BHEL Just Posted Its First Real Profit in Years. The Power Infrastructure Supply Chain Is Where the Action Is.

BHEL Just Posted Its First Real Profit in Years. The Power Infrastructure Supply Chain Is Where the Action Is.

BHEL turned profitable in Q1 FY27 with Rs 377 crore in net profit and 40% revenue growth, per yesterday's board results. The headlines are deserved — this is a company that posted a full-year loss of Rs 394 crore as recently as FY24, per its quarterly filings. By 9M FY25, it had clawed back to a slender Rs 41 crore pre-tax profit.

But BHEL's turnaround is the headline, not the story. The story is India's power infrastructure spending cycle — and the companies deeper in the supply chain that are already posting record order books, record production, and record margins.

The order books tell the real story

Transformers & Rectifiers India (TARIL) is the clearest example. Per its FY26 investor presentation, the company hit its highest-ever production of approximately 33,000 MVA, up from 29,118 MVA in FY25. Its unexecuted order book stood at around Rs 5,005 crore as of March 2026, with orders under negotiation exceeding Rs 23,000 crore. In FY25 alone, it had secured an unprecedented order inflow of Rs 4,504 crore, per its annual report — and followed that with record EBITDA and PAT margins. The company also secured a landmark order from PGCIL for repairing an HVDC transformer, which if successful, will make it the first Indian company approved for HVDC transformer manufacturing. DEE Development Engineers (DEEDEV) shows a similar pattern in the process piping segment. Per its FY26 investor presentation, revenue hit Rs 1,142 crore (up 38% from Rs 827 crore in FY25), operating EBITDA grew 53% to Rs 189 crore, and PAT surged 77% to Rs 77 crore. Its order book jumped 58% in a single year — from Rs 1,228 crore to Rs 1,940 crore. The company also won a USD 40 million-plus letter of intent marking its breakthrough into global OEM supply chains. Transrail Lighting (TRANSRAILL) has tripled in size over five years. Per its FY26 investor presentation filed in July 2026, revenue grew from Rs 5,308 crore in FY25 to Rs 6,880 crore in FY26, with EBITDA at Rs 820 crore. The company supplied 150,000 MT of transmission towers and 31,000 KM of conductors including HTLS lines, and commissioned the 765 kV Khetri-Narela transmission line — a critical corridor evacuating 8.1 GW of renewable energy from Rajasthan to Delhi-NCR.

Turbines and cables: the same story, different segments

Triveni Turbine (TRITURBINE) is riding the same wave in industrial steam turbines. Per its FY25 nine-month investor presentation, revenue hit a record Rs 14.7 billion at the nine-month mark, up 23% year-on-year. EBITDA margins expanded by 280 basis points to 25.7%, and PAT grew 37% to Rs 2.6 billion. Order booking was Rs 17.3 billion in 9M FY25, up 20% year-on-year, with export orders contributing 52% of the closing order book — up 46% year-on-year to Rs 8.01 billion. Polycab India (POLYCAB), the wires and cables giant, delivered its highest-ever quarterly PAT of Rs 7.9 billion in Q4 FY26, per its earnings call transcript. Consolidated revenue grew 27% year-on-year for the quarter. Notably, its solar product business — launched to ride the PM Surya Ghar Yojana wave — grew 2.5 times over the year to become the third-largest category within its FMEG portfolio. The FMEG business itself turned profitable in Q4 FY25 and has sustained profitability since.

Why this matters: a multi-year cycle, not a one-quarter wonder

India's power infrastructure buildout is structural. The Central Electricity Authority targets 80 GW of new coal capacity by 2031-32 alongside 500 GW of renewable energy. Every gigawatt needs transformers, transmission lines, cables, and turbines. BHEL's turnaround is a visible marker of this cycle — but the real operating leverage is at companies like TARIL, with Rs 23,000 crore in orders under negotiation against a Rs 5,005 crore current order book.

The order book-to-revenue ratios tell the story: DEE Development's Rs 1,940 crore order book is 1.7x its FY26 revenue. TARIL's orders under negotiation alone represent 4.6x its current order book. These aren't one-time surges — they signal years of revenue visibility.

What retail investors should do

BHEL's headline profit is real, but the stock already carries a high valuation for a PSU turnaround. The more interesting plays are further down the supply chain — in companies like Transformers & Rectifiers, DEE Development, and Transrail Lighting, where record order books translate directly into revenue visibility over the next two to three years. Look for companies with order book-to-revenue ratios above 1.5x and improving EBITDA margins, which suggest pricing power in a supply-constrained environment. The risk to monitor: if metal prices (copper, aluminium, steel) spike further, input cost pressure could compress margins even at record revenue levels — Polycab's Q3 FY26 earnings call specifically flagged a 21% sequential increase in copper prices as a headwind.

Data sourced from company filings on NSE via Xaro.