SJVN Limited (SJVN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to SJVN Limited Q4 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Elara Securities. [Operator Instructions] I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rupesh Sankhe from Elara Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Elara Securities, we welcome you all for the Q4 FY '26 Conference Call of SJVN. I take this opportunity to welcome the management of SJVN, represented by Mr. Bhupender Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Parthajit De, Director of Finance. So we will begin the call with a brief overview by the management followed by Q&A session. I will now hand over the call to Mr. Bhupender Gupta, sir, for opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon to all. I'm Bhupender Gupta CMD, SJVNL. I am accompanied by my Director, Personnel, Ajay Kumar Sharma; Director of Finance, Shri Parthajit De; and Director, Projects, Shri Adhikari. It gives me immense pleasure to share with you some key highlights and significant developments from the financial year '25-'26, along with the important milestones achieved during the ongoing quarter. We are delighted to highlight the strong and consistent operational and generation performance of our hydropower stations during the financial year '25-'26. Our flagship project, Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Station, 1,500 megawatts, as you all are aware, achieved a remarkable generation of 7,506 million units in FY '25-'26 as compared to 7,421 during the corresponding year -- previous year. Similarly, Rampur Hydro Power Station, which is 412 megawatt, recorded a generation of 2,108 million units as compared to 2,074 achieved in the previous year, which reflects a sustained operational excellence across our hydro portfolio. During the financial year, total generation from all our power stations stands at 13,302 million units as compared to 10,646 million units during '24-'25, which is reflecting an increase of growth of 2,656 million units, approximately 25% higher than the previous year. On the capacity addition side, during the financial year '25-'26, I'm delighted to share the following major milestone. We commissioned first unit of 660 megawatt of 1,320-megawatt Buxar Thermal Power Plant, which went for commercial operation on 14th of November 2025, marking a significant journey for SJVN in the thermal power sector. I'm also pleased to inform that Unit-2 of the project is successfully synchronized with the national grid on 8th of May 2026, and its commercial operation is expected to be achieved by the end of this month. Our Buxar power plant, when it will be commissioned fully, will generate about 9,828 million units annually, of which 85% shall be supplied to the state of Bihar, contributing substantially to meeting the region's growing power demand and strengthening SJVN's position in the thermal power sector. During the year, we also commissioned 1,000-megawatt Bikaner Solar Power Project on December 24, 2025, which significantly -- which has significantly enhanced SJVN's renewable energy portfolio. This project is located in Bikaner District of the Rajasthan and well under the CPSU scheme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Government of India. During this year, we had commissioned another solar project in Dhubri, Assam, and it was commissioned on 5th of February 2026. This project was inaugurated by Honorable CM of the Assam. The project is expected to generate around 141 million units annually, and it will be supplied to Assam Power Distribution Company at a tariff of INR 3.92 per unit. With these additions in operating assets, SJVNL achieved a total capacity addition of 1,730 megawatts during '25-'26, comprising of 1,070 solar and 660 megawatt of thermal. With this, the total installed capacity of SJVNL stands at 4,196 megawatt. In addition to major capacity addition achieved during the year, SJVNL has also made significant progress in expansion initiatives, renewable energy development and project execution. During FY '25-'26, SJVNL awarded 850-megawatt solar projects in Gujarat on 16th of October 2025, further reinforcing the company's expanding footprint in the renewable energy sector. As a renewable energy implement agency, SJVNL has awarded 16 gigawatt renewable energy projects across solar, wind, hybrid and storage segments. During '25-'26 alone, SJVNL awarded 4 gigawatt capacity and signed power sale agreement of approximately 2,177 megawatt. SJVNL as a bid implementing agency for battery energy storage system has successfully awarded 2,000 megawatt hour [ best ] projects across Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. With regard to progress of SJVN hydro projects, significant advancement has been achieved in 69.5-megawatt Dhaulasidh hydro projects, which is targeted for commissioning by March 2027. Considerable progress has also been achieved in the execution of 900-megawatt Arun-3 hydro project in Nepal, including achievement of critical electromechanical equipment and transmission logistics milestones. To provide a brief overview of our current project