Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Usha Martin's Q3 FY26 earnings conference call.

We have with us Mr. Rajeev Jhawar, Managing Director of the company; Mr.

Abhijit Paul, Chief Financial Officer; and Ms. Shreya Jhawar from the Strategy and Growth team of the company.

We'll initiate the call with opening remarks from the management, following which we'll have the forum open for a question-and-answer session. Before we begin, I would like to point out that some statements made in today's call may be forward-looking in nature and a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the earnings presentation shared with you earlier.

I would now like to invite Mr. Rajeev Jhawar to make his opening remarks.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of the management team of Usha Martin, I would like to welcome you to our earnings conference call for the third quarter of FY26.

I will begin with a summary of the quarter and then share our perspective on the drivers behind the performance. Consolidated revenues for the quarter grew 6.6% year-on-year to ₹917 crore, driven by a better product mix and steady demand trends across our key markets.

The wire segment continued to demonstrate strong momentum, delivering a 20.2% year-on-year increase in revenues. The wire rope segment reported 6.6% year-on-year revenue growth, while the LRPC segment recorded a 13% decline year-on-year.

Operating EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹176 crore, representing a strong 23.3% year-on-year increase. Operating cash flow before tax stood at ₹561 crore, translating into a robust 114% conversion of operating EBITDA into cash.

These results are a direct outcome of the strategic choices we have made. First, we continue to push value-accretive products and applications across our portfolio.

During the quarter, this was driven by higher traction in elevator ropes, crane ropes, and oil and offshore ropes, where requirements are more engineering-driven and less price-led. This approach also extends to Ocean Fiber, our synthetic sling solution, which complements our steel rope portfolio in specialized oil, offshore, and lifting applications.

Over the past few quarters, this vertical has performed well for us, and we have executed several projects successfully. The Ocean Fiber brand is now established, and we'll continue to scale this segment.

Second, our focus continues to be on adding new customers across geographies, because that is what ultimately drives sustainable volume growth. We have a dedicated focus on tracking how many new customers we are onboarding each month across markets.

A good example of this is Saudi Arabia. Since starting our rigging business there, we have added around 60 new customers.

While these customers are currently small in terms of volumes, but as the trials are completed and share of wallet increases, we expect volumes from this base to scale up. Third, our focus on cost structure continues to translate into better operating leverage.

Over the past year, we have simplified our processes and policies, improved productivity, and rationalized overheads under the One Usha Martin framework. This further allowed us to deliver healthy margins during the quarter and achieved an EBITDA per ton of ₹33,350 per metric ton and margins of 19.2%.

Fourth, we continue to focus on generating strong cash flows, improving working capital, and being thoughtful about capital allocation. This has allowed us to strengthen the balance sheet while continuing to invest.

We closed the quarter with a net cash position of ₹198 crore and an ROCE of 20%. Looking ahead, growth remains a key priority for us, and volumes are an important part of that equation.

We see volume growth coming from new focus areas where we have been building capability over the last few years. This includes the high-quality wires such as Galstar; value-added ropes across segments like elevators, crane, mining, and oil and offshore; as well as specialized products like the plasticated LRPC.

These are categories where customer qualification cycles are longer, but once established, they tend to be more stable and recurring. With capex at Ranchi plant facility largely stabilizing, ongoing approvals, and a healthy order book, we are well positioned for a pickup in volumes in the coming quarters.

Additionally, over the past few quarters, we have significantly deepened our engagement with the end customers. Our R&D teams are working closely with these customers to develop customized solutions, enabling us to participate in more specialized and higher-value requirements.

This closer integration with customers also provide us with a reasonable visibility on demand pipelines, reinforcing our confidence in scaling up volumes and value. While the global operating environment continues to present uncertainties, the steps we have taken over the past few years give us the confidence in how the business is positioned, both operationally and financially.

This gives us a stable base to continue into our next phase of growth. With this, I would like to now invite our CFO, Mr.

Abhijit Paul, to present the financial highlights for the quarter. Thank you.

