Thank you, Eric. Good morning everyone.

Sorry for the delay to start the conference call. At the outset, on behalf of Nuvama Institutional Equities, we welcome Dr.

Ashok Panda, Chairman and Managing Director, along with Additional Director Finance In-Charge of Steel Authority of India. I would request Dr.

Ashok Panda to give his opening remarks, and then we can open the floor for Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ashish Kejriwal.

Good morning everyone. I welcome all our investors and analysts who are joining this result con-call for the financial year of SAIL for the period quarter one 26-27.

Now, I am sure most of you might have already seen the results on the website of the company and through stock exchanges. I would briefly run through the same for the benefit of the house.

When we look at the economic scenario globally, the period was impacted adversely by the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. Not only did it impact the supplies of fuel across the globe, it also affected the supply chain for inputs like limestone, etc.

Even it also affected to some extent like the gas supplies, propane, etc. for the steel industry.

On the other hand, the rising fuel cost led to inflationary pressures against raising the various expenditure heads. However, notwithstanding this, the projections for India also remain range-bound between 6.4% to 7.2% by various agencies over the next 2 years.

Far as Indian steel scenario is concerned, the landscape for the steel industry is highly influenced by economic trends, trade policies, and technological advancements. Indian steel industry, however, continues to enjoy robust demand for steel, with consumption during quarter one 26-27 which has grown by more than 8% over CPLY.

The production, however, showed a muted, slightly lower growth of around 3% during this year, during this quarter 26-27. Due to higher growth in imports as compared to exports, there was increase in imports as well as increase in exports, and the net import for quarter one 26-27 was to the tune of around 0.4 to 0.5 million tons, as against maybe 0.3 million tons last year quarter one.

Now let us have a look at, briefly look at the company performance for quarter one 26-27 performance of Steel Authority of India Limited. Before highlighting the performance of the company during quarter one 26-27, I would like to inform the house that owning to the, owing to the circumstances that prevailed and the threat that loomed at large, SAIL decided actually to advance some of its major capital repairs during quarter one, so that it will be free after that and will start producing better in the next quarters.

Mostly we had major capital repairs in IISCO Steel Plant, Durgapur Steel Plant, and also Hot Strip Mill at Bokaro Steel Plant, which were done in quarter one by design. That is the story about this quarter one compared to last quarter one.

While this impacted the production volumes as per design, but then, but then ultimately it helped us in some of the things and which led to a good profitability going forward. Coming to the performance of the company during quarter one 26-27, the highlights are as follows.

Crude steel production stood at 4.8 million tons in quarter one 26-27, as against 4.9 million tons CPLY. This reduction is because of the capital repairs which have been advanced in this quarter one by design.

Sales volume was 4.2 million tons, which fell by around 7% to 8% as compared to the previous year. There was increase in inventory by around 0.2 million tons in the finished goods.

The company, however, remains very much committed towards increasing its sales volume, including inventory liquidation in the balance period of this year, as we have done last year as well. Also will, will be, our endeavor will be to reduce the working capital borrowings.

When we look at the borrowing position as on 30th June 2026 at the end of this quarter, we're almost at the same level as, as that of the beginning of this year, in spite of the fact that the inventory has increased by 0.2 million tons. On the back of better realizations, sales turnover increased by well over 1% as compared to previous year quarter one.

Despite significant increase in prices of major inputs like coking coal and fuel, limestone, the company was able to improve its profitability through measures towards operational efficiencies, better financial management, and treasury management during this period of quarter one. EBITDA at ₹4,356 crores showed for quarter one 26-27 as a growth of more than 50% as compared to CPLY figure of ₹2,925 crores, crores.

EBITDA margin at 16.7% is one of the best since 21-22, when the steel market that time was at its peak and coal price was at its bottom in 21-22. EBITDA per ton also crossed our benchmark figure of ₹10,000 per ton, and stood at ₹10,464 per ton in quarter one 26-27.

