India, Sept. 26 -- A large order book is usually viewed as a sign of strong future revenue visibility for an infrastructure company. Yet the June 2026 quarter showed why backlog size alone cannot explain earnings performance.

Five infrastructure companies - Ahluwalia Contracts, KEC International, IRCON International, Afcons Infrastructure and G R Infraprojects - reported sizeable order books, but all five saw year-on-year contraction in EBITDA margins during Q1 FY27. The extent ranged from 120 basis points at KEC to 430 basis points at Ahluwalia Contracts. The key question is therefore not simply how much work these companies have secured, but how quickly that work can be executed and at what margin.

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