Welspun Corp Ltd (NSE: WELCORP) Q3 2025 Earnings Call dated Feb. 06, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Salil Bawa — President, Group Investors Relations
Vipul Mathur — Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Board Member
Ashish Prasad — Chief Executive Officer, Sintex BAPL
Analysts:
Anirudh Nagpal — Analyst
Aditya Welekar — Analyst
Lokesh Maru — Analyst
Amit Lahoti — Analyst
Vikash Singh — Analyst
Muskan Rastogi — Analyst
Abhishek Ghosh — Analyst
Analyst
Mihir Dhami — Analyst
Shaurya Punyani — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the Welspun Corp Limited Q3 FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call hosted by JM Financial Institutional Securities Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anirudh Nagpal from JM Financial Institutional Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you.
Anirudh Nagpal — Analyst
Thanks, operator, and welcome, everyone, to the call. I’ll first thank Welspun Corp for giving JM Financial Institutional Securities Limited the opportunity to host today’s call. So without much ado, I’ll hand over the call to Mr. Salil Bawa, Head, Investor Relations, Welspun Group, to introduce the management. Over to you, Salil.
Salil Bawa — President, Group Investors Relations
Thank you, Anirudh, and good morning to all of you. I welcome all of you to the Q3 FY ’25 Earnings Call of Welspun Corp. Present along with me today is the senior team of Welspun Corp, which includes Mr. Vipul Mathur, Managing Director; I have Percy Birdy, Chief Financial Officer; and Ashish Prasad, CEO of Sintex BAPL. I also have Goutam Chakraborty, who heads Investor Relations for Welspun Corp.
You must have received the results and investor presentation, which are available on the stock exchanges, as well as on the company’s website. As usual, we’ll start the forum with some opening remarks by the leadership team. Post that, we’ll open the floor for your questions. During the discussion, we may be making references to the presentation.
I would request you to take a moment to review the safe harbor statement in our presentation. Should you have any queries that remain unanswered post the earnings call, please feel free to reach out to any one of us.
With that, let me hand over the floor over to Mr. Vipul Mathur, MD and CEO, Welspun Corp. Over to you.
Vipul Mathur — Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Board Member
Thank you, Salil, and good morning, everyone. Let me welcome you all for our Q3 FY ’25 earnings conference call. Thanks for attending today’s discussion. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2025.
Let me start the discussion with some key operational and financial highlights of the Q3 FY ’25, followed by business update, and then we can have an interactive session. The key highlights of this quarter were: we showed a very resilient performance with improved profitability on a sequential basis; the 9-month performance run scale indicate that we are on track to beat the full year guidance comfortably consecutively for the second year in a row.
We have a robust order book of more than in excess of INR15,000 crores; strong focus on core geographies and core products; improved visibility in all core geographies, including India, U.S. and KSA; all the projects which have been announced are on track and are progressing well; our annualized ROCE run rate maintained at more than 20%; leverage ratio at very comfortable levels.
Let me give you some operational and financial deep highlights of the quarter. The line pipe sales volume in India and U.S. rose 16% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 235,000 tonnes. The total order book for the line pipes in India and U.S. is at a robust 866,000 tonnes. Our DI pipe order book also continues to remain very strong at approximately 350,000 tonnes, providing visibility for next 4 quarters. Our stainless steel business volume rose by 28% on quarter-on-quarter to 5,000 tonnes on Y-o-Y basis, while pipes volume fall 16% on quarter-on-quarter basis to 1,000 tonnes.
But order book remained stable at 4,400 tonnes worth INR185 crores. In Building Materials, our TMT sales grew by 51% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 62,000 tonnes for this particular quarter. Our Sintex revenue remained stable despite all the market volatility on a quarter-on-quarter basis and currently stands at INR143 crores.
As far as our consolidated performance is concerned, in Q3 FY ’25, our EBITDA stood at INR478 crores, which shows a consistent improvement on a quarter-on-quarter basis for the last 3 quarters. I would also like to highlight here that for the 9 months, our consolidated EBITDA stood at INR1,356 crores against our FY ’25 full year guidance of INR1,700 crores.
This is clearly indicating that we will surely surpass our guidance for the second consecutive year and against all the global challenges and concern. EBITDA margins remained fairly stable at around 13%, which is also in line with our overall performance road map. Our consolidated adjusted PAT stood at INR297 crores for the quarter. The ROCE for the 9 months period stood at 15% against our full year guidance of 20%. The net debt reduced to INR104 crores at the end of December quarter and the net debt-to-EBITDA stood at an extremely comfortable level of just 0.06 times.
