Thanks, Steve, and good afternoon, everyone, for joining in SRF's Q3 and nine months FY26 post-results earnings call. The management team will be represented by Mr.

Ashish Bharat Ram, Chairman and Managing Director. The call will start with a brief management discussion on the earnings performance, followed by an interactive Q&A session.

I'll hand over the floor to Nitika for her initial comments, post which we can start the call in the Q&A. Over to you, Nitika.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone and welcome to SRF Limited's quarter three and nine months financial year 2026 results conference call. Joining us today is our Chairman and Managing Director, Mr.

Ashish Bharat Ram. He will begin by sharing key highlights from our performance, covering developments across our businesses and financial performance.

Following his remarks, we will open the floor for a question and answer session with him. Please note that any forward-looking statements made during the call are subject to the disclaimer included in the earnings presentation shared earlier.

With that, I invite our CMD, Mr. Ashish Bharat Ram, to deliver his opening remarks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nitika. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.

I trust all of you have had the opportunity to go through our results and the presentation shared with you earlier. As we review our performance for quarter three financial year 26, I want to begin by acknowledging the resilience and agility our teams have demonstrated in navigating a dynamic and challenging environment.

While the quarter presented its share of headwinds, we remain steadfast in our strategy and remain confident about the opportunities ahead. I'm pleased to share that during quarter three financial year 26, SRF delivered healthy performance across its key business segments, along with a much-improved bottom line.

Despite ongoing global uncertainties, our focus on operational excellence, disciplined cost management, and innovation helped us maintain steady momentum. Our gross operating revenue grew 6% to 3,730 crores, and EBIT was up by 23% year on year, from 529 crores to 653 crores over the current period last year, reflecting a margin of 18%.

PAT expanded by 60% year on year to 433 crores. Coming to the chemicals business, our chemicals business reported a revenue growth of 22%, increasing from 1,296 crores in quarter three financial year 25 to 1,825 crores in quarter three financial year 26.

This performance was driven by higher refrigerant volumes realizations, while enhanced operational efficiencies across both the fluorochemicals and specialty chemicals segments contributed to the overall performance. In our specialty chemicals business, we have significantly enhanced our product mix and achieved notable improvements in operational efficiencies and process innovations over the past year, demonstrating our commitment to long-term competitiveness and sustainability.

However, these advancements have not fully reflected in this quarter's financial performance due to persistent pricing pressure from customers, driven largely by rational pricing from Chinese competitors across some of our core product categories. In this scenario, we have consciously chosen to protect our market share and volumes.

From our discussions with stakeholders, it is evident that Chinese players are finding it difficult to sustain these price levels, and we believe that this situation is not viable in the long run. When this correction will happen remains difficult to predict at this stage.

We are also witnessing continued deferment in offtake for certain key product categories. Encouragingly, agrochemicals used in crop protection are now showing signs of revival.

This, along with a strong pipeline for the coming quarter, gives us the confidence to finish the year on a strong note. Our pipeline for new molecules on the agrochemical side remains extremely robust.

In addition, our AI development journey is also progressing as planned, all of which should bode well for the future. Our inroads into the pharma segment are also showing positive traction, both in terms of the number of molecules we are dealing with as well as the number of customers we are developing.

In light of this, we are adding a second pharma intermediate plant at an investment of 180 crores to Khamarpara, the head site, which is expected to be commissioned in the next eight months. We continue to collaborate with global innovators on complex molecules, reinforcing SRF's R&D leadership in delivering sophisticated solutions.

To date, we have applied for a total of 506 patents, including five filed during the quarter, with 153 patents granted. Additionally, our sourcing initiatives have delivered strong results with the approval of several new raw material suppliers.

This further reinforces our supply chain resilience and enhances operational flexibility, supporting our long-term agility. Coming to our fluorochemicals business, we have delivered a record quarter on all counts.

The refrigerant gas segment performed exceptionally well, despite this being a traditionally lean season, supported by firm global HFC prices, driven by China's quota-led supply restrictions, and steady international demand. The domestic market is also recovering well after a weak first half impacted by prolonged monsoons.

Our plants are operating optimally, and with the domestic season about to begin, we are well positioned to meet the expected uptick in demand. This should also help us to maximize our production quota under the Kigali framework.

The Government of India's recent imposition of anti-dumping duty on R134a currently does not impact us, as global prices remain above the minimum threshold. Overseas markets, particularly Southeast Asia and the Middle East, continue to show healthy growth, helping offset some of the volatility in the U.S.

market caused by tariff uncertainty. As the tariff situation evolves, we will be better placed to assess its impact, given the historical importance of the U.S.

as a key export destination. Chloromethane delivered a steady performance through the quarter.

