Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 FY24 earnings conference call of Star Cement Limited, hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. 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 an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove, please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Dharmesh Shah from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Dharmesh Sir. Thanks, Manu. On the call, we have with us Mr. Tushar Bhajanka, Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Vinit Kumar Tiwari, CEO, and Mr. Manoj Agarwal, CFO of the company. I will now hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks, which will be followed by an interactive Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Tushar. Good afternoon, all. My name is Tushar Bhajanka, and I'm the Deputy MD of Star Cement. I would like to welcome you all to the earnings call of quarter three. I have the CEO and CFO of the company with me. The CFO will give out the numbers of quarter three, and then we can have a Q&A session. Thank you. Yeah, hi friends. This is Manoj Agarwal, CFO of the company. I, on behalf of Star Cement Limited, welcome you all to our phone call for discussing our numbers for Q3 FY24, followed by nine-month numbers, for the period ended December 2023. I would like to clarify that we are discussing the historical numbers, and there is no invitation to invest. Having said that now, I will just take you through the Q3 numbers, followed by nine-month numbers. Starting from clinker production, during the quarter ended December 2023, we have produced 737,000 tons of clinker, as against 739,000 tons, same quarter last year. So far as cement production is concerned, we have produced 982,000 tons this quarter, as against 922,000 tons, same quarter last year. Now I will take you through sales volume. During the quarter, we had sold 9.6 lakh tons of cement and 0.03 lakh tons of clinker, as against 9.08 lakh tons of cement same quarter last year. There was no clinker sales last year. There is a growth of 7% in cement sales. That is as far as cement and clinker sales is concerned. As far as geographical distribution of cement is concerned, in Northeast, we have sold around 7.32 lakh tons, as against 6.62 lakh tons during same quarter last year. As far as outside Northeast cement is concerned, we have sold 2.38 lakh tons of cement, as against 2.45 lakh tons same quarter last year. In terms of blend mix, it is 10% OPC, and rest is PPC. These are the quantitative number of the quarter. Now I will take you through the financials. The total revenue figure this quarter is around INR 3,655 crore, as against INR 629 crore, same period last year. As far as EBITDA figure is concerned, this quarter we have done an EBITDA of INR 153 crore, as against INR 120 crore, last year. Profit after tax is INR 74 crore, as against INR 53 crore, in the same period last year. On per-tonne EBITDA basis, it is INR 1,576 during the quarter, as against INR 1,324 per tonne, same quarter last year. This is what our quarterly numbers of quarter. The total revenue figure of the nine months ended December 2023 is around INR 1,975 crore, as against INR 1,769 crore, same period last year. As far as EBITDA figure is concerned, during nine months ended December 2023, we have done an EBITDA of around INR 395 crore, as against INR 342 crore, last year. That is INR 207 crore, as against INR 151 crore, in the same period last year. On per tonne EBITDA front, it is INR 1,304 during the nine months ended December 23, as against INR 1,229 per tonne, same period last year. These are our quarterly and nine months ended figures. Now I would request all of you that if you have any query, then I will request Dharmesh to moderate the query wherever it requires. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use headset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead. Thank you, and congratulations on a good set of numbers, particularly on the profitability front. Sir, before asking questions on volume and the pricing and profitability, first wanted to understand in terms of our expansion and the CapEx. So our 3 MTPA clinker at Meghalaya were supposed to start in February, and 2 MTPA Guwahati were supposed to start in December, and Silchar, so obviously in September. So what's the new timeline when these three units are going to start? Yes, so, you know, so, the Guwahati grinding unit, you know, we've already started taking some initial trials, and we should be commissioning the plant on the 1st of March, next month. For the clinker plant, we will be commissioning the clinker plant on the 31st of March, next month. And for the grinding unit in Silchar, that would be about August to September, next year, next calendar year. Okay. And any specific reason why there is a delay for this clinker, and particularly the Guwahati grinding unit? Yes, so I think it just took us more time in the trials and to, you know, and some of the critical, you know, delivery of a few of the machinery, and that is why we got delayed by a month. You know, but I think we have already started taking the trial, and I think we are all set to commission the plant by 1st of March. I don't