INDIGRID — earnings call
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Prepared remarks
Unattributed
“India Grid Trust
Q1 FY '24 Earnings Conference Call”
MANAGEMENT: MR.
HARSH SHAH – CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND
WHOLE-TIME DIRECTOR – INDIA GRID TRUST
NAVIN SHARMA – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER –
INDIA GRID TRUST
MEGHANA PANDIT – CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
– INDIA GRID TRUST
SATISH TALMALE – CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER –
Moderator
SUSHIL DHOOT – NUVAMA WEALTH
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the India Grid Limited Q1 FY '24 Earnings
Conference Call.
As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode.
will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.
Should you need
assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on
your touchtone phone.
Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr.
Sushil Dhoot from Nuvama Wealth Management.
you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, friends.
So on behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management, welcoming all to the
India Grid Trust in its first quarter FY '24 conference call.
We are joined today by the senior
management of India Grid, represented by Mr.
Harsh Shah, CEO and the Whole Time Director;
Navin Sharma, Chief Financial Officer; Ms.
Meghana Pandit, Chief Investment Officer; Mr.
Satish Talmale, Chief Operating Officer.
So we'll start with the opening remarks with the
management, followed by a Q&A session.
I would now like to hand the call to Harsh sir for his opening remarks.
Over to you, sir.
Harsh Shah
Thank you, and thank you, everyone, for joining on the call today.
We had a good beginning of
the financial year, and I would like to take you through the presentation first, and then we'll be
happy to address any questions on the presentation and the results.
On the slide number three of the presentation, we reiterate our vision.
Our vision is to become
the most admired yield vehicle in Asia.
And we believe that with a focused business model,
value accretive growth, predictable distribution and optimal capital structure, we'll be able to
On the next slide, slide number four, is a portfolio overview at IndiGrid that we have today.
does not include the recent acquisition that we have signed up for.
And then this represents the
current portfolio of IndiGrid assets.
So we have about INR22,900 crores of assets under
management across 19 states and UT, about 8,500 circuit kilometers and 17,500 MVA
transformation capacity.
Coming to the quarter 1 FY '24 highlights on page number six.
We completed our sixth year of
value-accretive growth and sustainable distribution and best in class governance practices since
It's our sixth anniversary for IndiGrid in this quarter, and we are proud to have delivered
superior risk adjusted return to unitholders over the last 6 years since listing.
Virescent Renewable Energy Trust last quarter and announced the details for unitholder vote.
The transaction closure process is underway.
We received unitholder approval as well as SEBI
And we are targeting closure of the transaction sometime in the last week of August
'23.We also received both unitholder approval and subsequent SEBI approval of the
declassification of Sterlite Power Transmission Limited as a sponsor.
In addition to the above
three, we have received and started work on several augmentation projects, which are allotted to
us on a regulated tariff mechanism across four of our substations in Kallam, Patran, Prithla and
Amargarh, and that's something which we have started capex..
Financially, as we increased the
DPU growth last year, last quarter, we have continued with that and we are distributing with a
India Grid Trust
run rate of INR13.8 a unit.
And we were able to do it with our revenue and EBITDA both
increasing around 11% to 12% versus last year.
Collections are at 86% in line with usual
quarterly trends.
Typically, the quarter 4 is higher and quarter 1 is marginally lower.
Our AUM stands at
INR22,900 crores with a net debt to AUM at 60%, which is well below the 70% cap provided
On operating performance, our average availability is at 99.5%.
Solar CUF of the small
portfolio that we have is around 28.05%.
And there is a temporary impact on availability in NER
due to some insulator flashovers and I'll discuss that in subsequent slides.
All-in-all, it's been a
robust performance, which has allowed us to deliver a sustainable DPU of growth that we
promised last quarter.
On slide number seven is about industry update.
The power demand continues to reach past
peaks and it is again, one of the highest power demand that we've seen in the country.
are confident that with growth in GDP as well as the electrification initiatives that have been
done in the last 5 years.
