Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings call for the quarter and nine months ending 31st December 2025 for Star Cement Limited, hosted by PhillipCapital (India) Private 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 call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Yeah, thank you, Rio. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, we welcome you to the Q3 and nine months FY26 call of Star Cement Limited. On the call, we have with us Mr. Tushar Bhajanka, Deputy Managing Director, and Mr. Manoj Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer at Star Cement Limited. I would like to mention on behalf of Star Cement Limited and its management that certain statements that may be made or discussed on today's conference call may include forward-looking statements related to future performance and anticipated company developments by its management. Such statements stated on today's call would be based on Star Cement's current management expectations. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other important factors which may cause the actual developments and results to differ materially from the statements made. Star Cement Limited and the management of the company assumes no obligation to publicly update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise. I will now hand over the floor to the management of Star Cement for their opening remarks, which will be followed by an interactive question and answer session. Thank you, and over to you, Tushar. Hi, good afternoon all. My name is Tushar Bhajanka, and I'm the Deputy MD of Star Cement. I welcome you all to the conference call of FY26 quarter three. I'd like our CFO, Manojji, to give his remarks regarding the numbers, and then we can start with the Q&A. Yeah. Hi, friends. Very good afternoon. I, on behalf of Star Cement Limited, welcome you all to our conference call for discussing our numbers for Q3 FY26 and nine months ended December 25. Starting from clinker production, during the quarter ended December 25, we have produced 894,000 tons of clinker as against 642,000 tons same quarter last year. So far as cement production is concerned, we have produced 1,257,000 tons this quarter as against 1,082,000 tons same quarter last year. Now I will take you through the sales volume. During the quarter, we have sold 1,231,000 tons of cement and 65,000 tons of clinker from same quarter. We have during the quarter, we sold and as against 1,061,000 tons of cement and 7,000 tons of clinker in the same period last year. This is as far as cement and clinker sale is concerned. As far as geographical distribution is concerned, in Northeast, we have sold around 936,000 tons as against 837,000 tons during same quarter last year. As far as outside Northeast is concerned, we have sold 295,000 tons of cement this quarter as against 224,000 tons same quarter last year. In terms of blend mix, it is 18% of OPC, and rest is PPC. These are the quantitative numbers of the quarter. Now I will take you through the financial. The total revenue figure this quarter is around INR 880 crore as against INR 719 crore same period last year. As far as EBITDA figure is concerned, this quarter, we have done an EBITDA excluding of exceptional item of INR 5.52 crore, which is around INR 207 crore as against INR 107 crore last year. That is INR 74 crore as against INR 9 crore in the same period last year. On the per-ton EBITDA front, it is 1,600 during this quarter as against 1,000 per ton same quarter last year. This is what our quarterly numbers of the third quarter. The total revenue figure for the nine months ended December 25 is around INR 2,603 crore as against INR 2,111 crore same period last year. As far as EBITDA figure is concerned, during nine months ended December 25, we have done an EBITDA of around INR 631 crore as against INR 321 crore last year. Profit after tax is INR 243 crore as against INR 46 crore in the same period last year. On per-ton EBITDA front, it is 1,677 during this nine months as against 1,005 per ton same period last year. These are our quarterly and nine-month-ended numbers. Now I will ask request everyone. If you have any question, then please you can ask the same, and I will request Vaibhav to moderate the same whenever 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, may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. To ask questions, please press star and one. The first question is from Harsh Mittal from Emkay Global Financial Services. Please go ahead. Yes, good evening. Firstly, congratulations for the setup present. Harsh, we can barely hear you. Request you to speak a little louder. Hello. Yeah, hi. We can hear you, but if you can be clearer, please. Okay. So good evening, team. So I have two set of questions. The first question is there is one unexpected event happened in the East Jaintia Hills district due to a coal mining blast. So do we have any domino effect on our operations? This is my first question. I think your question is regarding the Meghalaya mining blast and the situation of illegal coal mining in Meghalaya, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So we have no relation to that incident because our coal is not coming from Meghalaya. So I mean, it's unfortunate, but we have no information about it. Okay. Okay. So second question is that our volume guidance was 5.4 million tons for this year. And given that we have achieved a 21% growth in quarter three, so can we see any further revision to this guidance? We can't hear you clearly. I think we can't understand the question even. So if it's possible for you to be a bit clearer, then I think it will be easier for us to answer. Hello? Hello? Yeah. Audible now? Mr. Harsh, if you're on a hands-free, request you to use the handset. I'm on handset only. Hello? Okay. Yeah. Just try to repeat the question once. I'll try to understand that. My question was that our earlier volume guidance was around 5.4 million tons. Given