Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. N. Venu, MD and CEO, Hitachi Energy India Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Yashashri. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us for the Analyst Conference Call, and I hope all of you are fine, and doing well. Yesterday, we announced our results for the first quarter FY '24-'25. Over the next 20-25 minutes, we will take you through these results in detail. We have uploaded the slide deck in the BSE and NSE portal, and I will refer to those numbers for ease of your understanding in case you are joining through phone.
With me in the room today, I have our CFO, Ajay Singh, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Mr. Poovanna Ammatanda, and our Head of Communications and Investor Relations, Manashwi Banerjee. Throughout the last fiscal, our focus was on balancing operational complexity and efficiency, which has helped us in achieving a strong order intake, resulting in a record order backlog in the first quarter of FY '24-'25. As energy transition gathers pace, investments in the power sector, especially in the renewable and grid connections, continue to grow. With the backdrop of the Union Budget '24-'25 announced on Tuesday, in which energy security is a key priority, we expect more traction in terms of opportunities in the coming quarters.
So let me start my presentation and move to slide number 3. So as you know, safety is our license to operate. Safety, integrity, and quality are our license to operate and are a fundamental part of our day-to-day operations. As we review the quarter, I want to start with the good news that Hitachi Energy has been awarded with the prestigious International Safety Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Gold 2024 for our Mumbai HVDC project, which is under execution. Human capital is at the heart of all decisions, and employee well-being is paramount to us.
Throughout this quarter, we have organized multiple awareness sessions, health camps, training sessions across our offices, facilities, and project sites for the welfare of our employees and workmen. To mention a few, we had a session on tobacco cessation, pain management, and mental health. In light of the extreme summer temperatures in this quarter, we also had multiple sessions to prepare employees for the heat wave across our offices, factories, and project sites. At Hitachi Energy, safety, integrity, and quality are entrenched in our DNA, and we are committed towards implementing the same in all spheres of our work.
Moving to slide number 4, sustainability. At Hitachi Energy, our purpose is to advance a sustainable energy future for all. Towards doing so, we have been building on our internal sustainability initiatives. Similarly, you have also seen that previously, we announced our Sustainability 2030 targets. As part of that, we want to be carbon neutral in our own operations by 2030. Across facilities, we have implemented projects to reduce emissions and manage water and waste. These help us keep track of our greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, usage of fresh water, and waste management. Ultimately, what gets measured gets done.
Some of our key actions from this quarter include replacing furnace oils and boilers with a biofuel boiler at our Mysore unit to reduce fossil emissions and energy audits at Maneja. Furthermore, to conserve rainwater, several rainwater recharges are put to use and reduce fresh water usage. STP treated water is used for watering parts of the garden areas in our locations. Also, at our Peenya facility, 15 water meters were installed to monitor water consumption and reduce wastage.
In terms of waste management, we have stopped the regular use of single-use plastic bottles across all locations. We have also devised plans to reuse metal waste and packaging material at our Doddaballapur and Peenya respectively. These are a couple of examples of what's happening throughout our organization. As you can see [on the] right side of the slide, where in addition to driving our financial KPIs, our leaders are also doing monitoring of these KPIs for greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, fresh water use, and waste generated, as well as waste disposal. These are the KPIs that are all being tracked, like how we track our financial KPIs.
So moving to slide number 5, I think on the left-hand side, probably you know a lot about it, but let me just go through that. The Indian growth story continues. As a country, we are on the right track for a $5 trillion economy in the coming years. According to government reports, India's GDP is estimated to grow by 8.2%, and Indian industry IIP supported this trend, growing 5.4% for this quarter '24-'25. With an objective to further boost the renewable sector, the government in Union Budget 2024 allocated INR 19,100 crore to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy against the revised estimates of INR 7,080 crore for the Budget '23-'24.
In the Transmission Segment, now you can see that the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation plans to invest almost INR 100,000 crore for the development of transmission infrastructure in Gujarat in the next seven years. This is like we have seen previously, the inter-state transmission networks, and now we are seeing more and more state transmission utilities are coming up to invest in the grids of the state. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned the implementation of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition program. Component two, the scheme has been allocated a substantial budget of INR 13,050 crore.
