Date: October 25, 2024

To To
Department of Corporate Services Listing Department
BSE Limited National Stock Exchange of India Limited
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Dalal Street, Mumbai, MH - 400001 Bandra (E), Mumbai, MH - 400051

Scrip Code: 542652 Scrip Symbol: POLYCAB

ISIN: INE455K01017
Dear Sir(s) / Madam(s),

Subject: Submission of Transcript of Earnings Conference Call held on October 18, 2024
Pursuant to Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations,
2015, please find enclosed herewith the transcript of Earnings Conference Call held on October 18, 2024.

Kindly take the same on your record.

Thanking you
Yours Faithfully

For Polycab India Limited

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Date: 2024.10.25 18:39:28 +05'30'

________________________
Manita Carmen A. Gonsalves
Company Secretary and Vice President Legal
Membership No.: A18321
Address: #29, Ruby, 21st Floor, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Tulsi Pipe Road, Dadar West, Mumbai – 400028

Registered Office: Corporate Office:

Unit 4, Plot No 105, Halol Vadodara Road, Polycab India Limited
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Tel: +91 22 6735 1400
Email: shares@polycab.com
Web: www.polycab.com
 “Polycab India Limited
Q2 FY '25 Earnings Conference Call”
October 18, 2024

MANAGEMENT: MR. INDER JAISINGHANI – CHAIRMAN AND

MANAGING DIRECTOR – POLYCAB INDIA LIMITED
MR. GANDHARV TONGIA – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER – POLYCAB INDIA
LIMITED
MR. CHIRAYU UPADHYAYA – HEAD OF INVESTOR
RELATIONS – POLYCAB INDIA LIMITED

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 Polycab India Limited
October 18, 2024

Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Polycab India Limited Q2 FY '25 Earnings
Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there
will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need
assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on
your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gandharv Tongia, Executive Director and Chief Financial
Officer, Polycab India Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Gandharv Tongia: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I hope all of you are staying healthy
and safe. I'm Gandharv Tongia, Executive Director and CFO at Polycab India Limited. On this
call, we shall discuss the Q2 FY '25 results, which were approved in the Board meeting held
yesterday. We will be referring to the earnings presentation, financial results and financial
statements, which are available on the stock exchanges as well as on the Investor Relations page
of our website.

Joining me today from the management team, we have our Chairman and Managing Director,
Mr. Inder Jaisinghani; our Head, Investor Relations, Ms. Chirayu Upadhyaya. Let me now hand
over the call to Inder bhai for his comments.

Inder Jaisinghani: Good afternoon, everyone.

Building on a strong market demand, our business achieved remarkable growth, setting new
revenue records for the second quarter and first half of the year. This outstanding performance
underscore our exceptional execution capabilities and the strength of our extensive distribution
network. Our ability to adapt and respond swiftly to evolving market dynamics has further
enhanced our growth trajectory. As is typical, demand is expected to pick-up in the second half
of the year, and we are fully prepared with the right team, capacity and operational expertise to
capitalize on the opportunity. With ₹100 billion of revenue achieved in the first half, we are set
to achieve our Project LEAP goal of ₹ 200 billion revenues a year ahead of the targeted FY26
timeline.

With this, I would request Gandharv to give you a flavour of the macro environment.

Gandharv Tongia: Thank you, Inder bhai.

India continues to shine on the global stage, as evidenced by recent projections from major
international organizations. Moody's Ratings has revised India's GDP outlook upward to 7.2%
for the current fiscal year, an increase from its previous estimate of 6.8%, and has also raised its
FY26 forecast to 6.6% from 6.4%.

Supporting this optimistic outlook, GST collections have shown a healthy run rate of over ₹1.8
crores in the current fiscal and have remained above ₹1 lakh crore for 31 consecutive months,
indicating sustained domestic demand. Additionally, a higher-than-normal monsoon and an
increase in kharif sowing suggest improved prospects for rural demand in the coming months,
with festive demand expected to further bolster momentum.

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 Polycab India Limited
October 18, 2024

The services and manufacturing sector PMI has consistently remained above the threshold of 50
since the last 38 months and 39 months, respectively, indicating an expansionary phase.
Although the services PMI slightly slowed in September due to cost pressures and subdued
international orders, major firms still reported solid job creation and improved business
confidence. Further, the recovery in rural demand, coupled with the acceleration of private
consumption and a pickup in government expenditure signals continued growth momentum
during the remaining part of the year.

The Reserve Bank of India in its latest MPC meeting last week shifted its stance on monetary
policy from “Withdrawal of Accommodation” to “Neutral” by unanimous vote – the first change
since April 2022 and has also retained its FY25 inflation projections unchanged at 4.5%. Further,
RBI remains positive on the country’s growth outlook, maintaining a GDP projection at 7.2%
for FY25. Expected interest rate cuts in the 2nd half of the year by the RBI, in-line with global
counterparts is expected to further boost the demand momentum.

Overall, the combination of positive growth projections, supportive government policies and
improving demand dynamics positions India for sustained economic momentum moving
forward.

I would now hand over to Chirayu to take you through the financial performance for the quarter
gone by.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Thank you, Gandharv.

I would request everyone to refer to Slide 4 of the earnings presentation.

