Heidelbergcement India Limited.

Heidelbergcement India Limited.

118.40
INR
-4.58
(-3.72%)
6.17EPS
24.76P/E
34.63BMarket Cap

Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptMay 29, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to the earnings conference call of HeidelbergCement India Limited for the quarter and year ended 31st March 2026, hosted by PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain 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 an operator by pressing * then 0 on your touchtone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited for opening remarks.

Thank you, and over to you.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Thank you, Ryan. Good afternoon, everyone.

On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we welcome you to the earnings call for the quarter and year ended 31st March 2026 of HeidelbergCement India Limited. On the call, we have with us Mr.

Joydeep Mukherjee, Managing Director; Mr. Anil Sharma, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr.

Amit Angra, Head Investor Relations and Senior Vice President Finance of HeidelbergCement India Limited. I would like to mention on behalf of HeidelbergCement India Limited and its management that certain statements that may be made or discussed on today's conference call may be forward-looking statements related to future developments and which are based on current management expectations.

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

Also, HeidelbergCement India Limited has uploaded a copy of the Q4 and FY26 investor presentation on their website and stock exchanges. Participants may download a copy of the presentation from these websites.

I will now hand over the floor to the management of HeidelbergCement India Limited for their opening remarks, which will be followed by interactive Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Joydeep sir.

Okay.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Thank you. Amit, will you be operating the slides on our side, please?

Thank you. I'll start off with the key messages.

We continue to produce mostly blended cement in our operations. This is in line with our commitments to producing low-carbon cement across our operations.

Our alternative fuel usage also increased by 3% year-on-year, and we are now at 11% at a company level. Our share of non-grid power exceeded 50% during the FY.

The EBITDA at ₹584 per ton was up 10% year-on-year. We did repay interest-free loan of ₹687 million, and the company is now completely debt-free.

We have cash and bank balance of ₹4,037 million Indian rupees, and we continue to operate on negative net operating working capital. We have been declared as the preferred bidder for grant of two mining leases in Madhya Pradesh.

This was a strategic move and a forward-looking move. We did recommend a dividend of ₹7 per share in our board meeting recently concluded.

As an ESG overview, 97% of all the cements that we produce are blended cement. On carbon, we are now less than 500 kg per ton of cement, and this number is going down quickly.

This is also because we have been working on modifying our product portfolio so that it falls in line with our overall strategy of reducing our carbon footprint. On water positivity, we are at 4.8x water positive.

As far as CSR is concerned, we have touched 21,000-plus lives during this financial year and improved the lives. We are at more than 40% of green power in our overall power portfolio.

As far as our financial results are concerned, it has been already circulated. Broad messages in this are that we are about 19.8% higher on EBITDA as compared to last year.

At a PAT level, we are 35.5% higher. Our sales volume increased by 8.8% over the last year.

On EBITDA per ton too, we are about 10.2% higher. On a quarter basis, we had impact on pricing.

There was pressure on pricing, we lost about ₹105 at a gross price level, and we had a ₹53 impact on raw material and a ₹25 negative impact on on others. We did have some positives in terms of power and fuel and freight, but overall, Q-o-Q, our decrease in prices were only partially offset by input costs.

On a year basis, our EBITDA increased. This was mainly due to a decrease in input costs.

On a year basis, too, though the impact on price was lesser as compared to the quarter quarterly basis, we did lose about ₹16 overall on on price, and there was an impact of ₹11 on raw material. However, we had positive gains on power and fuel, freight, and other expenses.

On a per-ton basis, the EBITDA increased from ₹530 to ₹584. This is for the complete FY.

On on working capital, as I have said before, nothing to add. We continue to operate on negative working capital.

In case there are any particular questions on the data already produced, we can address them during the rest of the time. We have been pretty consistent in terms of our dividends, and this is driven by our operational cash flow.

On a face value of ₹10 per share, we have now proposed a 70% dividend for the FY. On on our share of volume, we can say that about 45% of our total volumes are dispatched to road.

This is up by 1% on a year-on-year basis. AFR, I have already spoken about, about 11%.

This is up by 3% on a year-on-year basis. Premium products portfolio, we are working on this and have been working on this consistently as a strategy for the last 3 years, and I am very happy to state that we have achieved the number of 52%, 52% of our total trade volumes come from premium products.

