In 2008, a total of 623 contracts were awarded across various sectors, amounting to Rs.2,29,957.89 crore. Of the number, 70 contracts worth Rs.34,591.29 crore were bagged by Indian companies from overseas conglomerates.

IRCON International bagged the largest overseas order worth Rs.4,000 crore, for constructing a 103 km high-speed rail segment in Malaysia. Punj Lloyd bagged its largest order from Qatar Petroleum, worth Rs.3,636 crore. The company’s scope of work included engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning of the Strategic Gas Transmission Project.

In the domestic sector, 553 contracts were awarded, amassing to a total of Rs.1,95,366.60 crore.

The Power sector reigned throughout the year, bagging 163 contracts worth Rs.94,896.13 crore. Reliance Infrastructure won the biggest order of the year 2008, of Rs.12,000 crore, from group company - Reliance Power, for setting up the 4,000 MW Sasan UMPP in Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh. Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) followed suit with an order worth Rs.5,040 crore from Jindal Power, for setting up a 2,400 MW power plant in Chhattisgarh.

In the Irrigation sector, Patel Engineering, in syndicate with BHEL and Navyuga Construction, bagged a contract worth Rs.3,859 crore from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, for developing the Pranahita, Chevella lift irrigation-package 6. Hindustan Construction Company in consortium with Megha Engineering & Infrastructure and BHEL, bagged a Rs.1,928 crore order. Its contract job comprised of investigation, designs and execution of lift irrigation scheme of drawal /lifting of 88.24 TMC of water of Mid Manar to new reservoir at Anantagiri village.

The Petroleum Products (Refinery) sector saw 34 contracts being awarded at an overall value of Rs.14,597.11 crore. Punj Lloyd bagged the highest overseas contract worth Rs.3,636 crore from Qatar Petroleum. Among the other major contracts awarded in this sector was a Rs.1,611 crore contract by ONGC to Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services and a Rs.1,490.35 order from Indian Oil Corporation to Emirates National Oil Co.

Among the awardees, BHEL remained the highest gainer, in terms of contract amount in 2008. It bagged a total of 32 contracts amounting to Rs.46,392 crore. Prominent contracts included a Rs.5,040 crore order from Jindal Power, a Rs.3,390 crore order from Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and a Rs.2,500 crore order from the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation.

Larsen & Toubro also amassed 32 contracts amounting to a total sum of Rs.20,535.80 in 2008. MMRDA’s Rs.2,460 crore order, Bombay Dyeing’s and Kingston Properties’ contracts worth Rs.2,000 crore each, were some of other major contracts which fell into the company’s kitty.

Some of the other large orders of the year included a Rs.7,050 crore contract bagged by Samsung Engineering in partnership with Linde, to set up ONGC’s ethylene plant, while BGR Energy Systems’ Rs.4,900 crore order from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and a Rs.3,600 crore order was won by Leighton Holding.

Overseas orders

The year 2008 saw the competitiveness of Indian companies rising further in International projects’ execution arena. As against 45 orders worth Rs.13,980 crore bagged in 2007, the current year saw Indian companies bagging 70 orders worth Rs.34,591 crore. Some of the large overseas orders were bagged by the following Indian companies:

Mega orders

During 2008, 60 mega contracts worth Rs.1,39,977 crore were awarded. Of this, 12 contracts worth Rs.23,635 crore were overseas orders awarded by foreign companies or agencies to Indian companies and the rest were by domestic companies. In 2007, 35 mega contracts worth Rs.1,07,839 crore were awarded.

Quarterly statistics

A quarter-wise analysis of project related orders revealed some interesting facts. The economic slowdown, which saw a number of mega projects being shelved or postponed by the promoters in the second half of 2008, expected to have its effect on project orders also. However, the data available for the last two quarters indicate no such drastic deterioration in the project contract awarding process. During July - September 2008, 174 contracts worth Rs.55,973.29 crore were awarded. Though in terms of job work, it indicated a fall of 10 per cent when compared with the preceding quarter (April-June 2008), the quarter saw 26 more number of contracts being awarded.

Though the number of projects being shelved / postponed increased further in the fourth quarter (October - December) of the year 2008, the amount awarded through projects contracts aggregated Rs.59,452 crore. Though the 124 contracts awarded during the last quarter of 2008 was the lowest observed in the four quarters of 2008, the total amount of contracts awarded was the second highest. The quarter also saw awarding of 16 mega contracts, each worth Rs.1,000 crore and above.