Hi Tech Flow Solutions Limited IPO

01At a glance

What the company does — makes helically submerged-arc-welded (HSAW) steel pipes, the large-diameter spiral pipes used to carry water and sewage, from hot-rolled steel coil at plants in Sanand, Gujarat and Nagpur, Maharashtra (DRHP p.268).

Who pays it — mainly EPC contractors building government water-supply and pipeline projects, who were 72.14% of FY26 revenue; the rest goes through dealers and distributors (DRHP p.269).

Why it is raising money — ₹1,259.69 million to set up an API-grade HSAW pipe unit and a three-layer polyethylene coating unit at Nagpur, and ₹900.00 million to repay bank borrowings (DRHP p.154).

How fast it has grown — revenue from ₹2,290.28 million in FY24 to ₹4,171.71 million in FY26, and profit after tax from ₹183.24 million to ₹364.23 million (DRHP p.270).

The one thing to understand — transactions with group companies were ₹1,165.66 million in FY26, 27.94% of revenue, against 0.63% the year before; the largest counterparty is a group company of which one promoter has been managing director since 1985 (DRHP p.110, DRHP p.335).

02The business, in plain words

An HSAW pipe is made by unrolling a coil of steel strip and winding it into a spiral, welding the seam as it turns. The method makes very wide pipes — the kind laid under roads to carry a city's water — from ordinary hot-rolled coil. The company buys that coil, principally IS:2062 grade, from a public-sector steel plant at Bastar in Chhattisgarh, about 500 km from Nagpur, and a private steel plant at Hazira in Gujarat, about 300 km from Sanand (DRHP p.269).

A water authority awards a pipeline project → the EPC contractor that wins it orders pipe from a registered vendor → the company winds and welds the pipe from steel coil at Sanand or Nagpur → it is paid per tonne against the purchase order.

The vendor registration is the gate. The company is a registered vendor with state public-health engineering departments, Jal Nigams and water-supply and sewerage boards; the commissioned industry report says registration follows plant inspections and quality checks and takes nine to eighteen months, which keeps unqualified makers out of government-funded water work (DRHP p.268).

Sanand started commercial production in February 2019 at 24,000 MTPA and was raised to 40,000 MTPA in FY24. Nagpur, at 120,000 MTPA, began commercial production on 3 January 2025. Over FY24 to FY26 the company supplied about 154,000 tonnes in all (DRHP p.268, DRHP p.270). The company was formerly Hitech Saw Limited (DRHP p.1).

Earnings equation: Revenue = tonnes supplied × realisation per tonne, and the margin is realisation less coil cost. The company reports EBITDA per tonne directly — ₹7,823.31 in FY26 (DRHP p.270) — so the equation can be read in its own units.

03Where the money comes from

Source: DRHP p.269, DRHP p.270. The dealer share is the balance of the EPC share.

Source: DRHP p.41, DRHP p.269. The document gives the top five for FY26 only.

Revenue depends on a small group of contractors, less so each year: the top ten fell from about seven rupees in ten to under six. None is named. The supply side is more concentrated — the top five suppliers were 93.72%, 90.82% and 90.75% of purchases across FY24 to FY26, with no long-term agreements (DRHP p.39).

The product is one product. The document does not break revenue down by pipe diameter, thickness or end use, and the related-party sales in section 24 are part of these totals.

04The growth record

Source: DRHP p.270, DRHP p.48, DRHP p.103, DRHP p.108. Borrowings are current plus non-current from the restated balance sheet.

Revenue compounded at 35.0% a year over the two years, EBITDA at 37.4% and profit after tax at 41.0%. The EBITDA margin rose 46 basis points and the profit margin 73 (DRHP p.270). Earnings per share of ₹2 face value were ₹1.51, ₹1.76 and ₹2.64 (DRHP p.106).

