Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to third quarter FY 2025 results conference call of IndiGrid Infrastructure Trust, hosted by Nuvama Institutional Equities. 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 touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vikram Aswani from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Thank you, and over to you.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Nuvama Institutional Equities, I welcome you all to the Third Quarter FY 2025 Results Conference call of IndiGrid Infrastructure Trust. We are joined today by the top management of the company, represented by Mr. Harsh Shah, CEO and Whole-time Director, Mr. Naveen Sharma, Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Meghana Pandit, Chief Investment Officer, and Mr. Satish Talmale, Chief Operating Officer. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Harsh Shah for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Hi, thank you, and thank you, everyone, for joining in the quarter three FY 2025 call. We'll follow the agenda of going through the presentation and subsequently answering any questions that you may have. I'm starting with the presentation on slide number three, which is our stated vision to become the most admired vehicle in Asia by focusing on the long-term contract business model, value-added growth, predictable distribution, and optimal capital structure. Based on these, as you can see on slide number four, we build a portfolio of approximately INR 29,400 crores across India, across transmission lines, substations, solar, and battery energy projects. Coming to the quarterly highlights on Slide 6, the quarterly signed Battery Energy Storage Purchase Agreement, which is called BESPA for NVVN battery energy storage project of the capacity of 250 MW, 500 MWh .
We had won the bid in the earlier quarter, the agreements for which are signed, so we will be building this project. We also signed definitive agreements with British International Investment, BII, and Norfund to set up EnerGrid, which will be a $300 million equity platform that should focus on greenfield transmission opportunities and BESS opportunities in India. This will allow us to do more than $1.2 billion-$1.5 billion of projects in this space, which will eventually become the pipeline for IndiGrid to grow. In this quarter, we also commissioned two projects which were awarded to us for the augmentation of our current assets in PTCL, which is our Patran Transmission Company Limited, and Kallam Transmission.
We're happy to commission these projects as these are the first under construction RTM projects which are awarded to IndiGrid, and this is the third project that we have commissioned since we started doing anything under construction. In terms of financial performance, Q3 FY 2025 revenue and EBITDA is 2.4% and 2% year-on-year growth, respectively. AUM and net debt stands at INR 29,400 crores and 59.6%, respectively, which leaves us substantial headroom for us to grow. Collection for the quarter was 100% for transmission assets and business, and 105% for solar business, which is a real deal for us for this quarter.
Our DPU for the run rate that we are providing, we have committed to INR 3.75 a unit, and this will be the third quarter for the financial year where we are paying INR 3.75 a unit, which will be in line with our guidance of INR 15 a unit for FY 2025. Our average transmission availability is marginally lower due to a couple of shutdowns that we have seen in the previous in the portfolio. The solar CUF is in the range of 20.2%. We are able to deliver the sustainable increase in DPU instead of operation. Coming to Slide 7 is an industry update. The peak demand capacity and peak demand capacity has been consistently growing. Peak demand growth has reduced marginally because of the winters, but we believe the long-term trend remains intact, and we will see sizable growth.
Within the sector, augmenting the overall consumption for electricity and transmission and renewable, we are seeing sizable amount of investment and growth happening in this business. Electricity plan for transmission, we are seeing a massive investment opportunity of INR 18,000 crores till 2032. This offers a sizable opportunity for players to participate and build assets to deliver immediately. Out of the overall.
Interrupt. Your voice is getting muffled sometimes. Can you please repeat the last part, please?
Sure. Thank you. So with the overall pipeline of INR 915,000 crore in the transmission segment over the next seven, eight years, we believe that players like us have significant advantage and can capture parts of this growth and grow unit holders' value and provide higher distribution. As we can see on Slide 8, out of the larger pipeline of INR 9 lakh crore, we are already seeing active bids worth INR 58,000 crore, which is currently out for bidding and which will be a target segment for us to evaluate, to explore, and grow. So we are seeing overall a very thriving sector and very good opportunities for players like us to grow. Coming to our quarter three FY 2025 operating performance, I would invite Satish, our COO, to speak about the updates on that front.
Hi, everyone. Thanks, Harsh. So on quarterly operational performance, to start with HSE, so we had no major incident as far as HSE performance is concerned. Zero fatalities, zero medical treatment cases, and zero first aid. We had one minor lost time injury event, which was very, very minor in nature. On overall performance, power transmission, we achieved average availability of 98.55%.
This is slightly lower than our run rate because of two specific events as detailed on the chart for GPTL and JKPTL, that is, outages due to transformer events, which are largely mitigated under insurance coverage. On solar generation, we achieved 380.6 million units, which is generated at 20.2% CUF. From the reliability point of view, trips per line is one of the lowest performance in terms of record performance among several quarters, and substation trips are also lowest as far as reliability is concerned. Solar average plant availability is at 98%.
Key updates increase reliability, which we have taken in the last two, three years of activity, showing in trip per line as well as overall performance. All assets are now on IndiGrid Digital Platform, which is a digital asset platform for predictive maintenance, and we are trying to maintain consistent track record for superior availability and performance. I will hand over to Naveen.
