Altman Z″
Needs current assets and current liabilities.
LALITHAA · Diamond & Jewellery · INE0K9O01026
Analyst mean 0.00 · 0 analysts · 0% bullishThis company listed within the last twelve months, so its prospectus is still the primary source. The figures below were extracted from the DRHP and RHP before listing and scored then, and they are shown here as they stand in the IPO record rather than restated.
Each flag is a fact read in the filing, shown with the context that makes it meaningful.
Stated objects, as worded in the offer document. Deployment against them is tracked separately.
Claims made in the offer document, to be read against what the company has reported since.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Limited, incorporated in 1985 and headquartered in Chennai, is one of the leading organized jewellery retail chains in South India. As of March 31, 2026, the company operates 61 stores spread across 51 cities in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, with a total operational area of 650,881 square feet. Lalithaa Jewellery implements an asset-light retail model, leasing 58 out of its 61 showrooms on a leave and license basis. The company offers a wide range of jewellery products including necklaces, bangles, rings, earrings, pendants, and bracelets in gold, silver, and diamond studded jewellery. It primarily serves mass-market, value-conscious buyers by providing certified BIS-hallmarked jewellery at competitive prices, enabled by backward-integrated in-house manufacturing and partnerships with 296 Karigars on a non-exclusive basis. The company also administers popular customer enrollment purchase schemes, such as 'Dhana Vandhanam' and 'Free-yo-Flexi', which have over 473,412 active participants. These schemes secure substantial customer advances, providing strong sales visibility and regular operational cash flow. Lalithaa Jewellery has grown its revenue from operations from ₹16,788.05 crore in Fiscal 2024 to ₹25,023.93 crore in Fiscal 2026, achieving a CAGR of 22.09%.
Lalithaa Jewellery's competitive moat is built on its disruptive cost-leadership strategy, offering gold jewellery at exceptionally competitive prices with low value-addition (making) charges. This is backed by backward-integrated, in-house manufacturing and strong supply relationships with 296 non-exclusive Karigars. The moat is further reinforced by its robust customer loyalty programs (such as 'Dhana Vandhanam' and 'Free-yo-Flexi'), which enrolled 473,412 active members and secured ₹5,042.75 crore in customer advances in Fiscal 2026, creating high-visibility forward sales and substantial cash flow barriers to competitors.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart Limited is a prominent South Indian jewellery retailer offering a diverse range of gold, silver, and diamond jewellery across varied styles and designs. The company operates on an asset-light model through a retail network of 61 stores in 51 cities across South India, catering primarily to mass-market and value-conscious consumers.
Source: p. 16, 242, 243, 245
Where the revenue came from, as the document splits it.
| Name | Pct | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gold jewellery | 92.33 | p. 242, 296 |
| Silver jewellery and articles | 6.63 | p. 242, 296 |
| Others (Diamond/Platinum jewellery) | 1.04 | p. 242, 296 |
According to the CRISIL Report, the Indian gems and jewellery retail industry was valued at ₹1,288,700.00 crore in Fiscal 2026, having grown at a CAGR of 20.70% since Fiscal 2022. Gold jewellery continues to dominate the market with an 80.00% to 85.00% market share. Standalone, family-owned stores traditionally dominate the sector with a 58.00% to 63.00% market share, but organized retail chains have scaled rapidly due to regulatory shifts like GST and mandatory hallmarking, increasing their market share from 30.00% to 35.00% in Fiscal 2020 to 37.00% to 42.00% in Fiscal 2026 (projected to reach 45.00% to 50.00% by Fiscal 2030). The South Indian region represents approximately 40.00% of the national market, valued at ₹502,600.00 crore in Fiscal 2026, and is projected to expand at a 6.00% to 7.00% CAGR to reach ₹620,000.00 crore to ₹660,000.00 crore by Fiscal 2030.
