Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Vedanta Limited Q1, first quarter, financial year 2025-2026 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 * then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Participants connected on the webcast link may change the quality settings to 1080p to watch the proceedings in the best quality. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Charanjit Singh, Group Head, Investor Relations, Vedanta. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, Sagar. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Vedanta Limited Q1 FY26 earnings call. On behalf of Team Vedanta, I thank you all for joining us today. I hope you had the chance to look at the press release, earnings presentation, and detailed financial statements uploaded on the website of stock exchanges and the company website. On this call, I have with me our Group CEO, Ms. Deshnee Naidoo, Mr. Arun Misra, our Executive Director, Mr. Ajay Goel, our Group CFO, Mr. Rajiv Kumar, CEO, Aluminum Business, Mr. Anup Agarwal, CFO, Aluminum Business, and Mr. Hitesh Vaid, CFO, Oil and Gas Business. We will begin with an operational and strategic update by Ms. Naidoo, followed by financial highlights by Mr. Ajay Goel. Thereafter, we will open the lines for Q&A. The call is covered by the customary statement provided in the results presentation. With this, I now hand over the call to Ms. Naidoo for the revision. Thank you so much, Charanjit. Good evening, everyone. It is a pleasure to address you all as we mark the close of the first quarter, FY26. We began the financial year amidst global uncertainty resulting from the implementation of the U.S. announced tariffs. Early April, we witnessed a sharp decline in the prices of key commodities, particularly the ones relevant to us: aluminium, zinc, iron and steel, and oil and gas. Despite this backdrop, we delivered our strongest first quarter performance ever, setting a strong foundation for the year. During our last interaction in April, I spoke about a new chapter in Vedanta's journey, Vedanta 2.0, a forward-looking, value-driven roadmap designed to reinforce our leadership across critical minerals, energy, and technology while ensuring sustainable long-term growth for all stakeholders. The progress made on this front includes the NCLT initiating hearing on the second motion petition for demerger. The NCLT bench held their first hearing on July 2. Given the paucity of time, the process could not be completed, and the next hearing is scheduled for August 20. This will take us a step closer to the final order: augmentation of our strategic investment plan. In the first quarter, Hindustan Zinc Board approved the first phase of its expansion towards 2 million ton capacity. This phase will add 250,000 tons of capacity and is backed by a $1.4 billion investment, thereby announcing our total capital investment plan from $9.5 billion to $11 billion, of which $5.9 billion has already been spent as of June 2025. We secured two additional mining blocks of high-value critical minerals, thereby taking the total count of blocks assigned to 10 since the launch of India's critical minerals mission. These blocks are for nickel, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, manganese, tungsten, gold, and rare earth elements. Now, we know that this journey on the Vedanta 2.0 roadmap isn't going to be without its challenges, but given our robust business model, strong governance framework, and transparent disclosures, we see ourselves well-positioned to address any challenges that may come our way. Being a listed company, we are always open to market scrutiny. However, it is also our responsibility to call out any false narratives targeting us, guided by vested interests such as the recent malicious propaganda by short sellers with an ulterior motive of profit-booking at the cost of our long-term investors. I appreciate the wisdom of our key stakeholders who, despite the repeated attempts from the short sellers to create panic among them, have remained unswayed. As you might be aware, we sought legal advice on the matter from the ex-Chief Justice of India, and his opinion is now shared publicly. Now, turning to our operational performance for the quarter, Vedanta has posted a robust performance despite a softer pricing environment. Revenue and EBITDA grew by 5% and 6% year-on-year, driven by stronger domestic demand. The EBITDA margin expanded by 81 basis points year-on-year to 35%, the highest in the last 13 quarters. Gross seeing improved to 25%, up 87 basis points year-on-year, enabled by record volumes across key segments and improved margins given the rigorous tax discipline. Let me now walk you through the various business segments. Starting with aluminum, we achieved a record quarterly alumina production of 587,000 tons, up 9% year-on-year, demonstrating progress towards delivering a guided volume of over 3 million tons in the current financial year. Our metal production reached 605,000 tons, and we recorded the lowest hot metal cost, ex-alumina, in the last 16 quarters at $888 per ton. This is driven by the lowest-ever power cost at $491 per ton, supported by a record PLF of 89% at our captive facilities. These costs are sustainable over the coming quarters, except quarter two, given the planned maintenance of power generation facilities during the quarter. Our Zinc India operations delivered its highest-ever quarter mined metal production of 265,000 tons and the lowest-ever first quarter cost at $1,010 per ton. The