THE ELEMENT REPORT   ·   COMPLETE STOCK ANALYSIS   ·   NOV 2026

LINDE  INDIA

LIMITED   ·   KOLKATA   ·   INDUSTRIAL GASES & ENGINEERING

You will breathe roughly 20,000 times today, and it costs nothing. Now meet a Kolkata-headquartered company that has turned the same free resource into a business of more than ₹2,500 crore a year in revenue. Linde India separates air into oxygen, nitrogen and argon and sells them to steel mills, refineries, glass and chemical plants, electronics makers and hospitals.

This report goes well beyond the headline numbers. It covers who owns the company, how it earns money, what its financials really say, why the latest quarter disappointed, how it is valued, and what the regulatory dispute is about, all in plain language and without a single price target.

POCKET NOTE  New to the market? Learn the basics free: register on Brokerage Free Investments for beginner-to-advanced stock market modules.

01  THE STOCK IDENTITY CARD

02  THE 60-SECOND READ

03  WHO OWNS THE AIR: COMPANY AND OWNERSHIP

Linde India has operated in India since 1935 and began life as BOC India before being renamed under the global Linde brand. Its ultimate parent became Linde plc after the 2018 business combination of Linde AG and Praxair. Today BOC Group Ltd of the UK holds 75.00% of the equity, a level that has not moved in recent years, and none of it is pledged. The remaining quarter is the public float.

Shareholding pattern, June 2026

Two things stand out. First, institutional ownership is thin for a company of this size, so the stock is driven heavily by retail and a few large funds. Second, a 75% promoter stake means minority shareholders have limited power on contested resolutions, a point that matters in the governance discussion in Section 09.

On the management side, the board is chaired by a Linde group executive, and Vikash Dokania took over as Chief Financial Officer on 15 September 2026 after an interim arrangement earlier in the year.

04  THE BUSINESS ENGINE

Air is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and a pinch of argon and other gases. Linde India’s air separation units (ASUs) do the unmixing at industrial scale, day and night.

Two engines, one brand

Gases, related products and services is the larger segment, contributing roughly 72% of revenue in FY24 against about 28% from engineering. It sells oxygen, nitrogen and argon plus process, specialty and medical gases, and it earns the steadier, annuity-like income.

The Project Engineering Division (PED) designs, supplies and commissions air separation, nitrogen and hydrogen PSA plants for customers in steel, refining, chemicals, food and electronics. Its revenue depends on project timing, so it swings more from year to year. The order book stood at ₹2,465 crore at the end of March 2026.

Three routes to market

◆ Onsite (pipeline). Large steel, glass and chemical plants receive gas straight from a plant built beside them under long-term contracts. This is the stickiest and most contract-driven part of the business.

◆ Bulk (tanker). Mid-sized users receive liquid gas by cryogenic tanker.

◆ Packaged (cylinders). Smaller and specialty users, including laboratories and workshops, receive cylinders.

The periodic portfolio

The healthcare heartbeat

Linde India supplies medical oxygen, nitrous oxide and synthetic air, along with gas distribution systems for major hospitals. When oxygen became India’s most urgent commodity in 2020, the company was a major supplier, and it has delivered over 200 tonnes of medical oxygen a day to hospitals. Healthcare is a smaller slice of revenue than steel, but it is steady, high-purity and reputation-led.

Growth in the ground

Linde India built a 2,550-tonne-per-day ASU at Jamshedpur that supplies Tata Steel under a long-term contract. In October 2026 it went further at Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar complex in Odisha, acquiring two 1,800-tonne-per-day ASUs and thereby doubling its onsite capacity there. The group’s total oxygen capacity in the Kalinganagar region now exceeds 7,000 tonnes a day, supporting Tata Steel’s plan to lift output at the site from three to eight million tonnes a year while also serving the regional merchant market.

CYLINDER TAG  Learning the business is step one. Owning a piece of it is step two. Open a Demat account with Brokerage Free Investments, an authorised Zerodha partner, and start with ₹0 brokerage on equity delivery plus free stock market training.

05  THE WIDER ATMOSPHERE: INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION

Industrial gases demand tracks the build-out of India’s industry. The main drivers are steel capacity expansion, refinery and chemical investment, packaged food, healthcare spending and newer pockets such as electronics, coal gasification and hydrogen. A visible structural shift is the move from merchant (tanker and cylinder) supply toward onsite and pipeline-connected generation, which favours players with engineering skill and balance sheets that can fund plants against long contracts.

Who competes

What this means for investors: Linde India is one of very few listed pure plays on industrial gases in India, which partly explains the premium the market attaches to it. If a large rival lists, investors will gain a direct comparison on margins, growth and governance.

06  THE FINANCIAL X-RAY

Annual snapshot (consolidated)

Revenue slid 10.2% in FY25 after FY24’s ₹2,769 crore, then edged up 1.8% in FY26. Profit grew far faster than sales because operating margin widened by about five percentage points. Note the dividend: the total is unchanged at ₹12 a share, but the regular component fell from ₹4.50 to ₹4.00 while the special component rose from ₹7.50 to ₹8.00. Special dividends are not guaranteed to repeat.

