Anant Raj Q4 FY26: Strong earnings, widening margins, and a bigger data center ambition

Anant Raj Limited closed Q4 FY26 with another step-up in scale and profitability. Revenue from operations, including income from data centers, rose 19.64 percent year on year to ₹646.81 crore. EBITDA grew faster at 28.44 percent to ₹196.02 crore, lifting quarterly EBITDA margin to 29.02 percent from 27.70 percent a year ago. Profit after tax increased 25.19 percent year on year to ₹148.71 crore, with PAT margin improving modestly to 22.02 percent.

The quarter’s numbers matter because they fit into a longer pattern. FY26 revenue from operations increased 21.92 percent year on year to ₹2,511.60 crore. EBITDA expanded 35.94 percent to ₹723.15 crore and margin widened to 28.04 percent from 25.33 percent. PAT rose 30.81 percent to ₹557.02 crore. In parallel, the company highlighted a rating upgrade by Infomerics to A- Stable and an improvement in credit rating to IVR A- Stable for long term and IVR A2+ for short term.

Behind these headline results sits a business model that is deliberately mixed. Real estate development remains the core, anchored in Gurugram and Delhi-NCR land reserves, while data centers and cloud services are positioned as a long-duration annuity-style growth engine. FY26 also extended a balance sheet narrative that has become central to the company’s investor messaging: net debt has steadily reduced from ₹1,626 crore in FY21 to nil in FY26, alongside rising dividend payouts that reached 50 percent of face value in FY26.

FY26 performance in context: growth with operating leverage

FY26 is best read as a year where operating leverage became visible. Revenue grew 21.92 percent, but EBITDA grew 35.94 percent, which implies a mix and execution that supported profitability even as the company continues to invest in new launches and new capacity.

The investor presentation explicitly includes data center and cloud services within reported financial figures. That makes the margins more comparable across periods, even though the segment mix is evolving. What stands out is not just growth, but the steady expansion in EBITDA margin from 25.33 percent in FY25 to 28.04 percent in FY26, and the sustained PAT margin above 21 percent.

Data center and cloud services revenue in FY26 stood at ₹176.49 crore, while Q4 FY26 data center, infrastructure and allied services revenue was ₹74.51 crore. That quarterly figure suggests the annuity engine is becoming more visible in the revenue line. The company also called out that it has 28 MW operational IT load capacity across Manesar and Panchkula, with 21 MW operational at Manesar and 7 MW at Panchkula.

Real estate engine: approvals, launches, and delivery cadence

The real estate narrative in FY26 is about adding new luxury supply in the company’s strongest micro-market while pushing deliveries in existing projects. Sector 63A in Gurugram continues to be the center of gravity through Anant Raj Estate and adjacent developments.

On approvals, the company received the license and other approvals for Group Housing 2 on 5.09 acres in Sector 63A, including revised FAR, green building FAR, zoning plan and AAI approval. RERA is expected by end of Q1 FY27. The project is planned with 0.90 million square feet of saleable area and is positioned in the luxury segment. The company also said the license for Group Housing 3 on 6.38 acres in the same sector is at an advanced stage, with a tentative saleable area of about 1.20 million square feet. Together, these approvals point to a pipeline that can keep launches active beyond the current phase of Anant Raj Estate.

Within the township, Phase IV of Anant Raj Estate has commenced, covering an additional 6.075 acres with potential development of about 5 lakh square feet. Approvals for an additional 9.11875 acres for Phase V are expected in Q2 FY27. The company positioned Phase V as another step that will enhance total township development on Golf Course Extension Road.

Delivery progress is also central because it is what converts booked value into cash flows and reported profit. Phase I of the Birla Navya project has been delivered. Occupancy certificates for Phase II units have been received and deliveries have started. Phase III deliveries are planned by end of FY28. Ashok Estate, spread over more than 20 acres with development area of about 1.34 million square feet, is described as almost completed. Construction of The Estate Residences (Group Housing 1) is progressing fast and is ahead of schedule. These statements are important because they signal execution momentum in parallel with new approvals.

The company also highlighted pricing and monetisation metrics where available. For the high-rise luxury residences with 248 units of 4 BHK on 5.43 acres and 0.99 million square feet saleable area, it reported an average selling price of ₹18,000 per square foot. For The Estate Apartments launched in Q1 FY26, it indicated estimated revenue of ₹750 crore and mentioned that The Estate Apartments 2, with 0.40 million square feet saleable area, is to be launched soon.

