How Hindustan Construction wriggled out of the Lavasa tangle

Why read this story?

Editor's note: Four years ago, it looked like there was no hope that Hindustan Construction Co. would survive to complete 100 years in 2026. In at least 10 of the last 12 years, the company recorded cumulative losses of Rs 5,045 crore, as against a profit of Rs 597 crore. Its borrowing touched Rs 12,000 crore at one point, and it did not have enough profits to cover its interest burden. In short, its collapse was only a matter of time.  For a long time, HCC was among the most credible competitors to India’s No.1 infrastructure firm, Larsen & Toubro. It built nuclear power plants, hydroelectric projects and the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, a cable-stayed bridge over the Arabian Sea. In the 2014-15 financial year, it clocked over Rs 10,000 crore in revenue. For the most part, it was smooth sailing. Until chairman and managing director Ajit Gulabchand’s ambition to build a sprawling township nearly 200 km from Mumbai pushed his firm to the brink. In 2010, about a decade after Lavasa, once touted as the country’s first planned hillside city, …