Bhagwati Autocast is a single-factory iron foundry that turns scrap metal and pig iron into heavy, high-precision castings for the engines and bodies of tractors and commercial vehicles. Incorporated in 1981 and run from one plant in Gujarat, the company has survived a brutally competitive, thin-margin industry by tying itself to a handful of large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and relentlessly cutting its own energy costs - most recently by generating half its power from its own solar fields. That recurring approach - a narrow customer focus paired with an obsession on the cost of melting metal - explains almost everything about how the business works. # Business segments A single-engine business - one foundry, one product family, one customer type - where survival depends on managing the price of electricity and the health of the Indian tractor market. ## 1. Iron castings: the heavy metal heart of a tractor **The company makes one thing - iron castings weighing up to 140 kg each - and sells almost all of them to just two tractor and automobile manufacturers in India.** - **Melts scrap into precision parts** - the foundry takes domestic scrap and pig iron, melts it, and pours it into moulds to produce Cast Iron (CI) and Spheroidal Graphite Iron (SGI, a stronger, ductile form) castings that become engine blocks, transmission housings, and other structural components for OEMs. - **A single plant at full tilt** - the entire operation runs from one facility in Rajoda, near Bavla in Gujarat, with an installed annual capacity of 18,000 metric tonnes; the company says it is already using its full capacity, so it cannot simply make more units to grow. - **Two customers call the shots** - roughly 75% of all production is sold to just two companies, creating a deep dependency; the management has publicly stated it wants to reduce this concentration and has expanded its marketing and R&D teams to hunt for new markets. - **No exports, no hedging** - every casting is sold inside India, and the company has had zero export revenue for at least two years; it also has no foreign exchange transactions, insulating it from currency swings but also locking it into the domestic cycle. - **Price-taker, not price-maker** - sales rates are set by market standards, not by a cost-plus formula, so the company has very limited power to raise prices even when its own costs climb; it does, however, have a price-adjustment mechanism with customers to pass through increases in major raw material costs. # The solar hedge: how the foundry fights Gujarat's power bills **The company has built its own captive solar power plants to neutralise the single biggest operational disadvantage it faces - electricity costs for foundries in Gujarat are substantially higher than in other parts of the country.** - **Two ground-mounted solar plants** - the company commissioned its first 4,500 kWp plant in Bamroli Village, Patan District, in March 2022, and a second identical 4,500 kWp plant in nearby Balodhar Village, which started operating in August 2024. - **Half the factory runs on sunlight** - during FY25, renewable energy from both solar plants supplied almost 50% of the company's total power consumption, directly attacking the cost-structure problem that makes Gujarat foundries less competitive. - **Sweating every unit of power** - beyond solar, the company runs a tight energy discipline: it maintains a near-perfect plant-wide power factor of 0.999, replaces inefficient motors, uses LED lighting, and synchronises furnace melting and holding so metal is never kept at pouring temperature longer than necessary. # Group structure and partners **A tightly held family business with no subsidiaries, no joint ventures, and a web of related-party transactions with two promoter-group companies that supply job work and materials.** - **Promoters own nearly three-quarters** - the promoter and promoter group hold 73.92% of the equity, with the Managing Director, Ms. Reena P. Bhagwati, her father and Chairman Dr. Pravin N. Bhagwati, and their family entities controlling 73.80%. - **Two sister companies in the supply chain** - the company has a five-year agreement with Bhagwati Spherocast Pvt. Ltd. for job work, supply of goods, and services (up to Rs. 500 lakhs per year), and a smaller one-year agreement with Bhagwati Filters Pvt. Ltd. for purchase or sale of material (up to Rs. 20 lakhs). - **No corporate layers** - the company has no subsidiaries, joint ventures, or associate companies, making it a pure-play, stand-alone foundry with a single listing on the BSE.