Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Steel Authority of India Q1 FY23 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vishal Chandak from Motilal Oswal. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Yeah, thank you very much, Seema. Good day, everyone, and thank you very much for joining us for the first quarter FY 2023 earnings call for Steel Authority of India Limited. I would like to thank the management of SAIL for giving us the opportunity to host them again for the earnings call. From the management, we have Shri Anil Kumar Tulsiani, Director of Finance and his team. So without much ado, I would call upon Tulsiani to start with his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Yeah. Thanks, Vishal. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the investor conference on the financial results for Q1 financial year 2022-23 of SAIL. I would briefly take you through the results of the company before we take up the questions. This was a challenging quarter causing profits to slide for numerous steel companies, not just in India, but abroad as well. Let me start with the economic scenario. The global economy has been thrown into a battle with inflationary forces across the globe and the governments all around are tightening their respective fiscal policies, which is likely to impact the GDP growth rates in the coming years. Agencies like IMF and World Bank have started revising the projected GDP for various economies downwards.
IMF, which came out with the world economic scenario in last week of July, has reduced their GDP forecast to 3.2% in financial year 2022 from the earlier projection of 3.6% for the entire world. The rate is expected to further slow down to 2.9% in 2023. The major advanced economies, which include countries like U.S., Germany, Japan, U.K., France, etc., are all seeing projected growth rates curtailed significantly. The emerging economies are faring only slightly better than their advanced counterparts. The uncertainty relating to fresh waves of COVID, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, bringing in further bad news for the inflationary forces, which have already been around and taking a toll on the government policies.
Coming to India, the economy is placed much better and set to grow in the range of 7%-7.5% in financial year 2023. In the various reports like IMF, World Bank projections, RBI, MPC, etc. This is likely to keep India amongst the fastest growing major economies. The domestic industries will, however, have to guard themselves. Now, coming to the steel industry, the global steel industry has seen a decline in the demand and corresponding realization for past few months. With China seemingly cutting down its production in the wave of environmental concerns, it has had an impact on the prices of iron ore. The coking coal, which earlier saw unprecedented high prices during February to May following the Russia-Ukraine war, saw a substantial reduction in its prices from June and July onwards.
The prices which had soared to as high as $670-$680 for HCC have now come down to around $200 levels. The forces of inflation, uncertainty, et c., have all had a negative impact on the global steel industry, especially the flat products. The impact has percolated to the Indian markets as well. The prices of steel, which were at peak during April, have considerably declined, with flat products feeling relatively much greater adverse impacts than the longs since it is guided by the international market. In the long segment, secondary sector players play a major role and uses thermal coal for its EAF-DRI route. The prices of thermal coal have not come down much as compared to the coking coal, which has kept the prices of longs relatively in a better position.
Now, coming to the company performance. The company has clocked its best ever production during the quarter as compared to the Q1 of previous years. The numbers of Q1, financial year 2023 vis-à-vis CPLY are as follows. Crude steel current quarter production is 4.33 and Q1 financial year 2022 is of 3.77. The sales, however, are a bit lower at 3.15 million ton as compared to 3.33 million ton in Q1 financial year 2022. Sales have been affected due to lower exports during the quarter. However, the home sales has seen a growth compared to CPLY. The financial performance has seen a growth in the top line, whereas the profitability has taken a hit in line with the industry trends.
The revenue from operations is at INR 24,029 crores as compared to INR 20,642 crores in Q1 financial year 2022. The EBITDA stood at INR 2,660 crores as compared to INR 6,674 crores in Q1 financial year 2022. The PBT at 1,038 vis-à-vis INR 5,150 crores in Q1 financial year 2022.
I'm sorry to interrupt, sir. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Sir, we are losing your audio in between, sir. Could you just come a little closer to the device and speak?
Okay.
Thank you.
Vis-à-vis INR 5,145 for Q1 financial year 2022, and the PAT at INR 776 as compared to INR 3,850 crore in financial year 2022 Q1 financial year 2022. The revenue has grown higher due to higher average realization during the quarter as compared to CPLY. Profitability has been severely affected due to increase in the input costs, especially coking coal. With the coking coal prices coming down, we expect the cost of production to also correct and enable us to deliver better results in the coming quarters. With these words, I hand back to Mr. Chandak for opening the question and answer session. I'm sure you all have a lot of queries on the performance. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touchtone phone. 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. Thank you. We take the first question from the line of Mr. Amit Dixit from Edelweiss. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Good morning. Sorry, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. The first one is essentially on the finished product inventory level. So if you can let us know the finished product inventory level at the end of the quarter? Due to high inventory, is the company advancing you know maintenance shutdown or taking prolonged production cuts? What is the plan on production in Q2? That is my first question.
