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Further, the data that led CW to its winners – India’s Largest and Fastest Growing Companies– has been collated and compiled by FIRST Construction Council (FCC) that engages in researching information and ranking construction and infrastructure companies.

The CWAA was part of the 7th INDIA CONSTRUCTION FESTIVAL (ICF) organised by FCC, an infrastructure think-tank set up in 2003, focused on providing latest updates on the construction industry in India, and dedicated to promoting its causes and needs. FCC provides a platform to promote the adoption of best practices and to be the torchbearer for all policy initiatives that are needed to enhance the importance and welfare of the construction industry and the industry’s unified voice.

‘Large’ winners

Construction companies have been categorised as under:

1st rank: GR Infraprojects won the 1st rank for the Fastest Growing Construction Companies in the Large Category.

GR Infraprojects, which recently got listed, has consistently made its presence felt. The company has got a great response to its initial public offering (IPO) and created a great amount of wealth for stakeholders. As against the issue price of Rs 832, its stock opened at Rs 1,715 on listing day. With regard to its business, GR Infraprojects is an integrated road EPC company with experience in the design and construction of various road and highway projects across 14 states in India. In addition, it also owns an operational BOT road project and 14 HAM road projects, of which five are already operational.

The primary business operations of GR Infraprojects are broadly divided into three categories: civil construction activities, providing EPC services; development of roads and highways on a BOT basis; and manufacturing activities, processing bitumen, manufacturing thermoplastic road-marking paint and road signage and fabricating and galvanising metal crash barriers. It has an order book of Rs 19,000 crore – a good 2.6x book to sales. Most important, the order book is well diversified across the country, with 23 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 18 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 14 per cent in Maharashtra and 13 per cent in Gujarat. GR Infra reported a topline of Rs 7,250 crore in FY21, growing by 20 per cent in a pandemic impacted year. The topline has seen a CAGR of 33 per cent over the past three years. It operates at one of the highest EBITDA margins in the industry (with an average 19 per cent over FY17-21).

GR Infraprojects has a strong balance sheet with a leverage of 0.4x and tight control over working capital. Its asset turnover is strong at 3.6x. It generates strong free cash flow and, therefore, should be able to fund the equity requirement of its large HAM portfolio through internal accruals.

2nd rank: Tata Projects won the 2nd rank for the Fastest Growing Construction Companies in the Large Category.

Tata Projects is one of the fastest growing and most admired infrastructure companies in India. It has expertise in executing large and complex urban and industrial infrastructure projects and operates through its four strategic business groups (SBGs): Industrial Systems, Core Infra, Urban Infra and Services. The company provides turnkey end-to-end solutions to set up 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.

In FY21, the order book of the company aggregated Rs 8,860 crore (FY20: Rs 13,292 crore), resulting in a total order backlog of Rs 48,497 crore (including share of JVs). The company secured L1 position of orders worth Rs 10,113 crore. The total income of the company for FY21 aggregated Rs 12,011 crore (FY20: Rs 10,514 crore), registering an increase of about Rs 1,497 crore. Services revenue in FY21 was Rs 319 crore (FY20: Rs 349 crore). The operating profit of the company was Rs 767 crore (FY20: Rs 749 crore), resulting in a profit before tax of Rs 233 crore in FY21 (FY20: Rs 204 crore).

Generating free cash flows has been an area of focus for the company and during FY21, the company generated Rs 652 crore cash from operations, compared to Rs 92 crore in FY20. Another area of focus that has helped the company is operational excellence with the objective to create real-time improvement and innovative solutions and bring fixed and variable costs under control.

3rd rank: Afcons Infrastructure won the 3rd rank for the Fastest Growing Construction Companies in the Large Category.

Part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Afcons Infrastructure is the second largest engineering and construction group in India. With its extensive experience and execution capabilities, it has managed to show consistent growth over the years. It is one of the fastest growing infrastructure companies and has a USD 300 million strategic equipment fleet. It has different units like Marine & Industrial, Surface Transport, Urban Infrastructure, Oil & Gas and Hydro & Underground.

On the financial front, the company achieved a total income of Rs 9521.13 crore for FY21 compared to Rs 10,130.69 crore in FY20. The EBIDTA for FY21 was Rs 897.38 crore compared to Rs 929.71 crore in FY20, a marginal decrease of 3.48 per cent. The consolidated profit before tax for FY21 was Rs 290.50 crore compared to Rs 375.62 crore in FY20. The consolidated profit after tax for FY21 was Rs 169.89 crore compared to Rs 247.69 crore in FY20. On the operational front, Afcons bagged new projects worth Rs 7,800 crore in FY 21. In addition, it has Rs 3,360 crore worth of L1 orders. The pending order book position of the company as on March 31, 2021, stands at Rs 29,608 crore (including the L1 orders).

A few major orders received in FY21 included the construction of an elevated viaduct from Sarai Kale Khan Station to New Ashok Nagar DN Ramp, including the Jangpura entry ramp, and two elevated stations, like Sarai Kale Khan Station and New Ashok Nagar (including the pre-engineered steel roof structure but excluding the architectural finishing station) of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Corridor for the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) worth Rs 1,062 crore.

The 19th CONSTRUCTION WORLD ANNUAL AWARDS 2021 was presented by Apollo Tyres; with Platinum Partner as APCPO Infratech; Gold Partner - Larsen & Toubro; Silver Partner - Tata Projects; Associate Partners - Welspun Enterprises, Shyam Steel, Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon, Action Construction Equipment, J Kumar Infraprojects, KNR Constructions, GR Infra, Terex India, Sany India and BC India.