Thank you, Satish, and good evening, everyone. We are on Slide 10. We recorded revenue and EBITDA of INR 772 crores and INR 694 crores, respectively, reflecting 2% YoY growth. NDCF distributable cash flow for the quarter wasINR 333 crores, and the board has approved a distribution of INR 3.75 per unit, representing a 5.6% YoY increase in DPU. For quarterly collections, we achieved 100% for the transmission business and 105% for solar. Over the trailing 12 months, collection performance at the entity level remained above 100%, with both business segments showing similar strength. The DSO as of December 31 stood at 48 days for transmission and 50 days for solar, marking substantial YoY improvement across both segments. Next slide, number 11. The DPU for the quarter stands at INR 3.75 per unit.
This will be distributed as interest, dividend, capital repayment, and other income, amounting to INR 2.75, INR 0.13, INR 0.82, and INR 0.05, respectively. With outstanding units of INR 83.45 crores as on record date, the gross distribution to all unit holders comes to INR 313 crores. The record date for this distribution is January 28th, and unit holders are expected to receive the distribution by February 4th. As of December 31, the NAV per unit was INR 142.3.
Following this quarter's distribution, IndiGrid will have distributed INR 97.22 per unit, totaling INR 5,866 crores. On the right, you can see the YoY distribution trend reflecting stable and scalable growth of 6% over the years. Moving on to Slide 12, there was a typographical error in the slide uploaded earlier, which has since been corrected and re-uploaded. Here we have a waterfall chart detailing the progression from EBITDA to NDCF of generation and distribution.
At the SPV level, we recorded a consolidated EBITDA of INR 704 crores. After accounting for finance income, working capital changes, CapEx, and taxes at the SPV level, the NDCF of generation comes to INR 736 crores. After adjusting for trust-level expenses, finance costs, DSR, working capital changes, taxes, and tax repayment, the NDCF is INR 333 crores. In Q3 FY 2025, we added INR 20 crores to reserves, bringing the closing reserve to INR 510 crores, which exceeds one quarter's DPU based on current guidance. That's all from my side. I will now hand it over to Meghana to continue with the next slides. Over to you, Meghana.
Thanks, Naveen. Hi, good evening, everyone. I'm on Slide 13, which provides an overview of IndiGrid's balance sheet. We continue to remain AAA rated by all the three rating agencies, CRISIL, ICRA, and India Ratings, and the average cost of debt as of 31st of December 2024 was recorded at around 7.65%. The cash balance was around INR 2,175 crores, slightly on the higher side, basically because there was about INR 660 crores of debt which we had raised in December, and it got utilized in January. Part of it which got utilized in January and rest is getting utilized. It also includes around INR 313 crores for this quarter's distribution and almost INR 483 crores for the Australian mark.
Almost 75% or three thirds of the borrowing book is reflected in terms of fixed-rate borrowing, and the net debt to AUM or the leverage ratio is about 59.6% and a very healthy interest coverage ratio of 1.87x. The gross borrowing for IndiGrid stands at around 19,300 crores, split equally between NCDs, bank loans, and ECB, and on the NCD side also, diversified across various investor classes from mutual funds, banks, financial institutions, retail HNI, and so forth. The bar graph that you see at the bottom of the chart reflects the repayment or refinancing schedule over the next few years. For FY 2025, almost everything is almost refinanced.
What you see is the scheduled repayment which is coming up, and FY 2026 onwards, as you can see, it's a well-diversified and termed out borrowing profile, ensuring that we have not bunched up any maturities in any particular year and tried to remain approximately between 12%-13% of gross borrowing, which will come up for refinancing every year. Moving to slide number 14, which talks about the total returns which IndiGrid has been provided since the time we got listed, total returns being reflected in the form of distribution plus price change.
As you can see on the graph, the total absolute return which IndiGrid has delivered since the time we got listed in 2017 is about 140%, translating into an annualized return of about 12%, which when compared with pure debt as well as pure equity indices, on a risk-adjusted basis, you can see IndiGrid has provided superior risk-adjusted returns, risk being demonstrated through beta, which you can see is 0.08 for IndiGrid, whereas for all the other equity indices is quite close to one. Moving forward on slide number 15, to talk about the business outlook, our portfolio strategy continues to remain focused on ensuring stable operations for a predictable and sustainable distribution, while, of course, focusing on value-accretive acquisitions across transmission and solar.
The greenfield development which we have taken up in IndiGrid is enabling us to completely focus on executing the balance augmentation work which is there, as well as the three new transmission projects that we have won, plus the three BESS projects that are also under execution and within timelines for us to execute. In addition to that, given the huge industry opportunity available on both transmission and battery, we are looking to participate in these greenfield opportunities through the EnerGrid platform and also ensure on delivering the DPU guidance of INR 15 for FY 2025.
Parallel to this, of course, ensuring that the balance sheet strength continues to remain, we are looking at optimizing the interest cost and ensuring how the duration of our debt book continues to how we are able to elongate that with respect to the future acquisitions and the refinancing opportunities which come through, and consciously managing the leverage ratio. With about a 59.6% leverage ratio, it has left a significant headroom for us for business growth. Resilient asset management, again, continues to be our forte and focus area to see to it that we maintain at least 99.5% availability across the portfolio, similarly trying to improvise on the self-reliant or end-to-end practices across the portfolio, and seeing to it how we utilize digital tools in terms of predictive analytics and ensuring, again, world-class EHS and ESG practices.
