MANIPAL PAYMENT & IDE S L

Technology — Software - Infrastructure · NSE

₹331.00−₹4.45 (−1.33%)

DalalBaazaar Score

73 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Low

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Nothing on this snapshot stands out as an immediate concern — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:07 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 MANIPAL PAYMENT & IDE S L — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions Limited operates as a smart card manufacturer.

IndustrySoftware - Infrastructure

SectorTechnology

Employees1,809

Annual revenue₹1,317 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,317 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹19 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹34 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,809 employees supports ₹72.8 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin33.7%

Net margin19.2%

Revenue / employee₹72.8 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT, INFOSYS LIMITED, HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD, WIPRO LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LTP/E 17.3x · ROE 45.6%

INFOSYS LIMITEDP/E 15.8x · ROE 32.0%

HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTDP/E 20.4x · ROE 24.6%

WIPRO LTDP/E 14.5x · ROE 15.9%

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

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 43.4%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 32.0% against a peer median of 32.0% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

ROCE43.4%

ROE32.0%

Peer median ROE32.0%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +47% while net margin moved +46% 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+47%

Margin effect+46%

DalalBaazaar Score

73/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• P/E of 30.3x already prices in growth
✗ P/B of 9.29x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

86/ 100

Excellent

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

Valuation

42/ 100

Expensive

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

A good business, but the price already reflects that. The quality is real; the question is whether you are overpaying for it today.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

30.3x

Sector Median

16.5x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Against its sector it trades 83% above the peer median of 16.5x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Expensive

16.5x median of 4 peers · +83%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

30.3x

P/B

9.29x

EV/EBITDA

17.3x

PEG

1.04

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 19.9% to 33.7% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 205% over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 43.4% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.19x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Debt is rising
Total debt is up 33% over 3 years — worth checking what it funded.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 33% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 43.4% 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 19.9% to 33.7%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹126 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?

A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 83% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Size brings its own risk
Small 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

1Revenue growth stays above 10% a year✓ 13.7% CAGR
Latest reported year was 47.8%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 32%✓ 33.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹126 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.3x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 40%✓ 43.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 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

7 good · 3 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹7,673 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

30.3x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

9.29x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹10.93

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

32.0%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

43.4%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.19x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

47.8%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

115.9%

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

₹126 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹331

Operating Margin

24.9%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

20.3%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.90

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

11%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹895 Cr	₹1,240 Cr	₹1,245 Cr	₹1,317 Cr	+13.7%
EBITDA	₹178 Cr	₹358 Cr	₹411 Cr	₹444 Cr	+35.7%
EBITDA Margin	19.9%	28.9%	33.1%	33.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹118 Cr	₹249 Cr	₹282 Cr	₹253 Cr	+29.1%
EPS	₹5.08	₹10.75	₹12.17	—	—
ROE	—	278.0%	92.8%	32.0%	—
ROCE	43.9%	35.0%	63.3%	43.4%	—
Total Debt	₹115 Cr	₹492 Cr	₹565 Cr	₹153 Cr	+9.9%
Free Cash Flow	₹41 Cr	₹297 Cr	₹218 Cr	₹126 Cr	+45.1%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 13.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 35.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 19.9% to 33.7% over 3 years (+13.9 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 29.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 278.0% to 32.0% over 3 years (-246.0 pts).

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 43.4% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 9.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 45.1% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,161 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹369 Cr

Total Debt

₹153 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹155 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹208 Cr

Capex

-₹81 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

9.3%

Insider Holding

69.8%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT	17.3x	45.6%
INFOSYS LIMITED	15.8x	32.0%
HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD	20.4x	24.6%
WIPRO LTD	14.5x	15.9%

Recent News

1 general

MANIPAL PAYMENT & IDE S L Share Price - Live NSE: MPIMANIPAL Stock Price & Chart

Upstox, 16 Oct

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟢Business QualityStrong16.7/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong17.8/20

🟢GrowthStrong16.1/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong14.1/15

🔴ValuationDemanding5/15

🔴RiskHigh3.5/10

Good business, demanding price

The quality is real and the price already reflects it. Buying here is a bet that the business keeps compounding for long enough to grow into the multiple — which good businesses often do, but it removes the margin for error that a lower price would have given you.

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 10% a year13.7% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above 32%33.7%
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹126 Cr
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x0.3x
✓ROCE stays above 40%43.4%