Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Astral Limited Q2 FY2026 results conference call hosted by Equirus Securities 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 conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pranav Mehta from Equirus Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Yeah, thank you, Sathar. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Equirus Securities, I welcome you to the 2Q and first half of FY2026 post-result conference with the management of Astral Limited. From the management side, we have Mr. Sandeep Engineer, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Kairav Engineer, Executive Director; and Mr. Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and CFO. I will now hand over the call to Mr. Sandeep, sir, for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir. Thank you. For the earnings call of Q2 FY2026. As you are all aware, the polymer industry is passing through a volatile time. Prices are highly volatile and fluctuating in a high range, but in spite of that, as usual, Astral is a company which always focuses on growth and at the same time on profitability, which is once again reflected and demonstrated in our quarter results with a 20% volume growth and 15% value growth, and 20% growth in our EBITDA margin. Now, let me take you through the different aspects in the pipe business. First, demand was overall weak in the industry, but because of decentralization of plants, the demand was very good and growing for us. At the same time, we have opened plants in different geographies, which has helped us to gain market share and also increase our share in the market for the value-added product and even in CPVC. As you are aware, Astral has spent INR 1,400 crore in CapEx in the last four years in all verticals, and now it is the time to utilize the same and generate cash flows and growth in all the businesses across the sectors we are in. As communicated in the past, we have increased our product basket in the last three, four years, and since its base is still very low, it has given good performance like water tank, our valve project, fire sprinkler pipes, OPVC, PTMT, and our low-noise pipe products. This has also given us healthy margins with the growth. Our Hyderabad plant has started and is picking up in volumes and will further pick up in the coming months. Similarly, our Kanpur plant is also gearing up. Actually, we have started the Kanpur plant, and it is gearing up, and we are expecting it will give good volumes and will be in full scale, giving good results for our Q4 of this fiscal year. As in Q3, all inventory levels will also be built up for the Q4. Our CPVC plant designing work is going on and is almost to completion. We will be starting the construction and other activities of ordering the machinery in next month. We will be finishing the installation of machinery and construction of the CPVC plant by next year, by September 2026. We will keep everyone updated on the progress of our CPVC plant in the coming months. At adhesives business, as usual, the business is steadily growing at 15% run rate, and we are confident that it will keep growing at the same run rate in coming fiscals. I'm sure that you must have seen that in this vertical, we are continuously growing market share by entering new geographies, new product introduction, and focus on rural markets. You have also seen that the EBITDA margins are also very stable and moving in the range of 15%-16% continuously. We are confident that this run rate will continue in coming Q fiscals. The U.K. business. The U.K. adhesives business, which had a lot of concerns in the past few quarters, this business was passing through a tough time in last year. We took a quick and bold decision to replace the CEO of our U.K. business. We completed buying of the 5% stake of the company and made it a 100% subsidiary. We have put in a new CEO from India who has taken charge of the company and has very good experience of 25+ years in this segment. We are positive that in coming time, we'll be back to our normal growth of double digit in revenue and EBITDA. In Q2, you will also find a substantial improvement from what was there in the past few fiscals. We have grown 5% in top line and with 7.33% in EBITDA. 7.33% from a - 2%. Actually, the EBITDA has improved substantially, and it is continuously improving. Both the margins are improving and the growth is improving. We are confident that this quarter, we will be growing at the U.K. business as a substantial growth percentage and the margin percentage. In the bathware business, the business is also growing at a slow pace. In the first half, we have grown at 20%. However, our acceptance in new projects is increasing fast, and our order book is also improving. It clearly indicates that in coming time, the business will scale up and will reach at a good level. We are positive about the growth of the bathware business in coming quarters as base is very low and post monsoon, the construction activities are picking up and growing very fast. In our paint business, first time after acquisition of Gem Paints, we are seeing a 19% growth in H1. It is continuously growing at a good pace in many of the markets. We have recently opened nine depots in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Due to which, some costs like employee cost and other costs have gone high, and we are. Under the pressure on margins. We are confident that by end of this fiscal and in next year, we will see a substantial improvement in the growth top line and the margins. This year, we have given a guidance of 20% growth for the full year, and we are going to be. We are going to achieve it as per the guidance given by us. With this, I'm closing my initial remarks and let Hiranand give you fiscal performance of Q2 and outlook of the rest of the year. Thank you very much. Thank you, Pranav, for hosting this phone call, and welcome to all participants for this Q2 earning. As you all know, we are always believing in consistency in number and the profitable growth for the organization. I am very happy to share that in this quarter also, we have delivered a very healthy 20% volume growth and 15% value growth, and above the guided margin range of 15%-16% EBITDA on a consolidated basis. Though we all know this quarter was challenging in many fronts, very high monsoon