Jain Irrigation Systems Limited (JISLDVREQS.NS) Q2 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Jain Irrigation Q2 and H1 FY '26 Con Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that, this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Bhavika Sharma. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Jain Irrigation Systems Limited earnings call to discuss the Q2 and H1 FY '26 results. Today, we have on call Mr. Anil Jain, CEO and MD; and Mr. Bipeen Valame, CFO. We must remind you that the discussion on today's call may include certain forward-looking statements that may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and must therefore be viewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. Future results, performance or achievements may differ significantly from what is expressed and implied by such forward-looking statements. Please note the results and presentation are available on the exchange and our company's website. I now request Mr. Anil Jain to take us through the company's business outlook and financial highlights, subsequent to which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you. Welcome, everybody, to this call for the second quarter for FY '26. Wishing everybody happy New Year as per the Indian calendar. We had a Board meeting earlier today, and we have announced our results. As generally, September quarter is a new quarter for us because of the heavy monsoon. And during monsoon, there is always a limited demand for either irrigation or pipes traditionally. But despite that structural issue for the current quarter, I think overall, company has done well. As you might have seen from the results, overall income for the company has grown almost 20% to INR 1,432 crores as against last year same period about INR 1,191 crores. And this 20% growth has come in essence, a little bit in a deflationary environment as well. So, for example, PVC resin prices have been low during this period of time. So, when you take into account the deflationary scenario because even fruit pulp prices were quite low. So, when you look into those things and still see 20% growth, that means on a quantity basis, in fact, overall growth has been close to 25%. So that is a quite positive and good thing. The first quarter, we had grown about, I think, 5%, 6%. This quarter's growth of 20%. So, for the first half, the growth is around 12% or so. So that is in line with what we had expected and typically, for our company, second half is always much stronger than the first half due to seasonality. So, I think in line with what we had said that overall for the year, we would expect to grow beyond 15%. I think we are on to that because we've already done about 12% by now, 11%, 12%. And quarter 3 and quarter 4 are expected to be strong. Overall, we should meet our stated goal of maintaining good growth rate. What is important in this quarter was not just that revenues grew quite good, but earnings also grew quite nicely. And our earnings grew at a faster pace than the revenues, right? While revenues grew 20%, EBITDA for the company grew 43%. So that shows the quality of the earnings in different businesses. And in fact, if I look at Hi-tech business or Plastic or Agro Processing, by and large, all businesses have been stable to positive in terms of earnings growth also. So, revenue growth, coupled with the higher level of the earnings growth showed that some of the things which we have been working in the past have started yielding results now. When I look at individual businesses, which we have, Hi-tech business grew almost 39% this quarter, Plastic grew about 9.5%, and Agro Processing grew 15%. So again, all good numbers. Within Hi-Tech, apart from the Retail business related to micro irrigation, we also had good exports. We had good business for solar pump. So, combination of all of these things has resulted into a very solid number. And Plastic, as I said, had more impact of also deflation. So, while quantities overall plastics then has grown better. Now in terms of earnings, I think in line with the revenue growth, Hi-tech EBITDA has grown also by 37%. But especially food has grown significantly in terms of earnings because of the better product mix and the good processing season, which we had from mangoes. In terms of margin percentage of EBITDA, I think Hi-tech is maintaining around 19%; Plastics is double digit; and Agro Processing has improved from low-single digit to double digit. So that is all favoring quite well. So, when you look at first half, as a company, we have done close to INR 3,000 crores of revenue put together in all businesses with an EBITDA of INR 400 crores. Now, if I really look at EBITDA of the current quarter, it is quite strong. I don't think we ever had such a strong quarter in terms of EBITDA, especially in September, which is a monsoon quarter. So, I think that augurs well for the remainder of the year for us. In terms of structurally speaking, where business is going and where we are seeing growth, -- we see that because it has been a good monsoon that between now until next May, there should be good demand for the rabi crop and for the summer crops going forward for irrigation as well as pipe business. In case of Tissue Culture business, which we have where we sell planting materials, the demand for banana is booming. And in fact, we have sold out. We are working to add capacities going forward -- but it takes time to add capacities. But over the next couple of years, we will be increasing our capacity in that business by 50% over 3 years by almost double the size. There is so much more demand, because the end produce that is banana, farmers are making good money. India started exporting a lot the bananas -- so there is that momentum, which is, I think, as a cycle, I think we expect it to remain for a longer period of time. Piping, as I said, was soft because of 2 reasons. One, since mid-May, it has been raining. So fields have been wet, so there was less demand. Also, government spend on the pipe-related infrastructure has been much less compared to, let's say, last 2, 3 years. So, combination created that lower demand scenario. But I think we have weathered worst period behind us now on piping demand. So going forward, it should look good. And within the Plastics division, our Plastic Sheet business, the other plastic products, which we have in Europe and U.S., that has continued to do well for us. And I think -- and in terms of revenue growth, earnings quarter, that continues to look good. In terms of Agro Processing, traditionally, we do this onion sales as well as dried onion and food pulp, et cetera. But we have started now a new project in our food processing subsidiary, where we are likely to start manufacturing in the current quarter some beverage bottling. Earlier, we had a small line where we used to have some juice packing and so on, but that capacity was quite small. But now we have entered into a new understanding and collaboration with a large beverage manufacturer. So, some big global level capacity lines are being