Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to JSW Energy Q1 FY23 post-results conference call hosted by ICICI Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rahul Modi from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I welcome you all to the Q1 FY23 earnings call of JSW Energy. From the management, we have Mr. Prashant Jain, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Pritesh Vinay, Director of Finance, and Mr. Ashwin Bajaj, Group Head, Investor Relations. We will start the call with a brief opening remarks followed by Q&A. I would now hand over the call to Ashwin. Thank you, and over to you, sir. All the best.
Thank you very much, Rahul. Good evening, everyone. This is Ashwin Bajaj, and welcome to the JSW Energy Q1 call. With that, let me hand it over to Mr. Jain for an overview, and then we'll take your questions. Mr. Jain?
Thank you, Ashwin. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This quarter has been a very interesting quarter for the industry as well as JSW Energy. For quarter one, the power demand had seen a growth of 18.6% year-on-year, and in July till date, the power demand is growing at 2% in spite of very heavy monsoon and rain shower what we have seen across the country. During the quarter, there was 4.3 GW of capacity addition, taking the total capacity to 404.3 GW. Now the total renewable capacity in the country is 161 GW which amount to 40% of the total capacity of the country. This capacity addition was mainly from renewable which was through solar.
During the quarter, merchant tariff saw an increase of 143% year-on-year at INR 7.8 per kWh. The volume though went down by 20%. The average monthly volume was 3,790 million units. The interesting statistics what we have observed during the quarter, the average thermal PLF for India as a whole was 69.43% as compared to 58.79% in the last year. This PLF in the year FY 2021 was 46.61%. This is what is telling us that how the, when the power demand is growing in the country, the thermal PLF, which is the stranded capacity, is getting more and more utilized and giving the growth opportunity of existing untied capacities.
The renewable PLF for the country as a whole was at 21.43% as compared to 20.64% last year, which was primarily driven by the higher wind PLF, which is again a cyclical trend which we are seeing. The solar PLF for the quarter as a country as a whole was 19.73% as compared to 20.1% last year. Wind PLF for the quarter was 25.88% as compared to 23.84% last year. As a company, we saw a very robust performance. Our total generation was up by 14%, which was driven by higher thermal generation by 12%, which was primarily on account of higher merchant sales.
We sold six times more volume in the merchant market as compared to the last year at 866 million units, which accounts for approximately 8% of the total power exchange volume in the country for the quarter. This is what reflects that how this current power demand growth is giving JSW Energy an ample opportunity to use its untied capacity. The hydro generation was up by 13%. In addition to that, we also since commissioned our solar power plant, 225 MW at Vijayanagar, which is also performing very good. During the June month, we saw the P60 level performance, which is 110% of the P90 generation. We generated close to 94 million units during the quarter. The total generation was 5,850 million units.
We have been given to understand that on the request of the government of Rajasthan, Ministry of Coal has given an approval of rectifying the defect of the mining lease of Jalipa and Kapurdi, and we are yet to receive the formal communication from government of Rajasthan as they are processing it, but that defect has been rectified and the business has become as usual for the company. In terms of the financial performance of the company, we saw strong EBITDA growth of 34% year-on-year, which was primarily on account of three things. One is higher merchant sales and volume. Second is solar plant at Vijaynagar. Third is the uprating of the Karcham plant and operational performance improvement in terms of lower heat rate, lower O&M costs. We have continued and maintained the track record of maintaining the lowest possible and industry-leading receivables.
We saw lowest ever receivable days of 45 days during the quarter. The quality of receivables are also such that only 4% were the overdue. As we are speaking, I am happy to announce that we have 0 overdue and we have been able to maintain the healthy cash flow of the company. On cash return basis during the quarter we have seen close to 21% of the return. With regards to our projects, all the projects are growing and continuing the growth as per the stipulated timelines. Our SECI Tranche X project we are expecting to start commissioning from the current quarter. The scheduled commercial operation timing is July 2023. We expect the entire commissioning will be done much, much earlier than the planned commissioning schedule.
The SECI Tranche IX project is also moving as per the schedule and then we are also expecting they are also commissioning much earlier than the planned timelines. The Kutehr Power Plant is also running ahead of the schedule, and we are going to commission the project also ahead of its timeline. During the quarter, we also added a portfolio of 2.5 GW with Government of Telangana and Government of Chhattisgarh for setting up a pumped storage. With this, we have a portfolio of 40,000 megawatt-hours of the storage capacity. We are in process of making the DPR. Couple of projects we have already completed the DPR and applied for the approval with CEA. We have already started applying for the environmental clearance and land acquisition process.