On industry stewardship, we continue to participate in various industry forums, one on the electricity sector side to ensure how private sector participation can improve, and on the other side, through Bharat InvITs Association, also focusing on increasing awareness about IndiGrid's and overall about InvITs. Slide number 16. This slide basically depicts how, since the beginning of FY 2018, various acquisitions that we have done, accretive acquisitions that we have done, have enabled us to, A, increase the DPU on a year-on-year basis, and at the same time, elongate the tenor of maintaining the DPU. And the various colors that you see on the graph reflect various acquisitions that we have done, basically ensuring that the increased DPU we are able to maintain for a much longer period of time and also increase going forward. We'll take a pause here and move on the Q&A section, please.
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 the touch-tone 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. We'll take a first question from the line of Ketan Jain from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Hi, Meghana. Good evening. My question was on the battery storage project we recently signed with NVVN of 250 MW. Ma'am, what does the CapEx look like for this project, and how much of the CapEx goes into buying the battery and EPC or other components? If you could share some light or color on the CapEx and on the project. And also, just a second question to this is, how is it imported? Is the battery alone imported, or the container fully gets imported? If you can just throw some light on these things.
Thank you. I think the answer to your question, first is we are still finalizing the CapEx. It's a dynamic market. It is in the range of, I would say, INR 700 crores-INR 800 crores that we are expecting. Majority of the CapEx, or are they sizable? More than 50% of the CapEx is battery and battery system. There are obviously AC components, civil services, IDC, other works, but the substantial component remains the battery. Next question, whether you import battery, we can explore both. We can import modules, assemble in India, and use the container, or we can also import the container itself. We are exploring both options. We have both options, and both options have its own advantage and disadvantage.
At least at this point in time in India, we do not have any capacity of module manufacturing. The battery modules or cells do come from China. We have some capabilities in India, so we are evaluating that. We are evaluating that option, and based on the overall pros and cons, we'll have to make that decision. But for our first project, for our first project, Kilokri BESS, which is a small one, we have imported containers.
Understood. Understood. So is it fair to assume out of INR 800 crores estimated around, as you said, 55%-60% is battery? EPC would be around 20%-30%?
I don't think I can share those details. I said it is more than 50%. So it's just to give a ballpark that this is the largest item.
Understood.
What is the exact CapEx? I think we'll disclose along with the financials. That's the best time to look at it.
Understood. And just another question with it. How does your strategy, what is your strategy on in terms of when you plan to order the batteries? Are you looking to wait further or looking to order now? Just a general strategy on.
Our general strategy is low-risk strategy. We don't play the game of waiting for further reduction, etc. Whether it is the state of the battery, we try to factor in what is the current market condition and build based on that. And once we build and win, we want to lock in the price as early as possible, so yeah, that's our general strategy.
Super. Thank you, sir. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question. [audio distortion]
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What is your stake in that?
I don't know the exact number, but I think our stake will be in the range of 30%-35% in between that in all three projects from equity contribution perspective.
This is for all three projects?
Yes.
What is the mandate for this? I mean, what is the size of investment that you're looking to do, say, over the next three years through this plan?
I think, see, okay. There are two ways to look at it. One is the InvIT regulation allows us to approximately 10% of our assets. It comes to around $300 million of total size. We don't plan to do that much. And therefore, our contribution to EnerGrid is going to be in the range of $100 million. At this point in time, we have committed $100 million, and the other $200 million is coming from BII and Norfund. Our capital contribution is locked in at $100 million in this joint venture.
Okay, so this is a platform with equity investment of $300 million?
That's correct.
That's the one should think about it and if you leverage it 75, 25, you're looking at potentially $1.2 million.
$1.2 million, $1.5 million. Correct.
Yeah, a nd over three years is what one should think this money will be deployed, or is it a longer period of time?
I mean, three years is a long time. With the current status of the sector, we are seeing a lot of opportunities. But even if we win $1 billion of project, the usual construction timeline is two years, right? So it's reasonable to assume that we will take three years to deploy and then therefore acquire back in IndiGrid when it's commissioned. So I think, yeah, it's a reasonable assumption to take three years. But if we see more opportunities, I think people will be happy to contribute more capital and make it even larger.
Okay. And nonetheless, whenever you acquire, this money will be reinvested, I presume, by the other partners again?
Yes. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. It's everyone's choice. But yes, that's logical as long as we see more opportunities.
Okay. And does it mandate that you have to invest up to INR 200 million, or can it be lower amount as well? What kind of agreement is it? Just trying to understand how big that can be.
Agreement is everybody at par. We are depending on the size of the project that everyone agrees to bid and win will contribute. But the contribution is at par from all partners. So if we win a big project, everybody will share appropriately in the same manner. If you don't win, then nobody will contribute. It's linked to the bids that come across.
Who's the leading partner in terms of deciding on what is the price to bid?
There is no lead. It's a consortium. It's an independent platform. We are putting a separate management team for that. So IndiGrid is not the lead. IndiGrid is, again, our significant minority investor. Similarly, the two investors are there. So it's an independent platform. We are just seeding it, but it's not IndiGrid platform. It's an independent platform that we are seeding it.
Understood. But that understanding is definite that everything will have to be sold to you, or can somebody else also acquire?
No. Yes. That is the reason why IndiGrid is contributing. It has to be sold to IndiGrid.
Yeah. So that's a part of the agreement?
Yes. Yes. Correct. But we are in the lead, but that's part of the agreement.
How do you decide that price? Is there a formula decided early on itself?
It gets decided at the time of the bid between all partners upfront.
Okay. So at the time of bidding for the project, you will decide at what value you will buy?
Yes.
