India Cements Ltd — Q4 FY26

India Cements Ltd Q4 FY2025-26 Earnings Conference Call https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6yUSB3WMs8 Published: 2 weeks ago

0:01 1 second Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Ultra Tech Cement Limited Q4 FI26 earnings conference call. As a 0:10 10 seconds reminder, all participant lines will remain in the listenon mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. 0:18 18 seconds Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star then zero on your Touchstone telephone. 0:27 27 seconds Please note that this conference is being recorded. 0:30 30 seconds I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Atul Daga, Chief Financial Officer for opening remarks. Thank you. And over to you, sir. 0:39 39 seconds Thank you. Uh uh good evening to everybody. 0:44 44 seconds I want to begin not with numbers but with where we stand as a company because 0:51 51 seconds fiscal 26 in my view is a year that will be looked back on as a genuinely 0:57 57 seconds significant in Altek story and fiscal 27 started with an achievement of major milestones. Alt crossed 200 million tons 1:06 1 minute, 6 seconds of cement production capacity in India a first for any company in a single country outside of China. 1:15 1 minute, 15 seconds Let me put this in context. We reached 100 million tons in 2019, added another 50 million tons in 5 years by 2024. 1:26 1 minute, 26 seconds And we completed the journey from 150 to 200 million tons in less than two years. 1:32 1 minute, 32 seconds This is a feat even more recarkable since we are a full year ahead of our targets as what we had set for ourselves. 1:42 1 minute, 42 seconds Let's be clear on what the number means. 1:45 1 minute, 45 seconds It's not a simply a headline. It's an expression of a strategy to build scale that compounds in cost efficiency, in 1:54 1 minute, 54 seconds market reach, in raw material security, and in sustainability. 1:59 1 minute, 59 seconds Every ton of capacity we add reinforces every ton that came before it. 2:08 2 minutes, 8 seconds Let's look at our position globally. 2:10 2 minutes, 10 seconds Outside of China, Altech is today the largest cement company in the world by sales volume. 2:17 2 minutes, 17 seconds And we are the only cement company anywhere in the world to have over 100 million ton of production capacity 2:24 2 minutes, 24 seconds within a single country. We are 200 million tons. 2:29 2 minutes, 29 seconds These are not rankings we have stumbled into. These are the results of a very deliberate strategy. 2:35 2 minutes, 35 seconds disciplined organic growth, timely acquisitions at the right price and a relent relentless focus on execution. 2:44 2 minutes, 44 seconds From somewhere 65 million tons in 2016 to 200 million tons today, we have more than tripled our capacity in a decade. 2:53 2 minutes, 53 seconds Our next horizon is already set. We have committed to add a further 37 million tons which will take us over 242.5 3:02 3 minutes, 2 seconds million tons in a phased manner by fiscal 28. 3:07 3 minutes, 7 seconds Now I want to speak to something that is very much on everybody's minds. The conflict in West Asia and what it means 3:16 3 minutes, 16 seconds for us. Whilst I have given a indicative chart in our presentation on where the 3:22 3 minutes, 22 seconds impact of these rising prices could be, let's be straightforward. 3:29 3 minutes, 29 seconds It's a real headwind on fuel cost, packing bag and freight, on certain import dependent supply chain, on 3:37 3 minutes, 37 seconds near-term sentiment in some demand segments, and the way all oil prices are, we could see an increase in domestic prices of petrol and diesel. 3:46 3 minutes, 46 seconds The government's monthly economic review for March 26 also acknowledged that the outlook has become slightly uncertain. 3:55 3 minutes, 55 seconds And yet India's structural growth story is entirely intact. Government capex is flowing. Infrastructure execution 4:04 4 minutes, 4 seconds continues. Housing demand is robust. IMF has also raised the growth forecast for the country. 4:13 4 minutes, 13 seconds Just to rattle some numbers out for you, India did approximately 10,660 kilometers of highways in fiscal 25 and 4:23 4 minutes, 23 seconds has maintained the pace in 26. The PMA housing program is driving cement consumption at scale. That tells us 4:31 4 minutes, 31 seconds something important about the underlying demand base on the construction cost environment. 4:38 4 minutes, 38 seconds Cement prices have been largely stable in the last financial year with movement of maybe 0 to 5%. Steel prices have seen volatility. 4:49 4 minutes, 49 seconds West Asia situation is near-term cost moderator not a structural demand reversal and we 4:58 4 minutes, 58 seconds believe ultr with our domestic uh strength our 1.8 8 gawatt green energy 5:06 5 minutes, 6 seconds platform. Our scaledriven cost efficiency is better positioned much better positioned to manage through this environment as well. 5:17 5 minutes, 17 seconds Fiscal 26 was a year of extra extraordinary execution. We crossed 200 million tons. We completed brand 5:24 5 minutes, 24 seconds migration for both India cements and quesam ahead of schedule. We continued building our green energy capacity and 5:31 5 minutes, 31 seconds we delivered volume growth and improved profitability. 5:37 5 minutes, 37 seconds We said we would do things these things we have done them and we enter fiscal 27 in a stronger strategic position that at 5:46 5 minutes, 46 seconds any point in than at any point in our history. 5:51 5 minutes, 51 seconds Let me look at the Q4 performance and the fullear performance and we'll also share some insights on 5:59 5 minutes, 59 seconds the integration stories and our cost efficiency program. Consolidated sales volumes as you have already seen has 6:06 6 minutes, 6 seconds crossed a rocking 44 million tons uh this quarter. [clears throat] Most important aspect about it to note 6:15 6 minutes, 15 seconds is that Ultrate Tech as a brand year on year has grown 19%. Nobody can take away that thunder from us. 6:26 6 minutes, 26 seconds Realizations improved during the quarter. Gray cement pricing send in about 2 and a.5% in most geographies supported by an improving trade mix and premiumization. 6:39 6 minutes, 39 seconds A blended ferment share premium portfolio contribution both moved higher which is a conscious and deliberate 6:47 6 minutes, 47 seconds strategy going forward. Aida [clears throat] per ton excluding acquired assets is at 1296 per ton for the quarter. 6:57 6 minutes, 57 seconds For the context this metric was 1225 in Q425. 7:05 7 minutes, 5 seconds The trajectory has continued on an aggregate basis we have reported 1253 7:14 7 minutes, 14 seconds uh rupees per ton in Q426. 7:19 7 minutes, 19 seconds This if I were to split between India and uh overseas thanks to our UAE operations doing very well they have 7:27 7 minutes, 27 seconds contributed substantially but India has been no less. Remember the India capacity is almost 196 million tons 7:35 7 minutes, 35 seconds during this year. If I were to remove the aberrations of West Asia crisis, we have achieved 7:42 7 minutes, 42 seconds uh a bit per ton of very close to 1240 rupees per ton. What am I knocking out from here? The last month increase in 7:51 7 minutes, 51 seconds cost of bags and impact of exchange loss. the highly volatile and the 8:00 8 minutes frantic devaluation of rupee that happened in the last month. 8:07 8 minutes, 7 seconds So I believe we have done very well on aida patan as well. 8:12 8 minutes, 12 seconds A renewable energy platform has been growing from strength to strength. Today we are almost at 43% of 8:21 8 minutes, 21 seconds our power needs being met from green sources. We have committed to reach about 85% of our power requirements from 8:29 8 minutes, 29 seconds green energy by the end of uh fiscal 2030 and we are very confident of reaching that position. 8:38 8 minutes, 38 seconds On the fuel side, we are actively managing our mix optimizing between petcoal alternative fuels and increasing 8:46 8 minutes, 46 seconds the share of uh domestic coal wherever required wherever possible. 