Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Limited Q4 and FY2025 Earnings Conference Call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations the company has on the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. 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 the star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sandeep Thomas Mathew, Head IR, for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call. We have with us today Mr. C. K. Thakur, our Global CEO, Mr. Ajit Pratap Singh, our CFO, and SGA, who are our Investor Relations Advisors. We will start today's call with the key operational highlights for the quarter and the fiscal year and industry outlook by Mr. Thakur, followed by the financial highlights from Ajit, post which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, C.K.
Good morning, everyone. Thanks, Sandeep, and a warm welcome to all the participants on this call. We are very happy to welcome our new CFO, Mr. Ajit Pratap Singh, to our team. Ajit's illustrious career spans 29 plus years, with the most recent being at Transrail Lighting Limited, wherein he served as its CFO and was instrumental in getting the company listed in India through a successful IPO. Earlier, he handled leadership roles at OPG , wherein he served as Group CFO and Executive Director, along with leadership roles at large industrial conglomerates like JSW, Vedanta, Jaypee, and Lohia Group. We wish him a bright and successful future with us. Let me begin with a quick update on our business operational outlook. Beginning with our order book position, we closed the full year with a total order inflow of INR 7,051 crore.
Of the total order inflows, the domestic market contributed nearly INR 5,900 crore, or approximately 84% of the total order inflow in 2025, with the rest coming from the international market comprising the two South African projects we won earlier during the fiscal year. The domestic order inflow represents a healthy year-on-year growth of nearly 21% this fiscal year compared to the Fiscal Year 2024. In terms of order value, private IPPs contributed nearly 55% of the total domestic order inflow, while PSU contributed nearly 45%. Apart from our growing domestic solar EPC business, FY 2025 also marked our entry into two new important growth markets: battery energy storage solutions and the wind EPC. With more and more projects in the renewable space moving towards the hybrid model, we believe a well-rounded offering like we currently provide to our customers is crucial to tap into the growth.
We backed three new projects in the domestic EPC market in the fourth quarter. We received our first order for wind EPC from a private IPP for a hybrid project in Rajasthan. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, and construction of a 69.3 megawatt wind Balance of Plant and 55 megawatt AC ( 75 megawatt DC) solar BOS, along with a 132 kV/33 kV pooling substation. Our entry into wind helps us provide a holistic EPC solution for hybrid projects and opens up a new exciting segment for us. The company achieved L1 status for a turnkey solar project of 200 megawatt AC ( 260 megawatt DC) PV plant in Gujarat, India from a leading PSU developer. The company has also received a letter of award for a PV plant in Rajasthan, India from a domestic IPP.
Looking ahead, our India order pipeline continues to remain very strong, and we expect nearly 22-23 gigawatts of orders to be bid out during this calendar year alone or in the next six to nine months. Over and above the solar EPC pipeline, we will continue to target this project and select wind projects as well. In the international market, our efforts are becoming more focused on select projects in select geographies, including MENA and Europe, and our pipeline has also therefore become smaller to devote our resources accordingly, which has resulted in a small decline in our overall pipeline compared to December 2024. Our unexecuted order value now stands at over INR 9,096 crore and continues to provide good P&L visibility for the forthcoming quarters. Over 84% of this order book comprises domestic Indian projects, while the international UOV comprises primarily two projects each in Europe and South Africa.
In terms of execution, our scale-up plans continue to remain on track, and the improved top line of Q4 is a sign of our efforts, and we are committed to addressing challenges of increasing non-fund based limits and achieving better open credit terms with the key suppliers. Thanks to our associates, partners, vendors, and subcontractors, and our internal team members for relentlessly working to achieve the Q4 top line. We continue to judiciously evaluate projects in India and overseas and are mindful of having to remain patient in order to target profitable orders. Moving to the Nigeria project, we are still awaiting final order signing and closure. Also, as has been mentioned in earlier calls, post-order signing, we expect the project to take six to nine months to achieve financial closure.
We'd like to reiterate that the lumpiness in order inflow is to be expected with EPC companies like ours, and timelines for achieving project closure could vary depending on a host of factors, including finalization of contractual terms, financial closures, etc. Our O&M portfolio outlook remains strong, and our portfolio stands at 8.7 gigawatts as of March 2025. As stated in the previous call, our large team of EPC projects, which are nearing completion in the next couple of quarters, will also feed a good pipeline of new projects for O&M, which should aid a meaningful pickup in revenues in these segments from the second half of Financial Year 2026. Moving to industry outlook, the Indian renewable story continues to make strong progress, and India will continue to be our single largest focus market.