Now, before giving you an overview of our business, let me touch upon the macro scenario briefly. According to the latest World Economic Outlook by the IMF, the global GDP growth is projected at 3.35%, both for FY ’25 and ’26. This is primarily unchanged as higher projection for U.S. has offset the downward revision in some major European economies. Forecast for India growth remains unchanged at 6.5%, both for FY ’25 and FY ’26. Also, let me point out here that the upward — the recent upward movement in U.S. dollar-rupee is not detrimental to our business.
Now, let me give you an overview of our business. Let me first start with the pipe solutions vertical. As I said, in the line pipes, our total order book for Ind AS, which means India and U.S.A. stands at almost 866,000 tonnes, valued at around INR12,000 crores plus. As regards the business outlook, in case of India, in the next 2 years, we see a potential of 2.5 million tonnes of line pipes demand coming primarily from large PSUs like GAIL, IOCL, ONGC, HPCL and BPCL, including green hydrogen and carbon capture pipelines.
The Petroleum Ministry recently set a target of 183 bcm gas for 2030, which is 2.8 times the 2023-’24 actual and will yield about 12% gas share by 2030. Indian natural gas pipeline network is expected to increase by 10,000 kilometers, adding to the current operational network of almost 25,000 kilometers as per PNGRB’s latest announcement. On the export front, we are seeing a very significant demand coming up for LSAW pipes for critical applications for deep offshore, sour service where Welspun has an impeccable track record and has a market leadership position.
We are also seeing a market potential building up for carbon capture and hydrogen pipelines, especially in Europe and Australia, in which also we are much ahead in the competitive landscape. We have secured qualifications for Australia hydrogen pipeline project after successful completion of our testing program. There has been — we have been emphasizing a lot on our development for the new energy, which is carbon capture and hydrogen. And as I mentioned earlier, we are in significantly better position in the competitive landscape.
As regards to the water sector, we see a huge opportunity in India for large diameter pipes being used in the water sector. These opportunities are likely to come up from interlinking of rivers, where the push from center and the states is significant. We are seeing projects like — we are seeing projects in MP like Ken-Betwa and PKC, in Rajasthan, projects like ERCP and in Maharashtra, Wainganga to Nalganga. These will kick-start pipe demand in the next financial year. States like Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are exponentially increasing the water pipeline network for irrigation, industrialization and urbanization. The next 2, 3 years are going to be extremely, extremely demand — high demand-driven market for the water sector.
After India, let me talk about the U.S.A. Our announcement in Q3 with respect to the new orders what we have secured has significantly improved our order book position in the U.S. Further, the visibility of U.S. has further — the visibility in U.S. has also significantly improved after the new administration, which has come in, which is completely focusing on deregulating the oil and gas sector. Our large order wins of quarter 3 FY ’25 reinforce our credibility and demonstrates our pole position in U.S.A. And currently, our mill is already booked for 6 to 7 quarters. We are seeing a traction on many other projects at this point in time, and we stand to benefit out of few projects which are likely to come our way.
As regards to our Saudi Arabian entity, we are seeing — in the water sector, we are seeing a very robust demand, which is persistent and a very strong visibility is likely to continue for the next 4 to 5 years’ time. Consistent focus on improving water structure has been there with expected rise in population over a period of time and infrastructure being built, need for the water transportation and distribution is going to significantly improve further.
On the oil and gas side, Saudi Aramco oil production capacity expansion is backed by a strong budgetary allocation of spending almost $10 billion per year for the next year. This gives us the belief of a very strong demand of line pipe in the oil and gas sector to continue. Master Gas Phase 3 is also driving demand for the spiral pipe, and we anticipate that very shortly, Master Gas Phase 4 program is also likely to be announced. Our associate company, EPIC, which has been — which is the largest and which is in the pole position in the Saudi Arabian market, having a market share of more than 30%, has a confirmed order book of more than 2.5 years at this point in time.
As regards Saudi, you must be aware that we have announced of setting up longitudinal plant in the Saudi. This is a greenfield project of 350,000 tonnes, which is being set up by Welspun under a wholly owned subsidiary, and it is backed by a very strong domestic demand and export opportunity. You would have also noticed that we have recently signed an MOU with Saudi Aramco for this LSAW project — for this LSAW pipe plant. We are hoping that this plant to be operational in the fourth quarter of FY ’26.