Thank you, and a very good morning to everyone. I will now provide a brief overview of the company's operating and financial performance for the quarter and nine months ended 31st December 2025.

In Q3 FY26, our consolidated net revenue from operations stood at ₹917 crore, as compared to ₹861 crore in Q3 of FY25. This performance was driven by a healthy 20.2% year-on-year growth in wire segment, while wire rope segment, which accounted for around 73% of the total revenues, registered a 6.6% year-on-year growth.

The growth was supported by an improved product mix and a disciplined approach to the volumes across key markets. Operating EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹176 crore, as compared to ₹143 crore in the same quarter last year, with margins improving to 19.2% from 16.6%.

Net profit for the quarter Q3 FY26 increased to ₹107 crore from ₹92 crore in Q3 FY25, despite a one-time cost impact of ₹13 crore arising from the implementation of the Wage Code. The improvement in profitability was driven by favorable sales mix and operating leverage, supported by sustained cost discipline.

For the nine months period ended 31st December '25, consolidated net revenue from operations stood at ₹2,712 crore, registering a 5.2% year-on-year increase over nine months of FY25. During the period, the wire segment recorded a strong 21.8% year-on-year growth, while the wire rope segment grew by 5.6%.

Operating EBITDA for nine-month FY26 stood at ₹494 crore, as compared to ₹458 crore in nine months of FY25. Profit after tax from continuing operations for the nine-month period stood at ₹336 crore, up from ₹305 crore in the corresponding period last year.

On the balance sheet front, overall net working capital has reduced by ₹97 crore from the peak of December '24, reflecting continued improvement in working capital management across the business. This reduction was driven primarily by lower inventory levels and continued discipline in receivables management, while maintaining a stable current ratio.

Net working capital days have remained broadly stable on a trailing basis, even as absolute working capital levels have declined, indicating improved execution discipline. Free cash flow generation during the nine-month FY26 remained strong at ₹318 crore, supporting meaningful deleveraging of balance sheet.

Gross debt reduced from ₹338 crore in March '25 to ₹172 crore as of December '25, driven by internal accruals. As a result, the company has moved into a net cash position, which has also led to a notable reduction in the finance cost and further strengthened our financial flexibility.

To conclude, our performance in Q3 and first nine months of FY26 reflects the benefit of our disciplined operating and financial approach, with improving margins, strong cash generation, and a strengthened balance sheet. With a net cash position and stable demand across key markets, we believe the company is well positioned to support growth initiatives while maintaining financial discipline.

This brings me to the end of my address. I would now request the operator to open the line for Q&A session.

Thank you.

Good morning, sir, and congratulations to the team for delivering a strong set of results in challenging macro environment. The healthy cash flow generation is particularly encouraging, but, sir, I have a few questions regarding the results.

Sir, when do we expect a clear and sustained recovery in volume growth, and which business segment are likely to lead this recovery?

Thank you so much for that question. Of course volume growth is very important to us.

If we look at the nine-month period so far, we have seen about a 5% increase in volume growth. On the wire side, we have been able to increase volumes more, but on the rope side, of course, there's definitely further scope to push up volumes, which have only been marginally up, I would say, year-on-year.

When we can see this growth, so, of course, from a capex point of view, our capacities are ramped up on the rope side and we're ready to push up production. Now is just about getting the right mix for optimal utilization and also pushing further on the market side.

As we mentioned in the opening remarks, there are a few things that we're doing on that front to push up volumes, be it one, actively developing and tracking new customers across all our regions; second, we're also working on more OEM approvals in the value-added segment, which is our focus, for example, in elevators, cranes, et cetera; and also, we're pushing more volumes through value-added services, which we're working more directly with the end customers, which is helping us get better visibility on demand and so we can plan the right mix better. All of these should help us in the coming quarters to push up volumes in Q4 as well and then in the next financial year.

Madam, whether we are seeing a good order position compared to last year?

Yes, we see a much healthier order book, both on the domestic and export fronts, based on all the various initiatives the company has taken. With this increased order book position, which is much better than what it was same time or in the previous quarters, we expect that to also help us ramp up volumes in this quarter and the coming quarters.

