Thank you, [Renju?] .

Good morning, everyone. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we welcome you to the Q1 FY27 call of JSW Cement Limited.

On the call from JSW Cement, we have with us Mr. Nilesh Narwekar, Chief Executive Officer; Mr.

Narinder Singh Kahlon, Director Finance & Commercial and Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Hitendra [Zariwala?]

, Chief Marketing Officer; and Mr. Kunal Mukherjee, Head, Investor Relations.

I would like to mention on behalf of JSW Cement Limited and its management that certain statements that may be made or discussed on this conference call may be forward-looking statements based on current management expectations and also something that relates to future expected business development by JSW Cement's management. Such 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 any management projections made on this call.

JSW Cement Limited and the management of the company assumes no obligation to publicly update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of any new business development, information, or future event, or otherwise. Also, participants on the call can download a copy of JSW Cement's Q1 FY27 results presentation from the company website or stock exchanges.

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

Thank you, Vaibhav. Good morning to all, and we welcome you to the quarter 1 FY27 earnings call of JSW Cement.

I hope all of you have had the chance to review our results and investor presentation. With this, I will hand over the call to Mr.

Nilesh Narwekar for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Kunal, and good morning to all. FY27 has started off on a strong note for the company despite the ongoing uncertainty around the West Asia crisis and the impact of state election held early in the quarter.

As per our reading, cement demand in South, West, and East regions grew approximately 6% YoY in quarter 1 FY27. The North region, where we started sales in this quarter, saw substantially higher demand growth of approximately 11% YoY.

Government capex did much of the heavy lifting in the quarter. Central capex grew by 24% YoY, and data indicates that 28% of the FY27 capex budget has already been utilized in quarter 1.

Similarly, state capex and infra construction goods output continue to grow YoY. We're seeing very strong demand outlook on the infra and large project side for the rest of the year, which will support our non-trade cement and the GGBS business.

Just to give a few examples of large projects in our regions: in MMR, we see pace picking up in the bullet train project, the Maharashtra packages, and the Western Coastal Road project at Mumbai will also gather pace. Post monsoons, road-related works are expected to pick up speed too.

In Pune, would like to highlight the Pune Ring Road project and various new elevated road packages. There are also new metro projects planned in Pune.

In South region, Amaravati new capital development project at AP is gaining speed, the NTPC [Kudgi?] power plant expansion in North Karnataka, and several large road packages in Chennai and Kerala are expected to generate substantial demand.

On the residential front, we're seeing strong residential activity in Pune, Hyderabad, and Bangalore, and most of you will be aware of the substantial residential redevelopment happening in Mumbai and suburbs. Finally, on the macro front, we continue to monitor the external environment, which remains volatile.

As fuel prices remain elevated, we are increasing our share of domestic fuel for the rest of the year. Moving to the key operational highlights for quarter 1 FY27: Firstly, on volumes, our total sales volume in quarter 1 FY27 increased by 15% YoY to 3.81 million tonnes.

Taking this product-wise, cement volume sold was 2.34 million tonnes, increased 27% YoY. For ease of comparison, if we exclude the North operations, the volume increase was 8% YoY.

As we had flagged in our quarter 4 call, demand in April and early parts of May was affected due to labor migration and state election, but we saw a strong rebound in the month of June. We'd also like to touch upon the contribution from the North region.

Market perception has been very positive so far, with an average utilization level of 55% in quarter 1. The utilization rate touched almost 68% in June 2026.

GGBS volume growth was relatively muted at 2.6% YoY. However, we are optimistic on the prospects for GGBS for the rest of the year.

We have received approvals for over 29 large infra projects in Q1, and moreover, the project pipeline is also robust, as mentioned earlier. Moving to product ASP, cement realization for quarter 1 FY27 was ₹4,951 per tonne, increase of 6% QoQ, with the highest increase in East region, followed by South and West.

GGBS realization in quarter 1 FY27 was ₹3,807 per tonne, increase of 3.4% quarter-on-quarter. Within cement, trade mix remains stable at 51%.

Our clinker-to-cement factor increased to 55% with the launch of North operations, but remains one of the lowest in the industry. Lead distance remained stable in the quarter too.

I would also like to briefly touch on the capacity expansion program. Substantial progress has been made on installation of the waste heat recovery system, the OLBC, and the AFR coprocessing system at the Nagaur integrated unit, and these are expected to commission in the next few weeks, which is going to bring down our costs significantly.

