Protean eGov Technologies Limited (BOM:544021)
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647.55
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At close: May 22, 2026
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Q4 25/26

May 21, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Protean eGov Technologies Ltd Q4 FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by Go India Advisors LLP. 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 Ms. Pushpa Mani, Head IR of Protean eGov Technologies Limited. Thank you. Over to you.

Pushpa Mani
VP and Head of Investor Relations, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thanks. Good evening, everyone. I welcome you all to the Q 3 and FY 2026 results discussion. You must have received the results, press release, and investor presentation of the company, which is available on BSE and NSE, as well as on the company's website. As usual, we will start the forum with the opening remarks by our CEO and CFO, and then we will open the floor for the question and answer session. If any of your questions remain unanswered, you may reach out to us afterwards. The management on today's call will be represented by Mr. V. Easwaran, Full-Time Director and CEO; Mr. Rakesh Dosi, Chief Business and Products Officer; Mr. Sandeep Mantri, CFO; and myself, Pushpa Mani, Head Investor Relations.

Before we begin, I would like to mention that some of the statements in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature, and we believe that the expectations contained in these statements are reasonable. However, these statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may lead to different results. With this, I invite our MD, Mr. V. Easwaran, to address you all. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

V. Easwaran
COO and Interim CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Hello, Pushpa, and good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Protean eGov Technologies earnings call for the Q4 and the full year ended March 31st, 2026. India's digital economy continues to witness strong momentum, driven by rapid formalization, rising internet penetration, increasing financial inclusion, and continued expansion of digital public infrastructure across sectors. Over the last few years, India has emerged as a global leader in population-scale digital systems with platforms such as UPI, Aadhaar, and Pension, transforming the delivery of financial and citizen services at unprecedented scale. Simultaneously, increasing adoption of digital identity, pension inclusion, and open digital ecosystems across sectors such as insurance, healthcare, and agriculture continue to create large long-term opportunities for technology-led infrastructure providers like Protean.

Against this backdrop, FY 2026 has been a landmark year for Protean as we continue to strengthen our position as one of India's leading digital public infrastructure companies. Our performance during the year reflects the strength of our core businesses, continued market leadership across critical population scale ecosystems, and our ability to participate meaningfully in India's rapidly expanding digital economy. Coming to our financial performance, FY 2026 was a milestone year for Protean as we delivered our highest ever consolidated revenue from operations of INR 998 crores, reflecting a strong 18.7% year-on-year growth. EBITDA grew strongly by 27% to INR 188 crores, with EBITDA margins improving to 17.6%. Adjusted profit after tax stood at INR 105 crores despite continued investments in new growth initiatives.

These results demonstrate the resilience of our diversified business model and the increasing relevance of digital infrastructure-led services in India's formalization journey. Turning to our core businesses. Our PAN Services business continued to deliver strong performance during the year, with revenue growing 17.5% year-on-year to INR 498 crores. We continue to maintain our leadership in this segment with a 59% market share, issuing more than 4.7 crore PAN cards during FY 2026. With increasing digitization and formalization of the economy, PAN remains a foundational enabler for financial inclusion, compliance, and access to formal financial services. Protean continues to play a pivotal role in this ecosystem by powering secure, scalable, and population-scale tax identity infrastructure for millions of citizens across the country. Our CRA Service business continues to show resilient growth, with FY 2026 revenue growing by 7.5% to INR 304 crores.

The broader pension ecosystem in India is witnessing rapid expansion led by regulatory reforms, increasing awareness, and rising financial inclusion. There is an encouraging 13% growth in subscribers added during the year, with more than 1.5 crore new CRA subscribers, capturing 96% of incremental subscriber additions during the year. We also onboarded more than 3,000 corporates during FY 2026, which is the highest ever annual addition for the company. These numbers reinforce the scale, trust, and operating strength of our platform. During the year, PFRDA introduced several progressive reforms aimed at improving pension inclusion and accessibility. Initiatives such as NPS Sanchay are expected to significantly improve participation from India's informal sector, which constitutes nearly 90% of total workforce.

Simplified onboarding, increased flexibility in withdrawals and investment, and broader accessibility are expected to accelerate long-term pension adoption across the country. Coming to identity services segment, revenue for FY 2026 stood at INR 92 crore. We continue to see volume growth across most foundational ID products. We remain optimistic on the long-term opportunity driven by Digital India initiatives, rising digital authentication requirements. Our focus continues to remain on value-added solutions like eSignPro, RISE with Protean, and KYC search and report solutions. Our new businesses continued to gain traction during FY 2026, with revenue from the segment increasing nearly 3x year-on-year to INR 103 crores.

