Himadri Speciality Chemical (NSE:HSCL) Q2 2027 Earnings Call

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Himadri Specialty Chemical Limited Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Today on the call, we have with us Mr. Anurag Chaudhry, CMD and CEO and Mr. Somesh Satnalika, EVP, Tire and Strategy. Before we proceed with the call, I would like to give you a disclaimer that this conference call may contain forward looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations as of today.

0:50 Actual results may differ materially. The statements are not the guarantee of the future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. A detailed safe harbor statement is being given on Page two of the investors' presentations of the company, which have been uploaded on the stock exchange and on the company website. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Chaudhry. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We deeply value your continued trust, confidence and engagement with Himadri. Q2 FY 'twenty seven was another important quarter in Himadri's transformation journey. Several initiatives we have spoken about over the past several quarters are now translating from research to qualification, from capacity creation to customer engagement and from strategic intent towards commercialization.

1:50 Before discussing these developments in detail, let me briefly touch upon our financial performance for the period ended 09/30/2026. For H1 FY twenty twenty seven on a consolidated basis, revenue surpassed INR 3,000 crores. EBITDA exceeded INR 600 crores and profit after tax cost INR $4.50 crores. This performance reflects the strength of our business and optimized product mix, operational efficiencies and our continued focus on value added products. Over the years, we have invested consistently in research and development, process engineering, manufacturing capabilities, customer relationships and strategic partnerships. These investments are increasingly expanding our addressable markets, strengthening our competitive position and creating the foundation for next phase of Himadri growth.

2:44 Let me begin with the area where this transformation is perhaps most visible, specialty and advanced materials. Across our new material platforms, our focus remains clear, develop differentiated technologies, validate them rigorously with customers and scale them in a disciplined manner. Our 200 metric ton carbon nanotube facility remains targeted for commissioning in Q4 FY twenty twenty seven. Carbon nanotubes represent an important next generation material with application across lithium ion batteries, semiconductors, electronics, conductive applications and other high performance uses. In super speculated carbon that our planned 6,000 metric ton capacity remains targeted for Q4 FY twenty twenty eight. This represents the next step in our journey from a specialty carbon back to super specialty grades towards highly engineered niche products designed for demanding applications.

3:43 Our LFP cathode active material road map is also progressing well with the initial 2,000 metric ton capacity targeted for commissioning in Q3 FY twenty twenty seven. The initial capacity is designed to support customer qualification and early commercial engagements, while also establishing the foundation for a significantly large scale up opportunity. The progress is customer engagements, together with strong visibility on future demand, gives us confidence to move into the next phase of expansion with 40,000 metric ton per annum capacity planned for commissioning in next year. On the anode side, our capabilities continue to progress across synthetic graphite and next generation silicon carbon technologies, strengthening our objectives of building a comprehensive battery material portfolio.

4:34 We have already provided materials to leading domestic and global customers for their qualification process. Customers' feedback and engagements have been very encouraging. In Anthracunal and Cabazol, our in house engineering team has enabled us to accelerate execution with full capacity 5,300 now targeted for commissioning together in Q4 FY 'twenty seven. The reason we are doing two phase together is that so in order to avoid any shutdown of three months during the commissioning of Phase two. This allows us to bring the entire capacity to market in one sort, enabling faster market penetration and market share gains. As you all are aware, these expenses are focused largely on very high value added categories and are therefore expected to have meaningful impact on company's profitability and margins.

5:27 Importantly, let me inform you all these developments are increasingly being complemented by deeper and more frequent customer engagements. During the quarter, we have entered into NDAs with Indian and industrial customers across battery materials, carbon nanotube and super specialty carbon black segments. Our energy specialty carbon black grades received approval for high voltage cable and battery applications followed by commercial orders. For us, this progression from research to qualification to customer relationship and commercial adoption thereafter is particularly important. It validates both the technology and the market opportunity. We continue to build ecosystem across lithium ion battery value chain through our strategic investments and partnerships with a focus extending from material innovation and technology development to cell level validation and eventual commercial deployment.

6:26 During the quarter, we invested further in Sikona battery technologies. Sikona has also completed the acquisition of 100% of Advano in United States, adding valuable silicon anode intellectual property, a U. S. Based pilot plant facility and additional R and D and cell testing capabilities, further strengthening its commercialization roadmap. Shikona has secured AUD 45,000,000 in funding from Australian Renewable Energy Agency to advance its next generation silicon carbon anode technology. These developments add significant technological and execution depth to the platform and reinforce our conviction in silicon carbon as an important next generation anode technology. Our strategic investment in international battery company further complements this ecosystem in a unique way.

