Gallant Sports & Infra Limited IPO

01At a glance

What the company does: builds sports facilities end to end, being design, engineering, civil work, surface installation, lighting, fencing and drainage; operates and maintains stadiums, complexes and academies; and imports and supplies artificial turf, athletic tracks, polyurethane surfaces, sports tiles, vinyl and rubber flooring, shock pads, stadium seating, lighting and maintenance equipment (AP p.2).

Who pays it: private customers, who were 62.72% of FY26 revenue, government at 26.95% and public sector undertakings at 10.33% (DRHP p.27). Work has also been executed in Bhutan, South Africa and Sri Lanka (AP p.2). The largest customer was 14.30% of FY26 revenue and the top ten 48.90% (DRHP p.27).

Why it is raising money: ₹3,000.00 lakh for working capital and ₹500.00 lakh for tender deposits and earnest money deposits, with the balance for general corporate purposes (DRHP p.96).

How fast it has grown: revenue from ₹6,041.82 lakh in FY24 to ₹10,041.99 lakh in FY26, a compound rate of 28.9% a year, and profit from ₹547.33 lakh to ₹908.49 lakh, 28.8% a year, by our arithmetic (DRHP p.60).

The one thing to understand: the business consumes cash as it grows. Trade receivables were ₹4,581.21 lakh at March 2026, 45.6% of the year's revenue, by our arithmetic, and operating cash flow was an outflow of ₹929.35 lakh in FY26 after ₹860.33 lakh in FY25 (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.61).

02The business, in plain words

A government department, a public sector company, a school or a builder wants a hockey pitch, a running track, a multi-sport court or a stadium. Gallant bids for the work, designs it, does the civil construction, imports and lays the surface, puts in lighting, fencing and drainage, and hands it over; sometimes it then runs and maintains the facility. It also sells the surfaces and equipment to others who build their own (AP p.2).

A customer floats a tender or places an order → Gallant bids, posting earnest money and later a performance guarantee → Gallant imports the surface, builds and installs → Gallant is paid against milestones, with retention money held back.

The company was incorporated on April 11, 2016 (DRHP p.77). It bought 70% of Gallant Play Private Limited in March 2025 for ₹0.70 lakh and sold it in February 2026, which is why FY25 is consolidated and the other two years are not (DRHP p.62). The order book was about ₹5,277.59 lakh at August 31, 2026 (DRHP p.28).

Earnings equation: Profit ≈ contract value − imported surface and materials − site and project cost − guarantee and finance cost. In FY26 the cost of material consumed was ₹4,186.20 lakh and purchases of stock in trade ₹948.49 lakh against revenue of ₹10,041.99 lakh, with project expense ₹2,035.65 lakh, employee cost ₹865.76 lakh and finance cost ₹87.53 lakh (DRHP p.60).

03Where the money comes from

Source: DRHP p.27. No customer is named in the concentration table (DRHP p.184).

By vertical, sports infrastructure development was ₹8,768.60 lakh of FY26 revenue (87.32%), supply and distribution of surfaces and equipment ₹1,098.71 lakh (10.94%) and operations and maintenance ₹174.68 lakh (1.74%); a year earlier development had been 61.76% and supply 29.06% (AP p.3). By customer type, private customers were 62.72%, government 26.95% and public sector undertakings 10.33% (DRHP p.27).

By state, Karnataka was ₹1,819.17 lakh of FY26 revenue (18.12%), Tamil Nadu ₹1,298.47 lakh (12.93%), Uttar Pradesh ₹884.02 lakh (8.80%) and Haryana ₹770.00 lakh (7.67%), together 47.52%, against 28.96% in FY25 and 26.23% in FY24 (DRHP p.31).

Revenue does depend on a few customers, and the dependence moves about: the top ten were 60.88% in FY24, 31.66% in FY25 and 48.90% in FY26 (DRHP p.27). Buying is less concentrated: the largest supplier was 15.69% of FY26 product purchases and the top ten 50.00% (DRHP p.32).

