The share of West Asia in international orders of engineering and construction major L&T has come down to 60% in FY25 from 70% in FY24 as it bagged orders in other locations in Central Asia.
“As a percentage of order inflow it has reduced due to order wins in international markets other than West Asia such as Uzbekistan,” said R Shankar Raman, director, president and CFO at L&T.
Raman clarified that in absolute numbers the share of West Asia has not reduced.
L&T has been examining Central Asia, and they had some success in Uzbekistan. It has won some orders for setting up a data centre, Raman said in a media call last week.
“We have won an order for setting up a renewable energy facility. We’ve won an order for an airport in Tashkent. So, I think there has been some progress that we have been able to make,” he said.
He said their geographical expansion took them to parts of Africa in the past, but they are yet to get a consolidated footing in Africa. “It is still very transaction-specific assessment of that opportunity. And in Africa, safety during execution, stable environment, funding by multilaterals, and so on are important components when you decide whether to participate or not,” he said.
L&T has participated in opportunities in Kenya, Tanzania, Algeria, and so on, in the past, but on a case-to-case basis, he said.
“Out of the Rs 3.56 lakh crore of orders, 58% is international business, which is roughly about Rs 2.1 lakh crore. About 60% of this comes from West Asia,” he said.
Raman said in West Asia, they are active in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and to a lesser extent in Oman and Kuwait. “So virtually, most of the countries which are prone for investments, we have our tents pitched,” he said.
Out of Rs 2.1 lakh crore of international orders in FY25, it has won Rs 60,000 crore or $6 billion in Saudi Arabia, he said. “That’s a good 25% share. And it’s followed by the UAE and Qatar at about 16% and 17% respectively for each country. So in a way, its a bit distributed between these two, and the balance is occupied by the other smaller countries, Oman and Kuwait,” he said.
Raman said they are seeing large business opportunities in West Asia for solar energy as oil that is extracted there for self-consumption or own power requirements, those countries want to conserve and use renewable energy, particularly solar. “But the oil or gas that is drilled and not used for domestic consumption, they are today finding global market for that,” he said, adding: “The geopolitical situations does present an opportunity for them to make returns on the oil that they produce and export.”
L&T is in hydrocarbons, renewable energy , grid projects , and so on in West Asia. “I think the vision of West Asia, particularly Saudi Arabia and maybe the UAE is to make sure that West Asia is no more a one trick pony”, he said.
Currently they are in far more wider areas in West Asia than 10 years ago, he said. “10 years ago, it was largely oil and gas. Today there are several aspects of infrastructure, several aspects of industrialisation that is happening in West Asia,” he said.
Recently in Saudi Arabia, L&T got orders for the installation of two 380kV overhead transmission lines exceeding 130 route kilometres. In the UAE and Qatar, it has won turnkey contracts for the construction, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of two 132/11kV GIS sub-stations and one 132kV GIS substation, respectively.
The firm shared order prospects of Rs 19 lakh crore in FY26 with Rs 7 lakh crore of domestic orders and Rs 12 lakh crore of overseas orders.