Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (NSE: ADANIENSOL) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 23, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Vijil Jain — Head of Investor Relations
Kandarp Patel — Chief Executive Officer
Kunjal Mehta — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Mohit Kumar — Analyst
Puneet Gulati — Analyst
Gaurav Nigam — Analyst
Sumit Kishore — Analyst
Manish Somaiya — Analyst
Prateek Chitalia — Analyst
Vishal Periwal — Analyst
Vishal Biraia — Analyst
Shirom Kapur — Analyst
Anuj Upadhyay — Analyst
Prateek Dugar — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Q3 and 9M F526 earnings conference call of Adani Energy Solutions Limited from the AESL side we have the following on the call as main speakers. Mr. Kandar Patel, CEO AESL Mr. Kunjal Mehta, CFO AESL Mr. Kapil Sharma, Business Head, Transmission Mr. Pushpendra Zala, Business Head, Smart Metering Mr. Bhaskar Sarkar, Business Head, Cooling Solutions Mr. Vijal Jain, Head, IR AESL 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 pressing Star then zero on your touchstone phone.
Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vigil Jain from AESL. Thank you. And over to you Mr. Jain.
Vijil Jain — Head of Investor Relations
Sure. Thanks Renju. Just to add, we also have Mr. Kapil Sharma, the business head for transmission business also with us. So thank you for. I mean thank you everyone for attending the call. Good day and warm welcome to the quarter three earnings call. So I just hope you got a chance to go through the earnings material which we uploaded on the website and the exchange and just to very quickly, you know, explain the flow of the call. So we will start with an opening statement from the CEO followed by Q and A and then a closing remark from the cfo.
Let me now hand over the call to KP sir for opening remarks. Thank you.
Kandarp Patel — Chief Executive Officer
Thank you all investors and analyst friends for joining this call. These are very exciting times for aesl. We have now delivered another strong performance in the last quarter. The adjusted PAT growth. If we take into account the one time impact of deferred tax of 185 crore last year in quarter three the adjusted PAT growth is 30%. Not only in financial terms but in other CAPEX performance as well as Opex Performance Company has done significantly well. In the first nine months we have commissioned three transmission projects. NKTL Khawra Phase 2 Part A and Kavra Pulling station and Sangod transmission project.
In coming months we are on track to commission another three projects. One of them is landmark HVDC project where almost the entire project work is completed. The testing and commissioning is going on. The other projects that will get commissioned soon are Khawra Phase 3A which is Halwat project and WRSR project. Besides the commissioning of a good number of projects in coming time we have also won another HVDC project which is KPS 3 Kavada South Holpal project. Now with this another HVDC project, our project pipeline has reached to about 78,000 crore. On a smart metering side we have been doing in line with what we anticipated and projected.
So in the current quarter we have installed meters close to 19 lakhs. And now we have reached to about aggregate meter installed count of about 92 lakhs. And by the time we close this year we will certainly cross 1 crore meter installation. On capital management side as well. You must have noted that Modi has revised rating and improved from negative to stable for two of our subsidiaries Adani Transmission Staple limited and Adani Energy Adani Electricity Mumbai. As far as operational performance is concerned, we continue to have excellent availability which is over 99.7 percentage and which has resulted to incentive income of 33 crore as well.
As far as distribution is concerned, because of weather in this year the sale has not grown as compared to the last year. But on operational front we continue to do excellent work. Now TND losses are around 4 percentage. To be precise it is 4.03 percentage which is significant achievement. Looking to the fact that we continue to improve this particular parameter. As far as consumer services and other things are going, we have been doing fairly well there. In fact the collection remains close to more than in fact 100 percentage collection efficiency. And we have been now collecting more than 85% of payment through E payments.
We already talked about smart meter where we have already installed 19 lakh meter and reached close to 93 lakh installation. The pipeline also remains strong. So about 100 million meters are yet to be built out. We expect to take on continue to maintain our market share and we will add that pipeline in the middle business as well as for a C and I business there are a lot of activity going on and in fact we feel that this is going to be one of the major growth driver. Besides transmission and smart metering. We have now reached to aggregate load of about 700 megawatts serving about 14 consumers.
That was at the end of December. The current count is 31 consumer and load of about 1300 megawatts. So we are rapidly growing there and you will see a lot of action on C and I front. As far as cooling business is concerned. We continue to create that market for cooling business. You are aware that we are already putting up India’s largest district cooling facility of 40,000 metric tons of refrigeration at Bundra. As far as financial is concerned, you must have noted those numbers. Income has grown by 16 percentage and consolidated EBITDA has also now reached to 2,200 quarterly which which is growth of 21 percentage.
The consolidated PPT has also rose by 43 percentage which is and has reached to 800 crore level. Now what is most important thing that is going to happen that as far as transmission and smart metering and C and I business is concerned there is a strong pipeline and opportunity pool available in the market. So we’ll continue to add that. But at the same time the kind of effort that we are putting in execution. You have seen that result in smart metering side. In next year we expect to add massive capitalization in transmission as well. And with those in fact we are poised to add about seven projects in next financial year.
