- 13 minutes ago
The US has imposed an initial duty of up to 126% on certain solar imports, raising fresh concerns for Indian manufacturers. But industry leaders say diversified supply chains and overseas manufacturing could limit the actual impact on exports.
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NewsTranscript
00:15good afternoon and welcome to the business today show this is the market closing show
00:19i'm sakshi patra and here is where we get you all the market closing action on the d
00:23street first up let's take a look at what's hot in the corporate and the financial world
00:31after yesterday's sharp sell-off markets see a brisk action and remain volatile in trade
00:37sensex is nearing 82 400 while the nifty is around 25 500 swinging between gains and losses
00:43even as buying in metals autos and pharma stocks continues to provide support to the broader markets
00:54it stocks rebound after yesterday's drought with the nifty it index now up two percent in intraday
00:59on strong global queues tcsn emphasis are among top nifty gainers as nasdaq's rally and positive
01:05anthropic commentary helped calm ai disruption fears mid-cap id stocks also up by over three percent
01:16it is the solar stocks however that have been hammered in the session today after the u.s has
01:20imposed a seep 126 percent duty on indian solar imports wadi energies premier energies and wikram
01:26solar are the stocks that have seen a sharp correction in trade today with the exposure
01:31in the u.s and of course focus and sentiment also hit across the solar pack
01:40jeffrey's turns bullish on globally exposed auto component stocks naming bharat forge mother sun and
01:46sonar blw as the top picks after steep f527 eps downgrades through calendar year 2025 earnings revisions
01:53are now seeing clear turnaround
01:59precious metals rally a safe haven demand returns amid global uncertainty and softer rupee mcx silver now
02:05surges 7 000 rupees to 2.67 lakh rupees a kilo while mcx gold also gains 1200 rupees to 1
02:12.61 lakh rupees per
02:2310 grams all right let's quickly look at how the markets are trading in the last hour about 20
02:28minutes 22 minutes in trade the nifty is up by about 0.2 percent in trade right now so we
02:33have
02:33slipped from the day's high point and the volumes have also cut down you can actually see it's the
02:38second half where uh you know selling pressure emerged from the high levels even though we are
02:43still maintaining about 0.3 percent up it's the nifty bank that's now slipped marginally lower
02:47and in fact it's again trying to inch up high in trade so a lot of volatility in trade right
02:51now
02:51this is despite the fact that india wix is still trading at around 13 odd levels uh the sectors that
02:56are trading under pressure are psu banks infrastructure fmcg these are the sectors that are down in trade
03:03but it's the it stocks that are actually rebounding you can clearly see the it index is up by 1
03:08.7
03:09pharma and autos have also led from the front in today's trading session you can see on the nifty
03:14as well a lot of these it names returning to flavor look at hcl tech that's up by 3 percent
03:19it's the top
03:20mover on the nifty today look at even bajaj auto 2.7 percent higher and look at what the auto
03:25index is
03:26reflecting these are the names that have really helped it support higher in trade today and bajaj auto
03:32is up uh hiromoto is also up and about in trade tata steel sriram finance uh these are the names
03:38that are higher in trade even tata steel is up up and about and indigo is also doing well at
03:43this
03:43point in time but on the lagging front you'll see reliance industries as a heavyweight counter
03:47that's uh somehow curbing the upside 2.2 percent lower for this one it slipped below the 1400
03:53level state bank of india eternal adani ports bharti et al and these are the stocks that are actually
03:59trading under pressure anywhere between one to one and a half percent lower in trade but uh let's
04:05quickly look at what's happening on the solar stocks at this point in time a 126 duty announcement of
04:11from the u.s on solar imports is something that has really led to some uh selling pressure across the
04:18board on the solar stocks we now have uh special guests joining in mr gyanish chowdhury the cmd of
04:23vikram solar with us on the program we also have uh you know other guests also joining in we have
04:30abhishek chee joining in from wari group welcome to both of you thank you so much for taking the time
04:34out for this special discussion of course here this is the space that's been in focus since the morning
04:39i'll come to you gyanish first to help us understand you know your own uh exposure in the
04:45u.s so far in terms of your exports and uh what does this news flow of 12 26 percent
04:51uh duty and
04:53how does it really impact you hello sakshi thanks for having me uh i think uh first of all there
04:59is a
05:00there is a clarification on the duty that has come into play it's mostly uh limited around uh solar cell
05:08whether uh assembled or not and uh as a large manufacturer and exporter we don't uh necessarily
05:16see that indian domestic cells will be uh used in solar panels which are exported to the u.s
