Diamond Power Infrastructure Q2 FY27 Earnings Call: First Rs. 1,000-Cr Quarter, NCLT Dues Prepaid A Year Early (DIACABS)

Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd held its Q2 FY27 earnings call on November 03, 2026. Here's a quick read of what management said — performance, strategy, and the outlook ahead.

First Rs.1,000-Cr Quarter; H1 Already Above FY 2025-2026 Full-Year PAT

• Q2 FY 2026-2027 revenue of Rs.1,032 cr — up 135% YoY and 50% QoQ; EBITDA incl. other income Rs.133 cr (+189% YoY) at a 12.9% margin; PAT Rs.108 cr vs Rs.28 cr in Q2 FY 2025-2026 (3.9x); EPS Rs.1.87.
• H1 FY 2026-2027 revenue of Rs.1,722 cr — 90% of FY 2025-2026 full-year revenue; H1 PAT Rs.166 cr already exceeds FY 2025-2026 full-year PAT of Rs.158 cr; eighth consecutive growth quarter.
• ~1/3 of the 135% YoY growth is metal/price pass-through — management estimates LME aluminum up ~20% and copper ~40% YoY; volume growth (km of cable, tons of conductor) "well above 60-70%" YoY; conductor dispatches 6,850 km in Q2 FY 2026-2027; management asks to be judged on volumes, not rupee top line.
• Employee + other expenses fell to 5.7% of revenue from 8.2% in Q2 FY 2025-2026, driving EBITDA margin up 240 bps even as contribution margin eased from 18.7% to 16.9% on LME inflation in the revenue base.
• Other income of Rs.18 cr — treasury income on QIP funds in FDs; finance cost Rs.12 cr (mainly LC discounting/bank charges); tax negligible on carry-forward losses.
• Balance sheet transformed — net worth swung from -Rs.604 cr (31 Mar 2026) to +Rs.760 cr (30 Sep 2026); net debt Rs.527 cr became net cash Rs.572 cr after the Rs.1,614 cr QIP (funds received August 2026); promoter loans fully repaid.
• NCLT resolution plan prepaid in September 2026 — full Rs.501 cr cash, a year ahead of the September 2027 deadline, with ~Rs.9.5 cr prepayment discount; lender NOC/charge-release in process; company now eligible for a credit rating for fresh bank lines.

Book-to-Bill 1.29x; Government Tender Flow Expected to Accelerate in H2

• Order book of Rs.3,735 cr at quoted value (30 Sep 2026) — ~Rs.4,300 cr at current market prices given escalation clauses; H1 FY 2026-2027 inflows of Rs.2,217 cr vs revenue Rs.1,722 cr imply a 1.29x book-to-bill (after 1.63x in FY 2025-2026).
• Order mix — conductors 46% (Rs.1,718 cr, incl. a Rs.974 cr AL59 order for an 800 kV HVDC line, which management says secures pre-qualifications to serve Indian TBCB players); MV cables 36% (Rs.1,328 cr); balance LT + data center cables.
• Management targets execution of almost Rs.2,500 cr by March (end of FY 2026-2027) — balance of the order book carries into FY 2027-2028; average order intake runs at Rs.350-400 cr (period unspecified).
• Management expects inflows to rise considerably in H2/Q3-Q4 FY 2026-2027 as government budgeted tenders finalized in Q2 and early Q3 flow through EPC contractors; it is confident of having 50% of the FY 2027-2028 target in orders by end of Q3 FY 2026-2027 and the full FY 2027-2028 order book by end of Q4 FY 2026-2027.
• Rs.32,000 cr of live MV/EHV cable inquiries industry-wide — pending finalization over the next 90 days from the Q3 FY 2026-2027 call date; management framed this as an industry-wide pipeline that will go to "some or the other cable player," not company-specific orders.
• GETCO's EHV shift is an industry demand signal — GETCO purchased Rs.900 cr of EHV cables in FY 2025-2026 and in the first 7 months of FY 2026-2027 has already floated Rs.3,200 cr of EHV tenders, with another Rs.900 cr closing in November 2026 (Q3 FY 2026-2027); cited by management as an example of utilities' preference shift from overhead to underground.
• Key wins — Rs.1,370 cr of 11 kV cables for PGBCL's coastal underground schemes; Rs.164.5 cr GETCO Jamnagar order (third consecutive year of 66 kV EHV supply, with good 66 kV inflow expected within the next 90 days); Rs.152 cr LOA from Adani Electricity Mumbai; ~Rs.195 cr of MV cables ordered by PGVCA-related contractors in Q2 FY 2026-2027.

