Mumbai: Wind energy major Suzlon Energy has reported a 26 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue from operations to Rs 4,869 crore for the September quarter of FY27, supported by record quarterly wind turbine deliveries of 710 megawatts in India. The company's comparable net profit rose 1.3 per cent to Rs 394 crore, while its order book crossed 6 gigawatts, underlining the momentum in India's wind energy sector even as margins came under pressure from higher costs.
The headline profit figure requires careful reading, because the year-ago comparison is distorted by a one-time tax item. Reported net profit in the September quarter of FY26 stood at Rs 1,279 crore, which included a deferred tax asset benefit of Rs 891 crore. Excluding that benefit, comparable profit in the year-ago quarter was Rs 389 crore, so the Rs 394 crore reported this quarter represents a modest 1.3 per cent increase on a like-for-like basis.
On a reported basis, profit appears to have fallen 69 per cent, but that decline reflects the high base created by the tax credit rather than a deterioration in the underlying business.
Revenue growth was driven by execution. Deliveries rose to 710 MW in the quarter, up from 565 MW a year earlier and from 506 MW in the June quarter, a sequential increase of 40 per cent. Commissioning also improved sharply, rising to 454 MW, up 69 per cent sequentially from 269 MW and up 196 per cent year-on-year.
For the first half of FY27, total deliveries reached 1,217 MW, compared with 1,009 MW in the corresponding period last year, while commissioning for the half-year totalled 723 MW, including projects involving Juniper Green Energy, Aditya Birla Renewables, Zelestra and Brookfield.
The core renewable energy solutions business, which makes and installs wind turbines, reported revenue of Rs 4,212 crore, up 30 per cent from Rs 3,241 crore a year earlier. The asset management services segment, which maintains more than 16 GW of installed turbines in India, grew revenue 11 per cent to Rs 639.6 crore, with its segment result jumping 51.5 per cent to Rs 220.4 crore.
Together, these segments show a company that is not only selling more turbines but also earning growing income from servicing the fleet it has already installed.
Profitability, however, did not keep pace with revenue. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation remained broadly flat at Rs 720 crore, against Rs 721 crore a year ago, while the EBITDA margin contracted to 14.8 per cent from 18.6 per cent in the year-ago quarter and 15.6 per cent in the June quarter. Profit before tax declined to Rs 518 crore from Rs 562 crore a year earlier.
The pressure was concentrated in the core wind business, where the segment result fell 22.5 per cent to Rs 370.5 crore despite the 30 per cent revenue growth, as material, component and service costs rose faster than sales.
Company executives attributed the margin pressure to commodity and currency volatility, a familiar challenge for manufacturers that import components and buy steel and other inputs in a fluctuating price environment.
Contribution margin, as reported in the company's investor presentation, fell to 28.7 per cent from 34.1 per cent a year ago and 32.1 per cent in the June quarter, as material and related costs absorbed 68.6 per cent of revenue, up from 62.8 per cent a year earlier. That cost line rose 36 per cent, well ahead of the 26 per cent rise in revenue, which explains why a record quarter for deliveries did not translate into record operating profit.
Despite the margin squeeze, the order pipeline remains strong. Suzlon's order book stood at 6,009 MW at the end of September, up from 5,697 MW at the end of March 2026, while order intake in the first half of FY27 exceeded 1.5 GW. Development company-led orders accounted for more than 70 per cent of first-half intake, at over 1.1 GW, while public sector undertakings and commercial and industrial customers accounted for 78 per cent of the order book.
Engineering, procurement and construction orders contributed 38 per cent of the total order book, with the company targeting a 50 per cent share by FY28, reflecting its expanding role in end-to-end project execution.
Chief Executive Officer Ajay Kapur said the record deliveries and strong commissioning reflected stronger execution and were driving revenue growth. He added that with first-half order intake above 1.5 GW and an order book above 6 GW, the company was demonstrating its ability to convert demand into deliveries while sustaining a strong pipeline.
Vice Chairman and co-founder Girish Tanti said the company's Suzlon 2.0 strategy was turning its wind leadership into a full-stack renewable energy solutions business, delivering record throughput at scale, and that the accelerating project execution was driving India towards its ambition of 100 GW of wind energy capacity by 2030.
The balance sheet also strengthened. Suzlon said its installed wind capacity has crossed 22 GW globally, placing it among the world's largest wind energy players, and that its net worth has crossed Rs 10,000 crore. Credit rating agency CRISIL upgraded its long-term rating to CRISIL AA-/Stable, a vote of confidence in the company's financial position.
The company also reported a net cash position of Rs 2,048 crore, which gives it flexibility to invest in manufacturing capacity, working capital and project execution without excessive reliance on debt.
The market response to the results was mixed, illustrating the tension between strong volumes and weak margins. Ahead of the earnings announcement, Suzlon shares closed at Rs 36.79 on the BSE, down 1.45 per cent on the day, and on Friday, October 30, the shares tumbled nearly 10 per cent as analysts digested the margin contraction.
Brokerages split in their response: JM Financial downgraded the stock to Add from Buy and cut its target price to Rs 40 from Rs 46, while UBS retained a Buy rating despite reducing its target price to Rs 58 from Rs 66. JM Financial expects deliveries of 3 GW, 3.3 GW and 3.5 GW in FY27, FY28 and FY29 respectively, suggesting that volume growth is expected to continue even if margins take time to recover.
The broader context is India's renewable energy push. Wind energy is a critical complement to solar power, because wind often blows when the sun is not shining, helping to balance the grid. India has set ambitious targets for renewable capacity, and wind developers are benefiting from policy support, corporate demand for clean power and falling technology costs.
Suzlon, as one of India's oldest and largest wind turbine manufacturers, is well positioned to benefit, but it also faces competition from global turbine makers and from the pricing pressure that comes with large auctions and corporate power purchase agreements.
For investors, the key question now is whether margins can recover as commodity prices stabilise, execution improves and the mix shifts towards higher-value EPC contracts. If costs moderate and the company can pass through some price increases in new orders, the strong volume growth could begin to flow through to operating profit. If costs remain elevated, the company may need to rely on volume growth and services income to sustain earnings.
The next few quarters will therefore be watched closely, not just for delivery numbers, which are already at record levels, but for evidence that those deliveries are becoming more profitable.
Separately, Suzlon Energy has agreed to acquire 1,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each, representing 100 per cent of the equity share capital of Suzlon Foundation Limited, for Rs 10 lakh. Upon completion, Suzlon Foundation will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. The transaction is small in financial terms, but it tidies up the group's structure as it pursues its broader renewable energy strategy.
(Reporting based on CNBC-TV18 and The Economic Times.)