Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings conference call for the quarter and half-year ended 30th September 2024 of Shree Cement Limited, hosted by PhillipCapital India Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital India Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you. Yeah, thank you, Yashasvi. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of PhillipCapital India Private Limited, we welcome you to the Q2 and H1 FY25 call of Shree Cement Limited. On the call, we have with us Mr. Neeraj Akhoury, Managing Director, Mr. Ashok Bhandari, Senior Advisor, and Mr. Subhash Jajoo, Chief Financial Officer at Shree Cement. I would like to mention, on behalf of Shree Cement Limited and its management, that certain statements that may be made or discussed on this conference call may be forward-looking statements related to future developments, and these statements are based on current management expectations. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other important factors which may cause actual developments and results to differ materially from the statements made. Shree Cement Limited and the management of the company assumes no obligation to publicly alter or update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise. I will now hand over the floor to the management of Shree Cement for their opening remarks, which will be followed by an interactive Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Neeraj, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Vaibhav, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you for joining Shree Cement's earnings call for quarter two of FY25. While we are one of the late companies announcing results, let me summarize our view in terms of both our view on the economic performance for the cement industry, but also covering the company performance as well. So, in terms of the overall country economic outlook, as you all know, the union budget for FY25 was passed sometime since August 2024 for the Lok Sabha elections. This led to a bit of a slower rollout of the government expenditure on capital and infrastructure projects. Also, the country witnessed for this year a very prolonged and intense monsoon. While this went over quite well for the agricultural sector, I'm sure, it had a calming impact on the cement industry. Consequently, there was some softening in the manufacturing momentum as well. Reports suggest that the manufacturing PMI hit an eight-month low in September, and the core sector output shrank by almost about 1.8% in August. These conditions created a weaker demand scenario across sectors, including in building materials and cement. Housing sales and new launches fell during Q2. Overall, urban demand moderated due to the softening of the consumer sentiments. However, the good news is that the RBI survey indicates improved business expectations for the upcoming quarter. Rural demand is improving as reflected in increasing FMCG volume sales and a rise in the three-wheeler and tractor sales. This has been supported by above-normal monsoon boosting Rabi sowing and an increase in minimum support prices as well, and the government initiatives like increased allocation to MGNREGA scheme. Overall, the outlook for the Indian economy continues to be positive, if not good, underpinned by a stable external sector, positive agricultural outlook, expected improvements in demand, supported by the festive season and the likelihood of an increase of government spending. For us at Shree, it was a very challenging demand environment. We adopted very deliberately a strategy of value over volume with a higher focus on the high-value products. While all industry-level cement prices declined on a sequential basis, we were able to contain it with our disciplined pricing and focus on premium product strategy. Our revenue per ton dropped to just about 0.4%, outperforming the industry average. Premium products were central to our strategy, and with a share in the trade segment reaching last quarter to about 15%. In line with the industry-wide phenomenon, our volumes declined by 7% year-on-year in the last quarter. We, however, kept a sharp focus on efficiency in our operations, which helped us achieve about an 8% reduction in the total cost, excluding depreciation and interest, from 4,503 per ton to 4,122 per ton on a year-on-year basis. Supported by favorable international fuel prices, our average CV fuel cost reduced from 2.05 to 1.71 on a year-on-year basis. This operational focus positions us well to capture future demand and the price recovery. Going forward, we are very confident that government-led infrastructure projects will continue to play a key role in demand growth. With good monsoon, higher rural demand is expected on the back of good kharif crop and improved farm prices. However, sustained price improvement depends also on the steady demand recovery across segments. We believe that despite the current pressure, we are navigating these conditions by extending our brand, focusing on key optimizations and continuing operational excellence. Very happy to report that on sustainability, we have made strong progress with green power comprising