8:51 8 minutes, 51 seconds On the logistics strand, our reduced our lead distance has reduced to 367 kilometers. 8:58 8 minutes, 58 seconds Our ex ever expanding bulk terminal network including the new Ducknow facility and other facilities are 9:05 9 minutes, 5 seconds helping us reach the customer faster, thus helping us reduce our lead distance and our overall costs. 9:16 9 minutes, 16 seconds Let me spend a few minutes on the two acquired businesses because the progress is I believe fantastic grand migration 100% 9:26 9 minutes, 26 seconds brand migration has been completed at the end of March uh 26 9:33 9 minutes, 33 seconds in second quarter fiscal 26 we were at 31% of ICL volumes and 55% of ksoram 9:41 9 minutes, 41 seconds volumes were uh carrying alt brand December 25 they had moved to 58 and 59% 9:49 9 minutes, 49 seconds we have completed at the exit of March 26 100% brand conversion 9:58 9 minutes, 58 seconds the AIDA trajectory India cements AIDA of 497 rupees per ton in Q426 10:07 10 minutes, 7 seconds up from 333 rupees in Q2 and 305 in Q3 sequential improvement every quarter 10:15 10 minutes, 15 seconds since acquisition this quarter the company declared did a pack of 60 crores 10:23 10 minutes, 23 seconds for the quarter which has been after a very long time and this 497 rupees aid and please 10:32 10 minutes, 32 seconds understand how we read it. We as you know under the related party transactions we had put in place a tolling arrangement. 10:42 10 minutes, 42 seconds ICL or India cement manufactures and sells the Altrate Techch brand but does not carry any direct marketing and 10:49 10 minutes, 49 seconds distribution costs. Those sit with us at the consolidated level. 10:54 10 minutes, 54 seconds At Altratech we charge a markup per bag on ICL volumes which offset 11:00 11 minutes that element on a net basis. So India's underlying operational progress towards 11:08 11 minutes, 8 seconds ultrare tech system is much higher than 497 per ton 11:17 11 minutes, 17 seconds and the price improvements selling price improvements have happened in the southern markets will give it a further 11:23 11 minutes, 23 seconds boost. The investment phase is now underway. We had committed 1592 crores for India cements for efficiency 11:32 11 minutes, 32 seconds improvement plus another 400 crores for capix uh on capacity expansion. 11:39 11 minutes, 39 seconds This definitely is going to take us over 1,000 rupees per ton as committed by the end of fiscal 28. 11:48 11 minutes, 48 seconds We are spending 400 to 500 crores for quesam uh cement assets. They are already operating at,000 rupees a bit per ton 11:57 11 minutes, 57 seconds more or less in line with the uh with the other cement operations in south. 12:06 12 minutes, 6 seconds These two assets today represent about 13% of our consolidate consolidated capacity. They are moving from 12:13 12 minutes, 13 seconds integration drag to earnings contributor. 12:17 12 minutes, 17 seconds As their cost improvement capex matures, they will be a meaningful and growing source of group level AIDA accretion. 12:28 12 minutes, 28 seconds Let me now look at how we see fiscal 27 and beyond. 12:33 12 minutes, 33 seconds We expect a sustainable volume growth of 7 to 8% peranom. 12:39 12 minutes, 39 seconds The structure drivers are firmly in place. India's urbanization story, the government's infrastructure commitment. 12:47 12 minutes, 47 seconds You would have read about Mumbai city itself spending about $60 billion in improvement uh of infrastructure. 12:57 12 minutes, 57 seconds The PMA housing targets, rising rural demand, none of these have been diluted by the West Asia crisis. 13:05 13 minutes, 5 seconds These are very strong structural forces and Ultra Techch is better positioned 13:11 13 minutes, 11 seconds than anybody else to capture that demand in the long term. 13:19 13 minutes, 19 seconds The near-term environment has its complexities. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. What will be the new uh 13:28 13 minutes, 28 seconds comment that gets made which could uh move the markets. We will wait and watch. On the integration side, we are 13:37 13 minutes, 37 seconds through the hard work. Both in India cement and kisoram are fully migrated to the alche brand. Cost improvements are 13:43 13 minutes, 43 seconds underway and fiscal 27 P&L will start reflecting the benefits of this investment. 13:54 13 minutes, 54 seconds I should definitely mention about the dividend. The board has uh discussed, debated and proposed. 14:03 14 minutes, 3 seconds Our balance sheet remains robust with a net debit net debt aida of 94x at a 14:10 14 minutes, 10 seconds consolidated level and 92x at ultr India level. 14:17 14 minutes, 17 seconds This gives us financial flexibility to continue investing in growth without compromising on returns to shareholders. 14:26 14 minutes, 26 seconds We have already started charting out our growth story beyond 240 million tons and will come back to you next year. 14:36 14 minutes, 36 seconds The board has recommended a dividend of 240 rupees a share for fiscal 26. This dividend has been stress tested against 14:44 14 minutes, 44 seconds retained earnings remaining adequate for all planned investments and commitments. 14:51 14 minutes, 51 seconds credit metrics and debt covenant are unaffected by the proposed distribution. 14:55 14 minutes, 55 seconds We'll maintain our leverage below 1x year after year after meeting our growth capex 15:03 15 minutes, 3 seconds and our growth capex requirement is not sync uh not shrinking we see a plan of investing around 8 to 10,000 crores every year for the foreseeable future. 15:14 15 minutes, 14 seconds Future cap capex pipeline remains fully funded and the growth story is intact. 15:21 15 minutes, 21 seconds It's a cumulative outcome of disciplined capital allocation, operational excellence and consistent strategic execution over many years. 15:32 15 minutes, 32 seconds We know it, you know it, our operating cash flows are growing and our board has already taken a stance of improving the returns to shareholders. 15:41 15 minutes, 41 seconds You would have seen our dividends grow from 10% of profits in 2020 to 37% of 15:48 15 minutes, 48 seconds profits last year. And today we are where we are. Dividend is 15:55 15 minutes, 55 seconds not simply a financial transaction. It is a communication of our confidence and commitment to our shareholders and investors. It says we are confident in 16:04 16 minutes, 4 seconds our earnings quality in our forward outlook and in our ability to generate and sustain value. We are not keeping 16:13 16 minutes, 13 seconds cash on balance sheet out of uncertainty. We are sharing it because we can and because we have planned carefully enough to do so without any constraint. 16:24 16 minutes, 24 seconds I want to close with something very simple. Ultrate Tech has made commitments to investors on capacity on 16:31 16 minutes, 31 seconds integration on brand transition on cost efficiency on sustainability and on returns to shareholders. Year 16:40 16 minutes, 40 seconds after year we have delivered on these commitments. F526 being the top-notch performer. 16:50 16 minutes, 50 seconds We said we would reach 200 million tons ahead of schedule. We did. We said we would compete brand transition for ICL and Kuram. We did and a quarter early. 17:00 17 minutes That consistency of delivery ladies and gentlemen is what defines Alitech 17:07 17 minutes, 7 seconds and it is what will continue to define us in the decade ahead. 17:13 17 minutes, 13 seconds Thank [clears throat] you. And we are now ready for your questions. 17:18 17 minutes, 18 seconds Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a 17:25 17 minutes, 25 seconds question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, 17:32 17 minutes, 32 seconds you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and 17:39 17 minutes, 39 seconds gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. 