And earn less than before.
Over five years these eight put up ₹18,809 crore of new plant — gross block from ₹19,967 crore to ₹38,776 crore, very nearly double. Sales rose a third.
Profit fell. ₹6,216 crore in FY26 against ₹5,926 crore five years earlier — ₹290 crore less, from twice the factory. Return on capital employed halved, 16.2% to 8.6%. Net debt rose 84%.
The three that grew profit meaningfully — Navin, Aether, Acutaas — are the three smallest. The four largest all earn less than they did.
One company has stopped. Navin Fluorine’s unfinished plant fell 711 to 355 to 143 over three years while every other company’s rose. Across the eight, ₹9,649 crore is still under construction — a quarter of everything ever built.
A sector, read end to end, and the companies as they are published. Roughly monthly. Nothing else, and one click to stop.
Not advice. Quotes are from the companies’ own earnings calls; figures from their filings.