HCC bags ₹810-cr order for hydro power plant in Kashmir.

Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company has bagged an EPC contract worth Rs. 810 crore from Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation Ltd. (JKSPDCL) for constructing a 93-MW hydro power plant on Sind River in Central Kashmir. The project is to be completed in 48 months.

According to HCC, it has built over 25 per cent of India’s installed hydroelectric power capacity. In the last 15 years, the company has completed 13 hydro power projects and is currently engaged in the construction of nine more, of which two are in Bhutan. In Jammu & Kashmir itself. HCC has built one third of state’s hydro power capacity.

This is the second large order HCC has bagged in the current quarter. The company has recently announced winning a Rs. 763-crore contract from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) for building structures of Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.

In the first quarter of this financial year, HCC had secured two new orders worth Rs. 1,012 crore and emerged as the lowest bidder for projects worth Rs. 2,804 crore, the company said in an earlier statement, adding that its order book stood at Rs. 20,363 crore as on June 30, 2017, excluding L1 bids the company submitted.

“Our order book is very healthy and we expect improvements in our pace of its execution by this fiscal year-end,” Praveen Sood, Group CFO, said.

He added during this financial year the company would focus on deleveraging its balance sheet by receiving arbitration awards totalling around Rs. 1,880 crore as well as improving the cash flow.

In the first quarter of the current financial year, HCC reported a slight dip in total revenue at Rs. 991 crore against Rs. 1,041 crore in the same period last year. However, the company’s profit rose from Rs. 10.9 crore in Q1 FY17 to Rs. 14.5 crore in the quarter June 30, 2017.

HBL