Steelcast Ltd (NSE: STEELCAS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 30, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Rushil C. Tamboli — Whole Time Director
Chetan M. Tamboli — Chairman and Managing Director
Subhash R Sharma — Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer
Umesh V Bhatt — Company Secretary
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Kanav Khanna — Analyst
Parikshit Gujrati — Analyst
Harshil Solanki — Analyst
Mosam Shah — Analyst
Manish Goyal — Analyst
Chirag Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to The Steel Cars Limited Q3FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all Paris millines will be the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on attached in phone. Please note that this conference has been recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Kannav Khanna from ENY. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Kanav Khanna — Analyst
Thank you. Mozkan. Good evening everyone. We welcome you all to Steelcast Limited’s earnings call to discuss the Q3 FY26 financial results. Today from the management side we have with us Mr. Chetan Tamboli, Chairman and Managing Director. Mr. Rushil Tamboli, Full Time Director. Mr. Subhash Sharma, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Umesh Bhatt, Company Secretary. Please note a copy of the disclosure is available in the investor section of the website as well as on the stock exchanges. Please further refer to the detailed safe harbor statement in the investor presentation of the company. Please note that anything said on this call which reflects the outlook for the future or which could be construed as a forward looking statement must be reviewed in conjunction with the risk that the company faces.
Now I shall hand over the call to Mr. Rushal Tamboli. Over to you sir. Thank you.
Rushil C. Tamboli — Whole Time Director
Thank you. Kanabai. Good evening everyone. We welcome you to Steelcast Limited’s earnings conference call to discuss the company’s performance for the quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2025. Our board meeting concluded earlier today and the financial results along with the investor presentation have been uploaded on the stock exchanges and the company’s website. We trust you have had an opportunity to review the same. I will start off by giving a highlight of the financial performance for the current quarter versus Q3FY25. During Q3FY26, the revenue from operations was at 97.4 crores, a moderate degrowth of 3.08% from 100.5% crores in Q3FY25.
EBITDA during the quarter was at 31.21 crores, a growth of 6.81% from 29.22 crores in Q3FY25. EBITDA margin was at 32.04%. An increase of 297 basis points from 29.07% in Q3FY25 PBT during the quarter was at 27.89 crores, a growth of 8.01% from 25.82 crores in Q3FY25. This translated to a PBT margin of 28.63%, an increase of 294 basis points from 25.69% in Q3FY25. PAT during the quarter was at 20.59 crores, a growth of 7.17% from 19.21 crores in Q3FY25. FAT margin came in at 21.14% again an increase of 202 basis points from 19.11% in Q3FY25.
As highlighted in earlier calls, Q3 was relatively softer due to moderation in demand and near term geopolitical uncertainties, particularly arising from disruptions in certain export markets. Despite this, our teams continue to execute existing orders efficiently and remain closely engaged with customers across markets. While the broader geopolitical environment continues to present some uncertainty, we expect Q4FY26 at Q1 Q2 levels. Accordingly, we remain confident of delivering 11% growth in FY26 over FY25 supported by ongoing execution and a healthier demand outlook towards the end of the year. On the issue of US tariffs, our products continue to remain competitive versus both global and Chinese suppliers, supported by the structural cost advantages we enjoy at Steelcast.
As intimated in Q2 across three of our key product categories supplied to the US, our pricing remains approximately 5%, 12% and 13% more competitive respectively compared to comparable Chinese offerings. This strengthens our export positioning and also creates opportunities to expand into new customers and markets, particularly as global OEMs diversify. Sourcing amid evolving geopolitical dynamics the geopolitical environment has also led to a relative shift in demand with customers, especially in the US increasingly evaluating non China cost competitive suppliers. As a result, we continue to see healthy engagement and inquiries from US customers who are reassessing sourcing strategies to reduce tariff exposure and supply chain concentration risks.
Given our pricing advantage, quality consistency and execution track record, we believe Steelcast is well positioned to benefit from this rebalancing of demand even as near term volumes remain sensitive to policy developments. Importantly, none of our existing customers have altered their supply chains nor we have reduced prices to date and most continue to expect a resolution on trade arrangements in the coming weeks. Parallel we are actively de risking the business through geographic and sectoral diversification. As shared earlier, more than three dozen new components were under development in the ground engaging tools and construction segments and we are pleased to report that execution of initial orders in both Segments commenced in Q2 FY26.
