How Adani’s $125 billion capex boom is creating new winners on Dalal Street

Adani Group’s record infrastructure spending is spilling over into Dalal Street, driving larger order books and sharp stock gains for a group of contractors, manufacturers and power technology suppliers tied to the ports-to-power conglomerate’s expansion.

Shares of Hitachi Energy India have climbed 197% over two years, while Cemindia Projects and GE Vernova T&D India have gained 152% and 147%, respectively. BHEL has advanced 79% in one year and PSP Projects is up 39%, reflecting growing investor interest in companies positioned to capture orders from Adani’s record capital expenditure pipeline.

Adanis have deployed ₹1.53 lakh crore in capital expenditure in the year ended March, the highest annual outlay by an Indian corporate, with about 80% of the spending routed through vendors. That figure excludes real estate and other privately held businesses.


The group is targeting capital expenditure of about ₹2.1 lakh crore in the current financial year and has mapped out investments of nearly $125 billion across its businesses over five years, according to people aware of the matter.

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Adani’s strategy is also changing the relationship between a project owner and its suppliers. The group’s CFO Jugeshinder 'Robbie' Singh told analysts at a closed-door meeting recently that rising capital expenditure would require greater reliance on outside companies for large scale deployment.

The conglomerate no longer views these companies merely as vendors, but as “strategic partners,” according to the CFO. Adani intends to support them in becoming “world-class enterprises,” with the objective of building hundreds of partners capable of scaling into large businesses over the next few years.

The model connects Adani’s access to capital and project pipeline with the engineering, manufacturing and technological capabilities of specialist companies. For investors, that is creating a new set of listed proxies for the conglomerate’s infrastructure buildout.

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Listed proxies for Adani’s $125 billion capex boom

The transformation is most visible at PSP Projects. Adani bought a 34.41% stake in the construction company to support its large-scale building plans. Within a year, PSP’s order book jumped 85% to ₹13,447 crore in FY26 from ₹7,266 crore in FY25.

Adani-linked projects represented 67% of PSP’s order book, or about ₹9,009 crore, compared with ₹1,817 crore a year earlier. New orders more than tripled to ₹10,925 crore from ₹3,506 crore, while revenue rose 25% to ₹3,149 crore.

The surge in orders, however, has yet to translate into a comparable improvement in profitability. PSP’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased only marginally to ₹180 crore from ₹178 crore. Its return on capital employed fell to 7% from 10% a year earlier and 24% in FY23.

Its working capital cycle also stretched to 96 days from 65 days in FY25 and 41 days in FY23. The divergence between order growth and returns shows that the investment case will depend not only on winning Adani projects, but also on executing them without tying up excessive capital.

PSP’s addressable opportunity could nevertheless widen. Its capabilities are concentrated in residential, institutional and commercial construction, while Adani’s real estate pipeline includes the Dharavi redevelopment, Motilal Nagar and assets acquired through Jaiprakash Associates.

Cemindia Projects presents a different picture. Renew Exim, an Adani promoter entity, acquired a controlling 67.46% stake in the former ITD Cementation, adding its expertise across ports, airports, tunnels, metro systems, roads and industrial structures to the group’s ecosystem.

Cemindia’s order book increased 34% to ₹24,545 crore in FY26 from ₹18,300 crore a year earlier, while new orders more than doubled to ₹14,821 crore. Revenue rose to ₹10,061 crore from ₹9,097 crore and Ebitda climbed 30% to ₹1,199 crore.

Its return on capital employed improved to 34% from 28% in FY25 and about 19% in FY23, indicating that the expansion has been accompanied by stronger capital efficiency. CARE Ratings projected that Adani Group projects could rise to nearly 50% of Cemindia’s portfolio over the medium term from about 14%.

Adani’s ability to raise project capital is also creating opportunities for power equipment and grid technology companies.

Adani Energy Solutions raised ₹8,373 crore through a qualified institutional placement in FY25. It subsequently secured Japanese bank green financing reportedly worth $750 million for the Bhadla-Fatehpur high voltage direct current corridor and raised another $500 million through Apollo-backed senior secured notes.

The company’s board approved a further institutional fundraising of as much as ₹10,000 crore for FY27, of which ₹3,500 crore was raised through a QIP in July 2026. That financing provides suppliers with greater certainty when they commit engineering resources, manufacturing capacity and working capital to major projects.

The 6,000 MW Bhadla-Fatehpur corridor shows how such projects can feed directly into listed companies. The project combines Hitachi Energy India’s HVDC technology with BHEL’s domestic equipment manufacturing capabilities.

Hitachi Energy India received ₹18,457 crore of new orders in FY26, with roughly half estimated to have come from Adani Energy Solutions. Its total order book rose to ₹29,555 crore from ₹19,246 crore a year earlier and just ₹7,071 crore in FY23.

The company’s revenue increased 28% to ₹8,148 crore in FY26, while Ebitda more than doubled to ₹1,253 crore. The Bhadla-Fatehpur contract was a major contributor to the order inflow.

BHEL is another beneficiary. Its revenue from Adani Group reached about ₹6,673 crore, equivalent to nearly one-fifth of its FY26 sales. The state-owned manufacturer’s overall order book expanded to ₹2.39 lakh crore from ₹1.96 lakh crore in FY25, while Ebitda rose 83% to ₹3,189 crore.

The potential pipeline could grow as Adani Power advances a capital expenditure program of more than ₹2 lakh crore to expand generation capacity to as much as 45 GW by FY32. The buildout can create demand for boilers, turbines, generators and emission control systems, though future orders will depend on project awards and competitive procurement.

The ecosystem extends beyond companies in which Adani has acquired stakes. GE Vernova T&D India received Adani Energy Solutions’ Khavda-South Olpad VSC-HVDC order and recorded ₹14,776 crore of order inflow in FY26. Brokerages estimate that AESL-linked contracts accounted for about ₹8,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore.

Adani’s approach has similarities with Apple’s extended enterprise model, in which the company retains control over product design, technology and customer experience while specialist suppliers provide manufacturing capabilities. The suppliers, in turn, gain investment, technology and access to a larger opportunity set.

For Adani, the model offers a way to execute an unprecedented capital program without building every capability internally. For its partners, it provides access to funded projects and the possibility of scaling revenue, technical capabilities and balance sheets.

The benefits are not without risk. Rising dependence on a single customer can create concentration, while bigger order books do not automatically guarantee stronger cash flows or returns. PSP’s falling return on capital and longer working capital cycle demonstrate the execution challenges that can accompany rapid expansion.

Still, Adani’s ₹2.1 lakh crore annual spending plan is already reshaping revenue pipelines across construction, heavy engineering and power technology. If the group and its partners can convert those orders into cash and earnings, its $125 billion capex boom could continue producing winners well beyond Adani’s own listed companies.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)