He believes the biggest bottleneck, land acquisition, is gradually being resolved, paving the way for faster bidding and execution of highway projects.
According to Agarwal, the government has changed the way it awards road contracts. Instead of floating tenders before land is available, it is now ensuring that most of the land is acquired before projects are bid out. As he puts it, “they are not giving any project, bidding out the project without land is acquired, substantial land is acquired.”
He added that projects are now being tendered only after more than 80% of the required land is available, allowing the remaining acquisition to be completed before construction begins.
This shift in policy, he believes, should help revive order inflows after a prolonged slowdown. “There were delays in last two years, and that is why you had seen less bids, and now this year you will see more bids,” Agarwal said, pointing to a stronger pipeline of highway projects.
The funding outlook also appears supportive. Agarwal said the government plans to monetise operational road assets and use those proceeds to finance fresh highway construction through National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). As a result, he expects bidding activity to remain healthy, with road projects worth around ₹1.5 lakh crore likely to be awarded this year.
The improving order pipeline could also benefit listed NCC, many of which are trading at historically low valuations. Agarwal noted that “their P/E multiples have come down drastically. It’s like eight to 10 times of PE multiples,” adding that “if the order book and execution takes place, I think there is a good headroom to grow there. The stock price will grow.”
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Among listed infrastructure companies, Agarwal highlighted several names that are well placed to benefit from the expected pickup in project awards. He said large diversified engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) players such as KEC International, Larsen & Toubro, Kalpataru Projects International (L&T) and Kalpataru Projects International (KPIL) already have strong order books that provide long-term revenue visibility. He also noted that pure-play road contractors could see meaningful upside as fresh highway projects are awarded and execution gathers pace.
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