GHCL Limited ($GHCL)

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to GHCL's Q4 FY '26 Conference Call hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. [Operator Instructions] I now hand the conference over to Mr. Meet Vora, Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us on GHCL's Q4 FY '26 Results Conference Call. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for giving us this opportunity to host them. We have with us today Mr. R.S. Jalan, Managing Director; Mr. Raman Chopra, CFO and Executive Director of Finance; Mr. Manu Jain, Senior General Manager, Investor Relations and Finance. Before we begin this call, I would like to point out that some statements made in this call may be forward-looking, and a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the earnings presentation shared with you earlier. I shall now hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Meet. Good evening, everyone. A very warm welcome to the GHCL Q4 and Full Year of FY '26 Earnings Call. Our results and investor presentation has been published, and I trust you have the opportunity to review them. Let me begin with the industry landscape. Global soda ash markets continues to be -- face headwinds with supply broadly exceeding demand and prices remaining under pressure. It is worth noting that the current pricing environment is a continuation of a cycle that has been playing out over the past 2 to 3 years. Through this period, GHCL operational and cost parameters have remained intact. The net impact has been felt only on pricing. And we believe our low-cost foundation positions us among the first to benefit as and when pricing recovers. China's demand recovery has been slower than anticipated, and this continues to weigh on the global market sentiments. Chinese inventory remains elevated. And while we are beginning to see early sign -- signals of capacity rationalization, including maintenance closures and financial stress among older synthetic producers, meaningful supply reduction remains some time away. Adding a new layer of complexity, the conflict between U.S. and Iran has introduced a meaningful uncertainty into global energy and raw material markets. We are seeing the effect of resulting in a higher energy and input costs and elevated shipping expenses with supply chain disruptions. In the Indian domestic market, the price is, however, more -- picture is more constructive. Indian demand continues to grow at the healthy pace, and we are encouraged by the momentum we see across key end segments, particularly in Solar Glass, where capacity additions are creating a sustained and visible demand tailwind for Soda Ash. We estimate incremental dense Soda Ash demand from solar glass unit ramping up in the range of several thousand tonnes per month with further upside as new capacity comes online. Interestingly, the same geopolitical dynamics that has pressured costs, have also had a moderating effect on import flow into India. Higher shipping costs has made imports comparatively less competitive. This has helped us in easing the inventory level in domestic market and provided some support to the domestic realization. On balance, while input cost has risen, domestic prices has also firmed up, and we believe that the worst of the pricing pressure may be behind us. The Indian market appears to be approaching an inflection point. I must say that we have remained focused on our cost discipline and operational efficiencies in what continues to be see a demanding environment. Where cost increase, including elevated shipping and energy cost, have been unavoidable. We have moved to pass these through to customers in the transparent manner. Additionally, rupee depreciation has also provided a degree of natural protection to Indian producers, particularly offsetting the landed cost pressure from import. Our fundamentals, including cash generation, customer relationships and operating excellence, remain intact. Our focus remains on what is within our control. On our growth initiative, our Bromine and Vacuum Salt projects are in their final stages and the first leg has already been commissioned. We expect full commissioning to take place in Q1 FY '27. The progress made is substantive, and we remain confident in the near-term operationalization of these assets. In FY '27 make the beginning of a new earning layer for GHCL. Value-added downstream producer products will now begin contributing to profitability, curtailing impact of business from adverse industry cycles. These projects remain strategically important as they represent a meaningful steps in the diversifying our product portfolio. On our Greenfield Soda Ash project, this is a significant strategic investment and part of our long-term goals, and we will continue to provide updates as commissioning milestones are achieved. GHCL ends the year in a position of financial strength. The external environment, including global oversupply, geopolitical uncertainty and cost inflation, is not without its challenge. But let me leave you with what I believe is the right frame of GHCL. We are one of the most efficient soda ash producers. Our cost delivery has been on plan through a prolonged down cycle. And as pricing headwinds gradually ease, we are positioned to be the -- among the first to benefit on margin. More importantly, FY '27 marks the beginning of a new financial year, earnings layer, that is value-added products are now commissioned and they will continue meaningful profitability, reducing our dependence on commodity Soda Ash cycle entirely. The domestic demand outlook is improving. The pricing environment is stabilizing and our diversification investments are beginning to contribute. We remain committed to operational excellence, prudent capital allocation and delivering consistent value to our shareholders and all the stakeholders. I would like to thank our investors and stakeholders for their continued trust in GHCL Limited. We remain committed towards shareholders' return. And in FY '26, we have rewarded our shareholders with INR 415 crores in combination of dividend and share buyback. I will now hand over the call to Raman to walk through the financial highlights in detail. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone, and a warm welcome to our earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31st March, 2026. Our performance remains steady. This is a result of our focus on operational excellence and efficient manufacturing. We achieved this despite the challenging pricing environment in the industry. I will now walk you through the key financial highlights. Revenue for the quarter came in at INR 808 crores compared to INR 773 crores in the previous quarter of this year and flat from INR 807 crores in the same quarter of last year. While the global scenario remains challenging, sequential improvement reflects the changing situation in domestic market, driving better volumes and realization. For the full year, revenue came in at INR 3,144 crores, which is much similar to last year at INR 3,273 crores. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 194 crores compared to INR 175 crores in Q3 of this year and INR 244 crores in Q4 of last year. EBITDA margin improved to 23.9% compared to 22.7% in Q3 of this year. For full year, EBITDA came in at INR 769 crores and EBITDA margins at 24.4%. We have been able to protect profitability and margin due to our deep-rooted philosophy of cost optimization and operational efficiencies. PAT for the quarter came in at INR 120 crores, which compared to INR 107 crores in Q3 of this year and INR 153 crores in Q4 of last year. For full year, our PAT came in at INR 479 crores, which is 15.2% net margin. This demonstrates strong profitability despite the global headwinds. For the full year, we generated INR 603 crores in cash profit after tax. Out of this, we spent INR 265 crores on CapEx, including new Bromine and Vacuum projects, and we repaid INR 335 crores worth of borrowings. During the year, we distributed INR 415 crores to our shareholders in the form of dividends and buyback, which represents a substantial 87% of full year FY '26 PAT. Further, working capital has reduced by INR 153 crores, resulting in a net cash generation of INR 41 crores for the year as a whole. In a period of external volatility, this reflects the strength of our balance sheet, our commitment to shareholders and disciplined capital allocation approach. We have a net cash surplus of INR 1,058 crores at the end of FY '26. This financial agility supports our strategic CapEx execution and provides significant growth headroom. With this, I conclude my comments and would now request the moderator to open the forum for question-and-answer. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question if from the line of Darshita from DSP Asset Managers.

