JSW Steel Ltd (NSE: JSWSTEEL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Jul. 18, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Ashwin Bajaj — Group Head Investor Relations
Jayant Acharya — Joint Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer
Arun Maheshwari — Director Commercial & Marketing
G.S. Rathore — Whole-time Director and Chief Operating Officer
Analysts:
Amit Dixi — Analyst
Sumangal Nevatia — Analyst
Amit Murarka — Analyst
Satyadeep Jain — Analyst
Ashish Kejriwal — Analyst
Ritesh Shah — Analyst
Vikash Singh — Analyst
Pallav Agarwal — Analyst
Rajesh Majumdar — Analyst
Vedant Sarda — Analyst
Prateek Singh — Analyst
Kirtan Mehta — Analyst
Rahil Bohra — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the JSW Steel Limited Q1 FY ’26 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwin Bajaj, Group Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Ashwin Bajaj — Group Head Investor Relations
Thank you, operator. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to JSW Steel’s earnings call for Q1 FY 2026. We have with us today the management team represented by Mr. Jayant Acharya, Joint Managing Director and CEO; Mr. G.S. Rathore, Chief Operating Officer; Mr. Arun Maheshwari, Director of Commercial and Marketing; and Mr. Swayam Saurabh, the Chief Financial Officer. We will start with opening remarks by Mr. Acharya and then open the floor to questions.
So, with that, over to you, Mr. Acharya.
Jayant Acharya — Joint Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer
So thank you, Ashwin. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the JSW Steel call. So the global economy has been quite resilient, as you have seen amidst the tariff and geopolitical tensions, which are ongoing. The World Bank has revised its 2025 growth forecast by 35 bps to 2.9% versus its January estimate. Signing of trade deals will hopefully reduce uncertainty and improve the global growth outlook.
In India, the RBI has maintained its growth projection for FY ’26 at 6.5%, stable versus FY ’25. Subdued inflation enabled RBI to front-load rate cuts, while the announcement of CRR cuts will help in further transmission of lower rates. This, along with comfortable liquidity and tax breaks should support urban demand while the rural economy continues to perform well.
Domestic steel demand continues to be good, aided by healthy CapEx by the government in quarter one. India’s finished steel consumption grew by 7.9% Y-o-Y to 38.3 million tonnes, while crude steel production grew by 10.4% to 40.3 million tonnes. While finished steel imports have moderated, exports have fallen as well, and India continues to be a net importer.
Low-priced imports remain a concern, accentuated by changes in global trade flows due to rising tariff uncertainties. While steel production in China has fallen in recent months, the elevated Chinese exports continue to be a challenge for the global industry at large.
Talking a little bit on our sustainability efforts, the transition to renewable energy remains a core pillar of our decarbonization strategy and a 2.5 gigawatt of renewable capacity, which has been announced is on-track. Around 800 megawatts is already commissioned in quarter — up to quarter one and further 200 megawatts will be commissioned in quarter two, which will take us to 1 gigawatt of operational renewable capacity.
We will also remain committed to no net loss in biodiversity by 2030. Biodiversity management plans are already in place across all our steelmaking sites. Through afforestation efforts in Vijayanagar, we have created a positive biodiversity impact across 4,000 hectares. Our sustainability efforts continue to gain recognition.
JSW Steel has been retained in the FTSE4Good Index series, and we have improved our score this year. CDP supplier engagement assessment has included JSW Steel in the A list for 2024 disclosure cycle. We have been certified as a Great Place to Work and recognized as one of India’s Best Employers among Nation Builders 2025.
So, moving to our growth strategy, our JV mill project in Vijayanagar is ramping up well and produced about 0.75 million tonnes in quarter one. We plan to commission the second converter in SMS in the quarter two. Subsequently, we will take the shutdown of our BF-3 blast furnace at Vijayanagar starting September 2025. This will upgrade the BF-3 capacity by 1.5 million tonnes.
The Dolvi Phase-III expansion from 10 million to 15 million tonnes is progressing well and on-track to be completed by September 2027. We continue to enhance our downstream capabilities. In May, the Board had approved two projects; one, a 0.6 million tonne cold-rolling complex at Khopoli with capabilities to produce galvanized, galvalume and zinc magnesium coated products for appliances, general engineering and renewables. And the other 0.4 million tonne continuous galvanizing line in Vijayanagar is being ordered, capable of producing advanced high-strength steel for automotive industry with tensile strength up to 1,480 MPa.
The Board has now approved setting up of a 0.55 million tonne of cold-rolled non-grain-oriented electrical steel facility in Vijayanagar. This will cater to the rising demand for electrical steel in the country for generators, motors, etc. So, in the BPSL matter, we just wanted to update you, JSW Steel has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court on 25th of June 2025 in respect of the Supreme Court judgment dated 2nd May 2025.
The COC and RP have also filed separate review petitions. The review petitions will be listed in the Supreme Court in due course. The order of Supreme Court dated 26th May 2025 in JSW’s SLP directed status quo in respect of proceedings before NCLT for implementation of the Supreme Court judgment until the review petition is decided. We, along with our legal advisors, have analyzed the matter and are of the view that we have strong grounds to pursue the review petition.