about 54.8% of our total power use, which is the highest in the cement industry. Work on adding 90 megawatts of green power capacity is going on, while we expect to complete the same by March 2025. All our facilities remain zero liquid discharge. We achieved over seven times water positivity last year. With plenty of rain this year, we aim to improve this further. Our commitment to sustainability is reflected in our improved score of 73 on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which is the highest in the construction material sector in India, and a significant increase from last year's 62. Our ongoing expansion projects in Jaitaran, in Kodla, in Baloda Bazar, in Etah are running on track, and we expect all of them to be completed between April and June next year. We remain committed to reaching our goal of over 80 million tons capacity by 2028 and are actively identifying growth opportunities to meet the target. Thank you very much for giving me a patient hearing, and now we can go to the questions. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to only use handsets while asking a question. We'll take a question from the line of Jyoti Gupta from Nirmal Bang. Please go ahead. Good evening, sir. Well, I'm quite satisfied with the results, but I just wanted to know, have we lost market share by any chance? Because there's a sharp decline of almost 7% in the East market or anywhere, or has there been some change in the strategy in terms of volume sales? So, as I said, we were quite aware that in Q2, the demand for cement was very subdued, if not negative. And hence, we were very clear that we should try to retain and give more importance to price over volumes. And this is why you saw that while we have lost on the volume, but we were able to deliver a better result, a relatively better result in terms of price. Yeah, I do not have the market share figures, so I will not really quote there. I will not go in that direction. But what we are aware that by all the reported figures, that even the country demand has been negative in the last quarter. Okay. My next question is, how do you perceive the second half for your company, and what would be your guidance in terms of volume? Is there any increase in prices which you've seen in your key markets, and how do you see that? Do you see substantial improvement in the EBIDTA per ton, or are we going to be in the same range in the third and the fourth quarter as well? So, ma'am, as we are speaking now, just about Diwali and Chhath festivals are over. On the macro side, we believe there is every reason for demand to be better in the next six months versus the last six months, largely because most of the budgetary allocations will now get converted into purchase orders across states. That is the hope and optimism with which we are working. So demand growth should be positive in the next three months and six months. If that were to happen, then, as you know, in cement, in our industry, demand growth has a close linkage with also the price evolution. If this were to happen, then we believe if demand is good, then we should see a better pricing environment. How much of that will translate into actual price is a difficult topic. But my sense is that if demand goes up and improves the way it should improve now, then we should be facing a better price environment. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. Also, in order to ensure that the management is able to answer queries from all participants, kindly restrict your questions to two at a time. You may join back the queue for follow-up questions. We'll take the next question from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. From Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, what was the cement realization in the quarter? Cement realization was INR 4,447 per ton. Right. And so this is better on a Q1 QoQ, right? Because what I have is 4,469 for. Or Or it was flattish on a Q1 QoQ, then? 4,469 was the number in Q1, right? Okay. Q1, the figure was 4,464. So in that sense, the cement realization actually was flattish for you on a Q1 QoQ? That is what I was saying, that our focus has been to maintain the realization, knowing fully well that in Q2, demand was subdued. The larger focus was how do you manage your realization. Okay. Sure. And also, in terms of the clinker sales, what would have been, how much was the clinker sales in the second quarter? So clinker sales was also at about 3.1 lakh tons. Yeah. This is also low compared to 4.2 in quarter one. Got it. And lastly, on the capacity expansion, so what I understood, you said that all the units will get commissioned in April to June next year. So till March, then there's no commissioning that is planned, is it? Our estimate, as we speak in November, is that the commissioning should be happening in April to June. Of course, as management, we will try if we can prepose a few things, but I am reasonably sure that commissioning should happen between April to June next year. This is both for clinker and cement units, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Sure. I'll come back in the queue for more questions. Thank you. Thank you. A reminder to