Hindprakash Industries Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹128.45+₹5.15 (+4.18%)

DalalBaazaar Score

43 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:47 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Hindprakash Industries Limited manufactures and trades in dyes, auxiliaries, intermediates, and chemicals in India and internationally. The company offers acid, cationic basic, disperse, direct, and reactive dyes.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees84

Annual revenue₹115 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹115 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹4 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 84 employees supports ₹1.37 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.37 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL 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 10.4% 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?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +14% while net margin moved -2% 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+14%

Margin effect-2%

DalalBaazaar Score

43/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 5.0% is weak

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

40/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

49/ 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

41.8x

3Y Median

88.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 80.5x · range 45.5x–112.2x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 53% below its 3y median of 88.1x. 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 is priced broadly in line with the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

88.1x median over 40 months · -53%

vs. sector peers

Fair

40.4x median of 4 peers · +4%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

36.1x

PEG

11.41

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

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 · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 53% over 3 years, from ₹21 Cr to ₹33 Cr.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only 1.8x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴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.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹9 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 53% 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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 6.7x 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 4.5% 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.
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

1EBITDA margin holds above 2%✓ 4.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 6.7x
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✗ -₹9 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 1.8x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 4.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was -11.9%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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

2 good · 5 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹147 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

41.8x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

2.69x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹3.07

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

5.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

10.4%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.60x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-11.9%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

733.3%

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

-₹9 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-10.8%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

3.1%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.55

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.34

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

47%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

117.6 / 121.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

61.6

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹101 Cr	₹99 Cr	₹102 Cr	₹115 Cr	+4.5%
EBITDA	₹6 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹4 Cr	₹5 Cr	-4.0%
EBITDA Margin	5.5%	5.1%	4.3%	4.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	+3.7%
EPS	₹2.3	₹1.39	₹1.44	₹2.4	+1.4%
ROE	5.8%	3.1%	3.2%	5.0%	—
ROCE	11.1%	8.9%	7.2%	10.4%	—
Total Debt	₹21 Cr	₹22 Cr	₹30 Cr	₹33 Cr	+15.2%
Free Cash Flow	₹3 Cr	₹3 Cr	-₹5 Cr	-₹9 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 4.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 4.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 5.5% to 4.3% over 3 years (-1.2 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 3.7% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EPS has been broadly flat over 3 years (1.4% a year).

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 5.0% over 3 years.

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 10.4% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 15.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹3 Cr to -₹9 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹91 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹37 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹3 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹9 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

84.7%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

06 Sept 2024

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Hindprakash Industries Share Price Fall With Valuation View

Univest, 15 OctPrice 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.

Volume Gainers Today, October 14, 2026 at 12:00 PM

HDFC Sky, 14 Oct

Hindprakash Industries Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 29 Aug

CREST VENTURES Stock/Share price , NSE/BSE Forecast News and Live Quotes

Equitymaster, 17 Oct

Hindprakash Industries Ltd is Rated Strong Sell

MarketsMojo, 07 Oct

Hindprakash Industries Upper Circuit Today: Price, Data and Peers

Univest, 14 Oct

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-11.9%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Valuation

WeakGrowth · 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.

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