Century Textiles & Industries Limited (CENTURYTEX) Q3 FY23 Earnings Concall Transcript

Century Textiles & Industries Limited (NSE:CENTURYTEX) Q3 FY23 Earnings Concall dated Jan. 31, 2023.

Corporate Participants:

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer

Analysts:

Amit Shrivastava — Batlivala and Karani Securities — Analyst

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

Smitesh Sheth — Raedan Securities — Analyst

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Presentation:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen. Good day, and welcome to the Century Textiles and Industries Limited Q3 FY ’23 Conference Call hosted by Batlivala and Karani Securities India Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. [Operator Instructions]. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Shrivastava from Batlivala and Karani Securities. Thank you and over to you sir.

Amit Shrivastava — Batlivala and Karani Securities — Analyst

Yes, thank you, Rohan. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of B&K Securities, I welcome you all to the 3Q FY ’23 earning conference call of Century Textiles. We have with us from the management, Mr. R. K. Dalmia, Managing Director; Mr. Vijay Kaul, CEO, Century Pulp and Paper; Mr. K. T. Jithendran, CEO, Birla Estates; and Mr. Snehal Shah, CFO. We will start the call with opening remarks from the management, which will be followed by Q&A. Over to you sir, for the opening remarks.

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

Thank you. Very good evening to everyone joining us today. Firstly, I wish you all a very happy New Year and I hope that you and your family members are healthy and keeping safe. It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the earnings conference call for the third quarter and nine months ended for the of the financial year 2023. Let me first take youall through the quarterly industry and financial highlights, in which [Phonetic] the global uncertainities, India’s GDP growth had been resilient. The pickup in economic activity is reflected across our various economic indicators. Financial stability and inflation has been maintained through prompt rate hikes. Unfortunately, though the inflationary issue — the inflation inflationary issues pressure have impacted the consumer demand across the sector.

Coming to the financial performance of Century Textiles and Industries Limited, for the third quarter, our finance year 2023 the consolidated turnover grew by 10% year-on-year to INR1150 crores. The EBITDA of Q3, FY ’23 declined by 13% year-on-year to INR91 crores and the net profit-after-tax stood INR7 crores. Now, let me take you through some of the key highlights across our three business verticals.

Starting with the real-estate business, the real-estate business has achieved excellent growth with a strong breadful [Phonetic] backed by a good festive season and a strong consumer interest in home ownership notwithstanding and in pending global crisis. India’s storage remains strong, especially for real-estate due to stable and user-driven demand. Birla Estates achieved sales of INR383 crores in Q3 FY ’23, registering a year-on-year growth of 11%. Collections divorced [Phonetic] with over 95% collection efficiency from all the projects during the quarter on back-to-back strong and targeted customer approach.

The revenue for this segment stood at INR36 crores in third-quarter. All the projects continue to garner strong interest from market. Birla [Indecipherable] has become our largest-selling project in the year in Mumbai metropolitan region, with a booking value of INR1,915 crores in calendar year 2022. Birla [Indecipherable] plots cumulative sales of INR1,000 crores and is closely — and is close to fully selling out a second phase, which was launched only in the previous quarter after having fully sold-out flush with last year.

Project education at all our launched projects is ongoing in full swing, with complete focus on safety, quality, and timely delivery. Birla [Indecipherable] phase 1 are due for delivery in the coming financial year. We are completely focused on providing an exceptional experience to our customers. The NSR [phonetics] and R R Nagar project in Bengaluru which were acquired in Q4, of previous year and Q2 of this year respectively are currently under design stage and we expect to launch both the project in next financial year.

Our two commercial assets Birla Aurora, Birla Centurian continued to generate stable rentals as well. The demand fundamentals are expected to remain robust, despite fears of global economic slowdown in the near term. The mortgage rates are expected to remain stable at current levels as the industry outlook remains positive. Large and listed players are expected to continue to dominate the field as homebuyers are ready to pay a premium to mitigate execution of this as the demand has moved to under-construction projects due to lack of [Indecipherable] in to move an inventory in the market. Our unique positioning, as a developer of trust will help us to become one of the top real estate developers in the country.

Now moving on to the pulp and paper segment unfortunately, this quarter has seen the shift in the market demand, as compared to previous quarters. The overall demand in writing and printing paper, board and tissue segments are subdued on account of slowdown in our FMCG sector, pressure from low-priced import and exports out of diverter to domestic market.