Growth rate: 20.70% CAGR (Fiscal 2022 to Fiscal 2026)
Market size: ₹1,288,700.00 crore
Sector slug: gems-and-jewellery-retail
Source: p. 161, 242, 243
The comparable set the company chose, which is itself a disclosure.
| Name | Margin | Pb | Pe | Roe | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalyan Jewellers India Limited | 3.78% | 46.85 | 24.30% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| Senco Gold Limited | 6.81% | 11.5 | 25.62% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| Thangamayil Jewellery Limited | 4.14% | 46.26 | 27.93% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| Manoj Vaibhav Gems N Jewellers Limited | 4.19% | 7.12 | 14.82% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| P N Gadgil Jewellers Limited | 3.82% | 22.18 | 23.31% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| Titan Company Limited | 5.79% | 85.25 | 37.13% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Limited | 6.32% | 9.14 | 27.06% | p. 137, 141, 142 | |
| PC Jeweller Limited | 21.31% | 9.26 | 9.95% | p. 137, 141, 142 |
As presented in the offer document. Post-listing figures are in the statements above.
| Basis | Period | Related party revenue cr | Pat cr | Ebitda cr | Pat margin | Revenue cr | Pat margin derived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| consolidated | FY26 | 9.497 | 1009.817 | 1673.504 | 4.04% | 25023.927 | yes |
| consolidated | FY25 | 29.118 | 364.726 | 740.359 | 2.16% | 16897.317 | yes |
| consolidated | FY24 | 12.697 | 359.833 | 680.167 | 2.14% | 16788.052 | yes |
The measures this sector is actually judged on, as disclosed in the document. No feed supplies these.
Written before listing, answered from the document itself.
How are the Fresh Issue proceeds allocated?
Of the ₹1,200.00 crore Fresh Issue proceeds, ₹34.55 crore is allocated to capital expenditures for setting up 10 new showrooms, and the overwhelming majority—₹998.68 crore—is allocated directly to inventory funding for these new outlets, with the balance for general corporate purposes.
p. 121, 122
Is the supplier or buyer concentration high?
Buyer concentration is minimal because sales are retail and consumer-focused. However, supplier concentration exists, particularly with related-party AK Exports which supplied ₹367.81 crore of raw materials in FY26, alongside reliance on a curated list of top-10 gold and metal suppliers who provide the bulk of gold/silver inventory.
p. 27, 67
Is the company profitable and what are its margins?
Yes. Profitability has scaled aggressively, with restated revenue from operations increasing by 49.06% in Fiscal 2026 to reach ₹25,023.93 crore. Restated PAT rose by 176.87% to ₹1,009.82 crore in FY26 from ₹364.73 crore in FY25, achieving an EBITDA margin of 6.69% and a PAT margin of 4.04% in FY26.
p. 76
What are the main risks hidden in the footnotes or contingent liabilities?
Footnote and contingent liability risks are substantial: (i) an advance tax installment default of ₹61.93 crore outstanding for over six months; (ii) disputed GST demands under appeal totaling ₹54.62 crore; (iii) a massive inventory write-down of ₹272.53 crore as of March 31, 2026, due to firm sales contracts/customer schemes; (iv) an active criminal complaint against promoter M. Kiran Kumar Jain and a subsidiary under environmental laws; and (v) SEBI summons outstanding from a 2022 investigation.
p. 18, 23, 95, 123, 128
What the issue priced at, on the figures in the document.
Ronw: 39.90%
The peer group selected includes major listed organized gems and jewellery players in India such as Kalyan Jewellers, Titan Company, Senco Gold, P N Gadgil, and regional players.
Source: p. 136, 137
Ceo: Moolchand Kiran Kumar Jain (Chairman and Managing Director)
Outstanding direct tax litigation against the Company aggregates to ₹1.419 crore under appeal. Outstanding indirect tax litigation against the Company involves disputed Goods and Services Tax (GST) demands under appeal totaling ₹54.616 crore. Outstanding criminal litigation includes a complaint filed by M/s Voice of Nature against subsidiary Asita Jewellery Manufacturing Private Limited and promoter M. Kiran Kumar Jain under the Water Act. No criminal cases are outstanding against the Company itself, though the Company has filed 1 criminal case u/s 381 of IPC against an erstwhile employee for gold ornament theft of 5.22 kilograms.