While talking about PBT and PAT, PBT and PAT stood at ₹2,159 crores and ₹1,636 crores in quarter one respectively, as compared to ₹890 crores and ₹685 crores respectively for CPLY period, with a growth of around 150%. As mentioned earlier, the cash outflows were managed smartly through better treasury management efforts, which helped to keep the borrowings under check.

This is, this stood at ₹21,729 crores as on 30th June, which is almost at the same level of the level of on as on 1st March 2026 was 20, ₹21,663 crores. The debt-equity ratio was further reduced to 0.36 on actual basis at the end of quarter one 26-27.

Going forward, while Q2 has traditionally been a toughest quarter for the steel industry because of the rain, incidence of rain, etc., and, and, but efforts are being made not to increase our inventory during quarter two, and after that, our efforts, our efforts will be to reduce inventory in quarter three and quarter four, so that on the yearly basis there will be inventory reduction, reduction. We will continuously strive for increasing our efficiency levels and cost reduction efforts.

One another good thing which has happened during this quarter 26-27 is that our focus on mines has been foremost. Now we are trying to increase production from captive mines, and as well as consume and the rest quantity to sell in the market wherever it is possible.

During this quarter one, we could have sales of around ₹400 crores more as compared to last year quarter one, and which has resulted in a profit of around ₹150 crores as compared to last year quarter one. These are the highlights.

With these words, I hand it back to Mr. Ashish for opening the Q&A session.

Good morning. Sir, just had a couple of questions.

First is if you could indicate what was the NSR in 1Q as against 4Q? Based on July and how the prices are moving, what do you expect for the second quarter?

Yeah.

Quarter one average NSR was ₹57,100 as compared to quarter four of ₹52,000. That means an increase of around ₹5,000 per ton between these two.

Far as Q2 is concerned, as I have already told, because there is monsoon season right now, traditionally there is always a reduction in the NSR. Far as Q2 expectation is concerned, or maybe when we talk about July, the prices of the flat products, there is not much of a reduction in that.

There are fluctuations in the long product prices. There were reductions, but recently there is a positive momentum which is visible, because of which there is a possibility of increase in long products price.

You can say that between June and July, in the long product price, if there was a reduction of around ₹3,000, around ₹3,000 per ton, maybe it will improve by ₹500 to ₹1,000 right now in the long products. In the flat products in between June and July, there could be a reduction of around ₹1,000 per ton, something like that.

Got it. How about the coal cost, sir?

What was the coal cost on consumption basis in 1Q and what's the guidance for second quarter?

The imported coal price in quarter one 26-27 was on a higher side, ₹21,300 as compared to ₹18,100 in quarter four, means around ₹3,100 increase. The index of imported coal, which was at a peak of around $235 a couple of days before, now it has come down to a level of $220 today.

That means there is some softening effect in the imported coal index, Argus and Platts and Argus index. We hope that because in the rainy season there are monsoon situations, etc., demand may come down, and because of that maybe the prices will soften in quarter two.

Okay. Any guidance on coal cost you can provide on, yeah?

We're expecting that in Q2 going forward, maybe from August onward, there could be reduction of around ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 progressively in the imported coal cost on a monthly basis.

Got it. Just last question, sir.

Based on the performance, are we maintaining the full-year volume guidance?

We are maintaining the full-year volume, and we will be having a growth of over last year by the year end.

Got it. That's all from my side, sir.

Thank you, and all the best, sir.

Thank you very much.

Good morning. Hello?

Good morning.

Hello. Good morning.

Just first question would be on cost inflation in West Asia, if you could spell out the amount.

Your voice is breaking.

Hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

Sir, first is clarification in the prior answer. You indicated we expect cooking coal prices to go down by ₹1,000, ₹2,000 into Q2?

On a monthly basis, actually. I'm not talking about the average.

When we look at month of August, maybe there will be reduction of around ₹1,000. Maybe in September, further ₹1,000.

