India Cements Ltd (NSE: INDIACEM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 24, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
Analysts:
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
Pulkit Patni — Analyst
Jashandeep Singh Chadha — Analyst
Rahul Gupta — Analyst
Pinakin Parekh — Analyst
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Ashish Jain — Analyst
Indrajit Agarwal — Analyst
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Siddharth Mehrotra — Analyst
Harsh Mittal — Analyst
Andrey Purushottam — Analyst
Girija Ray — Analyst
Navin Sahadeo — Analyst
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the UltraTech Cement Limited Q3FY26 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward looking statements about the company which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. 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 100 on your Touchstone phone.
Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Atul Dagga, business head and CFO of UltraTech Cement Ltd. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you so much. Good evening. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Once again a very warm welcome to yet another call on a Saturday evening for Alter tech for the third quarter results of 26. Before I begin, let me assure you we will not make this as a habit of spoiling your Saturdays. But this Saturday is worth spending time. Let me get onto the main core topic for discussion which I have in mind today. Demand. That is the most important aspect for our business. Everything else becomes secondary and falls in line. And as we see the progress, government’s focus on infrastructure is translating into a robust pipeline of new projects nationwide with several marquee investments announced across every region translating into solid demand.
You must have all read about it in the media at different points in time, but let me put a perspective together in one place region by region. In the north, Punjab is taking extensive road development initiatives spending about 16,000 crores in its markets. New corridors have been announced in Delhi Metro for about 12,000 crores. Uttar Pradesh is developing 1575 km metro network across major cities. Of course that goes till 2047. It’s a long horizon multi city infrastructure pipeline indicating sustained demand and significant opportunity for cement highway projects. Continued investment in road connectivity and logistics corridor across the state like the four lane green field highway project between a place called Bara Banki and Mustafabad.
Let’s go to West India. Maharashtra is seeing a significant pipeline of large transport and mobility projects signaling strong multi year demand for cement and construction materials. Mega projects like the Uttan Virar sea link about 58,000 crores. Mumbai Metro expansions. Pune Metro multiple lines and road concretization in Mumbai. Central clearance of Pune Chhattupati Sambadi Nagar expressway highway spanning 245 km. The particular focus on improving connectivity for rural communities nearly 350 km of state highways, 2,577 km of rural road, some rehabilitation initiatives. All of these are going to boost urban cement demand. Expressways and ring roads Nashik, Vadavan, Bandara, Gadchiroli etc add to further boost for demand.
Gujarat’s nine high speed corridors covering about 800 km are fast tracking connectivity and will add further. Cabinet has approved two major highway projects worth 20,000 crore plus Nashik, Solarpur and one more signaling continued momentum in India’s integrated high speed connectivity push under the PM Gadi Shakti Stepping down into South India, Bangalore is undergoing a major mobility transformation with the metro network set to expand from 96 km to 175 km by the end of December 27. Karnataka government has unveiled an urban infrastructure program which will have longest 40 kilometer twin tunnel, a 41 kilometer double decker metro, 110 kilometer elevated corridors.
Center has approved 10,000 crore expansion of four key highways measuring about 273 kilometers which will improve connectivity across Telangana. New Mangalore Port has announced capacity expansion to handle 100 million tons by 2047. We can’t forget the Eastern Corridor. We West Bengal has its own challenges but is planning largest road initiatives. About 8,487 crore per gram. 15,000 km of rural roads, 5,019 km of urban roads. All this just goes to say that India is developing very fast. Bihar is rolling out three major Ganga road projects worth 70,000 crores. Dighash Airport Bheeta, Kolivar 35 km Mungay 42 Sultan Ganj Bhagalpur 41 so I’m not advocating or speaking on behalf of NHAI but this is what the story is surfacing.
Chhattisgarh Chhattis center has approved 774 km roads covering 2000 km under the PMGSY 4. The state has already completed 8753. Roads and bridges are also under the same phase. Major rail expansion across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat MP reflect the scale and diversity of investment underway. To give you a perspective, roads and highways require approximately 350 to 900 km. 900 tons per km with thousands of kilometers under construction or planned across all regions. This is going to be huge. Elevated metro required 11,000 metric tons per km. Underground metro requires anywhere between 17,000 to 19,000 metric tons per km.
