We are bidding for JP Infra to expand projects, says Anoop Kumar Mittal

Anoop Kumar Mittal, chairman and managing director, NBCC, spoke about the company’s performance in the upcoming quarters and the outlook for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and project management and consultancy (PMC) segments during an interview with Swati Khandelwal of Zee Business. 

NBCC shareholders feel the stock price of the company is not performing as per their expectations?

The main reason for the problem is that the huge order book of around Rs 80,000-90,000 crore – that includes redevelopment projects in Delhi and Kidwai Nagar – is not fetching revenues for the company. This is happening due to the time spent while taking approvals for the projects. There are chances that the project will start paying off in the form of revenues from the day it is turned on. Our projects at Pragati Maidan and Kidwai Nagar are examples of it. Besides, the company is marching ahead with a vision to increase revenues and confidence of the shareholders. In the process, we want to establish the company by strengthening its pillars such as redevelopment projects, project management, consolidation and governance. 

What was the performance of the PMS and EPC segments? Would NBCC be able to meet the targets?

When it comes to EPC, then I have been saying that it hardly works. In fact, it has a contribution of 1-2% and that’s why we do not pursue it a lot. Primarily, it is the PMC segment that has performed well in the quarter as it grew by around 40%. We stand by the guidance that there will be a revenue growth of 35-35%.  

NBCC has been allocated land parcels of certain public sector undertakings. What is the estimated size of those parcels?

The government has allocated NBCC two land parcels of around Rs 10,000 crore belonging to Air India. Hopefully, we will be able to reap revenue benefits from it in the next fiscal.  Besides, we are in the discussion phase with a few more public sector companies but can’t provide details. But serious talks on the redevelopment of railway stations and colonies are on.  

Will you bid for Jaypee Infrastructure? 

Tenders for the redevelopment of 10 projects of Amrapali have been floated and rest six tenders will be floated in the next one month. NBCC has submitted its EoI to revive Jaypee Infratech, which has many stuck housing projects. Besides, the company is expanding its portfolio in land and redevelopment projects, and this is a reason for the bid. Let NCLT decide and the rest will depend on the committee of creditors as it is the body that will choose the company for the redevelopment project. If we are selected, we will try our best to hand over the homes to their buyers.