Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (NSE: ADANIPORTS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Feb. 03, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Rahul Agarwal — Head of Investor Relations and ESG
Ashwani Gupta — Whole-Time Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited
D. Muthukumaran — Chief Financial Officer
Divij Taneja — Chief Executive Officer, Logistics Business
Analysts:
Anshul Agrawal — Analyst
Ketan Jain — Analyst
Priyankar Biswas — Analyst
Parash Jain — Analyst
Sumit Kishore — Analyst
Achal Lohade — Analyst
Vasudha Khurana — Analyst
Kalpit Sabhaya — Analyst
Manish Somaiya — Analyst
Pulkit Patni — Analyst
Ankita Shah — Analyst
Rajarshi Maitra — Analyst
Nidhi Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited’s Q3 FY26 Conference Call, hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. [Operator Instructions]
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anshul Agrawal from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Anshul Agrawal — Analyst
Thanks, Rio. Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for giving us this opportunity to host the earnings call. Representing the senior management, we have with us today Mr. Ashwani Gupta, Whole-Time Director and Chief Executive Officer; Mr. D. Muthukumaran, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Divij Taneja, CEO, Logistics Business; and Mr. Rahul Agarwal, Head of Investor Relations and ESG.
I shall now hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Over to you, gentlemen.
Rahul Agarwal — Head of Investor Relations and ESG
Thank you, Anshul. Hello, everyone, and a warm welcome to APSEZ’s third quarter earnings conference call. We will begin with Ashwani’s opening remarks and then open the floor for Q&A. Ashwani?
Ashwani Gupta — Whole-Time Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited
Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, depending on the time zone you are in. Thank you so much for being on this call, and thank you for your continued support and confidence in APSEZ. As India’s largest and world’s fastest growing integrated utility company, APSEZ has once again demonstrated exceptional performance in regular, consistent way. All the four business pillars of the company are delivering strong high double-digit growth rates, much more than the markets, much more than the competition, much more than the trade, and we are setting up the new benchmarks. And this quarter, we have even surpassed our internal benchmarks.
Whether we talk about financials, we talk about revenue growth, we talk about EBITDA growth, we talk about PAT, we talk about market share, we talk about free cash, we talk about — if you talk about any indicator, you will see a consistent growth delivering a very, very sustainable performance. And we have been saying that in every quarter, and we are demonstrating it in every quarter.
Now I will go a little bit more in detail. The domestic ports delivered the highest-ever nine-month container share at 40.6%, which is our main pillar of growth. Then, when we talk about international ports, I still remember we always talked about how the international ports will perform. And now you can see that in quarter, we had a revenue which was INR1,000 crore. So which means that international business is also becoming between INR4,000 crore to INR5,000 crore revenue annual business, which is a very, very hyper growth trajectory.
When we talk about marine, and if you remember that when we did the acquisition of Astro, we very smartly handicrafted this business, and this is the reason that marine is also pulling our profitable growth. And all these do not come at the cost of profitability. So if you look at marine and international ports EBITDA, it is more than double with double-digit growth. And also when you look at logistics, which is of course our second pillar, we have delivered the revenue, INR1,121 crore, which is 62% higher year-on-year. And this was possible because of our strategy, which is based on asset-heavy, asset-light, and asset-zero.
Then all these financial disciplines, all these operational excellence results in a very strong financial discipline, which means despite the NQXT acquisition, where we are taking AUD700 million of debt, we are still able to keep our leverage under a check of 1.8 times, which means moving forward, when we are following this higher double-digit growth trajectory, our cash flow is so much significant for us, which will help us in investing in the capacities on the existing asset, which is giving us the organic growth, but also to explore the meaningful rate of return inorganic growth by a merger and acquisitions. So with the operational excellence and the financial discipline, we have revised our guidance by INR800 crores.
Now all this have been very clearly appreciated and recognized by the external agencies. To start with, our balance sheet strength is now validated by Japan Credit Research Agency, which rated us a notch above India’s sovereign rating. Now moving forward, we continue to invest in the capacities for the organic growth, especially in India, including liquid, including containers, and very recently we announced INR16,000 crores Vizhinjam Phase 2 expansion. And we are investing in Dhamra, Ennore, Kattupalli, Haldia, and so on and so on.
And this growth momentum along with the operational efficiency positions us to be very much — to be very much on the trajectory towards the FY29, which is our end of five-year plan, where we said we will be doing INR65,500 crores of revenue and INR36,500 crores of EBITDA. So once again, quarter-on-quarter, we are over-delivering with respect to internal, as well as the external benchmarks, which are making us very much confident to reach the five-year plan in FY29.
Now, giving a little bit more details that how we are investing in the technology to improve the operational efficiency. Very recently, Vizhinjam has achieved the world-class GCR, which is a gross crane rate at 30 containers’ lifts per hour, which is a benchmark just after eight months of operation. And that’s why we keep on continuing to invest in the technologies.
Now, all this profitable growth comes with sustainability at the center of our strategy. Sustainability is an enabler, not an objective for us. That’s why, as a global leader in sustainable transportation, APSEZ has become India’s first company in its sector and among a select group of global players to adopt the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, setting a new benchmark for nature-positive infrastructure development.
We now take the questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Ketan Jain from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Ketan Jain
Thank you. Congratulations on a very good set of numbers, sir. Sir, my first question is, I was observing the numbers, our domestic realization is up 9% year-on-year in this quarter. Can you tell us what is the reason driving this?
D. Muthukumaran
Hi. This is Muthukumar. Thank you very much. Spot on, we have increased, and we have mentioned in Page Number 16, where we talk about domestic ports, that the higher implied revenue on EBITDA per ton of this quarter is non-representative as it also includes some take-or-pay charges in addition to the routine price increase and mix change. So what we’re trying to say is that actually, we have, sort of, enjoyed the benefit of price increase, mix increase, and benefit of mix change. And there is a little bit of benefit from ForEx.
