Brokerages on fundraising binge via IPOs

One out of four home-grown stock brokerage houses are looking at an initial share issue to fund an aggressive growth plan, buoyed by the rising interest shown by both global and local investors in the booming Indian markets.

The initial public offering (IPO) plan by local brokerages comes at a time when global players such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers are looking at aggressive expansion in Indian markets, where domestic households hold less than 5 per cent of their savings in stocks or stock market-related instruments.

"Twenty-seven per cent of the brokerages we surveyed said they had plans to come out with an IPO. But they have not shared the time-frame for this," said Bandi Ram Prasad, consultant with Dun & Bradstreet Information Services, which surveyed nearly 200 leading brokerages in the country.

Though no names have been revealed in the D&B survey, market players expect IPOs from Motilal Oswal Securities, Angel Broking, Anagram Stock Broking, Techno Stocks and Shares, Edelweiss Securities, AnandRathi Securities among others to tap the market this year.