TCI Express Limited (TCIEXP.NS) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the TCI Express Q3 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by PhillipCapital India Private Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference call is recorded. I would now hand the conference over to Mr. Vikram Balas Suryavanshi from PhillipCapital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Muskan. Good evening, and a very warm welcome to everyone. Thank you for being on the call of TCI Express. We are happy to have the management with us here today for question-and-answer session with the investment community. The management is represented by Mr. Chander Agarwal, Managing Director; Mr. Pabitra Panda, Chief Business Officer; and Mukti Lal, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. Before we start with the call, we'll have opening comments from the management. I will hand over the call to Mr. Chander Agarwal for opening comments. Over to you, sir.

Thank you. I hope I'm audible, loud and clear.

Yes, sir.

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Q3 and 9 months financial year '26 earnings conference call of TCI Express Limited. Thank you for joining us today. I hope you and your families are doing well. Our earnings presentation for the quarter has already been shared on the company's website and with the stock exchanges, and I trust you've had the opportunity to review it. I will begin by sharing an overview of our operational performance and business progress during the quarter and 9 months ended December financial year '26. Following this, our Executive Director and CFO, Mr. Mukti, will take you through the financial performance in detail. During the third quarter, the operating environment reflected a mixed trend across sectors. While certain industrial and export-linked segments showed moderation, domestic consumption and festive-led demand supported freight movement. Against this, TCI Express delivered a stable performance supported by disciplined execution, network expansion and steady traction across multiple business verticals. On an overall basis, the company reported 6% year-on-year growth for the quarter. Furthermore, as part of our ongoing commitment to shareholder value, we are pleased to announce an interim dividend of INR 7 per share, representing a payout of 350% on the face value. Surface Express continued to remain the largest contributor to overall volumes. During the quarter, Surface Express resumed growth following a period of subdued performance. Performance was supported by customer additions, higher wallet share from existing enterprise accounts and increased movement across sectors as automotive, defense, solar and electric vehicles. Business from MSME and pharmaceutical customers also improved during the period. Furthermore, during the quarter, we saw an increase in business from key account management customers, reflecting deeper engagement and improved solution alignment. Customer acquisition remained strong with registered customer additions more than doubling on a year-on-year basis, supported by focused sales efforts and high field engagement. To strengthen network reach, 5 new branches were added in Q3 financial '26. In addition, customer contract renewals are currently underway with revised pricing being implemented earlier than the usual cycle, supporting yield improvement going forward. During the quarter, the Rail Express segment delivered 24% year-on-year growth, aided by higher pharma volumes and technology-led improvements in compliance and shipment visibility. The Air Express business also reported steady progress with domestic Air Express growing about 14% year-on-year on the back of customer additions, improved delivery performance and stronger regional connectivity, while international Air Express recorded nearly 28% growth driven by higher trade-in activity, customer wins in express and progress on cargo consolidation and global partnerships. The C2C Express segment scaled further with 32% year-on-year growth, supported by wider manpower coverage and new customer acquisitions. The E-commerce Express business continued to gain traction, delivering strong growth with consistent volumes across the quarter, stable profitability and continued progress on B2C expansion, leadership strengthening and technology integration to support future scale. From a people and process perspective, focused efforts are being taken towards organized business growth and culture transformation across business associates and logistics staff. As frontline representatives of the company, these teams play a critical role in customer interaction, service quality and operational outcomes. Structured training and engagement initiatives are expected to improve execution consistency and support long-term growth. During the period, the company has been certified under ISO certifications for ISO 9001 2015, ISO 14001 2015, and ISO 45001 2018. These certifications reflect our continued focus on quality, environmental responsibility and workplace safety. We are