Sir, my first question was regarding the volume growth benefit that you mentioned, given that imports were not as possible due to higher freight cost, we got some benefit. However, our top line for the quarter was largely flat on Y-on-Y basis. So I mean, how much would the volume growth be approximately? And was it all offset by a negative pricing? Should -- is that -- I mean, is that how we should think about it?

So Darshita, if you look at in terms of the volume, there is approximately around 11% of the volume growth has happened, whereas your pricing has gone down by 10%.

Okay. And you believe that the pricing should improve from here on. I mean from your opening commentary, you mentioned that there is some benefit that we are getting on pricing front. So you expect pricing to improve from here on, is it?

So Darshita, if I can say, like I said, the global uncertainty is so volatile that saying something definitely is going to be very difficult. But yes, because of the import getting restricted and globally the supply chain disruptions and the supply chain cost has gone up, definitely, pricing improvement is being seen.

All right. I mean, if you could share some insight as to how much pricing growth we have seen in the last 1-odd month ever since the war has struck?

It's actually -- This has been seen in the -- like I said, if you look at the last quarter, in the month of March, some increase has been felt. Industry -- whatever the inventory they had, there was a kind of a reduction in the inventory. So probably you will be seeing some benefit. Of course, on the other side, the cost is also going up because of energy costs, because of your, what you call, raw material costs. The costs are also going up, but prices are also getting improved.

Okay. And are you hearing any...

In a way, you can say that whatever the cost increase which are happening, we've been able to pass on that to the consumers. And therefore...

Got it. Yes, okay. That's what I was trying to understand. And are we facing any raw material unavailability issues or is that all taken care of?

So Darshita, we have taken care of that. Fortunately, we had a very well planning of the raw material. And we have a sufficient inventory for few, means, I would say, 4, 5 months of the raw material, and we are taking care of that. Absolutely no issue on that.

Okay. And just lastly, on the new Soda Ash facility, do we have any update, sir, as to when will the construction begin?

Darshita, like I mentioned in the earlier quarters as well, I think some land acquisitions are kind of taking a longer time. So at this point of a time, very specifically, it will be difficult to say when we are starting the construction. We are in the process of making those land acquisitions and land conversion happening. And once that happens, we will come back to the investors and give them a specific time line.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Ojas Singh from CelestialCrest Capital.