On our raw-material security, we would just like to update. For iron ore in Karnataka, we’ll be commissioning the three mines progressively during the current financial year. In Goa, we plan to start mining operations at our Cudnem mine in quarter three of this financial year, while the Surla and Codli mines are likely to commence production in the H2 of FY ’27. The three Goa mines will cumulatively produce approximately 3.7 million tonnes as we have guided in the last quarter.
We continue to work on our three captive coking coal mines in Eastern India and our washeries at Parbatpur and Dugda. We have also now connected with a 5 million tonne linkage from Coal India. We expect to secure usable coking coal supply of around 3.2 million to 3.5 million tonnes per annum from these domestic sources over the next two to three years.
Let’s now talk about our operational performance for the quarter. Our consolidated crude steel production in-quarter one grew by 14% Y-o-Y to 7.26 million tonnes, while our consolidated steel sales at 6.69 million tonnes grew by 9% Y-o-Y. Importantly, our domestic sales grew by 12% Y-o-Y, which was much higher than the industry growth of around 8% during the quarter.
Our share of value-added and special products improved to 64% from 60% in the previous quarter. Our sales to auto sector grew by 20% Y-o-Y, which were the highest ever. We also reported the highest ever sales in the Alloy Long Products business, which grew 19% Y-o-Y, and our sales to the Appliance segment grew by 27% Y-o-Y.
Our inventories have increased during the quarter as we rebuilt inventories from the lows of March 2025 for better servicing of the customers. The fall in export volumes due to global challenges and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties has also led to inventory buildup. Some inventories were additionally planned to support the ramp-up of our new capacities at JVML.
Moving to our financial performance. Our consolidated revenues from operations were at INR43,147 crores with an operating EBITDA of INR7,576 crores, with an EBITDA margin of 17.6% during the quarter. The profit after tax stood at INR2,209 crores. Our Indian operations reported an EBITDA of INR7,496 crores with an EBITDA margin of 18.5% during the quarter.
During the quarter, we benefited from steel price improvement from the low levels and an improved product mix, which we have seen on our VSP share. On the cost side, we benefited from lower coking coal prices. Our coking coal costs fell by $14, in- line with our guidance in the last quarter. This was partly offset by increased fuel consumption due to planned maintenance shutdowns at our operations for two blast furnaces.
Our captive iron-ore consumption during the quarter was 39%. EBITDA was also affected by a ForEx loss of INR343 crores on foreign currency loans due to abnormally sharp appreciation in euro against the INR, March versus June. At our overseas operations, the business has done quite well.
The EBITDA performance at the plate and pipe mill in Texas improved quarter-on-quarter to $19 million on higher-volume and prices. The Ohio operations also reported a positive of $1.3 million from a loss of $7.5 million in the previous quarter. The pricing environment in the United States has improved and that has supported our overall operational performance.
The Italian operations reported an EBITDA of $1.33 million from a marginal negative in the previous quarter. Overall, our overseas operations in U.S. and Italy contributed to an EBITDA of INR187 crores during the quarter compared to a loss of INR39 crores in the previous quarter.
Our net debt at INR79,850 crores increased by around INR3,300 crores quarter-on-quarter, largely on account of working capital buildup during the quarter. Our revenue acceptances as of 30th June stood at INR2.11 billion, and our CapEx spend for the quarter has been INR3,400 crores.
JSW One platform, our one-stop digital marketplace for MSMEs in the manufacturing and construction ecosystem continues to scale-up well. JSW One is now a unicorn crossing $1 billion in the recent funding round. The GMV for quarter one FY ’26 was INR3,919 crores, up 1.5 times Y-o-Y. If we have a look at the outlook for quarter two, we feel the demand in India is likely to remain strong for the year as a whole.
CRISIL has already forecast demand growth in the range of 8.5% to 9.5% for this financial year. Steel prices after increasing over March to May have moderated in June and July. We expect coking coal costs to be marginally lower quarter-on-quarter, up to about $5 per tonne of coking coal, while iron ore costs may see some decline.
Overall reduction in cost due to lower raw material prices and better efficiencies will partly offset the reduction in steel realizations in quarter two. We also expect better volumes in the coming quarter. The quarter one also had negative impacts of the shutdowns, which had an additional cost and the ForEx loss, which has been built into our operational performance of quarter one. At our international operations, we expect healthy performance at the U.S. operations to continue in the quarter two, and our Italian operations should also see an improvement on better order mix.
Overall, the outlook for the Indian economy remains strong, supported by strong PMI ratings and benign inflation. Sustained government capital expenditure, a favorable monsoon outlook, personal income tax cuts and the Reserve Bank of India’s pivot towards monetary easing will drive consumption and private investments. On the back of these factors, we expect another year of healthy steel demand growth, and JSW Steel is well positioned to support India’s growth.