This is up by 9% on a year-on-year basis. As far as the trade mix is concerned, we are at an 81% trade sale number.

This is through trade retail sale, and we can say 19% is our B2B sale of the total mix. We are consistently and continuously increasing premiumization, and we are optimizing our trade/non-trade mix.

On outlook going forward, I can say the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh is going to provide a lot of impetus to cement demand in Central India. We are, of course, now heading into the monsoon season where, naturally, the consumption shall be a little low, but post-monsoon and carrying on till the elections in our relevant market, we expect very good demand.

The geopolitical developments, particularly the West Asia conflict, is continuing to create uncertainty in global markets and commodity prices. We've already had some impact on petcoke and fuel prices.

I'm very hopeful and confident that this impact shall be passed on to the market, as we have seen across other industries. Elevated headline inflation and currency depreciation does remain a concern.

At the same time, there are tailwinds of increasing cement consumption in the medium term as well as long term, also, because of domestic robust domestic consumption as well as the rationalization of the GST rate from 28% to 18%, which was done last year. We do not see a problem with demand going forward, but yes, for some time, headline inflation and currency depreciation would remain, a matter which needs to be monitored very closely, especially if a company has significant expenditure on imports.

The El Niño effect that we are seeing, the heat wave sweeping through the northern part of India and the central part of India, would produce a would pose a significant risk to agricultural output, rural demand, and food inflation. With the advent of monsoon, a large part of this is expected to be mitigated.

As I have said before, I am confident, even though with a little bit of lag, the increase in input prices, we shall definitely be able to pass on to the customers. I think that's all from from my side, and I'll now hand over the floor over to Vaibhav and team PhillipCapital for the further question-and-answer session.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press * and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press * and 2.

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.

Participants, a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press * and 1. We take the first question from the line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities.

Please go ahead.

Rajesh Ravi

Hello, am I audible?

Anil Sharma

Yes, Rajesh,

Rajesh Ravi

you are. Hi, sir.

Sir, just wanted to understand, what is your clinker production in FY26? You

Anil Sharma

are talking about the full year or per quarter?

Rajesh Ravi

Full year, full year.

Anil Sharma

We produced around 3.05 million ton total clinker production during the fiscal.

Rajesh Ravi

Did we also buy and sell clinker from outside? During the year, did we sell clinker also?

Anil Sharma

Yes. We have not bought any clinker.

Our own clinker quantity is sufficient for the cement. Yes, we do sometime do sell clinker, but that is not so significant.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. Sir, if you look at your number, 3.05 million tons, then we operated at almost 95% utilization in FY26.

What sort of volume growth one can look at on the existing capacity over next 2 years? Our CC ratio is also seems to have come down from peak of around 1.5 1.6 1.65 is now down to 1.5.

What is the way ahead?

Anil Sharma

Rajesh, if you see our total cement grinding capacity, it is around 6 million tons. At this moment, you're right that we are running around 90-95% capacity, but at the same time, like Mr.

Mukherjee said, that we are optimizing our product portfolio. We are also reducing our clinker content so that we can reduce CO2 emission as well as it gives us the further headroom to grind more cement.

We can say that, okay, at this moment, we have sufficient headroom for next 1 or 2 years, and we expect that our cement volume growth should be similar to what the cement demand growth in the market, especially in Central India.

Rajesh Ravi

What would be our cement-to-clinker ratio, sir, in Q4 and FY26?

Anil Sharma

Our clinker consumption ratio is around 60-61% of the cement, and I think we will be able to reduce at least maybe 50 basis point or maybe 100 basis points in the upcoming.

Rajesh Ravi

Okay. Rajesh,

Joydeep Mukherjee

yeah, just to elaborate and add on, we've launched a new blended cement where the clinker content is almost 17% lower. We are continuously ramping up production of the same, I don't think it is going to be an issue at least for the next couple of years.

Rajesh Ravi

What is this product? 17% lower clinker you're saying,

Joydeep Mukherjee

the CC should be It's a composite cement. Accha,

Rajesh Ravi

composite cement, okay. What are the cost levers you're looking at given that the industry is also reeling under almost ₹300 to ₹400 cost inflation by Q2.

In that scenario, there are any cost levers where your company is looking

Joydeep Mukherjee

Are you asking about the next quarter?

