Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our Q1 FY '27 earnings conference call. With me, I have Mr.

Mahendra Ananthula, our Group President, Operations, Business Development, and Diversification; Mr. Subramanian, our Group CFO; and SGA, our Investor Relations Advisor.

Our investor presentation for Q1 FY '27 is available on the stock exchange and on our company's website. Before discussing our business performance, I want to address the tragic incident at our waste-to-energy facility in PCMC.

On July 8th, the region received exceptionally heavy rainfall of approximately 650, well above anything recorded historically in the area. During this event, a mound of legacy waste at the dumping site adjacent to our facility collapsed onto the company's administrative building.

23 individuals were present at the time. Rescue operation began immediately and 14 people were safely rescued.

Tragically, nine individuals lost their lives. Our focus from day one has been on standing by the affected families.

The company is bearing all medical and counseling expenses for the injured, providing financial assistance of ₹40 lakhs to each affected family, and covering funeral-related expenses. We are offering employment to immediate family members of the deceased, supporting the education of their minor children, and providing dedicated assistance in navigating medical, insurance, and statutory claims.

This support will continue for as long as it's needed. Those who lost were not merely employees, they were valued members of our extended family, and our thoughts remain with their loved ones.

I want to be clear on the facts: the waste mound involved was legacy waste located outside the area allocated to the company by the corporation and its remediation was not part of our contracted scope of work. On operations, as a precautionary measure, we temporarily suspended activity at the WTE plant pending a full structural and safety assessment.

Municipal waste collection and transportation were unaffected throughout. MRF and composting operations resumed from July 28th and WTE operations will restart only after thorough review and certification by our OEMs and Hitachi.

We continue to cooperate fully with all concerned authorities. Today, with more than a month on, we pause to remember the nine colleagues we lost: the work they did, the people they were, and the families who carry this loss every day.

We have stayed close to those families through this period and we will continue to. As we remember them, we also renew our commitment to one another: nothing matters more than every person who comes to work returning home safely.

Safety isn't a set of rules on a wall, it's how we look out for each other every day. We owe that to the colleagues we lost, to their families, and to each other.

Turning now to the key highlights of the quarter, our business performance, we delivered healthy year-on-year revenue growth of 6%, reaching ₹269 crores, driven by higher volume across our project sites and supported by contractual tariff-linked escalation. On the balance sheet side, during the quarter, we successfully refinanced the term loan of Antony Lara Renewable Energy Private Limited, our material subsidiary operating the WTE facility in PCMC.

This refinancing brought the interest rate down from 10.25% to 8.25% per annum, a meaningful reduction that will support our cost of capital going forward. I'm also pleased to share a significant business win.

We secured a new contract from the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority for the procurement and comprehensive O&M of electrical-mechanical road sweeping machines across Greater Noida East zone. This is a ₹243 crore project over 5 years with a further 2-year extension option, expected to commence in Q3 FY '27 and contribute approximately ₹46 crores in revenue in its first year.

The project involves deploying 16 electric sweepers along with supporting infrastructure and manpower, covering approximately 640 km of roads daily, further strengthening our footprint in sustainable urban waste management. Looking ahead, our focus remains on expanding processing infrastructure, enhance profitability, and strengthening our presence in high-growth emerging sectors.

Backed by a strong operational and financial foundation, we are well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of urban India. As the nation accelerates its transition towards sustainability and circular economy, we are fully prepared to deliver solutions that are practical, scalable, and outcome-oriented, driving long-term value for all our stakeholders.

Thank you, and turning to the operational aspect, let me get Mahendra in. Mahendra, over to you.

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

Thank you, Jose. I would like to walk you through the operational performance of Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited for the quarter.

Starting with volumes, our collection and transportation operations handled approximately 0.55 million tonnes of waste, while our processing facilities managed around 0.85 million tonnes of municipal solid waste, reflecting year-on-year growth of 6% and 5% respectively. Total tonnage for quarter one of FY '27 came in at approximately 1.4 million tonnes, a 5% increase over the previous year.

