Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Indrapress Gas Limited Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Philippe Capital Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing start then 0 on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Nitin Tiwari from Philip Capital Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thanks, Manav. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Philip Capital India Limited, I welcome everyone to Inderpress Gas Limited's first quarter FY27 earnings call. Today, from the management team, we have with us Mr. Kumar Shankar, who has recently taken the charge as MD of IGL. Congratulations to you, sir, and our best wishes for your tenure at IGL. We also have with us Mr. Mohit Bhatia, Director of Commercial. Pleasure to have you with us, sir. And Mr. Manjit Gulati, who has recently been appointed as CFO at IGL. Congratulations to you as well, sir. I shall now hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks, which shall be followed by a question and answer section. Over to you, sir.

Thanks, Nitin. Very good evening to all of you. I am Kumar Shankar, as Nitin was mentioning. I have recently taken charge of Managing Director of Indrapress Glass Limited on behalf of the management team of IGL. It's my pleasure to welcome you all for our earnings call on this financial results of Q1 FY2627. Thank you for your continued trust and support and for joining us today. As you all know, the quarter was challenging due to the ongoing geopolitical situation in West Asia, which impacted global energy markets and created pressure on gas availability as well as prices. But despite these challenges, IGL continued to operate smoothly and ensured uninterrupted gas supplies to all our customers' advance. We will be happy to note that about half of our gas requirement during this quarter also was met through domestic sources, which helped us maintain gas supply reliability. And our company has continued to demonstrate resilience through disciplined execution and clear focus on our long-term goals. Before we begin the Q&A session, let me briefly share some of the key highlights of our performance during this quarter. With our continued efforts, we have achieved average daily gas sales volume during this quarter at 9.66 million centigrade meters per day, as against 9.13 million C&B in the Q1 of the previous year. Our overall sales volume of CNG, net of DTC and DIMM-TS, had actually increased by around 11%, with overall 9% increase in CNG sales in Delhi, and double-digit growth in all the other remaining three states. So, in fact, we will be glad to know that in recent days, we have touched a peak sale of up to even 58 lakhs kg in a single day, which is not only among the highest for IGN in its history, but also definitely the highest in the country for any CGB company in the country. And also, you will be glad to know that during this quarter, we have achieved a milestone of the highest ever quarterly turnover of more than Rs. 5,000 crore. And as far as our capex, we continue to invest in expanding and strengthening our P&G infrastructure. And our domestic P&G customer base has already reached around 35 lakh plus connections, while industrial and commercial connections stand today at approximately around 13,600 connections. The plan of expansion of our pipeline network and C&G stations through our ongoing capital expenditure We believe it will support our company's long-term and sustainable growth. During this quarter, the company reported an EBITDA of Rs. 296 crore and the profit after tax of Rs. 186 crore. Despite higher gas costs and supply challenges arising from the global situation, it remains profitable and continues to maintain stable operations during this quarter. We believe the long-term fundamentals of CGD structure remains strong. With our growing infrastructure, expanding customer base, and disciplined approach to our business, we remain committed to creating sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Now I would like to invite our Director Commercial, Mr. Mohit Bhatia, to share his remarks. Thank you.

