Indigo Paints Ltd

Price story Before the numbers, the tape. A stock price moves through four repeating seasons: a flat base (stage 1), an advance (2), a top (3), a decline (4). Where the price sits in that cycle frames everything below.

Indigo Paints Ltd trades at ₹1,065, in a downtrend and 23 weeks into that stage. That is +4.6% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 59% of a 52-week range of ₹731 to ₹1,299. On relative strength it has been ahead of the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view for 14 straight weeks.

Today the stock is in a downtrend — week 23 of stage 4. At ₹1,065 it trades +4.6% versus its 200-day average and sits at 59% of its 52-week range (₹731–₹1,299).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 5.4 years the stock moved −60% while the NIFTY 500 moved +87% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock has been ahead for 14 straight weeks — the ribbon below is that same metric, week by week.

What would end the trend, mechanically: two Friday closes in a row below the 200-day line. That is the exit rule — no debates.

→ The trend is one thing; the bill is another. Are you paying up for it? Next: the P/E sits at the 20th percentile of its own range.

Valuation P/E is the price of ₹1 of annual profit: how many rupees the market pays for each rupee the company earns in a year.

Indigo Paints Ltd trades at 33.5× P/E, near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 20% of the time. Its long-run median P/E is 42.0×, measured across 3.0 years of weekly readings. This places the multiple against the stock’s own record, and says nothing about what the business is worth.

Today's P/E of 33.5× is near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 20% of the time, against a long-run median of 42.0× measured over 3.0 years of weekly readings. This is a comparison against the stock's own history — not a claim about what it is worth.

Why the multiple sits where it does: over the past year annual EPS moved +2.3% against a −11.3% price move — earnings outran the price, pushing the multiple DOWN its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 3y, of the −9.3%/yr price move, ~+4.2%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−13.5 pp from the multiple (compressing). The split is the honest approximate (price return minus earnings growth); it makes the rally itself visible instead of hiding it behind the percentile.

Put together: the multiple is low against its own past, so the story rests on the earnings line underneath it, not the multiple.

→ Cheap or dear rides on the earnings. Are they actually growing? Next: the fundamental stage — where the business sits in its arc, and how growth has compounded.

Stage: Mixed Every business sits somewhere on a fundamental arc, and this page names the spot before anything else. The last twelve quarters of revenue, profit and EPS growth — plus the return the business earns on its capital — are read as curves: Deteriorating (the curves are falling), Turning around (a trough has just formed and the last few quarters lift off it), Improving (the climb off the trough is sustained), Consistent (steadily positive with healthy returns), Topping out (still high but decelerating from the peak). When the curves genuinely disagree the read is Mixed; too little history is No read. CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the smooth yearly pace that turns the starting value into the latest one — the fairest way to compare growth across different time spans. Read the columns together: if the 1-year number towers over the 10-year, recent growth is running hotter than the long-run trend. A dash means that window is not held, or the base year was a loss (where a growth rate is not meaningful).

Indigo Paints Ltd reads as mixed on its fundamental arc. Mixed — no clean majority across the growth curves, ROCE holding at 17.0% — the per-curve reads carry the story. The read is built from 12 quarters across 4 curves, on full evidence.

Why it matters: when the curves disagree, the per-curve reads above matter more than any single verdict.

→ The stage names the trajectory. Next: the revenue line that produces it, quarter by quarter.

4-Factor Sector Score

47.6/100 — rank 4 of 6 in Building Materials - Paints · 94% evidence confidence

Indigo Paints Ltd scores 47.6 out of 100 against the 6 companies it is compared with in Building Materials - Paints, ranking 4. Balanced evidence: keep at normal research priority and require another comparable period before raising conviction.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 15.4 + 17.4 + 8.1 + 6.7 = 47.6. This is the SAME number shown on the sector comparison — it is computed once, for the whole peer set, and read here.

What would change it: The read weakens if profit growth turns negative or margin improvement reverses while sector-relative strength deteriorates.

