India among one of the top IPOs hotbed

India has emerged as one of the top Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) hotbeds in the world, reports Suman Layak.

India has emerged as one of the top Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) hotbeds in the world, breaking into the top-10 in terms of money raised as well as number of IPOs in the first 11 months of 2006.

An Ernst and Young (E&Y) survey shows that the number of IPOs from India's bourses (NSE plus BSE) now exceeds the total number of IPOs debuting at the New York Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange.

India accounted for 4 per cent of the total number of world's IPOs in the first 11 months of 2006, while NYSE accounted for 3 per cent. London's Alternative Investment Market leads with 11 per cent. In terms of money raised, India accounts for 3 per cent of the global total, the study says.

The E&Y survey for the full year is released every January. However, a peek into the trends upto November shows India and Korea are the two new emerging giants in terms of IPOs. Both in terms of number of IPOs and capital raised India is ranked eighth in the world. Coincidentally, South Korea is ranked tenth in both the lists. China plus Hong Kong lead the list of capital raised with US at the second spot. US leads the list on the total number of deals with 188 deals, with Japan at the second spot with 166.

R Balachander, associate director for E&Y in India says: "In 2005, the total money raised from India was around Rs 2,500 crore. It included a lot of PSU activity. However, this year up to November 2006, it is already at Rs 3,000 crore and in 2007 we expect it to go far beyond and might cross Rs 6,000 crore. If a few big-ticket issues like the DLF IPO happens then India's total will be even higher."

Up to November, there were a total of 69 IPOs from India. In the full year 2006, as per the date of price determination, there were 11 more IPOs in December taking the total to 80. If we add the additional equity offerings – also known as subsequent public issues, then the total number of public issues in 2006 went up to 120. Till November 2006 there were 1559 IPOs done all over the world.

December also saw the big-ticket Cairn India IPO, which is yet to be listed and is on a borderline between 2006 and 2007. Cairn India is a case in point where the parent decided to raise money in the Indian market where its Indian arm will be a major operator instead of raising it on the London Stock Exchange where the parent is already listed. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has accounted for 17 per cent of the total capital raised with the London Stock Exchange at 15 per cent and New York Stock Exchange at 11 per cent.

Email Suman Layak: sumanlayak@hindustantimes.com

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