HPL Electric & Power Limited (HPL) Q2 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to you all to HPL Electric & Power Limited's Q2 and H1 FY27 earnings webinar produced by ElevEase. So I'm Shankhini, I'm the Director of Investor Relations at Dickenson and I'll be moderating our call today. So joining us from the HPL management team is Mr. Gautam Seth, he is the Joint Managing Director and CFO. Just a quick note to all our participants, this conference is being recorded and some statements in this call may be forward-looking, based on current expectations and subject to risks that could cause results to differ materially. You can all download HPL's investor deck and press release from the company website or the NSE. We'll get started. I'll hand over to Gautam to begin with some opening remarks. Gautam Seth: Yeah, thank you Shankhini. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. Q2 FY27 builds on a strong start of the year. Revenue from operations grew 40% year-on-year to 608 crores, our highest ever quarterly revenue and the first time we have crossed 600 crore level. This takes first half revenue to 1,124 crores, up 37%. EBITDA grew 8% to 71 crores during the quarter and PAT increased to 23 crores. More importantly, the first half further strengthens the two-engine growth model we have been discussing. Consumer and Industrial is becoming a larger, more diversified product and channel-led platform, while Metering and Systems continues to provide long-cycle growth and execution visibility. Both businesses are growing, giving HPL Electric a broader base for which to build. Consumer and Industrial delivered another record quarter with revenue growing 64% year-on-year to 337 crores. It contributed approximately 55% of the quarterly revenue. First half revenue grew 60% to 615 1

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

crores. This reflects the increasing scale of the business and wider participation across our product basket. Wire and cables continued to lead this growth with quarterly revenue increasing 159% to 178 crores. First half revenue reached 324 crores, equivalent to approximately 95% of the revenue achieved in the whole of FY26. Demand continues to grow from a diversified customer base including builders, industrial and solar OEMs, telecom, and institutional customers. As this business scales, our focus remains on strengthening volumes, customer relationships and the capacity to support sustained growth. The participation of other C&I categories is also encouraging. Lighting grew 59% year-on-year, with domestic switchgear growing 43%. Industrial switchgear recorded 29% sequential growth. Our objective remains to build a diversified electrical platform with a wider range of categories contributing meaningfully to growth. Our distribution network remains central to this strategy. With more than 900 authorized dealers and 90,000 retailers, we have an established platform through which to deepen market reach and strengthen the channel productivity. A broader product offering gives us a greater scope to build these relationships while continue to invest in products, brand and service. At the same time, Metering and Systems maintained steady growth. Quarterly revenue grew 18% year-onyear to 271 crores with a 14% sequential improvement. First half revenue grew 17% to 509 crores. As the smart metering market moves towards a more matured execution phase, our focus remains on reliable delivery, technology and close coordination with AMISP deployment schedules. Our order book stood at 2,700 crores as on 2nd November '26, with Metering and Systems accounting for more than 96% of the total order book. This provides visibility beyond the current year, although the pace of quarterly conversion will continue to depend on customer requirements and execution schedules. On profitability, first half EBITDA increased 9% to 135 crores. Q2 EBITDA margin stood at 11.74% compared to 12.26% in the first quarter. Input cost volatility and changing revenue mix continue to affect profitability. Pricing and product mix actions are underway, but the benefits are yet to translate into the recovery in reported margins. We remain focused on improving profitability with both businesses as we build scale. Before I conclude, I would also like to address the Board's in-principle approval for a proposal of restructuring the company. This includes evaluating the segregation of one or more of these businesses into separate entities through a scheme of arrangement, with the objective of increasing focus across our product verticals and unlocking shareholder value. As we discussed in the recent quarters, HPL growth profile has broadened with Consumer and Industrial developing alongside our metering business. This creates a relevant context for examining how our organization structure can best support the requirements and opportunities of our different businesses. The proposal is at the evaluation stage. Looking forward, the direction of the second half... Yeah. So on that note, I think let's open the floor for the question and answer. Thank you very much. Yeah.