Capitalized seven projects which will. The gross block of those projects will be close to about 24,25,000 crore. And that will give a massive jump to the EBITDA and profitability of the company. So I think that this is very exciting time for AESL and we look forward to hearing from all of you from time to time. Kunjal, over to you.
Kunjal Mehta — Chief Financial Officer
So with these remarks I now request any questions that anyone would have happy to take questions from the investors.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star n1 on your touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press STAR and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Mohit Kumar with ICICI Securities. Please go. Where?
Mohit Kumar
Yes, good morning sir and thanks for the opportunity. My questions are more on the industry side. Of course. We haven’t seen too much of attrition in the Smart meter order book, right? I think whatever we have won was from last year. Do you think in the next 12 to 18 months, do you think that there will be some more opportunity for the Smart Meter for the Smart meter side.
Kandarp Patel
So Mohit, thank you so much as always. You are the opening bestman as far as smart meter bidding is concerned. There are few states where bidding is yet to happen or yet to conclude. One is Tamil Nadu. That bidding happened. But I think they will reinvite the bid. But there are few other states like Karnataka, Telangana. They initially were not got that DPR approved under rdss. I believe those states have now filed the DPR with MOP and on receipt of that approval they will also come out with bidding. So we expect that significant action. We Will see in smart metering bidding in next couple of quarters.
Mohit Kumar
Understood. Along the transmissions of course we have done phenomenally well in this fiscal. I think we added I think 40 50,000 crore worth of new. New transmission. New transmission projects. My question is more about the future. How do you think about the next 12 to 18 months? It seems like the transmission bits have slowed down. Do you think in opinion that we can do at least 60 70,000 core additional bidding in the next 12 months.
Kandarp Patel
So Mohit, the project that has been approved by NCT and those state various state STU. If you add all those project it crosses 1 lakh crore bidding opportunity. Conservatively we think that bidding for at least 70 80,000 crore will happen in next 12 months.
Mohit Kumar
The last question on my side. So why this HVDC line is. We were thinking about, we were guided earlier that it will get commission in the Q2. It hasn’t happened. And what is the new tentative commissioning date?
Kandarp Patel
So all the work is completed there. Testing and commissioning is going on. So we expect that to get Commission in another 30 to 45 days.
Mohit Kumar
Anything which caused the delay sir, anything?
Kandarp Patel
So the delay was. So there were two major HDD that we had to do on that Wasai Creek and there were some working permission related issue. The because of which it got delayed. And There is also 4 km of stretch of cabling that is to be done in array colony there we took little more time because that rain get prolonged. And we have to make very very focused effort there that while we do that cabling work we don’t damage any ecosystem. And because of that prolonged rain in Mumbai it got little late. Both the terminal are ready now.
Now the terminal testing and commissions are going on and and the last patch of cabling all is also getting ready.
Mohit Kumar
Understood sir. Thank you and all the best. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes on the line of Puneet Gulati with hsbc. Please comment.
Puneet Gulati
Yeah. Thank you so much. My first question is on your KPS 3 HPDC what is the cost that you’re now penciling for this Kavra Alpad project?
Kandarp Patel
Project cost?
Puneet Gulati
Yeah.
Kandarp Patel
That will be about close to 19,000 crore.
Puneet Gulati
And on the Bhadla Fatehpur HVDC what is the stage of execution there?
Kandarp Patel
So the all the contracts have been awarded. Entire route survey has been done. The necessary application for forest and wildlife has also been submitted. In fact environment clear. This forest clearance for Rajasthan portion has in fact progress significantly. And PSC1 committee has already given approval. Construction at Badla site has already begun. Most of the basic Engineering has been done and now you will see a lot of progress in terms of execution on the ground. So all the preparatory work has been completed. We are finding some challenges in land acquisition for Fatehpur, but we expect to complete that also in one month’s time.
So significant work has been done there. More than 200 acre has already been acquired.
Puneet Gulati
It’s still due in August, by July 29th. Right. So land acquisition challenges can still be surpassed. And can you still do it by July 29th or you think it could be delayed?
Kandarp Patel
Easily. Easily, yeah. Yeah. So because the entire engineering and other thing has been done, the contract is also in place. So we will now very soon mobilize the resources and we’ll start construction there.
Puneet Gulati
And you have four projects due for completion this calendar year, right? Kavla four, Jamnagar, Navinal and Pune three. Are these all four on track?
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. So Navinal got little delayed because the. The issuance of transmission license from CERC got delayed where we already commenced the work. And foundation for half of the line has been done. But in absence of that license, we were not getting 164 approval. Now we will get that, but given the progress, even though it is late from original schedule, but we expect it to complete it in a current year. As far as Jamnagar project is concerned, there we are acquiring their substation land, which is government land. So that process is going on. And we already started working on the transmission line.
