Thank you, Swapnali. Thank you all, everyone, for joining on for Astral's Q3 call.

We have with us Mr. Sandeep Engineer, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr.

Kairav Engineer, Executive Director; and Mr. Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO.

I'll hand over for opening remarks, post which we will have a Q&A session. Over to you, Sandeepbhai, Kairav, Hiranand, and congratulations for a good set of numbers for the quarter.

Over to you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Ritesh.

Firstly, I welcome all for this earning call of Q3 FY '26. As you all are aware, the polymer industry has been passing through a volatile time and challenging time.

Prices have been highly volatile, fluctuating, and a high range of uncertainties were prevailing. In spite of that, as usual, Astral is a company which always focuses on growth, at the same time, on profitability.

Which, once again, we have demonstrated in this quarter also by giving a 17% volume growth with 18.20% EBITDA margins. I'll now take you through the all our verticals.

First, taking through the pipe vertical, the overall industry level demand has been fluctuating, but Astral started getting benefit of decentralizations of plant and also taking market share in new geographies with the new plants and addition of a great number of product lines, product product portfolios. As you are aware that Astral has spent ₹1,400 crore in capex in last four years through through all the verticals, and now it is the time to utilize the same and generate the cash flow from all these expansions.

As communicated in the past, we have not only increased the capacity, but also increased our product basket in the last three to four years. Since its base is still low, but it is giving a very good performance.

Namely, these product lines which are being growing at a good rate are water tank, our valve valves vertical, our fire sprinkler vertical, our OPVC pipe vertical, our PTMT valves vertical, low noise product vertical, electrofusion fittings verticals, and some more verticals which are we have added in the last three to four years have also given us growth and a good margin. Our Hyderabad plant has started gearing up very well, and now Kanpur plant has also is also started and has started generating revenues and growth.

Both these plants have given us good growth in volumes and market share, and they will continue to give us good growth in volumes and market share. Kanpur plant, we commissioned first the water tank and then later on the pipes.

We have got good response from the market, we are also increasing its capacity on a fast basis. Our CPVC project is going very well.

Our construction work has commenced and substantial construction work has been done. Machinery orders, complete machinery orders have been placed, and we are expecting to have trial runs in by this Diwali around the Q3 of the next fiscal, and by Q4 of next fiscal, the plant will be operational.

We are going as scheduled in our new project of CPVC, and we will keep you updating as in on the progress. As you are all aware that Astral has never compromised in the quality front of all our products, and that is the reason today Astral is enjoying highest domestic and international market share and international certification of all our products have been obtained.

I'm happy to let all of you know that recently we have got a DVGW certification from Germany for all our electrofusion product range. This certification is very important to not only sell product in India with certain projects, but also a global trust has been established, which will help us to export this product line.

This certification is also equally important for the selling of our fittings and pipes to the gas market. This will open a door for the domestic project as well as international projects.

In Q3, we have launched STP Pro in collaboration with an American company. It is very energy-efficient sewage treatment plant that converts wastewater into reusable or non-potable water.

Its design has been so robust that it is made from plastic tanks, and it is a corrosion-free design, very low maintenance, and the running cost is also very low, and you can remotely monitor this plant. STP Pro caters to the residential and commercial and industrial usage in the STP segment.

I am happy to let everyone know that our PEX, aluminum PEX machine is ready. Our team is there to take the final trials at the manufacturers' end, and this machine should be shipped to India in next couple of weeks, and we would be launching this product in Q4, by the middle or the end of Q4.

We will be making PEX, aluminum PEX in India and launching it to the Indian market. In our bathware business, as communicated earlier, our product acceptance in new projects is increasing fast, and our order book is also improving very fast day-by-day, which clearly indicates that the coming time, the business will also scale up to a good level, and the acceptance of Astral Bathware has been established and is growing at a fast pace by good customers, which also clearly shows that the confidence of our products is greatly growing in the market.

