Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JINDALSTEL) Q3 FY22 Earnings Concall Transcript

Jindal Steel & Power Limited (NSE:JINDALSTEL) Q3 FY22 Earnings Concall dated Feb. 09, 2022

Corporate Participants:

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Vijaya Gupta — Chief Financial Officer

Analysts:

Sumangal Nevatia — Kotak Securities — Analyst

Kirtan Mehta — BOB Capital Markets Limited — Analyst

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

Prashanth Kumar P. Kota — Dolat Capital Market Private Limited — Analyst

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Anupam Gupta — IIFL Research — Analyst

Presentation:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 FY ’22 Earnings Conference Call of Jindal Steel & Power Limited, hosted by IIFL Securities Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anupam Gupta from IIFL Securities. Thank you. And over to you, sir.

Anupam Gupta — IIFL Research — Analyst

Thanks, Steven, and welcome, everyone, to JSPL’s 3Q results conference call. I will hand it over to Nishant Baranwal for introducing the leadership team and taking the proceedings further. Over to you, Nishant.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Thank you, Anupam. Good day, everyone. We welcome you all to our conference call to discuss the 3Q FY ’22 financial results. Today, we have with us our Managing Director; Mr. V. R. Sharma; and our President, Finance, and Acting CFO, Mrs. Vijaya Gupta. To start the call, I would request Mr. Sharma for his opening remarks. Thank you.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome all of you on this particular meet — virtual meet. So first nine months have been excellent for our company if you take the overall results. The gross revenues, you might have seen it, is INR39,600 crores. The EBITDA is more than INR12,000 crores now, it is INR12,210 crores. Profit — net profit, that is PAT, that is INR7,086 crores. We could produce 5.9 million tonne steel, but we could not dispatch 5.9 million. We’ve dispatched only 5.6 million tonnes steel. And we could carry forward the inventory. This is because of nonavailability of coal rakes and also the transportation, surface transport intricacies, especially for the availability of trucks and trailers. But we think that we are on right track. We gave a target to our team about a year back that we want to reach to 15, 15, 50 target. That is INR15,000 crores and above should be the EBITDA, and even INR15,000 crores and below should be the debt level, and INR50,000 crores plus should be the sales turnover. So in first nine — first, if you see in this calendar year, we already achieved it. We are at 51 — more than INR51,000 crores of sales turnover in the calendar year. And we have already crossed INR15,000 crores of EBITDA. We have already brought down our debt level to a level of around INR11,000 crores. So that also we have achieved. Now way forward, in this current financial year, 31st March, we had to reach to — from INR12,210 crores to — we have to add another, say, around INR3,000 crores to reach to that INR15,000 crores EBITDA level, but — which we have targeted earlier, and INR39,600 crores in sales revenue, and we have to add another INR11,000 crores.

But we will be doing much more than this. Hopefully, we’ll be concluding the financial year with INR54,000 crores of sales turnover, hit the INR15,500 crores to INR16,000 crores of EBITDA level, and a profit, accordingly, INR7,086 crores in nine months’ time. So we are contemplating that we will be touching somewhere about INR8,800 crores to INR9,000 crores. The steel production will get somewhere about eight million tonnes, very closing target, maybe eight to 8.05 million tonnes. The sales will be eight million tonne or maybe 7.9 million tonne depending upon the availability of the surface transport like trucks and trailers and also by rail. We had been doing excellent export during all nine months’ time. We are going to maintain our export targets to about 28% to 30% in times to come also. There has been lot many challenges in last quarter, especially the input cost price increase. Because of the energy, cost is going up. We are seeing that in Europe. The energy cost has grown more than $25 per MMBtu. And in U.K. alone, it’s about GBP20 per MMBtu. The energy cost in terms of power — electricity, that has grown equivalent to Indian rupees about INR60 per unit to INR100 per unit, which is a very high and abnormal cost. So that impact has definitely impacted the entire world. The geopolitical issues in between Russia and NATO countries, they are also creating some disturbances and ripples in the overall energy market in the world. Hopefully, the world governments, G20 summit — G20 countries as well as NATO countries are negotiating with China to ease down the situation. If that is — that happens, then in times to come, the oil prices and the gas prices should come down. And finally, the coking coal prices and the coal prices may also see a slightly dip in the month of March and also in the month of April.

So as a large company, we always maintain a pipeline inventory of coking coal, steam coal, and also for the other products like diesel oil, furnace oil, we use in our markets. So we are expecting that the overall grade cost should come down in times to come, the domestic sales as well as the international sale. So again, Government of India has allowed 10% to 15% of ethanol addition in petrol, that will also ease out the situation. Thanks to the Finance Minister. She has already declared the coal gasification as a priority project. And we at JSPL, we started this project of coal gasification, we commissioned in 2013. But during 2014 to 2018, we could not take the fullest advantage of this coal gasification because the coal wasn’t available. So thanks to Coal India, I missed your coal, they have now increased and ramped up their production. We are expecting that they will be doing more than 800 million tonne this year. And the private miners will be doing about 300 million tonne. So total country will be producing about 1,150 million tonne, or 1.15 billion tonne of coal, though the country’s requirement is more than 1.5 billion tonne of coal on the basis of the calorific value. So India will continue importing about 200 million tonne of steam coal and about 50 million to 60 million tonne of coking coal, which is likely to take place in the future. But today, the coking coal prices are the — are at the peak. We are — our highest price is $445 from Australia, and that means about $28 to $29 [Indecipherable] reaching to the Indian East Coast, it is about $475.

And the West Coast, it costs about $485 to $490 a tonne. So this is a very highly abnormal price, and this is because of the coal situation in Australia, especially the miners were not working fully. There are only one shift, people who are working, because of lockdown situation there, because of the COVID, Omicron. Now I think this situation has improved worldwide. Most of the governments have taken a decision that we will keep the economy open, will not stop. Neither we’ll stop nor we will put any lockdown. So this is a very bold step taken by different governments. Looking to the financial crisis worldwide and India, I’ll still say, thanks to Government of India, they had kept all the power plants on so they could avoid the blackout situation in the country. And thanks to Indian Railway, who could transport coal from one location to another location on panIndia basis so that there is no power shortage. And the MSMEs and the steel industry as well as the other engineering industries, they are working, there is no interruption of power as of now. Hopefully, this will be maintained all India level. The average coal availability with the thermal power plants is ranging — average is about seven days, but ranging from as low as three days to 15 days. So — but it depends upon — that is the management what Government of India is doing. I’m sure under the leadership of the ministry, we will be in a position to maintain the supply chain so that the energy shortage does not appear in the market.