7:17 Through IBC, Himadri has access to a platform that bridges material innovation, cell level validation and commercial deployment, providing us with a strategic advantage as we strengthen our presence across the lithium ion value chain. Together, Sikona, IBC and our in house capabilities are creating a collaborative innovation system that dispense material science, technology, development, validation and application. This gives us a differentiated position as the lithium ion battery value chain continues to evolve. As our portfolio becomes increasingly sophisticated and global, our commercial architecture must evolve alongside it. During the quarter, we incorporated Ardent Impact's FZCO in Dubai Airport P Zone area as a wholly owned subsidiary. This provides a dedicated platform for global sales, marketing, strategic trading and procurement thereby enhancing our proximity to customers and suppliers across Middle East, Africa and Europe.

8:20 Simply put, as Himadri becomes more global in what it develops and manufactures, we must also become more global in how we reach markets. Global supply chain realignment is also creating a significant opportunity for India, building domestic capabilities in advanced material can reduce import dependence while creating global competitive manufacturing platforms. Our investments across CNT, super specialty carbon black, LFP, synthetic anodes and silicon carbon technologies aligned closely with this opportunity and with the larger vision of Atmanir Bharad. Another significant development during the quarter was a proposed merger of Bila Tyres business with Himadri. Following the acquisition of Billa Tyres in October 2023, we focused on restoring operations, modernizing the manufacturing infrastructure, upgrading equipments, rebuilding the distribution network and refreshing the product portfolio.

9:20 Commercial production resumed on 05/29/2025. And since then, the business has steadily strengthened into operating foundation and market presence. The Board has proposed the demerger of tire business from Dhania Refractive Dhania Bharat Refractive Limited into Himadri Speciality Chemical Limited subject to the requisite statutory regulatory creditor and shareholders' approvals. Strategically, the proposed transaction brings together complementary capabilities across Swedish stock, specialty carbon black, R and D, manufacturing and finished tire production. Tire ownership should enable closer alignment across capacity utilization, modernization, capital allocation and product development. More importantly, it creates opportunity to bring our understanding of carbon material closer to tire engineering, particularly in a specialized application where material performance can create meaningful differentiation.

10:17 We, therefore, see this as a natural next phase in the journey of Villa Tyres and important steps towards building a more integrated and scalable mobility platform. As we enter the second half of FY 2027, our priorities are clear. We'll continue to strengthen our core business, accelerate customer qualification, commercialization across new material platforms, expand international presence and progress the proposed merger of Villa Tyres. We remain confident in achieving our previously guided target of INR 1,100 crore plus PAT by FY 'twenty eight. This will be supported by the sustained performance of our core business and commissioning of new capacities over the coming periods. Our philosophy remains unchanged.

11:04 Invest patiently in science, execute with discipline and scale when the technology in the market are ready. I would like to thank every member of Himadri family, our customers, business partners, shareholders and stakeholders for their continued trust and support. With that, I'll now hand over the discussion to Mr. Sumesh Satnalika for further details on financial performance and business outlook. We look forward for your questions to an engagement discussion. Thank you. Thank you, Himadri, and good evening, everyone. Now let me take you through the key financial highlights for the quarter and half year ended 09/30/2026. On a stand alone basis, our revenue from operations for Q2 FY 'twenty seven stood at INR $15.43 crores compared to INR $10.70 crores in Q2 FY 'twenty six.

12:02 EBITDA for the quarter came in at INR $30.08 crores, a growth of 27% year on year compared with INR $2.43 crores in Q2 FY 'twenty six. Patch stood at INR $2.40 crores, reflecting a 28% increase year on year compared to INR 187 crores in the same quarter last year. For the first half year of FY 'twenty seven, revenue stood at INR 2,817 crores, while EBITDA reached INR $6.10 crores, up 28% year on year from Rs. $4.77 crores in first half of FY twenty six. Profit after tax for the half year stood at Rs. $4.63 crores, up 25% year on year over INR $3.69 crores reported in H1 FY 'twenty six.

12:56 On a consolidated basis, revenue Q2 FY 'twenty seven stood at INR $16.91 crores versus INR $10.71 crores in the same period last year. EBITDA for Q2 FY 'twenty seven stood at INR $30.03 crores, recording a growth of 27% year on year and PAT at INR $2.31 crores with a growth of 31% year on year. Our half year revenue stood at INR 3,123 crores, EBITDA at INR $6.16 crores, PAT at INR $4.60 crores, reflecting strong performance across all business segments. We continue to maintain a healthy liquidity position with a comfortable leverage profile.

13:44 That is all from our side. We will now open the line for questions and answers. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sagar Jitwani from PhillipCapital PMS. So firstly, what explains the sharp moderation in the gross margin during the quarter? Are there any one offs and when can we see the recovery? So that is my first question. I have a few more questions.

