KEI Industries order book stands at Rs4,500 crore: Anil Gupta, CMD

"Government spending in infrastructure is going to be the main growth drivers for us, says Anil Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director", KEI Industries Ltd. During a candid chat with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business, Gupta said, "our export market is strong and we expect to grow by 30-35% this year". Edited Excerpts: 

Rural electrification was a major booster for wire companies, what will be the next Growth driver and what is your business outlook for your industry and KEI Industries?
Our business outlook is to maintain the guidance that was provided at the start of the year. As far as growth driver/s is concerned then the government spending in the infrastructure sector - like metro railways and railways - is going to be the major growth driver of the year. Even the projects associated with rural electrification are quite strong for the purpose. Besides, we have seen an uptick in the overall sector in which we work like the affordable housing projects of the real estate sector, where slight growth has been seen in November. So, we stick to the guidance that was announced in the initial month of this year.

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Let us know about your current order book and what is the target for the year?
We have an order book stands at around Rs4,500 crore, at present. And, we maintain our guidance of around 17-18% growth in order book which was provided at the start of this financial year, maybe in June. We expect to grow well in the next financial year but I can't say much about the futuristic growth of the next year. But our company is well-positioned in all the business & economic segments in India as well as in the case of our export customers.

How is the export market looking like at the moment and how much revenue and growth is expected from it?
Export markets are strong this year and as guided earlier, we expect to grow by around 30-35% in this year. As far as the future is concerned, we are developing new markets and strengthening our existing customers and that's why we expect to grow similarly in the coming year as well.

Q2 Margins saw a slight pressure due to increase in raw material expenses. What is your outlook for coming quarters?
Our EBITDA was around 10.23% in the second quarter and we will maintain a similar and positive outlook on that in the balance year and the next year as well.

Tell us about the areas where KEI Industries will focus in future and how it will diversify its business to improve its margins and returns keeping technological changes in mind?
We haven't seen any major technological change in the electrical products segment when compared to the telecom products. Even the specifications and engineering designs are almost constant. But, we can grow by improving the area of geographic sales and by adding new segments, where we are not present. We are working on new sectors of the economy, new applications and geographical areas. We are focusing on our saleability and margins.