04The growth record

Source: DRHP p.59, DRHP p.60, DRHP p.61. EBITDA, its margin, the PAT margin and borrowings are our arithmetic on those statements: EBITDA is profit before tax plus finance costs and depreciation less other income, and borrowings add the long-term and short-term lines. Return on net worth was 20.86% in FY26 and net asset value per share ₹37.18 (DRHP p.109).

Revenue compounded at 28.9% a year from FY24 to FY26 and profit at 28.8%, by our arithmetic (DRHP p.60). The EBITDA margin moved from 13.24% to 12.80%, 44 basis points lower, by our arithmetic (DRHP p.60). FY25 is consolidated and the other two years standalone, which the company explains by the purchase of Gallant Play Private Limited in March 2025 and its sale in February 2026 (DRHP p.62).

Net worth nearly tripled in FY26, from ₹2,491.53 lakh to ₹6,209.53 lakh, mostly through share issues rather than profit: ₹2,869.87 lakh came in from issuing equity including premium during the year (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.61).

05What the growth is made of

Revenue rose from ₹6,041.82 lakh in FY24 to ₹10,041.99 lakh in FY26, an increase of ₹4,000.17 lakh (DRHP p.60). What the document supports:

One vertical. Sports infrastructure development went from ₹4,256.78 lakh to ₹8,768.60 lakh, ₹4,511.82 lakh more than the whole increase, by our arithmetic, while supply and distribution fell from ₹1,619.86 lakh to ₹1,098.71 lakh and operations and maintenance from ₹165.18 lakh to ₹174.68 lakh after a year at ₹654.75 lakh (AP p.3).

Two states. Karnataka went from ₹328.25 lakh to ₹1,819.17 lakh and Tamil Nadu from ₹107.66 lakh to ₹1,298.47 lakh, together ₹2,681.73 lakh of the increase, by our arithmetic; Haryana rose only from ₹668.02 lakh to ₹770.00 lakh (DRHP p.31).

Customer mix. Government work went from ₹522.35 lakh to ₹2,706.07 lakh and private from ₹4,835.97 lakh to ₹6,298.75 lakh, while public sector undertakings rose from ₹683.50 lakh to ₹1,037.17 lakh (DRHP p.27).

The offer document does not disclose the number of projects completed, the square metres of surface laid or the average contract value, so the increase cannot be separated into volume and price. That sentence is the finding. What it does give is the order book: about ₹5,277.59 lakh at August 31, 2026, which is 52.6% of FY26 revenue, by our arithmetic, and which the prospectus states may be adjusted, cancelled or suspended at customers' discretion (DRHP p.28).

06Earnings quality

The line that needs explaining is working capital. Trade receivables rose from ₹1,902.88 lakh to ₹4,581.21 lakh over two years and other current assets from ₹258.66 lakh to ₹1,164.45 lakh, absorbing ₹1,460.40 lakh and ₹477.18 lakh of cash in FY26 alone (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.61). The company explains part of it: it must place fixed deposits under lien as margin against bank guarantees, typically 50% within its ₹15 crore sanctioned non-fund-based limit and up to 100% beyond it, plus 40% margin on cash credit limits, and those deposits are not free cash (DRHP p.98).

A second point is an inconsistency in the document itself. The cash flow statement puts FY26 financing cash flow at ₹1,197.14 lakh, which reconciles with the year's net increase in cash of ₹318.42 lakh; the risk factor table prints ₹1,917.14 lakh for the same line (DRHP p.62, DRHP p.33).

07The balance sheet

At March 31, 2026 borrowings were ₹119.37 lakh, of which ₹59.21 lakh were long term and ₹60.16 lakh short term, by our arithmetic, against ₹1,577.56 lakh a year earlier (DRHP p.59). Cash and other bank balances were ₹754.96 lakh, so the company held net cash (DRHP p.59). Net worth was ₹6,209.53 lakh and net asset value per share ₹37.18 (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.109).

Trade receivables were ₹4,581.21 lakh, inventories ₹515.18 lakh and other current assets ₹1,164.45 lakh, against trade payables of ₹954.23 lakh, by our arithmetic (DRHP p.59). Fixed assets are small for a contractor: tangible assets ₹103.75 lakh (DRHP p.59).