Sir, generally, I think the high-value orders, the capacity utilization comes down. Do we have better high-value orders, or is the commodity part of the order we have?

The commodity part of the order generally is on a month-on-month basis what comes. The high-value products and project-based orders, which are generally booked in advance because they are specialized in nature, require special raw material and extra manufacturing processing time for those, and we see a very good order book on those at the moment, as well as good pipeline of inquiries.

Hopefully, that should help us in translating into more value-added products in the future. The other part, what you said, of course, the value-added production, the processing time is higher than the standard and general purpose ropes, and we see generally a 30% lower output, 30% to 35% lower output, if it's a specialized product requiring higher compaction and higher tensile of ropes.

Sir, since Europe is our very important market, how will Free Trade Agreement translate into tangible benefits for Usha Martin in terms of export volumes, margins, and overall competitiveness over the next 12 to 24 months?

The European market, the Free Trade Agreement in any case for our product was nil duty, we don't see any major issue or any major improvement. It was already on a zero duty, it is business as usual for us.

Our products did not attract any duty even earlier, it's business as usual for us.

Sir. Sir, what is the current status of the Saudi Arabian business, and how the Thailand operations are ramping up?

The Saudi Arabian business is slowly ramping up. We have seen quarter-by-quarter the business ramping up, as I mentioned earlier, that we have developed 60-odd new customers, and more and more are getting added, and supplies have already started.

We expect from quarter four onwards improvement in the volumes, and it should be a gradual ramp-up in the next financial year, and we should be able to see better numbers in the coming quarters.

Sir, about Thailand operation?

The Thailand plant, we have made some capital expenditure and started some modernization of our plants, and we see a good traction of orders coming in from Southeast Asian markets, and also with some European customers based on the new capex which we have initiated. However, we are in the process of also working on a cost optimization plan, which would take another, I would say, four to six quarters to be able to fully implement.

Once these two initiatives are implemented, we hope that Thailand, in the next four to six quarters, should also start yielding better financial numbers.

Sir, one more question. How the synthetic sling is scaling up, and can it become a meaningful contribution to revenues and margin in the next financial year?

Yes, the synthetics business is doing well. As we had mentioned, the Ocean Fiber, which is our brand for the synthetic sling solution, that is now well-established.

We are consistently getting orders on a month-on-month basis, and we do hope to continue to grow this vertical. In the next financial year, we've developed 8 to 10 new customers, and we're also getting repeat orders from our existing customers.

Definitely over the next year and then over the next 2 to 3 years, this should become an even more meaningful vertical for us.

I'm happy to say that when we had initiated this project, that it would take a couple of years to break even, but I'm happy to say that in the very first year, we would be cash positive in this business. The inquiry base is strong, and we hope that this can help, as Shreya mentioned, to ramp up in the coming couple of years.

That's great, sir. When do we expect a significant volume in plasticated LRPC, and how important can the product be in the company's future growth, sir?

Plasticated LRPC is a very important part, particularly for the infrastructure business. The approval process does take time.

We have approvals from two or three of the big players, and we are in the process of getting approvals for a couple of more, which we hope should happen in the next 2 to 3 months. Once these approvals are in place, we should not only be able to supply to products to them in India, but also an opportunity to export this.

I would say give us another two quarters, say quarter one and quarter two, then we see a good ramp-up of plasticated LRPC also.

Sir, closing question is, which business segment and geographies will drive the next phase of growth for Usha Martin, and what strategic initiatives will help the company achieve the next level of growth, sir?

You see, the good part for Usha Martin is that we have a fairly diversified geography, and that is also helps us, particularly in this geopolitical crisis as well as certain segments keep improving or keep coming down. Our focus would continue to be servicing all these geographies and trying to increase our volume wherever possible.

Of course, Saudi is something we started new, we are going to ramp up. Europe continues to be an important for our future growth, as most of the big producers and the big contractors are based out of Europe.

Their rope demand may be in different parts of the world, but generally the orders generate from Europe. European customers, the OEMs, would continue to be our prime area of growth within the rope segment.