The additional 1 million tonne grinding capacity in Nagaur is also on track and is expected to be commissioned by end of Q2. We added 56 MW of wind capacity in Q1 at Dhule and Vijayanagar, and this took our RE share to 30% in Q1.

Let me now hand over to Narinder to take you through the key financial highlights.

Thank you, Nilesh. Good morning to all.

I will summarize the performance of Q1 '27. At company level, consolidated revenue was ₹1,896 crores, that's an increase of 22% year-on-year, and flat quarter-on-quarter.

Consolidated operating EBITDA was ₹299 crores, that's lower by 7.5% year-on-year. Despite improvement in realizations, EBITDA declined mainly due to cost pressures in fuel and packing, plus the substantial marketing investment of about 33 crores made in North region during quarter 1.

Consolidated operating EBITDA per tonne was ₹784 a tonne for the quarter. As already mentioned, we started sales in the North region, and this quarter was the first full quarter for us.

Excluding the North operations, revenue grew by approx 10% in quarter, while operating EBITDA increased by 4% to ₹336 crores, that's ₹979 a tonne. Total EBITDA including other income was ₹372 crores.

PBT was ₹190 crores during the quarter, including positive contribution of about ₹13 crores from the Fujairah operations. PAT for the quarter was ₹153 crores.

In terms of the trend in main cost elements in Q1, raw material and power and fuel increased on quarter-on-quarter basis primarily due to higher fuel cost and impact of Nagaur operations. Blended fuel cost for the quarter increased to ₹1.80 per Mcal versus ₹1.49 per Mcal in the previous quarter.

We are working towards increasing our share of domestic fuel to optimize our costs in the coming quarters. Logistic cost per tonne reduced by 2% quarter-on-quarter with a slight reduction in lead of 4 kilometers, as well as from efficiency measures.

Other expenses have also increased by 4.5% quarter-on-quarter in absolute terms, and this is largely related to the heavy marketing investment in the North region and higher packing costs during the quarter. In terms of balance sheet, net debt was ₹3,856 crores at the end of June.

Net debt to EBITDA stood at 2.95 times. Average cost of debt for the quarter was stable quarter-on-quarter at 7.63%.

During the quarter, the company incurred capex of ₹337 crores. We will now be happy to address your questions.

Thank you.

Hello. Good morning, sir.

My first question is on our North operation. Operating loss of ₹40 crores in this quarter including, you said, ₹33 crore of marketing investment.

Can you discuss what kind of marketing investments are these? Also, is this ₹40 crore loss in line with what you expected maybe last year during IPO, and what kind of full-year EBITDA you can expect from North operation in first year?

Hi, Prateek. This expenditure in terms of marketing of ₹33 crores was primarily around the new campaign launch, which was undertaken on the back of the launch in the North, which was launched.

That was one. Of course, there were a lot of activation activities which were done at the ground level, like there was a Khel Mahotsav done where we connected with all the 10,000 villages, 10,000 teams participated in a cricket tournament in Rajasthan, similarly dangal in Haryana, plus all the activation work at the ground level.

It's a combined effect of all of this, which is contributing towards the ₹33 crore of marketing expenditure. Compared to the BP, it is planned in our BP, and we are tracking ourselves against that.

What kind of performance you're looking for full year for North? Is it going to turn profitable?

Yes, we should be. As we had mentioned, in the first quarter, we were, I think, close to 60 60 with 55% of capacity utilization, and we are holding ourselves to that.

In fact, we should be closer to 60% plus by the end of the year in terms of our North operations. The real kicker for us that's going to happen now in terms of costs is once the clinker costs start to come down with the commencement of the OLBC, the alternate fuel, the waste heat recovery kicking in, the move from imported coal to lignite and

Hi. Sorry, guys.

The line dropped, but I was talking about how our costs are likely to come down, specifically the clinker costs are likely to come down in quarter 2 with the implementation of the overland belt conveyor, the alternate fuel handling systems, the waste heat recovery which has already been commissioned, it's going to get fully in flow, and of course, the rotation towards more of domestic coal and increase in lignite in our operations. All that is being planned for quarter 2, and we expect the benefits to start to kick in thereafter.

Thanks, sir. My other question is on GGBS.

Growth has been far slower in this quarter. You said we've got significant contracts in 1Q later part.

