Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 FY 2024 earnings conference call of Tube Investments, hosted by IIFL Securities 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 star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anupam Gupta from IIFL Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Gupta.
Thanks, Michelle, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 3Q FY 2024 results conference call for Tube Investments of India. From the management, we have Mr. Vellayan Subbiah, Executive Vice Chairman for TI; Mr. Arun Murugappan, the Chairman for TI; Mr. Mukesh Ahuja, Managing Director; Mr. Meyyappan Chief Financial Officer; Mr. K.R. Srinivasan, President and Whole Time Director for the Metal Forms product business; Mr. Murali, Senior VP for TPI; Mr. U. Rajagopal, Senior VP for the Cycles business; Mr. Govindarajan, CEO for 3xper; Mr. K.K. Paul, President for TI Cycles, and Mr. Anurag Vohra, Chief Operating Officer for the TI Clean Mobility business. To start off with, I'll hand it over to Mr. Subbiah for the opening remarks, and then we can have the Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Thanks, Anupam. The board of TI met yesterday and approved the financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. The standalone results for the quarter, the revenue was at INR 1,898 crores, as against INR 1,710 crores in the same period for previous year. The PBT, before exceptional items and tax, was at INR 210 crores, as against INR 192 crores in the same period previous year. And ROIC annualized was at 54, as against 53 in the same period previous year. Free cash flow for the quarter was at INR 66 crores. Quick review of the businesses. Engineering, the revenue for the quarter was at INR 1,229 crores compared with INR 1,081 crores in the corresponding quarter.
PBIT for the quarter was INR 153 crore, as against INR 134 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year. For Metal Formed business, revenue for the quarter was at INR 392 crore, compared with INR 371 crore in the corresponding quarter, and PBIT was at INR 47 crore against INR 42 crore in the corresponding quarter. For the mobility business, which is our bicycles business, the revenue for the quarter was at INR 147 crore, which is lower than what we had last year, INR 144 crore. We had a loss of INR 8 crore as against a profit of INR 2 crore in the corresponding quarter for the previous year. So that business has been weaker for us.
In terms of the other businesses, the revenue was INR 219 crores compared with INR 166 crores in the corresponding quarter, and PBIT was at 14 as against 12 in the previous quarter. For consolidated results, you know, TI's consolidated revenue was at INR 4,197 crores for the quarter, as against INR 3,643 crores in the previous year. The profit for the quarter was at INR 390, as against INR 418 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. CG Power and Industrial Solutions registered a consolidated revenue of INR 1,079 crores, as against INR 1,753 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. And PBIT was at 264 for the quarter.
PBT was at INR 264 crore, as against INR 285 crore. Shanthi Gears, a subsidiary of the company in the gears business, registered a revenue of INR 126 crore for the quarter, as against INR 115 crore in the corresponding, and profit was INR 24 crore, as against INR 23 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Commenting on the results, Mr. M.A.M. Arunachalam, Chairman, TI, said that TI continued its focus on cost reduction and operational efficiency through Kaizen. Company exhibited strong performance in top line and also in bottom line, with a 414% growth on PAT, driven by the healthy performance from engineering and Metal Formed product divisions. Our subsidiaries, CG Power and Shanthi Gears, continued their strong performance, and TI's board has declared an interim dividend of INR 2 per share for the financial year 2023-24.
I will stop with that, Anupam, and we'll be happy to turn it over to you for questions.
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may please press star and one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. All participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. You may please press star and one to ask questions. The first question is from the line of Rohit from Nvest Analysis Advisory LLP. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello. Hello. Am I audible, sir?
Yes.
Okay, so, good morning, sir. Congrats for the set of numbers. My question is on maybe that EV sales that we are going to make. So we are going to sell some 5%-10% stake. So can you please put some more clarity on it? What is the transaction? What kind of things is going to happen?
... So you'll have to, I don't understand the question. You said 5%-10%? What is the question?
Actually, a sale is happening on our EV business side, right?
