Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Sandhar Technologies Q4 FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Dolat Capital Market Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.
Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I will now hand the conference over to Ms. Shailly Jain from Dolat Capital Market Private Limited for opening remarks.
Thank you, and over to you.
Shailly Jain
Thanks, Shreyas. Good morning, everyone.
On behalf of Dolat Capital, I would like to welcome you all to the fourth quarter and FY26 earnings conference call of Sandhar Technologies Limited. Today, we have with us from the management team Mr.
Jayant Davar, Executive Chairman and CEO, Mr. Niraj Davar, Director, Mr.
Gurvinder J. Singh, Whole-Time Director and Head of Corporate Strategy, and Mr.
Yashpal Jain, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary. We will begin the call with opening comments from the management team followed by the question and answer session.
Over to you, Jayant sir.
Jayant Davar
All right. Thank you, Shailly.
Thank you, Dolat Capital. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
I welcome you all to the quarter four and 12 months earning concall of Sandhar Technologies Limited. I'm very happy and pleased to inform you that in line with the expectations, Sandhar has crossed the revenue mark of over ₹4,800 crores, which is an all-time high.
The Indian auto industry recorded growth across all segments in the financial year 26, with domestic sales hitting a 7-year high, according to the data that's been published by SIAM. The strong contributors, obviously, have been the positive sentiments, which was created to the GST 2 reforms and the multiple repo rate cuts during the year.
At the same time, this year, in the latter part of the year, has seen what many people say has been a deterrent, with the world experiencing what the economists call a polycrisis. It's multiple cascading shocks running simultaneously, whether it was the US-China tariff architecture or the tariff load on India, whether it is the Middle East, which remains volatile, the European energy costs, which went up dramatically, also the commodity prices, which was so volatile that it skipped both sides by almost 20% to 30%.
Despite all of this, India's GDP continued to grow, and we grew at over 6.5%. Passenger vehicles hit new records.
Two-wheelers crossed the mark of what we had done in 18-19. The automotive sector, at almost ₹22 lakh crore in size, is now the third largest in the world and growing very, very rapidly.
Where Sandhar is concerned, if I was to compare Sandhar with the industry growth, especially the India business of Sandhar, the industry has achieved a growth rate of 12.7%, whereas Sandhar has achieved 28%. In terms of two-wheelers, industry has achieved a growth rate of 12.9%, whereas Sandhar has achieved 35.1%.
Almost 1/3 revenue growth has come in the area of two-wheelers. In terms of our consolidated yearly performance, which is financial year 26 versus FY25, the revenue for 25-26 is ₹4,852 crores, which is up 25% on a consolidated basis, EBITDA at ₹513 crores, higher by 28% year-on-year, at the rate of 10.6%, double digits and more, PBT at ₹256 crores, up 39%, and PAT grew by 40% at ₹199 crores.
The consolidated year performance, which is quarter four year-on-year, revenue up by 29%, EBITDA up by 33%, with the gross margin or EBITDA margin at 11%, PBT up by 42%. If I look at India business yearly performance, the revenue growth is up 28% at ₹4,384 crores, EBITDA at ₹472 crores, higher by 32%, PBT at ₹282 crores, up 37%, PAT grew by 44% year-on-year to ₹221 crores.
If I look at quarter four of India business, revenue up by 32%, EBITDA up also at 32%, EBT up by 37%. Coming to joint ventures, the performance of all five joint ventures has been satisfactory and registered revenue of ₹257 crores and an EBITDA of ₹28.25 crores.
We are constantly watching the performance and are taking all necessary steps in collaboration with our joint venture partners for sustained growth and profitability. The investment of Sandhar in the joint ventures is 62-odd crores.
Overseas subsidiaries: in overseas subsidiaries, we sustained an annual loss of €2.56 million, which is ₹26.19 crores, at EBT level. The best part, however, is that in quarter four, the business has turned around and registered an EBITDA of 14.6% and has come to neutral or break-even at EBT level.
We expect the improvement to continue further in view of the optimization efforts, which are carried out there. Of course, with the recent increase in aluminium prices, we might find a little bit of a dip in quarter one.
Once the regenerative cycle of the pass-through of aluminium prices comes through, we are back on track with our international or overseas subsidiaries. In terms of EV, the business finally is on track.
I'm happy to share the EV business is gradually picking up and closed this year with a revenue of ₹20 crores. We are expecting now to double this revenue in the current financial year.
During financial year 2026, 41,000 battery chargers were sold, and 5,500 motor control units were sold. Sandhar is on a growth path, and I would like to further reiterate that we expect to double our revenues every 3 to 4 years, with consistent improvements in margins and return on investments.
We're also very cautious about preserving our cash reserves and managing a healthy liquidity position to meet our commitments. We are expanding our footprint and carrying a sound relationship with all our esteemed customers.
I'm thankful to all investors who had shown faith and confidence in us and are continuing with us. I'm also thankful to all the stakeholders for their continuous support and patronage.
This particular year will be another very interesting year. Despite all the problems in the polycrisis that I spoke about, I do expect that even in a conservative level, I'm happy to give a guidance of over a 15% growth in the overall revenues.