At the cost of repetition, we would continue to focus in every part because we have the capacity now, we want to ramp up our volumes, and we don't want to ignore any segment or any geography. I think things should get better.

You will see the volume as well as the top line should start growing value-wise in the coming quarters based on all these initiatives.

Thank you for your time and for the detailed responses, sir. Thank you.

Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question.

Sir, could you tell us about trends in volumes in India, US, and Europe in the third quarter which has just gone by?

Sir, this is only about wire ropes. Going by the volumes, you want to know quarter nine months figure, right?

No, in the quarter, third quarter, how was the volume growth in India, US, and Europe in wire ropes business?

Year-on-year growth. Year-on-year this quarter, we did around 13,000 tons in India, right?

This is against around 12,000 tons in the Q3 of FY25. Roughly, I will say 10% around 5% to 10% 5% growth over last year Q3.

On the European side, it is more or less flat. It is similar levels, a bit on the lower side.

US, growth of 5% to 8%.

Got it. Sir, what is the reason that growth in India has been less than expectations?

In the last quarter, I think management had said that last quarter was subdued because of monsoons and hence the volume growth will come back in third quarter. This quarter also, we see single mid-single-digit kind of growth in India and Europe is flat.

What are the reasons driving this subdued growth in volumes?

Overall, in the domestic market, we are seeing growth in the categories that the value-added categories like, for example, elevator rope, where in the domestic market with the Tier 2, Tier 3 cities coming up, we are seeing growth in that segment. Even in the port segment, we have reasonable market share, but we are seeing growth there.

Where the growth has been slightly slower is on the GP rope segment and more of the low-value wire rope segment, where, as we mentioned before, when we focus more on the value-added side, the overall productivity of the plant decreases, we have to make a choice as to where we want to focus our energy. There are certain low-value, general purpose wire ropes where realizations aren't as attractive, and because our focus is on the value-added side, that is some area that we have seen volume stay stable or decrease.

Got it. Is higher competition in low-value GP ropes also the reason why maybe margins have gone down and hence you're not interested in growing that business?

No, it is not entirely true, because the domestic market we are not other than very few selected area, it's not because of competition, because of a strategic choice we have made that whether I produce those products on those machines or if I have the opportunity to produce value-added products, we produce which will give us a higher contribution on a particular line of product, and that choice we have made. It's not that we are losing on price to competition.

It's a deliberate policy that if I have orders of the higher value-added products, we focus on servicing those customers. Even the domestic market has been subdued.

It has not been so aggressive on the GP rope market, and we will see that in quarter four onwards, we are seeing a pick-up of demand, and we should be able to get better volumes in the coming quarters.

Got it, sir. Thank you.

That's all from my side.

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations, Rajeev ji, for very good set of numbers.

My question is, sir, on this CBAM issue, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, that Europe has come up with. I think it became applicable from January '26.

I think in the FTA also, I think there was no sort of relief on this front. I think steel is one of the major industries they are basically the target industry of this.

Is there any impact of this on us? Do we need to change some source of steel?

Can you give some color around that?

Yes. On the CBAM issue, if we look at our product lines, it's wire ropes and wires, right?

Wire ropes comes under section 7312, which is currently as part of the definitive period in January 2026, it's not included yet, because it's a more downstream, complex steel product, which will likely get included in the 2028 cycle. From a wire rope standpoint, we are not impacted yet.

On the wire standpoint, which comes under code 7217, that is something that is included. Most of the wires that we supply is largely in the domestic market, in the United Kingdom, which is not included, and some small volumes, maybe around 100 to 200 tons annually in the European market.

For that small volume, it comes into effect from this year. What we're doing is we're doing all of the calculations, which need to be submitted on an annual basis, in FY February FY27, and we are doing all the necessary calculations working with our customers to understand what the impact would be and taking necessary actions.

As of now, it's a very small volume for us, not a meaningful impact, but we are making all the preparations required for when larger part of our products get included, and for wire rope, which also will probably get included in the coming two years.

