Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management, I would like to welcome you all to the Q3 FY 2025 Earnings Call of Ramkrishna Forgings. I would like to thank the management for giving us this opportunity. From the management team, we have with us today Mr. Naresh Jalan, Managing Director. Mr. Chaitanya Jalan, Full-Time Director. Mr. Lalit Kumar Khetan, Full-Time Director and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Milesh Gandhi, Full-Time Director, Marketing. And Mr. Rajesh Mundhra, Vice President, Finance and Company Secretary. Before we begin, may I remind you of Safe Harbor? The management may be making some forward-looking statements that have to be understood in conjunction with the uncertainties and the risks the company faces. I shall now hand over the call to Mr. Lalit Kumar Khetan for opening remarks. Over to you, Lalit, sir.
Thank you. Good evening and best wishes to all participants for a happy and prosperous New Year. Amid continued macroeconomic challenges, I am pleased to report a robust performance for the third quarter. The demand for light vehicles and two-wheelers remains encouraging in both domestic and international markets, though demand for commercial vehicles has moderated comparatively. Despite the moderation in CV demand, we have achieved strong volume growth driven by increased business share across several customers and momentum from new component pipelines. We are able to achieve this due to focus on value-added products and excellence in product engineering. Our strategies focus on diversification and continue to move ahead. We are excited to share that our offerings for two-wheelers and passenger vehicles are set to launch in the upcoming period, adding further growth avenues in the automotive sector while reducing our current high dependence on the commercial vehicles.
The quarter has seen further progress on integration and capacity ramp-up of our recently acquired subsidiaries, including tying up of financing. These efforts will result in enhancement of capacity in Forgings while adding capabilities in Castings, allowing us to diversify beyond predominantly Forging-based business. We have already announced that Aluminum Forging Facility of JMT Auto Limited at Jamshedpur in the last quarter. This initiative will cater to the electric vehicle segment, forming a foundation for our plant to address opportunity in this segment. Additionally, we are going to commence very shortly the cold forging capability of 25,000 tons, and in the very near term, cold forging capability of 40,000 tons. In the North America region, Ramkrishna Forgings Mexico has also commenced its operation, positioning it as a strategic hub to serve our international business in the region.
As previously indicated to you all, we expect growth momentum to accelerate in the second half of next year or to start in the next financial year. Our initiative, including diversification within the automotive sector and steady expansion into non-automotive segments such as oil and gas, railways, and farm equipment, positions us well for balanced and sustained growth. To summarize it, growth drivers in the near and medium term will be the new products, new customers, new verticals being served, and new capacities. Now, let me share our financial performance highlighted for the third quarter of financial year 2024-2025. Revenue for the quarter, consolidated revenue for the quarter, is INR 1,073.78 crore, representing year-on-year growth of 8% in value terms and 13.9% in volume terms. Consolidated turnover for the nine-month period is INR 3,086.89 crore versus INR 2,730 crores. That is a 13% growth on a year-on-year basis.
Due to increase in raw material prices, the realization for the nine-month period is lower by 3%. Otherwise, the revenue for this nine-month period may have been higher by 3% in this period. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 231.52 crore on a consolidated basis versus INR 219.72 crore, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year. EBITDA margin stood at 21.6%, which is moderated by almost 30 basis points from the previous quarter. This is mainly due to the expenditure incurred by the company in its Mexico subsidiary, which has just started operations. The expenditure, and that's almost a five-fold expenditure on the Mexico. Otherwise, EBITDA could have been higher by five-fold in this quarter. Consolidated EBITDA for the nine-month period is INR 668 crore versus INR 607 crore on a year-on-year basis. That is a 10% increase on a year-on-year basis.
Profit after tax is INR 99.61 crore in Q3 FY 2025 compared to INR 86.86 crore. That is again a 14.7% increase year-on-year basis. Just one financial highlight, the company has also got a AA stable rating from CRISIL during the quarter and for long-term debt and A1+ for the short-term debt. Our leverage remains comfortable with adequate headroom to support our growth plan. With that, I conclude my remarks and would like to hand over to my colleague Milesh, who will provide an update on our recent business. Over to Milesh.
Thank you, Lalit ji. We have secured orders during the quarter for INR 697 crores to be executed over a period of four years. It has mainly come from the non-auto sector. That's from my side.
Thank you, Milesh. Pradeep, you can now take it forward and open the house for the Q&A.
Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset 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 Chirag Shah from White Pine Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Congratulations for a good set of numbers in this tough environment. My first question is with respect to slide 41, where we have shown almost 50% increase in installed capacity by end of 2025. I just wanted to understand, based on the current demand environment, plus the new business orders that you expect, by when can we see the optimum utilization of this incremental capacity? And if you can throw more color in terms of granularity, how do you look at this utilization?
Our FY 2021 capacity addition, whatever is happening, basically it is in different forms: forging, casting, every. I think Lalit in his opening statement also has said that the capacity addition is across subsidiaries and parent in terms of RKFL, and we have assured businesses whatever new order wins we have had. And this capacity which has been put up has already been declared in different times in past quarters of 8,000-ton press, cold forging, which is now going to start in this month onwards. And similarly, addition of casting plant of 30,000-ton capacity, which has already been informed to Stock Exchange. We have order pipelines accordingly. New order wins which have been announced is basically catering to this capacity itself.
My question was, so over two years, can we assume that utilization can happen? Because it will not happen at one go, right? Once you start, have the capacity by March 2025, it will take some time for you to stabilize and then ramp it up.
No, in fact, we are estimating this capacity is to be up and running, and I think capacity utilization in a staggered manner is going to be utilized. I think we are looking at almost getting to 80% plus utilization by last quarter of FY 2026.
Last quarter, so that basically means almost 30%-35% kind of potential volume growth in 2027. That's how, if the demand environment supports.
We are looking at almost 15%-20%, 15% to be precise. We are looking at approximately 15% year-on-year growth for next two years.
Next two years. This is helpful. And the second question is on the profitability. See, I understand margins, but in general, we turn per ton basis or per kg basis. Is there scope to further increase our profitability? I'm not focusing on EBITDA margin as such, percentage-wise, but given the way the quality of product is improving for us, the traditional EBITDA per ton profit metric that we had, can that be a significant improvement?
Chirag, this quarter itself, our gross margins have been much better than the previous quarter. If you calculate and see the margins, they have improved considerably. And going forward also, gross margins is going to continuously. It's a continuous effort. Maybe it may not happen every quarter, but you will see significant expansion in margins, in gross margins in coming quarters and years.
Yeah. And sir, last question, if I can, or a suggestion, sir. Now that our focus is on consolidated performance and the share of standalone is likely to keep on reducing in overall scheme of things, in the presentation, if you can figure out a way of giving a consolidated volume data, operational volume data, it would be helpful, sir. Because in all our discussion, we focus on consolidated performance, and our presentation is more about standalone volumetric data. So if possible, over a period of time, if you can just figure out how you can add the volume data of the subsidiaries or on consolidated basis, it would be helpful, sir.
Sure, we will try and do it.
Thank you very much. And all the best.
The next question is from the line of Shaleen Kumar from UBS. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Naresh ji, can we get a status on the ACIL units? Are they operational or what?
ACIL business.
Yeah, ACIL business, sir. Two units.
ACIL business, I think from this quarter onwards, the current quarter as we speak, is going to start making profits. I think till last quarter, it was not making profits. We had incurred, I think, in last quarter about almost around INR 5 crore losses for that. But most of our products in two-wheeler and as well as farm equipment have been approved as we approached the end of December. This quarter onwards, almost with RKFL own forging, this subsidiary is going to start performing and is supposed to do well. We are expecting quarter on quarter at least a growth of almost 25%-30% in terms of top line and significant improvement in bottom line from this company.
25%-30% growth in ACIL unit or RKFL growth?
Yes.
Sir, any sense of how much ACIL has done?
ACIL in last quarter, I think, did INR 16 crore. This quarter, we are expecting in absolute terms to be as closer to INR 30 crore, around anything between 27-30, we should be there. Next year, we are looking at a considerable growth because of full year performance. We should be somewhere around in ACIL, around INR 200 crore plus.
This is both the plants you're talking about or only one plant?
Only one plant is there, yes.
Manesar?
Manesar is the only one plant ACIL.
The Jamshedpur unit, sir?
Jamshedpur does not have ACIL plant.
Maybe new unit. I want to get the status on the new unit of Jamshedpur plant. What's the scene over there on plant number eight?
