RITES Ltd

NSE:RITES

Earnings Call Analysis

RITES Limited's Q1 performance and future outlook

RITES Limited's Q1 FY '25 results were challenging, with export revenue dropping from INR 35 crores to nearly zero and the QA business seeing a hit of about INR 25 crores. This resulted in a net impact of INR 60 crores, affecting both top and bottom lines. However, the company's order book grew by 11%, seeing a substantial addition of over INR 1,300 crores in orders across various sectors. Despite a muted Q1, RITES aims to sequentially improve its performance throughout the year by executing existing orders swiftly and continuing aggressive bidding for new projects, both domestically and internationally.

Q1 Performance Overview

During the first quarter of FY '25, the company's financial performance faced significant challenges. The year-on-year comparison revealed a sharp decline in both top line and bottom line, primarily attributed to reduced export revenues and impacts from the Quality Assurance (QA) business. Specifically, exports dropped from INR 35 crores to nearly zero, and the QA segment saw a revenue hit of approximately INR 25 crores. In total, this amounts to a negative impact of about INR 60 crores, affecting the high-margin revenue streams crucial for profitability.

Order Book Growth

Despite the setbacks in revenue, the company's order book showed encouraging signs with an 11% increase from INR 31st March to 30th June, amounting to over INR 1,300 crores in new orders. This was particularly noteworthy as the company secured around INR 3,000 crores in orders over the past few quarters, as opposed to just INR 600 crores in the same period from the previous fiscal year. This five-fold increase reflects a solid progression in building and executing the order pipeline.

Future Revenue Expectations and Guidance

Looking forward, management remains optimistic about revenue growth, despite Q2 potentially being impacted by adverse weather affecting execution. The overarching goal is a sequential revenue increase throughout FY '25, aiming to approach the previous fiscal year's revenue figures despite the muted Q1 performance. The goal set by management is to secure 'one order a day', which they have demonstrated successfully over the past two quarters.

Margin Expectations and New Norms

Margins, however, have been significantly impacted, particularly in the consultancy and turnkey segments, with blended EBIT margins reflecting a new normal around 40% for consultancy, and 1.2% for turnkey projects. This shift in margins is largely due to increasing competition and changing dynamics in both domestic and international markets. As the contributions from higher-margin businesses improve, there may be slight margin recovery moving forward, but remain within a lower range than historically seen.

Export and Quality Assurance Strategy

Exports are anticipated to start generating revenue from the Bangladesh order of coaches worth INR 900 crores and another 10 locomotives to Mozambique valued at INR 300 crores. Revenue generation from the Bangladesh contract is expected to begin in Q1 of FY '26 after prototype approvals, while for Mozambique, initial shipments are anticipated by the end of FY '25. Furthermore, the contribution from the QA business has shifted significantly from traditional Indian Railways (IR) clients to non-IR clients, now at 55% compared to 45% from IR, suggesting a broader market outreach.

Employee Costs and Operational Efficiency

The management highlighted a strategic increase in employee headcount to support the execution of the growing order book, having added approximately 350 personnel over the past year. This decision aims to enhance operational efficiency despite the subsequent rise in workforce costs. The resulting increase in employee costs can be viewed as a necessary investment to ensure timely project delivery, suggesting a longer-term perspective on potential revenue growth.

Conclusion: A Path Forward

In summary, while the current quarter reflects challenges in revenue and margins, the strong order book growth and strategic focus on higher-margin projects provide a comprehensive outlook for recovery. As the company aims to leverage the filled order book, executing existing contracts swiftly will be critical. Management is optimistic that with focused efforts, sequential revenue improvement will be achievable, ultimately striving to return to levels near those of the prior fiscal year.

Earnings Call Transcript 2025-Q1

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Steve, operator this conference. Welcome to the conference call of RITES Limited this Q1 FY '25 results. We have with us today, Shri Rahul Mithal, Chairman and Managing Director; Shri Gopi Suresh Kumar Director Projects; Shri Anil Vij, Director, Technical; and Shri Bibhu Prasad, Director Finance. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Sri Rahul Mithal, Chairman and Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

[indiscernible] at outset of correction, I think the convener couldn't -- was not updated. I have my full board with me, my Director of Finance and CFO, Mr. K.G. Agarwal, my Director of Projects, Mr. A.K. Singh, and my Director, Technical; Mr. Deepak Tripathi, and my Company Secretary, Mr. Vishal.

