Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Titagarh Rail Systems Limited Q3 FY 26 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 ten zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Prachi Ambre from MUFG Investor Relations team. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, Anushka. On behalf of Titagarh Rail Systems Limited, I extend a very warm welcome to all the participants on Q3 and 9 months FY 26 financial results discussion call. Today, on the call, we have Mr. Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Anil Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Prithish Chowdhary, Deputy Managing Director, and Mr. Saurabh Singhania, Chief Financial Officer, to provide the operational and financial insights. Before we begin the call, I would like to give a short disclaimer. This call may contain some of the forward-looking statements, which are completely based upon our beliefs, expectations, and opinions as of today. These uncertainties are not a guarantee of our future performance and involve unforeseen risks and uncertainties. With this, I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Umesh for his opening remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, Prachi, and, very good afternoon, everybody, and, thank you for joining the Q3 FY 26 earnings call. Before I get into the questions, which I'd be very happy to answer along with my team, I would just like to give you certain perspective highlights of the quarter. In terms of the two businesses of the company, the freight rail systems and the passenger rail systems. The freight rail systems, if you see on a year-on-year basis, as the overall revenue has been muted, from INR 800 crore to around INR 600-odd crore, has been the overall revenue for the freight rail system.
This was primarily because of the wheel set problem that used to be sorted out, but has been a little bit of a seesaw. In the sense in the last month of the quarter, again, there was a problem of the wheel set. So overall industrial, overall industry production has been in... Hello?
Yes.
Overall industry production has been impacted.
It seems like the line for the management has been disconnected. Please stay connected till I rejoin the management. Thank you for waiting patiently. The management's line has been connected. Sir, you may proceed.
My deep apologies. The line got disconnected.
...So, I was mentioning about the overall situation on the freight rail systems. In the Q3, again, there was a little bit of a seesaw on the wheel set and supply chain of the freight business. Overall industry performance has been impacted, and we were no exceptions. There was a typewise mismatch between the 840 dia wheel and the 1000 dia wheel between production and requirement of the industry.
Of course, it has again normalized from the current quarter, but this is a bit of a seesaw which is going on, and we see that, going forward, by March, we are expecting to start trial production of our joint venture for the wheel sets, and maybe in another, quarter or so or couple of quarters, our internal wheel sets is going to get fully available to us, so we should not have, problems on wheel sets. But, having said that, now the wheel set production is again normalized, and for the private wagon, we have also started importing some of the wheel sets, so we should be able to recover to, to an extent, the lost production of the last quarter.
The silver lining for the quarter has been that the passenger rail system, which constitutes, on a standalone basis, almost 75+% of our order book, has shown a huge jump. We have grown our revenue from INR 40 crore to INR 40-odd crores to INR 160-odd crores. The EBITDA has also jumped from about less than INR 5 crore to about INR 22 crores, which is very reflective of our strategy of growing the passenger business. We are continuing to ensure that we stabilize and grow this business.
Going forward, in maybe in about a year, two years' time, we clearly see that the passenger business will be the dominating part, dominant part of our overall business between the two, which is the passenger and the rail, and which is quite well supported, not only by the order book, but also the tailwind in the industry. Some of the highlights of the quarter, we were able to flag off the first train for Ahmedabad Metro by the Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat, who visited our plant to flag off this rake. Very well received. Now the series production of Ahmedabad Metro has started.
The other highlight of the quarter is we have been awarded the wagon leasing license, so this will further strengthen our presence in the private sector wagon market. So we'll be able to offer wagons on lease to some of the important customers. This also would mean that we would be able to make an entry into the wagon maintenance market, which effectively would be, as we understand, based on our interactions and based on the reports, that will be initially open for the private wagons, which are offered on lease or owned by the private customers. So in this case, through the leasing license, we will be able to own and maintain the wagons as well. The demerger of the shipbuilding business has been completed, and we have, I don't...