What kind of growth which you are looking at in this segment going forward?

Sure. First is, see, in Q1 FY27, the demand was affected by a number of topical reasons.

Let me explain that. There were RMC closures in the West, there were aggregate availability issues in the South, and the low OPC flyash mix cost was a combination of these effects.

Now, guidance for quarter 2 FY27, despite Q2 being a monsoon season, we are expecting it to be better than Q1, and signs are visible already in the month of July. Now, as I had already mentioned in the opening remarks, we have received approvals for over 29 large infra projects in quarter 1.

Moreover, the project pipeline is also fairly robust, and we're also applying for additional approvals across the central bodies, and we expect GGBS to be, again, in the high single digits in terms of growth for the year.

Sure, thank you, sir. These were my questions.

Thank you, Prateek.

Thank you. Just continuing on the question on the North.

I think the marketing spends were about ₹33 crores in this quarter. I remember it was about ₹23 crores in the prior quarter.

What are you expecting in terms of marketing spends going forward in 2Q, 3Q? That's one.

Second is on the overall cement volume. 8% was the ex-North growth for this quarter.

How are you expecting to do overall for the full year?

The marketing spend in last quarter was, I think, close to ₹17 crores. The investments in terms of marketing have already been done, and we expect to reap the benefits of that in the following quarters.

What was the second part of the question, Rashi? Sorry, I missed that.

The ex-North volume growth, like you mentioned, was about 8% for cement. How are you seeing that track for the rest of the year?

Okay.

How does that track for the rest of the year?

Okay.

The industry growth that I think you're already aware, excluding North, we're talking about the industry grew around 6%, and we've done, excluding North, we've done it at 8%. Now, what we've seen is in the East and the West, we've done significantly better than the industry, and in the South is where we had a bit of a headwind.

Now, that is behind us, and again, primarily because of topical reasons. Overall, in terms of our growth as a company level, we expect to deliver high-teens growth at an overall company basis if I was to include North also as a part of this.

Got it. Just on realization, what is your pricing strategy going forward?

You've obviously done relatively well on realizations. Have you needed to sort of break the market or how are you seeing that?

This is specifically for cement or GGBS you're asking for? Because both of them are very different approaches.

Let me answer both of them separately.

Yes,

please. Sure.

On cement, there are concerted efforts which is being made. All the investments that we're doing primarily in terms of building up our brand, the ground connect with the decision-making influencers, the ground connect with the network, all that is fundamentally playing out for us in terms of being able to increase our price or reduce the price gap in the A-category brand itself.

That's one which is playing out. The second thing, of course, is there is an effort which is constantly on to try and keep reducing our discount structures as well, which again plays into the realization number.

These are two aspects which are working out on the cement side. On the GGBS side, the number that you see is primarily a dispersion effect.

There's been no change in our pricing strategy overall. We continue to maintain our stance, and basically the geographic mix is what is reflecting in the numbers that you're currently seeing for quarter 1 for GGBS.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Couple of things to get an understanding.

For cement, we said that we are looking at a high-teens growth including North. Hello?

Hello, sir, can you hear me?

Sir, can you hear me now?

Yes, we can hear you loud and clear. Apologies for the drop.

No issue, sir. Sir, just wanted to get a clarity.

You said that we are looking at on the cement front high-teens volume growth for FY27 including North.

Yes.

I was just doing a math, let's say, for FY26, we have done 7.73 on the cement front, if I just take a 18% growth, it comes 9.12 million, and for North, if we take a 60% utilization, which is 1.5 million tonnes, if I minus that, then it comes to 7.62. That means we are looking at a de-growth on the core front excluding the North.

Just wanted to get a more clarity on that.

Shravan, what we've given you is an overall guidance including North and GGBS. We will deliver a high-teens growth on an overall company basis.

That's what we hold ourselves to. While you've done the math, we've also done ours.

I think let's stick to the high-teens growth in the overall company basis as being as the guidance from ourselves.

Because on the GGBS, we are seeing a high single-digit growth. Then when we are seeing on the overall high-teens, so that means on the cement front, including North, it has to be a 25%-30% kind of a growth that we should be looking at.

That's where I some clarification wanted.

Can we take this offline? You can connect with Kunal Mukherjee on this.

No issues.

Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My first question is on the profitability of North plants.

