General information and education, not investment advice. The author is not a SEBI-registered adviser or research analyst. No recommendation, no promised returns. Markets carry risk including loss of capital. Figures may not be current. Always consult a SEBI-registered adviser.
1. At a Glance
A company incorporated in 1926 has just filed a quarter in which consolidated revenue came in at ₹993 Cr against ₹1,091 Cr a year ago, and consolidated PAT at ₹51.1 Cr against ₹50.7 Cr. Revenue down about 9%, profit up 0.7%. The two numbers went in opposite directions and nearly cancelled each other out, which is a tidy trick for a business that builds dams.
Operating profit for the quarter was ₹105 Cr against ₹179 Cr in the June 2025 quarter. Management attributes the margin compression to front-loaded costs on projects still in mobilisation, roughly ₹8,000 Cr of order book won in the last fifteen months where expenses are being incurred and revenue contribution has not yet arrived. Management reaffirmed a 13–14% EBITDA margin target by year-end.
The balance sheet has been rearranged more than the P&L. Borrowings fell to ₹1,019 Cr in FY26 from ₹2,223 Cr in FY24, net worth flipped from negative ₹168 Cr in FY24 to ₹2,127 Cr in FY26, and cash from operations came in at ₹892 Cr for FY26 against ₹134 Cr the year before. Order backlog stood at ₹12,976 Cr as at June 30, 2026.
The market currently applies a P/E of 38.4 to a ₹5,192 Cr market cap. Promoters hold 16.18% and have pledged 82.4% of it. All of which is in the record — and the record is unusually long here.
2. Introduction
HCC was incorporated in 1926 by Walchand Hirachand and is the flagship of the HCC Group. Its business is engineering and construction: dams, tunnels, bridges, hydro, nuclear and thermal power plants, expressways and roads, marine works, water supply, irrigation systems and industrial buildings. It has one reportable operating segment — Engineering and Construction — which is a refreshingly honest way to describe a hundred years of digging.
The last three years have been dominated by capital structure work. Under a resolution plan agreed with lenders, certain debt obligations were transferred to Prolific Resolution Private Limited, which issued NCDs aggregating ₹2,854.40 Cr to its lenders. In December 2025 the corporate guarantee on that debt was cut from 100% of outstanding to ₹570.88 Cr, about 20% of principal, reducing exposure by approximately ₹3,364 Cr. In the same month a rights issue of up to ₹999.99 Cr closed, subscribed 200% with applications of about ₹2,008 Cr, and 79,99,91,900 shares were allotted at ₹12.50 on December 23, 2025, taking paid-up capital to ₹261.95 Cr. Per Infomerics, ₹1,950 Cr was raised cumulatively through the rights issue and a QIP over two years.
On March 31, 2026, HCC executed a Deed of Assignment transferring economic and beneficial interest in arbitration awards of about ₹1,979.09 Cr, along with corresponding liabilities of the same amount, to wholly owned subsidiary HCC Contract Solutions Ltd. In May 2026 the board approved raising up to ₹800 Cr and increasing authorised share capital to ₹400 Cr; the 100th AGM was called for August 18, 2026 to approve it. Infomerics reaffirmed IVR BBB-, revising the outlook to Positive from Stable on June 30, 2026.
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3. Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
They build the things that are extremely difficult to build and then wait a very long time to be paid for them. That is the model, and it has been the model since the Ottoman Empire was still a going concern.
The credentials are genuinely singular: HCC has constructed 26% of India’s installed hydro power generation capacity and 60% of its nuclear power generation capacity, over 4,036 lane km of expressways and highways, more than 402 km of complex tunnelling, and 403 bridges. Most companies list customers. This one lists a meaningful fraction of the national grid.
The order book as at March 31, 2026 was ₹12,971 Cr, split 67% transport, 18% hydro, 12% water, and 3% nuclear and other — against 53/29/14/4 a year earlier. Geographically it spans thirteen states plus an international project in Bhutan, with Maharashtra at 28%, Bihar 17%, Uttarakhand 13%, Madhya Pradesh 9% and Manipur 9%. Top ten projects account for roughly 75% of the unexecuted order book, which Infomerics describes as high concentration.
The Q1 operations list reads like a geology exam. Head Race Tunnel breakthroughs at Faces 2 and 3 of the 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugad project. At the 1,000 MW Vishnugad Pipalkoti project, the Machine Hall for Units 1 and 2 handed over and HRT excavation at 85%. Earthworks and steel liner fabrication at Bhivpuri Pumped Storage. TBM deployment commenced at Indore Metro; casting yard and guide wall works at Patna Metro PC05 and PC06, with TBM deliveries