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HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We'll get started with the Q&A section now. As a reminder to all our participants, to raise your hand to participate in the Q&A session, this is a quick reminder on how to do so on this platform. If you're on desktop or laptop, look for the reactions button at the bottom of your Zoom window, click on it, then select raise hand from the options. Your name will appear on the queue and I can call on you. If you're on mobile or tablet, tap on the more dot-dot-dot button at the bottom right of your screen and then select raise hand from the menu. Great, we'll start with the first question. Our first participant asking a question is from Sahil Patani. Hi Sahil, you can go ahead and unmute your line and ask your questions. Sahil Patani: Hi, thanks for the opportunity. Hi Gautam, congrats on a good set. Gautam Seth: Yeah, thank you. Sahil Patani: Wanted to understand, obviously there's been a drop in margins due to the commodities and global price variability, but how do you see the margins normalizing in the second half of the year? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so as you said it, the margins, so we have seen the cost of materials increase and this is mainly because of the geopolitical situation what we have seen from March onwards. Now we,like looking at the two businesses, in metering, since we have the fixed contracts, the contracts what we have, so the cost increases—which is primarily on the metals, on industrial plastics, on electronics—so these are, these we are not able to pass on, but although there are a lot of R&D efforts to make sure that the costs are somehow compensated through better design, a better way of manufacturing. In Consumer and Industrial, we have to some extent already passed on certain increases which have happened in the second quarter. There are some more increases which are lined up post-Diwali. So in all, I would say by the time we are coming to the close of Q3, the increased cost to a large extent would have been passed on to the consumer. And so like the way the consumer business is, we have an opportunity to pass the increases, but always it's with a time lag. It may be one month, it may be two months, but generally they get passed on, and that is how the industry also have been working. So it should happen. So hereafter, I see that maybe the margins at these levels, maybe the EBITDA around 12% should stabilize here, and hopefully with the geopolitical situation improving, I think we could see a reversal in the margins in a positive direction in the future. But right now, I think we should stabilize. I don't see the margins going down further from here, but at least in the C&I part it should start coming up. And even on the metering front, there have been a lot of workings, but they are more R&D-related workings which should help us. Also, the increased volume is going to help us to some extent because if you look at especially the C&I segment, across all the segments—whether it is wire and cable, whether it's lighting, fans, industrial switchgear, domestic switchgear—all have seen a very high increase in volumes. So that is also going to help us in some way getting certain cost differential, you know, based on the volumes. So somewhere we are looking at it. Definitely we are very well aware and committed to bring back those margins because, especially when we are seeing a very good demand coming in even going forward, and the volumes and sales are in front of you and that's also going up here.

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HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

Sahil Patani: Okay, okay. So for the full year, we should be looking at stabilizing around 12–12.5%, is that right? Gautam Seth: Yeah, yes. Yeah. Sahil Patani: Okay, okay. And my second question is, I think in the previous concall you had mentioned, or I'm not sure if you did, that we are doing some sort of R&D for cables and wires that are used in the data centers as well. So can you provide an update on that? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so we, we have a wide range of products, but right now our products are all in the domestic wire and flexible segment. But there is a lot of work what we have done on coming out with different new types of cable, new types of specialty cables. And those products, I believe, will be out by only by end of first quarter. So should be somewhere in June when we should be out with those products—and I'm talking about the commercial production, yeah. And as and when that is happening, because you should hear that, you know, once the whole business plan is in place, then I think we will be coming back on what the plan would be, what kind of investments would be there. But it's a whole range of products what we are looking at, not just the data center products or something like that, but they would definitely go into data centers, they would be more going into infra, into EVs. So today there are a lot of areas which are of high growth in the next 5–10 years, and I think our product range in future is going to address those segments as well. Right now, I've said it multiple times, we are doing a lot of cables for the telecom sector, but there are a couple of other segments as well which we are looking to pick up in the next 3 to 5 years on how we can dominate those areas as well. Sahil Patani: Okay, okay. So the R&D that is going on right now, I think the complete fruition of that we should see in, let's say, FY29, FY30, or even beyond that? Gautam Seth: No, even before, we should start seeing before. Those are too long-term plans, but you should start seeing it by, maybe some part in FY28 itself and then '29, yeah. Sahil Patani: All right, okay. Great, that's all I had. Thank you, Gautam. Gautam Seth: Yeah, thank you, Sahil. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Sahil. We'll take a question that's written in. So the question is: We are seeing good momentum in wires and cables for Q2 FY27. Can you give more visibility on how we see wires and cables growing for rest of year? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so the demand has been good. So,some..like a large part of our current growth is now all volume-led growth. Initially, because of the pricing of copper going up, there was certain value growth happening, but now most of the growth you see is all on the volume growths which are coming in. So looking at different segments, we are seeing growth happening in the real estate part in a good way, telecom is good for us, retail part is picking up now quite largely. So there are various segments,like including even if you look at the panel builder and the OEM segments—so multiple areas we are seeing the growth. As we go forward, even the next half, we are quite bullish based on the demand what is there. And I would say the growth in absolute terms, in terms of values, that would happen, but since from last year the Q3 and Q4 was a higher base, the percentage growth would definitely taper down. But the business overall is set to grow for us. 4

