Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Limited Q3 FY26 Post-Results Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Batlivala & Karani Securities India Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Annamalai Jayaraj. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. I welcome you all for the result of ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Limited Earnings Call to brief on the Q3 FY 2025-26 quarterly earnings, which will be presented by the management team. Your host today from ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Limited are Mr. Paramjit Singh Sada, Managing Director, Ms. Shweta Agarwal, CFO, Mr. Shankar Venkatachalam, Head of OE Sales, and Ms. Muthulakshmi, Company Secretary. I'll now hand over the call to Mr. Paramjit Singh Sada, who will provide further insight into the results. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good all of you. I warmly welcome you all to ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Limited Third Quarter Results for the Financial Year 2025-2026. Certain forward-looking statements that we will make today are based on management's good faith and expectations concerning future development. The actual results may differ materially from these expectations because of multiple factors. ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Limited results for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, were published on February 10, 2026. They are available on the website www.zf.com, under the ZF CV India Investor Relations section. We hope that you have had an opportunity to go through them. A transcript and recorded audio of this call will also be made available on the website www.zf.com, under the ZF CV India Investor Relations section.
I am happy to talk to you today as we give you an update about business of the company. We will start with the industry and economic updates. The global economy continues to demonstrate greater resilience than previously anticipated, supported by easing uncertainties and broadly stable financial conditions. While trade flows are gradually normalizing and some market volatility persists, overall macroeconomic fundamentals remain steady. India's growth trajectory remains robust. GDP expanded by 8.2% in Q2 2025-26, with GVA rising 8.1%. This strong performance has been underpinned by solid domestic demand, healthy momentum in both industrial and services sectors, ongoing tax rationalization, and front-loaded public capital expenditure. High-frequency indicators signal continued strength this past quarter, reflecting resilient rural demand, improving urban consumption, firm investment activity, and an uptick in manufacturing output.
Looking ahead, positive agriculture prospects, benign inflation trends, strengthened corporate balance sheets, and supportive monetary conditions are expected to sustain the growth momentum. GDP growth for 25, 26 is projected at 7.4%. Inflation has moderated sharply to multi-year lows, driven by broad-based decline in both food and core components. For 25, 26, inflation is projected at 2%, supported by favorable supply conditions and moderating global commodity prices. Overall, the outlook for both growth and inflation trend remains balanced, with risk contained and domestic fundamentals continuing to prove a strong foundation for sustained economic performance. This, some data is taken from Reserve Bank of India press release, rbi.org.in. Let us talk about Indian commercial vehicle industry, basically more than 6 ton commercial vehicles. The overall CV industry has gained momentum in Q3, supported by strong economic activity driven by GST reforms.
Also, RBI repo rate cuts, rising demand, improved goods movement recorded 6.1% growth, billion ton-kilometer in the calendar year of 2025 over the last year, with the CV more than 6-ton segment growing at an even stronger rate of 11%. On the quarterly basis, the CV more than 6-ton segment registered 20.6% growth in Q3, and model mix largely remained same as last year, with a marginal change in the bus production. Looking at the truck segment, in the truck segment, growth is supported by several favorable factors and is expected to continue in the upcoming quarter as well. With GST reforms effective September, increase in consumption demand directly boosting goods movement and in turn CV growth. Supported by tailwinds like repo rate cuts, this momentum is set to sustain industry growth.
Second aspect is increased government capital expenditure, supported by strong infrastructure and construction activity, along with the recent union budget outlay, INR 1,220,000 crore, that places strong emphasis on infrastructure expansion and freight corridor development. This will indirectly boost demand for truck production. The resumption of mining activity post-monsoon, along with government focus on developing rare earth corridors, which further promote mining, is expected to accelerate mining operation and stimulate demand growth in this segment. Looking at bus segment, in line with the overall CV industry growth, the bus market also experienced robust expansion, driven by strong demand from state transport units, STUs, the intercity segment, and urban transport needs. EV bus sales reached 1,219 units in Q3 2025-2026, supported by finalization of PM E- Drive tenders and fresh government procurement orders.
Looking at trailer segment, while the medium and heavy duty trucks shown a strong growth, migration toward multi-axle vehicles, fleet underutilization amid export declines, the expansion of mega LPG pipeline, which collectively triggered a short-term production dip. However, with the government's focus on infrastructure, this sector is expected to rebound. Looking at impact of this industry growth on OE sales for our company. During Q3, FY 2025-2026, CV more than 6 ton production recorded a growth of 20.6%, while our overall sale rose by 28.1%. This strong performance enabled us to outperform the market by 7.5%, primarily supported by following factors: High EV bus production and increased market share among independent bus manufacturer for e-compressor and EBS system. A sharp rise in ESC penetration, driven by updated regulations effective September 2025.