The company continued to strengthen its presence across emerging digital public infrastructure opportunities with strategic RFP projects like CERSAI T-CKYC, CKYCRR 2.0 , and Bima Sugam. Further, UIDAI's Aadhaar Seva Kendra mandate is progressing well and successful rollout of 44 Aadhaar Seva Kendras across 20 states and union territories. Revenue generation from these centers has commenced with early performance in line with expectations. From a financial standpoint, our balance sheet remains extremely strong with healthy cash reserves and zero debt, giving us the flexibility to continue investing in innovation, platform expansion, and new growth opportunities.

As we move into FY 2027, our strategic priorities remain clear. Deepening leadership in core DPI ecosystem, expanding pension and Social Security participation, scaling enterprise and platform-led services, driving operating leverage while continuing strategic investments, and taking India Stack global. As we enter the next phase of growth, I am also delighted to inform that Mr. Ajay Rajan will join us as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Protean. This effect from June 1st, 2026. With his extensive experience across banking, digital transformation, and working with fintech ecosystem, we believe Protean is well-positioned to further strengthen its leadership in India's evolving digital economy.

As we conclude FY 2026, we remain optimistic about the business opportunities ahead for the company backed by strong fundamentals, deep domain expertise, and a growing portfolio of transformative initiatives. I would like to sincerely thank our team for their dedication and our investors for their continued trust and support. Thank you. With that, I would now like to hand over to our CFO, Mr. Sandeep Mantri, to discuss the financials. Thank you.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you, V. Easwaran. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. As artificial intelligence increasingly reshape the global technology landscape, the role of digital public infrastructure platform is expected to evolve from being transaction processing systems to becoming more intelligent, interoperable, and predictive digital ecosystem. AI-led automation, analytics, and decision intelligence are expected to significantly enhance citizen service delivery, fraud detection, personalization, and operational efficiency across large-scale public platforms. This evolution aligns strongly with Protean long-term strategic positioning as a trusted digital public infrastructure company, managing population-at-scale platform across taxation, pension, identity, and other citizen services. With this now, let me take you to the financial performance for the Q4 and full year ended March 31st, 2026. First, I'll talk about quarter, and then I'll go to the yearly numbers.

This quarter, we have closed revenue at INR 308 crores, which is a growth of 38% YoY as compared to INR 222 crores in same quarter last year. This was primarily driven by healthy performance across our core businesses, along with increasing momentum in new and emerging business segment. Revenue for this quarter also include INR 44 crores on account of storage charges. If you talk about EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 53 crores, reflecting a robust growth of 55% YoY, supported by improved operating leverage and higher operational efficiencies. Consequently, EBITDA margin expanded by 208 basis points to 16.5% in this quarter from 14.4% in the corresponding quarter of last year. We talk about adjusted profit after tax. Adjusted profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 31 crores, marking a growth of 53% YoY with PAT margin of 9.6%.

The adjusted PAT include a one-time statutory impact of INR 75 lakhs for the quarter relating to implementation of new labor code. Exclude, sorry. I mean, exclude. Coming to the annual performance, FY 2026 performance. This year has been a strong year for Protean from both a growth and profitability standpoint. As rightly said by Easwaran, during the year, the company delivered consolidated revenue from operation of INR 998 crore, which is the highest in the history of the company, registering a healthy growth of 19% YoY. EBITDA for FY 2026 stood at INR 188 crore as against INR 149 crore in FY 2025, which reflect a robust growth of 27% on a YoY basis. Also, EBITDA margin expanded by 125 basis points to 17.6%, driven by improved operational leverage.

Adjusted profit after tax for FY 2026 stood at INR 105 crore despite continued investment toward technology capabilities, execution readiness for large-scale mandates, and expansion of our digital public infrastructure platforms. PAT margin remained healthy at 9.8% during the year. From a cost perspective, we continue to maintain a disciplined approach while simultaneously investing for future growth and sustainability. Employee benefit expenses, which is part of cost, increased during the year, primarily on account of capability building, strategic hiring, and strengthening execution team for large-scale project. Other expenses also saw calibrated increases linked to infrastructure expansion, technology investment, and project execution.

