Ion Exchange spurts up

Ion Exchange (India) was among the notable movers on the BSE today, with the stock trading around Rs 405 - 412, up about 6–8 % from the previous close of Rs 382.65. Intraday, the share hit a high of Rs 416.25 and a low of Rs 388.85, with volumes surging to over 3.7 lakh shares, more than 10x its recent five-day average - even as the broader market traded weak.

Despite the two-day 18 % bounce, the stock still trades roughly 45 % below its 52-week high of Rs 737 and about 22 % above its recent 52-week low of Rs 331.25, leaving it in the middle of its one-year range.

The immediate trigger is a fresh set of domestic orders aggregating to about Rs 205 crore from Rayzon Energy and Inox Solar. Ion Exchange will supply and execute process and utility systems for Rayzon Energy’s 5.1 GW PV solar project at Kathwada, Surat, including an ultrapure water system, effluent treatment plant and zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) facilities, in a contract valued at roughly Rs 95 crore.

A second order of about Rs 110 crore from Inox Solar covers engineering, procurement and construction of ultrapure water generation, wastewater treatment and ZLD systems for a solar cell manufacturing unit in Odisha.

Both projects are to be executed within the coming three quarters, tying the company’s growth more tightly to India’s accelerating solar and cell-manufacturing capex cycle.

Strategically, these wins are meaningful in the context of Ion Exchange’s existing business scale. The company reported Q2 FY26 revenue of about Rs 734 crore, so the new contracts are equivalent to roughly 28 % of one quarter’s sales and add around 7 to 8 % to its engineering order book of about Rs 2,711 crore as of 30 September 2025. They also deepen its positioning in high-specification industrial water and ZLD solutions, a niche where barriers to entry are higher and demand is being reinforced by policy-driven investments in renewables, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing.

At the same time, recent results show that while topline growth has been healthy, operating margins have been under pressure from rising employee and other operating costs, with Q2 FY26 EBITDA margin slipping to about 9.3 % versus over 10 % a year ago.

With the stock still well below its peak but no longer cheap on trailing earnings, the Street is likely to focus on how efficiently Ion Exchange converts this larger clean-energy order book into cash flows and whether execution discipline can offset margin headwinds in what remains a competitive, project-driven engineering business.