Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (NSE: ADANIENSOL) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated Apr. 24, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Prashant Soni — Head Finance
Kandarp Patel — Chief Executive Officer
Kunjal Mehta — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Mohit Kumar — Analyst
Manish Somaiya — Analyst
Dhruv Muchhal — Analyst
Mahesh Patil — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Shirom Kapur — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Bharat Shah — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Vishal Biraia — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4NFI 26 earnings conference call hosted by Adani Energy Solutions Limited from the AESL side we have the following. On the call has main speakers Mr. Kandar Patel, CEO Mr. Kunjal Mehta, CFO Mr. Prashant Soni, Head Finance. 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 the operator by pressing Star then zero on your Touchstone phone.
I now hand the CONFERENCE over to Mr. Prashant Soni from AESL. Thank you. And over to you, Mr. Soni.
Prashant Soni — Head Finance
Thank you. Thank you, Ryan. So thank you and very good day to everyone. A warm welcome to the Q4FY26 earnings call from AESL. You hope you had an opportunity to review the earnings presentation and final results that we shared on our website. To outline the flow of today’s call, we will begin with the opening remarks from our CEO Mr. Kandab Patel, following which we will open the floor for Q and A. The call will conclude with closing remarks from CFO Mr. Kunjal Mehta. For those who wish to ask questions, we request you to start joining the question queue a little in advance to help us manage the Q and A efficiently.
Thank you. And with that I would like to hand over to Mr. Kandar Patel for his opening statement. Thank you. Over to you sir.
Kandarp Patel — Chief Executive Officer
Good morning everyone and warm welcome to all investors and analyst friends on this call for Q4 and FY26 of Adani Energy Solutions. Well, you must have received all the material in terms of our accounts and financial performance and also operational performance. But I would like to highlight few points that are very distinguished point. We probably may not have been emerged out very clearly from a finance so obviously this year besides many other project we have commissioned that Mumbai HVDC project which is not only in regulatory asset based project, RAP based project, but it is also very very important for Mumbai transmission capacity augmentation.
It will also help AEML in integrating more and more renewable for our distribution company. Another significant milestone that we could complete achieve this year was deployment of smart meter on the While we anticipated or we projected that we will be doing about 70 lakh meter this financial year, we surpassed that target and we ended up installing about 83 lakh meters on the ground. That is probably the highest number that any operator has achieved not only in India, but probably also on a global basis.
While we continue to do all this project execution on the ground, there is a significant shift or change that is happening at an AESL level. You must have noted that the CAPEX or AEML consolidated capex transmission distribution smart metering has increased significantly over a period of time. We have now reached to close to 15,000 crore capex. We will continue to improve the capex and reach about 20 crore capex this year. But while we are improving capex, you also must have noted that there is a significant improvement that is happening on a credit rating side.
So now most of our assets are AAA plus AAA and there is a significant improvement in credit rating while we are scaling up the capex. So usually it becomes even challenging to maintain the credit rating value of significantly stepping up a capex. But we have otherwise we have improved the credit rating and consequently our interest cost is also going down. Now, even in the challenging time, volatile time, if you are in a position to improve credit rating and reduce your interest cost, that’s a significant achievement from AESL side and that would mean that incremental return for shareholders.
Now similarly with HVDC commissioning and the regulatory asset and base CapEx that we continue to do at AEML. Now when we took that AEML the rev was about 5,400 crore. Today you must have seen that it has reached to 10,500 plus crore. Similarly in transmission as well, the asset rep based asset was about 10,000 crore. Now we have added 7,000 crore of HVDC and we will continue to make sure that proportion of regulatory asset base and competitive asset base remains healthy and that is driving about growth and cash generation.
And with this we have been able to, you know, do the refinancing of over 500 million1 and that we refinance from Apollo who is US insurance investors. Now that gives confidence that even during this challenging geopolitical situation we have been able to leverage our financial and operational strength and do the refinancing. Similarly, on a smart metering, we will continue to scale up our operation. We think that smart metering business is not limited to our contractual period, but it is a perpetual one given the industry sector.
So we believe that this opportunity is going to continue even when those existing concession expires, maybe in terms of extension or new bidding opportunities. And with the capabilities that we have created, we certainly are in a much better footing to take advantage of future opportunities. Similarly, on a transmission side as well, this year we have improved the market share. We have reached to now almost 29% of the project that went into bidding. And there are about 1:50,000 crore projects already identified for the bidding.
