Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. The first question is from the line of Saumil Shah from Paras Investments. Please go ahead.

Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, as we mentioned, repatriation of profits have started to come from our Dubai project, so can we have some rough estimates, how much are we expecting in the current quarter and how much in December quarter?

Yes. So we have in the current quarter received AED55 million, which in Indian rupee terms translates to INR142.58 crores. And we had projected that we will receive up to INR900 crores in the current financial year. And I should say that we are on track to receive the balance amount.

Okay. And everything should be completed by December quarter, or you feel that there might be some delays?

I think we have always given a guidance that we should expect to complete a repatriation of about INR900 crores in the current financial year.

Okay. And are we facing any, I mean, just to understand, are we facing any challenges with respect to this project? I mean buyers backing out or asking for discounts, considering the current geopolitical issues?

No, we are not facing any challenges whatsoever so far.

Okay. And sir, once we pay off this INR1,100-odd crores of debt, so how much reduction in interest cost we can have in FY28?

So you can calculate it actually. What is our average cost of borrowing?

Average cost of borrowing is 9.73%. So considering a reduction of INR1,100 crores in our overall borrowing, we can see an decline in our finance cost.

Okay. So at least INR100 to INR110 crores we can see reduction. Okay. And sir, if I may ask one more question.

Yes.

Yes. Sir, what is the idea behind buying shares of Zuari International and paying them INR150 crores? And by when we can complete this transaction?

Okay.

It's very simple and straightforward . W e are consolidating all the investments into the main holding company, which is Zuari Industries. Historically, this investment was lying, some of it was lying in Zuari International, some of it is lying in Zuari Management Services. So the idea is to bring everything in Zuari Industries, which is the main listed entity. And it will also help, these transactions deleverage those entities whatever debt they may be carrying, they will use this proceeds to settle their external debt.

Okay. And sir, just to confirm on your opening remarks, you mentioned we will be receiving this INR250 odd crores from Zuari Agro in the current quarter?

That's what we are expecting.

Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gunjan Modi, an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, sir. So the first question was regarding the recent sugar price spike which you just mentioned. So also we heard some rumors about government bringing some policies regarding transferring back to ethanol sector , tightening some rules around that. So any comments on that? How are we foreseeing that impact our financials?

As a policy, we do not comment on rumors. And it's a question of serious government policy. As and when a formal policy is announced, we will take a stand, Gunjan.

Okay. So the second question was regarding the previous participant mentioned about Zuari Agro. We heard of a filing from Zuari Agro that they are looking for six month extension on INR95 crores ICD. Are we planning to approve that and do we foresee that to come up?

So we are expecting, as I mentioned earlier, the entire INR258 crores outstanding debt to be repaid to us in the current quarter.

So there is no extension as per the filing which was made by Zuari Agro.

I think what really matters is that we expect to get repaid and that is what is absolutely important for Zuari Industries investors.

Can you repeat the question again, please? And which entity are you talking about?

I am talking about Envien and the ethanol business in our SPE sector. This is regarding the order book which we have till October. Do we foresee any tenders coming up from OMCs and are we planning to participate in those?

Absolutely. We are expecting the next round of tenders to come sometime in October and the company will be certainly participating in that round, OMCs round.

That's all from my side.

Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Suhani Singh from ROS Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Good afternoon. So I had a few questions. If management were to run its business by expected value creation over the next five years, how would you prioritize sugar and ethanol, real estate, engineering services and strategic investments such as ZACL and TIHL? And what KPI should investors track for each segment?