also pleased to share that TCI Express has been certified as a Great Place to Work for sixth consecutive year and recognized as India's most preferred brand for '25-'26. These recognitions reinforce our focus on people, governance and long-term value creation. Our corporate social responsibility initiatives continued during the quarter. Our health checkup camp was organized for employees at the corporate office in collaboration with Medanta Hospital, supporting preventive health care and employee well-being. The TCI Express Foundation's Jaipur Foot and Rehab Center and in Lucknow supported 144 beneficiaries during the quarter by providing artificial limbs and assisted devices contributing to mobility and long-term rehab outcomes. Looking ahead, the company remains focused on strengthening its core surface network, expanding multimodal capabilities and deepening engagement across key customer segments. Continued investments in technology, network optimization and people development remains central to our strategy. Furthermore, during 9-month financial year '26, the company added more than 300 employees to align manpower with network expansion and service requirements. With a strong balance sheet, asset-light model and disciplined execution, TCI Express is well positioned to navigate near term demand variability and pursue sustainable growth in the quarters ahead. With this, now I'd like to hand over the call to Mr. Mukti to take you through the financial performance of the quarter and 9 months ended financial '26. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you, sir, and good evening, everyone. I will now take you through the financial performance of TCI Express for the third quarter and 9 months ended FY '26. As our Managing Director has already been covered the business environment, service initiatives and operational progress, I will mainly focus on the financial highlights. For the third quarter of this '26, income from operations was INR 314 crores compared to INR 296 crores in quarter 3 in last year same quarter, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 6%. On a sequential basis, we also increased revenue by 2% and total income for the quarter was INR 317 crores for FY '26. EBITDA for the quarter was INR 37 crores compared to INR 33 crores in the same quarter of last year. EBITDA margin for quarter 3 FY '26 is 11.6%. Profit after tax for the quarter is INR 23 crores with a margin of 7.2%. For the 9-month period, income from operation is INR 909 crores and compared to INR 901 crores in the corresponding period last year, by registering 1% growth in this 9-month period. Total income for the period stood at INR 919 crores. EBITDA for 9 months is INR 109 crores with a margin of 11.9%, while profit after tax stood at INR 69 crores with a margin of 7.5%. The 9-month performance reflects stable operating execution despite demand variability across quarters. From a return and efficiency perspective, return on capital employed for 9 months stood at 19.6%. Current ratio remained healthy at 3.38x, highlighting strong liquidity and balance sheet flexibility. Working capital management remained again stable during this quarter. Receivable days has maintained at 60 days, payable days at 39 days, resulting in net working capital cycle of 21 days. The increase in working capital days compared to the previous quarter is largely linked to the festive season volumes and timing of collections and remains well within the manageable levels. Further, we will be try to reduce in time to come in by next quarter. The company continued to operate with a debt-free balance sheet. The net cash position remained strong at the INR 146 crores, supporting ongoing investment and operational requirements. And cash flow from operations for the 9 months FY '26 was INR 29 crores. During the same period, the company incurred capital expenditure of INR 45 crores, primarily towards branch expansion, sorting center infrastructure and IT upgrades. Free cash flow for the 9-month period stood at INR 15 crores. Additionally, the company revised its projected CapEx to INR 400 crores from the earlier plan of INR 500 crores in 5-year tenure, which will be finished in FY '27. So we will be revised to -- from INR 500 crores to INR 400 crores. So remaining period we will be done almost like INR 150 crores in 1.5 years' time. From a service performance perspective, Surface Express remained the largest contributor to revenue, while Rail, Air, C2C and E-commerce segment supported overall growth during the quarter. As mentioned earlier, investments across multiple services and technology platform aimed at improving operating leverage over the medium-term. To summarize, the third quarter and 9-month performance reflects steady revenue growth, disciplined cost control, stable margins and a strong balance sheet. Our priorities remain focused on prudent capital allocation, maintain liquidity and strengthening cash flows. With this, I conclude my remarks. We can now open for -- the floor for the question-and-answer. Thank you very much.