portfolio, presently, SJVNL has 15 operational projects with a combined capacity of 4,196.5 megawatts, along with 2 transmission lines. We are currently constructing 4 hydro projects with a total capacity of 1,561.5; second unit of Buxar Thermal Power Plant, 660; and 10 solar projects totaling 1,705 megawatts. This brings our total under construction portfolio to 3,926.5 megawatts. I am pleased to share that SJVNL received the prestigious SCOPE Eminence Award in HR management from Honorable President, Shrivati Droupadi Murmu on 29th of August 2025 for its progressive employee-centric HR practices. Now I'm going to share with you the quarterly and yearly set of numbers along with detailed analysis. SJVNL Board has adopted the annual financial results for the year ending 31st March 2026 in its meeting held on 15th of May 2026, and same has already been communicated to the exchanges. As per these results, revenue from the operation in FY '26 increased by INR 648 crores from INR 2,897 crores to INR 3,545 crores, registering a growth of around 22% year-on-year. The increase was primarily driven by recognition of earlier year sales amounting to INR 679 crores pursuant to truing up tariff orders for the tariff period 2019 to 2024 in respect of Nathpa Jhakri and Rampur Hydro Power Station, along with provisional tariff order for the tariff period '24-'29 in respect of Rampur Hydro Power Station. Revenue from operation for the fourth quarter of FY '26 increased by INR 488 crores from INR 446 crores in FY '25 and to INR 2,934 crores in FY '26, registering a growth of around 109% year-on-year. During FY '26, other income is INR 325 crores as against INR 355 crores for FY '25, which is about 8% lower, mainly due to decrease in late payment surcharge due to better realization of trade receivables and interest from bank. During quarter 4 of FY '26, other income is INR 114 crores as against INR 127 crores, which is about 10% lower, mainly due to the decrease in interest from the bank. On the expenditure front, during FY '26, the employee benefit expenses have decreased marginally by INR 5 crores. Then during FY '26, there has been increase in finance cost by INR 184 crores, from INR 726 crores to INR 910 crores, which is mainly due to increase in exchange rate variation during the year by INR 206 crores. During FY '26, the depreciation, amortization and impairment expenses have gone up by INR 178 crores from INR 450 crores to INR 632 crores, which is mainly due to recognition of impairment losses amounting to INR 174 crores during the year as per AS 36. During quarter 4 FY '26, the depreciation and amortization expenses have gone up by INR 182 crores, from INR 108 crores to INR 290 crores, which is mainly due to recognition of impairment losses amounting to INR 174 crores during the quarter in AS 36. During FY '26, other expenses have increased marginally by INR 2 crores. During FY '26, tax expenses have gone up by INR 256 crores from INR 313 crores to INR 569 crores. This is mainly attributable to higher profit before tax and increased utilization of MAT credit consequent upon discontinuation of reduction under Section 81a of the Income Tax Act 1961 on completion of eligible block of 10 consecutive assessment years of Rampur Hydro Power Station and KWPP. During FY '26, our profit after tax is INR 1,008 crores as against INR 970 crores in FY '25, which is an increase of INR 38 crores, that is approximately 4% and the reasons in the lines as have been just discussed. We have earned PAT of INR 125 crores as against INR 31 crores of corresponding previous period, which is up by INR 944 crores for 308% approximately for the quarter FY '26. During FY '26, the incentive position are as under. Secondary energy, there is an increase of 20%. Then PAF, it's minus 23% and the division charges are minus 3%. During quarter 4 FY '26, the incentive positions are under. Secondary energy, there is an increase of 16%. The PAF-based incentive is minus 40% and deviation charges are 0%. The trade receivables, which is very important for us as a generating company as on 31st March '26 stands at INR 1,299 crores as against INR 262 crores on 31st March '25. This includes INR 906 crores as unbilled debtors as on 31st March '26 as against INR 136 crores as on 31st March '25. Unbilled revenue includes an amount of INR 776 crores on account of tariff order received in the last week of March 2026 in respect of Nathpa Jhakri and Rampur Hydro Power Station. Billing of the same has been done in the FY '26, '27. Unbilled revenue also includes INR 130 crores in respect of sales of power for the month of March, billing of the same has been done in April '26. The Board of Directors have recommended the payment of final dividend at the rate of 3.5%, that is INR 0.35 per equity share in addition to interim dividend at a rate of 11.5%, that is INR 1.15 per equity share, resulting into total dividend at the rate of 15%, INR 1.5 per equity share on the face value of paid equity share of INR 10 each for financial year '25, '26. So this is all from my side, and thank you for the patient listening. Now the forum is open for question and answers.