On the revenue side, our C&T business delivered healthy growth with revenue up to 10% year-on-year to ₹166 crores, while the processing segment grew 3% year-on-year to ₹75 crores. The operations continue to demonstrate resilience and consistency across segments.

The waste-to-energy plant at PCMC generated over 20 million green units during the quarter, helping us avoid approximately 2,782 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions, a tangible contribution to India's renewable energy goals and to reducing our own carbon footprint. Our construction and demolition waste recycling facility continued to operate efficiently, achieving an industry-leading recycling rate of 96%, reinforcing our commitment to circular economy practices.

The consistent performance across facilities reflects our broader focus on building scalable, sustainable infrastructure. Turning to resource recovery, RDF sales stood at approximately 40,000 tonnes, down around 28% year-on-year.

This is not directly comparable to the quarter one of FY '26, which had benefited from a meaningful contribution from the CIDCO bio-mining project, now completed. Compost sales remained broadly stable at approximately 6,000 tonnes.

On ESG, we continue to make tangible progress against our sustainability roadmap. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for the quarter stood at approximately 6,601 tonnes and 825 tonnes of CO2 equivalent respectively, while avoided emissions were estimated at approximately 2,782 tonnes, reflecting our continued focus on resource efficiency and carbon reduction.

Looking ahead, we remain focused on embedding sustainability deeper into our operations, enhancing waste recovery efficiency, and driving process improvements through automation and innovation. Backed by a strong execution track record and a technology-driven approach, we are confident of not just meeting, but exceeding evolving environmental standards and continuing to set new benchmarks in responsible waste management.

Thank you, and I now hand over the call to NG for financial highlights.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Let me take you through the consolidated financial performance for Q1 FY '27.

Our total operating revenue grew a steady 6% year-on-year to ₹269 crores, as mentioned by Jose, reflecting the resilience of our underlying business even as we navigated a challenging cost environment during the quarter. On revenue mix, collection and transportation contributed 62%, MSW processing was 28%, other operating income 7%, and contracts and other the remaining 3%.

This compares against 60%, 28%, 9%, and 3% respectively in Q1 FY '26. The shift reflects the growing weight of our C&T business, and our diversified revenue streams continue to give us strategic flexibility and position the company for sustained long-term growth.

Turning to profitability, I want to be direct with you on this quarter's numbers. The EBITDA came in at ₹45 crores, which is down 27% year-on-year and 33% sequentially, with EBITDA margin at 16.8% compared to 24.4% in Q1 FY '26 and 22.8% in Q4 FY '26.

This compression was driven by three factors: higher operating expenses, which included vehicle hiring and transportation costs at the CIDCO plant; employee costs, which rose 18% year-on-year and now represents 34% of our revenue versus 30% a year ago; and the deferral of certain Q4 FY '26 waste disposal transportation activities into this quarter, which added an incremental expense of approximately ₹10 crores. Finance costs also rose 35% year-on-year, reflecting a higher debt base ahead of our refinancing.

These pressures flowed through to the bottom line. PAT for the quarter stood at ₹0.7 crore, down sharply from ₹23 crore in same period last year, further impacted by one-time expense of ₹7 crore related to the prepayment of the Antony Lara Renewable Energy term loan.

This was a deliberate strategic move. The refinancing reduced the interest rate by 200 bps from 10.25% to 8.25%, and we expect it to deliver recurring interest savings and support stronger cash flow generation from the WTE facility going forward.

We view this quarter's profitability as transitional rather than the structural thing, given the one-off nature of both the transportation cost deferral and the refinancing charge. On the balance sheet, as of June 2026, gross debt stood at approximately ₹435 crores with cash and bank balances of around ₹111 crore, translating to a net debt of approximately ₹324 crore and a net debt-to-equity ratio of 0.4x.

