Lumax AutoTechnologies Ltd

NSE:LUMAXTECH

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY '22 earnings conference call of Lumax Auto Technologies Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anmol Jain, Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. A very warm welcome to Q1 FY '22 earnings call of Lumax Auto Technologies Limited. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and keeping healthy amidst these challenging times. Along with me on this call, I have Mr. Deepak Jain, Director; Mr. Vineet Sahni, Lumax Group CEO; Mr. Sanjay Mehta, Director and Group CFO; Mr. Vikas Marwah, CEO; Mr. Ashish Dubey, CFO; Ms. Priyanka Sharma from Corporate Communication; and Mr. Ankit Thakral from the finance team; along with SGA, our Investor Relations adviser. The results and presentations are uploaded on the stock exchange and company website. I hope everybody had a chance to look at it. Let me start by giving an overview of the industry performance. It would be unfair to compare Q1 of current year versus the Q1 of last year. Q1 FY '21 was in complete lockdown, while Q1 FY '22 was under partial lockdown slowing down the economic activity and movement due to regional lockdowns, which significantly restricted the business in the months of April and May. We started experiencing normal business activities only from June onwards. Hence, it is more relevant to compare Q1 FY '22 with Q4 FY '21. As per data published by SIAM, in the first quarter of FY '21, '22, the overall industry production was down by 36% from Q4 of FY '21. All segments faced major downfall. Passenger vehicles were down by 24%, 2-wheelers by 38%, 3-wheelers by 22% and commercial vehicles by 41% from Q4 of last financial year. However, the industry has shown signs of recovery from July onwards despite the volatility of commodity prices and chip shortages. We are confident of recovering the lost ground in Q1 in the remaining 3 quarters, assuming there is no stalling of activities due to a possible third wave. Let me now take you through the performance of each entity. The standalone entity caters to Integrated Plastic Modules, aftermarket business, chassis, swing arm for 2-wheelers, trailing arm for 3-wheelers under the metallic business and 2-wheeler lighting. The stand-alone entity has contributed 77% of the total consolidated revenues. Lumax Mannoh Allied Technologies, the 55% subsidiary which manufactures manual, AMT and AT gear shifter systems and has a market leadership position, contributed 14% to the total consolidated revenues. Lumax for Cornaglia Auto Technologies, the 50% subsidiary which manufactures air intake systems and urea tanks, commanding 100% share of business with Volkswagen and Tata Motors, contributed 7% to the consolidated revenues. Lumax Metallics Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary which manufactures seat frames, contributed 2% to the total consolidated revenues. The company is confident of increasing the revenues over the next few years with the start of new launches in the current financial year. Lumax Jopp Allied Technologies is a 50% subsidiary which is engaged in design, development and production of gear shift towers, automated manual transmission kit, all-gear sensors and forks. The production has started to pick up as per the OEM schedules. Lumax Ituran is a 50% joint venture with Ituran Telematics of Israel. The revenue of this company is not considered in the consolidated revenue, being an associate of the parent company as per Ind AS. The technology landscape is changing rapidly in the automotive industry. We see evolution and adoption of information and communication-related technologies at an unprecedented scale. A shift is happening towards electric mobility, energy efficiency, lightweighting of vehicles and alternate fuel usage. In line with these emerging trends, our future partners should be experts in their field of technology, with a history of innovation and product leadership. Our team and technological partner help us design innovative solutions to offer localized solutions to our customers in the Indian market. On that very front, I'm very excited to announce our newly signed joint venture agreement with Alps Alpine Co. Limited, Japan, on 2nd July 2021 for the manufacturing and sale of electric devices and components, including software related to the automotive industry. The company made 2 significant new launches during the quarter. In the passenger vehicle segment, the company provided ducts and air filter assembly for the Skoda Kushaq model under the Volkswagen Group. And in the 2-wheeler category, made headlamps and taillamps assembly, along with other plastic parts, for Bajaj's CP-110X model. Your company was also recognized across different forums during the quarter. The Chakan, Chinchwad and Aurangabad plants of the company won Gold Awards in QCC competition held by Quality Circle Forum of India. And the Chakan plant of the subsidiary company, Lumax Cornaglia Allied Technologies Private Limited, won the silver award in the same competition. Lumax Mannoh Allied Technologies, the subsidiary company, won first position in the competition held by ACMA in Customer Complaints and Best HR Practices category. And the Aurangabad plant of the company won second position in the same ACMA competition in productivity improvement Kaizen category.At Lumax, we are well positioned to capture the growing market opportunities, with a diverse basket of products and capabilities to better serve Indian OEMs. We constantly strive to unlock new opportunities and achieve operational excellence. Now I would like to hand over the line to Mr. Sanjay Mehta, Group CFO, to update you on the operational and financial performance of the company.

