Thanks, Michelle. Good afternoon, everyone.

I welcome you all for the quarter four earnings call of JSW Energy. Today, we have leadership team of JSW Energy with us, led by Mr.

Sharad Mahendra, Joint MD and CEO; Mr. Chandrasekaran Prabhakaran, CFO; and Mr.

Vikas Choudhary, Head - Investor Relations and ERM. I'd like to thank you to the management for giving PL Capital the opportunity to host the call.

Now giving the speaker to Sharad sir for the brief from him, and then we'll have a line open for Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, Vishal. A very good afternoon to everyone, and thank you all for joining us today.

It is my pleasure to share the highlights of our performance for the quarter and the year gone by. FY26 has been an exciting year, where we began to translate the bold ambitions of our Strategy 3.0 into hard business outcomes.

During financial year 2026, we increased our installed capacity by 2.6 GW to reach at 13.45 GW, with generation growing commensurately by 58% year-on-year. The company reported its highest-ever annual EBITDA of ₹11,041 crores in financial year '26.

Before I delve into our performance, I would like to share some sector observations. India's power sector continued its structural transformation in FY26, though demand dynamics were different from what we saw in recent years.

Total power demand for the country grew modestly at 0.9% in FY26, the most muted growth in last five years, driven by an extended monsoon season that weighed on consumption through the first half of the year. However, from quarter four FY26 onwards, we saw a fair demand recovery, with demand growth rebounding to 2.1% in quarter four.

In FY27 so far, year-to-date demand growth remains healthy at a growth of 4.6% year-on-year. Overall, the seasonal softness that we have seen in the first half of FY26 does not, in our view, alter the medium-term structural demand story in any way.

India's growing industrialization, urbanization, and rising per capita consumption continue to underpin a 5% to 6% CAGR in power demand over long-term. Peak demand on 25th April '26 reached 256 GW, and with the summer of 2026 now commenced and expected to be severe, the system is positioning to handle a new peak of approximately 270 GW, higher than the 250 GW record seen in May 2024.

On the supply side, India added 64.9 GW of new capacity during the fiscal, of which renewable energy accounted for 50.9 GW, translating to 78% of total capacity additions. Non-fossil sources have crossed 50% of total installed capacity for the first time in FY26.

The ongoing geopolitical instability has further reinforced the need of energy self-reliance for India. India's coal reserves insulate us from crude volatility, an advantage the country is actively leveraging.

Structural shifts toward induction heating and EVs are expanding electricity demand, while data centers are also expected to anchor the long-term offtake in India. The merchant market remained soft through most of FY2026, averaging approximately ₹3.86 per unit on exchanges, reflecting muted demand.

Despite this, in in line with what we have maintained, our FY26 merchant realizations commanded more than 20% premium to average exchange prices, which are driven primarily by strategically executed back-to-back short-term contracts. We are already seeing tariffs firm up in FY27 as summer cooling demand builds.

As mentioned earlier, till date, the power demand is up by 4.6%. Now coming to company performance, FY2026 has been defined by scale and integration.

We have added 2.6 GW of installed capacity during the year via via calibrated strategy of organic and inorganic route, taking our total operational base to 13.45 GW, making us one of the largest diversified power generation companies in the country. The additions span organic commissioning across wind 240 MW, solar 305 MW, hybrid 451 MW, and hydro 240 MW assets, and the full integration of all the inorganic acquisitions was completed in FY25 and FY26.

The integration of O2 Power, the 4.7 GW renewable energy platform that we acquired in April 2025, has progressed well. O2 O2 Power's operating capacity has grown to approximately 2 GW at the close of FY26, with active construction underway across the remaining portfolio.

Its asset its asset quality, underpinned by diversified geography, long-term PPAs with credible counterparties, supported with 100% connectivity and majority of the land, and rich tariffs, has met our original underwriting assumptions. Coming to thermal, on KSK Mahanadi, our 1,800 MW operational capacity delivered robust performance during the year, driven by synergies post acquisition.

We have been focused on implementing cost efficiencies and improving plant performance, and I am pleased to report that PLF has remained healthy through FY26 and among the top-10 plants in the country in the first full operational year in our hands. The ramp-up plan for the remaining units of plant is progressing on schedule, with water and rail arrangements firmly in place post our recent acquisition of KSK's water and rail SPVs.

On the organic front, we commissioned 1.24 GW of new capacities during FY26. Notably, the 240 MW Kutehr hydroelectric plant, which was commissioned in quarter two of FY26, is one of the fastest timelines for for a project of its scale, further cementing our position as the largest private IPP in hydro sector.

We also acquired 150 MW Tidong hydro power plant from Statkraft, which is at an advanced stage of completion. I am happy to tell that 50 MW of this has already been commissioned on 7th of May '26, and balance two units are expected to be commissioned within this quarter before June '26, which was against the original plan of October '26.

