Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to NCC Limited Q1 FY27 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in 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. Vaibhav Shah.

Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Harun. On behalf of JM Financial, I welcome everybody to 1Q FY27 earnings conference call of NCC Limited.

We have from the management today Shri R. S.

Raju, Director of Projects; Shri Sanjay Pusarla, Executive Vice President, Finance & Accounts; and Shri Neerad Sharma, Head, Strategy & Investor Relations. Now, I hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks, post which we can begin with the Q&A session.

Over to you, sir.

Thank you very much, Vaibhav. Good morning, everyone.

This is Neerad. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to NCC's earnings call for the first quarter of the financial year 2026-2027.

At the very outset, I would like to thank each of you for joining this interactive session and for your continued interest and trust in NCC. I have with me my colleagues, Mr.

R. S.

Raju, Director, Projects; and our CFO, Mr. Sanjay Pusarla.

Yesterday, we have announced our unaudited financial results for the first quarter of FY27, which has been uploaded on our website and shared with the stock exchanges. We trust you have had the opportunity to review the financial statements and the investors' presentation.

Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to a brief disclaimer with a request to study a detailed version from our investors' presentation. This presentation may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning NCC's future business prospects and profitability, which are subject to several risks and uncertainties.

The actual results could materially differ from those indicated in such forward-looking statements. This interaction is broadly divided into three parts.

In the first part, I will present a brief overview of the business environment, operational highlights, and our outlook for the FY27. In the second part, our CFO will cover the detailed financial performance for the first quarter of FY27.

In the third and last part, we will take up your questions. During the last quarter, the operating environment remained broadly stable, and execution across our project portfolio gathered pace.

Project progress across the sector continues to be influenced by fund allocation, client approvals, land availability, utility shifting, and billing milestones, and our teams have remained focused on mitigating these through disciplined project execution and close engagement with our clients. Our underlying business fundamentals remain robust, supported by a diversified order book across seven business divisions and an established and proven project management framework.

As of 30th June 2026, our order book stands at Rs 81,214 crore. During the quarter, we have booked new orders worth Rs 3,889 crore, mainly from our buildings and water and railways division.

This order book provides us a book-to-bill of about 3.5 times, giving healthy multi-year revenue visibility. If we take into account the projects bagged in the month of July, the total order inflow stands at Rs 4,542 crore.

In the first quarter of FY27, the company has reported a turnover of Rs 5,842 crore on a consol basis, as against Rs 5,208 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, registering a growth of 12%. On standalone basis, the number is same, about 12% growth over the last quarter of the previous year.

The EBITDA margin for the quarter stands at 9.4% on consol basis, as against 8.8% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. I am pleased to share our guidance for FY27 with you.

The order inflow for this financial year is a band Rs 22,000 to Rs 25,000 crore, I repeat, Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore, revenue growth of 8% to 10%, and EBITDA margin in the range of 8.5% to 9%. The broad components of this order book as of end of first quarter is: the building division stands at Rs 22,357 crore, which is about 28% of the total order book; the transportation division has an order book of Rs 16,344 crore, which is about 20% of our order book; the electrical T&D stands at Rs 13,312 crore, which is about 16% of the order book; the mining division stands at Rs 13,400 crore, representing 16% of the total order book; the water and railway divisions holds Rs 10,994 crore, which is about 14% of the order book; the irrigation division has Rs 4,806 crore, which is about 6% of the order book.

Now, I hand over to my colleague, Mr. Sanjay Pusarla, with a request to share the detailed financial performance of the company for the last quarter.

Thank you, Neerad. This is Sanjay Pusarla, CFO from NCC Limited.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm pleased to announce the financial results for Q1 FY27 of NCC Limited.

Before I start my presentation, it is my pleasure to announce that the turnover in the Q1 of FY27, which is Rs 4,952 crore, is the highest Q1 turnover reported in the history of NCC. As far as the consolidated turnover is concerned, we have reported Rs 5,840—42 crore, this is also the highest turnover of NCC history.

The earlier highest turnover was, in standalone, Rs 4,747 crore, which was reported in Q1 of F4—FY25; at consol, Rs 5,558 crore in Q1 of FY25. Now, I'll take you to my presentation.

My announcement will be in the order of order book, revenue, profitability, debt movement, and some of the important balance sheet items. Coming to the order book, our order book stands at Rs 81,214 crore as at the end of June 30th, 2026.

You are aware the order book at the beginning of the year stands at Rs 83,004 crore, and orders received during this quarter is Rs 3,889 crore. The order book contains a standalone of Rs 71,312 crore and from the subsidiaries Rs 9,902 crore.