After coming to our — coming to the update on our DI pipe division, the demand continues to remain strong for the DI pipe segment. We have a strong order backlog of almost 350,000 tonnes valued around INR2,700 crores. The projects under JJM, irrigation, industrial, sewerage sector and various augmentation schemes are the key demand drivers. The latest union budget has enhanced the total Jal Jeevan Mission outlay to INR67,000 crores for the next financial year, and the mission also has been extended till 2028. There were little concerns about the fund availability in the past few quarters. And I think so with this announcement and with this outlay, this issue stands addressed and stand behind us now. The AMRUT 2 projects and the Smart City projects across India continue to support demand. The Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen aims to provide solid and waste management across all the villages. Even the national river linking projects are also likely to help demand for the DI pipes. All put together, we continue to see a very robust demand for the DI pipes for the next 3 to 5 years. Our order book remains strong and keep us busy for the next 4 quarters.
You would have also noticed that we announced setting up a greenfield plant of DI, DIP greenfield plant in Saudi. The genesis is that we see a very strong demand scenario in the water distribution sector in the market of Saudi Arabia. USD80 billion has been allocated for development of water infrastructure under the Vision 2030 umbrella. Today, there is a significant capacity of — significant — the market is being significantly serviced by imports. By putting up this green DIP greenfield project in Saudi Arabia, we intend to immediately capitalize upon the opportunity of import substitution. We will be ready with this greenfield facility in the first quarter of FY ’27.
As regards our SS Bars and Pipes business, our order book stands at 4,200 metric tons, valued at more than INR185 crores. We remain sharply focused on buoyant domestic Indian market, which is steadily growing and offering significant opportunities, especially in the value-added segments like clean energy, defense, outer space, power-gen, shipbuilding, public infrastructure and nuclear.
I’m sure you would have seen in the recent budget announcement, the emphasis being laid for the development of nuclear power plants. In line with that these core sectors will require very, very high-quality specialized pipes, we — Welspun Specialty Steel has been on a journey in terms of augmenting their R&D capability and have developed — recently developed some very special grades like Super 304H and T91 SS boiler tube for supercritical power plants.
We are the first Indian company to receive the order from BHEL to be produced and supplied in a fully integrated manner under one roof, which means we made our own steel, we rolled the steel into bars. And from those bars, we made our own pipes and those pipes are now being supplied to BHEL for supercritical power plant. For this development and for this achievement, we were also recently felicitated by BHEL.
Let me now move on to our next growth story, Sintex. As you know, we have been consistently working on strengthening our distribution channel through constant focus on improvising composition of distributors, retailers and plumbers. We have also launched various campaigns for brand building campaign, Saaf Safe Sahi has landed extremely well with the customers.
We have launched 4P Advantage campaign to boost visibility in select markets. Our strategy is to remain on the premium segment, and I am happy to share that the premium play has been very well accepted and our premium portfolio has been showing a growth rate of mid-teens in Q3. Our new distribution management system and sales force application implemented towards achieving the One App per stakeholder vision.
I am also pleased to inform you that we are going to launch our plastic pipes in Q1 of FY 2026. We are pouring into plastic pipes in a big way. We are seeing that as a big market with — and we are seeing the demand for these pipes is going to be huge in years to come. We are also launching our OPVC pipes from our Bhopal manufacturing plant, along with the pipes and fittings.
And also, we have launched — we have started building — we have started our factory for pipes and fittings for buildings in Chhattisgarh as well. So right now, our OPVC plant will — OPVC pipes will come out from Bhopal plant, but all other pipes, the polymer pipes will come out from our plant in Chhattisgarh. So these are the 2 locations through which we are now currently going to foray into the plastic pipes market.
I also would like to cover about our Rebar segment. We achieved the highest quarterly sale of 60,000 tonnes in quarter 3 of FY ’24. We are — to supply customized solution for modern construction in form of cut and bend rebars and adding other value-added products like Fusion Bonded Epoxy to increase the life of construction in multifold times.
This is the development which we have already started, and we intend to supply — this is what will reduce — significantly reduce the construction time when we are talking of large infrastructure development happening in the country. There is a robust demand in infrastructure segment and being a local and a branded player with an impeccable quality, we see multifold growth over the next 3 to 5 years in our TMT rebars.
Before ending my discussion and moving on to the Q&A session, I would like to update you about the projects that we have announced earlier. I am happy to inform you that all the projects, including U.S.A., Saudi and India, are absolutely on track and progressing well. We have done the groundbreaking in the U.S. for our HFIW pipes.
We have already signed an MOU with Aramco for our upcoming LSAW pipe plant. We are about to do the groundbreaking for our DIP plant later this month. Our DIP — DI pipe expansion project in India is going on as per schedule, rather before schedule, and we would be coming up with the expanded capacity of our DI pipes in March itself. Further, we are launching our plastic pipes in quarter 1 of FY ’26.
We have — we keep our focus intact on our core geographies and our core products as we have demonstrated earlier. I would like to reiterate with confidence that our present investment strategy is also very much aligned and aims at significant value creation for all our stakeholders in days and months and years to come.