According to MNRE, the country's installed solar capacity reached 105.6 gigawatts as of Financial Year 2025, just 35% of the 300 gigawatt target set for 2030. Financial Year 2025 witnessed a record-breaking addition of nearly 24 gigawatts in solar capacity, sharply up from 15 gigawatts in Financial Year 2024. This surge was largely driven by utility-scale projects, which contributed nearly 17 gigawatts and is our core focus market. Despite the record achievement, the pace is still far short of the annual run rate needed to meet the 2030 target. On the regulatory front, the Greenhouse Gases Emission Intensity Target Rules 2025 set a specific emissions intensity threshold across industries, reinforcing India's ambition to achieve net zero by 2070.
There is a substantial financial and strategic incentive for industries, especially in steel, cement, and aluminum, to transition to renewable-based electrification, which, in our view, can continue to drive the private IPP market and C&I space. As India integrates higher shares of intermittent solar and wind power, the importance of grid stability has grown exponentially. Battery Energy Storage Systems are now pivotal to balancing supply and demand and ensuring a resilient grid. In a decisive move, the Ministry of Power has mandated that all upcoming solar projects include co-located solar storage systems with at least two hours' storage capacity, equating to 10% of the installed solar capacity. This initiative aims to improve grid reliability and will be essential to integrate the anticipated 500 gigawatt renewables capacity by 2030.
The sharp decline in cost of lithium-ion batteries, bolstered by advances in technology and expanded manufacturing capacity, has also made these projects more viable. Central Electricity Authority's National Electricity Plan outlines India's scale of storage ambitions, with the market expected to grow exponentially in the next five years. India's wind energy sector is also seeing a revival. A noticeable shift is underway in the structure of wind tenders. Increasingly, new capacity is being awarded through firm and dispatchable renewable energy projects, which combine solar and wind components and is a market we are increasingly looking to target. While there are several positives, yet challenges remain. Competition in domestic EPC sectors has been pretty strong this fiscal, but we have continued to hold our own with patience and discipline.
Domestic manufacturing of solar modules and cells has been trailing demand, and the DCR content requirement of cells poses a risk of pricing and availability. Proposed US tariff has added another layer of complexities, especially for our suppliers, and we are closely monitoring and working with our suppliers to mitigate pricing risk to the extent possible. With a fast-growing domestic market, a strong balance sheet, we believe we are positioned to tap the growth. With this, I'll ask Ajit to take you through the consolidated financial highlights. Thank you very much.
Thank you, C.K.T. Thanks a lot. We are very pleased to report that the company achieved its highest quarterly revenue since listing. That is a big achievement. Our revenue has grown by around 114% year-on-year. That is more than doubled, basically, from last year. Around 37% quarter-on-quarter to INR 2,519 crore, primarily aided by higher execution in domestic EPC projects and the new international EPC projects. For the full year also, we have seen substantial growth, and our revenue has grown more than double by 108% year-on-year to INR 6,302 crore. In respect of our gross margin, our consolidated Q4 gross margin was approximately 10.4%, while our full-year gross margin was 10.1%. Looking at the segment-wise result, our full-year domestic EPC gross margin has tended back to our target range of 10%, while our international EPC gross margin was approximately 8% because of certain legacy projects.
Our O&M margin for the Full-Year EPC, that was approximately 21%, and there was a write-off of around INR 4 crores in the last quarter. Our operational EBITDA, that is, operating revenue less recurring overhead, was INR 158 crores this quarter. That's around 6.3% EBITDA margin compared to approximately INR 90 crores in quarter three, and that is reflective of the operational leverage achievable through improving execution pace in the company. For the full year, we have achieved an operational EBITDA of INR 291 crores with a loss of INR 13 crores in the last year. Reported Q4 EBITDA was INR 116 crores that is, 4.6% EBITDA margin, and that also got impacted by certain forex loss in the month of March 2025. For full-year reported EBITDA was INR 276 crores that is a growth of impressive 411% compared to the last fiscal.
Quarter four profit before tax was INR 87 crore, and that's a growth of around 112% sequentially. For full year, our EBITDA was INR 163 crore, with a loss of INR 172 crore in the last year. Reported quarter four PAT was INR 55 crore, and that's significantly high if you see compared to the last year. There was non-cash deferred tax asset charge of INR 18 crore in this quarter. We have been incurring this charge since quarter four FY2024 due to standalone profitability. The remaining deferred tax asset on the books is approximately INR 23 crore, and we reported full-year PAT of INR 86 crore compared to a loss of INR 211 crore in the previous fiscal. As C.K.T. alluded to in his opening remarks, we have continued to make positive strides in our execution scale-up, as seen in Q4 results, and we'll continue to do the same.