installed. And -- but majority of positive impact in terms of revenue and everything else would come into the next fiscal year. But already in the fourth quarter, there should be some additional revenue coming into the food business for the -- due to the beverage bottling unit. And we expect over the next 1, 2 years, that business to grow significantly, because the plan we have with -- along with our collaborator and partner is to add a lot of capacity going forward in that space. So, we are seeing, as I said, growth into beverage bottling. We are seeing growth into banana. We are seeing a lot of growth in MIS itself as more young farmers are adopting new technology. And apart from onion and mangoes, we are seeing also good growth opportunity in garlic, because a lot of our customers in U.S. are wanting to have a pivot away from China, due to all the volatility and so on. So, India could be a good, I think, supply -- new supply location for dry garlic into Western markets. And post understanding of how things will work out between the governments and the duties, et cetera, medium to long-term, we expect garlic also to become a strong contender as a major product line for our food processing business. Beyond Indian shores, I think our Food Processing business has grown in U.K. market quite nicely. It has also grown into U.S. market. Turkey was, which is a much smaller entity, did not grow that much because of larger, I think, the economical issue in that country. But overall, we have been able to ensure that the revenue growth between what happens in India, overseas is around 15% in this current quarter. And for the first half, overall Food has grown about close to 7%. In terms of competitiveness going forward in marketplace, in pipe and drip, there are a lot of companies which are competing with us. Some of them are strong players, organized, and a lot of them are not so organized players. In case of Micro Irrigation business, we are a clear leader in terms of either revenue, size, technology, profitability, I think we lead all the way in case of Micro Irrigation. In case of Piping, there are other companies which are larger than us. But we think over -- in medium term, we would catch up there. And overall scale because we are looking to grow more than 15%, higher scale in terms of absorption of capacity would allow us to be more competitive going forward. In terms of cash flows, when we look at overall cash flows, company has been maintaining positive cash flows in total in terms of -- we had earned about this quarter, about INR 190 crores, generated net cash from operating activities post working capital change. And in fact, before working capital change, it is about INR 400 crores. So, because of seasonality, we had INR 200 crores added usually in working capital, that should come back, right, in Q3, Q4. So, for the whole year, we expect a really strong cash flow from operations and working capital, in fact, would be despite this 15% growth by the end of the year FY '26, we would have less inventory and receivables than we had at the start of the year. So that is the focus we have to bring working capital efficiency on the balance sheet side and to generate positive operating cash flow. And that available cash partly will go for debt servicing, of course. And in addition, it would go for growth of the business going into FY '27, because what we are talking of that 15% growth on consol basis this year is not just for the current year, right? As we think through '27, '28, we are seeing good tailwinds in terms of where we wish to go. So all businesses, we feel -- we have 6 total businesses. One is Drip and Sprinkler; one is Plastic Pipes; so we have Plastic Sheet business overseas, then we have the Tissue Culture business, then we have Solar Pump business; and then, of course, Food Processing. So across all businesses, we feel quite confident of the good growth opportunity, either because of our technological leadership or the brand equity in the retail markets and the dealers, and the farmers and/or the infrastructure which we possess in case of food processing company and the global distribution channels we have. So again, each business has its own unique challenges, global geopolitical issues, but I think all in all, because oil is benign, polymer prices we would expect it to remain similar levels where they are because, again, new capacities are coming up. Polyethylene new capacity are coming up in PVC in India, there are 2 new plants coming up by '26, '27. So, I think as a large consumer of polymers, this bodes well for us that more and more new capacities are coming up. And in case of -- as you might have seen recently, right, this is one of the first time India had food inflation almost not there. And that we also see that there were low -- much lower prices for mangoes, for example. We have also onion prices have been reasonable. So, I think if that continues, that should also help because that increases demand. During this quarter, the government came up with the GST 2, in which GST on drip irrigation has been reduced from 17% -- sorry, from 12% to 5%, with a reduction of 7% approx. We have passed on all that reduction to our end customers. And the market will pick up now, right, because it has been kind of -- if you track, it has been raining up to now. But despite that, we have done well. But going forward, we should do even better with lower pricing now for customers, and with the dry fields and once the rain stops, hopefully, this week, next week, more demand should flow, because of the GST reduction Government of India has made. Also, GST is reduced on the solar pump that should spur the government also to take more solar pumps on behalf of the farmers. So that would help. In case of our Piping division, where there is an infrastructure application, which are -- where we supply to the private parties, B2B business. We are seeing many more inquiries, but it is very competitive business. So, we think some of these inquiries were specialized applications, where large diameter pipes are required, such as desalination projects or some global overseas projects. There, I think our company should be doing better compared to, let's say, competition, because very few people have very large diameter pipelines like 2.5 meters. So, I think that should go well, maybe starting from -- some of these projects might still take a few months to get converted. But fourth quarter should bring some good numbers. And next year is definitely, there are so many projects being negotiated in the pipeline. Next year will be very big on the infrastructure applications for large diameter pipe for specialized applications. So, I think these were some of my observations and our company's observations, in terms of how the quarter panned out, how the first half has panned out and how we are looking at the remainder of half. And now, I would like to be -- open the floor for the questions from listeners, investors, participants. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Praneet, an individual investor.

