Sebi ready with speed gun on IPO Street
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has intensified surveillance of initial public offerings (IPOs), slowing approvals, as it looks to safeguard investors.
The average approval time for IPOs in calendar year 2024 has lengthened to 125 days, the most in 11 years, according to primedatabase.com data. Out of the 44 IPOs approved by Sebi this year, 18 have taken more than 125 days, data showed.
Bankers said Sebi has become stringent on key performance indicators (KPIs), the number of pre-IPO shareholders, and other disclosures. This has resulted in delays, with some draft papers being sent back for revisions or approvals having got stalled, they said.
The market regulator denied this.
«The statement that average approval time for IPOs in 2024 has increased to 125 days is not borne out by the data available with Sebi,» it said in an email.
The regulator said in the financial year 2023-24, the average time taken to issue observation letters for public issues was 114 calendar days. It however did not provide data on the days taken for approval in calendar year 2024.
In 2020 and 2021, Sebi cleared 113 IPOs, with average approval time down to a record 75 days, according to primedatabase.com data. It increased to 120 days for the approval of 86 IPOs in 2022 and 114 days in 2023. Between 2015 and 2021, IPOs took an average of 84 days for approval, compared with 157 days between 2007 and 2014.
Approval Pending for 36 Cos
«With the markets in a buoyant mood, the regulator may be focusing more on disclosures
