Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Netweb Technologies Q2 FY 2025 earnings conference call, hosted by IIFL Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Hardik Rawat from IIFL Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of IIFL Securities, I welcome everyone to Netweb Technologies 2Q FY25 earnings call. We have the pleasure of having with us the senior management team of Netweb Technologies, led by CMD, Mr. Sanjay Lodha, CFO and Chief Human Resource Officer, Mr. Prawal Jain, Whole Time Director, Mr. Navin Lodha, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Mr. Hirdey Vikram, and Head of Uirtus Advisors, the IR advising firm to Netweb Technologies, Mr. Sanjeev Sancheti. Without further delay, I'd like to hand over the floor now to Mr. Sanjeev Sancheti. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Hardik. Good afternoon to all the participants. Before I hand over the call to Mr. Sanjay Lodha for the opening remarks, I would like to draw your attention to the safe harbor statement in the earnings presentation. I request each one of you to go through the presentation either now or before the Q&A starts, so that you are aware of the same. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Lodha.
Thank you, Hardik and Sanjeev. Good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to all of you to the Netweb Technologies Q2 financial year 2025 earnings webinar. I will take you through the business and operational highlights of this quarter gone by, while our CFO, Mr. Prawal Jain, will share the financial metrics. We are delighted to report that we have had a strong quarter and a half year, as our operating revenue for H1 grew by 96% year-on-year, crossing INR 4,000 million, while H1 financial year 2025 PAT doubled year-on-year to INR 412 million. As you must be aware, earlier this year in May, we had commissioned India's flagship state-of-the-art, end-to-end, high-end computing server, storage, and switch manufacturing facility, marking a significant milestone in the Make in India initiative.
This new facility has enhanced our manufacturing capabilities for cutting-edge computing system, encompassing the entire production process, including PCB design, manufacturing, and SMT for high-end servers, storage, switches, demonstrating advanced manufacturing skills. In August, we further expanded our offerings by launching eight models of advanced server systems powered by latest AMD Genoa processors, continuing our commitment to the cutting-edge technology. India is rapidly emerging as a key player in AI adoption, with businesses is increasingly leveraging AI to fuel innovation and streamline operations. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, AI is driving transformation across various sectors in India, including healthcare, research and education, agriculture, sustainability, urban mobility, financial services, manufacturing, and retail.
With India's AI research ecosystem thriving and through government initiative and industry partnership, the potential for innovation and growth is immense. Netweb is well-positioned to harness these opportunities. Our strategic focus on the three pillars, HPC, private cloud, and AI, keeps us at the forefront of technological evolution. AI has rapidly become a pivotal contributor to our revenue, growing its share to 15% in H1 financial year 2025, with a remarkable 193% year-on-year increase.
Fueled by innovation, this strong growth highlights AI role as cornerstone of our business strategy and our future growth. This week, we'll be participating in the India AI Summit, where NVIDIA, our technology partner, and its ecosystem of customer partners will showcase transformative AI innovations. This event features over 50 sessions and live demos on generative AI, large language models, supercomputing, robotics, and more. Our business pipeline and order book remains strong.
We are pleased to report that we have started receiving export orders, and this aligns with our growth strategy to enter overseas market. Continuous improvements in our capabilities, along with expansion of our operations and product range, position us well for ongoing growth while maintaining our technological leadership. I would like to hand over the call to Prawal to provide you financial updates on financial numbers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lodha. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining the earnings webinar. I will give you a brief overview of the financial numbers for the quarter before we open for Q&A. I hope everyone would have got a chance to look at the earnings presentation and the press release by now. While our CMD has already covered the macro outlook, I will try to explain in a more granular manner, the financial performance of the quarter and the year gone by. Our operating income increased by 73.2% year-on-year, on quarterly basis, reaching INR 2,511 million in Q2 financial year twenty-five, and increased by 95.5% over the half year, recording INR 4,004 million in H1 financial year twenty-five.
Our operating EBITDA for Q2 financial year 2025 increased by 85.7% year-on-year, reaching INR 357 million. While for H1 financial year 2025, it increased by 100.6% year-on-year, reaching INR 559.1 million. The operating EBITDA margins for Q2 financial year 2025 was 14.2%, and for H1 financial year 2025, it stood at 14%. Profit after tax for Q2 financial year 2025 grew by 69.8% year-on-year, reaching INR 257 million. For H1 financial year 2025, PAT increased by 103.4%, reaching INR 412 million. PAT margin stood at 10.2% in Q2 financial year 2025, and 10.1% in H1 financial year 2025.
The return on equity for the Q2 financial year twenty-five was 18.7%, while return on capital employed during the same period was 25.2%. Net debt for the quarter was at -INR 664 million in Q2 financial year twenty-five, as compared to -INR 330 million in Q1 financial year 2025 . Kindly note that this net debt calculation excludes unutilized proceeds from the IPO. Cash conversion cycle for Q2 financial year 2025 improved to 100 days as compared to 129 days in Q1 financial year twenty-five.