We'd already announced the order that we received for the coastal research vessel, but that business is picking up very well. We expect that, although it's 100% subsidiary now, but that business is going to pick up very well, and there is a lot of tailwind available in that business. The first propulsion set for EMU is also been approved by RDSO, and the company has an order book of about close to INR 500 crore on propulsion, and this also is going to start kicking in into the revenue from FY 27 onwards. The other highlight that I would be happy to share is the agreement that we signed with ABB.
As we had reported a couple of years ago, we had signed an agreement with ABB to get the transfer of technology for the 750 kV TCMS system, which has been used in the Gujarat Metro. This agreement further expands and gives us the transfer of technology for the 25 kV. There are only two type of metros that operate in India, which will complete our ownership range of the TCMS. So this is another very important building block in our overall business, which we are being able to complete. So that the idea is that on the passenger rail system business, like we did in the past for the freight rail system business, we should be very integrated.
We should have a complete grip over the value chain, right from the critical components up to the service. So this gives us a big leverage on having a grip over the value chain. This also includes that we will be producing some of the traction motors and traction converters in our own plant. We already have the production set up, where we are producing the traction motors for the locomotives and also for the EMUs, which I mentioned a little while ago. But this will also have a transfer of manufacturing from ABB for their production standards and production technologies for the traction converter and traction motor for the metro business. The last but not the least is that the aluminum metro line is being established.
Project is already on way, and we should be able to complete it by Q2 of FY 27. This line will then... Earlier, we used to get flat packs or sub assemblies from Europe, and then do the final metro coach manufacturing assembly in India. But this again, will give us a backward integration, and we'll be able to end manufacture end-to-end aluminum metro coaches, right from the raw material or extrusions down upwards to the complete metro coach. This would also enable us to make car bodies and coaches for aluminum coaches for high speed or semi-high speed trains. And we are preparing ourselves for the massive investment that the government of India has announced under the high speed network.
The idea is to also use this line to further expand and progress ourselves to be able to do high speed trains in the future. This is overall picture, and then I'm happy to take any questions that may be there. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Bala Subramanian from Arihant Capital Markets Limited. Please proceed.
Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, my first question, in passenger coaches side, we have seen significant improvement on the execution side. In this quarter, we did nearly 18 metro cars, compared to last two Q3, around 3 metro cars. Overall, in this nine-month effect on 2026, we did 39 metro cars. But we have guided 100-100 metro cars, like, as our aspirational target by, by FY 26. So I'm trying to understand whether in Q4 we can make it, 20-25 additional metros. We can end up, 60-65, kind of range. And if you could, like, share more details, because we are running multiple projects, running concurrently, especially Pune Aluminum, Gujarat, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Vande Bharat.
Could you please share a detailed timeline of the production ramp-up of each major program?
Sure. Absolutely. Thank you for your question. Now, let me explain this to you, that the target that we had set for ourselves this quarter, this year, was between 100-120 cars. And there is a significant improvement that we have made, as you have already noted, and we may not be able to get to 100 or 120, but we'll be pretty close to that, which in itself will be a very... Can I request to go on mute, please? Because I'm listening to myself again.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Yeah. There will be a significant improvement that we will see in the Q4. We have already started ramping up. In January, we were much higher than what we were in December, and we are looking at continuing the trend in February and March as well. As far as the Pune is concerned, Pune is an aluminum metro coach, and as I mentioned, that the production of that will start only after completion of the project or the line that we are setting up for the aluminum coach, which will be somewhere in Q3 of this. The car body production will start in Q3 or Q4 of this financial year, of the coming financial year. And Vande Bharat production has already started.
We expect, by the end of this financial year, that is March 2026, to be able to complete the car bodies of the first rake, which is 16 cars. We are already in production, and which will be again, a milestone. And the first train is likely to be ready in the Q3 of the coming financial year. I'm sorry.
Sir, the Gujarat, Mumbai, and Bangalore, that update.
Bangalore is continuously being executed, and Gujarat now has started execution, and Mumbai will start execution from Q3 of the next financial year.