A budget of INR 250,000 crore is earmarked for Indian rail modernization and network expansion, where our company is well positioned in this sector. 50,000 crore capital expenditure is expected over the next three years. Also, this kind of railway modernization and alternative fuels will be attracting more investments other than that happening there. Moving to slide number 6, we are customer-centric and are committed to building trust, long-term partnerships. This quarter, also, we engaged with our customers, starting with our team meeting the high-profile delegation at Sri Lankan Ministry of Power to reaffirm ties and discuss future areas for collaboration.
Another highlight was a full-day seminar at Dhaka for the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh on innovation solutions and control protection, substation automation, telecommunication systems, etc. On the occasion of our visit of our global CEOs, there was a power pack thought leadership evening on energy transition in Bengaluru with the government delegates and industry leaders. Our flagship initiatives on Digital Energy and Digital World were kick-started in Hyderabad, followed by the second event at Delhi. Both events were enthusiastic participation from customers and their partners.
If I move to slide number 7, as part of year-long celebrations of our 75 years in India, we initiated a new platform called TechTalks, which will allow our employees to direct access to top minds in Hitachi Energy to understand industry and technology trends. The first TechTalks webinar witnessed participation by almost close to 1,000+ people. The Excel Her development program is specifically designed for our high-potential women leaders, and we closed this year's cohort on an encouraging note.
Other upskilling programs this quarter included a Value Persona Sales Workshop that drives home the focus on customers and improves the overall experience as we embark on the energy transition. In preparation of the next generation of energy transition talent, we participated in a career fair organized by renowned i nstitutes to spot potential and to showcase our organization's ethos to prospective hires. This quarter, we were at Loyola College, Chennai, where we received an overwhelming response. On World Environment Day, this is the last picture on this thing, we initiated a mammoth tree planting campaign, aiming to plant 75,000 saplings in 12 months, commemorating our 75 years of power in India.
It pleases me to say that our efforts continue to receive industry accolades, with senior leaders being conferred with the prestigious awards for their contribution to shaping the energy transition. If I move to slide number 8, as a pioneering technology leader, we are committed to the energy security of the country through various projects undertaken by us. During the quarter, we have commissioned several projects, and I will highlight a few of them. We commissioned a 400/33 kV substation, 350 kV, and 432 MW DC solar project. In Bhubaneswar, the team was responsible for design, engineering, procurement, supply installation, testing, and commissioning.
Another solar project that we commissioned was a 100 MW SECI solar project, Banipura, whose scope encompasses design, engineering, supply testing, erection. The team also commissioned energizing the 220/ 70 kV bay extension packages. For the MP Power Transmission Package, two projects along with design, engineering, procurement, supply installation. Our project team is also taking care of the construction along with testing, commissioning for a full number of 220 kV, 130 kV, and 33 kV substations. These are just a couple of examples that the projects commissioned in this quarter.
Moving to the next slide, slide number 9, the quarter ending June 30, 2024, received orders totaling INR 2,436.7 crore, where renewables led the pack from studies across utilities and industries to grid integration projects. Along with the several power quality projects, the quarter witnessed order growth of 112% year-on-year and 73% quarter-on-quarter. Revenue was INR 1,327 crore, up 27% year-on-year, but quarter-on-quarter, there is a decline of 21.9%. Both profit before tax and profit after tax are year-on-year growth of almost three-fold, but on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the profit of PBT and PAT has declined. The quarter closed with a record order backlog of INR 8,539.5 crore, which is the highest so far in our company.
Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost the management connection. Please stay connected while we rejoin them. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management team back on call. Please go ahead, please.
Sorry, the line got disconnected. I was just talking about our various orders, and the quarter closed with a record order backlog of INR 8,539.4 crore, which is the highest since the inception of our company. Some key orders received in the quarter include a large HVDC project order from Marinus Link in Australia. This is, you recall, we have set up our new greenfield factory in Chennai, and we have seen this demand coming up not only in India but also in other parts of our region, and we were early on to set up this factory in there.
In addition to the Marinus Link, two transmission projects, one through tariff-based competitive bidding, 60x 500 MVA ICT, 400 kV SR in Gujarat for Adani, and the other one is 400/220 kV digital substation, CRP SAS retrofitting of existing substation, Kanpur . One renewable project for ReNew Power in Fatehgarh, and another noteworthy export order from Canada for 800 kV CT for a Hydro-Québec customer in there. We remained focused toward increasing operational efficiencies while expanding our portfolio in the high-growth markets and continue to grow higher than the market.