Contingent liabilities were outstanding bank guarantees of ₹877.41 lakh, against ₹333.13 lakh a year earlier and ₹132.43 lakh two years earlier; commitments for work contracts pending execution were ₹1,077.13 lakh (DRHP p.63). The company also discloses unsecured loans of ₹2,345.00 lakh on the restated consolidated figures (DRHP p.48).

The issue would add up to the gross proceeds to equity, and ₹3,000.00 lakh of it goes straight into working capital (DRHP p.96). The rupee size is not yet set, so nothing further can be worked out.

08What the money is for

Source: DRHP p.96, and our arithmetic on the ₹3,500.00 lakh of stated objects. General corporate purposes are blank ([●]) and cannot exceed 15% of the amount raised or ₹10 crore, whichever is lower (DRHP p.96). The fund requirement has not been appraised by any bank or financial institution, and the prospectus records that there are no alternate arrangements for meeting the working capital requirement covered by the objects (DRHP p.96, DRHP p.42).

Working capital is the constraint the company describes at length. Trade receivables are projected by management to rise from ₹4,581.21 lakh at March 2026 to ₹6,482.19 lakh at March 2027 and ₹10,367.12 lakh at March 2028, and inventories from ₹515.18 lakh to ₹910.45 lakh and ₹1,427.52 lakh; those are the company's own estimates and projections, approved by the board on September 15, 2026 (DRHP p.97).

Tender deposits are the money locked before any work begins. On being awarded a project the company furnishes a performance bank guarantee of 2% to 10% of the contract value, backed by a fixed deposit under lien, and that deposit is released only when the guarantee is returned (DRHP p.98).

Into the business the whole of the issue. It is a fresh issue of up to 60,22,400 equity shares, with no offer for sale (AP p.1). To selling shareholders nil.

Up to 3,02,400 shares are reserved for the market maker, leaving a net issue of up to 57,20,000 shares; the issue is 26.50% and the net issue 25.17% of the capital after the issue (DRHP p.1). ₹117.02 lakh of issue expenses had already been incurred by September 14, 2026 (DRHP p.95).

09Who is selling

No one. The issue is a fresh issue of up to 60,22,400 equity shares of ₹10 each and the abridged prospectus records the offer for sale as nil, so there are no selling shareholders and no weighted average cost of acquisition to disclose for them (AP p.1).

10Promoters

The promoters are Nasir Ali and Supriya Sobti, who together hold 1,04,42,500 shares, 62.52% of the capital before the issue (DRHP p.81). Nasir Ali is a director and chief executive officer, appointed chief executive officer on March 10, 2025, and holds an Executive Masters in Internal Trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (DRHP p.221). Supriya Sobti is a director and was chief financial officer until June 1, 2026, when Tarun Mathuria was appointed (DRHP p.64). The prospectus describes the promoters as first-generation entrepreneurs (DRHP p.49).

Promoter economics. The two promoters subscribed 10,000 shares at ₹10 on incorporation and took 4,90,000 more at ₹10 in a rights issue on March 23, 2019 (DRHP p.77, DRHP p.78). Everything since has been bonus: 15,00,000 shares in the ratio 3:1 on June 2, 2023 and 1,00,00,000 shares in the ratio 5:1 on January 22, 2025, both from the surplus in the profit and loss account (DRHP p.77, DRHP p.78).

What the build-up table shows next is a long run of promoter sales. Nasir Ali transferred 66,000 shares at ₹62 each on September 18, 2024 to six people, and from March 11, 2025 through June 2025 made more than thirty transfers at ₹73.60 a share to individual buyers, in lots of 6,750 to 40,500 shares (DRHP p.81, DRHP p.82). Over the same period the company itself sold shares to outside investors in four private placements, described in section 10.

Directors' incentive and commission was ₹10.00 lakh in FY24, ₹40.00 lakh in FY25 and ₹62.55 lakh in FY26, and salary and remuneration ₹130.00 lakh, ₹130.00 lakh and ₹147.99 lakh (DRHP p.64). The chief executive officer's remuneration is stated as ₹50,000 a month in FY26 and ₹60,000 a month in FY27 (DRHP p.222).