And besides all these things, there is a little bit of an element on the denominator being suppressed, because we are getting take-or-pay, but the volume is not. So if you’re calculating price per ton, you’ll have to actually sort of put all these things. And of course, we don’t give the breakdown of each of these elements, but yeah, I mean, we have all these things put into the price increase.
Ketan Jain
Understood. So that is why that difference in this thing. So my second question is, if you could help us with the cargo breakdown of the international, international cargo port-wise?
D. Muthukumaran
Okay. I’ll flip to the page. Can you go to the next question in the meanwhile?
Ketan Jain
Yeah. The — my last question is on Mundra. What is your outlook on Mundra for the full year? I think we are down around 2% for nine months. What is your outlook on Mundra for the full year?
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah. So as you can see, Mundra is doing extremely well, utilizing each and every capacity which we could. Quarter three, if you look at the container cargo, because if you remember, I always talk about container, container, and container, because we know that two of the power plants in Mundra are highly dependent on the imported coal. So we are focusing on that. You can see that month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter, we are increasing the container. In quarter three, we did 2.2 — roughly 2.2 million.
In January, we touched 754,000. This is when we have not yet opened up the capacity for the new terminal, which will be coming in next year. So I think in January we already did 754,000, which is a real benchmark, because our efficiency in Mundra is reaching the best of best in terms of GCR, in terms of rail evacuation, and so on. And now, after the CT5 comes in, definitely we will have add-on capacity. So to answer to your question, container, liquid terminal, fertilizers, and all these commodities, Mundra is on the right track. When it comes to the coal, especially the thermal coal, there we of course see flat movement. But anyhow, that is not going to change the dynamics of our Mundra financials, because, as Muthukumar said just before, those are all take-or-pay capacities when it comes to financial.
Divij Taneja
And…
Ketan Jain
Okay. On the…
Divij Taneja
I’ve given the volume split, Colombo is about 5.4. Haifa about 2.1 and Tanzania about 3.1 MMT.
Ketan Jain
Sorry sir, I didn’t — I couldn’t hear you. Can you please repeat?
Divij Taneja
Colombo 5.4 MMT, Haifa 2.1, and Tanzania 3.1, 3.1 MMT. This is all quarterly numbers.
Ketan Jain
Understood. Thank you, sir. Those are my questions.
Divij Taneja
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from Priyankar Biswas from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Priyankar Biswas
First of all, my congratulations to you for increasing the guidance and of course, for a very strong outlook for the year. My first question is, when I see the numbers in a bit more detail, we are seeing that there is a — this others revenue that we are seeing, there is a significant increase in the top line there and almost a doubling of the EBITDA. What is driving that? Is it our dredging entity or is it the track maintenance entity? And how should we look at this particular item going forward?
D. Muthukumaran
Priyankar, hi. Thanks a lot for the question. Subsequent to last financial year’s income tax changes, we did a little bit of a restructuring of assets and some bridges which were sitting in Adani Ports and SEZ top company, did go to Shanti Sagar which is the subsidiary company, then that gets clubbed under others and then there are also sort of others include another subsidiary Sarguja where our volumes have ramped up quite significantly in these — in this financial year.
So I just wanted to lay these explanations out to you before coming to your, I guess, the purpose of question, quality of analysis, or quality of revenue. These are sort of sustainable non-recurring — sorry, recurring, not non-recurring, sorry. These are sustainable recurring usual routine incomes. So there is no — it’s just a classification. There is nothing in particular, sort of, for you to focus on this line. And in any case, actually, as you can see as the last point, on a per ton basis, these contribute — EBITDA contributes to rupees — so — increase, so which is not quite significant. So overall, I just wanted to reemphasize that these are accounting classifications and nothing to highlight to you on — in a sort of quality of income.
Priyankar Biswas
And sir, furthermore, in Vizhinjam, we just heard the announcement of this INR16,000 crores further expansion of capacity. Now, on that, can you just provide us like what — like, let’s say, what is the timeline for the capex? And following that what sort of a volumes, let’s say, you are building in? Because by the time it comes, let’s say, onstream, we would be very close to our FY28 and ’29 targets. So, if you can share some color? And is there some plans for offshore ship-to-ship bunkering, something of that plans, sir, at least for the press release that I would make out?
D. Muthukumaran
The last question. Can you just repeat the last sentence?
Priyankar Biswas
So is there some plans for liquids as well in Vizhinjam? Like ship-to-ship bunkering or something of that sorts?
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah. I think Muthu will talk about. I mean, this INR16,000 crore is for the Phase 2 development. This will take the capacity more than 5 million, because with the technology and with the efficiency we are delivering 20% to 30% more than the nameplate capacity. This INR16,000 crore includes extension of the breakwater, includes the berth, includes the equipments, and it includes all the ecosystem which is needed to run the port. Obviously, this includes the potential to develop the liquid terminal.
To start with, we have already signed the MoU with BPCL for LNG bunkering. This will be ship-to-ship bunkering, because as you know that today the LNG bunkering is at Jebel Ali and then the Colombo is still struggling. And because on this international channel there is no — not many competitive LNG bunkering facility, that’s the reason that shipping lines are not bringing their LNG-capable vessels on this channel. But with this — with the vessel-to-vessel, ship-to-ship bunkering facility in Vizhinjam, which is just 10 nautical miles from the international water, which is boosting the shipping lines and motivating them to bring their vessels which are LNG capable. And I’m pretty sure this will be very successful. And BPCL will, of course, bring the LNG from very nearby Kochi plant.
