Top 10 Indian Contractors Building Nation’s Infrastructure

Construction is one of the prime industries of the country that enhances infrastructural development and generates multifarious employment. From building bridges to erecting metros, carving temples, or constructing smart cities; construction boosts the economy of the nation in myriad ways. Despite its significance, construction is the most volatile sector, where the ranking and value of the contractors keep fluctuating. Construction World brings you a list of top Indian contractors, who are not just the best contractors in India, but also profitable ones. 1. Larsen & Toubro Established Year: 7 February 1938 Place: Mumbai Top Management: S N Subrahmanyan (CEO) Larsen & Toubro, alias L&T is the pioneer of the Indian construction sector. Throughout the long journey, the company has gone through transient peaks and troughs, retaining its aura, being the best contractor in the industry. Deploying the right strategies and fine tactics, it has managed to stay ahead among its contemporaries. At present, L&T’s core E&C business remains best placed to reward from any CAPEX upcycle, aided by its leaner asset-light business model and diversified segments. Although its buildings and power segments were fragile in FY21, this was largely offset by strong orders from the international power T&D and hydrocarbons segments. The company’s order book for FY21 stood strong at ₹ 327,400 crore – the domestic order book was ₹ 258,600 crore while the international order book was ₹ 68,800 crore. This FY21 order efflux is a result of the strong momentum witnessed in H2FY21. The order pipeline remains healthy for FY22, as private CAPEX is likely picking up momentum and the company’s large and diversified order book provides healthy revenue visibility. Since the last five-year plan announced in 2016, L&T has been reinforcing its business model by retreating from noncore businesses, being asset-light, and honing its concentration on receivables instead of just execution. It has accurately prioritized the robustness of its balance sheet over growth amid the global covid pandemic and perpetually maintaining high liquidity. 2. GR Infraprojects Established Year: 1995 Place: Udaipur, Rajasthan Top Management: Vinod Kumar Agarwal (Chairman and Whole time Director) The recently listed GR Infraprojects has continually made its presence felt. The company's first public offering (IPO) received a positive reception and resulted in significant riches for shareholders. On listing day, the stock opened at '1,715 versus an issue price of '832. In terms of its business, GR Infraprojects is an integrated road EPC firm with experience designing and constructing numerous road and highway projects in 14 Indian states. It also owns a BOT road project in operation and 14 HAM road projects, five of which are already active. GR Infraprojects' primary business operations are divided into three categories: civil construction activities, which include EPC services; road and highway development on a BOT basis; and manufacturing activities, which include bitumen processing, thermoplastic road-marking paint and road signage manufacturing, and fabricating and galvanising metal crash barriers. 3. TATA Projects Established Year: 1979 Place: Secundrabad Top Management: Vinayak Deshpande (Managing Director) TATA Projects is one of India's most admired and fastest-growing infrastructure enterprises. It operates through four strategic business groups (SBGs): Industrial Systems, Core Infra, Urban Infra, and Services. It has expertise in delivering big and complex urban and industrial infrastructure projects. Turnkey end-to-end solutions for power generation plants, power transmission and distribution systems, fully integrated rail and metro systems, commercial buildings and airports, chemical process plants, water and wastewater management solutions, and complete mining and metal purification systems are all provided by the company. The company has been focusing on generating free cash flows, and in FY21, it earned Rs. 652 crore in cash from operations, compared to Rs. 92 crore in FY20. Operational excellence is another area of concentration that has aided the organisation, with the goal of creating real-time improvement and new solutions, as well as bringing fixed and variable expenses under control. 4. Afcons Infrastructure Established Year: 1959 Place: Mumbai Top Management: K. Subramanian (Executive Vice Chairman) Afcons Infrastructure is India's second largest engineering and construction firm, and is part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. It has able to show constant growth throughout the years because to its extensive experience and execution ability. It is one of the fastest-growing infrastructure enterprises, with a strategic equipment fleet worth $300 million. Marine & Industrial, Surface Transportation, Urban Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, and Hydro & Underground are some of the divisions. Some of the major orders received in FY21 included the construction of an elevated viaduct from Sarai Kale Khan Station to New Ashok Nagar DN Ramp, along with the Jangpura entry ramp, and two elevated stations, like Sarai Kale Khan Station and New Ashok Nagar of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Corridor for the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) worth Rs. 1,062 crore. 