Litigation involving the company is small: two civil proceedings and one criminal proceeding filed by the company involving ₹9.69 lakh, and one civil and one tax proceeding against it with no amount stated (DRHP p.32).

11Who already owns it

Source: DRHP p.84. There were 59 shareholders in all before the issue (DRHP p.84). There is no employee stock option scheme and no share is pledged (DRHP p.84).

The public holding was built in 2025 through four private placements and a long series of transfers from the promoter. The placements were 8,40,000 shares at ₹66.67 on March 21, 2025, 7,68,900 shares at ₹66.67 on April 8, 2025, 18,56,000 shares at ₹80.83 on August 14, 2025 and 12,37,200 shares at ₹80.83 on October 11, 2025, raising ₹2,869.87 lakh including premium in FY26 alone (DRHP p.77, DRHP p.78, DRHP p.61).

Named allottees include Aarth AIF Growth Fund with 1,50,000 shares, Multiplier Share and Stock Advisors Private Limited with 5,32,800, Mohit Vinodkumar Agrawal with 6,00,000, Siddharth Iyer with 12,37,200 and Mukul Mahavir Agarwal with Asha Mukul Agarwal with 12,37,200 (DRHP p.79, DRHP p.80).

The shareholding after the issue is blank ([●]) throughout, because the issue price is not set (DRHP p.81). The issue itself is 26.50% of the capital after the issue (DRHP p.1).

12What changed just before the IPO

• April 11, 2016: the company was incorporated (DRHP p.77).
• June 2, 2023: bonus issue of 15,00,000 shares, three for one, from the surplus in the profit and loss account (DRHP p.77).
• September 18, 2024: Nasir Ali transferred 66,000 shares at ₹62 a share to six individuals (DRHP p.81).
• December 16, 2024: authorised capital raised from ₹2,00,00,000 to ₹25,00,00,000 (DRHP p.77).
• January 22, 2025: bonus issue of 1,00,00,000 shares, five for one (DRHP p.77).
• March 2025: 70% of Gallant Play Private Limited bought for ₹0.70 lakh, making FY25 consolidated (DRHP p.62).
• March to June 2025: more than thirty transfers by Nasir Ali at ₹73.60 a share to individual buyers (DRHP p.81, DRHP p.82).
• March 21 and April 8, 2025: private placements of 8,40,000 and 7,68,900 shares at ₹66.67 (DRHP p.77, DRHP p.78).
• August 14 and October 11, 2025: private placements of 18,56,000 and 12,37,200 shares at ₹80.83 (DRHP p.78).
• FY26: borrowings fell from ₹1,577.56 lakh to ₹119.37 lakh, funded by the ₹2,869.87 lakh raised from shares (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.61).
• FY26: trade receivables rose from ₹3,120.80 lakh to ₹4,581.21 lakh, and outstanding bank guarantees from ₹333.13 lakh to ₹877.41 lakh (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.63).
• February 2026: Gallant Play Private Limited sold, making FY26 standalone again (DRHP p.62).
• June 1, 2026 and July 7, 2026: the chief financial officer changed and the whole-time director ceased to hold that office (DRHP p.64).

13Capacity and expansion

The company builds facilities for others and owns little plant, so the prospectus states no installed capacity. What it states is the pipeline and the constraint.

Source: DRHP p.59, DRHP p.60, DRHP p.63. The order book was about ₹5,277.59 lakh at August 31, 2026 (DRHP p.28).

What limits growth, on the company's own account, is not plant but liquidity: each new tender needs earnest money, each award needs a performance guarantee of 2% to 10% of contract value backed by a fixed deposit under lien, and retention money is held back until the end, so funds are locked before any cash comes in (DRHP p.98). The sanctioned non-fund-based bank guarantee limit is ₹15 crore, with a margin of typically 50% inside the limit and up to 100% beyond it (DRHP p.98). The issue is aimed squarely at that: ₹3,000.00 lakh of working capital and ₹500.00 lakh of tender deposits (DRHP p.96).

The prospectus also notes that the business mobilises owned and leased equipment for project execution, and that the registered and corporate offices are not owned (DRHP p.42, DRHP p.33).