Thank you very much, and we are happy to take questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Amit Dixit [Phonetic] from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Amit Dixi
Yeah, good evening, everyone. Congratulations for good performance. I have a couple of questions. The first one is on JVML Vijayanagar. So if I look at the EBITDA movement of this particular subsidiary, it has been quite sharp, of course, due to the increasing capacity utilization. Now since the second converter is also going to be pressed and commissioned. So, what kind of EBITDA differential we can expect compared to Vijayanagar operations, considering that this might be a little bit lower on processing cost and all. So on a sustainable basis, what kind of EBITDA differential we can expect?
Jayant Acharya
So JVML operations, if you recall, in the last quarter also, we had mentioned the overall operations will be more efficient because of the larger blast furnaces, the larger converters. So therefore, we do expect benefits on that, and that is partly what you have seen in the last quarter. Part of the benefit will flow into the next quarters.
So, ultimately, we expect JVML operations at Vijayanagar to be better from a standpoint of profitability versus the current Vijayanagar operations. Maybe we would see up to a INR1,500 further improvement on the JVML operations per tonne.
Amit Dixi
Okay, sir. That’s helpful. The second one is on iron ore. I mean, while we are going to start Goa mines and ramp-up a few other mines, the quality of iron ore is a key suspect here. So just wanted to understand whether we have imported any iron ore and since we are going to increase capacity in near future, what kind of — how we are building the iron ore security, particularly of high-quality iron ore?
Arun Maheshwari
Hi, I’m Arun Maheshwari. So basically, iron-ore, definitely, yes, there are quality differentials, which are available within India. And Goan iron ore is of inferior quality in terms of usage, but then the — we have developed the processes wherein we can use such kind of iron ore in its full strength. Also, this material will be going for our Dolvi usage. So far as the import is concerned, definitely, for the bigger blast furnaces, we need a higher grade of iron ore. And for — to sustain these kinds of furnaces and the processes, we do need high-grade iron ore for which we go for imports. If it is available domestically, that is the first preference. Otherwise, we have to go for imports.
Jayant Acharya
Also to just add the Goa iron ore, which is of lower grade, as you asked, will go into the sinter plant operations mostly at Dolvi, where these are easily absorbed.
Amit Dixi
Sir, as I understand in the past…
Operator
Sorry to interrupt Amit, we request you to please rejoin the queue if you have follow-up questions.
Amit Dixi
Okay. Sure. Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go-ahead.
Sumangal Nevatia
Yeah, good evening, sir. Thank you for the chance. First is on prices. Is it possible to quantify? Are we at the early March levels, which was the pre-safeguard duty? So, are we looking at INR1,500 INR2,000 kind of a pressure on a sequential basis?
Jayant Acharya
So, the prices, as you recall, have moved up in March, April and partly in May. From the month of June, we have seen prices moderating. I think at hot-rolled coil levels, they have moderated by about INR1,500 in June per tonne. We see some softness in July as well. Primarily, these are because of the ongoing uncertainties globally, some of the cheaper imports finding its way again into India, and the seasonal impact, basically the monsoons, which disrupt your infra construction.
Having said that, I think it will be difficult to give you a number as to what the final quarter two outlook will be. But what I can — what we can say is basically that while the prices are a little softer, I think some of the costs which we explained — shutdown costs and our operational efficiencies, which were impacted will partly offset these lower coking coal by about up to $5, will also see costs reducing. And iron ore also, we do expect some declines to come in. So they will partly offset the fall in realization.
Sumangal Nevatia
Understood. Just a follow-up, sir. Do we have any contract resets mainly from auto, which will provide some sort of support on the price?
Jayant Acharya
So, automotive, the prices for the quarter one are more or less, they’re finalized, and that has already been closed. So that was positive. Automotive works on a formula basis, and basically, it will get reset again based on the pricing, which is fully crystallized for the quarter. So I think we will see that for quarter two, how it goes.
Sumangal Nevatia
Okay. Okay. Sir, my second question is on the slurry pipeline, if you can give us some update as to when is the pipeline expected to complete? And what sort of cost- saving are we expecting? This is the one which is being executed by JSW Infra now?
Arun Maheshwari
So, the progress is very well as of now. Out of total 300-odd kilometers, it’s almost 190 kilometers is already under the ground and balance 122 kilometers is under progress. And it’s all in as per the time schedule, and we expect it to start by March or April 2027. So, it’s well in time. So we don’t see any unexpected delays over there or anything of that sort.
Sumangal Nevatia
And the cost savings…
Operator
Sorry to interrupt, Sumangal. We request that you return to the queue for follow-up questions. Thank you.
Jayant Acharya
The cost saving will be up to INR1,000 per tonne as we had guided earlier.
Sumangal Nevatia
On iron ore.
Jayant Acharya
On per tonne of iron ore.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Amit Murarka
Hi, thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to delve a bit more on the auto pricing for the quarter. So, since you said that it works on a formula. So is it like a one quarter lag? Or like, if you can just explain that a bit more, how does the formula work? Hello?
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. Yeah, sorry, we just lost you a bit. No, you were asking about the formula for automotive. How does it work, right?
Amit Murarka
Yeah. Yeah, if you can help understand a little bit more on that?
