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CleanMax is gearing up for its next phase of growth, with the renewable energy player targeting 1.5 GW of capacity additions in FY27 and EBITDA of over ₹3,000 crore by FY28, nearly 2.5 times the ₹1,280 crore reported in FY26.
In an interaction with Kshitij Anand of ETMarkets, CleanMax Founder and Managing Director Kuldeep Jain said the company remains confident of meeting its capacity addition target, backed by a sharp improvement in execution capabilities.
Jain also highlighted data centres, AI infrastructure, and the broader Make in India push as key demand drivers. A recent upgrade to an AA credit rating and a planned Rs 2,500 crore bond issue could provide greater access to capital as the company scales its contracted portfolio. The following are edited excerpts from the chat:
Kshitij Anand: I wanted to get your view on the recent results that have come out. In fact, CleanMax delivered more than 100% year-on-year revenue growth and 70% growth in adjusted EBITDA in Q1. How much of this growth is sustainable, and what should investors expect from the business over the next few years?
Kuldeep Jain: We are delighted with our growth numbers, and we have given guidance that EBITDA in FY27-28, which is next year, will be above Rs 3,000 crore. This compares with FY25-26, which was last year. So, in two years, we will go from Rs 1,280 crore to above Rs 3,000 crore. That is obviously very, very high growth of about 60% year-on-year.
Kshitij Anand: The reason I ask is that growth appears to be quite strong quarter-on-quarter. Given the long-term nature of your contracts, is the over 100% growth sustainable, or should we expect some normalisation in the coming quarters?
Kuldeep Jain: We do not give a quarter-on-quarter view on growth. Sometimes it is very tough to…
Kshitij Anand: No, no, of course, it is year-on-year…
Kuldeep Jain: …that, but I think over two years, we have given guidance to go from Rs 1,280 crore to about Rs 3,000 crore, which is actually very, very high, nearly two-and-a-half times EBITDA growth in just two years.
So, we see that high growth continuing, but of course, some variability on a quarterly basis can be there. Therefore, we do not actually provide any guidance on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Kshitij Anand: Let me also get your perspective on the recent projects. So, you commissioned a record 0.5 gigawatt of capacity in Q1, and you are guiding for at least 1.5 gigawatts of additions in FY27. How confident are you about meeting or exceeding this target?
Kuldeep Jain: So, our principle on guidance is that we must be very sure of meeting or beating it. That is the principle we adopt. So, yes, the answer would be that we think we will hit that, and it is good that we have done 500 out of 1,500 megawatts in one quarter. The thing, though, is that our track record gives me comfort in this. So, if you look at last year also, we did about 1,400 megawatts.
So, it is not like we have not done it. If you look at the trailing 12 months as of June 30, we have done about 1,700 megawatts-plus. So, we, as an organisation, are now able to execute at that pace, which is, by the way, a marked step-up from doing 400 to 500 megawatts a year until about two years ago.
So, we have stepped up. In the last 12 months, we have added 1,700 megawatts. Therefore, I do think we should be able to meet or beat our guidance of 1,500 megawatts of capacity for this year.
Kshitij Anand: The reason I emphasise this is that every year brings new challenges. With some political volatility in 2026, do you foresee any bottlenecks or resistance that could impact growth?
Kuldeep Jain: The inherent nature of projects is that there is no easy project, and the challenges could be around land and permitting. It could be around supply chain.
It could be around execution, final connectivity and operations. So, there is never an easy project, and every project will have some challenge.
And therefore, at my level, I do not think so much about what the challenges are, but whether we, as an organisation, have the ability to deliver 12 to 15 large projects across 10 different states every year.
And then, every project will be… some may be trending a little ahead of time, some after time. These minor variabilities will happen. They are the nature of project-led growth.
Kshitij Anand: Let us also talk about the new opportunities. Data centres and AI infrastructure now account for 42% of your contracted renewable energy power sales capacity. With this portfolio growing nearly 10 times in just over two years, could this become the single biggest growth engine for CleanMax?
Kuldeep Jain: Data centres are humongous power guzzlers. Every one-gigawatt data centre needs about six gigawatts of renewable capacity to meet 75% to 80% of its requirement, so that is the equation.
