



Coromandel’s aggressive capex could reduce earnings volatility. Can it deliver?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Agriculture-solutions provider Coromandel International Ltd’s stock has risen 30% over the past year as investors warm to its push to structurally lift Ebitda margins and smoothen earnings. A ₹4,000–5,000 crore capex commitment over FY25–28 is central to this shift.
The strategy hinges on expanded scale, backward integration and a steadily rising contribution from the non-fertilizer portfolio. At the heart of the plan is scale. Coromandel is investing heavily across its fertilizer and crop protection platforms.
In fertilizers, it is expanding phosphatic granulation capacity to 5 million tonnes (mt) from 3.6 mt over the next three to five years, adding Single Super Phosphate (SSP) and Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP) capacity, and rolling out combinations such as urea–SSP. With trading included, this could take potential fertilizer sales to nearly 10 mt. But volumes alone won’t drive the turnaround.
The real lever is cost control in raw materials. Nearly two-thirds of raw material sourcing is planned to come from captive backward integration and management expects fertilizer Ebitda/tonne to climb from roughly ₹4,500 today to about ₹6,500 post-integration from FY27. Sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and granulation capacities are to scale up.
That margin uplift is what underpins expectations of a valuation reset. Crop protection is the second leg of the story, and seems to be a more powerful one. It plans to double revenue over five years, backed by new molecule launches, faster in-licensing, the integration of NACL Industries, retail expansion and exports.
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