Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), infrastructure , is reeling from a triple blow: a 25 per cent slash in Ministry funding, crippling delays in key road projects and associated revenue loss, and a nearly year-long stall in Vande Bharat sleeper train contracts. With revenues sliding, RVNL is now pivoting boldly to uncharted territories - teaming up with Russia’s Rosatom “and other companies” to build small nuclear reactors for mega railway projects, and chasing high-margin international ventures, company Chairman and Managing Director, Pradeep Gaur, told businessline.

International projects include a ₹2,000-crore port in the Maldives to solar and transmission projects in West and Central Asia and Africa, and opportunities in LatAm.

It will also tap into operation and maintenance contracts of the Indian Railways – which are likely to be opened to CPSEs on a bidding basis soon.

This audacious diversification signals RVNL’s fight to reclaim its financial footing, moving beyond legacy railway projects.

Order book spread

In fact, nearly 55 per cent of its order book is now “through the bidding route” and the remaining 45 per cent from assigned railway projects. The order book, which is close to ₹100,000 crore, includes 10 per cent-odd overseas projects (nearly ₹10,000 crore). The idea would be to tap into this “high margin international project segment” and take it up to nearly 40–45 per cent of its total portfolio “in the coming years”.

“Yeah... we are in touch with (a) Russian company (for small nuclear reactors) and positively see a lot of scope... an area where we can get the first mover advantage, if not the first, at least the initial mover. So we are looking at it in a very focussed way,” Gaur said.

He added that apart from Russia, it will also explore alternative tie-ups in the small nuclear reactor making sector. “Yes, we are not going to put our egg in only into one basket...But as a country, I think France is a country where almost 80 per cent of its power is generated by nuclear. So we can look (at it)... but we are not looking at big nuclear power projects. We are looking at small modular reactors, where Russians have some headway.”

Rosatom, with which discussions are under-way, is a state-owned entity.

Revenue outlook

RVNL has a revenue guidance of ₹22,000 crore for FY26. The railway allocation or grant in FY26 is ₹12,000 crore, significantly lower than the ₹16,000 in FY25.

Incidentally, the PSU registered a 9 per cent decline in revenues in FY25 to approximately ₹19,869 crore - from ₹21,732 crore in FY24 – and fell short of its annual revenue guidance of ₹21,000 crore. The shortfall was attributed to the reduced release of funds from the Ministry of Railways, which allocated only ₹19,000 crore, against RVNL’s claims of ₹23,000 crore for assigned projects.

RVNL has already taken a near ₹2,000 crore hit in revenues, with this amount being delayed from “some” National Highway projects.

Similarly, there are some teething troubled in the nearly ₹13000 crore Bharatnet order — mostly a brownfield project — which was awarded in February 2025.

“It will take time for the survey ....of the existing assets (to be completed)... based on that survey, we will submit it to BSNL. Then BSNL will issue work order,” Gaur explained.

Vande Bharat delays

Delays in the execution of Vande Bharat sleeper trains have also hit RVNL’s revenue projections.

Nearly ₹180 crore has been invested – as equity with Russian joint venture partners, putting up a coach-making and designing factory at Latur (in Maharashtra), tie-up with a German company for design of sleeper coaches, and also “raw materials for rolling out the offerings”, originally due this year.

“The commissioning was (due) around September 2025, as per original plans. But this has now been pushed back to June 2026 – a 10-month-odd delay,” he said.

Design discussions between the two countries – Indian Railways and Russian JV partners – took time; and delayed project launch dates.

“Indian Railways at some stage decided that they wanted to change it from 16 coaches to 24 coaches... But they conveyed to us that we are going back to the original (16 coaches). But in this almost 10 months were lost. And now the new date for the prototype being ready is June 2026. So our revenue stream from Vande Bharat will start only after the first prototype is made. To that extent, this is affecting us,” he said.

Gaur said the delay means an at least ₹240 crore on revenues since two offerings were expected to be commissioned if the project stuck to original deadlines.

“Revenue realisation from Vande Bharat sleeper trains will happen around FY27 / FY28,” he said.

Published on June 23, 2025