Plant number eight is the casting plant which we are setting up. I think that is going to be up and running since April 2025 onwards. The capacity is going to go into production. And we have a strong order book of castings from there. And we are looking at almost by third quarter to reach 70% utilization from that capacity. And by last quarter, we should be doing almost to the tune of 85%-90% utilization from this capacity.
What kind of revenue are we looking at in this?
We are going to show machined casting. So I think Lalit can tell you the average realization should be close to around INR 130-INR 135 per metric ton in terms of casting. Lalit, if I'm right, please.
Sorry, it's a little more equal to somewhere around INR 150.
INR 150 per metric ton is going to be the, and that is what we are looking at from that capacity next year.
Got it. Got it. Sir, there is a big fall in our export volume sequentially. Is it largely because of the auto side, CV side?
No, sir. Shaleen, every year, if you see, because being a Christmas New Year month, there is a 15-day holiday. So we get only two and a half months of working. So basically, that is, and that is a phenomenon every year. It starts from first quarter, second quarter, because we operate from April to March. They operate from January to December. So end of December, 15 days, probably there is practically no offtake or dispatches. So accordingly, we need to readjust our dispatches of inventories. And that's every year, if you see our exports. The strongest quarter for us is the current quarter which is going on. And the last quarter, means December, third quarter for us is the leanest quarter.
Leanest quarter.
Yes.
Got it. Last question. I have many more, but let me ask the last question, and then I'll go back in the queue. So can we get a little bit more color on the new order book which you talked about, some INR 600 crore plus, which is non-auto? So in terms of which segment, which geography, any more sense on that?
It is mostly, I think, Milesh, are you there?
When I stated that we have received this INR 697 crore order book during this quarter, INR 600 crores has come from the mining and earth-moving segment. Around INR 54 crores have come from oil and gas segment, and around INR 43 crores have come from railway segment.
So this mining segment, is it domestic or export?
This is complete export.
Complete export. Okay. Just last, last question before I go back in the queue. Sir, trailer axle, how much it has contributed to the run rate, etc.?
Shaleen, the trailer axle this quarter is about INR 28 crores.
Almost INR 10 crore per month.
This quarter, INR 28 crores.
Oh, okay. Okay.
Shaleen, to be more substantive on trailer axle, I think we are doing extremely well. We are looking at almost doubling our sales from trailer axle in the coming financial year. I think this sector is doing extremely well. Our product launches have been extremely good. Product has been well accepted by the market. In nine months of sales, we have reached quarterly sales of around INR 27-28 crores. We are looking at almost doubling the sales in the coming financial year.
INR 200 crore plus, yes?
Yes. We are looking at almost doubling our sales next year from this sector.
Okay. This is very encouraging, sir. I'll go back in the queue, sir. I have a few more questions that other parts to ask. Thank you so much, sir, for the opportunity.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kanchi Shah from MC Research. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. So is it possible that you can give us the breakup of revenue segment-wise, like how much was from the commercial vehicle, passenger vehicle, non-auto, etc.?
No, I think we have in our presentation, given the details in auto, non-auto, we have given the entire breakup, like domestic auto, railways, mining, and miscellaneous. And in exports, we have given auto and oil and gas and others. So basically, in auto, it is difficult for us to break up into PV, LV, and all these sectors.
Okay. Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vijay Pandey from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my questions. Sir, I have two questions. One was I wanted to check on what is your long-term view on the exports? What is your target, especially coming from the auto sector in the export segment? It has been slightly declining, and we know that auto sector in general outside India has been on declining trend. So just wanted to check, are you planning to move to increase share in other segments in the export?
Our continuous endeavor is to continuously improve in terms of all the segments, but I don't see a decline in terms of our exports to our auto sector. We continue to gain new orders, new segments within the auto sector, and continue our vision of growing our exports into automotive plus non-automotive. With the new automotive order wins, we are growing our business in export, but that does not mean that in any way our exports to automotive segments have declined. I think if you only see the month-on-month of the third quarter, but I don't see that there is a decline in terms of our fourth quarter exports to auto segment. In nine months, we have done almost last year we did 37.4% in terms of our automotive export. This year, we have done almost 37.8% automotive exports.
So I think we are well on track with the growing top line. We are maintaining our percentage in terms of overall contribution in revenue.
Just to add here, we have done an export of INR 1,172 crore for the nine months versus INR 1,070 crore for the previous year. So there is a growth of almost 9.5% in the current year in the exports revenue. And that is mainly consisting of exports, auto only.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. And sir, can you just – I just wanted to confirm about the pricing, the average realization, if you can just guide us how it looks like, how the realization will look for the fourth quarter and for FY 2026. Is it going to be broadly in line, or do you expect to increase it?