With that, let me start with giving the safe harbor statement. The presentation and the press release, which we uploaded on our website and exchanges yesterday and discussions during the call today may have some forward-looking statements. These statements consider the environment we see as of today and obviously carry a risk in terms of uncertainty because of which the actual results could be different and we do not undertake to update those statements periodically.

Let me give you a brief overview of Q1 performance with my opening comments and then I throw the line open for questions. The performance of Q1 has been muted. Let's see analyze the numbers in a nutshell. The two main challenges which we have been talking about in the past, the dynamics which changed in the inspection of IR business and the export business. This quarter, if you compare Q1 to Q1 Y-o-Y hit us full on.

The impact was full on in this quarter. So the INR 35 crores export revenue in last Q1, last FY, and it was nearly 0 in this Q1. The impact of the QA business IR of had a hit of about INR 25 crores on Y-o-Y Q1 to Q1. So this INR 60 crores was the net impact, which you see has -- and both being high-margin streams of revenue hit the top line and the bottom line. So the encouraging trend is that the order book, as you see jumped by about 11% from 31st March to 30th June, an addition of about INR 1,300-plus crore orders which were across sectors, whether it was export, rail infra, highways, buildings, tunnels, airports, et cetera.

And in fact, if you compare the 2 quarters, H1 of last FY, the orders we got were about INR 600 crores and in the last few quarters, we've got an order of about INR 3,000 crores. So it's about 5x, and that is what we need to focus on. Execution of these orders in the coming quarters. so that sequentially, we are able to build up both on our top line and bottom line in the entire FY. So with those opening comments, I leave the floor open for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking.

[Vishal Periwal, analyst]

Yes. And first of all, congratulations on the recept of the orders and build up in order book. My question is on the margin front. Though, in the previous quarters, we have been alluding it that margins will see some bit of impact. So can we say if I just go segment by segment, maybe consultancy EBIT margin of 40%. So this is a new normal for us going ahead?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Good morning, Vishal. Yes, I think across the four schemes of revenue, what we see today, both on an individual stream-wise margin as well as the blended margin, say, in a particular quarter, the blended margin may be wearing a little bit depending on the contribution of each stream of revenue, but averaged out over a longer period of time, let us say, a half year or a FY, what we see is really where the margins are going to settle on a blended margin as well as the margins in the individual stream.

And why I say this is, you see still about 2 to 3 years back. Our order intake, if you compare the ratio between competitive and nomination was roughly about 2/3 nomination, 1/3 composite and in -- as we have progressed over the recent quarters, in fact, this quarter itself, the ratio has been changing roughly to about 75%-25% in competition, whether it is domestic or international orders. And that is seen in the breakup of the order book also.

So the fact that we are competing and getting -- still getting orders, yes, moving forward, margins will be definitely not comparable to the earlier trends. But I think This, to my mind, where we have -- we are today could be the, let's say, the new normal and would be where the margins would settle down in the coming quarters and years.

[Vishal Periwal, analyst]

So just on the margin [Technical Difficulty] mean you used to get maybe like 3.5%, 4% kind of EBIT. In this quarter, it's [ 1.2% ] kind of number. So, is there a seasonality or even for this, we are seeing a bit of competition?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

I think your voice got muffled. I couldn't get your question. But I think maybe..

[Vishal Periwal, analyst]

I'll just try again, sir. So I think I was saying on the Consultancy, we did mention like 40% is a new normal for us. But for turnkey in this quarter, the margins -- EBIT margin is roughly [ 1.2% ] kind of number.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Yes. So in turnkey, you see the margins normally again, on an overall average over in any case, around about 2.5% to 3%, and they were varying quarter-to-quarter depending on the stage of execution of the turnkey project. In some quarter, the material supply is more than the execution is lesser in some of the quarters, the manpower execution is more. So it varies quarter-to-quarter, but turnkey would still remain between about 2% to 3% on an average.