Thank you, Kumar, for the NB. Good evening, everyone. I am Mohat Bhatia, Director Commercial at Inzipas Gas. I would like to, first of all, welcome all our investors, analysts, and the members of the financial community joining us today. Thank you for participating in our earnings conference call for the quarter ended 30th June, 2026. Yes. Let me get the opportunity and privilege to share the key business developments during the quarter. First and foremost, to secure the proper robust infrastructure in NCR and in particularly Delhi. So, pleased to inform that we have recently commissioned a new one-more city gate station at Roini, Delhi. which will improve the overall supply network and strengthen the infrastructure. We have already submitted our concern for the authorization for the remaining areas of Gurgaon and Faridabad and have technically started the technical feasibility studies for the development of both the geographical areas. We have also commenced LNG operations, that is the first and the foremost in NCR region in association with Concord, and had commissioned the newly operational CNG station at the prestigious Noida International Airport, along with the PNG in the four-court area. Going forward, we are also pleased to inform that we have engaged with Indian Army in a nation-building exercise to explore the opportunities to meet their integrated energy requirements in our geographical areas in their cantonments. As our managing director has highlighted some of the points related to geopolitical situation and also financial performance of the company, Let me add some perspective from my side on the company's performance. Overall, the sales volume increased to about 6% as compared to the last quarter of the last year. And if we look from the perspective of Delhi NCR CNG sales, yes, it has grown by 9% as the managing director emphasized. And barring BTC and DIMS volume, that is 9%, whereas a healthy growth of around 27% observed in our New Year's years outside Delhi NCR. On the overall basis, almost there is a 50% incremental sales which is coming from the New Year's years. In terms of infrastructure development, our steel network expanded by approximately 25 kilometers, now further adding to around 2,600 kilometers, while the MDP pipeline almost increased by 500 kilometers during this quarter. So we have also added almost 1 lakh plus P&G customers during the current quarter and almost 530 plus additional industrial and commercial customers, adding to our robust growth. On the financial front, once again, pleased to inform that we have ever achieved the ever-highest 5028 crores of the turnover, which is almost 16% as compared to the same quarter last year. While the profitability has impacted by higher gas costs during the quarter, our focus remains on volume growth, customer expansion, and operational efficiency. During the quarter, we also had incurred a capex of 327 crores. We are witnessing a very healthy growth in the CNG vehicle segment. Over the last six months in particularly, CNG vehicle additions and conversions have arranged almost to the tune of 27,300 vehicles per month, with 18,000 vehicles per month during the same quarter for the last year, which gives us an immense confidence that CNG demand will continue to grow in the coming quarters. On behalf of the management, I assure you that we remain focused on sustainable growth, expansion of our market presence, and delivering value to our customers and stakeholders while adapting to the changing business environment. With this, I welcome you once again and open the session for the question and answer.

Thank you, everyone, sir.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touch-toom telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use hand-tests while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Probalsain from ICICS Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. Good afternoon, sir. And congratulations for the elevation for taking the new roles for the company. I just had a first question for the perspective of sourcing mix. If you can kindly give us mix in terms of percentage or absolute volume Okay.

Thanks for the question. So, the current scenario, in the current scenario, we see the breakup for the Q1 for this financial year. Still, we have around 48% coming from the domestic allocations, whether it is APM, New Well, or HPHT, and around 52% is coming from the imported, that is, through our long-term contracts and somewhere through the spot also, because of the force major issues, you know, happened in West Asia. So, if you see, we are selling around 9.5 million of standard cubic meter of gas. So, 48% is coming from the domestic and around 52% from the imported.

Thank you, sir. Is it possible to share of that 52% what was the mix between long-term and sport, And also, broadly speaking, what was the effective price at which we could get for the quarter?

See, if you see, because of the long-term contracts, we already, we are in place 100% of our sourcing. However, due to the force measure issues and all, so there has been some cuts. Yes, it is there. So, almost around 4 million out of the 5 million sourcing which is being done from the imported. So, around 3.9 to 4 million is from the long-term contracts, and there was a government that supported during this quarter in terms of giving pool gas to the CDD sector, particularly as per the government notification. So, around 0.6 to 0.7 came through the pool gas. And spot, we had to rely around 3%, you can say, roughly around 0.25 to 0.3 million per day was through spot. And market trend, you must have noticed that it varied from around $17, $18 to $21, $22. As and when it's required, we have to source it.

Got it, sir. And just in terms of how we are looking at facing going forward, you know, what is the environment? Have you seen since the conflict has once again sort of fixed up? Have you seen a change in terms of energy availability? Are we able to get slightly more contracted energy in the market today, or does it remain still a fairly tight market? Just your thoughts on this.

So, very, very highly unpredictable and uncertain situation. You are aware of the geopolitical issues. So, we are in constant touch with our suppliers, the promoter companies also, and whatever best we could source it from the market. So, we are in constant touch, and some indications are there, whatever has been the cuts due to forced measures, because globally, India has also gone to other geographies to source the gas, and it has been there. So, long-term, yes, spot will be there a little bit, but I think if we are able to get the gas from our long-term contracts, our aspiration, our vision is that. So, I think we are taking up with our upstream suppliers, and something should be better.

And as we go forward, we are looking at HPST as well. So, we are hopeful that we will be in a position to improve, you know, the overall share of HPST as well going forward. About RL&D, already data commercial has already mentioned.

One last question, if I may, is given the unpredictability, how should we look at the margin scenario going forward? Is there sort of a flow, are we looking at further pricing pieces to sort of flow of the margin, if the prices remain at the higher end of US, I mean, $15 to $16? How are we looking at the margin environment for the most of the normal?

