FY22 net profit at Rs736.27 cr; For Q1-FY23, it’s Rs124.91 cr
By CL Jose
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/August 30-2022: At last, Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd (KSEBL) has seen the much-awaited light at the end of tunnel as it closed a financial year with a net profit; moreover, it seems, the trend is here to stay.
KSEBL, the sole generator and distributor of electricity in the state, has powered ahead with a strong financial performance for 2021-22 (FY22) so as to report a net profit of Rs736.27 crore for the year, leaving a loss-making era of more than a decade behind it.
During the previous year (FY21), the company had reported a loss of Rs1822.35 crore. Is this going to be one-off? Very unlikely, because the company has repeated the performance during the first quarter of the current year (Q1-FY23) too, logging a net profit of Rs124.91 crore compared with Rs95.42 crore loss in the same quarter last year.
Having said this, the company has a long way to go before it could be euphoric about these back-to-back performances, as KSEBL is still sitting on a huge ‘Negative Net worth’ to the tune of Rs14,674.25 crore as of June-end, though has marginally improved from Rs15,701.34 crore (negative) as of March end, 2022 (FY22).
According to financial experts, but for the fact that KSEBL is a company owned and backed by state government, it would have been wound up long back for want of capital to run the show.
Against a paid-up share capital of Rs3499.05 crore, KSEBL has piled up accumulated losses of Rs19,200.39 crore as of March end, 2022, which have subsequently declined to Rs16,173.30 crore as of June end, 2022.
The company had large borrowings at Rs18,415.80 crore as of March end 2022, which too have dropped marginally to Rs17,447.54 crore towards June end, 2022 (Q1-FY23).
Q1, FY23
Revenue from operations increased in the first quarter of the current year to Rs4,550.69 crore from Rs3,843.49 crore in the same period last year, growing 18.40 per cent year-on- year.
While total expenses grew from Rs4078.82 crore to Rs4540.21 crore, purchase of power accounted for Rs2632.64 crore or 57.98 per cent of the total expenses for the first quarter of the current year.
While finance cost marginally fell from Rs368.59 crore to Rs362.79 crore for the current year first quarter, the employees cost increased from Rs989.09 crore to Rs1017.70 crore YoY during the same period.
Basis for qualified opinion
Highlighting certain notes to the financial statements for the first quarter (Q1-FY23), the auditors of the company opined that the company has presented the financial information in deviation from Indian Accounting Standards specified under Section 133 of the Companies Act 2013 as amended.
Specifically, the auditors have noted that the financial statements are prepared by not providing depreciation on property, plant and equipment of value Rs10,712 crore since 2013-14, being the year when revaluation of assets was done at the time of formation of the company.
