Katni Fibres, Ltd.

In January 2025, the chief executive of a small yarn-production company in India must resolve an unexpected cash shortage. The task for the student is to evaluate the causes of this shortage (using a completed “base-case” forecast given in the case) and assess the usefulness of various possible remedies suggested by managers in the company. In essence, the company is unable to zero out a seasonal working-capital loan for the requisite 30 days each year. This difficulty arises from two classic causes: secular growth of the company and declining profitability. Possible remedies include reducing inventory through more efficient transportation and warehousing, reducing credit terms to customers, switching from seasonal to level production, improving profitability, decreasing dividends, and reducing sales growth. The case is an updated and simplified version of an antecedent case, Kota Fibres, Ltd. (UVA-F-1359). At the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, this case is used in the core MBA finance curriculum in a module on financial forecasting.