Shrugging off the Covid-related slowdown, Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd, the country’s leading waste management company, is in expansion mode as it takes up waste-to-energy projects in India, West Asia and Africa with an investment of ₹3,500 crore over the next three years.

M Goutham Reddy, CEO and Managing Director of Ramky Enviro, said: “The company had closed last financial year with a turnover of ₹2,500 crore. Our plan is to triple the revenue within three years as we expand our business in India and some of the emerging markets in West Asia and Africa. Last fiscal, of the ₹2,500-crore revenue, ₹1,800 crore was from India and ₹700 crore from the overseas business.”

“Our strategy is to expand not just in the waste to energy projects business, which will gain importance as environment norms get stricter by each passing day, but also to expand our other waste management solutions for healthcare, industries and other segments and in the overseas business.”

“The funding for the project would be met with internal accruals and debt,” he said. The company has had a major investment of about $510 million from private equity firm KKR.

Waste-to-energy

“A 24-MW waste-to-energy project set up in Delhi with an investment of ₹450 crore has been functioning well and we are in discussions for more such projects. We have a pipeline of about 160-200 MW of projects across several cities in the country which will require an investment of ₹2,500-3,000 crore,” Reddy said.

“The ₹450-crore project in Hyderabad is at advanced stage and is set for commissioning in July/August and will have a total capacity of 19.8 MW. The project got delayed due to some clearances. We are also in discussions for a 48-MW waste-to-energy project in the city involving an outlay of about ₹800 crore,” he said.

Covid-19 disruptions

Referring to the Covid-19 related work and the lockdown, he said: “The company worked without any disruption as the Central and State governments and local administration supported our work. Initially, while there was a dip in waste generated due to the lockdown, the Covid related waste has gone up significantly in the past couple of months.”

“We expect this to go up further in the near term. In the meantime, the waste generated from other sectors has gone up gradually including that of industries and commercial establishments barring multiplexes and bars. The waste generation is close to about 90 per cent of the peak before the lockdown,” he said.

Ramky employs over 20,000 people in India and abroad. It works with over 30,000 healthcare establishments and 340,000 beds, as part of its Biomedical Waste Management Solutions. Ramky Enviro’s municipal waste management group continues to handle over 13,000 tonnes per day and the industrial waste management group handles 1 million tonnes per annum.

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