Press Release

Lava International Limited

February 26, 2018

Ratings Amount Facilities Rating1 Rating Action (Rs. crore) 274.55 CARE A; Stable Long term Bank Facilities Reaffirmed (enhanced from Rs.147.30 crore) (Single A; Outlook: Stable) CARE A1 Short term Bank Facilities 1025.00 Reaffirmed (A one) 1299.55 (Rs. One thousand two hundred Total Facilities ninety nine crore and fifty five lakhs only) Details of instruments/facilities in Annexure-1

Detailed Rationale & Key Rating Drivers The ratings assigned to the bank facilities of Limited (Lava) continue to derive strength from experienced promoters and management team, wide distribution network, comfortable financial risk profile as reflected by its capital structure and liquidity position. The ratings also take into account the support from GOI for local manufacturing of mobiles as reflected by increase in Basic Custom Duty on import of mobiles from 10% to 20% during H2FY18. These rating strengths are, however, partially offset by intense competition in the mobile handset industry, which has, impacted the sales of the company during FY17 and H1FY18 besides announcement of demonetization and implementation of GST, inherent risks related to the nature of business operations which include reliance on third-party suppliers for products/services and its susceptibility to foreign exchange fluctuation risk. Going forward, profitable scale-up of operations with efficient working capital management and adapting to changing consumer preferences and technological evolutions shall be the key rating sensitivities.

Detailed description of the key rating drivers Key Rating Strengths Experienced promoters and management team Lava was promoted by Mr. Hari Om Rai, Mr. Shailendra Nath Rai, Mr.Vishal Sehgal and Mr. Sunil Bhalla. Mr. Hari Om Rai, Chairman and MD of the company is co-chairing the task force for “Make in ” program of the Government of India. All the promoters are part of the Board of Directors of the company and have background in engineering and management studies with wide experience in varied fields. Mr. Shailendra Nath Rai is a leading professional in Supply Chain Management, Mr. Sunil Bhalla, is a Mechanical engineer & an MBA from IMT, he has worked with Maruti Udyog Limited in the past and is the founder of Luminous Power and Mr. Vishal Sehgal who has experience of more than 18 years in telecom & FMCG industry. The board is ably supported by a team of highly qualified and experienced people from telecom and consumer durable industry.

Wide distribution network Lava has a well-established single-layer distribution model and support-service network of 1,110+ distributors, who further distribute products to 100,000+ retailers and micro-distributors across India along with 42 Carrying & Forwarding agents providing sales and distribution support. Lava’s complete automated inventory and distributor monitoring, including online tracking of each product from shipping till activation stage, has resulted in a more demand-driven production, controlled inventory levels and healthy relationship with distributors. The company has its entire network

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Press Release operations on SAP platform since the beginning. Due to strong distribution channel, feedback about the models reaches to R&D team fast, helping them with adapting to designing and technology trend. Lava has R&D team of 700+ engineers based at China. The company also launched its operations in Africa in FY17 by entering the Egyptian market and intends to further expand its reach in 12 countries across the African continent. The company has however rationalised its distribution network during the last year and also launched project ‘Vistaar’, placing its employees at the retail outlets in order to push the sales as against relying primarily on the distributors in view of the increased competition. Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to be the brand ambassador of the LAVA brand. The company has also tied up with various mobile service providers and is offering bundled products. Lava also launched 30 day money back scheme on its high end Z series phone. Also the company in order to compete with the Chinese players and create a distinct image is offering 2-year warranty for all its major models in its product portfolio (mobile phones) in India, across and feature phones.

Comfortable financial risk profile The financial risk profile of the company is marked by comfortable capital structure and liquidity position albeit increasing operating cycle. Given the change in the company’s business model from that of outsourced manufacturing model to own assembling and manufacturing model, the company’s term debt has increased over the last 2 financial years. However, the overall gearing (including net creditors) of the company reduced to 0.64 times as on March 31, 2017 (as against 1.07 times as on March 31, 2016) owing to lower utilisation of Non-Fund based limits due to curtailed operations in H2FY17. Further, Lava has raised additional capital in December 2017 upon conclusion of a USD 30 million (Rs.192.46 Crore) preferential investment from a Chinese investor, Tsinghua Unigroup. The company had also signed a deal for preferential allotment of Rs.52 cr to Benett Coleman Company Ltd in Sept-17. This has resulted in improved capital structure and liquidity position. The liquidity position has been further supported with the company receiving Rs.291.85 Cr. (from February - April 2017) from Custom Department towards refund of excess CVD paid in FY15 and FY16. As on December 31, 2017, the company had free cash and bank balance (including Mutual Fund investments) of Rs.407 crore. The operating cycle however increased to 41 days during FY17 from 23 days in FY16 on account of increase in inventory period to 61 days during FY17 from 47 days in FY16. Also, the average collection period has increased during the period as the company has been extending higher credit period to some of its channel partners so as to push the sales.