Our weighted average cost of debt stood at approximately 10.1%, a figure we expect to trend lower as Lara Renewable refinancing benefit fully reflects going forward. The DSOs remained stable at 114 days, underscoring the disciplined working capital management even through a cost-heavy quarter.

Before I move on, I would like to flag one separate item for the benefit of everyone on the call. As some of you may be aware, we experienced a force majeure event at our WTE project in PCMC caused by extreme monsoon conditions this year.

This has resulted in damage to a portion of the project assets. I want to clarify that this does not impact our core operating assets.

Based on our current assessment, we expect an impairment charge in the range of around ₹22 to ₹24 crores, which we will treat as an exceptional, extraordinary item separate from our core operating performance. I would also like to note that this estimate does not yet factor in any recovery we expect from insurance claims, which could offset part of this impact.

I want to be transparent that this situation is still evolving, and more details will be captured in our Q2 results along with any further clarity that emerges. In total, the top-line momentum remains intact.

This quarter's margin pressure was driven by identifiable, largely non-recurring items, and the refinancing action we have taken strengthens our cost of capital and cash flow profile heading into the rest of FY '27. This concludes our remarks.

We would now like to open the floor for Q&A. Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, sir.

It was saddened to hear about the unfortunate event. Sir, my question is regarding to the waste-to-energy operation.

Into the results highlight wherein you have mentioned currently the operation are under the regulatory review. From that context, what is the status and considering it is a high-return-churning and high-margin business, what can be the near-term impact in terms of the waste-to-energy revenue?

That was my first question.

On the WTE part, there are two operations that are undergoing. The material recovery and composting section has already started operations from 28th of July.

We have started processing around 400 tonnes of waste a day. The WTE plant is expected back by first week of October.

During this period, the fixed cost incurred would be in the range of around 2.5 to 3 crores per month for us, so that's around ₹7 crore will be sitting on our books of accounts. The revenue will start technically from first week or second week of October for us on a full-fledged basis.

Okay. Sir, the tipping fee part will be continue, but the power generation and sale part will see some hampering.

Is the broader understanding which I got.

That's correct.

Okay. Secondly, from the processing business, if we see the current quarter have seen some moderation in terms of the relative growth.

Can you highlight any specific one-off or specific reason for that? Secondly, when you calling out inflationary trend which are hampering the current profitability, from the 2Q and 3Q perspective, considering current high crude derivative related prices, secondly the wage hikes which we have seen, how the near-term profitability going to see a trajectory in terms of the numbers?

Yeah. The answer to the first part on the softening processing volumes, that's mainly because CIDCO bio-mining contract got over in the last quarter.

This was a very specific 2-year project wherein we're supposed to bio-mine a particular tract of land, and that got over. That is why you're seeing a moderation in the processing content in Q1.

Going forward, with the Atkoli project up and running by Q4 of the current financial year, we will be back on the growth trajectory. On the margin profile, we have seen certain cost pressure mainly because of transportation and hiring-related items.

We expect those margin profile to slightly improve going forward. It would not be as bad as what we have encountered in Q1.

We'll see some respite coming in because of renegotiation on the terms with the transportation entities. On the labor front, yes, that is something that has happened.

Recently, we got a new Maharashtra state government revision in DA rates. There will be a timing issue of the cost pressure due to the labor front, but since bulk of our projects has got escalations linked in, we'll see some respite going maybe in the second half of the current financial year.

Okay. On a long-term guidance wherein we are likely to post around 22% to 24% sort of EBITDA margin, but from the FY '27 perspective, could it be below 20-odd percent considering all these macro factors?

On the processing side, we don't see a lot of pressure coming in. On the collection and transportation business, yes, because of higher repairs and maintenance cost and a few of our contracts getting old, we see some margin pressure coming in.

Having said that, FY '27 still has certain upticks mainly because our BMC contract would start from the third quarter onwards, so that has a slightly better margin profile. Our Atkoli CapEx reimbursement will also come in by Q4, that has a higher margin profile.

