WABAG’s Growth Outlook & Strategy | Rajiv Mittal in Exclusive NDTV Profit Interview

To VAT Tech Wabag and the conversation we're having there, it's in focus as the company secured a large design contract in Nepal funded by the ADB, that's the Asian Development Bank. Before we speak to Rajiv Mittal, who's the chairman and MD at the company, let me get in Anushi who's joining in to set up that conversation.

Hi morning Tamana. So this is a year-end conversation that we are having with VAT Tech Wabag, and a lot of focus has been on order wins, the company's new verticals that we are seeing, along with that the order book execution and how the performance has shaped up. So if you talk about the recent announcements, you've covered it well wherein they've got Asian Development Bank funded large order from Nepal government, and this is to the size of 255 million liters per day that we are looking at. So significant achievement over here. Along with that, they've also invested in another Bangalore-based Nimble Vision to build deep tech solution. So these are the recent announcements that we are seeing. But let's take the order book in consideration. H1 FY26 order book stood at 16,000 crore, which implies a book-to-bill ratio of around 4.8 times, which is higher than the company's medium-term outlook of them maintaining a 3x book-to-bill ratio that we are seeing. Do note that with their order book, the company also aims to keep the mix between 70% to 30% for industrial and municipal mix. Along with that, India and rest of world they expect a 50/50 contribution from both of these regions. Coming to financial performance, in FY25 we've seen the company reporting about a 3% CAGR growth, while EBITDA margins have fluctuated between 8% to 13% or so, increasing from 8% to 13% over the years. And in H1 FY26, the performance has seen a revenue growth of 18% while margins have remained at 13.7%, while net profit saw about a 20% growth. So this is the outlook that we are seeing. The medium-term outlook, the company continues to see their revenue growth at 15% to 20% with EBITDA margins in 13% to 15% range, and they expect to maintain net cash position which they've been able to sustain for the last 11 quarters, and this is with a return on equities which will be greater than 15%. So this is the overall picture that we have for VAT Tech Wabag.

Okay, thank you for that Anushi and for that detailed description of what the company is and what it's doing. Stock on nearly a percent up while we're starting this conversation. Rajiv Mittal, chairman and MD of VAT Tech Wabag, joining in on the show this morning. Mr. Mittal, thank you so much for your time to us here at CNBC TV18 Profit. We appreciate it. Let me start with this deal that you have with the Nepal government and funded by Asian Development Bank. Tell us about the size and timelines of this deal and what is the extent of funding coming in from ADB.

So when typically you have someone like Asian Development Bank funding an order of this size, what is their track record in sticking to payment timelines?

And in terms of this particular deal, does it mark a new foray for you in the region, Mr. Mittal?

Okay. Mr. Mittal, good morning, Hal on this side. So what does this take your order book to and what's the revenue recognition looking like for this project?