Now, coming to balance sheet, our net debt has seen a marginal increase of INR 3 crore compared to last quarter and was at INR 178 crore at 31 March 2025. Gross debt, however, has increased. We have taken a fresh term loan from a bank for INR 200 crore, and the disbursement was done towards the end of March 2025, and that has also led to higher cash balance because that loan was disbursed and we were keeping in our books, and we have not utilized as on 31st March 2025. With this, now we can open up the floor for questions and answers. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. We will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Thank you. The first question is from the line of Rohit Natarajan from Aditya Birla Sun Life. Please go ahead.
Thank you for this opportunity. My first question has more to do with the lot of projects of almost like 40 gigawatts of renewable energy is pending for PPA. Will this impact the order inflow for FY 2026 as such?
The pipeline that you have indicated in my initial remarks, the projects close to 22-23 gigawatts are slated to be bid out in Q1, Q2 that are not impacted because of any other issues, PPA signing, and other issues. I mean, the next quarter onwards, it may, but in Q1, Q2, this does not have any impact on our order inflow.
If I look at the historical market share as such, would it be fair enough to say maybe we can clock out of this 22- 23 gigawatt total serviceable market, maybe 30% market share, 6 gigawatt kind of inflow should be possible?
It's difficult to guide you at this stage because historically, if you see the Q1, Q1 has been, I mean, witnessing the closure of the projects which has spilled over from the Q4, right? So there, If you look at, I mean, out of 22 gigawatts, no new project seems to be tendered out. Only those projects are there in the market. Looking at our hit ratios, we are hopeful of getting better shares out of, I mean, out of the projects that have been bid out.
Got it. On the international front, the Nigeria order, we've been reading something about there are some import restrictions, local content policies, financial and currency challenges within Nigeria. Obviously, this has led to a prolonged delay and put all the renewable energy projects in slow track in that country as such. There do not seem to be a near-term fix for that. Is that a cause for concern, or do you see that probably we should expect further delays in this region to get further order inflows as such?
I appreciate your concerns. So there have been delays. I mean, in a country like African regions, things move slowly. There is no negative news as such. Even after the Trump tariff policy announcements, it's supposedly getting delayed t hat's it. I can't say at this stage that the project is, I mean, has any negative news. Should not be a concern going forward.
So US EXIM is still committed to the project. This is being funded by US EX IM, and they are still committed for the project. There are delays, but there is no major concern, we believe.
Now, I was reading somewhere like the Nigerian government is trying to promote the local manufacturing. If you do not have the module and panels in there, locally made, things can possibly get further delayed. Plus, obviously, you have had the Nigerian idiosyncratic issues like the currency issues, fiscal incentives not adequate enough. Is that being, I am talking about the country-specific issues. That is the thing being lingering for a while.
No, Mr. Natarajan. I mean, since this is a EXIM-funded project, right, and the supplies have to come from US and other markets, right? Therefore, any local regulations on the supplies, I don't foresee that it will be deviating from the original terms and conditions of the contract, right, that we have been discussing with them.
Got it. Sir, my final question is more to do with the financial results part on the non-recurring overheads, currency fluctuations part. I understand some 15% of the order backlog, we still have international exposure. If you could give us some guidance or some color on how these non-recurring overheads will pan out in FY 2026, plus also the DTA impairment, how much further it is to be impaired in FY 2026, how will we get back to the normalized tax rate as such?
Sure. In terms of non-recurring overheads, majority of the quotient is one-time write-off of bad debts and certain ECL provisions we have taken in the current quarter. In terms of forex losses, this is because the currency was very volatile in March, and these are primarily mark-to-mark translation losses. These are not the transaction loss because of our exposure to our other subsidiaries in Dubai. This is basically only book entry, not the transaction loss. What was your second question? Sorry.
The deferred tax assets impairment.
Yeah. Deferred tax, as of now, we have basically, this is due to the difference of the expenses which are not allowed in tax. Primarily, as of now, these are like provision for bad debts, leave encashment, gratuity, provision for gratuity, and provision for bonus. As of now, we have outstanding amount of around INR 22 crore-INR 23 crore that is expected to be utilized in next year or next one or two years.
Sure. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Ganeshr am Rajagopalan from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. I have two. This is just in follow-up to what Rohit had asked. The first one is on the foreign exchange loss. Could you please detail that a bit more for us? Because my understanding is that there are some hedges on the projects that you undertake, and there's some amount that you give to loans in terms of loans or subsidies that you do not hedge. How come there's this 20, I mean, this foreign exchange loss that you've incurred this quarter? Is this a cash loss, or is this something that eventually, if the currency stabilizes, will be written back? That's the first part. The second is on the deferred tax asset, could you please help us understand in more simpler terms as to exactly what this charge is? If I think ahead to next year, what could be the extent of this charge? Just these two questions, please.
