Greenply Industries Ltd

Greenply Industries Ltd

289.40
INR
-1.65
(-0.57%)
7.92EPS
37.67P/E
37.23BMarket Cap
Oct 29Next Earn

Q1 FY2027 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 24, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Greenply Industries Q1 FY '27 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.

Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Karan Bhatelia from Asian Markets.

Over to you.

Karan Bhatelia

Good evening to each and everyone present out here. A big welcome to 1Q FY '27 investor call of Greenply Industries.

From the management, we have Mr. Sanidhya Mittal, JMD, and Mr.

Sanjiv, CFO. I now hand over the call to Sanidhya for his opening remarks, post which we can open the floor for Q&A.

Over to you, Sanidhya. Thank you.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you, Karan, and good evening everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to Greenply Industries' earning conference call to discuss our performance for the first quarter of financial year '27.

As highlighted during our previous earnings call, we were witnessing encouraging demand momentum across our businesses, and I am pleased to share that this trend continued through the first quarter. In Q1 FY '27, we delivered double-digit volume growth in both segments, in line with our guidance.

On the marketing front, we continue to strengthen our brand presence and reinforce our commitment to sustainability during the quarter. We launched our One Sheet, One Tree campaign, a long-term sustainability commitment under which we plant one tree for every plywood sheet supplied for infrastructure and interior projects across India.

This is not a time-bound campaign, but a continuing promise that reflects our vision of contributing to a greener India alongside our business growth. The ongoing geopolitical tensions and the recent conflict in the Middle East resulted in elevated imported chemical prices, extending the sharp cost pressures observed towards the end of Q4 FY '26.

This price increased across the industry. As this situation gradually improved and supply chains normalized during the second half of first quarter FY '27, input costs began to moderate.

Consequently, the effective price increase currently stands at approximately 7% to 9% in the MDF business and 3% to 5% in the plywood business. We are regularly monitoring the situation and will take corrective measures as required.

Now I would like to update you on Greenply Q1 FY '27 financial and operational performance. Consolidated revenue for Q1 FY '27 stood at ₹724.9 crores, registering a robust 20.7% YoY increase.

Our consolidated core EBITDA was ₹78.3 crores, with a core EBITDA margin of 10.8%, representing an expansion of 50 basis points year-on-year. Let me share the highlights of our individual business segments.

In our plywood business segment, we achieved a volume growth of 13.8% on a YoY basis in Q1 FY '27 with a revenue of ₹526.6 crores, value growth of about 16 16% on a YoY basis. The realization stood at ₹265 per square meter, a growth of 4.3% on a QoQ basis.

On the margin front, our core EBITDA margin stood at 8.4% for Q1 FY '27, a growth of 50 basis points YoY. Moving to MDF business, we've achieved a quarterly revenue of ₹195.7 crores with volumes reaching approximately 58,000 cubic meters.

This reflects a strong YoY growth of 32.8% in value and 24.7% in volume terms. The realization improved from 33,525 per CBM, a growth of 9.9% on a QoQ basis.

Margins for the quarter stood at 17.3%, supported by higher sales and operating leverage. Moving on to the furniture and fittings JV, we achieved a sales of ₹13.61 crores in Q1 FY '27.

The JV reported a PAT loss of ₹11.48 crores in Q1 FY '27, with our share of loss amounting to ₹5.74 crores. I am pleased to announce that the MDF segment, commercial production of new flooring manufacturing line commenced successfully on 20th July, 2026.

This is marking another significant milestone in our growth journey. Our expansion projects, including the new MDF facility at Vadodara and the new greenfield plywood manufacturing facility in Odisha, are progressing as planned and remain on track for commissioning within the committed timelines.

On the balance sheet front, we continue to maintain a prudent financial position while investing for future growth. As of the end of the quarter, our consolidated net debt stood at ₹533 crores with a debt-equity of 0.57x.

This remains well within our guidance for the range of 0.7 to 0.75, reflecting our strong, disciplined capital allocation and healthy financial position even as we continue to execute our planned capital expenditure program. Overall, we remain optimistic about the demand outlook and the momentum across our businesses.

With our expanding manufacturing footprint, strengthened brand portfolio, and unwavering focus on operational excellence, we are confident of sustaining our growth trajectory. We are confident to achieve the target of 10% volume growth in plywood and 25% to 30% volume growth in MDF segment for the full year, and remain committed to delivering consistent profitable growth while creating a long-term value for all stakeholders.