[Operator]

Sorry to interrupt sir, the current participant has been disconnected. We'll move on to the next question. It's from the line of Yash Gupta from Thinksight Advisory.

[Yash Gupta, analyst]

My first question is on the export. What's your plan for the current export order and when we will start to book some revenue out of it and what's the expected number for the complete year?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You see, there are two export orders, which we got INR 900 crores Bangladesh, coaches 200 and INR 300 crores Mozambique 10 locomotives. As far as coaches is concerned, while they have a lesser period of manufacture, the process being lesser compared to a locomotive, we expect that with the necessary approvals, et cetera, in coordination with Bangladesh for the prototype design because there are about 10 types of coaches in these 200 orders.

We expect that they start generating revenue by Q1 of next FY or we would try and maybe slip in few coaches maybe by end of this FY. -- efforts would be on, but I think realistically, by the time the prototypes are approved, they may slip over to the quarter 1. Once the manufacturing starts the entire lots can be delivered very soon. So that is as far as the coaches are concerned. As far as locomotives are concerned, by nature, they take about 12 months to 18 months for manufacturer. However, having said that, we are very keen that we try and at least again ship out a few of those 10 locomotives by end of this FY. So both those orders, our aim is to aim for by end of this FY quarter 4, but it may slip into quarter 1. So between quarter 4 and quarter 1, definitely some shipments should start.

[Yash Gupta, analyst]

Okay, sir. Sir, second thing on NHAI and Delhi Metro, we've done an recent agreement with them...

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

We limit ourselves to one question. The convener, please repeat.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Vinamra Hirawat from JM Financial.

[Vinamra Hirawat, analyst]

Sir, my question was around government CapEx versus private CapEx. As government CapEx growth is reducing and private CapEx is expected to take over. Any changes in our strategy to serve incrementally higher private lines compared to government?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

I'm glad you asked this question because you see our strength is that we -- across all our 13 verticals of consultancy over a period of time, we have both government and private clients. So for example, whether it's a rail infra vertical, we are doing work with PSUs, like NTPC, SAIL, Coal India, whereas we are doing work with majors like UltraTech also.

So whether it is the inspection business, while we are doing work with the government, we are also doing work with process inspection with players like Jindal. We are doing work in ports for both private ports and government ports. We are doing work in airports for both private force -- private airports as well as government efforts. So across infrastructure verticals. Our -- we leverage the growth in CapEx and infrastructure, whether it is from the government CapEx or the private CapEx.

[Vinamra Hirawat, analyst]

You're indifferent as to whether this is coming from government or CapEx, do you expect orders coming in regardless the same rate?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Yes, for sure.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Shreyans Mehta from Equiris.

[Shreyans Mehta, analyst]

Sir, again, coming back to margins. So just one clarification. So since the export orders are on a competitive basis, will we see a dip in margins there as well vis-a-vis previous quarters or previous years, which we use to enjoy?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Yes, for sure. You see this order of both these orders are for the first time ever, maybe in the last 5 decades that we have got orders on a global competitive tendering mode. Erstwhile export of rolling stock orders were under the line of credit tenders floated by Exim Bank, where the competition is limited to Indian companies.

There obviously, the competition is much lesser. So when you are pitching and, for example, this 200 coach EIB funded tender was a very tough competitive tender. And definitely, the margins in the export stream also would be much lower than where we have been seeing the erstwhile margins in the exports team.

So as I said at the outset, the aim is to maximize the revenue across the streams of revenue so that the absolute EBITDA and profit we are able to grow margins, these are the levels of margins, which I see settling down over a period of time.

[Shreyans Mehta, analyst]

So sir, just to summarize. So on an aggregate consolidated basis, once all export orders also come under execution, is it fair to assume that we'll be at a closure to 20% EBITDA margins?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Well, you see, again, the point I'm trying to make is that in a particular quarter, the blend of revenue would maybe have a variation -- but overall, a period of time, these are the kind of range which we can see settling out over a period of time, average out.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Nemish Sundar from Elara Capital.

