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Blue Dart Express Ltd. — Call Transcript 2026
May 18, 2026
60742_rns_2026-05-18_bbfa54ed-a645-44ef-ba2b-f8e064ba243b.pdf
Call Transcript
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BLUE DART
EXPRESS LIMITED
BLUE DART
Blue Dart Center, Sahar Airport Road,
Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 099, India
Tel.: 2839 6444
Fax: 2824 4131
CIN: L61074MH1991PLC061074
www.bluedart.com
[email protected]
May 18, 2026
To,
BSE Limited
Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers,
Dalal Street, Fort
Mumbai – 400 001
Scrip Code - 526612
National Stock Exchange of India Ltd
Exchange Plaza, C-1, Block G
Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East,
Mumbai – 400 051
NSE Symbol - BLUEDART
Sub: Transcript of Earnings Call - Disclosure under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015
Dear Sir/ Madam,
We refer to our intimation dated May 9, 2026, notifying on the schedule of ‘Earnings Call’ organised through M/s. Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. on May 13, 2026, to discuss the corporate performance of the Company for the Quarter and Financial Year ended March 31, 2026 and audio recording of the same submitted on May 13, 2026.
Pursuant to requirements of law, please find enclosed herewith, transcript of the Earnings Call which is also made available on the Company’s website viz; www.bluedart.com.
Kindly take the same on your records.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
For Blue Dart Express Ltd.
TUSHAR JAYANT
GUNDERIA
Digitally signed by
TUSHAR JAYANT
Date: 2026.05.18
20:39:02 +05'30"
Tushar Gunderia
Head (Legal & Compliance) &
Company Secretary
BLUE DART DHL
"Blue Dart Express Limited
Earnings Conference Call"
May 13, 2026
BLUE DART DHL
motilal
OSWAL
CHORD & PALL
MANAGEMENT: MR. SAGAR PATIL – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER – BLUE DART EXPRESS LIMITED
MR. TUSHAR GUNDERIA – HEAD (LEGAL & COMPLIANCE) AND COMPANY SECRETARY – BLUE DART EXPRESS LIMITED
MODERATOR: MR. ALOK DEORA – MOTILAL OSWAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
Alok Deora:
So, good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the interaction with the senior management of Blue Dart Express. So firstly, I would like to thank the management for giving us the opportunity to host the call. So today, we have with us Mr. Sagar Patil, CFO; and Mr. Tushar Gunderia, Head of Legal Compliance and Company Secretary, Blue Dart Express.
I would now hand over the call to the management for some opening comments, and then we can take up the Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Sir.
Tushar Gunderia:
Yes. Thank you so much, Alok, and good afternoon, everybody. A very warm welcome to all of you. As you are aware, the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on 9th May 2026, approved the financial results of the company for the quarter and financial year ended 31st March 2026.
The Company reported revenue from operations of INR 6,141 crores compared to INR 5,720 crores in financial year 2024-25 and profit after tax for the year stood at INR 240 crores. For the quarter ended 31st March 2026, revenue from operations stood at INR 1,533 crores, while profit after tax stood at INR 43 crores.
In a fiscal year shaped by challenging customer expectations and changing customer expectations, continued growth in digital commerce, strong domestic consumption and a dynamic operating environment, Blue Dart Express delivered year-on-year revenue growth supported by sustained momentum across e-commerce and B2B Surface Express solutions. The Company continued to strengthen its integrated air and ground network, enhance operational efficiency and expand solutions aligned to the needs of business across India.
The year also saw a dynamic cost and regulatory environment, including the implementation of the wage code and related changes across labor and security frameworks. Blue Dart remained focused on compliance, employees' welfare, productivity enhancement and network efficiency, at the same time, continuing to protect service quality and customer commitments. The results have already been uploaded on the Stock Exchange website and has also been posted on the website of the Company.
I now hand over the call to Mr. Sagar Patil, our CFO, for further proceedings. Thank you.