PTFE, we are ramping up capacity and sharpening our focus on value-added products rather than commodity offerings. An ongoing shift that is progressing well, with benefits expected to become visible by early next year.

Our upcoming projects for new fluoropolymers remain on track. The next generation refrigerant gases project is also progressing well and will be housed at our new site in Odisha.

We have applied for the necessary regulatory clearances for the site, which we hope to receive in the near future. We will share more on this during the annual conference call.

The performance films and foil business reported revenue of 1,342 crores in quarter three financial year 26, a decline of 3% year on year, but delivering higher EBIT of 95 crores compared to quarter three financial year 25 of 90 crores, owing to lower volumes of BOPET and BOPP in the domestic market. The impact of GST 2.0 continued into this quarter, as FMCG companies were required to repack and reprint their products.

However, from December onwards, we have started seeing signs of recovery in the domestic market for both BOPET and BOPP. In recent weeks, we have also seen some price improvement in BOPET from China, which should bode well for us in the coming months.

Our international operations remain stable during the quarter, though seasonal weakness in December reflected in the quarter's numbers. Performance in Thailand and Hungary continue to be affected by sustained competitive pressure from cheaper imports, while South Africa delivered consistently strong results.

In aluminium foil, we delivered improved performance during the quarter, driven by higher volumes, while continuing to strengthen our export focus to build a more sustainable, globally balanced business model that is less vulnerable to domestic market volatility. Our continued emphasis on scaling value-added products and advancing sustainable structures, including biolam, PCR, and mono-family films, has enhanced our product differentiation and helped mitigate some of the market pressures.

Coming to the status of our new projects, the BOPP capacitor grade and the BOPP BOPET line are progressing well. Together, these initiatives will bolster overall business performance in the coming quarters and further strengthen SRF's position as a comprehensive, one-stop packaging solutions provider.

Our technical textiles business reported revenue of 454 crores in quarter three, financial year 26, amid a challenging market environment. Belting fabrics came under pressure due to aggressive Chinese pricing and a decline in demand following reduced conveyor belt exports to the U.S.

These factors weighed on margins despite operational progress. On a positive note, we achieved a significant milestone with the EcoVadis silver certification for sustainability, reaffirming our commitment to responsible and sustainable business practices.

In other businesses, our coated fabrics business, the domestic demand was soft this quarter, especially for Jal Jeevan Mission liners, and volumes were impacted by cheaper Chinese imports. We expect demand to remain subdued in the off-season and will focus on tensile and semi-tensile value-added products to protect margins.

In laminated fabrics, the withdrawal of minimum import pricing on textile imports has intensified pricing pressure. While we continue to strengthen capabilities, margins are likely to stay under strain.

On the finance side, the board in its meeting today approved a second interim dividend of rupees 5 per share, entailing a cash outflow of 148.21 crores. This follows the first interim dividend of 4 per share declared on July 23, 2025.

On the financial front, we are seeing benefits from global interest rate reductions. However, our forward positions on rupee-dollar hedges have had a negative impact due to the unprecedented rupee depreciation, something we could not anticipate.

While we expect the negative impact from forward covers to stay for a few more quarters, in general, a weak rupee will be extremely favorable for us. During the quarter, we also recognized an amount of rupees 73 crores due to the changes in the definition of wages, post the notification of the new labor code by the government of India, and disclosed the same under exceptional items in the financial results, based on FAQs issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and guidance provided by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Additionally, based on a favorable order received from ITAT during the quarter, an amount of rupees 99 crores has also been recognized as credit to tax expense. CSR and other updates.

In quarter three, financial year 26, SRF advanced its CSR efforts with a strong focus on education and sustainability. Over 200 teachers were trained in digital literacy, STEM initiatives engaged students through exhibitions and innovation fairs.

Our digital bus reached nine villages, benefiting more than 14,000 learners. Clean and green campus drives and Anganwadi programs promoted health and hygiene, while infrastructure support under the PPP model strengthened nine schools.

These initiatives reflect our commitment to holistic community development and empowerment. In quarter three, financial year 26, SRF received a prestigious recognition at the Hurun India Family Business Excellent Awards.

Our Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Ashish Bharat Ram, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating his visionary leadership.

This accolade underscores SRF's legacy of excellence, innovation, and responsible business practices. To conclude, while this quarter reflects the realities of a volatile global environment, our fundamentals remain strong.

