RM Drip & Sprinklers Systems Ltd. - The ‘Micro’ Irrigation Player

RM Drip & Sprinklers Systems Ltd. - The ‘Micro’ Irrigation Player

            **“When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water.”**
                           **– Benjamin Franklin**

CMP – 57
MCap – Rs. 38 Cr.
NSE-SME Listed Company

Shareholding:

Promoters 40,79,077 (60.97%)
Public 26,10,923 (39.03%)

About the Company & Management:

  • The Birth - Established in 2004, headquartered in Sinnar (Nashik), RM Drip is promoted by Vijay Kshirsagar, Nivrutti Kedar and Arjun Makani.

  • Moving up the Value Chain - RM Drip has moved up the ladder steadily from doing Job Work for various micro irrigation companies to becoming OEM for larger micro irrigation companies like EPC Industries to finally becoming a full-fledged manufacturer of wide range of micro irrigation products.

  • Plant Details & Network - Company’s manufacturing unit is located in Sinnar, Nashik in an area of 10,200 sqm. Company has presence in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat.

  • Products - The company’s product range include variety of products viz HDPE Pipes, Pipes Fittings & Irrigation Equipments including Drip Irrigation Systems, Sprinkler Irrigation Systems, Disc Filters, Screen Filters, Hydro-Cyclone Filters, Sand (Gravel) Filters, Compression Fittings, Valves (Electrical & Mechanical), Fertilizer Tanks, etc.

  • A Fanatic at Helm -

    • In 2016, Mr. Shyam Sundar Dash (Age: 53 years), a Professional with 22+ years of experience in Micro Irrigation Industry and specialization in Flat Line Drip Irrigation, was appointed as MD of the company. His last assignment was as Head - Operations for Micro Irrigation Division in Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. He has developed key contacts with numerous MNCs in the Industry viz MetzerPlas, Lego, Plasim of Israel, Maillefer of Switzerland, Crussmaffei of Germany and Davis Standard of USA over the years. He is truly a fanatic who knows a lot about the Industry and has left a fat salary to make the best use of his knowledge, acumen and contacts while satisfying his entrepreneurial hunger to elevate a small company & make it into one of the formidable forces in the Industry. He himself has a 10% stake in the company which shows his confidence and dedication to take the company to new heights in the coming years.

    • Post his appointment, company has also appointed Mr. Nikhil Kulkarni as Vice President- International Business to look after company’s global business operations. Nikhil has 15 years of experience in business and management consulting. His last assignment was with E&Y and is highly passionate about agriculture. His contribution shall be immense in making RM Drip a global organization in times to come.

Sector Outlook - An Area with mammoth growth potential

  • India accounts for about 17% of the world’s population but only 4% of the world fresh water resources. India is already declared as water- stressed country by international norms. With agriculture taking up majority of the water resources, it is essential to promote the judicious use of the water.

  • Cross country comparison of water use efficiency shows that India uses 2-3 times water to produce one unit of major food crops as compared to other major agricultural countries like China, Brazil, and USA.

  • Recognizing the importance of water as a critical input to agriculture, Government of India has taken many initiatives, one of which is Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (PMKSY), to promote the concept of water use efficiency and realizing the goal of “Per drop more crop” and “Har Khet Ko Paani”. The outlay for the five-year period starting 2015-16 has been slated at Rs. 50,000 Cr for the same.

  • With the need to increase productivity while saving water, Micro Irrigation will play a key role in agriculture in the future to meet the demand of the increasing population.

  • Nodal Agencies viz Gujarat Green Revolution Company (GGRC) and Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP), have been created by states to promote Micro Irrigation by providing an Interface to the Micro-Irrigation companies and the farmers through use of strong Information Technology (IT) backed operations. Many other states are also starting to follow the model to promote Micro Irrigation in their states.

  • Benefits of Micro Irrigation include Increase in water efficiency, savings in consumption of Energy & Fertilisers, increase in Productivity, savings on Labour cost and Increase in Farmers’ income (which is also one of the main agendas of the present Government)

  • Penetration of MIS is still very low in India. With half the cultivable land in the country still being rain-fed, there is mammoth potential for Micro Irrigation in India.

