1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Pain
If you blink, you’ll miss the profits. If you stare, you’ll see the stress.
AksharChem (India) Ltd is currently sitting at a market cap of ~₹181 crore, trading around ₹225, which is 0.69× book value—the kind of valuation that screams “either deep value or deep trouble.” Over the last 3 months the stock is down ~16%, 6 months down ~19%, and 1 year down ~12%, which means long-term holders are not investors anymore—they’re emotionally attached.
Latest Q3 FY26 (Dec 2025) numbers show:
- Revenue: ₹80.38 crore (YoY -11%)
- PAT: ₹ -4.62 crore
- EPS: ₹ -5.75
- Operating Margin: ~3.6%
- ROCE: ~3.5%
- Debt: ~₹75 crore
On the positive side, promoters still hold 62.7% with zero pledge, exports contribute ~63% of revenue, and the company just expanded precipitated silica capacity to 18,000 TPA. On the negative side—almost everything else.
Is this a cyclical bottom or a structural headache? Let’s open the lab report.
2. Introduction – From Chemistry to Alchemy (But the Gold Is Missing)
AksharChem was incorporated in 1989, back when dyes were booming, China wasn’t dumping, and compliance didn’t require a PhD in environmental law. For years, the company quietly made money supplying dye intermediates, pigments, and precipitated silica to global customers.
Then came:
- Global textile slowdown
- Chinese oversupply
- Input cost volatility
- A fire incident at the Vinyl Sulphone (VS) plant in May 2024
- Partial shutdowns
- Fixed costs refusing to cooperate
The result? FY23 loss, FY24 pain, FY25 barely breathing, and Q3 FY26 slipping back into losses.
Yet, AksharChem didn’t fold. It:
- Shifted CPC Green production to a new facility
- Commissioned 5.19 MW solar power (because electricity bills were bullying margins)
- Expanded silica capacity aggressively
- Retained export-heavy geography (Europe, US, Asia)
So the company isn’t dead. But is it healing—or just surviving?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even
Do?
AksharChem is a chemical intermediate player, meaning it doesn’t sell to Instagram influencers—it sells to factories that sell to factories that sell to brands.
Four Core Buckets:
1) Dye Intermediates
- Vinyl Sulphone (VS)
- H-Acid
- OAVS, Sulpho VS
These are critical inputs for reactive dyes used in textiles.
2) Dyes
- Reactive Black 5
- Reactive Blue 21
Mostly commodity-ish, price-sensitive, and brutally cyclical.
3) Pigments
- Pigment Green 7 (CPC Green)
Used in inks, coatings, plastics—more stable than textile dyes.
4) Precipitated Silica
- Used in tyres, footwear soles, rubber goods, animal feed, pesticides, dental & food applications
This is the “less-fashion-more-function” segment and currently management’s favourite child.
Production happens primarily at Dahej, Gujarat, with ISO certifications stacked like chemistry textbooks.
The catch?
This is a high fixed-cost, low pricing power business. When volumes fall, profits don’t just fall—they disappear.
Would you rather sell toothpaste or sell the chemical that makes toothpaste foam? Exactly.
4. Financials Overview – Numbers Don’t Lie, They Just Hurt
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec’25) | YoY Qtr (Dec’24) | Prev Qtr (Sep’25) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 80.38 | 90.69 | 89.30 | -11.4% | -10.0% |
| EBITDA | 2.93 | 6.32 | 2.35 | -53.6% | +24.7% |
| PAT | -4.62 | +1.19 | -1.37 | -488% | -237% |
| EPS (₹) | -5.75 | +1.48 | -1.71 | NA | NA |
Witty takeaway:
Revenue slipped, margins collapsed, depreciation and interest stayed loyal (to lenders), and profits waved goodbye.
👉 Question for you: If volumes don’t recover, how long