The other area is we are now looking that the budget, it clearly specifies that government is going to spend more and more money on capex and also on infrastructure projects. So the declaration by Finance Minister that the new capex can come up to — for the greenfield projects, can start production up to 31st March 2022 and they get until 31st March 2023 to avail the benefit of 10% reduction in the income tax from corporate tax from 25% to 15%. So this has given a boost to the Indian industry. And most of the projects which were aborted in ’21, they have restarted because now it is easier to catch the production by 31st March 2024. We are still having 25, 25.5 months’ time. So this is a very step we — very bold step taken by Government of India. We appreciate this step. So this has given an impetus to the demand of the steel immediately. The day the budget was declared, after that, within seven days’ time, we have seen the demand has increased. And today, we are facing that the demand has outperformed the production. So this is something very, very new. So thanks to government policies. The linking of the rivers, which is likely to take place very soon, and the Jal Nal Yojana of the government where we need larger diameter pipelines to transport water from rivers to different cities and then from there, after purification, to each and every house. So this has also given an impetus today to the overall steel industry. Government is also bent upon under the Gati Shakti plan, that how to increase the speed of goods train from 30 kilometers an hour today average speed to 70 to 80 kilometers an hour. For that, the government needs to improve the condition of the tracks. So laying — dedicated freight corridors are putting new tracks, may not be feasible immediately because it takes about eight to 10 years’ time for one dedicated freight corridor to come and to get into operation, because a lot of rehabilitation, a lot of land acquisition, a lot of issues are there, a lot of bridge-making and all these infrastructures are required to be done when we make the dedicated freight corridors.

So instead of making dedicated freight corridors, government has opted — government is opting another policy that why not to upgrade the existing railway tracks and to speed up the goods train speed from 30 kilometers to 70 to 80 kilometers an hour. If this happens, then definitely, the Gati Shakti will act very fast. And for that, the benefit will come to a company like ours because we are the only company in the country who is making 1175 head-hardened rails required for the high-speed rails. And we are the only company today who is supplying material to — the railings to metro system in the country. There are totally 27 metros coming in the country, small and big e-city. So all these railways are advised by Minister of Housing and Urban Development to buy domestic rails [Indecipherable]. Apart from that, the huge investment is going on in the Northeast states of India and also in Jammu and Kashmir. So — and apart from these two states, the government is spending through DRO on the China border, that is also in a big string. So this is definitely going to improve and increase the steel consumption across all the companies in the country. And the steel outlook looks to be very, very positive. And finally, if you see the overall investments in the field of steel construction, building by steel construction, so this is picking up. This idea has picked up very well in most of the metro cities, and they are joining suburbs with the metro cities. And now people are getting away from brick-and-mortar solutions to the steel building solutions, which is faster and which is more rugged in terms of seismic level or in terms of earthquakes, even up to eight or 8.5 Richter scale cannot destroy the buildings because that is the technology available today in the country. The pioneers in this particular industry are the two cities, one is Hyderabad, that is Telangana, and the other is Gurgaon. And also NCR, the other part, NCR, that is Noida. So now we are finding good inquiries from cities, from Mumbai and also from Chennai and Bangalore. So I think this idea is picking up. Now there are more than 7,000 railway bridges that are likely to come, which are going to consume only steel.

And if this happens, then definitely steel production and steel consumption in the country will come up. We will be ending up this financial year by producing 118 million tonnes steel in the country. And out of that, about 12 million tonnes will be exports, so 102 million tonnes will be — 102 million to 104 million tonne will be consumed within the country. There’ll be a shortage of steel today in the country because of two reasons. One, the iron ore availability is still a challenge. That is one. Number two, the scrap availability is the biggest challenge. Government is trying to encourage the recycling economy or the circular economy, but that is not happening because the scrap is not available. The scrap today and in Turkey has been to $500. This means in India by the time it reaches, it will go to $560, $575. That means the steel which we can produce from this scrap grew to be about INR50,000 to INR51,000 a tonne. This is a very highly abnormal prices, but nothing can be done. Over and above the energy shortage, there’s a shortage of scrap in the world. Reasons are 2. One, because of very heavy snowfall in Europe and also in part of America, in the Eastern part, the scrap collection has reduced dramatically. And the other area is because of the COVID situation, on the West Coast of America, the scrap collection has reduced.

Over and above, each and every company today, they are looking to how to meet ESG compliance and how to reduce the carbon emission. So they prefer to produce steel through electric arc furnace than producing through the blast furnace route. So that has increased the scrap intake by the steel mills. The Chinese government has already started using more and more scrap. Chinese government has also declared that any new investment coming in the steel, 50% of that will come through the electric arc furnaces. So it’s a very positive sign. And China is introducing the blast furnace suit production to manage the ESG conditions in their country. If that happens, which is already signaled very well, then there are four countries which are likely to get the benefit of the Chinese market and also the Chinese share in the industry market. These four countries are number one is India, number two is Iran, Number three is Ukraine, number four is Russia. So these four countries will get the cake in terms of getting the market share where China usually exports, so we can — definitely, we can find the good markets and the replacement market with Chinese steel worldwide. So that experience, we are already seeing today, and this is coming through. Hopefully, very soon, maybe in next few weeks’ time, the automobile industry will be in a position to recoup in a much better way. And they will be in a position to start producing because they see — because the chips are available now, and most of the manufacturing companies, they have addressed this issue. Apart from that, the green energy, like solar and also the wind energy.