I am happy to inform that Q3, we were able to grow big in our top line by 36.5% in our bathware segment. We are also launching a couple of new product lines in bathware segment in coming quarter and coming one or two quarters.

Adhesive business: this quarter also, we have an robust growth in this business by 14% with a very healthy EBITDA margin of 17.3%. We have expanded our business also in exports, in Middle East and various other countries, and we have now a team and an office which runs from Dubai to establish this market and grow this market.

Adhesive business, I would like to only also brief you that going on expansion of some of the chemistries at Dahej is also on and will be completed by this fiscal end. We will have certain product lines which we make in segregated plants at Kanpur and Ahmedabad will now be centralized at Dahej with a good capacity and fully automized plant with a cost-effectiveness in the production.

In adhesive UK business, as we have always communicated that we passed through a challenging times in UK business, and we took multiple actions to make these corrections with a new CEO in place from India as well as lot of corrections at the plant level for stocks, the inventories, the raw material correction, the purchase corrections. Many of these corrections were taken place in last 1.5 quarters.

We have got a healthy growth in our top line by 16%. The margins have been under pressure.

The margins have shown from almost minus EBITDA to it has come to a flattish EBITDA, but this quarter, I will come back with a very good EBITDA number and a growth number, and we will all communicate on this as the quarter ends. We are sure the business has been online, has been on growth, and will not only give growth, but come back to a healthy EBITDA margin.

In US also, we have made certain structural changes, the manpower changes, and we are seeing now very, very positive growth in the US market, and the same growth should continue, and the margin improvement will continue at a worth more faster pace in the US market. Coming to the paint business: all we all know that there are challenges in paint business, but in paint business, I would happy to inform that as we have been communicating and as we have been working hard in new markets, new geographies, we have opened the west geography of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and parts of Maharashtra, and we are making our South geography where we are present in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu more stronger, and this has given us a 21.6% growth in the paint business in the last quarter.

We are sure that this quarter will be equally good on our growth front, and we would be as we have guided, we should be around the number of 20% or a little above 20% in our growth in our paint business. We have certain challenges on the new businesses there, we have to take on certain challenges, and we also need to have a good amount of manpower, which will rationalize in coming two or three quarters in all fronts with growth and the reduction of this cost as the growth comes by.

Lastly, I wanted to inform you that as a responsible organization, we believe in environment, sustainability, and governance. I am very happy to inform you that recently our organization has got upgradation of our DJSI ESG score from 48 to 60 against our industrial average 33.

With this, I am closing my remarks, and I hand over to Hiranand for the financial performance of Q3 and outlook for the rest of the year, and I'll be happy to answer whatever the queries you have in the question-answer session. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome for the earning call of Q3 FY '26. Result and press release are in front of you, I just wanted to highlight the category-wise number.

Pipe sector last year was ₹990 crore of sales, against that, this year is ₹1,072 crore of sale. Last year EBITDA was ₹183 crore, against that, this year is ₹195 crore.

Adhesive India operation last year, it was ₹280 crore of revenue, against that, this year is ₹319 crore of revenue. EBITDA was last year ₹46 crore in Q3, and against that, this year is ₹55 crore.

Adhesive UK has grown up from ₹77 crore last year to this year ₹90 crore, again, the EBITDA of ₹0.5 crore. This year it is ₹1 crore, almost it's a flattish EBITDA.

Paint business last year, it was ₹50 crore, now this year, it is ₹61 crore. Last year, the EBITDA was ₹2 crore, against that, this year is ₹4 crore.

Total revenue last year was ₹1,397 crore, against this year, it is ₹1,541 crore, and total EBITDA of last year Q3, ₹231 crore, against that, this year is ₹247 crore. As you all know, we always believing in two things: one, profitable and consistency of growth; and secondly, gaining market share.

I am very happy to share that this year also, we have repeated in both this parameter. I am very happy to share that in this quarter also, we have deliver a very healthy 17% volume growth with a very healthy EBITDA margins of 18.2% in our plumbing business in spite of lot of challenges in this industry.