[Sanjay Mehta, Group Chief Financial Officer]

Good afternoon, everyone. I will update on operational and financial performance of the company for Q1 FY '22. Operational highlights. The Integrated Plastic Modules contributed 26% to overall revenues, followed by chassis at 21%, gear shifters at 14%, Lighting Products at 13%, aftermarket at 13%, emission at 7% and others at 6%. 2- and 3-wheelers contributed 48% to the overall revenues, passenger car at 21%, aftermarket contributed 13% and CVs at 9%. Revenues stood at INR 260 crores as against INR 388 crores for Q4 FY '21, the revenue for Q1 FY '21 was at INR 71 crore. The company reported EBITDA of INR 19 crores and profit after tax and minority interest of INR 3.4 crores in Q1 FY '22. We incurred CapEx of INR 2.4 crores during the quarter. Now we open the floor for call -- for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Abhishek Jain from Dolat Capital.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

Congrats for decent set of numbers in a tough time. Sir, strong traction is coming in the 2-wheeler EV segment. So how you are preparing yourself to leverage this opportunity? Which products are you looking to supply in EVs and lightweight side?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So thank you, Abhishek, for the encouraging comment. So on the EV space, I think our view is that it will still take some time unless and until the electric vehicle is able to penetrate into a wider share of the total 2-wheeler market. We still feel that, yes, it will penetrate faster than the passenger cars. But the ICE engine will still be the mainstay for quite some time. However, the good part is that there is no component in the current portfolio which gets affected or is at risk of dilution under the EV space. We have also made some further progress in acquiring certain businesses on the EV models in the current quarter. And I can only say that, again, our strategy of electronic and plastics footprint to grow in the future will also go a long way in helping us serve some of the 2-wheeler EV models.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

Okay, sir. Sir, you have won the gear shifter lever assembly and the urea tank order from the CV segment. Although this business is quite small right now, so -- but I wanted to know what is the revenue visibility for the next 2 years from these 2 products, especially in the CV segment?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So if you look at the gear shifter specifically, on a full year basis, the company is -- did approximately INR 125 crores of revenue in the last financial full year. I think we do anticipate a strong growth in the current financial year, mainly because of, A, the technological changes, because going from AMT -- MT to AMT or AT; also, to get into a better wallet share in a few of the customers. So for those reasons, we do see a good growth in FY '22 on the gear shifter business. Coming to the urea tank business, I think because of urea tank, Lumax Cornaglia as a company was perhaps only a company which still showed a growth in the positive territory last year despite Q1 being under lockdown. And we have good engagement and order book for the future on the urea tank. So we do expect this to grow as well. I would not be able to give you accurate numbers over the next 2 years because there is a lot of uncertainty and volatility still. But I can only share with you that both products have a good order book and have -- and are looking at a promising growth in the coming 2 years.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

So how much realization per unit in the dealership label business right now?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So the gear shifter in terms of -- you're talking about per vehicle?

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

Yes, per vehicle realization.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So approximately, on a manual transmission, let's say, the per vehicle would be anywhere between INR 350 to INR 500, depending again on the model. But as I said, the technology is changing more rapidly towards the AT. And we do expect a significant 3x to 5x multiplying effect on the per vehicle revenue the minute we go to the AT technologies.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

So what is the contribution of the AT in overall portfolio right now?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Right now, it's about 20%. About 80% is still MT.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

Okay. Sir, in aftermarket business, basically, we have seen a sharp degrowth in this quarter because of the lockdown and -- although that in FY '21 it was quite strong. So just wanted to know that what sort of growth you are looking from this segment in the next 2 to 3 years, where the base is quite high? And what would be the key driver?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

