By Govindraj Ethiraj
Copyright thecore
The appetite of Indian retail investors appears to know no bounds.The Economic Times says investors forked out over Rs 2,700 crore in just four hours on September 9 to invest in IPOs of a range of companies.A key one is a marketplace for services whose business model is conceptually challenged and practically unsound.Moreover, the company reported a handsome profit.It’s Capitalism, After allThis is good news except that the timing of these rosy numbers ahead of a mega IPO meant to mostly help its venture capital investors exit their investments should surely raise an eyebrow or two.Diving in, the company’s revenue from operations jumped 38% in the last year to Rs 1,144 crore, a rise that is creditable but also begs the question as to what happened in the last year that caused people to hire the services of more carpenters and masseurs or such in such large numbers.Meanwhile, profits jumped dramatically to Rs 239.8 crore, which is obviously a remarkable turnaround from a net loss of Rs 92.7 crore in FY24.Of course, the profits would have been less spectacular were it not for the Rs 211 crore recognition of a deferred tax asset, all figures from HDFC Securities.India was the second-largest IPO market in the world last year, raising over $20 billion and this year that figure could touch $28 billion.If all goes well for the companies in the race, that’s another …