14:42 Yes. Thank you. So if you actually see the margins are stable and if you compare with the corresponding quarter last year, there has been significant growth in the margins. So as we told last time also, the right way to look at this per metric ton EBITDA. So per metric ton EBITDA is around 21,000, which in the sequential quarter was at around $2,708,100 and in the corresponding quarter. That is the last year, it was at around 17,900. So if you see on a year over year basis, it has gone from 17,900 to 21,000 level. But if you look on a sequential basis, it has come down, which is normal adjustments, which happens in a business and there is nothing significant.

15:33 So we are confident of achieving EBITDA above INR 20,000 on a sustainable basis, and this will strengthen in the quarters to come. And secondly, what drove this 58% revenue growth? Two factors, one was volume growth. If you see, there has been 11% volume growth on quarter on corresponding quarter from last year. And comparatively, the value of finished product and raw material good has gone up. And consequently, there has been increase in the top line. I mean, any specific segments would you like to point out? No, it's general. All the segments, the value of raw material has gone up. And with more focus on value added products, the selling price is also going up.

16:29 Third is related to the Birla Tire business. What was the revenue during the quarter? And are we on a track to attain breakeven during this year? So Birla Tire basically is under Dhania Retractive Bharat Limited. We do a trading sales from Himadri, and we achieved a top line of INR 140 crores, on which we have a EBITDA of INR 1 crore as a trading margin. And once it is consolidated with Himadri, we'll see the numbers being added to Himadri's figures. And we are on our track to achieve breakeven. And sir, on these new products such as LFP cathode, anthraquinane and carbazole, will these products be margin accretive from the start of operations, if you could confirm that? I'm not asking for any margin number here, but just want to understand from the start of operations whether these products would contribute towards the incremental margins?

17:30 Yes, sir. Definitely, these products will start from the start only. They will add to the incremental margin. Like and second on carbazole, they are very high value added products. We are converting from oil, we are going to extract these products. So for LFP also, once we attain a particular capacity, you will see the margins coming in significantly. And on this anode capacity that commenced in the previous quarter, how has been the initial response from the customer? Yes, I'm very happy to share with you the response has been fantastic. We have shared we have supplied sample B to host of customers globally and in India. And their response has been very encouraging.

18:18 Could you throw some light on the realizations? Realization for? Anode. No. See, realization is not a because now we are supplying samples. So we are in sample state now. Okay. Okay. And any color on the spreads between coal tar and coal tar pitch? You can share the trends maybe. This is standard. There is no significant difference in space in Kulta and Kulta Pitch, which has been historically there. That is there only. You. The next question is from the line of Bhavin Chedra from Enam Holdings. Please go ahead.

19:07 Good afternoon, sir. Congrats on overall good set of numbers and overall very good presentation. It covers a lot of data. So I will see the Slide 15, where you have given investments for various project LFP specialty chemicals, carbon nanotube. So overall, I think CapEx is roughly around INR 1,500 crores. How much has been spent till date? And what is the plan to be spent in FY 'twenty seven and FY 'twenty eight? So, till date, if you look at this quarter, the spend has been around INR250 crores in terms of Birla Tyres and other CapEx investments. And we expect in this year to be around INR800 crores to INR900 crores of spend in total.

20:01 So this year would be INR800 crores to INR900 crores. Okay. And all these projects will have a commercial date before FY 'twenty eight, right? Right, right, right. Yes. So full impact of most of the capacities would be visible from FY 'twenty nine? That's right. The next question is from the line of Rohit Sinha from Suneeti Securities. Please go ahead. Yes. Thank you for taking my question, sir. One thing on the mining segment, as in the last quarter also, we have indicated that some licensing are pending in that side. So the profitability was impacted.

20:56 So this quarter also, I think there's no SS contribution from the mining side. So where we are progressing there? And what sort of fixed cost we are having in the mining business? Yes. So last quarter, in fact, the current quarter, we had negative EBITDA from the mining segment because expenses were there and it was not operational because environmental clearance was pending. I'm happy to announce that we have received environmental clearance during the current month and the mining will be operational during the current quarter. So if you look at the previous current quarter, there was a drop in the profitability from stand alone to consolidated. And it was basically because the mining segment from two forty million back, it came down to $231,000,000 So expenses in the other entities where there was no revenue generation led to this. But in the current quarter, with mining operation start, we have done the clearance, environmental clearance for starting the mining operations. So there will be upside in terms of mining revenue and profitability.

22:09 Okay. Okay. And sir, in a longer time frame, what sort of annual revenue we can expect from this mining business? See, this will depend on the volume we are able to generate year on year. But on a broader basis, we look at around 500 crores of top line from this. Okay. Okay. And sir, on a follow-up question from one last participant on the gross margin side. Although on the stand alone basis, as you rightly said that EBITDA per ton or EBIT per ton has improved on Y o Y basis. But still if we look at the gross margin side, it has contracted almost 500 bps on Y o Y basis. So is it all the I mean, is there any product mix change or raw material also has been still pending?