D. Muthukumaran
Thank you. So your question, Priyankar, on capex. The capex will go on till FY29 and the payments will happen until FY30. I’m actually while talking to you trying to pull out the EGM notice in which we have given the year-wise anticipated cash flows. And just once again I’m getting it up for you. And this will increase the capacity from the current 1.6 million TEUs to we will expand it by 4.1 million. So therefore in total we will go up to 5.7 million TEUs of total capacity. And we have also given the details of exact project specification; how many cranes, what is the breakwater requirement, all of them are in the EGM notice that we have actually circulated.
And I’m actually trying to read out to you from there, the capex. FY26 we have 90 million, FY27 we have 350 million, FY28 we have 700 million, and ’29, 550 million and FY30, 63 million. This is the anticipated cash flows on account of this project. I mean it will not be out of place to actually put in a caveat that these are estimates which is going to go four years out. So there may be variations, but this is our estimate of cash flow.
Priyankar Biswas
Sir, very helpful. What I was trying to actually understand, like, when you are doing this large expansion of Vizhinjam and you have a plan for INR36,000 crores EBITDA in FY29. So is this asset contributing handsomely to that from this expansion?
Ashwani Gupta
No, this expansion, it will have — see, the basic port already exists, right? We already have a 800-meter berth. So we will keep on building up. It is not that we will increase the volume in 2028 only. I think we will be doing an incremental ramp-up of our volume. And this EBITDA, which we have declared that we will be doing by FY29 includes all the ports which we have, includes the ramp up, and includes the existing business. So it’s not a new decision which we took which is going to impact the EBITDA. It is all included in our business plan, right?
D. Muthukumaran
And just to add to it, actually, as I mentioned, this project will only be completed by FY29 and INR36,000 crores you’re talking about is for FY29. So it will be very, very small contribution to that estimate. It will — it is being built based on the market’s growth and sort of our company’s growth going forward.
Priyankar Biswas
That’s very clear. And just if I can squeeze just last one in. Since NQXT would be included from the next quarter, so can you give us some idea, like how should the balance sheet be essentially looking like when we close the year, like FY26? And how should we look at, let’s say, a little bit ahead?
D. Muthukumaran
So I think in the Page Number — I’m trying to remember, but basically the total debt, net debt of Australia is about INR4,800 crores as of December 2025.
Divij Taneja
That’s a gross debt INR4,744 crores. It’s a gross debt. INR280 crores is the cash.
D. Muthukumaran
Yeah, sorry. Yeah. INR4,500 crores.
Priyankar Biswas
Okay. Okay, sir. I’ll come back into the queue.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from Parash Jain from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Parash Jain
Yeah. Hi, Ashwani and Muthu. I have two questions. First of all, if you can talk about your 2030 target of 1 billion ton, will it be entirely or largely fulfilled by the ongoing expansion in half a dozen ports that you mentioned in your presentation in Vizhinjam and so on and so forth? That’s question number one. And if not, then will that acquisition target will be in India or in overseas? The second question is with respect to Vizhinjam. Do you need — like, do we have an entire ecosystem in place to handle your target capacity in terms of evacuation, in terms of cargo, if you can share any color, and also the pricing difference between Vizhinjam and Colombo?
D. Muthukumaran
So let me start with the second question first, Parash. Vizhinjam, basically, at this point in time we are positioning it as a transshipment. So evacuation into hinterland is marginal for now. That said, there is a road connectivity, which is right outside the port, which can evacuate for EXIM cargo. And there is also a plan for us and we are evaluating and implementing a rail connectivity program in that port. So if and when rail also happens, we will have added evacuation capacity and road, of course, can serve to the extent that we need. So it is not a constraint. As the market develops, we will be able to actually, sort of, handle EXIM cargo quite easily. At the moment, it is positioned as a transhipment cargo.
To your question on 1 billion ton, basically we are talking about the split of largely domestic and international. Domestic is — sorry, international is about 150 million metric tons, for which the current four ports that we have in the portfolio, sort of, has a very clear visibility of how we can get to 150 million metric tons from these four ports with a current program, with nothing sort of added new. Now if we do add anything more in the international, it will actually add to the comfort of 1 billion ton.
As far as the balance 850 million ton is concerned, it is all going to come from domestic market. Vizhinjam is the transshipment port. And if you go back to the earlier question, I did mention that Vizhinjam is going to have — Phase 2 coming in only post FY30 in volumes. So therefore current volumes that we are doing, you have the current indication of where we will do. Now if you remove that, everything else is sort of coming from the existing ports that we already have. And we have explained in the last quarter that we see a disproportionate increase in Dhamra. We can see that going up to 100 million tons in times to come. Other than that, all the ports will actually go up in proportion.
Mundra has an ecosystem to grow faster than other people, but that is, sort of, only at the margin. By and large we don’t anticipate any proportionate contribution coming from ports in a way which is different from what we have today. So the current split is by and large indicative of how we will do. All the ports we expect to contribute to growth. And you will see that we have been investing in all of the ports. Expansion capacity is being created in an organic manner. So we expect the proportion to by and large to remain the same.
Parash Jain
I’m sorry, sir, if you can talk about the pricing of transshipment cargo versus Colombo, for instance?
D. Muthukumaran
Sorry, what?
Parash Jain
Comparable High? Low?
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah. See, pricing is always the consequence of supply and demand. So Colombo is short of capacity. And I’m pretty sure that in coming three to four years, Colombo will be struggling for the capacity. We have the capacity. And in addition to the capacity, we would be also offering the EXIM very soon. So Vizhinjam anyhow, as an overall port, will keep its competitiveness and we will fight with the competition accordingly. So far in last — since we started, absolutely we have no pricing pressure, because of that, because we are driving the business by the services we give to the shipping lines. Not only in Vizhinjam port, but everywhere in the world, including Colombo.