So, sir, actually, I would like to answer your query in two parts. See, point number one is we have been always giving a guidance of a long-term EBITDA around 7 rupees per SEM. So, yes, there is a geopolitical issue across the globe, and margins are under the stress. So, our still long-term guidance is similar, but in the subsequent quarters, it will be difficult viewing because we do not know what is the overall geopolitical impact on the country and in particular to the CGT sector. So, that is point number one. Secondly, we have been always, like a long-term guidance was there, that we want to calibrate in terms of both the sales growth versus margin. So, we are trying to maintain a good delta with alternate fuels, particularly petrol and diesel, and still there is a handsome delta with petrol, in particularly around 17 rupees. And with the GST 2.0, it has become really conducive and favorable for the CNG automobile sector, and the tremendous growth has been witnessed. And to further leverage, I think it is time to seed the market to further strengthen and capture the volumes also.

Let's add one more thing also. Margins, of course, you know, is a function of the input gas prices, more so the current kind of volatile LNG market. But next six months, I believe, you know, four factors we need to figure out how they will play out. First is, in general, there is a consensus that the U.S. supplies are going to improve. So the expectation is that it would be, you know, kind of stable. The second part is, of course, geopolitics. Nobody is able to predict what is going to happen to the supplies from the Middle East. Then about the kind of consumption pull factor from China, Japan, you know, how it's going to play out. One needs to wait and watch. But the other aspect is how the European, you know, gas storage is going to be there and the kind of winter. In all these things, there are also, you know, talks about whether this El Nino is going to become a super El Nino. And in case of that, then there could be a moderate winter. You know, so, if you really see today in this wired world, how different factors are going to play out, it's right now quite difficult to predict. But as our data commercial has just now mentioned that, so what we are focusing on is the segments that we are actually going to cater to. We have a reasonable belief that with the kind of leverage that we have, particularly with respect to petrol, diesel, and all that. So we should be able to, you know, keep it on the balance.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate how challenging the environment is, and I appreciate your efforts to explain, you know, the answer as much as you could. Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to only two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to redirect the queue. We have our next question from the line of Yogesh Patil from Dollar Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you, sir. As you mentioned earlier that 48% of the gas sourcing is from the domestic fields or domestic side like APM, NWG, HPHT. To our knowledge, earlier quarters, it was around APM around 3.3 mm SMD, HPHT was 0.8 mm SMD, and NWG was around 0.9 mm SMD. So, just wanted to have a little bit granular understanding on this. How much you have received in a Q1, FI27, all these three types of the caches? And what is the current status of this domestic sourcing part?

So, there has been a little bit, I would say, reshuffling of APM and NWG in the last quarter and going forward also. So, as I mentioned, around 2.6 million last quarter average was APM and 1.26 was the Newell gas. As compared to the previous quarter, here rightly it was NWG was less than 1 million. So there has been some changes in the proportion because of the geological issues of the wells across the country, and there has been some shift in the new gas, and going forward also likely to happen in this way only.

HPHT portion remains same, sir, 0.8 mm SMD during the Q&A, FY27?

So, HPHT was around 0.7, 0.66 to 0.7, and it's likely to increase because we understand that certain contracts across the country are going to close, likely to be close in September, and there will be some bids, offerings coming in. So, we will be also trying to capture it aggressively going forward.

Sir, my next question related to the CNG consumption figures for the DTC buses, DEMS buses in million kg, if you could provide. And additionally, please provide the total CNG volume for this quarter in million kg. Okay.

So, as we mentioned in our opening remarks also, DTC volumes are now almost zero. For last three months, if you see, it's almost now zero. And the last year, same quarter, it was on an average of 1.5 lakh kgs per day. So, now it is almost zero. However, secondly, if you see the DIMS volumes, so now as compared to the Q4 of the last year and in comparison to the Q1 for this year, the volumes are more or less same. It is maintaining at around 1.5 lakh kgs per day.

And CNG volume in million kgs, sir, if possible? Total CNG volume in million kgs?

So, in terms of million kg, it is around 5.31 per day for the quarter of the end of the 30th June.

Thanks a lot, sir. All the best.