Coming to the revenue, at the standalone level, we have reported turnover of Rs 4,952 crore in Q1 FY27 against the turnover of Rs 4,430 crore in corresponding quarter of the previous year, thereby an increase of 12% reported. Consolidated turnover reported in Q1 FY27 is Rs 5,842 crore as against the turnover of Rs 5,208 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, thereby an increase of 12%.

Coming to the profitability, at standalone level, we achieved EBITDA of 9.01%, which is Rs 442.45 crore, as against 9.02%, which is Rs 394.82 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The PBT, we achieved 5.12% before exceptional items, which is Rs 232.51 crore, and PAT of 3.8%, which is Rs 187.31 crore in the current quarter, as against PBT of 5.43%, which is Rs 240.69 crore, and PAT of 4.29%, which is Rs 189.99 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

At consolidated level, we achieved EBITDA of Rs 545.12 crore, which is 9.38%, and PBT of Rs 311.64 crore, which is 5.33%, this is before exceptional items, and PAT of Rs 216.40 crore, which is 3.7% in the current quarter, as against EBITDA of 8.81%, which is Rs 456.12 crore, PBT of 5.15%, which is Rs 268.36 crore, and PAT of 3.69%, which is Rs 192.14 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. We'll move to the debt.

At the standalone level, the debt at the beginning of the quarter stood at Rs 2,251 crore and net debt after cash and cash equivalents Rs 1,667 crore. At the end of Q1 to FY27, the debt stands at Rs 2,410 crore and net debt of Rs 2,008 crore, and at the end of quarter one FY26, that is the previous year's corresponding quarter, it is Rs 1,852 crore and net debt of Rs 1,497 crore.

This shows an increase in debt by Rs 159 crore in Q1 FY27. The debt-equity ratio stands at 0.31 at the end of Q1 FY27 as against 0.30 at the end of March 26, and corresponding quarter of the previous year it was 0.24.

At the consolidated level, the debt stands at the beginning of the quarter is Rs 3,457 crore and net debt after cash and cash equivalents is Rs 2,815 crore. At the end of Q1 FY27, it stands at Rs 4,020 crore and net debt at Rs 3,513 crore.

The same at the end of the first quarter of the previous year, Rs 1,986 crore is the debt and net debt is Rs 1,574 crore. Coming to the working capital, excluding cash and margin money deposits, at the end of Q1 27, we stand at Rs 5,334 crore, which is 27% of the turnover.

In terms of working capital days, it is 95 days. At the beginning of this year, we were standing at Rs 4,887 crore, which is 28%, and working capital days was 97 days.

Let's get into the trade receivables. Outstanding at the end of Q1 has decreased from Rs 3,336 crore to Rs 3,055 crore, and the number of days also decreased from 73 days to 68 days in the current quarter.

77 days is the number in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Unbilled revenue, this has increased from Rs 6,675 crore, which is 38% of the revenue, to Rs 7,414 crore.

This is also 38% represents 38% of the revenue on annualized basis in Q1 FY27, and Rs 6,440 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, which is 37%. Retention money, this stands at Rs 2,396 crore at the end of this quarter, as against Rs 2,256 crore at the beginning of this quarter.

Coming to the mobilization advances, these advances stands at Rs 3,163 crore as on 30th June 2026, as against Rs 3,386 crore as on March 26. Of these mobilization advances, 60% are interest-bearing, and the average interest rate comes to 9.1%.

Interest-bearing advances decreased from 64% to 60% in this quarter. Cash and cash equivalents, we are at Rs 402 crore at the end of June 26, as against Rs 585 crore at the end of March 26.

Margin money deposits and others, we were at Rs 633 crore at the end of Q1, as against Rs 631 crore at the end of March. Coming to the capex, we have incurred a capex of Rs 170 crore in Q1 against the budgeted capex of Rs 500 crore.

EPS stands at 2.98 at the end of Q1 FY27, as against 3.03 at the end of Q1 FY26, that's corresponding quarter of the previous year. Inventory, we are standing at Rs 1,815 crore, as against Rs 1,787 crore at the end of March.

Investment, we are at Rs 867 crore, the same is the number at the end of March. Loans to group companies, we were at Rs 290 crore as at the end of June, as against Rs 295 crore at the end of March.

Coming to the Vizag Urban status, Vizag Urban status as at the end of June 26 is Rs 271 crore, as against Rs 291 crore at the end of March 26. With this, I conclude my presentation on the financial numbers.