Sure. In terms of forex, the translation loss—sorry, can you be on mute if somebody is not speaking?
Yes, I have muted. You can go ahead.
Yeah. The forex loss, this is only translation loss. It is not the transaction loss, and it is not related to our operations. Basically, it is the exposure of what we have as a standalone entity to our subsidiaries in Dubai. The loans and advances given to them have been translated as on 31st March. It is only a book entry. The moment this currency will get stabilized, this will get squared off and will come back. On the second question on deferred tax, this has been created out of the expenses which are allowed as per Company's Act, but not allowed as per taxation. These are primarily the provisions which have been created for leave encashment, gratuity, bonus. Certain carry-forward losses are also there. This outstanding amount as of now is around INR 23 crore, which will be utilized in the next one to two years.
Understood. So essentially, you're saying another INR 23 crore that will be, I mean, prorated and expanded over the years. Next year, if I look at FY 2026, it may be INR 12 crore or something like that. That's what you're saying.
Yeah, yeah.
Is my interpretation okay?
Depending on the profitability, how it is, but yeah, we have INR 23 crore available to be utilized in future years.
Understood. Maybe if you could just tell us the non-fund limits, right? Have the drawable limits and sanction limits changed?
Yeah. As of now, we have a total limit of non-fund base limit of around INR 4,500 crore, as against the appraised limit that is very high, around INR 10,000 crore. We are also, because now business is improving and margins are better, we are in constant touch with our lenders as well as some new banks to get sanctioned up some additional non-fund base limits to help the operations.
Is there a timeliness to when that will be realized?
It will be gradual. We expect something to materialize in this month itself, basically in May. In the first quarter, some more limits might come. We are also expecting.
If that comes, will the 2,000, if that happens, will you be able to execute around INR 2,500 crore a quarter sustainably in this month, with 40 GW this month?
The non-fund factor will execution will be through non-fund base limits as well as the open credit which we get from the vendors. Depending on the execution speed and other factors, we can do the execution. Non-fund base limits is one of the factors. That will also help in getting new contracts. Basically, our non-fund base limit is generally interchangeable between LC and bank guarantee. We can use judiciously, wherever it is required, to get new projects and offer the bank guarantee for them or to give LC to our vendors and get more supplies.
Maybe let me—I'm sorry, I know it's a follow-up, but maybe let me just ask this another way, right? Assuming we get the non-fund limits through, does this mean in Q1, Q2, you can exceed your Q4 run rate, or will it be muted compared to that?
Last quarter, if you see, we executed more than INR 2,500 crore. It means we can execute even with the current limit, INR 2,500 crore, if other factors are favorable to the company.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Shah from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi sir. A couple of questions. The first bit, as the base has been reset for the company for FY 25, how are we expecting the order inflow and revenues for FY 26 in a base case scenario? Any revision or changes to the previous guidance?
Yeah. As you are aware, the renewable industry depends on a host of factors. While the quarter one, quarter two pipeline seems to be visible, the clear visibility for Q1, Q3, and Q4 project-wide projects is still to be worked out. You can clearly see from the national growth plan perspective, I mean, the overall opportunities in FY 25, FY 26 will be better than the last fiscal. Therefore, I mean, based on our trend, abilities, and we now expanding into the wind and the solars, we clearly can foresee that, I mean, our order book positions will be better than this fiscal.
Okay. Just thinking a bit differently, let's say we close with the INR 9,000 crore order book now. Out of this INR 9,000 crore, how much will get reflected in the FY 26 as revenues based on the timelines?
We can overall say that we'll be exceeding this year's revenue target by 15%-20% from the UOV that we have on 1st April, and the new orders will be coming. This is primarily because of many factors that are impacting the project commissioning and other things. The growth prospects seem to be definitely better than this year's, and say the growth would be something better than, I mean, in the range of 15%-20%.
Yeah.
F26 over F25 should be 15-20% revenue growth, essentially.
Yeah.
Okay. Now, secondly, you mentioned on the fund and non-fund base limits, like now, just when we start the year with this INR 4,500 crore non-fund base limits, what is the revenue potential basis that and some assumptions with respect to the open credit, etc.? Secondly, for this 15%-20% growth in terms of revenues, what are we factoring in terms of our limits going up, basically, during the first half of F 26, if any?
As of now, the limit is sufficient to meet our target. However, the moment we get additional limits, our open credit will reduce because that's more expensive. Non-fund base limits come at a better cost. We expect some additional limits to come in first quarter itself before June. Maybe some more limits will be tied up in Q2. We are speaking to the banks, existing lenders, as well as the new lenders. We expect good progress in terms of getting new non-fund base limits. Fund base limits we don't require. In fact, we don't get drawing power because we are negative working capital. We will require only non-fund base limits for our business growth.