SOP of a new variant of exhaust brake valve in Q3 FY 2026. Profitability improvement actions, including price resetting of low-margin products. Looking ahead, the outlook for commercial vehicle industry remains positive, with several indicators pointing to a sustained rebound. Improving market sentiment, coupled with strong budgetary emphasis on infrastructure development, freight corridors, and new initiatives such as strategic manual corridors, is expected to directly stimulate demand for heavy duty trucks. Additionally, the growing focus on EV ecosystem and public mobility is accelerating demand for electric buses. In anticipation of this upswing, and in alignment with the adoption of new technology trends, we are advancing strategic initiative aimed at strengthening our competitiveness and delivering long-term value. Some of the key strategic initiatives are as follows: Increasing penetration of ESC is driving our focus on localization efforts to enhance and sustain market share across all customer segments.
With the government's ongoing discussions on mandating low-floor buses for city application, a significant increase in ECAS penetration is expected. In response to this emerging demand, we have initiated efforts to localize ECAS to strengthen and sustain our market position. We aim to increase penetration of trailer ABS, trailer EBS, and SCALAR Evo Pulse systems in line with AIS 113 trailer regulations and growing demand for safety and operational efficiency in the trailer fleets. Close collaborations with OEMs is enabling the expansion of AMT applications, effectively leveraging the segmental migration toward higher capacity engine that is driving increased AMT adoption. These developments reinforce our long-term growth trajectory and underscore our strategic alignments with the future of commercial mobility.
Looking at aftermarket, in Q3, FY 2025-2026, our aftermarket sales reached INR 158 crore, reflecting a strong 19.2% growth over the INR 132 crore recorded in the same quarter in last financial year. This performance was driven by broad-based momentum across key segments. A significant contributor to this growth was continued acceleration in retrofitment demand, particularly from PSU, oil and gas customers, generating INR 4.1 crore through trailer ABS, EBS retrofitting programs. Our traditional product portfolio, including air compressor, air processing units, actuators, AMT modulators, and brake control system, also saw increased penetration across markets, supported by strengthening demand patterns. We also witness greater uplift from OES-driven requirement, primarily due to replacement demand arising from BS-VI vehicles park expansion. Our mining segment maintains its positive trajectory, with higher equipment deployment, driving strong sales of compressors and actuators.
Additionally, the expansion of our service footprint through seven new authorized service centers enhanced network accessibility and customer support. This tandem infrastructure continued meaningfully to overall aftermarket growth by improving reach, responsiveness, and service reliability. Let us discuss about export of goods. In Q3 financial year 2025-2026, our export performance declined by 10.9% compared to the same period last year, primarily due to volume reduction from the U.S. market. Private, tariff-related cost pass-throughs by OEMs to the end customer continued to adversely impact demand. While the U.S. market saw a drop, this was partially offset by improvement in the E.U. market. Overall, the combined market decline stood at 10-12.2%. Despite this, we outperformed the market by intensifying our focus on portfolio expansion across regions.
While these factors created short-term headwinds, the recent FTA agreement with the EU and indications of potential tariff reduction in US are expected to support demand recovery in the upcoming quarters. We remain fully committed to ramping up our capabilities to meet these anticipated growths. Along with this, the company has proactively advanced several strategic initiatives aimed at reinforcing future growth and recalibrating priorities. Notable achievements include the successful start of production for Actuator 4.0 and air compressor for additional global OEMs, strengthening our global customer footprint. Concurrently, we continue to broaden and diversify our product portfolio to position ourselves for recovery and long-term expansion. We also speak about export of services. Export of services grew by a robust 11.1% in Q3 FY 2025-2026, compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
This growth was driven by a sustained increase in engineering activities delivered from India to global centers. The continued expansion of these capabilities reinforces India's position as a strategic engineering hub for ZF globally, underscoring the strength, scalability, and technical depth of our talent base. We talk about now on ESG initiatives. Sustainability continues to remain a core strategic priority for the company, and our focused effort are yielding meaningful recognition and impact across our operation. Our Jamshedpur facility received first prize in the ACMA Regional Kaizen Competition under the Safety Ergonomic Improvement category, underscoring our commitment to building safer and more efficient workplaces. We also continued to advance energy conservation with several key initiatives delivering measurable benefits.