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. So, basically, yes, it works on the last quarter-based formula. So, I think we will see a positive in terms of improvement, marginal positive over quarter one and quarter two based on the last quarter lag.
Amit Murarka
Okay. So, is it a full quarter lag or is it like, let’s say, by the time the discussion is concluded and let’s say now that the pricing is already down, maybe take a rolling three months or something? Is it like fixed that it will work with a one quarter lag?
Jayant Acharya
I think, it is — pricing is never an arithmetic. It works in discussion with customers. So, formula is a guideline, and therefore, those are closed accordingly in discussion with customers. So, I can’t give a comment as to exactly how it will work, but that’s the basic direction.
Amit Murarka
Sure, sure. Understood. And like it will be only — I mean, only with auto customers? Or is that contract also with some other customers in other segments? Just wanted to understand how much of the volume is basically protected from the recent price decline?
Jayant Acharya
Yes. So basically, there are quarterly customers where we have businesses again for a quarter, and they also have a reset clause, which may be a little different. But those are there. I think our monthly customers would still typically constitute a major chunk of our business, and that’s something which will play into the cost. But roughly I would say two-third is based on monthly customers.
Amit Murarka
Sure, sure. Fine, I’ll come back-in the queue. Thank you.
Jayant Acharya
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Satyadeep Jain from AMBIT Capital. Please go-ahead.
Satyadeep Jain
Hi, thank you. First question is on capex and capital allocation. I wanted to understand Dolvi, the orders were placed about one year ago, if I’m not mistaken. Where are we in the process? When do you expect packages to arrive? And what is the expected capital cost for this project now? Especially given safeguard duty and if safeguard duty doesn’t come in the form of what we are seeing in the preliminary from provisional duty, what kind of flexibility is there? Because we keep hearing from industry that we need duty for capex, but the company is already ahead in the process. So what kind of flexibility is there to adjust that capex in case you see something different compared to provisional?
And tied to that will be India and U.S. capex, if you’re seeing demand in all this protection in U.S., when do you pull the trigger on — because historically, there were plans to have $1 billion capex in U.S. Is that something that’s still on the drawing board depending on how situation is? So just two-part question on one, how do you see capex in India and then on U.S.?
G.S. Rathore
Yes, Rathore here. See, as far as Dolvi is concerned, it will be close to INR20,000 crore investment, which is planned for Phase III there. And this whole project is on- schedule. We have placed order, but we are getting ready for engineering done. And there may be some more facility added because like earlier, we did not plan sinter to be added. So probably we will add sinter and add to this cost of INR20,000 crores. Now as far as U.S. investment is concerned for capex, is also more or less on schedule. Maybe if there are — at all, if there is a delay, maybe two to three months of delay, but it is on schedule.
Jayant Acharya
So just to add on the Dolvi thing, the cost of INR20,000-odd crores will be including the sinter plant, which was earlier about INR19,350 crores. On our Ohio operations, there is a marginal delay. Our Baytown operations in terms of expansions are on track. So, Ohio, there could be two months or three months, as Rathore was saying. But I think otherwise, we are good to go.
Satyadeep Jain
And there was one more question, $1 billion in U.S., that’s not part of the plan. So, what we are doing in U.S. is essentially a quality upgrade of our plants, which allows us to produce better grades and helps with margin. But no further capital is planned to be allocated in U.S.
Jayant Acharya
We have already given our project costs earlier. I think those you can refer to it.
G.S. Rathore
But expansion on trade because I think two years ago, there was some possibility of expansion. But as of now, that’s not on the drawing board? No, that’s not part of our capital allocation today.
Jayant Acharya
Only the existing ones which we are doing at Baytown and Ohio, those will be completed. We have not planned any additional capex there.
Satyadeep Jain
Secondly, on this new iron ore project beneficiation, what is the thought process there? Where is the iron ore coming from? What kind of — because we see INR1,000 crore capex outlay, but maybe just if you can provide some details on what kind of cost savings, where is the iron ore coming from for this and this is going to be Vijayanagar. So just some more insights here at this.
Arun Maheshwari
So, there was a tender process under which Andhra Pradesh government has come up with the bidding criteria wherein people can come and set up the beneficiation plant. It’s a magnetite resource by — there’s a 5 million tonne of ROM per year, which will give a produce about 1.5 million tonnes. And it can be upgraded up to 64% with a very low aluminum and silica, which is very complementary. Like in the earlier question, we had said why we are importing material for the high grade. So, this is a substitute to high-grade material that we are likely to import, and it comes at a very attractive commercials. So, this set up is for that and INR1,000 crores is required for the beneficiation unit. It’s a [Indecipherable] government over there.
Jayant Acharya
This will basically feed into our Vijayanagar plant, which is about 500 to 600 kilometers from there. And that will supplement — this high-grade will supplement the Karnataka lower grade. That’s the basic, I would say, reason why we are into this JV.
Satyadeep Jain
So, Any, maybe potential savings….
Operator
Sorry to interrupt. Sir, we request you to please rejoin the queue if you have follow-up questions. Thank you.