We delivered an earnings per share of INR 24.8 for FY 2026, up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis, and the board has recommended a final dividend of 100%, which means INR 10 per share, and approximately 40% payout on our PAT, reflecting our commitment to sharing wealth and profits with shareholders. Key project win we talked about earlier also include Bima Sugam and Aadhaar Seva Kendra mandate from UIDAI and a strategic mandate to build an AI-powered digital agriculture platform for Ethiopia. The total outstanding order book as on date stood at more than INR 1,500 crore. During the year, we acquired 4.95% strategic stake in NSDL Payments Bank with an investment of INR 30.2 crore.

This gives us an opportunity to collaborate closely with them in co-creating replicable certified digital banking technology, which can further be deployed across BFSI industry. Our business model continue to remain asset-light and cash generative. During FY 2026, the company continued to generate healthy operating cash flow supported by stable collection and working capital management. From a balance sheet standpoint, we remain in a strong financial position.

As on March 31, 2026, the company had cash equivalent and marketable security of more than INR 850 crore and continue to remain completely debt-free. This provides us significant flexibility to pursue growth opportunity, invest in technology and innovation and maintain long-term financial resilience. As we move into FY 2027, while we remain cautious with the ongoing war situation affecting economies and supply chain across the world, our focus largely will remain on improving operating leverage, scaling product lead and RFP businesses. With a strong balance sheet, robust cash position, improving business mix, and a good order pipeline, we believe that the company remains well-positioned for a long-term sustainable growth. With that, I conclude my remarks and request the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the 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. We'll take the first question from the line of Rohan from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Good afternoon, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, this INR 44 crores that you've received on storage charges. Just want to recheck. This is the same for which we have provided earlier, or is there some another thing for which we have received this storage charges?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

This is not the one which we have provided earlier. Whatever we have provided earlier is already collected. Last year only we did some reversal of receivable provisioning. This is a new income, which is toward storage charges as per contract with the contract department.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

This run rate will continue on an annual basis, INR 44 crores?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, this is for two year. This will not be the run rate for next year. Next year it'll be a bit lower than this. This is like for two and a half, three years.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. Sir, second, for the full year, we have done roughly INR 110 crore-INR 112 crore of EBITDA if we exclude the other income. If you can help me split the EBITDA between, say, the tax services business, the CRA business, and identity services.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Rohan, you are aware that we only declare one segment, and because of this reason, I would not be able to provide you EBITDA business-wise. Having said that, you can definitely touch base with our investor relations team, and they can guide you how we model these numbers.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. on the employee base, like with the Aadhaar Seva Kendra going live. Seva Kendra that you will add, how should one think on the employee cost for FY 2027?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Employee cost for 2027 will increase because we'll have to deploy our employees in 190 centers across the country. There will be about, for each center, there is a minimum contractual requirement depending on the type of sector. The employee cost is definitely going to increase. Having said that, this is part of project revenue and project cost. When you are modeling your business model for this business, you have to model in a way that it gives you, basically these are direct costs for running the operations.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Right. Ballpark, what kind of an increase can we expect on employee cost? Around INR 65-INR 70 crores of an incremental cost once all the centers go live. Would that be a fair assumption?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

It would be difficult to give numbers on this. What I can say is, we will add about 2,000 core employees for these Aadhaar centers. These are mostly entry-level jobs for those kind of people. You can roughly calculate those numbers.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. Just wanted an update on PAN 2.0, like how are we positioned there in terms of our role? Any further clarity on the impact?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I think PAN 2.0, we stand where we were earlier. There is no change as such. Our stand remains very clear. Whatever we said in past remains true for future as well. We are working with the department. We believe that distribution will remain, and therefore, how will distribution prevail in the next one and a half years, we'll need to see. I don't think we have an update beyond that. Rakesh, you may want to add that.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

We believe that the same model for our kind of demographics and geography stand a very good chance to keep continuing. This is what, during last quarters also, the assessment that we had, and we continue to believe the same.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. PAN 2.0 is yet to go live from IT department infrastructure, right?

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yes. Absolutely.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Okay, got it.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

We believe in-

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sorry. You were saying something?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah, sorry.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Yeah. lastly, on the support and maintenance.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

It is not live.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

No, sorry, sir, you were adding something. You may please continue.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, I just responded to your question.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. Sir, support and maintenance cost of INR 160 odd crores, which businesses are driving most part of this?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Which one are you talking about?

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Support and maintenance cost, INR 160 crores.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

System and maintenance cost, you mean?

