Siemens vs ABB India (2026): Orders, Margins, Automation & Which Is Better?
The comparison changed after both companies reshaped their portfolios
Siemens versus ABB India in 2026 is no longer a simple comparison of two old industrial conglomerates. Both companies are becoming more focused technology platforms built around electrification, automation, digital industry and infrastructure.
Siemens has separated its energy business and sold its low-voltage motors and geared-motors operations.
ABB has also reshaped its portfolio and is returning part of divestment proceeds to shareholders through a large special dividend.
The better question is therefore not which company used to be larger.
It is which remaining business converts India's industrial-capex cycle into the best combination of orders, margin, cash and return on capital.
First adjustment: compare the companies after the portfolio reset
Historical financial comparisons are unusually difficult because Siemens Limited's economic perimeter has changed materially.
Siemens Energy India was separated from Siemens Limited earlier in the restructuring cycle.
Siemens then completed the sale of its low-voltage motors and geared-motors business in June 2026.
The sale generated a provisional gain of approximately ₹2,099 crore reported under discontinued operations.
That gain is not recurring industrial earnings.
ABB India's special ₹90-per-share dividend also contains an unusual capital-return component linked partly to proceeds from its Robotics divestment.
Neither event should be mistaken for normal recurring operating growth.
What businesses are investors actually comparing now?
Siemens
- Digital Industries.
- Smart Infrastructure.
- Mobility.
- Industrial automation.
- Building and grid electrification.
- Rail propulsion and signalling.
ABB India
- Electrification.
- Motion.
- Automation.
- Industrial drives and motors.
- Process automation.
- Grid and building products.
Shared demand drivers
- Data centres.
- Factory automation.
- Renewables.
- Grid modernisation.
- Rail investment.
- Private-sector capex.
Siemens vs ABB India: April-June 2026 scoreboard
| Metric | Siemens | ABB India | Current Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting period | Q1 FY2027, Apr-Jun | Q2 CY2026, Apr-Jun | Same calendar quarter |
| Revenue | ₹4,714 Cr | ₹3,559 Cr | Siemens |
| Revenue growth | +14.8% | +21% | ABB growth |
| New orders | ₹6,328 Cr | ₹4,363 Cr | Siemens absolute |
| Order growth | +16.5% | +50% | ABB growth |
| Order backlog | ₹46,670 Cr | ₹11,898 Cr | Siemens |
| Backlog growth | +9.6% | +22% | ABB growth |
| Operating profitability | Profit from operations 7.6% | Operational EBITA 13.0% | ABB |
| PAT | ₹343 Cr recurring quarter headline | ₹370 Cr | ABB despite lower revenue |
| One-off portfolio item | ₹2,099 Cr provisional LVM sale gain in discontinued operations | ₹90/share special dividend partly reflecting Robotics divestment proceeds | Exclude from recurring comparison |
| ROCE, Bull Run | 22.16% | 29.95% | ABB |
| ROE, Bull Run | 21.03% | 22.38% | ABB slightly |
| Debt/equity | 0.00 | 0.00 | Both |
| Current ratio | 2.57 | 2.09 | Siemens |
| P/E, Bull Run Aug 25 | 37.18x | 59.16x | Siemens lower |
| P/B | 9.19x | 19.47x | Siemens lower |
| Bull Run Score | 68.4/100 | 64.2/100 | Siemens |
Siemens' biggest advantage is not revenue. It is ₹46,670 crore of backlog.
The backlog is almost ten times a single quarter's revenue.
That provides substantial visibility.
But backlog size is partly a function of business model.
A railway propulsion or infrastructure project can remain in Siemens' backlog for multiple years.
ABB sells a larger proportion of shorter-cycle electrification, motors, drives and automation products that can be ordered, manufactured and recognised more quickly.
A lower order-book-to-revenue ratio at ABB therefore does not automatically indicate weaker demand.
Siemens' order growth is stronger than the reported 16.5% headline suggests
The prior-year comparison contained a large Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed-rail order.
Siemens said Q1 FY2027 order growth would have been approximately 43.9% excluding that exceptional prior-year order.
That indicates healthy broad-based demand.
Smart Infrastructure was particularly strong, benefiting from grid modernisation, data centres and commercial real estate.
Digital Industries saw demand across solar manufacturing, metals, electronics, pharmaceuticals and water.
Why was Siemens' operating margin only 7.6%?
Commodity inflation, foreign-exchange pressure and higher material costs compressed profitability even as orders and revenue grew.
