Rating Rationale
March 30, 2020 | Mumbai
Polycab India Limited
Ratings Reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.4000 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL AA/Positive (Reaffirmed)
Short Term Rating CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has reaffirmed its ratings on the bank loan facilities of Polycab India Limited (PIL) at 'CRISIL AA/Positive/CRISIL A1+'.

The rating continues to reflect the market leadership position of PIL in the home wires and cables industry in India, integrated operations and healthy financial risk profile. These rating strengths are partially offset by vulnerability of profitability to volatility in raw material prices, to economic downturns, and exposure to intense competition.

Operating performance in fiscal 2021 is likely to be impacted following measures taken by various state governments as well as central government towards containment of COVID-19 which includes temporary closure of non-critical establishments, inter-state transportation etc. along-with severe restrictions on travel and visiting areas of mass gatherings. Since these measures are imposed at a broader level and across sectors, they are expected to impact the business profile of the company in terms of temporary/partial closure of production facility and/or closure of establishments of dealer-distributors-retailers. The ability of the business to revert back to operational stability and any relief measures given by the government will be a key monitorable, and CRISIL will continue monitoring these events.

Any disruption in operations, however, will be supported by the company's healthy financial risk profile. Liquidity is also healthy with cash and cash equivalents of Rs 766 crore as on December 31, 2019 along with sufficient cushion available on fund based limits of Rs 716 crore.

For 9 months ending December 2019, operating income increased by over 20% driven by steady growth in the wires segment along with over 40% growth (albeit on a lower base) in the FMEG segment.

Analytical Approach

For arriving at its ratings, CRISIL has considered standalone financials of PIL. In the case of Ryker Base Pvt Ltd, CRISIL has followed the moderate consolidation approach to account for the support extended to the entity.

Please refer Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Market leadership position in the home wires and cables industry in India: The organized home wires and cables industry in India has a market size of around Rs 54,000 crore, of which PIL is the market leader with approximately 15% market share. In fiscal 2020 the industry is estimated to have grown at 10% and is expected to continue to grow at a healthy rate over the medium term. PIL's market position is facilitated from its strong distribution network with 6 warehouses and a dealer-distributor network of over 5,000 entities. PIL has significant market share in West and South India, which contributes around 70% to its revenue share. As such, PIL's market is concentrated and thus, PIL is focusing on expanding its network to reach every district in India.

* Integrated Operations: PIL has 3 aluminum rod plants (capacity 3,000 tonnes/month), along with its own facilities to manufacture PVC compound. In fiscal 2017 the company entered into a JV with Dutch firm Trafigura for manufacturing copper rods with a capacity of 20,000/month to be distributed 50:50 between Trafigura and PIL and now sources most of its copper requirement from this entity. This integrated nature of operations benefits the company in terms of quality output and overall performance efficiency.

* Healthy Financial Risk Profile: Financial risk profile is healthy driven by large networth of over Rs 3,500 crore and healthy capital structure as reflected by total outside liabilities to total networth (TOL/TNW) of 0.65 times estimated as on March 31, 2020. The capital structure is expected to improve further over the medium term on the back of steady cash accrual in absence of any major debt funded capex plan over the medium term. Debt protection metrics are strong as reflected in interest coverage ratio estimated at over 18 times and net cash accruals to total debt at over 0.8 times for fiscal 2020. Working capital intensity is higher than industry peers as reflected in gross current asset days in the range of 150-200 days in the past due to higher credit to trade channel. However, the same is expected to improve in the medium term due to reduction in debtor days using channel financing.

Weaknesses
* Exposure to intense competition: The house wires and electrical cables segment is highly fragmented with a large number of unorganised players constraining the pricing power of organised sector players. Apart from unorganised sector, PIL also faces competition from organised sector players such as Havells India Ltd, Finolex Cables Ltd, and KEI Industries Ltd. CRISIL believes that though the domestic electrical market is becoming more quality conscious and there would be some pressure on the unorganised players for GST compliance, competition from organised and unorganised players in the market will continue to impact PIL's operating performance.

* Susceptibility to economic downturns: PIL is susceptible to the economic environment in India. Electrical cables contribute more than 80% to PIL's revenue, and end-users of the product include construction (real estate), power, telecommunication and automobile industries. Growth in these industries is, in turn, linked to the economic environment, any slowdown in gross domestic product growth could lead to moderation in demand for electrical cables over the near term.