We continue to prioritize our strategic objectives and growth pillars with a strong focus on our long-term goal of sustainable growth and profitability. With a strong quarterly and half-yearly performance, backed by a healthy order book and business pipeline, we remain confident in delivering substantial revenue and profit growth for the financial year. With this, now I hand over the call to Hardik Rawat. Thank you.
Thank you. We can now proceed to the Q&A session.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Yash from Stallion Assets. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi. Thank you for the pleasure. Congratulations for the excellent set of numbers. So I just wanted to understand that for the last four quarters, you know, our pipeline has not substantially increased. It's been ranging about from INR 3,200 crores-INR 3,700 crores. So, I just wanted to get your view on what will be the growth in pipeline for the next, you know, two years.
Actually, the pipeline is basically has been increasing, but basically, pipeline is a very, very gradual and a kind of a thing which is, daily, on daily basis, it is improving, and it basically is being getting consumed and rollover is happening. You will also have to consider we are a company which is growing at a rate of 35%-40% CAGR. Okay, so basically, pipeline is getting converted into orders, into L1s and all those kind of areas.
So we are seeing a healthy growth in the pipeline, and basically, that pipeline gives me a very robust confidence that basically that will keep me growing for at least for the next 2-3 years. So I think, and as I mentioned to you, our pipeline time is somewhere around six months to 18 months, actually, and hit rate is somewhere around 60%, approximately. So I think there is a healthy growth in the pipeline, and that will keep on growing.
Right. Because, you know, so sorry to just pester a little bit more on this. But so based on the pipeline, at least, I can assume that, you know, whatever revenues you earned in H1, basically in H2, it will be about like, you know, two-thirds of it. So basically, one-third revenue in H1 and two-thirds revenues in H2. Would my understanding be right?
Actually, our business cannot be judged on quarter-to-quarter basis. Whatever we have been guiding, approximately around 35% growth, we will be maintaining that actually. Year on year, basically, which we are, which we have been guided, we like to maintain that.
Okay. Okay, got it. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Rohit from Nvest Analytics Advisory LLP. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, am I audible?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, and congrats for a good set of numbers. Just one question on the order book, like, what is the expected order intake for the company, in the second half of FY 2025, that is anticipated to contribute to revenue in FY 2026?
Can you come with your question again? Your voice basically at the end got clear.
I'm asking on the kind of order intake you people are expecting in second half, sir.
Yeah. So basically, the order which I mentioned to you, I maintain the same line, that it will be remaining. Our current order book is somewhere around INR 360 crores, but basically, our kind of a company cannot be basically judged on the trend, on the tune of the order book, because our order book lasts from 12- 16 weeks or at the most 20 weeks, actually. So basically, that, the orders get built up and they are executed. So basically, the pipeline gives us the confidence that it will go on. So I will still maintain the same thing. The growth which I have mentioned to you, 30%-35% growth, we will be definitely maintaining that, and the order book and everything will be in that team.
Okay, sir. That's it from my side, sir. Thank you, and all the best for the future.
Thanks so much.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Akshay from CD Integrated Services Limited. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello. Sir, am I audible?
Yes.
Sir, I just want to ask that, in our management commentary, we have said that we are getting the export orders, and we will focus firstly on Europe and Middle East market. So can you put some light on margin contents to which, as to what will be the difference between pricing over there versus in India?
Actually, as I mentioned to you, we have been mentioning that we will slowly be growing our business and we will be starting exporting. So it has just started actually at this point of time, and that is in line with the same situation as I mentioned to you, Middle East and European markets. So same way we are trying to do it. And the margins profile will be almost or very similar, because basically all our customers are enterprise customers. There can be marginally, slightly more margins on the export orders, but primarily overall, if you see, it will remain almost all similar, because basically the customers are enterprise customers, and plus we want to penetrate deeper and to increase their confidence. So definitely, margins you can take it, margins would be almost all on the similar lines.
Okay, sir. Okay. And, sir, the second question is that, we have earlier said that, we were facing the challenges, before the IPO in getting the good talent. So now we have, after the IPO, our reach has been, increased and, we have got a good talent. So on the current employee base and all the things, so can we, can we say that over the next 5- 10 years, we will, healthy grow in this, sector, this type of, this, employee number?
Can you repeat your question again? So we are not able to understand, as your voice is not very clear. Can you just repeat it and be a little slow in--
Yes.
--asking, please?
Hello. Yes, sir. Am I audible, sir?
Yes, now it is better.
Yes. Yes, sir. So, sir, I was mentioning about our current employee base. So whatever we have currently, our talent right now, can we grow for the next five to ten years at a very healthy growth rate on our current employee base, or we will face challenge in terms of getting the talent, good talent from the market?