So, as we have been mentioning in our previous calls, these strategic investments are going to continue in our portfolio. You notice that they are in strategically important sectors of the Indian economy, primarily our investments are in fertilizer and railways. And as prudent analysts you must be seeing the performance of these companies and participating in their investment calls as well. So we will continue to hold our strategic investments for sure. As far as Zuari Industries is concerned, we certainly are quite long on real estate as well as engineering and construction. But I think in terms of the growth opportunity we definitely see opportunities in real estate much more than engineering and constr uction. Engineering and construction is still a fledgling business. My sense is that in the longer term that will also grow, but it's the real estate which will provide the momentum. On the sugar side, we are now operating a facility at 100% capacity utilization. It has demonstrated robust performance. And while we hope to continue our performance in the ensuing season, we remain open to the idea of acquisitions, should they present themselves. So tomorrow let's say if an opportunity comes and we find it worthwhile, there could be some additions to capacity. Otherwise the growth vectors will come from real estate and engineering construction. I have mentioned in the past as well that ethanol used to be a stated objective, and we have placed on record that our objective is to grow that ethanol business to 1000 KLPD. We had to take a pause because of the substantial overcapacity that came to ligh t during the last tenders against the INR1050 crore s of tenders, INR1800 crore s worth of offers were received. So obviously we have put our capex plans on hold.

But tomorrow if the country decides to roll up the policies and increase the ethanol blending and we have flex fuel vehicles and whatnot, I think we again can see whether we want to grow our business both organically and inorganically.

Okay, sir, that helps. So the standalone revenue grew 27% year on year to INR266.5 crores, but the operating EBITDA declined from INR22.4 crores to INR13.9 crores. So if you could help me what were the key drivers of margin compression despite this strong revenue growth?

Yes, in terms of the major hit in terms of our margin is the 8% increase in the SAP sugarcane prices. So government of UP in the last financial sugar season, they have increased the prices of sugarcane from INR370 per quintal to INR400 per quintal, which has impacted our margin profitability.

Okay. And the sugar segment revenue increased 34% year on year to INR236.8 crores, yet the segment profit declined to INR8.4 crores from INR12.3 crores. So if you could explain the factors impacting profitability including cane costs, recovery rates or inventory movements?

So as you can see in terms of our increase in our revenue, if you see on a year on year basis, our revenue has jumped from INR176 crores to INR236 crores. So the major driver is that we have got a higher quota allocation from government of India. In this current quarter we have sold additional one lakh quintals of sugar which has brought in an additional revenue of 45 crores to the company. And on account of our segment results, our segment results have fallen from INR12.29 crores in the last financial year to INR8.36 crores. The major driver which is impacting our profitability for the sugar business is the increase in our cane cost that has happened in the last sugar season.

One last question, the consolidated PAT was also INR0.05 crores despite high revenue and excluding associate income and exceptional items. What is the sustainable earning profile of the core businesses over the next 12 to 18 months?

Sustainable like in terms of sustainability if we say, like as we have highlighted earlier that there will be repatriation of INR1100 crores in this current quarter...

No, she is talking about the operating performance of the three segments, which is sugar, power and ethanol. So her question is about sustainability. Will you be able to sustain these numbers, etcetera., etcetera.

Yes, sir.

So my let me let me respond to it. As I mentioned earlier, the segments that you see will again come back into action as we start the next season. Our operating performance has been very robust in the previous season and there is no reason why we should not repeat that performance, if not better it.

The good news is that the prevailing prices of sugar are quite high and it's easy for anybody to do some math around what would it do to the numbers of sugar companies. We also hear that the sugarcane crop particularly in Uttar Pradesh is doing quite well. So we look forward to a fairly decent quarters ahead.

Okay, sir. That really helps. Thank you so much and all the best.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Satish Sharma from Privhuvan. Please go ahead.

Yes, good evening, sir. Can you hear me?

Yes, please.

Sir, I was going through the circular you came out with at the time of results whereby you mentioned that you're going to buy the shares of Texmaco Infra and Zuari Agro. Last time when you did the same from Zuari International for Texmaco Rail, you bought the share at INR190 and the share has gone to INR105 now. So what is the logic of doing all these things when you are losing money and diverting our money, shareholder's money to other companies? it doesn't go with the proper ethics of the company. Can you clarify what you are doing exactly?

