Leap India vs Technocraft IPO: Which issue should investors subscribe?

As investors weigh their options, analysts largely favour the ₹2,480 crore LEAP India IPO, citing its risk-reward profiles

With the bids for the initial public offerings (IPOs) of LEAP India and Technocraft Ventures ongoing in the same subscription window (August 7 to August 11), investors are faced with two very different businesses and risk-reward profiles.

While both offers were open for the second day of bidding on Monday, analysts appear to prefer LEAP India for its differentiated and difficult-to-replicate business.

Leap India has fixed a price band of ₹151-159 per share for its ₹2,480 crore IPO, which is a mix of fresh issue and offer for sale. The fresh issue component is made up of 3.01 crore equity shares, and the OFS is up to 12.5 crore shares by existing shareholders.

 

Veteran market analyst Arun Kejriwal favoured LEAP India over Technocraft Ventures, citing its near-monopoly position and differentiated business.

Meanwhile, Sunny Agrawal, head of technical and derivatives business at SBI Securities, noted that “relatively, LEAP is better amongst the two due to the moat around its asset-pooling business across pallets, containers and MHE, backed by a robust asset base, infrastructure and nationwide network”.

Agrawal added that LEAP’s business is also difficult to replicate, with its scale, technology-enabled asset management capabilities and established customer network strengthening its market leadership.

Comparatively, Technocraft is in to the water and wastewater EPC business, where competitive intensity is very high and dependence on government clients is greater, leading to a stretched working-capital cycle and concerns around cash-flow conversion. “While Technocraft has delivered strong earnings growth, we believe LEAP’s differentiated asset-pooling model provides a stronger competitive moat and relatively better business visibility,” Agrawal said.

Technocraft Ventures’ IPO has a price band of ₹200-212 per share, with the issue size reaching about ₹251.88 crore at the upper end. The company plans to use ₹150 crore from the fresh issue to meet working capital requirements.

Nitant Darekar, research analyst at brokerage firm Bonanza noted that among LEAP and Technocraft, LEAP India is the stronger franchise, a near-monopoly asset-pooling player with structural tailwinds, blue-chip clients, KKR backing and high entry barriers. “Yet at roughly 112 times FY26 earnings, a 5.33 per cent average RoNW and a heavily OFS-led structure, the pricing is exorbitant and leaves almost no margin of safety.”

Darekar added that Technocraft Ventures screens far better on fundamentals, near 19 times FY26 earnings, a 24.55 per cent average RoNW and steadily improving PAT margins and RoCE, though its government-order-book dependence, elevated contingent liabilities of ₹168 cr and a thin intermediary profile carry execution and working-capital risk.

“On valuation and return ratios, value-focused investors are better served by Technocraft. LEAP suits only long-horizon investors comfortable paying up for quality, and even then the price caps near-term upside. On risk-adjusted value, we would prioritise Technocraft over LEAP,” he said.

 

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