* Vulnerability to fluctuations in raw material prices: PIL is susceptible to volatility in raw material prices (mainly copper). Copper and aluminum are the primary raw material used in the manufacture of cables and accounts for 60-70% of PIL's product value. Though the company revises the prices every month on basis of last month (M-1) LME prices, however, the profitability would be impacted if the company is unable to pass on the price increase to its customers.
Liquidity Superior

PIL has healthy liquidity driven by expected cash accruals of more than Rs 700 crore per annum in fiscal 20 and fiscal 21 and cash as against term debt obligations of Rs 80 crore per annum and capex plan of Rs 300 crore per annum. PIL also has access to fund based limits of Rs 716 crore with moderate utilization. CRISIL believes the company has sufficient accruals and cash and cash equivalents to meet its capex and long term debt requirements. Its unutilized bank lines are more than adequate to meet its incremental working capital needs over the next one year.

Outlook: Positive

Barring the short term impact of COVID-19 pandemic, PIL's business risk profile may improve upon resumption of economic normalcy in the country driven by company's market leadership position in wires and cables, backward integrated operations and established distribution network

Rating Sensitivity Factors
Upward Factors
*Significant improvement in the business risk profile driven by substantial increase in margins or diversification of product profile.
*Significant scale up of its FMEG segment while keeping capital structure intact
*Sustained improvement in operating margins to over 14%.

Downward Factors
*Higher than expected debt funded capex leading to deterioration of capital structure.
*Drop in margins to around 8-9% on a sustainable basis due to lower than expected performance in wires segment or higher costs in FMEG segment.

About the Company

PIL is a leading company in the electrical wires and cables industry with a track record of over four decades. It has the reputation of being the fastest growing company in the Indian Cable sector and has manufacturing facilities located at Daman and Halol. The product portfolio consists of LDC cables, HDC cables and house wires. It also includes communication cables for telephones, co-axial and local area network (LAN) cables and specialized cables for speakers. Polycab has also entered into several consumer-facing businesses such as fans, switches, Lighting, Switchgears etc.

For the 9 months ended December 2019, the company reported a PAT of Rs 550 crore on operating income of Rs 6,700 crore, as against a PAT of Rs 360 crore on operating income of Rs 5,522 crore for the same period of previous fiscal.

Key Financial Indicators
As on/for the period ended March 31 2019 2018
Revenue Rs crore 7956 6848
Profit after tax Rs crore 500 358
PAT margins % 6.3 5.2
Adjusted debt/Adjusted networth Times 0.44 0.53
Interest coverage Times 8.83 8.12

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments. The CRISIL complexity levels are available on www.crisil.com/complexity-levels. Users are advised to refer to the CRISIL complexity levels for instruments that they consider for investment. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of instrument Date of allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity date Issue size (Rs.Cr) Rating assigned with outlook
NA Fund based facilities NA NA NA 805.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Non-Fund Based Limit NA NA NA 1950.00 CRISIL A1+
NA Term Loan Sept-2015 LIBOR+1.65% Jun-2020 132.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Term Loan January 2016 7.90% Mar-2022 125.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Term Loan Dec-2016 LIBOR + 4.0% Jun-2021 75.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Term Loan Dec-2016 LIBOR + 4.0% Jun-2021 75.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Proposed Fund Based  facilities NA NA NA 135.00 CRISIL AA/Positive
NA Proposed Non-Fund Based Limit NA NA NA 160.00 CRISIL A1+
NA Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility NA NA NA 543.00 CRISIL AA/Positive

Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated
Type of consolidation Extent of consolidation Rationale for consolidation
Ryker Base Pvt Ltd Moderate Consolidation Based on support extended to this entity
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2020 (History) 2019  2018  2017  Start of 2017
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  1890.00  CRISIL AA/Positive      26-06-19  CRISIL AA/Positive  13-07-18  CRISIL AA/Stable    --  -- 
            16-04-19  CRISIL AA/Positive           
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  2110.00  CRISIL A1+      26-06-19  CRISIL A1+  13-07-18  CRISIL A1+    --  -- 
            16-04-19  CRISIL A1+           
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Fund-Based Facilities 805 CRISIL AA/Positive Fund-Based Facilities 805 CRISIL AA/Positive
Non-Fund Based Limit 1950 CRISIL A1+ Non-Fund Based Limit 1950 CRISIL A1+
Proposed Fund-Based Bank Limits 135 CRISIL AA/Positive Proposed Fund-Based Bank Limits 135 CRISIL AA/Positive
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 543 CRISIL AA/Positive Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 543 CRISIL AA/Positive
Proposed Non Fund based limits 160 CRISIL A1+ Proposed Non Fund based limits 160 CRISIL A1+
Term Loan 407 CRISIL AA/Positive Term Loan 407 CRISIL AA/Positive
Total 4000 -- Total 4000 --
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
CRISILs Criteria for Consolidation

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