Century Textiles & Industries Limited (NSE:CENTURYTEX) Q4 FY22 Earnings Concall dated Apr. 25, 2022
Corporate Participants:
J C Laddha — Managing Director
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Analysts:
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Nishit — Equirus Investments. — Analyst
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Ajit Darda — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Century Textiles and Industries Limited Q4 FY ’22 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Antique Stock Broking 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]. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Biplab Debbarma from Antique Stock Broking Limited. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Thank you, Neerav. Hello everyone and welcome to post result conference call to discuss 4Q FY ’22 earnings of Century Textiles and Industries Limited hosted by Antique Stock Broking Limited. Today we have with us the management of Century Textiles and Industry represented by Mr. J.C. Laddha, Managing Director; Mr. R. K. Dalmia, Senior President and Whole-Time Director; Mr. Vijay Kaul, CEO, Century Pulp and Paper; Mr. K. T. Jithendran, CEO, Birla Estates; and Mr. Snehal Shah, CFO. The format of the discussion would be brief opening remarks by the management followed by Q&A session.
Without further ado, let me hand over the call to Mr. Laddha. Over to you, sir.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you very much. A very good afternoon to everyone joining us today. It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 2022. Since this call marks the end of FY ’22 and beginning of FY ’23, let me start with the macro overview first. The past financial year was a year of roller coaster for the global economy; factors such as supply chain disruptions driven by container shortage, elevated international commodity prices creating inflationary pressures on input costs for all businesses, global financial market volatility. Furthermore, the rising tensions due to the Russia, Ukraine crisis continues to exert pressures on all economies. Domestically the high vaccination rates and rapid government measures ensured that the impact of third COVID-19 wave remained minimal resulting in gradual opening up of consumption centers.
The Central Bank’s accomodative stance to maintain the status quo on repo rate has also acted as a sentiment booster. The announcements in the Union Budget on boosting public infrastructure through enhanced capital expenditure are expected to augment growth and bring in private investment through large multiplier effects over the coming quarters. Despite these disruptions as with COVID-19 pandemic, Century Textiles and Industry witnessed a very strong performance and turnaround in operational and financial parameters across all businesses in financial year ended 2022. In our real estate business, we achieved a major milestone in the successful launch of our flagship project Birla Niyaara at Century Mills Worli in February 2022. We’ve received an overwhelming response. Our Pulp and Paper business witnessed significant and consistent turnaround in demand and realizations throughout the year.
Despite the uncertainties and volatilities during the financial year, we achieved highest life-time turnover in textiles business crossing INR1,000 crore mark. For the financial ended, the consolidated turnover grew by 58% year-on-year to INR4,068 crores due to a significant revival in both the manufacturing businesses of paper and textiles. The EBITDA for FY ’22 grew by 71% year-on-year to INR487 crores with consolidated EBITDA margin of 12% and the non-profit — net profit after tax grew to INR154 crores from a loss of INR15 crores in the previous financial year. For the fourth quarter under review, the consolidated turnover saw a 45% growth Y-o-Y to INR1,188 crores while EBITDA for the quarter increased by 65% to INR133 crores and net profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR84 crores against a loss of INR4 crores in the same period in the previous financial year. The operating cash flow for the quarter was INR97 crores and free cash flow stood at INR25 crores.
Now let me take you through some of the key highlights across the three business verticals. Starting with the real estate business, in quarter four FY ’22, we had robust collections of around INR158 crores during the quarter from all the projects on the back of strong customer connect and outreach. For FY ’22 we achieved total booking value of INR1,913 crores, which is more than three times that of previous financial year with strong collections of INR351 crores, which is twice the collection figures of previous financial year. In the fourth quarter in February, we launched our much anticipated flagship project Birla Niyaara at Worli, Mumbai, which received an overwhelming response from the customers despite COVID-19 disruptions early in the quarter. We clocked sales of over INR1,200 crores since launch making it one of the most successful launches in Mumbai metropolitan region in recent years.
We completely sold out the launched first phase of Birla Navya at Gurugram with total sales of INR624 crores on phase one of this project till date. And lastly, we also achieved sales worth INR86 crores during quarter four FY ’22 at our already launched projects. Recently we signed an agreement to jointly develop a prime 52 acres land parcel in North Bengaluru with M S Ramaiah Realty LLP. The project has an estimated revenue potential of almost INR3,000 crores and development potential of around 4 million square feet and will comprise both high and low-rise residential developments along with retail and commercial elements. During the quarter, Birla Estates was awarded two safety awards from National Safety Council in construction. One each for Birla Alokya, Bengaluru and Birla Vanya, Kalyan; and one award for construction health, safety, and environment at CIDC Vishwakarma Awards for Birla Vanya, Kalyan.
In FY ’22 we completed 8.5 million safe manhours at all our under-construction projects. With the recent announcements in the Union Budget on boosting public infrastructure to enhance capital expenditure, it is expected to augment growth in the sector and bring in large private investments through multiplier effect over the coming quarters. We believe that the sector is now at the cusp of multi-years upcycle for the residential real estate market, which is evident from the Y-o-Y growth in sales numbers at pan-India level. With the launch of Birla Niyaara, we have established our reputation in our focus markets and we would now be capitalizing on the positive market cycle to grow our presence and become one of the leading players in the real estate industry in the coming years although we continue to cautiously monitor the inflationary price trends for commodities and metals and their impact if any on the projects.