Can you hear me? Sorry...?

I'm sorry to interrupt, we are unable to hear you, sir.

Hold on. Hello? Are you guys able to hear me now?

Yes, better. Much better.

See, I don't want to talk about the operations because you guys are the subject matter expert. But I just want to -- I just have 2 or 3 questions. The first one is, as you guys are expanding into a new greenfield project, I just wanted to know, are we doing it through internal accruals? Because this is my first conference call. This is -- I haven't yet been on any of your other calls. So is this being done through a mix of debt or internal accruals? Or this is all debt? Or what is the mix? A. B, what would be the time line of us deploying that capital? And this is a follow-through to that question. Wouldn't it be beneficial for the company to hold some cash on the balance sheet rather than giving it to us, like shareholders, rather than giving it to us in form of buybacks or dividends? Wouldn't it be beneficial to hold that cash onto your books and not take debt and then fund our acquisition or fund our expansion on -- through that?

No, Ojas -- thank you very much for this very valid questions on both. In terms of the acquisition which we are -- the investment of the greenfield project of the new Soda Ash project which we are talking about, definitely, it is a mix of internal accrual as well as some debt. However, debt will always be very well within the limit because we have clearly articulated to our investors that our debt-equity ratio will never cross 1. Because -- see, first and foremost, when we start investing into this project, it will take approximately around 3 years of time, 2.5 years to 3 years of time. Today, already we have around INR 1,000 crores on the balance sheet. We have a reserves of the cash balance on the balance sheet of INR 1,000 crores. And the way we are seeing, this figure can be significantly higher because the capital expenditure will happen in the rear end of the project. But of course, the debt will be there. Second, your question about the payout to the shareholders versus the -- retaining the balance sheet, I think we have been retaining a sufficient balance at this point of a time. But we also believe that some kind of a reward to the shareholders is also very important. And therefore, we are taking a very conscious call on this buyback and the dividend. And we are kind of doing a very justified kind of understanding of how do we kind of distribute to our shareholders.

Correct. But I feel that giving out 80% of your PAT, isn't it way too much for us? I know because you guys will expand, it will eventually create value for us. But you guys giving out 80% of your PAT to us, I don't know, I don't think it's -- I think it's way too much of returning value to the shareholders, but I feel that you can just hold on to a little bit of cash and expand on it. That is...

So your point is valid, Ojas. Your point is valid, Ojas. And I think till last year, this '24-'25, the similar philosophy was there. We have not kind of -- that kind of a return we have not done. I think this is the first time we have done that of such a substantial amount of bottom line has been distributed to the shareholders. And depending upon how the progress of this project happens, we will be able to kind of take this kind of allocation of the capital differently. These 2 -- both these projects which are -- I've just mentioned in my opening remarks about this Vacuum Salt, which are strategic investments, this all has been funded through the internal accrual only. But your point, which is well taken.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Rohit Sinha from Sunidhi Securities.

Just one thing on this slide, I would say, delay in this Bromine and Vacuum Salt project, now that is pushed to Q1. How the pricing right now is there? And if at all we are going to start it, are we looking at a better situation as compared to what it would be in the Q4 or earlier if we have started?

See Rohit, if you look at the Bromine, I think Bromine, the pricing has been significantly higher now as compared to what we thought of. So obviously, that will have an advantage to us. In terms of the Vacuum Salt, I would say that the prices are more or less on the stable pricing. So I think there also we [indiscernible]. We are anticipated the bottom line will continue to be the same what we thought of. But in the Bromine, the project -- when the project start, definitely looks to be the return will be better.

Sir, any specific or rough number we can get, what kind of revenue size would be contributing in FY '27 for this project -- from this project?

Yes, Rohit, basically, just the number -- I'll just tell you the number. Broadly, the number will be as per our -- at this point of a time, roughly, the top line will be roughly around INR 160 crores and -- both the projects put together. And EBITDA range will be something around 40% to 45% kind of a range.

This if for the full year range.

EBITDA range.

So I'm just giving the number of '26-'27.

Yes. Understand.

And [indiscernible] fully operational, these numbers will be significantly higher.

Fair enough. And again, looking at the overall debt which we have...

Sorry, Rohit, just -- just the number. This number which I told you is more of a full year benefit. In the FY '27, this number will be INR 120 crores approximately. The margin remains almost the same level, as I said, 40% to 45%.

