Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited Q2 FY 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bishnu Sharma, Head of Investor Relations from Nuvoco. Thank you, and over to you. Thank you, yes. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 conference call. The quarter has been marked by numerous key events. To begin with, we witnessed an unusually intense and prolonged monsoon across our key markets. The monsoon arrived earlier than usual and extended well into the later part of the quarter. Secondly, we also navigated the implementation of revised GST rates, which required facilitating with channel partners for a smooth transition and compliance. While the transition was managed effectively, it did add a layer of operational nuances as stakeholders adjusted to the new regime. However, having said that, the reduction of GST rate on cement from 28% to 18% is a structurally positive move for the sector. This step should enhance affordability for infrastructure and housing, benefiting both the industry and end users in the long term. Demonstrating our commitment to customer value, we passed on the benefit of the GST rate reduction to customers. Thirdly, this quarter was also unique because the festive season, as well as the sacred periods, were all concentrated within the quarter itself, unlike last year when they were spread across Q2 and Q3. Despite facing these headwinds, we sustained our YoY improved performance by achieving a higher second quarter EBITDA of INR 371 crore, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 62%. The company successfully delivered a 1% rise in revenue per ton quarter-on-quarter. The team remained dedicated to driving growth, enhancing premium product offerings, and maintaining operational excellence. Briefly, to touch upon, premiumization reached a high of 44% in Q2 FY 2026, while trade mix remained at a favorable level of 74%. The strong uptick reflects strengthening brand momentum for Concreto and Duraguard, which are steadily gaining recognition as reliable choices for high-quality construction applications. On the cost front, following a recent uptick in petcoke prices, the blended fuel costs inched up quarter-on-quarter to 1.46 per M cal. Nevertheless, Nuvoco continues to drive efficiency through optimization of fuel mix and strategic sourcing. Friends, the company is on a robust capacity growth path supported by continuous de-leveraging initiatives. Let me begin firstly by updating you on the recently acquired Vadraj Cement Limited. As you are aware, Vadraj acquisition was funded through a mix of long-term debt and short-term bridge financing of INR 600 crore and INR 1,200 crore respectively. As communicated earlier, Vadraj Cement Limited proposes to issue up to INR 1,200 crore of unsecured CCDs to external investors to replace the short-term bridge financing, divided into two series of INR 600 crore each with a maturity of three to six years. This equity-like instrument will have features of call and put options, whereby Nuvoco will have the right but not the obligation to exercise the call option subject to market conditions at that point of time. Also, the external investors of CCDs will hold a put option, which gives them the right to put the CCDs to promoter group entities. Continuing with Vadraj, I would like to brief you on the progress of the refurbishment activities at the plant. We have completed inspection of all major equipment in Kutch and Surat. Critical goods and services orders for the Kutch clinker unit, Kutch grinding unit, and Surat grinding unit have also been released. The site execution overriding activities for the plants are now underway. We have also received initial project clearance for railway siding at Kutch from Indian Railways. The plants at Kutch and Surat, along with associated equipment, including the jetty and a rail track, will be ready for trial runs by H1 FY 2027, with full commissioning targeted by Q3 FY 2027. Secondly, I am happy to state that all internal projects in the East, that is, the railway sidings and wagon tipplers and cement loading system at Odisha Cement Plant, as well as the clinker wagon loading system and coal loading system at Sonadih Cement Plant, have been completed. The construction of railway sidings enables more economical and efficient servicing of key markets across Eastern UP, Eastern MP, West Bengal, and Odisha. Coupled with this, the growing success of premium and blended cement products driven by brands such as Concreto, Concreto Uno, and Duraguard Microfiber highlights the need for expansion to meet increasing demand, especially for blended cement varieties like composite cement and slag cement. Hence, we have embarked on expanding the capacity in the East by 4 million tons per annum at an investment of less than INR 200 crore through installation of one cement mill at Arasmeta, along with equipment upgrades and internal debottling and process improvements across three plants. Out of this planned expansion in East, we are targeting capacity addition of 1 million tons each in December 2025, March 2026, June 2026, and FY 2027. Moreover, the state incentive schemes make this investment highly appealing. Overall, the expansion is set to further strengthen our presence in the East, facilitating catering to the markets of East UP, East MP, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Northeast. Thirdly, in the medium term, once operations at Vadraj commences in FY 2027, our growth momentum will continue as we have the option to expand in North through brownfield projects or pursue greenfield development in the Gulbarga region, with a focus on western and central markets. For the time being, the expansion in North is expected to take precedence over Gulbarga expansion. Turning to the balance sheet, improved results have enabled us to make further progress in reducing leverage. During the quarter, the company lowered like-for-like net debt by INR 1,009 crore year-on-year to INR 3,492 crore. Moreover, thanks to significant efforts in managing working capital, the company has contained working capital requirements, resulting in net debt increasing by only INR 18 crore quarter-on-quarter. To briefly highlight our digitization efforts, we are driving efficiency and transparency across operations. Our customer