‘Tremendous business growth rationale behind going public’: Kuldeep Jain, Clean Max Enviro Founder & MD

Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions, whose three-day public offer subscription opens next week, plans to utilise 75% of fresh issue proceeds for debt repayment. Despite muted IPOs and persisting uncertain market conditions, Kuldeep Jain, founder and managing director, tells Anjana Therese Antony that the company decided to go public considering the tremendous business growth. In the midst of muted IPOs and not-so-great market conditions, what was the rationale behind going public now? We are getting to be a larger company over time and there is never a precise answer to why now. The intent was clear and anytime was considered good from that perspective. In terms of growth or relative value, we are at the mid-to-lower end of the EV/EBITDA multiple. There is tremendous growth, with the company’s EBITDA rising at a 58% compound annual growth rate during FY23-FY25, while the industry grew 16%. Contracted capacity for data and artificial intelligence (AI) grew 10 times to 2,400 MW in October 2025 from 250 MW in March 2024. Therefore, we wanted to do an IPO where we believe we have the best possible chance for incoming shareholders to create value. How much of the ₹1,200-crore fresh issue are you planning to utilise for debt repayment or capacity addition? 75% of the primary issuance is for debt repayment and the remaining 25% is for general corporate purposes. Can you elaborate a bit more about the capacity addition plan? As of October 2025, we had a total of 6,000 megawatt (MW) of contracted capacity, of which about 2,800 MW was already built and operating. The remaining 3,200 MW is currently under construction and will come on stream in less than two years. The company recently made an entry into the Saudi Arabian market. Any further plans of expansion to other regions? It is a very nascent market and there are no expansion announcements as of now. The combined size of business in the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand is about 3% of EBITDA. Are there any direct benefits to Clean Max Enviro from the government’s announcement for solar power funding? We do not need any government subsidies or benefits because green power, on its own commercial merit, is cheaper than brown power. We can compete on sheer cost economics and overall environmental benefits. Rightly so, the government does not offer any subsidies for commercial industrial segments.