For the quarter ended 30th September 2024, our consolidated revenue grew by 30% year-on-
year, driven by strong performance across all the business segments. EBITDA grew by 4% Y-
o-Y with EBITDA margin at 11.5%. The sequential decline in EBITDA margins of ~90 bps was
on account of 3 reasons: first, decline in FMEG segment margins due to increase in advertising
and promotional (A&P) spends relative to the first quarter. This is in-line with industry A&P
spend trend, where spends pick up gradually during the year, especially ahead of anticipated
festival and seasonal demand. Over and above that, increase in employee expenses, as we added
manpower to create vertical-wise sales team, also negatively impacted the margins. Secondly,
within the retail wires business, we witnessed heightened competitive intensity as players looked
to maximize volume growth during the heightened demand witnessed in the later part of the
quarter as copper rallied by 14% cumulatively, leading to margin compression. Third, the high
growth in our lower margin institutional business relative to the channel business on account of
continued commodity price decline in July further impacted margins for the quarter.

On a year-on-year basis, the EBITDA margin decline was because of 4 reasons: 1) Within the
Wires & Cables segment, lower contribution from the higher margin international business,
6.1% this quarter versus 9.3% in Q2 of FY24 led the bulk of the contraction; 2) As mentioned
in the quarter-on-quarter reasoning, margin compression in wires, because of the sharp
commodity uptrend added to the compression; 3) Higher losses in the FMEG business on

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 Polycab India Limited
October 18, 2024

account of higher organizational expenses was the third reason, and; 4) higher contribution from
the lower margin EPC business also added to the decline.

At the PAT level, our Company achieved its highest ever quarterly PAT of ₹ 4,452 million with
a PAT margin of 8.1%. Finance costs for the quarter stood at ₹ 453 million, while other income
totalled ₹ 762 million. A detailed breakdown of finance costs and other income is provided on
slide 18 of our earnings presentation. Further, our net cash position improved to ₹ 24.3 billion,
compared to ₹ 16.4 billion in Q1FY25. In addition, our working capital cycle improved to 44
days, facilitated by the clearance of finished goods inventory built-up in the Wires & Cables
business at the end of the previous quarter and improvement in payable days, supported by the
increase in acceptances. Furthermore, our capex for Q2 FY25 stood at ₹ 2.9 billion,
accumulating to ₹ 5.7 billion for the first half of the year, in-line with our guidance of doing ₹
10 billion to ₹11 billion of capex during the year.

On a half yearly basis, I'm immensely proud to share with you all that our H1 FY25 Revenues,
EBITDA and PAT are the highest-ever in the history of the Company for a half-yearly period.
Our revenues grew strongly by 26% year-on-year, surpassing ₹100 billion milestone, setting us
up to achieve ₹ 200 billion revenue goal during the current year itself. EBITDA was up by 5%
year-on-year with EBITDA margin at 11.9%. PAT grew by 2% year-on-year with PAT margins
at 8.3%.

Moving on to slide 6.

The Wires & Cables segment recorded a robust 23% year-on-year growth with the domestic
business registering a remarkable 28% year-on-year growth, supported by mid-teen volume
growth. The domestic distribution-driven business, while slow in the first couple of months,
picked up pace during the end of the quarter. Institutional business continued its strong growth
momentum on the back of robust demand.

For the first time in many quarters, wires growth has outpaced cable growth. Our efforts on
increasing penetration in the emerging markets as well as expanding the product offering are
now bearing fruits. Contribution of ranges launched over the past 2 to 3 years contributed almost
half of the retail wire sales during the year. Geographically, growth in wires was driven by the
Western and Southern region with substantial contribution from the states of Maharashtra,
Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Looking at the broader economic landscape, the demand environment remains robust across key
sectors. Government spending and infrastructure investments have picked up following the
general assembly election, providing positive momentum. The government is expected to
increase its spending over the remaining months of the fiscal year to meet budget targets, which
will serve as a significant tailwind for growth.

The real estate market also remains on solid footing, driven by low inventory levels, rising prices
and healthy project launches. H1 FY25 recorded the highest number of half yearly new project
launches and sales in the last decade. These ongoing projects will continue to drive demand for

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October 18, 2024

wires over the next few years, contributing to accelerated industry growth. Further, the expected
interest rate cuts over the next few quarters will further boost real estate uptake.

The international business registered a 36% quarter-on-quarter increase, resulting into

improvement in its contribution to the Company's top-line to 6.1% in this quarter compared to
5.3% in the previous quarter. Order book in countries, excluding the U.S., remained healthy with
significant new demand getting generated across countries and sectors. We expect second half
of the year to show improvement in international business sales compared to the first half.

On the margin front, we discussed the reasons for the decline a while back. It is pertinent to note
that in spite of the contraction, the Wires & Cables business continued to generate margin within
the guided EBITDA range of 12% to 14%. Structurally, second half of the year is always margin
accretive, and we expect a similar trend this year as well.

Moving on to slide 8 for an update on the FMEG business.

The FMEG business recorded a robust growth of 18% year-on-year despite being a traditionally
weak quarter. This growth was driven by success of Company's initiatives on channel expansion,
product architecture enhancements and implementation of the influencer management program.

The fans business registered a robust growth year-on-year, albeit on a lower base. Our focus on
premiumization within the segment is progressing well with premium fans contribution in high
20s to the overall fans sales during the year. An initiative in the same direction is driving sales
through e-commerce, which has seen decent uptick during the year.

The Switchgear segment continued to register heavy growth, supported by strong real estate
demand. The Lights and Luminaires segment recorded healthy volume growth, driven by the
introduction of 60-plus new SKUs and addition of ~100 distributors and ~4,000 retailers during
the year. However, sales value registered a decline due to ongoing price erosion. Pricing in bulbs
and battens remained almost stagnant during the quarter, however, pricing in non fall-ceiling
downlights witnessed 5% to 10% correction during the quarter.

Taking a near to mid-term view, we believe FMEG demand should pick up next year, fuelled by
robust real estate growth.

