Ladies and gentlemen, good day, welcome to Adani Transmission Limited Q4 FY23 earnings call, hosted by Nuvama Wealth Management. As a reminder, all participant lines will be listen only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please email an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Subhadip Mitra from Nuvama Wealth Management. Thank you, over to you, sir.
Thanks. Good morning, friends. On behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management, welcoming you all to the fourth quarter FY23 results call of Adani Transmission Limited. We are joined today by the senior management of the company, led by Mr. Anil Sardana, MD, Mr. Bimal Dayal, CEO, Transmission, Mr. Kandarp Patel, CEO, Distribution, Mr. Rohit Soni, CFO, ATL, Mr. Kunjal Mehta, CFO, AEML, and Mr. Vijil Jain, Lead, Investor Relations. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Sardana for his opening comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Mitra, very good morning to all our analyst friends. Let me convey my thanks to you all to have joined us early in the morning. The year that went by and the results that we declared yesterday, I will proceed back by a bit of gratitude for the recognition that Adani Transmission received during the last quarter. Number one was the rank number one bestowed on Adani Electricity Mumbai by Government of India for the rankings that they did for various DISCOM. This is indeed very encouraging and very motivating for our team to now sustain and ensure that we hold that position and stay within the top DISCOMs in the country.
The number two, my gratitude goes to the ET Awards, and the jury, awarded Emerging Company of the Year Award to Adani Transmission. That amidst all that was being spoken and talked about, was again, very motivating and encouraging. Thanks to the Honorable Finance Minister to have handed over the award to us. The third recognition is noteworthy, that came in from Frost & Sullivan, which gave us the Enlightened Growth Leadership Award 2022, which was for something that we take tremendous pride in terms of sustainable business practices and ESG disclosures and tried path. That is something that is really worthy of our commitments, and therefore, for someone to recognize that part and award us on the ESG side is indeed very encouraging.
Last part is, of course in terms of the governance aspect, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, giving us the award for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the year 2021-2022, within the infrastructure sector. I just thought, as a company, convey my gratitude to all the stakeholders, employees, for having stood by us, and particularly in the times when a lot was being stated. The company continued to move ahead in its path of growth, as also in terms of its performance. I'm happy to report that company gave yet another good performance during the quarter, and made sure that in terms of all the operating parameters, which is availability, supply reliability, distribution loss. I think we lost?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Just a screen.
Sure. Okay, distribution loss, and the million units sold. On all attributes, we did exceedingly well. That is how things stood by in terms of what we have been able to achieve. The, other aspects in terms of ESG, as I said, that is something that the company has aspirations to be within the top, 20-25 companies globally. Therefore, we will continue our focus on various aspects which will get us those ESG rankings, and make us being graded amongst those top companies.
To that extent, whether it is MSCI, whether it is S&P Sustainability Score or FTSE, we will continue to pursue those objectives, by virtue of our sustainability efforts on different grounds, and eventually keep our eye on the net zero target by 2050, in terms of, limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees.
I will wrap up very quickly by saying that we have marched well on our targets to be 20,000 circuit kilometers company with 40,000 MVA in the operational terms when it comes to transmission side. On the distribution side, we've done exceedingly well on some of the attributes linked to the customer, which is in terms of digital revenues, in terms of video call center, in terms of having moved to reliability indexes, which are comparable to the best in the world. We are eagerly looking forward to working on two of the additional parallel or second licenses that we have applied in Mumbai as well as in the Greater Noida area.
In addition to the two licenses that we already hold, which is at Mumbai, as also in the Mundra Kutch area. I'm sure that you will have a number of questions, and I have my two colleagues, Bimal and Angad, both supported by their subsequent, their teammates, and each one will be able to respond to various questions that you may have, and we look forward to a good participation. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, press star one on the customer telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star one at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the transmission pipeline build-up. I understand that the pipeline has gone close to around INR 500 billion of projects worth, are under bidding, and I see, another INR 500 billion is under some kind of, is waiting for approval for MOP. How do you see that, of course, it's a large opportunity, but last year we hardly participated in or won any material, you know, bidding, compared to earlier years, where our market share was higher. How do you think about this pipeline?
Thank you. Thank you very much for this question.
Before, Bimal, before you go ahead, just Mohit, you know, it's interesting to see the change. I didn't notice it before. I think you moved to ICICI Securities. Welcome.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
Thanks. Thanks, Mohit for this question. I will probably take a little step back and give you some parameters for this financial year as well, and then really zoom into your question as well. I think one of the things which we ended up doing this quarter, or this year, is added almost 1,700 odd circuit kilometers to reach almost towards our goal of 19,779 circuit kilometers. We operationalized almost four key projects well, and just as a comparative, we did 1,104 circuit kilometers the previous year. Just as a growth comparison, the country's network grew by 3% in terms of lines, and we ended up achieving 8% growth.
In terms of the transformation capacity as well, the country grew at a rate of 7%, and by virtue of few of these projects, we grew at a much faster pace of 26% transformation capacity. Now for the pipeline, I'll start with the very close input, which is the pipeline we have under construction. For the coming quarters, we are actually looking to commission at least four very key projects. I think this will add almost 3,000 circuit kilometers to what we already have. Now, the interesting part, this sector is sitting with so much of bidding, which is coming up as well. I think for us, we are actually looking at the TBCB pipeline of INR 66,000 crore.