[Operator instructions] The first question is from the line of [ Kanishk Jain ] from [indiscernible] Research.

Congrats on great set of numbers. Sir, I have a few questions. The first one is on the SME side. Given the current headwinds faced by the SMEs, could you help us understand how sticky our SME clients are to the express [indiscernible] model versus shifting to 3PL or other affordable models? Also so far, have we seen any SME clients move away from us?

Sorry, what I understand -- your voice is not clear. So you're talking about SMEs, again, they facing the headwinds and how like they performing and how they like giving the business to us, right?

Yes, sir. And also that since they are facing headwinds, so is there any probability that they will shift from express model to affordable models like 3PL or other models?

No. So SMEs is -- yes, SMEs not hit much. What kind of SMEs we are dealing with that they are like prudent one and then fully compliant. And they have the like full supply chain and businesses across India, we helping them to deliver everywhere. So, our ratio is maintained with them, and we getting the business from them regularly. And currently, ratio with them is around 49%, and we will keep continue. And again, you've seen like in a recent budget, government is also highly focused on to help to these SMEs and they also marking some fund to get the direct packages from the SME customers and all. So government is also worrisome about their existence in the system continuously. And that's why we also like focus our company -- since inception focusing on SME customers. So, we will keep continue there. And really, they are not like moving from express industry to other models. They have to keep continue with the express because the model giving the guarantee to deliver on time and with damage free and all. So this way is nothing to be worrisome and is very well going on.

Okay. And so far, none of our SME client has left us?

No, no, not at all, not at all.

Okay. My another -- I just wanted to have understanding that do we -- about the back-end infrastructure, if we were able to win a contract to significantly increase the capacity utilization, would our existing back-end infra be able to absorb and service this incremental volume? Or would it require further expansion of CapEx?

Can you come again? Your voice is not clear actually. Somehow it's like...

Okay. Sir, just wanted to have an understanding about the back-end infrastructure. If we were able to win a contract that significantly increase the capacity utilization, would our existing back-end infra be able to absorb and service this incremental volume? Or would it require further expansion of CapEx? Was I audible?

Yes, yes. So basically, you need 2, 3 -- see 3 aspects. One is like we had infrastructure -- existing infrastructure for the surface and other services like air and rail and C2C. So we creating an additional infrastructure to giving excellent services to customers. So we creating infrastructure for rail service independently. We creating an infrastructure for air, domestic and international also separately. And we -- our MD has mentioned, we hiring new people for the sales and operation both. So we are future ready for wherever we like win any contract, we can be like get that almost like once we will be get like 30%, 40% revenue growth in existing infrastructure is okay. We will be do that. But infrastructure is also like in a 2 way. One is my fleet and another one is our sorting centers and branch network. So sorting center and branch network is fine, but fleet will be added wherever is required because it's a variable component. In existing fleet, we have -- utilization level is around 83% plus. So this way, it can be increased to 2%, 3% in existing one, but whenever we added the like new customer on a very particular line, then we have to be add the additional capacity accordingly or like we shift the capacity from low capacity to higher capacity in existing truck. So like, again, right, supposing we utilizing 16, 17 tonne truck, then we can be moved to 25-tonne truck or supposing 9 tonnes, then we can be move to 18 tonnes. So this way, it's happening and it is a very dynamic one. So that is not a challenge. Wherever we will be grow faster, then we are ready with that.

Okay. And lastly, I wanted to understand the company's priority between improving capacity and top line versus improving margin. For instance, if an institutional client order volume that can significantly increase utilization and top line, but at the cost of lower realization, would the company accept the trade-off? Or would we prefer to let the order go and continue to focus on SME clients which offer higher margin but lower utilization and top line? Was I audible?

Yes. Our approach is always to get the profitable business continuously. So, we will be keep a balance, and we maintain that balance since last more than 2 decades, where we getting business in 50%, 50% from SME and 50% from the bigger customers. So that tendency in that region we will be going ahead also with the even newer services, rail and C2C, we will give that way. So, we will be keep continue with that because, again, SME customer giving the good prices and low volume, obviously, bigger customer giving the volumes and slightly low prices. So we have to keep both and keep continue with that method actually.

But if you look at institutional clients, revenue from them are more sustainable, if we try and -- like if you look at operating leverage, if we focus on that, then we would also be able to achieve margins from them, right?

So you're talking about SME?

No, I'm talking about institutional client.

No. So institutional client, yes. So it is always better to have the SME and both together actually. We can't be -- that's why if you see my customer concentration is not so high with one or 2 customers. As we mentioned time to time, my top 25 customer is not giving more than 15% revenue to us. So this way, we have very low concentration on a particular customer. So we are not depending upon that because always big customer or institutional client is always squeezing margins and squeezing the prices. And so they like sometimes very highly fragmented to be moved to other service player if they offering something, some reduced prices and all. But in express industry, fortunately, this is a very good thing where they don't compromise on a service level and usually they not moving much on -- due to price reduction and all. So that's why you've seen like realization per unit is not decreasing in this industry in spite of high competition and all. So this will -- is not like impacting that way. And it's good to have SME and institutional client both in this way.