Simultaneously, as I mentioned, we are scaling up our capability in deploying CAPEX on the ground and we will continue to do that with the improved interest cost and with the improved capability of deploying capex. That will give us an opportunity to capture larger amount of opportunity, transmission opportunity in the market. On operational side as well, we have been doing consistently well this year as well the O and M availability has been 99.7. Similarly on a transmission side as well, distribution side as well, we have been consistently been able to reduce our distribution losses.
So all in all the distribution loss has already reached to 4.2 percentage. In fact we started with 8.5 percentage and we have reached to this level. The significant thing that is going to happen from a growth side besides transmission and smart metering will be C and I segment. So we have started that operation. We are now closely about 5,000 megawatts of renewable capacity contracted. We are already having about dozens of third party consumers of about aggregating of about 1,400 megawatt capacity.
It will give us a great lever in capturing that market which has a huge potential including those data centers coming up in India. All in all, the C and I will also become one of the major growth driver in the next year. And we will have a detailed presentation on C and I once we complete next financial year and have this call again somewhere in May next year and we will lay out what are the kind of activity there that we have been able to do it in CN type. So all in all, in all our segments that we operate, whether it is transmission, distribution, smart meters or C and dash, we see a great potential there, great opportunity.
And since we are improving capability of CAPEX deployment and with a discipline in capital management and CAPEX deployment, we will continue to capture those opportunities. With this I will hand it over to Kunjal for
Kunjal Mehta — Chief Financial Officer
No. I think we can now start the questions from the analyst from the investors.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Security. Please go ahead.
Mohit Kumar
Hi, good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon sir and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is can you help us with your expectation for CapEx in FY27 and FY28 or three businesses separately.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, sure. So we will have about 22,000 crore of capex next year. Of which transmission would be about 1500 15,500. Distribution about 2350. Smart metering about 3900. And so these are the numbers. So we’ll be around 21,000 between 21 to 22,000.
Mohit Kumar
So this is for FY27, right? Sir, is it possible, Is it possible to share the FY28 or. It’s not possible as of now.
Kandarp Patel
No, no it is possible. But that number will be little approximate. But it will be around 23,000.
Mohit Kumar
So of
Kandarp Patel
That transmission would be about 20, 20,000. Distribution again will be about 2,000. And smart metering given the order bit we are not assuming the additional one
Mohit Kumar
But
Kandarp Patel
Given the order book it will be 1500. And whatever the additional order that will come will get added.
Mohit Kumar
Understood. So somewhere
Kandarp Patel
Between 22 to 25,000.
Mohit Kumar
Understood. Sir, my second question is is it possible to share the expectation for capitalization commissioning in FY27, FY28 and can you just please help us understand whether you have included the Mumbai HVDC completely in FY26. Is that. Is that the right understanding?
Kandarp Patel
Yes. So Mumbai, the commission in FY26 only in the last month. Yeah. Completely
Mohit Kumar
100%. Yeah,
Kandarp Patel
Yeah, 100%.
Mohit Kumar
And. And the capitalization
Kandarp Patel
Number in FY27 would be about 21,021 22. In FY28 it could be about 13,000 and. And thereafter the capitalization will improve in. Especially in transmission. Because those HVDC project that will start getting commission from FY29.
Mohit Kumar
Understood sir. Thank you. And all the best, sir. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you.
Kandarp Patel
We take
Operator
The next question from the line of Manish Otswell from Nirmal Bank Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Manish Somaiya
Yes sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I have a question on the balance sheet leverage. So sir, if you look at our cash flow for the year F26 we have a operating cash flow of 10,000, almost 11,000 crores. And we are having capex of 14,431 crore. So effectively all free cash flow negative 7,500 crore. So what is your view on the balance sheet leverage? Where we are comfortable. Can you guide us on that front? Sir, that will be helpful for us.
Kunjal Mehta
So that’s from an operating cash flow. So you would understand is that most of our assets we generally finance it in the ratio of 70 to 30. So only the equity portion is Funded through the internal accruals. So balance is tied up to the debt. From that position we are fully comfortable to meet all our existing CapEx requirements in transmission, smart meter and even distributor.
Operator
Thank you. We move on to the next question which is from the line of Dhruv Mucho. Please go ahead.
Dhruv Muchhal
Yes sir. Thank you so much. So can you help me? What is the capitalization for FY26 and if you can also break it up between a transmission, what is in transmission?
Kandarp Patel
So 26 is about 15,000 50,300 transmission is 10,260, distribution 1511 and smart metering 3556.
Dhruv Muchhal
Sure. And so also, also one accounting thing is what would be a CWIP be in a normal accounting term at the end of FY26B overall overall console CWIP.