We are continuously facing downward pressure on polymer since last three years, but now it looks that bottom is formed, and polymer has just started upward journey, which we are closely monitoring. The number which we have given to you is including the inventory loss of close to about ₹20 crore to ₹25 crore because of the reduction in the PVC and CPVC prices.

Adhesive business in India, it is continuously growing as per the guidance of 15% kind of run rate and a healthy EBITDA of 16%, 17%. Paint business, as communicated earlier, we are continuously on the path what we have guided of 20% plus growth, we have maintained this.

On full-year basis also, we are confident that we will be able to deliver that thing. We all know that our numbers and cash flows were under pressure because we had spent sizeable amount of close to about ₹1,400 crore to ₹1,500 crore on capex in our existing business in last three years.

Post that, the polymer prices started declining, which gave us pressure on growth and the cash flow. From here on, you will see a good improvement in free cash flow.

Also, all our new verticals have started positive sign, and we are confident that from next quarter onward, you will see across-the-board growth and the improvement into the margin. Due to change in the labor code, company has provided ₹16.5 crore in Q3, which we have shown in the exceptional item, and because of that, our PAT has reduced to that extent.

Now Q4 has started with a good note, and polymer price have started going upward, and demand on ground has also started picking up. We are very confident that the guidance which we have given to you, we are going to definitely achieve that thing.

We may be little better in Q4, that is what initial January and February beginning is showing. Let us wait for the quarter end, and then we will communicate the exact growth.

Now I am opening up the floor for the Q&A session. Over to you, moderator.

Thank you, sir, and congratulations on a good set of numbers, particularly on the volume growth pace in the industry. Sir, you, in your opening remarks, has highlighted that Q4 now, given the January, looks better, but still just trying to understand in terms of double-digit plumbing volume growth that we have given, 12.3% we have already done, can we look at kind of a 13%, 14% kind of a growth for the entire full year?

Definitely more than that.

Is it fair to say any number closer to a 15%?

See, it is too early to say, but I can say the beginning of the January until February today, we are better than the Q3.

Great. Then going forward also, even for next couple of years that previously also we said that double-digit growth, that stand remains intact?

Definitely, because we have already communicated that our CPVC plant is going to come next year, and then the growth trajectory will be completely changed. We will unlock our strategy for the growth once you can say the trial runs get over, we will communicate that strategy to you.

Definitely, we are confident that double-digit should not be a problem to us. Hello?

Hello? Hello?

Hello, I think you can go to the next question if it is lost.

Sir, thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on a great volume growth. Sir, my first question is certainly, the volume growth has been very good last quarter, this quarter as well, as well as your commentary on January and February.

Can you help us understand which sectors exactly are giving you good traction for this kind of a volume growth? What has changed versus the same period last year?

I think all sectors are doing equally well for us. It is not one particular sector.

I think CPVC is also doing good numbers for us, even PVC traction has been good, and lot of new product line additions that we have made in the last couple of years have now matured and are moving sizeably well in the market. All the verticals, I can say, in the division are firing, only then we are giving right now since last two quarter, we are giving industry-leading growth kind of a number.

I meant either B2C or B2B has infrastructure come up or residential?

No, government spending has been muted, government side obviously that spending has not come, B2G side is very less. B2B and B2C, both businesses are doing good because project sale has also been good and retail sale has also been good.

Great. Sir, my second question is regarding PVC price.

Now, I understand it's very difficult to really estimate even qualitatively or directionally where PVC would go from here, but just want to understand from the channel perspective, have they started restocking because PVC is going up, or are they still in a wait-and-watch situation?

No, restocking has been there.

Do we expect this PVC to stabilize considering that ADD did not--

I think more or less PVC, another maybe ₹1 or ₹2 up move maybe there, but largely then it will stabilize around these levels then.

Great, sir. Lastly, capex guidance if any?

I think we have given the capex guidance for full year around ₹350 crore, against that, we have utilized so far ₹290 crore in nine-month.