This is my expectation.

That helps. Sir, second is, can you indicate the volumes excluding RINL or any other sales that we have done for, say, NMDC Steel for the quarter?

When you look about that particular figure, NMDC Steel, as you know actually, we are not doing the marketing this year, it is nil, almost kind of nil, NSL. Whereas CPLY quarter one had 3.73 lakhs of sales.

This time it is zero. In RINL, we sold around 96,000 tons, which were not there last year in quarter one.

On the whole, if you combine NSL and RINL, then last year CPLY, CPLY means last year quarter one, had a quantity of around 2.76 lakhs tons in that, as compared to this year.

Perfect. Sir, just two quick questions.

Sir, how do you see the pricing gap between primary and secondary longs? You did indicate that we are hopeful for long product prices increasing by ₹500, ₹1,000.

Sir, how should we look at the divergence between primary and secondary? That's one.

Sir, second question is, how are we reading into the anti-dumping duty investigation which has just got initiated? Is there any probability of safeguards basically to be reinstated again?

Let me answer one by one actually. First question is about the gap between primary and secondary in the long products.

Now the gap has narrowed down. The gap is around ₹5,000 right now, which is a healthy gap.

That's the reason why probably there is a uptick in the prices of the primary TMT products. This is my guesswork.

Number two, you asked about safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty. In safeguard front actually, yes, there is a step safeguard duty still in place, which is 11, 11.5% as of now, because it was there for 3 years.

Today now we are in the second year right now. That still continues.

It is giving the much-needed relief to the steel domestic market. Far as anti-dumping thing is concerned, that is going on.

Based on the investigation, maybe some measures will come as a relief to the domestic steel sector.

Yes, please. Sure.

Thank you so much for the answers. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

Sir, my first question is pertaining to the sub-grade ore of fines. I believe you said that in the first quarter, you did some extra ₹400 crores from sale of ore.

The question is actually divided in two parts. Number one is on the sub-grade ore of iron ore, what you have, the inventory.

The second is if you see the recent auction data of Steel Authority, the volume has actually been going down, especially in the June month from a couple of mines. Do you expect this third-party sales of ore to continue?

Just wanted to get your thought process on that.

Let me try to answer one by one. The last question, I didn't get it.

The first question and second question let me take. The first question is about SGF, sub-grade fines.

We are having a volume of around 32 million tons inventory in the balance sheet, and we have put up in the auction around 3 million tons. The rates are yet to come, and we are hopeful that this time we'll be able to click that particular thing.

That will become a beginning of our efforts towards selling 32 million tons going forward. Number two about sales from the mines.

The sales from the mines is primarily from the Odisha group of mines, from where we have been selling iron ore fines, fresh iron ore fines, tailings from there. The quantities have become more than twice as compared to last year.

That's the reason why turnover from there has increased by around ₹400 crores, and profit from there has increased by ₹150 crores. Our efforts are to increase our production further, and sell more and more in the market.

We are also planning to sell from Chhattisgarh group of mines. Two auctions have fructified recently, just a few days back, which is in quarter two.

That will testify our possibility of increasing further sales from Chhattisgarh mines. We're also trying to sell from Jharkhand mines.

Efforts are on in that.

Okay. Sir.

Sir, just one quick clarification. The 3 million ton is the '27 target, right?

Pardon?

For the sub-grade. For the sub-grade ore, 3 million ton auction target is for entire year of '27, or it's for '28?

No, this is the first phase, actually. Once it happens and starts moving, then we will also see.

That is the target for 26-27.

Okay. Sir, I believe just wanted to quickly get your understanding on the railway price revision.

Whatever you can share, what is your expectation? How are we supposed to see that going forward for the current year?

All that I can say, as that it is based on the provisional prices, rail price. You're talking about rail price, isn't it?

Yes, yes, sir. Yes, sir.