Quarter by quarter

₹ crore. EBITDA is operating profit before other income. Q4 FY26 net profit is derived as the full-year figure less the first three quarters. Margins are calculated from the reported figures.

The pattern is clear. Revenue has recovered to new highs, but the margin that peaked at 43.8% in Q2 FY26 has settled in a 28% to 32% band. That step-down, not sales, is what has pulled profit lower.

Cash flow and capital allocation

FY25 was a heavy investment year: operating cash flow of about ₹584 crore against roughly ₹1,305 crore of investing outflow, mostly capacity capex, which drove free cash flow sharply negative. In FY26 operating cash flow rose to about ₹786 crore while investing outflow eased to ₹705 crore, bringing free cash flow back to roughly break-even. The ₹12 dividend costs about ₹102 crore, a payout of around 19% of FY26 earnings. Another capex wave is plausible after the Kalinganagar acquisition and any new projects, so free cash flow is worth tracking each year.

Balance sheet and returns

◆ Leverage. Borrowings are negligible and the company is effectively debt-free. Finance cost in FY26 was only about ₹14.5 crore, largely lease-related, against operating profit of ₹909 crore.

◆ Net worth. About ₹4,260 crore at March 2026, or roughly ₹500 per share, up from about ₹3,820 crore a year earlier.

◆ Returns. Return on equity of roughly 13% and return on capital employed of roughly 17% in FY26. These are healthy but modest next to the valuation, because the balance sheet carries a large equity base and capital-heavy plants.

CYLINDER TAG  Numbers are easier to act on with the right toolkit. Brokerage Free Investments offers free beginner-to-advanced modules, hands-on support for Demat account opening and first-year tax-filing assistance for eligible clients.

07  FRESH OFF THE PRESS: Q2 FY27

Linde India reported its September-quarter results on 3 November 2026. The headline was a split decision: more revenue, much less profit.

Operating costs grew faster than sales, which is why a 12.3% revenue gain still turned into an 18% fall in EBITDA. The year-ago quarter was unusually strong at a 44% margin, so part of the decline is a tough comparison. Even so, the 32% margin sits below the mid-30s the company posted across FY26 as a whole. The business also continued to flag legal uncertainty on its related-party matters, which remains before the Supreme Court. Sequentially the picture is better: profit rose 13.6% from the June quarter.

The numbers do not yet show the full effect of the Kalinganagar units, which the company reports having completed. How quickly that capacity turns into earnings, and what it does to margins, is the cleanest thing to watch over the next two quarters.

08  THE VALUATION SNAPSHOT

Valuation describes what the market is paying, not what the shares are worth. These are descriptive statistics only. This report offers no target price, fair value or rating.

A multiple near 100 times earnings means the market is already pricing in many years of steady growth and high returns. That is not unusual for a scarce, high-quality listed asset, but it narrows the margin for error: earnings disappointments, a margin squeeze or an adverse regulatory outcome can move the shares sharply. Multiples change daily, so check the live figures before drawing conclusions.

09  THE FINE PRINT THAT MOVES MARKETS: GOVERNANCE

The most important non-financial issue is a long-running dispute between Linde India and SEBI over related-party transactions with Praxair India, a sister company in the same global group. In simple terms: in March 2020 the two companies signed a joint-venture agreement that allocates geographic and product business between them. SEBI’s position is that this allocation, and the company’s dealings with related parties, should have been valued and put to minority shareholders for approval. Linde India disagrees and has argued, among other points, that aggregating all dealings with one related party would interfere with ordinary business decisions.

The timeline

Public shareholders have also voted down a ₹4,177 million related-party proposal in the past, and some minority investors have publicly alleged that their interests were not protected. The company contests SEBI’s interpretation. The honest summary is that the outcome is unresolved. A valuation could ultimately lead to directions on how the business allocation is treated, and the timing and scale of any consequence are unknown.

10  THE PRESSURE GAUGE: OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS

None of this is a verdict. It is a map. Strong demand, a debt-free balance sheet and fresh capacity sit on one side, margin compression, a premium price and an unresolved regulatory matter on the other. Weighing them is your job, and it depends on your time horizon and tolerance for volatility.

Five questions before you invest in any stock like this

1. Do I understand how the company makes money, in one sentence?

2. Have I read the last four quarters, and not just the latest headline?

3. Do I know the difference between a regular and a special dividend?

4. Have I read the auditor’s remarks and the risk disclosures in the filings?

5. Have I decided how much to invest, and for how long, before I buy?

11  THE GAS GLOSSARY

12  YOUR MOVE

You now know more about Linde India than most people who own it. Whether it belongs in your portfolio depends on your goals, your horizon and your appetite for the risks above. Whatever you decide, start from a position of knowledge.

FINE PRINT  This report is for education only. It is not investment advice, a research recommendation, a price target or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Investments in securities are subject to market risks; read all related documents carefully before investing. Figures reflect company disclosures and public data available as of 4 November 2026, include some derived calculations, and may change or be revised. Linde India is discussed for educational purposes only and no endorsement is implied. The Linde name and marks belong to their owners. Brokerage Free is registered with Zerodha as an Authorised Person (Zerodha Broking Ltd., SEBI Reg. No. INZ000031633).