I give it back to Mr. Neerad.

Thank you.

We can start the question and answer session now.

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 telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.

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

The first question comes from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thank you, sir, and good to see you a very good presentation.

Also good to see that now we have given a guidance. Couple of questions.

First, I just wanted to understand directionally. This quarter let's say we have done a 12% on our execution front, and margin also kind of a 9%, but we are looking at 8% to 10% here and margin also 8.5% to 9%.

Does that mean that we are looking at a slightly lower growth and then margin also maybe a slightly lower in the remaining three quarters?

Good morning, Mr. Shah.

As the numbers speak, Mr. Shah, the first quarter has been good, sort of encouraging.

The environment continues to be bit uncertain. It is difficult for us to assess for certainty that how the fund allocation, how things really pan out in the next coming quarters.

That is the reason we have done a detailed exercise and shared what we thought is possible for the next few quarters. That is the reason this guidance we have decided to share with the market participants like you.

Okay. Internally are we kind of a seeing there is a possibility that this number particularly on the growth front, given the order book that we have, or maybe you can give us some color in terms of the entire Rs 81,000 crore kind of a order book is under execution, or maybe how much is yet to kind of a pick up in execution?

To get a sense that what's the probability that this number, particularly on the revenue front, can inch up to maybe a 15% plus kind of a number?

Yeah. Let me answer this question a little differently, Mr.

Shah. There are two critical elements to our performance.

The first critical element is our ability to execute the projects. There is not an iota of change in our capability, our ability to execute the projects.

This is something that is very much in place. The second critical element is the ability of the clients to provide the funds, make the funds available on time, give all the approvals, make all the ROWs possible.

The performance in any quarter of any financial year finally depends on this. This is how things are expected to pan out.

In the next quarter also, as things progress, we would be very happy to come and share with you.

Okay. Okay.

Great. Just a couple of things.

First, I have seen in the annual report there is a one subsidiary NCC Quantum Technologies Private Limited where there is a Rs 256 crore equity investment is there which was Rs 70 crore in FY25. Can you help us what is this and what this subsidiary is likely to do?

Quantum Technology is a holding company for the smart meters. You are aware that we are executing two smart meter projects under two SPVs, one is Ring and one is for Marathwada.

Quantum Technology is the holding company for these two smart meters.

Okay. Got it.

Lastly, in terms of the trade payable, is how much as on June? The capex, the Rs 500 crore for this year, that number guidance remains the same?

Guidance remains same for the capex, Rs 500 crore whatever we have given. For trade payables, it was Rs 7,071 crore as at the end of June 26.

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

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ankita Shah from Elara Capital.

Please go ahead. Hello, ma'am, can you hear me?

Please unmute your self and proceed with your question. Ladies and gentlemen, as there is no response, we'll move on to the next question.

The next question comes from the line of Aditya Sahu from HDFC Securities Limited. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. I hope I'm audible.

You're audible.

Hi. Thanks a lot for the opportunity.

I had a few queries. Firstly, on the JJM front, if you could help us with how much would be collection that we would have received in Q1 and what is the outstanding as of now?

The outstanding for the JJM as at the end of June 26 is Rs 1,043 crore for the UP water projects. Okay?

Okay.

Okay.

In the case of order execution, you were asking about collection in the first quarter, right? Quarter,

yes, sir, yes. Yeah.

In the first quarter, we have collected about Rs 110 Rs 110 crore. This is corresponding to the UP projects.

If you ask me overall JJM projects, the overall JJM projects, including the surface water and the groundwater, the total is Rs 2,771 crore is the UBR, and the amount collected during the first quarter against this is Rs 610 crore.

Rs 610 crore

in the first quarter,

understood, sir. Sir, what sort of receivable days are you looking at in terms of the JJM projects, sir, with her?

We started getting this money, and in the month of July also we have got a good money of about Rs 413 crore from the JJM.

We

are expecting that this flow of money, release of payment should continue. With that expectation, we are expecting to complete substantially these JJM projects in the current year.

Okay. By the current year, we are expecting to close the JJM projects, at least on the UP part?

Substantially we'll close, provided the money inflow also continues like this.

Okay. Understood, sir.

Just on the two more questions on JJM that I had was, what would be the pending order book for the JJM and the balance sheet exposure, if you could provide those two numbers for the UP part? JJM, we already gave.

We have given you already the amount receivable that is Rs 2,771 crore. As far as the order book is concerned, we have complete orders like for surface water and the groundwater, Rs 5,881 crore as at the end of June 26.

