November Rain For Primary Market: Great IPO party helps companies mop up ₹1.5 lakh crore

• Even though five public issues opened this week, they received stellar subscriptions.
• Smaller and niche companies are also finding favour with all classes of investors along with big issues like IREDA and Tata Tech.
• The IPO party will roll over into the New Year too, as investors are keen to participate in India’s growth story.

India’s primary market is showing no signs of slowing down, even after mopping-up ₹1.5 lakh crore from investors this week. An eclectic mix of companies are hitting the primary markets ranging from ‘gathia’ (Gujarati snack) makers, apparel brands to marketing agencies will make their case for investors in the coming months.

This flow of new IPOs will continue to hit the market, experts predict, thanks to the stellar response received of the issues that hit this week. All IPOs, barring the Fedbank Financial Services issue, were subscribed at least twice over on the first day. Tata Technologies offering was lapped up like hot cakes on a winter morning as it was swiftly overbooked within hours.

“Investors have come through,” Munish Aggarwal, managing director of Equirus Group tells Business Insider India. “In fact, a lot of them were launched parallelly because there is a lot of equity in the market. QIBs are very active too,” he comments. The QIB quota of four of five IPOs live this week, barring Fedbank, were subscribed over 100 times the shares on offer.

Until Elections do us apart

Next week, there will be a breather to the mainboard IPO rush, but five SME issues will be live. Going by the number of draft red herrings filed by 48 companies in the first half of FY24, the IPO party might roll over to the next year too.

“If you see corporate India, a lot of them are now raising funds for capacity building as opposed to deleveraging as seen in the last decade. Since they’re seeing sustained growth, the activity will continue unless there is a significant spike in volatility prior to general elections next year,” said Aggarwal.

Consumer-centric companies like ghatia-maker Gopal Snacks, Choice Brands which sells men’s apparel, marketing agency Graphisads, Net Avenue Technologies that sells Indian ethnic wear directly to consumers are some of the issues that will make a bid for investors.

“The huge appetite for equities stems from the confidence that investors have in the India growth story and the large universe of fast-growing, well-managed companies, which are expected to deliver good profits,” said Mahavir Lunawat, MD of Pantomath Capital Advisors.

Upcoming public issues
IPO bidding patterns have also changed due to regulations where listing timeframe changed from extant T+6 to T+3. It means an issue can now debut on exchanges within three days of receiving subscriptions. And many companies are choosing to go for it, which means IPO bid amount is blocked for shorter timelines.

“Investors now have the opportunity for having early credit and liquidity for their investment, which enable investors to analyse and participate in more number of IPOs opening parallel, as we gear for bigger capital formation,” says Lunawat.

Listing gains in focus next week

If the grey market premiums are anything to go by, next week will be much better for the issues that were open this week. Analysts say that those who missed out on share allotment due to heavy oversubscription might try to buy from the secondary market – and that’s pushed the listing gains expected for issues live this week — anywhere between 23-78%.

Even as the response to IREDA and Tata Technologies was expected as they have strong legacy and brand names, investors are also willing to make their bets on smaller, newer and niche companies.

Gandhar Oil Refinery’s book is just as busy as that of Tata Technologies, even though it’s a much smaller issue.

“It has leading market share in the Indian white oil market with significant overseas presence; and a well-diversified product portfolio with an extensive customer base,” comments Kunvarji Wealth Solutions.

Pen manufacturer Flair Instruments too is getting good interest. “Being among the top three players in the overall writing instrument industry with a market share of 9% in the overall writing and creative instruments industry in India, we believe the company is strategically positioned coupled with a track record of sustained growth,” said Rajan Shinde, research analyst at Mehta Equities.

No business is too small or too niche for investors who are all set to buy into the India growth story Institutions as well as retail investors are ready to make their bets on new, fast-growing companies. And, IPOs are coming for them.