17:45 17 minutes, 45 seconds We take the first question from the line of Rahul Gupta from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Hi uh thank you for taking my questions. 17:54 17 minutes, 54 seconds Um first of all congratulations on hitting 200 million t capacity domestic capacity and um um and and a very good 18:02 18 minutes, 2 seconds set of numbers. So I have three questions. Uh first um um uh just continuing on the capital allocation uh 18:09 18 minutes, 9 seconds point that you made uh Atul sir uh thanks for the uh uh clarity on that. 18:15 18 minutes, 15 seconds Just to be um clear on this is it fair to say that given balance sheet strength um um and you um funding your capeex 18:24 18 minutes, 24 seconds through internal approvals um we may see payout ratios staying higher for uh foreseeable future. 18:34 18 minutes, 34 seconds I think so but it will depend on the board and company's performance. If we uh perform you know if the cement 18:42 18 minutes, 42 seconds markets do well um I think it should be possible. 18:49 18 minutes, 49 seconds Got it. Got it. That that's very helpful. And most important most important point RA I would want to make is uh and I think already said it but I 18:59 18 minutes, 59 seconds want to repeat next few years uh we are in 26 till 2030 31 I I will see 8 10,000 19:07 19 minutes, 7 seconds crores of capex happening from our balance sheet every year and as the operating cash flows 19:14 19 minutes, 14 seconds grow because of our existing size uh existing capacities delivering more and or the operating 19:22 19 minutes, 22 seconds cash the size of operating cash flows keeps increasing making it very easy for the company to uh reward its shareholders. 19:31 19 minutes, 31 seconds That's exactly the point. Yeah, very very helpful. 19:34 19 minutes, 34 seconds Um uh my second question is um on realization um um you you to some extent have uh clarified u how realizations 19:43 19 minutes, 43 seconds have been better this quarter. your share of trade has improved, direct sales have improved and u brand transition of acquired assets have also ramped up fully uh during the quarter. 19:53 19 minutes, 53 seconds So am I missing something over here or is it the brand transition um completion has helped um in in in in giving you the 20:01 20 minutes, 1 second edge in terms of utilization during the quarter significantly because uh if I were to look at let's say India cement's 20:10 20 minutes, 10 seconds volumes for the quarter of 3.12 million tons uh nonult volume was 39 million tons uh 20:20 20 minutes, 20 seconds only uh So we have had the and uh everybody knows that you know uh alter enjoys a 20:28 20 minutes, 28 seconds premium positioning with brand transition that has definitely helped. Jama you want to add? 20:35 20 minutes, 35 seconds Yeah um very good afternoon and um I would add further what said actually the fundamentally I think it is 20:43 20 minutes, 43 seconds working on all engines actually there are number of moving parts in the cement actually. So one yes of course the brand 20:52 20 minutes, 52 seconds transition at has clarified which is rightly so but there are so many other 20:59 20 minutes, 59 seconds um at least four five six critical moving part actually which also helps to improve the efficiency and uh at the end 21:08 21 minutes, 8 seconds of the day resultant into improve cost structure or the higher profitability. 21:17 21 minutes, 17 seconds Got it. And my final question is um um u first of all thank you so much for sharing data on slide six. Um now my 21:25 21 minutes, 25 seconds question is that um in one of the slides you have mentioned that other opex got some impact of uh the west Asia crisis. 21:32 21 minutes, 32 seconds Uh can you help us quantify what that would be and how should we see uh June quarter uh assuming 21:40 21 minutes, 40 seconds uh this current situation continues. So firstly on slide six I've just given an indication which what could be a 21:49 21 minutes, 49 seconds potential impact and uh you know this cannot be annualized for the quarter. So [clears throat] please don't panic too 21:58 21 minutes, 58 seconds much. And yes, in the last quarter the immediate impact was because you know everybody has inventories of fuel. So 22:06 22 minutes, 6 seconds nobody would have really felt the uh heat of rising prices of fuels. But bags 22:12 22 minutes, 12 seconds became a u crisis in the last month of in the month of March and uh everybody 22:20 22 minutes, 20 seconds got impacted. The cost went through the roof and our incremental cost on bags was approximately 90 crores uh which is 22:29 22 minutes, 29 seconds reflected in other costs uh for the quarter on account of bags prices go bags cost going up. 22:41 22 minutes, 41 seconds Hello. 22:42 22 minutes, 42 seconds Thank you. And any any um uh any color how should we look at power and fuel cost for uh for the June quarter? Uh I 22:50 22 minutes, 50 seconds don't think there will be too much of an issue in the June quarter and I will urge you Rahul to fly down to the White House and do something about it. 23:02 23 minutes, 2 seconds Well noted. 23:03 23 minutes, 3 seconds So uh well no I don't think so it'll be too much of a pain. you know prices are going up because a reality um selling 23:12 23 minutes, 12 seconds prices have also been increased to take the to cushion the impact of rising 23:19 23 minutes, 19 seconds input costs. Another important u uh you know one-off which we are not even you 23:26 23 minutes, 26 seconds know uh talking about but the fact is the way rupee devaluated I have $950 23:34 23 minutes, 34 seconds $950 million of uh foreign currency uh borrowings sorry $950 million of foreign 23:41 23 minutes, 41 seconds currency borrowings fully hedged u but when you have to do a marktomarket 23:49 23 minutes, 49 seconds you have to take the impact of uh that currency into accounts. It hits your 23:55 23 minutes, 55 seconds AIDA 94.85 was the dollar rupee rupee to 24:01 24 minutes, 1 second dollar 31st March it corrected it strengthened by almost 1.8 sort of it it 24:09 24 minutes, 9 seconds corrected on the 2nd of April 1.8 but we have to account for the dollar dollar uh borrowings at 94.85 85. So no still uh 24:17 24 minutes, 17 seconds it's a debit to the non-cash debit to the P&L but so be it. 24:24 24 minutes, 24 seconds Got it. Well understood. Thank you so much and wish you all the best sir. Thanks Ra. 24:31 24 minutes, 31 seconds Thank you ladies and gentlemen. In the interest of time and fairness to others we request you to restrict to two questions per participant and rejoin the question queue. 24:42 24 minutes, 42 seconds We take the next question from the line of Pulkit Putney from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. 24:48 24 minutes, 48 seconds Uh sir, thank you for taking my questions and commendable uh results. Very good quarter. So my first question is you 24:55 24 minutes, 55 seconds spoke about brand conversion having completed it in March. Could you highlight between March end and now how 25:03 25 minutes, 3 seconds much has been the impact of this on on uh India and and Quesora? 25:10 25 minutes, 10 seconds So um you know quesuram if I look at January March quarter it was already operating at thousand plus eida per ton 25:19 25 minutes, 19 seconds and uh everything else remaining the same India cements will improve further 25:25 25 minutes, 25 seconds because again I called out out of 3.12 million tons only 39 million tons was 25:34 25 minutes, 34 seconds nonltech brand 2.73 million tons already rebranded So everything else remaining 25:41 25 minutes, 41 seconds the same the impact will be felt on this uh you know less than half a million tons of uh volume in Q4. Having said 25:50 25 minutes, 50 seconds that price improvements and the real efficiency and integration benefits will 25:56 25 minutes, 56 seconds start flowing. Now to you know better explain pulkit now it'll be one product 26:03 26 minutes, 3 seconds which is leaving from all the nine uh 11 factories of nine factories of uh India cement as 26:11 26 minutes, 11 seconds compared to earlier days there were multiple brands going out not just two but there were more than two brands going out so the real efficiency which 26:19 26 minutes, 19 seconds will be visible in logistics now seamless operation will be be visible now my performance will go up further in 26:28 26 minutes, 28 seconds terms of earnings potential from India sections. 