Vishnu Chemicals Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹643.30+₹2.80 (+0.44%)

DalalBaazaar Score

53 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, 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, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Vishnu Chemicals Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of chromium chemicals in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees548

Annual revenue₹1,603 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,603 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹9 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹16 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 548 employees supports ₹2.93 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.93 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 15.4% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE22.3%

What is the outlook?

1 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 10.0% and earnings to grow about 26.9% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+10.0%

Est. earnings growth+26.9%

Analysts1

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +16% while net margin moved -10% 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+16%

Margin effect-10%

DalalBaazaar Score

53/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 4.9% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit CAGR of only 1.4%

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

52/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

56/ 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

28.9x

3Y Median

26.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 24.6x · range 13.1x–35.8x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 11% above its 3y median of 26.1x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

🟢Against its sector it trades 28% below the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Fair

26.1x median over 40 months · +11%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

40.4x median of 4 peers · -28%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

18.4x

PEG

21.01

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 33.0% to 13.3% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 30.4% to 15.4% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 3 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 74% over 3 years, from ₹303 Cr to ₹527 Cr.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 72% against revenue up 16% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 147% against revenue up 16% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹130 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Cheaper than its peers
It trades 28% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
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 72% against revenue up 16%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 4.9% 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.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 33.0% to 13.3%. 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.
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 14%✓ 16.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 2.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹130 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 4.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was 24.9%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
5ROCE stays above 12%✓ 15.4%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 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

5 good · 5 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹4,330 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

28.9x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

4.02x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹22.28

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

13.3%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

15.4%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.49x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

24.9%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

23.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.05%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹130 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

18.4x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

12.5%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

8.8%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.60

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.05

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

64%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

677.4 / 662.1

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

32.2

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,388 Cr	₹1,209 Cr	₹1,441 Cr	₹1,603 Cr	+4.9%
EBITDA	₹231 Cr	₹204 Cr	₹231 Cr	₹263 Cr	+4.4%
EBITDA Margin	16.6%	16.9%	16.0%	16.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹137 Cr	₹101 Cr	₹127 Cr	₹142 Cr	+1.4%
EPS	₹22.86	₹15.9	₹19.23	₹21.14	-2.6%
ROE	33.0%	14.4%	13.7%	13.3%	—
ROCE	30.4%	18.8%	16.9%	15.4%	—
Total Debt	₹303 Cr	₹239 Cr	₹342 Cr	₹527 Cr	+20.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹17 Cr	-₹53 Cr	₹2 Cr	-₹130 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 4.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 4.4% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 16.4% over 3 years.

🟡 PAT (Net Profit) has been broadly flat over 3 years (1.4% a year).

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 2.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 33.0% to 13.3% over 3 years (-19.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 30.4% to 15.4% over 3 years (-15.0 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 20.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹17 Cr to -₹130 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,088 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,013 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹8 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹127 Cr

Capex

-₹257 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

7.8%

Insider Holding

70.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.3

Ex-Dividend Date

21 Aug 2026

Analyst Consensus

Target Price (Mean)

₹650

+1.0% vs CMP

Target Range

₹650 – ₹650

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

2 mixed4 general

Vishnu Chemicals Parwada Plant Resumes Full Operations After Maintenance

scanx.trade, 18 Oct

Vishnu Chemicals 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.

Vishnu Chemicals bets on integration, speciality chemicals and export diversification

Indiatimes, 25 Aug

Vishnu Chemicals To Hold Analyst And Investor Meeting On September 5

Sahi, 31 AugAnalyst view

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

Vishnu Chemicals Limited (NSE:VISHNU) CEO Cherukuri Murthy, the company's largest shareholder sees 10% reduction in holdings value

Simply Wall Street, 13 Jan

Vishnu Chemicals hosts investor meet with Vizag plant visit on Sep 11

scanx.trade, 31 Aug

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

WeakGrowth

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. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x; Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