ChrysCapital in talks to invest $100 mn in industrial safety gear maker Karam

Factory workers

Private equity firm ChrysCapital is in discussions to invest roughly $100 million to acquire a significant minority stake in Karam Safety Private Limited, a leading Indian manufacturer of industrial safety equipment, two people aware of the development told Moneycontrol.

The deal, if concluded, will mark yet another bet in the PE firm’s expanding industrials portfolio.

Karam Safety is a prominent industrial safety gear maker based in Uttar Pradesh, specialising in personal protection equipment designed to safeguard workers across hazardous work environments. The company offers a wide range of certified products, including safety helmets, protective workwear, eyewear, face covers, gas detectors, fall protection systems and other PPE that serve industries such as construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, and infrastructure. Its product portfolio spans thousands of certified items that meet diverse national and international standards, and it exports safety solutions to over 100 countries worldwide.

“The company has a leadership position in several categories like industrial helmets, where almost 7 out of every 10 helmets sold are from Karam. The company has seen its revenues grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 20 percent in the last three financial years, and growth is expected to continue at a healthy pace given increasing investments in manufacturing capacities in the country,” said one of the people cited above.

Big four audit firm EY’s investment banking arm is advising Karam on the fundraise.

ChrysCapital declined to comment. Emails sent to Karam Safety did not elicit a response till the time of publication.

The company operates manufacturing units in Lucknow, Sitarganj and Sandila that emphasise vertical integration, allowing in-house control over key processes from raw materials to finished goods, which supports consistent quality and cost-effective production.

Financials

In fiscal year 2025, Karam reported revenues of over Rs 1,062.2 crore and a profit of Rs 87.1 crore, as per a November 21 report by credit rating agency Crisil.

In fiscal 2024, its revenue stood at Rs 813.5, while profit stood at Rs 106.9 crore.

Crisil noted that the company is expected to achieve Rs 1,100-1,200 crore revenue for full fiscal 2026, driven by healthy demand from the domestic and export markets.

“The group reported an operating margin of 18.25% in fiscal 2025 (23.4% in fiscal 2024) owing to a onetime extraordinary expense of Rs 62 crore incurred in fiscal 2025. However, operating margin, adjusted for the extraordinary expense, was healthy at around 24.1% in fiscal 2025, driven by fully backward integrated operations and ramp up in scale in the foreign subsidiaries, leading to absorption of fixed costs. The margin is expected to remain at 22-23% in fiscal 2026,” the report said.

The financial risk profile of the company remains comfortable, the rating agency said, driven by healthy profitability.

“Networth and gearing are expected at around Rs 630-640 crore and around 0.3 time, respectively, as on March 31, 2026 (Rs 510 crore and around 0.4 time, respectively, as on March 31, 2025), driven by healthy accretion to reserve,” it added.

ChrysCapital’s industrial bets

For ChrysCapital, this would be its third industrials sector deal in the past year, following its lead role in a Rs 1,200 crore funding round in IlJin Electronics, a subsidiary of Amber Group, and ongoing talks to acquire a 30-40% stake in Nash Industries for a consideration of around $150-200 million, as reported by Moneycontrol on November 12 .

These investments illustrate the firm’s focus on industrial manufacturing opportunities in India, a space which has seen strong interest from private equity investors in recent years.