Understood. Sir, could you remind us of your full-year guidance once again on volumes, revenue, margins, etc.?

We have given double-digit guidance for volume, and we are already 12%, 13% in nine-month basis. EBITDA margin on polymer, we have given close to between 16% to 18% range, and adhesive and paint, we have given between 12% to 14% margin.

Got it, sir. Thank you very much, and all the best to the team.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Sir, given that also you can also confirm that from 1st 1st January, ₹7 PVC price hike, and sir has also mentioned that ₹1 or ₹2 more price hike can further come and then stabilize.

Let's assume that it comes or whether it doesn't come and this ₹7 stays as it is the hike, broadly, if someone has to look at for this quarter, how one can look at in terms of QoQ price increase or realization increase for us, and whether this ₹7 has been passed on to the customers?

I think out of ₹7, we have already passed on ₹5. This week end, we are going to pass on the balance ₹2 also.

Majority, you can say, we have passed on to the market.

Got it. Sir.

Based on that broadly, and in terms of the product mix, the 4Q relatively has a slightly better CPVC share versus a 3Q, that way one can look at. Trying to understand the kind of a realization growth for the fourth quarter.

Historically you see, the Q4 is always at the peak in terms of volume, in terms of margin, both. We will continue this trend in this year also.

Got it. There is a possibility that we can even touch the kind of the upper band of the margin, 18%, that way one can look at?

This quarter also we are close to that only, even Q4 will be better than that, because some element of inventory gain may happen in Q4.

Yeah. Sir, bathware now has that stage came where we now can look at in terms of the EBITDA margin also it start contributing?

Bathware is clubbed with the pipe business, and in the bathware factory, both products of plumbing as well as bathware is manufacture. Now it is very difficult for us to segregate the EBITDA level in the bathware category.

That is why we are clubbing with the plumbing only. Earlier, this brass ring and all was not manufacture in the same plant, but now because we were having the ideal capacity, we started manufacturing that brass ring in that plant.

Largely, we are not losing much money in the bathware business. It is at a breakeven point.

From next year onward, it will start contributing to the EBITDA level also.

Yeah. Lastly, on the UK, sir has mentioned that from Q4, we will start seeing a growth and the margin itself.

Directionally, for FY '27, if one has to look at UK adhesive business, how at a margin level one can look at? The paint, this quarter has done a decent kind of a 6.5% kind of a margin EBITDA level.

Can we start now seeing a 8%, 9% kind of a margin for FY '27 onwards,

sir? Adhesive UK, we are expecting a higher single-digit growth minimum, because now also growth is good.

Last quarter also, growth was there, 16% kind of growth was there. Similarly in the margin front also, we are expecting a single-digit, maybe mid single-digit or maybe higher single-digit margin minimum.

Because we have just recently done lot of correction, we don't want to jump in and give the higher guidance. Our expectation graph is high.

Definitely next year, the both front we are going to perform well in UK. Keep finger cross because after doing lot of correction, we have to give some time and then only we can expect the result.

Let us wait for one or two quarter, and if required, we will change our guidance also in the coming time. As far as You

go ahead, sir.

What was your other question?

Sir, lastly, I was saying that the CPVC backward integration, I think last time we said by Q2 FY '27, we will start, but now we say that the trial run will happen and from Q4 FY '27, the production will start. Just trying to understand

Q3 next fiscal, the trials will happen. Q4 next fiscal, the plant will be regularized.

This is only

for CPVC resin. Got it, sir.

From Q4 you will see the

Q4 you will see the commercial production.

Yeah. Main volume contribution actually will start from the FY '28 onwards?

FY '28 full contribution will be there.

Okay. Got it, sir.

Thank you, and all the best, sir.

Hello. Am I audible?

Yes.

Yes, yes, yeah. Sir, my first question pertains to the PVC.

Understanding the current scenario dynamics and we are also hearing out that there is a rebate forego from Chinese government, which ultimately inch up the prices. Do you feel that before that, that would be a severe imports being coming up at a lower prices, which would ultimately impact the current realization?