A 200 CFM compressor energy saving project, supported by a leak arresting campaign, is estimated to generate annual energy savings of approximately 50,000 units. The introduction of eFans in AHUs has resulted in an additional reduction of around 20,000 units per annum. Our ESG leadership was further highlighted when we were invited to share our best practices at IIT Madras during the Accelerating Net Zero AI and Energy Efficiency Conference. The event saw participation from more than 200 companies, and our initiatives received strong appreciation from peers and industry stakeholders. These achievements reflect our continued commitment to sustainability, operational excellence, and responsible growth, reinforcing our alignment with global environmental and safety standards. Some updates about engineering. On engineering front, the company had successfully enabled start of production of eCompressor Air Lite for truck platform, diameter 60 and 90 exhaust brake assembly product for major OEM.
9-inch Vacuum Booster was launched for aftermarket. Advanced Driver Assistance System ADAS test dummy was developed through institutional collaboration. One prestigious new product development excellence award from major OEM for significant contribution of ZF towards launch of advanced Electronic Braking System, Electronic Stability Control, Automated Manual Transmission, compressor, Air Processing Unit, and axle products. Advanced technology products demonstrated at Technology Day events organized by leading OEM across India were also done. On manufacturing updates, the company continues to ramp up production of advanced technology products from its new multi-divisional manufacturing plant at Oragadam. Key products including eCompressor and hydraulic ESCs, Electronic Stability Control for e-mobility, ASP Air System Protector cartridges for Indian OEMs, and wheel end products such as actuators, brake chambers, and automatic slack adjuster for both domestic and export market.
New products such as PBA, exhaust brake assembly, eCompressor Lite , brake signal transmitter for Indian truck with trailer OEMs, and expansion of current portfolio to aftermarket have been successfully launched. Assembly lines have been upgraded in Jamshedpur, Lucknow, and Pimpri plant for manufacturing footprint capability, resulting in improved delivery, performance, flexibility, and customer responsiveness, as well as supporting our sustainability objectives through reduction of transportation emissions. The company continues to realize significant gains in productivity and quality through implementation of smart automation, robotic technologies, testing automation, and leveraging digitalization in assembly and machining cells. Let us talk about awards and recognitions. I am pleased to share that in Q3 FY '25, '26, our ZF teams earned significant recognition across leading industry forums, securing four national level awards, four regional awards, and nine state level awards.
Our teams achieved top honors in prestigious competitions such as IMTMA Productivity Championship, NIQR Six Sigma, and ACMA Kaizen Awards, along with accolades from CII, QCFI, and ABK AOTS. These achievements underscore our unwavering commitment to operational excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement, reinforcing ZF's leadership position in the industry. Clarification statement on sale of ZF ADAS business to Harman International. We would like to clarify that we are also, given in the media. ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems, CVS, confirmed that the announced transfer of certain advanced driver assistance system, ADAS activity, applies exclusively to its ADAS division portfolio, specifically compute solution, camera, radar, passenger car, ADAS function, and does not pertain to ADAS portfolio of ZF CVS division. It does not affect ZF CVS development, supply, service, or support of ADAS solution for commercial vehicles.
Existing customer contracts, service agreement, and terms and conditions remain in force, and program deliveries continue without interruption. For the complete statement and further details, please refer to the stock exchange announcement dated 14 January 2026. We will also talk about India-Europe Free Trade Agreement. ZF Group applauds the signing of India-EU Free Trade Agreement, a truly important pact set to shape an integrated economic zone serving nearly 2 billion people and strengthening one of the world's key trade relationships. In times of geopolitical uncertainties and rising tariff hurdles. The agreement is an important sign for cooperation and exchange. This agreement opens new paths for collaboration, innovation, and sustainable growth across industries in both regions. For ZF Group, it unlocks significant opportunity to deepen our technology innovation and advance future mobility technologies with this bilateral agreement.
Additionally, it allows us to contribute to more resilient and diversified value chains. Regarding some changes in the operations, new head of operation, effective Friday, 30th January, Mr. M. S. Ravikumar retired as Regional Operating Officer of CVCS India after 39 years of service. He was succeeded by Mr. G. Mukund, who joins us from VECV Limited. He has more than 35 years of industry experience. We would like to thank Mr. Ravikumar for his many years of service, and wish Mr. G. Mukund the very best in his new role. And now, moving on the financial performance for Q3 FY 2025-2026, I would hand over to Shweta, our CFO.