What sort of changes do we have to do from 2028? Does it sort of reduce our competitive advantage in the sense that India has one of the lower steel prices?

Does it give some advantage to European manufacturers? Any color you can give around that, and what exactly do we have to do to not have to give any levy for this CBAM?

Yes. What we're doing now is, even though this is two years ahead, we're starting to do the calculations both of direct and indirect emissions for the product to understand what actually could be the potential financial impact, right?

Even though we're statutorily not required to do the submissions, we are still doing the calculations so we get an estimate of what that impact would look like. Now what we have to do is look at, okay, how do we minimize this impact going forward, right?

That might mean that we look at dedicated lines within the plant, which are more already green manufacturing, that can help us reduce this emission. We've already taken up a project to set up a 4-megawatt solar power plant in the Ranchi plant.

That can be more dedicated to these lines for which we supply to the European market. These are some of the initiatives.

Once we have a decent understanding of the impact, we will use these initiatives to see how we can overall minimize it so that the overall financial impact and burden on us is reduced to the maximum extent possible.

It is a solvable problem. Is that the right takeaway from this?

Yes, definitely. Ultimately, CBAM is not just applicable to us; it will be applicable to everyone else as well, right?

To that extent, it is not a significant competitive disadvantage to us, but we still want to take all the necessary actions in place to make sure we are prepared. This is a journey we started a few years ago already with trying to see what all we can do in the plant to minimize our emissions.

That is a journey that will continue, and now we've put the accelerator on it as well.

The second question, sir, is Ranchi capex. Where are we on the ramp-up?

I don't remember now how much capacity was there, what is the capacity utilization. How will you see FY27 playing out?

How will the value mix move? Some color around Ranchi capex ramp-up?

We took a capacity addition of 40,000 tons in ropes at our Ranchi facility. That includes 20,000 sorry, 19,000 tons of rope and 21,000 tons of wire.

Our rope capacity at Ranchi was around 72,000 tons before these additions, and with this 19,000 tons addition, it will be around 91,000 tons. Our capacity utilization in Ranchi facility is around 75% at the moment after this addition.

That is related to the rope capacity. On the wire front, in Ranchi, our capacity after this addition of 20,000 will be roughly 75,000 tons, where we'll be having around 78% capacity utilizations.

This 75% capacity utilization is the consolidated capacity utilization?

For Ranchi plant.

This is for Ranchi.

You asked for the Ranchi plant, what Abhijit has said is about the Ranchi plant.

Okay. Final question, Rajeev ji, is we are now net cash positive.

What an amazing journey. I think most of the issues are sorted.

Are there any large virgin markets or large virgin product categories that we are working on and that can take us from I don't know, ₹2,500 crore revenue in wire ropes to let's say ₹4,000 crore revenue in 2, 3 years? What is the strategic road map looking like?

How are we seeing the new segments? Any color around that would be very helpful.

Definitely. Now that we, as you mentioned, have a net cash position of about ₹200 crore, and that is continuously growing, we're constantly thinking about how we will continue to invest, and the priority would be to continue to reinvest in the business.

As we mentioned, we want to do all of the capex from our internal accruals as well. In terms of demand, we do see demand across some product categories where capacity is still a constraint today.

We are continuing to deploy targeted capex in those areas primarily around brownfield projects or debottlenecking projects where we feel that returns will be attractive. The capex of this would be say around ₹250 to ₹300 crore around that level.

At the same time, we're also looking at inorganic opportunities that will help us build markets for the capacities that we have created. Though we are present virtually across all markets, but in certain areas, for example, in Europe, our presence is primarily in certain regions, whether it be Netherlands, in the England, Scotland area, as well as in the Spain area, but there's so many other markets in Europe, be it Germany, where we are seeing some growth, and other markets in Europe as well, where there is still an opportunity for growth.

We will look at both inorganic and organic opportunities that will help us build those markets. Of course, as part of our overall capital allocation plan, as well, we might also look at greenfield opportunities if that makes sense.

Final just quick question. Parvatmala project, I think I saw Adani got a contract maybe, I don't know, 6 months ago, 3, 4, 6 months ago.