that we have achieved 21% growth in quarter three, do we see any upward revision to this guidance? No, we don't. So I think we will be trying to do about that or probably 5.3. So I don't think there is any upward revision on that guidance for quarter four. I think we will be broadly growing at about the same pace in quarter four as well. Sure. So freight cost, there has been inflation in freight cost per ton, which is up 13% YoY and 6% sequentially. Any specific reason for this flare-up, and can we assume this as a steady state guidance going ahead? So Harsh, there is a slight because December quarter and March quarter is a natural cycle. There is a slight increase over the second quarter because second quarter is not an on-season period. So there is hardly that is a INR 60-70 per ton increase. That is a normal thing. It happens in every quarter if you compare it from the Q2 vis-à-vis Q3 and then Q3 vis-à-vis Q4. That is normal expense. And there is a certain because the transport disruption was there in the middle, maybe October end and November first week. So that is why we have to move the material through rakes. So handling cost has gone up. So that is why that was one-off cost. But normal INR 60- INR 70 increase was there. This is cyclical in nature. And every quarter, Q2, Q3, it keeps on happening. Okay. So can we assume a INR 60 one-off increase cost for this quarter, and that will reverse in next quarter? Is it a safer assumption? Actually, in October, we had a strike. The strike had lasted. It was a strike in Meghalaya which restricted the movement of clinkers. So we had to use rakes to send clinker to our grinding units. That had increased our logistics cost. And that is why you see an abnormal hike in our logistics cost compared to last quarter or YoY, which I don't think you would see from quarter four when you compare quarter four to last year's quarter. Last question. What will be our depreciation guidance for FY27? If you can help me with that number. 30 crore depreciation? Depreciation. Yeah, depreciation will remain the same. It was INR 30 crore a month, INR 90 crore per quarter. That will be more or less the same. Sir, depreciation. Depreciation, I'm asking. Yeah, I'm asking about depreciation only. Depreciation right now is about INR 30 crore per month for us. That will remain the same because we are also commissioning filter plants this month. I think the depreciation will start showcasing itself in the next year. Whatever depreciation should have reduced will be neutralized by the fact that there's another plant coming up, and the depreciation on that plant will also. Thank you. These were my questions. Thank you. These were very helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and one. The next question is from Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah. Good evening, sir. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, Ji. Good evening, Tusharji. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. Thank you. If you could just, yeah. I had a couple of questions. I'll start with the incentive income that you have booked in this quarter, please. Yeah. So the incentive income that we booked this quarter is about INR 33 crore. If you compare this number to last year's same quarter, then last year's same quarter was INR 43 crore. And if you compare it to Q2 of FY26, then it was about INR 56 crore. So our subsidy income has fallen from INR 43 crore YoY to INR 33 crore, which is a 28% drop in the subsidy income. So, on subsidies, my follow-up question was that at roughly 1.3 million or nearly 13 lakhs of volumes, 12.3 as you said in cement, at this volume run rate, is this the subsidy to continue or because you said filter is just about to get commissioned? I think you just mentioned a while back, filter is about to get commissioned, so this subsidy amount can go up once the volumes from filter start coming up? How should one look at the run rate for the subsidy amount? Yeah. So I think the run rate for the subsidy that we experienced in quarter three is the result of the reduction in GST from 28% to 18%, which, of course, then reduces the overall subsidy amount which we were getting. So that's why there's a drop. And the question regarding filters, when filter gets commissioned, first, it will use the input GST from the project, right? So that will take at least 7 months -8 months to fully utilize. And after we utilize the GST input credit, that's when we will start utilizing the subsidy. So we can see the benefit of having filter from quarter four onwards next year in terms of subsidy. Understood. Understood. So my second question then was on your realization. So net of once I exclude the incentive, the cement realizations for us have seemed to have gone up sequentially by a little under 2%. My question was because East as a region I know yours is northeast, but still 25% of the volume, as I understand, probably we sell it in areas out of northeast, which is largely the eastern region. So if our channels were correct and other companies also indicated the same, that non-trade prices and even trade prices had taken significant hit in the eastern region, I wanted to understand how did we manage a 2% increase in a tough environment? I mean, congratulations on that, but just wanted to understand how did we manage to get an increase when most of the players are reporting a decline? So I mean, the information that I have from for Bihar and West Bengal, the Q2 YoY, the prices in Bihar have risen a bit for us, but the prices in West Bengal have fallen, right? So that is the observation. So for us, outside Northeast, which is basically Bengal and Bihar, has been quite neutral YoY, FY26 Q3 compared to last year Q3. And in Northeast, we have seen an increase in the price of about INR 20 compared to last year's same quarter. So I think our weighted average realization has improved mainly because of Northeast. In East, we have been broadly neutral. If you average out