No. Our current employee base is around 421. Currently, after going public, we are not facing any talent crunch, and for the next two, three years, we will continuing growing in the same way we are growing, and there will be no talent crunch.
And actually, we are getting a lot of good talent now. When we went for an IPO, we were around 240 people. You can say we are almost all, basically, more than almost all double of the numbers what we were actually. We are around 421, as Prawal ji mentioned. So basically, So we are getting very good talent, and so that's the reason we are also employing only good talent now. We are also basically being choosy in hiring people, so there is no lack of talent. We are getting talent. We are getting a lot of traction around it, and that's very healthy for the company.
Okay, sir. Okay, thank you for answering my questions.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Chirag Khasgiwala from Neo Asset Management. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, please. We cannot hear you.
Mr. Chirag?
Can you hear me?
No, we can't.
Your voice is very slow. Can you speak a little louder?
You are coming feeble. We can move to the next question. He can come back to the queue. Hello? Moderator, can you move him back to the queue and take the next question, please?
Yes, sir. Mr. Chirag, can you say something again? Okay, since there is no response from Mr. Chirag, we'll move on to the next question. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Bhandari from Nomura. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I have two questions. First is, if you could explain the big jump in the revenues from other enterprises in this quarter? The other businesses seem to be quite stable in the proportion, but other enterprises had a big jump.
Yeah. So basically, as we have mentioned that it is quarter to quarter, things basically are different, actually, because our business cannot be judged in terms of quarter, because these are all enterprise grade customers which we deal with. So like last quarter, we had the commitment was slightly higher, but this quarter we are seeing a lot of friction on the enterprise side from the other enterprise. Okay.
Midsize.
Yeah. So basically, some new segments were added this year, this quarter, actually. So I think that's the reason you are seeing that.
Got it.
Yeah, entertainment, I think you think.
Entertainment and media was a new segment which was added during this quarter. So you are seeing a jump in other enterprise revenue for this Q1. So it will be better if whole year segment division is seen. Quarter to quarter, it might give you an aberration.
No problem. So thank you for that answer. And does it also coincide with your private cloud and HCI vertical from this?
Yes. Yes, true. So that's the reason private cloud and HCI is also on the higher side.
Got it. Got it. The second thing is, you know, on this government's proposed, you know, ordering for this AI Mission in India, if you could update, you know, what the status the new government has come in. Are you seeing any movement on that?
Yes, there is a... I think I'll let Hirdey answer that one.
So hi, Abhishek, thanks for your question. So yes, I mean, IndiaAI Mission is progressing already. As you can see that their first tranche in the form of RFP is already out, and that is also going to get closed very soon. And afterwards, it is expected that they'll be rolling out the, you know, the major RFP as well. So this is completely on track as we had expected, and we are completely geared up to, you know, participate. So we have our strategy intact, which will help us to ultimately, you know, be competitive and take part in the RFP.
Yeah. Well, I hope you got to know that, you know, we have introduced our two generation of systems, which will be ultimately very effective in taking part in IndiaAI Mission. So one is that we have introduced our ARM architecture-based GPU systems along with NVIDIA, and we became, you know, one of the first OEMs in the world to introduce domestically manufactured Grace architecture, which is also the ARM architecture-based GPU system. That is one. And second is that we have introduced AMD-based systems also, wherein we are having a complete range of GPU systems based on AMD architecture. So with these two advancements, we are pretty much, you know, we are very well placed to, you know, compete in this IndiaAI Mission.
And what they demand and what they require for the OEMs to offer is something which is available with us now. And the best part is that not just limited to hardware, we have the complete, you know, cloud stack on top of it and the complete middleware stack also, which is available, so helping us to offer the complete AI sovereign cloud offering. So yes, we are, we are completely in line, and, you know, government's progress is also something, you know, exactly what we had expected from them.
Got it. Thank you, sir. And my last question is on your, you know, cash flow situation.
Yeah, I'll let Prawal answer this question, right?
So my question is, you know, could you talk about your, you know, long-term targets in terms of your cash conversion cycle? That would be helpful.
Look, Cash Conversion Cycle, seeing the growth we are undergoing, so Cash Conversion Cycle will be in the range of 100 days only for us. Okay? So at a point, you can say in at 31st March, it improves a bit, but if you will see quarter on quarter, it will be in the range of 90-100 days. Largely, it is in that range only, so I don't really- You don't foresee any much improvement in this working capital cycle days?
Because the kind of industry we belong to, I think that's the kind of cycle which we expect, because the customers also, basically, all enterprise gives customers, the kind of payment cycle we have with them, that matches with that.
Got it, so maybe if I can ask a follow on, is there any difference in the profile of, you know, cash conversion cycles across your different client types? Intuitively, customers from government should be a longer working capital.