As regards the finished steel inventory, it's at 1.336 million tons. Regarding the production cuts, we don't have any plans of having any production cuts in the coming quarter as such.
Sir, you said 1.566-
One point three three six.
1.336. Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you. The second question is on the debt level, if you can. Earlier it used to be as a part of the debt, but this time around it is not. Just wanted to understand the gross debt level at the end of Q1. And also if you can indicate the treasury balance.
Yeah. The debt level was at INR 22,101 crore as on 32.
This is gross debt, INR 22,101 crore.
You can say that, yeah.
What about cash balance?
There's just marginal INR 30 crore or so.
Oh, okay. Sir, there has been a substantial increase in debt level. If you can quantify where. I mean, is it working capital debt or is it, I mean, some other thing?
No, it's basically the working capital debt because we had to give substantial payments for coal during this quarter. It's the basic reason for which the debt has gone up.
Okay. Fair enough, sir. Thank you. I have more question, but I will come back in the queue. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We take the next question from the line of Pinakin Parekh from JP Morgan. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much. Sir, just trying to understand the earnings trend over the next two quarters. Steel prices have fallen sharply over the last three months. First, what would be sales blended realizations today versus what the company reported in the first quarter? Similarly, what was the coking coal cost for the company in the first quarter and what is its purchase price at this point of time? When will that flow through into the P&L? Will it flow through in the September quarter or will it be in the December quarter?
Regarding the coal price, it's quite clear that the second quarter the prices will be substantially lower because basically the prices of coal which were there during the first quarter took the impact of basically the brunt of the supplies which are affected from March to May. The prices at that point of time, I mean, if you see the Platts index, it was hovering between $500-$600. Now when the prices are coming down, we will have to take some account of the month of June, which will go down till you can say middle of August. Subsequently, we will get the prices of coal will be much cheaper.
It will be in the range of around about, we can say around about $230-$240. The benefits will start accruing of that from, you can say middle of August.
Sure sir. In terms of prices, steel realizations for the, at this point of time. There's a decline around INR 12,000-INR 15,000 a ton versus what you had reported on a blended basis in first quarter. Is it higher? Is it lower?
Actually, in the month of June it was around INR 58,000. In the month of July it was around INR 1,200-INR 1,300 lower. There is a tendency to push down the prices of flats, but the longs are holding on. We expect that if this similar trend goes through for the quarter then though the results for July are not good if you see the trend, but then maybe from August onwards our performance will be better from the primary side also.
This INR 58,000 compares to what average price for the June quarter, sir?
66,666. For the June quarter it was 66,000.
Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Divyansh Kalra from Shaurya Capital. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, I had some queries about how the COGS is gonna be in Q1 and Q2. Basically you're telling that coking coal prices are gonna be lower in Q2. I think COGS per ton as of Q4 FY 2022 and Q1 FY 2023 was close to INR 35,000 per ton on a per ton basis. If coking coal prices are gonna go down, where can we expect this number to go to?
Regarding the cost of goods, we normally don't disclose that.
Okay. Can you give some guideline as to what was the coking coal prices back in Q4 FY 2022 versus Q1 FY 2023?
In Q1 2022/2023, the price of imported coal was in the range of INR 37,000-INR 38,000.
Okay.
In the Q4 of 2021/2022, it was in the range of around INR 29,000 .
Okay. Yeah, maybe 30%, 20% increase. Fine. My second question will be regarding the volume. If I compare Q4 FY 2022 with Q1 FY 2023, I think sales volume has taken a 29% hit, and realizations have in fact been very strong despite of the steel prices correcting post-COVID. Based on my calculations, the realizations have gone up from INR 65,000 to INR 72,000, based on my calculation. Can you please provide some more details as to why the volume, the reason for a significant 30% fall in volumes and stronger realization despite of so much correction in steel prices?
