01 — At a Glance
The 165-Year-Old Engine Company That Still Doesn’t Know What It Wants to Be
- 52-Week High / Low₹245 / ₹132
- Q3 FY26 Revenue₹875 Cr
- FY25 Full Year Revenue₹2,918 Cr
- Q3 FY26 PAT₹5.92 Cr
- Annualised EPS (Q3×4)₹4.40
- Book Value₹59.1
- Price to Book2.28x
- Dividend Yield1.45%
- Debt / Equity0.13x
- FY25 EPS (Full Year)₹4.67
Reality Check: Greaves Cotton posted ₹875 Cr revenue in Q3 FY26 (+17% YoY), ₹5.92 Cr PAT (+26.4% YoY). Nine-month revenue hit ₹2,436 Cr with 16% YoY growth. But here’s the kicker: ROCE is 5.13% (industry median: 26%), the e-mobility subsidiary (GEML) lost ₹200+ Cr in FY25, and the entire company trades at P/E 29.1x. Your guess is as good as mine on valuation logic.
02 — Introduction
A Company in Three Acts. None of Them Great.
Greaves Cotton Limited was founded in 1859. Yes, 1859. That’s 165 years of manufacturing engines—from railway locomotives to the three-wheeler rickshaws that terrorize Indian roads. The company should be boring, profitable, and predictable. But like your uncle who buys a Harley after retirement, Greaves has spent the last five years reinventing itself. Poorly.
In FY24, the company was 61% engines, 23% electric scooters, 9% cables. Today? It’s still roughly the same, but each vertical is fighting for attention and capital like siblings over inheritance. Management calls this “GREAVES.NEXT”—a transformation into a “trusted, innovative, and future-ready engineering solutions company.” Translation: we don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re doing it aggressively across multiple categories.
The numbers are confusing. Revenue grows 16–17% YoY. Profit was negative ₹6 Cr in FY25 (consolidated) but bounced back this quarter. ROCE is 5.13%—lower than your fixed deposit. Yet the stock has lost 40% in one year, rating agencies just downgraded it, and the e-mobility bet (GEML) has burned ₹200 Cr+ cumulatively. But Q3 FY26 shows momentum: standalone margins expanding, core engine business strong, exports picking up. It’s like watching a company argue with itself in real-time.
From the Feb 2026 concall, management is explicit: Energy +21% YoY, Mobility +15% YoY, Industrial +3% YoY. Exports at 14% of revenues. A ₹500–700 Cr capex plan over the next two years. The strategy is clearer than before. The execution is still messy. Let’s dig into the actual numbers and see if there’s a case buried under the chaos.
Concall Highlight: “First full quarter of execution” under GREAVES.NEXT. Management admits Q2 was a strategic reset—portfolio pruning, org redesign. Translation: last quarter was painful; this one should feel better. Spoiler: margins did improve 13 bps standalone.
03 — Business Model: The Tripod That Won’t Stand
Three Businesses. One Stock. Zero Clarity.
Pillar 1: Engines & Energy Solutions (61% of FY24 revenue)
Greaves makes non-auto engines—diesel, petrol, CNG—ranging from 1.5 HP to 700 HP. Gensets, pump sets, agricultural equipment, material handling. Boring. Profitable. Leadership in 3-wheeler engine market. The problem: 3-wheeler diesel demand is collapsing. FY17 sales were 2,71,000 units; FY25 was 100,088 units. That’s an 80% decline in 8 years. Management’s solution? Pivot to fuel-agnostic engines, CNG, and electric powertrains. Also gensets—because everyone loves gensets. They project 10–12% CAGR in gensets over 5 years. Maybe. Industrial solids, but the tailwind is fading.