For the year 26-27, because the imported coal price is on the higher side and our provisional price is pretty low at ₹74,000, we are expecting a better price as compared to that. That is going to improve our profitability whenever it is declared.

Sir,

are you expecting anytime soon? No,

for 26-27, it will come in 27-28. And 25-26 price come in 26-27.

We will see how it comes out, that one.

Do you have any preliminary understanding for last year's pricing, sir?

25-26 prices will be more than that of 24-25 prices. It all depends how it gets, and this may get.

Okay. Sir, if I may just quickly squeeze in one other last question from my side.

I think recently government recommend to impose a definitive ADD on met coke for I think about 5 years. Would it be impacting you in any sense?

Because I think, yeah.

It is not going to impact SAIL, because we have our own capacity which is equivalent to our requirement, or maybe surplus.

Sir. Perfect.

Thank you so much, sir. That was quite helpful.

Yes, sir. Three quick questions.

First, can you give us your updated capex guidance for this year and the next couple of years given whatever the plans are? Yeah.

Far as capex is concerned, this year we're planning a target of ₹15,000 crores, and this is going to increase in next 2, 3 years because our expansions are on. That means next year, it could be in excess of ₹20,000 crores, and after that maybe 25, 26, like that.

It will go on increasing for next 4, 5 years. This year it is ₹15,000 crores and we are likely to complete that.

Got it, sir. My second question is, sir, you said that July was better than June.

If I take the average NSR for the June quarter, the first quarter versus what has happened in long product prices, 2Q NSR should be broadly be down by ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 a ton or flat, or how should we look at it? When I,

when we talk about the NSR, actually, I said that quarter one of this year NSR is higher than quarter four. In quarter two, that is starting July, the NSR will be less than that of quarter one, primarily because of the monsoon and dull demand and all that.

That means in what I said is that in July, August, and September, reduction in flat prices may not be that much, but reduction in TMT, means LP, long products, will be more, actually. In June and in July, while there was a reduction of around ₹2,000 in NSR of long products, recently there is a upward momentum for the long products NSR.

It might further increase by ₹1,000. Kind of if you talk about quarter two, quarter two NSR as compared to quarter one could be down by around ₹1,000 to ₹2,000, maybe.

This is just a guesswork.

Got it, sir. Sir, my last question is, can you give us an updated guidance for your employee cost for this year, and whether you will start providing for the wage provision in the January-March 2027 quarter?

Salary and wages this year in quarter one is ₹2,937 crores, as compared to last year figure of ₹2,944 crores, almost at the same level. While in this quarter one, it includes differential VR amount, VRS, voluntary retirement, because our VRS scheme is on, so many people have taken VRS.

That factor is also there in the employee remuneration. The number of employees are coming down and VRS is on, we're expecting that the employee cost should come down, number one.

Coming to your point of wage revision possibility, there in quarter four we'll look at the probability and possibility of making some provision towards wage revision. Those aspects we will evaluate and examine in quarter four, because that time it will be due.

A particular group will look into that.

Got it, sir. Thank you very much.

Good morning, sir. Just a couple of questions.

First one, can you just update us on what is the current product mix breakup between flats, longs, and semis?

Yeah. Just 1 sec.

It's almost kind of 50-50%, and one thing is that the semis have come down from, say, 14% last quarter one to 11% this quarter one. Between long and flat, flat is 52.7%, long is 34.8%, and semis are at 12.5% in quarter one.

Sure, sir. Because in your sales performance slide, the proportion of semis is showing as 6%.

Are we getting some semis converted outside and then into finished products?

Of course. Semis are getting converted to finished goods.

That's the reason why I told you that finished steel has gone up from 86% to 89% this year. We are trying to convert most of the semis into finished and pushing that in the market.

I think the slide mentions 6%, maybe that's after conversion, the final sales is about 6%.

Correct. You're right.

Okay. Also in terms of the coking coal, what is the breakup?

Most of it is imported, but are we getting anything from our captive mines and what is the proportion from Coal India?