Okay, sir. So my next question, I think we have received approval for a wagon leasing company. So I'm trying to understand, like, what is the initial fleet size target and what is the expected leasing yield on wagons under this scheme? And, like, whether this will be the asset-heavy model requiring significant debt funding, or is there any different capital structure? And, like, how do you look at in this business in terms of revenue and margins for next three to five years?
So this is a business which will be a part of our existing company itself, and, we are looking at this as expanding our offering to the customer. Primary business would continue to remain sale of or, offering of wagons. This is only an enabler to increase our market share in the private sector, wagon business. As far as the other details that you have mentioned, this will be blended along with our overall margin, and we will not be, we'll not be looking at it as a separate business in the sense of, buying wagons and then leasing them. This is, this is only an extension for our own product offering and maybe a stronger bridge between us and our potential customers, existing and potential customers.
Okay, sir. So my last question: defense and bridges order book, nearly INR 38 crore. So I'm trying to understand what kind of order book is this, and like, how do you take this business over the next 3-5 years? Whether we have opportunities of INR 5,500+ crore kind of revenue maybe next 3-5 years, what kind of opportunity size we have? And secondly, Titagarh Naval Systems Limited, are you planning to list separately once it reaches on sizable scale?
As far as the defense is concerned, we have already announced that, this is something which is under evaluation of a board committee. And, we will then, at an appropriate stage, once we have, the board has, decided on the way forward, we will definitely, announce that to the market. And, for the Titagarh Naval Systems, also, we had already... I had already mentioned, in the, interactions, over media and otherwise, we are going to build this business, and yes, the, the idea would be to separately list this company at an appropriate stage. When that will happen, the timing is something which is not yet clear, but we will definitely build the business before we take that step.
Sir, you can also elaborate more specific opportunities on defense and bridges segment side.
I already mentioned, sir, that it is a board-level committee which has been constituted, and once the deliberation is finalized, and once we have a clear approval of the board, we will definitely announce that to the market.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation, sir. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Before we proceed with the next question, a reminder to the participants, please limit your questions to two per participant, as there are several participants waiting for their turn. We take the next question from the line of Aniket Madhavani from StepTrade Capital. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hello, good morning.
Yes, sir, you are audible. Please go ahead.
Yeah, yes. So my question was with regards to the new facility for components. So, when it will be commissioned, and then the plan for backward integration you're planning?
So it is already going on, sir. The expansion in terms of the aluminum that I mentioned, the backward integration for all the car body components, and also the test track, which is going to be a big game changer for us, even for our ambitions to get into the high speed or the bullet train segment, the 1.6 km test track. So all of that work is going on at full pace, and we expect all of these projects to be completed in the first half of the next financial year.
The first half of the next financial year. Okay. And the orders from Vande Bharat, will they contribute from next financial year, or you're expecting some of these to start by this quarter?
No, some of them in the dispatches will start only next financial year, but it is the production is already started. As I mentioned, that we would have completed the car bodies, almost completed the entire car bodies for the first rake within this financial year. So to that extent, being percentage of completion accounting, some revenue will likely flow in this quarter as well, in this year itself also.
Yeah. And, as you mentioned, the wheel shortages are now normalized. So can we expect to see a significant jump in top line and as well as bottom line, considering the low base due to wheel set shortages?
So we would not like to give a forward-looking statement, but definitely you see the capacity of the wagon as far as freight rail system is concerned. The company is not limited by capacity. We have proven ourselves to and we have set the backward facility, also the foundry facility, to be able to produce 1,000 wagons a month. The only constraining factor is the wheel set, and of course, then now we are hoping that the future orders or future tenders come in, which we hope should come out in the early part of next financial year. I had mentioned that we are having workload till about first half of the next financial year. But beyond that, we are hoping the new tenders to come in.
On the new tenders, I may, I'm sure that this question would also come up, so maybe I'll advance, answer it in advance. The railway's target of achieving the 3 billion ton of freight loading by 2030 remains intact, and so does the target of attaining 40% market share in the overall logistics of the country, which is currently about 25 to 26%. So while there may be some blips in the requirement over one or two quarters, but on the midterm basis, I would say that the demand for wagons, we do not see them to become a challenge. And we are fully ready to be able to cater to that demand at the rate of 1,000 wagons if there is enough business in the market.
