JSW Infrastructure Ltd (JSWINFRA) Q2FY27 Concall Transcript - Sep-2026 Qtr
Moderator (Investec Capital Services Limited): Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to JSW Infrastructure Q2 FY '27 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Investec Capital Services Limited. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing "*" then "0" on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vineet Prasad from Investec Capital Services. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Vineet Prasad (Investec Capital Services): Thank you. Good evening, everyone. A warm welcome on on behalf of Investec India to Q2 FY '27 earnings call of JSW Infrastructure Limited. We have with us the senior management teams from the company represented by Mr. Rinkesh Roy, Joint MD & CEO, Mr. Nagarajan, CFO, Mr. Vishesh Pachnanda, Head Investor Relations. Now, I'll hand over the call to senior management for their opening remarks post which we'll open the floor for Q&A. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Rinkesh Roy (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): Thank you, Vineet. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our earnings call to discuss our performance for the quarter and half year ended September 30th, 2026. The global operating environment continues to remain dynamic, shaped by geopolitical developments, evolving trade flows, and periodic supply chain disruptions. Despite these uncertainties, India's economic fundamentals remain strong, supported by robust domestic demand, continued investments in infrastructure, manufacturing-led growth, and favorable policy initiatives. As India's logistics and trade ecosystem continues to evolve, we believe the long-term opportunity for integrated ports and logistics infrastructure remains highly compelling. Against this backdrop, JSW Infrastructure develop delivered another period of healthy operational performance and strategic progress during the first half of FY '27. During H1 FY '27, we handled 60.5 million tons of cargo, including 29.4 million tons in Q2,
Rinkesh Roy (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): and, India operations grew 10% year-on-year, significantly higher or ahead of industry growth of 5%, driven by a diversified cargo mix, deeper customer engagement, and increasing third-party cargo volumes. The resilience of our operating model and the strategic positioning of our assets enabled us to maintain strong momentum across our network. In our India operations, third-party volumes reached 28.1 million tons, registering a growth of 11% year-on-year, despite a decline of 1% due to the nil contribution from Fujairah liquid terminal. A key pillar of our growth strategy continues to be logistics, where we are rapidly building a pan-India integrated platform. Navkar Corporation delivered another strong performance during the period with domestic cargo volumes growing 26% year-on-year and EXIM cargo volumes increasing 7% year-on-year in H1 '27. We also continue to strengthen our logistics platform during the period. Our rail rake fleet expanded from 42 rakes in Q1 FY '27 to 78 rakes currently, reflecting the rapid scale-up of our logistics business. We remain on track to further increase the fleet to at least 110 rakes by March '27. The logistics business continues to benefit from increased network utilization and customer additions. Overall, on a consolidated basis, our operating revenue was Rs 2,926 crores for the first half of FY '27, representing a 18% year-on-year growth. Operating EBITDA for the period stood at Rs 1,348 crores, marking a 13% increase, while net profit reached Rs 686 crores. Turning to project execution, during the quarter, we continue to make steady progress across our development pipeline. Execution remains on track across all major projects, with the slurry pipeline project reaching a significant milestone through the completion of approximately 257 kilometers of pipeline lowering and another 10 kilometers of HDD pipelines in progress, equivalent to nearly 88% of the total scope. The project remains on schedule for commissioning by March '27. At Jatadhar port, Odisha, construction activities are progressing at a healthy pace. Our brownfield expansion projects are also progressing steadily. At Dharamtar port and Jaigarh port, the berth side works are substantially completed, and mechanization works are expected to be completed during Q1 FY '28 for Jaigarh, while Dharamtar will be completed by Q4 '27. These investments will further enhance capacity, improve operational efficiencies, and support future cargo growth. In the container cargo segment, we achieved a key milestone by signing the 30-year concession agreement for the 13 million ton per annum outer container terminal project at NSD Docks, Kolkata. Once operational, the project will six increase our container total container handling capacity in Kolkata to approximately 1.4 million TEUs, significantly strengthening our presence in Eastern India, enhancing our container cargo volumes, and enhancing our ability to serve the trade. During the quarter, we also commenced interim operations at the 6.3 million ton per annum Kolkata Container Terminal, which was awarded in July '25, providing an early platform to establish customer relationships, build volumes, and support a seamless transition to full-scale operations. Beyond ports, we continue to strengthen our logistics platform during the period through the acquisition of NCR Rail Infrastructure Limited, approval for the development of an Inland Container Depot at Kudatini, Ballari, and the award of Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal at Puliyampatti, Tamil Nadu. These milestones further expanded our network footprint, enhanced our rail-linked logistics infrastructure, and strengthened our ability to deliver integrated end-to-end supply chain solutions. These achievements build upon the strong progress made since our entry into logistics in October '24. In just 2 years, we have expanded our network from three locations to eight locations across India, scaled our rake fleet
Rinkesh Roy (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): tenfold, from 8 to 78 rakes, and increase our domestic container fleet from approximately 2,400 containers to nearly 5,000 containers. This rapid scale-up reflects our commitment to building a nationwide multimodal logistics franchise and reinforces our vision of creating a leading integrated ports and logistics platform. Our long-term vision remains unchanged. We continue to build a diversified ports and logistics platform with a clear objective of expanding port capacity from the current 186 million tonnes per annum to 300 by FY '28 and further to 400 by FY '30, while simultaneously creating a nationwide logistics network that enhances cargo stickiness, strengthens customer engagement and drives sustainable growth. As part of our strategy, we remain focused on the rapid scale-up of our logistics business while maintaining strong execution across our port expansion projects. With a strengthened balance sheet, a visible growth pipeline and increasing integration between our ports and logistics businesses, we are well positioned to capitalize on India's long-term trade and infrastructure opportunities and deliver sustainable value creation. With that, I would now like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Nagarajan, who will take you through the financial performance and other details. Thank you.