No, right now there are no major low-price imports coming in. Majority of the Chinese quotations are also around the $680 to $690 level, some are even at the $700 level.

Formosa has not given the prices this month, they might give the prices next month only. I think largely PVC should be around the $700 mark.

Majority of the low-cost material that was supposed to come in, most of that has come in in January and February, we don't see further low-cost materials coming in much.

Just want to understand the inch up is getting prices has been increasing is due to first the shutdowns in certain regions or it is more linked to the rupee rupee CNY or rupee dollar thing?

There is lot of things at play, but since we are not a PVC resin manufacturer, very hard for us to articulate exactly why the PVC prices are going up. Because this is something the raw material manufacturer per se would be better people to answer.

What is our limited understanding is that PVC manufacturers were bleeding. You can see very well this into the numbers also, because many of them are listed players.

From there also you can get a sense that how long any company will sell the product at a loss. It has to happen, but sometime it may not happen as you plan, it may sometime delay also.

Ultimately, it has to happen, because this kind of losses any manufacturer cannot sustain for a longer period. Now I think everybody has understood, and now they have increased the price.

Still, it is not that high price. If you compare the price today also, it is not that high.

Sir, just to add, are you positive on MIP thing which has been right now going on in the industry?

See, we are not sure about what is happening, because again, we have very limited visibility on all these items. Since these are raised by the raw material manufacturers and they are working directly with the Government of India, we have a very limited visibility on all these things.

It will be better that you reserve this question for the raw material manufacturer, because we are in no place to answer all this question.

Sure, sir. My last question pertains to the OPVC vertical.

In the recent budget, even we have seen in the last year, there was a very muted spending from the government end, and we have seen that has been spillover effect in the OPVC segment. Now want to understand, the first thing is in the budget, there was no key announcement on the JJM part.

Are we still positive for this OPVC vertical considering the muted demand scenario and second, the increasing competition? See,

we have, one is we have got the some private orders, the machine has been running. We have not spent on high technology cost from abroad, which all have done.

We have in-house worked with our technical teams to jointly work with a few companies to develop this machine, which has given us a very low capex level for putting this machine, two machines, and more one more under manufacturing. First is our capex level of this machine has been very, very controlled compared to others.

We have no license from anyone. We have no obligations of giving any charges of technical fees, which everyone have done with the foreign companies where all the machines have come.

At the same time, we have made the machines in such a flexible way that whenever they are available, the machines can be used to manufacture alternate products. For us, the this product line has been a good addition and and our product have passed through every test.

Our product has ISI, passes through every test, 17, 18 km lines laid by our machine, our product. For that, realizing the challenges of future and B2G products, B2G business, we have always gone very cautiously in investing and putting this machine without no fringe thing with no nothing attached to no strings attached to it with technology fees or any other royalty fees or any tie-ups that we cannot buy any other machine.

That way, our OPVC has been a strategic decision and very rightly taken decision with our own in-house technology. Just to add to your specific question of JJM, I think Government of India has allocated ₹67,000 crore for JJM this year budget.

It was not a front-line announcement, but if you see, the allocation is there. Last year also, they have equally allocated the amount, but unfortunately, the spending was only 17,000 as per the revised estimate of the budget.

Actual spending didn't took place last year, because of that, there was no demand at all for this product. Now this year, we are expecting that they have done this announcement, definitely government is going to spend that much of money.

In that case, everybody will get some portion of that business. Secondly, all the states where OPVC has been in use and is presently also used, Astral has got approval of all these states for the OPVC supply.

Got it, sir. That was a quite detailed answer.

I think I will join back in the queue, sir.

Hi. Thank you so much, sir, and congratulations on a good set of numbers.

Sorry for again harping on the volume side, sir, but I just want to understand the trajectory, because is it fair to assume that in November, because we didn't get the anti-dumping duty and then there was a subsequent price correction in PVC, the November was pretty soft. You guided for a 24% 20% kind of an volume growth in October.