Wind energy segment, we have seen a great jump in terms of buying plates from us for the windmills. And we are now waiting as to how the two leading players in the country like Adani Group as well as Ambani Group, they start manufacturing — or they start generating, I would say, the clean energy, which definitely steel industry will be interested in buying from them so that we can also reduce our ESG or we can also reduce our CO2 emission. So this is what going on. So thanks to Government of India for reducing — for giving a special benefit to the coal gasification units and giving the discount of — by 50% discount in terms if you have your own mines and 20% if you buy from the outside. So this is very good. And I’m sure the GST committee is working great. And the coal sets, which is about INR400 to INR500 a tonne, that will also be abolished. If this is done, then definitely, the steel industry will be in better hands and better way. Coming back, last point, the market scenario. In November, the market was pretty good. December, because of the fear for Omicron as well as for lockdown and some very unusual rain in the southern part of the — rains in southern part of the country, the steel demand came down because the stockists and the traders, they were not interested in stock the material, [they wanted to eliminate], because they were apprehending that maybe, tomorrow, if the lockdown starts, then they’ll be stuck up with the inventory. Similarly, the SMEs and also the other industrial players, they were not interested in buying because they were also hearing that if the lockdown starts, then their labor will go back to their homes.

So thanks to the Prime Minister and also all state Chief Ministers who have taken the decision not to put lockdown conditions in the country. And it should be tackled, managed and organized in such a way so that there is no chaos. So Government of India and the state governments, they [Indecipherable] in this particular matter and they have managed it very well. Over and above, the country has gone through a rapid and mass vaccination. I think now most of the senior people — senior citizens, they are vaccinated. And even the citizens above the age of 25 years are also vaccinated fully. And now it is coming to teens. So I think in times to come, the boys and girls, 11 years to 15 years, will also be vaccinated in a big drive. So overall, I see — I’m looking at a very, very positive outlook. Yes, in December, the prices came down because of these reasons. And in January, it was quite stable. By the end of January and February, now the prices have increased. Just to give outlook of the prices. Today — in November, the steel prices in Bombay, Delhi, Chennai, these were about INR66,000 a tonne, landed hot rolled coil to the GST. And today, it is at same price, INR66,000 to INR67,000. In between, it came down to as low as INR63,000. TMT rebars, they, from INR59,000, came down to INR50,000, and from INR50,000, now it has come up to INR60,000. And landed price on panIndia basis is now INR63,000. So there’s a great recovery done by steel industry and also by our customers because the demand has outperformed the production. And this situation, this delta is likely to remain at least for next two to three months’ time unless some new facilities are added, which is very unlikely that immediately this cannot be done. I’d also like to tell you one more news that more than 45 million tonnes of steel is produced through the industrial furnaces route.

And these people, out of this 45 million tonnes, at least 20 million tonnes, they are dependent on scrap. Unfortunately, they are — neither they are getting scrap nor they are getting DRI. And they have reduced their production by 50%. So total put together in one month, we produced about 10 million tonne steel. Out of 10 million tonne, 4.5 million tonne comes from the secondary route or the small players. And this 4.5 million tonne, 2.25 million tonne comes from the people those who don’t have their DRI plant. And out of that, they are working on a piecemeal basis. So there’s a net shortage of about 1.25 million to 1.5 million tonne per month in the country. So this one million to 1.25 million tonne per month shortage in the country is a huge shortage. And that all is long products because all these induction furnaces route people or the manufacturers, they are primarily in the long products. Be it the rebars, angles, channels, structure beams, these are the products. So this 1.25 million tonne of shortage is existing from January itself. So in this quarter, there will be total 3.75 million to four million tonne of shortage from my estimates. That is the reason today there is a shortage of steel in the country. Even in the remote areas, people are now buying material from the major producers, those who are blast furnaces and those who are not dependent on the scrap itself. So it’s all from my side. And going forward, whatever your questions will be there, I’ll be happy to reply. My team is there with me. And we all are here to listen to you. Thank you so much.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Two things. One is, in fourth quarter, in today’s interview also, you said INR20,000 per tonne EBITDA from INR17,500, which we reported in this quarter. So is it possible to bridge the gap? How we are saying it in terms of what are the assumptions we are taking?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes, please. So thank you very much, Kejriwalji. It is very much possible because only January first half was a little depressed. But after 15th or 16th of January, post Makar Sankranti, we found a good demand in the market. And by the end of 31st March 2022, we are contemplating that our average for this particular quarter should be INR20,000 a tonne.

As I told you, the TNT rebar prices have moved up at least by INR9,000 to INR10,000 a tonne; plates and coils, INR3,000 to INR4,000 a tonne; products like billets, etc., INR5,000 a tonne, round billets INR5,000 to INR6,000 a tonne. So we produce about two million tonne per quarter. So on this two million tonne in the average, which is likely to be, that will definitely — the delta will be more than INR2,500 to INR2,800 a tonne. INR17,400 per tonne was our EBITDA in the last results we had declared. So we feel that the fourth quarter will definitely be more than INR20,000 a tonne.

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Sir, I understand. But just to clarify, this is you’re talking about price, and coking coal is still on an upside. So don’t you think that average price will be somewhat offset by higher coking coal cost?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

No, coking coal will not be increased now, first of all. Secondly, we are maintaining stock for three months of coking coal. So what we do, we do for the actual cost sheet. That is a very, very metallurgical costing, that was whatever is in pipeline. So I’m treating that metallurgy pipeline is likely to come reach here in the next three months’ time. So that cost, we have already factored. And on the basis of that, we feel that our operations will be stable. And our input cost will remain stable. There will be no increase in input cost. As far as the other area other than coal is the iron ore. So iron ore, we’ve already done a long-term agreement with OMC. And our own Kasia mine, they already started production. Another factor I would like to tell you, which is a very positive news, though it’s at arm’s length, we do our transaction as per the international practices. That is we have already started our coking coal mines in Australia. And the coking coal mines in Mozambique are doing extremely well, as well as South Africa. So this SAM theory that is South Africa, Australia and Mozambique, with this, we are 50% covered in terms of self-reliant in coking coal. So what will we do, in case anything required and in case there is any gap, that we’ll be maintaining or bridging it through our own resources than buying from the market. So this is the reason I’m so confident that we are telling you that we will be achieving this INR20,000 per tonne or more in this particular quarter, all on average.