Parash Jain
Fair enough. That’s very helpful. Thank you, and have a good rest of the evening.
Ashwani Gupta
Thank you. Thank you, Parash.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from Sumit Kishore from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Sumit Kishore
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. One question on the container cargo volume growth that you have seen, the logistics business, it’s about 4% each quarter. It’s seem to be a bit low versus what you were tracking and what — even Concord has done slightly more than that. Also as the second biggest player in the space right now, given that DFC is going to come up in March and the Concord has given a fairly strong growth guidance for the next three years, four years on their call, just wanted to hear your thoughts on how you are looking at the next three years, four years post-DFC?
Ashwani Gupta
Hi. I’ll just respond to that. So you’re right. We are Q-on-Q looking at 4%. So that’s roughly 1.64 to 1.70. So initial response to that is that we are going down the integrated path and looking at having a complete port to factory sort of thought process. That’s where you’re seeing a reconfig happening.
With regards to the DFC, which is roughly 1,506 kilometers, which ultimately will connect the northern hinterland into, let’s say, Nhava Sheva from Mundra, we don’t see too much of disruption. We’re looking at our volumes remaining steady. And primarily if I look at it, the rail slabs that you’re looking at between, let’s say, Mundra and the other ports vary from six to seven rail slabs. That will increase. So apart from, let’s say, the increase in cargo carrying capacity, the rail slabs will not really benefit that process. So we will see a little more movement, no doubt, maybe from road into rail, but we don’t see any delta affecting us. In fact, we do look at the industry as a whole benefiting from this.
Sumit Kishore
So your response sort of gives me the impression that you are looking at a single digit growth for the next three years, four years in the rail container volume even after DFC. Is that the right impression?
Ashwani Gupta
So not really. If I’m looking at Adani Logistics in particular, we are targeting double-digit growth as we have done even in this year. If you look at my year-on-year numbers, we are in double-digit roughly at 11%. So we are looking at double-digit to continue.
Sumit Kishore
For rail container volumes?
Ashwani Gupta
That’s right. I think for the DFC, we appreciate DFC because at the end it is contributing to the overall trade and it is contributing to the traffic. One thing which is very important for all of us to be very clear, what comes to our competitor port is because of their port competitiveness, which is draft, which is evacuation and so on and so on. What comes to Mundra is because of Mundra’s competitiveness of the port. Whether it is a vessel turnaround time, whether it is the efficiency of our ecosystem at Mundra, whether it is the draft and also our relationship with the shipping lines everywhere, right. Anything which comes to Mundra can also go to Vizhinjam for the transshipment. So that is the competitiveness in Mundra as a port.
Now we can always say that catchment area for our competitor and us are different. So that will always continue. Now the question is, what is the impact of DFC on us is negligible and I would say zero. Why? Because when it comes the travel time, the travel time on the DFC will improve. But the travel time on connections to the competitor port and to the competitor ICD will remain the same as it is between Mundra and other ICDs — our other ICDs in the end shuck. So we don’t expect the total end-to-end time using the DFC to go much less in — unless until the bottlenecks and which will take time and efforts both.
But more than that, the only competitiveness which may come is from what is the cost per TEU after the DFC will be started. Because this is where the shipping lines can say that even if Mundra has got a better draft, even if Mundra has got a better vessel turnaround time, even if Mundra has got a better services which is end-to-end. But still, your competition will have a competitiveness because of DFC. And answer is no.
Why? Because there will be additional 300 kilometers to 350 kilometers, where Mundra will have the competitiveness, which is roughly five to six railway slabs and which is not few hundred rupees, which is few thousand rupees. So I think our customer/shipping line will think twice to use our competition DFC if it is our catchment area, if it is our competitiveness. And that’s where we do believe that DFC will increase the efficiency of our competition, but what will not take away the business from us.
Sumit Kishore
Very clear. Also just a brief comment if you can make on the GPWIS volumes, which have been flattish this year. Is that mainly because of coal not being too much invoke, or what is the reason for GPWIS volume being flattish for nine months?
Ashwani Gupta
So it’s predominantly — if you look at it on the East Coast, we’ve had an extended monsoon. So I’ve gone from 5.5 to 5.2. So this is primarily the reason for it.
Sumit Kishore
Extended monsoon, okay. And flattish for nine months is again linked to which commodity?
Ashwani Gupta
So no change in commodity mix. So it will remain flat. I mean, we — I mean we were thinking and we wanted to take your feedback also. I mean, we started communicating about GPWIS when the Indian policy was talking about increase in the GPWIS and increase in the participation of private players in GPWIS and we were very bullish on that. But then all of a sudden there was a pause on the policy.
So only thing which we can do is to run GPWIS in a very efficient way. But the issue comes when we want to run the GPWIS in an efficient way, but at the end they are connected to the main traffic of the railways. So if GPWIS is not getting the load sometime it comes empty. And that’s where you will see the fluctuation of the utilization of the GPWIS. Not because GPWIS does not have the business opportunity, just because that overall ecosystem of rakes owned by Indian Railways and the rakes owned by us do not get the full optimization because of import/export imbalance.
Sumit Kishore
Got it. Just one last question. Your EBITDA for nine months is INR16,830 crore. How’s been the conversion to operating cash flow for the nine-month period? And the way you are tracking on operating cash flow, which is much, much ahead as compared to your EBITDA, as compared to your capex plan for FY26. I mean we’ve been asking it in the past to your cash position and your balance sheet just gets better, so what are your capex plans through 2030 if you can repeat them once again? And what do you do with the extra cash generation?
