Jupiter Wagons Limited (JWL) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 and 9 month FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of Jupiter Wagons Limited hosted by Systematix Institutional Equities. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Prathmesh Kamath of Systematix Institutional Equities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, and good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining us today for Q3 and 9 months FY '26 Earnings Call of Jupiter Wagons Limited. On behalf of Systematix, I would like to thank the management for giving us the opportunity to host this call. Today, we have with us Mr. Vivek Lohia, Managing Director; and Mr. Vinod Kumar Agarwal, CFO. Now I will hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks, followed by the Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Vivek, sir.

Thank you, Prathmesh. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join our earnings call. It is my pleasure to walk you through Jupiter Wagons' performance for the quarter and 9 months ended December 31, 2025. I trust you have had the opportunity to review our financial results and the investor presentation shared earlier. During the third quarter, we continued with improvement in performance, overcoming the severe supply side constraints faced during the start of the year and delivered a clear sequential improvement in performance. Total consolidated income for the quarter stood at INR 900 crores reflecting a healthy 13% quarter-on-quarter growth. EBITDA for the quarter was INR 116 crores, up 12% from Q2, with EBITDA margins sustained at a healthy 13%. Profit after tax came in at INR 62 crores, registering a strong 36% quarter-on-quarter growth, while PAT margin expanded to 7%. This performance underscores the resilience of our operations, disciplined execution and the inherent strength of our diversified business model. Our order book remains robust, providing strong visibility for the quarters ahead. As of 31st December 2025, the consolidated order book stood at INR 5,041 crores, covering diversified products across wagons, wheelsets, braking systems and containers, reinforcing sustained customer confidence and demand strengths across both public and private sector clients. For -- from an operational standpoint, wheelsets supplies constraints have eased compared to the acute shortages experienced earlier in the year. However, supplies are yet to return to the optimum required levels and therefore, continue to impact wagon production across the broader industry. To structurally address this challenge and secure long-term supply chain resilience, our Odisha greenfield project for the fully integrated wheelsets manufacturing is progressing as planned. Orders for all critical equipment have been placed and construction activities are advancing at full pace. The facility is expected to commence production by year-end, which will materially enhance wheelset availability and support higher throughput across our wagon and component businesses. Our existing wheelsets and axle business has gained further momentum supported by a healthy order book across multiple end user applications, including freight wagons, LHB coaches, metro systems and Vande Bharat trains. We have also secured orders for the machining and assembly of LHB wheelsets, centering our position within the railway components ecosystem and expanding our participation in higher value segments. Jupiter Electric Mobility made significant progress during the period. The successful implementation of auxiliary battery systems for Vande Bharat trains, underscores our growing capability in advanced energy storage solutions for railway sector. In parallel, we secured orders from marquee customers across the material handling and specialized equipment segments, validating both our product performance and market acceptance. Our operational capabilities are further strengthened with the commissioning of a cell-to-battery manufacturing line in Indore, enhancing both capacity and vertical integration. Additionally, our modular battery energy storage systems developed in containerized formats are gaining traction across high-value applications, such as diesel generator replacement, mobile energy storage and renewable energy integration. Collectively, these developments position Jupiter strongly within the rapidly evolving energy transition landscape. Our commercial vehicle and container business recorded healthy growth during the year, supported by recent policy initiatives, including production-linked incentives, and increased budgetary allocations, this segment is well positioned to -- well positioned for accelerated expansion. As one of India's leading container manufacturers, Jupiter Wagons stands to benefit meaningfully from these structural growth drivers. The broader policy and industry environment remains supportive. The announcement of a new freight corridor further expands the addressable opportunity size in the domestic market. In addition, the Railway Ministry has maintained procurement estimates at approximately 32,000 wagons reinforcing long-term demand visibility for rolling stock and associated components. Beyond freight wagons, we continue to see steady growth across products such as brake disc, CMS crossings, braking systems and other engineered solutions. At the same time, we are actively pursuing opportunities to enhance our participation in the passenger rolling stock segment and are currently at an advanced stage of engagement with a leading European partner. This strategic initiative aligns with our long-term vision of becoming a comprehensive mobility and railway engineering solution provider and we will share further details at appropriate time. In addition to the exciting opportunities in the domestic market, recent positive developments towards strengthening trade agreements with the EU and the U.S. are expected to open up sizable export opportunities for Indian railway engineering products. This is particularly relevant for high-value components such as wheelsets, brake discs and allied systems where we are well positioned to access European and other international markets through our joint venture, subsidiaries and global partnerships. Turning to a couple of corporate developments during the quarter. We continue to strengthen our leadership and governance framework with the appointment of Mr. Mark Damian Stevenson as additional Director. Mr. Stevenson brings over 3 decades of international rail industry experience, spanning freight railcar leasing, financials stewardship and large-scale operational transformation. His global perspective and industry expertise will further enhance Jupiter's strategic capabilities as we expand across domestic and international markets. Additionally, on December 19, 2025 Jupiter Wagons Limited allotted 28,72,340 equity shares pursuant to the conversion of warrants by Tatravagonka upon receipt of the balance subscription amount of INR 101.25 crores. This resulted in an increase in promoter shareholding from 68.09% to 68.31%, reflecting continued promoter confidence and long-term commitment to company's growth strategy. Despite near-term challenges arising from supply chain constraints, our fundamentals remain strong. A robust order book, diversified portfolio, supportive policy environment and ongoing strategic capacity expansions provide confidence in our sustained long-term growth trajectory. We remain committed to operational excellence, innovation and delivering sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Thank you for your continued trust and support. I now request the moderator to open the floor for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Balasubramanian from Arihant Capital.