Kunjal Mehta
So between the SC assets and the normal conventional assets. So if you look at the financials, the current CWIP is 2053 crore which is for the non SE assets and for the currently we are currently having SC assets of about. I’ll just give you the number
Dhruv Muchhal
Because now the accounting has changed, it become a bit confusing.
Mahesh Patil
Yeah,
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, yeah. So SC Assets is currently around 6200 and the CWIP is around 2500.
Dhruv Muchhal
So broadly 8000 crores of CWIP. And sir, just trying to, you know, combine the math and you’re guiding for a capitalization of about 15,000 crores in transmission in next year FY27. So what we generally see is what your CWIP is at the end of the year probably gets capitalized at the end of the next year, the typical cycle and transmission. So but your guidance is much higher. For example for your transmission guidance is about 15,000 crore next year capitalization guidance. And assuming all these for transmission that’s about 8,000 crores.
So I’m just trying to, you know, reconcile the math.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah, but there would be a CAPEX which will be incurred during the current financial year as well, which will also get translated into capitalization. So it, I mean just to give you a perspective, especially in transmission assets, what happened is that certain types of transformers or certain types of substations are generally procured during the FAG end of the asset and that gets capitalized immediately. And this is exactly what happened in case if you note in HUDC project as well. So it is just at the last period when you procure heavy equipment which gets capitalized during that financial year and which does not generally form part of CWIP or your saga
Kandarp Patel
Through next year also means in the current year we plan to do a transmission capex of about 15 to 16,000 and 8,000 of these WIP. And out of this total block we plan to capitalize about 14,500 to 15,000.
Dhruv Muchhal
Perfect. And so two micro related questions is in some of the, you know, government documents, the transmission committee meetings. What we’re seeing is they’ve started to talk about batteries, the cost, the higher cost of transmission, particularly it seems the HVDC lines. And they’ve started to compare it to batteries and all those. How should we see this? Is it the cost becoming a challenge or the integration becoming a challenge or. I mean why we thought. Just trying to understand. How do you.
How you’re seeing this?
Kandarp Patel
No, obviously that debate is going on at the policy level as to how much of transmission capacity that countries would add because it also has a cost implication especially for renewable project. So the debate is that should we push as a sector the installation of more co located BSE base so that transmission cost could be optimized. But see what is happening is that that’s a one leg of transmission. But whatever electricity generated that also has to get distributed and taken to the last mile to the end consumer.
Now in future what we see while the interstate transmission line will continue to get crystallized and come into bidding. But we expect to see lot more activity from a state side because all those transmission corridors which are created or which are being created for taking renewable energy to load center. Now those investments are required to be made at a state level to take it to large customer. So we see a lot of opportunity coming from state side as well. And you must have seen in last year there are few utilities or state who has already started you know bidding for multiple project like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and even Karnataka.
So we see a lot of action coming from those state as well.
Dhruv Muchhal
So basically just to understand this. Well a larger portion of the ists evacuation is done. Now it is more about optimization and the activity to a larger extent shifts towards the interstate intra state network.
Kandarp Patel
No, I am not saying that it is already done. If there will also be. If we. If we as a country we are in a position to install base at a massive scale then probably that quantum might come down to a certain extent. But it is not completely done.
Dhruv Muchhal
Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay, got it. And so last thing on the CNI you mentioned about 5G or you have tied up and the data center led demand that you can cater. Just trying to understand it seems the government is also looking at state council looking at giving distribution licenses to these large hyperscalers so how does it position us in that thing? I mean can they still come to you for that, you know, round the clock power or they do it themselves? I mean just trying to understand our positioning. Then if they get certainly the
Kandarp Patel
Even, even, even if they become a distribution licensee, they will have to source power and because their requirement of power will be very, very peculiar. That is where we come in. Especially from power infra side as well as from supply side. So now we having got capacity of solar, wind as well as base with us, we are in a position to offer that kind of a solution to whether it is a customer or dim distribution licensee given to a customer. So essentially it remains a customer.
Dhruv Muchhal
Okay. And this five gig all that you have tied up is, I mean you have freeze this capacity for yourselves and then you, you, you find your customers. For example 1.54 you have already found in the remaining. You will find it now.
Kandarp Patel
Correct, correct, correct.
Dhruv Muchhal
Shows. Agreed. Nice one will be helpful to understand more on the CNI as you share more. Okay,
Kandarp Patel
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Manish Somaya from Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Good morning. A couple of questions. The first one is on smart metering. The installation rate was quite impressive in the fourth quarter. So I was hoping you could help us understand how we should think about 2027. And also when I look at the book of business that you currently have which is around 24.6 million, you can just help us get a feel for kind of set up the next time you’ll have an opportunity to do more tenders. And when do you expect to for that number to meaningfully increase.