portal handles over 95% of total orders, providing real-time control and accuracy in order management. The vendor portal has streamlined onboarding compliance and transactions. In manufacturing, we are leveraging artificial intelligence for predictive maintenance, heat loss prediction, and developing dashboards to optimize waste heat recovery, clean operations, and fuel blending strategies. For analytics and reasoning support, SAP Joule integration is underway to deliver faster, smarter predictions and deeper insights. Going forward, we are working on building a business data cloud to enable real-time AI-driven analytics across functions, integrating all data points via unified data warehouse. On cement demand, the quarter witnessed moderate growth in cement uptake as construction activities slowed due to the intense monsoon and onset of festive season. However, looking ahead, we remain positive on demand. As of August 2025, only about 38% of the central government planned CapEx and 21% of the state government planned CapEx for FY 2026 have been spent so far, indicating substantial CapEx potential for the rest of the fiscal period. Cement demand is expected to pick up in the second half of the year, supported by increased execution in housing and infra projects, along with the positive impact of the GST rate reduction and lower interest rates. Lastly, the company's dedication to sustainability is demonstrated by its continued leadership in minimizing the. Ladies and gentlemen, please stay connected. The management line is disconnected. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, we have the management team back online. So please go ahead. Sorry, the connection was disconnected. Lastly, to touch upon the sustainability front, as highlighted, we have demonstrated continuous leadership in minimizing the carbon emissions within the industry. Carbon emissions at 454 kg per ton of cement material as of FY 2025 demonstrate the company's ongoing efforts to promote environmental responsibility while maintaining industry excellence. That concludes my opening remarks. I'm here with Mr. Jayakumar Krishnaswamy, Managing Director of Nuvoco Vistas, and Mr. Maneesh Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer. We are happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Yes, over to 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 the 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We'll take our first question from the line of Navin Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, good evening. Good evening and congratulations on the set of numbers. Two questions. So first question is on the net realization front. So of course, post- GST, post- GST rate cut, all the benefits were passed on to the consumers. My question was, how should one look at the net realization in Q3 in the sense that both the rate cut and, as I mentioned, the entire benefit passed on? But is there any benefit of premiumization that we can get because there has been a price drop? Or is there any—I mean to say, how should one look at the normalization of demand supply coming back, and when can price increases resume? That's my first question. Okay. First of all, as mentioned by Bishnu, as our commitment to nation building and as per the expectations of the Indian government for the basic decision to reduce GST, we passed on the entire benefits to the customers as a part of our corporate governance philosophy. So that one is done. Second, as in our speech, this entire GST cut happened at a time when the demand is interrupted by festive season and the sacred period. So there was a little bit of a dealers had stopped buying 15 days before the GST announcement happened because the announcement happened technically on the Independence Day, and then on the final announcement happened in the first week of September, and then the implementation date was the 22nd. So some disruption happened in those times. But post-22nd September till end of the month, demand did pick up. But one can say that is because of the pent-up demand because people didn't buy cement, dealers didn't lift cement in the prior period. So I think that entire up and down bit is behind us. And also, the shutdown happened in our core states of East. So with now Diwali finishing off next week, my estimate is from now on till the balance two months of this year, as well as the three months of quarter four, it is going to be only a steady increase in demand. Plus, this is the winter months and construction activity picks up, and then overall, everything is going to be in the right side for the industry. I see a demand uptick of close to about 7%, 8% in the coming months, and that should really augur well. As regards to your question regarding what do we look at realization going forward, basically my read is in the short run, it will be a little bit difficult for any price increase because we are morally obligated not to tinker with prices in the short term. Unless until a big event and raw material prices happen, then I think we will continue to be in the same window for a certain period of time. But as you mentioned in your question itself, then what are the levers as a company we have to improve realization? Number one lever is certainly, I think we have the geomix lever. Now with the festive season over, so we still have the ability to sell in higher NODT, higher realization markets, and higher contribution margin markets. That will be a big focus for us, namely Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, where we have incentive. These are the markets we will focus to increase our numbers. Then number two is premiumization has been a constant agenda, continuous agenda for the company for many quarters now. As mentioned, we have hit an all-time high of 44% premiumization at this point of time. But I have to say that still we have not kind of reached the peak level at all, actually. One thing which we have noticed is more and more we focus on premium. There are consumers who are ready to buy premium. Our Concreto Uno in Bihar is a runaway hit. Our Duraguard Microfiber with renewed trust in Rajasthan, Western MP, still is showing a wonderful uptick in terms of dealer placement as well as uptake. So we are looking at a big-time goal of increasing these two products, Concreto Uno