The year 2020 turned out to be a bumper year for stock exchanges in India and companies that debuted on bourses in Asia’s third-largest economy. Analysts expect more of the same in 2021. The value of initial public offerings by Indian firms more than doubled in 2020 to 450 billion rupees (Dh22.61bn), from 203 billion rupees recorded the previous year, according to Kotak Investment Banking, which expects the number of IPOs and their values to climb further in 2021. The rush to list shares in India last year came as local stock markets scaled record highs, despite the country’s economy plunging into recession as it grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic. “We may continue to see heightened IPO activity dominated by resilient sectors like new-age tech, healthcare and consumer,” says V Jayasankar, senior executive director and head of equity capital markets at Kotak Investment Banking. “Given the robust IPO markets, we expect many unlisted corporates to list earlier than previously envisaged.” Companies that are expected to go public this year include the tech-driven food delivery start-up Zomato, government-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Mumbai-based mobile games firm Nazara Technologies, and jewellery retailer Kalyan Jewellers. “Given the positive scenario in the market, more companies are interested in listing on the stock exchange,” says Nitin Shahi, executive director of Findoc Financial Services Group. “2021 is expected to be even better on the IPO front.” The success of last year’s debutants such as Burger King India, whose December share sale was more than 150 times oversubscribed, is a sign investors are hungry for more firms to list.