D. Muthukumaran
So first question, conversion. Basically we have an annual interest net including sort of our netting of income in the region of about INR1,800 crores and tax little less but call it similar amount. And we have already given you the guidance for the full year of INR22,800 crores as the EBITDA. So if you remove these two or deduct these two, you will get the sort of operating cash flows a little over INR18,000 crores. So that is answer to your first question and we are on track, sort of, for this conversion.
To your second question, what we are going to do with extra cash? You have seen that over the last two years, three years, we have been, sort of, doing, sort of, buybacks where required. We’ve been actually prepaying some loans. So we have said there is a policy. We will keep cash to a comfortable level of at least two quarters of capex and anticipated cash outflows. So that’s the minimum that we would like to carry in our balance sheet. And as and when we generate excess cash flows, we will deal with the way we did in the past.
Sumit Kishore
Which will — which is, in the past, you would be capex free, but right now your capex plans are much lower?
D. Muthukumaran
So we will actually give you along with the next quarter the, sort of, capex plan for FY27. It will be, sort of, discussed in detail like we have done for past years. At the time of Q4 result, we will give you. And you will see that directionally for all the projects that we have already announced we will have more cash capex than what we have done in the past. So it will all stack up when we give you the breakdown in Q4.
Sumit Kishore
Sure. But just to revisit, to meet your target of 1 billion ton, has the capex plan over a five-year time frame which was there earlier have changed?
D. Muthukumaran
No.
Sumit Kishore
Okay. So it’s only going to be timing of the capex rather than. Okay. I think we’ll have — we’ll look forward to the fourth quarter discussion. Thank you.
Operator
The next question is from Mr. Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Achal Lohade
Good evening, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. The first question I have is with respect to container at Mundra. If I see the last three quarters, our container volume has been between 2 million TEUs to 2.2 million TEUs. So A, if you could — rather last four quarters. So if you could give us some sense as to what is the challenge out here? And B, the outlook, I know you’ve given the kind of overall number, but if you could just talk a little bit on container and coal for Mundra particularly and also at aggregate level? Thank you so much.
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah. I mean, sorry, I’m trying to understand your question. You’re saying that between 2 million to 2.2 million is less or more or okay, or…
Achal Lohade
No, actually — okay, let me rephrase, sir.
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah.
Achal Lohade
If I look at the container volume growth for last three quarters, it’s minus 3, plus 4 and plus 6 at Mundra Port. So if you could — I mean, it has been growing in high double-digit or mid-teens in the past. If you could give us some sense as to what is creating this hiccup and the outlook, and similarly for coal?
Ashwani Gupta
I think — no, there is no hiccup in Mundra. Of course there was a hiccup in quarter one when we had this Operation SINDOOR, because of which we had the disturbance in the supply chain and that’s where the quarter one was, 2 million. But then it started picking up from quarter two and quarter three as you can see is 2.2 million and January itself is 7.5 million. So if I do my math correct, we should be more than 2.2 million. So as I said before, Mundra is still having the capacity and we are really caching each and every bit of the capacity. And very soon our CT5 will be open. So we don’t see any challenge in increase of volume, in increasing volume in Mundra.
I think on the coal, there was a combination of two things. Number one, India as a whole saw the sluggish power demand. That was number one. Which means the thermal coal import all India basis was minus 2.7%. And we has — the two power plants in Mundra, because they are dependent on the imported coal, they also got the hit because of that. And that’s where we had this issue. Now moving forward, both the plants have been fired and I think both have got the approvals to move forward and they will move forward, because that’s where the India power needs are.
Having said that, once again I repeat that the Mundra growth is not driven by these two power plants or by the thermal coal. Mundra growth is driven by container, container and container. That’s why we decided to invest in container terminals. Mundra growth is also by the liquid. If you would have seen in last two quarters you would have seen the growth in the — in LPG also and the fertilizers, the agri and so on and so on. So overall we really want to drive the growth in Mundra by container.
Achal Lohade
Got it. Secondly, just a clarification, NQXT will be consolidated from 1st of January. Have I understood right?
Ashwani Gupta
Yes.
Achal Lohade
Or 1st of April ’26.
Ashwani Gupta
1st of January.
Achal Lohade
Understood. And if you could clarify, in terms of the other expenses line item, that seems to have kind of seen a decline on a YoY basis. Any particular reason out here if you could call out if I see this is INR475 crores?
D. Muthukumaran
No, so there isn’t actually any particular sort of reason. These are just quarterly and seasonal things. And if you see year as a whole, it will actually stack up.
Achal Lohade
Got it. Thank you. I’ll fall back in the queue for more questions. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from Vasudha Khurana from Aviva Life Insurance. Please go ahead.
Vasudha Khurana
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to ask if — what are the kind of borrowing target for FY27? And what kind of avenues would the company be looking at in terms of domestic and external borrowing, if you could share some segregation?
D. Muthukumaran
Okay. So in FY27 we have only routine amortizations coming up for repayments, which is in the order of INR3.5 thousand crores. We will generate — we will give you the EBITDA guidance for the next year when we discuss next quarter numbers. But directionally you will find that we are generating sufficient cash flows to meet the mandatory prepayments required as well as the capex plan that we have. This is a little bit of — without numbers, it’s a little bit of a peep into what you might sort of hear from us in next quarter about the next financial year. So we don’t need any borrowing.
That said, we have been having sort of virtually all markets open. We’ve been able to borrow in the ECB market. We have been able to borrow in the rupee banking market and the rupee NCD market. So we have — and then we also have short term markets like CP. So we have multiple avenues of sort of markets open to us. And over the course of last one year, we have been dipping into each of these markets just to actually remain active in these markets. So we’ve been done — we’ve been doing borrowings in all these markets over the period of last one year. It gives me the confidence to tell you that all these things are open, because, sort of, we have done deals.
