Good evening everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We deeply value your continued trust, confidence, and engagement with Himadri.

Q2 FY27 was another important quarter in Himadri's transformation journey. Several initiatives we have spoken about over the past several quarters are now translating from research to qualification, from capacity creation to customer engagement, and from strategic intent towards commercialization.

Before discussing these developments in detail, let me briefly touch upon our financial performance for the period ended 30th September 2026. For H1 FY27, on a consolidated basis, revenue surpassed ₹3,000 crores, EBITDA exceeded ₹600 crores, and profit after tax crossed ₹450 crores.

This performance reflects the strength of our business, an optimized product mix, operational efficiencies, and our continued focus on value-added products. Over the years, we have invested consistently in research and development, process engineering, manufacturing capabilities, customer relationships, and strategic partnerships.

These investments are increasingly expanding our addressable markets, strengthening our competitive position, and creating the foundation for next phase of Himadri's growth. Let me begin with the area where this transformation is perhaps most visible: specialty and advanced materials.

Across our new material platforms, our focus remains clear: develop differentiated technologies, validate them rigorously with customers, and scale them in a disciplined manner. Our 200-metric-ton carbon nanotube facility remains targeted for commissioning in Q4 FY27.

Carbon nanotubes represent an important next-generation material with application across lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, electronics, conductive applications, and other high-performance uses. In super specialty carbon black, our planned 6,000-metric-ton capacity remains targeted for Q4 FY28.

This represents the next step in our journey from specialty carbon black to super specialty grades, towards highly engineered, niche products designed for demanding applications. Our LFP cathode active material roadmap is also progressing well, with the initial 2,000-metric-ton capacity targeted for commissioning in Q3 FY27.

The initial capacity is designed to support customer qualification and early commercial engagements, while also establishing the foundation for a significantly large scale-up opportunity. The progress in customer engagements, together with strong visibility on future demand, gives us confidence to move into the next phase of expansion, with 40,000 metric ton per annum capacity planned for commissioning in next year.

On the anode side, our capabilities continue to progress across synthetic graphite and next-generation silicon-carbon technologies, strengthening our objectives of building a comprehensive battery material portfolio. We have already provided materials to leading domestic and global customers for their qualification process.

Customers' feedback and engagements have been very encouraging. In anthraquinone and carbazole, our in-house engineering team has enabled us to accelerate execution, with full capacity 5,300 now targeted for commissioning together in Q4 FY27.

The reason we are doing two-phase together is that so, in order to avoid any shutdown of 3 months during the commissioning of phase two. This allows us to bring the entire capacity to market in one shot, enabling faster market penetration and market share gains.

As you all are aware, these expansions are focused largely on very high value-added categories, and are therefore expected to have meaningful impact on company's profitability and margins. Importantly, let me inform you all these developments are increasingly bringing complimented by deeper and more frequent customer engagements.

During the quarter, we have entered into NDAs with Indian and international customers across battery materials, carbon nanotube, and super specialty carbon black segments. Our EnerX specialty carbon black grades received approval for high-voltage cable and battery applications, followed by commercial orders.

For us, this progression from research to qualification to customer relationships and commercial adoption thereafter is particularly important. It validates both the technology and the market opportunity.

We continue to build ecosystem across lithium-ion battery value chain through our strategic investments and partnerships, with a focus extending from material innovation and technology development to cell-level validation and eventual commercial deployments. During the quarter, we invested further in Sicona Battery Technologies.

Sicona has also completed the acquisition of 100% of Advano in United States, adding valuable silicon anode intellectual property, a US-based pilot plant facility, and additional R&D and cell-testing capabilities, further strengthening its commercialization roadmap. Sicona has secured Australian $45 million in funding from Australian Renewable Energy Agency to advance its next-generation silicon-carbon anode technology.

These developments add significant technological and execution depth to the platform, and reinforce our conviction in silicon-carbon as an important next-generation anode technology. Our strategic investment in International Battery Company further compliments this ecosystem in a unique way.

Through IBC, Himadri has access to a platform that bridges material innovation, cell-level validation, and commercial deployment, providing us with a strategic advantage as we strengthen our presence across the lithium-ion value chain. Together, Sicona, IBC, and our in-house capabilities are creating a collaborative innovation system that spans material science, technology development, validation, and application.

This gives us a differentiated position as the lithium-ion battery value chain continues to evolve. As our portfolio becomes increasingly sophisticated and global, our commercial architecture must evolve alongside it.

