June saw a turning point in the Indian public issue market when initial public offerings (IPOs) along with follow-on public offerings raise a record breaking Rs 22,503 crore. This is almost double the money raised in March 2004 (Rs 11,403 crore), due to the disinvestment offerings.

The week ended June 22, saw two big issues, DLF and ICICI bank, raising around 85 per cent of the month’s amount to Rs 19,250 crore. With three more quarters ahead, this fiscal has already seen public issues worth Rs 23,679 crore. In fact, this single quarter has surpassed the money raised during the entire fiscal 2005-06 (Rs 23,675 crore) and is close to the highest-ever annual mobilisation of Rs 24,993 crore in 2006-07.

With as many as 68 issues, which have either obtained Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval or have filed for it are expected to collectively raise Rs 14,400 crore.

“The figures have punctured the myth that Indian retail has no depth,” said Prithvi Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, which released these figures today. “During June alone, small investors put in Rs 10,270 crore in the month’s issues, and significantly, all of this was fresh money as there little time for the refunds to take place and utilised for subsequent offerings. Even the secondary market-which feared a meltdown due to heavy selling to manage funds for the IPOs-was strong during this period.”

During the period, DLF managed to garner a retail subscription of Rs 2,672 crore while ICICI Bank got a subscription of Rs 3,027 crore from retail investors. This also corroborates Sebi’s efforts to ensure quality of issues by bringing in strict entry norms. The quality is also ensured by the fact that there are no issuances from unknown promoters for new projects.

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