Indian companies raised ₹9.8 lakh cr from capital markets in FY23: SEBI

The Indian companies raised around ₹9.8 lakh crore from capital markets in the financial year 2022-23, a rise of 4.6% over the previous fiscal year (2021-22), SEBI says in its annual report for FY23. Of the total resources mobilised during the year, the equity and debt segments accounted for a significant chunk (₹9.2 lakh crore) of capital formation.

"Funds were raised from the market by corporates/infrastructure entities for their financing needs using instruments such as equity (public, rights, preferential, QIP), debt (public and private placement), alternative investment funds (AIFs), real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs)."

In equity issues, there was moderation in fundraising activity via equity issues during 2022-23 as compared to the previous fiscal, says SEBI. In corporate bond markets, private placement of debt remained the primary driver of resource mobilisation in the debt segment, witnessing a rise of 28% in funds raised during 2022-23, relative to the previous fiscal year.

"During the year, ₹7.1 lakh crore was mobilised through private placement on the Electronic Book Provider Platform (EBP)". Cost-efficient private placement boosted fundraising through this mechanism, says SEBI. Notably, to improve liquidity and participation, the face value of debt securities issued on a private placement basis was reduced to ₹1 lakh from the existing ₹10 lakh from January 2023.

SEBI says Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have emerged as one of the rapidly growing segments of the investment landscape in terms of growth witnessed in terms of commitments raised, funds raised, and investments made since 2018-19. During 2022-23, the commitment raised by AIFs logged a growth of 30% to ₹8.34 lakh crore from ₹6.41 lakh crore at the end of 2021-22. The amount of funds raised and investment made increased by 16.5% and 19%, respectively, in 2022-23.

"Category 2 AIFs accounted for 73% of the overall funds raised by AIFs. During the year, 203 new AIFs were registered, taking the number of registered AIFs to 1,088 at the end of 2022-23."

In infrastructure financing through REITs and InvITs, the net asset value being managed by REITs stood at ₹70,614 crore, whereas for InvITs it was ₹1,76,957 crore as on March 31, 2023. Total funds raised by InvITs during the year 2022-23 stood at ₹6,360 crore.

On the asset management ecosystem in the country, SEBI says the assets under management (AUM) of the mutual fund (MF) industry grew at a rapid pace since 2018-19. As on March 31, 2023, the AUM of the MF industry stood at ₹39.4 lakh crore and the number of mutual fund accounts/folios was 14.57 crore, of which the unique number of folios was 3.77 crore, says SEBI.

The assets managed by portfolio managers have also risen to ₹27.9 lakh crore by the end of 2022-23. In the secondary market, following two years of exceptional performance, the equity markets took a breather in 2022-23, with the benchmark indices Nifty 50 and Sensex ending the year on a flat note, posting -0.6 and 0.7% returns, respectively, over the previous fiscal’s close.

The fiscal year was also marked by intermittent volatility, with the Nifty 50 registering its all-time high of 18,812 and intra-year low of 15,293. The Sensex too experienced a wide range of movement between 50,921 and 63,583 during the year.