During the quarter, we incorporated Ardent Impex FZCO in Dubai Airport Freezone area as a wholly owned subsidiary. This provides a dedicated platform for global sales, marketing, strategic trading, and procurement, thereby enhancing our proximity to customers and suppliers across Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Simply put, as Himadri becomes more global in what it develops and manufactures, we must also become more global in how we reach markets. Global supply chain realignment is also creating a significant opportunity for India.

Building domestic capabilities in advanced materials can reduce import dependence while creating global competitive manufacturing platforms. Our investments across CNT, super specialty carbon black, LFP, synthetic anodes, and silicon-carbon technologies align closely with this opportunity and with the larger vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Another significant development during the quarter was a proposed merger of Birla Tyres business with Himadri. Following the acquisition of Birla Tyres in October '23, we focused on restoring operations, modernizing the manufacturing infrastructure, upgrading equipments, rebuilding the distribution network, and refreshing the product portfolio.

Commercial production resumed on 29th May 2025, and since then, the business has steadily strengthened into operating foundation and market presence. The board has proposed the demerger of tyre business from Dalmia Bharat Refractories Limited into Himadri Speciality Chemical Limited, subject to the requisite statutory, regulatory, creditor, and shareholders' approvals.

Strategically, the proposed transaction brings together complimentary capabilities across feedstock, specialty carbon black, R&D, manufacturing, and finished tyre production. Direct ownership would enable closer alignment across capacity utilization, modernization, capital allocation, and product development.

More importantly, it creates opportunity to bring our understanding of carbon material closer to tyre engineering, particularly in specialized applications where material performance can create meaningful differentiation. We therefore see this as a natural next phase in the journey of Birla Tyres, and an important step towards building a more integrated, scalable mobility platform.

As we enter the second half of FY27, our priorities are clear: will continue to strengthen our core business, accelerate customer qualification, commercialization across new material platforms, expand international presence, and progress the proposed merger of Birla Tyres. We remain confident in achieving our previously guided target of ₹1,100 crore plus PAT by FY28.

This will be supported by the sustained performance of our core business and commissioning of new capacities over the coming periods. Our philosophy remains unchanged: invest patiently in science, execute with discipline, and scale when the technology and the market are ready.

I would like to thank every member of Himadri family, our customers, business partners, shareholders, and stakeholders for their continued trust and support. With that, I'll now hand over the discussion to Mr.

Somesh Satnalika for further details on financial performance and business outlook. We look forward for your questions to an engaging discussion.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anurag, and good evening, everyone. Now let me take you through the key financial highlights for the quarter and half year ended 30th September 2026.

On a standalone basis, our revenue from operations for Q2 FY27 stood at ₹1,543 crores, compared to ₹1,070 crores in Q2 FY26. EBITDA for the quarter came in at ₹308 crores, a growth of 27% year-on-year, compared with ₹243 crores in Q2 FY26.

PAT stood at ₹240 crores, reflecting a 28% increase year-on-year, compared to ₹187 crores in the same quarter last year. For the first half year of FY27, revenue stood at ₹2,817 crores, while EBITDA reached ₹610 crores, up 28% year-on-year from ₹477 crores in first half of FY26.

Profit after tax for the half year stood at ₹463 crores, up 25% year-on-year over ₹369 crores reported in H1 FY26. On a consolidated basis, revenue for Q2 FY27 stood at ₹1,691 crores, versus ₹1,071 crores in the same period last year.

EBITDA for Q2 FY27 stood at ₹303 crores, recording a growth of 27% year-on-year, and PAT at ₹231 crores, with a growth of 31% year-on-year. Our half-year revenue stood at ₹3,123 crores, EBITDA at ₹616 crores, PAT at ₹460 crores, reflecting strong performance across all business segments.

We continue to maintain a healthy liquidity position with a comfortable leverage profile. That is all from our side.

We will now open the line for questions and answers. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, firstly, what explains the sharp moderation in the gross margins during the quarter?

Are there any one-offs, and when can we see the recovery? That is my first question.

I have a few more questions.

Yeah. Thank you.

If you actually see the margins are stable, and if you compare with the corresponding quarter last year, there's been significant growth in the margins. As we told last time also, the right way to look at is per metric ton EBITDA.

Per metric ton EBITDA is around 21,000, which in the sequential quarter was at around 20 [2,700-800?] , and in the corresponding quarter, that is the last year, it was at around 17,900.

