Ardee Industries
13 August 2026
Ardee Industries Limited
Incorporated in 1993, Ardee Industries recycles lead. It buys used lead-acid batteries and lead scrap and refines them into pure lead ingots (56% of FY26 revenue) and customised lead alloys (28%), sold to battery makers and metal traders. It runs a single plant at Naidupet, Andhra Pradesh with installed capacity of 156,950 MTPA. Exports were 40% of FY26 revenue across eight countries. Present promoters Sandeep and Nikunj Aggarwal, who also run battery maker Pilot Industries, acquired the company from the Bansal family in 2021.
DRHP filed: September 29, 2025 (DRHP dated September 28, 2025)
IPO open & close: August 5, 2026 to August 7, 2026
Listing date: August 12, 2026 (BSE and NSE)
BRLM: Pantomath Capital Advisors Private Limited
Auditor: Nangia & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants
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Ardee industries had shown good volume-led growth in revenue (59% CAGR over last 2 years) but the business quality isn’t much defensible with low gross margins (~12%), less competitive advantage and a slowing industry growth (3-6%). Its revenue is concentrated among top 5 clients (~82%) with just Amara Raja forming 41% of FY26 revenue. Its end customers setting up their own lead recycling plants poses structural threat to the business. Moreover, weak cash conversion keeps us cautious on the business, and at 10.1x EV/EBITDA the valuation isn't compelling enough to invest.
One can expect decent listing gains as per current GMP ~14% (4th August 2026), provided the GMP sustains.
• Lead recycling is a commodity business with limited differentiation. Ardee buys battery and lead scrap, refines it, and sells pure lead ingots and lead alloys. The share of value-added lead alloys fell from 43% of revenue in FY25 to 27.5% in FY26, while pure lead rose from 42% to 56%. It generated gross margins of just 12% on selling products from FY24-FY26.
• Customer concentration is high with top 5 customers making 82% of FY26 revenue. Amara Raja Energy & Mobility alone was 41%, or 475 cr revenue in FY26 (Amara Raja used to be 72% of its revenue in FY24). Its customer count has also declined to 52 in FY26 against 54 in FY25 & FY24. There are also no long-term agreements with customers, it sells against blanket purchase orders that set the price per unit, after a vendor approval process.
• Large downstream buyers building their own recycling capacity is the main structural threat. Exide is already integrated through its subsidiary Chloride Metals, the largest recycled lead producer in India at 19.6% share. Its largest customer Amara Raja, commissioned a lead recycling plant in Tamil Nadu which went live from Dec 2024, and it targets 25-30% of own lead requirement through this plant. Although, revenue from Amara Raja still grew by 25% in FY26, this does pose a material risk ahead. The two large battery makers (Exide & Amara Raja) together hold 56% of the domestic lead-acid battery market which are internalising supply.
• Sandeep Aggarwal, Nikunj Aggarwal and group company D.P. Auto Industries acquired the company (Ardee Industries) from the erstwhile Bansal family shareholders in April 2021. Promoter group company Pilot Industries Limited, where Sandeep's brother Sanjeev Aggarwal is Managing Director, manufactures batteries, battery components and lead and lead alloys. It was Ardee's 7th largest customer in FY26 at 20 cr, or 1.74% of revenue, and was among the top 10 suppliers in FY24 at 14 cr. (3 year non-compete between promoters, Ardee & Pilot Industries was signed on Sept 2025)
• Cash conversion is poor with 14% & 25% CFO to post-tax EBITDA in FY25 & FY26 respectively. It generated a cumulative Operating cash flow of 12.4 cr against cumulative PAT of 127 cr. Inventory rose from 45 cr (FY25) to 116 cr (FY26) and advances to suppliers from 41 cr (FY25) to 85 cr (FY26). The business has high working capital requirement with the Net working capital (ex cash & borrowings) running at 19-23% of revenue. Short term debt was 168 cr for FY26 (up from 120 cr in FY24) and the company plans to utilise 220 cr of the 320 cr fresh issue towards working capital needs.
• The recycled lead ingot market in India grew at just 3.9% CAGR to 30,933 cr between FY19-26. The F&S report forecasts 39,200 cr by FY30, a 6.1% CAGR with the volumes moving from 1.51 million tonnes in FY26 to 1.65 million by FY30, just 2.2% CAGR. Ardee is the 6th largest player with just 2.09% share, behind Chloride Metals at 19.6%, Jain Resource Recycling at 11.7%, Gravita India at 9.7%, Nile at 3.3% and Pondy Oxides at 3.2% (F&S report).
