The Big IPO Rush

Indian companies are making a beeline for the stock market, to ride its inexplicable buoyancy even in the midst of a pandemic. This year’s pipeline of new issues, as cleared by Sebi, is already worth around Rs 34,000 crore

- M.G. Arun

Even as the pandemic plays havoc with lives and livelihoods, the Indian stock markets, apparently unaffected by it all, have been buoyant—almost as if in a parallel universe. Even the dismal economic outlook has not got in the way of this stock market exuberance. The BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) Sensex has risen 82 per cent in roughly 15 months, from 29,468 on March 31, 2020, to 53,880 on July 7 this year. According to a State Bank of India (SBI) report, 14.2 million new individual investors joined the stock markets in 2020-21, a year in which the economy was mauled by Covid-19.

That’s not all. The buoyancy of the stock market (also called the secondary market) has set in motion a fundraising spree among corporates in the primary market (where new securities or shares get listed), with 69 companies raising about Rs 75,000 crore through public issues, including an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of shares, in 2020-21. This April-May, 20 companies filed their Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India). For FY2021-22, companies are expected to raise more than double of what they did in the previous fiscal. The IPO of public sector insurance giant LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) alone is slated to generate around Rs 70,000 crore. “This year will be a record one in the history of IPOs in India,” says Jibi Jacob, MD and head, capital markets, Edelweiss Financial Services. Payments firm Paytm is also reportedly planning a $2.3 billion (around Rs 17,000 crore) IPO and will be filing a DRHP soon.