We believe that we will be starting these projects in couple of quarters, and we see this as a great opportunity in time to come. We also got SECI Tranche XII wind project, 300 MW, for which we have already received letter of intent. In addition to that, our commitment for decarbonization and growth in terms of the renewable energy, what we have stipulated a total capacity of 10 GW by FY 2025 and 20 GW by FY 2030 is moving ahead of schedule. I'm quite confident that we will be achieving all these targets ahead of its set deadlines. Also, with respect to our plans for green hydrogen and green ammonia and chemical derivatives are moving as per the plans. There is substantial progress taking place in terms of tying up various building blocks.
I'm quite confident that we will be the company who will be starting the large scale construction in the industry, and maybe we will be the first company to start the construction as compared to the peer group. As and when we take that project with the board, we will be coming back to you. With this, I end my opening remarks, and I'm happy to take the question and answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Reminder to the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one at this time.
Yes, I sorry-
First question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir, and congratulations on a very, very good set of numbers. My first question is how much equity and debt have been deployed in renewable assets at end of June 2022?
Mohit, how much of equity and debt has been deployed for renewable projects?
Yes, yeah.
Is that your question?
Yes, that's the question.
Mohit, we will not be able to give that breakup, so you'll have to wait till the September quarter when the balance sheet and the cash flows are out. But I'll just give you a broad sense so that you have a handle on that, yeah. For the Kutehr project, we have just started the loan drawdowns only in the April to June quarter, you know. Whatever money has been spent so far was largely equity funded. So I think we would have drawn about INR 150 crore of debt for the Kutehr project. For the other renewable projects, the only drawdown that we have done is to the extent of the CapEx LCs that have been opened for, you know, when the equipment were being ordered. There's been no fund-based facility that has been drawn yet. Yeah.
Just to give you, again, I mean, this is incomplete picture because you would also want to know the full picture. Let me anticipate a question you have not asked yet. The total amount that has been spent so far is INR 3,830 crores cumulatively. And the total commitment that has been done is INR 10,600 crores, you know. That is where we are as far as the total project spend is concerned.
Understood. My second question is that, a lot of your, you have signed a lot of MoU for this pumped storage, and you are doing the preparatory work. Is it a right, a fair understanding that the development will start post we have some kind of PPAs for these projects?
Mohit, these are not the MoUs. These are actually the allocation letters which we are getting because these are the self-identified projects wherein we are entering into an agreement to build a particular project at a specific location. Wherein we do the complete development of the project and we get the water allocation done and take the necessary approvals as you are building any other plant. Now, we believe that there are number of opportunities in front of us to develop, to build the renewable power and make it round the clock. Now, that opportunity could be to supply our own group requirement for captive purpose. That is also for production of the hydrogen and ammonia and other chemical derivatives. That opportunity could also be in terms of any competitive bid which is announced by any DISCOM or CPSE that per se.
It is development of those kind of the projects which we are taking up. As and when we start working on spending the money for a real commitment, we will be announcing it, going to the board and then taking a necessary approval and then those necessary tie-up will be done before the financial closure or the financial commitment is done. It is not necessary it is a, it is for the, if it's a particular DISCOM, it can be for any of the opportunity which I have spelled out, which are available on the table.
Sir, lastly on the P&L, you have reversed INR 1.2 billion of the loss on the loan. May I know for which particular account this has been reversed?
JPBL.
Understood, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Best of luck. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Modi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity and, congratulations for super numbers. Sir, just wanted your review and outlook on the same. How do you see the bidding to take place overall in the next six to 12 months in the renewable space? That is one part, and secondly, do you see more capacities that you will add? Obviously, there is one side where you bid for SECI kind of tenders, and the other is the captive tender. So what is the opportunity that you're looking at in terms of, you know, adding capacities renewable in your kitty over the next 12 months?