Basically, we should not compare the volumes of Q4 with the next quarter volumes. Because if you basically see, it's always a trend that the Q4 volumes are always high in all the industry. If we compare the volumes of this financial year as compared to the previous financial year, it's more or less hovering in the range of 3.1 to 3.3.4. It's similar volumes all throughout in the first quarter. Q4 volumes are not basically comparable. It should not be. It is always be high for the entire industry.
Is there seasonality in this, the business? Q4 volume is gonna be higher, Q4, Q1 volume gonna be the lowest. Now comparing the quarter, is this seasonality? I just wanted to understand.
I couldn't get your question. Actually, you're not audible.
Okay. The thing which I'm asking is, you're telling that I should compare the Q1 volumes of FY 2023 with FY 2022, not with Q4 FY 2022. I was asking if there is some sort of seasonality that Q4 volume is gonna be the highest and Q1 volume is gonna be at the lower end of the, of the spectrum. Is there some seasonality in this business? I was asking this.
Sir, it's a similar trend in all the years. Like, what I was telling you just now is that, if you take the base of the previous similar in 2021, 2022, we are leaving out 2021 because of the COVID impact. It was 3.33, and now it's 3.154. The lower volumes has been basically because of exports. Exports were substantially higher in Q1 2021/2022 at 364,000, which are now at 166,000 in this particular year.
Okay. You are telling that Q4 volumes are not comparable.
Yeah, yeah. Q4 is not comparable. Actually, if you just see the entire industry, I think you'll probably get the same trend everywhere.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I will get back in with you.
Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Mohit Bhansali from Bonanza Portfolio Limited. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. I just want to ask that, in URM, Head Hardened Rails was proposed to be made last year. What is the status? Do we plan to make it in this year, or what quantity, if you can quantify? This is my first question.
The Head Hardened Rails are still under trial, and we will be of course producing some quantity in this year. Once the trials are successful, we will be able to finalize how much quantities we can produce for the Head Hardened Rails.
Can you give some timeline, sir? Two months, three months or, you know, I mean, if you can give.
I will have to collect that information. I can give it to you, offline.
Okay. Sir, second question is on employees' cost. It is rising, and do you think it is sustainable the way you are selling or producing the quantity? If you see compared with private companies, your employee costs are too high. Suppose there is a downturn or you face COVID-like scenario like last year. I'm concerned that how you are going to survive. Can you please give us some detail from that, sir?
The salaries and wages cost, the employees' related costs which you're mentioning, it is we had a wage revision last year in the month of November. Subsequent to the wage revision last year, the expenditure is on a quarterly basis around INR 3,000 crore. It is a similar trend if you see in Q4 of 2021-2022 and in 2022-2023, it is around INR 3,000 crore. Prior to that, in the Q1 of 2020, 2021-2022, it was at around INR 2,800 crore. The rise is not much, and basically what is happening is we are having the people are at the higher end of their service career. They are more of m any will be retiring in the coming years and the recruitment shall not be commensurate with that. Moreover, one thing is that whoever is retiring is having a very high pay and the person joining will be at the basic scale. We don't apprehend much of an increase in the salaries and wages in the coming years.
Your sales are not rising to that level. I mean, if you are selling INR 25,000 crore-INR 26,000 crore in a quarter and having a INR 3,000 crore, so it's almost 12%-15%. The thing is.
Yeah. Because it is
In case of downturn, that is what I was asking, in case of downturn, like COVID-like scenario, you will be having a fixed cost. Then it will be like very burdensome since you are carrying over debt also, your expenses, expansion are also getting delayed. So how you are anticipating further expansion which you are planning in such a scenario?
No. See, basically what happens is that this manpower will come of use at that point also when we have our expansion. Because with the larger volume and the same number of manpower, maybe even the lower level of manpower, the productivity will be much better in that case.
Okay. You are trying to improve the productivity. Okay, sir. My last question, since I was tracking this for a very long time, this time in your presentation it is not as detailed as it used to be earlier. Like, you have not mentioned the total number of employees in the presentation and financial detail also, you know, debt level and all. Second, third thing is that in mining also, where you are mining. Earlier in your presentation, everything was very easy, clear. This time it was not there. Is there any change in policy in disclosure or something else? I think-
No, there's nothing like that. I think a lot of additional information was given this time. I think maybe we'll have to take up with our people that your point is well taken. Maybe in the next
Like the last time, you have given plant-wide detail that where expansion has completed and what expenses are pending. Everything was very detailed. This time it is not there.
