JSW Energy is looking to refinance Rs 2,000 crore of debt by the end of this financial year.
Its chief financial officer, Pramod Menon, said, “There is only one more debt refinancing that we are talking of, but that would essentially come in the last quarter of this financial year.” The company is awaiting interest rates to moderate to time its restructuring process.
“It’s too early to comment how much interest rate reduction we would be able to get when we go in for the refinancing. A bigger problem for the power sector currently is that banks have become more cautious to lend,” Menon said.
JSW Energy has successfully completed two debt restructuring till date. It refinanced Rs 410 crore in debt last quarter. Prior to that, it had refinanced debt worth Rs 3,800 crore. The company managed to bring down its interest rates in the two restructuring processes. “Given the interest rate hikes that have happened, we would have been at 13-14 per cent interest rate, but now, we are at 11.12 per cent,” he said. At the end of September, JSW Energy had debts of Rs 9,800 crore on a consolidated basis and Rs 5,700 crore on a standalone basis.
Meanwhile, the company on Wednesday reported a net loss of Rs 108.9 crore for the second quarter, against a net profit of Rs 184.6 crore in the same period last year. It blamed translation losses on foreign exchange (Rs 79 crore), increased interest and depreciation charges upon commissioning of new capacities for the loss. Turnover rose 18 per cent to Rs 996.5 crore.