Airox saw a significant jump in business due to the covid pandemic, especially during April-May 2021

MUMBAI : Airox Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which manufactures medical-grade oxygen generation plants for hospitals and claims to have a 75% market share, is exploring plans to list on domestic bourses, said three people aware of the development.

Apart from supplying medical-grade oxygen generation plants to hospitals, the Aurangabad-based company, founded by Sanjay Jaiswal in 2011, also sells products for industrial oxygen applications.

“The company is engaged in talks with a couple of investment banks and is going to be meeting more banks as well as law firms in the coming weeks for the proposed IPO. The IPO plan is at a very early stage, and details such as the size of the IPO and stake dilution will be discussed at a later date when a bank syndicate is appointed. The plan is to explore a listing this year," said the first person cited above.

According to him, Airox saw a significant jump in business due to the covid pandemic, especially during April-May 2021, when the devastating second wave and medical-grade oxygen shortages exposed India’s creaking healthcare infrastructure.

The second wave, which saw peak daily cases of over 400,000 across the country, triggered an oxygen supply scarcity, resulting in patients having to scour for oxygen cylinders from private markets and black marketeers.

India’s medical oxygen supply chain was severely disrupted due to the steep rise in demand—from 3,842 metric tonnes (MT) per day on 12 April 2021 to 8,400 MT per day by 25 April, and further up to 11,000 MT per day by the beginning of May—before gradually reducing as the number of fresh cases fell, noted Observer Research Foundation in a June report.

“The company has revenues in the range of ₹ 100-200 crore, but is highly profitable," the first person cited above said. Emails sent to promoter Jaiswal did not elicit a response till press time.

The company has more than 850 oxygen plant installations across the country, according to its website.

While the pandemic has helped the company scale up its revenues sharply, some expressed concerns over the sustainability of its growth.

“The company is doing very well currently, but one cannot be sure how the pandemic will pan out and if we will have variants in the future that are not as severe as Delta in the past and thus reduce the number of hospitalizations. So the future growth prospects can be a concern for investors," said the second person cited above, also requesting anonymity.

Airox is among companies that have benefited from the demand for products and equipment during the covid-19 pandemic that plans to go public.

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