Rajesh Ravi

For H1, given the industry is looking at ₹300 to ₹400 cost increase because of the surge in fuel costs and the packaging material. In that, obviously, part of it is passed on, but overall, do we have any green power share going up or any other cost metric which can give you cushion against the cost inflation?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Look, we anticipate that in the near term, the next quarter, our costs would be impacted by anywhere between ₹100 to ₹150 a ton.

Rajesh Ravi

Given Fuel you are saying, fuel?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Given our fuel mix and everything. The packaging bags, the impact which was there has now substantially reduced.

What we are looking at is about anywhere between ₹100 to ₹160 a ton, which we are confident can be passed on.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. Any target on the green power mix, how has that been in FY26 and how would that be in FY27, '28?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Amit, would you take on that question, please?

Anil Sharma

Rajesh, we have been working, if you see our presentation where we talked about our green power percentage, it has increased to exceed the 40%, and we have been working further to increase it. Yes, it is a continuous process.

Now if you ask that, okay, there will be significant increase beyond this, answer is no. Yes, there will be some small improvement is there in the green power, come down the line 2026-'27, 2027-'28, our target to increase beyond 40%.

One lever we talk about and we also said in past that we have the good flexibility with respect to fuel mix. We consume petcoke as well as coal, and whenever the petcoke prices or coal prices move in the direction which is not maybe favorable to us, immediately we either decrease or increase our petcoke and fuel consumption.

In the Q1 June quarter 2027, if the price of the petcoke will remain at elevated level as it today, we will further optimize our fuel mix. That will give us the benefit, and that's why in our case, the impact will not be like ₹300 what the industry talks about.

Our impact may be around ₹150 on account of this petcoke and the diesel.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood, sir. What is the linkage coal share in our fuel basket, sir?

Anil Sharma

It is sufficient. We do not go to the open market in significant quantity.

Our existing ones support us for our clinker production.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. That is why your inflationary expectation is lower.

Understood. Sir, two things: just on the Dalmia winning the JP assets now and that they expect to operationalize it fully from Q2 onwards, thereby bringing almost 5 million ton of additional volume pressure in the market.

What is the thought process on that in terms of you being one of the Central and Eastern markets being one of your key markets? Second, what are the capex program which we are looking at?

Heidelberg had plans to expand into Gujarat market, but we haven't heard anything on that front. Any major expansions which is in the pipeline over next 2, 3 years?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yeah. We are setting up, and you might have seen in media, a blending unit in Khandwa.

This is expected to give us about 35,000 tons of extra cement from that unit. That is immediate, that project is on right now as we speak.

We are investing around 120, 130-odd you can take about ₹130 crores in that project.

Rajesh Ravi

Sorry, 130 what? ₹130 crores.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Sorry, I didn't get you.

Rajesh Ravi

130

Joydeep Mukherjee

₹130 crores.

Rajesh Ravi

Okay.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yeah. Other than that, we have, as I mentioned, we've also been declared as the preferred bidder for grant of mining lease, we have a limestone block in an area of about 350 hectares in Rewa and Satna.

This gives us 62 million tons of cement-grade limestone. There's another block over 350 acres in Satna again which has about 105 million tons of cement-grade limestone.

We are the preferred bidders for that. Obviously, this is all keeping in view the future expansions, but I will not be able to reveal right now on the exact plan.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood.

Joydeep Mukherjee

As of today, what I am in a position to reveal and confirm is our blending unit at Khandwa.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. Anything on the Gujarat plans which the company had earlier talked about that they would look to

Joydeep Mukherjee

No, we are still awaiting clearance from the government. It is still pending.

Understood. Yeah.

It's not in our hand right now.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. I'll come back in queue.

Thank you.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants, please press * and 1 to ask a question.

We have a question from the line of Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Thank you. Sir, I had a question in pricing.

You said in your opening remarks that you have not been able to pass on the pricing to the extent of cost push in Q1. Even in Q4, pricing has been slightly under pressure.

Sir, in this regards, as far as we gather, North and West have been quite stable or better off in pricing versus Central India, and Central India has been suffering from a low pricing for quite a long time now. What is the key reason?

Is it the commissioning of new clinker lines by our competition? Because if the neighboring pricing is relatively better off, then what are the key reasons for pricing to be subdued in your geography?