[Operator Instructions] We have the first question from Mr. Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities.

My first question is on the losses at the consol level. Can you please explain what is -- why there's a loss on the consol level? Is it due to the fact that the -- you have started booking the revenue for the new power plant and -- which is at a much lower PAF and maybe much lower tariff because the final tariff order is still to come? Is that the right understanding?

The losses were in SGL, We had a loss of around INR 257 crores. And in Buxar Thermal, that is STPL, we had a loss of around INR 92 crores. Buxar, as you know, has been operational for around 3 months in the last year. And it was -- it has started operating at a PLF of around 60%. Once this PLF goes up to around 70% plus, this plant will start bringing in a profit. And as far as SGL is concerned, this -- as you know, solar is a cyclical industry. And this year, we have slightly lower CUF on some of our plants, commissioned plants plus Bikaner Solar, that is the flagship plant for this SGEL, that has also started operating in December 2025. So, that plant is yet to come up to its full capacity, which we will be seeing in our current '26, '27 financial year. But since these plants have already been commissioned, finance cost and depreciation are already being charged to the profit and loss account. So that's the major reason that these plants have shown a loss for this year. And this is going to be improved -- this will increase -- improve substantially in '26, '27.

Is it possible to share the plant availability factor for SGEL and Buxar for the quarter and the year?

Like I said, it is 60% PLF.

PAF, sir? Plant availability?

Plant availability was around 60 -- 30%.

20%.

All the details would be there in the investor presentation, which we are going to upload by Monday. So you'll have all the details regarding the operational aspects of our different plants, SJVNL as well as the subsidiary companies. And if you have any further queries, you can reach out to us.

Understood, sir. And sir, what about the SGEL revenues, EBITDA and PAT for the FY '26, if you can share that number for the full fiscal?

SGL P&L figure?

Revenue, EBITDA and PAT for the entire fiscal FY '26.

For this year, the revenue of SGEL was INR 510 crores against INR 232 crores in the last year and expenses were INR 802 crores against INR 415 crores in the last year. That translates to a loss of 258 in this year as compared to 151 in the last year.

And how do you see the new capacity addition in FY '27 and FY '28 for SGEL and the hydropower plant and especially Nepal, what is the progress?

If you see that capacity addition for '26, '27, there will be capacity addition of Buxar Thermal Power Plant, 660 megawatts thermal. Then we are going to commission 69.5 megawatts of Dhaulasidh Hydro Electric Project in March '27, all -- both the units. And there will be addition of around 1,555 megawatts of solar capacity by March '27. They are getting commissioned at various dates starting from May '26 to March '27.

And anything on FY '28, sir? Any guidance?

'28 also, we are -- we have a plan to add capacity around 650 megawatts. This is again mainly due to the solar projects only because our hydro projects are under construction. So we have a scheduled date of commissioning starting from FY '29 to FY '30. So 650 megawatt of solar will be added in FY '27 -- '28, in fact.

And sir, what is the progress on the Nepal hydropower project? Where it is right now? When are you expecting the commissioning?

Yes. Nepal hydro project is also in very advanced stage. We were having some issue with the dam. Some geological surprises were there on the dam right bank. So those have been tackled now, and there is a minimum time required to stabilize that area. So that is already in progress. And you know that there were a lot of uncertainty in the Nepal government side. So some of the approvals were pending on, but those are now okay. We are progressing well, and we have a plan to commission the entire plant, all the 4 units by December 28.

December 28, FY '29.

The next question is from Ragini Pande from Elara Capital.

Yes. So I have a few questions on Buxar plant. So post commissioning of Buxar, what is the regulated equity for you right now?

Regulated equity as we have only capitalized the Unit-1. And as on date, the equity is around INR 4,000 crores to INR 2,000 crores is regulated equity for Unit-1. And once we commission both the units, the regulatory for Buxar would be around INR 4,000 crores.

The capitalized cost of Unit-1 is around INR 7,000 crores. So like my colleague said, that translates to a regulated equity of around INR 2,100 crores for Unit-1.

And can you just repeat your generation from Unit-1 of Buxar and the revenue contribution and the profitability or losses which you mentioned for Buxar? If you can just repeat that.

STPL, that's Buxar Unit-1, that earned a revenue of around INR 522 crores in this year, in the last 3 months and the total expenses were around INR 644 crores. So post tax, that turns to a total comprehensive income of around minus INR 93 crores.

And what is the design energy for Buxar?

Design energy is 9,800 million units.

For the full plant.