At Rs 40,311 crore, 16 companies mop up 43% more funds this year through IPOs

(Representative Image)

As much as Rs 40,311 crore has been raised by 16 companies through initial public offerings in this calendar year till May, according to data collated by the PRIME Database. This is 43 percent more than the Rs 17,496 crore raised in the same period last year.

Data from the Moneycontrol IPO Tracker and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also show that as many as 52 companies have filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator so far this year. This is the highest since 2007, when 121 companies filed their DRHPs.

Life Insurance Corporation’s Rs 20,500 crore offering accounted for half of the amount raised through IPOs this year.

Among the 31 companies that got listed this year, 21 saw listing day gains. However, 19 of the listed are currently trading in red as their values have tumbled since.

Despite the high number of DRHPs filed in the initial months of the year, recent figures suggest that the number of filings has declined as companies have become more cautious amid challenging market conditions. Indian benchmark indices had touched a 52-week low earlier this month.

While the first four months of the year saw around 10 IPO filings each month, this has come down to just four in May and six in June so far.

Moreover, no company was able to launch their IPO in June, after May saw the issue of eight IPOs, the most so far this year.