Data Center Cables Emerge as a Rs.750 Cr FY 2026-2027 Revenue Stream

• Data center cables delivered Rs.242 cr in Q2 FY 2026-2027 (23% of revenue) via EPC contractors for hyperscale campuses (L&T, Orion Pro, Sterling Wilson, Blue Star); September 2026 was a record production month at Rs.575 cr + GST, incl. Rs.240 cr of data center cables.
• Management expects Rs.750 cr of FY 2026-2027 top line from data center customers — orders already in hand; management has instructed teams to scan every opportunity from 40 MW to gigawatt scale and says it is "at the back of every potential opportunity."
• Industry context from management's marketing director — data centers coming up across 66 cities in India, scaling from 20 MW to gigawatt sizes, with 230+ developers per the latest available data.
• At least 2% extra margin on data center cables vs conventional — management (Amit Bhatnagar) attributes this to stringent pre-qualification terms and selective approvals by data center consultants and data center companies creating an entry barrier; management did not quantify the repeat vs project-based order split.
• Mix detail — cables 40% / conductors 31% of Q2 FY 2026-2027 revenue; 11 & 33 kV cables were 79% of cable revenue ex-data center (33 kV the largest line); conductor-to-cable tonnage mix envisaged at ~30-31% conductor for FY 2026-2027, expected to shift to 25:75 in FY 2027-2028 as cables grow faster.
• EHV margin premium — EHV cables typically earn 5-6% higher margins than MV and almost 10% higher than LV; management is targeting EHV to reach a double-digit share of top line in Q3 and Q4 FY 2026-2027, though it has no firm number for the overall EHV market size.
• Solar cables scaling — 3.3 kV solar cables Rs.39 cr in Q2 FY 2026-2027 and Rs.221 cr on firm order book; Tata Power Solar classified as a key account (October 2026) on expected very large inflows; a new 1,000 km/month single-core 3.3 kV plant to be on stream within the next 18 months.

11-13% Band Until Polymer; Backward Integration Is a Margin Play

• EBITDA margins guided at 11-13% until the polymer plant is on stream (expected by December 2027, i.e., by Q3 FY 2027-2028); management said no major change in EBITDA% is expected till then, with revenue growth delivering higher absolute EBITDA; a 14-16% band would be guided in the following year (FY 2028-2029) once polymer is on stream.
• Analyst margin scenarios were not endorsed — the analyst's 15%+ H2 FY 2026-2027 and 18-20% over FY 2027-2028 through FY 2029-2030 scenarios did not receive management's backing; management called the present margin "the most reasonable margin" to expect, noting peers carry gross margins above 20-25%.
• Polymer backward integration: Rs.170 cr capex, 84,500 t complex — compound is 35-40% of cable cost; Phase 1 (Rs.78 cr, six lines, 66,500 t/yr) progressively commissioning June-December 2027; Phase 2 (Swiss-engineered super-clean peroxide XLPE line, 18,000 t) commissioning early 2028 after pilot trials — described as the first of its kind and probably the sixth in the world.
• Management expects ~10% additional margin from in-house polymer production (period unspecified), a >Rs.50/kg margin implying Rs.120 cr additional EBITDA at current volumes on captive consumption (period unspecified), and a 3.5% EBITDA increase once implemented (period unspecified); capacity is meant for 100% captive consumption with no external sales or exports; management plans to pass on 3-5% of the polymer benefit to customers.
• Incremental capex of ~Rs.366 cr across 6-7 projects is underway (period unspecified) — only Rs.73-75 cr (balancing equipment) adds to volume/top line; the rest targets EBITDA margin via backward integration and value-added products; funded by Rs.78 cr from the QIP GCP account + Rs.100 cr internal accruals + small debt if needed.
• Q2 margin bridge — on 135% revenue growth with only ~70bps margin improvement, management attributed the gap to a 30-day price-escalation lag; falling aluminum prices swing EBITDA by ±1%, while contribution envisaged at order booking remains protected, making contracts effectively "costless."
• Capacity utilization at ~45% in H1 FY 2026-2027 — of the level achievable once all balancing equipment is operationalized; no specific utilization target for coming years was provided; CFO Kuldeep Thakkar added that return on investment and return on capital employed are expected to improve further.

