Indo National Limited

Industrials — Electrical Equipment & Parts · NSE

₹308.00−₹0.95 (−0.31%)

DalalBaazaar Score

36 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, but sales are shrinking. Whether sales start growing again is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Indo National Limited manufactures and distributes dry cell batteries, rechargeable batteries, flashlights, and general lighting products in India.

IndustryElectrical Equipment & Parts

SectorIndustrials

Employees523

Annual revenue₹452 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹452 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-3 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 523 employees supports ₹86.5 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹86.5 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED, HAVELLS INDIA 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 -7.1% 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 ROE17.1%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -21% while net margin moved +485% 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-21%

Margin effect+485%

DalalBaazaar Score

36/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 7.5% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

33/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

36/ 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 Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 71% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 167% over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.11x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from -2.5% to -8.7% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 0.6% to -7.1% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -9.2x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹26 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 6.4 points, from 3.3% to -3.2%.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 57.4x to -9.2x.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 71% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹14 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 3.3% to -3.2%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from -2.5% to -8.7%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
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

1EBITDA margin holds above -5%✓ -3.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -9.2x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹14 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4ROCE stays above 8%✗ -7.1%
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

4 good · 2 neutral · 5 weak

Market Cap

₹231 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

0.76x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-33.63

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-8.7%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-7.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.11x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-2.8%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

108.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

1.22%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹14 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-2.8%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-5.6%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

2.02

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.46

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

24%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

317.7 / 322.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

41.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹572 Cr	₹641 Cr	₹467 Cr	₹452 Cr	-7.5%
EBITDA	₹19 Cr	₹49 Cr	₹162 Cr	-₹14 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	3.3%	7.6%	34.7%	-3.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹6 Cr	₹10 Cr	₹124 Cr	-₹26 Cr	—
EPS	₹-7.59	₹12.83	₹165.02	₹-35.12	—
ROE	-2.5%	4.1%	28.2%	-8.7%	—
ROCE	0.6%	8.6%	28.9%	-7.1%	—
Total Debt	₹136 Cr	₹145 Cr	₹60 Cr	₹39 Cr	-33.9%
Free Cash Flow	₹5 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹97 Cr	₹14 Cr	+38.8%

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 7.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has turned negative, from ₹19 Cr to -₹14 Cr.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 3.3% to -3.2% over 3 years (-6.4 pts).

🔴 ROE has fallen from -2.5% to -8.7% over 3 years (-6.2 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 0.6% to -7.1% over 3 years (-7.7 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 33.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 38.8% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹431 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹123 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹6 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹42 Cr

Capex

-₹28 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

71.2%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹3.75

Ex-Dividend Date

21 Sept 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%
HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED	43.5x	17.1%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Indo-National vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 29 Sept

Indo National settles ₹2.36 crore distributor dues via promoter group deal

scanx.trade, 12 Oct

Indo National Limited (NSE:NIPPOBATRY) Goes Ex-Dividend Soon

Simply Wall Street, 17 SeptCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Indo National Share Price Jumps Over 19% on Tuesday; Here’s Why

Dalal Street Investment Journal, 05 MayPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Indo National acquires 0.79% stake in Medcuore for ₹49.9 lakh

scanx.trade, 05 Oct

Indo National NIPPOBATRY Invests in Axial Aero Private Limited

Kalkine India, 17 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-2.8%) 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

MiddlingValuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · 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.

2 of 4 tripwires tripped — Interest cover stays above 3x; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