Change in Govt. Policies to incentivize manufacturing including recent hike in Basic Custom Duty The Govt. of India (GOI) has increased the Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on import of electronic goods including mobile phones during FY18 in order to encourage local manufacturing. The Custom Duty on mobile phones has been increased from 10% to 20% (5% each in December 2017 and February 2018 Budget announcement). This implies a duty differential of nearly 20% that exists between importing Completely Built Units (CBUs) as against import and assembly of Semi Knocked Down Units (SKDs) in India. As Lava imports and assembles nearly 95% of its requirement at its two manufacturing units in Noida, this is likely to be a positive for the company.

Key Rating Weakness Moderation in income The company saw moderation in income by 24% from Rs.4620 crore during FY16 to Rs.3645 crore during FY17 on account of decline in both, price and volume due to intense competition from international players and impact of demonetization (announced on Nov 8, 2016). However, despite the moderation in sales, the PBILDT margins for FY17 improved and stood at 6.92% (6.66% in FY16). PAT margin stood at 3.58% for FY17 (3.49% in FY16). There was however, moderation in sales during H1FY18 due to implementation of GST (w.e.f. from July 1, 2017) resulting in the distributors and retailers reducing their purchases and focusing more on clearing the stock in the channel as against making incremental purchases. Consequently, the PBILDT Margins of the company reduced to 4.98% during the period. The sales of the company have however picked up during Q3FY18, with LAVA registering sales of over Rs.1,000 crore during the period Oct-Dec 2017 as against sales of approx. Rs.1450 crore during H1FY18.

Reliance on third-party suppliers for products

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LAVA is dependent on the third party suppliers for its raw material requirements. This is on account of undeveloped ecosystem of production capacities and technology at present in the country. The company, although assembles nearly 95% of its requirement using the Semi Knocked Down units (SKDs) to produce Completely Built Units (CBUs). The in-house product development provides platform for innovation and better control on quality. Despite that, as majority of sourcing is being made through third-party vendors located in China/Hong-Kong, it exposes the company to inherent risks.

Susceptibility to foreign exchange fluctuation risk Lava is exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuation risk on account of import of SKDs and CBUs of mobile handsets from OEM partners based in China/Hong Kong. The company enters into hedging to cover part of its foreign exchange risk, based on the management’s insights and market information. The company also tends to pass-on the increase in cost on account of forex to fluctuation the end consumer to some extent. Though the company is able to substantially cover the forex risk through hedging, nevertheless, Lava remains exposed to risks related to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Highly competitive Indian handset industry and Intellectual Property Issues The Indian mobile handset industry is marked by high level of competition with the market being highly price sensitive and value driven. The industry is fragmented with both domestic and foreign players competing, leading to stiff price competition. Given the huge opportunity in smart phones and low entry barriers, many new players have entered the industry. Aggressive online and offline sales recorded by new players like , and Vivo has substantially altered the market share scenario in the industry. The sector is also exposed to Intellectual Property (IP) challenges raising the chances of infringement and IP conflicts. The company in however, taking various measures to maintain its competitive position and recently launched Lava Prime X, which is the first designed and manufactured in India as a part of its ‘Design in India’ initiative. The Company also intends to add a new SMT line to its existing assembly line as a part of its backward integration strategy for increased efficiency and cost savings.