Sir, my first question, on the wheelsets side, industry is facing nearly 30% to 32% kind of shortage. By next year, Titagarh and RK Forgings JV also coming up for wheelsets and [ TG ] also coming out with the Odisha project, especially for wheelsets. So I'm trying to understand, by next financial year, how the wheelsets supplies will improve? And like whether we have to take any special approval to supply to Indian Railways? Like if you are making wheelsets, we can directly supply to Indian Railways or we can directly use in a broader look? And if you could mention we're also targeting some exports order export side. So which are the geographies like the demand is there? And sir, I'm trying to understand whether if your wheelsets prices are in either INR 2.5 lakh to INR 3 lakh that range, is it really viable on the exports wheelsets?

Thank you for your questions. First, on the wheelsets, as you rightly said, capacities are coming online by end of this year or by next year. So I think once this private capacities come online, I don't think we mentioned -- should be any challenges on the availability of wheelsets. As we've already mentioned, and we have also given notifications from time to time that we're already supplying to Indian Railways for LHB and other applications. So in terms of approvals from Indian Railways, we don't see any challenge. So the facility has been designed with the approval standards of Indian Railways in mind. So we don't see -- perceive any kind of challenges with regard to getting the approvals. And definitely, once the facility is approved, the wheelsets because they are completely fall under Make in India policy, we can use those wheelsets for our own production. So we don't see a challenge in that regard also. With regard to the export market, as you are aware that Tatravagonka is a very active participant in this project. And they themselves have a sizable demand for wheelsets. They buy close to about 50,000 wheelsets annually. So for us, they would form our biggest buyer category. And since it's captive, so we don't see that to be a challenge. In terms of pricing, we have already reviewed the pricing. And we are very confident that we will be able to meet the pricing targets, which Tatra has given us.

Yes. Sir, my second question, on that private wagon side, like if you could quantify what is that market size of private wagons market? And where we are getting repetitive orders from same players or we could mention some of the industries where we are getting regular orders for private wagons. And which are the -- which type of wagons we are getting inquiries or order book?