Now moving on to the Pulp and Paper segment. For the fourth quarter of financial year 2022, our out-performance momentum continued with the business achieving the production of 117,000 metric tons with an overall capacity utilization of 97% with record sales volumes of 1,21,000 metric tons. In quarter four FY ’22, our net sales grew by 46% Y-o-Y to INR824 crores driven by higher volumes and better realizations while EBITDA grew by 54% to INR123 crores with EBITDA margin for this segment also improved to 14.9%. For the financial year ended, our net sales grew by 59% to INR2,818 crores while EBITDA grew by over 90% to INR424 crores with EBITDA margins of 15%. During the quarter copier grade paper remained in high demand in quarter four of FY ’22 due to opening up of office sale, slowdown in Omicron cases, and initiatives by various state governments to reopen educational institutions etc.
Non-copier grade paper demand also improved in February ’22 with opening up of educational institutes and schools after almost 18 months. Consumption of tissues in Away From Home segment improved due to partial opening up of tissue consumption centers. Additionally, hygiene awareness among the general public resulted in positive results in the At Home segment. In Paper Board segment order flow from pharma, FMCG, and food packaging sector improved while non-packaging sector also observed progressive demand and export market demand was also good with increased price realizations. Operational cost witnessed sharp increase in raw material prices including wood, imported pulp, waste paper, coal, chemicals, and increased freight costs due to containers unavailability and to balance out cost, multiple price increases were undertaken in all our segments, which have been absorbed in the market.
As a result of multiple price increases, our average realization prices improved by 7.9% during quarter four FY ’22 as compared to quarter three of FY ’22. The domestic market is witnessing strong demand revival across all paper segments. Traders have also started building channel inventories thereby signifying uptick in demand. Given the current domestic and global economic situation as well as the reopening of all paper consumption centers, the Indian paper industry’s short to medium-term outlook appears to be optimistic.
Now let us move on to the Textile division. I would like to request Mr. R. K. Dalmia, who is the Senior President of Century Textiles and the Whole-Time Director of the Company, to give the key performance highlights. Over to you Mr. Dalmia.
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
Thank you, Mr. Laddha. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. For the fourth quarter under review, the sales grew by 54% year-on-year to INR308 crores while EBITDA grew significantly to INR11 crore in this quarter from negative INR9 crore in same quarter in the previous year. For the financial year ended, our net sales grew by 78% to an all-time high to INR1,037 crore while EBITDA grew to INR29 crores against EBITDA loss last financial year. In quarter four ’22 apparel fabric witnessed good retail demand, but margin got impacted by steep rise in cotton prices coupled with increase in power and chemical prices.
In bed linen segment due to increase in cotton prices and higher inventory level in US, orders slowed down during second half of the year causing significant drop in market prices. Prices are expected to be a point of concern till the cotton market settle down. During the quarter, we launched our Hill & Glade line of home textile for domestic market. Our focus for financial ’23 would be on offering new price-sensitive products and blending with the man-made fibers, which can fit into the customer price bracket. Furthermore, we have plan to increase our geographic presence and add new market like Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Russia after Ukraine war. Financial year ’23 will be challenging in terms of pricing and we are cautiously monitor the input cost scenario.
Now I hand over the call back to Mr. J. C. Laddha.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you, Mr. Dalmia. Lastly, let me highlight to you on the various ESG; Environment, Social, and Governance; initiatives undertaken during the quarter. At Century Pulp and Paper despite having set a goal of distributing 1 million seeds and saplings to farmers in FY ’22, I am pleased to inform that the team could distribute 1.6 million seeds and saplings in FY ’22. It also continued to maintain its program of using wood bark as a fuel in boilers substituting a significant part of virgin coal and thereby lowering carbon emission. On the social front we undertook repairing, waterproofing, and painting work at Janta Inter College, Bindukhatta, Lalkuan district, Nainital. For provision of drinking water in Shantipuri region, we installed 20 hand pumps. And on the request of Chief Minister Uttarakhand, we made the provision for blood bank at government hospital, Khatima district US Nagar, which would benefit 7,500 people in that region.
In our textile business, we successfully completed upcycling of waste to manufacture bricks from fly ash and these prepared, this will be used in knits project running at site. On social front, we have set up COVID awareness campus in our factory located near by villages. This activity also helps villagers to identify the abnormality in their body profile and take preventative actions for the same. In our real estate division, we have implemented preventive measures to reduce air pollution and also conducted a study to develop project-specific air purification solutions. In conclusion, we are proud of the many milestones achieved by the company in the financial year 2022 and are confident of continued performance in the next financial year.
With that, we can now open the floor for the question-and-answer session. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Parin Gala from SageOne Investments. Please, go ahead.