Sale of what?
EV business, like, valuation of $2 billion determined for the EV business take.
No, no, we've, we've not disclosed any valuation specifically for the EV business in which we've raised funds. Is that your question? Kind of what, what valuation have we raised at in the EV business?
Actually, I came across a news article where you're talking about the selling some 5%-10% stake in our EV business. That is what I was talking about.
No. So I mean, basically, we have raised funds already in the EV business, right? I don't know if you are saying that are we going to raise more funds in the EV business, okay? And we may raise funds in the EV business from time to time, but that's-- I mean, if we raise funds, we will disclose that we've raised funds.
Okay. Can you provide a comprehensive breakdown or explanation for the CapEx incurred by the company this year across the segment?
So you want CapEx by segment, is it?
Uh, right.
Do you have that data, Meyyappan? Sure.
Oh, yeah. Asking for TI. For TI, what is the CapEx?
Hey, we'll get you that data. We'll once we get it... What is it?
INR 220 crore we have spent for it.
INR 220 crore. Do you know how much we spent in engineering off of that?
Yeah.
We spent INR 220 crore in TI.
That is for you to do.
Out of which INR 160 crore was on our engineering business.
Hello? Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Okay. Yeah, so my next question is on the EV side. So basically, since last 3-4 quarters, I think, we are reporting losses. So can you give the indicative timelines, like, what, how many quarters for which we can expect, the losses to continue in this segment?
No, I mean, we are not giving any guidance on when the losses will stem in EV, because we're launching new products there. And that's a business, that's why we've raised money specifically into that business, so that we don't have to fund it further from TI. Right? And it is a business which will take a while to establish, and so we are focused on establishing that business. We've got two products out, and two more product platforms will be added this year.
Understood, sir. Also medical business side. How do you see the potential, particularly in this segment for next two to three years? Like, what are the tailwinds happening in the sector, or what are our own strategy to capitalize on those tailwinds?
Yeah, I think it's better, you know, and I request the moderator also to suggest that, you know, each person gets to ask two questions per round, right? Because we can't have multiple questions all from the same person. So my guidance is that, let's just come back, why don't you come back in the queue after the other questions?
Thank you, sir. I would request, Mr. Rohit, to please rejoin the queue for follow-up questions. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may please press Star and One to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Anupam Gupta from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Morning, sir. So for the EV business, you said that, two launches obviously happened. Very recently, we saw your, for the three-wheeler business, we saw your, TV ad being launched, I think on the net we saw that. If you can maybe talk about that a bit later, how the journey has been. There were some supply chain issues which you had referred to last call. So how that progress is happening and what sort of progress we should see in the, in terms of, launches in the northern part of the country as well?
Yeah. So, Paul, do you want to talk to that and then I, I'll add anything?
Mr. K.K. Paul, I would request you to kindly unmute, sir.
Yeah, I think, we're making some progress on, on that particular. So we are actually now in the process of expanding our dealer network across other geographies. That's the first point. Supply chain stabilization has occurred, and further work in progress is there. Production ramp-up is happening, and we are able to establish newer and newer milestones for ourselves. Customer interface issues are getting improved day by day. That's where we are at this journey in terms of the product fit in the geography. That's the first start that we were having now in terms of this, and the new product offerings that Mr. Vellayan referred to would follow in a periodic fashion, given the plans that we have. That's what we have at the moment.
Sure, sir.
Specifically, Anupam, on the three-wheeler front, we've had good response in the south, right? In the southern markets, we launched in four states, and we've had good response there. So now we've started moving to the north, because the north and the east are where the major markets are. So we started adding dealerships there. So I think this quarter we'll start the process of adding the dealerships. We should start seeing traction from that next quarter. So this quarter, basically, we will see you know, growth in the southern markets and an initial seeding in the northern markets. And then next quarter, we should see some growth in north and east as well, in addition to south.