Auditor name: M/s Suresh Surana & Associates LLP
Promoters collectively hold 97.72% (48,85,74,156 Equity Shares) of the pre-Offer paid-up Equity Share capital, with nil promoter shares pledged or encumbered.
Statutory auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the Restated Consolidated Financial Information. However, under CARO 2020 Clause (vii)(a), the auditors disclosed that undisputed advance tax installments of ₹61.925 crore due for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, remained outstanding for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable.
Source: p. 2, 7, 23, 74, 118, 123, 127, 128
A change between the two filings is a disclosure in itself.
Numbered markers are corporate actions and, once the filings are read, capital and governance events. Prices are split-adjusted so the series is continuous.
What the numbers mean when read together — computed from the filings, not a score.
The business reported a profit, yet its operations drained cash rather than generating it. Profit that comes with negative operating cash is the single most important thing to understand here.
Why this reading: Flagged on a single year deliberately: negative operating cash alongside a reported profit is plain, material, and hard to explain benignly — exactly the kind of obvious signal that should never be smoothed over.
Operating cash flow ₹-401 cr against trailing net profit ₹1,009 cr. When operations consume cash while the P&L shows profit, ask whether receivables are ballooning, revenue is booked ahead of collection, or costs are being capitalised.
Borrowings rose 279% over 3 years, but only about 6% of the new debt shows up as productive assets — worth understanding what the rest funded.
Why this reading: Kept at caution rather than flagged: the disproportion is real but not extreme, and part of the borrowing may fund working capital or intangibles that this view doesn't capture.
New borrowing ₹1,505 cr against an asset build of ₹91 cr. Some gap is normal (working capital, dividends); a persistent or widening gap is where it becomes a concern.
Free cash flow is negative — the business consumes more than it generates once capex is paid. Fine if it is deliberate growth investment; a problem if it is structural.
Why this reading: Noted with caution — worth watching, but not yet conclusive on its own. Business has ups and downs; one soft reading is not a verdict.
Latest free cash flow ₹-465 cr, negative in 2 of 7 years. Check whether the burn funds expansion (dark stores, plants, ports) or merely sustains operations.
Borrowings rose 63% over two years while the company also carries ₹104 cr in investments. Why borrow at interest while parking money elsewhere is a fair question.
Why this reading: Noted with caution — worth watching, but not yet conclusive on its own. Business has ups and downs; one soft reading is not a verdict.
Borrowings moved to ₹2,045 cr from ₹1,255 cr. Simultaneous large investments can be legitimate treasury management, or a sign that reported cash is not freely available.
Every score below is calculated here from the reported numbers — none of it is asserted. Open the notebook at the foot of the section to see each formula with this company's figures in it.
Needs current assets and current liabilities.
Piotroski F-Score — fundamental momentum — Joseph Piotroski, University of Chicago, 2000, in a study of whether accounting signals could improve returns among cheap stocks.
Nine yes-or-no tests across profitability, leverage and operating efficiency. Each pass scores one. It asks a narrow question: is this business getting better or worse on its own terms, year over year?
How to read it7 or more suggests improving fundamentals; 3 or fewer suggests deterioration. It measures direction, not quality — a weak company improving can score higher than a strong one holding steady.
Where it failsA single year of comparison, so one unusual year distorts it. Says nothing about valuation, competitive position or management. Piotroski designed it to rank already-cheap stocks, not to judge a company in isolation.
Needs trade receivables, current assets, other expenses.
Accruals are 15.6% of assets. Free cash flow negative in 2 of 7 years.
DuPont decomposition — Devised inside the DuPont Corporation in the 1920s and still the standard way to read a return on equity.
Splits return on equity into its three sources, so the same headline number can be traced to very different businesses.
How to read itA 20% ROE built on margin and turnover is a different proposition from a 20% ROE built on 3× leverage. The first survives a downturn; the second amplifies it.
