Thanks, Ryan, and good evening, everyone. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we welcome you to the Q3 and nine months FY '26 call of JK Lakshmi Cement Limited.

On the call, we have with us Mr. Arun Kumar Shukla, President and Director, and Mr.

Sudhir Bidkar, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and CFO at JK Lakshmi Cement. I would like to mention on behalf of JK Lakshmi Cement Limited and its management that certain statements that may be made or discussed on this conference call may be forward-looking statements relating to future developments, and such statements may be based on current management expectations.

These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other important factors which may cause the actual developments and results to differ materially from the statements made. JK Lakshmi Cement Limited and the management of the company assumes no obligation to publicly update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise.

Also, JK Lakshmi Cement Limited has uploaded a copy of the Q3 FY '26 results presentation on the company website, which participants can download. We now hand over the floor to the management of JK Lakshmi Cement for their opening remarks, which will be followed by interactive Q&A.

Thank you, and over to you, Arun, sir.

Vaibhav, thank you so much. Good afternoon to all of you, and welcome to this call of JK Lakshmi Cement, quarter three and nine months of financial year 2025-2026.

We have already uploaded the presentations, and we can right away start with questions and answers.

Thank you for the opportunity. [unclear] So firstly,

I hope it's better now. Can you hear me?

Hello? This call is no longer being recorded.

Hello?

Yeah. I believe your share of trade sales has fallen quite a bit on a year-on-year basis.

Could you explain a bit about this in terms of why this has happened?

What? Not very clear.

I'm extremely sorry, but I couldn't really hear that.

Am I audible now? Can you hear me?

Now it's a little better, not so great, but yeah, we can manage.

Okay. Really, your trade sales in your overall volume has declined quite a bit a year-on-year basis.

Can you tell what has happened here?

What? Not clear.

Sorry, sir.

Just a second. Your trade share has fallen quite a bit on a quarter-on-quarter basis in your overall volume, trade cement sales.

Can you explain why this has happened?

Good, now it's clear. You're asking about trade sales drop, right?

That has happened in quarter three of this year. This is precisely because of two things.

One, of course, I think our volume in Gujarat has gone up. Whatever we sell in Gujarat, in quarter three, we have sold more than that.

This is one. Second, that is also coming from the fact that we commissioned our Surat grinding station in the month of September, 22nd September 2025.

That volume was also available with us, and there was a good demand in Gujarat beyond 15th November. Our volume went up in Gujarat, which is predominantly a non-trade market.

That is why our trade share has gone down by about 4%, right?

Yes.

53% to 59%. 49%.

49%, sorry. This is what the reason is.

Why would our trade volumes on a year-on-year basis decline? I get the fact that your non-trade has gone up because you've got more business, but why is there a degrowth in volume for trade year-on-year?

Trade also, if you really see post GST reduction on 22nd September, there was some confusion in the market with respect to passing on prices to customers and things like that. In fact, prices went down quite a bit post GST reduction, right?

There was a demand in non-trade segment during that point in time. Also the fact is, during this Diwali season and extended rains also during this time, laborers have not come back to their respective sites.

I'll just take you back little bit, because there was also elections in Bihar during that time. Laborers went back to their respective states, and they came back to the site only after this election of Bihar.

Scarcity of laborers, and hence there was more demand in sites where on-site ready-mix plants were there, and hence more of a demand in non-trade segment. That is what the reason is.

Can we confirm that this situation was a temporary thing and in the current quarter, our share of trade should be back to a fairly decent level?

Yes. I think in the month of December and January, only I think we have gone back even little better than what we have done before, not an issue.

That was a very temporary thing. Extremely temporary, sir.

Got it, sir. And

Mr. Srinivasan, you need to understand, we commissioned our plant in the month of September, and also we had to really kind of test that capability of plant.

We need to ramp up that plant. I think that was also one of our priorities during that time, right?

No, sir. My concern is not about the non-trade volumes growing, my concern is about trade volumes why it did not grow.

I've got the answer from you. Thank you so much.

