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| Product | Quantum (Rs. Cr) | Long Term Rating | Short Term Rating |
| Bank Loan Ratings | 33.00 | ACUITE BBB- | Stable | Assigned | - |
| Bank Loan Ratings | 121.38 | ACUITE BBB- | Stable | Reaffirmed | - |
| Bank Loan Ratings | 1.00 | - | ACUITE A3 | Assigned |
| Total Outstanding | 155.38 | - | - |
| Total Withdrawn | 0.00 | - | - |
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Rating Rationale |
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Acuité has reaffirmed the long-term rating of ‘ACUITE BBB-’ (read as ACUITE triple B minus) on the Rs.121.38 Cr. bank facilities of Kalindi Ispat Private Limited (KIPL). The outlook remains ‘Stable’.
Acuité has assigned the long-term rating of ‘ACUITE BBB-’ (read as ACUITE triple B minus) and short-term rating of ‘ACUITE A3’ (read as ACUITE A three) on the Rs.34.00 Cr. bank facilities of Kalindi Ispat Private Limited (KIPL). The outlook is ‘Stable’.
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| About the Company |
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Incorporated in 2004, Kalindi Ispat Private Limited (KIPL) is based in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, and is promoted by the Singhania family. The company is engaged in the manufacture of sponge iron with an installed capacity of 99,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA). Additionally, KIPL has commissioned a billet manufacturing unit with a production capacity of 1,07,000 TPA on August 2025. To meet its power requirements and improve cost efficiency, the company has also set up a 12 MW captive power plant (CPP), comprising a 6 MW Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (WHRB)–based unit and a 6 MW Atmospheric Fluidised Bed Combustion (AFBC)–based unit which has commenced operations on August 2025. The company sells mainly in the markets of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and adjacent states to the billet and TMT bar manufacturers. The directors of the company are Mr. Akhilesh Singhania, Mr. Anand Singhania, and Mr. Kumar Manglam Singhania.
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| Unsupported Rating |
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Not Applicable
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| Analytical Approach |
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Acuité has considered the standalone business and financial risk profile of KIPL to arrive at this rating.
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| Key Rating Drivers |
| Strengths |
| Experienced management coupled with established clientele relationships
With over a decade of operational track record, KIPL is having an established presence in the industry. The company is managed by Mr. Akhilesh Singhania, Mr. Anand Singhania and Mr. Kumar Mangalam Singhania, having more than two decades of experience in the industry. With the management’s support, the company has established long standing operations spanning over a decade and successfully developed healthy relationships with key suppliers and reputed customers. Acuite derives comfort from the vintage of the promoters and the believes the long track record of operations along with healthy clientele relationships will continue to benefit the company going forward. Steady business risk profile, likely to improve in the near to medium term driven by incremental benefits from completed capex The revenue of KIPL stood at Rs. 141.33 Cr. in FY2025 as compared to Rs. 138.51 Cr. in FY2024 reflecting a moderate improvement, further, the company has reported the revenue of ~Rs. 142.30 Cr. till 11MFY2026 and is expected to close ~Rs. 165-170 Cr. in FY2026 due to benefits deriving from enhanced capacities from August 2025. With the Indian steel industry entering a recovery phase and price realizations improving compared to previous years, KIPL expects an improvement in performance from FY26–FY27 onwards. The addition of billets to the product mix is expected to enhance returns, given their relatively higher market realizations. The operating margin moderated slightly to 7.38 percent in FY2025 from 8.53 percent in FY2024, primarily due to volatility in raw material prices. However, during 11MFY2026, the company reported a significant improvement in operating margin to 14.34 percent, supported by the commissioning of the new billet unit and the captive power plant, which have contributed to improved operational efficiency and margin expansion as expected. The PAT margin stood at 4.25 percent in FY2025 compared to 5.73 percent in FY2024. Acuite believes the scale of operations and profitability margins of the company will improve steadily with enhanced capacities in medium to long term. |
| Weaknesses |
| Average financial risk profile
The company’s financial risk profile is average marked by moderate net worth, average gearing and comfortable debt protection metrics. The tangible net worth of the company remained modest but improved to Rs. 62.83 Cr. as on March 31, 2025, from Rs. 52.66 Cr. as on March 31, 2024, due to accretion of profits to reserves and due to infusion of paid-up capital of Rs. 0.10 Cr. and premium of Rs. 4.05 Cr. Gearing ratio (Debt/Equity) of the company deteriorated to 1.37 as on March 31, 2025, as compared to 0.02 as on March 31, 2024, the increase is attributable to the higher debt levels undertaken to fund capital expenditure and increased utilization of the working capital (CC) facilities. The total debt of the company stood at Rs. 86.17 Cr. as on March 31, 2025, as compared to Rs. 1.10 Cr. as on March 31, 2024. The comfortable debt protection metrics of the company is marked by Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) at 20.91 times in FY2025 compared to 28.85 times in FY2024 and Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) at 6.35 times in FY2025 compared to 4.78 times in FY2024. Total outside Liabilities/Tangible Net Worth (TOL/TNW) stood at 1.50 times as on March 31, 2025, as against 0.22 times as on March 31, 2024. Further, Debt-EBITDA stood at 8.14 times as on March 31, 2025, as against 0.09 times as on March 31, 2024. The company has planned a brownfield capex at its existing steel manufacturing facility. The proposed expansion comprises the installation of two coal deshaling plants for the sponge iron division and the addition of one 12 MT induction furnace to enhance billet manufacturing capacity from approximately 1,07,000 TPA to 1,42,700 TPA. The project commenced in April 2026 and is expected