23:10 To look at since as we you already indicated that raw material prices have increased? So all these are passed through or some are still yet to be passed, maybe reflecting in the Q3 numbers? See, what happens, the raw material, we have a pass on model in which we transfer all the increase in price, but it happens at times in a quarter when the raw material increases in the previous month and it has to be passed to the next month and the next month falls in the coming ensuing quarter. So that price is not passed on. And if you look at our inventory levels, inventory levels, we have moderated to a great extent. We are only having nine days, ten days of raw material inventory in order to take care of this volatility. So if you are if overall, if you look, INR 17,910 crores was the EBITDA margin on corresponding quarter last year and today it is INR 20,990 crores. So INR $3.000 increase in 2018 increase in EBITDA margin.

24:11 It is basically because the high value added products we are going, some difference there compared to sequential quarter, which is normal INR 1,500 to 1,800 per metric ton. And this there are many factors which attributed to this. One is not the last quarter some pricing was not able to pass on, which will be passed in the next quarter. Then export has increased as a percentage of total sales. Corresponding quarter last year, we had 26% as export. Today, we have 33%. You know with the geopolitical situation, the freight rates have gone up on the top of the roof. Because of that, there has been some hit. So these are temporary phenomenons, which has no impact of medium, short term to medium term business of the company.

25:00 Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Sir, as... So you have maintained the guidance for 11 lakh for FY twenty With all these, just wanted some clarification on all the new segment that, like, for carbon nanotube and super specialty carbon black. Would this... Would that all be coming in a separate segment or it would be the Carbon Black business only? And how we'd be reporting the numbers going forward? It will be coming in the Carbon segment only because all things are related to Carbon. So on the Carbon segment only, everything will be reported. Okay. Okay. Got it. That's it for my side, sir. We'll come back in queue. Thank you.

25:48 Thank you so much. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harsh Moptyka from SKP Securities Limited. Congratulations on a great set of numbers. So my question is more on the macro side because you covered pretty much everything on your opening remarks. So from a pricing perspective with respect to both carbon lag and CTB and coal tar pit that is, how has the West Asia prices and the ongoing tailwind affected the prices? And whether it is only the supply chain constraints that are driving realizations up? Or do we also see a lot of demand coming in now? See, we see the volume growth is there. This is self signifies there has been demand upside is there.

26:38 And as I have been always telling, the business model which Himadri has developed is resilient to geopolitical situation. And that we are proving quarter on quarter. With current quarter also with so much of geopolitical tension, issues happening, but you see our numbers are very strong. People are only looking at some contraction in margins. But the bigger picture is that, that we have grown margins after this facility by 3,000 metric ton compared to corresponding year period last year. And this will strengthen further. INR 2,500 is not at all an issue. There are so many geopolitical situation impact. But if you look at the overall story compared to last year, we have a top line growth of 58%, we had a bad growth of 31%.

27:30 So even in kind of this kind of difficult times, Himadri is able to sustain and grow the business. That is the strength of the business model. And sir, on the side of Vedula Tires, so do we still maintain our guidance that we had given earlier with respect to top line? Or do we expect some more upside on that? No, no. Definitely, we maintain our guidance, what we have given. The next question is from the line of Raghav Anghra from Money Stories Asset Management. First of all, congratulations of the quarterly numbers.

28:22 My question would be regarding the Himadri's silicon carbon anode technology. So what is the commissioning timeline and capacity that the company is targeting? And what premium it could command over the graphite anode? Like it's part of the anode capacity altogether? Yes. So we are at the advanced stage of announcing CapEx for the project. We have not made any formal announcement as such. Work has been well accepted in the market, and we have got very good results from our customers. So we are working on the engineering side of it. And once it is completed, we'll make a formal CapEx announcement and with the time lines.

29:09 The product is very high end of anode technology. So the normal anode has three sixty milliampere per gram of capacity and silicon carbon has 4,000 plus. So it is 10x of it. And the price, there is no comparison between the price of synthetic anode and silicon carbon. It's far, far higher than that. At right point of time, once we are completed with this, good thing is that we are moving ahead in a right direction and in very high speed. I have made announcement that our partners, Sikona batteries, they have secured 45,000,000 as a package from Australian government.

30:00 So this itself certifies that we are moving in the right direction. Right. Thank you for that. And one more question, like with the emerging battery technologies like sodium ion and solid state, what's the company targeting in the future? Do you have any future plans into this? We are working on the raw material cathode and for that also. So at the right point of time, when that mature... Matures, we'll allow CapEx for that also. There's no problem. So all these technology will coexist. Okay. Sure. Thank you. Thank you for that. That's all. The next question is from the line of Preet Nagarjit from Wealth Advisors. My question is regarding the Carbon Black business.

