Today, we have about Rs.18,000 crore of order book

Vinayak Deshpande,Managing Director, Tata Projects The year 2015 was celebration time for Deshpande. He not just bagged the contract of two phases of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, but also signed an MoU with Brookfield Multiplex to develop social infrastructure in India. He elaborates on these two achievements and more... Achievements: The year 2015 was a ´game changer year´ in many ways. We almost doubled our order book compared to the previous year. Today, we have about Rs 18,000 crore of order book; additionally, have secured L1 position in about Rs 5,000 crore worth of projects. Noticeably, we bagged Delhi Metro Phase-III, Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and several other power transmission projects. As a part of our CSR activity in Varanasi, we are doing technical trials for surface cleaning of the Ganga River. Also, the company commissioned India´s largest Blast Furnace at Rourkela Steel Plant. Progress on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor: The project was won as a consortium and we have commenced work. At present, it is more in the planning and ground preparation stage. MoU with Brookfield Multiplex to develop infrastructure in India: We have bagged an order from Mantri Group for constructing one of their projects in Bengaluru; an order for constructing an IT SEZ in Indore; and for construction management of another IT park in Delhi NCR. Overall, the order book is about Rs 2,000 crore for Urban Infra-SBU of Tata Projects. Major contributors to the order book: The order book is expected to close at about Rs 21,000 crore to Rs 23,000 crore at the end of this fiscal. Transportation, transmission, EPC, and construction are all contributing factors. Power generation and transmission: There are certain power projects in the pipeline -and we hope to get some of these projects. The market is quite competitive now. We are evaluating opportunities in Middle East and South East Asian region. Your contribution towards Tata Projects bringing a quantum shift in the existing construction domain: Tata Projects is well on its trajectory to become an important and relevant player in Indian EPC industry. While one is focused on driving profitable growth, the managements key attention including my focus, is to set world class performance standards, unleash innovative techniques, and steer the industry to levels of global best practices. This involves advances in engineering approaches, construction methods, development of highly skilled human resources, respect for safety and quality. Currently you can say I am more focused on this agenda. Plans for 2016: While we have undertaken surface cleaning of the Ganga, we would like to further contribute towards restoring our ecosystems.