THE TECH TWIST

AFTER ENJOYING PREMIUM VALUATIONS LAST YEAR, STOCKS OF MANY DIGITAL MAJORS HAVE CRASHED, THROWING A SPANNER IN THE WORKS FOR SEVERAL OTHERS LOOKING TO GET LISTED

- ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

After a stellar run last year, start-up stocks have hit a rough patch. Online food delivery major Zomato, which was valued at ₹1.3 lakh crore on the bourses last year, is now valued at ₹43,778 crore. Similarly, One 97 Communications—the parent firm of digital payments giant Paytm—was valued at ₹1.27 lakh crore last year; now, it is valued at ₹49,000 crore. It’s a similar story at PB Fintech or Policybazaar that has seen its value drop from over ₹66,000 crore to around ₹25,000 crore.

True, the stock markets have slipped and lost ground in the last one year or so. The benchmark BSE Sensex touched an all-time high of 62,245.43 on October 19, 2021, but is currently hovering around 58,500, a fall of around 6 per cent. But most start-ups and digital majors have slipped much more than the benchmarks.

So, there’s more than just the market bearishness. This slipping and sliding has not just affected the listed start-ups; it has, effectively, affected the whole ecosystem since there are many marquee names that have, or at least had, active plans of getting listed in the public markets.

“The post-listing performance of digital majors has put a spanner in the works for several other startups that were looking to list in the public markets last year and this year. The pipeline has vanished,” says Pranav Haldea, Managing Director of Prime Database, that tracks the markets.