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to ask any questions, you may press star and 1 on your touchstone phone. We have our next question from the line of Amit Murarkar from Access Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. So I missed if you've already shared the split of growth between Delhi and outside Delhi that you usually share in our headquarters.

So I'll just, for your consumption, I'll just repeat. So overall growth in CNG is 6% across IGL. If you see Delhi, barring DTC, it is around 9%, and barring DTC, entire IGL is 11%, and if you see particularly the outside or the new GS, it is 27%.

Okay. And DTC, you said that now the volume for the buses is stabilized and there is no further decline that you are expecting on that count, right?

Yes, you are right. It has almost now come down to zero almost, maybe hardly 100 to 100 kgs per day. So, for practical purposes, we can take it at zero now, BTC.

Okay. Now, given that the vehicle registration is still going very strong, so then the CNG growth now, can we expect to kind of get close to maybe double digits or go to maybe to a 13% rate also in the coming quarter then?

See, absolutely. See, if I tell you, recently you must have seen the ET Prime news also. In particular, if I share with you one of the July data, so almost around 4.6 lakhs passenger vehicles were added in the month itself of July. And Maruti in particular has claimed that out of the new vehicles which has been added, almost 32% of their vehicles are CNG-based. So yes, you are right, CNG is expected to grow in a very, very aggressive way subsequent to the GST cuts 2.0. And we are also witnessing I think the same in our outside years. It is growing at, say, 27%. Very, very healthy. And in Delhi, also, around 9% to 10%, barring the DTC. Also, the base is very heavy. So, maybe a percentage of growth you cannot correlate, actually, but seems to be otherwise very, very healthy.

Okay. Okay. Understood. Just lastly, also on the various changes which had happened on the gas cost side, like the changes around the transmission zonal tariffs and as well as a change in the Gujarat GST related changes. So, all those benefits are now in the sourcing mix, right? I mean, the current cost that you see on natural gas is reflecting all of that benefit in the numbers.

Yeah, they are there. That's right. But because of this unusual, you know, volatility in the light of West Asia crisis, That is a bit kind of, what do you say, a mask by the current situation, which we expect that once it eases out, the positive effects of that would be more pronounced.

Understood. Sure. That's it for me. Thank you very much, and best wishes. Thank you.

Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Vivek Anand from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Two questions. Number one is on the daily EV policy that was recently announced. Now, since this impacts aggregators, commercial vehicles, both auto rickshaws as well as goods carriers and also school buses, How are you looking at the impact of this on your volumes in Delhi? And secondly, if you could give us some color on the split between these vehicle segments that are impacted or covered by the Delhi V policy, that will be great. The second question is, if you can just help us with the volume trends, year-on-year numbers for NNGL and CUGL, and also absolute MNSMD volume. Thank you.

Okay. So, coming to the Delhi EV policy, yes, you are right, that mandate has already come. So effective 1-1-27, there will be no more three-wheelers in particularly registration, and only EV registrations will happen. But we have evaluated and analyzed, although we are doing our advocacy, meeting Delhi government and other stakeholders also in revoking or continuing the CNG part. But we do not see the much larger impact because only 1 lakh autos are there, three-wheelers in Delhi, and viewing the life of 15 years, I think phasing out every year, 5,000 to 6,000 will only happen. And as per our analysis around, there will be a less than 1% impact in the overall CNG volumes in 2027. And going forward, the impact may be less than 3% by 2030. Similarly, on the commercial vehicles, yes, the new registration again will start from 1.27, and for school buses also, I think the mandate is by 2030, they have to switch over 30%. So overall, we have evaluated the scenario of the sales volume being lost, which is being added through the natural growth, in particularly with a very, very strong segment from the passenger car vehicles, the expected growth is coming. So by 2030, I think there will be an impact of around 2% to 3% on the volumes overall, and we are not viewing any much of the impact.

And to your second question on how CUGL as well as MNGL have been clocking the growth. First, on CUGL, CUGL has corresponding quarter-to-quarter growth in terms of CNG. They have clocked 8% growth from around 0.23 MMSEMV to 0.25. We have clocked, and PNG, we have maintained similar volumes of 0.11 to just 0.12, but overall from 0.34 to 0.36 MMSCMD we have clocked, which means 6% growth we have witnessed, but when it comes to MNGL, slightly more encouraging numbers have been clocked. In CNG, MNGL have clocked, 13% growth from 1.27 MMSCMD to 1.44, but when it comes to PNG MNGLS clocked a very healthy year, around 29% growth from 0.58 MMS EMD to 0.75, and overall put together, from 1.85 MMS EMD, they have clocked 18% growth to reach 2.19. This is primarily driven by, you know, corresponding quarters the previous year, and this year, NASHIC GA has started getting direct gas supplies from the newly commissioned Samirthi pipeline. Earlier, their NASHIC GA was completely fed through LNG mode, so that had given them the good base, and now with the pipeline there in place, the PNG growth is witnessing a very healthy trend. So, yeah, so they have clocked around 18% volume rate, go down.

