IPO market can get a boost up only after polls: Uday Kotak

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Investment banker Uday Kotak has said the IPO market, lacklustre for the last two years, can get a boost only after the upcoming general elections.

"My sense is that we have to wait for the elections and we need to see more stability and more visibility, both in markets and the economy, for seeing IPO markets come back," Kotak, who also runs Kotak Mahindra Bank as its vice-chairman, told PTI on the sidelines of an event over the weekend.

According to the data collected by Prime Database, money raised from the primary market hit a 12-year low at Rs 1,619 crore in 2013.

According to analysts, the IPO market was dry due to regulatory issues and the overall dull economic conditions.

Capital markets regulator Sebi has been working to revive interest in markets with schemes, including extending the longevity of the draft red herring prospectus so that issues do not collapse.

When asked about markets at present, Kotak said he is "cautiously optimistic" on both the economy and the markets.

The recent outflows of foreign investors were not due to any domestic reasons, but because of external factors like nervousness among investors after the US Fed's taper programme, he said.

"I don't think it is linked to domestic factors as much as the global situations around EMs and in early stage of such withdrawal, the foreign investors tend to be pretty irrational across markets. Over time, the fact that the macro is getting better, will reflect in differentiation vis-a-vis other countries," he said.