Apart from external factors. A lot of internal factors have also contributed a lower production level. The pulp and paper business undertook a shutdown in board and tissue plant for maintenance and capex commissioning. This resulted in a lower total production compared to last quarter. BM3 [Phonetic] paper plants both plants [Phonetic] were shut down for 9 days. BM4 [Phonetic] paper plant was shut down for 22 days due to the commissioning of fuel price. Also, the tissue plant remains shut, for 10 days due to power and steam constraints affecting production and profitability. Also, the fiber line was shut-down due to D2 tower [Indecipherable] for 45 days. To keep the paper machines running imported hardwood fiber was used which impacted profitability [Technical Issues].

For the third-quarter, the overall capacity utilization was 93% with sales volume witnessing a decline of 17% on year-on-year of 95,384 metric ton. In the Q3 FY ’23, our net sales grew by 18% on year-to-year to INR863 crores, primarily driven by better realization, while EBITDA grew by 10% year-on-year to reach INR100 crores.

For nine months FY ’23, our net sales grew by 34% year-on-year to INR2,662 crores, while EBITDA grew by 42% year-on-year to INR427 crores and EBITDA margins were 16%. Considering the present, domestic, and global economic scenario the short and medium-term outlook for Indian paper industry appears to be neutral.

Lastly, talking about our textile division, for the third-quarter under review, the net sales declined by 10% year-on-year to INR237 crores with an EBITDA loss of INR7 crore. For nine months FY ’23, sales is stood at INR729 crores, with EBITDA loss of roughly INR13 crores.

In-quarter financial year ’23 the domestic retail market was under pressure with low-to-medium footfall across our segments, in the real sector. The government [Phonetic] converters and brands started to delay their production on account of the falling raw material prices.

Additionally, export inquiry also did not show much improvement and the order from the U.S. and Europe, were at low levels. Until the markets, stable raw-material prices — price scenario and stabilization in the yarn and [Indecipherable] demand, it seems that the demand will continue to be under pressure.

On the ESG front, the company will continue to pursue its goal of sustainable business and working on all controllable aspects to lift its performance and in an uncontrollable external environment.

With that, we can now open the floor for the question-and-answer session. Thank you very much.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Biplab Debbarma from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Thank you and good afternoon to everyone. Sir, this is related to real estate. In the past quarterly presentation, the land parcel [Phonetic] at Worli was shown as 30 acres. And in the latest last few quarters maybe updates, it is only showing 14 acres. Just trying to understand, is this because there is some impediment in [Indecipherable] — the remaining 16 acres? What is the reason for this?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Biplab. Thanks for the question. So I think it’s the same, there is no change, Birla Niyaara, the three residential towers that we’re developing is consisting of 14 acres. Over and above that, we have a commercial development coming next to Birla Niyaara, which is to be the — which accounts for the balance. So, I didn’t get you, were you saying 20 or 30?

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Exactly, sir, earlier you used to show 30.

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

30 remains because Birla West — Birla near the Worli Century Textile, on the West side, we have this the colony land and the workers colony, that is 10 acres, and this parcel is 20 acres, together, it constitutes 30 acres. I think somewhere you must-have misread saying Birla Niyaara, which is the three residential towers, that is 14 acres.

So these three residential towers is 14 acres, then we have a commercial thing which is coming next to it, with a little bit of retail. So together, this part is 20 acres and other part of the land, which is the colony development, which is 10 acres. So, together it remains 30 acres. There is no change.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

There is no impediment and this 30 acres?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, yeah. Everything remains the same. No change.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Okay. Okay. And this 30 acres translated to more than…

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

5 million square feet, yeah, roughly around 5 million, yeah.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Yeah. Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you for this. Second question is considering that there are no new project launches and all the sales booking is based on the sustenance that you are doing, actually you knew well. So next focus will be on new projects. So can you give us some color some kind of insights on where are we in terms of any project acquisition because growth will come from besides Niyaara, the growth would come from new project launches. So where are we on business development concept?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

So Biplab, about the new launches, new launches comes froms two places, one is completely new project launch, the other is a new phase launch in an existing project. So we are hoping to launch a new phase in our Biral Navya in Gurugram sometime in February, mid-February or early March. We are just waiting for the RERA clearance, we haven’t got it yet. We are expecting that to come sometime in mid-Feb. We’re following that vigorously. So that should give an impetus for a new phase launch in our current project.