The growth in terms of the ramp-up will really start coming in from the passenger segment, which is already started seeing a ramp-up, but we will now, next year, FY 27 and FY 28 are going to be the defining years wherein the real ramp up of the passenger rail system is going to happen, both in terms of the metro segment, in the Vande Bharat segment, as well as in the propulsion segment.
What's your current revenue?
Sorry, in terms of, Mr. Aniket?
It is there in the presentation. Yeah.
Okay.
Mr. Aniket, I would request you to join back the queue, as there are several participants waiting for their turn.
Yes, sure. Sure, sure.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Anand Kulkarni from Frontwave Research. Please proceed.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I had a couple of questions. First, how much is the backlog of CRRC in the Bangalore Metro, and when are we expecting it to be cleared? Do you see it lowering FY 28? That's my first. Second, what is your current production run rate for metros, specifically?
So the backlog of CRRC is likely to be over in FY 27. At most, if it does, then it may be spilling over to the first month or first month and a half of the FY 28. But bulk of it will be over in FY 27. As far as the run rate of metro is concerned, I, we just spoke about it, that last quarter, we improved, and this quarter we are further likely to improve. Our target is to get to 20 cars per month, which is what, we will get within the next few months. So it is a process. It is a new business line, which we are ramping up, and there are always teething troubles that are there when you go for such a steep ramp up.
Most of them, we have been able to overcome, and the result is already in front of us, that the ramp up is already visible. We will continue to pursue this ramp up and get to 20 cars per month within the next few months.
Thank you. All the very best. That was very good. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sameer Deshpande from Alpha Peak Investments. Please proceed.
Hello, sir. The execution has improved to some extent with the availability of the wheel set, and last time you had mentioned that the imports have been permitted. So still, are we not in a position to execute to the fullest extent?
So its import of wheel set takes a little bit of time once we get the orders, and this is only permitted for the NRC or the private sector wagon requirement, not for the wagons that we produce for the Indian Railways. So therefore, you know, the even, even when we start import process, from the day we place the order till the time we receive the wheels and we are able to use it, takes between 4-5 months. So that's the reason we were unable to ramp up the production to the desired level. But right now, till we receive the new tenders, to be able to produce around about 800 wagons is what we are targeting per month, and we should be able to get there.
As I said, this was an unexpected blip that we faced from the Rail Wheel Factory. The production had normalized, but then again, there were some problems. But this is a very short-lived one.
But our production in the joint venture is expected to start from the next year of Q1?
Yeah. The trial production is expected to start by March or April, and then stabilize in another couple of quarters.
So it may be in after Q2 only?
It's premature to say. As I said, the trial production will start now, and then to stabilize, whatever time it takes. So it generally takes anything between... It can happen in anything between 1-2 quarters.
Yeah. And, regarding this, Titagarh Firema joint venture, where they held about 41% stake, and I think the balance 59% was held by Titagarh. Can you explain what is the situation now?
So our share, Titagarh shares in Firema was minority. It was not 50.
Right.
whatever percent you were mentioning, sir.
Uh.
It was a minority shareholding, and then there were other partners also in this.
Okay.
As far as the, what we have already reported,
Mm-hmm.
and as there were two objectives of investing into Firema. One was to set up our business in India for the passenger rail systems.
Mm-hmm.
As you can very clearly see, that has met with thumping success. We have an order book of INR 11,000 crore directly and about another INR 7,000 crore indirectly through our joint venture with BHEL. That is all in the passenger segment.
Yes.
So that has paid very rich dividends.
Mm-hmm.
The second one was to produce in Europe for Europe. That, unfortunately, could not succeed, and the company continued to make losses.
Mm-hmm.