  • The Global MIS market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18.3% from 2016 to 2021, to USD 6.81 Bn by 2021. Due to under-penetration of Micro Irrigation in India, growth in India is expected to be much higher. The medium-term potential of MIS in India is pegged at ~17MH (~Rs. 11,000 Cr) with long term potential at ~70MH. Out of the 70MH of opportunity, sprinkler share is envisaged at ~60% (42.5MH) & drip share at ~40% (27MH).

The more you read about this sector, the more you will like it!

Business Model:

  • The sales of the company are through Project Market Model (Subsidy Model) and Open Market Sales (Dealer Sales).

  • Open Market- Company sells its products to dealers who in turn sell it to farmers. Here, company gets the payment upfront / with a minimum credit period and the dealer is partly paid by farmer and remaining by the government subsidy.

  • Project Market- Company gets orders from farmers through Nodal Agencies of various states. Company installs Micro Irrigation Systems (MIS) for the farmers and gets part-payment from farmers. Remaining amount (subsidy portion) is paid by Nodal Agencies to the company in 4-6 months post compliance of terms & conditions of the scheme.

  • Since, a huge amount (50%-70%) of the cost of MIS accounts for the subsidy portion, a lot of working capital is required by the company for the business. Considering the delay in release of subsidies by the Government, it is normal for businesses in this industry to have high receivables. Since it is a working capital intensive industry, a growing company, in this sector, is required to constantly pump in equity or take debt.

Investment Rationale:

  • There are many positive tailwinds for the Micro Irrigation sector and the opportunity is huge. GST rate on irrigation equipment is 12% and an input credit of 6% is available making effective rate equivalent to the pre-GST VAT rate of 6%. Post implementation of GST, unorganized players will find it very difficult to survive the competition from organized players which will be very beneficial for the likes of RM Drip in the long term.

  • RM Drip is based out of Maharashtra where the State Government has made drip irrigation mandatory for sugar cane cultivation. Currently, sugar cane is grown over 9.42 lakh hectares in Maharashtra (2017-18) and only 2.25 lakh hectares is covered by drip irrigation. It will be hugely positive for the company.

  • Company has started operations in Gujarat last year where there are ample avenues to scale up revenues. Further, company has plans to expand its domestic presence in other states as well as increase the customer base in the states it operates in. Further, they are also exploring avenues to export their products. In future, company may also form JVs or do tie-ups with large companies (including MNCs) to scale to new heights.

  • Company is expected to maintain its growth and record H1FY18 sales of Rs. 22 Cr & full year sales of Rs. 55-60 Cr (Rs. 28 Cr in FY17) in FY18 with an EBITDA of Rs. 7.5-8 Cr & PAT of Rs. 4 Cr. It may be pertinent to note that interest rate on loans taken by the company may be reduced by banks which will reduce the finance cost & increase PAT margins.

  • With an expected EPS (FY18) of Rs. 6, the company is currently available at P/E of 9.5 vis-à-vis its peers which are trading at P/E of 30+.

  • In FY19, company can record sales of Rs. 90-100 Cr. With operating leverage kicking in, the EBITDA margins should keep increasing. Considering a modest PAT of Rs. 6 Cr. in FY19, the company is available at a P/E of 6.5 currently.

  • Company’s current capacity is sufficient to generate sales of Rs. 120 Cr, post which the company shall have to go for capex.

It’s a low hanging fruit which is waiting to be picked by Intelligent Investors.

Key Financial Indicators:

(Rs. in Cr.)

image

Risks & Mitigants:

High amount of Receivables as compared to the total sales of the company
Huge amount (50%-70%) of the cost of MIS accounts for the subsidy portion which is released by Government in 4-6 months. This is the reason for high receivables in the company. It is also the trend in this industry. Going forward, company is planning to further strengthen its dealer network & increase its open market sales which shall bring down the receivables to comfortable levels. This year, company expects the receivables to reduce to 20% of sales from last year levels of 24-25% of sales.

Delay in release of subsidies to Companies by Govt.
Micro Irrigation is government’s thrust area and they are interacting with nodal agencies to resolve impending issues and also for early disbursement of subsidies to companies.