Kandarp Patel
So Manish, so next year probably we’ll be doing about minimum about 1 crore meters. Having done 83 lakh meter in the current year, we are confident that we will be able to install another 1 crore meter in the current financial year. As far as next opportunity is concerned, you must have seen when we started that concessions were about 2.3 crore. But now we have reached to 2.5. Essentially there are two ways of getting additional concessions here. One is that in existing contract itself it has fell to 2.5 2.3 and the balance opportunity which remains in the market is about 9 to 10 crore meter.
There are few state who are awaiting their approval from central government under RDSS and those states are the Karnataka. Tamil Nadu already has an approval. So now they have to come out with a bidding process. Probably they will come out when their elections are over. So the opportunity remains as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, whole state, Telangana, whole state, Andhra Pradesh part, Gujarat part and MP part. So these are the opportunities which are still pending in the market.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, that’s super helpful. And then on the distribution side EBIT was down about 14%, volumes were up, losses obviously improved. So maybe I was just hoping to get some color from view as to how we should think about distribution in fiscal 27 from a financial measure.
Kandarp Patel
So we will continue to have that similar amount of capex in distribution. See distribution what is happening is that in AEML we continue to harden the assets. So we continue to add about 1500-2000 crore capex every year. And we are also making sure that our tariff remains the same almost at the same level and that we have been able to do and we will continue to do by improving operational efficiency. So effectively what we are doing is that all efficiency gains are transferred for investors for an incremental return because we continue to add that ramp.
So it’s a win win for customer as well as shareholders. So shareholders returns are improving but customer tariff are remaining same and service levels are also improving significantly. And that’s the reason why AUML has been rated number one distribution company in the country since last four years now.
Unidentified Participant
And then just lastly on transmission I think you talked about the Mumbai HVDC coming online fully. Can you just help us quantify the EBITDA run rate contribution from some of the projects that have come on in fiscal 26 into fiscal 27? And then just related question to that. The tendering opportunity that you mentioned of Rupee 1.5 billion. How should we think about the win rate as we model out?
Kandarp Patel
Sorry Manish, how should we think about
Unidentified Participant
In terms of the win rate for the tendering opportunities that you have?
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. So
Unidentified Participant
Percentage.
Kandarp Patel
So Manish, currently we are about, in fact we were about 2025 percentage. We have improved this year to close to 30%. So we will continue to maintain that market share between 25 to 30 percentage while we can also increase market share. But we as I mentioned we will make sure that we remain disciplined both in terms of capital management as well as CapEx deployment. So that is the area where we don’t want to compromise. So we will limit ourselves to 25 to 30 percentage and that will also be converted into amount.
It will be 40, 50 or 1000 crore of new opportunity for us in a transmission itself. And
Prashant Soni
Manish, to the first question, this year the capitalization which has happened for transmission on fully run rate basis we will be able to add another 1600 crores of EBITDA around 1600 by those existing the projects which have been commissioned in this financial year. I’m Talking about the 1600 is the revenue number.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And then just maybe for Kunjan, last question. In terms of leverage with Capex going higher, are we still comfortable with the four to four and a half times or should we expect that to inch a little bit higher?
Kunjal Mehta
No, we’ll continue to maintain that leverage in the ratio of around 4.5 to 4.7.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, thank you so much and good luck in 2020.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah,
Mohit Kumar
Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity once again. So my question is on the on the Mumbai HPDC which of commission how to expect to book revenues in the F27 will it be at lower project cost in the sense it will pay booked at provisional tariff or it will be booked at the full project cost.
Kunjal Mehta
As you know this is a rap based project and once the tariff is approved by the regulator you are entitled to start billing to the regulator. So currently the number is 1300 odd crores which is the full year tariff from the Mumbai HVDC project which which we will start accruing from next full year next financial.
Mohit Kumar
Understood. My second question is of course it was regarding HVDC poll to UP Mumbai. We understand that of course the state transmission committees had approved it. Right. And recommended it to the empowered committee of state. Have you heard anything or anything on that? And is it fair to expect that HBDC poll to start working from this fiscal.
Kandarp Patel
So as far as HVDC Poll 2 is concerned, the evaluation at MERC and STU level is going on. We feel that Mumbai will require certainly required additional transmission capacity but we can’t commit currently because that’s still under the evolution at MERC and stu.