This is without taking a price re-trigger, which is likely to happen, especially with a lot of costs having gone up, a lot of states announcing new manpower costs, which has also been a challenge in the last few months. We do expect with the repricing and recosting that is happening, gas prices going up, oil prices going up, manpower costs going up, which is affecting every aspect of input cost, there will be a pricing re-triggering mechanism that will be activated.
Sometimes this becomes positive for the company because many cost or pricing that has been done by the customer was done years ago, and this gives us a mechanism to bring it to the current level of stability. With that, I am very happy to close my opening comments, and we will be happy to take your questions.
For anything to do with technology, strategy, we have G. J.
Singh. We have Yashpal Jain, our CFO, who will be very happy to answer your questions on financial matters.
I am, of course, there to complement and supplement whatever is necessary. With that, thank you very much.
I'm happy to take your questions.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session.
Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.
Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one. We take the first question from the line of Chirag Jain from Emkay Global.
Please go ahead. Yeah.
Chirag Jain
Congratulations, Jayant sir and the entire team Sandhar, for a very strong performance across the division. My first question is in terms of revenue growth guidance, which you indicated that you plan to double your revenues over the next 3 to 4 years, which in a way implies about 20%-25% annualized growth.
Can you share more light in terms of which segment or customers or product categories is likely to be a major growth driver over here?
Jayant Davar
Thank you, Chirag, for that question. If you Like I said, we are very, very positive and optimistic on the growth of the automotive industry in India and especially in the two-wheeler sector sector.
As I sit today, the entire industry, if it wasn't for the manpower constraints that most of the industry is facing, we would be probably be growing at a faster level than we are doing right now. This, of course, is the entire automotive industry, even if I was to produce more and the others don't, component suppliers, obviously, the entire thing doesn't match up.
The demand is extremely, extremely positive, very, very strong. I think in the two-wheeler segment, for example, there are now three leaders who are fighting bitterly amongst each other to become number one.
Having said that, we, as a company, continue to get very, very robust orders in some of the new businesses that we have, whether it is sheet metal, whether it is casting. Now with new technologies being thrown in, we do believe that the speed of growth of even the business that we have in our proprietary business—the locks, the mirrors, and so on and so forth—are getting a major fillip.
In terms of customers, all customers, like I said, are very, very positive and very demanding for this year. We'll, of course, have to wait and see, and therefore, that's the reason why I'm giving you a conservative estimate of 15% plus, 15% to 16% plus, of revenue growth this year.
This, of course, doesn't include the pricing re-trigger that I spoke about, which will be which will bring additional revenue to the company.
Chirag Jain
Understood, sir. Thank you.
On the new businesses, or the new projects, on the existing one, we are close to doing about 12% EBITDA margins, and now we have crossed even 20% ROCE threshold. How do we see the new projects, let's say, moving towards the direction of our existing or mature businesses, both in terms of, let's say, the overall revenue potential?
We have done about close to ₹340 crores of investments. What kind of revenue potential we could have?
Maybe on the profitability front, when we can achieve, let's say, sort of close to double-digit margins that we are doing on the existing business, if you can share some thoughts over there?
Jayant Davar
As we sit today, I think Yashpal ji will answer that question as to how many units are still in losses which will become positive in this year. On an overall platform, all I want to say is that you are aware that we've made a lot of investments in new businesses in the last few years, which include the acquisition of Sundaram Clayton aluminium business, which include the new business of sheet metal, which was then taken in terms of order booking.
All those businesses are now mature and are throwing very, very positive results. We only expect that with new editions Now, those capital expenditure has already been done to a large extent in these businesses.
We do expect that all of them will start showing results. The positive news is that when we had taken these businesses, there was an anticipation of the amount of growth that these businesses would be able to show.
I'm happy to say that level of growth is not only being validated, but is being exceeded by a large degree and a percentage to what we had anticipated. Yashpal ji, you want to come in and talk about the loss-making units, where we are?
Yeah.
Yashpal Jain
Sure, sir. As we have mentioned on page seven also of our investor presentation, one of the loss-making units is Sandhar's Sundaram Clayton's business that we have acquired in March 25.
The shifting is in progress, and I think by the end of quarter two, we'd be able to shift the entire business to our own premises. I think from quarter three onwards, we would start a turnaround in the units with a neutral EBIT levels, but on a year yearly basis, 26-27, we expect to continue with EBIT-level losses in this die casting business that we acquired from Sundaram Clayton.
There's another project in Khed City for alloy aluminium die casting, which is focused on passenger vehicle segment. From quarter two onwards, it will start generating EBIT-level margins, this is a turnaround time for this project.
There's another project in Pune, Cabins & Fabrication, that also we expect to start turnaround from the end of quarter two of this current financial year. Then EV business, we expect to turnaround in profitability in FY28, means the next financial year.
This year, we expect the revenues to approximately double, but there would be losses again as we are trying to develop more new products also and capturing new markets, so that will involve some cost. Romania also, FY28, we are expecting to go at a break-even or I would say in a profitability mode.
This is how the timelines as the management expects on while we sit on today's time now.
Chirag Jain
Thank you. Thank you so much, sir.
Just last question
Jayant Davar
I just want to add here, Chirag. You mentioned that we've made an investment in these five units to a level of ₹342 crores, which has generated a revenue of ₹462 ₹468 crores.
If I was to add these businesses, this particular financial year, the investment will mean a revenue of from 468, 342 would convert itself into maybe 2.5 times in this year itself.
