Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call of Vardhman Special Steels Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantee of future performance and 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 your touchtone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sachit Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Vardhman Special Steels Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you so much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for continuing to show an interest in our company and being with us here today. We closed a good quarter and overall, the highlights of the quarter have been, first, of course, we signed the technical assistance agreement for the forging unit with Aichi Steel, Japan. The forging project is going on as scheduled, and looks like the project cost is going to be a bit lower than what we had estimated. We'll update once we have a better fix on the numbers. Clearly the project cost will be less than what we had estimated. As far as this quarter is concerned, volumes have been good and price revisions have taken place because costs have gone up.
Some prices have been agreed, some are in the process of agreeing, meaning the OEM has agreed to a particular amount but is likely to upwardly revise because other companies have not accepted that type of increase. Anyway, that will happen when it happens. Demand scenario is good. We are in fact finding it difficult to meet the requirements of the customers. We are scrambling how we can make sure that we are able to increase capacity further. We have applied to the environment ministry for approval to increase capacity to 360,000 tonnes of melting. That will happen when it will happen. Meanwhile, some of the other things that we have been doing is the new reheating furnace has been stabilized. New energy line will be commissioned by September, October of this year, and the peeler will be commissioned by September, October this year.
After this, the bottlenecks in our smooth production will improve. Currently, we continue to have a pileup of material that the customer wants, but because lack of testing capacity, we're not able to go through. Even peeling, we need to get some peeling. We get a lot of oxide. All those things will come in-house, we'll be able to improve the product mix for this phase in the second half of this year. Solar plant, we've got the full board of sales. We've had two or three projects this quarter, roughly 43% of our total power consumption is only for solar. There have been purchases in government bonds, means we can enhance the solar project. We expect in about a year or a year and a half time, we require enhance, we'll be increasing the capacity by almost 50% of our solar plants.
That will add to the bottom line and to reduce the carbon footprint. Already our carbon footprint is below 0.5. There's no Indian company below the carbon footprint there is no company near us in carbon footprint which has been doing this. This, I think, puts us in a very strong position for [FY 2027]. Overall, EBITDA numbers are within our range of 8 - 11. We would like to remove part of the data for your calculation purposes because some of the EBITDA is from the earnings we have got from the certain sort of [IHG requirement]. That is very non-recurring. We get it back exactly. If we move that across first quarter, it comes to around INR 700. That is confidence that for next year we can improve our range.
Today, our range 8- 11. Next year we should be able to increase the range from 8- 12. I can see the product profitability improving. That is a result of cost reductions and bigger productions of fixed cost being spread over bigger volume. That's all from me in the opening remarks. As far as the new steel plant is concerned, we are partly reconfiguring the plant to reduce carbon footprint further and improve energy efficiency. Things like scrap reheating, which we have not anticipated earlier, and some other equipment that we had not anticipated earlier, including testing lines. Today we had planned only one continuous testing line for the new plant. Seeing the way market is changing and demand for continuous testing and automatic testing lines, we would have to require more lines.
Which means the project cost is going to increase as well as the capacity prediction of this plant. Again, details are still being worked out. I think by next board meeting, we will be able to have a clear picture and will present a refined project with an increased capacity and try to keep cost per ton similar to where we had envisaged. Maybe a little higher because of Iran war. Metals have gone up everywhere as well as rupee has depreciated. The cost of specialty is going to be also bear some. Those are being worked out. We will have a better estimate in the next quarter. As of now, we are still on track to commission the project if we financially de-product it. That's all from me for now in opening remarks.
If you'd like to add some numbers, we can have Q&A session.
Thank you. Morning, ladies and gentlemen. On the numbers for the quarter. This quarter we have achieved 1,500 tonnes of sales, higher than the corresponding quarter of last year by 6.5%.
Revenue from operations is at INR 486 crore, higher by 12%, a combination of two factors. One is because of higher volumes, and secondly, because of the increase in steel prices. As I've said, our EBITDA this quarter is, for the quarter, INR 68 crore per quarter, and INR 41 crore is PAT. Overall, our PAT has obviously been increases of 10.7% quarter-over-quarter. Our PAT is INR 41 crore in this quarter as against INR 34 crore in the immediate preceding quarter and INR 20 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. This is all on the numbers for the quarter. Now we can open for the question and answer session.
Thank you very much. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their 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'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participant who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. The first question is from the line of Shivam Singh from Capital Ark. Please proceed.
