Thank you, Yashasvi. Good afternoon everyone and a warm welcome to the Nuvoco Vistas earnings conference call for the quarter ended September 30th, 2026.

Before we begin, just wanted to state what we have achieved over the past decade. This year we have completed 10 years in the cement business.

What began in 2014 with a single manufacturing operation at Nimbol with a 2.3 million tonnes of cement capacity has evolved into a diversified building materials company spanning cement, ready-mix concrete, and modern building materials. October 2016 marked a defining inflection point with the completion of the acquisition of Lafarge.

This was followed by the acquisition of Emami Cement in 2020 during the COVID-19 period, which also opened a new phase of growth. The growth agenda was further strengthened with the acquisition of Vadraj Cement Limited.

Today, Nuvoco has a diversified manufacturing presence across the East, North, and West and is well positioned to reach 35 million tonnes of cement capacity by FY28, representing nearly 15 times growth over the past decade. This journey reflects the commitment of our teams and continuous trust of our customers, channel partners, and shareholders.

Looking ahead, the journey continues and we have multiple options for growth, including expansion at Gulbarga and in the North. At the same time, we continue to build up strategic limestone resources, which will give us the raw material security to support sustained growth over the long term.

Before we open the floor for questions, I'd like to take you through the key developments of the quarter and how the business performed. Let me begin with the operating environment, which was challenging.

The Middle East conflict, which towards the end of Q1 and the beginning of Q2 appeared to be settling, escalated once again. This led to a sharp jump in the input prices, including the pet coke, coal, granules, gypsum, etc.

Pet coke prices in particular surpassed the previous peaks we witnessed between March and April. The pressure was not limited to the global front.

Domestically, intense and erratic rainfall, especially in the East, brought thermal coal inventories at several power plants across the country to critical levels. As a result, coal supply was prioritized for the power sector.

A consequence of this was also reduced rake availability, which disrupted the supply chain and also led to the surge in domestic prices of e-auction coal. A brief trend of this is also being presented in our investor presentation.

On the demand side, all-India cement demand grew during the quarter, but regional trends varied. The monsoon disrupted construction activity particularly in the East, while regions with relatively lower rainfall saw better demand.

On the other hand, prices did not improve in line with expectations. In short, it was a challenging quarter.

Despite these macro challenges, the company delivered a resilient performance. Volume grew by 9% YoY, revenue grew by approximately 14%, and EBITDA grew by 11% on a YoY basis.

Our strategic levers of premiumization and geo-mix supported this performance. Premiumization reached a historic high of 45%, whereas trade mix remained at 75%.

On the project progress on Vadraj Cement Limited, the 2 million tonnes grinding unit at Limla Cement Plant in Surat was commissioned during the quarter. The addition not only strengthens Nuvoco's manufacturing and distribution presence in Western India, but will enable the company to release much-needed capacity at Rajasthan plants for the Northern market.

At Kutch, project activities are progressing as planned, with phased operationalization planned from Q3 FY27. The construction of bulk cement terminal at Viramgam, Sachana, which will be equipped with a dedicated railway siding, is also on track.

It will serve as a strategic distribution hub to deepen Nuvoco's presence and expand its reach across the Gujarat market. During the quarter, the company also executed agreement with CleanMax for a 46.4 megawatt of wind-solar hybrid renewable energy project in Rajasthan.

Once operational, the project is expected to generate approximately 100 million units of renewable electricity annually and deliver long-term cost certainty by reducing dependence on conventional power sources, thereby strengthening the company's energy mix and improving long-term cost efficiency across the Rajasthan operations. As we enter the upcoming quarters, we expect demand to remain healthy as monsoon conditions have receded in most regions.

The company remains focused on delivering growth, and we'll continue to be watchful of the geopolitical developments. With that, I'd like to open the floor for questions.

Operator, please go ahead.

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for the opportunity. I had two questions, but they're more on the cost front.

