Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to Hitachi Energy India Limited's Q3 FY 2025 Analyst Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. N Venu, MD and CEO, Hitachi Energy India Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Michelle. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for the analyst call. I hope you're all doing well. Yesterday, we announced our results for the third quarter for the financial year 2024-2025. Over the next 20-25 minutes, I will take you through our performance during this period ending December 31st, 2024. We have uploaded the presentation on the stock exchange, and for your convenience, I will read out the slide numbers in case you are following via phone. With me in the room today, I have our CFO, Ajay Singh, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Poovanna Ammatanda, and Head of Communications and Investor Relations, Manashwi Banerjee. The quarter ending December 31st, 2024 reiterated our constant efforts towards efficiently delivering on the energy transition.
This resulted in the highest-ever quarter order intake and record order backlog, along with improved margins and collections for the third quarter of 2024-2025. Despite the nascent signs of subduing economic momentum, we believe that the thrust to accelerate the energy transition will continue, adding more vigor to the energy segment and having a positive trickle-down effect in the coming quarters. Moving to the slide. Slide is not moving.
Slide number three.
Yes. Okay. I go to slide number three. As you all know, at Hitachi Energy, we actively manage the Health, Safety, and Environment aspects of all our activities. Our performance in these areas is integral to our overall sustainability plan and aids in our purpose of advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We continued our efforts towards strengthening our safety practices and employee well-being through multiple initiatives during the quarter. On the safety front, to ensure proper implementation of life-saving rules across our offices and factories, we conducted more than 500 on-site inspections. Our annual HSE Week in November highlighted our need to constantly do the right thing, including reporting safety incidents at working sites. Such continuous reiteration has helped achieve almost 10%, close to 99.49%, on-time closure of high-risk hazard situations.
In addition to safety, we organized multiple awareness training sessions and health camps across our offices, factories, and project sites. We had sessions on mental health and stress management and training on how to give first aid and ergonomics, including heavy material handling. Furthermore, multiple health camps and annual health checks were concluded. Moving to slide number four, our efforts in reinforcing safety were recognized by partners across industries and geographies. On the left, you can see some examples from our key customers. Sustainability and safety are two cornerstones of our day-to-day activities across all of our functions. In our constant endeavor to adopt and implement best energy practices, we have undertaken various measures during this quarter to reduce our carbon footprint and ensure better water and waste management.
As part of this, at our factory in Maneja, in Gujarat, we installed a 930 kW solar plant and have started using piped natural gas in the canteen. Also, we installed a retrofit emission control device for an existing diesel generator at our Mysore facility. Towards water management, we installed water meters and rainwater recharge wells at our Peenya and Maneja facilities. Furthermore, we are now using 15% of STP-treated water for gardening purposes at Maneja and keeping track of water recharge wells at Halol. We also took a slew of measures for waste management, such as plastic segregation, recycling, reusing oil residues as refuse-derived fuel at our Maneja facility. So becoming sustainable in our own operations is critical in helping our customers become sustainable in their operation.
It is heartening to mention that we also gained a Green Leader certification in L&T's responsible supply chain assessment for ESG practices. Moving to the next slide, slide number five, as you can see, the company reported its highest-ever quarterly order intake of INR 11,594.3 crores for the quarter three, with a year-on-year growth of 838% on the back of large HVDC order to transport renewable energy from Khavda in Gujarat to Nagpur in Maharashtra over a distance of 1,200 km. Revenue was up 31% year-on-year to 1,672 crores for the quarter on a favorable execution mix and improving operational efficiencies. In addition to this, the foreign exchange gains on export order delivery pushed profit before tax up 4x year-on-year to INR 184 crores. Profit after tax is up nearly 5x year-on-year from a low base at INR 138.2 crores.
During the quarter, the company also recorded its highest-ever order backlog of INR 18,994.4 crore, providing revenue visibility for several quarters. Furthermore, concerted focus on collections have borne fruit, which, in addition to the advance from HVDC project, has led to a solid cash position and the company becoming a debt-free as of December 31st, 2024. Some of the key orders in the quarter, as you can see right side of the slide: renewable 400 kV substation, thermal generation 18 into 400 kV GIS order, industries 220 kV substation, metro rail, multiple transformer orders for deploying in Bangalore Metro, and rail, we have ICF 120 units of traction transformer, data center, several transformer orders. It's a combination of orders, not only from utilities, but the renewable industries, rail infrastructure, and data centers. Moving to the next slide, slide six. I think this slide you know better than me.
