CG Power is a 90-year-old electrical franchise that was nearly destroyed by fraud and then rebuilt into one of the best turnarounds the Indian market has seen, a 50-bagger from its lows, with a brand-new semiconductor leg the previous owner never imagined. Here is the journey, year by year.
- Founded in 1937, Crompton Greaves became India’s largest maker of transformers, switchgear and motors.
- A 2019 fraud under the Avantha Group crashed the stock from ₹50 to under ₹10.
- The Murugappa Group’s Tube Investments rescued it in 2020 and restructured it to net cash.
- A 2024 move into semiconductor packaging (OSAT) plus grid demand drove a 50x rise from the lows to a market cap above ₹1.2 lakh crore.
1937 The company that becomes Crompton Greaves is incorporated in Bombay from R.E.B. Crompton’s UK electrical business and Greaves Cotton, with its first plant in Worli.
1947 It lists on the Bombay Stock Exchange after Independence.
1970–1990s It becomes India’s largest transformer, switchgear, motor and consumer-fan manufacturer.
2005 The Avantha Group under Gautam Thapar acquires it, followed by international buys, Pauwels, Ganz and Sonomatra.
2016 It is renamed CG Power and Industrial Solutions; the consumer business is demerged as Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals.
Sep 2019 A financial fraud is uncovered and a SEBI investigation opens against the Avantha Group; the stock crashes from ₹50 to under ₹10.
Nov 2020 Tube Investments (Murugappa Group) acquires a majority stake at ₹8.5 a share, infusing roughly ₹700 crore.
2021–2022 An operational turnaround and asset rationalisation cut debt from over ₹1,800 crore to net cash.
2023 CG Power posts its first clean, profitable year and the stock crosses ₹400 for the first time since the fraud.
Sep 2024 It announces a roughly ₹7,600 crore (about $870 million) semiconductor assembly-and-test (OSAT) plant at Sanand, Gujarat, one of three approved under the India Semiconductor Mission.
2025 It completes the acquisition of Renesas’s radio-frequency (RF) components business, adding specialty semiconductor design alongside OSAT; FY25 revenue rises 23% to ₹9,909 crore with ₹973 crore profit and net cash.
2026 CG Power is the only listed Indian company at the intersection of two structural capex cycles, grid transmission and semiconductor packaging; the stock has compounded over 50x from its post-fraud lows to a market cap above ₹1.2 lakh crore.
The pattern is the point
The Avantha era nearly destroyed a 90-year-old industrial franchise; the Murugappa Group bought the asset at a distressed price, restructured it to net cash, and bolted on a semiconductor leg the previous owner never imagined. The best turnarounds are not merely operational, they pair a cleaned-up balance sheet with a genuinely new growth engine, which is exactly what re-rated CG Power.
