India Power Corp FY26: ₹683 Cr Revenue, ₹12.8 Cr Net Profit — Under Corporate Insolvency

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1. At a Glance

On 15 May 2026, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Hyderabad admitted a Section 7 insolvency petition against India Power Corporation Ltd. The company is now under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). The Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) has taken control; the Board of Directors stands suspended.

FY26 saw revenue hold steady at ₹683 Cr (vs ₹650 Cr in FY25), while net profit compressed to ₹12.8 Cr from ₹17 Cr. The 106-year-old Asansol discom, once among the country’s best performers by distribution metrics, now faces a moratorium on all debt servicing and the uncertainty of resolution.

The company carries ₹127 Cr in borrowings and ₹19,200 Cr in contingent electricity duty liabilities. Its Meenakshi Energy subsidiary — in which IPCL held a 95% stake and against whose lender claims it had issued a guarantee — entered insolvency first.

Market price (as of 12 June) is ₹7.51, down 45% over the past year. Market capitalisation sits at ₹731 Cr. Current P/E rests on equity of ₹97.38 Cr shares, now suspended in practical terms.

The operational narrative is intact: T&D losses remain sub-3%, customer reliability above 99%, and regulated revenue from the Asansol licence flows. But the financial architecture that was supposed to contain the fallout from the Meenakshi guarantee has collapsed.

Reader Question: Can operational cashflow and a going-concern resolution plan overcome ₹50,000 Cr in guaranteed liabilities, or does the resolution outcome depend on a radical writedown?

2. Introduction

India Power Corporation was incorporated in 1919. For most of a century it remained a niche player — a licensed power distributor in the Asansol-Raniganj industrial belt of West Bengal. In January 2010, the Kanoria family (via erstwhile IPCL) acquired a 93% stake in the then-named DPSC Ltd. In August 2013, the two entities merged; the combined entity took the IPCL name and moved under Kanoria stewardship.

By FY23–24, the company had established itself as one of the lowest-cost-to-operate discoms in India. T&D losses hovered around 2.5–3%, a rarity in a sector where 15% losses are routine. Customer reliability exceeded 99% for over a decade. Industrial and commercial customers made up ~95% of revenue; captive and thermal generation gave it supply optionality. It owned a 12 MW thermal plant at Dishergarh and 24.8 MW of wind assets. A 2 MW solar plant was operational by FY23.

The pivot came in FY17, when IPCL acquired a 95% stake in Meenakshi Energy Limited (MEL), a thermal generation company. In due course, IPCL issued an unconditional corporate guarantee in favour of MEL’s lenders — specifically, SBI. When MEL encountered financial distress and defaulted, the guarantee was invoked.

WBERC (the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission) had not approved the guarantee ex-ante. Legal contests ensued. After multiple rulings, rejections, and appeals through NCLAT and the Supreme Court, the matter landed back at NCLT Hyderabad. On 15 May 2026, NCLT admitted the Section 7 petition filed by SBI. CIRP commenced. The claim amount is ₹50,047.58 Cr.

3. Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?

India Power’s bread and butter is power distribution in the licensed area of Asansol-Raniganj, West Bengal: 618 sq. km, ~250 MVA connected load. It purchases power from the central generating stations, state generators, and renewable operators; it distributes to industrial, commercial, government, and domestic consumers under a tariff set annually by WBERC.

Revenue was ₹683 Cr in FY26. Of this, approximately 94% came from energy sales. The remaining 6% came from meter supply, installation labour, and other operating services.

The customer base tilts hard towards HT (high-tension, i.e., industrial and commercial). These represent ~95% of revenue because they consume bulk quantities at factories, railways, and mining operations. LT (low-tension, i.e., domestic and small commercial) contributes ~5% but is growing and has higher collection risk.

A subsidiary, MP Smart Grid, is executing a smart-meter PPP in Madhya Pradesh (Ujjain, Ratlam, Dewas, Khargone, Mhow). By FY23, 210,000 of a target 350,000 meters had been installed. This is not a cash-generative arm yet; it’s a growth vector.

IPCL also owns a 12 MW thermal plant (Dishergarh), which generates power exclusively for the distribution licence. It hedges spot purchases and can ramp if needed. The plant is old (commissioned 1990s) and low-margin, but it provides optionality.

The non-regulated business — renewables development on an asset-light model, solar generation, third-party services — was transferred to a wholly-owned subsidiary, IPCL Power Limited, in June 2025 by way of slump sale. The transaction resulted in a loss of ₹24,531 Cr (exceptional item in FY26), recorded as a write-down of investments in which IPCL had accumulated losses and goodwill impairment.

Operationally, the core discom business is sound: collections are reliable (receivables at 64 days in FY26), AT&C losses are tighter than peers, and the regulatory regime under WBERC is stable. But the capital structure broke under the weight of the Meenakshi guarantee, and the IRP is now tasked with managing a going concern amid moratorium constraints.

4. Financials Overview

Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.

Consolidated FY26 saw consolidated revenue from operations at ₹683 Cr, marginally higher than FY25’s ₹650 Cr. Operating profit deteriorated: the annualised quarterly performance (Q4 FY26 was ₹-2.92 Cr operating profit) dragged the year-on-year comparison. Total income including other income was ₹751 Cr; total expenses ₹734 Cr. Net profit fell to ₹12.8 Cr from ₹17 Cr.

Concall & Guidance. No concall was held in FY26 because the Board was suspended on 15 May 2026, immediately after the financial results were published. Management commentary has ceased. The IRP is now the voice of the company.

Operating cashflow in FY26 was ₹75 Cr (inflow), down from ₹85 Cr in FY25. Despite net profit compression, the operating cashflow remained positive, a reflection of regulatory income adjustments (tariff true-ups, fuel-price adjustments) that cushioned reported profitability. Capex was muted (₹21 Cr) relative to prior years. Free cashflow was ₹55 Cr after capex.

The company does not have working capital stress in the operational sense: the regulated tariff mechanism ensures monthly receipts from customers, and power-purchase costs are variable and tied to dispatch. But under moratorium, the IRP cannot make discretionary distributions or service non-secured debt.

5. Market Expectations & Historical Multiples

This section describes how the market is currently pricing the company and how that compares with its own history and peer group. It is descriptive, not predictive.

At ₹7.51 per share (prices referenced are not live, as of 12 June 2026), the P/E cannot be usefully computed: reported earnings include an exceptional loss and are distorted by CIRP accounting. Taking standalone earnings of ₹0.13 per share for FY26, the implied multiple is ₹7.51 / ₹0.13 ≈ 58x — a disconnect that reflects uncertainty about the company’s survival post-resolution.

The company’s own 5-year average P/E was 95.6x (spanning 2015–19, when the stock traded in the ₹10–44 range but earnings were episodically low or negative). The current price of ₹7.51 represents a 10-year low in nominal terms. Market capitalisation stands at ₹731 Cr against book equity of ₹977 Cr (after the exceptional loss), pricing the company at 0.75x book.

Peer Comparison (from Screener, most recent annualised data):