I'm referring to your slide number 11 wherein we are highlighting pet coke prices going up to almost $187 and, more importantly, the premiums in Coal India across all the subsidiaries more than doubling or going much higher in some cases. My first question is, what was our average fuel cost in Q2?

I believe in Q1 we were given a number of 1.52. Against that, what was the cost in Q2?

At the current spot rates that we are all worried about, which is 187 and the premiums on long, what will that transpire to on spot basis? I understand inventory comes with a lag, but just to get a impact on a upper end of the spectrum.

Thanks. I guess first of all again just want to proudly inform the 10th anniversary of Nuvoco.

Literally dus saal, behtareen saal for the company. From a single plant we're now 12 plants and two more in the offing, and I think we are committed to growing this business and contributing to the growth of the country's infrastructure and housing requirements in the many decades going forward.

We are singularly poised to be a significant player in this category in the coming years. Coming to the question, you had asked what has been our fuel cost from Q1 to Q2.

When we did the Q1 earnings call, I had mentioned our fuel cost in Q1 came at 1.52 rupees per million cal, translating to 1005 rupees per tonne energy cost for the company. What's happened in Q2 is this 1.52 creeped all the way up to 1.59, and we came at an energy cost of 1080 per tonne, technically close to about 80 rupees increase in power and fuel cost for the company in Q2 over Q1.

As we mentioned in the investor presentation about the pet coke prices as we speak and also what could be the pet coke prices going forward, currently pet coke spot prices available at $190 and the current view is going forward it may even cross $200 per tonne. If you have to translate the 180 and 187 and 200 excess of $200 per tonne, the rupees per million cal will at 180, and the fuel mix which Nuvoco uses is blended.

Whatever fuel we use, AFR, domestic coal, open market coal, and pet coke, our rupees per million cal fuel cost in Q3 will come to 1.8 as against 1.59 in Q2. There will be an increase of 0.21 rupees per million cal in the fuel which will come in Q3 versus Q2, and that would translate to approximately 70 to 80 rupees increase in energy cost in Q3 versus Q2.

As we speak, we also have to cover fuel for Q4. One of the good things which our teams have done is we've been continuously buying pet coke in the last few months and as we speak as well, so that we have adequate pet coke coverage for the company in Q3 at this rate of 1.8.

Otherwise, if we were to buy at 187 or $190, this 1.8 will already cross about 2 rupees 50 paisa, and if pet coke prices were to go to $215, the cost will go to 3 rupees per million cal. It will be a phenomenal increase.

We are at a pretty comfortable position. All this quarter we have pet coke and the rest of the fuel which will come to only 1.8, an increase of about 70, 80 rupees per tonne.

Whatever fuel which we are booking for Q4, again we have coverage for the months of January until middle of February. The high-cost pet coke will come and hit us sometime in March.

The full impact of the 200 rupees $200 per tonne pet coke will come and hit only in March next year. We are adequately covered for this three months and also a month and a half in Q4.

To sum up, Q1 rupees per million cal was 1.52, Q2 it came at 1.59, delta energy cost about 90 rupees, Q3 it will come at 1.8, delta energy cost will be 70 to 80 rupees more than Q2.

Thank you. Just a clarification that this 1.8 that you are mentioning for Q3 also factors in the surge in premiums for Coal India coal and all of that, right?

Yeah. Look, coal comes under premium is when Coal India has also come up with auctions for domestic coal.

What the curve which you've shown is the auction rates which are currently trending. An auction came up for 5 lakh tonnes about two weeks ago, and that was the price which we have indicated.

However we are doing many spot buyings and have inventory coverage and also some of the linkage coals which we have, which was a little bit of a challenge to procure in Q2 because of the reasons of power plant needs for coal. Things are slightly easing in the eastern front, and couple of the coal mines which we have linkage coal, we expect to get coal from early part of November onwards.