Read from the filing: the growth is real on every line and it came from capacity — Nagpur quadrupled installed capacity at the start of FY25. What moved against it is cash: operating cash flow fell from ₹285.92 million to a negative ₹148.13 million while profit doubled, and borrowings went from ₹15.35 million to ₹481.17 million (DRHP p.48, DRHP p.103).

05What the growth is made of

The company's EBITDA-per-tonne figure lets tonnes be derived, and the derivation matches its own total. This is arithmetic from the document, not a disclosure:

Source: derived from DRHP p.270. The three years sum to about 154,450 tonnes, against the 154,000 MT the company says it supplied (DRHP p.268).

On that arithmetic, revenue rose ₹1,881.43 million over two years, and volume did all of it and more: tonnes rose about 95% while realisation per tonne fell about 6.5%. In a steel-pipe business realisation follows the coil price, so the fall in realisation is most likely steel prices passing through rather than a discount — but the document does not disclose coil prices, so that is a judgement, not a disclosure.

Capacity explains the volume. Nagpur ran at 43.97% in its first partial year and 33.11% in FY26; Sanand ran at 96.98% in FY25 and 81.14% in FY26 (DRHP p.270). On 160,000 MTPA of installed capacity, the business shipped about 68,000 tonnes in FY26 — roughly 42% of what it could make.

06Earnings quality

The line that needs explaining is FY26 cash. Working-capital days went from 15 to 49 in one year, inventory from 25 days to 44, and the balance sheet shows inventory building — changes in inventories were a ₹323.16 million charge-back in FY26 — while trade receivables rose from ₹199.25 million to ₹339.78 million (DRHP p.105, DRHP p.103). Cash and cash equivalents fell from ₹105.21 million to ₹0.65 million (DRHP p.103). The document's own risk factor ties the working-capital strain to the capacity expansion (DRHP p.55).

Read from the filing: the second line to hold alongside the first is related-party revenue. ₹688.86 million of FY26 sales went to two group companies, and ₹456.72 million of raw material came from three (DRHP p.109, DRHP p.110). A reader should read the FY26 growth with those two numbers beside it.

07The balance sheet

At the end of FY26 total borrowings were ₹481.17 million — ₹349.02 million current and ₹132.15 million non-current — against net worth of ₹1,312.06 million, a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37×. A year earlier borrowings were ₹93.25 million and all current (DRHP p.103, DRHP p.270). Net debt to EBITDA was 0.91× (DRHP p.270).

Cash was ₹0.65 million, with ₹17.81 million in other bank balances (DRHP p.103). Trade payables were ₹286.68 million to 79 creditors (DRHP p.444, DRHP p.447). Contingent liabilities were ₹0.20 million of TDS demands and ₹0.43 million of performance bank guarantees (DRHP p.108).

The fresh issue is stated in rupees, so part of the post-issue balance sheet can be drawn. ₹900.00 million is to repay bank borrowings; against ₹481.17 million outstanding at 31 March 2026, that is more than the whole year-end balance, so the object evidently anticipates borrowing drawn since then or to be drawn before deployment in FY28 (DRHP p.155). This is a judgement, not a disclosure: on the FY26 balance sheet alone the company would be debt-free after the issue.

08What the money is for

The offer is a fresh issue aggregating up to ₹3,000.00 million and an offer for sale by three selling shareholders (DRHP p.1).

Source: DRHP p.154, DRHP p.155. General corporate purposes are capped at 25% of gross proceeds.

The expansion is a 120,000 MTPA unit for API-grade HSAW pipe — the grade used for oil and gas transmission under American Petroleum Institute standards — with a coating unit of 1,000,000 square metres a year, inside the existing Nagpur site (DRHP p.269). Its cost comes from a detailed project report dated August 2026 issued by CareEdge Research (DRHP p.155), the same firm whose commissioned report supplies the industry figures in section 13 (DRHP p.267).

Separately, an expansion adding 30,000 MTPA of water-grade HSAW capacity at Nagpur is under way from internal accruals and expected by June 2027 (DRHP p.268).