We do see this power demand growing on year-on-year basis.
Forecasting this consistent growth in the power consumption, there has been a lot of
development on the transmission side, which are part of the National Electricity Plan, which was
notified by CEA, which provides short-term framework, provides capacity additions both in the
grid as well as the storage.
It provides measures to have RE available for 24/7 through BESS and pump storage.
this has translated physically into about INR1.4 lakh crores of TBCB bids in the sector that we
are seeing in the near future.
And these are identified projects which are approved by NCT.
therefore, we think that this is going to result into a sizable pipeline for transmission business.
On the slide number eight, which is just to provide an update on how IndiGrid would look post
Virescent acquisition.
So as an update, as I mentioned earlier, we received the approval from
unitholders on June '23.
On July 2023, we have received SEBI approval for closing this and
August '23, we are targeting to close this transaction.
With this transaction, IndiGrid AUM is almost going to grow up to around INR27,000 crores.
The watt mega peak capacity will grow almost 538 to 676 watt-peak.
And number of employees
will also substantially grow because we are taking over most of the employees of Virescent,
which will allow us to operate the portfolio smoothly.
And in general, number of projects are
almost doubling to what we had earlier.
So in general, it is a substantial growth that's taking
place at IndiGrid AUM.
Coming to quarter 1 FY '24 for operating performance, I would like to invite Satish to brief you
Satish Talmale:
Good afternoon, everyone.
So for quarter 1 operations performance, we
achieved zero fatality for the quarter, and there were some minor incidents towards first-aid
medical treatment, which are part of our continuous improvement program to achieve our Zero
On performance on power transmission, we achieved more than 99.5%
availability across the portfolio.
Solar generation, this is relatively 6% higher generation
compared to last year, which is at 61.26 million units at a 28.05% CUF.
On NER, particularly,
if you see there is a slight dip on availability that is due to insulator issue, which we understood
the root cause and we are trying to mitigate that in next quarter.
On reliability, we achieved 0.24
trips per line.
Generally, in Q1, the number of trips due to weather-related events are higher, but still due to
all the reliability improvement measures, we achieved a lower score compared to last financial
Few technological initiatives we have initiated in our process to implement remote
access server technology installation across our substation and also automatic fault analysis
system, which will help us to troubleshoot all the faults in a timely manner and even help our
ability to restore trips in a most efficient manner.
On solarization, we installed a small capacity in Bhopal and Dhule substation along with battery
We are also targeting to solarize all other substations and we are planning to implement
those in coming quarters.
On cybersecurity, there are no material threats which are identified
and recorded by our 24/7 security operations center.
Yes, that's it.
I will now hand over it to Navin for next slide.
Thank you, Satish, and good evening, everyone.
We are on slide number 10.
Good quarter with
robust performance as compared to the same quarter previous year.
We have recorded a revenue
and EBITDA of INR629 crores and INR567 crores, respectively.
This translates into 12% and
11% Y-o-Y growth.
NDCF generated for the quarter was INR173 crores, and Board has
approved a distribution of INR3.45 per unit, which is in line with our guidance and this translates
into a DPU growth of 5% on Y-o-Y basis.
Coming on to the collection for the quarter.
It stood at 86% as compared to 79% collection in
Historically, Q1 collection remains a bit low after a superior Q4 collections.
Q4 FY '23, collections were at 114% level, which translates into 100% collection over last 2
The DSO as of 30 June stands at 66 days, which is similar to Q1 FY '23 DSO.
Coming on next slide number 11, DPU for the quarter is INR3.45 per unit.
It will be distributed
in the form of interest, dividend and capital repayment, which is INR3.18, INR0.06 and
INR0.21, respectively.
The outstanding units at the end on the quarter is around INR70 crores
and the gross distribution to all the unitholders at INR3.45 comes to INR242 crores.
for the distribution is August 3, and tentative date by which the unitholders will receive a
distribution is August 12.