Understood. Is there any assumption of the open credit business that we will be doing for F2026? What was it during F2025? If you could just help with that.
It's a mix of both, basically. Sometimes like LCs, sometimes we give for three years, but we'll get it paid in one month. We keep a judicial mix of both open credit as well as the limits available. There's not a specific percentage that this much will be open credit, this much will be under non-fund base limits. It depends on the availability, basically. Non-fund base limits also, because it is interchangeable with bank guarantee and LC. We use wherever it is required, both for the growth. If we require more towards new business, we give bank guarantee instead of using LC to vendors, and we get support from vendors to get the open credit.
That also depends on the project timeline, etc., right?
Got it. Just lastly, there appears to be this constant volatility in the O&M gross margin business. Like until last quarter, we thought we are nearing that 25% or steady state, but now there is some bit of dip this quarter again. Is there one-off over here?
This is one-off for the quarter, but this O&M business, you have to see holistically for full year. For full year, we can safely assume this year we've done around 20% gross margin in O&M business. Safely, we can presume that we'll be in 20-25% range in terms of O&M margin. This year, there were certain one-off expenses which we booked in last quarter. That's why quarterly O&M margin is low, but full year, it is 20%.
Understood. Yeah. Thanks for checking for me, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sagar Parekh from OneUp Financial Consultants. Please go ahead. Hello, Mr. Sagar. Your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response, we will move on to the next question. It is from the line of Puneet from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you so much. Just to follow up on this, if you can elaborate on what kind of one-off expenses do you have to book in the O&M which led to the fall in margins here?
There are certain provisions and one-off LD in one of the project.
Receivables.
Yeah. One certain provisions in our receivables. That's what we booked in Q4. There were some LDs which were booked in Q4. That has resulted in reduced margin for O&M.
Okay. Okay. That's all right. But you're saying 22%-25% is the normalized margins one should run within O&M part of the portfolio.
Correct. That's true.
Secondly, if you can also talk a bit about any additional work that you're seeing from Reliance Industries.
Yeah. I mean, last time also we discussed, and all of you are aware that we are doing their pilot project. For the portion of the project that was allotted to us, that is almost completed under commissioning. A few of them have been commissioned. New parcel of land has been given to us for around 9 gigawatts. I'm sorry. 9 megawatts, which is under construction now. That's basically the pilot project. On their bigger size utility scale projects, we have submitted our offers, and they are under different stages of the plannings and trying to understand when the project can be launched and all. From our side, we have already submitted the offers. This is in progress, you can say.
Okay. Is there an understanding that the project will come to you, or can it go to the other vendors as well?
Last time also, I told you, this can go to other vendors. This can come to us because the kind of pipeline they are discussing about. I mean, no such vendors in the country have that kind of capacity to, I mean, claim that he will be the only sole vendor. It is not possible. They can decide based on the merit. We believe that we are, I mean, very strong on our merit, and therefore we will get the major portion of the orders should be coming to us. That is what I can tell you at this stage.
Just to add what C.K. said, the revenue guidance, what we have given or we are giving, it is excluing Reliance and Nigeria.
Correct.
Without these two.
Lastly, on the battery front, there have been a lot of new battery bids coming in at very low tariffs. Are you seeing the benefit of that both in terms of newer orders and also lower cost on the battery prices for projects that you are executing?
Basically, the development of the projects that have been bid out, right, around 9 gigawatt kind of projects have been allocated, right, to the various IPPs. Only a few of them have taken off. It is true that the battery, lithium-ion battery prices have gone really historically down, and that's the reason that the government of India and the other, in fact, in the other globes also, people are trying to move from intermittency to the fixed power kind of things. Either through the solar battery or through only this as your obligation in the existing solar plant or the other establishments or through maybe the solar, wind, and battery. Market retractions will happen in this, I mean, through these segments. That is for sure.
If you see the tariff, the fixed tariff on the basically round-the-clock power tariff, if I say, that is comparable to the, I mean, better than the fossil plant that other people are claiming. Market traction definitely will be seen in these segments.
What I'm trying to understand is you have, other than the BESS projects at JSW, which is in limbo currently, do you have anything else which you are executing on the BESS side?
We have executed a few smaller projects for Reliance. We have executed a few projects outside India. Currently, other than JSW, no. Frankly speaking, now there are a few tenders which are in the bidding stage. Having, I mean, got the very sound experience for the BESS projects domestically or internationally, we believe that we should be getting few, right?
Can you give the size of this opportunity here currently, which is available for tendering?
