Thank you, Pari. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the third quarter FY26 earnings call of Jindal Steel Limited.

Without further ado, I will now hand over the call to Mr. Vishal Chandak, Head Investor Relations and Strategic Finance, to introduce the management attendees and take it forward.

Over to you, Vishal.

Hi, Prateek. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and appreciate you coming over a weekend. I once again welcome you to the Q3 FY26 earnings briefing of Jindal Steel.

We have with us senior management of the company: Mr. Gautam Malhotra, CEO; Mr.

Sabyasachi Bandyopadhyay, Whole-time Director; Mr. Pankaj Malhan, Executive Director, Angul; Mr.

Sunil Agrawal, CFO; and Mr. Sushil Tirhan, Head Flat Products.

I request all the participants to ask questions which are strategic in nature, and for any factual-related queries, we are always there to help you out. Without much ado, I will hand over the floor to our CEO, Mr.

Gautam. We also have our Whole-time Director, Mr.

Damodar Mittal, as well on the line. Over to you, Gautam, sir.

Thank you, Vishal. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to Jindal Steel's third quarter FY26 earnings briefing. I appreciate it is a Saturday afternoon, sincere thank you for finding the time to join us.

From a macro perspective, let me start by touching upon the supply-demand imbalance in the Chinese steel industry, which clearly has an impact on global markets, including India. The downtrend in Chinese steel demand continues to outpace the decline in domestic steel production, resulting in record exports of 119 million tons in calendar year '25.

This level of low-priced exports has prompted several countries to impose tariffs and non-tariff barriers to curb the impact of Chinese steel imports on the local markets. Focusing on India's performance during the quarter, crude steel production rose 2% quarter-on-quarter to 42.5 million tons in Q3 FY26, whilst demand increased only by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter to 40.7 million tons.

Trade dynamics improved materially: exports increased 20% to 2.5 million tons, and imports reduced by 36% to 1.6 million tons sequentially. Consequently, India turned a net steel exporter again in Q3 FY26 for the first time after six quarters, with net exports of 0.8 million tons.

On trade measures, following the DGTR's recommendations, the Ministry of Finance has notified a definitive safeguard duty on select steel imports for a period of three years on ad valorem basis, with step-down rates of 12% in year one, 11.5% in year two, and 11% in year three, ending on 20th April, 2028. During the quarter, domestic steel prices in India corrected on the back of weak demand.

HRC prices remained under pressure due to weak Chinese steel prices, whilst TMT prices reflected subdued construction activities. However, prices have recovered since mid-December 2025 after prolonged correction, and we further expect support in Q4 with improving overall demand dynamics.

Coming to Jindal Steel, the business updates: on projects, we operationalized SBPP module 1 of 525 megawatts during the third quarter FY26. We are happy to report that we have also synchronized SBPP module 2 of 525 megawatts again with the grid in Jan 2026.

With this, we have achieved yet another major milestone of turning around 1,050-megawatt power plant that we had acquired under the IBC. We are also pleased to report that we have commissioned CCL1 with a capacity of 0.2 million tons per annum in Jan 2026.

This broadens our product portfolio and supports further margin enhancement going forward. We have opened the Utkal B1 mine, and overburden removal is currently underway.

The 3 million ton per annum basic oxygen furnace 3 at Angul remains on track for commissioning by Q4 FY26, and upon commissioning, we will reach 15.6 million tons of steelmaking capacity. All other projects are progressing as planned and remain on track for commissioning within the scheduled timelines.

Coming to the financial results, total production in Q3 FY26 increased 25% quarter-on-quarter to 2.51 million tons. This was supported by two factors: firstly, the ramp-up of the BF2 and BOF2 facilities at Angul; secondly, our newly commissioned Bhagwati Subhadrika blast furnace 2 achieved capacity utilization of 48% in Q3 FY26, with an exit run rate of 58% utilization.

Sales volume rose 22% quarter-on-quarter to 2.28 million tons, driven by higher production. Consolidated third quarter FY26 gross revenue increased 12% quarter-on-quarter to INR 15,172 crores, driven by higher sales volume, but partly offset by weaker steel prices.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was Rs 1,593 crores, translating to a margin of 10.5% and EBITDA per ton of Rs 6,981. However, this includes the one-time BF2 start-up cost of INR 350 crores, and if we take this non-recurring expense out, the underlying business EBITDA for the quarter is higher by Rs 1,535 per ton, taking the EBITDA per ton to Rs 8,516 for the quarter.

Consolidated PAT for the quarter again, post the one-time start-up cost, was INR 189 crores. Our blended steel NSR was down by about 3,000 rupees per ton on a sequential basis as the incremental volume was skewed towards HRC, which carried the lowest realizations and margins in our product basket.

Within HRC, our sales emphasis was on high throughput, productivity-driven segments and sizes rather than lower volume value-added grades. The shift in product mix further compressed the ASP.