That is very old. I think all our expansion plans have more or less been completed except maybe a few casters here and there, because of which some production capacities are hindered. Otherwise, all our expansion plans are in place.
Like mining was also there, like where you are mining and how much you are mining and what in future you are, how much you are going to mine. Everything was there. This time it is not there. If you can elaborate, it is better for us. That is my request, sir.
Okay. You can just, otherwise, talk to our people about it. If you want additional information, they can surely provide it to you.
If you can give the number in-
Mr. Mohit, I'm sorry to interrupt, sir. May we request you to return to the question queue?
Yeah, no problem.
We have participants waiting. Thank you.
Yeah, no problem. Yeah. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address all the questions from the participants in the conference, please limit your question to two per participants. Participants, please limit your question to two per participants. Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Vikash Singh from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I just wanted to understand in our other costs which is inflated sharply, are there any inventory losses which we have booked for this quarter?
Come again?
Sir, any inventory losses or inventory value write-downs which we have also booked in this quarter since our other costs are very high exponentially?
No, no. There is no inventory loss.
No inventory losses has been booked?
No, no. No. Nothing at all.
Sir, my second question pertains to our yearly guidance. While we have not said anything about guidance, saying that the 1Q numbers are at 3.15 million tons. Do you really think that you would be able to recover and would be able to meet your sales guidance at this point of time for the first quarter?
Your voice was cracking, Mr. Vikash. We couldn't get your question.
Is it better?
Yeah, yeah. That's a lot better.
Just wanted to understand your yearly volume guidance. Given the 1Q was dull and still the export duty stays in place, how confident are we in terms of meeting our at least the sales volume guidance. I know the production is not a problem, but about sales. How confident are we meeting our sales volume guidance or are we cutting down the volume guidance now?
No, absolutely not. We'll be achieving our sales as per whatever guidance we have given earlier. Because we feel that in these coming quarters the domestic consumption is surely going to go up and we will be surely achieving our target. I think in the month of July we had a sale of
More than 1.4 million.
We had sales of more than 1.4 million.
Understood. Volumes has been recovering as of now.
Yeah. We also have a very strict target for our marketing team, and we are planning to have the highest ever August also.
Understood. Sir, just one clarification about the earlier participant's question regarding no plans to cut production. There was a news regarding your Bhilai, you're shutting down couple of older blast furnaces. Just wanted to understand, is this the permanent shutdown of older furnaces because new furnaces have been ramped up fully? Or is it basically something, a wrong news which we have came across?
No, actually the blast furnaces are sometimes shut down for some major capital repairs, so it is because of that. Otherwise, we don't have any plans of shutting down any blast furnace as such, until unless some major capital repair has to be taken up for that.
Even after that, there's no impact on the production, monthly production or net?
No, no. No, no impact on our production. No.
Thank you, sir. That's all from my side.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the chance. First is on the net debt question. I mean, quarter-on-quarter there's a INR 6,000-INR 10,000 increase. Is it possible to give the breakup of what was the CapEx in 1Q and what is the working capital increase? And also directionally, given that we have a lot of creditors, almost INR 17,000-INR 18,000 crores, do we expect working capital to keep increasing in 2Q as well?
There has been an increase in the working capital, no doubt about it. Regarding the cash flows, there we have had a CapEx of around INR 1,000 crore in this quarter, in Q1. Regarding the cash flow from operations, there has been a rise by around about INR 8,000 crores. This is mainly on account of the coal payments.
Okay. Working capital has increased by INR 8,000 crore and cash flow is INR 1,000 crore, right?
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, understood. Directionally, how do you see it shaping up in 2Q and 3Q, the working capital requirement?
The working capital requirement will come down now because our payments for coal are supposed to come down quite a lot in this coming month. We expect a substantial reduction in the working capital.
Okay. My second question is on the coal cost. You said INR 37,000 -INR 38,000 in June quarter. What was it in July and August?
In July it is around INR 38,000. It's expected to come down by another INR 4,000-5,000 more in the month of August, and further down from September onwards.
Understood. The last one in terms of prices, you said.
This, I'm talking about, is the imported coal.
