JAIPUR: A metal recycling company has just landed on brokerage radars. On September 8, 2026, ICICI Securities put out its first research report on Jain Resource Recycling Ltd. (JRRL), initiating coverage with a BUY rating and a target price of ₹350 — roughly 25% upside from the ₹281 level at the time of the report. Interestingly, within a couple of days of the report coming out, the stock had already climbed to around ₹296-297, suggesting the market lapped this one up pretty quickly.
What the Company Actually Does
Founded way back in 1953, JRRL is essentially a multi-metal recycler — it takes lead, copper and aluminium out of scrap and turns them back into usable metal. In FY26, its revenue was split roughly as follows: about 55% from copper, around 40% from lead, and the remaining 4-5% from aluminium. The company's biggest strength is its sourcing network — it pulls in scrap from 120+ countries and 400+ scrap yards. JRRL runs five facilities out of the SIPCOT Industrial Estate in Chennai, and its JAIN 9998 brand is an LME-registered lead ingot — meaning it has recognition on the London Metal Exchange too.
The Real Story — Moving Beyond Just Selling Scrap
The title of ICICI's report says it all — "Turning waste into wealth." Until now, JRRL has largely been a volume-led recycler — process more scrap, earn more money. But the company is now shifting toward becoming an integrated circular multi-metals platform — meaning instead of just recovering metal and selling it as-is, it wants to process it further into higher-value products and squeeze more margin out of every tonne.
Copper is the hero of this whole story. The company's current copper capacity stands at around 83,000 tonnes a year, of which only 65% was utilised in FY26. Now the company is pushing further downstream — building out roughly 62,400 tonnes of downstream capacity for anodes, cathodes, wire rods and busbars, in phases. On top of that, there's a joint venture (the C&Y JV) coming up in Ahmedabad, which will process 72,000 tonnes of scrap to produce around 25,000 tonnes of recycled copper — commercial operations are expected to start from September 2026. ICICI estimates copper volumes will grow at roughly 23% CAGR between FY26 and FY29, from 53,700 tonnes to 99,500 tonnes.
The lead business is being positioned as the stable cash-flow foundation. Current capacity stands at 184,000 tonnes, and the company's goal is to keep EBITDA per tonne in the ₹18,000-20,000 range. There's an interesting move here too — the company has picked up a 25% stake in a Kuwaiti company, Abraj Al-Khaleej, along with a Right of First Refusal on buying battery scrap from it. The intent is clear: lock down feedstock security. Benefits from this are expected to kick in from Q3FY27.
Aluminium, meanwhile, is sitting underutilised. Capacity is at 36,000 tonnes, but FY26 volumes were just 12,600 tonnes — around 35% utilisation. That means there's a fair bit of room to grow volumes here without needing major fresh investment.
What the Numbers Say
According to ICICI's projections, the company's revenue could climb from ₹95,431 million in FY26 to ₹182,564 million by FY29 — a CAGR of roughly 24%. EBITDA over the same period is projected to grow from ₹5,589 million to ₹8,457 million, though EBITDA margin could actually dip from 5.9% to around 4.6%, since most of the revenue growth is coming from volumes rather than higher realisations. Net profit is expected to rise from ₹3,522 million in FY26 to ₹5,277 million by FY29, with EPS climbing from ₹10.2 to ₹15.4.
The good news is that net debt is also expected to come down, with capex to be funded internally. As domestic sourcing increases, working capital days could shrink from 67 to around 45 — meaning the company gets its cash back faster.
Where It Stands Against Peers
ICICI has benchmarked JRRL against companies like Gravita India, Pondy Oxide and CMR Green. On an FY28E basis, JRRL trades at a P/E of around 19.8x, compared to Gravita India's 27.1x — meaning JRRL is currently trading at a discount to its larger peer. The brokerage believes that as the company's scale and integration improve, this discount could gradually narrow, potentially leading to a re-rating of the stock.
What Could Go Wrong
Like any growth story, there are a few ifs and buts here. The biggest risk is scrap availability — the company relies heavily on imports for its raw material needs, so any disruption in the global supply chain could hit it directly. Second, execution on the new value-added copper products needs to go smoothly — getting new customers qualified and products certified can take time and cause delays. Third, metal prices are linked to the London Metal Exchange, and even though the company follows a 100% hedging model, timing mismatches can still squeeze margins. On top of that, the company's top 5 customers account for roughly 44% of revenue — a fairly concentrated customer base. And with promoter holding at around 73.6%, the free float is only about 20%, which could limit liquidity in the stock.
The Bottom Line
Overall, ICICI Securities' report frames JRRL as a solid play on India's rising copper demand and the growing regulatory push toward a circular economy. The company isn't just trying to process more scrap — it's trying to extract more value from every tonne it handles. If this downstream expansion and utilisation ramp-up plays out as planned, earnings could see meaningful improvement over the next three to four years. That said, this is just a summary of a brokerage report, not investment advice — do check the company's official disclosures and speak to your financial advisor before making any decisions.
