1. At a Glance – When Your Tyre Costs More Than Your Bike
MRF is that rare Indian company whose share price makes retail investors feel personally attacked. At ₹1,46,455 per share, MRF continues its decades-long commitment to not splitting shares and testing the emotional resilience of small investors. Market cap? A solid ₹62,114 crore. Latest quarterly numbers? Sales of ₹8,050 crore, PAT of ₹749 crore, and a YoY profit growth of 137% that screams, “rubber prices behaved, and operating leverage finally showed up.”
ROCE sits at 13.6%, ROE at 10.6%, OPM at 15.5%, and debt is a manageable ₹3,631 crore with Debt/Equity of just 0.19. Dividend yield is a polite 0.16%, basically MRF saying, “We respect dividends, but we love capex more.”
In the last three months, the stock cooled off (-7.75%), but zoom out to one year and you’re staring at a ~30% return. Not bad for a company that sells tyres, not dreams.
So the big question: is MRF just flexing on price charts, or is there real rubber-meets-the-road substance underneath? Buckle up.
2. Introduction – India Drives, MRF Profits
MRF isn’t just a tyre company. It’s an Indian industrial institution. From Ambassador cars to Formula racing tyres, from tractors to trucks hauling half the country’s GDP, MRF rubber has seen it all.
Founded as Madras Rubber Factory, MRF today commands ~30% market share in the Indian tyre industry. That’s not a typo. In a brutal, capital-heavy, commodity-linked business, holding 30% share means you’ve outlasted cycles, wars on pricing, raw material shocks, and every possible auto slowdown.
FY24 revenue grew 9% YoY, driven by 12% volume growth, despite price cuts. OEM demand grew 11%, replacement market grew 10%, and exports—though smaller—continue to diversify risk. Replacement contributes 71% of revenue, which is code for “steady cash flows even when OEMs cry.”
MRF’s story isn’t flashy. There’s no SaaS multiple fantasy here. It’s a grind-it-out, asset-heavy, scale-driven machine.
And in Q3 FY26, that machine clearly hit a sweet spot.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
At its core, MRF does one thing extremely well: it puts rubber on wheels. Everything else is just supporting infrastructure.
Product Arsenal
MRF manufactures tyres across:
- Passenger Cars
- 2W & 3W
- Trucks & Buses
- LCVs, SCVs, MCVs, ICVs
- Farm tractors
- OTR (Off-the-Road) tyres
Tyres alone form 91% of FY24 revenue. Tubes contribute 6%, while specialty coatings, sports goods, and other side quests make up the remaining 3%.
Yes, they also own Funskool, which makes toys. No, it doesn’t move the needle financially. It just adds personality.
Customer Mix
- Replacement: 71%
- OEM: 21%
- Exports: 8%
This is important. Replacement demand is sticky, margin-stable, and less cyclical. OEM demand gives volume visibility. Exports add diversification.
Distribution Muscle
MRF has 5,000+ dealers across India. That’s not a network; that’s a moat with signboards.
Manufacturing Footprint
- 9 plants across India
- Tyre capacity: 85.44 million units
- Tube capacity: 47.56 million units
Translation: if India drives, MRF prints.
Lazy investor question: Can anyone realistically replicate this scale quickly? Short answer—no.
4. Financials Overview – The Quarter Where Everything Clicked
Q3 FY26 Financial Comparison (₹ crore)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec FY26) | YoY Qtr (Dec FY25) | Prev Qtr (Sep FY26) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 8,050 | 7,001 | 7,379 | 14.99% | 9.1% |
| EBITDA | 1,399 | 835 | 1,126 | 67.6% | 24.2% |
| PAT | 692 | 315 | 526 | 119.7% | 31.6% |
| EPS (₹) | 1,631 | 744 | 1,239 | 119.3% | 31.6% |
Yes, EBITDA margins