In addition, our byproduct revenues did not grow in line with our steel revenue as the coke oven plant was commissioned towards the mid of Q3 FY26. Further, the lower byproduct sales and other operating income also contributed to the drop in ASP on a quarter-on-quarter basis due to the increased captive consumption.

On the cost front, during the Q2 earnings call, we guided for an increase of $3 to $5 per ton in coking coal for quarter three. Our actual coal consumption cost during the quarter increased by $2 per ton.

During the quarter, BF2 ramp-up was executed using higher cost bought-out coke at a higher coke rate, resulting in higher operating cost. With the commissioning of an additional coke oven battery in November '25, coke costs are expected to normalize, and the BF2 coke rate has already begun to stabilize.

Supported by improving steel realizations, we expect a meaningful improvement in performance in Q4 compared to Q3. On the capex front, we invested 2,076 crores during the quarter.

With this, our cumulative capex under the current expansion program up to 31st December, 2025 is Rs 32,925 crores, as against our total announced capex of 47,043 crores. We are investing in our long-term growth, creating assets that will support India's infrastructure build-out.

Our investments are not limited to adding new capacities, but also includes strengthening our existing portfolio of assets. This will ensure best-in-class capacity utilization, improved asset reliability, and higher profitability in times to come.

This financial year marks an inflection point in our transformational journey to build world-class assets. Coming to our debt profile, consolidated net debt as on 31st December, 2025 was Rs 15,443 crores, up Rs 1,287 crores sequentially.

Accordingly, net debt to EBITDA was at 1.72 times at the end of Q3 FY26. This is primarily a reflection of lower EBITDA and our capex commitments on the commissioning of several facilities.

We are excited about the ramping up of production, and the incremental revenues and cash flows are expected to lower our net debt to EBITDA to sub-1.5x levels. At Jindal Steel, AI and digitalization are core to our operations, driving productivity, efficiency, and resilience at scale.

We are executing a multi-year, enterprise-wide AI transformation focused on throughput improvement, cost efficiency, faster decision-making, and margin expansion. Moving beyond pilots to scale deployments now, AI-led enterprise intelligence is embedded across sales, dispatch, logistics, and CXO decision support, delivering real-time visibility and actionable insights.

Sustainability is at the core of what we do each day at Jindal Steel. With that in mind, I am pleased to share that in our first year of ESG assessment and disclosure, Jindal Steel has been included in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2026.

Out of nearly 8,500 companies assessed, we are among a select group recognized for this prestigious inclusion, an endorsement of our disciplined ESG execution, which remains central to our strategy. We have also been awarded an India-Sweden Industry Transition Partnership feasibility project to evaluate a CO2-neutral steel production facility, reinforcing our expertise in decarbonization and commitment to sustainable growth.

These sustainability acknowledgments and digitalization efforts are the culmination of all the dedicated work being done by the Jindal Steel team across India, and this is something that we are very proud of and keen to build on going forward. For Q4 FY26, we expect coal consumption costs to rise by $18 to $20 per ton sequentially.

Iron ore costs increased further in Jan. Domestic steel prices are currently higher by about 3,000 to 3,500 rupees per ton as compared to December '25, and we expect prices to remain supported in Q4 FY26 on the back of strong demand and strong tailwinds.

With that, I will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you.

Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is towards the realization impact, which you was talking about only 3,000 rupees, but if we just calculate on the average side, the drop is much higher, almost six 5.5, 6,000 rupees.

How much is because of the product deterioration, and what else we are missing in here?

Can you hear me?

Please. Go ahead.

As I mentioned in my opening statement, we did ramp up our capacities with low-margin products, and it was mainly skewed towards HRC. As we are actually ramping up, when we were on a lower output on our hot strip mill, we were actually producing lower productivity, thinner grades and with very high value-add, and the margins were higher at that stage.

As we are ramping up, our actually thickness levels are increasing, our productivity is increasing, the realization per ton over there is lower, although we are producing much more. Also, roughly about 3,000 rupees is on account of our NSR on blended account.

The byproduct sales were lower. We actually increased the captive consumption of most of our byproducts as our steel production is increasing, and the balance is coming from there.

As our capacities ramp up, actually we do expect that all our byproducts will be consumed completely internally. Thank you.

Effectively on an average, our realization blended basis would increase lower than what the market is because of the byproduct credit would not be available. Is that assumption is correct?

Yes, but our cost will also come down, and overall, if you see, as our capacities ramp up, our EBITDA is actually accretive in that nature, we'll actually keep on adding to EBITDA.

Noted, sir. Sir, my second question pertains to our cost-saving exercises, like slurry pipeline, coal mines coming, versus the product mix deterioration.

Would those cost savings, as per your internal estimates, are good enough to cover for the product mix deterioration, or we would see for next one and a half year our overall product would continue to deteriorate from current point of view?

See, I think the using the word "deterioration" would not be correct over here. That's a strong word.