think there will be any difficulty in that. Okay. Secondly, in terms of the for all these three specifically, so clinker, we were supposed to do a CapEx of INR 1,300 crore for Silchar to 500 crore, and for Guwahati INR 450 crore. So out of this, how much CapEx we have already done, and what is remaining to be done in the fourth quarter, and what about the next year FY 2025 CapEx? Okay. So in Guwahati, you know, we have already, till December, we had spent about INR 330 crore, you know, in erecting the plant. There is a CapEx of about INR 55 crore more that we will be doing in quarter four. This is for the Guwahati plant. You know, our expected cost, you know, the CapEx that we thought for the Guwahati plant is now coming to be lower than what we had estimated earlier. So we had estimated, I think, about INR 430-INR 400 crore. Sorry, yes, sir. Go ahead. Yeah, so I was saying that the CapEx that we had thought for Guwahati was about INR 430 crore. You know, we have, we are going to finish the project in below, below that amount. The CapEx should be about INR 385 crore. INR 330 crore is already spent till December, and INR 55 crore would be spent in quarter four of this year. This is Guwahati. In Lumshnong, the CapEx was about INR 1,300 crore. We had, till December, we had already spent INR 850 crore. In quarter four, we planned to spend about INR 200 crore. And in quarter one of next financial year, we'll be spending about INR 200 crore more. So in total, we plan to complete the Lumshnong clinker project in INR 1,250 crore versus the INR 1,300 crore that were expected. Okay. And for Silchar, so, the cost was INR 500 crore. So how much we have spent, and, is it also revised down? So, Silchar, you know, we have just focused on buying the land till now. So we have spent about INR 20 crore in total in just buying the land, and we are taking out the permission. I think, because cost of steel and two-three other items have reduced, so we would revise the CapEx downward from INR 520 crore to I think, about INR 450 crore. But I would need to confirm that with the team. So that would be confirmed in the next investor call. Okay. Okay. Got it. Now on the volume front, so we were looking at 13%-14% kind of volume growth for this year, done 9%. So the ask rate for the fourth quarter is close to 22 odd percent. So what's the revised number for the volume for this year? And once this Guwahati and the clinker will, will start, so next year, how one can look at in terms of the volume growth? Okay. So, Vinit Tiwari, the CEO. So as far as growth is concerned, what we anticipated, the growth in quarter four was not in line. I think the industry growth was quite subdued. And we can relate it too because the quarter one, which normally monsoon, which sets in early, in Northeast, didn't set early. So first quarter was almost 25% industry growth. Quarter two, industry growth was almost flat. And in quarter three, Northeast industry growth was pretty subdued to around 3% level. With or without that, we have been able to in Northeast, per se, we'll talk about, we've been able to grow by close to 10%. And as an organization, 7% because of the outside Northeast factor. Going forward, if we are looking at, definitely the growth somewhere we are expecting in quarter four to be in line with somewhere around 5%-7%, maybe for the industry, and we expect to grow again close to around 8%-10% in quarter four. As far as next financial year concerned, since we are coming up with a 2 million tonne Guwahati, which is all trial production, as informed by the Deputy MD, that trial production is already started. For all purposes, that plant will start giving us material from 1st of March. So next year, we have this 2 million tonne extra. I think we were quite strained for material during the year. If we talk about logically, we will sell every ton of cement has been every ton of clinker will get converted to cement, whatever we have produced this year, and we will be able to sell that before 31st March. So next year, we have additional volume, so we look forward to a pretty aggressive growth. As far as Star is concerned, we will definitely look forward for a pretty aggressive growth, and we are very sure of doing a growth somewhere in the range of 18%-20% next year. Okay. That's great. Second, just a couple of data points. Premium, sir, for this quarter, lead distance. And how about the profit prices in January and till February? Okay. So if you talk about pricing, so in case of Northeast, there has been an improvement in the pricing. Although outside Northeast, there is a drop in the pricing. So, in Northeast, in quarter three, we'll talk about, per se, the pricing has improved by close to INR 7. But outside Northeast, like in Bengal and Bihar, there's a drop in prices, almost by INR 15-INR 20 drop in Bihar, and similarly, around INR 20 drop in Bengal. So this is what we have seen with or without quarter two. As far as the premium percentage is concerned, so we have our premium percentage has improved to 6.5% with or without 4.5% of the same quarter last year. And the growth in premium in quarter three has been 47%. That has been the focus area, and the growth has been reasonably well. trade. Lead distance has been. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead, sir. Lead distance has been 215. Okay. And trade, sir, was how much for this quarter? Come again? Trade. Trade, sir, for this quarter was how much? And our kcal fuel cost? Okay. 87%. kcal for this quarter, fuel cost? Fuel cost for this quarter has been INR 1.75. 1 point. For next quarter, do we expect some further possibility of reduction? We expect to be around 1.7. Okay. Fuel mix for this quarter, third quarter, how much was contracted coal, Nagaland, biomass, and FSA? FSA was around 12%. Biomass was around 7%. Nagaland was 26%. And spot auction coal was around 55%. Okay. Thank you. It was around 10% in linkage and around 13%. Okay. Okay, thank you. And lastly, for net debt, if you can give the number. Net debt as on December. Yeah. So, currently, we are about INR 150.116 crores in positive, so we do not have any debt. But what we see is that in quarter four, we would have to take a debt of about INR 150 crores. In quarter one, we'll have to take a debt of about another INR 100 crores. In total, by the end of quarter one, we'll have a debt of about INR 250 crores, which would need to be paid in the coming quarters after that. Okay. Thank you, and all the best, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Mangesh Bhadang from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead. Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Congrats on good set of numbers. Sir, my question is on the market size of Northeast. So, you know, we are adding 2 million ton now and another 2 million ton grinding unit later in, say, in 2024, 2025. So how fast can we ramp this up? Do we have to aggressively take market share from incumbent players to get that kind of volumes, or do you think that the, you know, basically, that if the region grows at, say, 7%-8% or even 9%, we would still be able to ramp up the plant faster? Okay. So if you look at Northeast, there are players who are coming from outside who sell close to around 1.8 million-2 million tons of cement comes from outside via big players who dump cement in Northeast primarily. Right. Right. There is a natural market growth. From the Star perspective, if you look at, we are very high on trade. So non-trade has been one segment which we have left. Further, non-trade, there are big projects which are coming up in Northeast, which you all must be aware about, are getting announced. Some hydropower projects are coming up. Some big, big bridge projects are coming up. So we expect that the institutional demand, which was also good, in the recent past also, should remain good and buying. And that is a segment, which is slightly untouched for us. We will be getting aggressively into that segment. Secondly, if we look into, going forward, as far as the volumes are concerned, we have these outside players whom we have not competed with. The reason for that has been the volumes which we had. We were selling that volumes. We have opportunity to compete with them and to take that share as well. Lastly, surely, we have to take our market share from the existing players also because that's where our volume will come from. Okay. I have a related question to that is basically we have seen that the demand in the eastern region, specifically in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, has been, you know, very low. And that has resulted in since October, we have seen pricing slide in those regions. So has that influx increased compared to earlier, that, from east to Northeast? No, I will not say it has increased. Rather, if we talk about the recent past, it has decreased because rate availability also gets challenged in the at this period of time. So, the 2-point rates availability has been challenged. So, I think, the influx, if we talk about the recent past, it has been lower. Yes, it increased over the year if you talk about. There is an increase over last year in that volume. But, in this quarter, we don't see that to be on a very high side. Okay. I think, last quarter, we did, our fuel cost was around INR 1.9 per kcal, and which has come down significantly to INR 1.57. So, what changed? What was the key change here, in terms of what led to this decline? It is 1.75, not 1.57. Oh, it is 1.75. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we informed last time if we have our inventory, which now, with the coal prices going down, the inventory is going down. As of the lower price, inventory is coming up, so that's how it has placed. Okay, sir. Thank you. I'll, I'll just come back in case I have another question. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Chirag Sidhwa from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Please go ahead. Yes. Thank you very much, sir. Am I audible? Yes, sir. You are audible. Yeah. Sir, just a couple of questions. First, one is of a longer-term target. So in the previous call, we had indicated that post-hour commissioning, so current capacities, we are eventually targeting a 20 million ton kind of thing in the next 10 years. So any, any color on the scene, have we kind of indicated a roadmap or something on that? Yeah. So I think we are still working on it, but I think we've progressed fairly well in that direction. So we are, you know, currently working out on a mine in south and also a mine in north in Rajasthan. And, you know, I'm still unable to share the information because I think we are still in the talks. But it is going to be a greenfield expansion. We'll be buying the mines, and then we'll be putting up a plant. Or we'll be getting mines in auction, and then we'll be putting up a plant. So I can't shed more light right now because, I mean, it's a bit at the moment. But I think by next quarter, we should have possession of at least one mine in either of these locations. We can then discuss, you know, more in detail about how we plan to grow. But yes, our target remains that in the next 7-8 years, we'd want to be a 20 million ton by the end of this decade, we'd want to be a 20 million ton something or more. Sure. Sure. So mostly, it will be kind of an organic expansion, not looking for inorganic opportunities? Yeah. Because I think most of the inorganic opportunities which are floating around in the industry are very big for our size. Some of the smaller players, you know, in South are at the moment not willing to sell. And there are no small players left in Rajasthan or East. So from that perspective, we are focusing on growing organically. Of course, the mines may be bought inorganically, but then we'll put up a few more plants in those locations. So this is what we are working out on. And this is broadly what we are progressing with. Sure, sir. That was helpful, sir. And one more question, sir. While our Guwahati unit has been commissioned for so much, while our clinker unit is coming a month or so later, so where are we planning to source our clinker till that period, during that gap? Because if I'm not wrong, our clinker capacity is more or less utilized at optimum levels. So till that time, till our clinker gets commissioning and gets starting, from where will we be sourcing our clinker for the Guwahati to grind it? Okay. Okay. So, if you look at, sir, so as Deputy MD informed, that we are expecting 31st March our clinker to start. So it's only a matter of a month, 45 days. And I think we have conserved clinker, during the year to take care of our, production from that unit in the month of March. Yeah. So we have about 180,000 tons of clinker stock right now and are producing at full capacity as we speak. So we do expect, you know, the stock to help us in running our new plant as well. Of course, the new plant will also not run at 100% capacity from the very start. It will take time to ramp up, build all of the plant as well. So I think it should not be a problem. And, you know, in April, our new plant should start producing. So then the clinker shortage will not happen anyway. Okay. Sure, sir. Sir, just the last piece I need. On the prices, we saw Northeastern region mentioning INR 7-INR 8 kind of a price increase in the third quarter. So what have been the trends for the month of January from Q3 exit levels? Are there similar levels, or have we seen a decline? Similar for the eastern regions from Q3 exit in the month of January? More or less, it is in a status quo situation. But in quarter four, it may be an INR 5-a-bag upward pressure on prices may be there. But more or less, till now, it is more or less it remained stable, as it was in the. Okay. Sure. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Uttam Kumar from Axis Securities Limited. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. And, congratulations on very good set of numbers. My question pertains to Siliguri unit. So, sir, what was our capacity utilization during this quarter for this unit? Our capacity utilization was around 47%-48%. Okay, sir. How do you see this panning out in quarter four? in quarter four, it will be better. I think it should be at around 52%. Okay, sir. Because normally, sir, this plant has not been operating more than 60%. Last March, it was around 60%. So, when can we see the capacity utilization of this plant moving ahead at over 60%? So, sir, we will not push outside Northeast much because we had a shortage of clinker. Outside Northeast is a low-price zone for us where we do not earn as much margins because one thing is the price reduces, and the second thing is that the logistics cost is also high for us. So our margins are very low in outside Northeast. So that's why, you know, we never try to utilize our remaining clinker to grow outside Northeast. Once we get the clinker plant, we'll definitely start pushing our material outwards as well. And then we can see a better utilization of SGU. Okay. And sir, we were also looking to develop logistics for fly ash transportation for the Siliguri unit. So what is the status on that? The project is underway, since it requires some permission from railways. So the work is on. And, very soon, we are expecting those permission to come in. Once those permission comes in, I think then we will be able to place the orders for those wagons, and which has a lead time of close to 10-12 months to get. So we are expecting that project to get commissioned by April next year only. Okay. And, sir, what is the status of AAC block in Guwahati? That project is also on. I think the land work has