While several industry estimates indicate a slow growth with GDP growth in FY 2025 revised downwards to 6.4%, India is on a track to become the third-largest economy by 2030-2031. Its energy targets remain intact as the country marches towards its net zero goal, and energy investments gain momentum across verticals. The renewable generation sector in India is set to attract close to INR 18.8 lakh crore, and the National Electricity Plan outlines an increase in the country's power transmission capacity by 35% by 2032, with an estimated investment of INR 9.16 lakh crore. India's data center market value is expected to touch close to $6 billion- $7 billion by 2027 at a growth rate of 12%-14% CAGR between 2024 and 2027. The country's railway modernization is on track as the Indian rail service utilizes 76% of its allocated budget so far in the year 2024-2025.
These expected and committed investments reflect the country's energy segment's growth trajectory for the immediate and upcoming future. Moving to the slide number seven. With this backdrop, Hitachi Energy continued to work with our partners, customers, to advance energy security through various projects. During the quarter ending December 31st, 2024, we commissioned projects, including two to integrate renewable into the grid: a 400 kV 375 MW substation in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, 600 MW substation, solar integration in Fatehgarh, Bhimsar, 600 MW substation in NHPC in Baiya, Rajasthan, just to say a few examples. Moving to the slide eight. Transition to cleaner energy to advance a sustainable energy future for all is one of the most pertinent challenges of our time. We at Hitachi Energy are committed to accelerating the pace of this transition, often through important forums, collaborations, and internal engagement.
This quarter, we contributed to thought leadership and technology sessions in the CII Karnataka ESG Summit, where we emphasized the importance of concerted efforts to accelerate the country's energy transition by adopting ESG practices. The Hitachi Energy team had a great opportunity to participate in Tamil Nadu's growth plans, where, as part of focus group discussions on IT and IT-enabled services, segment development through strategic research, technology transfer, and skill development in the same. Our discerning customers are our growth partners, so there has been a regular effort to extend industry knowledge. Towards this effort, we convened the Power System Communication User Forum 2024 and organized a comprehensive technical training program on HVDC and STATCOM at our Peenya and Maneja facilities. Also, a technical seminar on a transformer OLTC and bushings was arranged for Bhutan Power Corporation Limited officials.
Such 360-degree efforts are made as the preferred partner for multiple nation-building projects. I am proud to inform you that during this quarter, our transformer business unit rolled out the 1,000th locomotive transformer as part of an order placed in 2017 to supply 1,600 units. These transformers were manufactured at our Savli facility. Furthermore, we continue to hold multiple employee engagements on various topics from HSE Week to Learning Carnivals. Moving to slide number nine, it was a busy quarter, to say the least. In October, we culminated our mega event, Energy and Digital World 75, which witnessed over 2,500 attendees from customers, government, academia, analysts, and media. Here, we announced our plans of investing INR 2,000 crore in India over the next four to five years for expansions, capacity building, and talent attraction.
In November, we bagged a large HVDC order to transport renewable energy from Khavda in Gujarat to the industrial center of Nagpur in Maharashtra, which has boosted our order books at an all-time high, and our order backlog end of 31st December starts close to INR 19,000 crores. And to a long-tail opportunities created by the energy transition, we have to become the number one provider of services. In our ambition to enhance customer experience with strengthened and future-focused service system globally, there's work towards a new service business unit from the coming financial year of 2025-2026. So this is going to be our fifth business unit in existing four business units, and this is a new business unit which will start from 1st of April 2025. Moving to next slide number 10, this is about Khavda, Nagpur.