26:33 26 minutes, 33 seconds Uh this is very clear. So secondly, I'm just following up from the question from the previous participant on the slide six where you speak about the impact of 26:41 26 minutes, 41 seconds of West Asia conflict and while clearly you know longer term you've been able to manage costs really well etc. I'm just 26:50 26 minutes, 50 seconds uh wanting to understand these costs are quite meaningful uh because you mentioned in in in one of your remarks saying that you know these are 26:58 26 minutes, 58 seconds manageable. I just want to understand like based on just rough math this looks to be fairly high in terms of its impact. So any mitigating measures that 27:07 27 minutes, 7 seconds you can highlight which gives you confidence that you'll be able to manage through this? Yeah, there are several uh uh measures and for the sake of 27:16 27 minutes, 16 seconds confidentiality, I might not be able to reveal trade secrets but you know uh 27:23 27 minutes, 23 seconds diversifying my sources of uh procurement, identifying new opportunities 27:30 27 minutes, 30 seconds um to deal with the situation um doing long-term contracts for fuel which are going to be beneficial to us. 27:41 27 minutes, 41 seconds Uh now last two years our long-term contracts were going against our um uh 27:50 27 minutes, 50 seconds you know against our decisions were unfavorable. These will become favorable for us and nobody has them. So 27:58 27 minutes, 58 seconds Alitech will be one step ahead. Uh again bags may we have uh nearly 150 odd 28:06 28 minutes, 6 seconds suppliers across the country and when there is a volume uh advantage for a supplier obviously they their 28:14 28 minutes, 14 seconds inclination to service a high volume customer is much higher. This will impact nobody 28:22 28 minutes, 22 seconds knows. Uh you know uh we are waiting. It it might surface its head its horns uh next month. Uh we'll have to wait and watch. 28:34 28 minutes, 34 seconds Fair point sir. Fair point. Uh maybe can I slip in one more question if you allow? Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. 28:41 28 minutes, 41 seconds Okay. Uh sir this is uh you've mentioned the capex you've incurred on your cable and wire business and I know the numbers are small but just to get an 28:48 28 minutes, 48 seconds understanding 800 cr out of 1,800 cr has been spent does it mean we are on track for a for a end of the year launch it 28:56 28 minutes, 56 seconds could get yes and since you cover this sector in so much detail you know what 29:03 29 minutes, 3 seconds the implication is I don't have to spend so much money yes 29:10 29 minutes, 10 seconds Sure. So we speaks Yeah, it speaks for itself and we my guess is we should be on track on time. [snorts] Uh we had committed Q3. 29:23 29 minutes, 23 seconds We might be in the first month of Q3 we might launch instead of waiting for December. 29:29 29 minutes, 29 seconds Superb. [clears throat] Thank you and and great results as always. Thank you. Thank you. 29:35 29 minutes, 35 seconds Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Pratik Kumar from Jeff. Please go ahead. 29:43 29 minutes, 43 seconds Yeah, good evening sir and congrats for you guys. My first question is uh can you discuss sequential improvement in the performance stepping out 29:50 29 minutes, 50 seconds international operations which was also done well during the quarter? 29:55 29 minutes, 55 seconds Sequential as in quarter to quarter what do you mean? Yeah. Quarter to quarter uh like how much is the I mean it seems 30:03 30 minutes, 3 seconds like international operations have also contributed to sequential improvement of overall. 30:08 30 minutes, 8 seconds Yeah. So you know you know what but they are only 5 million tons of capacity. One thing is that uh before the war broke 30:17 30 minutes, 17 seconds out they were operating at 100% capacity utilization. There was a drop in capacity utilization which went down to 30:24 30 minutes, 24 seconds about 80%. Now with uh peace permanent peace program being there uh capacity 30:31 30 minutes, 31 seconds utilizations have started going up prices have started going up so um 30:40 30 minutes, 40 seconds they are doing well for themselves but the bigger thing pratik is that is only 5 million tons I have had 1250 rupee of 30:49 30 minutes, 49 seconds aida per ton in India on a much higher volume of course I'm knocking of the 30:56 30 minutes, 56 seconds impact of exchange rate and um uh cost of bags which we had to uh face UAE 31:04 31 minutes, 4 seconds operations are all bulk volume so there's no bag uh cost over there without um 31:12 31 minutes, 12 seconds okay accounting for all the expenses in India we are still at 1200 rupees per 31:19 31 minutes, 19 seconds ton out of the 1253 average per ton UAE I believe they are doing well now. 31:28 31 minutes, 28 seconds Uh volumes are picking up, prices have not fallen and knowing the UAE economies, I think they will be the 31:35 31 minutes, 35 seconds first one uh to turn the leaf, come up with some new programs for uh reviving the economy. 31:47 31 minutes, 47 seconds Sure. And you obviously the UAE operations benefit from the construction demand uh wherever that is required and uh uh sequentially 31:56 31 minutes, 56 seconds UAE had uh a bit of 267 crores in Q3 and 278 crores in uh Q4. 32:04 32 minutes, 4 seconds So it's it's a stable uh journey. 32:08 32 minutes, 8 seconds Oh, so it's stable Q1Q uh at the UA operation. Yeah. Okay. 32:14 32 minutes, 14 seconds Uh other question is on uh I mean uh can you split your pending efficiency improvement program which you have uh given 185 32:23 32 minutes, 23 seconds I forgot I forgot to talk about it. I should have thumped my hand on the table and told you I promised and we have 32:30 32 minutes, 30 seconds delivered. So we are at um almost 185 rupees per ton on nominal basis we have 32:39 32 minutes, 39 seconds uh completed and all these uh programs which are there which will take us beyond 300 whilst we had committed 300 32:48 32 minutes, 48 seconds because I'm keeping a let's say an emergency emergency or a buffer in my pocket but I think we will deliver 32:56 32 minutes, 56 seconds higher than uh 300 bucks. This is what you're looking at. So uh yeah we are 33:03 33 minutes, 3 seconds looking at a number higher than uh 300 bucks but uh fiscal 27 also we should 33:09 33 minutes, 9 seconds cross uh significantly high without giving a number up front. I have a paper in front of me but yes uh we will 33:18 33 minutes, 18 seconds deliver higher than 300 bucks by fiscal 28. 33:22 33 minutes, 22 seconds I' I I've highlighted all the parameters and how they are getting quantified and measured. I don't know what else to add further. 33:34 33 minutes, 34 seconds Uh, sure. Thank you. These are my questions. All right. Thanks, Sadik. 33:39 33 minutes, 39 seconds Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Amit Kumar Moraka from Access Capital. Please go ahead. 33:47 33 minutes, 47 seconds Uh, yeah. Hi, thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on a great result. 33:52 33 minutes, 52 seconds Uh, just on on on the uh couple of data points just wanted to understand better. 33:58 33 minutes, 58 seconds So in the presentation you've mentioned that your other brand sales volume was uh 7 I think four or million times in FI26. 34:08 34 minutes, 8 seconds So is it fair to assume this number will be close to zero in 20 years given that full transition has happened? 34:14 34 minutes, 14 seconds Yeah. Yeah. Oh no 7.34 in 26 and 0.52 in Q4. 