Many NRIs keen to raise capital from Dalal Street: Sinha

With the primary markets showing strong revival on conducive regulatory norms, Sebi chairman UK Sinha today said NRIs have begun to show interest to tap the domestic capital markets to raise funds.
Sinha noted that the number of IPO issuances in the last three years and the amount raised is going up in a healthy manner, helped by stringent disclosure norms issued by the Sebi.
Observing that the IPO pipeline going forward seems strong, he said only 11 IPO filings are pending with the Securities and Exchange Board now.
"Many NRIs, especially those in the Gulf countries, are looking for listing their companies on the domestic bourses rather than going to other parts of the world," Sinha said at a summit organised by the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI).

According to him, while 17 out of the 25 companies which launched their initial share sales in the current fiscal are trading above the issue price, there is a need to analyse the reason behind why the remaining eight companies are trading below the issue price.
"The balance eight issues even, when they were oversubscribed in the IPOs, are still trading below the issue price. We need to look at if there is something missing and is there something wrong in the system," he said.

Noting that the SME IPOs are also gaining momentum, he said, "The experiment of SME listing has been successful. We have seen almost 200 companies have got listed on the SME platforms of the BSE and NSE, and I believe another 200 companies are lined up."

However, the Sebi chief expressed disappointment that not a single startup has approached the regulator for listing on the exchanges even as it has come out with relaxed norms for such companies.
Sinha observed that while various suggestions have come forward with regard to promote listings of start ups, many of them are "ornamental" in nature.