Good afternoon. Thanks for joining in. For your ready reference, the results were made public at 3:50 P.M. on February 10, 2026. I hope you've had a chance to go through them. I'm happy to share that our total revenues consolidated for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, reached INR 1,105 crores, compared to INR 980 crores in Q3 of the previous financial year. This is an increase of 12.8% year-on-year, and a 15.3% increase compared to the previous quarter. The company delivered strong operating performance in Q3 FY '25, '26, achieving an EBITDA margin of 20% on total sales, and profit before tax, before exceptional items stood at INR 194.5 crores.
After factoring in the INR 7.9 crores of exceptional impact relating to the labor code changes, our profit before tax stood at INR 186.5 crores, translating to 16.9% of total revenue. The company reported a PAT, profit after tax, of INR 140.2 crores, with 12.7% PAT margin, and our PAT grew by 11.7% over same quarter in the previous financial year, and an increase of 29.5% compared to Q2 25-26. I am pleased to note that this is the first time we have also crossed revenues of INR 1,100 crores in a single quarter, and we continue to grow sustainably across INR 1,000 crores in three out of the last four quarters. Handing back to our MBC.
Thank you, Shweta. Despite favorable policies, along with improved mining activity and rainfall patterns, have enabled us to remain resilient in a volatile macroeconomic environment and continue supporting the demand from our valued customers. We remain committed to driving sustained growth for all our stakeholders, including our investors, customers, suppliers, and employees. Looking ahead, we are optimistic about continued momentum, supported by recent India-Europe FTA and positive volume outlook across the CV industry. Thank you. We now welcome your questions.
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 touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mukesh Saraf from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on the EBITDA margins. We have seen the margins improve significantly this quarter. We actually saw the same last year, third quarter as well, when sequentially, the margins improved more than 300 basis points. So just trying to understand, you know, what has driven these margins, because other expenses have come down while gross margins have stayed similar QOQ. It will kind of help understand this phenomenon, please.
Thank you for the question, Mukesh. Mukesh, we typically do our retrospective price amendments in Q3. So what you would see is a small impact of the price adjustments or collections of the increases of prices from April to September, also being collected in December. That's why you see this, the seasonal increase on in the same quarter of last year as well as this year. I mean, on a-
Okay.
Financial year basis, you would see a small expansion in our margin over what we delivered for FY 25 and 26, but this is a seasonality that you're seeing in December quarter standalone.
Right. So I mean, retrospective price adjustment is probably reflecting the gross margins, I would imagine, because your gross margins haven't really moved sequentially. It's the other expenses that have come down. So, I mean, is this also driven by this pricing, the retroactive pricing adjustments?
That's right, because proportionately, the expenses would not, it just goes into adding to the margin, right?
Okay.
There is, of course, an effort in our cost management and better absorption due to higher volumes, but the impact of the higher EBITDA in last December as well as this December would come from the SPV or the sales price variances.
All right, understood. Secondly, I mean, I think you did mention that exports have remained weak this quarter, obviously, because of the tariff issues, et cetera. Now that we have a lot of clarity on the U.S. tariffs, as well as with the E.U. agreement, how are we placed in terms of exports? I mean, if you could kind of help us understand the next couple of years, how could exports grow, especially given that the parent actively looks to source from India, given its, you know, best cost engineering capabilities. I mean, any outlook for the next couple of years you can provide on exports, specifically?
I mean, when you're asking for outlook on a couple of years, let's say that the EMEA is showing consistent growth in vehicle production. But having said that, we are living in a very volatile world, so commenting for 2027 would be difficult. In general, we can say EMEA is strengthening. But however, early days yet for the U.S. tariff announcements, and we are not able to comment on that, and we don't see that impact in EDI as yet.
Okay. And just lastly, I think in the opening remarks, you mentioned about the mandating of low-floor buses for city applications and how that could benefit the ECAS, the electronically controlled air suspension product. Any timelines we could have on the possible you know mandating of these low-floor buses? And how is our current you know revenue from ECAS? Are we currently importing this product, any sense on the ECAS product?