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Thank you for the opportunity and sir, congratulations on great set of numbers. Sir I just have two questions regarding the real estate division. One is for our Worli project in this current phase, what percentage of the phase could be we have sold in the preliminaries bookings? And second is in the new Bangalore project in that JDA, what are the timelines of starting the project and the completion?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Hello. Hi. Sorry. Hello, can you hear me?
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Yes. Yes, sir. We can.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah, okay. Sorry, I just missed the first part of the question, I heard about the Bangalore project. The Bangalore project, in about 12 months to 15 months we should be starting this project. It will take about 12 months to 15 months to — for us to launch this project. Which was the first part of the question?
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
The other question was the Birla Niyaara, what percentage of inventory you have sold in the initial phase?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. So, we had about 414 apartments. So far, I think we have sold about 215 or so.
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Okay. So sir, in the previous calls you had mentioned that if we are able to clock 50% of the booking or something, you could start working on launching phase two. So, any guidance on that?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
No. I think we are still looking for some more sales, maybe that 50% will be too low. I think we would rather look at a little more, maybe about 60%, 65%. And then we would plan to launch the next phase Tower B.
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
[Technical Issues]
Operator
Parin, sorry. We lost your audio.
Parin Gala — SageOne Investments — Analyst
No, I’ll come back in the queue. I’m done for now. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you very much. [Operator Instructions]. The next question is from the line of Amit Srivastava from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Yeah. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. My first question is on the paper side of the business. So we have seen some improvement in profitability, volume was very strong, and our realization has also improved. So just wanted to understand two, three things in that. One is that in terms of volume, how are we placed for the next year and coming year because it appears that we are already at optimum utilization because INR1,21,000 is sales volume which we had been indicated. So much growth, which can come based on the plans and whatever the capacity we have? Second in terms of the pricing, where are we versus the average realization of last quarter and what could be the sustainable margin, which we are looking at in FY ’23 in the paper business?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Mr. Kaul, you may take that.
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Good afternoon. Yeah, the increase in the production capacity or the sales capacity will be totally about 30,000 tons to 40,000 tons in a year. In the first two months — in the first two quarters sorry, it will not be more than what you have seen in the quarter four. But in the last two quarters that is quarter three and quarter four, the capacity will increase because we are going to fix up certain issues with the tissue and the capacity will increase there. The board capacity will also increase by about 20,000 tons by September as well as the paper capacity will increase by about 10,000 tons to 15,000 tons. So next two quarters, third and fourth, we will see the growth in the volumes. First two quarters, we will remain more or less same or maybe here and there something. As regard to the prices, pricing will be according to the market conditions and I hope they will be better than the quarter three — quarter four prices. And as regards — your third question was on what, sustainability, right?
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Yeah, profitability, sir.
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
The profitability will definitely be better than the last year. So as the prices have moved up, but at the same time the cost input has also moved up. So by — because we are doing certain things in recovery system by which we will gain something in the steel and the power cost and maybe that will help us to improve upon the profits to some extent than the current quarter four here.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
So sir, this quarter we are at an EBITDA margin of around 15%. Earlier in the cycle, we were around 20% plus kind of margin. The prices has increased significantly what we hear from the market. So, is there this possibility that we can again go back to 20% plus kind of margin in the coming quarters?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Well, it is very difficult to say whether we can go to 20%. But it is — we can surely say that it will be definitely better than the quarter four because the prices have increased, but at the same time the input cost is also increasing drastically. So today — I was in the market last week and what I was told by the people were — by our customers — our steel customers is very clear that if you go on increasing prices every month, we will have to close down the shop. And so many people have already reduced their offtake because the prices are at the peak. So we have to have a balance of prices versus the demand what you can see in the marketplace. So, that balance has to be maintained. So I really cannot say whether it will go to 20% because of the input costs and — but we will definitely be better than quarter four, that much I can tell you.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Okay. Got it, sir. And the current prices are higher than the average price of 4Q, sir, by how much if you can give the broad value?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah. I think the current prices in the quarter four what we have shown is about INR68,000 of all varieties that is the paper, board, and the tissue. I can tell you one thing that in the month of March it was already INR70,000. So though the average for the quarter was INR68,000, but in the month of March it was INR70,000. So, definitely that INR70,000 will get forwarded to the first quarter this year. So it should be a better — better for us.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Okay, got it. Thank you, sir. My next question is on real-estate side. So first of all, congratulation to the team for a strong pre-sales number as well as signing the large JD deal. Just wanted to know two things. One is that what was the average selling price for the Birla Niyaara? And second is that how is the pipeline for the coming year in terms of the project launches? What is the inventory we are looking at to be in the market for the next three quarters which we have?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you, Amit. So, thank you for the best wishes. And the first question was on the average APR. The APR is in the region of about INR56,000 per square foot what we have achieved at Birla Niyaara. And this year we are looking at the launch of a new phase in Kalyan, a new phase — a couple of new phases in Gurugram, and hopefully completion of our first project in Bangalore, completion of sales there and about another INR1,000 crores of sales at Birla Niyaara. And we have also signed a new project, which we too stretched to launch this financial year. We will be hoping to launch it in the coming financial year.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Yes, right. So broadly this INR2,000 crore of kind of pre-sales number looking more sustainable, sir?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. That looks sustainable. We plan to grow from there. But I think that growth will largely happen in the coming year not this year it will be. We will try to show some growth, but the big growth will come when we finalize more projects and build on that growth.