No, I think right now, it is very difficult to comment. Realization is directly linked to raw material pricing, and it will depend on how the raw material steel continues to perform, and if steel declines, I don't think there is going to be any decline. We are mainly concentrated on our conversion margin, and I think in terms of our conversion margin, we are keeping on increasing, and that's the reason our realization still remains intact. While there is a raw material decrease last quarter, our realization has not much impacted in terms of the overall drop in steel prices.
In the case of the steel prices, we will be able to pass on the price increase.
Yes, sir.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhrumil Wani from Girik Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Hello, team. Dhaval Shah this side. Sir, great strong numbers. Congratulations. Only one question I have. If you can help us understand the cost-saving initiative which we had taken by onboarding a consultant. So how is that progressing? And are the benefits getting lost in the other operational expenses which we are doing for our expansion plus Mexico and plus other subsidiary investment? So net of that, where is the cost-saving benefit visible on the P&L? Hello?
So Dhaval, I see the cost-saving benefits are continuing. And the result will certainly come in the P&L in the upcoming year as they are exercised in the means of already at a quite advanced stage and progress. So just wait for some time, then we will elaborate more on that.
Got it, sir. And just one more. This utilization about 80% by the fourth quarter of next year, you mentioned the console level. Am I correct?
No, it is for the casting plant.
Of the casting plant. Okay.
Yes, which we are just setting up the capacity.
Okay, and the expanded capacity, which is 392 including subsidiary, on that utilization, what you had commented?
392 includes casting facility. So right now, casting facility capacity is 266,000 tons. And that is going to move to 392,000 tons. So individually, I think in terms of casting capacity, 62,000 tons, we are looking at almost 80 plus percent utilization in the coming year. And in forging, we are looking at almost 15% growth in the coming year from where we end this year.
On the forging side. So currently, since the consolidated volume is not mentioned, so the existing forging is only 4,000, right, in the subsidiary under RKCSL?
Yes, correct. RKCSL, we have only 4,000 forging capability right now. 18,000 is under commissioning. So this will also be forging.
Okay. So, there we have started the production. Out of this 4,000, how much did we lose?
Yeah, yeah. So if you look at the precise number, I understand, Dhaval. I don't have the exact number. We have produced around 500-600 tons of forging in this quarter.
This quarter. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I'm done with the question.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Devvrat Mohta from Capital International. Please go ahead.
Hi Naresh. Just one quick question. I wanted to understand between Q2 and Q3, on a consolidated basis, EBITDA did not really grow a lot. What's happening on a quarter-on-quarter basis? Why has it not grown?
No, EBITDA has grown, Devrat. I think if you see the overall expense side, there are few things which are not if you see the raw material decrease, which has happened in this quarter, is basically close to around INR 3,000 per metric ton in the domestic side and in export close to around INR 4,500 per metric ton, which has hit our inventory available with us, plus the warehouse and what was material in transit. So all this has been accounted for in this. And second is our other expenses, which have gone up by almost INR 13 crores, which includes around INR 7 crores is on account of labor wages, means the blue-collar laborers, which are basically contractual laborers,
the minimum wages which has gone up in India for that, and plus INR 6 crores for the expenses which we incurred for setting up our entire booth in Hannover Messe. So all these taken together, if you see, the overall impact has been close to around 2.5% of the EBITDA which we could have got in case these expenses would not have been there.
Mileshji, how much would be the impact from just this inventory QOQ inventory impact on the consolidated basis? Just the inventory, not the Hannover and labor cost?
Inventory hit is close to what is the exact inventory quantum hit?
So it will be somewhere around, sir, 12-13 crores value terms.
Got it. Got it. And this is basically you are saying that it's your pass-through?
Labor wages, Hannover, and this taken together is close to around 2% of the EBITDA, basically. That is what we feel. 2.5%.
So the labor wages are a recurring thing, right? That will happen even next year.
No, no, that is not a recurring thing. Basically, what happens is there was a substantial VDA increase in this quarter. Because of election, it was not there for six months, and suddenly, in the month of October, the back effect was given, and from first October, it was increased, so entirely came in one quarter at one stroke.
So, then this will not recur next quarter, for example, is it?