All this put together, doing conservative local coal and managing the pet coke and domestic coal mix as well as judicious use of AFR, 1.8 is a number which we will get in Q3 versus Q2.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Just continuing from the first question, the energy cost will be around 70 to 80 rupees per tonne higher QoQ, but you should have benefits of higher volumes, operating deleverage, maybe some cost deflation in packaging.

Overall, how do you see cost trend in Q3 versus Q2?

Okay. I think I'll just give you a complete picture because I can't give a piecemeal because number of such questions will come.

I'll try and answer the entire cost questions that can come in one bucket. The cost line in Q2 versus Q1 came up with the following negative number.

One is adverse numbers, power and fuel cost was expensive in Q2 versus Q1 by close to about 90 rupees. Raw material, which constitutes fly ash, gypsum, slag, as well as in our case because of shutdowns in northern kilns as well as kilns in Risda, we also had to do some open market purchase of clinker, that came as a negative of about 60 rupees.

Packing bags in Q2 versus Q1, with increase in granule prices in the early part, came at about 10 rupees. Net-net, we have cost inflation versus Q2 versus Q1 close to about 180, 190 rupees.

In comparison to that, in Q2 I'll first talk about the cost line. Power and fuel will come with a delta 70 to 80 rupees more than Q2.

Raw material, I think all our shutdowns have done and then rake availability is also improved in the last two weeks, and hence this raw material costs in Q3 versus Q2 may be negligible, about 10 rupees. That should not be a major stuff, unless and until we have to get some imported mineral gypsum from Oman, so that could be the only area.

Other than that, I think slag and fly ash, there could be small market fluctuations, maybe 10 rupees is what I'm kind of looking at. The one thing which will come slightly, again cascading effect in Q3 versus Q2, is packing bags.

With volumes coming in and with LPP bags consumption going up, and also granule prices in the market have got upward revised twice or thrice in the last one month. Here I'm looking at a 20 rupee increase in per tonne of cement through packing bags stuff.

In Q2 we had a busy season surcharge waiver that will come back in Q3, that should be a negative 10 rupees. Net-net, I'm looking at a cost inflation of Q3 versus Q2 about 100 to 120 rupees.

How do we plan to kind of offset all of it? Because most important thing is while I will say what are the cost stuff, but as you mentioned, the fixed cost leverage, which was a case in Q2, will become almost zeroed or a positive in Q3 because our volumes will increase when compared to Q2, and we get some benefit of fixed cost.

The most important thing is the agenda of price increase which we are embarked on. Our price increase, our realization increase will be based on three levers, which was the case in Q2, it was the case in Q1, and it's going to be the case in Q3 as well.

The first thing I'm want to inform the call is we have taken a price increase somewhat after 15th of September, where non-trade prices went up by about 20 rupees, 20, 25 rupees more in North. Trade had correction of 5 to 7 rupees in the North markets in the second half of September.

In October, we already have a 20 rupees price increase in non-trade in North and non-trade in East, and also another 20 rupees price increase in trade prices in East. The average 20 rupees price increase should totally defray the cost increase, and we'll have a delta benefit in realization in Q3 versus Q2.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, given the fact that our Surat plant is now operational, could you just tell us what is the capacity utilization level of this plant right now, and what sort of run rate do we anticipate maybe say one or two quarters down the line?

It's a little bit of premature for me to say capacity utilization of Surat, because the baby has started walking. While we're very proud that we commissioned the plant in Q2 and September the volume started getting into the market.

As we speak, yesterday was a milestone day for us where we churned out 3,500 tonnes of cement in one single day with the highest ever production as a capacity of close to about 5,500 tonnes per day. We have done 3,600 yesterday, obviously all of it will go to the market.

As I mentioned in my previous call, our target is in Q4 of this year, we will get into 2 million tonne annualized volume in Gujarat. We're currently about 1.5 million tonne annualized, excess volume will be available in the market in Q4.