Satyadeep Jain
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go-ahead.
Ashish Kejriwal
Yeah, hi, good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, this quarter, is it possible to share how much blended steel price increase, which we witnessed in this quarter? I’m talking about Q1 versus Q4? And secondly, you discussed about HRC prices coming down in June on some softness in July. Can you please give the similar color for rebar prices? And lastly, in terms of volume, I think you mentioned that in second quarter also, we can see marginal increase in volume quarter-on-quarter basis because maybe in first quarter, we have some shutdown?
Jayant Acharya
So, on the price side, I think on a blended basis, we were able to get close to INR3,300 on realizations improvement, similar to what we had guided. On cost side, we’ve already explained to you that we had a benefit on coking coal, and we had some outages on account of shutdowns that had played into our costs. Going forward, the volumes — I didn’t say marginal increase, but I said the volumes would increase because the shutdowns are behind us and the JVML second converter will start. So the volumes will go up from the quarter one to quarter two.
The third question you asked was — you asked three. You asked on rebar price?
Ashish Kejriwal
I was talking about…yeah.
Jayant Acharya
So, on the — so the rebar doesn’t operate. Basically, there are no safeguards on rebars or long products. But right now, what you see is a seasonal impact of the market because during this time, the construction activity goes down. So, you can see that playing out in the secondary market and therefore, on the primary bars as well. So, the prices during this period of time do go down. It’s a seasonal situation which happens every seasonal monsoon quarter. And then again, after the construction activity picks up, it starts coming back.
Ashish Kejriwal
So, whatever price erosion, which we are seeing right now, it’s only seasonal. We are not witnessing anything which could be beyond seasonal also as of now at least?
Jayant Acharya
So, let me just put it this way for everybody, I think that — so quarter one to quarter two, number one positive is you will see volumes going up. Number two is that your shutdown costs of in the range of about INR200 crores, which we had an impact in quarter one, will no longer be there in quarter two.
Number three is that INR343 crores of impact on ForEx loss, which is a mark-to-market on our euro loans. That’s a onetime abnormality. We don’t expect this kind of thing to repeat again. It may vary a little bit here and there. So these two factors, if you were to add, is almost INR800 a tonne, INR200 crores of this and about INR343 crores of this.
So, that’s a positive play, plus the efficiencies will go up. JVML costs will go down. A little bit of cost on account of raw material will also play. So therefore, we will have these as tailwinds. The headwind is, as I said, in terms of price. So the prices are something which have softened. So — but we have these cushions to be able to mitigate some part of the cost — part of the profit realization.
Ashish Kejriwal
Understood, sir. Understood. Thank you and all the best sir.
Jayant Acharya
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ritesh Shah with Investec. Please go-ahead.
Ritesh Shah
Yeah, hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is on the regulatory side. How are we looking at safeguard duties being reinstated or bumped up? So, what is that — how should we understand that? Secondly, there were several variables, specifically from a mining standpoint, cascading effect of royalties, and I think the other one was retrospective taxation, specifically with respect to Karnataka? I think that’s the first question with three parts to it, if you could please help. Thank you.
Jayant Acharya
So on the tariff safeguard side, I think the government is going to be reviewing and announcing the final safeguard duties within the period given, which is 200 days from the date of initiation. So I think the investigations are on, so we would see the result by that time. Given the situation that the tariff uncertainty overall in the world has increased and many countries have started putting barriers to trade — increased barrier to trade, there is more propensity for diversion of trade into India.
We are seeing some of that happening. So lower-priced imports are coming into India from other countries, which were not there for the recent past at lower prices, which is impacting the sentiment in India. So therefore, there is a case for the government to consider the safeguard duty favorably in terms of extension as well as in terms of the overall duty percentage, which they have levied, but there is nothing much beyond this, I can say. We will have to wait-and-see the final investigation.
The second question, which you had asked was about the mining bill. I think in Karnataka, that is not yet approved, but we are auction mines. So for us, therefore, the impact is not going to be much as we had indicated last time.
Ritesh Shah
Sir, the B part cascading effect on royalties?
Jayant Acharya
Royalty on royalty, is that what you’re asking?
Ritesh Shah
Yes.
Jayant Acharya
So that is still subsidies, you know in the court what basically — I think the — there is different views of opinion naturally from different stakeholders. So that is something which is still sub-judice. So, we would, as of now, leave it at that.
Ritesh Shah
Sure. And my quick second question for Swayam. We have seen cash tax rate actually bump up very sharply. For FY ’25, it was 34% versus the average of prior four quarters, which was 17%. How should one comprehend this? And does it have anything with BPSL by means?
Arun Maheshwari
So, your question is on cash tax? What was your question?
Ritesh Shah
Yes. Cash tax rate, what we show in the cash- flow statement for FY ’25, that number is 34%; versus the prior four years, that number is 17%. So is there anything which has changed?
Arun Maheshwari
No, we’ll come back to you on this. We think there is a misunderstanding. Our cash tax-rate…
Ritesh Shah
This is cash tax paid from the cash flow statement divided by the PBT.