Then if you're achieving 17%, then your December should be upward of 20%. My question is, is that kind of volume sustain in January as well, 20% plus kind of thing?

That's question number one.

January, it is more than that, what is you are expecting.

It's more than 20%? Okay.

That's good, sir. Second, sir, you made a statement, if I hear it clearly, that you said that in the quarter, did we see ₹20, ₹22 crore of inventory loss?

Yes.

Effectively, that will add on to this quarter, and again then if the PVC price remains stable, because we already seen a 10% improvement in month of January, ideally, we should see some inventory gain in this quarter?

Logically, yes, but we have to see how the volume is spending out in the rest of the portion from today to 31st March, how the demand scenario is there. Based on that, we have to effectively work out the pricing.

We are balancing the volume growth also, and we are balancing the bottom line also. Very hard for us to comment on the inventory gain side right now, because again, we want to continue our volume growth trajectory in Q4 also, obviously, we will take an aggressive stance in the market.

Understood. Even assuming, let's say, everything remains same, that ₹20 ₹20, ₹22 crore, which we had a impact in the 3Q, will reverse in 4Q, right, if with that kind of volume and

all? Logically, your understanding is perfect.

That is what in initial comment also I communicated.

Sir, I see multiple margin levers for you: one, PVC price is shooting up; you're coming from a base where you had inventory loss, so that's go away; then your Kanpur plant, as the occupancy ramps up, I believe that right now it may be at a low margin or even I don't know whether it's EBITDA breakeven or not, but then that also the profitability should come back. There is a good chance that you should beat your margin guidance handsomely.

Keep finger crossed. We don't want to unnecessarily speculate the things, but we will try our best.

All right, sir. Okay.

No, okay, sir. Great, sir, great.

Thank you, sir. That's it from my side.

Thank you. Thank you, Shaleen.

Thank you.

Hi, very good evening to everybody on the call. Sir, first question was on the CPVC resins, right?

I'm assuming that last time we had this discussion on the last earnings call, I think you had mentioned it would be 100% captive usage, and whatever you produce essentially gets used internally. Let's say fourth quarter of fiscal '27, this will be more or less intersegment sale and will be cancelled off, and whatever EBITDA we make on this will be part of the plumbing business segment, increase in the EBITDA margin.

Just understanding correct?

On a console basis, yes. Otherwise, it is a separate company, we are having 80% stake in that, to that extent, we have to separately show.

Right. On consol, it will be line-by-line, and then we'll just have the margin sitting in the plumbing side, right?

That's how it will be accounted.

Correct, correct, correct.

Okay. Any estimate or anything you would like to indicate based on your capacity, I think you spoke about 40,000 tonnes of first phase, how much incremental margin can the plumbing business actually enjoy because of captive resins?

I think it is too early to say unless and until we have not received the few months' performance. I think it will be too early.

I can say indirectly you can see what other big peoples are manufacturing in CPVC, that margin are already available in the public domain. You can consider that we are, on the contrary of the view, our margin should be even better than that because we don't have any marketing-related cost, we don't have any other credit-related cost, because ultimately it is a captive consumption.

Our margin should be better than what the other players are having.

Also, obviously, we are not here to enjoy huge margins on the CPVC business. Rather than that, our strategic aim is to make this backward integration and gain market share.

We will also have our eyes on gaining higher market share in this CPVC vertical in the coming years.

Right. Got that.

This entire facility will be making only CPVC resins, right? There is nothing else which is planned in the plant.

No. No.

No.

Okay. Perfect.

Just last question. Given you've expanded quite a bit in terms of capex, new plants, in terms of your distribution reach, partnerships with dealer distributors on the adhesive side as well as on the piping side and branding, anything you're doing specifically which you want to highlight which can differentiate Astral versus somebody else?

We are coming out with a lot of new-age products. I will openly extend the invitation to everyone present on this call to visit us at Plumbex in Bangalore this year in April.