We have come back very strongly in December and even in January.

Got it, sir. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Can you throw some light on the pricing scenario in your respective markets, be it North, South, North, Gujarat, as well as East region, during 3Q?

Because realization seems to be down around 10% on a sequential basis, and also what was the gap between trade and non-trade prices in the markets where you operate?

Typically, if you look at our footprint, which is there in part of Western market, which is Gujarat, heavy on institutional sales, we go to Mumbai, which is also little heavy on institutional sales, and part of North I would say, Rajasthan, Haryana, and west part of UP, right? If you really look at distribution of our sales, then because I told the earlier questions I was replying to that, post GST reduction, there was some sluggishness in the market, and hence effort was there to really at least sell some volume from newly installed capacity, which was Surat, and also in other market also, there was some sluggishness in demand in trade segment.

That is kind of common with the industry. If you really look at, I think that cut across majority of the players who have reported their volume, their volume has gone down percentage-wise in trade in majority of the cases, not all, right?

That has happened with us also. In our case, more predominant, because our dependence on Gujarat is much higher than other players.

That is what the case has been for us.

Secondly, sir, how is the pricing scenario as of now in the month of Jan? Plus, if we look at your employee expense, then sequentially that has gone down from ₹130 crore to around ₹116 crore.

What has been the reason for that?

I'll ask second question first, right? As I said before also that we have been optimizing or improving productivity at our different locations.

First phase we had done last year, second phase we had started a couple of months back, 3-4 months back. In fact, going forward also, I think we do have plan to improve our productivity, one of course through improved volume and second also per person productivity in terms of per tonne cement revenue you get, right?

That effort even is still continuing. That has benefited us in terms of reduction in employee cost.

One. Second, you asked about pricing scenario.

Almost in all markets, post I would say December onward, maybe latter part of December, non-trade prices have gone up everywhere. Trade prices have not gone up that much, but I see, since demand has been very good in the month of December and that is still continuing in January and February also is similar situation, I see that prices in trade also will go up from two counts.

One, improved demand situation, and second also, fuel prices are going up. That also I think will have to recover from the market.

From these two counts, trade prices also we expect that will go up. Even non-trade also, the gap which is still very high in different markets, that will also get shortened going forward.

Price-wise, I see a good improvement in non-trade segment in the last 1.5 months. In going forward, I see improvement happening in trade as well along with non-trade.

Pricing-wise, I think I see things are improving for sure.

Should we assume that employee costs will remain at ₹115, ₹120 crore kind of a range going forward?

I think our endeavor is I told you that,

I was asking about the employee cost, I think he answered it.

You asked two questions, one on pricing, which I said non-trade has gone up, even trade also expected to go. Second on employee cost, we had taken some previous projects.

In fact, our endeavor is to further improve the productivity, which we are working on. Yeah.

These are the two things which you

asked. Thank you, sir.

Yeah.

Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

Sir, I have a few questions. First one continuing with the previous participant's question, do you feel that the realization should improve in the similar quantum what we lost in Q3

Yeah.

in the coming quarter, quarter four?

I think as I said, prices are improving, and volume also is improving, we'll get some leverage as well. Yes, I definitely see that.

Sir, what was the clinker sales for this quarter, if you can just bifurcate between cement and clinker sales in quarter three?

1,51,000 tonne.

The clinker utilization level?

We had 90 90%.

Sir, last question, what is the capex that we have already incurred for the Durg line 2, and have we ordered the clinker unit for Durg line 2?

Basically, Durg line 2, we have not incurred much of the capex other than what we had mentioned in the last call. In the first nine months of the current financial year, we have incurred about ₹250, ₹260 crore, we have talked of a figure of about close to ₹400 in the current financial year of the Durg project.

Balance will happen in the current quarter.

Sir, we'll be spending ₹400 crore out of the ₹3,000 crore planned in this year?

Yeah. Only ₹400 in the current financial year, you are right.

Right. We are aiming for everything commissioning, including the clinker and grinding unit by March 2027, am I right?