34:22 34 minutes, 22 seconds Okay. 52 may say.39 was uh India cement and balance was uh 34:31 34 minutes, 31 seconds quesam old brand so this is all gone now next quarter you won't see yet yes almost zero great great and also on the trade 34:40 34 minutes, 40 seconds non-trade mix uh like seems to be now 6535 it I think is I think a bit higher than 7030 earlier 34:49 34 minutes, 49 seconds so uh so again like on this mix particularly would it be because uh because in the presentation I also see 34:56 34 minutes, 56 seconds that the industrial uh or infrastructure was a bit muted in the quarter but still this number is a bit elevated. So uh 35:04 35 minutes, 4 seconds wanted to understand like is this is this uh going to be now a a sustainable mix or would you like to kind of take it again? 35:11 35 minutes, 11 seconds I have uh I have seen it uh fluctuating between 65 67 68. 35:20 35 minutes, 20 seconds Yeah, this is this has been the narrative or this has been the uh broad mix and what you saw in uh infra two red 35:30 35 minutes, 30 seconds marks that we have given is again a temporary last quarter because things got over in one let's say Gujarat when 35:38 35 minutes, 38 seconds um the uh highspeed rail project has passed through it the work is coming to an end 35:46 35 minutes, 46 seconds that's why you saw a red mark uh but otherwise I'm I'm sure the government the way uh everybody knows 35:54 35 minutes, 54 seconds that in fact is uh the uh the foundation 36:01 36 minutes, 1 second for growth it will keep on uh happening west I think I'll have to uh you know create a darker green color for 36:10 36 minutes, 10 seconds infrastructure going forward because the way Mumbai and I'm quoting the newspapers uh yesterday or day before 36:18 36 minutes, 18 seconds one one day earlier when the newspapers give a summary of how Mumbai is uh shaping up 2035 will be totally new 36:27 36 minutes, 27 seconds phase of Mumbai $60 billion being spent here so things are happening in the countries 36:35 36 minutes, 35 seconds understood understood and just one last question if I may uh also on the clinch conversion uh of ratio uh this now 1.48x 36:43 36 minutes, 43 seconds 48x um how how much more can it go to let's say in the next one to two years can it go to like 36:50 36 minutes, 50 seconds we have targeted to reach about 1.54x that is that road map is already there and uh let's see what how things shape 36:59 36 minutes, 59 seconds up uh beyond that got it thanks that's all from me and best of luck 37:07 37 minutes, 7 seconds thank you thank you we take the next question from the line of enzal from CLSA. Please go ahead. 37:17 37 minutes, 17 seconds Hi Mr. Daga, thank you for the opportunity and great set of number as as always. Uh two questions in the last few weeks of March or early weeks of 37:26 37 minutes, 26 seconds April, have you seen any concerns on availability because of the conflict be it bags or pet coke where you have found it difficult to source even at? 37:33 37 minutes, 33 seconds No no no no problems. 37:39 37 minutes, 39 seconds All right. Our dispatchers have not suffered at any location in the country. Bag availability has not been a crisis. 37:48 37 minutes, 48 seconds It has become expensive. Uh but it is not a crisis. 37:54 37 minutes, 54 seconds Sure. Second uh baring cement all other building materials have become lot more expensive as you mentioned steel if you 38:01 38 minutes, 1 second look at PVC or other commodities as well. Is it causing a demand concern for the overall IHB segment? 38:10 38 minutes, 10 seconds Too early to uh say that we have taken increases for cement industry has taken 38:17 38 minutes, 17 seconds uh price increases for cement in the month of April and by and large we don't 38:23 38 minutes, 23 seconds see slowdown in demand. So everything can be explained, people will have an explanation too much of heat um because 38:32 38 minutes, 32 seconds of which there's a slowdown but election yeah Bengal and uh Tamil Nad elections resulted in a slowdown just before the 38:41 38 minutes, 41 seconds the last 15 days you see a slowdown but generally I think the undercurrent uh remains strong. 38:51 38 minutes, 51 seconds Sure. And lastly, if I may, uh, for your best estimate, what would have been the industry growth for March quarters? 39:03 39 minutes, 3 seconds 6 to 7%. Is what my learned team over here tells me. 39:10 39 minutes, 10 seconds Thank you. That's all from me. Thank you. 39:15 39 minutes, 15 seconds Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Jashantep Singh Achada from Nomura. Please go ahead. 39:24 39 minutes, 24 seconds Hello, good evening sir and thank you for the opportunity and congratulation on a very good set of numbers. So my first question is regarding media 39:31 39 minutes, 31 seconds payment as you have highlighted that 100% brand integration is done. uh and and you know you also highlighted this 39:38 39 minutes, 38 seconds that only a small portion of volumes was under India payment brand I just wanted to understand that the delta of 39:45 39 minutes, 45 seconds incremental per ton for reaching 1,000 rupees per ton how much of that will come from the cost efficiency measure 39:52 39 minutes, 52 seconds that you're undertaking and you know uh realization improvement so if you can give a sense of you know because I believe most of your area bodies are 40:02 40 minutes, 2 seconds already selling under architect brand so how much more potential is there for uh realization improvement and how much cost efficiency measures will be there 40:10 40 minutes, 10 seconds that's my first yeah uh Jendi by so first and foremost cost improvement programs and again I'll 40:18 40 minutes, 18 seconds go back to my earlier uh quarter commentaries [clears throat] January March 28 you will see uh all the 40:27 40 minutes, 27 seconds efforts on capeex converting into efficiency improvement we are still seeing 200 40:35 40 minutes, 35 seconds per ton of efficiency improvement which will come into the kitty of India cements. Now it all depends. Second 40:42 40 minutes, 42 seconds point I and I'll come to uh your one more aspect that you raised. How do we look at the earnings 40:50 40 minutes, 50 seconds from the volume of India cements? Mind you there is 200 rupees of AIDA per ton on India cements volume which is sitting 40:59 40 minutes, 59 seconds in alipc books. the four um 497 497 41:06 41 minutes, 6 seconds uh for the quarter and because of the during the quarter gradually the transition was done it's not exactly 200 41:16 41 minutes, 16 seconds but about 176 670 total is 670 okay so we have reached a 41:23 41 minutes, 23 seconds number of 670 per ton on India cement now if price increases along with efficiencies uh new capacity addition operating 41:32 41 minutes, 32 seconds leverage everything will take us beyond 1,000 rupees mark 41:40 41 minutes, 40 seconds understood sir understood and u and that's my second question it's a two-part question so first is how you are looking at you know rural demand how 41:48 41 minutes, 48 seconds is that it has been in the you know March quarter and in April also how you are looking at rural demand and second is I know in this I understand that 41:56 41 minutes, 56 seconds altate at the scale at which it operates you know you will have multiple uh measures to mitigate this cost increase 42:04 42 minutes, 4 seconds but let's say uh without those measures what sort of realization improvements will be required to maintain the margins 42:12 42 minutes, 12 seconds you these are my questions so you have asked three or four questions and I'll restrict you to two 42:19 42 minutes, 19 seconds questions for the last question I will eliminate because that's a very difficult question uh I'm difficult to quantify as far as rural demand is 42:27 42 minutes, 27 seconds concerned We have operated at 90% capacity utilization across our network. 42:37 42 minutes, 37 seconds Some some plants would have operated at 95% and 100% also and averages all across the country we are operating at more than 80%. 