Company may face risk of erosion of EBITDA margins in case of increase in Raw Material (RM) prices
Major RMs of the company are LLDPE, HDPE & Master-batch. These are derivatives of crude (whose prices are expected to remain range-bound). Generally, there is not much volatility in prices of RMs. However in case of adverse increase in price, it shall affect all the players and the same shall be passed to end-consumers. Domestically RM is supplied by IOC, RIL, GAIL & Haldia and is also imported from Saudi Arabia.

Promoters have another company called KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd which is in the same line of business
Company has confirmed that currently there are no operations in KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd. Further, as per publicly available records, KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd had its last AGM in 2015.

                              **“Don’t let the future blow, Save H2O”**

Disclaimer: This note is not a research report but assimilation of information available on public domain and it should not be treated as a research report, investment advice or Buy/Hold/Sell recommendation. I am not registered with SEBI under the (Research Analyst) regulations 2014 and as per clarifications provided by SEBI: “Any person who makes recommendation or offers an opinion concerning securities or public offers only through public media is not required to obtain registration as research analyst under RA Regulations”. It is safe to assume that I might have the company in my portfolio and hence my point of view can be biased. Investors are advised to do their due diligence and consult a qualified financial advisor prior to taking any actual investment or trading decisions.

Disclosure: Invested

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Kindly add your disclosures

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Some questions if anyone has answers:

– Why the debtors have gone up substantially last one year?

– How are the collections for last few months?

– The company plans to almost do 4X sales in next 3 years compared to sales at 31 Mar 17 as provided in projection for capacity expansion and utilisation. Will the company require to raise additional funds to finance the expansion given the substantial increase in debtors and receivables.

– How business model of the company is different from Jain irrigation listed peer given high debt levels when company is moving in the same direction?

– When the company plans to publish the results and at what frequency we can expect the results?

– Kindly help me understand promoters being active in similar business?

– Company is delayed payment on two banks, what are the reasons and how long it continued? How company to deal such situations in the future, as credit default leads to credit rating and other financial issues in the future.

Disc: Vested interest and biased views

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Another important factor is directors have given unsecured loans amounting to 1 crore to the company at 12% interest rate.
I think it is a positive sign showing confidence of the management in the company’ future.
One can also look at terms of loans and credit facilities by banks. https://www.nseindia.com/emerge/corporates/content/RMD_DRHP.pdf page 240 which states the restrictive convenants put in place by bank. May be more experience members can share their analysis on the same.

Disclosure: Tracking with view of taking position in future if doubts are cleared.

@ankraj224: Unsecured loans from promoters is fairly common thing that you will see in SME and MSME balance sheets as this is treated as quassi equity by bankers to calculate the leverage. From the promoters point of view, it gives them flexibility as they don’t have to block funds in the form of equity and can withdraw the funds if needed. This is usually extended to take care of working capital needs during peak seasons. This is business as usual in most of the SMEs and is neither a positive or negative. Hope it helps.

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Directors’ remuneration 67.5 lakhs in fy17. Is the ceiling as per companies act not applicable?
Disclosure: not invested

Hello Atul,

Will try to revert to your queries as per my limited knowledge:

– Why the debtors have gone up substantially last one year?
The Company has been growing at 100% CAGR from last 3 years and is expected to grow at a healthy rate in the future too. Since, a large part of the business comes through Subsidy Model (Project Based), the receivables are the subsidies that are to be released by Nodal Agencies/Govt Authorities. Therefore, there is a huge increase in the receivables. The company has submitted in its DRHP that the industry trend is also such that the receivables are on the higher side for companies in this sector. Will have to check and monitor in future results. Huge amount (50%-70%) of the cost of MIS accounts for the subsidy portion which is released by Government in 4-6 months. This is the reason for high receivables in the company. It is also the trend in this industry. Going forward, company is planning to further strengthen its dealer network & increase its open market sales which shall bring down the receivables to comfortable levels. This year, company expects the receivables to reduce to 20% of sales from last year levels of 24-25% of sales.

– How are the collections for last few months?
As per my expectations, since the company is growing at such a healthy rate, absolute amount of receivables should go up. In case, the same is under check, nothing like it. Rest, one can study H1FY18 results when they are published.