Into the business up to ₹3,000.00 million, the fresh issue. To selling shareholders up to ₹1,000.00 million from the two promoter-sellers, plus 2,02,68,225 shares from the investor, not yet priced.

The company may make a pre-IPO placement of up to ₹600.00 million before the red herring prospectus, which would reduce the fresh issue by that amount (DRHP p.154).

09Who is selling

Source: DRHP p.1, DRHP p.149.

The investor is offering every share it holds. It came in on 30 January 2024 through a private placement of 13,51,215 shares of ₹10 at ₹296.03 each, under a share subscription agreement and a shareholders' agreement dated 25 January 2024 (DRHP p.127, DRHP p.10). A two-for-one bonus in July 2024 and a split from ₹10 to ₹2 face value turned that into 2,02,68,225 shares, which is where ₹19.74 comes from (DRHP p.128, DRHP p.133). The fund is managed by Wealth Company Asset Management Private Limited, formerly Pantomath Capital Management Private Limited (DRHP p.16).

The promoters' costs are stated as negligible (DRHP p.1). At DRHP stage their offer is a rupee amount and the investor's a share count; neither can be converted into the other until a band exists.

10Promoters

Three promoters, one family: Ajay Kumar Bansal, Vipul Bansal and Nikita Bansal, together holding 8,14,04,506 shares, 58.92% of the company (DRHP p.335).

Ajay Kumar Bansal, 68, holds 35.36%. He has over forty years in trading and manufacturing steel pipes and tubes and has been managing director of Hi-Tech Pipes Limited since 1985. He is also a director of Hi-Tech Green Tubes, HTL Ispat, Hitech Metalex, HTL Metal, AKS Buildcon, Bhagwati Steel Industries, Sain Software Systems, Hi Tech Agrovision and Hi-Tech Global Steels (DRHP p.335). He resigned as this company's managing director on 24 January 2024 (DRHP p.111) — the day before the investor's agreements were signed (DRHP p.10).

Vipul Bansal, 39, is chairman and managing director and holds 17.91%; the document lists no other ventures for him (DRHP p.336). He was paid ₹12.00 million in each of the last three years (DRHP p.109). Nikita Bansal, 36, is a non-executive director and holds 5.65% (DRHP p.336, DRHP p.335).

Promoter economics. The promoters' cost of acquisition is stated as negligible (DRHP p.1). The only outside price in the capital history is the investor's ₹296.03 per ₹10 share in January 2024, ₹19.74 on today's share count (DRHP p.127, DRHP p.1).

Management turnover. The company has had four company secretaries since March 2024 — the current one since 12 August 2025 — and changed its chief financial officer in May 2026, the new one having joined on 22 May 2026 (DRHP p.111, DRHP p.332).

Litigation. None — no criminal, regulatory, civil or tax proceeding by or against any promoter, and no SEBI or exchange action in five years (DRHP p.445, DRHP p.446).

11Who already owns it

Source: DRHP p.149, DRHP p.128. These eight holders make up the whole of the paid-up capital.

Apart from the fund, everyone on the register is from the Bansal family. When the fund exits in the offer for sale, the family will be the only pre-IPO holder left.

12What changed just before the IPO

• An institutional investor came in at ₹296.03 per ₹10 share on 30 January 2024, and is now offering every share (DRHP p.127, DRHP p.1).
• The founder stepped down as managing director on 24 January 2024, the day before the investor's agreements (DRHP p.111, DRHP p.10).
• A two-for-one bonus in July 2024 and a split to ₹2 face value, taking shares from 92,10,735 to 13,81,61,025 (DRHP p.128, DRHP p.133).
• Nagpur quadrupled capacity, starting commercial production on 3 January 2025 (DRHP p.270).
• Related-party transactions went from 0.63% to 27.94% of revenue between FY25 and FY26: sales of goods to Hi-Tech Pipes Limited of ₹378.63 million and to Bhagwati Steel Industries of ₹310.23 million, and raw-material purchases from Hi-Tech Pipes of ₹302.04 million and HTL Ispat of ₹148.51 million (DRHP p.109, DRHP p.110).
• Operating cash flow turned negative in FY26, and cash fell to ₹0.65 million (DRHP p.48, DRHP p.103).
• Borrowings went from ₹93.25 million to ₹481.17 million in FY26 (DRHP p.103).
• The finance function changed hands. A new chief financial officer from 22 May 2026, after the previous one ceased on 15 May 2026 (DRHP p.332, DRHP p.111).

