Vikas Lifecare Limited

Consumer Defensive — Farm Products · NSE

₹1.18−₹0.02 (−1.67%)

DalalBaazaar Score

51 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with both sales and profits growing well. 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 Vikas Lifecare Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Vikas Lifecare Limited engages in manufacturing and trading of polymers, chemicals, iron and steel, and plastic products in India and Ghana.

IndustryFarm Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Annual revenue₹499 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹499 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹4 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD., ITC LTD, NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD. 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 2.3% 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 ROE51.0%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +5% while net margin moved -215% 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+5%

Margin effect-215%

DalalBaazaar Score

51/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 1.6% — barely ahead of inflation

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

45/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

78/ 100

Cheap

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

11.8x

2Y Median

27.3x

28 monthly readings · mean 30.1x · range 13.2x–61.0x

Sector Median

43.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 57% below its 2y median of 27.3x. 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 73% below the peer median of 43.3x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

27.3x median over 28 months · -57%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

43.3x median of 4 peers · -73%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

16.5x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

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 -4.6% to 3.3%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from -5.5% to 2.3%.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.19x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 1 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 247% over 3 years, from ₹30 Cr to ₹105 Cr.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 29% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 57% 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 73% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹308 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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 5.4x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 1.6% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
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

1EBITDA margin holds above 2%✓ 3.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 5.4x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.1x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
4Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✗ 1.6% CAGR
Latest reported year was 24.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹308 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

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

6 good · 2 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹219 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

11.8x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.40x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.1

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

3.4%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

2.3%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.19x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

24.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

273.4%

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

-₹36 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

-3.7%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

-16.4%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

3.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.65

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.34

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

12%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1.2 / 1.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

33.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹476 Cr	₹446 Cr	₹480 Cr	₹499 Cr	+1.6%
EBITDA	₹15 Cr	₹5 Cr	-₹2 Cr	₹20 Cr	+9.2%
EBITDA Margin	3.2%	1.1%	-0.3%	3.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹15 Cr	₹14 Cr	-₹11 Cr	₹18 Cr	—
EPS	₹-0.12	₹0.08	₹-0.04	—	—
ROE	-4.6%	2.9%	-2.0%	3.3%	—
ROCE	-5.5%	3.9%	-1.5%	2.3%	—
Total Debt	₹30 Cr	₹34 Cr	₹77 Cr	₹105 Cr	+51.4%
Free Cash Flow	-₹130 Cr	-₹58 Cr	-₹235 Cr	₹308 Cr	—

🟡 Revenue has been broadly flat over 3 years (1.6% a year).

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 9.2% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 3.9% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹15 Cr to ₹18 Cr.

🟢 ROE has risen from -4.6% to 3.3% over 3 years (+8.0 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from -5.5% to 2.3% over 3 years (+7.7 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 51.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹130 Cr to ₹308 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹760 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹209 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹310 Cr

Capex

-₹2 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

14.2%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD.	42.5x	21.5%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Vikas Lifecare (VIKASLIFE) Share/Stock Price Live, NSE

TechGraph, 08 Oct

87 Best Penny Stocks Under 5 Rs In India For October 2026

Samco, 14 Oct

Solid Earnings Reflect Vikas Lifecare's (NSE:VIKASLIFE) Strength As A Business

Simply Wall Street, 02 JulResults

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

Why Is Vikas Lifecare Share Price Falling Key Reasons 2026

Univest, 29 JunPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Compare DEVIKA FINST with

Equitymaster, 14 Oct

Vikas Lifecare (VIKASLIFE.NS) Slips 1.65% to ₹1.19 as Stock Hovers Near Key Support - Elliott Wave Entry

https://www.siam.in/, 16 Sept

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingFinancial Health · Profitability

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Interest cover stays above 3x; Revenue growth stays above 4% a year · see Key things to watch ↑