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

So as HPL Electric now, post looking at, after the smart meter, now we look at wire and cable as a very strategic business unit where we look at it in the next 3 to 5 years to be real growth drivers in terms of sales growth, market expansion, and also on the margin front. So there's a lot of effort going to happen, and you should see because now we are seeing certain scales happening, the size has come up, and so I think in the next 3 to 5 years this is going to be a very, very big segment for HPL Electric. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We'll take questions from the next participant. Our next participant asking a question will be from the line of Pranjal Mukhija. Hi Pranjal, you can go ahead and unmute your line and ask your questions. Pranjal Mukhija: Yeah, hi, am I audible? Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Yes Pranjal, go ahead. Pranjal Mukhija: Yeah, hi. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I have a couple of questions on the smart metering business. So sir, initially, just wanted some market sense on the supply side of things as to what is actually happening in the market. Now we've seen that Adani has taken over IntelliSmart, and I think we're also hearing news of Polaris getting acquired by—a couple of parties are contesting that acquisition as well. So just wanted to understand, HPL being a meter manufacturer, like how does it impact us, this bigger acquisition of Adani acquiring Intelli? Because these two are probably one of the biggest AMISPs in the country right now. Gautam Seth: Yeah, so for us it is a very positive news, I would say, because we were approved in both of them. We are a preferred approved vendor with Adani and also we've been approved with EESL and we've been supplying to them. So I think that coming together, with major quantities now coming to the leading AMISP, I think that definitely helps us a lot. And we would see, you know, the quantities flowing to us through Adani now, including the extra quantities what EESL has. So I think it's a very positive thing for us. Pranjal Mukhija: Right. And if you could also give some understanding of the near-term pipeline, because I think in some of the few states, you know, some new tenders have come out, for example Maharashtra and Gujarat, I think Delhi also has, like, come out with some, you know, meter quantities.. So just wanted to understand how are we positioned to capture some of that opportunities, and what kind of market share are we targeting in some of these newer opportunities? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so if you see the quantity and the demand as we look forward, it is very high. Because when we look at right now, as per the government data, I think by end of September or something, almost 7 crore meters were installed, and I think that figure should have right now gone up because every month we are seeing more and more installations happening. Out of the 22.5 crore meters, I think 17 crores were given out to the AMISPs. So a lot of pipeline is still sitting with the AMISPs, including Adani and others, which they have been giving to the various meter manufacturers. So we are sitting on a good order book. All independent AMISPs are working with us, we are approved with them—in fact, we are a preferred vendor with each of them. Now,there is a lot of change, the way I look at it, there is a lot of change on the… in the landscape, and if you look at the competitive..the way the meter industry is structured that although there are a lot of new players who have come in but on a longer, you know, when we look at going forward, I see some kind of a preference by the AMISPs on the more established players who are able to give the kind of quality delivery on a long-term basis. 5