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Okay, system and maintenance.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

These costs are primarily, the implementations are basically for project-led businesses, and the system maintenance and support is for all the businesses, which historically remains at some level. Any addition is primarily because of the project-led businesses, which is CERSAI, Bima Sugam, some of those projects.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure, sir. Thanks a lot.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Bajrang Bafna from Sunidhi Securities. Please go ahead.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Congratulations for a strong set of numbers. Sir, my first question pertains to rollout of this Aadhaar Seva Kendra. What percentage we have completed by the end of Q4 FY 2026, how do we see the rollout in FY 2027, both in terms of percentage completion and the full revenue rollout wise? What revenue that we booked in Q4 FY 2026, how do we see this rollout in FY 2027 also? That will be my first question, sir.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Okay. Thank you so much. Let me tell you, Aadhaar Seva Kendra is, as per the RFP terms, it is divided into a few phases, a phase I, phase II, and a phase III. Total is 189 odd Aadhaar Kendras. Yeah, 190. It's 190 Aadhaar Seva Kendras. 34 were supposed to be opened in the phase I and further in various phases. Currently, as of now, 44 Aadhaar Seva Kendras are operational, which is around 23% of the total. Out of 190, 44 are operational. We have started seeing the revenue streams in FY 2026.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I mean, we are not disclosing the revenue for a particular project. Having said that, we have already started monetizing these 34 Aadhaar service centers which were live before March 31st. As of today, we have about 44. Our plan is to go live with all 189 Aadhaar service centers by September or by October max.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

By September, October of the FY 2027, right? 2026 only.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay. Sir, once the full rollout happens-

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

That's what I'm saying. Full scale revenue we will see sometime after three or four months from maybe in February, March.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Maybe Q3 will be the Q1 where after full rollout, we will see the full revenue potential?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

You will see revenue for the old Aadhaar centers coming in and Q4 we should see more revenues coming in.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay. Sir, because roughly with this five-year contract, that number year-wise works out to close to INR 200 crore. That will be the right assumption to assume once the all rollout happens, the full rollout happens?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. This is what, as per bid estimate, while we have to see how the volumes drives in this sector.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay. Got it. Any guidance on the working capital cycle which will be involved in this?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, this is like a managed service project, so there'll not be any working capital gap in this project. I mean, 30 days or 60 days, you get your money.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay, got it. Sir, can we get some idea once the full rollout happens, close to 20% sort of operating margin? Would that be right assumption?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I would not be able to disclose, Bajrang, the margin for each project because we are governed under confidentiality clauses with this-

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Done

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

-government contract and I would not-

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Got it. Understood.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

-be able to disclose this.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Sir, broadly, if we see the margin trajectory going forward, will that be like last year we have done close to 12% excluding other income? How do you see that margin playing out in 2027 and 2028? On a ballpark basis. This year our revenues are definitely going to be high because of this Aadhaar and other RFPs.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I would not give a one year or a one quarter or two quarter perspective. Having said that, we said in last earnings call also and prior to that also, that our aim or our initiative is to improve our margin with each passing year. A lot of things play in margin expansion. Of course, our whole endeavor is to automate more and more, use technology, deploy technology in every area of activities or operations we are. Therefore, earn high and high margin with each passing quarter. Guidance on margins remains the same, like what we said in last few quarters. We endeavor to improve our margins by a significant in next two, three years.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Got it. Sir, on Bima Sugam, how do you see traction? Now IRDAI is also talking about a lot. How do you see the traction on the ground and building other revenue streams in that segment? What is your sense, how this is as per your expectation the rollout or the success? If you could guide something on that, it'll be really helpful.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Rakesh would answer on this.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

The Bima Sugam project with the guidance from the regulator and also the Bima Sugam team looks to be very positive. It is now being built to cater to some very interesting areas on the insurance, especially on the health side and the motor side, the way it is going to come out. It is also expected to increase the insurance penetration within the country. That is one of the key mandates, and make it affordable. We believe that beyond the project also there are some adjacencies that in due course would open up which we are exploring.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay. So far this versus the delivery. I'm just trying to sense [audio distortion] in terms of acceptance in the market or the footfalls that are coming on that. Something if you could cite on that account will be really appreciated.

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Bima Sugam platform is a work in progress. Also given, like I said, the guidances that are coming from Bima Sugam team from the entire industry perspective, it's a build-up right now. The platform is in the WIP stage.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Okay. When we would see the full rollout of this?

Operator

Sorry to interrupt. I request you to join back the queue, please, as we have participants waiting for their turn.

