Rating Rationale
September 10, 2024 | Mumbai
Paras Defence and Space Technologies Limited
Ratings reaffirmed at 'CRISIL A-/Stable/CRISIL A2+'
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities RatedRs.103 Crore
Long Term RatingCRISIL A-/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Short Term RatingCRISIL A2+ (Reaffirmed)
Note: None of the Directors on CRISIL Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings.
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities

Detailed Rationale

CRISIL Ratings has reaffirmed its ratings on the bank loan facilities of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd (PDSTL) to 'CRISIL A-/Stable/CRISIL A2+'

 

The rating continues to reflect extensive experience of Paras’ promoters and their technical expertise, its diversified product portfolio, reputed clientele and strong financial risk profile. These strengths are partially mitigated by large working capital requirements and partial susceptibility of revenue and operating profitability to tender based businesses.

Analytical Approach

CRISIL Ratings has combined the business and financial risk profiles of PDSTL and its subsidiaries. This  is because all these entities, collectively referred to as the Paras group, operate in the same industry and have operational and financial linkages.

 

Please refer Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description

Strengths:

  • Established market position supported by extensive experience of promoters and technical expertise: Paras group benefits from the promoters’ experience of more than 4 decades and their strong understanding of market dynamics, which should continue to support business risk profile. Over the decades, Paras has developed strong engineering and design capabilities which has helped it in meeting the changing demands from its customers. Further, Paras has maintained a strong focus on R&D which has helped them develop a wide range of products and solutions in the Defence and Space sector. With strong technical capabilities and continuous R&D, Paras group has been improving its market position and is a sole manufacturer of many critical components in India as well as in entire Asia-Pacific regions for certain products. This can be indicated in the continuous increase in revenues to around Rs. 254 crore as on fiscal 2024 as compared to Rs. 223 crore in fiscal 2023. Further with a strong market position the group has been able to establish a healthy order book of Rs. 565 crore as on August 2024 and further has received order of Rs. 305 crore in associate company, which is expected to be largely executed by Paras group. This provides healthy revenue visibility over the medium term.

 

  • Diversified product portfolio and healthy customer profile: Paras has a wide range of products which find application in diverse sectors like  Defence & Space optics (27% of revenues) and Defence electronics (73% of revenues) in fiscal 2024. Paras has a diversified customer base which ranges from Government arms and government organizations involved in Defence and Space research, to various Defence public sector undertakings such as DRDO, Bharat Electronics Limited, ISRO etc, as well as various private entities such as TATA group, L&T, Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd etc. The group also exports to companies based in Israel, Singapore and USA., exports account for ~12% of total sales. The diversified product portfolio and established relationship with key customers should support the company maintain its scale over the medium term.

 

  • Strong financial risk profile: Paras’ adjusted net worth is strong at around Rs 390-395 crores as on March 31, 2024 (Rs 364 crores as on March 31, 2023) supported by steady accretion to reserves. Overall, capital structure is marked by comfortable gearing and total outside liabilities to adjusted networth of around 0.1-0.2 time and 0.45-0.55 time as on March 31, 2024 (from 0.04 time and 0.29 time, respectively, a year before). Debt protection metrics are also strong, with interest coverage and net cash accruals to adjusted debt of above 9 times and 0.6-0.7 times in fiscal 2024 (as against 9.35 times and 3.2 times, respectively, in fiscal 2023). With healthy profitability the debt protection metrics are expected to remain comfortable over the medium term. Further the company has planned to raise funds through equity infusion in fiscal 2025, which would further lead to improvement in the financial profile of the company.

 

Weaknesses:

  • Working capital intensive operations: Operations are working capital intensive as reflected by gross current assets of  535-540 days as on March 31, 2024 which is majorly driven by debtors of 280-290 days and inventory of 275-285 days (as compared to 247 days and 207 days respectively as year ago). The debtors and inventory got stretched as on March 2024 due to higher revenue booking during year end. Though expected to improve it would continue to remain large since, Paras’s customers include government bodies and manufactures various kind of products with long processing times. Further debtors also include retention money . With increasing scale, working capital requirements will remain high which will be partly met by internal accruals, and expected equity infusion. Working capital cycle will remain a key monitorable over the medium term.
     
  • Susceptibility of scale of operations and operating profitability to tender based business: While Paras has a well-diversified product profile with different products providing different profitability, its business performance is entirely dependent on the nature of tender received from its customers, owing which both scale and profitability are expected to remain volatile. The same can be reflected in the dip in margins to around 22-22.5% in fiscal 2024 from 26.1% in fiscal 2023. Though the margins improved in Q1FY25 to around 29% owing to improved product mix, the sustenance of healthy operating margins will remain a key monitorable over the medium term.