You understand quarter three was a tough quarter and for the entire industry. If you look at the overall realizations, HRC was the most affected out of all the products.

Overall, as we move up and realizations have also started increasing, NSRs have also increased, there is no deterioration in the product mix. Rather, our portfolio, as we've maintained over a period of time, is getting more balanced towards 50% flats and 50% longs.

I think that's a great diversification and provides a lot of strength to the company in times to go forward.

Just to answer my question, would that the cost savings would be able to cover for this change in product mix?

Yes, definitely.

You'll see that in times to come

as the results come out.

Yeah. Deterioration, basically we were a little bit baffled because some of the peer group having higher weightage on the flat side had less decline in their average realization.

We are still a little bit unsure about how our product mix has changed.

I'll explain to you again. Two things: our portfolio has a larger portion of longs, specially TMT, and that was actually hit more in terms of the realization drop from the previous quarters.

Secondly, as I explained, when we were on a lower production on our HRC, we were actually making more value-add products because we had limited steel. Now, as we're moving towards higher output on HRC, we're actually producing lesser of those grades.

We're actually producing more of the thicker sections to get the higher productivity and thereby more EBITDA. That's why you see the difference between the peers and us, if that explains it.

Noted, sir. Thank you.

That's all from my side.

Hi. Good afternoon.

Thanks for the opportunity. Just quickly continuing the previous question forward.

One of your peer who has already declared the result, his share of exports has actually increased at a time when people were actually front-loading, especially to a lot of these geographies where there will be a lot of restrictions due to CBAM, especially in EU. However, your share of exports has gone down to I think 5%.

That's number one. Also just quickly to check with that if you are making thicker HRC and lower value-added product, would it not make more sense to shift it back towards higher value-added product to get that benefit of something over and above your regular blended realizations?

Because this is actually impacting your ASP to a great extent.

I'll answer the first part of the question. You mentioned about exports.

As you look at the market in the last quarter, the exports realization were actually lower than the domestic market, even further down. We actually managed to penetrate the Indian market with our expanded production and make space for ourselves in a market which was not expanding itself.

That actually shows great strength in the Jindal Steel brand and our capability to penetrate these markets in tough times as well. What I was talking about was the ramp-up phase.

I do agree with you, and your point is a very valid one. As we ramp up towards full capacities, first target will be capacity utilization, and once we reach very high numbers on utilization is when we'll start skewing the portfolio back again towards value-added profiles more and more.

I hope that answers both parts of your question.

Sure, but just quickly because you said you actually expanded your market share eventually, right, because you were able to capture higher share in the domestic market, but was it at a cost of compromising your margin?

No, actually, compared to exports, our margins in domestic were higher.

No, not compared to exports, sir. Purely on the domestic front, if you see HRC was down about 2,500, 2,800.

Your longs were down about 3,700 bucks.

We sell at competitive prices in the market. We didn't take any large discounting to get into the market to get market share, if that's your question.

Okay. That actually answers.

My second question was on debt level. If you see one of your slide, that is slide 28, your debt in Q3 are at multi-year high, even higher than FY22 levels.

Even if you see leverage is quite high at 1.72, where we appreciate you giving out a guidance of 1.5x threshold. Just wanted to get your understanding with your capacity still ramping up, your new capacity also coming up in Q4, which will also have some kind of a start-up cost associated somewhere or the other.

What is your exit run rate of leverage or a net debt expected in current financial year?

I think, firstly, we should appreciate this is very good leverage level overall even looking at the industry. It's a very, very healthy leverage level.

If you look at our debt-to-equity ratios also, they also remain very healthy. Yes, we are at a point where we're coming out of a very tough market cycle, which is for the industry, and at the same time, we actually are at the culmination of our project phase in these two quarters, quarter three and quarter four.

Now, these factors combined have pushed it up to 1.72, our net debt to EBITDA, which you're looking at. Overall, as I said, as we stabilize, ramp up over the next two, three quarters, you will see it coming back in line to what we've always guided, 1.5 times through the cycle.

We intend and we remain committed to that.

Any number on the exit run rate for debt?

No, I think I've given you the overall picture as it's panning out.

Sure. Just sir, again just circling back to my very first question, because I think your flat to long is right now 50-50, whereas flats was expected to be much better off at 60%, 65% going forward.

Is that timeline or is that runway still intact to take your flats towards 60%, 65%, or what's the understanding on that?

Good afternoon. I am Sushil Tirhan.

I am Head of Flat Products in Jindal Steel. See, in Q3, our flat to long ratio was almost equal, 50-50.

That is because we saw a major decline in flat products rather than long products, we maintained our production ratio, shifted more towards long in the quarter. Going forward, we expect a gradual shift towards flat, and as demand from flat product and demand prices for flat product is rising, and demand from automotive, appliances, and all the segments is gradually moving up.

Right. Accordingly, this mix is expected to go up in flat.

