Ladies and gentlemen, you have been connected to the conference call of ASK Automotive Q3 and nine-month FY 2026 post-results earnings call. The call will begin shortly. Requested to please stay connected. Ladies and gentlemen, you have been connected to ASK Automotive Q3 and nine- month FY 2026 post-results earnings calls. The call will begin shortly. Requested to please stay connected. Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to ASK Automotive Q3 and nine-month FY 2026 post-results earnings call hosted by ASK Automotive by ASK Automotive PR. As a reminder, all participant line 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rishabh Shah from ASK Automotive PR. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Good evening to everyone and welcome to Q3 and nine-month FY 2026 earnings call of ASK Automotive Limited. From the management, we have with us Mr. Kuldip Singh Rathee, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Prashant Rathee, Joint Managing Director, Mr. Aman Rathee, Joint Managing Director, Mr. Naresh Kumar, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Manoj Sharma, Chief General Manager, Investor Relations. Before we begin the call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made during the call may be forward-looking in nature, and hence it may involve risks and uncertainties, including those related to the future financials and operating performance of the company. Please bear with us if there are any call drops during the course of the conference call. We would like to ensure the call is reconnected at the earliest. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Kuldip Singh Rathee, Chairman and Managing Director, for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Rishabh. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's my great pleasure to welcome you all to our Q3 and nine-month FY 2026 earnings conference call. I hope you have had the opportunity to review the detailed presentation submitted to the exchanges and available on our website. The Government of India's GST 2.0 reform marks a pivotal milestone that is set to elevate the Indian automobile industry and energize the broader economy, given the sector's deep forward and backward linkages. Now, let me begin by sharing a quick overview of the broader industry as reported by SIAM. The Indian automobile sector witnessed healthy momentum in nine-month FY 2026, with overall vehicle production across all segments registering a robust year-on-year growth of 9.3%. The two-wheeler segment matched the overall vehicle production growth at 8.8% on a year-on-year basis. We are optimistic that the growth momentum will remain in the coming quarters as well, supported by stable macroeconomic conditions and GST 2.0 reforms that have improved overall affordability and consumer sentiment. The two-wheeler industry closed nine-month FY 2026 with a strong production volume of 19.6 million units, up from 18 million units in nine-month FY 2025. In Q3 alone, production touched 6.8 million units as compared to 5.9 million in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead, we believe that the industry will continue to gain from the far-reaching macroeconomic policy reforms undertaken by the government, particularly GST 2.0 reforms, personal income tax rationalization announced in the Union Budget 2025-2026, and successive rate cuts and liquidity enhancement measures by the Reserve Bank of India. These have positively impacted consumer purchasing power and improved access to vehicle financing, creating a conducive environment for the sustained demand. Rising rural income will also be beneficial for the two-wheeler sector. Since all our products were under the category of 28% GST, hence the reduction of GST rate from 28% to 18% is helping us to outgrow the Indian aftermarket and gain more market share from gray market operators and duplicators. With this positive backdrop, we remain optimistic about the growth trajectory of the sector in the coming quarters. Before we move on to ASK's business performance, we would like to highlight that our 9.9 MW solar plant at Sirsa, Haryana, has started supplies from April 25. We are excited with the results in terms of sustainable operational economies. Happy to announce that the company is installing one more captive solar power plant of 11.55 MW at Rajasthan, which is expected to be operational by Q1 FY 2027. This reflects ASK's special focus on green energy. Moving on to business updates, I am delighted to share with you that we had a strong finish to the Q3 and nine months of the year in both revenue and profitability. This marks our ninth consecutive quarter of robust performance since the company's listing. During Q3 FY 2026, we delivered revenue growth of 28%, excluding wheel assembly business. The wheel assembly strategic reduction was 51.5%, and thus our consolidated published revenue has grown by 18.5% on a year-on-year basis. We achieved growth of 26.8% in EBITDA and 21.3% in PAT on a year-on-year basis. This is the highest-ever absolute revenue, EBITDA