Where it failsA single year. Negative equity makes it meaningless. Leverage is structural for lenders, so the third term carries no signal there.
Revenue grew faster than the capital behind it, which is what operating leverage looks like: the existing asset base is working harder.
cumulative operating cash flow ÷ cumulative net profit
₹791 cr ÷ ₹2,401 cr, over 7 years
0.33×
Below 1.0 and persistent means profit is being recognised before the cash arrives.(net profit − operating cash flow) ÷ average total assets
(₹1,009 − ₹-401) cr ÷ average assets
15.6%
The share of profit that is accounting entries rather than cash. Above ~10% is where accruals start to dominate.net margin × asset turnover × leverage
4.0% × 2.27 × 3.66
33.5%
Splits ROE into whether returns come from operations or from borrowing.EBIT ÷ finance cost
₹1,601 cr ÷ ₹242 cr
6.62×
How many times operating profit covers the interest bill.borrowings ÷ net worth
₹2,045 cr ÷ ₹3,016 cr
0.68×
Read against the sector — infrastructure carries more than software.growth in fixed assets + CWIP, against growth in revenue
capital +16% vs revenue +87%, FY2023 to FY2026
-71pp gap
Money going in far faster than revenue coming out. For an incubator this is expected — the test is whether it eventually converts.Needs more balance-sheet detail (only 3 of 6 flags testable).
NOPAT over equity plus debt less cash, at a notional 25% tax. Incremental ROIC is the return on money put in since then — the number that decides whether growth creates value or consumes it.
Return on invested capital, and incremental ROIC — Standard in corporate finance; the incremental form was popularised by Michael Mauboussin as the test of whether growth creates value.
ROIC measures what the business earns on all the capital it employs — equity plus debt, less cash. Incremental ROIC asks a sharper question: what has it earned on the money put in since a chosen year?
How to read itROIC comfortably above the cost of capital — call it 11–13% in India — means growth compounds. Below it, growth consumes. Incremental below headline means recent investment is earning less than the legacy business.
Where it failsDistorted in the year of a large acquisition. Understated for companies mid-build, where capital is deployed but capacity has not yet been commissioned — an incubator will look poor until it does not.
Read downward. Cash can cover EBITDA and still not survive capex — the third rung is where a capital-hungry business shows itself.
The earnings quality ladder — Not a named model — the standard sequence an analyst walks when testing whether reported profit is real.
Three ratios read in order, each stricter than the last.
How to read itRead downward. Each rung failing where the one above passed tells you exactly where the cash is going.
Where it failsA single year of heavy capex depresses the third rung legitimately. Judge it across a cycle.
Against a policy rate near 6%, most sound Indian corporates borrow between 7% and 10%.
Cost of debt — Interest expense over average borrowings — the effective rate the company actually pays.
What the lenders charge, which is a market verdict on credit quality that no rating agency delay affects.
How to read itAgainst a policy rate near 6%, most sound Indian corporates borrow between 7% and 10%. Read the direction over years as much as the level.
Where it failsUnderstated where a large share of interest is capitalised into projects under construction. Not meaningful for lenders, where interest is cost of goods.
Models that need these lines are withheld rather than estimated: net worth, current assets, current liabilities, trade receivables, inventory, net block. Nothing on this page is back-solved from a figure the company did not publish.
Each framework below is a set of stated, mechanical criteria from published work, run against this company's own filed numbers. Passing or failing a screen is not a verdict — different frameworks disagree by design, and that disagreement is itself informative.
Benjamin Graham's stated criteria for a defensive stock, applied to the filed numbers. A company failing several is not disqualified — Graham designed these to be deliberately strict.
Two ratios only: what the business earns on its capital, and what you pay for those earnings. Designed to be ranked across a universe rather than read in isolation.
The fundamental half of William O'Neil's framework. The market and leadership components are judgement calls and are not scored here.
The characteristics long-term holders commonly look for: cash-backed earnings, high returns on capital, and debt that never forces a decision.