Right. Thanks for the color. Just one follow-up. As far as the Delhi EV policy goes, there is no impact on the NCR territory outside of the national capital Delhi, right? Is that very clear?

Absolutely. It is particularly for Delhi only. So, I don't think so there is any impact on Noida or maybe Gurgaon part.

Right, right. And just one last follow-up. As of now, yeah, as of now, exactly.

Sorry?

Okay. My last question is, CUGL's volumes have been stuck in a rut, even in FI24, I mean FI23, 24, 25. The volumes were in the range 0.31 to 0.33 MMS CNB. Why is it that these markets like Kanpur, Barely, etc., where you would assume that CNG is under-penetrated, why are these markets not growing faster?

So, as usual, in fact, they have clocked a reasonable 8% growth. Yeah, I agree that, you know, they do have potential for, I think, but, yeah, with the improvement in the overall CNG ecosystem and the vehicles improving, right, I guess, and also there coming more stations, I think in the coming quarters, I think we should be able to see more growth there. Plus, you know, the overall input gas cost and the gas price scenario also, you know, those kind of places may be a bit more price sensitive when it comes to their, you know, industrial, and the tax structure also is adding to their woes. So, I think that could be one of the reasons where, you know, when it comes to the P&G growth, particularly CNI, the tax structure is not very favorable. But I think CNG going forward should be able to show some more improvement. Okay. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Gagandikshit from Idhara Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, yeah, thanks, thanks for taking my question, sir. I have a question, this, about, given the sharp gas cost spike, so, is ideal considering any hedging or long-term contracting strategy, I mean, to reduce this Scott and Indie exposure going forward?

Yeah, of course, you know, like any other entity, we are looking at it, and then we are, in fact, looking at hedging options as well, particularly because Henryup, you know, now provides us with the opportunity. It's a bit stable right now. So, yeah, we are looking at, you know, hedging as an important tool as a part of our overall strategy. In fact, in the month of May, we have already started, because in the month of May, we did have some opportunity with reasonable price band available. So, we have started doing that. And, yeah, we will be continuing to do that.

Thanks, sir. And so, my second question is, as the new geographies outside the Delhi NCR, are there still rancic up? So, typically, are they abita paracium slightly diactive versus the mature geographies in the Delhi NCR? And broadly, what is the typical difference between the new geographies and the mature geographies broadly in the abita paracium?

Thank you, sir. We are getting a better EBITDA there, and in the conscious process, the more the sales is, the better the EBITDA will be.

Yes, sir. That's my answer. All the best, sir. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Swarabhanda from Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. This is a follow-up from a question by one of the other participants. If you can just give a break-up of your vehicle-wise sales of CNG, roughly like how much comes from buses, private cars, autos, etc.

Yeah, yeah. So, I'll give you just a second. So, from the buses, okay, so buses, our volume is coming around, overall, around 12%, then commercial vehicles, it is around 19%, taxis, it is around 14%, three-wheelers, auto is around 7% to 8%, And primarily, it is from the passenger car vehicles to the tune of around 48% to 50% out of our 7 million, you can say, the C&G sales that way.

Okay, got it. So, on autos, when you said 7% to 8%, so the Delhi portion of this will be like 3%. Is that what you were trying to imply?

So, no, no. I was trying to say that because the phasing out will happen in a span of 15 years. So, no more new registrations will happen, but the phasing out will happen because there will be a change of the permits also. So, every year, like 5,000-something vehicles will go back. They will be out of the system. So, by 2030, we are expecting around maybe less than 1% in particularly the auto sale. So, this 6% to 7% will keep on reducing after every 5 years maybe 2% to 3%. It will be like that.

Okay. And so, this 7% to 8%, would you have an idea how much actually is just the Delhi portion of it versus in?