Since Kutch grinding will not be available in Q4, all the incremental 0.5 million annualized volume will come from Surat grinding unit only in Gujarat. I'm looking at close to about 50, 60% capacity utilization in Q4 of this year, and next year it'll reach about 70, 75% capacity utilization.

Sir, just a clarificatory question. 0.5 MTPA run rate in 4Q from the Surat plant, did I hear that correctly?

Yeah.

Our capacity is 2 MTPA, 0.5 MTPA implies almost 100% utilization.

No, I can run, but I have to sell it in the market as well. It's kind of a dual phenomenon because I'll have to introduce my product in Western Maharashtra, which will happen, and I would have mentioned about this going forward as well.

Clinker will come from Kutch only by end of Q3. Till such time I'll have to get clinker from rest of India into that place, it becomes a expensive proposition.

We are not kind of going aggressive in the market. Once Kutch unit starts manufacturing, that's when the availability of clinker will be there.

When I say 0.5, it is incremental 0.5 over already 1.5 which I'm selling in Gujarat. Even that 1.5 which I'm selling in Gujarat will also come from Kutch, and rest of all the capacity which gets released from my Rajasthan plant will be there to fuel my growth in North India.

The season will peak in Q3 and Q4 in North India, and if I had not had Surat, I would have been sold-out condition then. Hence my entire sale would have got impacted based on capacity non-availability.

I will have a capacity release of close to about a million tonnes of cement in North from Q4 onwards, so that volume will be used to sell in North. It has to be looked at in both ways: how much incremental sale I get in North, and how much incremental sale I get out of Surat in Gujarat.

Overall we are looking at as a company, from the current run rate of 1.5 million annualized tonne per annualized volume, it will go to 2 million tonnes in Q4 this year.

Understood, sir. Secondly, sir, on our East debottlenecking projects, it seems that is not the primary focus for us at least this year.

Could you maybe tell us what sort of timelines we're looking at in terms of different projects?

Yeah. One of the things which should have covered later in the Q&A, in the previous call and the call before I had mentioned that our capex spend for this year would be close to about 900 odd crores and then the year next will be about 900 odd crores, considering the bulk of the money is going to go into Kutch rebuild.

What we have realized is our project teams in Gujarat are doing a fantastic job in bringing up the asset. I'm kind of front-ending some of the expenditure for Kutch, Surat, and Viramgam bulking terminal this year itself.

In H1 of this year, as against the original plan of about 450, 460 crores of capex spend, we have gone ahead and spent about 780 crores. The balance five months put together, we are looking at a 1,200 crore capex in the company, out of which 1,000 crores will be for Vadraj, 50 crores for Viramgam, and balance for the running operations.

It will be front-ending the capex, and the balance capex for Vadraj will happen next year to complete the project. In this bargain, we took a conscious call to slightly delay the East expansion from Q3, Q4 FY27 to Q1, Q2 FY28.

It's just timing and the sequencing issue, however very much it is there. Right now in FY28 H1, I don't need any additional capacity in East to feed the market.

Hence we have taken a conscious call to prioritize Vadraj first and slightly move the East by six to eight months, just to manage the cash flow and the bandwidth for the company to focus on Vadraj Cement, because that is going to be a big-ticket agenda for the company since we invested quite a bit of money to acquire the company and rebuild the factories.

Hi, sir. Sir, this year as you said the 1,200 crore capex will be there, next year FY28 will it be a kind of a 650, 700 crore kind of a capex?

No. Let me just give the details.

FY27 H1 we ended up spending 780 crores, and balance five months we will do about 420 crores. FY27 full year, we will spend 1,200 crores.

Next year we are looking at 800 to 900 crores as a capex outlay which includes about 800 crore for Kutch, Surat, and Sachana, East debottlenecking, as well as the capex for the existing plant. I'm looking at 1,200 crore this year, anywhere between 800 to 900 next year.