When can we realistically expect first commercial order for the Parvatmala project, and it will be what kind of range it will be, the size of the order?

In Parvatmala projects, there are few contracts which have been issued. The wire rope procurement is at the last stage of the project.

We are in touch with all the people who have won the projects, be it in Prayagraj, be it the Adani and various, and they are also in touch with us. I think it will be not before next 2 to 3 years we see the first kind of supplies happening to these projects, because these projects take minimum 3 to 5 years for them to come to a level where they start buying the wire ropes.

We are in the initial stages, but I'm happy to say that few of them are in constant dialogue with us, and we are working to supply all the details to them, work with them, and hopefully let's see if we can get few orders in the next couple of years.

Thank you. Thank you for answering all my questions, sir, and all the best.

Hi, team. Thank you so much for taking my question.

I just wanted to understand some of the color that you have already mentioned on the volume growth and the kind of initiatives that we are taking. Are these initiatives something that will show results as early as Q4, or do you think this will take a slightly longer time?

The broader question that I'm looking for is that if I look at your previous outlook, our company should have a steady grow in terms of growth of top line, at least in 12% to 15% is what you had alluded to. Right?

Should we return back to that run rate at least in FY27 onwards, or do you think that that is going to be a challenging thing for us?

On the volume side, we should see a gradual ramp-up from Q4, and then in the next financial year, it should definitely be better based on some of the inquiries as well as order pipeline that we were mentioning. If you look at the past three-year CAGR of the wire and rope business on a volume standpoint, we will see that it has been around the 11% to 12% range, where the degrowth has happened is on the LRPC side, which kind of mutes the overall volume.

Even on a nine-month basis, if you look, overall volume growth was 5%, but wire and rope combined is at 8% levels. That being said, we know that there is still scope for improvement, and after all, capacity globally is at about 145,000 tons now, and we're at say 74%, 75% utilization overall.

There is still a lot of room for growth. We have the capacities, and with all of the initiatives, we should see by Q4 slow pickup, and then overall further pickup in FY27 as well.

On the revenue standpoint as well, on the wire and rope side, based on the forecast for this year, if we look at the three-year CAGR from FY24 to '26 on the wire and rope side, again, it's about 10% to 11% roughly around what we had guided. Again, on the LRPC side, where it's become a more commodity market, so that is something where we see degrowth, which again brings down the overall numbers.

Going forward, again, on our revenue standpoint, in the next year we do expect double-digit, early double-digit growth for sure.

Okay. That's very helpful, Shreya ji.

Where I was coming from is that if I look at your operating EBITDA number, right, we are at that ₹600 crore run rate. We were at ₹600 crore in FY24, in FY25 also we were at ₹600 crore.

Maybe this year also best we will do is end up at that number, right? Three years of flattish EBITDA.

My question is that is there any risk that you see to percentage EBITDA margin, per-ton EBITDA margin next year that could still keep the EBITDA growth lower than the top line volume growth that you just alluded to?

Yeah. No, on an overall EBITDA level, if you see, last year we were operating EBITDA of about 597.

This year, in the nine months itself, we are at 494. Definitely and last two quarters, we've had about ₹175, ₹176 crore overall.

At minimum we should see not a ₹600 crore level for sure, definitely more in the ₹680, ₹700 crore range is what we see for the year. From a ₹600 crore base of the last few years to ₹680, ₹700 crore is definitely a growth on an EBITDA standpoint.

On a revenue standpoint, we definitely have more work to do, 100% agreement on that, and with all of the initiatives that we mentioned, we should see that coming as well while maintaining our margins at the 19% to 20% level.

That's great, Shreya ji. Thanks a lot, and all the very best.

Yeah. Hi.

Am I audible?

Yes. Yes, you are.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, sir.

I just wanted to understand a few things. With most of the capex over, what is your vision for the next 2 to 3 years?

You can just give me some light on that, how much capex are you going to do, top numbers?