Moving to slide number 10, which is to provide some more color on the orders received this quarter. This quarter, Transmission Segment emerged as a high-growth segment with year-on-year growth of 566%, followed by renewable, which is up by 500%. Industries also saw year-on-year growth of 35%, whereas in Q1, we saw year-on-year decline of 77% in data center segment, and it remains high-growth segment in the medium term. The rapid growth of data center electrification of railways and growing metro network across the country will push these segments in the near future.
On the right-hand side of the slide, you can see order mix. Projects took the lead in segment. No, products continued to be 57%, and the projects are 39%. On the sector side, utilities and direct end users are clearer, very higher for the sectors and the channels respectively. Moving to slide 11 is the value creators, the service and export, as we have been seeing consistently. We're talking about increasing the exports and also the service and offering both service and digital. The climate challenges, we always say, is a huge challenge.
It's a bigger than one company, one team, and one individual, and our continuous effort is to enable many pathways to energy transitions across geographies and segments. Exports contributed 27% to the total order book, not including the large HVDC export order we received from Marinus because that's the large one. If you add that, the whole thing will be skewed, so we always take out these large projects in our thing.
So we continue to trend in our upper band of our stated targets of the exports. Orders for transformer, power quality technologies, and other key products were booked from the markets like Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and neighboring countries in South Asia. Apart from the Marinus Link order from Hitachi Energy Australia, we received orders from Hitachi Energy Canada, Portugal, Greece, and Iraq for multiple projects for our portfolio.
Some of the key service orders for this quarter comprised of renewable studies from private utilities, renewable generation companies, industrial houses, EPCs, emergency remote support to key data centers, etc. And now I'd like to move to slide number 12, and then I'll hand over to our CFO, Ajay, to take us through the financials.
Thank you, Venu, and good afternoon, everyone. I hope all of you are doing well at your end. So if you see in this particular slide, our focused and proactive approach has helped us to maintain the order growth momentum carried from the last fiscal year. During the quarter, each of the company booked orders was reduced to INR 2,436.7 crores, up by 73.2% quarter-over-quarter and 112% roughly year-on-year. Revenue was INR 1,327.3 crores, which is also 27% year-on-year, up.
Then also, if we compare with the previous quarter, there was a decline of 21.9% quarter-on-quarter because of the cyclical pattern, which has impacted and further impacted the revenue mix with the traditional product paths. Profit before tax for the quarter was INR 15.1 crores, and profit after tax was INR 10.4 crores. Both are around, as MD explained, roughly three times year-on-year, whereas operational EBITDA and EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 39.6 crores and INR 61.5 crores respectively. On the percentage terms, operational EBITDA was 3% and EBITDA 4.6%.
Our order backlog issued more than INR 8,500 crores. If I go back to the next slide, where I would like to share a little bit more details on how the movement happened in the particular quarter. So if you see our revenues, INR 13 crores and INR 27 crores. Obviously, the previous quarter was an exceptional quarter, but if I compare with Q1 FY24, INR 1,043 crore revenue was there, so there is a growth of roughly 27%. Material cost for the quarter was around 62.8%, and our personnel expenses were around 9.2%. So historically, if you see, Q1, there is a slow start for us, where we see a lower revenue and higher costs. And our other expenses, if you see, is hovering around 23.6%.
And then normally, in the first quarter, it is around 23%-24%, and towards the end of the year, we see that we are able to achieve 22%-21% for the year. Further, in the current quarter, if you see, there is an exchange FOREX hedging impact at INR 9.4 crore, and depreciation interests are more or less aligned with the previous quarter. So this is how we are able to close this particular quarter, 10.4 % PAT, which is better compared to YoY on the lower base. With this, I hand over to Venu.
Thank you, Ajay. Moving to the last slide, slide 15. Sorry, slide number 15, yeah. So our priorities for the coming quarters and the financial year, we remain financial year '25. We remain committed to our 2030 strategy of maintaining leadership in core segments, shifting our core center of gravity towards service, export, and digital, and harness high-growth segments. On the business front, consolidated efforts will be made to leverage the large order backlog for revenue accretion and also profitability accretion. We will have to drive productivity with an emphasis on operational excellence in all spheres of work to achieve sustained double-digit margins going forward.