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Yeah. That’s great, sir. Sir, second question is, you mentioned about debt position also, that the INR7,000 crore at the end — in the February beginning. At the end of the quarter, we have around INR11,000 crore. And within a month’s time, is it possible to share what happened with inventory liquidation or how this INR11,000 crore become INR7,000 crore at the beginning of February?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

You’re rightly — you answered my question at least by 75%. First of all, the inventory, we were maintaining more than 300,000 tonnes, which were finished goods inventory against confirmed orders with payment received. So that inventory, we have liquidated almost, and this will bring definitely the additional revenue. And the other is, if you see in totality, we are going to produce more than two million tonne in this particular quarter, reaching eight million tonne. With the economy of scales, we’ll be in a position to maintain our prices, maintain our input cost. And we’ll also be in a position to maintain and generate the EBITDA which is required. For example, till 31st December, EBITDA is INR12,200 crores. And — though the undeclared EBITDA, if you say, in the next three months will be at least INR4,000 crores. So INR12,000 crore plus INR4,000 crore comes to INR16,000 crore. But with all humility and humbleness, I’m telling INR15,500 crore, we will do in this particular financial year. With INR15,500 crore, I’m sure we’ll be in a position to generate a PAT of more than INR8,000 crore, which is now INR7,087 crore in first nine months’ time. So that is a very conservative figure. So with the INR8,000 crore in the kitty or maybe INR8,500 crore in the kitty, and then bringing down the debt level to this particular level of, by end of March, will be less than INR5,000 crores. And then moving forward, we are working. Next year, we have taken a target to produce nine million tonnes steel. We got the one million tonne extension or the increase in the overall environment clearance last year. And we will be achieving that — we’ll be utilizing that benefit and we’ll be producing about nine million tonne next year. If you see the last story — three-year story, from five million tonne, we already reached to eight million tonne, the growth is more than 36%. And this now from eight million tonne reaching to nine million tonne, this is even a super growth, I would say. So this is, what, we are contemplating now. Yes, please.

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Yeah. That’s good, sir. Sir, the only thing is INR7,000 crore number that figure at the beginning of February is right?

Vijaya Gupta — Chief Financial Officer

So Ashish, we would not want to comment. Sharma sir was giving you a tentative figure. We would also like to say that any forward-looking statements made on this call are subject to market risk and how the market behaves. We are in…

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

And lastly, sir, in terms of Jan volume, you mentioned that market is undersupplied and shortfall is there. But despite that fact, we have seen domestic volume declining from December to January. So are we seeing that there will be a substantial jump in the very volume for domestic market?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

It is already — we have seen it already because government is bent upon investing in infrastructure. So this is a very good sign. And the other point is not only JSPL, but also other companies or peer group, we are all busy nowadays in exporting material to Europe because Europe is passing through a very, very bad phase of their life. With $25 per MMBtu of gas, they never had it because they were enjoying $3 to $4 per MMBtu. Domestic connection was just $2 to $2.5 per MMBtu. Now from this level to $25 per MMBtu with $85 to $90 of barrel, the petrol is not available. You might have seen in the news that the government of France, they have issued — to the poor people, they have issued the coupon — discount people to buy the petrol. So in such a critical position, they are unable to run their steel mills. So we are today busy in exporting material to all these countries where the energy crisis do exist.

Ashish Kejriwal — Centrum Broking Limited — Analyst

Yeah. That’s great sir. Thank you and all the best.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Thank you Ashish.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.

Sumangal Nevatia — Kotak Securities — Analyst

Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Just continuing on the previous question, I’m just trying to understand on — increasing cost on item. So is it possible to share what was the key per unit increase in cost of the key items of raw material and also? And only on the cost, then how do we see this panning out in fourth quarter? A bit surprised to hear that in the fourth quarter we will not be seeing coking coal cost increase, where most of the other steel companies are guiding for a decent increase.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

So the point here is — I’d like to clarify. The fourth quarter is already — in terms of buying coking coal, is already ended, because anything what we buy today, it will not reach by 31st March, first of all. The second is whatever materials in the pipeline, in the pipeline, we keep at least four months of material. So four months of material needs, we know the average cost for these four months of material, which is already in the pipeline. Pipeline means the material under loading, material in the CIP, material at the ports and material at the plant. And as I told you, we are going to ramp up our production in Mozambique and also in Australia. Because Australia, the first vessel has already come to us. Now in our subsequent months, we’ll be bringing two vessels a month. So this is, again, a very, very good move. And that’s why we are telling that our cost of coking coal will not increase in the next 50 days. So then we’ll see in the next year what is going to happen, that we’ll take a call maybe in the end of March. But I’m sure the coking coal prices will come down because they are at its peak today, and these are unsustainable — non-sustainable for the whole world. The whole world is working on this, how to reduce the energy costs. The — already, the prices in local coking coal in China and the coal in — from Colombia, coal from Ukraine, coal from Russia, coal from South Africa and coal from Indonesia are giving the signals that the price is going down. So I’m sure the prices will not go up, but the prices will remain either stable if you see — consider the pipeline, or we’ll see that in April, the prices — the overall price level will be less. So as far as the costing is concerned, yes, there was a gap of about $40, $45 of coking coal prices, which we factored already into costing. But it is not only coking coal prices, the prices for refractory, prices for freight because oil prices have gone up from $68 to $88, $20 jump, it was a huge jump. So the furnace prices, refractory prices, ferro-alloy prices, all these prices have gone up. But now we are looking that the prices are either stable or they are going to find a negative or say a declining trend. And once it happens, then there’ll be respite to the industry. And we — our cost of manufacturing will come down. I’m pleased to inform you that we are already booked till 15th of March. We need to book another 16 days of orders, and this — all this financial year close. So we know that what we are going to do, what our cost will be, with eight million reaching two million tonne production in this particular quarter, we will reduce our cost of production at least by INR1,000 to INR1,500 a tonne. And taking an overview — a pragmatic view that whatever material is in the pipeline, that will suffice the requirement, not only up to 31st March, but up to end of April. That’s why we are working on this particular factor, that yes, the cost will be controlled and the manufacturing cost will be brought down and the margins will increase.