Data centers and cloud: from optionality to a defined roadmap

The most forward-looking section of the presentation is the data center and cloud services roadmap. The company stated that Anant Raj Cloud Pvt Ltd has 21 MW IT load capacity operational at Manesar and 7 MW at Panchkula, and it is targeting 357 MW total IT load capacity by FY2032. It also disclosed a nearer-term milestone: 117 MW IT load is expected to commence by FY2028.

The roadmap is described across sites and phases. The plan includes 50 MW of IT load at Manesar, another 57 MW at Panchkula, another 200 MW at Rai, and 50 MW in Andhra Pradesh. The company also said a building for 100 MW IT load is ready and described a potential to develop 100 MW within the existing building, plus an additional 100 MW planned via a greenfield development project.

Anant Raj also made its public sector positioning explicit. Empanelment with MeitY as a sovereign cloud service provider and with BSNL as a data centre service provider broadens addressable opportunities in government and regulated workloads. Strategic alliances were listed with BSNL, C-DOT and RailTel. These relationships matter because data center utilisation and pricing often improve when operators can attract long-tenure customers with stringent compliance requirements.

On cloud services, the company positioned Ashok Cloud as a move from colocation into infrastructure as a service, in association with Orange Business. It said that expansion of cloud services at Manesar and Panchkula is operationalised or being operationalised as scheduled. It also stated that 25 percent of the 357 MW IT load capacity will be utilised for cloud services. This is a useful indicator of intended mix: not all capacity is planned as colocation, and the company appears to be building a platform that can capture a larger share of wallet per customer.

The company also highlighted a partnership with Submer, described as a Spain-based AI solution provider, to develop operational, AI-ready, liquid-cooled data centers across India. The emphasis here is on readiness for high-density and energy-efficient deployments that are typically associated with AI workloads. While the presentation does not provide capex-by-phase, it does specify that 50 MW IT load at Panchkula is envisaged on 5.25 acres of greenfield land with an FSI of 0.6 million square feet, and that 50 MW is to be executed in two phases with an approximate direct investment of ₹4,500 crore by ARCLPL.

Balance sheet and capital allocation: debt reduction meets dividends

Anant Raj has put meaningful emphasis on financial stability. Net debt has reduced every year from FY21 through FY25 and is shown as nil for FY26. Over the same period, dividend payout percentage has risen from 5 percent in FY21 to 50 percent in FY26. This combination sends a clear signal about capital discipline and operating cash generation.

The presentation also provides basic return ratios. Return on equity increased from 0.02 in FY22 to 0.10 in FY25 and remained at 0.10 in FY26. Return on capital employed improved from 0.01 in FY22 to 0.09 in FY26. These are not high by asset-light standards, but they reflect improving efficiency for a business that blends development, leasing assets, and an emerging infrastructure platform.

The strategic framing is consistent across sections: maintain execution discipline in real estate, expand annuity cash flows from commercial and data centers, and use the debt-free land bank in Delhi-NCR as a long-cycle option for future monetisation. The company reported presence across about 320 acres of prime, debt-free land in Delhi-NCR and separately listed 83.43 acres of fully paid freehold land across West, North and South Delhi and Rewari as low cost land bank for future growth visibility.

What investors should track next

The FY26 story is one of sustained growth with a clear pivot toward annuity-style infrastructure without stepping away from core real estate execution. In the near term, the most measurable operating triggers are approvals and RERA for Group Housing 2, the licensing progress of Group Housing 3, and delivery cadence across Birla Navya phases and Anant Raj Estate projects.

On the data center side, the roadmap is large and time-bound. The market will likely focus on how quickly incremental IT load becomes operational, the conversion of announced capacity into contracted utilisation, and whether cloud services scale alongside colocation as intended. The company has put structure around this ambition through a stated 357 MW target by FY2032 and a 117 MW commencement target by FY2028, plus partnerships and public sector empanelment that can help drive enterprise-grade demand.

Taken together, Q4 FY26 reinforces a simple theme: disciplined execution is translating into higher margins and rising profits, while the company builds a second engine in data centers and cloud services. With net debt shown as nil in FY26 and ratings improved, the next phase will be judged on delivery, approvals, and the pace at which the 28 MW operational base expands toward the 107 MW and 357 MW milestones that management has set.