We have a robust pipeline, a clear strategy, and a committed team driving execution. With our upcoming projects and diversified portfolio, we are confident of delivering sustainable growth and creating long-term value for all stakeholders.

Thank you for your continued trust and support, and I would now like to ask the moderator to open the lines for the Q&A session.

Thank you for taking my question, sir. The first question is on our CapEx outlook.

In light of what's happening globally in terms of dislocation of trade, tariffs, etc., how do we envisage our CapEx outlook going forward? In the second quarter, we had given guidance of maybe 2,200-2,300 crores of CapEx, and if you could give us some sense of how do we see this pan out for FY27 too?

Arjun, I think broadly speaking, we seem to be on track for that. A majority of what we are going to be doing is now going to be coming in the new site in Odisha.

I believe that irrespective of whatever volatility we may be seeing on the global front, the transition to the new generation gases is something that is inevitable. We will be very much focusing on putting up the two plants for our new generation gases.

I think besides that, we will obviously have to look at ancillary plants which will come up with that. We have to take the board approval for that.

I believe that when we actually get down to it, the first stage of investments in the Odisha site will probably be in the region of 1,500 to 2,000 crores. In that sense, I think the CapEx for financial year 2027 also remains on a strong wicket.

We did see a slight slowdown in FY25, where we spent roughly 1,200-odd crores. Given what's happening globally, you don't believe that to be a reason to attenuate our CapEx going forward?

I think you have to look at it from the perspective that based on the earlier amendment, if the production and consumption of HFCs is going to come down, which we are seeing happening already, the world will need more of the new generation gases. Irrespective of whatever may happen, the demand for the new generation gases has to be met by somebody.

I think those who are going to be able to develop the technology and put up plants which are CapEx efficient and OPEX efficient are going to have the opportunity to really benefit. I think that's the play that SRF has going forward.

Sure. Sir, the second question is on— in the presentation, we have talked of, in specialty chemicals, Chinese pricing competition to continue for the near future.

At the same time, we have talked of fourth quarter being substantially better for specialty chemicals. If you could help us understand, they seem to be slightly dichotomous.

I think, I think we have to just look at it from the perspective that the fourth quarter is based on a lot of deferment that has happened over the quarter two, quarter three. There is a lot of, let's say, pent-up POs that have to be delivered in quarter four.

The second part, which is about whether we are really seeing a big pickup, is really where I'm saying that we are not 100% sure. We are still seeing that the Chinese pricing remains a bit of a challenge.

I think, like I said in my remarks, if we can, I personally believe that if we can generate the returns that we are generating in such a subdued market, I am very optimistic for what lies ahead. Because, based on whatever we've seen and heard from competitors in China, majority of them are struggling at these levels.

This seems to be the sort of the Chinese way, where you come in and bombard the market with volume and low pricing, but at some stage, people also need returns. I think that's something that will change the environment in China going forward.

as I said again in my opening remarks, the question is not if, but the question is when that will happen.

Sure. We've seen that in refgas, let's hope it happens in other segments.

Sir, at the same time, just a continuation, we have talked of early signs of Chinese increase across petrochemicals for the performance film segment. In terms of BOPP, BOPET, are we seeing expansion in margins?

I think the Chinese part was late more to the BOPET, Arjun. Clearly in BOPET we have seen that there seemed to be some sort of instruction that was sort of given to the industry from, let's say, authorities in China that they need to look at becoming more profitable rather than just producing.

The mandate that was given was to cut back on capacity by 20%, and that happened in December, and as a result we've already seen some increase in pricing. The mandate also says that post the Lunar New Year, their Lunar holidays, they are supposed to cut back further on the capacity.

Let's wait and see what happens in that. If that actually happens, then I guess we will see further expansion in the margins.

Sir, this is part of that anti-evolution drive?

Correct.

Sure. Thanks so much, and wishing you all the best, sir.

Yes, thank you so much for taking my question, sir. Sir, my first question just pertains to, you did say that you are expecting good pickup on the acm side in Q4.

Just wanted to know what gives us the confidence for this, and are we seeing some enhanced order visibility for our key products here?

I think it's, like I said, when you have a subdued Q2, Q3, a lot of it is just pent-up POs that customers wanted delivery from in this year. I think everybody is going through this phase where nobody wants extra inventory on December 31st.

I guess it's a lot of this. We saw the same trend last year also if you look at our numbers, and it's the same thing where we already got POs which we have to basically act upon in quarter four.