Those row order under government policy is under process. And we expect those orders to come out in one month to one and a half months for the entire region. And with those orders, we’ll start coming the execution work as well. But Jamnagar project has also as of now is delayed by one to one and a half month as compared to the original schedule. But we’ll catch up once we have these government approvals.
Puneet Gulati
Okay. And can you give me the revised timeline for all these four if you can.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. So hvds, you are talking of Jamnagar and Navinam.
Puneet Gulati
Yeah, The. The four due this year, Right. So Kavra four is also due, I guess. Right?
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. Yeah. Jam Nagar and Navinal both will get complete in last quarter of this year.
Puneet Gulati
Okay.
Kandarp Patel
K4A will be one. One element will be in the second quarter. One another element will be in third quarter.
Puneet Gulati
Okay. And. In the first quarter. And the Pune 3, that’s also due for this year, right?
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. Pune 3 also will be in the last quarter.
Puneet Gulati
Last quarter of this calendar year.
Kandarp Patel
Next calendar next year.
Puneet Gulati
So. Okay. 27.
Kandarp Patel
Next year. Next financial Year, not calendar year.
Puneet Gulati
Oh, next financial year. Okay, so more like Feb. March. Okay, thank you so much. And lastly, I’ve been noticing your smart metal execution has picked up anything that has changed from policy support side or anything that you are doing to pick up pace there.
Kandarp Patel
So we have been making all those effort in picking up that execution rate. So we are, we are installing about 25,000 meters a day. We keep on getting those challenges in the ground. But now having installed so much of meter and with this kind of exposure our team has been able to do fabulous work on the ground.
Puneet Gulati
Okay, that’s very helpful. Thank you so much and all the rest.
Kandarp Patel
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of CA Karwit with Serene Alpha. Please go ahead. Mr. Garvit, please go ahead with the question. Mr. Garvit, please unmute yourself and go ahead with a question. Since there is no reply from the line of Mr. Garvit, we’ll move to the next participant and that is Mr. Gaurav Nigam with Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Gaurav Nigam
Yeah. Hi sir. Thank you for taking my question. I have first question. We are hearing about this policy relaxation on the Chinese side in some sectors. I think most recently there has been some news about the thermal power side. I just wanted to check is there anything that we can benefit from and is there any positive benefit on the transmission side specifically that can come to us on going forward basis.
Kandarp Patel
So Gauravarav, if that happens, obviously it will help because that will increase our options for equipment sourcing. But even if, even if it is not done, we are not affected because we have that kind of strategic relationship with all major OEMs. We have been doing all this project and so far with the restriction on Chinese player and we will be getting all the supplies at right time and at appropriate pricing. So obviously it will be incremental advantage. But even if it doesn’t happen, we are not affected.
Gaurav Nigam
But as of now is there any. Anything where we are positively getting the benefit or nothing has happened so far?
Kandarp Patel
Come again?
Gaurav Nigam
Sorry, I was just asking is there any benefit that we have started getting as of now or that restriction is still.
Kandarp Patel
No, it is still there. So there are. There were news items which we came across that government is planning to relax it. We don’t know the exact contour of it. But if that happens then obviously it will. It will increase options for us.
Gaurav Nigam
Understood, sir. And the second question was specifically about if you look at on the transmission side, I mean we are seeing lower tendering. I mean first Half was slow. We expected third quarter to pick up. I think there is some pickup. And on the execution side also, I mean as you mentioned there has been some delays. I think we are hearing in the other developer also there is some delays. So I mean is there something structurally which is hampering both on the tendering side and the execution side? I mean how do you think about it? Because I mean year on year if you look at from last year to this year there have been both sides, there have been significant lowering.
So I mean just wondering how do you look at both on the tendering and execution side.
Kandarp Patel
So Gaurav, the challenges in execution is known to all of us. So essentially those are relating to equipment supply or manpower, BT or row. But this year the additional challenge that we faced, especially us because our mainly concentration of project execution is in Mundra, around Khowra and Gujarat and also in Maharashtra where rain continued for quite some time. It was abnormal. It continued up to almost Diwali period. And that has affected our execution. As far as manpower ability is concerned what we have done is that now the stringing manpower was the most critical one. In fact in last six months we have set up our own training facility at Goda where it’s a catmat area for people who works on a tower erection.
And that facility is up and running. Now we will be having 200 people trained available to us from this month every quarter we will have about 400 to 500 people available to us in the stringing which we will provide to our EPC partner for execution. And with this kind of endeavor we see we expect that lot of progress, significant progress will happen on execution side. Another challenge which remains is row. And therefore I mentioned that in Jamnagar and in most of the project what we are trying to do is while we start the project but we focus more on getting those ROW orders from Collector, compensation related order from Collector.