If you see on a year-in-year basis, it has gone from 17,900 to 21,000 level. If you look on a sequential basis, it has come down, which is normal adjustments which happens in a business, and there is nothing significant.

We are confident of achieving EBITDA above 20,000 on a sustainable basis, and this will strengthen in the quarters to come.

Secondly, what drove this 58% revenue growth? Basically,

two factors. One was volume growth.

If you see there has been 11% volume growth on quarter on corresponding quarter from last year. Comparatively, the value of finished product and raw material both has gone up, and consequently, there has been increase in the top line.

Any specific segments would you like to point out?

No, it's general. In all the segments, the value of raw material has gone up, and with more focus on value-added products, the selling price is also going up.

Third is related to the Birla Tyres business. What was the revenue during the quarter, and are we on a track to attain break-even during this year?

Birla Tyres basically is under Dalmia Bharat Refractories Limited. We do a trading sales from Himadri, and we achieved a top line of 140 crores, on which we have a EBITDA of 1 crore as a trading margin.

Once it is consolidated with Himadri, we'll see the numbers being added to Himadri figures. We are on our track to achieve break-even.

Sir, on these new products such as LFP cathode, anthraquinone, and carbazole, will these products be margin-accretive from the start of operations if you could confirm that? I'm not asking for any margin number here, but just want to understand from the start of operations whether these products would contribute towards the incremental margins?

Yes, sir, definitely. These products will start from the start only.

They will add to the incremental margin. Like anthraquinone, carbazole, they are very high value-added products.

We are converting from oil. We are going to extract these products.

For LFP also, once we attain a particular capacity, you will see the margins coming in significantly.

On this anode capacity that commenced in a previous quarter, how has been the initial response from the customer?

I'm very happy to share with you, the response have been fantastic. We have supplied sample B to host of customers globally and in India, and their response has been very encouraging.

Could you throw some light on the realizations?

Realization for?

Anode.

No, see, because now we are supplying samples. We are in sample stage now.

Okay. Any color on the spreads between coal tar and coal tar pitch?

You can share the trends, maybe.

This is standard. There is no significant difference in spreads in coal tar and coal tar pitch, which has been historically there, that is there only.

I'll fall back in the queue for any further questions. Thank you.

Thank you,

thank you.

Good afternoon, sir. Congrats on overall good set of numbers and overall very good presentation.

Covers a lot of data. I was seeing the slide number 15, where you have given investments for various project: LFP, specialty chemicals, carbon nanotube.

Overall, I think capex is roughly around 1,500 crores. How much has been spent till date, and what is the plan to be spent in FY27 and FY28?

Till date, if you look at this quarter, the spend has been around 250 crores in terms of Birla Tyres and other capex investments. We expect in this year to be around 800 to 900 crores of spend in total.

This year would be 800 to 900 crores? Okay.

Okay. All these projects will have a commercial date before FY28, right?

Right,

right. Full impact of most of the capacities would be visible from FY29?

That's right.

Okay. Congrats, Anurag, and congrats to the team.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you for taking my question, sir.

One thing on the mining segment, as in the last quarter also, we have indicated that some licensing are pending in that side, the profitability was impacted. This quarter also, I think there's no as such contribution from the mining side.

Where we are progressing there, and what sort of fixed cost we are having in the mining business?

Yeah. Last quarter, in fact, the current quarter, we had negative EBITDA from the mining segment because expenses were there, and it was not operational because environmental clearance was pending.

I'm happy to announce that we have received environmental clearance during the current month, and the mining will be operational during the current quarter. If you look at the current quarter, there was drop in the profitability from standalone to consolidated, and it was basically because of the mining segment.

From 240 PAT, it came down to 231. Expenses in the other entities where there was no revenue generation led to this.

In the current quarter, with mining operation start where we have got environmental clearance, for starting the mining operations, there will be upside in terms of mining revenue and profitability.

Okay. Okay.

Sir, in longer timeframe, what sort of annual revenue we can expect from this mining business?

See, this will depend on the volume we are able to generate year-on-year. On a broader basis, we look at around 500 crores of top line from this.

Okay. Okay.

Sir, on follow-up question from last participant on the gross margin side. Although on the standalone basis, as you rightly said, that EBITDA per ton or EBIT per ton has improved on Y-o-Y basis.