share of value-added product reached 24%, demonstrating progress towards our strategic value-added plan. Shifting focus to our international operations, Zinc International delivered a strong performance as Rampura Agucha's production surged 74% year-on-year, backed by strong ore availability and mining ramp-up. Our oil and gas business faced a natural decline in the NDA field. However, this was partially offset by the Infrep, Raageshwari, Aishwariya, ABH, and satellite fields, particularly in the last two months of the quarter. Over the quarter, we recorded an average daily volume of 92,000 barrels per day and managed to reduce the OpEx by 11% quarter on quarter to optimize polymer and chemical use. Our power business recorded a robust 30.8% quarter-on-quarter volume growth, supported by the start of the 300-megawatt capacity at Meenakshi Power Plant and 90% availability at TSPL. In I&O, we scaled up volumes at our Karnataka mines to their highest-ever 1.7 million tons, while our value-added business in Goa delivered its highest-ever first quarter pig iron production of 213,000 tons. Operational enhancements like the new PCI mold and the coke drying system are setting us up for sustained efficiency. At ESL, we saw a marginal drop in production due to the furnace maintenance, which was offset by the increase in our iron output to 0.9 million tons. Margins at mines are strong, improving by 11% quarter-on-quarter to $49 per ton. Finally, our ferro business delivered an exceptional growth, with all production rising by 66% quarter-on-quarter and ferrochrome output by 150% quarter-on-quarter with the restart of the second furnace. At Vedanta, we are proud of delivering responsible growth with focus on all our stakeholders. In the first quarter, we recorded zero workplace fatalities. We are making steady progress towards our climate goals and have already signed a total renewable power delivery agreement of 1,900 megawatts. During the quarter, we impacted just over 2 million lives through initiatives in maternal health, nutrition, education, and healing. Our flagship Nand Ghar program, with over 8,600 centers across India, is now transforming the lives of over 600,000 people. Looking ahead, our volume growth and margin expansion stories will In aluminum, the commissioning of Lanjigarh Train 2 and the 435,000-ton BALCO smelter is targeted in the current quarter. The average alumina cost per ton is likely to decline further with improved reflection of our lower market prices and increased share of captive production. At Hindustan Zinc, we are targeting the commissioning of 160,000-ton per annum roaster at Debari in the current quarter, thereby making us ready for the 1.2-plus million tons per annum refined metal production. Our Zinc International business is on course to complete the Gamsberg Phase 2 project in the second half of the current financial year, thereby increasing operational mine capacity of Zinc International to 525,000 tons per annum. In oil and gas, the current quarter is going to be action-driven. We are set to begin ASP injection for EOR horizontal drilling on the West Coast and launch exploration in the unconventional block.​​ Additionally, we are evaluating drilling plans for deep water exploration in KG Basin. Our power business is set to add another 1,300 megawatts of new capacity in the second quarter. In July, we commissioned the 350 megawatts at Meenakshi, that's unit three, and the 600 megawatts at Athena, unit one. An additional 350 megawatts at Meenakshi, unit four, is planned for commissioning in August, while Athena unit two, with a capacity of 600 megawatts, is scheduled for commissioning in quarter four in the current financial year. I would like to conclude by stating that despite the uncertain macro environment, our first quarter performance has set us on track to achieve our FY26 guidance. At current commodity prices, we are well-positioned to deliver our best performance. We are confident of creating sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders while progressing our journey on the Vedanta 2.0 roadmap. Thank you, Ajay. Thank you, Sadishmi, and good evening, everyone. The new fiscal head comments on a complex and evolving macroeconomic environment. The first quarter was defined by continued commodity price volatility and a recalibrating global landscape driven by evolving trade dynamics and geopolitical realignments. LME prices remained subdued, with most key commodities, barring silver, witnessing YOY declines. Despite these headwinds, I'm pleased to report that we have delivered our highest-ever first quarter EBITDA of INR 10,746 crore, along with an 81 basis point YOY improvement in margins. This robust performance reflects the strength of our portfolio and was enabled by rigorous cost reductions through operational efficiencies, stronger market premiums supported by healthy domestic demand, and net available forex and other strategic levers. Our key businesses continued to demonstrate exceptional margin resilience. Aluminum at 2% and came at 55%. Hindustan Zinc achieved its lowest-ever first quarter cost of production, while aluminum reduced its hot metal cost down by 12% quarter-on-quarter, both remarkable operational milestones. Financial performance highlights. Let me now walk you through our Q1 financial results, which reflect the strength and consistency of our operation. Control revenue at INR 37,404 crore, registering a solid 6% growth YOY. EBITDA came in at INR 10,746 crore, our highest-ever for the first quarter, marking