Small but mighty: How SMEs became India’s public market darlings

The first half of 2023 saw India break China’s two-decade-long streak as the world’s capital for public market listings. With 80 listings by the end of June, the country accounted for 13% of public market debuts worldwide. This at a time when global listings are on the decline is doubly impressive.

The stars of the show weren’t from India’s 80-plus-strong stable of unicorn startups. Having witnessed the likes of Zomato, Paytm, and Nykaa take a battering on the public markets, India’s largely loss-making unicorns are in no hurry to test the initial public offering (IPO) waters.

Instead, India owes the title it wrested from China to its small and medium-sized enterprises—companies that typically live and die in the shadows of unicorns. Of the 80 listings, 72—90%— were on the country’s two SME-focused exchanges, BSE SME and NSE Emerge. The following two months saw a further 11 join their ranks.

In contrast, the eight mainboard listings during the first half of 2023 represented a 41% decrease compared to the same period a year back. The global funding winter has also seen startup funding rounds grow scarce, with funding dropping by 72% in the same period to $5.5 billion, according to startup tracking platform Tracxn.