Liquidity: Strong

Paras has strong liquidity driven by expected cash accruals of more than Rs.60 to 70 crore per annum in fiscal 2025 and 2026, against long term repayment obligations around Rs. 0.4 crores annually. The Paras group’s fund-based limits was 70% utilized on an average over 12 months ended May 2024. The company has cash and bank balance of around Rs. 31 crores as on March 31, 2024. Low gearing and moderate net worth support its financial flexibility and provides the financial cushion available in case of any adverse conditions or downturn in the business.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL Rating believes that the company will continue to benefit from its established market position in the aerospace and defence equipment segment and strong financial risk proFILE

Rating sensitivity factors

Upward factors:

  • Significant improvement in scale while sustaining healthy operating margin leading to  cash accruals above Rs 60 crores
  • Improvement in working capital cycle and sustenance of healthy financial risk profile with comfortable capital structure 

 

Downward factors:

  • Decline in scale of operations or operating profitability leading to cash accruals less than Rs 30 Crores.
  • Stretch in working capital cycle weakening financial risk profile and liquidity profile

About the Company

Paras, setup in 1979 by Mr. Sharad Shah, primarily offers high precision products and turnkey solutions to the defense and space sector, operating in three main verticals – Defence and Space Optics, Defence Electronics and Heavy Engineering. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange & National Stock Exchange. The day-to-day operations are currently managed by Mr. Munjal Shah (son of Mr. Sharad Shah) and it has two manufacturing facilities located in Thane and Navi Mumbai.

Key Financial Indicators

As on/for the period ended March 31

Unit

2024

2023

2022

Operating income

Rs crore

253.9

222.8

183.6

Reported profit after tax (PAT)

Rs crore

30.0

35.6

14.4

PAT margin

%

22.4

16.0

7.9

Adjusted debt/adjusted networth

Times

0.16

0.04

0.09

Interest coverage

Times

9.35

8.6

7.0

Any other information: Not Applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL Ratings` complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the 'Annexure - Details of Instrument' in this Rating Rationale.

CRISIL Ratings will disclose complexity level for all securities - including those that are yet to be placed - based on available information. The complexity level for instruments may be updated, where required, in the rating rationale published subsequent to the issuance of the instrument when details on such features are available.

For more details on the CRISIL Ratings` complexity levels please visit www.crisilratings.com. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.

Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)

ISIN Name of the
instrument
Date of
Allotment
Coupon
Rate (%)
Maturity
Date
Issue size
(Rs. Crore)
Complexity
Level
Rating assigned
with outlook
NA  Bank Guarantee  NA  NA  NA  23 NA  CRISIL A2+ 
NA  Cash Credit  NA  NA  NA  39 NA  CRISIL A-/Stable 
NA  Letter of Credit  NA  NA  NA  5 NA  CRISIL A2+ 
NA  Pre Shipment Credit  NA  NA  NA  7 NA  CRISIL A2+ 
NA  Long Term Loan  NA  NA  31-Mar-29 10 NA  CRISIL A-/Stable 
NA  Proposed Term Loan  NA  NA  NA  19 NA  CRISIL A-/Stable 

Annexure – List of entities consolidated

Names of Entities Consolidated

Extent of Consolidation

Rationale for Consolidation

Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd

Full

Parent company

Paras Aerospace Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Full

Subsidiary company

Paras Anti-Drone Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Full

Subsidiary company

Paras Green UAV Pvt. Ltd.

Full

Subsidiary company

OPEL Technologies Pte. Ltd.

Full

Subsidiary company

Ayyati Innovative Pvt Ltd

Full

Subsidiary company

Mechtech Thermal Private Limited

Full

Subsidiary company

Quantico Technologies Private Limited

Full

Subsidiary company

Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2024 (History) 2023  2022  2021  Start of 2021
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund Based Facilities ST/LT 75.0 CRISIL A2+ / CRISIL A-/Stable   -- 14-06-23 CRISIL A2+ / CRISIL A-/Stable 30-05-22 CRISIL BBB+/Positive / CRISIL A2 01-03-21 CRISIL BBB+/Negative / CRISIL A2 CRISIL BBB+/Stable / CRISIL A2
Non-Fund Based Facilities ST 28.0 CRISIL A2+   -- 14-06-23 CRISIL A2+ 30-05-22 CRISIL A2 01-03-21 CRISIL A2 CRISIL A2
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of Bank Lenders & Facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Name of Lender Rating
Bank Guarantee 15 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Bank Guarantee 8 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Cash Credit 24 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Cash Credit 15 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Letter of Credit 5 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Long Term Loan 10 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Pre Shipment Credit 7 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Proposed Term Loan 19 Not Applicable CRISIL A-/Stable
Criteria Details
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
CRISILs Approach to Recognising Default
Understanding CRISILs Ratings and Rating Scales
CRISILs Criteria for Consolidation

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