Fortune India Exclusive: 94 IPOs looking to raise ₹1.35 lakh crore allowed their approval to lapse since 2019

The initial public offering (IPO) market has seen strong momentum in the last five years, with record 266 companies raising a massive amount of ₹4.1 lakh crore during this period. However, a total of 94 companies looking to raise ₹1.35 lakh crore let their IPO lapse between FY20-24, as per PRIME Database, a leading provider of data on the capital market.

The list includes some big-ticket IPOs such as PharmEasy (₹6,250 crore), EbixCash (₹6,000 crore), Bajaj Energy (₹5,450 crore), Bharat FIH (₹5,000 crore) Fabindia (4,000 crore), Navi Technologies (₹3,350 crore), Tata Play (₹2,500 crore) boAt (₹2,000 crore), Vikram Solar (₹2,000 crore), and many more.

All these IPOs were approved by the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). This also includes cases where the companies, such as Samhi Hotels, IREDA, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Medi Assist Healthcare Services, One Mobikwik Systems, Waaree Energies, TBO TEK, and few others, which subsequently re-filed, got approval and launched their IPO.

One may wonder why this substantial amount of capital that companies sought to raise through IPOs was not realised. There could be various reasons behind it:  unfavourable market conditions, insufficient investor interest; internal issues, regulatory hurdles, or strategic reconsideration.

"An IPO is a one in a lifetime event for a company. So, companies would like to launch their IPO at an opportune time, when market sentiment is bullish and they can get desired valuations. In the past, companies had let their IPO approval lapse rather than launching their issue because of adverse market conditions,” says Pranav Haldea, Managing Director of PRIME Database Group.

How IPO lapses?

An IPO can lapse when a company fails to complete its initial public offering within a specified timeframe after receiving regulatory approval, typically due to unfavourable market conditions, internal issues, or not achieving the desired investor interest, causing the IPO window to close and the approval to expire. 

As part of the IPO process, a company would have to first file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), a preliminary document that contains necessary details such as the nu­mber of shares being offered, financial results, and risk factors, with Sebi. 

The regulator reviews and offers its final observations, which means giving a green signal to launch an IPO. However, if Sebi rejects an IPO application, a company can re-file a fresh IPO application after addressing the concerns raised by the regulator in the initial rejection. A company has to launch its IPO within a year from the date of the final observations.

Market in pause mode

After a stellar run in 2024, the IPO market is taking a breather, and there is a temporary pause in fundraising activity amid a persistent correction in the secondary market. Only 10 main board IPOs have been listed on the domestic bourses in the first two months of 2025, compared to 16 in the same period last year.

The IPOs that have debuted so far this year include Indo Farm Equipment, Denta Water and Infra Solutions, Stallion India Fluorochemicals, Quadrant Future Tek, Standard Glass Lining Technology, Laxmi Dental, Ajax Engineering, Hexaware Technologies, Dr. Agarwal's Health Care, and Quality Power Electrical Equipments.

The poor performance of the secondary market has impacted the primary market, as investors are less willing to invest in newly issued securities due to concerns about overall market health and potential liquidity constraints for future investments.

Last year, 91 companies raised an all-time high of ₹1,59,784 crore through main board IPOs in 2024—more than three times the ₹49,436 crore raised by 57 IPOs in 2023. The average deal size doubled to ₹1,756 crore, up from ₹867 crore the previous year.

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