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By Construction Week Research Team

India’s infrastructural development is scaling greater heights with each new day. We present the TOP stars from the 2009-10 EDITION OF this BIG growth story.

One of the most talked about aspects of the global financial crisis has been the resilience shown by emerging economies – particularly by India. Indian economy’s competence to considerably shield itself from external influences has resulted from a strong domestic market and a sturdy performance by the infrastructure industry led by some of the established as well as rapidly emerging companies.
India’s infrastructure companies have shown their expertise in dealing with the challenges and making the most of the available opportunities – both critical qualities for achieving great success.
Equally important has been the role played by the government's determination to participate in and encourage the development of world class infrastructure in the country. It has lead from the front through various initiatives, refinements in processes and reforms in policies.
Full credit should be given to the infrastructure companies that positively used the government’s support to their advantage and added substantially to the cause of nation building. While there are hundreds of companies who continue to participate in India’s infrastructure story, it is always an interesting and insightful exercise to find out the names of the leaders.
Our task has been both easy and difficult. It was easy because the leaders have been very consistent in the proficiency, productivity and performance over the years and one can hardly miss out these names that regularly grab headlines. It was difficult because filtering down the list to just ten names is a statistician’s nightmare.
Of course, it would have been unfair if we had relied purely on statistics; there’s a lot more to it. We do not (and cannot) claim that this is the ultimate list since all such lists are subject to industry ups and downs. But we are confident that this list is as good as it gets and gives you a very fine idea about who the top players are.
For all right reasons, Construction Week's 'India's Top Ten Infrastructure Companies' list is based on various criteria including research & analysis, financial results for the recently ended fiscal, order book standings, general market perception, key ongoing projects and so on. While care has been taken to make this list as comprehensive and as updated as possible, we do not claim it to be beyond market dynamics.



1 Larsen &Toubro Ltd

Larsen &Toubro (L&T) remains the undisputed number one infrastructure company in India. Nobody could have summarised its role in nation building better than P Chidambaram, who called it India's only national sector company (on the company’s 70th anniversary when he was the Union Finance Minister). That was in 2007. Today, L&T continues to build on its reputation by maintaining an all round growth across the infrastructure segments where it operates. The recently concluded fiscal has been quite good for the company.
As a company statement said, 'various cost optimisation initiatives launched by the Company, aided by lower input costs, led to an improvement in the profitability of both project and product businesses'.
The Profit after Tax for L&T as a group for the year at Rs5451 crore grew by a whopping 44% as compared to the previous year. Subsidiaries and associate companies together contributed Rs613 crore to the Group's profits, posting a rise of more than 100% over the similar amount for the previous year. The Group’s consolidated total income registered Rs 43970 crore vis-a-vis Rs40511 crore for the previous year.
The operating margin at 13.1% improved by 140 basis points over last year, while the order book crossed the Rs100,000 crore mark as of March 31, 2010. (The Engineering & Construction Segment’s contribution to this is Rs 63899 crore). The huge order book gives ample visibility to the company’s continued leadership position. L&T is well poised to take advantage of the opportunities presented by India's amazing infrastructure development. Moreover, L&T has considerable presence and capabilities in the international markets.
www.larsentoubro.com

2 Punj Lloyd Group

This is the next 'No surprise' name. Punj Lloyd Group's consolidated total income for FY2010 stood at Rs10,539 crore with an EBIDTA of Rs218 crore and PAT at Rs108 crore. In a recent interview with Construction Week, Atul Punj, Chairman of the Punj Lloyd Group had said that his group aims to be amongst the top five EPC players globally by 2012.
Quite pleased at the financial performance of the Group, he said, "We've seen good traction in order inflow from most of our business verticals during the quarter under review. Our order book continues to be robust at Rs27,770 crore which is 2.64 times of our FY10 revenues. Some of our large wins include India’s largest solar-based EPC contract as well as two projects from Mangalore Refinery. We have also completed repayment of all loans and outstanding of Simon Carves UK. The results of our initiatives enhance my confidence in our capabilities and strengths.
I believe Punj Lloyd is well positioned to leverage the considerable opportunities in the infrastructure and hydrocarbons business." This year, the Group also won its first project in Thailand. The contract, valued at Rs574 crore, was secured from PTT Public Company Ltd, a Thailand state-owned oil & gas major and one of the largest corporations in Thailand listed in the Fortune Global 500 companies. Punj Lloyd Group sold its entire stake of 19.43% in Pipavav Shipyard (PSL) to the Company’s co-promoter, Skil Infrastructure, making profits of Rs3,071 million in the overall deal.
www.punjlloydgroup.com