We are coming out with the next generation of plumbing and drainage products for India, the products they will be the next levers of the industry for the next two to three decades. We have multiple new product lines and product categories being added to our arsenal in the month of April, and next year all these product lines will also add to the volume, margin, as well as the top-line growth.

We have a sizeable new product launches in the month of April in Plumbex in Bangalore, and everyone is welcome to come and experience it. Even you must have come across our recent branding campaign of Bondtite brand in which we have engaged as a brand ambassador, Ranbir Kapoor, and that is giving us a very good mileage in the market.

Even after charging that cost also, our margins are pretty decent into the adhesive business of India. With this campaign and all, our brand will be more visible in the market, and we are expecting a sizeable growth into that category also.

Right, perfect. Anything on the channel side, is any work happening on that side?

That is a regular exercise. Every quarter, every year, we are keep adding our dealers, we are keep adding our distributors.

Now particularly when we have added the new geography plant, definitely that side also we are continuously adding.

Now what has happened is that we are breaking away from the pack. Piping in India is largely everyone talks about CPVC and PVC.

We are quickly breaking away from the pack, and with our new products that we are launching, we are becoming more and more attractive to our channel partners and to the channel partners of the competitors also. Lot of people are keen to join Astral because the type of products that we are now working on and developing, the new-age products, our competitors are lacking in that.

It will obviously help us to gain more and more market share and more and more channel also.

Right. Got that.

Thank you so much for answering my questions, and congratulations for a good quarter, and all the best. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Apologies, but I think I missed the inventory loss number that you had mentioned at the start of the call.

Can you highlight for the third quarter and nine-month?

We said approximately ₹20 crore to ₹25 crore will be there.

For this quarter, right? Nine-month, what would have been?

Nine-month, I don't have handy. You call me maybe after this call, I may find out that number also.

Sure, sure. No problem.

No problem. Secondly, on the new capacities in Kanpur and Hyderabad, what would be the utilization currently?

How should we look at the ramp-up over here in terms of

Kanpur actually we had underestimated, and Kanpur is actually whatever small PVC capacity we had is already filled up. Actually Kanpur we are ramping up.

The response to the Kanpur plant has been very good, and our aggression also matches that. With regards to Hyderabad, I think should be around 50%, 55% level should be there.

In fact Kanpur we have added the capacity this quarter also.

Right. Understood.

Lastly, on the industry growth for the pipes, would you have a sense this quarter and versus prior quarter?

I think industry as a whole is growing in the single-digit level. I think if you do the average, I think it should be the single-digit type volume growth should be there in industry.

Okay.

I think lot of numbers are still pending, I think it will be too early for us to comment on the industry growth. One thing is clear in this number that the leaders are growing fast in this market, and the smaller-size companies are facing a challenge in this market.

Sure, sure. Understood.

Hi. Firstly, congratulation on a strong set of numbers.

My first question is if I see your India operations, so that revenue, as you highlighted, is ₹319 crore and EBITDA margin is 17.3%, so that implies EBITDA of ₹55 crore for India operations. Your total EBITDA for adhesive and paint combined is lower than ₹55 crore.

In press release, you have reported it is ₹51 crore while UK and paints are profitable. Why there is this mismatch?

What I'm missing in this?

I have to check that individual number. You can call me after this call.

It should be ₹55 crore is adhesive India, adhesive UK is ₹11 crore, and paint is -₹4 crore.

Paint is -₹4 crore.

It should be more or less matching.

Got it. Paint is -₹4 crore.

Got it. It's +₹4 crore.

Yeah. Understood, no.

You said adhesive and paint margin guidance is 12% to 14% for this year. The reason I am asking because so far nine-month is 10.8%.

We have given the guidance, but because of the UK negative and the paint negative, we are not at that level. That is what we have guided, and we are trying to catch up in the last quarter.

Maybe little short of that, I don't know exactly what will be there. Now there is a lot of improvement, we are expecting.