Understood, sir. If I have to look at the overall bid pipeline, what would that be for us as of now?

Sorry, I couldn't get you. Can you repeat the question, please?

The bid pipeline, I was looking forward what sort of bid pipeline are we looking at?

In the first quarter, we have shared this number, Mr. Sahu.

The prospective pipeline of projects is about Rs

2.5 lakh crore

as of last quarter. We don't revise this number quarter to quarter, but this is the prospective bid pipeline we have.

Okay. Okay.

Understood, sir. Just I think I'm just trying to understand on the commodity prices, because I think commodity prices have increased.

Any impact if you would have seen towards the payments and the execution, what is your view on that front because of this increase in the commodity prices?

As far as the commodity prices are concerned, like regular commodities steel, cement, we are not seeing any price increase. The commodities which are linked to the petroleum products, and aluminium and copper, we are looking at little price increase.

Also the OFC cable, which we are using in our BharatNet projects, there also we

have

seen there is a price increase. In the first quarter, whatever material we have used, that is from the turnover, what is there in our hand.

The second quarter, we are expecting the prices to stabilize. If the prices are stabilizing, I hope that impact will not be there, not much of impact will be there.

Understood, sir. Did the price increase—

Sorry to interrupt, sir. May I request you to please rejoin the queue for any follow-up questions?

This is connected to that only, just one thing. The price increase that you are seeing, how much are you able to pass on?

That's all from my end.

We have almost 81% of the contracts have the price escalation. Whatever price increase is coming, it gets partially compensated with the price variation clauses that are existing in our contracts.

Understood, sir. Understood.

That's welcome. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Parvez Qazi from Nuvama Group.

Please go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Thanks for taking my question. Two questions from my side.

First, in the smart meter projects, what is the pending equity from our side?

There is no pending equity from our side. Whatever money need to be invested in the smart meter projects, that has been completed.

We have invested about Rs 460 crore as at the end of March. No further equity requirement is there at the moment.

Sure, sir. Second question, obviously over the last two quarters we have seen an improvement in execution, also an improvement in payment cycle.

As things stand today, you would believe that today the payment cycle from state government projects is far better compared to, let's say, what it was at same time maybe last year? Would that be a fair assessment?

I'm not talking only about the JJM projects, but overall. What is your view on the payment cycle now?

Firstly, Mr. Qazi, good morning.

This is Neerad. We are executing projects in several states, not one and two.

It keeps changing from state to state. I think it is not helpful to go into each state individually.

By and large, we could say that things seem to be improving. We have a lot of states.

The state governments will have a lot of different kind of projects, which are managed by different arms of the government. It is not that you could just one size fits all.

In a same state, there could be some problem in some projects. The other projects in the same state might be getting paid fast.

This is a very nuanced kind of situation, and we keep monitoring almost on daily basis and accordingly make progress.

Sure, sir. Thanks.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vishal Periwal from PL Capital.

Please go ahead.

Sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

I have two questions. First, in terms of order book breakup, can you provide this into state, private, and center?

Second is in order book that we have, are there any slow-moving order or have we received mobilization advance for all of them? Any color that can you please provide?

It will be helpful.

Generally in our order book, what we do is that if there is any slow-moving order or maybe a non-moving order, we don't consider that. We generally remove it from that.

Okay? What is the other question?

The breakup of the state government, central government, and private

sector. The central government orders constitute about 14%, and state government orders constitute about 19%, PSUs and state government entities they were about 60%, and ADB, AIB, and banks it is about 5%, and from the private clients we started taking the orders, which constitute about 4%.

Okay. Okay.

Maybe just a follow-up. I think you mentioned slow-moving orders we generally remove it.

I think couple of quarters back, there were certain orders, say JJM and maybe in Maharashtra. Is that fair to understand there is no such order which is part of the order book and probably everything we are executing?

The entire Rs 81,000 crore of orders are up and running now. All are executable orders.

Yeah.

Sure. Sure, sir.

This is helpful, sir, and thank you very much.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial.

Please go ahead.

Yeah. Sir, you mentioned that the order book for JJM is Rs 5,800 crore.

Of that, what would be of longer-term nature? There will be an O&M component as well?

It doesn't have any O&M component. It doesn't constitute any O&M component.

What I have told you is that, in the order book, 3,524 is only the groundwater. If you take the surface water, it is Rs 2,358 crore.

The total order book as at the end of June 26 is Rs 5,881 crore. Sir,

if the payments are on time, this entire backlog can be executed in next 12 months?

