Dharmaj Crop Guard Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹260.55+₹0.15 (+0.06%)

DalalBaazaar Score

69 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Low

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

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with modest growth. Nothing obvious stands out as stretched — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:02 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Dharmaj Crop Guard Limited engages in manufacturing, distributing, and marketing of a range of agro chemical formulations in India.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees803

Annual revenue₹1,136 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,136 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹5 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹10 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 803 employees supports ₹1.41 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.41 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 16.2% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE22.3%

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 +117% while net margin moved -6% 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+117%

Margin effect-6%

DalalBaazaar Score

69/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.09 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

69/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

81/ 100

Cheap

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

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

14.6x

3Y Median

24.3x

40 monthly readings · mean 23.3x · range 13.7x–35.7x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 40% below its 3y median of 24.3x. 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 49% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

24.3x median over 40 months · -40%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -49%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

9.3x

PEG

0.55

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 8.5% to 12.2%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 11.6% to 16.2%.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.29x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
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

4 items require attention · 4 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 152% over 3 years, from ₹52 Cr to ₹132 Cr.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 286% against revenue up 117% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 185% against revenue up 117% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 40% 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.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 49% 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 ₹1 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?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 286% against revenue up 117%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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.
Several serious flags at once
4 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

1Revenue growth stays above 22% a year✓ 29.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was 4.1%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 8%✓ 9.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.2x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 13%✓ 16.2%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

9 / 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 · 5 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹881 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

14.6x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.97x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹17.8

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

12.2%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

16.2%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.29x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

4.1%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

17.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

₹1 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

13.7%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

5.2%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.55

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.09

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

51%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

272.8 / 271.4

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

18.4

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹522 Cr	₹653 Cr	₹949 Cr	₹1,136 Cr	+29.5%
EBITDA	₹52 Cr	₹68 Cr	₹78 Cr	₹108 Cr	+27.3%
EBITDA Margin	10.0%	10.4%	8.2%	9.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹27 Cr	₹44 Cr	₹35 Cr	₹55 Cr	+26.7%
EPS	₹9.76	₹13.13	₹10.3	₹16.17	+18.3%
ROE	8.5%	12.3%	8.8%	12.2%	—
ROCE	11.6%	13.8%	12.2%	16.2%	—
Total Debt	₹52 Cr	₹112 Cr	₹116 Cr	₹132 Cr	+36.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹93 Cr	-₹183 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹1 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 29.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 27.3% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 9.5% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 26.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 18.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 8.5% to 12.2% over 3 years (+3.6 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 11.6% to 16.2% over 3 years (+4.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 36.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹93 Cr to ₹1 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹841 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹392 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹28 Cr

Capex

-₹27 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

73.6%

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

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Dharmaj Crop Guard vs Excel Industries vs Ultramarine and Pigments: Which Stock Should You Track

Univest, 16 Oct

Here's Why We Think Dharmaj Crop Guard (NSE:DHARMAJ) Is Well Worth Watching

Simply Wall Street, 24 Sept

Dharmaj Crop Guard secures dismissal of interim injunction in patent suit

scanx.trade, 16 Oct

Dharmaj Crop Guard Q1 Standalone Net Profit Rises to ₹38 Crore Versus ₹32.6 Crore YoY

Sahi, 07 AugResults

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

Dharmaj Crop Guard Bets on Branding with Rohit Sharma as a Brand Ambassador; Capacity Expansion to Fuel Next Phase of Growth

Dalal Street Investment Journal, 15 AprCapacity

🟡Mixed / dependsCapacity additions can raise revenue over two to three years, but the capital spend usually pressures free cash flow first. Worth checking whether the capex is funded from operations or from borrowing.

Dharmaj Crop Guard vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 16 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

StrongFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