Okay. So are you in a position to disclose for these projects what is the potential value that can come in?
I think we'll have to check disclosures because I don't remember how much we have disclosed in the agreements around that. We will check, but without knowing whether we have disclosed or not, it's difficult to disclose right now on the call.
Understood. That's helpful. And lastly, just a broader sector. Do you still see the momentum on bidding continuing for next two years, similar level to what we saw last year, close to INR 1 lakh crore of bidding, or do you think it will potentially slow down since a lot has been done already?
No. I think next two years will also be exciting. There will be significant investment continue in this sector. Now, I don't know year- on- year because year- on- year is impossible to track, right? Nobody looks at this business year on year. We look at it in three to five-year trend. So sometimes bids that are going to be done in this year get preponed to last year or last year bids get postponed to next year. So all the calendar and financial year may move. But in general, as you ask, two, three-year bucket, we are pretty excited there's a sizable amount of bids coming.
Okay, and would you see potential impact of slowdown that we are seeing in signing PPAs, etc., on the grid investment as well, or that is largely independent of that?
I think it's largely independent because, see, if you link the two, then when you sign PPA, you will not have the grid, right? So effectively, if you slow the investment on grid side and BESS side, eventually, when you need it, you will not have it. So I think that policymakers understand that. So I don't see material impact on the rollout of transmission lines because of a little bit of delay here and there in signing PPAs.
Understood. That's real. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ravish Chandra, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, Mr. Harsh Shah and the team. Congratulations once again for the consistency. I have two questions. One is to Mr. Satish regarding this operation efficiency. Slightly reduced this quarter, 98.5%. Will it affect on our incentive, what we get when we maintain the availability? That is the first question. And he also mentioned that it is covered under the insurance. Means there is some damage to the equipment or something maybe. And the second question, Mr. Harsh Shah, this KKR now sponsored, their percentage has drastically reduced to 1%. So is it okay to have 1% as per the I think so? But in the slide number 21, we are having GIC 17% and other FI 17%. But in the left side, KKR and GIC put together 35%. So that's the second question. Maybe that's it. Thank you.
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for the question.
Thank you. I'll answer your first question, then Satish, you can go for the operation. I think the first question. Is there a need to worry because KKR's partner sponsor has less stake now, just a 1%, 3% stake now? My response is no. The business is not run by sponsor. The business is run by investment manager, which is me, Satish, Meghana. All of us are part of investment managers. The entire management team runs the business. The board, the independent board runs the business.
And that is 100% owned by KKR. And KKR, like many other institutional capital managers, is a capital manager. And there is a global control of fiduciary rule. So I don't think there is an impact on business or governance of any kind just because of KKR or rather KKR funds investment reducing to 1% because even the investment at IndiGrid level was not KKR balance sheet. It was the fund of KKR in which KKR itself was not a majority owner. There were other investors, right?
KKR's role, whether as a sponsor or IndiGrid investment managers, is to manage the infrastructure money and capital well. So that has not changed. They continue to remain 100% managers of the investment managers. So I don't think there will be any impact on the business just because of shareholding reduction. Rather, I would say the liquidity event of one investor monetizing has resulted in several investors, new investors, ability to participate. And in general, liquidity has gone up.
So I think there is no negative impact on that. To your second question, GIC remains invested. FII holding is at 35%, which includes GIC, other FIIs put together. So that's the description. There are other FIIs like Tribeca, like IMCO, like GIC, Schroders, variety of names over there. To put together, they own about 35%. That's what the slide is trying to communicate.
Okay. Clear. Clear. Thank you, Harsh Shah.
Thank you. I think, Satish, you're over to you.
Yeah. Thanks, Harsh. Yeah, you're right. Actually, these particular two assets, GPTL and JKPTL, that is attributing to the availability drop in this quarter. And this is mainly due to transformer breakdown events. And to your point, yes, it is impacting incentive as well as revenue, but it is largely covered by business interruption policy coverage via insurance.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Satish.
Thank you.
Thank you. And best wishes to the team to continue to have similar good performance. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we'd like to remind participants to press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Dhvanil Raut from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. I just wanted a brief overview on your distributions and why the SPV debt repayment was a bit more than what it is usually. And I just want to know why you all have given such a bifurcation. Some more light on that. Thank you.
Naveen, you want to answer that?
Hello?
Yeah. Sorry. Yeah.
Yeah. Ssubsidiary , it was in the slide, subsidiary debt repayment is limited to INR 10 crore. So considering the debt, etc., it's not that significant. And talking about this waterfall, it's just to give investor more visibility on how operational performance like EBITDA is converted into how from EBITDA we are working out NDCF generation and distribution, etc. If you have any specific question on this, I can help you with that. But largely, this detail or waterfall is to educate investors. That's how operational numbers are converting into NDCF.
Yeah. Just I wanted to say that the SPV repayment was almost more than double the sum of what it was the last quarter.
Okay. To answer that question, very simply put, it's management's discretion whether to pay interest or capital repayment is almost zero. There is, we as InvIT has to pass through the manner in which SPV distributes money to unit holders or to InvIT itself. Under the tax regulation, we are supposed to exactly mirror that, right? So in some SPV, sometimes in some quarter, you want more cash than interest. Then we have to upstream the rest cash as capital repayment. It's not that Naveen decides that this time we want to do more capital repayments through less interest payment, right? It's the cash flow of that SPV is higher than the interest for that quarter. You will see more. The next quarter, if the cash flow is lower, you will see more interest than capital repayment. So it's completely driven by accounting and the tax regulation.