In the current quarter, it will not recur.
So this was INR 6 crores one time because of whatever reason, there was INR 6 crores extra cost.
Yeah. And our fair also is the one-time expense which happens only once in three years.
Got it. Okay. Understood. And so you're saying basically all of these three things put together is about 2% of EBITDA margin?
Yes, what we feel.
Understood. And in this your forex loss that you have, you basically explain that steel is a pass-through, effectively a pass-through. And so you then.
So, one month we have to pass on.
You pass it on, so then you so on whatever inventory that you have, you take a write-down. But when you sell it, it's already sold at a particular. I mean, can you explain the contract a little bit, just exactly how it works?
No, basically, material which is in sea and in my warehouse in Europe or LLC in RKFL. LLC is the warehouse which we have in U.S. Whatever inventory is sitting there, on the day we invoice, that is the day the rate is applicable, whether it is increase or decrease. So we need to take a hit in the inventory, plus whatever material, like two months inventory for all the exports. In some cases, it is 30 days. Some cases, it is 40 days. We need to maintain inventory in our plant to basically adjust to ramp up or ramp down. So that inventory also gets a beating on that.
But supposing, for example, if you buy steel at ₹100 and you sell it at I mean, the day the sale is made, steel is at ₹98, that ₹2 inventory that is sitting in your books, you take a hit on it. But with the customers, my question is really, eventually, you get paid for this or you don't get paid for it?
No, if there is a steel decrease, if in INR 100, if there is a INR 3 steel decrease, then INR 3 I get paid on INR 97. And if there is a INR 3 increase, I get paid whether I bought it at INR 100, I'll get it INR 103. So either side, if there is an increase, I get paid extra. And if there is a reduction, it will get deducted.
Understood. Okay. Fine. And this is basically on whatever steel that you have, which is either lying in your godown or it's on the sea, basically.
Yes.
Got it. Okay. Perfect. Thank you, sir. So basically, adjusting for this, your EBITDA should have been roughly, I mean, INR 20 crores higher, INR 20 to 25 crores higher, if you can say.
22 crores higher, roughly.
Got it. Perfect. Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Viral Shah from ENAM Holdings. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first, just want to check on the net debt number. What would that be at the end of the quarter?
Net debt number is 1,244 at the end of quarter.
Okay, so it's flat, largely on a quarter-on-quarter basis?
No, so it's up by almost to 54 quarter-on-quarter.
This is the consolidated number, right?
I was talking about the console number is somewhere around 1,504.
Okay. Sir, secondly, can you just throw some light on the working capital? How is it? I think in the previous quarter, it was slightly elevated. So how are you seeing working capital coming along?
No, I think it is still elevated, Viral, because right now, because of the Red Sea issues, transits, whatever were delayed, it still remains. I think this quarter, we will see a fairly good reduction in the lead times.
Okay. So where do you see this debt number by the end of the quarter? Because.
I think it will be flattish.
It will remain flattish.
Yes. It is elevated because of the data. I think by the year-end, it will get to flattish, financial year-end.
When you mean flattish, it will remain at this level? Is that?
No. I think we are looking at close to around 1,240 consolidated debt levels by the year-end.
Okay. Sir, second, just a clarification on the casting announcement that you made. So in one of the slides, you have said that your capacity by the year-end will be 392,000, including casting capacity expansion from 33,600 to 62,400. Does this number include the 30,000 expansion also, or this does not include?
No, this includes the 30,000 tons capacity, which we are planning to put up.
But so just mathematically, if I subtract 62,000 over.
There is a little adjustment there. It has to be 63,000 tons. There is an error in printing. It has to be 63,600 at the rate of 62,400.
1,200 tons by mistake has got missed out.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Fine. Fine. Fine. Okay. Okay. Yeah. This is all. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Khush Nahar from Electrum PMS. Please go ahead.
Hi sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, you're audible.
Yeah. So my first question was, so I see that in the last three quarters, our gross margin increased substantially to 58%-57%. So can you what are the major attributes for this increase in gross margin compared to our earlier years?
No, basically, the addition of new portfolios which are coming in, like trailer axle, suspension, and all these items which we have started and majorly moving into large assemblies is helping us to improve our gross margins.
So going ahead, we see further improvement? What kind of sustainable EBITDA margins we can do?
I think it is not going to be every quarter, to be precise. But yes, for the full year, next year, we are looking at substantial improvement.
