Ion Exchange (India) Ltd. is fundamentally a one-stop shop for water - it treats it, cleans it, moves it, and manages it across the entire cycle, from a factory’s intake pipe to its recycled discharge and a household’s kitchen tap. Born in 1964 as a subsidiary of the UK’s Permutit and fully Indian-owned since 1985, the company has spent six decades evolving from a chemicals maker into Asia’s largest integrated water and environment solutions provider, with over 100,000 installations globally. The recurring approach that explains everything else is a flywheel: it sells the engineering to build a treatment plant, the proprietary chemicals and membranes to run it, and the consumer products to serve the end user - each business feeding the others with demand and recurring revenue. # Business segments Four engines at different stages - a project-led engineering cash cow, a high-margin chemicals franchise, a consumer platform under construction, and a membrane technology bet woven through them all - each built on the customer relationships of the one before. ## 1. Engineering: the project engine that opens every door **The company designs, builds and commissions entire water treatment plants on a turnkey basis, then often stays to run them for decades - this is the largest business and the entry point for almost every industrial customer.** - **End-to-end plant builder** - it takes on lump-sum EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contracts covering everything from pre-treatment and desalination to sewage treatment and Zero Liquid Discharge, which means a client gets one party responsible for the whole plant. - **Long-term operator, not just constructor** - beyond building, it runs plants under multi-year O&M (Operations & Maintenance) and DBOOT (Design, Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) contracts, including a 20-year deal in Oman, so revenue keeps coming long after construction ends. - **Selective bidding keeps margins healthy** - it bids on projects through competitive tenders with a historical win rate of roughly 20%, and is now focusing on technology-intensive work like ultra-pure water and desalination where margins are better. - **A deep backlog provides visibility** - as of March 2026, the order book stood at about INR 26,433 million with a bid pipeline of roughly INR 95,090 million, giving a clear line of sight on future work. - **Digital wrap-around locks in clients** - it offers a digital platform called IONSITE that uses predictive AI, digital twins and remote monitoring to optimize plant performance, making it stickier for customers to switch operators. ## 2. Chemicals: the consumable that keeps plants alive **Once a water treatment plant is built, it needs a steady diet of ion exchange resins and specialty chemicals to function - the company makes and sells these, holding roughly 40% of the Indian resin market.** - **Recurring revenue from a captive base** - resins and process chemicals are consumables that customers must replenish regularly, so every engineering project the company builds creates a long-term chemical buyer. - **One of the widest resin ranges** - it manufactures ion exchange resins, adsorbents and customized chemical treatment programs for water and non-water applications, offering its products to various players in the market including competitors. - **A new export-focused plant just came online** - a greenfield resin facility at Roha, Maharashtra, with a total capacity of 42,600 cubic metres per annum, began stage-wise commercialization in September 2025, dedicated primarily to international markets with products that need no new customer approvals. - **Certifications unlock global doors** - the Roha plant received certification from the Water Quality Association (WQA), a globally recognized testing body, which is expected to ease access to export markets where the company competes with American and European leaders. - **Backward integration is the margin play** - the company is pursuing backward integration into raw materials for its chemical business, targeting significant cost advantages on both new and existing product lines. ## 3. Consumer Products: the household brand in the making **Under the ‘ZeroB’ brand, the company sells water purifiers and treatment systems directly to homes, hotels and hospitals - a business currently in investment mode as it builds a national consumer franchise.** - **From kitchens to hotel chains** - the product range spans residential RO (Reverse Osmosis) units, alkaline and hydrogen water purifiers, and customized systems for apartment complexes, while the institutional side serves almost every major hotel brand in India including the Taj Group, Leela, Hyatt and Oberoi. - **Service contracts are the recurring prize** - revenue comes from both equipment sales and recurring service contracts, with the service component growing quarter-on-quarter as the installed base expands. - **Investing now for scale later** - the division is currently loss-making because the company is spending on brand promotions, FM radio campaigns and digital marketing to build a higher and more scalable revenue platform. - **Omni-channel reach** - it sells through channel partners while also running performance marketing, a dedicated website, a chatbot and a WhatsApp number for direct customer interaction and sales. - **Rural and government channels add breadth** - the division participates in government initiatives like the Jal Jeevan Mission and supports NGOs and CSR foundations, extending its reach beyond urban retail. ## 4. Membranes: the technology core that feeds all three segments **The company manufactures its own RO, UF and NF membranes under the ‘HYDRAMEM’ brand - a strategic capability that supplies its engineering projects, its chemical customers and its competitive edge.** - **In-house membrane manufacturing** - it produces reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration and nano-filtration membranes at a facility in Goa, with close to 150,000 membrane elements installed and operating across India. - **A global technology partnership** - it has entered a technology transfer and manufacturing collaboration with MANN+HUMMEL, a global filtration leader, to make PVDF-type flat sheet UF membranes and bring Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology to India, paying a 7.5% royalty on revenue from the resulting products. - **Growing share in wastewater recycling** - its market share in wastewater recycling is expanding annually, driven by the performance of its Fouling Resistant High Brackish Water Membranes, and the global membrane market is growing at over 10% annually. - **Exporting the technology** - membrane products are already being distributed in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, with plans to expand into Africa and Europe. # Group structure and partners **The parent company operates through a network of international subsidiaries and joint ventures that extend its reach into specific geographies and customer segments, while two Indian subsidiaries were recently merged into the parent to simplify the structure.** - **Oman subsidiary runs a marquee long-term contract** - Ion Exchange & Co. LLC (Oman), a 51% subsidiary, is executing the 20-year DBOOT contract for Petroleum Development Oman, providing O&M services primarily to the oil and gas sector. - **Portugal acquisition opened Southern Europe** - the company acquired MAPRIL in Portugal in June 2023, a chemicals and machinery distributor, giving it a fully integrated foothold in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). - **US subsidiary focuses on resins** - Ion Exchange LLC (USA), a 100% subsidiary, handles the resin business in North America. - **Saudi Arabia and South Africa push into new markets** - Ion Exchange Arabia for Water (Saudi Arabia), a 60% subsidiary, sells chemicals, resins and membranes and is providing project management for a Ma’aden water treatment plant, while Ion Exchange Safic (South Africa), also 60% owned, focuses on municipal decentralized drinking water. - **Domestic mergers simplified the structure** - two Indian subsidiaries, Global Composites and Structural Limited (FRP products) and Ion Exchange Environment Management Limited (wastewater and solid waste treatment), were merged into the parent company during FY24.