Sumangal Nevatia — Kotak Securities — Analyst

Okay. Understood. Second question is, for our annual capex numbers for this year and next year, has there been any change? If you could just reiterate that. And also, our interest cost is still very high. I mean, the entire deleveraging benefit is not entirely visible in the interest cost of around INR470 crores, INR485 crores per quarter. So is it possible to share some guidance on how we see the interest cost shaping out in the coming years?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

No. The reply will be made by Mr. Nishant, but I’ll tell you a few sentences before that. First of all, thanks to our shareholders, thanks to our customers, in last one year time, from BBB-, we have reached to a level of AA-. And by 31st March, I think we’ll be AA+. So this is the target, what we have taken about a year back that how to reach to A, but we reached to, not only A, A+, and then AA-. So now how to reach to AA+? That numbers are already in place. And I think we will be in a position to convince the rating agencies to look into it. And these benefits, we have already started getting in terms of a very low interest rate. We have a very solid team, banking team, with us. And they are working on this particular factor. I’ll now ask Nishant, please, throw the light on this.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Surely. Thank you, sir. So if you want to look at interest costs, in particular, if you look at the rate of interest, if you were to look at the third quarter in FY ’21, we were close to 10% at that point in time, Sumangal. And as Sharma sir said, the steady rise in the ratings and also the willingness of the banks to do business with us has actually brought it down to close to 7% as of the reported quarter. So that’s a big jump. And combined with that — coupled with that, the amount of debt that we repaid, both these factors should actually start looking up and you would start seeing the benefits come in. If you were to already look at our numbers, they are progressively down substantially. And as we go towards our net debt free target, you will see these come better.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Just to add one more point here. Because we are not isolated or insulated from the world economy. As you see that the Fed rates are changing every day. By March, people are saying that the rate of interest will increase, how it is going to affect the market, share market stock, on market, that is yet to be seen. But looking to the conditions in India, looking to our overall total debt in terms of billion dollars, that is about $501 billion nd the reserves of more than $635 billion. And the economy is growing at a rate of 9.2%, which we feel, personally, I’m in the opinion, we may even go for double-digit growth. So this is a very, very wonderful time for India, for the country as a whole. And the worldwide, the geopolitics is going to settle. This is not going to be alarmed. So I think the time coming is much better time for Indian companies, for Indian corporations. And we’ll be in a portion to maintain better numbers in times to come. Not only JSPL, but the entire industry. Not only steel, but even the metal industry, automobile industry, the construction industry will be booming. And then only we can reach to 10% growth. Otherwise, we can’t reach 10% growth. So 9.2% ongoing, and looking forward for 10%. I’m very much bullish that the country will reach to those levels of double-digit growth.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Just to add to this, we also need to be cognizant, as analysts, that as our business grows, definitely, our working capital needs are growing. And therefore, we are doing more and more business on LC and on — so all those charges would also be actually reflecting in the numbers that you see as the finance cost. So just need to be cognizant about that also to an extent. Sorry, on capex?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Sorry, You were asking the capex for this particular quarter or you were asking for the future view?

Sumangal Nevatia — Kotak Securities — Analyst

Yeah, both. So this year — any change in our overall budgeted capex for this year and then FY ’23-’24?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

So except for the Kasia mines capex, there is no major capex in this particular commission year, that we’ve already done, and more than INR800 crore. And the next is the overall capex as a greenfield project to avail the benefit of 25% to 15% tax benefit. That is 10% delta. So that we are now starting our spending. So this would be about INR18,500 crores. We are going to be the lowest cost of installation plant in the world, I would say, in the world, reason being, not only because of our efficiencies and our team, but also because we already have land bank available. We have electricity available. We have water available. We have railway network available in the plant. We very good location, strategy liya just 2010 available. We have colony, school, hospitals, everything available in our plants. And we have very good location, which is strategically just 210 kilometers from the port and 217 to 218 kilometers from mines. So we are laying a pipeline, that is a slurry pipeline. It’s already started. I think more than 10-kilometer pipeline has been laid in last few weeks’ time. And we want to complete this 217-kilometer pipeline in the — by the end of this calendar year. And the moment it comes, we’ll get an additional benefit of INR250 per tonne in terms of rate because the slurry pipeline transportation cost is only INR100 to INR150 a tonne, whereas the cost of transporting by trucks, it is about INR1,250 to INR1,450 a tonne. So that is highly unpredictable, and so much of quantity cannot be transported. That’s why we are putting this slurry pipeline. So this INR18,500 crore, what we are going to spend in the next three years’ time, already we have spent some, written with our own equity. And we will be spending another — in another two years’ time total INR18,500 crore, which is well within our business plan to reach to a level of 15 million tonne steel company by 2024. And we are on it. And with the approvals in hand, which are likely to be more than INR8,000 crores year-on-year basis, so it — spending INR18,000 crore, INR18,500 crores in capex, it does not disturb our overall working. And otherwise, we don’t have any other plans.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Sure. And as for the number for the capex, for the nine months, we spent close to INR1,000 crores.

Sumangal Nevatia — Kotak Securities — Analyst

Got it. Got it. Thank you and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kirtan Mehta from BOB Capital Market. Please go ahead.

Kirtan Mehta — BOB Capital Markets Limited — Analyst

Thank you for giving this opportunity. Two questions from my side. First is, can you explain the usage of EBITDA during the quarter? So we had around INR3,000 crore of EBITDA, but net debt reduction was around INR200 crore. So could you just explain through the cash impact? Can you also give us a similar position for nine month as well? The second question is about the status of the pellet plant in terms of sort of the intermediate milestones, could you guide us on what milestones have been achieved till Q3? And what are the likely milestones for the next quarter? Thank you.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Sorry, could you repeat the question?

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

The second question is related to pellet plant. It was not clear. Can you please repeat?

Kirtan Mehta — BOB Capital Markets Limited — Analyst

The second question was about the pellet plant, in terms of what are the — could you give us more light on the intermediate milestones in terms of what has been done so far and what are the next immediate milestones to be tracked?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

So the EBITDA, total consumption or allocation, that Mr. Nishant will tell you. But I’ll answer your second question first, that is pellet plant. So we have two pellet plants in Barbil. So both the pellet plants are running at the fullest capacity, and we are using our capital use. We are not exporting any pellets nowadays. And we are adding one more pallet plant. That pellet plant is coming in Angul. And this pellet plant will suffice the need of Angul plant at least by 50%. So in that case, 50% we will be buying — will be using from Angul plant itself. And another 50%, we will take from Barbil. Now coming back on the milestones, yes, October 2022 is the deadline to start the pellet plant in Angul. Hopefully, by December 2022, we’ll stabilize it. The benefit of this pellet plant will come to our balance sheet in the fourth quarter of this financial year, ’22-’23. Now I’ll request my colleague, Mr. Nishant. He will reply you on capex allocation, where we will be spending the money.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Sure. So basically, if you look at the EBITDA that we earned this time on stand-alone was close to INR3,168 crores. The allocations were as follows. We actually prepaid loan of around about INR970 crores. The interest outgo was close to INR470 crores. Then there was a tax outgo of INR800 crores. In capex, we spent around about INR500 crores. Then Kasia, as we reported in the notes also, INR870 crores was the cash outgo there. Then there was a working capital actually as we’ve written that. There was definitely inventory stocking. They were close to INR450 crores, which got stuck up there. And pretty much it. So that was how we spend it, if that answers your question.