On the capex, you see, we are, as mentioned earlier, that we have a few areas where we see growth and demand coming up both in the domestic and export market, particularly on the value-added products like elevator, like crane ropes, port cranes, and some for the oil, offshore, and even on the Ocean Fiber business. I think the capex should be between ₹250 to ₹300 crore a year.

If we have to maintain 10 to 12% to 15% volume growth, to have these capex in the next 2 to 3 years, we expect between ₹250 to ₹300 crore, including maintenance capex every year.

What would be your maintenance capex number if you could just give it?

The maintenance capex number would be around ₹50 crore a year.

Okay. Sir, if I just want to understand what is the kind of mix between the three segments, when you think of your business 2 to 3 years down the line, what is the segment, the ratio that you think should be the optimal for your business, if you can just tell me with that?

Yeah. Definitely going forward, like we mentioned, LRPC, because it's become a commodity market, that will become a much lower percentage in terms of volume, and the growth is going to come from wire ropes and wires.

If we see ropes right now is around 73% of our top line, that would keep growing in the next three years around 75%, 76% at the least. Wires would also keep growing as we're going into more high-value wires as well as overall increasing our wire volumes by more export volume as well other than the domestic, which we've been doing.

On the LRPC side, while we will not see that volume growth because of the black LRPC, which is a commodity market, on the plasticated LRPC side, as we mentioned, as the approvals come in and our volumes start to go up as the project get executed, I think that is an area of focus. Right now, we have a capacity of about 6,000 tons per annum, and we will look to further expand that as well as the approvals for our various customers come

in. Basically, wire and wire rope segment is expected to grow at around 10% to 11% is what you are saying, right?

The rope segment should grow with all the capex in place and the various initiatives which we have taken to develop newer geographies and newer products, should grow by about 10% to 12%. The wire segment, as you have seen growing by about 20% this year, this momentum should continue with more and more of the value-added wire products which we are trying to develop, both for the domestic and export market.

These will be the key drivers, and together an average would be close to around 12% to 15% of volume growth in the wire and rope segment combined.

Okay. Understood, sir.

Sir, since in this quarter, we are seeing some good amount of price hikes in steel and as well as some price increase in zinc as a commodity, what could be any impact in coming quarter that you can highlight on margins?

I think the wire and the LRPC is generally pass-through in nature. Any steel price increase or decrease is always passed on to the customers, and we have already started seeing the price increase as the steel price on these products.

On the wire rope front, I think we, as always seen in the last few years also, that because of our overall mix and price management, we are able to ensure our protection of margins. Even if the steel price increased, we are hopeful of remaining between the 19%, 20% margins, what we have indicated earlier.

Right, sir. It won't have that much effect on volume, if I get a sense on your business?

No. No, it doesn't impact the volumes.

Okay. Okay.

Thank you, sir.

Good morning to the team. I have two questions.

My first question is as you have outlined your road map in the commentary so far, just want to understand the key trade-off the management is currently navigating across Usha Martin's core wire rope and cable programs, for example, between capacity allocation, delivery timelines, and margin optimization. What internal thresholds or early demand signals would prompt you to recalibrate your current plan of action if the conditions shift?

Yeah. Of course, it's a constant balance between value-added segment and also volume growth, right?

That is a constant balance that we have to strike. As we mentioned, for the value-added ropes, we have a more advanced order book because the delivery timelines, et cetera, for those are a little bit longer, and the requirements are also more customized.

In months where we don't see, for example, a lot of traction on the value-added segment, we would recalibrate our approach, focus more on the GP rope side, because ultimately we want to get to the overall volume level and ensure efficient utilization of all of our assets, right? We are constantly balancing between the two, and on a month-on-month basis, depending on the demand pipeline, we take that call.

Thank you. My second question is to Mr.

Paul. Again, with a forward-looking one.

From a monitoring standpoint, how are the early operational or financial indicators you track internally that would signal either upside or some pressure on the margins in the cash flow before they show up on the reported numbers? Just want to understand your view on this, on the tracking part of the thing.

Overall, we track the net working capital numbers. That is one key numbers for us that we track on a monthly basis, basically inventory management and receivables management.

