Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Prerna Halwasiya, Deputy Head Investor Relations and Company Secretary, Vedanta Limited. Over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, Yashashri. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. I'm Prerna, and on behalf of the entire team of Vedanta Limited, I would like to thank you all for joining us today to discuss our financial results and business performance. The transcript and audio of this call will be made available on our website. The financial statements, press releases, and presentations are already available on the website. I'm delighted to introduce our esteemed Vice Chairman, Mr. Navin Agarwal. Many of you might have engaged with him in the past. He's joining today's earnings call probably after 10 years. Today, he will be sharing insights into our quarter one performance and also outlining our strategic growth map. Additionally, we have from the leadership team, Mr. Arun Misra, our Executive Director, Mr. Ajay Goel, our CFO, Mr. Ajay Agarwal, our President Finance.
Also joining with us are a couple of key businesses, Mr. John Slaven, CEO Aluminum Business, Mr. Steve, Deputy CEO Cairn Oil and Gas, Hitesh Vaid, CFO, Cairn Oil and Gas, and Mr. Christopher Griffith, CEO Base Metals. Please note today's entire discussion will be covered by the cautionary statement on slide number 2 of the presentation. We will start with an update on our operational and financial performance, and then we'll open the floor for the Q&A. Now, I would like to hand over the call to Vice Chairman. Thank you.
So, good evening, everyone. Can you just confirm that I'm audible?
Yes, sir, you're audible.
Fantastic. Thank you. So, as Prerna mentioned, I guess I'm attending this call after 8-10 years. But however, we had the opportunity to recently engage with several of you during our recent analyst meet and, of course, also during the recent site visits that many of you went on. Thank you for joining today's quarterly business update. The Vedanta story goes beyond numbers. We'll come to numbers, but Vedanta's story goes beyond numbers. It's about unlocking exponential growth opportunity. We are on a mission path to become the world's leading and most sustainable producer of critical minerals. Our focus on capital efficiency translates to faster project execution and, of course, superior returns for our shareholders. Let me begin with some key highlights.
As you can see on this slide, this is really our scorecard for the last quarter, and this actually is a result of the very sustained and structural initiatives and efforts that we have made over the last one or two or three years. These highlights, as you can see, quarterly EBITDA surged remarkably an outstanding 47% to INR 10,275 crores. Our importance here is our EBITDA margin experienced a significant boost, increasing by 10% from a robust 24% in quarter one FY 2024 to now an industry-leading 34% in Q1 FY 2025. This growth is a testament to our rigorous structural and strategic initiatives aimed at optimizing our costs. As a result, our overall costs successfully decreased by an impressive 20% year-on-year. More notably, or as notably, our profit after tax increased sharply to 54% year-over-year and to INR 5,095 crores.
Continuing on cost, our cost performance is a cornerstone of our success. We are proud to be among the global leaders in cost efficiency, a critical factor we think in ensuring long-term competitiveness. Our aluminum and zinc operations consistently outperform industry benchmarks, ranking in the top quartile and top decile respectively of the global cost curve. Sustainability leadership also is as important, extremely important. Our leadership extends beyond operational excellence. We are also leading in sustainability. Our company was ranked third in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment. Our subsidiary, Hindustan Zinc, ranked first in the metals and mining peer group, and Vedanta Aluminum ranked first among global aluminum peers. This is a true reflection of our commitment to building a stronger Vedanta together. Our assets are also quite unparalleled, right?
If you look at other assets or other large manufacturing businesses in the country, cement, steel, they can be invested and created. But most of our assets now cannot be replicated. We guess that the replacement cost of our assets today across aluminum, zinc, oil, gas, iron ore, steel, etc., is the replacement cost is in excess of $50 billion. On growth, we have had an unparalleled growth story. We have expanded our capacity rapidly, achieving tenfold growth since our IPO in 2004. We are still a young and dynamic organization with the agility of a startup. Commitment to growth is unwavering. As a champion of India's natural resources, we strive to contribute to our country's vision of self-sufficiency in natural resources. In the near term, we are poised to deliver $30 billion in annual revenue and $10 billion in EBITDA.
Our large-scale growth projects are in advanced stages of development, with the majority of them ready to commission in the upcoming quarters. We are in a sweet spot at the right time, and our focused growth approach is reflected through our commitment to execute about $8 billion of growth CapEx in the next few years. Some more color specifically on some of the businesses. Aluminum, of course, John will cover this, and so will Arun. But with our expansion and integration projects, we will be a fully integrated 3.1 million tons per year producer while maintaining global lowest cost for this name. With our value-added product capacity expansion, 90% of our products are value-added products and alloys. We are already the global leader, the global leader in wire rod production. This value-added expansion will further cement our position by making us the second largest producer of billet in the world.