Net-net, two years put together, we're looking at range of 2,000 to 2,100.

Okay. Got it.

Second, sir, you have clearly articulated in terms of the 100 to 120 rupees kind of a QoQ increase in cost in third quarter. In terms of the pricing, 20 odd rupees kind of a price increase likely to be there in the third quarter.

Net-net, kind of a we are looking at 70, 80 rupees kind of a if the prices remains the same and the cost remains the same, kind of a QoQ improvement in the profitability.

I will answer it. Obviously, I'll just restate what I said.

One is the cost numbers which I indicated by and large we are fairly close to the actual number that will happen, because we have adequate fuel stocks and rest of the contracts are all lined up, and this is the kind of cost inflation I'm looking at Q3. We are well into October 20, and then this is the kind of outlook I have for the balance two months.

Price increases which we have taken in the first in August October 1st as well as the late September price increase in some markets and early October and mid-October price increases in East market, this kind of numbers I'm assuming will stick because post-Diwali demand will open up, and there'll be sufficient pull in the market, and I'm hoping the price corrections which we have done will stay put in the balance two and a half months. If the price correction stay put and the cost time more or less certain with 100 to 120 rupees, there'll be an improvement in the overall profitability.

Great. Lastly, sir, on the net debt front, though it has increased to 5,000 1,600 odd crore.

How now and we have slightly up of in terms of the capex has also increased for this year. How do we see this debt for this year and maybe next year?

What's the broader thought there?

Shravan, I will very clearly say that as a management and as I've been attending this calls for few years now, our stated position has been we are comfortable anywhere between 3,500 to 4,000 crores, and our commitment is to find a way to get the net debt about two times EBITDA. You would recall when we did the Vadraj acquisition, our company's net debt had already reached about 3,500, and that's when we made the next big investments.

That is how the overall debt of the company in March went to about 4,500 odd crores. As we speak, in this September end we have crossed 5,000.

Largely this 500 odd crores has happened due to two reasons. One is I mentioned in my call about the pet coke stocking, and the overall cost of pet coke has also increased, and hence it is a value impact as well as the volume impact, which has resulted in a working capital increase of close to about 200 crores for the company.

In addition to that, the capex spend, as I mentioned, as against 900 crores as against 450 crores in H1, I've ended about spending 780 crores. These two combinations have taken my net debt to about 5,000.

When we come to H2, my working capital release will happen. Number two, my cash flows will increase because of higher volumes and H2 is always collection and because various other schemes run in the market, my overall cash generation will big time improve in H2.

With the increase in business activity, cash generation, and capex which I assumed it will be 480 will be slightly 500, it'd be less in the next four months, and also the working capital release, our net debt should be touching in the same range as what it was March last year by end of this year. When I say in the short to medium term, which is four to six quarters, our net debt will always hover between 2 to 2.5 times, and once Vadraj volumes get absorbed in the market and we scale up Vadraj Cement, our net debt numbers will go back to our committed numbers of less than two times EBITDA.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. On the cost bit, just a clarification.

You mentioned that for third quarter Can

you speak on the handset if you can please and not speak through speaker?

Is this better?

This is better, please.

Yeah. On the cost bit, you mentioned that third quarter it would be on a per kcal basis 1.8.

Is the same number for the fourth quarter, because your current purchases you said will hit in March, right? Considering that, what would be that per kcal cost number for fourth quarter?

That will be a little bit of very long-term guidance, and I would refrain from making such a long-term guidance because as I mentioned in the little few minutes ago, I said January and mid-February we are already covered with inventory, and the high-cost coal will come only in mid-February till March. If I have to stick my neck and say that I'm looking at a further increase of about 70, 80 rupees in Q4 versus Q3 in the worst-case scenario.

Understood. In the second quarter, was there any additional cost that we should consider for the Surat grinding unit, because volume must not have been significant, right?