As far as new project launches are concerned, you know that we have finalized two projects in Bangalore. One is profit-sharing joint-venture in Devanahalli and another one in R R Nagar. Both these project launches are expected in the next financial year.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

And so, on business development concept?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so on business development, we are hopeful that in the next three to four months, three to five months, we will be announcing a lot of new projects. We are very hopeful, we are in advanced stages of discussions in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and NCR, in each of these regions. But because the due-diligence, etc. it is taking a bit of time, hopefully before the end of this quarter, or early next quarter we will be able to make a few very encouraging announcements.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

That’s really, really, illustrative sir. And this question is regarding paper. Sir, what is the EBITDA margin you did in — in this quarter in paper, and if I have to see that, let’s say, in Q4, over the next few quarters, what would be the steady-state EBITDA margin in paper that we should see?

Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer

So Biplab on EBITDA margins, last for the nine months continued to be around 16%. This year — this quarter, of course, because of the reasons that Mr. Dalmia has already mentioned in his opening remarks, there has been a little bit of a curtailing. But I think we should be able to maintain 16% or maybe the next quarter at least in the next quarter achieve 18%.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, thanks. Thank you, sir. I’ll come back in the queue.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Himanshu Zaveri from Dhruv Gems. Please go ahead.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

Yeah, hi. I just wanted to ask, are we little bit slow in the new business development deals because from what I see the new projects, almost we don’t have any much inventory to sell except the Niyaara one. So it should be a little aggressive in signing of new deals in the next growth phase of the company? Your views, please.

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Himanshu, thank you for the question. Yeah I mean, I take your point, take your feedback. We have been very cautious there lots of development happening as I said, a lot of talks and discussions happening that are in advanced stages. We are also mindful that because of the current inflationary stage, prices of land has gone up. But our — we have also taken a very open view in terms of your open to now even buying properties as against previously sticking only to JVs.

So we are having an open mind. We are just being cautious of the various risks involved being company which is establishing itself, strengthening its balance sheet etc. Having said that, we are very, very enthusiastic and aggressively looking at the right opportunities. And as I mentioned to you I’m quite hopeful that in the next three to four months, we should be signing quite a few good deals across the three or four regions across all four regions.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

And have we taken any price hikes in the Birla Niyaara project and when is the second phase going to launch over there?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so, Himanshu, we have taken a price hike, we took it sometime back, we have taken a 7.5% hike. Today we are selling in the region about INR63,000 per square-foot and carpet. We are at — so that’s the state of Birla Niyaara, of course as you have seen that we have sold more than INR1,900 crores of inventory here out of INR3,200 crores possible. We are now in the stages of final stages of the designing of Tower B. We are bringing in some changes, etc., depending on the current market situation. We are quite hopeful that we will be able to bring this into the market by next year — next financial year either Q3 — hopefully by Q3.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

What is like carpet area construction cost in this Niyaara should be around INR20,000 a foot, INR20,000 to INR25,000?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Overall cost including all escalations contingencies across the five years of construction, should be in the region about INR18,000 to INR19,000.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

INR18,000 to INR19,000?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

This is also carpet, right?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. That’s right.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

Okay. So we are selling around INR60,000 to INR63,000 right?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

As of now, yeah. As of now, right. So before you were saying that when we sell-off of 50%, 60% of the project, we’ll immediately launch on the second phase. So is there any delay in or we are just waiting it out for launching the second phase?

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

No, the delays largely, we want to understand that change dynamics in the world market, things have changed. So we just absorbing that. Of course, and creating a new product in the Tower B which will be very different from Tower A. So that’s the only reason for waiting out for until December because the entire approval process itself is going to take in Mumbai that much time.

Himanshu Zaveri — Dhruv Gems — Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Biplab Debbarma from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

So just trying to understand on the business development part. Sir, what kind of — can you give us some color on what kind of [Indecipherable] in terms of GDB [Indecipherable] value are in terms of sales value of these projects. Are those big projects INR5,000, INR10,000 or INR2000 crore kind of projects that you are doing in discussion?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Biplab, difficult to answer that question, right now we are as I mentioned, in all types of — we are looking at scale projects, we’re looking at mid-sized projects, we’re looking at brand projects which are of smaller size. We are aggressively currently pursuing all these deals. How many of them and which one of them will finally fructifies and that will be too much of forward-thinking. So I don’t want to speculate there. That will be up for speculation, so I’ll refrain from that.