Yeah. Entire project will get completed by March 2028, including all the split location grinding units.

March 2028. Okay.

Sure, sir, these were my questions. I'll join back the queue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

Three questions from my end. Firstly, in terms of realization, just harping again on that.

This quarter, we have seen a very sharp decline of 9% on a QoQ basis. Could you please help understand the drivers behind the same?

Additionally, if we see over the last few quarters, volatility in terms of realization and EBITDA per tonne continues to remain much higher versus peers. Any color on the structural or operational factors behind this volatility would be helpful.

Also, in terms of price, if you can just throw some number on how our spot prices versus Q3 average for the trade and non-trade segment in our core operating market. That was one.

Secondly, on the project updates, two clarifications. Firstly, we early understood that Durg was planned to be commissioned in two phases, 2.2 by March '27 and 2.4 by March '28.

Does this phasing remain intact? Secondly, on the overall Durg capex, ₹3,000 crore is a number what we targeted earlier.

Does that still remain? That was the clarification.

Lastly, in terms of just some data on regional mix for this quarter, CC ratio, and the clinker sales in 2Q and 3Q of FY '25, so that would be helpful.

Alright, I'll answer first part of it, on realization part of it. I explained that.

Drivers were one, non-trade prices went down drastically post GST reduction, one. Second, in our case, because you also mentioned about peer, our dependence on Gujarat is a little higher.

Since non-trade prices went down everywhere, including Gujarat, and our trade sales was also not that great, I think 49%, that is what our trade is, right? These are the drivers why realization has gone down.

This is one. Second, I think you also mentioned on this realization quarter-on-quarter basis.

I think one thing we need to understand, sir, our footprint. Our footprint and since I think we are limited to some geographies, like in North, we are only in part in North.

North limited to only Rajasthan, Haryana, and west UP, we don't go anywhere. In West, we are only limited to Gujarat and part of Mumbai, we don't go anywhere else.

In East, we are only limited to Chhattisgarh and maybe little bit of neighboring states, right? Anything kind of happens in this market, either upward and downward, that impacts us, right?

This is little different than other players, because they have little spread footprint in different market. That gets kind of assimilated, and that gets averaged out.

In our case, as I mentioned that, let's say, take last quarter. Last quarter, our sales in west part of India, which is predominantly Gujarat for us, was higher than previous quarter, one.

Second, non-trade prices went down. We were impacted much more than what others would have been, right?

If you see the last quarter, if you go back to July to September, right? During that period, Gujarat did better, and in fact all markets were better wherever we were present.

In our case, I think Chhattisgarh did very well. Rajasthan, Haryana was very good, and Gujarat also kind of performed very well.

I think everything ticked together, and that is why you see a good performance in quarter two. Not so great in terms of realization, though if you really look at the bottom line, whatever the estimation was, I think we are close to that.

I think there is no miss on that count, right? Yes, because of the footprint which we have, in our case, I think that definitely has bearing on us.

This is what on realization. Second, I think pricing I told you, I see prices are going to do better.

One because of improved demand, second also I think cost is going up. Prices definitely will go up going forward.

Non-trade prices have gone up in majority of the market, even trade also is likely to follow. That is what my estimation is.

This is what you asked. I think your question was quite overloaded.

You asked about clinker factor, which I think I'll give you. That is 1.49.

1.44.

1.44. You asked about capex of ₹3,000 crore, so that remains.

This is what I remember. If anything is missing from my end, just let me know.

Yes, sir. Multiple things.

First on pricing, if you can just throw any particular number in terms of trade and non-trade how we are at spot versus Q3 average, that was one thing. Secondly, on project update, I was just asking 2.2 million tonne by March '27 and 2.4 by March '28, that still remains intact?

That was a clarification. Lastly, I was asking on the regional mix, if you can share for this quarter, and clinker sales for the last year, like Q2 FY '25 and 2Q FY '26.

Yeah. Last year, it was seven 7.23 lakh tonne, right?

