Exit Route

IPOs raised about ₹65,923 crore in 2017, but very few companies are investing in expansion

- Nachiket Kelkar

When the Central Depository Services Ltd hit the capital markets in June 2017, it was hoping to raise about ₹520 crore. But the investors were so excited about the initial public offering that it received bids worth almost ₹64,000 crore—170 times the actual number of shares on offer.

CDSL's was the most subscribed initial share sale in more than a decade, but it was not a flash in the pan. Many companies that went public in 2017 saw unprecedented investor interest. The IPO of Capacit'e Infraprojects was subscribed 182 times, MAS Financial Services IPO 128 times, Dixon Technologies IPO 117 times and D-Mart IPO 105 times the total shares on offer.

It was a record year in terms of total funds raised via capital market listing. Till November, there were 33 public share offerings that raised a total of ₹65,923.12 crore, says an analysis by Prime Database. It was higher than the total funds raised between 2011 and 2016. Also, there were 119 IPOs of small and medium enterprises, raising ₹1,500.90 crore, in the year. The previous best year for IPOs was 2010, when 64 companies raised ₹37,534.65 crore. In 2007, the year before the global financial crisis hit, there were 100 issues worth ₹34,179.11 crore.