Tatas to execute Rs 70,000 crore infrastructure projects in 5 years

To expand its presence in the infrastructure sector, salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group is looking to execute projects worth Rs 70,000 crore by 2017 through three of its unlisted firms.

Tata Projects, Tata Housing Development Company (THDC) and Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL) would execute projects of about Rs 70,000 crore, a Tata group official said.

The official added that Tata Group is aiming at encashing opportunities in various segments of infrastructure space like roads and highways, EPC, real estate and railways as half of 12th Five-Year Plan's envisaged $1 trillion investment is expected to come from private sector.

As per the plan, Tata Projects and THDC are looking to execute orders over Rs 48,000 crore, while TRIL is looking at investing Rs 22,700 crore in five years for developing projects in various segments of infrastructure.

This is the first time that $100 billion Tata Group has unveiled its future growth agenda after Cyrus Mistry took the baton from legendary Ratan Tata.

"Investment into infrastructure will create commensurate opportunity for players in construction sector. For example, the construction opportunity in power and roads & bridges sectors could be close to Rs 5 lakh crore and Rs 3 lakh crore respectively during 12th Five Year Plan at 2006-07 prices," said Siddhartha Roy, economic advisor of the Tata group in a presentation.

Citing the example of the roads and highways sector, he said that there is "large opportunity for Tata Group companies to participate in this sector in which investments are expected to grow at 16 per cent per annum".

According to a presentation made by Sanjay Ubale, managing director and CEO of TRIL, his firm is looking to execute projects worth Rs 22,700 crore by 2017.

This includes new roads and highways projects worth Rs 7,500 crore and expanding company's presence in various other sectors including airports, urban transportation, special economic zones (SEZs) and real estate.

The company this year constructed 110 km long Pune-Solapur four lane national highway project and also acquired three road projects from IVRCL this year. It also has plans to bid for Navi Mumbai and Jamshedpur airport projects.

Similarly, Tata Projects, which is present in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) space and executes large and complex industrial infrastructure projects, is looking to execute projects worth Rs 25,000 crore by 2017.

The company, which has an order book of over Rs 15,000 crore, is already executing some large projects like 4506 cubic metre blast furnace at NMDC's upcoming 3 million tonnes (MT) steel plant in Chhattisgarh's Nagarnar and a blast furnace for SAIL's Rourkela steel plant.

In January, the company had won Rs 3,300 crore project for construction and laying of 343-lm long double track rail tracks for a part of Eastern dedicated freight corridor (EDFC) between Khurja and Kanpur in a consortium with Spain's Aldesa Group.

The company is also bidding for city metro projects, power plants and transmission lines.

Tata Housing, the third firm of the Tata Group eyeing its pie in the infrastructure space, has 26 residential projects in 11 cities, including 8 major locations. The company is present in all segments of housing from affordable housing to luxury segments where units are priced at Rs 3 crore and above.

It is currently developing a total of 55 million square feet of space, while 19 million sq ft are in pipeline, said Brotin Banerjee, managing director and CEO of the company in a presentation.

The company has also ventured into foreign markets such as Maldives and Sri Lanka and is exploring avenues in other South Asian countries.