Sagar Patil:
Thank you, Tushar. Good afternoon, all. So, we have closed this financial year with about 7% growth in revenue for the year and as well as a similar percentage increase in the PBT before the one-off that we had of exceptional item on account of Labor Code. This as far as the quarter is concerned, we have a similar growth, which is about 7% rather 8% plus in the revenue, while there is a drop of about 17% in the comparable PBT before exceptional items for the quarter. There is no exceptional item for this quarter.
So, the Company has continued its steady growth trajectory in the times where the product profile, seasonality, a number of variables that act not only with the customers but also in the external factors. So, the Company continues its profitable journey with, of course, mandate to improve the profitability of Blue Dart.
So with that, I would request to open the floor for questions. Thanks.
Alok Deora:
Sure. Thank you so much for the opening comments. So we'll start with the Q&A. So anyone who has any question can please raise your hand or post it in the chat box below. So we'll get started. So first question, we'll take from Mr. Krupashankar. Please go ahead.
Krupashankar:
So, Sir, first bookkeeping questions of what would have been the tonnage for the quarter and for the full year, Sir, if you can share that first?
Sagar Patil:
So tonnage for the quarter is 359,913 tons for the quarter.
Krupashankar:
Got it. So for the year, I think it sums up to close to about 1,439,000 round about, right?
Sagar Patil:
Yes.
Krupashankar:
Okay. So roughly about 7% growth in the overall tonnage, which you mentioned. Just wanted to get a sense, Sir, so now this quarter...sorry, also on the parcels, total parcels for the...
Sagar Patil:
Parcels for the quarter, we were 96.17 million. And for the year, 403.98 million.
Krupashankar:
Got it, Sir.
Sagar Patil:
Yes, just to extend because you gave insight about the weight, growth for the year is about 7%, 7.1%. For the quarter, it is 4.6%.
Krupashankar:
Got it. So Sir, just getting a sense this quarter around, you did see a good growth coming in, in e-commerce piece across the industry. For us, how did you see the e-commerce piece evolving B2C part of it? And overall, also in Ground Express, what would have been the growth generally?
Sagar Patil:
E-commerce, especially e-commerce on ground continues to be our growth driver, including the surface on ground as such. While the e-commerce on air has been steady, not very much too much growth over there. But yes, e-commerce and ground remain the drivers for growth.
Krupashankar:
So, what I wanted to know is more on growth rates in the respective segments because overall, the growth rate has been about 8% for the quarter and we did see that you had taken certain hikes from January onwards. But volume-wise, again, tonnage-wise, it's been fairly similar to your overall revenue growth as well. Just wanted to get a sense around if I were to further break it down, is it because the ground and ground e-commerce proportion has gone up, which is why our realization are looking flattish?
Sagar Patil:
In terms of yield per kilo, yes, when it comes to ground, while the margins may be comparable, but when it comes to per kilo or per shipment realization, ground is lower than the air.
Krupashankar:
Yes but we were able to pass or rather implement to a certain degree the price hikes which you have taken from January onwards. Is my understanding correct? And to what extent has this result showcased the extent of increase in realization because of the hikes which you have announced earlier?
Sagar Patil:
Yes. So we did GPI from 1st of January, and it has been a little better than what we had last year as such. So it has provided a positive impact, helping us to mitigate the impact of the year-on-year inflation levels as such.
Krupashankar:
Any percentage you want to share, Sir?
Sagar Patil:
Very difficult to quote a specific percentage because it would on the products as well as the underlying business channels would not be comparable as such. So...
Krupashankar:
No, no. I was looking at it from a blended basis, while I understand what.. I'll try to explain more on why I'm asking this specific thing, Sir, because we understand that the underlying mix is the key reason why the realization is optically looking flattish.