With the safety being entrenched in our DNA, we will continue to approach every day as a day one in terms of implementing safety work culture at all our locations, whether it is a factory, offices, or project sites. Furthermore, we continue to invest towards increasing our existing capabilities for sustainable future growth, be it for the people, through our cross-skilling, or in terms of strengthening our footprint or expanding, all towards a seamless energy transition in that. So with this, I would like to close my presentation and open the channel for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the Q&A session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. In order to ensure that the management is able to answer queries from all participants, kindly restrict your questions to two at a time. You may join back the queue for follow-up questions. We have a first question from the line of Apoorva Bahadur from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So two questions. Firstly, on the margin bit, just wanted to know what cost the other expenses to increase almost by INR 50 crore year-on-year. And also then, what's our full-year EBITDA margin expectation for this year? And second question is on the capital expenditure, essentially the part of $6 billion CapEx that the parent has sort of allocated to energy transition. So any clarity on how much of that is expected to be spent in India and some roadmap?
Yeah. Thank you, Apoorva. Maybe on the first one, I'll ask our CFO to talk on that. But we don't give you any full-year guidance, forward-looking statement. What we have been talking about consistently is that we will enter double-digit EBITDA by end of FY '25. So that's what we have been telling, and we continue to do that. Maybe Ajay wanted to take him through the other expenses.
Okay. So thank you, Apoorva. So as I mentioned, you know that traditionally, our quarter one, we see the revenues are low and the costs are high. But specifically talking about the other expenses, I would like to comment that including FOREX, so let me comment in this particular quarter, we had a FOREX hedging impact.
If I compare with the previous quarter, the impact was around up to INR 20 crore, and it's largely for the new project that we have booked. Then the second item is basically we have higher IT charges. As we have discussed earlier, we have migrated to a new ERP during the first quarter of '24-'25. And right now, we are on a parallel IT infrastructure. So basically, this is where we got this higher cost, but we really expect the same to be normalized by the year.
On an overall full financial year basis, so we will be able to do that.
And the other element is basically on the higher overhead is on account of the royalty, which is if you see royalty expenses in the current quarter, it's calculated based on the revenue number for the previous quarter as per the contractual terms. And that is how our previous quarter, as I told, was exceptional on the revenues. So that is what these are the three major items that have impacted other overheads.
And all these things will be within the range on an overall year if you take it forward.
Correct.
So on the second question, Apoorva, on the capital expenditure standpoint, well, definitely there will be as I said, we would not like to sell at this point in time. We want to resolve it for a later part of the year for announcement.
Okay, sir. So as of now, the capital expenditure is what the regular run rate that we have, INR 200 crore?
INR 100 crore. INR 100 crore.
INR 100 crore.
INR 100 crore per year.
Okay. Understood, sir. Thank you so much. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah.
Hi, Venu. Um, Venu, congratulations on a great order inflows during this quarter, sir. So my first question is on when you say that you will achieve double-digit margins by year-end, but you've already achieved it in fourth quarter FY ' 24. So what do you mean by achieving it by year-end?
As I said, from entering double-digit means, we expect that in a sustainable manner, we will look at that. That's what we want.
Is it right to assume that maybe at some point of time where the revenue crosses INR 2,000 crore on a quarterly basis, then we'll be able to deliver that kind of numbers? Because at INR 1,300-1,00 crore, you will barely be at EBITDA positive. This is what I said, given the cost structures you have at 37% gross margins and other expenses of 20%-23% and 9% of employee expenses. So you barely make any EBITDA at run rate of INR 1,400- 1,500 crore of revenue per quarter.
Yeah. We don't want to make that kind of statements. It's up to you to calculate. But as I said, we don't give any forward-looking statement. Sometimes, in addition to what you're talking about, there's also mix will play a large part of the thing. So the mix could also change quarter-to-quarter.
Okay. So my second question is on the orders. Last quarter, you said that you have bid for some HVDC projects and some STATCOM projects. So if you can update us, anything has been opened, where we are right now in the HVDC orders of Power Grid. So if you can give some color on that.
Yeah. So we have submitted our bid at this point in time. Since it's a closed bid, so we do not have any official information to share. All we can say is that we are engaging the customers and providing all the necessary information sought by the customers on that particular tender, both on STATCOM as well as on HVDC tender for that.
