Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases eyes market comeback with IPO launch
The 50-year-old Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases Ltd (EIGL) is one of the oldest operating industrial gases companies in India, which makes and supplies industrial gases, such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, acetylene, nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, argon and nitrous oxide. It also makes dry ice, synthetic air, fire-fighting gases, medical oxygen, liquid petroleum gas, welding mixture and specialty gases, catering to a wide range of end-use industries.
The first company to set up a hydrogen electrolyser in Eastern India, EIGL had one of the highest number of customers in India as of 31 March 2025, indicating a highly diversified customer base, with limited concentration risk. It is among the main manufacturers of industrial gases in East and South India, as also the market leader in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – each in terms of installed manufacturing capacity, as of 31 March 2025.
EIGL’s service offerings include project engineering services, where it leverages its extensive technical know-how for design, engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of tonnage air separation units (ASUs) and related projects on a turnkey basis for customers across several sectors. EIGL also offers turnkey solutions involving medical gas pipeline systems, where it assists healthcare facilities in designing, installing, commissioning, operation and maintenance of medical gas pipeline systems. In addition, it supplies products and equipment to healthcare facilities, which include anesthesia workstation, spirometers, ventilators, sterilisers, bedside monitors and lung diffusion testing machines.
The company is present across multiple modalities of supply – onsite, bulk and packaged – whereby it offers its products through a combination of supply mechanisms, including pipelines connected to its customers, cryogenic tankers and cylinders. “We have a robust distribution network, with the third highest number of transport tankers, cylinders and customer installations in India,” says Padam Kumar Agarwala, CMD, EIGL. “We have demonstrated their ability to adapt to evolving requirements for medical gases and infrastructure, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Dedicated plants
The company operates nine facilities across East, South and Central India, of which five facilities are located in West Bengal, two in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Telangana and Chhattisgarh, as of 31 March 2025. EIGL is one of the few companies to have dedicated plants for each type of gas delivery system – be they pipeline, merchant liquid or cylinder filling. Its portfolio includes public and private entities, such Jairaj Ispat, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Laurus Labs, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, West Bengal Medical Services Corporation, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, GMM Pfaudler, Air India Engineering Services, Jupiter Wagons and Hindustan Shipyard. Further, it supplies products to the Indian armed forces, including the Indian Air Force bases in East, South and West India, the Eastern Naval Command bases and multiple government-owned laboratories. It also supplies products to multiple railway workshops and railways hospitals across East and South India.
In terms of bulk distribution capability, EIGL has a significant fleet of cryogenic transport tankers in circulation in India. The company has a diversified customer base and, in 2024-25, it sold its products to 1,829 customers.
The company was originally incorporated by Padam Kumar Agarwala and Vivek Agarwal. Today, the promoters hold an aggregate of 86.96 per cent of the share capital of the company, which was originally listed on Calcutta Stock Exchange, but was subsequently delisted with effect from 2 July 2018. The company was also using the trading platform of BSE under ‘permitted to trade category’ since 3 July 2008, but the same was suspended w.e.f. 8 March 2017. After the delisting, there has been no formal market for the equity shares of the company.
The company has had a good revenue growth during the last three fiscals. Its revenue from operations has increased to Rs312.48 crore for 2024-25, from Rs205.11 crore for 2022-23, at a CAGR of 23.43 per cent.
For the IPO, it has fixed the price band at Rs380-400 per equity share of the face value Rs2 each on its maiden initial public offer. The IPO will open on 24 June 2025 for subscription. The IPO is a mix of fresh issue of up to Rs400 crore and an offer for sale up to 56,56,565 equity shares each by Padam Kumar Agarwala and Varun Agarwal. The proceeds from the fresh issue to the extent of Rs210 crore will be used for repayment/prepayment, in full or in part, of certain outstanding borrowings availed by the company; Rs104.50 crore for setting up an air separation unit at its Uluberia II plant, with a capacity of 220 tpd; and general corporate purposes.