Vasudha Khurana
Okay. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from Kalpit Sabhaya from GYR Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.
Kalpit Sabhaya
Congratulations to the management for the good quarter. So my question is regarding the upcoming projects like — with the recent notification of Galathea Bay as India’s 13 major port and the government moved towards the PPP model of the private anchorage. Is the company planning for any interest in the bidding for this project?
D. Muthukumaran
Sorry.
Ashwani Gupta
Yeah. Sorry I missed your question. So I just got it. So, thank you. In India, we are already running between 27% market share and any new capacity which is built up in India, definitely we will go for it. Even if it is a PPP model or it is a HAM model, whatever model comes in, we will go for it.
Kalpit Sabhaya
Okay. Great, sir. And as per the research I have made and the estimated cost of around INR44,000 crores at the Phase 1, how would such a massive grain for investment project will be, like, sourced through the current leverage ratios and doubling the EBITDA by FY29?
D. Muthukumaran
Sorry. Sorry to interject. Your voice is not coming through clearly. It’s a little blurred.
Kalpit Sabhaya
Is it properly now?
D. Muthukumaran
We will try to make it work. Go ahead. Just go ahead.
Kalpit Sabhaya
Yeah. So the estimated project cost is around INR44,000 crores, and how much massive greater investment impact will occur on the current leverage ratios and the long term target for doubling EBITDA by FY29 or ’30?
Ashwani Gupta
The current INR44,000 crores means what?
D. Muthukumaran
No, I understood. So basically, we have given the strategy presentation where we have said the total Investment program identified is INR75,000 crores, out of which INR50,000 crores is for the ports. And for us to do that kind of investment, we don’t need fresh borrowings. On the contrary, even after this investment in a five-year plan, we will be in a net cash generator, because our operating cash flows are far more than the currently declared investment program. So on that basis our leverage will go down on a net basis. And of course, we are always on the lookout for more growth opportunities. And that is something that will occur episodically. And whenever we actually get the opportunity, we will invest inorganically.
Kalpit Sabhaya
Okay. Got it. That’s it from my side. All other questions were covered up. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from Manish Somaiya from Cantor. Please go ahead.
Manish Somaiya
Thank you so much for taking my questions. Good afternoon. Good evening. Obviously a lot of things went right in the quarter, but maybe at a higher level if you can just tell us what could have been better? What are we missing? What are we not seeing in the quarter that could have gone better?
Ashwani Gupta
That’s great. Thank you. I think in Vizhinjam we reached 30 GCR in the month of December. If we would have reached it in the month of October, we would have done more volumes in Vizhinjam, because we are up in Vizhinjam. So let me say that.
I think the second point is on the logistics. I think we announced our strategy nine months before and quarter-on-quarter we are demonstrating significant increase in our logistics. And very recently we have started the optimization of the rail trucking and warehousing. I would say that the rail volume which we saw, container volume, especially the 4% increase, definitely has many opportunities. And this is where just before we said that especially in logistics and especially in rail container, we will be doing much better with respect to the previous quarter. I think rest, I would say, coal, thermal coal import is not in our hands. Whatever is in our hands, I would say that if I prioritize, I think the rail container and I would say that — I mean that is something which I would say that we will be doing much better.
Manish Somaiya
And then just looking at international ports and logistics margins, appreciating the fact that those two segments are ramping up, how should we think about margins? Because margins did decline sequentially from second quarter to third quarter, how should we think about the cadency of margins as we look out the next few years? Where do they settle?
D. Muthukumaran
So Manish, you’re absolutely right. At sort of the headline level, our profitability margins sort of have come down in this quarter. But if I were to set the context correct and analysis correct, we’ve been, sort of, laying out a strategy which will go down this path. It is well within the framework of what we have set ourselves to do. And our international margins, bulk of it is coming from marine. Marine is firing at about 55% of EBITDA margin and it is also giving a return on capital employed of 14%, which is far, far above the threshold. And we’ve been guiding that as far as the logistics and international ports is concerned, the best metric is to use the return on capital employed, because it’s a non-homogeneous market. In a heterogeneous market, it’s pointless to compare EBITDA margin. It actually does not tell you the business performance. So therefore we have been providing details on return on capital employed.
Manish Somaiya
Okay. And then just lastly, Ashwani, there’s been fair amount of discussion today on the ’29 targets, but maybe if you can just help us understand what are — what could be the tightest constraints to achieving the fiscal ’29 guidance that you have laid out? And I think that would be super helpful. And actually related to that, do you have any plans to potentially revise the fiscal ’29 outlook that you have provided?
Ashwani Gupta
I think, of course, I will answer the question number two. I don’t think we are revising the guidance on the five-year, because five-year is always a guidance which guides us to execute the business on day-to-day basis and deliver and communicate the results on quarter-on-quarter. So I think this is what is the policy, the philosophy or the procedure we have adopted and we will keep that. Obviously like we have seen in this quarter that we were confident we have the visibility, so we revised the guidance but we will not update the five-year just because we are revising the guidance for this quarter. I think this is how we are managing our business by maximizing the opportunity and minimizing the risk. That’s answer to number two.
Answer to number one, Manish, that there is only one thing which can take away from reaching the target, which is a big turmoil between the countries and which is — which may impact the trade. But otherwise with a small geopolitics here and there, with a small tariff discussions here and there you would have seen that it does not move the needle on the reverse direction. So I think we are very much on the track and we will be on the track. And yeah, as I said, there is only one thing, it’s a big turmoil between the countries which will impact the global trade. Then only we will be impacted. But a small thing here and there, whether it is Red Sea or it is some Houthi or it is something, it does not move the needle, because now fortunately our base is quite big.