Analytical approach: Standalone

Applicable Criteria Criteria on assigning Outlook to Credit Ratings CARE’s Policy on Default Recognition Criteria for Short Term Instruments Rating Methodology - Manufacturing Companies Financial ratios – Non-Financial Sector

About the Company Incorporated in 2009, Lava is promoted by Mr Hari Om Rai, Mr Sunil Bhalla, Mr Shailendra Nath Rai and Mr Vishal Sehgal. The company is engaged into designing, manufacturing, assembling, trading and distribution of mobile handsets, tablets and accessories under the brands ‘Lava’ and ‘’. The company has set-up two assembling unit for assembling of handsets in Noida (Uttar Pradesh) with the total production capacity of 36 million handsets per annum. The company has commenced export to in FY17. Lava also has a wholly-owned subsidiary Lava International (H.K.) Limited (Lava HK) based in Hong Kong through which Lava exports mobile handsets to , , , , Dubai Singapore etc. Brief Financials (Rs. crore) FY16 (A) FY17 (A) Total operating income 4620.40 3645.11 PBILDT 307.62 252.40 PAT 161.29 130.58 Overall gearing (times) 1.07 0.64 Interest coverage (times) 8.04 5.81 A: Audited

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Status of non-cooperation with previous CRA: Not Applicable

Any other information: Not Applicable

Rating History for last three years: Please refer Annexure-2

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument: CARE has classified instruments rated by it on the basis of complexity. This classification is available at www.careratings.com. Investors/market intermediaries/regulators or others are welcome to write to [email protected] for any clarifications.

Analyst Contact: Name: Mr Gaurav Dixit Tel: 011-45333235 Mobile: +91 9717070079 Email: [email protected]

**For detailed Rationale Report and subscription information, please contact us at www.careratings.com

About CARE Ratings: CARE Ratings commenced operations in April 1993 and over two decades, it has established itself as one of the leading credit rating agencies in India. CARE is registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and also recognized as an External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). CARE Ratings is proud of its rightful place in the Indian capital market built around investor confidence. CARE Ratings provides the entire spectrum of credit rating that helps the corporates to raise capital for their various requirements and assists the investors to form an informed investment decision based on the credit risk and their own risk-return expectations. Our rating and grading service offerings leverage our domain and analytical expertise backed by the methodologies congruent with the international best practices. Disclaimer CARE’s ratings are opinions on credit quality and are not recommendations to sanction, renew, disburse or recall the concerned bank facilities or to buy, sell or hold any security. CARE has based its ratings/outlooks on information obtained from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. CARE does not, however, guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. Most entities whose bank facilities/instruments are rated by CARE have paid a credit rating fee, based on the amount and type of bank facilities/instruments. In case of partnership/proprietary concerns, the rating /outlook assigned by CARE is based on the capital deployed by the partners/proprietor and the financial strength of the firm at present. The rating/outlook may undergo change in case of withdrawal of capital or the unsecured loans brought in by the partners/proprietor in addition to the financial performance and other relevant factors.

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Annexure-1: Details of Instruments/Facilities Name of the Date of Coupon Maturity Size of the Issue Rating assigned Instrument Issuance Rate Date (Rs. crore) along with Rating Outlook Non-fund-based-Short - - - 1025.00 CARE A1 Term Fund-based - LT-Cash - - - 200.00 CARE A; Stable Credit Fund-based - LT-Term Loan - - Aug-21 74.55 CARE A; Stable

Annexure-2: Rating History of last three years Sr. Name of the Current Ratings Rating history No. Instrument/Bank Type Amount Rating Date(s) & Date(s) & Date(s) & Date(s) & Facilities Outstanding Rating(s) Rating(s) Rating(s) Rating(s) (Rs. crore) assigned in assigned in assigned in assigned in 2014- 2017-2018 2016-2017 2015-2016 2015 1. Fund-based-Short Term ------1)Withdrawn (18-Aug-14)

2. Non-fund-based-Short ST 1025.00 CARE A1 - 1)CARE A1 1)CARE A1 1)CARE A2+ Term (25-Jan-17) (27-Oct-15) (04-Dec-14) 2)CARE A1 2)CARE A2+ (30-Jun-16) (18-Aug-14)

3. Fund-based - LT-Cash LT 200.00 CARE A; - 1)CARE A; 1)CARE A 1)CARE A- Credit Stable Stable (27-Oct-15) (04-Dec-14) (25-Jan-17) 2)CARE A- 2)CARE A (18-Aug-14) (30-Jun-16)

4. Fund-based - LT-Term LT 74.55 CARE A; - 1)CARE A; - - Loan Stable Stable (25-Jan-17) 2)CARE A (30-Jun-16)

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