The aftermarket as a segment, because of regional lockdowns, did get severely impacted in Q1. However, I'm very happy to share with you that in the month of July and, let's say, partial August, in the last 45 days, there has been also a very sharp and steep recovery in the aftermarket since the retail markets have now opened up. We are probably back to our quarter 4 revenue levels in the aftermarket looking at July month stand-alone. Giving you a broader perspective of the long term, I think I have always maintained that over the next 3 to 5 years, we would definitely like to double our aftermarket portfolio in terms of revenue. The company does accept and is cognizant of the fact that aftermarket is really a better profit margin earner for the company as well. And in line with that strategy, I think the company has ambitious plans of launching new products, both with the current set of segment as well as getting into new product line, to increase our footprint across India and increase our revenues of the aftermarket in the next 3 to 5 years.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

So which all products you are going to introduce in aftermarket? Can you throw some light on it?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So there will be many products. There are many products under feasibility right now. But first and foremost, we have gone into automotive mirrors as well in the past. We have also gone into electric horns and cable assemblies, also some plastic painted products. So these are some of the new product segments which we have entered into. Of course, having said that, we have also expanded our model range within the Lighting segment, which still contributes significant share of the total aftermarket business. And going forward, we will still keep on evaluating and launching new product segments which make business sense.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

So how is your tie up with the Lumax Industries? Basically, you trade -- you take some products from the Lumax Industries and sell in the aftermarket. So how is your tie-up with the Lumax Industries in terms of the margin and all?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

So Abhishek, this is Deepak Jain here. Let me just come in here. Basically, in terms of Lumax Industries and Lumax Auto Technologies. There are certain products which Lumax Industries would supply into Lumax Auto Technologies, both being listed entities. They basically come under basically arm's length and transfer pricing restrictions. So we are very cognizant of that fact. And also, I would say, as Lumax Auto Technologies, as Mol just said, they would basically, depending on the expansion of market and products, would also be sourcing from basically other suppliers. So that's a similar relationship which Lumax Industries would have for Lumax Auto Technologies in the aftermarket space. Lumax Auto Industries will only be supplying certain lighting products which basically would be nonconflicting with the OEM.

[Abhishek Kumar Jain, Vice President of Research]

Okay. Sir, my next question is related to the plastic parts business, especially for the 4-wheeler side. You are setting up the plant in Bangalore. So just wanted to know what is the progress now? And how would be the asset turnover of this plant?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Vikas, can you share some light on the 4-wheeler business of Bangalore?

[Vikas Marwah, Chief Executive Officer]

Yes, sure. [indiscernible] So this Bangalore plant actually is a brownfield expansion. Actually, we are doing the 2-wheeler multiparts...

[Operator]

I'm so sorry to interrupt you. Mr. Marwah, your audio is not very clear, sir.

[Vikas Marwah, Chief Executive Officer]

Can you hear me now?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Vikas, I don't think you're audible. So I will take that question. I think the brownfield expansion is primarily to cater to the passenger car. I think Bangalore plant largely has been catering to the 2-wheeler space so far. But the brownfield expansion is to cater to the 4-wheeler plastic products, mostly kinematic products, and to get a higher contribution per vehicle. Your question on the asset turns, well, brownfield expansions historically have been a much more better, financially feasible compared to a greenfield one. So we do expect, I think, this particular plant right now as a 1:1 one asset turnover. I think we do expect it to go up to possibly 1:1.3, 1:1.5 in the coming 1 or 2 years.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Apurva Mehta from A M Investments.

[Apurva Mehta]

Yes. Sir, congratulations on a good set of numbers on this type of -- just wanted to ask about this new JV, Alps Alpine, and what is the product profile? And why is such JVs that -- we have also many JVs now, we are adding one more JV. So can you throw some light what is the CapEx program, product profile and how excited are you on this JV?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