14Market size and industry structure

As claimed: the industry information in the prospectus is drawn from a report by Dun & Bradstreet, referred to as the D&B Report, which describes central government spending on sport through the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and notes that a significant part of that expenditure turns into demand for sports infrastructure including synthetic surfaces (AP p.4). The prospectus carries a risk factor stating that it contains information from third parties, including an industry report, and this study does not repeat a market size from it (DRHP p.49).

The part that is addressable: sports facilities for government departments, public sector undertakings, schools, academies and private developers, mainly in India, with some work in Bhutan, South Africa and Sri Lanka (AP p.2).

What the company is today: revenue of ₹10,041.99 lakh and an order book of about ₹5,277.59 lakh (DRHP p.60, DRHP p.28).

Structure, as far as the document supports it: projects are awarded through tenders, work orders, purchase orders or individual contracts, generally project-specific with no assurance of repeat business from the same customer (DRHP p.39). Winning work requires meeting pre-qualification criteria, technical and financial, which the company states it seeks to improve (DRHP p.97, DRHP p.29). Raw materials and finished surfaces are imported, so costs move with the exchange rate (DRHP p.34). Building work stops or slows in the monsoon (DRHP p.28). The prospectus describes the sector as competitive (DRHP p.43).

15Competitive position

The prospectus names no listed peer, so there is no comparison table to reproduce. Its own comparison table lists Gallant Sports & Infra Limited with FY26 earnings per share of ₹6.68, return on net worth of 20.86%, net asset value of ₹37.18 a share and profit after tax of ₹908.49 lakh, and records the peer group as not available (DRHP p.109).

What the document offers as the basis on which the company competes: end-to-end delivery from design through civil work, surface, lighting and drainage to maintenance; import relationships with international suppliers that the company says give access to installation technologies and lower procurement costs; and a record of projects for government, public sector and private customers in India and in Bhutan, South Africa and Sri Lanka (AP p.2, DRHP p.174). It does not disclose the number of projects completed, tender win rates, repeat-order rates or any measure of market share.

16Peers the company named

Peers named in the offer document: none. The comparison table in Basis for Offer Price lists the company alone and records the peer group as not available, with a note that industry peers may be added before the red herring prospectus is filed (DRHP p.109).

Because no peer set exists in the document at this stage, there is no peer price to earnings ratio, no peer return on net worth and no peer net asset value to set against the company's own figures of ₹6.68 earnings per share, 20.86% return on net worth and ₹37.18 net asset value a share for FY26 (DRHP p.109).

A reader should note that the prospectus reserves the right to add peers when the price band is fixed, so the peer set a priced document carries may differ from this one (DRHP p.109). That absence is stated here rather than filled in from outside the document.

17Risks, in plain words

Cash: operating cash flow was an outflow of ₹860.33 lakh in FY25 and ₹929.35 lakh in FY26, after an inflow of ₹65.19 lakh in FY24 (DRHP p.61) → growth ties up cash faster than it produces it → trade receivables rose from ₹1,902.88 lakh to ₹4,581.21 lakh over two years, 167 days of revenue by our arithmetic, and the gap in FY26 was funded by ₹2,869.87 lakh of share issues (DRHP p.59, DRHP p.61).

Guarantees and deposits: each award requires a performance bank guarantee of 2% to 10% of contract value backed by a fixed deposit under lien, at 50% margin inside the ₹15 crore sanctioned limit and up to 100% beyond it (DRHP p.98) → the more work won, the more cash is locked → outstanding bank guarantees rose from ₹132.43 lakh to ₹877.41 lakh in two years (DRHP p.63).

Customers: the top ten were 48.90% of FY26 revenue and the largest 14.30% (DRHP p.27) → losing one large contract moves the year → contracts in the order book may be adjusted, cancelled or suspended at customers' discretion, and the order book was about ₹5,277.59 lakh at August 31, 2026 (DRHP p.28).

One vertical: sports infrastructure development was 87.32% of FY26 revenue, up from 70.46% in FY24 (AP p.3) → a slowdown in facility building hits nearly all of revenue → the other two verticals shrank over the same period (AP p.3).

Geography and season: four states were 47.52% of FY26 revenue (DRHP p.31) → regional budgets and rules move the business → and the monsoon halts site work each year (DRHP p.28).

