Rating Rationale
March 31, 2025 | Mumbai
NJ Food Products LLP
'Crisil BBB-/Stable/Crisil A3' assigned to Bank Debt
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities RatedRs.420 Crore
Long Term RatingCrisil BBB-/Stable (Assigned)
Short Term RatingCrisil A3 (Assigned)
Note: None of the Directors on Crisil Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings.
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities

Detailed Rationale

Crisil Ratings has assigned its ‘Crisil BBB-/Stable/Crisil A3 ratings to the bank facilities of NJ Food Products LLP (NJFPL).

 

The ratings reflect the extensive experience of the partners in the non-alcoholic beverages industry and strong support from group companies. The rating also factors in strong financial support from the partners to aid the working capital and overall liquidity requirements of the firm. These strengths are partially offset by leveraged capital structure and insufficient cash accrual against the debt obligations.

Analytical Approach

Unsecured loans estimated at Rs. 265 crores as on March 31, 2025, are treated as 75% equity and 25% debt as these are extended by the partners and will remain in the business over the medium term.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description

Strengths:

  • Extensive experience of the partners in the non-alcoholic beverages industry and support from group companies: Extensive experience of the partners, Mr Jaspal Singh Kandhari and Mr Varinder Pal Singh Kandhari (owners of the Kandhari and Enrich groups, respectively) in the non-alcoholic beverages industry, their strong understanding of market dynamics and healthy relationship with Coca-Cola will continue to support the business risk profile of NJFPL. Backed by strong technical know-how in the bottling industry, the promoters have set up various companies, including Kandhari Beverages Pvt Ltd, Kandhari Global Beverages Pvt Ltd and Enrich Agro Food Products Pvt Ltd. As the bottler for all these companies, NJFPL enjoys combined presence across Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir. It is also supported by these companies in terms of both revenue and shareholding, thus enjoying a strong presence in the market right from the initial stage of operations. Resultantly, the firm has recorded revenue of Rs 96 crore till December 2024 and with better demand during the last quarter, revenue is projected to be in the range of Rs 150-160 crore for fiscal 2025. Further, with the increase in capacity utilization and expected penetration in the milk-based product segments, the revenue profile and market position of the firm will continue to strengthen over the medium term as well.

 

  • Strong financial support from the partners: The firm continues to receive strong financial support from the partners in the form of unsecured loan infusion, estimated at Rs. 265 crore as of March-2025 (~Rs. 91 crore outstanding as of March-2024). The said support has aided the working capital and overall liquidity requirements of the firm in the past and is likely to continue over the medium term as well. Further, the partners have also provided corporate guarantees to support operations and cover any funding mismatch in the debt repayment. The partners will continue to extend funding support via unsecured loans to ensure timely servicing of debt obligations as well as to support working capital operations.

 

Weaknesses:

  • Leveraged capital structure: NJFPL commenced operations in March 2024. The management has availed a term loan to set up the plant, which has led to high total outside liabilities to tangible networth (TOLTNW) ratio of 10.5-11 times as on March 31, 2024. However, with infusion of additional unsecured loans and their likely retention in the business, networth should improve further over fiscals 2025 and 2026. As a result, TOLTNW ratios may improve to 4-5 times over the medium term. Improvement in the overall financial risk profile will be monitorable.

 

  • Insufficient cash accrual against debt obligation: As operations commenced only in March 2024, net cash accrual was negative in fiscal 2024. Moreover, the delay in the operationalization and validation of the aseptic line led to low-capacity utilisation thereby leading to low absorption of fixed overheads and hence lower than expected cash accruals. It may not suffice to cover the sizeable debt obligations during fiscals 2025 and 2026 as well. As a result, the net cash accrual to debt obligation ratio is expected to remain below one time in these fiscals. Though the partners have infused a sizable unsecured loan amount of Rs. 174 crores in fiscal 2025 to support debt obligations and will continue to provide this support until stabilization of operations, improvement in the net cash accrual to debt obligation ratio to 1.5-2 times, backed by substantial growth in revenue and a healthy operating margin, will be monitorable over the medium term.

Liquidity: Adequate

Sanctioned cash credit of Rs 30 crore has been utilized at 50% on an average over the 12 months through February 2024. Liquidity is also aided by unsecured loans extended by the partners (~Rs 265 crore estimated as on March 31, 2025). Net cash accrual to debt obligation ratio is expected to remain weak over fiscals 2025 and 2026, because of low accrual in the initial years of operations. However, the corporate guarantee from Kandhari group and support in the form of unsecured loans continue to support liquidity.

Outlook: Stable

Crisil Ratings believes NJFPL will continue to benefit from the extensive experience of its partners in the non-alcoholic beverages industry and the strong business and financial profiles of other group companies.

Rating sensitivity factors

Upward factors

  • Substantial growth in revenue, along with timely stabilisation of operations and efficient capacity utilisation, leading to net cash accrual to debt obligation ratio of 1.5-2 times
  • Improvement in financial risk profile, with no further debt-funded capital expenditure (capex) plans for the medium term

 

Downward factors

  • Delay in stabilisation of operations, leading to revenue below Rs 150 crore over the medium term
  • Withdrawal of unsecured loans and corporate guarantee from group companies

About the firm

NJFPL is a limited liability partnership, formed in 2022. The firm manufactures juices, carbonated soft drinks and closures at its unit in Samba, Jammu & Kashmir. The production unit commenced operations in March 2024.

 

Operations are managed by Mr Jaspal Singh Kandhari and Mr Varinder Pal Singh Kandhari, the promoters of the Kandhari and Enrich groups.

Key Financial Indicators

As on / for the period ended March 31

 

2024

2023

Operating income

Rs crore

0.68

NA

Reported profit after tax (PAT)

Rs crore

-11.70

NA

PAT margin

%

-1727.58%

NA

Adjusted debt/adjusted networth

Times

6.28

3.24

Interest coverage

Times

-2.16

NA

Note: Commenced operations in March 2024

Any other information: Not Applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
Crisil Ratings` complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the 'Annexure - Details of Instrument' in this Rating Rationale.

Crisil Ratings will disclose complexity level for all securities - including those that are yet to be placed - based on available information. The complexity level for instruments may be updated, where required, in the rating rationale published subsequent to the issuance of the instrument when details on such features are available.

For more details on the Crisil Ratings` complexity levels please visit www.crisilratings.com. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.

Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)

ISIN Name Of Instrument Date Of Allotment Coupon Rate (%) Maturity Date Issue Size (Rs.Crore) Complexity Levels Rating Outstanding with Outlook
NA Adhoc Limit NA NA NA 8.26 NA Crisil A3
NA Cash Credit NA NA NA 30.00 NA Crisil BBB-/Stable
NA Term Loan NA NA 30-Sep-28 381.74 NA Crisil BBB-/Stable
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2025 (History) 2024  2023  2022  Start of 2022
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund Based Facilities ST/LT 420.0 Crisil A3 / Crisil BBB-/Stable   --   --   --   -- --
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of Bank Lenders & Facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Name of Lender Rating
Adhoc Limit 8.26 The Federal Bank Limited Crisil A3
Cash Credit 30 The Federal Bank Limited Crisil BBB-/Stable
Term Loan 381.74 The Federal Bank Limited Crisil BBB-/Stable
Criteria Details
Links to related criteria
Criteria for manufacturing, trading and corporate services sector (including approach for financial ratios)
Basics of Ratings (including default recognition, assessing information adequacy)

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