As you're aware, PGCIL awarded a large HVDC order to the consortium of Hitachi Energy India Limited and BHEL. The order includes design and execution of 800 kV, ± 800 kV, 6,000 MW bipolar and bidirectional HVDC link to transport renewable energy from Khavda in Gujarat to Nagpur in Maharashtra. From the potential renewable energy zone in Khavda, this 1,200 km link will feed into the country's 500 GW renewable evacuation and interstate transmission system under development. The project scope includes converter transformer, AC/DC control and protection, gas-insulated high-voltage switchgear, high-voltage valves, 765 kV, 400 kV substation, and auxiliary systems to be delivered by us and our consortium partners, BHEL. Moving to Slide 11, install phase, the urgency to drive energy transition and ever-evolving workforce and systematic organization shift to digitalization solutions. We have enormous opportunities for the service segment ahead of us.
Establishing a service business unit is the first step to develop service and digital proficiency and unify the customer service experience. With the new business unit coming into existence from the 1st of April 2025, the immediate India business focus is to tap into the existing installed base of approximately INR 80,000+ crores. In order to maximize our reach, all the business units will closely work with the service business unit, shaping end-to-end service opportunities. Moving to slide number 12, to provide some more color on the orders received this quarter. Orders in the transmission segment grew with and without large HVDC orders. Orders from industries were up about 60% year-on-year, while data center grew sixfold on a low base. Renewables are a significant year-on-year decline of 68%, but we believe this is a seasonal decline.
With the aggressive push for renewable generation in the country, we expect significant demand from the segment in the coming quarters. On the right-hand side, you see the order mix segment-wise projects took the lead with HVDC orders. Without HVDC, it is the product. Sector-wise, utilities are clear winners for both with and without HVDC orders, whereas on the channel side, direct end users take the lead with HVDC orders, and without it, the EPCs that take the lead. So moving to the next slide, our value creator, our growth driver, service, and export. This quarter, services contributed 11% of our total orders, excluding HVDC.
We have secured repeat service orders from major steel producers to digitalized transformers, life cycle services for the thermal power plant substation, and SCADA system upgrades across utilities, industries, and real estate. Additionally, we received renewable study orders from large domestic and global players. We also fulfilled space and control relay panel extension orders from utilities and program focused on digitalization through the EnCompass Capacity Reserve Agreement. Excluding the one-time large HVDC order, the share of exports grew to over 40% of total orders in the quarter three. Key orders include 333 kV, 420 kV circuit breaker orders from Central West Orana Project in Croatia, and AIS equipment orders from PLN Indonesia for 70 kV, 170 kV, and 100 kV, 245 kV, and 140 kV AIS equipment from Sangachal, Azerbaijan. We also received an order for an 800 kV current transformer from Canada for a Hydro-Québec.
There's quite a lot of momentum on our export strategy, which is playing very well across the geographies which we targeted and we planned. I now move to the next slide, slide number four, and hand over to our CFO, Ajay Singh.
Thank you, Venu, and good evening all. Hope all of you are doing well at your end. You see our constant effort towards improving overall operational efficiencies has helped us to maintain growth momentum in this quarter, quarter three. You see during the quarter, the company reported its highest ever quarterly order of INR 11,594 crore, which is up by 838% YoY. Revenue also went up by 31% YoY at INR 1,672 crore on the back of favorable mix and a good order execution during the quarter.
In addition to the favorable execution mix, there was a notional forex exchange gain on the export order delivery that helped basically our profit before tax to INR 184 crore in this particular quarter. Profit after tax also went up more than five times compared to YoY, and it stood at INR 137.4 crore. Operational EBITDA, if you see, for this quarter stood at INR 168.9 crore, resulting in a double-digit margin of 10.1%. So at the close of December 31st, the company recorded its highest ever order backlog of INR 18,994 crore, providing revenue visibility of more in the coming quarters. If I go to the next slide, slide 15, I would like to share an update on how the numbers appeared during this particular quarter, and let me walk through the particular specific slide in detail. Here you see the other income.
If you see exchange commodity gain, which we are talking earlier, is INR 51.9 crore, and that is how our total income is INR 1,672 crore for the quarter. Metal costs were 59.2%, personal expenses 8.4%, other expenses remained consistent 19.3%, and basically depreciation was also consistent 1.4%. Finance costs compared to the previous quarter and the earlier quarters has come down because of the average borrowing has come down, so that has resulted in the lowering of the finance cost, and this has basically helped us to secure profit before tax of 11% and profit after tax of 8.2%. With this, I hand over to Venu for the closing slides.