5. APCO Infratech Established Year: 1992 Place: India Top Management: Anil Kumar Singh (Managing Director) APCO Infratech, one of the fastest growing mid-sized enterprises in the Indian infrastructure sector, has a long list of achievements to its credit. Highways, electricity, tunnels, irrigation, urban infrastructure, and industrial growth are just a few of the areas where it has made an impact. From concept to completion, the company provides comprehensive value-added services for design, EPC, and DBFOT projects. It's no surprise that the company's clients include industry giants such as NHAI, Power Grid, IOCL, HPCL, and BPCL. The company has developed a methodical strategy and is looking for possibilities in core areas such as the power sector, in keeping with its ethos of focusing on quality growth. Some of the positives aspects for the growth of the company include a sustained increase in scale of operations of about 15-20% in coming years while maintaining healthy operating profitability; continued maintenance of the order-book position with revenue visibility of 3.5-4.0x with quality counterparties; and healthy cash accrual generation sufficient for increased working capital requirements, resulting in healthy debt coverage ratios in excess of 1.5x. 6. DRAIPL (Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon) Established Year: 1972 Place: Gujarat Top Management: Dineshchandra R Agrawal (Chairman) Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon is one enterprise that has carved out a niche for itself despite fierce competition and the pandemic's impact (DRAIPL). The organisation has been effectively working in the Indian infrastructure sector for almost four decades. Despite COVID-related delays, DRAIPL's income increased to Rs. 2,782 crore in FY21 (FY20: Rs. 2,739 crore), resulting in decreased project execution in 1QFY21 and lower scale in 2QFY21. Furthermore, the company had a robust revenue growth trajectory from FY17 to FY21, with a CAGR of over 19%. In FY22, we estimate DRAIPL to grow revenue by 10% year over year, backed by a robust order book (4.12x of FY21 revenue). Due to reduced subcontracting and the significant contribution of a few major projects with stronger margins to revenue throughout the period, EBITDA margins remained nearly unchanged at 10.4% in FY21 (FY20: 10.5%), offset by an increase in raw material costs. 7. HG Infra Engineering Established Year: 2003 Place: India Top Management: Harendra Singh (Chairman and MD) Since its commencement in 2003, its primary focus was on highways, roads, and bridges. But now, HG Infra Engineering executes civil construction projects including extension and grading of runways, railways, and land development. In recent times, it has also variegated into water pipeline projects. The company has a healthy and well-diversified order book. At the end of March 2021, it stood at ₹ 7,040 crore majorly backed by strong order inflows secured in Q4FY21. Further, the organization has guided order inflows of ₹ 5,000-6,000 crore in FY22 to be navigated by a strong order pipeline in the roads segment and evolving opportunities in further infrastructure verticals. The management’s balance sheet has remained lean over the years, backed by its sagacious strategy majorly focusing on the asset-light business model and efficiently managing working capital. At the end of March 2021, its gross debt stood at ₹ 289 crores; the cash equivalent on the balance sheet stood at ₹ 258 crores. 8. Welspun Enterprises Established Year: 1976 Place: India Top Management: Sandeep Garg (Managing Director) Welspun Enterprises is a subsidiary of the Welspun Group, with a focus on infrastructure. Apart from that, it owns Welspun Natural Resources (an oil and gas exploration company). Welspun Enterprises has created and operates PPP projects in a variety of infrastructure sectors, including highways, water, and urban infrastructure. It has completed six BOT (toll) road projects totaling more than 500 km in the highway sector alone. Welspun Natural Resources owns a 35% investment in Adani Welspun Exploration, a joint venture with the Adani Group, and has a position in a number of oil and gas exploration blocks in India and abroad, either directly or through subsidiaries and joint ventures. In the Indian infrastructure market, the company is unique in that it has a considerable net cash balance, unlike most other corporations that are heavily in debt. It operates under a unique business strategy that focuses on HAM initiatives. Construction is also outsourced to the best-suited contractor under EPC, with Welspun focusing on high-value-added activity projects. 9. PSP Projects Established Year: 2009 Place: India Top Management: Prahaladbhai Shivrambhai Patel (CEO) PSP Projects, founded in August 2008, is a construction firm that provides a wide range of construction and related services. It's a one-stop shop that offers everything from planning to design to construction and post-construction services. By integrating technology and best industry practises, the organisation has a proven track record of delivering on-time and high-quality projects across a wide range of industrial segments and projects. It has executed 166 projects to date, primarily in the industrial, institutional, and high-profile government sectors. Long-term relationships with clients who have supplied recurring business are an important component. PSP Projects had an order book of Rs. 4,120.97 crore as of March 31, 2021. It's also becoming better at prequalification. Despite the COVID-19 problem, the business completed 23 projects in FY21. In fact, over time, the average size of the order book grew. The company is well-diversified both geographically and in terms of product categories. In terms of revenue, it earned Rs. 1,240.86 crore in FY21, compared to Rs. 1,499.26 crore in FY20. EBITDA for FY21 was Rs. 132.52 crore, down from Rs. 190.94 crore in FY20. In FY21, PAT was Rs. 81.04 crore, down from Rs. 128.03 crore in FY20. 10. Ahluwalia Contracts Established Year: 1965 Place: India Top Management: Mr. Shobhit Uppal (MD) Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Limited (ACIL) is an engineering and construction firm that provides clients in India with cutting-edge infrastructure and development projects. ACIL has been able to create projects that leave a lasting legacy because to four decades of a strong, customer-centric strategy and a laser-like emphasis on world-class quality. It has established the reputation of being a technology-driven, resource-rich organisation with high standards thanks to its amazing track record of achievement in all aspects of building. ACIL's quest of engineering and construction perfection, which has been accomplished through cutting-edge technologies, innovative systems, and procedures, has enabled the business in completing difficult projects and solutions on time, at the highest quality, and on budget. With experience working on residential, commercial, institutional, corporate offices, power plants, hospitals, hotels, IT parks, metro stations and depots, and automated car parking lots for government and private clients, the company has expanded its expertise across industries and geographies.