and Duraguard Microfiber, by at least 25% increase in quarter three versus quarter two, and then on at a stable level to about another 10% in quarter four versus quarter three. So we've got very ambitious plans to increase premiumization. Overall, volume will also increase. So the percentage, 44%, may not kind of go up by the number which I mentioned, but certainly I'm looking at at least 150 to 200 basis points increase in premium product sale in the coming quarters as we navigate. These two levers will certainly improve realization going forward. Thank you. My second question then was about the expansion that you are pursuing or announced in the east region, which is four million tons. But I also understand there is no clinker addition or debottlenecking, which is planned. Which basically means that the entire premise rests on the increase in the blend ratio or the C/K ratio, as we call it. So if you could just help us understand what is the current C/K ratio in particular in East, and how much then is the scope to increase it? In the sense, are there already companies which are offering that higher blend ratio in the region, or we will be pioneers there also to sell the highest blended cement in the region to be able to use this four million ton expansion? Thank you. Excellent. So this question I will have to explain to you in three ways. Three rational reasons for us to expand this 4 million tons in East. First was we had Jojobera had peak capacity. Then we have Sonadih, Risda. All these, so Risda doesn't have a railway siding, and so we have railway siding in Sonadih, Arasmeta, Jojobera, and then in Panagarh and Mejia. During peak months, we have noticed that our capacity utilization reaches close to about 85%, 90%. And many times we have stopped capacity from these plants because factories are running at full capacity. So one of the reasons for us to expand in East is to get more capacity going in Jojobera because we've got a railway siding. Then we have in Panagarh, Panagarh, we have a railway siding. And also in Arasmeta, we have two mills, but we have a full-fledged railway siding. We wanted to put a third mill because the mill was existing about 20 years ago. It was kind of removed at one point of time. We are kind of rebuilding a mill on the third line. So this was the first criteria to ensure we have surplus capacity in our grinding units to serve the market during the season. Number two, as we have increased our premium products in microfiber as well as Concreto Uno, more and more in the coming quarters and months, we would go into more and more blended cement category, which means some clinker will get released, and they will have more clinker to supply more products in the market. That is the second criteria. We operated close to about 2.1 C/K ratio. I won't name the company, but there's another company which operates higher C/K ratio than us in East. There is an opportunity for us to increase the C/K ratio from 2.1 to 2.3. If we kind of move on totally into big time into blended cement, but then we move from PPC to composite cement, then clinker release happens and C/K ratio goes even further high, and then we get our additional capacity. That's the reason. Number two is exploit the blended cement opportunity by increasing the C/K ratio, for which we need grinding capacity. Number one is peak capacity headroom. Number two is blended cement ratio. The third one is we've also realized that we have been focused only on the four states of Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. But then there's a market beyond these five states, which is Eastern UP, Eastern MP, Northeast, Telangana borders, Chhattisgarh, as well as Andhra Pradesh borders, Odisha. So these are the markets where we get an opportunity. Once we expand Jojobera, rail freight we can do. Once we expand Arasmeta, which has also got railway freight, so we can move material through rake through these markets. So we get opportunity to participate in more markets. That's why grinding unit is important. CK ratio is the second reason. Third one is headroom during peak season. And last but not the least, Chhattisgarh offers incentive for new capacities in grinding. So putting a one million ton grinding unit in Arasmeta has just exploited to get the favorable benefit of incentive offered by the state of Chhattisgarh. These were the four rationales in getting it done. And last but not the least, the cost of CapEx is also very, very attractive. We are going to spend less than INR 200 crore to do it in Arasmeta, where we just put the mill. Most of the civil sector is already ready, so we kind of get the ball mill going in Arasmeta at a much lower CapEx cost. Plus, in Jojobera, Panagarh, and Jharkhand, we are going to simply copy what we did in Risda two years ago by modifying the classifier, the collection systems, as well as the motor HP and various other matching equipment. At a very minimal CapEx, we can get a million ton additional in Panagarh, Jharkhand, and Jojobera, and a million ton ball mill capacity in Arasmeta. All this put together gives us 4 million tons and less than INR 200 crore CapEx. Thank you, sir. I'll come back and queue for more questions. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Pinakin Parekh from HSBC. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you very much. My first question is that what would your sense of the demand growth for the industry would have been in this quarter? Your volume growth was around 2%. So just trying to understand the industry growth across India and in your key markets. That would be very difficult for me to estimate what the industry growth would be. But I guess in the market, East, I think the demand has been a little bit tepid, East, as in East. But then I think if you really look at various regions of North, Central, West, and South, I think demand has been kind of mixed. So I won't be able to put a number at how industry would have grown in this quarter. We'll wait for the results of other companies. But I think from our perspective, we had handsome growth in North. East was a little bit subdued. But overall, I'm looking at growth between 2%-4%, kind of a number. Sure. Thank you, sir. So my second question is trying to understand the second half. You said you expect demand of 7%-8% in the coming