Skyways forecasts 81% working-capital rise as vendor credit falls

Skyways forecasts that its working-capital gap will increase 80.99% from Rs 311.0709 crore at March 31, 2026 to Rs 563.0054 crore at March 31, 2027. The main driver is a plan to reduce reliance on vendor credit: projected trade payables fall by Rs 80.7674 crore while trade receivables rise by Rs 120.8866 crore.

What is Skyways forecasting for working-capital needs?

Skyways estimates a working-capital gap of Rs 563.0054 crore for FY27 and Rs 685.3698 crore for FY28, compared with an audited Rs 311.0709 crore at March 31, 2026. Working-capital gap is the excess of current assets over current liabilities, representing the funding required for day-to-day operating assets after short-term obligations are deducted.

The FY27 estimate follows a mixed historical pattern. Skyways reported a gap of Rs 242.6523 crore in FY24, which decreased 2.31% to Rs 237.0589 crore in FY25 before increasing 31.22% to Rs 311.0709 crore in FY26. The Board approved the FY27 and FY28 business plan on June 26, 2026, using historical operating performance, projected operations and projected holding levels for assets and liabilities.

Skyways plans to finance the FY27 gap through Rs 320 crore of short-term bank borrowings, Rs 163.0054 crore of net worth or internal accruals, and Rs 80 crore of net proceeds. The FY28 plan retains Rs 320 crore of short-term borrowings, increases internal funding to Rs 315.3698 crore and assumes Rs 50 crore of net proceeds. These estimates depend on the stated business plan, the availability of banking facilities and the intended application of proceeds.

Why is Skyways cutting vendor credit?

Skyways expects vendor credit to fall because it proposes to use part of the net proceeds for incremental working capital and to settle freight-service vendors more promptly. Trade payables, which are amounts due to airlines, shipping lines, transporters, customs brokers and other logistics providers, are projected to decrease from Rs 211.5674 crore in FY26 to Rs 130.8 crore in FY27 despite projected business growth.

This change is central to the projected funding increase because payables provide operating credit. Skyways assumes its trade-payable holding period will decline from 50 days in FY26 to 34 days in FY27 and then 20 days in FY28. The historical range was 47 to 61 days between FY24 and FY26, so the forecast requires Skyways to pay vendors faster than it did during those three audited years.

Skyways says faster settlement is expected to reduce dependence on vendor credit, enable timely payments and strengthen commercial relationships with service providers. That outcome is an expectation rather than a reported result. The FY27 gap will remain dependent on Skyways receiving and deploying proceeds for working capital while maintaining the assumed 34-day payable cycle.

Which current assets account for the higher Skyways requirement?

Skyways expects trade receivables to be the largest contributor to the FY27 increase, rising from Rs 288.6134 crore to Rs 409.5 crore. Receivables represented 54.18% of current assets at March 31, 2026, making customer collections a major determinant of the working-capital requirement.

The receivables assumption does not presume longer customer credit. Skyways generally gives customers 60 to 75 days of credit and maintains a 64-day receivable holding period in FY27, unchanged from FY26. In FY26, the collection period increased from 59 days in FY25 to 64 days, while trade receivables increased 37.41% from Rs 210.0443 crore to Rs 288.6134 crore.

FY26 revenue concentration at year-end also contributed to reported receivables. The March 2026 quarter produced Rs 409.3475 crore of revenue, or 28.93% of FY26 annual revenue of Rs 1,415.1944 crore, compared with 24.64% in the March 2025 quarter. Invoices raised during the final quarter remained outstanding at the March 31, 2026 year-end in the ordinary course, adding to receivables.

Cash and bank balances are projected to increase by Rs 33.4005 crore to Rs 36.9724 crore in FY27, while margin money and fixed deposits are expected to rise by Rs 8.7082 crore to Rs 162 crore. Margin money and fixed deposits are collateral for working-capital facilities, bank guarantees and other banking arrangements, meaning the projected increase partly reflects the need to support expanded facilities rather than freely available cash.

What business assumptions must hold for the Skyways forecast?

Skyways bases its forecast on increased freight-forwarding activity while preserving its established customer-credit cycle. Skyways served 9,504 customers in FY26, up from 7,407 in FY24; air cargo volume rose to 83,923.81 tonnes from 48,013.16 tonnes, and ocean containers handled increased to 28,275 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, from 16,294.

Air cargo remains the principal operating exposure in this plan. Air-cargo services generated 77.02% of Skyways revenue from operations in FY26, compared with 72.99% in FY25 and 79.20% in FY24. Skyways also expanded airline relationships from 44 in FY24 to 56 in FY26 and network coverage from 1,006 to 1,204 pin codes, indicators cited in support of projected business growth.

The forecast also assumes current assets will grow faster than current liabilities. Total current assets are estimated at Rs 703.9724 crore in FY27, compared with Rs 532.7185 crore in FY26, while total current liabilities are projected at Rs 140.967 crore, down from Rs 221.6476 crore. If volume growth, customer collections, facility availability or the planned reduction in vendor-credit days differ from the assumptions, the actual gap may differ from the estimates.

Conclusion

Skyways’ projected 80.99% rise in working-capital needs reflects a funding-structure change alongside business-growth assumptions. Skyways intends to retain customer receivables at a 64-day cycle while reducing vendor payment days from 50 to 34, so lower supplier financing and higher receivables together widen the FY27 gap to Rs 563.0054 crore.

The next measure to watch is execution of the Board-approved FY27 plan, particularly the proposed use of Rs 80 crore of net proceeds, the planned Rs 320 crore of short-term bank borrowings and the decline in trade payables to Rs 130.8 crore. FY28 projections further reduce payable days to 20 and raise the working-capital gap to Rs 685.3698 crore, leaving payment timing and business volumes central to the outlook.