The internal threshold should be to go back to our historical margin trend, but yes, it can be a plus or minus a quarter here and there.

Okay. In terms of the balance sheet front, we have refinanced the loan, can you highlight the quantum of that?

Secondly, there is some 15-odd crore sort of receivable which we are got a favorable judgment from the court, what is the timeline for that in terms of the receivables?

The total amount that got refinanced is around 140-odd crores at the Lara Renewables end, so that is the quantum of loan that is getting restated at a lower cost. On the ₹15 crore amount, the amount is still pending.

The corporation is working and they will get back to us shortly.

Okay. Sir, lastly, on the Andhra project, sir, what is the status on the Andhra project?

Secondly, in terms of the C&D, how it is progressing considering current monsoon-related some disruption? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

On the Andhra project, we have got possession of land at both the sites, Kadapa as well as Kurnool. We, as we had indicated in our earlier calls, the technology and the EPC contractor, JFE India, has already completed the civil designs.

We have also appointed the civil contractor, and the civil contractor has mobilized its equipment in Kadapa. Kurnool should happen in the next couple of weeks.

Things are going as per schedule. I think NG has already briefed you earlier about the financial closure, which is also almost at the last stage.

We are confident of completing these projects as per schedule.

Okay. In terms of the C&D operation, how it is progressing right now?

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification): C&D actually has recovered. The BMC came up with two policy decisions which ensured that all the large builders start sending part of their construction demolition waste to the processing plant, which means that it became mandatory on their part, on the builders' part to get their waste processed.

That has really helped us in achieving the tonnages. That was a problem in the initial year.

Now we are getting close to 600 to 650 tonnes per day, and we have a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, plus or minus 10% that we can process. I think that plant has started giving better financial results.

Understood. That's it from my side.

Thank you.

Hello, sir. Thank you so much for giving this opportunity.

I have couple of questions. My first question is, sir, can you give a brief on CIDCO bio-mining project?

Can you explain the economics of the project like revenue, expected margin, and transportation cost per tonne? What I actually want to understand is this ₹10 crore incremental transportation which we incurred in Q1, how much was purely timing related and how much is in the project cost?

Mahendra Ananthula (Group

President -

Operations, Business Development and Diversification): The revenue model for the bio-mining project is basis the tipping fee that we get from the client plus the sale of RDF revenue that we get by selling it to the cement companies. Okay?

These are the two revenue streams, and the cost is the cost of transportation that you incur for paying to the transporters and disposal of inerts in the low-lying areas.

Okay. Is this ₹10 crore an incremental just for one quarter or is it increase in the project cost itself?

It's a cumulative effect. What happened when you do bio-mining is as and when you bio-mine a particular area, the inerts are kept aside and you dispose of the RDF material to the cement companies, as Mahendra mentioned.

Now after the project nears its end, there are a lot of inerts which cannot be sold to cement companies because they need RDF and not inerts. The last quarter was reflective of the disposal cost related to the inerts to low-lying areas as earmarked by the corporation and the authority.

The last part of any bio-mining contract would see a jump in transportation/disposal cost, similarly what we have incurred in Greater Noida bio-mining as well. Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

You could say it is a closure cost of the project. Cost of closure.

This will not be forward-looking for the next quarter or quarters? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

CIDCO bio-mining tender is over. We have already completed the project.

It's completed.

To answer your question, this is not a repetitive line item for you.

Okay. Sir, my second question is our processing volume has grown by 6%, but our RDF sales have declined by 28%.

Is this purely a timing issue in dispatches, inventory accumulation, or a weaker customer demand? How should we look at it?

What is the realization per tonne? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification): I think

it's not a timing issue. Because we also are in the process of adding more and more customers.

More the customers and also selling from our Pimpri plant apart from CIDCO and Kanjurmarg from where we are already selling. In terms of realization, it's a positive realization of upwards of ₹300 per tonne.

What it was in last year? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

It was ₹250 or so.