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

So when we look at HPL Electric, we are very strong on the R&D, on our manufacturing including the capacity, and our meter, what we guarantee, would work for 10 years based on the design, the technology, and even the components which are used. So I think that gives the confidence to the AMISPs to come to an established player and do their procurement, because they themselves are giving those kind of warranties, their payments are dependent on, it is deferred on a long-term basis. So I think definitely we as HPL have a strong edge over a lot of our competition. And if you look at the pipeline, it is still huge. So, right now, if you look at it, ok, there have been challenges of installation over in the last year and things like that, and in some way it will keep continuing to happen because we are in India, we know how the things work, the utilities are there, but and here we are talking about actual households where the change is happening. But this is probably the world's biggest smart meter program being implemented by the government. So the challenges will keep coming, but I think the basic policy clarity is there now. When one looks at the implementation also, that is also happening, and it is happening all round in various this thing. Now a lot of states have again come out with new tenders which will add to the pipeline of the AMISPs. So we on a secondary basis are set to receive more orders. And the next level of orders—and I've said this many times in our calls or even on certain interviews on TV—that the performance of the smart meter, the delivery compliances, that is going to determine the next orders to whom that would go. And that is where HPL Electric definitely has an edge over a lot of the competition. So I think this will happen, but it's going to be a more matured way. I think the 15–20% growths we would continue to see, the volumes would continue to happen, and it's a long-term story—it's a 3, 5, 10-year story. Again, the 2.0 will also come in, the next level of technology and volume growth will definitely come in the future for the smart meters. Pranjal Mukhija: Sir, one question I wanted some understanding on is the ongoing pricing in the market. If you just look at this Kerala tender that came out, the L1 party versus let's say an HPL, or let's say very established AMISPs like Adani and established companies like Secure, the pricing difference between the L1 and let's say an HPL was 50%, and let's say Adani was almost close to 100–200%. So just wanted to understand how much of this is sustainable, because from my understanding this is an Iskraemeco entity that is bidding some projects. But again, how much is this sustainable, because I was just speaking to the other listed company, people from there, they said that this is not sustainable at all and they will definitely see a lot of players moving out. This is just aggressive pricing and not sustainable over a 10-year horizon. Gautam Seth: Yeah, I think, I think you said it for me, but you know even like, of course, what you're talking about is an AMISP tender what was there, but you know just, because you know the challenges, the time period, the financing cost, the cost of you know, plus all these models—when we are also bidding for anything, we are looking at the time schedule, we are building in the increased cost what would probably happen, you know, looking at unforeseen circumstances. So I think, you know, in these type of things, at the AMISP level or even at the meter manufacturer level where we are actively competing, anybody who tried to disrupt based on pricing has not grown or not survived. It's not easy. The meter has to work for 10 years, the technology has to be there, there needs to be a support, it's backed up by warranties. You know like so in the sense, so just somebody coming in and trying to, you know, disrupt it by pricing is not sustainable at all—and not only in this industry, even in all the other any other industry, but for this industry because it's high on technology. And we have seen it earlier also, right from '96 till about 2020 when the regular meters were there: out of almost 45 meter manufacturers, there were only 5 which were there and others could not survive the technological change. And at each time when any company exited, they did disrupt the market to some extent or they tried to disrupt it, but it was never a long-lasting thing. 6

