Two DRHP filings landed within a day of each other in late September, and together they capture just how varied India's IPO pipeline has become. One is the company that runs Subway sandwiches across the country. The other turns used plastic bottles into raw material for new ones. Neither is a household name yet, but both are now formally in the queue.

EverBrands India: Subway's Master Franchisee Goes Public

EverBrands India, formerly known as Culinary Brands Private Limited, has filed its DRHP with SEBI for a Rs. 600 crore fresh issue, with no offer for sale component, meaning every rupee raised goes into the company itself rather than to existing shareholders cashing out.

The business itself is bigger than most people realise. EverBrands holds the master franchisee rights for Subway across India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and also runs Lavazza and Dilmah under license, alongside its own Fresh & Honest brand. As of March 31, 2026, the company operated 1,008 Subway stores in India, split between 678 company-owned outlets and 330 franchisee-run ones, plus a handful of stores in Sri Lanka. Subway alone contributes close to 72 percent of the company's total operating revenue, so this is very much a Subway story wearing a multi-brand label.

Of the Rs. 600 crore being raised, Rs. 125 crore will repay borrowings at its subsidiary Culinary Brands India, and roughly Rs. 327 crore is earmarked for opening new company-owned Subway stores. Revenue grew a strong 34.9 percent in FY2026, though it's worth noting the company has also been reported to be running at a loss even as it scales, a pattern common among aggressive expansion-stage retail chains. Earlier in 2026, Playbook Partners bought a roughly 5 percent stake in the parent entity at a valuation of Rs. 2,600-2,800 crore, giving an early external benchmark for how the market was pricing the business before this IPO filing.

J B Ecotex: A Different Kind of Growth Story

J B Ecotex is about as far from a consumer brand story as this pipeline gets. The Surat-based company is India's second-largest PET recycling business, and notably the only one in the country running both mechanical and chemical recycling processes side by side, with an installed capacity of 180,360 tonnes a year.

Its IPO structure is a bit different from EverBrands. J B Ecotex is raising Rs. 400 crore through a fresh issue, alongside an offer for sale of up to 1.29 crore shares from existing promoters, meaning this listing does involve some promoter cash-out alongside fresh capital for the business. Of the fresh issue proceeds, Rs. 320 crore, the large majority, is earmarked purely for debt repayment at the company and its subsidiary, with the rest going to general corporate purposes. The company may also do a pre-IPO placement of up to Rs. 80 crore, which would reduce the final public issue size accordingly, a mechanism we've seen play out in several other recent filings too.

Detail	EverBrands India	J B Ecotex
Business	Subway, Lavazza, Dilmah master franchisee	PET plastic recycling
Issue Size	Rs. 600 crore, fresh issue only	Rs. 400 crore fresh + OFS 1.29 crore shares
Main Use of Funds	New store capex, debt repayment	Debt repayment (Rs. 320 crore)
DRHP Filed	September 28-29, 2026	September 28, 2026

Why So Many Companies Are Rushing Right Now

These two filings aren't happening in isolation. Once SEBI issues its observation letter approving a DRHP, the company has exactly 12 months to actually launch its public issue, or it has to refile and go through the entire approval process again from scratch. That deadline mechanism is quietly forcing a bunch of companies that filed earlier in the cycle to either launch now or face real delays, which is a big part of why October's IPO calendar keeps getting more crowded rather than less, on top of the naturally busy season we already flagged in our IPO and dividend calendar for the week of September 22-26.

How These Two Fit Into the Bigger October Picture

Both these filings are landing in a month that already has a lot going on, something we detailed in our piece on five stories that will define October. NSE itself, which we covered extensively through its own IPO journey, has now closed, and we broke down exactly why its subscription closed at 5.69 times despite a crashing GMP. NSE was also one of the names we covered in our broader roundup of the top 10 upcoming IPOs for 2026-27, alongside Jio Platforms, PhonePe, Zepto, and OYO, several of which remain in various stages of the same pipeline these two new filings are joining.

What to Actually Watch Before These Open

Both EverBrands and J B Ecotex are still at the DRHP stage, meaning price bands, lot sizes, and exact dates haven't been announced yet. This is early enough that grey market premium chatter, when it eventually starts, deserves real scrutiny rather than blind trust, something we've covered in detail in our piece on whether you can trust grey market premiums. When these do open, understanding how to actually read early subscription data will matter too, and our guide on reading Day 1 and Day 2 subscription numbers remains directly useful here.

On the fundamentals side, these two businesses genuinely deserve a different lens each. EverBrands is a growth story with real revenue momentum but reported losses, which means the eventual price band and valuation multiple will matter a lot more than usual. J B Ecotex is closer to a deleveraging story, with 80 percent of its fresh issue proceeds going straight to paying down debt, which tends to appeal to a different kind of investor than a fast-growing consumer brand does. If more filings keep stacking up alongside these two, our piece on how to choose when multiple IPOs open together is worth revisiting, since October is shaping up to test exactly that kind of discipline, much like the Rs. 7,681 crore IPO week we covered a few weeks back.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. IPO details including price bands, dates, and issue sizes are subject to change as these filings move through SEBI's review process. Please verify current details before applying.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is EverBrands India's IPO size?

EverBrands India has filed for a Rs. 600 crore fresh issue IPO with no offer for sale component, meaning all proceeds go to the company.

2. What does J B Ecotex's business actually do?

J B Ecotex is India's second-largest PET plastic recycling company, running both mechanical and chemical recycling processes with an installed capacity of 180,360 tonnes a year.

3. Has the EverBrands IPO price band been announced?

No, as of the DRHP filing, the price band, lot size, and exact subscription dates have not yet been announced.

4. Why is J B Ecotex's IPO mostly going toward debt repayment?

Around Rs. 320 crore of the Rs. 400 crore fresh issue is earmarked for repaying borrowings at the company and its subsidiary, aimed at strengthening its balance sheet.

5. Why are so many companies filing IPOs around the same time?

Once SEBI approves a DRHP, companies have 12 months to launch their IPO or refile from scratch, which pushes many held-up filings to launch around the same period.