Still, if we look at the gross margin side, it has contracted almost 500 bps on Y-o-Y basis. Is there any product mix change, or raw material pass-on has been still pending?

How to look at since, as you already indicated, that raw material prices has increased. All these are passed through, or some are still yet to be passed, maybe would be reflecting in the Q3 numbers?

See, what happens, the raw material, we have a pass-on model in which we transfer all the increase in price. It happens at times in a quarter when the raw material increases in the previous month and it has to be passed on the next month, and the next month falls in the ensuing quarter.

That price is not passed on. If you look at our inventory levels, we have moderated to a great extent.

We are only having 9 days, 10 days of raw material inventory in order to take care of this volatility. Overall if you look, 17,910 was the EBITDA margin on corresponding quarter last year, and today, it is 20,990.

So 3,000 increased in 3,080 increase in EBITDA margin. Is this basically because the high value-added products we are going.

Some dip is there compared to sequential quarter, which is normal ₹1,500 to ₹1,800 per metric ton. This, there are many factors which attributed to this.

One is the last quarter some passing was not able to pass on, which will be passed in the next quarter. Then export has increased as a percentage of total sales.

Corresponding quarter last year, we had 26% as export; today, we have 33%. With the geopolitical situation, the freight rates have gone up on the top of the roof.

Because of that, there has been some hit. These are temporary phenomenas which has no short-term to medium-term business of the company.

Okay. Fair enough.

Sir, as you have maintained the guidance for 1,100-crore PAT for FY28, with all these, just wanted some clarification, all the new segment like for carbon nanotube and super specialty carbon black, would that all be coming in a separate segment, or it would be in carbon black business only? How we'd be reporting the numbers going forward?

It will be coming in the carbon segment only because all things are related to carbon. Under carbon segment only, everything will be reported.

Okay. Got it.

That's it from my side, sir. We'll come back in queue.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Hi. Good evening, sir.

Congratulations on a great set of numbers. Sir, my question is more on the macro side because you covered pretty much everything on your opening remark.

Sir, from a pricing perspective with respect to both carbon black and CTB and coal tar pitch, that is, how has the West Asia crisis and the ongoing steel weight affected the prices, and whether it is only the supply chain constraints that are driving the realizations up, or do we also see a lot of demand pull coming in now?

See, we see the volume growth is there. This itself signifies there has been demand upside is there.

As I have been always telling, the business model which Himadri has developed is resilient to geopolitical situation, and that we are proving quarter-on-quarter. With current quarter also with so much of geopolitical tension, so many of issues happening, but you see our numbers are very strong.

People are only looking at some contraction in margins, but the bigger picture is that we have grown margins after a specialty by 3,000 metric ton compared to corresponding year period last year. This will strengthen further.

1,000, 1,500 is not at all an issue. There are so many geopolitical situation impact.

If you look at the overall story, compared to last year, we have a top-line growth of 58%, we had a PAT growth of 31%. Even in this kind of difficult times, Himadri is able to sustain and grow the business.

That is the strength of the business model we have

created. Sir, on the side of Birla Tyres, do we still maintain our guidance that were given earlier with respect to top line, or do we expect some more upside on that?

No,

no. Definitely, we maintain our guidance what we have given.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations of the quarterly numbers.

My question would be regarding the Himadri silicon-carbon anode technology. What is the commissioning timeline and capacity that the company is targeting, and what premium it could command over the graphite anode, like it's part of the anode capacity altogether?

Yeah. We are at the advanced stage of announcing capex for the project.

We have not made any formal announcement as such. The product has been well accepted in the market, and we have got very good results from our customers.

We are working on the engineering side of it, and once it is completed, we'll make a formal capex announcement with the timelines. The product is very high end of anode technology.

The normal anode has 360 milliampere per gram of capacity, and silicon-carbon has 4,000 plus. It is 10x of it.

The price, there's no comparison between the price of synthetic anode and silicon-carbon. It's far far higher than that.

At right point of time, once we are completed with this. Good thing is that we are moving ahead in a right direction and in very high speed.

I have made announcement that our partners Sicona Batteries, they have secured $45 million Australian dollars as a package from Australian government. This itself certified that we are moving in the right direction.

Right. Thank you for that.

One more question: with the emerging battery technologies like sodium-ion and solid-state, what's the company targeting in the future? Do you have any future plans into this?

We are working on the raw material cathode and anode for that also. At right point of time, when that matures, we'll announce capex for that also.