Kirtan Mehta — BOB Capital Markets Limited — Analyst

Thank you, Nishant.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kamlesh Bagmar from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead.

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

Yes. Sir, one question on the part of how much increase we are going to see in the coking coal cost. So that is one question. Because a lot of call — like qualitative numbers, qualitative things were spoken, but nothing on the quantitative side. So how much, in dollar terms, it would be an increase? And apart from that, what was the NSR at — like say, NSR at the December end? And what are the NSR current levels? Because INR40,000 per tonne increase on the EBITDA per tonne, sir, it’s not clear that it’s more of an aspiration or maximum Q4 numbers you are seeing. So it’s honestly not clear on that part. And with regard to the inventory, which you are saying three months, sir, every steel company does that. So there is no rocket science in that particular part, I think so.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

I agree with you. There’s no rocket science. But yes, there is something different we do. It is very difficult to tell you now. But yes, if you come separately, then we’ll tell you. There’s no rocket science, but there are some fix, I would say, the technical fix, how we are maintaining our price. Like just one example for your comfort. Like $445 per tonne is the price for the prime hard coking coal. You’ll be surprised that in Raigarh, we use zero prime hard. And in Angul, we use — because the blast furnace is bigger, we use only 25% prime hard. This is where the trick is. And that is supported by our own mines in Mozambique, where we do a proper blending, that is our proprietary formulation. And this is how we keep our cost into control. But your first question, like what is the total cost increase in terms of coking coal? The coking coal cost increase for the prime are $45 per tonne. So this is what I think I tried to answer you. Another point is, unless we have the aspiration and wishes, we cannot achieve. Yes, you are right. It is our aspiration. It is our wish, which is very positive wish. And we will achieve it. We will achieve INR40,000 per tonne of EBITDA in the last quarter. When we meet in the month of April, then definitely, we’ll work on this. We’ll discuss.

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

And sir, on the like entry NSR and the current NSR if you…

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

No, I told you in my brief introductory remarks, but I’ll repeat. In November, the flat products of rolled coil prices in Bombay, Delhi, Chennai were at a level of INR66,000 per tonne to INR67,000 per tonne. And December, they came down to INR61,000 to INR62,000 a tonne. Today, it is again INR66,000 to INR67,000 a tonne. So whatever was there on 23rd of November that we — 23rd November to 30th November, that is regained, and that has been driven by the market today. So this is one. Secondly, as I told you, the net NSR for — and I’ve not answered your question fully. NSR in flat products was INR63,500 a tonne, NSR, that is ex our factory plus the freight and GST extra and loading charges and loading charges at the customer end also extra. So NSR was INR63,000 to INR63,500. Today, it is INR64,000. So in between, it was as low as INR58,000. Now coming back on NSR of rebars. Rebar NSRs were used to be about INR56,000 a tonne in November. It came down to as low as INR50,000 in December. And today, it is INR60,000 ex our factory, that is NSR. So you see the journey from INR50,000 to INR60,000, and a INR10 delta. And even if we take from the peak, that was INR56,000 to INR60,000, it’s INR4,000 delta over 23rd November.

So I hope I answered you. Two points are left. One is billet prices. The billet used to be sold at INR44,000 a tonne. Today, billets, we are selling at INR54,000 a tonne. There’s an increase of INR11,000 a tonne. So that is another big jump. Then it is underlying structures and channels, beams, etc., Average price used to be INR62,000 a tonne in November and INR60,000 a tonne in December or early in January. And today, this is at INR68,000 a tonne. So this is where the difference is. As I told you in my opening remarks, there is shortage of steel in the country. And yes, there is also an increase in input cost. So the steel demand has outperformed the steel production, not only in the country, but worldwide. Because the reduction of the steel production by China has played a very, very significant role. And as I told in our opening remarks, the four countries which are likely to get the benefit of this particular move of China, that is India, Iran, Ukraine and Russia. Hope I answered you.

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

Okay. Sir, just one suggestion because a lot of this that are opening like say, remark like INR20,000 per tonne, because if you see INR17,500 EBITDA per tonne, which we have done in this quarter, and the cost is going to go up like roughly around INR2,000-odd in next quarter. And on top of that, we are saying that our margins would improve by INR2,500, which means that our realizations need to increase by INR5,500 to INR6,000. And honestly, we are at similar levels of NSR for the quarter average. So it’s really not clear that it’s our aspiration or —

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Your all points are valid, except one. The cost is not increasing by INR1,500 or INR2,000 a tonne. It is cost neutral calendar — I mean, the quarter.

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

Sir, neutral would be more on the consol level, not on the stand-alone?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

No, on the stand-alone level.

Kamlesh Bagmar — Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd — Analyst

Thanks. I will take it off.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes, please. Yes, sure.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prashanth Kumar Kota from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.

Prashanth Kumar P. Kota — Dolat Capital Market Private Limited — Analyst

Thanks for that. Sir, if we see that our toll from Mozambique, South Africa and Australia in the outside — to the external party versus the current — for the Australia coking coal price of $450. What is our realization? Just to get a handle, what is your quality and what is grade? And just to get a handle.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

First of all, we are not selling coal to — coking coal to other parties. So whatever we produce, we bring to India, into our company, for our capital use.

