Press Release Lava International Limited

Press Release

Lava International Limited March 25, 2021 Ratings Amount Facilities/Instruments Ratings Rating Action (Rs. crore) 189.50 CARE BBB; Stable Long Term Bank Facilities Reaffirmed (Reduced from 324.55) (Triple B; Outlook: Stable) 710.50 CARE A3+ Short Term Bank Facilities Reaffirmed (Reduced from 975.00) (A Three Plus) 900.00 Total Bank Facilities (Rs. Nine Hundred Crore Only) Details of instruments/facilities in Annexure-1

Detailed Rationale & Key Rating Drivers The ratings assigned to the bank facilities of Lava International Limited (Lava) continue to derive strength from its experience promoters and management team, wide distribution network and streamlined business operations with established R&D team which help them adapt faster to changing technology and trends, and moderation in scale of operations during FY20 (refers to the period from April 1 to March 31) albeit improvement in profitability. The ratings also takes cognizance of benefits likely to accrue to Lava from Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and comfortable capital structure marked by low gearing and healthy debt coverage indicators. The ratings, however, are constraint by elongated operating cycle, continued reliance on third-party suppliers for its majority of raw material requirement, its exposure to foreign currency transactions albeit reducing and changing trend in Indian mobile handset market.

Rating Sensitivities

Positive Factors - Factors that could lead to positive rating action/upgrade:  Sustained improvement in scale of operations with PBILDT margin above 6.50% and ROCE above 12%.  Improvement in working capital cycle below 50 days.

Negative Factors- Factors that could lead to negative rating action/downgrade:  Sustained decline in scale of operations with PBILDT margin below 3.00% and ROCE below 6%.  Increase in working capital cycle beyond 120 days.  Any adverse financial implication on account of impending patent infringement suit filed by Ericsson.

Detailed description of the key rating drivers Key Rating Strengths Experienced promoters and management term: Lava is promoted by Mr. Hari Om Rai, Mr. Shailendra Nath Rai, Mr. Vishal Sehgal and Mr. Sunil Bhalla. Mr. Hari Om Rai, Chairman and the Managing Director (MD) of the company is co-chairing the task force for “Make in India” program of the Government of India. All the promoters are part of the Board of Directors of the company having background in engineering and management studies with wide experience in varied fields. The board is ably supported by a team of highly qualified and experienced professionals from telecom and consumer durable industry. Wide distribution network and streamlined business operations: Lava has a well-established distribution model and support-service network consisting of 1,100+ distributors, who further distribute products to 1,10,000+ retailers and micro-distributors across India along with 42 carrying & forwarding agents providing sales and distribution support. It’s after sales service network is spread all around the country with over 800 + professionally managed service centres focused on transparency and quality of service. Due to strong distribution channel, feedback about the models reaches to R&D team fast, helping them adapt to changing design and technology trend. Moderation in scale of operations during FY20 albeit improved profitability: The total operating income of the company declined by 37% y-o-y from Rs. 3,083 crore in FY19 to Rs. 1,943 crore in FY20 on account of decline in sales volume and sales realization per unit from both, feature phone segment and smart phone segment. The continued intense competition from Chinese players also contributed to significant decline in the sales of the company and plummeting market share over the past few years. The PBILDT margin of the company, however improved from 3.22% in FY19 to 5.08% in FY20 owing to significant reduction in cost of material consumed and reduction in fixed overheads such as

1 CARE Ratings Limited

Press Release

employee cost. Further, the PAT margin of the company also improved from 0.64% in FY19 to 1.28% in FY20 on back of lower interest expense and decrease in depreciation charge. During 9MFY21, the company reported total income of Rs. 1,487.81 crore on back of Production linked incentive (PLI) scheme and shift in market sentiments towards Indian manufactured mobile phones which resulted in uptick of demand and increase in per unit sales realization. Under the PLI scheme, the company will receive incentive of 4%-6% on incremental sales for 5 years on incremental sales over the base year FY 2019-2020.