Got it. And any thought about expanding the capacity once we would be looking to reach the peak utilization or peak level at this thing? How -- basically just wanted to understand how the market outlook you are seeing in this segment, whether it would be better for us to expand the capacity in this particular segment only or would be looking to spend something on a different scale?

Surely, Rohit, on this project, both are, like I said, margins looks to be very attractive. So once the project is getting commissioned and we start getting the benefit and we stabilize that -- because both this business we are going first time. Okay? Once we complete and we start realizing the benefit and we stabilize on that operation, we will look at the opportunity of expanding.

Got it. One last question just from the China angle. How has been the import in the recent time? And given the current situation in China, how we are looking at the situation going forward with imports being competitive to us?

See at this point of a time, like I said in my opening remarks, the imports has significantly come down in the last quarter. And we hoping that because of this elevated freight cost, supply chain delays, the customers are also kind of preferring to have domestic consumers -- domestic production or domestic supply. So I think it looks to be that if the geopolitical situation continues to be the way it is, it will be -- imports will be on the lower side. But another good part is the demand growth on -- in India is also significantly better. Like I said, last year, the growth was significantly better, almost around 6% growth. And hopefully, this year also the growth will be there led by the solar glass and all those things.

Okay. Okay. So overall, what kind of volume growth would be looking at for FY '27 in the Soda Ash?

See, basically, like I said, the volume growth per se will be there, and we are kind of a number -- we are producing 100% of our production. In terms of the volume growth may not be very significantly higher, but this may have a better outlook on the pricing side.

Got it. And what pricing has been changed from last quarter? I mean from Q3 to Q4 and post March, what has been the price, if at all you can share the number?

As I said, Rohit, like whatever the cost increase which has happened, that has been kind of fully been able to pass on to the customers. So obviously, the price escalation has happened, but on the other side, the cost has also gone up.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from 360 ONE Capital.

Apologies if I'm asking the question again because I missed the first 10, 15 minutes commentary. So in terms of cost escalation, what kind of cost increase we have seen both in terms of, say, raw material and from the operating cost perspective because of increase in coal cost as well as the lignite cost?

So Rohit, as you rightly said, on the cost side, there are 2 costs where the cost has gone up. On one side is the limestone. Limestone, as you know, the industry is importing from the Middle East, the limestone, where the cost has gone up. And the second is the energy cost. So these are the 2 costs primarily. Of course, there are some others like packing materials and other costs has also gone up, but this cost has gone up. However, like I said, we have sufficiently covered in terms of our inventory and therefore, supply disruptions we are not seeing in that. In terms of the numbers, number, of course, the number will be getting reflected. At this point of time, I would say that the energy prices which is more of a coal on the, what we call, index, it has gone up from $120 to roughly around $136. Approximately I'm giving the number, which is a very volatile number. It changes on a day-to-day basis. On the limestone, the supply chain cost has gone up. The freight of -- from Middle East has gone up. These are the 2 major impact which has happened.

Got that, sir. Sir, and just a question on [indiscernible] in terms of the logistic cost, so what has been the increase in terms of the logistic cost, if you could give us per metric ton because I think that could be one of the element where if the imported prices go up and if we are able to pass on or rather vet our prices based on the import parity, then we may have some chance of increasing the domestic prices. So just to get a perspective, what is the absolute increase in terms of per metric ton cost of Soda Ash imports which has gone up?

See Rohit, there are 2 things. You know that the Soda Ash is getting imported from the -- some -- many parts of the world, okay? Something is coming from U.S., something is coming from Turkey, something is coming from China. Everywhere has a different pricing increase or the supply chain cost. But the important part in this whole piece is even the rupee dollar -- as you know, rupee dollar kind of a -- rupee has depreciated. All these put together, there is a kind of a substantial increase. And second is the supply chain disruption itself. So probably all these 3 factors have led to kind of a -- been able to -- the domestic industry has been able to kind of pass on the cost pressure what they have been because of this increase in the cost to the customers.

Sure, sure. Fair enough. Sir, just one last clarification from an industry perspective. We heard from the competitor that there have been certain capacities which have been shut down in different parts of the world. So could you give us any understanding -- broader understanding of the same and whether that will also be an element to -- for incremental increase in the Soda Ash prices?