Okay. 38 in July, same as June quarter average, right?
Yeah. INR 38,000 is in July and in the month of August, it's going to come down by further INR 5,000. Q1, the procurement cost for this was around INR 39,500.
Understood. Just one last clarification on the price, on the real-
I'm very sorry. Can I request you to return to the question queue, sir? We have more participants waiting for their turn.
Okay. All right. Thanks.
Thank you. Participants, you're requested to please limit your question to two per participant. We take the next question from the line of Falguni Dutta from Jet Age Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Just a clarification. The coking coal cost that you mentioned for the June quarter, INR 39,500, is this on consumption basis, right?
Yeah, this is on consumption basis. It's not that we consume entirely this. There is besides this, CDI and the indigenous coal. All put together, the cost will be lower, the consumption will be much lower.
Can you give a range or a broad number?
I can just tell you that the indigenous coal is around INR 30,000 per ton, and it is, you can say, 14%-15% of the total component.
How much did you mention?
Uh, 14%-15% .
No, in indigenous coal cost absolute, how much did you say?
Around INR 13,000. Around 13.
INR 13,000.
Yeah. One-three.
One-three. Okay. One more clarification. The realization that you mentioned for June, Q1 average INR 66,000 per ton is the blended realization, right?
Yeah, that's the blended realization.
Okay. Thank you, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you, ma'am. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Pratim Roy from B&K Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. One is, how much NSR upliftment we can expect from 2Q? Second one is that what is the
Your voice is not clear.
Hello? Hello. Now it's audible?
Yeah, better now. Better.
My question, first question is that what is the NSR upliftment that we can expect, blended business in 2Q? Like you have mentioned that, 1Q, the NSR is around INR 66,000. So, how much upliftment we can expect from that level? And what is the outlook for the iron ore sales that we're doing? If you can throw some light on that.
See, regarding the NSR, it is basically market-driven. Whatever the market takes us, we go there. It's not that sale decides the market price. It's basically market-driven. Regarding the sale of fines, we've not had any sales in this quarter. It was just basically the liftment of the old orders placed in the last quarter, that some quantities were lifted in this quarter.
Okay. We can expect some contribution from this quarter, one quarter only, right?
Sorry, we couldn't catch your question. Again.
I'm sorry to interrupt. Mr. Roy, are you speaking from the handset, sir? Could you switch to a handset, please?
Yes, please.
Yeah. We can hear more clear, sir.
Yeah, I got my answer. 1Q it was iron ore sales was nil, and now 2Q we can expect some sales from the iron ore, right?
Provided we get the right price for that.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Good afternoon, sir. I have a question on, you know, realization. You mentioned that, you know, flat products have been impacted more than long products. Given that, you know, we have a very, very healthy proportion of long products in our mix, so the decline in Q2 realization should be lower than us as compared to our competitors. Is that a fair understanding?
I think your understanding is quite correct because we are in long products, and we expect. See, the Indian market is basically with this coming with the monsoon just going off in this from August, the purchases will go up and majorly in the long products. Yes, we surely have a good advantage since we have a quite a big range of the long products also, and quite a large component also.
Sure, sir. Also if I just look at the segment, you know, PBIT, so again, you know, Durgapur and, you know, some of the other plants, or Visakhapatnam have again probably gone into a loss. Is this because, again, tinplate's proportion in the mix is high and so, there, you know, we didn't get the benefit of better realization?
Yeah. Actually, it is basically Durgapur has got tinplate, so it is an impact of that. Regarding Visakhapatnam, there is a slightly lower production in the month in the first quarter, which once it goes up, we feel that it is surely come out of the red into the black.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir. We take the next question from the line of Kamlesh Bagmar from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. One question on the part of your CapEx guidance. Last quarter you mentioned that you will spend around INR 8,000 crore, and in this quarter we had INR 1,000 crore of CapEx. Despite the fact that there is no visibility on the new capacity addition, no orders have been floated. Is there a chance for this guidance to come down or we are going to settle with, like, say INR 4,000 crore-INR 5,000 crore of CapEx? What would be the CapEx in this year?
It's too early to give you the guidance of the entire year. Yes, we have lot of projects in the pipeline, for which already, the board has given approval, and, the orders will fructify on this year only. Yes, our endeavor is to do as much as possible because these schemes, whatever are there, they are basically some debottlenecking schemes. The more we you know finish them off in a faster time, it would be better for the plants also. For the timing we maintain our.