NAV as of June 30 stood at INR130.5 per unit.
Over this quarter distribution, IndiGrid would
have distributed INR75.31 per unit with a total distribution of around INR4,130 crores.
right-hand side, we showcase the kind of distribution on Y-o-Y basis, which is stable and
scalable growth of 3% to 4% over the year.
We are on track to meet this year's guidance on
distribution of INR13.8 per unit.
Turning on the next slide number 12, which showcase a waterfall summary of our EBITDA to
the NDCF generation and distribution.
At an SPV level, we have a consolidated EBITDA of
Net of the finance costs, working capital movement, capex and taxes at SPV
level, NDCF generated at SPV comes to around INR479 crores.
The net of the interest level
expenses, interest costs and tax, we have generated NDCF of INR173 crores.
As we started off
the healthy reserve of INR322 crores, we have utilized our reserves by INR68 crores, and our
closing reserves stand at INR254 crores, which is in excess of one quarter's DPU basis current
So that's all from my side.
I hand over to Meghana to take the subsequent slides.
Meghana Pandit:
Good evening, everyone.
I'm on Slide number 13, snapshot of our balance
We continue to remain AAA-rated by all the 3 rating agencies.
At the end of the quarter
1, our average cost of debt remains at a healthy 7.58% with a cash balance of about INR1,041
This includes DSRA of around INR370-odd crores and about INR241 crores of
distribution for the quarter and balance as free cash.
Almost 83% of our overall borrowing book
of INR14,600 crores is fixed rate to the extent of around at least 3 to 4 years.
quarter with a net debt to AUM of 60.1% and again, very robust interest coverage ratio of more
During the quarter, we drew IFC's loan of around INR1,140-odd crores at a cost of debt of about
The borrowing book remains fairly diversified between bank loans of almost about 53-
odd % and NCDs of 47%, which are subscribed by a diverse set of investors, including mutual
funds, insurance companies, HNI, retail, corporate, provident funds, etcetera.
The bottom chart
talks about our repayment or refinancing schedule.
For this fiscal FY '24, the refinancing number
is close to about 3.5-odd percent of the overall book, very small.
And the remaining year, as you
can see, is very smoothly distributed with not more than 10% to 11% of the borrowing book
coming up for refinancing.
Moving ahead on slide 14, depicts our risk-adjusted total returns that we are providing to the
unitholders since inception.
So our total return is close to about 109% and annualized return of
13%, which compared to both debt and equity indices continues to remain superior, especially
on the risk side, if you compare with the Beta, we remain at the lowest 0.08.
Slide number 15, the business outlook as we look at it.
So the first one, currently, we are focusing
on completing the Virescent transaction.
Along with that, the framework asset that we are
looking at from GR Infra, Rajgarh, as and when it becomes operational, we will look to acquire
In addition to that, with the significant attractive transmission bid opportunities coming
up, we will look at synergistic greenfield bidding across both transmission.
storage system is also an area that we are closely looking at.
With the current guidance that we
have provided on the DPU of Rs. 13.8, we continue to focus on that.
And post the Virescent acquisition, as we have mentioned before, we are looking to provide a
2% to 3% increase in the DPU after the acquisition is completed.
Parallelly, our focus on
improving the balance sheet continues to exist in terms of optimizing the interest cost on all the
incremental borrowing that we do alongside ensuring that the tenures remain pretty long.
have always focused on maintaining adequate liquidity to ensure any sort of emergencies that
come about can be looked at.
We have taken unitholders' approval in June to raise equity to the
extent of INR1,500-odd crores.
And this was with an intention that after Virescent acquisition, our net debt to AUM would be
somewhere about 65-odd-percent and with that in mind, we are looking to raise equity to the
extent of up to INR1,500 crores, which will bring the net debt to AUM back to around 60%
Parallelly, asset management continues to be the focus with ensuring that the maximum
availability is there across the portfolio.
Self-reliant O&M practices continues and the EHS and
ESG practices that we have adopted, we will continue to improve on that.
