Five large companies with market capitalisation above ₹10,000 crore have achieved dramatic reductions in their cash conversion cycles over three years. According to reports from Value Research Stock Advisor, these companies reduced their working capital days by more than 50%, with improvements ranging from 79.1% to 62.1%. The companies include Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (79.1% decrease), Hitachi Energy India (68% decrease), Shyam Metalics and Energy (62.1% decrease), and Chalet Hotels (56.8% decrease).
According to reports from Value Research Stock Advisor, Crompton Greaves sells fans, pumps, lighting, appliances and kitchen products through multiple channels. The company's improvement was driven by a strategic channel reset following the Butterfly acquisition cleanup. Trade receivables fell from ₹721 crore to ₹691 crore while revenue grew, and the company started taking longer to pay its own suppliers, freeing up cash. Alternate channels contributed 16% of revenue by FY26, with all consumer-facing channels growing in double digits. However, inventory actually increased from ₹830 crore to ₹882 crore between FY24 and FY25, though collections improved significantly.
As reported by Value Research Stock Advisor, Hitachi Energy India specializes in transformers, power-transmission equipment and large electrical infrastructure systems. The company's improvement came from executing projects faster, with revenue rising 27.6% to ₹8,148 crore in FY26 and the order backlog increasing 53.5% to ₹29,555 crore. The company commissioned India's first high-voltage direct current power link in a city centre in Mumbai. Faster execution means milestone payments arrive sooner, with the company also increasing service and maintenance work alongside large new projects, which gets paid faster than building new infrastructure from scratch.
According to reports from Value Research Stock Advisor, Chalet Hotels owns luxury hotels and had a residential real estate project in Bengaluru. The company built a housing project and by FY24 had started selling units after receiving occupancy certificates. By FY25, over 90% of the project's apartments had been sold, with sales gaining strong traction and inventory on the balance sheet shrinking as cash came in. This improvement is genuine for cash flow and debt levels but represents a real estate project reaching the end of its life, with the improvement source disappearing once remaining apartments are sold unless the company launches another residential project.
As reported by Value Research Stock Advisor, the analysis reveals that working capital improvements can be either genuine operational enhancements or one-off events. The report emphasizes that distinguishing between these requires detailed analysis beyond single ratios. Inox Wind was excluded from the analysis due to its high absolute working capital days of 313 despite a 53.6% improvement, with its stock rating of 1 out of 5 reflecting significant business challenges that the working capital movement alone does not resolve.