Bajrang Bafna
Analyst, Sunidhi Securities

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Het Shah from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. I've got a couple of questions. Firstly, sir, processing charges, if you look at as a percentage of the revenue, it comes at 35% for this particular year. Past few quarters it has gone to 32 as well, 36 as well. I mean, what percentage can we assume it to be a sustainable number? Because it has drastically come down in the last one year. Secondly, my second question is, sir, how much of the revenues from Bima Sugam, CERSAI and ASK moved in this particular year and what can one estimate for FY 2027?

Sir, how much of the revenue has come from organically PAN card issuances? I mean, ex of your one time, the PAN card rule which has come from [audio distortion] , where the PAN card and Aadhaar card name has to be the same. ex of that, what organic growth has come? Yeah, these are my questions.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Okay. Het Shah, first question was on processing charges. How do we see processing charges from here? This quarter it was 35.1%, this year it was 35% approximately, 40% was last year.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I guess processing charges will hover in these ranges only, between 35%-38%. It depends on what kind of transactions we are doing. If it is online transaction, your processing charges goes down. If it is assisted online, it goes up from online. If it is completely physical, then its processing charges are heavy. We have seen the trend that assisted online is the one which is more prevalent, and therefore, the processing charges, you should assume in the same range, which is 35%-38% range.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Okay, got it.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Your second question, hope that answered your question, right?

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. Your second question was on revenue from project services, right? Which is Bima Sugam or CERSAI or other projects.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yes.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

You are aware that we are not giving project-wise revenues for the turnkey project which we are executing. Having said that, you may connect with our investor relations and get some ideas about how these revenues are being booked and accordingly model some of these numbers. Your third question was on what is the organic kind of business in PAN card, which is aside of Aadhaar-PAN linkage. I don't think we have these numbers. What number we have is that the total PAN card issues, but how much of it is because of Aadhaar-PAN linkage, we would not know, because those kind of analytics are not available. It is simply we get application, we process the application, and the PAN cards or PAN numbers are allotted by department. According to us, this whole thing is organic. There is nothing which is inorganic in this.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

I mean.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Hope this answers all your questions, right? These were the three questions.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah. Just to come up on the PAN card thing. I mean, Q4 earnings wouldn't be the one that I can assume it for Q1 FY 2027, right? Because that Aadhaar card-PAN card linkage was

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, I don't think we will be able to assume, Het Shah, on this Aadhaar-PAN linkage, how much is because of Aadhaar-PAN linkage and how much is because of Aadhaar-PAN linkage is one of the event which triggers the PAN card issuance in the country. I don't think we will be able to assume what number we can allocate to each of these activities. There are many triggers which happen every time. What we will get is the total number of PAN card issuance in the country.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Okay, fine. Thanks a lot.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Mehendale from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Nitya, thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on Bima Sugam. When do we expect the platform to go live and whenever we go live, do we expect some significant revenue in that quarter because of a milestone getting hit?

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

The mandate on which the Bima Sugam team is working is they have the platform going live and also the products going live. Like I said, the health and the motor, these are two significant product lines on the insurance that they have been mandated to do that. The mandate from a regulator for that to happen is within the next three to four months. That needs to be done or prior to that. This is also in the domain of how Bima Sugam would want to communicate it back to the regulator and to the market. This is all that we could possibly share on this call.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Your second part of the question was on the revenue, right?

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Yes.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

These are turnkey projects. While milestone is for billing, but the revenues are accounted based on estimated effort to margin basis. Revenue will get recognized whenever we are putting effort into this project. This is what will it take to completely go live in the project. Therefore, we just estimate the effort and cost, and we apply a markup to recognize revenue every quarter. Having said that, milestone is only a billing thing.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Right, sir. On this project, there will be also some recurring revenue, right? In terms of maintenance, et cetera, going forward once the go-live is done.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. Once the go-live happens, there will be a recurring revenue because these are five, six, or seven-year projects, whether it is CERSAI or Bima Sugam or other projects. First two years normally are the implementation year, and then next three, four, five years are basically maintaining or providing support to run this project.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Right, sir. Thanks. My last question is on the cash. We have a significant amount of cash in the balance sheet. How do we plan to utilize or deploy the cash?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

One, as you have heard that we will pay 100% dividend on our share capital, which is about INR 44 odd crores. We will need money for working capital, and at the same time, we will need to invest in platforms to be future-ready and sustainable. This is what I talked about in my speech as well. These are the three or four areas where we will need money, and we will spend money to grow the business in future.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Correct, sir. Thanks. That's it from my end. Thank you.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Shyam Chandani, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Hello, sir. First of all, congratulations for the wonderful result. I have just one couple of questions. First being, how do you see your international business going on? If you can just throw some light on what are the quick wins in terms of RFP to a crucial base.