Primarily, it is Delhi only. Crime only, you can say, around 70 to 80 percent, it will be Delhi only.

Okay, great. Thank you. And my second question was on this Gurgaon and Faridabad. You made some comments initially on the areas that are not authorized to you that you – I have sort of missed that. Could you elaborate on that?

So we have been contesting. There is litigation going on, but conditional part of the area which has been given to us by the regulator, we have already accepted and going forward for developing because in the interest of the consumers, why to deprive them from the natural gas, whether it is pipe natural gas or CNG, so that internally the company has taken a call to conditionally accept and develop.

Okay, so just to clarify, even the areas that are not, say in Gurgaon, the areas that are not authorized to IGL, but you have got some conditional approval to even expand your network in these areas. Is that correct?

They were authorized to IGL, but we have not accepted in the past because of our litigation going on, and we have been testing at various forums. But now, viewing the push in the natural gas, particularly in the pipe natural gas, as well as growth anticipated in the CNG, because NCR is also a very, very growth potential area. So conscious call has been taken, and we have accepted conditionally to move forward.

Okay, so that means in the entire Gurgaon region now, you would be...

No, not entire Gurgaon. No, I'll make it clear. Actually, see, within the entire Gurgaon, part of the area was already earmarked only for IGL. Earlier, that part portion was also, since our claim was that the entire Gurugram is for IGL, the part portions, the services were not commenced. But now, given the situation right now, and then why to deprive the people who are there in those part portions for their share of gas. So, that part portion, we have started commencing the services, but not the entire one.

Okay, that's clear. And in Faridabad, then...

Sorry to interrupt you, Saurabh. Maybe the question will be joined with you.

Sorry, it's just the same question. I'm just clarifying. So, in Faridabad, there was no part authorization, right? In Faridabad, it was completely out of IGN.

Yes, yes. So, we'll be developing that. Partly is with us, and majorly it is with somebody else.

Right. So, nothing very different from what the situation was earlier. I just wanted to confirm that. I got it. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. A reminder to all participants, please restrict yourselves to only two questions per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the team. Next question is from the line of Mayang Maheshwari from Audit Stanley. Please go ahead. Hi, sir.

Thanks for doing the call.

The question I had was more related to your growth strategy around inorganic growth. Considering the Delhi EV policy and increasingly more focus on the EVs, how are you kind of thinking about inorganic growth opportunities to consolidate the entire market?

See, inorganic growth, right now, you know, CGT sector in terms of newer authorizations also, it's relatively new. So, as and when opportunity presents, we will be able to look at, you know, those other areas as well. But the general policy framework is still evolving, you know, related to how they open up the other areas, one remains to see. But at this stage, we believe that even in our own newer GAs, you know, there is a good scope, as you can see, in our, you know, the kind of growth that we have been achieving in our newer GAs. So progressively, their share is already improving. So, we are right now focusing on, you know, to expand our operations in newer years.

So, sir, in terms of CAPEX now going forward, if you can give us a guidance, is there a step change increase in CAPEX because of this focus on natural gas and PNG, or you think the current run rate will kind of sustain?

So, you are right. I think first quarter we have spent around 327 crores, And our plan or the aspiration, there has been certain changes definitely because of the trust on the P&G infrastructure development and going forward. So roughly around $1,800 to $2,000 still our aim is like that only, and spending around $1,200 to $1,300 or maybe maximum $1,500 on the core. And if we get some other opportunities for the business development diversification, we'll have another 500-600 there also.

Got it. Thank you. Thank you.

We have our next question from the line of E.A. Sundara from Virtual Raw Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good afternoon, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, you know, there have been a couple of major developments initiated by the Delhi government, And that has caused some sort of apprehension in the mind of the business community. One is the lack of registration for auto-recharge going forward. And the second one was the moving of the DTC buses from CNG to electric. So my question, sir, is there any indication or any move that you are aware of that the Delhi government may employ a similar policy on four wheelers also? And do you see any indication of that? And the follow-up question on the first question is still, what is the proportion of CNG vehicles in the new four-wheeler registrations in the Delhi area in the recent months? Can you throw some light on that?