participants to press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Keshav Lahoti from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So may I know what is the regional sales mix for this quarter and the realization region-wise? I can give you a regional sales mix. We've done about 58% in the north, about 31% in east, and 11% in south. Remember that our north constitutes both also Gujarat and Gujarat with us, as well as parts of UP, right? So 58, 31, 11. I don't have the realization breakup, so I will not be able to give figures. I'm asking my CFO, Mr. Subhash Jajoo, if he can share those numbers with you later. Understood, and can you give an idea about how has been the growth region-wise in this quarter, year-on-year, volume growth? So North growth has been about negative. You're talking about Shree, right? Not the industry, yeah? Yeah, yeah. Shree, I'm talking about. It is -6% for North, -8% for East, and about -10% for South. You are okay, yeah? Understood. Got it. It's good to see, heartening to see 15% premium here today. So how will this number shape up in upcoming quarters? So as we speak now, we would like to stabilize in the going forward also at around the same numbers. Once we stabilize, then we will take the next jump to a higher level. What was the lead distance for this quarter? 433. Again, it is down from 453 or 475 last year, yeah? 475 kilometers last year. Current this year is 433. Okay, so the company has possibly sold less in far-off markets, so. Absolutely. Because that's where lead distance has come down. So ideally, this lead distance will stay over here or possibly in upcoming quarter as the prices will pick up, this lead distance might increase? Too early to say. Our intent would be to manage the lead distance around the same numbers, around the same numbers. But in case there are some markets where we find that attractiveness of prices is high, we might try to go back to those markets. Understood. That is helpful. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. Next question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thanks for the question. So questions was on working capital. Yes, yes. Especially on credit days. Mr. Shah, can you use your handset mode, please? Your audio is not very clear. I'm on the handset. I'll just repeat the question. Is it providing color on the credit days, which has been increasing consistently over the last several years? I'm sorry, sir. Your voice is not coming very clearly. Can you repeat the question? Hello? Hello? Yeah. Your voice is not coming very clear, yeah? Mr. Ritesh Shah? Sir, my question is on credit days. It has increased. Okay. You're losing your. My question is on credit days. It has increased. Hello? Yeah. Can you say that, please? Yeah. Please go ahead. Yeah. My question is on credit days. It has increased for Shree Cement as well as last couple of years. How should one read into this? Your question is about credit days increasing, right? Yes, sir. So March 2021, it was 20 days. If you look at March 2024 and even for the quarter end, it is like 36 days. So the number has increased continuously. So is there some change in strategy? How should we understand that? 36 days? We'll get back to you on this, yeah? Our numbers are a little different than what you were quoting. We'll get back to you on this. But having said that, so there is no change in strategy in terms of market approach. We still operate on the same terms which we've operated in the last few years. And it was possible that last quarter, the demand being low, the outstanding has gone up slightly. Otherwise, but there is no change of strategy, yeah? Sure. And sir, my second question is, if I look at last two years or the last five years, the discount that we offer on a per ton basis, it has increased significantly. So if I look at the CAGR of last two years, the number is nearly INR 600 per ton, which in FY 2019 used to be INR 330 per ton. Again, is this a conscious measure to increase the discounts as we widen the spread or as we try to push more volumes? How should we understand this variable? No, no. Wait a minute. This is Ashok Bhandari here. Please understand that if we are saying that our rebate and discount are better than how our EBITDA is increasing, there is some disconnect in the understanding itself. You will appreciate that this quarter, amongst the peer group, we have the highest EBITDA per ton. We have a realization, which is a minimal drop. We have taken a large volume drop, but that doesn't mean that we have to do a rebate and discount increase also. And if that would have been there, then our EBITDA would not have been INR 780 a ton. It is highest in the industry. Will you acknowledge that? Yes, yes, sir, but sir, my question was from FY 2019 to FY 2024. Wait a minute, my friend. My friend, please appreciate that 2019-2021 is not comparable at all because of COVID years. 