13Capacity and expansion

Planned at Nagpur: 30,000 MTPA more of water-grade pipe by June 2027 from internal accruals, and a new 120,000 MTPA API-grade unit with 1,000,000 square metres a year of three-layer polyethylene coating from the issue (DRHP p.268, DRHP p.269).

Source: DRHP p.268, DRHP p.269, DRHP p.270. Utilisation is on effective capacity, as certified by a chartered engineer (DRHP p.270).

The table shows the tension in the plan plainly. Nagpur ran at 33.11% of its capacity in its first full year, and the company is adding 30,000 MTPA more there from its own cash and then another 120,000 MTPA of a different grade from the issue. The company's own risk factor says it may not be able to fill the existing Nagpur capacity (DRHP p.45).

The API line is a move into a product the company has not made before, sold into oil and gas pipelines and bulk tenders it does not bid for today — both of which it lists as risks (DRHP p.50). Capacity is not revenue; here, about 58% of existing capacity was idle in FY26.

14Market size and industry structure

As claimed. The industry figures come from the CareEdge Research report on steel pipes and tubes dated September 2026, commissioned and paid for by the company, which appointed CareEdge on 26 August 2025 (DRHP p.267). It puts the Indian HSAW pipe market at USD 953 million in 2019 and USD 2,097 million in 2025, forecast to reach USD 3,039 million by 2030, and India's finished-steel consumption at 100 million tonnes in FY20 rising to 164 million tonnes in FY26 (DRHP p.268).

The part that is addressable. Today, water-grade HSAW pipe sold to EPC contractors on government projects in the states where the company is a registered vendor. The API-grade line would add oil and gas pipelines.

What the company is today. Revenue of ₹4,171.71 million in FY26 against a 2025 market of USD 2,097 million, about ₹17,500 crore at a rate the document does not state, is roughly 2%. That is indicative arithmetic across a currency conversion and a calendar-year mismatch, not a disclosed share.

Every industry figure above comes from a report commissioned by the issuer, and CareEdge Research also prepared the project report on which the largest object is costed.

15Competitive position

Source: DRHP p.188, DRHP p.190.

The company describes itself as having the highest return on equity, the lowest debtor days, the lowest inventory days and the highest fixed-asset turnover among its selected peers in each of the three years (DRHP p.270). The table bears that out on the lines shown. It also shows why: this company is a fraction of the peers' size, sells one product into one end market, and has not yet carried the inventory an API-grade oil and gas business requires.

Why contractors choose it, on the document's account, is vendor registration with water authorities, proximity of both plants to their coil suppliers, and delivery time (DRHP p.268, DRHP p.269). The document does not quantify win rates or its share of any authority's purchases.

16Peers the company named

Peers named in the offer document: Ratnamani Metals & Tubes, Man Industries (India), Welspun Corp and Jindal Saw (DRHP p.184).

Source: DRHP p.184, DRHP p.183; peer prices as on 31 August 2026. The company states the industry P/E ranges from 20.33× (Jindal Saw) to 39.07× (Welspun Corp) (DRHP p.183).

Two things about the set. Every peer is between nine and forty-three times this company's revenue. And the group company with which this company transacted most in FY26 — Hi-Tech Pipes Limited, run by one of its promoters — also makes steel pipes and tubes (DRHP p.335) but is not in the peer set; the document does not say why.