and PAT, unsurpassed in any quarter in the past. We continue to outperform the two-wheeler industry in terms of vehicle production growth during Q3 FY 2026. Further, we have achieved the EBITDA margin of 13.4% in Q3 FY 2026, representing an improvement of 88 basis points over Q3 FY 2025. Our EBITDA margin is affected by aluminum alloy prices. Upward increase in prices of aluminum affects our EBITDA percentage because of denominator effect. However, our absolute EBITDA number remains the same. With this strong performance on profitability, our earnings per share in Q3 FY 2026 has increased to INR 4.05 per share against INR 3.34 per share in the same period last year. Improvement in margins is mainly driven by better economies of scale due to higher volumes, benefit from increasing capacity utilization at Karoli and New Bengaluru facility, and strategic reduction in low-value-added wheel assembly business. As a result, in nine months of FY 2026, we delivered revenue growth of 18.6%, excluding wheel assembly business. Because of wheel assembly strategic reduction by 52.8%, the consolidated revenue, which is published, has grown by 10.2% on a year-on-year basis. Achieved growth of 21.9% in EBITDA and 18.8% in PAT on a year-on-year basis. We have delivered EBITDA margin of 13.5% and improvement of 130 basis points on a year-on-year basis. With strong performance on profitability, our earnings per share in 9 months FY 2026 has increased to INR 11.45 per share against INR 9.64 per share in the same period last year. Our all three product segments performed well in Q3 and 9 months FY 2026 in terms of revenue growth. We have sustained our market leadership position in the advanced braking system. Our advanced braking system revenue grew by 22% in Q3 and 12% in 9 months FY 2026 on a year-on-year basis. The aluminum lightweighting precision solution revenue grew by 36% in Q3 and 24% in 9 months FY 2026 on a year-on-year basis. The safety control cable revenue also recorded growth of 22% in Q3 and 10% in 9 months FY 2026 on a year-on-year basis. In the unstable global geopolitical environment due to tariff and other issues, our revenue from exports were at INR 100 crore against INR 108 crore last year in the same period. However, based on Q3 FY 2026 performance, we do feel that we'll touch the last year's number. Thank you very much for your patient hearing. With this, we leave the floor open for question and answer. Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with 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 handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question comes from the line of Raghunandan N.L. from Nuvama Research. Please go ahead. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Congratulations to you and the entire team for the strong numbers. My first question was on the CapEx side. The new CapEx of INR 35 crore and increasing the capacity to 32 crore brake shoes and pads. So how much would now the total CapEx be for FY 2026? And also your thoughts on FY 2027 CapEx? And even for FY 2026, if you can also provide a breakup of CapEx, that will be very useful. We will close the FY 2026 CapEx. We had planned INR 450 crore initially in the FY 2026. However, we tried to minimize wherever it was possible. But then another CapEx of INR 40 crore we did for to set up the solar power plant, which was not scheduled initially. And with this extra CapEx, but still we'll close the CapEx at INR 500 crore. Noted, sir. How do you see it for FY 2027? FY 2027 CapEx will be less. We intend to be within limits of INR 400 crore only. Got it, sir. On brake pads, approximately what would be your market share? See, the brake pads overall market is less than that. So our market share should be around between 10%-12% or something. Got it, sir. Congratulations on the performance on exports in this quarter. You had earlier spoken about the Ford order. Would that be commencing by end of FY 2026? And how do you see that Ford order commencing and ramping up over FY 2027 and FY 2028? And also because of this order, would you expect FY 2026 exports to be flat? See, FY 2026 exports, as I mentioned, will be flat. However, the exports to Ford have already started. The containers are going, but because of the great uncertainties created by the tariff issues, not only by the U.S., but also by Mexico, where some parts were going, and they have also imposed 50% duties. But still, we are very hopeful that since our product is highly technical, we feel there'll be some smooth supplies in the FY 2027. Got it, sir. Just a last question. Can you share how was the utilization at Bengaluru and Karoli plant this quarter? Yes, sir. In this quarter, we have reached between 75%-80% capacity utilization in the Bengaluru plant. Now it's almost fully operational, Bengaluru plant. The capacity utilization in Rajasthan plant remains at 65% only because in that we are waiting for some new items to be started, which are likely to start in the H2. Got it, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much and wishing all the best. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Naveen Kumar Dubey from Narnolia Financial Services Limited. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, sir. Congratulations for the strong set of numbers. I have two questions. First question is related to the margin. Our alloy wheel business is like 50% of the revenue currently. And aluminum prices have gone up, but we don't see much of impact on the margins. Have we taken any price increases in that? No, Mr. Naveen, we have not taken any price increase so far. The margins that you see are already down by at least 30-40 basis points because of the aluminum price increase. The revenue has gone up by that much, and the EBITDA margin has come down by 30 basis points. What you see, the EBITDA margin in this quarter of 13.4 would have been 13.7 or 13.8 had the aluminum prices not skyrocketed. Okay. Okay. The second question is on the same alloy wheel business. We have done that Japanese collaboration. How is that progressing, sir? That's progressing pretty well. We are going to take out the product in our premises, first product in February, before February end. They'll be testing for a few months, and we hope to start the supplies in the start of H2. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Vijay Pandey from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, two questions. One was on the commodity prices. How are we tackling this increased commodity inflation, especially on the aluminum side? Do we have any hedge, or is it a pass-through? How should we look into that? The aluminum prices are pass-through, month-on-month. We are not very much affected on that account. That's what we said, that the absolute EBITDA number is remaining the same. Only the percentage of the EBITDA has gone down by 35 basis points. Okay. So thank you, sir. So our new plant, which we are setting up, this will be again solar. So it will be powered by solar. So is there any extra incremental CapEx because of the solar situation? Because the solar panels, the cost of solar panels has gone up. Can you confirm the incremental unit economics there? No, no. We are not incurring any extra. There's no impact because the project is getting almost complete. All the supplies had already come before the price increase. So this new solar plant will be set up within the stipulated budget. Okay. And sir, how is it possible that you can give us an outlook for the remainder of the Q4 and going into FY 2027, a slight breakup for the two wheelers, especially in the rural and urban side? That will be pretty helpful. As regards to the coming quarter, we have very strong projections from the OEMs. Even the independent aftermarket is looking very, very good because of the GST reduction from 28% to 18% in our line. We are very bullish even on this Q4. As regards the next year, we are very bullish on that because we feel that this two-wheeler story will continue because it has started continuing only after a gap of many years. Even the next year seems to be very good. Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Deep Shah from YES Securities and Institutional Equities. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. Sir, a few questions. First to begin with on the alloy wheels itself. While you read some timelines to our Kyushu Japan JV, if you can throw some light on the Lio H o, the Taiwan JV that we were working for. So any problems on that? That would be my first question. Yes. Yeah. Taiwan, I think, is going on well. It's under testing. There were a few amendments to be done. We have already done those amendments. But I have explained it in every call that this being a safety item, we cannot do any hurried call we cannot take. So let the customer take the call. But we are very confident all the results will definitely come in the Taiwan collaboration. Also, positive results will come. Okay. And sir, the second question is about the sunroof cable JV that we did and then some sort of supply, what's expected from 1H FY 2027. So where are we on that journey? Is it on track? Or I mean, is there any initial letters of commitment by the OEMs? If you can throw some light there. We are very much on track on that. Already, the machines have come. The setup is there. I think all our samples, etc., production will come out in the Q2 of FY 2027. The supply should start in the H2. Sir, by roughly, what would be the addressable revenue size for us? Addressable revenue side is not too big. Addressable revenue side is about INR 100 crore. That's all. But you see, I told in the last call that we don't do many things just for the sake of money. We take pride in saying that this is an Atmanirbhar Bharat project and will be the first one to initiate it in the country. Surely. And sir, last question is about the Aisin JV. So there also, we had commented about some appointment of some 40, 50 dealers for aftermarket fuel penetration. So where are we on that aspect? That is ramping up now slowly and gradually. And maybe in the Q1 of next year, we'll break even in that. Okay. Okay, sir. Thanks