Sure. Just, sir, in relation to that, inventory in the channel must be at reasonable levels.

Any particular reason for this deferment of these key acm products which you have mentioned?

I think it's very difficult to quite comment on this. I think my hypothesis, if you ask me, is just that supply chain challenges eased out tremendously after COVID.

When we saw the boom in the COVID years, there were massive supply chain challenges, and it would take people months to get their inventory and so on. I think in today's context they know that if suppliers have to get around to doing it, it should not take very long to do it.

I think it's just a comfort of knowing that material will be available.

Sure, sir. Just finally, if I wanted to understand, you have penciled in a capex of 180 crores for the pharma, for the second pharma plant.

Just if you could give us some more colors, sir, on because acm is our mainstay in the chemicals, in the specialty chemicals part of it. I wanted some more color on this, what opportunities are we exactly seeing on the ground for this, and how much can we scale it up?

Jason, if you, we have always mentioned, or always maintained, that we will continue to grow agro, but we also want to de-risk from agro. I think a great example of why we want to do that is precisely because of what we have seen happen over the last two years, that agro cycles can be quite vicious in their own way.

It's not that by any means we are saying that we are not going to grow agro. We want to keep growing in agro, but we also want to de-risk.

I think that's really why the pharma story was something that we were building on. I think you guys are more experienced interacting with pharma companies across the nation, that pharma is a much tougher nut to crack.

I think it's just taken us a long time to crack, but today we are starting to see a lot of visibility in terms of the molecules we have. I think the number of molecules we are working on has gone up dramatically.

The number of customers with whom we are dealing has also gone up, and I think there is a fundamental confidence that what we have today as capacity in our pharma intermediate plant number one is not ample for us to take care of what lies ahead. Again, as an entrepreneur, as a businessman, you need to take calls in advance rather than wait to be reactive.

I think you have to be proactive if you fundamentally believe that there is an opportunity that lies ahead. I think that's something that we are starting to see.

Sure. Thanks a lot for answering my question, sir.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Hi, sir. Thank you so much for the presentation.

Just with respect to your opening remarks when you mentioned about the tariffs, could you just give us a sense of what is the impact that you've seen for this quarter, whether by way of volumes or whether you've had to change some geographic locations? Just in terms of customer conversations, are you seeing any sort of impact from this?

Thank you.

Yeah. I think it's a bit of a mixed bag.

Everybody is instead of committing to larger volumes of what they want to pick up, everybody is literally picking up volumes from a month-to-month perspective. I think in the past when we used to do a lot of our ref gas trades, we would look at doing an annual contract.

We've got to be clear that R134A does not fall under the tariffs. In R134A we have been able to do long-term contracts, and that's a relationship that has not got affected with the tariffs.

R32 does fall under the tariff, and so instead of doing long-term contracts with some of the customers we had, everybody is sort of doing a wait and watch, and it's more transactional than relationship-oriented. I think when you're sort of looking at a big animal like the U.S., you always want to be clear of what's the sort of volume you need to keep aside for the U.S., and then play with the other markets.

Here we are having to play with the other markets and then see what comes out from the U.S. Within the U.S.

also everybody is talking about the fact that even if you ship something today, we have no idea what the tariff will be by the time they get to us. I think all that uncertainty just makes people more sort of averse.

People are, I'm not saying they're not buying, they are buying, but buying with a lot of, let's say, trepidation, and buying literally what they need to, without really, I would say, running the business the way they want to. In our packaging business, yes, we've had to play around in the sense that we have moved some of the U.S.

business to our plant from Thailand. We are doing some of that from Thailand, but that's not an ideal situation because we were always more comfortable servicing from here.

Freight rates from Thailand to the U.S. are substantially higher than the freight rates from India.

We do lose on some of these other costs that we would not have lost earlier on.

Sure, sir. That was very, very helpful.

I just wanted to follow up, any comments on the acm part of the business? To be honest with you, I think I've already said whatever I had to on the acm.

There's really not much I can add. Like I said, we have to wait and watch.

Our internal strategy is to keep our pipeline as robust as we can. It is more robust today than it was earlier.

We have a lot of AIs in the pipeline. We have to wait for them to be registered with the customers.

I think it's just a question of being patient because, I genuinely believe the cycle has to turn. It cannot remain the way it is.

Till then we will keep working on our cost efficiencies and, making sure that we don't lose market share to any of our competitors. Very clear, sir.

