Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Balkrishna Industries Limited Q2 and H1 FY 2027 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as of date of this call. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal for an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, Shaurya. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Along with me, I have Mr. Satish Sharma, Senior President and Director Strategy and Business Development, Mr. Saroj Khuntia, CFO, Mr. Sushil Mishra, Head of Accounts, and SGA, our IR advisors. Let me begin with my remarks on the quarter's performance. End markets across the globe were extremely volatile due to evolving geopolitical situation. Despite this backdrop, we have delivered good sales volumes growth in quarter two. The profitability was impacted due to the headwinds caused by inflation in raw materials and freight costs. Going forward, we believe these headwinds will continue in the coming few quarters. We did take some price hikes. However, we could not fully pass through the cost price inflation. Similarly, in the Carbon Black business, we have continued to see raw material volatility led by higher crude prices. A key highlight for us was the recently announced tie-up with Pirelli for a strategic offtake agreement for the production of Pirelli-branded premium car tires in our facility in Bhuj. I would just like to add that in phase 1, the production and sales is expected to start in the next calendar year, and we look forward to gradually ramping up the sales volume to 8 lakh tires in a year. That is in year four, that is year 2030. This strategic tie-up not only fills our capacity but also strongly establishes our position as a commendable player in the Indian premium PCR market. The agreement further paves the way for a second phase in which there is an enrichment of certain conditions, the creation of a 50-50 joint venture, and the construction of a production plant dedicated to high-value passenger car tires for both the brands, that is Pirelli brand as well as BKT brand, to serve India and other international markets for both the players. Let me start with the highlights of our OHT business. Our OHT business delivered good sales volume growth in Q2. The sales momentum was led by uptick in our end markets and segments. It is important to note that growth is not exactly comparable as last year, as Q2 was marred by very low sales from U.S. owing to tariff situations. In Europe, we faced challenges due to extreme weather conditions and its related pressures on the agricultural market. Despite this, we have continued to build on the strong position we have created for the BKT brand in all major countries in the European market. India has continued to outperform. We have seen positive trends across all micro markets in India despite erratic monsoons. In Americas, we witnessed stable sales. We are focusing on sharper execution to further increase our market share in this larger geography. One of the emerging growth levers for us in the OHT segment is the positive response from our end markets for the All-Steel Radial mining tires range of ours. This is increasingly finding acceptance in the major mining markets across the world. I now invite Satish- ji to share insights on the other two businesses. Good morning, everyone. I start first with the Carbon Black business. For quarter two FY 2027, our Carbon Black business recorded decent revenue growth on Y-on-Y basis, with third-party sales at around 10% of overall business. We are seeing robust demand for our range of products. Having completed all CapEx, we are firmly increasing our customer base. Further, we are initiating a roadmap for accelerated product development towards the better margin specialty blacks. Let me now move on to our on-road business. Our TBR and Two-Wheeler range of tires has gained strong acceptance from both the channel as well as the end users, ensuring that we have a steep ramp-up of both production and sales. Further, in this portfolio, we are looking forward to the launch of PCR tires in the month of January 2027. The recent tie-up with Pirelli has also evoked a very strong positive sentiment from our channel partners. With this summary, I now invite Saroj- ji to share our operational and financial highlights. Hi, good morning, everyone. I will now share our operational and financial highlights. For H1, tire sales volume stood at 185,167 metric tons. Of this, the on-road portfolio contributed low single digit to the Q2 sales volume. Our standalone revenue for the quarter stood at INR 3,450 crore, registering a growth of 49% year-on-year. This includes realized loss on foreign exchange pertaining to sales of INR 41 crore. For H1, standalone revenue stood at INR 6,859 crore, registering a growth of 35% year-on-year. This includes realized loss on foreign exchange pertaining to sales of INR 76 crore. The standalone EBITDA for the quarter was at INR 629 crore with margin of 18.24%. The margin was particularly impacted on account of raw material prices