Our belief is this would take place in 12 to 18 months. We believe that after this GIB clearance by the Honorable Supreme Court, we envisage that the Rajasthan corridor bidding would start, and I think this would start in few weeks' time from now. I think we would certainly participate in that pipeline build-up as well. However, our underlying forecast on, let's say, our annual CapEx, we continue to give this guidance of INR 4,500 crore-INR 5,000 crore in transmission in next two to three years. Hope that answers your question, Mohit.
Yes, sir, it does. My second question is on the distribution, licensee. Of course, the on the new distribution upcoming licensee, as you are trying to get the approval. What are the sort of timelines do you think the regulator will take to a decision either way?
I think we filed last year somewhere. I think only between six or months, if I'm not wrong. Yeah.
Yeah, good morning, Mohit. This is Kandarp Patel. You must have noticed that we have applied for parallel license in Navi Mumbai as well as Western UP, Jaipur district. We have also applied for additional area, which is also a second license for our Mundra distribution utility. All the applications has been filed with the Regulatory Commission, and it has reached to almost half of the process, which is required to be undertaken by the Commission. The public notice were issued in all the three in two cases, public objection have also been received. Commission has to again publish a public notice from their side then invite objection. Once they deal with that objection, then they'll be able to decide on that license application.
As far as UP is concerned, now they should, they will ask us, we hope that they will ask us to issue a public notice very soon. Last month, on our application, they had some queries, and we have replied, all those queries. We expect that in another couple of months, the process should get completed, at least in Mumbai and Mundra area, and another one or two months for UP area.
Understood, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Any participants who wish to ask a question at this time, you please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Harsh from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Just to continue on the distribution-
Harsh, you're not audible at all. May I request you to come closer to the mic or use headset?
Yeah. Is this better now?
Slightly better. Yeah, I would still request you to come closer.
Yeah. Just to continue on the distribution bit, I would like to understand what the status on the distribution reform right now. Can you just throw some light on that?
The, as Government of India is envisaging to amend the Electricity Act, and the bill is already under discussion. It has taken quite a long time. What approach that we have taken that the existing act itself provides for a provision for parallel licenses. The, the path that we are pursuing doesn't require an amendment in the Electricity Act. As and when that Electricity Act is amended, and they allow to create multiple distribution companies in the same geography, we will, we will welcome that, and that will also help us grow faster.
Harsh, is the question over?
Yes, yes. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, please press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Subhadip Mitra from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yes, so my question is, firstly, with regard to the larger, TBCB pipeline that we are looking at, where you mentioned that we have a pipeline of maybe INR 66,000 crores over the next 12 months. Do you see a large component of HVDC projects also coming up in this space? Because these are very large-scale projects. Would you be also participating for some of these HVDC projects?
Yes, this is not 12 months. I think it is 12-18 months. Yes, there are HVDC projects as well coming up, and I think a lot of it has to do with the evacuation corridors of Rajasthan as well, and some of the strengthening projects which are coming up, which includes the STATCOM as well. Of course, we will be participating as well. I think, we need to be mindful of the competitive intensity, which I think, is growing in this segment. One thing which we have committed to ourselves is that we will certainly be looking at profitable growth and winning the projects with the right kind of margins as well.
To answer your question straight, we will be participating.
Okay, understood. Secondly, with regard to the intrastate CPX opportunity, I mean, we hear of numbers as large as maybe INR 2 lakh crores as an opportunity there as well. Do you see any movements towards that?
Well, those are probably under discussion. I don't think much has come out. I think in our quarter three call, a very similar question came up, and I think we remain in this very similar status as well. A lot of thing is under planning, but not much has come out unless, you know, something really turns up. I'm mindful of the fact that some of our competitors have certainly given almost an equal weightage here to the intra or interstate projects, or rather intrastate projects as well. Our guidance on that account also earlier has been that it is huge. We await the outcome here as well. Unless my colleagues want to add anything?
Understood. Last question from my side is with regard to the Mumbai HVDC project. What's the progress there, and when do you see that coming?
As far as Mumbai HVDC project is concerned, I'm sure you must be aware that litigation went up to Supreme Court, and we received order from Supreme Court in our favor. After that, then a substantial progress has been achieved on the ground. All the contracts has been awarded, all the approval process, environment and forest, NCR there, is progressing very well. We are expecting all those approval by September this year. The laying of cable has already commenced in Mumbai, and we have already achieved about 15 kilometer of the route is there. Land at both ends is also we have acquired, and it is in full possession of us.
The substantial progress is going on, and we hope that we will be able to complete the entire project in the committed timeline, which is March 2025.
Understood, sir. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you. A reminder to participants, please press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Apurva Barad from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. A couple of questions, I think, firstly on the smart metering front, if you can share some updates over here. How are we progressing? What has been the bottleneck at the system level over here, if you face any?