Margin contraction in the segment during the quarter was discussed during the initial comments.

Moving on to slide 10.

This slide provides an update on our other businesses, which primarily comprises of our strategic
EPC business. We achieved revenues of ₹ 5,488 million in quarter 2, marking 241% year-on-
year growth. Profitability increased by 263% year-on-year with segmental margin registering a
growth of ~80 bps quarter-on-quarter to 11.8%. The robust growth within the business was
driven by strong execution of the RDSS order book. Looking ahead, we expect a similar
quarterly run rate over the next 2 years, as we execute our RDSS order book. The business
contribution to the Company's consolidated top-line is expected to be mid-to-high single-digit

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October 18, 2024

range. The annual sustainable operating margin for this business is expected to remain in the
high-single digits over the medium-to-long term.

So, that was the update for the quarter.

To summarize the key takeaways, we expect the demand momentum to remain strong in the
Wires & Cables business, with second half to be better than the first half. Margins, too, are
expected to improve in the second half of the year to be within the guided range of 12% to 14%
at EBITDA level. The Company is confident of achieving the ₹ 200 billion top-line goal in the
current year itself and is working on its next 5-year goals, which we intend to disclose by the
end of the current financial year.

Thank you, and we are now open for questions.

Moderator: Thank you very much. The first question is from the line of Ravi Swaminathan from Avendus
Spark. Please go ahead.

Ravi Swaminathan:: My questions, many of them are related to the breakup or mix in the cables and wires business.
First is, if you can give a breakup of the cable and wires categories, how it is in the first half of
this quarter and how it has changed compared to the earlier quarter or the previous quarter in
the earlier year?

And within the cable segment, you had mentioned 3 categories. So one is government, private,
real estate. Any broad mix as to how this is within the cable space? And within government, if
you can give further breakup, railways, roads, power T&D, airports? Even if you include data
centers, how it is? So this is my first question, largely related to breakup of the demand. Even
ballpark numbers are fine, broad numbers are fine.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure, Ravi. Thank you. As far as cables and wires mix is concerned, as I mentioned, this quarter,
the growth for wires was better compared to cables. The growth in wires segment was almost 2x
of that in cables segment. But of course, because of the lower base on wires, the percentage
improvement in mix is roughly about 1 percentage point. During the previous quarter or the Q2
of last year, generally, the mix for us as far as cables and wires is concerned was in the handle
of 70 to 30. Of course, it keeps on moving a couple of hundred basis points here and there on a
quarterly basis. So this time around, the gain in wires mix will be about 100 basis points.

As far as the second question is concerned on the demand from various end-segments - see, the
demand is very strong across different sectors and we have presence across, irrespective of
whatever sector you name, be it railways or roadways, highways, power distribution,
manufacturing and so on and so forth. As you are aware, almost 90% of our sales are generally
done through distributors and they are the ones who generally end up taking the orders from the
end customer. So, in that sense, we wouldn't have an exact breakup of what sector is generating
what form of demand. But we do know that on a relative basis, for us, manufacturing and real
estate are the sectors wherein for us, the exposure is higher. Sectors related to energy,
transmission, generation, distribution as well as oil and gas and mining are something wherein
the exposure is slated to go up. But irrespective of the exposure, we have sales which are done
across all the different sectors and we are seeing traction across all of them.

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October 18, 2024

Of course, quarter 1 was something when the government was a bit slow in terms of ordering on
newer investments, but again, that has picked up pace in quarter 2. And as I mentioned in the
initial comments, we expect the government investments to improve in the second half of the
year. Over and above that, the private investments are again something that we expect will pick
up pace going ahead. We see a lot of stars aligning in that direction. Interest rate cuts have
already started happening globally. And probably in the second half of the current year, we
should see that in India as well. As interest rates goes down and borrowing rates for a private
Company goes down, as well as the consumption improves as the inflation is under control, the
private capex should again start improving. And that is again something that should stand us in
good stead, because as I mentioned, for us that most of the sales are through distributors.
Manufacturing and real estate are sectors wherein the end customers, they prefer to buy from
distributors and that is where we have lower competition. Most of our other peers, they are more
institutional in nature, so as and when over the next leg of the infrastructure cycle, when the
private investments pick up, it is going to be much more beneficial for Polycab because we have
much more exposure over there.

So to summarize, we are very, very bullish on the demand environment of wires and cables
going forward, and it's across the different types of sectors, be it government or private.

Ravi Swaminathan: Okay. Specifically, power T&D, you can bifurcate it both our transmission and distribution and
then renewables, that is solar and data center. These 4 subcategories, any sense on the exposure
that you will be having from the cables and wires side?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So the power side, we will have relatively lower exposure on the transmission side because
largely the extra high-voltage cables are the ones which are utilized over there. Of course, a
couple of years down the line when our new facility is up and running, we will have incremental
exposures going ahead. But as of now, the exposure is lower. But we are very well present on
the distribution side. As you already know, we have a lot of orders on the EPC side within the
RDSS scheme, wherein we are supplying a lot of cables for power distribution infrastructure
which is getting set up. So distribution is something wherein we have a very good exposure.

Of the other sectors which you mentioned, data centers is again something wherein we have
approvals, and we are supplying incremental cables too. But of course, if you look at the overall
cable industry size, data centers while growing at a very fast pace, is a very small part of the
overall mix. So maybe 5 years, 10 years down the line, we can talk a bit more in detail as far as
what it is that we expect from that opportunity. But as of now, it is a very, very small part of the
overall cables pie and in all the other larger pies, we are growing at a very rapid pace.