We remain optimistic about the scale up potential of these programs. Over the last four years the company has delivered a 24% CAGR and yet confident of sustaining around 20% CAGR over the next three years to support future volume growth. Our 2.4 megawatt hybrid power plant project, expected to be commissioned by 30 June 2026, will further enhance cost efficiency and sustainability. The project is estimated to generate annual savings of 3.5 to 4 crores. Margins are expected to remain stable at current levels, reflecting disciplined cost management and operational efficiency. During Q3 FY26 exports contributed around 63% of revenues while domestic sales accounted for approximately 37%.
While we are seeing some moderation in the US due to tariff related and broader geopolitical factors, interest from customers and investors remains strong across other markets, reinforcing confidence in our strategy and execution. Overall, the company is well positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities and meet growing market demands over the long term.
With that, I will hand over the call to Mr. Chetan Tamboli to add a few more remarks. Thank you.
Chetan M. Tamboli — Chairman and Managing Director
Thank you. Rusheel, to supplement what you have said, I just want to mention that in FY26 last financial year we developed 56 parts, in current year 2526 we developed 46 parts and in the next financial year we develop about 42 parts. So all put together we would be developing 144 parts. And for the parts being developed in FY27 which is the next financial year, we already have tooling and sample purchase order in our hand from all of our customers. So with this we would be in a position to scale up operations and sales in the coming year.
As of now as we speak, the current quarter seems to be the bottom for our foreseeable future, maybe next one and a half to three years. Diversifying new customers base in new geographies is our strategic objective and we believe we’ll be successful in the next three to four months. We are also exploring new strategic partnership with our customers in giving them sub assemblies of the parts we manufacture. With all this we feel we are at an inflection point in our journey and as we speak we are very optimistic and as Rushil said about the future growth over the next two three year period.
Thank you. With that I would now like to open the floor for questions.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask question will press star and one on the Touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from question Q, you may press star and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen will wait for a moment while the question queue ascends.
The first question is from the line of Parishit Gujarati from Niveshai. Please go ahead.
Parikshit Gujrati
Thank you for this opportunity, sir. Am I audible to all of you?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yes, please.
Parikshit Gujrati
So my first question was what was. The current capacity for this quarter?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Please repeat your question.
Parikshit Gujrati
So my question was what was the current capacity utilization for this quarter?
Chetan M. Tamboli
I’m not able. I’m not able to hear you.
Parikshit Gujrati
Hello. Hello.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yes please.
Parikshit Gujrati
So my question was what was the current capacity for this quarter?
Chetan M. Tamboli
This quarter utilization was about. Sharmaji. Is it about 48%?
Subhash R Sharma
So it is 46.
Chetan M. Tamboli
46.
Parikshit Gujrati
46. Okay, okay. And so my second question was, you mentioned that you are diversifying customers from the US to other countries. So which countries you are targeting? And my third question was. Hello. Hello.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yes. Yes we can hear you.
Parikshit Gujrati
So my third question was. And in the Defense and Get segment, what is the update on our process, on our products of which we are supplying? In the Defense and the get segment.
Chetan M. Tamboli
You are asking what is the potential?
Parikshit Gujrati
Yeah, yeah,
Chetan M. Tamboli
yeah. Potential. Potential is used. But we would you know gradually ramp up all these areas. As far as defense is concerned. We are working with an Israel company for developing some parts. Some parts are developed and we hope, we are hoping to receive serial supplies and for ground engaging tools. We are in touch with our existing OEM customers where the potential is huge. So as Rushil Tamboli said, we have grown over last 24% in the last four years and we are very confident of achieving another 20% plus growth in the coming three years time.
Parikshit Gujrati
20%. And so answer to mitigate the US tariffs which new geographies you are targeting.
Chetan M. Tamboli
As of now we are focusing on two countries. And we are hopeful of knowing this in the coming 60 to 90 days time. Yeah. So we now export to about 16 countries. We should be then doing 18 countries.
Parikshit Gujrati
Okay, sir. And for the next year what utilization levels we can see for the all over capacity which we have of 30,000 tons.
Chetan M. Tamboli
What is going to be our likely utilization for the next year?
Umesh V Bhatt
58%.
Chetan M. Tamboli
So next year.
Parikshit Gujrati
So you are saying from 48 to 58%, right?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yes, please.
Parikshit Gujrati
And sir, in your earlier calls you said that you will be gradually ramping up to 80% utilization by FY28. What’s the update on that?
Chetan M. Tamboli
As we Speak. We believe we should be able to do 90% in FY28. FY28 which is about, you know, 26000 transit.
Parikshit Gujrati
And are you confident of doing that?
Chetan M. Tamboli
As we speak with all the uncertainties in mind and all the trade agreements which favors India in mind and likely to do about another eight to nine countries trade agreements in the coming two, three months, we feel we should be able to do this.