This timely commissioning will help us catch the ongoing hydro season, adding mean meaningfully to the top line and bottom line. Alongside renewables, thermal power has regained its prominence as reliable baseload, and we made rapid strides on this front as well during FY26.

Following the signing of 1,600 MW Salboni PPA in FY25, we secured an additional 1,600 MW and signed the PPA for the same location, making Salboni our largest single-site asset at 3,200 MW. On the first 1,600 MW project construction has project construction has commenced, and equipment procurement is on schedule.

As we have informed, in parallel, we have taken strategic strategic steps to de-risk our thermal supply chain through the strengthening of Toshiba JSW joint venture for turbine generators and the acquisition of GE Power's boiler business, with the latter transaction expected to be consummated within the next two quarters. Turning to our under-construction portfolio, JSW is Energy is currently building 14 GW of generation projects, all of which are fully tied up under long-term power purchase agreements.

This high-quality, fully contracted under-construction book gives us strong visibility into future EBITDA. This fiscal year, we are looking to add about 3 GW capacity and a capex spend of around ₹20,000 crores for the year.

On our thermal optionality at KSK, we expect the first 600 MW to be commissioned by by quarter three of next fiscal. Beyond this, we have a robust project pipeline of approximately 4.6 GW, where letters of intent have been secured.

Our total locked-in capacity now stands at 32.1 GW, placing us firmly on track to deliver the 30 GW target of generation by 2030 under Strategy 3.0. Coming to energy storage, we recognize the critical role it plays in integrating renewable energy and ensuring grid stability.

Our locked-in storage capacity now stands at 29.6 GWh, of which 3.2 GWh are in battery energy storage, and 26.4 GWh are in remunerative in the remunerative pumped storage space. Further, our 5 GWh battery assembly facility in Pune was commissioned in quarter four of of FY26, and the commercial sales of the battery storage have already commenced.

This plant will position us to meet domestic content requirements for battery energy storage systems as and when mandated by the Government of India. Energy storage is fast becoming a mainstream infrastructure investment, and we are well ahead of the market in building this capability.

Additionally, our wind blade manufacturing facility at Halol in Gujarat, scheduled for commissioning in the first half of FY27, would provide advantage to us in terms of lower capital cost for wind projects due to savings in logistic costs and foreign exchange, thereby strengthening our vertical integration. Coming to the operational performance for the quarter, we have added organic renewable capacity of 118 MW during the quarter.

Our net generation for quarter four in FY26 rose by 48% year-on-year to 11.7 billion units, driven by a 68% year-on-year increase in renewable energy generation on the back of capacity additions across wind, solar, hydro, and O2 Power assets. Before I move to thermal, I will like to mention about the power curtailment.

Regarding the power curtailment due to evacuation constraints, I will like to say that about 160 million units were curtailed for us, but a significant portion out of this 160 MUs is under permanent recovery, we are getting the tariff for the same, thus not impacting our revenue. Only a small portion of this curtailment has resulted in a revenue loss of around ₹16 crores during the quarter and approximately for ₹50 crores during the year gone by.

This curtailment, however, is expected to be over by July '26 with the expected commissioning of new evacuation line. Thermal generation grew 43% year-on-year to 8.8 billion units, driven primarily by robust offtake at our Mahanadi and Utkal plants.

Our KSK plant's PLF for quarter four FY26 remained robust at 93%. Further, our overall thermal portfolio maintained a healthy PLF of 78% for the quarter and 73% for the full year.

Compared to this, country's average thermal PLF stood at 68.7% during the quarter and 65.8% during the full year. I would also like to address one operational nuance for from the quarter.

KSK Mahanadi experienced some PPA backdowns, attributable to a transient demand softness in the region. However, we successfully monetized the backdown volumes through short-term market sales, mitigating any major revenue impact.

This has since normalized with the onset of summer and the consequent surge in demand. The KSK plant, in fact, registered an impressive EBITDA of over ₹3,300 crores in FY26, also driven by fuel cost reduction through optimizing sourcing of coal from nearby mines, resulting in lower logistics costs, just like we did what we did for our Utkal plant as well.

Further, at Utkal, both our units are fully operational, and the plant registered a PLF of 75% in quarter four of FY26. Now driven by full tie-up that we had done earlier, our Vijayanagar plant's PLF also stood robust at 79% in quarter four.

With open capacity now at about 5% of our total installed capacity, and a 25-year 400 MW PPA for the Utkal plant at ₹5.78 per unit, and another 2-year PPA for 115 MW PPA with Assam DISCOM with effect from 1st April 2026, the quality of our underlying EBITDA has improved substantially. The predominant share of our remaining open capacity is domestic coal-based, with plants closer to the mine, which reduces sensitivity to global coal prices volatility and and keeps our merchant breakeven economics highly competitive.