So just wanted to see if there is an absolute pass-through of close to about 3% to 4%, that would have been absorbed because of the mix changes. So, if you can share the mix of B2C versus B2B or ground and air, that will be really helpful in assessing how..what sort of implementation has come through?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, it would be better than 3% to 4% is what I can say. Again, across the product, it would be different. Again, the price increases, while largely we announced in the beginning of the year, certain customers would typically take some time.
So, in the first half of the year, month-on-month, the number only improves, especially some key customers would take a month or 2 more to again renegotiate or negotiate. So, the ultimate realization of profit would be more than 4%, the price increase. But again, it will depend on product to product.
Krupashankar:
Okay. And is it fair to assume, Sir, last question from my side. Just is it fair to assume that the margin..sequential decline in margin, especially on EBITDA side of things, is primarily because of this mix? And would it be possible to give what would be the growth in air in this quarter and this financial year and growth in ground this year and this quarter and this financial year?
Sagar Patil:
So from the product mix perspective, typically, as you have seen, the shipments have grown slower. So that means our smaller products have grown slower as compared to the heavier products. So our smaller products will range from documents to air e- commerce as well as surface e-commerce. So as I mentioned in one of the earlier calls, the heavier the shipment, it becomes more in the nature of freight as such.
So that's where the margin realization can be lower, whereas smaller the portion, the realization of service, the time definite or the time criticality improves. So that is where the service element being better, the price...not price, but the margin realization becomes better. So yes, ground continues to grow faster, more than...there is an internal announcement happening. I'll just put on a mute for...
Alok Deora:
We'll take next question from Achal.
Sagar Patil:
Just one moment. Sorry for that. There was some internal announcement happening.
Alok Deora: No problem. We can take next question from Achal.
Achal: Sir, if you could...sorry, I missed the initial part. If you could just remind us in terms of the air versus ground, what has been the mix air versus surface for FY 2026?
Sagar Patil: The mix has been between air and ground, 60:40.
Achal: 60% is air and 40% ground, Sir, FY 2026?
Sagar Patil: Yes, yes.
Achal: And this is in value or volume terms, Sir?
Sagar Patil: Value, revenue.
Achal: And how would that be in terms of volume?
Sagar Patil: we don't provide the breakup for the shipments of kilos between air and ground, being the sensitive information. But typically, in air, the number of shipments will be higher, whereas in ground or the share of the shipments, whereas in ground being heavier loads, the number of kilos will be higher. The weights will be high.
Achal: Understood. And typically, what is the price difference between ground for the like-to-like distance? The air would be 3x the price of ground. Would that be a fair assumption?
Sagar Patil: Again, the price will be a function of whether you're sending 0.5 kilo or, say, 30 kilo shipment.
Achal: On a per kg basis, I mean, I'm saying for the same product.
Sagar Patil: Yes. In terms of the per kg, I would say, costing from a middle mile point of view, the ratio can be 1:5.
Achal: 1:5. Okay. Understood, Sir, if you could help us in terms of B2B and B2C for FY 2026, what has been the mix for us?
Sagar Patil: It means from a revenue point of view, 70:30, 70.3% in B2B and 29.7%. So since both the lines are growing, one in surface, other one in the surface B2C, this ratio has been pretty plus or minus 2% or 3% quarter-on-quarter.
Achal: So, this 70:30 is for FY 2026 Sir or fourth quarter, you're saying?
Sagar Patil: Fourth quarter is this 71% to 29%, so pretty stable from a revenue point of view.
Achal: Understood. And just a clarification in terms of the market share, if you could call out what would be our market share in the respective segment for air and the surface? Just a ballpark number.
Sagar Patil: We'll not have updated numbers. Typically, market share comes with a certain lag. And again, it's a perceptive number. So, I don't have readily or recent number for quoting as such.
Achal:
But what would be the last number you recall like for FY 2025 or...
Sagar Patil:
For documents, we have seen the market share being 70% plus. Again, this is about the organized and express service providers, not entire industry that may have different types of players as such. Again, when we talk about air and ground, these are the products that we have defined by transit time and not necessarily mode of transport.