05:23so the impact on uh vikram solar is uh is nil so to speak because uh currently our cell capacity
05:32is
05:32coming upstream by end of the end of the year parallelly we have a uh domestic cell supply deal
05:39for domestic market already in place so our uh impact on this uh tariff is uh nil so to speak
05:47so impact is nil so you won't be impacted at all with this 126 percent uh you know duty that
05:54has been
05:54coming in and therefore we do see some recovery on the stock as well we'll uh you know of course
05:59understand in more detail with all of this but let me also bring in abhishek pareik into the
06:03conversation abhishek for wadi group um of course you have already got presence in the u.s you have
06:09capacities there manufacturing facilities there you're also building up uh you know of course a lot
06:15of mergers acquisitions are taking place in the same region you're also stepping up your investments
06:21what does this news flow really mean to you and to your exports
06:28it's so handy on the show if you look at the announcements this is largely around the
06:33manufacturing of solar cell which has got impacted by this recent announcement so if at all you are
06:38manufacturing solar cell in india and then also assembling solar panel in india and exporting to
06:44the u.s markets so that's a particular case wherein the duty shall impact or duty shall be living
06:50in the u.s market however if you look at our strategy of supply chain and sports to u.s
06:55as well
06:55as local manufacturing in u.s in past also what we have done is we have created an alternate market
07:00of supply chain wherein we source solar cells from those markets which are acceptable and allowed in
07:05u.s markets we import those solar cells either in india manufacturing in uh in our indian uh
07:11manufacturing facilities and export to u.s markets either or we import these solar cells in the u.s
07:17facilities and then manufacture panel in the u.s facility and supply locally so in either of the
07:22case we have not used solar cell from india any which ways so this impact does not really comes to
07:28us as long as we continue our supply chain resilience in fact in the recent past we announced that we
07:33have got tie-up with manufacturing units in oman where we are getting an access to polysilicon also
07:40which is very much accuracy compliant as per u.s law and further insulates our upstream supplies as well
07:46even in the upcoming scenarios of new geopolitical especially the u.s markets okay um ganesha what
07:55does this really mean uh for the industry at large and for you as well do you think the focus
08:00will be
08:01largely uh to uh probably shift focus to domestic or to completely shift your focus in creating more
08:09manufacturing facilities and sourcing from the u.s to avoid any of these escalations if they continue
08:14going forward on the duties front or other tariffs front as well actually uh we've seen this scenario
08:21pan out since the last year and a half at least if not yeah where the u.s has been
08:26coming down very
08:27hard on not just india but globally uh with a lot of uh changes a lot of uh you know
08:35um aggressive stand
08:37on uh global trade uh this has certainly uh made it difficult for companies to pre-plan what is
08:45lying ahead and how to make uh sense of these uh frequent changes and frequent uh you know uh go
08:52backs now as far as vikram is concerned we have been mulling our u.s manufacturing although because of
08:59the change in scenario we are still working on our next steps as to where we would like to land
09:05with
09:05respect to catering to our u.s customers uh the world is still out you will be the first one
09:10to
09:10know as soon as we will land that plan in place although having said that i think india becoming
09:18one of the uh you know after china the largest manufacturing hub for solar in the world we stand
09:26a very good chance going forward to cater to the world and create a situation when we are competing
09:32with china and giving them a run for their money in terms of uh you know acquiring and uh taking
09:38over
09:39market share i think that is happening primarily now because china is uh uh is walking away from a lot
09:46of incentive in subsidies which were provided earlier and uh this creates a level playing field for large
09:52manufacturers uh with uh with a presence and a brand to call for um like wikram solar to be able
10:00to
10:00attract those markets and be able to uh participate in those uh scenarios and i think going forward we
10:07see a lot of that happening whether it is europe whether it is apac or other regions okay abhishek what
10:14about uh the renegotiation need with the existing power purchase agreements already in place or the
10:21supply contracts with u.s developers um you know how are you really looking at that will that need a
10:26rethink at this point in time or things go as is what happens to the order book as i initially
10:33said
10:34that the business remains as usual this really does not impact even the ongoing exports or contracts
10:40are happening as we speak from our facilities also same point in time our existing order book in u.s
