Protean EGov Technologies Ltd – A Play on the ONDC, Digital Policies

Latest Conference call findings –
Latest Concall Highlights

Financial Highlights:

• Revenue growth of 29% YoY driven by taxation, pension services, and identity services
• EBITDA of INR 126 crores, profit before tax of INR 104 crores, and profit after tax of INR 80 crores for the nine months ended December 2023
• Explanation of flat growth in tax services in Q3 and increase in employee costs related to talent and technology investments
• Provisioning explained as a conservative accounting practice related to government debt

New Products and Business Expansion:

• Launch of new DPI in education and skilling, multi-sector API marketplace, and AI-powered C-KYC solution
• Building strategic partnerships in international geographies across Africa and Southeast Asia
• Focus on enabling democratic access to open digital ecosystems, data exchange, and enterprise digitization
• Opportunities in Middle East and Africa regions for implementing technical stacks and public infrastructure
• Role in agriculture with the Agri-stack framework and focus on education and skilling
• Expansion in digital commerce, consumer and corporate tech space with SaaS models
• Addition of a new ODE in education and skilling, and building on the data front with e-sign and e-KYC services
• International business expansion with partnerships in African nations
• Softly regulated pricing structure for government services

Operational Updates:

• Expectations for stronger Q4 historically with other income from B2B services in open digital ecosystems
• Seasonality in PAN issuance business with peak in Q2
• Market share consolidation in tax services business
• Margin profile expected to grow with new businesses offsetting investments
• Adaptability of public cloud stack for government business opportunities
• Headcount addition of around 10 people in Q3
• ESOP cost of INR 4 crores in 3Q
• Capitalized expenses for tech stack development around INR 50 crores

Future Plans:

• Future plans to provide more information on ONDC and new businesses in presentations
• Marketing plans for new products with targeted strategies

Overall, Protean eGov Technologies Limited is focused on expanding its business through new products, strategic partnerships, and international expansion while maintaining strong financial performance and operational efficiency.