– The company plans to almost do 4X sales in next 3 years compared to sales at 31 Mar 17 as provided in projection for capacity expansion and utilisation. Will the company require to raise additional funds to finance the expansion given the substantial increase in debtors and receivables.
The company can go for debt as well as equity for expansion. Since it is a working capital intensive business, they may choose any of the route or a mix of both to raise funds for working capital/capex in future.

– How business model of the company is different from Jain irrigation listed peer given high debt levels when company is moving in the same direction?
Jain is among the leaders in this Industry in the world. This company is very small and cannot be compared with Jain. However, given the opportunity size that the sector has to offer, all companies would benefit immensely. If the company can keep debt in check and give good results, it would be great for the company. Majority of the IPO proceeds were also for working capital purpose. The detailed business model is explained in my note above.

– When the company plans to publish the results and at what frequency we can expect the results?
As per requirement of the exchange, it is required to publish half yearly results. However, the company is free to declare quarterly numbers too. Have requested the company to publish quarterly numbers if possible.

– Kindly help me understand promoters being active in similar business?
Promoters have another company called KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd which is in the same line of business. Company has confirmed that currently there are no operations in KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd. Further, as per publicly available records, KPR Drip & Sprinkler Systems Pvt Ltd had its last AGM in 2015.

– Company is delayed payment on two banks, what are the reasons and how long it continued? How company to deal such situations in the future, as credit default leads to credit rating and other financial issues in the future.
There were certain delays of Rs. 5.65 lacs (17 days) and Rs. 0.33 lacs (5 days) with banks. However, the same were cleared. Given the scale of business, subsidy based nature of industry and rectification of action, the same may be considered acceptable. Delay and default are different and must not be interpreted in the same manner.

Trust this resolves your queries. :slight_smile:

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Section 309 of Companies Act imposes restrictions on the payment of remuneration of the directors to public companies. No restriction on private companies has been specified. As on 31-03-2017, RM Drip was a Pvt Ltd company.

However, in this year, restrictions as per companies act shall be applicable to them. :slight_smile:

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@namanjain

We are thankful for your efforts to clear our doubts.

I have a few questions-

  1. If RM Drip is going to expand distributor network, is there a reason why distributors will prefer RM Drip over other players? As mentioned, this is crucial for solving the cash flow problem that is facing the company?
    – Current distribution of sales is 25% project and 75% Private. Is this mix going to suffer with significant government push even if distributor numbers increase for private sales?

  2. Are we only saying because the drip irrigation industry has huge tailwinds behind it and the company has capacity in place to meet those demands that they will get significant growth? Is there a competitive advantage within the company which will help it perform better? (MD Shyam Sunder Dash certainly inspires confidence with his experience since government as a major party is involved)
    – limited product range compared to established players is a negative.
    – lower distribution coverage compared to established players. So distributor numbers should be monitored if available.
    – What is surprising is that management has claimed these two points as their strengths.

  3. What about farmers? Will they prefer an unknown brand like RM Drip? What efforts has RM Drip done to create awareness or educate farmers? Will the distributors or RM Drip capture the significant value created?
    – Management identified building brand is crucial for future growth and they plan to do it. They have not done it till now I guess.
    – In the end, price significantly drives decision. Management gives no guarantees if they will be able to compete effectively with increased competitive intensity. Although, some operational efficiencies can be expected.

  4. Making an assumption, such a growth opportunity will attract a lot of players with significant resources in within 1 year. How will it defend against a price war?
    –management themselves state that there is no entry barrier

I know you might not have all answers but still felt the need to ask.