Revenue Revenue is the top line: everything the company billed its customers in the period.

Indigo Paints Ltd reported ₹425 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +9.5% year on year. That is the 3rd straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 3 years it has compounded at 9.4% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹1,405 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹1,405 Cr.

Indigo Paints Ltd reported ₹425 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +9.5% year on year. That is the 3rd straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 3 years it has compounded at 9.4% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹1,405 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹1,405 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹1,405 Cr (+4.8% on the year), capping 3 years at 9.4% compound. The latest quarter (Mar 26) printed ₹425 Cr, +9.5% year on year — the 3rd consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +4.4% growth against the decade's 9.4% — the current year is running slower than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +4.7% over the last 4 quarters against +3.7%/yr over the last 8 — stabilising; TTM profit +3.5% vs −0.7%/yr — accelerating.

→ Revenue grew — did margins hold as it scaled? Next: 22.0% this quarter (−1.0 pp YoY).

Operating margin Operating margin is what is left of every ₹100 of sales after running the business, before interest and tax. It is the cleanest read on pricing power and cost control.

Indigo Paints Ltd's operating margin is 22.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, −1.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 4 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 17.0% to 18.0%. The current quarter is running above every full year in that window.

Indigo Paints Ltd's operating margin is 22.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, −1.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 4 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 17.0% to 18.0%. The current quarter is running above every full year in that window.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 22.0%, −1.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 4 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 17.0%–18.0%.

🚨 Why the margin moved: operating margin went −0.1 pp year on year while gross margin went +1.2 pp — the loss came mostly from the gross line: input costs and pricing.

→ Margins slipped — did that reach the bottom line? Next: profit +3.5% in the latest quarter.

Net profit Net profit is what survives every cost, interest and tax — the number EPS, dividends and book value all grow from.

Indigo Paints Ltd earned ₹59.0 Cr of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, +3.5% year on year. It is the 3rd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹148 Cr. The 3-year compound rate is 3.9%. That is 13.9% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹57.0 Cr.

Indigo Paints Ltd earned ₹59.0 Cr of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, +3.5% year on year. It is the 3rd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹148 Cr. The 3-year compound rate is 3.9%. That is 13.9% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹57.0 Cr.

Mar 26 profit was ₹59.0 Cr, +3.5% year on year — the 3rd consecutive quarter of growth. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹148 Cr (+4.2%), and the 3-year compound rate is 3.9%.

Why profit moved: revenue contributed +9.5% and the margin −1.0 pp — the quarter was revenue-led, with the margin roughly flat.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit +4.0% vs revenue +4.4%. Profit and revenue are moving roughly in step.

→ Profit rose — but did the cash follow? Next: 132% of the last 3 years' profit arrived as cash.

Cash flow — the router The P&L says what was earned; the cash-flow statement says what actually arrived. Operating cash flow (CFO) against profit is the cleanest lie detector in the accounts.

Over the last 3 fiscal years 132% of Indigo Paints Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — the cash follows the profit. In FY26 that was ₹223 Cr of operating cash against ₹148 Cr of profit. After ₹166 Cr of capital spending, ₹57.0 Cr was left as free cash.

FY26: operating cash of ₹223 Cr against reported profit of ₹148 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹57.0 Cr after ₹166 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 132% of profit.

Cash-flow readings here are annual — that is the resolution our series carries, so this section moves once a year.

Why conversion sits at 132%: the cash cycle stretched 37 days between FY23 and FY26 — more of each rupee of profit waits inside the cycle before arriving.

Router verdict: the bigger cash user is investment — capital spending ran 2.7× depreciation over three years, so the next section's job is to check what that build-out is buying.

→ So follow the cash to where it goes. Next: ₹465 Cr of building over 3 years.

Where the cash goes Working capital is the cash tied up between paying suppliers and getting paid: debtor days (customers owe), inventory days (stock waits), and the cash conversion cycle (the whole loop, in days of sales).

