1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Pivot
IKIO Technologies is currently a ₹1,281 crore market-cap company trading at ₹166, down ~29% in 3 months and 34% over 1 year, yet still flexing a P/E of ~67× like nothing happened. Q3 FY26 revenue came in at ₹146 crore, up 19.8% YoY, while PAT stood at ₹11 crore, growing 16.6% YoY. On the surface, this looks like a classic “growth stock correction”. But scratch a little deeper and you’ll notice something spicy: IKIO is no longer a home-lighting company. Nearly 70% of revenue now comes from ‘Other Businesses’ — commercial refrigeration lighting, RV products, industrial lighting, solar, and even consumer electronics like earbuds and smartwatches.
ROCE has cooled to 8.2%, ROE to 5.5%, and margins have compressed hard compared to IPO-era glory days. Debt is manageable at ₹59 crore, promoters still hold a comfy 72.5%, and exports are slowly but surely rising to 23% of revenue. So the big question: Is IKIO a misunderstood ODM story in temporary pain, or a diversification experiment running ahead of its balance sheet? Let’s investigate.
2. Introduction – From Fancy Lights to Everything-With-a-Chip
Once upon a time, IKIO Lighting was pitched as a premium LED lighting ODM riding the Philips/Signify wave. Investors loved the story: asset-light branding, deep backward integration, and marquee clients. Fast forward to FY26, and IKIO has quietly shapeshifted into a diversified EMS/ODM platform with fingers in everything from RV lighting in the US to commercial refrigeration LEDs, solar systems, lithium batteries, and yes, even earbuds and smartwatches.
This is no longer a “ghar ka bulb” story. Home lighting is now just 31% of Q2 FY26 revenue, while “Other Business” contributes ~69%. That’s a dramatic pivot in just a few years. The market, however, is confused. Growth is visible, but returns have dipped. Capacity has expanded (Noida, Haridwar), CWIP is still chunky, and depreciation has ballooned. Meanwhile, working capital is eating cash like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.
So IKIO today sits at an awkward crossroads: too diversified to be
a clean lighting play, too early to be valued like a Dixon-style EMS giant. And markets hate awkward phases.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s simplify IKIO for a lazy but smart investor.
IKIO is essentially an ODM + EMS hybrid. Customers come with a requirement; IKIO designs, engineers, sources components, manufactures, and ships — mostly under the customer’s brand. This is not “stick a label and pray” manufacturing. IKIO claims deep backward integration, in-house R&D, and control over tooling, drivers, PCBs, and assemblies.
Core Buckets:
- LED Lighting: Decorative, functional, indoor/outdoor, and RV lighting.
- Product Display Lighting: Especially for commercial refrigeration — think supermarkets and cold storage.
- Energy Solutions: Solar panels, IPS controllers, lithium batteries.
- Electronics & New Categories: Earbuds, neckbands, speakers, smartwatches (40+ products across multiple brands).
The real twist? RV lighting and refrigeration display lighting are export-heavy, higher-value niches compared to commoditised Indian bulbs. That’s where IKIO wants to play globally using Dubai and US subsidiaries as export hubs.
Sounds ambitious. But ambition without returns is just expensive optimism. Which brings us to numbers.
4. Financials Overview – Numbers Don’t Lie, But They Do Roast
Quarterly Comparison (Q3 FY26 – Consolidated, ₹ crore)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec FY26) | YoY Qtr | Prev Qtr | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 146 | 122 | 164 | 19.8% | -11.0% |
| EBITDA | 22 | 15 | 18 | 46.7% | 22.2% |
| PAT | 11 | 8 | 11 | 16.6% | 0.0% |
| EPS (₹) | 1.19 | 1.02 | 1.30 | 16.7% | -8.5% |
Annualised EPS:
Average EPS of Q1 (0.27), Q2 (1.30), Q3 (1.19) × 4
= ~₹3.6 annualised EPS
At ₹166,
