Steamhouse India

Demand for industrial steam is ultimately tied to production activity in process industries. India is adding manufacturing capacity across pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, food processing, automobiles and other sectors, which expands the physical base requiring continuous process heat and utility services. Industrial parks also create dense clusters where shared infrastructure is more economic

• India process-steam demand was approximately 203,472 TPH in FY26 and is projected to grow at 9.4% CAGR through FY31

• At an assumed 8,000 annual operating hours and average steam cost of INR 2.0-2.5/kg, the FY26 Steam-as-a-Service addressable opportunity is estimated at approximately INR 3,66,250 Cr

• Pharmaceuticals represented about 25% and textiles about 18% of FY26 process-steam demand by volume, creating exposure to large recurring-use industries

• India manufacturing IIP continued to expand in FY26; policy-led capacity additions across PLI and industrial-cluster sectors add downstream utility demand

Community boilers pool steam demand from multiple nearby factories into a larger, professionally operated unit. The customer can avoid boiler capex and day-to-day operating complexity, while the service provider can improve combustion efficiency, pollution-control economics, fuel procurement and maintenance through scale. The value proposition strengthens where customer density is high and pipeline distances are manageable

• Frost & Sullivan estimates potential fossil-fuel savings of up to 25%-30% when captive boilers are replaced by community boilers

• Customers can avoid investment in individual boilers and reduce operating, maintenance, fuel-procurement and compliance responsibilities

• Centralized pollution-control equipment and optimized combustion can reduce emissions and improve fuel utilisation versus fragmented small boilers

• Steam supply is recurring and process-critical, supporting long-duration commercial relationships once the customer is connected to the pipeline network

The economics of centralized utility supply improve sharply inside industrial estates because multiple customers can be reached from a common plant through a finite pipeline network. Once rights of way, customer landing points and pipelines are established, physical space and permitting constraints can raise barriers for competing networks. New industrial parks can therefore embed common utilities at the planning stage rather than retrofit them later

• India has more than 4,500 industrial clusters and large-scale parks; Gujarat alone has 248 GIDC estates

• Pipeline rights of way and limited physical space in established clusters can restrict parallel network creation and support incumbent infrastructure positions

• Shared utility infrastructure reduces duplicated plant-level equipment and can improve capacity utilisation where customers have complementary demand profiles

• Steamhouse had 60.2 km of operational pipelines by July 31, 2026, illustrating the infrastructure intensity required to build a cluster utility network

Community-boiler economics depend on safe continuous operation, reliable fuel supply, regulatory compliance and adequate customer density around each asset. The model requires meaningful upfront capex in boilers and pipelines, while fuel price volatility or under-utilisation can weaken returns. Because steam is process-critical, outages, water-treatment failures or pressure-control issues can also create customer and safety consequences

• Fuel supply and price volatility can raise operating costs or disrupt steam generation; lower-quality fuel can reduce combustion efficiency and increase emissions

• High fixed capex and maintenance requirements create utilisation risk when customer ramp-up, industrial demand or pipeline connectivity is slower than planned

• Tighter environmental and boiler-safety standards may require additional pollution-control, monitoring or retrofit expenditure; non-compliance can lead to penalties or shutdowns

• Rights-of-way, limited space in industrial estates, pipeline distance and transmission losses constrain the addressable radius of each community facility