Okay. The realizations have improved, basically.

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

Yeah.

Sir, my last question. Sir, on refinance, what you said that outstanding amount was close to, if I'm not wrong, it was ₹40 CR.

For that, we have incurred a additional ₹7 crore prepayment cost and we are saving around [unclear] reduction in interest cost. What is the payback period for that, sir?

Could you

The amount that got refinanced is ₹140 CR, not just ₹40.

Okay, ₹140 CR, okay.

Yeah.

What would be the payback period?

The payback period for us is 15 years.

15 years.

We're talking about the loan tenure is now extended to 15 years and we're having a net benefit of ₹14 crores despite paying the ₹6 crore of prepayment charge.

Okay. Thank you so much.

That was it, sir.

Yeah.

Hi, good afternoon to the management. Am I audible?

Yes.

Thanks. My very first question comes from the side of collection and transportation business of yours.

In Q1 FY '27, we did around ₹166 crores of revenues and around 5.5

Can you speak a bit louder?

Sure, sir. Sir, I'm talking about your C&T business, your collection and transportation business.

Sir, we did around ₹166 crores of revenues and around 5.5 lakh tonnes of collection in the very first quarter. Sir, what should we assume as our revenue or sales per tonne for this C&T business?

See,

it will be very difficult to quantify because of two factors. One is the collection and transportation revenue also includes revenue from three other projects wherein the billing terms are not on tonnage, but it's on number of households and the number of trips.

Like the ones in Thane, Jhansi, and Varanasi, the billing is on the number of units/household/commercial unit and the number of trips that we run. That tonnage is not getting captured in the tonnage group.

Second, more importantly, the scope of each project is different, it will be very difficult to quantify on a per tonne revenue rate what will be the price because each contract has a different scope. The tipping fee ranges between ₹1,800 to ₹4,200 depending on the scope, depending on the number of vehicles, and the number of years within which the work needs to be completed.

I got it. It's up to the area and up to the size of the project.

If you can give me a EBITDA margin idea for this collection and transportation business. It might be difficult, but if you can put a number onto it.

We never comment on each division performance, and it's very difficult because it's a B2G market, right? These are pretty commercially sensitive points to discuss.

I got it. Receivable cycle within this collection and transportation businesses?

Sorry, can you repeat that question a bit clearer?

I can get an idea of the debtor days, what are the receivables

We have 114 DSOs is what we have reported for the first quarter. Normally our DSOs range anywhere between 90 to 115 kind of a number, so that's the range that we have over the last 18 quarters.

Okay. You are talking on a consolidated basis or I am just talking about

Consolidated basis.

On a consolidated basis you're talking. Fine.

That's all from my side, sir. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Hello, am I audible, sir?

Yes.

Yeah. I would like to know which of our current segments offer the strongest growth opportunity going ahead from now, is it C&T, processing, or the WTE segments?

Going forward, I think the given focus of the management is to concentrate more on waste processing/WTE projects for us. Having said that, collection and transportation is also a area where we have been growing by leaps and bounds.

In the last 4 years, we have got more C&T contracts and mechanical sweeping contracts, and even yesterday we got a new contract from the Greater Noida Municipal Corporation. For us, growth will come from both the sides, but the focus where it's more margin accretive and more CapEx intensive, it is waste processing/WTE for us.

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

Just to add to what NG said, it's about maintaining a balanced portfolio. We used to be essentially 70% collection and transportation and 30% processing.

We are actually moving towards 50-50 kind of portfolio, and that's our target.

Just to understand, you're moving towards more waste-to-energy portfolio? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

Processing and waste-to-energy portfolio, yeah.

Okay. Sir, going forward, how much of the company's future growth can be achieved through our existing portfolio versus winning new contracts?

Our existing portfolio gives us a scope of anywhere between 6% to 9% depending upon the tipping fees escalation that gets registered and clocked in. The new businesses, new scope of additional growth will give us around 10% to 15% additional growth coming from that.