Mohit Kumar
Understood. My second question is can you help us the progress on the two HVDC projects which we are working on right now in terms of percentage completion and could you also address the row challenges if you’re facing any.
Kandarp Patel
So as far as Fatehpur Bhat HVDC is concerned, the construction has already begun both at a septation and a line level and we haven’t faced any significant row challenge as far as that project is concerned. As far as Khowra old part is concerned, we have finalized all the contract but the construction has yet not started. It will start. So the Kavala land is now already under a position landed old pad. We expect to get position from power grid in maybe a month’s time and once we have that we will start construction at both the places.
The preparatory work at Kawada has already started because that land is already in possession. And we already submitted those proposals for environment and forest clearances because that will also become a significant part. We already started applying for row permission. So those compensation orders from state government. So currently it’s progressing as per plan. You will see a lot of action on ground on both the project in the current year.
Mohit Kumar
The percentage completion for Fatehpur Badla. How much percentage competed till date?
Kandarp Patel
I don’t have that number ready made but we will send it.
Mohit Kumar
But this is here to understand that most of the capex will happen in F27, F28 for Badla.
Kandarp Patel
Yeah. So the. The capex in Fatehpur Bhadla will start. Significant capex will start from current year.
Mohit Kumar
Understood Sir. My last question is is it possible to share the margin profile for the trading business especially on the 1.5 gigawatt and when do you expect the 1.5 GHz to start contributing to the top line?
Kandarp Patel
So the. The 1.5 gigawatt that we have already tied up the margins are in excess of 50 paisa per unit raised. We are still working. So once we tie up that capacity either on a medium term or long term contract then those number will get crystallized. Currently we are operating on a merchant market and that’s depend on the market condition which is varying on a day to day basis.
Mohit Kumar
Is it right to say that the margin profile currently is lower and will improve once we start selling into the merchant market? Yes, sorry. Selling into the. There’s the. The long term CNI market.
Kandarp Patel
So I would not say it is lower but you will get more certainty once you have a contract.
Mohit Kumar
Understood sir. Understood sir. Thank you sir. That’s very
Operator
Helpful. Thank you. Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Shriram Kapoor from Jeffries. Please go ahead.
Shirom Kapur
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just had a small bookkeeping question. So your operating operational EBITDA for your smart meters business. So nine months FY26 in the presentation showed about 466 crores. And for FY26 full year it’s showing us 452 crores. Though for the fourth quarter it’s showing about 180 crores. So has there been some kind of restatement in your operational ebitda and if you could quantify that for the past three quarters like what would have changed in those numbers?
Kunjal Mehta
So just that the operating EBITDA is purely A function of the number of meters that gets installed. So from that perspective, every quarter that number will keep on increasing. So there is no restatement as such. It’s just that we show both the numbers in our financials, the India’s numbers as well as the non India’s numbers.
Shirom Kapur
Right. I’m referring to the non India’s numbers itself. Your operational ebitda in the nine month of FY26 totally was 466 crores. But your total full year FY26 is 452 crores. But the fourth quarter wasn’t a loss. Right? Fourth quarter itself was 180 crores of operational EBITDA. So that’s from understanding this then this number implies only about 270 crores in nine month FY26 versus 470 crores that you mentioned in your nine month presentation. That’s the kind of discrepancy I’m asking about. If you could clarify that.
Kunjal Mehta
No. So my operating EBITDA for the full year comes to around 593 crores for smart meter business and for the Q4 it is 214 crores.
Shirom Kapur
I’m referring to non India’s numbers. If you, you know that’s where I’m seeing the discrepancy. That’s why.
Kunjal Mehta
So I’ll have to check that as to from where you are getting nine month number.
Shirom Kapur
It’s in your presentation. The nine months presentation. Slide 10. We can take it offline. That’s okay. Second, my next question is on this 1.5 trillion tender pipeline. So is this entirely an opportunity in the next 12 months or if you could give what the 12 month pipeline number would be.
Kandarp Patel
So 12 months would be about 80 to 80,000 to 1 lakh crore depending on how bidding process proceeds. But we expect that bids about 80 to 80,000 to 1 lakh crore will get finalized.
Shirom Kapur
Got it. But could you give this, you know what this 12 month pipeline would have been at the same time last year? Has it increased?
Kandarp Patel
It has almost remained same.
Shirom Kapur
Remain the same. Okay. And just last clarification on your the SCA assets that you mentioned, this rupee, you know, 6200 crores of SCA assets. That would be, you know, accounting wise part of your gross block number. Right. In the 25,002,500 crores you mentioned would be part of CWIP. This is not part of. This is a beyond. What is your reported number? Is that understanding correct?