Thank you so much. Just one small bookkeeping question from me, if you could just have the domestic and the export mix for your specialty and the refgas business, that would be really helpful.

Thank you so much.

I think maybe you can connect to the IR team separately, and I think we'll get them to share that with you.

Yeah. Sure, sir.

Thank you so much, and all the very best.

Yeah. Thank you so much for taking my question.

On the specialty chemicals business, would it be possible to just share the revenue growth that we've seen in the first nine months of the year?

I think our policy is that we don't differentiate between fluorochemicals and specialties. That's not something that we can share.

Probably Abhijit, maybe we'll be able to talk about more on this in the annual conference call where we just talk about between FCB and SCB separately.

Sure. Thank you.

The other thing was just on the chemical segment margins, there seems to be some quarter-on-quarter moderation sequentially, about 170-180 basis points sequentially. Just what might be the reasons for that?

Is it primarily coming from specialty chems or something else, or could it be a tariff from R32?

No, I think it's coming definitely from specialty chem. I said that, the specialty chem business has had a more challenging time, it has come from there.

I think, I'm sure that we'll see a better performance in quarter four. Okay.

As far as R32 is concerned, in terms of sharing the tariff impact with customers and any sort of broad outline of how discussions are shaping up?

I think, it goes literally, consignment to consignment. Depending on how it's happening, we normally work with a price range, saying that if for any reason, the 25% gets cancelled, the price will be X.

If that 25% additional tariff remains, it will be Y. Then, if there is a moderation in the base 25% which we have on India, then we will talk about the pricing.

There is obviously a trust factor that is also involved when we actually do the final pricing. Obviously nothing has changed in the last six months.

Got it. No, that's really helpful.

Thank you so much. Just one last thing, R32, our capacity, I believe, is somewhere in the range of 27-28,000 tons at present.

Are there any thoughts that we could divert some of our capacity from the other HFCs, made 134A or 125, towards R32 sometime in the future?

All I can say at this stage is I would rather not talk about what our capacity is or not. I think that's something that we believe is something that will be important.

It's part of our important strategy to create a baseline. What our capabilities are and not, I would rather keep quiet about it at this stage.

Sir. Thank you so much and wish you all the best.

Thank you.

thanks for the opportunity, sir. My first question is on the EU carbon tax, what you have indicated in the presentation.

In what way that we are likely to have impact, whether the ref gas business or even the specialty chemical exports will see some kind of impact because of this, which got implemented from the 1st January by Europeans, I think?

Yeah. Am I audible, right?

I was asking about the EU carbon tax, which got implemented from the 1st January, and I think we have mentioned that also in our presentation. Whether it is the ref gas business that we are talking about having seeing some kind of impact because of this, or even the specialty chemical export also likely to have some impact.

We don't do any ref gas business in Europe at the moment, there is no impact on the ref gas business at all. There is a potential impact, aluminium foil business, but very honestly speaking, I think with where the cost of manufacturing in Europe is, we don't see that to be a risk.

I think we just flagged it because it is something that has got notified. Having said that, I think, I believe that there is some talk that under the India-EU FTA, there is going to be talk about the CBAM as well.

I think we just need to wait and watch. It's nothing that is of any significant nature at the moment.

Sure, sir. Second question was about the pharma intermediate business.

See, in fact, we have been seeing some challenges for the agri-intermediate or agri-supplies specialty chemicals.

Pharma, it seems that, okay, it has been very steady. If you can talk something about it, what is the progress on that side, what is the mix right now in terms of within the specialty chemical business and our outlook and what is the kind of general capex that we are trying to build up for the pharma intermediate business going ahead, given the view that you have provided just some time before?

I think, at the moment, broadly speaking, the pharma business may be in the region of maybe close to 10% of our total business. We've always said that we want this to go to at least 20% of our share, again, with the perspective that we want to grow agro, but to grow pharma at a faster pace.

Like I mentioned in one of the earlier questions, I think we are starting to see the momentum on the pharma side, and that's really why we are going in with this pharma intermediate plant number two, is because we feel that we now need that plant based on the number of molecules, etc. we're working on.

I am not saying that we are going to get to 20% overnight, but I think we are clearly on the track to start moving in that direction.

Sure. Just last one point, sir, on the capex front, see is there a need for expanding capacity within HFC before you create capacity for the new generation gas?

Because I don't think we are, if anybody is expanding HFC capacity right now, they have to have a reason to do it because I don't think that under Kigali amendment we can. Okay.

Sure. Okay.

Thank you, sir. Wish you all the best.