Parikshit Gujrati
Okay. Okay. Can you, can you throw some light on what percentage of exports do we do to the EU countries?
operator
I’m sorry to interrupt so your voice is not audible properly.
Parikshit Gujrati
Am I audible?
operator
Just repeat your question. Yes sir.
Parikshit Gujrati
So my question was can the management throw some light on what percentage of exports do they do to the EU countries.
Chetan M. Tamboli
In the next financial year? We are targeting about 20%.
Parikshit Gujrati
And what is our. Current percentage what we do?
Chetan M. Tamboli
It should be about maybe 15%.
Parikshit Gujrati
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask question. Next question is from the line of Harshal Salanki from Equatorial Capital. Please go ahead.
Harshil Solanki
Hello, good evening Chitan Bhai and team. So I had three questions. I list them down all together. First is on the raw material. Raw material as a percentage of sale has come down. So is it because of the lower steel price and this will be passed through to the customers going forward and therefore the margins will normalize or is it due to some product mix change which has happened? If you can help on that part. And next two questions are related to the alarm ship breaking yard. So there are news articles saying that due to the Hong Kong convention being applicable to the ship digging yards, their operating cost may go up and hence the raw material prices may also go up.
The steel scrap which is there. So do you see a threat of the raw material getting expensive because of that? And on the similar lines there is a report saying that a lesser number of ships are coming to along for getting dismantled. So is there a possibility of a shortage of raw materials for us because we procure from the scrap from alam. So if you can throw some light on this.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah. Now on your question of raw material costs which are lower for the quarter, we had some input cost reduction across many, many raw materials. So as you know in Silcast we are, we have a system of sales price variation formula. If the input cost go down we give reduction and if the input cost goes up we get a price increase. So this will be a pass through mechanism. So we are not Very much worried about the fluctuation in raw materials market. Secondly regarding Alang, I think we use Alang connected scrap maybe only 20, 25%.
Rest of the scrap is automobile scrap and some other general engineering industries. So we are really not much connected to Alang. And as your last question about shortage of ships coming and shortage of scrap as we the scrap buying is only 15 20% we are not really worried about any shortage of ships and with the result shortage of seal scrap. So as far as we are concerned we are on a good wicket and we should hopefully do. If the input prices go up we get a price increase goes down, we get a we give price reduction. Thank you.
Harshil Solanki
Okay, understood. I have more questions. I’ll come back in the day.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask question. The next question is from the line of Mossam Shah from Wealth Guardian. Please go ahead.
Mosam Shah
Hello. Hi. Congratulations on the consistent set of numbers. Just wanted a clarification regarding what is our current order book.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah, the current order book is about 115 crores. This will be executable in in the current quarter January Q4 FY26.
Mosam Shah
And what is the percentage of exports to USA.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Last last year we did 30% of our sales to exports to us. This year that number might go down to about 2627%. And in the next financial year it should be again somewhere around 25 26%.
Mosam Shah
Okay, thank you so much and all the very best.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
This call is no longer being recorded. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manishkoel from Think wise wealth managers. Please go ahead.
Manish Goyal
Thank you so much. Sir, just one I missed on couple of things. What you probably replied to dear participants. One was on the FY28 capacity utilization what was the number you mentioned? Sir, that was one question.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Okay, can you see your second question?
Manish Goyal
Yes. And sir can you please provide the volume breakup between domestic and exports for the current quarter as well as for nine months. That was my second question. And you did mention just now that we have order book of 115 crores. So next year when we are expecting say 58% capacity utilization which implies at least 20% growth. So how do you see the pipeline and what will be the growth drivers? These are the three questions. And also. On the defense Israel defense related reply what you mentioned if you can depict that also. Yeah, thank you.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah. So we expect FY28 to have utilization levels of about 90%. B the volume breakup for the current quarter IS domestic is 37% and export is 63%. For the next financial year overall exports we plan to be. We plan to have 60% domestic, 40%. And
Manish Goyal
sorry sir, this volume. Sir, what you probably gave on the volume breakup. It is the value breakup which is given.
operator
The person you are speaking with has put.
Manish Goyal
Hello. Hello. Yeah. No sir, in presentation we. We have the value wise breakup of domestic and exports and which is the same thing which you mentioned right now I wanted the volume wise breakup, not the value breakup. Value breakup is there in the presentation.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Do you have these numbers with you.
Umesh V Bhatt
In terms of domestic and I will. Have to check it. I don’t have ready made numbers right now.
Chetan M. Tamboli
But. But you have the. The tonnage numbers if you can.
Umesh V Bhatt
Ah yes, yes, yes you can.