I was wondering about the overall debt repayment schedule, because I understand that we're going to get a payment very soon in terms of 2027. How are we expected to finance that? I understand receivables are going to play a part, but you can -- could you give a perspective on how it's going to work? Because if there's a delay or otherwise, how would we plan on paying that particular payment in '27?

So, I believe we should be able to pay the entire debt repayment through internal accruals. We have approximately, I think, INR 200-odd crores falling due in FY '27 September, and the major amount falls only in March '27. So, we have almost 18 months. So beyond receivable collection, legacy receivable collection, government projects, et cetera, I think the cash flow generation in the rest of the businesses together should be more than enough in terms of ensuring the repayment. I think we have been repaying -- in fact, last 3.5 years, the company has repaid almost INR 1,300 crores of debt from the normal operations. This is before we sold overseas business, et cetera. So that repayment was another INR 3,000 crores, separate. But this one has been done through internal accruals. So, we don't foresee any issue here.

And I understand that we are facing concerns on working capital, because we ended up spending our equity infusion also through that. Could you -- so how will we be able to fund working capital and the debt repayment together? Because if you want to grow at the 15% rates you are forecasting, how do we plan on doing that, especially when receivables are not coming quick enough?

I think in terms of growth, right, we have done 20% growth this quarter, right? We really -- I mean, in essence, we have not added any debt towards the working capital during this quarter. We repaid some of the long-term debt. It went down. So as internal accruals come through, some of the old receivables come through as a combination, we should be able to do adequate, let's say, business to support working capital. We have about INR 1,000 crores in inventory. We have about INR 2,000 crores in receivable. Even release of approximately, let's say, INR 300 crores, INR 350 crores, we anticipate at least minimum in next 6 months on that count should easily suffice to give additional growth. Now, another important point I would like to mention that our focus on future growth, right, a lot of that growth is going to come from our dealer business. And in dealer business, our model in both Pipe and Drip, is that we receive money in advance from dealers. So that growth does not require additional working capital. Do you get me?

Understood. So, I understand that the overall receivables part of it that it is mostly state government receivables side. But how many -- what kind of exposure do we have from each state? Because it's spread across multiple states. So which state is likely to give the last? And what percentage of that? Could you give some idea on how it's like in terms of state and center sponsored versus the geography between multiple states, how is it spread across?