Substantially it can be completed.

Okay. Okay.

Sir, secondly, on the Vizag side, how much receivables are we expecting to recover in this year of the Rs 271 crore?

It is by December 26.

The entire amount?

Supposed to come by entire amount by December 26. Okay.

Sir, how do you see the debt number moving by March 27 from Rs 2,400 crore?

Maybe it is flat, or it may come down also depending on the collections what we are expecting from the JJM.

You mean flat on a YoY basis?

Sorry?

Flat number on a YoY basis by March 27, it was 2,250 in last year, similar number in FY27 as well, March 27?

More or less it will be the same number. It would depend on the collections that we get to see.

It would be a function of that.

Okay. Okay.

Sir, lastly, what would be the AP capital city receivables right now?

One second. The capital city old projects, okay, which was there at the end of March 26 is about Rs 142 crore.

We are expecting that the entire money to be realized in this quarter or maybe early next quarter. Okay.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Those were my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abhishek Maheshwari from SkyRidge Fund Managers.

Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi.

Thank you for taking my question. Sir, just one, wanted to talk about your unbilled revenues.

The amount has kept ballooning year-over-year, and it's growing faster than your revenue rate. Is it that the flow of unbilled revenue to revenue is slower than what you would ideally like it to be?

Abhishek, because this unbilled revenue also, out of that Rs 7,414 crore, about Rs 780 to Rs 800 crore that has been certified in first week of July. That has come down to that extent.

Given the contracts nowadays, the contracts are based on the milestones. That is the reason there is a little bit of increase in the unbilled revenue.

We are expecting that unbilled revenue should get smoothened over the next quarters, because the BSNL billing also will start where we are executing for BharatNet, the billing also will start. It will get converted from unbilled revenue to revenue.

This is what we are expecting over the next quarters, it should smoothen.

Just a follow-up. With next few quarters, the revenues might be a little lumpy in terms of growth.

It will not be consistent because a lot of unbilled revenues you have, as and when milestones keep getting hit, the revenues will keep getting recognized. Am I correct in assuming that?

No, no, no, because unbilled revenue is already treated as revenue. Whenever the unbilled revenue converts into certification, what will happen, unbilled revenue will come down, your certified revenue will go up, it will not change the revenue numbers.

It will change the debtors.

Yeah.

Got it. Got it.

Understood.

Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Krish Bhatia from Anand Rathi.

Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi.

Thank you for taking my question. My first question was on the Ken-Betwa project.

There have been protests around land acquisition, compensation, and rehabilitation, and there were reports of work at the Daudhan dam site being disrupted. Given that NCC is executing that package, could you update us on the current execution status and have these issues affected site availability, execution, or do you see any risk to project timeline?

Mr. Bhatia, good morning.

Firstly, this is the first inter-linking of river project that has been taken up in India. This is the very first project, and we are fortunate to bag this project.

I am happy to report that we are making reasonably good progress on this report. Yes, we have seen all these media reports, and we understand that the local administration is in touch with the agitators and the issues are slowly getting resolved.

Contractually, site handover, execution, it's delayed because of land acquisition or rehabilitation issues?

Mr. Bhatia, as I shared with you, we are making reasonably good progress.

This site that has been widely reported in the media is about 20-30 kilometers from our actual site, there is no great impact as such. This is an issue between the local administration and the agitating population, and we hope the issue is slowly getting resolved.

Sure. Thank you.

That's all from my side.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities.

Please go ahead.

Sir. Hi.

Sir, my first question is on the debt number. If I see YoY, your debt was Rs 1,500 crore standalone net debt, and consolidated net debt was Rs 1,600 crore.

Now in Q1, it has gone up to Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 3,500 crore. There is a substantial jump in consolidated debt.

Can you please explain that what is the increase, where is the increase?

The increase is mainly on account of fresh debt we have taken in the smart meters. About Rs 400 crore Rs 370 crore we have taken debt on smart meters, the reason for increase is only that.

Also we are taking some equipment at the holdco level, the capex requirements are there, about Rs 160-Rs 170 crore per capex requirement also we have used some of the loans, yeah.

The increase YoY is about Rs 1,900 crore, so that is the reason I was asking. The consolidated net debt had gone up from

Rs

1,600 to Rs 3,500 crore.

Rs 1,900 when you compare it with June 25. June 25, so— If you ask me from June 25, the loan which we have drawn for our smart meter project is about Rs 1,350 crore.

Rs 1,350 crore.

Yeah.

