By the end of the year, the plant’s total capacity is expected to reach 6,000-6,500 tonnes. At full capacity, this could generate revenues between ₹2,000-4,000 crore, depending on the form in which the materials are sold.
PTC Industries, formerly known as Precision Tools & Castings, is based in Lucknow and has a market capitalisation of about ₹21,582.01 crore. Over the past year, its share price has increased by approximately 102%.
Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.
Q: The commissioning of a 1,500 tonne per annum capacity vacuum arc remelting (VAR) furnace for producing high-quality titanium alloy parts is something that the market was waiting for. Could you help us with a few numbers? I understand that normally, ingots come for roughly around ₹40,000. You could be selling it in the cast form. So, it could be around ₹45,000-50,000 per kg. If that calculation is correct, what is the total revenue that you can generate from this 1,500-tonne facility?
A: It is a major achievement, in the sense that this is the first time titanium ingot manufacturing, or titanium alloy manufacturing is starting within the country. This is part of our strategy to achieve parity in terms of all metal-related aspects in the country. (This will) make the country fully self-reliant in the entire supply chain related to defence and aerospace.
Specifically related to the numbers, the titanium ingots in the form of billets and other materials sell at various rates; we are not just going to make ingots. This will be a very interesting year for us because this is part of our strategic material technology complex in Lucknow, which is being built on a 50-acre campus in the Lucknow Defence Corridor. This is the first piece of equipment that has been commissioned. There are many more equipment to be commissioned. This is part of our melt capacity or melt facility.
Besides this, there is a whole new casting facility and open die forging and rolling mill facility coming, which will convert these into billets and rounds bar, sheets, plats and every type of product. The range of selling this material in titanium goes right from around ₹2,500 per kg to almost ₹15,000-20,000 per kg; and this is just a ₹1,500 kg — its first equipment.
There is another electron beam cold hearth remelting (EBCHR), which will also be commissioned during the latter part of this year, which is a 5,000-tonne capacity for titanium. So, it’s a huge capacity — a significant percentage of the world’s capacity.
Q: How much revenue can be generated from 1,500 tonne per annum?
A: As I said this is not a single facility. This 1,500 tonne is just one part of the process. There is a whole additional capacity coming. So, we have to marry both. If we look at the entire capacity of the plant towards the end of the year, over the next year, then we are talking about 6,000-6,500 tonnes — which at full capacity could generate between ₹2,000 and ₹3,000 crore or up to even ₹4,000 crore depending on how we convert or in which form we sell these materials.
Also Read: PTC India Q2 Results | Net profit rises 13% to ₹146 crore, revenue at ₹5,128 crore
Q: So the capacity in this facility goes up to 6,000 tonnes-plus once you commission the EBCHR and the plasma arc melting (PAM) furnaces? When does that happen, in which quarter? And will it be correct to say that at optimum levels, you can do anything over ₹2,000 crore from this facility?
A: That is right, and the other equipment will also get commissioned within this calendar year (2025) or 2025-26 (FY26).
Q: Will this facility’s earnings be accretive from FY26? Further, you completed the acquisition of Trac Precision Solutions last month, after the approvals from the UK regulator. What was the rationale behind that and how does that add to your business synergies?
A: The rationale behind Trac Precision Solutions is that, as I mentioned, our company is into manufacturing in areas which are strategic and critical, and where technology has been a constraint for the country for many years… for anything related to metal. That is anything related to strategic and critical materials, like titanium super alloys, alloy manufacturing, mill products as well as castings and forging.
Also Read: PTC Industries acquires UK-based Trac Precision Solutions
One of the key technologies missing in the country was related to the machining of casted airfoils. Less than a year back, we announced the complete technology development of single crystal castings within the country.
Now we have acquired Trac in the UK, which can machine and drill and make these ready-to-fit cast blades that go on aero engines as well as on industrial gas turbines, which is a very specific technology. Very few companies in the world have this capability. Even within India, people can machine blades and airfoils from solids and forgings, but not from castings, and that is a specific technology that we have acquired.
For the entire interview, watch the accompanying video