Chetan M. Tamboli
If you can see 37% which is domestic and 63% is exports. More or less. It should be in the same range.
Umesh V Bhatt
Right sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you. Thank you.
Manish Goyal
Okay. Okay.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Defense. If we are working with an Israeli company the progress is quite satisfactory. And this is combat vehicle part. And we should. We have. We’ve been approved by two sets of sampling done over the period of last six months. And we hope to receive serial orders in the coming few weeks.
Manish Goyal
This will be export order, sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yes, sir. Purely export. Thank you.
Manish Goyal
And sorry sir, one. One last question just to clarify. So in FY27 we expect 58% capacity utilization which jumps to straight 90% in FY28. So such a large jump will be driven by what? Sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
If you. You know, I just said, you know a little while ago that in FY25 we developed 56 parts. In the current year, FY26, we have developed 46 parts. In the next financial FY27 we will develop 42 parts. All put together is about 144 parts. All this will converge into serial supplies. And that’s why we are confident of reaching 90% in FY28.
Manish Goyal
Okay, sir. Okay. Thank you. I’ll come back in the queue. Thank you sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah, thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harshal Salanki from Equity Capital. Please go ahead.
Harshil Solanki
Thank you for the follow up. So I had one thing you said order book is 115 crores. And if I just do a simple math of taking 21 margins which are our current quarter’s margins and that comes to a 24 crore pad which is better than our Q1 and Q2 numbers. So why are we guiding for the.
operator
I’m sorry to interrupt. Sorry, your voice is breaking.
Harshil Solanki
Hello.
operator
Yes, sir.
Harshil Solanki
Yeah. So my question is on a 115 crore order book, if I take the current quarter’s margin of 21%, the profit comes to 24 crores which is greater than the Q1 Q2 number. So if you can explain why the guidance is lower for the Q4.
Chetan M. Tamboli
See, I appreciate your question but really we are not in a position and the Security Board doesn’t allow us to give exact numbers. But we can talk on a macro level that our EBITDA margin is now around 30%. But I can say that we are quite confident that 2728 will be sustainable over a longer period of time. A B if the volume goes up, obviously the bottom line also improves. So I hope I’ve been able to answer your question.
Harshil Solanki
Okay, just one small question. Is there any forex impact in our numbers?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Last several quarters we’ve been having. A. Gain on foreign exchanges on a quarter on quarter basis we have gained on input cost reductions. We have also gained from our internal cost reduction programs. So that’s all bunched together in this quarterly results.
Subhash R Sharma
Sir, we can give the breakup if you want.
Chetan M. Tamboli
So Sharmaji, give the current quarter breakup, you know just to give them a sample information.
Subhash R Sharma
Yes. So foreign exchange gain in the quarter is 1 crore 41 lakhs. And for that purchase price variance it is almost 101 crore 9 lakhs. And that cost reduction program is almost 90 lakhs. So totaling to 3 crore 41 lakhs.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah. Thank you, Sharmaji. So this is our broad. This keeps happening on a quarter on quarter basis with the numbers fluctuating between these three components. And we have an ongoing quite well established cost reduction programs done over last more than two decades. And we will continue to have this. Okay,
Harshil Solanki
this was it. Thank you for answering.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants. You may press star and want to ask question. Participants may press R&1 to ask question. The next question is from the line of Chiraksha from ICIC securities. Please go ahead.
Chirag Shah
Yeah. Hi, good evening. Sir, my question is more on the domestic side. How do you expect the domestic side to fare going over? So given you’ve already mentioned that FY28C will see a huge jump in utilization. So will it be more obviously export is the bigger pie for us today. The numbers for domestic revenues will change dramatically in FY28 as well.
Chetan M. Tamboli
If you see our last several years, you know we’ve been fluctuating between 55 and 45% between exports and domestic. And this ratio will keep aiming at the same levels for the next couple of years or so. But year on year this number keeps fluctuating. It will be 10% plus minus 55 for exports and 10% plus minus 45% for domestic. So we expect this ratio to continue for years ahead. Also.
Chirag Shah
With respect to your current status in the US markets, given it’s a big market for us and there’s a tariff issue going on. So what are you exactly hearing from the clients in terms of the old clients and probably the clients you’re trying to get on board? So are you facing any uncertainty with respect to the new clients or the prospects that you’re talking to? And what are the behavior of the current trend that you already have in the some qualitative aspects?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah, you know, as Rushil Tamboli has said on his call, on this call that the supply chain is pretty much intact. Customers are not going anywhere. The third quarter has been softer because of the tariff issue and the other geopolitical issues. We have not given any price reduction to any customer in the U.S. north America for the, in the, in the current year. And people are quite optimistic about resolve resolving the tariff issues in the coming maybe few weeks time. And in our line of business it’s extremely difficult to change supply chain. You know, this takes two, three years time.
