India's Initial Public Offering (IPO) market has witnessed a remarkable surge, with investment bankers earning a record ₹4,113 crore in fees. This represents a significant increase from the ₹3,463 crore earned in the previous period, reflecting the robust growth in the country's primary market.

IPO Market Highlights

The surge in banker fees corresponds with a substantial increase in fundraising activities. Key highlights include:

• Total funds raised: ₹1.75 lakh crore
• Number of issues: Over 100

Period Comparison

To better illustrate the growth, here's a comparison of the IPO market performance:

Market Implications

The substantial increase in both the number of IPOs and the fees earned by investment bankers may indicate:

1. Growing investor appetite: The surge in IPO activity suggests strong investor interest in newly listed companies.
2. Economic optimism: The willingness of companies to go public may reflect positive sentiment about India's economic prospects.
3. Maturation of companies: The high number of IPOs could indicate that many private companies are reaching a stage where they're ready for public markets.

Conclusion

The record-breaking performance of India's IPO market underscores the country's growing economic strength and the increasing sophistication of its capital markets. As companies continue to seek public funding, this trend may set the stage for further growth in the future.

India's primary market has delivered an unprecedented windfall to investment bankers in 2025, with total fee earnings reaching a record ₹4,113 crore according to Prime Database. This represents a substantial increase from ₹3,463 crore earned in 2024, reflecting the robust health of the country's IPO ecosystem.

Record-Breaking Market Performance

The surge in banker compensation coincided with exceptional market activity, as total IPO fundraising climbed from ₹1.6 lakh crore in 2024 to over ₹1.75 lakh crore in 2025. More than 100 IPOs have been launched this year, comfortably surpassing the previous year's record of 91 issues.

Major IPO Deals Drive Fee Income

Several blockbuster offerings generated substantial payouts for investment banks during 2025. LG Electronics India's ₹11,605-crore IPO emerged as the year's highest fee generator, delivering ₹226 crore to its managing consortium of Morgan Stanley, Axis Capital, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citi.

Evolving Fee Structure

The current fee landscape represents a dramatic transformation from a decade ago, when investment banks typically earned just 1-2% on most IPOs, with large deals priced as low as 0.5-1%. Today's fee structure ranges between 1-5%, with deal complexity and size determining the exact percentage.

"Higher fee income this year is because of higher fundraising in 2025," explained Pranav Haldea, Managing Director of Prime Database Group. "Investment bankers get paid in percentage of the amount raised in IPOs. So if the issue amount is high, the payout for them would also typically be high."

According to industry data, fees for new-age tech startups command higher rates of 3-4% due to their unique market positioning and increased research requirements. For smaller IPOs of ₹200-300 crore, percentage fees tend to be higher due to minimum fee thresholds, while billion-dollar offerings typically see rates of 1-1.5%.

Market Growth Trajectory

India's IPO market has demonstrated remarkable expansion over the past decade, with mainboard IPO fundraising growing at a 29% compound annual growth rate. Average mainboard IPO sizes increased from ₹1,119 crore during 2015-2019 to ₹1,579 crore during 2020-2025, while SME IPO sizes more than doubled from ₹11 crore to ₹24 crore.

Pantomath Capital projects continued growth momentum, anticipating primary market fund mobilization of ₹3.5 to ₹4.0 lakh crore in 2026, driven by larger offerings across both mainboard and SME segments.