1. At a Glance
Dai-ichi Karkaria Ltd (DKL) is one of those companies that looks ancient, sounds sophisticated, and behaves… complicated. Founded in 1963, market cap of ₹230 Cr, stock price around ₹308, and a proud Japanese technical collaboration badge, this company should scream stability. Instead, the latest Q3 FY26 numbers whispered something closer to “hmm… what just happened?”
Quarterly sales came in at ₹37.8 Cr, down 7.1% YoY, while PAT politely fell off a cliff to ₹-0.66 Cr. ROCE is hovering at 4.29%, which is not exactly what you expect from a specialty chemical company trading at a 41x P/E.
Three-month stock return? +13.2%. One-year return? -16.1%. Dividend yield? 1.13%, which is basically a courtesy handshake.
So what is Dai-ichi Karkaria today? A specialty chemical company with legacy credentials, volatile profits, heavy dependence on other income, and margins that behave like Mumbai weather—unpredictable and moody.
Curious? You should be.
2. Introduction
Dai-ichi Karkaria is not a newbie startup selling PowerPoint slides. This is a six-decade-old specialty chemical manufacturer, ISO-certified, technically backed by Dai-ichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co., Japan, and supplying chemicals across agro, textiles, oilfields, mining, water treatment, and pretty much any industry that likes long chemical names.
On paper, this is diversification heaven.
In reality, diversification has not translated into pricing power, return ratios, or earnings consistency. Over the last decade, ROCE has oscillated between respectable and outright embarrassing. Profits have survived largely because of other income, not because operations are minting cash like peers.
FY25 sales were ₹190 Cr, PAT ₹5.57 Cr, and EPS ₹7.21. Sounds okay—until you realize the company once delivered negative ROE for multiple years and still struggles to cross mid-single-digit operating margins.
And yet… the company keeps surviving. No major dilution. Promoters still hold ~64%. Debt has come down sharply. Insurance claims from the Dahej fire incident have finally settled. A new ethoxylation reactor is coming up.
Is this a turnaround candidate or just a well-dressed value trap?
Let’s put
on the detective hat.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
If Dai-ichi Karkaria had to explain its business in one sentence, it would be:
“We make chemicals that other companies absolutely need but never remember our name.”
DKL manufactures high-performance specialty chemicals—surfactants, additives, processing chemicals—used across textiles, agrochemicals, oilfields, mining, construction chemicals, paper, water treatment, and personal care.
Their product list reads like a chemistry textbook:
- R-54560
- Lubimax 2591
- R-55164.91R
- Noigen BA 55
No consumer brand recall. No FMCG glamour. Just hardcore B2B chemistry.
Revenue mix in FY23:
- 97% product sales
- 3% other operating income
Top 5 products account for ~43% of revenue, while 54% comes from a long tail of “others”—which tells you customer dependency risk is low, but pricing power is also thin.
They also have:
- ChampionX Dai-ichi India Pvt Ltd – 50:50 JV focused on oilfield chemicals
- DGCL – 97% subsidiary
The JV supplies oilfield chemicals, which are cyclical and tender-driven. Miss one tender, and the quarter sulks. Which… happened.
4. Financials Overview
Quarterly Performance – Q3 FY26
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec-25) | YoY Qtr (Dec-24) | Prev Qtr (Sep-25) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (₹ Cr) | 37.81 | 40.71 | 42.79 | -7.1% | -11.6% |
| EBITDA (₹ Cr) | -0.29 | 2.74 | 1.79 | NA | NA |
| PAT (₹ Cr) | -0.86 | 2.62 | 0.01 | -145% | NA |
| EPS (₹) | -1.15 | 3.52 | 0.01 | NA | NA |
Yes, EBITDA went negative. Yes, PAT went negative. No, this was not expected after a decent FY25.
Management blamed temporary oilfield tender loss, which is believable—but also highlights how