No, no.
It's the reverse, actually. It's just the reverse. Government is better than the enterprise.
We have a credit period of around ninety days from both government and non-government or enterprise customers. As far as our observation is that, government enterprises are more prompt in paying us.
Really speaking, both the enterprise and the government, the private and the government sectors are more or less the same. The underlying credit terms are ninety days. By and large, you see ninety to hundred and ten days is the range by which is your cash conversion cycle. Because the inventory and the payables played out, you know. If you look at our cash flow cycle, the inventory turnover day and the payable days are almost the same. The inventory is technically funded by the payables, and what you see in cash conversion cycle is basically the debtors, which will be between ninety to hundred and ten days, even as we go forward. That's the nature of the business.
Perfect, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Hardik Rawat. Please go ahead, sir. Hello, Mr. Hardik?
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations on another set of strong results. Starting with the revenue, wanted to understand exactly, we've seen some very strong growth in the HCI segment. So were these private cloud installations, has this coincided with your, you know, improved execution for the entertainment and media client? So largely, private cloud is what was applied to the new set of clients under the other enterprises category?
... Yeah, if you see, there has been a growth all around actually, but private cloud has really gone up. And if you see my total revenue split between government and enterprise is also higher. This time, enterprise is higher than the government. So basically that has happened. Media entertainment, there was one customer, one or two customers, which basically you saw that segment growth. But otherwise, you know, that data center boom is happening. In India, what is happening is that at current point of time, the data center is really in a huge demand. So definitely data center in turn, goes back and falls back upon the private cloud and HCI only. So definitely that is indicative in our figures, and that is shown there.
So what is the share of government in the overall revenue this quarter?
I think 40%, if I'm not wrong.
Forty, sixty.
Forty, sixty.
40% was government, 60% was-
40% was government.
Surprise.
Yeah.
40%- 60%, and 2Q FY 2025.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes.
Not so well. Okay, another thing is, so can you tell us about some major projects that you'll be executing, especially in your HPC segment in the next two quarters? I'm assuming that this ISRO project is--
Yeah, I think-
--executed sometime in second half.
Yeah, actually, it's expected to be done that, but basically we will not like to go into specific orders, actually, Hardik. I really appreciate.
All right, no worries. Another thing was with regards to the export orders that you mentioned, could you shed some light on the geographies and, the specific segments in which we are starting to receive some traction in terms of orders?
Private cloud and HCI is one of the segments on which we are receiving this traction, and AI also, and primarily the target. It is going as per the target only. Primarily, it's targeted towards the Middle East and European countries.
Okay. And, any status update on the 5G RAN solutions?
Yeah, so that is under development, actually. That is still under development. Basically, on the private 5G part, I think it will take some more time. Still with our R&D team, our R&D team has become very strong now. We have R&D team of around 100 people, around 74 people we have in the software R&D, around 22 people in the hardware R&D. So that used to be 53 when we went for IPO, but now it's around 100 people. Very strong R&D team, and plus basically, we are working on several things, and 5G RAN is also one of the things on which we are working at this point of time.
Okay. Another thing was with regards to the EBITDA margins. We expected that, you know, with the operationalization of the new facility, EBITDA margins could have been lower, but they were very strong at 14.2%. So just wanted to understand, firstly, what are the utilization levels at our new SMT facility? And secondly, is the higher EBITDA margins a result of, you know, better mix of the AI and enterprise vertical in our sales mix?
Yeah. Hardik, we don't measure ourselves on the capacity utilization. This we have been repeating every quarter. Rather, we judge ourselves on the capabilities. So, your question on capacity utilization, it is difficult to answer right now. But definitely-
If you want to understand whether the new plant is fully functional or not, the new plant is fully functional.
Fully functional.
and fully rolling out. Now you can answer the EBITDA.
Coming on the EBITDA margins, definitely the AI segment has little bit improved margins as compared to other two segments. So you are seeing therefore, the EBITDA margins on a higher side this quarter.
Also, Hardik, one thing you should appreciate, that, there are orders, some of the orders which are large orders, so it is not necessary that every time you will see the same margin, we will be in that range of around 14, around 14%, because some orders may come at a healthier margin, some may come at a little lower margin. So I mean, it's not a magic thing that, you know, it will be stuck at a point, but around 14, 14 plus, that's the range which will be-
Indicative.
Indicative margins, yeah.
Okay, so 14%-14.5% is the range where the EBITDA margins for FY 2025 should lie?
Yes.
Would that be a correct understanding?
Correct.
Yes, you're right.
Okay. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you so much for answering the question.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Chirag Khasgiwala from Neo Asset Management. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Hi, am I audible now?
Yes, yes, Chirag, very well audible now.
Just wanted to know that if I, when I go through your cash flow statement, your operating cash flow has gone negative, INR 80 crores in this quarter. Could this situation be sustainable? Because this looks like you have very good profitable growth, but you're actually burning cash and not able to generate cash.