It's more of the...so even if there is something going from, say, Mumbai to Pune, if it is air product, it will have a separate faster, smaller vehicle that will move on priority, whereas if it is a ground product, there will be difference of a few hours, if not a day, even between that kind of lane.
But for us, it's an air network, not going on air. Essentially, this air by air, we mean door-to-door, multimodal kind of transport where first mile, last mile will be road, big or small and middle mile in many cases, will be air. So that's very loosely, we call it as air for discussion, but we do not really treat it as a segmented part of the business.
Achal:
Fair point. Just to clarify, B2C, 29.7% for FY 2026, does this include the e-com, the bulk of the e-com business here?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, it is largely e-com business.
Achal:
So B2C is largely e-com..
Sagar Patil:
Yes. It's only...rather it is only e-com, Achal.
Achal:
Okay. Understood. Understood. And Sir, just a question on e-com business. Historically, we've been...like what is the mix for e-com business for FY 2026? Sorry, I forgot to ask that first. FY 2026, e-com revenue mix?
Sagar Patil:
So between air and surface, it would be like 17% to 12% ...17%: 12% out of this 29.7%.
Achal:
Okay. So when you say B2C, it's actually e-com business?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, yes.
Achal:
Okay. Understood. And in terms of the freighter utilization, if you could guide, Sir?
Sagar Patil:
So it continues to be at around 85% on a pallet utilization level. We use a good amount of commercial air capacity as well. And we tend to fly the flights only when we have good load, which is there in most of the week days. Yes. So it remains at 85%. 85% why because there are also positioning flights. So that takes it down. But for the main sectors, it would be well above 90% - 95%.
Achal:
Understood. And in terms of the margins, how do we see margins? I mean we have swung between 13.5% to 17.5% in last 4 quarters. So how do we look at this margin? Is from an annual perspective, 15% - 15.5% what we have delivered in the last 2 years is the number we can pencil in? Or you think it can...or what are the margin drivers from here on?
Sagar Patil:
You're talking about stand-alone margins, right?
Achal:
Consolidated margins,.
Sagar Patil:
Consolidated margin...
Achal:
EBITDA margin, yes.
Sagar Patil:
Below that EBITDA before depreciation. So far as depreciation is a major part of having a big setup of air as well as on the ground that we have. Yes, the quarter-on-quarter comes with variations with peak season kicking in typically in second half of the year.
So we...our focus is normally to ensure a year-on-year yearly margin. So while we try to operate at an efficiency when the loads are low, the focus is on also building up capacity in case of the peak loads, wherein the additional volumes also does pay for that cost increase during the temporary period that we look at.
And then after that peak is over, then also the focus is on, again, optimizing because revenues ...the loads also do not immediately come down in some pockets with some customers, there are again volume of surges that come in the month of December, January. So the function...I mean, the business is function of balancing air and ground, B2C and B2B as well as the big packages and small packages or documents, cross utilizing the capacities efficiently and keep on flexing that capacity.
So the focus is largely on a yearly number on quarter-on-quarter, there can be ups and downs depending on how we build up the resources and how the volumes for different products or even different customers come in because different customers will have different margin levels depending on their product mix or the lane mix also for that matter.
Alok Deora:
Yes. So, there are some more questions. So Sir, one question which has come in the chat was on ATF pricing. If you can just highlight what's the impact of ATF movement and whether we have passed it on? Just some color on that.
Sagar Patil:
Yes. So while ATF prices started going up in the month of March, till end of March, because we have fuel surcharge that is announced at the beginning of the month, our March fuel surcharge didn't go up significantly. Our purchase prices are also typically agreed in the beginning of the month. So for the quarter, we didn't have any significant impact from pure ATF and Brent point of view, while there were some cost impact in terms of the availability of local fleet or at times manpower also in that month.
