Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) raised Rs 1,546 crore through initial public offerings during the first six months of the year, a more than two-fold jump from the same period last year.

Funds raised through initial public offers (IPOs) were used for business expansion plans, working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes, according to the offer documents.

About 88 companies got listed with initial share sale offers worth Rs 1,546 crore during January-June 2018, compared with 50 firms which tapped the IPO route to garner Rs 660 crore in the same period of the previous year.

This reflects a significant rise in the amount raised through SME platforms of both the BSE and NSE. Further, the average issue size also increased to Rs 17.5 crore during the period under review, from Rs 13 crore in the first six months of 2017.

“This segment will continue to be of interest and will grow leaps and bounds in time to come,” said Mahavir Lunawat, Group Managing Director, Pantomath Advisory Services Group.

Of 88 IPOs, as many as four got subscribed more than 100 times. Further, participation from anchor investors has been increasing in the SME segment too. The pricing of SME IPOs is generally attractive and due to high demand post-listing, the prices rally to a significant number. Markets have corrected sharply in 2018 so far and SMEs are no exceptions. Decline in prices of some of the SME scrips was also seen during the first six months of the year,” Lunawat added.

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