Source: Audio Recording Of Q2 FY23 Earnings Call

Rough notes:

Q: Cell mfg plant at Bangalore?
→ 80 Acres of land, planned in two phases, Phase 1 and 2 (Each 6GWh Capacity), Overall Capex 6000Cr. | Plant financing Capex | Phase-1: 4000 Cr and Phase-2: 200 Cr | Mainly Internal Accruals | Bridge financing as needed and Do not need to monetize HDFC life asset | Phase-1 production to start in FY24 | commission by FY24-25 | stabilization FY25-26 | Phase -1: Targeting all customers | 2W, 3W, 4W

Q: Lead-Acid batteries | In the Last 2-3 Yrs, did the organized sector gain market share?
→ Exide gaining share in all the segments

Q Why are margins down?
→ Last 2 Yrs., all raw material prices have monotonically gone up. Price increased but there is a time lag. After raw material prices stabilize, need 6 months to revert to historical margins (14%) .

Q: How much Capex for the Base business (Lead-Acid)?
→ 400~500 Cr. per year

Q: Demand Outlook?
→ Grown well, Robust demand, No Lack of demand

Q: 13% YoY growth in this Q. Breakup – Volume Vs Value??
→ Double-digit in both volume and value

Q: How double-digit growth in both when the business grew only 13%, which includes inflation
→ Not very clear…Repeat Q | Blabbering by Mgmt Plus-minus growth in different segment

Q: Nexcharge any sales in this Q
→ Production just started…Need time to stabilize

Q: Which product launch under Nexcharge
→ Buses | Telecom | 2W → Main objective: Understand Li-Ion tech | full leveraging only after we mfg own cell

Q: 600+ cr. CAPEX in past 6 months, CF statement
→ Primarily, Land and Tech for cell mfg

Q: Base business, Capacity Utiliz.?
→ 85~90%

Q: Sequential QoQ drop of 3%…mentioned gaining market share but competitor (listed) reported growth
→ Repeat your question | Sales composition not identical | Exide sales heavily into UPS segment | Q2 always decline

Q: Why not selected for the PLI scheme??
→ We’re well informed | Responded practically to the bid | Wish luck to those who got it | Good to get but not worried | Aggressive bidding would likely lead to penalties
Personal Opinion → Pretty strange response

Q: Li-Ion cell mfg facility–> Value add options?? EBITDA margin Target
→ Similar to Lead-Acid | 70% value added in this activity and 30% in module pack in EV battery

Overall Impression:

→ Management was responding instead of answering and providing loose responses in multiple instances.