See, the last transaction did not go through. It was an enabling approval that was taken, but there was no actual transaction that took place.

Okay.

As I mentioned earlier, it is part of a strategy to consolidate all listed equity investments in the main holding company. And as it happens under the laws of the land, these transactions will be at market price.

Market price.

And the share prices then, of course, post acquisition would depend on the performance of those companies. So just to reiterate, that old transaction that you mentioned, there was an enabling resolution, but no transaction actually took place. And this tim e, as and when we do the transactions, I think you will get to know, again formally we will notify everybody and we will consolidate everything in the holding company.

But what was the benefit to the shareholder of the Zuari Industries? What is the logic, already there is its holding is there in Zuari International, which is again our subsidiary only. So what is the logic to the shareholder of our company [inaudible 0:27:27]?

The logic is that it should be in the main listed company. And there is unlisted, listed, unlisted company may have some external debt that can be repaid as a result.

But when I brought my main question was when we try to do the same with Texmaco Rail, the share price went down from INR190 to INR105.

That, as I explained earlier, the transaction has not gone through. Therefore, there's no point talking about it.

Okay. Thanks a lot. That's it.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saumil Shah from Paras Investments. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Thanks for allowing me a follow-up. My question is on our furniture division. So I think we are still having losses in this division. So are we looking to dispose it off? Any value we can generate through that?

I think right now, whatever you see, the losses coming from that division are on account of the small little expenditure on a handful of people that have been deployed, some expenditure on maintenance, and some ICDs that they have got to service those ICDs . Other than that, there's no other expenditure that one is incurring in the furniture division. We have been talking to people who could potentially revive that business. If something works out as part of the revival plans, we will revive it. But otherwise, we will make some decisions about this business by the end of this financial year.

Correct. That's it from my side. And sir, just a feedback. Sir, really appreciate, since last few quarters we have been doing quarterly con-calls. And we can see management's intent towards shareholder value creation. So really appreciate that.

Absolutely. And you will see that in coming quarters as well. You will see that in coming quarters.

Because sir, we have enormous, I mean, value sitting inside industries and all our group companies. But still we are not able to fully value it. So thanks for doing all the quarterly calls and all. And we look forward for them. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Somya Raghuvanshi from Nirva Securities. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I just have a few questions from my end. Firstly, sugar realization improved to 4,116 per quintal and sales volume rose to 4.7 lakhs quintal. What is your outlook on domestic sugar pricing and exports for FY27 and how sensitive are earnings to changes in sugar prices?

I would, I have already dealt with the pricing issue in my opening comments and I mentioned that while the prices have been somewhat muted in the first quarter, and they were not commensurate with the rise in input prices, the current prices are significantly higher and I also outlined the reasons for that. Of course, the financials of the company are very sensitive to prices. As far as exports are concerned, currently the exports are not allowed, so we don't foresee that in the current situation exports will be permitted. And I think we are looking forward to a decent quarter on the back of the current prices.

Okay, sir, got it. Sir, ethanol sales increased only marginally, despite capacity availability. Are there any constraints related to feedstock allocation, government blending policies or procurement by OMCs?

No, there is no constraint from the government side. And whatever ethanol we, whatever molasses we produced, we have consumed to making ethanol. Historically, we have bought molasses also from outside opportunistically, but this year the prices of outsourc ed molasses was not economical and therefore we decided not to pursue those purchases and make ethanol. And that's why you see the numbers as they are. But tomorrow or in the next season, if we find that we have an opportunity to buy and produce, we will do that. And we have also be mindful of the fact that before that there will be a tender process and there will be an allocation, etcetera.

Okay, sir. Sir my next question is on sugar division. Sugar division operated for only six days during the quarter. What are your expectations for cane availability and crushing days in the upcoming season, particularly in Uttar Pradesh?

