Road builders sweat as highway tenders dry up

After a prolonged slowdown in orders, India's road construction giants are keeping their fingers crossed for a long-awaited revival.

- Dipali Banka & Nehal Chaliawala

With highway contracts from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) drying up over the past two years, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms specializing in roads have seen revenues stall and margins tighten.

Now, industry players and experts alike are keeping their eyes peeled on the second half of FY26, anticipating a pickup in highway tenders. Leading listed engineering, procurement, and construction firms with a significant focus on roads include IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, Ashoka Buildcon Ltd, HG Infra Engineering Ltd, Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd (HCC) and Dilip Buildcon Ltd.

In both FY22 and FY23, the National Highways Authority of India 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.