a 5% increase YOY. EBITDA margin expanded to 35%, the highest in the past 13 quarters, a clear indicator of operational excellence and cost discipline. Adjusted PAT rose to INR 5,000 crore, a strong 13% growth YOY, while reported PAT stood at INR 4,457 crore after factoring in certain one-off items. ROCE improved by 87 basis points YOY to 25%, sustaining our double-digit profile and reinforcing our focus on capital efficiency. With the strong start of the current year, we are well-positioned to sustain momentum as we execute our strategic priorities. Now, turning to the balance sheet, we continue to operate on a position of strength and discipline. As of June 2025, our net debt stood at INR 58,220 crore, representing a decline of INR 3,100 crore YOY, supported by strong internal accruals and targeted asset matches. The net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 1.3x from 1.5x last year, reflecting improved cash flow generation and capital management efficiency. We ended the quarter with a healthy liquidity of INR 20,137 crore, a 33% YOY and 7% quarter-on-quarter increase, providing us with ample headroom for investment and contingencies. Now, finally staying true to our shareholder commitment, we declared a dividend of INR 7 per share during the quarter. Moving on to capital actions and deleveraging. In line with our capital discipline agenda, we took several initiatives in the quarter, further strengthening our capital structure. We monetized 1.6% stake in Hindustan Zinc, raising more than INR 3,000 crore in Q1. We also raised INR 5,000 crore via NCDs and other loans at more favorable terms, a testament to the market's confidence in our trade strength. These initiatives have contributed to a 130 basis point improvement YOY in our borrowing costs, now reduced down to 9.2%. Together, these actions enhance financial agility, furthering our journey towards a leaner capital structure. Demerger update. Let me now update you on the progress of demerger. The The second motion petition has been formally submitted to NCLT, and the next hearing is scheduled on 20th August, after part hearing on 2nd July. Separately, the NCLAT has granted an interim stay on TSPL, our power demerger order by NCLT, with the next hearing scheduled on 4th August. We remain confident of a positive outcome in both forums, and we continue to progress in line with our previously shared timelines. The execution of the demerger remains a top priority for Vedanta. On credit ratings, both CRISIL and ICRA have reaffirmed Vedanta's ratings at AA, reflecting strong institutional confidence in our governance practices, financial strength, and a long-term strategic outlook. In conclusion, to sum up Q1, it has been a quarter of strength, discipline, and strategic delivery. We delivered a record first quarter EBITDA, executed critical capital and delivery actions, sustained robust margins in the key businesses, announced much-anticipated 2x growth project for Zinc India, and in July, we commissioned 950 megawatts of merchant power capacity at Meenakshi and Athena, both of which are now fully operational. As we look ahead, we continue to operate with clarity and conviction, undeterred by external attempts to shift the narrative. Together, we are building a stronger, secure Vedanta 2.0. Thank you. Now over to operators for Q&A. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star then one on the touchstone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Amit Lahoti from MK Global. Please go ahead. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on aluminum hot metal cost, which has declined in Q1. What are the drivers here in terms of power and other stuff, and can we expect more savings in the coming quarter? Thank you, Amit. I will start and then hand over to Anup. We delivered, as you mentioned, a COP of $1,765 per ton in quarter one, and that was a reduction of $247 per ton. That's a 12% quarter-on-quarter. This is largely on account of the softened alumina muck prices as well as the increase in captive mix, as we indicated with the Lanjigarh increased volume. In quarter two, we're likely to see a marginal cost reduction. As I've also indicated, although we have better effects of the lower alumina prices, it will be balanced by higher power costs due to the planned maintenance activities we have at our power plants in Jajpur and in particular. In the second half of the year, we do expect costs to be around the lower end of the already guided range. I'll hand over to you, Anup, to talk about some of the specifics we are doing in terms of cost reduction and containment of cost aluminum. Thank you, Jayki. Amit, statement saying in X2 with the train to Lanjigarh commissioning, they will have improved captive mix. That will take us, our mix is at presently 50% to somewhere around 65% to 70%. Point number one. Point number two, you have seen last few quarters the work that has happened on the power and the coal price. Jayki covered it, but for some planned maintenance, which was by design planned to set up for the X2, we are now below $500. With the improved Lanjigarh mix, the alumina cost below $800, the power cost somewhere around $500, you can see we are now set for the hot metal cost sub $1,700 as we go into the X2. If you'll recall in our guidance also, in the year beginning, we had said that the hot metal cost for the year will be in the range of $1,700 to $1,750. Q1 will be done closer to $1,765. Quarter two, Jayki already alluded that because of the plans around, we'll be slightly