CONTAINER CORP OF INDIA LTD (NSE: CONCOR) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Aug. 06, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Sanjay Swarup — Chairman and Managing Director
Mohammad Azhar Shams — Director of Domestic Division
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Bhoomika Nair — Analyst
Disha Giria — Analyst
Priyankar Biswas — Analyst
Achal Lohade — Analyst
Anupam Goswami — Analyst
Krupashankar NJ — Analyst
Aditya Mongia — Analyst
Ankita Shah — Analyst
Pulkit Patni — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Container Corporation of India Limited Q1FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Dam Capital. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode. And there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Bhumika Nair from Dam Capital. Thank you. And over to you, ma’a m.
Bhoomika Nair — Analyst
Good morning everyone and a warm welcome to the Q1 FY26 earnings call of Container Corporation of India. We have the management today being represented by Mr. Sanjay Swaroop, Chairman, Chairman and Managing Director. At this point I’ll hand over the floor to him for his initial remarks post which we’ll open up the floor for Q and A. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Sanjay Swarup — Chairman and Managing Director
Thank you, Bhumika. Good morning to you all. I am joined by my Directors, Director Projects Mr. Ajit Kumar Panda, Director Domestic Mr. Mohammed Azhar Shams, Director International Marketing and Operations, Mr. Vijay Kumar Singh, Director Finance, Mr. Anurag Kapil and PED Finance and Company Secretary and CFO Mr. Harish Chandra. So I am glad to announce that Board of Directors has approved the dividend of rupees 1.60. That is 32% on share of rupees 5 par value. That is because of the good performance given by the company. Throughput in Q1 of FY26 has been 1.29 million TUs which is all time high for any Q1 in the company’s history.
Throughput growth has been excellent, 11.3% in which EXIM’s contribution is 12% and domestics contribution is 9%. And India’s international trade, merchandise trade also has seen a growth of 2% in exports which is US$112.17 billion and 4% in imports which is US$179.44 billion. In Q1 domestic we saw a subdued performance. There are primarily two reasons for this. First is the delay in supply of tank containers via Mesas Breathtrip. And we were banking on it and there has been some delay because for the first time they have been manufacturing such containers. And second is the low margin traffic that we have not picked up consciously because basically our philosophy is to give good performance to good service to our customers while keeping the margins intact.
We saw a good increase in market share, 200 basis points at JNPT and market share was unchanged at Pipawa Port rail coefficient we saw increase at Mundra as well as Pipawa which is a good news for us. Rail freight margin I’m glad to announce that despite increase of our market share we have not sacrificed the rail freight margin and operating margin. Rail freight margin increased from 24.36% to 26.96%. Operating margin increased from 28.58% to 29.81% and there is a growth in operating income 2.5% growth in pad 1%. It is slightly less as compared to physical volumes.
There are basically 34 reasons for this. First is the volume discount data. It was reconciled in Q1 and there were some reconciliation figures for that. Second is the increase in staff cost. It was due to the one time award that we declared for good performance of our staff which was reflected in this quarter’s expenses. Third is the decrease in lead in EXIM by around 4%. The basic reason for this is less demand in North India. North India icds There was less demand of imports exports like Ludhiana, Tugla, kapad and Sidgul ICDs. So we saw below performance in these ICDs in Q1.
Of course now it has normalized in Q2. Then last reason is subdued demand in domestic which I already explained earlier. We saw a very handsome increase in double stack rates 11.2%. We have done 1505 rates this quarter as compared to 1353 rakes in last year. Same quarter we are continuously increasing our infrastructure in this quarter we have commissioned five high speed rakes and we have procured 1500 containers for our domestic use. Capex achieved in Q1 is rupees 202.5 crores and our capex budget for this financial year remains intact at rupees eight hundred sixty crores. We will do a media review after Q2.
Target for 2028 remains same hundred terminals, five hundred plus rakes and more than seventy thousand containers. I’m glad to announce there is an excellent growth in EXIM stream. It is likely to continue and will further increase. We’ll see a quantum jump with commissioning of WDFC up to JNPT by December 2025. In domestic after a muted Q1 now there is a very robust growth we are observing in Q2 with excellent demand from eastern India mainly gunny bales traffic. Then our new terminal at Moorby Rapleshwar in Gujarat also will give boost in business. Then bulk cement in tank containers which is a new product and we are happy to announce that we have loaded fast rake on 30 June 2025 and industry has given a very positive response.
We are going to get another rate by breadthquake in this month only and this will further contribute to our domestic traffic. Exports growth has been good in auto parts 22% growth. Rice saw a 12% growth and readymade garments 14% growth. Imports there was a good growth in aluminum scrap 8%, stainless steel 17% growth. We have commenced EXIM rail service from Hindustan Zinc siding at Chanderia to Mundra port which is a new service we have started. And there has been a good increase in direct port delivery movement also almost 18% growth we have seen. And there is a very good growth in imports at various ports that we have observed.