2021-2024, if I have an increasing EBITDA trend, then in the spirit of rebate and discount, my NCR keeping on increasing or my cost is going down at a much higher pace than the NCR, you appreciate that? So we'll do the analysis, as you have pointed out. We must know. But then how is it possible that I'm having an increasing EBITDA with an increasing rebate and discount? It can't be. Yeah, sir. That's why. Yeah. So if the market dynamics have changed or if my market geographies have changed, then the discount might have got adjusted, but then ultimately, my ultimate profitability is increasing. Sir, I'll agree to what you say. At the credit days, it's been steady, but the credit days have also increased besides the discount. Yeah. As I said, one of the topics that we covered is that last quarter has been a difficult demand month. Therefore, outstanding may have gone up. I do not have the last five years' figure, but last three years, if I look at it, that figure I have, that we are operating in a discount of roughly about the same range of 600-650, and that has not really changed. So I don't have the five years' figure, so I'm not giving you that. But last three years, I'm not finding any change. Sure, sir. I'll circle back on the UP. Thank you so much, Mr. Bhandari. What I suggest is that you exactly word your query and send it to either Mr. Subhash Jajoo or me, and we will give you exact calculations. There may be some different ways of calculating things. Sure, sir. Sounds good. Sounds good, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Sounds good. We'll take a next question from the line of Rahul Bhandari from Morgan Stanley. Before that, participants who wish to ask a question may please press star and one. Mr. Bhandari, please go ahead. Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my question. So I just want to understand one thing. This quarter, you prioritized premium products versus volumes. If I remember right, in the first quarter, you shifted some volumes from north to east where prices are relatively low, right? And you gained market shares on volume. So just trying to understand what is your strategy on volumes going forward. Can you just help us guide how you will fare versus the industry over the next couple of years? Thank you. Please do increase the premium cement non-trade. We have decreased deliberately. Yeah. So what we have done, if I compare last two quarters, it is true that last to last quarter, quarter one of this year, we had taken certain strategy. For now, what we have done, let's say in north, that we have considerably reduced our non-trade sales, yeah? So our trade sale, as an example, in north has gone up to plus 65% odd, which was up from 59% in quarter one. And in non-trade, we were at 41% in quarter one. We have come down to a level of 35%, yeah? So that's the kind of approach that we have taken, which I told you in the very beginning, that price was more important for us than volume in the last quarter. And as a number of actions were taken of right geography, right segment, right product to make sure that we are able to deliver a better result on the realizations, yeah? Got it. So just one follow-up. Assuming that given that you have reached your initial target of 15% premium product and you'd want to normalize this going forward, how should we look at volumes over the next couple of years? Volume performance, I am convinced we should be in line with the industry demand growth, yeah? Sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower, but we should be broadly in line with the industry demand growth. Got it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. Next question is from the line of Satyadeep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead. Hello, Mr. Akhoury. So I just wanted to follow up first on the question asked by previous participants. Just wanted to understand the strategy a little better, and then I'll ask a follow-up question. There was a strategy of taking market share, improving utilization, and improving pricing. And importantly, it seems we're not able to figure out what exactly is the strategy because it seems like the goalposts are changing every quarter, if I'm not mistaken. Just wanted to understand, when you say market, you expect volumes to grow in line with industry. You have dropped the utilization, market share guidance, and focusing on maybe improving pricing. And how do you plan to improve pricing from here on? And then I'll ask a follow-up question, but that's the first question. Hi. This is Ashok Bhandari here. Please understand that there is a classic disconnect between increasing volume and increasing pricing. If you want to chase volume, you have to give up on pricing because everybody else will drop the prices to chase the same value. That is one part of the thing. Number two, as Mr. Akhoury pointed out, we were seized on the fact. If you recall my con call of June 24, I had said two quarters, I find the industry to be in a difficult phase. We were seized on the fact that the volumes will be lower, A, because of delayed Union Budget, B, because of monsoon season. Both got aggravated. The budget ultimately got presidential assent on 16th of August. So we were anticipating practically no demand from government, who's the major buyer for infra. If you think that 60% is infra, and 10% is industry, and if we have operated at about 60%, then we have operated, we have catered to the housing, but 30% demand was