No, I just wanted to have understanding of what is the company's priority? Is it top line or is it maintaining margin?

No, no, both. We have...

We have to take another next question, Mukti.

Yes, please. We have the both -- Anish, we have the both priorities. We have to be growth with the profitable only. We will not the -- do the growth for the only revenue top-up [indiscernible].

The next question is from the line of Ravi Kumar Naredi from Naredi Investments.

Sir, our competitor one number [ tier ] since it is delivery, how they damage our earnings service last 3 years by incurring losses? So what you expect next 1 year?

So we don't want to be comment on particular competition, but you see their results also. So every competition have their own space and own like [ fill ], but we are very clear on our sense. We will be keep the revenue growth with the profitability only. And this market is very big because our ultimate focus -- because we were in a slightly subdued revenue growth in last 5, 6 quarters because our focus and our dependence was on only -- one particular segment only, Surface. That was the biggest one. But now we face this thing and then we started the newer services also. And then you see in the results in this quarter, every other services has been increased phenomenally very well. So this will be like -- it means it's not that we will be like less focusing on our surface. This is like biggest one. So we will be keep growing simultaneously, but these newer service slightly higher. And obviously, surface will be in the more than double-digit growth in time to come. So we not saying any competition can like harm for particularly can we get the business on lower prices and all, this is not the case actually because this industry people are not behind the rates, rather they want good services.

Because I'm shareholders since last 6 years and went to see your Delhi sorting center too, but results are not up to mark. But you are doing hard work, that is the thing. Sir, Air Express, Chander, you say growth comes 24%. Earlier, say before 4 years, you were not sure for air cargo due to airport and airline handling problem. But now you are working, saying different story. Is it so, Chander sir?

Can you repeat the question, please?

Sir, Air Express grow 24%. Earlier, say before 4 years, you were not sure for air cargo due to airport and airline handling problem. But now you are working, saying different story. Is it so?

Well, you have to also see that the business environment evolves, it changes. It cannot be static. So if the air cargo business was slow before COVID, after COVID it took off. And it's starting to now slow down again. But we have enough now base. We have developed a very strong base where even with the lower volume growth, we will still be able to show growth. So I think it's all fundamental to how the company can change itself from the environment it is doing business in at the moment. So, I don't think that -- yes, we are affected. We have to go as per how the market changes.

Right. And what is your commentary for financial year '27?

Mukti?

Yes. '27, so we looking for 15% plus kind of volume growth. And with the 2% price hikes, so 17% -- 17%, 18% kind of revenue growth we looking for. And accordingly, profit margin like PAT level, we will be increase in the range of 20% plus because we like in a phase of expanding our team and creating a separate capabilities for each services like for rail, for C2C, for air and international. So we creating that one. We refocusing back to on B2C segments also, again, not like targeting big giants company, but again, small, small B2C players for the delivery of -- and also -- we also focusing on D2C, which is also increasing on -- in this market. So we looking for kind of 15% growth in FY '27.

The next question is from the line of [ Dhruvin ] from SKP Securities.

I just have 3, 4 very small questions to ask. First, from a product mix point of view, how do we expect our product mix to be in the next 2 years? Like if I have to -- if you have to give me a breakup between Surface Express, your international air, domestic air and e-commerce, like how would you split your revenues in terms of percentages?

Yes. So overall, like in this quarter and by I think FY '26 end, nothing will be change much. So we will be finishing around 18.5% to 19% in other services and 81% is surface. And of that, we had -- in this 19% chunk, we including rail, air, domestic and international, C2C and e-commerce part. So this is the part of that. And in this -- because these are the, again, a few other very small and we just launched in 2, 3 years back. So biggest chunk is C2C and then followed by air and then rail and then e-commerce.

C2C in this -- so e-commerce as a percentage is how big a chunk?

It is very low, again, 2% and 2.5%. Earlier it's around 4.5%, then we reduced the chunk from the, again, big guys and all. So we reduced selling to 2.5% and now...

Is it the same as international Air Express? International Air is also around that range?