higher or margin or flashing. For the X2, we expect a very, very strong cost. If you look at the LME today, and given the LME that we are having, you can see that at today's LME, probably we will have a margin of $1,100 or so as we go into the X2. Amit, hopefully I have answered your question. Thank you. Yes. Just to follow up on this, specifically for alumina cost, as you mentioned in your opening remarks as well, would it want to be cost reduction that could come, one, from lower alumina prices and, second, cost reduction at Lanjigarh because it has gone up in the recent quarters to $370, $380. Can we see some reduction there as well at Lanjigarh? Amit, in the next two quarters, we expect a cost reduction of closer to $80 to $100. You can assume that 60% of it is going to come through the captive alumina bauxite, and the balance is, of course, going to come from the softened market prices. Okay. Lastly, if you could provide commissioning timelines for Sijjimali bauxite mine as well as the coal mines. Thank you, Amit. Maybe I will start and then hand over to Rajiv. On Sijjimali, we are targeting the EC by the end of this quarter, which means probably a start of production at the end of quarter four. In terms of overall bauxite mix, we are still factoring, as we've indicated previously, about 1 million to 1.5 million tons of bauxite from Sijjimali this year still. I'll hand over to you, Rajiv, to talk more and also the questions around coal mining timing. Thank you, Deshnee. Thank you, Amit. On Sijjimali, we are going to get the SC1 clearance at the start, then followed by EC clearances, followed by SC2 clearances. That's the process of clearances. The FSC in Delhi happened yesterday, and we have to get the communication in the next few days. Hopefully, we are going to get the approvals. From there, I think, as Deshnee said, in the next three to four months, we should be over with all the approvals, and then we can start to go onto the mine. As far as coal is concerned, Kullloy, we have an interesting approval for SC1. Just a few days back, we got a grant for the EC as well. SC2 is also being targeted by the end of the quarter. As is the guidance in the last quarter, in quarter three, we should be up and we should be ready to start Kullloy. That's the guidance, and we stick to the guidance. As far as Govarpalli is concerned, the mining plan has been approved. The TAR has been implemented. A few days back, we got 300 acres. We got 41% of the government land, and we are targeting the FC1 and the EC by quarter four of this year. I hope I have answered you, Amit, related to the progress of Sijjimali Kullloy. Thanks for the elaborate answers. Appreciate it. Thank you, Amit. Our next question comes from the line of Ankit Tikmany from SBI General Insurance. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to know whether the linear and EGA issue is resolved? If not, what is your bauxite sourcing plan? Thank you for that. Ankit, I think I will hand you over to Anup on the question. If I understood you well, you're asking us about EGA, right? EGA operations in Guinea still stand suspended as there's no bauxite supply from EGA Guinea. Maybe before I hand over for Anup to add anything further, I just want to put the context around what is happening from an overall bauxite and alumina point of view for the business. As we guided, we are targeting 3 to 3.1 million tons of alumina production for the year. You all would have seen that we've had a good start at Lanjigarh in terms of 584,000 tons in the first quarter, which actually puts us in a very good position to meet that number. We need just over 9 million tons of bauxite for the year. Around 5 million tons of that is coming from OMC and other domestic sources, 2.5 million tons from imports, and as Rajiv has just guided, another 1 to 1.5 million tons from Sijimali. We are fully tied up for our bauxite commencement for the full year. I think I can leave it there, Anup. That's it. I don't have anything to add. Thank you. Thank you for this. Thank you, Ankit. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Aditya Welekar from Axis Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Our guidance on oil and gas is between 95 to 100 KBOEPD. In Q1, we have seen a 17% decline. In that context, in the earlier call, we have said that we will see the oil and gas volume will have an upward trajectory from Q2 onwards. Are we on track for that? Given our efforts on the exploration side, if you can throw some guidance for in the medium term, how those volumes will ramp up and how we will address the decline. That's number one. Thank you, Aditya. I will start and then hand over to Hitesh, our CFO from Cairn, who's on the line. As you said, FY2026, we are targeting a range of 95,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Just to remind everyone, we came very close to the guidance of last year as well. There are maybe three things I want to mention before I hand over to Hitesh to talk about the specifics. We want to manage the decline by about 15% from FY2025 levels. There are three areas that we are targeting. The new wells that we drilled in FY2025 will give us about 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. There are additional wells planned for this year that are already starting to give us an uplift in barrels, and that's about 5,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. In addition, I really want Hitesh to talk a lot about the ASP project. We have been talking about ASP. We have started ASP