In our EBITDA margins?
In our gross margins.
Gross margins. Okay. And so any particular reason that appreciation is a bit lower than last quarter, quarter 3 of 2024 versus 2025?
On the EBITDA margin? No, depreciation.
Absolute depreciation.
Absolute depreciation. There was a correction last year. If you look at the last year, we did the adjustment in the machining life. Machine asset life, we have increased the useful life. That was done in March 2024 number. So that's why it is quarter-on-quarter. If you look at year-on-year, it looks a bit crazy. Otherwise, quarter-on-quarter is increasing. So it has gone down from the March 2024 quarter.
So the current level is a sustainable quarterly run rate?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Appreciation.
Yes.
All right, so thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Gupta and individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello there. Thank you for this opportunity. I first of all wanted to inquire about the current estimated go-live dates of the various plants. So we have the 25,000 cold forging line and the 1,450 that I'm guessing we are saying should come up this quarter. Is that right?
It is going to come up in this month itself. We have already submitted our samples, and already we have started manufacturing samples. Once we start serial production, which probably I think is going to be in this month itself, we are looking at almost by last week of this month to go live in cold forging.
As well as the 1,450?
1,450 means?
There's a 1,450 forging plant.
It is also under commissioning. A certain capacity of 1,450 is also under commissioning. This will also commence within this quarter.
This quarter.
Understood. And can you give similar go-lives for the 40,000 hot forging aluminum, the 18,000?
I think the 8,000 tons and aluminum forging both are going to go live by July coming year. Sorry, in this current year, by July.
Correct. July 25.
Okay. July 25.
For the subsidiaries, we have an 18,000 forging capacity and a 28,000 casting capacity.
18,000 tons forging is going to go live in this quarter itself by the end of this quarter in the subsidiary. And in casting, it is going to go live by April 2025, almost about 80% of the capacity, and balance is going to go live by July 2025. So the capacity expansion from 266,750 to 392,000 plus, almost by July, we are going to be done with all these things, and the entire capacity is going to be in place.
Understood. And the old expansion in the subsidiary of 28,800 is now what we are the same thing that we are now saying is a 30,000 capacity increase. I'm just ensuring.
Yes.
Okay. Understood. And just one, and on the same thing, like on the 25,000 cold forging, I think from about a year ago, we have been saying that we are fully booked in advance in terms of order for this capacity. And in spite of that, we have delayed this plant by almost a year. So.
No, I think we have not delayed the plant. It is basically because of the Red Sea issue. First of all, the plant came in three months delayed. And because of the kind of automation and complexity it is to establish the plant, the equipment manufacturer took almost six months' time. And now, for since December, we are already making samples and other things. We are going to go live, like by this, confidently telling you, by the month end, January end, we are going to start serial production. And any new project or any new technology which we bring in sometimes have their own complications. And that's the reason it takes more than estimated time. That is what has happened over here.
Understood, sir, and just one last question from my side. Because of the current uncertainties around trade regulations, particularly for the U.S., any thought work that we might have ongoing for our Mexico plant? And earlier as well, we had mentioned that we might invest more over there from a CapEx point of view. Just wanted to hear what your thoughts are on the same.
No, I think our Mexico operations are going as per plan. I think it's slightly delayed, but it is on track, and we are expecting that to go full on in the coming year, and we have already received almost a $5 million new order of conversion over there in our Mexico operations, so we are looking at it. This is an exciting opportunity in Mexico, but regarding these trade issues, which after the regime change, we are hearing a lot of things, but I think it is whatever we are manufacturing in Mexico will be sold by us within Mexico, and I don't know what my customers ultimately are going to do with the product, how they are going to take it to U.S., or what they are going to do, so I am not much of concern with that.
I would not like to comment also in that.
Makes sense. And just on the same line, a lot of our growth over the last few years has been export-based. And so on similar lines, do you foresee what's your thought process on risks or challenges that might come from these?
No, I think not only in exports. We have grown both domestically and both in exports. And I think in the opening statement of Lalit as well as my statement in the presentation, we have very well highlighted our next level of growth from PV and two-wheelers in the domestic segment and the farm equipments are going to be one of the biggest catalysts for growth in the coming few quarters and as well as coming couple of years. And as well as the non-auto segment, new order wins which have happened in North America to the tune of close to around INR 600 crores. So obviously, all these things taken together, we are very confident of our performance both in export and the domestic segment.
