Gabriel India Limited sees a credit rating action

Total rated facilities: Rs 170 Crores of bank-loan facilities are currently rated by CRISIL. The latest CRISIL item describes this as an upgrade to CRISIL AA+/Stable from CRISIL AA/Stable, rather than a reaffirmation. ^[1]

Leverage comparison: Gabriel India’s latest consolidated debt-to-equity ratio is 0.11x in Q1 FY27. ^[2] However, the rating-rationale extract available here does not reproduce CRISIL’s specific leverage thresholds for the stable outlook, so an exact headroom calculation against those thresholds cannot be verified. The company’s FY26 consolidated ratio was also 0.11x, indicating very low reported balance-sheet leverage. ^[2]

Accordingly, the defensible conclusion is: Rs 170 Crores rated; current consolidated D/E is 0.11x; the precise CRISIL threshold comparison requires the full rationale text or its financial-assumptions section.

CRISIL’s specific downgrade thresholds cannot be established from the latest cited rationale excerpt. The available CRISIL item reports Gabriel India’s fiscal 2025 operating margin at 9.6% and refers to 8.7% in the comparison, but it does not state a downgrade trigger for operating margin, a working-capital-cycle ceiling, or other quantitative sensitivity levels ^[3]. Therefore, a threshold-based pass/fail assessment would be speculative.

Actual performance versus the disclosed CRISIL reference

• Q1 FY27 is a quarter, not a full fiscal year. Working-capital cycle is derived as inventory days + receivable days − payable days.

Analyst read

• Margin: The company’s consolidated operating profit margin was broadly stable at 9.6% in FY25 and 9.4% in FY26, before declining to 8.7% in Q1 FY27 ^[4]. The Q1 figure is directionally weaker, but there is no disclosed CRISIL threshold against which to classify it as a downgrade trigger.
• Working capital: The derived cycle increased from 15.70 days in FY25 to 18.70 days in FY26, then moderated to 17.70 days in Q1 FY27. This does not establish whether the company breached CRISIL’s sensitivity level because the agency’s ceiling is not reported.
• Coverage limitation: Three complete fiscal-year observations are not available in the cited financial data: FY25 and FY26 are reported, while the third period is Q1 FY27 rather than FY27. FY24 operating margin and working-capital days are not reported here.
• Bottom line: The available numbers show modest margin softening and a working-capital cycle that remains around 16–19 days, but the actual CRISIL downgrade thresholds are the missing piece. The evidence supports trend analysis, not a definitive conclusion that any rating sensitivity has been breached.*

Verdict: On the latest consolidated Q1 FY27 data, Gabriel India has one of the strongest credit profiles in the requested peer set. Its interest coverage was 21.54x for Q1 FY27 and 20.94x on a TTM basis—below debt-free Tenneco, but above Sansera, Belrise, Asahi India Glass and ShriPiston. Gabriel’s cash position is also strong relative to reported debt, although short-term debt is not separately disclosed.

All figures below are consolidated, Q1 FY27, with TTM coverage shown for a more stable comparison.

Gabriel India

• Interest coverage: 21.54x in Q1 FY27 and 20.94x TTM. ^{[8] [9]}
• Cash and equivalents were Rs 113.55 Crores versus Rs 148.12 Crores of total debt, implying cash equal to approximately 76.6% of total debt; this is a derived proxy, not cash cover of short-term debt. ^{[10] [11]}
• Current ratio was 1.66x. ^[12]
• Low leverage is evident from gross debt/equity of 0.11x and net debt/equity of 0.03x. ^{[13] [14]}

Tenneco Clean Air India

• Interest coverage was the highest at 30.49x in Q1 FY27 and 24.17x TTM. ^{[15] [16]}
• Cash was Rs 571.23 Crores, against reported total debt of Rs 0.00 Crores; therefore, cash exceeds reported debt and a cash-to-debt percentage is not meaningful. ^{[17] [18]}
• Current ratio was 1.42x, below Gabriel’s 1.66x. ^[19]

Sansera Engineering

• Interest coverage was 17.52x in Q1 FY27 and 12.83x TTM, below Gabriel. ^{[20] [21]}
• Cash of Rs 103.67 Crores versus total debt of Rs 457.58 Crores equates to approximately 22.7% cash coverage of total debt. ^{[22] [23]}
• Current ratio was 1.76x, modestly higher than Gabriel’s 1.66x. ^[24]

Belrise Industries

• Interest coverage was materially lower at 6.71x in Q1 FY27 and 4.50x TTM. ^{[25] [26]}
• Cash of Rs 806.01 Crores versus total debt of Rs 1,439.10 Crores implies approximately 56.0% cash coverage of total debt. ^{[27] [28]}
• Its current ratio of 1.97x was the highest in the group, but this does not translate into superior interest coverage because current assets include inventories and receivables, not just cash. ^[29]

Asahi India Glass

• Interest coverage was 7.07x in Q1 FY27 and only 4.06x TTM, substantially below Gabriel. ^{[30] [31]}
• Cash of Rs 245.31 Crores versus total debt of Rs 2,058.70 Crores implies approximately 11.9% cash coverage of total debt. ^{[32] [33]}
• Current ratio was 1.43x, broadly similar to Tenneco but below Gabriel. ^[34]

SPR Auto Technologies

• Interest coverage was 8.27x in Q1 FY27 and 9.74x TTM, well below Gabriel. ^{[35] [36]}
• Cash of Rs 104.70 Crores versus total debt of Rs 1,866.70 Crores implies only approximately 5.6% cash coverage of total debt. ^{[37] [38]}
• Current ratio was 1.71x, slightly above Gabriel’s. ^[39]

Relative assessment

• Interest coverage: Tenneco ranks first, Gabriel second, Sansera third; Belrise, ShriPiston and Asahi are meaningfully weaker on both current-quarter and TTM coverage.
• Cash strength: Tenneco is strongest because it reports no consolidated debt. Among debt-bearing peers, Gabriel’s cash-to-total-debt proxy of approximately 76.6% is ahead of Belrise at 56.0%, Sansera at 22.7%, Asahi at 11.9% and ShriPiston at 5.6%.
• Liquidity ratio: Gabriel’s 1.66x current ratio is adequate but not leading; Belrise, Sansera and ShriPiston report higher ratios. The stronger distinction for Gabriel is therefore low leverage and high interest cover, rather than the highest current ratio.
• Important limitation: Short-term debt is not separately reported in these KPI extracts, so a precise cash-and-equivalents-to-short-term-debt comparison cannot be made. Cash-to-total-debt is a conservative substitute.

A strict comparison with companies carrying similar CRISIL ratings also cannot be verified. The rating reference for Gabriel mentions an upgrade to its Rs 170 crore bank facilities but does not state the revised grade ^[40], while the cited Sansera reference refers to an ICRA Stable outlook rather than a CRISIL rating ^[41]. Thus, the ranking above is a consolidated financial-risk comparison, not a confirmed same-rating cohort.