Ravi Swaminathan: Understood. And distribution, when we say we have a good exposure, it will be like a high single
digit as a percentage of overall revenue? I'm just pushing for numbers, so please bear with me.
So will that be a sense? And any schemes that are there in the pipeline, which can further drive
this growth?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So, our exposure as a percentage of our overall cables and wires will be in double digits as far
as energy distribution part is concerned. And of course, the RDSS scheme is something wherein

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October 18, 2024

we are very positive on and are applying for the same. And that is where our exposure at least
over the next 2 to 3 years seems to be quite good.

Ravi Swaminathan: And next question is with respect to capex. This year, FY25 and 26, what kind of capex that we
are building in? And my last question is with respect to the optic fiber business that you had
talked about in the TV, ₹50,000 crores of orders that we are bidding. Is it something completely
new or already we have a certain proportion of our cable and wire business from optic fiber?
And if you can give some more clarity as to how much business we are already doing there and
how much it can grow into?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure. So, on your first question, for the capex for the year, we will do somewhere between ₹10
billion to ₹11 billion of capex for the year. Most of it will be for the cables and wires business.
A similar run rate is something that we will have next year as well. And again, largely for the
cables and wires business, but it will be spread across the different types of cables that we have.
So, the domestic cables, which are generating very good demand, the cables that we export, the
special purpose cables as well and the EHV facility which we are setting up.

So, the run rate for this year, next year and probably the year after that will be pretty much in
the similar range of ₹10 billion to ₹11 billion each year. As far as the second question is
concerned on the BharatNet project, yes, we have applied for tenders in the Phase 3, which were
opened in August. We have applied for all 16 packages. While, of course, winning it or not is
something that we will have to see when the results come out. But as of now, we do have optical
fiber manufacturing capacity at our plant. Contribution to the overall top line of the Company is
as of now very low, in low single digit. But if we do get some sizable orders from the BharatNet
project, over the course of next 2 to 3 years that can be a much more meaningful number than it
is right now.

Ravi Swaminathan: Understood. But can we assume a 20% strike rate in terms of these orders getting converted into
order book?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Ravi, very difficult to say. It's upon the government whom they give out the order to. So we'll
probably have to wait out and see who wins what amount of orders.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Girish from Morgan Stanley.

Girish: Yes. Sorry, if I missed this comment. Can I get the growth in Wires segment this quarter versus
Cables segment, volume growth?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: As far as the volume growth is concerned, in Wires it was between 20% and 25%, and within
Cables, it was in early teens. As far as value growth is concerned, for Wires, it was close to 40%,
whereas in Cables, it was about 20-odd percent.

Girish: Okay. Just on the media interview, the management had mentioned that the competitive intensity
was on the wire side. I noticed the copper prices started going up, I think, in the last 2, 3 weeks
of the September quarter.

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October 18, 2024

So wanted to understand like what really happened there because that also is a reason on margins
being slightly weaker on a year-on-year basis. So wanted to understand, normally, you guys take
price hikes every 15 days in Wires segment. And I mean, if the prices are going up, then why
did the competition resort suddenly to price cuts in an increasing price environment, input cost
environment? That was the second question.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Girish, generally, the price revision that we take are more on a monthly basis, and that is the
generally followed method for us. As far as the price hikes or passing on is concerned, see, in
cables, while we have a very good market share and we are way ahead of the second or third
largest competitor, within wires, while we are the leader, the second and third largest competitors
are pretty close as far as their market share is concerned. And all of them have a specific part of
the country wherein they have very good stronghold on. So over there, it's very difficult for us
to control the prices. We have to be in alignment with what the industry is following. In the last
part of the quarter, specifically in September when the prices went up by almost 10% to 12%,
the distributors, obviously, they wanted to cash in on this benefit because they wouldn't want to
wait until October when the price pass-on would happen, and seeing the kind of demand that
was generated, and as you are aware, within the wires industry, there is no capacity constraint -
everybody is sitting on additional capacity – so, everybody wanted to optimize on their volume
growth, and that is where everybody tried to gain on as much market share as possible.

Since we wanted to protect our market share, we also did as much of sales as possible, and that
is where the margin compression has happened. But as I had mentioned in the initial comments,
hopefully, such kind of high volatility or increase or decrease trend is something that we should
not see. If a bit more stable fluctuations happen in copper prices, which has generally been the
case historically, you wouldn't see any such material compression, et cetera, in margins. It's just
that over the past 3 to 4 months, the fluctuations in commodity prices have been way higher.
And because of this, you have seen a different kind of margin trend for the industry this time
around.

Girish: So just a follow-up on that. So I believe Gandharv also mentioned that above $500 volatility is
a lot more difficult to pass on, on the wires side given the capacity that exists. And cables that
is not a problem today, I appreciate that point.

But would it be fair to say that with more cable capacity coming through and if there is such
volatility, maybe you could have a similar situation in cables also if the volatility persists at these
levels because we can't forecast the price of copper or aluminium, right? So I'm just trying to
understand that the pricing discipline that exists today for cables and it got deviated for wire,
can it happen in cables a few quarters down the road?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: See, Girish, the scenario on cables is completely different than in wires. In wires, all the peers
or the entire industry is sitting on additional capacity. So in a particular quarter or a particular
month if there is a way higher demand, everybody can actually utilize the capacities and start
cashing in and do a lot more of sales. But that is not the scenario in the cables sector. Plus with
the kind of demand momentum or demand which is expected going ahead, we genuinely believe
that even the capacities which are being put up right now, those will fall short. So we don't

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October 18, 2024

envisage a scenario in which a similar thing plays out in cables, which has played out in wires
in this quarter.