Excerpt- http://www.sebi.gov.in/sebi_data/attachdocs/oct-2017/1507634249547.pdf
We operate in a competitive atmosphere. Some of our competitors may have greater resources than
those available to us. While product quality, brand value, distribution network, etc are key factors in
client decisions among competitors, however, price is the deciding factor in most cases. Our Industry
is fragmented consisting of large established players and small niche players. We compete with
organized as well as unorganized sector on the basis of availability of product, product quality,
product range In addition there is also competition from pipe manufacturers. Further, there are no
entry barriers in this industry and any expansion in capacity of existing manufacturers would further
intensify competition. Some of our major competitors are as follows:

  1. EPC Industrie Limited
  2. Captain Polyplast Limited
  3. Jain Irrigation Systems Limited
  4. Signet Industries Limited

Watch- Corporate Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE2wGduq9jw

Disc: invested

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Thanks a lot for sharing the information… welcome to valuepickr… would like to see more of your research work shared here with rest of the members… we will all gain immensely from your wisdom and teachings…

Disc: Vested interest and biased views

Three updates:
– Porinju bought 50000 shares in his son’s name, most likely in his personal capacity on 24th Oct 2017;
– Gujarat govt. has decided to absorb the GST impact on drip irrigation equipment (company derived only 0.38% of total revenue from Gujarat as of 31 Mar 2017);
– Stock rose 20% yesterday without any reason, be cautious on further rise in absence of any specific trigger available in public domain like results.

Disc: Vested interest and biased views

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Thanks Ankush for your kind words.

Below are my submissions as regards to your doubts:

1. If RM Drip is going to expand distributor network, is there a reason why distributors will prefer RM Drip over other players? As mentioned, this is crucial for solving the cash flow problem that is facing the company?
– Current distribution of sales is 25% project and 75% Private. Is this mix going to suffer with significant government push even if distributor numbers increase for private sales?
They have an experienced marketing & sales team coupled with good amount of dealers/distributors in the states they operate in. Like in Maharashtra, they have close to 300 dealers/distributors. Better pricing, long relationship and good product quality are the reasons why RM Drip may be preferred over other players. The ratio of distribution of sales may change in future in line with industry trend. It is essential to keep a track of this as it is a vital point for Company’s bottom-line performance.

2. Are we only saying because the drip irrigation industry has huge tailwinds behind it and the company has capacity in place to meet those demands that they will get significant growth? Is there a competitive advantage within the company which will help it perform better? (MD Shyam Sunder Dash certainly inspires confidence with his experience since government as a major party is involved)
– limited product range compared to established players is a negative.
– lower distribution coverage compared to established players. So distributor numbers should be monitored if available.
– What is surprising is that management has claimed these two points as their strengths.
Apart from the MD, the company has a very experienced sales team who have contacts in the remote areas too. The sector itself is huge and opportunity will benefit one and all. The company has a small base, hence growing should not be an issue, ideally. Further, other state governments are also buckling up to create a model for implementation of micro irrigation. Also, company is planning to expand its footprints. Hence, even without moat, they may do well in coming years. Company has a fairly decent distributor base which will be further strengthened in future years.

3. What about farmers? Will they prefer an unknown brand like RM Drip? What efforts has RM Drip done to create awareness or educate farmers? Will the distributors or RM Drip capture the significant value created?
– Management identified building brand is crucial for future growth and they plan to do it. They have not done it till now I guess.
– In the end, price significantly drives decision. Management gives no guarantees if they will be able to compete effectively with increased competitive intensity. Although, some operational efficiencies can be expected.
It has been informed that the company has great products (quality wise). They were previously supplying to EPC Industries. They also interact frequently with the farmers and have informed that their products are well accepted by farmers which is also visible through increase in sales at such a healthy pace.

4. Making an assumption, such a growth opportunity will attract a lot of players with significant resources in within 1 year. How will it defend against a price war?
–management themselves state that there is no entry barrier
Answered above

Have done my best efforts to collate the data available and precisely answer your queries. Hope that helps :slight_smile:

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Thanks Atul. Will surely be active at this wonderful place. Have been a silent observer of this forum since long. Have only joined recently!

Once again, thanks a lot for the appreciation. Lets grow together. :slight_smile:

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I spoke to the dealers for Karnataka disguised as a farmer wanting to set up drip irrigation for a 5-acre plot. He was based out of Maharastra, but his employee was in Karnataka. Both of them gave following information

Dealer:
This company is well-established player in N.India and has a good presence in Gujarat, UP, MP, Maharastra.