30:48 So I wanted to understand how is the capacity utilization that you're experiencing and which you're guiding for the next quarter relative to the current quarter, if you can share some light? So Carbon Black business is doing strong. The demand is very robust. And during the current quarter, we had a capacity utilization of 88%, and we are looking forward at these levels only, 88% to 90%, 95% capacity utilization. And sir, on the realizations, are you seeing an increase in realizations over quarter two? How is the trend basically shaping up is what I'm trying to understand? Yes, with the increase in raw material prices, the realization is also improving. Right. So the point I'm going to make is that the 21,000 almost the $21,000 EBITDA that you had in quarter two, do we anticipate an increase in this for quarter two? Or is this a run rate that we should go with going See, you should flatten EBITDA from metric ton from 20,000 to 24,000.

31:53 So in some quarter, you will have 20,000, in some quarter 21,000, 23,000. See, this will keep on varying depending on what happens during a quarter. Like in the current quarter, there was so much the freight rate just went on the top of the roof, while container freights went skyrocketing. So because of that, some cost element was additional cost element, which is not normally there. That came into play. Other than that, some at the end of the quarter, you see the price increase in the raw material. So you buy at a higher price, but that you get in the next month. So that is little hit is there. So these are very small things. But on a macro basis, I think anything between INR 20,000 to INR 24,000, this will be the level which it should play around.

32:40 Wonderful. Got it. Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Himadri Sadhak from Purnatha Investment Advisors. I just had a question regarding the mining business. So can you just like explain or shed some light what products are we mining over here? Where are the mines located? Who will be our customers in this segment? Anything will help. We are basically into Sen mining in Bengal and it will be the construction industries, one of our customers. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir.

33:28 Thank you. The next question is from the line of Paras Chera from Purple One Vertex Ventures LLP. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thank you so much, sir, for this opportunity. Congratulations.. Your voice is breaking. Yeah. Am I audible yet? Yeah. Now you're audible. Please proceed. Yeah. So, sir, I understand, you know, there has been a short term impact on the EBITDA margins for, you know, this quarter. But, I mean, more broadly, on a sustainable basis, on an annual basis, for FY 'twenty eight and beyond when, you know, some of these new projects also come in, can we work with, you know, 20% plus sort of EBITDA margins or that all that will be difficult to sort of underwrite in there? I'll tell you. So the right way to look at Himadri is not as a percentage.

34:24 At some quarter, you'll find 20%, you'll find 25%, 26% also. So the right way to look at is not a percent, but as I told you absolute margin per metric ton. If the raw materials suppose that tomorrow the raw material prices comes down, then you will find 28% margin. The prices go up, you'll find 20% margin. So that will not be the right way to look at it. Right way is to look at a per metric margin, which will be homework from around thousand to 25,000. This And is the journey in which depending on what the specific incidents happen in the quarter, it will keep on changing. Right. So then how do we look at the margins for LFP and Specialty Chemicals, sir? So LFP margins, that it's premature now because it will commence in FY 2029 only. So there is no point discussing the margin from now onwards for LFP. We are now we are setting up our 2,000 medical plant will be commencing Q3. We'll supply the samples and have commercial discussions. I think after that, we'll be able to guide you on the right way to look at it.

35:30 But one thing I can tell you is, Lukan, from the perspective of ROCE, for us, ROCE is an important factor. If you look at the current quarter also for half year, we have a ROCE of 30%. And that is the baseline we want to maintain for all our projects and optimum capital capacity utilization. Understood sir. Sir just for this 2,000 tons, do we have some sort of you know commitments now with customers or it's still premature? Definitely we have already engagement with the customers, we have to supply them samples from our 2,000 metric ton plant. Definitely, have a host of customers globally and in India, all of whom we have to supply the samples. Okay. And sir, just one thing on this trade receivables and working capital thing, which is negative for the first half. How do you expect I mean, do you expect this to turn positive for the end of the year on an annual basis? And just on a little bit of on the trade receivables, if you can comment, please. Yes, sure. So if you look at the working capital, Q1 FY 'twenty seven, our net working capital as a percentage of sales was 41%, which has come down to 37% in Q2 FY 'twenty seven.

36:36 If you compare it to Q2 FY 'twenty six, it was 31%, 31.3%, which has gone up to 37%. So in fact, on quarter on quarter basis, if you look, the working capital has come down, but compared to corresponding quarter last year, it has slightly gone up, which I think in next coming two quarters will normalize and will come down further. Regarding receivables, if you see, the sales have brought up by 58% in this quarter. And that is the reason. But in terms of days, if you see, last quarter, it was sixty three days, this is sixty five days. So there is hardly any variation in terms of days of data. Right. So on an annual basis, we'll turn cash flow positive from operations, I mean, with these next two quarters normalizing?