This would be slightly lumpy because even if we bag a contract, for example we bagged the BMC contract two quarters back, it's only in the current quarter that we started one of the zones kick off. Bagging the contract, signing the LOA, and that translating into P&L line item takes at least two to three quarters for us.

The timing of recognizing revenue growth will be slightly staggered, but that's the trend for us.

Understood, sir. Understood.

Thank you, that's all.

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity.

First, bookkeeping question: could you just share what is the long-term and short-term debt that we have?

The long-term debt is around 220-odd crores, the balance entirely will be short-term debt for us. That's around 140-odd crores, the total debt is around ₹420 crores for us.

That's the split between

₹220 and ₹140, you're saying?

Yeah.

Then that would come to 360.

There's also cash and cash balances of 111, so that kind of knocks off for us. If you look at ₹435 crores, I would say around ₹300 crores would be a long-term debt for us in that sense.

I'm just netting off the EMDs which is available for us. Out of ₹435 crores of long-term debt, ₹350 crores would be the debt due over the next 3 to 5 years, and the debt due in the next 12 months is around ₹28 crores plus 12, so that's 40-odd crores.

Okay. On a overall basis, has our borrowings increased compared to Q4?

Compared to Q4, my total borrowing has increased by around ₹22 crores. Gross debt level.

Okay. This is towards any specific project?

Two: we have started working on the AP WTE projects a bit, there is a incremental debt on that part, and secondly, we have also got the BMC contract, the new C&T contract which started in the Q1, there has been incremental debt towards that project as well.

Okay. The other question I have is on more strategic level.

Have we evaluated getting into compressed biogas under the new scheme that the government has launched, the GOBARdhan scheme? Because there is one element where you can have municipal solid waste as an input for the generation of compressed biogas, and there is a defined offtake agreement also, a long-term offtake agreement that you can sign with certain companies like city gas distributors or some of the oil marketing companies.

Have we evaluated that? Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

Yes, we have evaluated, and we are indeed looking at a CBG project, but it's a part of an integrated waste project. What it means is that the city is responsible for sending 1,000 tonnes of waste, and while the waste-to-energy plant will take care of the dry fraction, the wet fraction will be sent to the CBG plant.

To that extent, we think that a CBG plant on a standalone basis is too small, it makes more sense when it's part of an larger integrated project.

Does it mean that we are planning to get this kind of contracts in the future?

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification): That's right. Okay.

Okay. With respect to the employee expenses also, the employee expenses have shot up significantly.

Were we aware that this is going to happen in Q1 of this financial year?

No, it was not completely anticipated. There were two factors that led to it.

One is the labor code change that came and restated our assumptions in the actuarials and everything, so that led to a restatement in the numbers, and also the incremental headcount in the new projects that we have got. These were the two factors.

Part of it was anticipated with the new project start, but the quantification due to the new labor code, that was a surprise item for us.

Okay. This incremental thing would be passed on to the customers, right?

Eventually.

Bulk of it would be a part of the escalation adjustment as per the tender condition, but there will be a timing mismatch because we get an annual escalation and the cost will be incurred today. Maybe after 6 months from now based on the annual life of that particular contract, we'll go for an escalation as per the tender condition.

Right. Is it safe to assume that by next financial year, not in FY '27, but in FY '28, our margin trajectory would be back to the historical levels?

It should be, because if you look at the labor cost as a percentage of my revenue, historically it's been in the range of around 30% to 31%. This time it's spiked to 34%, which is an aberration for us.

Normally in the next three quarters, I think it will be normalized to those levels and then the margin expansion will step in.

Because I'm assuming that by that time when FY '28 starts, we would have passed on and got approvals for all the escalations related to the labor charges, labor costs.

Yes, that's the right assumption.

Okay. Thank you so much, wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Hello, can you hear me?

Okay. Sir, thanks for the opportunity.

Sir, my question to the management is: why every time we keep hearing new surprises? Okay?

