Kothari Industrial Corporation Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹148.60+₹1.57 (+1.07%)

DalalBaazaar Score

39 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, the company is currently loss-making, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, 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, 7:02 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Kothari Industrial Corporation Limited engages in the manufacturing and mixing of fertilizers in India and internationally. It operates through Fertilizers, Drone, FMCG, Hotel, and Leather segments. The company offers NPK mixtures; sainten and mask and rusk; and food products.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees853

Annual revenue₹177 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹177 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-41 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-9 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 853 employees supports ₹20.7 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹20.7 lakh

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 -11.7% 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 +1767% while net margin moved -80% 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+1767%

Margin effect-80%

DalalBaazaar Score

39/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Return on equity is negative

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

44/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

21/ 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.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -63.6% to -9.1% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 14% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from -33.3% to -11.7%.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.21x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 3 high · 2 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -7.7x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 3 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹72 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from -8.2x to -7.7x.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 465% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from -63.6% to -9.1%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

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 124% a year✓ 165.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 32.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above -11%✓ -9.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹100 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -7.7x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ -11.7%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

5 / 10 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

Price history

Quick Metrics

2 good · 2 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹1,605 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

5.89x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹-7.97

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-31.2%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-11.7%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.21x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

32.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-346.5%

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

-₹100 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-21.9%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-60.1%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.58

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.78

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

56%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

RSI (14)

48.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹9 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹83 Cr	₹177 Cr	+165.3%
EBITDA	-₹6 Cr	-₹6 Cr	-₹14 Cr	-₹16 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-63.6%	-46.8%	-17.3%	-9.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹20 Cr	₹32 Cr	-₹16 Cr	-₹72 Cr	—
EPS	₹-15.05	₹26.27	₹-4.07	₹-7	—
ROE	—	406.1%	-9.0%	-31.2%	—
ROCE	-33.3%	523.6%	-8.6%	-11.7%	—
Total Debt	₹73 Cr	₹33 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹63 Cr	-4.7%
Free Cash Flow	₹1 Cr	-₹32 Cr	-₹164 Cr	-₹100 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 165.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -63.6% to -9.1% over 3 years (+54.5 pts).

🔴 ROE has fallen from 406.1% to -31.2% over 3 years (-437.3 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -33.3% to -11.7% over 3 years (+21.6 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 4.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹1 Cr to -₹100 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹311 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹80 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹10 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹40 Cr

Capex

-₹140 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

1.2%

Insider Holding

65.0%

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

Kothari Industrial (KOTIC) Share/Stock Price Live, NSE

TechGraph, 09 Oct

Kothari Industrial Corporation shares now listed on the NSE as well

BusinessLine, 20 Apr

Kothari Industrial share price zooms 11%! Stock down 74% in one year | What’s fuelling the rally?

Livemint, 10 SeptPrice 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.

Kothari Industrial passes all four resolutions at 56th AGM

scanx.trade, 01 Oct

Kothari Industrial Corporation secures food services contract worth Rs 12 cr

Business Standard, 25 AugOrder win

🟢Potentially positiveAn order or contract win, which adds to future revenue. How much depends on its size against annual sales and on when it is executed.

Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 31 Aug

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

MiddlingFinancial Health

WeakBusiness Quality · Profitability · Valuation · 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 — Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