Railways 90 to 100 metric tons of cement ports and airports go up to 50 kgs per square feet. Housing if I were to look at low income housing programs, affordable housing and Rural connectivity projects sustain steady demand. With a strong project pipeline, demand for cement will remain continuous and as strong as possible. Infrastructure is seeing the next big wave of growth. What does that imply? More jobs, more demand for housing and social infrastructure that is Schools, hospital, commercial complexes, office, et al. We are present across the country just to tell you about our RMC network.
RMC network is about 163 cities which we are already covering and rapidly expanding. Ultratech is so sweetly positioned to meet the demand like nobody else. We are witnessing growth, unprecedented growth in new areas, new avenue like data centers, gcc, renewable energy projects, you name it. And things are happening. As somebody just said, India has arrived. It’s the market. With a population of over 1.4 billion people, youngest working class and an opportunity across the land bank for development. At Ultratech we are fully geared up to capture these opportunities. Our approach remains rooted in disciplined execution, advancing our next phase of capacity expansion while ensuring every investment is backed by rigorous cost control and operational efficiency.
In our fourth phase of expansion, large part of orders have already been placed, work has already commenced and we will be on time. Importantly, we are funding all our growth through internal accruals, maintaining a prudent balance sheet and a healthy leverage profile. This combined with our Pan India Network and deepening retail footprint positions us to capture incremental demand at a very rapid pace by safeguarding our margins. You would have seen our average position this quarter end On a consolidated basis. We are at 1.08x net debt EBITDA I believe and I’m very confident that we reach the mark of 1x and be in 0.8.9x net debt EBITDA by the end of this fiscal year.
Integration of recent acquisitions is progressing very well with rapid brand transition. Kisoram and India Cements are ahead of the initial planned initial plans with brand conversion at Kisoram having reached 69% in December 25 and today if we speak, it must have crossed further. India Cements has already crossed 58% at the end of December 25th. For both these assets we have begun our cost improvement CAPEX program which will result in benefits and will start reflecting in the P and L of January March 27. At Kesoram we have already spent 263 crores, committed about out of the commitment of about 382 crores.
At India Cements we have committed already 601 crores and spent 144 crores on the program. Talking about CapEx, the other initiative, Cable and wire, is progressing as per plan about 500 crores worth of orders have already been placed. We have spent 197 crores. 30% of the team planned team is already on board. Civil work has started and we are on schedule to see the launch of our product in the October December 26 quarter. As was committed earlier talking about our efficiency improvement program, we continue to deliver solid and measurable results. In fact now I am very confident that we should be doing better than what we had committed.
We shall give an exact quantification in financial impact with our annual results for the year. However, you would have noticed the lead distance has dropped to 363km. The clinker conversion factor is down at is improved to 1.49. The most important factor I believe for us is to have a strong demand pipeline. And you will notice that January March quarter, God willing we will operate at more than 90% of our existing installed capacity clearly demonstrating growth in the trade markets as well as non trade markets. If the demand is good, everything else falls in line. Ultimately it is about the bottom line.
Where it comes from doesn’t really matter. Quite often everybody is focused on cement prices which had remained subdued post GST change. September. Last week of September, October, November saw some softening prices. But with growing demand we are witnessing improvement in prices in all segments across the country. There have been cost increases in the cost of pet coke and coal. New labor code will have its own impact, Rupee depreciation. All these will have an impact on the cement industry. And obviously there is reason to pass on these cost escalation into prices. We are very confident of a very bright future for the next quarter and after that quarter and after that and after that.
That doesn’t mean I’m restricting myself to fiscal 27, but the story is far longer. As India embarks on the next decade of development, Ulceratec is proud to play a pivotal role in building the nation’s future. We remain confident that our strategic initiatives in building capacities across the country in critical market locations coupled with sector’s positive outlook, we will continue to deliver growth faster than the industry and we welcome all of you to participate in our journey. Don’t miss the bus. Thank you and over to you for questions.