Right now, this is a draft legislation at this point of time. You might be aware that the market is gradually shifting to ultra-low entry buses to facilitate ease of entry and mobility in cities. So there is a draft legislation that in the upcoming October 2026 timeframe, all the buses that are going to be sold in major metros and cities could be ultra-low entry. And we see a potential of this ECAS being utilized in each of these buses. And currently, yes, it is an imported solution, and we have internally activated some actions towards a fully localized content.
Any sense on the, how much, like, on an average, the content per vehicle for ECAS could be for us? Say, once it's localized, what could be the potential, per vehicle realization?
Today, it's running at very low volumes. Going forward, when the volume increases, the price would also typically come down to maybe about INR 25,000-INR 30,000 per vehicle.
Okay. All right. All right. And just lastly, I think the revenue mix that you mentioned for 3Q, some of the numbers are inaudible. If you could just repeat the OEM aftermarket and exports revenue mix alone for this third quarter, please. That's it from my side.
Sorry, could you repeat your question?
The third quarter revenue mix between OEM, aftermarket, and exports. So if you could just repeat those numbers, some of those numbers were inaudible.
Okay. Sorry, OEM was about INR 520 crore, aftermarket- INR 157, and exports, INR 259, with service income being about INR 125.
All right. Thank you so much for this. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mumuksh Mandlesha from Anand Rathi Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on the healthy results, and greetings to the management. So we are one half year away from the ADAS regulation implementation. So most of the OEMs would have started finalizing the vendors for the ESC, AEBS, and the ADAS function. Can you help us understand how are you seeing the book building for us for this ESC and ADAS system? How we are seeing the market share with the major CV OEMs?
Hi, Mumuksh. Thank you for the question. On the ESC side, we are working with all of the OEMs, so we would retain our current leadership position in terms of the ESC system overall with each truck and bus OEM. On the ADAS side, this is still at a discussion phase, advanced discussion phase with most of the OEMs, but there are discussions going on in the market with regards to other players who have offered products at a lower pricing than what is currently being offered by ZF. And as a result of that, there are several discussions and ongoing proof of concept related topics that are undertaken with each OEM. So we are at an advanced stage of discussions and expect to have some directional conclusion in the coming quarter.
Understood, sir. Understood. Thanks for this payroll. Just on the content value for the system, we earlier mentioned INR 65,000 kind of a value for the system, broadly, INR 25,000-30,000 for the ESC. Is it also, I mean, I mean, on the ground, are you seeing the same kind of pricing post the negotiation that are going with the customers?
So on the ESC, we would be at around 20K-25K, as we had indicated earlier. On the ADAS, the earlier indication of 40K-45K was the number we had indicated during our earlier discussions. However, based on the latest outlook and the feedback from customers, their expectation is somewhere half of that. So that's the kind of pricing levels which we are looking at as we are going forward.
Got it, sir. Thank you for this. So, for this regulation, would you re-require any CapEx requirement for the next few years to support the order, sir?
At this moment, we are only enabling our capabilities from an application engineering perspective, so that's more from a test track related capability requirement only. Yes.
Okay. I mean, then, going ahead, there would be a requirement to then start manufacturing when the regulation comes in, right, sir?
In the longer term, yes. We would be looking at further localization content when the volume picks up for the market overall.
Got it, sir. Got it. And, sir, for the, this quarter, because the regulation of ESC for buses have started, right? So just want to understand what kind of volumes we are doing or what kind of revenue this quarter came from the ESC solution for the buses.
Just to give a comparison, from Q3 of 2024-2025 to the Q3 of 2025-2026, we are seeing approximately 3,000 units of ESC delta increase, so approximately 1,000 units per month increase over last year, based on the legislation that has been mandated for the buses.
Got it. Got it. Agree with that, sir. Also, on the, just on the low-floor bus, the application-
Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Mumuksh, may we request you return to the question queue for a follow-up question?
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lakshminarayan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. We just want to understand what has been the growth of the trailer segment in the last nine months? Because what I understand is that that segment was actually growing faster, and there were some components which we are actually able to put on the trailer segments, where we were doing EPS segments, so on and so forth. Can you just help me understand how the mix has changed, and what has been our content in these trailer combinations?
Yeah, thank you for the question, Mr. Lakshminarayan. I think the trailer segment had been growing in the early part of the year, primarily driven by a change in mix from the rigid to the tractor-trailers. However, in this quarter three, compared to previous year, there was a dip of about 6%-7% in the overall trailer production. So there has been multiple factors related to GST, fleet underutilization, export requirement decline, and so on. So these were certain factors that triggered a drop in the overall trailer production in this quarter. So overall, if you see, this has impacted in terms of numbers, volumes of trailers that are produced in quarter three.