Sorry to interrupt, sir. Sir, sorry to interrupt. I see the participant line has got disconnected, sir.
Okay.
I'm moving to the next question. The next question is from the line of Mr. Anuj Singla from Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Thank you very much for the opportunity, sir. Sir, you talked about the blend, the NSR, blended NSR at INR 66,000. Can you also give the long and flat NSR for this quarter and what they were in the March quarter?
Actually, the difference between the two NSRs in that quarter was around about INR 7,000-INR 8,000.
Okay. The blended NSR for March quarter, sir, what was it? The INR 66,000 equivalent.
For the March quarter, it was INr 61,000 around INR 59,000-INR 60,000.
Okay. Got it. Sir, the second question is, when you talked about the realizations in July being you know a bit lower, I think INR 1,200-INR 1,300 lower versus June quarter. If prices were to stabilize there, is it fair to assume this is a trend we should be assuming for the full quarter as well, or given a scenario the prices don't decline further from here?
See, the market is quite volatile. Okay? We really do not know where the prices will end up. We are not able to comment on this at this point in time.
Okay, sir. To put it differently, have you seen a further decline in August versus July?
It's more or less flat.
Okay. It's in August, pricing is still INR 1,200-INR 1,300 lower versus the June average?
Yeah.
Oh, oh, okay, got it. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Co. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, if you could give us some color on how the inventory, what is the quantum of inventory for the industry in the system currently because now it's almost a quarter that export tax has been implemented. How is the inventory currently in the system, sir?
Actually, in the month of July, inventory has come down, but we do not have the figures readily with us for the industry as a whole.
Okay, sir. Sir, as the person, Pallav sir was speaking about the CapEx part of the story, sir, if you could complete that answer that you were telling that there are some debottlenecking exercise in the various units that we are going ahead. If you could give some more color, what kind of amount it has. I think INR 1,000 crore has been spent. So what are we planning to spend, and how are those resulting in cost optimization for our units?
Also in our result presentation, sir, as one of the speakers did mention, we hope that if unit-wise explanation is provided to us, wherein the variation in profitability is explained, that would suffice a lot of questions on the part of the speaker, sir. If the major units we can get how the Bhilai, Durgapur, Rourkela plants have performed vis-a-vis the comparative numbers, that would give an understanding the reasons why the profitability has changed the way it has been. That's a request on the part. On the CapEx front, sir, kindly conclude that answer, that how much is to be spent on the debottlenecking and what would be the cost optimization that will happen post the same.
Regarding this CapEx, our plan for the year is INR 8,000 crore. We are still maintaining our plan for that. Of course, there may be some slippages, but we are not too sure about it. There's just one thing, that this eight thousand crore, whatever we are mentioning, it is also the CapEx being spent by our subsidiaries and joint ventures also. That also forms a part of this. We expect some of our subsidiaries and joint ventures to have some expenditure during this coming quarter, coming quarters. Regarding our expenditure, if you normally see, in the first quarter everywhere, the CapEx is also low. It normally starts picking up from the month of October and November.
These things, if you see, because what is happening is we place orders in the, say, in the first quarter, and then the funds start flowing out from the second quarter only. Based on that, I think we are quite optimistic, but we are not too sure whether we'll be able to achieve the target of INR 8,000 crore in this.
That is true, sir. On the cost optimization front, if in your presentation you could come up with an explanation, what are we trying, what are we emphasizing to spend, and what would be the modernization and the benefit that would be really helpful for us, as you have already outlined how much to be spent. That would give more color. Would you like to share more on the CapEx, where is this amount going to be spent, and how is that going to benefit the unit in terms of cost of production going down, or value addition in the products, final products?
See, basically, in the value addition of products, there may not be much of an investment now, but the main thing is on the iron side, where we will have some investments for improving our techno-economics.
Correct, sir. In the line item, other expenses, sir, how should one treat this line item with the lower revenues for this quarter also on a comparative basis, this line item has gone up significantly to INR 7,200 crore. What are the key components and what are the reasons for this moving ahead?
One major component, which has increased, is the royalty. The royalty has gone up by, you can say, around INR 400 crore. Then there is some hit on us from the foreign exchange variation also.
