Ion Exchange (India) Ltd: Saving the World One RO Plant at a Time—But Who Pays on Time?

1. At a Glance

Ion Exchange is India’s original water treatment warrior—doing desalination, ZLD, sewage, EPC, chemicals, and bottled water plants long before ESG was cool. But beneath the surface of ₹2,737 Cr revenue lies a debtors’ swamp, low promoter skin, and working capital that screams “tanker delivery delayed.”

2. Introduction with Hook

Imagine running a business that literally purifies water—but your balance sheet has 151 days of receivables. That’s Ion Exchange. A 60-year-old veteran cleaning India’s dirtiest effluents, while wading through government contract delays and debtor ghosting.

• FY25 Net Profit: ₹208 Cr
• ROCE: 22.1% (clean)
• Debtor Days: 151 (very, very murky)

3. Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)

Ion Exchange offers literally everything related to water, including:

• Engineering (~58%): EPC for water/wastewater treatment, desalination, ZLD
• Chemicals (~30%): Resins, treatment chemicals
• Consumer/Service (~12%): Domestic filtration, industrial AMC, containerized plants

Core customers: Power, Pharma, Refineries, Infra, Government agencies (aka slow payers)

Moats: Technical IP, global presence, 100K+ installs, and every buzzword from ESG to UN SDGs.

4. Financials Overview