Divya Agarwal
New Delhi [India], July 30: Six months after listing on the BSE SME platform, Pajson Agro India Limited is deploying the bulk of its newly raised capital on a single, strategic wager: building a significantly larger processing facility now, before the customers it currently turns away go looking elsewhere.
The Delhi-headquartered processor sources raw cashew nuts, primarily from West Africa, before shelling, grading, and selling the finished kernels to food brands, snack manufacturers, sweet makers, bakeries, and wholesale distributors across India. Today, the company operates a single processing plant in Andhra Pradesh with a rated capacity of 18,000 tonnes per annum. Its upcoming greenfield unit at Vizianagaram will inject an additional 35,000 tonnes of capacity, supporting management’s broader roadmap to achieve a total capacity of 65,000 to 70,000 tonnes by FY30. Trial runs are scheduled to begin around November/December, with commercial production slated for the fourth quarter of FY27.
The primary driver behind this aggressive expansion is an existing facility running nears its operational limit. Pajson operated its current lines at approximately 86% utilization in FY26, with recurring buyers generating roughly 78% of total revenues. Simply put, the demand the company is currently forced to leave on the table is the chief justification for the new build. Pajson’s domestic distribution network already spans more than 170 partners across over 20 states, with Delhi, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan emerging as its largest consumer markets.
“The upcoming expansion will significantly strengthen our ability to serve larger customers and improve scale efficiencies,” said Mr. Aayush Jain, Promoter, Chairman & Managing Director.
Behind these operational volumes sits a resilient supply chain that many of the company’s competitors struggle to replicate. Pajson sources nearly 90% of its raw nuts directly from various African origins such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Guinea-Bissau. Rather than relying on volatile open spot markets, the company coordinates with local buying agents built over a decade of partnership. According to the company, this procurement moat is precisely what kept its processing lines active last year while shifting export policies and surging freight costs squeezed margins across the wider industry.
The second half of Pajson’s long-term strategy centres on domain expertise. On 30 June, at an investor conclave, Pajson announced the appointment of Mr. Vu Thai Son as a Strategic Advisor. Mr. Son brings over three decades of experience in the global cashew trade out of Vietnam—the world’s leading processing and export hub. While India stands as the world’s largest consumer of cashews, it exports very little. Onboarding a veteran of the Vietnamese export market is a clear signal that Pajson intends to eventually expand beyond domestic borders and target premium buyers in Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
Closer to home, the company is actively nurturing its consumer brand, Royal Mewa, which delivered a six-fold revenue increase over the past year, albeit off a small baseline. Shifting from a purely business-to-business model toward packaged consumer brands is a dual-purpose strategy: it serves as a high-margin growth engine and acts as a structural hedge. A recognized shelf brand is inherently less exposed to the aggressive price swings of the global commodity markets than bulk sales to wholesalers.
This expansion strategy is backed by a fiscal year of steady, stable financial performance. For the year ended March 31, 2026, Pajson reported a standalone total income of ₹256.92 crore, representing a 37% increase over the previous fiscal year. Standalone EBITDA reached ₹37.82 crore, with a net profit of ₹24.78 crore. While margins faced some pressure in the second half of the year—with the EBITDA margin adjusting to approximately 12% from 14% a year earlier—the company attributed the compression to sharp currency fluctuations, elevated raw nut prices, and one-off public listing expenses. Management expects steady-state EBITDA margins to stabilize between 15% and 16% as these temporary macroeconomic pressures normalize.
For now, a healthy balance sheet gives the company ample execution room. With net worth standing at ₹136.03 crore at the close of the fiscal year, Pajson’s debt levels remain comfortable enough to fund the current capital expenditure program without strain. While global export ambitions are on the horizon, they can wait until the new facility is fully operational. The immediate milestone for the company is straightforward: execute the construction timeline on schedule and absorb the waiting market demand.
“Our focus has always been on building Pajson with a long-term and value-driven approach. The listing has strengthened our platform, and we want to build a larger and more trusted agri-processing business from here.” — Mr. Pulkit Jain, Promoter & Non-Executive Director.
Financial snapshot
- Standalone Total Income of ₹256.92 Cr, YoY growth of 37.2%
- Standalone EBITDA of ₹37.82 Cr, YoY growth of 25.0%
- Standalone PAT of ₹24.78 Cr, YoY growth of 21.4%
- Standalone EBITDA Margin of 14.7%, YoY decline of 144 Bps
Sources
- India cashew consumption ~1.9 million tonnes (2024), world’s largest consumer — IndexBox, India Cashew Nuts Market Report 2026.
- Vietnam leads global cashew processing and kernel exports — global raw cashew market intelligence, rawcashewnuts.com, 2026.
- Company financials, capacity, utilisation and Royal Mewa growth — Pajson Agro H2 FY26 earnings release & conference call, May 2026.
Note for editors: Figures as disclosed in the company’s audited standalone results/investor presentation for the year ended 31 March 2026. For information only; not an offer or investment advice.
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