Going Stealth, Staying Safe

More companies are confidentially filing DRHPs as they prefer gauging investor interest and market conditions before going all in with their IPOs

- By NASRIN SULTANA

A growing number of companies are preferring to remain confidential about their businesses while filing draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to go public on Indian stock exchanges. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had given companies the option to remain confidential while seeking its approval for IPOS almost 3 years ago, but companies had been slow to adopt it. However, in the past few months, particularly in May and June, there has been a significant increase in such filings.

In 2025 so far, 12 companies have filed DRHPS confidentially, representing 75 percent of the total issues opting for the stealth route, shows a Forbes India analysis based on data provided by Prime Database; of these, the highest number of filings (five) were in June. Some of these companies are Tata Capital (₹17,200 crore), Meesho (₹4,250 crore), Physics Wallah (₹4,000 crore) and Billionbrains Garage Venture (the parent company of Groww, ₹1,735 crore). Between December 2022 and 2024, only four companies had opted for this route.

The trend is indicative of firms recalibrating their IPO strategies amid volatile market conditions and rising investor scrutiny. Opting to file DRHPS confidentially allows companies to shield sensitive business information from public view and remain ahead of the competition, especially in the new-age category of business.

"We are seeing confidential DRHP filings or pre-filings gain traction among issuers, especially new-age companies. While it may seem there is a lag in companies adopting this route, data points to a relatively quick adoption of the confidential filing mechanism," says Adeepto Saha, executive director, Deloitte India.