MUMBAI: Despite the market in jitters due to the likelihood of a poor earnings season and the lingering uncertainty on trade tariffs that the US is pushing on all directions with frequently changing goalposts, companies are swamping the IPO market like there is no tomorrow—as many as 120 companies from diverse sectors--have filed for primary share sales with the watchdog Sebi in the first half of this year worth a whopping Rs 1.6 trillion fundraise plans.
The filing of draft red herring prospectuses (DRHPs) has picked up an unprecedented pace in the first half of 2025 by as much as 60% to a planned fundraise of Rs 1.6 trillion, as against Rs 1 trillion in the comparative period in 2024, according to investment bankers.
Investment bankers attribute the frenetic IPO filing to the “very attractive valuations” now, coupled with the return of the foreign funds to secondary market. And they expect the remainder of the year to be more robust than the first half, both in terms of more filings as well as in actual launches.
The primary issuance/IPO market was lukewarm in the first four months of 2025, with only 10 companies raising Rs 18,704 crore. But the Street got busier from May, which continued into June, which saw most of the major issues including HDB Financial’s Rs 12500 crore. This came after March saw not a single issue—a first month in nearly two years, while April saw just one issue.
The IPO drought was the after-effects of the massive selloffs in the secondary market beginning October 2024, due to litany of factors, led by the Donald Trump tantrums as he was set to sweep the November polls in the US. But companies continued to file offer documents even in months when there were no IPOs.
During first half of the year, as much as 118 companies have filed the offer documents, compared to just 52 during the same period in 2024. Cumulatively they are looking to raise is Rs 1.6 trillion, compared to Rs 1 trillion a year ago.
Some of the major issues awaiting Sebi nod are the following: National Securities Depository, which would mostly be an OFS,
Filings that are in/about to hit the market include Anthem Biosciences’ Rs 3,395 crore issue opening next week, Travel Food Services (Rs 2,000 crore closed last week), Kalpataru’s Rs 1,590 crore issue in June, Oswal Pumps (Rs 1,387 crore issue in June), Schloss Bangalore (Rs 3,500 crore in May), Belrise Industries (Rs 2,150 crore issue in May), and Ather Energy ( Rs 2984 crore in April-May).
Already the year has seen some large issues such as HDB Financial’s Rs 12,500 crore last month, making it the largest so far in the non-banking lenders space. But the forthcoming issue of Tata Capital will dwarf this as the Tata firm is planning an issue upwards of Rs Rs 17,500 crore. Both these issues are driven by an RBI mandate to large shadow banks to go public before the end of this September.
Among the marquee names which have filed the offer documents this year are the largest brokerage Groww, payments gateway Pine Labs, Waterways Leisure Tourism that operates Cordelia Cruises, Lalitha Jewellery, Canara Robeco Asset Management, and PhysicsWallah, among others.
According to Prime Database, there are at least 70 startups that have announced their intent to go public but have not yet filed.
Korean Electronics major LG though has got Sebi nod for a Rs 15,000 crore and was to hit the market in May but delayed due to poor market conditions is likely to now hit the market by September now. Another big issue is the Rs 10,000 crore offer for sale by ICICI Prudential AMC.
Another highlight of this year’s filing is that several companies have taken the confidential filing route for their initial public offerings, which is the new mechanism that Sebi introduced recently allowing prospective issuers keep their DRHPs private until they firm up their IPO plans which would help them The withhold key disclosures, including the share offer size, financial statements, and risk factors from the public till the issue is finalized. This helps companies in those sectors where competition is too intense.
Though IPO filings are at a robust pace, the number of mainboard issues during the first half of 2025 shrank to 24 from 36 in the year-ago period. An IPO typically is an 18-month process, with the preparation of the DRHP and Sebi approval taking about six months, followed by another 12 months to hit the market.