• Promoters, Sandeep Aggarwal & Nikunj Aggarwal drew renumeration of 5.4 cr in FY24, which was ~60% of FY24 Net Profit. It fell to 2.4 cr in FY25 and rose to 4.01 cr in FY26, with a shareholder approved ceiling of 6.0 cr a year for the two of them. Raw material procurement is almost entirely imported and the share is rising, from 61.34% of purchases in FY24 to 86.94% in FY26
Business
• Ardee Industries recycles lead. It buys used lead-acid batteries, lead cable and industrial scrap, and processes them into refined lead ingots of 99.97% to 99.985% purity and customised lead alloys. It operates a single plant at Naidupet in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh, and has no subsidiaries, joint ventures or associates. Revenue from operations was 1,167.65 cr in FY26 against 462.96 cr in FY24, a CAGR of 58.81%.
• Of FY26 revenue from operations, sale of finished goods was 87.5%, job work conversion charges 7.8%, net foreign exchange gains 3.7% and export incentives 1.0%. By product, pure lead was 56.5% of revenue and lead alloys 27.5%, against 42.3% and 43.0% in FY25. By end use industry, the metal segment was 50.0% and the battery segment 34.8%, against 22.6% and 66.0% respectively in FY24.
• Pure lead is a standardised commodity sold to battery makers and metal traders. Lead alloys are made to customer specification: lead-calcium and lead-antimony for battery grids, lead-tin for solders and cable sheathing, and lead-silver and lead-cadmium for high temperature industrial uses. By-products such as plastic chips and dross are sold as scrap, which was 3.4% of FY26 revenue.
• The customer base was 52 in FY26 against 54 in each of FY25 and FY24. Amara Raja Energy & Mobility was 40.64% of revenue at 474.56 cr, the top five 81.98% and the top ten 91.61%. Exports were 39.83% of revenue across eight countries, with Singapore at 42.5% and Switzerland at 40.5% of export revenue. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together were 52.5% of total revenue.
• The process runs from scrap procurement through sorting, battery breaking, smelting in rotary furnaces above 900 degrees Celsius, refining and alloying in kettles, casting into ingots, in-house spectrometric testing and dispatch. The plant has 8 rotary furnaces, 14 refining kettles, 7 ingot casting machines, 2 battery breaking units, 10 pollution control units and a NABL accredited testing laboratory.
• Raw material was 86.94% imported in FY26, up from 61.34% in FY24, sourced from 58 countries with the UAE at 25.2% of imports and Singapore at 16.5%. The supplier base was 165 overseas and 55 domestic suppliers, with the top ten at 38.48% of purchases against 51.06% in FY24. There are no long-term supply contracts and purchases are made on order or auction basis.
• Installed capacity went from 54,750 MTPA in FY24 to 104,025 MTPA in FY25 and FY26, and to 156,950 MTPA with effect from 29 May 2026. Production was 69,855 MT in FY26 at 67.15% utilisation, against 46,980 MT and 45.16% in FY25. On the expanded base, FY26 volumes represent about 44% utilisation. Capital expenditure was 12.44 cr, 25.30 cr and 20.54 cr in FY26, FY25 and FY24.
Promoters and Leadership
• Ardee is run by a single family. Sandeep Aggarwal (51) is Chairman and Managing Director, his son Nikunj Aggarwal (30) and daughter-in-law Esha Gupta (31) are Whole-time Directors. Ardee was incorporated by the Bansal family in 1993 and acquired by Sandeep Aggarwal, Nikunj Aggarwal and group company D.P. Auto Industries under a share purchase agreement dated 26 April 2021. The operating record under the present management is about five years.
• The family's own business is Pilot Industries Limited, founded in 1969 by Sandeep's father, which manufactures batteries under the 'Leader' brand along with lead and lead alloys at Pantnagar and Bhiwadi. Sandeep has spent three decades in the lead business there and remains its Executive Director; his brother Sanjeev Aggarwal is its Managing Director.
• Managing director and whole-time director remuneration was 5.40 cr in FY24 against profit after tax of 8.95 cr, fell to 2.40 cr in FY25 and was 4.01 cr in FY26. The approved ceiling from 1 August 2025 is 6.0 cr a year for the two of them including perquisites. The company has no ESOP, stock appreciation rights or share purchase scheme.
Shareholding Pattern
• Sandeep Aggarwal holds 45.73% and Nikunj Aggarwal 45.43%, with Esha Gupta holding 8,000 shares. Promoter group company D.P. Auto Industries holds 0.31% and three family members hold 8,000 shares each.
Issue Details
Fresh issue size - Amount → 320 cr; To be utilized in -
• Funding incremental working capital requirement of the Company → 220 cr
• Repayment or pre-payment, in full or in part, of certain borrowings → 20 cr
• General Corporate Purposes & Others
Offer For Sale size - Amount → 105.87 cr (1,99,75,000 equity shares at the upper price band) ;
• Promoters Sandeep Aggarwal and Nikunj Aggarwal will each sell 99,87,500 shares, taking the combined promoter and promoter group holding from 91.48% pre-IPO to about 67.6% post-IPO.
Financials