So that becomes a benchmark for us for negotiation with farmers. So with all this effort we expect to see a lot of progress in this quarter as far as CAPEX is concerned and next quarter because that also will be working season. So you’ll see a lot of action on that front.
Gaurav Nigam
Answer just your perspective on the tendering side as well. I mean there seems to be, I mean year on year there is a drop. So how do you think about that, sir?
Kandarp Patel
So as I said earlier we expect that about 80,000 crore of bidding will happen combined together, state as well as center. And that 80,000 crore is also a significant number. And if we even continue to maintain our market, sir, we will have a significant opportunity there.
Gaurav Nigam
Got it? Got it sir. Thank you. Thank you sir.
Kandarp Patel
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Sumit Kishore with Access Capital. Please go ahead.
Sumit Kishore
Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is to better understand the phase out of capitalization of your works in hand. So of these 780 billion rupees works in hand, would it be right to say that roughly 400 billion is non HVDC and how is the capitalization spread over FY26, 27 and 28 for this and you can correct the numbers?
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, sure. So based on the timelines which we just mentioned, the Mumbai HVDC and the NKTL project which will get complete, I mean the NKTL which just got completed around 10,000 odd crores of capitalization, I mean will get completed by in the next two months itself which will give an additional tariff of around 1,600 odd crores. We expect the additional ones especially the Kawada phase three, that is the Halwat project and the WRSR project that will get commissioned in the next three to five months period which will lead to an additional capitalization of close to 4800 odd crores.
And then all the three projects which Kandar mentioned will lead to an additional capitalization of 10,000 odd crores by the end of the next financial year. So all put together we have 10,000 in the next one or two months, 5,000 odd in the next four to five months and the balance 10,000 coming up by the end of next financial year.
Sumit Kishore
FY27 end.
Kunjal Mehta
Correct.
Sumit Kishore
So of the. So what is the visibility right now for FY28 as well? On the knowledge side.
Kunjal Mehta
I don’t have the immediate visibility of FY28. That would be too far.
Sumit Kishore
Right.
Kunjal Mehta
Is that this is something which we have immediately on the end.
Sumit Kishore
Sure. My second question is in relation to, you know, the two large HVDC projects that you are executing. Broadly what would be the capex phase out as you complete these projects, you know by 2029, 2030 or so broad CAPEX.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. So roughly the capex in transmission per year. On an average there could be a variation year to year. But for next 5 years it would be in the range of about 18 to 20,000 crore.
Sumit Kishore
Including everything your HVDC non HVDC.
Kandarp Patel
Correct.
Sumit Kishore
Specifically for HPD.
Kandarp Patel
On a later years it might go up as we add new transmission project in our kitty. But given the project pipeline currently it will be about 18 to 20,000.
Sumit Kishore
Okay. And specifically for your HPDC projects, would it be fair to say that, you know, in the first two years of execution less than 25% of the CAPEX will get incurred and bulk of it will be in the latter part?
Kandarp Patel
Yes.
Sumit Kishore
Okay, and my last question, if you can also shed some light on the phase out of the next HVDC project awards which is likely say till end of FY27 to rename the projects and the potential size that we are looking at.
Kunjal Mehta
New project, new HVDC projects likely to come up in FY20.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, so there are a few HVDC project under bidding pipeline and we certainly would be participating in those bid. Sincerely.
Sumit Kishore
Any specific bids that you’re aware of, you know, that you can just share with us?
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, there is a one project HVDC project from Barmir HVDC which, which comes up to Maharashtra south column. That is the immediate. Yeah, yeah. That we expect to come in the bidding process.
Sumit Kishore
So can that get awarded by June or will it be, you know, maybe the second half of CY26?
Kandarp Patel
I think that it will, it will be done in the first quarter of the next year.
Sumit Kishore
Okay, that is great. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes on the line of Manish Somaya with Cantor. Please go ahead.
Manish Somaiya
Hi, this is Shweta here from Canto. On behalf of Manish, congrats again on another strong quarter. I had two questions from me. The first one is on the debt stack. We’ve had multiple bond buybacks in the year earlier and sort of wanted to understand given the surplus cash for this year, what is the prioritized use? Is it going to be further bond buybacks or is it going to be more capex? And also given the scale of transmission and the smart metering ramp up, what leverage ceiling should we like sort of look at that would essentially force like a reconsideration on equity because we’ve discussed this before that, you know, you feel like there’s going to be no fundraising turns by equity.
So I think this is my first question and then we’ll get into the other one.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah. Hi. So you’re right. So the company did buy bond buybacks and we did bond buybacks in our electricity Mumbai distribution company. We did a bond buyback of 120 million last year followed by bond buyback of 95 million. Up to the nine months that we did, we did a 1 buyback of 50 million and then we again followed it up with a buyback of 45 million. So AEML distribution business, because of the surplus that it is generating and as we have guided, we will continue to deliver that company after meeting all its capex and its OPEX requirements.