Good morning, sir. Congratulations on the good set of numbers. Am I audible?
Yes.
Sir, could we quantify how much exports were in this quarter?
Can you repeat that part of the question, please.
Sir, we had sales for the export.
Sales in exports. How much is by exports? The total exports is still accounting for about 6%-7% direct export and another 5% is going as indirect exports, which is going to Aichi Steel Corporation through their trading arm in India. What we are finding is that our estimates of direct exports of steel were off. More and more customers are wanting to buy from India, and they are wanting to buy components and forged products from India. Larger part of our business is lot of our customers are exporting products to Europe and to the U.S.
Yes.
What we will start doing, I think is that is a valid point, the question that you raised. From next quarter, we'll try to calculate, again, it'll be an estimate, that how much of our product is actually getting indirectly exported out of India as components.
Thank you, sir. That's very helpful. Sir, I had another question. Sir, with the partnership with Aichi Steel Corporation, could you quantify how much of the business what is the business concentration per client? Because Toyota is a partner of Aichi Steel Corporation, if I'm not wrong.
Business concentration is low.
Is the growth in our bus
Low. Business partner very well diversified across customers. Our biggest focus as we go forward, the concentration in Maruti Suzuki as a customer will be our target. If we're able to achieve that's a separate issue. We will try to continuously increase business with Maruti Suzuki more than as a greater share of the customer. As of now, it's like I said, a small percentage. That's what I can say. We don't have any competition risk.
Okay, sir. Sir, if I can ask another question.
Please, can you wait, come back because there's a queue.
Yeah, sir. Sure. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Divyansh Gupta from Latent PMS. Please proceed.
Hi, sir. Two questions. I joined late, so if it is at cost of repetition, sorry. The status of the expansion of the existing plant from three to 3.6, if you can share an update on that. Second is on the land acquisition for the 5 million plant that you are planning.
The new plant is 500,000 ton, not 5 million. 5 million will get into big, big, big.
Yeah, 5 million is the order of the big, big, big boys.
Big boys. Land is in the last stage of getting finalized. Machinery is also in the last stage of getting finalized. Hopefully by the end quarter, by mid-July, we should be able to finalize everything.
Got it. On the EC application from three to 3.6?
We have made the application. In all probability, next three to four months, we should get the approval. Again, you have got it, you have had it. Fingers crossed that I will be close to our final production capacity because we had never imagined we will reach this level. I must again publicly thank my team who have done great work in figuring out how to keep improving productivity to reach this. All this has definitely got an impact in the planning of the new plant. As I said, what was to be a 500,000 advance is going to be significantly bigger than that. Of course, we will have to make some more investments in that. Cost per ton is going to be lower than what we are estimating for the new plants. Again, we have better estimates based on our experience.
Got it. Can I have another question? I should come back in the queue, please.
Sure.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Participant who wishes to ask a question may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Anil Kumar Sharma, an investor. Please proceed.
Good morning, sir. Congrats for the great set of numbers. Sir, my question is regarding this 500,000 ton project. You have said that by first quarter, we will be able to start the production of this forging unit. What will be the net diminution of the cost? Can you explain, sir, give some light on that? What are the other projects apart from this forging project? What are the other projects?
Forging project is likely to get commissioned by last quarter of 2027/2028. Then to fill up the project, the plant will take six months to one year because it's a totally new product. Customers need to come and see the plant and then approve it, and then business will start coming. Revenue for that will start coming from the year, maybe in the end of 2029 or 2029/2030. Project cost, as I said, is lower than estimated, as we've been able to negotiate better terms and some equipment that we had seen as Japanese equipment, we are able to find Indian substitutes for that. Overall, those costs are being estimated. In the next three months, we again, by next quarter, will have a far better grip on the total saving.
As of now, we can say, from the INR 475 crore that we had estimated, there is a substantial saving from that. The saving is more than 10%.
Okay. My second question is regarding this expansion in the current project. When do you expect that to start coming the lines for this new steel project?
New steel plant, we expect to start by end of 2029/2030. Six to eight months to stabilize the plant and 2030/2031, we'll start getting revenues from that.
Q1 of 2028, sir?
No. This is 2029/2030. This is a new steel plant.
I was just thinking capacity and the expansion of existing capacity, the 300,000 to 360,000.