I'll take this question. Thank you very much. See, the Alps Alpine, first and foremost, is a global player, which is having a revenue of about $8 billion almost. Now if you see it in our joint venture partner, you rightly said there are multiple joint ventures, which we are having. And this is the company's ethos, that if it is fitting a company or a customer need, we would actually go ahead and actually capture that opportunity, although it may take some more time for realization of those opportunities depending on the market dynamics. Now Alps Alpine, I think, could be one of the key cornerstone joint ventures for the future of Lumax Auto Technologies. If you were to see, in the Lumax Group, we have -- probably this would be the largest joint venture partner in just terms of revenues. Also, we're very excited because if you see our press statement, the product category is something which is extremely futuristic, specifically also when the whole mobility transformation is changing. And Mol just like talked about the strategy, to talk about EV or case-connected cars. We are fundamentally going into the sensorization and the electronification, which, Alps Alpine is a leader in globally. So they do basically manufacture components which would cater to this product line. Currently since it's a very recently signed joint venture, we are still in the process of feasibility study, which we expect to complete in the next quarter with our customers. But as already have -- in its product category, the customer, which is one of the largest customers, which is Maruti Suzuki, so we will be closely talking with them and other basically customers also, Japanese and non-Japanese. So once our business plan scenario is complete within the next quarter, we would be able to share some more details on it. Thank you.

[Apurva Mehta]

And can you throw some light on the JVs which we are having that -- about sensors and Jopp and Ituran? And where this time -- because last few years, we are seeing that mostly these JVs are not performing or getting the losses. And I know they are long-term stories, but if we can just broadly know where they stand now. And what is -- in next 2 years, what is going to happen starting from the sensor FAE?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So Apurva, I think how I put it is that if you look at the joint ventures and subsidiaries put together, they contribute roughly around 20% of the consolidated revenues today. I have always maintained that in our midterm plan of, let's say, 3 to 5 years, we do expect that the joint ventures and subsidiaries would profitably garner a 1/3 share of the total consolidated revenues. Thereby, clearly, the joint ventures will grow at a faster rate compared to the stand-alone entity per se. And again, depending on the joint venture, for example, Lumax Mannoh is a mature joint venture, it already has attained a market leadership position. So in the future, we do anticipate growth coming from technological shifts, which we have already started seeing in the past couple of years. Lumax Cornaglia, I think only in the last year with the introduction of the urea tank, it has made significant progress in its contribution to the overall revenues. And we do expect to continue penetrating this space of the emission critical plastic-molded product and driving growth for the group as well. So we do not anticipate -- I mean, we anticipate Lumax Cornaglia to be on a high-growth trajectory because of also the small [ pay ].Lumax Metallics and Lumax FAE, I think this subsidiary and joint venture are fairly recent. And I would say it would be right to say that we may not have achieved the full potential of these joint ventures. But we are still in deep discussions with our customers. And we are still hopeful that both the subsidiary and the joint venture should start contributing to the overall growth of the company in the next 1 to 2 years. Apart from this, of course, as Deepak had mentioned, the new joint venture, we're right now still conducting feasibility. But this is in line with our strategic intent of getting better and a deeper footprint in the electronic space. And Alps Alpine, being a global giant and already having a business relationship and revenues with Indian OEMs, both in 4-wheeler and 2-wheeler space, we do expect that this JV will be up and running from the first year itself rather than waiting for new orders to kick in. And I think the scalability of this JV will be a lot more faster than traditionally what we have seen at Lumax Technologies.

[Apurva Mehta]

Great, great, great. Sir, and on the Ituran front-end, we had one LOI with some global OE. So where it stand? And what -- when can it materialize? And when can we see some kind of revenues from that, too?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So the global, we have already achieved the LOI, and it is right now in the development stage. We do anticipate in FY '23, revenues to kick in. And it is a strong order. It's almost about close to INR 20 crores plus per annum business, which is a sizable one for this associate company.

[Apurva Mehta]

Okay. And the new order wins of INR 120 crore, can you throw some light which -- where these orders are and in which segment they are?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So the new order, about INR 120 crore, largely almost close to, I would say, 60% of it would be in the plastics space. Again, you have to understand the synergy between our long-term plan and our quarterly order book. So as I said, electronic and plastics continue to be the main foray for the company. So almost 60% of the new order book rests in plastic. Apart from that, there have also been some significant wins on the metallic chassis where we have penetrated to the premium biking segment of Bajaj Auto. We were already on the export models. And now we are also going to be supplying to the premium KTM range. And also, the telematic win, which I had just mentioned, to the tune of INR 20 crores is one of the key order books. Apart from that, even the lighting and the gear shifters continue their organic wins for new orders.

