— Vikas B. Sharma, Director, Supreme Infrastructure India Ltd
SupremeInfrastructure India Ltd, the Rs 383-crore infrastructure development
company, started out with road development and has since diversified into transportation,
power, building construction and railway segments. The Mumbai-headquartered
company has a healthy order book and, in future, plans to increase its focus on the ports
and power distribution sectors.
Sandeep Menezes gets the details from Vikas B. Sharma.
Huge investment is expected in
infrastructure development
across the country. Which infrastructure
segments will witness
maximum investment?
According to us, the major areas
of focus would be roads because
it has increased from single lane
to two lanes, then four lanes to
six lanes, and now many of them
need to be converted into
express highways.
There is also huge investment
expected in railways and waterways,
especially the port side,
mainly when we are talking on
the macro level. Then there are
also certain other areas like
power supply, logistics and various
other amenities in cities
across India.
How important are road projects
in your overall portfolio?
From being a road development
company, Supreme Infrastructure
has emerged as a multiple segment
player. Therefore, this segment
will continue to be of utmost
importance to us. In future also,
the execution of road projects will
continue to be our major criteria
because we already have the
expertise in this segment.
Has India as a nation failed with
regard to planning long-term
infrastructure development?
I would not actually say that we
have failed, but infrastructure is
more required in terms of what
we want the country, city or state
to be turned into. Until we don't
have our concepts clear as to
what are emerging sectors or
what needs to be emerging sectors,
how can those sectors play a
dominant role in boosting up
infrastructure development?
Therefore, long-term infrastructure
development requires proper
planning and strategy.
Do you think PPP is the best
option for quick implementation
of infrastructure projects?
I would not term PPP as the only
best option or even the best
option across all infrastructure
segments. As far as roads are
concerned, I agree that this is a
very good segment. PPP involves
both public and private parties
working together for project
implementation. I don't think
this is the best option for all segments
because PPP involves a lot
of coordination.
Established infrastructure players
need to figure out their
strengths and then determine the
level of participation required for
a particular PPP project.
What is your company's future
strategy?
We are currently working in four
to five different verticals. We have
projects for national highway
development, engineering segment
for bridges and flyover projects,
and contracts like real estate
contracts. We have also developed
a vertical wherein we are working
on the power distribution side. We
have also done work for railways
like track laying work.
We intend to target more upcoming
BOT projects. We are also targeting
the structural engineering
side of it.
We will increase concentration
on power sector, especially power
distribution.
We will also focus on ports,
maybe take up a small port for
development or take up construction
projects at ports. Recently, we
also did a lot of breakwater and
jetty work for Adani Group at
Mundra Port.
We have done good work in the
past which will give us credentials
for our future course of action.
What is your current order book
position? Can you give us a
breakup?
Our current order book is around
Rs 1,477 crore. Out of this around
50 to 56 per cent is dominated by
road projects which comprise
paid contracts and BOT contracts.
Then we have a certain
amount of bridge and flyover
contracts that constitute around
18 to 20 per cent of order book.
We have a small percentage of
railway work which constitutes
around two per cent. Around 18
per cent of our order book consists
of building projects. Then
we have power distribution projects
that constitute around 12 to
15 per cent of order book.
What is the proportion of government
and private sectors
orders? Do you foresee any
change in future?
I would say our order book for
governmental agencies compared
to private sector is 95 per
cent and 5 per cent, respectively.
In future I expect our order book
to have around 75 to 80 per cent
from government side and the
balance 20 to 25 per cent coming
in from the private sector.
Most government agencies
award contracts on L1
basis while critics argue that it
kills quality.
It is not always that L1 kills quality.
This is more on the regulatory
side. There are certain norms that
even the tendering body needs to
fix up. But the system is currently
designed in a way that it targets
the L1 side more rather than comparing
the parameters for worst
to best scenarios.
Do you see higher participation
in private sector projects?
There are major port works which
are currently happening on the
private developmental side and
we are definitely going to participate
in that segment. There is also
a lot of construction work coming
up like rental housing schemes of
MMRDA; we have submitted our
prequalification for those contracts
as well.