ABC India Limited

Industrials — Trucking · BSE

₹61.74+₹0.54 (+0.88%)

DalalBaazaar Score

49 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Low

Driven by micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with modest growth. Thin profit margins are the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

ABC India Limited operates as a logistics company in India. It operates in two segment, Freight and Services; and Petrol Pump. The company provides full truck load and project transportation services. ABC India Limited was founded in 1958 and is based in Kolkata, India.

IndustryTrucking

SectorIndustrials

Employees86

Annual revenue₹164 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹164 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹1 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 86 employees supports ₹1.91 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.91 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 6.1% are at or below what the capital likely costs. That is the financial pattern of a business competing largely on price, where advantage has to come from execution rather than position.

Peer median ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +13% while net margin moved -52% 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+13%

Margin effect-52%

DalalBaazaar Score

49/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 4.2% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit has declined at 18.2% a year
✗ Profit is compounding slower than revenue — margins are being squeezed as the business grows

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

41/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

67/ 100

Fair

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

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

13.9x

3Y Median

15.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 18.1x · range 11.5x–37.1x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 10% below its 3y median of 15.5x. 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 84% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Fair

15.5x median over 40 months · -10%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -84%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

48.4x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 32% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.24x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 10.2% to 4.0% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 11.8% to 6.1% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 2 watch

🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 45% over 3 years.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 3.0 points over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 32% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 84% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹5 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 3.6% to 0.6%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 14.7x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 4.2% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 10.2% to 4.0%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above -1%✓ 0.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 14.7x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.3x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 4.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 9.1%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹5 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

Investment Checklist

7 / 11 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
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

6 good · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹33 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

13.9x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.57x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹4.45

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

4.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

6.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.24x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

9.1%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

633.3%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.81%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹5 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-0.2%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

1.4%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.77

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.72

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

29%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

62.1 / 63.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

55.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹145 Cr	₹165 Cr	₹185 Cr	₹164 Cr	+4.2%
EBITDA	₹5 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹1 Cr	-43.4%
EBITDA Margin	3.6%	4.0%	3.2%	0.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹4 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	-18.2%
EPS	₹7.79	₹4.21	₹4.56	₹4.26	-18.2%
ROE	10.2%	5.1%	4.5%	4.0%	—
ROCE	11.8%	9.9%	8.5%	6.1%	—
Total Debt	₹21 Cr	₹21 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹14 Cr	-12.3%
Free Cash Flow	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹5 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 4.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 43.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 3.6% to 0.6% over 3 years (-3.0 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 18.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 18.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 10.2% to 4.0% over 3 years (-6.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 11.8% to 6.1% over 3 years (-5.8 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 12.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹0 Cr to ₹5 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹102 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹43 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹5 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

75.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.5

Ex-Dividend Date

21 Sept 2026

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

1 positive5 general

ABC Industries India (NSEI:ABCOTS) - Stock Analysis

Simply Wall Street, 17 Oct

ABC India Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 31 Aug

ABC India sets Sept 28 for AGM; recommends ₹0.50 dividend per share

scanx.trade, 28 SeptCapital return

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

ABC India Ltd is Rated Strong Sell

MarketsMojo, 06 Oct

ABC Gas (International) Upper Circuit Today: Price, Data and Peers

Univest, 08 Oct

ABC India Ltd. Financials – Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Cash Flow

Value Research, 30 Aug

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingRisk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