Equity fundraising hits all-time high of ₹4 lakh cr in 2024; IPO contribution up 3x

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Excluding the rights issues of ₹25,973 crore, the fundraising from equity stood at ₹3.73 lakh crore in 2024, up 159% from the previous year.

91 Indian companies raised an all-time high of ₹1,59,784 crore through main board IPOs in 2024
91 Indian companies raised an all-time high of ₹1,59,784 crore through main board IPOs in 2024 | Credits: Getty Images

Indian equity fundraising touched an all-time high of nearly ₹4 lakh crore in 2024, despite macroeconomic headwinds, fragile global growth outlook, and rising financing costs. The equity fundraising was driven by record IPO activity, with 91 Indian companies garnering an all-time high of ₹1,59,784 crore through main board IPOs, which was more than 3 times of ₹49,436 crore mobilised by 57 firms in 2023, according to primedatabase.com, a leading database on the primary capital market.

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The overall public equity fundraising stood at ₹3.73 lakh crore in 2024, a substantial growth of 159% from ₹1.44 lakh crore raised in 2023. This excludes rights issues of ₹25,973 crore, otherwise the overall equity fund raising touched ₹3.99 lakh crore in 2024, says Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database Group.

Of the total equity mobilisation of ₹3.73 lakh crore, fresh capital amount was ₹2.45 lakh crore (65%) in comparison to 63% last year; the remaining ₹1.29 lakh crore being offers for sale.

According to primedata, offers for sale through stock exchanges (OFS), which is for dilution of promoters’ holdings, registered a growth of 66%, from ₹19,287 crore raised in 2023 to ₹31,985 crore raised this year. Of this, the government’s divestment accounted for ₹8,947 crore or 30% of the overall amount. The largest OFS was that of GE T&D India (₹5,820 crore). OFS accounted for just 9% of the year’s public equity markets mobilisation. 2024 also saw an OFS by an InvIT/ReIT (India Grid Trust raising ₹1,807 crore).

The data shows that funds mobilised through rights issues nearly trebled from ₹7,523 crore in 2023. The largest rights issue of 2024 was from Grasim Industries ₹4,000 crore, accounting for 18% of the total rights issues amount. By number, 2024 witnessed 33 companies using the rights route in comparison to 22 companies in 2023. In addition, there were 2 rights issues of InvITs/ReITs, both of IRB Infrastructure Trust, raising ₹3,968 crore.

Meanwhile, the fund mobilisation through qualified institutional placements (QIPs) nearly trebled with 99 companies raising ₹1,37,662 crore through QIPs in 2024. The largest QIPs were from Vedanta & Zomato raising ₹8,500 crore each, accounting for 12% of the total QIP amount. QIPs were dominated by housing/civil construction/real estate and power generation companies with them accounting for 28% (₹38,999 crore) of the overall amount. In addition, there were 2 QIPs of InvIT/ReIT (Brookfield India Real Estate Trust & National Highways Infra Trust) of ₹9,681 crore.

Debt fundraising also touched record high

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In a similar trend, fundraising through debt also reached an all-time high of ₹11,05,413 crore in the last calendar year of which ₹10,93,788 crore was through private placement of debt and ₹11,625 crore through public bonds (including of InvITs/ReITs), says Haldea.

Segment wise, public bonds market saw a decline with 48 issues raising ₹11,625 crore in 2024, compared to 44 issues mobilising ₹18,176 crore last year. The largest issue was from Cholamandalam Investment & Finance raising ₹1,435 crore.

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In case of overseas bonds, Indian companies raised ₹4,34,758 crore through overseas borrowing (including external commercial borrowings), down 16% from ₹3,73,561 crore in 2023.

In terms of debt private placements, amount touched an all-time high ₹10.73 lakh crore, up 9% from ₹9.82 lakh crore last year. This was mobilised by 1,017 institutions and corporates. The highest mobilisation through debt private placements was by NABARD (₹73,844 crore) followed by SBI (₹55,000 crore) and REC (₹51,849 crore). In addition, there were 17 debt private placements from InvITs/ReITs raising ₹20,788 crore.

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