months. For the company, should we expect the similar kind of volume growth for yourself as well, or would you grow faster or slower than the industry? Okay. I'll have to go back to my conference call in Q2, Q3 last year, Q3, Q4, Q1. So very clear, I think we will match the industry growth at a minimal level. The industry is at 7%. Certainly, we'll kind of catch the growth at 7%. But in key markets of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, our aim will be to grow faster than the market of minimum 1.2x-1.5x the market. That's our ambition. That's our goal. We'll have to execute very well going forward to catch this wave. But certainly, I'm looking at not leaving any product on the table if the market grows at 7%, 8%. Sure, and so my last question is you highlighted that while you don't see cement prices moving higher given the GST cuts and everything, but you expect your realizations to move higher in the second half. You mentioned premiumization, and you mentioned geomix. So broadly, sir, if industry prices remain stable, in your view, how much of these two drivers can uplift your realizations? Can we look at a 3%-5% ASP increase in the second half or a more muted ASP increase? I'm just trying to understand how will this aid your realizations? First of all, I think overall, I think every industry, every company currently is looking at premiumization. So I guess in general, I think if the market doesn't support price increase through these kind of internal levers, then companies will get improved realization. We would follow a similar route. I'm targeting an INR 25-INR 50 increase in net of discount and tax price for the company going forward. That's the kind of number through realization we'll be able to deliver. Got it. Got it. This is very helpful. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Tejas Pradhan from Citigroup. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Just my first question. On the spot pricing trends versus the last quarter average, if you exclude the GST impact, how much would the prices be in the regions of East and North? I just missed that first few words of yours. If you can repeat, I will be able to answer you properly. Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah. Just the spot prices, where they are versus the last quarter average, excluding the impact of the GST change. Okay. I would say between Q1 to Q2, it's more or less flat-ish. Okay, and the October prices versus second quarter average? It has not dropped since GST, other than what we have passed. As of now, there has not been price drop in the market ever since GST has happened, other than the, what do you call, GST pass-on. While there are one or two markets like East UP and all, there is some dilution in price. But I think it is all seasonal. But that's not a very big market for us, so I'm not greatly worried. Our core markets of Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Western MP, I think price is holding. Okay, okay. Then on the petcoke costs, so given some increase that we have seen in petcoke prices over the last few months, do you think there'll be an increase in the cost that you have in 3Q and 4Q, or would they be more stable? Yeah. I guess as Bishnu mentioned, our 1Q and 2Q numbers changed from 1.43 per million kcal to 1.46 per million kcal. But I think we are kind of really doggedly attacking this number because petcoke may not help us in the short run. But this 1.46 in this quarter is also due to a couple of shutdowns in the kilns, and we had to kind of shut CPP, and overall, the fuel cost is slightly higher than Q1. But I think with Q3, post-November, all shutdowns is all done, and I think that's one first agenda is going to be we will run flat out, and then certainly, I think our entire system will be fully lubricated to get the full efficiency of line planning. Number two, our AFR thrust continues to be there in the company. Q3 and Q4, our AFR consumption will go up from 10% to targeting 12% on that on our key factories of Nimbol, Chittor, and Risda. That should give us a tailwind for us. By doing all these things, we are targeting a number again, 1.43 in Q3, give or take 0.1 here and there. But certainly, I'm really looking at 1.43 pullback to 1.43. But big-time reduction, I don't see happening in the near future. But big-time, if the current prices hold good for the next few months, I think we should be able to maintain at 1.43 for the next quarter. Okay. And lastly, I think earlier you used to give a breakup of RM power and freight cost in the presentation, stripping out the same RMC impact. Could you share what those numbers were for this quarter? No, what I'll do is I've not put it on the chart. If you can reach out to Bishnu and his team, I think we'll give you all details. But suffice to say, I guess RM has been flat from Q2 to Q1. In terms of petcoke fuel cost, there's an increase a little bit. But other than that, I think that the raw materials space, things are equal to slightly less as well. If you reach out to Bishnu, he'll give you details, please. Sure, sure. No problem. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ashutosh Murarka from Choice Institutional Equities. Please go ahead. Ashutosh, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Hello. Hello. We can hear you. Yes, please go ahead. Firstly, thank you for the opportunity. I want to ask on the volume side how we are looking at the volume for H2 FY 2026? I'm looking at close to about industry. Our view is close to 7% growth, and YoY H2 versus this year, I'm really looking at 7%-8% growth. Okay. Okay, and on CapEx side, we are looking to enter in this Western region, so any further plan there? Yeah. I'll just give you all details. Overall, CapEx this year, as I mentioned, you have to put the other tables. Just give me a second. Yeah. As I mentioned, our routine CapEx was close to about 100 to 150 crore. So we continue to stick to that number of 100 to 150 crore. H1, we have spent about 78 crore, and our target in H2 is about 70 crore. So we'll be kind of managing the routine operation, routine CapEx requirements at this kind of number of 100 to 150 crore. Then comes the rebuild CapEx, where in the last call, I had given a phasing of that 1600 plus 200 crore, overall 1800 number at 600, 600, 600 over a period of three financial years of 2026, 2027, and 2028. So which means we have to spend close to about 600 crore in this year. As we stand today, we have spent close to INR 43 crore at the end of Q2 for this. So we won't be spending all 600 in the balance. While we're releasing purchase orders for all of INR 600 crore, we want the cash flow will not happen at 600. I'm estimating and targeting a cash of about INR 300 crore going away in the H2 of this year. And last but not the least, the east expansion CapEx, which just now announced overall outlay of less than INR 200 crore. In H1, we didn't spend anything. H2, I'm looking at about INR 50 crore ordering the mill, and rest of all this stuff will happen. The civil work will start. So overall, I'm looking at in H2, CapEx outflow of close to about 370 plus 50, 420 crore is the cash outflow. And H1 has been close to 78 plus 45 is 118, 123. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Milind Raginwar from BOB Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thank you for this opportunity. Sir, first of all, the line item, the other expenditure on a year-on-year has grown up sharply. So any specific reason for this? It's about 12% higher on a year-on-year basis. So last year also, we should have had the maintenance. So anything other than maintenance that we have to read here? No, it's only maintenance. Pure and pure maintenance. This time in Q2 FY 2025, we increased our in Q2 FY 2025, we had INR 14 crore that was there in this quarter for shutdown. This year, we have done INR 33 crore. So all the impact on other expenditure is coming out of the shutdown which happened in this quarter. So one more shutdown is left, which will happen in the coming month. By November 15th, all shutdown for the year will be over. So it's purely because of shutdown expenditure, phasing of shutdown which happened, and that's why this quarter is reflecting this number. Okay. And the next question I have is, what would be the amount of incentive that we would be blending in on a per ton basis or absolute number for the quarter? So you will have to repeat. I missed the first few words of yours again. Per ton basis of what? So the incentive amount, whether on an absolute basis. I think in this call, I will not be able to quantify and give you. Certainly, I think Chhattisgarh government gives incentive for, I think, medium, large projects at a percentage of SGST. But if you can reach out to Bishnu, we'll have a detailed conversation on the overall cost per ton with incentive per ton we will get out of the expansion Arasmeta. So bear with us. We will give you if you reach out to our team. Sure, sir. Thank you. That is it from my side. Thanks. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. I have a couple of questions. Firstly, just on CapEx, you said like FY 2026, we are looking at around, I think, INR 650 crore CapEx or, sorry, INR 550 crore CapEx, including some pending stuff to do next year. What is the absolute number for FY 2027 and FY 2028 without any specific details, like total number? Okay. I'll have to give you the. I'm looking at INR 600 crore each of three years is what I said last time for the East buildup, for the Vadraj buildup. And then you're looking at close to about less than 200. Let me target INR 200, give or take INR 10 crore here, INR 200 crore for next year. FY 2027 and 2028 would be say INR 80 crore and INR 120 crore.. So we're looking at close to about INR 680 crore and INR 720 crore, and routine CapEx of INR 150 crore, INR 150 crore, INR 150 crore. 150 crore. So let me just give you a breakup for next year. INR 150 crore routine CapEx, close to INR 600 crore of Vadraj CapEx is INR 750. 750. Another INR 80 crore of East CapEx will be INR 930 crore next year. And this year, it will be INR 550. INR 550 plus INR 930 is INR 1480. 1480. Another INR 1000 crore will be in FY28. Sure. And regarding the refinancing, you said that refinancing is done, right? The short-term refinancing is done. So now, FY 2026 second half, will it reflect into just for accounting purposes, will it reflect into your interest expense changing from like INR 100 crore, INR 102 crore in FY 2025 Q2 to like a higher number, or how will it reflect on your P&L? Maneesh will answer this bit. So the interest component will by and large remain the same. In fact, it may go down in Q3. Okay, and so relating to the refinance. Sorry, sorry. Please continue. Please continue, yeah. How will? Yeah, continue. Yeah. So I was asking how will that reflect in your P&L, like the refinancing cost? So given the full details of CCD? Basically, this INR 1,200 crore of CCD, it is broken up into two tranches of INR 600 crore each, right? The deal is about to be inked very soon. Since it is an equity-linked instrument, this is going to be forming part of the equity, and to the extent of interest, that gets reduced. In the P&L, you will see some impact of it in the quarter three. You will see some impact of this positive impact in quarter three. Right now, all of it is considered as a debt of INR 600 plus INR 1,200. So there will be interest charge which is happening as you see. The moment we move away this 1,200 from debt into CCD, then the interest will go away from that bit. So whatever is the interest bit on Q2 and Q3, you will see some changes happening. Technically, it will be less than that. So you will see the impact of it in the P&L in Q3. Eventually, your number of shares from 35.7 crore will increase to a higher number? It is not the Nuvoco shares that are going to be issued. The number of shares of Nuvoco will continue to be the same. Basically, the CCD is getting issued in Vadraj. For the CCD at the time of conversion, which is at the end of the seventh year, the shares of Vadraj will be equal to it will be issued to the CCD holder. Sure. Sure, sir. I'll take it offline. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thank you. First, just two data points. Lead distance for this quarter and road- rail mix was how much? Quarter lead distance at 331, road at 60%, rail at 40%. Yeah. And now, first, if you can specify this 4 million ton East expansions. So in Q3, will it be Jojobera, and in Q4, Panagarh will come 1 million ton? Yeah. That's the target. We are looking at Jojobera going from 6.3 currently to 7.3 by end of December. And the next sequence will be to Panagarh at the end of March so that I have capacity of additional million for fiscal 27. And then June of next year will be Jajpur, and then during the course of the year, targeting by Q4 FY 2027 Arasmeta to come on stream. So 28 onward, full 4 million. This year, Q4 one million addition. Next year, we'll have truncated 3 million, and next 28, all of 4 million. Yeah. So considering this 3 million ton will be broadly there for entire year of FY 2027, so how one can look at in terms of the volume for FY 2027? So roughly, even if you take, let's say, kind of the current utilization 70%-73%, so 2 to 2 and a half, 2 million ton kind of a number should be there from only just this expansion and plus the even to some extent, the Vadraj also will be there for at least in the fourth quarter. Even third quarter also will be there. So is it fair in terms of broader level? If I look at 2 and a half to 3 million ton, is it possible that translates to 10%-12% kind of a growth in FY 2027? I think it will be. I can't put numbers to it so easily simply because Vadraj is going to have one quarter or two quarters coming in, and then this one will be phased increase. But suffice to say that we can look at anywhere between 1.75-2 million incremental sales volume happening next year versus this year. Okay. Great. And then the third is in the opening remarks, we have mentioned that the Chittorgarh brownfield expansion will be the first preference versus the Gulbarga. But whatever left of four million tons at the Vadraj is there. So out of this, currently, we will be having four and a half million tons, and then the four million tons is left. So will we prefer Chittorgarh first over this four million tons left of Vadraj or? Okay. I think I'll have to go back to my previous call, so we have an installed capacity of six million tons in North, and the rationale for getting Vadraj was simple because out of the six million tons installed in North, I bring one million into Gujarat and already sell one million tons in Gujarat. And by the end of this year, we'll be sold out in North if we don't expand in North, so the idea of getting Vadraj was to get Vadraj going in Gujarat and Maharashtra and in year one, get about additional one million from Vadraj. Already one million is coming from North into Gujarat, so I get a two million head start in Gujarat in year one. But as the Gujarat market grows, Vadraj expands, I will pull back 1 million which comes from Chittorgarh into Gujarat and put that 1 million into the northern markets of Rajasthan, Haryana. So I will breathe that northern markets for I get a breathing time in northern markets for at least two years after this fiscal. So I navigate for two years, and then Vadraj ramps up for Gujarat and Maharashtra. And then come back once the CapEx is done, obviously, we are mindful of the debt, which I keep telling in every call that we are comfortable with the debt of INR 3,500 crore- INR 4,000 crore. INR 4,000 crore. So deleveraging will be a big agenda for the company going forward as well. So with the deleveraging and expansion in Vadraj, so the next available opportunity for us will be a somewhat lower cost CapEx, which will be a brownfield CapEx. Hence, Chittorgarh comes in the scheme of things. We need capacity. We need to spend lower cost, and hence, priority will be Chittor. Unless and until the market conditions in North of Karnataka and Maharashtra dramatically changes the higher price, we may look at even Gulbarga at that time. Okay. So once this 4.5 million tons of Vadraj will be there, that is by Q3 FY 2027, then the next plan is to go for the Chittorgarh, and then maybe we can think of again coming back to the remaining 4 million tons of Vadraj or maybe Gulbarga, depending on the market condition. We've got mines in Nagaur. We've got mines in Gulbarga. We have mines in Guntur, multiple locations we have mines. I think really doing a crystal ball guessing at 2030 will be not appropriate at this point of time. But suffice to say, we want to kind of exploit already the market and the brand equity which we have, which is the northern market. So we will expand in North first. Gulbarga will be somewhat a new territory for us. But certainly, as per the growth ambitions of the company, we have ambition to become a best North-centric niche player. So certainly, I think at appropriate stage, even that becomes a focus area for the company. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure management is able to answer queries from all participants, kindly restrict your questions to two at a time. We'll take our next question from the line of Raghav Maheshwari from Equirus. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, sir. Just one question from my side. What are plans regarding the ABG's spare 4 million ton capacity at Surat? Because we are already putting up a 2.5 million ton in a Kutch and 2 million ton. We will revamp in Surat. Then remaining 4 million, then what are our plans regarding to that? Yeah. The mill which we are putting up in Kutch will be a 2.5 million- ton mill. And as we know that even in the Jajpur and Panagarh and Risda, we have taken the capacity from 2-3 million tons. So our target is the mill which we commission in Surat. As phase I, we will commission as a 2 million tons. But I guess within the span of a year or so, we should take it up to 3 million tons. So with the 3 million tons in Surat and the 2.5 million tons in Kutch, we should have adequate capacity in Gujarat market. That is the reason why we are not commissioning these two new mills in the old mills we are not reconditioning in Surat. So, our thought would be that at some stage we relocate this mill from Surat to else where where we set up either a brownfield or a GU unit or something. So it's for that actually. If we get into Chittor, we might have to go to GU. So this mill goes at a much lower cost. Or we expand in Gulbarga, we will have a split grinding unit. That's where this mill can come at a much lower cost. So it's kind of using it at a later stage and not kind of spend all the money to commission it right away. Basically, we can assume Surat will operate two million tons in the first phase, and then two million tons will go for a three million tons in the next upcoming years. Absolutely. So our target is to get FY 2027, FY 2028, FY 20 29, and FY 20 30. 