This year, we have already told you last quarter, it was 1.51, and for the whole nine months, it's 5.34. On this pricing and this thing, all these things, this is not handy with us.

We can give you later.

Sure, sir. Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for the opportunity. I think a lot of questions have already been asked about your pricing decline, but honestly, it's still a little confusing still.

Because while I hear that your share of non-trade has dropped by about 4 percentage points from 53% to 49%, looks like even the overall portfolio seems to have deteriorated on pricing, including trade. Generally in North, I think the trade pricing was pretty steady.

Is it your non-trade price decline kind of influences even your trade pricing in the market even, let's say, if the other category players, let's say, the likes of UltraTech and all. Essentially, does your gap increase between trade also versus the higher-priced players in the market when non-trade goes down?

Because essentially, such a sharp decline, I think, was not there in the market essentially in any of the markets. It's still a bit confusing over there why it has gone down so much.

Mr. Murarka, I just repeat once again.

Trade prices almost were intact. The gap which we were having with the leading players, that remains.

That has not widened. I told you two reasons, precisely two reasons, and we do have that detailed reconciliation also with us.

One is of course I think Surat we started on 22nd September, and we had to really ramp it down. Surat expansion typically, this caters to market of Gujarat and Mumbai, which is heavy on non-trade.

This is one. Increase volume in non-trade and decrease price in non-trade.

I think that has impacted the most. Reduction is not limited to this market, non-trade prices went down in other markets as well.

The most impact on us was from Gujarat state, right? This is why this has gone down, one.

There's what I think you asked, right? Anything else I'm

Yeah. No, if I think of it that trade was steady, which is, let's say, 50% of your volume, 9% overall realization decline would imply about a 18% fall in non-trade pricing, honestly.

Which I don't think was the case in the market at all.

If I give you detail, the kind of price drop, and in fact, when I was doing this road show in Mumbai during that quarter, I did mention to some of you, I think I don't know who all are there on the call, that what kind of price drop we see in non-trade. Right?

Particularly in Western market, non-trade prices were not that great. In fact, post GST reduction, since demand was sluggish, non-trade prices went down in other markets also.

For instance, let's say, we have a grinding station in Cuttack, Odisha. Odisha was not that great, non-trade price-wise.

Right? Even Chhattisgarh, though I think our non-trade presence is not that much, there also prices went down drastically, gap increased, right?

If you put things together, I'm just giving you the major impact which is having on us, right? I think that has impacted us.

That is what I'm trying to explain to you.

Sure. Could you also share the non-cement revenue in the quarter?

Sorry?

The non-cement business revenue in the quarter?

I'll tell you. It's ₹140 ₹147 crore.

How much was RMC in that?

RMC was ₹67 crore.

Okay. Also AAC blocks?

AAC, ₹56 crore.

Got it. The EBITDA margin would be roughly how much in this?

Around

4%.

Sure. Lastly, the capex number for this year, if I understood right, you said ₹260 has been spent, and another ₹400 is happening.

Is it about ₹650-odd crore capex for FY '26 then?

No, it is about around that, you are right, total capex.

₹650-odd?

Yes.

Then next year would be how much?

Next year, we are targeting anywhere between ₹16 to ₹1,700 crore.

Sure. Okay.

Then balance will be in '28 then?

You are right.

Okay. Thank you.

That's all from my side.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Good evening.

Am I audible?

Very much. Good evening, Ravi.

Yeah. Good evening, sir.

You shared the operating numbers and just wanted to understand, your non-trade mix did increase quarter-on-quarter. You also mentioned that there was a sharper drop in non-trade.

Broadly, could you suggest what would be the fall if trade prices would have declined on a like-to-like basis by 2%, how much would have been the drop in your non-trade realizations broadly?

I think that varies, sharper drop

Broadly, on an average 5%, 10%, just wanted to understand. Because trade, we understand it would have been dropped by 2% to 3% at max, seeing results of various peers.

Just wanted to understand non-trade, markets where you operate, what could have been the quantum of correction?

