New Delhi [India], January 14 (ANI): The upcoming Union Budget 2026 is anticipated to be a key set off for the commercial sector, with greater authorities allocation prone to help a restoration in home ordering, notably for infrastructure and capital items corporations, in keeping with a report by HDFC Securities Institutional Research.
The report highlighted that highway awards by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have remained subdued to date in FY26, elevating expectations that the Budget might present further help to revive undertaking awarding.
It said, ‘We imagine the upcoming price range might present elevated allocation contemplating the weak awards in FY26’.
In the primary 9 months of FY26, highway awards stood at 1,951 km, sharply decrease than 7,538 km in FY25, whereas building exercise additionally slowed to 4,621 km until November 2025 in contrast with 10,660 km within the earlier 12 months.
Despite the weak awarding development, the bidding pipeline stays intact, with tasks being finalised on schedule. NHAI has additionally taken steps to strengthen bidding norms and lift entry limitations to discourage non-serious bidders.
In addition, the report talked about that the working capital releases beneath the Jal Jeevan Mission have began, with a sharper pick-up anticipated from Q4FY26, which ought to ease liquidity pressures for EPC gamers.
The report famous that awarding exercise in different segments, corresponding to non-public actual property, mining and concrete infrastructure, has picked up throughout 9MFY26. It expects NHAI ordering to be back-ended in FY26, with complete awards estimated at round Rs 500 billion.
Against this backdrop, EPC corporations are more and more diversifying into non-road segments corresponding to solar energy, battery vitality storage techniques, transmission tasks, railways and river interlinking to maintain progress.
Private capital expenditure is anticipated to stay selective, with investments prone to concentrate on high-growth areas together with renewables, transmission, knowledge centres and semiconductors.
In the capital items section, the report stated a broad-based restoration in non-public capex remains to be awaited, however transmission and distribution stay a powerful pillar.
High-voltage direct present tasks are anticipated to see strong ordering, supported by a pipeline of about Rs 0.8 trillion over the following two years, whereas demand for battery storage techniques is prone to keep robust.
Overall, the report stated EPC valuations are at cyclical lows, and any Budget-led revival in ordering might help earnings restoration and a re-rating of the commercial sector. (ANI)