Makes sense. Thank you so much for your time. This is very helpful.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manav Shah from Nuvama Wealth. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Just one question. Can you share the order wins for the quarter and the breakdown of it?
I think all of it is already there in our presentation, and I think Milesh is also in his opening statement. Milesh, can you again elaborate it?
Yeah. So in this quarter, a INR 697 crore order book has been received to be executed over a period of four years, in which I specified INR 600 crores came for an export order for mining and earth-moving industry. INR 54 crores came from oil and gas. And from railways, we got a INR 43 crore order book.
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Chirag Shah from White Pine Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for this opportunity again. Lalit Ji, just one question on this INR depreciation. If you can help us understand, how does it help us? Because there is a reasonable depreciation of late. So we must be doing some forward contracts. So when does the benefit start flowing in P&L?
Chirag, see, you are talking about the foreign exchange gain, basically.
Yes. Yes.
So suddenly, it is helping us, and see, we have a policy of hedging the exports also, so we have a policy of hedging our 50%-60% exports. But simultaneously, we have the import. We have the packing credit also that offsets also some of our gains, so we are consistently gaining on that. But the currency is very volatile, but we are keeping us quite on the edge and monitoring it, and for the nine months, we have gained INR 20 crore in the absolute terms in the currency, negating all the import factor also. So net gain for the nine months is about INR 20 crore on the currency side, and we hope to continue with the currency gains every quarter.
So, sir, in a very simple way, if the recent INR depreciation stays at least for over one month, the benefit of that will be visible six months down the line, right?
That will be visible. But Chirag, that will be somewhat offset with the import obligations we have.
Chirag, also, this is basically entire currency gain is not with us. Every quarter, our price is reset also with the currency adjustment, plus minus 5%. So entire is not coming to our kitty. So our exports become more competitive for our customer, and imports for them is more competitive. And the currency, basically, if you see the devaluation which has happened, it has happened globally for all currencies. So to basically compete with our customer, we cannot expect the entire currency gain to come to our balance sheet. Otherwise, we will not be able to get new businesses from our customer looking into the competition which we have globally.
No, sir, absolutely good strategy. Perfect strategy. And sir, one last clarification. Recently, there was an announcement of creation of SPV for railway wheel. So is it the same in continuation to the earlier JV that we had, or this is something over and above that?
No, no. It is in continuation to the JV we have. Basically, the railway wheel contract has been assigned to the SPV. And now the SPV has taken up the manufacturing of the wheels.
So the SPV means JV, right? The JV that wheel.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. And all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vidrum Mehta from ASK Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. So firstly, can you help us with the Q3 revenue for subsidiaries? That is Multitech and JMT.
Certainly, Vikram. So see, 952 is the revenue for the company. And if you look at the JMT, JMT revenue was somewhere around, sorry, INR 42 crore. And ACIL is 16, and Multitech is somewhere around INR 100 crore. So that's the revenue. But there is an elimination also within the group because of the inter-related party. So that's why it is around 1073 on the consolidated number.
Okay. Sir, you alluded to the fact that in your opening remarks that the CV demand is relatively moderated or muted, and you expect the recovery from H2, so just wanted to understand, is it H2 of FY 2026 or H2 probably of CY 2025?
No, no. I think to be precise, we are already seeing a limited demand from this quarter in the commercial vehicle, and what Lalit wanted to basically more elaborate that we are expecting the calendar year, second half of this calendar year, to be precisely very robust, seeing all the election and other things being over and budget also over, so we feel that post the budget allocation and everything, the demand is going to be extremely elevated in the commercial vehicle sector.
So what kind of growth do we envision?
No, in terms of RKFL, we are looking at almost 15% year-on-year volume growth in the coming year also, and if you see precisely overall in the consolidated level, we have in the volume terms, we have almost had 13% growth, and we still feel that in this quarter, post closure of this quarter, we should be almost 15% plus, which we had envisaged when we started the year, so we will be 15% plus in terms of our volume growth, and next year also, we are looking at 15% plus growth year-on-year.
Sir, on the consolidated basis, I agree. But I guess this year, we are consolidating some of the subsidiaries, and that is why the volume looks higher. But.
No, I think in subsidiaries, if you see in the subsidiaries, I think ACIL does not have forgings. JMT has minuscule forging right now. Like Lalit has said, only 500 tons of forging. In Multitech, casting, we have done extremely well. We have increased our casting. If you see the overall full-year results, we have been able to achieve in nine months, almost in nine months. So we have been able to ramp up everywhere.
