Lifting the veil over Megha Engineering: The story behind the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds

Lifting the veil over Megha Engineering: The story behind the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds

Amid the buzz around the Supreme Court-ordered disclosures on electoral bond donors and recipients, one name that cropped up prominently was of the closely-held Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd, which bought a hefty Rs 966 crore worth of bonds, becoming the second-largest bond donor to political parties. Until these details became public, little was known around the country about Megha and its boss, P.V. Krishna Reddy. Krishna Gopalan pursued Reddy relentlessly and managed to meet him in his Hyderabad headquarters for what turned out to be a one-and-a-half-hour conversation, his first major interview ever. During this interaction for our cover story, Reddy—while declining to answer questions on his electoral bond contributions—explained in detail the Megha growth story and the key projects the company is involved in.

As BT unveils the mystery of Megha and its rise, what comes through is the story of an ambitious regional EPC company, India’s second-largest by revenue, which now has a national footprint and is competing with the likes of L&T. For context, Megha beat L&T to bag the Rs 14,400-crore Thane-Borivali tunnel project. From roads to water to sewerage, solar and hydel, Megha now has its footprint across a range of areas. Its prize project is the 14-km Zoji-la tunnel at an altitude of 11,575 feet in Jammu & Kashmir. Reddy says Megha has a sharp focus on execution within deadlines, while keeping costs in check. While corporate circles say Reddy likes to “keep everyone happy”, referring to his political connections, the man himself is blasé about how Megha may be perceived. “People would like to interpret our growth in many ways. In India, many companies have won large projects, and I am just one of them,” he tells us. Reddy, through a special-purpose vehicle, also has a stake in TV9, the regional media network. But here too, he chooses to play down his involvement and stresses he is hands-off (the majority stake in TV9 is held by the promoters of My Home group) and doesn’t even sit on its board. The Megha story is interesting owing to the sheer spectrum of projects this low-profile regional player is involved in. And after the electoral bonds disclosure, this is a story that will be closely followed.

Elsewhere, Teena Jain Kaushal gets you the details of the dark underbelly of the booming Rs 6 lakh crore gold loans market, which recently saw the Reserve Bank of India cracking down on players like IIFL Finance for deviations from procedures. With the gold market booming, both lenders and borrowers have tried to take advantage of the situation. NPAs of gold loan NBFCs have also risen significantly. With gold rising to record highs, it is time for some serious tightening of norms relating to gold loans.

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