Last but not the least, our sustainability journey has been progressing well as we have been taking necessary steps towards it and have got international recognitions from DJSI and CRISIL is a testimony for the same. We have also been increasing our RE share in our overall energy consumption.
With this, let me ask the moderator to open the floor for the question-and-answer session. Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from the line of Aditya Welekar from Axis Securities.
Aditya Welekar
My question is with respect to the Saudi plant where we are putting up the DI and LSAW capacity. So if you can throw some light on how the volumes should shape up from ’27 onwards?
Vipul Mathur
So first and for — as you know, Aditya, that the market has a very robust demand, both for LSAW pipes, which is primarily going to be used in the oil and gas sector by Saudi Aramco, as well as there exists a potential for exports from there.
As regards DIP, because this is going to be mostly — it is going to service the localized demand because there’s a huge water infrastructure development — distribution development, which is taking place in Saudi. We are expecting this plant, our LSAW plant to be operational by, let’s say, sometimes by March of 2026 and our DIP plant by June of 2026.
And as regard — if I have to see the demand, I think so we are looking at almost in the very first year of operations, we are aiming of close to, let’s say, 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of pipes, both in the LSAW and the DIP sector. This is what we are currently guesstimating. But looking at the demand and the market potential, which is offered, this looks feasible to me.
Aditya Welekar
Yes. Similarly, for U.S., means given the strong order book and the capacity expansion at HFIW plant, so how should we look at the volume shaping up in ’27, ’28? Definitely, it will pick up from the current run rate. So any directional guidance, that will be helpful.
Vipul Mathur
So, Aditya, when we — when this new administration has just come in, we already have a robust and a confirmed order book of almost next 6 to 7 quarters. And what we are seeing at this point in time is a huge traction coming up in the oil and gas space. I am sure this momentum will create further opportunities for us.
As we speak, we are also — at any point in time, we would have participated in multiple opportunities, and so is the case at this point in time as well. And in those opportunities, we would be standing and we are standing good on a few of the projects. So I’m sure that in weeks to come, we would have some more information coming up and some more crystallization happening about the projects. And as they will happen, we’ll come back and inform all the stakeholders.
Operator
The next question comes from the line of Lokesh Maru from Nippon India Mutual Fund.
Lokesh Maru
Just one question on top up on what Aditya already asked. The same thing in U.S., you see the old numbers, the old peak. Can we achieve 4 lakh tonnes there in FY ’27? And again, if that is possible, again, are we looking at INR20,000 per tonne of EBITDA there?
Vipul Mathur
Lokesh, I think so you would have noticed that we have the confirmed order book. Now it is all about executing it. We have a past track record of executing it. The order — typically, the good part in U.S. is that, the size of the order and the dimensions of the orders are fairly stable. We have a demonstrated track record in terms of producing X tonne per month basis or X tonnes per on a year basis. And we are hoping that our team will repeat that performance out there. So I’m very, very confident around that. And I’m sure we will watch and monitor this progress on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Lokesh Maru
Understood. Sir, when we say that 6 to 7 quarters, so does that mean that the 4 quarters, if they are full, that in itself is able to deliver 4 lakh tonnes for the year for those 4 quarters? 1 lakh per month of run rate?
Vipul Mathur
Right now whatever is our order book, and right now, what is our contractual obligation and right now what is our production capability, that gives us a clear visibility of 6 to 7 quarters. So it is — it consists of a product mix and looking at the product mix, looking at the customer, looking at the delivery, looking at the capability at what we produce, I think so it is giving us a clear visibility of 6 to 7 quarters looking at this point in time.
Lokesh Maru
Okay. Sir, sorry, one last question on — we have also mentioned on river linking projects in India. So if you could throw some light on are these projects already in the tendering stage? Or are they still in discussions and drawing board? Any color would help.
Vipul Mathur
I think so they are much beyond the drawing stage. I think so they have — at this point in time, they are probably at an NIT stage, which is the tender stage. Tenders — we understand that tenders are being prepared. This is going to be a reality. And this — and we have — as Welspun, we are going to play a large — a major role in these projects for a simple reason that a large projects like Ken-Betwa and PKC are going to happen in the state of Madhya Pradesh, and we have a ground presence on the Madhya Pradesh.
Then we are seeing ERCP happening in Rajasthan, which is neighboring, both from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and we are in a better position to service that. So these river linking projects are now going to be a reality, and we would have a significant role to play in terms of supplying pipes for these particular projects location.
Lokesh Maru
So just a follow-up, any internal calculation on just what the size — since these are massive projects, what the size could be for the industry per se or for these projects per se per project?