On the industry part of it, we continue to remain very active across various industry bodies and
we are working on ensuring more and more private sector participation in the electricity sector,
similarly on the national monetization pipeline.
So we make representations across various
industry bodies and improving investor education about specifically IndiGrid as well as InvIT
as a platform continues to be the case.
With that, we'll take a pause here, and we can move to the Q&A session, please.
Questions and answers
Moderator
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.
question is from the line of Shrish Vaze from Moneylife Advisory Service.
Shrish Vaze
My first question pertains to the agreement with GR Infra.
So I just wanted to understand this
framework agreement is only restricted to one asset or it will also extend to subsequent assets as
and when they come up for acquisition?
Harsh Shah
So this agreement, – framework agreement you are referring to is only for one asset and
subsequent to this asset, there will be different agreements depending on what is the arrangement
Shrish Vaze
And my second question pertains to, I just wanted to understand, are we also looking
at metering infrastructure concessions to complement our current portfolio?
Harsh Shah
I think we keep evaluating different businesses and certainly metering in fact has become a large
Having said so, we are at a very early stage in evaluation of the same.
becomes interesting, we would pursue, but at this point in time, it's very early stage.
Moderator
Our next question is from the line of Usha Virendra from Acharya.
Usha Virendra
Your slide number 12 says the quarterly report of Q1.
EBITDA to NDCF shows a reserve of
INR681 Mn was used to distribute DPU.
Am I correct, sir?
So then what is the reason to dip into reserve?
Harsh Shah
So typically, what happens is that our collections, while they look very flat and
maintaining 100%, on a quarter-on-quarter, they typically vary.
So as Navin mentioned, last
quarter, it was 114%, this quarter it was 86%.
And therefore, on a quarter-on-quarter basis,
quarter 1 is low, quarter 2 is a little higher, quarter 3 is little low and quarter 4 is high.
what we have seen historically.
So we keep a reserve about a quarter of distribution, which is
India Grid Trust
generated out of the 10% flexibility that SEBI provides, which allows us to streamline the
quarter-over-quarter variability.
Otherwise, if it is 100% pass-through, there may be more volatility that may come into our
So we keep this reserve.
And then this reserve gets refilled when we receive our
collection back on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
So quarter 4, we added to the reserve; quarter 1,
we are consuming; next quarter, we will see what the collections are and then reflect that.
reserves are just amount that allows us to smoothen the quarter-on-quarter variability on the
Usha Virendra
And sir, how is this acquisition being financed like loan or equity?
I think I heard some equity
Harsh Shah
Sorry, what is it?
Can you repeat that?
Usha Virendra
How is the acquisition of Virescent being financed?
How are you getting the funds?
Harsh Shah
So acquisition of Virescent will be a mix of equity, debt and internal accruals, all three put
In the shorter term, we might raise debt and then repay with equity as we raise it.
it's going to be a mix of all.
Usha Virendra
So do the current unitholders get to apply for any rights or something, something like
Harsh Shah
If we come up with a rights issue as a mode of capital raising, yes, unitholders will get a right to
Moderator
Next question is from the line of Pradyumna Dalmia from Lansdowne Investment.
Pradyumna Dalmia
I just wanted to understand more and if you could elaborate a little more on the INR1,500 crores
capital raising plans.
What are the timelines, etcetera, that you have in mind for this?
is likely to be the debt and equity split of this?
Harsh Shah
So just to clarify, the INR1,500 crores is the unit capital raise.
So it's entirely equity.
timeline, I think it's difficult to communicate what timeline will it be, but we are evaluating all
options, including what earlier unitholder asked about rights issue, preference issue and
institutional placement.
This specific approval that we have taken was for institutional placement.
capitalization method has its own nuanced advantage or shortcomings.
So we are evaluating
At this point in time, we don't have, I would say, timeline to conclude that.
It's kind of an
approval we have taken, but we'll keep evaluating.
