Primary markets have a stellar decade

The decade has been an eventful one for the public issue market. The period from 2001-2010 saw 385 public issues, totalling Rs 2,09,400 crore. The economy clocked annual GDP of $1 trillion during the period.
 
The decade can be divided into four phases. The primary markets struggled in the first phase, from 2001-2003, in wake of the dotcom bubble burst in the US and the Ketan Parekh episode back home. A total of nine public issues attracted about Rs. 2,500 crore. The high-profile issues during this period came from Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and i-flex. The Maruti Suzuki IPO was a trendsetter in the country’s primary market history.
 
India caught the attention of the global investors and FIIs in the second phase, between 2004 and 2007.
 
The primary market really took off in 2008-2009. The high point of this third phase was the mega public issue of Reliance Power, which attracted a huge number of investors, especially from the retail segment. However, the later part of 2008 saw an unprecedented collapse of iconic names in the US economy, leading to virtual cardiac arrest of the public issue market in the remaining part of 2008 and the first half of 2009. During 2008-2009, a total of Rs. 34,306 crore was raised through 60 public issues. Some of the high-profile issues during this period were Reliance Power IPO, NHPC IPO, Oil India IPO and REC IPO.
 
Things got only better in the fourth phase, i.e. 2010, with about 70 public issues raising Rs. 71,000 crore in the highest ever annual public issuance volumes till date. The government’s thrust on disinvestment contributed to the robustness of the public issue market. Coal India, MOIL, SJVNL, NTPC, NMDC and REC IPOs count among the high profile issues during the year.
 
The lineup of top 10 public IPOs of the decade features high-profile names of India Inc, including Coal India IPO (about Rs. 15,400 crore), Reliance Power (Rs. 11,500 crore), ONGC FPO (Rs. 10,500 crore), ICICI Bank FPO (Rs. 9,980 crore), NMDC FPO (Rs.9,960 crore), DLF IPO (Rs 9,180 crore), NTPC IPO (Rs. 8,280 crore), Power Grid FPO (Rs. 7,400 crore), NHPC IPO (Rs. 6,000 crore) and NTPC IPO (Rs. 5,300 crore). These top 10 issues collected an aggregate of about Rs. 93,800 crore.