India poised for record-breaking IPO month in October with $5 bn in deals

By Rajesh Mascarenhas

 

India’s initial public offering market is set for a record October, with companies expected to raise over $5 billion, highlighting strong investor appetite in one of the world’s busiest equity hubs.

 

Big-ticket deals, including billion-dollar offerings from Tata Capital Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc.’s local unit, are boosting confidence that India’s $5 trillion stock market can absorb large issuance, even as US tariffs and weak earnings leave equities trailing other Asian markets. 

 

The rush is being fueled by strong inflows from domestic mutual funds, which have helped offset foreign outflows and turned India into a bright spot for bankers in an uncertain global economy. Firms including Jefferies Financial Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are betting momentum will carry forward from last year, when Indian IPOs raised a record $21 billion.

 

“Cash holdings by mutual funds, continuously buttressed by consistent domestic flows, have whetted investors’ appetite and positioned the market to absorb such substantial fundraising,” said Dhiraj Relli, managing director of HDFC Securities Ltd. in Mumbai. 

 

The pipeline is packed. WeWork India Management Ltd. will launch its ₹3,000 crore ($338 million) IPO on Oct. 3, followed by Tata Capital’s ₹11,500 crore share sale on Oct. 6. LG Electronics’ Indian unit is expected to raise about ₹11,500 crore that week, Bloomberg News has reported. 

 

Other deals may follow. Pine Labs Ltd., a digital payments provider, plans to raise as much as ₹6,000 crore later in October, while Canara HSBC Life Insurance Co. is preparing a 25 billion rupee IPO, people familiar with the matter said. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. is awaiting regulatory approval for its public issue, which may be launched at the end of October. 

India poised for record-breaking IPO month in October with $5 bn in deals

 

“As India is seen largely as a tariff-resilient and demand-driven market, IPOs of scale and quality will continue to attract strong interest,” said Ranvir Davda, co-head of investment banking at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Pvt. 

 

To be sure, foreign funds, while still participating in primary offerings, have scaled back. Their investments in Indian IPOs and placements have dropped to ₹43,000 crore this year from ₹1.2 trillion in 2024, the data show.

 

Indian firms have already raised about $11.2 billion via IPOs from January through September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Another $8 billion to $10 billion could be added in the final three months of the year, according to Kailash Soni, head of India equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 

 

“Investor engagement remains strong, with multiple companies currently on roadshows and both domestic and global investors eager to deploy capital into India’s growth story,” he said.