Trump’s spending on suspension of inflation reduction bill has no negative impact: Waaree’s Amit Paintankar

Waaree’s half about ₹50,000 million orders come from US customers.

“Due to the business model we have, the certainty of the order book we have, our profit margins will not negatively affect that due to the IRA pause,” said Amit Paintankar, CEO of Waaree Energies.

He added that even if the bill is repealed, the price of the U.S. module will change. “If the IRA changes in any form or form, the market dynamics will change. So this may bring a kick, but it won’t be harmful (on the margin).

Paithankar said the company has more than two years of order visibility in the U.S., with some of which orders “margin locked.” “We operate the business so that I can determine profits and cash flow.”

In fact, the company’s bets on the U.S. market have doubled. On Tuesday, Waaree Energies’ committee approved an additional manufacturing line at the factory outside Houston, Texas, to double its capacity to 3.2 GW.

By comparison, the company’s module manufacturing capacity is 13.3GW in India and plans to increase to 23GW in the next few years.

Self-sufficient business

Waaree executives said that when IRA is a trading sweetener, it set up its own business in the U.S. to remain self-sufficient in healthy profit margins even without fiscal incentives.

“We are a very conservative company. So when we decide to enter any geographic market, we make sure it can stand on two feet of its own,” Paithankar said.

“Of course, with the IRA, the numbers will be significantly higher. But, can the business stand up? Absolutely yes. Do we have customers who want to make US modules? Absolutely yes. Do we have customers who are willing to give us an extra premium, will that bring us any changes? Is the answer to the answer the same? Yes, this is what makes our factory interesting, which makes us interesting, he says, he says, he says, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he says, he makes us interesting, he says, he makes us interesting, he says.

Although the United States accounts for nearly half of Waaree’s orders, it accounts for only one-fifth of its revenue. Pesank said this is because the company’s average order execution time in the U.S. market is slower than in India, and in some cases it’s even about nine months, or even up to 24 months in some cases.

Lower revenue to the U.S. will also protect the company’s profit margins from turbulence in the U.S. market, he said.

What is IRA?

The IRA, signed into law by former U.S. President Joe Biden in 2022, is one of the largest financial commitments made by the world’s largest economy to combat climate change.

Although the bill has multiple goals, including reducing health care costs, the highest capital allocation (almost $400 billion) is funding clean energy through tax incentives, grants and loan guarantees, and other measures.

It offers $0.07 (About ₹6) Tax preferential measures per watt are provided to module manufacturers, thereby increasing profit margins. The plan also offers $0.0275 incentives for renewable energy projects set up in the country by 2032, providing strong orders for solar module manufacturers.

But Trump signed an executive order on January 21 the day after his tenure to suspend all federal spending under the IRA, prompting a quick correction of the share price of the Clean Energy Company and contact the United States.

Waaree Energies’ stock, whose 1.6GW U.S. solar module factory began production a day later on January 22, correcting nearly a quarter of the next five transactions to touch the 52-week low ₹January 27, 2,030. Since then, the stock has partially cut losses to be opened ₹Thursday 2,425.85.

Waaree Energies stock debuts on BSE ₹November 8 at 3,133.85, as of Thursday, it was a quarter of its value. The benchmark Sensex fell 2.36% during the same period.