Girish: And just last question. I believe you guys have participated in BharatNet tenders worth ₹50,000
crores thus far. Obviously, this is subject to review and tenders actually getting awarded. And
you also mentioned that margins will be similar to domestic Cables & Wires. Just from an
accounting perspective, will this be more classified in the Cables & Wires domestic revenues
whenever you win such tenders? Or will it be more EPC tenders? And what is the -- like a TAM
here on a slightly more longer-term basis, if you can comment on that?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So Girish, there will be a cable supply component of the contract and there will be an EPC part
of the contract. The cable supply component will be classified within the Cables & Wires in the
segmental classification and the EPC part of it will be within the EPC. It's pretty much similar
to the RDSS project that we are executing right now wherein the cable supply gets accounted in
the Cables & Wires segment, whereas the EPC part is in the other segment.

Girish: And roughly like a ballpark, ₹1,000 crores project here, could be how much cable versus EPC
roughly, if you are to win a ₹1,000 crores project?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: It actually varies depending on which state tender you are winning. Once the tender is awarded
to us, we'll be in a better position to answer that question.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Pulkit Patni from Goldman Sachs.

Pulkit Patni: Sir, my questions were what Girish have already asked, so I don't have any further questions.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama.

Achal Lohade: Yes. My first question is pertaining to the industry. You did mention that the capacity addition
in cables will probably be short of the demand what you're seeing at the industry level. Is it
possible to get some sense where are we in terms of the capacity and terms of volume or value?
And what kind of capacity addition are we seeing for Cables segment.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So, as we've guided, we will be doing ₹10 billion to ₹11 billion of capex each year for the next
3 years. Majority part, roughly, let's say, about 70-odd percent of the entire capex will be towards
the cables and wires business. The capacity addition for us will be something which will continue
to happen in phases. Of course, a part of that entire capex is going towards EHV plant, which
will be something that will become operational by the end of FY26. But for everything else, it
is something wherein the capacity will be coming up in phases.

As of now, anyways, for us, capacity is not a constraint. We are having additional capacity in
place. So for us, it's not something that derails our growth rate. But of course, looking at the
future demand expectations, it's very important that we put up those capex ahead of time so that
we are not in a scenario where there is demand, but we are not able to service that. So that is
why we are doing the kind of capex that we are going to be doing for the next 3 years.

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October 18, 2024

Achal Lohade: Correct. Sir, I'm trying to understand more from the industry perspective what kind of capacity
addition are you seeing? Is it 40%, 50%, 70%? Or is just 20%, 25% you're seeing, which is
giving comfort or conviction that the demand will outpace the capacity addition?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So Achal, the calculations which we've done is based on the announcements with other listed
players and our other larger non-listed players have made. We believe that going ahead, the
growth rate in cables at an industry level will be somewhere closer to 2x of the real GDP number,
which gives us a rough estimate of the kind of incremental demand, which will be coming up
over the course of next, let's say, 3 to 5 years.

If you look at the kind of capacities and utilization rates of the larger peers, which are currently
there and the announcement that made in terms of the newer capex that they are putting up for
cable capacity, you roughly arrive at the conclusion that this is going to be lesser than what kind
of demand which is estimated to be coming in. Over and above that, exports or international
business is something which is a very, very big opportunity. And obviously, most of the larger
players in the country are looking to take advantage of that as well. Again, we have to have
additional capacity for that as well.

So looking at both the variables, one largely arrives to the conclusion that there will be a
requirement for much more capacity. And I believe over the course of next 2 to 3 years, we will
actually continue to hear much more capacity addition announcements from the industry.

Achal Lohade: Understood, understood. Any colour you can provide with respect to the demand momentum in
the exports market? Are you seeing any sign of weakness, struggle out there? Or it is as robust
as it was in the past year?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: See, demand momentum across different geographies will vary depending on whatever is the
scenario in the country at that point of time. But being at the level that we or any other Indian
player is, we are as of now quite small as far as the overall export or demand opportunity is
concerned. So largely, any weakness or so in a particular geography shouldn't affect the kind of
growth numbers that we should be able to exhibit.

Of course, there can be some internal things related to each Company and how they are
operating, which might affect, for example, scenarios where the freight costs are much higher
and if a certain trade route is closed. I mean, that can derail our exports to a particular geography.
But in general, we believe that exports is a very big opportunity than what we have currently
been able to tap into. And the growth rate within international business, if you take a 3- to 5-
year view, that growth rates will be higher compared to the domestic cables growth rate that
we'll be able to see.

Achal Lohade: Great. And just one last question, if I may. You did make a comment with respect to the wires,
the competitive intensity was much higher in the September month. Is it fair to say that the
impact of that on the Wires margin, which is probably the second highest segment for us in terms
of margin hierarchy, the impact could be 3 to 4 percentage points and that's why the margin
impact on the aggregate Cables & Wires as well?

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Chirayu Upadhyaya: See, if you take a sequential view, our margins in the Cables and Wires are only compressed by
30 bps. So to that extent, it won't be as high as the percentage that you have mentioned. But of
course, it is the major reason for the compression.

Achal Lohade: Right. But Q-o-Q, the exports also picked up, right? I mean, the scale is better. So, the operating
leverage apart from the mix also, right?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Yes. So, two parts over there: one, definitely, as you rightly mentioned, the international
business has picked up quarter-on-quarter and that would have helped in terms of the margin.
But the second point, which you mentioned was the operating leverage. So if you recall, in
quarter 1, we had mentioned that we are operating at 70% to 75% of our capacity utilization.
This quarter, the utilization rate is somewhere between 60% and 70% because a part of newer
investment of capex that we did, the capacity came up for us. Plus, the second thing is, if you
recall, by the end of the previous quarter, we had a lot of inventory, finished goods inventory on
our books, which we couldn't sell because the demand kind of nosedived during the end of the
quarter. We were able to liquidate that during the course of this quarter. And hence, we were not
required to manufacture or utilize much more of our capacity as compared to what it was in Q1.
So operating leverage to that extent would have been impacting negatively. So, all these 3 to 4
variables would have impacted the entire margin differential between Q1 and Q2.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Amit Mahawar from UBS. Please go ahead.