I've been following this company for several years, okay? I'll probably share what concerns I have.

First, I had seen a management interview over TV saying we'll get into vehicle scrapping, and then in subsequent calls we said that we have identified land and then machinery will be ordered, and then down the line after 1 year we say that, okay, now we are not going to proceed with it, we don't see much ROI, and there's a lot of issues related to vehicle scrapping, okay? Similarly, right, now again in this quarter we see the margins have gone for a toss, and this was not called out in previous concalls.

We were always saying that our margin profile will be in the range of 22% to 24% depending upon the contracts what we have, okay? That's my first question: why we always keeps seeing surprises?

Waste management as a business, it's the way we look at business, it need to be viewed on an annual basis. Looking at a company on a quarterly performance, it's will be very difficult to target that.

When we got listed in 2021, our total revenue was around ₹400 crores, today we are a ₹1,000 crore company, and we have been able to get new contracts at prices which is attractive. If you were to look at our margin profile over the last 4 years, it's been largely been steady.

It's been upwards of 20% to 22% EBITDA margin for us. Yes, you are right, each quarter comes out with some surprises because in this line of activity where 60% to 70% of my operating expenses labor centric, which is fuel centric, repairs and maintenance centric, and it's also related to the tonnage inflow mechanism, there are certain items which is beyond the company's control on a quarterly basis.

There is a DA increase, there's no way that we can quantify that and forecast it to a exactitude. Similarly, fuel prices pre-2018 or even before that it was administered prices, today fuel is something which is very volatile.

Not only that, the cost of repairs and maintenance, the cost of additives over the last three quarters has spiked through the roof. If you look at the cost of additives, the cost of fabrication, the cost of gases used for cutting and repairing our metals, it's become very expensive, especially after the recent war that's happening in the Gulf of Hormuz.

For a larger canvas on the cost spread, though we got an escalation which covers 80% of operating cost, that's a time-barred thing. Instead of looking at a company's performance on a quarterly basis, we would suggest look at it from a longer aspect.

Look at the performance in batches of years. Look at from 2014 to 2018, 2018 to 2021, and 2021 to 2025, because in waste management, it's entirely like a utility business for us.

The waste comes in, you need to process it. Monitoring each quarter's performance versus the previous quarter's performance may not actually reflect the underlying complexities that gets reflected in the system.

On the auto scrap business, we are still evaluating. It's a capital part of it, but looking at the way the canvas is there, looking at the way the business is turning out, it's we don't want to rush into a business and do things, but we are definitely looking at that part as a potential area of diversification.

Thank you. My next question is I was just looking at the results, audited results, somewhere I saw one line item, okay, where I think the auditors have called out saying there is some compliance issue the way we've handled the plant, and then there is a review being done today if at all we have addressed all of these, okay?

Can you just elaborate what concerns we have? Didn't we comply with any of the regulations, is it?

No, no. The compliance is not on the part of it, it's basically once there have been certain structural damage to the plant which needs to be reviewed by the OEM suppliers.

Based on that reports, the further cost estimates would be worked out. It's a landslide that's happened, it has damaged certain parts, visibly that doesn't seem to be any damage, but till the time the experts come and look at the plant and give us a certificate, "Yes, this is the cost that needs to be done.

This is the repairs that needs to be done," only then to a certain certitude can we say this is an actual cost, and that is what is being called out by the auditors, which we plan to do in the second quarter.

Perfect. Thanks for the clarification.

One last question from my end. I also saw in the report that there is joint petition being applied by Antony Waste and State of Maharashtra, and tomorrow there is hearings from Supreme Court on 12th of August, okay?

Say suppose we get anything against the government and Antony Waste, do you see any impact to us? I understand we have various clauses, but in case something goes wrong, what will be the impact for business?

Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

I don't think

Kanjurmarg plant, yeah. Mahendra Ananthula (Group President - Operations, Business Development and Diversification):

I know. I've known that.

