Borosil Renewables Prepared To Counter Cheaper Product Dumping By Foreign Companies: Chairman
Kheruka emphasised that his company is taking proactive steps to counter the challenge posed by cheaper imports.
Borosil Renewables Ltd.'s Chairman Pradeep Kumar Kheruka has said that product dumping by foreign players in the Indian market will continue to impact the company's financial performance in Q3.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, Kheruka, however, emphasised that his company is taking proactive steps to counter the challenge posed by cheaper imports.
“Our efforts to improve production continue, and we have been quite successful in that. We are already making nearly 100% capacity, we are running at about 97% capacity. So, we might improve on that as well. We should see something good,” Kheruka said.
Borosil Renewables reported a subdued performance in Q2, posting a consolidated net loss of Rs 13.1 crore in the quarter ended September against a net profit of Rs 30 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue was down 7.3% at Rs 372 crore against Rs 402 crore YoY. Ebitda margins of the company shrank from 8.1% to 7.7% on a year-on-year basis.
Commenting on the results, Kheruka said that Borosil has managed to improve its performance on a standalone basis despite the challenges.
“We have had an improvement in the standalone results. When we look at the consolidated results, that takes into account our German operations as well, which is completely different from what we are doing here,” he told NDTV Profit.
However, the Borosil Renewables chairman acknowledged the impact of foreign companies dumping products at lower prices in the Indian market.
“The dumping continues and our application for an anti-dumping duty has been recommended by the Ministry of Commerce. It's gone to the Ministry of Finance who will vet it, and then they will take further action on that. We expect that the anti-dumping duty will be imposed,” he said.
If the anti-dumping duty gets imposed, it will translate to much better results for Borosil Renewables, the top executive noted. He said that the lower-priced products from Chinese and Vietnamese companies can only be competed with an anti-dumping duty.
Kheruka said that the recommendation for anti-dumping was sent to the government on Nov. 5, and a decision by the finance ministry is expected by the first week of February.
“If this comes in, it would be a game changer for us,” he said.
“We have been able to, implement certain savings, on account of a larger share of our energy being met from renewables, which is being generated by us and an associate company. So, from that point of view, with the receipt of anti-dumping, things will change dramatically,” Kheruka added.
Shares of Borosil Renewables Ltd. fell 4.5% to Rs 449.05 apiece to touch an intraday low on the NSE on Wednesday. The stock was trading at Rs 450.50 per share at 11:49 am, while benchmark Nifty 50 was down by 178.6 points to 23,704.85.