It's a project. Basically if I have to split, out of the Rs 3,500 crore of total net debt in the consol level, approximately 1,350 comes from the smart meter?

Cumulatively, if you ask me, it is coming to 1,461, because we were talking about from June 25. If you ask me cumulatively, the debt of smart meters at the end of June 26 is Rs 1,461 crore out of that 4,019.

1,350 is the part of Rs 3,500 crore of net debt, right? How to break up the consol net debt of 3,500, can you split that net debt of 3,500 into standalone and consol?

That is—

Out of 3,500, 1,461 is Smart Meter.

Out of 3,500, 1,461 is the Smart Meter debt.

Got it, sir. The second question, what is the BharatNet order book right now pending and since the optical fiber prices have gone up significantly, is it a pass-through for us, whether we'll make margins on this project or there will be losses at the current prices?

What we are expecting is that with the current prices even we are taking up with the concerned authorities at the client level, at the ministry level also. We are asking them to look into that to ensure that the supply also domestically it is available at fairly reasonable prices.

At the moment, what we are doing, we are doing other infrastructure works which are not involving the OFC. OFC also will be doing it continuously.

It's a

long project, yeah.

It's a long project.

The prices might change also, Parikshit. It's a long-duration project.

It is not that the price which is prevailing in the market will continue for eternity. This might undergo some change.

We are in regular touch with the authorities, the concerned departments, and all bidders have raised this issue with the client, and we are hopeful of some kind of resolution in the near future.

What is the pending order book, sir, and is it a fixed price contract on the optical fiber side?

6,500 is the balance order to be executed for BharatNet project.

Is it a fixed price contract, especially optical fiber part?

It's a fixed price contract.

Okay. If the current prices prevail and if we have to execute, then there will be a loss on this, right?

It may not be resulting into a loss, but it will result into a lesser profit. What actually Mr.

Neerad explained to you, the prices will not be continued forever like this. There can be ups and downs in the prices.

We're expecting that the prices will get smoothened over a period of time.

It's a long gestation project, Mr. Kandpal.

As I said, and it is not only about NCC, there are other bidders, and the whole future of the BharatNet project depends on how these prices and not only the price, we unduly always focus on the price and do not look at the availability part of the cables. Unless these issues are sorted out, it would be very difficult to timely complete the total BharatNet project.

As I brought to your attention, we are in regular touch with the client, and we are hopeful of some kind of resolution in the next few quarters.

Okay. Just the last question, sir, on the execution.

We've been persisting with you to give guidance and this time you have given it. The question is, you earlier in the call said that about the challenges and one or two points you gave.

Till now in this quarter, Q2, have we seen the execution intensity reducing or is it in line with your expectation or the run rate you were seeing in Q1 FY27? Could

you please repeat your question, Mr. Kandpal?

Your voice is not very clear.

I was asking, sir, you had to earlier question said that execution will depend on the collections and then the site availability. Given that you have done surprised us positively on the execution in Q1, in Q2 till now, July month and August, is there any challenges on execution and the site availability or is it as usual execution which you have done in Q1, similar kind of there is no challenges and execution is happening smoothly?

That is what I wanted to know.

As we speak today, it is it is moving, smoothly. We are making good progress.

As I have called this out, in trying to answer one question on the related subject, the environment remains uncertain,

and

it is very difficult to, say for a certainty that, this is how the future quarters would how would, the fund allocation. To to cut a long story short, as we speak today, things appear to be the same as last quarter.

Okay. Sure, sir.

Thank you and wish you all the best. Those were my questions.

Thank you. Thanks.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Manav Batra from JuSoLado Advisory.

Please go ahead.

Hello. Am I audible, sir?

You're audible.

Yeah. I wanted to ask about the private sector basically.

Historically, government projects are dominated your order book. Are you seeing any build-up from the private sector book also?

We are slowly entering into the private sector, and as I said earlier, the private sector order book constitute about 4% of our total order book. We are also looking into close to private sector projects also.

Slowly we are getting into. As you are aware that NCC predominantly deals with either state government, central government, PSUs, okay, banks, like ADB or World Bank.

Now we are also venturing into the private projects, slowly we are venturing into it. Likely that we will see some kind of our entry into the private projects also, increase in the entry of private projects also.

Okay. Just a follow-up.

I also wanted to ask about what is going to be your debt profile in the next two to three years? Do you expect the leverage to increase in FY27?

Your voice is not very clear, there's a lot of echo, but I think you are asking about the debt level for the next two, three years, right? That's your question, right?