injection in the cluster well pad in Mangla, and that's now targeted for August and September. Three things are happening. This is a decline that we've planned for. We have wells from last year that are giving us a delta of about 8,000. We have wells being drilled this year, 5,000, and we have our ASP project. Maybe Hitesh, you can talk a little bit about the specifics as well as then answer the questions around further exploration and development projects that we are busy with. Yeah. Thanks, Jayki. In terms of traction, as Jayki said, we delivered 93,000 barrels per day for Q1. If you look at over the last six months, we have managed to contain our decline. The rates are now around 3 to 4% quarter on quarter. For a couple of activities which have added in helping us to manage decline, it is continuously doing incremental in our project, Rajasthan team, as well as many interventions which we have done to recover volumes around wells which have gone down. In addition, what we have also done is, during this course of time, we have managed to optimize our OpEx, which for the quarter was $15.1, which is substantially lower compared to previous quarters. This has been done by managing our polymer injection as well as chemicals in a sufficient way. For the full year, as Rajk said, our guidance is for 95,000 barrels per day. The key levers will be to continue to drill incremental in Rajasthan, which approximately will give us around 5,000 barrels per day. The other part is ASP, which Jayki spoke about. The ASP project, we are set for injection in selective well pads in the Mangla team. In a couple of months, we will start injecting volumes on those teams. In around six months' time, we expect volume gain. Once we are through with the full-scale injection, probably in three to four quarters, we expect the additional gain of around 15,000 barrels per day from ASP injection in select Mangla teams. Beyond ASP, looking into the future as well, especially from a volume point of view, we are also starting a present and development of a DHS team, which is Amrit team, which is on the west coast. Drilling in that team will start in October this year, and that is going to add around 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent in around one and a half years' time. What we will also be able to achieve this year is still on our OpEx, which is going to be around $15 to $16 per barrel. Looking at long term, and especially on the exploration side, what we have started currently is drilling in Rajasthan, which has been our most prolific team. We have gotten an international rate and targeting deeper prospect, tighter prospect, and we intend to drill three to six wells. That has already sparked a couple of days back. In the west coast, Kutch Basin, we also have an OMP block where we will start in September 2025. The rig has been ordered, and it is in the process of being mobilized. In the Northeast, a couple of quarters back, we had a discovery, Rudra. We are now set for appraisal of that discovery. In the next two months, we'll try to start two to three wells to figure out the potential of Rudra. We have got a few more opportunities in the Northeast, which will bring around Q3, Q4 of this year. Beyond this, in exploration, one of the larger plays in our books is KGB Portal, where we recently acquired ESCM data. The data has given us some very positive indication on the potential, and we intend to target three wells early next year. This is on the overall exploration plan. Thank you. If you have any questions, Rajki. Yeah. Thanks for that detailed explanation. My second question is on the power division. We have seen a good jump in this quarter. If I can see for Meenakshi, the power realizations have stood at a very high level of INR 7.2 per kilowatt-hour. I just wanted to understand, on Meenakshi and Athena, what is the split between power purchase agreements and spot merchant sales? In Q1, we have seen that merchant tariffs have come down in the range of INR 3 to 4 per kilowatt-hour. In that context, Meenakshi's realization is quite high. If you can throw some light on that. Thank you, Aditya. Maybe just to recap, right? So Aditya, on Meenakshi present, we have the 350 megawatts. As we said, we've added another 350 megawatts. Meenakshi, by the end of this quarter, the end of quarter two, will have the full 1,000 megawatts power there. Athena, as we've guided, we've only commissioned the 600 megawatts. The remaining 600 megawatts will come at the end. Back to maybe performance and your point, quarter one performance, 300 megawatts of Meenakshi capacity was operating, and the average generation cost was around INR 6 per unit, and selling price was around INR 7 per unit. From quarter two onwards, Meenakshi operating capacity, as I said, 1,000 megawatts, estimated PLF around 50%. Cost is INR 5 per unit, and selling price will be between INR 5.50 to INR 5.70 per unit. On Athena, 600 megawatts, PLF will ramp up from 60% to around 80% in the year, and the cost per unit is about INR 3.6 per unit, selling price at INR 5 per unit. Short-term PPAs are in place for the power sales. Understood. Any percentage between short-term PPA and spot sales for both these plants? It's all short-term PPAs at this moment. We are trying to stabilize the plant at this point in time. Over a period of time, we will also enter into a long-term PPA, which will be followed also by SSA. Thank you, Aditya. That's it from my side. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead. Good evening. My first question was from some of the media reports stating that the Ministry of Petroleum had objections to the demerger. What are the grounds on which the Ministry of Petroleum had certain objections? If you could specify that. Thank you for that. I think firstly, we did give quite a detailed account of where we are in the overall demerger approval. With reference to MOP and G, of course, they are key stakeholders for us in our oil and gas business. In the last NCLT hearing, they did express concern about the payment of any of the disputed dues that may become payable by CAIN in case the ongoing arbitration ruling, as we've all learned now, comes in their favor. We are working with them as we do with all key stakeholders, and we are confident that we will come to a solution at the earliest possible time. Okay. We had plans for expanding the aluminum capacity, I think, to about 3.1 million tons, and even the alumina de-bottlenecking, if I remember correctly, to 6 million tons. Any timelines on that? Which part of those projects will be commissioned in FY26 and FY27? Yeah. For now, these are de-bottlenecking exercises. As you know, the current capacity expansion, volume-wise, will take us to around the 2.8 million mark. In terms of the overall expansion from 5 to 6.6 million tons per annum, I'll let Rajiv talk us through it. In terms of when that capacity will likely be brought in line, we are forecasting maybe the back end of FY2027. Rajiv, maybe you just want to add in terms of the work underway to reach those capacities. Thank you, Deshnee. You have summed it up nicely. The timeline should be 18 months that we are looking at. How do you increase the volume? It is done by improving the current carrying capacity of the port. We are looking at enhanced technology. It's called magnetic compensation loop. We are working on that technology to improve the capacity, but it will take about 18 months. First thing first, we have to achieve whatever we have planned for. That's where the focus is to reach 2.8, 2.85 million tons at both the places, at Bangko as well as at Rajputta. Then take it on as far as these ventures are concerned. As far as Zanzibar is concerned, we have a task cut out to reach 5 million. Once the 5 million tons is achieved, we will look at de-bottling the capacities, which we already have, right from logistics to evacuation. To also talk about port infrastructure. It will be a two and two, as well as what we are doing in Zanzibar is to improve how to milk the assets that we have. I think that's the way to go about as far as we are concerned. Thank you for that, Rajiv. Pallav, just to be clear, you also asked for some of the other project expansions? Yeah, I think some of them. Just aluminum. Yeah, I think some of the mining projects, I think you would outline. All right. Excellent. I think what I will do there is actually ask Arun Misra to talk about the Hindustan Zinc expansion. No, indeed. We We are going for a 2 million ton expansion, of which, as we have reported after the last board meeting, INR 12,000 crore board approval that we have announced, which will add a capacity of 0.25 million ton. It will be followed up by further announcements till about September so that we do the entire project approval for 2 million ton metal production, of course, which is sufficient expansion of the mines, which are currently at 17 million ton ore production to go up to 35 million ton ore production. This will also see a jump in silver production from currently 700 to 800 tons to about 1,500 tons. Thank you. Of course, we're also quite excited about the Humsworth Phase II project at Zinc International. That project is almost 80% complete. We are targeting mechanical completion by the end of December, as we previously guided, and hoping to ramp up thereafter in the last quarter of FY2026. That will add another 4 million tons run of mine. Currently, we're looking at just under 200,000 tons of zinc MIT every year. Thank you, Pallav. Thank you so much. Lastly, what could be the potential impact of the U.S. tariffs on exports from India? What is the level of exposure that we have to the U.S. market? Yeah. Absolutely. Even in the last quarter, right, because in the last quarter, it was just after the announcement. We basically said that as a business, given our majority commodity exposure in both zinc and aluminum, we're in a very fortunate business in terms of more than 75% of our zinc goes into India domestic market and 65% of aluminum goes into domestic market as well. As it stands, we only have a 3% exposure in terms of our aluminum business into the U.S. We still maintain the position of limited exposure, even with the current announced 40% steel and aluminum tariffs. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you, Pallav. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jatin Damania from Swarn Investments. Please go ahead. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity. The question is more on the parent front, where we have significantly delivered the balance sheet. For this financial year also, we started with good loans. Coming to our next year, where we have a repayment of nearly about $700 million, I just wanted to know regarding the repayment, how are we going to refinance that loan, or probably will we be supporting by internal accrual or something? Right. Jatin, if I get you clearly, you mean Vedanta Limited or Vedanta Resources? Vedanta Resources. Okay. First, you're right. I mean, the debt for Vedanta Resources over the last many years has been declining. Deleveraging is our big priority. From $8.9 billion three years ago down to $4.9 billion, and as of June 30, it is further down to $4.8 billion. Over the last five quarters, the VRL debt is lower by almost $1 billion. That journey will continue. You may have noted last year during the investor call, we announced that VRL will deleverage $3 billion over three years. That commitment remains unwavered. If I speak of the current system for the remainder of nine months, the requirement for loan refinancing at VRL is almost $320 million and interest $450 million, total about $770 million. Through a mix of refinancing and some dividend, which of course remains a board decision, it will be managed. Net net, VRL debt in the current fiscal will go down by half a billion, down to $4.3 billion. Now, speaking of Vedanta Limited, which is the operating company, here the right metric remains net debt to EBITDA, more so in a high growth environment. You may have seen our results. Our leverage is better off. Debt to EBITDA is 1.3x, vis-à-vis 1.5x at the last year same time. At Vedanta India, by the end of the fiscal, our leverage will further improve to 1x, where our profitability will be bigger than our debt. VRL debt target is in value terms $3 billion in three years, Vedanta India, 1x leverage by this current fiscal end. Thank you for the detailed answer. On the same, as you mentioned, that internal accrual dividend is even the board decision. If you can throw some light on the brand fee, which currently is at 3%, and until which year does brand fee will continue or any decision will be taken on this brand fee over a period of time? Look, Jatin, brand fee is not a new concept, as you know. It’s beginning in 2017. What I can affirm, as we know, the brand Vedanta and the name is owned by Vedanta Resources, which has been formally leased to Vedanta Limited and to its subsidiaries. Right now, the current arrangement of 3% brand fee is valid till 2029, next four years. 3% continues, and there is no plan to change the rate in the near future. Could you brief on the update on your Saudi project? I know I mentioned the CapEx on the Saudi project. What are the steps on that? Yeah. Thank you for that, Deshnee. I think we've received the strategic mineral license for Devil's Fire Belt. That's on the exploration side. I just want to give you a quick update maybe on the overall Saudi copper project. The site has an estimated exploration potential for about 25 to 30 million tons at about a 1.3 average copper grade associated with it and about a 3 gram per ton gold. It's quite exciting about the exploration prospects there. As we've indicated, we still aim to invest about $2 billion in projects there. The two projects, as we've discussed previously, are the MOU that we signed with the Ministry of Investments and the Ministry of Industry among the resources to set up the 400,000-ton per annum copper smelter and refinery and the 300,000-ton copper rod project. Happy to report that on the copper rod project, we have identified the land. We have identified the EPC, that is the contractor, and we are going to final approval. On the copper smelter and refinery project, that is a longer-term project, and we are still working on the feasibility study. We will, of course, come and update you in the subsequent quarters. Sure. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you again. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Vikas Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question pertains to slide 20. There in the debt track, there is another debt of INR 2,953 crore. Can we look at what is exactly this? On the bridge, you're right, Vikas. It is a couple of components. That's right. Maybe almost INR 270 crore is the TDS receivable from zinc on the last payout to Vedanta Limited. It is only a tiny difference. As we pay our income tax next time, the TDS will be adjusted. The significant portion is almost INR 1,250 crore, which is a bank guarantee that we have given to Enflat as part of our TSPL demerger. As we earlier mentioned, for the power TSPL demerger, while seeking the stay from Enflat, from the NCLT order, Vedanta on its spectral matter, the crater matter, we gave to Enflat a bank guarantee, which is fully cash backed. INR 1,248 crore is a bank guarantee. The remainder is multiple bank guarantees given to the government in terms of chain blocks, which are cash margin backed. In summary, they are cash with Vedanta in terms of fixed deposits or cash which has been subsidized to the bank guarantees. As we augment, increase our limit for the bank guarantees, this cash will get released. Noted. The second question pertains to Helmstrong's phase two project. As phase one, the promised 250 KTPA kind of the volumes have not come yet, despite this project has been taken up for almost more than half a decade back. We just wanted to know the timeline when we are going to hit the 250 KTPA requirement in the phase one. Phase two also entails $400 million kind of the capital cost. I thought that usually phase twos are cheaper in terms of the same capacity addition. If you could just give us some insight to what's happening there. Yeah. Thank you for that, Vikas. I think as we've previously guided, we have had some challenges with mining. That's primarily the reason why we have not been able to achieve both the grade as well as the volume. Happy to note that if you look at the performance on a quarter-on-quarter basis, we're seeing an excess of 50% in pieces now coming out of the Humsworth