Krishival Foods Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · NSE

₹373.90−₹10.30 (−2.68%)

DalalBaazaar Score

60 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:48 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Krishival Foods Limited engages in the processing, selling, and trading of dry fruits and nuts. The company offers cashews, almonds, dry figs, peanuts, raisins, and pistachios, as well as related dry fruit products. It also sells its products through online.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees79

Annual revenue₹293 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹293 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹7 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹13 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 79 employees supports ₹3.70 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.70 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD, TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD, DABUR INDIA LTD. 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 14.2% 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 ROE51.0%

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 +318% while net margin moved -23% 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+318%

Margin effect-23%

DalalBaazaar Score

60/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of -0.86 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

62/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

66/ 100

Fair

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

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

38.3x

3Y Median

69.2x

40 monthly readings · mean 68.8x · range 42.1x–94.5x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 45% below its 3y median of 69.2x. 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 26% below the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

69.2x median over 40 months · -45%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

51.7x median of 4 peers · -26%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

25.3x

PEG

0.80

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.18x 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

6 items require attention · 3 high · 3 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 280% over 3 years, from ₹10 Cr to ₹36 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 1036% against revenue up 318% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹52 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Margins are compressingFinancial
EBITDA margin is down 3.3 points over 3 years.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 23% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 45% 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 26% 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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 16.4% to 13.1%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 1036% against revenue up 318%. 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
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 46% a year✓ 61.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 79.6%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 11%✓ 13.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹52 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.9x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 11%✓ 14.2%
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

4 good · 6 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹958 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

38.3x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

4.36x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹9.77

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

11.2%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

14.2%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.18x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

79.6%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

15.7%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.09%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹52 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

9.6%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

6.6%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

5.19

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.86

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

41%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

399.3 / 402.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

24.4

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹70 Cr	₹103 Cr	₹202 Cr	₹293 Cr	+61.1%
EBITDA	₹11 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹38 Cr	+49.3%
EBITDA Margin	16.4%	14.8%	12.5%	13.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹7 Cr	₹9 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹21 Cr	+47.7%
EPS	₹3.2	₹4.15	₹5.77	₹8.87	+40.5%
ROE	10.3%	7.7%	10.0%	11.2%	—
ROCE	14.6%	10.2%	13.6%	14.2%	—
Total Debt	₹10 Cr	₹7 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹36 Cr	+56.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹32 Cr	-₹41 Cr	₹33 Cr	-₹52 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 61.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 49.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 16.4% to 13.1% over 3 years (-3.3 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 47.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 40.5% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 11.2% over 3 years.

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 14.2% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 56.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹250 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹50 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹28 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹15 Cr

Capex

-₹37 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

113.8%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.35

Ex-Dividend Date

21 Sept 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD	59.3x	7.5%
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%

Recent News

6 general

Compare with

Equitymaster, 17 Oct

Krishival Foods vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 01 Oct

We Think Shareholders Should Be Aware Of Some Factors Beyond Krishival Foods' (NSE:KRISHPP) Profit

Simply Wall Street, 12 May

Krishival Foods lists converted equity shares on NSE and BSE

scanx.trade, 18 Aug

Krishival Foods Ltd

Equitypandit, 27 Jan

Krishival Foods Standalone June 2026 Net Sales at Rs 37.38 crore, up 9.79% Y-o-Y

Moneycontrol.com, 18 Aug

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

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability · Valuation

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