Now coming to the outlook, FY2027 is expected to be a year of accelerated earnings delivery. The sizable projects commissioned during FY26 will stabilize and contribute to full-year EBITDA, driving a meaningful step-up in our financial performance.

India's power demand recovery, with the government projecting peak demand of 270 GW this summer and a medium-term CAGR of 5% to 6%, provides a strong tailwind for our growing portfolio, and remain fully on track towards our FY30 targets of 30 GW of generation capacity and 40 GWh of energy storage. We remain committed to disciplined capital allocation.

Every investment must meet our mid-teen return thresholds, and our balance sheet management continues to be guided by our by our leverage guardrails. While net debt has risen as expected during this phase of accelerated investment, the quality and our contracts on our growing asset base means that free cash generation will improve progressively, supporting deleveraging on a path towards 2030 our 2030 net debt to EBITDA target of approximately 5 to 5.5 times.

Finally, and equally important, on the people front, we are proud to retain our Great Place to Work certification, a recognition that our culture and people practices continue to keep pace with our growing scale. Also, we have been rated amongst top 25 places in the manufacturing sector in the country.

Moving to our financial performance for the quarter, details that most of you have had the opportunity to review ahead of this call, supported by our robust quarter four generation growth of 48%, our EBITDA during the quarter rose 72% year-on-year to ₹2,602 crores, resulting in an all-time high annual EBITDA for the company during FY26. On the bottom line, our profit after tax came in at ₹574 crores, up 38% year-on-year, and PAT to shareholders stood at ₹372 crores.

As you may know, we have already service served a notice to exercise our call option in KSK Mahanadi to acquire the balance 26% stake. The minority outflow should materially reduce once we consummate the same.

Further, our cash profit to the shareholders for the quarter remains robust at ₹699 crores. Our cash returns on net worth, adjusted for our investment in JSW Steel shares, remain strong at approximately 18%.

Revenue for the quarter four FY26 grew 39% year-on-year to approximately ₹4,851 crores, a trajectory firmly anchored in the robust expansion of our generation capacity. As our newer assets continue to be capitalized on the balance sheet, depreciation and interest costs have risen accordingly.

Depreciation grew almost 1.7 times during the quarter four on a year-on-year basis, while interest cost increased approximately 2.4 times, both consistent with the scale of capital deployment underway. On the leverage, excluding capital work-in-progress related debt, our net debt to EBITDA stands at approximately 5.2 times, well within our financial guardrails.

Our liquidity remains ample, with cash and cash equivalents in excess of ₹10,000 crores. Out of the ₹3,000 crore preferential allotment that we have done recently, ₹1,125 crores has been received in quarter four.

On the cost of capital, consistent with our earlier guidance, our weighted average cost of debt declined by approximately 67 basis points year-on-year to 8.36% as of March '26. This reflects our healthy credit profile and the sustained confidence our lenders and rating agencies placed in us.

Finally, on working capital, total receivables as on March 31st stood at around ₹3,240 crores, translating to debtor days of 62, a sharp and meaningful improvement from 76 days in the corresponding quarter of the prior fiscal. This reflects both improved collection disciplines and the evolving counterparty profile of our portfolio.

The central message is that significant capacity additions we have executed over the past several quarters are now are now visibly converting into higher generation volumes and stronger cash flows. We expect this momentum to build further through the remainder of the fiscal and into FY27.

Thank you, and that concludes my opening remarks. I am now happy to open the floor for questions.

Thank you.

Good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, sir, I think, what is your guidance for RE asset commissioning for FY27 and FY28?

I think you mentioned to do 3 GW in FY27. Is it possible to break down this between wind and solar?

Also give FY28 number, if possible?

You see, the thing is FY27, as I have said, that approximately close to about 3 GW of capacity additions will happen, which will be a mix of solar, wind, and hybrid projects. The breakup between solar and wind depends on what kind of project, what kind of hybrid which is there, but as per the PPA terms, we can say that.

Maybe you can say in terms of, if I have to do a percentage, maybe out of 3 GW, about close to about 35% to 40% will be wind, rest all is solar.

My second question is, has the amount to be paid for minority acquisition for KSK Mahanadi, is it crystallized? If yes, help us with the amount?

Yeah. You see, Prabhakaran, yes.

No, I think it's not yet crystallized. I think the process is currently on.

We can't comment anything at this point in time. I think, but it is kind of probably by end of Q2 is what we'll have some number on it.

Understood. My last question, sir, how are you thinking about PPA for KSK Mahanadi?

The last unit, is it likely to remain on a merchant?

See, the thing is that PPAs definitely there are demands from different states which are there, and the discussions are on, meeting with our timelines of commissioning of first unit and then the balance two units. The discussions are on.