So the impact in the financials will come starting from April. As you know, we have a fuel surcharge mechanism where any increase or drop in Brent is largely compensated or neutralized with the...between ATF and fuel surcharge. So far as ATF is moving in tandem with Brent and of course, with the currency fluctuation also, we have surcharge for both fuel as well as currency in our commercial. So to an extent, those..that volatility is neutralized largely.
Alok Deora:
Okay. So you basically are not looking at any impact coming in because of the ATF price movement in the first quarter?
Sagar Patil:
No.
Alok Deora:
Got it.
Sagar Patil:
You're going to say first quarter of calendar year in the first...
Alok Deora:
No, financial year, April to June.
Sagar Patil:
Yes. Financial year, there will be impact. But from a profitability point of view, it is largely neutralized.
Alok Deora:
Got it. And also one question was on the volume growth. Now what kind of volume growth we are looking in this financial year, FY 2027, considering the growth which we have done in FY2026 and considering looking at the market scenario, if you can just indicate what sort of growth we could look at in the air side as well as on the ground side?
Sagar Patil:
Without really giving color of forward-looking statement, but this is a business which is largely a network business distributed all across India. So any significant upsurge or even shortfall in margin can impact either service quality or the profitability either way. If there is a big increase in volume, it might be seen as profitable, but then service quality impact also can be there.
So we mainly look at optimizing the capacities with respect to the demand that comes from the customers. And then we tend to be...to balance between what volumes we can ask from the customers versus what price we can get at. So the approach is to more balance to ensure the profitability in absolute terms.
Alok Deora:
Got it. Just one follow-up on that. Actually, so ground, you mentioned it's around 40% now, which used to be around, say, 30%, 32% a few quarters back. So now with the ground share increasing and the target would be more like, say, 48%, 50%, right? So do we see the growth actually coming in much better now because ground share will be much higher, which is the fast-growing segment?
Sagar Patil:
Yes. I mean the ground is the growth engine for us and the share of ground has been going up. However, with ground, largely the costs are also variable. I mean all the middle mile, the lanes all are variable. Even the first mile, last mile are largely variable.
We work with a very large range of vendors all across there. So unlike air, where once you have investment in place in assets, the incremental rate of return is better. That is not the case with ground. So yes, while ground is...remains the growth engine, it may not result in a volume increase there, may not result in a very dramatic increase in the profitability.
Alok Deora:
Got it. We'll take a follow-up from Krupashankar.
Krupashankar:
So Sir, just questioning back on what you just commented. You have added a couple of infrastructure with respect to new hubs on the ground side of things. And given the recency of the addition, there would have been certain overhead expenses on the ground side of things. Now if you're expecting the ramp-up, the margin profile should improve in tandem with the utilization
of those hubs. So why are you saying that the profitability improvement may not be to the higher extent?
Sagar Patil:
So the capacities that we added, and there is a big facility we have started last year in Gurgaon, near Delhi. Now to an extent, this is ,yes, this will take care of next maybe up to 9 years of growth in that lane, but it's one of the lanes, one of the cities. Secondly, this facility was a combination of not only growth, but also consolidation of number of facilities. So it's not that it's a one big investment from...overall from a Company point of view.
Within the overall business, this is still a small spot of growth in that particular region comes with consolidation. So yes, there will be capacity available that will get utilized over the next few years. And incidentally, there also, we have a phase-wise approach where the entire commitment has not been done in 1 go. There will be phase commitment in 2 phases. So it's not one big investment put in over there. Also, as far as ground is concerned, our facilities are express facilities, not warehousing kind of facilities.
So the turnover of volumes there is quite significant. So it's not a very big fixed cost that has been added that will pay off in the long term. In the overall number of kilos tons that we handle, this will not be even 5% or 10% of the all country volumes even for that one big investment that we have put in place as such. So no..I mean, of course, it will have a positive impact, but not as significant that it can make a big change in the overall company profitability.