So see, the demand in the private segment continues to be very robust. It is across all segments. I think steel, int, your container and the auto segment, I think these 4 segments form the bulk of the demand. We continue to ask customer -- the major customers, I think, continue to remain the same. And we -- and they are the biggest buyers, and we keep on getting repetitive orders from them. I cannot disclose very specifics of the order books right now. But we do get -- this year, most of our orders have been from our existing customers only, and they have been repeat orders. So again, we are continuously in the process of developing new cars. We have recently developed the double-deck auto car, which we'll be rolling out the first rake, our first rake is completely ready, and it will be rolled out any time. We are very confident on that segment, and we expect a lot of traction in that segment in calendar year '26 and '27, both years, we expect very strong traction. We have a very strong order book on the cement wagons. We have got new inquiries on those wagons where we continue to pursue the lead. On the container wagons itself, I think the demand is very strong. And now with the trade agreement, which has been signed, I think the demand is going to become more robust. Indian Railways is also working on a very -- again, reviewing the container policy. They are making it much more user-friendly. There's a lot of infrastructure work, which is happening. We believe that the JNPT connection will happen sometime very soon. I think once that happens, it will be a huge fill-up to the segment. So yes, so -- and steel also, now we are seeing new demand coming in, and we expect that demand to whatever understanding, which we have had and discussion which we had with the cement industry -- sorry, with the steel industry, we expect this year the demand to be quite robust because there's been a lot of expansion in capacity, which has happened. So yes, so I think the private sector, we expect the demand momentum to continue.

Yes, sir. Sir, a follow-up on that. Is that a right way to understand the 80-20 rakes on the railway and private wagons? Or is there any changes?

Can you please repeat your question? I could not understand it.

No, sir, in that wagon industry, railway and private wagon, what is the current mix? Earlier used to be 80-20.

So it never used to be 80-20, it used to be 60-40 or 50-50. And the mix used to remain the same. Our private order book continues to be very, very robust. So the mix is -- right now, I think our private order book is about 70% and the balance is the IR order book.

Okay, sir. Sir, my next question, we are supplying high-value components for Vande Bharat or Metros. So what are the new product lines and strategies to moving up the value chain? Especially in the passenger coaches side?

As we have -- see, this year itself in '26 itself, we will be entering the passenger rolling stock business and we will get to -- in the next few months, you will get to hear our announcements coming on that, our partnerships. So one is that we're entering that segment as an OEM. On the component side, we have very strong joint ventures with Kovis, DAKO and Stone India, we are expecting our licenses in this coming quarter. So Stone India, I think by the third quarter will become operationalize. So across, I think, our -- we are in the final stages of developing our couplers for the -- we have the couplers for the LHB passenger coaches, we're in the final stages of developing the same for the Vande Bharat. We are developing -- we have got orders from railways to develop the buffer system for Vande Bharat and high-speed trains, and we are in the process of doing the trials for the same. So there are a lot of components which we are working on. And as you have seen that our non-wagon business continues to grow. So over the next 2, 3 years, you will see a definite increase in the non-wagon business and addition of more portfolios in that segment.

Okay. And my last question, on the EV side, we are targeting INR 200 crore revenue by FY '27. And what is the current month-on-month volume growth rate on EV mobility side, sir?

Month-on-month, I think we are growing at close to about 20% to 30% in that segment. And we expect to -- by May or -- by April or May, we expect to hit our run rate of about close to INR 20-odd crores of revenue per month. And so -- and that is why we are very bullish on the target, which we have -- revenue targets of INR 200 crores, which we have set. And that will be mainly led by the battery storage business, which is growing around close to 100% month-on-month. We are expanding our capabilities and capacities there. Plus on the industry side, also the battery system, which we supply, that business is also continuing to show a lot of momentum. On the truck segment, we are launching another truck variant in the next quarter. That will also give a lot of momentum in the market. We have recently invested in a new battery line in Indore, which will enhance our battery capacities and capabilities. Indian Railway is in the final stages of finalization of their policy for buying lithium-ion batteries. I think once that policy guidelines are finalized, it will give a very, very strong momentum and push in terms of adoption of these batteries in Indian Railways. I think that itself will be -- give a huge boost to the segment.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Sahil Patani from Strokes Capital.