Various states want the power. Accordingly, as and when the requirement comes, we will be definitely participating.

However, to note that this being close to the mine and the low fuel cost also gives us a leverage to the merchant also, but in a longer term, our strategy is to have a long-term PPA for this.

Understood. Thank you, and all the best.

Thank you.

Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity.

My first question is on the 3 GW that you're looking to commission in renewable in FY27, what would be the broad phase-out of commissioning of these capacities from Q1 to Q4 if you could give us some sense?

See, the thing is that some of our projects which are at advanced stage of commissioning, we, of course, giving exact number will be difficult, but you can say that maybe it is uniformly divided between H1 and H2.

So 1.5, 1.5 roughly. Okay.

Second question is on capex. When you said about ₹200 billion of capex, the free cash flow that you are generating right now, or basically your EBITDA less your net interest cost and the tax adjustment, that seems to be enough to take care of the equity requirement for ₹20,000 crores of capex.

Is there any thought process in terms of raising equity funds beyond the infusions that are coming through preference shares and the warrant issuances to promoters?

Prabhakaran will speak here.

I think similar to what you understood is right, with the existing 20,000, the cash flows what we'll generate and within the kind of net debt to EBITDA, I think within those ratios, we will be able to easily manage this ₹20,000 crores which we talked about. We have this additional ₹1,800 crores which we can kind of avail at any point in time.

If you kind of want to kind of postpone or fast track this one, we have this leverage to do it.

Okay. Just one last question, trying to understand the broad breakup of this ₹20,000 crore capex, because there is some allocation that should start happening to the Salboni project, something to the battery energy storage system project that you are commissioning, the pumped storage hydro.

Just to understand what kind of CWIP should we expect for the thermal project, pumped storage hydro by the end of the financial year? You see,

when you talk of thermal, definitely yes, when Salboni work has started, and also the pumped storage project for which we have got the clearance from the Environment and Forests stage-1 clearance, definitely some investment will go in these projects. We have to remember that normally the year one of such projects doesn't entail significantly large investments.

It is only the order placement and some kind of civil work which starts, it is a very small percentage of the payment which flows, and then gradually it increases. It is not significant, but if you want a breakup, it can be maybe 16 ₹20,000 crore we have said, you can say ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 crores will be for these projects, enabling projects, which are the thermal project and the pumped storage, rest all will be in the wind and solar space and battery energy.

Very clear. Just one bookkeeping question to understand.

What was the CWIP for your RE projects at the end of FY '26? Because you're going to commission 3 GW, what percentage of the investment has already happened, just to understand?

We have a total of about ₹17,300 crores of CWIP, out of which about close to 11,200 is for RE and the balance is for the thermal and others.

Very clear. Thank you, and wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.

Good evening, sir. Sir, just to understand, the 2.6 GW of capacity addition, how much of it is acquired from O2, and how much of it is organic?

See, out of this 2.6 GW, it is 1.3 GW which was the acquired capacity, and the rest all, it is 50-50. That is acquired, and rest all is the greenfield capacity which we have commissioned.

Understood. I understand that there were challenges this year.

Are you still seeing challenges to execute or commission plants on time for FY27?

See, the thing is we have been all reading and all knowing about one of the biggest challenge has been the project readiness and the power evacuation, the grid curtailment, the delays because we know that last year Government of India had planned for the evacuation network to increase by 15,000 circuit kilometers, against this the actual which happened was only 9,500 circuit kilometers. Those challenges we see that, but otherwise we are insulated, because the challenges are whether the land availability or whether the connectivity.

We have that 100% of that, then only we start the work. We don't see, of course, RE projects execution, day-to-day issues of right-of-way and others is something which is part of the project, which is planned and nothing unexpected.

We don't see any challenges, and with large significant portion of our capacity at advanced stage of commissioning, we are confident at this time that definitely 3 GW of capacity addition will happen without any challenge.

Understood. The second question is, are we seeing any increase in cost or supply chain disruptions due to the West Asia conflict and impact on our IRR?

Is there any impact?

See, one thing I like to say that if we talk of whatever the commodity cycle price increases we have seen in general, and the currency impact on import-related components. For wind, as I have maintained earlier, that we signed a fixed-price contract for 2.4 GW of wind turbine supply from Sany Wind, China, which is fixed in terms of the pricing and fixed in terms of the currency also, which we did in around April March-April 2024, we signed that contract.

That contract supplies have recently started. We are insulated from that for maybe next at least 1.5 years on wind side, there is no impact to us.

Of course, minor impacts on the domestic purchases, if the steel prices goes up, the tower cost goes up, because that is all steel, but that is a very cyclic industry, steel, we time our buying, bulk buying, accordingly when that is the best suited for us. We are largely not impacted.