I don't think there is anything which can go wrong for the simple reason that Supreme Court in the last hearing had said that before we take any action, we would like to see the practicality of BMC shifting the project to some other location or finding an alternate source. Clearly that is not an option, so that's why we don't think that this project is going to move away from Kanjurmarg from where it is today.

On the other hand, the monitoring committee which has been appointed by High Court of Bombay has been extremely supportive. They have been very appreciative of the kind of efforts and the kind of initiatives we have taken in Kanjurmarg.

Thanks to these regular visits by the monitoring committee, people has started appreciating the good work which has happened in Kanjurmarg. Going forward, if at all there is some change, it is only going to be in the context of change in technology, which is what we have been referring to, saying that city of Bombay needs to switch to CBG and waste-to-energy as technology options, and the High Court and Supreme Court also are more likely to move into that direction.

Thank you.

Thank you. One last if I can ask, right?

Okay. No problem.

Thank you.

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity.

Couple of questions. One is in terms of the additional expenses that we've had, from second quarter onwards we would not have any of those, right?

The ₹10 crores. Or would there be any?

Neerav, can you please repeat that question? We couldn't hear you.

Can you speak loudly, please?

Yeah. Just on the additional costs that we've incurred in this quarter, I'm assuming the ₹10 crore, how much of that would be recurring in the coming quarters?

That is my first question.

Okay. On the recurring cost of ₹10 crore of bio-mining, we don't see any of it getting repeated in the current quarter because that was related to the CIDCO bio-mining and they have completed with the contract.

That was a last part of activity of disposal of inerts from the site, and since the contract is over, there is no related cost to be borne in the forthcoming period.

That is my first question. The second thing is in terms of the volume growth that we're expecting now for the next 9 months, what is the additional volume or the new contract that has come in, how much do you think that would contribute to the volume growth?

We can give you contract-wise number kind of a detail, but it will not be for the full year. For example, the BMC contract by itself will add around 1,400 tonnes per day.

The Atkoli project that we have got in the Thane processing will add another 600 to 800 tonnes per day, but that's not for the full year. It will start either on Q4 or Q3 of the current financial year.

These are the incremental numbers that is going to come over the next two quarters. Maybe in the next financial year first quarter, you will know a steady state of tonnages that we are handling.

Okay.

Okay. Just to be very clear, in terms of the volume growth that we've got in this quarter would be what we should assume in the current year with whatever incremental that comes in from the new contracts in the latter half of this year?

Would that be the right assumption?

That would be one way of looking at it. For example, of the BMC seven wards that we bagged, we started with one ward which had only 7 days of operation.

The second quarter will give a slightly better number on the tonnage. The third quarter and the fourth quarter will give you a full state of operation which we have bagged from the BMC contract.

Similarly, the Atkoli project will also give you a full volume by Q4. In Q4 would be your test of the total volumes that we handle, and going forward that will be on the base for the company.

Correct, correct,

correct. Just lastly, in terms of any one-offs, except for the WTE contract, we would not have any other one-offs that now we will see in this current financial year?

No, we don't anticipate any one-off like expenses. The WTE one is something that will weigh in the second quarter for us.

Correct. We are expecting that to start off in October or so?

By first, second week of October, we should have that up and running.

Got that. We'll be at full capacity sorts in the fourth quarter.

Yes. Got that,

got that. Thanks a lot.

Before we conclude, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt appreciation to our entire team for their unwavering commitment and exceptional contribution. Your dedication and hard work have been instrumental in driving our success and sustaining our growth momentum.

As we look ahead, our focus remains firmly on delivering consistent performance, enhancing shareholder value, and strengthening our leadership in sustainable waste management. We will continue to invest in innovation, technology, and operational excellence to further consolidate our position in the industry.

I am truly excited about the journey ahead as we continue to build a cleaner, greener, and a more sustainable future for our community and stakeholders. Thank you once again for your continued trust and support, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year and a pleasant evening.