India’s largest asset manager makes muted debut after $1 billion IPO
Debasish Mishra, managing director and chief executive officer of SBI Funds Management Ltd., at a news conference in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, July 9, 2026. SBI Funds Managements biggest investors are seeking to raise as much as 116.9 billion rupees ($1.22 billion) in what’s expected to be India’s first billion-dollar IPO of the year. Photographer: Indranil Aditya/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Shares of India’s largest asset manager, SBI Funds Management, listed at a premium of 7% to its IPO price on Tuesday, dashing hopes of a strong debut.
The $1 billion IPO of the firm, which is a joint venture between State Bank of India and Europe’s Amundi Group, had garnered bids worth 2.97 trillion rupees ($30.7 billion). The issue was oversubscribed 41.6 times, owing to an enthusiastic response from institutional investors.
During the financial year ended in March, the average listing premium for Indian IPOs was 8% compared to 28% a year ago, according to a report by KPMG India in May. Investors were keeping a close watch on this listing as a strong debut would have indicated appetite for new large-scale public issues such as Jio Platforms and the National Stock Exchange.
Stock market offerings worth $50 billion could flood the Indian markets this year, though the continuation of the Iran war remains a key risk.
“We should look forward to building a sustainable company which will drive this market going forward,” Olivier Mariée, head of Amundi’s international partner networks and joint ventures and member of SBI Funds board, said during a pre-listing event.
SBI Funds had 29.5 trillion rupees ($395 billion) under management as of March.
“Our aspiration is to be the fund manager to every Indian,” Debasish Mishra, managing director and chief executive of the firm, said at the event.
India has been the most prolific IPO market in the world over the last two years, with the highest number of listings, but activity was subdued here during the first half of the year.
Rising energy prices due to the Iran war have squeezed the Indian economy, taking the sheen off its domestic consumption story. That has coincided with a global investment rally in AI stocks, an industry where India has no major champions.
Since the start of the year, the Indian benchmark Sensex has lost over 9% and has been among the worst-performing large stock markets, while the Nifty 50 is down 7.5%.