MBL owns about Rs 150 crore of equipment

Anjanee Kumar Lakhotia, Chairman, MBL Infrastructures Ltd Initially incorporated as Maheshwari Brothers Ltd in 1995, this company has come a long way from executing civil engineering projects for roads and highways to diversifying into the rail, building and infrastructure segments. Renamed MBL Infrastructure Ltd on July 5, 2006, today, it is a listed company on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) with an annual turnover of Rs 1,251 crore. Being one of the bigger contractors in the industry, the company boasts an impressive clientele, mostly government bodies and public-sector companies such as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC), SAIL, MMRDA, Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Indian Railways, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), RITES, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), PWD (NCT New Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal), amongst others. Anjanee Kumar Lakhotia, Chairman, MBL Infrastructures Ltd, shares his company's journey since inception and future plans with CW. A series of firsts Prior to the company's inception, we gained our initial experience in the roads sector by bagging the rehabilitation contract of the Sanauli-Gorakhpur road including Nautanwa Bypass, a World Bank-aided project of Uttar Pradesh PWD, in 1992. Today, the company has a pan-India presence with projects spanning 14 states. In 1999, the company was amongst the first batch of contractors to be awarded the work of the North-South-East-West Corridor and the first to complete it. We were also amongst the first to bag the contract for maintenance of national highways by NHAI. Diversifying business Over a period of time, we have formed JVs with reputed companies with a view to increase our capacity to bid for bigger projects. We form project-specific JVs with regional players whose resources, skills and strategies are complementary to our business to help us reap the benefits of our experience. We are currently executing three BOT projects, namely the Seoni-Katangi and Waraseoni-Lalbarra Road projects in Madhya Pradesh, and the Bikaner-Suratgarh section of the NH-15 in Rajasthan. We also carefully pick our clientele in road, rail and building construction segments across India. We will continue to be selective with our projects and shall bid mainly for NHAI and select state projects funded by the World Bank or ADB. With an ambition to diversify our portfolio, we aim to aggressively expand into urban infrastructure development, flyovers, residential and commercial complexes, mining, etc. The company is currently executing the construction work on the elevated Sarai Station on the Badarpur-Faridabad corridor of Delhi MRTS Phase-III for DMRC and is working on a Rs 4,069.62 million project to develop 10 housing/building projects pan-India awarded by various clients, namely, NBCC, RVNL, RITES, MPHB, North Western Railway, NHAI, NRDA and Assam PWD. The company has its order book full of projects for the present fiscal. It has recently been awarded a work order from DMRC worth Rs 415.71 million. North Western Railway has awarded a work order of Rs 272.55 million. RVNL has also awarded a work order of Rs 322.97 million. RITES have awarded a work order of Rs 406.03 million. We are also executing work of three road over bridges (ROB) at Faridabad and Sonepat and two road under bridges (RUB) at Narela and Badli. We have also been awarded construction of approaches to a rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganga at Digha Ghat near Patna in Bihar. Experience counts We have a team of more than 75 qualified engineers and a bench of more than 800 technical and skilled personnel. Having over a decade's experience in executing infrastructure projects (especially highways) as prime contractor and having established the ability to deliver quality jobs within budget and schedule, we have the acumen to source and maintain the supply chain for raw materials as well as equipment. We procure state-of-the-art OEMs and go in for value for money equipment on a case-to-case basis after evaluating the past performance of equipment. MBL owns about Rs 150 crore of equipment that includes hot-mix plants, sensor pavers, tandem rollers, soil compactors, stone crushers, loaders, excavators, tippers, motor graders, concrete batching plants, transit mixers, concrete pumps, dozers, cranes, etc. We mainly provide integrated EPC services for civil construction and infrastructure projects. However, we have taken up more BOT projects by leveraging our financial and technical credentials as there are huge opportunities in BOT (toll/annuity) projects owing to the government's reliance on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. BOT projects generally provide better operating margins because of the added overall project costs that can be exerted. Additionally, BOT projects offer the possibility of higher revenues by virtue of better-than- anticipated use of the asset. Crushing obstacles Despite our extensive experience, we have often faced challenges like timely handing over of sites, quarry approval for stone aggregates, etc. But we overcame these with proper project planning and monitoring. We take up quarries on lease, undertake mining and install crushers to produce stone aggregate at our project sites. Producing aggregate in-house enables us to control and ensure consistent quality and timely delivery for projects. Having captive mines also ensures availability of bulk raw material at a cheaper cost. The pace of infrastructure in the present fiscal has been hit owing to inflation, high rate of interest, economic slowdown and policy issues. The prospects in the current year are bleak compared to last year. Maintaining high standards A combination of our reputation in the market, our working environment and competitive compensation programmes allows us to attract and retain talented people. Our senior management team consists of experienced individuals with diverse skills in manufacturing, engineering, international business and finance. Our employees are the key to the success of our business. We focus on hiring and retaining employees and workers who have prior experience in the construction industry. We have a policy of providing the necessary training to our new employees and workers; we view this as a necessary tool to optimise the performance of our employees. Our primary focus is on continuous improvement and consolidation of our position in the construction and infrastructure development and management industry. We are aiming at target-specific, high-potential projects by building relationships with steel manufacturing companies and banking on our experience of mining of stone aggregates and operation and maintenance of roads and highways. Fact sheet Year of Establishment: 1995 Top management: (Promoter) AK Lakhotia, Chairman; Shiv Kumar, Vice President; DD Gupta, Vice President; Nagendra Kumar, Vice President; Nitin Bagaria, Company Secretary No. of employees: 600 Turnover: Rs 1,251 crore (FY 2011-2012) Suggestions on contractors to be covered? Write in at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com