IFGL Refractories Limited (IFGLEXPOR) share price
₹179.72 on NSE as of 2026-10-08. -1.82% on the day. market cap ₹1,295 Cr. P/E 31.6. 52-week range ₹123.00 to ₹303.00. Capital Goods.
What the company does
The customer base of the company is diversified and well reputed, leading to a low counterparty risk. Further, the ratings factor in the diversified geographical presence of IFGL, with presence in more than 20 countries across the globe. While the company remains exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency rates on the back of sizeable export receivables, the risk is mitigated to a large extent as the company imports some of its raw materials and consumables, and borrows a major portion (~90%) of its working capital requirement in foreign currency (Euro/USD), which provides it with a natural hedge against any adverse movement in exchange rates. The ratings, however, are constrained by the company's moderate scale of current operations, although the top line witnessed a steady growth over the past two fiscals. The ratings are also impacted by intense competition and low bargaining power against large clients that limit pricing flexibility, and susceptibility of margins to adverse movement in raw material prices as the company primarily enters into fixed price nature of contract with its customers. The ratings also consider the high working capital intensity of operations because of high receivables position.
Filed by ICRA, page 2.
IFGL Refractories Q1 FY27: Revenue ₹512 Cr, PAT Up 58%, and a Joint Venture Sent Back to Redraw Its Own Map
At a glance
IFGL Refractories makes ceramic parts designed to sit inside molten steel. Consolidated revenue for the three months to June 2026 was ₹512 crore. A year earlier the same quarter brought in ₹454 crore, so revenue rose 12.9%. Net profit for the quarter was ₹17.06 crore, against ₹10.81 crore a year earlier. Measured in percentage terms, that increase works out at 57.8%. Operating profit, the profit from trading before financing and write-downs, moved from ₹36.0 crore to ₹37.0 crore. The increase on that line was 2.8%.
The company states that a ₹26.7 crore yearly goodwill charge finished amortising as at 31 March 2026. The charge came from an amalgamation completed in 2017. Goodwill amortisation is the slow writing-down of the premium paid in an old acquisition. The company says the absence of that charge partly supported the rise in net profit. Depreciation and amortisation for the quarter was ₹13.64 crore, against ₹19.20 crore a year earlier.
Elsewhere, the Government of India closed the Bhachau joint-venture application over the proposed project location. It invited a fresh application carrying a different address. A wholly owned Saudi subsidiary was incorporated on 11 July 2026. A Czech step-down subsidiary completed voluntary liquidation on 1 July 2026. For a maker of parts built to sit calmly inside molten steel, the quarter was unusually full of paperwork. ICRA, a credit-rating agency, reaffirmed its AA- rating, with a stable outlook, on ₹248 crore of limits. It reaffirmed A1+ on a further ₹25 crore.
Introduction
IFGL Refractories Limited makes specialised refractories and the operating systems that go with them. Refractories are materials built to hold their shape at the temperatures where steel is made. The customer base is the iron and steel industry. The company is promoted by the S.K. Bajoria Group of India and Krosaki Harima Corporation of Japan. The registered office sits at Kalunga Industrial Estate in Sundergarh, Odisha. The head office is McLeod House on Netaji Subhas Road in Kolkata, a name suggesting a colonial shipping ledger.
Per the company's own materials, the foundation was laid in the early 1980s. The group now runs ten manufacturing units across Asia, Europe and North America. It serves more than 50 countries and employs close to 3,000 people. Its customer count is put at over 300. The auditor's annexure runs to seventeen entities, including holding companies strung through a long chain. Monocon International Refractories was founded in 1973 and later acquired into the group. Hofmann Ceramic GmbH was founded in 1937 and acquired in 2008. EI Ceramics LLC was established in 2002 and acquired in 2010. Sheffield Refractories was acquired in 2023.
The corner office has changed hands repeatedly. A postal ballot on 2 May 2026 approved Mihir Prakash Bajoria as Managing Director. The term runs three years from 1 March 2026. James McIntosh ceased as Managing Director on 28 February 2026. Arasu Shanmugam resigned as Director and CEO-India with effect from 6 April 2026. Mukesh Harshadrai Rawal was appointed Whole-time Director and CEO India from 16 August 2026, for three years. He moves across from President of Mono Ceramics Inc. and Head of IFGL Group, Americas. Ashok Kumar Kedia and Frank Mitchell were appointed Co-Presidents of MCI on the same date. The chief human resources chair changed twice inside two months. Dr Sushil Kumar Ojha held it from 24 November 2025. Abhay Kapoor followed from 17 December 2025 and resigned with effect from 27 January 2026, citing personal reasons.
On 6 January 2026 the Supreme Court allowed IFGL's subsidy claim of ₹11,14,750. The court allowed interest at 9%, running since 2003. The matter had been in the courts for twenty-three years. Employee costs for the year to March 2026 were ₹324.76 crore.
Business model
Steel is made at temperatures where ordinary materials give up and become a suggestion. Refractories are the materials that do not give up. Per the company, its expertise sits in iron making, steelmaking and continuous casting. The emphasis falls on slide gate systems, purging systems, ladle refractories and tundish refractories. The operating systems that go with those parts are sold alongside them.
The published product list runs to nineteen items. It includes tap hole mass, slag dart machines, tundish flow modifiers and neutral ramming mass. A slag dart machine is a real piece of industrial equipment and also a plausible pub team name.
Much of the range is consumable. Ladle linings wear out, nozzles erode and ramming mass gets rammed. The previous batch is destroyed in service, and the order comes round again. Customers include ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp, Nucor and Tata, among others. ICRA, a credit-rating agency, puts the top five customers at 30% to 35% of total sales.
The group reaches into foundries through Hofmann Ceramic. That arm offers round hole filters, feeder heads and casting simulation software. The software models how a mould fills and sets before any metal is poured. It is the industrial equivalent of reading the last page first.
The cost side runs on raw materials, fuel and freight. Management flagged ocean freight as a headwind for the UK and China operations.
Geography is the other axis of the business. For the three months to June 2026, India brought in ₹292.85 crore. Europe contributed ₹110.93 crore and America ₹102.15 crore. Asia excluding India came to ₹6.44 crore. Ten plants sit across Asia, Europe and North America, and everything they make must survive being set on fire. On the standalone book, exports were ₹69 crore against domestic sales of ₹228 crore. That is a domestic-to-export split of 77 to 23.
Quarterly results, balance sheet, cash flow, ratios, shareholding and the filings themselves are on the full page for IFGL Refractories Limited.
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