So I think at the end of this quarter, we'll end up with about 75 dealerships across the country. We're at about 40 at the end of last quarter. And the product, you know, like, the supply chain issues, we're addressing as we go along. So for the most part, you know, a lot of them will be addressed this quarter, and I think they'll be fully addressed by the end of next quarter. Because initially we did have some challenges with the charger supplies and reliability of the chargers in the market, but now most of that is getting addressed. So I'm actually fairly encouraged by the three-wheeler performance, right?
So I think that performance is continuing to pick up fairly well. On the heavy truck side, basically, we just started. So, you know, usually what we're seeing as a sales cycle for the heavy truck is that, basically, you know, the customers first want to trial the truck. Then they buy, you know, a small number of trucks, like 2-5, and then they start buying in larger quantities. So we've had, you know, one customer order of a larger size now, which is good. So delivery should start this quarter. And then, you know, so I definitely think the traction is gonna pick up on that product as well.
So, it's still early days, but, you know, some of the accounts we've got on that product are very solid accounts that have a lot of potential. So I do... I'm fairly optimistic that that will start growing as well. And then on the other two products, like we said, we're in the process of homologating the tractor and the small commercial vehicle. So both of those products should hit market later this year. We're estimating around August, September timeframe.
Understand, sir. So second question was on the medical business, both CDMO and the Lotus Surgicals numbers which we saw. So Lotus Surgicals numbers, if we specifically see in this quarter, there was both a Q-on-Q decline, as well as the, it was a loss at the EBIT level. So maybe some color on why that happened, and in terms of, let's say, next one year or over the next two, three years, how over the medium term, how do you look to scale up the Lotus Surgicals business?
Yeah, Anupam, thanks for the question. Like, Lotus, we are basically investing into the future. Lot of investment is going towards the building the sales team, as well as, Europe getting some certifications so that our exports can be enhanced. So this business just we took over, and, we are investing into future. So in future, you will see pickup and, but some quarters we surely need to invest for the future, and that's the strategy going forward.
So that need it. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Coming to the EBIT level, maybe this amortization of whatever intangible assets we paid it, as per Ind AS, we have to amortize over a period of time. That's why you are able to see that negative, but which will be continuing for quarter to quarter. It is accounting policy.
Hmm. Okay, okay, okay.
The business is generating free cash, Anupam. It's just that it's only because of the amortization issue that you're showing, you're seeing a negative EBIT there.
Understand. And CDMO, if I understand right, you were supposed to, I think, commission by the end of March. Is that on track for the tax benefits which you had initially thought about? And, is that on track for that?
Govind, will you give a quick update on CDMO?
Yeah. So the lab has been commissioned as far as building before March. The kilo lab, already we got the consent to establish, and next week, we'll be applying for the consent to operate. By the time I think we'll be ready with the facility. As soon as that is made available, we have already developed a couple of products to go into that facility to do that commercialization in terms of the semi-commercialization from the kilo lab.
Okay, okay. Okay, understand, sir. I'll come back in the queue, sir. This is helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may please press Star and One to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Vipul Kumar Shah from Sumangal Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So what type of CapEx we'll be incurring for all this, this electric three-wheeler, this truck and... Yeah.
Yeah. So the, total... Right now, the total capital employed in the businesses are, right now, yeah, the total capital, is this the total, like, capital employed? Why don't you answer, Meyyappan? What are the total capital employed in the businesses, and how much are you going to incur over the next year?
Yeah, this is Meyyappan here. We have incurred a CapEx of around almost around INR 450 crore so far in that business. All businesses put together in TICMPL as well as its subsidiaries so far.
Would you repeat the figure, sir?
No, no, I'll tell you what, just give us a couple of minutes. We'll just check and we'll get back to you. Okay, okay, we'll, we'll just get that number for you. Do you have any other questions?
No, sir. Thank you.
Okay, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Just, yeah, just give us... We'll get it, we'll get the total capital employed and the future CapEx. Just, just give us...
For all three electrical products.
Yeah, for all platforms. Yeah, we'll give you the answer for all 4 platforms. Just give us-
During call also, during call only, or should I write? Yeah.