Even if there is a small impact, with the commissioning of our blade plant in India, that will further help us because of the huge reduction in the logistics costs, both in terms of the ocean freight from China and also the local logistics cost. All those things put together, we remain insulated from any cost impact for next 1.5 to 2 years.

On solar front, with what we have been seeing, the increase in solar cell prices, the currency impact because of the cell imports from China, I'd like to say that even if the ALMM comes for solar cells also, for all PPAs what we are executing next two 2.5 years is all before the date on which we are allowed as per the rule regulation the rule that the cell imports from China will continue. To large extent, we are insulated.

Of course, steel also is a cost, some portion of the cost on this. The same as we are doing for wind tower steel purchase, we are timing our purchase to have a minimal impact on our solar projects, and our benchmark return IRRs of mid-teen IRRs, that remains protected.

Understood. Thanks for elaborate answers.

Just a last question. At the industry level, is there any update on the unsigned PPAs at the country level?

Are things moving in that case?

No, right now, we are not seeing, because there are enough PPAs which are signed, and which are to be executed for next two to three years' time, and with the evacuation challenges which are there, which are going to ease out only by 2029, not before that, we are not seeing any significant movement on the signing of the PPAs for the unsigned capacities. Status remains as it is what it was last time when we met.

Understood. Just a last, if I could squeeze in, what is the BESS pack prices right now, and does it impact our project execution?

Just the last one.

Can you repeat the question?

BESS pack prices like the capex for a BESS project.

See, the thing is ki when we are insulating, definitely we have seen that there have been price increases which have happened, but as I told you that we have been able to optimize our costs by starting the assembly plant within our facilities under JSW. Whatever impact on cell pack prices are, we remain much more competitive as compared to this imports which are coming, with our facility commissioned in Pune.

What would be the pack price right now, sir?

It is varying. Again, if you are at Tier 1, Tier 2, very difficult to give a number.

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 suppliers, whether it is a 3-year warranty, whether it's a 5-year warranty, it depends. Very difficult to give a specific number.

Understood, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. I will get back in the queue.

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

Sir, just sort of delving deeper into this 5 GWh best cell-to-pack assembly plant that we have operationalized. Can you provide some color on how are you thinking about the margin profile of this business, how much should be the revenue contribution that we start building in our models, and have we built any order book?

Yeah. See, the thing is that this is in a ramp-up stage, and will be taking care of my own captive requirements as well as, because once this capacity ramp-up and stabilization takes its own time, maybe going forward, definitely the in-house requirement as well as the outside market.

We will be definitely looking for outside market. We have got some order, but right now, the testing of the projects are going on, and the necessary approvals, which we expect very soon, and then we'll be going into the marketplace.

Then only we will be in a position to come out with what is the revenue and the financial numbers on this. Maybe next time, we will definitely like to share on that.

Okay. Sir, where are we importing our cells from, and which manufacturer in China?

There are multiple. There are multiple, but definitely we are concentrating only on Tier 1 suppliers definitely, and we will be importing from them only.

Okay. Sir, on the renewable capacity addition target for FY28, if you can provide some guidance over there.

See, as we have said that we have to reach 30 GW by FY30. If we add maybe 3 GW this year, maybe 3 GWh approximately from the RE front, you can say maybe about 3, 3.5 GW, something is the number which definitely will continue to add.

Sir, we would expect a sharp uptick in capacity addition in '29 and '30, FY29 and FY30?

Yes, because what will happen is during this Yeah, yes. Beyond FY27, it is the thermal capacity also will contribute, which is the KSK 1.8 GW, 1,800, and also by FY30, partial capacity of Salboni also commissioning is planned.

All those things put together, thermal will also be a capacity which will be added in this.

Fair enough. Thank you so much, sir.

I'll get back in the queue.

Yes, thank you, ma'am. I joined the call a bit late.

Apologies if any questions are repeated. On Mytrah, what's the reason for the increase in EBITDA this quarter on a YoY basis?

Yes,

Prabhakaran. Mytrah, actually there is a one-off this quarter.

You must have also been read in the Supreme Court gave an order on the generation-based incentive, right? That is the increase which you have been able to see.

What is this number?

It is ₹0.50 per unit is what the generation-based incentive, and it is in excess of ₹200 crores.

Yeah, ₹210 crores, yeah.

This is a one-off. This includes certain past recoveries as well?

That's right, yes,

yes. For now going forward, which was not being given, every year we'll be getting the generation-based incentive based on this order, which was not being given earlier.

Got that. Got that.

For your commissioned wind and solar portfolio, which is almost 6 GW, what would be the annual steady-state EBITDA?

Just a minute. You see, you can say that almost ₹75 lakhs per megawatt is what you can take as the steady-state EBITDA for full-year capacity available.

Understood. Understood.

