FPIs lead anchor selling in IPOs, SEBI study finds sharp price pressure after 30-day unlock
The findings offer fresh insight into post-listing trading patterns, showing that selling pressure is strongest during the earliest unlock period
A Sebi study discovered that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were the primary anchor investors selling shares in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), causing significant price pressure within the crucial 30-day unlock period. The research, covering 242 mainboard IPOs from April 2022 to October 2025, also revealed that smaller IPOs experienced higher anchor exits.
FPIs led the exits, selling 24.5% of their allotment during the high-intensity selling period, while corporates and other QIBs exited 23.1% and 21.6% respectively. The price impact worsened with increased selling intensity, dropping to a median of -6% and an average of -3.5% in the T+29 to T+33 window. The pressure, however, subsided after the 90-day unlock window, with near-zero mean and median price changes across all exit-intensity buckets.
Most anchor investors continued selling beyond the lock-in periods, with FPIs accounting for 60% of their allotment sold by T+365, followed by corporates, AIFs, and other QIBs. Smaller IPOs had higher anchor exits, with the Rs 0-250 crore issue-size category recording a 72.5% exit by T+365.
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