GVK Power & Infrastructure is, at its core, a holding company whose story is one of building large, critical infrastructure for India - and then watching most of it unravel. It was born from a family-run group that spent decades constructing power plants, highways, and what became one of the country’s most celebrated private airports, before a complete exit from aviation in 2021 and a cascade of financial defaults pushed the listed parent itself into insolvency. The recurring thread is a model of creating Special Purpose Vehicles - separate project companies for each asset - that were meant to stand on their own cash flows but ultimately became entangled in guarantees, fuel shortages, and lender recalls that the holding company could not survive. # Business segments Two engines remain, one generating power and the other winding down a road concession - both operating inside a holding company that is now in the hands of a resolution professional. ## 1. Energy: the single operating power plant that keeps the lights on **A run-of-river hydroelectric plant in the Himalayas is the group’s only remaining revenue-generating asset, selling all its output to one state utility under a long-term contract.** - **Water-dependent output** - the 330 MW Shrinagar Hydro Electric Project runs all four turbines at full capacity only during the monsoon; in other seasons, it operates at least one turbine on part or full load depending on river flows, which is why its annual plant availability factor was 56% and the plant load factor was roughly 50% in FY25. - **Single-buyer model** - all power is sold to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) under a Power Purchase Agreement, and the company also earns tax reimbursements from the same buyer, so revenue depends entirely on that contractual relationship. - **A royalty paid in free power** - the project must supply 12% of its generation to the State of Uttarakhand free of charge as a royalty for using river water, which reduces the volume of electricity it can sell commercially. - **Carbon credits as a side stream** - the plant is registered with the UNFCCC under the Clean Development Mechanism, making it eligible to earn Certified Emission Reduction credits that can be sold separately from the power business. ## 2. Roads: a toll road that has already been handed back **The group’s highway business was a single expressway concession that collected tolls from passing traffic until the contract expired and the road was returned to the government.** - **Paid by the vehicle** - the 90-kilometre, six-lane Jaipur-Kishangarh expressway on NH-8 earned revenue every time a vehicle crossed a toll plaza, with toll collection recognised as traffic passed through, until the concession ended on April 10, 2023, after which the project was handed over to NHAI. - **A 20-year concession, extended once** - the Build-Operate-Transfer contract with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) ended in March 2023, but NHAI granted a short extension until April 2023 to compensate for COVID-19 lockdown losses, after which the project was handed over and operations ceased. - **Shared the upside with the government** - when toll collections exceeded a pre-set threshold, the company had to share the excess revenue with NHAI; in its final full year of operation, that revenue share was Rs. 14.28 crore. - **Traffic was the only lever** - average daily tollable traffic was about 34,000 vehicles in FY23, up from roughly 25,000 two years earlier, and the average daily toll collection moved in lockstep, reaching Rs. 122 lakhs per day before handover. # Group structure and partners **A web of project-specific subsidiaries and cross-guarantees has collapsed into a court-supervised insolvency process, with the listed parent now managed by a Resolution Professional.** - **A holding company with no factory of its own** - GVK Power & Infrastructure Limited (GVKPIL) does not manufacture anything; its revenues came from operation and maintenance fees charged to its subsidiaries and interest on surplus funds, making it entirely dependent on cash flowing up from project companies. - **The airport exit was the turning point** - the group’s flagship airport business, which included Mumbai International Airport and the under-construction Navi Mumbai airport, was transferred to the Adani Group in July 2021 when Adani converted acquired debt into a 97.97% stake in the airport holding company, ending GVK’s presence in aviation. - **Guarantees brought the house down** - GVKPIL had pledged shares of its energy, transportation, and airport subsidiaries and given corporate guarantees for a Singapore-based coal associate’s borrowings of over USD 1.1 billion; when those loans soured, lenders sued in English courts and obtained a crystallised judgment of USD 2.19 billion, which ultimately led to GVKPIL’s own insolvency admission in July 2024. - **Most subsidiaries are gone or frozen** - three power project companies and the transportation subsidiary have been taken over by resolution professionals under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, two road project subsidiaries are in arbitration or liquidation, and the Board of GVKPIL itself stands suspended, with all powers exercised by the Resolution Professional. - **A break-up is now on the table** - under the insolvency process, prospective resolution applicants have been invited to bid for five separate asset categories, including the whole company as a going concern, the energy holding company, the SEZ land subsidiary, and a residual 1.75% stake in the former airport holding company.