And we are not L1 as of now in any of these projects, right?
We have not. There is no publicly opened of these particular projects, right? Yeah.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, sir. And thanks for taking my question. My first question is, sir, a number of transmission orders in India got bid in FY '24.
Can you come close to the mic, Mohit?
Is it better now?
Yeah.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question. My question is, number of transmission orders, or let's say TBCB orders that have added to players, but we haven't seen any significant order inflow from India in Q1. Do you think what is causing this delay? And do you think that in the Q2 and Q3, all this?
Mr. Kumar, give me a moment, please. We've lost the management connection. I'll reconnect them. Sorry about that. Mr. Kumar, we have the management team back on the call. You may please go ahead. Sorry about this.
Sorry about the telephone line problem. So I understand there are rains in the western part of India.
No issue, sir. Should I repeat some questions, sir?
Please do that. Yeah.
Sir, as I said, my question was, the number of transmission bids were awarded in FY '24, right? So our expectation was that Q1 will see a much, much larger order inflow for the industry. Why is there a delay in finalization of these orders? And do you think that going forward, these numbers will pick up, especially from India business, significantly?
Yeah. I think so because if you really look at it in the last 3 to 5 when we started election, maybe that's also one of the reasons maybe it slowed down. But there is a bidding going on. As we speak, lots of bidding activities there. There has been a bit of decision-making on sources of making. I'm sure now with the new government, new ministries are in place, that should aggravate that.
My second question is on the railway side. Last year, I think railway has updated guidance for adding locomotives and adding train set. We also see a lot of smart transmission opportunity coming up. In your opinion, and given what you see, are you seeing this activity much, much higher compared to last year in terms of tendering activity?
Yeah. I think when you look at the whole of last year, there's a lot of activity in the first six months, and there was a bit of slowdown. I won't say slowdown. The second part of the year was a bit lull. But if you really look at now, I think we see a lot of traction on the fast tracking of some of the bids.
What about railway, railways, sir? Railways, are you seeing that?
Railways, railways. I'm talking about the railways.
Understood, sir. Thank you and all the best . Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Mahesh Bendre from LIC Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Hi, Mahesh.
Hi, sir. Sir, globally, there has been a shortage of transmission distribution equipment. So although we have indicated that maybe over a medium period, maybe 25%-30% of our sales come from the international market. But given the current situation, do you think we will play more role on the global side on TD equipment?
Yeah. I think all the thank you for your question is a very important question. All we are saying is that we have seen a lot of demand in the domestic market. Okay? Our first and primary aim is to sell the domestic market. So we are expanding the factories. We are setting up the new factories. Those things continue to grow on that. While doing so, we are also keeping enough provision in our factories, both existing as well as the new ones, to cater to the demand outside of India.
That's the reason we said our exports in the beginning was 15% when we started our company. We said over a period of time, it will happen 25%. Now, it's already in the range of 30%. We will see in that 25%-30% range, it will remain consistently without taking any large orders like Marinus Link. Even without that, we will be in the range of 25%-30%. That's where we want to go because we have a huge domestic order, domestic demand, and that's where we will be concentrating on that in addition to the exports.
Sure. And sir, apart from transformers and switchgears, some of the—I mean, some of the equipment like grid automation, reactors, STATCOMs, where we have age-old computers. So do you think this part will become a major going forward or substantial part of the business maybe three, four years down the line?
Yeah. I think if you really look at the whole renewable, renewable needs a lot of new technologies powered through the semiconductors, etc., and that. So that semiconductor things, whether it is HVDC, STATCOMs, or power quality, those are the things will definitely have a bigger edge in a new power systems or in the new grid stability-related things like that. We have seen this coming in not only here but globally. We are one of the prime movers to invest in those technologies and put up our factories. The Chennai factory is one example.
We are the first one probably in the country to set this up at that scale. And we have not only from that factory, we have produced the very crucial parts like what we call as HVDC valves for our Mumbai project. And then we have received now another major order for another project. So these are the things we believe that going forward will have quite a big attraction, whether it is renewable integration or cross-interconnections between the nations. Those are the things that have a huge opportunity.
