Consumer companies vie for share of India’s booming stock market

Food delivery platforms, jewelry companies — and even a electric scooter manufacturer.

More consumer-centric companies are looking to capitalize on India’s booming stock market and strong economic growth, by going public.

India’s benchmark indexes broke record highs throughout the year, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex climbing 19% and 17%, respectively, according to LSEG data.

The South Asian country is now set to emerge as the world’s third-largest consumer market by 2027, according to a report by BMI, backed by strong growth from consumer-focused companies in sectors ranging from healthcare, transportation and consumer staples.

“After a decade, India’s growth story is now likely to be driven by private consumption. With a better macro outlook, the risk appetite for investors for business to consumer companies have gone higher,” said Atul Singh, CEO and managing director of wealth management firm LGT Wealth India. 

“Private consumption is coming back after more than a decade. It may have started with large corporations like Reliance and Adani, but the positive macro story is driving more business to consumer companies to list,” Singh told CNBC in an interview.

India had 238 listings in 2023, reaching a nine-year high with 614 billion Indian rupees ($7.35 billion), according to FactSet data. The research platform showed that there have already been 264 IPOs so far this year.

Transportation

Among the names making headlines for its IPO is Hyundai Motor India, which aims to raise $3 billion from its IPO listing. This would surpass the listing of state-owned Life Insurance Corporations’ at $2.7 billion, potentially making Hyundai Motor India’s IPO the country’s largest.

This comes hot on the heels of the listing of Ola Electric in August. Shares of the electric two-wheeler manufacturer, surged 20% in its market debut. The company priced its shares at 76 rupees (91 cents), raising over $730 million in its initial public offering.

The listing momentum among automakers like Hyundai Motor and Ola Electric is slowly trickling down to other segments of India’s economy, according to LGT Wealth’s Singh.

“The first leg of the consumption story was for big ticket items like cars, but the momentum is slowly shifting to consumer staples. So a lot of the smaller ticket consumption is is now gaining momentum,” he added.

Food and beverage

Consumer names looking to go public include Softbank-backed food delivery platform Swiggy, which reportedly filed for an IPO on Sept. 26, reports from Reuters showed.

Its competitor Zomato had gone public back in 2021. Year-to-date, its shares have surged over 120%.

Zomato and Swiggy are among the consumer brands going public in a bid to…