[Nemish Sundar, analyst]

So just one question on the employee costs. So last year, we had observed in line with the target to reduce employee costs, they were largely reducing or flat. But this quarter, we have seen a slight rise in employee cost. So is this ahead of some anticipation of some orders in turnkey or consultancy that we are ramping up our employee spend?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Yes. In fact, as a strategy, last year, we were about a year back, we had 1 year to 1.5 years back, we were trying to see what is the optimization in our existing employee strength for the way forward for our business model. And then as a conscious decision in the last FY, as we ramped up our bidding and getting orders, as I said at the outset, we have got INR 3,000 crore orders in the last few quarters vis-a-vis INR 600 crores in the first H1 of last FY.

So we got 5x the order received, and you see the growth in the order book also. So to be able to execute this, we add a conscious decision to timely induct people of various skills at various levels. And that is why if you compare Y-o-Y, there is a growth in the employees to a net addition of about 250. This is besides a superannuation of about 100-odd, so net, we have inducted about 350 additional, which is a net input plus of about 250. which is a conscious decision. So while there, as you correctly said, there is an increase in cost or the cost Y-o-Y is flat, even though the revenue has fallen and thus impacting the margins also.

But this is a conscious decision because as these orders have to be executed we cannot have a time gap for hiring the employees and we need faster execution in the coming quarters. So it's a conscious decision to build up this bank strength. And yes, maybe this should incur a cost for 1 or 2 quarters before they start generating revenue.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Yash Gupta from Thinksight Advisory.

[Yash Gupta, analyst]

Sir, my second question was on the NHAI and Delhi Metro agreement. Recently, we have done one more agreement with the NHAI. Can you throw some light on it and how we see both these agreement terms towards the revenue?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Yes. So let me talk of the NHAI MOU. NHAI we have been working a lot over the last many years. And this is a natural partnership between NHAI and us. We have a very strong highway design unit as well as with safety, quality control, highway design, the tunnels, et cetera. So NHAI and us will be complementing each other's strength.

The design and quality control and safety aspects of their work, we would be there kind of supplementing or you want to call it, a back office or [ BP ] partners in their growth as they have a high CapEx and a high rate of execution. Similarly, DMRC, we have been partners for more than 3 decades now. We have done a lot of work with DMRC. And this is further moving forward as DMRC is diversifying and pitching for other cities, both domestic and international, they are diversified in growing their business portfolio.

And we have been working with DMRC for long we are partnering with them for both domestic and international opportunities, whether it is for operation, maintenance, design or rolling stock design, et cetera. So both of these are natural partnerships where our teams have been working with each other in any case for the last 2, 3 decades.

[Yash Gupta, analyst]

So, If you had to comment as of now on the revenue point, sir?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

See, these are partnerships, which each of the opportunities as they come up, both domestic and international, depending on the size and scope of the opportunity, we'll be working together and we'll be sharing the -- as I said, each opportunity will have a different element of share between the two of us.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Viraj Mithani from Jupiter Financial.

[Viraj Mithani, analyst]

What would be your guidance for the current year and year for an can be some kind of numbers of top line? And would we be maintaining broadly 20% net margins which we've been maintaining so far?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

As far as the first part of your question, you see the Q1, both in terms of top line and bottom line have maybe hit quite the bottom of the barrel to say. And our effort will be that Q2 onwards, we buildup on that Q2 may be a little tough because of the execution being affected maybe by heavy rains in certain geographies.

However, efforts will be made to minimize the impact on our execution revenue. But having said that, our effort will be that for the sequentially, we see a growth in revenue as well as trying to leverage the higher-margin orders out of the order book. And the aim would be to try and reach as close as possible to the last FY level despite the muted performance of Q1.

So that's the guidance for the entire FY sequentially moving forward. As far as margins are concerned, again, to reiterate, this -- the margin that you see, whether in the individual streams of revenue or the blended margins, they have had the worst hit in this quarter because of the contribution of inspection as well as export.

Moving forward, I think the margins could remain in this range or maybe a little bit improvement as the export revenue contribution starts and the number of no inspection orders, which we have taken in the last few months, they will start -- they have already started generating revenue. They are in initial stages, but their contribution will grow in the coming quarters. So definitely, maybe a little improved vis-a-vis the Q1, but by and large, definitely settling down to a blended margin in the range that we have seen in this quarter.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Vinamra Hirawat from JM Financial.

