Responsive Industries Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹151.50−₹0.18 (−0.12%)

DalalBaazaar Score

67 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, 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, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Responsive Industries Limited manufactures and sells polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based products in India and internationally. The company provides vinyl flooring, synthetic leather/ropes, and luxury vinyl tile, including LVT-SPC and waterproofing membranes.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees377

Annual revenue₹1,394 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,394 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹11 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹18 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 377 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 ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL 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 10.2% 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 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 +43% while net margin moved +325% 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+43%

Margin effect+325%

DalalBaazaar Score

67/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.70 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

73/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

55/ 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

39.9x

3Y Median

36.3x

40 monthly readings · mean 121.4x · range 17.0x–385.9x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 36.3x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟡Against its sector it is priced broadly in line with the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Fair

36.3x median over 40 months · +10%

vs. sector peers

Fair

40.4x median of 4 peers · -1%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

17.3x

PEG

0.48

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well7

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 11.7% to 17.5% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 25% 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 2.5% to 9.5%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 4.3% to 10.2%.
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 high

🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 119% against revenue up 43% — 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 11.7% to 17.5%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 25% 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 ₹23 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 119% against revenue up 43%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 10% a year✓ 12.7% CAGR
Latest reported year was 13.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 16%✓ 17.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹23 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.8x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✓ 10.2%
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

3 good · 6 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹4,039 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

39.9x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.59x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹3.8

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

10.2%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

10.2%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.13x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

13.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-57.6%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

0.07%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹55 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

5.9%

Average

Average asset productivity

Operating Margin

6.7%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

10.6%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

6.16

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.70

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

28%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

157.6 / 158.7

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

35.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹974 Cr	₹1,087 Cr	₹1,418 Cr	₹1,394 Cr	+12.7%
EBITDA	₹113 Cr	₹255 Cr	₹299 Cr	₹244 Cr	+29.1%
EBITDA Margin	11.7%	23.5%	21.1%	17.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹24 Cr	₹161 Cr	₹199 Cr	₹148 Cr	+82.6%
EPS	₹0.91	₹6.05	₹7.46	₹5.57	+82.9%
ROE	2.5%	14.2%	14.8%	9.5%	—
ROCE	4.3%	16.3%	15.5%	10.2%	—
Total Debt	₹260 Cr	₹215 Cr	₹256 Cr	₹195 Cr	-9.1%
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	₹35 Cr	₹23 Cr	₹23 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 12.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 29.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 11.7% to 17.5% over 3 years (+5.9 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 82.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 82.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 2.5% to 9.5% over 3 years (+7.0 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 4.3% to 10.2% over 3 years (+5.9 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 9.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹1 Cr to ₹23 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,853 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹295 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹10 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹40 Cr

Capex

-₹17 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

5.5%

Insider Holding

87.6%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.1

Ex-Dividend Date

14 Aug 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed1 negative3 general

Responsive Industries promoter group releases 10 lakh shares from pledge

scanx.trade, 15 OctOwnership

🔴Potentially negativePromoter selling or pledging is a signal worth understanding, though the reason is often personal rather than about the business.

Responsive Industries Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 27 Aug

Responsive Industries Share Price Target 2027 to 2030: Analyst Outlook

Univest, 14 AugAnalyst view

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

Responsive Industries Board to Review Equity Share Buyback Proposal

Sahi, 11 SeptCapital return

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

Volume Gainers Today, July 17, 2026: Relaxo, Responsive Industries, Campus Activewear Lead Volume Surge on Friday

HDFC Sky, 17 Jul

There's Reason For Concern Over Responsive Industries Limited's (NSE:RESPONIND) Price

Simply Wall Street, 25 Jan

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability

MiddlingValuation

WeakRisk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Good business at a fair price

A sound business at a reasonable valuation. Suitable for a long-term holding, with the valuation and the direction of margins worth watching rather than the business itself. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