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

So, I don’t, we don't believe in that. We are doing, we have the resources, we are doing R&D, we are very upbeat on this industry. And you will see there will be certain changes happening in the industry scenario as we go forward. There'll be fewer players, there'll be again the reliance, the reliability or reliance will be on the few established players who would be really taking it forward. Pranjal Mukhija: Right. And sir, just understanding from a trend point of view, the pricing trend in the industry is going downwards, and at the same time the costing, because of the inflationary impact of things,I mean is difficult is adding a pressure to your cost as well. So just wanted to understand, I mean for the metering business, at what level of sales would be able to absorb the fixed cost in our business and sort of break even, and post that number I think, all of that will be the profitability which will get added? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so you know when, if you look at 3 to 4 years back, it was well known, and especially in an electronic industry, that as the volumes go up, the costs also come down. So when we started on the smart meter, whatever cost was there, as we moved into higher volumes, the cost also came down, and certain price levels are also there because there are repeat buyers, they are all big companies, so they also know what is going on in the market. What is interesting is that even at the current level of business what we are doing, the margins, I would say decent margins of let's say 15% plus are sustainable. What we are seeing in this the last two quarters has been quite an unusual trend, which is on the geopolitical part. So that has caused the extra let’s say certain material inflation to happen and certain supply chain let’s say costs going up and even the lead times increasing on the electronics. So I think that probably is more of a one-off event which would get sorted out. But looking at the volumes what we are there right now, so they are all good margin volumes right now. So I don't see volumes really jump up so much, although the industry scenario is changing, until the really government starts pushing it. But we are at a good level right now in terms of implementation of the metring- smart metering. Pranjal Mukhija: Right. And sir, finally one small question: are we anywhere close in terms of hearing from the HPL team coming out with some new products on the analytics and software side of things? Because increasingly this market will become much more based on analytics, right—the data we'll have to analyze and provide solutions. So anything which you guys are working on that side of the business which might come up? Gautam Seth: Actually we've done it, we have some solutions which we have done it I think in Odisha and one or two places which, or probably in West Bengal, but I think you should hear from us definitely. I can update you on the side later on that, but yes, definitely some works are going on for that. Pranjal Mukhija: Sure sir. Thank you for giving me this opportunity and festival greetings to both of you. Thank you. Gautam Seth: Thank you. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Pranjal. We have received some more questions that are written in. In the meantime, if you're trying to raise your hand on the platform, a quick reminder: look for the reactions button at the bottom of the Zoom window, click on it, then select raise hand. Your name will appear in the queue and I'll call on you. 7

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

So the written question, Gautam, is from Yash Agarwal. It's regarding capacity utilization: What is the current utilization across wires and cables and metering? Is there any further investment needed to support our growth? You're on mute, Gautam. Gautam Seth: Yeah, so on the metering part, you know, we have done a lot of capex in the last two and a half years, and there our utilization is probably you can say around 70% right now. But these are again, as I say sometimes on when you look at, because these are, you know, multiple processes capacity what we are judging, so they're pretty flexible. So we have an upside what we can easily go ahead if, if the government really pushes for the implementation, which they would do because they have given the new deadline I think somewhere in 2028, where the government is mandated to finish up with the implementation of the first phase of smart metering. So I think from a capacity point of view, we are, we don't see any issue especially on the smart metering front. On, when you look at the wire and cables, there I think we are probably around 80% of our current capacity when we look at the flexible manufacturing capacity. So, in the last 6 months, we have added about 7 to 8 new machines. There are some more machines which are ordered on a staggered way. So I think this is one part which… Are you on mute or? Ya so, this is one part where we….this is one part where we see a good growth coming in, and now the next plan is for evaluating our capacity, including certain new products for the next 3 years. So I think that would entail certain capex, but which is currently under evaluation. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): So the next question is a follow-up on the wires and cables again: With wires and cables, is there any new innovation we are doing to add more products to this segment, since this is such a high growth driver within the C&I basket? Gautam Seth: Yes, as I said earlier, we are looking at a couple of new products, couple of new categories within the wire and cable. Ya but as, as we have the complete.. let’s say the complete plan, which I would say would take about 2 to 3 years to put in, I think then we will probably update in a more public way on what the company plans to do and what kind of revenue we would look at. But yes, definitely, as I said earlier, we are upbeat on this category and we see this category to be a big growth driver for us as HPL Electric. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): So within the C&I segment, lighting and fans are relatively newer additions, fans especially. Can you give us more insight on how you're seeing fans picking up and lighting, and how are we also thinking of growing the basket in the C&I segment? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so when you look at the C&I segment, we did see in the last two and a half years the sales of wire and cable pick up. But now when we look at, like internally now we are looking at each and every segment. So the domestic switchgear has seen a good growth, I think 43% in the last quarter, but…even going forward we will see a strong growth. Within, in modular switch segment, we see that as a big future growth driver which would grow immediately on that —we've recently launched the new Cairo switches. Now when we look at the lighting segment, this is one segment which you know is…has a different way when we look at it. The last 5 years, or rather in the last 5 years, almost 4 years we have seen the prices coming down. The last 1 year, 1.5 years, the prices have stabilized; in fact, the prices have started going up. And there is another price increase which we have already intimated—but most of the industry players have also intimated because the costs have been also going up—which would happen post-Diwali. 8

