BHEL is a power- and industrial-engineering manufacturer; L&T is a much larger, more diversified engineering and infrastructure group. Their FY 2025–26 disclosures show growth and substantial order visibility at both companies, but the headline figures are not directly like-for-like: BHEL’s release gives provisional, unaudited turnover, while L&T reports consolidated group revenue. Neither revenue growth nor a large order book, on its own, establishes profitability, cash generation, risk-adjusted performance or whether a share is attractively valued.
How do BHEL and L&T differ as businesses?
BHEL: power and industrial engineering
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is centered on engineering and manufacturing for power and industrial sectors. In its April 17, 2026 FY 2025–26 release, the company reported around ₹59,000 crore in power-sector orders and around ₹16,000 crore in industrial-segment orders. The latter included work across transportation, transmission, defence, process industries and industrial equipment. BHEL also reported commissioning or synchronizing around 8.9 GW of power capacity during the year. These are company-reported figures, not independent measures of project profitability.
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L&T: a broader engineering and infrastructure group
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) operates across a wider range of engineering and project businesses. Its FY 2025–26 financial review identifies infrastructure as its largest order-book segment, alongside activities that include power transmission and distribution, renewables, hydrocarbons and CarbonLite Solutions. Infrastructure represented 57% of its consolidated order book at year-end and 46% of order inflow for the year. The percentages have different denominators: one is a share of the closing book of orders, the other a share of annual inflow.
The companies overlap in power-related work, but they are not portfolio equivalents. BHEL’s cited figures emphasize power and industrial orders; L&T’s disclosures describe a broader group whose infrastructure business is its largest segment.
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What do the FY 2025–26 headline numbers show?
The figures below are company-reported for FY 2025–26. BHEL’s turnover and order figures come from its April 17, 2026 release; L&T’s revenue and order-book figures come from its FY 2025–26 financial review.
| Measure | BHEL | L&T | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue / turnover | Approximately ₹32,350 crore turnover, up 18%; the release labels the figure provisional and unaudited. | ₹2,85,874 crore consolidated revenue, up 11.8%. | These are different reporting descriptions and bases. Do not treat the growth rates or totals as a fully like-for-like comparison. |
| Annual order inflow | Approximately ₹75,000 crore. | Not stated as a total in the cited financial-review figures. | Order inflow is work won during the year, not revenue recognized during that year. |
| Closing order book | Approximately ₹2.4 lakh crore outstanding at year-end. | ₹7,40,327 crore at March 31, 2026, up 27.8% year over year. | A closing order book is a measure of contracted work awaiting execution, subject to timing, delivery, contract terms and collection. |
| International exposure | A comparable international revenue or order-book percentage is not stated in the cited release. | International orders were 52% of the order book; international revenue was 54% of group revenue. | The L&T percentages measure different things. The absence of a BHEL percentage in this release does not establish that BHEL has no international exposure. |
On the headline totals alone, L&T’s reported revenue is roughly 8.8 times BHEL’s provisional turnover. That is an indicative scale comparison, not a like-for-like performance ratio: L&T’s number is consolidated group revenue, while BHEL’s release labels its number provisional and unaudited turnover. For a rigorous comparison, use final audited figures on consistent consolidation and accounting bases.
Does a larger order book mean stronger financials?
No. An order book can indicate future workload, but it is not recognized revenue, profit, cash flow or a guarantee that every contract will be completed on schedule and at an adequate margin. A company can win more work while facing delays, rising input costs, disputes, weak project economics or slow customer payments.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The cited headline disclosures do not provide a comparable scorecard for operating profit, net profit, cash flow, debt, working capital or project-level margins. BHEL’s official results index lists audited FY 2025–26 results published May 4, 2026, and its annual-reports index lists the FY 2025–26 annual report published July 10, 2026. A full financial comparison should use those statements and notes, then compare them with L&T’s FY 2025–26 audited consolidated statements. In particular, check whether cash conversion supports reported earnings and whether receivables, contract assets or inventory absorb a growing share of funds.
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What risks should a comparison examine?
Execution and timing
Both businesses depend on delivering complex engineering or infrastructure work. Delays in equipment supply, construction, commissioning or customer approvals can push revenue recognition and cash collection into later periods. BHEL’s reported capacity commissioning and synchronization figure offers an execution datapoint, but does not by itself show whether projects met margin or cash-flow targets. L&T’s financial review describes execution progress as a revenue driver; the headline information does not establish comparative delivery performance.
Order quality and margins
The reported totals do not reveal the profitability of the contracts behind them. To judge order quality, an investor would need to examine contract margins, price-escalation protections, commodity and subcontracting exposure, cost overruns, cancellation provisions and the expected delivery schedule. Those terms are not established by the headline figures.
Working capital and customer payments
Project businesses may need to fund materials and work in progress before they receive payment. Compare audited cash-flow statements and notes for receivables, contract assets, inventory, customer advances and overdue balances. The headline releases cited here do not establish which company converts its earnings into cash more reliably.
Customer, sector and geographic concentration
L&T reports a quantified international mix: 52% of its order book and 54% of group revenue. That exposure may diversify demand across markets, but it also makes geography relevant to execution, currency and political risks. The cited BHEL release does not give a matching international percentage, so it cannot support a claim that either company is more concentrated overall. Compare customer and sector disclosures in both companies’ full annual reports before drawing that conclusion.
Valuation and investment merit
Business scale, growth and orders do not tell you whether either share is cheap or likely to outperform. A valuation comparison requires a dated share price, shares outstanding, net debt or net cash, earnings and cash-flow measures, and a consistent basis for valuation multiples. The figures above do not establish those inputs or support a buy-or-sell conclusion.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to make a fairer company comparison
- Match the reporting basis. Compare the same fiscal period and use consolidated figures for both companies, or standalone figures for both. Treat BHEL’s provisional, unaudited release turnover as a headline indicator, not as a substitute for audited results.
- Read beyond revenue and orders. Use audited statements and notes to compare operating profit, net profit, cash from operations, debt, working capital and any material commitments.
- Test order conversion. Look for disclosures about execution schedules, order cancellations, customer advances, contract assets, cost escalation and changes in project margins.
- Assess exposure using matching definitions. Compare customer, sector and geographic shares only when the denominator and reporting period are clear. Do not infer BHEL’s mix from a percentage L&T reports alone.
- Keep valuation separate from business quality. Use dated market data and consistent valuation measures if the question is investment merit; a strong business or large order book is not, by itself, a valuation case.
On the disclosed business mix, BHEL is the more power- and industrial-focused company, while L&T is broader and substantially larger by reported revenue. The FY 2025–26 headline disclosures show growth and sizeable orders, but they do not establish which company has better margins, cash conversion, risk-adjusted returns or a more attractive share price.
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