VA Tech Wabag Ltd is a multinational player in the water treatment industry. The company offers complete life cycle solutions including conceptualization, design, engineering, procurement, supply, installation, construction and O&M services. They provide a range of EPC and O&M solutions for sewage treatment, processed and drinking water treatment, effluents treatment, sludge treatment, desalination and reuse for institutional clients like municipal corporations and companies in the infrastructure sector such as power, steel and oil and gas companies.

The company is having their market presence in India, the Middle East, North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, China and South East Asia through their principal offices in India, Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Switzerland, Algeria, Romania, Tunisia, UAE, Libya and Macao. They divide their business into four strategic business units namely Municipal Business Group, Industrial Water Business Group, Operations Business Group and International Business Group.

The company's international operations are conducted through their subsidiaries. They have two direct subsidiaries and eleven indirect subsidiaries. All their subsidiaries are incorporated outside India. Wabag Austria is the holding company for most of their subsidiaries. The company is having their R & D centres located in Chennai, India and at Vienna and Winterthur in Austria and Switzerland respectively.

VA Tech Wabag Ltd was formally created and deployed as a legal entity on February 17, 1995 as Balcke Durr Cooling Towers Ltd. The company was awarded the certificate of commencement of business on March 8, 1995. Initially, the company involved in the business of design and construction of cooling towers and was a subsidiary of Balcke-Durr Aktiengesellschaft, a German company which was held by Deutsche Babcock.

In the year 1996, the company started a water treatment division and pursuant to this, they changed their name from Balcke Durr Cooling Towers Ltd to Balcke Durr and Wabag Technologies Ltd. In April 1997, the company undertook first EPC order from Reliance Petroleum.

In April 1999, the Austrian group VA Tech executed a strategic acquisition of the water business of Deutsche Babcock operating under the Wabag brand name. In India, the water and non water divisions of the company were de-merged and the non-water division was transferred to BDT Ltd. Consequently, the name of the company was changed to VA Tech Wabag Ltd. Pursuant to the de-merger and change of name, the company's primary business was changed to design, supply, construction and erection of water, wastewater treatment plants and operation and maintenance of the same.

In March 2000, the company broadened its footprint operations into into municipal segment by received their fist municipal order from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. In September 2000, they received the ISO 9001:2000 Certification from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance.

In July 2002, the company started their O&M activity and they received their first O&M order from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. In September 2002, they received an order worth Rs 7000 lakh from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

In September 2005, I-Ven Water Treatment Technologies Ltd executed a strategic acquisition of a majority stake in the company. In April 2006, as per the scheme of merger, I-Ven Water Treatment Technologies Ltd was amalgamated with the company.

In August 2006, the majority shareholding of the company was executed a strategic acquisition of by Rajiv Mittal, Amit Sengupta, Shiv Narayan Saraf and S Varadarajan together with ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Ltd. In September 2006, the company received an order worth approximately Rs 18,638 lakh from Kerala Water Authority.

In April 2007, the company created the four SBUs, namely municipal, industrial, international and operations business group. In August 2007, they incorporated Wabag Singapore. In September 2007, the company received their first overseas O&M order from Qatar. In October 2007, they completed the construction of a plant water systems package for Durgapur Projects Ltd.

In November 6, 2007, the company through their wholly owned subsidiary Wabag Singapore executed a strategic acquisition of the entire shareholding of Wabag Austria. Pursuant to this acquisition, Wabag Austria and their subsidiaries became the subsidiary companies. In December 6, 2007, the company in association with Badriya Hassan Makki incorporated a joint venture company now called VA Tech Wabag (Gulf) Contracting LLC, in which the company holds a 49% shareholding.

In February 2008, the company incorporated Wabag Water Services s.r.l, in Romania. In March 2008, they received their first overseas EPC order from Oman. In May 2008, they started International Engineering Centre in Pune. Also, they opened a branch office in Oman. In June 2008, they received order worth Rs 19,071 lakh from Delhi Jal Board.

In May 2009, the company incorporated VA Tech Wabag (Hong Kong) Ltd. Also, they received ISO-9001:2008 Certification from Bureau Veritas. In December 2009, they received order worth Rs 103,368 lakh order for sea water desalination plant from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

In December 21, 2009, the company through their subsidiary, VA Tech Wabag (Hong Kong) Ltd, incorporated a subsidiary called Beijing VA Tech Wabag Water Treatment Technology Co Ltd, in which VA Tech Wabag (Hong Kong) Ltd has a 100% shareholding.

The company completed the Perungudi plant on a DBO basis where they constructed a plant with a capacity of 54 MLD and have an O&M contract for a period of 10 years. They also completed execution of a 455 MLD water treatment plant at Panjrapur for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The company is currently executing a plant water systems package for the Damodar Valley Corporation for their 2 x 500 MW power plant at Durgapur which is scheduled to be completed during the financial year 2010-11.

The company is constructing a 62.5 MLD plant at Delawas near Jaipur and also has an O&M contract for a period of 20 years. They are setting up a wastewater treatment plant in Tehran, Iran for the Tehran Sewerage Company with a capacity of 4,50,000 m3/d. This is a turnkey project on a DBO basis and they also have a contract for the O&M of the plant for a period of five years.

The company was awarded the contract for a sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant with a capacity of 1,00,000 m3/d in Chennai including an O&M contract for seven years.