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

And, so this is one segment where we are revamping ourselves in terms of the product portfolio and really looking at how to come back on the lighting in a bigger way. So we are hopeful that by February—because February there is ELECRAMA, which is a very big exhibition platform, so I think we're just trying to time it with that—that is the time when we launch the new lighting range, a totally revamped one where we have the smart lighting with us, we have a lot of new products, new categories within the lighting. And next year, or the next 2 to 3 years, we see lighting as a big growth driver also. So right now we are working within the C&I on each of the components and trying to make it much stronger. Because wire and cable has picked up, we see a big growth going forward. Switchgear is another one where, especially on the modular switch side, we have done a lot of work. Even in the factories we have done a lot of automation work, which is now proving the result because as we talk right now, we are sitting on our highest level of volume productions if you look at the MCBs and the switches. So that has been positive for us. When we look at lighting, that is something where, although we've had a very good growth in this quarter, but when we look at the next year and a more sustainable growth with better margins, I think that is a plan we..one part of our team is already working on that. And when we look at fans, fans is relatively new. Although the highest sales happened last month on that, but still that's a very low base right now. But when we are approaching the summer of let’s say '27, that would be the first summer season where we would be addressing on a pan-India basis. And definitely I think that is the time when the sales number would become much more meaningful. We have a good range to be presented in the market, but yes, the volumes have to pick up. So right now growing at a high double-digit growth doesn't make so much sense because the bases are very low, but next year..from next year you should see certain meaningful figures coming out here. So overall, just to sum it up, like, in the consumer segment we see a strong leverage on you know pushing through the channel, through big distributors, dealers, retailers, the complete range as a basket. And I think that is now picking up. Although we have been talking of it for a pretty long time, but the last I think the six quarters we have started seeing that happen, and looking at the results, we also feel quite enthusiastic to push it further and you know push it in a different way, for sure. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We have a written-in question on this subject from Amanda Mishra. So Amanda is asking: How are we investing in growing channel network and dealer partnerships? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so when you look at it, we have right now 900 dealers. So our focus since last couple of years has been not to just have dealers in real numbers—because this figure has more or less been constant, but there is certain amount of churning what is happening. So at any time now, when we are looking for a distributor and a big dealer in lot of unrepresented areas and others, we are looking at a highquality dealer who can you know really push in the product in a different level. So I think the quality plays over the quantity when we look at the dealer appointment. But there is a very strong focus on the retail part right now when we look at the wire and cable going in, the switches, lighting, and others. And that is going to happen in..across this, so.. what you will see is the retail network really expanding. So about 3 years back or you know sometimes..that time..we did say that we will look at 100,000 retailers, and we were probably around 30,000–35,000 at that time, and I think by March we are targeting to reach 100,000 retail outlets. And these are all authorized retail outlets who are within our system—so there are a couple of them who are not, let’s say active, so they fall out from the figure, and then so this is the net figure what we have. So, that is going to help us, and I'm sure as we 9

