Utilities companies in India

NSE's classification has four levels: macro sector, sector, industry and basic industry, and a company is placed by the business that earns most of its revenue. Utilities is a sector inside the Utilities macro sector. Its one industry, Other Utilities, is the label each company on this page carries, and it holds basic industries for water supply and management, waste management, emergency services such as fire and flood management, multi-utilities and a remainder group.

Electricity generation, transmission and distribution form the separate Power sector, which has its own page. City gas distributors are classified under Oil, Gas and Consumable Fuels.

Water companies in this group mostly design, build and run treatment plants, desalination units, pipelines and sewage systems. Many of their customers are municipalities and state water boards, so orders arrive through public tenders, take years to complete and are often followed by long operation and maintenance contracts. Waste companies earn fees for collecting, treating, recycling and disposing of waste. Revenue therefore depends on the order book and on how quickly government customers pay.

Government spending on water supply, sanitation and urban infrastructure sets how many projects are tendered. Within a project, the percentage-of-completion accounting that contractors use records revenue as work progresses, so a quarter's revenue follows construction pace. Delayed payments from public bodies tie up working capital, the cash a business needs to fund its day-to-day operations. Operation contracts earn steadier income than construction.

The table lists the companies whose shares traded on the latest trading day, and a chart sizes the largest twelve by market cap. The summary figure is the sector's median ROCE for the latest full year. ROCE, return on capital employed, is operating profit after depreciation as a percentage of net worth plus borrowings; the median is the middle company's figure, so one very large or very small company does not move it.