Electoral bonds | Know about PV Krishna Reddy, who runs Megha Engineering

Ever since the Supreme Court ruling on electoral bonds, their donor and recipients broke out, one company that has hit the headlines in a big way is Megha Engineering. The Hyderabad-based company is suddenly all over the place.

Infrastructure billionaires PV Krishna Reddy and his uncle PP Reddy, the men behind Megha Engineering, had humble beginnings.

PP Reddy, who hails from a farmer's family in Andhra Pradesh, set up his company Megha Engineering Enterprises in 1989 to build small pipes for municipalities. It started in a modest way from a shed at Balanagar in Hyderabad with a ₹5 lakh capital.

The fortunes probably turned for the company when PP Reddy's resourceful nephew PV Krishna Reddy joined him in 1991. In 2006, the company's name was changed to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, after the firm started bagging major irrigation projects, tunnelling works, power plants, highways, and natural gas distribution projects in several cities.

Bold strategies

According to a report, Krishna Reddy, known for his bold strategies and enterprise, has been the force behind this company. In a span of five years, between 2014 to 2019, the company expanded at a furious pace with its revenue nearly quadrupling. Its net profit jumped six times making it the largest construction and engineering firm, said business newspapers. They were even beating Larsen & Toubro to bag infrastructure projects in Mumbai.

The Reddys got into the Forbes list of India's 100 richest people in 2023. Krishna Reddy's house shaped in the design of a diamond is purportedly a popular landmark in Hyderabad.

Heading one of the largest companies which was working on mega projects, Reddy is considered to be close to the chief ministers of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

On the radar

The Hyderabad-headquartered Megha Engineering and Infrastructure is now on the radar after being named as the second-largest purchaser of electoral bonds at ₹821 crore.

The company's most important project is the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, which also turned out to be their most controversial.

In 2016, the Telangana Government awarded contracts to construct several phases of the massive Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. MEIL undertook the $14 billion Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project that involved supplying water from Godavari River to drought-prone Telangana.

“That's like moving a river," Reddy is supposed to have said about the project. Megha Engineering built 11 high capacity pumping stations with a total capacity of 3436 MWs and completed the first phase in three years in 2019.

I-T raid

In that same year, in October 2019, the company was raided by the Income Tax (IT) department. The IT department raided Reddy's offices, residence and guest house in 15 locations in Hyderabad and also in the company's properties in Delhi and Mumbai.

However, the company went on win the ₹4,509-crore contract to construct Zojila tunnel in August 2020. It also constructed the Pattiseema irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh and bagged large power projects in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. It also built the Khargone Lift Irrigation Project in Madhya Pradesh.

Corruption charges

The Opposition in Telangana, including the current Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and now Congress leader YS Sharmila, has been accusing MEIL of being close to BRS government and alleged the company of siphoning off crores from the ‘Bahubali’-like Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project.

In 2024, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report alleged that the company was paid an excess of ₹5,188.43 crore in just four packages, involving the supply and commissioning of pumps, motors, and auxiliary equipment. Revanth Reddy has now constituted a judicial commission to probe alleged irregularities in the project, the majority of which was executed by the MEIL.

Notably, in Andhra Pradesh, when Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was in the Opposition from 2014 to 2019, he had accused MEIL of corruption when it was awarded the Pattiseema irrigation project by then CM N Chandrababu Naidu. However, in 2019, after Jagan came to power, he cancelled the contract with Navayuga Engineering to construct portions of the massive Polavaram Irrigation Project, and awarded it to MEIL.

Nitin Gadkari’s words of praise

In March 2022, Krishna Reddy and his company MEIL was praised by Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road and highways, in the Parliament. The minister was acknowledging their work on the Zoji-la Tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The estimated cost (to make the tunnel was Rs 12,000 crore. And I am happy to tell you, the company which won the contract...is a company in Hyderabad, Megha Engineering, and through this one job our government saved Rs 5,000 crore," Gadkari said, as parliamentarians applauded.

Later, in April 2023, MEIL had beaten Larsen & Toubro to bag two separate packages to build the ambitious Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project in Mumbai for a total bid of ₹14,400 crore.

Business newspapers were writing about this little known company that was beating the Goliaths in the infrastructure space.

Foray into media

In the past four years, MEIL entered the media industry by teaming up with Hyderabad-based My Home Group to acquire TV9 Telugu channel. The company has also bought a 22 per cent stake in NTV Telugu channel.

E-vehicles

MEIL has also ventured into manufacturing large electric vehicles. In 2000, MEIL launched Olectra Greentech Limited to manufacture e-buses and trucks. The technology come from China's BYD, and Olectra Greentech has an order book of more than 3,000 buses.

Tunnels and railways work

MEIL on its website says it has built the Chardham Railway Tunnel, covering 32 km between Rishikesh and Karnaprayag. It is also building an underground bullet railway station beneath Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla complex for The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited. This underground railway station is equipped with six floors at a depth of 24 meters, and it uses modern Japanese Shinkansen technology.

MEIL also has projects overseas in Zambia, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Kuwait.