THE BIG IPO RUSH
Even as the pandemic plays havoc with lives and livelihoods, the Indian stock markets, apparently unaffected by it all, have been buoyant—almost as if in a parallel universe. Even the dismal economic outlook has not got in the way of this stock market exuberance. The BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) Sensex has risen 82 per cent in roughly 15 months, from 29,468 on March 31, 2020, to 53,880 on July 7 this year. According to a State Bank of India (SBI) report, 14.2 million new individual investors joined the stock markets in 2020-21, a year in which the economy was mauled by Covid-19.
That’s not all. The buoyancy of the stock market (also called the secondary market) has set in motion a fundraising spree among corporates in the primary market (where new securities or shares get listed), with 69 companies raising about Rs 75,000 crore through public issues,
