Now, industry players and experts alike are keeping their eyes peeled on the second half of FY26, anticipating a pick-up in highway tenders. Leading listed EPC firms with a significant focus on roads include IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, Ashoka Buildcon Ltd, HG Infra Engineering Ltd, Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC), and Dilip Buildcon Ltd.
In both FY22 and FY23, the NHAI awarded contracts totalling over 12,000 km. This slowed to 8,000-8,500 km in FY24 and FY25, according to estimates from Crisil Ratings. It typically takes about 12-18 months after a contract is awarded for construction to begin and for the contractor to be able to start recording revenues.
According to Anand Kulkarni, director at Crisil Ratings, the number of contracts awarded in the first half of FY26 has also been subdued. “But we expect a meaningful pickup in the second half, particularly in Q4, which is typically the busiest period,” he said. “After a couple of years of muted awarding, this fiscal should see some improvement, so all eyes will be on how the second half pans out.”
Kulkarni added that any improvement in awards this year will likely start reflecting in the second half of FY27 or in FY28.
New vistas
To offset the impact on profitability, several companies have diversified into other areas. Kulkarni estimates that road-focused EPC firms now get around a third of their order book from non-road sectors—up from about 10-12% five years ago.
For instance, Bhopal-headquartered Dilip Buildcon, which started diversifying three years ago, has eight other business verticals now—including operating mines, metro and railway construction, irrigation, water distribution and tunnelling. It recently also ventured into laying optical fibre for broadband connectivity and constructing solar plants.
Despite this, the company has seen its order book shrink from more than ₹25,000 crore in FY22 and FY23 to ₹13,695 crore as of 30 June 2025. Its revenue for the April-June quarter dipped 16% year-on-year to ₹2,620 crore. However, its profit nearly doubled to ₹271 crore, thanks to the foray into newer segments.
“We are adversely impacted by slow ordering activity by NHAI,” a spokesperson for Dilip Buildcon said in an email, adding that the company expects ₹60,000 crore worth of orders from the highway authority in the second half of FY26.
“As we are expecting good order intake in the second half of this year, we should see much better execution next year onwards,” the spokesperson said.
Performance hit
Impacted by the slowing of orders, most EPC companies have seen a dip in their financial performance in recent years.
Data from its latest investor presentation showed that Nashik-based Ashok Buildcon saw its revenue and profit decline 30% and 25% year-on-year in Q1FY26 to ₹1,339 crore and ₹31 crore, respectively. Jaipur-headquartered HG Infra Engineering, too, reported a decline in both revenue (3%) and profit (39%).
For Mumbai-based HCC, Q1 revenue was 40% lower year-on-year at ₹1,091 crore. However, it reported a ₹51 crore profit compared to a ₹3 crore loss a year prior.
Mumbai-based IRB Infrastructure was the only one among its peers to record growth in both revenue and profit by 10% and 45%, respectively.
These companies did not respond to Mint’s request for a comment.
Pointing to increased competition in the sector over the past couple of years, Crisil’s Kulkarni said several mid-sized EPC companies are in a good spot, having secured a sizeable number of projects.
“We expect the mid-sized EPC firms to post a moderate growth of around 5-7% this fiscal,” said Kulkarni. “The large road-focused EPC players, however, will witness stagnation of revenues.”
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