Hitachi Energy India reports a surge in order backlog, propelled by expansion in transmission, renewables, and data centres, signalling a transformative phase in the country’s power infrastructure growth.
Hitachi Energy India is seeing demand widen across the power ecosystem, with orders flowing in from transmission, renewables, data centres, battery storage and newer industrial segments such as semiconductors, according to N Venu, the company’s managing director and chief executive. The company’s order backlog has climbed to a record level, giving it visibility for several quarters, while recent results from the company pointed to a sharp rise in new business and a stronger contribution from large projects, including high-voltage direct current links and grid equipment for data centres.
In a recent interview, Venu said the company booked about ₹5,000 crore of orders in the quarter, taking its backlog to around ₹32,000 crore. Hitachi Energy India’s latest quarterly results showed orders of ₹11,339.2 crore in Q1FY26, up 365.4% from a year earlier, with the backlog at ₹29,125.3 crore. The company said that growth was led by big-ticket wins across transmission, rail and metro and data centre work, with exports also contributing meaningfully.
Transmission remains the clearest driver. Venu said India’s National Electricity Plan foresees major expansion in 400 kV and 800 kV systems as well as high-voltage direct current infrastructure, while renewable additions continue to create fresh demand for evacuation capacity. Hitachi Energy India’s own disclosures also show that its business has benefited from this shift, with the company highlighting projects such as the Bhadla-Fatehpur HVDC link and a broader pipeline tied to the country’s power build-out.
Data centres are emerging as another important growth pocket. Venu said these projects can require a substantial share of power-related capital spending and often need transformers, gas-insulated switchgear and grid connection systems. He also pointed to the company’s “grid-to-rack” offering, a modular approach aimed at linking utility power to the server rack. Business Standard and The Economic Times reported earlier this year that Hitachi Energy India wants to capture a much larger share of spending in the country’s data centre market, reflecting how central the segment has become to its strategy.
Asked whether data centres could crowd out other users for scarce grid capacity, Venu argued that the real issue is planning, not rivalry. He said grid expansion is needed for industry, urbanisation and shifting load centres as much as for digital infrastructure. That view aligns with the broader investment cycle in India’s electricity system: the National Electricity Plan envisages roughly 900 GW of renewable capacity and matching evacuation infrastructure by 2036, a scale that would require utilities and suppliers to build ahead of demand rather than react to it.
Storage is becoming part of that same equation. Hitachi Energy India has entered battery energy storage with a 165 MW order and Venu said the market could see close to 80 GW of such capacity lined up by 2030-32. He also emphasised sustainability, noting that the company has developed SF6-free gas-insulated switchgear and circuit breakers, alongside lower-loss transformers, as the power sector faces pressure to expand while cutting emissions.
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