FUND RISING THROUGH PRIMARY MARKET DIPS

Fund-raising by Indian companies through the primary market route plunged by 90 per cent to Rs 134 crore in April, over the previous month, owing to volatility in equities. As per latest data available with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), firms have garnered a total of Rs 134 crore in April, lower than Rs 1,368 crore raked in the preceding month. In April, the funds were raised through debt market. However, companies had not tapped the equity market route. During March, a total of Rs 1,072 crore was garnered through equities, while Rs 296 crore were mopped-up via debt segment. Market experts said fund-raising through primary market has slowed down in April due to volatility in equities. "Fund raising through primary market has tumbled in the month of April because of volatility in the market conditions. Another reason for decline could be the huge number of share-sale offered by companies to comply with Sebi's minimum public shareholding guidelines," an analyst said. Meanwhile, the BSE's benchmark Sensex surged 668 points or 3.5 per cent during April. "During April 2013, Rs 134 crore were mobilised in the primary market by way of one issue as compared to Rs 1,368.4 crore mobilised through 14 issues in March 2013, showing a decrease of 90.2 percent over the previous month," Sebi said. In the full financial year 2012-13, companies had mopped up Rs 32,455 crore via primary market -- the lowest since 2008-09 when they had garnered Rs 16,220 crore.