During call, we'll give it to you. We'll give it to you. One second. Do you have it? Okay. Yeah, we'll give it to you in the call.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. You may please press Star and One to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Nishit Jalan from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir, thank you for the opportunity. My question is on EV-
I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Jalan. May we request you to kindly use your handset, please, to ask the question?
Hello, am I audible now?
Yes, sir. Please proceed.
Yeah. So, thank you for the opportunity. My question was on EVs. We have launched this three-wheeler and tractors, and we are looking to launch. Sorry, three-wheeler and tractors and looking to. Just wanted to understand what kind of capabilities have we built in-house in terms of R&D or in terms of designing critical EV components, right? Let's say a BMS or a battery pack or a motor or a motor controller. So just wanted to figure out what is the exact work and what kind of value proposition are we offering to customers. So it's from that perspective. Thank you.
Yeah, I think it's a good question. So currently, we have about 250 people in R&D, right? And that is, you know, for the product development. But you're also asking a good question in terms of what's happening in terms of motor controllers, and kind of the actual component level development. So the way we're looking at this is that version 1.0 of most of the products are going out with components that are basically already available in the market today. What we're then doing is beginning to separate out a team that is focused on more R&D for version 2.0, which is when then we will start kind of getting a more, an EV component architecture and an EV architecture overall that is more proprietary to what we are doing, right?
So actually, basically, we're beginning to separate out our R&D teams. So we have one set of R&D focused on the current product and on vehicle integration, and one set of R&D focused on what the next generation will look like. Because currently, to take products to market, if you had to develop all of the components from scratch, it will take way too long. So, basically, at the first level, the motors. Some of them are being custom-made for us, but they are being bought from third parties, the motors, the motor control units, the BMSs, the vehicle control units, and all of that. We're also beginning to, you know, to set up battery packing capability so that we're able to pack here, though we will still continue to import the cells.
Sir, sure, and thanks for the answer. Just one follow-up here. So if we fast-forward three years, right? If you can share some strategy as to what kind of R&D strength people you would be needing, and what would be your focus areas? Because as you rightly said, right, all components, no company can design or manufacture themselves. So what is it that you would want to do differently or basically want to focus on a proprietary basis and battery basis, so that our vehicle gives a much better performance compared to that of the peers or other models available in the market?
Yeah. So I think the, you know, so it's a good question. See, actually, the proprietary components, effectively, kind of what is differentiated here is gonna be, you know, it's gonna vary by segment, right? So if you take a three-wheeler, what you're gonna differentiate is very different from a tractor versus a heavy truck versus a small commercial vehicle, right? But basically, what we're looking at is for each segment, where we think the key differentiators are gonna be. Definitely, in the long term, motors are gonna be a very significant differentiator, and that is a capability that we will have to have, you know, and develop, motors and motor control units. But beyond that, you know, we're also fairly clear that we will not get into batteries at a cell level.
We will continue to buy from outside at a cell level. Packing inside, I do think is gonna become necessary over time, and therefore, the BMS capabilities also from a software management perspective, will likely look at coming in-house over time. In terms of actual control units in the vehicles, telematics definitely is something that's gonna get standardized, and we don't see a whole lot of proprietary need there in terms of the hardware. On the software side, telematics will require, you know, some proprietary development, which we've already assembled a team to start doing today. And then in terms of the other control units in the vehicle, they're gonna be specific to which vehicle.
There's some vehicles that are gonna be more transmission intensive. You will require some proprietary capability there, but otherwise, if it doesn't, then, you know, it is gonna be more third party. So I would say that, you know, that's gonna, so as the vehicles start evolving for the next generation, we're gonna start taking first one or two key components and then take it forward from there.
Okay, thank you. Thank you for the detailed answer.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jinesh Gandhi from Ambit Capital.
Yeah, we can. Before Jinesh's question, let us give you the details on the capital.
Okay.