This quarter also we have charged money for this branding activity also, because of that also some pressure was there on the margin.

Got it. Very helpful.

Thanks, sir.

Congratulations on a great set of numbers, team. Just couple of questions from my end.

How do we gauge that how much is the secondary versus primary demand at this point of time in the system? We all understand that PVC prices are going up and channel is restocking like Kairavji said, but how do we gauge that how much could be a primary demand?

Salani, sir, you did mention that demand on ground has picked up. Are we seeing across board

even in

agri No, no,

I think restocking is very minuscule. Restocking is happening, but it is also getting emptied at the dealer level.

Secondary demand, we are tracking the secondary demand through our DMS. Secondary demand is looking bullish in Q4 versus Q3 also.

I don't think many of the dealer distributors are sitting on a hefty inventory right now. Sneha, you can compare that number in other way also that December was good for the industry.

We all did a very good number in December. Equally, everybody has done a good number in the January also.

Without the secondary sale or a ground demand, I don't think that distributor will stock so much of inventory. Genuinely, there is a improvement on the ground.

You can check from your channel check also, but whatever we have the information from our people, they all are saying that the ground level also demand is very good.

That was pretty helpful, sir. Sorry, one bookkeeping questions: can you give the split of revenue as well as EBITDA?

I missed both in terms of revenues as well as margins.

India ₹319 crore

Sure. and

UK ₹90 crore.

Same with margins?

Margin 55 and 11.

Thank you so much, sir.

One more thing I would like to add here is, which everyone must know and understand, is that we are giving growth, but at the same time, we are giving the best margins. That is very important.

People have sacrificed huge on margin, but not substantial growth has been given. That is very important, this whole industry looking to the volatility and the challenges must keep the margins intact, and that is what exactly all of the analysts should also benchmark and understand that keeping the margin intact, we are given growth.

That is very important. Okay?

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Sir, firstly, bookkeeping questions: can you allude to the what kind of CPVC growth we had this quarter and nine-month?

We are on the double-digit growth only, because see, as you can say, we are a major CPVC player, if we are growing at these levels, I think we are equally growing in CPVC. We have not lost any market share in CPVC.

In fact, due to our aggression, we have actually also gained some market share of the last couple of quarters, and we will continue this aggressive stance in CPVC, and we'll continue to try and take market share from other players before the plant comes in, we have a sizeable base.

Understood, sir. Secondly, on this new product launch of STP Pro, what kind of market opportunity do you elaborate, like what kind of demand size, and can you throw some light on the opportunity size of this segment?

I think we are still evaluating that thing. We don't have a industry exact number with us.

Unless any of the analyst is having this number, please share it with me. We don't have an exact idea, but we have a certain sense.

Maybe in next quarter, I will be ready with that number, and I will definitely share with all of you. Today, the government has made compulsion for locations where houses are built to have STP and not have the well to recharge the water back, because this is a waste water.

This compulsion will increase this market to a substantial amount. Where you go to all developed countries, the STP market is a huge market.

There are companies in Europe or many developed countries only making STPs and having a huge, substantial turnover. This will take a few quarters or some to understand and grow, but number-wise, we'll be able to give a estimation in one or two quarters.

Understood. Lastly, I want clarification regarding the UK business margin for the last year.

You mentioned around ₹0.5 crore was the EBITDA for last year versus ₹11 crore right now?

No, no, sorry. ₹11 million, not ₹11 crore, ₹11 million, ₹1.1 crore.

₹1.1 crore,

understood. Okay.

For paints, EBITDA loss this quarter was ₹4 crore versus loss of ₹2 crore last year? How it was, sir?

Last year, ₹2 crore profit was there.

Got it. Thank you so much.

Thank you, everyone, for joining this call, and looking forward to meeting you in person after Q4 and the fiscal end. We are all geared up to work hard for the last quarter.

Thank you very much, once again.

Thank you all the participants for joining this call, and thanks Ritesh for organizing this call. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.