With the stock market turning choppy, fintech start-up MobiKwik, which had filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to raise around $250 million through an initial public offering (IPO), is now looking to raise money from the private market. "We will raise private money but we are not in dire need. "The business was profitable for the first time in the December quarter on a top line of around Rs 150 crore and that will be maintained in the March quarter also. We are generating cash," said Upasana Taku, co-founder of MobiKwik.
In March this year, Worldline India launched Vabox (Voice Alert Box): merchants will now get instant audio alerts on the settlement of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments via QR codes in languages of their choice when customers check out. "They needn't worry whether the amount has been credited to their account," says Gulshan Pruthi, the firm's executive vice-president. The French payments giant will roll out 500,000 Vaboxes in the initial phase.
The government is planning to extend the electronic modes of tax payment to its own payments platform, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), credit cards of banks, or even a mobile wallet like Paytm.
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has secured regulatory approval for launching its digital payment platform -- WhatApp Pay -- in a phased manner, close to two years after the US-based company's pilot run.
E-commerce platform Snapdeal has filed preliminary documents with markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offer (IPO), joining the league of internet-led businesses looking to list on domestic stock exchanges. The public issue comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 3.07 crore equity shares, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). According to market sources, potential listing could value Snapdeal at about $1.5-1.7 billion.
Uber India has readied itself for another $500 million (Rs 3,300 crore) investment in the next three months.
Indian startups have raised $42 billion in 2021, up from $11.5 billion in the previous year, a report by Orios Venture Partners said. The report titled 'The Indian Tech Unicorn Report 2021' said India saw 46 unicorns (companies with $1 billion valuations) in 2021 alone, more than doubling the total number of unicorns to 90. These include ShareChat, Cred, Meesho, Nazara, Moglix, MPL, Grofers (now Blinkit), upGrad, Mamaearth, GlobalBees, Acko, Spinny and others. India - with 90 unicorns - is the third-largest unicorn hub behind the US (487) and China (301), and ahead of the UK (39).
Everyday consumerables, such as grocery and order-in food items are the key buyout sector, analysts say, and a major reason for kirana stores' digitisation push.
'India's edtech and start-up story will be in danger.'
SoftBank-based e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has deferred its Rs 1,250 crore IPO, joining the list of startups that have decided to shelve their initial public offering (IPO) plans this year. Snapdeal, which competes with Amazon and Flipkart, filed a request this week with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to withdraw its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) amid a sell-off in tech stocks worldwide. "Considering the prevailing market conditions, the company has decided to withdraw the DRHP. The company may reconsider an IPO in the future, depending on its need for growth capital and market conditions," a Snapdeal spokesperson said.
Here's how beginners can follow a very practical approach for finding stocks for long term investing and building a decent portfolio.
After a recent fall in profit, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank announced that the Japanese tech investor will look at dramatic cost-cutting. Before he does that, investments in India for calendar year 2022 (CY22) will fall radically, observed sources in the know. Last year, the company had invested around $3.2-3.5 billion in the Indian start-up ecosystem - almost 10 per cent of the total investment the sector received. For CY22, the investments may not even touch $1 billion.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and mutual funds (MFs) have put in more money as anchor investors in initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2021 than any other year. FPIs' share of investments for the year stood at Rs 24,477 crore, nearly six times that put in last year and more than nine times the amount invested in 2019, the data from Prime Database showed. MFs have invested Rs 12,264 crore, four times than that invested last year and more than 10 times the investment in 2019. The total investment by FPIs and MFs put together this year is five times the amount invested last year. The amount contributed by MFs, however, is nearly half of that invested by FPIs.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) by start-ups are bringing cheer to investors and investment bankers alike. After food delivery company Zomato, Nykaa has issued the fattest pay cheque to the managers of its share sale -- Rs 148 crore, or 2.8 per cent of its issue proceeds of Rs 5,300 crore. In absolute terms, this is the second-highest amount paid to investment bankers for handling an IPO, while in percentage terms, it is the highest for large IPOs (>$300 million) in the last one year, shows an analysis of the data provided by Prime Database, a primary market tracker.