I think in the Q4, we see a shift towards 55-45 type of ratio in Q4 for flat more towards flat, flat 55, long 45 sort of ratio.

Hi, this is Gautam. I just wanted to add: please understand, and we are at a very big inflection point in our journey in Jindal Steel.

There's a large capacity coming in, there's huge ramp-ups happening, and whilst we're going through this cycle, we've actually maintained a very healthy balance sheet picture overall. This is a very interesting year for us, we're at an inflection point.

It is actually leading up to some very exciting times coming ahead as these capacities start showing our EBITDA and cash flow.

Perfect. That's actually quite helpful.

Thank you so much, sir.

Hi. Good afternoon.

Thanks for the opportunity. On the power capacity expansion, just wanted to understand now that you will be excess, I believe, power capacity, would you be kind of looking to ramp up those capacity and maybe sell more merchant power, or it will be purely used for steel operations?

At the moment, as I mentioned, our first unit is under stabilization, and the second unit is just been commissioned, and we're going to be stabilizing it over the next 2, 3 months. Whilst that happens, our capacities will continue to ramp up, we have another 3 million tons coming up and associated downstream coming up.

In the near-term future, as we ramp up all sides of the capacity and the whole facility, we'll be consuming a large portion of it internally at the moment.

Okay. Just a question on your mix: so while as you mentioned that in the initial phase, possibly the mill mix could be a bit weak, but by when do you think, in terms of maybe quarters or year, kind of be able to get into a more value-added mix portfolio on the expanded capacity also?

See, I want to actually come away from these words of "deterioration" and "weak." When I do say that we shifted a higher productivity order book, our value-added profile still remained at 66%.

That's very high. What we are comparing that to is 71% in Q2, so that's where we're coming from.

That's a very high value-added percentage in our product portfolio. I don't think it's weak from any perspective.

It's just that we're in a ramp-up phase, we're making a market entry into a product, and we are capitalizing on all opportunities that come our

way. No.

By weak, I think you mentioned that you had almost a 1,000-rupee additional hit to realization because of the shift in the mix. I was referring more to that.

When can you get the 1,000 back in that

sense? As we speak, the markets have already rebounded, and I did mention, I think in the opening statement itself, that today we are working at about 3,000 to 3,500 rupees higher than where we were towards the end of the last quarter.

As we move ahead, you will see our value-added profiles start inching back towards 70%. I'm not reading too much into this 1,000-rupee differential, and that differential is more as a comparison from Q2 to Q3 in our books versus what is happening in the peer books.

I'm more interested in how we coming out of the situation as we move forward. The more interesting bit will be ramping up our capacities, increasing the utilization, getting the EBITDA in, and the higher cash flows.

Sure. Got it.

Thanks a lot. This is the last question.

You say that in this quarter, you consumed your byproducts internally, which was also an additional hit to realization. What were those byproducts, if you could explain that a bit, is it pellets?

What would be those byproducts?

You got it. It's pretty much that.

Please also understand that you're seeing at the ASP level, right, but at EBITDA level, the hits are not anything material or not significant.

Okay. Got it.

Thanks a lot.

Yeah. Good afternoon, and thank you for the chance.

I have two set of questions. First on the expansion plans.

Now we shared that our next BOF is on track for fourth quarter. I want to understand when is the associated metallic capacity coming, and what is our plan to use this BOF in FY27 given the lack of metallics?

In general, just the strategy of commissioning this ahead of metallic capacity.

In terms of going forward, we're talking about the current capex cycle. You're right, BOF will be commissioned in this quarter.

Anything going forward, we'll be guiding in the next quarter on how we're planning out on that. At the moment, we're very, very focused on commissioning all the current projects and realizing revenue, EBITDA, and cash flows from them.

Just want to understand what is the plan to use this BOF in FY27 in absence of metallic capacity?

We'll be able to use about 60% to 66% of this capacity in FY27 as well.

Okay. The associated DRI or BF, I think it's DRI.

When is that being planned to commission?

I think we've spoken in one of the earlier calls that we're targeting FY27 end for that, and we're sticking to that.

Okay. Even without that, we are looking at 60% utilization for this BOF?

Yes, FY27.

Okay. Sir, with respect to slurry pipeline, just want to understand what are the reasons for the delay?

We still see only 94% complete. What sort of contribution will this have in FY27 in terms of actual slurry transfer and cost savings?

See, one thing you have to understand, slurry pipeline is never an easy project, and it has a lot of regulatory and other hurdles that you have to go over, and basically ground-level hurdles as well. We have maintained our guidance for the end of this financial year for the slurry pipeline, and we are on track for that.

As far as the savings, etc., I think we are fairly comfortable to say that we will be able to go towards 750 to 850 rupees a ton on that.

Okay. Sir, my next question is on the sales volume guidance.

We're just two months left for the year, where are we with respect to our 8.5 to 9 million tons guidance for sales volume this year? Can you give some further color on this?