Kunjal Mehta
No. So SCA gets reported separately as under no non financial asset. But.
Shirom Kapur
Right. So that’s the number you mentioned. 6200 crores. That would be the already the operational asset in 2500 crores is yet to be operationalized. Right. Is that understanding correct? These are both part of your other financial assets. But this would be the breakup for the SCA assets on the smart meter side.
Kunjal Mehta
So one. So one is contracted assets and one is SESs. Once the asset gets. I mean once the asset gets commissioned that forms part of your contracted assets. And once it forms, I mean once it is under construction, it forms part of your SE aspect and both are part of non financial assets.
Shirom Kapur
Sure. So could you give that number that in your other financial assets right now, how much is the already the contracted asset and how much is under construction?
Kunjal Mehta
6200 and 7000.
Shirom Kapur
6200 and 7000.
Kunjal Mehta
Correct.
Shirom Kapur
Okay, got it. Thank you so much, sir. Appreciate the clarifications.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Mahesh Patil from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Mahesh Patil
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. First question is on the interstate opportunity. So what do you think like annually, what’s the pipeline and what kind of bidding number that we are looking at?
Kandarp Patel
So interest rate would be around 30 to 40,000 crore collective all stayed together annually.
Mahesh Patil
Okay. Yes, yes. And so my second question is on the HVDC Mumbai HODC project. So we mentioned that we commissioned it fully in FY26. So is it possible to share the date? Was it. Was. Was it a single date or the different elements were commissioned at different point of time?
Kunjal Mehta
It was a single date we commissioned on as from 15th March.
Mahesh Patil
Okay. And so the cost remains as 7,000 crore. Right. For tariff and everything. No additional cost or tariff is being claimed here.
Kunjal Mehta
So 7,000 is the cost of completing that project.
Mahesh Patil
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ram J from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
I have a question regarding the smart meter smart meters installed. Your. How much is the number for the last year smart meters?
Kandarp Patel
No, no. Last year we installed 82.20 lakh. 9 lakh smart meter in 26.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. For your media release, page 3 it says we have deployed 1 crore smart meters
Kandarp Patel
Today. Yeah, yeah. It is all aggregate till today. So last year when we began There was about 31 lakh smart meters which was installed. In the current year we installed about this 82.20 lakh meters. So the aggregate is that number.
Shirom Kapur
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Bharat c. Shah from BCS Capital Ideas Ltd. Please go ahead.
Bharat Shah
Yeah. Hi Kandarpai and hi Kunjal. One broad question. Given the fact that the opportunity on transmission now clearly seems to have widened and it is also reflected in our PIPEX program. Our distribution sets are doing a steady progress and helped by addition of new RAB assets. But our smart meter is a high growth opportunity at least for some length of time and maybe at some steps ENI will kick in in that group. If I look at and I’m focusing on operating profits I.e. Profits before adding any other income.
So our profits for the four year period have remained range bound between four to four and a half thousand crore each year between financial year 1920 up to 2223. In that four year period it has been in a range of four to four and a half thousand crore. Then clearly we made a break in the subsequent year approaching closer to 6,000 then in 25,000 and now 26 about 8,000. Definitely there is a progress made in last three years but it would stay I think more correctly reflective of opportunity and our own preparedness and strength in the area where we see far more accelerated growth in our operating profit.
So from 8,000 crore for the last year operating profit at what state do we see doubling of that and in what time period we think it will triple.
Kandarp Patel
Thank you Bharabhar for this question. So this year, last year the consolidated number was 8726 and see our business other than C and I is all Capex based business and then the moment we capitalize we add that profitability and as we discussed the CAPEX and capitalization plan for coming year that will directly translate to addition of ebitda. So next year given the capitalization plan we expect that number could be around 11,500.
Kunjal Mehta
So Bharatbha, as you know generally as management we would not give guidance on the EBITDA numbers but as we mentioned is that there’s a significant CAPEX capitalization which is going to happen during the next two years itself. And if you consider that during this financial year we have just added, I mean we have not added any revenue numbers from the Mumbai HVDC here which is a significant increase when the full year numbers will kick in in FY26. So from that perspective and if you consider the locked in portfolio by the end of four years when all these projects would get fully commissioned we’re at least looking three times the size of of the current EBITDA trajectory that we have.
Bharat Shah
Three times in what time
Kunjal Mehta
In once all these, all the existing transmission project gets completed in the next 36 to 40 months.