Yes, sir, yes, sir.

It is very difficult. See, we have just shared the guidance for FY27.

The process that we follow in NCC, generally we talk about the guidance for the next financial year at the start of the financial year. It is very difficult to talk only about debt in the next two, three years on a stand-alone basis.

Next year, when we share about the guidance, maybe we will talk about on this.

To add a few things to this, now the even the contracting is also changing. Now the contracts are coming on either PPP mode or HAM mode or annuity mode.

Given the type of contract we are going to win, depending on that the debt profile also will be changing. That is the reason I think Neerad was mentioning that it's very difficult to predict now, because the way the contracting is happening today is completely different what it was before.

Okay.

Thank you, sir. That was my part.

Yeah.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you are requested to restrict your question to one question per participant.

I repeat, you are requested to restrict your question to one question per participant. The next question comes from the line of Deeya Jain from Sapphire Capital.

Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

On a blended basis, how do we look at FY28 in terms of revenue and margins, now that we have started picking up on our execution and we expect prices to go down a bit, we've stabilized to some level?

Madam, your voice is very feeble, but I think you're talking about FY28 guidance. The process that we follow in the earlier question, I have shared the same thing.

We have just shared the guidance for FY27, and after completion of this financial year, we should be in a position to talk about our guidance for FY28. I do not have any guidance whatsoever to share for FY28.

Sir. No problem.

From the OFC side, how much revenue have we recognized in Q1?

OFC side means which side? BharatNet.

She was talking about BharatNet. Am I right?

Yeah.

We did about Rs 185 crore in the Q1, and cumulatively up to date we have done about Rs 620 crore.

Sir. Got it.

Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company.

Please go ahead.

Yeah. Namaskar, Neeraj-ji and team.

Hope I'm audible.

You're audible. Namaskar, Saket-ji.

Dhanyawad, sir, opportunity ke liye. Sir, as a prudent management, we have always apprised the market, the investors, and also alerted us when the timing was not correct to give guidance.

Overall, it is always prudent to see that we guide and deliver above the guidance. Is that prudency can be expected from NCC also, that we are a conservative management and whatever we have guided, our aspiration or endeavor should be to stay above the same, both in terms of revenue recognition as well as in terms of EBITDA margin?

Is this understanding fair on part of investing community?

Thank you, Mr. Kapoor, at the very outset for the kind words, and we hope to continue to live up to your expectations.

Sir. Then looking into the river-linking project part, sir, can you please summarize what is the value and how much have we mobilized?

Secondly, sir, out of this, as you mentioned, Neerad, that in the beginning that Rs 81,000 crore worth of orders are in mobilization phase, in some phase or the other. What should be the expected execution period for this entire things in entirety to get executed, the average period?

Rs 81,000 crore of order book constitutes of many orders, which are spanning between 2 years to 5 years, okay? If you take a mining order, which is almost for 7 years, 7 years, and if you take other orders, some of the orders are maybe 2 years, some of the orders are between 3 to 4 years, 3 to 4 years.

One thing what we can say is that all these Rs 81,000 crore of orders are in executable mode. Now, only the orders which we have received in this quarter about Rs 3,889 crore, they are the orders which were received in the current quarter.

They will start producing the turnover maybe from the third quarter onwards, because initial mobilization time is required. As far as the Ken-Betwa is concerned, the total order value is Rs 3,390 crore, and so far we have executed about Rs 116.35 crore.

Thirdly, the Ken-Betwa project, we have already completely mobilized at the site. All the equipment has been received.

Now, the season also will start. Probably if rains are there, there will be a little slowdown in the progress, but if the rains are not there, the progress will be good.

Right, sir. Only to add, sir, in the smart meter—

Sorry to interrupt, sir.

Bhai, I'll join the queue. Yeah.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Chandramouli Jagannathan, an Individual Investor.

Please go ahead.

Hello, sir. Smart meter STV, where you had mentioned there is a build annuity from FY27-28 onwards, how does it work, sir?

What is that annuity income that we can expect? Hello?

Yes, sir. Right, sir.

Actually the capex part will be completed by March 27. We are expecting that all the smart meter projects, either it Maharashtra, Bihar, will be completed by March 27.

By that time, the capex part will be over, then we will have the O&M revenue, which will be consistent and on a regular basis it will be accruing to the organization.

What would be the revenue, sir, roughly? Any estimate, sir?

I'll come back to you on this. Maybe offline, I'll come back to you, sir.