Once we get the approval, only then we will have to invest some money. That will take some time. Till we get the approval, we can do nothing.
Just to add that for the current year, we don't have any capacity constraint because whatever our plans are there for the current year, so we have enough licensed capacity. Once this approval comes, it will be helpful in the next year.
Okay. Next year. Right.
Thank you, sir. Thanks again. Congrats for a good set of numbers and for your hard work. We salute you. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Deepak Poddar from Sapphire Capital. Please proceed.
Hello, am I audible, sir?
Yes, please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you very much, sir, for this opportunity. Just wanted to understand, now you mentioned we don't have any capacity constraint this year. What sort of volume growth you're targeting for FY 2027?
For this year, we are targeting about 250,000-25 5,000 tonnes for this year.
Next year, we like to cross 270,000 tonnes.
270,000 tonnes. Okay. In terms of growth, we are still quite nominal, right? I mean, the target in terms of growth for FY 2028 itself, it's what? 7%, 8% only. What will drive our revenue growth then? Will it be more value addition? How should one look at revenue growth?
I think, see, what we are looking at is diversifying into non-automotive. The whole category of non-automotive things where we were not present earlier. One, we didn't have the capacity. Two, we did not have the technical capability in the equipment. Ingot casting is the route which we want to be used for many of these products, as ingot casting is something that we plan to establish at the plant by third quarter of this year. And by fourth quarter, we hope to stabilize. This year we would have established and stabilized the ingot casting. Now, we intend to get into die steels. India today imports INR 1,000 crores worth of die steels. That's a big area for us to grow into. That is die steel. Railways, the pitch for axles, there's a big demand for steel for that. Windmill shafts, there's a big demand.
Lot of it gets imported. We have been moving it a lot into import substitution. Earlier, we didn't have that capability. By end of this year, we will have the capability. We will start a second engine of growth. Today, we have only automotive steel as an engine of growth. Tomorrow, we will have a second engine, which is non-automotive steel. Once the forging plant comes up, then the third engine of growth. The fourth engine of growth will come up, that will come up maybe a year and a half down the line, as we start working towards aerospace and steels for nuclear plant and so on. That is the fourth lever of growth, which will take a few years for it to come. That is the thinking of going ahead.
Just now we are constrained because our capacity is 300,000 tonnes, which is the licensed capacity. We can't go more than that. We can keep saying that you are very conservative, growing only 7%, 8%, when that is our capacity, we can't go more than that. We are also examining, can we get import billets from outside and roll it outside and do some job work and develop that market. If we are able to find a credible source, because you have to have complete supply chain for that. If we are able to do that, then we have a chance of growth again. Meanwhile, what we will do is, if we don't have growth possibility, then we'll work on internal, how to keep improving margins and better product mix. Meanwhile, the new plant will come up.
Once the new plant comes up, then there is massive growth possibility.
Okay. That's very helpful, sir. My second question is on your Japanese tie-up. We have done this tie-up. What sort of potential is there? Can you throw some more light on how we are looking at the tie-ups that we have done?
For example, approval for Toyota, which happened for global approval, we got because of that tie-up. The approval for localizing imported steels for a customer like Maruti Suzuki, we are getting because of our partners. There are internal improvements in terms of overall quality, safety. Many other improvements that are happening. Toyota in India is expanding. TKM is expanding with a new plant in Aurangabad, or what's it called? Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar . Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar . . Anyway, the early Aurangabad. With the new plant coming up, they are looking at us for more steels, but we are the only green steel- Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar . Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar , sorry. Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar , where very clearly they need more green steel. We are the only company which can provide green steel with all the approvals.
As green steel becomes more and more important, we become the only players which can provide that. With our expansion coming up, we will be very well-placed. Most companies have targets by 2030 to have a large part of green steel coming in. Maruti Suzuki. Yeah, circular economy is Maruti Suzuki. I'm reasonably confident we'll get this approval. Again, as I said, till we have not got this approval, we don't have it.
Okay, understood. Yeah, that's very helpful, sir. That would be it from my end. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Ritwik Sheth from One Up Financial Consultants. Please proceed.
Hi. Good morning, sir. Couple of clarifications. In the opening remarks, you mentioned that the greenfield plant, we are looking to increase the capacity from 5 lakh tonnes, and because of inflation in metals and iron depreciation, the cost will increase. Is this the right understanding?
Correct. That's right.