Captive mines actually is from Chasnalla and Tasra. That is a part of the indigenous coal, that is not a part of the imported coal.

Imported coal are at around 85%, indigenous coal is 15%. Out of that 15%, we get somewhere around 5% from our own mines, and which is likely to go up from December onwards, because production from Tasra mines, which is under development right now, is going to take place in the month of, expectedly in the month of December.

Fourth quarter will be a better quarter expectedly for us, in which we'll be getting more indigenous coal from our captive mines. This will also give an advantage in terms of prices.

Yes, sir. Could you just give us some idea of what is the cost benefit of indigenous versus imported coal?

See, in quarter one, the indigenous average price is ₹13,100 as against imported price of ₹21,200. That indigenous is ₹13,100, but when we'll be getting from our own mines, it may be somewhere around ₹5,000 to ₹6,000, around ₹6,000.

That component is going to increase from December onwards.

Sure, sir. Also sir, just lastly, if you could just give us a sense of in our coke ovens, what is the sort of blending?

You've given the PCI, the coke rate and the PCI injection. Broadly, what is the proportion of pure hard coking coal that goes into our coke mix?

Just 1 sec. The percentage of hard coking coal The percentage of soft coking coal is around 25% to 27%, the rest is hard.

Within that, within that also in totality if you look at, our imported component is around 85%, indigenous component is around 15%. That is on the whole.

When you want a breakup between soft and hard, soft is around what percentage? 23%.

23% is soft and 61.7% is around hard coking coal. Means actually indigenous cooking coal is 15%, then imported hard is 62%, and and imported soft is 23%.

That is how it becomes 100%.

Sure, sir. Okay.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, sir. Sir, I just want to clarify a few things.

One is the fourth quarter NSR you said is ₹57,100, right? Can you share the breakup of flat and long?

Yeah. Fourth quarter NSR is

Sorry, 1Q. Sorry.

One, I meant 1Q.

Yeah, ₹57,100 is the average, out of which almost same. Long is ₹57,100, flat is ₹57,200.

It is average ₹57,150, to be precise.

Got it. Sir, what is the July NSR for long and flat

or blended? July NSR average is ₹55,600.

The flat is ₹56,900 and long is ₹54,200.

Understood. Got it.

Sir, for the captive mines, when we shared that sales was ₹400 crores, profit was ₹150 crores, can you share what was the volume here and for the full year, what is our expectation?

Volumes are 1.1 million tons. Last year quarter one was 0.31 million tons.

When it is 1.1 million tons this quarter, last year, last year we sold around 3.0-odd million tons. Although we are targeting a very high target of 8 million tons, let's see how far we can go.

Okay. Last year we sold 3 million tons for the full year.

For the full year, around 3.5 or something million tons.

What was the revenue and EBITDA contribution of iron ore volume last year?

Last entire year, I have to just check up actually. I can tell you about the quarter one.

I can tell you about the quarter one, actually. In quarter one, as I told you, the turnover from the sales of iron ore was ₹157 crores last year quarter one.

This and in this year quarter one, it is ₹574 crores.

EBITDA for this year is ₹150 crores, right, for 1Q? Yeah.

You can say it is roughly the EBITDA also. Okay.

Sir,

in the past, we've not been able to achieve our guidance because there's been some logistics constraint, and I think even for sub-grade mines, the demand for that quality is not there. Are those constraints now receding?

What's the status on that?

Logistics constraints are still there. We are trying to vie with that through better availability of rakes as well as by enhancing our quantities through road.

Those are the efforts we're making so that the logistics constraints to some extent can be eased out. Those things are going on.

Regarding the quality of the iron ore, sub-grade fines, there is a lot of demand for the sub-grade fines as well as tailings, because these are not very low quality sub-grades. These are 59% to 60%.

It is having a good marketplace. Even in case of tailings from Bolani, that means from Odisha group of mines, which are 57%, 58%, 56%, that is also having a good market demand.