37:23 Definitely. Definitely. Understood, And sir, just last for your mind, what kind of peak debt shall we assume with these CapExes that are coming up in the next one or two years? See, idea is to invest from internal equal, not from debt. So we need to generate and invest. That is the reason if you see our working capital has increased, but the investment is as gone, but we have already invested in capital in this year. In CapEx already, we have invested more than 400 crore in investment and CapEx. So that has also actually come from internal equal only. Working capital, the debt was basically working capital and that this everything has come from internal equal. And that will also come down in the next two quarters.

38:11 Okay, understood. Fair enough. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Meit Bhuva from Integrity Ventures and Partnerships. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi. Am I audible? Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. So my question is on the cathode and anode side. So, like, I have a pricing our pricing will be on the line of which kind of supplies who are currently dominating the market on this cathode and anode side? Your question is not clear. Can you repeat? Can you speak? Yes. So I was asking that on the cathode and anode side, our pricing will be in line with those Chinese suppliers?

39:00 It has to be in line with that only. Okay. Okay. And the IBC is the one we will be consuming 100% of our capacity, we will be planning to sell to the other domestic and global manufacturers as well? No, no. IBC will not be consuming any material. IBC is a technology partner for many companies who are setting up cell manufacturing capacities in India and globally. So for whom IBC is providing technology and EPC contact for cell manufacturing facility. In that Himadri product automatically qualifies. That is one market. Other than that, we are engaging with many customers and OEMs globally and in India. So it will be a fully diversified market on global business. Got it. Got it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Animesh Jain from Dallal and Brocha. My question is from volume side.

40:09 So in this volume, 146,000, we have added about anthracin and carbogenol volume also? No, no. Anthraquinone carbazole has not commenced production. This is from our existing business only. Anthraquinone carbazole was supposed to start first phase, start from this quarter. What we did instead of starting on two phases, this one phase this and one year later, we have made in next six months two phase to commence together. So with that, what is happening, the next year, we were supposed to have a shutdown for three months for connecting the lines. So there was no point in stopping the plant because that has severe impact on the facility. So our technical team decided that we will commence both lines together instead of single line.

40:58 So it will commence by March, then you will see next year, you will see full operation of nine months of the full capacity. And sir, we have created a brand called DuraFest, which will be added 100 crore EBITDA to the business. So how it's performing? I don't know from where you got this INR 100 crore number. But yes, we have added a brand in Bureauface. It is performing very well. The purity levels are the best in the market, and we have got a very, very positive response from the consumers. The next question is from the line of Neeragh Gandhi from Suniti Securities.

41:43 Please go ahead. Mr. Gandhi, you may proceed. Mr. Gandhi? Since there is no response from participant, we'll move to the next participant. The next question is from the line of Kruti Bemani from Wealthy Viya Ventures LLP. Please go ahead. Priti, you may please proceed with your question. Hello. Hi.

42:32 So thank you Yes. You're audible. Yeah. I'm audible. Yeah. I just wanted to ask how much capital has the market for the new subsidiary so far? And what is still committed? Please speak a bit louder and repeat your question. How much capital has Himadri put into each subsidiary so far? What is still committed? So all the subsidiaries are 100% WS of Himadri. And till yet, we have not put in significant capital in these companies.

43:27 The next question is from the line of from Plus ninety one Asset Management. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Am I audible? Yes. Are you? Please. Thanks for taking my question. Most of my questions have been answered. One bookkeeping question from my end is, I think, the consolidated segment wise reporting, we do an other revenue from operations, which is to the tune of INR288 crores for the first half, about INR140 crores. That is what we are referring to Birla Tyres, right? Right, right, right. Perfect, sir. And secondly, for LSP materials, can you provide some color on how the capacities would ramp up from 'twenty nine onwards? Like, I know it's probably difficult to say today, but once we put up a capacity, does the ramp up happen immediately or probably maybe 30%, 40%, 50% in year one and then it gradually ramps up? So for the year one, we are targeting 50% plus capacity utilization and from the next year, it will be 90% plus.

44:43 Great. That's all from my end. Thank you for answering my question. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Chris Kothari from K. Kothari and Associates. Please go ahead. Mr. Kothari, yeah, you may proceed. Am I audible? Yes. Yes. Hi, Raj. Good evening. I just wanted to understand the technical specifications of the carbon nanotube project that we are about to start. Thank you for your question, but very sorry. I cannot speak technical specification on our ConCon. It's a highly technical product with a strength of 100x of steel and with the conductivity of copper and very light material.