Okay. Sure. Sir, you mentioned that FY 2028, you'll be increasing the EBITDA per tonne guidance from INR 8,000-INR 11,000 this year to INR 8,000-INR 12,000. Can you quantify that? Can you give us a color what will be the key drivers for this increase, INR 5,000 per tonne?
The key drivers are three. First, that we will have a bigger production and therefore the fixed cost will be spread over a bigger volume.
Volume.
Two, there are operating costs that have come down and that are further coming down as we go ahead. We can see all those things happening as we go along. Third will be, we still have job work and outside processing going on, which will start coming down from second quarter partly. No, not second quarter. From third quarter, you'll see them coming down.
Okay.
These are three levers. A fourth lever will be, in a year's time, roughly, we'll have to see. We have not given an exact forecast of when the new solar plant will come up.
Okay.
When the new solar plant comes up, again, there'll be cost saving based on the cost of that.
Okay. This is just a brownfield expansion of the solar plant which we have right now? Or it will be a new plant?
No, it will be a new solar plant capacity.
Okay. With similar cost savings?
No, because now the government has changed the rules. Solar panels. No, not solar panels, the cells. As solar panels are locally made, the cells have to be also locally made. The cost of panels is now higher than earlier.
Okay.
The savings on account of the solar will be lower than in the first phase which came on.
Right. Sir, just one last question from my end. We are working with a European OEM to supply materials. Any update on that?
I don't have an exact update, but that should happen by latter part of this financial year.
Okay. We expect to start commercial supply to them in H2?
Yes.
Great. Okay, sir. All the best and thank you.
Please welcome. Samples have gone. All part work is going on track.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Arpit Tapadia from IGE India. Please proceed.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on good set of numbers. I just wanted to know how does this EBITDA per tonne drive into your company, which is within the range given? What makes you the change of range this time, and what will be the outlook going ahead?
Why we stick with the range is because we deal with the auto OEMs. The auto OEMs change the prices upwards or downwards based on lot parameters. Because of cost, raw material cost goes up, therefore they would increase the price of the steel. That gives us a range. We remain protected within a range. Every few years, the range gets bumped up or lower depending on market circumstances. In addition to that, as I said earlier, with an increased production, cost per ton comes down. With the current modernization that we have done, certain costs have come down, yields have improved. We have already said that earlier. With the new reheating furnace, yields have improved. Outsourcing that we are doing, the job work that we are doing, that is going to come down.
These are the factors, and that gives us the confidence. With the new solar plant coming up, that will add further. Once the solar plant gets commissioned, we would like to change the range to 9 - 12 rather than 8 - 12. For next year it'll be 8 - 12, and I hope all goes well, the year after that we should move to 9 - 12. The other kicker that's going to come in once we are able to establish our die steels and railway steels. These are all high margin products. Very difficult to make. Now, fortunately for us, Aichi Steel Corporation, our partners, they make die steels also. It is very important for die steels to have a foreign knowhow, and we have our partners, Aichi Steel Corporation, who know this business and who make. They are the largest forging company in Japan.
They have about 150,000 or 170,000 tonnes of forging in Japan. They are about 50% market share in Japan. They use their own die steel in their forging, so it's tried and tested in-house. That knowhow is going to be available with us.
Got it. For our new complete greenfield plant, what are the next footsteps to check, let's say, from one to two years perspective?
The next steps to track will be purchase of land. Second is placing of orders. Third is status of environment clearance. It is progress of the plant.
Got it. Thank you.
Funding is not a problem for us because, one, we already have reasonable funding available with us. Already cash has come in. Second, sometime next year, depending on when we need the funds, we will be doing a capital raising. Both the large shareholders, the largest shareholders, Vardhman Group and Aichi Steel Corporation, they have given their commitments for putting in as much capital as required. Then, we are also in touch with certain large institutions. There is a certain appetite to put money in the company. Raising equity is not a problem. Then we're probably in touch with banks to raise the debt, is also not a problem. Funding is not a problem. Lastly, Punjab government, because we intend to put up this plant in Punjab, is very keen for this project. Government support is also fully assured.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of [Gagan Shaw], an investor. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes, please go ahead.
Most of my question are. Just one clarification. You said the brownfield capacity will require the environmental approvals. When will you be, let's say, once done by next quarter or three to four months, so what will be the ramp up for the revenue to come kick in?
