India’s largest engineering and infrastructure conglomerate, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), announced a record inflow of new orders for the third fiscal quarter ending December 31. The company’s overall order book increased by 20% since the start of the financial year, reaching ₹5.64 trillion as of December 31. L&T secured fresh orders worth ₹1.16 trillion during Q3, marking a 53% increase compared to the same period last year. More than half of these orders originated from international markets, particularly the Middle East, where governments are rapidly launching large-scale projects to diversify away from oil dependency. A significant order from state-owned NTPC Ltd contributed to the robust order book.
L&T’s chairman and managing director, S.N. Subrahmanyan, expressed optimism about the Middle East’s ongoing investment in both physical and digital infrastructure while continuing to capitalize on its oil and gas assets. He emphasized the company’s commitment to excellence and resilience in seizing new opportunities.
Domestic order inflows also saw a substantial increase, more than doubling year-on-year to ₹53,900 crore from ₹25,400 crore last year, driven by a major ₹23,000-crore order from NTPC. R. Shankar Raman, the company’s president and CFO, noted the encouraging trend in domestic orders and anticipated a continued upward trajectory, especially following the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections, which is expected to revive infrastructure-led orders from the central government.
In an interesting development, L&T’s revenues surpassed those of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services firm, during the third quarter. L&T reported consolidated revenues of ₹64,668 crore, a 17% increase from the previous year, while TCS reported revenues of ₹63,973 crore, reflecting a growth of just under 6%. L&T’s consolidated profit rose by 14% year-on-year to ₹3,359 crore, although the growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) was slower, increasing by just under 9% to ₹6,255 crore. Consequently, the Ebitda margin narrowed by 77 basis points to 9.67%, primarily due to a slowdown in the company’s IT business, which relies heavily on international revenue. Shankar Raman attributed the margin decline to softer performance in the IT segment, highlighting the impact of ongoing technology transitions.