[Vinamra Hirawat, analyst]

Sir, I just wanted a update. I think we still as Zimbabwe order that's pending. I just want to know, is it being delayed because of [indiscernible] in Zimbabwe current freight rates? And is there any other exports in the pipeline that can convert in the next couple of years?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

So as far as the Zimbabwe order is concerned, it's not really because of any instability. The structure of the agreement which we signed with them last year was while the quantum of locomotives and wagons and the value of about $80-odd million was also clear. The -- we were very clear that we would not take it in our order book, unless the clearer funding is very clear and concrete from their side for which they have been working on -- from funding from the Afrexim Bank.

We are constantly in touch with them for whatever inputs they need from our side. It is moving maybe a little slowly between 1 year but it is moving on the right track, and we are hopeful that as soon as our final funding is sanctioned by Afrexim Bank, they will go ahead with the necessary advances, et cetera. And that's the time when we will declare it and take it in our stock exchange.

As far as other export opportunities are concerned, there are a large number of export opportunities, which are in line with our bidding for the Bangladesh order and the Mozambique order. Not only have we bid competitive mode in various geographies, but we are also engaging with various geographies in trying to export certain types of rolling stock, including some in-service diesel locomotives from Indian Railways, which have now been -- become available because of the electrification Indian railway. So I think moving forward, we are looking forward for some more orders definitely in this FY.

[Vinamra Hirawat, analyst]

And what is the expected potential market size for us, in the orders that we're looking at, just a ballpark figure, maybe?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

The market size is huge because in terms of all types of rolling stock, whether competitive or in-service locomotive or nomination, including metro coaches, et cetera, which we have folded into, the market is used across geographies, it is sky's the limit.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Ketan Jain from Avendus Spark.

[Ketan Jain, analyst]

Sir, what would be your order inflow guidance for FY '25?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You see the order inflow for Q1 have been, as I said, an order book growth of about 11% within a quarter. Fresh orders, we got about 80-plus totaling to about INR 1,300 crores.

Also, if you see, we have been maintaining that one order a day for the last 2 quarters. This quarter, it's about 0.92, but that will average out definitely on the -- we are sure that in the overall on the FY basis, we will be a one order a day company. So I think to say that the order book vis-a-vis 31st March '24, will definitely be higher when you see 31st March '25, taking into account also the revenue that we do in '24, '25, but there's going to be a substantial growth in the order book as the trend is showing.

[Ketan Jain, analyst]

Any particular number on the inflow, sir?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

As I said, we will be aiming for 1 order a day. That's our target, that's our vision. That's what we have been able to maintain, and we will be able to maintain.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Shreyans Mehta from Equirus. The current participant has been disconnected. We'll move on to the next question. It's from the line of Nemish Sundar from Elara Capital.

[Nemish Sundar, analyst]

Just 1 question. Can you give the revenue contribution from quality assurance in this quarter?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You see quality assurance, the revenue is a merge revenue with the consultancy total overall revenue. But what I can definitely tell you is certain features of the quality assurance revenue, which we'll tell you in perspective, how it has progressed in this quarter. If you compare vis-a-vis FY '23, the contribution from IR to non-IR was about 80-20 or about 75-25 it graduated in about '23, '24.

It was somewhat it's about 60-40 and now in this, we have graduated to about 55-45 as non-IR clients in QA and 45 as the IR clients. So moving forward, what we are aiming is that in QA business, taking the impact of the chain scenario I've been mentioning, which cut in last year first quarter, and the full impact has been felt in this quarter because all the old orders of QA for the old rates finished and now we are getting all inspection calls as per the new rate, and that also as one of the four players.

We have taken orders, whether it is from the GeM Portal, whether it is from the Vishwakarma scheme, whether it is Solar, Renewables, Power DISCOMS, defense, state government. So the contribution has turned on its head within 2 years and it has become non-IR about 55% vis-a-vis IR at 44%. So we are aiming to come back to the levels of the total revenue, which we were about 2 years back or maybe even like a year back when this new regime started kicking.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Parimal Mithani from Credential Investments.