Vipul Mathur
These are large. These are large projects, large diameter pipelines. We are assimilating all those details at this point in time, but the initial feedback suggests that these are mega projects, large diameters of pipes required, a huge volume of pipe which is required. Difficult to put a number at this point in time, but I mean, this is going to be a big.
Operator
The next question comes from the line of Amit Lahoti from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited.
Amit Lahoti
Two questions on the demand side. First, on India line pipe segment, the government capex in FY ’25 slowed down, and there is not much of a pickup projected in the recent budget for FY ’26 either. So how are we positioned to grab more market share relatively? And then within this, if you could indicate how much of the increase in our order book has come from the government projects recently?
Vipul Mathur
Amit, I think so the Indian line pipe market, you’re right, was a little slow in this year. But now we are hearing and we are seeing that the government is very clear in terms of putting — again, investing into the infrastructure pipelines. As I said earlier, almost 10,000-odd kilometers of pipeline is in their program to be laid further over and above the 25,000 kilometer pipeline, which are there.
At this point in time, we are seeing demands coming up from BPCL, HPCL and IOCL and they seem to be coming out with projects in the next financial year with respect to — for laying out those pipelines. So I am very confident that there will be an uptick in the demand in the next financial year in comparison to what we have seen in this financial year.
Amit Lahoti
Sure. And maybe in terms of timing-wise, if you could highlight sectors where there is better pickup visibility? Whether it is water or oil and gas?
Vipul Mathur
My sense is that, by quarter 1, these projects should be out, and we would have — we would be securing a portion of those. We are hopeful to grab a share of that pipeline and should be executing in the financial — in the next financial year itself. So it is just around the corner.
Amit Lahoti
So can we say on a relative basis from competitors, we are definitely looking to gain more market share. Is that understanding correct?
Vipul Mathur
We will get our market share. More or less, I can’t say, but we will have — we have our market share. We will protect and defend our market share. We will try to increase it, but we’ll — let’s see how does it pan out.
Operator
The next question comes from the line of Vikash Singh from PhillipCapital.
Vikash Singh
Sir, just wanted to understand that in case of duties in Canada and Mexico, how should we look at it because a sizable portion of pipes gets imported into U.S. from these 2 countries. So just your take on that in case if the duty comes through.
Vipul Mathur
Vikash, first and foremost, I think there’s a little bit of a misnomer at this point in time that there is a large import of pipes happening from Mexico and Canada. In earlier days, yes, there were plants in Canada, which used to be supplying to U.S. But in the last 3 or 4 years, their portion has significantly gone down. With these duties coming in, I think it will be almost next to impossible. So they were never a very — they were not moving the needle out there. So I don’t think so that is going to make any impact. The market in U.S. is very well protected. It is meant for the U.S. producers. We are one of them. And I think so it will continue to be the way we are seeing for the next 4 to 5 years’ time, Vikash.
Vikash Singh
Understood. Sir, we had a history that whatever the start order book we have at any given point of time, next 12 months is usually 1.2 times to 1.5 times minimum in terms of top line. So how should we look at your current bid book and the next 12-month execution at this point of time, also considering my capacities are also increasing?
Vipul Mathur
Right. I think so, Vikash, the bid book looks fairly robust. I think so we are still seeing a very robust bid book of around INR12,000 crores to INR14,000 crores in any case. And it is very, very equally spreaded over. So if you look at it at this point in time, I think so the next 2 years is all about execution, execution and execution.
If you look at our U.S. plant, it is already booked for, let’s say, 1.5 to 2 years’ time. And I’m sure by the time we will get into the first and the second quarter, we will have further visibility as well. If you look at our Saudi plant, it is already booked for 2, 2.5 years’ time. If you look at our DIP plant, it is already booked for 1 year time. If you look at our Indian line pipe business, right, the LSAW plant, we have a complete order booking for next 1 year time.
So I think so this time, this order book, what we have at this point in time is giving us the space on 2 fronts. Number one, cherry picking up the right order where we can absolutely optimize and improve upon our margin profile. And number two, it is also giving us the space to look at and get into the new territories part of it. So I think so. The next 2 years, probably, Vikash, we need to see from an execution perspective rather than being worried about booking the order part of it.
Vikash Singh
Understood, sir. Sir, just one more question regarding our debt. We have managed to reduce our debt despite a good capex increase in the order book, which obviously would have resulted in higher working capital. So how should we look at the peak debt levels from here on? And by which year you expect we have to hit the peak debt levels?