Yes, yes, it is also around 2%, yes.

All right. Okay. Sir, second question, in terms of volume and realization per tonne, what would be your guidance for '27 and '28 going forward?

So in this year we target to increase the yield by at least 100 basis points, 1% basically. And next year, we targeting 2%, again, next year also 2%. So by like FY '28, we will be in a situation to increase my realization by 5%, and that directly add to our profits.

Okay. Last couple of questions. So what was the volume growth in this particular quarter? Sorry, volume -- just volume numbers in this quarter?

The volume number is 2,55,000 metric ton in this quarter we achieved. And in 9 months, total is around 7,37,000 metric ton.

Okay, sir. Last question, your -- our INR 500 crores CapEx plan, which was supposed to end, I think, till FY '27. And then in the last call, we decided that we'll push it to FY '28. So by FY '28, can we assume that this INR 500 crores CapEx will be fully incurred? Or is there something new coming up or some postponement or something expected?

Rightly so -- well -- so, we will be keep like INR 27 crores, INR 400 crores and then additional INR 100 crores by '28. So you rightly said, by '28, we will be consumed this INR 500 crores fully. We are on that mark.

The next question is from the line of Anurag from Equirus Securities.

Yes sir, just capacity utilization details for the quarter would be great?

Yes. So capacity utilization in this quarter, we have around 83.25% because we supposed to be higher, but somehow like after Dipavali, there's a dip in volumes and then again picking up in December and all. So that's why it's happening around 83.25%.

The next question is from the line of Koundinya from Jefferies.

It's Koundinya here. Sir, just trying to understand what is the scenario? Like how is the momentum on the ground in the fourth quarter? Can you put some color on how is Jan and Feb, what is the outlook like? You also spoke about potentially taking early price hikes. So what gives you that confidence to take price hikes now? If you can speak a little bit about that, please?

Chander sir, you want to comment on that?

You can go ahead, Mukti.

Yes. So basically, Koundinya, basically, this environment has improved a lot in the sense of freight movement, in the sense of volume growth for the express industry. And you have seen the other competition number also, everyone is increasing. So, third thing is like cost pressure is like stabilized now. But again, labor cost still is an increasing trend because government also want to be regularized that and want to be given a social security and all. So, that is going on and is also very clear by applying labor laws implementation there. So, with that and business environment now is a good news where like tariff has also reduced from 25% to 18% and this penalty tariff is also removed. So I think overall business scenario and as you've seen like economy is also growing, special thing where government is also putting very high emphasis on SME customers because government knows SME is a key segment for the Indian logistics also and for the Indian growth also, obviously, Indian economy growth also. So that's why they putting in a extra fund to grow that. They also want to be creating a different cluster for the manufacturing for the different, different kind of different manufacturing. So overall, like we also put into a new segment like we signing the contract for the EV vehicle companies. We also signed the contract with the solar. We also signing contract with the electric -- electronics companies also. So -- And we also focusing on as we expand on a new geographies for the other services. So overall environment, I see growth is also coming from the -- this is a good thing we are coming from the Tier 2, Tier 3 cities. People have the more income into hands to like consumption for that. So overall scenario looks great. And again, one segment which we really facing challenges was lifestyle and textile industry, which is I think they will be also we have the boost up with these kind of like tariff has removed from that. So I think hopefully, that industry will be start to doing well. So scenario like January month was also getting good. PMI is also, as you seen, improving. So we seeing -- we will be also sync with that. And certainly, all the segment I'm saying, verticals, like moving ahead, Defense segment is also like new companies coming up, existing companies is also producing more and all. So hopefully, environment is very positive and interest rate is also very low, as you seen. So I think inflation is also low. So customer is also intend to be like give slight hike to prices. So that environment has also built up. So now we are building up our capabilities and surely, we'll be achieve what we like promising for the quarter 4 and then subsequently and go on. Yes.

Sir, where do you think you will -- I mean you did speak about 15% target for FY '27. In FY '26, where do you think that growth will end because after 2 quarters of weakness this quarter, you came back now finally at 5% growth, which is like a decent number. So where do you think you will end the year at?

I think next quarter again, we will be do single high-digit growth or might be like achieve...

Sorry, sir, I lost you there.