[Parimal Mithani, analyst]

If I see sequentially order book, sir, there has been a reduction in the consultant business overall. And one of the things is if you -- from the last March quarter ended to the current quarter, if I see, the revenue from the competition side of the business is increasing and the nomination is decreasing, I understand if I see vis-a-vis also year wise. So is it fair to say, sir, that more or less revenue in consultancy are getting stabilized?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

No. To the contrary, in fact, the consultancy order book, most of the orders which we have been getting are besides these big export orders, consultancy has been the largest number, if you see the order -- the rate of one order a day.

In terms of values, even today at INR 6,350 crores order book, consultancy is the highest share. It is INR 2,500 crores. Yes, in terms of execution, as I said at the outset, both in terms of type of projects where our fee is dependent on execution of the projects at the ground level as well as certain type of consultancy orders that they are master plan studies, et cetera, we need to expedite and speeding up the execution in the coming quarter so that their contribution of the consultancy in the overall revenue is much more.

So in terms of getting orders or the order book, the future growth as well as the trend full consultancy will continue to remain playing a very major role. And just to give you an example of orders in the last quarter, in the last few months itself, we have got orders in consultancy across sectors. So whether it is a highway order in Assam of INR 42 crores, it's a rail infra order in Karnataka for about INR 27 crores, it's a jetty order in Porbandar for about INR 8 crores.

It's an MMLP in indoor for INR 7 crores. So I mean there are airports mobility plan, airports mobility plan in Bihar it's INR 6 crores. There are -- the orders are across sector. So these are the heartening feature that the consultancy orders are coming across all our verticals, not in one particular vertical only.

[Parimal Mithani, analyst]

And sir, in terms of quality assurance business, is it fair to obtain that our margins are more or less stabilized now going forward from here?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

I think the quality assurance contribution, as I said, now it has flipped on its head in terms of 55 being non-IR business. And being IR business. And by and large, this quarter saw the full impact of the change regime of the new IR QA order. So in terms of margins, the contribution of the QA to the blended margin. I think maybe, yes, this seems to be the new normal as someone said in terms of -- since this is what we will continue to build up on our non-IR clients.

Yes, most of them are competitive basis. there will be issues in margin of the QA contribution. But by and large, this business model or this ratio between non-IR, IR has stabilized over a coming period of time.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of [ Rupali Juniker ], an individual Investor.

[Unknown Shareholder]

Congratulations for securing as a most wanted company to work with.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Thank you very much for your kind words. Thank you.

[Unknown Shareholder]

My question is regarding consultancy. As we are seeing that there is a continuous decline like quarter-on-quarter and also year-on-yearly basis. So is it because of the political impact or can you throw some color on it?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You see, first of all, the decrease in consultancy is not really a trend drive deep down into the precut is primarily, as I said, because the inspection business has been -- is counted as part of the consultancy business. If you see the projects certain fact last year, we had an all-time high of the highest ever consultancy, project consultancy revenue.

And that, too, we are -- even the order, as I mentioned to the previous participant, we are getting across our verticals. So our growth both in terms of order book, both in terms of our strength that we have verticals of consultancy across all areas of infrastructure and further, sequentially, quarter wise, the growth in execution is fully covered by our strength in consultancy.

We are a consultancy company. We take pride in that, and that's our strength. So whether, as I said, getting one order a day or converting this order book of consultancy, which is the maximum INR 2,500 crores out of INR 6350 crores. That is our focus. And that is you will see continue growing, whether in terms of the size of the order book or its contribution to the revenue.

[Unknown Shareholder]

Okay. Got it. One more question, if I can slip in.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You can come back in a queue, Mam, please.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Viraj Mithani from Jupiter Financial.

[Viraj Mithani, analyst]

Sir. Now listening to your comments, is it fair to think, let's say, FY '26 onwards will be on the takeoff more? Is fair to think that will? Because of the orders coming in, export probably ticking back quality assurance coming in.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

See, Viraj, we -- as I said at the outset, we believe in being very clear and transparent to all our shareholders and stakeholders. And that's why we gave a very clear and realistic assessment of our strength and performance.

The quarter 1 performance, as I said at the outset, due to the various reasons has been muted and our efforts will be that this order book that we have accumulated and managed to get in a very strong competitive environment. And we will continue to get -- we are confident the trend is that we'll continue to get this rate of orders. And that's a very reason why in spite of cost, we have inducted about 350-plus people in the last 1 year.