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

reach that, we will look to double it in maybe the next 3 years, and how we do that, so we will be putting in a much more aggressive strategy. For the C&I business, channel plays a very important role; it's the center of all the activities on how we plan it out. So I think a lot of effort with our sales team, also we have special teams which are—what we call like a long-arm salesman—who are doing the daily beat plan, on you know, having the team on the street visiting 20–30 counters per day. So a lot of…that part of the team is also getting enhanced in a bigger way, and who are all geo-tagged and who can be, you know, monitored from our offices as well. So I think a lot of efforts have happened into that, and for us to really let’s say, if we are looking at doubling the C&I in the next 3 years, a lot of it will happen through the efforts of the channel. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We'll take some follow-ups from Sahil Patani. Hi Sahil, you can go ahead and ask your follow-up questions. Sahil Patani: Yeah, Gautam, I missed it—I think in your opening remarks you mentioned that you were looking at restructuring, so are we expecting some sort of a demerger or something like that, and when do we expect, you know, any progress, any announcements on that? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so, so I think what, what you see, what the board discussed is, it's more of an enabling, you know, provision what has been now given to the board to evaluate and work out on, how a restructuring would be done. So typically it may be more of let's say demerging it, but into… because if you look at HPL Electric over the last two decades, we've been one company which has been focused on the B2B and B2C, and we've been able to grow both the businesses. And, we've been able to, I believe, bring in value in each of them. So I think with this, whatever happens—because it's too early to even comment on how it would be done or this, it’s now—the Board and the teams would now evaluate it and I'm sure, as we come out with that, but yes. Whatever happens, it will be good for the shareholders, and it would definitely unlock a good amount of value for them. So that’s how it would be. But it will also bring in a lot of focus on different areas, different products, different the way the.. because now with so many products there are definitely B2B and B2C both, definitely we see a big, you know, growth potential—the way consumer is, you know the consumer products are pitched in and when you look at the institutional ones so that is it. So I think this thing where the Board would, you know, start working on it, and definitely they'll evaluate and come out with the best options. yeah. I think that's how. So, yeah, I have nothing more to share on that, but it's an enabling provision right now. Sahil Patani: Okay. All right, yeah, that's all I had as a follow-up. Thank you. Gautam Seth: Thank you. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Sahil. We'll take another written-in question from Jatin Patel. So Gautam, Jatin is asking: We mentioned announcement of smart water meter. How is this opportunity shaping up and how can it add to metering segment? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so, so right now we have, we have done a couple of pilots, with a lot of our customers. We are.. our teams are approaching for, you know, testing and approval of the products. So I think, that process is there; it's a time-taking process, but typically that work is happening. So hopefully next year we should start seeing some meaningful numbers coming into that. 10

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

As..if you look at any global company in metering, there is, you know, definitely an integration of electricity, water, and then even the gas meters. So I think as a leading metering company, we also need to see those type of opportunities going forward. So I think a lot of work is happening right now, but you should see the numbers sometime next year; I'm sure the sales would start growing then. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We'll take another written-in question. This question is from Dhruv Jain. So Gautam, Dhruv is asking: With the current geopolitical situation and global supply chain disruptions, how are we de-risking from rise of cost of materials and other disruptions? Gautam Seth: So two ways, you know, when we look at it,in, in the C&I segment we are able to pass on the increase. As I said earlier, we have passed on some part of it within Q2 and some part will get passed on within the Q3. So there is always a time lag between the costs which have gone up and how it gets passed on in the market, because market is fairly competitive, one has to look at, you know, what the competition is offering what the choices customers have, but definitely it's getting passed on for sure. Now when we..apart from that, there are a lot of design R&D efforts also in C&I and in metering also where we are working on reducing certain costs more by design. The good thing for us is that since most of our products are right now playing on higher volumes, so we have some leverage to negotiate our cost contracts from these...based on this. So some benefit we are trying to do with that, and I think based on these we are moving forward. So I, as I see, hopefully the margins should start improving. In meters, of course, we are not able to, since they are fixed contracts, we are not able to pass on the, the cost going up. So there a lot of R&D plays happening to see, what changes we can do. So we have done certain newer component manufacturing, we have taken up something which will help us to reduce the cost to some extent. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. Our next question is from Rajeev Sethi. So Rajeev is asking: With new Free Trade Agreement in place, how are we looking at export market for both segments? Is there bigger opportunity now available? Gautam Seth: Yes, definitely. I think the Free Trade Agreements are going to help us to push in our products, and they make it much more favorable for the purchaser sitting on the other end. When we look at, right now, in the last 6 months, we have seen certain disruptions more on the time taken on the supply chain part for us to supply. So we've had good orders, but many of them could not get picked up on time, but they are going. So as such, the markets are open, but it is taking a lot of time even for the African customers and the Middle East especially for them to get it. But that business is still relatively much smaller business. When you look at even the freight costs have gone up. But overall, with the.. with these FTAs coming in way, the market should pick up for us. The good thing is, even our.. in fact, we've got our first good order from Africa also, and including the advance, so now the manufacturing is going. So, as we said, the meters, especially when we look at the utility part of meters, they will, they take time for approvals, for, you know, getting the compliances, certifications on the IC certifications, and then pushing it, but that is going to be a big business, yeah. So, it will take some more time, but once that picks up, it will definitely open a lot of new avenues for us, new markets for us. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. Do we have any more participants who'd like to ask questions? You can send them in writing or raise your hand for the queue.