Your voice is a little bit feeble, but I have understood your question. So you will see that cash, actually, before working capital changes, our cash from operations are on the positive side. So, the only factor that is resulting in our net cash flow from operations to a negative is the increasing debtor. So this is the problem of our growth. So as our operations will continue to grow at the same pace, so this negative cash flow, you will see, will be there.
Let me explain. The cash conversion cycle, the way it is working, you know, fortunately, we are growing at a very rapid pace. If you look at the YoY growth of 70%, even the QoQ growth is very strong. This is not a business which is a cash and carry business, right? This is a business which will always have a 90-100 days debtor. Now, when you're growing so fast, your previous quarter revenue, the entire of it is outstanding. That's why you're seeing this.
But what is more important to understand is the quality of assets. The quality of debtors, the quality of inventory, those are top class. Absolutely no, you know, impairment in these assets. So they will get converted. As the growth smoothens, you will start to see the cash flow getting into the business very, very strongly. This is a typical cycle. When the growth is high, you are getting reinvested into your next quarter growth. So that's the reason you are seeing this.
Okay. And secondly, if you see recently, there was the promoter stake sale that happened. So what was the rationale for that, and do you expect any more stake sales to come through?
So I think there was no planned, you know, promoter stake dilution. We had some very good, you know, very, very good investors who were looking at a larger positioning, and of course, we have just given about 3.6%. We do not foresee any further dilution, both either primary or secondary in the near-
Hello?
Secondary also, we do not foresee any dilution in the near future. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Lastly, sir, how much contribution can you expect from AI business going forward? Could 15% be the peak level or it could go even higher?
No, no, it is not the peak, but for FY 2025, our guidance is 15%. If we go further, we go forward in the next two, three years.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Samarth Pachchigar from Krishna Research and Analytics. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you for the opportunity. It's, I just have a question that this time we had a 2% revenue share from the cluster management software that we offer to our clients. So does management seek to scale it up? Hello?
Software and services, basically, primarily is not a focus business for us. We are not a services company at all, but basically, what happens is that we do some. We offered only very, very specialized kind of services, so basically, that is there. So that segment will remain around that 2%-3% only. We are not a software or a services-focused company.
That is basically we only provide it, like, basically, particularly for oil and gas or for some specific kind of geological research or some specific kind of BFSI clouds or something of that nature. So those services are limited to that. So this segment will remain in the same range what it is at this point of time. Our three pillars will be supercomputing, private cloud, and AI. These will be the three pillars of our business, as it is, in fact, evident to you from the presentation also.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Sandeep Shah from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a strong quarter. Just on the IndiaAI Mission, the press articles implies that the turnover threshold is now being lowered and many companies are eligible in terms of bidding. So are you worried this may lead to many competition and this may dilute the margins? And are we in a major RFP stage, we will participate, or in the initial phase of smaller RFPs, we will also participate?
So, Sandeep, thanks for the question. Actually, if you have read it, so this is basically for the RFP part only, which is only for the empowerment for services. And, you know, ultimately, this criteria is applicable only for the bidders. We are not intending to bid directly, and we'll be, you know, partnering with the bidders who will be CSPs who will be interested to participate in this. So as such, this criteria does not apply to us.
In fact, this is only helping us to, you know, reach out to more CSPs, and this is ultimately going to help us grow our business in a bigger way. So I would say this is a welcome move. And as regard, you know, the next trend is concerned, that is also underway. As I mentioned, that the RFP for the bigger part is also on the way, and as expected, I mean, government is progressing quite well on that front also. So I mean, this is exactly in line. I don't see any challenge with that.
Okay, so Lodha, just a follow-up. In terms of deal pipeline, does this would be forming our part of the deal pipeline starting FY 2026, or it may start from Q3, Q4 of this financial year itself?
So we have not factored in this part into our pipeline as yet. So we may start, you know, adding up to our existing pipeline maybe by next fiscal year. So that is what you can expect from us.
Okay. And in terms of the pipeline, is there any mega order, like a INR 100 crore order in the pipeline, or there are combination of medium to smaller size of pipeline?
Pipeline, we cannot reveal customer-wise. You'll appreciate, Sandeep, this will be,
I'm not asking customer-wise, I am asking on an average size. Is there any mega deals in the pipeline?
It's all kind, all kind of orders, Sandeep. Basically, it's all kind of orders. Pipeline, basically, pipeline is a very... You can understand that there's 3,700 crore pipeline. So it is basically a mix of all kind of things, actually, but Hirdey very categorically mentioned that AI mission is still not part of the pipeline. So basically, we also just don't add the pipeline, actually. Somebody asked in the question earlier that basically why your pipeline is not growing. So we only add up, add into the pipeline once it gets qualified, once basically the first level of discussions are happening, once basically we feel that it is almost all ready to go, then only we add them into the pipeline. We just don't add things on the pipeline.