Correction would be about more than 10%. Exactly I'll tell you maybe state-wise.

Yeah.

Could you also share what was the clinker volumes in Q2? You mentioned 1.51 lakh for Q3.

For Q2, what was the number?

I'll just tell you, Ravi.

1.71.

1.71.

It dropped quarter-on-quarter. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. What explains the sharp decline in your input costs on a QoQ basis by almost ₹150, given that your fuel costs remained steady at around 1.4, 1.6, and green power mix has also been stable, and even the clinker production was lower, there would be more power consumption and whatsoever?

If I look at the total input costs, raw material, power and fuel, and change in stock, that number has come down by ₹150. Secondly, this fall in the freight costs, sharp fall by more than ₹100 per tonne, is it on account of higher non-trade sales, which is mostly ex-factory?

You are right on point, Ravi, yeah. Because this happens only for plant, and if you look at our lead has also gone down, so that has, yeah, you're right, yeah.

For the input cost reduction, sir?

Input cost, just give me yeah.

Power

Yeah.

Hello?

Hi, sir. You were answering the input cost reduction.

Hello, yeah, sorry, I think we are struggling with issues in our office today, unfortunately. Extremely sorry for that.

We are back now.

Yeah. You were explaining the input cost reduction on a sequential basis.

Yeah. Power cost has, Ravi, gone down from 5.5 to 5.37, right?

Per unit. Okay, ₹5.52, ₹5.37.

Year-on-year, how was the number, sir? Year-on-year [foreign language].

Just give a sec,

yeah. Sure, sir.

Hello?

Yeah. Go ahead, please.

Yeah. This is a nominal change, right, on the power cost?

Ravi, we can give you the details also. We are not handy with that, so, yeah.

No issue, sir. Second, sir, on the capex project, you mentioned that you have spent ₹260 crore, and another ₹400 crore is targeted for Q4.

Given that January is already out, can we assume this ₹400 crore is on track, or are there chances of any major slippages? Second, given that you're targeting the clean Durg expansion brownfield over next 12 to 13 months, what is the status of the execution on that?

Has the civil work already started? What is the status on the equipment ordering?

When would the equipment installation would start? Because that would require some lengthy time for them to get executed.

We are broadly on track for the capex which we are talked of to spend about ₹400 crore in the current quarter. Most of the equipment have all been ordered.

Construction should start, means excavation has started. Once the equipment land there, we start the installation there.

The 12-month target for the clinker is good enough for getting the plant operational by March next year?

As of now it's okay. We'll be monitoring it.

We are monitoring it regularly. We'll keep you updated on that.

Great, sir. Just two last more questions.

One on the railway siding phase two, what is the status? Second, how is the demand traction so far you are witnessing in the Q4?

January has passed on, and we are hearing non-trade prices across India have improved. What is the status on trade price improvement, and why is that not picking up?

Usually, non-trade price firming up leads to a better trade price.

Oh, yeah. As far as the railway siding is concerned, it's second phase that is expected to be completed by March '28.

Then the other part?

Demand and pricing, yeah. How is the demand stepping up in Q4?

Are we expecting a similar type of growth in Q4 for the company as well as for the industry? Industry also would have grown 7-8% in this Q3.

Q4 being the base little higher, yeah, I think demand momentum is good. What we see definitely, I think double-digit growth in quarter four as well, right?

For industry, and of course, I think we'll also grow in line with industry, volume-wise. On the pricing?

On pricing, yearly basis if you look at, I think our estimation is industry would grow by about 7% or so. Quarter four is going to be double-digit, this is what we see as of today.

Pricing-wise, non-trade prices have gone up in almost all market. Maybe I think some of the market like Odisha and all still prices have not gone up that much.

In trade, since demand is good and cost also is going up, prices are likely to go up in trade as well. Now you ask why trade prices did not go up?

Precisely I think trade prices were almost intact. That did not go down that much.

Non-trade prices which went down drastically in almost all market, that is resurrecting. Then since demand and cost also is now pushing, trade prices also will go.