So that company has roughly a capex of around 1500-1600 odd crores. And after meeting that capex the company still has their surplus which we will use to deliver the balance sheet. And at the right times we will continue to do the bond buybacks in that organization. As far as the consolidated debt profile of the company concerned, we have always guided that we would be in the range of around four to four and a half times based on our capex cycles. But it would be in that guided range always.
Manish Somaiya
Understood. Also, given the progress in the newer verticals, can you reshare the margin structure especially for the CNI business? Sort of the expected growth and the capital intensity to scale the vertical and what are the timelines that you’re targeting for this business?
Kandarp Patel
So C and I, especially C and I and district cooling business, like you see in a smart meter which is the margin as compared to the conventional transmission and distribution business, there are very high margins in smart metering. We expect similar kind of margin structures both in district cooling as well as C and I business. In fact CNI business would be very interesting one where we won’t have any capex to do. But despite the fact that because of our solutioning capability the margins would be significantly high of the order of 75/paisa per unit and that will be a massive segment where we are also very excited.
Manish Somaiya
Thank you, thank you for sharing that. I have to ask this question especially on data centers you mentioned there’s a lot of potential for for aesl especially with the group’s tie ups and sort of what indicators should we be tracking.
Kandarp Patel
Data centers. In fact we bring great amount of volume value when we deal with the data center because the two things where they find it difficult not only in India but across the globe is getting the power infra or connectivity and also a power supply. Now AESL having presence in both, we are in a position to offer them an end to end solution and this kind of approach has been well appreciated. In fact we have been in discussion with multiple players, big players who are planning to enter into India in a massive way. So it’s going to be a very exciting one especially C and I coupled with our capability of delivering that power infra as well.
Manish Somaiya
Thank you. Thank you and congrats again on a great quarter.
Kandarp Patel
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Pratic Italia with mnc. Please go ahead.
Prateek Chitalia
Thanks for the opportunity sir. So my Question is around how are we going to fund the future capex? Are we going to raise the debt or it will be funded through internal accruals, how it will be done?
Kunjal Mehta
Sure. So I’ll split that basis the business divisions that we have. So in AEML, as I just told that that business, whatever CapEx that is there is being funded through its internal accruals. So is the case with respect to the smart meter business. Smart meter business has a low gestation period and because of that it is able to fund its own capex. In fact what we are actually doing is that securitizing the receivables of Smart meter based on the meters that we have installed, we are securitizing that meters and that is funding more internal accruals for my transmission projects.
And in case of transmission business, we generally lever these assets up to 70, 75% at the inception and then once the asset gets completed we again launch it into the bond markets. So we try to lever it further up to 80, 85% once the asset gets operational. So based on that and based on the internal accruals and the fund flows that the company is generating, we do not envisage any further equity borrowing which is required to fund all our under construction projects that we currently have.
Prateek Chitalia
Okay, are we looking at the bond funds funding through bonds or so we.
Kunjal Mehta
Look for our debt funding once the asset gets operational we continue to look various options which includes domestic bonds, which includes bonds in the international markets as well as bonds in the capital markets across. So yes, we look at but only after the asset gets completed and also sometime for refinance and of course refinancing.
Prateek Chitalia
Yes, okay. Okay, thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Vishal Perival PL Capital. Please go by.
Vishal Periwal
Yes, thanks for the opportunity sir. In terms of attending this particular year, can you give some color like you know how has been in the last three odd quarters of FY26 and in terms of NCD cost, I mean out of that like you know how much we could have won this year.
Kunjal Mehta
So this year so far we had up to 60,000 odd crores worth of tendering which happened and this is again based on the NCT cost estimate and as you know the actual cost estimates project to project differ, for example, HVDC especially. Right. So the numbers are elevated in terms of actual cost. But so far I think what we are seeing is close to 80,000 odd crores worth of bidding should conclude by end of this year. Again which is a large number.
Vishal Periwal
Right. And out of the 60,000 crore you mentioned. So we could have won how much? I think yeah.
Kunjal Mehta
So we’ve got two projects. One is the HVDC which is as per NCT about 12,000 odd crores. And one one more project which is the Talika one which is about 1600 odd crores. So 13,600 odd crores in terms of NCT cost which broadly gives us a market share of about 1820%.
Vishal Periwal
Okay. And the escalation which you mentioned, so I think the NCT is 12,000 for HVDC which you have recently won. So in this call only you mentioned probably the cost could be in the range of 1820,000. So the escalation that you mentioned it is pertaining to that only. Right?
Kunjal Mehta
Correct.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, got it. And then second is in terms of tendering you did mention like you know 1 lakh crore probably opportunity of 80,000. So all these are ISTs, project or any opportunity are you seeing in the state also?