So 2 ways, right? One is some states where we -- the states owe us money towards the EPC projects, which we have done or which we are in process of completing. And those projects are partly funded by state, sometimes they get money from the Water Resource Ministry in Delhi, or combination. And those states where we need to receive money are like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, part in, let's say, Haryana and Himachal. These are 6 states where most of our EPC funds have to come. Additionally, we need to receive some funds which are related to government subsidy, which government gives to the farmers related to drip irrigation, where the center participates in that, but the money is released to the state governments. There, the funds come from -- need to come from people like Andhra, Telangana, Gujarat, I think Tamil Nadu, these 4, 5 states. We have our internal credit limits, right? So, unless we receive old money, we are not giving a lot of new money or new supplies into those states. And at the same time, we are also building a parallel network or market, where we are selling even the states where, let's say, government provided 80% subsidy to farmer. We are able to directly sell to the farmers using 100% cash model. So that also we have worked on, and this is becoming more successful because ultimately, farmers want good quality, good technology. They can make that much of money within 1 or 2 years payback on investment in drip. So as a combination of that, we have -- we are not too much exposed to a single state. So, generally speaking, I think a lot more money needs to come from southern states for us than West. We have less business, let's say, North and Northeast.

Understood. So could you -- I understand government projects, we are in the last leg of completing them. So, could you give a timeline of the overall EPC? When do we expect to complete the remaining order book? And in what years do we expect what kind of receivables to enter the company's books?

So, when all of this story started, right, sometimes in 2021, we had some 39 -- 38 to 39 projects which were ongoing. I think significant majority of those we have kind of closed or submitted. The 4 or 5 major projects which are still open, where we had done like 90% of work, remaining 5%, 10% of work, which is sometimes linked to what government needs to do. For example, just to give you an idea, that we build the whole piping distribution network, pump house, and so on, but government needs to bring electricity to that location. So, when the electricity comes in only project fruition and the remaining 5% work can be done. So that way, we are anticipating that the projects which -- where we are more than 90%, which are major 5 projects, we should be able to complete sometime in next 6 months or so, by March '26. One or two projects which started late, they would go through FY '27, but that could be, I think, one or two projects. Otherwise, in terms of numbers, and in terms of also value, significant amount you would see completion in March '26. All that fund should flow into the company by March '27.

So even the remaining INR 900 crore receivables we still have left with the government, INR 800 crores for the EPC business?

So, the EPC business, that's what I'm talking about, that these projects will get completed and all that money should be with us in FY '27, except, as I said, one project we have for water supply in Pune, that would go through execution also in FY '27.

So after we raise our, let's say, milestone payment invoice, how long will it take for the government to release those funds?

As I said, because as we expect to complete by FY '26, within 12 months of that, max, we should get all that fund.

Understood. So, by FY '27, we expect to get most of our payments by the end of '27?

Absolutely right.

The next question comes from the line of Nishita from Sapphire Capital.

Yes. So I had a few questions. In the presentation, you mentioned an order book of around INR 1,900 crores on a consolidated basis. So can you give an execution time line for that order book?

I think typically, most of these orders, we should be able to do in the next 6 months. Some of them, I think if you look at total INR 1,900 crores – consol, yes, INR 1,900 crores, let's say, INR 400 crores would move into the next fiscal, but INR 1,500 crores should happen during the current year. So, what would move next year is some of the, for example, food orders we have, they have a 12-month cycle. So, some of will -- April to September. And some of the -- I think mostly food would actually go into the next period. All our other orders related to pipe or drip or tissue culture or plastic products should get done between now and December -- sorry now and March.

Okay. Okay. Understood. And like, can you give a bifurcation for Export and Domestic business?

I think overall, our exports have been quite robust in totality for the overall company. INR 129 crores was for the stand-alone company, in this particular quarter. And for the whole first half, our exports have been INR 259 crores -- let's say INR 260 crores, which was last year same period INR 188 crores. So about 38% growth for the first half in exports.

Okay. Okay. Understood. So I also had a question on this partnership for the beverage company for bottling unit that you have. What is the capacity for it? And how much incremental revenue are you expecting from that capacity in FY '27?

For the -- this would -- this is being installed in our food processing subsidiary, Jain Farm Fresh. And the 2 -- first 2 lines would be in place, let's say, by March. So first line already in the first -- this quarter, second line in March, we should be able to generate good quantity in terms of bottling of juices, colas, et cetera, et cetera. In terms of revenue number, depending on the market and everything else, I think the first 2 lines should add close to, I think, about INR 400 crores to INR 500 crores in full year of working, at about 65% to 75% capacity utilization. Our partner is indicating that they have good demand with themselves. So, we should be able to achieve that. There would be in Phase 2, some additional capacity added in FY '27, second half, and that should generate higher revenue in FY '28 then.