Yeah. This, this is Meyyappan here. This is regarding the question on the capital employed and the CapEx spent and to be spent in the TI Clean Mobility. If you see our results, we have mentioned the capital employed at INR 17 crores as a capital employed as on 31 December 2023. This is because of the CCPS which arise in the business. Actually, if you consider that, then it will be something like INR 1,767 crores, is the capital employed in all the business put together in TICMPL. And with respect to another question on the capital CapEx spent so far, we have spent around INR 300 crores so far. That is till this year, and it will be INR 300 crores.
Next year, we are planning to do almost around INR 460 crore for next financial year for all business put together in TICMPL.
Thank you, sir. Mr. Gandhi, you can proceed with your question now, please.
Yeah, thanks. Just to clarify, you said capital employed in the, you know, Clean Mobility business is INR 1,067 crore?
INR 1,760 crores.
INR 1,760 crores. Got it. Okay. My question pertains to the export side of the business for the standalone entity. How are we seeing trends there? Is the export back to normal so far? And, incrementally, are you seeing any headwinds either from the Red Sea issue or otherwise?
Yeah, export is back to normal. But however, we little bit headwinds on this logistics issue, which according to us, it is a very, very temporary phenomena. But in terms of customer offtake, in terms of OEM product development, it is back to normal, and that we see as a growth area going forward for TI.
Okay, so, exports now in standalone would be what, about 17%-18% of revenues or still a little lower?
It will be 15%.
15%, absolutely, okay. Secondly, on the railway business in the Metal Formed side, so, we were seeing some signs of tendering playing out in previous quarter. Have those actually now started to come after COVID? It was quite muted. Is that segment also normalizing?
Yes, tenders are coming back to the business, but we see one phenomenon here, maybe the little bit, it is getting more competitive industry, and we have to wait and watch going forward, how we are going to do it, and then we have to take steps how to do some cost cutting inside or, do the development where margins are more. But, tenders are back. Margins seems to be under pressure in the short term. We will take appropriate call depending on how it goes well.
Okay, okay. Yesterday's announcement of the government modernizing 40,000 bogies to Vande Bharat standards, that will be adding to the existing opportunity, or that may not be material for us?
That will be a silver lining, likewise, that we have to see, two or three quarters going forward. If this 40,000 wagons gets implementation, there'll be a big demand, and maybe it will be straightaway, adding to our top line.
Got it. Got it. Okay, so that's, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thanks, Jinesh.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants that you may please press star and one to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Raj Shah from Marcellus Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
So thank you for the opportunity. My question was, as Rohilan mentioned about this, R&D approach that TI is taking, the question was, we recently acquired an entity called Jayem Auto. So, it's a automotive R&D company, that is what public domain tells us. So just want to know how, this acquired entity will help us in the R&D effort that we are undertaking?
Yeah, so Raj, actually, Jayem is leading the development of the small commercial vehicle. So currently, we're developing the first product there, which is a 3.5-ton small commercial vehicle. And that is being driven out of the Jayem facility, and they will, we will develop three products on that small commercial vehicle platform, and all of them will be driven by Jayem initially. So that's what they are working on. So that will... I mean, that will keep them focused on that effort for, for this year at least. And then they will get involved also and then, and more integrated with our broader R&D efforts.
... Okay, got it. And, another question was, as per our original strategy, we have ballparked the figure of INR 300 crores per platform. So, based on various platforms that we have undertaken, CE, MHCV, LCV, tractors. So I just want to know, to get a picture, where incremental CapEx would be required us to, I would say, to meet that INR 300 crore figure, just to get a broad idea.
No. So is your question, you know, how we're going to meet that figure, or is your question-
My question is, yeah. My question is, in which platforms, incremental CapEx is going to happen? CapEx as in investment is going to happen.
Beyond INR 300 crore?
Of the INR 300 crores.