Okay, okay. And just a clarification in observation of the four quarters which we reported for FY 2024, the order book has a seasonal strength in Q3, Q4 versus Q1, Q2. So does that seasonality may be true even in FY 2025, where H2 order book could be better than H1 order book?
Sandeep, I still maintain that I will grow at the same rate of 35%. You-- and I assure you, we, you, this is the sixth conference call I'm having after listing. We have shown you growth all along, so please have confidence in us. We have shown you growth, we will show you growth in future also.
Okay, okay. And last question, Prawal, for you. Considering the PLI which we may apply in the second half, there would be a margin tailwind either in Q3 and Q4 to that extent?
The quarter in which PLI will come, there might be slight improvement, but overall, for the whole year, the margin profile will be in the same range. For that quarter, slight increase will be there.
Okay, thank you and all the best.
PLI, you know, it is obviously the PLI is not going to materially change the margin. You know that, Sandeep.
What, what, Sanjeev sir, can you repeat?
PLI, margin impact, no? It will not be visible.
And we don't factor in the wins in advance, as you know, after the third quarter, no? Surely we then will come.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Mihir Vyas from 9 Rays Equi Research. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. I just had one question on the data center side of the business. Can you help me understand how this side of the business shall grow in future, since there is a lot of traction in the field of data centers? And, since we have now started exporting also, is there any constructive talks on that area or any revenue potential, or this revenue share of this sector can grow - segment can grow, sorry?
Hi, hi, thanks for the question. Definitely, you know, answering your question that whether we see the progress in the data center space or not, you know, you have already been seeing that we have mentioned about three large pillars. In our case, one is, you know, supercomputing business, second is private cloud and HCI. Definitely, you know, private cloud and HCI is something we are targeting towards, you know, data center vertical of the market. And as you can see, the kind of momentum country is already seeing towards, you know, data center vertical. That definitely, you know, gives enough confidence that there is no slowdown, you know, anytime soon in the coming time.
So obviously, we have got, you know, full roadmap for the data center market, and we already have, you know, decent product line to cater to this market. So basically, we have got the product line, we have got the market in front of us, so we will not, you know, you know, tap into this market more heavily. Hi, I hope I answered your question?
Yes, sir. Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Yash from Stallion Assets. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi again, thank you for the question. Sort of harp on the guidance again, because I remember in the Q1 call, I think we had said that H1 is about one third in terms of revenue, and H2 is about two-third of the revenue. Now, I mean, obviously, you know, if H2 is that heavy, then broadly your revenue should be about which is far more than your guidance of 35%. Just for my understanding, just for more clarity, do you sort of now hold that, you know, that H2 is basically, you know, in terms of percentage-wise, you put it together, like, maybe it's like 60/40?
So I just want to, you know, kind of, clarify that we shouldn't be trying to cherry-pick guidance. Our hard guidance is on the growth of revenue, which we are underwriting to 35%. We have always outperformed that. We would endeavor to outperform that. If possible, yes, H1, H2, that is the standard thing, but sometimes, if a quarter is very strong, a little bit of, you know, overflow happens, et cetera, that is normal. So I mean, probably 40/60 here and there.
Yeah, but we cannot... one third, two third is a general trend which is seen. In this year, if you see, the first half has been particularly good, especially in the second quarter, so it will have a reverse negative spillover impact, possibly in the coming quarters. Yeah, but we are committed to a 35% minimum kind of a growth, as we have committed, and by and large, it will be around that time, but it can be plus or minus 5-7% in terms of the split between H1 and H2.
Got it, got it. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Onkar Ghugardare from Shree Investments. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello, sir, congratulations on good set of numbers once again. I have a couple of questions, actually. Just wanted to know a bit more about your company and this sector. So first of all, how big is the size of opportunity in your type of business?
I think, I think most of the people here on the call are well aware. We can do a separate call, because this will need a very long,
Okay, I'll ask more specific question about, specifically about the result then.
Yeah. Yeah.
So my question is regarding what kind of return on equity and return on capital employed you are targeting since you will be growing faster?
Our guidance is on the broad margin range and the top line. I think the rest a little bit of analysis you guys will also have to do.
O-okay, uh-
You see our ROIs have been pretty strong. We have been in the range of,
You know, ROE is 18%+ , if you look at it. If you look at the full year, ROE has been very, very strong. So I'm sure that as long as we continue to grow at the pace that we have guided and in the range of the margins that we have guided, I don't think ROE and ROC should be a concern.
Okay, thanks. Next question is on the AI mission, which you talked about. How big it could be according to you, and how the PLI could be.