Market is good for that. We can achieve our sales quantities.

Okay. Just one last question on the cooking coal.

Sir, you shared consumption was around ₹21,300. What is the likely consumption cost for 2Q?

Do you expect a reduction or an increase in consumption cost? I understand purchase is getting lower.

Yeah. It will reduce.

Because now the price is softening, it will reduce only. Maybe there will be reduction of around ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 in Q2 as compared to Q1.

Understood. Sir, 1Q, what was the capex spent?

Just last question.

₹2,575 crores.

All right. Thank you and all the best, sir.

Thank you. Thanks.

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity again.

First question is on the cost inflation which has been there. Generally, we have seen the impact of West Asia coming through on power costs and other raw material costs.

In your assessment, what would have been that inflation in Q1 for you?

The increase is primarily from two fronts. One is on the coal front, because as there is an increase of around ₹3,500 in the imported coal prices compared to last year quarter one, which is easing out right now.

That is one thing. The other thing is fuel cost has gone up to some extent.

It has, of course, not impacted SAIL per se so much. The increase in the limestone cost is also there in our cost of production.

These are the broader things which have impacted the steel sector in totality. The impact on us is less compared to others because the impact due to fuel is not much in our case.

Got it. Also just to understand, you said that you are processing some semis from third party.

Who would be these third party, just to understand?

We have the conversion arrangements and that is the domain of the marketing, and we keep on doing it dynamically so as to reduce the semis availability in the market. We are trying to improve our finished steel more and more.

That is the reason why I told you there is an increase of around 3% to 4% in finished steel percentage this year as compared to last year quarter one.

The arrangement with NINL has stopped or how's it working right now?

No, it is not a conversion arrangement with NINL. We are supporting them in terms of selling their semis whenever they want.

In Q1, was there any volume then from NINL?

NINL sales quantity is 96,000 tons of semis through our marketing setup.

95,000 tons. Okay.

It is not actually NINL, it is RINL. Rashtriya

Ispat. Oh, my bad.

Not RINL, I meant NMDC Steel.

NMDC is zero, as I have already told. Achha,

okay. Theek hai.

Thank you so much, yeah.

Thanks for the opportunity, and good morning everyone and good morning management. Just my first question about the last quarter that you said about fluxes and the lime stone expenses has increased on account of Strait of Hormuz in Dubai.

Any impact on that about the saleable steel, because as we have seen in that reduction of around ₹100 to ₹200 per ton. On the coming quarter also is there any?

See, let me explain this particular question a little bit more, that because of Strait of Hormuz, actually, that is Gulf War situation, there is an impact on the fuel as well as on the limestone and the steel sector. Far as fuel is concerned, so far as Steel Authority of India Limited is concerned, we do not have much of an impact, because we have our own gases produced inside the plant itself.

Coke ovens are healthy, blast furnaces are healthy, we could produce the gases, use it, not much of an impact. Far as fluxes are concerned, because of this ocean freight, etc., prices have gone up for everybody, and so also to us.

The impact of that increase in the prices of fluxes have been offset by reducing the specific usage of fluxes in this quarter one compared to the previous quarter one. Because of that reduction, we've got a saving on that count by around ₹25 crores.

More or less, it has offset the price increase due to ocean freight in the fluxes.

Got it, sir. Sir, secondly, it is about the debt position.

What is in the last quarter the finance costs are declined and that remained as a major deleveraging supporting the overall debt, and debt-equity ratio was also maintained to the multi-year low of 0.35. What would be this deleveraging in the trend which is going to continue for the Q1 FY27?

What are the current positions?

At Q1 level,

at Q1 level, at Q1 level,

the debt is standing at ₹21,729 crores, which is almost at the same level as that of the opening of ₹21,663 crores. The debt-equity ratio has come down to 0.36, maybe from 0.38 or 0.39 in the opening of this year.

