Divya Agarwal
New Delhi [India], September 16: Maiden Forgings Ltd – the Ghaziabad-based bright steel bar, wire, and pneumatic nail manufacturer – has completed the first phase of its long-planned manufacturing consolidation. The company has shifted its Unit II into a new four-acre plant at Bhojpur, near Modinagar, clearing the way for operational cost reductions and the addition of two higher-margin product lines.
Operations began on 18 July 2026, and dispatches left the site the same week. In its filing to the BSE, the company put the savings from consolidation at a minimum of ₹ 25 lakh a month, close to ₹ 2.5 Cr a year, from lower administrative, power and fuel and labour costs. Notably, the expansion was funded entirely through internal accruals. Managing Director Nishant Garg told analysts on the H2 FY26 earnings call in June that the entire capex, along with the year’s growth, was funded internally, without raising equity or taking on fresh institutional borrowing during the year.
The point of the new site is what goes into it next. Maiden Forgings is installing lines for galvanised wire and stainless-steel machine components, together about 10,000 tonnes a year, which would lift installed capacity from 53,000 MTPA to roughly 62,000 to 63,000 MT. Garg said on the call that commercial production is targeted for around September, with the ramp beginning near Diwali, and that letters of intent are already in hand from existing customers for both products. On galvanised wire, he was blunt about the appeal: gross margins of 20% to 25%, in a North Indian market with barely a couple of established suppliers, against a company-wide EBITDA margin that has been running in single digits.
A slower build has been going on alongside. Maiden Forgings registered with the Ordnance Factory Board in Kolkata in 2024, added Ordnance Factory Muradnagar in October 2025 and CEMILAC in Bengaluru a month later, and in January 2026 was provisionally cleared as an approved industry partner with DRDO’s Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory. It has delivered orders to HAL, BHEL and NTPC. None of this is large money yet. It does sit in front of a market the Ministry of Defence valued at ₹ 1.78 lakh crore of production in FY26, up 15.6% on the year, with private manufacturers accounting for 24% of it.
FY26 itself was not a comfortable year. Total income rose 9.5% to ₹ 233.96 Cr on record production of 35,546 MT, up 11.5%, but EBITDA slipped to ₹ 17.22 Cr from ₹ 19.91 Cr and net profit to ₹ 5.02 Cr from ₹ 6.05 Cr, taking the EBITDA margin from 9.32% to 7.36%. Garg’s explanation is a falling steel market: prices declined more or less continuously until November 2025, and a processor that books raw material back-to-back against confirmed orders still has to concede something on price to hold customers in a weak market. The second half read differently. Total income of ₹ 122.60 Cr was 17.46% higher year on year, and net profit of ₹ 2.93 Cr was up 46.37%.
Some housekeeping has followed. In August, the company sold a vacant plot at C-10, Bulandshahr Road Industrial Area, Ghaziabad for ₹ 12.90 Cr and earmarked the proceeds for developing its Murad Nagar site. Utilisation, which Garg put at about 72% to 73% last year, is expected to reach 85% once the shifting settles, on a customer base of more than 450. Management has also said the company now meets the criteria to migrate from the BSE SME platform to the main board, and will make the move when it judges the timing right.
“The savings from consolidation are real, and they begin immediately. What interests me more is what the new plant lets us make. Galvanised wire and stainless components are products our own customers asked us for, and they carry margins we have not had access to until now.”
— Mr. Nishant Garg, Managing Director, Maiden Forgings Limited