With this, I would like to open the floor for Q&A session. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.

Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait a moment while the question queue assembles.

The first question is from the line of Sneha from Nuvama. Please go ahead.

Sneha Talreja

Hi, good evening team, and thanks a lot for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions from my end.

Firstly, just wanted to understand on the plywood margins front, while your gross margins have improved on a quarter-on-quarter basis, what would be the reason for a drop in your EBITDA margins? That's first.

Sanidhya Mittal

I think the major reason for a drop is even though the volume growth we've been able to achieve, but I think the absolute number was very low, and the base in Q1 FY '26 was kind of low. Even though we achieved the volume, but the absolute number is far away from the number we did in Q4.

The moment we start reaching the Q4 numbers, which is anywhere close to 600 and 600-plus every quarter, I think 10%-plus is very easily achievable.

Sneha Talreja

Would we aim that from coming quarter or for you annual number are you comfortable giving 10% as a margin guidance? I think

Sanidhya Mittal

we still are very confident on the 10% margin guidance that we've given. The only challenge that we had in Q1 was that we lost out on sales.

If you look at our overall utilization level in the capacity of the plants also it was only at 92-93%, which last quarter was about 98-99%. So

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management seems to have been disconnected. Please hold while we reconnect.

We have the management back. Please proceed.

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, sorry, we were answering Sneha's question and the line got disconnected. The absolute number in this quarter was much lower than Q4, and I'm quite confident that once we do much higher numbers in coming quarters, I think we'll easily be able to achieve the 10% guidance.

Also, typically April, May, plywood being a very manual business, I think the labor force availability in April, May is lower. There was elections this time, so that's the reason our plant utilization was lower and even outsourced utilizations were lower.

That kind of did not help us achieve the ideal turnover. We could have done much better number.

Going forward, I think we will get this 10%.

Sneha Talreja

Mainly on your MDF business, while your volumes now have again dropped on a quarter-on-quarter basis, definitely there's an increase, your gross margins have fallen and your EBITDA margins have improved. Can I just get the connection here also in the MDF side?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think if you compare from the previous quarter last year, we were sitting at about 46,000. Against that, I think we've done 57,805 cubic meters, right?

Sanjiv Keshri

Yes.

Sanidhya Mittal

Our volume is kind of gone up by 24.7% YoY.

Sneha Talreja

Sir, I am again trying to compare quarter-on-quarter. Quarter-on-quarter definitely there's a dip in MDF, which is seasonality I understand.

If I look at your gross margins, they have gone up. Basically let me just put it other way.

In case of your EBITDA percentage margins of MDF, with whatever value-added share that you're doing, what could be the EBITDA margins movement that we can see even from these levels?

Sanidhya Mittal

It's very difficult to tell you, but I think Sanjiv ji will come back to you that what will be the range.

Sanjiv Keshri

Sir, see, as per the capacity right now we have, the EBITDA margin will be around the 16% to 17% on a sustainable basis. Once the other line will come up where we are doing around 70% extra capacity we are adding, there will we get the some operating leverage on that time, the EBITDA margin may increase by 1% further.

Sneha Talreja

Understood. That time it can actually reach up to even 18% is what you're trying to say.

Sanidhya Mittal

Because one manufacturing location, no? People are not going to double with the capacity doubling.

The cost won't double in that tune.

Sneha Talreja

Understood, sir. I'll get back in the queue.

Thanks team. All the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jeeval Shah from VVDI Asset Managers.

Please go ahead.

Jeeval Shah

Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Could you please provide us an update on the trend in wood prices, particularly for the timber procured from South India?

Sanidhya Mittal

Can you please repeat?

Jeeval Shah

Can you provide us an update on the trend in wood prices, particularly for the timber procured from South India?

Sanidhya Mittal

Greenply is honestly not very heavy in South, and we're hardly procuring anything from South India. It's very difficult for me to comment about the South Indian timber prices.

Very soon, once we have the Odisha facility up and ready, we're very physically close to Vizag. There'll be some amount of influence of the South Indian pricing on the pricing in Odisha also at that part of Odisha where we are going.

Today we have no connection to the South India timber prices because we are not treating that as our catchment to source timber.