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HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

Gautam, is there anything you'd like to share more on the order book? We saw a slight dip in the order book of late. Can you give us an idea of what we're facing on the execution side and how do we see this picking up for the rest of the year? Gautam Seth: No, so in, like, you have to realize that the order book, what we gave reflects only the metering part, because in Consumer and Industrial, although there are some pendency of.. certain pending orders are there, but they reflect.. they are reflected only by maybe 15–20 days of order book. So when we look at the metering part, we have 2,700 crores of orders as on 2nd of November, and orders are of course coming on a monthly basis as well and execution is also happening. For us right now, the absolute figure of orders being at those levels plus-minus does not make so much of a difference. Right now we have a good revenue visibility of over 2 years, the execution is at a good level, we are right now looking at, you know, executing them on time so that further orders would come. So, further orders are there, the pipeline is very strong, and so this figure—whether it is 2,500 or 3,000—it is not so material right now for us like that. When you look at of course the consumer part, there on a daily basis the orders are coming and that’s..that's been very healthy for us; the flow has also been very good. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. We'll take the last question written in from Smita Kulkarni. So Gautam, Smita is asking: What is big picture guidance for rest of the year and FY27? Gautam Seth: Yeah, so it's good. We've had a good first half in terms of the revenue growth, and I think that similar trend would continue. We are hopeful that the second half should be much better than the first half. So in terms of if you look at Consumer and Industrial, we had.. normally we don't give guidance, but we still gave a guidance of 1,000 crores, and I think we would comfortably cross that because we are already at 615—so well north of 1,000 crores we would end up. so there we are much more comfortable, but we will keep looking at, and we look at even the second half, the second half being much better than the first half, even in consumer and also in smart meter. So overall, the guidance for the current year seems to be good in terms of revenue. What we are going to really work on is to ensure that the margins are in place, and certain, you know the, certain balance sheet ratios of, you know the—stock, debtors, and all—are much better placed as we go forward. So I think those type of things we are doing. We are also working on a lot of new products; as I said for lighting, we are looking to revamp our product range come out with a much better, smarter range. And, so that the next 3 years, we can drive the lighting also in a bigger way. So eventually, yeah, you know, each of the components, each of the products within C&I also will be given a separate push for that year. So, I think things are a bit, the market, you know, the demand is there. So, I would say it's.. it's not that..if you look at the industry figures, we are growing well above the industry figures. So, right now the, whatever strategy we put in, the efforts, what our teams are putting in, I think they're paying results. So we are also looking at quarter-on-quarter, although even our next year the FY28 plan, the sales plan is almost ready, which hopefully should be good again. But you know, we are taking it quarter-on-quarter right now with our team and just pushing it that we need to keep our feet on the ground and grow. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam. On that note we'll wrap up. So before I hand over to you for closing remarks, just a note to our participants: I see some more written questions come in, so we'll definitely get back to you and we can also, you know, arrange some interactions with Gautam. We'll also 12

HPL Electric & Power Limited | Q2 & H1FY27 Earnings Webinar Transcript

be hosting some meetings, so do write to us if you're interested in participating in our Investor Day coming up shortly. So, thank you all for spending your early afternoon with us today, and a very early Happy Diwali to you as well. I'll now hand over back to you Gautam, for closing remarks. Gautam Seth: Yeah, so thank you everyone for your questions and your continued interest in HPL Electric. The first half reinforces our confidence in the direction of the company. Both growth engines are expanding: C&I is contributing across a broader product basket, and metering continues to provide longterm visibility. As we move through the second half, our focus is on converting the scale into stronger earnings and cash generation through better margin quality, disciplined execution, and tighter working capital management. These will remain the measures by which we assess our progress. So hope you have a great day ahead, and thank you for being part of HPL's growth journey. Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous Diwali. Thank you very much. Shankhini Saha (Moderator): Thanks Gautam, and thanks to everybody. We can now disconnect. Cheers everybody, have a great rest of your day. End of Transcript

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