Imports and currency: raw materials and surfaces are imported (DRHP p.34) → a weaker rupee raises the cost of a contract already priced → the largest supplier was 15.69% of FY26 product purchases and the top ten 50.00% (DRHP p.32).

Tender pricing: profitability depends on estimating project costs correctly at the bidding stage (DRHP p.40) → an underestimate is absorbed by the contractor → the EBITDA margin has slipped from 13.24% to 12.80% over two years, by our arithmetic (DRHP p.60).

Compliance and records: the prospectus discloses delays in complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and possible penalties for non-compliance with certain provisions of the goods and services tax law (DRHP p.41, DRHP p.35). It also prints FY26 financing cash flow as ₹1,197.14 lakh in the cash flow statement and ₹1,917.14 lakh in a risk-factor table (DRHP p.62, DRHP p.33).

Issue-specific: the objects have not been appraised by any bank or financial institution, and the prospectus states there are no alternate arrangements for meeting the working capital requirement covered by them (DRHP p.96, DRHP p.42).

18Litigation and regulatory matters

Source: DRHP p.32. The prospectus's summary table covers the company, the promoters, the directors, the key managerial personnel, the senior management and group companies; the rows above are the company's own, which are the ones the table quantifies on that page (DRHP p.32). There are no actions by regulatory authorities against the company (DRHP p.32).

Separately, the prospectus notes that the company may incur penalties or liabilities for non-compliance with certain provisions of the goods and services tax law, and that it has made delays in complying with certain statutory provisions of the Companies Act, 2013; it states the steps taken in response, being training, engaging tax and legal consultants and keeping a compliance calendar (DRHP p.35, DRHP p.41, DRHP p.38, DRHP p.42).

19Related-party transactions

Source: DRHP p.64. Management income was 1.60% of FY26 revenue and director incentive and commission 0.62% (DRHP p.64).

The related parties named are the directors and key managerial personnel, two relatives of directors, and two entities under common control, Valor International Private Limited and Gallant Play Private Limited, the latter being the subsidiary bought in March 2025 and sold in February 2026 (DRHP p.64, DRHP p.62). Loans from directors and relatives moved by ₹184.82 lakh into the company in FY25 and the same amount out in FY26 (DRHP p.62).

What changed: director incentive and commission went from ₹10.00 lakh to ₹62.55 lakh in two years, and professional expense to a related party from nil to ₹40.00 lakh (DRHP p.64).

20What the offer document does not say

• The number of projects completed, square metres of surface laid and average contract value are not disclosed, so growth cannot be split into volume and price (AP p.3).
• No customer and no supplier is named in the concentration tables (DRHP p.27, DRHP p.32).
• Tender win rates, repeat-order rates and any measure of market share are not disclosed (DRHP p.39).
• No listed peer comparison is given; the peer group is recorded as not available (DRHP p.109).
• No market size for the Indian sports infrastructure market is quoted that this study can attribute to a named report and date (AP p.4).
• The split of the order book by customer type, state or expected completion date is not given (DRHP p.28).
• The company does not reconcile the two different figures it prints for FY26 financing cash flow (DRHP p.62, DRHP p.33).
• The price band, the bid lot and the rupee size of the issue are blank at this stage (DRHP p.95).

21Five questions for management

1. How many projects were completed in FY24, FY25 and FY26, and what was the average contract value in each year (AP p.3)?
2. Why did receivable days move from 115 to 167 over two years, and how much of the March 2026 balance is retention money not yet due (DRHP p.59)?
3. How much cash was locked in fixed deposits under lien against bank guarantees at March 2026, and how does that compare with the ₹754.96 lakh of cash and bank balances shown (DRHP p.98, DRHP p.59)?
4. What is the split of the ₹5,277.59 lakh order book by customer type and by expected completion date (DRHP p.28)?
5. Which figure for FY26 financing cash flow is correct, ₹1,197.14 lakh or ₹1,917.14 lakh (DRHP p.62, DRHP p.33)?

2Sources and cited facts

This study was read from 2 documents the company filed. The 128 figures it cites are listed under the document each came from, with the page and the sentence as printed.