Will This Small Cap Cable Stock With Clients Like Tata and Adani Be Able to Compete With APAR and Sterlite?
Every major infrastructure project has one thing in common: wires and cables working behind the scenes. From power transmission and railway electrification to renewable energy and data centres, India's infrastructure push is creating a significant opportunity for cable manufacturers. While established players such as APAR Industries and Sterlite Technologies are well placed to benefit, a smaller player is quietly preparing to claim its share.
With relationships involving marquee names such as Tata Projects and Adani, this emerging challenger is expanding into specialised conductors and high-voltage cables to move up the value chain. But customer relationships and fresh capacity alone do not guarantee success. Can it turn its expansion plans into a lasting competitive advantage, or will the gap in scale, technology and execution prove too difficult to bridge?
With a market cap of Rs 2,200 crore, the shares of Paramount Communications Ltd are trading at Rs 67 and are trading at a PE of 30 compared to their industry's PE of 23. The shares have given a return of more than 470% in the last 5 years.
Beyond Cables: Understanding the Business
Formed in the year 1955, Paramount Communications is more than half-a-century old and has established itself as an important player in the Indian cable industry. It operates in power transmission, railways, telecom & infrastructure space by providing products necessary for a variety of projects, such as power distribution systems and railway signalling and connectivity solutions. Instead of relying on a single niche, it has developed diversified business catering to various end customers.
Its products include low-tension and high-tension power cables, control & instrumentation cables, optical fibre cables, railway signaling cables and building wires. Moreover, it has developed specialised products such as HTLS conductors, solar cables, fire survival cables and electric vehicle charging cables. It has 25+ product lines and more than 2,500 SKUs in its basket to serve the diverse needs of its customers.
The company has two manufacturing units at Dharuhera (Haryana) and Khushkhera (Rajasthan), and another unit at Narmadapuram (Madhya Pradesh) is under construction. The company’s products are distributed through 950 institutional clients, 250 channel partners and 600 retail outlets. Exports are to more than 35 countries.
The company has many opportunities to exploit from its strong distribution network. The company enjoys a dominant position in the commodity end of the industry and is now moving into higher and specialised products. As the company competes against established players for the specialised end of the market, scale of operations, along with manufacturing and product technology and customer approval will be the key elements.
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Tata and Adani: Strength of Its Client Base
Paramount Communications has 950+ institutional clients. Their presentation names NTPC, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Adani Power, Tata Steel, JSW, Sterlite, Wilson, UltraTech Cement, Godrej, JK Cement, and more. They boast 250+ channel partners and 600+ retail outlets. This indicates presence across power, infra, steel, cement and other sectors. Paramount does not share revenue breakups of customers. Hence, assessing their busiest customers is not possible.
Institutional sales make up the biggest chunk of their domestic business. In Q2FY27, their B2B institutional revenue was Rs 296.7 crore, while their B2C and B2G revenues were Rs 53.7 crore and Rs 51.9 crore, respectively. Demand was mainly from power cables and projects relating to transmission, renewables, railways and infra.
Customers are present across sectors. Clients provide evidence of an established institutional presence. However, order and revenue disclosures customer-wise indicate a lack of transparency in the relationship and the company's exposure to key customers. The key thing to watch out for is if there are repeat orders and if their share of projects increases.
Product Portfolio: Moving Up the Value Chain
Paramount Communications has a wide range of products consisting of power cables (low- and high-tension), control and instrumentation cables, optical fiber cables, railway signaling cables and building wires. It also has special product offerings of solar cables, fire-survival cables, EV charging cables and covered medium voltage conductors. The company serves customers in power, railways, telecom, construction and allied industries. Paramount offers more than 25 product lines and over 2500 SKUs.
Paramount is focused on expanding its presence in higher-value products such as EHV cables, e-beam cables, rubber cables and HTLS conductors. HTLS conductors allow transmission of more currents at higher temperatures with less sag, thereby enabling utility companies to transmit more power over long distances. Paramount has the capability to manufacture HTLS conductors up to 765 kV. The company also provides carbon core and gap-type HTLS conductors. Its order book for HTLS conductors was more than Rs. 200 crore as of its October 2026 earnings call.
Although the company's new facility is expected to help obtain customer and product approvals, 220 kV approvals are expected to take longer. In management's view, 66 kV approvals should be forthcoming within 3-6 months of commencement of operations at the new facility. The same is expected for 132 kV approvals in about a year. Depending on the pace at which approvals are obtained, management expects a shift towards higher-value products.
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HTLS: A Rs 50,000 Crore Opportunity
India is expected to build out additional transmission capacity to take advantage of growing renewable energy potential. One means to improve the capacity of existing transmission lines is reconductoring. Traditional conductors can be replaced with HTLS conductors to improve the capacity of transmission lines. This allows utilities to transmit more power without the need to construct new transmission lines or towers. HTLS conductors present a growth opportunity for cable and conductor manufacturers.
According to Paramount's management, India has a potential Rs 50,000 crore opportunity for reconductoring over the next five years. This includes HTLS and other related work. The National Electricity Plan projects an investment of Rs 4.91 lakh crore in the transmission infrastructure from 2027 to 2032, which shows the kind of expenditure expected in the sector.
