ACME Solar's margin recovers, but still trails utility peers sharply
Revenue momentum improved sequentially, but other income supplied 34.90% of pre-tax profit and operating margin remained 33.26 percentage points below the utility-peer median.
Filed 28 Oct 2026, 21:14 IST · after market close · ACME Solar Holdings Ltd (ACMESOLAR)
Key takeaways
- Standalone operating margin improved 2.11 percentage points QoQ to 9.62% as revenue grew +46.19% and expenses grew +42.87%.
- Other income contributed 34.90% of pre-tax profit, while interest expense rose +55.00% YoY, tempering the quality of the profit recovery.
- Management said the FY27 cumulative BESS commissioning target was raised to more than 12 GWh from 10 GWh.
Price around the results
Sequential recovery remains below the utility peer set
These are standalone results. Revenue grew +46.19% QoQ, faster than expenses at +42.87%, lifting operating margin by 2.11 percentage points to 9.62%. That margin was 33.26 percentage points below the median of six Utilities peers that have reported, leaving ACME Solar lowest among them.
Interest and other income shape the profit recovery
Interest expense rose +8.37% QoQ and +55.00% YoY, adding pressure below operating profit. Other income accounted for 34.90% of pre-tax profit, so the reported profit recovery was not entirely operating-led. The tax rate fell only 0.12 percentage points QoQ and rose 1.44 percentage points YoY, rather than providing a material tax-rate boost.
Margin has recovered from Q1, but not from the Q4 peak
Operating margin moved from 12.95% in Q4FY26 to 7.51% in Q1FY27 before recovering to 9.62% in Q2FY27. Management said Q2 power generation increased 19.6% to 1,840 million units, helped by capacity additions and higher irradiation. It also said short-term peak-power BESS operations sold an additional 324 million units during the quarter.
BESS expansion is advancing alongside execution risks
Management said about 2.1 GWh of BESS was commissioned during the quarter, taking total commissioned capacity to about 5.2 GWh, and that around 19 GWh was contracted with suppliers. The company said it raised its FY27 cumulative BESS commissioning target to more than 12 GWh and its 2030 renewable-generation target to 15 GW. Management also identified transmission unreadiness and evacuation-infrastructure delays as factors that have delayed projects.
No current market reaction after the post-close filing
The results were filed after market close, so there is no market reaction to assess yet. Across the stock's eight recent results reactions, it rose four times and fell four times, with a median absolute move of 5.28%, indicating a mixed but typically material response.
Q2FY27 at a glance
Standalone figures as filed with NSE — filed ahead of third-party databases, not yet independently cross-checked.
| Line item | Q2FY27 | Q1FY27 | QoQ | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₹3,313 cr | ₹2,266 cr | +46.19% | +896.63% |
| Other income | ₹113 cr | ₹92 cr | +22.45% | -16.86% |
| Expenses | ₹2,994 cr | ₹2,096 cr | +42.87% | +733.49% |
| Operating profit | ₹319 cr | ₹170 cr | +87.11% | — |
| Operating margin (%) | 9.62% | 7.51% | — | — |
| Interest | ₹105 cr | ₹97 cr | +8.37% | +55.00% |
| Depreciation | ₹4 cr | ₹3 cr | +49.23% | +4211.11% |
| Profit before tax | ₹323 cr | ₹163 cr | +97.90% | +687.43% |
| Tax | ₹81 cr | ₹41 cr | +96.93% | +735.18% |
| Net profit | ₹241 cr | ₹122 cr | +98.24% | +672.77% |
| EPS (₹) | ₹3.60 | ₹1.92 | +87.50% | +592.31% |
Operating margin of 9.62% compares with a Utilities sector median of 42.88% across 6 peers that have reported Q2FY27.
What management said
From the company’s own investor presentation. Each point is checked against the source document before it appears here.
This quarter
- Q2 FY27 power generation increased 19.6% to 1,840 million units, driven by capacity additions and higher irradiation.
- Short-term peak-power BESS operations sold an additional 324 million units during Q2 FY27.
Guidance & outlook
- FY27 cumulative BESS commissioning target was raised from 10 GWh to more than 12 GWh.
- The 2030 renewable-energy target was raised from 10 GW to 15 GW of generation capacity.
- The target is to reach 20 GW of generation capacity and 70 GWh of BESS capacity by 2032.
Expansion
- Around 2.1 GWh of BESS was commissioned during the quarter, taking total commissioned capacity to about 5.2 GWh.
- About 19 GWh of BESS was contracted with suppliers including CATL, Hithium, Ganfeng Li Energy, Trina and CLOU.
- Commissioned BESS and solar capacity enabled partial commissioning of projects totalling about 1.9 GW.
New orders
- The company signed 430 MW of FDRE PPAs with SECI and REMCL, taking signed PPA capacity to 4,310 MW.
- PPAs had been signed for 7.3 GW, representing 87% of total portfolio capacity.
Competition
- The company described its cumulative commissioned BESS capacity as the second largest installed BESS capacity in India.
Problems & risks
- The company identified transmission unreadiness as a cause of project delays.
- The commissioning roadmap is subject to external factors including project execution and evacuation-infrastructure delays.
- H1 FY27 BESS EBITDA margin was lower than the renewable portfolio margin because of power purchased for BESS operations.
What to watch
- Whether standalone operating margin holds above 9.62% and the 33.26 percentage-point gap to the utility-peer median narrows.
- BESS commissioning progress against management's more-than-12 GWh FY27 target after about 5.2 GWh was commissioned.
- Updates on transmission readiness for the approximately 1.9 GW of partially commissioned projects.