We can't speak about Uttar Pradesh as a whole, as I mentioned a short while ago, in our command area the sugar cane crop seems to be maturing quite well. And we are expecting a very healthy cane production, subject to weather holding up and not creating an y difficulties weather or disease, these two factors always bother us. So if there are no unusual weather events or a disease outbreak, we expect a robust cane production in our command area.

All right, sir. Sir, last question from my end. The company disclosed a potential U ttar Pradesh ethanol import export pass fee exposure of about INR507 lakhs, but has not made a provision.

Can you discuss the legal position and potential downside risk if the case is not resolved favorably?

So this is the case which has been there for all the sugar mills are being against this case with the court. So we have not created the provisions, but we have given an indemnity and the court cannot make a retrospective change in the law bringing in an effective adjustment that you pay an export fees for the ethanol that you export out of Uttar Pradesh. So we are very hopeful that it will not come as a provision in my books of accounts going forward. Because law cannot be made retrospectively, it has to be made prospectively.

Okay sir. All right, all right. That's it from my side. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jayendra Kumar, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Hello.

Yes please.

Thank you for giving me, yes thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk in this forum. My first question is on the monetization of land holding by Zuari Industries and Zuari Agrochemicals in Goa. And second question is on the mining sector, like Zuari Industries and its subsidiaries, mainly Zuari Agroch emicals and Texmaco. So we want to enter into mining business. So can you throw some light on these two items?

I can only speak about Zuari Industries and I can only speak about the land monetization matter of Zuari Industries. Let me clarify that Zuari Industries has no intention or has had no intention in the past and has no current intention of getting into mini ng. So coming back to the land monetization, yes, it was a part of our strategy for deleveraging the company. But the Goa Assembly passed a law which came in the way and the circle rates were also enhanced very, very substantially making these kind of deals very, very complex and challenging. So for the time being, I think all land monetization plans as far as Goa is concerned is put on hold. While we are using all other avenues to deleverage ourselves, primarily through the repatriation of profits from Dubai as well as repayment of loans from the associate company, Zuari Agro.

Okay. Thank you, sir. One more question regarding the reverse merger or consolidation among the subsidiaries. So when can we expect this to happen?

Currently we are not thinking of consolidating any of our subsidiaries in Zuari Industries Limited. We are managing, majorly our focus is on our real estate business and the ethanol

business that we do it through Zuari Envien. And some little other subsidiaries which provide us a marginal profit to the holding company. Currently we don't have any plans to consolidate our subsidiaries in the main holding company.

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash Mehta from Escape Capital. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So I have got a few set of questions. So firstly, like the company highlighted digitalizations and AI -led initiatives within Simon India. So can you quantify the expected impact on project execution timelines, manpower productivity or the bidding efficiency over the next few years?

These are too early to be quantified. Honestly, if you ask this question to any CEO, they will find it very difficult to answer. I think these are early days, we are experimenting and implementing various tools. I think we still have to implement quite a f ew of these tools, only then we will have a sense of how much is the impact and quantification of impact would be possible. So that's the short answer that I can give. Philosophically speaking, what are we trying to do in Simon India? The engineering work is very, very labor intensive. You deploy so many thousands or hundreds of engineering hours to let's say produce a drawing. We are wondering whether by using digital t ools or artificial intelligence we can compress that time. Now at this stage I can't quantify and tell you that in this project we did this etc etera, etcetera. So a number of experiments are currently underway and the initial results appear to be quite encouraging and hopefully in the next few quarters or maybe next year sometime I'll be able to happily share with you some very good use cases of how we saved so many engineering hours on a particular project.

Understood, sir. And also, like the given government continued push for ethanol blending, so are there any plans to expand your distillery capacity or shift to some feedstock mix or increase participation in higher margins ethanol categories?