Right now, I don't have any number, but generally what happens is that for every 1 lakh meters that we are coming into operation, we'll be generating about Rs 1 crore of rupees for the O&M. For every 1 lakh of meters coming into operation, we'll be generating Rs 1 crore of rupees as O&M revenue.

The capex part by March 27 out of the 6,800 crore approximately?

Given the situations what happening now at the prevailing time, we are expecting that the project should be completed by March 27.

The whole Rs 6,800 crore approximately?

Yes. We have even mobilized ourselves, we have our resources, and we geared up, and to execute that whatever number of people are required, contractors are required, we have mobilized ourselves to ensure that we complete the project by March 27.

Sir, sorry, whatever the annuity revenue that you are talking about, it straightaway goes into a bottom line, it's service kind of revenue, or is there any overhead for that?

There will be overhead, sir.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

That's all from me.

Thank you. Welcome.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Karan Gupta from Kavy Capital.

Please go ahead.

Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

Just wanted to follow up from the previous question on the smart meter project. When bidding for the project, what was the underlying return on capital that management was looking at?

We were looking at IRR of 18%, and we expect that we'll be maintaining that in the project.

Okay. Is that on total capital or on equity?

On the total capital.

Just one more question. How many total meters are expected to be installed under those projects?

We have so far installed about 45% of the total meters that are required to be installed. If you ask me, we have done

7 to 8

million. We have installed more in the case of Maharashtra, about beyond 50%, and it was a little lower in the case of Bihar.

The average it comes to about 45% of the total meters to be installed against all the three contracts.

Sir. So, 7 to 8 million was the total—

Sorry to interrupt, sir. May I request you to please—

Just a follow-up because the response wasn't very clear. So, 7 to 8 million was the total number that is expected to be installed, or is that what you've already installed?

No.

7 to 8 million is the approximately total number of meters that we are expected to install in all these three smart meter projects. Two projects are in state of Maharashtra in SPV, and one project is in Bihar, which is in our NCC parent company's name.

I am talking about the total number of meters which are expected to be installed. As my colleague has already answered, we have already achieved about 45% of this number.

Perfect, sir. Thank you very much.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Srinath Reddy from Ray Investments.

Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question.

I had a question regarding the approximately Rs 180 crore receivables from the Telangana government relating to Mission Bhagiratha, which were subject to recent High Court proceedings. Could you please update on that, whether how much amount is received and what is the status?

We have received about Rs 50 crore against that, and we are expected to receive the balance money also at the rate of 15% every month.

It's a

sub judice matter, but

it's a sub judice matter. This is being, monitored by the courts.

It is very we hope to get paid as per this schedule.

Yes, sir. Sir, but again, if the government doesn't provide on a monthly basis, will you continue proceedings or will you back off?

As Mr. Neerad said, it is a sub judice, I'll not be able to dwell on that.

It is very difficult, Mr. Reddy, to state all this.

It's a matter is sub judice. Why are you hoping that this will not get paid?

We are waiting. We are hopeful.

No, I see some of the cases were backed off from NCC itself, there are a couple of cases. Which we have initiated, but again backed off, that's the reason why,

sir.

Because a huge amount, like Rs 180 crore is almost like 5% of the total receivables. Rs 180 crore is something 5% of total receivables.

That's the reason I'm asking.

It's a sub judice matter, we have nothing more really to add.

Sir.

Thank you. We have the last question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital.

Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Sir, just two things.

In terms of the depreciation and the finance cost, whether the TBM, the current depreciation in this quarter let's say Rs 67-odd crore, when can we start seeing this going up, and to what extent it can go up on a quarterly basis? At the same time, in terms of the finance cost also, the broadly kind of a 3% 3% of the revenue, that's the way one can look at?

Or given that recently the gross debt has been increased, we can see a maybe a slight increase from here also?

Two things, one is on the depreciation. We are expecting that TBM will also start functioning from now.

Once it starts functioning, probably maybe from the third quarter, the depreciation also will go up.

Third quarter, fourth quarter, it depends. Third quarter,

third quarter, it will start. We'll start recognizing the depreciation of the TBM.

That is one. Second thing you were asking on the interest.

Given the situation, if the payments are coming, we'll be maintaining the same kind of percentage of interest cost. We are looking at the collections in the coming months.

If these collections are coming, probably the interest case cost may get softened.

Okay. Got it, and thank you, and all the best, sir.

Yeah.

Thank you. We'll take that as the last question, and I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

Thank you, and

over to you.

Thank you very much for your very enthusiastic participation. Thank you.

Have a good day.

Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone.

On behalf of JM Financial, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.