Bharat Shah
I see. So in three to four years time both is operating profit of about 8,000 crore and EBITDA of little less than 9,000 crore last year we are seeing it should triple in three to four years time.
Kunjal Mehta
Yeah. Once all these projects, because all these projects have the locked in tariff which has been indicated and all these projects on a run rate basis will start then tickling all these numbers that we have mentioned.
Bharat Shah
And that takes into account all of that takes into account some amount of additional smart meter contracts that you may take. Or based on the current contracts only that you are estimating
Kunjal Mehta
Based on the current smart meter contracts of 2.46.
Bharat Shah
All right. Which means essentially that what is about 8,000 operating profit and less than 9,000 to 8,700 odd EBITDA should be in the corridor of 25 to 27,000 in three to four years time.
Kunjal Mehta
I would not, I mean, I mean I’m just saying is that all the tariff numbers would get sticking. I do not want to put a number today on the EBITDA margins because I don’t. We generally do not give a guidance on the EBITDAs to. On the investors. But what I’m saying is that all the transmission projects would get completed and that itself would translate to two to three times of the numbers of the current numbers.
Bharat Shah
Okay. And Kunjal, I appreciate your being very coy about the guidance because these are predictable assets, predictable timelines of execution and we know what are the rate of returns that we have to earn on that. So there is a fair degree of settled clarity as to what the number should be. Essentially
Kunjal Mehta
Is that sir, that 72,000 of the under construction pipeline would translate to an additional tariff of 10,000 odd crores once this entire project gets completed. You know that the distribution business will have currently 2,500 EBITDA which will translate to close to 3,000 3,200 numbers. And smart meter business will also start generating 2400 to 3000 odd crores of EBITDA trajectory once the entire smart meter profit. I mean the number, I mean that’s the guidance which we have been giving to everybody and we’ll continue to give that.
Bharat Shah
Okay, I appreciate. I just wanted to. Wanted to basically hear and understand that finally rangebound kind of corridor in which we were there for a length of time. Clearly last three years they’ve been improved progress, but tear away progress is what I was looking forward to. And I believe now this is the phase which is commencing for that database growth. Right?
Kunjal Mehta
Correct.
Bharat Shah
Okay. And Is the picture more sedate thereafter after these three to four year corridor is over or given the longevity of the transmission opportunity and other things which will play out like you talked about CNI and hopefully distribution game may open up. Would we say that the pace of our expansion. Would continue thereafter? Is there
Kandarp Patel
So obviously Bharatbhai, we would like to continue that way and you are spot on. Currently it is a transmission which is contributing to growth. It could be C and I after some time. Then it could be a distribution after some time. And the other one that we are incubating is district cooling. Probably that will also start picking up in four or five years time. So we’ll continue to have that aspiration of growing but with the financial discipline and execution discipline as well.
Bharat Shah
One last thing for district cooling opportunity I believe we are doing something in Gandhi Nagar. But overall with large new clusters are coming about of development across the country, are we not looking at tying up opportunity at the early stage and figuring out a solution while those large mega clusters are being developed anywhere in the country?
Kandarp Patel
I think that is where we are working very actively. In fact we have just got concession I mentioned in last call as well we got a concession from one of the cluster development happening in Chennai. We are also talking to various state government and wherever. So we see a great opportunity there. It may not be a sizeable today but going forward we think that it is going to be a big one.
Bharat Shah
Okay, fantastic. And Hattie, congratulations. I think probably the most exciting phase of this opportunity probably is. I see it is begun.
Kandarp Patel
Perfect. Thank you. Thank you.
Bharat Shah
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen. If you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. We take the next question from the line of Nirmal from Aditya Birla Sun Life amc. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you for taking my question. Sir, I have two small questions on the transmission bottlenecks. So just wanted to understand to what extent do you see the revised compensation scheme, especially after the latest revision positively impact and resolving the ROW issues this financial year. And is it just the compensation that is impacting ROW issues or there are other issues as well?
Kandarp Patel
So row there are two kind of rw. One is where you require a permission. So essentially it is like a forest clearance or if you are encountering any wildlife sanctuary then those clearances and there is a set process around it and we have. We have also, you know completely structured that particular process in a way that we now know very clearly as to when are we going to get and our team is fully, fully aligned to the process or the requirement of the process for getting those approval. So and the second part is row from the general public where there is a ownership of the land from farmers or individual and there those government policies come into play.
Many a time we see that despite having collector order for compensation as per the government policy few of the individuals or group of the individuals will still create a problem problem. Even now all the government, state governments as well as central government is very serious about this particular problem and they are also trying to systematically sort this out. We have also seen now police protection being utilized very frequently for getting rw. So these challenges are there on the ground.