Arun Maheshwari
Yeah. So, it might not just be income tax. So, we will come back to you on this cash tax paid include what all taxes.
Jayant Acharya
Directionally, our taxes have gone down.
Arun Maheshwari
Yeah. Yeah. So, in this quarter, our ETR is 28.4%, but our actual cash outgo is a bit lower. So 25.2%, which is the ETR at stand-alone basis.
Ritesh Shah
Sure. Can I just squeeze in one more, if possible?
Arun Maheshwari
Sure.
Ritesh Shah
Yeah. Sir, basically, if you look at the last six, seven years, the reported EBITDA, what we see, we see around 10% to 11% of it coming from government grants. It was nearly INR950. So, my question is the ongoing expansion that we have, do we have sustained incentives from the respective state governments, which would ensure this INR950 or INR1,000 to actually continue going forward?
Jayant Acharya
So, today, the good thing is that every state wants to encourage investments and have rolled out policies for projects, incentives. So I think we see that continuing in the states in which we are investing. So yes, that would continue. The schemes may be different, but yes, that will continue in some form.
Ritesh Shah
Thank you, sir. Thanks, thank you so much. All the best.
Jayant Acharya
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from the line of Vikash Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go-ahead.
Vikash Singh
Good evening, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is regarding this news talks about the zero for zero tariff on the steel product in India, U.S. Though it is not finalized yet, but just wanted to understand that have you heard anything? And if it is 10% to 15%, would it make feasible for us to export to U.S.?
Jayant Acharya
So, it’s too early to really comment on that. We also understand from the media what you are understanding. But we will wait for the final deal to happen. But historically, we — our exports from India to U.S. in steel has not been much. And because you have — in addition to these tariffs, you have safeguard duties, you have antidumping duties and you have some CVD as well on product-to-product basis. So there are very few products actually left where the advantage will be there.
But yes, what you’re asking is a relative disadvantage versus a relative advantage. So I think once the duties are crystallized, we’ll see. But I also understand that steel and aluminum is going to be treated a little differently in U.S. So we’ll have to watch out how that comes.
Vikash Singh
All right. Understood, sir. Thank you. Sir, my second question pertains to our volumes basically. We met 21% of the overall guidance, and we are going to have a shutdown in September in the Vijayanagar. So how should we look at? Is there any risk to our current guidance or…
Jayant Acharya
No, there is no risk to the volume guidance. Our shutdowns are already over. We have taken, yeah.
Vikash Singh
Yeah, please go-ahead.
Jayant Acharya
Yes, sorry, you asked about the plant shutdown. As far as the shutdowns of Dolvi and BPSL are concerned, which we took in the last quarter, they are over and those operations are stable. As far as the BF-3 shutdown is concerned, which is in Vijayanagar, that is already built into our plan of whatever guidance we have given. So, we do not see any impact.
Vikash Singh
Thank you.
Jayant Acharya
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stockbroking. Please go-ahead.
Pallav Agarwal
Yeah, good evening, sir. So, I just want to understand on a consumption basis, what was the coking coal cost this quarter? Because is it closer to the spot prices now? Or we still have some scope for further cost reduction next quarter?
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. Yeah. It is closer — the number would be closer to 160 CFR basis. But I think what you need to see is that prices have become more or less stable in the last month or so. So maybe the benefit which will accrue in quarter two will be between $0 to $5. So, $5 benefit we could expect in the quarter two versus quarter one. This is — sorry, what we told you is about a blended one. But I think the — on a PLB basis, the prices have stabilized. The number which we told you at 160 CFR is on a blended basis, all coals.
Pallav Agarwal
And sir, on our captive coking coal mines, especially the ones in India. So, what kind of timelines and potential cost savings can accrue from these?
Arun Maheshwari
So, we expect that both the washes at Dugda and Parbatpur should start operating in H2 of FY ’27. Somewhere around end of third quarter or beginning of fourth quarter is what we expect it to start. The total production, we expect on a full-scale basis about 2.5 million to 3 million tonnes to start with as a coking coal. And definitely, domestic sourcing is always — would be slightly more cheaper as compared to today’s price regime as well. So, in any which case, it would be beneficial.
Jayant Acharya
And including our three captive coal mines and the washeries put together, maybe we will be slightly higher, is what we are targeting. We will have to see how the yields play in after we start the washeries.
Pallav Agarwal
Sure, sir. So this 2.5 million tonne is clean coal?
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. 2.5 million, it could be 3 million clean coal — usable coking coal.
Pallav Agarwal
Sure, sir. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rajesh Majumdar from B&K Securities. Please go-ahead.
Rajesh Majumdar
Yeah, good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. So, I had a question. You’ve announced the acquisition of a company which owns land in Odisha. So can we get some color on the greenfield project in Odisha now in terms of timelines and what is the exact kind of investment that we are planning? Because we know it’s 13 million tonnes in phases. So some color on that?
Jayant Acharya
You’re talking about the land which we have [Indecipherable].
Rajesh Majumdar
Yes, yes.