Suffice to say that there are pretty good strong, number of deals are there. And hopefully, they should — we are very, very hopeful that to grow this business — re-aspiration to grow this business at a very huge scale over the coming year. So the projects that we are pursuing is consistent with that goal. I cannot reveal beyond this. That will be open to speculation.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Okay, that’s alright. And so regarding the Niyaara project, you have I guess sold more than 64%, 65% of the inventory. And do you — are you seeing any kind of change input cost, because we have sold a significant…

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Too early days, now Biplab. We have finished less than a year. We just started construction about May — April or May. So and we have taken all the contingencies, escalation in our budgets. So I don’t see any change in input costs at this early-stage.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

No sir, my question is on the footfalls, in the sense of inquiries in the conversion or footfalls to the project side everything. And do you see any change or you see the momentum of that [Indecipherable] that we have seen so far continuing in Birla Niyaara?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, actually it is very different. As Dalmia ji mentioned in his opening talk that this will be the fastest-selling projects in Mumbai, by more than a huge distance. So we sold INR1900 crores in last calendar year. So I don’t think there is any — the only problem now is that we don’t have inventory. So we are now waiting for Tower B. 292, 293 flats are sold-out of the 410 or whatever. So — and most of the small-size inventories have gone what’s left is the large-size inventory, now they are also finding traction. Even the large inventories are moving so, I am — the only challenge now would be to increase prices and create more value.

I think our focus will be to just keep on, because we don’t want to sell-off everything in the first year or second year. We would like to wait it out and you know the allow this to capture more value by selling it at the right time. I think, so that the staggering of sales is what we are focusing on. I think this is 70 — more than 70 to 93 out of 410 or 413, so I think we have sold enough and we’ll wait for the traction.

Of course, the best inventory is the kind of attraction we’re having initially or we can expect that to happen now. We used to sell for 400 to 500 in the first few months. Now we are selling close to about INR100 crores every month. That said, the inventory, which has less now and then Tower B gets launched we will again get a surge hopefully during the launch time.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Okay, and one final question is on the in our project delivery of — I don’t I might have missed whether you mentioned about the project delivery in Kalyan, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. When are we expecting the delivery of these projects ongoing projects?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

So the first phase of Kalyan entire Birla [Indecipherable] in Bengaluru and first phase of Birla Navya in Gurugram all are slated for delivery next year.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Next year-by around what — first half, second half?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

In the later half of the year. All of them come from the later half of the year. Ranging from August and September till March.

Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking — Analyst

Okay. Thank you. That’s all.

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. The next question is from the line of Smitesh Sheth from Raedan Securities, please go ahead.

Smitesh Sheth — Raedan Securities — Analyst

Good evening, sir. Sir, just now you have mentioned in the call Birla Phase 2 there are some new dynamics and new thinking going on. So could you just slightly elaborate on it? What does it mean and what are we planning, please?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. Smithesh, what we’re thinking is just creating more variety in the product mix. We don’t want to bring the same product mix that you got in Birla first tower. We’re bringing more variety and different product mix. That’s all.

Smitesh Sheth — Raedan Securities — Analyst

Okay, and can you just suggest when the expected launch date would be maybe by June-July next year — I mean this year for Phase-2, pre-Diwali.

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Smithesh, I think it would be post-Diwali.

Smitesh Sheth — Raedan Securities — Analyst

Okay sir, thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Giriraj Daga from KM Visaria Family Trust. Please go ahead.

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Yeah, hello team. I don’t know whether have actually heard, but I’ve spoken about this in the call. So like we started with you’re saying that we will be able to [Indecipherable] somewhere very close to INR2000 crores of pre-sales in this year. Do you think we are on target to achieve that?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Giriraj, I think we are well on-target to achieve that as of now.

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Okay, and when I have to look at let’s say, FY ’24, what would be the number you will indicate for FY ’24 on pre-sale?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Difficult to predict that now and look like some kind of forward thing. So I think we will refrain from it now, we’ll come back to you. But we are on a strong growth path. It should be — better numbers in 2000. But Giriraj will come back to you. I don’t want to speculate at this point of time.

