Construction companies await orders worth ₹2.6 lakh-cr

Given the number of under construction metro rail projects currently, construction companies are likely to receive orders worth ₹2.6 lakh crore in the next five years. Domestic brokerage Edelweiss Securities and experts in the field, estimate that these projects would entail an investment of about ₹3.5 lakh crore in the same period and that 55-60% of this order book is likely to be in construction segment. Of the 67 metro projects across 27 cities in India, almost 54 projects are in various stages of construction, conceptual, approved, or partly operational, while the remaining are operational. Broadly, the order book from the construction of metro rail projects across cities can be divided into three categories: civil construction (tunnels, bridges and stations), systems (signaling, communication systems) and rolling stock (gauges, locomotives, wagons). Of these, civil construction forms the bulk of the order book and that among cities, Mumbai has the largest under-construction metro rail projects covering 295 km. Among the construction companies, L&T, NCC, J Kumar Projects, NCC, Dilip Buildcon, Texmaco Rail and Titagarh Wagons are the most preferred.