That's my first question.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Vaibhav, this is pretty normal. If you see wherever companies bring in capacity, for some time, the prices do remain under pressure.

We've had JK expanding in our region, we've had a Shree Cement operation which has gone online, we've had extra material from UltraTech who are ramping up their capacity utilization in the same area. Right now, Central is no longer Sir,

Vaibhav Agarwal

the question was actually this Central India has been under pricing pressure for quite some time now, for maybe last three, four quarters. This is not going away, so that's the reason I was

Joydeep Mukherjee

No, I I have not under- Are you Are you

Vaibhav Agarwal

No, I'm saying in terms of pricing, when you're saying that you will be able to pass on the cost push in Q1, you're confident of it. Then the pricing is under pressure, then in that parlance, I was asking the question that what gives you the confidence that you'll be able to pass on the cost push?

See,

Joydeep Mukherjee

the cost push would be on everyone, right? If this is not passed on, then all the balance sheets are going to start looking pretty bad.

Historically, we have seen that if there is a serious cost increase, it always gets passed on, which is why if you have noted my earlier comment, I have said, albeit with a lag,

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right. because

Joydeep Mukherjee

different companies would have different kind of stocks and tie-up for fuel. As soon as that cushion is gone,

Vaibhav Agarwal

then

Joydeep Mukherjee

it'll start hurting. Obviously, people at 150 million tons, 180 million tons, and 100 million tons, for them, the impact on their balance sheet is significantly higher.

Sanity says that this will always happen.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Sir, but structurally from going forward from here on, maybe in say for the next 1 year or 2 years, how would you see overall Central India pricing assuming expansions go on? JK Cement, like you mentioned, have commissioned.

Now there will be some new plants also coming in. As far as your understanding, structurally, how will pricing move in Central India for the next 1 to 2 years?

How would you see that?

Joydeep Mukherjee

I think if you are going to look at the next 1 year, I'm pretty confident that it is going to follow what is happening in North.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Okay.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Because most of the Northern players are also suppliers to Central. As we all so know, there are no islands of prosperity in cement.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right.

Joydeep Mukherjee

There is always spillover from one region to the other region. A parity keeping view of where the cement plants are and where the markets are, is going to come in.

I'm going to be cautious enough to say that, yes, for maybe the next quarter and before the monsoon ends, the prices will be under a little bit of pressure. I wouldn't say that that is going to be a complete killjoy, because there is also now the big burden of the cost push.

I'm sure to the extent of the cost push, the industry would be able to pass it on. Beyond that, if you're asking structurally, how much on top of that, that is crystal ball gazing.

I'm not able to answer that question right now.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Understood, sir. Sir, my second question was on your opening remarks that you were highly dependent on imports.

From that perspective,

Joydeep Mukherjee

how much We are? I didn't say we are.

The

Vaibhav Agarwal

industry. Okay.

I thought that you said. As far as HeidelbergCement India goes, sir, how much is the import component or what is our fuel mix as of now, if you can just spell it out?

Joydeep Mukherjee

I think Vaibhav, we do not import.

Vaibhav Agarwal

That's what I want to clarify. There is no imported petcoke.

No,

Joydeep Mukherjee

no, not at all. Nothing.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right. Sir, third was on your merger of Yeah.

Yeah.

Anil Sharma

Vaibhav, just to add on the pricing what Mr. Mukherjee said, also efficient one fact that the highest consumption state in India, UP, is going to election in next 1 year.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Yeah.

Anil Sharma

For companies predominantly Central India players, so that will support significantly on the demand of the cement, and that should support us with respect to the pricing because we have been selling cement, and our target is to increase volume either blended cement or our nearby focus market for home market. We are pretty confident and positive that we will be able to pass on the cost increase, at least cost increase to market.

Sir,

Vaibhav Agarwal

in that perspective, what is our demand outlook for FY27, '28 for Central India and for HeidelbergCement, just in case if you have any guidance?

Joydeep Mukherjee

I am sure that this fiscal, too, in Central, the industry would grow at least by 7-7.5%.

Vaibhav Agarwal

That is in line to the overall pan-India demand outlook.

Joydeep Mukherjee

I think by the beginning of the next calendar year, as we approach elections, it's going to get ramped up to maybe a little bit more. I'm saying on an average, 7-7.5% is not too much to expect.

