Record share sales bring Indian banks little cheer in the way of fees

Funds raised in India through share sales reached the most in a decade this year thanks to booming stock markets, but the rush to raise capital while investor sentiment remained bullish pushed dealmakers’ fee ratio to multi-year lows.

India’s main stock indexes surged almost 30 percent in 2017 as investors bet on economic reform and corporate earnings recovery. That spurred almost $30 billion worth of share sales including a record $11.5 billion in initial public offerings (IPO).

But for banks which arrange the sales, fees earned as a percentage of funds raised hit the lowest in four years, Thomson Reuters data showed.