Kandarp Patel
No, no, there are state projects as well. Especially from state like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, okay. And then when you mentioned we’ll see these opportunities couple of months so. So probably things will move to financial year 27 also 80,000 that you mentioned. Right sir. Or within this next two months we.
Kandarp Patel
Are seeing next 12 to 15 months you will see almost 80 to 80,000 to 1 lakh crore of bidding.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, okay, okay. Okay. And then maybe like you know, hopping on the same which you might have answered. So the tendering this particular year was slow. So I know, I mean we have maintained market share. I mean that is what is required from esl. But at a sector level sir, what could have been the reason for the same or maybe last year was there were a lot of one offs and bump up year. Was there how you see things on the ground?
Kandarp Patel
I think every year on a steady state basis we will have about 80 to 90,000. Suddenly one year because there was a backlog and they wanted to finish it off quickly. It bumped up this year it got little slowed down because there were certain transmission projects that they wanted to reevaluate depending on the change in the generation and demand profile in the country. But on a steady state basis we believe that it will be about 80, 90,000 meetings that will happen every year because now the state sector has also started opening up. So as I mentioned three states are already very, very active in tbcb.
And we expect many other states like up in Bihar, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, those are all are also expected to come in TBCB.
Vishal Periwal
Okay. Okay. And as of now in this 80,000 crore which states are active where we are looking for?
Kandarp Patel
Rajasthan, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, okay, sure.
Kandarp Patel
In, in Maharashtra in last six one, that is seven to eight project got under a bidding.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, okay. But. But I mean like you know, has there been even outcome or.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They have been awarded. They have been awarded.
Vishal Periwal
Okay, okay, sure. Sir. That’s all from my side. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Chun Yi with Ispring. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. Firstly, regarding the refinancing of your US dollar bond, would the company consider more of onshore as an option or offshore? And what are the considerations that the company will look at? Looking at this from more of a currency perspective and also there’s a headlight as well. So probably from the corporate governance side could be some negative sentiment. How would the company approach this? Thank you.
Kunjal Mehta
No, sure. So what we generally focus is that we keep our options open whether it is offshore or onshore. And at the right time we look to refinance our bonds. So the options are always open whether it is offshore or onshore. Our focus is always to ensure that our bonds are always rated investment grade whether it is offshore and onshore. And therefore you would see that onshore markets, most of our projects have double A plus and AAA ratings. And similarly in the offshore markets our bonds have sovereign ratings. So our focus is to ensure that we get the highest ratings.
And, and based on that and based on the market conditions, we would tap either the onshore market, offshore market for our refinancing of the existing bonds that we have.
Unidentified Participant
For the US dollar bonds coming due this year. When will the company be considered come out of the plan for going offshore onshore? Because I think it’s saying August.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, we are working towards that. And we would refinance that at least in the next two to three months and complete the refinancing.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, thank you, that’s very helpful. And another question, probably on the ESG side, I would like to know how does the company assess the risk with our supply chain partners, especially labor practices and maybe environmental compliance. Thank you.
Kunjal Mehta
So we are very much working with our vendors, especially the EPC vendors, and we ensure that they follow all the governance, especially the safety practices that we follow and also comply with our own ESG standards that the Adani Group as well as the AESL as a company is following. So from our vendor ecosystem, we ensure that all our vendors are also in compliance with the ESG standards that we have set for US as well as for the Adani Group. And just to add to the vendor ecosystem part. So you know, typically across the value chain, our focus is to tie up with tier one, tier two suppliers.
So to ensure that, you know, we have last mile or you know, the traceability element is there in terms of the best governance as well as labor practices at the respective vendors also.
Kandarp Patel
Well, and all effort you must have seen that is translating into our continuous ESE rating whether it is international or domestic. One.
operator
Msi, are you done with the questions?
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. That’s very helpful.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Vishal Parai with Bandhan Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Vishal Biraia
Hi, thanks. Could you talk a bit more on leverage as to currently and what should be the leverage in the next couple of years By March of 2017, where should the total debt be and what portion of this is financed by US domiciled banks?
Kunjal Mehta
Sure. So our total net debt currently as we speak is 38,000 odd crores of which 48,000 is gross debt. And we have cash balance of 9,600 odd crores out of the 47,000 of gross debts we have. We have roughly 9,700 of the US dollar bonds in Adani Electricity Mumbai and 10,500 odd crores of bonds in the transmission business. So around 25,000 odd crores of dollar bonds in 47,000 of the debt that we just mentioned. And our leverage currently is 4.3 which was 4.4 in September based on the published results. Currently we are at 4.3 based on the trailing twelve months and we will continue to maintain that always.
operator
Mr. Bharai, are you done with the questions? No.
Vishal Biraia
You bought back some bonds, right? So fitd, what has been the total purchase of bonds that you have done.
Kunjal Mehta
In this financial year? We did a bond buyback of $95 million. 50 we did in Q1 and 45 we did in Q2.