Comfortable capital structure and debt coverage indicators: The financial risk profile of the company stood comfortable characterized by improved overall gearing and healthy debt coverage indicators. As on March 31, 2020, the overall gearing of the company improved and stood at 0.26x as compared to 0.32x as on March 31, 2019. The improvement in gearing was on account of scheduled repayment of term loans and reduction in LC backed creditors. The interest coverage ratio improved to 3.33x as on March 31, 2020 as compared to earlier 2.78x as on March 31, 2019 on account reduction in interest expense. Further, the total debt to PBILDT ratio also improved and stood at 2.70x as on March 31, 2020 (PY: 3.28x). The overall gearing of the company stood comfortable at 0.28x as on December 31, 2020.

Key Rating Weaknesses Elongated operating cycle: The operating cycle of the company elongated to 112 days during FY20 from 54 days in FY19 on account of increase in average collection period to 146 days during FY20 from 77 days in FY19. The company procures most of its raw material from China and since it was the first country to be impacted by Covid-19, the supply chain of Lava was disrupted before the Covid-19 entered India. Further, it was unable to recover from its debtors including government dues because of lockdown leading to higher collection period. The company has outstanding debtors of Rs. 790.85 crore as on December 31, 2020 as against Rs. 881.81 crore as on March 31, 2020. Reliance on third-party suppliers for its majority of raw material requirement: Lava is dependent on the third-party suppliers for its raw material requirements. As per the earlier business model of the company, it did not manufacture the products but only assemble the Semi Knocked Down units (SKDs) to produce Completely Built Units (CBUs). However, with recent developments in the manufacturing capacities of company, it has increased its focus on manufacturing handsets in India and to obtain raw material locally. Despite that, majority of sourcing is being made through third-party vendors located in China/Hong-Kong, which exposes the company to inherent risks of dependence on third parties and imports. Going forward, the reliance of the company on supplier for raw material is expected to reduce and shall remain a key monitorable. Foreign exchange exposure: Lava is exposed to foreign exchange rate risk on account of import of SKDs from OEM partners based in China/Hong Kong. As a policy, the company maintains buffer (of 2%-3%) in prices for any adverse forex movement; further, based on the management’s insights and market information, the company enters into hedging to cover part of its foreign exchange risk. Due to the currency fluctuations company reported gain on foreign exchange transactions of Rs. 1.67 crore during FY20 (PY: loss of Rs. 11.01 crore). Furthermore, the company tends to pass-on the increase in cost by increasing the price of the handsets. But due to increased competition in the industry Lava remains exposed to risks related to foreign exchange fluctuations. Changing trend in Indian mobile handset market: 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 a large number of both domestic and foreign players operating in the market, which has led to stiff price competition. The online channel sale registered an all-time high of 48%, growing by a healthy 24% y-o-y. Further, with the incentive offered under the PLI scheme, it is estimated to add $144 billion to revenues of the Indian mobile manufacturers by FY27 and India’s exports could increase by $55 billion. Given the nature of industry, LAVA continues to remain exposed to various ecosystem challenges that include increasing competition, volatile exchange rates, technology obsolesce risk, product failures, IP conflicts. The ability of LAVA to effectively manage these issues shall remain a key rating sensitivity.

Liquidity: Adequate: Lava’s liquidity position has remained adequate as reflected by healthy current ratio of 1.93x as on March 31, 2020 (PY: 1.75x). The company had free cash & bank balance of Rs. 77.80 crore as on March 31, 2020 (PY: Rs. 146.02 crore) and around Rs. 176.70 crores in FDR as on December 31, 2020. The average working capital utilization of the company stood moderate at ~70.79% during the last 12 months trailing ending December, 2020. The operating cycle of the company elongated to 112 days as on March 31, 2020 (PY: 54 days) on account of higher collection period. The company has projected gross cash accruals of Rs. 64.47 crore against which it has a total debt repayment obligation of Rs. 14.38 cr. in FY21. It has no plans for capex in current year although as per the PLI scheme the company will be investing Rs. 200 crore into the business from FY22-FY24 which will be funded partially through debt and remaining through internal accruals of the company. It has not availed any moratorium under RBI’s covid-19 relief scheme.