So as I said, even though it's a carrying cost for a few quarters, we are going ahead as a conscious decision because we see that in the coming quarters as the balance part of this FY, especially H2 onwards. And as you correctly said, the next we will build up and focus on faster execution of this order book, number one, and continue getting orders at this rate. So with that, while there is not to be done. But yes, our basic strength and ability based on our credentials and our capability of our team. I'm sure that we will sequentially aim to grow on this platform.

[Viraj Mithani, analyst]

So the bonus is sort of a signaling confidence in the years to come. Just one towards our goal.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You very correct, that is our confidence in our capability and our inherent strength that, as I said, our order book, our bench strenght and the visibility of fresh orders make us confident that as we execute our order book faster, we will be able to grow on this leverage and grow on this platform.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Vishal Periwal from Antique Stock Broking.

[Vishal Periwal, analyst]

Sir, in terms of export orders, I think the PPP mentioned that Bangladesh orders completion is [indiscernible] and Mozambique is 2025. So is it fair to say probably this year, anything is happening or maybe next 2025, any execution is happening or revenue buildup is happening, then it's primarily Mozambique. The Bangladesh could pick up maybe FY '27 in terms of supplying the maximum of the orders. Is it fair to say that?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

You see coming separately to the Bangladesh are they shorter. It is -- as per the contract, it's about 36 months, but the coaches as I said, have a shorter period of manufacture. And both Bangladesh railway is very keen. They have a lot of shortage of coaches. And we are very keen since they have a shorter period of manufactured vis-a-vis locomotives, but we are trying to push and coordinate literally on a weekly basis with them so that the 10 types of coaches, which are there in 200 coaches.

The prototypes are approved and we start bulk manufacture. So my assessment is that we will definitely start shipping out a few lots of coaches by quarter 1 of next FY. We may aim, try and squeeze a few by end of this FY. But maybe quarter 1 is definitely a realistic of where we will get this.

As far as, again, locomotives are concerned, while they have a larger period -- longer period of manufacture of about 18, 15 to 18 months. But again, Mozambique is very keen for movement of the minerals, et cetera, that we try and ship out at least 1 or 2 locomotives by end of this FY. So again, while Q1 next FY, definitely some locomotives we would aim to ship out. But both in locomotives and coaches, we will try and see if maybe we can slip in a few by end of this FY.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of [ Rupali Juniker ], an Individual Investor.

[Unknown Shareholder]

So just a small question. Are the orders of non-IR the nomination one or the competition?

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

No. In fact, most of them are on a competition basis and that is the whole trend, as I said, maybe at the outset, across whether it is whether any of our stream of revenue, whether it is consultancy, turnkey export, all our streams of revenue, the trend, which about 2 to 3 years back was roughly about 2/3, 1/3 in terms of nomination versus competitive has now turned on its head and is round about, if you count the last few quarters, maybe 2 quarters into fresh orders, it is about 80-20 in terms of competition and vis-a-vis nomination.

And if you see the breakup of the current order book also because it has some old orders of nomination that itself, you see the changing trend in that. As of today, it is [ 61% ] competitive [ 39% ] nomination even in the existing order and fresh orders, which we have received in the last quarter, the ratio is roughly about 80% competition and 20% nomination.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions from the participants, I would now like to hand the call over to the management for their closing comments.

[Rahul Mithal, executive]

Thank you. And as I said at the outset and during the discussion, the focus is to, number one, execute the existing order book at a faster pace even faster than maybe the expected contractual requirements in various contract agreements so that we try and maximize the revenue realization moving forward sequentially quarter-on-quarter.

And parallelly, continue this trend of bidding aggressively for both domestic and international, both consultancy as well as export order so that the trend which we have seen in the last 3 quarters of getting INR 3,000 crores fresh orders, we are able to maintain this trend of getting fresh orders in the coming quarters.

So with that, we have, as I said, built up our bench strength, we -- while, yes, the quarter 1 has been muted, but our aim is to moving forward to see a sequential improvement quarter-in-quarter so that we reach as close as possible to the last FY on an FY basis. Thank you.

[Operator]

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