Currently, the bids which are out under process, they are around 100 megawatt hour-300 megawatt hour kind of things, two projects. I mean, like NTPC is talking about 10 gigawatt hour of the pipeline in the next few years. Everybody is trying to understand that how it's going to impact the market, what kind of the pricing would be there, all those things. Since this obligation of 10% storage has come along with the solar plant, the market will definitely see the traction.
Understood. Lastly, one clarification. The JSW order is a part of your order book, or is it still an MOU for the?
It's a part of our order book.
It's a part. Okay. What is the value of that?
It is around, I think, INR 234 croress.
234.
Around INR 250 crore. I do not remember the exact number, but it is, I mean, around INR 250 crores.
Understood. That's very helpful. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. I would request all the investors to please limit their questions to two per party as there are several people waiting for their turn. The next question is from the line of Nirav Vasa from ASK Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Hello, and good morning, sir. My question pertains to the non-signing of PPA. The quantity of projects for which the PPAs have not been signed is quite huge. I wanted to understand your perspective. According to your understanding, why are the PPAs not being signed? The second part of my question is, how strong is the transmission and evacuation capacity in the country, the pace at which we are increasing the renewable capacity? Is the transmission and evacuation capacity working with the same length? These are the two questions that I have. Thank you.
Also, basically, this question does not pertain to EPC company, right, because EPC business comes only when the projects are basically in the market. You are right. At the overall business, macro level, if you analyze, then signing of PPA, which is tariff adoption, and the connectivity issues. Those are two areas which have been, I mean, primarily from last couple of quarters, if you see, those have been impacting the expeditious development of the project. Why it is happening is maybe basically because of, I mean, it's not our, I mean, the area to answer this question, but just for the macro perspective, I can answer you. That's basically the tariff adoption takes place in the state government, right? It is for them to adopt the tariff.
Some of the states, they feel that, I mean, because of the, I mean, declining price and all, it's becoming difficult for them to adopt that. They are taking a little, I mean, longer time. The government of India has been harping on every state government to expeditiously sign and adopt all the tariffs, right? That is one area. On the development of the transmission systems, there is a committee set up with, I mean, the nodal committee and all. They are trying to see that to ensure the grid stabilities, how the green corridors can be maintained, and huge investments are there. All those pipeline projects are under the advanced stage of construction and all.
It will take some time, but temporarily, I mean, you are right that there is a jerk on the development of the PPAs that are stuck up because of either the tariff adoptions or some of the projects because of the transmission line. Otherwise, I mean, the target that we have been, I mean, if you see this year target, I mean, the target was a little more than what the other country level that people have achieved. Otherwise, I mean, the solar capacity could have easily gone beyond 24 gigawatts that has been achieved this year. Those are the micro things that are impacting the business development. It's okay. I mean, other than that, also, there are enough in the business pipeline that is being seen.
Sir, but on one side, around 40 gigawatts of capacity does not have PPA. 26 gigawatts is what we add through the year. Maximum 30-35 gigawatts of solar capacity can be added in a year as per my assessment. Effectively, we have practically one year's capacity for which PPAs have not been signed. So according in the light of this scenario, what are the chances that the impact of this can come on the entire ecosystem, including EPC contractors? Any delays in projects? Any changes in terms? How do you see that?
On the number of projects that we have in hand, they are not impacted, right, the UOV. The number of the projects that we are targeting in these financial years, they are also very clear. I mean, either they are, I mean, our share, if you see, they are from IPPs and from C&I sectors. The C&I sectors are not impacted. The open access projects are obviously impacted. There are enough number of PPA and connectivity already signed, like NTPC and all. They are all in the solar park. They are all, I mean, through. Government tenders are not impacted because of that. Basically, I mean, at the minor level, if you say, yes, there is jerk, the people are worried about, I mean, for sure. If you see on the broader levels, then companies do not have any options.
We have to meet the target of, I mean, 300 megawatts by 2030. That calls for around 50 gigawatts of bidding every year and the execution of the 35-40 gigawatts, right? Even if there is a shortfall, there would be enough space for us to play, right? That is the basically point.
Thank you very much.
Even if there is shortfall, there will be shortfall, but then we have enough space to play.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Purva Jhaveri from OneUp Financial Consultants. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes, you are unmuted.
Yeah. Hello. I am audible, right? I wanted to ask, how much of the order book is in Khavda, and what is the risk to the project execution if there is India-Pakistan war?
India-Pakistan is a very speculative, very interesting question, in fact. I think, I mean, it's not, I mean, proper logical to discuss this question in this call, right? I'll skip this question. I'm sorry. Yeah.
At least can you say how much is the order book concentration in the Khavda, order book concentration?
Order book concentration is around 4 plus gigawatts in Khavda and they are at different stages of the project.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah. Mostly completed. Correct.
Our project is mostly completed in Khavda so we are in advanced stage of execution.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants are requested to limit your questions to one per participant. The next question is from the line of Subhash V from Value Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. I'm audible.
