Synopsis: Mukul Agrawal and Ashish Kacholia are backing Concord Control Systems for its strong railway-focused growth, rising profits, ₹313 crore order book, and high-margin technology play and sharp 123% stock return over the past six months.
Mukul Agrawal and Ashish Kacholia, both well-known investors, are turning their attention to a small-cap stock that has been showing potential in a competitive market. Small-cap companies often offer high growth opportunities but come with higher risks, making investor strategy and timing crucial. Understanding why seasoned investors are placing their bets on this stock can provide insight into its prospects, fundamentals, and the factors that make it attractive despite its size.
Concord Control Systems Limited, with a market capitalization of Rs. 2,540.18 crore, closed at Rs. 2,510 per equity share, down by 0.81 percent from its previous day’s close price of Rs. 2,530.45 per equity share.
As of October 2025, the ace investor Mukul Mahavir Agrawal holds 5.47 percent stake (5.54 lakh shares) in the company and Ashish Kacholia holds 1.21 percent stake (1.22 lakh shares) in the company.
Concord Control Systems Limited has delivered returns across multiple timeframes, with a 1-month return of 1.78 percent, a 3-month return of 47.34 percent, and a 6-month return of 122.76 percent The stock has delivered a 157.64 percent return in the past 1 year and in the longer frame of 5 years it has delivered a return of 3,567.12 percent.
Concord Control Systems Limited, founded in 2011 and based in Lucknow, manufactures and supplies electrical and electronic products for Indian Railways. Its offerings include couplers, lighting systems, fans, cable jackets, control panels, battery chargers, train control units, driver displays, wireless control, and remote monitoring systems.
Financial Performance
In September 2025, revenue increased to Rs. 82 crore from Rs. 75 crore in September 2024, showing a 9 percent year-on-year growth. Compared with March 2025, when revenue was Rs. 50 crore, the company recorded a 64 percent increase, indicating a sharp improvement in business performance during the period.
Profitability also strengthened. EBITDA rose to Rs. 20 crore in September 2025 from Rs. 14 crore in September 2024, reflecting a 43 percent year-on-year growth, and increased from Rs. 15 crore in March 2025, a growth of 33 percent. Net profit stood at Rs. 16 crore in September 2025, up from Rs. 8 crore in September 2024, representing a 100 percent year-on-year increase, and improved from Rs. 14 crore in March 2025, a growth of 14 percent.
The company has reported a return on equity of 27.4 percent and a return on capital employed of 36.8 percent, reflecting efficient capital usage and high profitability of its technology-heavy offerings. Over the last five years, revenue has grown at a CAGR of 51 percent, while profits have compounded even faster at 85 percent, indicating strong operating leverage as scale has increased.
However, this growth comes with a visible trade-off in working capital intensity, with a cash conversion cycle of 265 days and working capital days of 194, largely due to the long execution cycles and receivables typical in large railway and government projects.
High-Opportunity Segments
Concord operates across multiple high-opportunity railway segments, each aligned with India’s rail modernisation and safety push. Its portfolio spans railway coaching products, traction and propulsion systems, locomotive electronics, wayside equipment, metro systems and embedded electronics. The most significant growth driver is railway safety and automation, particularly through the Kavach 4.0 train collision avoidance system, where Concord, through its associate Progota India, has secured RDSO prototype clearance and its first commercial order.
Other opportunity-rich segments include digital axle counters, wheel impact load detectors, overhead equipment monitoring, and zero-emission battery-based locomotive subsystems, all of which address safety, efficiency and sustainability requirements of Indian Railways.
Order Book
The company’s execution visibility is reinforced by a strong and expanding order book. As of 30 September 2025, Concord reported a consolidated order book of Rs. 313 crore, up 47 percent from Rs. 212.54 crore at the end of March 2025. This order book spans safety systems, railway electronics, embedded solutions and locomotive-related products, providing revenue visibility over the coming years and supporting management’s confidence in sustained growth momentum.
Strategic Benefits
Concord serves a diversified client base that includes multiple zones and manufacturing units of Indian Railways, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, RITES, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and global industrial majors such as Siemens, ABB, Alstom, Toshiba, Wabtec, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Projects. This client mix benefits the company through repeat orders, long-term relationships, and credibility in qualifying for large, technically complex tenders. Being an approved and trusted supplier also lowers competitive intensity once products are inducted into railway systems.
Competitive Strength
A key competitive strength for Concord is its end-to-end in-house capability, spanning design, electronics, software, manufacturing, testing and after-sales support. The company’s focus on indigenous development under “Make in India” not only improves margins but also positions it favourably in government tenders where localisation is critical.
Strategic acquisitions such as Advanced Rail Controls, Progota India and Fusion Electronics have further strengthened its ecosystem, allowing Concord to move into propulsion electronics, safety systems and high-margin flex PCB manufacturing with strong import-substitution potential.
Future Guidance and
Management has outlined a clear growth roadmap focused on innovation-led expansion. The company is targeting revenue growth of 40–50 percent CAGR over the next three to five years while maintaining EBITDA margins in the range of 22–25 percent. Its long-term vision is to become a global railway technology and innovation company, with increasing exposure to safety systems, zero-emission technologies, embedded electronics and ESG-aligned solutions.
Conclusion
Mukul Agrawal and Ashish Kacholia appear to be betting on Concord Control Systems due to its strong financial growth, high profitability ratios, expanding order book of Rs. 313 crore, and direct alignment with Indian Railways’ safety and modernisation push. The company’s niche railway technology focus, Kavach safety system opportunity, trusted client base, and clear 40–50 percent growth guidance make it an attractive long-term small-cap play.
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