At first glance, Sarveshwar Foods is just another company that is in the midst of getting listed on the National Stock Exchange’s platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which already has about 130 listed entities.
But what sets the company apart in the listed space is the fact that it is only the second company from the state of Jammu & Kashmir to be ever listed on Indian exchanges.
Follows J&K Bank
The last – effectively the first as well – company from J&K listed on the bourses was in 1998 when Jammu & Kashmir Bank went public.
Sarveshwar Foods, which is engaged in the business of processing and marketing basmati rice among other products, tapped the capital market last week through its public issue to raise nearly ₹55 crore and will make its debut on the bourses on Thursday. Rohit Gupta, MD of Sarveshwar Foods, believes that while a company from J&K will enter the listed space after two decades, the development has already set the ball rolling for others from the State to initiate the process of listing.
“Since we completed our IPO successfully, they are now asking us what is the process for listing and its benefits,” he added.
Uday Patil, director investment banking, Keynote Corporate Services, which is one of the merchant bankers for the issue, said: “An IPO of a company from Jammu & Kashmir opens up opportunities for many other established companies from the State to explore opportunities to raise equity and get into the listed space,” he said.
The company, which once supplied basmati rice to the royal family of J&K, was started in 1890 and since then has diversified into nearly 40 products.
“The listing of a company from Jammu & Kashmir is an important milestone for NSE Emerge platform... the focus is to create value for companies, which is also the reason that over 50% of our listed SMEs are from manufacturing sector, with services sector too having sizeable representation,” said Varanasi, Chief Business Development Officer, NSE.