We have already spelled out, Rahul, that we are, we will be making our capacity to 10 GW by FY 2025, and then with kind of a visibility which we are having, we are quite confident we will be achieving it much earlier than that. With our existing capacity and the projects under construction, we are in excess of 7 GW, which we are, you know, confident that we will be achieving that in next 18 months timeframe. This will be up and running. There are many more projects which are in the development stage, which we feel that in current financial year we will be announcing and will be completing ahead of schedule as planned by FY 2025.
In terms of competitive bidding, you know, I cannot comment at what kind of a competitive bidding which will be taking place. We are very much confident that as a JSW Energy we are only participating on those tenders and bids where we are confident to have a remunerative good quality returns for all our projects. We are going to maintain that part. In terms of the scope of the power and demand scenario, I have been very clearly advocating that there is more demand growth than actually the capacity addition which is taking place, and that is what is reflecting now, which I explained in my opening remarks that the thermal PLFs are already shooting up.
They are as a country as a whole, you are seeing close to 70% capacity utilization at some point of time. Once that is also, you know, complete headroom is already absorbed, you are going to see the power shortage situation. Then the most of the competitive bids which have been taking place are unsustainable and because of which people are not able to do the project because of other headwinds in terms of the solar panel prices as well as the commodity prices. I'm seeing the power shortage in time to come because of the demand and supply mismatch.
I am quite confident that will be also overcome by the agility of the Indian entrepreneurship and the industry which will ramp up to build more and more capacity in 3-4 years timeframe. All in all, it is going to offer a huge opportunity for all the IPPs to have a meaningful growth opportunity. Therefore, we are also preparing ourselves by locking in most of the resources and building execution capabilities. This is what we have also demonstrated, like our solar project was done fastest in the industry in flat nine months timeframe. Our SECI Tranche IX, SECI Tranche X project, people have not even executed the PPA and I'm talking about starting the commissioning in the current quarter as against the scheduled commercial operations timeline of July 2023.
That demonstrates our execution capability and then which is we are ramping up and we feel that we will be having a meaningful share in time to come.
Sure, sir. My next question is, sir, your comments and views on the fact that recently the reverse auction and the Indian wind auctions have been done away with. How do you see the overall intensity in this space changing and do you see something like this being introduced or removed, I must say, in the solar also?
You know, very tough to say and very tough to call for the behavioral science of which you are actually asking. What I am very clear that the story of building a book and then banking upon certain, you know, trajectory of the availability of the equipments which produce either, you know, wind power or solar power is the time is over. The ground reality has hit to the people with the reversal in the interest cycle as well as the increase in the commodity prices, as well as the solar panels prices, which has hit the industry hard. That is where a disciplined approach comes into the play. Industry should do that part, and then that is a self-restraint part.
Very tough to say that people will do it or not. Policymakers, what they have come up with the new proposal wherein the reverse bidding has been eliminated. Even then it is a competitive bidding. You will be only, you know, doing away with the emotions, what happens in the reverse bidding. Otherwise, that does not refrain people to even bid at lower prices when they are going to give that in the field and develop and it is only one time bid.
Sure, sir. This is very helpful. Last question from my side. Any development on the Ind-Barath issue with the NCLT? Thank you.
Judgment is reserved, but I want to say that that is also one of the project which we had made the bid at 2019. Whatever way, you know, the judgment will come, we will evaluate at right point of time and then take it step by step.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Swati Jhunjhunwala from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Congratulations on the good set of numbers, sir. I had a little doubt on the job work part. Can you quantify the amount of job work that you have done this quarter out of the INR 3,000 crore top line?
No. Are you asking for what is the total quantum of job work that we have done in the INR 3,000 crore top line?
Yes. Like, on the INR 3,000 crore revenue that we have, how much is associated with the job work that we've done?
Okay. Do you have any other question?
Yes. I wanted to ask, after deducting the job work, so the INR 1,770 crore of, like, the approx raw material cost, so that will be our cost of goods sold for the remaining revenue. Is that correct? Not the INR 3,000 crores.
Can you just repeat your question, please?
as the cost of raw material for us was INR 1,770 crores for the quarter.
Mm-hmm.
The revenue was INR 3,000 crore. If we remove the job work revenue, is that the correct raw material cost?
No. There's a separate, raw material cost also that will be available with you. You don't have to try and make all those adjustments, right? If you look at the SEBI results format, you will see the fuel cost as well. See, the job work as such, given the job work nature of things, where the cost of fuel is being borne by the customer.
