Indian IPOs (initial public offers) have become the market’s favourite magic trick: The buyer walks in thinking they’re funding growth, not realising they mostly funded an exit.

Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran has openly criticised the growing use of IPOs as exit routes rather than fund-raising tools, warning that this trend “undermines the spirit of public markets”. The numbers suggest that this warning deserves attention.

Since 2021, about ₹5.4 lakh crore (including over ₹1.5 lakh crore in 2025 so far) has been raised in over 340 mainboard IPOs, but roughly two-thirds of that came via offers for sale (OFS), not fresh capital. In other words, a big chunk of “fund raising” was actually “funds changing hands”.

Retail, meanwhile, has turned IPOs into a three-day sport. Scan th

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