So basically, you know, IndiaAI Mission, anyways, this is something which is, you know, known to the, you know, the entire world now, because the government has already announced about it. It's not about just we saying about it. So IndiaAI Mission as such, is basically a project, you know, which is sizing around, more than $1 billion kind of budget they have allocated.
And that is also, you know, targeted to be spent, within a span of three to five years, and there can be an acceleration to spend that money by government. So this is the size of opportunity, and, as we have already explained, that we are well poised and well placed for this opportunity. So we are, you know, targeting by our, the newly introduced product line for this. Yeah, this is the situation.
You mentioned $1 billion, right?
Yes, it has already been said that more than $1 billion is something what has been allocated by the government as of now, and they have a plan to, you know, spend the same over a period of three to five years.
Okay, like, can you talk more about what, how and who could be your competitors in getting the orders from the government? I mean, how many competitors are there?
This is a very, very different kind of a question, actually, really speaking, because there are a lot of dynamics to it, and this is a government policy question, so we'll not like to basically discuss that on a call.
Yeah, but just if you can give a sense, like, how many competitors are there and what kind of competitors you have?
The RFP has not yet come, okay? The government is still the designing structure is going on, wherein basically, you know, NVIDIA is a leader in the computing side, okay? There are other players also. There is a new AI chip which is being developed almost every day. Today, basically, there is a company called Cerebras. They are also trying to come up.
Unfortunately, if Cerebras comes with a product, they can also basically come into competition. So that's the situation actually, whereas basically we are aligned with most of these partners. We are there. But whoever the competition will be, they'll be all MNC competition. We don't target, we don't foresee any domestic competition as such. I hope I'm able to answer your question.
Yeah. Just a clarification on that, when can we hear this from the government, as per your knowledge?
Yeah. So basically, the government is very actively working on this. There is AI Summit, which is happening starting from this week only. So basically, I think government is in a rush, and the first part of it, as Sandeep answered, Sandeep asked us a question, actually. The first part on the services part, the RFP is already rolled out, and basically, the new RFP, the preparation is going on, and as far as I personally feel, is that it should be out by Q2 next year.
Okay, Q2 next year. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. The next question is on the line of Mansimer Singh, who is an individual investor. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello?
Yes, sir, you're audible. Please go ahead.
Okay. First of all, Sanjay, sir, well, really congratulations for a wonderful result. As you guided in earlier convos, you are aligning with the revenue guidance. I just wanted to know, regarding our pipeline, where we are in the order book. We have mentioned INR 369 crore of order book and INR 331 crore of L1. So L1 will be getting the projects as and when the bids will be getting. Can you tell me, like, what percentage of this L1 and order book will be consumed in H2, the next two quarters?
Basically, as regard order book is concerned, I can tell you order book should be completely consumed in H2. No doubt about that. As regard L1 is concerned, I can tell you it should be around maybe 50%-60% should get consumed without any problem. But these are all dynamic things. Every day, the order books keeps on adding. Every day, the L1, L2, L1 condition also keeps on adding.
Okay, okay. Thank you, sir. And one more question, regarding our we have launched our Make in India, Tyrone AMD servers and HCI. So can you tell me, like, what will be the share of our data centers, which includes a segment of HCI and cloud, by, like, two, three years, respect to our revenue?
Because basically what happens is that we, we don't target everything, actually. We target only the enterprise customers, because as I've been telling you again and again, we don't target the SMB and the small, the small and small market, which are again using lot of HCI, but primarily our target is large enterprise customers, and we feel we will definitely have a good footprint in that. And, as you are seeing this, this quarter also, the growth, the maximum growth came into the private cloud and HCI.
So definitely that will keep on going. And our partnership with AMD is only making us stronger, because basically this is our latest chipset. We have a complete stack of, basically, because AMD processors are again, basically outperforming in some kind of situation. So we are able to leverage that, and with Make in India expertise, the kind of things which we are generating, that is making our product range more stronger, so our penetration will increase further.
Okay, thank you. And one last question. With respect to, we have received the order of JNU HPC cluster, right? So, sir, can you tell me, like, by when, this project will be completed?
JNU HPC cluster. I did not declare anywhere. It is there, and I think it was there in the Twitter. I've seen this. That is basically I don't answer Twitter questions actually, please, because I cannot speak about specific orders we have entered with customers and all that, so I am sorry about that.
Okay, no issues. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. Next question is from the line of Dhruv Aggarwal from Niveshaay. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Is it audible, ma'am?
Yes, sir, you're audible. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Congratulations on the very good set of numbers, sir. Sir, I have two questions: firstly, on the $1 billion PLI scheme that you have said, sir, you don't see any domestic competition on that side, but you said that, you have-- you may see the competition from NVIDIA. And furthermore, you said some names, sir, but I, it was not properly audible. So can you just say it out, sir?