Just to understand on KSK, if I recollect, I think next year there's supposed to be a slight drop-off in the tariff at that UPPCL. This year we've obviously done a fairly good amount of EBITDA, but how does that move heading into FY27 and '28?

See, we have to remember two things. One is that in FY25 March, when we acquired, the full-year EBITDA that plant made from the operations was around ₹2,650 crores.

Against that, we have made almost in excess of ₹3,300 crores this year. Of course, lot of efficiency improvements in terms of the cost efficiencies improvement what we have done is one which will continue.

Of course, there will be some impact because of the tariff reduction from UP, but a part of this will be compensated by maybe two, three steps what we have taken. One is that after the acquisition of our the rail and water SPVs, especially the rail one, the efficiency improvements and the cost reduction there also is going to contribute to.

Second is, in terms of the fuel allocation which we have optimized by sourcing majority of the fuel from the mine which are closest to our plant and replacing the fuel which was coming off from far-off places. The fuel logistic cost reduction is one of the main drivers.

Efficiency improvement during the last year. What during the year we did, lot of steps we took in terms of operation and maintenance cost reduction.

Those steps which have were taken during the year will also give us full-year benefit in the current year, will help us to mitigate the reduction in the margins because of the UP PPA. Definitely it will continue to perform perform significantly better than what it was in FY25.

Aniket, if I have to add, this is Vikas here. If I have to add, we've always said that please consider a steady-state EBITDA of 2,700.

The idea also is that please assume that. A good year is what we are highlighting

and

the reasons for what we are highlighting. Viewing this following trajectory, we had said that please assume 2,700 as our base-case EBITDA.

With the steps we are taking, we are confident that we will be delivering better than the steady-state EBITDA what Vikas just said of ₹2,700 crores, we can say.

That is that is helpful. I just had one last question.

When I look at the standalone entity, the overall debt over there is almost ₹15,000 crores there. A lot of holdco debt coming over there.

Just to understand, how this is panning out from a maturity point? What's the maturity profile over here?

What's the average interest rates at the holdco level? See,

at the holdco level, basically out of this, some of them are kind of the short term, because some of the acquisitions that we have done, right, in terms of the KSK, rail and all, these are kind of some of them are temporary this one. Once we take over these assets, we'll kind of refinance it through the major entity or the actual entity which we do.

In terms of you look at it from an overall perspective, I think all of them are close to more than kind of three years, except for about close to ₹4,500 crores, which is in the form of short term, the others are all long term.

What would be the average interest rates right now at the holdco level for this debt?

Holdco level, we are at about close to 8 8 8.2 is what we'll have, but as a whole consolidated, we are at about 8.36.

See, Aniket, to add to what we just said, we would like to have a project finance-based financing, which means that from maturity, the maturity as long as possible for borrowing. Now, holdco level, like he mentioned, is obviously short tenor, and for us, the overall cost of debt is about 8.36 including working capital, right?

What we are saying is that obviously this short-tenor borrowings are there, and they will be obviously at a lower cost, but overall, if you look at the interest rate trajectory, it is come lower.

Understood. Those were my questions here.

Thank you.

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I had two questions.

Number one was any plans to set up a merchant battery energy storage plant?

See, right now, we are in the process of executing the battery energy projects for which we have signed the PPA. Going forward, wherever we have the solar capacity, and keeping in mind how the evening peak demand shapes up, we definitely keep exploring.

Immediately, in the current year, if you ask, we will be focusing on our projects under the PPA. Going forward, we will keep exploring that merchant option for especially where we have the connectivity, we have the solar plants, coupling the same connectivity for the evening peaks is one option which the team is working on.

We keep evaluating.

Understood. What I understand from your peers is some of them are preponing the battery plant part of a PPA to use it in the merchant in the interim till the PPA starts.

Would you have any such plans like that to prepone your battery before the solar or?

See, when I compare with what others are doing, see, if you see that we don't have any merchant or open capacity in our solar portfolio. All is tied up, whatever is commissioned and what we are doing is also.

Today, we see that there are curtailments happening for especially the capacities which are open, untied, merchant capacities in solar are facing a very high curtailment is what we are seeing. That is where it's a sunk cost as per me.

Putting a battery, using that power which is getting curtailed, charging the battery, and using the evening peak option is something maybe others may be thinking on. I feel that this curtailment issue is a matter of three to four years.

Whether for a long term I can do the investment on the basis of this principle somehow doesn't fall in our scheme of things, because we look for at least a battery life of 12 years, and based on that, if the returns are protected, is a better option rather than going immediately only temporarily for us. For us, it will be because we don't have any open capacities in solar, we are evaluating by setting up charging the batteries by solar in evening peak, once that model is financially definitely giving my benchmark returns, then only we'll be moving ahead.

Understood. Appreciate your response.