No. Q2 commissioning happened in the last week of September, hence I don't think we should consider any additional cost.

Certainly in Q3 there will be some costs of Surat will come, which will be interest charge will come, depreciation will also come. There we're looking at close to about 30, 40 crores which will come, but the volumes will also come, scale will happen, and we'll get some of it is going to be below the EBITDA line, some of it will be above the EBITDA line.

Net-net, it is not going to dramatically change the overall look and feel of the P&L.

Understood. Thanks, yeah.

Hello?

Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is that in the first half we've seen that the volume growth

Can you mind speaking slightly louder?

Sure. Is it audible now?

Please go ahead.

Yeah. We have seen that the volume growth in the first half has been strong for the industry.

Now that given the varied monsoon trends, how would we see the rural demand shaping up in the upcoming quarters, sir? That's my first question.

Also for FY28. That's

for FY28. I'm sorry.

The question you are asking, what will happen to demand in H2 this year, asking I guess?

How do you see the demand trends for rural region?

I still believe that one year of excess monsoon or one year of drought doesn't spoil the overall industry outlook. I've really looked at last 10, 15 years of how the industry has performed and because I've done a little bit of work to see what happens to demand variation based on drought-like condition or extended monsoon-like condition.

My inference is if you have a back-to-back year where things go wrong either in monsoon or in drought, then the demand gets impacted to 5% kind of a number. That's what the historical data says.

I'm assuming that doesn't happen next year. Also, certainly, even though costs have gone up, if you really look at the growth in India is still coming at 7.8, and fair amount of growth is happening in infrastructure.

Once the monsoon ends and the festival ends, I think construction activity will pick up speed going forward. Also it coincidentally matches with the cement cycle from December to June.

Hence, I'm pretty optimistic that demand for the industry should be in the range of 7 to 8% like before. It may be to be a percent here and there a little bit more.

India is multiple countries and multiple regions have got different growth rates, but if you put a blended growth for India, I'm really looking at about 8% industry growth in H2.

Understood, sir. My second question is on Vadraj assets.

It may be too early to ask, but if you could guide us what would be the EBITDA per tonne on these assets, and how much time will it bring to bring these assets to Nuvoco's standard cost?

Okay. I will answer this question in two ways.

One will be a little bit of a theoretical way, because when we made the acquisition and we looked at the market and the opportunity which we have and the value we are paying for the asset and the cost of refurbishing the asset, and looking at the very realistic growth which Nuvoco can get in Gujarat as well as Western Maharashtra, we are looking at an EBITDA of Gujarat matching the North EBITDA in year three, and that should be tallying with Nuvoco's blended EBITDA at a country level in year three of operation. Assuming FY26 is the first year, looking at FY28 is when the full assets will be sweated and the market will be fully developed and the EBITDA per tonne of Vadraj will match the EBITDA per tonne of Nuvoco in year three.

That's subject to two or three two things. One is how is that model line we developed based on the prevailing cost structure and prevailing price in the market.

That has undergone a little bit of a change, but I'm assuming all this cost inflation which has happened due to various P&L items will be offset by price increases in the coming quarters. In a steady state of next two to three years, cost inflation will be absorbed by the price increase.

What will Nuvoco bring to the table, I explained in the last call. We are uniquely positioned in Gujarat with the bulk terminal very close to Ahmedabad, Kutch grinding unit, and the Surat grinding unit, and the jetty movement from Kutch to Surat as well as the railway movement from Kutch to Surat.

I think our costs will be under control, and certainly in year three, which will be FY29, maybe FY28 Q4 and then on to first 1Q FY29, Gujarat and Western Maharashtra EBITDA per tonne should match Nuvoco's all-India EBITDA per tonne.

Thank you so much. Good evening, and a great set of numbers.

I only have one question is, what is the reason behind the interest expenses, apparently this quarter it has actually come down. Do we see the same trend, or is it very specific to this quarter?

