VA Tech Wabag reported earnings for the June-ended quarter. Revenue and profit has seen a rise but margin has contracted owing to higher expenses. The company has also seen an order inflow of around Rs 1,450 crore this quarter, which takes the total orderbook to Rs 10,400 crore. Rajneesh Chopra, Global Head-Business Development, VA Tech Wabag, discussed the earnings.

The current orderbook of the company stands at Rs 10,400 crore. “By the time we end this year, we feel that our orderbook will further get strengthened,” he said.

He expects to see higher contribution coming from industrial orders. Also, the contribution coming from overseas orders will be better, he mentioned. He explained, “Definitely it results into better margins, at the same time a better cashflow. So in that way, we are very optimistic about it.”

Chopra sees traction happening in tenders. “So definitely, municipal orders will also start coming in from next quarter onwards. We only see that our orderbook will get further strengthened in this particular year, which will result into better execution,” he said.

One of the reasons for dip in the margins is higher cost of stay at sites. “Because of COVID-19, we got extension of time, so there is no liquidity damage on those contracts but people were staying there longer and obviously because of new COVID-19 norms, we had to spend more for our people at site. Secondly, although most of our contracts are covered by the escalation clause, the higher cost of steel and plastics particularly has impacted a little. I am sure, going forward, in this particular year we will be back to margins and we are pretty sure about it because all our new contracts will not have this component of price escalation which is there in the market,” he explained.

Chopra also said that the company has expanded its global footprint by entering Russia.

For the full interview, watch the accompanying video.

(Edited by : Dipika Ghosh)

First Published:Aug 12, 2021 11:03 AM IST