Jeeval Shah

Fine, no. That's it.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Disha Chamriya from Trinetra Asset Managers.

Please go ahead.

Disha Chamriya

Am I audible?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, please.

Disha Chamriya

Thank you for the opportunity. My question was about this plywood volume growth.

How much was the genuine demand recovery versus how much was actually from the market share gain from the unorganized players?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think if you look at the overall plywood numbers, I think 13.8% was the volume growth, and value growth was about 16%. I think this is whatever green shoots we are seeing as a category post-COVID, I think definitely we are eating the share of the unorganized.

That's why we're seeing these green shoots. Our numbers could have been much better than this, as I mentioned earlier in Sneha's question, that hey, there was a lot of disruption because of elections in manpower across all plants, April, May the utilizations levels were lower than expected, and also the outsourcing didn't work very well for us in Q1.

Honestly these two things worked, the number could have been even better. To be very honest, I think we've lost sales in Q1.

We are very seriously building Odisha, and probably even after that we won't stop. We'll yet again build another plywood facility.

Disha Chamriya

Another was on the plant. You said the commissioning would be starting from 28th July.

Am I right?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, 20th July we did the first production for the

Sanjiv Keshri

HDF

Sanidhya Mittal

flooring. From this month end itself, I think it will be in the market.

There should be some revenues in the MDF numbers starting this month for the flooring segment.

Disha Chamriya

If I can get the utilization level that you see for the next quarters or maybe H2 FY '27, how do you see this plan going on?

Sanidhya Mittal

You're talking about the plywood business or the MDF business utilization levels? For

Disha Chamriya

both, sir.

Sanidhya Mittal

I think in plywood honestly we've even gone up to 98, 99 or 100. Obviously the target will be to max out our available capacity.

In MDF, I don't think it's practical to go above 80-82%. That'll be the kind of target that at this year we'll want to operate our plant at full capacity, assuming that next year will be the new capacity addition and we should be already ready to kind of sell the new capacity we're going to bring in.

Disha Chamriya

The demand is really strong. We missed a bit of the demand since in this year this quarter.

The the same we seem to utilize in the next one. Am I pan seeing it right, sir?

Sanidhya Mittal

Sorry, you're not very clear. Your voice is a little muffled.

Can you please repeat?

Disha Chamriya

I hope it's clear now.

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, please.

Disha Chamriya

My question was that this year we like, this quarter, we kind of missed the demand, and from the next quarter, with the coming up upcoming capacities, we will also cater to the demand that we missed, and the utilization will pan pan according however you said by this year. Right, right, right,

Sanidhya Mittal

right.

Disha Chamriya

Okay. Thank you, sir.

That's all. I'll come back to the queue.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Resha Mehta from GreenEdge Wealth.

Please go ahead.

Resha Mehta

Yes, thank you. Firstly just a clarification, I think you called out some numbers ply 3% to 5% and MDF some 7% to 9%.

What was that being referred to, the price hikes taken?

Sanidhya Mittal

The effective price hike taken. In MDF industry, the industry had taken about a 15% price hike, and in Q1, I think we've enjoyed about 7% to 9% rise, and the balance got passed on in the form of schemes.

That was the reference to MDF, and in plywood category about 3% to 5% was the price hike from different product categories and brands.

Resha Mehta

Understood. Then what was the reason for decline in gross margins in MDF, if I look at it QoQ?

There's a 300 bps decline.

Sanidhya Mittal

I think there was a rise in the timber cost. Typically, when there's monsoon and the timber you start getting wet and the cutting stops happening, there's always a slight price rise that happens during this period.

That's the

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the line with the management has disconnected. Please wait while we reconnect.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We have the management line back.

Please go ahead with your question.

Resha Mehta

The other bit was on the ROCEs for MDF. I think last year FY '26, we were at around 8% kind of a ROCE based on the capital employed numbers the margins that you gave.

Right, how do we go to 17-18% targeted ROCEs for the MDF segment?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think it is a multiple approach that we are trying to take at Greenply. We are trying to be very cautious of the capex that we're doing in for the line two.

Over there, we are working on improving the asset turn ratio. The capex that we've announced for the second plant is much lower capex per cubic meter compared to the capex we've done for line one.

That on a long-term basis will help us achieve better numbers. Also, the first two, three years, we were kind of setting up our business.

The numbers were very bad, and right when we started, I think there's a lot of competition. I think Greenply is a very strong player.

We've been around for four decades and ready for the next four. I think at a medium-term basis, I'm very confident that we'll do 17-18%.

Also, when Greenply was one entity, we've seen MDF business perform between 2008 and 2018 till Greenply demerged. On a long-term period, we've seen great ROCEs in this business.

There'll be times when people will be putting too much capacity, then everybody will get demotivated. The market's going to catch up to the capacity, everybody will make money.

Then again, bad times, good times. Every five-year, seven-year period if we see it, I'm very confident that we will be at that 17-18% level.

Honestly, that's not the best level, it's a basic acceptable level.

Resha Mehta

Right, what are the three, four milestones which we will hit will lead to the 17-18% ROCE

Sanidhya Mittal

that we

Resha Mehta

are targeting?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think we have to sell 100% of our capacity profitably, and then only we can get closer to that number. We have to be very careful in all the capex initiatives that we're doing in the future.

Today this business is very small for us. Eventually, when there's scale in this business, it should make sense.

Resha Mehta

Right. I think you did mention that you are being cautious in your capital outlays for future capex in MDF.

I think for this newer plant, we've gone ahead with Chinese machinery. If Chinese machinery were cheaper and probably it had lesser downtime, then why wouldn't we have gone ahead with Chinese machinery back in the day when we actually set up our greenfield MDF facility?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think honestly, being very honest, this is a learning curve for the organization, number one. Number two, also the first time around we didn't want to take a chance.

We were announcing Greenply's entry into this category. The day we were investing into the MDF line, our net worth and the investment was the same.

We wanted to be very, very careful, we wanted to go for a sure-shot thing. Honestly, technology is changing every day.

The last two, three years honestly, there's been a better development on the Chinese machine side, and even the new line is a combination of Chinese and European. Where the heart of the plant is, where we manufacture the fiber, that's still 100% European.

The press is converted from German to Chinese, because honestly we found better merits in this Chinese press.

Sanjiv Keshri

Specifically on the four-feet line.

Sanidhya Mittal

Specifically on the four-feet line, which we are investing in currently.

Resha Mehta

Right. On the ply side, right?

Just a legacy question here. If I look back at your last 3 years ply growth, average ply growth for us has been around 8%, and for Century, that's been at around 13% CAGR.

Right? What have been the reasons for this gap, and have we tried and fixed those?

Because I see that, of course, since the last two, three quarters, our ply volumes are up with our focus on ecotec. Historically, what were the reasons for lower revenue growth in ply versus, let's say, the leader here?

Sanidhya Mittal

Honestly, I think we were busy implementing and setting up an MDF business. We were getting into furniture JV, and we were expanding categories, and trying to make a big change from Calcutta to Mumbai.

When we were doing all of this, I think they were busy in planning their hyper growth in plywood. Our growth stage planning or the hyper growth planning, I think we missed that out by 2 years.

Honestly, we paid that price in the last 3 years. I'm quite confident that going forward we're not going to pay that price.

Resha Mehta

Right. Lastly, on the ply margins, again, if I compare our margins with Century, right, we have been at around 8.5% average EBITDA margins over the last 3 years and versus Century at 13.5%, 14%.

Now we are guiding for around 10% margins. Do we think that with scale with the kind of ₹600 crore quarterly revenue run rate that we are targeting, can we also reach 13-14% kind of EBITDA margin?

Sanidhya Mittal

Honestly, if I do Century type of number, I would do probably higher than even 13-14%. Anything 600-plus, if I'm doing at today's cost base, I will be at double digit for sure, 10-plus.

If I start doing a ₹800 crore number in plywood for the quarter, even I would do about 13, 14, 15%. That's not a challenge.

Beyond the point, I think they're getting advantage of scale. Also, for us, the business has got demerged long ago.

All the cost gets loaded onto the largest business, plywood, on turnover basis. Once the scale in the MDF business and we enter newer categories and there's enough scale there, automatically the apportionment of cost would improve on the plywood side and 1% or 2% should improve from there as well.

Resha Mehta

Got it. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time and fairness to others, we request you to restrict to two to three questions per participant.

The next question is from the line of Parth Bhavsar from Investec. Please go ahead.

Parth Bhavsar

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

I had a couple of questions. The first one related to employee cost.