Vipul Mathur
Vikash, you know Welspun is very focused on its debt management. Right now, as you would have seen, we have — our continuous endeavor has always been to reduce the debt. We always like to be a net cash company rather than a net debt company. I think so it is in that pursuit. Currently, I think at the end of this quarter, our debt was almost — very inconsequential. It’s like INR100-odd crores, right? With all the capex which we are doing at this point in time, the spend is going to happen gradually, number one.
Number two, there are sufficient cash flows, which are going to be — free cash flows, which are going to be available because of the confirmed order book what we have. So internally, I don’t — and if you currently look at it, our net debt-to-EBITDA is around 0.06 times, which is nothing. Even if the debt slightly goes up, these numbers are — these ratios are not going to change. But internally, we are keeping a target that our net debt-to-EBITDA at any point in time should not exceed 0.5 times.
Vikash Singh
Understood, sir. And sir, just one last clarification. In our line pipe order, what is the split between U.S. and India?
Vipul Mathur
See, at this point in time, we have almost close to, let’s say, as I said, almost 800,000-odd tonnes, 860,000-odd tonnes. And out of which it is almost like 450,000 tonnes in U.S. and the balance happens to be — it’s like half and half here in India and U.S.
Operator
The next question comes from the line of Muskan Rastogi from B&K Securities.
Muskan Rastogi
Congratulations on the huge order win from U.S.A. Sir, my question is that, we have INR7,000 crores order in U.S.A. In case there is a delay in any project in the next 2 years, if any customer thinks that they want to defer the project or if oil prices comes down, what is the cancellation policy and deferral policy? It would be helpful if you could explain in detail, sir.
Vipul Mathur
Muskan, thank you very much. You are the only one who consolidated on this result. So I must give special compliments to you for that. The earlier people on the call did not do that. So anyway, coming back to this U.S. part of it, I think that this order book is a very — it’s a strong order book.
And contractually, Muskan, I think the question is contractually, it is very well secured, very well covered. All the U.S. contracts are with appropriate cancellation clause. And at no point in time, there would be, if at all, in a scenario, in a very hypothetical and unimaginable scenario at this point in time, any cancellations happen, which I don’t believe is the case going to be, we are adequately protected and secured.
Looking the way the market is looking at this point in time, people are looking for booking capacities rather than cancellations. So in the next 4 to 5 years’ time, Muskan, that is a very, very unlikely scenario to happen. But projects have inherent risk. And to that inherent risk, contractually, we are adequately prepared. So we will never be out of problem.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay. So, sir, when you say you are adequately prepared, sir, how is it — on what basis you’re saying that?
Vipul Mathur
So they are cancellation clauses, number one. So that’s one part of it. Number two, whatever exposure on the steel we take, they are completely funded by the buying entity. So at no point in time that we will have an exposure where if any unfortunate event of cancellation happens, we will be out of pocket.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay. So any one of the cancellation policy, then if you could explain in a little detail, sir?
Vipul Mathur
I’m sorry?
Muskan Rastogi
Any cancellation policy, if you can explain in detail like any one of the cancellations?
Vipul Mathur
I think we can discuss that offline. But just to give you a very high level that the contracts are absolutely watertight with no risk at all to the company.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay, sir. Sir, my next question is in second quarter, the total order book of 7 lakh metric tonne has increased to 8.6 lakh metric tonne now. That is like India plus U.S. So if you do a back calculation as per the notification to the stock exchange, we are getting 5 lakh metric tonne in order in U.S.A. So India is only 3.6 lakh metric tonnes. Last quarter, it was much higher. What has led to this drop in India order book, sir?
Vipul Mathur
There was a little slowdown in the Indian order. We know what has — there was a little — in the last quarter, we have seen a little bit of a dip, but because in anticipation for the budget and there were also certain cash crunch which were prevailing. So it is known fact that there was a little bit of a slowdown in the last quarter. But I think so that has now been corrected. And whatever was there, I think so it will get recouped very soon. And the way we are seeing the visibility, both on the water side, oil and gas side, city gas distribution side and on the export side, all the 4 fronts, all the 4 pillars are looking very, very strong and robust at this point in time to us.
Muskan Rastogi
Okay, sir. Sir, my last question is, the iron prices are stable and like since you mentioned in your presentation, the iron prices and coking coal. So iron prices are stable and coking coal prices have come down significantly. Have we got this benefit of this coking coal prices in this quarter, sir?
Vipul Mathur
So there will be a benefit, but this benefit do not translate on a — as the prices go down. I think so the benefits do accrue over the subsequent quarters because there’s a lag effect to that. But we have been able to capitalize upon this decline or the lowering of the prices, which has happened on the coking coal side of it. And I’m sure it will get reflected in our earnings in the subsequent quarters.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Abhishek from DSP AMC.