42:48 42 minutes, 48 seconds If you marry this point to the fact that our trade mix has not diluted, we are 66 42:56 42 minutes, 56 seconds 67 hovering around those numbers only which means my rural demand has continued to 43:04 43 minutes, 4 seconds stay steady. I hope that answers your question and you know too early to talk about the important aspect the you know 43:14 43 minutes, 14 seconds cash flows in rural markets improve with good crops which helps uh the rural demand and too early to say now for the 43:22 43 minutes, 22 seconds quarter how things will pan out in the remaining uh three months we will uh remaining two months we will see as for 43:30 43 minutes, 30 seconds your other point you mentioned Um 43:36 43 minutes, 36 seconds it's a moving uh moving target you know costs let's say um bags from 9 rupees to 43:45 43 minutes, 45 seconds 15 rupees a bag that's a 6 rupee delta which has already happened so that much price increase is required similarly 43:53 43 minutes, 53 seconds fuel fuel is a very uh difficult one at least this quarter I don't expect my fuel cost to go haywire uh we were at 44:02 44 minutes, 2 seconds 1.81 81 or 1.7 sorry 1.77 uh per kal max it might go to 1.8 44:12 44 minutes, 12 seconds so that's the only uh and I'm just throwing this number off uh off off the cuff I don't remember exactly where we 44:20 44 minutes, 20 seconds will land at the biggest impact which was there in our eida profile was exchange 44:28 44 minutes, 28 seconds dollar u 94.85 85 and today it is 94 sorry 94.2 44:36 44 minutes, 36 seconds 94.2 two it had come to below 93 also the quarter end reporting what what is required remains to be seen. So um uh 44:46 44 minutes, 46 seconds price increases that have already happened will to my in my view uh sustain the profitability 44:57 44 minutes, 57 seconds sir I know you don't like answering you know price question so I was trying to hide it but thank you so much I I'll join back with you 45:03 45 minutes, 3 seconds yeah I also slightly smart ch thank you thank you ladies and gentlemen a 45:12 45 minutes, 12 seconds reminder please restrict to two questions per participant and rejoin the question queue. We take the next question from the line of Sha from Invest. Please go ahead. 45:23 45 minutes, 23 seconds Yeah. Hi sir. Congrats for a good set of numbers. I have four questions. Uh if you allow uh so first 45:30 45 minutes, 30 seconds uh okay uh sir 2 A and 2 B. Uh one is India cement. Uh we're doing the right 45:36 45 minutes, 36 seconds things. Uh when do we uh see the day when we actually merge it? I understand there are a few legal cases which are there uh but any uh timelines over here. 45:48 45 minutes, 48 seconds Second uh not so related RBC uh this is something which the group has pursued uh any assurance from you that uh balance 45:57 45 minutes, 57 seconds sheet uh won't be touched or it's something which is ring fenced uh I'll just wait over here if you allow then I'll go for that. So the second question 46:06 46 minutes, 6 seconds I think uh our chairman himself had said ultra tech balance sheet is inference long ago when um 46:14 46 minutes, 14 seconds aspirations were made about ultr tech supporting idea vod idea I think those were the days I'm going back uh not a 46:23 46 minutes, 23 seconds penny has moved from mult balance sheet for any other uh purposes so we remain 46:30 46 minutes, 30 seconds committed and again as I said unless you missed the point I have 10,000 cr of 46:37 46 minutes, 37 seconds capeex happening every year at least for four or five years going forward that's about 50,000 crores of incremental capex 46:47 46 minutes, 47 seconds okay so my operating cash flows is meant for meeting my capeex requirements and 46:53 46 minutes, 53 seconds for my shareholders sounds good India cement yes sir India 47:00 47 minutes cement yeah so there are those complic licated u uh legal issues which which 47:09 47 minutes, 9 seconds which we have inherited we as I mentioned we don't want to uh take any 47:16 47 minutes, 16 seconds risks with ultrate the main company and our main board once we are able to and we are trying our level best to get uh 47:24 47 minutes, 24 seconds those cases closed because they are donkeys years old cases and there's been no movement nothing once we um are 47:34 47 minutes, 34 seconds convinced that these uh there is no risk to us we could look at the next phase of integration. 47:42 47 minutes, 42 seconds Uh sure sir I'll just try my luck. Uh sir third question RNC we have done very well. Uh what's the end goal over here? 47:49 47 minutes, 49 seconds Uh I think the number of plants revenue growth revenue growth is more than model growth. Uh what is correct that we are doing over here? Uh and eventually in 47:57 47 minutes, 57 seconds plans to monetize this particular business that's on RMC. Second uh sir ESD uh clinker factor you indicated our 48:04 48 minutes, 4 seconds target is 1.54x uh I just wanted to get a sense by what year is this and uh how do you see the 48:12 48 minutes, 12 seconds industries's ratio uh equivalent to 1.54x uh going forward uh I understand we are 48:20 48 minutes, 20 seconds OPC heavy and we have historically maintained that uh whatever we do we will have clinker backing at 70%. Is it something which will change going 48:28 48 minutes, 28 seconds forward or we continue to play on the same uh hypothesis? 48:32 48 minutes, 32 seconds Uh we will always be fully clinkerbacked. Uh second point 1.54 is our target to reach by fiscal 28. 48:40 48 minutes, 40 seconds I don't want to comment about the industry but all I can say is Altech is 48:48 48 minutes, 48 seconds a far stronger company in all aspects as compared to uh 48:54 48 minutes, 54 seconds rest of the industry quarter by quarter and there's enough not I don't have to 49:01 49 minutes, 1 second say enough data but actual data uh which is available if you just sum up the performance of cement industry the rest 49:09 49 minutes, 9 seconds of industry put together and ultra techch on one side we have delivered growth higher than the industry the data 49:18 49 minutes, 18 seconds a ton higher than rest of the industry so these uh this doesn't come by you know u magic the all the efforts whether 49:27 49 minutes, 27 seconds it is clinker conversion which means um composite cement which gives me more uh 49:35 49 minutes, 35 seconds profitability RMC or all other aspects of our business which we are doing or which help us uh 49:44 49 minutes, 44 seconds to be far ahead. As for RMC, RMC is an integral part of our business. uh I 49:53 49 minutes, 53 seconds don't see a need or don't see that uh thought 49:58 49 minutes, 58 seconds process as of now to monetize it 50:05 50 minutes, 5 seconds and eventual targeting we sorry what eventual targets on a target in terms of number of plants uh 50:14 50 minutes, 14 seconds say we are 3 3% of the volumes like uh is there a target to go to 6% in three something of that um not really 50:23 50 minutes, 23 seconds not really in terms of percentage but yes it will continue to grow because RMC is the um uh the future growth engine so 50:33 50 minutes, 33 seconds the obviously the the more and more urbanization is happening I think the RNC is going to be 50:40 50 minutes, 40 seconds I think we are invested for the future to to be honest uh to meet the requirements and if you look at our UAE 50:48 50 minutes, 48 seconds business it is zero trade sale It's all sales to RMC uh people so or globally US 50:56 50 minutes, 56 seconds market or anywhere else you see they are globally uh back. 51:02 51 minutes, 2 seconds So um RMC is an integral part of our offering and of our business model. 51:12 51 minutes, 12 seconds Sure. Uh so I have one more question. This is 10 A. Okay. Next one please. Thank you. 51:21 51 minutes, 21 seconds Thanks. 51:23 51 minutes, 23 seconds Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ben from HSBC. Please go ahead. 