Correct.
All that you are then actually billing is the charges for the job work, right? That is not a very large number. Because the main number and especially in an inflationary environment that we have seen, where on a year-over-year basis, the coal price indices have almost tripled, right? Not to mention the currency depreciation impact. Therefore, that will be a very small number. That will not be. If you're talking about a INR 3,000+ crore top line, that number will be well below INR 200 crore, ballpark, you know. That's not a large number.
Okay.
The job work amount. Yeah.
Okay. Secondly, on the INR 10,600 crore CapEx that we have committed for the renewable projects and pipeline, INR 3,800 is already spent. Is that correct? Is the INR 3,800-
That's right.
Secondly, for the remaining 6,800, how much debt are we planning to take?
No, you have to understand, any project will be funded in a ballpark 75/25 debt/equity ratio.
Okay.
Yeah. You can do that math. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhil Abhyankar from DAM Capital. Please go ahead. Nikhil Abhyankar, your line is in talk mode. Please go ahead with your question.
Yeah. Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. I just had one small question. Last year we had booked a revenue of INR 25 crore through carbon credit. I just wanted to know how much will it be this year, and going forward, as our renewable capacity increases, what can be the trend in it?
It's very difficult to predict, you know, how much will be the carbon credit revenue in any period, in terms of, you know, looking ahead basis. I mean, just to give you a flavor, as you rightly said, last year we had certain amount of revenues. If you look at this quarter, for example, the first quarter, there is no carbon credit sale, right? If you understand what has been happening to that market, especially post the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the general economic environment, that market has been pretty subdued, you know. As well as, you know, there's volatility in that pricing as well.
I don't think it will be possible to give you a forward-looking number on that side, because it is not possible to predict that market and the behavior of that market. However, you know, as the renewable energy capacity you know accretion happens, there will be avenues that we will try and tap into to see that how to get carbon credits. I'm sure you are aware that, you know, that market has also evolved a lot from you know years ago from a CDM to now a voluntary market and et cetera. You know, our teams are closely working on that. As and when there is something significant to report, we will be happy to share that.
If given too many moving parts on that side, it will be very difficult to forecast something like that.
Just a couple of follow-up on that, sir. I just wanted to know where do we sell our carbon credits, and what is our inventory that we are holding right now, unsold at?
The unsold inventory will be ballpark 20 million units, somewhere in that 15-20 million units. You should take that safely. Because, you know, there is a process as you generate and then that verification happens, and then the registry has to issue that, right?
Okay.
Once they issue it, only then you get access to it, and then it is liquid and available to you for sale as and when you want to do that.
Where do you sell it? If you can-
Whoever is willing to buy and give certainty of remunerative price with certainty of payment flow. We don't have any preferred, you know, that we will only sell to XYZ. The idea is, you know, value maximization at the same time.
Primarily the European market and European buyers.
Yeah.
Okay. Thanks a lot. That's all.
Thank you. Reminder to the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Apoorva Bahadur from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on strong results, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, wanted to understand on our coal strategy. Basically, we are seeing that still the international prices are quite elevated, and we are active in the merchant market too. How are we ensuring that, or how are we offsetting the risks that we take when we book cargoes?
Whatever our PPAs are there, they are 100% pass-through, whether it is the coal index and/or the foreign exchange. In our normal PPA type of business, it's absolutely pass-through. For merchant, we always sell in a 15-minute block after covering our fuel price. Any time we are out of the money, we are not selling that. Even, you know, today's market, when it's full monsoon and we are seeing that the peak prices are at INR 12, we are able to do that. As a group, we have been following a, you know, strategy to rationalize our coal procurement cost. As of now, we are buying a lot of Russian coal which is indexed on Indonesian Coal Index.
Therefore, on a like-to-like basis, I can give you a little bit of color that as compared to API 4, which is ruling at $340-380 FOB, our coal cost on a similar GCV will be in the range of $160-170. That's more than 50% discount, and that's how we are sourcing most of our coal.
That's great, sir. Very interesting. Sir, also, I think you have been highlighting this for quite some time, that there is an expectation of power shortage in the country and we are in that situation now. Any chance of expanding the Rajasthan project, Barmer? I think we have an opportunity there. Or entering into new thermal plants, maybe after the green business is separated.
