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1. At a Glance
GFL is a holding company with ₹2,701 crore in investments, but it earned only ₹45 crore net profit on ₹3.68 crore in operational revenue in FY26—a margin so thin it barely registers as business.
The company’s associate, PVR INOX, delivered ₹5,073 crore in profit to GFL’s bottom line—more than 100× the holding company’s own earnings. Strip that out, and the core operation lost money.
The market pays ₹46.5 per share (prices referenced are not live) against a book value of ₹233, leaving the stock trading at 0.20× book. A merger with its subsidiary INOX Infrastructure, effective 1 April 2026, awaits final NCLT approval.
Pavan Kumar Jain was appointed Chairman & MD on 27 March 2026, three months after his predecessor Devendra Kumar Jain passed away in December 2025.
The tension: A portfolio with massive unrealised gains sits at a tiny trading multiple, but operational weakness and pending structural change make valuation a second-order question.
2. Introduction
GFL Ltd was incorporated in 1987 as part of the INOXGFL Group. In FY20, the chemical manufacturing business was carved out and listed separately as Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited (GFCL), leaving GFL as a holding company focused on financial investments and minority stake in PVR INOX.
For decades, GFL traded as a proxy for INOXGFL’s cinema and chemical operations. That era ended. Today it is essentially a listed investment fund with liabilities, zero debt, and minimal operating footprint.
The company holds a 28.5% equity stake in PVR INOX Limited, India’s largest multiplex operator (post-merger with INOX Leisure in February 2023). This investment is accounted for using the equity method, meaning GFL’s consolidated profit swings with PVR INOX’s earnings—a dependency that dominates the headline numbers.
In May 2026, the board approved a merger of INOX Infrastructure Limited (a 100% subsidiary holding cinema properties) into GFL, effective 1 April 2026. The NCLT admitted the application in May 2026 and dispensed with formal shareholder and creditor meetings.
The CFO Mukesh Patni departed in April 2023 and was replaced by Dhiren Asher. In December 2025, founder and MD Devendra Kumar Jain died at age 69. Pavan Kumar Jain (42.16% promoter holding) was elevated to Chairman & MD in late March 2026.
3. Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
GFL is a listed holding company. Its operating business is microscopic: ₹3.68 crore in revenue in FY26, derived from brokerage income (₹2.65 crore) and fair-value gains on securities (₹1.03 crore).
The real story is the portfolio.
The holding company structure:
GFL owns ₹2,701 crore in investments (FY26), of which ₹2,679 crore sits in one equity—PVR INOX Limited, accounted for at equity method. The remaining ₹22 crore is current investments (cash-equivalent securities yielding small gains).
The PVR INOX connection:
In February 2023, INOX Leisure (a 68% GFL subsidiary) merged with PVR Limited. The surviving entity became PVR INOX Limited, and GFL retained a ~28.5% stake. In FY26, PVR INOX earned ₹17,880 crore in revenue and reported ₹17,774 crore net profit (the PAT jumped due to gain on sale of a property; normalized EBIT was far lower). GFL’s share of associate earnings was ₹5,073 crore—meaning GFL’s consolidated profit is entirely driven by cinema earnings it doesn’t control.
Strip the associate earnings, and GFL’s standalone consolidated P&L collapses: ₹368 crore total income, ₹164 crore expenses, ₹163 crore reported PAT (after accounting oddities). The business generates no true operating profit.
The balance sheet:
₹2,737 crore in assets. Of this, ₹2,701 crore is investments (the PVR INOX stake), ₹33 crore is cash. Liabilities are almost entirely deferred tax (₹172 crore) from the FY25 remeasurement of the investment. Net worth is ₹2,554 crore (standalone: ₹2,554 crore).
Why the holding company model?
GFL functions as a tax-efficient vehicle for minority shareholders to gain exposure to PVR INOX without owning the shares directly. The promoters (Pavan, Siddharth, Nayantara, and the Jain family entities collectively 68.7%) control a cash-generative cinema operator via a listed wrapper.
It is not a business. It is a structure.
4. Financials Overview
Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.
Metric
Latest Q (Q4 FY26)
YoY
Full Year FY26
FY25
Revenue
₹0.89
+5.95%
₹3.68
₹3.65
EBITDA
Not separately reported
—
Not separately reported
Not separately reported
PAT
₹25.6
+239.75%
₹45.02
₹(7.56)
EPS (annualised)
₹2.33
340% swing
₹4.10
₹(6.88)
Full-year narrative:
The headline PAT of ₹45.02 crore reversed FY25’s ₹7.56 crore loss. But the reversal was not operational recovery—it was due to a one-time benefit in FY25.
In FY25, India’s government raised long-term capital gains tax rates (Finance Act 2024, enacted August 2024). GFL remeasured the deferred tax liability on its PVR INOX investment stake, creating a ₹35.58 crore charge against FY25 earnings. Without this, FY25 standalone P&L would have shown a small profit.
In FY26, core operations remained anaemic. The company earned ₹3.68 crore in revenue, incurred ₹1.64 crore in operating expenses, and reported ₹3.04 crore in operating profit before tax adjustments. Deferred tax reversals (from partial utilisation of the FY25 provision) added ₹0.74 crore in tax benefit. The consolidated number includes ₹50.73 crore in associate earnings (share of PVR INOX profit), swamping the holding company’s micro-scale operations.
Concall commentary (none available):
No concall transcript for FY26 results is on record. Management communication is limited to board announcements.
5. Market Expectations & Historical Multiples
This section describes how the market is currently pricing the company
