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Gayatri Projects Falls After UP Government Cancels Purvanchal Expressway Order

Cancellation of order for Purvanchal Expressway is not a major setback for Gayatri Projects, says the company’s MD.

Traffic moves along a National Highway  as road construction takes place. (Photographer: Namas Bhojani/Bloomberg)  
Traffic moves along a National Highway as road construction takes place. (Photographer: Namas Bhojani/Bloomberg)  

Shares of Gayatri Projects Ltd. touched their nine-month low in early trade today after the Uttar Pradesh government cancelled the company’s Rs 1,111-crore order for the development of the Purvanchal Expressway.

But this doesn’t seem to be a cause of concern for the company’s Managing Director TV Sandeep Kumar Reddy, who said “this order cancelled is not even 10 percent of the [company’s] order book”.

“This is not a major setback for the company,” Reddy told BloombergQuint in an interaction. “As on March 31, our order book stands at Rs 13,500 crore. We have won two orders in the current quarter, apart from this, and our order book is nearing Rs 15,000 crore.”

The Purvanchal Expressway is a 341-kilometre project and comprises eight packages. Gayatri Projects was declared as the lowest bidder for package VI, according to its stock exchange filing. The company had won the order on June 1.

Reddy said the company was not aware of the reasons for the cancellation of the order. “The authorities may have thought that the price was high.” The state government has re-invited bids for the expressway on July 5. “We will again participate in the bids,” he said.

Gayatri Projects’ stock, which fell five of the last six trading sessions, declined as much as 2.9 percent intra-day to Rs 165.75 apiece.