Deleveraging efforts are on. Far as today's position is concerned, the debt has further come down to a level of ₹21,400 crores.

Efforts are on to reduce the working capital borrowings in this particular year by reducing the inventory, as well as as well as through other sources for improving the cash flows. Apart from that, actually, due to concerted efforts by treasury management, better treasury management, our cost of debt has also come down to a level of 6.24% as compared to last year quarter one of around 6.8%.

Because of which there is a saving of around ₹100 crores in the finance finance cost this quarter compared to the previous quarter.

Sir. Got it.

Sir, the last it is only about the blended gross spreads. Can you give me some figures for the Q1 for per ton, like blended realization you gave, for the blended gross spreads?

Blended what? I could not get your question.

Gross spreads. Between the product mix about the blended realization breakup that you have shared.

About any just yeah.

You mean to say blended realizations in terms of NSR?

NSR, yes. You can say about it.

Blended realization that you have already mentioned about long and flat. The saleable steel, do you have any specifically?

As

I said you, actually, so far as blended realization is concerned, in quarter one, our average NSR is ₹57,156. Within that, when you look at the breakup, the flats are at around 52% and long is around 38%, 12% is semis.

That is in the production front. As somebody told, actually, in sales front, the semis are still less by around 6%, because the rest 6% has been converted to finished goods.

In totality, our blend has improved in this quarter one as compared to the previous year.

Sir. Got it.

Sir, about the sub-grade auction grade that you said about FY27, it would be 3 million tons. The sales from mines, Odisha and from Jharkhand mine, can you elaborate or give some data?

Let me tell you the expectation, actually. Last year, last year 25-26, we had total sales of around 3.0-odd million tons, and all of that had happened from Odisha group of mines.

That includes fresh fines as well as tailings from Odisha group of mines. This year we are expecting double the quantity from Odisha group of mines.

Some quantity from Chhattisgarh group of mines for which the auction has fructified just a few days back with a small quantity, but that is a testimony that we can increase further depending on availability. In the Jharkhand side, actually, we are making efforts to sell our sub-grade fines, which we are expectedly it is 3 million tons, let's see how much it will go out.

Number two, we are also trying to sell the fresh fines from Jharkhand. The numbers I cannot give at at this point of time.

Sir. Got it.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for the answer.

Good morning, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, just wanted to understand the downward revision in rail pricing.

What was the benchmark previously, and what is the benchmark now at which you are selling? For FY26, considering the costs are down, what kind of further downward revision can come?

Let me explain you. Actually, there is no benchmark, actually, in that.

It is guided by efficiency and the coal prices primarily. It goes up and down depending on the input prices and the efficiency level in our rail mills.

These days our rail mills have a very high level of efficiency, which has been better than the global benchmarks. That is how it is working at Bhilai Steel Plant for rail production, and it is well appreciated by Indian Railways as well.

As I said, in 24-25, because imported coal prices were remaining low, that is why the prices were low. In 25-26, there is improvement in the imported coal prices as compared to 24-25.

We're expecting better price as compared to 24-25. In 26-27, the imported coal price is still higher, much higher as compared to 25-26.

Of course, the costing will be more and the price will be more, which will be decided in 27-28. That is how it moves.

You're not expecting any further downward revision in the railway prices as of now?

We are not expecting any further hit on our P&L on account of that. Noted.

Sir, my second question pertains to the SP plant, basically, that had the highest degree of semis. There we were actually putting up some casters to increase the overall Hello.

Which plant you said? SP plant?

DSP plant.

Durgapur.

Durgapur Steel Plant, that has the highest semis. There we were actually putting some projects to increase the finished goods product, I think the caster which we were putting.

Could you give us some update on at what stage that is, and how much tolling charges we are giving for the semis to finish conversion to the third party?

See, let me answer your question. Durgapur, we're producing semis, and which is in excess of 1 million ton per annum.

Because of that, actually, we are putting up a TMT bar mill over there. That will produce around 0.8 million tons, 0.8 to 0.9 million tons of TMT from there.