Okay. Understood. So, the 15%...

Okay. Sorry to interrupt, several participants are waiting. Please return to the question queue for the follow-up question.

This is last question -- that's my last question.

The next question comes from the line of [ Sanket Kumar ] from AB Investments Limited.

Good performance year-on-year, but quarter-on the revenue has been decreasing, sir. Any issues like you have said government orders, but Hi-tech business, sir, being so many years in micro irrigation, the business has not really pumped up being the biggest player, only player in the country. Sir, when will this convert into exponential growth? Like you're understanding what I'm saying? Sir, any views on that, sir?

I understand what you're saying. So, first of all, we -- business is not going down, right? Year-to-year, 20% growth. But sequentially, because this is a rainy season quarter, business is always low. It goes back to the inception of the company for the last 30, 40 years. This quarter is always the lowest quarter. But as I said at the start of the call, we feel very confident of quarter 3 -- quarter 3 being good, and maintaining that 15% plus growth for the entire year. So, in terms of exponential growth, so there are a lot of people in micro irrigation, right? It is not just us. There I think small companies, there are 400, 500, then organized company, maybe 10, 20. Over last 2, 3 years, agriculture sector, the farmers due to the climate change and all of those issues have been suffering one way or the other. So that's why we are also focused more on exports but doing more value addition. So in micro irrigation, this division, right, Hi-tech Agri division, what we call it, has grown 38%, right? That's exemplary growth, let's say. So, we anticipate strong growth numbers going forward also. Now, it has taken some time to come up with the solutions for farmers, which would address the climate change because there is a new technology, adoption of technology takes some time for the farmers. But it has started happening now. New generation of farmers are also joining, and they want to use the new technology. So, I think secular basis, right, in terms of going forward, we expect this division will continue to do well. And as I said, as you can see from some of the details, if you can read through investor presentation, it has one of the highest level of margins, right, 19% level of type of EBITDA, as a combined Hi-tech Agri division. So, when you have that level of margin because of our integration, and the full play in terms of what offering we provide to the customer, complete solution, we are able to maintain those margins and the growth. So,s I think overall, as a division, it would do very well going forward.

Okay. Sir, next question, sir, tissue culture MOU that you have signed with the government, sir, what's that work in progress? Can you review that, sir?

In tissue culture, today, our primary products, which we sell in large quantities to farmer are banana and pomegranate. We also do Papaya, Mango, and few other products. The MOU we have signed is with the Coffee Board. And there, we are doing some more work on the coffee. Other products which has started working in tissue culture in that division [ Technical Difficulty ]

There is a disturbance. Are you able to hear me? Mr. Anil Jain, are you able to hear me? Mr. Anil Jain, are you able to hear me? Ladies and gentlemen, we have lot the connection for management. Please stay connect, while we reconnect them. Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been reconnected again. And the next question comes from the line of [ Lovesh ] from [ Shiv Ashram Investment Management ].

Sir, congratulations on a very good set of numbers. My question is regarding margins and a bit of strategy. I was looking at the past financial data. Till 2012, the operating profit margins used to be in mid-double digits, around 13%, 14%. And since then, the margins have taken a dip to the extent that we end up with either losses or like even the last quarter, the latest quarter that we have reported results today, our net profit margin is around 1%. So, what is the management doing? What is the strategy to take the margins back to mid-double digits?

Okay. So, I think our margins this quarter are 13.9%.

I'm not talking about EBITDA margins, I'm talking about net margins.

Yes. Yes. Let me -- I understand, right? Let me explain. I can't explain net, unless I start with EBITDA. So, our EBITDA margins are 13.9%, which is quite healthy considering the market, the competition, et cetera, et cetera, cost of the goods and so on. Where is that money going today? So, what happens below EBITDA, right? There's a depreciation because company is growing. There is also interest cost on the debt. And in that, a lot of this margin is getting lost. So, the only way net margin will go up is 2 possibilities. One is that EBITDA needs to go up further. So, let's say, from 13.9% to 15%, 16%, that's feasible, as we increase capacity utilization and so on. The second, debt needs to be deleveraged so that, so much of that profit is being today being eaten because of the interest that needs to go away. So, I think we are working on both. The ideal scenario would be on a net margin basis, I think that from 1% or 2%, how do we move at least in reasonable future, right, how do we move to 5% to 7%. Two ways, improve product mix in terms of what we sell and increase capacity utilization to improve EBITDA. And second would be to deleverage the company and not be paying interest. That's the only way net margin will go up. And we think we are in the right direction, but it won't happen overnight. I think it would take a couple of years for us to start seeing strong net margins.

