New Delhi, June 3 -- India's previously record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) market is now beginning to split into two sharply different stories. After two years of blockbuster fundraising, the mainboard IPO cycle has slowed considerably amid escalating war in West Asia, which is fuelling global uncertainty and risk aversion. Yet, despite these broader geopolitical headwinds, the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment has remained active, suggesting that investor appetite has not vanished but has instead become far more selective.

This caution is most visible in the mainboard market. May 2026 went without a single mainboard IPO, the first such month since March 2025, when US tariff announcements had rattled global markets. Th...