Indian stock market billionaire Rekha Jhunjhunwala’s Wabag loses $245 million Saudi water deal

VA Tech Wabag Ltd., the Indian water-treatment company backed by billionaire investor Rekha Jhunjhunwala, has lost a ₹2,332 crore ($245 million) order to build a seawater desalination plant in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom's water agency cancelled the project.

The Chennai-based company told Indian stock exchanges this week that the Saudi Water Authority had cancelled the 300 million-liters-a-day reverse-osmosis plant at Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast. Wabag said it is seeking clarity from the authority on the decision.

Wabag won the contract in July 2025, when it said it had received a letter of award worth 1.019 billion riyals for the design, engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of the plant on a greenfield site. At the time, the company said contracting formalities would follow and that an execution start date would be set once the contract was signed.

Second Saudi setback

It is the second time in under two years that the Saudi Water Authority has pulled a desalination award from Wabag. In December 2024, the agency cancelled an earlier order worth about ₹2,700 crore ($284 million), and Wabag shares fell as much as 19% that day.

The stock had recovered ground before this week's news, rising about 18% over the previous six months.

Jhunjhunwala's stake

Jhunjhunwala held 8.04% of Wabag at the end of June 2025, making her one of the company's largest outside shareholders. Her late husband, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, was the stock trader known in India as the "Big Bull." He died in August 2022 at age 62.

She inherited the bulk of his listed holdings and manages the family's investments through Rare Enterprises, the firm he founded. Her largest position is Titan Co., the Tata group jewelry and watch maker, in which she owned a 5.31% stake at the end of September. Forbes ranks her among India's richest women.

Figures were converted at ₹95.2 to the dollar.