Thank you, Ajay, and now I move to the next slide, the last slide, slide number 16. Yeah. Yeah. Slide number 16. The closing of penultimate quarter of FY 2024-2025.
All our efforts are channeled towards carrying the growth momentum not only for the last quarter but also into the new financial year. In order to maintain the growth trajectory, the company will focus on maintaining its leadership in core segments, including utilities, HVDC, along with strengthening our presence in the segments like data center and industries. Furthermore, a concerted effort will be made toward accentuating export and digital contribution to the company's overall growth. From a business standpoint, we are prepping to lay the foundation of our new service business in India and leverage the largest ever backlog for revenue and profitability accretion. The focus on improving the overall operational efficiency to boost productivity and quality continues. On the function side, there will be no let-off in our endeavor towards creating a robust safety culture as it is entrenched in our DNA.
We remain agile with an eye on upskilling, reskilling, and honing capabilities that can stand the test of time and meet today's and future energy requirement. So with that, ladies and gentlemen, I close my presentation and open the channel for questions. So operator, can you please open the channel for the Q&A?
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may press star and one on the touch-tone phone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use only 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 Subhadip Mitra from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate the management for a great set of results and entering double-digit margins earlier than guided. So congrats on that.
Thank you.
So my first question is with regard to the HVDC order. Would it be possible to outline what would be the size of this order in your order book?
No. Shubhadep, we told last time also, we don't like to give exact numbers. As you know, similar projects are also ongoing, so we don't like to give exact numbers on that.
Understood. Also, the amount that has got included in your order book, would that be after excluding the quantum that goes to BHEL?
Yes, of course. BHEL thing, we don't book, right? We book only our order.
I 'm sorry, sir. I couldn't hear you clearly.
I said the BHEL portion is not booked in our books.
Our books, what is there in this is pertaining to our order.
Perfect. Understood. And am I correct in understanding that most of this would be indigenously manufactured with a lower import component?
Yes. You're absolutely right.
Okay. Secondly, with regard to the upcoming three HVDC projects, the Bhadla project, Khavda-Olpad, and Pang-Kaithal, would you be assuming that most of these would get ordered out over the next 12 months, and are you participating in all three of them?
I would say we have just to give a background on this HVDC technology. This technology has been invented by us when we were part of ABB 70 years back. This year, not this year, last year, as we celebrated 75 years in India, and HVDC technology we celebrated 70 years globally. Today, globally, around 150 GW worth of links run through our technology.
In India, including the one which we have received last this quarter, that is Kaithal-Nagpur, totally 16 HVDC links. Out of that, eight links run with our technology. So that is a kind of investment and continue to invest in the technology to ensure that we remain close to our customers. And as you recall, we have seen this thing coming in, and we have opened our manufacturing facility here, especially in Chennai, and we have end-to-end capabilities doing that. So we will try and participate as many tenders as possible in that. So our view of the two tenders which you are talking about, one tender might get finalized in the next six months or so, and one more tender may be the last quarter of the new fiscal year.
This is our assessment, but as you know, it depends upon the customer's finalization plans and there are many other plans, etc.
Thank you. Understood. Understood. Last question from my side, sir, with regard to the QIP that you have announced, if you could also outline what would be the usage of the funds.
Yes. We will come back on that, Subhadip, because we just want to give a we'll come back on that. We'll answer that question, usage of the funds. As you know, just anyway, just you recall during October last year during our EDW, we have announced INR 2,000 crore worth of investments, and it's basically for the future growth and capital expansion we announced in October 2024. Significant capacity expansion for our transformer factory, upgraded facilities, testing facilities, and also the capacity of the traction transformers and expand company's network control.
And also, for that's what we announced, but in addition to that, usage of the funds also from short- and long-term working capital requirements and strategic initiatives expansions. As you know, this is an enabling resolution, so we basically, it enables the management to be ready whenever it is needed. Thank you.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Venu. Congratulations on a great quarter, sir. So my question is again on HVDC.
So is this entirely done by the Indian entity or in partnership with the parent entity?