Vaibhav Agarwal

That's a given that 7.5% will happen as per you.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yeah.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Okay. Sir, in the past, there's no talk of late, but in the past, you have indicated about the possible merger of Zuari and Heidelberg.

Any thoughts on that?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Again, I said it's a timing issue. There have been some publications that have come out in the media also.

We are, of course, building a 3 million ton integrated cement plant in Karnataka.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right.

Joydeep Mukherjee

That is now underway, which, of course, is not part of this company as of now.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Yeah.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Depending on the suitable time, yes, there are plans of eventually going in for a merger of all the entities.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Sir, but any timeline which you can probably think of maybe 2 years, 3 years?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Right now, I would be hesitant to spell out a timeline.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Understood. Sir, last question was on your blending unit.

What would be your capex guidance for FY27, '28 in terms of overall capex for HeidelbergCement India?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Total, I think we have already said about

Vaibhav Agarwal

65.

Joydeep Mukherjee

It will split into two fiscal year: 2027-'28, part

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right. and

Joydeep Mukherjee

then 2027-'28. So ₹130 crores put together in 2 years we are going to invest in that blending.

Vaibhav Agarwal

65 each year is it a fair or the first year would be light and second year would be heavy on

Joydeep Mukherjee

capex? First year would be lighter.

It will be more backloaded because the first year, we will not need so much of capex. Sir,

Vaibhav Agarwal

this blending unit, I'm sure this will not form part of your capacity, right? The capacity will remain at about 6 million tons or in terms of the overall capacity for HeidelbergCement India?

Would you take it as an additional capacity, or would you keep your rated capacity the same?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Cement capacity, like we said, that around 30 30-35,000 tons per month the cement capacity will increase.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Right. Can we presume that this would increase our rated capacity to that extent, 35,000 tons per month, which converts to 0.4 million tons per annum?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Cement output capacity, yes, because as of now, we find it difficult to approach that market because Damoh is quite far from that part of the market.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Sir, last, your volume guidance, like you have done 1.35 in this quarter, which is the highest ever Heidelberg has done, and since you're optimistic on demand, can we achieve a 90% utilization for FY27 or maybe '28? Are you confident about retaining these kind of volumes for upcoming quarters in, obviously in peak demand periods?

Joydeep Mukherjee

On a yearly basis, yes. I think quarter-on-quarter, it's a little difficult to predict.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Understood. Okay.

Sir, we have questions from participants in the queue. I will just hand it over to Ryan for

Operator

Thank you.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Thank you.

Operator

Participants, please press * and 1 to ask a question. We take the next question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital.

Please go ahead.

Shravan Shah

Hi, sir. Thank you.

Couple of questions. Sir, just to clarify, when we are saying the industry in Central India to grow at 7-7.5%, for us, in terms of the official kind of a volume target, would be the similar 7-7.5%?

That's what we are looking at?

Joydeep Mukherjee

I have not understood your question. Are you saying we are forecasting that we should be also growing by the similar number?

Is that what you're asking?

Shravan Shah

For FY27.

Joydeep Mukherjee

We shall be in line with the industry growth in our region.

Shravan Shah

Okay.

Joydeep Mukherjee

Obviously, we cannot exceed that because we are, as we are nearing our complete capacity utilization. We shall be in line with the growth.

Shravan Shah

Yeah. Just to get a number clear, in terms of the cement capacity as on today is 5.95 million tons, the Imlai and Jhansi, these two units.

In terms of the clinker capacity, is it 3.23 because some debottlenecking at Damoh was supposed to happen, just wanted to confirm the number?

Joydeep Mukherjee

The debottlenecking has happened. The capacity is going to come.

The debottlenecking exercise is over.

Shravan Shah

What's the current clinker capacity? Is it 3.23 million or 3.1 million?

Anil Sharma

Our clinker capacity is 3.1 million tons. Cement capacity is not 5.95; it is 5.7

Shravan Shah

is the our cement capacity

Anil Sharma

in Central India. Correct.

Shravan Shah

Okay. Got it.

This both the new the MP one, whenever we will finalize, let's say, obviously there also, like a Gujarat, in terms of all the approvals, environment, everything will be there. Just trying to understand, even let's say in next 1 year also we start, this will be kind of a 3, 4 year down the line the actual plant to start?

