3M India Limited

Industrials — Conglomerates · NSE

₹30,500.00−₹135.00 (−0.44%)

DalalBaazaar Score

64 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of 3M India Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

3M India Limited manufactures and trades in various products in India and internationally. It operates in four segments: Safety & Industrial; Transportation & Electronics; Health Care; and Consumer.

IndustryConglomerates

SectorIndustrials

Employees1,273

Annual revenue₹5,087 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹5,087 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹10 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹20 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,273 employees supports ₹4.00 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹4.00 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?The numbers suggest a real one

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 47.5%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 29.5% against a peer median of 15.2% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

Peer median ROE15.2%

What is the outlook?

1 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 11.8% and earnings to grow about 12.1% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+11.8%

Est. earnings growth+12.1%

Analysts1

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +29% while net margin moved -10% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+29%

Margin effect-10%

DalalBaazaar Score

64/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 59.5x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 74.3x
✗ P/B of 19.43x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

70/ 100

Good

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

46/ 100

Fair

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

59.5x

3Y Median

74.3x

40 monthly readings · mean 73.0x · range 50.8x–98.1x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 20% below its 3y median of 74.3x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟢Against its sector it trades 33% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Fair

74.3x median over 40 months · -20%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -33%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

32.6x

PEG

11.86

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 16.8% to 20.3% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 35.4% to 47.5%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 47.5% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 2 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 535% over 3 years, from ₹27 Cr to ₹170 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 9.60x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 47.5% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 16.8% to 20.3%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 33% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 9.60x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Several serious flags at once
2 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1EBITDA margin holds above 18%✓ 20.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 8.7% CAGR
Latest reported year was 19.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹455 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.2x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 45%✓ 47.5%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

9 / 12 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✓ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✗ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

6 good · 2 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹34,358 Cr

Mid Cap

Mid-sized — more growth headroom, but sharper swings than large caps

P/E (Trailing)

59.5x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

19.43x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹512.82

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

29.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

47.5%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

9.60x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

19.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

31.2%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.52%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹455 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

39.2x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

15.6%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

10.9%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.18

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.28

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

19%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

31974.0 / 33142.0

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

22.9

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3,957 Cr	₹4,187 Cr	₹4,443 Cr	₹5,087 Cr	+8.7%
EBITDA	₹665 Cr	₹844 Cr	₹842 Cr	₹1,033 Cr	+15.8%
EBITDA Margin	16.8%	20.1%	18.9%	20.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹451 Cr	₹583 Cr	₹476 Cr	₹522 Cr	+5.0%
EPS	₹400.37	₹517.9	₹422.6	₹463.66	+5.0%
ROE	26.9%	27.2%	25.8%	29.5%	—
ROCE	35.4%	35.8%	39.8%	47.5%	—
Total Debt	₹27 Cr	₹18 Cr	₹100 Cr	₹170 Cr	+85.1%
Free Cash Flow	₹405 Cr	₹612 Cr	₹300 Cr	₹455 Cr	+4.0%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 8.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 15.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 16.8% to 20.3% over 3 years (+3.5 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 5.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 5.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 26.9% to 29.5% over 3 years (+2.7 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 35.4% to 47.5% over 3 years (+12.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 85.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 4.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹3,137 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,369 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹812 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹514 Cr

Capex

-₹58 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

9.7%

Insider Holding

76.5%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹160

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Jul 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

1 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹37,500

+23.0% vs CMP

Target Range

₹37,500 – ₹37,500

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

2 positive3 mixed1 general

3M India (3MINDIA.NS) Trades Near ₹30,320 as Stock Coils in a Tight Range - Fibonacci Time Zone

siam.in, 13 Oct

3MINDIA Forecast — Price Target — Prediction for 2027

TradingView, 25 JunAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

3M India's (NSE:3MINDIA) 12% CAGR outpaced the company's earnings growth over the same five-year period

Simply Wall Street, 05 FebResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

3M India Shares Fall Over 2%, Trading at Rs 35,410

Moneycontrol.com, 14 AugPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Dividend alert! 3M India announces Rs 506/share dividend for shareholders. Check record date

The Economic Times, 22 MayCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

3M India gains as Q4 PAT surges 202%; declares dividend of Rs 506/sh

Business Standard, 22 MayCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Profitability

MiddlingFinancial Health · Growth · Risk

WeakValuation

Points for each in the Score ↑

Good business at a fair price

A sound business at a reasonable valuation. Suitable for a long-term holding, with the valuation and the direction of margins worth watching rather than the business itself. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