According to Prime Database, at least 40 mainboard businesses raised Rs 51,365 crore through initial public offerings in the first half of fiscal year 2024-25. This is a 95% increase over the Rs 26,311 crore raised by 31 IPOs during the same time last fiscal year.
The highest IPO in the first half of 2024-25 came from Bajaj Housing Finance, which garnered Rs 6,560 crore from investors. It was followed by the IPOs of Ola Electric for Rs 6,146 crore and Bharti Hexacom for Rs 4,275 crore. Kronox Lab, on the other hand, raised the least amount of money, at Rs 130 crore.
The average sale size was Rs 1,284 crore, up substantially from Rs 849 crore a year earlier. Interestingly, 22 of the 40 IPOs occurred in only the two months of August and September. The Housing Finance industry mobilised the most funds, at Rs 9,560 crore or 19% of the issue amount.
The average oversubscription across categories was 53.72 times, compared to 31.25 times in the same period last year, indicating investor interest, according to Pranav Haldea, Managing Director of PRIME Database Group. "Unless there is a black swan event, it is likely to be a record-breaking year for IPOs," he told reporters.
The average listing gain grew to 34.28 percent, compared to 28.65 percent in the first half of 2023-24. Of the 38 offerings, 30 IPOs returned more than 10%. Bajaj Housing Finance returned 136% on listing day, followed by Unicommerce Esolutions (94%) and Premier Energies (87%).
According to the statistics, new generation technology businesses made a comeback after two quiet years with five IPOs, including Awfis Space Solutions, Go Digit General Insurance, Brainbees Solutions (Firstcry), Le Travenues Technology (Ixigo), and Unicommerce eSolutions, which raised Rs 8,424 crore.
Investors responded strongly to the IPOs during the bidding process. Of the 38, 35 IPOs received offers more than ten times, with 17 receiving bids more than fifty times. Two IPOs were oversubscribed by more than thrice. The remaining IPO was oversubscribed by 1 to 3 times during the auction.
In the first half of 2023-24, the average number of retail applications more than quadrupled to 20.91 lakh, up from 9.67 lakh the previous year. Bajaj Housing Finance received the most retail applications (58.66 lakhs), followed by Arkade Developers (45.37 lakhs) and Northern Arc (45.13 lakhs).
The Rs 66,225 crore raised through QIPs (195 percent greater than the Rs 22,443 crore raised a year earlier) contributed to a large portion of the entire public equity fundraising of Rs 1,56,947 crore, a 102% rise over the Rs 77,744 crore raised in the first half of 2023-24.
The pipeline is massive. 26 firms wanting to raise Rs 72,000 crore are now holding SEBI permission, while another 55 companies looking to fund over Rs 89,000 crore are awaiting SEBI approval.
"We expected more over 1.5 lakh crores of cash raising through IPOs this year. An increasing number of growth-stage firms will hit the streets. Furthermore, we anticipate a trend of multinationals entering the Indian capital market," said Mahavir Lunawat, Managing Director of Pantomath Capital Advisors.
"In addition, some key market liquidity measures, most notably monthly mutual fund flow, have increased since the previous quarter, and we are receiving close to Rs 40,000 crores of money each month. This has significantly boosted capital market buoyancy," Lunawat stated