Krupashankar:
Got it. Second question was on the current ongoing challenges on the West Asia crisis. Sir, we do understand that post-COVID, you had carried out a few charters to specific destinations primarily because of the need which has arise. And given the discrepancy which has come in on shipping side of things, are you seeing charter options opening up? And would you be taking it up? Or would it be in the purview of DHL?
Sagar Patil:
No. So we..it's up to us as Blue Dart. And if there are such opportunities, so far, we don't see a big increase. The domestic charters keep on happening with a few customers..I mean, repeating and sometimes onetime charter.
So, we may not see that...as of now, at least we don't have that big indication of new opportunities coming for charters because the passenger airlines also are...I mean, it's moving internationally. So, while it was a good, I would say, enabler or help in the COVID period, as of now, we don't see any indication while, of course, we keep on exploring those pieces.
Alok Deora:
We'll take next question from Shivam.
Shivam:
Sir, just wanted to know what has impacted the EBITDA margin this quarter? Is the volume change mix have impacted the EBITDA margin or something else?
Sagar Patil:
Yes. So one would be that...
Shivam:
As you said that because of the heavier volume...
Sagar Patil:
Yes.
Shivam:
Sorry Sir, you continue please.
Sagar Patil:
One reason would be that. And also, there would be...I mean, there is nothing as one single item that is significant. We did face, I would say, some increase in the cost of local vehicle hiring, especially in the month of March, where fuel-related apprehensions were coming in some parts of the city. So we had to really also hire from market. So to some extent, there was increase in costs there. We also have invested in some of our functions, front-end functions like sales and some quality-related functions.
So sometime during the last year. So as compared to last year same quarter, it would look like a higher employee cost impact as well. So INR 2 crores here, INR 3 crores here, all combined put together are totaling up to about INR 10 crores, INR 15 crores, but there is no exceptional or extraordinary item that is impacted. It's more of a timing that has come in this quarter as compared to the earlier quarter. But yes, you can also be said right where the smaller growth in the shipments versus weight will impact to an extent, the realized profitability for a quarter.
Alok Deora:
So, we'll take one question from the chat box. So, is the higher freight cost also leading to customers choosing non-express shipments versus our offerings? Any color on that, Sir?
Sagar Patil:
It can sometimes happen. Like for e-com, we provide services for both...options for both by air as well as by ground. So sometimes the customers can...same customer who is giving us both on air as well as ground can also at times reallocate based on their priorities or the nature of shipment, how discretionary or critical is from that time point of view.
And again, as the ground becomes more and more efficient, the difference between air and ground can be not more than, say, 24 or at almost 48 hours depending on the lane. So as the customers become better enabled to plan for to manage their flow of the shipments across the country, they will...they are also able to flex to choose between good at ground or good at air for that matter. So yes, that can also have an impact there.
Alok Deora:
Got it. We'll take one question from the queue from Anshul Agrawal.
Anshul Agrawal:
Just a bookkeeping question. Our capex has shot up in FY 2026. I believe this is on the back of the ground hubs that we sort of added to our network. Are there any similar plans to add or do some heavy capex in the coming year?
Sagar Patil:
So if you look at the consol numbers, our capex for the year is almost INR 360 crores, whereas standalone, it is INR 120 crores. In consol, out of INR 360 crores, INR 200 crores is mainly coming from aircraft, which is in the nature of engine or aircraft maintenance. These are the servicing or check, C check, D check, B check that we do, which can add to the efficiency or usability or cycles of aircraft beyond the year.
So it is booked as capex and then it is depreciated over the period of utilization. So barring that INR 120 crores, yes, there will be element of the ground facility. But again, it will not be that very significant, not more than 30% of this total capex that you are talking about, not even as much. And in terms of the fresh, yes, we do have plans to strengthen the capacities in different
parts of the country, be it Mumbai or South, to an extent is East we did in the last few years. North also, we have added in the last couple of years.