Yeah. So if you see what, what's happening, right? So first is like now the three-wheeler, the three-wheeler, both of the, the factory is built and that product is... The two main areas we have is kind of good for our products, growing, research and development and, and products, and, and the factory build out, right? And, so for three-wheeler, you know, for the first, product, which is the L5M, that's complete. The factory build out for all the products on that platform is complete. But there is still some more R&D required, and therefore, some more tooling also required on the, two other products, the L5N and the eRick. On the second platform, which is a heavy commercial vehicle, the first, version of the, factory, is built out.
Again, the first product is out, and we're developing a next set of products. So again, there's spend that's required on R&D prototyping and getting those other products homologated into market. And then once those products are out, we will also need to spend on expanding the factory. On the small commercial vehicle, we will be incurring tooling for the cabin and the factory build out costs over this quarter and next. And tractor, the factory is 85% built out, but that will also require some more costs around homologation and factory build out over the next three quarters.
Okay. This is helpful. I have a lot of questions I will get back in the queue.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Rohit from Nvest Analysis Advisory LLP. Please go ahead. Mr. Rohit, there is a background noise from your line, sir. I would request you to go to the quieter place and talk, please. Yeah, this is better. Please proceed. Rohit, I would request you to kindly unmute your line and speak, please. As the current participant is not answering, we'll move on to the next question, which is from the line of [Saif Saurabh Kuchal] from ICICI Prudential AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, sir. My first question is on the large diameter tubes you had been talking about. Any update on that? Any wins on that front, and what investment you are doing on that?
That plant is doing pretty well, and, like we've shared in the previous calls, we are investing into that business. CapEx is halfway through, and it is expected to complete by maybe second quarter of, coming year. Trials are on whatever CapEx we completed, already trials are going, going on, and we are in process of getting our product, approved by the customers. That's the current status of that project.
Sure. Okay, and just how is the competitive landscape in that side of the business? Because other people are also talking about investing in this business, where they see money on the table. So, how is that evolving?
You are right. Maybe, let's say we are going the next phase of this investment, where most of the material, what we are expending, is getting currently imported, and there's a good headroom available for the exports market. So this CapEx is for capability development rather than only capacity enhancement, and we have taken care of that as well.
No, but the others investing are others investing.
Yes, but they are existing in all the existing capability.
Okay.
Okay.
So if they come on board, they will still be behind us in terms of the
Overall, project configuration.
Okay. I have one more question, but I will fall back in queue for the time.
I think you have one more you can ask, then no problem.
Okay. So just on the capacity side, on the standalone business, talking about particularly engineering and the Metal Formed business, so we make decent returns here, and the reason being is our plants are, well depreciated. But for the incremental growth we are looking from what, you have been mentioning, what type of investment would be required and what asset turns normally, incrementally we should see from this business?
As I shared earlier, we have for next year also about INR 350 crores. We are getting into new geographies within India, and we are investing into the newer capabilities with those CapEx what we have planned for existing business in Metal Formed as well as engineering business both.
What I mean is, what is the current capacity utilization for these two divisions on the standard books, engineering and metal?
Like the philosophy of the company, we take calls on future expansion when we are running close to around 80%-85%. So current utilization is around 85%, and we are building capacities for future because we see this year itself will come closer to 95% or so. And by that time, CapEx also the cycle time of around 12-15 months time. So we follow this curve and closely monitor it.
Yeah. Thanks a lot, sir, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Abhishek from DSP. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So just in terms of, we are beginning to see, you know, a healthy recovery as far as two-wheeler is concerned. So how should one look at the engineering part of the division? Because you have very high market shares there, and should operating leverage and your cost efficiencies show up in the margin, is was my question on the engineering part of the business.
Surely, that is our attempt. Like, two-wheeler business is reviving it, but ultimately, like, we have also, over a period of time, done the beautiful diversification between PV, SCV, and two-wheeler, and the three-wheeler, that part of it. And, two-wheeler business is because there, our majority of the turnover comes to. If it is going to give a good growth cycle, surely, our top line as well as bottom line should go up very far.
