India Exposition Mart Limited IPO

01At a glance

What the company does: owns the leasehold on and runs the India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida: it rents exhibition halls to trade-show organisers, runs events itself, operates hotels and catering on site, and provides export logistics and maintenance to the mart's shop owners (AP p.2).

Who pays it: event organisers, government ministries and agencies, trade associations such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, and private companies, and hotel guests (AP p.2). Third-party events were 56.44% of FY26 revenue (AP p.8).

Why it is raising money: ₹638.15 million to replace air handling, chillers, cooling towers, lifts and escalators, and ₹308.08 million to renovate halls 4 and 6 and build hall 18; the rest for general purposes (AP p.5).

How fast it has grown: revenue from ₹1,947 million in FY24 to ₹2,906 million in FY26 (AP p.7).

The one thing to understand: everything happens at one site on land leased from the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, which is also a shareholder. Revenue has grown with fewer but larger events: third-party events fell from 55 in FY24 to 33 in FY26 (AP p.8, DRHP p.29, DRHP p.33).

02The business, in plain words

An exhibition centre earns rent from organisers who book its halls for trade fairs and conferences, plus money from services around each event, stall building, catering, hotel rooms. Profit depends on how many days the halls are booked and at what rate, against the fixed cost of running a large site.

A trade association wants to hold a fair → it books halls at India Expo Centre and Mart for several days → exhibitors take stalls, visitors attend, and some stay at the on-site hotels → the company earns hall rent, service fees and hotel revenue.

The company was incorporated in 2001 and opened the venue in 2006, with an original purpose of giving Indian exporters a place to show products to foreign buyers (AP p.2). It reports two segments, fairs and exhibitions, and hospitality (AP p.3).

Earnings equation: Revenue ≈ events × days × hall area booked × rate, plus hotel and service income. Hall area rose from 64,888 to 76,484 square metres in FY26 (AP p.8).

03Where the money comes from

Source: AP p.8. The last row combines two lines.

Source: AP p.8.

The document says third-party event revenue is concentrated among a limited number of large events and customers (DRHP p.31, DRHP p.32).

04The growth record

Source: AP p.7, AP p.8.

Our arithmetic: revenue grew about 22.2% a year from FY24 to FY26 and profit after tax about 15.6% a year (our arithmetic, AP p.7). The offer document puts return on capital employed at 13.13% in FY24, 21.17% in FY25 and 16.36% in FY26 (DRHP p.191).

05What the growth is made of

Bigger events and the hotel. With third-party events down from 55 to 33, revenue per event must have risen sharply (AP p.8). Hotel occupancy nearly doubled, from 28.63% to 55.88%, on the same 136 rooms (AP p.8). Two halls were added in FY26 (AP p.8).

Margins fell in FY26: EBITDA margin dropped from 31.98% to 22.62% and profit by 19% while revenue rose 20.5% (AP p.8, our arithmetic). The pages read do not explain the cost increase.

06Earnings quality

Operating cash flow rose to ₹528.36 million in FY26, above profit (AP p.7). Revenue is lumpy: it depends on the event calendar, and a few large events carry much of it (DRHP p.31, DRHP p.34). The document reports past delays in statutory filings and some corporate records that cannot be traced (DRHP p.38, DRHP p.39).

07The balance sheet

Source: AP p.7.

The company is almost debt-free (AP p.7). Its main asset is a 90-year lease of the site from GNIDA (DRHP p.33).

08What the money is for

Source: AP p.5.

09Who is selling

Source: AP p.1. The second row is our arithmetic from the total of 22,741,002.

Vectra would part with 95% of its 16,835,058 shares (AP p.6, our arithmetic).

10Promoters

None. The company describes itself as professionally managed, with no identified promoter (DRHP p.1). It has applied to SEBI for an exemption from naming the Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council as a group company, because the council refused to be identified as one (DRHP p.34).

11Who already owns it

Source: AP p.6. The individuals row is our sum.

The company has 1,269 public shareholders (AP p.6).

12What changed just before the IPO

• New halls: two halls added in FY26, taking the total to 16 (AP p.8).
• Hotel: occupancy nearly doubled over two years (AP p.8).
• Debt: borrowings almost repaid (AP p.7).
• Last allotment: 300,000 sweat equity shares at ₹10 each in June 2017, the last allotment before the offer (DRHP p.115).
• Auditor: no change in the statutory auditor in the three years before the filing (DRHP p.85).
• Public company: the company was incorporated as a public limited company in April 2001 (DRHP p.3).

13Capacity and expansion

The site has 16 halls with 76,484 square metres and 136 hotel rooms (AP p.8). The proceeds go to replacing ageing building services and to renovating or adding halls (AP p.5). The document lists plans to expand hospitality under new sub-brands as a risk (DRHP p.39).

14Market size and industry structure

The CRISIL figures cited in the offer document put India's domestic MICE market, meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, at about ₹477 billion (AP p.5). Government programmes such as Make in India and Meet in India are expected to raise demand for events (AP p.5).

15Competitive position

What the document claims, and what it rests on:

• An integrated venue with halls, hotels and services on one site (AP p.2).
• A long list of government and trade-body clients (AP p.2).
• Own events that fill the calendar (AP p.8).

Against that: a single site on leased land, and dependence on a few large events (DRHP p.29, DRHP p.31, DRHP p.33).

16Peers the company named

The only listed peer named is Nesco Limited, with a P/E of 19.55 (DRHP p.190). For India Exposition Mart the document gives FY26 earnings per share of ₹4.25 basic and ₹4.24 diluted, net asset value per share of ₹36.97 and return on net worth of 11.94% (AP p.7). No P/E is possible for the company until a price band is set.

17Risks, in plain words

• One site. The India Expo Centre and Mart is the only large venue (DRHP p.29).
• Leased land. All of it is leased from GNIDA; non-renewal or restrictions would be serious (DRHP p.33).
• Few big events. Revenue is concentrated among a small number of large exhibitions (DRHP p.31).
• Lumpy results. The event cycle makes results vary from period to period (DRHP p.34).
• Unnamed group company. The Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council declined to be named as a group company; SEBI's decision on the exemption is pending (DRHP p.34).
• Compliance history. Delays and non-compliance with Companies Act filings (DRHP p.39).

18Litigation and regulatory matters

Source: AP p.15.

19Related-party transactions

The Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council is the entity the company would otherwise name as a group company (DRHP p.34). GNIDA is both landlord and shareholder (AP p.6, DRHP p.33). The related-party schedule was not read in detail for this study.

20What the offer document does not say

In the sections read for this study, the document does not give:

• Why EBITDA margin fell nine points in FY26.
• Hall occupancy: days booked against days available.
• The lease rent and terms payable to GNIDA, in the pages read.
• Who owns Vectra Investments, the largest shareholder and seller.
• The price band, lot size or issue dates, which is normal at DRHP stage.

21Five questions for management

1. What drove costs up in FY26, cutting EBITDA margin from 32% to 23%?
2. How many hall-days were booked in each year, and at what average rate?
3. What share of revenue came from the five largest events?
4. What is the relationship with the Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council, and why did it decline to be named?
5. When does the earliest GNIDA lease expire, and on what terms can it be renewed?

2Sources and cited facts

This study was read from 2 documents the company filed. The 56 figures it cites are listed under the document each came from, with the page and the sentence as printed.