INOX Air Products has taken a major step toward a stock market listing. The company has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus, or DRHP, with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering, or IPO.
The filing came at a time when India’s IPO market has seen strong activity. INOX Air Products is a major name in the industrial gas sector, with business across industrial, medical, electronic and specialty gases.
The proposed IPO will have an offer for sale of up to 7.72 crore equity shares. There will be no fresh issue of shares. This detail is important because it means the company itself will not receive money from the IPO. The funds from the share sale will go to the existing shareholders who sell their shares.
The company has not yet disclosed a final IPO price, issue value or date for the public offer. Those details will come at a later stage after the SEBI process and other steps are complete.
What the IPO structure means
The INOX Air Products IPO is a pure offer for sale, or OFS. In simple words, existing shareholders will sell some of the shares they already own to public investors.
There will be no new shares from the company in this offer. As a result, the company will not get fresh money for a new factory, debt repayment, expansion or daily business needs from this IPO.
This makes the issue different from an IPO where a company sells new shares to raise money for its own use. In this case, the main purpose is for existing shareholders to sell part of their holdings.
The proposed offer covers up to 7.72 crore shares. Some reports cite the figure as 7.71 crore shares, based on the DRHP details. The small difference comes from how the figure has been reported and rounded. The October 2 report from Economic Times cites up to 7.72 crore equity shares.
Who will sell shares
The selling shareholders include companies and entities linked to the two main ownership groups.
INOX Air Products is jointly owned by the INOX Group and Air Products and Chemicals, a US-based industrial gas company. The selling shareholders include INOX Chemicals, Prodair Corporation, Siddhomal Air Products and Sitashri Trading and Finance.
Prodair Corporation is linked to Air Products and Chemicals. INOX Chemicals is part of the INOX Group structure.
The IPO will therefore give these existing shareholders a chance to sell part of their holdings through the public market.
Since there is no fresh share issue, investors should understand that the IPO will not add new capital to the company’s balance sheet. The cash from the sale will go to the shareholders who offer their shares.
A long history in the gas business
INOX Air Products is not a new company. It was incorporated in April 1963 and has built a large business in India’s industrial gas sector over several decades.
The company supplies several types of gases to customers across different industries. Its business covers industrial gases, medical gases, electronic gases and specialty gases.
Industrial gases have an important role in many factories. Steel companies use gases in their production process. Hospitals need medical gases for patient care. Pharmaceutical companies also use specialised gases. Other industries need gases for manufacturing, testing and other technical work.
This wide customer base gives INOX Air Products exposure to several parts of the Indian economy.
A major player in industrial gases
According to information in its IPO papers, INOX Air Products claims to be India’s largest industrial, medical, electronic and specialty gases company by revenue.
The company reported a 22.4% market share in FY26 and said it has more than 3,000 customers across the country.
Its customers come from areas such as steel, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and automobiles.
The company also serves other industries that require a steady supply of industrial and specialty gases. This type of business can be important for customers because a gas supply failure can affect factory operations.
INOX Air Products has built a network that allows it to serve customers through different supply models.
57 locations across India
INOX Air Products has operations at 57 locations across 15 states and one union territory in India.
Its supply model includes on-site gas plants, merchant gas facilities, packaged gas supply and specialty gas facilities.
An on-site plant can supply gas directly to a large industrial customer. This can reduce the need to move large amounts of gas over long distances.
The company also has merchant liquid gas capacity. This allows it to serve customers who need gas but do not have their own production plant.
Its broad network is one of the main parts of its business model. A large physical network can help the company serve customers across different regions.
Large gas production capacity
INOX Air Products has a substantial production base.
As of March 2026, the company had an on-site gas capacity of 16,074 tonnes per day. Its merchant liquid gas production capacity stood at 5,106 tonnes per day.
These figures show the scale of its operations.
The company also has a large transport network for its products. It has a fleet of 739 cryogenic tankers, which the company describes as the largest such fleet in India.
Cryogenic tankers are special vehicles used to transport gases in liquid form at very low temperatures. Such equipment is important for the safe movement of industrial gases over long distances.
Strong presence across key industries
INOX Air Products has customers across several major sectors.
The steel industry is one of its important customer groups. Steel production uses different industrial gases at several stages of the process.
The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are also important. Hospitals require medical gases for patient treatment, while pharmaceutical companies use gases for production and other processes.
The automotive sector is another customer base. Vehicle production uses industrial gases in areas such as welding, heat treatment and other factory processes.
The company also serves customers in electronics and other specialised industries. This gives it exposure to sectors that may have different demand cycles.
Financial results show higher revenue
The company’s financial results also form an important part of the IPO story.
For the financial year ended March 2026, INOX Air Products reported revenue of Rs 3,033.9 crore. Revenue was Rs 2,789.8 crore in the previous year.