If we look at our employee cost on quarter-on-quarter basis, both in terms of absolute a number as well as a percentage of sales, it has gone up substantially. Can you throw some color on this?

What has led to this?

Sanidhya Mittal

I don't think there is a substantial increase. I think the main one is the provision for increment that will be given from 1st April onwards, so that's the provision, and a lower sales.

I think these are the reasons why, percentage terms the cost is looking higher and absolute terms the cost is higher because we've taken the provision for increment already.

Parth Bhavsar

Sir, what would be the normalized number? Again, it would be ₹89 ₹89 crores sort of a number?

Or what would be the provision that you've made and if that is available?

Sanjiv Keshri

This quarter we have given around ₹98.88, this ₹100 crores would be the I think for the year is the quarterly number would be.

Parth Bhavsar

It will be in this range only.

Sanjiv Keshri

Yeah.

Parth Bhavsar

Got it. Sir, the second question, that you've commissioned this flooring MDF, right?

Wanted to get some sense on what is the capacity like, or you can give us a sense on what is the potential peak revenue basically for this business, for this segment? The

Sanidhya Mittal

potential peak revenue from this would be at about ₹75-80 crores, I think. Somewhere between ₹75 and ₹80 crores the potential peak revenue.

However, when we start achieving potential peak revenue, we'll miss some of the plain board sales, because today that same panel is getting sold as a plain board at say about ₹24,000-25,000 realization, and that would get sold after getting converted into a flooring at about ₹60,000-70,000 ₹70,000 per cubic meter. Definitely value terms overall we are going to grow, and in cubic meters, the plain board will get replaced by flooring.

Parth Bhavsar

Got it. Perfect, sir.

In terms of capex Hello? Right.

Sanidhya Mittal

Yeah.

Parth Bhavsar

Sir, just wanted to get a sense on your capex for FY '27 and '28. Uh Hello?

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has disconnected. Please wait while we reconnect.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management back online. Please go ahead with your question.

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, you were talking about the capex for this financial year, right?

Parth Bhavsar

Yes, yes. Yes.

Sanidhya Mittal

For the current financial year, I think in the parent standalone GIL, we would have about ₹47 crores of total capex, including loss funding for Samet. In GSPL, we would have at around ₹100 crores, and in GSPPL, we would have around ₹300 crores of capex.

Approximately ₹500 crores of total capex for this financial year.

Parth Bhavsar

Got it. That was very helpful.

Thank you for answering my questions.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Utkarsh Nopany from Anand Rathi.

Please go ahead. Hi.

Utkarsh Nopany

Good evening, sir. Sir, my first question is regarding the timber price movement.

If you can just help us on what has been the change in the timber price for plywood and MDF in this June quarter on both YoY and QoQ basis? What is the outlook for the next two to three quarters, please?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think it's going to be quite stable, and currently also there's not a big change. I think whatever change has happened is because of seasonality.

It is kind of understood that in this season, because when it's monsoon and peak monsoon across India, even if the farmer cuts the timber, they can't drag it out. It's very difficult for them to load onto a truck.

Typically in this season, both moisture increases, which means you're paying more for the same material, and also slightly the price goes up. It's a very standard kind of increase which has happened, which is cyclic.

Honestly, we are not assuming that there will be any price fall. We are assuming that it'll remain stable at these levels.

If there's any fall of price, then that should be a windfall gain that the organization should enjoy. Whatever comments we are making or projections we're giving, we are assuming that timber price will remain stable, and basis that we are giving our projections.

Utkarsh Nopany

Okay. Sir, on the chemical side, as the crude oil price has gone up sharply over the past one month, are we seeing any cost inflation pressure on chemical side?

Sanidhya Mittal

To be very honest, April May, June we had kind of started stabilizing in June, and again this month things are going crazy. Yes, you are absolutely right.

Crude's going up and chemicals also seeing a new high every day. Availability challenges not there.

When the West Asia war broke out, that time people were scared that we won't get material. Now at least that fear is not there.

Prices have gone, but we will get raw material.

Utkarsh Nopany

Okay. Is there any possibility of price hike in plywood and MDF because of rising chemical prices in near future?

Sanidhya Mittal

Maybe. It's very difficult to comment today.

Maybe. Maybe we stop discounting the way we are discounting in MDF, we pull back those schemes, and in plywood, if it continues this way, maybe we take another small increase.

