Thermax’s expectation of about 22 per cent revenue growth in FY27, to nearly ₹13,000 crore, is more than a corporate target. It offers a view into the less visible infrastructure supporting India’s data-centre expansion, industrial growth and energy transition: boilers, cooling systems, water treatment, wastewater recycling and equipment that can operate reliably under changing fuel and operating conditions.
The Pune-based engineering company supplies industrial boilers, power equipment, cooling systems and water-treatment solutions. According to industry sources familiar with the company’s plans, the projected acceleration would take revenue from ₹10,694 crore last year to nearly ₹13,000 crore in FY27. The expectation is supported by a ₹14,045-crore order book, which grew 23 per cent year on year.
The numbers also show why the growth outlook is not simply a story of rising demand. Thermax’s revenue grew only 3.64 per cent in FY26, even as consolidated profit increased 15 per cent to ₹720 crore. Revenue in the June quarter rose 7 per cent to ₹2,303 crore, but profitability was reduced by a ₹91-crore cost revision on a legacy infrastructure project. The contrast points to a central challenge in infrastructure equipment: orders can expand faster than a company’s ability to convert them into profitable, timely execution.
That challenge is particularly important for the urban economy because large infrastructure projects depend on systems that are rarely visible to end users. A data centre may be presented through its computing capacity and digital services, but its operation also requires heat management, power generation or backup systems, water management and equipment capable of running continuously. Similarly, semiconductor plants and other water-intensive industries require treatment and recycling systems alongside their main production facilities.
Thermax Managing Director and CEO Ashish Bhandari outlined these opportunities while unveiling Thermax-i, a range of intelligent boilers and heaters. The company says its first product, UltraPac-i, uses its EDGE Control technology to adjust to changing fuel characteristics and operating conditions. Pilot installations demonstrated fuel savings of up to 10 per cent, and the technology can be retrofitted to suitable existing boilers.
The retrofit proposition matters because industrial infrastructure does not begin from a blank slate. Existing plants, boilers and utility systems remain in operation even as businesses face pressure to reduce fuel consumption and improve efficiency. A technology that can be installed in suitable existing equipment potentially addresses the operational gap between building new capacity and upgrading what is already deployed. The available information does not establish the scale of future adoption, but it identifies efficiency improvement as a commercial opportunity within the installed industrial base.
Data centres are emerging as one of Thermax’s clearest demand drivers. The company has secured two significant orders in the United States, including one worth more than ₹400 crore for boiler pressure parts and another for absorption chillers for facilities with captive power generation. These orders show that the data-centre infrastructure market extends beyond servers and buildings. Thermal systems and power-related equipment are part of the operating architecture that enables facilities to maintain performance.
The requirement for cooling is also broadening across industrial sectors. In India, Thermax sees opportunities in hybrid cooling towers, water treatment, chemicals and wastewater recycling, particularly for semiconductor plants and other water-intensive industries. This connects digital infrastructure to a wider urban and industrial question: how will new facilities secure energy and water services without intensifying pressure on already constrained systems?
The supplied information does not provide a national estimate of data-centre water or power consumption, nor does it quantify the capacity of India’s cooling or wastewater-recycling market. It does, however, show how equipment suppliers are positioning themselves around the infrastructure consequences of new investment. The demand is being expressed through specific systems—absorption chillers, hybrid cooling towers, boilers, water-treatment equipment and recycling solutions—rather than through a single category called digital infrastructure.
Thermax’s order book provides another indication of the company’s changing exposure. Overseas orders account for roughly 30 per cent of the backlog, while international revenue rose 33.4 per cent to ₹3,084 crore in FY26, or about 29 per cent of sales. Bhandari said geopolitical disruptions had delayed overseas equipment deliveries and domestic project execution, although the company expects stronger revenue conversion as bottlenecks ease.
That conversion issue is central to infrastructure businesses. A large backlog represents contracted demand, but revenue is recognised as projects progress and equipment is delivered. Delays in overseas logistics, domestic execution or cost assumptions can therefore affect both the timing and quality of growth. Thermax’s decision to become more selective about long-duration, fixed-price construction contracts reflects this risk. Such contracts can expose companies to rising input and execution costs when the price is fixed for an extended period.
The company’s financial position provides some capacity to manage this transition. At March-end, Thermax held ₹2,467 crore in cash, bank balances and current investments against borrowings of ₹2,288 crore. Operating cash flow stood at ₹542 crore in FY26, reflecting higher project retention and lower customer advances. These figures do not remove execution risks, but they indicate that the growth plan is being pursued alongside attention to liquidity and working-capital discipline.
Bio-CNG illustrates a different part of the company’s infrastructure exposure. Thermax’s operations in the segment have faced nearly three years of technological challenges involving agricultural residue, moisture management and gas purification. Bhandari said the business was improving and argued that better government support for pricing and operational efficiency could help it turn the corner.
The experience is significant because energy-transition infrastructure often depends on the reliability of the entire operating chain. Converting agricultural residue into gas requires more than an installed plant; it requires consistent feedstock handling, moisture control, purification and commercial conditions that allow the system to operate efficiently. The supplied account does not establish whether the business has reached sustained profitability or what policy changes may be introduced. It does show that the transition from pilot or small-scale operations to larger systems involves technical and commercial learning.
Thermax’s domestic and international strategy also reveals how infrastructure capability is being built through qualification and repeat access to large customers. Bhandari said the company had previously not been qualified for many large Middle Eastern oil and gas companies but was now being systematically qualified. This suggests that export growth is not only a function of demand; it also depends on meeting sector-specific procurement, technical and compliance requirements.
The company’s forecast is not universally shared in the supplied material. PL Capital expects FY27 revenue of ₹12,286 crore, implying approximately 15 per cent growth, compared with Thermax’s expectation of nearly ₹13,000 crore. The difference is a reminder that the order book and identified opportunities do not automatically produce a single predictable outcome. Revenue conversion, project execution, overseas delivery, contract selection and demand in data centres and industrial sectors will determine how much of the potential becomes reported growth.
For cities, the broader implication is that infrastructure expansion increasingly depends on systems behind the headline asset. A data centre requires cooling and power equipment; a semiconductor facility requires water treatment and recycling; industrial decarbonisation requires technologies that can work with existing boilers and changing fuels. These systems influence the resource intensity, reliability and operating cost of urban and industrial development, even when they are not visible in public-facing project announcements.
The evidence currently confirms a strong commercial pipeline around data centres, exports, power, cooling and water systems, but it does not establish the total scale of India’s future demand or the final contribution of each segment to Thermax’s FY27 revenue. The developments to monitor are the company’s ability to convert its ₹14,045-crore order book, protect margins on infrastructure projects, scale its Bio-CNG operations, and turn data-centre and water-management opportunities into delivered systems rather than only prospective orders.