10:46also remains insulated from this because as long as we are maintaining the solar cell procurement from
10:52those countries which are lower tariffs from from within u.s i think we remain continue you know
10:58and to be able to export those numbers in the u.s market same point in time but it's more
11:02important
11:02here is to also evaluate the local manufacturing in u.s which is coming up a big way 1.6
11:07year about
11:08facility we started last year yeah i think up to what support point to recover facility in next couple of
11:14months
11:14more than sufficient to cater to our u.s markets okay um ganesh let me come to you you were
11:21talking
11:21about china and how um you know indian manufacturers like yours are competing well on the global footprint
11:27uh when we compare to the existing duties that have been announced to one of 126 percent how are we
11:33how where does india stand with respect to countries like say cambodia or malaysia thailand or other countries
11:38countries that also um or maybe south eastern countries china and other places as well where
11:43these um or maybe laos and uh you know such other company countries have also been talked about
11:47where they are also facing a surge in tariffs it's actually so um the the way this will that the
11:55way
11:55this has worked and will continue to work is that there are new tariff havens uh especially for this
12:00market okay like north africa and other regions which have the lowest tariff uh currently uh you know
12:08imposed by the u.s so uh and these now have become uh sprawling hubs for uh solar manufacturing
12:15especially cell and wafer now these places will be the regions where uh solar cells will be used to
12:21convert into solar panels uh and exported to the u.s uh this has been the trend in the last
12:27year so
12:28it's nothing new for us as far as this hundred and twenty six percent or tariff is concerned this uh
12:33uh investigation has been ongoing for nine to twelve months so we were expecting nothing better or
12:38nothing worse than this um and um and and we have been uh ready for this so to speak and
12:45it doesn't
12:46really impact our performance or our growth okay uh give us give me a sense very quickly before i let
12:53you go over the next 12 to 24 months what's going to be the key focus of your company in
12:59terms of your
12:59investments growth opportunities and the key drivers for you in terms of both domestic as well as exports
13:05see our objective for the next 12 months is to uh preserve margin uh and prevent any sort of uh
13:13you
13:14know undercutting and uh uh in in this uh price sensitive market parallelly our objective is also to
13:21add more capacity our new plants are coming upstream so we will see significant surge in
13:27our overall capacity our cell plant is coming on uh by the end of this uh uh calendar year so
13:33there's
13:34there's a lot to look forward to and also uh considering uh you know large integrated manufacturing
13:41taking place a lot of the a lot of consolidation is expected okay uh same question to you as well
13:47abhishek since you say that at this point in time of course there is no hit at this point but
13:52looking at
13:52the global uncertainties the policy changes that are happening over the next 20 uh 12 months to 24
13:57months how are you really going to be strategizing to continue to protect your margins boost growth
14:02continue with your market expansion in terms of market share as well how are you looking at it
14:07the first thing first is the capacity expansion which is already ongoing currently we are sitting at
14:12around 24 giga worth of material capacity all across india and eos put together reaching around
14:1728 gigawatts over next three to four months of time also with further backward integration of cell
14:22capacity which is currently 5.4 gigawatt with new 10 gigawatt facility coming next year it will be
14:27around 15 and a half gigawatt capacity and then comes up 10 gigawatt of fingers and wafer so that
14:32actually creates various s3 player which which is fully integrated with uh poly silicon already being uh
14:38i would say a secure from the middle east markets that is number one another is apart from solar
14:44value and how are we really integrating our operations with energy storage systems with
14:48large capacity already announced by vari 4 gigawatts of phase one which is going live in financial era
14:53followed by additional 16 week out worth of battery energy systems pack as well as battery cell
14:59manufacturing which is going live for next 18 to 24 months of time so that will create larger pool of
15:05customer base and larger penetration in the market apart from solar battery and then comes the
15:10transformers inverters decent acquisition that we should start also start giving its impact on
15:15the overall scheme of financial strength that we have seen in past all right all the very best to
15:20you abhishek and thanks a lot ganesh also for being with us on this special conversation of course at
15:25this point in time some relief that we can see also as a reflection uh that both the stocks of
15:29uh
15:30wadi energies as well as wikram solar have uh you know pulled up from the day slow point there is
15:34clarification coming in not too much of a hit and uh worry at this point in time but let me