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 the Touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants, you are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment While the question to send. The first question is from the line of Amit Kumar Murarka from Access Capital. Please go ahead.
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
Yeah. Hi, good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations Mr. Daga. Firstly for a great result. I don’t think anyone expected both volume and a margin beat actually which is quite, quite heartening to see just on on pricing. Wanted to get a sense from you like there is a lot of industry capacity addition that is going to come through this year. What do you think industries stance will be in this kind of a high expansion scenario?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
The reason I talked about all the demand, Demand footprint and demand new initiatives. I think cement will easily get absorbed and if the demand remains strong we will not see any problem in prices.
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
Okay, okay, understood. And just also on India cement like in Q3 I see that the EBITDA per ton was about 400. You had earlier guided for a thousand rupee exit in Q4 27. So most of this improvement will be through cost or will there also be some pricing required?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Amit, so it was Q4 27, not 26. So what will happen is the brand conversion which has already taken place. Actually had the brand conversion not taken place the performance would have been not where it is today. Balance almost 40 or 45% of brand conversion has to be completed and prices are going up in the southern market as well. Further, as I called out the capex program has begun for efficiency improvement. We will have. So we have to have all the players playing the match a positive manner. Prices, efficiency improvement and capacity utilization. All of them will deliver as planned.
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
And lastly just if you could give the CP ratio for the quarter.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Sorry, what?
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
The seven clinker ratio, what was it?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
1.49. Clinical cement ratio 1.49 this quarter 1.49.
Amit Kumar Murarka — Analyst
Okay, that’s all for me, thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Pulkit from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Pulkit Patni — Analyst
Sir, thank you for taking my questions and I echo Amit’s views that these are good numbers. And on a lighter note, your opening remarks sounded a lot like the budget speech. But sir, I don’t see the capacity addition plan by Plan guidance for Q4 and for the next two years. Just the numbers around how much capacity would be added in Q4, how much in FY27 and FY28 that will be helpful.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So we should have approximately 8 to 9 million tons more coming in this quarter and the balance I think 1612 like 12 million tons in fiscal 27 and then balance remaining will be in 28.
Pulkit Patni — Analyst
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
And, and I’m very much pulkit. I’m very well entrenched in the private sector. No, not emulating anybody. All right, sure.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Jashanteep Singh Chadha from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Jashandeep Singh Chadha — Analyst
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on a great set of numbers, sir. And I must start by saying that the information and detail that you gave on the project is much better than most of the department who are actually working on that, those projects. So my first question is you have covered most of the demand aspect and in a lot, you know, in a lot of detail. Just wanted to shift the focus on rural demand. So how was rural, how is rural demand recovered in third quarter? How are you seeing in the fourth quarter? And what are your expectations for the year ahead? And just related to that, any expectation from the budget for the Siemens sector or anything?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Okay, the last question first. I don’t want any. I won’t comment on that. That’s the easiest answer. Rural demand. I think if you simple way to look at rural demand is look at our trade ratios. If our trade ratios remain strong, rural demand is equally buoyant. We are not witnessing any depression in rural demand. Q4 also will be solid is what my expectation is.
Jashandeep Singh Chadha — Analyst
Understood, sir. Thank you so much for this. And sir, on the cost saving front, we have, you know, given a target of 300 to 350 rupees per turn over, you know, next couple of years. How, how is it? I understand it’s very difficult to, you know, tell the details quarter by quarter. But if you can give it a sense, you know, how much of this has been realized and how much of that will be coming in the coming quarters. And also apart from the freight and fuel and the measures that you have.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
All I forget your questions. Wait, let me address this question. So you are asking two things in the same question. First you are saying it is difficult to quantify and then you are saying quantify, so please have mercy. So you will see. No, it’s very difficult and it is not logical, Jashandeep, because July, September quarter will be weak, so costs can go up. January, March will show extraordinarily high deliveries. So it is best to see the results on an annual basis. Now, to give you directions on how things are moving. And we had given our program with item details and with the targets.