Mr. Anil Jain, are you there?

Yes, yes.

Yes. As the line for the participant has been disconnected, we are moving on to the next question. [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Nishita from Sapphire Capital.

You had 1 question last time.

Yes. So, I just wanted to ask the 15% growth that you've guided for FY '26, that is -- that does not include the bottling unit revenue, right? Since you are going to do only marginal revenue in bottling unit in FY '26. So, does that include the 15%, does that include that revenue or it doesn't?

No, it doesn't because that will not be significant for the current year, but for FY '27 it will be difficulty.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of [ Sanket Kumar ] from AB Investments Limited.

Sir, the question that was left in between tissue culture, what is the progress of coffee that you have signed an MOU with the government. Can you please [ Foreign Language ].

[ Foreign Language ] Coffee [ Foreign Language ], I think the results have been very good with whatever tissue culture plants, which we have supplied to the Coffee Board, and which they have given to their farmers. So -- and in this part of the business, it takes 1 to 3 years for them to test it in their field and see how it comes. So in terms of significant revenue, that would come maybe '27 onwards. But the good news for the division, right, as I was explaining, that banana demand is doing well, pomegranate is doing well. Potato seeds work which we are doing showed results. So overall, I think I expect this particular division to maintain about 20% plus growth, regardless of coffee. If coffee comes along post '27, that would be good, and it will come along, but it just takes that much of time.

Okay. Sir, any future plans for IPO of Jain Foods?

So we have spoken earlier also that, I think we would be in consultation with the -- we have a private equity shareholder in that company, Jain Farm Fresh. In their consultation, I think we would be planning to -- again, subject to the market and market conditions, sometimes in '26 calendar year, we should look at bringing the IPO for Food.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Madhur Rathi from Counter Cyclical Investments.

Sir, I wanted to understand regarding the receivables. And sir, when can we expect the government receivables to flow in?

I think government receivables should come through most of them, right, next fiscal year, which are related to EPC projects, which are old legacy or projects being completed, et cetera. So all of them should -- most of them. And I said -- when I say most, more than 90% should flow through latest by FY '27 March.

So, out of the INR 2,300 crores-odd receivables that we have as of H1 then, how much would be related to government and how much can we expect on a conservative basis to flow by FY '27?

So there are 2 in the total receivables, post the provisions which has already been made are about INR 2,000 crores. Out of INR 2,000 crores, project-related receivables are about INR 900 crores. So, most of that should be with us by March '27. And there are some other government-related receivables, but they are ongoing. They get protected, right? We get paid and then we supply new material. So that would remain, that's another INR 400 crores. But what would be finished, which will come, and we are not doing EPC business again. That would be that INR 900 crores.

Sir, if I look at our FY '24 con call, we were very hopeful that we will receive it in FY '25, these INR 800 crores, INR 900 crores of project receivables. So sir, what is the issue? Why aren't we getting the money back? Sir, is it an issue from the government's end? Is it an issue from our end? Sir, so I'm just trying to understand, sir, in FY '24, we were expecting it to come in FY '25, but now we have moved this time line to FY '27. So if you could just help us understand on that front?

Yes. So, actually, it is not a static number because during this period to complete the incomplete project, we have done revenue of also another INR 1,500 crores. So, in fact, if I tell you, in FY '23, we received INR 800 crores on the government projects. In FY '24, we received INR 431 crores from the government. The year before, we had received INR 632 crores. So that kind of money is flowing. But meanwhile, because there was significant size of these projects, those were quite big. The new invoices have been created as we are completing the project. So -- and -- but that now that when you do the last milestones, which is what we're expecting to do over the next 6 months, we expect in March '27, most of the project funding will come and nothing is left. Because as I said, I think the total revenue which we still need to bill might be only INR 200 crores, INR 250 crores now against all the projects. But 2 years ago, in '24, it was still about some INR 1,000 crores, INR 1,200 crores we still had to bill. So that money has come, but new billings also has taken place.