Employee/Consultant:

  1. Has been in the business for 7-8 years as they have been producing products for other companies.
  2. Avg difference in price is around 1 to 1.7Rs/Meter when compared to good products in the market.
  3. Product quality is good for the price, and I could save about 10-15k/Acre with my cost being around 35k.
  4. I can claim subsidy, but it has to be directly from the govt and not from the company. He said no established player is taking the risk of waiting for subsidy amount coming from govt. He might have said this for drip irrigation system and not for all products.
  5. The product started recently in Karnataka (6-7 months) but has achieved ‘highest business’ (in his words).
  6. The business started in South Karnataka in the past 4-5 months.
  7. He said the main reason for the lower cost of the product is because the company knows the best sources of raw materials as they have been manufacturers for long and also because of lower marketing costs.

These are views of a person who is employed by the company and not a neutral party. His views will be biased, but at no point, he tried to push his product.

Disc: Not Invested but Interested.

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@namanjain - thanks for the information - extremely useful.

Disclosure: Invested

@namanjain Appreciate the detailed research and in depth analysis … this kind of work helps investor community alot . keep up the good work .

Thanks all for the warm welcome and kind words of appreciation. Looking to create value in the forum and share my views with one and all on a regular basis.

Just a small update on the appreciation received by RM Drip today.

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Thanks for the detailed analysis of the company and the sector! The company sounds like a good investment opportunity - not because of a strong moat, but because of taking initiative in the right space at the right time. However, on a quick glance the following temper my enthusiasm. Views are invited!

The company took initiative to appoint Mr. Nikhil Kulkarni as Vice President- International Business to look after company’s global business operations. However, he is not working exclusively for the company, but has other assignments too. His ability to contribute to the company and the subsequent build-up of exports business is yet to be seen.

Also, the government in Maharashtra decided to make drip irrigation mandatory for sugar cane cultivation over only 3.05 lakh hectares of the total area of 9.42 lakh hectares. 2.25 lakh hectares is already covered under drip irrigation. The scheme is a little complicated too. Farmers who opt for drip irrigation will be given loans at 2% rate of interest with a cap of Rs 85,400 per hectare. if farmers repay the loans on schedule, they will be charged only 2% rate of interest and the state government and sugar factories will bear 4% and 1.25% interest cost respectively. I think that the loan amount would barely cover the cost of drip irrigation for the farmer. So, now a farmer in this region (Marathwada) has to service a loan if he wants to cultivate sugarcane. I am not sure whether this pilot project would make drip irrigation more popular in Maharashtra or discourage farmers from cultivating sugarcane. The government can claim success of the plan either ways.

After the success/failure of this pilot project, its extension to the balance area of sugarcane cultivation will be decided. The area under sugar cane in Maharashtra has also shrunk over the last few years and this year only 6.34 lakh hectares went under sugar cane cultivation. Hopefully, other state governments will also take lead in promoting drip irrigation.

Finally, none of the companies in MIS space have decent profit margins. Mahindra EPC and Jain Irrigation would be charging higher prices and yet have nominal profit margins. Over the previous 5 years, these companies have reported Return on Equity that was lower than the interest rate on Treasury Bonds. This appears like a low margin, capital intensive, commodity business. The business is scalable but not particularly profitable.

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Naman, Are you related to the promoters or insider?

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Hi Pranav,

While I agree with you that it’s a capital intensive business, I may slightly differ on the point that it’s a low margin business. Primarily, due to lack of moat in the sector, there is a healthy competition for business. However, if you observe players like captain polyplast and RM Drip, they have been able to clock decent EBITDA margins as against EPC Industries and Jain Irrigation (which have their own set of problems).

It is to be seen what margins they clock once they scale up their business. Also, it is also important to track if they do similar mistakes as done by larger players.

As regards to the news regarding use of drip Irrigation for Sugarcane cultivation in Maharashtra, it may be noted that it’s a huge project which will be implemented in a phasewise manner. The remaining area will be included for implementation of drip irrigation post 2019. From a farmers’ perspective, I feel it would be beneficial to install drip irrigation as it may have huge capital cost initially but has a lot of benefits going forward. The issue till date was with the interest cost for loans they took from credit societies for purchase of drip irrigation equipment which will be subsitantially lesser now. This would have a positive impact coupled with the decision of farm loan waiver done by the state.

These are my couple of cents. One may disagree :slight_smile:

Thanks

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