[Apurva Mehta]

And your outlook for this year which you have targeted around 30% growth, we still stand to that where we had a little weaker Q1. And so we -- are we still hope that we can achieve this 30% kind of growth for the year?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

I think it would be appropriate to wait and watch fourth quarter, too. And still, there is a lot of volatility. But I think, given the performance of the last 45 days, I am pretty hopeful that if the similar momentum were to continue, we would definitely be able to outperform the industry. As per SIAM latest estimates, the industry is likely to grow anywhere around 15% to 18% for the full year. So given our track record of beating the industry estimates, I do expect maybe upwards of 20% growth for the current year. But I would be able to throw some more light on it maybe at the end of quarter 2 call, please.

[Apurva Mehta]

And any update on the semiconductor side where we are listening a lot of buzz from -- that there will be 10% kind of production cut overall for the year, and any update on that? And if you can throw light on that, are we going to be affected from that [ time ] also? Or we are not affected?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

So let me take that question. I think from a semiconductor industry point of view, I think it's still very, very early to say how much annually the industry would get impacted. I am aware that some of the companies have made a statement. However, as an industry, I think this formal statement has still not been out. The semiconductors remain a challenge. I think our company is fundamentally not having so much dependence on either imports or also exports. And hence, I think it's pretty much localized solutions which we're using. Of course, the risk does remain if basically the OEM schedules do change. And we are closely in touch and monitoring very closely all our major OEMs, where basically fluctuations will come in. Also, you have to understand that in the 2-wheeler space, the impact of semiconductor shortage is relatively lesser than compared in the pass car. As well as in pass car, there are certain OEMs who are more impacted than others. So we don't see any adverse impact on the company's performance due to semiconductors.

[Apurva Mehta]

And also, Deepak, sir, can you throw some light on the EV front also? What is your view? And how this all the -- where the 2-wheelers are going and where you see India to move on the EV side?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Well, my view is -- and Mol just said that. I mean, say, the EV, of course, the 2-wheeler would be an early adopter, given also the fact that there are policy -- strong policy governance, both at central and state levels, to bring in EV mobility. I think the key part here is that the company is engaged with the major players in the 2-wheeler space. As you also know, that all the 2-wheelers current OEMs are also having their EV strategy, which will be helpful for the company when you're doing it. We have also done a risk mitigation on the products which we are currently having. And we don't see any adverse risk in the near future which will impact because of this whole EV transition. We -- I -- my personal view is that I think this whole EV space will definitely play out a lot more faster now in the 2-wheeler space. Also happy to say that we're already engaging with the new age players which have not been our traditional customers, and we are looking at business opportunities on the EV. In terms of the strategy, I think in the EV space, there's motors, controllers, batteries. I think the company and the group is looking at now lightweighting, basically, trends of case in terms of connected, as well as I think the sensorization, electronification, which we'll also be rapidly adapting in and adopting in the EV space. I think that's where we would position ourselves and still continue to look at opportunities on localization when basically the EV story is played. But we are very excited about this, and I think this transition will only help the company to perform better.

[Apurva Mehta]

So this new JV is all about that only, where we see that playing a critical role on that front?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

So you're absolutely right. I mean if you see most of our JVs in the last 2 to 3 years have basically been on new tech areas. And unfortunately, the EV space is still to play out. So -- and it very quickly occupies this whole new opportunity. You have to understand that very clearly. Start-up usually takes about 7 to 8 years gestation. We have been trying to do it in 3 to 4 years. And the JV is like a new start-up. Also, you have to understand clearly that there are only limited opportunities which will happen for a certain window. Unfortunately, in the last 2 years, whatever JVs we have done, I think also some corona impact has happened where, I mean, globally our partners also have been impacted. It's not an Indian impact, it's a global impact. But I think as we are coming out of this, we will definitely see a lot more traction. Happy to say that most of the JVs have got a great customer engagement, and at least that's building up the brand on individual JVs per se. So we are definitely very bullish about the future in terms of the strong performance because that's something where it will give a hyper growth in years to come once basically the new story mobility plays out.

