Mike Parker rightly said, “When you don’t invest in infrastructure, you are going to pay sooner or later.” Indian government after realizing the need of development of infrastructure passed a Public Private Partnership Policy which was regarded as a milestone in infrastructure development. Until lately with the lack of development and late completion of projects, […]

Indian Infrastructure Ship sinking Almost all of India’s major consturction and infrastructure companies have seen losses in the current quarter and expected to be in the red for the rest of the year. India’s infrastructure sector which was the darling of investors in the boom period has become almost an untouchable industry in the last […]

GMR in Spotlight Now GMR is one of India’s largest infrastructure/construction companies with presence in roads, power, airports, construction etc. Like other infra majors the company has been facing a tough time as interest costs have increased, projects have got delayed and growth has slowed. The company now faces attack to its showpiece airport project, […]

I am surprised at the similarities in the corruption scandals hitting the South Asian nations almost daily. Despite hundreds and millions of citizens living in grinding poverty and misery, the elite of the society can compete in their billions with the richest nations around the world. This is not due to their hard work or […]

However India’s biggest capital good equipment company BHEL owned by the government is plannning a $500 million investment to build a solar cell factory in at Sakoli which is part Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel’s constituency Bhandara.Talk about how dumb you can get. BHEL hardly has too much expertise in the solar panel industry and with solar cells in massive oversupply,it is almost sure to lose money. However that is how things work with Indian government companies where investment is made at the whims of ministers rather than rationality and business sense.BHEL is currently trading at one of the lowest valuations in its 10 year history and its not a big wonder why. The company has benefited in the past as did other machinery and engineering companies from an infrastructure invesment boom. However those glory days are over for the company as it faces competition from the Chinese companies and decreasing orders flow. Praful Patel the minister has already spent a few years in the airline ministry presiding over the conversion of the state owned carrier Air India ino a basket case. Now its the turn of BHEL to be turned into a basket case as well.

The Indian Solar Power has been one bright spot in the gloomy infrastructure and engineering sectors in 2011. With share prices crashing with growing corruption, land acquisition and financing problems, Solar Energy has surged in India thanks to government support and subsidies . While a number of Green Technology companies have started up to capitalize on the growing renewable energy trend, the established constuction companies in India have not been far behind . While utilities like Tata Power, Adani, Reliance Power, NTPC have already built or are setting up power plants based on solar panels , L&T has become a major solar EPC players . L&T is now raising debt with a $100 million issue to fund its solar expansion plans .