It's not a discretion that we increase. And now, I think in the number of SPVs that we see is sizable in our portfolio. So first level of variability happens on SPV. The second is sum of parts, right, of 30 SPVs. So it's not that we decide what we want to do. It is done by the same formula, same process as being required by tax and heavy regulation. So I think that's our answer. It does not impact investors greatly because if the capital is higher, probably the tax impact is deferred, and it's in the form of capital nature. But it's not that we have ability to change all that, right? So I think it's just the way the tax and the accounting is structured.
Okay. Thank you so much. And all the best.
Thanks, sir. My bad, Dhvanil, I could not understand your question appropriately.
Oh, I'm sorry. No, I just wanted some clarification on how you all bifurcate your distributions, and I guess, s ir has already mentioned that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
He's covered. Yes. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Pratik Kothari from Unique PMS. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, Harsh. Hi, Meghana, and thank you. Just one question, Harsh. How should we think about the role of sponsor and what part do they play in our trust structure?
Okay. Very interesting. See, I mean, there is a very specific role that SEBI regulation has described of sponsor. It's a list of activity they need to do. And the biggest one, okay, is to contribute assets because when they start the business, the sponsor is the one who has established the trust and starts the business, right? Subsequent to that, right, the role of sponsor is very, very limited because the investment manager is the one entity which makes decisions about the business, the operations, the investments, everything to do with the trust. So if you compare the role between sponsor and investment manager, it's investment manager. I would say, I don't know how to say proportion, but it's like sponsor has no role to that extent, right?
Now, in many of the cases, depending on the size of the InvIT, longevity of the InvIT, evolution of the InvIT or REIT, the sponsor's own investment manager, right, in many times. In that scenario, people do tend to assume that they are same, right? And therefore, sponsor and investment managers are used interchangeably. But if you dig one level deeper, you realize that the roles are different. And the business is run by the investment manager, not the sponsor. So at least in our context, where the sponsor does not own the investment manager because the sponsor is a fund of KKR, rather investment manager and its parent control the sponsor, right? In our case, that's the reality. So the role is pretty small or negligible in my.
Correct. And is it mandatory now by law to have a sponsor? I mean, always or we are past that?
It is not mandatory to have the sponsor by law. However, SEBI has changed the regulation several times, so it is a possibility that you can have investment manager sponsored InvIT. Okay, so there's no sponsor, but the investment manager itself is sponsored. It's possible, but there are a variety of steps and lock-ins and all that, so the original sponsor lock-ins have been extended to a perpetual lock-in of 1%, right, so it needs to be seen, and if you want to become an investment manager sponsored entity, you need to go back to unit holders and take 75% unit holders needs to agree to that, which is a very steep threshold, so any such change is extremely difficult, but it is possible.
Correct. Correct. Second on this battery storage, given until now the assets that we were acquiring were either 35 years or 25 in solar, from an asset liability perspective, I mean, would battery incrementally make more sense for us given the kind of liability profile that we have here in our country?
I mean, see, we look at IRR. Okay? And when we are looking at IRR to acquire a particular project, I mean, yes, I would like to make the same IRR for a 35-year project because of the same amount of work we are assuring with them for a longer period. So I would still prefer long-term concession because that offers you a longer-term visibility. Having said so, it is not possible to have very long concessions on batteries because the lives are relatively shorter. So you don't want to take that risk. But I don't think ALM is a decision-making criteria in investment in battery. I think the decision-making criteria remains of getting good risk-return rewards and good quality cash flows. That's the focus from our side.
Correct. Correct. And last one, I mean, this tie-up that you have done with Norfund and BII, and this is basically all incrementally new greenfield assets that we'll build for and eventually acquire. But in terms of existing assets, I mean, do you see any activity happening in there? Or for us, incrementally, it is this route which will kind of get us assets?
I mean, see, other than the under construction assets, our assets are operating portfolios, right? There is limited activity happening over there, and there is an annuity contract. There is limited activity happening over there. The growth driver remains new assets, and EnerGrid remains the engine for us to acquire more operating assets.
No, sir. Actually, my question was earlier, we used to get these assets from other asset owners, [audio distortion] , or whoever else in the market, the one which is already in operation for a while. So do you see any activity happening in there or that has kind of stabilized, and now this might be the route for us to go ahead?
See, I think there are always M&A activity happening. Okay? These activities resulting to signing, that's when we can announce that we have done something, right? I would rather look at it that the M&A activity can always happen, but the control is not in our hand, right? And so there are two people to the decision-making. We have to wait and wait for the right opportunity. I would rather look at it as these are two engines. One is a normal M&A product, and the second, EnerGrid acquires a mix of projects and executes which we acquire. It's a new, I would say, it's a dual-engine aircraft, right? Then you figure out which one fires first and more, then we work on that.
Correct. Correct. Agreed. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Tanveer, an independent investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks. Am I audible?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Okay. Yeah. So hi. I just wanted to know, Harsh, when are we in terms of including InvIT as a part of Index? I know it's been spoken about a lot since a long while now. I just wanted to understand what is the hesitation from SEBI's point of view or any regulator's point of view. And actually, I've written to tell you all the matter. So I just wanted to understand where we are in terms of that. Because I know there was some talk about including REITs and InvIT as a part of frontline indices. Any idea where we are on that?