On foreign exchange, how much would be exposed to be?
Foreign exchange variation, we have had a hit of around about INR 500 crores.
INR 500 crore. Sir, only request was to make the presentation more illustrative, unit-wise explanation, update on CapEx and the business environment currently. Kindly look into the request going ahead.
Yeah, we'll see whatever best is possible.
Yeah, whatever best can be done so that it could optimize the. It is for the benefit of all industrial community. Thank you, sir.
Yeah.
Thank you very much. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Just two questions. One, is on any specific update on whatever take is on export tariffs?
On the export tariffs, actually, we have been also requesting the ministry to waive off those tariffs, but not much headway has been made so far for that.
Could we get
Actually, there is in India an organization by the name of Indian Steel Association. This agency normally takes up with the ministry for this. We are also following up with them too.
Just wanted to stress on this. Is there any particular variable that the government is looking at, a particular steel price or a particular, inflation number, what they're targeting and post they will look to revise this?
We don't have any idea about that.
Okay. Not a problem. Sir, second question was on PLI scheme with respect to steel. Are we going to participate in it? How do we look at it? Thank you so much.
Yeah. In that PLI scheme, we'll be participating for this rails which we have got for Delhi. We'll be participating in that one.
What will be the estimate CapEx here?
Nothing right now.
This is being worked out now.
Sure. Thank you so much for the answers.
Thank you, sir. A reminder to all the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone phone. Ladies and gentlemen, you are requested to please limit your question to two per participant. We take the next question from the line of Mr. Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. This is a follow-up question.
Sir, my questions are answered. Thank you.
All right. We move to the next question from the line of Mr. Kamlesh Bagmar from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. A question on the part of realization. Like say, over the years, sale has been very consistent in giving the exact number. It's very perplexing that you are giving the ranges for the realization, 59-60. Can you give the precise realization numbers, what was there in this quarter and last quarter, sir?
Can you just hold on? The average NSR for Q1 is INR 66,829. For Q4 2021-2022, it's INR 59,495. For Q1 2021-2022, it is INR 53,929.
Okay. Sir, lastly on this, INR 489 crore of price revision for the rails which we have booked in this particular quarter. That is also a one-time in nature because it is for the prior years. What's the process or the thought process on this, like, say, provisional based revenue which we are recognizing on the part of realizing that amount?
This money we will get it. We have already raised invoices for this, so the money will start coming for this. This is actually just a provisional figure which they have given us. Means we have already submitted the pricing for 2021 to the Chief Advisor (Cost). This is an organization which finalizes the price for us. We expect something like around about INR 5,000-INR 6,000 extra for 2021. This price, whatever they have given, it is basically for 2021-2022, a provisional INR 5,000 increase. This will also further go up once we submit our pricings and pricing to the CA (Cost).
This is an ongoing effect till probably all our costs are finalized up to 2021-2022.
Okay. Sir, when we took it for the last year, so even in the Q1 we have took that as a base for our realizations in rails?
In last year it was at around about INR 62,000.
Mm-hmm.
When we had taken it. They have given us an increase of INR 5,000 in this year.
Even for the Q1 it would be priced at INR 67,000?
Yeah.
Okay, sir. Lastly, realizations which you mentioned for the July was around INR 56,000. How much was the realizations in July month, sir? NSR.
July?
July month, sir. NSR.
Yeah. July it is around about INR 57,000.
Okay, sir. Thank you, sir. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vishal Chandak from Motilal Oswal for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you everyone for participating. I would request, Director Finance, sir, for his closing remarks. Over to you, sir, for the closing remarks.
Okay. Yeah. Like, thank you very much, Vishal. I thank the people who were there who could participate in this conference call. Just a few closing remarks. Government has done a commendable job in ensuring this vaccination, and we feel that now there may not be further jolts of COVID, and the economy will surely rebound. The results of the first quarter sales were basically impacted due to the input costs, and they have also come down now to manageable levels, and we expect things to improve from here on. We will meanwhile continue with our efforts to improve the internal factors like increasing volumes, improving product mix with higher volumes of value-added steels, even greater stress on operational efficiencies to reduce cost of production.
With coking coal costs coming down, we also smell an opportunity to again take the path towards a net debt-free company. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of Motilal Oswal, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.
Okay.