Pradyumna Dalmia
So you cannot comment at this stage whether this will be completed in this quarter, next
quarter or FY '24 at least?
Harsh Shah
We cannot commit to that, but I think the approval that we have taken is valid for a year
Pradyumna Dalmia
And you will obviously make the necessary announcement, etcetera, as and when you do
decide which route you're going to take?
Moderator
Next question is from the line of Pratik Kothari from Unique Portfolio Manager.
Pratik Kothari
Congratulations Harsh for the increased DPU.
Harsh, my first question is on we signed an MOU
with GR Infra and we're trying to bid for some greenfield I mean, they will do the construction,
but then we'll acquire from them.
Similarly, you spoke about a large bidding pipeline which
might come out.
So just if you can highlight how are things moving on ground?
deals do we see?
What kind of deals are we currently going through?
Harsh Shah
So I think as I described, there is a big pipeline with respect to the development pipeline
in terms of number of bids that are getting bid out.
It's, to be honest, unprecedented number of
capex that is getting planned in this sector.
We do see a lot of bids getting participated in that.
Now we are not a pure-play developer, and therefore, we participate in bids where we have some
However, having such a large pipeline helps that we can target on the projects that we want to
On the renewable side, also, we do see good traction in terms of several transactions.
We are evaluating them.
But at this point in time, we don't have anything to announce or anything
signed, but we do see both on operating renewable side and on the construction transmission
side, a lot more opportunities coming in.
Pratik Kothari
So when we speak about this heightened bidding which was come in.
So is it the existing players
who want to lighten their balance sheet to participate in this and hence will get an opportunity
to acquire those assets or do we participate along with this for the new bidding and we acquire
those assets 2, 3 years down the line?
Harsh Shah
I would say it's a mix of both.
We wont bid for all projects, isnt it?
In the development stage, we
have limits in terms of maximum 10% of our size.
So we don't bid and we are far more
conservative than a normal developer.
So our target assets are slightly different and specific, we
don't participate in all bids.
But we do see both happening that people who might want to offload
assets to build new assets as well as we might find some good opportunities in the building side,
Pratik Kothari
And that has already started playing out?
Harsh Shah
So the number of bids that we announced, I mean, in the call, INR1,40,000 crores, they're
already identified bids with bid process coordinators to be conducted in the next 1, 1.5 years,
So that's already identified.
It's a matter of time in terms of when they will be
Pratik Kothari
And post this Virescent acquisition like you mentioned in the next month
itself, our AUM share of that or solar goes to 17-odd percent.
So for the time being at least now
this would be the cap on non-transmission asset, given we always wanted to keep it below 20%?
Harsh Shah
So the cap is 25%, where we are working towards. but I mean, as you said, we are -- within the
cap, we are agnostic.
If we get a good solar project at a good value and good quality, we don't
mind buying it right now also.
So the cap we are working towards is 25%, but 25% is not the
The difference is not the goal, but that's the cap.
So I won't say we are capped at
Pratik Kothari
And I believe you include battery energy storage as part of transmission.
transmission except solar, what else can be a part of that?
Harsh Shah
I mean we haven't done anything till now.
But hydro is part of it, wind we are not doing for sure.
But they are pretty much it remains in the sector.
I mean, somebody asked me about smart
metering, which could also be but that's very small and very early stage.
So it could be any of
these two, three things.
Moderator
Next question is from the line of Vivek Surekha, an individual investor.
Vivek Surekha
So first to clarify in the opening remarks, you mentioned that DPU will grow by 2% to 3% post
the acquisition of new assets.
Is this after equity dilution or is it before equity dilution?
Harsh Shah
The guidance is after equity dilution.
And again, it is a guidance so depending on when we
acquire and all that variation, the signing of the month may change, but yes, it is after equity
dilution to your question.
Vivek Surekha
So that's fair enough.
Another request, right, in last two presentations on the quarters, you were
giving a kind of flow of how the distribution will work over the next 3 to 5 years.
presentation that view was taken out, the view was very helpful.