I recall we had mentioned where the base of 400 kilometers of lead, a 25 kilometer lead reduction which would have taken us to 375 kilometers. We have already reached 363 kilometers. So it’s not only the lead distance which helps, there is a lot of other initiatives which the team is taking which helps to take efficiency improvement. Similarly, we had taken a target of clinical conversion factor of 1.54. We are moving on that direction. In 1.54 we have reached 1.59. 1.54 we have reached 1 point 49. So you can see you can do your own math but it will be best that we do this math at the end of the year.
All I can say is we are moving and in line with the target set. Last year, full year we had delivered about on those quantified measurable targets we had delivered 86 rupees per ton. My guess is we should be crossing a 100 rupee mark on those efficiency improvement programs in this financial year. Jama, you want to add?
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think atule is already explained because it’s not item wisely. We have moved from clinker conversion from 1.45 to 1.49 and we are still away from our target. Actually if you talk about the renewal energy, our renewal energy has gone to almost 41% kind of thing and it is further likely to go to 60% going forward equity.
So I can say that fundamentally we are by and large on track because quarter to quarter reaction, 1/4. Because of the cyclical nature of the industry we may be up and down but year as a whole I think we are very much on the right track. Thanks.
Jashandeep Singh Chadha — Analyst
Thank you sir. Just one last. If I can squeeze in any impact of increasing input cost you are seeing in fourth quarter.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
You tell me where the dollar will be in fourth quarter. That is one. So it’s very difficult. But I think we are managing our middle line very well. You would have seen our fuel costs have remained at 1.8 per kilo calories in this quarter. I don’t expect the cost to go up. Raw material costs are already matured. These are the two big cost items. Maintenance cost which spikes typically in July. September will be normal maintenance cost in January, March quarter.
Jashandeep Singh Chadha — Analyst
Understood sir. Thank you so much. I’ll join back with you.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rahul Gupta from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Rahul Gupta — Analyst
Thank you again. Sorry to echo again a very good set of numbers. You talked about cost inflation and improved demand will support cement prices from here on. Now it looks like uniform demand is coming back which should drive low pricing non trade segment higher. Does that mean that even if cement prices move up, realization may remain under pressure over the next year or so. Any color on this will be very helpful.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So firstly Rahul, I like the echo that you talked about. Always good to hear good performance from as many people coming to your question. Even if infra demand is going non trade prices will also harden. So I don’t see any reason why there should be any problem. There have been. In fact if you go back two or three quarters the gap between non trade and trade prices had narrowed dramatically. Rahul, are you there? Hello?
Rahul Gupta — Analyst
Yeah. Yeah. No, this is very helpful. Thank you so much. I don’t have any other questions. Thank you so much.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Pinakim Parekh from hsbc. Please go ahead.
Pinakin Parekh — Analyst
Yeah. Thank you very much sir. Again, many congratulations. Very good number. We understand that demand and pricing both have improved in January. But to go back to what happened in the December quarter, now we understand that in the last two years there have been multiple acquisitions done in southern India and other industry players of southern India pricing seeing more stability with upward bias. But somehow that is not taking place. What in your view needs to change in industry dynamics in south for pricing to be more stable with upward buyers?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
More demand. I think demand is opening up and I have. I stand by my statement. South will be new North. That doesn’t mean north is going away anywhere. North is stronger and stronger. South is witnessing large institutional demand. The Amravati city project which is going at its breakneck pace. The IT complexes, complexes which are coming up, data centers which are coming up, which are so cementitious in nature, highways, etc. That we have talked about. And the young population in these IT hubs will demand more housing and more social infrastructure. So I’m not talking about. I’m not talking about 1/4 Pinakin.
But I am as we as strategic players are looking at a long term stability and reliability of the sector.