45:34 A unique material which Himadri has developed. Okay. And sir, is there any time line when we are going to commercialize this? Yes. Q4 FY 'twenty seven, we are starting production. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Chuk from Shubla Research. Please go ahead. Good evening, sir. Hope I'm audible. Yes. Sir, my question is more based on realization side. So we have been seeing that the number that realization has been increasing Y o Y as well as sequentially. And with further launch of products, should we take the current realization as a base?

46:21 Should we? Current Take realization as base? No. For current Current realization is based because if tomorrow the raw material prices come down by 30%, 40%, the realization has also to come down. So I don't think that will be the right way of looking into it. The realization will vary depending on the raw material prices, and that is something how we have built our business. Same thing, if the raw material prices goes up tomorrow, the realization may increase by 3040% also, depending on how much the raw material goes up. Okay. We can see an upward trend from the value added products that we will be adding in the Yes, new definitely. So if you actually, if you look at the journey the company has embarked over the last few years, you just track year on year, automatically EBITDA margin.

47:21 Last three years, if you see, you'll see big uptrend. Even last year, you see, we are up by 17% in terms of EBITDA margins. I'm talking of only EBITDA per metric ton margin. We are up by 17%. This shows the value addition the company is doing in its existing portfolio. Sequential way of looking into margin, I don't think is the right way. The right way is corresponding quarter last year, that shows the value addition the company has done over the year. Quarter on quarter, it can go any side. It can increase, it can come down, that's okay. Got it, sir. Got Very helpful. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sanjay Jain from ICICI Securities.

48:14 Sir, a couple of questions from battery chemical first. On the anode side, where are we in the process and how established is the technology now that we have 200 metric ton of capacity? So how many approvals have we secured? When should we see this commercialization? Apologies if some of these are repetitive question, I joined little late in the call. Okay, okay. So thank you, Sanjay. Our plant has commenced operation, and I'm very happy to announce that the capacity of the material we have received is better than what we expected. So the quality wise, the material is perfectly bang on target and even better, I can tell you.

49:04 The response from the customers have been very encouraging. And in fact, we have engaged with much more higher number customers compared to what we were envisaging. And now they are testing the material and it takes time for them to test the material. But things are moving in the right direction and the preliminary feedback, what we got from the customers are very, very encouraging. Regarding the CapEx part of it, we are working on the same. We are doing engineering of the plant. So once we are completed with the engineering, we'll announce the CapEx and the time frame when we commence the commercial operation. That's great.

49:51 But just on the anode side, when we say we have achieved the material quality, which is far superior, what parameter are we really looking at here? The main parameter that we look is capacity per milliampere per gram. Okay, which is Well, suppose the benchmark is suppose 100, so we have achieved 100 plus. So that is the main criteria for our node material. So is this compactization are we talking here when you say the... Here a compactation is not there. For LFP compact no. For LFP compact density is an important factor. Here the compact density is not there.

50:36 Here the main factor is capacity per milliampere per gram. Milliampere per gram is the capacity metrics you calculate. That is an important factor. Got it. Got it. Stored in a gram. Okay. Okay. So basically energy density. Right. Right. Got it. And and what is the global benchmark energy density into synthetic? Or this we are talking about synthetic graphite or a natural graphite because we intend to do both. Right? Synthetic graphite. Synthetic graphite. The global benchmark, theoretically, the highest you can achieve is three sixty. Correct. And where are we? What's theoretical versus where are we now? Very near to that. Very near to that. That's great. And we have all the kill and everything to make it, right? When we plan for the capacity, we will be doing the entire process, right? And then and can you tell us because we are hearing a lot on CPC shortage globally, which is calcinated petroleum coke.

51:41 How do we solve that? Because we have coal tar, which is one part of the raw material, but even CPC is a very important part right here. No, no, no. I think CPC is not an important part because we will not use any CPC. There are two raw materials that we'll be using. One is our own coke, which we'll be making and that will be the raw material for making anode material and we have established this product globally. I have supplied and we have manufactured and supplied to of anode material business in China. So this is a very well established product, which Himadri has developed as a raw material. Now coming to the other raw material, other raw material will be different types of cokes, but not CPPs.

52:28 We don't see any problem and issues in sourcing those also. So depending on the economics, we will use the raw material. That's very clear. That's very nice to hear. Second, on the LFP, where are we in the process? Because we expect Q3 to start the 2,000 metric ton plant. So where are we in the process for that? We are moving ahead as per the schedule. We'll commence production of 2,000 metric ton trial production in Q3 FY 'twenty seven. And from there, next in Q4, the samples will start generating. First, we'll optimize the plant. So next two, three months after that, the operation, the samples will start coming in and we'll distribute samples to the global OEMs and Indian players, the next stage sample.