There is no problem. All these technologies will coexist.

Okay. Sure.

Thank you. Thank you for that.

That's all.

Yes, hi. My question is regarding the carbon black business.

I wanted to understand how is the capacity utilization that you're experiencing, and which you're guiding for the next quarter relative to the current quarter, if you can share some light?

Yeah. Carbon black business is doing strong.

The demand is very robust. During the current quarter, we had a capacity utilization of 88%, and we're looking forward at these levels only, 88% to 90%, 95% capacity utilization.

Sir, on the realizations, are you seeing an increase in realizations over quarter two? How is the trend basically shaping up, is what I'm trying to understand?

Yes,

yes. With the increase in raw material prices, the realization is also improving.

Right.

The point I'm trying to make is that the almost 21,000 EBITDA that you had in quarter two, do we anticipate an increase in this for quarter three, or is this a run rate that we should go with going ahead? See,

you should factor in EBITDA per metric ton from 20,000 to 24,000. In some quarter, you will have 20, 20 for 20,000, in some quarter 21,000, 23,000.

See, this will keep on varying depending on what happens during a quarter. Like in the current quarter, there was so much the freight rate just went on the top of the roof.

Container freights went skyrocketing. Because of that, some cost element was additional cost element which is not normally there, that came into play.

Other than that, at the end of the quarter, you see the price increased in the raw material. You buy at higher price, but that you get in the next month.

That little hit is there. These are very small things.

On a macro basis, I think anything between 20,000 to 24,000, this should be the level which it should play around.

Wonderful. Got it.

Thank you, sir.

Hello. Hi, sir.

Thank you so much for the opportunity. I just had a question regarding the mining business.

Can you just explain or shed some light what products are we mining over here, where are the mines located, who will be our customers in this segment? Anything will help.

We are basically into sand mining in Bengal, and it will be the construction industries who are our customers. Okay.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much, sir, for this opportunity, and congratulations [unclear].

Yeah. Am I audible now?

Yeah. Sir, I understand there has been a short-term impact on the EBITDA margin for this quarter.

More broadly, on a sustainable basis, on an annual basis for FY28 and beyond, when some of these new projects also come in, can we work with 20% plus sort of EBITDA margins, or all that will be difficult to sort of underwrite in

general? I'll tell you.

The right way to look at Himadri is not as a percentage. At some quarter, you find 20%, you will find 25%, 26% also.

The right way to look is not the percent, but as I told you, absolute margin per metric ton. Suppose that tomorrow the raw material prices comes down, then you will find 28% margin.

If the prices go up, you will find 20% margin. That will not be the right way to look at it.

The right way is to look at

a

per metric ton margin, which will be hovered from around 20,000 to 25,000. This is the journey in which, depending on what specific incidents happen in a quarter, it will keep on changing.

Right. Then how do we look at the margins for LFP and specialty chemicals, sir?

LFP margins, it's premature now because it will commence in FY29 only. There's no point discussing the margin from now onwards for LFP.

Because now we are setting up our 2,000-metric-ton plant, will be commenced in Q3, will supply the samples and have commercial discussions. I think after that, we will be able to guide you on the right way to look at it.

One thing I can tell you, see, look from the perspective ROC. For us, ROC is an important factor.

If you look at the current quarter also, for half year, we have ROC of 30%, and that is the baseline we want to maintain for all our projects at optimum capacity utilization.

Understood, sir. Just for this 2,000 metric ton, do we have some sort of commitments now with customers, or it's still premature?

Definitely, we have already engagement with the customers. We have to supply them samples from our 2,000-metric-ton plant.

Definitely, we have a host of customers globally and in India, all of whom we have to supply the samples.

Okay. Sir, just one thing on this trade receivables and working capital thing which has turned negative for the first half, do you expect this to turn positive for the end of the year on an annual basis, and just a little bit about the trade receivables if you can comment, please?

Sure. If you look at the working capital, Q1 FY27, our net working capital as a percentage of sales was 41%, which has come down to 37% in Q2 FY27.

If you compare to Q2 FY26, it was 31%, 31.3%, which has gone up to 37%. In fact, on quarter-on-quarter basis if you look, the working capital has come down.

Compared to corresponding quarter last year, it has slightly gone up, which I think in next coming two quarters will normalize and will come down further. Regarding receivables, if you see, the sales have gone up by 58% in this quarter, and that is the reason.