Amit Mahawar: I have 2 quick questions. I understand the copper and the inventory part, very well
understandable. But one of the biggest segment for us is underground cables under RDSS where
we are, by far, having a higher market share possibly than the general cable and wire sector.

When you export our cables, generally, are these interchangeable? So my point is, supposing
temporarily there's a slowdown in underground cables and eventually picks up, can you divert
towards higher export, just to understand? I know probably capacities are fairly fungible, but
export market as a qualification in this market. So I just wanted to understand that fine, that's
first.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Yes, the capacities are fungible between the different types of cables. So, if there is a slowdown
in a particular type of cables demand, you can use that capacity for other avenues including
exports.

Amit Mahawar: Second question is more about last 3 years, there was a very strong unprecedented demand in
both domestic and export market and maybe Polycab was the only player, which could see it
come in, right, very clearly. Can we say next 3 years, especially in cables, the competition is far
better ready and keen than it was in the last 3 years and it could have some impact on sector
profitability in general. Is that statement correct?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: See, Amit, kind of profitability that we have been able to register over the past 2 to 3 years, –or
rather the improvement, it's not just because we were the only player who had the capacity.
There are a lot of variables that went into the play over there. We have been able to improve our
sales through channel, which is a better medium in terms of profitability. Further, we have been
able to change the mix of the kind of cables that we were selling domestically, plus the

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improvement in the contribution of exports. All of this have contributed towards the
improvement in margin. So, it is not correct to say that even if going ahead, there are capacities
coming up for our peers, we'll see any form of slowdown or compression in margins.

As I mentioned a while back, we do believe the kind of demand which is expected over the next
3 to 5 years is way ahead of what the capacities which are coming up within the industry. And
to that extent, as of now, sitting on this particular day, we don't believe there should be any form
of material margin compression because of whatever incremental capacities are coming up.

Amit Mahawar: And maybe a third quick one is, next 3 years, where will be our export volumes or maybe in
value terms, what is that we're targeting in exports?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure. So, I mean, the guidance on exports is something that will be a part of our next 5 years
guidance that we are working on right now where we are trying to come up or release that
guidance during the course of this financial year, and that will give you a very clear idea of what
it is that you can expect in terms of contribution from international business as well as the
domestic growth rate, et cetera and so on and so forth.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Shrinidhi Karlekar from HSBC.

Shrinidhi Karlekar: A couple of questions on the RDSS business that you do. May I ask the current order backlog
that you have in this part of the business? And second thing is, how is the whole order prospect
pipeline looking like in this?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure, Shrinidhi. So, as of now, as at end of September, the open order book of the RDSS scheme
for us was roughly about ₹48 billion. That is something that we have to execute over the course
of next 2 to 3 years and that is why we gave a comment that over the course of next 2 to 3 years,
we'll see probably similar run rate on EPC or the other business in quarterly revenue.

As far as the incremental opportunity is concerned, there are still a lot of orders which are yet to
be coming. We've applied for many of them. Of course, as of now, it is very difficult to say what
it is that we will be able to get because again, it's similar wherein that the government, which is
kind of awarding it because as and when during the course of this year, we get those incremental
orders, we'll probably disclose the open order book, and that should give you an idea of what to
expect on that front.

Shrinidhi Karlekar: And the second question is on the whole EBITDA margin that you generate, both what you book
in your cable business and what you book in the EPC part of it. May I ask what is the blended
margins that you get or some colour on what are the margin versus your portfolio margins?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So cables business margin or the cables supply component margin is pretty much similar to what
it is that we make when we do a normal cable sales in any other sector and all of that gets accrued
in the financials, within the Cables & Wires segments margin and the EPC margin is something
which gets accrued in the EPC component.

Overall, on the EPC part of the order, generally, you make somewhere in mid- to high single
digits and adding up the cables component, that increases a bit.

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Shrinidhi Karlekar: Great. And lastly, if I missed your comment on the export bit. Did you say that H2 export is
looking higher than the H1 and you're also seeing some recovery in the U.S. market?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Yes. In the second half of the year, we expect the international business to do well as compared
to the first half of the year.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Hardik Rawat from IIFL Securities.

Hardik Rawat: Broadly all my questions have been answered. One question was with regards to Switchgears.
You pointed out that Switchgears has registered some strong growth in this quarter. Could you
please help explain how is the market looking like for switchgears? Has there been a broader
decline in margins from a business perspective? And where is our position with respect to other
players in the market? And what are our aspirations with regards to the same.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: So, Hardik, switchgear is one of the areas within the FMEG business wherein we are very highly
focused on. It is a segment wherein we want to increase the contribution of that particular product
to the overall FMEG because the margins which we make within Switchgears segment is way
higher compared to what we make on the fans and lighting. We had very good run rate of growth
within the Switchgears segment over the past almost 2 to 3 years now, which started because of
the demand that gets generated for switchgears from the real estate, which is coming up in India.