We'll talk about when the green business is separated. At this point of time, we are concentrating more on a renewable growth and we are pretty much excited about that, and we are seeing a very strong trajectory. There are a couple of interesting developments which are taking place that make us more and more optimistic and which we will be happy to talk about in the current quarter or next quarter.
Sure, sir. Sir, last question from my end, that's on the capital cost for pumped hydro projects. Now that we have prepared the DPRs for quite a few projects, how do you see the spend emerging? How much would we be spending, say, on a per megawatt basis?
It's project to project basis and depends what kind of a storage capacity, what kind of evacuation, and what kind of a turbine you are going to deploy. I can tell you on a ballpark number, you should understand that, Pumped storage hydropower equivalent, capital cost is around $70 of the lithium-ion battery, $70-80. It is so competitive, that you are getting a storage capacity, what you are getting from a lithium-ion battery at $70-80, which is having a shelf life of 7-8 years because of the number of cycles it can do. Whereas pumped hydro project will have a shelf life of 100 years. That's what you can see at this point in time.
That's what make us so optimistic about this particular technology and we are working. We are quite confident that it will offer us a better return than a normal utility sector, what it is typically in a renewable project.
Sir, when can we expect first of our project to be commissioned?
You will hear very soon. That's why I said that a couple of developments are very interesting. Interesting developments are happening in the company, and we are working on a multiple sites. And that's why we want to tell you as and when we put all the blocks together and then you will see happening. Very soon, you will be probably in the current financial year, we will come back with something.
Fair enough, sir. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Modi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity once again. Sir, at a group level, sir, we are large procurers of coal overall. Sir, what is the view that you are getting in the near-term pricing? Do you see it going up, down, sideways? If you can throw some light to understand. Because why I'm asking is that, in India also, we've got this INR 12 cap on the exchange. Do you see this going away anytime soon as well, on both fronts?
Yeah, tough question you are asking. Both the questions are very tough for me. One thing which I can say is that at the current gas prices, European power producers find it even remunerative to produce power from buying coal at $350 FOB. So as soon as you see the prices of the gas going down in Europe, you will see the API 4 index and Newcastle index going down. Until that happens, I am not finding any strong reason for moderation of the thermal coal prices in Europe.
In terms of the power prices at INR 12, I think you know, it should be reviewed because you know, given the fuel prices where it is, capping the power prices is not a fair play, because given the track record when the power prices were at INR 2, there was no bottom cap which was fixed. You know that power is a very social and public interest subject, and then this need, this is always seen very differently than the economic logic and rationale in the country. We need to really see that how that could happen. I find it very difficult to comment whether it will be removed or not, but it should be removed.
Sure, sir. Now, again, sir, our receivable days has come off quite significantly, which is commendable. Do you see a structural or some kind of a change in the you know, attitude of the DISCOMs towards the GENCOs? Or it is just that, you know, it's just like JSW's you know, very company-specific thing. Some light on that.
It is changing in a sense that the law is being settled at various forums. In the last 12 years, we have seen as the sector got into difficulty, the DISCOM health, when it had deteriorated, there was a larger amount of the disputes which have happened and then which has been settled by different adjudicating authorities from time to time. Because of which, the more and more avenues of blocking and delaying the payments are getting blocked. I feel that this thing will get streamlined for the industry as a whole. Like for the late payment surcharge, the issue in our case was settled by Supreme Court of India.
Most of the DISCOMs will have now realized that they have no way they can avoid the late payment surcharge, so they are also paying late payment surcharge. Andhra Pradesh dispute is also settled at High Court level. Now, I believe in next 12 months' time it will be settled at Supreme Court level also. Once it is settled, then I think all the contracts will find its sanctity. The DISCOMs will start paying on time, or otherwise they will have to pay the late payment surcharge.
Rahul, if I may add to what Prashant has mentioned.
Yes.
While, I mean, you know, when Prashant has been talking about the general trend and what it looks like and how things have been evolving, in the more here and now, for the quarter April to June, while, you know, our receivables have gone down, and as Prashant was saying, that the quality of that receivable going down is also much better because the overdues have gone down drastically. If you look at the PRAAPTI portal data for the same period at the end of June, the total outstanding from the DISCOMs to the GENCOs was up by 3% at INR 1.3 lakh crore.
Right.
