Bhagiradha Chemicals & Industries Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹211.25−₹9.22 (−4.18%)

DalalBaazaar Score

40 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:49 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Bhagiradha Chemicals & Industries Limited manufactures and sells crop protection chemicals in India, rest of Asia, and Europe.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees527

Annual revenue₹536 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹536 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹3 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹10 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 527 employees supports ₹1.02 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.02 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS 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 3.9% 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 ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +7% while net margin moved -62% 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+7%

Margin effect-62%

DalalBaazaar Score

40/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 2.2% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit has declined at 26.2% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

37/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

41/ 100

Expensive

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

99.6x

3Y Median

185.7x

40 monthly readings · mean 152.3x · range 27.3x–255.3x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 46% below its 3y median of 185.7x. 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 247% above the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

185.7x median over 40 months · -46%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

28.7x median of 4 peers · +247%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

53.7x

PEG

3.20

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 14.4% to 2.6% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 19.1% to 3.9% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

8 items require attention · 3 high · 5 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 367% over 3 years, from ₹50 Cr to ₹235 Cr.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 59% against revenue up 7% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 5.9x to 2.6x.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 60% over 3 years.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 4.9 points over 3 years.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 60% against revenue up 7% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 25% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 46% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
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 15.1% to 10.3%. 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 4.3x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 59% against revenue up 7%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 247% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 2.2% 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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 8%✓ 10.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.3x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹148 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.6x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✗ 2.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 57.6%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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

4 good · 3 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹2,739 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

99.6x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

3.92x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹2.12

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

2.6%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

3.9%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.34x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

57.6%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

31.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.07%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹148 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

11.4%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

4.5%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.78

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.52

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

28%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

234.1 / 257.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

26.0

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹502 Cr	₹407 Cr	₹440 Cr	₹536 Cr	+2.2%
EBITDA	₹76 Cr	₹42 Cr	₹39 Cr	₹55 Cr	-10.2%
EBITDA Margin	15.1%	10.3%	8.8%	10.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹45 Cr	₹18 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹18 Cr	-26.2%
EPS	₹4.43	₹1.61	₹1.14	₹1.4	-31.9%
ROE	14.4%	4.4%	2.0%	2.6%	—
ROCE	19.1%	7.1%	4.1%	3.9%	—
Total Debt	₹50 Cr	₹62 Cr	₹89 Cr	₹235 Cr	+67.2%
Free Cash Flow	-₹46 Cr	-₹45 Cr	-₹305 Cr	-₹148 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 2.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 10.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 15.1% to 10.3% over 3 years (-4.9 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 26.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 31.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 14.4% to 2.6% over 3 years (-11.8 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 19.1% to 3.9% over 3 years (-15.2 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 67.2% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,120 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹422 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹16 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹12 Cr

Capex

-₹160 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

3.7%

Insider Holding

63.4%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.15

Ex-Dividend Date

23 Jul 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

2 positive1 mixed3 general

Bhagiradha Chem & Inds Share Price

Upstox, 16 Oct

Bhagiradha Chemicals & Industries Limited (NSE:BHAGCHEM) Investors Are Less Pessimistic Than Expected

Simply Wall Street, 03 Jan

Bhagiradha Chemicals Q2 FY27 Outlook

Univest, 17 SeptResults

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

Bhagiradha Chemicals & Industries consolidated net profit rises 234.92% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 03 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Bhagiradha Chemicals Q1FY27 net profit rises 29% to ₹106.8M

scanx.trade, 03 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Bhagiradha Chemicals Share Price: Buy or Sell

Univest, 09 Sept

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

MiddlingFinancial Health · Valuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Risk

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. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

4 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x; Revenue growth stays above 4% a year · see Key things to watch ↑