What has resulted in the reduction of this interest cost while the interest rates

Jyoti, we just missed your last bit. It kind of broke off.

Can you just repeat the question one time please?

I was asking, this quarter the interest

ex- We heard your first thing, but then the second part of your question was missed. You said what is the reason.

Why don't you repeat the question please?

What is the reason for the reduction in this interest expense, and do we expect that this to continue in the subsequent quarters despite increasing interest rates?

That's it from my side. Jyoti, as you asked this question, basically, what Jay mentioned sometime back, the commercial operations for the Surat plant started sometime in the last week of September, accordingly all the borrowing costs as per the Indian accounting standards have been capitalized.

As the Surat operations pick up, there will be definitely impact of the interest cost that will be there clearly visible in the P&L going forward quarter-on-quarter. Besides that, there will be depreciation charge that also will be coming up.

Which means this is very specific to this quarter. We will see impact of interest expense and depreciation going forward, right?

Yes, predominantly because of that, yeah.

Thik hai. Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Hi, sir. Sir, couple of data points for this quarter.

Lead distance, road rail share, blended cement share. Okay.

Our road and rail share is rock solid at 64-36. Q1, Q2 numbers are almost same.

So 64 road and 36 rail. A little bit of tweak in lead distance.

Our lead distance has gone up by about 4 kilometers. So 328 what was there, it's gone to 332.

In terms of blended fuel cost in Q2 is at 1.59 which I mentioned, out of which coal comes at 1.47, pet coke came at close to 2, and AFR at 0.95. Fuel mix: coal at 66%, pet coke at 27%.

In fact, last call I mentioned that one of the big initiatives for the company was the reduction in pet coke. We hung on to the same pet coke numbers in Q2 versus Q1, we still operated 27% pet coke, AFR at 6%.

This will increase in Q3 because Risda kiln will be up and running after shutdown and our AFR percentage will go up. Coal at 66, pet coke at 27, AFR at 6.

Blended cement, sir, would be 82 odd percent?

Okay. Blended cement ratio is at 83% as against 82% last time.

Clinker ratio came at 1.75 in Q2. It was 1.73 in Q1.

Premium was all-time high as Bishnu mentioned. We came at a 45% premium, which is the highest ever in the history of the company.

I think that's an agenda which we have been pursuing, and then we will continue to pursue this agenda going forward as well. Very happy to report our Duraguard Microfiber and Concreto Uno, both brands have become 1 million tonne brand.

In fact, in the entire industry, if there's a premium product in the shortest possible time of less than 18 months reaching from zero to 1 million, it's Concreto Uno. I think that's something which we're very proud of.

Lastly, sir, tax rate 41.6% for 1H, on a reported basis. Tax divided by PBT.

For full year, how one can look at, and when it will be kind of a 25%, 26% from FY28? Just

give me

a second.

We are evaluating the transition of tax from the old regime to new regime. It is still being evaluated, and we'll take a final call before the end of this financial year.

That figure what you are seeing, the tax rate being slightly higher than the normal stuff, like 41%, because in the new act, the MAT that is being paid is not allowed to be set off, and that's the reason why it's slightly higher from 35% in normal course to 41%.

Thank you, sir.

By the time we reach end of this year, we'll have a good fix on we will move. It's a timing when will we move is the question.

I think in the next three to four months we would have made a decision which regime we'll move in, and the implication of tax we'll share with you at the time.

Thanks for the opportunity again, sir. Sir, I just wanted to check

Sure thing. Is it better now?

Sir, I just wanted to check, a couple of our peers had highlighted that there were very strong rains in the East region. Could you just give us a sense of what was the regional growth in East region versus say the North region?

I think in terms of guidance of regional growth, I won't be able to share in a forum where what is the regional growth. I think the different dynamics work.

Suffice to say East had erratic monsoon, and in fact monsoon was heavy in certain states. There was a little bit of sluggishness in demand in East in Q2, but that will go away after the festival season.