Sure. And sir, last question from my end. We have guided that we will achieve 10% margin in the medium term. But going by the demand scenario, both in domestic and globally, do you think there is substantial scope to improve our margins from 10% to, I mean, significantly higher than what we have been guided? Not now, but maybe over 3-5 years down the line?
Again, I don't want to say anything, Mahesh. What all I can say is that what we have committed. So we want to come over there, and probably then we will start. You can make your own calculations. If the revenue is going up with the same cost structure, things like that, you can start making your own estimate. But all what we can say from the management standpoint is that we said we will enter 10% EBITDA by end of FY '25.
Sure. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we'd like to remind participants to press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Prathmesh Salunkhe from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. So looking at the demand for the transformers in the country, just wanted to know what would be the market share of Hitachi Energy in terms of power transformers, especially about 220 kVs, since that is the big boom right now?
Yeah. No, I think Prathamesh, Prathamesh, thank you for your question. So we normally don't give our market shares by product lines, etc., and that. But having said that, we are one of the largest producers of these large power, medium power transformers in this country and also globally. And we definitely, all I can say is that we have a very decent market share in our area of operation.
Got it, sir. So installed manufacturing capacity for transformers are reaching somewhere around 500 GVA by the end of '26. What do you think Hitachi Energy will stand in that sense? I mean, in that sector?
We have recently announced globally. This is for global. It's not for India. Just wanted to clarify. So on the CapEx, globally, we announced that $1.4 billion will be invested globally. Again, I'm stressing on that so that you understand very clearly for the increasing the CapEx of a transformer alone. Okay? So that clearly shows that being one of the leading largest capacity globally available, so we are investing in that.
So in India also, we have been investing in the last 3-4 years, right? We have invested in the capacity expansion of our power transformers. We have expanded our dry bushing factories. New greenfield factory we announced. All those things, we continue to expand it. And we have done that in the last 3-4 years. We never stopped investing even during COVID time also.
Got it, sir. Thank you for clarification. So another question was on...
May I request you to join back the queue, please, as we have other participants waiting?
Yes, I'll do that. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Jonas Bhutta from Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. Please go ahead.
Thank you, gentlemen. Just two quick questions. Firstly, if you can update us, what percent of the Mumbai HVDC project is complete as of now, as of this quarter?
Yeah. We are in the range of around 30%-40% completed.
Understood. And as this quarter has seen an increase in the share of projects versus products in our order mix, if you can just remind us, what is the typical differential in gross margins between a product order and a project order? As India or BCL sort of starts awarding the HVDC projects over the next 1-2 years, given that these will be project-heavy, just wanted to understand from that angle how gross margins would behave. That's it.
Again, Jonas, thank you for your question. We normally don't give margin by product line or projects thing in that. So you...
Even a rough differential, sir, would help. Yeah.
Again, it depends upon. It's always margin is a function of risk and reward, right? The more the risk, the more reward. And if you are able to manage the risk, then you have a better reward. And the products are sometimes very simple products without any risk. You do not have that much of a thing in that. So it's a varying thing. It's not a straightforward answer I can give it to you in that. So having said that, again, when you talk about the project, you've got to be understandable of a couple of things, very important things.
Like, for example, previously, the project when we used to do a couple of years back, that we used to do the project in a complete EPC manner, that is engineering, procurement, commissioning, civil, everything. Today, we don't do that. Our project is only confined around our products. Okay? We do engineering of our products. We ensure that the products have been supplied to that, and then we install and we commission. That's what we call as a project in that.
So unlike EPC, where the risk profile is huge and there's a lot of unknown elements out there, how long it will take, those things, we don't know. The one which we have received from Marinus Link, we call it the project, but it is more of a design engineering supply and commissioning of valves and some other associated products for that.
Understood. That really helps. Thank you, Venu, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Mahawar from UBS. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hi, Venu. Two quick questions, sir. First is, on the next two large HVDC projects, can you briefly share the status and what is the competence of Hitachi there? Thank you very much, boss.
Sorry, on the competition of?
I'm saying on the next two HVDC large projects that are expected in the next 12 to 18 months, what is the broad status on both? Because both are very different projects, very large ones. Broadly, what's our capacity framework there in terms of differential and operating capabilities that we have? Because...
Which two projects are you talking about, Amit ?
I'm talking about the HVDC projects, Venu.
