Company stories

Understand a company. Remember the story.

No stock screening dashboard. No wall of ratios. Understand how a business actually works, where its money comes from, what could make it bigger and what could go wrong, in just a few minutes.

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Healthcare2 min read

The proteins that help digest food or improve industrial processes can be a high-margin business.

Advanced Enzyme built one in India. Enzymes are microscopic tools designed to speed specific biological processes.

Advanced Enzyme Technologies

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How the business works. Where the money comes from. What could go wrong.

One story. A few minutes. No jargon.

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Stories that make businesses easier to understand.

Infrastructure2 min read

KNR built a reputation by surviving a sector where many road contractors destroyed their balance sheets.

Now it is searching for its next growth engine. Road construction has produced spectacular booms and painful busts because contractors often win huge projects, borrow aggressively and then wait for cash.

KNR Constructions

The proteins that help digest food or improve industrial processes can be a high-margin business.

Start here

KNR built a reputation by surviving a sector where many road contractors destroyed their balance sheets.

When a bank replaces the software running accounts, payments or treasury, the project can last years.

If an Indian truck rolls off an assembly line, there is a good chance Jamna Auto made part of the suspension underneath it.

Look up. The fan above your head may be made by Crompton. The more interesting question is what else the 120-year-old brand can become. Crompton is already a leader in fans and pum

Factories everywhere need compressed air.

Vardhman can run excellent factories and still see profits swing because one number outside the factory gate - the cotton-to-yarn spread - can dominate the year.

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The proteins that help digest food or improve industrial processes can be a high-margin business.

Broking made Angel One huge.

Aptus lends for homes to borrowers who may have a business, cash flow and property - but no salary slip.

Birlasoft has already fixed much of its margin problem.

A CT scan can begin with chemistry made far away from the hospital - and Blue Jet sits inside that invisible supply chain.

Most developers depend on selling the next apartment.

For decades City Union Bank was the tortoise of Indian banking.

Every time millions of Indians invest through mutual funds, an almost invisible company gets paid.

Look up. The fan above your head may be made by Crompton. The more interesting question is what else the 120-year-old brand can become. Crompton is already a leader in fans and pum

A company that nearly broke itself with an acquisition now refuses to chase low-margin growth.

Factories everywhere need compressed air.

Most contractors fight for single-digit margins.

Enviro Infra began by building sewage plants.

Five-Star lends to people a spreadsheet often says no to.

A salmon farm in Norway can depend on a net engineered in India.

Most containers still travel across India by road.

India wants to replace hundreds of millions of old electricity meters.

Pipavav is a beautiful cash-generating port business with one awkward detail: the company does not own the port forever.

When a bank replaces the software running accounts, payments or treasury, the project can last years.

Water looks like one industry.

If an Indian truck rolls off an assembly line, there is a good chance Jamna Auto made part of the suspension underneath it.

A tiny bottle that made white clothes whiter became a multi-brand FMCG company.

KNR built a reputation by surviving a sector where many road contractors destroyed their balance sheets.

Most lenders grow by putting more loans on their own balance sheet.

Cars and motorcycles are becoming computers on wheels.

NCC has spent nearly 50 years building a little bit of everything - and that diversification is its quiet strength.

Most Indian IT companies sell engineering hours.

The black colour in a tyre comes from a commodity.

PNC can report a spectacular profit quarter and still leave investors nervous - because infrastructure is judged by what can go wrong next.

Redington can generate more than a lakh crore of annual revenue while keeping only a tiny fraction as profit.

India exports trains. This is one of the companies behind those deals. When Bangladesh buys railway coaches from India or an African railway needs Indian locomotives, RITES often a

Sonata looks like one company in the annual report.

The hills and logistics that make Northeast India difficult for competitors are exactly what make Star Cement valuable.

The cable that opens your bonnet or moves a throttle looks trivial.

Every bank OTP feels free to you.

Inside sugar mills, cement plants and refineries around the world, a quiet Indian company sells the machine that turns steam into power.

Vardhman can run excellent factories and still see profits swing because one number outside the factory gate - the cotton-to-yarn spread - can dominate the year.

Manyavar built a wedding brand that rarely needs a sale - and made franchisees fund much of the retail expansion.

WPIL makes the machines that move water through cities, power plants and specialised industrial systems - and it is far more global than its name suggests.

Zensar has hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.