As we complete our full backward integration to ensure 100% self-sufficiency in bauxite, alumina, and coal, we are well positioned to deliver EBITDA in the region of about $4 billion from our aluminum business at LME of about $2,600. Just to highlight, with completion of our ongoing integration, we believe we will be the most integrated large aluminum producer in the world. Similarly, in Zinc India, with refined metal capacity of 1.2 million tons and 800 tons of silver production, HZL is poised to generate annual EBITDA in excess of $2.5-$2.7 billion. So is the story on Zinc International, less understood by most investors. We'll get Chris to talk about this. Our Zinc International business, with substantial zinc ore reserves, has the potential to mirror out Zinc India business.
With an impressive zinc ore reserve and resources of 662 million tons and 35 million tons of metal reserve, we are committed to deliver 1 million tons of zinc production to Zinc International. Oil and gas is India's largest private sector oil producer and remains committed to maximizing resource recovery and discovering resources for future growth by focused development and exploration. During the last fiscal, we added 200 million barrels to our resource, increasing our R&R to 1.4 billion barrels. Our near-term target is to deliver 150,000 barrels production a day and 1.6 billion barrels in reserve and resources. With this, our oil and gas business will generate over $1 billion of EBITDA. Our vision, however, is to reach production of 300,000 barrels, 300 Kboepd barrels a day.
Key activities here include scaling up ASP injection across MBA fields, monetization of tight oil and satellite fields, and exploration in Northeast, deep water in the East Coast, and onshore campaign. The next big growth opportunity in iron ore is in Liberia. We are on track to realize the full potential of our iron ore business. Our Liberia asset has over 3,000 million tons of established R&R and best-in-class ore grades. Our near-term projections at Liberia indicate an annual production of approximately 30 million tons of iron ore. Similarly, we have opportunities to grow our output in Karnataka and in Goa. ESL, one of our trophy assets, the steel asset, it is the only steel asset in India that can be ramped up to 15 million tons a year at a single location.
It is strategically located, fully integrated, highly scalable steel platform, and enjoys an added benefit of green steel potential given proximity to the gas pipeline it has spread across gas pipelines. This asset is spread across the contiguous land of 2,300 acres. At this point of time, we are completing the expansion to 3.5 million tons to be commissioned by the end of this year. We believe at 3.5 million tons, this business will deliver $500 million in bottom line. On power, we are one of the largest power producers in India, of course, with 11 GW of total capacity. In merchant power, we have 5 GW of capacity spread between TSPL in Punjab, Athena in Chhattisgarh, and Meenakshi in Andhra.
At FACOR, Ferrochrome, we have already doubled our production since acquisition, and we are now on track to become India's largest ferro alloy producer with 500 ktpa capacity, a threefold increase in production from where we are now. Moving on to some strategic imperatives, demerger. You would have heard that our game-changing strategic demerger is now a reality. As you may be aware, we have already filed the demerger scheme application with NCLT, and therefore we are in the final stage of creating industry-leading focused entities with sharper investment propositions. On management and leadership, we have a strong line of global leadership teams who are ready to lead these large, high-quality businesses with 100+ expats and experienced specialists and, of course, a very vibrant young leadership team. We are ready to unlock the largest shareholder value.
In conclusion, finally, while we can look back with pride on our accomplishments and initiatives at Vedanta, we remain firmly focused on the exciting road ahead for us. FY 2025 will be a transformative year for us on many fronts as we prioritize disciplined growth, operational excellence, and exploring opportunities along the value chain. Our strategy is clear, our foundation is solid, and our team is energized to capitalize on the tremendous growth potential and prospects that lie before us. We thank you for your continued support and confidence in our journey and in our story. Thank you very much, and we look forward to engaging with you in the Q&A session. But for now, over to you, Arun.
Thank you, Vice Chairman.
I'm pleased to address all of you today to share Vedanta's exceptional performance in quarter one of this current fiscal, a quarter marked by robust growth, operational excellence, and a strong commitment to sustainability. Our journey has been defined by strategic delivery and operational excellence with a strong pursuit of value creation for all stakeholders. As a global industry leader in ESG practices, our dedication to ESG is reflected in our operational strategy. Our group has already secured a total of 1,826 megawatts of renewable energy power delivery agreements. I'm thrilled to share with you that our Zinc India business has started receiving the renewable energy in line with these agreements. This initiative will be progressively adopted by our other businesses in the upcoming quarters. In the first quarter of FY 2025, Hindustan Zinc successfully sourced approximately 8.5% of its total power consumption from renewable energy.
This has helped Hindustan Zinc to launch EcoZen, Asia's first low-carbon zinc product. This is a significant milestone in our sustainability journey. With a carbon footprint of 75% lower than the global average, EcoZen reflects our dedication to reducing the environmental impact of our product. Today, Vedanta proudly has a portfolio of three low-carbon products, two in alumina named Restora and Restora Ultra, and now one in zinc named EcoZen. It reflects our strategic intent and the actionable steps we are taking towards our ambitious environmental goal of achieving net zero carbon emission by 2050. On quarter one key highlights, moving on quarterly performance, I'm pleased to report an outstanding quarter one performance that underscores the strength and agility of our operations. We delivered strong quarterly revenue of INR 35,239 crores, 6% increase year-on-year, a quarterly EBITDA increasing remarkably by 47% year-on-year to INR 10,275 crores.
Our EBITDA margin increased by 10%. Our profit after tax increased by 54% year-over-year. Moving on operational performance, our aluminium and zinc operations continue to set industry benchmarks consistently, ranking in the top quartile and decile in the global cost curve on the back of very structural initiatives which helped in reduction of cost year-over-year. Aluminium business achieved a strong quarterly production of 596 kilotonnes, coupled with an 11% reduction in cost year-over-year. Despite rising alumina market prices globally, we maintained a flat hot metal cost, demonstrating the strength of our assets and our operational excellence and our ability to sustain and increase the margins. Hindustan Zinc has achieved its highest-ever first quarter mine metal and refined metal production at 263 kt and 262 kt respectively.
We are on a clear trajectory to achieve the lowest cost production in our last four years of operations with a Q1 cost of $1,107 per ton. In Gamsberg mine, we witnessed a 19% increase in ore mined and a 25% increase in MIC production quarter-on-quarter, strongly reflecting our progress towards operational stability and efficiency. ESL Steel also delivered a robust performance with crude steel production increasing by 10% year-on-year to 356 kt, driven by strategic de-bottlenecking and enhanced operational efficiency. On growth projects, we estimate a remarkable growth across the entire portfolio, and we remain committed to our near-term $10 billion EBITDA target that is to be achieved through operationalizing all these growth projects. Aluminum ramp-up of Lanjigarh refinery train one is progressing smoothly, and we are on track to commission train two in quarter three of current fiscal of FY 2025.
With a full ramp-up expected by quarter one of FY 2026, BALCO Smelter expansion is advancing steadily with all equipment orders fulfilled and installations underway. These developments, along with some volume de-bottlenecking projects, will enable us to reach a production capacity of 3.1 million tons per annum of aluminum, with 90% comprising of value-added products and alloys. Zinc India, 160,000 tons per annum roaster at Debari, and 510,000 tons of fertilizer plant are progressing smoothly. Additionally, we are exploring avenues to expand our metal production to 2 million tons per annum in the near future. Zinc International, as Vice Chairman stated, is one of the largest zinc deposits globally. Our phase II expansion project is in full swing, with full ramp-up expected in quarter two of FY 2026.
In iron ore, we remain on track in our FY 25 production target of 12 million tons per annum, with an additional 1 million ton from our value-added business. To realize the full potential of our assets in Liberia and align with our growth objectives, we are initiating construction of our first 3 million ton per annum concentrated plant in that region. In ESL, the expansion to 3.5 million tons per annum is estimated to be completed by FY 25. In power, we are well placed to generate 5 gigawatts of commercial power over the next two years. The fiscal year will see the full commissioning of Meenakshi Power of 1,000 megawatts. In FACOR, after concluding the last fiscal year with a production rate of 110,000 tons per annum, we are gearing up to increase our capacity to 150,000 tons per annum in FY 25.
In summary, our exceptional Q1 performance has set the stage for transformative financial year 2025. We are on track to complete several landmark projects, including one of the world's largest single-location alumina refinery at Lanjigarh and the expansion of our aluminum and steel capacities. Across our portfolio, we will also add about 10% additional capacity by aggressive de-bottlenecking efforts and asset optimization. These strategic initiatives, combined with a continued focus on cost reduction that is very, very structural, and operational excellence will drive significant growth and value creation. In conclusion, FY 2025 is going to be a landmark year for our company as we achieve new heights in production, revenue, and profitability. The strategic demerger presents a unique opportunity and is on track to create industry-leading focus in these entities and sharper investment propositions.
Vedanta is well positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities and deliver sustained value to our shareholders and stakeholders. With this, I hand over to Ajay Goel.
Yeah, thank you, Arun, and good evening, everyone. First quarter has been an outstanding start of the year in terms of operations, financials, and capital structure. I'm pleased to share that we have delivered an EBITDA of INR 10,275 crore, clocking a 47% year-over-year growth, and 20% of EBITDA growth comes from structural and sustainable cost computation. This quarter witnessed our highest PAT in the last seven quarters at INR 5,095 crore, reflecting a 54% year-over-year growth. Coming to first quarter financial highlights, revenue of INR 35,239 crore, up 6% year-over-year. EBITDA, as I mentioned, INR 10,275 crore, a jump of 47% year-over-year.
EBITDA margin at 34%, reflecting a surge of 948 basis points year-over-year, which is an industry benchmark. PAT of INR 5,095 crore demonstrates a robust 54% growth year-over-year and a staggering 124% growth quarter-over-quarter. OCF before CapEx of INR 4,371 crore, up 41% again year-over-year. Finally, net debt to EBITDA ratio improved to 1.5x year-over-year from 1.9, which again is the best in the industry. Moving on to balance sheet and debt, net debt as of June 30 stood at INR 61,324 crore against INR 56,338 crore as of March 31, 2024. We finished the quarter with a very strong liquidity position of INR 16,692 crore, up 17% year-over-year, with an average maturity at three years. This quarter, we also continued with our consistent track record of rewarding shareholders with dividends.
On QIP and capital structure, as we may have noted in July, we have raised INR 1,805 crores via QIP, marking one of the largest transactions. The funds from the QIP will be used to deleverage Vedanta Limited. This will also significantly reduce our interest cost by more than INR 1,000 crores on an annual basis. The oversubscription of long-only investors underscores the confidence that domestic and global investors' community has in Vedanta. I'll move on to VRL, our parent company, both in terms of deleveraging and recent rating augmentation. I want to emphasize the substantial progress towards deleveraging made by our holding company, Vedanta Resources Limited. After reducing debt by $3.7 billion over the last two years, we have further announced deleveraging of $3 billion over the next three years. Against this, we have achieved a reduction of $650 million in the first quarter itself.
The closing debt at VRL now stands at $5.5 billion. Also, S&P Global has augmented VRL's rating to B-, citing improved capital structure and liquidity while assigning a stable outlook. On demerger, we have assigned the scheme with NCLT. This is a significant milestone towards unlocking value for all our stakeholders. In conclusion, I reaffirm our commitment to full-year guidance and will continue on our current momentum forward. Our transformative cost optimization across our portfolio will continue to deliver results. Vedanta's credit profile and capital structure will see a substantial change in coming quarters, and with this, we are very well positioned to achieve our historical best performance in FY 2025. Thank you, and with this, I hand over to operator for Q&A.
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 the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We'll take a first question from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good evening, everyone. Congratulations for a great set of numbers. I have two questions. The first one is on aluminum division. I understand that there are quite a few milestones in Q2 FY 2025, including the commencement of mining in Radhikapur and Kuraloi blocks, plus the second train of alumina refinery being launched. So just wanted to understand the update on each of these, plus BALCO expansion as well.
Yeah, go ahead, Amit.
What else?
The second question is on oil and gas, essentially. So while in the PPT, it is mentioned that we have initiated the ASP injection at Mangala, and we saw that the preparation was going on when we visited the site as well. So just wanted to understand whether in Q2 we will finally see that the production from oil and gas would increase because we have drilled infill wells. So as a combination, this infill strategy plus your ASP, could we see production creeping up finally in Q2 of FY 2025? These are my two questions.
Thanks, Amit. I will, of course, ask first John or maybe Steve first to address the oil and gas and John on aluminum.
A broader comment, Amit, that while your question around in which month or which period will the refineries start, which month, which period will the coal mining start, while relevant, but the way we look at this is that structurally we have addressed this, and now it's a matter of execution. It may take a month here, a quarter here, but from our point of view, the refinery has been in the last stages of commissioning, both train one and train two. It may happen one month earlier, one month later, but we don't stress over that. So that is going to happen in any case. As far as coal mining is concerned, similarly, we have started the work on the coal mine.
It may happen one month early, one month delayed, but we know that all this integration of coal, alumina, bauxite is in the execution stage and will start getting started commencing. But let me get Steve, are you on?
Yes, I'm here, Vice Chairman.
So you heard the question Amit had?
Yes, I got it. Yes. Let me answer it. Yeah, thank you, Amit, for the question. Good evening. So yeah, you're right. Obviously, our production has been declining. We are obviously producing most of our oil and gas from very mature fields, 15-35 years old. We have a natural decline of about 20% per year with no infill drilling. We are infill drilling modestly at the moment in Rajasthan and maintaining the decline at about 15%. Obviously, that isn't acceptable. We want to bring the production up.
We've got a huge reserves base and resources base to draw upon and a phenomenal exploration portfolio that's going to add to the reserves and resources. So ASP, you mentioned, is one of the key technologies. We've kicked off the first stage finally after many years' delay in Mangala. The ASP has been injected into the ground, and we should see over the next few months, because we're putting it into a pattern which should respond quite quickly, a gradual increase. But remember, this is the first part of a very large project. The second stage will kick off early next year. My expectation for second quarter is we're going to be quite flat. So we did 112 in the first quarter. We're going to be sitting in 112, 113 in the second quarter.
Third and fourth, we'll start to see the gains, not just from the ASP, but also from the additional infill drilling, because we're mobilizing rigs to both the East and the West Coast. Our biggest infill opportunities are actually offshore rather than onshore, and that production should start to come in during the year. We've also got 5 more wells scheduled in the gas plant. They should start to come in towards the end of the year. So we're looking at an end rate leading the financial year, 130,000-140,000 barrels a day, and that's all of that work coming in. Beyond that, obviously, we've got a lot of exploration ongoing. We've got the rigs that will come in on the East and West Coast, not just doing infill, but doing exploration, which will hopefully produce more satellite fields.
We've got 5 satellite fields already discovered, field development plans sanctioned, both onshore and offshore. They will start to produce oil and gas in. We've got the ongoing exploration in the Northeast where we've got 2 rigs drilling. We've got a rig in Rajasthan drilling. We're bringing a second rig right into Rajasthan, a heavy-duty rig to focus on our deeper prospectivity, particularly gas prospectivity around the RDG plant, which, as you know, has a lot of spare capacity at the moment. Our aim is to fill that up, get it back to doing 35,000-40,000 barrels a day oil equivalent as soon as possible. We've got an ambitious program on the unconventionals in Rajasthan, and as Navin said, we're aggressively looking at our deep water. We're negotiating to bring a rig in to drill some deepwater appraisal wells and doing development studies at the moment.
So I think a modest target of 300,000 is quite modest. I think the portfolio we've got, if it was in another company, we would be looking at a target of 500,000-600,000. But in the short term, by the end of this year, we should end the year at 130,000-140,000.
Thank you. Amit, can you answer your question on oil and gas?
Sure. Yeah, thanks. That's very comprehensive and comforting.
And John, if you are on, he wanted to talk about the alumina refinery ramp-up and coal mining without giving anything els e you want to add.
What I will say is we are progressing well on these gas projects. As Vice Chairman has mentioned, this is a transformative year for us. We are significantly ramping up capacity in refining, which is going to significantly reduce our cost position.
Currently, we are well into the first quarter from a cost perspective, and as we complete these structural changes, it will take us well into the first quarter. So we're on track to complete that. What I will say is the national election has had quite a significant impact on availability of labor for these very labor-intensive projects. So our business partners really struggled to mobilize the resources that we have needed on site, which has led to sort of minor delays. But that is now behind us, and we are progressively moving forward on those projects. For the coal mines, with the change in government in Odisha, which is quite a significant change after many, many years, there is a slowdown in the approval process there. But we continue to be pursuing those approvals very successfully.
We continue to move those through, and our overall timelines, I would say, remain sort of largely on track. So if I talk a little bit more about the Lanjigarh finally, we have, for the purpose of simplicity, turned in train 1 and train 2. There's actually quite a lot of shared infrastructure. So the red mud filtration, the alumina handling, the bauxite facility. So progressively, as we complete that, we will be able to ramp up capacity to the full 5 million tonnes of capacity. So we expect to be running at a full 3.5 million tonnes capacity by third quarter of this financial year, and then a full 5 million tonnes capacity by early in the first quarter of FY 2026.
In terms of the coal mines, both Kuraloi and Radhikapur, we are targeting first oil in the first quarter of FY 2026 and the same with Sijimali. So not quite what we had hoped, but as I said, with now a successful change in government, those processes are tracking really well. We continue in our land acquisition processes, and so we're sort of pretty pleased with how things co ntinue to progress.
And John, Amit, I hope that covered it. But as I said, a month here, a month there. But the way we see it, these are projects which have been injected in. They are on track, and whether it happens by the third quarter or the fourth quarter, the integration is getting execut ed, Amit.
No, understood, sir, and I appreciate that. Thanks a lot for the detailed answers and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll take a next question from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity, and many congratulations on this superb result, sir. Sir, I have two, three questions. One, over the last one quarter, we have seen different measures taken by the company and at the Vedanta Limited level as well as Vedanta Resources level to improve the liquidity, which we have successfully done. Now, my question is whether we are still looking at improved liquidity besides cash flows or any other measures besides cash flows, or we are done away with that? And with that, how much our number one,
what are your other questions?
Yeah. So with that, obviously, how much weighted average cost of debt we think should come down from the current level of something like 10 plus? That's one.
Second was because we have already filed with NCLT regarding this demerger. So are we seeing any bottleneck from the regulatory side, or is there any possibility that we can go back from this now, or it will definitely be a done deal? That's my second thing. And third was, is it possible to share what would be the global aluminum cost curve for us, for global aluminum cost curve, so that we can get a sense on where we are in aluminum prices? Yeah. Thank you.
Thanks, Ashish. So we'll answer your questions first on the NCLT demerger. In our mind, having filed with NCLT, which is the last process in a way, we think that this is for us a final step. But Ajay Agarwal, if you are on, do you want to respond in any other way to Ashish?
Yes, Vice Chairman, I'm on, and I think you have covered it. NCLT is the last process, and we have successfully filed it, and it's a matter of time that it will get done, Ashish.
Okay. Ajay Goel, he had a question around liquidity and cost of debt. We know that we are now borrowing in single digits in India and also a sharp reduction in our borrowing cost at our parent. He also talked about further liquidity. Over to you, Ajay.
Yeah. Thank you, Vice Chairman. So, Ashish, we may have noted that as of June 30th, our net debt to EBITDA at about 1.5x, and all of us would agree 1.5x is by far the industry best in the country. This position is as of June end, post raising $1 billion in July, and July month also is good in terms of working capital.
With that, our net debt to EBITDA as of July 31st is at about 1.2x. So it's sufficient liquidity in the company, both for deleveraging at the same time funding for the growth. In Vedanta, our focus remains on the basics, which is the cost reduction, volume augmentation, and very important in terms of operating free cash flows. In the current fiscal, with the operating free cash flows, we have sufficient liquidity. Any other option strategically is something that we keep internally evaluating. Nothing that we intend to share as of now. Our cost of funding as of June 30th at about 10.3%, we believe all our recent borrowings are at sub 10%, 9.7%, 9.8%, and we intend to reach at about 9% very soon.
Ashish, happy with that?
Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. This is more comforting in terms of interest cost.
You also had a question on the global cost curve.
Yeah.
Ashish, my understanding is that at about $1,600-$1,700 cost, we are in the lowest decile of the global cost curve. The world, as you know, produces about 70 million tonnes of aluminum, and we think that our 3 million tonnes is in the lowest decile at a cost of about $1,600-$1,700.
Yeah, sir, I was looking at, in fact, 98 percentile, not our cost, because that can give some sense on what could be the bottom for aluminum prices, at least from the cost angle side.
Yes, John.
I was going to add some further detail to your question about where we sit on the cost curve, and I'll start with that, and then we can cover what happens on the right-hand side.
The cost curve that we shared in the recent investor discussions showed that we were middle of the first quarter, so sort of 13 percentile. We have laid out a pathway to get well to the left. But what's happened since then is the price of alumina, the global price of alumina, has increased significantly. It was trading for much of the last quarter, well into the 400s, almost $500 a tonne, which has meant that the cost of production for pretty much everybody in the industry has gone up by about $100 a tonne. And what you would have seen is our total cost between quarter four and this quarter was essentially flat. So if everybody else has gone up by $100 a tonne, we have shot well further to the left.
So I would say if we redid the evaluation today, you would see us comfortably in the first decile from that perspective. And that logic extends to what happens at the right-hand side of the cost curve. Everybody that's at the right-hand side of the cost curve is buying alumina at API at the moment, and that's $470, $480, $500 a tonne. So the steepness of that cost curve has ramped up significantly on the right-hand side. Now, what we've seen is a bit of a demand shock. So we've seen a bit more capacity coming into the market, slightly softer demand, so we've seen slightly lower prices. But that will reverse in time, and I would expect to see a much firmer aluminum price in the quarters ahead.
Thank you.
Ashish, thank you.
Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for this chance. First question is, given the volatility in commodity prices, have we done in Hindustan Zinc for aluminum also, have we done any strategic hedging for this quarter or for future quarters in the near term?
Any other questions, Sumangal?
Yeah, a couple of them. One is we have an outstanding intercompany loan of around $400 million. When is it due? And I mean, if you remember correctly, this December, we are supposed to reverse the entry. Are we on track for that? And the last one is I just want to know what's the status on two significant mines which are coming up, Ghogharpalli and Sijimali, one, the coal, and the second for bauxite, which is a very significant contributor to our entire journey of cost reduction.
So what's the latest timeline as far as commissioning is concerned for these two mines in particular? These are my questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks, Sumangal. So Ajay, quick one on the outstanding loan, $400 million?
Yes, sir. So the $417 million, Sumangal, is due in December, and we intend to pay it. So we'll get squared off as scheduled.
Perfect. On the hedging, Sumangal, as you know, typically hedging would be done by companies who are in the higher decile of the global cost curve. We look at hedging from an opportunity point of view. My recollection is that we have done about 10% hedging for both zinc and aluminum for the year.
And at this point of time, we think that at this price, we would wait and watch, and at the right opportunity, whether we want to do more hedging, we will take a call, but not at these prices.
Understood.
And your third question was on Ghogharpalli and Sijimali. I think John addressed that quite comprehensively, unless you want him to repeat what he said.
Just the timeline, if you could repeat, I think that's that for these two mines.
Yeah. As we said to you earlier on the call, we'll give you a timeline, but in our mind, these are strategic long-term projects with investment committed, capital allocation done. So therefore, for us, whether a year or a month ahead is a separate subject, but it is under execution. But John, some specifics?
Question is just repeating what I had said previously.
So for Kuraloi, Radhikapur, we're looking at first quarter of FY 2026. For Ghogharpalli, second quarter of FY 2026. Sijimali, first quarter of FY 2026. And as I mentioned earlier, those processes are continuing to track very much as we had expected. There has been an interruption to the government approval processes with the change in government in Odisha, and that sort of slowed things down slightly, but we are continuing to track. We have absolute confidence that these timelines will be achieved.
And Sumangal, just as an aside, we will maybe get him next time, but we have a very senior global leader named David Stone, who's our new CEO for coal. And so he is looking at this, how to expedite, how to open the sector, how to use latest technology, newer technology. So a lot happening there, Sumangal.
Great, sir.
Thank you very much, and it's great to have you on the call as well. So all the best to the team, sir.
Yeah. Thanks, Sumangal.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Vikas Singh from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Sir, am I audible?
Yes, please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah. Good evening, sir, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Sir, my first question pertains to the aluminum division. Yeah. Sir, my first question pertains to aluminum division. The aluminum has fallen sharply while the cost rate of the alumina is probably would come into queue. So in light of the current situation, do we still feel that we would be able to hold our COP guidance annual basis?
How does the to queue look like in terms of cost of production then in aluminum division specifically?
Any other questions?
Yes, sir. And second question pertains to just the recon—Yes, sir. One more question. Second question pertains to our $10 billion EBITDA projections. Basically, just to reconcile, we are expecting roughly about $4 billion from aluminum and roughly about $3.5 billion from Zinc India. Is that the number we can tell, or do we have different projections?
So these two only.
Sure.
So Vikas, the very broad breakup of $10 billion is as follows. On the aluminum, think of 3.1 million tonnes. Think of a cost of $1,600. Think of an LME of $2,600. Think of a premium of about $350. And on that basis, think of an EBITDA margin of $1,300 into 3.1 in how you get to $4 billion. Clear, Vikas?
Understood, sir.
Yeah. Similarly, for zinc, think of 1.2 million tonnes. Think of 800 tonnes silver. Think of a cost of $1,000. Think of LME of $2,800. Think of premium of $300, and you will get to that number of $2.73 billion there. Okay. We talked about at 150,000 barrels, $1 billion from oil and gas, and the remaining will come from our businesses of iron ore, steel, value-added products at the Sesa Goa, FACOR, and power. So that's the broad breakup.
Understood, sir. Sir, just one further clarification. Any reason why we are taking premium much higher?
The higher premium comes from the higher premium comes from the fact that everywhere we are investing in value-added products, be it in zinc, be it in aluminum. For example, in aluminum, in a year's time, the entire portfolio of 3 million tonnes will be only value-added products.
So the premium higher comes from there.
Understood, sir.
As far as your question around LME, as far as your question around LME and cost in aluminum is concerned, of course, we have seen some reduction in LME. We have seen some increase in alumina cost, but we continue to focus on our cost. Our current costs are around $1,800, as you know, in quarter one. We think we have an opportunity to reduce that by about $100 sometime at the end of quarter two, and considering LME of about $2,400 plus a premium of about $250, so we will yet have a margin of about $800, $900, even in quarter two.
Point taken, sir. Just one last thing regarding alumina, since we are. Yeah, please, sorry, sir. Continue.
Go ahead, Singh. Are you there.
Go ahead, please.
Yeah. Just the last thing on the alumina side.
So considering we are the large importer, how do we see these higher alumina prices in the context of current LME aluminum? So if you could give us your thought process on that, it would be very helpful.
Yeah. Vikas, we don't look at it like a short-term, short-term, because we know that in a couple of quarters, we will not be buying any alumina externally. So maybe in the short term for a quarter or two, there will be some higher cost on account of buying of alumina, but that's a matter of one or two quarters for us.
Actually, if I can just add to that.
Point taken, sir .
The alumina price is going to impact all of the other producers out there, where we are going to be fully vertically integrated and effectively insulated from a high API price.
So as we complete the Lanjigarh expansion, we actually want a high-traded alumina price because it hurts everybody else, and we get the benefit of a fully integrated value chain.
Okay. Understood, sir. And sir, the payment pending for the next update here?
Sorry, what is that?
Sir, the payments on the VDL as well as VRL level, if you could give us how much we have paid and how much is pending in FY 25?
No, Vikas, what is your specific question?
Sir, debt repayment in FY 25, how much we have paid and what is the pending? That is the specific question on both the parent as well as the listed Vedanta Limited level.
Yeah. I think Ajay will answer that by giving you the ratio of our debt to EBITDA ratio. But Ajay, any further color you want to give him?
Yes, Vikas.
So very specifically, starting first with the parent company Vedanta Resources, in the remainder of the year, second quarter until the fourth quarter, the remainder 8 months, the total debt at the parent company is about $580 million. And additionally, the interest of almost $420-$430 million. So give and take $1 million is total fund requirement at parent company. Obviously, with the rating of B family, refinancing at VRL is an option. Payment of dividend in the second half or in the second quarter is an option. And of course, strategic partnership is an option. So give and take $1 billion requirement at VRL between now and 31st March. Coming to Vedanta Limited, in the second half, now and 31st March, almost $1.2 billion is a requirement. And I like to underscore, almost every debt at VDL is secured. Hence, refinancing is an option.
And given the current year's elevated profitability and the free cash flow, managing the VDL debt either by refinancing or repaying through operating free cash flow. So overall, we as a group are quite comfortable for debt, both for VRL and VDL.
Thank you for the elaborated answer, sir, and all the best for the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Vikas.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Raashi Chopra from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just some questions that have already been answered. I want to make a few points. On the EBITDA and investment target that you have for aluminum, it was 4.1. So within that, I know that
Raashi. Yes, you can't hear Raashi well.
Yes. Raashi, you are sounding muffled.
Sorry, can you hear me now?
We can hear you, but your voice is all muffled.
Better now?
I'm on a normal phone. I tried to speak.
Sir, just let us know if.
Can you hear me?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Okay. Just repeating the question you just answered. On this $10 billion EBITDA for aluminum, what is the—and what are the costs that you are building and what is the premium that you are building in? And outside of $4.1 billion for aluminum and $2.7 billion for zinc, what is the remaining? Thank you.
Raashi, in case of aluminum, we are building a cost of between $1,600-$1,700 and a premium of $300 and LME of $2,500-$2,600. That will take you to $4 billion. Zinc, you know. The rest, as I mentioned, oil and gas about $1 billion. And the remaining $2 billion or $2.5 billion will come from a combination of iron ore, pig iron, Zinc International, Electrosteel, FACOR, and Power.
Understood. Thank you.
And I also missed on what is the status of the BALCO expansion?
Okay. John, again, a very specific one. Go ahead.
Yeah. So we are continuing to progress that construction. We are expecting first metal in the fourth quarter of FY 2025. And I ramp up in the sort of middle of FY 2026.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Operator, I know there is no question yet, but I would like to invite Chris Griffith, our CEO of Base Metals. Chris, are you on?
I am, Vice Chairman.
And Chris, maybe you want to tell this audience one more time of our world-class KCM opportunity.
I'll do that. Thanks for the opportunity, Vice Chair. So for Zinc International, we are currently running at a run rate of about 250 kilotons of zinc. Within two years, we'll be at 500 kilotons.
As Vice Chairman said in the introduction, we have the same volume of resource and reserve as Hindustan Zinc has, that is already producing over 1 million tons of zinc. We have four underground ore bodies that are sitting with our open pit operation at Gamsberg. And we easily could put another 500 kilotons of production over the next number of years once we finish phase II expansion to get to 1 million tons. In addition to that, we've got both a life extension and an expansion opportunity at Swartberg, still at the same complex, and then also a potential of some expansion in Namibia.
So we have a number of opportunities to get on a high-grade ore body to be able to get to 1 million tons on the same sort of resource base that we have at Hindustan Zinc, which is another way of looking at it that we have easily the capacity to get to 1 million tons. And we can do this in the next 5, 6, 7 years. So a really fantastic opportunity for us on a really awesome ore body that's one of the largest zinc deposits anywhere in the world. Likewise, at KCM, so most folks that have been following Vedanta for a number of years have known that Vedanta has been in dispute with the Zambian government over the Konkola Copper Mines ore body in Zambia.
We announced at the end of last year that we've reached agreement with government on the return of that asset to Vedanta. We have progressed over the first quarter of this year and have recently, as last week, concluded all of the matters outstanding. The keys finally got handed, the figurative keys got handed back to Vedanta for KCM at the end of July, so the end of last month. So now we have back the keys to the operation of one of the largest and highest-grade copper deposits anywhere in the world at the moment, with a potential for very fast ramp-up from about 100 kilotons of copper production that we'll get to by the end of the financial year. So in nine months from now, we'll be at a run rate of about 100 kilotons of copper.
Then a very fast ramp-up over the next number of years to be able to get to 300 kilotons of copper on one of the highest-grade ore bodies in the world at over 2.5% zinc, 2.5% copper, where many of the world's ore bodies are running at less than 1% copper, with more than a 50-year life of mine. So a really fantastic ore body that we have committed to spend about $1 billion over the next five years to achieve that ramp-up. I'll leave it there, Vice Chair.
Chris, do you want to also explain the cobalt opportunity there?
Yeah, that's a great thing. I should have mentioned that as well, Vice Chair. We currently produce in that 100 kilotons of operation about 1 kiloton of cobalt. We are in the design phases of increasing that and putting in a plant that will extract cobalt.
Over the next few years, we can extract over 6 kilotons of cobalt per annum. With the plan further, once we've done that and we ramp up to 300 kilotons, a potential to get to 10 kilotons of cobalt. Again, one of the leading cobalt producers in the world, once we have for relatively limited capital investment, be able to produce cobalt on top of the copper that we produce. So with a focus on these value-added opportunities.
Thanks, Chris. Back to you, Operator.
Thank you, sir. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Prerna Halwasiya for closing comments. Over to you.
Thank you. As we have no further questions from the—sorry. Thank you all for taking time to join us. I hope we were able to answer most of your questions.
In case you have any further questions, please feel free to reach me or my colleagues at the IR team. This concludes today's call. We look forward to reconnecting you for the next earnings quarter. Thank you, everyone, and have a good day.
Thank you. On behalf of Vedanta Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line. Thank you.