Indigo Paints Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs 55 days in FY26, up from 18 days in FY23. Capital spending ran ₹465 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹1,405 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹3.8 Cr, so roughly ₹212 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 74 days, inventory at 87 days — roughly 2.9 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of 55 days, looser than FY23's 18.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 87 days to sell; customers pay about 74 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 106 days — netting out to the 55-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹1,405 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹3.8 Cr — so the 55-day loop keeps roughly ₹212 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹465 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹171 Cr of depreciation — the company is building well ahead of wear-and-tear. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹220 Cr (FY26) — capacity paid for but not yet earning.

The synthesis: the cash is going into capacity, not disappearing into the cycle — the question becomes whether the new capacity earns.

→ Does all this activity actually earn its cost of capital? Next: ROCE is 19% and the ROIC − WACC spread is +5.3 pp.

Return on capital Return on capital employed (ROCE) is the profit the whole business earns on all the money in it — equity and debt together. It is the single best test of whether growth creates value or just size.

Indigo Paints Ltd earns a ROCE of 19% in FY26. That is up from a trough of 19% in FY25. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by +5.3 percentage points, so growth here adds value rather than only size. The wiring behind it is 10.5% net margin on 0.86× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 19%, recovered from a FY25 trough of 19% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 10.5% net margin × 0.86× asset turns × 1.41× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 12.7% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is modest — this is an earned return, not a borrowed one.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: 17.3% − 12.0% = a +5.3 pp spread. The 12.0% is a standing assumption for the cost of capital in India, not a per-stock estimate — read the sign and the size of the spread, not the decimals. A spread this wide means every rupee reinvested creates more than a rupee of value — the engine compounds.

→ Returns like these — is the balance sheet borrowing to make them? Next: debt-to-equity is 0.02.

Debt Debt-to-equity says how much of the business is funded by borrowings. Low is the safe corner; the trend matters as much as the level.

Indigo Paints Ltd carries total debt of ₹21.0 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,154 Cr as of Mar 26, a debt-to-equity of 0.02 — effectively unlevered. On the annual view that ratio went from 0.02 in FY22 to 0.02 in FY26. The returns elsewhere on this page are therefore earned rather than borrowed.

Mar 26: total debt of ₹21.0 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,154 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.02. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from 0.02 (FY22) to 0.02 (FY26). The returns on this page are earned, not borrowed.

→ Who owns this, and are they adding or leaving? Next: Domestic institutions added 24.2 points over 8 quarters.

Ownership Who owns the stock, quarter by quarter: promoters (the controlling owners), foreign and domestic institutions, and the public. Steady accumulation by people close to the numbers is a signal; a quiet register is also an answer.

Domestic institutions added 24.2 points of Indigo Paints Ltd over 8 quarters, the biggest move on the register. That takes domestic institutions to 25.3% of the company. Foreign institutions moved −2.5 points over the same window, to 5.7%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Domestic institutions: +24.2 points over 8 quarters to 25.3%; Foreign institutions: −2.5 points over 8 quarters to 5.7%; Promoters: −0.1 points over 8 quarters to 53.9%.

Why the register moved: rotation — foreign institutions −2.5 points against domestic institutions +24.2 points over 8 quarters, with promoters holding steady — one class of institutions handing the register to the other, not a verdict change by the people closest to the numbers.

→ One last check: does the safety math agree? Next: the balance-sheet safety line.

Safety line The Z-score estimates how far a company sits from balance-sheet distress — above roughly 3 is safe, below roughly 1.8 is the danger zone. It was built for manufacturers, so it is not applied to banks and lenders.

Indigo Paints Ltd: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one. It is a distance-to-distress estimate from the balance sheet, not a forecast of failure. The debt, cash-flow and return sections above carry the balance-sheet evidence this page does hold, and each of them states its own reporting date.

The safety line in one sentence: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one.

Frequently asked questions