1. At a Glance – The Paper That Burned, Recovered, and Now Trades at 4.3x Book
Shree Krishna Paper Mills & Industries Ltd is currently sitting at a market cap of ₹155 crore, with the stock at ₹115. In the last 3 months alone, it has sprinted 36.8%, and over 1 year it’s up a dramatic 145%. Not bad for a company that once had its waste paper godown literally on fire.
Latest Q3 FY26 (December 2025) numbers show sales of ₹49.91 crore and PAT of ₹0.47 crore, a 135% jump in quarterly profit. Sounds heroic? Hold on. Full TTM PAT is ₹3.02 crore on ₹220 crore sales. That’s a net margin of roughly 1.3%. This is not a Ferrari business. This is a tempo traveller.
Stock P/E is 51.4 while industry median P/E is around 20. Price to book is 4.3x. ROE? A gentle 3.37%. Promoters hold 42.25%… and have pledged 84.4% of that.
So the real question is: is this a turnaround phoenix story or just glossy paper wrapping thin margins?
Let’s open the file.
2. Introduction – The Long Journey from 1974 to 2026
Incorporated in 1974, Shree Krishna Paper Mills has survived five decades in one of India’s most brutally cyclical industries — paper. This is not a fancy SaaS company. This is pulp, waste paper, chemicals, boilers, and hard cash cycles.
The company manufactures 15 varieties of paper and operates:
- Coating division in Haryana
- Paper division in Rajasthan
- Manufacturing plant at Keshwana, Jaipur
It sells across India and exports to Southeast Asia.
In 2022, a major fire damaged its waste paper godown. Thankfully, no human casualties. Insurance was informed. Loss assessment was underway. Imagine building margins of 3–5% and then watching raw material burn. Brutal.
Debt was restructured back in 2009 under CDR. Preference shares were issued to banks including Bank of India, Dena Bank (now Bank of Baroda), Andhra Bank (now Union Bank), and Catholic Syrian Bank. In FY25, after paying ₹1.5 crore dividend on preference shares, the CDR package was officially closed.
Delisting from Calcutta Stock Exchange completed April 2, 2025.
This company has lived through:
- Fire
- Debt restructuring
- Delisting
- Director reshuffling
- Postal ballot for borrowings up to ₹500 crore
Now tell me — boring paper company or low-budget Netflix drama?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
They make paper. But not the “I print memes at home” type only.
Product portfolio includes:
- Maplitho & Offset Printing Paper
- Copier Paper
- Newsprint
- Kraft Paper (bleached & unbleached)
- Thermal Sensitive Paper
- Greaseproof Paper
- Insulation Kraft Paper
- Chromo Paper
- Construction Paper
Basically, if you’ve read a newspaper, printed a bill, wrapped food, or built shuttering at a construction site — they might have been involved.
Clients include:
- Daily Ajit
- Amar Ujala Publications Limited
- Hindustan Media Ventures Limited
So yes, they supply to serious publishers.
But here’s the thing about paper manufacturing:
- Raw material: waste paper
- Energy intensive
- Working capital heavy
- Inventory days high
- Margins thin
This is not a “pricing power” business. It’s a volume and efficiency game.
If pulp prices rise, margins shrink.
If demand slows, inventory builds.
If receivables
