The Standard Batteries Limited

Basic Materials — Steel · BSE

₹39.41+₹0.69 (+1.78%)

DalalBaazaar Score

39 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

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

In simple words: The company is currently losing money. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:05 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

The Standard Batteries Limited does not have significant operations. It was previously engaged in steel and metal business. The company was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Mumbai, India.

IndustrySteel

SectorBasic Materials

Employees4

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, JINDAL STEEL LIMITED, STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

TATA STEEL LIMITEDP/E 19.8x · ROE 10.8%

JSW STEEL LIMITEDP/E 12.0x · ROE 24.7%

JINDAL STEEL LIMITEDP/E 39.1x · ROE 5.3%

STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIAP/E 16.5x · ROE 7.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of -51.8% 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.

ROCE-51.8%

ROE-51.8%

Peer median ROE10.8%

DalalBaazaar Score

39/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ No meaningful P/E — the company is lossmaking
✗ P/B of 21.27x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

43/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

21/ 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

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

P/B

21.27x

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -781.5% to -51.8%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from -781.5% to -51.8%.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹0 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹0 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

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

1Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹0 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
2ROCE stays above 8%✗ -51.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

3 / 9 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ 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

0 good · 4 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹20 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

21.27x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹-0.96

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-51.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-51.8%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Revenue Growth (YoY)

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Profit Growth (YoY)

-160.7%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹0 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹39.41

Operating Margin

0.0%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

0.0%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.32

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.18

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

17%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

41.4 / 42.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

26.6

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
EBITDA	-₹5 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹5 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	—
EPS	₹-10.39	₹-0.1	₹1.58	₹-0.96	—
ROE	-781.5%	-7.8%	56.2%	-51.8%	—
ROCE	-781.5%	-7.8%	56.2%	-51.8%	—
Free Cash Flow	-₹0 Cr	-₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	-₹0 Cr	—

🟢 ROE has risen from -781.5% to -51.8% over 3 years (+729.8 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -781.5% to -51.8% over 3 years (+729.8 pts).

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1 Cr

Total Debt

—

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹0 Cr

Capex

—

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

23.1%

Insider Holding

43.4%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
JINDAL STEEL LIMITED	39.1x	5.3%
STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA	16.5x	7.1%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

Standard Batteries closes trading window from Oct 1 ahead of Q2FY27 results

scanx.trade, 25 SeptResults

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

Standard Batteries Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 30 Aug

3 Best Lithium Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest

The Motley Fool, 01 Sept

Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Q1 results: Net profit rises 16% to ₹191 crore

Business Standard, 10 AugResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Quit Buying Single-Use Batteries. Get These Rechargeables Instead.

The New York Times, 13 Aug

Greaves Cotton Launches Ampere Reo Vyb Electric Scooter at ₹69,499 with 80km Range

Sahi, 17 Jun

Watch Items

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

🔴Business QualityWeak7.8/20

🔴Financial HealthStretched8.2/20

🟡GrowthModest10/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak6.2/15

🔴ValuationDemanding2.6/15

🔴RiskHigh4/10

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. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

This thesis breaks if

✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹0 Cr
✗ROCE stays above 8%-51.8%