IPO Ahimsa Classification Methodology
How we label a company Ahimsa, Partial Ahimsa or Non-Ahimsa — and what those labels do and do not mean.
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Many investors want to know whether a company's business involves harm to animals before they put money into it. For companies already trading, screens and indices exist that answer this. None of them reaches a company that has not listed yet.
That is the gap we fill. The IPO Guru Ahimsa Framework sorts IPOs and unlisted shares into three bands, so the question can be asked before the shares exist rather than years afterwards.
One principle governs everything below: we classify what a business actually does, never the industry it sits in. No sector carries a band on its own. Two companies described by the same word can land in different bands, and often do.
The Three Bands
Every company we cover falls into one of three bands, decided by what its business actually does — the products it makes and the money it earns, not every possible indirect link.
Very little or no animal involvement in the core business.
Software & IT · Banks, NBFCs & exchanges · Hospitals & diagnostics · Renewable energy · Infrastructure & engineering · Hotels & travel · Crop farming · Plant-based foods · Synthetic leather · Dairy processing where no harm is found
A genuine but smaller animal-linked line, or money spread across the economy.
Pharma & biotech where animal testing cannot be ruled out · Cosmetics without ingredient disclosure · Dairy, gelatin, wool or silk used as an input · A minority animal-feed or insecticide line · Finance lent to animal farming
Direct, significant or core involvement in animal harm.
Meat, poultry, fish & eggs · Slaughterhouses · Animal farming & breeding · Leather, fur & silk production · Animal feed as most of revenue · Insecticides as most of revenue · Animal testing as a business activity · Documented systemic cruelty
No fixed revenue cut-offs. The AQ framework publishes none — its bands turn on qualitative judgements about what is a "real and significant part" of a business versus a "tiny amount". Ours necessarily do the same, and reasonable people can disagree about individual companies.
What Decides a Band
A few placements surprise people, so they are worth stating outright.
Healthcare delivery, not drug manufacture
No animal-derived product and no animal farming line
Hospitality is not itself an animal-linked activity
Applying pesticide is incidental to growing food
Those industries are its customer, not its business
Judged on harm to the animals, not on milk
A substitute for the animal product, not the product
Real exposure that public disclosure does not settle
Carmine, beeswax and lanolin are common and unstated
One animal-derived line inside a larger business
An animal-derived ingredient in the product itself
Genuine support for animal farming, but not the business
Direct animal exploitation
The animal product is the business
Core support for industrial animal farming
Killing animals is then the core business
Experimentation on live animals
| Business | Band | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals & diagnostics | Ahimsa | Healthcare delivery, not drug manufacture |
| Banks, NBFCs, AMCs & exchanges | Ahimsa | No animal-derived product and no animal farming line |
| Hotels, parks & travel | Ahimsa | Hospitality is not itself an animal-linked activity |
| Crop farming, pesticide included | Ahimsa | Applying pesticide is incidental to growing food |
| Minerals sold into pharma or food | Ahimsa | Those industries are its customer, not its business |
| Dairy processing, no harm found | Ahimsa | Judged on harm to the animals, not on milk |
| Synthetic & PU leather | Ahimsa | A substitute for the animal product, not the product |
| Drug makers, testing unverified | Partial Ahimsa | Real exposure that public disclosure does not settle |
| Cosmetics without ingredient data | Partial Ahimsa | Carmine, beeswax and lanolin are common and unstated |
| A wool, silk or leather range | Partial Ahimsa | One animal-derived line inside a larger business |
| Bakery or nutrition using dairy | Partial Ahimsa | An animal-derived ingredient in the product itself |
| A minority animal-feed by-product | Partial Ahimsa | Genuine support for animal farming, but not the business |
| Meat, poultry, fish & slaughter | Non-Ahimsa | Direct animal exploitation |
| Leather, fur & silk production | Non-Ahimsa | The animal product is the business |
| Animal feed as most of revenue | Non-Ahimsa | Core support for industrial animal farming |
| Insecticides as most of revenue | Non-Ahimsa | Killing animals is then the core business |
| Animal testing as a service | Non-Ahimsa | Experimentation on live animals |
On Pharmaceuticals
This is the classification people query most, so it is worth stating plainly.
Being a pharmaceutical, biotech or cosmetics company does not, by itself, place a company in the lowest band. We look for evidence of what the company actually does: whether it conducts or commissions animal testing, whether it manufactures at all or only distributes, and whether its products depend on animal-derived materials.
Where that evidence is not public — which is common — the company sits in the middle band. Possible animal testing is not proven animal testing. The lowest band is reserved for companies where animal experimentation, animal-derived inputs or animal-testing services are shown to be a material part of the business.
What this label does not say
A Partial Ahimsa label on a pharmaceutical company is not an allegation of wrongdoing, and says nothing about its products, ethics or quality. It records that an animal link is plausible and unresolved on the public record. The same reasoning applies to cosmetics: India prohibits animal testing of cosmetics outright, so the absence of a cruelty-free certificate is never treated as evidence that testing occurred. Hospitals, diagnostics and healthcare services carry no animal exposure of this kind and sit in the Ahimsa band.
How We Assign a Band
We research the business, not the industry
The prospectus or DRHP, annual reports and exchange filings, the company's own product pages, its subsidiaries, its raw materials and, where disclosed, its revenue mix.
We weigh the evidence in a fixed order
Regulatory filings and the prospectus carry the most weight, then audited disclosures and official policies. Marketing material carries the least, and an unverified allegation carries none.
Missing information never produces a red label
If an animal link is plausible but unproven, the company sits in the middle band. We do not penalise a company for what it has not disclosed.
A person makes the final call
Every published band is confirmed by an editor, and each one records the specific reason it was assigned. Where a business cannot be established at all, we show no label rather than guess.
Wherever a badge appears on the site, hovering over it shows the reason that band was assigned, and clicking it brings you back here.
Independence
The IPO Guru Ahimsa Framework is our own. We write it, we maintain it, and we refine it as we learn — the rules on this page are the whole of it.
A band shown here may therefore differ from any other screen, index or rating covering the same company, and any error in a label here is ours alone.
No affiliation
IPO Guru is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any ethical-investment organisation, foundation or index provider. We do not reproduce any third-party index or its constituent list, and inclusion in or exclusion from any such index is not implied by anything shown here.
What This Is Not
These labels describe what a business does. IPO Guru is not a SEBI registered investment advisor or research analyst, and an Ahimsa band is none of the following.
See our full disclaimer for how we handle all content on this site.
Think a label is wrong?
We would rather be corrected than be wrong. If you represent a company and believe its classification does not reflect its business — or if you are a reader who has spotted an error — tell us and we will review it.
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