Shibani Sircar Kurian’s take on how to navigate through the IPO maze

Shibani Sircar Kurian is a fund manager at the Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited. In this position, she is responsible for equity fund management and heads the equity research team.

With a total experience of almost 22 years in the Indian equity markets, Shibani Sircar Kurian has been working with the Kotak Mahindra AMC for more than 12 years. Before joining Kotak Mahindra AMC Ltd, she worked with UTI Asset Management Company Limited for a little over five years and for over a year with Dawnay Day AV Financial Services.

Talking about her educational background, she holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) with a specialization in Finance from T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal. Apart from this, she also holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

Looking at the year ahead, with more than 25 IPOs lined up in 2022, the largest one being the LIC issue, it is evident that the IPO fever has not ceased.

While investors invest in IPOs intending to achieve high returns, either by way of booking listing gains or with the prospects of the gradual growth of the company, there are plenty of risks that come along with it. Considering Paytm’s listing fiasco in recent times, what are the aspects that one should look at while evaluating IPOs?

In an interview to Economic Times, Shibani said, “There are a few key aspects that we are looking at when analyzing IPOs; first is the business model, the scalability of the model as well as the ability of the company to continue to grow its current business given the market conditions.

The second aspect that we are looking at is the competitive positioning of the company within the space in which it operates and also the chances of higher competition coming through.

The third aspect, of course, is the valuation and the adjacencies and optionalities that the business models bring over a while.

On the valuation front, it is a difficult call. These are new-age companies and evaluating them is a whole new game for even analysts and fund managers such as me. We are learning along the way but clearly, each IPO would need to be looked at on a stock-specific basis and that is how we are approaching this entire trend.”, she added.

While no one can predict with complete accuracy how the company will fare in the future, it would be prudent to take heed of an experienced person like Kurian, who has been in the Indian Equity markets for more than two decades now.