Considering the opportunities available in India and the difficulties prevalent in Europe, we have decided-
Mm
... not to take further exposure, and therefore, now the company, the Italian State Railways, have made an offer to buy out that company, and that is a deal which is under progress. So once it is done, then we will be able to ascertain exactly what will be the status of the losses. But mostly the entire worst case scenario or the losses that can happen to the company have been disclosed in our results and most of it is non-cash, so the cash is already spent. It does not impact. It does not impact. If I may just complete, it does not impact our business in India, so therefore it is not so much synergistic anymore. Yeah, please go ahead, sir.
When I saw the balance sheet of 31st March 2025, it shows that the net worth of the company was INR 158 crore. Maybe in these nine months, whatever losses will come, the netting out those losses, will there be a positive net worth? And will we realize something after because you are given a guarantee of the land parcel, etc.? So that impact, we are not in a position to understand what will happen.
So as I just mentioned, sir, that the total worst case scenario now the company has been offered by the state railways of Italy to be acquired. We do not expect very large equity payback or if at all from the Italian railways. What will be the final impact of that? The worst case has been disclosed in our balance sheet, so whatever happens will be better than the worst case.
We are not expecting any charges, significant charges of impairments, etc., happening in our books.
Apart from what has been mentioned in our balance sheet or in the results.
They have been already provided, no?
So it is there as a part of the results. So there is some part of it has been provided and some part of it has been disclosed. So if you go through the details of the financials, you will be able to find that.
Okay. In the notes, etc. Okay. Okay. All the best to you. Hope we are in a position to have a very good next year, 2026, 2027, because this year has been a very stormy one for us because of the factors beyond our control also. Though we have been on track, we are not in a position to deliver because of certain things beyond our control. Hope this year and the next 2027, 2028, 2026, 2027 and 2027, 2028 will be very good year for us.
We are also very hopeful and optimistic about that, sir. Thank you.
All the best. All the best. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we proceed with the next question, a reminder to the participants. In order to ask a question, you may press star and one on your touchtone telephone. We take the next question from the line of Rajesh Bhandari from Nakoda Engineers. Please proceed.
Good afternoon, sir. Sir, apne paas mein total order book karib-karib INR 28,000 crore hai. INR 27,755, jismein apna wagons ka hai INR 3,126. Yeh apna kitna mahine ka load hai, sir wagon waala?
Sir, yeh lagbhag hamara jaisa maine abhi kaha tha ki first half of next financial year, we should be able to cater to with the existing orders and to go beyond. We are looking at the new tenders, including the new orders that we will be able to receive on account of this wagon leasing license that we have obtained.
ये कब तक आ रहे हैं, सर, गवर्नमेंट के वैगन ऑर्डर्स, वैगन इंक्वायरीज?
ये तो हमारे हाथ में नहीं है, लेकिन हम जो एक्सपेक्ट कर रहे हैं कि ये-
Expected, expected, expected.
हां, Q1 में आना चाहिए। जैसा मैंने कहा था शुरुआत में भी कि रेलवे ने जो अपनी टारगेट्स रखी थी, 3 बिलियन टन ट्रैफिक कैरी करने की, उसमें कहीं पर भी कोई डाउनग्रेड रेलवे ने नहीं किया है। रेलवे अभी भी उस पर दृढ़ निश्चित है कि वह 3 बिलियन टन ट्रैफिक 2030 तक कैरी करेगी। प्रधानमंत्री जी ने जो विजन, जो नेशनल रेल प्लान में 40% मार्केट शेयर लॉजिस्टिक्स में होगा, उसका कहा है। आज भी एक न्यूजपेपर में आर्टिकल है कि गति शक्ति के अंतर्गत रेलवे ने को जो अपनी शेयर बढ़ानी है और अपने लोडिंग बढ़ाना है, उसके लिए जो-जो टर्मिनल में और जो-जो रेल नेटवर्क में उन्हें इन्वेस्टमेंट करना है, वह कैबिनेट उनको क्लियर कर रही है, एक-एक करके। तो मेरा मानना है कि यह वैगन डिमांड जो है, इस 3,000 टन या 3 बिलियन टन ट्रैफिक लोड करने के लिए काफी हेल्दी रहनी चाहिए अगले कई सालों तक।
जी। अच्छा सर, ये जो बजट आया, उसका कितना positive, positive effect है और जो trade agreements हुए हैं, उनका क्या मतलब अपनों में positive impact रहेगा कि अपना 2026, 2027 और 2027, 2028 में क्या turnover अपन expect कर सकते हैं, सर?
