A Good Q4 For JSW Steel | Input Costs Have Gone Up Due To Rupee Depreciation, Says Company
📅 May 14, 2026CNBC-TV189 MIN575 VIEWS15 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
#Q4WithCNBCTV18 | JSW Steel Posts A Good Set of Q4 Numbers
Joint MD & CEO, Jayant Acharya to CNBC-TV18
Inputs costs have gone up due to depreciation of Rupee
Net debt-EBITDA ratio to be capped at 3x
No plans to raise money via QIP route
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What Jayant Acharya said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Jayant Acharya, Joint MD and CEO of JSW Steel, discussed Q4 FY26 results and outlook. He said steel prices rose 20-25% point-to-point between January and March from December's six-year low, with some impact captured in Q4 and some in Q1. Coking coal costs increased $16 in Q4 and are expected to rise another $12-15 in Q1, partly due to rupee depreciation. He expects prices to be range-bound, with imports moderated by the safeguard duty and exports unlikely to improve due to geopolitical challenges. International operations improved, with US EBITDA turning from negative $35 million to positive $36 million year-on-year. Net debt finished at roughly ₹54,000 crores with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.81, targeting below 2.5. He revised FY32 growth targets to 62 million tons India capacity plus 16 million tons from JVs, totaling close to 80 million tons. He confirmed no QIP plans and announced board approval to acquire BMM Ispat, a one-million-ton plant near their facility.
Key takeaways
Steel prices rose 20-25% point-to-point from January to March, recovering from December's six-year low.
Coking coal costs increased $16 in Q4 and are expected to rise another $12-15 in Q1.
Net debt finished at roughly ₹54,000 crores with net debt-to-EBITDA at 1.81, targeting below 2.5.
FY32 capacity target is 62 million tons in India plus 16 million tons from JVs, totaling close to 80 million tons.
Board approved acquisition of BMM Ispat, a one-million-ton plant with potential to double capacity.
Numbers and commitments
Figure
What it refers to
Type
At
20-25%
Steel price increase point-to-point January to March
I think we have the next management with us, Nigel. JSW Steel. Well, let's get straight to it. JSW Steel stock is more or less flat as the numbers are quite good actually. The net debt came lower as well because of that deal they've done with regard to BPSL. We have with us Mr. Jayant Acharya, the Joint MD and CEO at JSW Steel. Good morning, Mr. Acharya. Always good to have you on the show. Well, the past quarter was quite good, but let's look ahead. Quantify the steel price increases on a sequential basis as well as give us some kind of color with regard to raw material cost which have also moved up.
On the price side, I think the prices have gone up on a point-to-point basis by 20 to 25% between January and March from the lows of December, which was a 6-year low. Some part of the prices you will see captured in Q4 and some part will be captured in Q1. What I would like to point out is that the costs are also going up. The depreciation of the rupee is also impacting cost to an extent. On the coking coal side, our coking coal costs for Q4 have gone up by $16 over the previous quarter. Iron ore is by and large stable.
Got that. Got that. But not too much. Okay, got that, Mr. Acharya. Tell us a little bit about coking coal cost. You said it went up in the past quarter compared to Q3, but in Q1, how much higher will it be than Q4?
So, in Q1, we expect another increase of between $12 to $15. In addition to coking coal, iron ore prices have also started increasing in the last month and weeks. Some impact we were able to reduce last quarter through better blending and reduced consumption. But iron ore increase will also play out to some extent in Q1. So, some increase in coal as I said, between $12 to $15, some increase in iron ore and other related costs. So we would expect costs to go up. However, the carry forward of the Q4 price impact will flow into Q1. And April prices have also gone up. So to that extent, the price will cover and improve margins after absorbing the cost.
EBITDA per ton has improved and you're guiding for a better performance in Q1. Got that. Now, steel prices have moved up by 20-25% as our ticker team has noted. Do you see a case for further steel price hikes?
I think prices will be range bound now. We see that primarily, as you said, imports have moderated. One was the safeguard duty which was implemented at a very right time at the end of December, which helped reduce imports. Exports have also improved to some extent from India. But given the geopolitical challenges, I don't expect export numbers to improve. Imports will be moderate this year. So therefore, domestic capacity expansions will go into the domestic market and will be more India centric this year.
Okay, Mr. Acharya, let's turn our attention to the international EBITDA then. Last quarter a little bit of pressure compared to the previous quarter, but it's moved well into the green in the past fiscal year and improved big time in FY26. It appears that tariffs in the United States are helping the US operations. Give us some color on international operations going forward.
8 more exchanges in this transcript
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Acharya, J. (2026, May 14). A Good Q4 For JSW Steel | Input Costs Have Gone Up Due To Rupee Depreciation, Says Company [Interview transcript]. CNBC-TV18. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1014035/
MLA
Jayant Acharya. "A Good Q4 For JSW Steel | Input Costs Have Gone Up Due To Rupee Depreciation, Says Company." CNBC-TV18, 14 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1014035/.
BibTeX
@misc{acharya2026_1014035,
author = {Jayant Acharya},
title = {A Good Q4 For JSW Steel | Input Costs Have Gone Up Due To Rupee Depreciation, Says Company},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, CNBC-TV18. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1014035/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