Pinakin Parekh — Analyst
Got it sir. So just to follow up in your view and given what the position Ultratech is at, if finally the institutional demand as you highlighted starts coming up in a big way in Southern India, can 2026 see a break in terms of south India’s historically volatile cement pricing or do you see this is something evolving more over the next two, three years.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I think 26 will be a fabulous year.
Pinakin Parekh — Analyst
Got it. Got it. Thank you very much sir.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thanks Gunagin.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investech. Please go ahead sir.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Thanks for the Opportunity. Good numbers. Congratulations, sir. Three questions. One is would you be able to spell out industry demand growth for Q3 and 9? That’s the first one.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Don’t hold me to it. But we would expect anywhere between 9 to 10% all India demand.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
So would this be for Q3?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I was talking about Q3. Q3.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Yeah. Answer for nine months.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Oh, nine months. Math has to be done. Yeah. Two and a half plus five. So the year as a whole must be about 7.5 kind of thing. Six and a half to 7%. Nine months.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Sure. Sir, my second question is basically if you could provide some detail around sourcing of fly ash and slack. What are the sort of nature of contracts that we have on tenure and how is the pricing? It’s trending.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So you know one is there’s enough new supply coming up. Power plant capacities are going up, steel plants are coming up. And we have a mix of long term, short term domestic and import supply. Import sourcing fully secured.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Sir. So putting this demand aside, if we had to improve our clinker factor, is there any limiting factor?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
No, no. None whatsoever.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Okay. And sir, when you say imports it means imports for both flash as well as slack. No flag, only slack. Okay, that’s a third. So third question on India Cement. Anything on non core asset sale? That’s one. And any, any thoughts on merger? Basically simplifying the structure. Any timelines around that? That would be useful. Thank you.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Non code. There are land parcels. Essentially we just sold off the coal mining company in Indonesia. The monies have been realized and that’s how you see the debts remaining under control. There are a couple of big land parcels which we are discussing with potential buyers. I would expect further generation of up to 500 crores minimum which we should be able to get. We are now getting into the discussion, not discussion, exploring the legal options. In terms of. There’s an ED case which is attached to the company. Two assets of the company are also attached to the property in Hyderabad and some financial securities which are attached.
We are seeking legal opinion what will be the implications of that case and then only we’ll take a decision further.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Sure. So just a follow up over here. I think just correct me if I’m wrong. For India Cement you had indicated 144 crores spent out of 601 crores. Are those numbers right?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Correct.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Okay. And sir, when we say non core asset sales incrementally it’s 500. And what has been realized so far?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Close to 200 or 250 crores. Close to 200, 250 crores. I’ll give you exact number. That’s very easy number. But 200 or 250 crores that look at right from beginning. Ankit. Yeah, if I can’t give it on the call, I will. You can reach out to Ankit later.
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Yeah, this is helpful. Thank you so much. All the very best. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Satya Deep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Hi. Thank you. Just one clarification question on the capex. Mr. Daga. You mentioned I think 12 million ton next year in balance in 28. Just wanted to clarify the phase 22 million ton that you’ve announced. All of that is likely to get commissioned in S528. Given you already placed orders?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Yes, please.
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Okay. Nothing spilled as of now. You’re not expecting anything to spill over into FY29?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
No, 29 is too far.
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Okay.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I would look at quad at best a delay by a quarter. You know, some project will get preponed and some project could push over to the next quarter at best.
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Okay, so in, maybe in the next one. Is it possible to like historically used to have this quarterly or projection for when you expect capacities to commission for the next one that you have since you already have. And on the power cost I see your captive power cost has been declining each quarter. Just what is driving that?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
That is the average cost of power. So power which has gone from 7.1 to 6.5. No fuel efficiency is the only reason which I could think of nothing more. Yeah, and maybe minor, maybe some the coal mix, fuel efficiency essentially nothing specific.
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Okay, thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Ashish Jain — Analyst
Hi sir. Good evening sir. My first question is, you know like all the demand.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
My first question to you Ashish, how are my numbers?
