The euphoria seen in the initial public offer (IPO) market in 2023 is unlikely to fizzle out soon. If one were to go by analysts, 2024 will be another year of heightened activity in the IPO mart, with issues by Swiggy, Firstcry, Ola Electric, Oyo & Portea Medical likely to attract investor attention.
Tanvi Kanchan, Head - Corporate Strategy at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers called 2023 a comeback year for the IPO market, with over 173 small and medium sized enterprises and 52 mainboard listings, and some of the best and outstanding debuts in these categories.
"I believe that 2024 will also continue to see a great number of IPOs, given the expectation on GDP growth, the India manufacturing story, and with the elections around the corner, a favourable outcome could also boost the activity further," Kanchan said.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head- Equity Research at Kotak Securities while the start of 2023 was tepid amid global headwinds but activity picked up from April onwards; the IPO market experienced euphoria in the December quarter, he said. Holistically, Chouhan said, the year 2023 turned out to be much better for IPOs than his expectations.
"The markets are likely to witness a robust capital raise even in 2024 as more than 65 IPO documents are filed with Sebi. Big IPOs lined up for 2024 include Swiggy, Firstcry, Ola Electric, Oyo and Portea Medical," Chouhan said.
Among the companies, Firstcry's parent Brainbees Solutions has already filed its draft papers with the market watchdog Sebi to launch its IPO. Firstcry, India’s largest multichannel retailing platform for mothers, babies and kid products, is looking to raise Rs 1,816 crore as fresh issue and its existing shareholders are looking to offload up o 5,43,91,592 Equity shares.
Ola Electric, a manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs) and certain core EV components such as battery packs, motors and vehicle frames at the Ola Future factory, too has reached Sebi with draft papers. The proposed IPO is a fresh issue of equity shares up to Rs 5,500 crore and an offer for sale of 9.52 crore equity shares by promoters and investors.
As per media reports, Swiggy is contemplating a stock market debut in 2024 and for that it has reportedly selected investment banks for the IPO. Swiggy is expected to raise an estimated $1 billion through the IPO and has
Healthvista India, which is the parent company of Portea Medical, received final observation from Sebi in April last year. This company could be looking at a fresh issue worth Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 56,252,654 shares worth Rs 800 crore.
Rashi Peripherals, Survival Technologies, Shiva Pharmachem, Western Carriers(India) and Indegene are a few companies that received Sebi's nod last year and could come up with IPOs this calendar.
Arpit Jain, Joint MD, Arihant Capital Markets Ltd said IPO activities generally tend to slow down or stop six months prior to the general elections, but that has not been the case this time. "We think with the abundance of liquidity in the market, expectations of growth in India’s GDP and the continued bull run, IPO activities are likely to continue or even increase in 2024," he said.
Sunil Nyati, Managing Director, Swastika Investmart said notable candidates for 2024 IPOs will be Ola Electric, First Cry, and Swiggy, which could become among the most well-known names upon listing.
"With their strong business models and presence on the market, these companies are in a position to attract significant investor interest as they navigate the market for initial public offerings," he said.