IPO boom prompts ICICI to hire more investment bankers

India's second largest private lender ICICI bank is making its biggest hiring push in investment banking and institutional equities in four years, as it anticipates a rise in companies going public. The Mumbai-based firm plans to add five mid-to-senior level hires in each of the two units, which currently have 130 bankers in total, according to Ajay Saraf, head of investment banking and institutional equities at ICICI Securities Ltd. The new roles will be concentrated in sectors such as technology and health care, he said.

"We have not hired these kinds of numbers since 2017," Saraf said in a phone interview last week. "We see investor interest disproportionately higher for these sectors in the next 12 months." Shares of ICICI Securities jumped as much as 4.6 per cent on Tuesday to their highest level since February 4. The move outpaced the rise in India's benchmark Sensex index which climbed as much as 1.1 per cent. India is joining the global share sale frenzy thanks to ample liquidity in the market with foreign investors and even retail buyers looking for new ideas to invest in. The booming local tech scene, which earlier in April minted six unicorns in a single week, is also expanding the IPO pipeline for bankers.

So far in 2021, nearly $3 billion has been raised through IPOs in India, the best start to the year since 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It could even surpass 2020's $4.6 billion haul as companies such as Zomato Pvt., Policybazaar and Nykaa E-Retail Pvt. are set to go public in Mumbai as soon as this year, Bloomberg News has reported. (Bloomberg)