See Rohit, you rightly said in terms of one of the U.S. facility has been kind of mouthballed, okay, which is roughly 1.3 million tonnes. In China, also, there are a lot of maintenance activities are being taken. Because see, as I said in my opening remarks, China is seeing the heat of cost pressure on the synthetic Soda Ash. And I've said in my opening remarks that a lot of stress, financial stress are being felt by the Chinese producers. But the meaningful supply reduction in the China, which is more of a synthetic Soda Ash, is some time away. This will happen. But as you know that in the last 3 years, the new capacity of natural Soda Ash, majority of the New Soda Ash capacity has happened in China, which is in Mongolia. At this point of a time, obviously, supply is more than the demand.

Right. Got it. And just sir, last clarification in terms of the Inner Mongolia capacity, is it being fully now operational? And what is the full capacity as of now in terms of production?

In terms of the total fully operational, I think last year, they have added to approximately around 2.5 million or 3 million tonnes kind of capacity they have added. And overall, it is around 13 million of the total -- sorry, 7 million tonnes of the new capacity in Inner Mongolia has happen.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company.

Yes. [Foreign Language] sir. Hope I am audible?

Yes, Saket ji. Yes.

Thank you firstly, sir, for also amending the dividend distribution payout to your investors from 15% to 25% and maintaining the absolute number at INR 12 per share. We hope the same get cleared through the AGM part. And -- but kudos to the team, the [indiscernible] team and the Board of Directors for considering the same. Sir, now -- firstly, sir, with respect to the capital work in progress closing balance, we find the closing balance at INR 450 crores. So if you could just explain, are these mainly attributable to the Bromine and the Vacuum Salt project? Or what portion will get capitalized in the first quarter itself?

See Saket ji, as you rightly said, this capital work in progress is primarily driven by the Vacuum Salt and the Bromine project. And once the project gets commissioned, like I said in the first quarter, this both will be capitalized, around INR 300 crores will be from this account. Balance there are some other projects like a pipeline project and all those things. And that will also get commissioned the moment this project gets completed. I think this year, probably that project also will get commissioned.

That pipeline is also pertaining to our existing facility only, sir?

Yes. Yes, Saket ji. Yes.

Sir, as you mentioned to the other participant that the additional revenue from the Bromine and the Vacuum Salt project for the current financial year '26-'27 is approximately INR 120 crores. Correct -- I'm correct on that number?

Yes.

Sir, at what utilization levels are we concluding with this figure of INR 120 crores?

See, Saket ji, this is a gradual increase will be there. As you know that the project will get commissioned now in the month of May, June. After that, the gradual expansion will happen. And end of the year, we will be running at a full capacity.

Correct, sir. But what should be that number? INR 120 crores represent what percentage of utilization levels ramped up till the next financial year -- till the end of this financial year?

You can just calculate. I said that the peak numbers will be INR 170 crores. And this number is INR 170 crores -- INR 120 crores -- You can just calculate...

Okay. I missed it. I missed that INR 170 crores number sir. So INR 170 crores will be the peak capacity at fully utilization levels...

Correct, correct.

For the project?

Correct.

Sir, when we look at our EBITDA margin trend, I think so in the presentation you have very well articulated that our averages have been above of 26%, 27%. And now with the vagaries of the lower realizations and the other dumping aspect, we are now trending in 23% -- 22% to 23% sub levels. So what should be the likelihood of the EBITDA margin trend with the -- with your opening commentary wherein you have articulated that things look positive going ahead? Where -- How should this line item shape up, sir, for the current financial year?

See, Saket ji, first and foremost, like I said in my opening remarks also, the market is so volatile. You know that, because of the geopolitical situation, completely uncertainty. How does this shape up going forward? Nobody knows about it. I think in the month of February, we did not knew that this geopolitical crisis will happen. But having said that, there are 2 things which are very important for kind of -- I want to highlight. What we have in our control, we have done it, a remarkable job on the cost side of best efficiencies, best-in-class of raw material consumption norms and so on and so forth. So that's one part of it. The second part of at this point of a time when we stand and the way the geopolitical situation at this point of a time, I said, on one side, the costs are also getting increased. On the other side, the realization is also getting increased. So overall, per se, at this point of a time, slightly it will be more neutral to kind of a little bit of a positive side. But how this will shape up in the next month, we don't know right now.

Okay, sir. And sir, for the sodium bicarbonate part of the story, I think so we did some CapEx in doubling our capacity there. How are the utilization levels and the demand outlook for sodium bicarbonate shaping up?