If the approval comes in, we will up the sales target for next year from 270,000 tonnes, we will up it up to something like 290,000 tonnes, because we can improve production up to a point without any further CapEx. Beyond that, we will need CapEx. Moment we go to finalize everything for the new CapEx and sign it immediately once the approval comes. It'll be roughly a little over a year for the new CapEx to come in. We should be able to reach 330,000- 340,000 tonnes in the year 2028/ 2029.
Okay. Also you mentioned that you're looking at the non-automotive areas and for this year as well. Is there a potential upside also coming from there?
To just give you an idea, die steels prices currently our average price is about INR 85,000 a ton. Die steels are about INR 2.5 lakhs a ton, non-ESR. As we get into ESR, it may cross INR 3.5- 4 lakhs a ton. The volumes are small, but price is high. Of course, there's a lot of heat treatment and you need pressing and other things. There are other processes. It's not that the profit jump up by that much. The costs are also higher to make it, but the margins definitely are higher in those products, and the sales value per ton is higher.
Okay. The die casting plant will also come up in 2029, right?
No. We're going to start that process. Again, die steel. There is a forging plant, which is separate. Die steel is a steelmaking process. For that, we are putting it in duct casting, which will be ready by H2 of this year. In Q3, we should have the ingot casting ready. It is a stabilization process, learning this thing and so on. That should take six months. In the financial year 2027/2028, we should have production of die steels as a regular thing.
Okay.
All this will be within the overall limit of 3 lakh tons. We get environmental approval.
Okay.
What will happen is, what next is going to improve?
In terms of growth, the inflection point will come up from FY 2028 onwards, right? Once all things come up.
If we get the environmental approval 2027/2028, it will improve automatically. Again, the throttling of sales that we have, that 7% to 8% kind of a thing, that limit is gone then.
Okay.
Just now we have a limit that we can't do more than that.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anandh Dharshan from 360 ONE Capital . Please proceed.
Hi, sir. Good morning here.
Yeah.
Congratulations on that good set of numbers. I just want to know the export volume guidance for Hello?
Yeah, go ahead.
Just let me know the export volume guidance for this current year, sir. How much is towards Aichi Steel Corporation's?
The export volumes are small. It is about 7%-8%, no need to track it specifically, they'll not receive any high. At max, it'll be about 10%, I guess. As I said earlier, we had erred and we made a mistake in our assumption. At that time, we had seen exports will take a bigger chunk. Today we are finding we are not able to meet the requirements of our existing customers. Exports is not high on our agenda. Whatever is growing organically will continue to grow a little bit. Out of this 7%- 8%, IC is about half.
Yes.
A little over half.
Put on a direct 9%-10%. Yes.
Sure. Okay. The numbers are small. I think there's no need for you to track the IC specifically.
Got that.
IC is less than half, sorry. IC is about 40% of this t otal export.
Okay, sure.
Thank you.
One more interesting thing, I think, which is a follow-up of all the questions that you have raised. When we are talking of this non-automotive steel, whether it's die steel or railways and so on, initially, these volumes are going to be low. What we are doing is we are creating an option that once a new plant comes up, then we have the capacity. Once the business has been established and we have seeded the business, to grow after that, faster becomes much easier, which will help us in filling up the capacity of the new plant faster. That is the other objective of why we are pushing so hard on these products right now. Yeah, go ahead. Next question.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Divyansh Gupta from Latent Advisors PMS. Please proceed.
Hi, sir. Just one question. In the deck, we had mentioned that for the long-term aerospace and everything else, it would be under a dedicated JV. The question around that is there a shortlist of player identified or is it probably IC? And is it, on a purely legal terms, there will be a separate subsidiary under a JV structure or is just a technology JV that we are aiming, like we have with IC that they take stake and then they transfer the technology?
We are talking to a few people. We are looking for more people. This will be a non-IC JV where the partner IC is strong in automotive steels, they're strong in stainless steels, and including medical steels, and as well as they are strong in IC. The volumes are not that big because they use largely for internal consumption. For the advanced metals that will be under advanced materials division, we'll be looking for a partner outside. That process of finding a partner will take its own time. It'll take a couple of years, and we are in no hurry because, one, this is a slow process and finding the right partner with the right understanding is important. This is just a directional thing that this is what we want to do in the future.
For your forecast, for looking at valuation, et cetera, for getting a hang of numbers, these numbers will be too small and they will outside your horizon to think too much about it. It will be a separate company. It will be a JV because nobody would pass their know-how without making an equal partner in it. Once we find the right partner, we make the announcement.