the price increase in Bihar with the price drop in West Bengal, it's basically neutral. So that is how we can see that there's a 2% increase in realization. Understood. And just to conclude, since our prices or realizations are benefited by the price increase we could take in Northeast, are those hikes holding firm so far in January/February, or there has been a further improvement? Any color will be helpful. Yes. So fair enough. So I think the prices are holding up at least Northeast from December onwards. So we do see that the prices are maintained. So what we exited December month from, the prices have continued to be stable from there. Bihar and West Bengal, I think there is an I think we have tried to take an attempt of INR 10, but that INR 10 entirely is not necessarily going to show in the quarter four for Bihar and Bengal. No. Understood. But for Northeast, I was only confirming because very recently, we also saw Dalmia's big kiln getting commissioned. So how did that impact on the regional pricing, if at all? Are you seeing or how should one see now with the major capacity coming up, how should one look at Northeast pricing in general for the next, let's say, one year or so? Well, I see the pricing to be stable, right? So I don't think there's any problem because of the increase in supply and the pricing. I do see that the pricing, even after Dalmia's kiln has come to operation, has broadly been stable. So I don't see a price problem for the coming year as well. Thank you, sir. I have more questions. I'll come back in, please. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and one. The next question is from Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Good afternoon. Can I audible? Yes. But if you can just speak a bit loudly, that'll be very helpful. Sure. Yes, sir. This is better. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So just on this, you wish we check and see if there's issues earlier and with the. Rajesh, you're not clear. Rajesh, please go quiet. Yeah. We are not able to hear you properly. Sorry. Mr. Rajesh, if you're using a hands-free, request you to use the handset. Please. We seem to have lost the line for Mr. Rajesh. We'll move to the next question. The next question is from Shivashish Kaushik from IFM Investment Advisors. Please go ahead. My question is basically to check with you what is the composition of non-trade and trade in your total volume. Plus, I also want to know that what is the non-trade even there is a marginal hike in the price, whether that has been absorbed properly, and what is the view in February because there is a lot of noises which is there that there is going to be 10-50 INR further rise in the price. So we just want to know your view on that. Okay. So non-trade in quarter three, we had sold 22% of our overall volume. So this has increased compared to last year's same quarter, which was 19%. So our overall non-trade mix has increased from 19% to 22% over this one year. Your second question was regarding the price hike, right? Yeah. So I mean, I have not heard any news of price hike as of now. I don't think we have any plans of taking a price hike in Northeast but to maintain the current prices which have already been increased. So yeah. So I don't think there is a hike happening of INR 10-INR 15 in Northeast, at least. Another thing which I want to know is what is the price differential with North or Central with Northeast in terms of per bag? I can tell you the per bag cost in Northeast, but I do not know what is the price in Central, in West, and East I mean, Central and North because we are not present there. So the per bag price in Northeast is about INR 53. But you'll have to probably verify the prices in North and Central elsewhere. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Participants who wish to please press star and one. Next question is for Mr. Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go. Yeah. Am I audible now? Yes, sir. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Sir, I was alluding to this incident which is happening in Northeast concerning your clinker question. So overall, Northeast is a dynamic user of coal supply. Do you see this reduction and stringent measures now which would be taken by the government and courts? Any implications on coal availability in Northeast? Are you talking about coal availability in Northeast and? Yeah. Yeah. Northeast coal availability and overall coal prices going up? Because of what? Because of this rat-hole mining crackdown on the illegal mine. No. I don't think our coal supply is really linked to the Meghalaya coal illegal coal, right? So I don't think there will be a big impact of that. Most of our coal is locked in the form of FSA from Coal India, right? And the others are spot contracts that we take from Coal India and a little bit of biomass, right? So I don't think we are really impacted by that at all. What we understand is that a good chunk of coal moves out of Meghalaya into India in parts. I can't hear you. I'm not able to clearly hear your question. I'm not able to answer. Mr. Rajesh, your voice is breaking. If you request your. Is it better now? Yeah. It is better now, but then it goes in the middle. So you can take a second. I will try. Try to ask a question, and then we can figure out. Sure. Sure. Sure. Thank you. This is one. And second, also on the freight cost, we see that there has been an upward revision or rationalization on the upward side on Meghalaya truckers' freight cost. So what sort of impact this would have on your numbers in subsequent quarters? I don't think the freight cost has really been revised for Meghalaya truckers as such. And I don't see that we're having a material impact on the freight cost going forward. I think the reason why the freight had increased in quarter three is mainly because of the strike which had happened in October, right, with the 2L1 deviation. And that is why the freight cost in October had increased. And that's what you see in the results. But I don't see that you'll see a material impact of that going forward in quarter four. What is the reason for this? We really can't hear you. Now you're fully cracking. Well, Rajesh, there might be a problem issue with your. Yeah. I'll come back to you. Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to participants, sir, you may press star and one to join the question queue. The next question is from Kamlesh Bagmar from Lotus Asset Management. Go ahead. Hi, Tushar. Thanks for joining me. Can you please highlight, give some insight to the next phase of expansion because we were looking to expand capacities or enter the markets of Central and North markets. Can you please briefly touch upon that? Yes. So yes. So no, thanks for the question. We are actually firm on our plan to enter Rajasthan. We have gotten mines in Nimbol next to Nimbol next to Jodhpur district. And we have been securing land there. And we plan to apply for our EC and get our EC by September, October, and then start construction of about 3 million tons of clinker along with 3 million tons of grinding and subsequently put 2 million tons of grinding in Haryana, which will be fed by the clinker plant in Nimbol. So that is our next plan, which is to enter Rajasthan. Okay. Apart from that, are we looking into the central region as well, or so far sticking only to the north market? Yeah. We are sticking to the North market because we believe that if we focus on one market, which is North, and it's quite a big market, right, so I think we will be able to probably position ourselves better in terms of brand and also focus in deeper penetration of the market. So that is the first phase of expansion in North that we planned, which we plan to start executing from quarter three of this year onwards so of next year onwards so end of calendar year, basically. And then I think yeah. So that is the plan. And besides this, we plan to put up a 2 million ton grinding unit in Bihar, which I think the timeline of which we can discuss in the next call because we are in the phase of acquiring land for that. So our plan for the next 2-3 years is basically to put up a 5 million ton grinding backed by clinker in north and about 2 million tons of grinding in Bihar. And along with this, we have also applied for the EC in Umrangso in Assam for another clinker plant, which we, again, will get from September this year. So then we can also start laying the foundations and doing the basic civil work for our next clinker plant in Assam. Okay. So is it fair to assume that by Q3 of FY27 or Q4 of this CY26, we would be ready with the orders placed for all these equipments which we have talked about, other capacities which we have talked about? Yes. I think, yeah. By Q3 of FY27, we will be in a position where we have ordered the machineries, and we've also started some work on ground in building up the plant. I think machines should be probably in Q2, Q3, yeah, yeah, around that time. We should be placing orders for machine as well. So we are now a bit clearer about our plans of Rajasthan. Okay. Great. And lastly, what percentage of land we have acquired for Rajasthan and Haryana units? In the Rajasthan unit, we have broadly done a sale agreement right now. The entire land will be probably transferred to us in the coming month, a month and a half. We've already applied for the EC on the land that we have gotten a sale agreement. For Haryana, we have identified the plot that we are looking at, and we will start acquiring the land. But the land in Haryana is a bit aggregated. So I don't think once we've decided to buy the land, then I don't think it's going to take much time. The EC process is basically running parallel to the land acquisition process. That's how we are progressing. That's how we are sure by September or October this year, we will be able to start something on ground. What would be the mode of financing? How much debt equity would be looking at or, say, the equity raised through the QIP or that source of funding? So I mean, ideally, we'd want to keep our debt equity ratio less than 1.5 x the EBITDA—sorry, debt EBITDA ratio to be less than 1.5 x EBITDA. And then we will make sure that whenever we are reaching the threshold or before that, we will do our QIP to fill in the gap, right? So that is something that we will also share in our investor presentation, which is on it. Okay. Great. Great. Thanks for answering the question. No. Thank you. Thank you. Participants who wish to ask questions, please press star and one to join the question queue. The next question is from Uttam Kumar Srimal from Axis Securities. Please go ahead. Oh, yes, sir. Good afternoon and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Sir, how much CapEx do we have incurred in the first nine months and how much we are going to incur in the fourth quarter and in FY2027? Okay. So Vichely, we have till now incurred about INR 431 crore of CapEx. In quarter four, we plan to incur about INR 150 crore of CapEx. Okay. And in, sir, FY27? FY27, we'll have to probably plan it a bit and get back because we are still figuring out our plans in Rajasthan when we start our construction. So accordingly, we'll have to revise the numbers and probably get back to you on that. Okay. And, sir, with regard to payment limit, what was the share of payment limit out of the trade sales during this quarter? So we sold about 17.1% of our trade sales was premium sales. This number has increased from 13.1 last year sorry, 12 last year. So it has jumped from 12% to 17.1% in that one year. Okay. That should have also helped you in getting more realization because the percentage has improved from 13%-18%. Yeah. 12%-17%. Yes. Good. Okay. And, sir, what is the current status of AAC Block? How much revenue we have generated this quarter because it got commissioned last quarter? Yes. We have sold 61,500 CBM of AAC. The corresponding revenue is about INR 25 crore. In