Chirag Jain
Okay. So 2.5 times asset turnover ratio is what, let's say, that kind of revenue potential.
Jayant Davar
Yeah. I'm being conservative, but that much seems very, very clear at this time.
Chirag Jain
Understood, sir. Just last question, and then I'll come back in the queue.
In the overseas business, barring the near-term commodity fluctuation, which you mentioned that eventually we should be able to get pass-through, do we see any major headwinds? Broadly, are we, let's say, done with the drag that we were seeing over the last few quarters in terms of overseas operation, and here onwards, we should see positive contribution?
Jayant Davar
Chirag, the difference between India and overseas is that the payment terms in our overseas business has a longer duration. Is the trigger mechanism for the pass-through.
In India, it used to be 3 months. Now with some of the customers, with the volatility that has been there, we are trying to convince them to do it within 30 days instead of 90 days.
With the international business, that typical line-up is 180 days. While we're trying to talk to them and bring them also to a level of half that or maybe in 3 months, that lag and pass will take some time before it matches up to the speed of the change that happens in India.
Therefore, we are anticipating that the volatility still continues. Right now, the price at which we are selling is possibly the price or the cost of aluminium, which was more than 4 or 5 months of it.
The new one will become active now from the month of June onwards. That's the lag, and that lag, obviously, hurts us.
I'm very confident that with the lag now continuing coming into place, the aluminium prices and the commodity prices seem to have peaked and are more are stabilizing, we should be able to match up to what we had projected in the beginning of the year in terms of our overseas operations.
Chirag Jain
Understood. Barring commodities fluctuation, the overseas business, fundamentally, they are on a strong footing, in terms of the improvement measures that we have undertaken?
Jayant Davar
Yes. Absolutely.
If you saw break-even, the idea was to break even in the last quarter, which we had promised everyone we will and we have. The idea is to improve from thereon and go into positive territory at the EBIT level.
We were zero at the EBIT level. We want to improve on the EBIT level going forward.
This particular quarter that we are sitting in still carries the lag of the commodity. Once that is settled, we'll be back on our feet, strong and up.
Chirag Jain
Thank you so much, sir, for the detailed answer. I'll come back in the queue.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one.
We take the next question from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah. Namaskar, team.
Thank you for this opportunity. Hope I'm audible, sir.
Jayant Davar
Yes, you are.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah. Thank you.
Jayant Davar
Yes, you are. You are audible, sir.
Yeah.
Saket Kapoor
My question is for Yashpal ji. Yashpal ji, we have closing work in capital in progress at closing balance of ₹104 crore.
How much will be getting capitalized, and is varsh ke liye, is vittiye varsh ke liye hamara capex program
Yashpal Jain
kya hai? So ₹115 crores, the slide number 12 that you are talking of, referring?
Right?
Saket Kapoor
Sir, I'm looking at the balance sheet. I'm looking at the consolidated balance sheet at closing balance at 104.
Maybe you can continue, sir.
Yashpal Jain
Sure. The first question is key working capital.
This capital work in progress Capital work in progress, closing, yeah,
Saket Kapoor
closing balance is ₹104 crore. How much will get capitalized, and what is our capex program for the current financial year?
Yashpal Jain
As I have mentioned in our earlier participant's question, we expect our Sundaram Clayton project to get shifted by the second quarter of this year, part of that will be capitalized at that point of time. Secondly, the Khed City project will also be capitalized by end of quarter two.
Major portion will be done away in terms of capitalization by the end of second quarter. In terms of Sanaswadi also, the lead date is quarter end of quarter two.
Mostly ₹115 crore, because this is something revolving type of capital working progress. New investments are done, it keeps on floating now.
While this figure will be capitalized by the end of second quarter, new figures might come in. In the earlier calls, our Chairman has mentioned that we keep our capex limited to 5% to 7% of our revenues.
Taking our revenue 15% growth on the current year's revenue, which is roughly ₹5,500 crores, you can expect a sum out capital outlay of ₹275 crores to around ₹310 crores for the upcoming financial year, which will include a part of growth capex, part of maintenance capex, part of upgradation capex required to upgrade our some old facilities also.
Saket Kapoor
Right. Sir, as you alluded to a conservative number of 15% of revenue growth, and I think earlier there was also an EBITDA margin trajectory that was guided to us.
Sir, where are we in terms of now the consolidated EBITDA margin that we may exhibit or our endeavor is for this current financial year? We exited, I think, at 11.08% for Q4 on a consolidated level.
Yashpal Jain
Yeah. Earlier we have discussed on over concalls that we also want to get into margins, huh?
If you exclude the new projects, I think our performance has been very good this year also in a consolidated basis also. The new projects, the timelines we have set, slide number six and slide number seven, we have tried to mention how we have performed in our new projects.
As we discuss in earlier calls also, every year, we want to grow and improve our EBITDA levels by at least 0.5%, in a range of 0.5%, which could be 0.20%, 0.30%, or something like that. This year also, we are expecting to improve our EBITDA margins in a range of 0.5%, which could be 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, depending on the market dynamics, as sir has addressed in the previous question.
The new projects, we have already given the timelines, but yes, new projects this year won't be up to that level that market is expecting, because part of the year, they would be operation. Part of the year, they would be in the commissioning stage.