No, this is done entirely by an Indian entity.
And what will be the import content in this?
There will be. We will be importing some parts like semiconductors which are required for that. And again, when you're talking about the import content, for example, the transformer, you also import the CRGO. So we need to look at those kind of things in that. But at least 80%-90% of the products we manufacture here in our factories.
The other question on the fundraise, so you already detailed it out. So INR 4,200 crores looks to be a very big number when we compare with the INR 2,000 crore CapEx. And generally, we have seen your gross blocks about 105x you're running on asset turn.
So this potentially could be almost INR 20,000 crore kind of revenue potential, which looks to be very large, so does it include some part of capacity allocation from the global parent for the export markets, or this will largely be for the Indian HVDC market?
As you said, as we also mentioned in our stock exchange disclosure on 18th of January, that we are the board of directors have approved the proposal for raising funds up to INR 4,200 crores, right, and this is an enabling resolution that will give us the flexibility to manage the capital structure of the company and react to any potential initiatives that might require capital, and we believe that it is prudent for us to take such an enabling resolution.
Having said that, I also told in a previous question that this is part of that we already announced in October 2024, what we want to do, where we want expanding it. And we're also looking at, and these expansions are not only in HVDC but also in the transformer, HVDC, our high-voltage businesses. It's for the domestic business as well as some part for exports in that. And these funds also can be used also for our short-term and long-term working capital requirements, strategic initiatives, capital expenditure for M&A and other related activities. And some of the things can be also used to repayment or payment of debt or servicing any present or future debt.
So this will be entirely fresh issue, right? I mean, there won't be any OFS. So this does not include any OFS. It will be entirely coming into.
We will not like to comment on that. What we have already notified, I think please refer on that. We would not like to comment on that. As I said, this is an enabling resolution. So we are not whenever we decide that time, we'll let you know on the timing, etc. But right now, it's an enabling resolution.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, sir. And thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the it looks like from the ordering flow, is that order was driven primarily by export and HVDC. Can you please comment on the domestic order excluding HVDC?
Yeah. So yeah, I think if our orders' growth is primarily driven by HVDC, you're right.
But if you exclude the HVDC order also, our base order growth is also double-digit in the quarter. And that growth has maybe fueled from partly export, but also domestic. As I said, domestic, we have data centers and industries. All those things have contributed for our growth as well.
The question was I was asking the question because there is a lot of activity in the domestic transmission, right? So to that extent, the last quarter seems to be on the weaker side. Just asking how do you see this panning out as you go forward?
Sorry, I didn't get you. You're breaking in between.
Given that there is large activity in transmission side in F2024 and YTD F2025, it seems like there's a delay in awarding from the projects. Is it fair to assume that this will pick up as we go forward?
I think, first of all, we are not seeing that there may be a slight delay which is expected, but it's not a major delay in awarding some of the projects. And we believe that, at least from our perspective, the pipeline is very robust, and we see customers are finalizing orders.
Understood. My second question is, what is the timeline for execution of HVDC Khavda Nagpur, and how does the revenue booking happen over the contract duration? Is it fair to say the booking will be back-ended?
Sorry, what did you say?
My question is, what is the timeline for execution of HVDC?
Yeah. It is 48 and 54 months contractually. 48 months is Bipole 1, and 54 months Bipole 2. that's our contractual thing.
And how does the revenue booking happen over the contract duration? Is it lower initially
then it picks up? Is it fair to say the booking will be back-ended?
Yeah. It is low, for sure. The first 12 months is a low, but then next 12 months and second year and third year will have a bulk of the revenue coming in.
Understood, sir. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohan Krishnas wamy, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. My question again is on HVDC side. I just wanted to understand the differences in the technology offered in the market, both the VSC and the LCC, because one of your leading competitors publicly mentioned that the VSC technology, which they are exclusively operating in, is superior to the LCC technology, but most of the bids in India is on the LCC side.
But I also noticed that the Adani order, which was awarded to us one and a half years back, was on the VSC technology, which means we are fairly strong there as well. So any color on what is the preferred basis in India and why it is preferred would be useful, sir.