Can you give some sense on the profitability difference between North and South plants for cement? Why I am asking this is because some sort of marketing spend will not be one-off in nature.

It will continue over the next few quarters or few years also when you continue the operations. That's why I want to get some sense on the profitability difference between North and South plant, which you are seeing as of now.

Yeah. We all know North and South are completely different when it comes to profitability.

I'm sure you all have the North performance data available for the competition. Now for us, it's early days.

By the end of September, or I could say in September, is when we break even, and then we go into the positive territory. March is the month probably when we can with more conviction tell you that what is going to be the profitability for the coming months.

South is subdued. We saw the results for South companies.

South is a bit subdued at the moment. There is a big difference.

The difference can be in the range of probably ₹600 to ₹700 a tonne.

Okay. Second question is in terms of capex plans over the next 2-3 years.

When do we want to start the Central region plant, and what is the ideal net debt to EBITDA which you would like to maintain by 2028-2029?

See, for this year, this financial year, we are going to spend about 2,300-odd crores, and about 2,000 in the next year. See, as we had indicated earlier, our intention is to move from 24.1 million currently capacity to about 43.5 over the next few years.

Now, that requires about ₹7,500-₹7,600 crore capex. We continue on that journey.

Yes, this year, 2,300-odd, next year, 2,000, and the following years probably some of the balance numbers would be spent. Answering your question on the Central, Central also is on our on our priority list.

We hope to make some announcement in the coming quarters.

Ideal net debt to EBITDA, sir?

Net debt to EBITDA, see, the internal guidance for us from the board is to keep it below 3, and always the endeavor will be to keep it below 3.

Sir. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, sir, and congratulations on the much faster volume ramp-up in the North region. I had two questions.

One is on the RMC business. If you could talk more about the outlook of this particular business given it is so integral to the cement as well as the GGBS that we offer.

How are we looking at how many plants do we have? What is the vision there?

Are we planning to enter in the North region as well with this or in other regions? That would be my first question, sir.

Hi. Yes, in terms of RMC plants, currently we've got 15.

We plan to take it up to 35. We're adding 35 more.

Our current approach towards the RMC business has largely been it needs to be symbiotic with relation to wherever we have our footprint. Wherever we can supply our cement and or cementitious in terms of GGBS, that's where we set up the RMC plants.

In the RMC set-up, it's largely either commercial, dedicated, or captive. Captive is largely for JSW use.

That's how it gets divided. What was the next part of your question?

In terms of revenue, for quarter 1, we were around ₹180 crores in terms of RMC revenues, and we have plans to progressively scale this up going ahead.

Thank you.

We've already started operations in the North as well, because, as I said, it's symbiotic to wherever we have our cement operations.

Sure. Of the 15 RMC units, is it safe to assume that most of these are currently in the West and South region, which are close to our GGBS sourcing units?

Yes, it's safe to assume. In the 15, there are two units in the North as well.

Incrementally, when you say the target is 30-35, would it be again in West region only, or there would be now more in the North and other regions that we are planning to?

No, it is scattered across. For example, I mentioned to you, our commercial and dedicated operations are primarily mirroring wherever we have synergies or symbiotic arrangement with our cement operations, right?

Whenever it comes to captive, which is our group company setting up expansions or undertaking expansion, there, we try and evaluate whether it makes sense for us to provide GGBS at least. The North markets were currently not included as a part of it, but all the other geographies, be it the North now having entered in the North, the West, the South, or the eastern part of India, we have significant captive operations, which is primarily mirroring the expansion that the whole JSW Group is undertaking.

Thank you. Sir, my second question was about the long-term capacity expansion plans, and I thank you for including a vision there in terms of scaling the capacity to 68 million tonnes.

My question was if you have any milestones benchmarked to these expansions, because we are talking about a couple of lines in North, additional lines I'm seeing in North and in Central, also some new sites altogether in the Northeast region. My question was if there are milestones if we can talk about, and within the various locations that you have mentioned, are there any priorities or a priority pipeline that let's say, for example, Northeast would supersede or come up earlier than the line two in North or Central?

That kind of a clarification will help us.

Navin, we are evaluating all the options between our Central and our Northeast and North expansion. We understand all three require importance, all three are on the priority list for us.

We will sequence them maybe in a couple of months, we will be in a better position to take that decision. The long-term plans are they finish off with the 43 million first, and then go for the balance 25 for maybe in the next 3-4 years following the completion of 43 million.

