Investment & Precision Castings Ltd (IPCL) is a company that takes a customer’s design and turns it into a solid metal part - a process called investment casting, which it has been doing since 1975 as the first such foundry in Gujarat. Over five decades, it has grown from a supplier focused almost entirely on car and truck makers into a manufacturer of precision components for jet engines, missile systems, and artificial joints, all while remaining anchored in its original Bhavnagar factory. The recurring approach is to master one difficult casting technology, earn the approvals that turn it into a barrier to entry, and then use that position to move into adjacent industries that demand even tighter tolerances - a pattern that explains how a single-location foundry became a listed company with a 49-year stock-exchange history.
Business segments
Two engines at different stages of maturity - a high-volume commercial casting business that is the company’s backbone, and a specialized division serving aerospace, defence and medical customers that is still building its order book - both running on the same lost-wax technology and sharing a rapid-prototyping capability.
1. Commercial castings: the industrial workhorse that pays the bills
This division mass-produces precision metal parts for carmakers, pump manufacturers and tractor companies using a process that can make a component as light as a paperclip or as heavy as a motorcycle engine, all from a single wax pattern.
- Makes parts other methods cannot - the lost-wax process (where a wax model is coated in ceramic, melted out, and replaced with molten metal) produces complex, hollow shapes in a single piece, eliminating welds and joints that would weaken the part.
- Deeply embedded with India’s largest automakers - it is a self-certified vendor for Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra, meaning those customers trust its quality checks enough to skip their own incoming inspection, a status that locks in repeat orders.
- A one-stop shop from print to plated part - the division does not just pour metal; it runs 45 CNC machines (up to 5-axis) for precision machining, and offers electro-plating, powder coating and anodizing in-house, so a customer can receive a finished component ready for assembly.
- Capacity built for volume - Plant 1 can produce 1,800 tonnes of castings a year, serving industries from turbochargers to fire-safety equipment, with a weight range spanning 10 grams to 330 kilograms.
2. Specialized castings: the aerospace, defence and medical bet
This division pours the same precision into nickel-based superalloys and cobalt-chrome that the commercial side pours into steel - but for customers who will not place an order until the factory itself has been approved.
- Vacuum casting for metals that cannot touch air - Plant 3 houses a Consarc Vacuum Melting Furnace that melts superalloys in a vacuum chamber, preventing contamination that would ruin a jet-engine turbine blade or a medical implant.
- The approvals are the product - the facility is approved by a leading US aerospace company for civil-aviation aluminium castings, holds a type-approval certificate for aerospace work, and is an approved supplier to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), each of which took years to secure.
- Defence contracts are materializing - in 2025-26 alone, the company won orders to supply precision castings for small-arms components (via a joint venture between Adani Group and Israel Weapon Industries), superalloy turbine parts for Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE DRDO), and aluminium components for thermal weapon sights.
- Technology borrowed from the country’s defence labs - it acquired specialized ceramic-core technology from DRDO, which lets it cast hollow cooling passages inside superalloy parts - a capability critical to aero-engine efficiency and one that few Indian foundries possess.
- Still a small share of the whole - aerospace and defence revenue crossed 5% of overall sales in FY21, up from just over 3% the year before, reflecting a business that is growing from a low base and carries long development cycles.
Rapid prototyping and bar-stock machining
A shared capability that compresses lead times for every division - and earns its own keep when the casting furnaces are busy.
- 3D-printed patterns cut sample time - a Voxeljet 3D printer produces PMMA (acrylic) patterns directly from a CAD file, bypassing the need to cut metal tooling for a prototype, so a new design can be cast and tested in days rather than weeks.
- CNC machines work for castings or on their own - the same 45-machine bank that finishes cast parts also turns and mills components from solid bar stock, supplying fully machined parts to the automotive, power and medical industries even when no casting is involved.
Group structure and partners
A family-controlled listed company with a dormant subsidiary and a board that mixes promoter leadership with independent oversight.
- Promoters held just under 52% of the equity as of March 2025, with Mr. Piyush Tamboli serving as Chairman and Managing Director and the next generation represented by Mr. Jainam Tamboli as Whole-Time Director and CFO.
- The company has one subsidiary, I&PCL Vacuum Castings Limited, in which it holds a 99.99% shareholding, which had zero turnover in FY25 and exists as a legal entity with a share capital of INR 25 lakh.
- Its early technical know-how came from a series of foreign collaborations - with Arwood Corporation in the US, Zollern in Germany, and Associated Foundries in Japan - stretching from 1977 to 1995, which laid the process foundation the company still builds on.
- The nine-member board includes five independent directors, and the company banks with Bank of Baroda in Bhavnagar, reflecting its deep local roots.