Okay. So first of all, thank you, Amit. As you know, there are two projects of HVDC, which are, I would say, three projects. Okay? So the one is a 6,000 MW project, which is in the final stage of bidding. That's the one. And we hope that that should get concluded in the next quarter or two quarters. And then thereafter, there is another of similar size of 6,000 MW Khavda project. Okay?
That's also another project which has come for a bidding. And then we expect that bidding to be completed in the next two quarters or so. Then there is a third project, which is also Khavda, which is a VSC project, which is a 2,000-MW project. So that is we just notified that it will take maybe by end of this financial year, it will come up for bidding.
Okay. Just to clarify, Hitachi, it's technically qualified for all the three? Or is there any different technology in any of the three where we cannot participate, sir?
We have a complete technology. Both the technologies we have invented, these and globally and locally, 50% of the installations around the world, they run through Hitachi Energy Technologies. So that's the technical competency-wise. We are fully competent, fully qualified to bid these projects. Other than that, they are available for bidding.
Very helpful, Venu. And second question is more on the sector, Venu, and a slightly longish one. If you look at the last 20 years of transmission equipment market history in India, how do you think Indian companies, right? And I'm talking about the top 4-5 Indian companies including the MNCs who are operating out of India to serve the global market, how is it?
Because China used to be a large exporter of transformer switchgears for the world, right, at $5-$6 billion peak number a decade ago, which is no more a number for them because the Western countries are no more buying from China. So whether it's Hitachi or the 4-5 other players, what are those 4-5 factors, do you think, which are in our favor, which makes India one of the large potential suppliers of transformer switchgears in the world? This is more of a qualitative assessment from your side. Thank you.
I understand that. But the one which we announced, project of Marinus Link, we can give you one kind of sense for you, right? Now, this factory, we set it up, okay, and this is the first time we did it. And we have seen this demand coming not only from India but also from the rest of the region.
And you see here, after we set up the facility, we are now even looking at what else we need to do because the factory is already full now. So those are the things that can give you a little bit of sense for you. And yes, India can play a major role in going forward in making this as a manufacturing hub because we have the talent availability in the country. We have the required resources. And those things should help us in the medium term to long term.
But do you think in four years' time? Yes?
Can you please join back the queue please .
No problem. No problem. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Apoorva Bahadur from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Sir, I just wanted the share of services and exports and revenue, if you can provide that.
Yeah. So on the exports, Apoorva, I think we have been consistent saying that we brought to 25%. And now it is slightly trending upwards of 25%. So this quarter, for example, if you remove Marinus Link, we are 27%. If you add Marinus Link, then we are 60%. Sometimes those things will get screwed up with the large projects. So we will always take a measure of a base load order from the exports. So we will be in the range of 25%-30%.
In the quarterly revenue as well, if you can provide a pickup.
Quarterly revenue will be slightly lower, slightly lower, I would say, but it will pick up in the same range in the next 2 to 3 quarters.
Okay, sir. In services?
Services is a high single digit at this point in time. So this quarter was a bit low, actually. But because of, again, we had a large project, due to that, if you take the numbers as a percentage, it looks low. But our strategy on the services is, which is, if you take a 1 full-year basis, we are in the single digit, and we want to take it to the double digit.
Okay. So my next question is on the pricing power in the domestic market.
W hat power?
The pricing power in the domestic market. Because the global markets are so strong and there's a shortage of transmission equipment, are you seeing any improvement in your pricing power?
I won't say there's a dramatic improvement on the pricing power, but all I can say is that the T&Cs are becoming better, and then getting more and more projects are coming with the price variation clauses. Those things are better, I would say, in that.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Vijay Bhatia from Max ROI. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. And congratulations on a great set of numbers always. I just wanted to ask, sir, CNBC carried a story today at around 3:00 P.M. that there will be a block deal or a stake sale from the parent since they already hold 75% in the near future. Just wanted your comment or thoughts on it, sir.
Not that we are aware about it. Not that we are aware about any of those block deals. All I can say is that the parent organization is very committed in the Indian market, and that's the reason we have been investing, and we continue to invest and expand our factories in that. So we do not have any information that we come to know. So we will always notify and inform all the authorities, stock exchange, etc. We do not have any information. Not that we know.