So a couple of questions, Vivek. I wanted to understand now as a part of the U.S. trade deal as well as the European trade deal, what kind of opportunities are you seeing? And obviously, this is more long term, but what kind of products as well as what would be the product mix as well going forward when we open these export markets?

So in both markets, I think there is a big opportunity. In the European market, definitely our major focus is on our wheelsets. I think once the plant is operational, we expect sizable business to come from the European and the global market. And besides Tatra also, we are in discussions and with other customers. But however, at this stage we cannot reveal our discussions. But during -- in the next 1 or 2 quarters, we will be revealing on the other potential opportunities in that segment. We have already started working on CBAM because we are very serious on the export side. I think in Europe, the biggest challenge in the Indian industry is going to face on the CBAM and which, I think, unless people are already up preparing themselves and gearing themselves up, Europe is going to be a major challenge. On the U.S. market, again, we do export crossings. That supply has got little disrupted because of the tariffs. But after this -- those supplies and both crossing as well as containers we were supplying. I think that business is going to pick up. We are in very strong discussions with American supplier to supply complete integrated battery storage systems to the American market. I think that is a huge opportunity for us, especially given the fact that China has a much higher tariff than India, so the price differential. One is that the customers want alternative supply chain. And secondly, because of the tariff, the price differential is now working in our favor.

Understood. Okay. And my second question is, I think last year, we gave like a very conservative revenue guidance of 10% to 15%, right? But obviously, it looks -- seems like we'll be closing below that. Now given the trends and the disruption in wheelsets from Indian Railways, how do you kind of foresee FY '27 to pan out?

I think FY '27 is going to remain muted because I think this disruption is going -- though it's improved significantly, but we don't foresee that the disruption is going to get resolved. So -- and whatever, our wheel capacities we had in Aurangabad, they're already fully utilized for the order book we have from Indian Railways and for our demand on the private side. So though we have expanded capacities there, but still with the expanded capacities also, we are working. I think that facility is working close to 100% of its capacity. So this year, definitely, on the freight car side, we expect our numbers to be muted. Also, I think we are expecting tenders from Indian Railways also in the -- either in the next quarter or the quarter after that. I think that will also give us -- that gave a huge fill-up to order book. But then with the new tendering from Indian Railways and the momentum we are seeing in the private side, and with our wagon capacity -- sorry, our wheelsets capacities coming online, we expect '27, '28 to be a very, very strong year. Because I think we are completely the -- our base has now been prepared very nicely, and we are completely prepped, I think, for '27, '28.

The next question comes from the line of Sandeep Mukherjee from SKP Securities Limited.

Sir, my only question is like what is the pending number of wagons in Q3 FY '26?

It's close to about 8,000 wagons which we have pending right now.

Okay. Out of this 70% will be private, sir?

Yes. Yes.

Our next question comes from the line of Parvez Qazi from Nuvama Group.

I'm sorry if you've answered this question earlier, but just wanted to get your views on any potential wagon tender from the Indian Railways? What could be timing of such a tender, if any?

Honestly, very difficult to predict timing. If you look at the Indian Railways, the budget, which -- there -- in that they mentioned about 32,000 wagons. So -- but we expect it to happen, it is any time this year we expect it to happen.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Rajesh Bhandari from Nakoda Engineers.

Sir, can you hear me?

Yes, yes.

Sir, [Foreign Language] there are many people now into leasing -- wagon leasing. So [Foreign Language].

Definitely [Foreign Language] So we are more interested in that. I think that is going to be more critical than the leasing. Leasing is not going to be a challenge at all.

Yes, yes, that maintenance probably will be more paying also.

Yes. I mean and that is what is our code and we can give better value to our customers. So I think maintenance is something which we are very focused on.

[Foreign Language] already, most of which is from private [Foreign Language].

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[Foreign Language] last year, wheel supplies were not a challenge [Foreign Language] So we expect that the next '27 and '28 to be very, very strong years.

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Yes. Yes, definitely.

