Indian companies raise a record Rs 1.77 lakh crore from equity markets

Buoyed by initial public offerings (IPOs), the capital that Indian companies raised from equity markets touched an all-time high in FY2018, and rose more than three times to Rs 1.77 lakh crore, compared with last year, says a new report.

In FY17, Indian companies had raised Rs.51,120 crore through IPOs, qualified institutional placements (QIPs), institutional placement programmes (IPPs), offers for sale through stock exchanges and other capital raising instruments, says the report by PRIME Database. Before the current fiscal, the highest amount raised was Rs. 86,710 crore, in 2009-10.

FY 2018 was also a blockbuster year for IPOs, with 45 main-board IPOs collectively raising Rs.82,109 crore.

Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database says that FY2018 was the best year ever for the IPO market by far. The previous high was in FY2008 when Rs. 41,323 crore was raised, which is less than half of the amount raised in FY2018.

The largest IPO was from General Insurance Corp. for Rs.11,257 crore, while the average deal size was Rs 1,825 crore, the report says.

PRIME Database also highlights the IPO activity in the SME platform; there were as many as 155 SME IPOs, the highest ever, which collectively raised a total of Rs. 2,247 crore, which is close to thrice the amount raised last year.

Offers for sale through stock exchanges (OFS), which is for dilution of promoters’ holdings, more than doubled to Rs. 18,438 crore in FY2018.

“This was accounted for primarily by the government’s divestment at Rs. 13,821 crore (75% of overall amount). The largest OFS was that of NTPC in August, 2017 (Rs. 9,192 crore) followed by PNB Housing in November,2017 (Rs.1,306 crore),” the PRIME Database report says.

While, 52 companies mobilized Rs.62,358 crore, the highest ever, and 5 times of the Rs. 13,671 crore raised in the previous year, through QIPs.

The fiscal was also the best year ever for divestments, with the government raising Rs. 98,965 crore.

Two companies used IPPs to raise Rs. 4,668 crore. While, mobilisation of resources through rights issues rose 524% to Rs. 21,350 crore. The largest rights issue in the year was from Tata Steel (Rs.12,704 crore), followed by Indiabulls Ventures (Rs.2,000 crore), says PRIME Database.