Gulf Lloyds (India) Limited

Industrials — Specialty Business Services · BSE

₹31.00−₹0.18 (−0.58%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

High

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:09 pm

Mixed / neutral. No major red flags jump out, but nothing here screams "obviously cheap" either. This is a name that needs a peer comparison and a view on near-term earnings triggers before sizing a position.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Gulf Lloyds (India) Limited provides testing, inspection, and certification services in India.

IndustrySpecialty Business Services

SectorIndustrials

Employees611

Annual revenue₹36 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹36 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹12 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹21 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 611 employees supports ₹5.8 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin21.4%

Net margin12.1%

Revenue / employee₹5.8 lakh

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.

LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.P/E 30.1x · ROE 15.2%

SIEMENS LTDP/E 88.8x · ROE 10.5%

ABB INDIA LIMITEDP/E 92.6x · ROE 19.1%

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

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 35.9%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 35.6% 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.

ROCE35.9%

ROE35.6%

Peer median ROE15.2%

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 +173% while net margin moved +37% 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+173%

Margin effect+37%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

67/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

88/ 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

4.9x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Against its sector it trades 95% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -95%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

P/E (Trailing)

4.9x

P/B

1.09x

EV/EBITDA

4.4x

PEG

0.09

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 14.5% to 21.4% over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 35.9% 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 Attention5

Debt is rising
Total debt is up 2415% over 3 years — worth checking what it funded.
Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 38.8% to 31.6% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 49.1% to 35.9% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.
Receivables growing faster than sales
Receivables are up 373% against revenue growth of 173% — customers are taking longer to pay.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 2415% over 3 years, from ₹1 Cr to ₹16 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 373% against revenue up 173% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 8.6x to 5.3x.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 35.9% 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 14.5% to 21.4%. 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 95% 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?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 373% against revenue up 173%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 38.8% to 31.6%. 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.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
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
3 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 30% a year✓ 39.7% CAGR
Latest reported year was 0.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 19%✓ 21.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 2.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹3 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 33%✓ 35.9%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

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

5 good · 4 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹21 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

4.9x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.09x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹6.39

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

35.6%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

35.9%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

1.13x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

0.2%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-7.8%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹4 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹31

ROA

14.4%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

18.3%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

11.6%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.57

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

31.4 / 36.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

RSI (14)

44.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹13 Cr	₹23 Cr	₹36 Cr	₹36 Cr	+39.7%
EBITDA	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹8 Cr	₹8 Cr	+59.2%
EBITDA Margin	14.5%	12.4%	21.2%	21.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹4 Cr	+55.0%
EPS	₹1.72	₹2.49	₹6.94	—	—
ROE	38.8%	36.0%	50.1%	31.6%	—
ROCE	49.1%	35.9%	51.1%	35.9%	—
Total Debt	₹1 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹16 Cr	+193.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹0 Cr	-₹5 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹3 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 39.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 59.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 14.5% to 21.4% over 3 years (+7.0 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 55.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 38.8% to 31.6% over 3 years (-7.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 49.1% to 35.9% over 3 years (-13.2 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 193.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹35 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹22 Cr

Total Debt

₹16 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹3 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹1 Cr

Capex

-₹1 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

72.9%

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

6 general

Gulf Lloyds (India) IPO Date, Price Band, GMP, Subscription & Allotment

IndiaIPO, 15 Jul

BSE SME Gulf Lloyds' market voyage begins in the red

Business Standard, 27 Jul

Gulf Lloyds shares set for market debut today. Here's what GMP suggests ahead of listing

The Economic Times, 27 Jul

Gulf Lloyds (India) Ltd Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 28 Aug

GULF LLOYDS (INDIA) LIMITED Share Price

Upstox, 25 Jul

Gulf Lloyds India IPO subscribed 8.3 times on day 2

Moneycontrol.com, 21 Jul

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟢Business QualityStrong13.9/20

🟡Financial HealthAdequate10.9/20

🟢GrowthStrong14.9/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong10.4/15

🟢ValuationAttractive13/15

🔴RiskHigh2.5/10

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

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 30% a year39.7% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above 19%21.4%
✗Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x2.1x
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹3 Cr
✓ROCE stays above 33%35.9%