just not there. This is all a dynamic situation, my friend. Tomorrow, if the government demand comes up, if the pricing moves in a different manner, we will not be hesitating in increasing our non-trade share. It was well thought out, well understood that there will be very low infra demand, and that is why the strategy was adopted. You have to be dynamic enough in the business to make more and more money. Whichever sale mix really gives you the best result, you will move to that. So what is the strategy? The strategy is to maximize profits come what may. Are you, Mr. Bhandari, saying the industry volume growth was minus 7% for the entire industry in this quarter? Why? No, my dear friend, one second. You are forgetting a major data point. Q1, the entire industry was negative, and we were 1% plus. And we had, at that time, thought that, no, the demand should be robust enough. And when we realized the delay and the elections and the monsoon, we achieved the strategy. We are lowest in growth in volume terms. But then our EBITDA has become highest. There is nothing. Please understand that we are running a business. You try to maximize profits. Back to Mr. Akhoury. Yeah. Well, I think we understand very well. Let's not allude to what strategy is more of a strategic venture or whatever macro environment we are facing, and therefore, what is the right thing to do? Second question, just wanted to ask on a follow-up to that. Basically, the guidance of growing in line with the industry for the next two years. Just wanted to understand why the urgency to add so much capacity if you want to grow in line with the industry? Because you are adding capacity, new capacities are coming up. What is the best plan for all this capacity if you want to grow in line with the industry? Next six months? No, we are talking about the next six months. We are talking about projects that are already in the pipeline under construction. In fact, now in the last part of the construction, yeah, which will be now commissioned in next five, six months, yeah? Seven months, yeah? Kind of things. What we are saying, if the demand were to grow at the CAGR, what we have observed in the past, it makes sense for us in order to conserve and maintain our market share to go up to 80 million tons by 2028 is what the guidance we have given to all of you, yeah? Thank you so much. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. Next question is from the line of Rashi Chopra from Citi. Please go ahead. Thank you. Just on the premium product, you mentioned that you wanted to stabilize at these levels. Are we talking about a 15% sort of stable level for premium product? For next few quarters, 15% is what I have said, yeah? And the last quarter was about 8%, right? 1Q? 9%, yeah? 8%, yeah? 9%. 9%. 9%. Okay. And what was the overall trade sale proportion you had mentioned for the north, but just your overall trade sale? We are at about 74% plus, ma'am, yeah? No? 60? 65? 70? No, total is 74. 74 in all areas. Okay. Then just moving to the cost side, you mentioned that the second quarter costs are about 4,122. So that's essentially the total cost dividing by your cement volume, right? That's not just cement cost. Total cost, ma'am. Total cost. So the decline that you see in the EBITDA on a sequential basis, despite having a flattish realization, is attributed to both cost as well as some other income going down, correct? Power or other miscellaneous income? Let's not put it like that, Rashi. Yes, the realization has dropped. The point is we don't give any separate figures, so we are talking of blended EBITDA. And obviously, if there is a dilution in margin, it is because of a relatively lower reduction in cost. Other income is more or less the same. Other operating income has also slightly gone down. So revenue from operations have deflated more because of other operating income. Our other income, which is treasury income, is about INR 130-135 crore. And cost, though we have some declining trend, if you want, I can exactly quote you the number. Quarter on quarter, the capacity utilization went down to 56%. So obviously, the recovery of fixed cost has gone lower. Our total cost is 76 versus 96 Q1Q. Our cement production is 70 vis-à-vis 91.6. So you can understand that all these reductions have led to lower recovery of fixed cost and lower contribution. Am I clear to you, Rashi? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Clear. And on the fuel pricing, the 1.71, the consumption cost, where are we at now? This quarter, we will be at about 1.65-64 because of the pipeline inventory which we are carrying. But today, we are purchasing at 1.51. So the effect will come only in Q1 25 or maybe partly in Q4 25. Q1 26, I'm sorry. Understand. Then again, on the green energy indicator, you're adding 90 megawatts by March 2025. And beyond that, what is the plan? Beyond for Beyond for March 2026? Let me make it clear to you. We have seen and we feel that 60% of the total energy mix can be attained from green energy sources. We are trying to optimize this by having a combined, a hybrid kind of a thing where wind and solar can also be done at the same site to have better PLFs. But then these are all in the works. We'll get back to you. We are at 54.8%. We'll certainly reach 60% by June 2025 or something. Back to Mr. Akhoury. Okay. So just one last question on the capacity expansion. Everything is in 1Q FY26. The 3 million ton Bangalore expansion, when is that coming? The grinding. We are still working on it. We are trying to get some of the clearances done. Once that is done, then we will be able to be more accurate about when will the Bangalore facility come. Understood. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Yeah, good evening, sir. My first question is on this other operating income or numbers you mentioned. So does your reported realization of this INR 4,447, does it include the impact of subsidies? And has subsidies number changed on a quarter-to-quarter basis? Prateek, what I suggest is that Jajoo has these details. Let him answer you, and subsidy, I have explained to you that we recognize only on receipt basis, which is allowed in income tax also. So we don't want to unnecessarily take the INR 130 crore of subsidy recognized by Ambuja. Is one of. Let Jajoo give you exactly the number of other operating income and subsidy included therein. Prateek, first of all, the realization number that we have given, INR 4,447, does not include the other operating income. Sure. Okay. And do you want the number of other operating income? Yeah, if you can just add the date. It's roughly INR 66 crore as against INR 45 crore last quarter. Subsidy number you give? What is the point? Why are you adding it? Go ahead. So other operating income at INR 66 crore in Q2 versus INR 45 crore quarter on quarter. That's what you said? Yes. Okay. The other question is we got some channel feedback versus January. We had a big event in January regarding consolidation of brands into one brand and then focusing on premium manufacturer. That was a big event and push there. And then there was some in Q2, particularly feedback, there was some discontinuation of certain premium products. But you mentioned that premium mix have actually gone significantly higher. So just wanted to cross-check. There was no change versus what was launched in earlier part of this calendar year. So the January initiative, I don't know. I I don't know how much it was event, but for the initiative, it was the initiative of the mother brand of the umbrella brand, which is Bangur. That strategy of continuing with the Bangur master brand continues, yeah? We have, of course, introduced some new products in the market. Having said that, we also have, once we have stabilized the volumes of the new premium brands, then we have also brought back some of our most tested brands to the market, yeah? So that is the strategy that we are following, and I think it is working quite well given that in premium, we have been able to deliver a better result than last quarters. Okay. What specific products have we got back? Asking. Roofon was, for example, one product. Roofon was one of our very time-tested premium products in the market for Shree. And that is what we have now reinstated, yeah? Similarly, Jung Rodhak was one of the iconic products in India and iconic brands in India. Now it is coming back as Bangur Shree Jung Rodhak. Bangur Shree Jung Rodhak, yeah? So we have made some tweaks, some changes, some alterations more to suit the market. But overall, the results have been, to our estimates, quite favorable. Thank you. And the last question on depreciation. This quarter also had a very high depreciation. So what is the expected depreciation number for this financial year and next financial year? If you look at Prateek Bhandari, if you look at the half-year number, it is at about 1360. So if you just double it, because we expect to commission new plants only in April, June, this year depreciation number should be 2700 kind of. However, you have given me the opportunity to explain that I had always been maintaining vis-à-vis Shree that please look at cash profit numbers and not net profit numbers. And I'm very happy to say that in spite of whatever we have done, the cash profit still stands at about INR 200 a ton. Vis-à-vis 250, 1960 in last quarter. So INR 200 a ton is the cash sorry, I'm very sorry. INR 200 is the cash EPS. Net EPS is 25. And it is nothing but because of an aggressive depreciation policy which we have been following. We are cash-centric. We are not net profit-centric. And cash, you'll appreciate, the Cash EPS has gone down marginally only. 15% Cash EPS decrease vis-à-vis 24% overall or 21% number is quite good. And yes, we'll be at about INR 2,700 crore of depreciation for the year. Thanks, sir. I'll let that continue too. One more thing I have to point out that the half-year depreciation number is almost double of last year's half-year depreciation number because of commissioning of 6 million tons of new capacity and some waste heat recovery and other small capitalization. It has doubled. Am I clear? Sure. Actually, we'll be commissioning a lot of more capacity next year also. So that number of INR 2,700 crore will remain the same number at even next year? Look, I'll really get back to you on the projected depreciation numbers because it all