15:38go across to
15:39shahina mukandam now market expert to really understand how should an average retail investor
15:43be really looking at uh the solar companies at this point in time warm welcome to you uh shahina good
15:48to have you with us we were discussing with the solar companies wikram solar and the wadi group as
15:53well to try and understand uh this uh the impact of this 126 percent tariffs of course the stocks took
15:59a
15:59beating uh but both the managements are assuring at this point in time that one there is no uh hit
16:05uh you know no worry at this point in time that something like this was already getting expected
16:10and they had already planned uh to maneuver any kind of a hit that comes in by way of tariff
16:15hikes
16:16because uh the kind of tariff talk that we are being used to is now about over a year uh
16:21you know or
16:21so and therefore the companies were already very prepared uh most of the companies which have started
16:26to source from the u.s will also uh skip this one 26 percent uh tariff as well how would
16:31you really
16:31look at the solar companies because renewable energy was a theme that has been discussed as a
16:36long term five ten years new sunrise theme that one is investing in um so the issue out here is
16:43a little
16:43bit different for both of them i would say for wari which of course is the largest and could be
16:49a good
16:49long-term investment uh basically they will be to some extent impacted uh by the u.s tariffs maybe
16:57temporarily hopefully uh at the same time i think they are trying to build their capacities in us
17:02which would sort of offset it and also they have got a good order book valuations is a bit expensive
17:09so i would say if one is holding you can hold for the longer term but otherwise if you want
17:14to add
17:14it's better to add it at lower levels and even like for the other company that you just spoke about
17:20is the wikram solar there i believe valuations are very attractive but the point is that they have
17:27got if you look at the equity capital they have got a lot of pledges you know the promoter has
17:32pledges
17:33which i see along with these uh issues in terms of u.s not wanting uh you know to really
17:39focus on solar
17:40i think that could be some sort of a uh issue in the medium term shorter to medium term
17:48so i would say wikram wikram solar definitely look if you want to add at lower levels uh and also
17:54then you would have to hold it and we discuss the others i think solar renewable energy in the indian
17:59market has got a lot of demand uh so if you look at indian market yes it's going to continue
18:04to
18:04perform so just in terms of buying be a bit careful now because the sentiment is a bit uh weak
18:10given the news that we're getting from us let's just focus to the railway space then i'll talk about
18:17irfc the stocks down by four percent in trade today remember the subscriptions have opened for
18:22fifty four hundred crore rupees of s through which the government will be offloading four percent
18:26stake in the company two percent for first and the two percent green shoe opener option will also be
18:31exercised the stock in fact slipped to a year low as well meanwhile the irfc chairperson mk dube also
18:38spoke on the need for proper viability uh gap funding mechanism for infra projects which
18:44traditionally have had a long gestation period let's look at what he had to say
18:51passenger oriented state transport system be the metro or the trains you cannot run with the ppp
18:58model unless you are giving sizable vgf or viability gap funding for that in the worldwide viability
19:05gap funding is right up to ninety percent also we have a limit of forty percent sir you can correct
19:11me if
19:11i'm wrong with forty percent gap you can't do so the summarizing things high speed rail corridors
19:17where you would typically travel 500 and 600 kilometers in two to two and a half hours without
19:23going to that hustle and bustle of the airports is in need of the country today we're moving very fast
19:28all over the country that is why perhaps government has come out with high speed rail corridors
19:33take it from me land and execution will be on time today european models are also there in the
19:39country we are not only dependent upon the japanese model so execution will be very fast but i'm sure
19:43that it will require viability gap funding from the country you won't be having a sustainable model
19:49just on the fair box that up usko 10 000 rupiah lehenge or herehan se bolenge ki hum aapko boroda
19:55le
19:55jayenge to perhaps that won't be a successful model but it is a requirement like a metro railway
20:00so this this model will flourish in the country and of course that has to be
20:04a subsidy because you know infra is in terms of the railways or metro railways or the high speed
20:09coming for 100 years you can't have a system of return in 25 years all right um shayna coming to
20:18you especially on the railway pack as a whole we have seen a lot of long-term pain now the
20:24entire last
20:25year they have underperformed this year continuing to be the same story you've just heard the management