V. Easwaran
COO and Interim CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. International business, as we have already declared in our speech by the CFO, there are certain wins which we've already got on the agri business in Ethiopia, and those revenues will start flowing in. Other parts are all going on. There are a lot of engagements happening in various places. Across Africa currently, where we are looking at similar kind of digital public infrastructure kind of deals where we can get into. These are all in various stages of discussions, and as and when it materializes, we'll definitely come out and inform you. Having said that.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

No. Yeah, go ahead.

V. Easwaran
COO and Interim CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Given the current geopolitical situation happening around the Middle East and some parts of the world, there has been a slight slowdown, which we have seen in this month. We hope that this will start picking up, and we start getting more traction there.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Sir, how do you see your revenue growth coming from these businesses, particularly? Any idea on a future prospect, or do you think?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

We are very optimistic about our international businesses for sure. Word of caution, because right now the decision-making in some of these countries is slow because of the war situation or supply chain situation is going on. We are very optimistic. One of our strategy is to get this India Stack to global. That is our strategy, and we will continue to work toward that, and we think that international business will be one of the significant contributor to our revenue in time to come.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Any idea, sir, what's the?

Operator

Shyam, I request you to join back the queue, please, as we have participants waiting for their turn. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Darshil Jhaveri from Crown Capital. Please go ahead.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

Hello. Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for taking my question, sir. Firstly, congratulations on a great set of results, sir. Sir, I just wanted to ask regarding the storage charges that we had in Q4. I joined the call a bit later. Sorry if it's a repeated question. I think I heard that this is an annual charge. It's a multi-year charge, but we've taken the revenue in your Q4 only. Can you just explain, is this something that we can expect year-over-year to come at this rate, or how would it be, sir?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. This is because this has to be accepted by Income Tax Department, then only we book these revenues. Otherwise, there is always a question of collectability. When Income Tax Department accept these storage charges, depending on whatever data or whatever document that we'll need for all these storage document, this is where we recognize our revenue. Having said that, I think we will have yearly revenues coming out of these storage for next few years.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

In terms of nature of this service, this is something that we are charging on past services, or is this something that in the future?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

We are charging on storing the document for those income tax processing documents which we are storing. For that, we are charging these transaction fees.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

That was, sir, so this INR 44 crore is for document storage is done in from the last full year, right? A similar quantum can be expected every year, correct? Little plus, minus, but whatever is in terms of this.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, similar quantum. Not similar. I would not say similar because this INR 44 crore is for two or three years. As I said, because of collectability, we recognize revenue only on the basis of-

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

Okay. It's something for past two or three years. Okay, got it, sir.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

Sir, just regards to our Aadhaar Seva Kendra setup. Just wanted to understand, I think we expect by Q4 to completely have all the centers running. The cost, like the employee cost, infra, some cost will start having like before only, right? This will dampen our margins a bit going forward. Is that a fair assumption? Not I'm saying for the full, maybe not going in the long term, but for this year because we'll have to start building up the full capabilities, right? Hiring people. Will that affect the margin in the meantime because the revenue will not flow and the cost will start?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. This will be a timing mismatch, I would say, wherein we will be in building phase as well, and we will be in revenue phase for some centers. There will definitely be a timing mismatch. To that extent, the margin will be affected.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

Okay. In the first two, three years, for the first two, three quarters of this financial, we can expect some kind of a margin dip compared to our FY 2026 numbers, sir?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I would not be able to comment on this right now because we are yet to test waters for many of these centers, and maybe in the next one or two quarters, we would be able to comment what kind of volume we will attract. Sometimes it happens that from day one you have queues extending outside the Aadhaar center. Sometimes it may take a month or two. It depends. It will be very difficult for me to give any numbers right now to what will be this, how long this timing mismatch will be, whether it will be one month, two months, one year, one day, or longer or shorter, I don't know.

Darshil Jhaveri
Analyst, Crown Capital

Okay. Fair enough. That's it from my side, sir. Thank you. All the best.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Parimal Mithani from Credential Investments. Please go ahead.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Hello, Parimal. Can you hear me?

Operator

It is not clear. Can you use your handset mode, please, Parimal?