Abhishek Ghosh
Sir, just in terms of the India line pipe business, now next year, we are going to see, as you called out, that healthy orders coming in from the water linking projects as well, plus exports is doing well. So in that light, how should one look at the volume growth usually, which used to be in the region of 7% to 8%? Can it move to something like a 12% to 14% of volume growth for the domestic line pipe business, including exports, traction in river linking projects? How should one look at that from the next 2 years’ perspective? Just your thoughts there, sir?
Vipul Mathur
So first, the way you have to look at it, Abhishek, is that, a, the cake size is going to be bigger in comparing to the last year, right? When the interlinking projects comes up, they’re almost to the tune of 1.5 million to 2 million tonnes, right? So when they — when such projects when they come up on the table, you will get your own shares on it.
So the wallet size is going to increase and your piece of the cake or to that wallet size is also going to increase. Now, how — these are all competitive bidding. It is — nothing is on the platter. These are all competitive bidding. You have to participate, you have to secure. But knowing that — knowing our strength and knowing our appetite, we will definitely have a piece of share of this wallet size. And we are very hopeful that we will be able to improve in comparison to the last 2 years, what we have done.
Abhishek Ghosh
And for the water linking — for the river linking projects, it is the largely the LSAW pipes kits, which utilize sir, just to understand?
Vipul Mathur
That’s correct, Abhishek.
Abhishek Ghosh
Okay. Okay. So overall, industry will see an improvement in utilizations and that should also improve the margin profile for the LSAW business overall because such large projects coming in?
Vipul Mathur
You’re absolutely right.
Abhishek Ghosh
Okay. Okay. Sir, in the DI pipe segment of it, last year, we were seeing some amount of softness. Is that segment also likely to pick up given that now things are back in place, budgets are in place. Any thoughts on the DI pipe as far as the demand is concerned, while you do have some amount of order backlog? I was more trying to understand from the competitive landscape, if there is enough demand into the system.
Vipul Mathur
There is enough demand into the system, Abhishek. Only the last quarter, I think so there was a little bit of a slowdown because of the cash flow issues. I think so in this budgetary allocation, they have been appropriately addressed. You would see this DIP business will reignite and refire at the same as it was earlier. So there is still — there’s a lot of ground yet to be covered. You still have almost 40%, 45% of JJM mission yet to complete. You still have AMRUT. You still have wastewater. You still have seawage. I think there is still a lot of upside into this particular business at this point in time. I think so from a visibility point of view, next 4 to 5 years are going to be very critical.
And I think so the government commitment is completely reinforcing that they are absolutely clear that all these projects will go ahead. You see that they already announced JJM will get extended till 2028. They are investing money into river linking. They are already making allocations for AMRUT. So the intent of the government is extremely, extremely clear that they want all these projects to go. And if they have to go, we are at least seeing a shelf life of 3 to 5 years’ time.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Gargi from Value Investments.
Analyst
My first question was that in Saudi, we are investing around INR1,700 crores. So I wanted to understand what are the government incentives that we’ll be getting? And what is the payback that we are expecting from this capex?
Vipul Mathur
You’re right, our investment of the INR1,700 crores is spread over between both the DIP, as well as for the LSAW plant of it. As regards the incentive, there is no incentive in Saudi. The biggest incentive in Saudi Arabia is the market. And if you are there as a domestic local player and you have a market to yourself, a market to support that, I think so that is the biggest incentive. So if you are talking of any special physical incentive, there’s none.
As regards to your second question with respect to payback, I think so our — we have always — we have — we take very judicious calls in terms of making all our investments. This is also a very strategic investment which we are doing in Saudi Arabia, both by DIP and LSAW. We are seeing a very decent return ratios around it. I think so we are not looking at a — we are looking at a payback not exceeding 3 to 4 years’ time in any case.
Analyst
Sir, you mentioned in your opening remarks that the LSAW plant of India is fully utilized. So with respect to that, I wanted to understand after your commissioning, how long do you think it will take to get the customer approvals, both from the LSAW and DI point of view? And by when do you expect to achieve full utilization for this Saudi plant?
Vipul Mathur
Right. It is a process. I think so as I said, we are hoping that — we are targeting to commission our LSAW plant, let’s say, by March of 2026. And probably we should — and in parallel, we should — we will also be working in terms of its approval and accreditions. Now, the major approval and accreditation will happen locally, which is Saudi Aramco. And we are and we will continuously try to be engaged with them. And we are hoping that it should not be — it should not take too much of a time beyond the plant comes up on stream. So it might be a quarter or so, but pretty much we should be up and — completely up and running by the — let’s say, from June of 2026.