due to global geopolitical situation and its impact on supply chain. Further, India's contribution has increased to about 40% of overall volumes, which has also impacted margin slightly. For H1, EBITDA stood at INR 1,332 crore with a margin of 19.42%. Profit after tax stood for the quarter was recorded at INR 291 crore, while for H1 PAT was INR 723 crore. Our CapEx spend for H1 FY 2027 was approximately INR 1,850 crore. As on September 30, 2026, the gross debt and cash and cash equivalents were approximately INR 5,985 crore and INR 3,100 crore respectively. Accordingly, we have a net debt of approximately INR 2,887 crore. The euro rate for Q2 FY 2027 is around INR 103. The Board of Directors has recommended a second interim dividend of INR 4 per equity share in addition to INR 4 paid for Q1 FY 2027. I now hand over back to Mr. Poddar. Thank you. I would like to conclude by wishing all of you the best for the season's greetings. And with this, I conclude my opening remark and leave the floor open for Q&A. Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, please press star and one on the touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Participants are also requested in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Raghunandhan NL from Nuvama Research Limited. Please go ahead. Congratulations, team, on strong volume performance and wishing a very Happy Diwali. My first question was on the volume trajectory. Extremely strong performance for two quarters, especially in challenging environment. Going forward, would you see the run rate of 90,000 metric ton plus sustaining in second half of the year? Your thoughts specifically on low base of supporting U.S., and how do you see the growth ahead for Europe market share gains in America and continuation of growth in India? Can we expect that 90,000 metric ton per quarter run rate to continue? Good morning to all, to you. Sorry, I think there is some background noise. Can you mute if you can? Thank you for the question. It will be, while I cannot comment on any particular number, it will be our endeavor to hit those numbers, and that is what we are trying to do and maximize the sales and revenue growth. Noted, sir. My question next is on the on-road tires. Good to hear about the initial positive acceptance. On the on-road tires, is this part of the tire volume? There is this others portion of 8,000 tons. Is on-road tires part of that? How much will be the on-road contribution be in that and h ow do you see this business revenue ramping up in FY 2027, 2028? Also, is there a cost impact relating to on-road in our Q2 results? So yes, you are right. It is a part of that 8,000 tons. And as Satish-ji had mentioned in his opening remarks, it is a low single-digit volume. Of course, we expect this to continue to grow, and we are following our Vision 2030 map, where we have said that we would like 5% of the market share to come by 2030 and 20% of our turnover to come by this new vertical. That is what our endeavor is, and we are quite sure of meeting those vision. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Just a last question. On the Q2, how much was the commodity inflation impact, and what is the expectation for Q3? And also, what was the price taken in Q2 and the plan for Q3? First part of the question, I cannot comment on this forum. The second part, we have tried to pass on a price increase of about 2%-3%, mainly from Indian market. Globally, we are looking into the current environment, and we use a judicious mix of price and volume, which we are playing, and we are making a tactical play in this. That is what we are doing, and that we will continue to do in the coming quarters. Thank you very much, sir. Wishing you all the best, and I will fall back to the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddhartha Bera from Nomura Holdings. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir, and congrats on a good set of numbers. Sir, first question is on the RM side. If I look, jumped quite steeply in the current quarter by about 17%. You had highlighted about 5%-6% cost pressure in the last call. Will it be possible to share, I mean, is it the case or the cost pressure was higher, and how much impact would have come from the new categories which we are scaling up? As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the cost pressure will continue, and we are seeing it continue for the next couple of quarters. Okay. Any further price hikes which we have sort of planning to take in the coming quarter to sort of offset this cost pressure? Any quantum if you can share? At this moment, I won't share the quantum, but I will repeat my statement where we have said that we will continue to look at the current environment, and within this, we will use a judicious mix of price and volume play to continue to balance out growth as well as profitability. It will be a tactical play between the two, which we will continue to do. Got it. On the other line items, freight cost, if you can share the number, because I would assume that that cost would have also gone up. Any number on freight cost to sales would be helpful. On CapEx side, we have already done about INR 1,800 crore. We had targeted INR 3,000 crore for the year. Does it remain on track, or do you think there can be some increase to that? So regarding that freight cost, it is around 6.5% of the total sales value. Regarding that CapEx, it is on track. We already spent INR 1,850 crore. Remaining we will do in next two years. Okay, sir. Okay. Thanks a lot. I will fall back in the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Arvind Sharma from Citigroup. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, first question would be on this BKT 2.0 structure where you have put the Carbon Black and the tire business into two separate segments. What does it entail? Will we have more clarity on individual revenue contribution and profit contribution, or is it more for the marketing, selling, and strategy purpose? That would be the first question, sir. More for marketing and other purposes. No different P&L or balance sheet or something? No, not at all. It is one company. Sure. The second question— So, as I repeat Sorry, just to interrupt you, I will repeat, Mr. Sharma, is that as a company, we have one vision, which is Vision 2030. Under that, we will be operating within three sort of areas. One is off-road, one is on-road, and one is carbon. But everything will merge into one vision. And for marketing and better branding purposes, we have done this sort of a breakup. Got it, sir. Very clear. The second question would be on the changing mix. U.S. as a proportion is coming down, India is going up. That is one. The second one is on the segment is on PCR, TBR, and Two-Wheeler tires coming in more next year. And finally, the Pirelli manufacturing. So, where do you think the margins and returns will go from here on, given the revenue mix is changing considerably over the next one and a half years? So, as I mentioned in my past commentary also, our endeavor is to maintain a ratio between EBITDA margin between 20% and 25% is what we are envisaging, and that is what our endeavor is to. In the long term, if you see an average range would be that. That would be a good range too, that we will be within. Got it, sir. Just one clarification, if I may just ask. You talked about the contribution to volume from the on-road tires. Possible to share the revenue contributions at this stage? Single low digit. Got it, sir. That is all from my side, sir. Thank you so much for taking my question. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vijay Pandey from Axis Capital Limited. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my questions. Sir, can you highlight how the demand looks like in Europe and America particularly? Because generally, we see a quarter-on-quarter drop in Europe, but this was not the case this year. So, can you highlight what is driving that, and how do you see the demand going forward? I think you should look at it on a year-on-year basis. The growth has been substantial. Quarter- on- quarter also, the growth has been. I mean, the numbers are marginally off. It had longer supply chain issues and freight availability issues. I would not look at it on a quarter-on-quarter basis. There is definitely headwinds, and the situation is a little difficult, but we are trying to find our way through it, and we are confident to continue to see positive growth. Okay. Any— and the freight cost was, you mentioned 6.5% for quarter two, right? How— Yes. —do you see this to go up, and are we taking some price increases, or how should we look on this increase in the freight cost on the ASP? We estimate the sea freight to be at these levels, maybe marginal increase, but not a major one. We estimate it to be at these elevated levels. And the higher freight cost is passed on through the higher ASP, or is it like— Not yet. Okay. Okay. Hello? Mr. Pandey, do you have any follow-up questions? Yeah, just one more thing, sir. The RM cost per kg, just a follow-up on Raghu's question. The RM cost per kg has substantially increased. Do you expect any How do you see this thing to move forward, going forward b ecause the commodity headwind continues to play, and our mix is also coming down. Can you help us understand how should we look this in the aspect of the gross profit per kg? Yes. I will repeat my opening statement, which I had made, and I re-quote, "The profitability was impacted due to headwinds caused by inflation in raw materials and freight costs. Going forward, we believe these headwinds will continue in coming quarters." So we envisage these inflation in raw material to continue for coming quarters. So, sir, we expect the gross margin per kg to be broadly in the line of INR 160, INR 65. Right? We cannot comment on that, forward-looking statements. Okay. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash Agrawal from Nirmal Bang Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity. Good morning, everyone. My first question is on the Carbon Black capacity. You mentioned that it's contributing 10% of the overall revenue. So, how is the capacity utilization as of now, and is there any scope to incrementally increase the capacity primary for the external sales meaningfully? As we have just announced in the last quarter, our new capacity has come online. So, we are working towards getting that new capacity fully utilized. The old capacity was completely utilized. Regarding that third party, our endeavor is to increase our third-party sales. The newer line would be mainly feeding the third-party external sales. Okay. My second question is on TBR and Two-Wheeler business ramp-up. You said that the initial response has been strong, and gradual ramp-up will begin in Q2 in last call. So, what's the progress in terms of dealer network expansion, order traction, and capacity utilization? Our primary network, which are the distributors, is all set up for all categories, including for PCR, which is yet not launched. The dealer expansion is in tandem to the sales growth. So I mean, the distribution ramp-up is again, you can say the response is very good and is in tandem to our growth. Okay. And sir, my third question is on the regional demand of end markets, Europe, U.S., and India. If you can provide an update on demand trends and channel inventory level across these key markets. Are we seeing any broad-based recovery, or growth is still concentrated in specific geographies? So the channel, the inventory is at normal levels, so t hat is what it is. And as far as the demand is there, as I mentioned, there are headwinds. But as a company, we are pushing, and we are confident of, or our endeavor is to continue this run rate that we have been got for the last two quarters. Okay, sir. Thank you. That's it from my side. Thank you. Just a reminder to all the participants to please press star and one on the touchtone phone for more questions. The next question is from the line of Arvind Sharma from Citigroup. Please go ahead. Arvind -ji, are you there? Mr. Arvind. Maybe he's dropped now. Can you hear me? Hello? Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Sorry for that, sir. If we X out the freight cost from the other expenses that you reported, there was a sharp decline in other expenses on a quarter-on-quarter basis. What are the drivers for this decline in the other expenses, and will they sustain, or do you expect other expenses to go up again? So basically, it is the promotion expenses. We are heavily investing in the Indian domestic T20 league, and during that quarter, all the expenses for that had been booked in. So as per accounting, good governance of accounting standards, we club it all in one quarter when we are making the payment. Got it, sir. This would be a more seasonal thing, the first quarter being high on the other expenses side, because IPL happens. Yes. Is that anything? Yes. The Indian T20 league happens in that period, so it should come in there. Great, sir. Thank you so much for clarification. That is all from my side. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vijay Pandey from Axis Capital Limited. Please go ahead. Thank you for allowing the follow-up. Just a quick question, sir. Our working capital outflow was significant in the first half, largely on the inventory and trade receivables. This, do you expect it to reverse in the second half, or how should we look into it? And also on the debt side, we have taken the debt level has gone up, just want to understand, part of it is related to the working capital, or is it entirely the CapEx driven? So on the working capital increase, this is in line with our revenue increase for H1, which is 35%, close to INR 1,800 crore. Yes, there was a slightly increase in the inventory levels and t hat is mainly from the supply chain disruption, and we hope that once the supply chain disruption settle down, this will, inventory level will also further come down. Also, just to add into that, we were also building up for the EUDR regulation, which kicks in. So we had to doubly add some inventory to cater to the regulation there so t hat should also start easing up. Yeah. On your second question on the CapEx, actually the loan that we have taken, because we have preponed the CapEx investment for a couple of quarters to speed up the project completion, and that's the reason we had taken loan. But this is in line with our strategy, and this will be paid off through the earnings that we make in future. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. I once again thank everybody for taking the time out, especially back-to-back on two consecutive, we had two close quarterly calls, two close calls, one for the strategic alliance update and one for our quarterly results,, so w e thank you all for the time. Also, before I conclude, once again, season's greetings to all of you, and look forward to seeing you next quarter, in the next calendar year. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of Balkrishna Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.