Utkarsh Nopany

Okay. That's it from my side.

Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Bhatelia.

Please go ahead.

Karan Bhatelia

Hi, Sanidhya. I just wanted some update on the benefits we're getting from some technology advancement we've done at the plywood units.

If you want to speak about here?

Sanidhya Mittal

Sure. In plywood, I think we've moved to a new technology which we are calling as the Contiroll Tech.

Unfortunately, we had planned a meet also at our factory which we could not do, but we're very keen to do that meet for all the investors and analysts, where we will show the new technology. Today India plywood is pressed on a low moisture.

The new plywood that we are trying to press will be in global standard, where we'll be pressing the plywood at a much higher moisture level, which basically means that the material will look much better and will have a much better surface finish. In this process, we also get a byproduct which is material saving and human resource saving.

These two savings will also help us achieve a much better margin. As of now, four factories in India, two factories process fully implemented, two factories during H1 of this year the implementation will happen.

Major implementation planned in this month and the next and the next. Quarter four onwards, you should start seeing some gain on the P&L because of that as well.

Karan Bhatelia

Right. Now, can we revise guidance in terms of for the hardware business for this year and maybe for next year?

I'm

Sanidhya Mittal

sorry, can you please come again?

Operator

Sorry to interrupt. Mr.

Karan, could you please come closer to the mic? There's a lot of disturbance.

Are you using a handset?

Karan Bhatelia

Is it better now?

Operator

Yes, much better. Please go ahead.

Karan Bhatelia

Sanidhya, any changes in guidance for the hardware business vis-a-vis what we spoke over the Q4 call?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think hardware business, I've mentioned it earlier, I think somewhere around next year mid is when the losses will become zero, and going forward from there, I think it'll be positive. Today, the biggest challenge is because of the currency.

All the traded goods, which is about 60% of the turnover, we make negative gross margins on it, or we make zero gross margin on it. Basically, we lose money every time we achieve higher sales on the traded goods because of the euro and the dollar and the way the costs have gone up for importing.

While the two products that we are producing in India, the interest, depreciation for the entire business is loaded on those two products, because for the factory, we built the entire infra on day zero. Now this year and next year, as phase two capex happens, I think there'll be a huge drop in prices for the imported products, which will give us better sales, and in spite of a huge drop in prices, we'll make a much higher, substantial gross margin.

I think things should start improving from there. Also, I think there are green shoots.

If we compare the last year same period to this year, I think we've almost doubled our domestic number. Yes, there are green shoots, but I think long way to go.

We are very confident that we'll zero our losses, for sure.

Karan Bhatelia

Right. Then debt repayment path for next 2 years?

That's it from my end.

Sanidhya Mittal

Sorry, come again?

Karan Bhatelia

Any clarity on the debt repayment once we're done with all our capex?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, I think we've given a very clear guidance that in spite of all the capexes that we've taken, at the end of this fiscal year, which is 31st March, 2027, we will hit peak debt around in absolute value anything between 710 to 725, 730, something like that. If you talk about debt-equity that day, we'll be at 0.75x.

I think immediately 6 months after that, we should come below 0.7, and the year ending, we should be at 0.7, 0.65, something like that.

Karan Bhatelia

Thank you. That's it from my end.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Kamath from Android Share and Stock Brokers.

Please go ahead.

Aditya Kamath

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity.

Am I audible?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes.

Aditya Kamath

Okay. My question is regarding the MDF segment.

Can you throw some clarity on what geographies have seen this MDF volume growth?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think we are trying to focus pretty much pan-India. We've seen this growth across India, whether it is south, east, west, north.

I think almost every area we've done decently well, and we've grown across.

Aditya Kamath

Okay. Yeah.

Thank you.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Guru Darshan D from Kitara Capital.

Please go ahead.

Guru Darshan D

Hi, am I audible?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes.

Guru Darshan D

Am I audible? Hello?

Sanidhya Mittal

Yes, you're audible. I can hear you.

Hello?

Guru Darshan D

Yes. Thanks for the opportunity.

My question was on the furniture business. What revenue you're targeting for FY '27 and FY '28?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think we'll share that with you. I think should be around ₹120 to ₹150 crores, that range.

I think the major shift in the losses will come only once the imported bit is zeroed and the finished goods and all of that converted to domestic manufacturing. That's when the business will be firstly zero loss and then eventually positive.