Amit Srivastava — B&K Securities — Analyst
Right. Okay, got it sir. Thank you. That was my question.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Akshay Ajmera from Nirzar Securities. Please go ahead.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on very good set of numbers. My question is regarding the real estate business. So, first would be the follow-up question to the earlier question. You just mentioned that in the coming year we have Gurugram and Kalyan new phases in the pipeline plus INR1,000 crores worth of Worli sales. So put together, how much will be the value of all these phases? That is number one. Number two is have we finalized the contractor for our Worli project? And aligned to that question, my another question would be if — so in earlier question, you have mentioned that at least 60% to 75% of the sales is what we are looking to launch the second phase of Worli. So assuming that if we achieve 60%, 70% of the sales, then how much time it will take for us to launch the second phase in terms of approvals and what is our preparedness in that? These are my three questions, sir. Thank you.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you, Akshay. On the first part, you are asking the combined phases of all these projects, which are already launched. I think we will be around about INR2,000 crores, which we are planning for the next year.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
We’ll be clocking kind of similar sales, which we have clocked this year.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Similar sales, yeah. Similar sales, maybe about 5% to 10% higher maybe, but largely more or less the same number. The big growth I think will come when we finalize more projects in the coming year — in the following year, next financial year along with hopefully phase two of the Tower B of Birla Niyaara also. The construction, we are — currently construction, the piling and excavation work is going on. We are not yet finalized the final contractor. We are in negotiations with several contractors. Hopefully in the next couple of months, we should be able to seal the contract. On the second phase, we will take about 15 months or so. We need to assess the market once we do about 60%, 70% whether we need to do some — bring some changes in design etc. to attract a new segment because the big success of this launch of the first phase has been that there was a huge demand for this product because it is not available in the market. So, similarly we have to skew the design for the next one. So once we get reasonable traction — I mean reasonable inventory of this is sold out, then I think we will very quickly plan it and of course we have to go through the approval cycle and all that. So, it will take about 15 months is my assessment.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
And we will be mailing that…
J C Laddha — Managing Director
It is a very, very significant — sorry.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Sorry, sorry. Go ahead, go ahead.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
No. I’m saying this is very significant, each tower brings in lots of volume into the market, inventory into the market. So, it will try level best that it is as close to the demand as possible. So we will not hurry too much in bringing the inventory because, as I mentioned, it’s about 8 lakh, 8.5 lakh square feet of inventory. So, we would like to be doubly sure before bringing it to the market.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
That was very helpful sir. And lastly, we have been hearing that there is a huge increase in the cost side because of the rise in the commodity prices. So have we been able to pass on the cost and increase the sales, average realizations especially in the new project launches that we have?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So Akshay, see there has been increase in steel and RMC prices and bit of in aluminum prices of the projects which we had launched earlier such as Kalyan and Bengaluru projects where most of the bulk of purchase has already being done so the impact is minimal. And our escalation budget if it’s in our overall plan budget will take care of this, no worries on that. The new projects of course we will be budgeting it as per this thing. As far as we are concerned, right now we are well in control. Also what we plan is that we don’t sell the entire inventory. We have inventory left in all our projects so these inventories should take care of this increases if there is a over-spill of the cost, which we don’t anticipate at this point of time. And the last bit is that in a JDA project where our profits are shared, there is further — costs are also shared, there is further risk mitigation. So from all those points of view, we are well in control.
Akshay Ajmera — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Thank you so much, sir, and wish you all the very best.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you, Akshay.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor and Company. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
[Foreign Speech] sir, and thank you for this opportunity. Firstly, Laddha-ji, you were explaining about the problems the home textile segment is facing. So if you could further dwell into, sir, how is the home textile segment currently placed with cotton prices, yarn prices, and the subdued demand in the home textile segment? If you could give some more color to it, sir?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Dalmia-ji, would you pick up this. Dalmia-Ji?
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
The home textile market at present is very volatile because of cotton prices in one year. If you see from April ’21 to March ’22 of the last financial — the financial which has been closing now, more than 100% it has got increased. Apart from that, these prices of color chemicals, power, coal, and all. So, overall this prices to absorb is very difficult at present. Secondly, US market is not doing great. The reason behind it so many orders were there from US market which we supplied on time, but they could not reach due to logistic problem of congestion at the port and difficulty to get the container. So, they could not get their goods at time so their season was over. So, they received late and [Indecipherable] stock so they have a lot of pile-up of inventory. So, they have slowed down. So at present, the home textile market is very difficult. Secondly, the yarn prices is also now not able to cope up the entire increase of cotton prices. And so overall situation at present because of unreasonable hike in cotton prices, home textile business is not good. But hopefully when the inventory of US is over in couple of months, demand will come and then price increase will also be there and to some extent, we will be able to make out the increase in the cotton prices.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
So sir, as there is a huge inventory buildup in the US market, how is the current domestic yarn prices, sir. They have also softened out because of no further orders from the US?