So for us, I mean, this capex is also more like a part of opex. So if you find year-on-year, the capex amount will be similar to the depreciation amount that we have, if you exclude the ROU asset part of it as such. But capex can come as a big spurt in the capex. I mean, as far as aircraft is concerned, but it is not aircraft. This can be engine or some major components as a part of the regular maintenance of the aircraft.
Anshul Agrawal:
Got it, Sir. So just a follow-up on that. So this INR 200 crores of aircraft maintenance servicing engine, this would be recurring in nature. Is that assumption correct? Would this repeat in, say, 1 or 2 years again?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, So it can be INR 100 crores in 1 year or maybe another INR 200 crores in another year. So typically, INR 100 crores to INR 150 crores every year, even in...without any new capacity addition in aircraft, this will be a part of capital expenditure.
Anshul Agrawal:
Correct. And since ground continues to grow faster than air, a similar number in ground capex can be assumed? The one that we have done in the current year?
Sagar Patil:
Yes. So in stand-alone entity, the capex of INR 120 crores as normal capex and ROU asset of INR 400 crores, this type of ...so largely, when you add the ground facilities, major addition is in terms of the lease assets. So ROU we'll find more and normal capex will be a relatively smaller number. And even this number of INR120 crores can be as good as annual capex or opex capex that will keep on coming.
Anshul Agrawal:
Got it, Sir. Any comment on...we've given a guidance of maintaining the PBT margins of around...again between 7% and 8%. And I think we are lagging that guidance by some distance. Any color on...or any guidance on when we should think about reaching this?
Sagar Patil:
As soon as possible, that's what we'll track. But otherwise, any specific guidance will be like forward-looking. But yes, the effort is always to maximize in the peak and optimize in the other quarters in order to ensure a bit as better number as possible for the year.
Alok Deora:
We'll take next question from Ankita.
Ankita:
Sir, I missed, have you shared the shipment and tonnage data number for the fourth quarter?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, you can note down quickly. Shipments 96.17 million and tonnage 359,913 tons.
Ankita:
359,913?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, 360,000.
Ankita:
Okay. Okay. Got it. Secondly, Sir, how has been the volume growth in air and surface for the full year FY 2026?
Sagar Patil:
The rates have gone up by about 8.8% and in ground 6.9%.
Ankita:
6.9%.
Sagar Patil:
Again, these are not necessarily air as a mode. Air is more of a multimodal, so some of it can also go on road. Some of it will go on commercial airline and also some of it will go on BZ. So air and ground is what we loosely use internally for our calling our products, which are transit time based, but do not necessarily in the segmented or the main mode of transportation there.
Ankita:
Got it. Sir, has the surface volume growth slowed down from what we have seen in FY 2025 earlier? Has this growth rate come off for us? 7% growth that you're seeing on surface, is this slower than what we have witnessed in FY 2025?
Sagar Patil:
I think would be slower because we have the customer composition there has undergone some change. The shipment per kg for ground surface has...I think, has come down as compared to earlier years, the rate of growth.
Ankita:
Okay. So means we are handling more lower weight cargo, which means we would that is also one of the reasons why our B2C shipments have gone up, means we are handling more lower weight, maybe e-commerce shipment on surface, which is the reason why overall growth would have been slow?
Sagar Patil:
So the B2B movement of e-commerce, I mean, not e-com as a last-mile delivery for the individual buyers from the...
Ankita:
Got it.
Sagar Patil:
But more of a store to store or warehouse to store, warehouse to cloud store kind of movement that would have gone up at a smaller weight break level.
Ankita:
Weight breakeven, correct. Got it. Okay. And you see this trend to continue or to reverse?
Sagar Patil:
I can't say. I mean, on ground, typically, unlike where...when you move smaller shipments, the cost of handling also becomes higher. So unless there is a better RPK, we may or may not be very keen on unless we get a better realization over there. So we'll be looking very critically on this part for the individual customers or at trade level. So...and we...I mean, we keep on optimizing, continuously looking at the customers' profitability as well as their lane level profitability.
