Permanent Magnets Ltd is fundamentally a precision-engineering house that solves sensing and control problems for the world’s largest automotive and electricity-meter manufacturers. Born in 1960 as a magnet maker, it nearly collapsed when meter technology changed, then rebuilt itself around a capabilities-first philosophy - instead of betting on a single product, it mastered a set of metallurgical and electromagnetic skills it could reapply wherever those skills were needed. That recurring approach - build a versatile capability, then find every industry that needs it - explains how a magnet company became a preferred supplier to roughly half of all tier-1 global auto firms and the top three meter makers worldwide.
Business segments
A single precision-engineering engine, organised around four capability platforms - magnetic sensing, current sensing, magnetic assemblies, and alloys - that feed the same two flagship industries, plus two early-stage bets on relays and rare-earth magnets being built with the cash flows of the core.
1. Magnetic and current-sensing components: the custom-engineered core
PML designs and manufactures precision components that sense current, speed, and magnetic fields inside cars and electricity meters - almost everything is custom-built to a single customer’s design, which makes the company deeply embedded and hard to displace.
- Custom by design, not by choice - a product designed for one customer cannot be sold to another because the design belongs to that customer, so PML’s business is built on winning each individual design-in and then supplying it for the life of that programme. Very few companies worldwide operate this way, with the raw-material supplier, process, and specifications all locked per customer.
- From components to modules - the company is shifting from selling individual parts to delivering integrated assemblies, which can multiply the value of what it sells by five or six times in categories like shunts and soft magnetic compounds. In smart meters, it has moved from supplying a shunt at 1x value to adding a relay at 20-25x, dramatically expanding the addressable spend per meter.
- Two flagship industries, one playbook - electricity meters and automobiles are the dominant applications, with PML often the sole supplier for many products and among the top two or three for most others. Asia is the largest geography at 62% of sales, driven by a growing India business, followed by Europe and America.
- The lab is part of the factory - an in-house AEC-Q200 laboratory and advanced measurement equipment including a Koerzimat and BH Loop Plotter let PML qualify and type-test components without relying on outside labs, which speeds up customer approvals and protects proprietary know-how.
- Six plants consolidating into one - the company operates six manufacturing facilities and is consolidating them into a single site, having already made significant progress on securing the land. It carries higher-than-usual inventories to buffer against long lead times for imported raw materials like electrical steel and nickel alloys.
2. Alloys: standard products born from casting know-how
The alloys division sells specialised nickel, cobalt, and manganese-based ingots to the oil-and-gas and aerospace industries - a standard-product business that scales faster and carries less lifecycle risk than the custom core.
- A capability repurposed - the alloys business grew out of decades of casting experience developed for magnets, including work with nickel, cobalt, and superalloys, so the metallurgical foundation was already in place.
- Standard products, different economics - unlike the custom magnet business, alloys are standard grades that can be sold to many customers, which means quicker commercial scale-up, higher longevity, and limited risk of a single programme ending - until a new alloy is discovered and commercially accepted.
- Aerospace certification unlocks the pipeline - the division achieved AS9100D:2016 certification, which is the quality-management standard required to supply the aerospace sector, and is in advanced talks with prospective customers in oil and gas and aerospace.
- Three furnaces and counting - the facility began operations in early 2024 with two furnaces, and a third was installed and commercialised in the final quarter of FY26, with investments in on-site hydrogen and nitrogen gas plants to improve cost competitiveness.
3. Relays: climbing the value chain inside the smart meter
PML is adding latching relays - a product worth roughly five times its existing component basket per meter - through a licensing deal that lets it manufacture using proven UK designs while targeting the domestic market first.
- Bought, not invented - the relay capability comes from a technical and manufacturing licensing agreement with REL Developments Limited of the UK, signed in February 2025, under which PML pays a royalty for the patents, intellectual property, and technical information.
- The customer pulled it in - PML entered relays because its existing shunt customers were already buying relay assemblies that included the shunt; making the relay itself was the logical way to capture more of the value already flowing through its relationships.
- Approvals underway, ramp-up next year - the relay facility is nearly ready, testing and customer approvals are in progress, and commercial production is expected to ramp up from the second half of FY27. The company has also received government approval under India’s Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme for the relays segment.
4. Quantum Magnetics: the rare-earth bet under construction
A phased attempt to build an integrated neodymium-magnet manufacturing chain in India - from assembly today to full powder-to-block production by 2028 - aimed at global buyers seeking alternatives to China’s 92% share of magnet production.
- Starting from the finished end - the current phase, operating since early FY25, involves magnet assembly using purchased blocks, with zero revenue in FY26 because Chinese export restrictions on rare-earth magnets have constrained supply.
- Walking backwards up the chain - the roadmap moves in stages: block cutting and machining by late FY27, powder-to-block manufacturing including sintering by the end of FY27, and full integration through alloy, metal, and oxide by 2028, targeting 5,000 tonnes of capacity by FY31.
- The China alternative thesis - China controls 92% of global magnet production despite holding 58% of mining, and global buyers are actively looking for alternate supply chains, creating a window for India-based manufacturing backed by strategic partnerships. PML is also evaluating government PLI schemes for rare earths as the policy framework develops.
Group structure and partners
PML is a publicly listed flagship of the Taparia Group with a history of using technical collaborations to acquire capabilities, and a promoter holding that has been gradually reduced through reclassifications.
- Listed and family-backed - the company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and is one of the flagship companies of the Taparia Group, Mumbai.
- A pattern of learning from partners - PML’s manufacturing base was built through a series of technical collaborations: Centro Magneti Permanenti of Italy enabled permanent-magnet production in 1973, Dowa Mining and Sumitomo of Japan upgraded the plants in 1983, and magLab AG of Switzerland brought simulation and sensor-design expertise in 2012.
- Promoter holding has stepped down - reclassifications in 2020 and 2021 moved certain promoter-family members to the public category, reducing promoter holding from roughly 70% to 56%.