Paytm recently partnered with 1,000 educational institutions over admission fee payment through the app.
This is the second instance of mainstream banks blocking services to new-age digital payments companies.
According to experts, this will have major impact on new investments by Chinese players in companies, such as Paytm, Ola, BigBasket, Byju's, Dream11, MakeMyTrip, and Swiggy, when they go for follow-up funding. Chinese investors, such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi, are active in the Indian start-up space, and have collectively invested billions of dollars.
Fintech firm MobiKwik on Monday filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for its initial public offering (IPO). According to its DRHP, the company plans to raise Rs 1,900 crore, which includes a fresh issue of Rs 1,500 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 400 crore. The selling shareholders include American Express Travel, Bajaj Finance, Cisco Systems and Sequoia Capital India, besides founder Bipin Preet Singh. MobiKwik is the latest among tech majors wanting to list on stock exchanges. Food delivery start-up Zomato will launch its IPO on Wednesday.
There are overvaluation and excesses in many pockets of the market. This is most obvious in the IPO market, where loss-making companies have inflicted large losses on investors, observes Debashis Basu.
From offering office premises that can be converted into isolation wards to earmarking funds to be used for procuring kits, ventilators as well as personal protective equipment for health care workers, India Inc has put a united front to combat the unprecedented crisis facing the country.
After a stellar November that saw companies mop up over Rs 36,000 crore from the primary market via initial public offers (IPOs) and offers for sale (OFS), the current month, analysts said, will test investor's willingness to stay on with their investments as the one-month mandatory lock-in period for anchor investors begins to loosen. A note by Edelweiss Alternative Research suggests that in calendar year 2021 (CY21), 51 companies went public. Of these, 41 issuances' anchor selling dates are already over.
'For the next three months or so, the market will go down.' 'Traders do not have Rs 100 notes.'
Investors need to evaluate the offerings of a broker in totality before selecting one.
Food delivery platform Zomato's initial public offering was oversubscribed on the opening day on Wednesday with retail investors bidding for 2.7 times the number of shares reserved for them. The offer received bids for 75.60 crore equity shares against an IPO size of 71.92 crore, stock exchange data showed. Retail investors sought 2.69 times the portion reserved for them. Against 12.95 crore shares reserved for retail individual investors, 34.88 crore shares were bid by 1700 hours.
A December 28 board meeting of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may tighten norms for initial public offerings (IPOs). The board may look to prescribe a minimum 5 per cent gap in IPO price bands, extend the lock-in period for anchor investors to 90 days and cap the amount a majority investor can sell through offer for sale. The regulator is looking at whether there can be a preferred allocation for anchor investors who opt for a longer lock-in period, said a person familiar with the matter.
Key questions remain about the operational and financial viability of a completely paperless bank such as India Post, says Mayank Jain.
After a gruelling 24 hours, the PhonePe team has fully restored UPI on the payment platform. The app is up and running again with ICICI Bank as its new partner with all payment instruments enabled.
After raising Rs 10 crore in seed funding last week from investors like Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrabootham and Silicon Valley based venture capitalist firm Hourglass Venture, Chennai-based social media startup Pepul told Business Standard that it is looking to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year for expansion. The social media platform, focused on online ethical practices, will be launched by 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country on January 26. Pepul, founded by G Suresh Kumar, will be using an Aadhaar-based user verification system to get rid of fake accounts on its platform. "We are planning to raise around Rs 200 crore by June this year.
LIC public offer, the country's biggest-ever IPO, on Wednesday opened for subscription for retail and institutional investors. The government aims to generate about Rs 21,000 crore by diluting its 3.5 per cent stake in the insurance behemoth. The LIC initial public offering (IPO), now open for retail and institutional investors, is set to close on May 9. LIC has fixed the price band at Rs 902-949 per equity share for the issue.
