Praj Industries Q4FY22 Highlights 

 

  • Current blending of 10% achieved. Cabinet has approved amendments to the national policy of biofuels 2018. The amendment approved allowing more feedstock for the production of biofuels.
  • New orders in Q4 2022 – 1105.5cr (91% from bioenergy, 6% from engineering and rest from PHS business)
  • Execution of IOCL 2G plant – 90% completed
  • Total order backlog – 2878cr – (75% bioenergy, 20% engineering & 5% PHS)  (86% Domestic 14% International)
  • Cash in Hand – 623cr
  • 850cr ltrs current capacity (67% from sugar and 33% green)
  • For 20% blending approximately 1400cr ltr are required and the installed capacity needed will be 1900cr
  • Blue Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen, Grey Hydrogen. The push is for green hydrogen globally. Clean Tech and Green Tech space. CPES Unit. Hydrogen as transportation fuel is still under experimentation.
  • Recent announcement by government to cap sugar exports and divert it for the production of ethanol.
  • Lot more sugary feedstock is available for feedstock which is good for the country.
  • Revised CBG prices (CBG prices revised to index to CNG) resulting in inflow of orders and enquiries for setting up CBG plants.
  • Commissioned 2 plants and gas is being sold in retail outlets. Commissioning the rice straw plant in 3months. It will be a unique plant. Rice straw, Pred mud and Industrial waste all will be used to produce CBG.
  • SAF – Technology is there Need is there
  • Default blending of 27%
  • Currently blending only in petrol why not diesel
  • Flex fuel vehicles
  • Use of ethanol can be used in many more spaces as a low carbon alternative to petrol.
  • Diversification is necessary.
  • Capacity Utilization – Seasonality has gone down and they have debottlenecked all their capacity. Asset Turnover increased from 4 to 8.
  • 20000KLPD required to reach 20% blending 
  • All their investment is in FD, Mutual Funds & Bank Bonds. They only invest in AAA rated companies.
  • Paying tax @22% effective tax rate 25%
  • Confident to reach the target of 20% by 2025. The storage infrastructure already exists.
  • Transition from just being a sugar producer to being a multiproduct manufacturer. This can take place in a timeline of 12-18 months because the price of CBG has been increased by the government and there is a good inflow of orders and enquiries. But according to Mr. Joshipura there is still some scope of price adjustment possible. 
  • Many people are setting up starch-based ethanol plants because of the availability of feedstock.
  • Feedstock won’t be a problem in the near future. The plant would be set up based on location and availability of the feedstocks.
  • If you use current vehicles higher than E10 then you don’t get all the benefits which would get from ethanol. Which the new designed E20 vehicles would get. There would be some loss of performance in the E10 vehicles. Some changes in the fuel line components need to be made in order to make a E20 vehicle.
  • We are a country of engineers if there are some minor adjustments in the vehicles those would be taken care of.
  • A 100KLPD starch-based plant would cost upward of 125-150cr with a healthy 2-digit IRR.
  • A CBG Plant 30-120cr depending on the feedstock which will also have a healthy 2-digit IRR.
  • Working with ARAI for the biodiesel program. The program is in progress and the results are satisfactory.
  • Use of starchy feedstock has made the business all year round because sugarcane is a seasonal crop and earlier the business was dependent on seasonality and location.
  • The War situation in Europe has pushed the 2g ethanol plant development by at least 6months.
  • With beer consumption reaching to pre covid levels, many MNCs and local players are looking to attract customers in the flavoured beer segment and non-alcoholic beer segments.