Basically, you are completely confused. I'm sorry to say that. We never mentioned there is $1 billion PLI. First thing is that, sir. Okay, basically, what Hirdey mentioned is basically AI mission total outlay. If you see the Cabinet group, which has been presented to the Parliament, that says that, that basically $1 billion is the total AI mission outlay actually, it's not a PLI. First thing is that. And NVIDIA is a partner to us, NVIDIA is not a competition.
I never mentioned NVIDIA as a competition, actually. I, what I wanted to mention is that, that basically once you're asking about the question, then there are the newer technologies which are coming up. There may be many newer technologies which are coming up, so they may come and basically the distribution and things can get distributed that way. So that was my point. But NVIDIA is a leader, and I have got no doubt for future years, NVIDIA will remain the leader.
Okay. And sir, the second question would be, in terms of GPU, that you are kind of there in the business. So in terms of quality, how good we are in comparison to NVIDIA or something like that, sir?
So we are using NVIDIA. We are not in comparison with NVIDIA again. I'm again mentioning to you, we are partners with NVIDIA. If you see the press release, even the NVIDIA, NVIDIA top senior people have mentioned that Netweb is the OEM partner for them, which they have mentioned, it's very clear. So we are not a competition to NVIDIA at all.
Okay.
As far as quality is concerned, NVIDIA. We are a certified partner and OEM partner for NVIDIA. So NVIDIA does all the qualifications, then only qualifies a partner to that level. So, and you see all the. We are selling it, our market is, we are, our 25% of revenue is coming from AI systems. That itself says that. We also got an award from NVIDIA for their being the largest partner last year. So basically, I think that speaks about it. So quality and all is not a concern for us.
Okay, okay, okay. Thank you so much, and sorry for the misunderstanding then.
No problem, no problem. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Saket Bihany, sir, who is an individual investor. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon. Congrats, Sanjay sir, and Prawal sir, for excellent set of numbers. So sir, my first question is considering the significant expansion of your employee base from two hundred and fifty to four hundred since the IPO, so how confident is management in sustaining this growth rate without encountering talent acquisition challenges or skill gap?
Talent acquisition, I think you've already answered that. Post the IPO, we have no dearth of attracting talent. We have been able to hire the people we are wanting to hire, and we'll continue to do so. As far as growth is concerned, we have very clearly guided that we grow around 35% over the next three to four years. We stand by the guidance. Unless we change the guidance, it continues to be the same.
Sure, sir, sure. And sir, another thing related to employment, sir, has incremental employment since the IPO led to higher than expected labor cost by any chance?
Expenses have gone up, the revenue has gone up, the expenses have gone up, and it is expected to go up, actually. And plus, basically, you need to pay good people if you want to hire them.
Right.
But basically, that is completely. You see where our margin percentage has not dropped. That is the same, actually. So we are able to, the company can afford it, and company can definitely have better talent. We also wish to pay our people more, so that basically they remain, so they remain with the industry standards.
And we are able to retain the best talent.
Best talent, yes.
and we can never end. Also, we have to make our organization future ready. so we'll obviously keep hiring best talent.
Sure, sure, sure. That was my question. Best of luck for future. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Hasmukh Devji Visaria from Tata Mutual Fund. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on consistent delivery. I just had one basic clarification in terms of AI mission, right? So you talked about you will be a partner to any of the let's say global OEMs and not directly let's say subscribed to the RFPs. Did I hear that right? And if yes, then what's the reason behind this?
I'll clarify it to you again. So basically what we said, that the first part of it which has come out, that is about, you know, which is just a small portion of the entire, you know, the opportunity. This has come out in the form of empanelment for services. Okay, for empanelment of services, they are inviting CSPs to get themselves empaneled. And for this part, I said that we will be supporting the CSPs by providing them our solution at the back end. So that's how our participation is, in fact, not needed. In fact, I would say that more the participation, more will be the opportunity for us to work along with the CSPs and giving them the entire solution.
And the reason for doing that, the government did it because the AI mission, the 10,000 GPUs which they have to procure, that is taking time. So basically, that's the reason they wanted to have this standby kind of a thing, wherein the startups and they can be offered services immediately. So this is pure services play, and that's the reason we are supporting the CSPs. And, so that supposed to, and CSPs will bid for it, and they will take it directly. And this is only a very, very small part of it.
And just to add one more point, you mentioned that we are partnering with global OEMs. No, what we said that, we being the OEM ourselves, we are using some of the platforms of, you know, like NVIDIA and AMD and all, but ultimately we produce our own systems. We are partnering with the CSPs for the smaller portion of the opportunity, wherein CSPs are getting empaneled for, you know, rendering services to the end customers going to be provided by Government of India. So ultimately, we will be the one who will be producing systems and giving the entire solution to the CSPs.
Got it, got it. Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah.
Thank you very much. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you.
Thank you so much. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate everybody's time on this, and thank you for your questions, and thank you so much.