NEW DELHI, India – August 24, 2026 – GMR Airports will be investing ₹194 billion (approx. US$2 billion) on its airports in New Delhi and Hyderabad over the next 5-7 years.
The expansion that GMR is doing is not just an upgrade of the infrastructure but is a gamble on the phenomenal shift taking place in Indian aviation and a new challenge for Adani Airport Holdings, the main rival of GMR in the private sector.
Around ₹138 billion (approx. US$1.5 billion) will be spent on the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad and around ₹56 billion (approx. US$600 million) on the New Delhi airport, according to Saurabh Chawla, who is the executive vice-president of finance and strategy, GMR Airports. GMR Airports as such will not be responsible for financing the investments through the combination of debt and equity; investments will be raised by individual airport projects.
The extent of the Hyderabad transformation is particularly impressive. Once the planned work is finished, the airport is expected to accommodate about 80 million passengers per year, more than twice its present figure of about 34 million.
That ambition tells of a much bigger story, manifesting itself in the skies of India’s rapidly developing cities. The government’s estimates cited in the report state that India’s air traffic can increase sixfold to around 1.1 billion passengers during the next 14 years. In parallel, the number of the country’s commercial aircraft is expected to rise from around 400 units in 2014 to over 2,350 by 2040.
GMR is not merely building bigger terminals; it is also trying to construct an airport ready for India, where air travel will be more widespread and available.
GMR is already very well positioned in that future, as it claims that its network of airports services over 135 million passengers a year with assets spanning India and abroad.
The timing itself highlights the fierce rivalry within the industry. Reports indicate that Adani Group has plans of spending close to US$15 billion over the next five years to increase the passenger capacity of its airports. Meanwhile, GMR is working on upgrading two of its key air transport hubs.
But there seem to be more fundamental changes going on in the aviation sector.
On June 25, 2026, the company launched its activities at Nagpur Airport and said there are discussions about investments in the airport still ongoing.
Simultaneously, GMR is establishing clear boundaries for its ambitions. Although the Indian authorities are considering the possibility of letting airport operators go into the airline business, GMR does not want to act as an airline operator, preferring to concentrate on airport operations and other related fields, such as maintenance and construction.
The decision may represent an important step. Instead of being in competition with other companies to carry the most aviation tours, GMR seems to be focused on acquiring infrastructure facilities under the airports – airport terminals, runways, cargo storage facilities, retail markets, and real estate near the airports. Thus, aviation in India has turned out to be a battle not only for passenger-carrying capacity but also for the development of infrastructure for catering to the needs of the flying passenger. With the decision to apply US$2 billion for the development, GMR has made it clear that it intends to dominate the market in the near future.