The next question comes from the line of Kumar Divyanshu, an individual investor.

Congratulations sir, for the very good set of numbers. I'm having only 1 or 2 questions. First question regarding to the order book. Could you please comment on the Q2 order book status? And what about the execution time line?

So I think the order book, which we have talked about is across different businesses we have.

Sir sorry, I couldn't get you. Could you please repeat, sir?

So out of INR 1,900 crores order book, about INR 1,500 crores should get done in next 6 months, and about INR 400 crores by next September.

Okay sir, in the presentation, as I'm able to see the total consolidated order book is INR 19,047 crores.

No. Those are all rupees in millions. So INR 1,900 crores, all figures across are rupees in million. It is INR 1,900 crores, out of which INR 1,500 crores, almost close to 80% should happen closed, let's say, between now and March, and then the remainder by next September.

Okay. So out of INR 1,900 crores, INR 400 crores will be by September next year, right?

Yes, INR 1,500 crores by March.

The next question comes from the line of [ Sanket Kumar ], AB Investment Limited.

Sir, you are getting into new segments like now in Bottling, Piping, you are there. Sir, Pipe business has not been doing well for some quarters. Sir, isn't it a good idea to focus on rather a Food business or some particular segment and grow it to the highest level. You are getting it quarter -- like now you are getting into Bottling segment. Sir, are you confident of growth, you will be able to lift to the heights of the company?

Yes, yes, we are quite confident of that. And see, all businesses have their own merits, right? And so Micro Irrigation business, we are already a leader in the country, and this Hi-tech division this quarter has grown 39%. Pipe has been gone through deflation. And in fact, you see last few quarters, it is not just us. Everybody else, all listed public companies on piping, you see. They have limited growth or challenges because of deflationary environment on pipe and lack of government spending. But I think that is in the past, we are looking forward to a positive growth. In terms of the new growth opportunity in the Food business, we made the pulp, right? And now this is the next stage from pulp, you make the juice. So -- and we are using our existing infrastructure, which has already come through for capital investment. So return on capital, which we are investing in this business is expected to be very good. So, I think we are very mindful that our allocation of resources and allocation of capital should be very judicious, right, because we suffered quite a lot, as you know, between '19 to '22. We don't want to repeat those mistakes. So, we are very focused on that any new investments we make, any new lines which we pick up or any additional growth opportunity we pursue should have a very good return in terms of capital, free cash flow. So that -- your point is valid, but we are very focused on that, and you will see good results overall. But even in the current quarter, the Plastic divisions, which is including pipes, has done reasonably well in terms of the growth as well as improvement in margins.

Sir, plastic division like Jain Pipes, I have not heard in North India, like I live in Delhi, but I have not heard about any like Finolex pipes, [Foreign Language] I have been telling to the dealers. But Jain Pipe, I have not heard about Jain Pipe. Can you please -- what are the strategy on this side of India?

Yes, yes. So, I think that's also a very good observation. When you talk of Finolex or some other names, let's say, a lot of them have, let's say, gone into urban pipe markets, including a lot of plumbing and so on. So, it has become like known to the consumer. Our primary product line business, which we have, goes to farmers into rural areas. And if you go to rural areas, I think whether in -- we have a manufacturing plant in Alwar near Delhi, 150 kilometers from Delhi. So, whether in Rajasthan or Bihar or UP, everywhere Jain Irrigation is known or Jain Pipe is known in the rural areas, but it is not known in the urban cities or metros or many metros as of now, because we are not there present in the plumbing sector. But larger point of what you mentioned that over a period of time, we have been more present in Western and Southern markets as a country. But now we are increasing our focus on Northern and Northeastern markets also. So, I think over the next year or 2, you will start seeing more presence of Jain in so many ways, into these markets also. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as the last question for today. I now hand over the conference over to Anil Jain for closing comments.

Again, I would like to thank all the participants, and I apologize for that break for a minute or so, due to bad phone connection. Overall, this has been a good quarter for us in so many ways, as I said, not just in revenue, but earnings and quality of earnings. So, we feel very positive for the remainder of the year. Of course, there are -- the geopolitics and whatnot and climate change does throw time to time some kind of additional challenges to us, but that's our job to stay focused, to work on it, and still deliver the good results. So that's what we are committed to. Thank you for the support from all investors as well as all the participants on the call. Thank you again.

On behalf of Jain Irrigation, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you so much, sir.