20:31of irfc talking about the viability gap funding but the performance also has to be seen was this a
20:37valuation problem because the stocks were um you know highly owned by retail investors mutual funds
20:43that uh you know once um you know all these stocks came into focus there were several ipos that came
20:47in at one go and uh you know for a long time now there has been a complete miss on
20:53this kind of an
20:54performance that we've been seeing here how would you really look at the real base space at this point
20:59yeah so basically over here what has happened is that the combination of factors one major being
21:05that the numbers have not really uh kept pace and basically they have not really there's seen some
21:12gap in terms of execution order book has never been an issue for most of these railway companies
21:17uh that is why and plus the valuations as you discussed were uh on the higher side uh given that
21:23most of the stocks have either corrected or consolidated uh over the last couple of quarters
21:29uh even if you take the example for irf of irfc now the issue out here is like the stock
21:36also has
21:37corrected uh the you know the equity and still even from here uh the government still owns uh i believe
21:45more than 80 percent equity or 85 percent equity more than that so even if they're going to uh offload
21:51about four percent the overhang to bring it down to 75 percent will still remain so uh i don't see
21:57too much of a strong upside for any of the railway stocks uh over the next two three quarters and
22:03uh
22:03you know we'll have to wait and watch but i think the uh also other impact is the higher raw
22:09material cost
22:09uh so which is impacting the overall margins uh other costs in terms of labor labor code has impacted them
22:16so i would say that uh this sector is likely to consolidate not likely to be a strong perform
22:22over the next one or two quarters okay two minutes to go before the market shut shop for the day
22:28but
22:28what is your own expectation china with the kind of range pound trade that we are looking at one day
22:33the
22:33markets are up the second day they are down what is the strategy that you are devising for your clients
22:38at this point in time there's so much of uh you know kind of talk that uh is uh surrounding
22:43us which
22:43indicates that india has perhaps become a trading market and nothing traders market and nothing
22:48beyond that we've seen how the fis have been just playing uh you know the highs and the lows in
22:53the
22:53markets and not really staying in long uh how are you looking at then uh devising strategies
23:00um i think uh you know the index is not going to go too much up or down from here
23:05uh it's going to be
23:06a stock pickers market basically some of the larger contributors to the index if you take for example
23:11uh if you take it if you take uh some of the fmcg stories uh if you take reliance some
23:18of the oil
23:20omcs and also as well as some of the other larger stocks they are not really uh you know showing
23:26any
23:26great upside movement so i believe it will remain in this space in fact now the closing has been
23:32been pretty okay given the fact that we had seen this sharp correction post-lunch so let us see
23:37uh if we can maintain uh above the 25 500 type of levels and uh we will have to wait
23:45and watch but
23:46i think it's a stock because market it is a stock pickers market that's the word that we have from
23:51china let's look at wrapping up the markets for you viewers now about 52 points higher at 25 471 so
23:58we've slipped below the 25 500 mark remember we held on to that mark for a large part of the
24:03session
24:03today even beyond 25 600 but it's the second half where we lost a lot of ground there the nifty
24:09bank
24:09is now inching closer to ending into the red 0.08 percent lower in trade a lot of choppiness through
24:15the way is what you've seen and this is on the back of psu banks declining in trade this is
24:20despite the
24:21fact that it stocks recovered after five days of a consecutive decline that we've been seeing on the
24:26space one and a half percent higher so some climbing up back but it's the psu banks that declined
24:31today you saw the fmcg stocks real estate stocks all of these sectors really decline in trade as
24:36well so about half of the sectors that underperformed in trade but pharma auto it these were the sectors
24:43that really performed well and we did also see some gains coming in on the small and the mid caps
24:47as
24:47well those were the also sectors that really moved up in trade you can look at what the pharma index
24:52is
24:52doing 1.8 percent higher that's how it is ending at the same way this was the top moving sector
24:57by the
24:57way today uh the autos followed uh with again um gains are coming in and also the metal stocks they
25:03were shining bright in trading session today as well about two percent higher in trade so all of these
25:07sectors were positive on the nifty you had bajaj auto hcl tech tata steel um tata consumer products
25:14these were the stocks were higher but reliance spi eternal adani ports and bharti et al were the stocks
25:20that declined in trade let's take some questions of yours now viewers a lot of you have sent us your