been completed. Machinery, all orders have been placed. We are expecting that project also to commission by August. August. August. This financial year? Yes. This financial year. Okay. And, sir, what is normally the margin that we get in AAC, by selling AAC blocks? So, you know, the margins in Northeast are very healthy because right now, there is a shortage of AAC blocks in Northeast. The capacity that we're coming up with and the technology that we're coming up with will allow us the margin of about 25%. And the ROCE of that project would be about 20%. Okay. Sir, you said on our premium cement is around 6.5% this quarter. How do you see this premium cement, portion of premium cement, cement moving ahead, at 10%, 15%, or in how much time you are planning for that? I think premium agenda is one of our core agendas and rather one of our biggest agenda for our volume push as well. So from where we stand today, we look forward to double ourselves by the end of next financial year. Okay. Okay, sir. That's all from my side. All the best to all of you. Thank you, sir. We have our next question from the line of Aditya Chheda from InCred Asset Management. Please go ahead. Hello. Good afternoon. I have two questions. One, if you can quantify the incentive structure which you are supposed to accrue from the new plant, which are due to commission soon. And if there are any other internal efficiencies which are going to help the overall EBITDA pattern for the company, and if you can quantify the same for me. Yeah. Thank you. These are the only questions. Yeah. So, I know. I think good question. So basically, we are supposed to get an SGST benefit in Guwahati, the new grinding unit. So first, we'll have to adjust the input credit of the CapEx that we did in Guwahati plant. That, so if we suppose commission the Guwahati plant by 1st of March, in the first 2- 2.5 months, it will take to utilize the input credit that we'll get on the SGST that we spend on the project. After that, we'll start getting the SGST benefit. That is, subject to 200% of the fixed capital investment that we make, in the grinding unit. And it would be per ton by it would be about INR 800 per ton of benefit. And that we'll get on about 2 million tons, which is the capacity of the new grinding unit. So that basically would mean that in, you know, on, on a yearly basis, we would get about INR 150-INR 160 crores of SGST benefit from that plant for the next, at least 5, 6 years. And this would also be true for the Silchar plant whenever it comes. The second would be that, in the clinker plant, you know, we are expanding in the clinker, you know, in SCL, which is the mother company. And we are going from 800,000 tons, which is the current capacity of SCL, to a 3.3 million tons we're adding. And on the 3.3 million tons, till 2027, we should be getting IGST benefit on the clinker, which would materialize to about INR 300 on the clinker, INR 300 per ton on the clinker on that volume that we produce, which is, you know, with the new capacity, it will be about 3 million. So this is these are two subsidy benefits that we are getting. In terms of the efficiency, the new clinker plant would, of course, have a lower heat rate than, you know, the two lines that we have currently. Right now, you know, I'd be expecting the heat rate to fall by about 40-45 kcal, to about 690-700 heat rate. And, you know, we also expect some savings on the power, because, because, again, of new technology and the size. Then we also expect some savings on the fixed cost, as we'll be not operating the smallest plant and operating the biggest one, which will have some synergies in terms of manpower and administrative cost. So these are the synergies that we expect from the cost side. The other synergy that we expect from the cost side is also that, you know, during season, we have to normally dispatch, you know, from our Siliguri plant and Lumshnong plant to compensate for our Guwahati plant, you know, because of the capacity constraints. So with the new capacity coming in Guwahati, we will also have the advantage that we can serve the market from L1 location, and we do not need to necessarily make a deviation there because of capacity constraints. So I think that will also have an indirect benefit in the costing. The main benefit is in taxation. So our Guwahati plant will be coming under, it will be commencing before March 2024. And it will be, you know, getting a taxation benefit in the sense that it will be at a lower tax bracket, not 25% but 17%. And most of our profit would be actually 50% or 40% of our overall profit will be coming from the new Guwahati plant because of the subsidy, and because we'll be utilizing that at full capacity and taking care of well in our own plant. So from that perspective, there will be also a benefit in the taxation that we see. So these are the three main benefits that we see with the expansion, besides, of course, the size that we can grow as Vinit said that we'll be targeting a 20% growth. That is, of course, the main reason why we expanded, and that benefit will come. These are the other side benefits that will help us. Perfect. Thank you for the elaborate answer. Just one clarification. The GST benefits, the cash accrues with a lag, or how does that work if you can use incentive terms? It works with a quarter's lag, normally. So suppose, you know, this quarter's GST would be received after a quarter. So right, there's normally a three- to four-month lag. But in the past, also, we've been very efficient in making sure that we do get the money in our bank. Got it. That's it from my end. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We have our next question from the line of Parth Bhavsar from Investec. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Sir, the first thing, I just wanted to clarify that the SGST benefit of 200% at Guwahati, you said INR 100 crore-INR 150 crore, benefit over 5-7 years. Is that correct? No, I said INR 150 crore benefit every year for the next 5-7 years from Guwahati plant alone. And then also, the same will be repeated in the Silchar plant, from next year onwards. INR 150 crore annually for 5-7 years. Perfect. Okay. And, sir, I just wanted to know, what, what sort of incentives did we accrue during the quarter? In the quarter, we have just accrued INR 6 crore from the IGST benefit in the SCL plant, which we get on the clinker. Okay. Okay. You know, just to also sorry, just on that point, I would like to clarify that we have done an EBITDA of INR 153 crore versus INR 120 crore last year, same quarter. Even though last year, we had a subsidy benefit of INR 38 crore, which is only INR 6 crore this quarter, so the profitability, if you look at an operational basis, has actually gone from INR 85 crore to INR 86 crore to INR 147 crore, if you look at the operational EBITDA. I think from that perspective, there is a sizable increase in the EBITDA when we actually exclude the subsidy benefit, which was there last year, but which is not so much there this year. So the IGST benefit was, clinker unit, clinker in SCL, right, you said? Yeah. That was the IGST benefit, which was only INR 6 crores. Last year, that's the overall benefit of INR 38 crores. Okay. So everything that we see is from the operations itself. Okay. Yeah. Everything, broadly, is from operations, basically. Right. And, sir, when are these benefits getting exhausted at the IGST benefit of INR 6 crore? Is it getting exhausted anytime soon? No. So it's getting exhausted in 2027 end. 2027 end. Okay. Okay. Great. And, sir, one other question I had, on the existing and the announced CapEx, capacities that you've announced, just wanted to understand what, what are the low-hanging fruits in terms of, you know, brownfield expansion, if you want to, you know, go for the 20 million tons of, you know, capacity? Are there any low-hanging fruits in terms of brownfield expansion? So I think, you know, because we have already taken so much CapEx in Northeast, you know, putting up a 3.3 million-ton clinker plant and a 4 million-ton grinding unit. Right. I think for the next four years or five years, we will not need any expansion in Northeast. Of course, we'll already be planning to set up, you know, our new location for the clinker plant. And we'll start with that work. But for the next four years, I do not think it will be a requirement for more clinkers. So the natural progression would be to step outward. And we are looking at, you know, mines in South, like I said. Right. Right. Yes. And all those things. Those will be like greenfield expansion. I don't think there's any soft, easy answer to that. You know, I think we'll have to go for a greenfield expansion, and we'll have to grow outside Northeast as well. Of course, you know, with healthy cash flow coming from Northeast. Right. But, like, I understand that you won't go for any expansion in Northeast over the next five years. But, like, do you have, like, such opportunities if in, like, future, the market grows in Northeast or East, do we have such opportunities? I mean, if the market grows, then definitely. I mean, we want to grow with the market, and we want a 30% market share in Northeast, right? That is very, very clear. Right now, we maybe have over 24%-25%. We are aiming at a 30%-32% market share in Northeast, right? I mean, if the market grows more than that, if there's more infrastructure spend in Northeast than what it is right now, we'll definitely want to grow, and make sure that we are there to utilize that opportunity as much as possible, right? We are also open to having a, you know, an organic growth opportunity in Northeast if any of the smaller players would want to sell. But right now, from our understanding, no one really wants to sell. From that perspective, you know, I think we'll definitely be up for it whenever the opportunity does come. Perfect. Fair enough, sir. Thank you so much for answering my questions. Thank you, sir. We have our next question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity again. Sir, just a couple of things first. In terms of the once this clinker and the grinding will start by March, so the next year, when we are seeing a 18%-20% kind of a growth, so how one can look at in terms of the first-year utilization? So, because this is also connected to the incentive that we are looking at INR 150-160 odd crore. So, is it fair that in the first year, we can have a