Management line has been dropped. [Operator Instructions] [Audio Gap] We have connected with the management line.

[indiscernible] There is some technical glitch and this line has been disconnected. Now we're back.

No worries, sir. You were speaking about the growth momentum. I mean I was asking about where you can potentially end FY '26 at?

So that's -- yes. So I just mentioned on quarter, we will be finish high single-digit or like might we achieve double-digit growth in this quarter.

Nice. Understood, sir. And sir, secondly, I see that your employee costs a bit have gone up. I mean, while you usually are very prudent on cost, this time it appears the costs have gone up. I mean you did speak about some -- adding some sales force and all. Maybe can you speak a little bit more -- give more granularity on that? What is the kind of addition that you saw on the sales side? And what are the -- and what is the expected revenue growth or something -- what is -- what are your plans out there? If you can speak a bit more on that, please?

So basically, yes -- good question. So basically, this cost is also included the labor code impact also, which is around INR 60 lakh, which included here, though we were prepared long time back where we like tuning all the like everything. So this time, we just gratuity impact was there and that we have taken into consideration. So that's why it inflated -- it looks like inflated there.

Sir, INR 60 Lakhs of past pay -- sorry for interrupting you, sir, INR 60 lakhs is of past pay or is it like a recurring thing that you included here?

No, no, it's a past impact, means overall impact. Onetime impact is there. And then sales team, like we creating a sales for the -- each different product for the separately. And that's why we hiring the people, and that's why our -- Mr. Chander Agarwal also mentioned, we creating like culture adoption also because we hiring people from the outside world and then inculcating our culture with them. So we giving high skill training and high like culture training into companies. So we will build up. And we also planning to have at least to increase the number from 300 to 500 by March end. So this is our planning to be build up the teams.

Okay. Understood, sir. Sir, lastly, I think there was a announcement that you are creating new related policy -- related party policy. Unfortunately, that link is not working. Can you help us understand what is it about?

Sorry?

I mean in the press release, along with the results, there was an approval for new related party policy. There was some link given, but that link is not working. If you can help us understand what is the new policy about, related party transactions?

So it is in a recurring nature, actually. There is nothing new on that. Government is like, SEBI is time to time defining the new rules and there's no significant change happen there. So we will be give that link. I don't know where it is missing. So there is nothing new change on that. They changing over the period few things, but nothing new has been changed. There's some definition has been changed, some things happened on that. But nothing much on that. So, we will see -- we will check that link and then revert back on that, please.

The next question is from the line of Ashwin Reddy from Samatva Investments.

Sir, firstly, could you let us know when was the last time that the price hike was taken?

Sorry? Last?

The last time that we had raised prices? Because right now, you talked about the price increase, right, which you plan to do. So when was the last time that we'd taken a price increase?

Yes. So price increase actually is very dynamic. So I think we taken that price hikes 2 years back in FY '23 and then intentionally not taken because environment was not conducive for that. And in this year everyone has talked about to the price -- passing on basically because toll tax has increased, labor cost has increased. So price inflation is there for the overall industry. So we also like want to pass on. But yes, last time we taken in '23.

Got it. And you talked about the sector, the retail sector not being strong yet. What percentage of our revenue comes from this sector now?

It's around 49%. So we keep continue like in the 50%, 51%. [indiscernible]

Yes, sorry, what I meant is not the SME versus the institutional. What I meant is in the end user industries, the client industries. I thought you mentioned the retail sector has not done so well for you. So what percentage of the revenue is this sector for you?

For us, revenues from that segment is around 8.5% in overall basis.

Okay. And what would be the top 5 sectors for you? And what is the combined contribution from the top 5 sectors for you?

Yes. Top 5 is contributing 55% revenue to us, and these top 5 are like auto, pharma, engineering, electronics and textile. So these are the segments we getting this revenue, 55% from these segments.

The next question is from the line of Chandramouli Jagannathan, an individual investor.

Your market cap is about INR 2,000 crores. I mean when it was about INR 6,000 crores, you gave a buyback.

Sorry?

Now the buyback -- Hello -- Buyback I'm talking. Now the buyback tax also is kind of the recent budget become a little attractive. There is any plan that you can think of because the valuation is so attractive?