We are actually on track to hit the guidance that we've already given you.

Okay. Just one last question on the margins.

Given that we've seen in three quarters a deterioration of almost 16,000 to 7,000, just want to understand, this ramp-up and startup costs, has this been going as per plan? Was this anticipated, or there has been some negative surprises?

Because it's quite difficult to understand, appreciate such 350 crores of startup cost. We've not seen that in other companies, and looks like, just want to get some more grip and understanding on this.

I'll say two things. I don't like going on what peers are doing.

Everybody is good in their areas. There are two points over here: we are being fairly open and transparent about how we're going about our business, and we've maintained that over a period of time, and we intend to continue doing that.

Coming to the second part of your question, yes, a large part of it when you're ramping up a facility, especially a blast furnace, it's not immediate that you get down to your capacity utilization numbers or your coke rate. It takes a little bit of time, and that was anticipated.

Nevertheless, I don't think we're in a position to say that we didn't receive any surprises. Yes, there were surprises along the way, but I think I must say kudos to our team, which has been able to counter those surprises and ensure that as we sit today, we are at a very high capacity utilization number with industry-standard coke rates and operational parameters.

I think they've done a brilliant job of coming on track on a furnace of this size in 2 to 2.5 months.

Okay. If I may just ask one question just to understand what is base level of profitability for us to kind of have a better forecasting capability, what is the contribution of this byproduct sales, say, in FY25 or say 1H FY26 so that we just get to some base level of profitability from where we can kind of forecast future earnings?

I think there are a lot of things in your question. It's got a lot of years spanning it and some forecasting as well.

In the interest of time, I think I'm asking Vishal to take it off-line, if you can connect with him, and he can help you with that.

Sure, sir. I'll connect with Vishal.

Thank you, and all the best. Yeah.

Thanks a lot.

Hello. Yeah.

I hope I am audible, and thank you for the opportunity. Most of my interesting questions have been taken by my peers, I'll start with, I see that you have commissioned a mine as well.

There is one iron ore mine also has been commissioned. With that, and the global coal prices going up, what sort of impact do you think will hit the company in fourth quarter if we can start with this?

Sorry. Can you please repeat the question?

Yes, sir. I just wanted to understand the input cost escalation that we might see in fourth quarter for JSPL, Jindal Steel.

I don't think we're expecting any input cost escalation in the fourth quarter. There's only one thing which I think I have given in the opening statement is on the coking coal prices, but if you see the market has more than commensurate increase.

I think there's no material input cost escalation that we're going to see apart from that.

Okay. Largely, what I can understand is you're expecting a flattish input cost.

Is my understanding right, sir?

Apart from coking coal, yeah, nothing there.

Okay. My second question is largely from FY27, I understand you've given guidance for FY26 and you are on track on maintaining that guidance.

I also understand companies are at inflection point, and ramping up capacities is not that easy. From that perspective, how do you see FY27 panning out in terms of production and volume?

If you can give some sense on that, that would be great.

I think I'll pick on one thing you said at the beginning of your question. We are at an inflection point.

Yes, I did say that, and please understand we are maintaining our guidance given in a year where we are commissioning capacities, ramping them up, and sustaining our guidances. I think I must even on this platform congratulate our team for having being able to do that, at least be on track for that towards the end of the year.

In terms of FY27, I think we'll be coming out very soon. We're in the process of finalizing our business plans for the year, and as soon as we do that, I think at the end of the next quarter, we'll be coming back to you and giving you guidance for that.

Understood, sir. Just one last question, compared to when you initially announced this first phase of expansion in sometime in FY22 or early FY23, and now since you are at the end of most of the phase 1 expansion, how much of the capex that you earlier envisaged and now, which you have realized, how much has been the capex cost increased because of the various surprises that you faced, various challenges and delays?

What sort of capex increase would have been there?

I think there have been no material project cost overruns. Over the years, there's been a lot of projects that have been added into the scope rather than any major cost overruns.

I think if you go back in time, 2, 3 quarters back, we did talk a lot about it, and I think it should be available. Otherwise, you can connect off-line with Vishal if you need further help.

Sure, sir. Definitely, I'll connect with Vishal, and thank you so much.

I'll rejoin back the queue for my further questions.

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions.

I have two questions. One, sorry for getting back on the steel prices, my first question.

You said that the steel price are up by around 3,000 to 3,500 versus quarter end, and given trajectory for realization have been worse than how steel prices fared in third quarter, is it fair to say that if steel prices remain where they are, you would see a much better trend in realization versus this 3,000 to 3,500?

Hi. Can you kindly repeat your question, please?

Sir, what I'm asking is that steel prices, as you said, has increased by 3,000 to 3,500 versus quarter end. In the third quarter, your realization trends were weaker than how steel prices fared.