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Okay, last thing from my side on the paper side of it or you mentioned the reason why it was soft during this quarter. But how is the situation now, like are we looking at normalization of some retracement of the fall in the margin, what we saw in-quarter three or like this is going to be the normal level stabilizing at current level?

Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer

No, it is going to be there.

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

So, Giriraj. I think as far as the commissioning of all the plants that we had that has been done. So, number two, the small breakdown that we’ve had in our fiber line, which made us buy, imported part at a higher-cost, so that shutdown has been taken — that breakdown has been taken care of. So all internal issues have been sorted out. What has happened is that, because our production was low, therefore the margins were low, because the fixed costs had to be absorbed at a lower production factory. So hopefully if the prices remain what they are today, we should improve our margins in the coming quarter.

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Have you taken any price, like — so what we are hearing from the market is that, imports have started going up obviously in some certain segment in the paper side of it. And certain price corrections have also happened. So have we taken any price cut?

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

No, we as the import things are coming in, but at the same time the raw-material prices are also coming down slightly. So keeping in view of the raw-material prices, which have happened in the last three-four months, we have to take a price correction to that extent. That’s all what we have done. That too also in only one segment. In paper and tissue we are not taken any price cut at all.

Giriraj Daga — KM Visaria Family Trust — Analyst

Okay, okay, sure. Thanks from my side.

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

Thank you.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. The next question is from the line of Harsh Pathak from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Hi, sir, good evening. So my question is, what kind of unsold inventory we are carrying right now in Birla Estates for the project that have been already launched? And what is the inventory that will get released at Birla Navya in Feb-March?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Harsh, I don’t have the full details. But largely, we have sold of whatever we have launched almost 80% of the inventory across projects roughly about 80%. So — and Birla Navya, we will bring about INR400, INR450 crores of new inventory as Phase 3 of the project. Phase 1 is 100% sold. Phase 2 is about 90% sold. Let me — yeah, so broadly that in Birla Vanya at Kalyan, we have sold about more than INR800 crores — 800 units of the 1,200, so about 400, so that’s two-thirds. Birla Alokya is about 196 out of 218 is sold. The Birla Navya, Gurugram as I mentioned, first phase is 100% sold. Second phase is almost 90% sold. Third phase we’ll launch now, it should be about INR400 crores. Birla Tisya again out of 392 units, 293 is sold. Birla Niyaara as I mentioned, out of 414, 287 is sold. So that’s the kind of situation.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Okay. So in that case, those sales that, the bookings that we have talked till now that is around INR13.5 crores for the first nine months. So would this inventory be enough to meet our INR2,000 crore target for this year?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, yeah, that much we have the inventory. Largely from Phase 2 as I mentioned is important for us to launch Phase 3 of Birla Navya, we are waiting for the RERA clearance. If that comes, then I think easily we will be able to achieve this target.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

And what kind of sales are we expecting upon launch for Navya projects since in NCR the demand looks quite strong? So what kind of sales are we expecting internally?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

At least about 50% of this inventory should be able to sell including the launch.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

And sir, I [Indecipherable], have we seen — what are the demands — or kind of demands we are seeing, because we have been hearing that luxury is getting traction. So how are we designing our projects, how are we lining our designs to the broader ground demand trends, any light you can provide on that front?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Not very clear, Harsh, you are asking now how the luxury segment is shaping up, is that what you’re asking?

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

No, on the broader residential demand, what we have been hearing is that the luxury segment is getting more traction, whereas the affordable mid-premium is slightly impacted by the interest-rate hikes and the broader inflation. So what trends are we seeing and are we aligning our designs on those lines?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

So, Harsh, you know that we are in the premium segment, and most of our projects remain in the premium segment. We are getting huge traction in Worli so far. And as I earlier mentioned in our discussion that Tower B, we are also tuning into that sort of a product mix. Delhi, NCR, Gurugram is again now larger product premiums which is doing very well. Tisya in Bengaluru is a premium one, which is doing very well. Kalyan, of course, it’s in that mid segment, where we are facing some bit of challenges in the kind of traction that we would like to have.

So largely, you’re right, because of interest rates rise, and some impact of COVID among the lower strata of the mix strata etc., there has been a slight impact. But the segment which we are focusing on which is the upper segment selling above INR7,000 in markets other than Mumbai and Mumbai — and I think the demand continues to be very strong. And we hope to capitalize on this completely.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Sure. Perfect. That’s encouraging to know. And one last question from my side. Recently we have been seeing there are lots of good developers buying land and going for their own land model also. Are we exploring any such thing at — within Birla Estates?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

You mean to say outright purchase, is that what you meant?