to be completed by March 2027, with commercial operations anticipated to commence from April 2027. The total project cost is estimated at Rs.13.62 crore. The capex is proposed to be funded through internal accruals of Rs.4.12 crore and bank borrowings of Rs.9.50 crore. Acuite believes that, going forward, the financial risk profile likely to witness moderations due to debt funded capex, however, it would remain comfortable backed by expected improvement in the accruals. Working capital intensive operations The working capital management of KIPL is intensive in nature marked by Gross Current Assets (GCA) at 118 days as on March 31, 2025, as compared to 106 days as on March 31, 2024. The high GCA days are on account of moderate inventory days and advances given to suppliers coupled with balances with statutory authorities to the tune of Rs. 14.43 Cr. in FY2025. The inventory days stood at 64 days in FY2025 as against 68 days in FY2024 as the company maintains 2-2.5 months of inventory of iron ore and coal to mitigate the price volatility. However, the debtor cycle stood at 21 days in FY2025 owing to efficient collection mechanism. The fund-based limit utilization stood at 66.31 percent for the past six months ended January 2026. Acuite believes that the working capital operations of the company will remain around similar levels over the medium term. Susceptibility of profitability to volatility in raw material prices in an inherent cyclical and competitive steel sector Profitability is further exposed to volatility in key raw material prices—primarily iron ore, and coal—where any sharp increase, coupled with limited ability to fully pass on costs during periods of weak demand, can compress operating margins. The company's performance remains vulnerable to cyclicality in the steel sector given the close linkage between the demand for steel products and the domestic and global economy. The downstream steel industry remains heavily fragmented and unorganised. The company is exposed to intense competitive pressures from large number of organised and unorganised players along with its exposure to inherent cyclical nature of the steel industry. |
Rating Sensitivities
| Potential triggers (individual or collective) for an upward rating action: |
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| Potential triggers (individual or collective) for a downward rating action: |
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| Liquidity Position |
| Adequate |
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The company’s liquidity is adequate marked by adequate net cash accruals of Rs. 7.58 Cr. in FY2025 as against long term debt repayment of Rs. 0.77 Cr. during the same period. Going forward, the company expects to generate net cash accruals in the range of Rs. 12-22 Cr. as against its repayment obligation of Rs. 1.76-6.08 Cr. in FY26-27. The fund-based limit utilization stood at 66.31percent for the past six months ended January 2026. Further, the current ratio also stood at 2.42 times as on March 31, 2025. The cash and bank balances of the company stood at Rs. 0.07 Cr. as on March 31, 2025. Acuite believes that going forward the liquidity position of the company will remain adequate owing to steady cash accruals.
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| Outlook: Stable |
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| Other Factors affecting Rating |
| None |
| Particulars | Unit | FY 25 (Actual) | FY 24 (Actual) |
| Operating Income | Rs. Cr. | 141.33 | 138.51 |
| PAT | Rs. Cr. | 6.01 | 7.94 |
| PAT Margin | (%) | 4.25 | 5.73 |
| Total Debt/Tangible Net Worth | Times | 1.37 | 0.02 |
| PBDIT/Interest | Times | 20.91 | 28.85 |
| Status of non-cooperation with previous CRA (if applicable) |
| Not Applicable |
| Any other information |
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None
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| Applicable Criteria |
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• Default Recognition :- https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-52.htm • Manufacturing Entities: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-59.htm • Application Of Financial Ratios And Adjustments: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-53.htm |
| Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument |
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Contacts |
List of instruments and names of regulators of the instruments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As required by SEBI Circular (SEBI/HO/DDHS/DDHS-PoD-2/I/4685/2026) dated February 10, 2026, a list of activities or instruments falling under the purview of various Financial Sector Regulators (FSRs), along with the names of respective FSRs, is being disclosed below:
A. Rating Activity:
1 Includes securitisation transactions involving assignee payout, acquirer's payout.
2 Includes bank facilities such as liquidity facility, second loss facility that are part of securitisation transactions.
3 There is no instrument being rated and hence, Regulator of the Instrument is not applicable. The rating scale and definitions are being followed as stipulated in SEBI Master Circular for CRAs. 4 The rated instrument may involve issuance of different instruments such as debt securities (listed or otherwise), bank loans, commercial paper (listed or otherwise), etc. The regulator of the instrument may accordingly be SEBI, RBI or MCA and can only be determined upon issuance. In Press Release(s) subsequent to issuance(s), Acuite shall separately capture the rated quantum details along with names of respective regulators. 5 These ratings were assigned during regulatory regime prior to the introduction of SEBI CRA Circular dated Feb 10, 2026 and accordingly, investor side regulators have been included.
B. Other activities:
6 permitted by SEBI vide SEBI Master Circular for CRAs.
Note:- For activities or ratings of instruments falling under the purview of Financial Sector Regulators other than SEBI, the grievance / dispute redressal mechanisms and investor protection mechanisms provided by SEBI shall not be available. Disclosure on instruments / activities and names of regulators: A list of products/activities or ratings of instruments falling under the purview of various financial sector regulators (FSRs) along with the names of respective FSRs has also been duly disclosed by Acuite on its website. A link to the same has been provided below for ready reference:
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