In terms of days, if you see, last quarter it was 63 days, this is 65 days. There is hardly any variation in terms of days of debtors.

Right. On an annual basis, we'll turn cash flow positive from operations, hopefully, with these next two quarters normalizing?

Definitely, definitely.

Understood, sir. Sir, just last query in mind: what kind of peak debt shall we assume with these capexes that are coming up in the next one or two years?

See, idea is to invest from internal accrual, not from debt. Our focus will be to generate and invest.

That is the reason if you see, working capital has increased, but the investment which has gone, we have already invested in capital in this year in capex, already we have invested more than ₹400 crore in investment and capex. That has also actually come from internal accrual only.

Working capital, the debt was basically working capital, and everything can come from internal accrual, and that will also come down in the next two quarters.

Understood. Fair enough.

Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you so much.

Hi. Am I audible?

Yeah. My question is on the cathode and anode side.

How our pricing will be on the line of this Chinese suppliers who are currently dominating the market on this cathode and anode side?

Your question is not clear. Can you repeat, can you speak?

I was asking that on the cathode and anode side, our pricing will be in line with the Chinese suppliers?

Definitely, it has to be in line with that only.

Okay. IBC is the one who will be consuming 100% of our capacity, or we'll be planning to sell to the other domestic and global manufacturers as well?

No,

no. IBC will not be consuming any material.

IBC is a technology partner for many companies who are setting up cell manufacturing capacities in India and globally. For whom IBC is providing technology and EPC contact for cell manufacturing facility, in that, Himadri product automatically qualifies.

That is one market. Other than that, we are engaging with many customers and OEMs globally and in India.

It will be a fully diversified market on global basis.

Got it. Got it.

Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you,

thank you.

Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. My question is from volume side.

In this volume, 1,46,000, we have added our anthraquinone and carbazole volume also?

No, no. Anthraquinone, carbazole has not commenced production.

This is from our existing business only. Anthraquinone, carbazole was supposed to start first phase was to start from this quarter.

What we did, instead of starting in on two phases, this one phase this and one phase one year later, we have made in next 6 months two phase to commence together. With that, what is happening, the next year, we were supposed to have a shutdown for 3 months for connecting the lines.

There was no point in stopping the plant because that has severe impact on the facility. Our technical team decided that we will commence both lines together instead of single line.

It will commence by March. Then next year you will see full operation of 9 months of the full capacity.

Sir, we have created a brand called Durafresh, which will be added 100 crore EBITDA to the business. How it's performing?

I don't know from where you got this 100-crore number. Yes, we have added a brand Durafresh.

It is performing very well. The purity levels are best in the market, and we have got a very, very positive response from the consumers.

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

Thank you.

Hello? Hi.

I'm audible, yeah. I just wanted to ask how much capital has Himadri put into each subsidiary so far, and what is still committed?

You can

please speak a bit louder and repeat your question.

How much capital has Himadri put into each subsidiary so far, what is still committed?

All the subsidiaries are 100% WOS of Himadri, and till yet, we have not put in significant capital in these companies.

Hi, sir. Am I audible?

sir, you are.

Thanks for taking my question. Most of my questions have been answered.

One bookkeeping question from my end is, I think, in the consolidated segment-wise reporting, we do an other revenue from operations, which is to the tune of 288 crores for the first half, about 144. That is what we're referring to Birla Tyres, right?

Right, right,

right.

Perfect, sir. Secondly, for LFP materials, can you provide some color on how the capacities would ramp up from '29 onwards?

I know it's probably difficult to say today, but once we put up a capacity, does the ramp-up happen immediately, or probably maybe 30%, 40%, 50% in year one, and then it gradually ramps up?

For the year one, we are targeting 50% plus capacity utilization, and from the next year, it will be 90%

plus. Clear, sir.

That's all from my end. Thank you for answering my questions.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hello.

Am I audible?

Hi, sir. Good evening.

I just wanted to understand the technical specifications of the carbon nanotube project that we are about to start.

Thank you for your question, but very sorry, I cannot speak technical specification on a concall. It's a highly technical product with a strength of 100x of steel and with the conductivity of copper, and very light material.

It's a unique material which Himadri has developed.

Okay. Sir, is there any timeline when we are going to commercialize this?

Q4 FY27, we are starting production. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Hi, good evening, sir. Hope I'm audible.

Sir, my question is more based on realizations side. We have been seeing that in the numbers that realization has been increasing Y-o-Y as well as sequentially.