Ashish Jain — Analyst
Numbers are fantastic sir. A lot of people have spoken about it. So. The numbers are fantastic. So you know, given most of the drivers you spoke about are all intra led demand. Right. And so can we see a change in mix, you know moving from PPC to opc? You think that will happen in the next three, four years in the industry?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
In fact what we could see is infra demand converting to non opc. Also there’s a lot strong advocacy happening and there is a gradual conversion. You will know that most of the institutional players do the conversion or mixing at the project site. So instead of they doing it, some of them have started adopting and accepting the product from the cement manufacturer RMC. It’s about 3% of our total volumes of cement and growing rapidly where it is getting consumed. Large portion goes to institutional markets. Bulk cement is going up significantly which will, you know, help the interest.
Institutional markets gives us better margins. Price remaining the same, margins improve. So that’s very important.
Ashish Jain — Analyst
Sorry, but you know, in fact that was the context of my question that you know, if on site lending is going up, can it mean that.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
No, no, it’s going down.
Ashish Jain — Analyst
Oh, okay. Okay.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Because of rmc, that is what I talked about. Advocacy. And there is a conversion happening slowly. It’s happening.
Ashish Jain — Analyst
All right. Okay.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Hello, are you there? I think he lost the connection. Take the next person please.
operator
We have the next question from the line of Indrajit Agarwal from clsa. Please go ahead.
Indrajit Agarwal — Analyst
Hi. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. Sir. Sir, first can you highlight what is the spot petcoke price versus the booking levels in Sriqi?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Around 118. 118. 119. Yeah. Ranging in the trend.
Indrajit Agarwal — Analyst
Sure, this is helpful. And second in 3Q versus let’s say 3% kind of price decline sequentially, how would you split it between trade and non trade? Was non trade drop much sharper?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Non trade was sharper.
Indrajit Agarwal — Analyst
Thank you. That’s ultimate.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Rashi from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Thank you. Just continue on the pricing question. Where are we on pricing versus 3Q? At the moment.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I think we are roughly 3 to 4 rupees on a naked cement realization basis up. If naked cement realization is up 3 to 4 rupees, prices are rough. Somewhere around 6 to 8 rupees for that. Are you there?
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Yeah. What I’m trying to get to is that you know, you also made a comment of course on demand. But on that, you know we will be able to pass on the higher cost impact in the form of better pricing.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So what is happening is I’m sold out. What do I do? So obviously if I’m in a sold out position, I have to service my highest paying customer.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Understood. Fair enough. Okay, got that, that one. Then just on again on the capacity, is it possible to just for India cement capacity, what would be the number by the end of the 26, 27 and 28.8?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
1 sec, 1 sec. 17.5 or 16.8? 17.5.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
So yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean Indian cement.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I meant your Indian capacity, not India.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Which year? 234 point something. 235 by 28. 235 by fiscal 28.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Fiscal 26 should. And 27, if you have the number.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
26 should be 198, 199 and then 10 or sorry, 12 more million tons. 27.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Yeah. We missed that chart. We circulate that chart separately. Got it. And just on Kefaram in the second quarter, you had indicated the EBITDA per ton was 755. What is that number in this quarter?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Would be around 600 bucks this quarter. 600 bucks.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
And the full rebranding of still maintaining June 26th.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Okay, so we should be doing it in time. Yes. Because you know we have already crossed a 70% mark for Kesoram as we speak. And India Cements also we have crossed 55 or thereabouts. Don’t remember the exact number, but we are. Every day is a new high.
Raashi Chopra — Analyst
Got it. Okay. Thank you.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thanks Rashi.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Sidharth Mahtra from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Siddharth Mehrotra — Analyst
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for a great set of numbers. So just wanted to understand, given the strong volume growth we visited this quarter, what is your approximation of Ultratech’s market share going for this quarter? And sort of where do you sort. Of aspire to be, say two to three years down the line?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I wouldn’t know a number on market share. But if you see that we have been growing or our capacity utilization has been higher than the industry, then obviously there is a gain in market share. Also there is no published data available to capture that number realistically. And going forward I expect to see the same trend. As for aspiration, there’s no aspiration. I think we are looking at how India is growing, where the growth opportunity is and we will keep growing with India’s growth story. Got it, sir.