Is it fair to say now that your blast furnace ramp-up and HSM capability will ramp up, your realization trends will be much better than the steel prices spread of 3,000 to 3,500?

Yes, you're right, and they'll be in line with the industry, and I think you're referring to that incremental thing which you've been referring to. No, that won't be there.

We've realized more than that, and we'll be in line with industry trends as we move forward.

Got it. My second question is more medium-term and strategic.

Now that you are ramping up a flat capacity, over the past couple of years, you have strategically moved away from export market and focused on the domestic market. Now that EU prices are supposed to move up on back of CBAM, is it fair to say that you would be actively looking at the European market from here over the next 2, 3 years?

No, so as you have seen in the past, we are predominantly producing material for the domestic industry with a very strategic focus in the external market. You are right, our major market has been European market for plates.

Now with HSM coming in, also the prime focus will be on European market, but that will be around 5% to 10% range only.

Got it. Thank you so much.

Wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, sir, and thanks a lot for the chance. Sir, I missed few numbers from your initial opening remarks.

350 crores, you said for one-time blast furnace setup cost, and there was one more 189 cr. That was regarding?

The PAT is 189 crores for the quarter.

Okay. Anyways, so that is help.

For the flat products, now we have with all the new set of BF, BOF, do we have all the approvals from OEMs like autos and consumer durables for next few years where from next few quarters we will start including our product mix?

We already commenced supplies to auto and engineering industry, and we have necessary approval from this industry. Then since our flat product capacity is more plates and HR, it will be more into commercial vehicle segment, earthmoving segment, and yellow goods segment.

More of it will go into that, and we have all the necessary approvals from all these segments, and we already started supplying to this segment.

Okay. Now by next year, the next quarter, we will be finishing BOF3 also.

When will be we will be in a position to announce next phase of capex? Basically, our long-term plan is to take Angul towards 25.

Any color on that?

We are very focused on increasing our utilization on these assets, increasing our EBITDA, EBITDA margins, and increasing our cash flows, reducing our debt to our previous guidances given for the cycle, and at the moment, that's our focus, and we remain committed to that. As and when we make any expansion plans in times to come, we'll definitely make sure that we keep you updated.

Okay. Thanks a lot, and best of luck, sir.

Yeah. Good afternoon, sir.

I had a question on coking coal prices. We've seen the spot prices going up to $250 levels.

Do you think it's more of a seasonal uptick and probably we should see a correction, because if they sustain at this level, then we could have a push-up in cost even in the first quarter of FY27, and that would probably offset most of the increase in steel prices? Just wanted your thoughts on that.

See, these are transient in nature and seasonal impacts that you see here and there, not any mid-term or long-term impact that you're talking about, those one-off sharp corrections or upticks. Apart from that, I think on a lot of things, we also have our long-term arrangements as well, and we benefit from those as well.

How much part of our coking coal be coming from our Mozambique and South Africa mines, any proportion from there?

About 15% to 20%.

Sure. Also, you mentioned that costs probably in fourth quarter apart from coking coal should be flat or similar, but any benefits from the captive power or Utkal mine opening up, so that can come in?

See, the mine's just been opened up, and we've already come to the near middle of the quarter. To realize any meaningful gains in this quarter, I would refrain from, but yes, in times to come, we'll definitely see benefits.

Sure. Okay.

Yeah. Thank you, sir.

Yeah. Hi.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first of all, many congratulations for successfully ramping up faster than expected your blast furnace as well as BOF capacity.

That is commendable. Sir, my question is on the cost part as well as realization.

If you look at, you have clearly mentioned about 350 crore of startup cost, which could be regarded as one-off. If you can just give more detail into that, what could be that, whether it's one you have said higher coke consumption as well as the coke ratio, and what else is there?

What do you think that this number could be there in fourth quarter, or have we stabilized by December end itself? That's my first question.

The largest portion of that number is on account of coke because it's bought-out coke at a higher cost. It's an inferior feed and quality to what we produce in-house.

Obviously, when you start a furnace, it's too much technical detail, and you can, I think, connect off-line with Vishal. It's a standard process of starting up a furnace and stabilizing it.

I do acknowledge your remark for commending our team for the faster ramp-up than expected. Yes, I do acknowledge that.

Thank you for commending the team. To answer the last part of your question, yes, we've stabilized, and we are at normal industry-standard productivity, KPIs, and specially coke

rate. Sir, that means that Q4 Q3, when we are talking about 7,000 roughly 7,000 rupees per ton EBITDA, I think we can begin with 8,500 rupees per ton EBITDA because this is largely over.

Is that assumption right?

Ashish, Vishal here. We actually refrain from giving guidances on EBITDA on a sequential basis, but I understand where you're coming from.

As sir mentioned, about 350 crores is the one-off, which will obviously not recur, and steel prices have moved up, and so has also the cost. By and large, our understanding is that Q4 should be a much stronger quarter both in terms of volumes as well as in terms of profitability.

