2 Stocks Riding India’s Water Push: Va Tech Wabag Backlog
India needs more than ₹20 lakh crore of water infrastructure investment over the next decade, says brokerage PL Capital. Va Tech Wabag, one of two engineering firms in focus, reports a ₹20,207.1 crore order backlog as of November 8, 2026.
India will need more than ₹20 lakh crore of water infrastructure investment over the next decade, according to brokerage PL Capital. Two engineering companies are among those riding India's water investment push, a theme that has put them in the spotlight.
One of them, Va Tech Wabag, had an order backlog of ₹20,207.1 crore as of November 8, 2026. A crore is an Indian unit used to count rupees.
PL Capital expects India's water and wastewater treatment technology market to grow from around $3 billion in FY25 to $5.2 billion, or about ₹50,000 crore, by FY31.
The treatment gap
The demand shows up in the sewage numbers. India generates nearly 72,000 million litres of sewage every day. Installed treatment capacity is only around 27,000 million litres a day (MLD).
Nearly 70% of sewage stays untreated. Stricter industrial discharge norms and rising demand for water recycling add to the need for treatment facilities.
The two companies are also exploring newer segments, including semiconductor manufacturing and data centre cooling. One designs and operates large-scale water treatment, desalination and recycling plants. The other makes specialised equipment used in water control and wastewater infrastructure.
What Va Tech Wabag does
Va Tech Wabag builds and operates water treatment infrastructure. Industry surveys rank it among the top three global private water operators for supplying desalination plants. It also provides sludge treatment and energy recovery systems, and it uses an asset-light model to execute projects.
The company works under two contract models. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) made up 82% of first-half FY27 revenue. Operation and maintenance (O&M) made up 18%. The O&M segment generates recurring revenue and higher operating margins.
Management aims to lift the share of pure EP contracts in total order intake to between 20% and 30%. Under that model, the company provides process engineering, detailed plant design and specialised equipment. Under full EPC, it takes responsibility for the whole project.
Pure EP contracts accounted for almost 80% of order intake in the first half of FY27. Total EPC order intake, including EP, was 91%, while O&M was 9%.
Two contract wins drove that surge: the 272 MLD Kuwait desalination project and the Reliance Jamnagar desalination plant.
Inside the backlog
The backlog equals more than four times annual revenue, which gives the company strong visibility on execution. EPC remains the standard contract model for domestic Indian municipal projects.
By contract model, EPC accounts for ₹13,697.3 crore, or 68% of the backlog. O&M accounts for ₹6,509.8 crore, or 32%.
By customer, municipal work totals ₹16,347.8 crore, or 81%. Industrial work totals ₹3,859.3 crore, or 19%.
By geography, India accounts for ₹11,257.3 crore, or 56%. International projects account for ₹8,949.8 crore, or 44%.
Bidding activity remains high across the company's core regions. Management expects strong order additions over the next 12 to 18 months, with growth driven by the Middle East and Africa, where large seawater desalination and municipal wastewater contracts are on offer, and by India.