Overall there has been a 12% growth in imports in this quarter. Mundra saw a growth of 8.4% JNPT 19.3% and Chennai 19.4%. Weiser Port 29%. So there is a very good growth in imports that we have observed in this quarter. And another good thing is there has been substantial decline in empty running of flats as well as empty containers both in domestic and EXIM. Total empty running cost decrease was 13.7% and which has contributed in a positive manner to our bottom line. And I would like to inform another landmark achievement that were achieved by the company.
We signed an MoU with the RHS group of Dubai for end to end logistics solution. And containers of Concorde are now moving across the shores of India. Till now we were giving service only up to our ports. But now they have crossed the ports and they are reaching Dubai and we are able to give end to end service to our customers. Several containers have moved to Dubai, Sharjah and other parts of UAE. And very soon we will be starting such service to other countries like Singapore. Also I would like to mention again that we are in touch with big corporate houses.
Tata, Jindal, Vedanta, JK Cement, LT Food and they have shown a positive attitude for giving more and more business to Concord. So mostly it will be in domestic. So the outlook of company is very very very strong and positive. And we hope that we will be showing very good results in the coming quarters of this financial year. At this point I would like to keep the guidance unchanged at 13% in which EXIM will be 10% and domestic will be 20%. So that’s all opening remarks from my side. Now you can start your questions.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their Touchstone Telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Disha Giriya from Ashika Institutional desk. Please go ahead.
Disha Giria
Good morning. I hope I’m audible.
operator
Yes ma’, am, you’re audible.
Disha Giria
So my first question is regarding the domestic volume and the domestic realization. So what we have seen in the past is whenever there has been a volume thrust, a volume increase, the realization has gone down and that impacts your revenue. So could you give us a competitive intensity of what the market dynamics is right now in the domestic market and how we are going to take it forward? Because our top line decline is something that concerns me.
Sanjay Swarup
Yeah, as I informed you that domestic, the growth was muted in the first quarter and now we are seeing very good growth in domestic and we are getting return traffic also. So empty running is coming down in Q1 also in domestic. Empty lending in fact has come down by almost 12%. So with the good management of demand, we are quite hopeful that in the coming quarters we will show a good performance in domestic.
Disha Giria
Okay, so my second question is regarding the bulk cement containers. We already have one rake from wake weight and you said that we are in process of receiving the another rake. So if you could just give us some quantitative numbers on how the demand has been and how is it processing out in the market and what do you expect it to contribute to the total volume for the full year?
Sanjay Swarup
See, demand is enormous like we do around 14 to 15 million tonnes in domestic every year. So demand is only bulk cement in tank containers can add same volume every year. So hardly 9 to 10% is moving by rail, everything is moving by road. So this is a new product that we have launched. So because now the containers are getting manufactured. So as soon as we start getting containers from, we have, apart from bedside we floated an open tender and one private company is also manufacturing some containers for us. So from both the sources we will be getting.
But now, because in this there is a monsoon time now, so cement, as you know, construction activities are not carried out in this time. So cement loading drops during the Q2 period also when monsoon will end in September. Then from Q3 onwards we can see a very good growth in bulk cement loading and we will get containers from private vendor also from which we have ordered. So Q2, of course bulk cement loading will not be much because of the monsoon. And from Q3 we can expect very good loading and bulk cement.
Disha Giria
Okay sir. So if I can ask one last question. The employee cost you mentioned, it’s a one off for this period. So going forward for the other quarters can we expect the normative range of employee cost how it had been in the past year.
Sanjay Swarup
This was actually adoration that we announced an award. But normally as I told you, as you are aware of course that our employee cost is usually around 5% of our turnover. So we will be ending the year on that number only.
Disha Giria
Thank you. I’ll join in the queue for other questions.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Ms. Bhumika Nair from Dam Capital. Please go ahead.
Bhoomika Nair
Yes sir. Sir, first if you can just share the originating volumes for both Exim and domestic.
Sanjay Swarup
Originating volume for EXIM 531099. Domestic 121624 Total 652723.
Bhoomika Nair
Sure sir. Thank you. Sir, in terms of the you spoke about you know one time employee, how much would that award be and which would have led to a higher employee cost this quarter?
Sanjay Swarup
We gave a one month salary to them. You want number?
Bhoomika Nair
Yes sir. The one time cost number.
Sanjay Swarup
Around 18 crore rupees.
Bhoomika Nair
Okay. Okay. And you also spoke about you know volume discount that happened in the first quarter this time. So what was that amount? And you know, how should we look at it going ahead?
Sanjay Swarup
See actually that was. I. As I told you that was a one time. That was an. You can say reconciliation kind of thing. That was done. So normally. So it will have around 1% impact.
Bhoomika Nair
You can say 1% of revenues.
Sanjay Swarup
Yes.
Bhoomika Nair
Total revenue sir. All put together.
Sanjay Swarup
Right, Right.
Bhoomika Nair
Ok. Around. So to. I mean roughly for only for the quarter. So about 221 crores.
Sanjay Swarup
Yes, 21 crores.
Bhoomika Nair
Okay. Okay. Understood. Understood. So the other thing was you spoke about lead distances coming down because of the demand being a little weak. A, can you give the lead distance and B, you know how. How is the demand now panning out in particularly you know in the month of July, August. How are you seeing the outlook in terms of the movement of volumes?
Sanjay Swarup
Yeah. Now the lead distances for this quarter for exim it was 688km and domestic it was 1356km. Total 792km. So now the demand is very good as I told you in Q2. So this north India is showing good demand and both imports, exports as well as domestic domestic has picked up. In Q1 it was somehow subdued. So it has picked up now and we are getting good volumes.
Bhoomika Nair
Okay. Okay. And in terms of you know, the, you know, export import. You know, any improvement that you’re seeing out there particularly given this whole trade related issues, tariffs. Are you seeing any slowdown per se that you are witnessing now in August, September?
Sanjay Swarup
See all I can tell you is that in Q1 we have posted a handsome growth of 12% in export import handling. And till now we are able to maintain that. So we are not seeing any impact.
Bhoomika Nair
Okay. Sure sir, I’ll come back in the question queue. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Priyankar Biswas from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Priyankar Biswas
Thanks for sir, for the opportunity. My question is Caesar, in last year 1q the EXIM volume base was quite low because it was if I recall something like 481,000 TUs on an originating basis. And then in September we had a large increase as well. And this rate was maintained in September and December. So given that even on a weak base we were not able to deliver a very strong growth. So what gives us the confidence that in the next two quarters we will have growth on a relatively high base? So that’s my first question.
Sanjay Swarup
As I told you in this quarter you are right, it was around 4,81,000 last year in agreement originating. But we are able to give 10.2% growth in that. And for Q2 I can tell you same growth is being maintained. So what is the question exactly? I am not able to understand. We are able to maintain that growth and we are. There is a demand in import export, both. So what, what exactly are you asking? I’m not able to understand.
Priyankar Biswas
See, I am asking that in September 2024 quarter your EXIM volumes increased very sharply. So from 480,000 TEUs on on handling basis, on originating basis to something like 550,000 TEUs broadly. So that was a steep jump. Almost like 15% quarter on quarter jump that you had last year. So can a similar level of growth happen QOQ this time as well?
Sanjay Swarup
I am not an astrologer so I cannot predict what will happen in the remaining part of the year. All I can tell you is there are good indications that there will be very good growth in this financial year also. What will happen? I don’t know. I can only see the market forces that are operating and what volumes we are getting because of our various policies. So it is giving us results Even in this Q2 I’m telling you we are maintaining the growth of Q1.
Priyankar Biswas
Okay sir, if I may add another question, can you just comment on the pricing landscape? So what I’M essentially trying to see is like what is the how, how does our pricing stand, let’s say versus other CTOs on the same routes and what is the comparable pricing for roads given that the diesel prices have been sort of stable. If you can elaborate on that.
Sanjay Swarup
I think normally what we do is when we do pricing, we take of course road rates into comparison. We don’t see what our CTOs are offering because our service levels are completely different from them. Normally I don’t, I will not like to comment on how they are pricing their products. But the very proof that we are able to maintain 55 to 60% market share and it proves that whatever pricing, whatever service levels we are able to maintain, customers are using our services. What model they are following, I cannot comment on that.
Priyankar Biswas
So sir, if we benchmark against routes, so like diesel prices, I was saying was sort of being stable. So can you comment like how has the at least wherever you have direct routes competition, like what is the sort of differential we have visa vis roads on a general basis and since you are also offering let’s say first mile and last mile at several place, several places as well. So on a total delivered basis, I mean from door to door to customers. So how, how are, how does our offerings compare versus let’s say a pure roads.
Sanjay Swarup
As I already told you, since we are able to attract traffic, so that means we are competitive. More than that I cannot disclose in the conference call. These are commercial decisions of the commercial decision of the company. It cannot be put in public domain.
Priyankar Biswas
Thanks sir. That was all from my side.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuama. Please go ahead.
Achal Lohade
Good morning sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I just wanted to check in. In terms of the first, my last mile, what is the mix in 1Q how do you see it changing, you know, and what kind of impact does it have in terms of the, you know, profitability or profit contribution?
Sanjay Swarup
The first mile, last mile we are able to do a total volume around 35%. We are able to do first mile, last mile in Q1 also we are able to do 35%. Now we are going to scale up and we are not looking per se at a very high profit margin on this segment. But we are using it as a, you can say marketing tool to attract more and more business to our fold. Even with very less margin. We are aiming to attract more customers so that we get more business and in turn more traffic on rail warehousing and handling.
So that will be our Major sources of revenue. Not first mile, last mile. But of course it is a profitable business. We are not incurring any loss in that.
Achal Lohade
And is it fair to say that this first mile last mile revenue would be what 5, 7% of the. You know, handling revenue, total revenue. Would that be a fair assumption for the EXIM revenues?
Sanjay Swarup
Yes, it is around 5% of total revenue. Yes, you are right.
Achal Lohade
Of total exam revenue you mean. Right. Sir, this is more for the EXIM you are talking about or you are talking about the.
Sanjay Swarup
No, I am talking about the total revenue. It was around 98 crore rupees for Q1. So it is almost for the total revenue. I am talking. But the first mile last mile is for EXIM domestic both.
Achal Lohade
Right, Understood. The second question I had sir, in you know if I. If I look at the segmental revenue what you have given and the volume what you have given for the exam I get a realization of roughly around 26,000. So that’s decline about 4%. Yoy. Any particular reason? You know you did mention the lead distance the north cargo. Is that the only reason or you think there is an element of the discounting part will also play out in this realization aspect as well. Right? Sir, the volume discount what you mentioned. Yeah.
Sanjay Swarup
Actually you have mentioned correctly. Lead is the only reason. Because of the 4% decline in lead and less demand in North India that was the only reason for less realization.
Achal Lohade
And how about the volume discount or reconciliation you mentioned? That would have had an impact on the revenue and hence the realization.
Sanjay Swarup
Right sir, Volume discount, volume discount, reconciliation of course will have some impact. But major reason was the decrease in lead.
Achal Lohade
Understood? Understood. Sir, if you could help us on. You know with the market shares for port wise and also the port mix if you could sir.
Sanjay Swarup
Yes. At JNPT our Market share is 58.39%. In Q1 last year it was 56.02%. Mundra Port it is 36%. Last year it was 38%. Kripawa it was 49% same as last year.
Achal Lohade
And aggregate. Sir, what do you have overall India.
Sanjay Swarup
Level over India level? Yeah, India level. Our market share exempt domestic combined was 53.6%.
Achal Lohade
Sorry, only exam sir, if you. If you could help with that.
Sanjay Swarup
Only agreement 53.1%.
Achal Lohade
And the last year same quarter sir.
Sanjay Swarup
Last year it was 55%.
Achal Lohade
Understood, understood. And the port mix if you could. Sir.
Sanjay Swarup
Port mix means Concord volumes from ports.
Achal Lohade
Yeah. Yeah.
Sanjay Swarup
JNPT contributed 35%. Mundra 35.3%. Ipava 8% Vizag 6% Chennai 4.8% Valapadam 5% Rest all were small like n over 2%. 2.1%.
Achal Lohade
Got it. And empty’s cost. If you could help us. The absolute number for domestic exam sir.
Sanjay Swarup
Yeah, it was exempt. It was 27.69 crores. Domestic 65.64 crores. Total 93.32 crores.
Achal Lohade
And these are sustainable given the way things are evolving. Have I understood right sir?
Sanjay Swarup
Yes, these are sustainable.
Achal Lohade
Perfect. Thank you. I have more questions but I’ll fall back in the queue. So thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Anupam Goswami from BNK Securities. Please go ahead.
Krupashankar NJ
Hello sir. Sir, you mentioned about some volume discount in the Q1. How do we take the realization for the rest of the quarter? And given some demand being muted in the first quarter are we seeing that pent up demand coming in the nine months?
Sanjay Swarup
Reconciliation was done only in this Q1 as I told you initially and now we are seeing good demand. There won’t be reconciliation now so we can expect good numbers from Q2 onwards.
Krupashankar NJ
Answer. So clarifying sir, we don’t expect any much product discounts in the next Q2 onwards. Right sir.
Sanjay Swarup
And then employee cost will also be extra cost. That was award that was given if it was only in this quarter that also will not be there in the coming quarters. So all these were one time things.
Achal Lohade
Okay sir.
Krupashankar NJ
And double stacking now been increasing. Should we expect how much of the total volume? If we can get some unit economics in that how much of a margin improvement should follow in the next let’s say in the coming years.
Sanjay Swarup
What exactly. I’m not able to understand your question.
Krupashankar NJ
Double stacking. Now that we are increasing where do we see that going and how much of a margin improvement can follow.
Sanjay Swarup
Double stack? Actually already every year we are going almost 20 to 25%. This year also we are going 11.2% growth we have seen. So now double stacking will see around this growth only. And from when the GNPT comes on double stack by December then from Q4 of this financial year we can see some real growth in double stacking.
Krupashankar NJ
Okay so. Okay. So jmpt we don’t see any further delay as of now?
Sanjay Swarup
No, no. I think it is going to be commissioned by December 25th.
Krupashankar NJ
Okay.
Sanjay Swarup
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Max Condonia from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Aditya Mongia
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. That’s just Kondinia here. So sir, my first question is if you can help Us maybe understand this volume discounting part a bit better. I mean what happened, why was it given and how should we read it for the coming quarters? Although I mean can you throw some color and what extent has offit has been reflected in the EXIM or the domestic segments? That’s one and two. Couple of bookkeeping questions. If you can help us with the lead distance and the ill fit margins for the last quarter that is 1Q25 please.
Sanjay Swarup
As I told you, we are seeing very good growth in exim. It will continue plus domestic also from this quarter onwards we are seeing good demand and good growth we are able to maintain. So this will increase our volumes and which will be. We will be able to achieve the guidance that I gave you at the start of financial year. So this will translate into good financial numbers also in the coming quarters and lead distances. I told you it was 792km for this quarter for the company. What other bookkeeping question do you want?
Aditya Mongia
Sir, I was asking for the last one QFY25 last quarter the lead distance and rate freight margin. Rail freight margin for the Last quarter not one Q26 but one Q25 it.
Sanjay Swarup
Was rail freight margin was 24.36% this. This year it is 26.96%.
Aditya Mongia
Sure, sir. I mean just to understand that volume reconciliation part. I mean what was the reason why it was given? I mean is it like in rise in competitive intensity and therefore you have to provide discounts or what exactly happened? If you can help us understand that better, please. Sorry, it was a little unclear for me.
Sanjay Swarup
This volume discount reconciliation is normally that we pay to our shipping lines and our customers to. That’s an incentive kind of scheme. If they give more volume they get more discount. So these numbers are calculated and at the end of the financial year sometimes it spilled over to the next quarter for making payments to them. Reconciliation takes some time and that is the only reason.
Aditya Mongia
So are you saying that these are actually discounts given in the last financial year but are book reflected now? Is that the way to look at.
Sanjay Swarup
Actually these are the discounts which were for the volumes offered in the last financial year. I would like to put it in that way.
Aditya Mongia
Okay. I mean the reason I’m hopping that on this realization part and the discount part is because some one of your smaller peers also reflected a declining realization. So just trying to understand if at an industry level you are seeing a pricing aggression kind of thing.
Sanjay Swarup
No, no, it is not that. It happens every time. Reconciliation takes some time. You are. You are very well conversant in finance. So you know these things. Actually there is no change in our discount policy. Whatever discount has been given. The figures were being reconciled with the customers. After reconciliation their bills are settled. So that takes little time. So that happened. There has been no change in volume discount policy. The policy remains the same. So we don’t expect any adverse effect this year.
Aditya Mongia
Okay sir, can you speak a little bit about the outlook on the continent? You did speak that the existing load growth is good. But do you see any challenge amidst whatever is happening on the tariffs, tariff side, globally and all that? So what is your reading on that side? If you have can throw some color please.
Sanjay Swarup
Till now we have not experienced any effect on our volumes as a result of tariffs. But we should be very optimistic. I can only say that if one door is closed there are several other doors which can be opened. I think you will understand.
Aditya Mongia
Sure sir. Thank you very much and all the best.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Krupa Shankar from Avendis Park. Please go ahead.
Krupashankar NJ
Good afternoon sir and thank you for the opportunity. My first question will be on the land license fee. Just wanted to get a sense around any decisions taken with respect to surrendering of some of the unused land and reducing this LLF cost which we were contemplating last year. So any thoughts around that?
Sanjay Swarup
That is as I told my earlier conference calls also that is a continuous exercise being done by our company that wherever we find that land is surplus or if we come up with a terminal near the existing facility or which is connecting to the same hinterland then we immediately surrender the land. So that process is continuous. Like in Jodhpur we have a terminal at Bhagat ki Koti. Now we are coming up with a new terminal at Sarabhas. So we will surrender railway land at Bhagat Ki Koti and we will have our own terminal at Salawas.
So this is a continuous exercise that we are undertaking. So that is why you can see that despite the formula of 7% growth in LLF every year we are able to maintain the same number that we are paying today. This is the only reason.
Krupashankar NJ
My second question would be domestic side of things. While I do understand that there are certain challenges with respect to volume growth coming in the first quarter and we are quite optimistic about the second half the 20%. What you have given puts a lot of pressure on achieving in the second half. So just want to get some more sense that you know, are there any other efforts you are trying to. Trying to incorporate for example catering beyond cement into our or Swan to deliver 20% growth for the US and domestic.
Sanjay Swarup
My I will request my director domestic he will take this question.
Mohammad Azhar Shams
Actually as I mean our CMD underlined together that the growth in the domestic has been subdued. So there have been reasons to it. You know that one was that we have been banking on the supply of tank container for cement. Movement of cement in loose is having a very great demand you know around 70 to 80 million of loose cement. In moving in the bulkhead, thousand container order we have given 5500 to Great Wet and then 500 in the open market. First rate we have got that got delayed basically. And the second rate we are going to get in this month only These are the two rates and the 500 tank container orders we have given to Basan Fabricator a company in Ahmedabad.
They have assured us that within two to three months they shall be starting supply of their container. The first rate we shall be getting within three months. So I think combined it this is one aspect where we are going to get the traffic and you know that there is no dust of the demand with respect to movement of bulk cement in tank containers. The second is the movement of liquid cargo like caustic soda, benzene and all those. We have been in talk to customers and we are likely to get additional traffic with the movement of liquid tank liquid in the tank containers.
And then we have been basically tying. Trying to tie her with a big corporate houses for offering traffic directly to container Corporation. Our CMD has met the top bosses in JK Cement. And sir had a meeting with Mr. Inch and Shekharan also at the Tata Group some few days back. And sir had a meeting with CMD Sale also. So I think to boost the domestic traffic and then get and then ensure a growth whatever guidance arise given. So I think we are on the line and to cater this traffic we have given another 1,040ft open top containers for carrying various steel products.
So I think these 23 initiatives like bulk cement and then liquid cargo and the association with the top growth and 40ft open top containers for steel movement. I think these combined together we are going to get a good traffic in the domestic. I think it’s starting from the mid of the second quarter and then subsequently third and fourth quarter.
Krupashankar NJ
Thank you for that detailed explanation. One last question if I may on the exim side of things.
Sanjay Swarup
So you did mention that the real.
Krupashankar NJ
Coefficient has increased in Munza and just wanted to get a sense you know what has led to this improvement.
Sanjay Swarup
In.
Krupashankar NJ
This quarter and the extent of sustenance. Of this improvement going ahead. While you did mention that JNPT leg will further improve the rail coefficient levels but just wanted to get a sense on what is driving this improvement in Mundra and.
Sanjay Swarup
Actually is getting more traffic for ICDs. So that’s a healthy trend I should say. At Mundra around 2% and Pipawa it is around 3%. We have seen a growth in Q1, which is a good trend. And that means more and more the business is coming on rail which is good for the country and it’s a green mode of transport. So we have to encourage more and more movement on rail.
Krupashankar NJ
All right. Thank you for answering my questions.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Aditya Mongia
Thank you for the opportunity. Just a clarification to start with. From what I could recall, you gained 200 basis points of EXIM market share in JNPT and you lost 200 basis points of EXIM share in Mundra. And both these are kind of equally relevant in your port mix. How come have you lost 200 basis points overall in margins? Is it just a growth differential between Mundra and everything else or am I missing something over here?
Sanjay Swarup
In margins?
Aditya Mongia
No, no. I’m just saying in market share. So apologies for the confusion. It’s market share, not margins here. So just that you. You won as much in JNPT incrementally as you lost in Mondara. And both these are equal heavyweights in your port revenue mix. And how come you’ve lost 200 basis points on overall margins? I could not get it very well.
Sanjay Swarup
So now the thing is that I, as I told you in my opening address, there was a subdued demand in North India in our ICDs like Tugla Kebab, Dadri and Pantnagar. And primarily the Mundra traffic is being, you know, catered by North India icd. So this subdued demand in North India directly reflected in Mundra volumes. So that is the reason of 200 basis points drop at Mundra. And JNPT is primarily catering to areas like Hyderabad, Nagpur, Indore, Bhopal. So these ICDs have done extremely well and both in imports and export terms. So that is why we are seeing a good growth in JNPT, Unkeleshwar also Baroda also, all these ICDs of Central India I should say and south some ICDs, they have shown a very good growth trend.
So that is why JNPT saw a good growth of 200 basis points. And Mundra, we lost 200 basis points because of less demand which is now now market share, right?
Aditya Mongia
I think this is market share, right? So you lost market share in Mundra because someone else gained market share, right?
Sanjay Swarup
Not because of the someone, someone has gained market share because in their ICDs they’ve got more containers and we somehow could not get in our ICDs.
Achal Lohade
Sure.
Aditya Mongia
Just a related question. As in Mundra your market share obviously. So in JNPT you have been able to reverse the market share trend, but in Mundra that has not happened over the last 23 years. Any, any. Any specific kind of thought process on. On how as in any learnings from JNPT can we reverse the trend in Mundra incrementally and how to go about it?
Sanjay Swarup
See, all the markets are not same. On some segments there is very low margin movements also which consciously we are not picking up low margin business. It’s not the policy of the company to pick up any margin business. So that is the only reason as far as learnings are concerned. Definitely we keep on keep track of our various customers, various ict, we do threadbare detailed discussions and wherever course corrections are required, we are taking that course correction.
Aditya Mongia
Understood. The second question is more on the rail freight margin as in obviously it’s handsomely improved. What are the reasons driving the same and from here on to go up from 27%. As in what else can happen?
Sanjay Swarup
See the two three reasons are there. First is the reduction in empty running cost which I have already explained and due to the excellent planning of our operations team. Then double stacking has also increased which has also contributed to the bottom line in real freight margins. Then we are able to do related things that we are able to do both side movement in domestic which is also increasing and in EXIM also we are getting imports exports both. So this is. These are the various factors that contribute to improvement in rate fed margin and 27% railfare margin is very good I should say and let us hope that we will able to maintain this.
Krupashankar NJ
Sure.
Aditya Mongia
Just a related question as in we’ve seen real freight margins go up obviously the domestic component. I’m assuming there’s an EXIM component as well. But then we have lost market share on the ex IM side. Does the company think through or see merit in using the pricing angle in some form to retain or regain back market share on an overall basis? In exim.
Sanjay Swarup
Yeah, actually we keep on working. We keep working on that and we are doing strategically where to trigger with where to play with our rail freights and tariffs and all so. And wherever we can give discounts to get More volumes. That is a continuous exercise that we are doing. But we don’t drastically reduce our margins to grain volumes. We try to have enter into a contract with big players like I told you, big corporate houses and then based on the some signing of some contract or some agreement with them we give them some special rates or special discounts.
These are the policies that we adopt to gain our volumes randomly. We will not bring down our tariff so that we can get more volumes. We don’t work on that philosophy.
Aditya Mongia
Maybe just a last question from my side and then I’ll fall back into the queue. On the domestic side of things, has the market shares shown any change over the last one year and if so what are the reasons if there is any meaningful change that has happened on a yoy basis in the domestic side of things.
Sanjay Swarup
Domestic actually we saw a drop drop in our market share which was a very big drop. And the reason as I told my in my opening remarks that low margin traffic consciously we have not picked up in domestic and we we are facing intense competition from Pctus and because of the policy that we will not pick up the low margin business somehow market share has dropped.
Aditya Mongia
I’m sorry I missed the number. If you could just repeat the fall. And is it the same competitor in EXIM that is hurting you on domestic those doing a final things. Thank you so much.
Sanjay Swarup
Number is last year it was 57.7%. This beer is at 55% and I will not like to take the name of competitors. That will not be fair.
Aditya Mongia
Thank you so much. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next follow up question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuama. Please go ahead.
Achal Lohade
Sir. Just a small clarification. So you said the market share in Mundra actually dropped and as much we have gained in JNPT and the mix is similar. So how come we dropped as much at the overall EXIM market share, sir?
Sanjay Swarup
Okay, EXIM market share overall it comprises of Pan India volume apart from JNPT and Mudra. Because GNPT and Mudra contribute combined 70% of our total EXIM. So rest 30% is also there. So that also contributes to market share.
Achal Lohade
Okay. No, what I was saying is that if I look at the market share it’s stable at Pipa Mundra. Pipa, JNPT together would be the largest proportion. So is the drop in the non west coast port that substantial which is driven driving this market share drop at the aggregate level?
Sanjay Swarup
So that analysis we have not carried out. It’s a good suggestion. We will carry out the analysis and get back to you.
Achal Lohade
Sure. Sir, one more question. If you could help us with just a ballpark number of The JNPT total, whatever 9 million tu, how much would be destined for north? You know which is, which is in and around DFC. Could that be 2 million, 3 million or a million to you thereabout?
Sanjay Swarup
This question also I cannot reply now. I don’t have the data with me right now. But we can reply to you separately.
Achal Lohade
Sure sir. And any, any quantification you could do with respect to the benefit of the double stacking. Like you know what kind of saving we would have had theoretically out of this double stacking volume, let’s say for the quarter.
Sanjay Swarup
Actually we have taken out this figure several years back. At that time it was around 5 lakh rupees for every one double stack train. That was handled. But we will have to recalculate in the present context.
Achal Lohade
Understood. And just last question sir. Llf, what is that number we should work with like this? 110 crore is a sustainable number. So should we work with 440 or we should we work with 370? Like you said, we’re looking at the same cost of last year.
Sanjay Swarup
I think between 370 and 400 should be a good number.
Achal Lohade
Understood? Understood. Great. Those were my questions. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Ankita Shah from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Ankita Shah
Yeah.
Bhoomika Nair
Thank you.
Ankita Shah
So the new terminal additions that you are doing, is this on the exempt or domestic side?
Sanjay Swarup
Normally. Now the new terminals that we are creating are all multimodal logistic paths. So they will have both exim and domestic facility. To start with it will have only domestic because exim Customs notification takes some time so. But eventually it will have both exim plus domestic.
Ankita Shah
So our current terminals it is around, I think around 60 terminals. Are they fully utilized?
Sanjay Swarup
We have total 66 terminals. So yes, they are all utilized 100%. Well that is a different figure for different terminals. That detail I cannot give you in this conference call. We can give you separately.
Ankita Shah
Got it. Got it. And sir, what is the thought process behind going overseas?
Sanjay Swarup
Market thought process is that we want to give end to end service to our customers from their doorstep up to the doorstep of their final consignee. So we were able to give service only up to Indian ports. Now we are giving the service right up to the final destination. So that is the basic philosophy of.
Ankita Shah
Our will be what kind of services this will include?
Sanjay Swarup
This will include ocean transportation on ships from Indian Ports to foreign ports and from there to the final destination.
Ankita Shah
So you tie up with shipping lines for the ocean movement or you deploy your own ships.
Sanjay Swarup
And what about as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we have tied up with one RHS group of Dubai who is an NNOCC and a big operator in Dubai. So he is taking care of movement from Indian ports up to Dubai, last mile transportation up to the final destination. He is not a shipping line.
Ankita Shah
Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay, that’s it. Thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead s ir.
Pulkit Patni
Thank you for taking my question. So just one question. While a lot has been said for the last few years about JNPT connecting to DFC and giving huge volumes, one what is our preparedness? All these large container orders that we’ve placed is that with the idea that the volumes will come to us? Plus is there any rough calculation on what level of volume growth would come to Just not you but rail operators in general after DFC connects? Because I’m sure when you are placing these orders you are doing some calculation on what kind of growth you are likely to get.
So just some qualitative guidance would be good enough. I am not asking for actual numbers.
Sanjay Swarup
See now the thing is that we are fully prepared and DFC connection is done to jn. Right now we have four terminals already on dfc. That is Dadri, Katuas, Saro, Ganj and Varnama. And fifth terminal is coming up at Charodi. So we are fully geared up to handle at our terminals. Secondly, we have sufficient number of rolling stock. We are already having 394 rakes. At the end of this quarter and another three years we will be 500 plus rakes. So as far as rolling stock is concerned, as far as terminals are concerned, we are fully geared up.
And then we will be running timetable trains now from Dadri to JNPT once it is connected in collaboration with Indian Railways. So it will result in lot of cargo shifting from road to rail as we have seen in Mundra. And they will be all double stacked trains. So all I can give you a number is as per the National Rail plan, the rail coefficient at present is 18 to 20%. So this will move to 35 to 40% when DFC gets connected to GNPT. These are the figures in National Rail Plan and of course it will not happen overnight.
It will take some time to materialize. Suppose by December 2025 the DFC gets connected to JNPT then it will take some 7, 8 months or maybe 1 year to stabilize this volume. I hope I have clarified your question.
Pulkit Patni
Yes sir, that’s useful.
Krupashankar NJ
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Anupam Goswami from BNK Securities. Please go ahead.
Anupam Goswami
Hi sir. So when we saw with the Mundra and PPAP connecting to rail how much there the rail coefficient increase and how confident are we in the JMPT BFC connection connecting and coefficient increasing to that level. Because I feel Mundra we did not see much of a rail coefficient increase. What would meet here, sir?
Sanjay Swarup
See there are various reasons. Mundra also this quarter we have seen increase. Putaba also we have seen increase. So maybe there is a different dynamics which players like some consignees want that they are. They want to destock the container in the nearby cfss and use other modes of transport. Shipping lines are also there. So these things are there. But I can say with confidence that because DFC is going right up to jnpt. Whereas in Mundra Pipawa it is feeder routes. So there is a lot of difference in that. And if main DFC is going then it has the capacity to carry 25 ton axle load wagons also.
Which leverage we are not getting at Mundra Pipa Because Indian railway track is not fit for that. Double stacking will be much more in JNPT. So you cannot compare the two PFCs.
Anupam Goswami
Okay, so just one last question. When we saw tariffs now being there’s an uncertainty in US tariff will that somehow slow the growth in EXIM in India? Some adverse decision is taken there. And at the same time we have lost some market share in domestic. How confident are we to maintain the guidance in volume terms what we given earlier.
Sanjay Swarup
Till now we have not seen any impact of the tariffs on our volumes in Q2 also. And as I told you earlier, if one door is closed, there are several other doors which can be opened. India is a very big economy and it’s a very big market. It has got excellent growth prospects. So it cannot be ignored in the world trade. I can only mention this much. And as far as the domestic volumes are concerned, my director domestic has already explained in detail that we are very confident of achieving the guidance both in EXIM and domestic.
Anupam Goswami
Okay, so thank you. I’ll turn back I think.
operator
Thank you.
Sanjay Swarup
This should be our last question, I think.
operator
Okay sir. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last question for today. And I now hand the conference over to Ms. Bhumika Nair from Dam Capital. Over to you, ma’. Am.
Bhoomika Nair
Yes. Thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to host the call and all the participants as well for being on the call. Thank you very much, sir.
Sanjay Swarup
Thank you.
operator
Thank you on behalf of DAM Capital. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your line.