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Yeah. Sir, this is regarding recently your CRA business. Hello.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

I think the PFRDA has revised charges in terms of certain accounts. You maintain the AMC charges and all that. Does it benefit us or how does it go through? Also, the second question is in terms of the Data Stack, how has the growth been? Because since last two years, we have been launched all this. If you can answer the two questions for us.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

CRA, you want to answer, Vishnu? Or I can. CRA, the charges were revised in last quarter. The whole intent of PFRDA is to really grow this pension ecosystem in the country. They want to grow from this level to a very significant level in next three to five years. Therefore, the charges were aligned with best practices in industry. There are two or three kind of charges. One is AUM linked for all the private corporate sector. Then for government, there's a fixed fee, and for APY also there's a fixed fees. These were the three kind of charge structure which are prevailing in CRA.

Having said that, in long run, I think this will help the industry because this will help the company also, because this AMC-based charges system will really help in, once the AMC will always grow, and therefore, the revenues also will grow to that extent.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

So how-

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

PFRDA has a, basically, clear mention that they want to grow NPS or pension ecosystem in the country. This is a clear mandate.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

How does it help in terms of our margins, sir, going forward? I think it's more of a dynamic pricing that has come into this and the more additions it has, the CRAs also, sir.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I think in short run, we see some dip in margins. In long run, I think it will help industry and company because the charges become dynamic with your AMC growing, your subscriber base growing, you will get more and more revenue side. In one or two quarters, you will see revenue or margin start picking up significantly from here for the private sector.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Okay, it will be a margin accretive to us. Is it safe to assume compared to what you were getting in the past two, three years?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

In short run, no. In long run, yes.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Okay. About your Data Stack business, sir, if you can just.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Data Stack, Rakesh Dosi, do you want to talk about?

Rakesh Dosi
Chief Business and Products Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

The outlook on the Data Stack looks to be very positive. On the eSignPro products, we are seeing now a very good traction in funnel. Also the platforms on the RISE and KYC reporting solutions. That we are seeing a very healthy traction and from multiple organizations and multiple segments. That looks to be a very positive area for us.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Sir, can you quantify the growth will be much better because I understand that the growth is good, but can you quantify how it has been since the time of its launch?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

When we are talking about Data Stack Sorry, what's your name? I'm so sorry.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Parimal Mithani.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Parimal. Sorry, Parimal. When we're talking about Data Stack, we see a very good traction in terms of number of customers, number of transactions, like transactions in RISE with Protean are growing significantly. Transactions in eSignPro have started and are growing with each passing day. At least in next two, three quarters, we see a very good amount of revenue should come from these data products, which is either eSignPro or RISE with Protean or ProteanX or some of those new age initiatives.

Parimal Mithani
Analyst, Credential Investments

Okay, sir.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Pratap Maliwal from Mount Intra Finance. Please go ahead.

Pratap Maliwal
Analyst, Mount Intra Finance Private Limited

Yeah. Hi, am I audible?

Operator

Yes, please go ahead.

Pratap Maliwal
Analyst, Mount Intra Finance Private Limited

Yeah. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I just have one clarification regarding the Bima Sugam project that we had won. I believe it was an INR 100 crore kind of project over 72 months. I just wanted to understand how the revenue recognition works. Have we already recognized some revenues from it, or maybe it's going to come in going ahead? I believe you pointed out that two years of implementation and then support. Could you just help me understand whether these revenues are yet to come in or it's an existing revenue stream?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No. Some minimal revenues, I mean, insignificant revenues are accounted for in this project, but that is not significant one. I think the implementation revenue will start from this year. Maybe in this year, we will see a significant amount of revenue coming from implementation out of this project. Once implementation is done, then the maintenance revenue kicks in.

Pratap Maliwal
Analyst, Mount Intra Finance Private Limited

Okay. The INR 100 crores is for implementation plus support the entire thing over 72 months. Is that correct? Or is it support-

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

100 crore is the entire revenue, which is implementation and support for, I think four or five years, I guess.

Pratap Maliwal
Analyst, Mount Intra Finance Private Limited

Okay, understood. Yeah, thank you. That's my question. Yeah.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Mehendale from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Thank you. Sir, my question is on the storage charges. We have booked INR 44 crores and if it is assuming it is for three years, then the pro data would be, say, INR 13 crores a year or so. My question is more on the cost. Suppose we have recognized INR 45 crores in this quarter, is there no associated cost? The cost could have been booked in the earlier quarter. Was the cost deferred, and then the cost has been matched for this quarter?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

It's a back-to-back arrangement. We collect, we pay. There will be a matching of revenue and cost. In this quarter, if you see our processing charges have increased. One of the primary reason is because of the cost on the storage.

