Refractory Shapes Ltd is a specialist that designs, makes and installs the heat-proof linings and shapes that industrial furnaces cannot run without - it is in the business of containing extreme temperatures. Founded in 1996 and listed on the NSE Emerge SME platform, the company has spent three decades turning a single Pune factory into a project-execution engine that now serves steel, glass, cement and petrochemical giants across India and the Middle East. The recurring approach is to compete on custom engineering and end-to-end delivery - design the solution, manufacture the special shape, and install it on the customer’s site - rather than on price for off-the-shelf bricks.
Business segments
A single engine - custom refractory shapes and ceramic balls - delivered as products and as turnkey installation projects for the same industrial customers.
1. Custom refractories: the heat-containment layer inside industrial furnaces
The company makes specially shaped, heat-resistant ceramic pieces that line the inside of furnaces, kilns and reactors - every piece is built to a specific customer’s temperature, chemical and shape requirement.
- Made to order, not made to stock - the company focuses on special shapes and custom-made refractories rather than standard bricks, which means each order begins with a customer’s furnace drawing and ends with a shape that fits exactly into that lining.
- One factory, two product families - manufacturing happens at a single plant in the Bhosari industrial area of Pune, producing both custom refractory shapes and ceramic balls of low and medium purity for use across steel, glass, cement and petrochemical furnaces.
- Design, supply and install - not just manufacture - the company provides end-to-end service that includes designing the refractory layout, manufacturing the shapes in-house, and installing them at the customer’s site, which is how it won the complete refractory requirement for the Mandovi Pellets Revamp Project and is executing installation work at JSW’s Bellary and Dolvi plants.
- Approved by the process licensors - the company has been approved by KBR, a major American engineering licensor, to manufacture refractories, which opens the door to projects where the end-customer specifies that only licensee-approved materials can be used.
- A growing plant to match the order book - covered production area at Wankaner has been expanded to one lakh square feet, and a new shed, machinery and a shuttle kiln were targeted to become operational at the start of the next financial year, while the Pune plant is adding new laboratory and shop-floor machines.
Group structure and partners
A family-controlled manufacturer with a subsidiary, an associate, and lending relationships that fund working-capital-intensive project execution.
- Promoter-held and publicly traded - the promoters - Dayashankar Shetty, Pratibha Shetty, Prajna S. Shetty and Shravan Sadanand Shetty - together hold 72.48% of the shares, with Prajna Shetty serving as Managing Director; the company raised money through an IPO of 60 lakh equity shares at Rs. 31 each and is listed on the NSE Emerge SME platform.
- A subsidiary and an associate - the company owns Shapes Refractory Private Limited as a fully-owned subsidiary and holds a 49.26% stake in Excel Micron (Poona) Pvt Ltd, an associate enterprise acquired in May 2021.
- Related-party transactions are operational - the company buys and sells material and gas with related parties including Windsor Refractories Ltd and Excel Micron Poona Pvt Ltd, which are enterprises where key management personnel have significant influence.
- Bank-funded working capital - long-term borrowings include a working-capital term loan and a term loan from Bank of Baroda repayable over 84 monthly instalments, while short-term borrowings include an overdraft facility secured against stock, book debts, movable machinery and an equitable mortgage of immovable property; working-capital limits sanctioned exceed Rs. 5 crores.