Understood. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of [Yash Parkar], an investor. Please proceed.
Hi. Am I audible?
Yes.
Firstly, sir, congratulations on great set of numbers. Most of the questions are answered already. Just a few questions. You mentioned that better realization came from OEM price revisions during the quarter. Could you help us understand whether these revisions are largely complete or should additional pricing benefits accrue in the year going forward?
For Q2, we've asked for further price increase. Q2 process will happen later. Q1, the price settlement has been done. Now we did some of the ways. Some of the way it is still not complete. It is likely to rise higher. The Q1 price for the settlement is likely to rise higher. If that settles higher, our ask for Q2 will come down a bit. Q2 numbers will not change except that certain profit of Q1 will spill over into Q2.
Okay. Sir, another question. Following commissioning of the KOCKS Block and reheating furnaces, what is the current rolling capacity utilization and beyond nominal efficiencies? Are there any bottlenecks assuming if the plant reaches its designated utilization?
Yeah. The rolling mill, after the commissioning of the KOCKS Block and reheating furnaces, has reached its capacity of 3 lac tonnes of input. The way our team is working, we are confident we will hit 300,000 tonnes capacity of input. Again, as I said, this is constrained by pricing. It's running at full capacity utilization.
Okay. Sir, last question from my end. On the forging and machining project with Aichi Steel Corporation, could you elaborate on customer qualification timelines? Should we expect commercial productivity after commissioning or will there be a gradual ramp-up before we see any contribution?
That will be a gradual ramp-up. We've already talked to the customer and we are very lucky that because our partner are already there, we are already sending steel to IC, getting it forged from there, and we're going to send the customer for approval. At least the process approval will have happened. Those things will shorten the process of ramping up. It will take time because it's a new business. We have to learn this business, and the customer have to get confidence also. Their confidence is high because IC is already an expert in this area. This area and this method of reaching out the product that we're going to do for the customers is new. It has been fixed by the customer also, they have to see this in action.
Correct, sir. Over the next two to three years, we can expect the margin to improve majorly because of the cost optimization as well as when you are able to visit that R in MERA, right?
That will be a very important, again, it will be mainly two margin improvement. One is volume increase and therefore stock fixed cost. Two is operational improvements and therefore some operational costs coming down. Third is job work reducing and therefore those costs coming down. In addition, will be the fourth part of solar, which will happen a little over a year from now. It'll be the H2 of 2027/ 2028.
Okay. These are questions. Thank you so much.
To start happening in 2029. For the year 2028, we should try to modify our range from 8-12, we'd like to remove eight and say we are confident of 9-12.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir, for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Tamodhar Das], an investor. Please proceed.
Hi. Yes, good morning, sir. I hope I'm audible.
Yes, please go ahead.
Sir, two questions on the line. First one, congratulations on the great numbers. Two questions on the line. One is that what are our current order visibility from OEM customers? Secondly, what is your outlook on steel utilization over the next two quarters?
One, we never have a strong outlook. There is no system of a very strong order book. We are completely booked out and we are refusing orders. You call it a strong order book or visibility, we are currently having trouble meeting the requirements of our customers. The demand is very strong. No customer gives a long-term orders that, okay, you have this much coming in in the third quarter or fourth quarter. All depends on their volumes. The customers are steady. It is all repeat business which comes in. The next volume increase is going to come from the commercial production beginning for the import substitution for Maruti Suzuki, which will happen start happening the fourth quarter of the financial year. That's all I can say.
On realization for the next quarter, again, we are asking for the pricing freeze from 1 July.
Q2 will be higher in prices.
Yes. Realizations will be higher in Q2. Thank you, Mark.
Q3 depends on how raw material prices continue to function. As of now, Q3, we don't expect a major change. It may be at the same or it'll be higher, a little bit lower. Q2, definitely we expect an increase in prices.
Okay, sure. Thank you so much, sir, for your clarification.
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participant, I now hand the conference over to Mr. Jain for his closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again for continuing to be very strongly engaged. The kind of question you've been asking us means that you have deep interest in the company, and you're forcing us to think and find out answers and be ready for next quarter when you come back again. Thank you so much, we hope to continue to perform steadily and improve steadily.
Thank you. On behalf of Vardhman Special Steels Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.