Sir, what I was referring is, I guess, when we were guiding for 15%-20% volume growth, it was more to do with the standalone volumes, which we were referring to. You can correct me if I'm wrong. And for the nine months, roughly, we have grown by 7% on the volume front.
No, in RKFL on a standalone basis, I think we have grown almost by 8.5%, Lalit.
Yeah, around 8%. Only 8%.
Only 8% in terms of RKFL on a standalone basis, and this is mainly due to, I think, our cold forging getting delayed and as well as slight subdued demand in the domestic market. If cold forging would have started, I think, which we had guided to start in month of September, we would have added almost 6,000 tons volume in the last third quarter, so cold forging, which has not started, has eliminated almost 6,000 tons of forging from there, from a capacity of 24,000 tons, which we are setting up.
Vikram, being the fourth quarter, we see a significant uptick in terms of RKFL standalone because cold forging is getting started and volume will be more. So we will be suddenly getting a much better uptick.
Yeah. And the trailer axle revenue, you said INR 28 crores, will be for Q3, and that will be part of standalone, correct?
Yes, part of standalone.
So if I adjust that, probably the growth looks very subdued. Because last year in Q3, trailer axle was not a part of our business, right?
Lalit?
Yeah. Can you repeat the question? I missed the question, please.
Trailer axle revenue is INR 28 crores for Q3. That is a part of standalone business. If I adjust that, the growth for the standalone looks flattish because last year, trailer axle was not a part of our business.
To be precise, I think trailer axle also requires forging. So forging capacity is the key. So forging capacity is your utilization over. From there, only the forgings are going to come.
The trailer axle tonnage also is added in our tonnage. If you look at the current quarter tonnage, Vikram, domestic volume is 30,000 tons in the quarter, then 27,000 tons for the previous quarter, and 28,000 tons for the current quarter. You can see the increase in tonnage that includes trailer axle. That is part of domestic sales, previous quarter also, this quarter also. What we see, the INR 570 crore of sales over INR 537, that includes both the quarter trailer axle.
Right. Sir, CapEx number for 25 would be INR 650 odd crores, which last time you had guided, or will it change because of this new capacity expansion plan?
Little bit due to that expenditure, and that will be added on the casting plant. Otherwise, that will be near to that.
For 26, how much should we assume?
So give us some time. We will update on the next phone call for the FY 2026 because a lot of things are happening. We'll give you a correct update on that for FY 2026.
But I think, Vidrum, next year, with almost all the projects getting whatever we are adding, is going to get completed by July. We don't see significant CapEx happening in next year.
Okay. Okay.
There is going to be, I think, this whatever capacity we are putting in is going to be for next two years more than enough. Any capacity addition which is going to significantly happen is going to happen only in FY 2027. So FY 2026, we don't see any significant except these projects which are up and running and to get completed by July this year.
Sir, lastly, can you share the cumulative order book which you have in your books right now, which is to be executed over the next three, four-year period? What would be that number?
So for this quarter, we have already communicated as to what is the order in which we have. But I think it's time to ask for a holistic view, right? Holistic? I think in last two quarters, what we have got, he's asking for the total order book.
Yeah. So in last quarter, if you see, we had communicated we got a INR 1,522 crore order book to be executed over a period of four years, in which basically a good chunk of around INR 1,475 crores came from North America, around INR 47 crore business from India. And in this quarter, we have got INR 697, in which around INR 600 crores is against for exports market for mining and earth-moving industry, and INR 54 crore from oil and gas, and INR 43 crore from railways. So I think you can add upon 1,522 plus 697 is what we have been able to get the order book.
These are the new businesses.
For the new business.
Yes, sir. In addition to that, in Q1 also, we got orders worth INR 1,679 crores.
Yeah. INR 179 crores for the Q1. Altogether, it is INR 3,900 crores for the nine-month period.
Yeah, so I was just referring to the overall order book which you have right now in your books.
I think in order books.
Last four or six quarters, adding up all those four, six quarters.
We don't maintain this way, Vidrum. I think we basically go because once this basically are annual projections which we get from the customer, and then only for the Railways, we have a firm order book, and the rest of the order books move into a six-month scheduling system.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and all the very best for the future.
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
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