These are the two areas where we're continuously focusing, and that is yielding our good improvement in the cash flows. On the cash flow side, these are the two areas we constantly monitor to ensure that cash conversion is positive.

Thank you. Best of luck

Just to add to that Please. Sorry, go ahead.

Just to add to that, a few KPIs that overall we track as a group, is, of course, around our volume growth, around our top-line growth. Third is around our conversion of EBITDA to operating cash flow.

We want to maintain that above 95% at all times, and right now we're at 114% for the nine months. The fourth KPI that we have as an organization is our ROCE, which is right now 20% and our long-term goal for that is 25%.

Thank you. Best of luck for the next quarter.

Thank you.

Hello. Am I audible?

Yes.

Okay. Good morning and congratulations for the set of numbers.

My first question is, if we look at our overall wire rope sales volume in tonnage terms, could you please help us understand what proportion is currently coming from value-added or specialty wire ropes? Additionally, how does the segment compare in realization versus standard wire rope products?

Within wire rope segment, wire rope is 73% of our total turnover is wire rope, and within wire rope around 70% is value-added. If you see the difference in margin, it is around ₹1 lakh per ton is the difference in margin between a general rope and a value-added rope on an average.

Okay. Within the total wire rope production mix, could you share the approximate tonnage attributable specifically to elevator ropes?

If possible, what would be the average realization per ton for this category compared to the blended wire rope realizations?

We generally don't go into the sector-wise volume. What we really share is between the GP rope and the value-added as two separate segments.

Within that, we don't individually

Discuss on the volume side. On the top-line side, elevators is about 10 9% to 10% of the overall top line.

On the volume side, we don't split it up by end segment. We don't share.

Understood. My last question is, out of total wire ropes volume, how much tonnage would be locked-coil wire ropes, that is LCWR?

Further, could you provide some perspective on how much of that LCWR volume is currently tied to infrastructure programs such as Parvatmala or similar ropeway projects?

As mentioned to you for the previous question, we don't get into individual segment-wise reporting for individual sectors like this, and we always look into between the specialized and non-specialized. That is how our reporting is done, and that is how we would continue to.

Individual sector-wise, we do not have those numbers disclosed.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Thank you for taking my question and time.

Thank you.

my question on any further scope of working capital improvement?

Of course, working capital is like our CFO mentioned, in last one year, we have reduced by almost ₹97 crore, all our business entities as a part of One Usha Martin are on a common digital platform, and that is helping us to track our receivables and the inventory and the quality of inventory. This is an ongoing exercise, and we hope that this should continue to get better in the coming quarters also.

Okay. Can you quantify a number of days?

Now in this presentation, it was 199 days. Can it come down to 175, 180 days?

We are always trying to do that. Phase-wise we will reduce.

As is now it is 199. Our target is to reduce it to at least 180 days.

Okay. Sir, second question, the value addition will improve going further.

Is there a scope of margin improvement also?

As we mentioned earlier also, that our margin, which had come down to about 16%, 17% or 16%, 16.5%, in last two quarters, we are at about 19 around 19%.

On

the product mix improvement, we would be between 19% to 20%. That is our target.

Beyond that, I feel that if you try to keep on increasing that, you start losing your volumes and market share. We would like to keep a balance for two and try to maintain increased volume with the EBITDA margin between 19% to 20%.

Sir, the last question. On the labor code, one-time provision has been done.

Every quarter the employee cost will increase from here, or it will remain the same?

No, no. One-time cost has as effect of the retrospective effect, it is much higher.

There will be some increase in the gratuity expenditures going forward, but that will be less than a crore in a year.

Okay. All right.

It won't be much.

No, no, it won't be much.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

I'm through. Thank you.

I would like to thank everyone for attending this call and showing interest in Usha Martin Limited. I hope we have been able to answer all your questions.

The company is dedicated to creating value for its stakeholders in a sustainable manner. Should you need any further clarification or would you like to know more about the company, please feel free to reach out to us or to CDR India.

Thank you once again for taking the time to join us on this call, and see you in the next quarter. Thank you.