Vishal Biraia
Okay, and where would this leverage, what would be the total debt by a month of 27?
Kunjal Mehta
So it would be in this range itself. The net debt would be in the range of 38,000 to 40,000 odd crores because we have the natural amortization of the repayment which is also happening parallelly.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah.
Vishal Biraia
Okay. So by March 27th with this say 30,000 crores of incremental capex that you will do 25, 30,000 crores. You, your net debt you are saying will still remain at 40,000 crores. Is that what you are saying?
Kunjal Mehta
It is the capitalization which will happen the capex has been done on a progressively basis every year so. Yeah, so it is what I spoke was the capitalization part agreed.
Vishal Biraia
But even if. So if I assume say 20,000 crores worth of Capex that you will do for the next financial year say and 5,000 crores of capex that you might do in fourth quarter so I was saying. So that is where even if I assume 25,000 crores more of capex that you would.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, yeah but that would also translate to additional earnings because of the capitalization which will happen. Right?
Vishal Biraia
Sure, sure. Sorry to harp on this but so By March of 2017 you’re saying your net debt would still be flattish, correct?
Kunjal Mehta
Okay, I can walk you through the numbers I mean but it’s not going.
Vishal Biraia
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry last question is of this 25,000 crores of odd of bonds what is the maturity that is coming about in the next two years?
Kunjal Mehta
So the immediate one which is coming up is the 500 million dollar bond which is in August 27th which I told you we are going to refinance in the next 12 months itself the balance have all dated maturities like the AEML bonds is maturing in 2030, 2031. Our average debt maturity profile of the dollar bonds as well as the INR bond market is currently 7.9 years.
Vishal Biraia
So after this, after the August 27th the next maturity would come up in.
Kunjal Mehta
30 of these 25,000 crores outbound 29 the next is in 29 and two AML bond is in 2030 and 2031.
Vishal Biraia
Okay, okay, okay this is helpful, thank you.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes on the line of Shirom Kapoor with Jeffries Please go ahead.
Shirom Kapur
Hi sir, thanks for the opportunity Just want to ask you on your capex and capitalization so starting with capex are you last quarter you had guided for you know transmission about 114 to 115 billion rupees distribution 16 billion and smart meters 40 billion for this year Are you on track for that kind of capex this year? I mean are you maintaining that guidance?
Kunjal Mehta
So we did capex of 9294 till nine months by the end of this financial year we would be in the range of around 15,000 odd crores once the entire capex has been completed for transmission, smart meter and distribution.
Shirom Kapur
So this is a slight downward revision from last time. Is that. Is there any particular segment where this revision has come? Is it from the transmission side or smart meter side would be able to quantify that.
Kunjal Mehta
So some of the projects got spilled over by one or two months in the next financial year. So that’s the reason why the 12,000 odd crores, I mean just about 1,000 odd crores we had guided the market to around 16,000. We are currently looking at around four 14,500 to 15,000 odd crores.
Kandarp Patel
And the downward is mainly in transmission.
Shirom Kapur
Okay, got that. Secondly on capitalization I guess similarly last quarter you had mentioned that in the second half we’re expecting about 120 billion of capitalization in the transmission segment. Now you mentioned it’s about 100 billion. So there’s been a slight downward revision there as well. That again I’m guessing is because of the deferment of projects. But just want to understand this breakup that you mentioned of 100 billion in AEML and the NKTL. So AEML, my understanding it’s a 70 billion rupee project. And NKTL as per your previous Release was a 965 crore project. So is that the right number? So what is adding up to the 100 billion that you expect?
Kunjal Mehta
You are right. 965NK TLA is the correct number.
Shirom Kapur
Okay. So that means the balance that we’re expecting this in the fourth quarter of FY26 would be the Mumbai HVDC of 70 billion. And the NKTL has already happened as of December. Is that going to happen in 4Q?
Kunjal Mehta
It has already happened. Just happened in December. Yeah.
Shirom Kapur
Okay, understood. And then so earlier in the call you mentioned this 240250 billion total that would be including 4Q as well as FY27. Right. Of seven projects to be commissioned.
Kunjal Mehta
Correct? Correct.
Shirom Kapur
Got it. Understood. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Anuj Upadhyay with Investec. Please go ahead.
Anuj Upadhyay
Yeah. Hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Such one thing on the smart metering we had given a guidance or a target to reach around 6 crores over the coming few years. Currently we have a pipeline with installation in the range of 2.5 cr. Any target by when can we reach this 6 crore number?
Kandarp Patel
So the 6 crore was. We were talking about that number of couple of years back in last. Unfortunately in the last entire financial year there was no significant bidding opportunity came up that I. As I explained you there were many state who initially never wanted to become a part of rdss. They didn’t come out with a bidding. Now most of them have submitted their proposal to Ministry of Power and we expect that bidding to happen in next year. And we will if not reach to 6 crore but we will at least Maintain our market share meaning thereby we would have about 5 crore of meter concession.
