Pricol's revival: from near-death debt to debt-free 15–20% CAGR (interview)

When Vikram Mohan took charge as managing director of Coimbatore auto-parts supplier Pricol in 2010, he inherited deep losses, huge debts and severe industrial-relations problems, with practically zero knowledge of the product. 'We were in the news every three months and our market share was decimated,' he told ET Auto in a July 2026 interview. He worked twelve-hour days for two years — talking to union leaders, asking banks for time, meeting customers — and within about two and a half years most issues were fixed, with a shrunken turnover, debts paid and the company restructured.

The rebuild's engine was technology. Pricol invested 4.5% of turnover in R&D — a spend the board called 'ridiculously high.' Mohan's first acquisition — a Brazilian fluid-management business bought for its tech centre and test lab — collapsed with Brazil's crisis; trapped by 67% market share there, Pricol poured in money: ₹125 crore became ₹400 crore in two years. It sold the business in February 2020, writing off around ₹420 crore as banks pulled support mid-COVID. A Czech unit for a wiping-and-lighting venture was sold too — his admitted mistake: lingering in Brazil.

Post-COVID, the technology bets finally paid: products developed since 2014 took off, all debts were repaid within nine months, and Pricol has run at a steady 15–20% CAGR as a long-term debt-free company. In July 2026 it announced the demerger of its largest division — driver information and connected-vehicle systems — into Pricol Autotech, leaving Pricol with actuation, control and fluid management systems and precision products, each free to chase its own technology agenda.

Per Mohan in the interview: debts repaid within nine months of COVID; steady 15–20% CAGR; long-term debt-free; now demerging Pricol Autotech

Labor, bank and customer relationships were rebuilt first — without stability, no technology bet could be funded.

The 4.5%-of-turnover technology spend was held against board resistance, on the conviction that owning technology would let Pricol 'rule the roost.'

The Brazil loss was honored rather than hidden: ₹420 crore written off, the Czech unit sold, and the balance sheet cleaned within nine months of COVID.

The demerger separates smart-mobility electronics from the legacy fluid business so each can fund its own technology roadmap.

Turnarounds are sequencing: stabilize, then over-invest in technology before anyone agrees, and admit within two years — not five — when an overseas bet is draining the mother ship.

Pricol Autotech will pursue smart mobility, integrated electronics, telematics and battery-management systems independently, while Pricol continues with actuation, control and fluid management and precision products. Mohan said overseas acquisitions may be reconsidered in about two years — paying top dollar for healthy companies rather than bargains for sick ones — and he mentors five young entrepreneurs, one hour each a month.