Jayant Acharya
So, this is just a land which we are purchasing, close to 900 acres of land in Odisha, which we are acquiring for any future expansions, which we may have.
Rajesh Majumdar
Yeah. I mean, your greenfield growth in Odisha plant. So, is there some relation to this in terms of the land acquisition? And when can we see some capex announcement on this?
Jayant Acharya
No. Greenfield is already going on. Our Paradip project at Jagatsinghpur is already — you know the slurry pipeline is on track. The pellet plants, which are being put up there is on track. We will take up the next phase in terms of steel production. As we decide, we will announce those. But those will come at the Paradip site. This particular site is a different site, and we were getting one 900 acres of clean piece of land. So that is why we have acquired this for any future expansion, which we may have, but nothing decided as of now.
Rajesh Majumdar
Okay. And sir, my next question is on BPSL. Again, we know that these kinds of judiciary decisions can take time in India. So, will it hamper our capex in terms of a brownfield expansion in BPSL? Do you foresee any kind of delay in that going forward?
Jayant Acharya
In our 50 million tonne outlook, which we have given of capacity up to 2030, ’31, BPSL was not part of the brownfield expansion, which we have taken into account. So therefore, it will not impact our targets which we have given.
Rajesh Majumdar
And the 0.5 million tonnes will be on track?
Jayant Acharya
So, that 0.5 million tonne, we will take a view. That is the only one which is basically to be decided after the Supreme Court decisions are behind us.
Rajesh Majumdar
So, if at all, there could be a slight risk of delay in the 0.5 million tonne, nothing more than that?
Jayant Acharya
That’s all. Correct. You’re right.
Rajesh Majumdar
Thanks.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from the line of Vedant Sarda from Nirmal Bang Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead. Sarda, your line has been unmuted. You may proceed with your question.
Vedant Sarda
Sir, am I audible?
Operator
You are audible. You may proceed.
Vedant Sarda
Sir, I want to understand that in Q1 FY ’25, we have mining premium and royalties of INR3,200 crores, and it is INR1,860 crores in the current quarter. So the deviation of this, why it is like that?
Jayant Acharya
Just one second, please hold on. So there are two things in this. One is that our Odisha volumes have moderated. And the second one is the surrender of the Jajang mines. If you recall, we have surrendered the Jajang mines, and therefore, that MTPA was completed and the production from there is stopped.
G.S. Rathore
So, that production would have been in last year base. Consequently, bid premium also in last year base.
Vedant Sarda
This mining premium have been decreased due to reduction in volumes.
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. Reduction in volumes, one is much — yeah, basically, one is Jajang. Therefore, the volume and the premium both have gone down mainly because of Jajang. And secondly, some moderation may have happened in the other mines. We are using to the extent we require.
Vedant Sarda
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Satyadeep Jain from AMBIT Capital. Please go-ahead.
Satyadeep Jain
Hi, thank you. I’m S. Jain. I just wanted to ask on the product mix. In the last — there is expansion in galvanized. We’ve seen expansion in volume and product mix improvement towards galvanized. So just where is galvanized going compared to stainless steel? I just wanted to understand. And also how much, let’s say, in FY ’25, you would have sold for solar mounting structure?
Jayant Acharya
So, galvanized goes into galvanized. So there are — the coated product basket is quite large. It includes galvanized. It has galvalume. It has got galvanneal in our basket. These are different. So galvanized and galvalume go for your various construction activities, solar activities. Zinc magnesium is the other one, which we have developed over the past few years. That also goes into corrosion-resistant areas.
Galvanneal goes for automotive sector. So therefore, these are multiple uses. I’m just trying to simplify this for you. We are expanding our lines on coated as we have just indicated in our initial address on the call. So those will cater to — one is the infrastructure, construction, general engineering sector in Khopoli.
The other one will be for appliances in Khopoli. And the Vijayanagar line will primarily be for automotive up to a very high tensile strength, advanced high-strength steel for up to 1,480 MPa. These are the different usage in these different plants, which we are envisaging in our projects.
Satyadeep Jain
Some of these products are also competing with stainless steel. So, is it some kind of life-cycle cost analysis? Why are these products finding application in certain applications versus stainless? Just want to understand because they would be substitute in certain applications. And also, how much — maybe if you can quantify of the total volumes of — how much did you — how much did go towards solar mounting structure in FY ’25? Is it any material or not yet. Thank you.
Jayant Acharya
We won’t have the data off hand on how much went into solar mounting structures, but we are the largest suppliers to the solar renewable energy side on the solar energy basket. On the stainless-steel side, it will be difficult to comment, but I think what you would see is that stainless is also corrosion resistant. Galvanized is a different structure. Zinc aluminum or zinc magnesium coating also has a corrosion property naturally. The cost and the pricing points for these are different. The applications could be different. So, they go into probably different zones. If you want, we can have somebody from our product teams to have a call with you separately. You can reach out to the Investor Relations; they can connect you.