Okay. And in terms of both, door frame, and the engineering division, any major new client addition that you have done may not be in two-wheeler, because there you already have higher market shares. But in the PV, any major client addition that you have done, which can increase the revenue growth from here on?
Like, KRS and team are trying to participate. Hyundai is going to come in the west, in the Gujarat plant, and, we are maybe already submitting samples, but obviously it'll take about another year or so from now, but that will be a customer acquisition in the PV market going forward in the west for the door, door frame business.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you so much for answering my questions. I'll fall back in the queue. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit from Nvest Analysis Advisory LLP. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity again. Am I audible?
Yes, sir. Please proceed.
Yes.
Continuing with my previous question only, like in the medical business. So basically, I want to understand the kind of tailwinds that are going on currently in the sector, and how we are going to capitalize on them.
Like you're already aware, in particularly medical, the health sector, even the government is also focusing in our per capita health consumption in the country is pretty less as compared to even medium developed countries. And most of this medical and even in the CDMO side, it is mostly imported. And we are attempting that to do that import substitution, as well as when the domestic market itself is going to grow in terms of health consumption per capita, that we want to participate. That's why our first move was in the sutures business, which we are trying to do whatever is getting used in entire operation theaters, in terms of mesh, in terms of sutures, in terms of staplers.
We are slowly expanding into all categories of the OT as well as on the CDMO side, which is our 3xper. Govind, you would like to say it, respond on that?
Yeah. So as far as CDMO expertise is concerned, we, I mean, there are recent, clear observations that I think, there are more traction towards India for biologics, but that will also help the small molecules, because we are currently not in biologics. But I think that above effect is also expected on the small molecules, so we expect that to, benefit create for, in the medium to long term.
Understood, sir. Sir, just for a clarification, like, you mentioned raising of the fund for TI Clean Mobility. So are we done with the raising of the funds, or we're still looking for the raising of the funds?
So we will raise. So again, right, we will raise if. Yeah, yeah, so I don't think we're necessarily done with the raising of the funds. We will raise one more round of fund. We had talked—we've said that before, and we continue to be in the process of raising one more round of funds.
Can you tell me, like, what will be the source of, like, it will be the equity or the debt?
Equity. In a sense, in some cases it comes in as CCPS, but, so, but it's, yeah, so it'll either be CCPS or equity.
Amount is thousands here, right?
Yeah. We've talked in that range. Yes.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All the best for that.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions may please press star and one on the touch-tone phone. We'll take the next question from the line of Anupam Gupta from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So thanks for the opportunity again. Can you give some picture on cycles? Obviously, there is a weakness on the sales side, and I think that is driving your losses, but how do you look at this for the next, let's say, near term, any actions we can take to stem the losses?
So Anupam, thanks for question. You are right, that business is going weak for us, but we have taken action for to diversify that business in terms of participating exports. As you are aware, exports takes little bit time for customer approval, and we have to go through that process. But we are going to enhance our exports, and we are also giving focus on other accessories business like spares and the fitness part of it. We are working on that, and cost reduction initiatives are also being taken. So hopefully this business will start showing positive momentum. It's a question of one or two quarters.
Sure. Thanks for this. And sir, one question on sequential margins. If you look at every segment in the business, leave CG Power aside, because you know the reasons there. But every segment, if you see Q on Q, there is a compression in margins, whether it is engineering, Metal Formed, even Shanthi Gears. So any specific reason that you saw in the, what drove this or, that should reverse, or how do you look at the margins trajectory there?
Anupam, you see always, Q3 after festival seasons are over, and even exports, customers also will go through the seasonality factor. Models also start getting changed in December. So you will see year-on-year, this trend will be there. And so it's this quarter phenomena, and we should be back to the original margins. As a year, whole and all, we don't see, don't see any drop in margin will happen for standalone business, as well as Shanthi Gears, as well as, CG Power.
Sure, sir. Just one last question. On the electronic side of it, any progress that you've seen beyond, so in the acquisition which you had done, so what's the progress or any further acquisition which you should expect there near term, or how do you look at that?