I hope that answers your question.
Saket Kapoor
Right. On a consolidated level, we did the exit of the year at 10.57%.
There is very likelihood that on the commissioning of the new projects and also on the revisiting on the cost front for aluminium in particular, the margin should grow from this 10.57% level to a band of 0.25% to 0.5%. That should be the understanding as of now.
Yeah.
Yashpal Jain
As we mentioned, we also have a desire to grow and improve, keep a healthy margin basket, but at the same time, you should also remember that we are executing some projects to keep the growth momentum. Excluding the new projects that would be coming up, yes, we could expect a growth of 0.25% in EBITDA margins.
At the same time, the new projects, these would be in the commercial production, and new projects some will be coming up during the current financial. It's a I would say, ongoing process.
One is finished, another is taken up, so that we keep on growing, as sir has mentioned, that 3 to 4 years
Saket Kapoor
Sir, your last point, I missed out. Hello?
Yeah.
Yashpal Jain
What I was saying is that, yes, we are also have a desire and expectations to improve our EBITDA margins by 0.25% for our existing projects. In case of new projects would be some new projects would be coming up in the current financial year, which would again have a profitability and turnaround period of another 1.5 years to 2 years' time, huh?
This is a process, continuous process, I would say, a revolving process, which keeps on going. The new projects are very well poised to achieve a growth in the margins as well as the revenues also.
Every 3 to 4 years, as our Chairman sir has mentioned, we want to just double our revenues,
Saket Kapoor
huh. Yeah.
Sir. Lastly, sir, between the sales mix
Yashpal Jain
I joined the queue.
Saket Kapoor
Thank you. Thank you.
Yashpal Jain
Thank you.
Operator
We take the next question from the line of Ashutosh Tiwari from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Ashutosh Tiwari
Yeah. Hi.
Congrats on good set of numbers. Firstly, you talked about that for new projects, you can do 2.5x revenue on investments in this year.
Is it correct number? Can we do ₹800 crore plus from their side?
Yashpal Jain
You mean to say 2.5% of the revenues we could do from the current trend? No, no.
Yeah.
Ashutosh Tiwari
I think it was mentioned by sir that from this ₹342 crores on new projects, you can do 2.5x revenue this year. Is it correct?
Yashpal Jain
Yeah. It is possible, and it is correct, huh.
We expect to do so.
Ashutosh Tiwari
This ₹468 crore revenue that you did in this year can go to ₹800 crore plus in FY27?
Yashpal Jain
2.5%, you can say ₹700-₹750 crores something. it's a range sir has given.
2.5 times, which can be 2 to 2.5 times basically, I would say. Around ₹750 crores of revenue, these projects can do.
468, they have already delivered, huh. As I mentioned
Jayant Davar
Ashutosh, there is a two-way sword here in some sense. What I mentioned earlier that there is every likelihood that this year would call for a price re-trigger.
The overall concept of revenue will also grow with the increase in prices that we will charge the customers for all our existing products. This has happened because, see, at one point of time, it was only commodities, but this particular year, there has every level of costing and input has gone up.
Therefore, the entire industry will recalibrate in some sense.
Ashutosh Tiwari
Okay. We had marginal EBITDA Yeah, please go ahead.
Jayant Davar
Where? Marginal EBITDA where?
No,
Ashutosh Tiwari
I was saying that you had marginal EBITDA loss this year. With that this kind of growth in revenue, will you make good profits in this?
Not good, but yeah, not company level, but will you make decent profit from this new business?
Jayant Davar
Yes, absolutely. We will obviously improve the margins.
We will have to wait and see how it affects on the EBIT stage. Do remember that while these will turn around to a large degree, where I think it's written in the presentation as to when they will turn around, the Sundaram Clayton business will turn around in quarter three, Khed City in quarter two, Sanaswadi in quarter two, the EV business, we are saying financial year 28, Romania in financial year 28.
Besides of these, there will also growth that is happening. That growth is happening in several areas with several new projects.
Yashpal ji said, it's a continuous dynamic scenario that we are going through if we have to meet and prepare for the growth that we have in mind of doubling our revenue every 3 to 4 years. There will be something in a project stage, there will be something in a loss stage, there'll be something in a turnaround stage.
At the same time, we are making an endeavor that our business, which are established and stable, keep improving on the margins, for which a 0.25% increase, Yashpal ji has said, is what is being targeted. I hope this has clarified a lot of things for you, right?
Ashutosh Tiwari
Yeah. How much was the revenue in Sundaram Clayton this year for the full year?
Yashpal Jain
It was ₹369 crores, sir.
Ashutosh Tiwari
Okay. Secondly, you alluded to the fact that because of aluminium price increase, there'll be some margin pressure in maybe in Q1 in the overseas business.
Will there be margin pressure in India business as well in Q1 because of this increase in the all this steel and R&D?
Jayant Davar
Yes, there are. There is.
We've suffered some loss on account of that. We are hopeful now with the new prices kicking in, those unless they go up again, the prices, we should be able to get that benefit in the current period.
Ashutosh Tiwari
India business, the increase has already happened in this quarter? Say from May or May basically, or will happen with a lag in India as well?
See,
Jayant Davar
a large part of the increase happened in the month of March and April. April was the worst affected.
April pass-throughs will start from the month of June in that quarter. Yeah.