That is expected sometime in 2027, maybe September to December 2027, that is the expectation. During that time, it is going to come.

Once that comes, then availability of semis from Durgapur will come down drastically. The conversion charges, as you said actually, these are dynamic in nature, based on certain formula, etc.

This remains with the best standards of the industry.

Sir, just one quick question. What is the total wage provisioning that we are doing right now?

Would it be possible for you to give number for employee costs for this year and next year considering this variable?

What commissioning you said? Wage provision?

Pay commission,

yeah. Pay commission, as actually, it is going to come from 1st of Jan, 1st January 2027.

We are not much sure about it, neither there is an calculation available over there. As I said clearly, in quarter four, we'll evaluate, examine, and see what is possible in terms of provision.

Sure. Thank you.

That's all.

Hi. Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Yeah. Sir, my question is, how are we looking at the cost efficiency program panning out, and what are the exact initiatives we are taking to bring the cost down?

How much of per ton cost saving you would see to come from these initiatives, let's say over FY28 and '29?

'28 and '29?

In terms of rupees per ton, how much of cost savings we are looking at? See,

we are looking at a cost reduction of around ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 in this year itself. In quarter one, because most of our units, many of our units are down because of the advancement of the capital repairs, the cost was on little on the higher side.

From quarter two onwards, because all the mills and facilities are in place, cost reduction efforts will be there and the cost reduction will be there, number one. When we look at a possibility of cost by '28, '29, by '28, '29, we'll have new facilities coming up in IISCO Steel Plant, and which will reduce the variable cost drastically because of reduction in the fuel rate, coke rate, etc.

over there. That time, the cost reduction in the variable cost could be to the tune of ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 per ton.

However, because the new units will come, naturally there will be push in terms of fixed cost at that point of time.

All in all, if we have to look at net cost per savings, because there will be some cost which will be coming up because of the new plants coming up also. Can we fairly say that ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 of per ton cost savings will directly flow into our EBITDA?

Correct. You are very much right, actually.

By '28, '29, when we start getting production from IISCO Steel Plant expansion units, the variable cost will come down by around ₹4,000, and fixed cost may go up around ₹1,500, ₹2,000. Net-net, there could be a cost reduction of ₹2,000 at that point of time.

Notwithstanding that, before that, from our current operations, we are trying to reduce our cost of production by around ₹2,000 through various efforts.

Hi sir. Am I audible?

Yeah. Hi sir.

I have two questions. First, given the volume decline and the low capex which we have done in Q1, could you give us a sense of what we are looking at to maintain our full-year volume and capex guidance?

Also second question, the iron ore volume and revenue EBITDA you shared for Q1, could you also share the same number for Q4 FY26?

Let me tell you actually. Far as capex is concerned, Q1 capex target was ₹2,306 crores against which we have made ₹2,575 crores.

Our yearly target is ₹15,000 crores, and we are going on stream to achieve those figures. That is number one.

Number two, on the volume front, as I told you, there is a reduction of around 0.1 million tons of production, that is because we advanced the capital repairs at IISCO, at Durgapur, and at Bokaro Hot Strip Mill. That was by design.

In Q2, Q3, and Q4, the production volumes will be more than that of last year. On the yearly basis, there is expected to be a growth as compared to 25-26.

From me, as a closing remark, thank you very much for your Q&A session. The forecast for Indian economy by various agencies have been quite encouraging, and support by the government is strengthening the belief that the economy will continue to do well going forward.

Steel demand also continues to prosper, and we are hopeful that the prices will maintain the momentum that has been gained post-monsoons. Apart from the improvement in the operational performance, the company also remains committed towards sustainable performance, including emphasis on decarbonization, improving capacity utilization, value addition, and achieving cost competitiveness.

I thank all our investors for their reposing faith in us, and I am hopeful that the same shall continue in future as well. Thank you very much.