This is the central Siemens issue for FY2027.
The company does not have a demand problem.
It has a price-cost timing problem.
Industrial companies often sign customer contracts before copper, steel, electronics or imported-component costs are fully known.
If the rupee weakens or commodity prices increase before customer prices reset, margin contracts temporarily.
There was also a ₹39 crore one-time Mobility benefit
Even the reported 7.6% operating result contained a one-time gain inside Mobility.
This means investors should not assume the quarter's margin was purely recurring.
The useful question is whether pricing actions and procurement normalisation lift underlying margin during subsequent quarters.
Mobility makes Siemens structurally different from ABB
Siemens has a much more prominent long-cycle railway technology business in India.
Rolling stock, propulsion, signalling, electrification and train-control projects can generate years of revenue visibility.
Rail investment also carries long execution periods and customer concentration.
ABB participates in rail through electrification, motors, drives and propulsion equipment, but it is less dependent on a dedicated Mobility vertical.
ABB India's Q2 shows what a high-return short-cycle capital-goods model can look like
ABB generated ₹370 crore of PAT on ₹3,559 crore of revenue, more profit than Siemens' ₹343 crore despite having roughly 25% less revenue.
Operational EBITA increased 23% to ₹461 crore.
Margin increased slightly to 13.0%.
Orders rose 50%.
Revenue rose 21%.
This is a strong combination: rapid growth without margin sacrifice.
Why did ABB orders jump 50%?
Demand was broad rather than dependent on one mega order.
ABB highlighted activity across:
- Data centres.
- Metals and mining.
- Renewables.
- Food and beverage.
- Cement.
- Automotive manufacturing.
- Buildings and infrastructure.
Electrification benefited from low- and medium-voltage systems, ring-main units, smart-power products and data-centre demand.
Motion and Automation also contributed.
ABB's margin advantage is not cost-free
The company still faced higher copper, silver, electrical-steel, freight and energy costs.
Management also noted a timing lag in passing some price increases to customers.
Despite that, operating leverage and cost optimisation protected the margin.
This is evidence of stronger near-term price-cost execution than Siemens delivered in the same calendar quarter.
ABB's order backlog is smaller because its revenue engine turns faster
₹11,898 crore of backlog equals roughly 3.3 times Q2 revenue.
Siemens' backlog is close to ten times quarterly revenue.
The gap should not automatically be interpreted as Siemens having three times better future demand.
ABB receives a larger volume of base orders that can convert rapidly.
Siemens carries large multi-year rail and infrastructure projects.
For capital-goods analysis, backlog duration matters as much as backlog value.
Which company is more exposed to India's data-centre boom?
Both are credible beneficiaries, but through different layers of the electrical stack.
ABB sells switchgear, electrification systems, drives and automation needed inside data centres and associated infrastructure.
Siemens' Smart Infrastructure business supplies power-distribution and building-management technologies.
Neither should be valued as a pure data-centre stock.
Data centres are one growth vertical inside much larger industrial portfolios.
Which company benefits more from factory automation?
Both have deep exposure, but Siemens Digital Industries and ABB Automation approach the opportunity through different product ecosystems.
Factories increasingly need programmable control, drives, industrial software, electrification, sensors, robotics integration and energy optimisation.
The long-term opportunity is not simply selling a motor.
It is selling a connected automation architecture across the customer's production process.
That creates installed-base stickiness and service opportunities.
Why is ABB's 30% ROCE so valuable?
High ROCE shows ABB can convert factory, inventory and working-capital investment into operating profit without using financial leverage.
Bull Run records ROCE around 29.95%.
Siemens is also strong at approximately 22.16%.
Both companies are essentially debt-free.
The difference explains part of ABB's much higher price-to-book valuation.
ABB's five-year numbers explain the premium too
Bull Run records approximately 17.8% five-year sales growth and about 50% five-year profit growth for ABB India.
Its five-year free cash flow exceeds ₹4,300 crore.
Those figures reflect both industrial-capex recovery and significant margin expansion from earlier years.
Future profit cannot be assumed to grow at 50% indefinitely.
The starting margin and valuation are now much higher.
Why is Siemens' historical CAGR less useful right now?
The Siemens comparison base has been disrupted by the Energy demerger, the low-voltage-motors disposal and a change to an April-March financial year.
The preceding Siemens financial period was 18 months long.
A conventional five-year CAGR can therefore combine businesses and reporting periods that are no longer directly comparable.