So people are hopeful. We are also hopeful and with new trade agreements between India and several other countries, we should be in a good wicket over the next one or two quarters. Thank you. Thank you.
Chirag Shah
So, just one last question from my side. Hypothetically, let’s say the deal gets postponed to by a quarter or two since hypothetically speaking, would that behave beyond or would the anxiety of the current clients go up and they might start asking for discounts. And secondly, with respect to the new markets, what is the current duty that you are attracted to and what will be the duty after the FTA signed? That’s all from my side.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Okay. As far as the European Union duty levels, as of as we speak, we really are not sure about what is going to be the duty levels after the trade agreement with European Union takes into effect. We don’t know. We will have to study the fine print. But at the moment the duty levels are around 6, 6.5% between India and European Union.
And as far as the US tariffs are concerned, their additional impact is 50% even if they ask us what can we give? Maybe one 1.5%. So we have explained to our customers that it’s really not worth giving you any discount because your burden is 50% plus and so far they’ve agreed and we believe it’s unlikely they may chase us for a discount. And even if they ask us for a discount we as a company are not prepared to give in anything. Thank you.
Chirag Shah
To put it on. Otherwise 115 crores of backlog that we have. So most of that would be from us or the incremental that would have got added to this. 115 crores would have come from the US markets in this quarter or the December quarter.
Chetan M. Tamboli
See the US market is it ranges from 25 to 30%. Even in the Q4 it will be 25, 26% next year. We feel this should be slightly lower but it’s not a substantial increase or decrease as we speak.
Chirag Shah
Finally, don’t you think you are a bit conservative in your margin guidance given if you are expecting such a big jump in utilization in both FY27 and 28 operating business should give you huge amount of lever to margins going up from the current levels.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah, but when volume goes up there will be, you know, many components at you know, relatively lower profit margins. So, so when you speak about overall margin scenario you might see, you know instead of 30% you might see between 27.5, 28% over a longer period of time. And we believe, you know, we talk about margins not on a specific quarter or a year. We see on a sustainable basis over 1, 2, 3 years time. And one should see on a long term basis rather than 1/4 or 2/4.
Chirag Shah
Sure. Finally, finally 90 utilization will call for a new capex to come in. Right. So when are we going to take that call?
Chetan M. Tamboli
We will take a call when we hit the annual rate of 75% whichever that quarter is and whichever that month is. And we have free reserves parked into government securities and fixed deposits now as we speak about 110crores which will keep accumulating and this number might go up to 125130 crores by the current year end. But we will not venture into moving into capex till we hit annual rate of 75%.
Chirag Shah
Thanks a lot and all the best for the future.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you sir. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajiv Ra, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, good evening sir. I think one of my question was already got clarificated clarified by by the earlier participant. I just wanted to know on the other incomes, the other incomes have doubled. If you see in last nine months is there any specific component which has contributed to it? And the second question was on the capex side, is there any plan capex for next year? Yes, sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Sharmaji, you want to add anything on the other income side?
Subhash R Sharma
Effects of the income has increased that we are getting our, you know, income or interest from our security that we have parked the government and fds.
Unidentified Participant
Okay.
Subhash R Sharma
So that is why the other income is now slowly, gradually increasing.
Unidentified Participant
Okay.
Chetan M. Tamboli
And what was the next question
Unidentified Participant
on. The capex side, sir? Is there any capex?
Chetan M. Tamboli
Yeah. For the. For the financial year FY27 we will do about 30, 35 crores in by way of you know, new space requirement for handling more output and some balancing equipments required for you know, take care of the new product mix.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, thanks. Okay, thank you.
Chetan M. Tamboli
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask. Question. Is. There are no further questions from the participants. I would now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you sir.
Chetan M. Tamboli
On behalf of Steelcast and all of us on the conference call. Thank you to each one of you for being part of our earnings call and participating in the call. We appreciate your support and trust in us. We hope we can be. We’ve been able to address most of your queries. In case of further queries you may reach out to our investor relation advisor Ernst and Young and they will connect with you offline. Thank you. And thank you Arpit Bhai Kanobhai for your support. And thank you Sharmaji Rushil Umesh Bhai for this participant in the call. And thank you to all the investors. Thank you very much.
Subhash R Sharma
Thank you. Thank you all.
Umesh V Bhatt
Thank you.
Rushil C. Tamboli
Thank you.
operator
Thank you on behalf of Silkars Limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.