But we also see that timely action from various government authorities as well to sort those issues out.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And do you see the revised compensation impacting positively this financial year?
Kandarp Patel
So device compensation, if it is revised by government and we have to pay that additional compensation we are neutral to it because that gets covered into changing law. But I don’t see it is getting revised significantly anytime soon.
Unidentified Participant
No sir, I meant the. The new amendments that are there. So now you need to have a committee. The market review committee is there. So whether do you think these new amendments will help in resolving these issues? That’s what I’m trying to understand. Especially this financial.
Kandarp Patel
It is already there. It is not new. One, the last year, last two last year when government of India notified that policy and when all states started notifying their respective policy they had this provision and in fact they are called DLBC committee. So they assess what is the market rate prevailing in that particular area and decides compensation based on that. That also gives a flexibility. You know sometime it happens that in a particular area your ready reckoner or the gentry rate is low but market price is high.
And there those committees intervention becomes very very useful. So it certainly helps us.
Unidentified Participant
Okay
Operator
Sir, thank you for the response. Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Vishal Delaya from Bandhan amc. Please go ahead.
Vishal Biraia
Hi. Any equipment that is being sourced from China or you plan to source from China which is under short supply in India.
Kandarp Patel
Visal, we can’t source equipment from China on
Vishal Biraia
Behalf your EPC supplement suppliers and equipment contractors on behalf of transmission?
Kandarp Patel
No. So as per conditions of the build we can’t use any equipment manufactured in China if it is through tbcb. So we don’t envisage any such import from China for our TBCB projects.
Vishal Biraia
Perfect. Thank you sir, that is very helpful. And one question for Kunzel Bhai
Kandarp Patel
On on a supply side kind of challenges that we were facing as a sector in the country is easing out. In fact lot of new capacity is being added as far as GIS transformers, reactors are concerned. And all those OEM manufacturers has also started manufacturing quite a good amount of component in hvdcs. Well, so these and Hitachis of the world has invested in India in their manufacturing capacities. So we see these supply related issues getting eased out very soon and in fact it has eased out to a great extent.
We had a very different distinct advantage even in difficult period we were not really facing that challenge because usually we buy through strategic procurement and we have that kind of relationship and we order those equipment well in advance so that we don’t face those challenges of equipment getting delivered. Delay. In fact no our no project of AESL got delayed because of delay in equipment delivery.
Vishal Biraia
That is happening to you sir. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Bharat c. Shah from BCS Capital Ideas Ltd. Please go ahead.
Bharat Shah
Just one more thing Kunjal. The borrowing level I think for the last year in aggregate was I think about less than 50,000 crores four years down the line. What kind of borrowing level do you envisage?
Kunjal Mehta
Sir, I don’t have an absolute number about four years borrowing level but we have been always giving a guidance that our net leverage would be in the range of 4.5 to 4.7 times. So we will continue to maintain that and that financial discipline we will continue to maintain to ensure that we always get the highest ratings for all our transmission projects. So from that perspective we will ensure that our leverage is always in check to ensure that we have the highest ratings overall.
Bharat Shah
But Kunjal, if this is going to be high growth phase for our profits as projects will kick in. Therefore if we assume the same 4.5 to 4, 7, 4.7 times then it will appear that our borrowings also would go to 125 to 150,000 crore which I think based on the yearly cash flows and other things I doubt or given the CAPEX requirement that our borrowing level will be hitting that kind of number.
Kunjal Mehta
Sir, I’ll. I’ll walk you through separately about our the entire borrowings programs for the next four, five years especially at the end of four years, especially in the
Kandarp Patel
Two thing is certain that we are not reaching that number 4.5 to 4.6. And second thing is also certain that we have logged in capex of 77,000 crore
Bharat Shah
In the four year period.
Kandarp Patel
Yes, yes.
Bharat Shah
Yeah, that’s what I, that I understand. Given that kind of a pace of about 20 odd thousand a year. Of Capex. I would assume that borrowing probably will not rise at the same level, but I’ll. I’ll separately work on that with Kunja.
Kunjal Mehta
Perfect. Thank you, sir.
Bharat Shah
Yeah. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will take that as a last question and we conclude the question and answer session. I now have the conference over to Mr. Kunjal Mehta for his closing comments.
Kunjal Mehta
No, I would just like to thank each one of you who participated in the call. In case we have not been able to answer or clarify to anyone. Happy to take any of your queries apart. Thank you all.
Operator
Thank you on behalf of Adani Energy Solutions. That concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.