Yeah. Yeah. We can hear you. Please go ahead.
Okay. My first question was about the wind EPC order that you have gone, the hybrid order. I think three quarters ago, I attended your phone call, and I asked you a question whether you would be interested in wind EPC sector as well. You clearly said that you are concentrating only on solar EPC and not on wind EPC. What changed this decision for you to take the hybrid order? I think the wind EPC has lesser margins than solar, right? Do you still stick with the same margin guidance of 10% or a little bit lower if you win more wind EPC orders?
No. If you can recall, if I mean, if you would have discussed this point, risk in the wind is basically from the wind turbine side, right? Land-related risk, access risk, and the performance of the wind turbine. Our strategy for wind business is very clear. We are not going for procurement of the wind turbine or doing the land access or the land these things, right? It is only BOS that we are, I mean, concentrating on. This order is also for the BOS. There is ample space. Even if the wind business overall growth is seeing, I mean, a huge traction, the BOS part, which could be around 30%-40%, is also a good space for us. There is no risk on that such. That gives us USP to basically provide a holistic solution to our customers.
Are the margins similar to the other EPC, or does it change there? Does it reduce?
Margin in the BOS is a similar job, no? Solar BOS or the wind BOS, I mean, the equipment remaining same, the business remaining same, the margin remaining the same.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My question is on what is the progress on NTPC execution, and how much of the orders will be executed? Have you commissioned the Khavda 1.3 gigawatt in this quarter?
This quarter means you say before June, right?
Before June, are you expecting to commission in this particular Q1 FY2026?
No. Out of the total 3 gigawatt, yes, you're right. Slightly over 3 gigawatt. Around 2 gigawatt for sure will be commissioned. Another 1.2 gigawatt, they are at various stages, but we are still expecting modules to be supplied by them, right? If they are able to supply the modules in the next couple of weeks, this can be seen, right? The commissioning is possible before June. Otherwise, this may spill over.
What is the possibility?
It is not basically because of our side. Our side, we are almost, you can say, we are in the advanced stage of installation of other things. Some of the interrelated work, which can happen only after the module is installed, that is only left up, like some cable connections and all those stuff kind of things. We are expecting the modules to be supplied soon so that we can finish the project. From our side, all civil works, everything to that stage is complete.
Just to clarify, talking about 1.2 gigawatt commissioning in Q1 FY2026 and the balance later. Is that right?
No. I say that over 2 gigawatt will be commissioned before June, in June, and 1.2 can spill over.
Understood, sir. My second question, if I may ask, how does the opportunity look in the Middle East? Of course, given that we understand that the opportunity is very high, do we have the appetite to participate in the region again, or can you just please close the line?
We are just evaluating this Middle East market. I mean, no doubt there is a huge opportunity. The project size is also a huge project size that is coming up, particularly in Saudi and the Middle East, right? Abu Dhabi and Dubai and all those such places. Two reasons that we are now keeping away from this market is one that a lot of tier one EPC players have got into this market, and they are operating at a very lower margin. That is not our appetite, number one. Number two, the terms and conditions of the contracts, they are not conducive. It's basically a lenders-driven market, right? Very stringent terms and conditions in terms of penalties, acceptance, or in terms of the BG requirement and all. Therefore, we are just watching that the market will get corrections.
As far as experience is concerned, we have huge experience. We were the first to get the largest size of project into hand. You are around over 1,000 megawatt capacity. We have the office. We have our team. Right now, we are not bullish in this Middle East market.
Understood, sir. Thank you in all the way, sir. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Rishikesh from Robo Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. I'm audble.
Yes. We can hear you.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is, if you could guide what should be our interest expense for FY 2026 and going into Q1?
EPC current year, this has ranged between 1.2%-1.7% of revenue. We believe that will be in the same range for next quarter, next year also. The interest expenses, what you see in the balance sheet is not exactly only on the debt. There are certain other interests also, which includes interest on advances, interest on LC discounting, and some bank charges, vendor financing. All those interests are there. Interest cost, you cannot per se link with the debt outstanding. Interest has a lot of other components also, as I mentioned.
Got it.
The guidance will be in the same range, 1.2%-1.7%.
Okay. Secondly, on Nigeria, could you update exactly what is the status there? By when can we see the agreement to happen?
I'll just explain sometime before. I'm not sure whether you were there. I mean, it's very, I mean, clearly spelled out that, I mean, these things are getting delayed procedurally. It may take some time, right? The project is on.
Okay. I mean.
Y ou said that when to sign off the contracts and what time. It will take six to nine months after signing the contract for the financial closure and then to get the NTP.
Thank you.