The other question I had was on the DSM regulation. In case it is implemented as per the CERC document says, and given you have a good quantum of wind as well in your portfolio, what is the impact you envisage on your financials?

See, with the this new DSM regulations, we expect a total impact, which we have budgeted in our plan, is between 1.5% to 2%.

Just to clarify, 1.5% to 2% of revenues of the renewable assets? Yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Which was not zero, mind it.

It was not zero earlier also. It will move up to 1.5% to 2%.

It used to be there today also, but now it will be slightly more.

Got it. Would be fair to assume as that x-factor in the DSM rule changes by 2030, this number goes up further?

See, the thing is now when it is known that this is going to happen, everyone now is going to be designing the project, building the project, the tariff biddings, everything the discovery will be accordingly. That is definite.

Yes, whatever the tariffs have already been discovered, the projects being executed, definitely this is going to impact. There are options and tools available to minimize this.

One of the things which is being talked of is that at a particular substation, grouping all the maybe other producers who are in the same substation at a group level to do the settlement rather than individually. Because someone may be at a particular moment excess, someone may be down.

It is more from the grid point of view this is being done, grid stability. We are absolutely certain industry has made the representation.

At a group level, this will be assessed, not at an individual level, is what we are confident of.

Got it. Appreciate your answers.

Those were my questions. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Sir, just two questions. One, these Andhra generation-based incentives, is that included in other income?

That's my first question.

Yes,

Prabhakaran. I think certain of it is part of revenue.

I think you can say about ₹100 ₹100 crores, one is part of revenue, the other ₹100 is part of other

income. Okay.

I think there are some other reasons for that, okay. Yes,

yes.

That is one. Second, on the deferred tax asset, if you can give us some clarity.

I think we've seen in the past also one of the quarters, and going forward also, could there be more such asset creation?

I think the deferred tax asset is primarily on account of two things. One is that if you see that Utkal, where actually we had certain unabsorbed depreciation and business losses which were there.

Now, with the PPAs being signed for the entire capacity, there is visibility in terms of recoverability of this tax losses. That is why this year when we signed the PPA, and we said that we'll be able to kind of recognize this deferred tax.

This is a one-off. I think mostly in both Utkal is the major one, the second one is in the KSK.

The second one is in terms of because everyone will kind of transition to the new tax regime. The current tax would be similar to what it was like 17% to 18% because you will have to adjust 25% of their MAT credit available.

I think going forward, that'll be the this one. I think we'll be inching close to the effective tax rate of 23%, 24% basically going forward.

Okay. That's it for me.

Thank you so much.

Hi, thank you. The first question is on the RE commissioning.

You talked about 3 GW this year. How much would be CTU, how much would be STU?

Generally, are you seeing maybe faster commissioning for STU versus CTU, and do you expect any changes there this year?

See, whatever we are commissioning, it's a mix again of CTU and STU, and also the C&I customers also under the group captive. Connectivity is available for whatever we have 3 GW we are planning, whether it is STU or CTU.

It doesn't make any difference whether it is STU or STU, which one will happen earlier. As I said that this time, as compared to the previous year, in H1 we'll be seeing almost close to 50% of the capacity coming up, which means that the project is at an advanced stage, connectivity is available, this doesn't make any difference whether it is a CTU and STU.

It's a mix of CTU and STU projects. Also, as I told you, group captive also.

Secondly, just on the return profile for RE, I'm sorry if I missed it, what kind of curtailment do you build in the projects when you bid for a project for long term? When you mentioned DSM, just clarifying, you mentioned about 2% revenue hit, is that fact x is equal to 0 and is it assuming grouping at the substation, or is it without grouping at the substation?

See, one thing is curtailment, I will just like to bifurcate into two. One is that a significant portion of our capacity is under group captive, which is off-grid.

I'm insulated from the curtailment on those capacities, which are almost a gigawatt of capacity which is operational, and further we are going to add in the current year also. Next two year, three years, we'll be continuing to add off-grid group captive capacities.

There we are insulated from this DSM regulations. In addition to that, next question?

The question is when you calculate DSM, when you said

Yeah,

that 2%, 2.5% of revenue hit, is that when you consider x is equal to 0 and assuming grouping, or this is without grouping at the substation?

Satyadeep, Vikas here. Sorry, I intervened.

What we were saying is that is the worst-case scenario that you've been seeing, considering what has been announced as of now.

If there is grouping,

obviously everyone benefits and we benefit out of it.

What we see is not as 2%, 2.5% what we said, it is 1.5% to 2% is what I said. Also, it is not zero today that we don't have to make it from zero to 1.5%.

There is some which is there also. It has become stricter now.

It is without grouping is what I have said. After that, we expect that things can improve with grouping.

This will reduce.

Fair enough. Just one more if I can squeeze on pump storage.

You mentioned 2030 for one and 2031 for another. Do you expect groundbreaking this year?