No, Vishal, we are not talking about Q4 guidance. I'm just asking the base case that when we are saying it's one-off, that means we can say 8,500 rupees could be the EBITDA per ton.

Math is correct. I think Vishal gave you a good answer, but your math is correct.

That's okay. The second thing is when we are talking about realization improvement, 3, 3,500 rupees higher, are we taking into consideration the improved product mix also?

When I'm saying improved product mix, that, maybe in third quarter because of the initial stage, we have given some of base grade HRC. Now with this improvement, ideally our overall realization for fourth quarter should be higher than that of the industry because third quarter was much lower than the industry standard.

The numbers that I've mentioned for the increased realizations are as is scenario right now. I think we're only at the beginning of the quarter.

I did mention in one of my earlier answers that you will see us at industry levels in this quarter, and as we keep ramping up and improving our capabilities, you'll see us beating those numbers again, as in the past.

Lastly, is it possible to share non-steel sales revenue in this quarter versus last quarter? Because I understand, as you rightly pointed out, that lower byproduct sales does not affect our EBITDA, but at least on the top line, if you get a sense how much was the non-steel sales revenue in this quarter versus last quarter, that will be very helpful.

Thank you.

I think Vishal can help you off-line with that, if that helps. You can connect with him.

Sure. We'll do that.

Thank you so much, and all the best.

Thanks a lot.

Hi, sir. Just first again on the one-off cost.

There's a suggestion here that when we give our adjusted EBITDA in the presentation, can we include the numbers, because every quarter, we have a different adjusted EBITDA, and on the call also, we have a different one-off expenses every quarter in the EBITDA. It becomes very confusing to understand what is the actual EBITDA per ton.

Secondly, in terms of our downstream, what all capacities are left to commission over the next 2 years?

Siddharth, this is Vishal here. Coming to the second question, over the next 2 years, the downstream capacities are largely commissioned except for CCL2 and CGL2.

Okay? Thereafter, we have a pellet plant 2 and DRI2 are the key capacities.

If there are any more lines that we plan, we'll come back to you. Out of that, two Q&T furnaces, we've already commissioned one of them.

I think he was asking 2 years. It's not 2 years.

All these capacities are being commissioned as we speak. They're in the final stages of commissioning them.

It's not 2 years. It's only DRI2 and pellet plant 2, which I mentioned earlier in one of my questions, is slated for FY27 end.

Okay.

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity.

Sir, just wanted to get a sense on the product mix going forward, because prior to this commissioning, we had the benefit of having rail mill, then your MLSM mill, those all benefits were there, RUBM. Going forward, don't you feel that our earning would grow primarily because of the volumes and with a lower margins?

What's your sense on that? Because during the call, the questions have been asked that our margins, which was 15,000 Q1 in Q1, has fallen down to 8,000-odd rupees adjusted, this is 8,500-odd rupees.

Going forward, now we would be having the benefit of the volumes, but our margins would be lesser as compared to the historical levels, because if you see in your HRC, many of the capacities are coming up, be it Tata Steel or AM/NS coming with a big capacity. Do you think that now going forward, the play would be on the higher absolute EBITDA rather than much richer margins as compared to the historical levels?

Saying first part of your question, we actually not moved away from our rail or MLSM or structural capabilities.

I'm not saying that you have moved away. I am saying that the share of those products or the volumes have now come down significantly because of these flat-based capacities coming in, because even if I see quarter-on-quarter, your product mix 49% flat has gone up to 50%, and the HRC mill was commissioned a year ago.

Now we're saying that we have sold lesser grade HR, it really doesn't digest with the margins or the realization fall which we are talking in this quarter.

Okay. I'll complete my answer.

It's not that we've gone away from those. They remain a core part of our portfolio, and as we speak, we actually keep working on ways to increase those facilities' output as well.

Apart from that, the second part of your question is, yes, will these other products increase in our portfolio and our product mix? Yes, they will.

Along with that, I think Vishal did mention that we've also added heat treatment furnaces, those will add capability to a flats portfolio for higher realization, higher value-add. Apart from that, as I did mention in one of my earlier questions or the opening statement, that we've just penetrated the market on a higher volume in this quarter.

As we move ahead, our value-added percentages and value-added products will keep growing, and the realizations will be back on track. I don't see anything in the mid to long-term future that is of any concern at the moment.

Thank you. First question on your costs: so you indicated that there were startup costs and coking coal costs were also higher.

Optically, it does appear on a sequential basis that the costs are lower, one of course is the volume benefit and I would imagine lesser value addition. Is there anything else to read into?

I think you've broadly covered it. You've got it pretty much on the ball.

Going forward, we basically expect a reversal of the startup costs, and then we expect higher coking coal prices sequentially?

Yes, but please also understand our coke output is increasing because we commissioned the batteries, and as I did mention that our coke is better quality than what we end up buying from the market, we'll get some offset gains from that side. Obviously, higher utilizations will also give us some gains in our cost portfolio, those gains will also be there.