Manish Somaiya
Okay. That’s super helpful, Ashwani. Thank you so much. And good luck, Muthu.
D. Muthukumaran
Thank you.
Ashwani Gupta
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Pulkit Patni
Thank you for taking my questions. I have a few of them. The first couple are just bookkeeping.
Operator
Pulkit, I’m sorry to interrupt, but your voice is not very clear. If you’re on a hands free, we request you to use the handset.
Pulkit Patni
Is this better? Is this better? Can you hear me? It’s still not clear?
D. Muthukumaran
I mean, we can make — do with this, Pulkit, but it’s not very clear.
Pulkit Patni
I’m actually sorry. Okay. Yeah. So I’ll just try to be a little loud. My first question is bookkeeping. Is it fair to assume part of the realization improvement that you’ve seen in the quarter is also to do with the repeat appreciation?
D. Muthukumaran
The answer is yes, Pulkit, but — can you be a little far away from your handset or whatever you’re talking from, because it’s little too jarring. Like, we can’t hear you clearly.
Pulkit Patni
Okay. Is that better, Muthu?
D. Muthukumaran
Yeah. Yeah, it’s better. Please go ahead.
Pulkit Patni
Okay. My second question is, in your press release — in the release you’ve spoken of the gross debt which — where you mentioned that it includes — it excludes certain non-core liabilities related to NQXT. Could you just highlight what those are and what would be the total number for those?
D. Muthukumaran
So this is also a matter that was approved by shareholders yesterday in the Extraordinary General Meeting. If you go back, Pulkit, to the deal construct, along with our acquisition came certain non-port related assets and liabilities. We said that in short order as much — as soon as possible we will take them out. We guided over a few months’ time frame, but we actually ended up doing within a month. And also as of now it stands approved. So it’s only an accounting entry that we need to pass. So for all practical purpose, you can ignore them as we speak today. But just to give you a sense of amount, because you asked for the amount, we have indicated the amount to be USD2.54 billion as on 31 January 2026. However, none of these have any bearing. And as of today it stands dissolved and there are no non-core assets and liabilities as we speak.
Pulkit Patni
Okay. So everything is dissolved as of now. My next question is on coal volumes. A quarter of our total volumes come from thermal coal. And while there is a lot of uncertainty and we’ve seen the last, sort of, couple of years coal has had some downward pressure. How is the company looking at sort of diversifying away from this exposure to coal? Like what’s the plan for coal to settle down for us in terms of our total proportion of volumes? Just some sort of forward looking guidance there.
D. Muthukumaran
The broad outlook, if you want, I can give.
Ashwani Gupta
I don’t know from where you got this number. Coal has got different coals, right. Coal has got thermal coal. Thermal coal has got imported coal and coastal coal. So imported coal is going down, but coastal coal is increasing, right. All India level coastal coal is increasing. Then second is the coking coal. Coking coal is used in the steel industries, because the steel is having a growth. The coking coal is also having a growth. 10.8% is the growth which is on the coking coal, right. Then coastal coal, 1.9% is the coastal coal.
So at first to answer to your question, coal is not going down. Overall coal is going up. Only the thermal coal, which is linked to the import is going down, right. So as far as we are concerned, we have a business portfolio which is mix of container, coal, iron ore, liquid and so on, and we manage the mix in the way trade is progressing. So if the imported thermal coal is going down, it’s not going to change the needle as you would have seen. It has not changed the needle in this quarter also.
Pulkit Patni
No, no, absolutely sir. Let me rephrase. I didn’t mean it’s going down. I’m looking at Slide 41 where it’s going down as a proportion, which is actually a good thing. I just meant to understand where do you think it settled as a proportion of the overall cargo for us? So from 30% in FY24 this nine-month it’s at 22% and I wanted to understand.
Ashwani Gupta
But where did you get this 20% of thermal coal?
Pulkit Patni
No, sir. Thermal coal as a percentage of overall targets on Slide Number 41 is 22% coming down from 30%. That’s what I meant.
D. Muthukumaran
So, see, you are asking, Pulkit, where will it actually settle down?
Pulkit Patni
Yeah.
D. Muthukumaran
If you see that, the coal will — I mean if you look at next five years trajectory, India is talking about the declared power, thermal power plants increased by 50% in capacity. And that is one data point. The other data point is, we have been investing in container over the past, sort of, several quarters. Our growth in containers, sort of, is, let’s say, 20%, if you have to pick one number, which is growing the highest amongst the portfolio of products that we have got.
So if you bake in both these two, I would say in the long term if you are starting with 30% as a number for FY24, there is no reason why we could — we will be sort of away from, let’s say, 20% mark or coal in five years from now considering that our container is sort of growing the highest. And we also have, in our business plan, sort of oil and gas products coming in in the next five years. So if you put all of them, so the weightage of coal will go down and we should be somewhere between 20% to 22%.
Pulkit Patni
Okay. So around the same 20 percentage. Thank you. That’s very useful.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from Ankita Shah from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Ankita Shah
Yeah. Hi. Am I audible?
Ashwani Gupta
Yes, Ankita.
Ankita Shah
Hi. Firstly congratulations on a very all round performance. Congratulations to the team. My question is on NQXT. So in EBITDA you’ve mentioned that one quarter — in the guidance, sorry, guidance on EBITDA that one quarter of NQXT inclusion is included in this at INR300 crores. This is for the fourth quarter expectations, right? For FY26?
D. Muthukumaran
Yes. Yes, Ankita.