With further launch of value-added products, should we take the current realization as a base?

Should we?

Take the current realizations as base.

No, no.

For the coming quarters?

We cannot take the current realization as base because if tomorrow the raw material prices come down by 30%, 40%, the realization has also to come down. I don't think that will be the right way of looking into it.

The realization will vary depending on the raw material prices, and that is something how we have built our business.

Sir.

Same thing, if the raw material price goes up tomorrow, the realization may increase by 30%, 40% also, depending on how much the raw material goes up.

Okay. Basically, we can see an upward trend from the value-added products that we will be adding in coming years?

Definitely. If you look at the journey the company has embarked over the last few years, you just track year-on-year per metric ton EBITDA margin.

Last 3 years if you see, you will see big uptrend. Even last year, you see, we have up by 17% in terms of EBITDA margins.

I'm talking of only EBITDA per metric ton margin. We are up by 17%.

This shows the value addition the company's doing in his existing portfolio. Sequential way of looking into margin, I don't think is the right way.

The right way is corresponding quarter last year. That shows the value addition the company has done over the year.

Quarter-on-quarter, it can go any side. It can increase, it can come down.

That's okay.

Sir. Okay.

Very helpful, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon,

good afternoon.

Sir, couple of questions. From battery chemical first, on the anode side, where are we in the process, and how established is the technology now that we have 200 metric ton of capacity?

How many approvals have we secured? When should we see this commercialization?

Apologies if some of these are repetitive question; I joined little late in the call.

Okay. Thank you, Sanjesh.

Our plant has commenced operation, and I'm very happy to announce that the capacity of the material we have received is better than what we expected. The quality-wise, the material is perfectly bang on target, and even better, I can tell you.

The response from the customers have been very encouraging. In fact, we have engaged with much more higher number of customers compared to what we were envisaging.

Now they're testing the material, and it takes time for them to test the material. Things are moving in the right direction, and the preliminary feedback what we got from the customers are very, very encouraging.

Go ahead, go ahead.

Yeah. Regarding the capex part of it, we are working on the same.

We are doing engineering of the plant. Once we are completed with the engineering, we'll announce the capex and the timeframe when we'll commence the commercial operations.

No, that's great. Just on the anode side, when we say we have achieved the material quality which is far superior, what parameter are we really looking at here?

Main parameter that we look is the capacity per milliampere per gram.

Which is Where

suppose the benchmark is, suppose, 100, we have achieved 100 plus. That is the main criteria for anode material.

Is this compactization are we talking here when you say this No, no, no. That is

in the LFP case. Here compactization is not there.

For LFP

As a compaction

No, no. For LFP, compact density is an important factor.

Here the compact density is not there. Here the main factor is capacity per milliampere per gram, milliampere per gram is the capacity metrics you calculate.

That is the important factor.

Got it, got it.

Stored in a gram.

Okay. Okay.

Basically energy density. Right, right,

right.

Got it. What is the global benchmark energy density in the synthetic?

This we are talking about synthetic graphite or a natural graphite, because we intend to do both, right?

Synthetic graphite. The global benchmark, theoretically, the highest you can achieve is 360.

Correct. Where are we?

What's theoretical versus where are we now?

Very near to that.

We are very near to that. That's great.

We have all the kiln and everything to make it, right? When we plan for the capacity, we will be doing the entire process, right?

Can you tell us, because we are hearing a lot on CPC shortage globally, which is calcined petroleum coke, how do we solve that, because we have coal tar, which is one part of the raw material, but even CPC is a very important part right here?

No. I think CPC is not an important part because we will not use any CPC.

There are two raw materials that we will be using. One is our own coke, which will be making, and that will be the raw material for making anode material.

We have established this product globally. We have manufactured and supplied to who's who of anode material business in China.

This is a very well-established product which Himadri has developed as a raw material. Now coming to the other raw material, other raw material will be different types of cokes, but not CPC.

We don't see any problem and issues in sourcing those also. Depending on the economics, we will use the raw material.

That's very clear. That's very nice to hear.

Second, on the LFP, where are we in the process, because we expect Q3 to start the 2,000-metric-ton plant, where are we in the process for that?

We are moving ahead as per the schedule. We'll commence production of 2,000-metric-ton trial production in Q3 FY27.

From there, next in Q4, the samples will start generating. First, we'll optimize the plant.