Take a lag of 3 months typically as to how it happens in India. I said, we're talking to the customers now to make it more proactive and not do it 3-months basis.
I think the entire industry is talking to the customers saying that this needs to be done every month. It hasn't happened so far, but we are hopeful that something could happen.
Ashutosh Tiwari
Okay. Got it.
That's all from my side. Thank you so much.
Jayant Davar
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Aditya Kondawar from Complete Circle Capital.
Please go ahead.
Aditya Kondawar
Hi, team Sandhar. Big congratulations on the execution that you guys have done in the past 4 years.
I think in a single quarter of Q4 FY26, you guys have done more PAT than the entire full year PAT of FY22, kudos for that. Jain sir, thank you for the commentary that you gave at the start of the concall.
Just wanted to ask you, at the end of FY30 or 31, is it safe to assume that Sandhar will do a PAT of anywhere of ₹150 to ₹200 crores? What are the margins that we are aspiring towards?
That's my first question.
Jayant Davar
I didn't understand. ₹150 crores in 2030, is that what I heard?
Aditya Kondawar
Yeah. Basically, you did your entire year's PAT after 4 years, wanted to ask whether you can do the same in the next 4 years.
Jayant Davar
Are you saying every quarter?
Aditya Kondawar
Yeah.
Jayant Davar
I think, Yashpal ji, what is our projection? Do you want to give some Yeah.
Sure.
Yashpal Jain
Aditya, we sir has mentioned, 3 to 4 years, we want to double our revenue. In case we touch ₹10,000 crores of mark, we would expect that our return on capital employed see the improvement, because we are more focusing on return on capital employed as the volumes will grow up, because the percent of margins is a limiting factor for us in terms of EBITDA and EBIT.
We are targeting an improvement in return on capital employed starting with a post-tax return of 15%, going something at a highest peak of 20%. In that scenario, you can expect that on a ₹10,000 crores of revenue, we could be in a position to generate a PAT of around ₹450 crores, something around that, to achieve that return on capital employed.
This is how we expect.
Aditya Kondawar
Sure. Any EBITDA margin guidance, sir?
Yashpal Jain
EBITDA, as that we manufacturing a diversified products of die casting, locks and mirrors, assembly as well as the manufacturing. While EBITDA levels will remain constant, I would, around 11%, but with the volumes coming up and the revenue growing up, automatically in terms of absolute returns, our multiplier will be giving us a more return on capital employed, more of a cash with us in that terms.
At that point of time, the percent margins won't be of much importance in terms of EBITDA or EBIT, and more focus would be on how to generate more absolute margins. The focus going forward is again on ROE and ROCE basically.
Even if at EBITDA of 11%, you can take on ₹10,000 crores, close to ₹1,100 crores. We expect to rather the levels of 18% to 20% post-tax.
Aditya Kondawar
Sure. My second
Jayant Davar
Let me just supplement that and give you some supplement to this.
Aditya Kondawar
Of
Jayant Davar
this, whatever commentary I have given you in the beginning, where we've said that the revenue will grow to by double every 3 to 4 years, it is safe to assume that the bottom line will improve better than that, right?
Yashpal Jain
Yeah. Correct.
Jayant Davar
That should give you We are sitting at 200-odd crores. The number that that that Yashpal ji has given you of 450 seems quite safe.
Aditya Kondawar
Sure. My second question was on debt, the near-term guidance on debt and the long-term guidance, even if you don't give me absolute numbers, just a commentary on debt-to-equity ratios that we are aspiring towards.
Thank you.
Yashpal Jain
Sure. In terms of debt levels, if you refer to our slide number 14, we have a net debt of ₹897 crores and a gross debt of ₹948 crores, and largely out of that content of 948, 564 is working capital debt, largely linked to the revenue size, right?
Because our pay receivables are normally 45 days, while the payables are even somewhat shorter period during this crisis as we sit on today. Term loans are ₹384 crores, which will be automatically paid with the due schedules.
This year, we have a pay repayment commitment of around close to ₹103 crores with various banks. Term debt will start pairing as a repayment schedule comes in.
Yes, working capital debt is aligned directly to the business. I don't think that is a point of worry because what we are borrowing is directly dependent on what we are earning and what we are selling to the customers, huh.
It's directly linked to the business part, huh. Term loan will automatically start to shed down and pay down in next 3 to 4 years, huh, unless a new project comes in.
Because as I told, it is a going process. If a new project comes or a greenfield project comes, again, we will be doing a fresh borrowing as mandated in the RBI covenants also, 25:75 or whatever the ratios required.
Working capital loan will be continuing as per the business cycle, huh. I hope that is okay.
Even today, the debt-equity ratio is fairly good for us. If you compare with our other industry competitors, we are sitting on a very healthy debt-equity ratio, huh.
Aditya Kondawar
Thank you, and all the best.
Operator
Thank you very much, sir. Thank you.
We take the next question from the line of Shashank from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Shashank Kanodia
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity.
In a press release, you mentioned about entering to telematics kind of technology space. Any heads-up we have in terms of any joint ventures you're supposed to do or, your in, something you've done on the capability in the R&D side, if you can throw some light?
Jayant Davar
GJ, you want to take that question?
Neel Jay Davar
Sir. Hi, good morning.