So I think thanks for writing to SEBI. And we are pretty keen that this happens, and we believe that's the right thing to do. However, there are many decision-makers. There is SEBI. There is AMFI. There are mutual funds. There are exchanges, right? So there are many stakeholders of this problem. And there used to be a variety of issues holding it up. One of the issues was that InvIT and REIT had a differential tax treatment in terms of holding period. And therefore, for funds of funds, it caused tax issue to invest into index in which there is one constituent having a different holding period for tax, right? So it throws some issues. Last year, we moved that and brought everything at par, which is great. So one issue is resolved.
There are other issues with respect to liquidity, tracking error, how mutual fund will do it, and associated impacts, which at this point in time all the stakeholders of Bharat InvITs Association, Indian REITs Association are pursuing actively with all stakeholders. We have more on the receiving end, so we are waiting for it. But there is lacking on this front, and trying to SEBI exchanges. I think the more the regulators will be keen to make decision, I would think.
Yeah. Because Naveen has been talking about this, about the potential growth in the REITs and InvITs in India. But I mean, this inclusion has already happened. So I just thought, do you have any idea, ballpark, if it will be a year, two years, anything?
No, no. I don't have idea when it will happen or not, right? Eventually, it's a decision of regulators. So I can't give a timeline to that. I would want it to happen yesterday, but it's not in my hands, right? It is authority of regulators that operates. And obviously, as I said, we are making representations. Bharat InvITs Association is making representation.
So you all are having active conversations, maybe quarterly or bi-annually on this matter. Is that correct?
[audio distortion]
Okay. Okay, Harsh. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Krishna Kumar Nilambar, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
I have been an investor in InvIT since 2006, and I am pleased with the returns I have received to date. As I plan for the future, I would like to kindly request an estimate of the total expected distribution per unit for the next 25 years based on the current portfolio. I fully appreciate that providing such an estimate is inherently challenging, particularly given the dynamic nature of various influencing factors such as interest rates, government policies, technological advancement, physical performance, etc. These elements are subject to change and are difficult to predict with certainty. While I understand the complexities involved in such projections, I would be grateful for any conservative estimates or insights you may be able to provide considering the existing portfolio. Thanks.
Thank you, Krishna , for remaining investor of IndiGrid for such a long time. See, as you rightly put, it is very difficult for us to project as a guidance for 25 years. However, we have enough disclosures for you to make it. Are the valuation reports that are available for each asset provide you the EBITDA flow, revenue EBITDA flow for 25, not 25, 35 years also, right, entire life? It provides a full cash flow revenue generation. If you or somebody of your advisor can make a basic financial model based on that and on the finance cost, interest cost, you'll be able to reach a very good estimate, right? And management for us to commit anything beyond which is obviously disclosed in a right format, right? So it's very difficult.
But the independent valuer works with us and discloses all operating and financial details in the valuation report, which allows you to build the team, right? I would recommend doing that because that information is already available. So the difference is the information is there. What we cannot share is interest rate, leverage, tax. That we are not allowed to share. But we already shared all the operating assumptions, availability, generation, everything publicly. So you can very well download that and apply some prudent measures of interest rate to come to that conclusion. I think that's more appropriate. Beyond that, we are not authorized to share.
I'm a senior citizen. So a substantial part of my retirement corpus is invested in this InvIT. So should I be expected around INR 400 for the next 25 years?
A sizable amount of corpus of mine is also invested in InvIT . But I don't think I can answer that saying what we can expect, right? It is an InvIT. It's not a bond. So I cannot answer that. I'm sorry. But as I can say, even a substantial part of my investment is also in InvIT, right? So I think that's an easier way to answer that.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll move on to the next question from the line of Ketan Jain from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. I just had a follow-up, sir, on the battery project of NVVN. What CapEx you mentioned, is that project eligible for VGF funding? Or does it include the VGF funding?
The project is eligible for VGF funding. I am not able to comment right now exactly how much VGF is included in that. So that's too fine a detail. But including the VGF funding, yes.
Yeah. So any VGF you get will reduce, I mean, will be a repayment of your CapEx, right? I mean, they will fund you. Or is that excluding the INR 800 crores?
No, sir. That's what I'm saying. I don't know exactly when the INR 800 is net of it or it will be after. I need to check that. I'm not a CapEx member. I have to, yeah.
Okay. So anyone who wins the VGF tender will certainly get a VGF. That's right understanding, right?
Yes. There are obviously parameters of your performance, VGF on day one.
Understood.
For five years, right? The first-year milestone, second-year milestone, etc. So you need to, it's like a hybrid annuity, right? It's not like you get it, you have commission, and you get it back.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take a next question from the line of Sachin Jog, retail investor. Please go ahead.
Good evening. Can you hear me?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Good evening to everyone. Like the previous speaker, I'm also a long-term investor, and I have been invested with IndiGrid for a long, long time. And I'm very happy with the returns that have been delivered till date. Thank you for the performance of the InvIT till date, a nd congratulations again on a very good quarterly result. While it may sound repetitive, my question is around the KKR holding falling to 1%. Does it raise any concerns of conflict of interest because KKR does hold 100% in the investment manager but has a very small holding now in the trust as such?