So if there is a need to optimize the...I mean there is no definite plan in terms of managing the KPS, but it's more dependent on the profitability, the trade has involved as such. So this can't be necessarily to be a trend. The effort will also be to build up more kilos because that improves the efficiency. The handling cost per shipment typically will be...per kilo will be lower as compared to heavier shipment load.
Ankita:
Got it. In terms of profitability, given that X of your network increase cost, has your segmental profitability in both air and surface has been maintained or has it gone down?
Sagar Patil:
So, we don't do segmented results. But yes, internally, when we have our own subjective way of our internal rules for allocations, the profitability typically will change across those individual products also significantly given the seasonality's that we have.
Some of the network or most part of the network, both first mile as well as middle mile, first mile, last mile and middle mile are shared depending on whether some middle mile gets shared, depending on whether it is air or ground, first mile, last mile gets shared depending on whether it is a maybe parcel or a lighter parcel or document.
So, depending on the flavor of even month for that matter, the margins can go significantly up and down. As far as full year averaged out number is concerned, we see the profitability is more or less in tandem with each other and moving in tandem with the overall profitability, no different variation across either the segment type or the product type.
Ankita:
Okay. Got it. Sir, last two questions. On B2C segment, how much percentage of our volumes comes from large platforms? And how much would be coming from individual D2C customers? And second is how much percentage of our air cargo is moved on our own freighters versus other commercial airline belly space?
Sagar Patil:
Very small percentage from large platform. Largely, our customer base is consisting of either D2C or sometimes aggregators. Again, at an individual level, customers...single customer would not have a significant share of business. Customers are also do use us very, I would say, where it matters in terms of ensuring the service quality there. What was the second question?
Ankita:
How much percentage of air cargo is moved on our own freighters versus other commercial airline belly space?
Sagar Patil:
Yes. Almost one third of the air load would go on commercial. Again, it's a mix of both the lanes where we operate our own aircraft. But at the same time, there are 25-odd additional airports where we don't fly, but we carry on the commercial airlines. So overall, about two third of the volumes are managed by on our own airlines, aircraft and one third is with the commercial airlines. Commercial air plus, I would say, road. But yes, commercial is the major part of it.
Alok Deora:
Sir, we'll take just last question from Kushi.
Kushi:
Just wanted to get some clarity on the capex. You mentioned that around INR 150 crores – INR 100 crores to INR 150 crores is the aircraft kind of the maintenance or the engine capex that you have to keep doing on a recurring basis. And on the ground, somewhere around INR 120 crores, which is the current year figure would be a year-on-year basis. Is that correct?
Sagar Patil:
Yes, so INR 120 crores that I mentioned is stand-alone. So this will include both our IT capex as well as the others, I mean, when the accounts come in, you'll get the more complete breakup. But yes, INR 150 crores is, you can say, averaged out number for the current fleet, which is more like an annual capex.
Kushi:
Okay. Any other specific capex plans that are being planned for FY 2027? Any specific segment that we are targeting for additional capex?
Sagar Patil:
No, not as a segment or a new line of business as of now. But then this is largely in automation, so putting up sorters or MHE, material handling equipment and also IT-related spend, both on the...largely on, of course, the hardware and some part of on building the applications, etc. So no expansion-related capex, but these are more in the nature of renewal replacement and to some extent, expansion in line with the organic growth in business.
Alok Deora:
Yes. So those were the key questions. So, I would just hand over the call back to you for any closing comments, and then we can close the call.
Tushar Gunderia:
Nothing specific, but thank you so much. I hope we have been able to answer whatever the questions investors had. And our endeavor would be always to have this periodic conversation with the investors to have more disclosures. Thank you.
Alok Deora:
Thank you so much.
Tushar Gunderia:
Thank you so much, Alok. Thank you for coming. Thank you all.