MC Insider | Vanity posts, cautious is the new bold, and a cool sheriff in town

A reporter has been having a hard time ferreting a response from the founder of an embattled startup with ties to another crisis-ridden company. Every time a question lands, the response is a screenshot from his LinkedIn account, usually some glowing post about the person’s entrepreneurial resilience.

At one point, the reporter shot off a volley of questions about the company’s future. But no answers again. Just a passage from Theodore Roosevelt’s The Man in the Arena speech—the go-to quote for those dodging scrutiny.

“It’s not the critic who counts...” the message began.
(Of course it isn’t.)

Things have cooled a lot from the go-go months of October and November, when IPOs worth more than Rs 60,000 crore hit Dalal Street. Issuers are now looking long and hard before they leap these days. Deal launches are few and far between.

Take this drugmaker, for example. The word is that the promoter wants to delay the listing. Then, there’s a marquee consumer IPO that is said to be grappling with a valuation mismatch. Amid the tariff turmoil roiling markets, hesitation itself might be a bold move.

As the government scouts for the next top boss of this regulatory body, private equity firms, bulge-bracket names included, are quietly fine-tuning their strategies and relooking at this space. While the earlier regime may have seen the introduction of several policy measures, there’s now cautious optimism that the new sheriff might bring a lighter touch and speedier approach to those waiting in line for approvals.

The mood: More green lights and less red tape.