1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Drama
GMR Power & Urban Infra Ltd (GPUIL) currently sits at a market cap of ₹8,558 Cr, trading around ₹110, down about 6% over the last three months. On paper, this looks like a diversified infrastructure platform touching power, roads, EPC, and urban land development. In reality, it feels like a Bollywood multistarrer where everyone wants screen time but the villain (read: debt) keeps stealing the show.
The company reported ₹1,869 Cr in Q3 FY26 revenue, up 16% YoY, with operating profit of ₹369 Cr and an OPM of ~20%. Sounds solid? Wait. PAT came in at -₹160 Cr, EPS -₹2.36, and interest coverage is an anxiety-inducing 0.81x. Add ₹11,589 Cr of borrowings, 77.2% promoter pledge, and a price-to-book of 5.56x, and suddenly this isn’t a sleepy utility stock — it’s a full-blown infra thriller.
So the big question: is this a complex turnaround story or just leverage wearing a Gucci belt?
2. Introduction – Welcome to the GMR Maze
GPUIL is part of the GMR Group, founded in 1978 by G.M. Rao — a name that screams ambition, scale, and occasionally, aggressive balance sheets. GPUIL is essentially the group’s power + roads + urban infra + EPC junk drawer, spun out to keep things “cleaner” elsewhere in the group.
Over the last few years, the company has tried to morph itself from a messy infra holding company into a cash-generating platform, largely driven by energy assets. Energy’s contribution rose from 51% in FY22 to 61% in 9M FY24, while roads and EPC quietly stepped back from center stage.
But GPUIL’s story is not linear. It’s cyclical, corporate-action-heavy, and full
of footnotes. There are stake consolidations, land monetisation talks, preferential allotments, refinancing wins, and OCI fair-value gains popping up like IPL ads.
If you like clean, asset-light SaaS stories — run.
If you enjoy decoding infra puzzles with debt, cash flows, and restructuring — welcome home.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Think of GPUIL as a thali.
🍛 Energy (61% of 9M FY24 Revenue)
This is the main sabzi.
- Coal:
- 1,650 MW operational
- 350 MW under development
- Gas: 1,156 MW
- Hydro:
- 180 MW operational
- 1,425 MW under development
- Renewables:
- Solar: 26 MW
- Wind: 3.4 MW
Thermal assets still drive cash flows, while hydro and renewables are the long-gestation “future value” slides in investor decks.
🛣️ Roads & Transportation (18%)
Four operating assets, 1,814 lane-km, DBFOT + EPC mix. Stable but not exciting — like a reliable side dish you don’t Instagram.
🏗️ EPC (10%)
Airports, highways, railways, DFC projects. EPC margins are thin, but order execution keeps cash moving. The 417 km Eastern DFC stretch is expected to complete by June 2024.
🏙️ Urban Infrastructure (11%)
The wildcard.
- 2,101 acres Special Investment Region