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
You are right. Yarn prices has also softened out because the orders are not there, but still it is very high as compared to the earlier one because of the cotton price whereas further entire value chain of textile is suffering because of sudden increase in the cotton prices, which is more than 100% in a year time.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
Right, sir. And also for the utilization level, sir, any color you can give how — what is the utilization level for the mills across the country for the yarn? Currently they are at what type of utilization levels?
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
Yes. Yarn is spinning mill. [Speech Overlap] around 60% to 70%. As far the apparel business in the domestic market that is doing good, they’re utilized fully. We are also utilizing the full capacity of the apparel business. For the home textile business also, the capacities are not fully utilized in the industry.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
Right. Sir, coming to the Paper & Pulp segment as has been mentioned earlier that there also we are facing the headwinds of the raw material prices and energy prices. So, what currently are the positives for the sector that is yet to play out going forward?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
The positive is the market factors because all markets have opened and the Indian market has opened. So from the Indian market so the demand is there so we are able to get a reasonable price increase from the market even though there has been an increase in the raw material prices throughout. And — but we are able to realize better price margins from the customers and we hope that it will continue as the economy progresses, Indian economy also progresses, the paper market should also progress accordingly.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
Sir, you are saying that there is a complete pass on of the inflationary cost for the paper segment?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
No, I never said that. That is a complete — I said the price increases have been there. But as I was telling earlier also, for everything there is a limit so we cannot go beyond a particular limit, then it will get substituted by some other product.
Saket Kapoor — Kapoor & Company — Analyst
Absolutely, right sir.
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah. So we have to balance it out in a way that we get a price increase, but it is not too much for the customers. And that’s how we have to keep on analyzing that, assessing that, and then accordingly increase the prices.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
In addition to what Mr. Kaul has said, the biggest positive seems that there is a new education policy announced by the government. So I think in all the states, there’ll be a renewed demand of writing and printing paper particularly to publish new syllabus. So, that again will be attracting a good demand. However, of course as Mr. Kaul said, the increase in raw material prices there is always a time lag and we’ll have to go to the market and take the right decisions at the right time. It’s being closely monitored. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. I’ll request Saket Kapoor to come back in the question queue for a follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Deepak Lalwani from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is for the paper segment. So sir, what has been the cost increase both in energy cost and chemical cost quarter-on-quarter and how much of it has been passed on to the entire — to the customer?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
No, you see the — it is not a quarter-to-quarter. Let me tell you every 15 days there is a price increase now. So if I buy something today and after 15 days if I ask again a quotation of the same material to be procured, so then you will find that the prices have changed. In some cases yes, there has been some stability. But in majority of the chemical prices, there is always an increase. And similarly for the coal, it is — I think the coal prices are something, which is like worse than the share market because if it is INR12,000 today, tomorrow it is INR14,000, and then it is INR18,000 then if you import the coal it is INR22,000. My sister organization is importing at INR21,000. My sister organization is giving me coal at about INR15,000. So it is all over the place, it’s very difficult to predict what it is going to happen.
We have to — but to our customers, as I said earlier also to our customers, I have to be fair to them. I have to be very discreet with them and give them a price by which they are able to sell their product and they do not get any hiccups while talking to their customers. So as I said, I was in the market last week and certain people told me that beyond a particular limit if you increase the prices, then there is going to be a problem. But yeah, reasonable price increase is okay. So we are very calculatively, very meticulously organizing things and seeing that we give the right type of — we save our interest also, but at the same time we have to take care of the customer because customer is the king.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Right. Sir, so in the INR70,000 per kg realization which you mentioned in the month of March, so all the cost increases have been captured in that price or would you have to take both price hikes?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
No, not really. The price increases — the entire price increase has not been captured because entire price increase will be captured when our prices are around as on March if you take when our prices would have been around INR72,000. But since March — since 31st March till 25th of April when we are discussing today, there have been further price increases everywhere left, right, and center. So, we do not know. I have not yet done the calculation as to where we land now in the prices.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Okay. Right sir. And sir just wanted to know your sourcing mix for coal, how much is procured from linkages, how much do we import?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Oh my dear, everything is — in fact we are in the better position, but the government has stopped giving the linkage coal. We have a linkage coal, 90% is allotted to us on a linkage basis. But government has stopped linkage coal giving it to you. So, that is where the problem is. So there is nothing like — we have never imported so far. For the first time I will be importing because the government has stopped the linkage.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Okay. Got it.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Just to give the perspective on coal in addition to what Mr. Kaul has said. If you see quarter four as compared to last year’s same quarter, the coal prices have gone up by 29%. The main reason is we are not getting the coal from linkage and we have to buy from the market. And if you see year-on-year ’21 to ’22, the prices of coal have gone up by 11%. And this is the same story for all the input costs and seeing the abnormal situation, as Mr. Kaul has mentioned, we have to balance out and carefully consider when to increase the price and to what extent keeping the interest of all the stakeholders in the supply chain. Thank you.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Right sir. And lastly, sir. One question…
J C Laddha — Managing Director
On that, we are not really dependent much on the coal for power because we got reasonably good electricity supply. But what we are doing also on the coal required for steam generation.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Okay. Got it, sir. And sir, how are global pulp prices today and what is the scenario of imports in the country?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah. The global pulp prices, let me tell you every week it changes. And today if you ask me about last week the — if you were to ask me about softwood, it has gone beyond $1,100 which in the month of December was only $800. So, four months $300. Similarly hardwood, it has gone beyond $950 and which was just about $650, $700 I have purchased in December. So as I told you, there is — it’s not only the question of it is a logistics issue, it is a delayed supplies, it is not reaching in time, and the prices of the pulp. And there are two, three pulp mills which have closed down for annual shutdowns and annual repairs and all that, that has also pushed up the prices. So the pulp is in a very, very bad shape at present.
