Indus Towers Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-06-30
Yes. So I have 2 questions. One is the maintenance capex that you had in calendar year 2024, that was INR 11.9 billion. But in the first half of this calendar year, you have almost spent that much on maintenance capex, INR 11 billion to be exact. So could you explain to us the factors why maintenance capex has gone up so much? You have added some network sites by acquiring them from Airtel, but that does not seem to explain this jump in maintenance capex? The second question I have is your attitude towards debt. Now while delaying cash return, you highlighted that one of the reasons why you chose to delay cash return and re -evaluate it is perhaps opportunities in the tower space, both organic and inorganic. My question is, is debt now completely ruled out as far as capital structuring is concerned? How should we think about the long-term balance sheet structure? Because previously, you had given indication and even shareholder voting for the Airtel towers, you had clearly specified that you wanted to fund that transaction using debt. It seems tha t now you are not pursuing that? So an explanation on this front would really help.
All right. I have one follow-up on the maintenance capex explanation. Thanks for the color. So what you are suggesting is that there is some onetime or perhaps periodic maintenance capex that has now been undertaken, which is resulting in a very big spike. And perhaps this could also normalize once you are done with the augmentation of your legacy towers and maybe this cycle of replacing lead acid with the lithium-ion batteries. Is that how one should think about it? Because the question that investors are looking to answer is what is the recurring maintenance capex that one can assume in a rupee million per tower or on a recurring basis, how should one think about maintenance capex?