Yeah. No, certainly, I think you have the right question. Thank you for being a long-term investor. I would give you a slightly different context both from regulatory and practical aspect. When you invest in any mutual fund, right, any mutual fund, the investment from the sponsor of the mutual fund is almost zero, right, in any of the schemes that you invest in. But we invest in the mutual fund because we know that the investment manager or the asset management company has the capability to run that business, has the capability and the governance framework to run that business well in governance in the right way.
And there is an oversight of regulator on the investment manager, which is the AMC. So if they are doing anything wrong, there will be immediate action from the regulator, right? That's the philosophy because of this mutual fund industry work, right? There's an AMC which invests for the mutual fund, right? And the mutual fund industry today has over INR 30 lakh crores of assets, right? But out of INR 30 lakh crores, how much is the mutual fund themselves or the AMC's own? It would not be 1% also, right?
So it is similar to that. The InvITs are the fund. The investment manager is the AMC, Asset Management Company. And why do InvITs or other asset management companies run the business? Because it is a knowledge-based business where you have the knowledge of investment management, business, running the business. So it is entirely ran by professionals and the independent boards under the strict governance framework of SEBI. So there are incentives of doing the right things. So we earn more fee if we keep doing the right things and grow in reputation.
If we do wrong things, then we get fired, right? Because from SEBI, you can find us. Unit holders can change the investment manager. So there is adequate incentive and disincentive in this model to work for. To answer earlier question, the same way I answered earlier, KKR was not the sponsor. KKR's fund was the sponsor, in which KKR was not the majority investor. Other investors were invested in the fund, right? Like KKR-owned investment manager is managing InvIT. KKR also managed other global funds who were the sponsor. And those are the funds we have sold, not KKR balance sheet. KKR balance sheet remains invested in the manager. And therefore, the business has not changed.
And therefore, I don't see any worry about governance or conflict of interest just because the stake has reduced from the earlier also, KKR fund owned 23%. Out of that fund, KKR was not a material investor in the fund itself, right? So it is a global business which is ran on the governance and the trust and skill of asset management, and that's what drives the business.
So thank you for the reply. But is KKR going to make more now through fees as an investment manager than through the DPUs that you pay out? And in that context, having two members of KKR on the board, that is the point in terms of corporate governance.
No, I think it's a very good thing that you see. If KKR wants to change the fees of investment manager, then before. They were charging the same fees before. They're charging the same fees now. If they want to change, we'll have to convene unit holder voting, right? It's not that KKR can decide how much fee they want to charge. Second, I would say KKR presence on the board of IIML is a great positive for IndiGrid because KKR is not presenting over here their presence to make more money out of. KKR board members are there as global experts on money management and ensuring that the governance framework is implemented, right? As they will do for other trillions of dollars they manage, right? Sorry, billions of dollars. They have overall globally $300 billion of money that KKR manages, right?
And if IndiGrid is $3 billion, it's 1% of the overall global AUM. So KKR expertise is of great help to IndiGrid and investment manager. And I would say it is taken positively by institutional investors, retail investors, credit rating agencies, debt investors, everyone. So I would rather say it's a great positive. And the amount of fee that we earn is anyway very small, right? So I don't think that, and anyway, fees are public, but I don't think that's sufficient for me to really make people change their stand, right? There's a much bigger stake of reputation and global business for KKR to manage.
Thank you. So is there any other listed or unlisted InvIT that has such kind of a structure where the minuscule percentage holding in the InvIT as such or a REIT and total management 100% holding in the IIML? Are you aware of that? Because I have not seen it in any other InvIT. Are we unique in that sense?
No, I don't know. Honestly, I have to study, but honestly, every InvIT is different, right? We have a track record of seven years, eight years now. No other InvIT also has a track record of eight years now. Maybe one InvIT has, other than us, but so I don't think they are comparable, right? Because eventually, one's got to look at not just the shareholding, the track record, the business delivery, performance, all of it put together. But again, having said so, I have not studied it, so difficult for me to answer what other InvITs are.
Whatever I did try to find out as a retail investor best can. I honestly, at least in the listed environment, did not find any such structure. And that is why this KKR stake falling was a bit of a concern. But I think if you are looking at an assurance.
Why do we have to compare percentage of shareholding in different InvITs? How is it relevant?
No, no. The shareholding of the investment manager versus the shareholding that the investment manager has in the InvIT.
I understand, but how is it relevant?
It's skin in the game.
Skin in the game is not important over here, but once you have delivered a Sharpe ratio performance, and especially if you talk about skin in the game, therefore it's important to understand that there are different unit holders. If Esoteric, who is the current sponsor, was unit holder of IndiGrid, Esoteric itself is not KKR. Behind Esoteric, there were other LPs which are not KKR. So by that logic, even six months ago, KKR was not invested here. They are not investors today, right? It's their fund which is the investor. So you've got to understand that level of detail to understand the skin in the game. Just looking at percentages superficially will not give you the full picture.
As a retail investor, I am hopefully getting that assurance from the management that there is nothing to worry in this 1% shareholding.
Yeah. Sure thing. Yes, sir.
Okay. So again, the next question is, why are we holding such a large reserves of payout? It is close to over INR 6 now. So why is it that we are holding such a large reserve?
Okay. No, I think a very good question, boss. I think, see, our business, as I said, is of conservatism, predictability. And our principle is that come what may, we have to meet our predictions and predictability, predictable distribution. So INR 6 is one and a half quarter worth of distribution, right? Just four years ago in COVID, quarter one of March, financial year 2021, there were zero cash flows, right? Because nobody went to office. But IndiGrid still paid the distribution.
