Institutional and retail investors drive deeper Indian IPO market
Delhi, 28 Sept – Institutional and retail investors are playing an increasingly pivotal role in deepening India’s IPO landscape. The Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI) estimates the current main‑board IPO pipeline at about ₹3.86 lakh crore, a sum that dwarfs the ₹1.10 lakh crore amassed from the 84 IPOs that have debuted this year.
The pipeline includes roughly 130 companies that have already obtained SEBI approval, with another 75 firms having submitted draft red‑herring prospectuses (DRHP) and awaiting clearance. This volume reflects a persistent corporate desire to raise funds through public markets.
Chairman Mahavir Lunawat noted that the rising participation of qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), high‑net‑worth individuals (HNIs) and retail investors is turning the primary market into a broader, more sustainable capital‑formation mechanism.
Since 2016, IPOs on the main board have cumulatively raised about ₹8.36 lakh crore. Annual capital mobilisation grew from ₹26,494 crore in 2016 to an anticipated ₹1.76 lakh crore for 2025. The number of main‑board issues rose sharply, from just 26 in 2016 to 103 in 2025, with 84 listings recorded so far in 2026.
Lunawat emphasised a structural evolution: domestic capital, alongside foreign inflows, now forms the backbone of market resilience. Mutual‑fund assets are expanding quickly, and there is a stronger nexus between public equity, private‑equity and debt markets.
The SME segment mirrors this momentum. The country saw a record 267 SME IPOs in 2025 and 156 in 2026 to date. SME listings have generated ₹39,849 crore since 2016, and the average issue size has leapt from ₹8 crore in 2016 to ₹45 crore in 2026.
Investment‑banking capacity has kept pace, with registered merchant bankers increasing from 188 in September 2016 to 250 by September 2026 – an up‑turn of roughly 33 %.
AIBI concludes that future success will be measured not just by issue count, but by the quality of listed companies, depth of institutional participation, enhanced disclosures, broader capital reach and the ecosystem’s ability to support firms through various stages of growth.