Current order growth, continuing-business margin and backlog conversion are more useful measures for 2026.
Does Siemens look cheaper than ABB?
On Bull Run's August 25 standardised multiples, yes.
Siemens traded around 37.2x earnings and 9.2x book.
ABB traded around 59.2x earnings and 19.5x book.
ABB's higher ROCE and stronger recent profit-growth history justify part of that premium.
Siemens' portfolio restructuring creates an additional complication because investors should verify that the earnings denominator reflects continuing operations rather than temporary disposal gains.
Why can ABB trade at nearly 20x book?
A high P/B is economically possible when the company earns very high returns on equity and does not need much incremental balance-sheet capital to grow.
ABB's Bull Run ROE is approximately 22.4%.
Debt is effectively zero.
Order growth is strong.
That combination allows the market to value existing equity at a substantial premium.
The risk is obvious: if ROE or growth falls, a 19x book multiple can compress sharply.
How have the stocks performed?
| Market Metric | Siemens | ABB India |
|---|---|---|
| Price on 25 Aug 2026 | ₹4,090.50 | ₹7,627 |
| Market capitalisation | ₹1,27,185 Cr | ₹1,52,553 Cr |
| 1-month return | +11.52% | +3.41% |
| 3-month return | +5.46% | +5.65% |
| 6-month return | +22.58% | +24.36% |
| 1-year return | +29.26% | +49.53% |
| 52-week high | ₹4,149.40 | ₹7,924.50 |
| 52-week low | ₹2,826 | ₹4,637.50 |
| RSI 14 | 75.58 | 64.91 |
Both stocks were trading near their 52-week highs.
Siemens had stronger immediate momentum.
ABB had produced the stronger one-year return.
Neither stock was priced as a distressed capital-goods recovery.
The risks are different despite the similar end markets
Siemens risks
- Commodity and currency pressure.
- Low Q1 operating margin.
- Long-cycle project execution.
- Mobility project concentration.
- Post-divestment earnings comparability.
ABB risks
- Very high valuation multiples.
- Copper and electrical-steel inflation.
- Price-pass-through lag.
- Industrial capex slowdown.
- High expectations after strong growth.
Shared risks
- Private-capex slowdown.
- Rupee depreciation.
- Imported-component inflation.
- Competitive bidding.
- Project delays.
Siemens vs ABB India: current conclusion
ABB currently has the stronger operating economics.
It produced a 13% operational EBITA margin, almost 30% ROCE and ₹370 crore of PAT from a smaller revenue base.
Siemens currently has the stronger backlog and lower valuation profile.
Its ₹46,670 crore backlog provides exceptional visibility, while Smart Infrastructure, Digital Industries and Mobility give it exposure to multiple structural capex themes.
Siemens vs ABB India FAQs
Which has the larger order backlog?
Siemens, at approximately ₹46,670 crore versus ABB India at ₹11,898 crore.
Which grew revenue faster in April-June 2026?
ABB India, at 21% year-on-year versus Siemens at 14.8%.
Which grew orders faster?
ABB India reported 50% Q2 order growth. Siemens reported 16.5%, although Siemens said growth was 43.9% after excluding a large prior-year high-speed-rail order.
Which has the better operating margin?
ABB India. Operational EBITA margin was 13.0% versus Siemens profit from operations at 7.6%. The definitions differ slightly.
Which has higher ROCE?
ABB India at approximately 29.95% versus Siemens around 22.16% in Bull Run's August 25 snapshot.
Which has more debt?
Neither has meaningful financial leverage in Bull Run's standardised snapshot.
Which is cheaper?
Siemens on Bull Run's August 25 P/E and P/B, although its portfolio changes require careful normalisation of earnings.
Where can investors compare the stocks directly?
Use the Siemens Bull Run stock page and ABB India stock page to compare valuation, returns, ROCE, financial statements and technical data using consistent fields.
Research sources
Disclaimer
This article is educational and informational only. Siemens and ABB India use different business mixes and profitability definitions. Siemens' Q1 FY2027 contained a one-time Mobility gain and a large discontinued-operations gain from sale of its Low Voltage Motors business, while ABB India declared a special dividend partly connected with divestment proceeds. These items should not be treated as recurring operating earnings. Siemens also changed its corporate perimeter and financial-year structure, reducing the usefulness of simple historical CAGR comparisons. Financial metrics, orders, margins and stock prices change over time. Nothing here recommends buying, selling or holding Siemens, ABB India or any other security. Bull Run is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or Investment Adviser.