51:30 51 minutes, 30 seconds Uh thank you very much sir. So congratulations on a great numbers. Uh so one question we keep on getting from investors uh over the last few months is 51:38 51 minutes, 38 seconds that uh the other industries uh industries like steel and uh agree uh and PVC has taken aggressive price hikes 51:47 51 minutes, 47 seconds uh in the face of cost pressures but the cement industry uh has struggled to raise prices uh starting November the 51:55 51 minutes, 55 seconds price hikes have been relatively muted uh even as demand has been strong. uh what would you attribute the cement's 52:02 52 minutes, 2 seconds relative underperformance whether versus other building material industries in terms of taking price out 52:08 52 minutes, 8 seconds fragmentation of the industry is as sweet and small answer pinak that I can 52:15 52 minutes, 15 seconds give you u yeah I think that would uh sum up everything 52:22 52 minutes, 22 seconds um so just taking that point forward to the second question uh assuming so that the Middle East conflict uh stays where 52:29 52 minutes, 29 seconds it is we have petco at 160 these oil at $100 a barrel for the remainder year. Uh does this mean that the industry would 52:38 52 minutes, 38 seconds struggle to pass on fully the cost pushes eventually this year? 52:42 52 minutes, 42 seconds No, we are already passing on the if every industry is uh passing on the cost so are we. March you know somebody had 52:51 52 minutes, 51 seconds asked me why prices are not going up in the month of March. March is never a period to increase prices because it's 52:58 52 minutes, 58 seconds it's a volume uh period. Price increases always happen and every industry has its 53:04 53 minutes, 4 seconds own fabric um and own pattern of behavior. July September monsoons impact 53:12 53 minutes, 12 seconds cement industry only. So uh price increases generally are seen in the first quarter of the financial year not 53:21 53 minutes, 21 seconds in the last quarter of the financial year. 53:23 53 minutes, 23 seconds And besides obviously demand supply is always there demand is robust uh prices 53:33 53 minutes, 33 seconds um go up and you are there I am also here 53:41 53 minutes, 41 seconds we will talk and we'll demonstrate I think ultr tech will be 53:49 53 minutes, 49 seconds steps ahead uh in terms of uh performance Got it. Got it. Thank you very much sir. 53:56 53 minutes, 56 seconds Thanks for Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Rashi from Cityroup. Please go ahead. 54:05 54 minutes, 5 seconds Thank you. So just on your point that the power the fuel cost will go from 1.77 to 1.8 in the quarter. This is due to your long-term contracts, right? 54:16 54 minutes, 16 seconds multiple things, long-term contracts, inventory, sourcing, sourcing, changing the fuel mix, multiple things. 54:26 54 minutes, 26 seconds How long your contracts and inventory last? As in I'm just trying to understand that should the situation persist where in pet prices sustain at 54:34 54 minutes, 34 seconds like the 160 or 160 plus, when do you start feeling the impact? 54:40 54 minutes, 40 seconds July, September would be some ripples that you will see uh again which we will be able to manage better than the 54:49 54 minutes, 49 seconds industry because of our uh supply contracts and domestic sources of coal. 54:58 54 minutes, 58 seconds So on these please end the war early Rashi why are you wanting it so long? I'm just trying to gauge that on your supply contracts 55:07 55 minutes, 7 seconds like how do these work like do you have them going on I mean it's a continuous rotation and therefore this can persist 55:14 55 minutes, 14 seconds yes it can persist it will persist okay and on the packaging side between the fourth quarter to now what is going 55:22 55 minutes, 22 seconds to be the delta fourth quarter to now roughly 9 rupees a bag yeah fourth quarter to now there was 55:31 55 minutes, 31 seconds some increase and there was some decrease also. So I would say it it should remain in 55:38 55 minutes, 38 seconds not 9 sorry 6 rupees a bag sorry 9 to 15. So it's about 6 rupees a bag. 55:45 55 minutes, 45 seconds So essentially the price hik that the industry has taken should be in your opinion adequate for you to offset. 55:52 55 minutes, 52 seconds Yes sir. Yes. 55:56 55 minutes, 56 seconds Okay. And just on the industry demand, you mentioned that the industry demand likely were at 6 to 7% in this quarter. 56:04 56 minutes, 4 seconds Yeah. 56:04 56 minutes, 4 seconds Uh full year number is again similar 6.5 6.5 is what my colleagues tell me for the full year. 56:14 56 minutes, 14 seconds And your volume expect ultra tax volume expectations. So that's by 27 growth right? 56:20 56 minutes, 20 seconds What 27 fiscal 27 your next financial year? Oh, we would target double digit. Go. 56:29 56 minutes, 29 seconds Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. 56:34 56 minutes, 34 seconds Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ashish Chan from Aquari. Please go ahead. 56:41 56 minutes, 41 seconds Hi sir, good evening. Uh sir my first question is uh the price hike is sufficient to offset cost in that you 56:48 56 minutes, 48 seconds are factoring uh coal cost also or just packing cost given coal you said will not impact in June all I'm factoring in everything. 56:59 56 minutes, 59 seconds Okay. Okay. Okay. So secondly, you know, uh uh except for if you take dollar to 100 rupees that I have not fac I'm not 57:07 57 minutes, 7 seconds factoring in which is a no at the end of the quarter and diesel as well which we will know 57:15 57 minutes, 15 seconds when we will yeah that has not been faced in. 57:19 57 minutes, 19 seconds Yeah. Secondly earlier on the call I think you said that there is a mark to market hit on your forex loan. Can you quantify that? And is it above AIDA? 57:32 57 minutes, 32 seconds What do you mean above AIDA? It's part of my uh cost. Yeah, it's within AIDA. 57:37 57 minutes, 37 seconds It's not an extraordinary item, not a finance cost, correct? Sorry. Yeah, it is hit to AIDA. Yeah, hit to AIDA. Can you quantify that? 57:46 57 minutes, 46 seconds About uh 140 rupees. Uh 30 rupees a ton. 120 130. 57:55 57 minutes, 55 seconds Okay. 57:56 57 minutes, 56 seconds Secondly, you also said that uh packing cost impact was felt only in March month and if I heard you right, you said it is 58:05 58 minutes, 5 seconds 90 cr just for the month. Did I hear you right? Yes, you did. 58:11 58 minutes, 11 seconds So shall we assume that that's the run rate which will continue given there's no relief on packing? 58:18 58 minutes, 18 seconds No no no because um as Jam also mentioned prices have stabilized. We have built volumes uh over inventories 58:27 58 minutes, 27 seconds and doing alternate sources. Mind you, nobody uh I think would have as many 58:35 58 minutes, 35 seconds sources like Ultrate Tech uh does. We have almost 150 suppliers across the country 58:41 58 minutes, 41 seconds uh uh supporting us with bags. Um we are doing some other uh things also to 58:49 58 minutes, 49 seconds ensure we are able to source uh bags and maintain uh costs. So um 90 crores was a 58:59 58 minutes, 59 seconds hit which was a you know the cost of the bag had gone up further also beyond 15 rupees then it stabilized to 15 or even 59:08 59 minutes, 8 seconds I today would be 13 or 14 marginally reduced. 59:11 59 minutes, 11 seconds Yeah it's marginally reduced. So now 90 crores uh uh can cannot be analyzed. Okay. 59:19 59 minutes, 19 seconds Most importantly Ashish we have taken care of that with price increases. 59:26 59 minutes, 26 seconds Right. Right. Okay. So lastly you know just on uh pricing if you can like uh 59:32 59 minutes, 32 seconds shall we uh you know shall shall we think that given the kind of cost inflation and all price hike uh is here 59:40 59 minutes, 40 seconds to stay or you are seeing some push back in terms of the channel or demand impact are you seeing that kind of concerns on 59:48 59 minutes, 48 seconds I believe it's here to stay because you know this is impacting every cement 59:55 59 minutes, 55 seconds player in the country in every nook and corner right it's not a oneoff it's not uh one region 1:00:02 1 hour, 2 seconds everybody's getting impacted so everybody wants to protect their uh balance sheet and P&L 1:00:10 1 hour, 10 seconds right sir my second question just on India cement the thousand even some of the a bit of India cement is getting 1:00:17 1 hour, 17 seconds booked in ultra tech standalone you know 1,000 rupees per ton guidance includes that or that is the what India cement 1:00:25 1 hour, 25 seconds can eventually report you think inspire of the tolling agreement. 