Siddharth Mehrotra — Analyst
And just coming back to consolidation, do you think there are additional targets which you would want to sort of look at just from a consolidating point of view so that you have better control on perhaps the industry dynamics as well. Are there any potential opportunities still under.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Consideration over the next year? 18 months. It’s highly opportunistic. We would love to examine opportunities if they come to the table.
Siddharth Mehrotra — Analyst
Okay. But nothing is in progress, obviously. Okay, sir, that’s it. Thanks. Thanks for your time.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Harsh Metal from MK Global Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Harsh Mittal — Analyst
My first question is that what has been the clinical capacity addition till date in FY26 and what will be the addition in quarter four? This ongoing quarter.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, two lines added. Two lines actually. One is almost 10,000 TPD. Yes. Translating to almost 3.5 million ton per year. And another one more line of 3.5 million ton in Rajasthan. So it takes 7 million tons of capacity.
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
Right.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
And Mayer.
Harsh Mittal — Analyst
Sure. So second question is, what is the premium share this quarter? Not been there in the PPT?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Oh, we missed that. Premium share, 36%. Yeah.
Harsh Mittal — Analyst
Okay. Thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Andre Purushottam from Cognitive Advices. Please go ahead.
Andrey Purushottam — Analyst
Thank you. And I wanted to ask, you know, when I was going through the presentation, I found that your EBITDA is up considerably and. But your costs, some have gone up, some have gone down. Right. Your raw material costs have gone up and your fuel and logistics costs have gone down. Now, given that your net realizations are also slightly lower, can one assume that the increase in EBITDA is almost entirely out of operating leverage? And if that is the case, if you are adding 8 and 12 million tonnes capacity the next quarter stroke next year respectively, what can we see as the trajectory of and the effect of operating leverage going forward? Could you just lend some color on that?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So operating leverage obviously will keep on playing a positive impact on efficiency improvement. Second point or the first point that you asked? Obviously prices were a dampener on the profitability, but volumes which gave me operating leverage and cost management. Very efficient and tight cost management. Of course you cannot manage all the line items of cost, but the management team’s focus always remains on running a very tight P and L. So that’s what is reflecting in the performance in the quarter. And the third one you asked about the Ramectan pricing. Obviously the clinker conversion ratio is improved.
So the raw material price will definitely increase. But the benefit you will get partially in the power and fuel.
Andrey Purushottam — Analyst
Okay, so we basically should see an increasing EBITDA per ton over the next. 15 months and definitely without a doubt. And would there be a numerical guidance that you would be able to provide in the range or that.
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
No, we don’t give guidances.
Andrey Purushottam — Analyst
Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of garage from yes, securities, Please go ahead.
Girija Ray — Analyst
Thank you for taking my question and congratulations. This is a superb number I can say which is beyond market exchange expectation. So sir, my question is related to employee cost. Is this a one off for this quarter? And second question, can I expect 1100-1200 kind of EBITDA per ton for fourth quarter?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
To your second question. We will do much better than what we did this quarter. Don’t want to get into any question specific number and 916 employee cost going up. Okay. Why? Because what happens is our annual increases, compensation increases that take place would reflect and new plants of course new capacity getting at if that is what will reflect in this call what you ideally should compare. If you look at Q2 you will not see dramatic movement.
Girija Ray — Analyst
Okay. And thanks for saying this. That fourth quarter will be doing a very good EBITDA pattern. That’s all from my side, sir. Thank you.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Naveen Sahatio from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Navin Sahadeo — Analyst
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity and of course congratulations on the robust volume growth that you have demonstrated. Two questions. One is your other operating income just the difference between the net revenues and net sales that you report sequentially it has got increased by almost about 88 crores. And this was also the first quarter wherein the incentives would have likely dropped on a pro data base in the sense if earlier we got incentives at 28%. Now we get at more like 18% on a base. I’m just comparing. So is there anything one off that we got in this particular cost item, sorry revenue item.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So Naveen, what happens is that new incentives kick in sometimes old incentives get exhausted. Case in point our Dhar line one got exhausted whatever was the balancing quantum of money left and Dhar2 kicked in. Then also bigger thing and very difficult to you know show a trend line is volumes moving from the plant to which market. Depending upon the concentration of demand in the local market the incentives will go up or down.