Analyst
All right, sir. Secondly, with respect to the OPVC in Bhopal, since this is a new product line for the company, how long do you think it will take to get the product approvals? And there also, if you could mention by when are you expecting full utilization?
Vipul Mathur
Gargi, OPVC is a revolutionary product, which is — which will be launched or which will come — which will be here in India. I’m not saying that it has not been there. It has been there at a much lower scale. But now with Welspun and its technology, I think so it is going to be a very revolutionary product. We are hoping that in the very first quarter of this financial — next financial year, that’s between April and June, we should be launching this particular product. It requires certain approval. There is a process. I think so it might take a couple of weeks or months. Let’s say, maybe the first quarter could be consumed in terms of taking the basic statutory approvals and then the product would be into the market. So it is going to take time. Nothing is going to happen overnight. But as I think so from the very first quarter onwards, when we will start seeding this product into the market and people will start having the experience of this particular product, we are expecting a very sharp pickup of this particular product line in the domestic market.
Analyst
Okay, sir. And the last question was with respect to ABG. So we have, I think, 165 acres of land in ABG. When do you plan to monetize it? And how much are you expecting to get out of this sale?
Vipul Mathur
I think so the relevant question Gargi is that, are we doing anything in ABG? I think so we are very clearly on record that we are not doing any capital expenditure on ABG. At some point in time, at an appropriate opportunity, we will monetize it. At this point in time, we are in no hurry. I mean, we continue to evaluate options. But in terms of any expenditure we are going to do, the answer is no. In terms of appropriate opportunity and time in terms of monetization, we will see what it comes on our way.
Operator
The next question comes from the line of Mihir Dhami from Sharekhan.
Mihir Dhami
Sir, continuing on the last question that how would we expect the launch of OPVC pipes? Similarly, what would be the outlook be on the plastic pipe business in the next year? How do you expect it to ramp up? Anything on that?
Vipul Mathur
Right. I have my colleague here and let him — I will allow — I will ask — request him to address this part, please.
Ashish Prasad
Yes.
Vipul Mathur
Ashish?
Ashish Prasad
Yes. Thank you, Vipul, and Mihir, thank you for asking this question. So on the plastic pipe business, we have an aspiration to target over the next 3 to 5 years a 5% market share. And that’s what we are trying to do, and we’ll work around on that. So we’re making a start in quarter 1 in Chhattisgarh. And slowly, as we build around and learn from that, we will keep scaling it up.
Mihir Dhami
Okay. And any target markets in sight as in you are starting with Chhattisgarh and any idea where you would expand the product?
Ashish Prasad
Our aspiration is to have a pan-India presence. So over a period of time and depending on how we are able to sequence it out, we will build it up. But in the — you would recall that we had announced an investment of INR2,355 crores, but we will be gradual and prudent in spending capex as it keeps developing.
Operator
We take the next question from the line of Shaurya Punyani from Arjav Partners.
Shaurya Punyani
Just one small question. So would we maintain a quarterly run rate for revenue for FY ’25? Like would we close around INR14,000 crores top line?
Vipul Mathur
Arjav, I am sure we would be. But honestly speaking, top line has no relevance for us for a simple reason, you understand, Arjav, top line is also synonymous of what is the prevailing steel price. If the steel prices goes down by INR10,000, INR15,000, that gets reflected into top line. I think so our main focus is all about EBITDA and PBT level. And that’s what our continued focus would be in the next quarter, as well as the subsequent quarters to come.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question, and we conclude the question-and-answer session. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Salil Bawa, Group Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Salil Bawa
Thank you very much and thanks for joining us. I’ll request Mr. Mathur for his closing remarks.
Vipul Mathur
Thank you, Salil. Thank you, friends, for joining this call today. I greatly appreciate you all taking time out today and asking all those very prudent questions. I hope I have answered to most of your questions. If you still feel that you require certain clarifications or certain confirmations, you are absolutely feel free to reach out to Salil, as well as to Goutam or to Mr. Percy. And I am sure my team would be more than happy to assist you in answering to your complete satisfaction.
But if I have to summarize, as I reflect, I think so the next — this year is pretty much done for us as we are now setting our eyes for the next 2 years, and we have started well. All the core geographies, which is India, Saudi and U.S., we have — already have a very robust order book, which we are going to execute.
And on top of it, the markets are also looking very, very promising at this point in time, which will give us a further visibility. So friends, I think so the next 2 to 3 years are going to be very interesting, very exciting and very profitable. And I appreciate the trust and the faith you have maintained in the company, and that will continue to be there. Thank you very much. Thanks, and a good day.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]