The State Trading Corporation of India Limited

Industrials — Conglomerates · NSE

₹105.60−₹1.42 (−1.33%)

DalalBaazaar Score

32 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

HIGH RISK

Risk

Very High

Driven by negative shareholders' equity — the company owes more than it owns, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The company owes more than it owns — years of losses have wiped out its net worth. Solvency — whether it can keep funding itself at all — is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 8:28 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

The State Trading Corporation of India Limited does not have significant operations. Previously, it was engaged in the import and export of bulk commodities of rice, wheat, sugar, pulses, edible oils, fertilizers, coal, and bullion.

IndustryConglomerates

SectorIndustrials

Employees113

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

DalalBaazaar Score

32/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders' equity is negative — accumulated losses exceed the capital in the business

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

30/ 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.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

1.0x

3Y Median

17.5x

40 monthly readings · mean 17.8x · range 9.1x–26.4x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 94% below its 3y median of 17.5x. 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 99% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

17.5x median over 40 months · -94%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -99%

vs. generic bands

N/A

Multiples unreliable — equity base is negative

EV/EBITDA

35.4x

PEG

0.01

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
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

3 items require attention · 1 high · 2 watch

🔴Negative shareholders' equityFinancial
Liabilities exceed assets — accumulated losses have wiped out the company's net worth.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 46% over 3 years.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.36 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 94% 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 99% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Solvency comes before everything else
Liabilities exceed assets. Until net worth is rebuilt, the equity is a claim on a business that owes more than it owns, and further losses or a funding squeeze can leave shareholders with nothing.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 23.0x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
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

1Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 23.0x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
2Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹52 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Valuation vs its own median of 17.5x✓ 1.0x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

4 / 8 checks passed

✗ Shareholders' equity is positive (assets exceed liabilities)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ 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 · 5 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹634 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

1.0x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹109.12

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Return on equity can't be read when equity itself is negative

ROCE

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Debt/Equity

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Shareholders' equity is negative, so this ratio can't be read

Revenue Growth (YoY)

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Profit Growth (YoY)

922.2%

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

₹52 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

59.2%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

0.0%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.36

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.59

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

16%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

107.3 / 112.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

43.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
EBITDA	₹36 Cr	-₹61 Cr	₹77 Cr	₹51 Cr	+12.7%
PAT (Net Profit)	₹32 Cr	₹51 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹648 Cr	+173.2%
EPS	₹8.74	₹12.03	₹5.1	—	—
Total Debt	₹806 Cr	₹1,981 Cr	₹1,981 Cr	₹1,175 Cr	+13.4%
Free Cash Flow	-₹62 Cr	-₹23 Cr	-₹171 Cr	₹52 Cr	—

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

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 173.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 13.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹62 Cr to ₹52 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,213 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹6,161 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹52 Cr

Capex

—

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

90.0%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

19 Sept 2013

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

1 mixed2 negative3 general

STC fined ₹1.53 lakh each by BSE and NSE for delayed Q1FY27 results

scanx.trade, 18 OctRegulatory

🔴Potentially negativeRegulatory and legal actions carry a financial cost and a governance question. The second usually matters more than the first.

The State Trading Corporation of India Share Price Outlook: Where It Could Be in 3 Years

Univest, 04 Aug

State Trading Corporation of India standalone net profit declines 71.11% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 26 AugResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

The State Trading Corporation Of India Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 02 Sept

STCINDIA Trading Window Closed Ahead of Q1 Results

Kalkine India, 23 SeptResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

The State Trading Corporation of India Share: Bull Case vs Bear Case for 2026

Univest, 25 Sept

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
3 metrics couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Avoid until solvency is resolved

The State Trading Corporation of India Limited owes more than it owns. Whatever the operating numbers show, the equity is a residual claim on a business with negative net worth, and that question has to be settled before any of the rest is worth weighing. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 3 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x · see Key things to watch ↑