Unlike the race to buy airwaves by telecom companies, airports by infrastructure companies and city gas networks by energy companies, the race to develop super apps by consumer-facing companies in India has not brushed up against any regulatory issues. Officials at the ministry of electronics and information technology and at other regulators are happy they do not have to meddle in who among the Tata group, Reliance Industries Ltd, Flipkart or Paytm will manage to build an app that sweeps in customers. Unlike separate apps a customer uses on her mobile to order groceries, buy food or airline tickets or just make payments, a super app can perform all these functions.
Year 2021 was another great year for fund-raising through equities. A total of Rs 1.8 trillion was raised through initial public offerings (IPOs), qualified institutional placements (QIPs), and rights issues, against the Rs 1.7 trillion raised in the previous year. Funds raised through IPOs quadrupled, while those from rights issues and QIPs reduced.
The primary market is set for a bumper Rs 80,000-crore bonanza with 30 companies already filing IPO papers to raise Rs 55,000 crore, while around 10 more are lined up for this month itself, seeking to mop up another Rs 25,000 crore, say investment bankers. The market has been on a non-stop rally, hitting new records almost every week, on the back of an influx of investors -- a vast majority of them first-timers -- coupled with a flood of liquidity. Foreign funds alone had pumped in a record $35 billion into the market in FY21, while the trend has continued this fiscal as well. Domestic institutions led by LIC have also infused trillions of rupees, helping woo retail investors in troves -- the year saw over 20 million new investors coming to the market.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, head of Paytm, says they'd achieve their 500-million user target by 2018, two years before the earlier aim.
After a month long gap, the primary market is heading for a busy time, with five firms including Paytm parent One97 Communications and policybazaar parent PB Fintech have lined up their IPOs in the first half of November to raise over Rs 27,000 crore collectively. The other three firms whose initial share-sales are set to open are Sapphire Foods India, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut outlets, decorative aesthetics supplier SJS Enterprises and microcrystalline cellulose manufacturer Sigachi Industries. The IPOs of FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd, which runs online marketplace for beauty and wellness products Nykaa, and Fino Payments Bank are currently open for public subscription.
Fintech giant Paytm claimed it is selling more FASTags than all the banks put together on a daily basis.
India added three unicorns per month in 2021 to nearly double the overall number to about 85 at last count. And there are many gazelles and cheetahs in the pipeline. All gunning to be unicorns (and then decacorns) soon thereafter, notes Sandeep Goyal.
Just 14 companies raised Rs 35,456 crore through main-board primary share sales in the first half of the fiscal, down 32 per cent from the year-ago period when 25 issues had mopped up Rs 51,979 crore. But according to Prime Database, the IPO pipeline is strong with 71 issues worth Rs 1,05,000 crore having Sebi approvals and another 43 worth about Rs 70,000 crore are awaiting approval. Of these 114 planned issues, 10 are new-age tech companies, which are looking to raise roughly Rs 35,000 crore.
In 2020-2021, the amount of foreign direct investment into India from China and Hong Kong plummeted to just $200 million -- its lowest in the recent past. In the first half of 2021-2022, FDI investments through these two nations stood at just $36 million.
Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) has expanded its pilot to 15 more cities. This comes at a time when it plans to begin operations next month. Snapdeal has also signed the onboarding agreement with the network and will debut on it next month. On Monday, ONDC expanded to Noida, Faridabad, Lucknow, Bijnor, Bhopal, Chhindwara, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Kannur, Thrissur, Udipi, Kanchipura, Pollachi, Mannar and Ramnathpuram.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued notices to five e-commerce entities, including Amazon, Flipkart and PaytmMall, as well as various sellers for offering pressure cookers that are non-compliant with BIS norms. The notices were issued on November 18 to Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Shopclues and PaytmMall, and the sellers. As part of celebrations of 75 years of Independence - 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', CCPA has initiated a country-wide campaign to prevent sale of spurious and counterfeit goods that violate Quality Control Orders published by the Centre, the government said in a statement on Monday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances