Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you all to the Q3 and nine-month fiscal year 2025 earnings conference call of Venus Pipes and Tubes Limited, hosted by Ambit Capital. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on belief, opinion and expectations of the company as on the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance of the company and may involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. 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 a touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital.
Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Venus Pipes and Tubes Limited Q3 fiscal year 2025 earnings call. From the management today we have with us Mr. Arun Kothari, Managing Director, and Mr. Kunal Bubna, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, and over to you, sir, for your opening remarks.
Sir. Arun sir, Kunal sir, your line is unmuted. Management, your line is unmuted.
Mine is not even, Mr. Kothari.
No, yours is.
It's okay.
Yeah.
Good evening. A warm welcome to everyone on the Q3 and nine-month fiscal year 2025 earning call for Venus Pipes and Tubes Limited. I have been joined by Mr. Kunal Bubna, Chief Financial Officer , and SGA, our Investor Relation Advisor. We have uploaded our Q3 fiscal year 2025 investor presentation on stock exchanges and company website. I hope you had an opportunity to go through the same.
We are pleased to report a steady performance for both Q3 and the nine month ended fiscal year 2025. In Q3, our revenue reached at INR 231.3 crore, reflecting a solid growth of 11.7%. While for the nine months of fiscal year 2025, revenues stood at INR 700 crore, making an impressive increase of 21.2%. This growth has been driven by a strong volume increase of more than 10% for Q3 fiscal year 2025 and more than 20% for a nine-month fiscal year 2025 on a year-on-year basis.
The continued growth is primarily attributed to our exceptional export performance, which has been a significant contributor alongside increased penetration in our key markets. Our strategy of expanding our geographical reach and deepening relationships with our customers in existing regions is yielding positive results. On the operational front, speaking of segment-wide performance, our seamless steel segment delivered a revenue growth of 8% for the quarter and 17% on a nine-month basis, reflecting a steady demand and increasing market penetration. On the welded pipe front, revenues grew by 4% for the quarter and 16% over the nine-month period. Coming to the geographical performance, speaking about export first, this quarter marks our best ever export performance with all-time high export revenues of INR 89.1 crore in a quarter, an impressive 153% year-over-year growth. The share of export revenue stood at 38.5% for the quarter, the highest recorded for any period.
On a nine-month basis, exports surged by 216% to INR 225.6 crore, reflecting our strong international market penetration. This exceptional growth in exports have been driven by several key factors. We have successfully created our presence in the U.S., Middle East and Africa market with significant shipments of welded pipes during this quarter. This achievement is the result of our strategic efforts, including the establishment of a dedicated marketing team that has played a crucial role in driving the performance. Additionally, we have actively participated in dealers' events, trade fairs and other industry forums to enhance our visibility and foster relationships with key stakeholders. These initiatives are delivering tangible results, and we are confident in our ability to replicate the strong performance in Europe within these markets. Europe continue to be our largest export market with an extensive dealer network and growing acceptance of our products.
We have been able to maintain a strong foothold in the region. Our focus on offering high-quality products, competitive pricing and superior customer service has reinforced our market position, and we remain confident in sustaining our growth trajectory in this key geography. We will continue to build on this momentum by further strengthening our presence in international markets, particularly in the Middle East and Africa after Europe and U.S., while also expanding our product portfolio. Our commitment to quality, a customer-centric approach and strategic market initiatives position us well for sustained export growth in the coming quarters. Speaking of the domestic market, the domestic market has been facing a period of slowdown, primarily due to macroeconomic factors. We have observed muted CapEx from the both private and government sectors Particularly in the post-election period, and we anticipate that this trend could extend further in the near term.
Despite these challenges, Venus continues to be a preferred brand among customers, driven by our superior product offering and long-standing customer relationships. We are confident of creating our presence in the domestic market, having recently onboarded experienced and seasoned industry professionals, bringing valuable expertise that will help us drive growth and increase our market penetration, gaining from unorganized players. Especially, we are seeing very good demand in the power sector of our pipes and tubes business. Additionally, the Union Budget for 2025 emphasizes on increasing domestic consumption, is expected to stimulate economic activity, leading to a revival in CapEx. The government's focus on infrastructure development and manufacturing sector growth will likely boost demand for high-quality piping solutions, presenting significant opportunities for Venus in the coming quarters.
We continue to secure approval in both domestic and export markets across industries such as oil and gas, power, and engineering, reflecting the strong trust in the quality of our products. These approvals not only reinforce our market credibility, but also enable us to diversify across multiple industries, further strengthening our growth prospects. Moving forward, I would now like to spend some time on our vision for the future. As we continue to expand and evolve, our focus remains on long-term growth and leadership in the stainless steel pipes and tube industry. We are committed to strengthening our market position and delivering value to our stakeholders. With a roadmap for expansion and innovation, we are actively investing in increasing our capabilities and enhancing our product offerings.
This journey began a few years ago with a strategic capacity expansion of more than 3x, allowing us to not only broaden our product portfolio, but we also better integrated ourselves with addition of piercing line for manufacturing of hollow bars for seamless pipes. We achieved a strong capacity utilization for both seamless and welded pipes on the back of growing export and domestic penetration. As part of our vision for sustained growth, we have announced CapEx to diversify into value-added products by introducing fittings and high-grade tubes, positioning Venus as a one-stop piping solution provider for our customers. This move not only enhance our product offering, but also strengthen our ability to serve a wider range of application across industries.
In coming years, we are looking to push boundaries of innovation and manufacturing excellence by expanding into high-grade stainless steel pipes and tubes, products that are technically complex, require advanced equipment and serve a critical industry. Securing approval for this sector is an intricate and highly extensive process, demanding rigorous quality standards and compliances. However, with our deep industry expertise, experienced team, and long-standing customer relationships, we will be in position to penetrate and establish a strong presence in this high-value segment. At Venus, our growth strategy remains clear: continuous innovation, expansion, and market leadership. With a strong foundation in place and unwavering commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, we are confident in our ability to achieve our long-term vision and create lasting value for our stakeholders. Our order book remains strong at approximately INR 350 crore, reflecting the continued trust and confidence of our customers.
Lastly, an update on the CapEx front. Phase I of the announced CapEx, which includes stainless steel and titanium welded tubes of 3,600 metric tons per annum and fittings, was initially set to commence in operation in March 2025. While the stainless steel and titanium welded tube projects remains on schedule, however, the fittings segment is expected to commence in the H1 of the fiscal year 2026. Meanwhile, the phase II expansion, adding 4,000 metric tons per annum of seamless pipes and tubes, remains on track to begin operation in December 2025. Please note, we have an important addition to phase II CapEx. We will be enhancing our existing piercing line capacity to the tune of additional 4,800 metric tons per annum, which will serve the capacity increase in the seamless pipe.
With steady growth in both domestic and export markets, strategic capacity expansion, and a strong focus on high-value products, we are well-positioned for sustained success. Our ongoing CapEx projects will further create a strong overall market leadership and enhance our product offering. Backed by a robust team and operational excellence and a commitment to quality, we remain confident in driving long-term value for our all stakeholders. With this, I hand over to Mr. Kunal Bubna, our Chief Financial Officer.
We are pleased to share that our company has delivered a steady performance, achieving growth across key financial metrics, including revenue, EBITDA, and PAT. On revenue front, revenue from operation for Q3 fiscal year 2025 stood at INR 231.3 crore as compared to INR 207.1 crore during Q3 fiscal year 2025, achieving a growth of 11.7% year-on-year basis. Revenue for nine months as of fiscal year 2025 stood at INR 700.4 crore, witnessing a strong growth of 21.2%, and we are witnessing a strong volume growth of 20% across welded and seamless pipes. Revenue diversification from the quarter was 39% from welded pipes, 54% from seamless pipes, and 7% from others. For nine months, fiscal year 2025 revenue diversification was 37% from welded pipes, 56% from seamless pipes, and 7% from others. Revenue from others category increased this quarter driven by sales from scrap and trading revenue from fittings.
Growth in seamless segment was 8% on year-on-year basis, and welded segment registered a growth of 4% for Q3 fiscal year 2025 on year-on-year basis in terms of revenue. Growth in the seamless segment was 17% on year-on-year basis, and welded segment registered growth of 16% for nine months fiscal year 2025 on year-on-year basis in terms of revenue. On the EBITDA front, our EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 37.2 crore as compared to INR 39.1 crore in Q3 fiscal year 2024. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 16.1%. On nine months fiscal year 2025 basis, EBITDA saw a growth of 24.4%, standing at INR 126 crore with a margin of 18%. That for the Q3 fiscal year 2025 is INR 18 crore compared to INR 23.3 crore in Q3 fiscal year 2024, and margin stood at 7.8%.
On nine months fiscal year 2025 basis, debt showed a growth of 13.6%, standing at INR 69.2 crore, a growth of 13.6% with a margin of 9.9%. Lastly, the company has received additional INR 8.16 crore in February from holders of convertible warrants in accordance with the terms of preferential allotment, taking the total amount received till date to INR 35.06 crore. In closing, we are optimistic about the journey ahead and fully committed to driving sustained growth. We are excited to push forward and deliver the [results] continuously benchmarking this industry. With this, I would like to open the floor for question-and-answer round.
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 withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Sneha Talreja from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir, Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions from my end. We have seen sudden domestic demand slowdown. Could you mention the reasons? We understand the export share is increasing. Why has domestic demand slowed down? That's one. Why has margins fallen to about 16%? That's the first one.
Currently, if you see from the margin perspective, Because of the domestic demand, there had been pressure on that side and also the pressure was being felt at the side of export from some few more people entering the export directly. Also, if you see in this quarter, we have exported welded pipes and tubes, which form around 38% of the total export value from the side of welded, which was earlier on a very lower side for the last year quarter. On the side of welded also, we have developed new geography like Middle East, Africa, and also a portion of it has gone to USA. Starting at the initial level, we have been quite competitive as compared to penetrate those markets. On the side of domestic, there had been subdued demand we have seen across many of the industry.
Recently, what we are seeing, there is some amount of traction on the side of power side, where many of the tenders are recently being started to float it, which we see because of that, there seems to be demand going forward on that side.
Given pricing is also very volatile along with certain margin volatility, would you like to give some guidance on the growth going forward?
Yeah. For the coming quarter, we believe it should be around, on the revenue side, we believe it should be at least 10% of this quarter's revenue what we have achieved. Going forward three years down the line by fiscal year 2027, we still believe there should be a CAGR growth of more than 20%.
Margins?
Margin on a till fiscal year 2027, we still believe we should hold more than 20%, but coming quarters, I believe it should be the same level which we've been achieving this quarter.
Could you also give the volume numbers? Like you mentioned, of course, the volume was 10% for this particular quarter. Can we get seamless as well as welded volume? Like, how much would have seamless grown versus welded just to understand the product mix?
Yes. For the quarter, it was from the side of seamless, more than 15% growth, and on the side of welded, it was around 5% growth.
Understood. Let me get back. Thanks. Thanks, team, and all the best.
Thank you. Before we move to the next question, a reminder to the participants to ask a question, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Vimox Shah from Goyamlabdhi Fintech Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My question is, as a company expanding in Europe, U.S., Middle East, as you mentioned, right? Can you provide details on the specific strategies for each region, including the timelines for achieving the market penetration and its specific growth target for this?
Especially for the issue, say in the Europe market already Venus Pipes has a very good presence. We are doing exports since last four to five quarters, or every quarter our export is increasing. Same way in the U.S. market also. In the last quarter, we have created very good presence. Going forward, we are also penetrating from some other geography also. Mostly our presence has been already created or which will grow in the coming two to three quarters. Europe is already, you can see very good penetration of the Venus in Europe market, as well as in U.S. also, we have created a penetration. Now we are more focused on U.S. and Africa market. In next two to three quarters, you will get the good volume from these two places.
Okay. Other question is, as company has increased its market share in its seamless pipes, right? What are the steps being taken to further increase market share, seamless pipes and welded pipes?
See, as we said, we are working on many multiple geographies across the world and also in many districts across the country. Those steps are being taken. As we said, we are getting approval from engineering, oil and gas, and these sectors, as we see the market going forward, Middle East, U.S., and African countries. As we see many opportunities going forward, and also we are seeing demand from power side. These all geography sectors will help us to grow our volume going forward.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participant, to join the question queue, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Dhruv Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. I had a couple of questions. One is that, it's been a trend in the last quarter as well, but we've seen a quite sharp uptick in employee cost, right? It's close to about 12% of sales now. Just wanted to understand how does this stabilize going forward or this will keep on inching up as we move forward.
Since, Dhruv, already, we have told you, we are in already planned the CapEx for the new high-grade development of the project. For that purpose, we have recruited some external marketing professionals, as well as some also technocrats in the operation role also. All these marketing professionals and technocrats will be come in the coming quarters. Because all the things will be coming operation in the next one or two quarters. That's why employee cost has been increased.
Sir, is it safe to say that this cost will remain elevated for the next couple of quarters?
Yeah. If you see, it is around 4.5%. We believe it can go a bit around five sort of number or slightly more than five in coming quarters. To that level, we believe.
You're talking about 5% of revenue?
Total. Yeah, of revenue.
Okay. Similarly, even I think other expenses has kind of zoomed. I think sir mentioned about it, but how should that trend going forward?
If you see total, it is around 16.8%. We believe it can also inch slightly higher because the entire backward integration and gas facility is working. Apart from that, when you export, there are ocean freight and others which are slightly high on that side as compared to the domestic laid cost. We believe sort of 16.8 can go up to 17.8%, 17.5%, something like that.
Sir, is it safe to say for the next couple of quarters, you mentioned about the next quarter, but assuming that, say, if the CapEx scenario remains sort of muted, we will be in the same sort of number in terms of margins of 16%, 17%?
Yes.
Especially, Mr. Dhruv, what we are seeing, there is very good demand may come in the coming one or two quarters from the power sector in India. Water power project announced by the government of India. CapEx has already started. If these orders will start to flow, they will definitely improve the margin. As well as some of the government very good initiative, at least in our sector, from Make in India concept from BIS. Recently, government of India has announced one new BIS quality order for the pipes and tubes. This will be implemented by first of August 2025. This will also give very good boom to all the stainless steel pipe and tube company in India. We are seeing definitely there will be margin improvement. At least from this quarter, no, we are forecasting from next quarter, definitely margin improvement will be there.
Sure. Sir, could you just spell out what is your order book for whatever order book that you have at this point of time?
Right now, we have the almost INR 350 crore order book. We can say almost near about four months order book.
This is about four months order. Great. Thank you so much. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mihir Damania from Fident Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I hope I'm audible. My first question is, we've seen the bulk of the growth coming in this quarter from the other segment, which is basically the non-seamless, non-welded pipe segment. There are two questions there. What does the other segment include, and what's driving this disproportionate amount of growth in the other segment, and how do you see that trending forward?
Can you be a bit loud? I'm unable to catch your question.
Is this better now?
Yeah. Now it is.
Yeah. My first question was, we've seen the bulk of the growth coming from the other segment, which is the non-seamless and non-welded pipe segment. What does the other segment include, and what's driving that? What's driving the disproportionate amount of growth in the other segment?
No, basically it's scrap and primarily fittings sales which contribute to it. See 5%-7% as a general entity should be in this level, given this level.
Okay, it will remain this 5%-7% kind of contribution to the bottom.
Yeah.
Got it. My second question is fundamentally when you look at it, exports have been a much higher margin product to you, like around 300 basis points- 500 basis points better than what you could source domestically. Such a dramatic increase in contribution from exports should ideally have led to much higher gross, much higher EBITDA margin. Can you explain the divergence between where the margins have kind of settled, and the higher proportionate of exports should probably have led to 18%, 19% EBITDA margins versus what you currently reported. Can you give a bit more clarity?
Generally we see the domestic direct sell and export have generally a similar margin, as you said, that will only increase your volume when you are establishing those markets, you tend to get higher margin on those products. This is on the side of welded. Many of the geographies we are trying to penetrate where we were not in a bulk or in a voluminous nature. That geography like Middle East, Africa and U.S.A., we are penetrating at a welded level. Therein the margins have been somewhat lower level. We believe see as in when we get to more supply to those geographies, we will be there. I think going forward, then we will be able to achieve a higher EBITDA margin as compared to what we are in domestic.
Okay. Got it. Thank you, and have a good day.
Sure.
Thank you. Participants, if you wish to join the question queue, you may press star one. Next question is from the line of Romil Jain from Electrum Portfolio Managers . Please proceed.
Hello. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, one question on this ongoing tariff war. Just to understand, I think a few days back, we've seen a 25% import duty on any steel or aluminum coming in U.S. How does that affect us as a company or any export from India to U.S.? That is one. Also probably, is there a possibility where other Asian countries, including China, can have some additional dumping in India? How do you see that happening?
If you see primarily, this 25% duty which has been recently regulated by U.S., it was already there on the steel product from India. There were few companies like Canada, Mexico, and Brazil and few others who were exempted from this. Primarily they have also come under this net. From the India perspective, it will be adding more than exports.
Okay. You're saying that on stainless steel pipes, it was already there, so it's not a big change for us?
Yes.
Okay. You don't see a major impact of dumping as well at this point?
No, not much because in case of stainless there is an anti-dumping duty of hepty amount. We don't see that affecting those two.
Okay. Sir, just a clarification to the earlier question, it was a little unclear. We have said that I think our gross margins have still remained resilient because of export contribution increasing. At the same time, there's been a EBITDA level impact. I think we mentioned that it is going to continue. Just want to understand the reason. It was not very clear. Can you just repeat that, sir?
No, we were telling from the perspective from the side of welded, we have been quite competitive while exporting to those geographies where we have exported in the last quarter. The prices what we could have taken was slightly competitive, it was on a lower side. That made a marginal contribution. Cost side has also increased on both on the side of shipping and other costs. Keeping the market scenario, we were unable to charge those price on our selling prices. Because of that, the EBITDA has been affected.
Okay. Just a question again on the gross margin. Let's say, fast-forwarding to one, two years from here, when the additional expansions kick in and when the fittings also kick in, as well as the domestic market also improves, what is a band of gross margins that we see from here with all these changes coming in?
It should be.
What should be the band of gross margin?
Our conventional percentage will be in the range of 66%-68% sort of.
Sorry, how much, sir? 60%?
66%. 66%.
66%-68%. Okay. That's where it should settle.
It will depend on few of the product mix and all. On a ballpark number, I'm just indicating you.
Yeah. Okay. Sir, last question. If you can just give some sense on what kind of cash flows did we see so far in the nine months, operating cash flow?
Yeah, it was there, similar to what was there or slightly increased what we've achieved in September of the half year ended.
Okay. From there it has increased a little, right?
A little. Yeah.
Okay. Okay, thanks. I'll come back and touch base for any further questions. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Aasim Bharde from DAM Capital Advisors . Please go ahead.
Hi Arun, hi Kunal. Good evening. Just one clarification I wanted on the exports bit that you spoke about, that the welded portion was higher and at competitive prices, that hurt our overall margins. In the overall mix, was welded far higher versus what it normally is, or was welded still a small part of the overall export mix?
Of overall export? Welded was high on the overall export also.
Was it high or was it like a nominal amount since you are testing out new markets? I didn't get what you just said.
In the totality term also, the welded was high. Out of the total export of INR 89.1 crore , you can say around more than 35% was on the side of welded, which used to be very low in the previous quarters and years.
Is it to multiple different countries, or is it more concentrated to the Middle East and some part of Africa?
It was definitely more toward U.S., but Middle East and Africa was also forming a good chunk of it.
Okay.
In case of seamless, it was more towards European countries.
Okay, got it. I am assuming, at least on the European seamless bit, we don't need to be open minded on margins, right? It's just a U.S./Middle East thing. I'm assuming it will not be a persistent or other longer-term thing. It might get resolved in a quarter or two once you're making crore.
Absolutely.
Okay. Second, again, another clarification. You mentioned that you are going to add a piercing backend capacity. Will that also come online on the side when your phase two seamless capacity comes online in December of this year?
Yeah, that is the whole target of that.
Okay. Finally, now this is slightly a more medium-term question. On the 20% revenue CAGR aim or aspiration that you are talking about and taking margins back from 16%- 20% odd. Will your mix still be at the same current range where 55% is seamless, 37%-40% odd is welded, or will this mix also start to change? Basically, just wanted to understand how will that roadmap from 16%- 20% EBITDA margin actually happen?
No, from a margin perspective, it is not 20%. On the value perspective, we are telling this should be more than 20% EBITDA growth, say compare fiscal year 2024 with fiscal year 2027. On a margin perspective, definitely from this level, keeping one, two quarters, the low base quarters, coming quarters. We believe definitely the margin will improve because as we said, the condenser tube pipe, which is expected to come by March, it will start giving the results. We will be moving more towards value-added products few more quarters to come. Again, fittings business will come into the play, which will also help as a comprehensive piping solution to the end customer. We believe keeping all this perspective, it should help us improve the margin.
Is the margin profile of this particular category, or rather, whatever the category that is coming in March is so high because the overall, I think, capacity addition is just
No, it will absolutely not very high. It will be high, but not very high. Few other capacities we said will be coming by September, few by December. As we said, we are penetrating in from welded and export side. Those penetrations should be done, and we should able to get good prices going forward also.
Okay. Is there any role for fittings also on the margin improvement bit, or will that just be a smaller nominal part in the overall scheme of things?
The margin, it will be similar to sort of December sort of numbers. It will not hugely increase the margin, going down the line because it's again a fully approval-driven business wherein when we get an requisite approval for these fittings from the end customer. Those business we can improve the margin there also.
Got it. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Participants, if you want to ask a question, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Arpit Agrawal from Electrum Portfolio Managers . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for taking my question. Sir, first on a follow-up from what Romil asked. I just want to clarify, you are saying that the duty of 25% is similar on all your products across the range to the exports to U.S., right? It is only be 25% and there is no change.
Yes, on the side of welded what we currently export to U.S. remain the same. It was earlier also and now also.
You only do welded to U.S. and that is why there is an anti-dumping duty on that.
Section. It's a different section duty. It's not by the name of anti-dumping, something other types, but it remains the same for us.
Okay.
As I said, there are few countries like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, they were getting exemption from that. Again, in case of aluminum, whatever had keep that increase from 7%-8% to 20%-25%.
Correct. Okay. Fair enough. Sir, I just want to understand the competitive intensity. Obviously, you are expanding on other products and our domestic market is very slow. How is the competitive intensity in India? If you can just map out the kind of expansion which are coming in the industry. Is it more there because with the slowdown, is it putting pressure on the volumes?
Definitely, competition is coming, but with the Venus Pipes circuit. Venus Pipes is the solution of the all type of stainless steel pipes. It includes seamless pipe, ERW pipe, welded pipe, we are doing the titanium tubes, high-end condenser tubes, further we are creating a very good presence in high-end quality products. In this, all the segment in India or also worldwide, very limited players is available.
For water competition coming, that coming in the segment-wide competition, not that much volume. Our complete campus will be in the single location. Customer get benefited from this single location benefit. Every customer requires all type variety of pipes, so they can get benefited. Once any new company comes, if existing player will expand the capacity, definitely it will impact the pressure on our business. If new players come, any new players who are doing the stainless steel pipe will require quite good time to penetrate in the market, to create the presence in the market. Almost all the business is given by the approved business.
Right. That's what I just wanted to understand, that in the competition, the existing player, is there a significant expansion coming up?
No, nothing from the existing player. We are not facing any significant expansion from existing players. Some of the new players is coming, definitely it will take time to penetrate in the market.
Okay. Sir, I just wanted an update on the expansion. I think the phase I is supposed to get completed in March 2025. Are we on track? Is there some delay?
Yeah, almost partial capacity of the phase I will be commissioned by this quarter, remaining some partial capacity will be operational by as soon as the fiscal year 2026. Remaining phase II expansion is already on track. That will come by the December 2025, as we had committed earlier.
Okay. Perfect, sir. Thank you. That's it from my side. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Bijal Jitendra Shah from RTL Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. I have only one question. Kunal, you mentioned that you will see some increase in employee costs as percentage of revenue, and maybe that other expenses will also go up. I understand in the longer term you are talking about better margins. In Q4 and probably Q1, can we see contraction of margin from current levels? You will be able to maintain margins at current levels at least?
Sir, what we see currently, we should be able to maintain this margin.
Okay. Thank you very much and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we move to the next question, a reminder to the participants, to ask a question, you may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Rahul Mishra, an individual investor. Please proceed.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. I wanted to know the growth guidance for revenue and top line and bottom line for the coming quarter and for fiscal year 2026. What's your growth guidance, sir?
Yeah. For the coming quarter, we believe it should be around 10% for the coming quarter, and for the coming year, we believe it should be more than 20%.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we will take this as the last question for the day. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you everyone. I take this opportunity to thank everyone for joining the call. We will keep updating the investor community on regular basis for incremental updates on your company. I hope we have been able to address all of the queries. For any further information, kindly get in touch with our SGA, our investor relation advisor. Request all of you, thank you once again. Good evening, everyone.
Thank you. On behalf of Ambit Capital, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.