Prashanth Kumar P. Kota — Dolat Capital Market Private Limited — Analyst

Yes, sir. I got your point. Just to make the grade, I wonder, what is — where do we benchmark that as in for our —

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes. Grade is similar to any other mines in — for prime hard and hard coking coal, which are mining — those who are mining in Australia, the same grade. So what happens? I’ll tell you. The difference in — there are two difference. One is, we — there can be a difference in freight cost. We have to transport to the nearest port, which consumes about $11. And then we bring it to India, that is another point. The second is we are not washing the coal there. So we are doing the washing here in India, because the washery environment clearance is yet to be taken. And then we’ll put up a washery here. So at the moment, we are bringing coal with the ash. And then we are washing it here and using it. And that’s why we are not selling this coal to anybody. But we have coal washery in Mozambique. There, we do the — we bring washed coal from them. And the washery rejects are sold to the international market. But the prime coal is — coking coal is not sold in the market. Similarly, in South Africa, we have anthracite coal available, which is a family of coking coal and which is utilized in sinter plant as well as in blast furnaces. So there also, we are utilizing this coal for our internal use. And sometimes, we sell to the domestic market also when the market is upbeat. Whenever we feel that the delta is very high, then we sell within South Africa to the ferro-alloys producers. Otherwise, we bring to India.

Prashanth Kumar P. Kota — Dolat Capital Market Private Limited — Analyst

Understood, sir. That’s helpful, sir. Sir, how big of volume is to be expected in FY 2023, sir, coal volume from all the three mines?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Coal volume from all the three plants, we should have about 1.2 million to 1.4 million tonnes. And this is what our — we are taking into business plan. Very, very conservative. It may go up. But at the moment, we have taken this much.

Prashanth Kumar P. Kota — Dolat Capital Market Private Limited — Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavin Chheda from Enam Holdings. Please go ahead.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Hello? Sir, can you hear me?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes, please.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Yes, sir. I wanted to know the Australia mines —

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Mr. Chheda, if you can speak closer to the handset please. Your audio is too low.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Yes. Now it is clear?

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Yes.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Yes. Sir, Australia mines, on 95,000 tonnes, we were profitable in this quarter, partially because of the higher coking coal prices. If you can guide on the cost of production achieved at the Australia coking coal mines in the quarter and how are we planning to reduce that cost going forward?

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Sure, Bhavin. I’ll take that question. This is Nishant here. And thanks for the question. So if you look at the past quarters since when we started in November, you’d see that we were actually running a run rate of around about 30,000 to 40,000 only. And therefore, you got that 90,000 only in the last quarter. But if you were to see us now, we are close to 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes per month, that is what we are producing right now. And at present cost, I can tell you, the idea is that — the aim is that by March and April, we should get to 110,000 per month. At that, we should be at around about $84 costing approximately.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Unwashed.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Unwashed.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

$84 unwashed, and there’s always a, you can say, 15% to 20% of edge. So if you bring it down to half, like 10%, so it is about $95 or $97 per tonne. And the freight is about say $30, so $126, the price — actual price hitting to the Indian ports, as against difficult today, $400 plus.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Sir, roughly sub $100. And again, in case of grade, if I understand correctly, normally, you get realizations 55% to 60% of the premium hard coking coal prices?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

No, it is not that. You see, first of all, we have to see that — if we want to sell, then the game is different. But if you want to use at your own, then, there’s a cost. Then, there is a metric for the high ash or unwashed coal. So we maintain that. Yes, you are right. It may be about 45% to 50% of prime hard coal. But it keeps changing. It keeps changing. When the prices are upbeat, there will be different price. When prices are low, it’s different. We follow the index.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Sure. My second one also on the capex plan, if I was reading correctly. Earlier, you had planned to spend roughly INR2,500 crores, INR2,600 crores in this fiscal. But I think you said you spent INR1,000 crores-odd in nine months and INR800 crore you plan in Q4. So your capex run rate would be less than the earlier expectation?

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

So Bhavin, as a forward-looking statement, I would not like to comment that yet. But yes, you’re right. We had guided towards a INR2,400 crore capex for this year. We will be below that is what we envisage.

Bhavin Chheda — Enam Holdings Pvt — Analyst

Sure. And then the last one was, the INR5,000 crore net debt run rate is assuming —

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Bhavin, we’ve lost you. Sorry.

Operator

Sir, seems like we lost the connection for the participant. We move to the next question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

This is the last question that we can take.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

We can take two questions or three questions. No problem. Please go ahead.

Operator

Yes. The next question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead.

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Sure, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, a couple of questions. One is, how is the trend on the export realizations? You indicated that exports is something which has — which is doing well. Are exports as lucrative as domestic sales? How should one look at that?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes. So the first thing, I’ll reply. You had some couple of questions? Is this the only one or you want more?

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Sir, I’ll take one by one because all are unrelated.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Okay. So today — if you see the today’s market, then the export realization is about $50 per tonne higher than the domestic market. So hope I have answered your first question.

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Okay. Sir, second question is on costing. I think we were surprised with the cost increase on a sequential basis. In the prior conference call, we had indicated that the cost increase for coal will be nearly like $80. And you had given similar commentary that we have visibility on what is it that we are going to use.

You indicated similar comments for Q4 wherein you have indicated flattish cost inflation when it comes to coal. Sir, just trying to understand what went a bit different, because the cost inflation, what we are looking at from Q2 to Q3, was definitely higher than what we had indicated. If possible to provide some color, that would be quite useful, sir.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

You see, the — as I told you, the energy cost is not in our hands, where the entire world is working on this. And if you see the total in one year, from $95 per tonne, the prices have gone to $450 a tonne. So this is a jump which we cannot say it is a quantum jump. I mean, it is a disaster in terms of coking coal. The world is working that how to stop using coal, how to declare that coal is unfriendly. And the world cannot move without coal. That is also there. So the reason for this increase is known to everybody. The geopolitical issue between Australia and China, that is one. And the other is the COVID situation. This may be artificial, may be actual. But the production from mines is less. So I think the industry, as a whole, is unable to accept this kind of prices. The alternates are being developed by most of the people. Like I told you earlier in my reply, that we are now — in one of the plants, we don’t use any prime hard coal. And another plant, we were using like 40% then, now it is only 25%. We’ll bring it down to 20%. So this is how we can reduce our total cost. And we can optimize on other areas. Now we feel that the cost in this particular quarter is not likely to increase because we know that what are the contracts we have done and where the prices will move. And hereafter, I’m not seeing any increase in the prices in terms of coking coal prices or energy prices because the world is struggling like anything. And they all — heads of different governments, they are working how to control the energy prices. Though the campaign taken for EV, the electrical vehicles, also for green energy or hydrogen, green hydrogen or wind energy, this is a little distant dream. We are also working on this. Everybody is working on this. But still, the fossil fuel cost should not increase more. This is for sure.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Ritesh, if I can add to this, two more points, is, as you rightly said, we had estimated it to be lower last time. But what is missing is that — so there is this INR120 crore differential that you are able to see between the consol and the stand-alone numbers. And that is on account of coal which we have not been able to use pretty much in our operations in India, the benefit of which will actually flow through in the coming quarters. So that’s one part. The other is also the higher cost for coal that you see is because we had to use — given the possibility [Phonetic] of coal — the thermal coal for power plants, a lot of that thermal coal was actually allocated there, and we had to use imported thermal coal to run our DRI operations in this quarter. So therefore, all those factors actually led to this slight increase what you spoke about. I hope that answers your question.

