L&T delays $152M Hyderabad Metro exit to year-end in third deadline push
What's the deal? Larsen & ToubroDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has extended the deadline to complete the sale of its entire stake in L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) LtdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to December 31, 2026 — the third postponement this year. The buyer is Hyderabad Metro Rail LtdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Telangana government enterprise, in a deal valued at US$198.5M.
Why now? L&T had expected the transaction to close by June 30, then pushed it to September 30, before the latest revision. "The estimated completion date for the aforesaid transaction has been revised to December 31, 2026," the company said in a filing to the BSEDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? The engineering conglomerate wants out of the project after reporting operational and accumulated losses. The divestment covers L&T's full equity holding — more than 90% of the 67km Hyderabad Metro — and is part of a broader plan to go asset-light and strip non-core assets off its balance sheet.
Upon completion, the deal is expected to deconsolidate around US$1.77B of project debt, improving L&T's capital efficiency. The Telangana government is set to take over the special purpose vehicle by refinancing current debt and acquiring equity at agreed values.
What could go wrong? L&T Metro Rail has flagged structural, financial, and regulatory challenges that caused substantial cost and time overruns, tied to delays in property acquisition, right of way, alignment changes, and utility shifting. In a letter to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, it said the Telangana government had not provided expected financial assistance despite repeated follow-ups, worsening the concessionaire's financial pressure.
The signal: The repeated delays show how hard it is to unwind large public-private infrastructure projects once losses mount. For L&T, closing the exit would mark a clean break from a loss-making asset; for the state, it means absorbing a heavily indebted metro network onto public books.
Read more: swarajyamag.com
