Nithin Kamath on IPO boom: India’s primary market continues to defy the broader market’s muted performance, with IPOs, OFS and FPOs driving another year of strong fundraising. However, data on listing-day performance shows that investors still need to be cautious about expecting easy gains from public issues.
Public equity fundraising remains strong
“While the broader stock market has remained relatively range-bound, India’s primary market is continuing to attract significant investor interest. Capital raised through public equity issues, including IPOs, follow-on public offers (FPOs) and offers for sale (OFS), has crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark for the second consecutive year,” according to data highlighted by Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath.
The data shows that fundraising through public equity issues has reached record levels in recent years. The 2026-27 figure is provisional through August 31 and is already tracking close to the levels seen in the previous two years.
IPO applications see a sharp increase
The surge is not limited to companies looking to raise money. Retail participation in IPOs has also increased sharply.
Kamath said Zerodha has witnessed “a big spike in IPO applications”, including people opening trading accounts specifically to participate in public issues.
The growing participation reflects the strong interest among retail investors in newly listed companies, particularly at a time when investors are looking for opportunities beyond the relatively subdued secondary market.
How many IPOs actually give listing gains?
The second chart provides a more nuanced picture of IPO performance. It tracks how main-board IPOs opened on their listing day compared with their issue price across rolling 12-month periods.
Over the past few years, roughly 74 per cent to 80 per cent of IPOs opened above their issue price. But the size of those gains varied significantly.
In the latest 12-month period, from September 2025 to August 2026, 108 main-board IPOs were tracked. Around 35.2 per cent opened between 0 per cent and 10 per cent above their issue price, while 21.3 per cent opened 10 per cent to 25 per cent higher.
At the same time, 17.6 per cent opened between 0 per cent and 10 per cent below their issue price, while another 4.6 per cent fell between 10 per cent and 25 per cent below the issue price. Around 3.7 per cent opened more than 50 per cent below their issue price.
Overall, about 74.1 per cent of IPOs opened above their issue price during the latest period, while roughly 26 per cent opened below it.
Popular IPOs can also mean lower allotment chances
There is another factor that the listing-performance data does not capture: allotment.
When an IPO attracts heavy retail demand, the number of applications can far exceed the shares available to individual investors. As a result, even investors who apply for an IPO may not receive any shares.
Kamath highlighted this limitation, noting that “the more popular the IPO, the lower your odds of actually getting an allotment.”