Bars are revenue; the line is net margin. Revenue rising while the line falls is the shape worth noticing.
Operating cash first, then what the business spent and raised.
One year is a snapshot. These are the two lines that matter across a cycle.
Rising debtor or inventory days against flat sales is the earliest visible sign of stress.
Set your own assumptions and watch the numbers move. A scenario calculator — the outputs are the arithmetic of your inputs.
One canonical set of figures — the same numbers used everywhere else on this page and on the screener.
How the register has moved over recent quarters — the direction matters more than the level.
Promoter held steady from 82.85% to 82.85% across these quarters.
FII held steady from 2.61% to 2.61% across these quarters.
MF held steady from 2.29% to 2.29% across these quarters.
Other held steady from 12.25% to 12.25% across these quarters.
Where cash gets stuck. A rising inventory or debtor line against flat sales is the earliest sign of trouble in the numbers.
| Measure | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor days
How long customers take to pay | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Inventory days
How long stock sits before it sells | 90 | 102 | 129 | 124 | 102 | 99 | 139 | 159 |
| Payable days
How long the company takes to pay suppliers | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| Cash conversion cycle
Debtor + inventory − payable days | 87 | 96 | 126 | 119 | 97 | 98 | 135 | 153 |
| Working capital days | 16 | 20 | 31 | 36 | 27 | 28 | 32 | 37 |
| ROCE %
Return on capital employed | — | 22.0% | 25.0% | 22.0% | 27.0% | 27.0% | 22.0% | 38.0% |
The shape of the business over time (annual) — read the direction, not the single print.
| Line | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue from operations | 7,246 | 8,187 | 13,381 | 16,786 | 16,897 | 25,039 |
| Other income | 7 | 38 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 13 |
| Depreciation | 52 | 54 | 61 | 72 | 87 | 130 |
| Finance cost | 141 | 142 | 158 | 166 | 191 | 242 |
| Profit before tax | 236 | 255 | 318 | 482 | 500 | 1,359 |
| Net profit (owners) | 165 | 189 | 233 | 358 | 363 | 1,009 |
| EPS (₹) | 138.47 | 159.05 | 195.66 | 150.48 | 7.26 | 20.18 |
Exceptional items, total income and EBITDA are read from the filed statements.
| Metric | Jun 2025 | Mar 2026 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 4,786 | 6,500 | 6,040 |
| Other Income | 8 | 2 | 4 |
| Expenses | 4,354 | 5,955 | 5,667 |
| Depreciation | 34 | 33 | 30 |
| Finance cost | 50 | 49 | 62 |
| Profit before tax | 357 | 465 | 284 |
| Net Profit | 264 | 346 | 208 |
| EPS | 5.28 | 6.92 | 4.17 |
| Item | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity Capital | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 250 | 250 |
| Reserves | 864 | 1,054 | 1,287 | 1,645 | 1,763 | 2,766 |
| Borrowings | 705 | 624 | 540 | 1,255 | 1,374 | 2,045 |
| Net block | 479 | 465 | 516 | 560 | 643 | 630 |
| CWIP | 18 | 34 | 47 | 41 | 15 | 24 |
| Investments | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 104 |
| Total Assets | 2,957 | 3,203 | 4,233 | 5,182 | 7,030 | 11,042 |
| Line | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | 153 | 243 | 317 | -20 | 290 | -401 |
| Cash from investing | -30 | -36 | -67 | -112 | -215 | -63 |
| Cash from financing | -110 | -218 | -245 | 137 | -46 | 428 |
| Free cash flow | 122 | 206 | 254 | -108 | 170 | -465 |
| Net change in cash | 13 | -11 | 4 | 5 | 29 | -36 |
Cash from operations is the number profit has to answer to. Free cash flow is what remains after the business pays for its own growth.
These are coverage counts, not ratings. Each one asks a fixed set of questions of the filings and reports how many the company answered. A company that discloses nothing counts nothing here — that is a statement about the disclosure, not about the business.
The same read, applied to the companies this one competes with.