right. Also, sir, just a question on the margin. So the top line is the 8%-10% of the edge data center that we're going to get, or that is the final margin for us?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Last time also, I think this question was asked, I mean, my CMD sir was mentioning that these are all contract-specific details which can't be divulged. But it is in the range as per the market trends.

Harshit Nagpal
Equity Research Associate, Yes Securities

Okay, sir. Thank you, sir. Thanks a lot. All the best for the company.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Shubham Kadhi from 3A Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Hello. Am I audible?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah, audible, Mr. Shubham Kadhi . Shubham Kadhi , am I right?

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Shubham . Shubham . Yeah.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Shubham .

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Good morning, sir.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Good morning, sir.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Last phone call, you gave a guidance of 30% year- on- year. Are we still maintaining that?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, we are still maintaining that. Normally, quarter four will be slightly heavier compared to remaining quarters. And as of now, we maintain 26% growth rate year- on- year. So reaching 30 is not a challenge as per our understanding.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Sir, I can see quarter on quarter revenues have dropped. Is there any particular reason, or was it just a one-off quarter?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

It is one-off quarter. There's no specific trend kind of thing or any big event kind of thing. See, when we are actually clocking consistently of the same range and then maintaining year on year 30%, quarter- on- quarter, there can be here and there, I mean, fluctuations depending upon various factors.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Okay, sir. And, sir, the total order book you mentioned is over INR 5,000 crores, INR 5,280 to be exact. So when can we expect this to hit the top line? And how long?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Last year, I mean, the guidance what we had given for projects is around 1,800 crores-2,000 crores for this financial year. So it would be of the same kind of burning of the order book resulting in turnover. It will be of the same order.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

So it usually takes around one year to do INR 2,000 crores worth of order?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Shubham Kadhi
Junior Equity Research Analyst, 3A Financial Services

Okay, sir. Okay, sir. Thank you. That's all from my side.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

A reminder to all participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question to the management, you may press star and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, in terms of order inflow for a project segment has been pretty robust. It is actually a consistent number that we are seeing. So any particular sector where we are getting this traction, or it is segregated across sectors? Any color will be helpful on that, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

I have already mentioned to you that we are moving, Vishal. And I already mentioned that we are getting good, I mean, show up in signaling area, railway signaling. We have been actively participating. And as of date, our order book from signaling is around 330 crores. And data center is one area which we are actually actively working on. And various other, for example, HMIS additional rollout within the railways is also another area. So all these areas are contributing. And new area, which was not so significant in earlier years, earlier two to three years kind of thing, is the signaling one which is looking up.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Okay. Got it, sir. Sir, in terms of work-wise also, are we targeting anything outside India for a railway in a project site, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

We have been consistently making efforts to get some good orders on international business also. We are closely coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs. They have been kind and then supporting the public sectors, including RailTel. And as of now, no, I mean, order has been received, but we are within the striking range. But not in signaling as of now, but various other system integration works right now.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

And will it be possible, sir, with the domestic market? I mean, how the size differs when we do it in international market?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

In international market, to be specific, you are talking about the signaling part. Signaling is many of the railway other PSUs are also active in that area, so that is one challenge. We need to coordinate with our own railway other PSUs who are doing signaling activities in other countries, and as far as this, for example, system integration works, we are hopeful of getting good orders. I think we are well within the striking range. We'll be breaking the news as early.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Okay, okay. Sure, sir. Just one last thing, more like a clarification, sir. So there is a component of nomination in our order book. So is it fair to say the incremental orders in the last two, three years that we would have got, so they are more like competitive bidding? These are like previous I mean, before that, these are like we are just concluding or finishing those orders. That's why they are in the book. Is it fair to say?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes. Fairly, you can say that. So I mean, major nomination works are only I mean, our contribution into the order book is around 28%. And these are all mainly the earlier works only. For example, video surveillance system on entire Indian Railways rollout. That kind of projects are still going on. So that is what you are also saying the same thing. Yes.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Okay, okay. Sure, sir. That's all from my side. I'll come back and let you know.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you, Vishal.

