One year of startup listings: Exuberance tapers as firms lose grip on gains

After Zomato's promising start, global tech meltdown halts listing gravy train

On July 16, 2021, Zomato’s Rs 9,375-crore initial public offering (IPO) garnered over 30 times subscription, laying to rest the debate on whether the Indian public markets were ready for share sales by loss-making firms with no clear visibility on when they would turn profitable. Any doubters left were silenced by a 66 per cent surge in Zomato’s stock price on its listing day. This opened the gates for more start-up IPOs. Within months, marquee new-age companies such as Nykaa, Policy Bazaar, and Paytm rolled out their IPOs, underpinned by easy liquidity conditions thanks to the post-pandemic stimulus measures.

A year