depends on whether we commission it on 1st April or 1st June or 30th June. So as far as next year's depreciation number is concerned, please give us some time. However, please understand, I'm again repeating that I always maintain that Shree is cash profit-centric, not net profit-centric. And I shall be indeed very, very, very happy if you pass the same message to the investors that please don't look at net profit of Shree. Look at cash profit of Shree. By doing such accelerated depreciation, I am at a faster rate changing the nature of my non-fungible fixed assets to fungible cash assets. And over a period of time, that makes a big difference. That is the reason why we are being able to finance all our expansions from our own internal generations. We don't borrow. Mr. Prateek Kumar, does that answer your question? Yes, sure. Thank you, sir. Thank you. That's it, sir. Final reminder to participants to ask a question. Please press star and one on your phone. I repeat the final reminder to ask a question. Please press star and one on your phone now. Next question is from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you. Sir, first is on the CapEx. Of H1 we have done close to INR 1,860 crore so far. Full year and maybe next one or two years or previously we said INR 4,000 crore CapEx. So that number remains intact? Yes, intact. We will be roughly INR 4,000 crore every year for next four years. This is 2020. Got it. And sir, in terms of the October until now November, broadly in our region, say south and north, in terms of the prices, how are they versus the Q2 average? Marginally better. Very marginally better. Got it. A couple of data points are needed. Blended cement sales in Q2, RMC share in Q2, and fuel mix at petcoke in Q2. Mr. Jajoo will give you these data, please. The blended sale ratio is 70% for this quarter, and you wanted what other thing? Raw share and fuel mix at petcoke. Road rate. Just one second. Road rate is around 88% by road and 12% by rail. Okay. And Petcoke share? Fuel mix? Petcoke is 88% and balance was alternative fuel. Okay. Okay. Got it. And then this 2028, when we say we will be having a more than 80 MTPS, so is it FY 2028 or calendar year 2028? This is getting too far. This is getting too far, my friend. Let us commission Q1 FY26 and we'll get back to you. There are the Bangalore unit, Mr. Akhoury has said, we are awaiting regulatory approvals. Now, how does it matter if the commissioning is delayed by a quarter? You say March will be here, December will be here. At this stage, it is extremely difficult to answer. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Lakshmi Narayanan KG from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead. Thank you. A couple of questions. I just want to understand what is the early utilization you target for the year across your central, east, and south markets? You are asking for full-year guidance on capacity utilization or you are asking regional guidance? It's two parts. First, I just want to understand for the first half, what has been our utilization across these three regions? Yeah. I'm giving it to Mr. Jajoo. He will answer it. Well, the overall utilization, as Mr. Akhoury said, is 56%. In North, it was 58%, East 63%, and South 40%. This is for the September 2024 on a YoY basis last quarter. All right, and in the next six months, among the three markets, which market do you perceive that there will be a better growth among the three biggest track ranks? Better growth as in better degrowth, you're saying, right? I mean, volume growth. I mean, if you're looking at the next six months' volume growth, which market among these three would give us better growth? Are you talking of last quarter or future? Next six months. I'm just looking at the next six months. Among the three markets, which markets do you think will grow better? I think the effort will be to grow, as I said, in order to maintain our market share, that will require us to grow across geographies depending on each geography's market demand growth, yeah? So my expectation would be that we should see relatively better growth in North and South and somewhat more muted in East. Got it. In non-India unit, what is the cash EPS that has been generated for the first half? For this year, for the first half, what is the cash EPS for the Middle East unit? Let me repeat the numbers for you. Q2, my cash EPS is 196, 197. Q1, my cash EPS was 260. Half-year 25 is 456. Half-year 24 was 478. Irrespective of such bad market conditions, we are almost maintaining our cash EPS as per last year. That is why I'm telling every one of you, please judge us on cash profits, not on net profit. Okay. As my question is that our Middle East unit is making cash profits now? Yes, it is. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Prateek Maheshwari from HSBC. Please go ahead. Mr. Maheshwari, please unmute your line. Mr. Maheshwari, since there is no response, we'll move on to the next question from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead. Mr. Amit Murarka, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead. Yes, sorry. Yeah. Just one more question on the other expenses. So I see that why there's a 70% drop in other expenses when volume has dropped 7% and two new clinker units are also in the base this year. So just wanted to understand why there's a big drop in other expenses. No, no. Wait a minute. You have to please appreciate. Other expenses as a group includes what? Number one, in last quarter, we had royalties included in other expenses. This quarter, we have reclassified and other expenses have been reduced by an amount of royalty and added to the raw material cost as is being done by most of the cement companies. That is a major reason. One second. 100 Cr is because of that. Secondly, the logistics costs have also slightly improved because of the drop in lead distance. Number three, as the units are getting stabilized, the stabilization expenses, which were high in quarter one, have also got sobered down and is likely to remain around this level. Got it. Also, you mentioned that every year there will be a INR 4,000 crore CapEx that you plan to do. So given that most of the expansion plans at least announcements are getting over in Q1, so could you just explain? Jara sa gadbad kar rahe ho, sahib. 70 hi to pahuncha hai March 2025 mein, June 2025 mein. Pahunchana to 80 hai. Aur Aur 70 mein bhi aap brownfield aur greenfield ka mix dekhoge to maximum brownfield hai. Jabki 80 mein maximum greenfield aayega. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Prateek Maheshwari from HSBC. Please go ahead. Volume? Yes, but your volume is very low. Now? Yes, you can go ahead. Okay. Thank you for taking my question. One quick question. What will be the power revenue for the September end quarter? We have stopped giving power revenue separately. And we don't intend to. I made it very clear in last quarter that we'll be giving you blended revenue from operations and blended EBITDA. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Uttam Kumar Srimal from Axis Securities. Please go ahead. Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, what is the current status of our RMC plant? How many plants currently do we have gone and how many plants do we have commissioned? On RMC, as you know, this is the first year of our RMC foray into this industry. We started with more in west and south in Hyderabad as well as in Mumbai, where we have taken five plants in Bombay and two in Hyderabad. That makes us seven plants to date. We are also constructing plants in other regions now. What we had assured to the investors was five plants in year one. We have already crossed that to seven, as I said. I hope we will be in double digit by this financial year end. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the first one, Sanjay. So just one question on your standalone and consolidated operations. So a couple of your plants are now in subsidy. So is this meaningful volumes and revenue and EBITDA output in those plants? And would you be reporting a consolidated volume sometime in future? Look, Prateek, what I suggest is that you send your exact query and we'll reply. These figures, since we are sitting with standalones and consolidated, we don't have these numbers together at the moment. You send us a query and we'll get back to you. Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Quick one. I said you did give a number on blended cement. Is it possible if you could bifurcate it into PPC, PSC, composite cement? And if at all, we have any plans for calcined clay as well green cement? And another question. Yes. Your voice is not very clear, Mr. Shah. Can you use your handset mode, please? Yeah. Ma'am, I'm on the handset. Am I audible now? Yes. Better. Please go ahead. I don't know. The reception at our end is very bad. Sir, my question is on blended cement. You indicated 70%. Is it possible if you could break it up between PPC, PSC, composite cement? And if at all, we have any plans for LC3 or calcined clay? And the related question over here is, any trends on fly ash and slag sourcing costs? And if you have any contracts in place, which would be longer duration and it helps us on the cost curve? Let me put it like this. Our fuel cost quarter on quarter has come down. And PSC, CC, or calcined or whatever you are asking, we may like to keep it within ourselves. Thank you. We'll take a last question from the line of Rahul Gupta from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Thank you for taking the question again. Can you just help me understand what was the lead distance in first quarter? I understand it would have come off, but can you please help me with the number? 453 and 433. So 453 was last quarter, right? Correct. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand over the call to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal for closing comments. Over to you, sir. Yeah. Thank you. On behalf of PhillipCapital India Private Limited, we thank you, the management of Shree Cement, for the call. And many thanks for participating in the call. Thank you very much, sir. With that, we will now conclude the call. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. On behalf of PhillipCapital India Private Limited, that concludes the conference call. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect.