Electrosteel Castings Limited (NSE: ELECTCAST) Q2 2025 Earnings Call dated Oct. 30, 2024
Corporate Participants:
Vikash Verma — Investor Relations
Madhav Kejriwal — Whole-Time Director
Ashutosh Agarwal — Chief Financial Officer, Whole-Time Director
Gaurav Somani — General Manager, Finance
Sunil Katial — Chief Executive Officer and Whole-time Director
Analysts:
Vikash Singh — Analyst
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Prathamesh Dhiwar — Analyst
Rakesh Roy — Analyst
Dheeraj Thakur — Analyst
Rajesh Agarwal — Analyst
Muskan Rastogi — Analyst
Ankit Puri — Analyst
Saket Kapoor — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q2 and H1 FY’25 Earnings Conference Call of Electrosteel Castings Limited. [Operator Instructions]
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vikash Verma from EY LLP. Thank you, and over to you.
Vikash Verma — Investor Relations
Thank you, Mike. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Electrosteel Castings Limited, I welcome you all to the company’s quarter two FY’25 earnings call. To discuss the performance of the company and to answer the questions, we have with us from the management team, Mr/ Madhav Kejriwal, Whole-Time Director; Mr. Sunil Katial, Whole-Time Director and CEO; Mr. Ashutosh Agarwal, Whole-Time Director and Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Gaurav Somani, General Manager Finance.
Before we proceed with this call, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that today’s discussion may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors, which will be beyond management control. We kindly request that you bear in mind there may be uncertainties when interpreting such statements. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We will now start the session with opening remarks from the management team, afterwards we will open the floor for an interactive Q&A session.
I will now hand over the conference over to Mr. Madhav Kejriwal for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, Madhav.
Madhav Kejriwal — Whole-Time Director
Thank you, Mr. Vikash. A very good afternoon and warm welcome to all. I would like to start by wishing everybody a very Happy Diwali. Let me run through the company’s financial results for Q2 and H1 FY’25.
The company’s total income stood at INR1,849 crores during the second quarter of FY’25, down 4.6% compared to Q2 of the last financial year. This was mainly on account of the shutdown taken of the MBF at the Srikalahasthi unit. Our H1 total income stood at INR3,885 crores, which is up 6.5% compared to the previous H1. Our production is now stabilizing and we expect improvement in volumes and overall profitability going ahead.
Highlighting our balance sheet strength, our net-debt equity has further improved to 0.27 times as on 30th September 2024. We are very pleased to inform you that all our long-term credit rating has been upgraded by India Ratings from AA minus to AA during the quarter. The company’s DI pipe sales volumes stood at 1.76 lakh tons in Q2 FY’25 and 3.68 lakh tons in H1 FY’25. Export contributed to 13% of the total DI volumes for the first-half.
We at Electrosteel are amongst the few companies in the globe with the pure-play focused on ductile iron pipes and fittings and we are the pioneers of ductile iron pipe products in India and have maintained our leadership stance in the industry by building capacity at regular intervals to drive growth. The company’s ongoing capex is progressing as and is on-track. We aim to enhance production capacity to 1 million tones by the end of FY26. The Government of India’s Viksit Bharat Vision, which includes s Jal Jeevan Mission and AMRUT 2 provide robust demand visibility for DI pipes and fittings. Additionally, the governments across the globe are looking forward to modernizing their water infrastructure. We are one of the most preferred suppliers of ductile iron pipes, thanks to our strong brand recall. ECL is well-placed to ride-on growing water infrastructure — infrastructure globally spending — both in and — I’m so sorry, spending — our team across functions offer customized solutions to our steam customers resulting in customer satisfaction. I would like — I would now like to hand over the floor to my colleague, Mr. Ashutosh Agarwal, Whole-Time Director and CFO, for taking you through the financial highlights.
Ashutosh Agarwal — Chief Financial Officer, Whole-Time Director
Thank you, Madhav Ji. Good afternoon to everybody and wish a very, very Happy Diwali to all of you. Today, we are in discussion with the earnings calls for Q2 and H1 of 2024-’25. First of all, we would like to discuss about consolidated results of Q2 2024-’25. Total income stood to INR1,849 crores, impacted by planned shutdown as noted by Mr. Madhav Kejriwal of our blast furnace in Kalahasthi unit during this quarter.
EBITDA at INR289 crores, EBITDA margin declined by 82 bps year-on-year basis to 15.6%, impacted by lower volume as stated by us. PAT reported at INR155 crores, PAT margin was 8.4%. Now on the consolidated H1 results, total income grew by 6.5% year-on-year basis to INR3,885 crores. EBITDA surged by 3.8% year-on-year basis to INR666 crore. EBITDA margin expanded by 329 bps year-on-year basis to 17.2%. PAT grew by 52.8% year-on-year basis to INR381 crores in H1. PAT margin expanded by 297 bps year-on-year basis to 9.8%.
Now we are talking about standalone results of Q2 2024-’25. Total income stood to INR1,712 crores impacted by planned shutdown as stated by us. EBITDA stood to INR270 crores. EBITDA margin was 15.7%. PAT stood to INR152 crores, PAT margin stood to 8.9%. Now I’m talking about the standalone results of H1. For the year 2024-’25, total income grew to 4.3% year-on-year to INR3,564 crores, EBITDA surged by 21% year-on-year to INR623 crores, EBITDA margin expanded by 242 bps year-on-year to 17.5%. PAT grew by 37.2% year-on-year to INR364 crores, PAT margin expanded by 245 bps year-on-year to 10.2%. Now I’m talking about capex plan. We have spent nearly INR440 crores till September 2024, and the progress of the balance portion is as per the scheduled, we target to enhance that our DI pipe manufacturing capacity to 1 million ton maybe by 2026.
Now I open the floor for question-and-answer session. Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] We have the first question from the line of Vikash Singh from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Vikash Singh
Good evening, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question pertains to our gross margin, which though improved on sequential basis, the improvement is slightly lower than what we would have anticipated. So what kind of coking coal and iron ore benefits we have got in 2Q and what it is going to be in 3Q.?
Gaurav Somani
Hi, Vikash. Gaurav here.
Vikash Singh
Hi, sir.
Gaurav Somani
Hi. So Vikash, in Q2, our gross margins what we reported was around 50.7% compared to last year it was 49.4%. So we have done around 30 basis points improvement. So on the gross margin side there is improvement. You see, year-on-year or maybe quarter-on-quarter. The coking coal prices have come down during the quarter. And as we speak, it is further down. So obviously, the benefit of the coking coal price will be there. Iron ore prices have been kind of stable. It was little volatile in Q — Q1 to Q2 — between Q1 to Q2 it was on the upper side. Now it’s more or less stable. So we expect the prices — raw material prices to support going-forward.
Vikash Singh
So just wanted the quantification, what kind of benefits we can get in 3Q? Have we got the majority of the benefit already in 2Q or majority will come in 3Q, if you just could clarify on that point?
Gaurav Somani
Vikash, we have booked good amount of coking coal and we have inventory. And in Q3, going forward, we feel that there will some more benefit coming from coking coal side.
Vikash Singh
Understood. Sir, second question pertains to the shutdown thing. So how did — how much on the EBITDA per ton basis has impacted our EBITDA per ton and so — and going forward, what should we take as a steady-state EBITDA per ton for the second-half?
Madhav Kejriwal
Well, I think in terms of EBITDA per ton, maybe you can say 0.5 percentage of impact has come from the shutdown. And going forward, stability on the EBITDA for the short to mid-term is envisaged.
Vikash Singh
Understood. Sir, second question pertains to the general market. A couple of the people in the same space have commented that off late the order inflows have been a little bit slow from the government side. Just wanted to know your comments on how we should look the order book for yourself as well as the — if the inflow is really slowing down or are you seeing the market being buoyant as usual?
Madhav Kejriwal
So the reason for the slowdown is essentially that now that the new term has started they are kind of collating and recalibrating the progress made so far and what the ways forward is. I’m not very concerned about this on a long-term perspective and I’m very hopeful that things will — the outlook for demand remains the same. It’s a temporary pause.
Vikash Singh
Understood. So, sir what is your current order book in terms of month or tonnage, sir, whatever you can give us? And also the next one to two years kind of the order market of the DI pipe total tonnage which is tending to be awarded, if you would have that number?
Madhav Kejriwal
So the total — today we stand at around a nine-month order book. And going forward, I think at the moment around 6.5 million ton worth of order book is pending to be finalized. And I don’t think that this will change anytime soon. Whatever order booking will be done will be constantly refilled with new demand. So 6 — maybe 6 million to 6.5 million ton of requirement will constantly be there in the pipeline.
Vikash Singh
So from a 18 to 24 months perspective, right?
Madhav Kejriwal
Yes, please.
Vikash Verma
Yeah. And just one last question. Once our…
Operator
Sir, we ask you to kindly come into the queue for follow-up questions.
Vikash Singh
Sure, sure. Sure. Thank you.
Operator
We have the next question from the line of Radha from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Radha Agarwalla
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, just continuing with the question that the previous participant has asked. So you mentioned that we will see the benefit of coking coal prices in the coming quarters, 3Q or 4Q if we assume. So the EBITDA per ton of second-half seems to be, I mean it could look much higher than the first-half. So on a blended basis, if we take INR18 or INR19 or INR20 per kg for FY’25, assuming we are targeted to do 8.5 lakh tons of volumes in FY’25. So our DI EBITDA comes to INR160 crores. But when this benefit of coking coal subsides, maybe after two to three quarters when the prices stabilize, so next year we are targeting to achieve around 9.3 lakh tons of volume, so 10% to 11% volume growth, but on the other hand, the EBITDA per ton could come down because of the stability in coking coal prices. The 10% volume growth may not be enough to offset the stabilization in coking coal prices. So just wanted to know that is it a fair assumption that the FY’25 EBITDA on DI because of these dynamics will remain stable in FY’26 and on an overall DI EBITDA there may not be a growth in FY’26?
Madhav Kejriwal
I think, I mean, I agree with you on the fact that the stability of EBITDA going forward will be there. Growth beyond this point will not be — I don’t know. I mean if luck favors, then yes, of course, but barring that from what we can envisage further growth from here is not something that we are looking at. In terms of percentages, not in terms of absolute numbers, of course.
Ashutosh Agarwal
Madam, but one thing. When the volume will go up, there will be a decisive advantage also on the variable cost and major on the fixed cost. So that also should take care of a part of the negative impact of what you thought about coking coal and all that.
Radha Agarwalla
So sir, assuming that on — in FY ’25, if we close the year with INR19 per kg EBITDA on DI. So assuming all those benefits come through, do you expect the EBITDA per kg to be slightly lower than FY’25 and FY’26?
Madhav Kejriwal
It will be very difficult to give you an answer in absolute numbers, ma’am. Again, as I mentioned, percentages is a better way of looking at it because, of course the — if there is an eventual impact on selling price of the reduction in the raw material prices, it does not reflect immediately. But if both coking coal and iron ore prices reduce from a mid-term perspective, we will see an impact on the per ton selling price. So we would — we’d like to stick to the percentages and I’m highly confident that we will be able to maintain these percentage points.
Radha Agarwalla
All right, sir. The second question is on the bidding front. So just wanted to understand that when we started the year in FY’25, so what were the realizations that we were getting while bidding for the project on a per ton basis? And considering that there is correction in raw material prices, so just wanted to understand that for the current biddings that we are doing currently, so how has the realization spared out now compared to what it was six months back?
Madhav Kejriwal
There is a very minor downward correction ma’am.
Radha Agarwalla
How do you see it going forward, sir, considering that coking coal price — raw material prices are coming down?
Madhav Kejriwal
Raw material prices are coming down, demand is still robust, so I don’t feel that there will be any major correction in the selling price as of now. Maybe a slight dip and then a slight increase from quarter-to-quarter depending on the demand pool as we were discussing earlier in the call because there was a minor slowdown due to the rains, plus the government kind of wanting to recalibrate what the ground situation is like, there’s a couple of percentage points drop maybe in the selling price. Similarly, come Q4 when usually demand picks up again, we might see the opposite side of this happening. So it’s is going to be a minor correction upward and downward with the raw material prices as compared to the raw material prices.
Radha Agarwalla
Yeah, thanks, sir. And continuing with this bid book question, so just wanted to know what is the bid book size currently for AMRUT and other irrigation projects?
Madhav Kejriwal
So ma’am, I will have to get back to you on the exact number for our current order book on that front on how much is coming out of AMRUT and how much is from irrigation. But on the demand front, overall for the industry, we can say that the AMRUT demand is — is around 20%, 25% and the same for irrigation.
Radha Agarwalla
All right, sir. Thanks and all the best.
Madhav Kejriwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Prathamesh Dhiwar from Tiger Assets. Please go ahead.
Prathamesh Dhiwar
Yeah, am I’m audible?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Yeah. Please.
Prathamesh Dhiwar
So just wanted to know on the industry front, like we said earlier, currently the orders are muted from, let’s say, Jal Jeevan. So from when we are seeing the pickup in the order inflow by the government?
Operator
Sorry to interrupt, Prathamesh, your audio is not extremely clear. There’s some background, of If you could switch to the handset mode?
Prathamesh Dhiwar
Yeah, sure. Am I audible now?
Operator
Yeah. This is much better.
Madhav Kejriwal
Yeah. I was able to — I was able to get your question though. I think by the end of this quarter, beginning of next quarter we should start seeing the JJM order book pick-up again.
Prathamesh Dhiwar
Okay, okay from Q3. And sir, what are the average order sizes of these projects?
Madhav Kejriwal
That varies by such a huge margin, it would be incorrect for me to give you a particular answer on that.
Prathamesh Dhiwar
Okay, okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much and Happy Diwali.
Madhav Kejriwal
You too. Thank you very much.
Prathamesh Dhiwar
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Rakesh Roy from Omkara Capital. Please go ahead.
Rakesh Roy
Hi, sir. My question regarding sir your volume number, this is compared to last year.
Operator
Mr. Rakesh, can you kindly come closer to the microphone?
Rakesh Roy
Hello.
Operator
Yes, request you to kindly switch to handset mode or come closer to the microphone.
Rakesh Roy
Yeah. Hi, sir. Sir, like my question is related to sir volume number. If you compare your volume number from sequences basis or year-end basis, it’s coming down, you say due to the plants are shutdown. But when it comes to realization, realization improved, sir. So any reason for realization improve or is it you have to — you have taken any price increase in Q2 or Q1 of your first-half?
Madhav Kejriwal
There is no price increase per se. But the pricing is stable, sir. Hello?
Rakesh Roy
Hello.
Madhav Kejriwal
Yeah, am I audible to you, sir?
Rakesh Roy
Yes, sir. Yes sir.
Madhav Kejriwal
There is no real major improvement in the realization per ton. It’s similar.
Rakesh Roy
Okay. Sequential basis, similar. If you take the same percent like this like, now iron ore prices is down compared to H1, if you take. So next bidding will — realization will be same or will come down?
Madhav Kejriwal
Like I mentioned, sir, recently there has been a very minor reduction in the realizations on the order book front. That’s also reflecting a temporary slowdown from Jal Jeevan mission. And as I mentioned that these kind of things, they move a few percentage points up and down depending on the time of the quarter. So maybe come Q4, once JJM picks up again, we’ll go back to better realizations. But again, that is a slight difference. This I am one talking about in the range of maybe 2%, 3%, 4% like that.
Dheeraj Thakur
Okay. But same thing as in your Jal Jeevan [Indecipherable] less projects on Jal Jeevan mission. But many projects come from state government. Are we supplying to state government also, such a state project?
Madhav Kejriwal
Yes, yes, sir. Absolutely. We are supplying to state fund projects. We’re supplying to foreign funded projects.
Rakesh Roy
Okay. And how much is percentage of total, if you say, how much is a Jal Jeevan and how much is a state funded project?
Madhav Kejriwal
So sir, Jal Jeevan is a part of a state funded. It’s not that is completely central funded. Independently, state funded projects, most of the irrigation projects are independently state funded and you have a few other foreign funded projects which are direct loans to the state. So I would say around 30%, 35% are independent of any central schemes.
Rakesh Roy
Okay. 30%, 35%?
Madhav Kejriwal
30%, yeah, you can say around 30%.
Rakesh Roy
Okay, sir. And regarding that export here in Q2 is 12% of total revenue, no sir?
Madhav Kejriwal
I’m sorry, I couldn’t quite get your question. Your voice is a bit…
Rakesh Roy
Yes, sir. I’m saying, in Q2 our export is near by 12%?
Madhav Kejriwal
13%.
Rakesh Roy
13% sir. Is there any impact due to this one, let’s say [Indecipherable] or any increase in shipping cost?
Madhav Kejriwal
Yes, sir. There are two aspects as to why export is a little lesser than what it usually is. One is the impact of the ocean freight and the other part is that because the demand in domestic is so robust, we are finding the domestic markets a little more interesting in terms of margins, for some markets. So we are concentrating on the higher margin markets in total. And a part of the reason is because the ocean freight, of course, if that gets a little better, we can — we will be back to decent realizations again in the export markets. The ones which we are not concentrating right now as well.
Dheeraj Thakur
Okay. So hopefully for Q3 the number will be same for export market, equal to 13%?
Madhav Kejriwal
I think it might be a little better-off, but it won’t be substantial. It’s difficult to comment on what will happen later because it really is very much dependent on the movement of the ocean freights. And unfortunately, the ocean freights are dependent on the geopolitical scenario of that region and I don’t think any of us are equipped to really answer that particular question.
Rakesh Roy
I agree sir. And last question, sir, for your Srikalahasthi plant shutdown, sir how many days is shutdown sir?
Madhav Kejriwal
How many days?
Rakesh Roy
Yes, sir.
Madhav Kejriwal
We are a shutdown of approximately seven days, please.
Rakesh Roy
Only seven days, sir?
Madhav Kejriwal
Yeah, I think seven, 7.5 days, something like that.
Rakesh Roy
Is this the annual maintenance one or two, three years?
Ashutosh Agarwal
This is a part of the annual maintenance shutdown. We have extended it a bit longer than we usually do because we want to try a few more things.
Dheeraj Thakur
Okay. So this is the reason our volume is down?
Madhav Kejriwal
This is the major reason why our volumes are down. Stability post the shutdown is not — did not come in as quickly as we thought it would. Now we are seeing better stability at the blast furnace.
Rakesh Roy
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Dheeraj from Ashika. Please go ahead.
Dheeraj Thakur
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking up my question. So the first question is on — could you share any update on the greenfield project?
Madhav Kejriwal
Sir, we are still — as I mentioned at this point, I can’t share too much information because it’s not been — we are not at that stage yet. Things are going on as per plan though. We are getting closer and closer to finalizing the end result and then disclosing it.
Dheeraj Thakur
Okay, no problem. And how are we planning to fund this project?
Madhav Kejriwal
It will largely be through internal accrual and if required there might be a minor leveraging. But we don’t see our overall leverage going up as we’ll be repaying loans as well.
Dheeraj Thakur
Got it. Okay. Okay. And one last question, sir. How do you see the opportunities from river Interlink as there are some three to five river interlinks were identified? And how do you see the orders coming in from this?
Madhav Kejriwal
So from the orders coming in perspective, we are at a bit more of a nascent stage than that level of maturity at the — of the river linking. Ken-Betwa Is one which is progressing with good speed. So river linking is interestingly a part of irrigation is going to end up being a part of Jal Jeevan as well because that will give sustainable source of raw water supply. So I am relatively excited about it to tell you the truth, not only from the perspective of demand to our — for our pipes, but also as a showcase of infrastructure progress of the country.
Dheeraj Thakur
Got it, sir.
Madhav Kejriwal
So very, very hopeful that we implement exactly as we are planning. I’m glad that the government has taken this initiative up this time with more aggression than it had last time as well.
Dheeraj Thakur
Got it, sir. So can we can we expect in FY26 more-and-more incremental order book to be generated from river interlinks or anything new? Can we expect this?
Madhav Kejriwal
It seems so, yes, it seems so.
Dheeraj Thakur
Got it, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rajesh Agarwal from Moneyore. Please go ahead.
Rajesh Agarwal
Sir, my question is on the shutdown for — is this the shutdown over or will take more shutdown in the next half — second-half?
Madhav Kejriwal
Well, sir, as I was mentioning, the stability of the SW blast furnace was not as quickly as we thought and it still not reached the exact level.
Rajesh Agarwal
Okay.
Madhav Kejriwal
So we will do whatever is required to bring it to the point that we need to for it to be running optimally. And it’s difficult to say whether we will need another shutdown for that or we can manage operationally. So if anything comes up as we did last time, we will be communicating to every family.
Rajesh Agarwal
Sir, can you quantify how much production was lost or how much of sales or what EBITDA was lost because of the shutdown?
Madhav Kejriwal
You can — approximately 12,000 tons.
Rajesh Agarwal
12,000 tons. Okay. And sir, do you feel this Jal Jeevan mission outlook little bit slow because of the elections or it will improve from here?
Madhav Kejriwal
It’s because of the election, the new government just wants to kind of recalibrate what has happened so far since it was the — it was appointed — it was an exercise which was supposed to end. The first phase of it was supposed to end with the term. So now they’re just kind of collating everything, seeing what the progress is like and then they will spend going forward depending on the results of that. Even as per the dashboard, if you see that we are still at around 78%, 79% and 20% is required as per the dashboard. We feel that more will be required also since some work within the 78% is pending, plus new households also getting added up.
Rajesh Agarwal
Are there possibilities of — because of the efficiency or scale and the margins improving further from here, apart from the realization?
Madhav Kejriwal
I think going by a stable margin at this level would be a better way to look at it.
Rajesh Agarwal
Okay. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Madhav Kejriwal
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Muskan from B&K Group. Please go ahead.
Muskan Rastogi
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my question is, you have guided 8.5 lakh tons for the full-year. And in the first-half you have done 3.69 ton of volume. So in 3Q, we can produce maximum 2 lakh tons. So balance is 2.8 lakh percentile. Can we do it in 4Q alone?
Madhav Kejriwal
So due to the slower pace of stabilization of the blast furnace, we are feeling that there might be a reduction in the total outlook. There’s also been a minor setback in terms of the equipment supply coming in from China by a month, not longer. So these two factors, I think we were talking about a range of 8% to 8.5%, we were hopeful to hit the upper end of that spectrum. I think we might be at the lower range of that number.
Muskan Rastogi
Yeah. Okay, sir. Sir, in first-quarter you mentioned that the contribution in the fitting is currently 4% and we aim to reach around 5% to 10% in two years. So for this, are we planning to do any capacity expansion for the fitting?
Madhav Kejriwal
So this is all a part of what will come in the greenfield project. Exact tonnages are not clear, but definitely it’s something that is being considered.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay, okay, sir. Sir, one last question. Like out of INR700 crores, we have spent INR440 crores for the capex, right? So what would be the capex for this year and for the next year sir?
Ashutosh Agarwal
We are able to spend around INR250 crores for completing the running projects and the project is on schedule.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay, and for the next year sir?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Come again?
Muskan Rastogi
So for next year, the balance will be for the next year?
Ashutosh Agarwal
This INR260 crores will be required for completing the entire balance project and second-half would be somewhere around INR150 crores INR160 crores. Balance INR100 crores will be in subsequent financial year.
Muskan Rastogi
Alright, sir. Thank you so much.
Ashutosh Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of line of Ankit Puri, an Investor. Please go ahead.
Ankit Puri
Hi, good evening. Congrats on the stable set of numbers. I’ve got two questions. Can you please share the company’s vision with regards to the acquisition of Singardo International? What exactly does the company plan to achieve with this acquisition?
And the second question is, any updates on the case with regards to the coal block settlement? Thanks.
Madhav Kejriwal
Okay. So in regard to the Singardo acquisition, the thought behind that was that Singardo was a company which was — the authorized distributor for Electrosteel pipes and fittings in the Southeast market. We wanted to further aggressively expand into that area. We look at markets like Vietnam, etc., as good opportunity as we expand our total production. And also in regard to using the traded products of — other traded products of Singardo, we are hopeful we will be able to capitalize on that a little more as well. We are hopeful that we will be able to use the network of Singardo for other products which we don’t manufacture to increase trade within the water industry.
In regard to the dates for the coal block, what is the revised date that has come out now? It is sometime in November. I’m very sorry, I don’t remember the exact date, but it’s in the Delhi High Court right now the case and that unfortunately during the last hearing the judge was not available. So it’s been — the matter has been now pushed to a date in November.
Ankit Puri
All right. So I think we hope to get some updates hopefully in the next con-call, I guess. And with regards to the first question, again, so basically when do we start to see addition from Singardo acquisition coming up in the numbers in subsequent quarters or — and what kind of numbers are we looking on that? Any idea on that?
Madhav Kejriwal
Numbers in terms of the — in terms of the turn — the turnover and the margins over there?
Ankit Puri
That’s correct.
Madhav Kejriwal
In terms of the turnover and margins being worked out from the traded products, we are not — we’ve not finalized on specific numbers yet. We do see a lot of opportunity over there. So it will be a little difficult for me to answer that question. We’ve — we are seeing that our total tonnages in the Southeast Southeast Asian market might improve by 5% to 7%.
Ankit Puri
All right. Thanks. Thanks much for that. Have a good day. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah, namaskar sir, and thank you for this opportunity. Sir, just continuing the discussion on our Singardo acquisition. Sir, if you could provide us some more details on the financials of the company for the last three years, what was the average turnover and the profitability? And how did we valued it at, say, these INR49 crore when we came to the price, if you could dwell a bit more on the same?
Gaurav Somani
Saket ji, revenue of Singardo, it has been around SGD13 million — SGD13 million for ’23, ’24 and same around for ’22, ’23 as well. And EBITDA margins has been around between 10% to 13%. As far as our cost of acquisition is about — it’s based on the book-value of Singardo.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. Sir, when you were mentioning about stable EBITDA margin, we had I think closer to 18% for quarter one and lower to — lower of 16% for quarter two. So what should be the EBITDA margin range for H2 now?
Madhav Kejriwal
I think as you rightfully mentioned, sir, it will be the 16% to 18% range is what we are looking at. In fact, I will be looking at that range for a mid-term perspective.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. And for the tonnage part, sir, you outlined that we will be doing closer to 8 lakh and we did 3.69 for first-half. So something around 4 to 4.3 is what can be envisaged for H2?
Madhav Kejriwal
Yes, please.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. Sir, as we have gone through this shutdown, have we incurred any one-off expenses for this quarter? And sir, what was the period for which we shutdown happened, in which month?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Shutdown happens sometimes in the month of August and we have incurred around INR13 crores, INR14 crores of freeze, and that is for the long-term benefit and the shutdown was seven days plus few hours.
Saket Kapoor
And sir as Madhav ji was mentioning that [Foreign Speech] blast furnaces. So we will be spending more for this quarter also on top of the [Foreign Speech]
Madhav Kejriwal
Yeah, we — actually we are going to decide in maybe another 10 days to 15 days time what to do to bring it to a optimal production level. So it may also involve another shutdown. There is a possibility, but nevertheless it will not be very cost intensive.
Saket Kapoor
Last point, sir. it will not be in cost…
Madhav Kejriwal
It will not be very cost intensive.
Saket Kapoor
Correct.
Madhav Kejriwal
It will not be very capital intense, please.
Saket Kapoor
Yes, yes, sir. Sir, and our capacity for year ending FY24, ’25 would be 9 lakh tons or 8 lakh tons sir. In the presentation, it was mentioned 9 lakh tons for the next year?
Madhav Kejriwal
So we are still hopeful for that. So that number still holds for FY 26, you said, right?
Saket Kapoor
FY25, it is [Indecipherable]
Madhav Kejriwal
No, so post the capital expenditure that we will have for the expansion that was planned in the mid of this quarter, which has been shifted to the end of this quarter, we — our installed capacity will become 9 lakh tons, which we will see us manufacturing for FY’26. Our rated capacity will become such.
Saket Kapoor
Right, sir, I’ll join the queue. And it was mentioned that the long-term borrowing — we have repaid all our long-term borrowings. I’ve missed the commentary on that same sir.
Ashutosh Agarwal
As on 30th September it is around INR450 crores of long-term borrowing in our books and we are sitting on that much of cash-in our system.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. And do we have any current — any maturity? What should we end this year, sir in terms of the net-debt level, sir, absolute number?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Net-debt level including working capital?
Saket Kapoor
Yes sir.
Ashutosh Agarwal
It will be around INR1,300 crores, including working capital.
Saket Kapoor
Thank you. And sir, with this ratings being getting up, we have been upgraded [Foreign Speech] blended cost of funds?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Included term-loan and working capital, both or…
Saket Kapoor
[Foreign Speech]
Ashutosh Agarwal
Term loan around 8% and working capitals of 7.5% approximately. It is very, very fluctuating nowadays.
Saket Kapoor
Right. Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best to the team and Shub Diwali to everybody.
Madhav Kejriwal
Thank you very much, Saket JI. Very same to you.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Radha from B&K Securities. Please go-ahead.
Radha Agarwalla
Sir, thank you for the opportunity again. Sir, just wanted to know this shutdown expense of INR14 crores you mentioned that has already been accounted for in this quarter?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Yeah.
Radha Agarwalla
Okay. The second question was on the Ken-Betwa project that you spoke about and you said that now the government thrust on the river linking projects has increased. So I think the project cost is around INR54,000 crores. So in this — there would be other requirement of pipes as well. So how much of this INR54,000 crores could — how much of this could create DI demand?
Madhav Kejriwal
Iit’s a little too early to be able to answer that question. They have not finalized on their DPRs words and other aspects which are required to be able to ask for me to answer that question.
Radha Agarwalla
Sir normally, if you can…
Madhav Kejriwal
Please, please go ahead.
Radha Agarwalla
If we take per kilometer, what would be the metric ton of DI type requirement?
Madhav Kejriwal
As you would know that in a pipeline it’s not only ductile iron that is used, we use steel, ductile iron and plastics. So it really depends this — the entire project is across two states and will have multiple distributaries. Now depending on the requirement and the functioning of each distributary, the demand outlay for ductile iron separately and plastic and steel will come out. It’s a bit — it’s a bit nascent for me to be commenting on what the exact demand outlay from this project will be.
Radha Agarwalla
Sir, historically, there has been quite some delays in these projects. So now is it a fair understanding that across not only in Ken-Betwa, but across other projects also that have been announced, there would be or we can expect some higher trust in these projects maybe in the ensuing quarters or from FY’26?
Madhav Kejriwal
I am relatively certain that at least river linking projects which are interstate or interested between two states which have similar gov — which are the same government that will seem see good thrust.
Radha Agarwalla
All right, thanks and all the best. Happy Diwali to you.
Madhav Kejriwal
Thank you, same to you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. We have the next question from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Sir on the depreciation part, we find depreciation line-item being at INR36 crores, which is also up around 20% year-on-year. So what have we — what have we capitalized in terms of value terms and also in terms of assets for the first-half — for this quarter in particular for the first-half? And also, sir, we were doing some minor capex with — in terms — with terms of fittings and some gaskets, I am forgetting the right term, which we used to outsource earlier. So what is the update on the same?
Sunil Katial
The depreciation change is due to of some projects in Kalahasthi which the project is on the pipeline, some of the projects completed and we have capitalized and we are getting the benefit out of that. Second question about the — this gasket, we are setting up a plant in Punganur near Kalahasthi maybe around 125 kilometers away from Kalahasthi, and we will be using mostly the output for our captive purpose. Anything surplus will be sold in the market.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. And on the fittings front, sir, the any kind of capex or debottlenecking exercise we are doing?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Not exactly now at the moment.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. Sir, historically, correct me as Ashutosh ji — whenever we have done this maintenance work for the Southern unit, we have faced challenges. If I correctly remember in 2018, ’19 also we faced similar type of issues with the blast furnace. So where is the — where-is this disconnect that our technical teams or people in the Southern unit or because of — what are the key reasons why we do face these issues, correct me if my memory is not serving me.
Sunil Katial
No, no, you are absolutely right. Earlier also we had an issue. And see, first of all the problem in South plant has been the raw material quality is varying very, very extensively. And particularly the impurities in the iron-ore, namely the silica and alumina, these components are going very high, which are creating a change in the behavior of the, I mean blast furnace flows. So we did talk to the designers, we did talk to the suppliers and we also got some experts. But in fact, with all that, I mean we could get that — it has lot of linkage with the raw materials. Now we are trying to actually improve our charge mixes accordingly and do some small corrections in the blast furnace so that these type of problems can be checked for long.
Saket Kapoor
Right sir. And sir, as there is some carbon footprint issue also with this type of our manufacturing units, so our investment in the renewable segment and any other that we have outlined going ahead that may reduce or also our carbon footprint?
Sunil Katial
So in fact, in our greenfield project, we are taking it in a big way. And in our existing operations also, we are taking up projects of taking up green power, plus we are now interacting to have a green power tie up.
Saket Kapoor
Yes, sir, I was coming to that.
Sunil Katial
Yeah. So these are the three, four directions in which we are working out.
Saket Kapoor
Last point I missed, sir, you mentioned we are looking for a tie-up?
Sunil Katial
Yeah.
Saket Kapoor
Okay we will be buying the scheme that — open source scheme that the government has envisaged?
Sunil Katial
Yeah.
Saket Kapoor
Okay. And lastly sir, when we look the cash flow part there are that this direct taxes paid line item. So that is inclusive of the TDS also that has been paid on our account when it — how to get this number correct of INR130 crore has been paid as direct taxes for the first-half?
Ashutosh Agarwal
Yeah, this is inclusive of TDS deducted by us.
Saket Kapoor
Okay, sir. Right, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for all the answers and all the best again sir to the team. I hope for improved — yeah, hope for improved set of numbers sir for H2.
Madhav Kejriwal
Thank you.
Ashutosh Agarwal
Thank you for your good wishes.
Operator
Thank you. That was the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Madhav Kejriwal
Thank you, everybody, for taking out your valuable time and to listening to us patiently. I would like to reinstate that the company continues to grow along with maintaining its balance sheet strength and further is well positioned to benefit from the growing water infrastructure spending globally. I would also like to wish everybody a very, very Happy Diwali once again. And in case of any query, please feel free to connect with EYR IR consultants. Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]