Yes, you rightly said because now government has changed some tax part again. I think these are like investor-friendly now. So we can think over. We will be internally discuss and whenever is required, we will be do that. As last time also, our promoter has not participated on that, and it was even on INR 18.50 per share was there. So you rightly said it's like conducive time. So we will be think on. But right now, there is no discussion is going on. And if we found better -- because there wasn't -- taxation was not like investor friendly. So that's why the market has also declined for the all buybacks and all. So we can be think over. But right now, there is no proposal for that.

And then sir, you're saying about your capacity utilization is about 83%. And what is the maximum that you can utilize? And will there be operating leverage when the capacity utilization crosses 85% and above?

Yes. So there is always -- there is a scope to improve. So we can be reach on 85%, 86% by don't disturbing or reducing service level with the customers. So we can do 85%, 85.5%. But if beyond that we want to be skewed at or improve utilization, then we have to be somehow compromise on the services, which we can't do. So, I think ideal thing is 85% to 86%. But again, I'm saying it is a very dynamic one. Again, supposing whenever we reach on a highest capacity utilization, then we will be again moved to another truck, which is a higher capacity truck, like again, I mentioned in various calls, where 16-tonne truck can be moved to 25-tonne truck then. Then again, we have the scope to be improve the utilization level for that. So ultimately, per unit cost is coming down. And that way, since long we doing that, and we have very high flexibility because we completely outsource our fleets. So we have a very high flexibility in our hands, and we can be do that within even less than 1 month time. So that's why it's highly dynamic, and we can be do whenever is required for that purpose.

Okay. Sir, now you are doing an EBITDA of about 10%, 11%, but your peak EBITDA was about 16%. So will you go back to that in the mid to long-term, there is any possibility?

Yes, yes. So we certainly trying to achieve that back to this normal number of 15% plus because, again, why this like EBITDA has been impacted, which is, again, one reason is revenue. Second one, because we building up the capabilities for the other services. So we have to be spend the money on to creating the network like for the rail, for Air Express and all because -- and once we will be like -- again, you seen the numbers where we getting the high revenue from these segments. So once we will be get the like utilization level of this network will be increased, then certainly, we will be improve our EBITDA very fast like in past, we also did the same way. In 1 year, we -- like in each -- I think in 2-year time -- we improved 400 basis points in 2-year time. So this way will be come again, and we trying for that. Now we, again, in a Phase 2 build up the capabilities. And I think we will be taking a balanced approach. We are not putting high cost on a particular segment and then getting the losses and all. Rather, we going in a very gradual manner where we building up the capabilities also and we maintain the profits also. So this way, we will be certainly back to this territory -- margin territory back of like 15% plus, sure.

So approximately, I mean, how much time will it take 2 to 3 years? I'm asking about the mid to long-term perspective.

Yes, it is a mid -- I think we will be do in the next 2, 3 years. Next year, we will be targeting to be in the range of 13% plus. And then subsequently, in each year, we can be increased 100 basis points very easily. So again, I think by '28 or '29, we will be achieve 15% plus.

Okay. So sorry, if I can squeeze one more. So that means you need to say that you are [ under ] consolidation period where some of the new things are yet to produce results. Am I right?

Sorry, can come you again?

No, I'm saying you are in a consolidation phase where you have invested some of the money in the last 2, 3 years, those things are yet to give you a [ growth ], right?

Sorry, I didn't get what you're saying?

No, I'm saying whatever that you have invested in the last few years, maybe 2, 3 years, those the other new segments are yet to give you results. So you are...

Yes, yes, you rightly said because these are again in a very inception phase. So we trying hard to be building up the capabilities and to get the revenues on that. So we getting good traction in all the like new services and obviously, in Surface segment, again, our wide segment. So we getting new verticals business. We enhancing our wallet share with the existing customers. So we putting all efforts -- all our efforts wherever we can get the revenue, but with the profit margins, obviously. So we'll do that. Yes.

Ladies and gentlemen, as that was the last question for the day. I would now hand the conference over to Mr. Harshil Shah from PhillipCapital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

On the behalf of PhillipCapital, we thank the management of TCI Express for giving us an opportunity to host the call and taking out time to connect with the investors. Thank you all for being on the call.

Thank you.

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

Thank you.