I don't think there has been a structural change already, but probably we are getting there from a system-wide point of view.
Sure, sir. This is very helpful. Just, you know, a couple of last questions from my side is one on the Late Payment Surcharge. I believe, you know, the rules had been changed by the Ministry of Power, and there have been some of the GENCOs who have gone against that and appealed. Anything on that, are we hearing?
You know, for the Late Payment Surcharge, it is already settled by the Supreme Court. We had a case along with the Maharashtra DISCOM, where they were disputing the Late Payment Surcharge, the effective rate also, but it has been settled at Supreme Court. Now, I think that is not at all a case. Of course, it depends company to company, if they want to cite that kind of a settled law. I think every DISCOM is going to honor that part.
Sure. Sir, last question from my side is on the availability of modules. So we've seen a bit of a tightness in the market, not from the EPC, PTC side, but now as there is a BCD which has been imposed. Sir, how do you see the supply chain within India evolving over the next 12-18 months for players like us? Thank you.
Twelve to eighteen months, I'm not quite optimistic in terms of the improvement of the supply chain. Yes, thirty-six months' time, I see that there will be a good amount of supply chain which will get created. As a JSW Energy also, we are now contemplating and looking at this. This is a great opportunity to delve into. At some point of time, you know, we will be also, you know, coming out to play a meaningful role to do certain vertical integration to meet this kind of a requirement.
Perfect, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take one last question from the line of Lavina from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Congrats on a great set of numbers. Just wanted to understand, on your renewable energy capacity ramp-up plans, are you seeing delays by any chance on the ground? Are you on track for your longer term as well as your nearer term targets? Thank you.
We are not seeing delays, we are seeing acceleration, Lavina. As I said that in SECI Tranche X, my scheduled COD is July 2023, whereas I will start commissioning this current quarter itself, and we will complete the project much ahead of the schedule. I want to give you know, another color is that, you know, once I start commissioning much earlier, actually I reduce my IDC and other costs, project costs. This is what we are doing in this kind of a project. Also we are because we have locked in lot of resources and also because of our good cash flows, we are able to accelerate, you know, the growth going forward.
I, that's why I mentioned that while our target is 10 GW by FY 2025, I am quite optimistic to achieve it much earlier than FY 2025. We, as a company, we are seeing acceleration, no delays.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Atul Tiwari from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thanks a lot. Just one, you know, question on this module manufacturing announcement by various players. You mentioned that we are also considering.
Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Tiwari. The audio is not clear from your line. Please use the handset mode.
Is it better now? Sorry.
Yes.
Yeah. Sir, I was asking about this module manufacturing thing that we are also contemplating. If you look at some, you know, industry-wide data, it looks like 30 GW of, you know, manufacturing capacity has already been announced by various peers. While the market size today appears to be more like 10-15 GW. Do you think there is a risk of something similar to what happened with BTG capacities, you know, in 2009-2011 timeframe? You know, where a lot of manufacturers started setting up coal-based BTG capacity, and then ultimately, you know, people had to take a write-off on that. Do you think that something similar could happen with the solar manufacturing as well?
Anything is possible, Atul, but the point what I'm saying is that, module manufacturing has nothing. It's a simple assembly line, and that's where we are not that keen. Rather, the important thing which is there is the polysilicon, which is the heart of the module. That is where, you know, which nobody is having a capacity in the country, and nobody is thinking to produce it in the most economical way. That's where we are contemplating so that we can, you know, get our modules assembled and manufactured on a contract manufacturing basis, by a lot of players who have already set up the capacity and also meet their requirement to supply to the other people.
Okay. Sir, just, I mean, obviously we are not well-versed with, you know, how capital-intensive polysilicon manufacturing is. I mean, would you be able to give some idea about like how capital-intensive it could be and how, and where the technology is probably going to come from? Or is it like a simple enough job that one can do on its own?
That's why I said that we are contemplating and then we are putting all the building blocks together. We are in a process of putting the technology piece, the costing piece, economic viability piece together, and then we will. We see that this is one space to fill in and which will make it a very viable option. As soon as we are able to put that thing in final shape, we will be letting you know.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the manager for closing comments.
Great. Thank you very much, operator and Rahul for hosting. Please feel free to get in touch with us, ladies and gentlemen, if you have any further questions. Good evening.
Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.