Zenith Steel Pip Ind Ltd
Ratios
Working-Capital Days
Number of daysDebtor DaysInventory DaysDays Payable
How to read this: these lines track how the company manages day-to-day cash. Debtor days is how long customers take to pay; inventory days is how long stock sits before selling; days payable is how long the company takes to pay its own suppliers. Fewer debtor and inventory days generally means cash comes in faster; more days payable means the company holds its cash longer. The right level varies a lot by industry, so the trend over time matters more than any single number.
| Period | Debtor Days | Inventory Days | Days Payable | Cash Conversion Cycle | Working Capital Days | ROCE % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2015 | 449 | 78.18 | 173 | 354 | -448 | -18.80 |
| FY2016 | 435 | 98.69 | 218 | 316 | -537 | -8.45 |
| FY2017 | 293 | 37.76 | 180 | 151 | -393 | -10.89 |
| FY2018 | 250 | 9.86 | 195 | 63.95 | -421 | -17.29 |
| FY2019 | 71.68 | 2.99 | 214 | -139 | -632 | -101.76 |
| FY2020 | 31.75 | 32.17 | 326 | -262 | -1,074 | -128.38 |
| FY2021 | 56.86 | 82.79 | 309 | -170 | -1,357 | — |
| FY2022 | 112 | 108 | 346 | -126 | -604 | — |
| FY2023 | 104 | 62.38 | 277 | -111 | -697 | — |
| FY2024 | 151 | 90.80 | 409 | -167 | -755 | — |
| FY2025 | 173 | 52.21 | 604 | -378 | -914 | — |
| FY2026 | 391 | 72.59 | 957 | -494 | -1,873 | — |
Understanding these terms
Plain-English explanations of each figure in the table above, and what a beginner typically looks at. These are educational descriptions only, not advice.
- Debtor Days
- The average number of days the company takes to collect payment from its customers after a sale.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads fewer days as cash coming in faster. A rising trend can mean customers are taking longer to pay, which ties up cash; readers compare it to the company's own past and to peers.
- Inventory Days
- The average number of days goods sit as inventory before being sold.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads lower inventory days as stock moving quickly. A rising trend can signal slowing sales or overstocking; the right level varies a lot by industry, so comparison matters.
- Days Payable
- The average number of days the company takes to pay its own suppliers.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads more days as the company holding onto cash longer — useful, within reason. Reading it next to debtor days shows whether the company collects from customers faster than it pays suppliers.
- Cash Conversion Cycle
- The number of days it takes to turn money spent on inventory back into cash from customers: inventory days plus debtor days minus days payable.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads a shorter cycle as cash being tied up for less time. A negative cycle — paying suppliers after collecting from customers — is generally a sign of strong working-capital efficiency.
- Working Capital Days
- How many days of sales are tied up in the day-to-day running of the business (receivables and inventory, net of payables).How a beginner reads it: A beginner watches the trend: fewer days means less cash locked into operations. A steadily rising figure can mean growth is consuming more and more cash to sustain.
- ROCE %
- Return on Capital Employed — operating profit as a percentage of the total capital (equity plus debt) the business uses. It measures how efficiently the company turns all its capital into operating profit.How a beginner reads it: A beginner uses ROCE to judge how well a company uses every rupee of capital, regardless of how it is financed. Consistency over many years often matters more to readers than a single high year.