[Apurva Mehta]

And last question from my side. On the export front, are we -- where we have a lot of JVs and there are a lot of outsourcing stories from JVs also. Is there any possibility that there can be a big outsourcing story for us also where we can supply to -- with the help of these JVs? Or we also -- or we have some products which would like to export over the period of time? And are we looking at export as our long-term strategy for growth or -- in this Lumax Auto?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

So export is definitely on the -- yes, go ahead, Anmol, you take it.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Yes, absolutely. I was saying that in our long-term strategy, export continues to be a key focus area. And as you rightly suggested and said that most of our joint venture partners, we are trying to see if through certain cost advantages, we could utilize the India's production base for some of their global plant requirements and move the production to India, thereby giving the impetus to the joint venture, and in turn, also giving certain cost advantages to our foreign partner. So some of those discussions are already underway. We do anticipate that we would be able to perhaps start the export business through our partners first. And case in point is Lumax Mannoh, where we first attained the market leadership in the domestic market, and today, we also are suppliers to certain programs in the overseas market. And even in one of the other joint ventures, like Lumax Cornaglia, we have recently also acquired some export business for the Indonesian market. So there are already some inroads made. But as a long-term strategy, I think we will be continuing to focus a lot more and increasing our export footprint in the company.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Hasmukh Gala from Panav Advisors LLP.

[Hasmukh Gala]

Congratulations for really good set of numbers. Never expected this kind of Q1 performance. Sir, my question relates to mainly our JV. Right now, as you rightly said that the revenue is very less. I think all put together, last year, they had a revenue of about INR 250-odd crore. Now how is the production activity being conducted for these JVs in India? Like are we importing the major components or in semi lockdown condition and just assembling here? Or are we into a full-fledged manufacturing of the end products also? That is my first question.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So Hasmukh, thank you very much for your encouraging comments on the results. So I think on the joint venture, we -- right now, you're right, where we did almost about a INR 200 crore, INR 250 crore revenue last year. Majority of the revenue is highly localized. So we do not have a very high dependability on import content across our joint ventures. Most of them are locally not just assembled, but they, in a sense, fully manufactured locally. Lumax Mannoh, for example, has -- is a full-service supplier where there is a very high penetration even on the R&D and the design segment. So we are literally a full service provider of gear shifter systems to our OEM. I think largely because these joint ventures have taken a long time in achieving a certain threshold of revenue. That's the reason why you still see that, overall company as a whole, we are still at about 20%. Also, certain joint venture partners, the strategy or, let's say, the common intent for the Indian market took some time to synergize and balance out. But I think in the last couple of years, we have had a realization that going forward, we would like to partner with technology partners, partners who are, again, already achieving a certain leadership position and have a strong focus on the innovation and, technology because that's where we feel is the USP. And hence, going forward, our, let's say, joint venture strategy has to that extent, perhaps, stands slightly corrected and modified in terms of the partner selection and in terms of the area where we would like to focus upon considering electronics and plastics. So I do feel that going forward, you will see a lot more progress on our joint ventures contribution to the overall revenue. And as I said before, our endeavor is from the current 20% mark to take it to at least 1/3.

[Hasmukh Gala]

1/3, okay. Right, right. The second question is how much investment have we made in these joint ventures all put together?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

It's about INR 75 crores is the total investments we have made so far in all the joint ventures.

[Hasmukh Gala]

From Lumax Auto side?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Yes. From Lumax -- our contribution to the joint venture.

[Hasmukh Gala]

Our contribution, okay. My another question is you said that [indiscernible] CapEx of the [ INR 40-odd crore ]. Sir, what is our plan for full year CapEx?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

The full year CapEx plan would be anywhere between INR 80 crores to INR 90 crores. This is what we would envisage. Obviously, the majority of it would go into the Bangalore brownfield expansion, also in setting up the new businesses for the metallic business of the Pulsar and the KTM family, also certain gear shifter expansions to manage our customer needs. Those would be the key areas of investment. However, INR 80 crores to INR 90 crores is what we envisage. And I think in Q1, we have done only a negligible INR 2 crores to INR 3 crores of CapEx out of this INR 80 crores to INR 90 crores.

