Adani plans ₹35,000-40,000 crore annual capex

Adani Enterprises Ltd plans to spend between Rs 35,000 crore and Rs 40,000 crore annually over the next couple of years, with airports, data centres and its proposed PVC complex emerging as the biggest investment drivers as the conglomerate steps up expansion across its infrastructure businesses.

"We expect to do capex at a run rate of around Rs 40,000 crore. So, we may be somewhere in the range of Rs 35,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore, which is the rate we expect to continue over the next couple of years," Manan Vakharia, head of finance at Adani Enterprises, said during the company's earnings call.

The planned spending comes as the group seeks to scale up businesses built over recent years, including airports and data centres, while bringing its large manufacturing investments closer to commercial operation.

"The heavy lifting will be done by airports, data centres and PVC," Vakharia said.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship incubator of the Adani Group, reported its highest-ever half-year EBITDA of Rs 11,958 crore for the six months ended September 2026, an increase of 56 per cent from a year earlier.

Consolidated income rose 62 per cent to Rs 71,569 crore, while profit before tax from continuing operations increased 45 per cent to Rs 3,297 crore.

Chief Executive Officer Arun Bansal said the company was progressively moving from a "build-out phase to value realisation phase", as investments made over the past few years begin contributing more meaningfully to earnings.

The airport business and data centres are central to that transition. Adani Airport Holdings reported a 52 per cent increase in first-half EBITDA to Rs 3,275 crore, while AdaniConneX, its data-centre joint venture, has expanded its contracted capacity to more than 1.2 gigawatts.

AdaniConneX signed a new 240-megawatt hyperscale contract during the September quarter. Its operational capacity stood at 94.6 MW after handing over an additional 29.2 MW to customers during the period.

The company expects operational capacity to reach 120-150 MW by the end of the current financial year and approach 500 MW over the following 12-18 months, when the facilities are expected to begin generating billing revenue.

Of the 1.4 GW of data-centre capacity being developed, 1.2 GW has already been tied up and is at different stages of implementation and construction, its management said.

The airport portfolio, which comprises eight airports, including Navi Mumbai International Airport, accounts for about 23 per cent of India's passenger traffic and 29 per cent of its air cargo volumes, according to the company officials.

Adani Airport Holdings handled 21.3 million passengers in the September quarter. Its revenue rose 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,786 crore, while EBITDA increased 55 per cent to Rs 1,641 crore. Non-aeronautical revenue grew 57 per cent, significantly faster than the 9 per cent increase in aeronautical revenue.

Navi Mumbai International Airport began international operations on July 15.

The Management expects the airport to reach its full annual capacity of 20 million passengers by the end of FY28, supported by the expansion of domestic and international routes and the transfer of some international flights from existing Mumbai airports.

The company's other major investment is a 1-million-tonne-per-annum PVC manufacturing complex at Mundra, Gujarat, involving capital expenditure of about Rs 26,000 crore.

Around 60 per cent of the project spending and construction has been completed, and the first part of the complex is expected to be commissioned in the next financial year. The facility will also include related chemicals and chlor-alkali operations.

Separately, Adani Enterprises has completed the expansion of its solar module manufacturing capacity to 10 GW and expects to commission 6 GW of solar cell capacity by the end of the current financial year. The company sold 1,478 MW of solar modules in the September quarter, up 35 per cent from a year earlier.

The proposed investment cycle will require the company to balance expansion with project execution and the generation of returns from newly commissioned assets.

Management did not provide a specific EBITDA forecast for FY27.