And even today, data centres and hyperscalers are already 42% of our contracted business. So, about 2,500 megawatts we have already contracted.
But yes, we do see that as the data centres ramp up and AI data centres start consuming power, they might shift from 42% to a majority of our contracted volumes in the near future.
Kshitij Anand: Let me also focus on the segment, the C&I customer across technology, digital infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial sectors. Which segments are currently showing the strongest incremental demand for renewable power?
Kuldeep Jain: So, firstly, the demand is ubiquitous and not segment-oriented because all Make in India needs power and benefits from the use of cheaper, greener power.
Cheaper benefits because your cost of production comes down, and greener benefits because if you are part of a global value chain, that helps you on the sales side of your business because you have a more cost-effective and greener product.
And therefore, where we have seen a lot of demand start coming through is in some of the high-end manufacturing, like electronics, semiconductors, auto and auto components being exported, where the manufacturer is tied to a global value chain.
That mix is very potent for us. That said, only about 7.5% of corporate power demand in India is met through these bilateral green sources. So, the penetration of that 7.5% is going to 20%, as forecasted, between 2023 and 2030, driven by the fact that it is cheaper and greener, and everyone is therefore adopting.
Kshitij Anand: In fact, let me also get your perspective on the debt, which has actually come down to 8.4% from 9.2% in April 2025. How much of this benefit can be passed through to project returns as you scale the portfolio?
Kuldeep Jain: The brilliant thing about renewables is that it is the only business which has a 92% to 94% gross margin. The cost of production is nearly negligible because, incidentally, I mean, I explained it in Hindi, Surya Deva and Vayu Deva are free.
Like the sun, you are not paying for sunshine or for the wind blowing. But the cost is of interest because it is capital-intensive. You borrowed to put up your project, and therefore, the cost is of interest.
Therefore, the achievement, yes, is that our cost of debt has come down. But what is a further positive early indicator is that our credit rating has increased now to the AA bracket, starting June this year, and that gives us a better, improved credit rating and better negotiating power with lenders like banks because now we are an AA-rated borrower. So, that is a positive.
Kshitij Anand: In fact, my next question is also around that. The board has approved a domestic bond issuance to diversify funding and secure long-term fixed-rate financing. How large could this financing be, and what kind of impact could it have on your overall cost of capital, as you rightly put it, given that the rating has also…?
Kuldeep Jain: The board has approved a bond issuance of up to Rs 2,500 crore, and we are targeting to get it done by the end of September, so pretty much soon.
At an AA credit rating, the real benefit is not just the cost of funds, but tapping into a new source of capital, which is the domestic credit markets, DCM, rather than traditional bank loans.
Because as you grow, tapping into different pools of capital becomes very beneficial and positive, and that is why the first-ever bond issuance has been approved by the board.
But yes, the recent credit upgrade to the AA family was a key ingredient in doing it. Like, domestic bonds cannot really happen if you are at an A rating, but if you are AA, that is where you can start doing it.
Kshitij Anand: And CleanMax, as a company, has grown its contracted portfolio threefold in two years, and the renewable energy market is becoming increasingly competitive. What is the biggest challenge you see in scaling from the current 6-gigawatt portfolio to, let us say, the next 10-gigawatt portfolio?
Kuldeep Jain: So, we see massive growth in both our key customer segments. So, the first segment is Make in India, where only 7.5% of the demand is being met through bilateral renewable contracts like ours.
That is going to grow a fair bit because it is cheaper and greener, and that has also doubled in the last two years. We see that kind of penetration increase continuing. The second massive booster ingredient to this is the data and AI boom.
We have grown from 250 megawatts to 2,500 megawatts in two years in terms of contracts with data centres and AI. And that industry feels like it is just getting started. The actual operating data centre capacity in India is only 1.5 gigawatts.
The next 10 gigawatts is to come up. If 10 gigawatts of data centres come up, they need 60,000 megawatts of renewables to power them, or to power them up to 75% to 80% of their requirements. And today, we are serving all of them.
So, we will get our fair share of that kind of growth uplift. So, we are very excited about continued fast growth in both of our key customer segments, and therefore, we do not see growth as being a challenge. We are gearing ourselves more to execute on that massive growth.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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