[Hasmukh Gala]

Right, right. Now sir, if you are able to, say, grow top line in this FY '22 subject to all the limitations which you discussed of, say, anywhere between 20%, 25%, 30%, what kind of EBITDA margin we'll be looking at?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So I think, historically, if you see, even in the last financial year where we had peaked out on revenue in terms of our capacities, I think we have already started achieving close to 12% EBITDA mark. I think in Q4, we had achieved a 12% EBITDA mark. And our endeavor would be to, first, kind of bounce back to those levels. Obviously, going forward, as I've always maintained, our long-term strategy would be to enter the teen EBITDA. But first and foremost, I think if we were to get back on our feet and get back to full capacity utilization, we should be able to come back to the 11%, 12% EBITDA mark.

[Hasmukh Gala]

Okay. And sir, our effective tax rate is still very high. So we are still not going for the new rates?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Sorry. I could not get that question.

[Hasmukh Gala]

Yes. Our effective tax rate is very high at about 37% in first quarter. In FY '21 full year, it was 28%. So have you not gone for the new rate so far?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

We have gone for new rate because of the deferred tax, it is like that. So the full year, we are expecting the tax rate would be around 28%, 29% for FY '22.

[Hasmukh Gala]

But we have not gone for the new rates?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Yes.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Nirmal Bari from Sameeksha Capital.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

So the first question is on the current quarter, what was the revenue loss as compared to what we were expecting?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So the first quarter revenue loss would be close to about 25 working days, which in result translates to about a INR 75 crores to INR 80 crores loss of revenue.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Okay. So if we -- had we had this and -- at a similar gross margin level, then our EBITDA should have been closer to -- should have been higher by about INR 75 crores to INR 80 crores on that 30%?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Well, if you look at our Q4 performance, our Q4 performance was INR 388 crores. But Q4 is historically a key quarter because there's a lot of demand -- pent-up demand. So I would say that, yes, if things were to go right and no COVID effects, then we should have looked at maybe a INR 330 crore, INR 340 crore revenue mark for Q1.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Okay. Okay. Fine. The second part is on the gross margin. So what we have seen for the OEMs as well as the other, a lot of companies, there's a lot of pricing pressure that has come in which has impacted gross margins for all these companies. So in your case, the gross margins have remained intact. In fact, sequentially, there has been an improvement. So why is that? I think -- are we seeing cost pressures? And are we able to pass on the entire cost pressures? First is that. And second is, going forward also, would we be able to maintain similar margins in the next few quarters?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

So yes, first and foremost, I think our gross margins, if you see historically over the last 3, 4, 5 quarters, they have always maintained around the 32% to 33% mark. We do see certain escalations on the raw material side. But our largest customer is Bajaj Auto, contributing almost 1/3 of the consolidated revenues. And we do have very clear understandings with most OEM on a back-to-back raw material settlement in terms of the prices. There may be a lag of 1 quarter based on the actual realizations, but most of our OEM do compensate on the raw material escalation. So we don't see any concerns on the gross margins going forward.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Okay. And how are the cost prices panning out in terms of -- in the current quarter? Because we have been hearing some stories about steel prices again, as in steel companies again asking for hikes. So the -- for our product basket, which is plastics and metals and all, how are we seeing the pricing at present?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

There have been some price movements on the upward side, as I mentioned, both on the plastics side as well as on the metallic side. But most of the OEMs, as I mentioned, do understand the price escalation. In some cases, they settle these prices themselves. And in most cases, they do compensate us with -- for all these escalations. So again, I'm not so worried about the raw material escalations because that is a back-to-back arrangement with most OEM. However, of course, with the loss of the revenue, there has been a loss on margin because of certain fixed costs. And going forward, we do expect to correct that as well so that we become a little more agile and flexible in our cost structure -- in our internal cost structures, making the company a little more healthy and robust going forward.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Okay. And my third question is in -- I heard that you said SIAM is targeting about 15% to 18% growth, and so we are expecting around 20% kind of growth. Is that correct?

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

I did not say we are expecting 20% specifically. I said we are usually fared better than the industry. SIAM did last revise it to 15% to 18%. I will let Deepak maybe validate that. But if we see the current momentum of the last 45 days to continue without any so-called third wave which we keep hearing about, we do expect that we should be doing a decent growth of beyond 20% is what I mentioned.