Good evening, sir. Am I audible?

Yeah. Am I audible, sir?

Okay. My question is, what is the current demand versus supply situation in the fluorochemicals market in terms of capacity?

Not in what context is the question?

Fluorochemicals is a very broad word. R32.

R32. The domestic demand is, our analysis says probably in the region of probably 17-18,000 tons is the domestic demand, not more than that, and I don't know, capacity, I think each, you can, capacity is substantially more than that, and that's why I think everybody is exporting as well.

Over time, as Indian demand grows, obviously the perspective would be that we would reduce our exports and start selling more in India.

Okay. sir, that's helpful.

My next question is, with new players in the fluorospace, how do we foresee the impact of R32 prices over the next 6 to 12 months, and what is the risk to price softening as competition increases?

See, again, the whole problem, the question or the premise is that competition will increase, but the question to really ask is, competition can only come in for 27. For 28 onwards, competition can only be based on the baseline of 24, 25, 26.

If you've not had production in 24, 25, 26, you're not going to have any baseline for 28 going forward. If somebody sets up capacity, they may be able to sell whatever capacity they have in 27, but they're not going to get any quota from 1st January 28.

What will happen then, I don't know, because it will obviously go to the quota, will go to the people who are producing at the moment. In the short term, I think we all have to remember that the big daddy in the room is really China.

As long as China keeps prices at the levels that it keeps it at, then prices should remain stable, firm. Again, all that we've seen in terms of data is over the last three months, there have been absolutely negligible imports from China.

The tendency in the past used to be that in the off-season, which is from October to December, China would obviously export a lot of material, which would then come into India pre the summer season. This year there have been no imports from China in the last three months.

Very, very negligible imports. I think broadly speaking, the demand-supply situation in India should remain fairly firm in the short term as well.

Sir, that's really helpful. Thank you.

Sir, I just wanted to, I think you kind of answered it in the previous question, but on the quotas for R32, like you said, people are now kind of realizing and setting up capacity at the fag end of the quota determination period. How do you see those capacities playing out?

I guess you've probably answered that, but just any incremental thoughts would be helpful.

No, I think, yeah, really, because nothing more to add. The quota regime is, something where Prashant Yadav, our President and CEO, also did a session on this five, six months ago, explained it in detail.

I think there is a document that anybody can read, which is there on the Kigali Amendment, and so it is the baseline production of 24, 25, 26 that is going to give you the quotas going forward. I think India has always been a country that has abided by its commitment on any global platform.

We've seen this in the past, and I don't believe that India will renege on any commitment on the global platform. It is going to be the average production of 24, 25, 26 that will become the basis for the quotas going forward.

Understood. Got it.

Just a second one, there are these other sort of on the agri-business as well, any view on when do you see the cycle picking up? What could be sort of the leading indicators that one could look out for to get a sense on when this would sort of pick up again for us in India?

I think, you look for small things in the sense. Like I mentioned, we started seeing some pickup in demand for crop chemicals.

I think when you start seeing the increase in demand for crop chemicals, then there is a sign that, obviously these companies have to start looking at now building their inventories again. I guess that's a starting point.

If that stays, then, obviously it will be helpful. My gut tells me that, somewhere on the global platform, trade of things like soya, etc., need to get back to some normalcy.

If you start seeing some normalcy there, then I think you will start seeing the crop protection business also getting back to some normalcy.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

A couple of questions from my side. First on the active ingredients that we are working at.

Earlier in the call we said that one AI we are expecting to launch in FY26 and a couple of them in FY27. Are we on track for that?

As things stand right now, Sanjay, we're pretty much on track for that. We believe the registration for one of them has happened, we should see the launch in the coming year.

Hello? Yes, sir.

Yeah. Okay.

I said, we believe the registration for one of them has happened, we should see the launch in the coming year. I think, broadly speaking, as things stand right now, no reason to believe why it should be anything else.

Got it, sir. Second, on the pharma, now we have been speaking for, last seven, eight years, and finally nice to hear good progress there.

Can you give some color? Are we working with the innovator?

Are we still in the starting KSM? Or we are looking at advanced intermediate?

We still have only one CGMP plant, and this new plant will be a CGMP plant or a non-CGMP plant? More color on that.

No, No, this will be a non-CGMP plant. I think, with all due respect, let me, on the pharma side, maybe I will share more of this in the annual call.

Because I think there seem to be more questions around it, which I was not completely prepared for. I think at the annual call we will share more about what our strategy on the pharma side will be.

