Aksharchem (India) Limited has officially resumed production at its H-Acid plant effective March 19, 2026, following the completion of a planned maintenance shutdown. The company informed stock exchanges through a regulatory filing under Regulation 30 of the SEBI Listing Regulations.

Official Regulatory Disclosure

The company submitted its compliance notification to both BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd on March 19, 2026. The filing, referenced as AKSHAR/SE/2025-26/2603/53, was signed by Company Secretary & Compliance Officer Mehul Naliyadhara.

Plant Operations and Maintenance

The H-Acid manufacturing facility located at Village Indrad underwent repair and maintenance activities during the planned shutdown period. The company emphasized that this scheduled maintenance does not have any material impact on the company's financials.

Regulatory Compliance

The announcement was made pursuant to Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, demonstrating the company's commitment to transparent disclosure practices. This filing serves as a continuation of the earlier intimation dated February 16, 2026, when the shutdown was initially announced.

The resumption of H-Acid production marks the return to normal operational capacity for this key specialty chemical used in dyes and pigments manufacturing, reinforcing Aksharchem India's operational reliability in the chemical sector.

Aksharchem (India) Limited has received a rating review from CARE Ratings Limited, with the credit rating agency revising the company's outlook to Negative from Stable while reaffirming its existing credit ratings on bank facilities worth ₹143.41 crore. The development was communicated to stock exchanges on February 26, 2026.

Rating Actions and Facility Details

CARE Ratings has taken specific actions across different categories of bank facilities:

The total bank facilities under review amount to ₹143.41 crore, reflecting the company's borrowing requirements across different tenures and purposes.

Key Rating Strengths

The ratings continue to derive support from several fundamental strengths. The company benefits from experienced and resourceful promoters, with Paru M. Jaykrishna bringing over three decades of experience in the chemical industry. Aksharchem maintains an established export presence across more than 20 countries and holds approximately 25% share in total Vinyl Sulphone exports from India.

The company's capital structure remains comfortable with overall gearing of 0.25x as of March 31, 2025, compared to 0.20x in the previous year. This reflects the management's conservative approach towards debt management despite business-related volatility.

Financial Performance Analysis

Aksharchem's financial performance shows mixed trends across different periods:

During FY25, the company reported 15% year-on-year growth in total operating income to ₹346.77 crore. The PBILDT margin improved significantly by 668 basis points to 7.17% in FY25 from 0.50% in FY24, driven by favorable product realizations and improved capacity utilization.

Recent Performance Challenges

However, 9MFY26 provisional financials reveal concerning trends. The company reported total operating income of ₹266.75 crore, representing modest 4% year-on-year growth. Operating profitability declined sharply with operating margin falling by 296 basis points to 4.43% from 7.39% in 9MFY25.

The margin compression was primarily attributed to weaker realizations in dye intermediates and pigments segment amid muted demand, which was impacted by imposition of 50% tariff on Indian exports by the USA. This resulted in a net loss of ₹5.24 crore in 9MFY26 compared to a profit of ₹3.33 crore in 9MFY25.

Rating Sensitivities and Outlook

The Negative outlook reflects CARE's expectation that sustained weak performance could lead to lower than envisaged profitability and deterioration in debt coverage metrics. The outlook may be revised to Stable if the company demonstrates sustained improvement in operating profitability, supported by healthy order book and successful break-even of operations in the silica segment.

Positive rating factors include significant increase in scale of operations, PBILD margin above 15% on sustained basis, and improvement in return on capital employed above 15%. Negative factors encompass PBILD margin below 8% and deterioration in total debt to PBILD beyond 3.5 times on sustained basis.

Source: None/Company/INE542B01011/8247de2b-64a6-4272-b60f-ea1183af4668.pdf