Great.

Great. Just last question if I squeeze in, how is the fuel price outlook for Q4, sir, given that the surge in petcoke prices?

Also for Q1, is there some indicative number you're looking at?

Petcoke, coal prices, yeah, it's going up. I think definitely it will go up, because whatever we have stock, that we have almost exhausted.

Now new buying is also happening. It will go up by at least Yeah, 1.56 to about 1.60.

1.58

to 1.60, that is what we see in our case.

Okay. Great.

Great, sir. That's all from my end.

Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much, Ravi.

Hi, sir. I just wanted to ask that our non-cement revenue currently operates at 4% EBITDA margins.

This is significantly lower than the core business. What is the tipping point volume where operating leverage kicks in for AAC blocks or to match the double-digit margins of grey cement business or something to that effect?

All these businesses, you have a very good ROCs. EBITDA margin, I think we are in almost alignment with the industry, right?

That varies. Ready-mix operates at about 3% to 5% kind of range.

Plaster of Paris business, that is little on higher side, and AAC block is somewhere in between. Though we are working on improving productivity all across, and our effort is to really focus much more in case of ready-mix on value-added concrete, in case of AAC block improving AAC footprint.

We are working on that as well. Now we are also in the process of ramping up our Alwar plant, which produces putty and little bit white cement.

Perhaps that will take our margin little better than what we have today. Right now, I think since all these product lines installations are in the ramping-up phase, we see that improved margin going forward.

Not closer to the cement, I would not say that will reach to the cement level, but definitely a higher single-digit. That is what our effort is.

We aim to reach there by?

It will take at least two years' time. At least two years.

Yeah.

All right. Thanks a lot, sir.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot for the chance. Sir, most of my questions have been answered, just had one doubt.

We have seen 4 percentage point decline in trade share in this quarter, but our blended share is steady or constant. What could be the reason for this?

Blended is 62%, I suppose, last quarter. Right?

It is. It has not fallen at all.

It is. Sir.

Institutional sales is not only about OPC.

Right?

Institutional sales is also about blended cement. For instance, we have started pushing again, I think it has gone up.

Are you there? Hello?

I'm there, sir.

Yeah. Institutional sales, we are trying to push blended cement, that is PPC.

In lot of ready-mix plants, we have supplied now PPC, which was not the case before, right?

Non-trade

percentage increase necessarily doesn't mean that OPC goes up. Because our effort is also to work on the carbon footprint and the carbon net zero road maps which we have defined for ourselves.

We are working parallelly on that, right? Effort is to really push blended cement in institutions.

All

right. Few other this thing missed, I missed your employee cost.

Did you say that employee cost will continue to go down further also next few quarters?

It will not go down. I think it will get stabilized.

Okay.

Or yeah, or maybe I think if you look at some of the sites we are adding, right? Surat we have now added, right?

Surat, I think we need to reinforce team. Then we have some increased footprint in ready-mix business, right?

I think our aim is to really kind of improve productivity rather than employee cost focusing only on employee.

Right. Lastly on capex, FY '26 we said ₹650 crore, out of which ₹400 we are planned for ₹3,000 crore capex, which is ongoing.

Yeah. Am I right?

Okay. Thanks a lot, sir.

Sir. Just one question.

Like so far whatever results have come from the sector, we haven't seen this sharp fall in realizations, a 10% quarter-on-quarter fall in realizations ex of non-cement revenues. How do we define that, sir?

Because it's a significant fall, ₹450-60 quarter-on-quarter, and I'd say same market is there for all other peers as well. Why we have seen such a sharp fall?

Over the quarters, I really don't understand how the communication has been. Like so far in the last concalls, we were saying that realizations are not going to fall that much.

What we are seeing is a massive fall of ₹450-50 quarter-on-quarter realization.

I think I explained you, Mr. Kamlesh.

Whatever I had to say, and whatever exceptional happens, I told you our footprint and wherever we are. I do not know which peer group you are comparing with.

I'm not too sure. Maybe I think you have something in your mind.