See Saket ji, this year, our volume of sodium bicarbonate has also grown up, and we are expecting that the next year also will be growing up. We have almost around, I would say, 80%, 85% kind of a utilization we have been able to achieve in the sodium bicarbonate. And hopefully, the way we are looking at the demand, probably this number will be slightly better in the coming year, '26-'27.

Okay. And sir, as in the -- in your presentation also, this was mentioned that we are more moving towards the glass utilization levels in the country as a whole. And hence, that requirement for dense Soda Ash would be higher. So what proportion of our sales mix is dense versus the light Soda Ash mix?

So As you rightly said, Saket ji, the trend is more towards the growth in the glass sector, particularly led by the solar glass, right? So at this point of time, approximately around our -- capacity wise around 55%, 50% to 55% is the capacity, which is of a glass, dense [indiscernible] and 50% is approximately around on the detergent side.

Because what we have -- yes, sir. We have heard from your competitor that they are making some changes and upping their dense Soda Ash facility for -- in the times to come. So taking into account, do that kind of canvas or landscape work for us also that going ahead we will be also doing the same thing or we are comfortable with this mix in terms of the demand?

See, first and foremost, Saket, what we have been doing is and that we have been very successfully being done without, any major capital expenditures, we have expanded our Soda Ash production, which used to be around 40%, now it is around 55%. And our endeavor going forward will be from the existing assets what we have on the dense, we expand the production itself on that. And hopeful we will be able to improve upon. That will be sufficient at this point of time.

Okay. And this ratio will improve. That is what you are conveying?

Yes.

From 55%... Okay.

[indiscernible] What we have right now, it will -- we are trying to increase it to more number.

To higher numbers going ahead, right. Sir, in the -- last point is for Raman, when we look at our cash flow, there is a INR 7 crores, I think so loss from the subsidiary part. So what will that attribute to, sir? INR 6.6 crores to be precise.

In fact, this is the income which we were receiving from the sale of asset subsidiary. So at a stand-alone basis, that income was reflected in the stand-alone numbers. So when you consolidate, because it's your subsidiary, that gets knocked off. So on one side, it's a payout, on another side, this is an income. So there is no negative on the consol basis from that aspect. So it's just a accounting treatment which is there. So the income has been recorded in a stand-alone basis. I hope I've been able to clear that.

So, Saket ji, this is income only of INR 7 crores which has come from the subsidiary. But while consolidating, this gets knocked off. And because of that, you don't see that. So there is no loss.

The next question is from the line of Ojas Singh from CelestialCrest Capital.

Are you guys able to hear me? Sorry. Hello?

Yes, we are able to hear you now.

Yes. Just one more question. I just wanted to know what was your rationale behind that INR 300 crore buyback? Were you seeing the stock price being, say, undervalued? Or what was your rationale behind that INR 300 crore buyback?

See Ojas, I don't think I'll be able to comment on whether I see the underpricing or things like that. Our purpose was to kind of reward the shareholders. And that was the rationale behind that. Pricing whether undervalued or not, [ actually ] investors to kind of decide.

Correct. I just wanted to know because I thought that you guys must have been some -- there must have been some rationale behind doing some -- doing that INR 300 crore buyback.

The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company.

Yes, sir, a small addition, in terms of this antidumping duty and the antisafeguard duty part, sir, where are we currently? I think so we have filed fresh application for the same? And any updates that you can share on the same?

Yes. Saket ji, so far as the antidumping is concerned, I think in the last call I have kind of updated. It has been recommended but it has gone to the Finance Ministry and that has -- no decision has been taken in the Finance Ministry. So that is owed by the Finance Ministry. Okay? At this point of a time assuming that they are not considered be favorably. Now we have filed another application, which is a safeguard on the quantitative restriction under the safeguard. That is under investigation and that is end of the process. That will take some months of time to finally come to a conclusion. Once that happens, we will come back to the shareholders for update on that.

Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions from the participants. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments.

Thank you very much, and thank you to all the stakeholders, shareholders about the continued support. Like I said -- always said in my comment that we are trying to do on our part which is in our control. And as I said, over a period of time, we have been able to bring a lot of efficiencies, a lot of cost optional. And because of that, we are one of the lowest cost producers at this point of a time in this space. And any upside on the Soda Ash, of course, for 2, 3 years, the Soda Ash prices are under pressure. But any opportunity of a increase in the outlook of the Soda Ash, we will be the first one to kind of get an advantage of that. So we will continue to do what is in our control and try to deliver the performance on that basis. Thank you very much for your support.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.