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Sure, Nishant. Sir, last question. You had indicated 50, 15, 15. It is something which is already done with. What is the next target that you have in mind? And specifically, given we have already outlaid a capex plan for the next three years, four years, we have a lot of cash. When do we expect policy framework when we actually talk about buybacks, progressive dividend payouts? Sir, first is on 50, 15, 15. What next? And I’ve a second question, sir.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Thank you very much. So 15, 15, 50 was a well-thought target what we took. But now each time, we cannot give a particular slogan that this will be the trend like this. So — but definitely, we are working on improvising day by day. So the cost pressures have been there. So we have to reduce the cost, of course. We have reached to a level from where there is no U-turn. So with more than INR50,000 crores of sales turnover, perhaps there are not many companies in the country with these ratios of 15, 15, 50. There can be only seven or eight companies per my information in the entire country in private sector. So we are — we feel that we are amongst at least — if not 7, we are amongst the 15 top companies in the country today with those kind of numbers, bringing down to — net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to a level of less than 1, that is 0.7. And with the support of all of you, with the support of our customers and our dedicated team, we have brought it down from 8, 8.5 level to 0.7 level, so — which is a remarkable achievement. We were rated BBB-. We were at the threshold of D, the is default. And we have brought our company from Level D to AA-, and now we are looking for AA+. So this is where the company’s strength is. It is not out of blue. We cannot say that in one quarter, there was a profit. And then after that, this has died down. So if you see from the first quarter of 2020 to now the last quarter of 2022, all these eight quarters, if you see a performance, it is going to be best performance in steel industry by any steel industry in the world, I can vouch for it. And we do not find companies with BBB- outlook in April 2020 to a AA- or AA+ in January 2022. We have yet to discover such companies in the world map, if there are some. Another factor is, we were, as I told you, without spending any money, without hiring people, without firing people, we have reached to a level of some 5.5 million tonne to eight million tonne. That is 2.5 million tonne increase in production and sales, which is also unheard in the steel industry anywhere in the world. You all are very — you are specialist. You discover so many datas. You can see. You can Google it.

You can find it. If you find them, kindly also let me know so that I can also upgrade my knowledge. But it does not mean that we are complacent. We — our role model is Apple. Apple keeps on increasing the price on each and every model. They have $3 trillion market cap. They have $385 billion of sales. And still, when they graduated from Apple 11 to 12, there was increase in prices. 12 to 13, now there’s a super increase in the prices. And they also stopped giving the chargers. So that is a big thing. So the Apple is our monitor, mentor, and this is how we do it. And I’m sure you’ll see, in times to come, this company will keep on growing, growing, growing. Our aim is not just to look at, yes, what is the share price today and what is tomorrow. The price does not matter. What matters most is how healthy you are. So from a total consolidated debt of INR45,900 crores, bringing down to INR11,000 crores, it was a herculean task. With all the support of our shareholders, stockholders or the government agencies, bankers, our lenders, and our staff, our technicians, and engineers and our financial team, we could reach this. The reason — the decline what Mr. Nishant like today has told you that we have reached to a level of 7% interest rate. Used to pay 12% and even up to 13%. There was a time. So you have to see a holistic view of the company, that how in the last eight quarters — seven quarters, I would say, to be very precise, eight quarter is going on, how in seven quarters, on quarter-on-quarter basis and year-on-year basis, company has grown. So company from BBB- rating with negative outlook in April 2020 to AA- with a positive outlook is a wonderful achievement. So thanks to everybody.

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Sure, sir. Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate. And sir, lastly, anything on progressive dividend payout or buybacks given our balance sheet is in a fantastic shape now?

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

You see, when we travel, then we definitely share the cake. So don’t worry, the company has been passing through a very, very critical time. Now we are feeling that, yes, we’ll be more comfortable in the next one or two quarters. But this decision, we’ll keep on the Board. So on the last quarter results, when we declare, definitely, we’ll put forth the request and we’ll discuss. If the Board approves, then definitely we’ll come back with a very, very investor-friendly program.

Ritesh Shah — Investec Bank plc — Analyst

Sure, sir. Thank you so much and wish you good luck. Take care.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we take that as the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.

V. R. Sharma — Managing Director

Yes. Thank you very much, my friends. And it’s a wonderful interaction with all of you. Please don’t misunderstand us. We are not a high-cost manufacturing company. We will — we are very slim and trim. We have not increased our cost. There is no extravaganza. This is the reason Mr. Naveen Jindal, our Chairman, he always keeps us telling that we will not reenter into a debt burden. So this is what the slogan is. You wanted that, what is next? The next is this, that we all are committed that we’ll not reenter into debt business. We have to make this company a debt-free company — net debt-free company. And we are not a steel mill. We are infrastructure steel mill. Steelmaking is a backward integration. We are infrastructure steel mill. We produce steel for all those infrastructures which are coming in this country. We are part of that. Steelmaking is in the elementary level, is a backward integration. But the foreign integration means, that, yes, we have to have the products and those products we are already in. Now we are putting up a strip mill, and five million tonne capacity. We’ll be adding coil rolling, galvanizing, color coating, automobile grade of steel, roofing, building, construction material. Today, we produce 70% long, 30% flat. With addition of another mill, we will be somewhere about 40% long, 60% — sorry, 60% long and 40% flat. This will give us a holistic view. And this will mitigate our risk in case of any cyclic action either of the products, we’ll be fully insulated. So we are there to support our company, and we need your support always. Thank you.

Nishant Baranwal — Head – Investor Relations

Thank you, IIFL. Thank you, Anupam. And thank you, operator. Thanks — and thanks, everybody, for joining our call. Thank you very much.

Operator

[Operator Closing Remarks]