“Clarifies the "book and build" strategy, highlighting secured order book as a basis for capacity expansion.”

“Waaree has a philosophy of “book and build”. Let me take a few moments here to explain what we mean by book and build. So, we decide to build a factory only after we have confidence in the booking numbers. Once we book the orders and we know that we have to deliver, only then we go ahead and build the factories. And the factory that we have in the US, as well as the factories that we have, frankly, anywhere, including our Chikhli, which is the largest facility, is built on the back of a very strong order book. And so the confidence that we have, and that's the reason why we have been able to give the guidance, right, for our EBITDA, stems out of an order book, which we are very, very confident about. Our customers are clearly needing all of these panels and we are ensuring that we are able to deliver it to them. In fact, the execution need inside our organization now is to -- and since it's IPL season going on, is to really consider almost every day as an over and to make sure that we are actually hitting the manufacturing numbers every day to meet our customers' requirements.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO

Shares insights on strong growth prospects in the DCR (Domestic Content Requirement) market, driven by government initiatives and export opportunities. (The DCR market requires solar modules manufactured using domestically produced cells, supported by schemes such as PM Surya Ghar Yojana and PM Kusum.)

“One major segment in the DCR market is driven by PM Surya Ghar Yojana and Kusum scheme. Last year, demand was around 3 to 4 gigawatts. Given increased government allocation and spending, we expect this market to grow significantly to between 10 to 15 gigawatts this year. Additionally, a substantial portion of this capacity could also be exported to the U.S., as imports face more restrictions. Indian-produced cells are potentially better positioned tariff-wise to be accepted in the U.S. market. Thus, there are multiple avenues for utilizing our domestic cell production capacity.”

— Sonal Shrivastava, CFO & Amit Paithankar, CEO

Highlights the differing timelines and execution pace across domestic, export, and retail segments. (Order execution timelines differ substantially across markets, with export orders typically having longer lead times.)

“I will tell you the velocity of orders for various segments keeps changing. For exports, it's always, like you rightly said, two years plus—typically two to three years. But for Indian orders, even large institutional customers, timelines tend to be shorter, around one to one-and-a-half years. Additionally, almost a quarter of our business comes from the retail segment, where the velocity of orders is even higher.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO

Highlights increased global renewable energy demand driven by rising data-center and AI-related power consumption.

“One search on Google Gemini or ChatGPT in terms of watts is 10 times more intensive than a plain Google search. Now, even if you give a plain Google search, first Gemini gives you stuff and that is 10 times more than what Google used to do a year back. So that is and many majors, large IT majors who are setting up large data centers have clearly said that they are going to have all of this power coming from renewables. So worldwide, including the U.S. we are seeing a very, very substantial rise in demand.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO

Explains how rising solar penetration, low daytime tariffs, and Discom reluctance to sign PPAs are increasing the importance of energy storage solutions. (Renewables produce power intermittently—solar only during daylight and wind when it blows—which can stress the grid. This intermittency makes storage essential to maintain grid stability.)

“Like you rightly said, a solar panel produces electricity only when the sun shines; a windmill generates power only when the wind blows. Recognizing this challenge, the Government of India has mandated a minimum level of energy storage to accompany renewable energy capacity, a requirement likely to increase further. This will progressively make round-the-clock renewable power a reality. Grid stability will become increasingly critical, elevating the importance of battery storage, especially as battery prices continue declining. Going forward, new PPAs or tenders will increasingly combine renewable power with explicit storage requirements.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO

Clearly outlines the levers to achieve the INR 5,500–6,000 crore EBITDA target by FY26.

“On the top line, I have INR 47,000 crores worth order book, which feeds all of my factories, and my factories are completely booked till 31st March 2026 and beyond. This provides the necessary fodder for our production of solar panels. As we scale up, we benefit significantly in cost management, both in manufacturing and SG&A expenses, giving us substantial leverage. Furthermore, as scale increases, manufacturing becomes more efficient, improving capacity utilisation and moving us closer to our plants' rated, or nameplate, capacities. These combined factors are precisely the levers we will pull to achieve our targeted EBITDA of INR 5,500 to 6,000 crores.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO

Clarifies strategy to manage risks from potential U.S. tariffs on imported solar modules. (The U.S. recently announced potential tariff changes on imported solar equipment, impacting module exporters globally, including India.)

“So, in the revenue stack at this point, anywhere between 17% to 20% is U.S.-bound, directionally. There's a substantial 80% revenue coming from the India market, putting us in a position to manage our EBITDA effectively. We have manufacturing facilities in both the U.S. and India. Based on how tariffs ultimately settle, we’ll decide production distribution between the U.S. and India, creating a natural hedge to control EBITDA.”

— Amit Paithankar, CEO