closer to 50% kind of utilization, and by next year, we can have a 70%-75% kind of a utilization? So I think one thing is that the subsidy benefit is not linked to how we utilize the new capacity, right? I mean, because we can always produce from a new plant, though, you know, the existing volume. So I don't think it's connected to the subsidy. But to just answer your question, the utilization of the new capacities are supposed we are setting up a 3 million ton 3.3 million ton clinker plant, so we plan to utilize that plant at about a 50% capacity. Most of the utilization will come from the sale of cement because we plan to go at about 20%. And some of that growth, some of the utilization will come from selling clinkers. Okay. Okay. So, at the grinding level also, the similar kind of a 50% kind of a utilization one can look at? So from 2 million ton, one can look at a 1 million ton kind of a volume? Yeah. So I think, you know, the target that we are setting is of about, you know, if we talk about if we plan to do about 4.4 million tons this year, and we're talking about a 20% growth, then we are talking about more than a 1 million ton growth in the, cement production as well, right? So we are talking about 1.2-1.3 million ton growth in the cement production, right? So that will, of course, come from a grinding unit in GGU because, I mean, we do not have capacity in Northeast otherwise. So we plan to utilize the new capacity of GGU by about 60%-70%. And overall, capacity utilization will be higher because other plant other grinding units, we are utilizing any which way. Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. So even if, as you mentioned, just to clarifying again, even if we, you let's say, utilize 50% clinker and 60%-70% grinding, despite that, the incentive INR 150 crore-INR 160 crore will definitely be flowing to the P&L? No, I agree. Because, you know, what we do is that we'll, you know, because we also have to take some shutdown in our old plant, right, because we need to do some repair work. So what we do is that even the volume which the old plant is doing, we'll start doing from a new plant. Okay. So, no. I was trying to understand, will it, let's say, if we have a 1.2 million-1.3 million ton volume from the grinding unit, so SGST benefit, INR 800 per ton will be multiplied to that, or is it, because you mentioned it? No, what I'm trying to say is that the new plant will be operating at full capacity, right? The old plant will be operating at 1.2 million ton capacity then. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. SGST benefit, any which way. Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. And second, any I understand that it is too early, but in terms of your Rajasthan greenfield, broadly, if one understands, will it be a kind of a only, max to max, a kind of a 2 million ton kind of a capacity that, in the first phase, we can think of to go ahead with? Yeah. So I think, you know, I said that, you know, we are looking at an opportunity very closely in South and Rajasthan. We are yet to lock at least one of the two opportunities. So if we do lock that opportunity, we are looking to put up a 2.5 million ton clinker plant and simultaneously, the grinding units accordingly, right? So yeah, you can be looking at around that kind of CapEx happening in the next two, three years, yes. Okay. So broadly, in terms of how one can look at, let's say, it's a 2.5 million-ton clinker, and maybe a 3.5 million-4 million-ton grinding if we are looking at it, will it be closer to a kind of INR 2,500 crore kind of CapEx that one can think of because it is a greenfield? Yeah. Yeah. It will be about INR 2,500 crore, kind of a CapEx per year over the next 2.5 years. It will be at INR 2,500 crore CapEx. Okay. And anything, broadly, for this quarter, if somebody looks at definitely, so now for the incentive will start flowing in P&L, our profitability will start again, still improving from here on. But for the third quarter, if I have to look at, in terms of the profitability, Northeast versus East, where because last quarter, we have talked about it is kind of a INR 300 kind of a profitability in the outside Northeast. So was the number same for this quarter? Yeah. The numbers were about INR 300 in outside Northeast and about INR 1,700 and INR 1,800 in Northeast and INR 300 outside Northeast. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you. Thank you, sir. A reminder to all participants: you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Rajesh Kumar from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Good evening, and congratulations on good set of numbers. My question pertains to, first, the south-side Northeast expansions which you're talking about, and, probably 10 million ton capacity enhancement over the next 4-5 years. And where do, because these would largely be greenfield, so, you know, 10 million ton would entail around INR 8,000 crore CapEx. And, you know, how do you plan to fund this? Because, you know, that could be, quite sizable from the current balance sheet and the, operating cash flows which the company would be, making from the Northeast operations. Yeah. So I think, you know, we plan to add about 10 