See, right now you have a situation where there is significant overcapacity. As I mentioned earlier, the last tender that came against an order of 1 ,050 crore liters, the offers that the government received or OMCs received was 1 ,800 crore liters. We understand that the actual capacity may have gone up a little higher and maybe it's 2 ,000 crore liters. So you really don't want to increase capacity in that environment unless there is a significant increase in blending percentage. And we are waiting for the government, they have announced higher blends at 85% and even 100% and there have been couple of vehicle launches also. But there is no real increase in the

demand for ethanol as far as OMCs are concerned. And it will all be tested and proven when they come up with the new tenders in the month of October. So I think it's just a couple of months away and when we will see the tenders coming in and we will know the numbers and then we can plan accordingly. If we see that the government is keen and the demand for ethanol is increasing very substantially and there is an under capacity, then we will invest of course we are now people with reasonable experience in the sector and we can set up distilleries, we can buy distilleries, but we will have to wait until we see clarity on the demand side.

Got it, got it. And also your other expenses declined substantially on a Q-o-Q basis. So was this primarily seasonal and like what is the normalized quarterly run rate investors should model in going forward?

Jatin?

Yes sir. So our other expenses remain in the range of INR14 crores to INR15 crores every quarter because this is a period during which we do repair and maintenance for our sugar division.

No, no. Is there a difference between Q4 and Q1?

Sir, Q4, the other expenses are on higher side.

That’s what, that’s what you want to mention.

Q4 other expenses are on a higher side because it is a pure operating period during that sugar has operated for full 90 days. And during this Q1, our other expenses are in the range of INR14 crores, during this period we majorly do the repair and maintenance for our sugar mill and power division.

Understood, sir.

And on a year-on-year basis, if you see last year this number was INR14.46 crores for the same quarter Q1. This year it is INR14.36 crores, so it's practically the same.

Understood, sir. And just the last question from my end, so the unallocated income also increased to INR13.7 crores from around INR8.1 crores year-on-year. So like what are the major contributors and are these levels likely to continue in upcoming quarters?

The income which has increased on account of unallocated is the ICD's income that we have given to our group companies. So ICDs that we have given to our group companies. And also the difference is that our expenditure on our other divisions for our other divisions for our

Finserv business and investment businesses have reduced. So net of our un-allocable income has increased net of un-allocable expenses.

Okay, sir. Got it, got it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Payal Sharma from DD Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. I have some couple of questions with me. Sir m y first question is like associate and JV income contributed INR343.7 crores during the quarter, which largely offset the operating level losses. So could you please help us understand the key contributors to this income and also how sustainable do you believe these earning are going forward?

So the key contributor in our share of profit from associates is from Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited. So Zuari Agro has contributed around INR39 crores in the share of profit of loss from JV and associates. And that profit in the Zuari Agro chemicals has majorly come from Paradeep Phosphates, they have given a profit of INR393 crores during the first quarter. So of that 100% has come in ZMPPL and of that 24% has come in Zuari Agro chemicals.

Let me, let me try to rephrase what Jatin has said. The bulk of this item is coming from the performance of Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited. Zuari Agro Chemicals has a joint venture with OCP Morocco called ZMPPL. And ZMPPL holds equity in Paradeep Phosphates. So the underlying asset is really Paradeep Phosphates, its reported performance for the previous quarter was INR392.5 crores of PAT which has been consolidated in ZMPPL and it has flowed back to Zuari Agro Chemicals.

Understood, sir . And the next question is like, with handovers now underway at St. Regis Residences Dubai, what proportion of the project receivable is still outstanding? And also how much cash like repatriation should investor expect over the next four to six quarters?

So let me answer the second question first, which I have already answered. Our guidance for the current financial year is INR900 crores of repatriation of profits. And of which we have received INR142 crores. The balance amount which is a little over INR750 crores is on track. And that guidance still holds and we just provided that earlier in response to another question. As far as the balance payments to be made by unit holders, I would request Alok Banerjee to just clarify. Alok, if you are there on the call, can you please provide this answer?

