Shakti Pumps Allays Investor Fears Of Shrinking Orderbook With Rs 1037 crore Maharashtra Order

The announcement of a key order win of over Rs 1000 crores in Maharashtra must have gone some way in allaying the rising fears of analysts tracking the firm who questioned the management a lot on the shrinking orderbook over the past two quarters. 

The  Madhya Pradesh-based solar pump manufacturer, despite enjoying an over 25% market share in the Indian solar pump landscape, was facing a double whammy — one in terms of its order book and one on the front of investors’ confidence.

has received a Letter of Empanelment from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for 34,720 Standalone Off-Grid DC Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems (SPWPS) pumps collectively worth ~ Rs. 1037 Crores (inclusive of GST) for the entire state of Maharashtra under Magel Tyala Saur Krushi Pump Yojana / PM KUSUM B. The Letter of Empanelment is valid for up to one year and the installation is to be completed within 60 days from the date of issuance of NTP / work order. 

One of the key questions that confronted the top management of the company in a recent investor call was linked to the lower order books of the Indore-based company. However, the firm is optimistic about its roadmap for FY26 and is planning several ways to boost its revenue through diversification of goods and services and scaling up its existing business.

The top management also attributed this to the pace of execution. “In solar business, our order book used to be between Rs. 2,000 crores and Rs. 2,500 crores. Right now, it is Rs. 1,350+ crores. But this is also because we have also increased our execution at the same speed. We must install this solar pumping system in 90 to 120 days which makes us believe that this order book is executed well in the next two quarters. We are also anticipating more orders in the coming period. And we will do 25% to 30% growth year-on-year. And we think that solar business will grow well in India,” Dinesh Patidar, Chairman of Shakti Pumps, told investors in a recent investor call. A point that has been proved in the subsequent announcement of the large order win today. 

The firm has also roped in Ramakrishna Sataluri, who has had a long stint at Tata Power Solar System Limited where he served as Executive Vice President and later Chief Products & Marketing, to head its rooftop solar business. 

Dwindling Order Book

The firm had attributed the muted growth in Q1 to multiple factors, notably, the India-Pakistan skirmish. 

“You see, we have already experienced 10% growth. And if you look at the last quarter, the major issue was the 10-day conflict with Pakistan, where we called our Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan team back to the head office because it was not right for us to keep the whole team there. So, due to our 10-day loss, this growth is a little low. Otherwise, we will maintain our 25%-30% growth. We are confident and all the planning is going on for this in our pipeline,” Dinesh Patidar, Chairman of Shakti Pumps, told his investors in the recent investor call.

The firm remains confident of several orders in the pipeline from states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, among others. The firm says that 20 percent of its revenue comes from the export market and 80 percent comes from its solar business. The firm currently exports its equipment primarily to African and Middle Eastern markets.

Proposed plans to boost backward integration and venture into new markets, primarily the Indian green market are also expected to reduce dependence on goernment contracts, another point of worry.  The firm, in its latest investor call, said that it anticipated a 25%-30% rise in its revenue in FY26 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

Solar Cells Production By FY27

The publicly-listed company, in a unique initiative, has planned to commission its proposed DCR-based solar cell unit by FY26. The firm believes the opening of an in-house production facility is likely to aid in better control over its procurement of raw materials.

It has also planned to start production of solar modules to cater to the rising demand of the rooftop solar market under PM Surya Ghar. The firm currently procures the same from companies like Adani Solar, Premium Energies, and ReNew. The firm recently raised funding through QIP to augment its plans to start solar cell and solar module production.

The firm believes that with the in-house facilities for solar cells and modules, it could leverage them for its export market, allowing more leeway to facilitate more revenues. Currently planned for in-house consumption, the firm has proposed to make the best use of its 2.2 GW solar cell line to broaden its revenue, cut raw material costs, and allow better control over its equipment and supply chain.

“We remain confident about the opportunity in the solar rooftop business driven by government initiative such as PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. In the solar rooftop space, we have initiated business in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,” Patidar said.

EVs, Inverters & Much More

The company has planned to start the production of equipment specially crafted for the Indian Electric Vehicle (EV) market. These include items like EV steering and compressor motors, controllers, and EV chargers.

“We are also in the process of establishing an EV motors, controllers and chargers facility under our wholly owned subsidiary Shakti EV Mobility with an annual capacity of 2 lakh motors and 2 lakh controllers and chargers, which will require a total capex of Rs. 250 crore,” Patidar said.

He also said that trials of its EV products are already on and talked about the regulatory approvals required for the business.

“In the EV business, you have to understand the approvals take time in the automobile sector and each company has its own different standards. We have given our samples, our technology, our design for approval in many companies. As and when it is approved, we will tell you more about it in the coming quarters. We have gotten the business to a good condition. We have given samples at the development stage in very good companies. In the coming time, we feel that we will get a good business in it.

Lesser Concern for Branding of New Products

The company also told its investors that due to the legacy name of the brand, it would not be tough for them to market their newer products like solar panels in the market.

“We have two advantages if we start our own solar. The export business which brings us Rs. 500 crores currently, will then be able to bring Rs. 2,000 crores of solar panels as well. Because in that channel, Shakti pump is already approved and we will be able to bring our business from export through that channel. Because we are already exporting solar pumps and we will also need solar panels. And since the brand is already approved, we will not face the issue of higher marketing expenses. There is a line-up, and we are also looking at it in the export market,” Patidar added.

Scaling Up Business

The company has also planned to scale up its existing business like that of inverters and solar mounting structures. The firm has its single-phase grid-tied inverters under the brand name SunShakti 2 and its three-phase 3-10 kW grid-tied inverter under the name Kalpavriskha.

The firm said that its solar structure capacity has already increased from 1 lakh per annum to 2 lakh per annum and the VFD and inverter capacity has increased from 2 lakh per annum to 4 lakh per annum. 

“I would like to say one more thing that our inverter of 3 KW and 5 KW is more efficient than our competitors. These are made in India and have good quality. So, we are moving ahead at good speed. Till now, we have seen very few people in the made-in-India inverter market. The market of China is still in this which we are slowly replacing with our Indian products,” Patidar told investors.