I told you that our presence in some of the market, which is heavy on non-trade, is high. That increased in last quarter, and there were reasons also for that.

I explained you that. That is what I think I have to say, nothing more.

No, but now going forward, have we been able to recoup all the fall in the realizations in this quarter, or where do we see our realizations in the current quarter?

As I said, in all these market, we are in the competitive scenario, we are competing with other players. The way that market moves will move in that alignment only, right?

I told you the pricing scenario also, right? Because for us, I think priority in quarter three was to really ramp up the additional capacity which we had, and I think that was the right decision, right call, right?

That is now getting stabilized, and things will come to semblance for sure. That is what we see, and we have seen that in the last 2 months as well.

This is what

Right, sir. If you can quantify how much what our current realizations are compared to Q3 average or whatever we have reported in this quarter?

No,

right now we cannot quantify, because still 2 months are left in this quarter. Let's wait for some time, because there are volatilities in the market.

If I tell you something, and tomorrow again you'll ask me question that you had mentioned that, I think that is not fair from my part. I'll keep you updated.

It's only 1 month is over in this quarter, things are moving in a positive direction, and hopefully I think that direction will not change. This is what my conviction is today.

Quantifying things as of today is perhaps I may not be able to.

Okay. Great.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Sir, thank you for the opportunity.

Sir, I have two questions. One is what was your fuel on consumption fuel cost on consumption basis for in Q3?

It was 720, 1,000 kcal.

Sir, how much was it? I didn't get that.

720.

720.

Sir, on kcal basis?

Kcal basis.

Got it.

Cost was 1.56, yeah.

1.56, okay, got it. Sir, one more thing.

Would it be possible for you to quantify the Gujarat sales maybe for the Q3 quarter and as well as base year and previous quarter? Is that possible?

I think this is not handy with me, we can talk on this later. Yeah.

Thank you, sir. Those were my questions.

Thank you.

Thanks finally got the opportunity. Sir, most of the question answers are again coming on the realization part.

Sir, just to get quantitatively a better understanding, since 1st January till now, non-trade prices for us has gone up by how much, ₹15-20-odd? Is that the fair understanding?

Shravan, this varies in different market, and the range I would put is ₹10 to ₹15.

Okay. In terms of trade, you said it remained at the same level.

Yeah. Trade, I think we have been around 54-55% level.

This is what.

Yeah. Now we are saying that the trade prices to also go up.

Given that Likely to go up,

Shravan. Likely to go up,

yeah. Likely to go up.

Yeah. Given that, sir, some of more capacity is still to come up, and everybody will try to push the volumes for the March.

Don't even we are considering that there will be some rollback in the month of March?

That is what I was trying to make understand the earlier gentleman, Mr. Kamlesh, that whatever we say based on what we see today.

I think there is lot of volatility and dynamism in the market, and based on that we have to take our call, business call, which we keep on taking. Definitely, forecasting sitting today, I think it becomes very difficult.

I agree with you.

Understood. Because the issue for us, why everybody is trying to hop on the same thing is, because to make the number or the estimates as a analyst, this kind of a deviation at a ₹200, ₹300, ₹400 makes our entire estimates goes on for a toss.

Will be difficult, it can become a sell, from sell to it can become a buy. That's why everybody is trying to understand why such a significant volatility in the prices for us.

That's the only thing. Sir, just more clarification in terms of total capex in nine months at console level is how much, sir?

Is it ₹260? Because ₹250 crore was there in 1H.

Just hold on, Shravan.

Yeah.

On a console basis, including the various projects which we are doing, in nine months is about ₹350. ₹260 we are talking of only for the Durg expansion.

Okay. ₹350, and more another we will be doing a kind of ₹400 crore on Durg.

Maybe if you can specify in terms of on a yearly basis, the maintenance capex would be how much, ₹200-odd crore for us?

No, no, maintenance about is not ₹200, it's totally ₹50 crore in a year.