So thank you, Mr. Mohan, for the question. As I said in the beginning, let me reiterate once again, the HVDC technology has been invented by us 70 years back, okay? And this technology today, both VSC and LCC put together, 150 GW worth of lines we are running around the world. And this technology, we have been investing in continuously, both LCC and VSC. And this technology needs to be continued to invest in, continue to localize it, continue to develop the skills to execute this project. It's a very complex project.
Once you have end-to-end capabilities, then it is easy to execute in that. That's exactly what we did, so as far as any technology concern, whatever a customer choose, we have a very competitive, I would say, in our perspective, we have a very competitive, comprehensive offering to our customer, whether LCC or VSC. Having said that, country like India, where you are talking about transferring 6,000 MW in one link, the LCC makes more cost-effective compared to the VSC technology. VSC technology has a limitation from a technology standpoint to transfer 3,000 MW or more. You need more of those things required to be done in that, but as I said, end of the day, we leave this to customer. We will offer both the things. We have the complete end-to-end capabilities in India, whether it is LCC or VSC.
Just for information, as you rightly said, it's the Mumbai project, which is completely executed from India on the VSC technology.
Yeah. And sir, my just second question, thanks for the answer, is on the larger potential. Now, today, India has about 33,000 MW of HVDC transferring capacity. When you compare that to, say, China, China is close to 300,000 MW. And our own power demand is running into capacity is 4 lakh MW. So where do you see this number growing? I mean, you think it's a multi-decadal opportunity where we are just about 33,000 MW, maybe adding another 30,000 MW- 33,000 MW in the next five, six years? Can it keep growing because we will increase the share of HVDC of the total capacity line?
I believe so, in my view.
I was articulating this at least for the last two years or three years, that India used to have one HVDC project for every four or five years. But today, the need of the hour is one project per year. And now the need of the hour is not one, but two projects per year. So it is completely evolving it. We need more and more HVDC links to ensure that anywhere you produce the green energy, you are able to transmit to the load center very seamlessly at the same time, ensuring that the grid is robust, flexible, and secure. And this technology plays a major and vital role. And you talked about China. I don't have the figures off the hand to give you that, but absolutely, compared to any place, we have to have many more links going forward in that. And that's where we are investing.
We are investing in our factories. We are investing in the capacities. We are investing in the people as well.
Thanks a lot, sir.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Vinod from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. And congratulations on a great quarter, sir. Just to again harp on HVDC, you have a 50% market share in India, and I believe globally also you have a similar market share. So what is it that makes ABB, or rather Hitachi, stand out in HVDC? What is your offering? How is your offering stacking up against what competition is offering? I think globally, it's basically GE Vernova and Siemens, which are offering similar products on the DC side. So what differentiates Hitachi? Is it your localization drive, or can you elaborate on what makes you the?
Yeah. Thank you, Vinod.
We don't talk about our competition. We talk about ourselves. So as I said, we have invented this technology, and since then, we have been investing in it, right? One of the things very clearly stand out is that we continue to invest, continue to bring the value add, continue to reduce the footprint, losses, everything, in addition to the localization, creating the local competency. And those are the things we clearly stand out. And on top of that, our execution capabilities, okay? That also is a very clear differentiation. We bring it to our customers.
The other thing is, if you look at the National Electricity Plan, intra-state is also an equally big component. So do you see DC technology making any inroad in the intra-state grid as well? What we are kind of witnessing in the intra-state grid?
I think intra-state, depending upon there are some states are quite again, it makes every technology makes sense, whether it is AIS, AC or DC. What we need to look at is a return on investment standpoint. If it is longer distances or you have weaker grids, it makes even more commercially viable for those kind of things. I think this is where the thing. But the technology standpoint will work anywhere. There are many examples outside of the world where for shorter distances, for a lower 1,000 MW itself, these people have been using this technology because of the inherent technologies and benefits it has.
Sure. Thanks for the explanation, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ruchita Parik from iWealth LLP. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. A very good evening, and congratulations on a good set of numbers.
So, sir, my question was mainly on the industry side. So we are seeing that there will be around 9 lakh crore for investment on the transmission side. So I just wanted to understand how much of this will be on the transmission side and out as per the 765 kV or the 400 kV?