Got it. Secondly, when you indicated that spot realizations are about 3,000 to 3,500 rupees higher than the December quarter, you're talking about what you are kind of billing at this point in time, right, on a blended basis given product mix, everything put together?

Yes. This is the difference in the realization between where the last part of Q3 was and where we are today.

Got it. Third, for full year, the capex that you had given, you're still holding on to that, no change in capex targets for 26, 27, 28?

No, nothing. No change.

Got it. One last question from me: how did the inventory move sequentially?

How does what, sorry?

How did the inventory move sequentially, inventory? Steel inventory.

Marginally improved or increased during the quarter, but as we speak, it's been unwound as well. There's nothing material in that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, sir.

A couple of questions. First is clarification: when we give guidance of sales volumes, should we presume that it is excluding any metallics purchase, be it for this fiscal or next fiscal?

No. Yes, there's no metallics purchase.

Okay. Would it be possible for you to provide a timeline for the SMS, the next SMS?

We've given a guidance already that it's going to be this quarter, and we are well on track for that.

Okay. Second is, can you indicate coking coal on a consumption cost basis, how much would be the increase from Q3 to Q4?

I am sorry if I missed that.

About $18 to $20 per ton.

That's helpful. Just a few more questions.

Sir, how do we plan on the evacuation, specifically also if you could highlight how critical is the Paradip Port over here given Angul is in east? I'm not very sure.

You did indicate that we have the approvals to supply for HRC. Given the scope of our capacity is very large, how do we plan to sell and evacuate?

Some color over here would be quite useful.

Are you talking about evacuation from our plants?

From Angul post expansion.

Yeah. No, I think whatever we're producing, we've been able to evacuate.

We have the infrastructure and the capability for that.

This includes any incremental rail lines, or there's no problem at all on evacuation?

No, no problem.

Okay. How critical is the Paradip Port, because in earlier calls, we have emphasized about it.

How does that fit in an overall scale of things?

See, I think if you're coming from this expansion phase that we're talking about and you were talking about at Angul, Paradip Port does not impact anything for Angul capacity expansion, ramp-up, etc. Paradip Port is a very strategic thing, and it's a longer-term play, and it's a benefit that we'll be able to derive for our import and export in times to come.

If you're coming back to specific on Angul ramp-up, there's no effect of Paradip, and nor did we envisage anything like that.

Perfect. Just two follow-up clarification questions.

Sir, how should we look at Jindal Panther expansion? I think this is the one with the cement entity.

I'm not sure whether it's linked with the listed Jindal Steel entity. That's one clarification.

Second, I presume there would be some transfer of slag from the listed entity to this very entity. If you could highlight some color on how the transfer pricing mechanism is.

This is Sunil Agrawal from Jindal. Basically, Jindal Panther has nothing link with the Jindal Steel.

It is a separate company, and we are independent of Jindal.

Okay. On slag?

Slag, we will be giving as the transfer pricing as per standard norms if we'll supply to them on long-term basis.

Okay. Just last one: sir, would you just clarify that the Thyssenkrupp bid which Jindal International has, basically the listed entity is completely ring-fenced from it?

Yes, you are right.

Sure. Thank you so much for the answers.

Thank you.

Yeah. Good afternoon, sir, and thanks for the opportunity.

I had only one question, actually two, but related. Out of our total capacity of 15 million tons, what is the proportion that will go to the auto industry?

That was the first question.

It will be around 3%.

Oh, only 3%? Okay.

Because we are generally hot-rolled, we don't have CRCA or products which mostly go into auto, it will be somewhere around 3%.

The second question is actually less relevant, but I'll still ask it in the sense that we've seen a lot of headwinds for the auto manufacturers, and Maruti also in the call actually resisted the increase in the steel prices, there is a chance of a rollback there. Do you think that the auto steel, the HRC prices, will come off a little bit from the as a negotiated level?

That's it.

No, I won't be able to comment on that.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Q3 FY26 was a challenging quarter.

Despite the sharp decline in steel prices and muted demand, we delivered record production and sales volumes. We also commissioned several key projects, most notably synchronizing the 1,050-megawatt SBPP with the grid.

The ramp-up of our newly commissioned BF2 and BOF2 facilities is in full swing and is progressively strengthening our operating profile. We expect the fourth quarter FY26 to be a stronger quarter, supported by a higher opening volume, improved pricing, and better underlying steel demand.

Industry 4.0 and AI remain central to our transformation agenda, enhancing reliability, productivity, and real-time operational control across the value chain. Our key projects are progressing as planned and remain on track for commissioning as per schedule.

Going forward, we will continue to prioritize safe and stable operations, disciplined value creation, and sustainability to deliver value-accretive growth. I once again thank you for your time on this Saturday afternoon.

Have a good day, and have a good weekend. Thank you.