Okay. For FY '26 would be a then ₹350 plus ₹400, ₹750 to ₹800 crore would be the total capex at console level for FY '26?

That's why initially, it could be ending up maybe anywhere between it will not touch ₹800, between ₹650 to ₹700 at best.

Okay. Understood.

Then, sir, on the conveyor belt, is there any update, or it's the same what we said last quarter?

Same status, still it's in the final stages. Same status.

Then

in terms of the further expansion beyond this, the Nagaur, Kutch, and Assam, whatever we say to reach a 30 million tonne, so that stands remain same? In terms of the net debt to EBITDA, that 3, 3.5 times that we will try to maintain?

We would like to not cross that limit.

Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay.

Sir, in terms of the cost reduction from here on, from Q3 would be a difficult even for on the cost basis of because when you say the staff cost, so that also want to understand more. From Q2 to Q3, the number of employees has there a decent decline, or was there a salary cut?

No salary cut, productivity improvement, and that is what we'll keep doing even going forward. We don't do salary cut.

Sir. Thank you for the follow-up question.

Just one question. We are already working at more than 90% clinker utilization, and our Durg line 2 as mentioned earlier in the call will not be coming before March of 2027.

What can be a safe assumption for the volume growth for FY '27, sir?

FY '27, we have some headroom in Surat, one. We have some headroom in Udaipur, second.

We do have some headroom even Jhajjar, Jharli, and fourth, we have some headroom in Cuttack. I think this is what we see that this will keep us on the growth path, right?

Even next year also, I think we see a similar kind of growth, of course, contingent to the industry growth, right? We see similar kind of growth even next year.

Sir, are we sourcing clinker from outside, something like that? Because we're already working

No. No.

No. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Hi, sir. Just wanted to confirm the depreciation impact in this quarter increase.

Is it totally on account of Surat grinding expansion?

Basically you're right. Surat got commissioned in the last week of September, interest and depreciation increase with the capital related cost increase on account of Surat.

Is it totally for one quarter impact in depreciation? Because from ₹78 crore, it has gone to ₹85 crore.

There is a sizable ₹7-8 crore. If we annualize it, then it becomes ₹36 crore, and whereas the project cost for this expansion was, if I recollect, it was less than ₹300 crore.

It is one quarter impact in December quarter?

I was told that about ₹6 crore is on account of the Surat, and some normal capex that has happened, and third is on account of the leasehold land depreciation also being charged.

Understood. Understood, sir.

Sir, could you give what was the clinker production for FY '25 console basis? Clinker sales, total full year.

7.23 lakh tonne.

Okay, 7.2. This was for the full year, okay.

Because if I see, you told your CC ratio is at 1.44. Are we looking to increase this CC ratio in FY '27?

It

was earlier in FY '21, '22, '23, you operated at 1.54 and more than that. Now it has come down to 1.44.

What is the safe assumption for next year?

I think our effort is to take this blended cement from 62 to about 60 60 67%. To that extent, our CC ratio will improve.

Understood.

Right?

Understood, yeah. Yeah.

That's all from my end, sir. Thank you, all the best.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hi. Thanks for the follow-up opportunity.

Just wanted to clarify on Durg capex. I see that your November corporate presentation mentions the capex number as ₹3,300 crore.

Can you just clarify, is it ₹3,000 crore or ₹3,300 crore?

We had included some expenditure on the conveyor belt also therein, but otherwise, it is ₹3,000 crore only.

The conveyor belt is added to that, but that's already going on, right? What you mentioned.

No,

no, that is not going on, that is stalled because of this issue of the land as we've been talking of. That includes the expenditure already incurred plus the balance to be incurred, which is about ₹170-odd crore.

Okay. If there's no progress on the conveyor belt, then it is ₹3,000 crore then.

Yeah.

Okay. Sure.

Thank you. That's all I wanted to clarify.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ryan. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we like to thank the management of JK Lakshmi Cement for the call and also many thanks to participants for joining the call.

Thank you very much, sir. Ryan, you may now conclude the call.

Thank you. Thank you,

thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.