Strong pipeline for small biz IPOs; BSE SME to see over 60 listing in one year

According to Mr. Ajay Thakur, head of BSE SME (small and medium enterprises) and Start-up, > 60 SMEs are expected to enter the market in one year to bring up equity funds for meeting their business requirements. The exchange’s SME platform is expected to see these companies’ listing.

The initial public offering (IPO) route witnessing 16 SMEs who raised Rs. 100 crore (US$ 13.74 million) in 2020.

Mr. Thakur added that to boost the equity culture among SMEs, the exchange is actively initiating steps to collaborate with state governments and other professional networks to organise webinars.

He added that ~ 150 webinars have been arranged by the exchange to create and expand awareness among SMEs about the equity funding and listing advantages.

The listing would support SMEs to expand their visibility as well as boost up their brand building while advance their credit rating and offer seamless finances flow and growth opportunities.

Mr. Thakur said, “With the SME filing of ~ 400 prospectuses, BSE SME became the first SME platform to have witnesses such number of listing. Due to the current pandemic situation, 63 of the total is planned to get listed in one-year duration, and 337 have already listed .”

He added, “2020 recorded listing of one company every month driven by several steps taken by the us.”

Raised funds would be leveraged for expanding the business plans, working capital requirements and other corporate requirements. The key organisations in focus belong to various sectors such as hospitality, IT, automotive components, infrastructure, pharma, etc.

Mr. Thakur said, “SMEs look forward to the BSE SME platform as the most cost-effective platform to enhance visibility raise funds.”

In March 2012, BSE launched SME platform to offer platform to SMEs to raise capital for business development and expansion. Since its launch, a total of 337 firms got listed on the platform who raised Rs. 3,500 crore (US$ 481.05 million). A total of over Rs. 26,300 crore (US$ 3.61 billion) market capitalisation was collected by these firms. Of these total number, 99 forms have migrated to the primary board platform.

BSE start-ups platform, launched in December 2018, has ~ 10-12 firms.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.