Yes, like hi good afternoon . So since we have received a 100% (inaudible 46:3 5) building completion certificate, we are now and we started to hand over the units to the residents who have purchased. And as Mr. Athar has said earlier, that we expect that in this financial year the balance about INR800 crores should come in by the end of the financial year.

No that clarity I have given already Alok. The total amount estimated in this year is INR900 crores, of which INR142 crores has come and INR758 crores let’s say will come by the end of this year. That clarity everybody has got. What she is asking is a little different. What is your payment plan and how much more do you need to collect from the buyers, flat, apartment buyers? That's what she's asking.

Yes, we need to, we need to collect roughly another about...

In terms of percentage?

On percentage, we need to collect about 40% more. 40% of the top line

Yes. So we need to collect 40 % to 45% of the customer s collection. In terms of our payment plan, the payment plan is 50-50%. So now we have raised the demand notes to the customer post receipt of the completion certificate. So we expect to receive the money from the customers in this current quarter.

Understood sir, understood. And my last question is that the real estate segment has seen a significant increase in segment assets, like assuming INR 77,000 crores. And like could management provide more visibility on the monetization timeline for these assets and the return that investors can expect from them?

So in terms of our segment assets, segment assets for our real estate division as on 30th June '26* stands at INR770 crores, which majorly comprise the receipts from our Dubai projects of INR400 crores. So in the next one to two quarters, majority of our segment assets for our real estate divisions will come and the actual realization of that cash will happen in this current financial year.

Understood, sir. Thank you so much, sir, and all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next follow-up question is from the line of Saumil Shah from Paras Investments. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Just one question, sir. Can you throw some light on Zuari Infra? So how are we looking to expand this business? Any more DM projects under pipeline? Because I think few quarters back we mentioned to increase this to INR10,000 crores. So can we have your views on the same? * The management inadvertently mentioned 27 instead of 26.

Alok, you want to take this question?

Yes. Okay, I'll do that. See, what we already have is an order book of about INR6,000 crores roughly. And we are now in the process of launching the project in Hyderabad and Bangalore in the next month. And once we launch and we see the success, we have we have quite a few deals in the pipeline which will then fructify. As of now we are focused on getting these projects off the ground and thereafter we would be able to close out on further projects in these two cities, which is our focus area.

If I may add, I think the gross development value of the projects Alok, that you have in hand is closer to INR4,900 crores.

Right.

And we did mention that our aspiration is to have a GDV of INR10,000 crores. So one can say that we are halfway in that journey. You know 50% of the journey is covered. The route that we have taken, which is the asset light, investment light approach of DM model is a difficult and challenging route. One has to find the right kind of people with whom our brand can be associated and the project should also be bankable projects with good prospects. So it is not easy to just grow it because we are not simply buying land and launching projects. So the bottom line is that we are halfway there, as Alok mentioned, we continue to scout for opportunities particularly in South India for DM projects. And our aspiration is to go to INR10,000 crores as I mentioned earlier.

Correct. And the Bengaluru project which you mentioned is the plotted development one?

Yes, yes. And that's a very interesting project. It's about 15 acre plotted development with RERA approvals in place and what Alok tells me that it should do reasonably well.

Okay. And generally this plotted development should complete faster, right?

Yes that's right.

Okay, so by when we can expect to complete that project?

See, it takes a cycle time of about 15 months from the date of launch.

Okay.

15 months to 18 months. Unlike a regular apartment project will be three to four to five years.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as that was the last question for today, I would now hand the conference over to Mr. Aryan for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Thank you everyone for joining this call. We really appreciate your participation. If you have any further queries, please reach out to us at MUFG Investor Relations. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of the management, I would like once again to thank all the investors, analysts and potential investors who have joined the call today. We really appreciate your questions and we look forward to interacting with you in the next quarter.

Thank you. On behalf of Zuari Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.