So, in switchgears, we are just present in the B2C segment. We are not selling B2B. We don't
manufacture industrial switchgears. We are into MCB manufacturing, RCCB manufacturing and
so on. And for us, within that segment, we are, as of now, relatively smaller player, so we will
be somewhere between top 5 to top 10 as far as our market positioning is concerned. But we are
witnessing good growth rate in the switchgears business. And as I mentioned, that is something
which we are very much focused on.

For us, definitely, see whenever we target a particular business, the target is to be among the top
3 players within that business, and that is something that we are targeting even in the switchgears
business. It might take us a bit of time. But probably over the course of next 5 years, that is
something that we definitely will target to be one among the top 3 players.

As far as the margins are concerned, for us, the gross margin in the switchgears business are as
of now around 40%. We still believe there is a bit of more improvement that we can have on the
Switchgears margin front, and that is something that we'll be targeting over the course of next
few quarters. Just the previous year, we've actually expanded our switchgear manufacturing
capacity. As of now, the utilization rates are a little bit lower.

Since we are able to scale up that business at a good rate quarter-on-quarter basis, we expect
operating leverage to start kicking in and again, margins to again improve. In fact, switchgears
is one such business on the FMEG wherein we are already EBITDA positive. We've been
EBITDA positive for a while now. And as and when the contribution of Switchgears continues
to increase going ahead, I mean that will obviously add up to the segment profitability.

Hardik Rawat: Okay. That's helpful. One question with regards to how has our entry into switchgears and the
kind of focus that we have in this space, are we seeing aggression from the current market players

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on price, for example? How is the competition dealing with our foray in this segment in a big
manner?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: You're referring to our entry or someone else's entry? Sorry, I didn't get that part.

Hardik Rawat: No. So since Polycab is now so focused on this segment, how are the existing players responding
to this? Are there any higher competition on price? Or are they responding in some manner?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: See, Hardik, as far as the switchgear product is concerned, we've actually been able to leverage
a lot of our synergies within the existing wires business. If you do realize, the demand for
switchgears and the wires from Real Estate are at similar time and we anyways have distributors
who are distributing wires. We have the end customers, real estate players, whom we are
supplying wires. So we are able to cross-sell our switchgears along with wires and that is how
we are able to scale it up in a good way. Over and above that, the quality of our switchgears is
something which has been appreciated in the market. We are also quite confident on its quality.
And as a result of that, we actually provide 7 years warranty on our switchgears compared to the
normal 5-year warranty which the other competitors provide.

So largely, we have a lot of levers available to us through which we are able to grow the
switchgears business. And since the industry itself is growing at a good pace, we haven't actually
seen any form of heightened competitive intensity from the existing players. We've been able to
grow that business at a good pace, and it's been almost 2 to 2.5 years now that we have that
business doing very well for us.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from Nirmal Bang.

Natasha Jain: I have 2 questions. The first one on your gross margins. Now for FMEG, I understand there's a
lot of channel incentives, promotional expenses, but ideally, that would be a part of your opex.

Coming to wires and cables EPC, I get it, but a 350 basis compression does not come from a
10% contribution business. So now coming specifically to wires and cables, both use copper and
aluminium and because you've been making that commentary throughout that we do a lot of
derivative hedging, so ideally if you hedge your contracts, you should not be impacted, right, in
terms of volatility of your raw material.

So can you please explain again, what happened this quarter? And did we lose out on the hedging
part? So first question is that.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure, Natasha. So if you do understand the hedging part you realize that we actually price our
raw material post we receive the order. For us, that translates into us not getting affected because
of volatility. But you also have to take into account the competitors when you're looking at our
products like wires, right? Over there, if there is a player or competitors who are looking to gain
on market share and are willing to sacrifice on pricing just to gain on market share and the
demand is way high, if as a player, you want to protect your market share, you have to compete
here on pricing part as well.

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So, that is the reason why, especially on the wire side, we had compression, but the 300 basis
point compression that you are mentioning is on year-on-year basis, not on a sequential basis.
On year-on-year basis, the margin compression is not selectively just because of Wires margin
de-growth, it is a small part of the overall 3% degrowth. The major part is because of the
international business. Year-on-year, the international business contribution is also much lower
to the overall top-line. Phus the margins have also been affected in international because because
of the hike in freight cost.

So that's the larger reason for year-on-year decline in EBITDA margin in the Wires and Cables
business. The Wires' margin compression effect that happened is more of a sequential
compression and that is just in the handle of 30 bps.

Natasha Jain: Understood. Just one more question, on your exports, last year, US contribution within your
exports was close to 40%. This year, the way exports is moving, especially your U.S.
contribution, I think that you guys probably will land somewhere below 10%.

Now in the offering with all the U.S. elections, it's a very macro level question at this point.
given both the candidates have equal chance of winning, one of the candidates do not focus so
much on renewables. Now I understand that renewables, oil and gas is the kind of cables that we
export to the U.S.

So at a very broader level, have you worked out the strategy if whichever way the election goes,
does that further give pain to our export cables in U.S. and especially renewable cables? So that's
my second question.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Natasha, what we have actually done over the course of last 5 to 7 years is that we worked out
or gotten approvals for various different types of cables. So, solar cables are not the only type of
cables that we export to the U.S. We have diversification in that manner as well. So, irrespective
of which candidate comes and what is the focus on, specifically on renewables, there is a lot of
investment happening in the other pieces as well. For example, the power transmission and
distribution for the U.S. is getting upgraded after almost a century and that requires all the types
of cables: low-voltage cables, medium-voltage cables, et cetera. And that is where we already
have approval, and we will supply whenever the demand arises. So, specific to U.S., we'll have
to see who comes to power, what are their policies, but it doesn't really impact our international
growth rate because if you look at our international business, we have about 80 countries now
wherein we export, U.S. is not the only one. During the course of this year, you've actually seen
that we've been able to do a lot of exports to other countries as well. Middle East is something –
where a lot of opportunities are coming up. Australia is also another country wherein we have
been able to do a lot of exports. Europe is opening up in a big way. So there are various different
geographies wherein we have the opportunity to supply to. And irrespective of what happens in
a particular single geography like the U.S., it shouldn't derail growth rates of small international
export players like us. So we are not very much worried on that front.