Anupam, we are working on that. As of now, maybe like we shared in the previous calls, it was a baby step in to participate the journey. But however, we are looking into more opportunities, and we'll update based on the progress.
Sure, sir. Thanks.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Raj Shah from Marcellus Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you again. So my question was, if we take CFO cash flow from operations for the standalone entity, FY 2023, it was around INR 625 crores. So this year, we expect it to be INR 770 crores. So I just want to know how standalone cash flows will be deployed. You have already announced around INR 200 crores-INR 220 crores of engineering greenfield CapEx. That is this 3xper investment that will be done. So I just want to get idea about annual deployment of standalone cash flows.
As we shared in the previous calls, the company at standalone basis will generate a free cash flow of around INR 650 crores. But however, we are in the CapEx cycle, like we are doing investment in the engineering as well as, Metal Formed business, as well as we are doing the investment at, in our subsidiaries also. So we'll see that, maybe let's say, we are monitoring as of now at net debt level, and we closely monitor that. And our investments will not go beyond two times free cash flow, which is about INR 650 crores. So we closely monitor that and take care of that.
So just to add on to what Meyyappan said, so basically, you know, we currently have net debt in the order of about INR 200 crores, right? So obviously, the first part will go towards paying that down. Then, you know, what we see is investment. So the core business, if the core business takes about INR 300 crores, then investments in some of these other businesses as they grow, such as 3xper or, on, on the CDMO,
Medical.
Sorry, on the medical business, could be uses of funds, right? Kind of other areas. It could be the uses of funds for the rest.
Okay. Okay, that answers my question. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jinesh Gandhi from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Any update on the optic lens business? I mean, that business has not. We have seen much scale up beyond the pilot scale. So, how are we thinking about that?
Yeah. So I'd say that, you know, we've had a real challenge in that business, getting the product approvals from the customers we're working with. So we're still focused. What we're learning is, it's quite a technical product and quite, so we're still working with experts to basically get the products approved there. It's definitely been much slower than we wanted, Jinesh.
Okay. Okay. And second question on the fundraise on the EV business side, which you indicated. So, would we really need funds for CapEx in future, given the recent fundraise and the total cash which we have on books for that business? So would this fundraise be in near future, or how do we think about this?
Yeah, we're in the process. Yes, it can be in the near future. Yes.
Okay. But do we really, I mean, is that business will need that kind of cash, given the investment which, which we are planning? Already we are having a reasonable amount of cash on the books due to the recent round that way.
That's a business where, you know, we don't want to be blindsided. See, in all businesses and all the competitors in that business are all fairly strong competitors, right? So there, we need to make sure that we are basically able to compete, you know, you know, on the front foot in all of those four businesses we get into. So we want to be conservative there and raise enough cash, so we don't end up in a situation where, you know, we have to be conservative, for whatever reason or be extremely defensive for whatever reason to conserve cash.
Got it. So it's more of, having a war chest in place in case that's needed.
Uh, exactly.
Great. Great. Great. Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you. Thanks so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vipul Kumar Shah from Sumangal Investments. Please go ahead.
Sir, any update on TMT Bar business?
So we continue to do that business because it is a trading business, and as of now our focus remains in the south, and it will continue.
So, is it scaling up to our expectations?
Yes, maybe we are maybe careful in that business. We don't want to get into a situation where cash becomes a problem. So depending on we are dealing with basically all project orders, and we want to be focused there rather than getting into retail segment. So we are moderating not to scale up too much, and but as a trading, it will continue in our portfolio.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks. Over to you, sir.
Hey, I think a lot of the questions were around the Clean Mobility business. So like we said, we're quite optimistic there on the two platforms that we've launched. And you know, so that's on that front. On the core business, you know, engineering, Metal Formed continue to do well, and we do see that opportunity as you know, as the environment basically begins to pick up going into the next financial year. So overall, we're quite bullish going into the next financial year. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, members of the management. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of IIFL Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.