How do you think we paid the distribution, right? Because we saved the distribution from earlier distribution and kept the cushion of anything going wrong in the business, up or down that can happen in the business. We should have the ability to meet our obligations to our unit holders. And that's very simple, right? We want to keep a quarter or quarter and a half of distribution.
The world is volatile. Capital markets are volatile. We have seen COVID. A variety of things can happen. So having a one and a half quarter of distribution is, in my mind, the prudent practice. And a board's mind is prudent practice. So that's why we are continuing with it, honestly, right? We don't want to shock. We want to be able to deliver to you and the other unit holders in the most volatile scenarios also.
Okay. So I think in some previous calls, you had mentioned very clearly that a one-quarter DPU was something that you would want to retain. So we are INR 2 extra on that. So can we expect maybe a payout extra in the next quarter?
No, we do not believe in bonus payouts. We believe in predictable payouts and guidance on that. So we don't usually do bonus payout because it does not help anyone. Second is there is a little bit of additional NDCF that we have gathered because this year's collection has been more than what we expect, okay? More than 100%, actually, in nine months, which is rare. But one's got to be careful that when you receive more than 100%, that means in the next quarter or next year, we'll receive less than 100%, right? So the INR 2 will be used over there then, right? Because if [Foreign language] , right?
So you've got to be ready for those quarter-on-quarter movements. So we don't think that this is a long-term strategy that we'll have one and a half quarter, two quarter, three quarter distribution. But on the other hand, our job is to ensure balancing risk versus predictability. So we always go for predictability. And if at all we are increasing the distribution, we increase the distribution for the entire year. And that we usually do in the quarter four of the year.
Okay. So with such a strong reserve, that means can we then safely assume that the 3%-6% incremental DPU, we can expect it in the next year?
That has to be your assumption, sir. We cannot comment on that third quarter for reserves.
Because you're holding a large reserve of DPU, and you're saying that it is the predictability. So if it is predictability, then logically, we can expect that, right? As a retail investor.
Predictability is your assumption and expectation, and management, we cannot commit on the future payout, right?
Thank you so much for being so patient with the question.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take a last question from the line of Sarvesh Gupta from Maximal Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Harsh. Thanks for giving the opportunity.
Sarvesh, can you use your handset mode, please? Your voice is not very clear.
Yeah. Hello. Are you able to hear me?
Yes.
Yeah. So just one question. Now I think we are allowed to go up to 10% on the under-construction assets. Currently, I see that AUM is very small. But now you are beginning to get into all these newer things like EnerGrid, etc. So how do you – this is something unlike acquisition – is a bit more under your control. Given the market opportunities, how do you see this percentage going up?
See, it again depends on how much bids we win. But as I said, to EnerGrid, we will contribute $100 million, which is around INR 850 crores of capital in the next three years. Whether it gets contributed, whether it's INR 600 crores, INR 400 crores, or INR 850 crores, depends on how much we win, right? That's not in our hands. But yeah, the commitment today is $100 million, which is around INR 850 crores.
No, apart from EnerGrid, given that you might be having some sense of the opportunities in this space, do we expect this to reach to the maximum possible limit, which is 10%?
We're doing all incremental development at EnerGrid. Whatever we will do, we'll do in EnerGrid. That's our preference. That will start. We are not doing half of it here and half of it in EnerGrid separately, right? Our goal is to do all of it at EnerGrid at one go. At this point in time, our commitment is to cap at $100 million. Depending on how much that gets used and built, we will see the next tranche.
Okay. And there are three partners. So I think the BII, they are contributing the capital. Techno will do EPC and then gain the EPC margin. And you will take all these assets under your book after the assets are operationalized. Is that the right assumption?
That's correct. But Techno is only for two projects, which is Dhule and Ishanagar. Techno is not the only contractor in EnerGrid. They can be for future projects. But the current investor and unit and equity holder for only two projects, which is Ishanagar and Dhule.
Okay. Okay. Understood. And what is there for BII and Norfund? Because now these assets will also get released after a while to you, to IndiGrid. So what are they for apart from the funding for the under construction assets? What are they gaining out of this?
They are financial and multilateral institutions. Their investment philosophy is to invest and develop. So they are investing in these projects to develop capacity in India. They will make returns. So they are a financial investor. So that's what they are doing here.
Okay. And finally, on these under-construction assets, so when you calculate your NAVs, they are not contributing anything, but there will be a drag of debt against these investments. So does it negatively impact your NAV being in the under-construction assets?
They do not because we do the NAV or the valuation of under-construction projects at cost when we are investing that, so it is canceling the debt invested in that. It is not a drag.
Okay. Understood. Thank you. And very much congratulations for your coming quarters.
Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments. Over to you. Any closing comments, sir?
Give me a minute.
Sure.
Yeah. So thank you very much for all the investors who joined the call today, and thank you for all the support for owning IndiGrid units, as well as understanding our business well and asking the questions every quarter to understand the business world even better, so we welcome these questions. We believe our role is to explain our business to our unit holders and others, so these are the calls in which we have the opportunity to talk and describe our business, so we really look forward to this every quarter, and I think we believe this is a very exciting time to be in this business, and hope as well as we'll work towards contributing the predictable growth that we have been able to deliver over the last eight years. I'm looking forward to the next quarterly call with all of you. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Nuvama Institutional Equities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.