KOCHI: The Kochi-headquartered SFO Technologies, the flagship company of the NeST Group, is planning to go public within two years. The 30-year-old NeST group employs 12,000 persons across its divisions working from 25 locations worldwide.
SFO Technologies has earmarked around Rs 800 crore for the next three years towards expansion plans which also include acquisitions, top officials told reporters here. The company, which is into hardware manufacturing, software services, education, retail, food and beverages, is a major offset partner of Indian Defence and Indian Railways.
Dr N Jehangir, chairman and managing director, said the company plans to take the initial public offering (IPO) route to fund major expansion projects. When asked about the size of the IPO, he said the company is "evaluating the final details". SFO Technologies has clocked Rs 2,500 crore turnover in the last financial year and has a growth trajectory of 12% year-on-year, Jehangir said.
Altaf Jehangir, CEO and executive director added: "The company is poised to take on the future challenges by progressing towards Industry 4.0 across its various plants."
The group's software arm NeST Digital has provided complete branch automation of KSFE branches including mobile app solutions, solutions like wages protection system for UAE-based banks and GIS solutions to various geographies across the globe, said Nazneen Jehangir, its CEO and executive director. NeST Digital has already taken up the first level of software business expansion by undertaking projects in e-mobility, next-generation payment solutions, engineering transformation and AI/ML tools.
SFO Technologies, meanwhile, has set up a component park at Aluva in Ernakulam, as part of the Make in India initiative. "We are doing passive component manufacturing like relays, magnetics, transformers, connectors and sensors and have plans to engage in it actively with the vision for capability enhancement. We also plan to set up a technology park in the Bengaluru-Mysuru corridor," said Jehangir. The company plans to expand further to Tier 2 cities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the near future.