I'm sorry to interrupt , ma'am. Your voice is breaking, w e couldn't hear you clearly.
Hello.
Ma'am, use your handset, please.
Yeah. Just one second.
All right, ma'am. Thank you.
Hello?
Yes, ma'am. Please go ahead with your question.
Yeah. So, sir, my question was mainly on the industry side. So there's this investment that we've pointed out, that 9 lakh crore of investment on the transmission industry.
So on that, I just wanted to understand how much of that would be on the substation side, and under that, how much would be, let's say, a 765 kV transformation capacity? How much would be for the 400 kV, 200 kV? If you could give a broad breakup of that.
No, I think we don't have offhand the figures now, but if you go to the NEP- 24 plan, you have the complete breakdown over there in that. So we don't have in that. So in our view, this 9.16 lakh crore is basically for the transmission, which includes HVDC transmission, which includes 765 kV, 400 kV transmission, because that's where ISTS comes into picture in that.
Right, right. But we don't have something like how much would be for the substation part.
Yeah. I don't have the offhand numbers.
Got it. Got it.
Sir, just because I missed this point, this HVDC project of ours, so by when do we see the execution of it?
Yeah. I have already said that, but let me reiterate once again. So the schedule from the customer is 48 months Bipole 1 and 54 months Bipole 2. So that's where we are on track to complete that. And if your question was on the revenue, that also I talked about, is that our revenue will start slowly coming up in the first year and then start picking up in the second and third year, and that's where bulk of the revenue flow comes into there.
Okay. Understood. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vimox Shah from GoyamLabdhi Fintech . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity.
Congratulations, sir, for the great set of numbers. I have a question that in the presentation, you showed that strong growth in the data center segment, right? So what is the expected future contribution from this segment in complete revenue?
Sorry? No, this is orders.
What? Expectation for future revenue from data.
Yeah. So as I said, we don't give any forward-looking statements on that. But data center is, as we have been also saying for several quarters, this is one of our key growth segments. And the data centers are really growing in the country, basically by usage of the data and privacy laws, etc. And more and more, the AI-ready data centers will further add more things. Just for your information, query on the ChatGPT requires at least eight to 10 times more energy than the Google search.
That clearly shows that the data center market is really in upswing in going forward.
Okay. Okay. Got it. And another question is, in the last meeting, I think you had mentioned that you are also exploring the opportunities in the battery storage side. Can you provide an update or any progress in that area?
We said energy storage. Energy storage is also one of our key initiatives we are looking at. And we do not have anything to tell you at this point in time. We are looking at the market, assessing the market, what are the technologies that make sense, and how do we localize those? Those are the things at this point in time. It's in our mind.
Okay. Okay. And one more last question is, what is the current status of Leh-Ladakh HVDC project? Any expected timeline for the bids?
Sorry?
Leh-Ladakh project.
Yeah. Leh Ladakh, I don't know. Our customers are working on that. So either when they will do that, we will start discussing on that, at least from our standpoint, end of next financial year, coming financial year.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Yash Mehta from Aart Ventures. Please go ahead.
Hello. I'm audible?
Yes, Mr. Mehta, please.
Yeah. So I had a question on the HVDC order. So how much portion of the HVDC order will be for the service line?
Sorry?
How much of the portion of the HVDC order will be services?
No, I think right now, what services you mean, you mean the commissioning or what exactly you mean?
Yeah, the commissioning part.
Yeah. We don't tell the exact number on that, but it will be roughly ballpark of around 10%.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sagar Gandhi from Invesco Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Sir, my question is on yesterday's press release, which mentions that there is a first-of-its-kind thing which has happened wherein the consulting team has entered into a capacity reserve agreement for nearly a year for renewable studies with the customer in decarbonization space. Can you explain this in a bit more detail?
Yeah. So this is part of your contract where they have asked us to allocate resources to help them conduct various renewable studies, just indicating how the anticipated growth is in the renewable market. I don't think we have shared customer name, and we will not be doing that.