Can we include that view in our
presentation if that's not the big thing for the management.
Harsh Shah
I mean it's not a big thing.
It's a standard slide, which hasn't changed -- I mean, this quarter
is largely around the current changes quarter update slide.
And typically, we add that slide when
we acquire a new asset, right?
So to give a perspective.
So even if you download that slide which
we published in last presentation, it still holds true, right?
But it's a good input we'll definitely
consider to include it subsequently but it remains the same, what we published earlier.
Vivek Surekha
That would be helpful.
Just one last question from my side.
Looking at all the kind of monsoon
which is happening across the country, have we seen any adverse impact on our side, hopefully
not, but it is coming and are we well covered by insurance on that?
Harsh Shah
So the question is valid.
We do see -- I mean, not just fortunately to start with, we are not
impacted by the floods that we have seen in Himachal and other parts of the country.
are fortunate around that.
On the impact of the seasons, every season there is some kind of impact
Sometimes it'll snow, in the quarter 1, technically from quarter 2, there are high
India Grid Trust
winds in the Central India; in quarter 2, in quarter 3 quarter, there are rains in the northern and
So variety of impact that comes in.
But I don't think that is material enough to impact our stability or I would say, operations.
is one impact that Satish spoke about NER project, where we are dealing with a specific issue
with respect to insulators, and especially that is in the hilly terrain in monsoon, which makes it
difficult to restore.
But those incidents keep happening across the portfolio.
We're not really
materially impacted by that.
And whenever it's significant or slightly important, it comes out in
availability as it has in this quarter.
Moderator
We have our next follow-up question from the line of Pradyumna Dalmia from Lansdowne
Pradyumna Dalmia
No, I just had one clarification which I wanted to ask.
I believe there has been some recent
changes in terms of the treatment of taxation on InvIT and REITs.
Can you clarify on that?
is distribution by way of interest and dividend, are they kind of taxed the same currently or is
there any differential now whereby one maybe more tax beneficial versus the other?
Harsh Shah
So I will give you our perspective, but I would advise you to refer to the tax adviser because
each investor category gets taxed differently based on their status and jurisdiction and other
But at the high level, there is, as such, no change that has taken place with respect to the
taxation of InvIT.
There was an amendment that got introduced in the budget and subsequently
it got streamlined, and that was pertaining to capital repayment and not with respect to interest
And with respect to capital repayment, what is clarified is that as long as InvIT or REIT has
distributed up to the capital it is issued, so let's say, IndiGrid was issued at INR100 till the point
in time IndiGrid repays a capital repayment is up to INR100 a unit, there will not be a TDS and
it will go out of the cost of acquisition of the unitholder and therefore, taxed as capital gains, not
immediately, but as and when the unitholder sells.
Other than that, and let’s say beyond INR100 if somebody pays capital repayment and IndiGrid
scenario is extremely unlikely, but some REITs are offering, then it will be taxed marginally like
other income or interest.
That’s the only clarification that has come in this budget.
that, it remains what was last year.
Interest is taxed based on marginal income.
Dividend, if we
have received the dividend from subsidiary, which is under old tax regime, then it remains as a
tax-exempt dividend.
If the SPV follows a new tax regime, then it remains a taxable dividend,
again, part of financial income, just like interest.
So there are 3-4 categories that exist.
therefore, we disclose all of them in a detailed manner in our distribution sheet so that it allows
people to consult with the chartered accountants.
Moderator
Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference
over to the management for the closing comments.
Harsh Shah
So I think we had a very action-pack quarter last quarter with a large transaction,
and we are still working towards closing that.
And we look forward for the continued support
from all our unitholders who have consistently supported the decisions taken by management
India Grid Trust
both on asset acquisition and capital raising and others.
So very thankful and grateful to all of
you to join today, and look forward to meeting you at the next conference.
Moderator
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of India Grid Limited, that concludes
this conference.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.