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Yes. Just to comment, I think it's very difficult to actually predict an industry growth. SIAM would keep on revising it based on quarter performance as such. But clearly, we are seeing a good, I would say, demand post the lockdown. And it's the third time it's happened. So I think that's what gives industry the confidence that once the lockdown is uplifted, there is a short-term spurt on the pent-up demand. And still, the demand remains healthy. Now within their segments, there would be different performances. But given the company's business plan, as Anmol has just mentioned, we definitely would do better than what the industry performance would be given multiple dimensions of Lumax Auto Technologies.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Yes. That was just to confirm because a 20% growth rate would mean only 3% year-on-year growth for the next 3 quarters, since Q1 last year was a complete washout. So anyway. And my last question was on Alps Alpine. I'd asked this earlier in a meeting as well. But have we decided on the product portfolio over there? Or what kind of CapEx we would be incurring on that side? Or those are plants work in progress at present?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Those are work in progress. Go ahead, Anmol.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Number one, on the 20%, I just want to correct you. I think when we are talking about a 20%, we are talking about for the full year 20% and not just the next 3 quarters at 20%. So it also takes into consideration the downfall of Q1. So if you compare on a year-on-year basis, we are talking about a 20% on a full year FY '21 vis-a-vis FY '22. Number two, on Alps Alpine, I think, as mentioned earlier, the product category is broadly electric components, the sensorization, et cetera. And they also have a key player in the switches business with supplies to certain OEMs in India currently. Right now, I would be not able to comment on the CapEx outline because the business plan feasibilities and customer engagements are still on. But I do hope that in the subsequent quarters, I can shed some more light on it.

[Nirmal Bari, Equity Research Analyst]

Okay. Okay. And just to clarify, I had assumed 20% growth over FY '21 and FY '22. And based on that, it comes that for the 9 month of -- that is Q2, Q3, Q4 of FY '22 versus Q2, Q3, Q4 of FY '21, that would mean a growth of just 3% for those 3 quarters. That was what I was coming to with the 20% growth.

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Sure.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Rakesh Jain, an individual investor.[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of [ Ayush Oberoi from Vector Delta Securities ].

[Unknown Analyst]

I have a couple of questions. The first one is that government has announced update on scrappage policy. So how much beneficial it would be for us?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

I think the scrappage policy with the government is just very recently announced. I think from our perspective, I think we still need to evaluate in the long term. We are not in our business plans with any uptick because of the scrappage policy.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. So the second one, what was our overall capacity utilization during Q1 in stand-alone operations and at JV level?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Sorry. Can you repeat that question?

[Unknown Analyst]

Yes. What was our overall capacity utilization during Q1 in stand-alone operations and at JV level?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Yes. I'll let the finance team answer that.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

[Deepak Jain, Non]

So I can take that. I think from a Q1 level, I mean, say our capacity utilization is better in terms of about almost close to 70% plus. This is for our existing product portfolio. On our JVs, we are still -- apart from Lumax Mannoh, which is a mature JV, and Lumax Cornaglia, we are also running at about 70%. However, if you look at in terms of the new JVs formulated, that is very -- this thing is almost about 20% or so.

[Unknown Analyst]

And another part is how is the demand momentum in the month of July and August?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

Very -- well, on -- for us, July and August have been very significant steep improvement. Actually, pleasantly so. And it kind of reflects on what basically Q4, probably a month-on-month performance, if I see. So I think July, August looks good, for which I think we are pretty much on the ramp-up mode now.

[Unknown Analyst]

And like the last question to -- like the battle against the increased cost of commodity, do we have any plans to control further operating cost to improve margins for current fiscal year?

[Deepak Jain, Non]

I think there was also a similar question prior to this. Commodity price increases would be a continued trend even in the future or at least foreseeable future given the supply-demand disruptions. I think the company, based on the contracts with the customers, are pretty much in confidence that we would be able to actually pass on and at least kind of protect ourselves on very steep commodity price increases. Also, the company is looking at a very -- and it's been consistently doing cost reduction programs internally and improve our efficiencies, which also gives that we've been able to impact our gross margin. This will be a continuous trend over years.

[Operator]

As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

[Anmol Jain, MD & Executive Director]

Well, I would like to thank you all for joining into the call. I hope that we were able to answer all your questions. For any further queries, you may please get in touch with us or SGA, we will be happy to address all your queries. Thank you. And stay safe and stay healthy.

[Operator]

Thank you. On behalf of Lumax Auto Technologies Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.