Satyadeep Jain
Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Prateek Singh from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Prateek Singh
Hi, good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Just a bit more clarification on the beneficiation plant in Andhra. So, what kind of capacity are we talking about? Or are we still at the drawing board stage? Given that, as you mentioned earlier, we would be mining around three tonnes of ore per tonne of high-grade ore. How are we looking at costs there? And any technology partners that we have signed up for this?
Arun Maheshwari
So, the total production of ROM, run of mine, would be 5 million tonnes per year, and the output would be close to about 1.5 million tonnes out of this. Overall cost and everything is being worked out, but then initial process says that it’s a pretty good project.
Prateek Singh
So, what kind of timeline are we looking at?
Arun Maheshwari
So, the total timeline as per the agreement is — goes up to 900 days, but the initial timeline is 720 days.
Jayant Acharya
So, we have to put — just to put it simply, we have to develop the mine along with APMDC, and we have to set up a beneficiation plant. It’s a magnetite ore, which will be enriched to 64 Fe. As Arun said, this would give us an output of about 1.5 million tonnes.
As we understand today, it is linked to the IBM prices of that particular grade. So it will be cost effective. Our idea is to take it to Vijayanagar plant, which will be the closest from a logistics point of view, between 500 to 600 kilometers. So it should be beneficial is our estimate. The balance is being worked out, and we can update you once we are ready.
Prateek Singh
Sure, thanks. The last question is on any sense on how HRC prices domestically are now versus, let’s say, import parity from China? Because it seems that China export prices have strengthened a bit over the past week, and we appear to be at discount. So, any comments on that?
Jayant Acharya
So, the domestic HRC prices, as I said, have moderated in June and partly in July as well. So, I would say that the prices are now very competitive from an import point-of-view. So therefore, the chances of more imports coming in from China would, therefore, to that extent, be lesser. Some low-priced imports have been seen from Russia, which we need to monitor, how that develops.
Prateek Singh
Thanks a lot.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Kirtan Mehta from Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Kirtan Mehta
Thank you so much for this opportunity. I believe you announced about the non-grain project earlier in this. Would you be able to shed more light around the capacity economics of the project?
Jayant Acharya
So, for electrical steel? The capex for this project, is that what you’re asking?
Kirtan Mehta
Capex as well as sort of the economics, how does it work out for the CRNO?
Jayant Acharya
No, economics — so, first of all, the demand for CRNO in the country is quite good because the electrical steel going into various end users like generators, motors, where CRNO goes, that demand is increasing. We, therefore, feel the need. Our current line of 200,000 tonnes is already fully loaded. We still see the demand remaining strong. So, we have decided, therefore, to go in with capacity expansion. The project we see has a very good IRR in terms of rate-of-return. Our capex in the CRNO project is in the vicinity of INR4,600 crores for 0.55 million tonnes.
Arun Maheshwari
And the payback for this project is lower than four years. So, it’s a very attractive project.
Kirtan Mehta
Thanks for this color. And in terms of sort of to maintain our downstream ratio at around 50% of our capacity, for our plan of 50 million tonnes, what are the additional spaces that you would be looking- forward? And would we have further announcement on the downstream side?
Jayant Acharya
So, I think it’s value-added and special products both. So value-added is in the downstream space. Special products are emanating from the hot strip mills in itself. So various advanced high-strength steel, which go for various applications in the hot form itself is also a part of that. Our Dolvi facility, which will be a 2,600 mm wide kind of a mill, we’ll be able to penetrate into the plate market with those kinds of special products as well.
So, you need to consider the VASP in totality. But we’ll keep updating you on our downstream expansion as we do any. As of now, we are about 13 million tonne — 13.5 million tonne of downstream, including our plate facilities out of our 34.2 million tonne capacity in India. But keep in mind that these are based mostly flat steel, whereas 34.2 million includes our long steel facility as well, which includes alloy steel, etc.
Kirtan Mehta
Right. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have Rahil Bohra with SBI Pension Fund with the next question. Please go-ahead.
Rahil Bohra
Hello, am I audible?
Operator
You are audible, sir, you may proceed.
Rahil Bohra
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Just one small question. Could you please tell out the inventory numbers for the current quarter, the volume number?
Jayant Acharya
Inventories have moved up by about 400,000 tonnes on account of the reasons we explained in our [Indecipherable].
Rahil Bohra
This is quarter-on-quarter, right?
Jayant Acharya
Yeah. On an overall basis, it will be in the range of INR2.3 million, including our semi-finished goods, work-in-progress and finished goods put together.
Rahil Bohra
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much.
Jayant Acharya
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as our last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwin Bajaj for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Ashwin Bajaj
Just to reiterate, we continue to remain positive on the outlook for quarter two with respect to volume as the shutdowns are behind us and the converter two at JVML will start operations. Overall, for the year, we see a growth between 8% to 9% in India. So, the demand growth on a higher base continues to be strong. Basically, we see that JSW Steel with its capacity is very well positioned to meet this demand growth in India. And we look forward to any kind of questions which you may have. You can reach-out to our investors cell. Thank you.
G.S. Rathore
Yes. Thank you, everyone, for joining, and have a good weekend. Bye.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]