Understood. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Hi. Good morning, and thanks for the opportunity.

On North operations, just wanted to check if you have booked incentives in Q1. Could you confirm that once?

No, it's not booked yet.

When do you expect, or what is stopping you from booking it?

No. As a process, we have submitted the documents.

We are awaiting the eligibility certificate, which should be there very soon. The file has already moved a couple of levels.

Once we have that, we will start recognizing the incentives. We expect this to come within maybe 2 months max.

It's ₹50 crore per annum, right? In the first 5 years.

If you get the approval

No. The major thing is 23% capital subsidy on the eligible capital investment.

That and plus something something will add up to about 60- ₹50-odd crores, which we can receive over 10 years. It's not annual

Yeah.

It's not annual 50.

No, not annual. I said ₹50 crore per annum for 5 years and then ₹65 crore for next 5 years is what I had in mind from the earlier discussions.

No, it's 50 for first 4 years, then 65, and then 80.

Right. So 50 for first 4 years.

That's what I was asking. Will you book the 50 in let's say Q3 itself if you get the approval, or will it have to start from Q3 then?

Will the 50 start from Q3?

No. When it is about the first 50, see, this is linked to how much of the capex I completed.

Whatever gets capitalized is what I can with conviction say is done. Wait for this quarter, because we are finishing with the waste heat, the OLBC, the AFR, etc.

Once that's capitalized, probably I can answer this much better, whether 50 or something less would be recognized in the current year.

Sure. On GGBS, the slower growth, just wanted to understand, you said that pricing strategy has not changed, that you're not raising pricing basically, but also you said that the central capex was strong in the quarter.

I'm just getting a bit confused that if pricing was not raised and capex was strong, then why was the volume weak?

See, as I had mentioned, Amit, there were a lot of RMC closures in the West, okay, because of all the challenges there, aggregate availability issues in the South, and the OPC flyash mix cost was also becoming, as you say, unviable. They will kind of did it.

Because of elections, there was a lot of labor migration from the geographies that we operated. In terms of GGBS sales, there's a significant volume that we get from the South as compared to I think it's a 60-40 split between South and West, and hence, the numbers were muted overall.

The growth that we received is primarily in the West. South is impacted.

All that is being corrected for now, and we can always start to see the numbers stack up for the guidance that I had given earlier on the call.

Sure, understood. Last question if I may.

Fuel cost rose very sharply in the quarter. What would be your expectation for the second quarter now or let's say the medium term?

We are switching to domestic coal. In fact, we have already started buying domestic coal.

We don't see any escalation beyond the numbers that we achieved in Q1. In fact, in the coming quarters, see, second quarter will be almost same as the first quarter, but going into the third quarter, we expect the cost to come down for us.

Sure. Just a very last question.

On the cost savings program, you had earlier guided for a number. Where are you in that journey and how much is left?

Amit, I think every quarter, it becomes a bit difficult to quantify. I think every two quarters, it would make sense.

We did guide the street in May itself where we are. Hold on for the next quarter's numbers.

Probably we can give you a better guidance on this. Yes, we are making substantial progress on the renewable power, and once the entire thing is up and running in September, probably we'll have answers to that.

Got it. Thanks a lot, and best wishes.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, you mentioned that we expect to grow somewhere in the high single digits for the GGBS segment.

Now if I recall, we had earlier guided that we expect to grow in perhaps mid-teens in this segment. Perhaps is this a change in our overall outlook for GGBS to a slightly lower level?

See, the Q1 was impacted because of what I explained to you earlier. With Q2, Q3, and Q4 stacking up favorably, yes, the revised would be what I shared with you, which is the high single digits for GGBS.

In say FY28-29, do we expect similar numbers or do we expect to go back to double-digit guidance?

Honestly, it's strongly correlated with the capex spend and the infra growth. If that continues consistently be there, and I think the investment that we've currently made in this specifically in quarter 1 in terms of getting approvals and getting these large infra projects and all listed and registered, I at least personally as a company, we see very very positive outlook going forward, which will play out not only in this year, which is FY27, also in FY28 onwards.

Understood, sir. Sir, secondly, we just highlighted that we expect to end the year with around 60% capacity utilization in our Rajasthan plant.

Just wanted to understand, even 1Q exit, our capacity utilization is more than 60%-65% as per our PPT. Why the subdued sort of expectations for full-year utilizations?