[Foreign Language] it is INR 100 crores, INR 120 crores, INR 150 crores like that. [Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language] if you compare to industry peers [Foreign Language] we are maintaining close to about 13%, [Foreign Language] so EBITDA margin will improve [Foreign Language] compared to last year, those numbers have improved significantly, and we expect this momentum to become stronger and stronger.

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No, definitely not because [Foreign Language] I think that will be one of the best years for Jupiter.

[Foreign Language] FY '26, '27 and FY '27, '28.

FY '27, '28.

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[Foreign Language] quarters, we expect that the disruption will continue. But post that, we are very, very confident that we will have a very strong growth momentum, not only wagons, [Foreign Language] and that growth is going to increase, plus some passenger business, maybe we are now foraying into [Foreign Language].

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[Foreign Language]. you need to be compliant for that [Foreign Language].

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Carbon policy.

Yes, carbon policy. [Foreign Language].

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[Foreign Language] So that will help.

Definitely. Definitely. That will be of great help.

Your next follow-up question comes from the line of Sahil Patani from Strokes Capital.

Vivek, so I think as you mentioned, right, I think FY '28 is going to be pretty good for the company. And previously, we've also given a guidance of INR 8,000 crores to INR 10,000 crores in FY '28. So given this financial year, which is '27 will be like more or less flat for us. Are we saying that by FY '28, over the next couple of years, we will more than double our revenues?

Definitely, and that is what we are targeting, and that is how we have built our product portfolio also. So if you look at all our other segments, they are -- say, if you look at the battery segment or the battery container storage. These are segments where India has just started localizing. So as you saw in case of solar, the initial momentum was very small. And then the government as the industrial base was established in India, the government put a lot of tariff barriers. And then you saw a huge momentum in that segment. I think that similarly, the battery segment is now propped for that kind of growth to happen because the industrial application as well as the solar applications are very, very robust. Besides that, government is introducing a PLI scheme on the container side. As you are aware that we are one of the biggest producers of containers in the country and that PLIs will go a long way in India being competitive in the global landscape, especially with regard to China. So as China today produces 90% of the global containers. So again, there is a big opportunity in that segment itself. Wheelsets, I've already talked about, at full production, that has the revenue potential is close to about anything between INR 2,000 crores to INR 2,500 crores annually in that business for us. So that will be a huge incremental revenue for us. And even all our other segments, the Commercial Vehicle segment, those also month-on-month are showing good growth rates. So definitely, I think we expect -- our expectations are very, very high going forward.

Okay. Understood. Got it. And when you kind of thought of that number INR 8,000 cores to INR 10,000 crores with last year, there were a couple of unknowns. We didn't know if the European deal would go through. We didn't know about the U.S. India trade deal or those things were like a bit unknown, which you have clarity on. So does that kind of give you a bit of like enhanced confidence to do better or even surpass that kind of a number?

No, definitely, it gives us a lot of confidence and clarity because all the ambiguity has now been removed. In terms of the business and landscape or I would say, the regulatory landscape, the picture is very clear. The government is very keen to push exports out of India, and we have the right partnerships to enable that. So definitely, we are very, very positive. Again, in terms of numbers, I would not like to comment right now. I think as and when we start delivering, and that is when we are going to talk about the numbers.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Rajesh Bhandari from Nakoda Engineers.

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[Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference back to the management for closing comments.

Thank you for the same. As we move forward, we remain encouraged by the strong momentum across our businesses and the continued strength of our execution. With wheelsets supplies improving, our freight wagon business has meaningfully regained operational momentum, while the excellent visibility across our other businesses -- other business lines positions us well for sustained and profitable growth. We are excited by the abundant opportunity set across both domestic and export markets. Our focus remains firmly on execution excellence, disciplined capital deployment and the continued strengthening of our manufacturing and integration capabilities as we work towards delivering long-term sustainable value for our stakeholders. Thank you for your continued trust and support. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the next quarter.

Thank you. On behalf of Systematix Institutional Equities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.