Deepak Lalwani — Unifi Capital — Analyst
Right sir. And the paper imports, if you can give sense as to how are…
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah. Paper import is there, but not to that extent, not the direct paper. There are certain varieties of boards and there are certain varieties of tissue where there are very little imports not much. Earlier two, three years back, it used to be from China, which has stopped completely.
Operator
Thank you. Deepak, I’ll request you to come back in the question queue for a follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Nishit from Equirus Investments. Please go ahead.
Nishit — Equirus Investments. — Analyst
Good evening sir, and thank you for this opportunity. So I have, sir, two questions relating to the paper segment. So, the first is this relating to pulp. So, how much do we actually import?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
How much do we import? We import about say 10,000 tons to 11,000 tons a month.
Nishit — Equirus Investments. — Analyst
11,000 tons per month and this would be hardwood plus softwood both?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah. It is hardwood, softwood, mechanical pulp hardwood and softwood. So, four types of pulps.
Nishit — Equirus Investments. — Analyst
Okay. And sir second question is that currently how much are we exporting and what was the same percentage last quarter and last year? Has that increased?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
If you say that it is — exporting around 15% around. In some months it may be more, some months slightly less, but around on an average 15% we are exporting. And that too the board and the tissue not the paper to that an extent.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So just to answer your question further than what Mr. Kaul has said, in quarter four FY ’22 the export was 18,335, which was 31% higher as compared to the same quarter last year. And if you see year-on-year, the export has grown up by 66% in terms of volume.
Nishit — Equirus Investments. — Analyst
Okay. That’s great sir. That’s all, sir. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alpesh Thacker from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulation for a good set of numbers amidst this external headwinds. So, my couple of questions that I have are mostly pertaining to the real estate part of the business. The first one is how many projects do we expect to add in FY ’23 in terms like a business development ballpark figure would work?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Hello Alpesh, good evening. So, we are looking at several projects. Difficult to put a number specifically depending on the size and investments, but we are looking at — we have key focuses on expanding our footprint in our stated geographical markets; Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and NCR. We are there in three markets, we are yet to make our presence in Pune. So, we will be focusing a lot on increasing this pipeline. But to actually put a number it will be difficult, but I can only say at this point of time we’re looking at several.
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Okay, got it. Second one would be I do understand that we have still not finalized a contractor for our Niyaara project, but for our other projects that three, four projects that we have so who would be the contractors there for us?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So we have Shapoorji for Kalyan, Bombay; we have Elite Constructions for Alokya, Bangalore; we have Krishna Estate — Krishna, I don’t know this part…
R K Dalmia — Senior President, Century Textiles
Build Estate, KBE you call it.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. Krishna Build Estate for Gurugram. So, these are the contractors we are working with currently. Tisya and Niyaara, we are yet to award the contract.
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Okay, got it. And thanks for that. And sir, last one it is again on the mostly from construction — from the cost point of view for Niyaara. So can you just break down the cost there like in terms of cost for construction versus non-construction cost like FSI premium, TDR, fungible FSI etc. for our Niyaara project? Like any ballpark figure would also work?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Ballpark as I told you INR10,000 is our construction cost and the rest is all the sales and marketing costs, premium cost, [Indecipherable]. We have approvals cost, we have FSI cost which includes premium, TDR etc. Then we budget for escalations, we budget for design everything and altogether, it could be in the region of about INR10,000, INR20,000 or so.
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Okay, so extra above that INR10,000 construction cost, it would be around INR10,000 again, right. So total would be around INR20,000, INR25,000.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. More towards ATG.
Alpesh Thacker — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Okay, got it. Thanks a lot. That’s it from my side.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pratik Singhania from SageOne Investment. Please go ahead.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Yeah. Hi, sir. First part of the question was same as…
Operator
Pratik, sorry to interrupt. Your voice is echoing. May I request you to speak through the handset.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Yeah, is this better now?
Operator
Yes, thank you.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Yeah. So first question was same as the earlier participant asked with respect to the development, but I think you’re not able to quantify it. Second is with respect to the location of this 52 acre project that we have signed right now. So, any like nearby landmark or something?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
It’s very close to — yeah. So Pratik, this is very close to the international airport. It’s about 3 kilometers to 4 kilometers from the new International Airport of Bangalore.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Okay. And a ready constructed project would be available at how much per square feet realization?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Close by? Close by must be in the region of about INR5,500 to INR6,000.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Okay. And sir, although it is repetitive, any — can you elaborate more on the project pipelines because that is a very key monitorable for us?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. So as I mentioned to you, we are pretty focused on that. We want to increase our footprint. The key one so far was getting Worli launched appropriately with full focus getting it right. I think that is done. I think now the big thing is to build a brand across with a nationwide footprint and also focus on rapid expansion. So I can only say at this point of time we are very hungry, we would look at as many deals as possible which fits in with our parameters, and we’d be going all out on that.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
And if I have to ask you of all the deals that you are evaluating, what would be — how many deals would be — like due diligence would be over and you would be in a negotiation stage?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Yeah. So pretty much into the details you’re asking now, but I’m sure I can tell you that at least about 10 projects we are negotiating at this point of time.
Pratik Singhania — SageOne Investments — Analyst
Okay. Superb. Thank you so much, sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harsh Pathak from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question and congratulations for a good performance in the residential segment. Sir, my question was pertaining to the new deal that you have signed with M. S. Ramaiah, what kind of arrangement are we having? What is our stake? Is it a revenue-sharing or a profit-sharing model? Can you please throw some more light on that?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So, Harsh, I think what we have signed up is for a profit-sharing deal, 53-47. We’ve paid over INR65 crores as upfront deposit, adjustable. Yeah, so that’s broadly the deal.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Okay. Okay. Got it. And this we have to be launching in the — and the potential that we said INR3,000 crores, so that is completely our share or we — it would be still…
J C Laddha — Managing Director
That’s a total deal. That’s the deal. It’s a full potential of the project is that much.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Sure, sure. And, sir, since we have [Indecipherable] Bangalore, so we would be seeking for more deals in around Bangalore region only, like we are seeing many developers launching projects in Chennai, Hyderabad, many are even going for plotted developments. So would we be looking at that space also, or we would be going by what we are doing right now only?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So, largely, we have — as of now, we have signed up for three projects in Bangalore, two are under — two we have launched, and this one we are planning for the launch. We will be looking to further consolidate ourselves in the city of Bangalore. And our other target markets are Mumbai, Pune and NCR. Mumbai, we have two projects now; NCR, we have one project in Gurgaon. We will — our focus would be to further deepen our presence in these markets, very critical. We are not looking at, in the short-term, to any other cities. I think that we need to be more focused in cities where we operate. I think these four markets together constitute about 65% of the residential real estate market. So that’s where our focus would be.
And as far as the plotted is concerned, I think it’s a good opportunity, it’s a quick win if we get the right location, right price. I think it is a good model because the turnaround is very quick. We are also looking at some projects where we could add reasonable value. So if something fructifies, we’ll be happy to announce.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Right. Sir, and pertaining to the staff colony, so any more update there regarding the title transfer? And what could be our incremental plan on that particular land parcel? Any development that you are foreseeing right now or it is still under wait and watch mode?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
No, it definitely not in the wait and watch mode because we will be commencing or will be — we have started planning for the re-development work of that place in terms of workers rehabilitation, etc. As we spoke about last time, we did win that High Court order in our favor, which is not very clearly to execute the land title in our favor within eight weeks, four weeks have already passed. I think we will have a strong plan. We have a potential of about more than a million square feet of resale development there. First we will focus on rehabilitating the worker colony, and subsequently we will plan when we come to that stage the right sort of mix. I think that’s a very well-located land. The views of that land is even better than Worli East where we are currently launched. I think it’s a very high potential land. The right time we will focus on creating a very strong salable product there.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Right. So the one million square feet development will be fully residential, nothing on any commercial or the retail part, we are planning there?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Too early to plan now. It’s a few years down the line, Harsh. We may look at the right product. At this point of time, it’s under study.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Okay, okay. So, means nothing like — it will be — even more premium than Birla Niyaara or on the same lines?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Could be, because it’s very well-located depending on how the whole — the shape of the land, the shape of the design, the master planning, etc., comes, I think there’s a good potential for us to even do better than Birla Niyaara.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Right. So, sir just for a — yeah, so, sir just for clarity, can you please just break down to Worli land parcel development potential, including the Niyaara land parcel so that it gets more clearer on what kind of development we are seeing in the entire land parcel there?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So I have previously mentioned also many number of times, the overall potential is about 5 million square feet, about INR20,000 crore plus considering both Worli East and West together. And of about 1 million square feet or so currently is the plan to do commercial. 100,000 sort of this retail, prime retail upfront, high street retail and the rest largely residential, unless the market taking in churns changes and [Indecipherable] opens up for new opportunities. And the entire plan, we hope to execute in the next eight to 10 years.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Including the employees colony?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Correct.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Sure. And this — just a clarity, INR20,000 crores is the entire 5 million square feet employees colony included?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
That’s right.
Harsh Pathak — B&K Securities India Pvt. Ltd. — Analyst
Okay. Sure, sure. Thank you. Thanks a lot, sir, for taking my questions and all the best.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you, Harsh.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Biplab Debbarma from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Thank you, Neerav. Sir, one just clarification and one question. The clarification is, sir, you mentioned about INR20,000 per square feet construction in other. So that is on the — so if we have to calculate that we calculate on the salable area, right, sir?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
That’s correct.