No, it's not subdued. See, today, we are operating 2.5 million capacity, and another 1 million is going to come up in September end, early October.

Then we are looking at 3.5 million capacity. This number, 60% plus, though, yeah, you're right, we did mention that we exited June with a 68% utilization.

It's just that the capacity is going to go up by another 1 million.

That is the perspective. Got it, sir.

Sir, when do we expect this additional line to come up here, this 2.5 MTPA?

It should be there in FY28.

By end of FY28?

Yes.

Yes. Sir.

Understood. Just, sir, one last clarification.

Sir, in one of your notes to accounts, you've mentioned that the other income has a component of ₹55 crore due to some JV deconsolidation. Could you just elaborate a bit on that?

No. We we are in a JV we are a JV partner in JSW One, and JSW One intends to list within this financial year.

That's their plan. Now, they did do some fundraise very recently, and so this ₹55 crore, earlier we had because JSW One was incurring losses, we had to write down the entire investment over different quarters of.

Now their net worth is in positive zone, and this ₹55 crore is the share of that net worth as per accounting standards.

Understood, sir. Just, sir, out of curiosity, what was the funding round at, this most recent one?

No, I think that question should be asked to JSW One as and when they list.

Sir. That's all from my end.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Sir, just one on the North operations now.

Excluding the North sort of revenues, how was the base cement realization movement during the quarter on a sequential basis?

It was plus 5.5% Q-on-Q.

Understood. Obviously North, we have not booked any incentives, but other than that, we were booking some, right?

Any other incentives that were booked during the quarter?

Yes, it was about slightly less than ₹6 crores.

Got it. Now, sir, on the Punjab expansion, sort of we have excluded it from our foreseeable capex plans, and now any issues we are seeing there structurally or just like a timing problem there?

What was the amount that has been invested for Punjab until now?

No, we have spent only on the land. That's about probably ₹50-₹60 crores.

We have the entire land with us. Very small parcel is required to be purchased, which we would be doing it very soon.

Most of the land is with us. I can say the whole of the land is with us.

The plant land is with us. It's just the approach road, a little bit of it.

Now, we are awaiting the EC. The EC can come anytime.

A couple of rounds of discussions hearing have happened in the PCB. Once we have that, probably then we will initiate the work at Punjab.

Got it. Sir, the capex that you mentioned about the absolute amount, this would be including Punjab, right?

You would have accounted for that as well, right?

Yes, yes, yes. It includes Punjab.

Got it. And Because

Punjab is very very integral to our entire North plans.

Got it. Sir, just lastly, one on the green energy share.

Now the target laid out during the second quarter last year was to achieve 49% by 4Q FY26 and 63% by FY27. Can you just tell are we sort of behind schedule on this one, and what are the reasons for the same?

Slight delays that was more related to land, but that's all behind us now. As I mentioned earlier, within September, we'll have whatever capacities we had informed earlier, that would be available to us now in September.

Got it. We can hit 60% plus by end of FY27?

Implemented, yes.

Q3 on,

yes.

Yes. Got it.

Okay. This is really helpful, sir.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. All of my questions are actually answered.

I just wanted to check what is the region-wise capacity utilization particularly for the cement business?

We couldn't hear you, Girija. Could you repeat your question, please?

Am I audible?

Yes, you are. Yeah.

Most of my questions are answered, but I have one small question that is, what is the region-wise capacity utilization for the cement business?

Overall for quarter 1, we were at 61% for quarter 1. There's no split that we offer on this.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Yeah.

Hi, sir. Good morning.

Am I audible?

Yes, Rajesh. Please go ahead.

Yeah. First question, just a clarification.

The incentives, when you start booking in for the cement North plant, will it flow through revenue and EBITDA or directly to cash flows balance sheet?

No, it will be rooted through P&L.

No, P&L means through revenue, right? It's like GST accrual.

Because capital subsidy, we understand, initially it doesn't flow through revenue line item. Hello?

We'll get back to you on this.

Yeah. We were talking about the incentive, how it will flow through P&L or through revenue or through other line items.

There's a bit complex accounting treatment, I understand, on the capital subsidy. I think this has to be recognized over the life of the asset.