Net-net if you see, I think some months we have gone ahead in East, some months we have gone ahead in North. North has been pretty robust in Q2 in terms of volume growth, in fact, and hence we could get the benefit of growth in North.

Overall, I guess going forward we still look at anywhere between 8, 9% blended between North, West, and East for us.

Understood, sir. Just to, sir, confirm, the pricing you were saying has gone up by around 20 rupees in October versus average prices last quarter.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

Sir. Thank you.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

I just had one question related to Surat operations. Since we don't have clinker supply currently, where are we procuring our clinker from, and what would be the landed cost and how would it change once we get supplies from December onwards?

Yeah. I guess this was part of the whole plan.

There's no surprise at all. Since we sequenced Surat to start first and Kutch the quantum of work was much more than Surat, Surat was the first of the block.

In less than 12 months, we could commission the plant and commercialize it. That's why Surat came first.

Hence it was a call that we would move clinker from our Chhattisgarh cluster into Surat, but a little bit of a issue we had because of the overall rake non-availability, we ended up moving less clinker from Chhattisgarh into Surat, and then we had to do a little bit of a clinker purchase which I mentioned, and move clinker from North unit to Surat. It's a little bit of a mix-and-match which has happened, at least in August, September, and first week of October.

Obviously we know what has been the landed cost of clinker in Surat, but I guess that's a conscious call we took to bring expensive clinker into Surat. By end of this year, Kutch will happen, and once Kutch happens, I guess the clinker will come either through jetty route.

By the way, very pleased to inform that we already run trial runs of dummy items from Kutch into Hazira, and we have successfully learned how to manage the jetty operations. As we speak, we are doing the dredging of jetty in Kutch, and by first week of December we'll have operational jetty.

Once the clinker line starts in December, in Q4 of this year we should be moving clinker through the sea route, barge route from Kutch into Surat, which is the cheapest form of clinker movement from Kutch to Surat. Once Kutch starts, it'll be Kutch clinker in Surat and we don't have to bring high-cost clinker from Chhattisgarh into Surat.

The prevailing rates all of us know, the ex-factory rates of clinker which is being sold by any cement companies is pretty high these days at about 3,600, 3,700 rupees per tonne, and add freight cost, obviously it is much higher and not an economical model. Since we started a plant and we have to run, it is part of the startup strategy that first few months we will run with clinker from Chhattisgarh.

Sir, there would be some dent because of this in to Q3 as well, and then some improvement in Q4. What would that delta be from Q3 to Q4?

Can you reach out to Bishnu, and then he'll give the exact calculation to you?

Yes, I'll do that. Thank you so much.

He will be able to give you all the calculation, because right now I have multiple sources. I have clinker coming from Chhattisgarh, I get clinker from Chittor plant also.

I also bought clinker in Q2. All these assumptions will change.

Currently we are looking at some bartering of clinker for Q3. All these variables are active right now.

For me to give one number will not be right in this call. Best reach out to Bishnu, and he'll give you a basis and the logic of this calculation.

No worries, sir. I'll reach out.

I'll do that, sir. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

Thank you all for your participation. Before we conclude, I'd like to leave with a few closing remarks.

Quarter after quarter, we have been delivering consistent results despite varied challenges, and this quarter was no exception. Our continued focus has been on the key levers of premiumization, geo-optimization, and operational excellence.

As we move forward, we remain committed to strengthening our position and creating sustainable value for our stakeholders. Our growth agenda remains firmly on track, with the Kutch projects progressing as planned, and the bulk terminal at Sachana expected to further enhance our logistics capability.

We are confident in the resilience of our business and strategic initiatives underway to navigate the evolving operating environment. Investor Relations team will remain available to address any further clarities you may request.

Thank you once again for your time and interest in the company. We look forward to engaging with you in our upcoming interactions.

Thank you all.