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Industrial steam supplier Steam House India is shifting its focus entirely to its core steam operations and upcoming waste-to-steam facilities to drive profitability after a strong market debut. By Alpha Desk September 17, 2026, 1:24:21 PM IST (Published) Steamhouse India is counting on its shift to waste-based steam production to pull margins back above 20%, Chairman and Managing Director Vishal Budhia and Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Gattani said, as the company moves away from its lower-margin coal trading business. The company's stock listed today (September 17) with a gain of around 17% over its issue price.
Gattani said the recent dip in margins was a product-mix issue rather than a problem with the core steam business, and that the shift toward waste should now drive the numbers higher. "With regards to your question about the margin, as we had discussed even in the pre-IPO show, that the decline in margin was predominantly because of the change in product mix," he said, adding that coal trading was discontinued from April 1, 2026. Steamhouse's margins fell from 17% last year to around 16% in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26).
Gattani said the steam business alone had historically delivered margins in the 20-24% range, and that the company's waste-to-steam facility in Vapi , running for the past year and a half, carries higher margins than its coal-fired plants. Three of the four facilities currently under construction are waste-based, which Gattani said should push fuel costs toward negligible levels over time. Gattani said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) per tonne stood at around ₹800 last year but declined to set a specific target for the year ahead.
"So, EBITDA per tonne is the key metric we obviously focus upon. So last year it was around ₹800 per tonne. And again, it's a forward-looking statement," he said, pointing to the April-June 2026 quarter results due in about 21 days.
Budhia said the new waste capacity should support that improvement. "So, the absolute numbers will remain more or less in the same direction, slightly better because we also have the waste project already operational, and three more projects will be operational soon," he said. Budhia said the company did about ₹500 crore last year and expects growth from the added capacity as well as a recovery among its chemical and pharmaceutical customers, sectors he said had struggled for two years before improving over the last six months.
Asked if revenue could more than double without heavy capital spending, Budhia said, "With the time, yes, it will be surely better as we suggest. And the revenues of most of the four projects have already been done, except a very small amount." For the full interview, watch the accompanying video Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here (Edited by : alphadesk)
Source: CNBC TV18
