India’s IPO pipeline hits ₹3.86 lakh crore, 3.5 times funds raised in 2026: Report
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India’s mainboard IPO pipeline has reached around ₹3.86 lakh crore as of September 2026, around 3.5 times the ₹1.10 lakh crore raised through 84 mainboard IPOs so far this year, according to the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI).
The pipeline comprises around 130 companies that have received Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approval, while another around 75 companies have filed their Draft Red Herring Prospectuses (DRHPs) and are awaiting approval, AIBI said in its mid-term white paper “India Capital Markets: Navigating Geopolitics, Capital & Growth”.
As per the report, the scale of the pipeline highlights the continued issuer interest in public markets and provides visibility into the potential depth of India’s primary market beyond the capital already raised in 2026.
Mainboard fundraising crosses ₹8 lakh crore since 2016
“India’s primary market has moved well beyond an episodic fundraising cycle. We have already seen ₹1.10 lakh crore mobilised through 84 mainboard IPOs in 2026 YTD, taking cumulative mainboard fundraising since 2016 to ₹8.36 lakh crore,” Mahavir Lunawat, Chairman, AIBI, said.
“More importantly, the market today has a ₹3.86 lakh crore pipeline, including around ₹2.43 lakh crore from companies that have received SEBI approval and another ₹1.44 lakh crore from companies awaiting approval. This depth of supply and stronger participation across QIB, HNI and retail investors, demonstrates that the primary market is becoming a broader and more durable channel for capital formation,” he added.
Mainboard IPOs have cumulatively mobilised ₹8.36 lakh crore between 2016 and 2026 YTD, with annual fundraising rising from ₹26,494 crore in 2016 to ₹1.76 lakh crore in 2025. In 2026 YTD, fundraising has reached ₹1.10 lakh crore across 84 issues.
The number of mainboard IPOs has also increased from 26 in 2016 to 103 in 2025 and 84 in 2026 YTD, according to AIBI data.
“The larger structural shift is that India’s capital markets are increasingly being supported by domestic capital and a much wider capital formation architecture. Domestic investor participation has deepened, mutual fund assets have scaled significantly, and the market is increasingly connecting public equity with private capital, debt market,” Lunawat said.
“The next phase, therefore, cannot be measured only by the quantum of IPOs or the number of listings. It will be measured by how effectively we channel these pools of capital into business expansion, new capacity, infrastructure and long-term productive investment,” he added.
Average SME IPO size rises to ₹45 crore from ₹8 crore in 2016
The expansion of India’s primary market has also extended to smaller issuers. The SME IPO ecosystem recorded 267 issues in 2025, the highest annual number in the period covered, followed by 156 issues in 2026 YTD.
Cumulative SME fundraising has reached ₹39,849 crore between 2016 and 2026 YTD, while the average SME issue size has increased from ₹8 crore in 2016 to ₹45 crore in 2026 YTD.
The intermediary ecosystem has expanded alongside the growth in market activity. The number of registered merchant bankers increased from 188 in September 2016 to 250 in September 2026, representing an increase of approximately 33%.
Investor participation has also remained broad-based. In 2026 YTD, average subscription levels stood at approximately 49 times among QIBs, 86 times among HNI investors and 26 times among retail investors, although subscription levels vary across individual issues.
AIBI said the next phase of India’s primary market will be shaped not merely by the number of companies coming to market, but by the quality of issuers, depth of institutional participation, quality of disclosures, wider distribution of capital and the ability of the ecosystem to support companies through successive stages of growth.
“The opportunity is to convert market depth into productive capital formation while continuing to strengthen disclosure, investor protection, price discovery and market efficiency,” Lunawat said.