Tata Projects aims to close FY21 with a top line of Rs 12,000 crore

Tata Projects is aiming to close the current financial year with a top line of Rs 12,000 crore and is bullish on growth in the next year (FY22).

Himanshu Chaturvedi, chief strategy officer at Tata Projects, told Business Standard the firm was expected to close the financial year with an order book of Rs 55,000-60,000 crore. This will be spread largely across urban infrastructure projects.

“This year, we are expecting our order backlog to end around Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore. We should be able to see a good growth over these numbers next year (FY). If we look at our backlog, urban infrastructure, such as bridges and metro projects, accounts for broadly 40 per cent of our portfolio. Around one-third is process projects, such as those in the oil and gas sector. The balance would be linear projects, such as transmission and distribution, roads and railways,” said Chaturvedi.

Commenting on how 2020-2021 was for the company, he said, “This year has been good for us. We expect to end it with a growth over last year despite the first quarter being a washout to a large extent. We were anxious, along with other players, when Covid-19 had struck but credit should be given to the government for the steps it took. These include changes in procurement guarantees and contract payment terms that helped a lot.”

“Profit would depend on the fourth quarter performance. In terms of revenue, we would probably be closing around Rs 12,000 crore,” he added. 

Tata Projects had bagged the Rs 891.90 crore Parliament building redevelopment project in the thick of the Covid-19 lockdown. Responding to a query on the project, Chaturvedi said, “It’s an extremely prestigious project and we are proud to be a part of it. The timelines are quite challenging but we are sure we will deliver.” Responding to a query on whether Tata Projects would be interested in monetisation of government projects, Chaturvedi said, “We are doing operations and maintenance jobs today for several steel and water projects in the country. We will need to understand what the finance ministry means when it says monetisation of O&M of dedicated freight corridor assets. We have a role in building the DFC. So, clearly we will want to have a role in operating and managing it as well.” 

In her Budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had focused on asset monetisation. She announced the monetisation of DFC assets for operations and maintenance.

Commenting on how the Budget would affect the company’s portfolio, Chaturvedi said, “We have a fairly diverse portfolio. We are into oil and gas, roads, railways and are doing around 40 per cent of the DFC jobs that are going on currently. Our portfolio also covers water and buildings. This allows us to get benefit from allocations.”