Joydeep Mukherjee

No, no. We have already received the CTE.

We can expect this project to be completed within 2 years from now, maybe even earlier.

Shravan Shah

No, this is the Khandwa one you're saying?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yes.

Shravan Shah

No, I'm saying apart from this, the Gujarat one, let's say, do you think that the environment clearance likely to be there in next 6 months, 1 year is possible? If it, let's say, if comes, post that we start, will it take another 2.5, 3 years to actually the cement plant?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yes, obviously. Post the EC, yes, of course.

Shravan Shah

Okay. There, in terms of the capacity is the last time we were talking about 2.5, 4 million tons, or still it can change depends in the time we decide?

Joydeep Mukherjee

It can change once we receive the EC and we look at the situation. That's when we decide it.

That is not a number which is very firmly finalized as of now.

Shravan Shah

This MP two mines that we have won, there also, whenever we will add new capacity, that will also be at least 4 year down the line from today? No,

Joydeep Mukherjee

it could be earlier. There is nothing like that it's 4 year down the line.

As I said, as of today, I'm not in a position to declare an exact date. We have plans, very firm plans, and we are definitely going to start working on it.

Shravan Shah

Okay. For this Khandwa unit, then we will have to kind of a start buying the clinker, or still the current plant at a full utilization?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Our existing clinker would do.

Shravan Shah

Okay. Sir, just to clarify, this cost increase what you mentioned initially, ₹100 to ₹160-odd, just to clarify, in Q1, we are seeing maybe ₹100, ₹125-odd rupees kind of a cost increase because of the packing bag, diesel, and the fuel.

In overall in 1H, max ₹160 kind of a cost increase that we can see?

Joydeep Mukherjee

Yes.

Shravan Shah

Okay. Currently, sir, just a two, three data points: the lead distance for fourth quarter FY26 fourth quarter and FY26, and fuel mix for maybe fourth quarter and FY26, so that will help us to understand in terms of the what you were highlighting that we can shift from petcoke to coal.

Anil Sharma

Our petcoke to coal, earlier it used to be around 60-65% was the petcoke and remaining coal and alternate fuel. Now during last maybe 2, 3 months, we have reduced petcoke consumption by around 10%, the coal consumption increased from earlier 30% to 40%.

That optimization we have already done, and hopefully that should continue in June quarter. In terms of your question on lead distance, our lead distance currently is around 370 to 372 km.

372.

Shravan Shah

This is for the entire FY26, and what was the number for Q4?

Anil Sharma

It's more or less same. Our lead distance has not changed, although during last maybe 6 months increased around 5 km, but there is no significant increase or decrease in the lead distance.

Shravan Shah

The kcal cost on combined put together everything for fourth quarter and FY26 is how much?

Anil Sharma

Kcal, the petcoke earlier used to be around maybe expensive 10%, now currently it is really expensive, 30% over coal. Coal per kcal basis around 1.5, and petcoke now exceeding 2, 2.25.

Shravan Shah

No, I got petcoke is, but what was the actual blended kcal cost for fourth quarter FY26 and FY26 full year?

Anil Sharma

Okay. I am talking about this current prevailing cost price, which is after the escalation or elevation of the petcoke prices.

If you talk about the only March quarter, March quarter, the coal cost was below 1.5, which is more or less similar now as well, and the petcoke price was around 1.9 kcal.

Shravan Shah

Sir, still I did not get. At a blended level for us for fourth quarter and FY26, what was the kcal cost?

Everything put together, what was the blended Blended per kcal cost

Anil Sharma

is what he's asking. You are talking about the put together both?

Shravan Shah

Put together for fourth quarter FY26 and for entire FY26. That

Anil Sharma

I need to recheck.

Shravan Shah

Okay. Got it, sir.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants, please press * and 1 to ask a question.

We take the next question from the line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Rajesh Ravi

Hi, sir. Regarding the clinker debottlenecking, in the last call, you had suggested that the 1.

1.3 lakh ton clinker debottlenecking would be up and running by June quarter, last year June quarter. Now you're saying that it is still due from 3.1 to 3.23?

Anil Sharma

Our debottlenecking project with respect to this clinker, we have already done. This was for particular kiln 3.

