To tap the upbeat investor sentiments, as many as 21 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have filed draft papers this year to raise funds totalling Rs 180 crore through their initial public offerings. The shares will be listed on the SME platforms of the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Since the beginning of this year, 21 companies have filed draft documents to collectively raise over Rs 180 crore through IPOs, according to an analysis. Of these, 13 firms have filed papers to launch IPOs on BSE’s SME platform, while the remaining eight plan to list on NSE Emerge.

Moreover, Hi-Tech Pipes already got listed on the NSE’s Emerge platform last month. It has raised Rs 13.65 crore via its initial-share sale programme.

Besides, the IPOs of HEC Infra Projects and Wealth First Portfolio Managers will open on March 10 and close on March 18. Among the firms that filed their papers with stock exchanges are Bajaj Healthcare, Avi Agri Business, Shanti Educational Initiatives, Raghav Ramming Mass, Sitaram India Sagardeep Alloys and United Polyfab Gujarat.

These companies are from sectors such as logistics services, automotive components, infrastructure and hospitality, among others. According to market experts, increasing number of firms coming on SME exchanges send positive signals and lend a lot of confidence to SME capital markets.

“Listing will help them enter capital markets and finally to graduate on to mainboard,” Hem Securities Director Gaurav Jain said. “We are looking forward to a number of IPOs from different cities in the next 6-8 months, which will join the club of listed companies. It will send a positive signal to other SMEs which are keen to tap the capital markets,” he added.

Since the beginning of this year, seven companies have already got listed on the SME platforms, while three will hit the capital markets this week. In 2015, 43 companies were listed to garner about Rs 327 crore from such segment.

BSE and NSE had launched SME platforms in March 2012, becoming the only two bourses to offer such a segment in the country. Since then, several companies have got listed on them and some have even shifted to the main board. The platform provides opportunity to SME entrepreneurs to raise equity capital for growth and expansion.

It also provides immense opportunity for investors to identify and invest in good SMEs at an early stage.

Source: Millennium Post