On your question, yes, we are definitely working on these product lines. As we mentioned earlier meetings also, we are very, very ahead of those discussions with the partners in, for those technologies.
In-house development of those products in our R&D center. We feel that these products are going to be presented to the potential customers going forward.
We have actually started presenting them to the customers. There is a very good response from the customers.
Now we are going to the next level of creating some POCs and submitting them, and then things will take way forward. We feel that this current financial year, these are going to be informed or showcased to the customers.
Next year, we feel that this should come into the development cycle, and then from the development, it will move to the production cycle.
Shashank Kanodia
Then expect
Jayant Davar
Shashank, just adding to that, we're not looking at joint ventures at this time. We are considering transfer of technology or collaborations, which will be on the royalty basis rather than in the form of joint ventures.
We want to use the infrastructure that we have already within the platform instead of creating more. What we will do, we will do it on the basis of incremental capital cost using our existing infrastructure, so that the return on capital employed and the return and margins come much faster than they typically do in the preparation of joint ventures.
Shashank Kanodia
Right. Sir, given that the industry is moving towards this technology space, do we expect company to expedite their look out for a technology transfer kind of a thing in near future, or do you see that as a 3-, 4-years kind of a story to plan out for Sandhar Technologies?
Jayant Davar
We are already in the process. I am not at liberty to say, but we have identified some prospective partners who should be able to give us the technology that we seek.
Of course, for finalization of that, we need the go-ahead from the customers who, like GJ just said, is the customers have it under consideration. They are having discussions.
As soon as we can lock in the kind of technologies that is apt and is attributable to the Indian industry, we will lock it with that particular corresponding partner and take that to the market within the next 12 months.
Shashank Kanodia
Sure. Sir, any update on the smart key projects?
Has the penetration kind of increased, or has it got more acceptance from customers given that
Jayant Davar
No. It is growing.
Right now, it is growing. I think we've reached a level, if I'm not mistaken, it could be 10% up or down, I don't know daily numbers, but we've reached a level of about 5-odd thousand lock sets per month.
It's going. The volumes are growing every month.
Shashank Kanodia
Right. Sir, lastly, yeah, our top line is more skewed in favor of two-wheelers, right?
It's get gradually increased from 60%, 62% to 67%. Directionally, should we think of this line or directionally, as a company, are you thinking of diversifying your revenue base more towards tangible things like PV or other line items?
Jayant Davar
We run after opportunities, young man. Whether they appear in the two-wheeler market or the four-wheeler market or the construction market or the tractor market, we are quite agnostic to it.
See, we have the capital that we can employ is limited. Wherever we feel that we will get traction, at this stage, at this time, the two-wheeler market is growing very rapidly, and we are very well entrenched with our customers.
Therefore, their dependency on us is an opportunity we don't want to lose. It is quite possible, and we continue to work on new technologies.
We continue to work with new customers, including several four-wheeler ones. As and when we get the breakthroughs in those technologies with those customers, obviously, we are in the game.
There is every likelihood that the share of four-wheelers and other aspects of the auto industry will grow as a percentage to our revenue. Are we just doing that?
No, the answer is no. When the opportunities today are in the two-wheeler stage, we will not take the opportunity just because our percentage to that or our exposure to that particular category will become more.
Shashank Kanodia
Understood, sir. Thank you so much for the explanation, and wish you all the best.
Operator
Thank you. Thank you.
We take the next question from the line of Rajat Agarwal from Nilgiri Advisors. Please go ahead.
Rajat Agarwal
Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity to ask the question.
If just first off, a quick clarification on the consolidated balance sheet numbers. There is a total debt number of €41 million.
This is as per slide number eight of the presentation. Q4 FY25 overseas business outstanding borrowings are €41 million, and Q4 FY26 is €47 million, €46.9 million.
If you look at the INR crore numbers for the same head, the number has increased from 380 to ₹506 crores, which is ₹126 crores. Is that correct?
€5 million leading to increase of ₹120 crores?
Yashpal Jain
I'll answer this question. I am Yashpal here.
Rajat Agarwal
There
Yashpal Jain
is not a increase in the absolute debt. Earlier thing is that if while presenting the financials, earlier, we were in to bill discounting mode in overseas operation, which was proving to be costly for us.
Bill discounting, as per the standards, IFRS and Indian accounting standards, they are clubbed with the current liabilities. While we have shifted those bills payables, or I would say bill discounting, to a clean debt because it was economical for us, so that is the reason, as per the standards, it is now part of the borrowings and shown in the borrowings.
This is how the increase has been.
Rajat Agarwal
I'm sorry, sir, but what you are saying is in the euros and in rupees, the difference should be the same, right? Euro million and INR crores.
Yashpal Jain
The
Rajat Agarwal
difference Euro millions is €5 million and INR crores is ₹120 crores, how does that even reconcile? No,
Yashpal Jain
no. It happens that we are presenting our financials into a group currency, which is the Indian rupees.
Today, the euro is reporting at around ₹111 per INR. It was around ₹108 in the month of March, whereas 2 years back, it was around ₹90.
When you reconvert the financials as per the accounting standards, you need to take the closing rates. While our commitments are in euro itself, they are repayable in euro.
This is not a something you can classify or directly convert. At each balance sheet date or each reporting date, we have to take the closing rates.