Amit Mehendale
Analyst, RoboCapital

Okay, sir. Thanks for your time.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Rohan M. from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sir, just wanted a clarification on the tax rate. Our tax rate is lower than 25%. What is helping us there?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Tax rate is a consolidated tax rate, wherein you have one Dubai entity, then another account aggregator, then there is one Infosec, and then this Protean eGov. These are the four primary entities. Dubai, if the tax rate is low, it will definitely be advantageous for Protean, right, to have a lower on an overall basis, have a lower tax rate. While the tax rate, legal tax rate is 25.17%, but eventually in consolidated books, you have to combine all these entities. If you see historically also, we were in 22%-23% range. We continue to remain in that range because of it.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Are we having any meaningful revenues on the Dubai entity right now?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Not meaningful, but even insignificant amount of profit will change the tax rate.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Sure. Okay.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Okay.

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Rohan, you're through with your questions, right?

Rohan Mandora
Analyst, Equirus Securities

Yes.

Operator

Okay. Thank you.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you, Rohan.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. We'll take our next question from the line of Shyam Chandani, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Yes, sir. Just wanted some more clarity on the other revenue business line items like CERSAI, Aadhaar, Seva, Bima. You mentioned about you are very optimistic on international business, but what about other revenue line items? How do you see the revenue mix and the business growth across these revenue line items?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

These other revenues are the new businesses which we are talking every time. As we guided in last many calls, our aim or ambitions remains, aspiration remains that these revenues should constitute about 25% of our total revenue in two to three years, right. This is what we are moving toward. If you see last year, our other revenue, I mean, the new segment revenue was 4% or 3%, I don't know. It is now about 10%. There is a significant increase in the contribution from the new businesses, which is what we are working towards, and we are moving in the right direction. It will come from international business. It will come from Data Stack. It will come from cloud offering. It will come from ODE or the project businesses, basically.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

This is from less than 3% grown to 10%+ . This is 3x of growth that we had.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Understood. Just one more question, sir. How typically are direct cost, which has been attributable to across businesses, any major revenue which includes your direct cost particularly?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Normally, direct cost is in CRA, PAN, and-

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Processing cost.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah, processing cost. I am saying. Processing cost will be in CRA, processing cost will be in PAN, majorly.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Any percentages term like or is it?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Sorry.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

I just wanted to understand how it has been allocated between these two businesses, CRA and pension business then.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

I will not be able to guide you on that, but mostly these are platform businesses, whether it is PAN or whether it is CRA, both are platform businesses. Both are having similar nature. In PAN, though, we have some physical cost, which is distribution commission or postage charges or some of those elements which drive this processing cost. In the CRA, we have lesser processing charges because there it is not like distribution or postage every time. It is only sometime in some cases where customer has not chosen the green option, we have to dispatch annual statement of account.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Understood. Helpful, sir. Just if time permits, my last question. As I can see, so the employee cost is largely component related to the tech business, but given the PAN 2.0 version, I understand due to Aadhaar Seva business is coming in and your employee cost would increase, but any impact due to PAN 2.0 version, would it decrease due to that?

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

No, sir. Right now, I don't think we have any impact of PAN 2.0. As of today, I think it will continue. PAN business will continue. This is what we believe in. Assisted mode will continue. This is what we believe in. We'll have to wait and watch. After 12, 15, 18 months, we need to see how distribution pans out in new PAN ecosystem. We'll need to figure out.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Understood.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Right now, I don't see anything.

Shyam Chandani
Private Investor, Private Investment

Got it. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Het Shah from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah. Just one data-related question. I was looking at the PPT, and in the CRA services, it mentioned APY enrollments had crossed 9 crores in April 2026. When I went through the APY subscriber base from the website itself, it shows seven and a half crores. Am I missing something?

Pushpa Mani
VP and Head of Investor Relations, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah. Hi, Het. Pushpa this side.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah.

Pushpa Mani
VP and Head of Investor Relations, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

The enrollments that we are speaking about. PFRDA enrolls people under the APY scheme. There are some accounts which becomes dormant or inactive. When we take our count, what we show in our investor deck, it is minus the deletions.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Okay. Got it.

Pushpa Mani
VP and Head of Investor Relations, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Yeah.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Thank you.

Sandeep Mantri
CFO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thank you.

Het Shah
Analyst, Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd.

Yeah. Okay.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Pushpa Mani for closing comments. Over to you.

Pushpa Mani
VP and Head of Investor Relations, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

Thanks everyone for all your support and joining us. If any queries would have left unanswered, please reach out to us. We'll be very happy to answer. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. On behalf of Go India Advisors LLP, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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