DIIs race ahead of foreign peers as anchors in initial public offerings

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs), led by mutual funds, are now playing an active role as anchor investors in initial public offerings (IPOs) apart from the secondary markets, where they have stepped up their purchases.

DIIs contributed nearly 51 per cent of the Rs 7,837 crore of anchor money invested in IPOs last year, data from PRIME Database shows. In comparison, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) invested Rs 3,817 crore. 

This is only the second time that DIIs have invested more than FPIs as anchors since the anchor book was started in 2009. Prior to 2018, DII participation was higher only in 2014. But,