2 CARE Ratings Limited

Press Release

Analytical approach: Standalone

Applicable Criteria CARE's criteria on rating outlook and credit watch CARE's policy on default recognition Liquidity Analysis of Non-Financial Sector CARE's rating methodology on financial ratios – Non-financial sector CARE's Rating Methodology- Short Term Instruments CARE's Rating Methodology- Manufacturing 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 ‘Xolo’. The company has set-up assembling unit for assembling of handsets in Noida (Uttar Pradesh) with the total production capacity of around 48 million handsets per annum as on March 31, 2020. Lava also has 4 SMT lines with a capacity of around 9 million circuits per annum. It has a wholly-owned subsidiary Lava International (H.K.) Limited (Lava HK) based in Hong Kong through which the company exports mobile handsets to Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Dubai Singapore etc. Brief Financials (Rs. crore) FY19 (A) FY20 (A) Total operating income 3083.01 1942.92 PBILDT 99.22 98.63 PAT 19.82 24.81 Overall gearing (times) 0.32 0.26 Interest coverage (times) 2.78 3.33 A: Audited Status of non-cooperation with previous CRA: NA Any other information: NA Rating History for last three years: Please refer Annexure-2 Covenants of rated instrument / facility: Detailed explanation of covenants of the rated instruments/facilities is given in Annexure-3 Complexity level of various instruments rated for this company: Annexure 4

Annexure-1: Details of Instruments/Facilities Size of the Rating assigned Name of the Date of Coupon Maturity Issue along with Rating Instrument Issuance Rate Date (Rs. crore) Outlook Non-fund-based-Short CARE A3+ - - - 710.50 Term Fund-based - LT-Cash CARE BBB; Stable - - - 126.00 Credit Fund-based - LT-Term CARE BBB; Stable - - - 63.50 Loan

3 CARE Ratings Limited

Press Release

Annexure-2: Rating History of last three years Current Ratings Rating history Name of the Type Rating Date(s) & Date(s) & Date(s) & Date(s) & Sr. Amount Instrument/Bank Rating(s) Rating(s) Rating(s) Rating(s) No. Outstanding Facilities assigned in assigned in assigned in assigned in (Rs. crore) 2020-2021 2019-2020 2018-2019 2017-2018 1)CARE A3+ 1)CARE A2 CARE 1)CARE A1 Non-fund-based- (11-May- (31-Dec- 1. ST 710.50 A3+ - (26-Feb-18) Short Term 20) 18)

1)CARE 1)CARE CARE BBB+; 1)CARE A; BBB; Stable Fund-based - LT-Cash BBB; Stable Stable 2. LT 126.00 (11-May- - Credit Stable (31-Dec- (26-Feb-18) 20) 18)

1)CARE 1)CARE CARE BBB+; 1)CARE A; BBB; Stable Fund-based - LT-Term BBB; Stable Stable 3. LT 63.50 (11-May- - Loan Stable (31-Dec- (26-Feb-18) 20) 18)

Annexure-3: Detailed explanation of covenants of the rated instrument / facilities: NA

Annexure 4: Complexity level of various instruments rated for this company Sr. No. Name of the Instrument Complexity Level 1. Fund-based - LT-Cash Credit Simple 2. Fund-based - LT-Term Loan Simple 3. Non-fund-based-Short Term Simple

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

4 CARE Ratings Limited

Press Release

Analyst Contact Sachin Mathur Contact no. - +91-11-45333206 Email ID- [email protected]

Business Development Contact Ms. Swati Agrawal Contact no.- +91-11-4533 3200 Email ID- [email protected]

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 the likelihood of timely payment of the obligations under the rated instrument and are not recommendations to sanction, renew, disburse or recall the concerned bank facilities or to buy, sell or hold any security. CARE’s ratings do not convey suitability or price for the investor. CARE’s ratings do not constitute an audit on the rated entity. 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. CARE or its subsidiaries/associates may also have other commercial transactions with the entity. In case of partnership/proprietary concerns, the rating /outlook assigned by CARE is, inter-alia, 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. CARE is not responsible for any errors and states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to the users of CARE’s rating. Our ratings do not factor in any rating related trigger clauses as per the terms of the facility/instrument, which may involve acceleration of payments in case of rating downgrades. However, if any such clauses are introduced and if triggered, the ratings may see volatility and sharp downgrades.

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

5 CARE Ratings Limited