HBL Engineering’s long-term rating upgraded to CARE AA- (Stable); short-term facilities enhanced to ₹846 crore

HBL Engineering Limited has told the exchanges on 9 Oct 2026 that CARE Ratings has upgraded its long-term bank facilities of ₹149 crore to CARE AA-; Stable from CARE A+; Positive. A further long-term rating was withdrawn, and short-term bank facilities of ₹846 crore, enhanced from ₹646 crore, were reaffirmed at CARE A1+.

CARE says the upgrade reflects a significant change in HBL’s business profile in recent years, with revenue shifting from the traditional batteries business toward railway electronics. It attributes the larger scale mainly to execution of orders for the indigenous Kavach train protection system for Indian Railways. As of Jul 2026, the rationale says, Kavach had been installed on over 6,000 locomotives, with installation under way on another 7,300 or so, and trackside work taken up across more than 21,800 route kilometres.

Inference

The upgrade is a rating on the company’s ability to repay lenders and is tied in the rationale to the Kavach order flow. That makes the rating dependent on continued rollout by Indian Railways, which the filing describes as having sizeable headroom.