Got it. And what kind of components we actually have it in them? And, can you just give a rough estimate?
Apart from the prime mover, to which we supply to all the OEMs, on the trailer side, we supply the actuators, which are fitted on the axles, as well as the braking system-related components, valves, and EBF, lift axle control systems as well.
Got it. Got it. There was, you know, we were supplying to a Russian commercial vehicle manufacturer, and that actually had a challenge because of all this Russian war, et cetera, right? Now, can you just help me understand whether that particular thing was lost or it is actually augmented in some other way?
From India perspective, we were not supplying directly to any Russian manufacturer. That was more from a, from a global business perspective, and I think, since we are part of the companies which are part of the European Union, I think post the Russia-Ukraine war, all supplies have ceased for Russia.
Got it. Got it. Third question is that, you know, can you just talk about what are the other regulations that would actually help us, you know, there is ESC in buses and also ADAS, AEBS, ECAS, et cetera, right? So can you just plan out what would be the next two or three years, and which would actually would, would drive the growth, in, in terms of priority, in terms of, you know, which, which would be taking higher prioritization? Of course, you talked about ADAS in the previous question.
Right. So ADAS is already a legislation which is coming up in 2027. Apart from that, we have a few other draft legislations. I think one is the draft legislation of mandating ESC in school buses. So that is again something that is potentially going to roll out later this year. And the other point which we spoke about is mandating ultra-low entry buses in the type one city bus segment, which could lead to improved sales of our ECAS. Thirdly, this would be something that is an overall benefit to the CV industry, is the scrappage policy, which is under discussion for last several years. If that is potentially rolled out, that would have an overall benefit in the CV industry as a whole.
Got it. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankit Shah from White Equity Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question. So my question was on EV bus e-compressors. So we understand that our content in the EV bus jumps to about 4x or 5x, mainly because of this e-compressor versus the ICE buses. So is this with respect to even the smaller buses, or is this for a particular segment of the buses? One, another piece within this call, so are we a near monopoly in the e-compressors for the EV bus, or is there competition? So we've heard names like KingClima, Bitzer, Valeo, etc. So are this our competition or we are near monopoly in India?
Yeah, I think you rightly said that in electric vehicle, e-compressor is more expensive as compared to the ICE vehicle. And, mostly in India, we are, I would say, major supplier from India, but there are some imports also, by some of the manufacturer. But, as a government policy that every EV has to ensure that local content, so we are fulfilling that liability.
Okay. And this e-compressor opportunity is for all buses or is it for a particular range of buses, let's say more than 9 meters or 12 meters?
Today, most majority of the buses are 9-meter and 12-meter, and the current product, what we have proposed, fits in that application. But, of late, there are some requirements coming for the smaller 7-meter buses as well. So we are trying to see the product, suitable product fit, with our product, which is also capable to be packaged across board. So typically in a bus application, which has higher air consumption and requirements, our product is a right fit.
Got it. Got it. So we understand, about 4-4.5 thousand EV buses were sold in calendar year 2025. One report projected that e-bus volumes could hit about 17,000 in 2 years' time. So can you share your perspective on whether this is plausible from your perspective?
As you rightly mentioned, the e-bus segment has seen a steady year-on-year growth, that has been positively driven by two factors. One is the State Transport Undertaking- related tenders, as well as the PM-eBus Sewa- related discounts and incentives that are offered. So most recently, I think the 10,500 buses order was also concluded in the month of November, December, which is going to add a real fillip to several OEMs who are into bus manufacturing. So these are the quantum of buses that are going to be produced over the next two years, and it is anticipated that the government will further incentivize these kind of initiatives going forward, driven largely by domestic value addition.
So the key OE players who are able to give more maximum local content will also be incentivized to offer these buses, the complete OpEx model, operation system to the public. So in lieu of that, it seems possible, but of course, subject to a lot of other charging infrastructure and capabilities that need to also be built in to support that.
Absolutely. Right. The last question on the recent order that Tata Motors received from Indonesia for exports of 70,000 vehicles. So just wanted to understand whether you know we have an opportunity in this, so would these vehicles be exported to Indonesia in a complete knockdown position and our products would go with them, or this is not in our domain?
So of the vehicle orders that they have received, there is an Ultra T.7, which comprises 36,000 units, and that is offered on an air brake system platform. In that, air brake vehicle system platform, we are working with Tata on that product.