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Yes, yes, outright purchase.

Amit Shrivastava — Batlivala and Karani Securities — Analyst

We are open to outright purchase also. I think otherwise, it will be too opportunistic to wait for JVs. So we are — so that’s why I was trying to mention. So we have now become much more aggressive in look out for outright opportunities also in the right segment with a right price, right location, yeah.

Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities — Analyst

Sure, sir. Sure. Thank you — thank you, sir. Those were my questions. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Abhinav Bhandari from Soham Asset Management Private Limited. Please go ahead, sir.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. So just three questions. One is on the collection side for the quarter, the number has been a little bit lower. So just trying to understand that better. And how are we looking at it from a full-year perspective?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Abhinav, I presume you’re talking about real estate collections?

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Yes. Yes.

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So collections have — I wouldn’t go by quarterly collections, I would go rather by what’s the in-year collections or till-date in-year collections. So I think we’re doing pretty well because many things which are supposed to happen later in the year, we have collected at the earlier quarter. So as per our collection schedule, we are doing fine, as per our billing schedule, we’re doing fine. We are targeting collection in excess of INR800 crores for the year and we are well on target for that.

We hope to exceed that target. Backed on the strong sales of Niyaara and the Navya and NCR, etc. So, no sweat there, no problems there.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Got that. And for nine months, how much would be the construction spend that we have done so far?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

I will have to come back to you. I don’t have that figures of hand.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Okay. But from a full-year perspective, any number that we had earlier for —

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

About INR700 crores.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Okay. Got it. So net-net from a gap perspective collection versus spend there may not be too much of a gap as far as full-year is concerned?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Absolutely.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Got it. And just on the earlier data which you highlighted, next year the projects which are up for launch are those two Bengaluru projects and the next phase of Niyaara. So apart from that, anything else which is lined-up in the existing projects?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

We are hoping to launch Tower B of Birla Niyaara. And of course, the sustenance sales of the other projects like, the Tisya, Birla Vanya, Kalyan and we are hoping that in the next few months, we will be able to finalize a few projects and bring them to the launch stage, in the next financial itself.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Sure, so just from that perspective, I wanted to understand that this two Bengaluru projects of Devanahalli and RR Nagar, typically from the time that you’ve got those projects to finally coming to a launch date, what is the gestation period just to understand in terms of taking approvals, getting a plan ready — just to understand, if any new business development that you do in probably first-half of FY ’24, can the launch happen in FY ’24 for second-half itself is what I’m trying to understand?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

So, Abhinav, this totally depends on which location the project is and which region. If it is Mumbai, it’s different. If it’s NCR, different, Bengaluru is different, Pune is different, and opening on the size of the project also. So, yeah, it’s quite challenging for us to expect that we will get into a new project and also launch the same financial year, it will take 12 to 15 months. Bengaluru it takes about 15 months. Bombay takes a little more, but we just hoping and we’re considering the kind of projects that we are pursuing today, there are few projects which are in advanced stages of approval also, we had faster approval ready.

So there are a good chance that some of these projects, if we finalize it, we will able to bring into the launch stage in the next financial itself. So on that basis of confidence, I’m telling you this.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Got it. Perfect. And just one last bit on the leasing side of the portfolio, I think last quarter we discussed that there was some vacancy, which had happened. So has that got filled in now?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

It’s all stabilized, leasing is fully stabilized, it’s fully leased out, it is 100% leased out.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Got it. Perfect. And hopefully, we should have the escalations going on from next [Technical Issues], the annual 5% escalations?

K. T. Jithendran — Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, in some of them, not all of them, some of them.

Abhinav Bhandari — Soham Asset Management Private Limited. — Analyst

Got it. Sure, that’s all from my side. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions]

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

I think if there are no questions, we can close for the day.

Operator

Sure. As there are no further questions, I would now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

R. K. Dalmia — Managing Director

Thank you all for participating in this earnings con call. I hope –if you have any further questions or would like to know more about the company, reach out to our IR managers at Valorem Advisors. We are very thankful to all our investors who stood by us and have confidence in the company’s growth plans. And with this, I wish you a very good evening. Thank you.

Operator

[Operator Closing Remarks]