Gradiant, a Woburn, Massachusetts-based water and wastewater treatment specialist, has appointed a new managing director for India and secured five new design-build contracts covering ultrapure water, wastewater treatment and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems for semiconductor, printed circuit board (PCB) and solar manufacturing customers, the company said in announcements carried on 9 October 2026 (Machine Maker; The Hindu; https://megaproject.com/).
Key takeaways
- Gradiant announced five new design-build contracts in India's semiconductor, PCB and solar manufacturing sectors on 9 October 2026 (Machine Maker).
- One of the five is a repeat order from a global semiconductor manufacturer for the expansion of a fabrication facility (Machine Maker).
- Gradiant appointed Hari Prasad, formerly General Manager, Industrial Water at Pentair, as Managing Director, India (https://megaproject.com/).
- Gradiant plans to expand its India workforce by more than 40% during the year, with recruitment centred on the Gradiant Engineering Center in Coimbatore (Machine Maker).
- India currently contributes around 10% of Gradiant's annual revenue of about $500 million-$750 million, and India orders are on track to more than double this year with revenue set to more than triple (The Hindu).
What happened
The contracts bundle ultrapure water, wastewater treatment and ZLD systems designed to support continuous manufacturing operations and help customers meet India's discharge standards (Machine Maker). Gradiant said customers selected the company for its water recovery capabilities, ZLD performance and execution timelines (Machine Maker).
The customer base is undisclosed: the company did not name the chipmaker behind the repeat order, the PCB or solar customers, or the value of the individual contracts (The Hindu).
To support the new project pipeline, Gradiant plans to expand its India team across engineering, project execution, operations and digital functions, with new hiring also supporting the Gradiant Engineering Center in Coimbatore, which delivers engineering work for customers in India and international markets (Machine Maker; The Hindu).
Hari Prasad, who brings nearly 30 years of experience in water technology and has held senior positions across India, the Middle East and Africa, will lead operations and growth across the semiconductor, data centre and energy sectors in India (https://megaproject.com/).
Prakash Govindan, chief executive officer of Gradiant, framed the announcement as a vote of confidence in India's industrial build-out: "India is fast becoming one of the most important places to build the AI supply chain, from chips to circuit boards to solar cells. When a chipmaker comes back to us for its next expansion, that is the strongest endorsement we can get. With Hari's leadership and an engineering team in India that serves customers here and around the world, we are well placed to be the single accountable water partner for that build-out" (Machine Maker).
Prasad added: "A fab or a solar plant can't run a single shift without water, and the ZLD rules here leave no room for shortcuts. That is exactly where Gradiant wins, and with the pipeline in front of us, we need more engineers to keep up" (https://megaproject.com/).
Specification read
The supplied sources do not report the design flow, influent characteristics or the unit capacities of the five plants. Without a published m³/day figure or influent BOD/COD envelope, the plant class can only be described qualitatively: a fab-class ultrapure water and ZLD package in India typically combines high-recovery reverse osmosis, electro-deionisation, brine concentrators and a thermal crystalliser to deliver ZLD, with a parallel biological wastewater train (commonly MBBR or MBR) ahead of tertiary polishing to meet the Central Pollution Control Board's discharge consents. Gradiant's announcement sits at the upstream pretreatment, the recycle/reuse loop and the terminal ZLD stages, not at the front-of-plant screening or primary clarification step. Water Purification covers the upstream train where fabs generate mixed acid-alkali and organic-bearing rinse waste, while ZLD Plant: Process, Technologies & 2026 Buyer's Guide is the reference for the brine-concentrator plus crystalliser configuration that the ZLD systems in these five contracts will deploy. Industries We Serve lists the semiconductor, electronics and solar PV manufacturing segments named in the announcement. If your plant is a new Indian semiconductor fab, PCB plant or solar cell/pellet line with discharge limits that force ZLD, with influent COD in the few-thousand mg/L range and a continuous-shift uptime requirement, the design intent reported here — single-accountable water partner, recycle-heavy pretreatment, thermal ZLD finishing — is the operating model you should be specifying into your enquiry. Best Technology to Remove COD BOD From Industrial Wastewater (2026 Buyer Guide) is the reference for the biological stage a fab effluent train still needs upstream of ZLD.
FAQ
What did Gradiant actually announce on 9 October 2026?
Five new design-build contracts for ultrapure water, wastewater treatment and ZLD systems in India's semiconductor, PCB and solar manufacturing sectors, plus the appointment of Hari Prasad as Managing Director, India, and a planned India workforce increase of more than 40% during the year (Machine Maker).
Who are the customers and what is the contract value?
Gradiant disclosed that one of the five is a repeat order from a global semiconductor manufacturer expanding a fabrication facility, but did not name any customer or disclose the value of any individual contract (The Hindu).
What is the scale of Gradiant's India business?
India currently contributes around 10% of Gradiant's annual revenue of about $500 million-$750 million, and India orders are on track to more than double this year, with revenue set to more than triple (The Hindu).
What does this mean for a plant manager scoping a similar contract?
For an Indian fab, PCB or solar plant where the discharge consent forces ZLD, Gradiant is positioning itself as a single accountable partner covering pretreatment, reuse and thermal ZLD finishing. Buyers should expect the engineering centre in Coimbatore to be the hub for execution support, and should ask bidders explicitly about recovery rate, brine volume reduction and commissioning timeline, since the supplied sources do not report any of those numbers (Machine Maker).
