Mazda Limited is an Indian manufacturer that built its name on industrial vacuum systems and evaporators - the kind of heavy engineering equipment that keeps refineries, pharma plants and power stations running - and then used that industrial backbone to launch a consumer food brand sold across the Middle East and Africa. The company was founded in 1990 as a pure engineering play and diversified into food in 2006, creating two businesses that share little in terms of product but everything in terms of philosophy: long customer relationships, competitive pricing without cutting corners on quality, and a willingness to let new products take years to find their footing. That same patient, relationship-driven approach explains why a key American client also became a shareholder, why export orders are won through Indian procurement offices of multinationals, and why a food brand that started with one product now sells over thirty.
Business segments
Two engines at different stages - an industrial equipment cash cow that commands roughly a third of its domestic niche, and a consumer food brand built on export markets and now reaching back into India - each run with the same patient, quality-first logic.
1. Engineering Division: the industrial backbone that funds everything else
Mazda makes the heavy equipment - vacuum systems, evaporators, condensers - that process industries cannot run without, and it holds a roughly 30-35% share of the Indian vacuum systems market.
- Dominant in its niche - the company’s vacuum systems alone command about 30 to 35% of the Indian market, serving refineries, petrochemical plants, pharma manufacturers, agro-chemical producers and power stations.
- Steel is the raw material, so margins are protected by contract - the key input is high-quality steel, and price volatility is a constant threat; the company counters this with a pricing governance system that sets minimum acceptable margins, requires structured approvals for any deviation, and locks in back-to-back arrangements with vendors and clients where possible.
- A key American client is also a shareholder - Croll Reynolds, based in the United States, is both a major customer and a 7.23% equity holder in Mazda, a relationship that anchors the division’s export credibility even though many overseas sales flow indirectly through the Indian procurement arms of multinationals seeking lower prices.
- R&D is pivoting toward chemical-free and green technologies - the division has deployed a non-chemical anti-scaling device called the Smart Rod System for chillers and cooling towers, is developing a hybrid Mechanical and Thermal Vapor Recompression evaporation system for which a patent has been filed, and is running advanced trials on a chemical-free cleaning solution for the dairy industry.
- Large orders arrive in lumps - in December 2024 the division won an export order worth USD 11.67 million for a Multi Effect Evaporator destined for a Zero Liquid Discharge plant, and in December 2025 it secured two domestic orders together worth Rs. 53.25 Crore for condensers and an evaporator-plus-dryer system, each to be delivered within eight to eleven months.
2. Food Division (B-Cool): a patient export brand now turning toward home
What began as a single product in 2006 is now a basket of over thirty instant drinks, jams, food colourings and ready-to-eat items sold in more than ten countries, built on the kind of quality consistency that keeps customers coming back for two decades.
- Consistency is the competitive moat - the division sells in small lots, sometimes as little as 22 tonnes at a time, so every batch must taste and look identical; customers who placed their first orders as far back as 2005 are still buying today.
- Managed from the UK, sold across the Middle East and Africa - the brand is primarily export-oriented and run out of the United Kingdom, with a strong presence in Middle Eastern and African markets where it has participated in trade shows like the Saudi Food Show and Africa Food Show.
- A new factory raised the hygiene bar - in July 2022 the division started production at a new facility in Changodar, Ahmedabad, equipped with continuous-process machinery designed to meet strict food-safety certifications.
- Now pushing into its own backyard - domestic sales contributed about 18% of the food business in FY22-23, and the company is strengthening its Indian sales force, particularly in Gujarat, while partnering with regional super-stockists and appearing at trade fairs to build a home-market presence.
- Export markets are volatile by nature - dollar fluctuations and currency-access problems in African countries create unpredictability, so the domestic push is as much about stability as it is about growth.
Group structure and partners
Mazda is a standalone Indian public company with no subsidiaries or joint ventures, a promoter family holding roughly 42% between two individuals, and a key industrial client sitting on the share register.
- Promoter group anchored by the founder’s daughter - after founder Sorab Mody passed away in May 2021, his shares transferred via his Will to his daughter Shanaya Mody Khatua, who now holds 31.52% of the company; Whole-Time Director Percy Avari holds another 10.17%, giving the promoter group combined control of about 42%.
- Croll Reynolds is both customer and shareholder - the American engineering firm holds 7.23% of Mazda’s equity, a stake that reflects a commercial relationship deep enough to warrant ownership.
- Debt-free on the term-loan side, with a strong credit rating - the company has no term loans outstanding and carries an ‘A’ long-term and ‘A1’ short-term rating from ICRA with a stable outlook; its working capital facilities from State Bank of India total up to Rs. 30.88 Crore across cash credit, bank guarantees and letters of credit.
- Three manufacturing units across Ahmedabad - production is spread across units in GIDC Naroda, Hitendranagar Naroda and GIDC Odhav, all within Ahmedabad’s industrial belt.
- A nine-member board with four women directors - the board includes two Whole-Time Directors and three Independent Directors among its seven Non-Executive members, with the CFO and Company Secretary rounding out the key managerial personnel.