Synopsis:- As urban pet ownership and premium spending push India’s pet care market past Rs. 8,000 crore, four listed poultry, vaccine and agribusiness names are being framed as ways to ride the boom.
India’s packaged pet food and pet healthcare market is still small next to the country’s broader food and agriculture economy, but rising urban pet ownership and a wave of premiumisation have made it a theme that listed poultry, vaccine and agribusiness companies are keen to claim.
Four companies sit at very different distances from that opportunity. One runs a dedicated petcare division, one has just signed a European acquisition aimed squarely at companion animals, one has sold pet food as a minor side line for decades, and one supplies a sister company’s pet brand without owning any part of that business itself. How much of each company’s near-term earnings can actually be traced to pets, rather than to poultry, vaccines or palm oil, turns out to vary just as sharply.
1. Venky’s India
Venky’s is primarily a poultry breeding and chicken-processing major, organised into Poultry and Poultry Products, Animal Health Products, and Oilseed segments. Its pet food and pet healthcare line, sold under brands such as Regal Meal and Show Cat, sits inside the Animal Health Products segment, a business that goes back decades rather than a recent launch tied to the current pet boom.
With a market capitalisation of around Rs. 2,044.28 crore, the shares of Venky’s India closed on Friday at Rs. 1,451.15 per share, down 2.08 percent from a previous closing price of Rs. 1,481.95 apiece, and a P/E of around 15.19.
For FY26, consolidated revenue rose to Rs. 3,727 crore from Rs. 3,307 crore in FY25, while net profit climbed 19 percent to Rs. 139 crore from Rs. 117 crore, with the board recommending a dividend of Rs. 10 per share. The full-year operating margin barely moved, holding just above 5 percent, because nearly all of the improvement showed up in the fourth quarter alone, when margin jumped to 11.8 percent from 3 percent a year earlier. Segment-wise, Poultry and Poultry Products revenue actually slipped to Rs. 1,897 crore from Rs. 1,928 crore, while Oilseed surged to Rs. 1,554 crore from Rs. 1,141 crore and Animal Health Products, the segment housing the pet portfolio, grew to Rs. 392 crore from Rs. 339 crore.
2. Hester Biosciences
Hester is India’s second-largest poultry vaccine manufacturer, with close to 35 percent domestic market share, and the world’s largest maker of PPR vaccines for livestock. Its business spans Poultry Healthcare and Animal Healthcare, including a Petcare line launched in 2022 covering gut-health products, joint-care formulations and NSAIDs for dogs and cats.
With a market capitalisation of around Rs. 2,117.27 crore, the shares of Hester Biosciences closed on Thursday at Rs. 2,447.80 per share, up 0.42 percent from a previous closing price of Rs. 2,437.60 apiece, and a P/E of around 40.57.
FY26 consolidated revenue rose 7 percent to Rs. 333 crore from Rs. 311 crore, while net profit nearly doubled to Rs. 57 crore from Rs. 29 crore, with operating margin expanding to 26 percent from 20 percent. The fourth quarter alone saw net profit jump to Rs. 17 crore from Rs. 2 crore on sales of Rs. 100 crore against Rs. 82 crore, and the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs. 11 per share. The actual growth driver was Poultry Healthcare, up 24 percent for the year.
3. Viyash Scientific (formerly SeQuent Scientific)
SeQuent Scientific was renamed Viyash Scientific in January 2026 after a share-swap merger with a promoter entity that lifted promoter holding from roughly 52 percent to 61 percent and nearly doubled the company’s equity base. It runs eight manufacturing plants across India, Turkey, Brazil, Spain and Germany under its Alivira animal health brand, and through Alivira it has signed a binding agreement worth Rs. 188 crore to acquire Italy’s BioForLife, a Milan-based companion animal company, with the deal expected to close in the second quarter of FY27.
With a market capitalisation of around Rs. 11,703.89 crore, the shares of Viyash Scientific closed on Thursday at Rs. 268.65 per share, down 3.03 percent from a previous closing price of Rs. 277.05 apiece, and a P/E of around 79.59.
FY26 consolidated revenue more than doubled to Rs. 3,420 crore from Rs. 1,551 crore, and net profit jumped to Rs. 225 crore from Rs. 32 crore, with operating margin nearly doubling to 19 percent from 10 percent. Almost all of that jump reflects the absorption of the promoter entity rather than organic expansion: working capital days worsened to 111 from 70, and return on equity averages just 6 percent over three years against 11 percent for the latest year alone.
4. Godrej Agrovet
Godrej Agrovet is a diversified agribusiness spanning Animal Feed, Oil Palm, Crop Protection through listed subsidiary Astec LifeSciences, Dairy under the Godrej Jersey brand, and Poultry and Processed Food under Real Good Chicken and Godrej Yummiez. It supplies animal-nutrition expertise to Godrej Pet Care, but that pet food business, including its Godrej Ninja dog food brand developed at the Nadir Godrej Centre for Animal Research and Development, is wholly owned by sister company Godrej Consumer Products, not by Godrej Agrovet. Agrovet’s actual stake in the pet story is a manufacturing arrangement that added about Rs. 9.5 crore to its Animal Nutrition segment’s profit in the fourth quarter, a small fraction of that segment’s earnings.
With a market capitalisation of around Rs. 10,908.73 crore, the shares of Godrej Agrovet closed on Thursday at Rs. 567.80 per share, down 0.70 percent from a previous closing price of Rs. 571.80 apiece, and a P/E of around 27.16.
FY26 consolidated revenue crossed Rs. 10,000 crore for the first time, rising 9 percent to Rs. 10,233 crore, while reported net profit rose 10.4 percent to Rs. 445 crore (underlying profit, excluding one-off items, rose 14 percent to Rs. 440 crore). The real growth engine was Oil Palm, where segment profit surged 68 percent to Rs. 384 crore on higher volumes and stronger palm kernel oil prices, while Astec LifeSciences neared EBITDA break-even after a loss-making FY25. Return on capital employed improved to 20 percent from 16 percent, and the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs. 11 per share.
Fourth-quarter profit growth of 48 percent to Rs. 102 crore leaned heavily on other income, which made up more than half of pre-tax profit and included a one-time Rs. 34 crore land-sale gain, masking core operating margins that fell to a seven-quarter low of around 6 percent.
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