Pillar 2: Greaves Electric Mobility (23% of FY24 revenue; Ampere brand)
The company makes electric 2-wheelers (e-scooters) and 3-wheelers under the Ampere brand. Market position: sixth-largest in e-2W. Market share: 3.6% in FY25 (down from 5.7% in FY24, 12.3% in FY23). Volumes +40% QoQ in Q3, crossed 2.5 lakh cumulative sales, but still tiny. FY25 loss: ₹200.9 Cr (unchanged from FY24’s ₹205.6 Cr). The company didn’t achieve a single quarter of profitability. Yet the IPO roadshow is live. Narrative: “path to profitability is very strong,” but timelines deferred because IPO. Translation: they’ll tell you post-IPO, maybe. Regional strength in Bihar (21.5% share), but that doesn’t pay bills nationally.
Pillar 3: Excel Controlinkage (9% of FY24 revenue; acquired May 2023)
Cables, control levers, pedals. Grew 41% in FY24, 17% in 9M FY26 domestically. But exports took a hit due to Russia sanctions (a “significantly large customer” was impacted). Management expects recovery. This segment is high-margin and feels like a smart acquisition to drive “engineered solutions” narrative. Actually profitable. 35% of revenue is exports. Real upside if geopolitical winds shift.
The Unspoken Truth: Each vertical needs different capital, different talent, different go-to-market. Gensets? Relationship selling, site-specific. E-scooters? Volume-driven, retail-driven, subsidy-driven. Cables? Manufacturing excellence. The company is trying to be three businesses and succeeding at none. Profitably. Yet.
Energy Growth+21%9M FY26 YoY
Mobility Growth+15%9M FY26 YoY
Industrial Growth+3%9M FY26 YoY
Overall Consolidated+16%9M FY26 YoY
Capex Commitment: Management flagged ₹500–700 Cr capex over coming years, “front-loaded in the first 2 years.” Sounds aggressive. Context: Greaves is a ₹3,167 Cr market-cap company. This is 16–22% of current market cap in capex. If execution is poor, shareholders will burn. India Ratings downgraded them to ‘IND AA-‘ in Jun 2025 on this exact concern.
💬 Which vertical would YOU bet on: Gensets (mature), E-scooters (loss-making), or Cables (small but profitable)? The company can’t decide. Can you?
04 — Financials Overview
Q3 FY26: The Numbers That Don’t Tell a Story
Result type: Quarterly Results (Q3 FY26) | Q3 EPS: ₹1.10 | Annualised EPS (Q3×4): ₹4.40 | Full-year FY25 EPS: ₹4.67
| Metric (₹ Cr) |
Q3 FY26
Dec 2025 |
Q3 FY25
Dec 2024 |
Q2 FY26
Sep 2025 |
YoY % |
QoQ % |
| Revenue | 875.47 | 750.60 | 815.46 | +16.6% | +7.4% |
| Operating Profit | 62.12 | 39.67 | 51.88 | +56.6% | +19.8% |
| OPM % | 7.10% | 5.29% | 6.36% | +181 bps | +74 bps |
| PAT | 5.92 | 5.92 | 6.32 | +26.4% | -6.3% |
| EPS (₹) | 1.10 | 0.90 | 1.12 | +22.2% | -1.8% |
The Setup & The Punchline: Q3 FY26 shows genuine momentum. Revenue +16.6% YoY, Operating Profit +56.6% (yes, margin expansion is real). But here’s the gotcha: consolidated PAT is ₹5.92 Cr because GEML is burning cash in the background. The standalone business (Greaves Cotton Ltd) posted ₹23.9 Cr PAT (data from India Ratings). Standalone operating EBITDA was ₹78 Cr, +18% YoY with 13 bps margin expansion. So the core engine/genset/cables business is ACTUALLY healthy. The e-scooter subsidiary is just dragging it down like an anchor chained to a Ferrari.
The Red Flag: Consolidated PAT flat YoY (₹5.92 Cr both Q3 FY25 and Q3 FY26) despite revenue +16.6% and Op Profit +56.6% is suspicious. India Ratings noted “negative cash flow from operations for the fourth consecutive year” in their downgrade rationale. Translation: profit on paper, cash hemorrhage in reality.
05 — Valuation Discussion: Is This Even Worth ₹3,167 Crore?
Three Methods. Three Answers. Pick Your Poison.