Yeah, yeah. So, I will answer your question first, the second part. See, what data, what we have or what we have analyzed. So, the new registrations which are happening particularly in Delhi, almost passenger vehicle, 42% of the passenger vehicles are being registered on CNG. This is in the current scenario. You can see, you can take it in the last six months or so. That is point number one. So, overall, what data we have, if we see the entire vehicle population of Delhi and Iran, so it is around 24 to 25 percent on PNG. Secondly, see, we have been advocating at various forums and what we understand, whether it is at the ARI level, whether it is at ICAT level, whether it is at CAQM level, or whether it is with Delhi government. See, going forward, all the fuels are going to coexist. In the current scenario, viewing the geopolitical situations and all, energy security remains topmost priority, and there will not be a shift on a single energy fuel, whether it is conventional fuels, whether it is a CNG as a transition fuel, or it will be EV. So, it will be a mix of all these things, and going forward, we are anticipating a very, very robust growth from PNG, particularly on the basis of the information or data which we shared with you.

Okay. The second question is, you know, yes, of course, this war in West Asia has caused some disturbance in your margin profile. But we are also seeing that after June, there has been a sharp fall in global natural gas prices. So can you share with us what was the average cost of gas per cubic meter that you had in the first three months of the financial year? And what does it mean in July? What is the cost of gas that you are having in July?

See, I think it will be very, very difficult because these are some of the commercial terms and all. But just as a guidance and all, it is hovering around first quarter, around 40 to 45 rupees per HCM, you can say. July onwards, still the turbulence is there, and there has been some increase, yes, it is, but it will be difficult to get into the litigrities, we are viewing the commercial proposition, so it will be a little bit.

But I am asking this because you were concerned of returning to the EGITDA per STM of about between 7 to 8 rupees. That is the reason I am asking you.

So, sir, I had already, see, we had already mentioned, and I think it was a guidance for a long term for the going forward. It is not in the immediate quarter or maybe like that. Yes, our aspiration guidance is always there to be there. But in such an unpredictable and volatile situation of the geopolitics, it will be very, very difficult to comment for the quarter.

Okay, okay. My other question, sir, is there, there is, you know, we saw one report by PNGRD where one of the recommendations of that report was that natural gas should be brought under the ambit of the GSP. Is there any such move that you are aware of which you can share with us?

So, actually, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has consistently been supporting. So, within the government setup, you know, when the administrative ministry is strongly supporting for a particular cause, that's a good sign. But GST, as you would say, you know, it's also, it's a both central as well as a state kind of subject. So it would be very difficult to make any second guessing on, you know, whether anything would come up. It's very difficult to say because it's the kind of within the GST council's prerogative. Yeah, I understand that.

But I just want to know.

There is no such kind of available evidence to suggest that any big change is happening yet.

Okay. See, my final question, sir, is about one of the points made in a previous question. This is made by the management some time ago.

Sorry to interrupt you, sir. Due to shortness of time.

Then we can just have this last question. Okay.

Thank you. See, my question is, you know, it was mentioned that there is, originally the entire Guru Ram was awarded to IGL, but then it went into some litigation. I, if I remember correctly, it was because of some valuation issues that it went into litigation. But now IGL has been awarded one third of Guru Ram. Is there, is there the other two parts of Guru Ram, are they still under litigation or is there any chance that that part will come into IGL's ambit in the future? Is there any possibility of that?

Yes, you see, it is like that, that still it is under mitigation, and we are contesting, because initially, as per the central government authorization, it was too ideal, and we are contesting forward. We have not at all surrendered access.

See, but one point what we need to remember is, even the portions where right now it's And you know, the other party is operating. But the gas is still in a bulk basis, you know, they are procuring it from ideal only. So to that extent, the molecules actually still are going through us only. So we need to understand that. But the future from a strategic point of view, you know, you start owning that retail consumer base. That's the thing that's going on. But you need to keep that also in your mind.

Yeah, but there's nothing like having the final...

Yeah, you're right. But I'm just adding that point to that, you know. So, that's how it is.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. For positive time, I will stop here. I'll allow the others to ask you. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, due to time questions, that was the last question of the and participants whose questions have remained unanswered, may approach Mr. Majid with the management. I now hand the contents over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Good evening to all of you. I, on behalf of the IGL management, like to thank all of you for participating in the earning call for Q127. A special thanks to Chris Capital and Nathan for organizing this for IGL. We'll see you soon, shortly, somewhere in the next conference or maybe in person. So, thanks to all of you for joining.

Thank you, sir. On behalf of Philippe Capital Private Limited, that concludes the conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

Thank you.

Thank you.