1:00:28 1 hour, 28 seconds I am so I'm sorry I missed your question. What did you say? 1:00:32 1 hour, 32 seconds Even some of the AITA per ton of India cement is getting booked in ultra tech standalone because of the tolling arrangement and you know the phase being 1:00:41 1 hour, 41 seconds done [clears throat] by ultra the thousand rupee guidance which you speak for India cement include that one which is getting booked 1:00:50 1 hour, 50 seconds in ultra tech or it is pure India cement a bit per ton which will come purely through cost savings and all. Yeah. So 1:00:57 1 hour, 57 seconds all inclusive. So you say 800 in India cement books and 200 of that coming in 1:01:04 1 hour, 1 minute, 4 seconds ultra techch books. But again Ashish uh don't get disheartened because when we have committed 300 1:01:11 1 hour, 1 minute, 11 seconds rupees of cost improvements and already delivered 1:01:19 1 hour, 1 minute, 19 seconds as precise and to the second decimal when I and I'm also saying that we will 1:01:26 1 hour, 1 minute, 26 seconds do more than 300 bucks. So that gives you some indication of no no for with India. Yeah. Yeah. So lastly just 1:01:35 1 hour, 1 minute, 35 seconds you know on long-term you know while you you kind of clarified that 10,000 crores will be the capex for ultra tech um you 1:01:42 1 hour, 1 minute, 42 seconds know the cash generation will be much higher than that is my assumption at least so how should we think about 1:01:50 1 hour, 1 minute, 50 seconds you just saw what the board did now and I I clarified I think you were not there on the call when I spoke about dividends 1:01:58 1 hour, 1 minute, 58 seconds I was a very uh thought through strategy by the board enough we have presented 1:02:07 1 hour, 2 minutes, 7 seconds enough uh you know position to the board before they came to the conclusion that yes it's now time to reward the shareholders 1:02:16 1 hour, 2 minutes, 16 seconds okay got it sir that that's very thank you so much sir and that's thank you thank you we take the next question from 1:02:24 1 hour, 2 minutes, 24 seconds the line of satya jan from ambit capital please go ahead yeah thank you Mr. 1:02:31 1 hour, 2 minutes, 31 seconds Just a followup question on the dividend. Uh I think to see that um special dividend you have um a lot of 1:02:38 1 hour, 2 minutes, 38 seconds confidence uh in the cash flow that significantly higher than what the kx you're looking at. So can we expect um because this is 1:02:47 1 hour, 2 minutes, 47 seconds a special dividend. Can we expect like a target on um um dividend payout or I missed part of it in the initial just 1:02:56 1 hour, 2 minutes, 56 seconds trying to understand or maybe increase the dividend rate uh and this is also in the context of u sometime back when we 1:03:04 1 hour, 3 minutes, 4 seconds for the wire and cable investment and you mentioned that any other investment by in the building material industry for the next five years ultra techch is not 1:03:13 1 hour, 3 minutes, 13 seconds looking at this seeking a confirmation that you're looking at 10,000 crex and any incremental divid dividend cash flow. 1:03:20 1 hour, 3 minutes, 20 seconds So 10,ou 10,000 sorry we finished first. Yeah. 1:03:26 1 hour, 3 minutes, 26 seconds 10,000 cray incremental cash flow will go to as a return of capital to shareholders. Uh is that understanding correct? And should we not look at 1:03:34 1 hour, 3 minutes, 34 seconds higher dividend rate or maybe a target of return of capital uh as profit? Yeah. 1:03:40 1 hour, 3 minutes, 40 seconds So I have my capeex plan and as I also mentioned during our commentary that we 1:03:47 1 hour, 3 minutes, 47 seconds are already writing our blueprint beyond 240 million tons. 240 is already staged. 1:03:53 1 hour, 3 minutes, 53 seconds We have close to plus minus 15,000 crores to be spent plus minus I'm saying not an accurate exact number to be spent 1:04:01 1 hour, 4 minutes, 1 second that there will be capex on cement beyond 240 million tons uh further and that is what I'm talking about 10,000 1:04:10 1 hour, 4 minutes, 10 seconds crores of capeex which will happen on cement year on year and yet our OCF will 1:04:17 1 hour, 4 minutes, 17 seconds uh be large enough to reward the shareholders that I understood but um should be this 1:04:26 1 hour, 4 minutes, 26 seconds was a special dividend you're trying to understand given these cases you're looking at the OC why not consider a higher dividend rate or maybe commit to 1:04:35 1 hour, 4 minutes, 35 seconds a return uh this is as high it can get 1:04:45 1 hour, 4 minutes, 45 seconds so I don't know what's your uh question so you know I okay whether next year also it will be the similar dividend I 1:04:54 1 hour, 4 minutes, 54 seconds am not an not the person to call that out it depends on the OCF for the year 1:05:02 1 hour, 5 minutes, 2 seconds it depends on the board's decision once they look at the annual uh uh performance and my guess is the 1:05:11 1 hour, 5 minutes, 11 seconds direction is already visible and certainly again I also called out 2020 we were at 10% of profits In three or 1:05:20 1 hour, 5 minutes, 20 seconds four years, we jumped to 37% of profits and that's a leaprog jump. Right now, it's 3x last year's uh dividend, which is which is fantabulous. 1:05:31 1 hour, 5 minutes, 31 seconds So, next [clears throat] year also it could uh remain the same. It could go up or it could come down. If performance is 1:05:38 1 hour, 5 minutes, 38 seconds not good, then it could come down. We'll we will manage our balance sheet. We will not uh overlever the balance sheet. 1:05:49 1 hour, 5 minutes, 49 seconds Um that's just um just clarification on that. Um so wire and cable was an investment decision. So apart from that 1:05:57 1 hour, 5 minutes, 57 seconds um no other adjacency for next years, right? Yeah, as of now uh I don't have anything. 1:06:06 1 hour, 6 minutes, 6 seconds Just one last question on um the new plant that you're setting up u the ongoing and the new ones looking at. Are you adding any thermal plants because you have ambitious green? 1:06:16 1 hour, 6 minutes, 16 seconds No, no thermal cap no thermal capacity. 1:06:20 1 hour, 6 minutes, 20 seconds So we are adding higher level of WHRS tying up renewable and several locations grid is also 1:06:30 1 hour, 6 minutes, 30 seconds available now. So we are not adding any thermal capacity. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. 1:06:39 1 hour, 6 minutes, 39 seconds Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We take that as the last question and conclude the question and answer session. I now have the conference over to Mr. Atul Daga for his closing comments. 1:06:51 1 hour, 6 minutes, 51 seconds Thank you so much uh everybody for uh joining us and patiently listening to 1:06:57 1 hour, 6 minutes, 57 seconds us. Um for us it has been a very satisfying, rewarding 1:07:04 1 hour, 7 minutes, 4 seconds and um uh you know landmark quarter landmark year generating 3,000 crores of PAT for 1:07:12 1 hour, 7 minutes, 12 seconds the quarter 8,000 crores plus uh of uh overall PAT for the year integration 1:07:21 1 hour, 7 minutes, 21 seconds done volume growth rising and uh a stable 200 million in terms of 1:07:28 1 hour, 7 minutes, 28 seconds capacity and a stable and a growing cash profile that we see for our uh our 1:07:36 1 hour, 7 minutes, 36 seconds company. And icing on the cake was uh music to our ears when the board considered uh this dividend of uh 240 1:07:46 1 hour, 7 minutes, 46 seconds uh rupee or 2,400%. So uh I think everything has gone very well for us uh this year and God willing we will 1:07:56 1 hour, 7 minutes, 56 seconds continue to deliver uh stellar performance year after year. Thank you so much. 1:08:03 1 hour, 8 minutes, 3 seconds Thank you on behalf of Ultra Tech Cummit Limited. That concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us.