quarter three, we have generated about INR 13 crore from AAC, which is still in ramp-up. I think the plant is going to take some time to stabilize. We have utilized the plant at about 45% utilization in the second quarter of its commissioning. Okay. And, sir, what would be the maximum revenue that we can generate from AAC Block when it gets into full utilization? I think we can generate a revenue of about INR 90 crore-INR 100 crore if we utilize it fully. Okay. And, sir, a couple of data points. Lead distance during the quarter? Yeah. The lead distance was 212 km. Okay. It has come down, it was around 230 km last time, 220 km, I think. Yeah. It was 220 km, and now it's come down to 212 km. Yes. Sir, fuel mix this quarter? Fuel mix, 78.8% was from FSA. About 15% was from biomass, and another 5% was from spot. Sir, per Kcal cost was? 1.2. Okay, sir. Okay, sir. That's all from my side. All the best. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. To ask questions, please press star and one. The next question is from Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Go ahead. Hi. Thank you, sir. Sir, just to recheck in terms of the total CapEx for Bihar, Rajasthan, and the 3 million ton clinker at Umrangso with the 2 million ton grinding in Jorhat. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. Can you please repeat that? I'm saying the total CapEx, if you can split Bihar, last time you said INR 500 crore, Rajasthan because now it seems 5 million tons. So last time we said INR 2,300 crore-INR 2,500 crore-odd. And for Umrangso, 3 million tons clinker and 2 million tons grinding at Jorhat, what would be the total CapEx? Yeah. So right now, the plan that we have in mind is to in the next three years or four years, our plan is to put up Bihar grinding unit in the next two years, Nimbol and Haryana plants. Nimbol is in Rajasthan, the clinker plant in Nimbol, and a grinding unit in Haryana, and sequentially start working on a grinding unit or a clinker plant in Umrangso. So the overall CapEx for these four projects is about INR 4,800 crores. Okay. Broadly, this all should be commissioning in one-half of FY29 or second half of FY29? I think towards the second half of FY2029 or beginning of FY2030, these all plants should be commissioning. Of course, I mean, they all will not commission together. Some will commission before. And probably Umrangso may commission about FY2029. Okay. So Umrangso will commission in FY29, and Bihar and Rajasthan will be in the maybe okay. But that also you said it would be in the second half. So almost everything will be in 3 or 6 months, everything will be commissioned in FY29? Yeah. FY29, probably yeah. So I think the exact timeline, we'll be probably putting it in the presentation. So I think it'll just be a bit clearer for everyone. But of course, the grinding units take less time to commission. And in Nimbol, we are at a decent position, I think, in September to start construction. So the Nimbol, Rajasthan plant will start sooner than the Umrangso plant. Got it. So the Rajasthan plant is also dependent on the QIP, or we will start and as you said, once the net debt equity, net debt EBITDA is reaching to 1.5 x, then we will then do the QIP of INR 1,500-odd crore that we have talked last time? I think we are going ahead with the plans as expected. Whenever we do get the right time to do the QIP or right threshold for any other instrument, we will do it. We're not stopping any plans for the fundraise. Okay. But broadly, if one has to split this INR 4,800 crore into FY 2027, 2028, 2029, is it fair that FY 2027 would be INR 1,000-odd crore and FY 2028 would be INR 2,000-INR 2,500 crore, and FY 2029 would be the balance? That's the way one can look at? I think we'll have to really I mean, we'll also have to plan it in a piece of paper and then share it. I don't think I can just say it like that. Okay. Okay. Got it. And, sir, till now, in terms of the volume, as you highlighted that in the fourth quarter, also, we will see the similar kind of a run rate in terms of growth. But for FY27 and FY28, how one can look at because now all this extra new capacity will be coming in FY29. So ideally, the volume should be coming in FY30 in a full way. So how one can look at the volume for at least 27, 28? I mean, coming year, I think the volume growth would be similar to the volume growth that we experienced in FY26. I don't see the FY27 to be very different to FY26. The volume growth of 28 would be hard to predict right now. Okay. Got it. And then obviously, as you are saying, the prices are kind of stable. So profitability should be similar to what we are right now having INR 650-INR 1,700. Yes. Yes. It should be broadly maintained. Yeah. And lastly, sir, all put together, AAC Block and other non-cement revenue, till now in FY26, nine months, how much we would have done and how much would be the EBITDA margin on that? And for next year, how one can look at that? From non-cement revenue. Till now, it is around INR 25 crore. Okay? We are expecting to be around INR 45-odd crore this year. And this year, because of first year, the processing EBITDA because of first year of operation, and it has been so maybe we have no profit, no loss kind of thing this year. And next year, onwards, we are hopeful that 20% EBITDA margin should be minimum there from that business. In terms of the revenue, so this year, you are saying a total INR 45 crore that you will. Towards INR 95 crore-INR 100 crore revenue. Yeah. What we expect is that INR 45 crore this year would be coming from the non-cement businesses. Next year, we expect about INR 100 crore coming from this business. Okay. Okay. Got it. And then the current Kcal cost, 1.2, that should be stable for next 1 or 2 quarters. I hope we should be having a 3 months or 4 months inventory. Yeah. I mean, we have about 280,000 tons of coal. So that is good enough for at least four months. And that is broadly at the same rate as 1.2. So I think it should be fine. Sir, on green, sir, the 50-MW solar that we are looking at in Assam, so when it is going to start? So the 50-MW that we are looking at Assam, we are still in discussion, I think, with some regulatory change. And so we may consider because now we're thinking of Rajasthan and the generation of power in Rajasthan is higher. We may decide to put it up in Rajasthan. So we'll have to probably get back to you in the next investor call on that. Okay. Thank you and all the best. Congratulations on a good set of numbers for this quarter. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before we take the next question, a final reminder to participants. Please press star and one to join. We take the next question from Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for the follow-up opportunity. Just a couple of clarifications. So in terms of your trade priorities, is it fair to assume that number one will be the Bihar grinding unit followed by a greenfield project in Nimbol and thereafter Umrangso? Is that the correct sequence? So I mean, in terms of priority, I think we are. It's a good question. I also haven't put it like that. But I think in terms of priority, I think it really is to move all the four projects that I mentioned together as fast as we can because they are at different stages of completion, right? I mean, from an EC perspective and from a groundbreaking perspective. But the idea is to definitely do the Bihar project and Nimbol project. The Nimbol, Rajasthan project will, of course, give us growth in revenue and create a diversification platform in terms of the in terms of the EBITDA and the revenue. And the Bihar project would help us utilize our Northeast capacities better. So from that perspective, these two things are in priority. At the same time, Umrangso is not an easy terrain to work. So we just want to make sure that we start early so that we are able to commission the plants by the time we need the clinker, which we expect to be about FY29. So I think they all are equally important, and they all have different aspects of business which they're solving for us. Rajasthan is more from a diversification story, and Umrangso is more from just making sure that we are able to grow in our home market. Great. Just for clarification, Nimbol is a three-million-ton clinker unit, correct? And five-million-ton grinding cement? Yes. Of this 3 million tons clinker, I mean, clinker, of course, is at Nimbol. But a grinding unit will be at Nimbol only 3 million tons, and Haryana is 2 million tons, which is what we are trying. Is that breakup broadly correct? Yes. Okay. And for this right? Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. For this entire 5 million ton plant, what is the broad CapEx that we have finalized so far? As in, how should one look at the cost, or you would rather give it at a later stage? So I think the cost that we have and that may change. So I think the broad cost that we have taken out is about INR 2,400-INR 2,500 for the clinker plant and the integrated grinding unit along with the grinding unit in Haryana. But that estimate may be a bit premature and may have a 10% deviation up or down. With that flexibility, you can take that number. Yeah. No. The reason I'm asking is because at INR 2,500 ballpark, at a 5 million ton, that cost comes to more like $55. For a greenfield project, peers have not really delivered it at such low cost. And that's my question. If one could INR 2,500 is a realistic number, or it is more closer to INR 3,000 crore is what I want to make sense of? I feel that this number is realistic because we have just put up a kiln of about that size right now, and we were able to put it up in about INR 1,200 crore. So even if I take the greenfield cost and even if I take the cost of integrated grinding unit, I think we should be able to manage in that much. But I'll again do the working, and then probably I can give you a further clarification in the next call. Sure. Sure. From a timeline point of view, is Q3 this year? I mean, let's say by December of 2026, we place all the orders. So we should be targeting commissioning, you said, in one and a half year thereafter. Is that what you said? By end of FY28 or early FY29, how should one look at it? Because FY28. So I think we will start commissioning by quarter three of this year—sorry, of the next year, which is around December of this calendar year. And I think from there, it will take about 18-22 months. So if we calculate, then that will be basically around September of FY2028. Sorry, of 2028. The year 2028. Yeah? So that is what we are thinking because it will take at least 18 months from when we start the groundbreaking. Understood. My last question, sir. So for the previous year this year, the volume guidance in the first question that you answered, did you say our volume guidance for this year remains intact at 5.3 million tons for 2026? Yes. I think about 5.3 million tons remains intact. And it also has clinker. The reason why I asked is because 5.3 will imply flat volume year-on-year in Q4. So that's where I was checking if are we saying that Q4 will see flattened kind of volumes year-on-year or could see some? Yeah. No. I think there is some confusion because I think the number that we're talking about probably so I'll have to get some clarity about it because I think they've also included the clinker sales volume in it, right? But what I can say about Q4 is that we'll see a 10%-12% growth in Q4 as well year-over-year. So in terms of cement volume, the cement volume will be coming out about 8%-10% in Q4 as well. And the numbers, the right. The estimate. Yeah. The right estimate of Q4 in terms of the absolute number for the entire year, I will probably be able to write that down in the presentation that we put up online. We'll certainly look forward to your presentation, sir. Thank you for answering all the questions. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from Uttam Kumar Srimal from Axis Securities. Please go ahead. Yes, sir. My question pertains to Silchar unit since Silchar unit will get commissioned in this quarter. So Silchar is basically also nearest to Bangladesh also. So we are also thinking of exporting cement to Bangladesh? No. Right now, we are not considering that because I think the transportation to Bangladesh is a bit tricky. There is no direct road which connects Bangladesh and Silchar side. And normally, in rainy season, barges are used to transport. And that is also not perennial, the rivers. So we are not right now planning to sell in Bangladesh from Silchar. And also, Bangladesh has a customs duty on cement, which is almost I mean, there's almost like INR 2,000 per ton of customs. So I mean, there's no economic sense of sending cement to Bangladesh anywhere. Okay. Okay. And, sir, what was the capacity utilization of Siliguri plant this quarter? This quarter, our utilization of GU is about 60%. I think we'll be able to utilize our plant in Q4 at about 70%-75%. Okay. Okay, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from Milind Raginwar from BOB Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you for this opportunity. Just confirm, Silchar, we are expecting by what would be the timeline for Silchar and Jorhat, the revised one? So the timeline for Silchar is this month. I think by end of this month, we will be commissioning our plant. So between 20th to 27th is when we think of commissioning the plant. And Jorhat would be I think we have deferred Jorhat, and we have preferred to put in Bihar rather than Jorhat. So Jorhat may come along with the clinker plant in Umrangso. As of now, Jorhat remains replaced by Bihar? Yeah. So there is no GU now in Jorhat, right? No. So there will be a GU which will come along with the Umrangso plant. But not right now. It will take about 3 years, 3.5 years because right now, with the Silchar capacity coming up, I think we'll have sufficient capacity in Northeast to serve Northeast market. Okay. So in that case, we will have 9.6 million capacity in Northeast on the GU side, I mean, including GU. That is the total cement capacity. Is that a fair assumption? Yeah. So it will be 9.7 million. Oh, yes. Is that? 2 in Siliguri. 7.7. Yeah. 2 in Siliguri and 7.7 in Northeast. Correct. And this will be backed by about 6.1 million tons of Clinker. Yeah. Total of yeah? Yeah. So this is broadly clinker backed, this capacity. Oh. And so then the Bihar GU, we will be backing by the existing clinker only, or it will only come after the Umrangso plant? So we will be putting up the Bihar plant before Umrangso also because it will take lesser time than Umrangso. And it will help us utilize the clinkers of the existing units faster. And with Umrangso, we'll be putting the Jorhat plant. Okay. So till that time, Bihar will be fed by Meghalaya clinker units. Is that a fair assumption? Yes. That will also help us utilize it faster. Okay. Okay. That is it from my side. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. We have one last question. We take the last question from Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Sir, this clinker sale, whatever we are selling, 5%-6% of the total volume. So this will continue for even next year also? Yeah. I think we do expect that clinker, that whatever we sold in quarter three, that kind of a volume to be sold every quarter. Okay. So currently, if I look at nine-month, our CC ratio broadly is 1.32 versus normally, we have closer to 1.5. So it is that in the fourth quarter, we will catch up. And on a full-year basis, broadly, 1.5 CC ratio, that remains. Yeah. I think right now, our Clinker ratio is about 67.5%, which is I mean, if I convert in the way it's 1 divided by 67.5. 1.48. So it's coming to be about 1.48 only. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. It's not 1.5. Okay. In sort of third quarter, broadly, if we have to look at Northeast versus East for us in terms of profitability, still, it will be at the East would be INR 500- INR 600. That's the number which we used to have. The similar still is there? Yeah. I think the per ton that we earn in East is about INR 600-INR 700. And I think with some price betterment, I think it can reach to about INR 800. Okay. Got it. But of course, the Rajasthan expansion, so if you can, that is difficult to predict right now. But still, directionally, till what level are we comfortable? Obviously, because Rajasthan, once the volume will start, the EBITDA per ton definitely will not be as high as the Northeast. But roughly, are we looking at kind of INR 800- INR 900? That's the kind of profitability per ton that we are looking for Rajasthan. Yeah. So I think our modeling in the steady state expects it to be more than 1,000 because it also depends on where you put up your plants and how efficient your plants are. So our expectation in the long run is about 1,000 and sustainable. Initially, of course, the EBITDA will be low because we'll be ramping up and spending on branding as well. So the EBITDA per ton in Rajasthan would be lower because of that. There also, we will be having an incentive in Rajasthan also? Yes. We will be having an incentive, a capital subsidy incentive as per the policy of the Rajasthan government. Which would be roughly on an annual basis or per ton? Any broad idea? That we are happy to. 23%. It is about 23% of the CapEx as a capital subsidy. So it's not a GST benefit. It's a capital subsidy. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you. Thank you. We have one last question in queue. It's from Siddharth Mehrotra from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, just wanted to sort of get your views on the upcoming capacity expansion in North. So I mean, I was just looking at the numbers. If we add in your 5 MTPA expansion as well, I'm looking at almost a 50-55 MTPA expansion in just the North region. So I mean, are we sort of going to see a very aggressive supply situation in that geography? And if yes, how are we going to counter the incumbents already who have a legacy system there? So that's sort of just wanted to get your broad thoughts on that, sir. Yeah. So I think the northern markets, I think over time, have basically broadly maintained a decent utilization, right? So I understand that there are two, three companies like JSW, Dalmia, and other companies which are entering North now. And that may lead to excess capacity. But I think the tendency of North has been has generally had more decorum than other areas in the mainland India, right? So I think our strategy is quite simple. We're not entering with a very large capacity, actually. We have an integrated plant of 3 million. And shortly after we commission that, we'll be commissioning a grinding unit in Haryana, right? So the capacity that we enter is not huge. And what we would target to do is to maintain and to create a brand like how we have created our brand in Northeast. And we sell higher than any other brand in Northeast despite being the highest volume player in Northeast. We would want the same kind of a branding and patience in terms of marketing in North as well. So that is how we plan to go about it. And I mean, yeah, and just make sure that we are able to position ourselves through branding and technical services and other things as a good price band compared to our competitors. Understood, sir. So we definitely will not be compromising our margins just to sell volumes in that geography if that understanding is correct, right, sir? Yes. I think more important, especially if you're entering a new area, it is more important. I mean, it is, of course, tempting to sell more volumes, but it comes at the cost of putting yourself at a lower price band, right? So we'll have to make sure and have the patience and the willpower to create a brand in the long run and discounting and selling and just trying to get done with the volume is not the answer to that. Got it, sir. Just one last question if I can squeeze in. Sir, what is the cost of our limestone in the northern region, sir? Are they legacy mines? Are they newer mines? So to that, I think we have an auction mine. The average premium of the auction mine is about 57%. This is for Nimbol. But we are also looking at legacy mines. So we're confident that we'll probably be able to lock one or two legacy mines. If we do that, then, of course, our cost for the initial 10 years will be 0% premium because they are legacy mines. So I think that is what we're trying to do. I think by the next call, I'll have better clarity, and probably we would have locked the mine. And then I think I can talk more about it. Great, sir. That would be good to know. Thanks a lot for your time, sir. Best of luck. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. That was the last question in queue. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital India Pvt Ltd for closing comments. Yeah. Thank you, Tushar. I just had a couple of questions. So first thing is, were there any one-offs in the cost apart from the credit in the Q3? Yeah. What you were saying, Vaibhav? Sir, were there any one-offs in the cost items in Q3 apart from? 5 Cr donation is there. Okay? The one-off cost is there. Okay. This donation is to any political party or what? Okay. Yeah. What else? Hello? Yeah. Yeah. It's a political donation. Yeah. Okay. Apart from that, there's no other one-off, right? No, no, no. No. Okay. And sir, second thing was I just wanted to know that Tusharji mentioned on the call about an INR 1,000 steady state EBITDA guidance in North operations. So Tusharji, when I met you, we had discussed that you had kind of highlighted that INR 1,300-INR 1,500 would be your sustainable EBITDA even after your expansions. That is your forecast then. So this INR 1,000, you are mentioning as on date, or you are mentioning as once you enter? So I was slightly confused over that, so wanted to clarify that. The question is, am I expecting 1,300 or 1,000 in the long run? Okay. Yeah. So I mean, I mean, it really depends. I think the question which was asked earlier, if you're operating legacy mines versus auction mines, so I think the answer just really depends on all those things. I think in the next call, we'll be in a better position to answer. I mean, ideally, in the steady state, I think all the cement companies should be earning INR 1,200 given the investment that we make. But I think for our case, depending on the legacy mine, we'll be able to better explain what we are expecting in the next call. Just want to clarify, sir, your earlier guidance which when I interviewed you and which you gave of 1,300-1,500 EBITDA per ton on a sustainable basis for Star Cement as a whole, that holds on, right? That is your expectation as of now. Just wanted to confirm that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you're talking about Rajasthan, or are we talking about Northeast? I'm saying Star Cement as a whole. So the question was asked to you was what was the dilution you were expecting profitability once you enter in new markets. At that time, you answered that INR 1,300-1,500. Yeah. I think going in the future, I think we do expect INR 1,300-INR 1,500 to be the range for Star Cement. Specifically for North, I thought you were asking specifically for North, but. No, no. So I was asking after the North. So if you're saying North is INR 1,100 EBITDA per ton, so broadly, your guidance of INR 1,300-INR 1,400 holds on, or that is kind of a tapering down? Holds on broadly. Okay. That's what my question was. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Tushar. And on behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, I'd like to thank the management for the call and also management as a part of joining the call. Thank you very much, sir. You may now conclude the call. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. With that, we conclude today's conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.