and extended monsoon also, low government spending, slow construction activity, and volatile polymer prices. In spite of that, we have delivered our number as per the guidance of the double digit growth in volume terms in H1. If you have seen H1 basis, we have already reached the double digit number. Historically also, if you see, the H2 is much better than the H1. We are also expecting this year also that the H2 should be better than the H1. We are also slowly and gradually coming back in U.K. also, which was the biggest worry for the investor community. Now not only growth has started picking up, but the margin has also improved. What Sandeep and I say, we are confident that we will come back to our original double-digit kind of EBITDA margin in the next year. By year end, we will cover up whatever the problems are there. We will come up, and the new CEO will also take charge fully. Next year onward, we will be back to the normalcy. Paint has already, Sandeep and I said, that first time in the history for Astral, we are growing at close to 20%, whatever we have guided. The biggest thing what we are seeing that the amount of CapEx which we have spent in the last three, three and a half years, close to about INR 1,400 crore. Now you will see in the coming quarter, this will give us the results because last couple of years, the polymer prices were low because of that top line was not coming up. Now the base effect is there in the system. In one or two quarters, I think volume and value will be more or less same. After that, you will see that it will be a continuously growth. If the ADD, which is the most talk of the town today, is coming by 12th November, whatever the last date government has prescribed, in that case, the polymer price will start picking up. In that case, the value growth will be even more than the volume growth. That will help us to grow our margins also further from here on. I am sure you must have gone through the working capital side number also. We have improved the net working capital cycle also in this difficult time also. We will keep controlling this working capital cycle in the coming time also. The press release is with you. I do not want to discuss much on the number side. Again, I am repeating the vertical-wide number. The plumbing has grown up by 15.75%. Adhesive India has grown up by 15.83%. Adhesive U.K. has grown by 5.22%. Paint has delivered a growth of 17.08%. Bathware has delivered growth of 13.84%. With this, I want to open up the floor for the Q&A session. Over to you, moderator. 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 touchstone 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question is from the line of Shravan Shah from Dholat Capital. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you, sir. And congratulations on good setup number. Sir, a couple of questions, though you have highlighted in your opening remarks, but just trying to understand better in terms of the numbers. As you mentioned, so far on the plumbing business, the second half is always better. Just, is it possible to get some sense that can we see even if, let's say, ADD does not come? If it comes, obviously, it is better. If it does not come, then also can we see a kind of a 17% kind of a growth in the second half? Normally, last time we have said that for next five years also, we are looking at double digit growth. That thing remains intact. I think we have already given a guidance of double digit. We have never said that we are going to deliver 17%. We are standby with the 17%. If ADD will come, that is a bonus to us, and that will be even a much higher number. Historically, if you see, normally the first half is 40%-45% of the volume, and the second half is between 55%-60% kind of volume. Similarly, we are also expecting that the second half should be better. At this stage, we do not want to communicate that we will be growing 20%, 17%, 18%. Whatever the double digit guidance we have given, we are standby with that. We are confident that we will be delivering the double digit growth. Even if the ADD is not in place, the same pace of growth will be continuing for us. Okay. And so far, sir, October, have you seen the same momentum what we have seen in the 2Q? The same momentum is there on the growth front? October was also very good. Okay. Okay. That's great. Just on the realization front, if you can help us, this quarter we have seen QQ plumbing realization kind of 8%, excluding bathware growth. Is it kind of more of a product mix change, particularly on the CPVC front, maybe on the higher side? If you can specify, out of overall growth, was the CPVC growth on the higher side? See, product mix has improved. That is the reason you see there is a substantial improvement in the margin compared to Q1. Definitely, the all value-added product contribution has gone up. Otherwise, the margin could have been under pressure. Okay. Okay. Got it. We already communicated that whatever this INR 1,400 crore which we have spent in the last three years for these all new products and all, slowly and gradually, it has to perform because we have spent sizable money. Now the time has come to generate the cash flow out of that. Definitely, the value-added ratio in the coming time has to improve. Otherwise, we have already spent this much of money. It is unfortunate that the polymer price was down for the last two years. That has given the pressure on us. That time also, if you see, our margins were still better in this difficult time also, though we were incurring the losses on the inventory side. Still, our margins were better. Clearly, value-added product is supporting us. Got it. Got it. And on the adhesive front, so both India, so obviously, sir has mentioned that the 15% kind of a growth that we even previously guided will continue. On the margin front, in one H, we have already done 15.6%. Is there a possibility that in the second half and maybe going forward, we can see even 17% kind of a margin is also possible in India adhesive? See, if the growth will be better, then economy of scale advantage will be available to us. Definitely, it is going to help us in the margin improvement also. As of today, we have given the guidance of 15%-16%. We have standby with that. If the growth will be higher, definitely margin can improve. Last year also, you see, the margins were much better. Secondly, we have always communicated in the past few calls that we have opened the rural market in a big way. We had to employ more people and move to create all these new markets, new geographies. Once these geographies are stable, we will also work and bring down the requirement of people which are there to create this market slowly and steadily. Obviously, that will give us an additional jump on our improvement in the market. Got it. Lastly, on the U.K. adhesive, sir, you said that by end of this financial year, we will be having a double digit margin, and that will continue going forward. Yes. We said for the next year, we are predicting that the double digit margin will be there. By the end of this fiscal by March, we will be substantially improving both on the growth in the overall sales in value terms and even in the EBITDA margin. Got it. Got it. Thank you, sir, and all the best. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Sneha Talreja from Nuvama Wealth. Please go ahead. Hi, good evening, team, and congratulations and great set of numbers. Just wanted to understand what has actually changed between Q1 and Q2. While I understand the volatility in polymer prices continued, demand, as you said, that on the ground was still subdued, there was no government spending and everything. What has really changed that moved our volume growth from 0% to about 21%? That is one. Next, I will go for margins. Basically, we have changed, as Hiranand and I said, that some of the product mixes definitely changed. Certain products that we manufacture, good demand was there in Q2. Also, we have become a bit more aggressive in terms of our selling in the market and taking the competition head-on. We will continue taking the competition head-on and trying to figure out where our weaknesses are. We have added some network, we have added more dealers, we have increased our distribution count. On all fronts, we have put in our best efforts to give this number. Secondly, Sneha, I already communicated in my initial remark that whatever this last four new plant has been come up, whether it is Guwahati, whether it is Cuttack, whether it is Hyderabad, or now in Kanpur. All this plant. Definitely is going to help us to grow market share in that respective geography where our presence was low compared to the other geography. Now that geographies are also definitely going to give us a good volume. That has also helped us to improve our volume. Sir, is it correct to say that geographical diversification, also aggression on pricing in certain markets, must have increased, which must have led to better pricing in those markets and better market share from there? Definitely, it's a combination of all. Aggression in the pricing is also there in respective geographies, and certain market value-added contributions are improving. Certain market new product contributions are improving. It is not one element which I can say that because of this improvement is there. It is a combination of all which is contributing to us. We, from the last one and a half years, these were the questions, and we are always confidently replying that let all these geographies, these plants come up. When these plants were coming up, there were a lot of concerns about spending, investing. What we did at one go did have a challenge for us for the market. At the same time, the fruits. That we get from these new plants and the growth, the costing reduction because of transport and all these factors together is now going to give us a continuous level of growth, reach, and market creation. We have been openly discussing on all these fronts, also in our past call. Lastly, I just wanted to understand about the cost-saving measures that you all have opted for. What would have been ad spend last year, same quarter versus this year, same quarter? Ad spend as such is not a big part of the total whatever other expenditures are there. Ad spend is a very minuscule part of it. I think the main thought process is wrong that if the ad spend stops, then the other expense will go down because ad spend contributes to maybe less than 5%-10% of the total other expense. It is not that only ad spend side we have saved. We have saved on a lot of different things. It is better that we can discuss this in person because we do not want to discuss publicly what all cost-saving measures we have undertaken. Sure, sir. Thanks a lot, team, and all the very best. Also, let me reinforce one thing. That some of these challenges and red flags were raised two to three quarters back by all of you. We had taken certain serious measures, and we are continuing to take. Wherever we need that manpower is required, we want, but we are not. We are correcting whether certain expenses, all these things, we are doing one by one. At that time also, I communicated that certain things will take time of a few quarters to reflect, and it will still take some more quarters to reflect in the better way, reducing this cost. Hiranand had past also communicated once the value and the volume comes up, certain expenses in the percentage term and in the cost terms will also show a substantial improvement. That was really helpful. Thanks, team, and all the very best. Thank you, Sneha. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to all the participants of the conference that if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one to join the question queue. Our next question comes from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity. Firstly, congratulations for a healthy set of numbers. My first question is, as you highlighted, your mix has improved. If we see your EBITDA per kg, which is still flat year on year, in spite there was a INR 2- INR 3 per kg loss in September 2024 quarter. That way, margin has reduced if we see in EBITDA per kg terms. Is it due to price aggression? How should we rate it? Secondly, first time you sort of, normally Astral does not get in price aggression. It looks like Astral is recouping its market share with the help of price aggression. Is it over, or should we expect more price aggression and possibly a better volume growth? How should we rate it going forward? Firstly, price aggression doesn't mean that we are selling at any price. Price aggression is geography to geography wherever we feel that it is the correction. Secondly, what happened earlier, the centralized dispatch system was there. Now with these new plants and there, because a lot of saving is there into that. Considering that saving in mind, we are passing on to the market. That is why you see that our per kg EBITDA or with a percentage term EBITDA is the highest in the industry. In spite of so much of challenges and polymer drop was there in this quarter in terms of PVC, in CPVC, also price drop was there in this quarter. In spite of that, also we are able to maintain that thing, whether it is a per kg or whether it is a percentage term EBITDA. In spite of getting aggression also, we are balancing out. It is not that we are going to sell at any price. That is not the mindset of the management. We want to maintain our profitability. At the same time, wherever we are getting the cost advantages, we are passing on to the market. That is the reason you are seeing this number. Otherwise, this number could not have been there if you throw the product into the market. We are balancing, and wherever the benefits are there, we want to pass on to the market. At the same time, we want to grow in the volumes also. We are going with a balanced approach, and that approach will continue in the coming time also because Kanpur and other plants are going to pick up the volume fast in the coming time also. Whatever that benefit will be there, we are going to pass on to the market. That does not mean that at any price we want to bring the volume. That is not the mindset of the management. Understood. Very well explained. So my question is, my understanding is this quarter will not have an inventory loss. If we compare EBITDA per kg, that is flat year on year, agreed. But surely the base quarter had a INR 2-INR 3 EBITDA per kg inventory loss. So in a way, EBITDA per kg has reduced in spite of better product mix and in spite of better 20% volume growth. But surely better than competitors. See, my humble request to every analyst is that we are always communicating that per capita is not the right way of looking at our company. Because every quarter, the product mixes change. Now, hypothetically, if my certain plant where the demand for PVC is more, so in that geography, I have to sell more PVC. And PVC is not going to give me the same per kg EBITDA what my other products are going to give. So per kg EBITDA will keep fluctuating in the past also and in the future also. The right way is to see the percentage EBITDA. Because per kg EBITDA will be definitely going to fluctuate. If you see the historically also, Q4 is always giving the highest per kg EBITDA. Because CPVC ratio is highest in Q4. Also want to add that we are not only manufacturing PVC and CPVC. We are manufacturing many different types of polymer. So we have always time and again said that per kg EBITDA is not the right metric to evaluate. Got it. Earlier, I remember company used to guide EBITDA per kg also INR 35-INR 40 on annualized basis. So that holds true or it's more we should see the operating margin? We are always saying in the past also that is not the right metric because it is going to fluctuate on quarter-on-quarter basis. Because every quarter has a different selling pattern. Like if you go in Q1, the agreed demand will be high. In that quarter, per kg EBITDA will be low only. If you go into the Q4, the highest plumbing sale will be there. Within plumbing also, CPVC will be highest. Per kg EBITDA will be much higher in Q4. It is never going to remain stagnant or in the range. It is always better to look at the percentage term EBITDA. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Praveen Sahay from PL Capital. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is, is it possible to share some channel inventory level at the sector level? Because of fluctuation in the PVC prices, which has come down, how is the situation right now? Channel inventory levels are still subdued. Channel is still not having the confidence of stocking much inventory. I think after the ADD announcement, some positive channel inventory buildup might be there. As of right now, channel inventory is very low. Okay. Or in the same, like you or some other players are geographically expanding as well their capacities. Is it like channel itself is a, because of a geographical expansion of large players, they had reduced their inventory days? No, that is not there because we are following the distribution-led model. Distributors will always keep a certain level of inventory with them. Also, the fact that distributors have a lot of schemes and trade discounts tied up with the brand. To achieve their turnover discounts and their other schemes, they will always keep a significant level of stocks with them. Even if we are getting into a multi-plant, multi-geography reach, it does not mean that our distributors will not keep this level of inventory. Thank you for that. Our next question is related to the capacity. As in the press release, you had mentioned 389,000 order capacity you have. Also, the Kanpur is also going to come. Is this 15,000 included in 389,000 or is this over and above? No, it is not included because Kanpur started in October. This capacity is as of 30th September. You have to add 15,400 something is there that you have to add in that. Are any further capacity expansions lined up in the next few months? Yes. In the coming time, some machine can be added in Hyderabad also because that is also not fully installed. At the same time, Kanpur also, we are going to add the machine. A few PVC machines are also coming. They will also be added up at different locations. All three things you, yeah, sorry. Some corrugated pipe for the certain product line also, we are getting some machines. Our OPR, our aluminum packs machine will be coming by next quarter. That also will be added up with the new product line entirely together. Balancing out is done continuously in adding some new products and balancing out at different locations. The existing product line where we need more machines, but not to the tune of a requirement like a new plant also. Right. Got it. Thank you, sir, and all the best. Thank you. Thank you, Praveen. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Shaleen Kumar from UBS. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. And congratulations for a very good set of numbers. Most of my questions are answered. I just want to say something or I want to ask you. That why the way I see it that our margin should expand from here? Because when I look at we're talking about new plants, Hyderabad and Kanpur. Is it fair to assume right now those plants may be at the break-even or even at the loss level? Because Kanpur, we are just starting. There is an upfront cost coming in. Even in Hyderabad, it is fair to assume that utilization level should be fairly low. Once they scale up, I should start seeing the benefit of operating leverage kicking in. Second, because of these two plants, my logistic cost should also come down, which you even said, right? We are looking at a strong growth momentum. There is a decent scope of margin improvement. Is this hypothesis correct? Shaleen, your understanding is absolutely correct. Because right now we are incurring losses on new plants because utilization is hardly anything. As and when the utilization will improve. You see, last two, three quarters, every investor was asking the same question. Why your employee cost is going up? Why your other cost is going up? You are not controlling your cost. The basic reason was that once you put up the plant, you have to appoint the teams and all these things. You get all this government approval, power, and all these things. The teams are appointed prior to that. All your other costs started incurring before you start the plant. Once you start the plant, you come to the right level of commercial thing, you have to give the teething period for the plant also to do the trials and all that. During that period, your cost will always be high. That is what we were continuously communicating to everyone, that give us time, give us time. Let the plant get operational. Then you will see the benefit out of that. Now that time has come, and still you are right that still it is not at the optimum level of utilization, hardly any level of utilization. My Hyderabad plant might be working at a 15%, 20% utilization. Give us some more time. Secondly, right now, because the market conditions are not that great, you all know the reason. We already explained to everyone that because of that, to fetch the volumes, we have to sacrifice certain margin. Otherwise, margin can definitely improve. Right now, because condition of the market is not that great, we cannot hold on our margin at a higher level. We are passing on margin and benefits to the market, whether it is a logistic cost or whether anything other benefit. That is the reason margins are not going to improve in the near term. Once the market will pick up industry level and our plant utilization will improve maybe 40%, 50% level, then definitely this benefit will be available. For that, we have to wait for a few quarters. Basically, Hiranand, we are saying that margin improvement will happen, but we will pass it on to gain market share. Simple. At present, we are passing on. We will maintain our margin level, what we have been maintaining. At some point, once the utilization goes up and when it has a substantial utilization, we will be even seeing more upward trend in margins, volumes, and reduction on certain cost structures which have been a great concern from last three, four quarters. Definitely for the gain of market share, we are happy to pass on to the market. We are not juicy about the margin, which I have repeatedly said. This company is not only looking for the margin, but at the same time, continuously, we want to grow our market share, which we have demonstrated in the last 20 years. Every year, we are gaining market share. That run rate, we want to maintain that thing and wait for some more time. Let us have our CPVC plant to come. When that CPVC plant will come, that time also. Some different dynamics will be there. I do not want to discuss at this stage that plant-related issues. Let us first the plant we get operationalized, and then you will see many benefits will be available to the company. Sure. Sir, ADD, I mean, there should be a reasonable possibility for it to come, right? Why will it not come? Let's put it this way. I mean, obviously, something can happen, but the probability-wise is very high, right? It should come in the next two weeks. Keep fingers crossed because we are not the authority to comment on that. Historically, we have seen that normally, whatever the last date is, prior to that, the government normally signs the circular. Hopefully, this time also will be the same. At the end of the day, it is the government. We have no rights to comment on the government action. Hopefully, there are high probabilities that it should come. Sure. So sir, again, just hypothetically, if it comes, then what kind of price increase we can expect from the current level? Again, hypothetically. PVC side, I think maybe five, six rupees may go up. Again, it is all hypothetical because even if the ADD comes, but the demand level does not improve or a global weakness is still there, then PVC prices can still remain under pressure. We cannot say that. INR 6, INR 7 rise will be there or INR 5 rise will be there. It could be there. Yeah, hypothetical, sir. Yeah. Yeah, hypothetical, sir. Yeah. Yeah, I would say short-term rise can come, but long-term, it all depends on how the demand plays out. Sure. In the short term, because of this ADD, right, as well as demand will come because the channel is maintaining. Yeah, channel stocking will happen if there is a substantial price rise. Channel stocking will happen. Channel is dry right now. If the INR 5-INR 6 price rise will happen, and my personal understanding is that, and whatever I am talking to the supplier, everyone is saying that this much price rise will be immediate wages. It will not take much time. Within 30 days, INR 5, INR 6 price can come up. In that case, definitely the channel filling will be very fast. One thing, let me be very frank, there has been a rise and drop in PVC in an unpredictable manner. Channel stocking will happen. We have to work hard in selling geographies, creating markets rather than sitting on these things which we know are not certain and unpredictable. Our focus is. Not on running on this pricing changing or things, but we are focusing on growing our market share in a big way. Correct. So we basically not are seen on the ADD side only, what Sandeep said. But we have to focus much, much deeper to see how fast we can grow our market. Sure, sir. Sure. Definitely. Definitely agr ee with you. Congrats again. Best of luck. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Manan Madlani from MJK Investment. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you so much. Congratulations, team, for the good set of numbers. My first question is regarding OPVC. Is it fair to assume from the next quarter OPVC will contribute to our revenues? OPVC is a new product for us. We have started getting orders. Contributing in the scale which you think is going to take time. There are fewer projects coming out because OPVC is all used by the government projects. Government projects are coming, but not at the pace which everyone expects. We will get OPVC market growth, value, and volume. It is not a significant thing which everyone thinks. It is obviously going to add to our value and volume. We need to be in this product in a big way, which we are doing. Correct. In your opening remarks, you mentioned regarding bathware segment's growth rate. I understand we have a order book in pipeline. What sort of run rate are you expecting for next year in this segment? That one, we will aim to grow at about 20%-25% for the next five years. Okay. Is it at a pack level profitable yet, or? Yeah, yeah, definitely. We are not interested in any business which continuously giving us the losses. At a certain scale of volume, it has to give the profit. Otherwise, no point to unnecessarily give the management bandwidth and the working capital and all this. I would tell you that quarter on quarter, it is slowly and steadily, the GP is improving. Fair enough. Sir, a few quarters ago, you mentioned regarding an export order for the fire sprinkler. Just wanted an update, what's the demand scenario out there? No, no. Fire sprinkler, we have never told. We have export orders of silent pipes and some other pipes. That is continuing, and we are focusing on it. Okay. Last question, on the paint side. For FY2027 basis, what sort of margin should we expect? Is there any gradual improvement in the margins as well as of now? It should be single-digit margin in FY2027. Okay. Okay. Fair enough, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you so much, and I wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. A quick reminder to the participants of the conference that if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one to join the question queue. Our next question comes from the line of Shravan Shah from Dawlat Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you. Sir, first on the CapEx in 1H, we have roughly done INR 282 crore. So for full year, INR 300 crore, INR 350 crore that previously we guided, that remains the same? Whatever we have given the guidance, it is going to remain the same. We are not going to incur more. Okay. Okay. And secondly, in terms of the, so if we add the Kanpur capacity also, in the second half, apart from that, how much more capacity one can look at by end of FY2026? I think let first we utilize this capacity. As said, when the demand will be there, based on that, we'll keep adding the machine. Because now the building is ready. We have to just add the machine. Whenever demand will start picking up, we will keep adding the machine. Right now, first we have to utilize this. Once this 70%-80% utilization level will reach, we'll add the machine. Unless we can add the machine for the new products. Okay. Got it. Sir, this quarter, particularly, so obviously, the entire plumbing volume growth is 20%+. Relatively, if I have to look at CPVC growth, would it be better than the overall growth? We normally do not disclose product level growth. But we can only say that the value-added product growth will be high. Then only this kind of margin is possible. Otherwise, it is not possible. Got it. Got it. At the broader overall sector level, the thought that we are having that double-digit growth for next maybe five years, that stand remains the same? Yeah, yeah. It remains the higher that we are talking about. Okay. Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you and all the best. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Udit Gajiwala from YES Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, sir. Congratulations on a great set of numbers. Just one clarification. In a case where there is no decision from Finance Ministry, it will be considered as null and void, right? There is no extension that comes up in these matters. Is that right? It depends on the government, how government is going to take. Normally, in the past, this kind of thing rarely happened like that. Government is always supportive to the local domestic industry. And globe is also doing the same thing. Every country now is protecting their local manufacturers. I don't think that government will take that kind of action. End of the day, again, I'm repeating that we are not the authority. Let wait for the one week only. It's not far away. The 12th is the last day. Today we are talking on the 6th. Weekend is also there. Hardly three or four working days are there. Within that, we will come to know. We should not be so much hurried to think negative side. Understood, sir. This is one, you can throw some light, even despite irrespective of the duty coming in or not, you are confident of a double-digit growth. One, we understand that you are going aggressive in pricing for your market share. Can you nitpick into what user industry or which specific regions are you seeing this kind of growth that you can deliver? I think we can't share all this individual geography-wise number or city-wise number. These are all highly confidential things. We keep understanding each and every market. Market to market, we will take that decision. I am telling you, we are not going to be, what you understand, aggressive. We are very, very cautious. Whatever is needed or wherever the saving is there, we will pass on and get aggressive. Actually, we are always believing in a fair mix of getting the volume growth as well as maintaining the margin. We will not only chase margin or we will not only chase volume. We will do a fair mix of maintaining the volume as well as the margin. Fairly understood, sir. Thank you, sir, and all the best. Thank you. Thank you, Udit. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Pujan Shah from Molecule Ventures. Please go ahead. Yes, sir. Opportunity, sir. First question would be. Pujan, sir, sorry to interrupt you. You are not sounding very clear. Could you speak a bit louder? Am I clear now? Just a bit louder, sir. Yeah. Am I audible? Yes, sir, you're audible. Please continue with the question. Okay. Yeah. My first question would be on the CPVC side. Just wanted to understand on a brief aspect that how much price erosion has been seen on a quarter-on-quarter basis and YoY basis? It is very difficult to arrive because every company's pricing are different. Japanese prices are different. Europe prices are different. Local domestic player pricings are different. So very, very difficult to say that this much price erosion has taken place. Okay. We like to come with this very confidential on our certain things. Sir, just wanted to understand on the CPVC aspect. On a longer term, even the global companies like Lubrizol have been setting up a plant in India, and they are also coming with a huge capacity. Why don't we choose an option to opt for the whole capacity being able to be catered by Lubrizol, or one of the capacities should be catered by Lubrizol rather than going for their own manufacturing of CPVC? Just wanted to understand your aspect on that part. Very clear. No company will sell the multinationals to us, even if we buy the whole capacity 100% to one company. Secondly, Lubrizol will sell at their own margins and things. They won't sell like we do a job work. And we are confident about two things. One is continued supply. Second is the improvement in the raw material cost, which will help us go backward and maintain our margins. Third is the self-dependency. Even if we buy and keep buying from the foreign buyers, Lubrizol and things, we will have to buy some material from abroad because the Indian requirement, even after Lubrizol setting up the plant to make money here, DCW here, will only be around 20%-30% of the Indian requirement. And honestly, a lot of people don't understand that with our own plant coming, inventory levels will go down. That will free up a huge chunk of the cash of the company. Typically, we maintain a significant level of inventory of CPVC since it's imported. Once we have our own domestic production, our inventory levels, raw material inventory levels will reduce significantly. That will also free up a lot more cash. I think Hiranand can add to that point. I think I have explained to you that practically, Astral is not putting any single money into this plant. Whatever we are saving working capital, that much we are parking into this new plant. Look at the numbers of EBITDA, whatever the existing local domestic manufacturer are there. It is in public domain because both the manufacturers are a listed entity. You look at their number and look at their margin. If that kind of saving will be there to us without investing additional cash flow from the company, I think that is going to be a game changer for Astral. That is what we communicated, the rationale of this plan in the last phone call. You go through our last transcript, you will come to know that whatever the reason why we came into this. I do not want to again repeat each and every rationale in this phone call. You can definitely go through our previous transcript. It is going to be a really big help to our organization. The best part is the quality. I have explained this thing in the last call also, that quality of CPVC is very, very important. Today, you see many companies are facing failure. We should not give the name of any company. Today, you see the quality is the biggest problem going on in the market. Very few companies are there in the market who are giving the right quality product because this pipe is going to be used in the pressure application. In the pressure application, you have to give the right quality as per the standard. If you deviate anything below the standard, then it is going to be a failure. We have to see this very seriously. What Sandeep said is that after adding the Lubrizol capacity also, India needs more material. We want to be self-sufficient. That is why we have gone into the backward. The best part is that we have not invested any money. I am not giving you about the figure of what is going to be a big benefit from the government of Gujarat. That subsidies and all figure, if I add this plant, investment will be negative. This is the we have done a lot of calculation. We have done a lot of R&D for the last three years. Then only we have taken this decision. It is not that in a quick manner, we have just for the sake of entering, we are entering. We have spent a lot of time on that. We have done a lot of calculation, both in terms of technical side as well as in the financial side. Then we have taken this decision. Again, I do not want to give so much hope for that at this stage. Let us have a plant commission by September. I think we will discuss about the number and benefits and all these things. Still, we have to wait for four quarters. We will come up and we are the most vocal company. We will communicate everything to you when this plant will be operational. At that time, even we will explain you the quantity rationality behind the quantity. Okay, sir. That's a very detailed explanation. Just wanted to understand with the 40,000 MTPA capacity, what could be the captive consumption of the production what we mentioned? It would be mostly 100% captive consumption by Astral. How much more we'll need and all, we cannot disclose at this moment in next year. No, I'm talking in the sense of the total. Right now, demand for CPVC for Astral. What could be that? 100% consumed by Astral. The plant is 100% going to be consumed by us when it commissions. No, no, no. I understood your question. Let me reply to you. Today, our consumption is high. Then what is the plant capacity? That is why we are saying that we are going to consume 100% plant capacity. In future, if we feel that whatever calculation we have done, whatever the saving we have worked out, if it is going to be as per what we have planned, we have a space available so that we can double the capacity. We can go up to 80,000 metric tons also. We have a space. We have a land available. We have to just replicate that facility with a lower CapEx. At that time, we can be taking care of 100% utilization of Astral. Today, our utilization is more than what is the plant capacity. So we have to buy some rating from the outside also. Okay, sir. Got it. Got it. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A reminder to all the participants in the conference that if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question comes from the line of Nitin Jain from Fair Value Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on a good quarter. My only question is that the management earlier guided that the volume value gap should reduce going forward in the second half of the year. How do we plan on achieving that? Do we plan to increase the contribution of? Cap reduction is largely dependent on the ADD coming. Once the ADD comes and the polymer prices go up, then automatically the volume and value gap will reduce. If you see last quarter, the volume and value gap has reduced quite significantly compared to the previous quarters. Right, right. The only point I was going to mention is, will the contribution of value-added products going up also going to help here? Yes, definitely. You see, we have given in our press release also that year-over-year basis, the polymer price was down by 10%. While value and volume growth for Astral is just 5%. Because our volume is 20 and value is 15. The gap is getting narrow. If the polymer price will be stable and the base effect will be there, then there is a high probability that our value will be higher than the volume. Right. Right. That's helpful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tanya Kothari from AUM Capital Market Private Limited. Please go ahead. Yeah. Good evening, respected team. Congratulations on an excellent quarter. My question is, I have just a couple of questions. So adhesives and paints now form a larger part of Astral business next. Could you share the current revenue split between this adhesives and paints for the H1 and Q2 as well? I have already shared, but I'm again repeating that thing. H1 revenue for Astral was INR 566 crore. India operation. U.K., INR 192 crore. Okay. Paint, INR 107 crore. Okay, sir. Yes, sir. This is for H1. Yeah. If you want Q1, Q2. Adhesives, India was INR 305 crore. Okay. Adhesives, U.K., INR 97 crore. Yes, sir. Paint, INR 57 crore. Okay, sir. Sir, have you shared the margin processor similarly? I think margin, you call me separately, I will give you the individual margin. I think press release, it is there. But again, you can call me separately. Okay. Okay, sir. Sir, regarding the bathware, because you were on 14% YoY this quarter and 20% H1, could you share how this vertical is shaping up strategically? Is it being positioned as margin lucrative business or more as a cross-selling complement, sir? See, initially, any business may not be a margin lucrative. It is going to be there only after a certain scale. Right now, it is not that scale where you can say that it's a margin lucrative. It will take a few years. Only then will it be like that. One thing is good that you can see that in a span of two and a half years, we have reached at this scale. That is the, I think, beauty of this business, that very few companies have reached at that level in two and a half years in the bathware business. Other players have also entered into this business. You can compare with that also. That is the best thing. Secondly, from the brand building point of view, it is really one of the best products, I can say. So far, Astral was known for the, you can say, behind the wall. Now, with this bathware, we are coming to the front. That is also helping us in a big way. We have to consider the holistic thing and take the decision of the business. One thing is sure that this business is also going to be a profitable business for Astral. Another thing is that we have not spent too much money on the CapEx. We have hardly spent INR 25 crore additional. We have spent the INR 30 crore kind of money we have spent on the CapEx side, which is not that high. Rest, whatever we have invested, that is only working capital. Because sanitary is anyway outsourcing model. I do not think we have spent too much money on this business. We are treating this vertical seriously only. It is not just like a cross-sell vertical for us. We have good growth plans for this business also. Unfortunately, the second quarter was heavily impacted by monsoon. The demand was sluggish and the construction activity was slow. From this quarter onwards, we are again foreseeing that we will give a healthy growth number for the bathware segment in Q3 and Q4. Okay, sir. Just last one. At the consolidated revenue, plumbing contributes around 70% and Paints and Adhesives around 30%. How do you see this mix evolving over the medium term? Are you targeting 60/40 balance or still prioritizing plumbing and expansion, sir? No, no, no. It is not like that. Both verticals will keep growing. But definitely, Paint and Adhesives vertical has a low base. So in terms of percentage, a little higher will be there compared to the plumbing. But even in this quarter also, you see both the businesses have grown close to about 15%. Yes, sir. I do not see any big change will be there. But definitely, base effect will always be there. So because of that, in percentage terms, slight mix will change. But not going to change substantial. Because in polymer business also, we are going to grow fast because we have already committed sizable CapEx in the last three years. Now the truth will be there in the coming time, maybe coming one, two, three years' time. That business vertical is also going to grow at a fast pace. Thank you so much, sir. That's all from my side. Wishing the team continued success ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A final reminder to the participants of the conference that if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one to join the question queue. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sandeep for his closing remarks. Thank you, everyone, for joining the call. As we assure you, we keep working towards the betterment of the goals and various aspects to grow Astral. The same quarter on quarter, we will communicate and keep meeting often. Thank you very much for joining this conference call. Thank you. Thank you all for participating. Thank you, Pranav, for hosting this call. Thank you and all the best. Thank you, Pranav. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. On behalf of Equirus Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.