It's a mandate.
Rajat Agarwal
Yeah.
Yashpal Jain
It's a notional value because it's been converted to Indian rupees. In effect, it is to be serviced by the overseas operations, which will continue to be in euros.
I hope
Rajat Agarwal
If it goes ₹90 again, this INR content will again come down to that extent. These are so Overall increase is €5 million?
Yashpal Jain
Yeah, €5 million, that too majorly a portion that we have shifted from bill discounting to a clean debt. Largely a regrouping in the balance sheet heads itself, huh.
There is a little increase, I would not deny, around 0.5 million, we have done a fresh borrowing over there to meet their commitments.
Rajat Agarwal
Understood. Okay.
Now on the working capital, if I look at your working capital overall, the inventory, the receivables number of days have gone up in if I as of end of March 2026. A large part of that increase, it seems, has come from overseas subsidiaries or your Indian subsidiaries either way.
Any thoughts around that, sir? are we looking to bring that down?
Yashpal Jain
Receivable period Yeah, slide you must be referring slide number 12, right? It is at consolidated level, it is 44 days, standalone 51.
There is some one-time receipts that we got. Because of that, the cycle has gone up.
Otherwise, our normal receivable cycle is 40 to 45 days itself. Inventory holding period is also from 54 to 55 days because in overseas, we are required to carry a large chunk of inventory compared to Indian operations.
Otherwise, Indian operations, we are not even carrying a inventory of more than 12 to 13 days. This is the movement of inventory right now.
I don't think it's going to rise. The receivables would be in a period of collection period of 40 to 45.
Technically, if you see, if we go for a bill discounting, this would come down. Right now, it's costly, so that's the reason.
It's more of an accounting presentation, I would say. If you go for a bill discounting, automatically, the receivables go out of your books, and it goes to a current liability.
This is a scenario, but on a normal basis, it is 40 to 45 days, Rajat ji.
Rajat Agarwal
Understood, sir. All right.
Thank you so much.
Yashpal Jain
Yeah.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one.
We take the next question from the line of Mihir Damania from Fightent AMC. Please go ahead.
Mihir Damania
Hi. My first question pertains to the overseas business.
If we look on a full year basis, it has degrown by around 8.5% in euro terms. The €46 million revenue has similar amount of debt.
If we're taking a 3- to 5-year view, how do we actually ensure that this business also generates around a mid double-digit kind of an ROE? What is the strategy going there?
Of course, we've seen that you have shifted some of the plants. Even on growth, even on debt, because almost half of your debt sits outside of India, just wanted to understand more on a strategic perspective, what value does this add to what the overall organization and the business of business, where we are probably going to deploy a lot more capital, what's the strategic outlook over here?
Jayant Davar
If I understand correctly, you're asking the justification for us and our overseas business, right? Right,
Mihir Damania
yeah. The strategic outlook of where you see the business over the next 2 to 3 years.
Jayant Davar
Yeah. You're aware that Europe markets and American markets haven't done as well as India has.
In the meantime, from what started off with the Ukraine war and the increase in prices of gas, which went up 800%, obviously, the margins have been affected since then for the last few years. There is stability that is now being brought into the entire system.
For us, the strategic call is not about the business. It's about having your presence overseas because all the customers are now moving to India.
If you have your legs overseas, their dependence on companies even supplying from India To give you an example, some of the big majors who are our customers gave us business in India, which is now becoming stable and mature, is largely because of the fact that we had experienced dealing with them overseas. We were suppliers to them overseas, and now they feel that we can do it from India.
I think there has been reference there, there has been relevance there. Also, the last couple of years, while your question is very valid, because our investment and our return on capital employed falls dramatically on account of our overseas business, and we've considered and reconsidered whether we should keep it on or not, the fact that it was in losses made it even more difficult for us to take any strategic calls.
Now that we are hopeful that this particular year, we would have all those sins washed away, we will relook at this business. At this point of time, it is very difficult for me to comment as to what is likely to happen before the end of the year.
Mihir Damania
Okay. Thank you.
My second question relates to, one of our anchor customers has highlighted a major supply chain challenge in the month of April. Is that behind us?
Does it impact us in some way or form, or do you think that was just a temporary blip and business should be as usual in the remaining months?
Jayant Davar
The biggest problems that we faced in the month of April were, let's say, the availability of gas, the availability of raw materials, especially aluminium, and then the most serious became the availability of manpower. From the time of Holi and then subsequent elections that happened in Bengal and Assam and then everywhere and Tamil Nadu, at one point of time, the entire auto industry was grappling with an absenteeism of almost 20%, with the thereon, announcements of various state governments increasing the minimum wages by almost 30% to 40%, and yesterday, Karnataka giving an indication that that could be even higher than 50%.
Obviously, there is a lot of restlessness in the market on availability of manpower. We, as a company, are trying to make the best possible out of this scenario.
As an industry, whether it is TVS Motors, whether it is Hero, whether it is Honda, whether it is anybody else, the entire industry according to my understanding, would have lost somewhere in the region of almost 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles. That reflects in the inventory, which has come down dramatically.
If you look at the two-wheelers, some of the customers who used to have a 60-days stock in the market is now to less than 14 days. There is demand.
I said that in the beginning. It continues to be very, very robust, irrespective of the challenges that there are on a global scale.
