Major Indian solar panel maker dazzles in market debut

India’s top solar module producer, Waaree Energies shone on its market debut on Monday (Oct 28) after raising US$514 million, as traders bet on increased global demand for clean energy components.

A booming stock market in the world’s fifth-largest economy has stoked an initial public offering frenzy over the last two years, with start-ups and companies scooping up billions of dollars from domestic and foreign investors.

The IPO had valued Waaree – which had an aggregate installed capacity of 12 GW as of June 2024, the largest among Indian solar module makers – at US$5 billion at the upper end of the issue’s price range.

Shares of the panel maker however jumped in early trade to 2,624.40 rupees (S$41.28), up 74.6 per cent from their issue price of 1,503 rupees, before giving up some gains to trade at 2,401.65 rupees.

A “sustainable future is not just a goal, but it is today’s necessity,” said Waaree chairman Hitesh Doshi at the listing ceremony in India’s financial capital Mumbai.

The company, whose shares have attracted investments from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, has benefited from coal-dependent India’s decision to rapidly expand non-fossil fuel energy capacity.

While a boom in Chinese production has partly caused a glut in the global supply of solar panels, Waaree’s fortunes have surged as countries like the United States look to reduce their dependence on supplies from Beijing.

Indian manufacturers exported US$1.96 billion worth of solar modules and cells in the 2024 fiscal year, according to estimates by ratings agency CRISIL, a jump from the US$1.03 billion they exported the year before.

Regulatory filings by Waaree note it has seen a “substantial increase” in exports due to tariffs imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration on imports of solar modules from China.

In December 2023, the company announced that it would invest up to US$1 billion to build a factory in Texas, tapping into soaring US demand for solar energy. AFP