Ankita Shah
What would be the similar number on the revenue side?
D. Muthukumaran
So it is firing at 65% EBITDA. So that INR300 crores is roughly 65%. So it’ll be about INR450 crores, INR500 crores, little less.
Ankita Shah
65% EBITDA.
D. Muthukumaran
Correct.
Ankita Shah
Going forward, there was expectation that there will be contract negotiations. So will we see contract negotiations on the higher side from FY27 onwards itself, or it will take time to pan out?
D. Muthukumaran
No, there isn’t much happening in FY27. There is a little bit of a quantity in FY28 under a large volume coming up in FY29.
Ankita Shah
Okay. And this could lead to this 65% margin can go up to what levels? Will it become like similar to what our domestic ports are making margins, right?
D. Muthukumaran
Yeah. It will be. It will reach to that level. You’re right.
Ankita Shah
That will be like mostly beyond FY28, correct?
D. Muthukumaran
Sorry, I was actually doing the math while talking to you. No, actually we would still be at around similar percentage because both denominator and sort of numerator will both go up as the EBITDA goes up. It is coming from price realization. So absolute EBITDA will go up to the USD400 million mark that we have guided.
Ankita Shah
Okay. But you are saying in terms of EBITDA margin it will remain more or less similar?
D. Muthukumaran
Let me just do the math for you while talking to you. So there is…
Ankita Shah
Or maybe I’ll take it offline, it’s okay.
D. Muthukumaran
Yeah. I mean it’s not significantly off. It will be few percentage point up. See, currently we are doing USD350 million of revenue and USD230 million of EBITDA. And the USD230 million will go up to USD400 million. So the USD350 million will correspondingly go up to USD520 million. So it’s USD400 million upon USD520 million. So it’ll roughly be similar percentage, 70%. I mean, that’s the percentage, that’s the math.
Ankita Shah
Got it. Got it. And in our consolidation, will we take the nameplate capacity of 50 million tons or contracted capacity of 40 million tons in our calculation over future?
D. Muthukumaran
Capacity will be 50 million ton.
Ankita Shah
So no, the volume number that we will be calculating will be using the nameplate capacity only 50 million from NQXT. Will that be the number that we should work?
D. Muthukumaran
No. So for volume we will actually go with that. We’ll probably put it as a note also whenever this comes up. We will put actually contracted volume or actual, whichever is higher. And the reason…
Ankita Shah
Okay.
D. Muthukumaran
…for that is actually contracted volume will give us a definitive revenue at a per ton rate. And if we do more volume than contracted then we are going to realize that much more. We will be paid for the extra volume at the similar rate.
Ankita Shah
Got it. Got it. Okay, great. I think, yeah, that’s it from my side, and wish you all the best and best wishes.
Ashwani Gupta
Thank you.
D. Muthukumaran
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from Rajarshi Maitra from InCred. Please go ahead.
Rajarshi Maitra
Yeah, hello. Thanks for the opportunity. So my question is on the margin. So if I see Slide 22 in your PPT. So if I look at the margins for few ports like Mundra, Kattupalli, Dhamra and Karaikal, so there seems to have been a year-on-year margin decline. So is there anything specific that you would like to highlight for these? And also for Gopalpur, it’s — obviously there has been a sharp decline. So these five ports, anything specific that needs to be noted? Thank you.
D. Muthukumaran
No. There is nothing specific here. And on an absolute per ton basis, our EBITDA has been going up in the large ports. Gopalpur, of course we will implement the turnaround program and as it happens it will catch up. So it is a per ton EBITDA that you need to track where we are going.
Rajarshi Maitra
Okay. And Gopalpur specifically, what has been the reason for — I mean so this quarter there has been actually a negative EBITDA and about — yeah, I mean about as close to 70% decline in revenue on a year-on-year basis. So what is the basis here? Because the volume decline is, I think, 25% odd. So what explains this kind of a sharp dip?
D. Muthukumaran
So there are certain fixed costs in the ports. All the equipment that we have there are on hire. So our fixed cost is sort of — is something that we need to work on. So like I said, as we actually work on it, we will actually sort that also out in times to come.
Rajarshi Maitra
Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from Nidhi Shah from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Nidhi Shah
Yes. Thank you so much for taking my question. So my question mainly surrounds that how much of our container volumes depend on exports to the US?
Ashwani Gupta
380,000.
Nidhi Shah
All right. And have you seen any decline in these particular…
Ashwani Gupta
Sorry. Just a minute. 380,000 out of 12.5 million, which we do.
Nidhi Shah
All right. And have we seen any weakness in these volumes specifically?
Ashwani Gupta
No, we can’t measure it, because so minor.
Nidhi Shah
All right. My last question is that, what do you think would be the impact of volumes at Mundra given that there is copper, coal to PVC and the solar module capacity will also be expanding in that region. So overall, what is the contribution of additional volumes that we can expect from group companies?
Ashwani Gupta
It’s difficult to say. But yes, it is contributing. It’s difficult to say how much.
Nidhi Shah
All right. Thank you. Those were my questions. Yeah.
Ashwani Gupta
Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you very much. That was the last question in queue. I would now like to hand the conference back to the management team for any closing comments.
D. Muthukumaran
Yes. Hang on a second, please.
Ashwani Gupta
So, thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support. I also want to take this opportunity to share with you that Mr. Muthukumaran will be taken — will be taking the assignment in the group with effect from 1st of March. So I really want to say thanks to you for your great support to Mr. Muthukumaran, because of which APSEZ is at this stage. We will be introducing to the succession. This is in line with our succession plan and the career development plan. And we will be introducing Mr. Krishna as the new CFO in the next call. Thank you. Thank you for your support.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]