MIT, which is absolutely the right direction for us. Mining is now recovered. Not only has the mining recovered in terms of the waste stripping that we've had to do in the open pit, we're also getting ready to stockpile for the second plant. In terms of your question around the capital guidance, ideally that should be the case when you're building the second phase and you're kind of using a very similar design, but a few fundamental changes. The first thing I would mention on the waste stripping, we have to capitalize a lot more waste stripping for phase two. That's where the mining capex was slightly higher than the phase one capital. Secondly, on the plant, this is where I think credit to the team on the ground, where we saw the opportunity of actually taking a 4 million ton run-of-mine plant two and actually de-bottlenecking it to over 10% already whilst in design. That additional 10% has come with an increase in the plant capital cost, and that's why the capital is slightly increased. In addition to that, and in compliance with our GSTM standards for tailings, the tailings dam associated with phase two does need to be better aligned than the original design from 2022. We've incurred additional costs on the tailings dam as well. That's the reason for the overall, I would say, cost increases. I'm happy, and so should Ajay, that all of this is coming with some benefits. Actually today, even at LME of around $2,400, which is what the project was initially guided on, we are seeing an increase on overall IRR. Still a good project. Still absolutely backing them to reach that increase over 500,000 tons in the next two to three quarters. Thank you, Vikas. Noted. Thank you. That's all from my side, and all the best for you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Raashi Chopra from Pitti Group. Please go ahead. Thank you. Sorry, I think I just missed some of the detail that you gave about the parent debt. You said it was $4.8 billion. Could you just help break this up between bonds and bank loan as well as the repayment? Yes, sir. Out of $4.8 billion, Raashi, the bonds are about $3.1 billion, and the remainder $1.7 billion are the bank loans. If I look at the maturity schedule, maybe for the current fiscal, one quarter is behind us. We can look at the second quarter starting July to March next year, the next nine months. Debt repayments obligations are almost $320 million, and the interest expenses are almost $430 million. That makes $750 million in the remainder of the year. The way we explained, it will be a mix of both refinancing and also repayments. If you look at Vedanta Resources, it has two sources of cash. One is the brand fee. $380 million has been paid in the first year, as has been the practice in the past. Secondly, in the current fiscal, our dividend payout is about 1.5% yield. Even if we assume a routine dividend of 5% to 6%, which has been par for the course in the Indian context, it means $850 million will be dividend. $380 million or $400 million will be the brand fee, $1.25 billion. Mostly through internal approvals, Vedanta Resources debt will be managed. That means organic deleveraging of half a billion in the current fiscal. Overall, if you look at a slightly midterm picture, what Vedanta Resources has in the market committed, $3 billion deleveraging over three years, and Vedanta Limited, being an operating company, our leverage ratio from 1.3x will improve to 1x by the current fiscal. Got it. For you, in the first quarter, you've deleveraged by about $200 million. That's correct, by $220 million. You're right. Okay. For FY27, what is the payment schedule like? Next year, the principal is about $760 million, and the interest cost is almost $450 million, so about $1.1 billion. That is a very interesting question you ask. If you look at the last three years, the principal requirement at Vedanta Resources is about $2 billion, interest $750 million, total $2.7 billion. This is the last year at Vedanta Resources where the need for cash is about $1.4 billion. Starting next year, it's about $1.1 billion. In FY2028, it is sub $1 billion. Going forward, as we have earlier communicated, through a contractual brand fee of $440 million and even a lower dividend of almost 4% yield, Vedanta Resources will be managed. Both brand fee equal to interest cost, and hence operating P&L account will be self-funded. By paying 4% dividend, the entire refinancing will be done. Dividend of 4% equals deleveraging. In summary, about $1.1 billion requirement next year, and less than $1 billion the year next. Understood. Thank you. Is there in the demerger any delay expected beyond September? I think as we started, we are very confident that we have the next year incoming up on the 20th. We will see after that what happens in terms of the timeline. We remain confident of a favorable outcome in both quarters, as both Ajay and I have guided, and continue to progress in line with our previously shared timeline. We're still targeting our September-October timeline. Thank you, Raashi. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Charanjit Singh for closing comments. Thanks, Agar. Thank you, everyone, for taking out the time to join us. I hope your questions have been answered. For any unanswered questions, please feel free to reach out to the IR team. We now conclude our call and look forward to connecting with you in October with Q2 numbers. Have a wonderful rest of the day. Goodbye. Thank you. On behalf of Vedanta Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.