That represents growth of about 8.8%. The increase came from higher sales of products and services, lease rental income and other operating revenue, according to the company’s DRHP.
The company also reported a profit of Rs 913.9 crore for FY26, compared with Rs 880.9 crore in the previous year.
That represents profit growth of about 3.7%. Economic Times rounded the FY26 figures to about Rs 3,034 crore in revenue and Rs 914 crore in net profit.
The numbers show that the company had higher revenue and profit in FY26 compared with the year before.
Why the IPO matters
The proposed listing will give public investors a chance to own shares in one of India’s major industrial gas companies.
Until now, the company has remained privately held through its ownership groups. A stock market listing will bring more public information about the business, its financial results and its share value.
The IPO will also create a market price for the shares after listing. That price will depend on demand from investors and the final terms of the issue.
However, the IPO does not bring new capital into the company because it is entirely an OFS. This is an important difference from many other public issues.
Investors who study the offer will therefore need to focus on the company’s existing business, financial performance, market position and the price at which the shares are offered.
No issue size has been disclosed yet
One major detail is still absent from the IPO plan.
The company has disclosed the number of shares that may be sold, but the final rupee value of the IPO has not been disclosed in the DRHP reports cited so far.
An earlier report said the IPO could target about Rs 10,000 crore, but the DRHP itself did not state the issue size. That means the Rs 10,000 crore figure should not be treated as the final IPO value.
The final value will depend on the price per share and the number of shares that are part of the offer.
The company also has 517 million paid-up equity shares, according to Economic Times.
The price band and final issue dates will come later.
Major banks will manage the IPO
Several major financial institutions have been appointed to manage the proposed public offer.
The book running lead managers are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Citigroup Global Markets India, ICICI Securities and JP Morgan India.
These banks will help with the IPO process, including work related to the public offer and investor communication.
MUFG Intime India, formerly known as Link Intime India, has been appointed as the registrar for the issue.
The appointment of these institutions is a normal part of the IPO process and shows that the company has moved ahead with its public market plans.
Competition in the sector
INOX Air Products operates in a sector with established competitors.
One major listed rival is Linde India, which is one of India’s largest listed industrial gas companies.
Another name in the sector is Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases, which became a listed company in 2025.
The presence of listed rivals can give investors some reference points when they study INOX Air Products.
Investors can compare areas such as revenue, profit, margins, production capacity, customer base and market value. However, each company has its own business mix, customer profile and financial structure.
India’s IPO market remains active
The INOX Air Products filing comes at a busy time for India’s IPO market.
September 2026 saw 34 IPOs raise about Rs 39,339.55 crore, according to Prime Database data reported by Financial Express. The number of issues was up 36% from September 2025, while the amount of capital raised was up 196%.
The wider IPO pipeline is also large. About 237 companies had potential IPOs with an estimated value of Rs 4.48 lakh crore. Of these, 120 companies had received SEBI approval, while 117 were still awaiting approval, according to the same report.
INOX Air Products is now part of this large pipeline.
What happens after the DRHP
A DRHP filing does not mean that an IPO will open at once.
The document goes through the SEBI process. The regulator can review the details and ask questions before the company moves toward the final offer document.
After the required approvals and other steps, the company can announce the IPO dates, price band and other details.
For INOX Air Products, investors will want to see the final price range, exact offer size and date of the public issue.
The company will also provide more information about the business, risks, financial results and shareholding structure through the IPO documents.
What investors will watch next
The next stage of the INOX Air Products IPO process will be important because several key details are still open.
The 7.72 crore-share OFS is known. The lack of a fresh issue is also clear. The company has reported Rs 3,033.9 crore in FY26 revenue, Rs 913.9 crore in FY26 profit, a 22.4% market share, more than 3,000 customers, 57 operating locations, 16,074 tonnes per day of on-site capacity and 5,106 tonnes per day of merchant liquid gas capacity.
The final valuation is not yet known.
That figure will depend on the eventual price at which the shares are offered. Investors will then be able to compare that value with the company’s earnings, business scale and listed peers.
A new name for public investors
The INOX Air Products IPO marks an important step for a company with more than six decades of history in India’s gas industry.
Its business covers several key sectors, its customer base exceeds 3,000, and its network spans 57 locations. Its FY26 revenue reached Rs 3,033.9 crore, while net profit stood at Rs 913.9 crore.
At the same time, the structure of the IPO is clear: existing shareholders will sell up to 7.72 crore shares, and there will be no fresh issue. The company itself will not receive the IPO proceeds.
The final IPO size, price band and public subscription dates remain to be announced. Until those details arrive, investors have only part of the full picture.
The DRHP filing is still a major step. It puts INOX Air Products closer to the public market and gives investors their first detailed look at a large industrial and medical gas business that has operated in India since 1963.
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