million tons, besides the plan that we've already been working on. Got it. In terms of 10 million ton, that's a target for 2030. We have six years, right? So I think, function of it is, of course, you know, our own accrual which we think are going to be very healthy in the coming years, right, because of the GST benefit, because of the market in Northeast, and because of all the efficiencies which will come along with that new capacity. And, the other would be, you know, other ways of raising finance, right, which may be, at some point, you know, raising money from the market depending on the opportunity and the size of opportunity which comes. And as a family, we're very flexible in, you know, in availing those opportunities. And we do not want to, you know, hamper the growth of the company for the lack of finance. So, you know, whenever we do need finance, we'll make prudent choices in financing it so that, you know, the company is risk-free. At the same time, we are able to march towards what we're targeting. Okay. And, sir, in the, you talked about incentives on both the grinding units. But on clinker plant, is there any clarity which has come to what sort of incentive you may approve, when you commission it by March end and so next financial year one should look at? Yeah. So I think we are looking at a benefit of INR 300 per ton on the clinker that we produce from the new clinker plant. Mm-hmm. What we would try is to make sure that we utilize the new clinker plant as much as possible, not only because of this benefit, but because it is more efficient to run the bigger clinker plant rather than the smaller one. Right. Right. So it is on production basis only, right, and not, you know, to which unit, where you are selling this clinker to? No. It is based on the production only. Okay. And Silchar grind, this, incentive is would be linked to sales in? No. This will be re-linked. This is IGST benefit. Correct. No, no. Clinker, I understood. The Silchar grinding unit next year which will come to. It will be linked in Assam as well. So that will be a SGST benefit in Assam. So how are you looking at the Assam market? Because you have 3 million tons which you would be ramping up. And, you know, what is the market size of Assam market? And for you to maximize the benefit, how much sale you need to? So this year, for example, we'll be doing about 18 lakh tons of sales in Assam alone. Okay. Okay. The coming financial year, I'm targeting to grow by about 20%. Okay. Around 2.2 million tons, 2.3 million tons. Yeah. So 2.2 million tons, 2.3 million tons, it will reach to, right? Okay. I'm planning to get the grinding unit in the next financial year, next to next financial year, right? So FY 2026, 10 million tons, it will be there? Yeah. So FY 2026, September, it should be there, August or September, right? Okay. By that time, you know, my sales should be about 2.6 million tons in Assam alone. What would be the market size of Assam, sir? market size of Assam is about 65% of the Northeast market. Which would be 5 million tons, 4 million tons -5 million tons? 7 million tons -7.5 million tons, sir. Total market size you're saying, right? Yeah. Yeah. Of Assam, yeah. No, Assam, you're saying 7.5 million tons or 50 Northeast is how much you're looking at market size? 13 million tons. 13 million tons. Okay. So 7.5 million tons. And there you are looking to target around 2.5 million-3 million tons if you're optimizing both the units. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So 30%-35%. So you're not going, you know, looking to corner out significantly and hence less risk to your numbers, right? I'm sorry? No, no. I think the market size is good enough for you to, you know, efficiently sell your volume. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Great. Okay. What are we doing now? Correct. Market is growing from that perspective. I was looking at it. Okay. Lastly, this Q4, your incentives from the existing clinker unit which IGST benefit will be going away, right? Next year, you will have only the major incentives from the new unit. No. So I mean, all the incentives which had to go are already gone. Okay. The incentive we have of IGST, which was about INR 600 crore, will continue till 2027. It's the same benefit. Okay. Okay. Which is continuing in the new clinker plant also because the new clinker plant is in the same company as the existing one. So the same benefit is actually passing on to the new clinker plant also. That clinker plant will also have this benefit until 2027. Okay. Great. Great, sir. That's all from my end for now. Thank you. All the best. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you. Oh, so I, I would just like to thank everyone, you know, for asking questions, for showing the interest in the company, and for, you know, for, you know, following up, with the company over the few, last two years. We look forward to, you know, having more, you know, calls and more questions from you next time. If there's any question, any, query that, you know, one has on the results, they can definitely reach out to the CFO, and they can, you know, ask their queries. Happy to answer. Thank you. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.