30. I have a simple number: 2, 3, 4, 5. 2 million in FY 2027, 3 million in FY28, 4 million in FY29, and 5 million in FY30. I guess in a span of two to three years, we will exhaust all the capacity which we have bought from Vadraj. But sir, our clinker is only sufficient for best case in a five million ton according to the Gujarat condition because Gujarat is almost operating more than 50% in OPC product. That's why I'm asking key. Then we need an. No, we will take down the kiln. The Risda kiln was a 10,000 TPD kiln when we acquired Emami. Currently, we have kind of done engineering modifications to take the kiln to about 11,500. The Vadraj kiln is even a shade bigger than the Risda kiln. So I guess we are pretty confident that as we expand the market, we will be able to take the capacity to current 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes. So right now, we are also very clear that CapEx, we are very mindful of CapEx. So we are not. The The money to modify everything. Our focus is to have the kiln running, have the WHR so that we have the power cost in control, start the CPP so that we have the power requirements, energy requirements in place, railway siding because it gives us totally opens up the entire Gujarat market as well as the Surat market through rake movement from the side. So those have been the CapEx and also putting the GU because of the incentive benefit in Gujarat. So we are focused on entire expansion strategy based on a cost-effective and prudent use of capital. But going forward, when we need capacity, it takes only 6-8 months for us to debottleneck from 10,000-12,000 tons. Best case, we can assume this existing kiln can go up to 4 million tons as a clinker level, and the cement we can assume in Gujarat from this mill around 6 million tons. It is the best. That's our target, I think. I think even market at the time may change from current OPC mix to PPC. Currently, Gujarat is at 50%-50%, but I think I'm assuming over a period of time, everybody wants to make more cement from this plant, and then certainly it will go from OPC to PPC market, and last but not the least, if and most likely the Commonwealth Games is going to happen in Ahmedabad, and you'll see cement demand perking up in 2030, I think I'm really looking at very positive signs for us because with our plant ramping up and the demand for cement is going to big time increase in Gujarat with the opening up of Ahmedabad. So I think we are in a very good wicket to utilize all our capacity which we are invested on. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Harshal from AMSEC. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity. So a few quick questions from my side. First is in terms of costing targets we had of INR 50 per ton for full year. So are we on track on that? Secondly, in terms of a strategy for each market like East, we used to focus on value or volume. And how to do that with our recent remarks where we say Chhattisgarh, we want to grow at 1.2-1.5x the market. And lastly, in terms of Gulbarga and Chittorgarh expansion, if you can give some details as to the timeline in terms of capacity, CapEx, so I think that will be quite helpful. Yeah. In terms of the cost savings which I mentioned in the last call, we should target INR 50 in FY 2026 over FY 2025. We are well on the way on the course. You'll see the reflecting of that happening in H2 of this year. Broadly, it will come from using alternate raw material will be one. Second one will be increasing the efficiency of our WHR and CPP, and third one will be lead time reduction, lead distance reduction, and the benefit coming out of the Odisha siding which is already commissioned now. As we speak, it is commissioned. So this quarter onwards, Jajpur siding will happen. Then the lead time reduction, lead distance reduction is a big agenda the company is running. And all this, I'm looking at INR 50 reduction happening in H2 certainly versus last year. So it's on course. The second one which you asked was about the timing of Gulbarga and Chittorgarh and North. As we stand today, our CapEx timeline, our Vadraj CapEx is H2 of next year. Commissioning the Surat grinding unit as well as the clinker unit will happen during the course of H2 next year. Then we have the WHR and the Kutch grinding unit happening in Q4 FY 2027. Around April is the time when the grinding unit happens there. We are booked for expansion in 26, 27, and Q1 of 28. We will take up any, and in parallel, the East expansion is happening. Two big activities are happening. One is the Vadraj expansion and East expansion in the next 24-36 months. And I think around 24 months, we will start evaluating whether Chittor becomes an apt site for us to kickstart or the Gulbarga site. So I'll wait for some time. As it stands today, our priority is Chittor is what we said. But sometime Q4 of next year, the exact thing will crystallize. Harshal? Thanks. Sir, one more question on the strategy. Like, East region, where you focus on? Yeah. Yeah. I missed that. I think if you have attended our quarterly calls, I think sometime in Q3 last year, because the industry was in a somewhat very muted growth and prices at that time in Q2, Q3 were kind of 10-year low which was happening at that time. So one of the things which we adopted at the time was to, at such low prices, no one has got premium products, and we need to kind of exploit our standing as a premium product. And that's when we had the value strategy. But I think if you had seen Q3 last year, we had delivered a high single-digit growth, and then on, we have been on a growth phase continuously. Four quarters, we have been growing at single-digit time. One quarter, we even grew 11%. So that's the kind of stuff. But we will not take our eyeball away from the premiumization. But certainly, I think we will not leave volume growth against value growth. Both will run concurrently. This is for both the markets, right? East and North? East is where our premium products of Concreto Uno Microfiber are there. North, as we say, at this point of time, we are at a capacity utilization pretty high. But even in North, I think moving towards premiumization in the microfiber, which gives us close to about INR 20 per bag more than the base product. I think if our capacity is going to be constrained in the quarters going after next year, I think our focus will be to move more and more into premium. We used to be 7%-8% premium product sale in North. Today, we are at 16%-18% premium product sale in North. Already, we are doubled our premium sale in North markets. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Omkar Rane from Emkay Global Financial Services. Please go ahead. Omkar, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Yeah. Thank you. Actually, my question was answered. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Naveen Sahadeo from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for the follow-up. Before I ask my question, I would request a clarification because in the previous one of the answers on premiumization, you mentioned the endeavor is to increase prices by INR 25-INR 50. I just wanted to confirm, is it per bag that we are expecting, or it's a per ton number? Per ton of cement. INR 25 per bag means then we'll go with that. How would I do that? I don't think it's possible. So looking at INR 25-INR 50 per ton of cement. Understood. I wish we could do that. Even I wish so. Even I wish so. And I would have been super excited. But I think jokes apart, I guess we're looking at this kind of number of 25-50. Yeah. Per ton. Thank you. My question was again on the premiumization plan. So is there a seasonality aspect to it? Because last year also in Q2, the premium percentage as an overall sale did see an increase, but thereafter, it had tapered again into Q3, Q4. So the reason I'm asking is because GST rate cut has reduced prices, and there is every incentive or every tendency by our customer to upgrade the value proposition. So are you seeing that kind of trend already into October, further premium sales, or it can be similar to last time when there can be a slight drop? Too early to comment. Ideally, I think if one were to look at from a marketing perspective and looking at consumer habits and what a consumer would do. So if you're able to get a high-value product at a lower price, technically, all of us will go and buy a high-value product which is available at a lower price because of GST cut. But I won't kind of put all my eggs in the basket and say it is going to happen overnight. But things will happen over a period of time when I think premiumization focus will improve. But one point which you said, whether our percentage will increase or not, I think I won't be able to simply come and say that because my volume in H2 is going to be much more than H1. There, if we put the same percentage premium formula, I think the number will be pretty high. I am really looking at increase in premium product sale, which is X lakh tons in Q1 and Q2. It's continuously increasing. That's where I'm going to increase the amount of premium product sale in Q3 and Q4. I'm looking at a 25% increase in premium product sale of Q3 versus Q2, another 10% from Q4 versus Q3. How much it will pan into the overall volume, right now, I will not be able to tell. But certainly, I think we will not drop our numbers from 44 to much lower. It could be give or take a% here and there. Understood. And then my second question was on the dealer discounting. So our channel checks, and I'm not referring here to your company or brand, Nuvoco. I'm talking about in general, our channel checks were basically revealing that this time around, there were no Diwali-related schemes or some incentive structure offered for dealers. And there is also some bit of a maybe expectation or maybe I say some fear by the dealers that the overall discounts of schemes which earlier the company used to offer may go down because since the prices itself of cement have come down, there is that much more, what do you say, companies or the industry need not push extra sales by offering more incentives to dealers. Is there any such thought specific to you? I think our dealers and distributors are extension of our company. The mission of our company is to become a trusted building material, creating value for our stakeholders. One of the principal stakeholders for the companies are dealers. Since some of our dealers might also have connected to this call, I just want to pass on a message that never, ever we will reduce our discounts to our dealers. That is our commitment because they are an important part of our growth, and we are obligated. We are very proud for our dealers, and we will never, ever reduce the discount scheme just to make some short-term gains. Understood. Very, very clear. Just one question, if I can chime in. Have we purchased the captive power capacity in the premises of Vadraj, which was to be, I think, in control of JSW? Last stages of discussion happening. I guess it should be done in the next few weeks. Thank you, sir. Very helpful. Thank you so much, and I'm very happy to be running today. Thank you. Same to you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bishnu Sharma for closing comments. Over to you, sir. Thank you, yes. Thank you, everyone, for your insightful questions. I hope all your questions have been addressed. Otherwise, you can reach out to me or Adit from my team for any further clarification. Before we close the call, I just wanted to state to you the statement just wanted to make. We remain firmly focused on sustaining growth and enhancing our market position. The Vadraj Cement project is progressing as per schedule, with plans targeted to be commissioned by Q3 FY 2027, strengthening our footprint in the western region. Our planned expansion in the Eastern region, driven by rising demand for blended cement under the Concreto and Duraguard brands, will further reinforce our leadership position in that market. Following these projects, along with balanced discipline, brownfield expansion at Chittor in North and greenfield development in Gulbarga will underpin long-term structural growth. Moving forward, we will continue to prioritize strategic initiatives such as premiumization, geo-optimization, and cost efficiency to enhance our competitive edge and deliver long-term value to our stakeholders. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for being here today. Thank you, members of the management team. On behalf of Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.