Guru Darshan D

Okay. How do you expect the business move towards manufacturing?

Currently, we produce only two products, right, hinges and one more product. When we'll start manufacturing products which are being imported currently?

Sanidhya Mittal

I think somewhere at the end of this financial year and beginning of next is when this capex will be done, and once this capex is done, I think we can easily start producing everything here, because the larger infra, whether it is the plating line, the polishing line, the civil building, the office, the workers' accommodation, the engineers' accommodation, everything is built to full scale, and the interest, depreciation for that is only loaded on the two products that we're producing today. Both ways we're getting hit.

Plus dollar and euro has been so against us that import on a daily basis for this JV from the day this JV started, it kept getting expensive as the day passed. Each quarter our gross margin kept shrinking, and that is the reason why the losses are so big for the size of the business.

Guru Darshan D

All right. Just one last question.

Let's say in FY '28 we start manufacturing all the products, we being the cost-efficient manufacturer, do you see export opportunities for this business?

Sanidhya Mittal

Even today, this JV was always formed to sell the material to India. It was never meant to export.

Honestly looking at the Indian expertise of manufacturing, the availability of steel, the quality of steel available, and the overall Indian cost and scheme of things, our partner is very motivated to take the products back to their home market. They are actually not utilizing certain capacity of their own and supplying material back to their home market from here, simply because of the cost that they're enjoying here, compared to Europe where they're producing the rest of the goods.

Yes, it I think makes a lot of sense in the future also to continue to export.

Guru Darshan D

All right. Thank you so much and all the best.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a reminder for all participants, please press star and one to ask a question.

The next question is from the line of Varun Julsaria from 360 ONE Capital. Please go ahead.

Varun Julsaria

Hi sir. Just wanted to understand on the finance cost.

This quarter against last quarter, we saw a drop. I know there's some bit of forex gain that is booked, but other than that, did we repay substantial amount this quarter?

Sanjiv Keshri

If you see the finance cost, it is equivalent to the last quarter mostly because in the last quarter, there is a forex loss was there. Second, that the debt has increased, but we have taken the disbursement on the second half of the June.

That's the reason it is not impacting on the finance cost.

Varun Julsaria

Okay. Otherwise, what is our blended interest cost that we have on our debt?

See,

Sanjiv Keshri

on the term loan side, it is around the 7 7 and 7.25% on a quarterly basis, and on a working capital side, it is around 7%.

Varun Julsaria

Okay. Next on this sir, furniture fitting business, last three quarters we've been doing similar kind of revenue.

Just wanted to check even though we have added a lot of new dealers, but still our revenue is almost flat for last two, three quarters. Just want to understand is it a deliberate attempt because we are making gross margin loss, or is it we're still not finding the right kind of demand there for our product?

Sanidhya Mittal

It's not about the right type of demand. I think some of the imported products, the prices also need to be slashed once they're produced in India.

Also, on the BIS side, the implementation is very poor. Even today, random Chinese hinges are available from China, but if you look at our other business, plywood or MDF, I think BIS has a phenomenal control, and it's really given us a tailwind.

In furniture fittings, the BIS implementation has been very poor, and I don't think we're getting much of a traction due to lack of import, because import continues and anybody and everybody continues to import.

Varun Julsaria

Okay. Are we seeing any green shoots there?

In terms of, obviously our product is premium and in plywood, our competitor is more of the branded segment, here also we are competing since we are only branded. Even

Sanidhya Mittal

though we would like to compete with a Hettich, Häfele, but for example, a Godrej is 100% Chinese hardware which is imported from China. We end up competing with them also, even though we would want to only compete with Hettich, Häfele.

By default, we would end up competing with others as well, and the China imports are really helping them.

Varun Julsaria

Okay. Sir, and how is our pricing versus say Hettich or Häfele?

Sanidhya Mittal

Typically, if you see our MRP levels, we are very, very close to Hettich. If you see a dealer landing, we would typically be 8% to 10% more beneficial than Hettich's landing.

The dealer here enjoys a better margin, hence it becomes a preferable brand for the dealer to push in terms of margin.

Varun Julsaria

Sir. That's it, sir.

Thank you.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing remarks.

Over to you.

Sanidhya Mittal

Thank you all for taking time to participate in this call. In case of any further clarification or queries, please feel free to reach to us.

Thank you so much.