Sure, sir. Sure, sir. Sure. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Just this question, sir. So Ajay, you've spoken about that first quarter, the ERP system went live, and finally, you had an IT system running. So when your full captive system is online, so what kind of savings do you think can happen on other expenses? Because if I see last year's annual report, you had incurred about INR 128 crore as information technology expenses for the year as a whole. So how do you think this number will settle down?
So as I told you, thank you for the question. As I told you, right now, presently, we are running on it. Just now, we have converged to the new system, S/4 HANA. And for one or two quarters, we expect that there will be a parallel IT infrastructure that we need to do. So what we see is compared to because compared to what we see right now on the percentage terms, we are definitely going to come lower at the end of the year.
But this will move to depreciation, right? If you have IT assets and if you understand you will be amortizing it, so you'll move from other expenses to the lower bottom line, right?
So these are not the nature of the expense is not to be amortized because it is expensed out as far as the project is concerned.
Okay. My second question is on this last time we spoke about the high-speed rail and you're engaging with a large EPC contractor who has won the INR 10,000 crore of orders. So do you think any update on that? So what's the scope? What could be potentially the size we could get from there or the opportunity within that INR 10,000 crore piece for us? And also on the Vande Bharat because last time, I think you told about INR 4,000 crore opportunity lies on the Vande Bharat side. So if you can update us on that.
No, are you talking abou t the high-speed rail?
One was on high-speed rail, that INR 10,000 crore, I think, which went to L&T. And then I think in the previous call, we mentioned about that opportunity for Hitachi to play on Vande Bharat was about INR 4,000 crore. So if you can update and.
Those project pursuits are still under discussion. So we submitted our bids. So once the bids are under submission, so we don't like to discuss. Once it concludes, then we would like to tell you on that.
Vande Bharat opportunity could be how big? I mean, you still hold on to that INR 4,000 crore number I think you spoke about.
So yeah, it is what they have based on the projections of the ministry because we believe that that's an available market for us.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you.
On the previous questions, just if I clarify to Mr. Vijay, CNBC, which you talked about us, we saw that that basically has nothing to do with the Hitachi Energy. It's a different Hitachi Group where it's basically residential and lighting commercial, HVAC pertaining to residential and lighting commercial. We do not have any details, but this is what we have seen in the CNBC on that.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a next question from the line of Viraj Mithani from Jupiter Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, sir. My question is, can you give some color on data center opportunity for us?
Data center, as you said, data center has quite a good growth potential for the sector as a whole. We have been talking about for our portfolio, almost 15%-20% of CapEx depending upon the hyperscale data centers, etc. The data center decision is not happening uniformly on a quarter-over-quarter, but we believe that it has a huge potential and it can go in a more consistently ordering to should take place on a quarter-over-quarter basis of that. But it has a huge potential. As you know that there's a 900 MW worth of data centers there, and in the short term, the expectation is that it is going to be doubled, almost 1,500-1,600 MW.
So what would be the size of the opportunity in this in terms of number, if you can quantify ?
That's what I said. For every data center, our CapEx is around 15%, 15%-20%.
Okay. Okay. And so my next question is on other expenses, which is in terms of quarter-to-quarter. So can you give some light on what are the components that have led to this rise?
Maybe other than you talked about, I think you already explained it, but once again, we can go ahead.
Yeah. So thank you for the question. I think this question already I have talked about, but since you asked, again, let me again focus. So other expenses, including FOREX, I have talked. So FOREX, we have done a hedging of our large projects. So that is where compared to the last quarter, there is an impact. Then there we have the higher IT charges. And again, as you must be aware, we have discussed earlier, we have migrated to a new ERP during the first quarter of '24-'25. And right now, we are on a parallel IT infrastructure.
And that is why we see the costs there in this quarter, and we expect the same to be normalized by the year-end. And another important aspect that I talked about is on the overheads is on the royalty, which is basically the royalty expense in the current quarter is calculated based on the revenues pertaining to the previous quarter, and that is as per the contractual terms. As you know, that our last quarter was exceptional on the revenue side, so that particular impact has come in this quarter. So these are the major ones as far as the other expenses are concerned.
So, understand the hedging would be, again, the expenses would come back, they can reimburse, right, to our account? It's just the notional entry. Is that correct to think?
Yeah. It's a notional cost, and it's not an actual cost. You are right.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. On behalf of Hitachi Energy India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.