17Risks, in plain words

Customers and end market. Revenue comes mainly from HSAW pipe sold to EPC contractors on government-funded water and urban-infrastructure projects (DRHP p.37). The top ten customers were 56.58% of FY26 revenue (DRHP p.41), there are no long-term contracts, and orders can be cancelled, deferred or paid late (DRHP p.44). A slowdown in state water spending reaches this company through its contractors.

Suppliers. Five suppliers were 90.75% of FY26 purchases, with no long-term agreements (DRHP p.39). Coil is most of the cost: materials and traded goods were ₹3,719.42 million against ₹4,171.71 million of revenue (DRHP p.105).

Capacity. Nagpur ran at 33.11% of capacity in FY26 while more capacity is being added there (DRHP p.270, DRHP p.268).

Related parties. 27.94% of FY26 revenue involved related-party transactions, against 0.63% a year earlier (DRHP p.110). The document states they were at arm's length (DRHP p.111).

Financial. Operating cash flow was negative ₹148.13 million in FY26, working-capital days tripled to 49, and cash fell to ₹0.65 million (DRHP p.48, DRHP p.270, DRHP p.103). The company also discloses delays in paying statutory dues (DRHP p.53).

New product. The API-grade line is a product the company does not yet make, for a sector it does not yet supply, costed on a report from the firm that also wrote its industry report (DRHP p.155, DRHP p.267).

Geography. Both plants are in Gujarat and Maharashtra (DRHP p.38).

18Litigation and regulatory matters

Source: DRHP p.444, DRHP p.445, DRHP p.446.

Three direct-tax matters of ₹0.20 million between them is the whole of it. There are no SEBI or exchange disciplinary actions against the promoters in the last five fiscals (DRHP p.446).

19Related-party transactions

Source: DRHP p.109, DRHP p.110. At 31 March 2026 the company owed HTL Ispat ₹175.09 million as a trade payable (DRHP p.111).

The pattern is the finding. In FY25 there was essentially no trade with the group; in FY26 the company both sold to and bought from Hi-Tech Pipes Limited, sold to Bhagwati Steel Industries, and bought from HTL Ispat, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a group company. Ajay Kumar Bansal is a director of all three (DRHP p.335). Rent is also paid to relatives and group companies in small amounts (DRHP p.109, DRHP p.110).

20What the offer document does not say

• No explanation for the FY26 jump in related-party trade, or of what was sold to and bought from Hi-Tech Pipes in the same year (DRHP p.110).
• No tonnes or realisation by year — they can be derived from EBITDA per tonne, which is done in section 04, but the document does not print them.
• No split of revenue by pipe size, grade or end use.
• No customer names, and no top-five figure except for FY26.
• No order book, for a business selling against project purchase orders.
• No reason why the group company that makes steel pipes is not a peer (DRHP p.184).
• No independent cost appraisal of the API-grade unit beyond the CareEdge project report (DRHP p.155).
• No price band, lot size or offer dates, which is normal at DRHP stage.

21Five questions for management

1. Related-party transactions went from ₹18.93 million in FY25 to ₹1,165.66 million in FY26. Why did the company both supply pipe to and procure raw material from Hi-Tech Pipes in the same year, and on what pricing?
2. Nagpur ran at 33.11% of capacity in FY26. What utilisation does it need before the 30,000 MTPA addition and the API-grade unit make sense, and what is the order position for FY27?
3. The ₹900.00 million repayment object exceeds the ₹481.17 million of borrowings at 31 March 2026. What has been drawn since, and for what?
4. What qualification does the API-grade line need before oil and gas buyers will accept its pipe, and how long does that take?
5. The investor is exiting in full. What rights did the January 2024 shareholders' agreement give it, and which end at listing?

1Sources and cited facts

This study was read from 1 document the company filed. The 66 figures it cites are listed under the document each came from, with the page and the sentence as printed.