Kajaria Ceramics posted its Q2FY22 earnings. Margin has contracted this time around owing to higher gas costs, said Ashok Kajaria, CMD at Kajaria Ceramics, while discussing the numbers.

“Gas prices have hit the roof worldwide. That is what has affected the margins,” he said.

He expects the gas prices to go up further.

“Current prices are Rs 50 per standard cubic meter (scm), it can go up to Rs 65 per scm,” he said.

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The company is looking for 15 percent volume growth for the next six months and 20 percent revenue growth.

“Kajaria Ceramics has been growing at a faster rate than the industry. In the next six months, the industry should grow at about 8-9 percent and Kajaria should grow at 15 percent in volume terms and 20 percent in revenue terms,” he said.

“The margins should be 18 percent plus,” Kajaria said.

In terms of exports, the situation is very tough. Exports have come down to Rs 750-800 crore per month in the month of September, from Rs 1,000-1,100 crore per month in June-August period.

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“The freight rates of the containers have gone up. Things are very tough; exports have come down. Going forward, till November, December, things don’t look good on the export front,” he explained.

Kajaria believes a lot of demand has bounced back in real estate. “As far as builders are concerned, tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities, which was extremely affected in the month of May, has bounced back very strongly. The construction is in full swing and a lot of demand has bounced back from those areas,” he stated.

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(Edited by : Dipikka Ghosh)