Got it. The advanced product, the advanced products, are not a part of that, right? That is smaller vehicle?
I think it's a very basic ABS System only, yes. There are no advanced products as part of the spec.
That's it.
We request you to return to the question queue for a follow-up.
That's it. I'll join back. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nirali Gopani from Unique PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my question is on this ADAS comment that you made, that where the content per vehicle or the pricing between our and the competition is a difference of 50%. So if you can just talk a little bit more on this, how serious is the competition? Because given we are the technology leaders, how easy would it be for someone to replace us in the with the OEM? If you can just highlight a few points there, that will be helpful.
Thank you for the question. I think the main background of the other players who have come into the segment are from a different segment, the passenger car portfolio. So their product and offering may be differently suited. However, we are still in discussions and advanced stage of alignments with customers, with vehicle proof of concept trials and so on.
Okay, so you expect that, in order to win the orders, we'll have to come midway with the competition on our pricing, or we'll have to compromise on our pricing part?
At this point of time, we are talking about what value we are offering to the customer, and we also have our own testing capability as well as the field vehicle data acquisition. So these are the algorithms that are available with us, which are our USP when it comes to talking about the product to customers.
Got it. Okay. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dishant Jain from Kesar Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah, ma'am, can you please repeat on the retrospective price adjustment part?
Dishant, the price adjustment. So, so price increases happen with effect from first April, but the effect is given through via POs in December, November or December. That is the reason why in December results, there would be an impact of retrospective price increases from April to September.
Sure. But then, ma'am, if the price are increased, then it should, it should have been in the, like, increase in the gross margins, right?
It does get into the gross margin, yes.
Sorry, please ask your question.
Yeah. So the effect of the pricing raise should be visible in the gross margin, right? Because on Y-on-Y basis, it is on the similar lines.
If you're comparing it to the same quarter of last year, there is the same impact also in the same quarter of last year.
Okay, but even on a sequential basis, the gross margin is same.
I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from. Maybe you can connect with me or send me your question via email, and we can l ook it up there.
Sure, sure. My second question, ma'am, would be on the, that recent EU deal. Are the parent company thinking of introducing some products from the Indian operations, since we would be in a position to supply to the Europe since after this deal? So any thoughts on that?
So the EU FTA has just been signed off. Of course, this presents a significant opportunity, but we are still evaluating what would increase and how this would play out, and whereas we'll release comments upon developments on how they are affecting our and how they are translating for us.
Sure. Just last question, ma'am, is it possible to give the Europe growth and the U.S. growth for Q3?
Yeah. Europe has grown about 9%, and U.S. has de-grown by about 28% on volume, on vehicle production.
On vehicle production?
Yes.
Okay. Sure. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dishant Jain from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question is on the low-floor bus city application. So, like, how, what is the segment opportunity in terms of volume and value, and how are we positioned to capture the opportunity?
Hi, Dishant. When we look at the ultra-low entry buses, these would be typically type one city buses. So today, if you look at the overall volumes in this particular segment, maybe there may be about 1,500 buses a month, potentially, that could be transformed into the ultra-low entry type application. Of course, the infrastructure and the routes that are currently mapped on the usage of these buses need to be enhanced. Otherwise, you're going to have all these buses scraping the floor of every single road pothole that we have. So surrounding that, and going forward, the potential opportunity that we have, apart from the basic braking system, is the ECAS, because these ultra-low entry buses also would have the kneeling and raising functionality similar to the Tata coach buses.
That is the opportunity that we spoke about a little while earlier.
Okay. My second question would be, in the smaller CVs, like, how are you getting traction for ESC or ECAS?
Smaller CV, you're referring to SCV or LCV? Which segment are you having a query with regards to?
Over 5 ton.
Okay. In the SCV segment, the products that are there with the air brake, we are already present. The products that are fitted with the hydraulic brake, we are in series supplies to some of the OEMs with our hydraulic ESC products. Those are already in series production today.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions from the participants, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you very much, and we are, as we discussed, that commercial vehicle market, above six ton, is booming, buoyant market. Our team is working to support that, and definitely, the indications given by all the OEMs during our personal visits also last month are talking about this buoyant market, at least till March, and even indications are given after April. So thank you very much to all the stakeholders who are supporting us into this growth, and thanks, and wishing all the best for the future. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
On behalf of Batlivala & Karani Securities India Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.