Navin Sahadeo — Analyst
Helpful. My second question was on India Cements and of course company has done a remarkable performance there on the cost front this quarter in particular the freight cost clipped, I would rather say plunged significantly almost 27% plus quarter on quarter on a per ton basis. So wanted to understand is this the new normal because a higher brand transition has happened so you can sell in a lower proximity catchment area or this is anything one option. My question.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So it’s a combination and obviously when brand transition gets completed fully you will see the real benefit. New footprint. New footprint will also get captured. So this is not a one off. Whether it will go down further. Difficult for me to say at this juncture. Perhaps we will talk about it in April, June quarter.
Navin Sahadeo — Analyst
Helpful. Thank you. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Shravan Shah from Daulat Capital. Please go ahead.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Yeah, thank you. And Congratulations on strong volume growth. Most of the question answered. Couple follow up clarifications and questions. So first nine month capex, what was the number and for full year? FY26, 2728 previously we say 10,000 odd crore so that guidance remains intact.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
7200, 7200 or 7000 crores is a nine month. And yeah, nine times 500 to 20,000 two, two and a half thousand crore will get spent in this quarter. So anywhere, anywhere around nine and a half, 10,000 crores.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Okay, okay, got it. And, and so in the next year after 27 when we say 12 million ton we want to add any, any ballpark idea in terms of 1H FY27 will it be a 5,6 million ton that we will be adding?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
I’m sorry, what did you say?
Shravan Shah — Analyst
In FY27 our plan is to add 12 million ton capacity grinding level. So in 1H FY is it fair? 5,6 million ton we will be adding?
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
You want me to tell you what date will we be commissioning and at what hour we will start the cement bill. Give us that flexibility to commission as fast as possible. Don’t hang me for exact number or exact period.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
No, no, I am saying one night of 2017 in the six months cost. So. In the first six months of FY27 will it fair to assume 5,6 million ton we will be adding?
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
Yeah, it may be at least 4 to 5 million. Maybe around 4 to 5, you know last. But it only depends. Yeah, 4 to 5 million ton. But it all depends as you know someone. Because there are multiple moving parts so sometimes things get delayed and kind of thing. But yes, I can guess maybe 4 to 5%.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Okay. And in terms of the demand for fourth quarter of this quarter, FY26 will it 7 to 9% that we are expecting and for next four, five years normally what we guided in for corporate doors there, 7 to 8%. So that number remains intact.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
That remains, that remains shawan.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
And then for this quarter, this quarter, fourth quarter would it be a 9, 10% or 7, 8%?
K. C. Jhanwar — Managing Director
No, no, no, I don’t think 9, 10% may be little optimistic but difficult to say because the last year base itself as you all we know is a good base. But yes, you know I think it is going to be the robust demand actually.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Okay, okay, okay, got it. And, and this 1.54 cc ratio target, that is by FY27 we are looking at 28.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
27. 28. Yeah. In the middle of when we complete the previous phase of expansion between 27.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
28 and the green share from currently 42% to 60% by FY27, we will be reaching.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
So, you know, 27 or first half of 28, you know, I’m just giving us a flexibility of some delays.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Okay. And last clarification, in terms of price, when we say 3, 4 rupees price, the hike would have already happened versus third quarter of average, though this is including trade, non trade put together average.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Yes.
Shravan Shah — Analyst
Okay. Okay. Got it. So thank you. And all the best.
Atul Daga — Business Head and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
operator
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions from the participants, that concludes the question and answer session on behalf of UltraTech Cement Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining with us today. And you may now disconnect your lines.