Then what is a typical construction timeline you're looking at for these PSP projects?

See, normally pumped storage projects we see that from the zero day, maybe 36 months. As I told maybe in my opening remarks, we have got the Forest stage-1 clearance just two days back, and work in the non-forest area has already started, the contracts have been awarded, the electromechanical ordering has already been placed, we are confident that that will be in time.

This will be 36 months, you can say.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, sir. Is it possible to give any color on our merchant realizations in April and May so far?

Yeah.

See, Mohit, as we have been saying that normally in the merchant when we sell our open capacity, normally it is through bilateral contracts. I can say whatever merchant tariffs are being discovered in the market, we will definitely maintain at least minimum 20% premium, and we are continuing with that.

What we have demonstrated last year also, overall discovered price, we are more than 5% 20% premium, we are continuing to sell even in the current quarter.

Sir. Sir, and are there any risks to the performance of our hydel portfolio due to possible El Niño and heat waves?

No, we don't see that. Reason is that if you see when the temperature increases, right now when we have been seeing onset of summers and the temperature increasing, we are seeing because snow melting was slightly lower last year, but now with the good snow melting, the river flow is better, and with the power what is required, even if there is and past also data clearly shows that even if there is a 6%, 7%, 8% below normal monsoons, the water flow required to run at full capacity and to go as per the design energy is sufficient.

We have reviewed and we have evaluated this, and we are absolutely certain that we don't see any significant impact on our hydro operations because of this weather impact.

Just to add, there are broadly two ways. One is obviously snowmelt, the other is rainfall.

Like sir was saying that last time, the rainfall was there, this time there will be snowmelt if there is, like you said, going to be higher heat. Therefore, for run-of-the-river, it's not a concern, and this we've highlighted earlier as well, and we reiterate the same.

Yeah. Understood, sir.

Thank you so much, and wish you all the best.

Sir, will it be possible to at least qualitatively share how much of KSK's ₹930 odd crore EBITDA was due to merchant in the quarter? Merchant,

what we'll see, we will maybe we'll divide and we'll come back. My IR team will definitely get back to you and will give you the number.

Okay. Sir, broadly speaking, obviously, your PAT has been helped by deferred tax creation.

There are other participants

Sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

Sir, you were talking about additions of roughly 2.5 to 3 GW per annum as I understand. If you see the pipeline for next year FY27, it consists of, other than group captive, GUVNL, then two or three tranches of SECI, and I think SJVN, if I'm not mistaken.

Do you see any kind of delays in these projects, any of these, which can happen or which the installed capacity is falling short of our targets

and

in the future as well?

See, the thing is what you have pointed out is very, very correct. We definitely see the delay in this, because we have deliberately delayed the execution and investment in these projects, because the availability of the allotted connectivity is getting delayed.

We are aligning our investment and commissioning with the commissioning of the evacuation. We don't want to invest, make the asset ready, and then wait that I'm not able to commission because of this curtailment issues and the connectivity issues.

We are particular, we are insulated from any kind of penalties or anything because of the delays, we are absolutely certain, yes.

I missed it probably earlier. Did you reduce your earlier increase of 2.5 to 3 GW per annum, or you still maintain that based on these orders that we have, which is a lot SECI heavy?

Can you repeat the question? There was a

I said the addition for this year is about 3 GW, which includes a substantial amount of SECI orders. Do you see any delay in this kind of addition for FY27, which will get postponed to next year?

No, no, we don't see at all. No, as I said earlier also, we are absolutely certain because the challenges for which the projects have been getting delayed are not there in terms of connectivity, in terms of land availability, in terms of execution, the various stages the projects are.

We are certain that the current 3 GW in the current year, we are absolutely certain that this will be there.

Just one follow-up question, sir.

sir.

Sir, just one question. What has been the impact of curtailment on our EBITDA, if you can quantify that in terms of rupees crores or something?

Yeah.

As I told in my opening remarks also, during the quarter, as I told you, the curtailment was not significant because a portion of the curtailment was under permanent grid network access connectivity, my plant was available, the power was offered, but couldn't flow, I've been getting the tariff for that. Some portion which was under temporary grid network access because of the delay in the permanent connectivity execution, there has been a loss of around ₹15 crores during the quarter and full year approximately ₹50 crores the impact.

It is in two of our assets in the state of Rajasthan, and where this evacuation capacity is getting commissioned maybe sometime in July, we expect after this, this will not be there.

Sure. Thank you.

Before I close, maybe Atul from JP Morgan asked for what was the merchant EBITDA on Mahanadi. During the quarter, the EBITDA from the merchant sale was ₹203 crores.

I just wanted to give that number. Okay?

Right. Chaliye, thank you, everyone, and thanks for being with us.

Maybe hope to meet you all very soon again. Thank you.