Operator

Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Viraj from Jupiter Financial. Please go ahead.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Yeah. Good morning, sir. I joined the call late. So I just want a clarification. You said 26% top line growth, right? Year- on- year. That's what the guidance you gave, right, sir?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Correct, correct. That has been the achievement in the last nine months.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

So 26%-30% would be the growth range which could be taken for analysis, correct?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes, yes. Correct.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Sir, the net margins would be in the range of what? 10% or the margins will improve going forward?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

The net margins always has been a, I mean, point of discussion. As we are growing in projects which are very competitive, and many of the public sector undertakings are also participating in very tough competition. So we have been giving a guidance of, say, around 9%-10%. So it will be somewhere around, but it will be slightly depending upon the basket of projects in that particular financial year. It could be around 8-10% growth.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Okay. And, sir, any update on Kavach would be?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

I have already mentioned, Viraj. It's good news that we started participating in tenders. In Q3, signaling and Kavach together around INR 450 crore-INR 500 crore worth of tenders we have participated. We are awaiting the final results from the railways. The tenders are getting evaluated.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

So what would be your total addressable size in Kavach project?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

This also, I have responded. And what I mentioned was that it all depends upon how the railway is rolling out the Kavach project. And across various zones and divisions, they have their own plan of rolling out and outlay for the Kavach. So in next coming three to four years, we are expecting around INR 7,000 crores is the overall rollout from railways. But these figures are our understanding. And the actual thing will be known to internal railway system.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Okay, so our addressable market size would be INR 7,000 crores, right? As per our understanding.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, yes.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Okay. Thank you, sir. I actually joined the call late. Sorry for the interruption.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

That's fine. That's fine. That's fine, Viraj. Thank you.

Viraj Mithani
Owner, Jupiter Financial

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the last reminder. Any participants who ask questions, please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Yes, sir. One clarification. If one has to understand the total bid pipeline that we have, do you compile any number that is there? This is the big pipeline that is there for us. And one parallel question to this is when in the third quarter, we have won almost INR 800 crores kind of orders. So what is the total bid amount that we have placed orders for, and we got eventually INR 800 crores? Just wanted to understand how the bid ratios are.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Very interesting question, Vishal. Actually, it all depends. Because internally, we keep on mustering various tenders that are afloat across various ministries and railways, etc. And that will be a big pool. But it all depends upon finding out partners, finding out right OEMs, and our eligibility criteria, our bid capacity at that particular point in time. It's all so many parameters that go into that, which finally make us to final bid. So it is very difficult, and this number is always dynamic on a daily basis because so many new orders, new tenders keep floating, etc. So that is a pipeline asset. This much we can't say.

But one thing I can mention is that it could be somewhere around 4:1. If I participate in four tenders, if I get 25% winning rate also, it is an extremely good marker. But that is not the case with many of the public sectors because everyone is competing for the same pie, similar kind of projects. So somewhere around 15% winning rate, winning strike rate is a very good, decent marker. We are striving for that. This much I can say.

Vishal Periwal
Equity Analyst of Infrastructure and Utilities, Antique Stock Broking

Okay, okay. Sure, sir. Sure. That's all from my side, sir. Thank you.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Right, Vishal. Thank you, and once again, to the organizers, I just wanted to inform you. Mr. Vishal just reached. Obviously, he was on travel. He rushed from the airport to attend this call to wish you all. I will just hand over the call to Sanjai Kumar, sir, our CMD.

Sanjai Kumar
CEO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

So very good morning, everyone. I'm sorry I could not attend this call from the beginning. But I'm sure that our Director of Finance must have satisfied all your queries. I wish you all a very happy New Year since we are talking for the first time in this new calendar year. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parimal Mithani from Credential Investments. Please go ahead.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Yeah. Sir, can you hear me?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yes, Mr. Mithani. Please.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Sir, I just wanted to clarification on Kavach, basically. Is it safe that Kavach will be bid by RailTel, or it will be through this JV with Quadrant Future Tek, the contract? Can you just clarify on that?

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

We have a partnership with Quadrant. We have an understanding.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Okay. So.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Quadrant, we keep.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Sorry, sir. Go ahead, please.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Yeah. They are our original equipment manufacturers. Partnership is there with us. So in the tenders, we keep participating along with Quadrant.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Okay. So in addition to the previous, one of the analysts asked a question. The addressable side for you as alone will be INR 7,000, or it will be combined both with the INR 7,000? Just a clarification I wanted.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

No. This is the rollout by railways. We are expecting railway will rollout tenders, say, around INR 7,000 crores in the next coming two to three years. That is our expectation.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Okay. Thank you. Applause is all.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Parimal Mithani
Proprietor, Credential Investments

Thank you. As there are no further questions with this, we will now conclude the call. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

V. Rama Manohara Rao
Director of Finance and CFO, RailTel Corporation of India Limited

Thank you so much.

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