a lot, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. Next question comes from the line of Yash Agarwal from Nirmal Bang. Please go ahead. Good evening, sir. Congratulations for the great set of results. I just wanted to know your view on update. Any update on the draft ABS regulation which was meant to be implemented by the first gen? Give any update on that. There's no update from the government. I think it was a draft which is now hanging because of the request of the OEMs. Also, in the Q3, we have seen that the two-wheeler ICE segment growth outpaced the two-wheeler EV segment. So maybe because of the GST benefit, the ICE segment is doing better in the two-wheeler side. So do we expect this trend to continue going forward? You are right because now the gap is very less because of the GST reduction. That way, I think the ICE sector is rather in a stronger position. What are your expectations for the Q4 two-wheeler production growth estimates? Have you revised it higher as compared to the last time? We know our projections. We always say we'll grow in mid-teens, and we'll be growing in mid-teens. Okay, sir. Thank you from my side. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Harshad from Pi Square. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. I just wanted to understand your guidance about your debt levels and what are our plans with that? Debt levels of our debt-equity never increases 0.5. We will remain below that in spite of the extra expenditures on CapEx that will be increasing this financial year. It's always one year of EBITDA. Normally, it's close to that. I just also wanted to understand what would be your ideal capacity utilization across your various plants on a blended level? See, the economies of scale come when we are overall 80% capacity utilization. We love to do that. But however, we put up the next plant much before because we are suppliers to all our prestigious customers and direct online and just-in-time suppliers. So we keep always some extra capacity. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sahil Sanghvi from Monarch Networth Capital. Please go ahead. Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for very good numbers. So just wanted to understand the growth in the ABS segment and the ALPS segment that we've reported. So ideally, in the braking segment, we usually have some growth around the two-wheeler industry. But this time, it's much, much higher. So if you could help us with the reason. And also, the aluminum segment has grown a little higher than our run rate for the last two, three quarters. So just the reasons for that, and do you expect that these growth rates will sustain? See, there has been an impact on the Indian aftermarket. As I have mentioned many times, the reduction of GST—we were unfortunate to be on the 28% bracket. Now that it has come down to 18%. So a lot of gray market, we are giving a tough fight to the gray market operators, which are prevalent in the country. So I think we are grabbing more and more share from them. So there is a very huge growth in the Indian aftermarket. That's the main reason. Plus, our ICE OEM players, their duty was also reduced from 28% to 18%. So their numbers have also increased tremendously. And in the Q3, even they grew by 15%. So similar reasons apply for the aluminum segment? Aluminum segment, yes. Similar reasons or even otherwise, the work can come from anywhere. That's a very flexible and great opportunity. That is why we call it the sunrise industry. Got it, sir. Got it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sagar Shetty from BP Equities. Please go ahead. Yes, sir. I'm audible? Yes, please. Yeah. So sir, thank you. you. Congrats on the good set of numbers. So I just wanted to get a picture on how, after the GST rate cut, so how is the sentiment going on with the OEMs? Are we seeing any particular better demand from two-wheelers or PVs or anything like that? If you could just give some color on it. See, after the reduction in GST, two-wheeler demand is really picking up, both at the OEM level and the independent aftermarket level. It has been a real big boost to the two-wheeler sector. Okay. And sir, so do we expect some, if not in Q4, but FY 2027 onward, do we expect some revision in our growth guidance, from mid-teen digits to somewhere around high-teen digits or anything like that? Or do we expect some? We always expect mid-teens, and we are happy to achieve that. Because we are outgrowing the market. You will appreciate that. Even this year, in spite of such good times, the two-wheeler sector in nine months has grown only by 8.8%, whereas we have grown substantially higher. Right. And sir, if I could just ask one more thing. With the ABS thing going on, so if the draft has not been announced by the government, so what is going on with the OEMs right now? What is the sentiment with the two-wheeler manufacturers? Have Have you had any conversation with them? And is there any kind of thing you have discussed on how? No, no. I have repeatedly said that we'll talk on this hypothetical question, and we'll discuss when the final notification comes. Because our OEMs are already in discussion with the government that it's not practical. Let the result come out of that. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. We are not aware what they are discussing with the government. Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nitin Agarwal from JM Financial. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on the great set of numbers. I wanted to know about your EBITDA margin guidance since we have ramped up the Bengaluru facility and the distance facility is expected to ramp up. So are we trying to, or are we thinking of revising our estimates upwards going in FY 2027, or are we maintaining around 13.7, thereabouts? So we had given a guidance of 13.7, but that gets affected at least by 30 basis points because of the denominator factor of the aluminum price increase. So that 13.7 becomes 13.4. And we are very hopeful that we'll try to maintain around that only in the next financial year. Okay. Okay. But you highlighted that aluminum prices are a pass on a month-on-end basis. So eventually, the margin will come back to what we were guiding for initially. Is that understanding correct? No, no, no. That understanding is not correct. The contribution that we get for doing the job remains the same. So when the aluminum prices go up, the EBITDA margin's percentage goes down. But the absolute EBITDA remains the same. Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. That's it from my side. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Vijay Pandey from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead. Sir, thank you for the follow-up. Just want to confirm about the launch pipeline for the new products in the next year. So we have sunroof. We have two programs of our alloy. If you can just confirm, when can we expect commercial production or mass production? Both the programs will be launching in the start of H2. Okay. So both agreements, the agreement with Taiwan, the one agreement with the Japanese company, both will come in the second half only? Yes. Second half, they can come. They will come in the second half after due testing. And even this sunroof cable will also come. That will also come. Generally, how much time does it take for the full ramp-up? When can we expect? We are prepared from day one. We are prepared today also because we have already invested everything. Once the testing is complete, then we'll immediately gear up. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir, and all the best for. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rishi Kapadia from CLSA. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you so much for taking my questions and congratulations on good sets of numbers. Sir, my first question is on wheel assembly business. By when can we expect that this would kind of completely phase out? Sir, the customer has assured that by March end, the balance will also go, which is about 48%. So let's see. Once the customer takes it back, we'll be announcing in the next call. But if the customer takes it back in March, then next year also, you will see the same representation from our side that actual excluding wheel assembly, this is the growth. And without wheel assembly, published is this much. Got it. Thank you, sir. And sir, my second question is on your ROC. You are currently delivering 27%-28% ROC, and despite capacity utilization of your two plants at lower levels, so what do you expect? Can ROCE go ahead from current levels, or 27-28 is something which would kind of build in? I hope to see you are satisfied with 27% ROC. That's a tough job to achieve, which we are achieving. Second thing, I would correct that one plant has already gone to 80% capacity utilization. So only one is left now at 65%. ROCE will remain. This will be difficult to maintain 27, but we make all-out efforts to maintain 27. Okay. And sir, lastly, just the clarification. Would aluminum inflation lead to roughly 2% revenue inflation as well, or it would be lesser than 2%? Certainly. Certainly. One One side, it leads to revenue inflation. The other side, it leads to reduction in the percentage of EBITDA margin. Not the absolute, but the percentage of EBITDA margin. Okay. So quantum would be just 2% roughly, right? Yeah. You can say 3%. Okay. Thank you. 2%-3%, yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. As there are no further questions from the participant, I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Kuldip Singh Rathee from ASK Automotive Limited for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, everyone, for such a patient hearing. I would like to once again reassure you that the future looks very bright. As you know, I am always an optimist. Our Q4 is going to be very bright, and even the next year seems to be very good. On that positive note, I would like to end and thank you. Thank you very much once again. Thank you so much, sir. On behalf of ASK Automotive, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.