India Inc raises over Rs 9 lakh cr via equity, debt issuances in 2021

Indian companies have mopped up more than Rs 9 lakh crore through equity and debt routes in 2021 to meet their renewed thirst for business expansion in a buoyant stock market brimming with liquidity and helped by recovering macroeconomic indicators after pandemic-ravaged first few months.

Unless the still-evolving Omicron situation plays spoilsport, the next year is expected to be much more robust in terms of fund-raising activities and there seems to be no dearth of funds, experts said.

"The banks have been sitting on surplus liquidity for quite a while and there should be enough appetite for quality borrowers, said Ricky Kirpalani, Lead Sponsor, First Water Capital Fund.

In the year passing by, fund mobilisation through debt markets has fallen sharply, while the equity fund raising has been robust and the stock market bull-run with liquidity all-around has resulted in record fund-raising through initial public offerings (IPOs).

Despite the plunge in fund mobilisation through the debt route, it continued to contribute a lion's share to the overall fund-raising activity in 2021.

Debt fund-raising has slowed because of long-term economic disruptions during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, followed by a prolonged impact of the ravaging second wave, said Sandeep Bhardwaj, CEO, Retail, IIFL Securities.

Out of the cumulative Rs 9.01 lakh crore garnered till mid-December this year, funds totalling Rs 5.53 lakh crore were mopped up from the debt market, Rs 2.1 lakh crore came from the equity market, Rs 30,840 crore through REITs and InvITs and Rs 1.06 lakh crore via the overseas route, data compiled by analytics major Prime Database showed.