NSE's plan is to list all good companies on the bourse. As part of this exercise, its vice-president Raghava Putran has recently met Electrosteel officials and requested them to apply to NSE for listing.

"Our company is seriously considering applying for NSE listing," said Electrosteel's finance director YS Rajagopalan.

The company is showing steady growth for the past six years, both in terms of sales and profit, and is considered to be one of the best companies in the country. Since 1993-94, when the company started manufacturing DI pipes, its turnover has increased by more than four times and net profit by more than 11 times.

In 1993-94, the company reported a net profit of Rs 5.65 crore on a turnover of Rs 102.24 crore. In the next fiscal, the first year of manufacture of DI pipes, the turnover jumped to Rs 171.83 crore and net profit to Rs 7.64 crore. In 1998-99, the company's turnover went up to Rs 424.58 crore and net profit to Rs 60.65 crore.

If the first-half results of the current fiscal were any indication, the company's turnover would surely cross Rs 500 crore, Rajagopalan said. The company has reported a turnover of Rs 249.28 crore and net profit of Rs 43.16 crore in the first half.