Natasha Jain: Understood. Just a small follow-up on that, Chirayu. So sequentially, when you say that you've
grown close to 40% in your export revenues, can you please call out specifically which
geographies did we expand on newer geographies that we took in? That's it.

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Chirayu Upadhyaya: During the course of this quarter, we supplied a lot of cables largely to the Middle East and to
Australia. We also added a couple of new countries as well. I wouldn't want to name those
countries because that is of importance for the competitors as well. But largely, we've been
adding new countries on a quarterly basis. We also have a couple of other countries to be added
in the pipeline over the of remaining year as well.

See largely, we have a plan charted out. We have identified the geographies wherein there is a
good amount of demand, and as of now, we don't have approvals. We have identified the
geographies where we have approvals, but for very limited type of cables, and we will want to
expand across all those different types of geographies. The diversification strategy is in place.
We have a very strong international business team, which is working day in and day out to get
approvals from these different geographies. And we don't foresee any challenge in us growing
our international business even if there is a slowdown in a particular geography.

Natasha Jain: So, all geographies would command similar export margins in terms of cables?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: It varies geography-wise, it varies product-wise and depending on what type of cables you're
supplying, in which quarter, which year to which geography your margins will be. But
irrespective of that, as of now, the margin profile for international business is higher as compared
to domestic. So irrespective of where it is that we will be exporting, which geography, we will
be able to make better margins.

Moderator: Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please
go ahead.

Aniruddha Joshi: Yes. Now in terms of the margins, we have seen our margins, which used to be in the range of
8% to 9%. Now they have reached as high as almost 14% now. So, do you believe that probably
the margins have kind of peaked out at around 14-odd percent level? And on a structural basis,
do you see further triggers to see expansion in the margins? And anywhere means maximum the
potential in terms of margins, what that can be? That is question one.

Secondly, now the competitive intensity is likely to remain higher because one company is
starting the new plant and one company is doing QIP. So probably, they may also expand the
facility. So, net-net, if the competitive intensity remains higher in H2 and FY26, so what will be
Polycab's strategy, whether it will be market share first or it will be margins first? Yes. That's it
from my side.

Chirayu Upadhyaya: Sure, Aniruddha. So as far as your question on margin is concerned, we already have a guidance
in place. In cables and wires business, we believe 12% to 14% of EBITDA margins is something
that we'll be able to deliver. Depending on the kind of demand momentum that we see in a
particular quarter or which type of product mix we are able to achieve, we will move between
that guidance. But as of now, we believe 12% to 14% EBITDA margin is something that we
should be able to deliver. Probably maybe in future, depending on whatever variable changes,
we might revise the guidance. But as of now, this guidance holds.

As far as the competitive intensity is concerned, I'd like to make it clear once again that in Q2,
the competitive intensity increase that we are referring to was specifically in Wires and that was

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for a specific reason, that the copper prices shot up very steeply in a very short frame of time.
On the cables side, we don't see any increased competitive intensity. The comment that you
mentioned that there are new capacities coming up, is kind of more relevant for the cable side.
And that is, again, where I kind of made a comment that we expect the demand momentum to
be very strong and the capacity within the industry to being just enough or fall short of being
able to service that demand.

So, we don't expect any pressure on margins. So as of now, we don't need to take a call of
whether we need to go for top-line or bottom-line. At least on the cables side, we are quite
confident that we will be able to achieve both.

Moderator: The next question is from the line of Umang Mehta from Kotak Securities.

Umang Mehta: Most of my questions are answered. Just wanted one clarification. You mentioned that
institutional business did better than distribution. And you also mentioned that Wires did better
than Cables. Does this imply that you have done wire sales to real estate projects this quarter?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: I'm sorry, Umang, your question towards the end was not clear. I believe you asked, institutional
was better than channel and Wires was better than Cables. And what was the last part of the
question?

Umang Mehta: This is correct, right? You typically expect the domestic distribution to do better when your wire
sales are outpacing cables. So, is there a difference in understanding here?

Chirayu Upadhyaya: No, Umang, you'll have to take into account the base, right? For us, institutional versus channel.
Institutional is 10% and channel is 90%. Cables and Wires, the mix is 70-30. Now Wires has
grown ahead of Cables. But mix is only 30% of the overall. So, it will have to grow over 2x of
Cables for the growth rate of channel to be higher than institutional. Since that's not the case,
our institution has still grown ahead of the channel. But on the cables side, it's more relevant,
wherein institutional sales continue to happen, where, in the first month of this quarter because
the copper correction was there in the handle of 12% to 15%, the channel sales were almost
nonexistent.

So those are the 2 reasons, more institutional sales on the Cables side. And while Wires was
seen growing higher than Cables, because of its mix being much lower as compared to Cables,
it doesn't really impact the overall mix materially.

Moderator: Thank you very much. We will take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the
conference over to Mr. Gandharv Tongia for closing comments.

Gandharv Tongia: Thank you so much for joining us for this call. In case if you have any follow-up questions,
please feel free to write to our investor.relations@polycab.com. We also take this opportunity
to wish you and everyone at your home as well your team a very Happy Diwali and a joyous
New Year. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye.

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

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