53:14 So basically laboratory scale sample has already been approved. Now the planned scale, commercial planned scale sample will be distributed and we'll look forward to that. And this will all have that accelerated degradation process. And also it will take, what, good twelve to eighteen months to get the sample approved and move to the commercialization stage? Yes, yes. That's why we have deferred our 40,000 medical plan to commence when FY 2028 end. So that by the time we have that plant operational, we have all the qualifications, we have all the approvals and we start the plant with commercial capacity. That was the only reason we deferred it. There was no point committing CapEx ahead of the curve. Got it. Got it. Now on our core business, on the Carbon Black because last quarter, we see one of the competition reporting a disproportionately high EBITDA per kg.

54:11 We did not see that phenomena in our company. And this quarter, we see we saw sequential decline. You did mention the sequential decline. We shouldn't focus, but just for theoretical understanding, Why was because I thought we were in a much better position considering that the petroleum raw material, which is CBFS, has also gone up so sharply. And coal tar probably where we are in a sweet spot and I thought we should have benefited a lot more than the competition. So where is this reconciliation? See, we do not benefit from the competition in terms of pricing of raw material because pricing is all the materials are correlated. If the petroleum raw material price goes up, full prices also will go up. So there cannot be a significant difference between the two raw material prices. What is our advantage? Our advantage is Specialty Carbon Black. And in Specialty Carbon Black, you need a stable clean raw material. So we produce our own raw material, which is highly stable and clean.

55:13 So Specialty Carbon Black is nothing but a clean Carbon Black. So that is the advantage Himadri has, not the pricing. So pricing will go as per the market pricing. And I cannot comment on what happened, how it happened with some other carbon backed companies. But if you look at our EBITDA, our EBITDA is very growing strongly every quarter. If you look at the last quarter, it was at INR22000, INR1500, INR1800 per metric ton reduction, but that is not because of any product challenges. See, the demand has been good, you see the volume growth. There has been, as I explained earlier also, there has been some issues like freight.

55:58 So as a percentage of our top line, the export has gone up from 26% to 33%. And the freight has gone up to another level altogether. And that has some impact, which was there on the margin. So these are temporary things. And we started this carbon black plant now that is fully stabilized, I hope so. When should we see that volumes actually showing it in the number because volume growth has been quite muted? I understand the logistic part, but the capacity which we commissioned was pretty large. No, we commissioned forty hours cigars. We commissioned 70,000 tons. And if you see the volume growth is 14,000 a quarter.

56:47 This quarter, the volume growth is 14,000. So already that capacity plus some plusminus in the earlier capacity like earlier we were selling large volumes of oil. If you remember, I explained also in terms of Convuls, we were selling oils, of consuming in house, we are selling them. So that volume we have reduced. So volume there has come down and this volume is increasing. So actually, it's not putting as much above than that, but that volume has come down and this volume is increasing. Got it. Got it. Got it. And when are we starting the two chemicals which we intended to based on that oil? These two chemicals actually. Antoxylant, Antoxylant, this we're doing in two phases. Phase one was supposed to start from Q2 FY 'twenty seven and Phase two from Q2 FY 'twenty eight. So what was happening when we were supposed to add on the capacity, that time we had to take a three month shutdown as per our technical team. So and that shutdown will have because it's a continuous plan that will have impact on the life of the equipments.

57:48 So we decided not to take a shutdown, instead start up the entire capacity altogether by Q4 FY twenty twenty seven. So with one quarter of trial, maybe Q1 FY twenty twenty eight, then nine months of full operation of with that capacity you have. So all in all, the project is ahead compared to what it was supposed to be there. It. Got it, sir. Super to hear you, sir. I wish you all the best for the coming quarters, and thanks for answering all the questions. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Sinha. We lost the connection for that participant. We'll move to the next participant.

58:34 The next question is from the line of from Wealthy Viya Ventures LLP. Please go ahead. Hello. Yeah. I'm audible. Yeah. Yeah. Please. Yeah. I just wanted to ask, I mean, this is roughly, like, 500 crore against 1,500 crore of CapEx and ongoing investments. So what's the funding plan for the rest of the CapEx? Like, it's a paid debt and comfortable gearing? So 1,500 crores is over two years. So everything will be through internal accrual. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, that was the last question for today.

59:22 I would now hand the conference over to Mr. Anuradri for the closing comments. Thank you once again for taking the time to join us on today's conference call. We hope we have been able to address your queries adequately. Yet, we firmly believe the best chapters of Himadri's story are still ahead of us. We remain committed to delivering long term value and are grateful for your trust, confidence and engagement as we scale new capacities and capabilities, expand into new frontiers and save the next phase of our growth. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations partner. Thank you once again for joining the conference call today, and we look forward to your continued support. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of Himadri Specialty Chemicals Limited, that concludes this conference.

1:00:15 Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.