सर, जहां तक ये बजट का सवाल है, बजट बहुत ही पॉजिटिव है। मैं दो अंशों में इसे डिवाइड करूंगा। पहला है-
हां सर।
... हमारी बिजनेस के लिए पैसेंजर रेल सिस्टम पे। पैसेंजर रेल सिस्टम में जो बजट डॉक्यूमेंट कहता है कि नए Vande Bharat trains लगाए जाएंगे या उन्हें enhance किया जाएगा services को। और सबसे बड़ी चीज, जो जिसके ऊपर हमारी कंपनी काम कर रही है और काम करती रहेगी और बहुत फोकस के साथ हम उस पर काम कर रहे हैं, वह है additional high speed corridor। 7 नए high speed corridor announce हुए हैं, क्योंकि-
हां सर।
Titagarh is the only Aatmanirbhar company that can be called a Make in India company. It has this capacity......
ki high-speed train bhi bana sake aur aluminium coach jo hum abhi line apna setup kar rahe hain, jo ki September ke pehle production shuru ho jayega. Usmein high-speed trains banane ki poori sambhavna hamare paas rahegi aur plus jo humne zameen liya hai aur test track bana rahe hain, usse hum high-speed train ki or aage badh sakte hain. To yeh budget ke antargat jo hamari ek future road map hai, jo passenger rail system ki, vah kaafi acche tarike se that has been established as far as freight is concern, there have been newspaper reports about they have some media reports about some wagon procurement, which is there, which is about 32,000 wagons, but the railways have not officially confirmed that to us as of now. Having said that as a as a mention ki aaj ke din railway karib 1.5 billion ton traffic carry karti hai aur lagbhag 400,000 wagons unke paas hai. To agar unhe 1.5 billion se 3 billion ton par jana hai to unhe wagons ki to jarurat abhi.
Motamoti utne wagon to chahiye hi chahiye.
अब वो डिटेल कैलकुलेशन पर तो मैं कमेंट नहीं कर पाऊंगा, लेकिन।
ये मैडम।
Join back the queue.
No, no, ma'am, ma'am. My question is not been fully replied, ma'am. It was budget and trade agreement also. Trade agreement and 2026-2027 ka turnover, sir.
Trade agreement ka hamare business mein koi direct impact nahi hai, sahab. There is no direct impact of the trade agreement in our business.
नेगिटिव।
Negativity and negative of course improve the general sentiment and you see the indirect advantage that we will get that if there is higher GDP growth, which is definitely going to be the case because of this trade agreement, it is going to enhance GDP growth and the size of the economy. So there will be an impact on the overall freight loading and thereby on our business as far as the turnover growth is concerned, we have already given the we have already given the order book that is available. We have also given in strategic plan, which you can download from the website the way we are looking at moving forward. So we cannot give you any forward-looking projections as a matter of policy. We have given you the directional framework of how the company intends to go in the couple of years. Trade agreement. I just mention that probably you know, in terms of our if the overall logistics and all of the procurement cost come down, then there will be some cascading impact and advantage. But there is no meaningful direct impact to us.
एक छोटा सा question है सर, ये जो aluminum coach और SS coach रहता है, just very small aluminum coaches और SS coaches वगैरह जो रहते हैं सर, plus metro के coaches one per coach approximately क्या cost होता है सर?
Metro coach approximately INR 10 crore-INR 12 crore mein bikta hai.
Yes, sir, aluminum.
It depends on the specifications. That will be hyper technical, I would avoid getting in.
But it will be more than metro.
जी बिल्कुल।
Ji sir, ji sir. Theek hai sir. Thank you sir. Thank you very much.
थैंक यू।
you. Before we proceed with the next question, a reminder to the participants, please limit your question to one per participant. We take the next question from the line of Parvez Kazi from Nama Group. Please proceed.
Hi, good afternoon sir. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on the passenger business. I mean we have multiple orders now. Based on your commentary production on most of them will start at some point in FY 27. So are we looking for more orders in this segment and do we first want to stabilize and start work on the existing orders.
So I presume, we are absolutely looking at more orders in the last six months or less than six months. I would say we have booked orders of about INR 4,000 crore for metros. As you are aware Mumbai Line 5 and Line 6 and we are looking at participating in spate of tenders that are in the offering. So you know, in terms we are doing both simultaneously and since you have seen the facility, you have seen the kind of expansion that is continuously going on one side. We are continuously continuing to build up order book and participating in new tenders and riding the wave of opportunity that this sector presents and simultaneously we as we keep on building up order book. We are also enhancing capacity.
Sure, and second, and the last question is in terms of numbers, what kind of order book will we have in the wagon segment now? Would be closer to about 8,000 wagons.
not disclosed that number so I am not sure I can give you that number right now, but I will. I will definitely. You know, in terms of the details, we will try to share in the presentation and by end of the quarter and to presentation as far as possible.
Sir, thanks and all the best!
Thank you so much.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Devansh Shah from All West Investment Managers Private Limited. Please proceed.
Sir, as you have mentioned, that there is a, you know, you know, growth that is coming from the passenger rail segment, and there is still uncertainty prevailing as far as, you know, freight wagon is concerned. By considering all this fact, what kind of, you know, just as a, not a number, but the growth as far as, you know, top line we can expect over the next two years? And, second question, so what kind of margin that we expect from, you know, over the next two years in general?
In general, what I can answer your question is what is the potential of the business that is there? As far as the freight is concerned, I do not see uncertainties in the midterm. As I mentioned to you, that we have orders till first half of the next financial year, and we are pretty hopeful that orders should start flowing in by that time. Considering that the overall freight loading targets are intact, they have not been scaled down by the government.
Considering that the Indian economy is still growing at a very healthy pace, and considering that the logistics cost of the country has to be brought down and the railways have continued to invest in building up capacity in terms of track, signaling capacity, locomotives and all of that, we believe that the wagon demand has to follow. You know, on a metaphoric basis, wagon always follows the locomotives, both physically and business-wise. So the locomotive production has been ramped up. You have seen the production numbers. Railways have ordered new locomotives on Siemens and stuff like that. So the wagon demand, we do not see that it'll plummet over a longer period of time. There can be blips over a quarter or a couple of quarters, but not more than that.
That is our expectation. So having said that, the overall potential that we have for the freight wagon of 1,000 wagons a month remains intact, or 12,000 wagons a year remains intact. And we believe that, the demand, sooner or later, will come in, and we will be able to cater to that, demand. As far as the passenger segment is concerned, we have very clearly and very, explicitly elaborated the growth trajectory that we are envisaging and how we are envisaging that growth trajectory in our strategic plan. So I would request you to refer to that. That will give you an overall view of where the potential lies for this business also.
I can only sum it up by saying that, considering even the full potential of the wagons or the freight business, the passenger systems business still has the potential of overtaking substantively the freight business, in few years' time from now.
Yeah, so, and as far as margin, you know,
The margins, freight wagon margins remain stable at 11 to 12%, 12.5%, like we have always done. As far as the passenger business is concerned, again, because of the scales, we have always maintained that once we achieve the basic economies of scale, we should be at about 11 to 12%, which is what we are at this quarter. And going forward, once we have our own propulsion and we are able to fully backward integrate, which is a process that should take us another 2 years or so, we will be able to enhance that margin by additional maybe 3 to 4%.
So our ultimate target on the passenger side is to be able to get to about 15% EBITDA levels, which will take us maybe another couple of financial years to get there.
Okay. And so my second question, that as far as your other vertical is concerned, that is your shipbuilding and, you know, maritime system and some of the defense related, that sort of showing in your current order book. So any kind of, you know, opportunity you are looking and growth prospects on that, these two segments?
The shipbuilding business I mentioned to somebody just a few minutes ago, this, a very large opportunity. The Government of India has also identified it as a key growth sector, and we will be focusing on that in the new company that has been formed to take the business of the shipbuilding forward. The defense, we have constituted a board-level committee, which the strategy for the defense is something which is still under deliberation. Once the decision is taken, we will definitely report back.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Bye.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Devanshi Shah from HSF Capital. Please proceed.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I had a couple of questions to ask. First one being: What is the planned capacity, CapEx allocation for FY 27, and how will it be funded, say, through internal accruals or debt?
Hello, sir, are you on the line? Sir, we are not able to hear you. Hello, Devanshi, ma'am, are you on the line?
Yes, I'm on the line, but I cannot hear the management.
Please hold the line.
Hello?
Hello. Yes, sir, are you on the line?
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Yes.
Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was... There was a connection problem. I was mentioning... Sorry, ma'am, I, I don't know at what point I lost you or, do you hear me at all or not?... But I'll start from the beginning.
I can't hear you at all, sir.
Okay, so I'll, I'll start from the beginning. The overall CapEx that we have announced for the passenger rail systems to achieve the capacity or the production that we have projected right now was about INR 1,000 crore. And, CapEx that we are envisaging to make within FY 27 is within that amount. Part of it was funded through the equity raise that we had done and the internal accruals, and part of it through the funding through the debt. So there is no new capital requirement per se, that will be there, apart from the further expansions if we take up.
So if there are, for example, the expansions for opportunities like, high speed or, MRVCs or some other additional large, projects that come up, that may, take, the, take up new CapEx, requirements. But outside that, the current levels that we have, the current orders that we have, will be, catered to by the, CapEx that was already announced, which is now underway, and will be completed in the first half of FY 27.
Got it. Also, you mentioned about the MRVC tender. So wanted to understand what additional CapEx needs to be done in the coming years for the timely execution of Vande Bharat and MRVC simultaneously?
We will not be able to speculate on that right now, and it is too premature to say about MRVC or any new tenders that we are participating. These are all opportunities that are there in the market, and there will be competitive biddings in each one of them. So we would only come up with the financial estimates of what is the opportunity or, for us, and what is the CapEx requirement, et cetera, if and when we have been able to successfully win a project. What we can mention is about the Vande Bharat, which is already included in the CapEx, which we have I just explained to you about.
Right. Also, are we looking to bid with some strategic partner, or we have the required credentials now to bid individually for the MRVC tender?
We are open to every option. We are evaluating. These are all complex tenders. There are many aspects that need to be studied. The state tender is still in the pre-bid query stage. Once this is finalized, only one, then we will be able to say whether we are able to qualify ourselves or qualify with somebody else, and whether we would like to go by ourselves or with somebody else. So these are things that will be getting clearer over a period of time. The pre-bid queries are still not been answered by the customer, and it is still, when it's in the pre-bid stage, it would be almost like the tender document discussion stage.
Got it. That answers my question. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you so much, ma'am.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, we take that as the last question, and would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you very much, Prachi, and thank you for the very insightful questions that were put forward. I hope we were able to answer them. If there are any further questions that anybody, any of the investors, would like to have, please feel free to reach out to our investor relation teams, and we would be most happy to answer all of your questions that may be there. And my team and myself are always available to do so. Just at the cost of repetition, we believe FY 27 and FY 28 for the passenger rail system is going to be a very important year. It is going to be a very exciting year. So we will be working on ramping up the production in the passenger rail systems.
We are hoping that the freight rail system business also continues to get ramped up by way of the new orders coming in by the railways in the first half of next year. With that hope and expectation, I once again thank everybody for joining this earnings call, and I hope to interact again soon. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Titagarh Rail Systems Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.