Anuj Upadhyay
Okay. And second.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, but what was also important is that the capex or the capitalization got translated into the transmission projects because at that point in time our under construction pipeline was just around 15,000 odd crores which is now close to 80,000. I mean that. And that was a bigger shift which happened when we were talking about 6 crore meters if you were referring to that period.
Kandarp Patel
In fact that is the biggest advantage that AESL has of diversity in businesses like many other similar players in transmission doesn’t have that kind of diversity so we could utilize opportunity in transmission to compensate. That was not happening in spammetry.
Anuj Upadhyay
Got it sir. And so in one of the earlier answer which you responded to someone’s query you mentioned that the smart metering segment would be self funded to the internal accruals now with say a run rate of around 1 crore installation or slightly higher by the end of the current fiscal. And my sense is our annual revenue on a per meter basis comes in the range of 600 odd crores so that 1600 rupees sorry. So that should fetch you a revenue cumulative revenue somewhere in the range of 600 crores on a per annum basis just on installation of 1 crore meter by going or reaching a number 2.5 cr which probably we are targeting by the end of next fiscal that number would probably, you know, go up somewhere in the range of close to 3 and a half or 4000 crore.
Correct me if I’m wrong sir, by this means can you just help me in understanding the economics how the incremental capex in the smart metering space would be self funded?
Kunjal Mehta
No, what I was saying is that we will not be doing debt funding into it. We will be securitizing those receivables itself. So the 600 odd crores is over the next 7 years. So I would use the securitization of that receivables itself to fund the new meters which are going to come up so I don’t have to fund it through the accruals of the transmission business to fund smart meter business. And based on that securitization of the receivables I would be more than sufficient to fund whatever growth which is there in smart meter business or the existing projects of 2 and 2 2.25 crores meters that I have.
Anuj Upadhyay
Okay, okay, got it. Got it sir. Thanks for the clearance. Thanks. That’s it from me.
operator
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Pratik Tugar with Intelsense. Please go ahead.
Prateek Dugar
Thank you for the opportunity. I had a question on our nine month EBITDA bridge. I mean if I look at the SC addition to the ebitda, the jump in the smart meter is understandable and. But can you elaborate on the transmission side as well? Because like it has also seen a 300 crore jump. Like how do we read into this?
Kunjal Mehta
That’s. I mean the transmission business has grown generally because of the operationalization of three or four project that got completed especially the Khowra one, the KPS one and the Sangod one resulting in the additional revenues and distribution business gave the steady state of 1200 odd crores for the nine month period. So from that basis, I mean the largest part is coming from the operationalization of the new transmission projects which are getting completed.
Prateek Dugar
So sir, if I understand that the like could I say that the SCA margin that we accrue or the SCA EBITDA, if it jumps like could that be a leading indicator for our operating EBITDA as well going forward?
Kunjal Mehta
So SCA EBITDA does not lead to increase in the operating ebitda. The operating EBITDA largely comes from the S. As the transmission project gets completed that forms part of my operational revenue and the operating operational EBITDA. The CapEx that I do will give an indication of the SCA margin that. That we put out in the income statement.
Prateek Dugar
Okay. Okay, thank you. That’s it from my side. And one more sir, I think if you are aware that sometime back in December the CA had come out with a proposal of some critical items. There was a list of some 16 items in which there were HDFC HVDC assemblies which were, you know, imported largely. So are you facing some challenges as per getting the procurement for HVDC valve assembly?
Kandarp Patel
No, we are not facing any challenge. In fact, for the recent HVDC project that we have won, which is how the old part we already finalized and closed the contract with oem.
Prateek Dugar
Okay, that will be a foreign.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, yeah.
Prateek Dugar
Okay.
Kandarp Patel
We have closed that contract with GE and in fact we have been able to. Sorry, we have been. We have been able to agree with them for a schedule which is far more aggressive than completion schedule given in the mid timeline.
Prateek Dugar
Okay, thank you sir. That should come. I said.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints we have reached the end of question and answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Kunjal Mehta for closing comments.
Kunjal Mehta
I take this opportunity to thank all the participants who participated into the call and. And due to paucity of time. If we are not able to answer any of your questions and if you need additional clarifications we are just a phone call away. Just would like to end our comment with that. We are now at a strong pedigree of completing our projects especially the Mumbai HVDC and the four projects that we just mentioned and based on that we are looking to have a capitalization of at least 25,000 odd crores in the next 12 to 15 months.
So that is something which is very important as far as the transmission business concerned and the smart meter pipeline where we have already completed the installation of close to 92 lakh meters and looking to complete the balance meters in the next 12 months or so. So both our transmission and smart meter business continue to have strong degree of revenue translation which will happen in the next 12 to 15 months. Thank you all. Thank you for participating.
operator
Thank you on behalf of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your line.