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Yeah, okay. Now my question is on the — see, you have started, what we call, colloquially soft launch in November. And now it is 25th April. So have you witnessed because you have sold more than INR1,200 crores inventory in this such a short period of time. That means launch has received tremendous response, tremendous response. In this period from November to, say, April or March, have you witnessed like-to-like or did you increase — not witnessed, did you increase the price on like-to-like basis? I mean, if I have to say, what would be the average selling price in terms of INR per square feet in last 10 transaction vis-a-vis the average? So could you give us some idea of whether price moved in this project?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Biplab, thanks for your question. Just to clarify, we did not launch in November, we launched in February. Yeah. November, we got the — I think we got the RERA sometime in November end or so, I can’t — I don’t remember now exact date. But we really — yeah, we got RERA, we really started, Jan we want — Feb early we wanted to launch, but there was the Omicron waves kind of stopped us from doing that. Finally we started doing this on, I think, the launch started in mid-Feb. And it’s been a month and a half in which we did about INR1,238 crores. We, of course, started at about INR56,000 is the area — I mean, the price per square foot on carpet. And we have not increased that price. We kept it because it was pretty reasonably strong price. So I don’t think at this point of time, we are looking at immediately, maybe in the next fews [Phonetic] or so we may do that once we achieve our target inventory sale at these price as per our business plan. But right now we have not done any price increase.
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Sir, what about the Gurgaon? Because this is what my understanding is, Gurgaon also we are seeing lot of traction in the marketing independent source [Phonetic] and premium segment. So — and you’re being in a premium location, Golf Course Road, I assume that you too been seeing lot of demand. So, in the last three, four months any price increase happened or just it is marginal on the marginal price increase have been in Gurgaon?
J C Laddha — Managing Director
So, Biplab, Gurugram, of course, the story has been a little different, because we launched it about one — almost two years back. So last to — last November I think we launched it. And we got — we started it at about INR10,300. And today we are selling it almost at about INR12,500 or so INR12,300 or something like that. So we have got very good depreciation. Gurugram market has really — there has been a shortage of inventory and especially for products like ours which is the floors. So there has been a very, very strong demand. And we are also run out of inventory now there. I think within a period of less than two years we sold almost 300 apartments, INR625 crores inventory. Now, we are just waiting to launch the next phase. We haven’t got the RERA clearance yet. We’re supposed to have launched it in last quarter, but — because of this various lockdowns and other issues, the approval process got a bit delayed. But that has only helped in increasing prices. Prices are increasing, there the demand is pretty strong. So I think we will be launching even at a higher price in this when we launch the second phase. There has been a substantial price increase in that market.
Biplab Debbarma — Antique Stock Broking Limited — Analyst
Okay. Thank you, sir. That’s all from me. All the best, sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ajit Darda from Nirzar Securities. Please go ahead.
Ajit Darda — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Hello, sir. Good evening, and congratulations on good set of numbers. Sir. I have a question with respect to paper business. Just wanted to understand the increase in raw material costs and power cost of paper business in percentage terms. If you can throw some light on that?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Okay. You see, in terms of power cost, it has gone up almost by 29% over the last year. And as regards the chemical and other pulp cost, it has gone up by almost 40% than the last year. So, that is the…
Ajit Darda — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
And what is the way ahead, sir? I mean, how do you look the prices in future?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Well, pulp prices are still going up. Power prices are going up because of the government’s restriction, otherwise, we have a linkage, so we could get back to the — if the government removes the restriction on the linkage, we will be back on the normal prices of the coal. So the power that is not a problem. And mostly actually, in fact, even the Uttarakhand government, the power cost is not much, it is only INR5.50 a unit, but because we consume a lot of steam in the process, so for that we have to run the boiler more. So because of that the steam cost is going up. But if they remove the restrictions on supply, even though we have got a complete agreement with them, but there are restrictions. So, I don’t know, but the coal prices are fluctuating. You can say on an average basis, today the coal price is almost around INR18,000 per ton as against INR5,000 — INR4,800 to INR5,000 normal coal price. So that is the type of increase in the coal prices. And I don’t see that this coming down in the next six months at least.
Ajit Darda — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Okay. And what is the probability that government will take out the restrictions on supply side?
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
There is no probability. They have — we have also represented our — IPMA has also represented it to the Prime Minister directly that why you are — because our power plant is not — it is also running the industry, it is also giving power to our colony people, so why you are restricting and why you are putting these barriers on us, but so far no reply has come from there.
Ajit Darda — Nirzar Securities — Analyst
Okay, sir. Okay. Understood. Thank you very much.
Vijay Kaul — Chief Executive Officer, Century Pulp & Paper
Yeah, yeah.
Operator
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
J C Laddha — Managing Director
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you all for participating in this earnings con call. I hope we have been able to answer your questions satisfactorily. If you have any further questions or would like to know more about the Company, please reach out to our IR Manager at Valorem Advisors. We are very thankful to all our investors who stood by us and had the confidence in the Company’s growth plans.
And with this, I wish everyone a great evening. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]