Insecticides (India) Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹580.00−₹0.70 (−0.12%)

DalalBaazaar Score

69 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Low

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

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, but sales are shrinking. The direction of profits is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:55 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Insecticides (India) Limited manufactures and sells agrochemicals, pesticides, and technical products for agriculture in India and internationally.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees1,749

Annual revenue₹2,137 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹2,137 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹7 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹11 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,749 employees supports ₹1.22 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.22 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 16.1% 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?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +19% while net margin moved +86% 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+19%

Margin effect+86%

DalalBaazaar Score

69/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.42 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal

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

13.5x

3Y Median

20.0x

40 monthly readings · mean 20.7x · range 10.9x–37.3x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 33% below its 3y median of 20.0x. 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 53% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

20.0x median over 40 months · -33%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -53%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

7.7x

PEG

0.45

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well6

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 6.8% to 10.7% over 3 years.
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 6.9% to 11.4%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 10.2% to 16.1%.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.13x 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

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 64% against revenue up 19% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 6.8% to 10.7%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 33% 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 53% 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 ₹6 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 64% against revenue up 19%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 5.9% 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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 9%✓ 10.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 5.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was -11.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹6 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.7x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 13%✓ 16.1%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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

₹1,688 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

13.5x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.38x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹43.05

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

11.4%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

16.1%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.13x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-11.5%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-24.5%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

0.69%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹6 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

8.6x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

9.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.1%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.96

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.42

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

24%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

588.5 / 602.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

38.0

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,797 Cr	₹1,956 Cr	₹1,994 Cr	₹2,137 Cr	+5.9%
EBITDA	₹122 Cr	₹169 Cr	₹230 Cr	₹228 Cr	+23.3%
EBITDA Margin	6.8%	8.6%	11.5%	10.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹63 Cr	₹102 Cr	₹142 Cr	₹139 Cr	+30.2%
EPS	₹21.36	₹34.49	₹48.38	₹47.91	+30.9%
ROE	6.9%	10.1%	13.1%	11.4%	—
ROCE	10.2%	13.4%	17.6%	16.1%	—
Total Debt	₹163 Cr	₹87 Cr	₹105 Cr	₹157 Cr	-1.2%
Free Cash Flow	-₹98 Cr	₹138 Cr	₹56 Cr	₹6 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 5.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 23.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 6.8% to 10.7% over 3 years (+3.9 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 30.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 30.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 6.9% to 11.4% over 3 years (+4.5 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 10.2% to 16.1% over 3 years (+5.9 pts).

🟡 Total Debt has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.2% a year).

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹98 Cr to ₹6 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,000 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹780 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹87 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹100 Cr

Capex

-₹95 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

9.4%

Insider Holding

76.8%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹4

Ex-Dividend Date

06 Feb 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 mixed2 negative1 general

Insecticides India Q1 profit falls 24% as weak rainfall hurts sales

CNBC TV18, 11 AugResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

Insecticides (India) Share Price Target 2026: Rs 850 Analyst Forecast

Univest, 11 JunAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Insecticides India FY26 revenue rises 7% to ₹2,140 crore

scanx.trade, 04 OctResults

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

Insecticides Q1 Results: Net Profit Tanks 25%, Revenue Declines 12%

NDTV Profit, 11 AugResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

Insecticides India Posts ₹14.4 Crore Q4 Profit with 19.4% Revenue Surge to ₹430 Crore

Sahi, 29 MayResults

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

Insecticides (India) vs Nifty 50: Returns Compared

Univest, 30 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-11.5%) 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

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Growth · 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.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