Indian markets recorded the fourth-largest fundraising globally through initial public offerings (IPOs) in calendar year 2025, according to a report by Bernstein. Companies in India collectively raised $14.2 billion (₹85,241 crore) through primary market issues so far this year, excluding three major IPOs—WeWork India, Tata Capital, and LG Electronics India—which opened for subscription recently and are expected to raise nearly ₹30,000 crore.
The US topped the global list with IPO proceeds of $52.9 billion, followed by Hong Kong ($23.4 billion) and China ($16.2 billion). In rupee terms, India’s 2025 IPO mop-up marks the third-highest fundraising in the last five years, behind ₹1.59 lakh crore raised via 91 offers in 2024 and ₹1.18 lakh crore mobilised through 63 issues in 2021.
Bernstein highlighted that India’s primary market activity stands out given the sharp foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows from the secondary markets this year. While FIIs have pulled out nearly $18 billion from listed equities, they have simultaneously invested $5 billion into IPOs.
“This shows a clear distinction between how investors are treating the primary and secondary markets,” said Venugopal Garre, managing director and India head of research at Bernstein, in a note co-authored with Nikhil Arela. The report also pointed out that despite India’s equity market delivering almost zero returns in US dollar terms so far this year, the IPO pipeline remains active and attractive.
A review of 161 companies listed since January 2024 shows that new listings have generally outperformed benchmark indices such as the Nifty. According to Bernstein, IPOs have beaten Nifty returns in five of the last seven quarters, with 61% of these outperforming the broader index over the past six months.
On average, listing gains stood at 22%, with 53% of IPOs delivering double-digit returns. However, longer holding periods did not always yield better results—about half the newly listed stocks delivered negative returns after three months. The report noted that FII outflows often coincided with heavy IPO activity, suggesting that institutional investors were booking profits quickly and exiting secondary markets after gains from fresh issues.
Sector-wise, 28 of the 161 IPOs—about 16%—came from consumer tech, green energy, and digital businesses. Bernstein’s data further revealed that smaller IPOs tend to deliver stronger listing gains. Issues below $20 million in size saw average listing returns of 40%, while IPOs between $20 million and $40 million generated around 31%.
The largest issues—those exceeding $1 billion—were the least rewarding, averaging just 9% returns on listing. The report suggests that investor appetite remains strongest for smaller, niche offerings with clear growth stories, rather than mega-issues dominated by established players.