I think we'll have a discussion with the auditors and then probably answer this rather than giving a misleading answer. Sure,

sure. Sir, on the marketing expense, I see for the last 3-4 years, the run rate was around ₹80 to ₹85 crore, and Q4 we had a jump in FY26 Q4, and FY26 number went up because you're seeding for the North operations.

North, you have done around ₹30-₹33 crore in Q1. From an annual basis, what would be the incremental marketing expenditure you're looking at ₹80-₹85 crore run rate?

Second, when you said the North operations will break even and will turn positive, break even at EBITDA level or at PAT level?

Break even at EBITDA level. About the first part of your question, see, today we have done about ₹33 crores in North.

Overall at company level, we will be doing about ₹130 crores.

Okay.

for the year.

This run rate would continue for next few years is what we can assume?

Yes, because we will be going into newer territories. Very soon, we should be there in Punjab, we'll be there in western UP, central UP, etc.

This number is definitely to go up as a

Makes sense. Correct.

Keep in mind, this ₹130 crore what I mentioned includes technical spends also.

Okay. EBITDA break-even, what is the target you're looking at, sir?

No, in in in the month of in the second quarter, we should be EBITDA break-even.

Okay. Fair to assume at 55%-60% utilization, you have turned or you will be turning EBITDA break-even, and thereafter, profitability will further kick in with the commissioning of the WHR, OLBC, and more of low-cost fuel purchase, lignite and all?

See,

today we have to transport limestone by road, and we don't have waste heat, etc. That explains why our break-even is at a higher number, at 55%-60% utilization.

Had this all been in operation, break-even would have been at much lower levels. Correct,

correct. I agree.

Sir, two small questions, follow-up. First on the RMC, what is the full-year number you're looking at, and is there any EBITDA margin number for FY26 and '27 in this RMC segment?

See, revenue, we are targeting north of ₹1,000 crores, including

this year,

including the captive, that's what Nilesh explained earlier, wherever the group projects are coming up. Now, today it's very difficult to speak on the margins because captive always has a different number than a commercial or a dedicated.

It all depends how we grow. Initially, when we put up, and our plans are to move from 15 to 35, in the first year, in first 12 months, hardly makes any money.

RMCs don't make money.

Right, right, right.

Yeah. A bit difficult to spell out the margins right now.

Understood. When you say captive, you're not talking within the JSW Cement, within the group, right?

Within the group.

Within the group, okay. Lastly, on the capex number, Q1 you have done ₹337 crore, and for full year you're guiding ₹2,300 crore.

Is it chances of a miss because the run rate is slower, and I assume Q2 would be not very strong given a monsoon quarter? H2, the expectation from the capex could be much higher?

No.

The number would be close to 2,300, there isn't going to be any miss.

Understood. This is as per your plans.

Yeah.

Great, sir. That's all from my end.

We'll come back in queue. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you just for taking questions. You've delayed the Vijayanagar phase one beyond CY28, you said, that was supposed to come earlier?

Sorry, Rashi, just repeat your question. You're not clear, not audible.

The Vijayanagar phase one, I think earlier plan was to have it before CY28, that's now being pushed out, right?

Yes, that's right.

What are the factors

Basically utilization.

Sorry, utilization?

No, basically to keep in mind the utilization and be prudent about how we can ensure the capacity utilization for the overall company is maintained. That was the impetus behind it.

Understood. What are the timelines for Fujairah and the Dolvi expansion?

Fujairah and the?

The Dolvi, the 4 million tonne, the ones which are coming before CY28.

Fujairah, we have done the ground breaking last month. That should be up and running within 12 months.

Dolvi, we are planning to start the work very soon. That's 15 months from whenever we start.

15 to 12. Okay.

For the Nagaur project, the total capex for the 3.5 is ₹3,500 crores, right?

Yeah.

How much has been spent so far?

We have spent close to 2,400-2,500.

The next 2.5 is ₹430 crores, that's correct?

Yes, net of GST, yes.

Okay. Just last, what was the clinker utilization in the quarter?

Come again?

Clinker utilization in the quarter.

It's at 61% including Nagaur in India, I'm saying, okay, this between Nandyal, Shiva, and Nagaur, it's at 61%. If you want to knock off Nagaur, then the number goes up to 87%.

That's clinker all in all right. Got it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we'd like to thank the management of JSW Cement for the call and also many thanks to the participants for joining the call.

Thank you very much, sir. [Renju?]

, you may now conclude the call.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

Thank you.