The initial public offering (IPO) market boomed in the year 2020. Companies have raised crores of rupees through an IPO last year due to a better liquidity situation and encouraging investor response. The IPO market is expected to remain strong in 2021 as well. Today, the first IPO of 2021 has been brought by the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC). This is the first time an IPO of a public sector non-banking financial company (NBFC) has been launched.

How long can you invest?
The IPO will be open to investors from January 18 to January 20. That is, from today, investors can invest till 20 January. The company plans to raise Rs 4,633.2 crore from the primary market. Earlier, IRCTC of Indian Railways launched IPO, which was the most successful IPO. It was filled 109 times.

How many shares can you buy?
If you are planning to invest in an IPO of IRFC, you will have to buy at least 575 shares. This is because there will be a lot of 575 shares for the IPO. For the IPO, the company has fixed the price band from Rs 25 to Rs 26 per share.

Investors can invest in IPOs for a minimum of one lot to a maximum of 13 lots. That is, investors will have to invest at least Rs 14,375 to Rs 14,950 and a maximum of Rs 1,86,875 to Rs 1,94,350.

How many shares were issued under the IPO?
178.20 crore shares have been issued in this IPO. Out of 178.20 crore shares, 118.80 crore new shares will be issued and the government will bring a sales offer of Rs 59.40 crore. In this IPO, 50% of the issue is for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), 15% for non-institutional buyers, and 35% for retail investors.

1,398 crores raised from anchor investors
The company raised about Rs 1,398 crore from anchor investors on Friday. In this context, the company said in a statement that 3,34,563,007 equity shares were issued to a total of 31 anchor investors at the rate of Rs 26 per share. At this price, IRFC raised a total of Rs 1,398.63 crore from investors.

These anchor investors include HDFC Trustee Company Limited, Nippon Life India Trustee Limited, Government of Singapore, Kuwait Investment Authority Fund, Kotak Mahindra (International) Limited, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, and Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited.

In April 2017, the Central Government allowed the listing of five railway companies. IRCON International Limited, Rights Limited, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, and IRCTC are already listed. IRCTC shares were listed in October 2019. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited shares were listed in April. IRCON shares were listed in 2018.