For us, while these challenges are there, it's not individualized as a company. This is for the entire sector.
Things are improving as we speak. The month of May is better than what it was in April.
I'm hopeful that by the end of June, irrespective of anything else, except maybe some dramatic stuff that happens on a global scale, we should be back to work as normal.
Mihir Damania
Got it. Perfect.
Thank you, and all the best.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Jayaprakash from Carnelian Capital.
Please go ahead.
Hi. Am I audible?
Hi, sir. I've been following your company, and you have been executing really well, and the growth has improved, margins.
Jayant Davar
A little louder, Jayaprakash, can you speak a little louder?
Yeah. Let me try.
Am I audible now? Am I audible?
Jayant Davar
Yes. Better.
Yeah. Sir, my question is basically I'm trying to assess your franchise, right, sir?
When I look at your business, sheet metal, aluminium die casting are majority of your business, right? I want to understand your differentiation.
Is it the size which differentiates you that competition cannot come in? That's the first question.
Second question is where you are let's say when you say growth is 15% growth, right, where you have been conservative guiding 15%, and I think you will be outperforming the industry. Where this confidence comes from?
Does it come from the new products like smart locks or I think we talked about battery chargers, which is kind of a new products, right? If you can explain your right to win.
I know smart locks, I think we have just couple of players, but battery charger, if you can explain where you are in terms of the competitive positions. How does where your confidence of the 15%-20% growth comes from, right?
Is it from existing business or new product launches? That will be helpful, sir.
Thank you.
Jayant Davar
Okay. Let me put one thing aside, which is you said EV products.
EV products are still very, very insignificant to the entire company. Even if we are going from a ₹20 crore revenue to a ₹40 crore revenue, you would appreciate that that number is extremely small in the context of the size.
Yes, what we are doing in the EV business is that we are trying to now work as we become a little on scale, we should be able to reduce the negative portion or the bottom line to the best extent possible in this particular year. When you talk about castings, for example, yes, we have several USPs.
One USP comes from the international business that we have, which was to make spools. Now, these are thin-walled, machineless castings, which are not done at open or by everybody in the country here, number one.
Number two, with the acquisition of the Sundaram Clayton business, we become an integrated player in the casting scenario. You're aware that in the year before that, we had bought over the machining business from TVS as well.
With that happening, now we do both high-pressure die casting, we do low-pressure die casting, we do machining, and the entire context of not just small components, but from small to extremely large, including engine blocks. The size, scale, the flexibility across the supply chain in the aluminium business has gone up dramatically.
We are an integrated player, and that, in itself, is a be a big USP for us to grow. The opportunities are showing very, very openly for us because now people want as our customers want to consolidate in terms of their supplier base, we fall in line with someone who can give them from 0 to 100 in terms of whatever their requirements of casting are.
At the same time, you're also aware that we are possibly the only player who also does zinc casting. We also do magnesium castings.
Anybody who wants any kind of casting is now available with Sandhar in every sense of the word.
Got it, sir.
Jayant Davar
Now you wanted growth, right?
Yeah.
Jayant Davar
Yeah. In terms of growth, at this time, the three major verticals, which is aluminium business, sheet metal business, the proprietary business, and in fact, even the construction business, all of them are rated at growth rates for this particular year, which are probably internally much higher than what I've quoted you.
I have been a little conservative. I said that right in the beginning.
That is because of a little bit of confusion as to how this year would pan out depending on global case scenarios and India case scenarios. The overall growth estimate that I'm giving you seems conservative.
I also said it was without taking into preview the pricing re-trigger that is likely to happen. It's across every division and every product line that we manufacture that we are looking at the growth rates that I've told you.
Great, sir. Sir, just a follow-up question because you mentioned that you work with zinc, magnesium, aluminium, right, and I heard another auto player, he talks about that they are able to really process these zinc, magnesium, and few other things, and that's how they were able to move up the value chain in terms of getting into aerospace.
In fact, I'm sure you have enough on your plate right now, but anything in terms of a future guidance where you want to see yourself? Do you want to expand the sectors you cater to or take these existing capabilities to anywhere else within the auto as well, if you can just comment on that?
Jayant Davar
That's a very big question. It depends on the opportunity that is presented to us.
I said, in terms of building our capability, that's what we are doing from 0 to 100. Obviously, whether it is aerospace, whether it is defense, whether it is railways, whether it is auto, the present case scenario of what where our capabilities lie in castings, we cover it all.
We are obviously concentrating on the existing customers that we have and the existing businesses that we have, where the volume play and the volume growth affords us to be busy for this particular year. This is not taking away from the fact that we are very open to looking at various other possibilities.
As and when something strikes and we will keep you posted.
Great, sir. Thanks a lot.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question, and conclude the question and answer session.
I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Jayant Davar
Once again, I just want to thank you all. Just telling you, informing you, and congratulating you that your company at this time is in solid stead.
We are in a happy place. India is in a happy place.
Our sector is in a happy place. Unless and until, barring anything major that happens outside on the global horizon, we seem quite confident that this year will also be a year where we will have record numbers show up for the entire year.
With that, thank you once again. Thank you to Dolat Capital for putting this together.
Look forward to speaking to you again after the next quarter. Thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, and bye-bye.
Operator
On behalf of Dolat Capital Market Private Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.
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