Sorry to interrupt. I would request please come back in the queue for further questions. The next question is from the line of Bhavik Shah from MK Ventures. Please go ahead.
I'm audible.
Yes. We can hear you.
Yes. A few questions. First is, what will be our order in FY 2026 except Reliance? How much time does it take for an order like Reliance to achieve financial closure once we get the order? Third is, what is the receipt of indemnity we are aiming in FY 2026? My last question is, why is the other income negative?
I'll answer for the first question first, and then Ajit will take up for another two questions. Financial closure is not something which pertains to me. It's basically Reliance, once the project is concluded, is the EPC order that we will go for. I don't think that's basically hindrance for Reliance projects to come up, right?
We can immediately start with the project, I think.
Come back again, please.
Will we be able to start with the project immediately as we get the project?
For us, yes. The moment the project is awarded to us, as per the project timelines, we can start doing the work.
Okay. Yes. For the other question?
Ajit, another two questions for you.
Sorry. Can you repeat if you don't mind?
Yeah. Yeah. What will be the order inflow for FY 2026 excluding Reliance? How much receipt of indemnity will we get in FY 2026? Why is the other income negative?
As we indicated, FY 2026, we are looking for a growth of around 15%-20% in terms of overall order intake.
I think that was for revenue. That was for revenue, not for order inflow.
Order intake has the same growth we are looking at, around 15%. In terms of indemnity, nothing has been crystallized.
Okay.
Yeah. Crystallized indemnity is not there, but around INR 850 crore we can expect to receive. That has been intimated to the promoters, and that should be due in September.
No. That will be invested. I mean, this is the outflow from the project.
850 crore is the current outflow from the project.
Basically, I mean, the number that you see, that INR 850 crores is the outflow from the project, which is at the various levels of the litigations, understanding, and all those. Once crystallized, I mean, our expectation from the client is INR 850 crores. Out of INR 850 crores, if something is falling short of that, we'll go to indemnity. Once the order comes in our favor, it will go to the project company.
Understood. Why was it negative?
I'm sorry to interrupt. Mr. Bhavik, please come back in the queue for further questions. The next question is from the line of Faisal Hawa from H.G. Hawa and Company. Please go ahead.
Yeah, one more question was I left with responders. Other income is negative because of the Forex loss that got configured over there. So Forex loss has been adjusted against other income. That's why it came negative for the quarter. Not for the full year. For the quarter, it is negative. For the full year, if you see, it's a positive INR 39.6 crore per other income positive.
Hello.
Okay. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Is it clear?
Yes, sir. Mr. Faisal, please go ahead. Is there a question?
Sir, what is the kind of reduction we are expecting from our fixed costs, like our central office expenses? In view of so much competition coming on from other players in EPC, is there any chance that these expenses could be cut down so that we are much more competitive for newer orders?
We will work on that, but as you know, we will not indicate any reduction. We will continue with the same trend what we had in the last year.
Sir, are there any international orders that we are bidding for also? What is the size of those orders that we have already bid? Have you budgeted for any wins there?
Yeah. As I have told you, I mean, our focus is more into the domestic market. International market, we are very select in a very select geography. Only those orders we are targeting, which are very conducive to our requirement, right? Good terms and conditions, better payment terms, not much risk. Having burnt our finger in past, we are very careful. If you see the last year, the order inflow, it was over INR 1,000 crores. Before that also, it was over INR 1,000 crore. We are targeting in the range of INR 1,000-2,000 crores orders if it keeps on coming from Africa and European market. European market means we say the Iberia, Balkans regions where not many players are there, and then you can still command some better margins. Only those regions we are targeting.
Are we, after appointing the new CFO, also trying to plug in positions from people who have resigned in the last six to seven months? Will we let those posts be vacant mostly or just promoted from the organization upwards?
I'm reviewing the entire org chart, and there would be some new recruitments in certain key positions. Whatever we can manage with the existing resource, we'll continue to manage with it.
Is there a chance that Reliance, yes.
No. Just to supplement Mr. Ajit's answer, basically, the organization is not a startup. Few people leaving us here and there does not impact the day-to-day business, right? Always, as you grow in the business size, there will always be a requirement to see if fresh blood is required or something like this. There has not been a mass exodus kind of situation, and that's not really alarming us, very frankly speaking. Yeah.
Is there a chance that we could get some large orders from Reliance in the first half itself because we have done the first pilot for them?
No. We have done the first pilot. A few projects are under bidding stage. It is difficult for us to assess at this stage if it will come in first quarter or second quarter. Yes, the team is working from their side, from our side. We are engaged again fully. We are working on this.
Thanks for answering my question so well, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today's conference call. With that, we conclude today's conference call. On behalf of Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Limited, that concludes this conference. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.