ITI Ltd: ₹63 Cr Loss in Q1 – Government’s Telecom Dinosaur Still Roaming
1. At a Glance
Q1FY26 and ITI Ltd’s scoreboard reads: Loss ₹63.32 Cr, OPM -1%, revenue down 4.23% YoY. For a company that once made half the country’s telecom hardware, it’s now mostly running on government projects, revival plans, and hope. Book value is ₹16.4, CMP ₹303 — yes, that’s an 18.5x P/B. ITI has effectively rebranded “patient capital” into “patient investor”.
2. Introduction
Founded in 1948, ITI was India’s first PSU in telecom manufacturing. It’s seen rotary phones, push buttons, landlines, and the slow death of copper cables. Today, it’s hanging on via turnkey projects like BharatNet, ASCON, FTTH rollouts, and e-governance, mostly courtesy of government orders. But with 403 debtor days and a history of negative ROE, it’s not exactly a quick-return machine.
3. Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)
Turnkey Projects (~78% of revenue) – Govt-backed infrastructure (BharatNet, ASCON, Net for Spectrum).