Nagarajan (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): Thank you, Rinkesh ji, and good evening, everybody. Let me first talk about our port business. In Q2 FY '27, the company handled cargo volumes of 29.4 million tonnes compared to 28.9 million tonnes in Q2 FY '26, registering a growth of 2% YoY, while our India operations grew by 8% YoY. The increase was primarily driven by improved capacity utilization at Paradip Coal Terminal, Ennore Bulk and Mangalore Coal Terminal, and was further contributed by interim operations at the Tuticorin Port and commencement of interim operations at Kolkata container terminal. The overall growth was muted on account of nil volume contribution from Fujairah Liquid Terminal along with lower volumes at Jaigarh and Paradip Iron Ore Terminal. The third-party cargo volumes accounted for 45% of the total volumes during the period. Third-party volumes in the Indian business registered a healthy growth of 13% YoY. However, overall third-party volume growth was limited to 1% due to nil contribution from Fujairah terminal. Operational revenue for the port segment grew by 9% during the quarter to Rs. 1,202 crores compared with Rs. 1,100 crores in Q2 FY '26. Revenue increase was driven by volume growth and ancillary and allied services along with rupee depreciation. Operational EBITDA for the port segment stood at Rs. 594 crores, up from Rs. 585 crores. The EBITDA margin was 49.4% versus 53.1% a year ago. The dip in port EBITDA margin was primarily driven by absence of volume contribution from Fujairah and incremental volumes coming from coal terminals like Paradip Coal, Ennore Bulk, Mangalore Coal and Tuticorin bulk terminals. Talking about logistics, Navkar Corp delivered strong operational and financial performance in Q2 F '27. Domestic cargo volume stood at 4,59,000 metric tonnes, up 16% compared to the same period last year, while EXIM volumes reached 88,000 TEUs, representing a 12% YoY growth. Operating EBITDA for the logistics segment stood at Rs. 81 crore, up from Rs. 25 crore, representing a 3.3x increase YoY. EBITDA margin expanded to 29% from 15%, driven by growing contribution from rail logistics business. The rail rake fleet increased from 42 rakes at the beginning of the quarter to 78 rakes by quarter-end. The base fleet of 42 rakes operated throughout the quarter, while additional 36 rake, while out of the additional 36 rakes, only 8 were deployed in September 2026. Consequently, 72 rakes have been operational since October, with the remaining six expected to be operationalized during November and December, providing further support to volume and earnings growth. Further, 32 rakes are expected to be delivered over H2, which would take the total fleet size to 110 by March 2027. Total consolidated operational revenue for the company stood at Rs. 1,481 crore and operating EBITDA stood at Rs. 674 crore, reflecting a YoY growth of 17% and 11%, respectively.
Nagarajan (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): quarter ended September 25. PBT stood at 431 crore compared with 463 crore in the corresponding period last year. Decline was primarily driven by unrealized FX losses on account of rupee depreciation and upward shifting yield curve and higher depreciation charges reflecting the commissioning of growth projects in the port business and the continued scale up of the logistics segment. The impact on PBT was partially offset by higher other income during the period. PAT stood at 328 crore compared with 369 crore in the corresponding period last year. Decline was primarily driven by the lower PBT and higher effective tax rate largely due to absence of tax exempt earnings from Fujairah oil terminal during the period. As of September 2026, we maintained a cash position of 1693 crore underscoring one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector. In line with the accounting treatment for the specialized rakes business, we have revised the FY 27 logistics EBITDA margin guidance to 28% from 24% while retaining the overall logistics EBITDA target of 400 crores. CAPEX: Company has incurred a cumulative CAPEX outlay of approximately 8250 crore up to September 26, including 1500 crores spent during the quarter towards ongoing and existing growth projects. In addition, the company has already committed a further 6000 crore of CAPEX by placing orders for machinery, long-lead items and other civil work towards ongoing projects across port and logistics business. Further, the company has an outstanding CAPEX creditors of nearly 950 crores. With this, I request the operator to open the line for questions.
Moderator (Investec Capital Services Limited): Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sumit Kishore from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Sumit Kishore (Axis Capital): Good evening, thanks for the opportunity. My first question is in relation to the rail rake business. What was the revenue contribution from this part of the logistics business in Q2 and H1 and and the EBITDA margin as well?
Nagarajan (JSW Infrastructure Ltd): So, EBITDA margin is around 28% overall, whereas the margins for the rake business stood at around 90%, because in the revenue part, we only take the premium and the rebate. The haulage charges are netted off.
Sumit Kishore (Axis Capital): And what was the revenue in Q2 and H1?
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