Next 2, 3 months after that the plant operation, the samples will start coming in, and we'll distribute samples to the global OEMs and Indian players the next-stage sample. Basically, laboratory-scale sample has already been approved.

Now the commercial plant-scale sample will be distributed, and we'll look forward to that.

This will all have that accelerated degradation process. Also, it will take what good 12 to 18 months to get the sample approved and move to the commercialization stage?

Yeah. That's why we have deferred our 40,000-metric-ton plant to commence in FY28 end, so that by the time we have that plant operational, we have all the qualifications, we have all the approvals, and we start the plant with commercial capacity.

That was the only reason we deferred it. There was no point committing capex ahead of the curve.

Got it, sir. Now on our core business, on the carbon black, because last quarter, we see one of the competition reporting a disproportionately high EBITDA per kg.

We did not see that phenomena in our company, and this quarter, we saw sequential decline. You did mention the sequential decline we shouldn't focus, but just for theoretical understanding, because I thought we were in a much better position considering that the petroleum raw material, which is CBFS, has also gone up so sharply, and coal tar probably where we are in a sweet spot.

I thought we should have benefited a lot more than the competition. Where is this reconciliation?

See, we do not benefit from the competition in terms of pricing of raw material, because all the materials are correlated. If the petroleum raw material price goes up, coal tar prices also will go up.

There cannot be a significant difference between the two raw material prices. What is our advantage?

Our advantage is specialty carbon black, and in specialty carbon black, you need a stable, clean raw material. We produce our own raw material, which is highly stable and clean.

Specialty carbon black is nothing but a clean carbon black. That is the advantage Himadri has, not the pricing.

Pricing will go as per the market pricing. I cannot comment on how it happened with some other carbon black companies.

If you look at our EBITDA, our EBITDA is very growing strongly every quarter. If you look at the last quarter, it was at 22,000, there's a ₹1,500, ₹1,800 per metric ton reduction.

That is not because of any product challenges. See, the demand has been good, you see the volume growth.

There has been, as I explained earlier also, there has been some issues like freight. As a percentage of our top line, the export has gone up from 26% to 33%.

The freight has gone up to another level altogether. That had some impact which was there on the margin.

These are temporary things.

We started this carbon black plant now, that is fully stabilized, I hope so. When should we see that volumes actually showing it in the number, because volume growth has been quite muted?

I understand the logistic part, but the capacity which we commissioned was pretty large.

No, we commissioned 40 we commissioned 70,000 metric ton.

70,000, correct.

If you see, the volume growth is 14,000 a quarter. This quarter, the volume growth is 14,000.

Already, that capacity plus some plus minus in the earlier capacity, like earlier, we were selling large volumes of oil. If you remember, I explained also in one of the concalls, we were selling oils instead of consuming in-house, we were selling them.

That volume we have reduced. Volume there has come down, and this volume is increasing.

Actually, it's not 14, it's much above than that, but that volume has come down, and this volume is increasing.

Got it. When are we starting the two chemicals which we intended to based on that oil?

These two chemicals

Anthraquinone

and carbazole, these were doing in two phases. Phase one was supposed to start from Q2 FY27, and phase two from Q2 FY28.

What was happening when we were supposed to add on the capacity, that time we had to take a 3-month shutdown as per our technical team. That shutdown will have, because it's a continuous plant, that will have impact on the life of the equipments.

We decided not to take a shutdown, instead start up the entire capacity all together by Q4 FY27. With one quarter of trial, maybe Q1 FY28, then 9 months of full operation of entire capacity you have.

All in all, the project is ahead compared to what it was supposed to be there.

Got it, sir. Super to hear you, sir.

I wish you all the best for the coming quarters, and thanks for answering all the questions.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Hello? Am I audible?

Please.

I just wanted to ask that the net debt is roughly 500 crore against 1,500 crore of capex and ongoing investments. What's the funding plan for the rest of the capex?

It's a peak debt and comfortable gearing?

So 1,500 crores is over 2 years, everything will be through internal accrual.

Okay. Got it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you once again for taking the time to join us on today's conference call. We hope we have been able to address your queries adequately.

Yet, we firmly believe the best chapters of Himadri's story are still ahead of us. We remain committed to delivering long-term value, and are grateful for your trust, confidence, and engagement as we scale new capacities and capabilities, expand into new frontiers, and shape the next phase of our growth.

Should you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to our investor relations partner. Thank you once again for joining the conference call today, and we look forward to your continued support.

Thank you.