Got it. One last question on the specialty chemical.

At the start of the year we expected a 20% growth in the segment. Overall chemical we are tracking the guidance, but within that do you think this year we will fall short of the 20% growth in specialty?

For sure.

I think if anybody is saying that they will be able to do some miracles in the agro this year, I would love to meet them. I think everybody is going through a tough time on the agro here.

Sanjay, there's no, while the team is doing its utmost to do whatever it can, but there are challenges which are really beyond our control at this stage. Then this is more pricing-led, or it's more volume and pricing, both we are seeing pressure?

I would say largely pricing-led. That's why you will see that that's the earlier question, that EBITDA margins have fallen, is also linked to the fact that, yes, they have fallen because that's the impact on the specialty chemicals side.

I don't want to share more, but obviously you guys do your own calculations. Fluorochemicals has done well because of HFCs.

Yes, we are facing headwinds in specialty chemicals that we have to deal with.

One last question on the fluoropolymer side. When do we expect the supplies on the Chemours contract to start?

If you can give more color on the contract and timeline, that will be really helpful.

Sanjay, we will see the plants coming up in the course of this calendar year. We are working very closely with their team.

Obviously, there is a lot of learning for us because some of the equipments that we are having to put are equipments we have never dealt with. Now we have to buy equipments from some companies in Europe we've never dealt with.

There is a learning process. I think it's important to understand that a company like Chemours is not looking at doing this just as a one-off.

I think it's very important to understand that they believe that there is a larger partnership opportunity that they can build on with a company like ours. I think you guys, at this stage, for me to share more in terms of where this can go would be incorrect.

I think all I would like to say is that this is really a starting point of a relationship with Chemours in terms of manufacturing for them and supplying to them. Over a period of time, I believe this is a relationship that can really get enhanced quite substantially.

Got it. Just one follow-up there.

That means for supply, we would wait the new fluoropolymer plant to start, and then only we will supply the PTFE and the new fluoropolymer conveyor, or PTFE will start early?

No, no, no. We are not supplying PTFE to them.

PTFE cannot be transported because PTFE has to be used... No, not PTFE.

PTFE was never part of the transaction. PTFE was never part of the transaction.

This is for really much higher-end fluoropolymers. These are the plants that are coming up in this calendar year, and those are the ones we will be supplying to them.

That's very clear. Thanks, Ashish, for all those answers.

Thanks for the opportunity. The first one was, we have mentioned in our presentation that we continue to fully utilize our HFC capacities.

In that context, how should we look at the overall volume growth in HFCs over next, say, two to three years? Or maybe there will be only price-led growth till the time we create capacities for next-generation gases?

How should one look at that?

You understood the quota regime, well you spent enough time. There is no question of having more capacity come in.

Capacity is now, I've already shared this at least five times in the call, that capacity is really going to be based on the baseline of 24, 25, 26. Anybody who is putting up capacity now needs to figure out what they will do with it later.

There is no additional capacity that SRF can put up. I think SRF has put up whatever it can.

It just has to make sure that we maximize the production within that capacity to whatever extent.

Understood. No, I was asking more from the angle that you are already fully utilizing your capacity, and baseline one year is still left.

From that angle I was asking.

I'm saying the baseline is 26 only, calendar year 26. Whatever it is, we have to maximize production this year and then go for it.

That's it. Correct.

Understood that. Sir, second question was, you mentioned that in the last three months there have been no imports.

My understanding is that there could be because of anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports on R32. It would not make sense for an importer to import and sell.

Anti-dumping duty on R32 has been there for three years. Okay.

Sir, this would be going for a review in December this year, right? Any expectation around that?

We will go for a review at this stage, but very honestly speaking, obviously it's going to be a very difficult case to justify. If pricing remains healthy, which we believe it will be, because that's what all the signs from China seem to indicate, then I think these are prices because India's pricing is, today, very honestly speaking, quite independent of even of anti-dumping.

These are the prices that are there globally. Whether I'm looking at prices in India or I'm looking at prices in Southeast Asia or elsewhere, the prices are firm everywhere.

Correct. That's all from my side.

Thank you and best of luck for coming quarters.

Thank you for taking my questions. My first question is on the overall revenue growth basis.

The chemical business has been growing on double digit. However, the other segments are moderating that growth.

I just wanted to understand, is it majorly because of the Chinese imports and tariffs, or is there any other thing that is impacting it? When can we expect to normalize this impact?

