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The man behind the success of IRB Infrastructure – The biography of Virendra Mhaiskar

About Virendra Mhaiskar is the owner of IRB infrastructure Developers Ltd,a leading highway construction company with its headquarters in Mumbai. The organization has to its credit the successful completion of India's first build-operate-transfer (BOT) road project. It is also one of the largest operators of such ventures.

According to Forbes, the owner of IRB Infrastructure, Virendra Mhaiskar was ranked 96th gamong India's richest in 2012, and 937thamongst the billionaires in 2010.

Early life and career

Virendra Mhaiskar joined his family’s road building businessin 1990, at the age of 19. A civil engineer from the University of Bombay, he took over in 1998, expanded the business and created IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. A leading toll operator in western India, where it operates on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway, the company went public in 2008.

The 41-year-old has taken the company to apex verticals. With the guidance of Virendra Mhaiskar, IRB Infrastructure has expanded its reach into real estate, and has been selected to build an airport in Maharashtra.

With an experience of more than 17 years in construction and infrastructure, he is the mastermind behind the company’s road constructions, new business ventures, and the success of BOT projects in India.

Awards and Achievements

Virendra Mhaiskar, IRB Infrastructure has played a pivotal role in delivering the company’s projects on time and has driven the company to new heights. The company has been the recipient of multiple awards that define the quality of their work.

The organization achieved financial closure in FY 2009-2010 for their newly awarded projects, viz., Pathankot-Amritsar BOT Project, Jaipur-Deoli Project ,Talegaon-Amravati BOT Project and Panji-Goa BOT Project. IRB Infrastructure tied up a debt of Rs 2,599 crore for these projects with a consortium of banks, with IDFC being the lead institution. Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, and Bank of Baroda are the other three members.

The highway construction company has also emerged as the preferred bidder for the “Six laning of Ahmedabad to Vadodara section of NH-8 from km. 6.400 to km. 108.700 (Length 102.300 km) and improvement of existing Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway from km. 0.000 to km 93.302 in the State of Gujarat (Length 93.302 km.) under Phase V on Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis (“the Project”)”.

Owing to his outstanding achievements with IRB Infrastructure, he was named as the “Young Turk of the Year” at the 6th Edition of CNBCTV18 India Business Leader Awards. The award was presented by then Honourable Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee in Mumbai on December 11, 2010.

The organization also won the CNBC TV 18 Essar Steel Infrastructure Excellence Award for the second time. The award was presented to CMD Virendra Mhaiskar by Kamal Nath, Minister of Road Transport and Highways. The award recognizes the high-quality work done by the company on the Bharuch to Surat section of NH-8.

Reference : https://knowmorewikipedia.blogspot.in/2016/06/virendra-mhaiskar.html

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IRB Infrastructure to bid for HAM projects

IRB Infrastructure, a leading road developing company is on course to bid for Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) road projects. Having tasted success by becoming a major BOT (Build Operate Transfer) developer, the company is now intending to expand its operations.

When asked about the impact of GST, Virendra Mhaiskar IRB Infrastructure owner reckoned that the most things are sorted as of now. Earlier, thegovernment took a couple of months to reduce the GST rate from 18 per cent to 12 per cent, before taking another month to clarify that annuity payments would not attract any payments. However, the traffic volumes have not picked up yet, which he feels will pick up over a long term.

Demonetization has reduced the waiting time at toll plaza. Many people are opting for RFID cards, point of sales,Paytm, etc. Talking about the present situation, Mr Virendra stated that IRB’s toll collection is around 25-30 per cent on electronic platforms compared to less than half a percent prior to demonetization. He also explained that the company has one dedicated lane for RFID tags. But the company is intending to upgrade the toll plaza’s to accept RFID cards in other lanes after seeing the promising growth of electronic platforms.  

When asked about the opportunities of IRB Infrastructure to build the order book with the bharatmala program, Virendra Mhaiskar exuberated confidence about the future of the company, especially with toll-operate-transfer model and Hybrid projects. He informed that the NHAI has 20 Hybrid projects, which it is planning to bid out in the coming months. Mr Mhaiskar said that the company has decided to bid for HAM projects, because of lack of BOT projects. He also briefed that the company will be looking at the aspects of Bharatmala program as it rolls out.  

On fund raising plans, the owner of IRB said that the company is sitting on a decent amount of cash after unlocking value through InvIT. He felt that the company will need to deploy this cash studiously, so that it is value accretive from a shareholders perspective. He further added that the company will go through a cash flow generation, so there is no plan of fund raising.  

With InvIT, IRB Infrastructure is in a self-sustaining zone where it will bid for projects, execute them, stabilise and transfer them to the InvIT, realise its capital with whatever upside is possible, and redeploy that. Mr Mhaiskar said that the company is not dependent on fund raising for future growth, as it is well funded for all the immediate opportunities.

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How Mhaiskar of IRB Infrastructure made their mark through roads and tolls

IRB Infrastructure, the leading road developing company is known to one and all. Same is the case with its owner Virendra Mhaiskar, who is recognized as the toll king of Maharashtra.

The MD of Rs 3,250 crore company is an inspiration for many. He along with his brother Jayant Mhaiskar are collecting toll on 16 major roads, including some of India’s prestigious projects. The business rivals of IRB Infrastructure often praise these brothers for their success story, which is a classic example of commitment and determination. Virendra Mhaiskar also ranks 78th in the Forbes list of riches Indians for the year 2011.  

IRB Infrastructure has built 19 roads, mostly in Maharashtra. Its order book is worth Rs 7,700 crore, with 16 projects in the pipeline.

The father of Virendra and Jayant, Mr Dattatraya Mhaiskar started IRB in 1977 with small road projects in Kalyan-Dombivali region. But, the company started to grow at a faster pace when Virendra Mhaiskar joined it in 1990. IRB procured Rs 104-crore project in 1995 under BOT (Build Operate Transfer) Model. It was handed the responsibility of widening and maintaining a 25 km road stretch between Bhiwandi and Thane. It also received 5 contracts from 1995-99 valued at Rs 50 crore.

However, the company shot into limelight only in 2004, when the company paid an amount of Rs 918 crore to the Mahrashtra State Road Development Corporation for the rights to collect toll on India’s first expressway built between Mumbai and Pune. Subsequently, the company was able to bag other toll contracts, including the ones floated by NHAI (National Highway Authority of India).

While IRB was going strong, Jayant Mhaiskar decided to sell a part of the equity in IRB and set up a separate company named Mumbai Entry Point Ltd, which collects toll on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.

The state government was accused by Anil Ambani’s Relaince Infrastructure of favouring Mhaiskar brothers as it had decided to award a contract to MEPL for collecting toll at all 5 entry points to Mumbai for 16 years after receiving Rs 2,100 crore. Virendra Mhaiskar has also been investigated in connection with the murder of RTI activist in 2010. CBI had asked Virendra Mhaiskar to take a lie-detector test in May this year, causing IRB Infra stocks to plunge. Virendra Mhaiskar and other 2 officials from the company were named among the 10 accused. However, the company had refuted the claims and claimed that the police had given a clean chit to Virendra Mhaiskar after investigation.