25:24questions we'll take a few of them prasoon from bhopal says is the worst over for it sector should
25:31i start accumulating the stocks for long term that's a valid question china uh we have been seeing last
25:36five days of a route on the it stocks ai fears so much more tension around the global uncertainties that
25:42continues but today there was some bounce back should one hurry up to now buy in or still wait and
25:47there could be some more volatility ahead well i think uh you know you don't need to jump in and
25:53start
25:53buying right away because the sentiment still remains uh i would say overall negative to some
25:59extent there is a bounce because of the substantial fall that we've seen uh i would say if you want
26:04to
26:04be into it which of course the correction is making the sector look attractive be in one large cap be
26:10in
26:11one small to mid cap it stock like for example in the large cap i would suggest something like an
26:16infosys
26:16and don't buy everything at one shot you will take buy it in a staggered way uh infosys is about
26:2218 18
26:23times p if you look at the ev by but that's about 13 times so it is not expensive uh
26:29the only issue out
26:30here is uh what will be the impact of the us and large development markets shifting the it spend towards
26:37ai and ei related and moving away from the traditional service related service service related
26:44it spend and what impact that will have over the next one to two years on the balance sheet and
26:50financial numbers of the uh service related companies like the large cap it companies that is
26:58an issue but i think valuations are decent start buying not too much as of now wait for a couple
27:03of quarters to add more in the small and mid cap something like kp it or something like persistent
27:09they have also corrected but the valuations have started uh looking a bit more attractive than
27:14what they were uh still it is more expensive than the large cap it but uh i think if you're
27:19holding
27:19it for the three-year period there also you can start nibbling but i think uh keep a limited
27:25percentage of your portfolio and it at least for the next quarter or two till the you know air settles
27:30down to exactly what is happening so i would say you can start nibbling but keep it and largely
27:36underweight in terms of the overall portfolio fair point let's take the next question preeti chohan
27:42from mumbai asks you uh shana is it safe to invest in banking stocks i've heard about frauds at idfc
27:48first bank okay that's a fair question as well uh you know even uh you know the banks that are
27:54seen
27:54in good regard in the private space are also reporting um these frauds it was used to be seen in
28:00the history
28:01that psu banks were subject to such frauds what would you say now for all those who have
28:06you know heavy exposure to banks well i think banks will do well in the next one to two years
28:14no doubt
28:15we have seen some of the banks like sbi giving you a good they have sustained their stock price you
28:20know
28:20despite whatever has happened in the overall market and that is purely because of valuations
28:25uh and also they have raised enough funds to uh sustain a decent growth in terms of their uh loan
28:32book going forward over the next two three quarters one one year so i would say stick to the large
28:38cap
28:38banks because their balance sheet is very strong their uh their capital adequacy is very strong and they
28:45can uh support any you know whatever if at all some such uh issue comes up their their balance sheet
28:51supports it similarly if you see for idfc i don't see you should buy it now because the things are
28:56still not very clear as to the exact impact uh of uh say haryana government reducing their uh exposure to
29:03idfc uh but you know their balance sheet was strong enough to make the payment of 500 crores
29:08immediately uh as as for the demand and the impact in terms of valuation despite the uh this payment uh
29:16while
29:16it will affect the fourth quarter which i see the stock remaining like you know at current levels
29:20but in the longer term valuations are not expensive because uh it will be a f by 27 upon 1
29:26.5 times book
29:27so um yeah these are issues but i think you stick to the larger names in psu as well as
29:33in uh private
29:34sector icici bank hdfc bank and if you're holding it for three to five years you're going to uh you
29:41know
29:41get a decent return okay large caps both in private and psus would continue to make sense for the long
29:47term thank you so much shayana for being with us on the show and of course helping us with all
29:51the
29:51right strategies for our viewers as well with that uh viewers it's a wrap on the business today show
29:56in case you too have any questions about your investments in mutual funds your sips stocks or
30:00even gold related queries then send them to us on the number that's flashing right on your screens
30:05here with that it's a wrap very thanks for tuning in don't forget to tune in at 9 a.m
30:09tomorrow morning for all the market opening action
30:14presented by national stock exchange
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