But you need to understand this is a thing where we are articulating that we need to move from a project-based to program-based because the energy transition tailwinds are very huge. If we have to meet the deadlines of the customers, it's important that we need to reserve the capacity for the customers so that we are able to take care very efficiently and also bring the synergies between that. For example, if you have every time you do one-time engineering and you are replicating it instead of that, every time you are doing engineering and then doing execution, and then once again, one more time engineering, execution. So the trend around the world, what we have seen is that you do one-time and replicate two or three-time projects. You design for one project and execute for two or three projects.
With that, what is happening is the whole cycle and efficiencies and also the cost benefits can be derived for both the customers and all stakeholders. And this is one example of a capacity reservation where our customer has signed with us for a certain given period of time.
So, sir, this is a global customer or an Indian customer?
Indian customer. Indian customer.
Okay. So I mean, capacity reserve in terms of manufacturing capacity reserve or only your, I mean, employee?
No, it is not. It is basically when we are doing a study. So whatever the study is, instead of doing one study for every project, so we agreed we'll do the studies for one year or something like that.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prathamesh from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir.
Congratulations on a very good set of numbers. So I had only one question related to your revenue guidance. Sorry, your margin guidance. So you're maintaining that double-digit margin guidance for FY 2025?
Yeah. Thanks, Prathamesh . We have been always speaking on the same lines as you see as we are already just the guidance level that we are talking. So still, we carry the same intention.
Sure. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. That's all what I wanted to ask you.
The next question is from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the follow-up. So when you spoke about excluding HVDC, the order inflow growth is in double digits, you were talking about YoY growth, right?
Yeah. YoY.
Okay. And, sir, in this HVDC, it is primarily like you said that 10% will be installations.
Does that mean 90% will be the product supplies?
We don't call like that. It's installation, product supplies, system engineering. Everything is in one only. We do not say that it is 10%. I said I've just given a figure just to want to see that what could be the thing, the services part.
But this is classified under project. This will be classified under project.
Yes. This is classified under project. You're right.
But why do you do that? I mean, why not under products? I mean, why you classify it under projects?
I think we have a very clear definition of the product. Product means we supply a product, and then our obligation gets over. Whereas here, we supply the product, but then we have to integrate the product to ensure that the system is working there. So that's the difference.
But does it have EPC portion also?
Sorry? No, it doesn't have civil and other things part of this.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take the last question for today, which is from the line of Varun Basrur from Julius Baer. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. I hope I'm audible.
Yes, sir. Please proceed.
Right. Thanks for this opportunity. But just on the order book side, with the exception of the HVDC order.
I'm sorry to interrupt, sir. Your voice is breaking. I would request you to use your handset, please.
Is this better?
Yes, sir. Please respond.
Right. So, sir, on the order book side, with the exception of the HVDC order, what sort of delivery or execution timeline is there?
Sorry? Sorry? What it is there?
With the exception of the HVDC order on the order book side, what is the delivery or the execution timeline for the order book?
No, as I said, our order books are depending upon the project. For example, this HVDC project has a 48-54 months we will complete it. But when you say complete means we'll have to start executing slowly from the first year, and then it will pick up second and third year. So that way, it is a various thing, right? It has a visibility. Our order book has a visibility for several quarters.
Right. But would you say that if you exclude the HVDC order, would the execution for the remaining order book be between the range of maybe two or three years, or is it longer than that?
It is at least close to two years.
Right. Right.
So then, just a second question is that you seem to be sitting on a fair amount of operating leverage. As the revenue ramps up, directionally, I mean, I know you're not giving absolute margin guidance, but directionally, where would you see the margins trend? Would it be high double digits, high teens, or mid teens, or any guidance from your side would be helpful?
Yeah. Thanks, Varun. As we have very clearly mentioned that we will not be commenting in any forward-looking indications. So we remain committed to what we have been talking, and we go step by step. But that is how we proceed. But having said that, our efforts of all these things to ensure that we improve on everything, all KPIs, right? So that's exactly our endeavor, of course, subject to market conditions.
All right, sir. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Thank you.
As that was the last question for today, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. N. Venu for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
So thank you very much for taking time from your busy schedule and attending to our conference call. And thank you for your trust and faith. And we're really looking forward to receive your feedback. Should you need any information, please do not hesitate to reach out to us, and we are happy to engage. And thank you and take care. Stay safe.
Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of Hitachi Energy India Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.