FY 2026-2027 Guidance Reaffirmed; Exports and Roadmap Ahead

• FY 2026-2027 revenue guidance reaffirmed at Rs.4,300-4,500 cr — implying Rs.2,580 cr in H2 FY 2026-2027; per CFO Kuldeep Thakkar's analysis, most cable companies do 40% of revenue in Q1-Q2 and 60% in Q3-Q4.
• Management expects a large export contribution in FY 2027-2028 — large UAE/Middle East distributor appointed; UL approval application filed for MV cables for the US market and samples sent for type testing for Europe; a dedicated cross-functional export team formed; management expects most pre-qualifications to be overcome before end-March 2027 (FY 2026-2027).
• Export product mix is market-dependent — aluminum cables for Africa, copper cables for Europe and the US; management notes 9 of the world's top 10 cable makers are MV/EHV manufacturers.
• 2028-2032 roadmap to be shared in Q4 FY 2026-2027 — management asserted it will stay ahead of every other Indian cable company in medium/high voltage capacities and capabilities; MV expansion details (the analyst referenced an earlier indication of five new MV lines every year from 2028) will come at end of Q4 FY 2026-2027 while it negotiates with global players on line count, price, and assured delivery.
• Capacity additions in flight — sixth CCV line ordered with delivery compressed to within 1 year (bought out from an existing order of an international player; standard delivery ~2 years per line); copper cable capacity doubling; LV cable project to be commissioned before April 2027; copper capacity of 1,500 t/month live, scaling to 2,500 (timeline unspecified).
• Scale advantage claimed on MV lines — with 11 medium voltage cable lines, the company can already consume its own polymer output; management said a minimum of 10 operational lines is needed to make XLP compounds at the desired scale, and competitors adding lines will take 2-3 years to reach its current count, by which time it expects to have doubled its numbers.
• Organization — new COO (Ashwani Saraf) and new CFO (Kuldeep Thakkar) in place; succession planning underway with a director's office for GenNext to join decision-making over the next 5-7 years; ~2,000 employees at Vadodara.

Government Exposure, HTLS Skepticism and Legacy Recovery

• Customer concentration — ~670 customers served in H1 FY 2026-2027; Adani Group entities are 43% of the order book, with management holding Adani's top-line share to a stated cap of ~20% over time (every Adani order via reverse auction at market price); Adani sales were <30% of Q2 FY 2026-2027 top line.
• Geopolitical exposure acknowledged — management said the power/road infrastructure business is 60-70% dominated or controlled by government, but sees no major risk that could "turn the apple cart overnight," given cables' irreplaceable role in carrying power as all energy sources convert to electricity.
• CFO Kuldeep Thakkar framed geopolitics as a positive for the industry — as crude prices rise, new energy gains traction; with the Government of India's focus on new energy, solar/wind capacity (which comes up faster than thermal) requires evacuation to be planned quickly, so demand for cables and related equipment is likely to continue.
• Management is not bullish on HTLS — views it as a niche segment likely limited to 2-3% or 4% of the conductor market (period unspecified); the company has not manufactured a single kg of ACSR conductor for the last 5 years and remains focused on AL59 eco conductors; a dedicated two-member team has targeted HTLS at less than 5% of top line at its best (period unspecified).
• HTLS industry pipeline per management's data — tenders worth ~Rs.5,000 cr floated in FY 2026-2027, of which ~Rs.2,800-3,000 cr awarded, with the remainder expected to be awarded; management also noted that as of FY 2026-2027, India's lines are already 20-25% overloaded, and underground MV/EHV cable competes with HTLS with an advantage on curbing power theft.
• Legacy receivables of Rs.957 cr — management is positive on recovering Rs.300 cr, of which Rs.116 cr is quantified with customer confirmation that it is payable, while the balance goes through reconciliation, arbitration and negotiation; management corrected the analyst's framing: the Rs.300 cr recovery was not committed for FY27 — the indicated timeline is 24 months.
• Tax shield runs until Q1 2029 — carry-forward tax losses stood at Rs.1,432 cr as of 31 March 2026 (FY 2025-2026 close); management indicated the company will have to start paying normal corporate taxes from Q1 2029.