This we have already submitted our application to increase the our capacity. We are working on it.

Rajesh Ravi

While the debottlenecking is done, the approval for the capacity approval is pending, is this what you imply?

Anil Sharma

We are talking about the two things. One is that improvement of the kiln by doing the debottlenecking capex, that we have done it.

When you talk about the capacity for the government side to get the approval, that we are working on it.

Rajesh Ravi

Okay. There is no grinding expansions or debottlenecking we have done.

Grinding capacity remains 5.75, and while clinker, we have expanded from 3.1 to 3.23, the official approval is yet pending?

Anil Sharma

You are right.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. Sir, Karnataka, the unit which you had, which is now defunct and unusable, is there any plan to dispose of that land parcel or does it have any monetization value which the company would be looking at?

Anil Sharma

Our Karnataka unit is still we run, albeit it is the lower quantity, but we have been operating it. Because

Rajesh Ravi

you don't count it under your capacity of 5.75, which we assume is 2.5 MP and Jhansi is 3.25. That is why I asked.

Anil Sharma

The capacity of the company is not 5.75. The Karnataka capacity of around 0.5 million is also there.

Rajesh Ravi

In that case, we are 6.26, is this the capacity we have?

Anil Sharma

Yes.

Rajesh Ravi

Okay. There is no grinding debottlenecking which is happening as of now, only the blending unit that you are setting up in MP, which is 0.4 million ton, which will come up by FY28?

Anil Sharma

Yeah.

Rajesh Ravi

Understood. That's all from my end.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants, this is a final reminder and no further reminders will be announced.

To ask a question, press * and 1. We take the next question from the line of Jinesh Kothari from Equirus Securities.

Please go ahead. Jinesh, if you can please unmute from your end and proceed with your question?

Jinesh Kothari

Hello, am I audible? Hello?

Anil Sharma

Yes.

Jinesh Kothari

Hello.

Anil Sharma

Yeah.

Jinesh Kothari

Hi, sir. Can you please provide me with your clinker sale number for FY26 and what was there in last year, FY25?

Anil Sharma

That is part of the total sales volume. Already we have reported total sales volume, cement and clinker put together.

Jinesh Kothari

Sir, I wanted clinker volume separately, if you can please quantify.

Anil Sharma

Difficult to share that number. Fine, sir.

No problem. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Nagaraj Tripali, an individual investor.

Please go ahead. Hi.

Nagaraj Tripali

Good afternoon all. Am I audible?

Anil Sharma

Yes, you are.

Nagaraj Tripali

Yeah. Sir, my suggestion for the company is, instead of going for dividends, sir, very good dividends you are declaring, why don't you go for share buyback, which will increase the shareholder value in the long term?

Anil Sharma

We have noted down your suggestion. Maybe we will explore in the management committee, and we'll discuss in the Board of Directors meeting and we'll see.

Dividend, as we have recommended by the board and we will submit before the shareholders for their consideration and approval. At the same time, we'll check the share buyback proposal.

Nagaraj Tripali

Okay. Thank you very much.

Good luck.

Operator

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

Please go ahead.

Shravan Shah

Sir, the total for the company as a whole, total capex for FY27 and for FY28 would be how much?

Anil Sharma

Total capex, we split into two part. One is the our, you can say, sustainable capex, stay-in-business.

That is in the range of around ₹45 to ₹50 crores, and that we do every year, which is more or less 40% of our annual depreciation. On top of that, we do some improvement capex.

Today we discuss about this Khandwa blending unit, and there we are going to make it around ₹130 crores in 2 years. First year, if I take the maybe ballpark number of the 40% of 130, around ₹50 crores another.

For the fiscal year 2026-'27, it will be around total ₹100 crores, and next year, subsequent year, it may be around ₹120.

Shravan Shah

Got it. Sir, did you able to get that blended kcal cost?

Anil Sharma

We will check it. We will let you know.

Shravan Shah

Okay. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you.

Anil Sharma

Are there any other questions?

Operator

No, sir, there are no questions in the queue. I will hand the conference over to Mr.

Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited for closing comments.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Thank you. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we thank the management of HeidelbergCement India Limited for the call and many thanks to participants for joining the call.

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

Operator

Thank you.

Anil Sharma

Thank you.

Operator

On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.