I think the other segments, because there was excess capacity in India both in BOPET and BOPP, and there was obviously low pricing from China, prices were subdued. As I said, from December onwards, we saw some changes in pricing out of China, and I think that started to get reflected in Indian pricing also from January.

To that extent, once that starts happening, you will see obviously some revenue growth in the segment of packaging as well. I think technical textiles, it's not that we've added any capacity or we're adding any capacity.

That's going to remain range-bound, pretty much dependent on where raw material pricing is. In packaging, I think you will see, performance films, you will see some increase in revenue going forward.

Thank you. I wanted to understand the competition globally from Chinese companies with respect to R32 gases?

I think you've got to understand that, in China there are numerous producers of R32, but there is also a quota regime that exists in China. Each company in China has been given a clear quota in terms of how much they can produce and how much they have to close.

That started last year, and it's the same process that exists this year, and it will be the same process that will exist going forward. I think that's basically ensured that there is a pretty good balance today in terms of demand and supply for 32.

And

in terms of prices? Prices are pretty, if you see, I think they're broadly in that sort of seven-dollar range or whatever it is from China.

That's really where the pricing is. One question on the demand environment.

On the last quarterly conference call also you mentioned that they are expecting better demand in H2 owing to demand environment from H1. Did you see any impact there in quarter three?

Your question is on specialty chemicals, right? Right.

Yeah. I think specialty, I mentioned, we were expecting a demand revival, but a lot of that has moved forward to quarter four.

I said, quarter four is going to be significantly better than quarter three because we do have POs on hand. It is not, please, I said, it's not that we are suddenly seeing that the scenario is changing dramatically.

We believe that as we keep expanding our portfolio, we will see some opportunities going forward. Fundamentally, that sector is still going through a tough time.

Thank you. Last question is on the overall chemical business.

I wanted to understand what percentage of growth is driven by refrigeration gases currently?

I think that is something that, like I said, we don't differentiate between specialty and fluorochemicals. We will give you that number once a year at the annual this thing call.

That's it from my side. Thank you so much.

Hello. Am I audible?

namaste. Basically, sir, just wanted to understand, a player like TANFAC, okay, they have decided to put 20,000 in return off, R32.

I think that is, what my understanding is, that might be coming live in Q3 of next financial year. How do you see that shaping up for them then?

Because, they are undergoing a very large capex as well behind that. With the full process coming in.

I think that's very, for me to comment on what another company is doing is incorrect. I think we are fairly clear about where the goat energy is.

We are fairly clear about how it works because we've been through it in the past. Like I said, I have full faith that the Indian government will abide by its commitment on the Kigali Amendment.

If somebody is doing whatever they're doing, I think it's a question that you should ask them, not us. If such a large company, they are undergoing such a large capex, I'm sure, sir, they must have taken some approval internally with the Indian government, or else, no company can afford to let go of 500 capex go waste, right?

Just wanted to understand from you, sir, because you would be having a ground view and a holistic view as well. I've said it.

People have asked me why we are not expanding in HFC. I've explained to you why we are not, because we don't believe you can expand in HFC right now.

Like I said again, another company is doing something. It's very incorrect for me because, I think we've understood how the protocol works, and that's why we're doing what we're doing.

If their understanding is different, you should ask them. Also understand that there are two elements.

Giving an EC for putting up a plant is independent of how the Kigali Amendment works. If I went today and told the government I want to put up a 50,000-ton plant, I could get an EC from the government for putting up that plant.

What I do with that plant as a result of the Kigali Amendment are two absolutely independent issues.

Okay. Sir, I just wanted to understand today what is the capacity of R32 in China by any chance?

See, what R32 you also got to understand there is a lot of fungible capacity between 134a, 32. The whole Kigali Amendment works on GWP basis.

So 134a has a higher GWP than 32 and so on. It's a very complex thing to say what is the capacity and so on, because it's fungible between 134a and 32, and the other thing is it's also fungible between 125 and 134a.

Depending on how people have put up their plants, all this is possible. Not a straightforward answer to be able to give in terms of what is capacity.

China, as a country, by the way, has decided to give quotas on a product basis, not even GWP basis. China has even gone one level beyond GWP, saying that this is the amount of 32 you can make, this is the amount of 125, this is the amount of X, Y, Z HFCs you can make.

They've been absolutely sort of point blank that they don't want excess production of any particular HFC.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

I hope we have been able to answer your questions. If you have any further questions, we would be happy to be of assistance.

On behalf of the management, I thank you for taking the time to join us on this call. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of Axis Capital, that concludes this conference.

Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.