MUMBAI: A private company owned by billionaire Gautam Adani and his family has been entrusted to oversee the infrastructure projects of all listed firms of the Adani Group as part of the tycoon’s plans to capture margins that would otherwise have gone to external parties.
Adani Infra (India) Ltd, the private company, is also looking to leverage its orderbook of over ₹50,000 crore to raise over $1 billion via private placement of dollar-denominated bonds, an executive directly aware of the plans said on condition of anonymity as the discussions are private. The funds raised will be forwarded as promoter loans or equity contributions to Adani Group companies for their capex requirements.
The change in the Adani Group’s strategy comes as it enters a phase of intense capital expenditure. The group’s capex surged to ₹1.26 trillion in FY25, up from about ₹71,000 crore in the previous year. For FY26, the plan is to spend ₹1.5 trillion. It spent ₹67,870 crore in the first six months of the year, as per its latest investor presentation.
With Adani Infra handling all of the group’s project management consultant (PMC) work, the Adani Group can consolidate a sizable operation that was until now dispersed across numerous companies. Adani Infra’s orderbook is comparable to that of Kalpataru Projects International Ltd ( ₹64,682 crore) and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd ( ₹32,681 crore).
“They are looking to leverage this orderbook and raise more than $1 billion through private placement of bonds,” the executive said.
In its October note, Care Ratings noted that Adani Infra plans to raise “sizeable external commercial borrowings (ECBs),” which will be used for onward lending as promoter contribution or quasi-equity to the Adani group companies for capex.
The Adani Group did not respond to Mint’s queries emailed on Wednesday on the appointment of Adani Infra as its exclusive PMC partner or its plans to raise debt.
Adani Infra is a subsidiary of Adani Properties Pvt Ltd (APPL), which is in turn held by the S.B. Adani Family Trust, a key promoter entity of the Adani Group. The company was set up in 2010 and mainly undertook engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for the group’s thermal power and renewable energy projects.
Single oversight point
In FY25, Adani Infra was designated as the PMC for all the group’s infrastructure projects spanning ports, manufacturing plants, roads, power transmission, data centres and renewable energy. It will act as the single point of oversight for all of the group’s infrastructure projects and engage third-party vendors to handle construction and other technical work as required. Earlier, this work was handled by each listed company’s individual project management team.
Adani Infra will increasingly handle much of the engineering and construction work itself, thus capturing margins that would otherwise go to third-party EPC vendors. To bolster its infrastructure capabilities, Adani Infra acquired a 34.41% stake in Ahmedabad-based PSP Projects Ltd for about ₹700 crore earlier this year.
“With the scale of their projects, it made sense for them to bring project management in-house. They also wanted to capture the margins within the group,” the executive said.
The company made a profit of ₹3,669 crore in FY25, as per a 13 October note from Care Ratings, earnings that remained within the group instead of going to external vendors.
Adani Infra deals with all group firms at an arm’s length, and its services are competitively priced, the person said, adding that the various banks that lend to Adani Group firms for infrastructure investments have signed off on the arrangement.
Revenue surge
The surge in the group’s capex reflected in Adani Infra’s revenue. The privately held firm grossed ₹6,764 crore in FY25 compared to ₹868 crore in the preceding year, as per Care Ratings. The company had an orderbook of ₹53,134 crore as of 30 June, of which ₹47,725 crore was in the form of PMC orders from Adani Group companies, as per the rating company.
The top clients of Adani Infra include Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, renewable energy firm Adani New Industries Ltd, and power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Ltd.
The company will limit its net debt to less than its trailing 12-month profit before interest, lease rentals, depreciation, and taxation (PBILDT), as per the rating agency. The figure was ₹4,832 crore in FY25 and is likely to surpass $1 billion ( ₹9,000 crore) by the time the company looks to issue the proposed dollar bonds, the executive said.
Adani Infra’s long-term borrowings have been rated AA- by Care, which is four notches below the top AAA rating and in line with group flagship Adani Enterprises.
