India poised for IPO record as insurers rush to ride rally

Mumbai

INDIAN initial public offerings are headed for a record year, as a rush of insurers seek to ride a rally in the local market and tap increasing investor demand for financial assets.

At least four Indian insurers are aiming to price stock offerings by the end of 2017, according to people familiar with the matter. Total fundraising from first-time share sales in the country could rise to 500 billion rupees (S$10.6 billion) this year, Ajay Saraf, head of investment banking at India's No 1 IPO underwriter ICICI Securities Ltd, said in an interview. That would represent about an 85 per cent increase from 2016 and surpass the record tally of 363 billion rupees set in 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show.