Consistent cost structure improvements helped ABB India boost its after-tax profits by 18 percent year-over-year to ₹830 million (~$12.8 million) in the third quarter of 2017, despite seeing its revenue fall by 6.8 percent to ₹19.15 billion (~$292.76 million).

“ABB India maintained robust cost structures and relentlessly pursued internal efficiencies to deliver profits in a market of structural transition and headwinds,” said Sanjeev Sharma, managing director of ABB India.

Profit before tax (PBT) increased 8 percent year-on-year to ₹1.18 billion (~$18.03 million).

Base orders led order bookings for ABB in Q3 2017. The company secured an order to digitalize 20 substations for Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and, in a separate deal, partnered with Azure Power to procure an order to supply solar inverters for rooftop solar systems installations in 750 railway stations in northern India. Teething issues of the new GST structure caused an impasse for several small and medium enterprises leading to deferrals and delays as customers await clarity according to the company.

“Deeper customer engagement, expanding markets, and the requisite technology footprint have resulted in leveraging OPEX opportunities in the domestic markets as well as accelerated making in India for the world. A keen customer focus and collaboration will remain the cornerstones of our navigation in a world of the Energy and Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Sharma.

ABB is the largest inverter supplier in the Indian market with over 5 GW of cumulative supplies, according to the recent Mercom India Quarterly Market Update. The company also recently ventured into developing solar charging infrastructure for three-wheeler electric vehicles (EV) in India.

In addition, the company is working on a $640 million (~₹41.78 billion) transmission project for the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) that is due in 2019.

ABB received ₹19.36 billion (~$295.97 million) of orders during the latest period and its order backlog stood at ₹121.3 billion (~$1.85 billion) as of September 30, 2017. The company said the order backlog provides solid visibility for future revenue.

Image credit: ABB