For Paramount, this presents an opportunity to grow its presence in a specialised segment, where its capabilities to execute projects and technical skills play a key role. Paramount Management suggests that the company is among the top five HTLS players and has several HTLS tenders which are either in the final stages of award or bidding. In addition, the HTLS order book of the company has crossed Rs 200 crore. Winning a larger share of this market will be determined by the company's ability to convert its tender order book into firm orders. The opportunity is large but will require Paramount to compete with established players.
Rs 300 Crore Expansion: The Next Growth Driver
Paramount Communications, which has near-optimum utilisation in its existing plants at Dharuhera and Khushkhera, is setting up a new plant of 31 acres in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh. The company will invest Rs 300 crore to set it up. The new plant will increase capacity by 30,000 metric tonnes. The capacity increase will nearly double its current capacity.
The plant will be used to make higher-value products like XLPE cables of 220 kV and above, HTLS conductors, e-beam cables, and rubber cables. The new plant is expected to be commissioned in Q1 FY28; initially, 11, 33 and 66 kV cables will be manufactured. The HTLS conductor will also be manufactured. For higher voltages, approvals will be given in stages. 66 kV approvals are expected to come in 3-6 months from the commencement of operations. 132 kV approvals are expected in around 12 months, and 220 kV could take longer.
The new plant will contribute Rs 500 crore in FY28. However, revenue will reach Rs 1,200 crore in FY29. The company has set a target of reaching total revenue of Rs 5,000 crore by FY31. This will depend on commissioning of the plant, customer approvals and optimum utilisation. To reach the targets, orders will also need to be won in niche cable areas.
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Export Market: Room for Further Expansion
Exports have become a major driver for Paramount Communications. They have diversified their export business into 35+ different countries. Their export turnover has increased significantly from only Rs 26 crore in FY20 to around Rs 550 crore in FY26. In terms of their largest export destination, they have eight distributors in place, meaning that the US is their main export destination. They also say that they are the largest exporters of low-voltage cables to the US from India in CY2025.
Looking ahead to FY27, they aim to increase their export turnover to around 25-30% of overall turnover. They will still have the US as their main export market but plan to diversify further into the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. They are working on developing relationships with customers in these regions so there may be further opportunities within the next couple of years.
However, there are some risks associated with increasing exports. They had increased their exports to around 50% of turnover in FY23, so they were becoming increasingly reliant on their export business. They now want to limit their exports to 30% of turnover to better balance the domestic/export ratio. Going forwards will depend on if they can build up a strong presence in new markets whilst keeping their US customer base.
Financial Performance and Order Book
Paramount Communications has delivered a steady improvement in revenue over the past few years, supported by demand across power, railway, telecom and infrastructure segments. Revenue increased from Rs 581 crore in FY22 to Rs 1,912 crore in FY26, representing a four-year CAGR of around 35%. In Q2 FY27, revenue from operations grew 31.1% year-on-year to Rs 560.4 crore, while profit after tax stood at Rs 24.2 crore. Operating margins also improved to 7.3%, compared with 1.3% in Q2 FY26, indicating a recovery in operating performance.
Financial metric
Q2 FY27
H1 FY27
Revenue from operations
Rs 560.4 crore
Rs 1,089.8 crore
Revenue growth (YoY)
31.1%
24.1%
EBITDA (including other income)
Rs 44.7 crore
Rs 82.5 crore
Operating profit
Rs 40.9 crore
Rs 75.6 crore
Operating margin
7.3%
6.9%
Profit after tax
Rs 24.2 crore
Rs 43.9 crore
As on September 2026, the company had an order book of Rs 731 crore from which Rs 632 crore in domestic orders and Rs 99 crore in exports. Of the total orders, Rs 575 crore was in power cables and special conductors. As on October 27, 2026, the order book for HTLS was over Rs 200 crore. Thus, special products have started contributing more to the order book. Orders are mostly on a fixed price basis and get executed in 3-4 months which help reduce the risk of fluctuating raw material prices. The main thing to watch out for is if Paramount can continue to improve its margins with their order book and new plant expansion.
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APAR and Sterlite: Can It Compete?
However, competition against APAR Industries and Sterlite Technologies will be tough given their dominance in the cable & conductor space along with better manufacturing and greater market share. APAR has a good diversity in its products with offerings across conductors, cables and transformer oil while Sterlite has good exposure to the high value optical fibre, telecom & power cables. Paramount on the other hand, is a much smaller player but is looking to leverage its wide product portfolio, well-established institutional relationships and expansion into higher value segments like HTLS conductors and high voltage cables.
On the plus side, the customers that Paramount has relationships with (Tata, Adani etc.) give them access to large Infrastructure and Power projects. TheRs 300 crore Narmadapuram expansion can help it move into higher value products. In addition, they have an order book of more thanRs 200 crore of HTLS which suggests they are starting to get a bit of traction. They also show a positive trend with revenue growth and increasing operating margins. However, they need to prove they can maintain their profitability at scale.
While they cannot compete with APAR or Sterlite in the entire Cable industry just yet, they could become a more formidable player in the niche segments of specialised conductors and power cables, if they can successfully execute their expansion, get approvals and win orders from the tenders they have lined up. From an investor standpoint, this gives them an opportunity to bridge the gap with the larger players however it is also a risk. Over the coming 2-3 years, it will be key to see if they can turn their expansion and client relationships into a sustainable competitive advantage.