Apurva, we have already been awarded two smart metering contract, one from BSES and second from Assam. For BSES, we have also closed our all the contracts, and Assam, we are in the process of closing it. There are many in the bidding process which is going on. Just to name a few is Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra, and UP, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Now we are expecting a big tender from Tamil Nadu as well. As far as ATL is concerned, what we have done is we have developed a strategic tie-up with all meter manufacturers, as well as communication providers, and software companies.
Going forward, one of the biggest worry was mainly from a supply chain viewpoint, and we have taken a sufficient action on that part so that we don't face those challenges coming going forward.
Sir, I understand there were a couple of project cancellations which were earlier awarded to us by the beneficiaries. What could be the reason behind this?
It was not awarded to us. It was at a bidding process. I think you are talking of UP bidding process.
Right.
Their expectation of the rate were very different from we what we quoted. We said them that we won't be able to meet their expectation of the rate because as a distribution company, we understand what is the criticalness of this smart metering solution, and we never wanted to give them a suboptimal solution. They decided that they will not be willing to have the rates that we have offered, and therefore, they went for re-bidding. You might have noticed that even in the re-bidding, they have got a very little response.
Right, sir. Understood. Any reset on the expectations from the buyers that you are seeing, especially on the bidding front for smart meters? Does it continue to remain?
Yeah. Apurva, I'm sure they will reset looking at the rates being analyzed by other utilities in this country.
Okay. Got it, sir. Sir, second question is for the Mumbai HVDC link. Now, we understand that the central regulator released an approach paper yesterday, indicating a potential cut in the transmission returns. I just wanted to know if we have any risk on that end, given that most likely MERC will follow CERC if there is a rate cut? What are your thoughts on that?
Obviously, the as per the statutory structure, whatever the CERC or forum of regulator decides, usually that is being followed by other state regulatory commissions as well. Apurva, this is not the first time that CERC has proposed this kind of structure. It was also proposed on earlier, and it was debated. The issue, basically, the ERC will take a decision is that what is the requirement of capital that is required to be attracted in this sector? What is the other competing sectors offer the rates? I think in those two parameters, ERC will decide. We hope that it might not change very significantly than what they are allowing right now.
Right, sir. When are we targeting the commissioning of this project?
The HVDC Mumbai project, we are targeting to commission by March 2025.
March 25. It's mostly in the next regulatory state.
Correct.
Fair enough. Fair enough. sir, one more question. This is on our plan to supply energy to the Mundra ecosystem. Want to know if this entire infrastructure over there will be a part of the regulatory system, say, like a Dholera, or will it be a completely one-to-one setup?
It is infrastructure that will be created by MUL will be a asset of a distribution company. It will be entire asset block will be a regulated asset. You also might be aware that whenever any industrial customer asks for a supply, the last mile connect connectivity in investment has to be made by them or to be incurred by them. Balance entire regulated block will be entire investment will be part of regulated block.
Okay, it will be governed by GERC regulations?
Correct.
Okay. Okay.
It is already being, it is already currently being governed by GERC, so, the distribution company is fully operational. There are tariff being determined, and there are customers which is getting supply and tariff is determined by commission.
Okay, sir. The last question, I see a change in your name. Can you highlight the significance of why go for this?
Yeah, the name change is because of the fact that we have gone much beyond transmission. As you know that in 2018, August, we acquired the first retail distribution business. Since that time, you know, it dawned on us that now calling it as Adani Transmission Limited does not convey the entire ambit of our activities. We were wanting to, for it to further pan out, and as you know now, that we are going big time into not just the play at Mundra and Mumbai, but also we have applied for additional licenses. In addition to that, we are contemplating expansion into multiple other energy solution aspects for customers, smart metering being one of those, but you will get to hear many more in times ahead.
Therefore, it is rather appropriate that we name the company to Adani Energy Solutions Limited.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any participants who wish to ask a question at this time, they may please press star and one. The next question is from Linus Shafi from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much, sir, for the opportunity. Sir, I have a one question. Can you give us the guidance of the capital outlay for the next 2-3 years, and the breakdown between the businesses like transmission, distribution, and the smart metering?
Giving a guidance for two to three years will not be fair, but, you know, we have always maintained that we will attempt to do a CapEx of about INR 6,000 crore per annum between transmission and distribution business. That was a breakup of around, you could say, close to about INR 4,500 crore for transmission and about INR 1,500 crore for distribution. We have always maintained and maintained course. With smart metering added to that, you could add another close to about INR 1,500 crore to INR 2,000 crore per annum. We will target to be anywhere between INR 7,500 crore to INR 8,000 crore a year.
Okay, sir. Thank you. This is from myself.
Thank you. Any participants who wish to ask a question at this time, they may please press star and one. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions on the participants. I now hand the conference back to Mr. Subhadip Mitra for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you.
Thanks. On behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management, I would like to thank the management of Adani Transmission for giving us this opportunity to host the call. Sir, would you like to have any closing comments?
Thank you, Mr. Mitra, and thank you to all the analyst friends. I would only wish everyone safe times and look forward to converging for the quarter one of the new financial year. Until then, stay safe. Have a great time. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management, this concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.