Market Indices Flashing Red Shouldn't Stop IPOs

India's stock market correction has slowed share issuance down. Risk-off investor behaviour; however, does not mean value offers will be overlooked. Confident issuers should go ahead

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In August, when the stock market's bull run was close to its peak, the initial public offer (IPO) of a two-wheeler dealer with a handful of employees managed to attract bids worth 400 times the amount of capital it sought to raise. That was the level of enthusiasm back then among investors, who were willing to pour big bucks into just about any business going public. Cut to 2025 and that boom seems like a distant memory, with the rush of companies hitting the capital market thinning out amid a secondary market sell-off. Take these Prime Database figures, as reported. In September, India's primary market saw as many as 12 IPOs. Last month, this number had shrunk to just three. Other months—barring December—after Indian indices peaked on 26 September also had low IPO counts, although the sums raised form a jagged pattern. It is almost as if stock-price tickers flashing red have been taken as a 'stop' sign. According to Prime Database, more than two dozen companies that got IPO approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board of India between April and