NEW DELHI: Defying economic slowdown and disruptions caused by the Covid-19, the year 2020 saw a record fund raising through the public equity markets at Rs 1.77 lakh crore. The fundraise was 116 per cent higher than Rs 82,241 crore raised in 2019 and Rs 62,651 crore in 2018, data provided by Prime Database showed. This also marks the second time in the last decade when the fundraising streak crossed the Rs 1 lakh-crore mark, surpassing the previous high of Rs 1.6 lakh in 2017.
“Strong retail participation in initial public offerings (IPOs), huge listing gains and highest-ever amount raised through qualified institutional placements (QIPs) and infrastructure investment trust (InvITs)/ real estate investment trusts (ReITs) were the key highlights of this year,” said Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, Prime Database Group. In the primary markets, there were 15 main-board IPOs which collectively raised Rs 26,611 crore, increasing 115 per cent from Rs 12,362 crore raised through 16 IPOs in 2019. Previous years of 2017 and 2018, however, saw 36 and 24 main-board IPO come to the market collectively raising Rs 67,147 crore and Rs 30,959 crore, respectively, the data showed.
According to Haldea, response to IPOs was further buoyed by strong listing performance of IPOs of the year. The largest IPO in 2020 was from SBI Cards for Rs 10,341 crore and the average deal size was Rs 1,774 crore. Of the 14 IPOs which got listed, 10 offered a return of over 10 per cent (based on closing price on listing date). Burger King jumped 131 per cent, followed by Happiest Minds Technologies (123 per cent), Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities (107 per cent) and others.
However, activity in the SME IPO segment hit an all-time low in the last six years. Data suggests that there were only 27 SME IPOs in 2020, which raised a total of Rs 159 crore as against 51 IPOs in the previous year which raised Rs 624 crore.